Chapter Twenty-Two: Burn Bright
Yang gave an annoyed sigh as she tried to slip into the music that was pounding around her; her mood had soured completely after dropping off Qrow in a cheap motel to sober up. She had been looking forward to a night of drinking and clubbing with her girlfriend then spending a night of undisturbed heavy petting in their hotel room but now, now she was just plan annoyed. Why did Qrow have to show up now of all times? Sure Ruby had just had an episode of… whatever it was but it's not like he could have found out that fast nor could he have actually moved that fast, the damn drunkard could never be bothered to move fast unless it involved boozes. And if he found out about Ruby's loss of control then he'd be in full training mode before she could say 'Nevermore.'
Qrow was a right bastard in training mode; early mornings to run miles, then straight into weapons training, then an hour of meditation but not to relax to focus on the mechanics of a your semblance, after that it was a short break for a light lunch then into stretches and weight training. He would give them a small break around the middle of the afternoon to do chores then it was into the books for Grimm studies and history lessons. Once a week both she and Ruby had been dropped off in different areas of Patch with a map and compass and told that they had a few hours to navigate a course that stretched out over the entire island. Yang had sucked at that, her impulsive nature made it hard for her to stay on one course. And then he'd disappear for a week or two and if they slacked off during that time he could tell and training became worse to make up for the lost time.
"Yang?" Blake's voice in her ear cut through the music making the blonde snap out of her thoughts.
"Yeah Kit Cat?" She asked spinning to face the black haired girl; amber eyes seemed to glow in the flashing light that accompanied the music.
"I've been asking if you're alright." Blake explained, her voice fighting to be heard over the music. "You've been staring at the same spot for five minutes now."
"I'm fi-" Yang's words were cut off by an unamused look from the panther, "Just got a lot on my mind, nothing to worry about."
Blake frowned slightly, "You want to get out of here and talk?" Yang gave a sigh, she wasn't going to enjoy the club anyways so there was no point in staying. Giving a small nod Blake's hand snaked into her own ad began to lead them out of the club and back out into the night air.
Back in the stillness Blake shook her head lightly, "I get that you're a club person but do they really have to play the music so loud? My ears are going to be ringing for a month." She shook her head again and held a hand up to her bow to make sure her ears were still hidden.
"Sorry Blakey," Yang gave a small chuckle. "I didn't think it would be that bad for you." Blake sighed and turned to face the blonde, planting a light kiss on her lips the panther smirked.
"It wasn't bad just gave me a bit of a headache." Blake explained, as she continued to lead them down the street towards their hotel.
"Sorry, I didn't really think…" Yang's voice trailed off making Blake stop short causing the blonde to bump into her back, "What's up Kit Cat?"
Blake sighed heavily as she shook her head, she knew she had to get Yang's mind off whatever was bothering her but the question was how to go about it. Spotting that the park was full of vendors and stalls the panther began to guide them in that direction.
"Oh hey looks like they're setting up for the Harvest Festival." Yang smiled as she looked around, "I haven't been to one since Ruby started at Signal, wondering if they'll have a celebration at Beacon too."
"I think I heard a few of the professors talking about one that happens every year," Blake answered as caught the scent of baking apples and sugars in the air. "I haven't celebrated Harvest since my parents past and Vacuo's festivals were way to hot to enjoy, even in the middle of the night."
"Well we'll have to make this one awesome then." Yang grinned.
Blake nodded, "Hey go get us a bench, I'll be right back." Dropping her hand from Yang's. The moment the panther's hand slipped through her own the blonde felt her mood shift back down. Walking over to an empty bench she sat down heavily letting the wood take her weight.
She knew where her despondent mood came from; her childhood. While she wouldn't do anything to change it, save saving Summer, she still found herself feeling slightly jilted about it. There was something wrong about watching your dad drop into depression abandoning his children because he couldn't deal with reality, having to take care of your younger sister who you were barely older than just to make sure she had a childhood, then being trained to do a job that had killed your mother and taken every ounce of happiness away from your family by an alcoholic uncle whose idea of safe was just a line above life threatening. But no she still wouldn't change anything, she like the person she had become, one of the strongest fighters who could take care of some of the toughest Grimm with her bare fists, a wondering traveller looking for the next adventure. It just hurt that she had to grow up faster than most kids her age.
But now that she thought about it Yang doubted anyone training to be a Huntsman or Huntress had a normal childhood. Blake had already bore her sins to the group, she suspected Weiss had a past that was just as clouded and Ruby, well those two years the wolf had been missing were still a mystery that she never talked about.
"Yang?" Blake's voice broke her out of her thoughts making her snap back to reality. The panther was holding two bowls of ice cream in her hands her amber eyes looking at her confused, "Do you want one or did I waste Weiss' lien?"
Giving her girlfriend a sheepish smile Yang accepted the treat, "Sorry I was a bit lost in thought." She mumbled as Blake sat down beside her. Taking an offered spoon the blonde dug into the treat, and much to her delight under the ice cream was a baked dumpling filled with apples. "Oh Gods this is good." She groaned slightly as the sweetness mixed on her tongue.
"I thought you'd like it." Blake chuckled as she fought to keep the blush off her cheek, Yang's moan was way to sexual for something so innocent. "So what's on your mind?"
Yang took another bite of the delightful treat as she tried to organize her thoughts. "Remember when I told you about Summer?" Blake gave a small nod, "After she died my dad just stopped caring about everything. It was like his will to actually live just disappeared, he'd just go through the motions of a day. He never asked us about our days or if we were doing well in our studies. Any real parental duties were just shut off in him, hell the only time he actually acted like a parent again was after my incident in that alley and that was only long enough to make sure I was okay. I was twelve and Ruby was ten and the only real 'parental' figure we had was Qrow, and incase you couldn't tell he's a raging alcoholic and the only thing he cared about was training or where he'd get his next drink. Not to say he wasn't caring about us but his priorities were not what two kids needed growing up. So it fell to me to try to make sure Ruby had a 'stable' childhood."
"That must have been hard." Blake said softly as she place a soft hand on Yang's shoulder. "Growing up in the White Fang was all fun and games but at least there were people that cared about the kids."
Yang shrugged, "Actually it wasn't' as hard as you'd think. Ruby isn't really picky what she eats so it made making meals real easy, though making sure she didn't eat all the sweets in the house was a constant task." The blonde gave a small chuckle, "I eventually stopped buying most of them and just kept a lot of sweet berries and a few fresh cookies in the house so that way she went to the berries first, and we had a deal that the cookies were for once she had all of her chores, homework and training done. The hardest part was the first few months after Summer died." Yang's voice caught slightly she took a few bites of the treat in order to give her time to settle her emotions, "It was hard on Ruby, she didn't know she was adopted by Summer then and being told that her mom was suddenly gone was really hard on her, she didn't really understand at first and was sure that her mission was just taking longer than expected, she'd snap at anyone who said otherwise she became very hostile for awhile. Then one night she finally accepted the truth, cried for hours on end before finally wearing herself out enough to pass out."
Blake leaned against her girlfriend she could see the sheen building in her eyes, Yang blinked hard trying to remove the wetness. "I grew up always protecting Ruby, I promised Summer when she brought Ruby home for the first time I'd always watch out for my little sister. And now I have no idea what happened to her, Summer taught me a lot about wolves but she never prepared me for this and now when my sister needs me I have no idea what to do." The blonde finally lost her battle with her tears as she hung her head and cried. She felt Blake guide her face to her shoulder causing her to wrap her arms around the back of the panther and cling to her.
Blake was initially shocked when the blonde suddenly dissolved into tears. Yang was always so bubbly and bright that it was hard to remember that she had other emotions besides happy. Careful as to not touch her hair, Blake guided the blonde into her shoulder and began to rub small circles into her back trying to comfort her. "Sorry," Yang coughed as she pulled away whipping her eyes.
"It's fine Yang." Blake shook her head as she assisted in whipping away the tear tracks, "You don't have to put on a strong face around me, I will never judge you for being upset." She gave the girl a light smile as she leaned forward and brushed her lips against Yang's.
"I know but compared to your past, mine was kittens and rainbows." Yang chuckled; her words made Blake frown slightly.
Fixing her amber eyes onto lilac Blake stared into her girlfriend, "Yang I want you to listen and understand right now, while my own struggles were hard and difficult they in no means discredit or lessen your own. It does us no good to compare who had the worst past or whose life was harder. We just have to accept them for what they were and help each other move past them."
Yang nodded slightly as she back away more, "Yeah you're right." She nodded before looking around at the few people that roamed the booths that were slowly closing down. There were a few parents that had small children and were promising that they would be back soon to explore as more stalls opened throughout the week. It had been a very long time since Yang had come to Vale's Harvest festival and the one on Patch changed drastically after Summer died.
"I think that it might be time we head back to the hotel." Blake sighed as she stood up, Yang nodded in agreement it was getting late and a nice soft fluffy bed sounded nice. Dropping their empty bowls and used spoons in a near by trash can the duo quickly rejoined hands and started walking towards their hotel room.
Yang felt the silence around them causing her to shift awkwardly as she walked, while she was more of less use to the silent moments between her and Blake it was still weird for her and the pervious conversation they had didn't really help. Blake sighed as she felt her girlfriend shift and turned to look at her, "I know you're feeling awkward so just say something already and we'll get through it."
"It's just I always feel weird for breaking down around people and now I've broken down around you twice and the only person who's seen more than that is Ruby." Yang sighed and scratched at the back of her head, "I like people to see me as happy and upbeat and strong so having them seem me like you have its weird for me. Like I know we're dating and yeah sharing emotions is all part of it but a lot of the past relationships I've been in have been quick flings or just straight physical. I know I don't want that with you, you're different which is great but this is something I'm not really use too. And I want to get use to it because like I said before I'm falling in love with you and I don't-"
Yang's rambling was cut off by Blake's lips pressed firmly to her own. The panther was starting to wonder which of the parents had the sisters inherited their rambling tendencies but given that they didn't have an actual shared parent she suspected that it was something they had gotten from their mother. And while she found it reasonably cute that both of them rambled when they were flustered Blake also found it reasonably annoying after about five seconds. Pulling away from the blonde's lips the panther couldn't help but smirk at the dazed look the blonde had.
"Yang, while I like the fact that you enjoy people seeing you as happy and upbeat I am also like the fact that you're letting me see more of your emotions." Blake smiled at her as she patted her cheek, "The only relationship I was in was controlling both physically and emotionally, I always had to repress my emotions to keep them from being used against me. So we're both going to have to learn on how to be more open with our emotions." She leaned back in and captured the blonde's lips again enjoying the tastes of orange and a slight hint of left over cinnamon.
Yang nodded as she rested her forehead against Blake's taking a few moments to get her head back together, "You know, you're really smart Kitten." She gave the panther a smirk as she pulled back.
"Blame it on all the books I read." Blake rolled her eyes as she started to lead them back to the hotel.
The blonde's smirk widened, "Oh so if that's the case then you must be really knowledgeable in the bed with all the smut you read."
Blake's cheeks lit up with blush as she looked away from the smirking brawler, "It's not smut, it's good literature."
"That you can get off to." Yang snickered.
"Well…" Blake's blush deepened, she really didn't want to admit some of her books really stroked her the right way. Especially the book she was reading right now, the fact the protagonist's love interest was a woman with long blonde hair had absolutely nothing to due with it at all, nope none at all.
"Is there anything you'd care to share Blakey?" Yang began to chuckle as she heard the panther hesitate. Blake couldn't help but blush deeper as the blonde ghosted closer causing her breath to tickle her ear. "Maybe I should burrow a few of those books to get an idea about what you like."
"Yang, stop that." Blake hissed she was sure her face was as red as a tomato by now.
Yang wiggled her eyebrows as she continued to smirk, "Oh but Blakey you'd so enjoy the things I can learn from those books."
Blake huffed and looked forward avoided the blonde's eyes, "Oh I'm sure I would." She muttered below her breath.
Finally making it back to the hotel they had a room in they nodded to the front desk clerk before entering the elevator to head up to their floor. It wasn't the best hotel in Vale but it was still up there and while Weiss had given Blake enough money to afford a few days in the nicest hotel she wasn't about to blow her friends money just because she had it. Besides it would be nice to use what was left over to get Yang a gift, maybe one for Weiss and Ruby too. "You know we had enough money that we probably should had spent a few more on Qrow instead of dropping him off in that rat trap…" Yang sighed as they reached their floor.
"I remember you saying 'find the cheapest place a drunk can sleep on off'. So it's a little late to feel bad about it unless you want to head back and drag him all over Vale again." Blake shrugged.
"Yeah I suppose, I mean knowing him he's woken up in worse places and he'd probably think it a funny joke when he wakes up." Yang flopped down onto the bed letting her hair spill around her. "Still he is family, even if he is a drunk bastard."
Blake sat down next to her girlfriend giving her a puzzled look, "You seem to have mixed feelings about him, care to elaborate?"
Yang sighed into her pillow, "He's family you know? Like I said when dad shut down he stepped in to help, but not with our care but our training. Ruby and I have been training to Huntresses since we could walk, Dad and Summer would train us outside of our classes helping us develop our skills. Then Summer died and the parenting aspects of Dad stopped so for the most of my childhood it was training. Then Qrow came along and it was just increased. My childhood was essentially taken from me because of them so it's hard to be a little resentful of them. I mean they're my family so I love them but at the same time…"
"You resent them." Blake finished off Yang gave a small nod.
"I know I shouldn't. They raised me, taught me how to survive in this world, gave me skills that can save others and helped me learn what I want in life but deep down it still hurts." Yang's voice was soft that Blake knew that without her sensitive hearing she would have missed what the blonde had said. Blake sighed as she slowly reached up and undid her bow allowing her ears to twitch in the open air. Kicking off her shoes she quickly straddled the blonds legs tossing her armbands as she settled. "Blake what are you doing?"
"Move your hair," Blake instructed, "And take off your jacket."
Slowly Yang did as Blake instructed, though she struggled a bit on taking off her jacket leaving her in her yellow tank top, "Okay but you still haven't answered my question." Once her hair was off to the side Blake leaned over and started to apply pressure onto the blonde's muscles. "Oh." Yang squeaked as she understood what Blake had intended.
Blake focused on her work finding a few hard knots that made Yang flinch and groan as she worked them out. After a few minutes of silence Blake spoke buy continued her work, "When my parents died I couldn't help but be so mad at them for dying and leaving me alone. Because of them I was left alone with no one to care for me and I hated myself for being mad at them. I loved my parents so much and I missed them so much it hurt but I was so mad at them for leaving me alone." She had to blink hard against the tears in her eyes focusing on the hard knot she just found at the base of Yang's left shoulder blade. "Even today I'm still mad at them but I'm getting better now that I have people who care about me in my life. I'm not saying that you have to let go of your anger at your situation right away but I want you to know you're not going to be alone anymore, you have a lot of friends that will stand by you and help you now."
Yang rolled over looking up at her with wide lilac eyes, tears brimming in them. Slowly Blake leaned down and captured her lips again in a slow searing kiss. She felt Yang's hands glide up her stomach and stop at the buttons for her vest before pausing. Pulling back slightly Blake could see the question in her eyes. Giving her a slight nod Blake leaned back down as the blonde's hands quickly undid the buttons allowing her to shrug out of the vest leaving her in just the white crop top and tights.
Deeping the kiss Blake slipped her tongue into the blondes mouth making Yang moan with delight as their tongues met and wrapped around each other. Blake smirked as she slowly slide her own hand under the yellow material and began running her fingers over the tone flat stomach of her girlfriend feeling the hard muscles that were below the skin. Yang's own hands were gliding over her bare sides and up and down her spine sending shivers up and down her body. Deciding to be a bit more daring Blake let her nails nip at the blonde's flesh electing a deep hissing moan from her lips. The panther's smirk widened as she latched onto the brawler's exposed neck sucking and biting down lightly.
"Oh fuckkkk." Yang moaned as her breath hitched in her throat. "You're not playing fair Kitten."
Backing away from where she was biting Blake lightly licked at the spot causing Yang to shiver, "Well like you said I must have learned something from those books I've read." Her voice was slightly husky as she continued to lick at the spot nipping at the flesh occasionally. Looking up into lilac eyes the panther saw a fire burning in them but she could also see that Yang was holding herself back. Puling back slightly Blake hovered over her girlfriend's face, "Yang what's wrong?"
Yang bit her lower lip contemplating her words before sighing, "I want you." She stated very bluntly causing Blake's cheeks to redden once again. "I want nothing more than to ravish you and make you scream my name until morning, but I know we're not ready for that, yet." Yang closed her eyes and rested her arm over them, "Blake I need to be fully honest with you; listening to you talk a few minutes ago made me realize that I'm not falling in love with you, I'm in fact hopelessly, without reservations deeply and madly in love with you." Blake's voice hitched and she could feel her heart thunder against her chest. "I don't want to rush into this and risk messing that up and hurting you, because if that happened I don't know how I'd deal with that." Blake could see a few tears leak out from behind the blonde's arm.
Taking a deep breath and steading her mind Blake reached down and removed the blonde's arm allowing her to look into the lilac eyes, she could see the apprehension in them as well as fear and hope. So many emotions flicked through those lovely orbs that Blake almost got lost in them. Shaking herself she leaned down and lightly brushed her nose against the brawlers before backing up just enough to stare back into her eyes, "Yang Xiao Long." Her voice was just loud enough so that they both could hear it, "I love you too." Yang's eyes widened with surprise, "I know you told me to not say it unless I was sure, and I'm more than sure. I too am hopelessly, without reservations deeply and madly in love with you." With a content sigh she snuggled down into the blonde's neck breathing in her scent of lilacs and gunpowder. "But you're right, we're not ready for that, yet. But we will be and when we are I'll gladly show you just how much I have learned from my books." With another smirk she lightly bit into the blonde's neck again getting a sharp hiss.
"You tease." Yang muttered with a chuckle, "I thought I was suppose to be the tease."
Blake chuckled along with her girlfriend, "Ó, wǒ qīn'ài de sūn lóng, nǐ bù zhīdào wǒ yǒu duōshǎo kěyǐ shūlǐ.*"
"You know one of these day's I'm going to learn Menagerian and you're going to have to eat those words." Yang smiled before wiggling her eyebrows giving her a burning look, "Among other things."
Roman was considering where he went wrong in life. Perhaps it was that time when he was eight when he stole a few toys from a toy store. Maybe it was when he was ten and stole a few Dust vials and stones from another. Or it could have been when he was twelve and pulled of his first big heist, a fully loaded cargo truck full of cars. Actually now the more he thought about it, it was probably the day he decided to leave Haven and get into crime full time. That day had been one of the best days of his life, getting away from a life end career and into one where he could make is own hours, take his own clients, hell he could even set his own rates.
Now, however, now he was really reconsidering just how much of a mistake that was. Sure he wasn't the best Huntsman there was but he was still fairly decent at it, hell he even got into Haven on the recommendation of one of the worlds best Huntresses before she died. Bet she was a bit disappointed in him in her after life but not really his problem. And on top of that he had the luck to keep him alive when the chips were down. He wasn't sure just how much longer that luck was going to hold though, especially now with him here.
Roman watched as the Faunus with red hair and horns pace back and forth in front of a group of Faunus on their knees before him his long black jacket whipping around his heels. Each of them had gotten away during the warehouse incident allowing the cops to confiscate the stolen Dust and ammo. He noticed that the Faunus' hand stayed on the hilt of his sword as he stalked in front of them making them shiver each time her passed. Behind the pacing Faunus was another Faunus the size of a mountain. Roman had though Gorilla Faunus were large, but whatever he was made them look very small.
He knew that her should perhaps feel slightly bad for the Faunus on their knees, he had heard enough stories of their leader from some of other Faunus to know that he did not tolerate failures well, nor did he take running away well wither. Roman could only thank his lucky stars that he was not in front of the Faunus as well. But he knew it wouldn't take much to put him there.
The Faunus stopped in front of the leopard Faunus that had been second in command in protecting the warehouse, the commander having been killed during the fight with what sounded like a demon of a Huntress. It had been his job to secure the warehouse after the commander when down but instead he had run away with his spotted tail between his legs.
"You left your post." The Leader growled as glared down through his mask. The leopard kept his eyes down and tried to stay as still as possible. "And because of that we have to start from the beginning, only this time we have to be even more careful because now they are aware we are here." His voice was surprisingly calm.
"We didn't have time to move the-" The leopards voice was cut off by a swift kick to the stomach.
"You should have killed the Huntresses instead of running away from them." The Leader snarled. "There were only two of them and nearly fifty of you." That wasn't really a fair fight Roman noted but he'd keep his mouth shut. It would probably taken nearly twice as many men to deal with one Huntress; two who worked together would be damn near impossible to bring down for this bunch.
"One of them knew us, it was Belladonna sir. She must have known we were here." Another down the line pleaded. His face was contorted in fear as the Leader shifted his gaze.
Before Roman could even blink the offending Faunus' head was bouncing away from his body leaving a quickly forming pool of blood on the concrete floor. "I do not tolerate desertion, all of you left your posts and left your brethren to be captured by the police. You failed in our cause and now none of you will live to see our glorious revolution." Raising his hand more Faunus stepped forward and raised rifles level with those on their knees, once he lowered his hand each rifle barked once ending the life of the one it was pointed at. Turning to the large Faunus the leader jerked his head at the bodies, "Get someone to clean up the mess." Once his blade was returned to its place at his hip the Leader turned to face Roman. Roman kept his features schooled back into a neutral one, he'd freak out later at what he had just witnessed. "Torchwick, I'm going to need you to find a certain student at Beacon." Roman had a suddenly weird feeling of déjà vu at the request.
"Uhh…" Roman hesitated before shaking her head, "Well it's not the agreement we had but in order to continue our acceptable terms I suppose I can do you this favor, you know for one in return." He shrugged lightly as if it was everyday he dealt with murderous psychopaths, which with how often the creepy Doctor dropped by it was starting to feel like it.
"Find her and we'll discuss your favor." The Leader growled.
Roman shrugged, his favor would be not killing him but hey if he did the job well and fast he'd probably still live. "Sure so am I going on a name or a picture or both?"
The Leader pulled out an old picture with damaged edges, it was of a young girl with black hair and amber eyes, two sharp ears stood on top of her head. "Her name is Blake Belladonna, find her."
A/N: Alright so nobody shoot me if there are mistakes in this chapter regarding grammar or spelling cause this chapter fought me tooth, nail and claw and about damn near won too. But hey I got through it on to the next one, which will be whiterose. So Adam's finally in Vale, what does this mean for our little black panther? Probably nothing good. But hey everyone keeps their arms in this story...
With that: I can never thank all of you enough, please be kind when you review, and keep smiling through the clouds that come your way.
Blake- Oh my dear Sun Dragon, you have no idea how much I can tease.
PS: I WILL BE OUT OF CONTACT FOR THE NEXT WEEK AND A HALF! I WILL BE WITHOUT COMPUTER AND POSSIBLY OUT OF CELL SERVICE TO POST THE NEXT CHAPTER NEXT WEEK SO PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE IF THERE IS NO CHAPTER NEXT WEEK DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT GET MAD OR UPSET THIS IS AN UNEXPECTED ISSUE THAT I MUST SEE TO AND GOING TO CAUSE A LOT OF EMOTIONAL STRESS AS IT IS SO I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU'RE GOING TO COMPLAIN TO JUST NOT PLEASE I REALLY ENJOY WRITING THIS STORY AND I'LL BE RIGHT BACK, THANKS ROSEWOOD.