It had been a near daily occurrence since they were accepted into Shade Academy and put on a team together. Sin's carefree and joking attitude angered Alena who already hated humans as it was and for reasons still unknown Sin decided to continue provoking the situation until Alena couldn't take it anymore. It was just yesterday when Alena had finally had enough of Sin's antics and began openly threatening him, it wasn't until one of their teachers intervened that stopped a potential altercation, now the two were preparing to settle their differences in a sanctioned sparring match, each opponent with their own stipulation if they won.
If Sin won, Alena would have to be polite to him, but if Alena won, Sin would have to leave the academy and their team for good.
Rhia tried to object, that was too harsh, but Sin accepted before she could. It was quiet that night at their dorm, neither of them spoke, Sin laid on his bed smirking as if he had already won while Alena went to bed early leaving only Rhia and Brick awake. The bear faunus was of few words as always, only speaking if spoken to and Rhia found she didn't have the energy to chat, worried that her sister and her friend would hurt each other.
When morning came Sin was uncharacteristically quiet and kept to himself, he even woke up before the others where he usually was the last to wake. His only greeting to his team was a silent nod as he grabbed his combat gear and set off for the academy's gym. Thankfully it was the weekend so the lack of classes gave him time to stretch and prepare, while he was fully confident that he would win he had seen Alena in action a couple of times and knew she would put up a fight, not that it mattered, she would never land a single blow on him, but he knew she wasn't going to go down without going all out.
"That's what I'll be counting on" he thought, "Have her go all out, make her tire, I can play both offense and defense at once. With my semblance I'm basically untouchable one on one and my close fighting style I'll be able to get inside the reach of her weapon and limit her combat options, so unless she gets tricky I've got this."
With his stretches done he wraps his hands in tape and begins swinging at the sandbag, ducking and weaving to simulate fighting a real opponent before jabbing once again. Hooks, jabs, uppercuts, thrusts, haymakers, his fighting style of choice was boxing, while that meant he had to be within arms reach of his opponent to fight it also meant that he was faster in his strikes. Most weapons no matter how skilled an individual was with them were slower than the fists and arms of the body, the saying was the hand is quicker than the eye and while Sin wasn't the fastest member of his team he was faster than Alena who's weapon of choice was a dual ended polearm, a trident at one end and a naginata at the other meaning that while she had reach, her attacks would be slower.
Thankfully Alena's semblance would be a nonfactor in their match, the ability to track people based on their aura, and the more familiar she is with them, the better she can sense that person. A useful semblance no doubt, but almost completely useless in one on one combat. Sin wouldn't have put it past Alena to make up her semblance to possibly cover for her true one, but since Rhia confirmed it he knew it to be true, he trusted Rhia and he wanted to trust Alena as well, but first they had to put an end to the hostilities between them.
"I could ease up on taunting her" he admits to himself, "It does only make things worse and she's not the type to just cut loose and have fun for a day, it's like her default emotion is angry. Maybe I should find out why, then again I'm sure it's a personal reason and I haven't exactly been truthful with her and Rhia."
He leaned his forehead against the sandbag, grabbing its sides to hold it still, "I'm not sure they'd be so accepting of Brick and me if they knew what our past was really like. Maybe one day I'll tell them, after they have a chance to really get to know us. Honestly if it wasn't for the rule that if I lost I'd have to leave Shade I'd just let her win just so she could work out her aggression."
He steps away from the sandbag and nods, promising to be less provocative toward Alena after he's won and try to salvage any chance at a good terms relationship.
Alena herself was preparing for the match as well, checking her equipment making sure everything was in order. Unlike the human on her team she would stretch before the match was scheduled to begin, she preferred to spend her time strategizing. She already knew Sin's fighting style, up close and knew he would try to use that to his advantage, to get inside her weapon's reach where she would be limited in her movements and options for a counterattack. Of course she had some skills in hand to hand, probably not to the same level as her teammate, but enough to briefly fight back and return to a more favorable position, her only real concern was his semblance.
When Sin first told her and her sister about it, she doubted him believing he was only trying to make himself sound cool, but after witnessing him in matches against other students she began to believe him. The way he waited until the second before an attack would connect to move out of the way or deflect or parry, he really could perceive things in slow motion, that would be his biggest advantage against her and with him being faster that played to his chances even more. She knew she would have to be clever and a direct assault would fail against him, she considered multiple attacks from the side, if she could manage to get to his flank or get him off his feet she would have a chance.
She looked at her sister who had not spoken since the fight yesterday, Rhia sat at the desk staring out the window and to the outdoor amphitheatre where Alena and Sin would be facing each other. She still couldn't understand why her sister was so tolerant of the human on their team, there was no denying he was good in a fight, but beyond that he was a fool and an imbecile whose potential lies downward, not up and yet for some reason Rhia not only tolerated Sin, she liked him. Rhia was appointed their team leader so she should be putting the annoying human in his place not allow him to continue being not only disruptive, but frustrating. Between making jokes during class and not taking anything seriously, the thing Alena hated the most was Sin's ever insistent desire to flirt with her sister in addition to other girls he met.
Alena's knuckles turned white as she gripped her weapon, perhaps he was one of those types with a festish for the exotic. She knew there were some humans out there like that, deplorable people who would not only mistreat the faunus, but also see them as more private servants and attendants. While the thought of anyone doing that with her sister enraged her, the thought of it being a human made her thoughts violent. There was a part of Alena that wanted to get rid of Sin in a more permanent way, she had no problems admitting that she hated him, his only redeeming quality was he believed the faunus should be treated equally, although she still had her doubts on that in fact she wasn't entirely convinced that Ulrich wasn't some kind of servant considering the way Sin will order him around and the giant faunus just does what he's told.
Alena takes a moment to think on that, servant or not Ulrich does seem to have a good relationship with Sin, they even seem like friends. It would be easier to ascertain if the bear faunus wasn't so quiet all the time only speaking a few sentences a day and when he did speak his accent was difficult to understand. If they were friends she found it unlikely it was a good two way relationship, unless the human was using Ulrich as an intimidation technique to scare off anyone that would try to start something. Sin calls his faunus friend by the nickname Brick because of his size and strength, something Alena also found annoying and disrespectful, but of course the large faunus didn't seem to mind.
Alena exhaled, Sin wasn't the worst human out there, she had personally experienced worse, honestly if it wasn't for his antics she would be willing to tolerate him or at least attempt to.
The alarm on her scroll went off signaling that it was time. Grabbing her weapon and standing up she headed for the door without waiting for her sister or Brick. Rhia was slow to stand up from the desk looking to her remaining teammate and asking him if he thinks things will turn out alright.
The bear faunus offered her a smile in response and nodded before gesturing for her to walk with him to spectate.
Meeting with Sin and Alena at the amphitheatre Rhia looked between the two, her sister seemed eager while Sin for once seemed calm and uninterested, was he worried about losing?
She asked them, "Can you two just talk this out instead of fighting? We're supposed to be a team."
Sin wanted to agree to that, but he knew Alena's type, she was set on this and if he tried to back out she would taunt him and while he would like to deny it, he was too easily goaded into a fight. He met Alena's eyes he agreed to this only because he figured she wouldn't settle for talking, maybe he was wrong, maybe he shouldn't have assumed that, but chances at putting an end to this were higher this way. He knew he was going to win, he just had to come up with a way to let her work out some of her frustrations and hopefully open a way to salvage a chance at a working relationship. They didn't have to be friends, they just had to be able to work together and trust one another.
Rhia's eyes fell to the floor, "Just please don't kill each other" she asked as her sister and her friend prepared to step onto the stage of the amphitheatre.
Standing in the middle of the stage was a female tiger faunus, her tanned skin marked by dozens of black stripes. Yun Xing, Shade's head of combat and Headmistress Eden's second in command.
Her white hair ran down to her shoulders ending in a braid with a pale blue band holding it in place. She wore a tan shirt depicting a compass with a different animal at each end, on the north was a black tortoise, on the east, an azure dragon, on the south, a red bird and at the west point a white tiger. Over that shirt she wore a dark brown jacket that hung from her shoulders held in place by a band across the collar and on its back the same compass symbol. Despite her shirt and jacket being in good condition for some reason she wore tattered black pants, stopping halfway down her shins while wearing simple running shoes.
Her amber eyes examined Alena and Sin both as they stepped onto the stage making sure they were sufficiently prepared before she addressed them, "Alright, you will be following tournament style rules, you are allowed to use anything in your arsenal to achieve victory. The match will stop when either of or both of your auras drop into the red."
She gestures above her, large hologram displays showing both opponents and their aura level.
Professor Xing stepped back, "Remember to fight fairly and to the best of your abilities and to stop when I say, any attempts to continue after I have called for the end will be met with strict consequences."
Giving each student one last check she stepped away and gave the word for the match to begin. Alena was the first to move, rushing in with the trident end of her weapon aimed at her teammate expecting the human to evade. Sin waited, his semblance active watching the faunus girl move in slow motion as his sense of perception heightened, each step she took lasted seconds, it only took Alena three seconds to reach him, but to him it was closer to ten giving him enough time to check her stance and estimate the best way to evade and fight back.
Leaving back on his heel Sin opted for a spin, pivoting to the left and swinging his elbow back aiming for the faunus' shoulder, but Alena twirled her weapon parrying his elbow and striking back with her own catching the boy off guard and nearly hitting him. It was through his semblance alone that he managed to avoid her attack, quickly backing away from her Sin took a moment to size up his opponent. He expected Alena to get tricky with tactics as it would be her only chance, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly, let alone a close call that he didn't allow. Sin made a habit of timing his dodges until the very moment before an attack would hit him giving him a guaranteed shot at his enemy, but this time he was almost hit.
He met Alena's eyes, the fox faunus seemed pleased with herself aware of the human's caution. She smirked as she flourished her weapon and returned to her stance ready to continue. Turning her weapon over to the naginata blade she held it up and threw it at him like a javelin activating the switch that released the trident blade along with its chain attachment, either Sin would dodge or he would try to catch the weapon, either way she had a plan.
Sin did grab the weapon, once again using his semblance to perfectly seize it from the air, that's when he realized the thrown weapon was a distraction. Alena wrapped her wrist in the trident's chain and jerked back yanking Sin toward her before turning the head of the trident toward him, the three prongs sliding together each firing a bullet toward her free falling opponent. She watched as Sin pulled the shaft of her weapon ahead of him using it to block the three bullets, realizing just how precise his semblance allowed him to be.
With her shots blocked Alena charged in determined to get the first blow before he hit the ground, thrusting with the head of her trident only for Sin to reach out and grab hold and use it to shift his moment with a single push. Landing on his knee behind her he tightened his grip on her weapon and swept her feet from behind knocking her over and just like she did earlier twirled it in his hands bringing the polearm down across her gut driving her into the stage floor. With the first successful hit landed the spectators turned their eyes to the hologram displays above the stage, watching Alena's aura level drop, thankfully still far in the green.
Taking the chance to back away Sin stepped out of range of Alena's weapon, but stayed close enough to strike quickly. He chose to rely on his speed and semblance for this fight, electing to go for a swarmer tactic as opposed to his preferred method of out-boxing. He lacked the size to utilize the slugger style of boxing, using brute force and raw power to just throw heavy blow after heavy blow, so he decided to focus his fighting style around the other two methods. With his semblance it made him a natural at out-boxing, staying outside an opponent's reach and capitalizing on missed strikes, but against an opponent with extended range like Alena he knew swarmer tactics would be better suited.
Using his speed he could get inside her reach and land multiple blows before using his semblance to evade and circle around to repeat the process. A faster style, but one missed step could get him struck instead. He watched Alena get up, he could attack now, but he relented wanting to let her get back up hoping that show of fairness will say something to her.
Once she was back on her feet Alena set her eyes back on Sin and retracted the chain of her weapon until the trident head returned to its position at the end of her polearm. Raising the weapon, she twisted the other end and the naginata blade separated, the end of the shaft turning into a large blade sword. Now with a weapon in both hands Alena moved in again making feint jabs with the trident to try and lure Sin into making a move.
Sin growled at himself for forgetting that her weapon could separate into two, while it wouldn't be that big of a threat it made him be more cautious. Alena was smart, he already knew that and now that she saw up close what he could do she was trying to trick him into moving first. Sin could end this now, he could move in take whatever attacks she made and just unload overwhelming her and end the match within the next minute, but perhaps his biggest flaw was his pride. He boasted about being untouchable in a one on one match and taking a hit, just to end the fight quick wouldn't sit right with him.
"Does pride matter as long as I win?" he thought to himself, "I'm still fighting fair, that's what matters."
He stepped back once more avoiding another feint thrust from Alena, this time acting like he was going to juke to the side only to step forward into her reach just like she wanted him to. Tilting her polearm she barred him from backing out and thrust forward with her naginata blade sure that her strike would land this time, only for it to miss once again. She watched as Sin ducked seizing her thrusting wrist and pushing her attack upward, away from him.
Throwing a quick jab into Alena's gut Sin stood up and turned planting his weight as he flung the faunus girl over his shoulder at the same time twisting her wrist to wrench the naginata blade from her grasp. Throwing the weapon behind him Sin turned once more his fist raised and Alena through adrenaline and trained reflexes managed to roll out of the way before her opponent's fist connected with her once more. Sin's aura exploded outward as his fist contacted the floor cracking the hardwood surface and everyone watched as Sin's aura level dropped by almost a full tenth.
"He attacked with his aura" one student said, "Isn't that putting him at a disadvantage?"
A female student next to him answered, "Not entirely, if he manages to land an attack like that with his aura following behind it he'll end up doing more damage to her, the thing is he has to actually land that attack."
Alena quickly got back to her feet and backed away watching Sin stand up and shake his hand, while their aura still protected them from harm impacts were still felt. She was back to playing defensively, if she let him get close he could end the match in potentially a single blow and while she doubted he would actually attempt to do so it would be best to not risk it. She started moving to the side and watched as he did the same, the two of them circling each other until they stood in the spot where the other was. Alena slowly kneeled down to reclaim her blade while keeping her eyes on Sin in case he attacked only to watch him hold his ground.
He surprised her, she assumed he would rush in and try to overwhelm her with his speed advantage or press his attack once she was down and vulnerable, but he not only allowed her to get up, he's also allowing her to reclaim his weapon. He was either playing fair or thought that little of her. Her hate for him made her assume the latter and she stood blade in hand trident in the other reconnecting the two before rushing in again. Raising her weapon she pulled the trigger firing shot after shot at Sin as she charged watching him dodge until she was on him thrusting with her trident while sliding her back hand farther down the shaft of the weapon and tightening her grip she turned on her heel slashing at him nearly scoring her first hit.
Sin leaned back avoiding the swinging blade as Alena shifted her grip once against spinning the weapon around the three pronged head of the polearm coming from overhead was even closer than the last forcing him back even more. Alena pressed her attack finally finding her chance, now that her momentum was built up she could keep swinging her weapon forcing him further back until he either lost his footing or was backed into the corner. Sin continued to step back waiting until the right moment to use his semblance in order to conserve his aura, when he realized he was at the edge of the stage he made his move.
Bringing his semblance up he reached for the shaft of Alena's weapon grabbing hold and turning while planting his weight, Alena not releasing her weapon held on as Sin spun her in a full circle before throwing her back toward the center of the stage. Stumbling Alena tried to catch her balance, but Sin was already on top of her, his first blow connecting with her lower abdomen before his next punch hit the same spot on the other side, then came the third and the fourth followed by the fifth. Hit after hit Sin's attack became a relentless flurry of strikes showcasing his speed as he began wearing away at Alena's aura, the impact keeping her from regaining her balance. Whenever she did manage to get her footing Sin would circle around to her flank and continue, hitting her too quickly from multiple angles until her was behind her and with his last punch unleashed his aura sending her across the stage and dropping her aura to the red.
"That's enough" Professor Xing called once Alena's aura dropped to the minimal level, "The match is over, the winner is Mr. Saber."
Hearing those words Alena looked up at the overhead displays seeing her aura level whereas Sin's was still in the green, not only did she lose, but she lost without ever landing a single hit on him. Slamming her fist against the ground she reclaimed her weapon, got up and walked off the stage returning to the locker room to change and seethe. She punched one of the lockers denting it, thankfully her aura while weakened kept her from hurting herself.
"Dammit!" she nearly yelled, "How could I lose to him?"
Again she punched one of the lockers, she was so sure she had him, just another step and she would have knocked him off the stage winning with a ring out and while she would have preferred to physically beat him to win as long as she won he would be gone, but she lost. Her anger only continued to rise as she slumped onto one of the benches dropping her weapon at her feet and once against slamming her fist against the locker behind her.
"Dammit!" she swore, "Dammit! How did I lose to him? To that imbecile!?"
While she lamented her loss alone Sin hand finished changing from the boy's locker room and stepped back into the hall to rejoin with Rhia and Brick.
"Hey" he greeted them rather regretfully.
Rhia returned the greeting and his tone, "You won" she reminded him, but still sounding sad herself.
Sin nodded, "Yeah, doesn't mean I enjoyed it…" he paused clearly feeling his win wasn't a victory, "I feel like this is just going to make things worse."
Rhia hung her head, she knew he was right. As much as she wanted this to be over between him and her sister she knew it would only become worse after this.
"There he is!" someone said.
The three members of RUST looked up to see a pair of male students walking over to them.
"Hey, good fight" one said.
The other continued, "Yeah, a shame it was so one-sided though. Man she never touched you, either you're that good or she's just downright awful."
Rhia turned to challenge the student's comment, but Sin had stood up and stepped in front of them meeting the boy's eyes.
"Let me make one thing clear to you" Sin began a hint of threat in his tone, "The only reason I won like that is because of my semblance, without it I probably would have lost."
He leaned in closer glaring at both of them, "Just because she lost doesn't mean she's a bad fighter, next time you insult her like that I'll make you swallow your teeth."
Walking between the two students Sin shoulder bumped both of them pushing them to the side as Rhia quickly followed after him with Brick bringing up the rear, the imposing size of the bear faunus serving as a deterrent to any thoughts of retaliation by the two.
Stopping at the end of the hall Sin looked back at Rhia, "I'm going to go lay down, you going to be alright?"
Rhia was taken aback by his question, even though he regretted the match he was still concerned about her feelings on the matter. She managed to nod telling him she would be fine, but she was more worried about him and her sister.
"Can't speak for her, but I'll be alright eventually" Sin answered, "It's my fault this happened, maybe I should have dialed back the jokes."
"It's not just that" Rhia told him, "Alena, she hates humans. When we were little we worked for the Schnee Dust Company, not by choice. Our parents were forced to be miners and Alena and I were basically maids until we would be old enough to go into the mines. We were miss treated pretty much the same way other faunus were. Our mom got sick one day, but because of how faunus are treated she was forced to keep working until her body just shut down. One day the White Fang attacked the facility, Alena, me and our dad tried to escape, but he was gunned down by one of the humans working there. Both of our parents were killed by humans, that's why she hates you. It's not just your jokes and the way you act."
Sin clenched his fists, the way the faunus were treated infuriated him long before he met Rhia and Alena, before he even met Brick, but hearing that made his blood boil.
He stepped forward and hugged her eliciting a surprised gasp from the faunus girl, "I'm not them" he told her, "I am nothing like them. I hate people like them. I promise, I'll protect you from that, I won't let anything like that happen to you again."
Brick placed a hand on Rhia's much smaller shoulder giving her a soft smile and nod showing that he agreed with Sin's words.
"Thank you" Rhia said, "I, I believe you're not like them."
Releasing her Sin stepped back, "Stay close to Brick and wait for your sister, make sure she's doing alright. I need to rest."
Walking back to their dorm room Sin collapsed on his bed feeling anger in addition to his exhaustion. Attacking with his aura always tired him, but hearing what that punk said about Alena and then Rhia telling him what happened to her and Alena in the past enraged him.
Turning onto his side to face the wall he said, "I promise Rhia, I'm not like them. I'll prove it, to you and Alena."