RWBY Through Worlds

108: Fight is Done

Much as Shine wanted to sleep, she was not allowed to do so just yet. Even after she'd made sure Winter--with protests--turned in, she was stopped by Yang.

By now it was 2 a.m. at least, if not later, and Shine was running on adrenaline that was rapidly dying down.

"What is it, Yang?" She said, not very patiently.

Yang looked moodier than usual.

"We need to talk," she said, pointedly.

Yang wanted to talk? Oh boy...

"About...?" Shine asked.

"Look, I'm not really one to be subtle." Yang made an entirely unnecessary statement--so she proved her point. "You and I do not get along, and frankly, you piss me off. I'm kind of tired of it."

"Makes two of us," Shine said.

"Can you not have a smarta-- retort for, like, 2 seconds?" Yang said, annoyed.

Shine drew a deep breath and reminded herself that this was a teenager she was talking to and she should stop taking things so personally.

"All right," she said more evenly. "What did you wish to say?"

"And don't give me that 'cool' act either." Yang made quotation marks. "I can tell you're mad already... Look, I don't know what your problem with me is, but whatever it is, you should just tell me and stop making snide comments."

Shine wanted so bad to say "me?!"

But she choked it back.

Truthfully, she did think her and Yang's animosity was getting pretty old--but any time she ever tried to ignore it, Yang usually said something to bring it back into the fray, and so...

"I don't even know what I did," Yang said, slightly less aggressive. "From day one, it was like, 'Shut up, Yang,' and whatever."

"I do remember that," Shine said. "I remember also you were not the most welcoming of people."

Yang frowned at her. "Can you blame me?"

"Perhaps not," Shine surprised her by admitting. "But I always think you get back what you give. I usually respond to you the way you start a conversation--only we've never had conversations, only fights. And I admit, I should rise above that; I have more responsibility to do so. But it's only fair to point out, if you constantly cross someone and insult them, even a saint is going to lose their temper sooner or later, and I am, sadly, only saintly in position, not in personality."

"Wow, high praise," Yang said.

"Not at all. The term saint is misused. It's only supposed to represent those who believe, not one's character." Shine shrugged. "But that's not important."

"This is one of the things that annoys me about you," Yang said. "You never just say something--you have to explain it like we're stupid."

"Did you know that?" Shine asked.

Silence.

"Teaching comes naturally to me. I can't help it," Shine said. "It really doesn't matter how smart you are--and in my family, that's just kind of how we interact. No one gets offended usually. Perhaps, if you ever asked anything about me, you would know that."

"Again, snippy," Yang said. "You're doing it right now. Geez, I didn't go to start a fight."

"Yang, if you want me to apologize to you, I'll do it," Shine said--not as patiently as one would think someone would offer that. "If it would really make you happy."