POV: BLAKE BELLADONNA
"Ummm, and why do you want to know tips to fighting Yang?" Ruby looks at me with a questioning look in those adorable, silver eyes of hers.
"Does it matter? It's me we're talking about. And if you don't tell me then you won't be able to have that lunch with Weiss." I look down at the crimson-haired youngling. Given the situation she has no time or leverage to negotiate with me. She needs my food for herself and Weiss, and she is telling this information to her sister's partner and roommate: someone who has no reason to do any wrong by Yang.
"Okay, okay. Fine, but you didn't hear any of these from me!"
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I look over my shoulder at Yang who looks completely shocked that I am behind her. She completely forgot the duplicating ability of my semblance. I slowly turn around, entering my Muay Thai stance once again. I want this fight to end. I hate hurting Yang, but she keeps coming at me in a way that I need to counterattack, instead of letting her semblance drain her down low enough that Pyrrha will be forced to call the match. I wanted this to be painless on her, but that's not happening. As Yang turns around, limping on that left leg I feel a portion of myself break in half.
I did that to her. I'm sorry, Yang. I truly am.
Yang's earlier attack with Ember Celica would have had me if I did not use my semblance to make a clone to eat the blast and grant me the debris to be able to sneak behind her. I wasn't expecting her to use her weapons at that time, but I guess I am pushing her to the point of abandoning her normal style of fighting. She's doubting herself, and that's not what my goal is.
"What are you really getting out of this, Blake?" She asks, staring at me with a glare of realization. Her arms are dropped down to her sides. I want to strike now, but my fight etiquette not allowing me to do so. I maintain my stance while I respond to her.
"I want you to get stronger, Yang. You won't be able to be a successful huntress if you can't even keep up with me." It's only a half truth.
"So why tell me my weaknesses during our fight instead of afterwards?"
"Mind games."
Yang looks down, letting out a sigh of clear disappointment. She probably knew that I was doing this to get her angry and off of her game, but her pride is getting the better of her.
"Were you serious about the bet? A full week?" She looks at me with a much firmer look than before. Even when she is losing she still shows all intention of turning this around.
"Yes," is all I am able to say before she is dashing at me again. I try to get a clear look at her face, but when she slows down to throw a punch, her golden mane covers up her face, although I am sure she is able to see just enough to through her strike. I feel the left hook connect to my gut, forcing me to keel over and cough out as the wind is knocked out of me. I have been relying on Ruby's information too much, and now it has caught up to me.
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"Wait, are you serious?"
"Yeah. Whenever Yang fights she thinks she is in a boxing match and never remembers that some people like to kick, especially kick low." Ruby shrugs her shoulders, looking over to her sleeping sister to make sure she doesn't wake up.
"I mean, she did learn how to fight through boxing, so that's understandable, and what was the last one?"
"She has this really bad habit of hers." Ruby sighs, looking over at her sister that is out cold on my bed. "Yang has always been someone to keep her eye on the prize, and when she fights it is no different."
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After the punch to my stomach I can feel another hit the other side of my gut, forcing me to grasp at my pained abdomen. The moment I do I am greeted by a firm uppercut that sends me several feet into the air. I gaze at the bright lights of the ceiling, then look down to see Yang aiming Ember Celica at me once more. I wait for the moment she fires to activate my semblance, forming a clone underneath me that I quickly kick off of in order to backflip away and leave my clone to disappear and absorb the mild explosion. I land on my feet, panting heavily. Yang brushes her hair out of her face, giving me a clear view of her red eyes. Those beautiful eyes of hers that I could stare into forever.
"That's right, Yang. Keep your eye on the prize."
I smile, Ruby's final tip echoing in my head as I look at Yang's beautiful orbs. Even during a fight I could use my love of her eyes to my advantage.
"Yang always looks where she is going to punch"
Yang appears to be somewhat shocked that she landed all three of her attacks. I am still cradling my abdomen with my right hand, but I am in no way unable to keep fighting.
"Why didn't you dodge, Blake?" She asks me. The odd question surprises me, but I guess with all that I've been doing it is a reasonable thing to ask.
"Didn't see the body shot coming." I answer. Yang has no idea how much of the truth that is.
She dashes straight at me again, following my swaying arms at first until she begins to throw her punch. Her eyes are on my chin. I quickly bring both my hands up to block it right in time. I keep my hands low so I don't obscure my vision, seeing her gaze now at my right hip.
Kidney punch, eh?
I turn my body to bring my hip out of distance and raise my knee to smack away her punch. She hasn't noticed yet, but with each elbow and knee I've thrown, I've been using my aura with my attacks to strengthen them. After I knee away her punch she leans lower and steps towards me. Once again I can't see her eyes and decide to use my semblance. I leave a shadow clone while I vault over Yang, letting her strike the solid form and cause it to disappear without a trace. Looking down at her while I am flying over her form makes me glad that I dodged. She threw a flaming right straight that would have surely ended the fight.
"FUCK" I hear her scream, and turn around before I can even land. She runs to my landing spot, leaving me no choice but to draw Gambol Shroud and throw my katana off into the distance and pull on my ribbon to change my trajectory. Yang has a re-kindled determination of some kind. She isn't giving me breathing room now. My attempts to pull myself away with Gambol Shroud is destroyed when she shoots the ribbon, separating me from my weapon, and my alternate means of attack.
"I'm not losing Blake!" Yang says while she dashes to me just before I can land, grasping my arm and turning herself around. She leaves me surprised when she flips me over her shoulder and quickly climbs onto me and places her knees over my arms to pin me down. She raises her hand over her head, her hand starting to glow with a blinding light.
"Forfeit, Blake." She says bluntly. My silence earning me a firm punch to the stomach. I can easily see it coming and flex my stomach as well as focus my aura, minimizing the damage, but it still hurts like hell. Yang continues her assault on my stomach, raining down that same right hand on the same spot over and over again. Each punch drains my aura, but her semblance is surely draining hers as well. I keep holding my torso tensed and my aura firm, splitting my eyes away towards Pyrrha who is wincing at the barrage of punches. I can see two orange lines on the scroll. Yang and I are both approaching critical aura levels, but I am unsure whose is lower.
I need to get out of here. I can't take much more!
I wait for her to wind up another punch, this time kicking my legs on the floor to raise my hips off the ground, giving me just enough room to curl my legs up and kick Yang hard in the stomach, pushing her several yards away while I roll to my knees and cough hard.
"Damnit, Blake! Just give up! You think I like hurting you!?" She looks at me with a mix of rage and sadness.
Ironic, Yang. I was thinking the same thing earlier.
"Sorry, Yang. Not gonna let you get me for a week. I already know what you have in mind." I move to my feet, wincing at the feeling of my slightly bruised ribs. Yang stands as well and rubs her stomach from my desperation kick. I am panting heavily, and so is Yang, but she has her head downcast. She raises it after a moment of silence. Her red eyes are piercing my amber gaze with an anger that sends a shiver through my spine.
"I told you already, Blake. I'm not after your body, and if you don't believe me. I'll let my fists do the persuading." Yang reaches for her forearms, unlatching her Ember Celica and lets them drop to the floor and her aura powers down to its minimal.
"If that's how you want to end this, then fine." I reach over my shoulder, grabbing my cleaver-sheath and throwing it to the floor, also unwrapping the cut ribbon from my arm and letting it fall. Yang and I walk up to each other, with a moment of understanding. We extend our hands out and touch fists before adapting our own stances.
You can't beat me head on, Yang. You know it too, so why?
I don't get a chance to dwell on my thoughts. The moment she enters her stance she is already throwing a flurry of punches. Each one telegraphed by her lilac eyes. After blocking three of her punches I quickly launch my right hook. The same right hook I used on her early in the match. She catches my fist with ease, and when I follow up with my elbow she catches it with her other hand.
Deja-vu
I quickly throw my left leg towards her already injured knee, amazed when she lifts her leg without taking her eyes off of mine. She knew it was coming and countered it properly. Her leg being lifted sends my ankle into her shin, causing a sharp pain to erupt within my leg. I let out a shriek of acute pain, collapsing to the ground. My left leg is in too much pain to use at this point since I stopped using my aura to minimize the damage. I reach down and cradle my ankle in my arms, unaware of the tall blonde looming over me and slamming her fist into the ground just next to my head.
"Just so you know. That was the finishing blow." Yang whispers to me, crouching over me and planting a brief kiss on my forehead. "Sorry, Kitty Cat."
I sigh softly. There are some things that I cannot beat. Yang's insane endurance and ability to take abuse are just two of them. I suppose relying on Ruby's tips to get me a victory against Yang is best rewarded with a loss. I look up at Yang who stands over me and walks towards the wall where Pyrrha is. Pyrrha gives a nod before hopping over the wall and walking towards me behind Yang.
"Well, Blake." Pyrrha begins, "It seems neither one of you entered the critical zone, but you are incapable of continuing because of your ankle. Is it broken?"
"Possible. I think it's sprained." I whisper, sitting myself up and avoiding Yang's gaze.
"Well, this is simply a formality, but I need to announce the winner of the match. That being Blake Belladonna."
My eyes widen as I look up at Pyrrha. "W-wait, what?"
"Oh, I sort of forfeited." Yang says with her enthusiastic voice.
"Why?" I look up at the blonde brawler in complete bewilderment.
"I told you, Blake. I am not after what you think I am. Technically, I won. But I'm not going to let you think I won 'cause of our bet. Just don't go asking for too much, alright?" Yang crouches down next to me. Her smile from earlier gone and replaced with a look of concern as she gazes at my ankle that is beginning to swell.
"Well, would asking you to carry me back to the dorm room be a bit too much?"
"Not at all." I blush as Yang slides one arm underneath my back and the other underneath my legs, picking me up in a bridal stance to begin walking with me in her arms.
"I hope you feel better, Blake! It was a wonderful match between the two of you!" I hear Pyrrha shout as we walk away. The redhead makes her way back to Jaune who is still sitting in the stands.
"So, um. What was the deal with the dress? You never told me."
"Oh!" Yang snickers a moment before being able to speak clearly. "Jaune made a bet with me and lost, so during the second half of the dance he has to wear a dress."
"That's . . . an odd bet to take. Did you think it up?"
"Actually, he thought of it himself. I just held him to it."
"Well, I rather not ask what the bet was. At least not now. It's the least of my concern. Just please, get me back to the room so I can lay down and work on my ankle."
"We're going, we're going. Oh, I asked Pyrrha to bring Ember Celica and Gambol Shroud to the room later. I wanted to get you out of there right away, so I asked her to take care of our weapons."
I look up at Yang. A girl who hates to lose, no matter what it is. She constantly makes flirting attempts with me, and for the longest time I believed that all she wants is to explore me in the dirtiest of ways and move on afterwards, but after today I have a different outlook on her.
After a five minute walk we arrive at the door. Yang carefully propping me up with one arm and reaching into her back pocket to pull out my scroll and use it to open the door.
She must have gotten it back from Pyrrha when she walked over.
As we enter the room we are greeted by the sight of Ruby and Weiss studying together on Weiss' bed. They look so cute together.
"Hello~~~~~~~" Yang sings as we enter, making sure to place me down on my bed before anything.
"Just when I thought the afternoon would be nice and quiet. Speaking of which, it is already 2:30. Where have you two been for such a long time?" Weiss just can't seem to relax with Yang around. Can't blame her either.
"Sparring. Blake hurt her ankle so we had to stop. Don't want our teammate getting a serious injury now do we?" And there goes Yang with her half-truths.
"Wait, you two were sparring?" Ruby looks over at me with a suspicious look.
"Yup, she was kicking my ass for a while too. Thought I was gonna lose." At Yang's words, Ruby's eyes sharpen on me, letting me know I will have some explaining to do later.
"Anyway, Blake hasn't eaten a thing for lunch, let me see if she has any tuna left."
"Y-yang, you don't have to. I'm fine." My lie becomes obvious when my stomach lets out a howl for food, making me blush and the other three laugh.
"Nice try." Yang says to me while she goes through my fridge and begins making a tuna sandwich using a plate that was on top of the little cold storage unit.
"T-thanks, Yang." I whisper. I may have won the match through Yang's forfeit, but I will be much nicer to her for the next week. It's the least I can do, but now it also looks like I'll be doing my own food and dress shopping on Friday. After all, the dance is in 6 days.