Fighting Dirty

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Normal Life AU, Cinder and Pyrrha are both in their twenties. Cinder is a bit OOC but it's kind of necessary, given the nature of the request. Cinder's not evil and manipulative in this nor is she out to get Pyrrha in a bad way.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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													Chapter 44. Fighting Dirty

Cinder Fall was well-known within the world of MMA fighting.

Her dark, ashen hair did wonders to compliment the paleness of her skin, and she rarely ever needed to tie it up due to the fact that she rarely ever broke a sweat during her matches.

She typically wore black shorts and a loose, red tank-top over her sports bra, both to keep her clothing light and also to provide a bit of service for her fans. Her manner of dress wasn't just for show, but was a calculated decision on her part.

After all, supporters tended to flock towards fighters who humored their tastes.

Aside from being physically attractive to the point where men and women alike would fawn over her the second she stepped into the ring, Cinder had a tendency to be "striking" in another kind of way.

Her punches and kicks were swift and direct, her physical hits as cunning as her intellectual wit.

While she didn't exactly fight dirty, she oftentimes resorted to less-than-acceptable methods.

In layman's terms, she liked to play with her food.

Her technique was to begin with meek, timid blows and to just barely dodge her opponent's hits at the last second. She'd play her opponent, making them think she was a novice or too scared to really fight back.

But gradually, she would step up her techniques, so subtly her opponents never knew what had hit them (literally) until it was too late. She'd dodge and retreat to draw them back, then in one speedy motion, like a snake evading an ox, would dart beneath or around them to aim a devastating blow to the back.

She liked to attack from behind, when her prey least expected it.

Some criticized her for it, calling her cowardly to use such antics.

But she called herself victorious.

In this manner, she'd become renown for toying with her opponents. She'd often use her physical appearance, such as a heavily seductive wink or a highly suggestive tilt of her neck, to entice them in, and then go for their weak spot as soon as she had them where she wanted them.

Due to her swift and occasionally sneaky tactics, she'd earned the nickname "Snake".

She didn't mind the title, though. In fact, she thought it was rather fitting. After all, snakes represented quick, calculated defeat, which was typically how her opponents went down.

But one day, Cinder was faced with a new challenger, who instantly differed from the rest.

Her name was announced to the crowds as Pyrrha Nikos.

She wore white shorts and a red shirt, which matched in color to her long ponytail that fell down to her hips. Her green eyes were as bright as her smile, and that was what threw Cinder off as she stretched out her arms on the opposite side of the ring.

Most people she faced would often walk in wearing smug smiles, baseless, silent promises that they'd defeat the Snake once and for all.

But this girl's expression was different. Her eyes showed no signs of conceit or intimidation to be facing one of the most notorious fighters in the sport.

Cinder met that smile with a scowl. She'd put this girl in her place, just as she'd done to all those who'd come before her.

As they were both called to the center of the ring to prepare to start, Pyrrha extended her arm to Cinder.

"Best of luck!"

Cinder recoiled from the hand, almost disgusted by the gesture. But she quickly plastered a smile over her snarl and reached out to take the girl's hand.

"I won't be needing your luck," she replied.

Her grip constricted around Pyrrha's hand, as a snake would constrict its prey to suffocation.

But Pyrrha merely shrugged and freed her hand with ease.

Cinder eyed her warily, narrowing her gaze as they took up their stances.

The whistle was blown, and the crowd started shouting. Cinder engaged in her usual technique, acting nervous and timid, barely managing to dodge Pyrrha's hits.

But again, the girl reacted in a way Cinder had never seen before.

Where all of her previous opponents would get confident and begin to think they were going to beat Cinder easily, Pyrrha responded very differently. She actually paused and pulled back for a moment, her eyes incredulous as she met Cinder's.

"Are you... not even going to try?" she wondered.

Cinder was furious. She took Pyrrha's words as an insult that she wasn't performing well enough. With a growl, Cinder charged at her.

"Fine. But you asked for it."

She sped through her taunting round and cut directly to the part where she fought at her full potential. She didn't hold back, swinging her arms and throwing punches and aiming kicks every chance she got.

And somehow, Pyrrha managed to dodge just about every single one of them. Those she didn't dodge, she blocked forcefully, and retaliated with vigor.

Pyrrha ended up landing several hits on Cinder, hits Cinder had never intended to let her get. She was knocked back several times as Pyrrha charged her with a spark in her eyes.

Cinder grunted as she threw another punch, fending the girl off.

Then, Pyrrha did something else no one had ever done before.

She laughed.

"This is grand!" she exclaimed. "This is the kind of fight I look forward to!"

Was she seriously having fun with this? Enough fun to laugh in the middle of a fight? This was a competition, not a game.

Cinder's frustrations rose, and she charged once again, spinning around to aim a low kick at the girl's ankles. Pyrrha jumped and grappled with her for a brief moment before slipping beneath her arms and swinging at her torso. Cinder evaded, then prepared herself for another charge.

But before she could counter, the whistle was blown. The match was declared in Pyrrha's victory.

The crowd erupted in cheers for the new champion, leaving Cinder to stare, appalled and horrified by her own defeat.

Pyrrha relished the praise for no longer than a moment though before she turned back to Cinder.

"That was an incredible match! Thank you so much!"

Again, she reached out her hand.

Cinder had half a mind to slap it away.

But as the anger and humiliation began to subside, she realized just how genuine this girl was being. She wasn't soaking up her success, nor was she trying to boast or brag about it.

She just wanted to shake Cinder's hand.

It took her a moment, but she accepted, letting out a heavy sigh.

"I admit defeat," she said.

"Oh, I wouldn't call it a defeat!" Pyrrha said, squeezing her hand. "Don't think of it like that in a negative way. Just think of it as a match you'll win next time!"

Cinder blinked past the screen of her hair and slowly withdrew her hand.

"Nikos... is it?"

"Yes! It's nice to meet you! I've heard a lot about you and it was so much fun versing you today!"

"Perhaps... we could do it again sometime?"

"Oh, absolutely!"

They made arrangements then and there, and later met in the very same ring once the audience has been emptied. Cinder requested to see Pyrrha's techniques and stood back to observe.

Pyrrha had powerful jabs and fast kicks, almost opposite of Cinder herself.

But other than that, there was something else about Pyrrha, something she couldn't quite figure out right away.

It took several more meet-ups for that.

. . .

The two young women began seeing one another frequently, on a near-daily basis to train and practice together.

Every time, Cinder would try to figure out what it was about Pyrrha that made her different from all the rest. But despite her best efforts, she couldn't decipher it.

After two weeks of meeting up, Cinder caved under her frustrations and addressed Pyrrha herself.

"I don't understand," she said with a frown. "I just can't figure you out, Nikos."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha tilted her head curiously, eager to help in whatever way she could.

Cinder contemplated for another minute.

"I can't understand why you're different from the others. What's your secret?"

"Secret?" She was truly puzzled. "I'm sorry. I'm not quite sure what you mean. I don't have any secrets. I just really love the sport, so I put my heart and soul into it! It's important to have fun!"

"...Fun?" Cinder was reminded of their first match a few weeks back. "Fights are competitions. They shouldn't be fun."

"Why not?" Pyrrha asked. "I think it's very important to have fun and enjoy what you do! If not, it just becomes a chore or work, and that's hardly ever enjoyable, right?"

Cinder said nothing for a moment.

"That's ridiculous. We're adults, aren't we? We don't come here to play games and have fun."

"Why shouldn't we?" Pyrrha challenged her again. "Just because we're in our twenties doesn't mean we aren't allowed to have fun! People of all ages can do that! I never understood why adults assumed that getting older meant that they had to sacrifice the things they enjoy for work. It never made sense to me."

Once again, her words provoked something odd within Cinder. She raised an eyebrow and pondered Pyrrha's words.

"So that's it, isn't it? That's your secret..."

"Pardon?"

"It's nothing."

But Cinder understood now. That really was Pyrrha's secret to her success in the MMA fights.

She was an exceptional fighter because she wasn't here to prove herself or compete. She was simply here to enjoy herself as genuinely as possible.

It seemed far-fetched at first, but as Cinder continued to meet with her, Pyrrha only reenforced the idea as the truth.

It took a while for Cinder to comprehend it fully, and although it seemed absurd to her personally, Pyrrha was the very embodiment of her thoughts put into practice. She was a very admirable girl with a righteous heart, good techniques, and a lovely smile...

Cinder didn't fully realize where it was along the lines when she started to admit to herself how attractive the girl was. She'd often find herself staring mindlessly at the sway of her hair and hips, or she'd let her hand linger a second too long whenever she patted her shoulder.

She did her utmost best to deny those feelings and push them away.

But as time went on, with the way Pyrrha always smiled brightly and chirped her name upon seeing her, and the way she'd pull her into warm, enthusiastic hugs the likes of which she'd never experienced before, Cinder's fall was inevitable.

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A/N: Sorry if it was weird. It was a little challenging to write because of word-limit and content and how I had to develop these two in this scenario rather quickly and try to make an attraction between them believable. So I just left it up in the air (with a pun on Cinder's name of course).