The trail that the mysterious woman left was pretty easy for Yang to follow, the grass on the ground having been well worn down by what Yang could only assume were the woman's footsteps. Still, Yang wondered how deep into the trees she would go. Just as she thought of turning around, she found herself in front of a small lake, which was reflecting the sunset so it hit Yang directly in the eyes, the amber glow nearly blinding her.
"Yeesh, wish I'd brought my shades." Yang muttered, cupping her hands above her eyes. With the newfound lack of sun in her eyes, she noticed that the woman was sitting by the side of the lake in what little grass there was between that and the forest. What Yang also noticed is that the woman was looking directly at her.
"The lake is beautiful at this time of day, huh?" The woman asked, and for the first time, Yang got a good look at her. She had pale skin with hair just as black as Kali and Ghira's, and if that didn't give it away that she was their daughter, she had another pair of cat ears on top of her head. "Well? Are you going to respond, or just stand there all creepy?"
Yang was taken aback, stammering. "Uh, sorry about that." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, it's pretty cool looking when it's not blinding me."
The woman chuckled, her voice sounding smooth as silk. "Yep, this is definitely the Belladonna's daughter." Yang thought. "Mind if I sit here a while? Name's Yang by the way, my step-sister and I just moved into the old farmhouse."
The woman nodded, "Of course not. I'm Blake, I think you've already met my parents though." She set a book down between them as Yang took her seat a comfortable distance from Blake. "How much have they told you about me already?"
"Well, lemme think." Yang replied, tilting her head. "Not too much, other than your mom saying you're 'perfectly average height for a woman' in defense of her own height." She couldn't help but chuckle, remembering how Ruby had tripped coming out of the moving van.
"Well she isn't wrong." Blake turned to look at Yang, "Nothing wrong with being short, of course. Or tall for that matter." Blake began to talk a bit about the town, but all Yang could comprehend is that Blake's eyes had the same amber glow as the lake. It seemed oddly poetic to her. "So yeah, my mom always loves to brag about me. I'm sure the whole town knows everything about me at this point."
Yang suddenly snapped back to attention. "Yeah, sounds a bit overbearing," She replied, "But at least it's out of love right?"
"Yeah, but I get people I rarely talk to asking about the novel I'm writing, despite my wishes to keep it secretive." Blake sighed, but followed it up with a smile. "She doesn't know everything about me, though."
"Oh? Just when I thought you couldn't get more mysterious than walking randomly into the trees after seemingly spying on me, you have my attention yet again." Yang made a show of leaning in, looking Blake right in the eyes. "My step-sis told me once that the best way to make friends is to share a secret on your first meeting."
"Well some secrets aren't meant to be shared." Yang could tell Blake meant that as plainly as she put it. "Like if you were to pull a prank on somebody, and it went south, you wouldn't want to come out and say it was you."
"Not gonna lie, I thought you were gonna confess to murder after the first half of that sentence." Yang burst out into laughter, "You sounded so serious and dark!"
"Oh no, no way I could murder someone. I have anxiety enough as is." Blake laughed, but that specific laugh was familiar to her, the one where you reveal something about yourself but want to play it off as a joke.
Yang returned the laugh, "Yeah, I know that feeling. Good to know I didn't follow a murderer into the woods." The two fell into silence for a bit, just watching the wind ripple across the lake. The sun had gone down past the trees now, but the sky was still alight. The bugs had started to come out, with a few stray fireflies flying over the pond.
"So, what brought you to this small town out of all places? Running from the law?" Blake joked, "Did a murderer follow me into the forest?"
Yang faked a gasp, pulling back away from Blake. "Me? I'd never!" She suddenly got close, "But if my step-sister asks, I don't know what happened to her package of cookies she had the other day. I definitely didn't eat them." The two laughed, before Yang returned to looking at the lake. "Why I'm here ain't exactly a happy story. There was a pretty bad earthquake, and I lost my house and pretty much everything I had. It's also how I got this thing." Yang waved her right arm a bit, the aluminum making a slight ticking sound at the wrist. "I found a box in the rubble that had the deed to this house and a letter from my granddad, so since I had nothing, this was pretty much my obvious next step."
Blake turned her head downwards. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. How recent was this?"
"Just a few weeks ago, I stayed at my step-sister's apartment during the recovery. You won't believe what modern medicine can do, they have this painkiller called Aura that doubles as a healing thingy." Despite her story, Yang held a confident smile on her face. "So I'm perfectly fine!"
"Are you really?" Blake asked, "Sorry if that's a rude thing to ask."
Yang took a deep breath and let her smile drop. "No, I'm not. Pretty much the only thing keeping me going the past week or two is my sister's unstoppable happiness, but I can tell that this whole thing's a burden on her too. I feel bad for just crashing at her place, and I also feel like I forced her to come out here with me, despite her suggesting moving here in the first place." After a long sigh, she turned to meet Blake eye-to-eye. "But that's a secret, okay? I'm sure I'll be okay in time, so don't let Ruby know that, please."
Blake nodded her head. "Got it, my lips are sealed."
"Y'know, I just shared a secret actually," Yang mused, "It seems you owe me one now."
Blake tried and failed to stifle a sharp laugh, "Oh, you planned that! You most definitely planned that story to end with me giving a secret!"
Yang began to laugh along, "Maybe, but that's also a secret!" The laughter wouldn't die down for another minute, leaving both girls gasping for breath.
"Well, if it's a secret you want, how about this – I sprained my ankle falling from a tree by the old farmhouse when I was about eight. I didn't want my mom to not let me go to the farmhouse, so I told her I fell into this lake on accident." Blake pondered for a bit, "That's not really a deep secret though."
"I agree, maybe we should both tell a super deep secret at the same time, like they do in those cheesy romance novels." Yang suggested, waving her hands dramatically.
"Hey! I happen to like that exact kind of romance!" Blake pouted, "And they're not all cheesy."
"Hey! I thought we were gonna say our secrets at the same time, why'd you say yours already?" Yang grinned at Blake, then winced ad Blake began to slap at her. "Ow! Ow! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Blake sighed, "So how is this going to work? We both share a deep, dark secret at the same time?"
Yang mused for a second, rubbing her chin. "How about something that only we know, and nobody else? Well, nobody that we're still in contact with. On the count of three."
Blake could only nod. What Yang didn't account for in her plan was the tension and stress that came with telling her secret to a girl she'd just met today, and hearing one as well, that she'd have to keep to her grave. Before she could think twice, however, she was already counting down slowly from three.
Two.
One.
"I'm a lesbian."
"I'm not really into guys."
The two looked at each other, both pairs of eyes wide open. "Hey!" Yang yelled, "You stole my secret! Maybe you're the one on the run from the cops for thievery!"
Blake laughed, but Yang could hear the shake in her breath. She was nervous too, but her older-sister complex started to kick in. She placed a gently hand on Blake's shoulder. "Don't worry Blake, I won't tell anybody. Like you said, some secrets aren't meant to be shared."
While this didn't put Blake totally at ease, Yang could tell she relieved a bit of stress. "Thanks, Yang. Plus, even if you do, I have something on you as well."
Under the seeming threat of blackmail, Yang could only laugh. The conversation was a bit rocky for the next few minutes, but soon the two found themselves talking about everything and nothing under the sky. Yang asked about the town, and Blake told her the story of how the town came to be. Blake asked how Yang kept her hair so fluffy, and Yang said it was genetic, but to never miss a day of conditioner. Before they knew it, the stars had come out, and so had the rest of the fireflies.
The lake was alight now with the fireflies dancing around, and the moonlight reflecting on the water was giving them an alien glow. As the conversation finally died down, Yang took another look at the lake, and her breath caught in her throat.
"Breathtaking, huh? Sometimes I just come here to read, but in the spring and summer I love coming here for this exact sight." Blake stood up, stretching her limbs for the first time in hours. "We'd better get back, your sister's probably looking for you."
Yang's eyes went wide. As she reached for her phone, she felt the vibration of the phone call coming through. Ruby's name and a small icon of Ruby wearing a very fake moustache appeared, as well as a large red and green button. Pressing the green button, Yang put the phone to her ear.
"YANG, WHERE ARE YOU?" Ruby screamed, nearly causing Yang to drop her phone.
"Guess I was right?" Blake chuckled, "C'mon, I'll lead you back."
"Huh? Who's that? Yang are you with someone? Is it Coco?" Ruby's questions flooded out of the phone, and Yang only answered with a smile.
"I'm with a friend, Ruby. I'll be back at the town square in a few minutes, meet me there?"
"Sure! I'll tell you all about the cool new people I met when I see you!" With that, Yang hung up the phone and sighed.
"I'm not sure if I have enough energy to deal with her, and she sounds like she just drank a pot of coffee." As if on cue, Yang let out a yawn that left her mouth aching. "Welp, after you!"
It was good that Blake lead her back, since Yang couldn't see the path between the bushes in the dim moonlight. When they reached the town square, Yang hopped over the stone fence while Blake took the route through the main road.
"Well Blake, it was nice to meet you. Oh, and don't let us being in the farm house discourage you from hanging out in the fields at all, I'm not sure how much farming we'll be doing." Yang said, "Just don't sprain your ankle, okay?"
"Don't worry, I've become more graceful with age. I can even sprint uphill with high heels on." Blake winked at Yang, and took her leave down a side road towards a large house in the distance. "See you around, Yang."
"Seeya Blake." Yang watched Blake walk away, and she couldn't help but let her eyes drift to the girl's ears one last time. She let out a cheerful sigh, rubbing her arm.
"Yang! There you are!" Ruby shouted, racing at the blonde from across the square. "Was that your friend? I didn't see her at all!"
"Yeah, something like that." Yang grinned, struggling to take her eyes off of Blake, but as Blake descended once more into shadows, she turned to see Ruby's lips were completely blue. "Ruby, what did you eat?"
"This one girl named Nora let me try some homemade ice cream, and I may have eaten a little too much." Ruby laughed, "But in my defense it was the best ice cream I've ever had!"
Yang wrapped her arm around Ruby, sighing. "Let's get you back home before you crash, it's already almost 11."
"Yang, you missed out on the best hangout ever! There were so many cool people, like Coco, who likes fashion modeling, and Velvet, who has cool bunny ears, and likes photography, and sometimes Coco models for Velvet's pictures, and then..."
Ruby kept talking well into the way back to the house, but near halfway, she went quiet and began to struggle to walk. "Welp, there's the crash." Yang said matter-of-factly, and swept Ruby up off of her feet, carrying her the rest of the way back to the house.
By the time that Yang had somehow opened the front door without dropping Ruby, the red-haired girl was already sound asleep. "Jeez, you really haven't changed much since we were kids, have you?" Yang mumbled. She carefully set Ruby down on the bed, pulling the covers down at the end over her. Before she knew it, she was laying on the couch, mere seconds from falling asleep. Slowly drifting out of consciousness, she only thought of Blake and the conversation they had.