I skipped dinner to make sure I wasn't tardy. Nervous flutters were rising in my stomach, and I just sat in the dirt with a stick; drawing squiggles on the ground until I heard footsteps approaching.

"Good, you had the balls to show up..." When I looked up my teeth began to grind together. Standing a few steps behind Levi was none other than that undercut cadet; looking down his nose at me. "This is Jean Kirstein. I noticed that little moment between the two of you this morning and decided he'd make an interesting opponent."

Interesting? More like amusing for you, you awful little man..!

"The pleasure's yours, I'm sure..." This Kirstein guy had already been on my list of people to avoid at all costs, so imagine my disgust when I had him towering over me with such a disgustingly smug expression.
"Levi, I don't wanna..." I mumbled as I lowered my head and resumed drawing in the dirt.

"What are you? A child? You can't talk to a captain like tha-"
"If you do this for me I'll take you out for a ride in the morning in place of your standard training." Both mine and Jean's head snapped towards Levi when he cut in, though our expressions were entirely different.
"Deal..." I jumped up on my feet in one quick movement; brushing the dust from the backs of my thighs.

"I'll only make good of that if you can pin him in under five minutes. Any longer and you'll be doing an extra private training session with Shadis."

Oh...shit...

That was the last thing I wanted, so I began to stretch out my arms and legs whilst glaring at Jean, who was looking more confused than anything.  Nobody was going to come between me and a chance to ride Boy again, not even if he was much taller than me.

"Just because you're a pretty girl doesn't mean I'll go easy on you, sweetheart." The brunet shook himself out of his stupor and smirked again. The term 'pretty' threw me off, but I was still prepared to go head to head with the asshole and take him down. Levi strode over to one of the smaller trees surrounding the area and rested his back against the bark.
"Use the space however you like. Anything goes, just don't kill each other, because that'll just be more work for me." He sighed; his signal to proceed.

"I suppose the gentlemanly thing to do would be to let you take the first swing...so bring it, girly." Jean stood a few yards away from me now, and I felt my veins throb within my wrists. I had to be smart about a fight, especially when I wasn't familiar with my opponent. Thanks to my short stature and light weight, I couldn't rely on simply getting him on the ground; I'd never be able to keep him down long enough for it to count as a win. I needed to incapacitate him somehow.

Adjusting my stance, my ears picked up on the gritty crackle of dirt and stone beneath my feet, and suddenly I wasn't so concerned. As I burst forward towards the cadet, I began to recall all of the lessons Dimitri had taught me when I was young. He was the only reason I never wished to forget the torture of my upbringing, and his words were now my bible. At last I had a chance to put these teachings into action.

"Quick on your feet, huh?" Jean snorted as I rushed towards him with a dead stare. "Not bad, but I can match that!" The moment I spotted his left arm swinging up I calculated everything. It was like someone had just flipped a switch in my brain and I was no longer meek little (Y/N).
"Shut it, bitch." I paired my cold, hateful words with a swing of my foot, but it wasn't aiming to hit him.. It scraped along the ground with a loud skkkkrrrrrrrtttttt, and he looked taken aback for a few minute seconds.

"Chickening out?! Cute! I'll make sure not to damage your face, 'kay?!" His fist swung out towards me, but it was simple to dodge. In fact, I dipped so low that I could easily put my plan into action without drawing attention to it. Dragging my foot along the ground hadn't been an error. It had supplied me with a nice pile of filth, which I quickly scooped up in my right hand and tossed up, straight into his face. I didn't take the time to enjoy his startled yelps and splutters; hurrying to lurch forward and land a left hook right into his smarmy little mouth.

I knew it wouldn't knock him down, but I still had at least ten, maybe fifteen seconds to spare until he could somewhat see clearly again. So, with the thought of riding in an open space on my mind, I allowed my leg to fly out and let him know just how little I appreciated his presence. The violent knock to his stomach sent him doubling over, and I already knew the match was mine. A shoulder charge, a yelp, and a boot against his throat, and it was done.

Though, the yelp hadn't come from Jean. No, he had merely made some kind of strangled grunt. The pained yip had come from my own mouth, but I wasn't about to say anything about it if neither of them addressed it. When the dust cleared, Jean was staring up at me with wide, bulging eyes as I pressed down against his jugular. The thought of how easy it would be to just kill him on the spot flashed through my mind; more than once, but I didn't want to do that. I just thrived feeling his pulse through such thick leather, and it was almost as ballistic as my own.

"As much as I love stepping on people, I need to ask you to lift your boot, (Y/N)..." Levi seemed to snap me out of whatever trance I was in, and I hesitantly lifted my weight from the cadet's throat. I still loomed over him; my (E/C) eyes showing no pity, remorse or mercy, and he could see it all clearly. He looked almost scared. "You dropped him in under a minute...You just keep on impressing me, don't you, kid?"

I've...never felt like that before...Such a rush...

"Sh..she threw dust in my eyes, Sir! She fought dirty!" Jean piped up in a croak from beneath me; propping himself up on his elbows. There was a thick trickle of blood drizzling from his busted lip, and I started to feel maybe a little bad.
"I said anything goes, Kirstein. Now, if you're not fatally wounded...stand up, wash off and go to bed." Levi ordered as he began to walk away. "(Y/N), you come with me." I just stared after the captain for a while with an airy head. My shoulder hurt immensely, and my heartbeat didn't show any signs of slowing down.

"Uh...it would probably help if you...y'know...stepped off me..." Blinking a few times, I found myself looking down at Jean, who didn't seem overly impressed that I hadn't moved.
"R..right..." I backed off of him and he stood up; spitting red onto the scuffed ground before holding his hand out to me.
"I don't suppose it's out of the question to ask to become better acquainted..?" Again, I blinked at him, then his hand; my brows furrowing together before I started to stiffly walk off after the captain.

"You've got blood on your hand..." I murmured as a response; leaving him standing there in the middle of the darkening clearing. When I finally caught up to Levi, he didn't look over to me. He simply continued to walk until we reached the barracks.
"You've been rubbing at your shoulder an awful lot. I'm guessing that's why you cried out when you charged at Kirstein?" Those steely eyes caught mine for a split second before I tore mine away and began to study the cracks in the pavement below.
"It's fine...Just an old injury..." I murmured whilst shifting my weight from side to side. I held my breath as Levi stepped closer to me; trying to force my full attention.

"From the fall. Correct me if I'm wrong." When I didn't answer, he continued. "You are to report to me if it's giving you any grief. If I find that you haven't...well, I'm sure you understand the consequences." I nodded once in understanding.
"Yes..."
"Yes what..?" It was beginning to piss me off how often people tried to coax me into saying that damn word. It left such a putrid taste on my tongue, and it was one of the many things I wasn't willing to suffer through.

"Yes...Levi..." The tension was as thick as bricks as I raised my head; my stare mirroring his dark, stoic gaze almost flawlessly. In the dark it was hard to tell, but I was certain I saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward before he turned and started off in the direction from where we had come from.
"Meet me at the stable around dawn. I promised you I'd let you ride your horse, I guess...so don't be tardy..." He paused before giving me one last lidded look over his shoulder. "...and please, wash your clothing tonight. I don't wish to be presented with such filth..."

You don't like filth..? Maybe clean up your fucking attitude, you germaphobic cunt...

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***Jean doesn't have a horse face and nobody can change my mind about my beautiful undercut prince***