Boulders

Dacite

Toph took a deep breath and sighed.

Sakura was good at thinking and planning. She could memorize great swaths of information, making her useful for lots of things.

It would not, however, help her when the creepy child with the sand killed her during their match, because Sakura sucked at Sandbending. Bigtime.

She moved a lance.

Shikaku chuckled. "You're always to focused on the front; you leave the sides open every time."

He moved and put her in check.

Toph grinned and took his piece. "As you have said before. It would be stupid of me to ignore you."

"You took advantage of the fact that you have weak flanks and set up a trap." Shikaku mused with a grin. "Rather clever of you, Toph-chan. How did you know I'd come at you from your right?"

She smirked. "That is for me to know, and you to figure out."

"Hmm." Shikaku deftly moved a piece. "What's up? You seem to be a lot less focused than usual."

Toph rubbed her whole face. "How do I know that you won't blab to Shikamaru?"

"Really, Toph-chan?" Shikaku tapped something out on the ground. "If you're worried about my son knowing, I would surmise it has something to do with Sakura. Based on what I've heard about her first opponent..." he trailed off. "Need I go on?"

"I trust in your discretion." Toph finally admitted. "Sakura is screwed if she doesn't get better at Sandbending. The thing is, it's a really bad match for her, with all her bigger is better attitude. She's actually better at heavy lifting then she should be because she uses chakra, but with more delicate stuff she's total crap."

He put her in check again. "Well, she does have a month."

Toph moved her king, avoided the obvious trap, and fell prey to a hidden one. It was almost total checkmate. "Yeah. I guess she does. But still. It was hard for me to control the creepy kid's sand, and I'm me."

They began putting the pieces back where they belonged. Shikaku gave her the first move, and they were off again.

"Would you perhaps tell me a story of your homeland?" The Nara asked. "I heard the ones you told Shikamaru, and I enjoyed them."

Toph tilted her head, considering. "All right. When I was younger, my parents thought I was helpless. They didn't even let other people I existed. No one knew the Bei Fong family had a daughter except for my Earthbending teacher. Then one day I snuck out and met some giant Bagdermoles who taught me how to Earthbend like Oma and Shu themselves..."

▪▪▪

Hot sand.

Burning sun.

Sakura tried to kick an attack to a specific target that she'd made out of pale grey stone, but the sand shifted and her shot went off. She ignored it and continued her three hit attack.

Kick, punch punch.

Kick, punch punch.

Kick, punch punch.

Each time her attack came a little closer and yet...

"What are you doing here?" An angry voice asked.

Sakura gave him a cursory glance, then tried again. Kick, punch punch. "What does it look like I'm doing, rocks-for-brains?"

Standing out in the empty arena, under the sun, trying to not die when she had to fight a monster that had put his own teammate in the hosital.