Warped

Combat Closed

     The corner of Sakura's mouth curled upward as she smirked but she also felt a tiny bit of pity. The new powers she unlocked with her 'Strength of a Hundred Seal' would have to wait until later. She really wanted to test them out and let loose but the class was still watching.

     With the flick of her hand, a quick genjutsu was layered over the seal, hiding its presence from everyone's eyes. Hitoshi, who was sensitive to genjutsu, frowned while looking at her forehead. 

     She hadn't told him about the seal yet because she didn't feel the need to until she actually gained it. Now that Sakura had the seal, she would proudly tell her student about it in great detail.

     Sakura prepared her hands up, still adjusting to the weight of the fans swinging from her belt. "Your move, Hitoshi."

     In the Gentle Fist pose, he began his attacks on her pressure points, not tenketsu since he didn't have the Byakugan and therefore couldn't see them.

     With each strike that he made, she easily dodged as her fighting forte as a kunoichi was to use the opponent's strength and body movements against them. Sure, her purple-haired friend was good at agility and now had a decent amount of strength, but he was nowhere near to the nimbleness and fluidity of motions as Sakura did.

     As he moved his right arm, Sakura instead grappled onto it, swinging below the strike and turning her body 180 degrees. Hand still on his arm, she knocked out one of his knees, causing him to crumple to the ground.

     Her foot instantly went on his back while she was holding his right arm in an armbar position. There was no way that he was going to get out of this.

     "You're going to yield?" she grinned.

     "... Two scoops, " he answered back nonchalantly while gritting his teeth from the slight pain of having his arm held up to where a little more could break it, "and a chocolate dipped cone."

     Letting him go swiftly and moving to face him, she held out her hand to bring Hitoshi back on his feet.

     "Deal."

    Then they both stretched two fingers out instead of their whole hand. Locking them together, they smiled at each other.

     "I mean, " Sakura muttered a bit sheepishly, "We didn't do the 'Seal of Confrontation' but I believe that it'll be fine to end it with the 'Seal of Reconciliation', right?"

     She already was forgetting standard shinobi rules for spars and her heart throbbed from that. It was a part of Traditional Shinobi Sparring and is great for discipline and teaching about comradery. 

     "Well, we're always going to be comrades anyways, " Hitoshi answered, "I think the 'Seal of Reconciliation' is enough."

     "That's true, " she mumbled, looking off into U.A. provided building but her eyes seeing more than that, "It would be best for it all to end with it."

      Rejoining Class 1-A back in the monitor room, Hitoshi and Sakura could already hear their loud chatter echoing down the hallway.

      "That was so cool!"

     "Right, especially that part where she went 'whoosh'!"

     "Uh-huh! That sword was very manly!"

     "They fight so good it's ridiculous!"

     Once they entered the room, they all stopped and stared at the two curiously.

     Kaminari was the first one to break the silence as he stepped forward with two water bottles and a towel. He handed one water each to Hitoshi and Sakura, probably because they were a slight package deal.

     The electric boy kneeled down, presenting the towel like he would as an offering for a king. "Sakura-sama, I have brought you this."

      Taking it with a gentle smile, she wiped off mostly the dirt and dust they had kicked up from the battle. "Thank you, Kaminari."

      The blond boy erupted into a mess of stuttering and couldn't hide his red face.

      Sakura in turn chuckled at her loyal dog.

      Aizawa then drew the attention of the class and announcing in a gruff tone, "Results will be announced on Monday."

      All Might, who had been watching the whole fight smiled widely and boomed heartily, "Young Hitoshi! Young Sakura! You two both have growing potential! I hope to see your inspiring heroism continue!"

     The two thanked him.

     After school and after treating Hitoshi to some ice cream - he practically hissed for strawberry - Sakura couldn't help but find herself getting another call from her CEO.

     What would it happen to be? Surprise, surprise, it was another interview from NHC and when was it? Tomorrow.

      "Since they fired that reporter from last time, we won't have to worry about-"

     Sakura cut him off with the click of her tongue, "Tell them that I won't accept an interviewer if it isn't her."

     "That's funny! Haha! Why would you even want her? Yes, we have someone different."

      He thought that she was joking but Sakura sure wasn't. She wanted Mary Ham in charge of the segment that was going to include her.

      "I wasn't kidding, " she replied back.

     "Eh? Why would you want that? Your the Star of our company and you're so young! You haven't even reached the peak of your life yet you've already gained the stardom that so many yearn for! To let such a Star diminish at an early stage is like stopping the pressure from turning coal into diamond!"

      "You've controlled my work life directly. The least you can do is give me a favor."

     "... Fine, I've never known you to make bad judgement. I'll inform them about your choice, but you better hope that they don't reconsider you."

      "It's fine, " she laughed, "I know exactly what I'm doing. Can you send me Mary Ham's direct phone number? I have to give her a call."

      "As soon as I get done talking with NHC, you'll be receiving the number. Don't do anything illegal... or get caught if you do."

     "What do you take me for, " she sniffed, "My method is perfectly legal."

     Sakura knew exactly what she was doing, gaining another pawn. Mary Ham's reputation was in the gutters due to her own slip-up and she was in a bit of a bind financially. She did get that information through Sterling but financial records aren't too private. Nowadays you can almost anyone's address or phone number just by paying for it on the internet.

      By giving Mary a taste of her life down on her luck, she'd give her an offer that she could never refuse.