[Disclaimer] I do not own Rival Schools, Street Fighter or anything else! All of the credit goes to Capcom and the Tatsunoko Production Coperation! I'm just a fan writing a story, as all.

[Author's Note] Well, I just thought this up while I was at work, so here it is. I hope you like it, but it is okay if you hate it, though. I'm not the best writer out there, okay? Sorry about anyone being OOC. I'm also sorry about any typos and other writing errors.

(United To Fight, United To Love)

It has been weeks since the young fighter, Batsu, joined the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom tournament. He's made a lot of new friends, won some battles, and even lost some battles. Nonetheless, he was having quite a goodtime at the stadium. Today seemed like a boring day for the spiked haired teen. He was sitting down on a chair talking to his buddies while they were eating their lunch; his main pals are Yatterman-1, Casshern and Kaijin no Soki.

"This is some good crap, son!" proclaimed Yatterman-1, now eating his cereal faster.

Soki raised his left eyebrow and stared at him. "Did you just call your cereal crap?" he asked him in disbelief. He didn't receive an answer from him, so he just forgot about what he said.

"Soki, why are you not eating your sandwich anymore?" asked Casshern, looking depressed like he always did.

The samurai leaned back against his chair as he answered back sadly, "Gan made me sick by mentioning crap. I cannot eat anymore."

"Oh," was his response.

The blonde boy then looked at his friend in blue armor. "Aw, come on, son! I only said crap! It's not like you see any of it around, right? Speaking of crap, I heard a rumor that Ken the Eagle took a dump on somebody's car, that stupid pigeon." Hearing that made the samurai even sicker; Casshern was still making a blank face and Batsu wasn't even paying anybody any attention.

"That's it, I'm done eating," said a disgusted Soki, now looking like he was about to upchuck what he ate.

"I'm sure that gossip is not true, Yatterman. I think Ippatsuman is the one spreading that rumor. After all, we all know he does hate Ken and wants to win the heart of Jun the Swan," explained the humdrum Neoroider. They all then started to look at Batsu, and he didn't look too happy at the moment.

After about a minute of silence, Soki decided to say something. "Is something the matter, Batsu? You look very mad, not that that's anything new for you."

The teen just sighed and gruffly replied, "I'm fine."

The way he responded irritated the samurai quite a lot, which made him declare back, "Look, child, we're not women, you know? We're men! And men usually don't 'talk' about their problems! You're lucky that I even asked. Now, either you tell us what is wrong, or go somewhere else and brood."

Out of sudden anger, Batsu then slammed his fist on the table very hardly, practically breaking it. His unexpected action made both Yatterman-1 and Soki jump a little, but Casshern seemed unfazed as he frowned at him. "Go suck an egg, old man!" he yelled at him, his face looking even angrier than before.

The sword wielding man just closed his eyes and replied back calmly, "Touchy, touchy. Just take it easy."

"Yeah, just take it easy, pal!" said Frank West as he walked by the table, not even knowing what was going on.

"I should beat that guy up," grumbled the angry, young man.

"I know what's wrong with you, son! You're just upset because you don't have a girlfriend! Well, don't worry, son. I have tips that will help you get one in no time," elucidated the boy who was wearing the white jumpsuit, sounding as if he really believed that this was the problem.

Batsu just shook his head and leaned back against the chair, later putting his right hand inside of his right pants pocket. "That's not my problem, dude, my problem is finding tough matches!" Hearing that made them all look and feel confused.

"Finding tough matches?" asked Casshern as he rubbed his chin, looking like he was thinking really hard.

"Yeah, tough freakin' matches! I already fought everyone here, and they're just not a challenge to me anymore! Heck, not even you guys," he said to them. This statement of his sort of made them all mad.

"Um, I actually have to hold back my strength. If I didn't do that, I would kill you all. I'm not trying to sound big and tough, but sadly it is the truth," Casshern clarified, still looking disheartened.

Yatterman-1 pointed his finger at Batsu and screamed, "What are you talking about, Willis! I clean my guns!" Soki laughed at how stupid that sounded.

"Whatever you say, Batsu, but isn't Ryu enough? I mean, he's supposed to be the ultimate fighter, correct?" asked the blonde samurai.

"Yeah, yeah with Ryu, I know! I don't know about you guys, but he's getting kind of boring, if you ask me. I want to go up against someone else original, someone new!" he explained, sounding quite passionate with his words.

The Neoroider then looked at him and retorted, "Well, if it has you this down, then I suppose we better hurry up and find you an opponent."

"And I know just the person, sons!" shouted Gan as he quickly pulled out a picture from his pocket and slammed it on the table. The three curious males looked at the picture to see who it was, but they didn't recognize her from anywhere. The picture displayed a tomboyish looking Japanese girl wearing a simple karate uniform punching some man in the nuts.

"Oh, my, that looks painful," stated Soki, now wanting to curl up in the corner of the room.

"She kind of looks like a dude," Batsu pointed out, looking like he was about to laugh.

"Well, she looks vehement. Perhaps she's the one," Casshern assumed.

The hot-blooded boy now started to smile. He started to get the feeling that today was going to be one heck of an exciting day. "Yo, Gan, who is this girl? She must be a tough challenge, right?" Batsu asked, sounding very interested to find out.

Yatterman-1 smiled at him as he began to talk. "Her name is Makoto, son. I don't know that much about her, but I do know that she can kick the butt, son! She's from the Street Fighter series, by the way."

"Tell me, Gan, WHY on earth do you have a picture of this girl?" asked the samurai, giving him a baffled look.

The young, flaxen boy rubbed his head and just laughed, later replying, "I'm a crazy guy, son."

Batsu then stood up from out of his chair and loudly declared, "That settles it! I'm going to go find her and challenge her in a fight! Dang, I can already feel my heart beating like crazy! Hey, wait a minute, how can I find her anyway?"

"Good question… well, since she's from the Street Fighter series, maybe Ryu and Chun-Li know where she lives, or something," suggested the unhappy looking man wearing the helmet.

"Yeah, good point! I'll see you guys later, I guess! Thanks, Gan! The next time you guys see me, I'll be the champion of champions!" And with that, the boy in blue took the picture and ran off.

"Hey, who said that you could have that picture, son!" screamed Gan.

"I hope everything turns out okay," alleged Casshern with a gloomy tone of voice.

Batsu started to run down many hallways until he reached the second kitchen that was inside this huge building. He looked around and saw many people here. Saki was doing Yatterman-2's hair, Ippatsuman was hitting on Jun the Swan, Viewtiful Joe was arm-wrestling with Tekkaman, and Ryu was talking to Chun-Li.

"There they are," he whispered to himself, running over towards the two. "Yo, guys!"

"Hello, Batsu, is something wrong?" asked Ryu as he folded his arms.

The boy itched his head and replied back, "Eh, not really. I just wanted to ask you guys something."

"Sure, what is it?" asked Chun-Li.

He then showed them both the picture he had and asked, "Do you guys know where I could find this girl at? My pal Yatterman-1 told me about her and had this picture of her, for some reason."

Both Ryu and Chun-Li looked rather perplexed at the moment. This seemed very random and also kind of funny at the same time, and not one of them really knew how to react to this.

"Um, is that Makoto?" asked the man, sounding as though he was in skepticism.

The beautiful, Chinese woman giggled as she responded, "I believe so, Ryu. I don't think anybody can forget what she looks like." The way they were acting was already ticking Batsu off.

"I'm sorry, young one, but I do not know the whereabouts of this fledgling girl. Could it be that you want to ask this young girl on a date?" Ryu asked him, his face looking serious as always.

"WHAT?" bellowed the teen, feeling rather shocked.

Chun-Li started to smile as she spoke, "Aw, that's so sweet, Batsu. You two do look cute together. Now that I think about it, you two sort of act alike in ways."

"You have a point, Chun-Li. I never thought about that," uttered the tan fighter in white.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Chill out, you guys! It's nothing like that at all! I just wanted to challenge her in a fight, that's all!" Batsu explained.

"Oh, you want to fight her? I see, but I'm afraid I still cannot help you seek her," the man said with a sigh.

"What made you want to fight her anyway?" asked the brunette woman, curiosity in her voice.

He looked at her and answered, "Nothing really, just wanted a different challenge. Yatterman-1 told me that she's a good fighter, in his own words." Chun-Li nodded her head as he spoke those words.

"Yes, she is a very powerful fighter. Her strength is not only in her boisterous and aggressive fighting style, but it's inside her soul, as well. She has the eyes of a determined fighter, and that is something to be appreciated by all fighters," ranted the man with a serious-minded voice.

Batsu smirked at him, and then blurted out, "Dang, man! It sounds like YOU'RE the one that wants to ask her out on a date! She's too young for you, man, too young!" Chun-Li couldn't help but to laugh at that.

"Ha-ha, very funny, child," said Ryu, sounding sarcastic as ever.

"Hold on a minute, I forgot to mention one thing! I believe Makoto does have a dojo somewhere, but apparently I don't know its exact location," elucidated the Chinese woman.

The bristly haired transfer student then began to run away.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked the woman, her arm stretching out to him.

"I'm going to go find this girl and take her down!" he yelled back, soon running out of the kitchen.

She sighed and later murmured, "He sure wants to fight her, huh?"

"Yes, but I sense no winner from this battle," affirmed Ryu.

Within seconds, the arrogant, young fighter ran out of the building, now blindly running to who knows where. After about a minute passed, he began to slow down and start walking, he also started to think that this was stupid because he had no idea where to find her. Sure, she does have a dojo, and he knows that, but that doesn't mean that he'll be able to find her, and no telling how far away this dojo is from where he's standing. He then put his hands in his pockets and spitted on the ground.

"Man, this is stupid! How in the world am I going to find her?" he said to himself, sounding irritated.

With his hope of finding her fading away, he decided to continue to walk aimlessly because of how bored he was feeling; he also thought of fighting somebody else if he couldn't find Makoto. Hours passed and he was still walking. The sun was setting, the weather was getting cooler, and he really did not have a clue where he was at. The boy yawned and later smacked his lips, now rubbing the back of his neck.

"I'm getting kind of tired now," he breathed, his voice sounding drowsy and his body feeling exhausted.

The place he was at looked uninhabited. It was a wide and grassy field that had a huge pond next to it. It also had a very wide, dirt road, and that's what he is walking on. Then suddenly, something happened. He saw something that made him feel wide-awake and ready to rumble. His feelings of lassitude vanished into thin air as his eyes began to focus on something that appeared to be walking toward him. Seconds later, he was able to see who it was now, and it was who he was looking for. It was none other than Makoto, and he couldn't have felt any more hyped-up than he did now.

This had to be fate, this had to be destiny. If it wasn't for his friend Yatterman-1, he wouldn't have even known about her to begin with. Heck, if it wasn't for Yatterman-1, he wouldn't have even been out here in the first place. The excited fighter kept his cool as he continued to walk, acting like he didn't even notice the tomboy girl who wasn't so far away from him. Makoto was wearing her usual uniform with her red training bra underneath her karate gi, around her neck the long, yellow scarf that hangs down behind her back. As he took a quick and closer look at her, she seemed a lot tougher in person, and that only made him even more motivated to fight her.

When they walked by each other, she gave him a really dirty look, and he gave her an infuriated look right back. Batsu then turned around and looked at her, soon yelling out, "Yo!"

The girl stopped walking and instantly turned around and faced him, her face still looking livid and frightening. "What?" she asked, voice sounding just as incensed as she looked.

"Your name is Makoto, right?"

She now had an eyebrow slightly lifted up. She was inquisitive to know how he knew her name. "Yeah, it is," she answered. "And just how the heck do you know my name?"

Still giving her an angry stare, he started to respond by saying, "This may sound stupid, but one of my friends knew about you. His name is Gan, haven't you ever heard of him?"

"No, I haven't," she simply answered. "Who the heck are you and what do you want with me?"

"The name's Batsu Ichimonji. I'm here to fight you."

This sort of seemed too abrupt to the girl, but she didn't care too much because she hasn't fought anyone all day today. A slight smirk surfaced her face as she began to think of how bad she was going to beat her opponent up.

"You want to fight me? Judging by the way you look, you don't even look like you deserve the title to be called a novice," she crudely said.

He then started to fix up his gloves as he foully replied back, "I could say the same thing to you, Bigfoot! Just because you're wearing a stinkin' karate outfit, doesn't mean that you can take names and give'em, too!"

Makoto was already tired of hearing him talk. She started to approach him, now clenching her teeth together. Batsu stood his ground and didn't move an inch, not taking his eyes off of the angry looking, young, female fighter. She soon stopped walking; now standing a few feet away from him.

"You've made a big mistake by challenging me AND talking trash at that!" she shouted.

"Then why don't you try to shut me up? Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention something. I also have been told that you have a dojo. Think I could join if I beat you in a fight?" he asked with a leer. Then without any warning, she kicked him in the chest. The attack made him stumble back a bit, and boy did it hurt! Her body is very well-built for her age, having large arms, legs, hands, and feet, and he noticed that.

"Hey, you little punk, that wasn't fair!" he yelled at her. He felt like she literally broke one of his ribs with that one, single blow.

"So what, are you gonna cry now? Suck it up! Besides, you put this on yourself! I'll have you know that every student that tried to join my dojo was unable to beat me. I guess you'll just be the same way!" bellowed the short and somewhat messy haired girl. His feelings about winning this fight felt mixed at the moment, but he had to believe in himself.

"Yeah, that's what you think! Anyway, here are the rules: The first one to get knocked out loses, and no cheating in any way at all!" Batsu professed, now doing his battle stance.

Makoto started to do her battle stance, as well. "That's fine by me, but I don't know why you want to get knocked unconscious so badly. And what kind of a battle stance is that, street punk style?"

"No, it's Imawano style Ninjutsu, but as of right now, let's call it the 'kick your butt into the pond' style!"

"Whatever, loser; just shut up and get prepared to face the power of Rindoukan karate!"

"Bring it on!"

And just like that, the battle began. Makoto quickly began to throw punches at Batsu, but he blocked her attacks with his hands and arms. But she was so strong, so powerful; blocking these attacks was actually making his arms and hands feel bruised. He couldn't keep blocking, he had to fight back. After she threw her fifth punch, he moved to his right and tried to kick her. Makoto guarded herself with her arm, and then kicked her opponent in the head. Batsu felt a little dazed, but he shook it off. He wanted to use his Guts Bullet and Guts Upper attacks, but that wouldn't be exactly fair, and he did say, "No cheating".

The boy then back flipped away from her, and within the blink of an eye, she was back in front of him. This sort of caught him off guard, making him get struck in the gut by her fist. He felt like he was about to throw up at the moment, but he overlooked the pain. Batsu then quickly head-butted his rival, and then afterwards pulled off a triple punch combo to the face. Seeming unfazed by his punitive strikes, Makoto kicked him in the face, and then grabbed both of his arms. She then did a judo flip and flung him quite a distance away from her. The boy landed hard on his back, knowing that he had to hurry and get right back up.

He saw the irate looking girl running at him, and she seemed to be somewhat of a fast runner. She jumped at him, trying to pull off a kick, but he put his arms in front of himself and blocked the attack. Makoto kept punching his arms with full force, knowing that he couldn't block her onslaught of attacks forever. Batsu felt like his arms were going to break if he kept this up, so he quickly ducked and punched her in the stomach. While his head was slightly down, Makoto placed both of her hands on top of his head, and then hit him in the face with her kneecap. She tried to do it again, but he used his hands to stop her attack, and then front flipped over her head.

He seemed a lot more agile then she expected him to be, and she seemed a lot stronger then he predicted her to be. When he landed on the ground, he tried to punch her in the back of her head. His attack failed because she simply swerved her head to the side and evaded his fist. Makoto then turned around and ran up to him, now riotously unleashing a wide set of attacks. He avoided most of her punching moves, but her kicks were harder to see coming. His shins were getting pulverized by her large, rough feet. Batsu was getting pretty angry now, and that wasn't a good thing because his anger was going to get in the way of his fighting style.

Out of pure hostility and willpower, he rammed into the girl with his shoulder, and then threw a full force punch at her face. His attack was successful because he nailed her in the face, but it proved ineffective to do her any real pain. Sure, she fell back a bit, and she also had a bloody nose, but she still had a tough as nails demeanor and the resolve to win this fight. She used her thumb and wiped some of the blood away from her nose, afterwards running back at her challenger. Once she was close, he tried to grab onto her arm, in order to throw her onto the ground, but she stopped him by twisting his arm and hitting him in the nose with her elbow.

Batsu felt some serious pain when she did this, and it wasn't going to stop there. After she did that, Makoto then slammed his body onto the dirt floor and solidly punched him in the stomach. A really sharp pain shot through his spine once he endured this agonizing blow, but he once again ignored it.

The injured boy then hastily punched her in the face, but she punched him right back. They kept on hitting each other in the face, trying their best to knock each other out, but nothing was happening. Batsu then spat in the girl's eyes, temporarily blinding her, which gave him quite an advantage. He roughly kicked her off of himself, making her roll into the grass. Since she couldn't see just yet, he ran over to her and attempted another punch to the face. Though Makoto could not see, it didn't mean that she was vulnerable. Soon as he was about to hit her, she shielded herself with her right arm, and then pulled off a massive kick to his chest.

He felt like he just got another rib broken, coughing up blood after the attack he just withstood. He slowly backed away and started to stare at her. After Makoto finished wiping the saliva away from her eyes with the sleeve of her gi, she then turned her head and looked at her antagonist.

"Oh, come on!" she roared, getting back into her fighting stance. "Don't tell me that you're chickening out on me already!"

"Shut up!" he replied back with resentment, afterwards spitting blood out of his mouth. "I never run away from battles, you hear me!"

"Yeah, and seemingly you can't win any, either."

"I'm going to make you eat those words!"

"Then show me! Stop playing around and holding back, or else I'll just end this here and now!"

Batsu couldn't stand this anymore. He felt like if he got any angrier, his head would explode. The tension in the air felt so thick. It was as if there was an aura of anxiety and ire around their bodies, slowly clouding the area that they are fighting at. The young man started to feel his hands burning, he felt like he couldn't hold back his flames and energy blasts any longer.

"What's with the hold up? Are you that afraid of Rindoukan karate?" she asked him.

"Oh, please! Your fighting style sucks balls! Why would I be 'afraid' of it?" he said back.

Such a vulgar and affronting comment, and oh how did it anger her so. They both just stared at each other, eyes looking malevolent, lips frowning, and the motivation to knock each other out escalating by the second. Then what seemed to be at the exact same time, the two fighters ran at each other, ready to pummel the other with all that they had. They both threw a punch at one another, both their knuckles impacting with each other's. It did hurt, but they didn't care. Batsu then got Makoto into a headlock, now punching her continuously.

The girl soon hit a spot in his arm and made it go numb, which made him let her go. Makoto started to get just as mad as he did. She felt like she should have been won this battle. The young tomboy took great advantage of her adversary since his right arm wasn't properly functioning at the moment. She slowly put her hands on his neck and started to choke him, and this move of hers momentarily stunned him. He felt so weird and groggy.

Makoto then jumped in front of him, looking like she was getting ready to put a lot of power into an attack, and that's exactly what she was doing. After focusing all of her chi into her attack, she then fired a lighting fast punch to Batsu's groin. This hurt, and this hurt BAD. Words couldn't explain how much pain he was in at the moment. The gravely damaged boy fell straight to the ground and curled up, trying his best to shake off the pain.

"You cheater," he whimpered, still trying to sound tough.

"This is too easy. You're just wasting your time!" she told him, still keeping her guard up.

And within seconds, Batsu jumped back up on his feet, looking as though nothing has happened to him at all. This sort of shocked her.

"Wow, most guys stay down for good after I do that to them."

"Yeah, well I'm not one of those guys."

"Good! Then that means that this will be more interesting than I thought!"

"You ready for the next round?"

"You bet."

After they finished saying all of that, they quickly began to fight again. Hours went by and nighttime was approaching, but that didn't stop them from fighting; this battle was going on a lot longer than they anticipated. After a couple more hours later, it was now night. The sky was clear and the moon was shining bright, the pond had a nice and beautiful glow to it because of the moon's radiance. Both of the young fighters have never felt this tired before.

They were bruised to death, sweaty, tired, bloody, swollen, and feeling like they were about to pass out any second now. Batsu had his hands on his knees, panting as he was trying to catch his breath; Makoto doing the same thing. They both stared at each other, wanting to talk trash to one another, but feeling too out of breath to even do so. Makoto soon tried her best to stand up all of the way, and sure enough she did; seeing her do that made Batsu do the same thing. She then did a gesture with her hand that was saying, "Come on".

With his entire forte, the boy then started to run at his opponent, screaming as loud as he could. The short haired girl also ran toward her rival, screaming at the top of her lungs. Once they were close to one another, they both punched each other in the face, knocking each other out cold at the same time. And that was it. That was the end of the battle. In the end, there was no winner, it was only a draw. After a long time of being insentient, they finally came to, waking up and looking right at each other; it was now morning time, so they must have been unconscious all night long. The two then stood up on their feet and glanced at each other.

Their tired and half-asleep faces soon turned angry as they both shouted together, "Ha! I knocked you out first!" Once they realized that they fell out at the same time, they both then yelled at the same time, "Ha! I woke up first!" The fact that they said the same things at the same time startled them, making them share eye contact again. After about 15 seconds of staring, they both started to laugh. It started out as chuckling, but the more it went on, the sooner it turned into hysterical laughter.

They laughed so hard that their stomach started to hurt and their eyes began to water, but they eventually started to calm down and catch their breath. The tenseness they felt around each other seemed to have vanished now, and that felt strange to them both.

"I guess this means that there isn't a winner after all, huh?" he asked her with a smirk.

She grinned back at him and replied, "Yeah, I guess there isn't." They gazed at each other again, not knowing what to say at the moment. The awkward silence made them both slightly turn their heads away from each other's. About a minute passed, and still nothing. That was until he started to speak.

"Yo, Makoto?" said the belligerent schoolboy, looking at her again.

"Yeah?" she asked him, also looking at him.

"Uh, well, I just wanted to say that you're… um, it's just that you're really, uh?"

"I'm really what?" She looked mad, yet zealous to know what he was trying to spit out.

"That you're amazing," he answered with a serious face expression.

Makoto didn't expect to hear that from him. Her mean and frightening appearance quickly turned into a surprised and appreciative look. She also let out an instant gasp when he said that to her, which she didn't want to do, but it just happened.

"Uh, you really mean that?" asked Makoto, feeling quite peculiar at the moment.

The boy lightly kicked a nearby rock and rubbed the back of his head as he retorted back, "Well, yeah, I really do. I mean, I honestly thought that you weren't going to be a challenge, but man was I wrong."

The girl then started to blush after she heard his comment, her cheeks slowly turning a shade of pink as she began to look a little nervous. "Uh, thanks. You are a great fighter, too, you know? To be honest, I thought that I had the battle in the bag, but I guess I was proven wrong."

Batsu started to feel his face getting warm, too. He wondered why he was feeling all uneasy around her all of the sudden. He didn't like this feeling he had, but in a way, he actually did like it. Makoto also felt a tad eccentric. She noticed herself becoming a little nervy, and that kind of scared her. She, too, hated this sentiment she had, but in ways, she liked it.

"Thanks," he then said to her.

"Thanks? Thanks for what?"

"Thanks for giving me a fight that I'll never forget."

As if she didn't feel strange enough, now she really began to feel her knees knocking. What was going on with her? Once she started to think about it, her mind went to a place that she thought it'd never go, and what place was that? Well, it was love.

She never felt this way towards anybody before, so what's going on now? She wondered was he feeling the same way, and the truth was yes, he did. It's funny how all of this happened from just beating each other up, but love's weird that way.

"You're welcome, I guess," she replied, minor apprehension in her voice.

"So, can I join your dojo now?"

"What? You mean you really want to join?"

"Sure, why not? Perhaps I'll learn something new!"

At first, she thought that he was joking, but she soon realized that he was being serious. On this very day, Makoto showed him where the dojo was located, so now he was able to come there at any time. Batsu seemed to be the first real student of her dojo, and that made him feel pretty cool. Later that day, Batsu returned to the Tatsunoko vs. Capcom building. He walked in and quickly spotted his three main pals.

"Oh, there he is," said Soki as he walked over to him; Yatterman-1 and Casshern followed him.

"Gee, what happened, son? We were waiting for you to come back yesterday, but you never did!" said Gan, jumping around as he spoke.

Batsu put his hands in his pockets and replied, "Eh, it's a pretty long story."

"So, did you win?" Casshern asked, looking and sounding depressed as usual.

"Sadly, no… but she didn't win, either!" he proudly answered.

"You mean, it was a tie, son?" asked Yatterman-1.

"Yeah, it was a tie!" replied a somewhat ticked off Batsu.

The samurai then placed his sword on top of his shoulder as he spoke, "Well, you look like a mess, so I guess she was as tough as she looked, eh?"

The teen gave him a callous glare, later retorting, "Yeah, yeah, she beat the pants off of me, but I put up a good fight! In fact, I'm a member of her dojo now, so take that!"

After he said that, they all shut up.

"Yeah, I thought so," Batsu said as he walked away. The trio stood there and watched him walk away.

The Neoroider sighed and stated, "Well, it's good to have our friend back."

"Darn right, son!" agreed the blonde boy.

"I guess so. Hey, let's go watch Frank West beat up Polimar," said Soki.

To end this story, let us skip ahead three years, okay? Batsu was now nineteen and Makoto was now seventeen. Both of them didn't change much. Batsu still looked the same, pretty much. He still dressed like he always did, still had his tough looking demeanor, but he did get a little taller, not to mention a little more built, too. Makoto also didn't change much. She still had that tomboyish way about her, but her body did develop and mature quite a lot; her hair was also a tad longer now. Today was a normal day. Batsu was at Makoto's dojo, and they were just about done sparring with each other.

The brash boy has gotten rather used to Makoto and her family. He felt like this was where he belonged, or something. She was the friend that he never had, and she felt the same way towards him. Batsu was wearing his net-like shirt along with a pair of jeans and a belt; Makoto was wearing a red shirt with denim overalls, and she also had on some gardening gloves. The reason why she was wearing these clothes is because soon as she finished her garden work, Batsu came over, so she decided to train with these garments on. She seemed to like being dressed like this, though.

"Well, that's all for today," she told him, wiping the sweat away from her forehead.

"Alright then, if you say so," he said back, throwing punches into air.

"So, doing anything special tonight?" asked Makoto.

He simply looked at her and replied, "Nah, why'd you ask?"

"No reason, I guess. I'm just trying to start a quick conversation before I go change."

"Oh."

Speaking of tête-à-têtes, Batsu was planning on asking her out this very day. Since the day they very first met, they always seemed to have a thing for each other, but they never spoke of it. Now was the day when he was going to take action instead of being a coward.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later then," said the black haired, young woman, now walking away from him. He felt his fear holding him back, but he wasn't going to let it win, not this time.

"Wait!" he said to her, quickly catching the karate girl's attention as she looked at him. Her stare was making him shake a little. He was expecting her to say something, but she didn't, she just ogled at him.

"Uh, Makoto, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"And do you promise you'll not freak out on me or anything?"

"That depends. Now, what is it?"

This seemed to be happening too fast. He felt like his heart jumped in his throat, stopping him from talking anymore. They knew each other for years, so she couldn't possibly be too traumatized by this. Once he took some time to gather up his courage, he felt like he was ready to ask her.

"Makoto, I love you. Would you please go out with me?"

"…."

Saying this took a huge load off of his back, and it made him feel so relieved, but it was kind of hard to say it, and the fact that she was still gawking at him made him feel like this wasn't going to turn out right. Makoto looked very staggered by this, but in a good way. She then felt her body tense up, making her feel like she couldn't move much. He stared right back at her, waiting to get an answer from her.

After what seemed like a very long time, Makoto began to slowly make her way over to him. His heart skip a couple beats when he noticed her walking over to him. He wanted to step back, he wanted to run away, but he couldn't, he had to see the outcome of this. Seconds later, the girl was now standing in front of him and boy were they close to each other. Batsu then began to realize that he never has seen her so up-close to him before. She looked so beautiful to him. She had a beauty about her that was subtle, but also very powerful in its own way.

Batsu was taller than Makoto, but not by much. Why did I just point that out? I don't know, just to let you know, I guess. She tilted her head up a little and continued to look at him. What was she doing? Trying to make him have a heart attack? Well, that's what he was thinking for a while. He then noticed that she started to get even closer to his face, and she was getting really close. He felt her warm breath touch his lips, its feel sending shivers of anticipation down his spine. She then closed her eyes, which made him know what was about to happen. If she was going to kiss him, he wanted her to do it now. He didn't want to be teased like this.

Though this was his very first kiss, and the same went for her, he felt like this was probably the slowest kiss in history. Even when she put her lips against his, it felt like she wasn't even doing anything, and this was killing him. He thought that maybe she was trying to make this as romantic as possible, or maybe she didn't really know how to do something like this at all. Whatever it was, he couldn't take it, so he was going to take matters into his own hands. Desperately wanting to feel her touch, he roughly gripped Makoto by the arms and pulled her right up against his body, ravenously claiming her lips as he kissed her; this made her open up her eyes.

She was taken by surprise when he did this, but as she began to carefully study this feeling that she was experiencing, and paid close attention to how much her body truly desired his touch, the easier it was for her to return her feelings back to him. Makoto then closed her eyes again, lovingly kissing her lover with such sincerity and desire. Knowing that they couldn't get too passionate with their actions, they pressed their lips together one last time before slowly parting away from each other, both bodies' faintly gasping for air as they gazed into one another's eyes.

"I love you, too," she whispered to him with a grin. "Do you know just how long I was waiting to hear you say that to me? I thought that you never would."

"Does this mean that you will go out with me?" he then asked her, kind of knowing the answer already.

"Yes, of course I will," she answered back, looking like she was about to cry with happiness.

After that being said, he then hastily hugged her, and she embraced him back. This was definitely a fantastic day for them both. After this event, they were now boyfriend and girlfriend. They had many great times during their relationship. They entered in team battle tournaments and won each one, became one of the most feared fighters in the world, and also won lots of prize money along the way. Many years later, the two got married and had three children. The ages they both were when they got married are unknown, but we sure know that their children are going to be quite the fighters. And that's the end of the story. They were united to fight, and united to love.

The End!

Well, thanks for reading this story. I bet most people are like, "BatsuxMakoto? What the balls is this crap!" Well, guess what? I happen to like this pairing, and if people can like the most crack headed pairings in the world, then I can like this one. If you want to review, then go on ahead. For those of you who want to C&C, which means "Crap and Complain", feel free to dump all over my story. I hope somebody likes this, though T_T.