The pinkette sprung into action, her fist pulled back as she was airborne. As she drew nearer to the ground, Sakura felt a rush of adrenaline, and within that span of time, her fist collided against the ground.
" Seismic Wave!" The pinkette announced, and soon enough, the earth broke apart under her touch.
Debris went flying in every direction and dust rose from between the fissures, creating a smoke screen for the rest of her class. The ground didn't settle down for some times, and it was no doubt that when the teachers from the audience exclaimed, the attack had reached them as well.
Everywhere Sakura looked, she saw dark silhouettes and was unable to see the exact features of the surrounding students. But she didn't need them, she didn't need the whiskers on Naruto's cheeks, or the horns of Ashido to know who was who.
The pinkette was able to detect every one of her classmates as well as the students from Konoha, and any unknown presence got a front kick to the abdomen. Anyone in Sakura's situation would have tapped their given balls to anyone opened, but the said girl was looking for someone specifically.
" S-Sakura-chan! Three o'clock t-to your right!" Hinata offered, the veins around her eyes pulsing.
The pinkette nodded, and before the shy girl could even wish her good luck, there was an empty spot where Sakura once stood. There! Sakura ran low, keeping her appearance as minimum as possible as Shindo came into view.
" I've got you now!" Her glinting green eyes spark in anticipation as she leapt forward.
She was high above the dark haired boy, one arm pulled back while the other determined where she was going to punch the boy. However, Shindo caught on to her intentions and swiftly got out of the way, barely dodging the packed fist that instead broke the ground.
" You really do have a temper." Shindo taunted with a smile. " But you're pretty smart, creating a smoke screen as a cover up."
" You bet she is, what'd you think is behind that large forehead of hers?" Nakagame, a student for from the same school as Shindo said, jumping into the fight. But instead of assisting Shindo, she went in for the boy.
Sakura flinched at the remark before frowning and looking to where she sensed a certain blonde. Ino chuckled as she ran around the area, tapping into nearby opposing student's mind and turning them to fight for her.
" Why're you playing around? Take two of them out already, you greedy pig." Sakura groaned behind her mask, and the gadget translated her thoughts loud and clear.
Ino stopped running around and smirked as she took a stance in the middle of a crowd. " Let me show off what I've learned first. What do you think? Five students, fifteen targets, all mine."
" Yeah? Well leave Shindo to me, I've got him covered." Sakura got into a low crouch before launching toward the boy. Nakagame got out of the way, looking confuse as to why she was where she was.
As the pinkette threw punches after punches, she heard Ino complain about her grip on some of her target's mind slipping the longer she kept at it.
" That blonde girl, she's a weird one." Shindo laughed as he dodged a kick, but it didn't hide the worried look in his eyes when he felt the wind pressure of the action. " Anyways, don't you think it's my turn yet? You don't even know what my Quirk is."
Sakura narrowed her eyes as she got back to a safe distance. She reached for a blade in her pouch and tucked it in between her middle and index finger, waiting for Shindo to make the next move.
" You sure about this?" The boy asked as he bent down low. " Everyone, scatter!"
As Shindo shouted out those words, his classmates all ran the opposite way, knowing exactly what the boy was going to do. And it was here that Sakura regretted underestimating her opponent.
" Break!" Shindo declared. " Maximum Force: Tremoring Earth!"
Instantly, a vibration traveled throughout the area, and soon after, the ground below Sakura shattered into pieces. The pinkette bit her lips from cursing, and in the mist of the yelling and complaints from the surrounding students, she jumped.
Despite the inconvenience of Shindo's Quirk, Sakura now knew what his signature was, making it easier to locate him. What she didn't expect when she went in for an attack was for a swirling void to appear.
" Lets go somewhere quiet, shall we?" A new voice said followed by a sharp push to Sakura's back.
The last thing the pinkette saw was a girl in a catsuit, waving slightly at her. When Sakura opened her eyes again, she was in a simple white room with the ceilings covered in glass lights.
" Sakura Haruno." A girl, dressed in a white cloak that made her brown hair glow an ember hue, stepped out of the shadows. " Or should I call you The Muse? it is what everyone at my school calls you, but I beg to differ with their use of words."
" Why'd you bring me here?" Sakura snarled as she got into a stance.
The newcomer ignored the pinkette's fierce expression and instead patted down her own hair. " My name is Azumi Suzuki from Ketsubutsu." Suzuki paused for a moment before looking up with uncaring eyes. " Power is to those born with it, and Haruno, you are everything I'm against."
Sakura narrowed her eyes deeper, her hands balled into fist by her sides. However, she relaxed down a bit and got into a different stance, one that she had worked on with Midoriya for the past few days.
The pinkette looked up at the girl before her, and before Suzuki could even blink, Sakura had disappeared from where she once stood and was instead right in front of her. The ember haired girl's eyes widened in surprise and activated her Quirk.
Sakura's fist collided against the opposite wall, shattering the material of the wall into splinters. The said girl got into a defensive form, looking around to where Suzuki might be, but the room was empty except for her.
" Shocking." Suzuki's voice came from behind the pinkette, but when Sakura swiped for a kick, her leg only slammed into air. " I won't be caught off guard again."
Suddenly, there was a soft humming, and when Sakura looked down, she saw that one of her targets had turned red.
Suzuki's voice was drawing nearer and nearer, but her signature couldn't be detected no matter how far Sakura spread her search radius. The only thing the pinkette could do was walk onto the ceiling to avoid any attack from the invisible girl who fazed in and out while she thought up of a plan.
" I can wait you out." Suzuki shrugged, fully reappearing. " You won't be able to keep it up for long, I'm sure of that. A bit boring though, don't you agree?"
" What are you trying to prove?" Sakura questioned through her mask.
Suzuki smiled coldly. " To show everyone, students and teachers alike that the world can only rely on those like me. People born with excelling Quirks. And people like you, should know your place. You're dead weight Haruno, especially given your situation."
A shadow was casted over the pinkette's face as the words poured out of Suzuki like toxic water.
" Quit while you can, no one will judge. That's why I'm against your hard work, once something happens, it was all a waste of time." Suzuki said. " If you were born strong, you could have prevented the injury. What did you say?"
Suzuki had heard some mumbling from above, but didn't catch the words. She watched as Sakura stood still, unable to read the pinkette's expression. Meanwhile, Sakura stopped the flow of her Quirk from reaching the sole of her feet, detaching herself from the ceiling.
Tried as she might, Suzuki didn't expect the pinkette to switch her posture in midair and strike the floor, creating thousands of debris. The room shook, and the building itself swayed under the touch of Sakura.
A ripple of wind power went outwards, causing Suzuki to shut her eyes to stop any debris from flying in her eyes. Unfortunately for her, Sakura used that to her advantage and launched toward the brown haired girl, going for her neck.
" W-What are you-" Suzuki tried to speak through the pressure on her neck but stopped midway as her eyes widened at the sight of the pinkette.
Standing at her full height, Sakura put pressure on Suzuki's shoulders, bringing the Ketsubutsu student to her knees. Her green eyes were in a frenzy as she stared down on the girl who refused to look up at her.
" Look. At. Me." The words were sharp and clipped.
" I-It'll only be a matter of time before that mask of yours break and you have no way of communicating." Suzuki insisted, more to herself then to the actual girl. " Then you'll be a burden who doesn't have the time to write her thoughts down."
Sakura clutched at her head frantically as she registered the words of Suzuki, wanting the idea of being a burden out of her mind. She won't become dead weight. Not again at least. Her hair fell from its normally neat form, and the ribbon slipped out of her pink tresses.
" Look at you." Suzuki smirked, regaining her confidence. " A sight for sore eyes now that you see the truth."
" SHUT UP." Sakura's hand collided against the wall, right next to Suzuki's ear, creating a dent.
As the UA student reached for her pouch, Suzuki tried to vanish out of sight. However, with her left hand, Sakura slammed her palm against Suzuki's forehead, making it hazy for the ember haired girl.
The pinkette hesitated on what exactly she should do. Her fingers inched towards her blades, but she knew it would do her no good. But what if...? Sakura shook her head to clear her mind as she hastily grabbed one of her ball.
Swiftly she tapped them on Suzuki's targets before letting the girl crumble against the wall.
" I'm out, huh?" Suzuki gave a bitter smile before looking up at Sakura. " But you've over looked something."
" No, I didn't." Sakura simply replied before she twist around and slammed a fist into the jaws of another examinee. Her brutal attack sent the newcomer hurling towards a wall, breaking past it and skidding along the ground.
The pinkette made her way over to the new girl and examined the damaged done, but not before tapping the same ball that she had used on Suzuki on the new girl's targets. It was as the saying went, kill to birds with one stone.
The targets on Sakura turned blue, showing she had completed her task in getting two points for herself. As Sakura knelt down and healed the fractured jaw of the girl, she closed her eyes to calm herself.
" How did you know?" The Ketsubutsu student asked when she could, sitting up and brushing her blonde hair away from her face.
Sakura stood up and stared down on her. " Suzuki doesn't have a teleporting Quirk, or a warp. And she was fazing in and out, as if she couldn't keep it up for long, which could only mean two things. She's not good with her Quirk, or she was hiding another person."
" I'll get Suzuki, you can head on to the wait room." The blonde girl offered as she got up, as if she had accepted defeat long ago. She glanced at the retreating back of the pinkette one last time before never looking back again.
Meanwhile, the said pinkette rubbed her temple, still bother about that Suzuki had said. She didn't even notice Midoriya and a couple others as they walked over to her.
" Sakura-chan? Yay!" Uraraka cheered, clasping the pinkette's hands into hers. " I'm glad you passed. You, um..were you with Uzumaki or Yamanaka during this part?"
Sakura looked up and swiped her bangs out of her eyes. Uraraka's nervous smile fell and Midoriya and Sero huddled around them, worried as to why the pinkette looked so frantic. Her pupils trembled in her eyes, as if there was a ringing in her head.
" You alright?" Sero asked, leaning down a little to get a closer look.
Midoriya frowned as he noticed the missing hair ribbon. " What happened? Were you alone out there?"
Before Sakura could answer, a familiar voice called out to them. " You've got to be shitting me. The hell are you guys doing, huddled together?"
The pinkette looked up, surprised. Midoriya had moved out of the way to show Bakugou, Kirishima, and Kaminari heading over to their way. Amongst the trio, Bakugou stepped out and looked over Sakura.
" What's wrong with you?" The blonde raised an eyebrow as he put a hand on Sakura's forehead and brush back her hair so he could see her face.
Sakura narrowed her eyes and pulled away, causing Bakugou to merely take a step closer. The girl refused to meet the blonde's eyes, mad that he had the audacity to act as if he hadn't been avoiding her up until now.
Bakugou then took a step back and walked around the girl, mumbling something as he did so. " ...no...smile...dumb...nerd.."
" You know, we met you over at the terrain we were at." Kirishima suddenly said as they made their way inside the wait room.
Sakura frowned. " I was only at two terrains. The one we started at and the one I was teleported to. I didn't see you guys."
" That's the thing, it wasn't you." Kaminari added on. " An examinee transformed into you and tried to team up. But when she got her first point, she smiled and cheered. My man Bakugou then threatened to send her packing if she didn't reveal herself."
" But how did you know it wasn't Sakura?" Midoriya asked, confused on how they came to that conclusion.
Kirishima jutted a thumb over at Bakugou, snickering as he did so. " Why don't you ask Bakugou over there. He's the one who figured it out. Go on man, tell them."
Bakugou casted a sideways look over to Sakura before smacking both Kirishima and Kaminari on the head. As they entered the wait room, Sakura sat down on one of the seat while everyone else went to find their other classmates that may have passed by now.
" She fucking smiled, thats how I knew." Bakugou muttered casually as he passed the pinkette. " You haven't smile once since the damn training camp."
Sakura's eyes widened as she watched Bakugou go. She brought her fingers to her mouth before she stared down on her shoes, imagining a world where she hadn't lost her voice. The pinkette was snapped out of her thoughts by a shrill voice piercing the air.
" Forehead!" Ino called out, followed by Shikamaru and Choji.
The blonde girl walked over and raised an eyebrow when she saw that Sakura's red ribbon had fallen out, causing Ino to groan. As Ino pulled out another strip of red, Todoroki made his way over before kneeling down on one knee to get a better look at Sakura.
" Midoriya said he was worried." Todoroki explained. " What happened?"
Sakura hung her head and bit her lips. They were all coddling her, as if she needed protection. The pinkette buried her face into her hands as she let out a sigh, she was tired of it all. The constant doubt in herself, the babying, everything.
" I'm fine, just tired." Sakura half lied.
Todoroki briefly looked over to where Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were and stood up. He patted the pinkette's hair before walking away, believing that Sakura's former classmates could take care of the rest if she didn't want to talk to him. It was frustrating, but Sakura needed the people she had known longest right now.
" Here, let me tie-" Ino reached over to tie the ribbon, but a hand blocked her from doing so. Sakura's hand.
The pinkette hid her surprise from her own action by looking away. Her mask translated what she wanted to say but couldn't. " I want to be alone, can you leave too?"
" Right, well, I'll just leave this here." Ino mumbled.
Shikamaru tapped a finger on the top of Sakura's head, causing her to looked up. " We're here for you, especially the knuckleheads Naruto and Ino."
As the trio left, the pinkette leaned her head against the wall and exhaled. Some days she felt like she was on top of the world, other days she was sick of everything. What's worst was that it was now effecting her interaction with everyone. So what now?
Earlier Up In The Stadium:
" There she is." Ms. Joke grinned when she saw someone fly out of a building. " And there goes one of my students."
Aizawa narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms as he watched the scenes unfold before him. Sakura had staggered over to the fallen student, not from being drained of energy, but as if she couldn't see straight.
" You sure it was the right thing letting her take this exam? Her introduction was a great show, but seeing her now, I'm not so sure." The heroine shrugged her shoulders, causing Aizawa to narrow his eyes deeper at her words.
But the Eraser Hero relaxed back down, almost grinning when he replied to Ms. Joke. " She's doing just fine, Joke. There may be two students who I have mention, but there is one more I haven't yet. A student who rises to any occasion."
" You make no sense." Ms. Joke shot back, blowing a bubble with her gum. " Odd of you to speak so highly of her too."
Aizawa watched as Sakura met up with other Class A students, eyes darting from the look on the pinkette's face to the worried expression of everyone else. But then there was Bakugou with his furrowed features in an angry manner.
" None of my students are deadweight." Aizawa suddenly said and with half lidded eyes in an uncaring way, looked over at the woman next to him. " So watch out Joke, because we will be seen."