She stood frozen in place as she searched her name on the board. To say she was nervous was an understatement as behind her blank expression was a face covered in sweat, waiting anxiously for her name to be found. And finally, there it was.
Her name stared back at her boldly, and as Sakura finished skimming down the list, she discovered that all of the Konoha students had also passed, along with majority of the UA students.
" W-We passed?" Uraraka dropped to her knees before looking up to the pinkette in disbelief.
Sakura helped the brunette back up as she heard the rest of her classmates exclaim that they had also passed. Everyone that is, but two boys. Bakugou and Todoroki glanced over at each other, each with a different response to not passing.
" Two of the top students didn't pass?" Kaminari questioned before turning to Bakugou with a snicker. " This should teach you to stop using such crude language."
" Shut up, damnit!" The blonde exploded in anger as he grabbed Kaminari by the front of his shirt and shook him around. " This means nothing!"
Just as Sakura was about to tap Bakugou on the shoulder, she held back and instead dropped her hand back to her side, a dejected look on her face. But before anyone could catch her, she felt a hand covering her face.
" You're too easy to read." Todoroki's voice came from behind the pinkette.
As the said girl turned around to face the hybrid boy, she stared up with curious eyes. Since she no longer had her mask on, she instead took out her talking device and started typing her thoughts down: You didn't pass
" Yeah, but I'm not that surprised." Todoroki sighed. " My behavior toward Yaorashi was what took away so many points."
Speaking of the devil, Yaorashi walked over and loomed over the duo. The pinkette was about to give them space when Yaorashi stopped her by holding out a hand. Before the two UA students knew what was happening, the Shiketsu student bowed down low to the point his head smashed against the ground.
" I apologize!" Yaorashi declared, still bent down. " And I'm grateful toward Haruno for showing me how inappropriate my actions were!"
Sakura titled her head in confusion, but then remembered how she had slapped him in the mist of the exam, and rubbed the back of her neck as she hid her face. As Todoroki returned the apology with one of his own, the pinkette's attention was returned back to the front.
" Alright, now that you've gotten it out of your system, we'll be passing out your results of how you did." Mera continued on. " Look closely at our notes, they'll tell you how exactly you did depending on your reaction from the beginning to the very end, and at the bottom is breakdown of your scores."
Once Sakura received her paper, she scanned down to the bottom to see what exactly she had gotten. A 78. Most of her points had been docked from that one old man dressed as a woman, and the rest was from slapping an examinee and talking while in front of the enemy.
" How dare they." Naruto groaned as he showed Sakura his paper. " To think I gave up the spotlight too. Don't cha think I deserve better?"
The boy had gotten a 72 from complaining and arguing with an injured. Sakura's eye twitched when she read that Naruto had also been docked some points from flirting on the field, which she knew first handed of.
" For those who had failed the last exam, we plan on giving you a second chance to pass since All Might had retired. We need as many heroes as possible in the future to fill in the gap that had had been left behind." Mera explained. " You'll have to take a three-month long course and an individual test in the end as you should expect though."
Sakura felt somewhat of an ease in her as her gaze fluttered over to Bakugou. The wedge that had begun to form was getting wider and wider until she couldn't even see him from the opposite side anymore.
So why did she still care about him?
" Sakura-chan?" Naruto leaned in closer to the pinkette's face with wide eyes. " Do you like that Bakugou kid?"
Sakura flinched before burying her face into her hands, trying to hide any signs that may give her away. But when she saw Naruto frowned in Bakugou's way and was about to make his way over there, she slowly straightened up to only clench her fist and race after the blue eyed boy.
She just wanted to stop him, but the next thing she knew, she had slammed her fist against Naruto's jaw, sending the boy tumbling back even though she was sure she had only used a small portion of her Quirk. With her arm outstretched, the pinkette saw that her seal had activated and stretched throughout her body once more, confusing her.
" Sakura-chan!" Naruto complained loudly, getting back up. " Look, I know you may like B-"
The pinkette frantically ran over to him, trying to shut his mouth, no longer focussed on her change. However, her sloppy actions knocked the blonde boy down, causing her to trip over herself in the process. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact of the fall, but it never came.
Instead she landed on something else, something hard but softer than what the ground would have been. The pinkette propped herself up to find that underneath her was a grinning Naruto, his cerulean eyes staring up at her.
" Know that I'll always..." Naruto didn't finish his sentence and instead hugged the pinkette closer to him, rolling over so their position had switch as he did so. " ...fight for you."
Sakura studied the way Naruto's eyebrows scrunched upward, but she only sighed afterwards and pushed the boy off of her. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair, her gaze on a pile of debris.
But then she felt it. The pinkette's head turned to where she felt Bakugou's presence just in time to catch the boy's eyes. The boy stared down on her with an unreadable expression, but after awhile, Bakugou looked away, turning his back to the girl on the ground.
" Get up, Sakura-chan." The said girl looked up to see Naruto offering his hand to her. " That look doesn't suit you."
The pinkette could only take Naruto's hand and hoist herself up, trying to make the urge of going after Bakugou disappear. Fine then, if that's what he wanted. They'll go their separate ways, acting as stranger as if they never once shared smiles and once upon a time, the same feelings.
" Good-bye, Firecracker." Sakura hung her head as her hands clenched into fists by her sides.
She hated how he could make her feel this way.
Sakura peered down on her provisional license card before staring off to the distance where the sun was setting. She made it this far, but why wasn't she in the mood to celebrate like she should be? The pinkette suddenly remembered something as she took out her phone.
She took a picture of her license and sent it off to four people, her parents, All Might and Tsunade. Tsunade replied with numerous texts, including one promising a congratulations gift that'll reach her by tomorrow.
And soon, a call came in from her mother.
" We're so happy for you! Tonight, make sure to treat yourself to your favorite deserts and dishes, and remember about your first two fans when you're out saving people!" Mebuki reminded. " You're father and I are cheering you on, my little hero."
In the background, the pinkette could hear her father bragging to strangers about the news he had just received.
" Hold on a sec, your dad's scaring a poor old woman. Kizashi, in english! English!" Mebuki returned back to the call with a new topic. " Also, tell Naruto good luck on the move."
As the call ended, Sakura raised an eyebrow in question. What move was her mother talking about? Just as she was about to ask Naruto, Aizawa called the class together, saying something about an announcement.
" As I was saying, a new student will be joining the hero course in UA." Aizawa drawled when everyone came together. " You may have met him, Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha will be attending UA as a student in Class B."
All around her, everyone broke into questions and statements but they were quickly silence when the Konoha elites came over with Kakashi leading the way. And for once, his orange book was tucked in his pocket and not out in front of him.
" Just wanted to drop by and say take care of Naruto for us. He's a bit reckless and has the brain of a sloth, but he'll go far." Kakashi said, smiling. Or at least Sakura thought he was, it was hard to tell with half his face hidden by a mask and one of his eyes covered.
As Kakashi and Aizawa exchanged plans, the UA students and Konoha students stared at each other awkwardly. Finally, Midoriya decided to welcome Naruto into the hero course, in which Naruto jutted a thumb out to himself.
" You better watch out, cause I might just become the next top student of UA." Naruto declared, earning a grunt from Todoroki and a snort from Bakugou.
" So why'd you decide to transfer anyways?" Uraraka asked, finding that Naruto's character wasn't as intimidating as she had thought.
" Partly because UA's ranked one of the best hero school in UA, and the other reason," Naruto glanced over at Sakura with a smile that left the pinkette unfazed. " Well, I think you can call all guess."
Suddenly, Ino stepped forward, coughing a bit so that she could get everyone's attention. The blonde girl walked over to Sakura and locked the pinkette in a staring contest. However, the blonde soon sighed and blinked as she took on a soft smile.
" I get why you like UA so much. Especially with the eye candy." Typical Ino strikes again. " So no hard feelings?"
Sakura shrugged her shoulders before typing something down: That depends, was there any hard feelings to begin with in the first place?
" Oh shut up." Ino smiled before turning her attention over to Uraraka who stood close by. " It was nice meeting you, and sorry about before, that's just how I am when meeting someone new. I can tell you're a good friend."
Uraraka scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she smiled in return. " Same, I think?"
" Alright, everyone on the bus, we need to start heading back before the sun sets completely." Kakashi announced. " And Naruto, I assume you have your backpack and costume with you as well?"
The said boy answered with a thumbs up, and seeing it, Kakashi led his class away. It was only now did Sakura realized that she hadn't seen Sasuke ever since their results were handed back, to which Naruto quickly picked up on.
" He left." Naruto informed. " He's going aboard, like how his brother did."
She typed something down and it was quickly announced: So you're really coming to UA with me?
" You betcha!" Naruto grinned. " I've been thinking about it for a long time, actually. You and I are going to be seeing each other a lot more, it's just to bad I couldn't get in the same class. Something about evening the two classes out."
As Sakura caught Naruto up with UA's system, with Naruto tuning her out and just staring at her with a goofy look on his face, Bakugou balled his hands into fists as he remembered what had happened earlier.
Earlier:
After confronting Sasuke in a hallway, followed by a curious Naruto, Bakugou was more or less stumped. What now? The ash-blonde could only clench and unclench his hands as he thought of the reason why he was here. But Sasuke's mind was already filling in the blanks.
" We went out, Sakura and I." The Uchiha sighed. " We done yet?"
Bakugou smashed his fist against the opposite wall, barely missing Sasuke's ear. " What makes you think I care about your past relationship with Bubblegum, Freak Eyes?"
" Alright, calm down, Bakugou, was it?" Naruto chuckled. " I'm sure-"
Bakugou changed his target and instead slammed his hand over Naruto's mouth, making it so the Konoha student could only look at him with unwavering eyes. " Shut up! And who are you to act all chummy with Bubblegum?!"
Naruto's eyes changed, as if he found it amusing, and when Bakugou released him, the Uzumaki took on a look of confidence. " Yeah, we're close."
" Can't say the same for you though." Sasuke stated, hands tucked into his pockets as he leaned against the wall. " I mean, you obviously were, but not now."
As the two Konoha student stood on both of his sides, Bakugou found that he had been cornered. He bit his lips and scowled as he turned toward Sasuke. Bakugou's sneer deepened, but Sasuke easily matched it with an uncaring look.
" I'm going." Sasuke scoffed, turning around. " You're pathetic, Bakugou, acting as if you don't care. It'll come back and bite you in the ass."
Understanding the meaning behind Sasuke's words, Bakugou ran after the boy, and with one swift movement he turned the Uchiha around and collided his fist against the dark haired boy's face. " The hell it will!"
The dark haired boy merely wiped away the blood that dripped from his nose as he surveyed the UA student in front of him. " She won't wait for you."
From behind the UA student, Naruto placed a hand on Bakugou's shoulder as he passed by with a smile, uttering a simple statement. " I'd watch out if I was you."
While Naruto and Sasuke walked back together, Bakugou was left with a ringing sound in his ears as their words sunk in. He had been keeping her at arm distance, he had went out of his way to minimize their interactions.
So why did she still drove him to do things he would never do?
Sakura sat wedged into her teddy bear, staring at her license once more. Night had fallen but she wasn't the least bit tired at all, and she knew from the ruckus downstairs that she wasn't the only one who felt that way.
But instead of celebrating downstairs, the pinkette had made her way to her room without alerting anyone. Suddenly, she heard soft tapping from her balcony, and when she went over and slid the screen to the side, there he was, his usual smile plastered on.
" Surprise." Naruto said, letting himself into Sakura's room.
The said girl reached for her talking device and typed down her response: You shouldn't be here. Why aren't you with the rest of your class? And how did you even get up here?
Naruto sat down on one of the cushion, laying his head on the table as he did so. " Well, I missed your cute face."
Just as Sakura was about to retort with a smart comeback, she heard Asui on the other side of her door, telling the pinkette that her delivery was here. The pinkette shoved the blonde boy behind her teddy bear, warning him to keep quiet with her eyes.
" Was someone in here -ribbit- with you?" Asui asked as the two of them made their way downstairs.
Sakura shook her head while typing down her excuse: It was probably the wind, I had the screen opened for some air. Where's Deku?
The pinkette looked around once they were in the common room to see that the green haired boy was nowhere in sight as she paid for her fried chicken and drinks. The girl handed out five bags to the rest of her classmates before taking one for herself.
" He's upstairs." Kirishima replied. " Awesome! Wait, you're not going to eat with us?"
Sakura shook her head before bidding her classmates goodnight as she headed upstairs. When she entered her room again, she found that Naruto had helped himself in looking around her room.
" Sakura-chan, what is this?" Naruto asked, motioning to what was in her wardrobe. " Why do you have pictures of a creepy dude and his mates?"
The girl closed the wings of the furniture before yanking Naruto down onto the cushions once more. As the pinkette responded to each of the blonde's question, she laid out the food in front of them before leaning back once she was done.
The last thing she had typed was: I'm working on something, and it's going to be big.
" Of course it'll be, I mean, it is coming from you." Naruto smiled. " I meant what I said, I really do like you, Sakura-chan."
The pinkette bit her lips, not knowing how to respond. But after a moment of silence, she knew what she had to do: Lady Tsunade was right, romance isn't in my future. I thought I would be able to juggle friends, relationships, and hero training, but I can't. I can't do that.
" Sakura-chan." Naruto frowned. " What do you mean?"
The said girl stood up, slid the patio door opened and hugged herself, letting the cold breezes into her room. She slowly typed down what she had in mind and waited as each word was read out loud: I've been treating my training like games.
The blonde boy stood up and tried to make the pinkette face him, but he was shaken off when Sakura took a couple of steps forward to create a bigger distance between them.
Once more, she typed down her thoughts: They're not games, they're skills I'll have to rely on to survive. So that's why it's over, I can't act like a child anymore. I won't take the exercises easily. And that means I can't afford to stay in any of my friendships anymore.
"...fine." Naruto gave the saddest smile he had ever given. " I support your decision, but promise me that we'll always be your friends. You don't even have to give anything in return, I'll do it all."
When Sakura didn't answer, Naruto walked passed her and stood on the balcony, turning around once he was far enough so that they were facing each other. The pinkette didn't even react when the boy planted a kiss on her forehead.
" Good-night, Sakura-chan." Naruto bid, leaping on top of the railings with his Quirk activated. And with a farewell smile, he jumped.
The pinkette didn't even went over to make sure he had made it down safely before closing the slides and going into the bathroom to get started on her nighttime routine. And still tuned out of the world, Sakura cleaned up her room afterwards, throwing away the food in the trashcan without a second thought.
As she laid in bed that night, she faced the ceiling as she allowed what had just happen with Naruto sink in.
She was right, she hadn't been taking anything seriously. Even when she had first lost her voice, she had still permitted herself to track down Bakugou with Midoriya and the others.
Her emotions had motivated her actions, and where was she now?
Sakura had just pushed Naruto away, and even though it felt like her heart was silently cracking from it, the pinkette was determined to reinforce this new rule. No, it was a new law if she was planning on following through with her plan to become the next top hero.
And because she was focussing on burning the new law into her mind, she didn't noticed the text from All Might. A text that could have changed everything.