Uraraka ignored her nerves as she watched all of her classmates perform the rescue operation and everyone so far had been successful. They were nearly done and the day entered into late afternoon.

Kirishima and Kaminari were the second to last attempt at the rescue operation. Uraraka was next and her unsurity was wearing on her now. She needed to win this. It was more than just a silly competition now, her pride was at stake. However, her desire to be successful was almost drowned out by her worries that she would fail.

Midoriya had comforted her a few times, but now she was avoiding him altogether. She needed to hype herself up on her own. She knew that her friend was becoming somewhat of a crutch for her and it was very hard to try and distance herself from him.

Below her, Kaminari and Kirishima still had their hands full with Present Mic. Uraraka watched as the two worked together in order to save Jiro. For a pair of rowdy boys, they definitely bounced off each other well in any battle or training setting. She wondered mildly if Bakugo was the same way when he worked with them.

As if the saying were true; speak of the devil and he shall come, Bakugo walked up beside Uraraka. He narrowed his eyes to look down at his two friends busy with Present Mic, but he did not utter a word to Uraraka.

She blinked and glanced at him, 'Is he trying to intimidate me or something?'

Bakugo knew that his presence was making the brunette uncomfortable and he was satisfied with himself. He had done well on his rescue operation earlier, but it was still beatable. In order to ensure his victory over Uraraka, he needed to keep her unfocused. So he stood quietly, shuffling his hands in his pockets and sending a silent message to Uraraka that he refused to accept defeat.

With the sudden appearance of Bakugo, Uraraka was unsure what to think. Was there something he wanted to say? Why would he come over here to say nothing at all? Maybe she should just ask him. "What's up, Bakugo?" She was surprised that her voice came out so steady.

Bakugo blinked but didn't look at her. "Don't forget about our little bet, dumbshit."

Uraraka breathed out tentatively, "Like I could."

Bakugo sneered but didn't reply.

"So," Uraraka tried to revamp the conversation, "You were awesome out there."

With hands digging into his pockets, the blonde replied, "Don't sound so surprised, dipshit."

Uraraka felt a twinge of encouragement ignite in her chest. His arrogance was his strongest motivator, so maybe she could have a little bit of that as well. "Well," She began, "I wouldn't count me out yet. I'm going to win, for sure!" The twinge grew into a small flame of anticipation.

Bakugo scoffed, "Yeah right."

Little to Bakugo's knowledge, this little banter he had struck up with Uraraka was exactly what she needed before her turn. Her confidence was built up again and she was holding up her chin proudly. She wanted to succeed not to just beat Bakugo, but for the sake of winning. She was stronger now… She can do this.

She stood silently with Bakugo while Kirishima and Kaminari successfully brought Jiro over the finish line. The class applauded them and the pair congratulated themselves for their success. The final rescue operation of the day was looming and Uraraka was finally feeling up to the task.

As if on cue, All-Might called her and directed her to the training area below.

…

Uraraka stood at the starting point, ignoring the eyes of her classmates above. Aizawa was a couple hundred yards from her, staring her down. She didn't have a plan yet, but she knew she could form one under pressure. This was her time to shine, after all.

She bit her lip and commanded her nerves to relax. She took a starting pose and stared ahead with a renewed determination. 'I can do this. I can do this. I can do this!'

"BEGIN!" All-Might called from overhead, signalling her to start.

Her initial reaction was to run toward Mr. Aizawa. She knew that touching her teacher would do no good for her quirk, but it was the only plan she had so far. Ashido was sitting against the cliffs further away, silently cheering Uraraka on to come save her and was surprised when the brunette rushed their teacher.

Aizawa hadn't erased her quirk yet. He'd do that once she touched something in an effort to preserve his eyes. He was unfazed as she hustled toward him and he moved to capture her in his scarf. Just as the scarf was about to reach her, she changed course completely. It confused him for a moment but began to stalk after her.

Running toward Ashido now, Uraraka was scratching her brain for an idea. She couldn't use her quirk on Ashido with Aizawa still present. Should she try to take care of Aizawa first or rescue Ashido without her quirk? Maybe she could do both? 'What do I do?!'

As the thoughts raced through her head, she came up to Ashido. Upon reaching her pretend victim a plan began to circle around in her mind, fighting to complete itself. Of what she had thought up to this point, staying near Ashido was her best option. If she could somehow disable Mr. Aizawa's quirk, then she wouldn't be too far from Ashido to perform the rescue. It dawned on her then that her only option was to take down her teacher.

Aizawa took purposeful steps, examining Uraraka as he came closer. She crouched a few yards from Ashido, her eyes pooled with determination. He wondered what her next move would be for a moment as she reached for a few rocks. Assuming she planned to use her quirk, he promptly erased it and jettisoned his scarf out to nab her.

Uraraka touched her fingertips to the stones on her left and knew that Aizawa had erased her quirk. Allowing him to think he was in control was the center of her half-baked plan, so she moved to dodge the scarf but still allowed it to encircle her. Upon capture, Aizawa began to call back his scarf, yanking a grumbling Uraraka with it. As he dragged her back to himself, he felt disappointed at her lack of effort.

While she was tugged along, Uraraka finalized her plans and readied herself for her counter attack. Just as Uraraka came within a few feet of her teacher, she twisted her body around in the scarf to face him, a smile tugging on her lips. Aizawa squinted his drying eyes at her inquisitively.

Uraraka then initiated her plan, using both hands to grab on the scarf encircling her on her left. She threw the entire weight of her body into her back and pulled hard, jolting the teacher down a few inches. Between him leaning over and her regaining her balance, she kicked her foot wildly in the dirt.

When Aizawa looked back at his student, he didn't see anything but a cloud of dust heading his way. Before he had time to cover his eyes, the dirt met it's target. Aizawa hissed painfully and went to rub his eyes, forcing him to loosen his scarf's grip on his student.

This was Uraraka's chance and she couldn't keep the triumphantly determined smirk off her face. Her impromptu plan had worked and she had disabled Aizawa's quirk with nothing more than a little dirt from the earth she stood on. She yanked on the scarf again, pulling her disoriented teacher into the dirt and urgently untangled herself from his grasp. Her quirk was active again, but she needed to guarantee her victory before her teacher had the upper hand on her once more.

She raced up to Mr. Aizawa and crouched over his back, breathing calmly and purposefully. She grabbed the scarf and yanked his hands from his eyes before wrapping up his wrists. In order to win, she had to completely immobilize him.

Aizawa's chin and chest met the ground as she forced him all the way down with her knee. Finishing her knot behind his back, she could move to phase two of her plan.

Leaping up, Uraraka's eyes fell on a stunned Ashido. "We have to hurry!" The brunette mumbled out and ran to the acid user's side.

"That was amazing, Uraraka!" Ashido praised her as she let Uraraka touch her shoulder.

Uraraka laughed awkwardly and allowed her quirk to lift Ashido. She grabbed the other girl's wrist and began pulling her toward the finish. Out of the corner of her eye, she observed her teacher attempting to loosen his bindings, his eyes still squeezed shut in pain.

A breath of relief mixed with success escaped her lips as she pulled Ashido across the finish line. There was a deafening silence before the class roared with excitement and applause. She had done it. Not perfectly, but she had done it.

All-Might called the match and Uraraka ran back toward Mr. Aizawa. He had finally managed to release himself from his restraints and was running his eye drops through his red, puffy eyes. As she approached, he gave her a grim look.

"I am so sorry, Mr. Aizawa!" She apologized profusely. Guilt ripped through her chest as she saw the state of her teacher's eyes.

He blinked multiple times at the girl before a smirk of approval made an appearance on his face. "That was very well done, Uraraka." He pocketed his eye drops and moved to stand.

She gasped in surprise but nodded her head, "Thank you, sir."

"It's not every day that a young student like yourself successfully attempts to defeat their opponent in order to save a civilian." Aizawa rubbed the last of the dirt from his eyes. "It was brave and unforeseen."

Uraraka accepted the praise and let him escort her back toward the class that was now gathering at the bottom of the cliffs.

"Wow!" Midoriya ran up to her, "That was amazing, Uraraka!"

Iida followed after him and nodded his head approvingly, "You have come a long way, Uraraka."

She beamed at her two friends, thanking them humbly.

All-Might walked up to the trio, a proud grin plastered on his face. "Clearly, we saved the best for last. Magnificent job, young Uraraka!" He patted the brunette happily. "Congratulations on your success. Not only did you save the victim, but you also managed to immobilize your opponent. In a real fight, you would have guaranteed that the villain would not have given chase. Very well done, indeed!"

Uraraka couldn't fight off the smile on her face. Her features lit up as her classmates congratulated her, agreeing with their teachers. She wondered briefly why she was ever worried about the rescue operation in the first place.

…

Bakugo was mad. No, he was absolutely furious. A rage comparable to hell fire roared in his chest as he watched Uraraka battling against Aizawa. When her rescue operation had started, her chances of success had looked delicately slim and Bakugo had not been the least bit surprised. However, as the match progressed, he felt a sudden dread.

He clenched his fists angrily as she kicked up the dirt in the teachers face, effectively cancelling out his quirk. Uraraka was starting to make it look easy to go up against a pro as she tackled the teacher to the ground and started binding his wrists behind his back. She didn't look frantic or concerned at any point during this. She looked fierce and formidable.

"Damn!" Kirishima cheered for the girl below. "Uraraka is kicking ass!"

Kaminari's jaw was agape, "Was she always this strong?"

"Shut the hell up!" Bakugo ordered his friends, not daring to take his eyes from the scene below. There is no way she just did that. How could such an ignorant girl be outshining him?!

Everyone watched silently as she ran to Ashido and activated her quirk to carry her to safety. Her retreat was the longest moment of Bakugo's life. He was baffled when she crossed the finish line. It became clear that her rescue effort was unmatched.

The class erupted into cheers of praise and amazement. All-Might could be heard laughing out loud at Aizawa's predicament. Separate from the rest of the class, Bakugo was stunned at her results. He was almost impressed with her ability to hold her own against their teacher, but he trampled down those feelings and replaced them with disdain.

Unfortunately, he had lost their bet and that made him furious.

When the class gathered at the bottom of the cliffs, signalling the end of their training for the day, Bakugo wasn't sure what to do with himself. Everyone was talking about Uraraka and it was making him fume. If he heard her name one more time, he was going to kill them all.

"Dude," Kirishima joined the isolated blonde. "What's your deal?"

Bakugo sneered at the redhead, "None of you fuckin' business."

Kirishima followed Bakugo's angry gaze toward Uraraka, who was still beaming with her classmates as they walked toward the mess hall for dinner. Kirishima deciphered the blonde's reaction as a distaste for Uraraka's success. "Whatever, man. She did a good job so there's no point in being so sour about it."

Bakugo was irked by Kirishima's ignorance. "She fuckin' set me up!"

This nabbed Kirishima's attention, "Set you up? Set you up how?"

Bakugo grit his teeth and hissed out his response, "She knew this was going to happen, that's why she made that stupid bet with me!"

Kirishima blinked and looked at Bakugo curiously, "What sort of bet?"

The blonde's fuming became progressively worse, "She's so damn annoying! She bet me that she'd do better than me in training today. If I lost, then I would have to be her 'friend' all day tomorrow." Bakugo tensed up, "I fuckin' fell for that shit!"

Kirishima couldn't contain his amusement, "I have to hand it to Uraraka… She's more clever than I give her credit for."

"Fuck her!" Bakugo barked and began marching away.

…

After dinner had finished and everyone had washed up, Uraraka was finally left alone. It was already dark as she ran a brush through her damp hair. She was seated on a fallen log near the water, still riding on the high of her victory. Today had been a personal confirmation that she had grown exponentially since the sports festival. All the hard work and dedication she had been putting into her training was finally paying off in spades.

A soft smile played on her lips as she continued brushing through her hair and the breeze tugged at her sleeveless hoodie she had worn this morning. There was an air of peace over the camp as students settled into their cabins. Yaoyorozu and Jiro had left her alone a while ago and she was thankful for the break.

"You got so damn lucky today, dipshit." Bakugo's voice came from behind her.

Uraraka turned her head around to see him, his irritated face was barely lit by the moonlight. "Hey Bakugo!" She smiled sweetly at him. It dawned on her that this was almost a mirror to their discussion this morning.

He clenched his jaw and took the last few steps to stand beside her. "I don't like losing, so don't fuck with me."

She didn't let the grin escape from her lips, "I bet you weren't expecting that, huh?'

His eyes trained on her, glowing a deeper red in the darkness. "Fuck no. That shit was completely uncalled for."

Uraraka felt relieved that he wasn't immediately imploding their conversation. He seemed somewhat accepting of their bet. "Well if it makes you feel better, I thought I was going to lose after watching you. That explosion you set off was insane!"

Bakugo scoffed at her, letting his eyes linger on her happy face for a moment longer. It was becoming clear to him that she wasn't one to underestimate. He looked away and let his mouth fall into his signature thin frown. "Don't fuckin' torture me tomorrow."

Uraraka laughed at his omission, "I can't promise anything, but I will certainly enjoy it."

He wanted to be mad and chew her out, but he couldn't find the anger within to do so. Her laugh was refreshing and honest, so he simply reserved his anger for another time. He lost fair and square, so he sucked up his pride and tried to relax. "What's your deal anyway? Are you obsessed with me or something?"

Shock was written on Uraraka's face, "N-no!" She scrambled for words, "I just thought it would be good to get to know you. We haven't really talked since the school year started, so I figured it would be a good idea." She rested her hands in her lap and gazed forlornly at the lake, "You're so strong and determined, Bakugo. After working with you a few days ago, I guess I just realized that I could learn from you."

Her flustered demeanor didn't mean much to Bakugo as he accepted her excuses. Usually, compliments didn't do anything more than fuel his ego but her words felt genuine. "You want to learn from me?" He mocked her half-heartedly, "Why the fuck would you want to do that? Don't you have Deku?"

Uraraka flushed as his words bit at her. "Well," She pondered her words, "Deku and I are good friends, but I feel like I'm not really learning much from him anymore. He's so kind and friendly that everybody loves him. I just want to make sure I'm able to grow outside of that."

Bakugo was surprised, his red gaze looking back at her as she sadly watched the waves. He had always known that she had some kind of dependency on Deku but he wondered if she was beginning to outgrow that. "Well you showed us all up today," He was shocked at his response. "Even that damn moron Deku."

"T-Thank you," Uraraka blurted out, amazed at the new side he had allowed her to see. "Look, I need to apologize to you…"

He blinked at her as she met his gaze. "For what?" He spat back, forgetting his harsh tone.

She pulled on her hoodie's drawstring subconsciously, "For saying that you're a bad person."

Bakugo held her gaze, his eyes blazing with unintended interest. He had forgotten about that by now, so why would she bring it back up?

She broke her eyes away from him and looked down at her hands. "You're all tough on the outside, but I think that there really is some good in you."

Bakugo suddenly felt the awkward tension growing. Instead of continuing their conversation, he turned to leave. "Yeah whatever." He didn't look back as he strode away. He felt uncomfortable in his own skin as he retreated to his cabin, frustrated that Uraraka had seemed to see right through him over the span of four simple days. He regretted everything he had said and done all week to lead up to this point. It was his own damn fault for letting her get under his skin so easily. Tomorrow, he'd suck up his pride and promised to make sure that this stupid new "friendship" would die after she got her reward.

Nobody made a fool of Bakugo Katsuki, especially not some air-headed girl.

Author's Note:

Sorry for posting later than normal, guys! I was really struggling to write this LOL. I've done so much editing on it that I just don't know how to feel about it anymore...

Anyway, I hope you still enjoyed it and are just as excited for the next chapter as I am. If I thought this chapter was hard to write, I'm sure I am in a world of trouble for the next chapter!

Sidenote: Please recommend some Kacchako stories to me! Especially the hidden gems. I need some new reading material and I'd love to read more Kacchako!

Thanks for reading, you guys are so awesome :) Let me know what you think!

~NumberSixteen