Hola. I don;t own Naruto or Avatar the Last Airbender. Chapter 14!

Clash of the Benders

Chapter 14

"Uh, Sakura," Katara called as the two females circled on the mat.

"Hm?" The earth bender cracked her knuckles, obviously anticipating the fight that was to come.

Katara gulped. "Can you- you know… go easy on me?"

Sakura smiled, but the younger girl could easily tell it was fake. "Oh, of course! I wouldn't want to harm anyone would I?" The other girl squealed as she ducked under the pinkette's fist. Without hesitation, the girl chased Katara around the mat, yelling, "You can't run! Fight me, K!"

"Don't wanna!"

"You have to!"

"Not if I know for a fact that you're going to kill me!" Sakura slowed to a stop, sighing as she smiled-a real smile this time.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. But can we just do this and get it over with?" She gestured to the crowd. "I think they expect us to do something."

The water bender rolled her eyes and, standing near the edge of the opposite end of the mat, held her hands up in a water bending stance. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Are you really going to fight with a stance like that?" Katara snorted.

"Hey, this is Self Defense- I came here to learn. Besides, water bending techniques are close enough to fighting."

The other girl shrugged and sunk to her own battle stance. "Let's rock'n'roll, K." At the other girl's hesitant nod, she stalked forward and the two began to circle once again. Having reached the other side of the mat, the earth bender decided it was time to get this show on the road.

She swung her right fist swiftly; the other girl ducked at the last minute and brought her right foot around. Sakura leaned back and performed a back bend before landing upright on her feet and giving the water bender a smile.

"Not bad." Katara rolled her eyes, a smile flitting to her lips.

"I try, I try." The pinkette blinked as she was charged upon, barely able to dodge the flat hand that sliced the air in front of her face. Apparently the brunette was serious about the water bending technique stuff. With yet another shrug, Sakura ducked under another jab and swept the girl's feet from under her.

Katara yelped as she fell, rolling backward when she hit the mat, narrowly avoiding the fist that landed in her previous spot. Knowing her opponent wasn't about to let her have a break, she jumped to her feet and wrapped her hand around a blow meant for her stomach. She gave the older girl a smile before pulling the hand forward and, putting her leg in front of the girl's legs, throwing her to the ground before pinning her to the mat.

Sakura grunted as the front of her hit the floor, her breath leaving her in a whoosh. She felt the weight of another body leaning heavily on her back, not allowing her to push up. A laugh sounded overhead.

"Looks like I won this round, Pinky." The earth bender's eyebrow twitched.

"Pinky?"

Katara raised an eyebrow, silently asking what the heck the big deal was. "Uh, yeah." The girl smiled sweetly and it began to creep her out, but the coldly confident spark in emerald eyes made her worry just what she had done wrong.

"You really shouldn't have said that."

"Aw man," Katara heard Hinata and Tenten sigh from the crowd.

"What? What'd I do?" The Hyuuga shook her head, out of disappointment or sympathy, she couldn't tell. She also didn't understand what Naruto and Sasuke thought was so funny. "What's with the snickering? Hinata?"

The ravenette sighed again, more annoyance in her tone than anything else. "You unleashed her. That's great."

The other water bender began to sweat in slight fear. Just what the hell did that mean? "Her? Who is-AH!"

She yelped as she was pushed off of the girl's back forcefully, landing equally roughly on the mat a few feet away. "Ow. What the hell, Saku-"A chilling aura caused her to stop mid-sentence.

"Oh honey that was nothing." Katara gulped as the older girl cracked her knuckles, much more savagely than she had at the beginning of the fight. "It's only the beginning, my friend."

"Katara meet Inner Sakura," Hinata called sympathetic from the sidelines. Tenten clasped her hands in prayer.

"God, please don't let Katara die. It isn't her time and-"

"Stop praying for me! I'm not gonna die, dummy!" Tenten shrugged and sank to the floor, propping her head up on her hands as she watched them expectantly. The water bender rolled her eyes. "I'm going to be fine because-"The second the last word left her mouth, a fist entered her line of vision and her reflexives took over. She leaned back and promptly fell back onto her backside once again. But she didn't stay long, for she could feel the other girl hot on her trail. Sakura jumped, sending a kick to Katara's stomach.

The water bender grunted as she hit the floor, a sharp pain exploding in her abdomen. But before she could feel too much of it, another kick came toward her leg. Katara rolled on her back to her knees and launched herself into the air.

"Hah!" The brunette slammed into the other girl's waist and brought them both down in a large heap in the middle of the mat. Inner Sakura howled with rage and thrashed under the other girl's weight. The two of them wrestled and flitted around the mat, always barely tumbling over the edge.

"Would… you… just… fall off already!" Katara bellowed as she tried to keep her hold on the pinkette. "Then… maybe we… could be… done with this!"

Inner Sakura growled. "I… will… not lose… so easy- AH!"

Then both of them fell.

Right of the edge of the mat.

"Ugh," Sakura moaned as arms helped her into a sitting position. "What happ- Sasuke?" She blinked at the Uchiha –whose arms were coiled around her shoulders, currently acting as the only thing keeping her up.

"You went 'Inner Sakura' on Katara and fell off the mat. Oh, you both lost by the way." He chuckled when she groaned and hid her face.

"Aw man! I really wanted to win and show you-"She quickly covered her mouth in an attempt to take back the words she so carelessly let slip out. "I-I mean-"

"I'm sorry." Emerald eyes blinked up at him. The girl tried to catch his eye, but he turned away to stare at the ground.

"W-What?"

"I said I'm sorry. I… shouldn't have said all that stuff, Sakura. … Can you forgive me?"

She blinked, in too much shock to respond. Had Sasuke Uchiha just apologized for being a jerk? Scratch that. Did Sasuke Uchiha just apologize to her for saying something dumb? Weren't Uchihas supposed to be- I don't know- always correct? Did he-

"Sakura? You haven't said anything. You're worrying me. Is that a yes or a no? 'Cause if it's a no, I'll-"

"NO! I-I mean… yes. Yes, I forgive you, Sasuke. Well, only if you can forgive me for not respecting your feelings in the first place." She smiled up at him and he returned it- the softest, most emotional smile she'd ever seen him give.

"Of course."

"Not like this isn't cute and all, but… could you GET OFF ME!" Katara screeched from the ground, still laid out under the pinkette from when they fell.

"Oh. Sorry, K-!" Sasuke wrapped an arm around her back and looped the other under her legs, hauling her up and holding the blushing girl above the water bender.

"Sorry, Katara."

She huffed and brushed dirt from her shorts. "Sure, Sasuke. But next time you two want to get all lovey dovey, try to do it when I'm not hurting on the ground. Thanks." With that, she turned and stalked toward the other side of the mat.

The two watched until she disappeared into the crowd, and then laughed lightly, still clutching each other.

"Sakura-san! I came to see if- oh, Uchiha-kun." Lee walked over and spotted them, Sakura still being held in Sasuke's arms. "Well, I can see that Uchiha-kun is taking good care of you. I shall leave her well-being to you, Sasuke-san!" He left without another word, heading back to the front of the mat to watch the next match.

"That was… unexpected. Huh, Sasu- What's wrong?" Sasuke continued to glare at Lee's back as he walked away from them.

He blinked. "Huh?"

"Why were you glaring at Lee-san?" She frowned.

He shrugged. "Guess I'm still not… used to being around his yet. He's very-what's the word? Eccentric?"

She laughed and swatted his arm. "Just try to be nice to his okay? For me?"

He rolled his dark eyes at her pouting face. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don't let him convince you to go out on a date anytime soon."

She quirked an eyebrow, a smirk lifting her lip. "Why? You wouldn't have to be jealous would you, Sasuke?" He huffed and looked away, only causing her to laugh. "Don't worry. I was thinking of asking out Zuko. Do you think he'd wanna hook up?" She couldn't contain her loud guffaw when he glared heatedly at her.

"Aren't you a cutie? I think jealousy looks really good on a guy."

"Sakura!"

"Aw, it looks like they made up," Hinata told the blonde next to her as they watched from afar.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "Does he know he hasn't let her down yet?"

She giggled. "Either he hasn't or he just doesn't care." Her laugh fell silent when Naruto's arm wrapped around her shoulders. She sighed and sagged against him, fisting some of the fabric of his shirt.

"Well, it looks like you don't have to 'teach Sasuke a lesson'," he joked.

"Mhmm."

"Hina? What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing. Just… thinking."

''Bout what?" He twisted his head to get a look at her face.

The ravenette shrugged. "About how much our lives are going to change. This school is doing something to us."

"Something good I hope?" She giggled and nodded.

"Yeah, Naru. Something really good."

"Next up is Hinata and Sasuke! Fighters to the mat!"

She sighed. "Now I have to go kill my brother."

Naruto chuckled. "Don't hurt him too bad. He just got back on Sakura's good side."

Hinata rolled her eyes and made her way to the mat, the blonde's eyes never leaving her. Ty Lee watched with narrowed brown eyes from across the room, praying that the Hyuuga would trip on her ten foot trip to the mat in the middle of the room.

"Azula was right. Can't be trusted."

Yep. Sasuke and Sakura made up. And Ty Lee is jealous. No I have no intention of making Naru with ANYONE but Hina. So don't start people!

ja ne,

-Tsunei-chan