Description: The first fight of the Neo League sees Sakura seeking out a long-time friend for their very first one-on-one fight! (Winner: Sakura)
Gedo High. Paragon of learning, education, and dilligent study. In between the gratuitous violence, anyway.
School's out for the day. Which means the Gedo courtyard's full of students working off their steam and latent aggression. Sparring, fighting...and playing soccer. Though at the rate the ball players are going at, there isn't much difference between -their- activity and everyone else's.
Then, there's Acacia.
She's not fighting, no. She's actually got a book in her lap, an old textbook from the library, cover wrapped in crinkling plastic. Squinting, she peers at the yellowed pages, trying to make sense out of a particularly -knotty- diagram, all the while ignoring the chaos beneath her.
Yeah. Beneath her. Because Acacia's perched on the fire escape running down the side of the school building, a storey up, legs danging over the rusted steel railing. Swaying gently, as she scowls at the book.
When rumors of a fighting league start up in Southtown, Sakura Kasugano is one of the first people to find out. There's even a chance she may be the one responsible for said rumors, in the case of this 'Neo League' starting up, considering her relation to the league organizer's best friend.
At any rate, Sakura was one of the first to sign up, but that didn't stop her from checking back at numerous times throughout the very first day. What did she find there?
Considering her next stop was Gedo High, it ought to be a safe bet that she's here to see someone in particular. It's pretty brazen for a uniformed Taiyo High student to simply waltz through the gates, but considering she's fought many of them one-on-one, only a few that would try to stop her.
And as she walks through the high school courtyard, she catches sight of the person she'd been seeking. And the book in her hands. Squinting a bit, she grins once she realizes the title. Cupping her hands over her mouth as she steps underneath the fire escape, she whispers hoarsely, "Y equals two X squared plus forty-two divided by thirteen to the fourth power..." Distraction, much?
Much.
Acacia isn't really someone that's easily startled. Usually. Right now, though, with her brow knitted, her face all scrunched up from concentration, as she -stares- at the textbook, attempting to wrangle the math problem into submission with sheer bloody-mindedness...
Well, yeah. Her situational awareness is pretty much shot. Something she'd probably curse herself for, later, paranoid as she is. Right now, though...
See how Acacia's balanced on the fire escape railing like that? Right. Sakura's whisper startles her, interrupting her thought processes. She twists round, like a gunshot, glaring - and overbalances, toppling back, arms flailing. The weighty textbook slips out of her grasp, pages fluttering as it arcs to the air...towards, coincidentally, Sakura's skull.
Probably coincidentally, anyway. She couldn't have possibly planned that, right?
Acacia lands, on her rump, denim-clad behind hitting the fire escape landing with a loud -thunk-.
"Ow," she grumbles.
Sakura successfully hits Acacia with Confusion!
-* CRITICAL HIT! *-
Acacia successfully hits Sakura with Textbook Combo!
- Power hit! -
Okay, so maybe that wasn't the =best= place for Kasugano to stand. She'd expected Acacia to be startled, but she didn't expect that heavy book to collide with her face. She'd thrown her arms up and all, but her reaction time was severely lacking, and she takes the book full-on, collapsing to the ground -- amidst snickers from anyone else who heard the schoolgirls' double impact.
Sitting up straight with a thick red swath across her nose and forehead, Sakura blinks and looks over at Acacia. "... Oh, uh... hi." Pause. Rubbing her face, she rocks her shoulders forward and adds, "... I, uh... saw you were signed up for the Neo League and all... was wonderin' if maybe you wanted to fight or somethin...?" Both fighters ought to be evened out on injuries after that turn of events.
With a sound of clattering on the fire escape, Acacia pulls herself to her feet, gripping the rust-and-paint-streaked railing for balance. She dusts herself off, then gives Sakura an odd look. Then, she snorts, nostrils flaring.
"Think I already beat you," Acacia says, pointing, "mathdouken."
Smirking, she begins to descend the narrow stairs, the metal vibrating with her heavy tread. Combat boots tend to do that. Reaching ground level, she arches an eyebrow at Sakura before fishing for her fallen book, straightening the pages.
"Heh, maybe so!" replies Sakura with a chuckle. Hopping back to her feet, she kneads her forehead for a moment as she waits for Acacia to join her. With a faint smirk of her own, Sakura takes a few steps back. She'd come ready to fight -- but when =isn't= the spunky tomboy ready to fight? "But on the other hand... I =am= still standing, so it's not gonna be -that- easy for you to jump to the top of the charts!" Grinning, she pulls her hands back into fists, turning her right side away from Acacia. She ought to be able to recognize the stance, at any rate. "Aca-chu! I challenge you!" ... Just don't ask how many scoops of ice cream she had before coming over here.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has started a fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Acacia has joined the fight here.
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Acacia gives Sakura a look. A look that says...while she may not be -asking- that question, she's certainly -thinking- it. It's a look that blends incredulity, bemusement, and sheer WTFness in equal measure. Acacia blinks once, twice, then gives a small shake of the head, throwing her hands up in surrender. Though the gesture is rather spoiled by the fact she has a book in hand.
She realises this, though. So she turns round, looking over the gathering crowd of Gedo students (the cry of 'FIGHT! FIGHT!' resounding in the background). Finding a face she recognises, Acacia tosses the math textbook to him, before shifting her attention back to Sakura. Acacia tugs on her jacket lapels, adjusts her sleeves, while stepping out and around the fire escape. Wouldn't do to get backed against it, or the wall.
Balling her own fists, she settles in a loose fighting stance of her own, feet spread, legs bent, arms raised, turning her side to Sakura. A rough mirror of the other girl.
Then, in a completely flat voice, Acacia replies:
"Chu."
COMBATSYS: Acacia focuses on her next action.
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Acacia 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Sakura
Well. Acacia's tacitness implies that it's Sakura's prerogative to be the silly one, right? Which would explain why she just flashes an impish smile to Acacia in return, rather than try and answer the incriminating gaze. Nodding to the other bystanders that happen to be milling about, Sakura seems quite pleased with the surroundings. No doubt -someone- will get this on film.
It ought to be easy to predict what comes next, when Sakura curls her hands to her right side. Or maybe once they start glowing a bright blue, or perhaps when the petals of chi whirling around between them assume the shape of a perfect globe. If not, then it'd be easy to guess when Sakura takes one step forward, shoving that orb towards Acacia with a cry: "HADOOOOOOUKEN!" Because, really, isn't that what the Taiyo student is most widely known for?
COMBATSYS: Acacia slows Medium Hadouken from Sakura with Large Thrown Object.
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Acacia 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Sakura
It isn't that Acacia's quiet, per-se. It's just she's generally not that good at properly articulating herself. Especially in a public situation, like this, with all these people just standing by -watching-. That said...as her replies to Sakura suggest, she's got a definite sense of humour.
So, as Sakura launches into her trademark fireball attack, Acacia narrows her eyes. And then she moves, twisting -back-, snapping a leg out, sweeping the ground. Her heel slamming into a half-full garbage can sitting against the wall, near the foot of the fire escape. The blow knocks the plastic bin into the air - into the path of Sakura's oncoming fireball. The resulting explosion of chi flames and garbage does leave Acacia slightly singed, and a banana peel resting on her shoulder.
It doesn't seem to affect her composure, though. In a calm voice, she states: "Trashdouken."
Sakura... didn't really expect that. "Hey, I didn't expect to be trashing you -this- soon in the fight," she quips, stepping forward slightly.
Mind... she -was- going to hold off for a second, to give Acacia some time to recuperate, perhaps to get some of the more interesting-scented items off of her. But no... she'd decided it might be a better use of her time to attack now. And to do that... she just starts running towards Acacia. Nothing fancy -- just leaping forward to drive a kick right into the girl's sternum, hoping the surprise is enough to make up for the imprecision. "HYAAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Acacia counters Light Kick from Sakura with Icon of Stone.
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Acacia 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Sakura
Acacia falls back a step, as Sakura speeds toward her. Her boot soles scrape against the ground, tough Army-issue leather flexing as she braces herself from ankles to waist. Her stance rigid, balance set. She makes no move to dodge, no move to block. She lets Sakura's kick slam home. The impact jars Acacia slightly, but only a little bit, the force barely shaking her lean frame. The damage somehow...diffused.
Moving quickly, Acacia twists round, bringing an arm down, elbow-first, on Sakura's extended leg.
"Garbage in," she answers, laconically, "garbage out."
So Acacia thinks Sakura's moves are garbage, does she? Well, rather than go all emo about it, the Ansatsuken prodigy decides to quite literally roll with it, the elbow slam sending her down into a brief tumble. Wincing a bit as she springs back to her feet, shaking the pain out of her right leg. "Oof... guess I had that comin', huh?"
But rather than try another garbage attack, Sakura hops backward, elbows locking at her sides. "Really, though, we ought to be recycling!" Much like Sakura's rechanneling the energies of the earth into a more visible form, a wide spiral of blue energy rippling up around her as she grins back at Acacia. Not an attack, this time... just a moment to catch her breath from that strike.
COMBATSYS: Sakura gathers her will.
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Acacia 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Sakura
"You mean...recycling Ryu's moves?"
Acacia smiles when she says it, though, with a faint gleam in her eye. She doesn't mean it, of course...not maliciously. But if Sakura wants to trade verbal jibes, wants to spar on a level other than the trading of blows...well. Sakura's one of the few people whom Acacia will oblige. So she smiles. It's not a large smile, just an upturn of the lip. But a smile, regardless, along with a faint teasing in her tone.
Acacia responds to Sakura's quip with one of her own. And she answers the other girl's chi by drawing forth her own power. Extending an arm behind her, hand clenched into a tight fist. Her limb begins to tremble, blurring. Acacia's chi isn't a thing of bright light, not like Sakura's. It's pure concussive force, a vibration in the air - it'd be invisible if it wasn't for the way it distorts space. And then, there's the sound, of course. A bass hum overlaid with a shriek ripping up and down the audio register. Acacia holds her stance for a moment, before lunging towards Sakura, thrusting her fist forward - with a wordless shout of fury.
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Acacia's Bonecrusher.
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Acacia 0/-------/----===|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
Twitch. It takes Sakura a moment to realize Acacia's actually making a -joke- rather than a harsh insult though. The smile's a definite plus, as is the tonal shift -- and it's not long after that Sakura finds herself smiling in response. "Something like that!"
Though her smile falters as she senses the impending shockwave. She'd felt the tremors before, fighting alongside Acacia, but it's something else entirely to find herself the target of it. Sakura steps back, the vortex of chi dispelling as she raises both arms, taking the punch upon the padding of both handguards. She clearly has a strategy in mind here, but with her smile returning, it might be a bit difficult to ascertain. Regardless, Sakura doesn't waste any time in rushing forward, hoping to snare Acacia's shoulder and fall backwards, planting her knee into Acacia's stomach as the fulcrum for an over-the-shoulder toss. Recycling Ryu's move set? You bet! "Haaaaa!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Acacia with Medium Throw.
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Acacia 0/-------/-======|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
Sent flying, Acacia smashes into the concrete walkway at the edge of the courtyard, tumbling a bit before she comes to an untidy halt. Near a group of Gedo students, in fact. The spectators back off a few steps, giving Acacia room as she hauls herself back to her feet, rubbing a faint smear of blood from her face with one camo-patterned sleeve. The crimson of fresh bleeding soaks into the old jungle-fatigue jacket, as Acacia turns narrowed eyes back on Sakura.
"Only -something-?"
Then, she dives at the other girl, spinning in the air, aiming one knee at Sakura's midsection.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Light Kick from Acacia with Medium Hadouken EX.
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Acacia 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Sakura
After the toss, Sakura kips back to her feet, brushing the dirt off her shoulders and smiling back to Acacia. Sakura's careful not to get -too- smug though, as it could easily come back and bite her.
In reply to Acacia's query, only a brief smirk is offered -- there -is- the pressing matter of a flying knee to attend to, after all. Indeed, just as Acacia's spinning about, Sakura's curling herself to her right again. It's pretty much a necessity, if she's going to be chucking another Hadouken. In this case, though, Acacia's still closing in as Sakura's hands whip forward with a blue sphere of energy. Sakura's hands are held wide, but one is knocked aside from the knee. If that were the end of it, the Taiyo student would be on the ground again, but there =was= that big blue concussive shield preventing Acacia's knee from proceeding any further. "HADOOOOUKEN!" shouts Sakura, though she's already leaping backwards in the process. That was... much too close for comfort!
Though she does give a belated reply. "Yeah, kinda the same. But different!"
"Painfully different," Acacia replies, after a long pause. It's a long pause, because she's lying sprawled on the ground - at a distinctly uncomfortable looking and very awkward angle. An amazingly -large- scorch pattern decorates her leg, with the denim actually burnt through round the knee.
Wincing, Acacia gets up. Again. She's been doing a lot of that. Hauling herself to her feet, but -carefully-, trying not to put too much weight on her bad leg.
"-Ow-," she repeats, for emphasis.
COMBATSYS: Acacia focuses on her next action.
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Acacia 1/------=/=======|=======\=====--\1 Sakura
Sakura takes a moment to whistle at the burn marks on Acacia's knee. "Wow. Put too much heat on that one, sorry about that!" Though... while Acacia seems to be taking the time to prepare herself for the next strike, Kasugano just takes a step back. "I'll pick a different element this time!" she adds with a chirp, once more curling her hands by her side. Instead of the familiar petals of energy, though, the distinctive crackle of white lightning erupts from her fingertips. And instead of the energy coming from -between- her palms, the energy instead is swirling from the air around her, collecting like the birth of a planetoid in time-lapse photography. "Shinkuuuu...."
Though, oddly enough, an apologetic grin is forming upon Sakura's face as she says this. As if this is just part of a strategy she feels she has to see through to completion. Taking one step forward, Kasugano thrusts both hands in front of her with a final cry of "HADOOOOUKEN!", the whirling vortex of crackling, blue-white energy barreling towards Acacia at unconscionable speeds.
COMBATSYS: Acacia blocks Sakura's Shinkuu Hadouken.
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Acacia 1/----===/=======|====---\-------\0 Sakura
But when the blast fades, Acacia's still standing. Wisps of smoke rising from her form, her arms crossed in a chi-renforced block before her face. Behind Acacia, the overflow from the massive hadouken-blast slashes into a wall, blowing brickwork to dust and debris. But Acacia...isn't nearly as harmed. She lowers her arms, exhaling. "Thanks," Acacia replies, with an unmistakable edge of sarcasm, "but no thanks."
A snicker makes its way through the Gedo crowd, laughter rippling through the onlookers. Even if Acacia isn't a particularly social person, even if she doesn't care much for school spirit...she's still -Gedo-. And this is Gedo ground.
Acacia ignores them, though, focusing only on Sakura.
You know the old adage. An eye for an eye...
...or in fighter parlance, a blast for a blast.
Chi energy wells up within Acacia, flooding through every bone, every muscle, every tendon. She channeled the power, a moment ago, to stop that hadouken. Now she releases it - as destructive force, a spherical blast that craters the ground beneath her feet. Not flame, not energy, no light...just sound, and sheer -power- that tears through the air in a massive radiating pressure wave.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Irresistible Force from Acacia with Shou'ou Ken.
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Acacia 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Sakura
Clearly, when faced with a wave of such awesome power, the smart thing would be to run -- do not pass go, do not collect 200HP of damage.
Sakura's never been much one for the smart thing, though -- for good and for naught. In this case, Sakura bravely meets the charge, rushing right into the core of that spherical blast. Lesser fighters might be instantly repelled by the shockwave, blasted back against the wall, but Sakura seems to find the precise time and place to enter the expanding nexus of energy.
And not only survive the blast, but emerge through the other side, her fist rocketing through and slamming into Acacia.
Mind... that's not to say the transit was uneventful. It hurt like heck, actually, but it might have been difficult to hear Sakura's strained groans of pressure-induced pain, from how loud the pressure wave itself was. Afterwards, though, Sakura staggers back, covering her ears with her hands. "Yeowch..." she mouths, the word recognizable even to those deafened by the blast.
'Yeowch', though, is exactly what -Acacia- says, too. Given that Sakura's blow landed like a friggin' freight train. A freight train with JATO boosters strapped to the back. Downhill. Amazingly, she's still upright...but barely. Stumbling as well, swaying on unsteady legs. More than a little punch-drunk. Bits of shattered concrete grind beneath her boots as she backs up to the edge of her little blast crater, trying to focus through the grogginess. "Nngh..."
Her eyes harden, suddenly. Without warning, Acacia moves, lunging towards Sakura, hoping to catch the other girl while she's still off-balance. Acacia joins her arms, fingers bracing a balled fist, forearms forming one straight continous line. A solid bar of bone, with an elbow as the spearhead, aimed squarely at Sakura's throat.
COMBATSYS: Acacia successfully hits Sakura with Mass Driver.
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Acacia 0/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Sakura
WHAM. Sakura's sent staggering backwards from the sudden force applied to her throat. Her hands, which had only gotten halfway to blocking position before the sudden impact, instead find themselves involved in the secondary uses of clearing her windpipe, and covering her mouth as she coughs. Heck yeah, =that= hurt.
Well... she might not be able to toss out another witty comment to her laconic friend, but she =can= still fight. And in this case, it means Sakura's going to attempt lunging forward, her heel snapping to the back of Acacia's knee while her right palm thrusts forward in hopes of sending an off-guard Acacia off-guard crashing to the ground. It's not one of Ryu's moves... but she's hoping it's unexpected, at least!
COMBATSYS: Acacia counters Quick Throw from Sakura with Icon of Stone.
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Acacia 1/-------/=======|=======\====---\1 Sakura
There's only one problem.
When Sakura's leg meets the back of Acacia's knee, the silver-haired girl fails to topple. To Sakura, it probably feels like pounding into a tree trunk. Except mere -wood- probably isn't as solid as Acacia is, right now. The palm thrust, thus, does little but shake her. And given that Acacia's nowhere -near- unbalanced, it's of no surprise that she retaliates. In this case, grabbing Sakura's thrusting arm, yanking the other girl in.
Now, Acacia's legs are entangled with Sakura's, and her hands are occupied with their grip on Sakura's arm. So what does that leave Acacia with? Why, her head, of course. Which she slams, -into- Sakura's, skull to skull.
Not exactly 'cheek to cheek', or anywhere close -- that just plain -hurts-. So much for the beauty of improvisation.
At this point -- which is to say, while reeling from the meeting of the minds -- Sakura realizes that maybe, just maybe, she should stop screwing around with someone obviously tougher than her. When her back hits the ground, the Ansatsuken disciple instantly pushes down with her elbows, kicking backwards and unsteadily rising to her feet again.
"Heh... you're pretty tough!" she notes. It's more of an acknowledgment of Acacia's strengths. And... besides, Kasugano is still a bit dizzy, if the unsteadiness of her stance is any indication, so perhaps she can be forgiven for stating the obvious. But one thing she =doesn't= need to focus as much on -- it's practically reflexive at this point -- is the curling of her hands to her sides. "Here comes another one...!" she shouts, foregoing -some- of the warm-up time in order to make this fireball just a bit smaller than the last few. Hands rush forward, energy sweeps out to engulf Acacia. "Hadooouken!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Acacia with Medium Hadouken EX.
[ \ < > //////// ]
Acacia 1/---====/=======|=======\-------\0 Sakura
Acacia hates people who throw fire. Or rather, more correctly, she hates -fighting against- people who throw fire. She really, really does. Too many bad experiences, too many clothes lost from blazing infernos, too many burns, too much pain...granted, against some of the -other- phobias and hangups Acacia's got in her head, a little thing like -that- isn't much in comparison. But it's still a factor. And so, when Sakura throws -another- of those damned Hadoukens...
...Acacia grits her teeth, expecting the worst. She throws an arm in front of her, but the blast cleaves into her body before she can fully block. Searing heat engulfing her, pushing her back. It's only with sheer effort of will that she remains on her feet. And even with that, she can feel her strength and consciousness quickly fading.
She's barely standing.
She moves anyway.
With the last of her strength, Acacia throws herself forward. She swings a fist at Sakura, knuckles blurring in an uppercut...
COMBATSYS: Acacia can no longer fight.
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Sakura 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Acacia's Immovable Object.
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Sakura 0/-------/------=|
...and once the blow's done, her arm trembles, then drops. A shudder runs through Acacia's body, as the tension drains out of her. Then -she- drops, sinking to her knees, gasping.
Yeah, she's done.
Time and time again, Sakura's found she disappoints both her opponents and herself when she strays from her unique talents. The softer she goes on an opponent, the more it ends up hurting her in the end -- which would be why she throws so damn many Hadoukens. It's the equalizer: frustrating as hell, but Sakura can't say she's done any less than her best.
So while Sakura does open her mouth in a gasp, empathizing with the pain that shoots through Acacia, she knows it was a close fight. And she finds that it's even closer once Acacia steps forward with an uppercut -- one that Kasugano only narrowly finds the speed with which to block, her hands reflexively snapping upwards, the punch landing soundly upon her padded handguards while she takes a defensive step back.
Eyes slitted from the defense, Sakura continues stepping backward, holding her hands at the ready should Acacia continue her attack -- but, pausing for a few moments, she sees that it doesn't happen, Sakura offers a faint smile. "Heh... that was a close one!" she comments, her breath catching in places. That strike to the throat -did- take its toll, after all. "I thought you'd be chucking the math book at me again, at the start... that thing's =heavy!=" And that said, Sakura offers Acacia a hand up. "Good fight!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Sakura has ended the fight here.
Acacia doesn't get up, not immediately. Quite possibly, she -can't-. Still on the ground, resting on her knees...she slowly slumps to the side. She'd collapse, if it wasn't for the arm propping her up. She raises her head, meeting Sakura's eyes. Then she slowly extends her own arm - it's clear the movement itself is difficult, grasping Sakura's hand.
As she climbs to her feet, with Sakura's assistance, Acacia mumbles, "Yeah, well, -I- feel like...gone twenty rounds...with math homework. Ow. My. Head."
She closes her eyes for a second, grimacing. "You win."
Passing a thin smile to Acacia while helping her to her feet, Sakura chuckles lightly. "Yeah... I know how -that- goes. S'what I was doin' all last night!"
Though... she chuckles lightly afterward. "Not by much, though! You were every bit as tough as I thought you'd be, that was cool!" Kasugano's always trying to put a positive spin on things, especially for her friends! So much that, after ensuring that Acacia can stand on her own, she tilts her head back towards the mentioned math book. "Hey, um... y'wanna catch something to eat? If you want, we could go over the math lesson together, maybe puzzle it out together?" It doesn't =seem= like she's making fun of Acacia -- and indeed, Sakura's not. She really =does= want to do something -- as she notes with a wink, "Y'know, to make up for the broken concentration and all that..." Even though she's pretty sure her Gedo friend didn't mind the distraction.
Acacia looks at Sakura, frowning, as if trying to puzzle out something very very difficult. Like she's trying to work through a math problem, in fact - hell, worse than that. Tired and worn-out from the fight, she isn't able to keep that off her face. Suspicion warring with...well, something else. Acacia straightens, blinking at Sakura. She tilts her head, frown deepening.
What the hell.
"...yeah," Acacia says, finally, "guess. First I get ass kicked, now -math-...feh. Need all the help I can get. Everyone's ganging up on me. Feh."
She makes a joke out of it, true, but there's a little more to it, in her...accepting the gesture.
Raising an eyebrow at Acacia's overcompensation, Sakura raises a finger to chide, "Careful, Aca-chan, you're startin' to sound like Jiro..." Mind... she knew Acacia =way= before she'd met Jiro. But that doesn't change the joking tone underlying her mock chiding! "And besides... now that we've done -this- fight, we can team up on the math stuff and power through it together!" She throws up a fist, even as most of the crowd is probably wondering what the two girls are chatting about.
It won't remain a mystery much longer, though, as Sakura starts =shouting=. "Together, we'll be =unstoppable!= Today: linear algebra! Tomorrow: the world!"
You =really= don't want to know how many scoops of ice cream.
Log created by Acacia, and last modified on 07:50:46 12/04/2005.