Approaching Sun

Chapter 13: Not Giving Up

Sasuke ran his fingers through his now wet hair that was hanging down from the weight of the river water. He stared at his pink-haired teammate in astonishment as she walked towards him, hands fisted at her sides as she came down the boardwalk.

"This is ridiculous," he spat at her quickly, not sure of what he was supposed to do in this situation. Sasuke would be the first to admit that he rather enjoyed sparring and would love for the opportunity to battle with Naruto again, or even Kakashi. But Sakura? The last time he had gone toe to toe with her, they had both meant to kill each other. That was the only time that he had challenged her and he regretted it every time he looked into her face. Sasuke didn't like the idea of going up against her at all, simply because it went against every instinct in his body. Sakura was someone that he had once, and now again, considered very dear to him. Before Sasuke had deserted the village, he had always been there to protect Sakura, not fight her!

"I'm not going to fight you," he said rigidly as she got closer and closer. Then he saw her right fist begin to glow and she started to run at him, gaining momentum with each step.

"You don't really have a choice!" she yelled, pulling back her fist, and aiming for his face.

Sasuke's eyes grew wide when she didn't pull her punch. He instantly jumped into the air, barely dodging her blow. He watched from above as Sakura's weight carried her out onto the water. The kunoichi instantly spun on the lake's orange surface, reaching into her weapon's pouch, and throwing shuriken up into the air towards him.

To Sasuke's surprise, these were also true to their mark and Sasuke had barely managed to spin in the air fast enough to avoid the first two, but one got close enough to deeply cut the top of his left shoulder. Sasuke winced and landed to his feet on the water next to her, channeling chakra instinctively to the soles of his feet.

Angry now, he grabbed her wrist and tried to pin her arm behind her back, much like he had done to her a few nights ago in her office. However, she was less compliant this time, soaked with slippery water, and with one less arm to secure his hold, he couldn't maintain a grip as she spun out of it.

Sakura grabbed down hard onto his forearm and Sasuke cussed internally at the sheer strength of her hold.

He managed to catch one small smirk from his teammate before she had both hands on his arm, and was swinging him up and out into the air before her. Sasuke collided not too graciously with the water and he skipped across it like a rock. He sent chakra to his palms and grabbed onto the waves that rose up around him. Sasuke managed to stop his momentum and he spun on his palms, pushing against the water's rocky surface and landing back down on his feet.

That was it. He was thoroughly pissed now. Rising to stand fully, he activated his Sharingan and sent his teammate a heated red and purple glare.

. . ... ... ... ... ... .

Sakura crossed her arms in triumphant satisfaction at Sasuke's leveled stare. She tried not to waver at the crimson and violet eyes that fell upon her. Instead, she looked down at Sasuke's feet, like she often did when sparring against Kakashi. The Sharingan wasn't something Sakura was fearless of, being as it was one of the most powerful kekkei genkai that was renowned throughout the shinobi world as one of the "Three Great Dojutsu." His other eye was also classified as such and it terrified Sakura even more, simply because she had witnessed the power of the Rinnegan through the Akatsuki's many demonstrations. And then there was Madara. How she would battle that type of powers, she wasn't sure. On the other hand, Sakura was proud of herself for being able to incite this type of reaction out of Sasuke. This is exactly what she wanted.

"Glad to know you're taking me seriously now," she taunted.

Suddenly, his feet moved, and Sakura jumped back as he lunged towards her. Dammit. He was a lot quicker than she expected and he caught hold of her waist and threw her down into the water, the both of them now submerging into the lake's murky depths.