Dodgeball
Summary: Everyone knew that Pein was unbeatable. But of course, it would be a girl with pink hair to prove him otherwise. [A smirk was etched on her face, her foot rested atop the ball that had knocked the wind out of him and a ball in her hand. "You're out," she snickered, her eyes glimmering with mischief and her smirk flirty.]
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Author: Amaya
Editor: Aiko
Rating: Teen
Story Type: Oneshot
Themes: Romance, Friendship, Humor
Characters/Pairing: Pein & Sakura Haruno
Disclaimer: I, in no way, own Naruto. All I own is the plot of this oneshot.
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Dodgeball
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It was final block—almost two o' clock in the afternoon.
The air was thick with pre-summer warmth, a majority of the sky burning with the entirety of the spiraling sun. That dry, musky scent of heated concrete came upon Pein's nostrils, along with just a hint of sweat as he walked the rows of sophomores. There were twenty-eight of them in this class, all snot-nosed and jumpy because of their excitement. It was Friday today, and rumor spread of a party at Pein Uzumaki's house on Saturday night. Plus, the last football game of the year was tonight, much to everyone's pleasure, which meant a banging after party and at least a keg or two. And if all went well, Pein would be coming home with a championship title on his class ring, and a pretty girl for the night. But not only that, but on Fridays, the freshman and sophomore PE classes came together for a friendly game—usually flag football or capture the flag; whichever the two gym teachers wanted to put them through really; and when it was too hot (like it was now), they usually played basketball in the gym or had free-time.
A sigh escaped Pein's lips as he ran a hand through his unruly, ginger-tea hair; sweat weighed it down against his fingers and greased up his skin grossly. It was about one-hundred and seven degrees out today, a full twelve degrees hotter than what it usually was in the valley. He wasn't a particular fan of the heat, coming from a little town of wind and rain, but he was just thankful that the school days were drawing towards an end. Summer vacation and graduation was just eight weeks away—so close, he could smell it. Realizing he was daydreaming again, Pein went on to focus on his job; he walked up and down the rows of students doing their pushups, stopping every once in a while to flatten out a girl's back or to widen the length apart of some guy's palms while the sophomore gym teacher, Anko, called out their repetitions. Kakashi was over by the bleachers with his roll-call clipboard in hand, but he wasn't paying much attention to it. Shaking his head, Pein joined the older man at the bleachers and asked him, "What are we even doing today?"
Kakashi leaned his back against the bleacher seat behind him and tilted his head of snowy white hair as if contemplating the TA's question. After a minute, Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and handed off the clipboard. "I'm not sure," he confessed. "I didn't think about a plan for today."
"Come on you guys, is that really all you've got," Anko, the other gym teacher asked the room, interrupting the bored drone of the room, along with Pein's conversation.
Her TA was sitting in the bleachers on their side of the room, clipboard set on her lap and sunglasses perched precariously atop her head. Her name was Sakura Haruno if Pein remembered right. He didn't know her personally, but had seen her around often. It was hard not to, seeing as how she had short, pink hair that reminded Pein of a splatter of pastel paint. She was a senior also, but never in any of his classes besides this one. She hung around with Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha—his friend's younger brother—and was on the school's volleyball team; she was a power hitter. He'd seen her in a few games and at practices, and even when their teams were forced to share the weight room. Other than that though, Pein couldn't say he really knew or spoke to her. Sure, he heard that she was every bit as spunky as she was smart, and they were forced to cooperate in this period of the day every once in a while, but she never seemed the type to draw special attention towards herself. She just seemed so ordinary.
"Hey Pein," Anko yelled out, and Pein rose to his feet instantaneously. Anko waved him over and pointed to the floor beside her with an expectant expression carved about her face. "Come over here and teach these guys how to do a freaking push up, would ya'? You'd think they know how to do it by now! We're how many weeks to the end of the school year?"
As Pein walked towards her, Kakashi began chuckling. "That's your kids, Anko. My kids know what they're doing. Take a look at Sakura; she knows what she's doing, right Sakura? I mean, I taught her everything she knows, after all."
Sakura grinned and extended her arm with a thumb up in response. "That's right Kakashi!"
"Yeah yeah," Anko snorted and waved dismissively. "No one asked you, Kakashi. Go back into your corner."
Silently, Pein stopped beside Anko and got town into a proper push-up start position. Anko knelt beside him and gestured to his locked elbows. "You see this? Look at the way his joints are locked. Look at the positioning of his body—it's smooth, not like a hill. If he just put his head up," Anko pulled his chin higher to straighten out his position slightly, giving him the perfect vantage point to look up at her TA. Sakura sat across from him with a mutual expression, but seeing how Anko began taunting him put a bit of a smile upon her face. (Okay, perhaps he lied about hardly noticing her. She was just one of many girls who caught his eye, but was never interesting enough for him to follow through with.) Anko was saying something about how he'd been slacking off the past few weeks and poked and probed at his sides in an attempt to make him drop his position, and Pein dared to silently admit that it was difficult to keep from shying away from her touch. But it certainly wasn't because he was ticklish or anything. He wasn't ticklish. "Look at this, you're supposed to lead varsity to victory this year and you've got mush for arms? Someone has been skipping out at the gym," Anko taunted.
Pein grunted and shifted on his palms. "Completely unnecessary," he commented.
As Pein erected into a standing position, Anko dropped her arm across his shoulders and tossed her own assistant a knowing grin. "Maybe I'll need to have Sakura train you, because at this rate, you won't be throwing any secure passes with arms like this!" Sakura giggled slightly and jokingly flexed her biceps, leading Pein to grunt and look away in dissatisfaction.
From over yonder, Kakashi snickered, "Leave the boy alone, would you? Go teach your class how to do push-ups."
Anko huffed and rose to full height to address the class once again. "Alright, you guys can get up. We're going to play some dodgeball today, so while the TA's set up, you guys can start on your run." At Anko's words, Pein's eyes lit up just slightly. He loved dodgeball; he absolutely dominated at it, honestly. And he didn't mean to say that to add to his ego. He honestly was. No one could even touch him when it came to it, seeing as how he had fast reflexes; he was so quick on his feet.
All the teens in the room rose to their feet collectively, but not uniformly, and erupted into murmurs of various detail—as usual, there were the boys overly excited about it, the girls who preferred to linger near the back, and then there were the students who just wanted to avoid contact all together. It was easy to see who was who; their either moaned or groaned, but the few excited laughed and talked their shit. Anko severed the magnet of her keys from her lanyard and handed them off to Sakura as she descended from the bleachers. "Get a move on, Pein. Sakura, can you go get the balls?"
A bunch of boys snickered at Anko's order, hardly silencing at the way she glared at them, but Pein just found the urge to shake his head and walk away. Immature shits, he thought to himself, but didn't bother speaking aloud.
The pinkette gave a tired smile and began striding towards the exit doors with the rest of the class, "Okay Miss Mitarashi."
"Pein, go help the lady out," Kakashi suddenly added as he sauntered over. Pein nodded and jogged after the pinkette who waited by the door for him; once he caught up, the two casually ambled towards the football field and descended the steps that led to the equipment shed. Quickly, Sakura unlocked the shed, thanking Pein with a tired smile when he held the door open for her, then searched around the musky little room for the equipment she needed. Pein hated going into the equipment shed; it was always dank and dim, with particles of dust swirling around in the streams of sunlight that spilled through the thin windows. The muted light bulb hanging in the center of the shed swung a bit as Sakura tugged on the pulley, causing the insignificant, artificial light to bounce about the walls haphazardly. It hardly helped.
"Hey Pein," Sakura called out after a minute. "You were the last person who handled the ball-bag, right? Where'd you put it?"
Pein glanced inside the building momentarily then pointed off in one direction. "I left it over there. I haven't touched it since." Spotting the netted yellow bag Pein had pointed out, perched atop a high shelf Sakura exhaled in exasperation and began tugging at it. Watching her struggle to pull the bag from the shelves, Pein leant against the doorframe and almost teasingly notified her, "If you need help, feel free to ask."
"Hmm nope, I've got it," she grunted, tossing him a wary frown.
Pein lifted a brow amusedly, "Alright, whatever you say. I'm right here if you need me."
"I know."
"It looks like you're struggling."
"Oh? No—I'm fine."
"If you say so."
Sakura held her tongue as she continued tugging at the bag from the shelves, opting to tough it out rather than ask the heavily pierced senior for his assistance (because that just wasn't her style). With one last heave, the ball-bag tumbled over the edge of the shelf, giving Sakura just moments to jump back before it landed on the ground with a collaboration of rubbery smacks. Harrumphing in satisfaction, Sakura grabbed the drawstring of the large bag and began lugging it out towards the front. Withholding the urge to roll his eyes, Pein snatched the drawstrings from Sakura's tight grasp and instead lugged the entire bag into his shoulders the way a fireman would. Sakura decided to keep her thanks (and her frustration) within her, and instead followed Pein back towards the gym after locking up the shed.
"Ugh, I hate dodgeball," he heard Sakura mumble as she caught up with his pace.
"I don't get why girls hate dodgeball, when they never participate in it," Pein commented. "Care to indulge me?"
She rolled those pretty green eyes of hers, flipping her short hair over her shoulder in that way girls always did. "Of course you do," she mocked. "You're scary, aggressive and you always win."
He shrugged his shoulders as if unaffected by her snide comment, and held open the door to the gym so she could walk in. "And you're not?"
"Are you calling me scary?" When he didn't answer her baited inquiry, Sakura harrumphed and roughly handed him the ball bag, her expression clearly telling him that she was offended by his statement. He didn't have anything more to say about it, so he—smartly—kept his mouth shut.
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Dodgeball
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When it was two o' clock exactly, all the students were lined up on either side of the gym. Pein and Sakura sat together on the bleachers—not together, rather, just close enough to be collective, but far enough to be individual—watching as Kakashi and Anko stood at center court—most likely coming up with some other ridiculous wager. Kakashi never admitted it to anyone, because he was a bit reticent, but he found pleasure from betting with his fellow staff members; especially Anko of all people. Pein wondered if the two would ever admit to each other's feelings, or if they just acted that way to mess with people's heads. Although, now that he thought about it, it was probably the latter.
Finally, Anko turned on her heel to address both classes and blew her whistle, to round up whatever attention she hadn't captured. Everyone began to quiet down, and only then did Anko talk. "Alright, you know the rules but I'm going to repeat them anyway since we've added a few new ones! I will say them once, and only once so you better listen now!" She glanced at a single patch of teens in particular—a group of sophomores named Moegi, Konohamaru and Udon. They were a rather rambunctious bunch, Pein recognized, as he often heard Anko bickering with them from across the field sometimes. Anko quirked her brow towards Konohamaru specifically, as if warning him, before she continued. "This game will have no time limit. We play until the last man standing. Meaning, you will all have to play and work together if you want to go home before three-thirty." There were few who cheered and a few who moaned; Pein brushed that all aside. He just wanted to get in on the game. Anko raised her hand into the air to silence the room. "Secondly, both TA's will play." Pein observed Sakura from the corner of his eye as he heard this; the pinkette looked up sharply, confusion and wonder deeply plaguing her expression, only making Pein shake his head out of hilarity.
Poor girl…
He didn't think he ever seen her really participate in class activities, other than cleaning up and keeping track of mile times. She preferred all that, he believed.
"They will be waiting out of bounds opposite of their classes, and can use any balls that go out of bounds to get contending players out of the game," Anko explained. "They cannot be hit or deemed "out" when they are out of bounds. However, if a ball is caught, instead of an inactive player returning to the game, both TA's will join their teams and play until one of them is struck out. There, they will return to their positions. So make sure everyone works to keep the balls away from the TA's. Got it?"
Kakashi then decided to add in his own commentary. "We're doing this because a lot of people are failing their classes because of their lack of participation points. And because Pein is the reason more than half of you sit out. Plus, this makes it interesting."
The instructions were just a little confusing, and Pein was just slightly perturbed that he wouldn't be as active this time around, but he did like the fact he would still be part of the game. He followed Sakura down the bleachers and gave her an encouraging pat on the back, but also conveyed his repentance at her dismay, then came to stand before Anko's class. Sweat was already beginning to stain funnels around the collar of some students' uniforms, and a bunch of the underclassmen almost looked scared—maybe nervous, actually. The most confident kids, the ones who were talented and athletic, were nearly trembling with anticipation; they were jumping up and down, stretching their muscles and forcing their adrenaline to pump. The athletically-awkward sophomores and freshmen were mostly near the back, as if they forgot that they were the ones at the most risk.
Pein readied his stance and bent his knees slightly, just waiting to grab the first ball he managed to snag. From across the way, he saw that Sakura was in a similar position with her sunglasses discarded and her little shorts riding up her pale, but toned thighs. Anko's whistle tore him from his daze, and it took a lot for him to stop himself from running forward with the rest of the class.
He had to admit, he didn't quite mind the view from there. The girls in Anko's class, though boring, had toned bodies, at least.
"Hinabi, you're out!"
"You too, Konohamaru!"
Kids were dropping out like flies—damn those whistles are annoying—as if they were purposely jumping in front of the ball. Pein nearly shook his head with disappointment; they really didn't understand the fun in high school dodgeball, did they? Catching another ball, he basked in the expressions of horror and displeasure that marred the underclassmen's faces. After a moment to aim, he pitched the ball then darted off towards a few balls that were piling up further down the row.
He tossed his head from side to side, his bones popping eagerly. He cocked his arm back just slightly, eyes narrowing on some 14 year old dude just a ways away—that was his target. His arm cocked further back, his body propelled forward; the ball slipped from his hand and rocketed towards the boy with a speed that promised pain, bouncing off the junction of the teen's shoulder and neck. He almost stumbled, much to Pein's amusement.
An overly-obnoxious whistle blowing rocked the room, making everyone pause as Anko raised her hand. "Ball has been caught—I repeat: the ball has been caught! Get in there, TA's!" Instantly, Pein ran around the class to join Kakashi's side of the room, tossing a glance towards Sakura onto to find that she was already in the game. Pein hardly joined his class when he was forced to dodge a small yellow ball aimed right at him; almost everything was directed at him, actually. He snickered despite his annoyance and snatched a ball from some random's hands, then bowled it across the room without direction. It would hit someone, he was sure.
One whistle. "Hoshigaki, you're out!"
Another annoying whistle. "Inuzuka, what are you doing?"
"Uchiha: out!"
"I saw that Fuu! Walk it off!"
Students ran back and forth across the court, dodging balls that dictated their moves, and some flinching back as a ball smacked them across the waist. Anko's class was hoarding balls again—Pein could see students carrying two or three, hiding them in their shirts or behind their backs. Childish.
There were twelve of them left, and nine of his team left.
"Hey, toss me one," Pein shouted out towards Sasori, nodding in thanks as the redhead threw a ball into his awaiting palms. He moved to throw it, but paused mid-throw to use it as a shield against the ball pitched at him, then hopped away from another aimed for his feet. He heard a countdown.
He should have known better.
Anko's class was smart. They hoarded as many balls as possible and waited for the right moment to launch their unfair, but legal, attack, and of course it worked.
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Dodgeball
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Everyone knew that Pein was an unstoppable force to reckon with. He dominated everyone on and off the court. But of course, it would be a girl with pink hair who told him otherwise.
Pein pressed a hand against his shoulder as pain slowly crawled against his muscles. He could feel a light burning sensation bubbling up, circling around the spot a dirty green ball had hit him. That was going to bruise, he knew. Glaring at Sakura, he mouthed to her, "I see you."
A smirk was etched on her face, her foot rested atop the ball that had knocked the wind out of him and another in her hand. "You're out," she snickered, her eyes glimmering with mischief and her smirk flirty.
No one said anything about the initial event; they were all chattering away as if they hadn't even noticed the scene between them, thankfully, and were already setting up for the next game. Although, Anko did throw out a joke or two at Pein and his friends at their expense. Just before turning away, Sakura raised out her fist. Without a moment to hesitate, Pein mimicked her and bumped his knuckles against hers, trying desperately to hide his growing smile. "I got you next round," he warned her.
"If you say so," She returned.
She may have been spunky, and had weird hair. She may have been aggressive and even scary. But Sakura Haruno definitely wasn't ordinary.
Eh, I still don't like how this story went (the climax particularly)
but, it's better than the original.
I figure I might as well do something progressive while
my writer's block surged, so I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please leave
a review down below, and maybe check out
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Thank you!