"You don't know who Uchiha Itachi is?!"
Five minutes earlier:
"About time! It's been forever since the school has had wheat rice. What?" Chiaki said, noticing her friends staring at her.
"Health nut. Have some junk food for once. Dango, or pocky or something." Kureno, one of Chiaki's many friends(yeah right), murmured under his breath. Asuka, another friend, nodded in a silent agreement.
"Am not! I just know what foods are necessary for a swimmer, that's all."
"Yeah, sure." That was Asuka.
"How do you know, Asuka? You've never even taken health class!" Chiaki walked over to the table she sat at every lunch hour, every day, with Kureno and Asuka. Deidara and Pein are waiting and Sasori is striding towards the table.
"Great news Chi, un!" Deidara squealed.
"Oh.. my.. God.." Asuka spit out while looking behind Chiaki. Chiaki felt a hand tap her shoulder and she spun around.
"Do I know you?"
"Chi, that's Itachi, un." Deidara filled in.
"Oh. With all the girls obsessing over you Itachi, I thought you'd be cuter. Oh well."
"Okay, nice to meet you too. Coach would like to see you. Apparently, you're captain of the team." Chiaki laughed hysterically, and when she noticed Itachi wasn't, she stopped.
"Be right back," Chiaki said hastily and ran for the Athletic bulletin board. "Oh my.." She said before fainting. Pein bolted after Chiaki just in time to catch her fall.
--
Chiaki woke up noticing she was in the nurse's quarters. "Why's everything spinning…" Chiaki mumbled under her breath. She sat up and lumbered to the door, noticing Pein waiting outside. "How long was I out?" She asked. "Never mind, I gotta get to class."
"No, your not." Pein replied. He stepped in front of Chiaki, blocking the way out. "A few hours, at least. And I know what you're going to say, so I won't bother to retaliate. Just miss practice tonight, and only tonight. For your sake."
"Why? A little exercise never hurt anyone. Unless it's excessive." Chiaki was getting a little annoyed. Couldn't she just go back to class already?
"You're not coordinated. I can tell you've been hobbling all over. You could slip, even lose your balance and fall into the pool, or worse." Pein pointed out clearly.
"What's this 'worse' you're talking about? Just let me go already! I can't afford to let my grades fall. I won't be able to swim, you know."
"The worse is you could slip, fall, whatever, and land on your head. That leaves to the possibility of a concussion or a cracked head. Oh, and I should mention, you collapsed at lunch, so 'a few hours' is: school is over. Now go home. All the homework and notes are in your bag."
Chiaki huffed. Just try and tell me what to do, Chiaki thought scornfully. She knew full well that if she did go to practice and swim, getting hurt is a wide open possibility. But who said she had to swim? Collapsing is a good excuse to get out of practice.
She grabbed her bag from Pein and stormed out of the office. "But the Iino family isn't supposed to storm" Chiaki's mother had said once. Heading down to the pool, she saw her coach, Aya.
"Hey, heard what happened. You gonna be able to swim?"
"Not my intention, to be honest. But captain? Captain of the team? You've gotta be kidding me!"
"I saw how you swam last year. But if you're not going to swim, I have a job for you. A new girl this year, wants to swim but can't. Think you can do it?" Aya quickly changed the subject for she knew where that was heading. Chiaki shook her head. Disappointed that her message clearly hadn't gotten through.
"Yeah sure. Where is she and what's her name?"
"Yoshikuni Taiki is the name. In the locker room, I think. She's a year or two below you, so cut her some slack."
"Hey, that her?" A girl with short purple hair and brown eyes came up to Aya and Chiaki. Chiaki saw she was shuddering, more than a nervous girl should.
"Yeah. Taiki! Over here! This is your mentor, the best of the best, Iino Chiaki."
"Ha ha, Aya. Very funny. Hi, Chiaki. You are..?"
"T-taiki. It's nice to meet you, I guess. Being captain in all."
"Forget about the captain thing," Chiaki said while waving her hand. "C'mon, let's get to the pool."