Ice Dance

AN: Hello everybody! It's been awhile since I wrote. To my fans from Two Weeks, I apologize but the new chapter has been in the works since… forever. I will get around to finishing it, but I'm trying to find the humour and inspiration that's really needed to get that story off the ground.

Anyways, welcome to my new story, Ice Dance, which I will finish ASAP or hopefully by the end of 2010 as it is a story dedicated to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics as well as my favourite ice dancers, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Enjoy!

Hinata loved everything about figure skating. She loved lacing her skates up at practice at five in the morning, she loved the feeling of the blade gliding on the pristine ice, the cold arena, her horrendously tacky costumes and the way she had to time her movements to her music. The only thing she didn't love about skating was, well, the pressure from her father, Hyuuga Hiashi, a former Olympic champion and her coach.

"Hinata, that entry into your flip was sloppy and you were on the wrong edge! You're 12, Hinata! You've been skating for 8 years and you still can't do any triple jumps! Your sister is 7 and she managed to land a triple toe the other day!!" (1)

"I-I'll work harder, father," she muttered, fighting back tears. She was never that great at jumping, not to mention that puberty and her newfound breasts made it even harder to land her jumps.

Her father sighed. "Your spirals (3), spins and footwork were good as usual. Your sister isn't as flexible as you are so those elements don't look as good when she does them."

"Thank you, father."

"Go take a short break and we'll continue to work on your double flip."

Naruto started figure skating because of a small prank he pulled when he was 4.

"NARUTO!" yelled his adoptive father, Iruka, as he walked out of the change room after hockey practice.

"What's up dad?" he asked with a grin.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE HOT CHOCOLATE AT THE ARENA CAFÉ???" he yelled.

"I have no clue – "

"Yes you do because the employees saw you lurking there yesterday! So tell me, what did you do? Actually, no, I'll tell you what you did, you replaced the sugar container with a container full of salt so when they made the hot chocolate today, it was salty!!!"

It was Naruto's hobby to play pranks around the arena. He practically lived there since Iruka was the rink manager and as a result, he had free rein of the place.

"Seriously, after all those other pranks you played, I've dealt out all the punishments I could think of – being coach Ibiki's gopher, helping Kotetsu sharpen rental skates… What do I have to do to get you to stop playing these pranks?" Iruka took one look into Naruto's eyes and realized that nothing would stop his mischief. Although…

"Naruto?"

"Yes, dad?"

"Ms. Tsunade is coaching one of her students this afternoon…"

"Okay…"

"Her student's a young lady, the same age as you are and she's being coached in ice dance."

"What's that have to do with me?" Naruto asked quizzically. He didn't like the mischievous tone of his father's voice.

"She needs a partner, and guess who that'll be?"

"WHAT???"

Grudgingly, Naruto stuck with his new figure skating lessons albeit the taunts from his hockey team. To his father's surprise, Naruto was quite the figure skater. His edges and physical strength made him quite the ice dance partner, however even with a legendary coach and long hours of practice…

"Naruto, I'm quitting ice dancing," said Sakura, his ice dance partner of eight years.

"Why, Sakura???" demanded Naruto. Admittedly, one of the few reasons that made him continue with figure skating was that he got to hold Sakura's hand everyday.

"I've been taking lessons at another rink for awhile… I kind of like jumping and the throw jumps, so I think I'm going to go into pairs skating." (4)

"Oh…"

"Well, good luck Naruto!" She waved and walked off. Feeling glum, he put on his skates. No matter how bad his day was, skating always made him feel better.

There was one other person on the ice. Naruto followed her with his eyes and he saw her perform a three-turn before going into a flip. Unfortunately, she fell. The girl sat on the ice for a bit and started to cry. Naruto decided to skate over.

Hinata had the worst afternoon. After a brief lesson with her father, she set off by herself to perfect her double flip… except she just couldn't do it. In fact, she hadn't been able to land any of her jumps all afternoon. That last flip attempt was the straw that broke the camel's back and she dissolved into tears.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked a boy as he offered his hand.

"I've been t-trying a-and try-ying… all a-afternoon," she sobbed. She didn't care about the fact that she didn't even know this boy. She needed to vent out her frustrations. The boy crouched down beside her and laid an arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry about it, we all have our bad days."

Hinata looked over at her comforter's feet. He was wearing skates with toe picks and was most likely a figure skater.

"Have you ever had a day where you haven't landed a single jump?" she asked.

"Well, many in fact. Although I've always been an ice dancer so I've never landed a single jump in my life," Naruto replied cheerily. Hinata couldn't help but grin.

"Stressing over this isn't going to help," began Naruto. "How about you take a break from jumping and I'll teach you how to waltz." Her got up and offered her his hand. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Notes:

1. Just some background information on figure skating jumps, in order of difficulty from lowest to highest is: toe, salchow, loop, flip, lutz, axel. Landing any triple jump at Hanabi's age is quite a feat.

2. Puberty is one of those huge hurdles in the life of a figure skater. Not only do they have to adjust to their newly grown limbs but girls have to deal with their not so aerodynamic boobs.

3. Spirals are when a skater raises one leg above hip level as they glide across the ice.

4. Yes, pairs skating and ice dancing differ quite a bit. Both disciplines require two skaters, but in pairs skating, you have to perform jumps, throw jumps and throw lifts. Lifts are always overhead lifts and spins are performed side by side. In ice dance, you aren't allowed to jump, partners have to perform dance spins, or spins in which both partners are touching each other throughout the spin and no overhead lifts are allowed.