Disclaimer: Sasuke still isn't home. So I don't own Naruto.

Just for Kicks

By: Boshoku

Summary: One school year. Six soccer teams. And one chance to be the successor to Japan's national soccer team. However, not everyone will play clean for a chance of a lifetime. Winning it all is one thing – surviving long enough to do so, is another. Narusasu

Chapter One: Just a Pretty Face

Yawning, Uzumaki Naruto struggled to stay awake as the daily announcements were made over the PA system. Ocean blue eyes disappeared beneath tanned eyelids, reappeared like a sliver of sun during the final moments of daytime, before finally vanishing. The 15 year-old nodded off onto his desk. Their teacher, Ebisu, was oblivious to this, as he furiously organized his lesson plans. However, someone was paying attention to Naruto's actions.

Sea green eyes flashing, Haruno Sakura scowled at the sleeping boy in front of her before leaning forward and firmly whipping her lead pencil across the back of his head. Yamanaka Ino snickered from next to her, blond hair bouncing.

"Naruto, you baka! Pay attention! Don't you know what day it is?" she hissed, infuriated. "Don't you dare get detention today, or there'll be hell to pay!" She cracked her knuckles for emphasis. Across the room, Nara Shikamaru lazily lifted an eyelid to observe the pair, before dozing off once more.

Yelping, Naruto jerked awake, unfortunately drawing the attention of a certain teacher. Hastily straightening the skirt of her own red and black uniform, Sakura sat back down as black shades scanned the room for the source of the disturbance.

Biting back a string of curses, Naruto quickly dropped his hand from where it had been rubbing the back of his head, trying to remain as nonchalant as possible as the morning announcements droned on in the background. Sakura was right. He couldn't afford to get in trouble today, of all times, and his troublemaker reputation wouldn't help any if he was caught for even a minor incident.

Today was May 16th. A little over a month had passed from the beginning of the new school year. Opening ceremonies had been finished; the yearly outing for students to get to know each other was done ages ago, as well as a week long break, not to mention the end of midterms. Sports were starting up again – the Judo Club, the basketball team, Kendo club, and Karate Club, as well as various others. However, Naruto had the prestige and honor of being the captain of one of the most renowned secondary school teams in Japan – the captain of Konoha Secondary School soccer team. Naruto smiled slightly at the thought, gazing out the window at the green field as his thoughts wandered.

There were nine others on his team. Originally there had been ten, as of last year's count, but thought of that teammate was quickly pushed away whenever he came to mind. They trusted him, or at least Naruto did, and he betrayed them. So now, they were short a player. Today, the team was holding tryouts for a new team member, as wary as some of them were of letting someone new onto the team. Pulling that off without a captain wasn't going to be easy, however, and Naruto knew he couldn't afford to miss it.

Sakura, Ino, and Shikamaru were three of the people on his team. The others had different classes for their first of the day, as well as being in different grades. Despite their appearances, they all had more than proven themselves on and off the field as worthy of being on the team. More than just being a team, they considered each other family, which was extremely comforting in certain situations.

Of course, being each other's surrogate family, that of course meant the sibling rivalries and quarrels, which could get far enough out of hand that somebody ended up in the infirmary from a soccer ball to the head. Rarely did it get that bad, however. They balanced each other, which kept them together. Introducing someone new into the fold had never been easy – in fact, they had mostly ended disastrously.

Naruto could only hope that things wouldn't go so badly this year. Hearing the click of the classroom door shutting, he quickly turned his attention back to the front of the room, his mouth dropping open slightly at the sight of another teen entering the room. Clothed in a black gakuran edged in Konoha's signature red, was a tall, slim boy, with porcelain white skin and greatly contrasting hair and eyes. Black locks framed delicate features, although the gaze in his eyes was anything but delicate. A black backpack was slung casually from his right shoulder, and a red and white uchiwa shaped pendant hung from a sleek silver chain on his wrist.

It should be illegal for a guy to look that pretty, Naruto thought idly, mind still fogged with awe.

"… and this, class, is our new student…" Ebisu glanced curiously at the silent boy, expecting him to finish off the sentence. Slate grey eyes remained emotionless. Scowling , Ebisu finished, "Uchiha Sasuke." Bowing curtly to the class, he waited for Ebisu to show him his seat before sitting down next to Shikamaru. Naruto found his last name and the fan shaped charm vaguely familiar, but at the moment, nothing clicked.

"Now, class, today we'll be studying chapter six in the textbook, so please turn to page 346 and get out your notes. Now, who can explain Problem…" Ebisu turned to the white board, voice fading into the background. Naruto faintly realized that he was still ogling the boy, but paid no mind to the thought until dark eyes locked with his own a split second before a wad of paper hit him in the face. Sputtering, he quickly grabbed a textbook and hid his reddened face behind it as Ebisu frowned and turned in his direction. Discreetly straightening the piece of paper, his temper only flared as he stared at the writing on the sheet.

"Take a picture. It'll last longer - dobe."

The bold hiragana that made up the last word enraged him. Any admiration for the boy had almost all but vanished. Crushing the piece of paper in his fist, he glared at the writer, who didn't even look in his direction. Scowling at the lack of notice, he suddenly registered Ebisu yelling at him.

"Naruto!"

Gulping, he looked at his teacher. "H-Hai, sensei?"

"Seeing as how you think you're smart enough to not pay attention in class, why don't you come up to the board and show us how to solve this problem?"

Shakily standing up and accepting the pen, Naruto groaned silently as he stared at the complex function.

This day just wasn't turning out to be one of his better ones.

TBC.

A/N: So... I really should get to work on the drabbles, but I've been busy with school, and this plot bunny has been eating my brain. Updates on this will be sporadic, or whenever the bunny chews on the right nerve to get me to write. If you're lucky, my happy-go-lucky classmates will continually poke me to finish this - they're all vying for angst and action.

Oh, and if you're wondering what "gakuran" are, they're the black military-like uniforms that boys in Japan wear to school, like those in Battle Royale. The girls are wearing the sailor dress uniforms - go look both up on Wikipedia if you need a visual under "Japanese School Uniform". And if you don't already know, an "uchiwa" is a ceremonial fan.

Thanks for reading, leave a review?