Far and Away
Chapter Seven: Tryouts
Babblings: I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter! I sorta think I'm leading you around in the wrong direction though… -smirks- So, moving right along, here's chapter seven!
WARNING: a shower citrus scene. (I don't believe I've ever written one before…)
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I was nothing but a bundle of nerves when I walked into the huge gymnasium where the tryouts were being held. Everything here was so beyond anything I was used to. The lights were bright, the baskets had never seemed so tall, the bleachers seemed to stretch of into eternity. This is what it felt like to play with the pros. As soon as I got a look at the tea, I realized I was way out of my league. I should just turn around and leave before I embarrassed myself. But I couldn't. Something in the back of my mind refused to let me leave. I had to at least touch a basketball before I deemed myself unworthy. But these men were huge – the tallest men I'd ever seen in my life – and the youngest of them appeared to be at least five years older than me.
Several other men were shooting baskets and I assumed these were the people I'd be competing against for a spot on the team. They were all just as tall as the rest of them. I studied them closely, determining their moves, running tactics through my head that I could use against them.
As I set my bag down on a bench and sat down, changing my shoes, I felt someone hover over me. "Kid, what the hell do you think you're doing?" I looked up into the eyes of an older man with graying hair and a scruffy beard, wearing a tux who I assumed to be the coach of the team I'd talked with earlier that day.
"I'm Kira Uchiha," I said, unfazed. "Loki sent me."
A flash of recognition crossed him face before he burst out laughing. "That boy must be messing with me. You're the scrawniest, shortest, girliest kid I've ever seen."
"Just let me try," I smiled. "You won't be disappointed."
"I won't be disappointed so long as you manage not to die out there. How old are you, kid?"
"Eighteen," I said, a bit tentatively, knowing my age would make him more wary of giving me a chance, not that I stood much of a chance in a field of giants.
"Oh," he said, looking me over, causing me to flush a bit. "And you said your name was…?"
"Kira Uchiha," I said, finishing tying my shoes and standing up, ready to warm up.
"As in…?"
"Yes, my father is the pianist and my brother is the composer. Don't remind me."
"Oh," he said, grinning a little and patting me on the back. "Go shoot around a little. We'll start in a few minutes. By the way, I'm Coach Himura. But if you get onto the team you can just call me Coach." With that, he nodded and walked back to his team.
I don't think any of the players already on the court even noticed me as I walked out onto the shiny wooden floor, calmly bouncing the basketball back and forth between both hands. I tried to pretend I wasn't nervous. Nerves weren't going to get me anywhere. I took a deep, calming breath. Suddenly, the world seemed to slow down and everything was okay. It was just me and my basketball. No one else around me mattered. I stepped in between two guys, placing my feet on the three-point line and shooting a basket nonchalantly, swishing it while there's both bounced off the rim. That's when they noticed me. I just smiled, retrieving the basketball and shooting a lay-up. I could do this. This was a walk in the park – except it wasn't.
As soon as Coach Himura blew his whistle, it became a battle, not just a friendly competition. All these men were near-professionals. They knew what they were doing. I was just a homely high school drop-out. But I held my own, somehow. I more than held my own. Each drill we did I excelled. Soon my nerves were all but forgotten. I was lost in the game, totally and completely in my own heaven on Earth. This was where I belonged: right in the heat of competition, living up to my full potential and leaving everyone else in the duct.
I couldn't figure out how I did it. I'd never played so well in my entire life. Maybe it wasn't good enough, but I knew I'd be able to walk out of that building feeling good about myself because I'd done a good job and I'd played my best and that's all that mattered.
Just as everyone was beginning to come to the end of their adrenaline, a guy stepped out of the actual team and whispered something in Coach Himura's ears. He was particularly tall with large biceps, strong legs, and short, dark hair. All the other guys seemed to respect him, much like I'd noticed with all Loki's cronies, so I assumed him to be the captain or something. After a couple moments, the coach nodded and he stepped out onto the floor.
"One on one between me and this here shrimp," he said, cracking his knuckles as though trying to show me that he could break me without even thinking. I had no doubt in my mind that he could. I tossed him the ball I had in my hands and it landed in his hands with a loud snap. Even though I wasn't the strongest person in the world, I knew how to wield a basketball. He grinned. "We'll just play half court." Suddenly, a brand new adrenaline rush surged through me and I felt as though I had more energy than I'd had all day.
Smirking, he dribbled the ball in an annoyingly slow manner and I thought, vaguely, about going and attempting to steal it from him, but the feeling soon passed when he changed forward. I had no way of stopping him. If I tried to block him, he'd just pummel me. Instead, I ran forward so I was directly below the basket, where I somehow knew he'd try to shoot. He went up in a shooting position. I jumped…
…and brought the ball down into my hands before running back to half court. I shot a basket and made it. He took the ball from me, shooting the ball way over my head. He made it as well. Before the end out our scrimmage, I knew how to read him as well as anyone else. Even when he thought he was being sneaky, I knew what he was doing. Maybe I'd inherited a bit of Dad's genius after all. Everything in basketball just seemed so obvious to me.
We were well-matched though. When the coach blew his whistle, he clapped me on the back. "Good game," he said. My rush quickly faded and I couldn't remember the last time I'd ever felt this exhausted. Somehow, I managed to smile at him before following the rest of the boys into a huddle.
When Coach Himura excused us all, I grabbed my bag, ready to go home, take a shower and fall into bed. When I turned to go, though, I found myself face to face with the coach and they guy I'd just played. "We aren't going to make it official for another few days, but you're the one, kid. You've got one hell of a gift. Everyone on the team unanimously agreed."
I stared at him, wide-eyed, taking in what he'd just said to me. I made it onto a basketball team and not just any team, but a professional team. I had to be dreaming. There was no way this was really happening to me. "S-seriously?" I stammered, at a loss for what to say.
They both nodded and I think I almost fainted. "We'll call you when we decide to start practices," the younger guy said. "I'm Haruka, by the way."
Smiling, I shook his hand and said," I have one request: I don't want to be known by my real name in public. You can have it on your files and stuff, but in public I want to be known as something else."
"What?" asked Coach, as I was now able to call him.
I though, almost sadly of what my name meant in English and how well it went along with my life. I almost said "Killer" but that would just be too morbid, even for me. "Can I get back to you on that?" I asked. They nodded. I nodded and I walked away to catch the first bus back to my home.
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By the time I arrived back at the apartment my muscles had stiffened. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. I'd never worked that hard in my entire life. Hopefully, in a few weeks it wouldn't be as bad. Painfully, I climbed the stairs to the apartment. It was still only mid-afternoon, not yet time for Jake to head for work (I'd managed to bargain my way out of working), but he wasn't there. I assumed he was out and about with Nina or someone else. Slowly, I pealed my sweaty clothes off my skin, dropping them to the floor of the bathroom before stepping into the shower, reveling in the feeling of the hot water pouring over my sore muscles.
I don't know how long I stood there, unmoving, under the constant stream of water before the door suddenly swung open and Jake stepped inside. He smiled at me. I'd begun to notice in the recent weeks that Jake only ever smiled like that for me, like it was his own special offering. He slid his arms around my waist, playfully nipping at my neck. "How did the tryouts go?" he asked above the rush of water.
"I made it," I whispered, the muscles around my mouth almost seemed to hurt when I grinned. "I made it, Jake," I repeated, just a little louder.
He blinked, rapidly, for a moment, and then claimed my lips as his own. "I knew you could do it, Kir. Basketball is your gift. You're amazing."
"You should see those guys, though. They would make you look like a midget."
"So what do they make you look like?" he teased. "A gnome?" Playfully punching his rock-hard abs, I giggled a little, tilting my head up, letting our mouths meet once again in a fiery kiss. "I bet I know how to ease your sore muscles," he hissed, seductively, in my ear while his hand trailed down to my arousal, lightly fingering, driving me insane.
"Please," I whimpered. I blamed my total lack of self-control on the fact that I was completely out of energy.
Never being one to deny me, he knelt on the tiled floor of the shower and took my entire erection into his mouth in one giant gulp. Admittedly, mine wasn't nearly as big as his, but it's still no small feat. I knew from prior experience that Jake was amazing at this, but for some reason it felt extra good today. My body began to shake and he placed his hands on my knees to keep me from collapsing. He expertly sucked and licked, bringing me quickly to the point of no return. I came, hard, into his mouth – and he swallowed every last bit of it, something I couldn't quite get used to. Then he stood up, placing his hands on my small waist to steady me as he kissed me thoroughly. I could taste myself on his tongue and I was surprised at the fact that it didn't actually taste too bad.
He finished washing me before we stepped from the shower. As he took a towel to my hair, he asked me a question I'd hoped I wouldn't ever have to deal with. "Hey Kira? Would you ever want to have sex with me without a condom? I mean, I know Nina doesn't have any kind of disease and she's the only person you've slept with and I know I don't have any because no one before you had any…"
I tried not to feel jealous of anyone Jake had ever been with before, but I couldn't entirely stop myself. I knew he'd been with several people before me, but we never talked about them and I was more than happy that he didn't bring it up.
"Plus," he added, "I heard it feels a lot better."
Well, shit. I shut my eyes, trying to think of what to say to him. I couldn't exactly tell him that I could get pregnant and I couldn't exactly just waltz into a store and get birth control pills, either. "I'd prefer if we didn't," I muttered, pulling on a pair of Jake's sweatpants.
"Why?"
Looking up into his eyes, I sighed and said, "I can't tell you. Maybe some day, but not right now, okay? I'm sorry, Jake."
He just laughed good-naturedly, much to my relief. "You almost act as though you could get pregnant."
If only you knew.
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When I dozed off after Jake went down to work, I dreamt of a red-haired, tanned woman. She didn't appear to be old, but the wisdom in her eyes told me she was much older. I didn't recognize her from anywhere before. She stood in the middle of the Konoha mall, but everyone just passed her by, unknowing of her presence. "Kira," she said, her voice calming. I looked into her deep blue eyes, taking another step forward. "It's nice to meet you."
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I am Kyuubi," she answered. "Your grandmother." My conscience suddenly told me to run away as fast as I could. This woman had killed hundreds of people with her own hands. She could easily kill me as well. "Don't worry," she said. "My killing days are far over. I no longer exist in this world. I am no longer a demon and I would sooner kill myself than kill the only offspring of mine able to communicate with me."
My shoulders relaxed and I took another step forward. "Is this real?"
"It's real enough. Your dream with Destin was very much real. You can do that with anyone if you want."
"That was you?"
"Yes." Her perfect lips lifted up into something resembling a smile. "You are special, Destin, in ways other than the rest of your family. You are more open-minded than anyone else. You are more loving. That's why I can communicate with you. That's why I'm giving you this gift of near-telepathy." She raised a hand to my cheek, stroking it lightly. I was not afraid of her. I loved her. She was my own flesh and blood. For her, the murders were now nothing but distant memories. "Perhaps we will meet again sometime," she said before slowly beginning to fade. "I love you."
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It was still early evening when I awoke from my catnap, I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my chest. She was nothing like I'd imagined. She was beautiful; timeless. But, still, I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
Groaning as I extracted myself from the bed, I went into the kitchen to make myself some hot chocolate to calm my nerves. A picture came into my mind of Dad sitting Daddy down at the kitchen table in the house I grew up in, setting a steaming cup of hot chocolate before him. For once, I did not try to shoo away the memory, instead letting it linger on the edge of my thoughts for several minutes. When it did finally leave my mind, it left a guilty, empty feeling in its place.
I loved my life here. And I think I loved Jake – though I was not even remotely prepared for telling him that. There were still too many secrets between us, and, though they did not tear us apart, they left a small gap between our hearts that needed to be filled. But, sometimes, I missed my family so badly it hurt. But now, according to her, I would be able to communicate with them without actually being with them. And, still, I knew I couldn't try to contact my parents any time soon. They'd be so disappointed in me.
Finishing heating my hot chocolate, I sat gingerly on Jake's ancient couch, staring up at the just-appearing stars. They days were beginning to get shorter now, the nights longer. Soon I would be living through my first winter in the city. All my memories of snow were of building snowmen with my Dad, sitting beside a glowing Christmas tree, singing Christmas carols, listening to Katherine tell another story of her childhood. I let out a deep breath, wondering if Wataru ever got homesick like me. I ran my fingers through my recently re-dyed black hair. My parents probably wouldn't even recognize me now.
When Jake quietly slipped into our apartment in the wee hours of the morning, I was still awake, sitting on the couch in the same position I'd been for hours. Jake noticed me and fell on the couch beside me. As usual, he smelled of beer, but it was only on his clothes, not on his breath. "What's up?" he asked, placing an arm on my shoulder.
I leaned close to him, breathing in. No matter how much I missed my family, I had Jake – and I still had Wataru – and that was more than enough for me. "Nothing," I answered. "Just couldn't sleep, so I decided to wait up."
"Oh," he said, yawning. "Let's go to bed." He picked me up bridal style and carried me to our bedroom. I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
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Babblings: Well, there you have it. I hope you like the little appearance of Kyuubi. I thought if she were to communicate with anyone, it would be Kira. Kira starts practicing with the team the next chapter. I'll get it out as soon as possible.
Please review! I love every last one of you. –gives out free cookies-
