CHAPTER 9: Five for Fighting, Two for Instigating
Eyelashes fluttered as Hinata blinked in disbelief at the door in front of her. Neji stood to one side of her while the Heat's coach stood on the other, and an older man with long, white hair stood beside the door. The door itself was cracked opened a bit; just enough to give the older man a good look inside. At the satisfied laugh that emanated from him, Hinata jumped a bit.
"It looks good Kakashi!" he bellowed while taking large strides over to the team's coach, "you did good!"
"I'm glad you think so, Jiraiya," Kakashi nodded to the man and then looked over to the team's newest addition, "but I'm actually more interested in Hinata's opinion."
"Eh?" Hinata's head darted between the two light haired men, "wh-what is it?"
"Come and see," Neji grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her across the narrow distance of the hallway and threw the door open completely.
Widening her lavender eyes, Hinata took in the room. The walls were painted with the team's colour, while the floor featured the Heat's logo. Across from the door was a stall, one that was meant for a goalie. At the very top of the stall was a label and it read "27 Hyuuga H."
"It's your dressing room," Neji nudged her over the threshold and came to stand beside her, a small smile etched across his features.
"M-mine?" her face remained the epitome of a stunned expression. "And th-those?" she pointed to the base of the stall. Neji turned to look down at her and shrugged.
"Those are your welcome gift," Kakashi interjected, him and Jiraiya coming to stand behind the two teenagers.
"Yep, they're top of the line," a chuckle erupted from Jiraiya, "only the best equipment for my players."
"Top of the line?" Hinata's head swivelled to look at the team's owner, "th-that really wasn't necessary."
It was true, it really wasn't necessary. Though she doubted he realized how the Hyuuga family had accumulated their wealth. Hinata had only played with one brand of goalie pads her entire life, and those certainly weren't it. Nope, she was accustomed to the prized equipment that her family produced. But the equipment never bore the Hyuuga name so it came as no surprise that no one realized giving her goalie equipment would be a waste of sorts. Nonetheless, she graciously accepted the gift. It was the thought that counted after all.
"Well, we'll leave you to get ready," Kakashi nodded to her, "don't worry about the pads, you can use your old ones."
She blinked, it was like he had read her mind, "uh… okay."
"Good luck," Jiraiya waved her off as he exited first, followed by Kakashi, and then Neji.
The door was shut with a click. Hinata padded across the dressing room with deep breaths, she was nervous. Halting in front of the stall, she turned around a squeezed herself between the new goal pads to one side and her large equipment bag to another. She leaned back and let her eyes wander up to the ceiling, while she valiantly attempted to calm her nerves. After seconds, her eyes drifted across the ceiling and down to the wall in front of her, eventually coming to lock on the door, the door plastered with a big sheet of poster paper.
"Huh?" it came out loud. Bolting from her seat, she found herself standing inches from the poster and its large printed "WELCOME!"
Underneath the large words were a blotch of words that closely resembled Neji's hand writing.
Welcome to the team. Make sure to show everyone how good you are, because I know you can outshine anyone else. Neji.
Hinata scanned over the various other messages, most being the proverbial "welcome and good luck." Down to one corner, she found a small message signed by Shikamaru.
I don't know why my verbal welcome was not enough, but Neji is making me sign this. So yea, welcome. Remember what I told you, and let's win the championships this year. Oh, and if you need anything, feel free to ask. Nara Shikamaru.
Smiling to herself, she read through the rest of the messages. One by Kiba featured many exclamation marks and words of encouragement. Shino's message was similar, except not with any exclamation marks. From what she could tell, it appeared that Neji had gotten the entire team to sign, though she hadn't found Sasuke's name. Why was she looking for his name in the first place? Weren't they avoiding each other? Then something caught her eye.
I won't go easy on you. Prove yourself.
It wasn't signed, but really who else would address her like that. Sighing to herself, she headed back to her stall and kneeled down by her equipment. The zipper was pulled open and the items removed with care. Her goalie equipment was put aside while her under-clothes were taken and worn. Minutes after she finished dressing in her sweat wicking shirt and shorts, there was a knock at her door.
"Y-yes?" she asked, looking at an unfamiliar man on the other side of the threshold.
"I'm just here to inform you that you are one of the players that will be made available to the media tonight, and that you are requested to be at the south section of the arena in ten minutes" he finished with a haphazard smile before walking off and leaving the wide-eyed girl bewildered.
"Eh?!" Hinata popped her head out into the hall; her eyes watching the figure disappear in the distance. Suddenly playing for the team didn't seem like such a good. In addition to playing in front of an abnormally large sized crowd, now she had to be interviewed? Groaning to herself, she turned and padded back to her stall before dropping down and closing her hands over her face. As far as she was concerned, Hyuuga Hinata was not an interesting person and no one would be interested in interviewing her. So what was with this madness?
Down the hall a reasonable distance and away from Hinata's newly converted dressing room, the boys' dressing room was loud with ruckus banter, cheers, jabs, hoots, and hollers. Unlike Hinata's room which was only occupied by one individual, this room was met with the enthusiasm of a team primed and ready to make this season their championship year.
"Ah, this is going to be awesome!" Kiba leaned back into his stall with a satisfied sigh and his eyes half-lidded as he tossed a puck in his hand. He, like most of the other players, was dressed in most of his equipment save for the shoulder pads and his jersey. From the waist down he was fully dressed, adorning hockey shorts, socks, and skates.
"Hn," was the reply he got from the distant Uchiha star.
"Come on, Sasuke!" cheered Naruto as he smacked Sasuke over the shoulder, "don't you ever get pumped up for games. I mean, it's no Suna, but it'll do."
"I am going to pummel that Haku kid," Kiba ignored Sasuke's disinterest and pumped his fist in the air, "prodigy my ass. He's just a pretty little pansy kid who can skate like a figure skater."
Just then a stick was held out in front of the Inuzuka, "Kiba. Tape your stick," Shino instructed… mostly to shut up his friend's boastful mouth.
"Whatever…" he muttered in reply, tossed the puck to Naruto, grabbed the stick, and got up to trudge across the room to where the black tape was placed on a table.
Taking the place of Kiba was the Heat's captain, who sat down with the poise of a leader. "You know they're going to be after you, huh?"
The simple comment elicited a smirked from the raven haired boy as he inclined his head slightly and nodded. Sasuke was ready to take everything they had to throw his way. He and Haku had been rivals since their days in the bantam leagues. Of course, the other boy was always a step or two ahead of him. Since entering the MJHL, nothing had changed and his fire to surpass Kiri's star was still as potent as ever. That was evident from the hit he threw in last year's playoffs, one which had sidelined Haku for a handful of games. It was like pinning a large, round target to his back for every game against Kiri. Something akin to waving a red flag in front of a raging bull or declaring war, because when you took out the team's star player, there were repercussions.
"Especially Hozuki Suigetsu," Neji added, his tone smooth and betrayed nothing.
"That sadistic bastard?!" the blonde and third member of the team's top line bellowed, leaning forward while elbows met with his knees. "He's the dirtiest player I've seen since Kiba."
"I heard that noodle breath!"
"Just tape your stick dog breath," Naruto sent the brunette a taunting wave before chuckling and shifting to face his linemates again. "Right, so what were we talking about?"
"Your mom!" Kiba blasted from across the room accompanied by a few indecent hand gestures.
Instantly, the blonde was launched from his seat and sprang across the room. The puck Kiba had tossed to him was dropped in Sasuke's lap. All the while, Neji and Sasuke paid little attention to the pair of rambunctious teenagers. This type of behaviour was normal for them, and if it didn't go down like this before every game then people would start worrying.
Ignoring the standard commotion, Neji leaned back and crossed his legs over by the ankles. "So, are you expecting as much out of her as I am?" he inquired not too ambiguously.
Sasuke shrugged his reply, "about as much as I expected from you." He didn't look to Neji, but kept his eyes on the puck, throwing up in the air and catching it repeatedly.
The Hyuuga snorted and laughed lightly, "just don't go dropping your gloves. She's not really the feisty type."
"Hn"
As they finished, the door slid open and everyone looked up for the instructions. "Uchiha," the man who had paid a visit earlier to Hinata pointed to Sasuke. "Jiraiya wants you, Hyuuga Hinata, and Kakashi to do pregame interviews today."
Sasuke nodded grudgingly and stood to his feet. The puck which had been passed through a few of the team's players was held idly in his hand. He looked backed to Neji and quirked a brow. In return, Neji held up his hands to catch it, but instead Sasuke smirked and clasped his hand over it before walking out.
He headed down the rubber rug leading through the length of the hall and into the open area for the media to field their questions. It wasn't anything special, just a banner with the team's logo scattered across it for the players to stand in front of. As he turned to corner, he was met with the familiar figure of their team's new goaltender and she looked to be trembling a bit. Either that or she was shivering, but that didn't make much sense to him because she had most of her gear on already. "Walk," he poked her with the puck in the middle of her back. It was reminiscent of the earlier in the day when he literally had to drag her out of the classroom.
Hinata squeaked and whipped around to flinch once she laid eyes on him. "Uh… o-okay," she turned back, eyes wincing, and headed into the area. Kakashi was already there and doing his interview, the interviewers likely asking about his thoughts on the team's new addition. But once the two players entered to visible vantage of the media personnel, their attention shifted and they made their way to the teenagers, a few of them sharing their gratitude with the Heat's coach.
Sasuke and Hinata separated, moving apart to give their coach room to pass. The silver haired man gave her a wink of encouragement from his one, visible eye. She forced a smile.
"Ms. Hyuuga! Ms. Hyuuga!" the throng of media interviewers then separated, half going to Hinata and the other moving over to where Sasuke stood. She cringed inwardly while watching Sasuke field the first question with confidence to spare. He surely wasn't much more talkative, but he was being satisfactorily informative. To top it off, she had sworn she saw him smirking and heard him say something about not bring scared of being a target in the Kiri game. Boy, she was scared.
Turning around to look at the mob in front of her, Hinata forced a hesitant smile and nodded to the person who would ask the first question. "Hinata, right? May I call you Hinata?" a middle aged thrust out a recording device and continued without waiting for her answer, "how does it feel to be the first female to ever play in the MJHL?"
"Um…" her pale eyes darted between the many microphones and recording devices floating in front of her as she spoke tentatively, "I'm v-very happy t-to… uh… be g-given this chance t-to play." She finished and the crowd waited for further elaboration but got none in response except for a slight nod.
"So, then how are the boys treating you?"
Her mouth hung open at the question and she glanced over to Sasuke before turning back, "f-fine." A part of her wanted to whine about Sasuke's mistreatment, but she refrained, only mentioning that she got along with most of the players and it was good having Neji on the team as well. The rest of the questions were of the similar variety, mostly about her being the only girl. Some had asked about how her friends back at the high school had taken to news, some others asked about how the opposition had treated her if she had run into a few of them already.
Ten minutes later and the questions were still going, even asking about her family. Hinata was beginning to feel overwhelmed and flustered by the unwanted attention. Off to the side, Sasuke was leaning against the wall and watching amusedly as he idly tossed the puck up and down. Unlike her, he knew how to answer the questions quickly and concisely, effectively getting rid of the irritating people faster. He had contemplated coming to her rescue, but opted to see how she would handle herself.
However, it didn't take long for him to change his mind as a very persistent young man pushed his way to the front of the crowd. "Hyuuga Hinata, do you not feel like you're partially betraying women's teams by agreeing to play here? Some might say you don't belong in a league for male players," he asked with a straight face. Sasuke found his eyes narrowing at their own volition as the glare locked itself on the man. He waited briefly for Hinata to stand up for herself and say something, because, in fact, the league was meant for the finest players of their age group and was never limited to boys only. But when she didn't answer, only giving the interviewer a frightened expression, he pushed off the wall and trudged his way to where she stood.
"We have to get back," he scoffed to the man before grabbing her hand and yanking her away. Hinata tottered after in him in the bottom half of her equipment, stunned that he was dragging her around again. Once they turned the corner and vanished from the sight of the media, he let go and pivoted on his feet to face her. "Learn how to stand up for yourself," he reprimanded, "it's hard to believe you're even related to Neji." With a look of discontent, he threw the puck at her and started back to the room.
Hinata was left there to watch his back recede, her lip quivering and an urge to whimper and cry slowly building up. She shook her head, the strands of her indigo hair fluttering before she found the wall and leaned back. The puck she had caught sat in her hand as she stared at it incredulously. Perhaps the man was right and she didn't belong there.
"HINATA!"
"Hm?" she turned her head to where her name had come from and found a smile crossing over her face as three girls sprinted towards her.
"We've been waiting for you," Temari reached her first and brought a hand up to ruffle her hair playfully.
"Yep, we thought maybe we missed you already," TenTen came up beside the blonde and smiled brightly.
Grunting rather unfemininely, Ino pushed between the two other girls, "ah, Kiri's coach is really scary looking." The platinum blonde whined and came up beside Hinata, throwing her arms around the girl, "hold me. I'm scared."
"Stupid," Temari smacked Ino over the head as Hinata giggled. "We're here to support her, not cling to her until she decides to come back."
"Yea, yea…" Ino rolled her blue eyes and released Hinata. "So how's Uchiha been treating you? Do I need to send out a distress call to our lovely Suna boys?" she smirked, "or can I jump him with my hockey stick?"
It started out as a half nod, but she soon just shrugged. "I think he's ignoring me," she answered, "which is fine."
"And the other boys?" TenTen queried with concerned eyes.
"Hmm…" Hinata hummed momentarily before nodding affirmatively, "everything is well. I'm just a little nervous, that's all."
"You'll be awesome, so don't worry." Temari placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder and smiled proudly.
"Oh and we'll be watching you on both ends!" Ino added enthusiastically while her hand held up two tickets, "we have tickets for both ends, so we'll follow when you switch." The girls were working against the norm. Most people liked the sit on the offensive side of the home team just so they could watch the goals, but these girls were choosing to sit on the home team's defensive end as a means of standing beside their friend.
Her face softened and she nodded slowly, "thanks guys." She moved off the wall and spared each one of them hugs.
"Aw, you girls are so cute," said a raspy voice a small distance away. "Especially you," Naruto stepped forward and winked at Ino, but Hinata watched Ino's face contort into a look of repulse. Her best friend then chuckled and motioned to the other girls before waving a quick farewell and brushing pass Naruto without so much as a glance.
"Oh and I met that little pink haired girl, apparently she says she's got you on a leash," Ino shouted as she turned and backpedalled, "she's sitting a couple seats away from us and she's got a really big mouth. But hey, just a word of advice: don't go getting your hopes up, because I think she might like your Uchiha buddy." Ino then swivelled on her feet and walked off, laughing to herself as the two other girls shook their heads.
"Your friend is mean," Naruto pouted, "and here I went and said she was cute."
"Sakura probably said something," Hinata blinked as she wondered what could have happened. Her fellow classmate may have said something along the lines of bragging or the like. Maybe she even scorned Hinata, because normally Ino was only like that when provoked.
"Ah, well…" Naruto shrugged before scurrying behind Hinata and nudging her along, "we've got a game to play."
Standing behind the line of players in the archway leading out to the players' bench and then onto the ice, Hinata leaned forward to look left and right. Most of the players seemed pumped and ready for the game, Naruto and Kiba still shouting insults at each other while other players crashed their sticks against the wall behind them. One of the team's defensemen, a player with thick eyebrows, shouted various calls of enthusiasm. She noticed Neji shaking his head.
Hinata, at this point, was a bucket of nerves. A part of her wanted to run, just kick off her skates and make a dash for it. But running wasn't something she could do, because that meant letting people down, letting down her new team, her family, and her friends that came out to support her. That thought calmed her slightly, but she could still feel her legs quiver.
"Don't be nervous," Hinata heard a calm, smooth voice come from beside her and turned her head to find Shino leaning on the wall beside her.
"Ehh…" she hummed anxiously before steeling herself and nodding her masked head, "I'll t-try."
"And don't let the Kiri players get under your skin either," he added in a tone as even as his first comment, "I'll be there if anything happens."
"Mm," she smiled and nodded again in gratitude.
"So," two fingers suddenly invaded the confines of her mask, poking through her eyeholes, "are you ready?"
Squeaking in surprise, Hinata's arms came up to yank out the fingers and she did so successfully. What met her sight afterward was the familiar face of Inuzuka Kiba, grinning like a boy just given a gigantic lollipop. Flustered, Hinata readjusted her mask while another squeak escaped her mouth as he grabbed the top of her mask and shook it affectionately.
"Ah, you're so cute Hinata," he exclaimed and bent forward to get to eye level with the shorter girl, "like a mouse."
"A mouse?" Shino asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Yea, she squeaks," Kiba pointed at her, rudely. "She's like a cute, little, white-eyed mouse."
Shino looked between his friend and then to the girl hastily adjusting and tightening the straps on her mask. "If you say so…"
Just as Hinata finished with her mask and processed the new nickname - which she was okay with – a woman appeared before the team. She held a clipboard in her arm and wore a headset. Hinata decided she looked very professional. Then she clapped her hands loudly to get the boys' attention, and was successful as the talking ceased and everyone turned to give her their attention. "The team from Kiri is out and have taken to their bench, their starting line is out. We're going to do things a bit different today." She smiled at Hinata before continuing, "today is Hyuuga Hinata's debut and she will be the last to be announced of the starting line."
Not knowing exactly what the woman was talking about, Hinata turned to Shino and Kiba on either side of her. Kiba smiled and shook her mask again, and Shino wore a small smile before nodding encouragingly to her.
"Okay. Chop, chop, hurry up boys!"
There were groans as most of the boys waved her off and lined up to head off onto the ice for a quick warm-up skate before taking their spots on the bench. Kiba gave her helmet one last shake before he and Shino headed off with the rest of the players, leaving her standing with the Heat's top offensive line and two other guys she vaguely recognized.
It was mostly silent as she tried to calm her nerves, but it didn't help that Sasuke was a few metres from her and glaring with those enigmatic eyes. At their own accord, her feet sidestepped to her right and she bumped into another body. "Oh, uh, s-sorry… uh," she cringed at her clumsy behaviour and looked up to decipher who she had bumped into.
"Hagane Kotetsu," the older player answered with a charming smile, "one of the team's veterans and you still don't know my name?"
He was joking, but she still didn't catch it. "O-oh, s-sorry," she bowed apologetically.
Chuckling he patted her over the shoulder, "it's alright, kid. But you better remember it now and this guy's name too."
"Oh, uh," Hinata bit down on her lip and stared into the other player's eyes. "I m-met you…um… I-zu-mo?"
The brunette then snickered and nodded, "yea, that's me."
"Wait! You don't remember me?" Kotetsu interrupted, flabbergasted, "but you remember this guy?"
"Ha," Izumo leaned down to where her ears would hear best through her mask, "I think you just hurt his ego."
"Oh," she looked back to Kotetsu who was feigning hurt, albeit quite poorly, and found a smile cracking over her face.
"Hey boys!" Naruto bellowed, "and lady. We're up."
Kotetsu and Izumo walked up ahead of Hinata and toward the three other players and lined up. Just as they coordinated themselves and Neji gave her an encouraging nod, Naruto's name was called out over the loud speakers and he saluted with a grin before disappearing. Next was Neji, and then Sasuke. Hinata could hear the thunderous roar of the crowd, cheering on the boys. Tapping her stick on the rubber floor, she didn't notice Kotetsu and Izumo disappear as well until she heard the announcer begin her entrance call.
"It is the Konoha Heat's honour to debut one of the best goaltenders this organization has seen. She is the star of Konoha High School's championship team and the cousin of your team's captain. The daughter of former MJHLer Hyuuga Hiashi and tonight's starting goalie for the Heat. Please welcome Hyuuga HINATAAAAA!"
Biting down again on her bottom lip, she spun around to face the wall and knocked her mask on it before steeling herself again and walking out the way everyone else had gone. Hinata made to the ice before her eyes finally wandered from her feet and to the packed arena full of cheering fans. She froze in her spot, lips quivering.
"Hinataaa…" Naruto waved to her from the other side of the ice. Then she saw Neji nod to Sasuke briefly. The Uchiha looked disinterested as he skated over to the girl and yanked her sleeve like earlier that day, dragging her the short distance to the spot a little ways from her net.
"Don't let everybody down," he motioned to the crowd with a flick of his wrist. Everyone was cheering, her friends up against the glass off to one side of her net and banging their palms. She couldn't tell what they were saying, but knew they were screaming at the top of their lungs. A few rows up, she saw Matsuri sending her the thumbs up while Hotaru clapped but abruptly stopped as the book in her lap slid off. Glancing passed Sakura and group of other girls holding up signs with players' names, Hinata found her family. Her mom looked like she was going to cry again, her father looked so proud, and Hanabi looked like she would fall over or smack someone over the head from enthusiastically jumping on her seat.
"I w-won't," she reassured before pushing off on her skates and gliding to her net. She went through her usual routine of scraping the ice before the national anthem was sung and announcements were made. The audience got comfortable in their seats, the referees readied themselves, and the players lined up for their opening faceoff.
Neji did a quick scan of his teammates to acquaint himself with their positions before leaning over and tightly gripping his stick.
"Hyuuga," Kiri's player did the same and leaned in, though smirking deviously, "I've heard rumours your cousin's a cutie." When Neji didn't respond, the white haired Kiri player pestered further, "I was thinking that after we beat you," he gave a lopsided grin, "you know… you could introduce me."
"Just play, Hozuki," the Heat's captain answered in a cool tone, unperturbed by the other boy's insinuations. To Neji's left, Sasuke watched inquisitively, though unable to make out the exchange of words.
Once the goalies on either end signalled they were ready, the ref blew the whistle and prepared to drop the puck. Both players swiped their sticks when it was finally dropped, and Kiri came out with the rubber disk as it was passed back to their star player, Haku. The dark haired boy skated over the redline with more finesse than Hinata had ever seen a boy showcase. He was met at the blueline by Sasuke, and they both wore confident smirks.
The two stars collided, but neither relented as they shoved each other along the boards. In the midst of their fierce battle, Sasuke managed to kick the puck out just before he gave Haku one last shove, then skating out to the top of the defensive zone to await a breakout pass. On the defensive were Kotetsu and Izumo, and although they weren't considered Konoha's top defensive pair, they were still highly regarded for their excellent teamwork. That was evident by the way Izumo glided behind Hinata's net to crash into one Kiri's players in another battle along the boards and Kotetsu stood poised at the corner boards to Hinata's left.
All the while the action commenced behind her, Hinata hugged her left post in anticipation of the pass. Finally when the puck popped out and floated along the ice to Kotetsu, she breathed a short-lived sigh of relief. The puck was batted up to Neji waiting at the blueline, but just before the puck left Kotetsu's stick, a body hurtled into him, throwing him to the ice. Hinata's pale eyes widened in disbelief as she watched her teammate collapse in a heap, eyes only glancing up to the back of the player skating off to the bench. Hozuki… she mentally read out. In an instant, without her even realizing it, Izumo had dropped his stick and was skating up to the Kiri player. There was a shove and the player turned around to grin maliciously, egging the Heat player on.
"K-Kotetsu…" Hinata called out, attempting to stretch her voice over the cheers of the crowd. It was strange to her, even Temari and TenTen didn't hit that hard. Bringing her gaze up to the commotion at the benches, she saw Neji skate up to Izumo and throw an arm over him before dragging him reluctantly away from Hozuki Suigetsu. "C-can you g-get up?" she asked in a quiet tone, skating out of her net and bending over to speak to him.
"Yea…" Kotetsu breathed in deeply, coming up off his stomach and onto his hands and knees.
Breaking away from his Captain, Izumo skated over while grumbling indecent words under his breath. "C'mon, let's get you off the ice," he tucked an arm under Kotetsu's arm and eased him off the ice.
Hinata let a deep breath out as she made her way back to her net and mentally regrouped. Barely a few minutes into the first game of her MJHL career and she was already starting to have second thoughts. She sipped from her bottle and tried to drown out the cheers and chants, because she just needed to focus on the game at hand. In the middle of the ice were the two team captains, negotiating penalties for either team. Off on the Kiri bench, their coach, Momochi Zabuza, appeared satisfied with his players' antics. To Hinata's right, she could hear the voices of her friends… screaming something about Suna leading their game.
A toot of the whistle to signal the restart of play and players hopped over the boards to change lines. There were no penalties listed on the clock. Kiba, along with two linemates, Shino, and Lee entered to ice.
"The bounty's off Haku," Inuzuka chimed to the pale, dark haired player to his right. "It's all about Hozuki Suigetsu tonight!"
The puck was dropped again in the Heat's offensive zone, to the faceoff circle on the right of their goalie. It was swiftly won by Konoha's player and passed back to Lee who took two steps to his right before finding a clear shooting lane. He wound his stick up high and ground his skates deep into the ice, but his eyes widened and thick eyebrows knotted as a player dove to poke the puck away. In a matter of seconds, the puck was sitting openly a foot off the inside of blueline, waiting in all its glory for someone to jump on it.
Then, Hinata's heart skipped a beat as Lee swivelled around but wasn't able to catch it before Kiri's center pounced on it first and set off at a blistering speed, on a clean breakaway. Off about a metre from him, she saw someone with the identical face, and there was no one else for a good three metres after that. Lee had gotten himself caught up and her closest teammate was Shino. It was essentially two players versus her. She could hear the crowd go silent, and then all that was left was the sound of skates scratching on the ice and grunts of players working their legs to catch up.
Don't mess this up, don't mess this up, don't mess this up!She screamed in her mind and did everything she could to soothe her breathing. The leading player swerved to the left and she followed, coming out of her net to cut down on the angle, but all the while still trying to keep watch of the other incoming player. The stick lifted up and he smirked under the transparent visor of his helmet, but Hinata didn't go down to stop the shot as she caught the player's eyes direct their way to his partner on her left. His stick came down from its short incline and pushed the puck across the ice. Pushing off her legs, Hinata sent her arms to the other side of her net first and then threw her entire body over. The other player shot the puck and Hinata slid on the ice, hoping and praying it didn't go in. Then, she felt something impact the padding of her legs before seeing the puck bounce off and fall to a stop. She scrambled forward and pulled the piece of frozen rubber into her body just as the Kiri players stopped in front of her, giving her an icy face-wash as the skates shaved off the ice surface. Immediately, the whistle was blown to signal the end of the play.
The arena erupted into boisterous cheers as she breathed in and out deeply, the cold shards of ice melting on her face as she looked up to see her teammates shove their way between her and the opposition.
"Hey," Kiba's face appeared in front of hers as, grinning, "awesome save, Mouse."
"Mm," Hinata nodded and climbed to her feet with his assistance, the puck still tightly grasped in her gloved hand.
"I am deeply sorry for my mistake," Lee interjected, apologetically bowing his head.
"We all make mistakes," the spectacle wearing hockey player stopped as he skated by, "but you did good against the Demon brothers, Hinata."
A smile formed on her lips as she nodded happily and looked down at the puck in her hand, her first save. "Wh-wha… Demon brothers?" her head whipped up and her eyes locked on Shino.
"Don't worry about them!" Kiba smacked her shoulder roughly, like if it were with any of the boys, "they're not all that great. I mean, they couldn't score on you!"
"Ah! Hinataaaa!" Naruto bowled through the players surrounding her and wrapped his arm around her neck, "I almost had a heart attack there! Man, that was an awesome save! You did the whole diving across the crease and stacking the pads thing!" The blonde proceeded to imitate her, flailing his arms this way and that as the rest of the players headed to the bench to give way to the top line again.
Hinata let out a light laugh at Naruto's imitations. Just then, her cousin skated by and placed a hand atop her head before leaning in and uttering an 'congratulations' amidst the cheers of the crowd. She thanked him with a nod before looking off to see Sasuke standing by the side boards, waiting for the faceoff and clearly not intending to come and congratulate her.
"Do you want to keep it?" The ref glided up to her and pointed his hand at the puck in her hand.
"Y-yes, please," she nodded fervently. The man gave her a gentle smile before removing it and skating off towards the Heat's bench, where the puck was tossed and caught by Yamato.
Play resumed shortly as the referees motioned for the players to line up for the faceoff, which wasn't won by any one player in particular. Instead, the scene betrayed two players swatting unsuccessfully at the puck before Neji managed to kick it a few feet to be picked up by Sasuke. Hinata found herself mesmerized and frightened all at the same time while watching the two teams battle. Clearly, Konoha was the better team, winning more battles along the boards and getting more shots on goal. But even with that said, she had to credit all the players, because she had never seen anyone hit so hard, skate so fast, or fight until the bitter end. Their play was nothing like playing with the girls, who were more fluid in their movements, albeit tough as well. However, it appeared as though the boys weren't looking to make pretty plays with fancy passing. No, they were hitting the front of the net hard and pelting the opposition's goalie.
It was a good fifteen minutes since the start of the play before the puck made its way back to Hinata. Seeing her two defensemen coming back in time to get between her and the two incoming players, she came out enough to not lose sight of the incoming players behind the bodies of her defence.
The Konoha defensemen pushed forward to meet the opposing player in an attempt to take out the body, leaving the puck for someone else to pick up. But as he neared, the player looked up to reveal the face of Kiri's star, Haku. He leaned to one side and waited for the player to follow before deeking to the inside of the defensive player as he fell out of position. With an apathetic expression, Haku lined his stick up before lifting it up and sending it back down to shoot the puck up and soaring towards the top right corner of Hinata's net.
Jumping to action, she pushed off her legs and raised up enough the catch her shoulder on the puck. The black disk bounced off and fell to the ice before Hinata dropped down and sprawled out across the width of her crease to cover it with her glove, and she managed to briefly before she heard her other defensemen grunt and get tossed aside by the other incoming Kiri player. Her eyes widened when the blade of a stick entered her vision and poked at her glove, successfully plucking the puck out from under before she could pull it into her body. In her state of panic, she lifted half her body up to block the quick shot. The puck sprung back and onto his stick for another hurried shot, which was also saved. It was a race between player and goaltender, who could get up first, Hinata or the puck? On the third shot, Hinata waved her hand up to attempt a catch, but only managed to rebound it off her arm. Then the fourth try came and she watched with worried eyes as the disk flipped up, spinning in the air as it vertically ascended over her body. Her arms moved to try and save the goal, but everything happened too fast, all in a matter of seconds. The red light behind her net went off as the puck slid across the goal line and the crowd exclaimed their unanimous unhappiness.
Sighing, Hinata came to her knees and sat with her head bowed. Things were not working out the way she wanted them to. What was even stranger, the player that had just scored was still standing in front of her. With absolutely no idea what he was still doing there, she stood up and tried to ignore him, but there was a chuckle, an almost devilish chuckle.
"So that was the magnificent goalie everyone was getting all hyped up about?"
Hinata cringed at his words and turned to look up at him, only to see strands of silver hair flaring out at the bottom of his helmet. She recognized him… Hozuki. His questin was left unanswered as she backed up against the crossbar of her net.
"Because I was expecting something special," he leaned in once he noticed how uncomfortable she was getting, "maybe you should, you know, just be a girl and play nice." He gave her a lascivious grin, revealing his sharp teeth, and Hinata leaned further back over the top of her net to gain distance between their faces. "I'll even take you out to a nice dinner."
Her eyes tried to glance around him in search of help, hoping Neji would come to her rescue. Maybe even Ino, who she could hear screaming. Then without further thought, an arm passed her vision and the other player was shoved away callously before a familiar Konoha jersey stepped in front of her. But as her eyes roamed over the number on the back, she wondered why it was him.
"Uchiha," Suigetsu greeted with a taunting smirk, "would have never expected you to jump to the girl's defence."
"Just stay away from her," Sasuke retorted, stoically.
"Yea? And what if I don't?"
In a few strides, Sasuke was up in front of the other boy, head careening in. Then another shove was handed out as Suigetsu was forced back a step. "I hear the bounty's been move," threatened the Uchiha as he shook the gloves loose of his hands and they fell to the ice. The next item her removed was his helmet, letting his spiky hair out of its confines.
"Wait," Kiri's silver haired player raised his gloved hand up to point between Sasuke and Hinata, "she just joined the team and she's already got you whipped?"
At this point, the crowd was cheering, a few chanting "fight, fight, fight!"
Naruto and Neji exchanged looks of amusement before Naruto shrugged and hollered, "kick his ass, Sasuke!" To anyone, Sasuke looked cool and contained, but to his linemates and close friends, they could see the unpleased glint in his eyes.
In the blink of Hinata lavender eyes, Sasuke's left arm clasped onto the other player's jersey while his right hand released an onslaught of punches.
"Take off your helmet, you pansy!" Kiba yelled from the bench, though it couldn't be heard over the roar of the crowd.
Sasuke kept punching while Suigetsu shrunk and attempted to block the fist. But once the helmet of hit off, Suigetsu's balled fist came up into an uppercut and caught Sasuke's jaw. He grunted at the sudden sting. Both players stopped, grabbing onto each other jerseys and waiting for the other to act first. They pulled and yanked at the other, twirling on their skates in circles.
Hinata bit down on her bottom lip as she watched through the cage of her mask, eyes locking onto the beads of crimson liquid marking their path down pale skin. "H-he's bleeding," she tried to grab the attention of the closest ref, "stop them." Her request was returned with a curt nod, but nothing was done until the head ref decided neither player was going to do anything. The refs made their move, skating in and locking arms around the players' shoulders to pull them apart. They separated willingly, seeing as both players were tired from the tussle. The audience clapped their approval, deeming Sasuke the winner of the tilt. Along the benches, players knocked their sticks against the boards.
When the fighting players were turned around and no longer facing each other, Hinata caught Sasuke's eyes as they narrowed on her. "Um, th-thanks," she said uncertainly.
"I didn't fight for you," Sasuke looked down on her with stern, black eyes, "it's nothing I wouldn't have done for anyone else on the team."
"R-right," she nodded and swivelled on her skates and pushed off the glide back into her net.
Once she was no longer looking at him, Sasuke headed towards the penalty box, hissing at the sting in his hand as blood seeped out of the cut. Fighting for a teammate was something he had done countless times, but he couldn't say he had ever bled for one. Rarely did he act so impulsively that he punched at a player's helmet before trying to remove it.
"Five for fighting and two for instigating," the ref cut him off, "the period's almost over, so go get yourself stitched up."
"Hn"
A/N: Bwahaha... I'm back after nearly 3months. Sorry, school kept me really busy. Erm, this chapter was difficult for me to write, probably because I've been away from the fic so long and haven't watched a hockey games in months! This entire game was suppose to come and go in this chapter, but then it would last way too long, so it'll be completed quickly next chapter as well as reactions from friends and family. OCQueen said I needed maple syrup in this chapter, but I'm going to hold out on the surgary goodness til next chapter! They'll leave for the roadtrip after the game's done and I'm planning to have their last roadtrip game be against Suna. Everyone is looking forward to the entrance of Gaara and Kankuro... hehe, makes me feel evil for holding it off.
And, no, Neji didn't ask anyone to look out for Hina at the school. Shino is acting at his own volition. The depth of Neji's, Sasuke's, and Naruto's friendship has yet to be revealed. It's deep. Also, the depth of relations with the Suna boys will be revealed when they make their grand entrance.
Thanks for reading and reviewing. Please drop a review! Check my LiveJournal for progress updates on chapters.
