Disclaimer: If you think I own Naruto, why do you think I'd be writing such sappy fanfictions about my own work?!?
Recap:
The team has just finished the first weekend of Itachi's grueling
training camp. After forcing them to run suicides on empty stomachs,
Sasuke finally called the drill off, telling his older brother, the
coach, that he would complete the entire team's suicides alone after
practice. All throughout the camp, Sakura seemed to feel a
tension between the two brothers; captain and coach. Itachi's words
to the team seem to have an adverse effect on Sasuke, causing him to
push himself to the uttermost limit. Sakura's mind is now
revolving around one single question: What is going on between her
stunningly handsome roommate and his elder brother, the basketball
coach?
Sasuke and Sakumo's Dorm
Sasuke staggered into the dorm room at 11:00. Sakura had stayed up, reading lamp on, waiting for him and reading King of Sand, which she'd found on her nightstand by some strange coincidence (author: Sasuke stepped on it and put it on the wrong nightstand. Nothing special.). She looked up as Sasuke came in, dripping with sweat. Ignoring her, he took two steps towards the bathroom and nearly fell over. Clutching the back of a chair with his breath ragged in his throat, he managed to keep himself upright. The door clicked shut as Sasuke disappeared into the bathroom. Sakura heard the shower turn on and the sounds of retching. Ignoring the noises from the bathroom, she returned to the novel.
It was quite a fascinating story, set in modern times. An ordinary boy who liked cute girls suddenly found out that the new pretty girl at his high school was actually the head of his security. It turned out that the boy was the Prince of a neighboring country, and the girl was his bodyguard. The Prince's older brother had killed their father and taken the throne by force, so the organization that defended the Prince banded together and planned to restore him to his proper throne. Along the way, the Prince discovered that his bodyguard was actually the long-lost Princess of yet another kingdom. He fell in love with her along the way, and the book ended happily with their unification.
Sasuke, however, had made notes in the margins of the book, especially around the paragraphs that talked about the older brother and how he had killed the old King and taken his place by force. In one particular spot, he had written something that lodged itself in Sakura's mind:
'There
is no guardian girl in the real life story. There is no hope in the
end, even for the storybook characters. Everyone dies – including
the older brother.'
Sakura
couldn't make heads or tails of it. Why was Sasuke referring to a
'real-life' story? Further down, she read another comment:
'The hero is left alone in the end, everyone else is dead. He isn't a hero any more, he becomes a shell of what once was. He destroys the older brother, but in doing so, sets the stage for everything around him to disappear as well. There is no hope.'And again, on the next page, next to several sentences that had been underlined:
'No hope.'
What was Sasuke's point with these notes? It was clear that the 'guardian girl' represented some sort of hope in the story, but Sasuke had said that she didn't exist in real life. So was he saying there was no hope in life?
Wow, that's a brand new take on the way he thinks, Inner Sakura said sarcastically.
It might explain why he's so secretive and moody, though, Sakura thought.
The bathroom door opened, and Sakura figured that Sasuke wouldn't appreciate her reading his book, especially if he had written such cryptic notes in them. She closed the book hastily and set it on his nightstand. Sasuke came out and threw himself on his bed, closing his eyes out of sheer exhaustion. Sakura looked at him for a moment.
"Thank you."
Sasuke opened an eye. It was all the energy he had to ask what she meant. Sakura continued.
"Thanks for running all the extra suicides. I'm sure the guys are grateful."
Sasuke's eye closed, apparently too tired to contradict, reply, or argue. Sakura reached out and flicked off the light.
The alarm rang all too soon. Sakura groaned and made to climb out of bed, but Sasuke's hand slammed the alarm off. He rolled over and closed his eyes again.
"Don't we have to get up?" Sakura wondered out loud. Sasuke spoke without opening his eyes.
"No. We get the day off. Training's only on Saturday. Go back to sleep."
Grateful for the extra hours, Sakura crawled back under the covers and resumed sleeping.
Sasuke didn't tell her that it was he who had negotiated the day off last night with Itachi.
The Next Morning
When Sakura finally woke up for real, the digital clock read 1:30. She'd slept that late? The bed beside her was empty, and she figured that Sasuke had already left. Yawning and stretching, Sakura began to get out of bed, then stopped as she saw the King of Sand novel. It sat in a beam of noonday sun, looking innocently up at her. Sakura remembered she'd only gotten through part of it last night. Now she had to read King of Fire. She picked up the book, propped it open and began to read.
King of Fire was a lot shorter than King of Sand – and a lot more depressing. Nearly all the main and secondary characters from the first book were dead by the last chapter. In the end, just as Sasuke's notes had predicted, only the main character, the Prince, was left to his agony. Sakura was horrified at how fast the Prince and his former bodyguard fell apart, at how fast she died, and at how fast the villains of the story killed everyone else off. But after reading it through, Sakura knew it was really the hero's fault that everyone around him was dead. If he hadn't killed so many people to claim the throne, the villains wouldn't have had a cause to seek vengeance against him. But then again, if he hadn't killed all those people, his evil older brother would still be in charge. It was a moral dilemma he couldn't escape.
Sasuke had written most heavily by the descriptions of the characters dying. Sakura read a few of his notes.
'The
guardian girl, who was hope in the first book, is now a hassle to
deal with. When she dies, the hero is left empty, though he knew he
should have expected her to die this way.'
And
further down:
'The
consequences of killing your own brother run deep. The Prince can't
escape his past, even with his bodyguard at his side. In the end,
fate leaves him and only him to continue ruling in misery.'Sasuke
seemed to relish the fights and deaths between the characters. His
notes returned to the topic of reality.
'Here
it finally returns to realistic events. The storybook characters
finally meet a taste of real life. All the fluff from the first book
doesn't happen in real life. All that really exists is here, in
King of Fire.'
Sakura
closed the book and shook her head sadly. The ending to King
of Fire was awful, but Sasuke seemed
to think it was all there was to real life. If she had had a choice,
she would have stopped reading at King
of Sand. But Sasuke was right, in a
way: King of Fire,
though depressing, brought the romantic elements to an end. When the
harshness of reality was introduced to the characters, they fell in
waves before it. In the end, only a shell of the former world
existed.
Sakura checked the clock and saw that it was nearly 2:00. She showered, dressed, and set off to find the rest of the guys.
"Hey, Sakumo!" Kiba called as Sakura stepped off the elevator into the lounge room. "We were planning to take Neji's car into town and go out for dinner. You wanna come?"
"How much do I have to chip in?"
"Heh, he's in," Naruto said, throwing an arm around Sakura's shoulders. "We're going to Fujiwara's, in the downtown area."
Sakura froze. Fujiwara's…her friends worked there! Panicking inwardly, but keeping a relaxed face, Sakura agreed.
"Sure, why not?"
Fujiwara's
"Man, this place is PACKED!" Naruto called over the press of people. Sakura couldn't agree more. Every weekend Fujiwara's was stuffed. She only hoped it was the girls' night off.
"Table for…" Neji had to count heads, there were a lot of guys in the party. "Seven, please."
The pretty hostess nodded. "It'll be a half an hour, sir."
Neji took the little buzzer she handed him and rejoined his group.
"It's too crowded, let's go outside," Kiba complained. Neji shrugged.
"Sure."
"Uh, I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Sakura said, inventing an excuse. Naruto nodded.
"Sure! I'll go with you!"
"Um, that's OK," Sakura said, getting nervous.
"Hold on…oh, no!"
Naruto's wallet had burst, pennies were dropping all over the place. Sakura squeezed through the crowd and made it out of sight before Naruto could stop her. Now to find the girls…
"Ino!"
The blonde waitress turned to see a boy with a mop of wild brown hair motioning at her wildly. She frowned.
"I don't know how you know my name, but I'm not interested, OK?"
"No, Ino, it's me!" the boy hissed. Ino growled.
"Stop stalking me! Go away, or I'll tell the manager!"
"Ino, what are you talking about?" the guy hissed. "It's me!"
Ino raised an eyebrow.
"You know…" the boy sighed. "Sakura?"
"OH MY GOSH!"
Ino nearly dropped her tray.
"Hey, hey, keep it down," Sakura cautioned. "I don't need everyone finding out!!"
"Alright, come on back into the kitchen," Ino said breathlessly. Sakura followed her friend back into the kitchen, where she spotted two very familiar people waiting for their trays.
"Hinata, Tenten, who do you think this is?" Ino asked as they came up, a grin cracking her face. Tenten dropped a plate. Thankfully, it was clean and it was tough, so nothing broke. It just chipped.
"Oh my word! NO WAY!"
"Sakura?" Hinata asked in disbelief. "Is that really you?"
Sakura winked. "Yep."
"You really look like a guy!" Tenten said, walking around her in a circle. "I mean, REALLY look like a guy…"
"Who are you here with?" Hinata asked. Sakura leaned in.
"Look, that's what I need to tell you about. I'm with a party of six guys, all of whom have seen your picture. We're a large table, and you know some of us, we can't be hard to miss. Just…steer clear of us, OK? It's dangerous for my school world and my friends to mix, it leads to awkward questions. Just dodge their questions if one of them asks you. Please?"
"Sak, hun, we're your friends," Ino said, hugging her friend.
"Yeah, we won't betray you!" Tenten punched the air, treating it as a mission.
"I'll stay out of Neji nii-kun's way," Hinata assured her.
"Thank you SO much!" Sakura said, hugging each of her friends. "You don't know how much this means to me."
Sakura rejoined the boys feeling much more relieved.
"How much longer?!" Shikamaru groaned. Neji checked his watch.
"It's been fifteen minutes already. We should get our table soon."
"Sakumo!" It was Naruto, coming out of the restaurant. "Where were you?"
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. Naruto frowned.
"I went to the men's room and you weren't there! And I didn't see you on the way there or back, either…"
"Sure you didn't miss me?" Sakura asked lightly. "It's a big crowd."
"Maybe…"
"Ooh, look, our table's ready!" Kiba said, pointing. Neji jumped as the buzzer vibrated in his hand and flashed with evil red lights.
Sakura picked at her food, too nervous to eat much. She could see Ino, Tenten, and Hinata threading their way through the crowds on the other side of the restaurant, but she still couldn't help but worry. Finally, they were out of the restaurant, in Neji's car, and on their way back to Firestone.
"Geez, Fujiwara's has some pretty girls," Kiba said, leaning back. Shino snorted.
"I thought you went out with my sister."
"I do, and she's amazing," Kiba grinned. "But that doesn't mean I can't say any other girl's pretty."
"What did you think, Sakumo?"
"Um…it was great," Sakura said.
The ride was uneventful, the journey to the dorm even less so. Sakura excused herself from the others and went to the computer lab to check her email. Sure enough, there were two of them sitting in her box. One was from FlOwErMoUnTaIn, the other from Haruno86. Sakura opened the one from Ino first.
From: FlOwErMoUnTaIn
To: PinkPointGuard
Re: Firestone
Hey, gurl! How's
life at school? We're all kinda bored without our favorite
point guard. Tenten keeps going down to the court and shooting
baskets, treating each one like it's Neji's head or something.
Hinata's been quiet, and I've been bored out of my skull. WHEN
ARE YOU COMING BACK!?!? lol XD Sure hope ya made the team. I
guess we'll find out this weekend. If you come home, we'll party
with ya, even though you didn't make it. If you don't come back,
we'll celebrate for you! We deserve a medal :p Hope the
guys don't overwhelm ya! C U soon(I hope!) Ino-chan
Sakura
smiled. Her friends still cared about her. She drafted a short
response saying she'd made the team and sent it to her friend. Now
for the one from her mom.
From: Haruno86
To: PinkPointGuard
Re: new school
Hey, sweetie! Hope
you're doing OK. It breaks my heart to think of you living there on
a campus full of guys. If you ever want to back out, just let me
know. Damien's doing fine, he emailed me saying he's
having the time of his life, just like you said. It's lonesome here
without my babies. Have you made any good friends? Is your
roommate nice? Maybe, when this whole charade is all over, we can
invite them over and you can introduce us. For now, simply because of
your father's fame, we need to keep our connections down. I
love you, sweetie, unconditionally. Enjoy school, learn lots, and
keep your secret! Love, Mum
Sakura
smiled. She typed up a short email that conveyed only the highlights
of her time at Firestone. Then she sat back, thinking. Neither Ino
nor her mother could ever have guessed how impossible this "charade"
was getting – especially when her heart was on the line.
Monday came, and the school was suddenly flooded with the students who had gone home for the weekend. The tired fifteen basketball teammates were suddenly surrounded with their friends. The only difference between this Monday and last was that they would be facing their first 2-hour practice with Itachi after school.
"Welcome back," Itachi said softly as the team sat down on the bleachers. "I see you survived the weekend and enjoyed your day off. Even though that wasn't the plan, you all seem refreshed enough."
Practice was difficult, but nothing new. Itachi had put them through their paces, running through five stations: dribbling, passing, cutting and picking, dodging, and shooting. It was an ordinary practice, if anything under Itachi could be called normal, Sakura thought. The Coach kept shooting glances at his younger brother, as though keeping a watchful eye on him. Sasuke ignored the coach, performing the drills with such graceful ease that Kiba and Naruto broke out into clapping at one point. They laughed loudly as Sasuke stopped, but two glares from Itachi and Sasuke both shut them up.
The next week flew by impossibly quickly. Between her school work and basketball, Sakura barely had time to eat and sleep. Sasuke, too, was feeling the pressure: he had been looking paler than usual lately, and he hadn't eaten as much. But he pushed himself harder than anyone else on the court, as though determined to prove a point to the stoically silent Itachi.
Sakura collapsed into bed Friday night feeling each and every one of her muscles ache. The dorm around her was as silent as the grave, all the students having left for the weekend already. Sasuke was reading silently on his bed, his eyes half-closed and fixed on the same spot on the page. He closed the book and looked at his roommate.
"We should get to bed. We've got to get up at 4:00 tomorrow."
Sakura smiled weakly. "And run suicides on no food."
Sasuke dug in his bag and pulled something out. He tossed two over to her.
"Here. Eat that before we leave the dorm tomorrow morning."
Sakura read the label. "A PowerBar?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Every single guy on the team will be doing the same thing. You wanna run on an empty stomach, be my guest."
Sakura laid the PowerBars on her nightstand.
"Thanks."
Sasuke looked up at her. His eyes were hard.
"Don't take this as a friendly gesture, Hayaro. I don't like you. I've warned you: stay out of my game."
"Only if you stay out of mine," Sakura retorted.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. There was a second meaning in his roommate's words, in his own, too. It was more than a pledge to not interfere in the other's basketball game, it was a pledge to stay out of each other's business. He nodded.
"Agreed."
Sakura understood perfectly. Sasuke didn't just want her out of the way on the court, he wanted her to stop investigating his private life. In the same way, Sasuke was not going to be looking her up anytime soon, either. Both the roommates had secrets each was loath to share with the other. Both of them had had their doubts about the person across the room, and both had tried to draw conclusions about the other. But that was all said and done, now.
Their secrets were safe.
Training Camp
Sakura was soaked with sweat, feeling her shirt stick to her back. She wiped her face with her sleeve and kept the ball going. Her defender watched her nervously – Sakura had proved in the last hour or so that she was as good a point guard as Sasuke, when she was on form.
Itachi had been mixing the groups together, trying different combinations of teamwork. Sakura's current team was comprised of Shikamaru, Neji, a junior guard from a different building named Tsume, and Shino.
Sakura grinned wolfishly as her defender tried to take up a good position. She could tell from a glance that he was doing it all wrong – he'd left the space down the sideline wide open. Sakura drove the ball down into the opening, only to find someone else was already there.
Sasuke, too, was on form, the light of anger and determination burning in his dark eyes. He blocked Sakura's path, forcing her to redouble the way she had come. Sasuke nodded to the old defender, who picked her up again. Sakura's eyes narrowed as she analyzed the defense Sasuke was running.
Sasuke had a triangle-and-two going, with his posts and center guarding the lane. He and the other guard were keeping Sakura from getting close enough to shoot three-pointers. Sakura smiled and swept some of the brown hair of the wig out of her eyes. She knew just how to break this.
Sakura dribbled forward, drawing Sasuke and the other guard tighter as they tried to block her shot. She reached around her man and passed the ball one-handed to Neji. Now the ball was inside the three-point line, but not close enough for a sure basket.
Neji worked the triangle, passing the ball to Shikamaru, who drove down under the basket along the end line. He passed it to Shino, who calmly stared down the three zone defenders before returning the ball to Shikamaru.
"Zone!" Sasuke called hoarsely. He and the other guard backed down, forming a square with one defender in the center of the lane. Sakura saw her chance.
"Shikamaru!"
Shikamaru had seen it, too. He snapped the ball to Sakura, who took it and went up for a jump shot. Her wrist snapped perfectly, perfect backspin, arc…
The whole team watched as it sank through the hoop. All net.
Sakura allowed herself a moment of triumph at the look on Sasuke's face before retreating with her team down to the other end of the court. Sasuke was on offense, now. Sakura motioned behind her to Neji, signaling with two fingers. Man-on-man was their best option. Neji nodded and spread the word behind him.
Sakura herself picked Sasuke up as he brought the ball downcourt, trying to pin him in the corner, next to the half-court line. Sasuke knew what she was doing, he raised the ball over his head and passed swiftly to the other guard. Sakura dogged Sasuke's footsteps as he sought to regain the ball for a 3-point shot. Every time he motioned for the ball, Sakura was there, in his way, in his face, blocking his angle. He was getting annoyed, she could tell that easily.
The other guard got a pick and dribbled straight for the basket. Two points. That made the score 15–12, Sakura's team's favor. Itachi blew the whistle.
"Alright, Team A, you guys can get some water. Team B – on the line."
Sasuke got on the line without complaining, but the others went reluctantly. Itachi's punishments for failure were harsh: 100 push-ups, twenty laps, suicides. Sakura had been lucky. She was one of the few in the group who had not lost something. Come to think of it, it was rather odd – almost every drill, she and Sasuke had been pitted against each other. And every single time, Sasuke had lost. It was like Itachi was purposefully making sure he could not win…
No,
that's just stupid, Sakura told
herself. They're brothers, there's
GOT to be some sort of…mutual affection, right?
Then
she caught a glimpse of Sasuke's face as he crossed the end line,
contorted with hatred. Itachi's face was calm, but his eyes spoke
volumes.
Then again, maybe not.
To avoid being trapped in the same room with an irate Sasuke after training, Sakura excused herself to go check her email in the computer lab. She had expected to find nothing there. However, there was:
From: Haruno86
To: PinkPointGuard
Re: Urgent
Dearest, something has
come up. I wouldn't bother you with it normally, but it may have an
effect on your immediate future. It pains me to say this, but I may
have to withdraw you and Damien from Firestone Academy.
"Withdraw?"
Sakura gasped, taking in a sharp breath. "Why, Mum?" She
continued reading.
As you
know, ever since your father passed away, we have had to pinch to
make ends meet. It was quite a change, going from that huge house to
our apartment here. I won't hide it from you, Sakura, we lost a lot
of money to the courts and the medical bills. Your father had made
millions; in a month, it was virtually gone. I was left in debt, with
no husband and two children. The problem is, I still haven't paid
off all the debt. The deficit I owe now comes in the shape of
several thousand dollars, not too much, but enough. If you and Damien
were home, I could pay it off immediately without a worry. But as it
is, even with your discount, my creditor is getting impatient. I'm
doing my best, dear heart, but if I don't get enough by the end of
the month, you and Damien both will have to leave Firestone. I'm
sorry, dearest. I really am. But some things can't be helped.
Love, Mum.
It was true, Sakura had once lived in upscale Konoha, in a million-dollar home. Saki Haruno had raked in the money when he was at the height of his game. But his retirement, his illness, and his death had taken their toll on the fortune he had made.
Sakura had thought that she was finally completing the dream that Haruno Saki had never lived to see. And now, it was all crashing down around her ears.
OH, NOOO!! Sakura might have to leave FIRESTONE, and she hasn't even played her first game yet! What will the team say? What will SASUKE say?! Coming up next on Alley Oop!
Oh, yeah – by the way, King of Sand AND King of Fire both exist…written by yours truly! They are also (this is funny) NARUTO FANFICTIONS! Cross-referenced my own work, woohoo! If you think that you'd read it, REVIEW and let me know. If I get upwards of ten people who would be interested in King of Sand (hint hint: KAZEKAGE), then I'll post it, too. Woohoo! LOVE YOUSE!
-Rhulain
