**IMPORTANT: Hokkaido Bandits are now Hokkaido Hawks. I'm like why would a school call their sports team bandits, wtf. HAWKS IT IS.
And one last thing: These guys ARE in grade 12, or 'Third Year' in Japanese terms. I believe I placed her or them into Grade 11, but after some deliberation, I thought 12 would be better, making these lads 16-17, or 17-18, depending on their month of birth.

THAT IS ALL! READ ON! :DD

:: Get Over It! ::11::

He guffawed at the sight of me. "Epic eye bags, Hayashi!"

"Shut up, Shou," I grunted, not wanting more noise to enter my ears than necessary. I was grumpy, and it sucked all the more that I was drained of energy due to my lack of sleep. Unfortunately, I didn't wake up with a fresh morning face, freshly caked with make-up and smooth, glistening skin. I groaned, wondering why on earth I hadn't had the decency to put on some lotion or something to soothe my dry skin, the coldness sucking away the moisture from my face. I didn't always wake up with dark circles, but the day I did, it was just further proof that the night had sucked. The only plus was that almost all the guys – save for exceptions like Kiba, Shou, and a few other energy-drink-powered guys - looked about the same as me: messy bed hair, hunched postures, squinted eyes and frowns. Of course, they still looked perfectly presentable, with their gifts in facial features.

Well, screw them. They can kiss my unattractive ass. I thought bitterly, the cold wind whipping at my skin. At least I had the decency to wear a long-sleeved shirt and sweatpants to shield myself from the chilly weather. Regardless of the weather, I was the only one so guarded against the cold, because when I looked left and right upon arriving at the outdoor field, nearly everyone was wearing T-shirts and Gym Shorts.

They can kiss my cold ass, too.

"Where the hell is our coach?" Sasuke hissed, eyes narrowing to a not-so-pretty extent. It was almost funny to find the Royal Uchiha so irritated, but every guy on the team was feeling the same frustration.

"We have Kakashi again, don't we?" Kiba remarked, stretching his arms over his head. "You might as well give up hope of him showing up in the next hour. We're stuck with Anko's crazy warm-ups again."

"It's not like Hatake's would be any better," Neji inputted, a scowl on his face. I didn't even say anything, too tired and disgruntled to use any more energy than necessary.

"This is all so troublesome..." As Shikamaru's words finished, Anko had about enough waiting for this 'Kakashi' person, and just like Kiba had said, she demanded another one of her grievous warm-ups.

We started out by jogging six laps for warm-up, followed by a grievous set of 50 pushups, sit-ups, burpees, and wall climbers, repeated in a sequence four times.

By the end of the training, my body was severely feeling the burn. With arms and legs burning from exhaustion, my throat and lungs were on fire, making it hard and painful to breathe. I wanted to collapse and just lie there on the ground, my gag reflexes struggling to keep under control.

"That Kakashi: every year he's like this!" Anko grumbled, face matching the anger on the teams' face. "HATAKE KAKASHI! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

I whimpered pathetically at Anko's raspy voice booming in volume, making me clutch my ears. I plugged my ears, desperate to ease the dizziness in my head. I felt someone lean on me for support, and as much as I didn't appreciate the extra weight, I knew that everyone was tired, so I didn't mind him doing so.

"He's... here..." the person said, and I recognized the voice to be Kiba's. He rested his arms on my shoulders and I unplugged my ears and looked over.

A tall, slender man, probably in his late twenties was walking down the pathway to the turf we were on. Immediately what struck me was his long silver hair that seemed to defy gravity from the way it stood up by itself, though its movement proved too soft and flexible to be styled by gel or hairspray. Weird...

His face was masked, and he wore a dark blue headband that was pulled down in a slant to cover one eye. Basically, all we could see was his right eye, and only a portion of his nose bridge and eyebrow!

"Why's... face..." I attempted, but luckily Kiba understood what I meant. He seemed to have regained his breath and energy a lot faster than me, the darn athlete.

"Nobody really knows. Some say he's got a bunch of scars hidden underneath, or that he's really ugly. You get used to it after a while, so we stop caring."

I chuckled, energy a bit restored. "Yeah, I forgot that guys don't gossip as much as girls do. Or do you?"

"Eh? Well, I guess we—"

"Since you guys are all warmed up, we can already move on," came the low voice of Kakashi. There was a twinge of Shikamaru's lazy drawl to it, so maybe Kakashi person was a laid-back kind of guy. From the way he was over an hour late, I wouldn't be surprised if he had enough laziness to give Shikamaru a run for his money. "For those who don't already recognize me from previous years, I'm Kakashi, your soccer camp personnel for this week. Nice to meet you all."

"Keep up," left his mouth, and my teammates immediately complied, weak and exhausted from physical exertion. We were like lambs, being dragged to the slaughter, eyes downcast and postures slouched. It was early. It was cold. We were just so tired.

Anko didn't follow us and instead left to go elsewhere. We left the turf and ventured into a forest-like setting. Dried leaves crunched under our soles and tall trees surrounded us. I lifted a brow at Shikamaru, who shrugged his shoulders at me. So this wasn't normal, and he didn't know what was up Kakashi's sleeve either.

"Stop here." We had approached a large wooden wall, triple my height, stationed snugly in-between two large trees. "This is your first challenge. Your objective is to successfully maneuver your entire team up and over this wall. But it's not as simple as it sounds..."

"There will be no use of any additional equipment," he went on. "No ropes, no safety cushioning, no sharp objects to impale the wall with in order to climb, and most importantly," he paused for dramatic effect, "no voices."

I couldn't help but raise my brows. No talking? Why was that even necessary, nevertheless important enough to deliberately take-out? Sure, it might prove a bit harder, but it surely didn't deserve a suspenseful 'most importantly'.

"The more time I waste explaining, the less time you guys have to complete this. I will be timing the moment the first person attempts his cross-over, so be warned that you don't have all day," Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest, staring us all down.

"Isn't that a bit... unsafe?" Hikari remarked, surprising the team with the different voice. "What happens if we fall while trying to go over?"

"That isn't my concern." I dropped my jaw. What?! Couldn't we sue for this? Someone could seriously get hurt while trying to climb the wall, and fall backward and damage something!

"That's—" Shou began, only to quiet himself down with the help of Hikari's firm gaze. I was beginning to feel very uneasy about the whole ordeal. This was horribly thought out!

It's a test of physical strength. I gritted my teeth. To see if you can push yourself and strategize a way to get over...

"On the other side of the wall is a platform. It can only hold four people at a time, so once you get over, you can come back down to the ground and wait for the rest of your teammates to get over. You get one minute to discuss your strategy with your team, share ideas and brainstorm," Kakashi's hard expression never left. The faces of my teammates grew more and more agitated. He must have expected this. "Remember that this is a test. I am always evaluating you as a team. After this minute, there is to be no more talking. You may begin discussing."

"I've climbed a wall like this before," Ryusuke grinned. "This one's a little higher than the one I climbed... But I'm sure I can get myself up there, no problem. All of you guys just watch what I do, and we can get through this!"

Guys began exchanging words of encouragement, though some continued to have grim faces. There were probably a few guys who were more or less starting to doubt their physical ability to hoist themselves up a wall; soccer wasn't exactly a high-jumping sport, but everyone had strong legs, so...

I glanced at Shikamaru. He looked distressed, or deeply concentrated, to the point where he looked angry. I said his name softly, and he met my eyes.

He seemed to sense my worry. As much as I didn't want to face it, I wasn't exactly a representative of great upper body strength. I had confidence as a player, but hoisting myself over that wall didn't require as much leg muscle as it did arm muscle to chin-up myself over the edge. Gosh, when was the last time I even did a chin-up?

"Where's the confidence you had in getting here?" I cracked a smile at his words. The strain of exhaustion and my scrawny figure in comparison to these gorgeously toned boys was making me doubt myself, but why? What did I have to lose? Pride? That wasn't what was at stake.

"15 seconds left," Kakashi informed.

"Um... For safety," I said loudly, and people began turning towards me. "Should we... like, try to make a safety net? Sensei said it wasn't his concern, but it obviously is our concern for our safety as a team, right?"

"We can make the people on the ground put their hands up behind the person going up, in case he falls or something. We have to look out for each other," Kiba inputted, shooting me a glance. I smiled back at him. A few agreeing murmurs went around, but peoples' worries weren't relieved.

"Minute's over. When the first person makes contact with the wall, my timer starts. No more talking."

Ryusuke nodded to us all, making us back up to give him a running start. With a powerful leap, he scraped his sneakers against the wall, bounding up a step. We rushed in underneath him to put out our hands as a safety net in case he fell. He tried hoisting himself, but to no avail. He landed back down on his feet, scowling.

Ryusuke, who had been our front runner to get up the wall, had failed. Teammates offered helping hands, but he ushered us away to give him room. His second attempt failed just as fast, as he tried to use the tree trunk for better grip with his sneakers, but it didn't work. It was soon clear that it was simply too high for him to get over through jumping alone, his fingers not having the strength to carry his entire body weight.

I felt Shikamaru's hand on my shoulder. He was looking at me with a harsh look before he mouthed something with his lips. I blinked, not quite catching the form of his lips. I mouthed a 'what', hoping he would repeat it. Frowning, he chose to use his arms instead. He formed an X cross with his forearms and then stuck out a finger, as if telling me one minute. One.

Not one... Not one...

... You can't do this alone.

I blinked, the message slowly forming in my head. Kakashi's words repeated in my mind.

"Remember that this is a test. I am always evaluating you as a team."

As a team.

I was wrong. This wasn't a test of physical strength at all. Strength was only a very minor part of what this challenge was really about!

Ryusuke was going in for his third attempt, running towards the wall. We rushed in again, hands up high in case he fell backward, but this time Shikamaru and I pushed past to the front of the group, right in front of the wall, and grabbed hold of Ryusuke's feet. He was surprised, from the way he stopped kicking and looked down at us, but Shikamaru and I grunted in unison as we offered him our strength. Some of the guys up in front, most noticeably my roommates, immediately understood what we were trying to do, and put their hands under Ryusuke's shoes as well, all of us pushing with our might to drive Ryusuke upwards.

The weight eventually left our hands as Ryusuke effectively found his bearings on the edge and pulled himself up. I couldn't help it as my face broke out into a grin, and I began enthusiastically clapping. Others started clapping as well, probably as relieved as I was that the whole ordeal wasn't as impossible as it seemed. I shared a gaze at my teammates, whose faces were starting to relax.

We could do this. We would do this, as a team.

I glanced around to find the face of Kakashi, the instructor of this challenge. It was hard to see what he was thinking, what with his face all covered up, but he caught my eyes in a stare down. I looked away quickly, proud of Shikamaru and my team for figuring out the essence of the challenge.

We heard the footsteps of Ryusuke coming down, as if there were wooden stairs. It must have been a platform on the other side, then stairs leading down the ground. At least it wasn't a frightening ninety-degree drop that you had to land on without any cushioning. We would have a safe trip down, despite the difficulty going up.

Neji and Kiba squatted slightly lower, their fingers laced together and facing upwards: a position ready to hoist the next person up. I felt someone nudge me forward, looking back to see that it was Shikamaru. He was giving me another hard gaze. I gulped, a bit relieved that we had at least found an effective method, but all of these guys suddenly being aware of how light I am... or alternatively, how not light I am...? WHICH IS WORSE?

A heavy wave of self-consciousness shot through me, but I shut it down as quick as I could. Why do I care? They won't care.

Mustering up my courage, and remembering that we were being timed, I stepped forward, slapping the bottom of my shoes quickly to rid them of dirt and soil. With my heart thumping hard, I gingerly stepped onto Kiba's hands before boldly stepping up onto Neji's. I let out an unintentional squeak when I fell backward, to feel hands behind my back reassuringly. Neji and Kiba lifted me up quickly, and I began to forget that their hands solely supported my weight.

I grasped tightly onto the ledge of the wall, grunting to swing one foot over the edge so I was hugging the ledge. Kiba must have jumped to give me one last hoist of the other foot. I was wondering why I had gotten up so much faster than Ryusuke. He obviously was bulkier and more muscular than me. How come we took so long—

My brows flew up as the thought processed. Ryusuke is a lot bigger than me, so obviously he weighs more! I'm lighter, so it's easier for them to push me up! But whether you get the lighter ones out of the way first or last, it doesn't really matter. In the end, everyone has to come up. It's just a matter of us coming up faster... Maybe Shikamaru wants to get the lighter ones out of the way first?

I remembered Shikamaru's hard look. I was standing on the platform on the other side of the wall. The next guy coming up was none other than Sasuke, which surprised me. Sasuke was not a scrawny guy. Was I simply thinking too much of Shikamaru picking me, someone lighter, to go next—?

No. That wasn't it. He was looking at me again, holding my gaze, and he was... motioning with his palms towards the grown, as if he was patting air. Then, he clasped his hands together like he was...holding something between his hands? What on earth was he saying?!

I shook my head at him, sorry that I didn't understand what he meant. He frowned back at me, sympathy coming from his eyes to say 'It's okay'. I turned away to go down the stairs, since I had to get out of Sasuke's way when he came up—

...WAIT, DO I?

I gasped, breaking out into a grin, finally understanding what Shikamaru was trying to tell me. The puzzles added together in my brain, and I quickly turned around and leaned over the edge, offering both hands to the Uchiha who was just coming up. Sasuke grabbed my hands, a bit surprised, and I pulled him up towards me as the guys on the bottom pushed. Sasuke successfully made it onto the other side. I looked down at Shikamaru, who was smirking up at me, giving me a thumbs-up.

I simpered internally, giving him a grin. That little genius: he had figured it all out. He had been telling me to 'stay' and then to 'grab'.

I was lighter than most of the guys here, which would make me easier to get on the other side. The faster I was on the other side, the faster I could contribute by pulling the next guy up, so we were much more efficient. Shikamaru was such a smartass, and I was smug knowing that I was able to barely meet his expectations.

Kakashi said a maximum of four people on the platform, and it wasn't mandatory to go back down. He had strategically worded it to make it seem like we had to immediately go back down. Shou came up next, and Sasuke and I each grabbed a hand, heaving him up promptly. Shou made the gesture to switch with me, so I let him, seeing as he was probably stronger than me in terms of upper body strength anyway. I went down the stairs, becoming part of the safety-net swarm. We were making really good progress, all thanks to our good teamwork foundation. I could see from the faces of my teammates that this wasn't nearly as hard as we thought. We had this!

It took us a while of almost-falls, scrambling, grunting, dirt flying on faces, and a whole lot of blood drainage from the arms, but our entire team made it over the wall without any casualties. By the end of it, we all turned to look at Kakashi, whose expression was masked, quite literally!

"Less than six minutes. Not bad." He whipped away his timer, shoving it in his pocket.

"While you're playing a game; when you're playing soccer with a bunch of friends. When you're shooting that goal, or sprinting to intercept that pass - Who can tell me what the most important thing is?"

A hand went up. "Having fun?"

"More," he demanded.

Someone else piped up. "Teamwork!"

"Basic."

"Polished skill?"

"Again."

"...Winning?"

Kakashi frowned, the form of his mouth beneath his mask giving his emotions away, as well as the furrowing of his brow. "Wrong. Very wrong. I'm looking for someone broader, boys."

His eyes landed briefly on me, and I gulped. Why was he looking at me like that? It's not like he knew who I was.

"You. You're the team's Striker, aren't you?" I stiffened, bowing slightly out of nervousness.

"Y-Yes!"

"What's the most important thing?" He was looking at me intensely.

Why is everyone choosing to wordlessly comminute with me today, like I'm supposed to read their eyes? I'm not psychic!

I ignored the little voice, nagging me as to how on earth he knew I was the Striker, and struggled with my answer. "W-Well... I guess, uh..."

Find your words, Hayashi. He's in no position to intimidate you. Let him have it, if he really wants a piece of your mind!

I gulped, again ignoring the nagging that I was wrong: he was obviously in a position to intimidate me.

"Effort and an open-mind," I answered pitifully, hating how it sounded once it came out of my mouth. He didn't say anything, and my nerves made me ramble, "Everyone has their own reasons, whatever it may be, but you have to have the motivation and commitment to stick with your reason and reach for the goal. Whether it's having fun, building teamwork, keeping fit or whatever, you should... uh... always give it your best?"

I hated myself for stammering. Was my voice too high? Did I sound like a stupid girl trying too hard to blend in with a group of boys?

"Why an open-mind?" he pressed, making my thoughts scramble once again in frenzy.

"Uhh... If you have one reason, and one reason only to do something, you'll never fully appreciate it or value the experience as much as you should... You should be able to grasp an experience with an open mind in order to absorb everything it has to offer. "

WHY. DO I FREAKIN' TALK SO MUCH. WHEN I'M NERVOUS? I sighed heavily, looking at Shikamaru briefly for some comfort. He smirked at me, but the reddening of my cheeks only stayed.

"Not bad," he said, alarming me. He actually understood what I was saying? The more I spoke, the more misconstrued it felt.

"Everyone has their own reasons for doing something. There are many big ones, common ones that people may share. The ones that came up are very good examples. Some will play soccer to win, others to have fun, and many to simply improve their skill set. Whatever your reason is, that's your own personal business. What I am here to do is give you the foundations of what it means to be a team playing soccer together. One of which is teamwork."

"Every man for himself." Out of his pocket, Kakashi whipped out what looked like a flimsy chopstick. "This mindset does not work in the game of soccer, or for any team sport. You may find loopholes in my words and use it to mock the philosophy of a team, but the basic idea will always stand. Alone as you are, others will easily crush you."

With a resonating snap, the wooden chopstick was broken in half. Kakashi promptly shoved it back into his pocket and pulled out a bundle of chopsticks, making my lip twitch. This was rather comical.

"As a united team," he held out the chopsticks, "you are much harder to break or crush. But of course, that is not to say you won't still be broken."

I gasped when the chopsticks broke in half from the center. Outrageous! How strong was this Kakashi guy?!

"You can use the same metaphor with a piece of paper in comparison to a phone book. Which is easier to rip in half? You may insulate that piece of paper, shield it with what you can, but why insulate one when you can insulate twenty?"

"We're a great team," Ryusuke said boldly. From the look on his face, he was feeling a bit offended. Maybe he thought Kakashi was referring to him as having the 'Every man for himself' mindset, which pointed fingers at him. "We didn't catch on as quickly, but we can work together!"

"You guys caught on. You'd be surprised at how many guys never resorted to working together, and depended primarily on his own strategy to get up the wall as if the rest of the guys on his team weren't any of their business. Many teams have regrettably not even thought of safety. Of course, I stepped in before anything started and made sure that they put it into consideration, though it just meant they were docked off major marks."

At his words, I snuck another peek at Shikamaru, giving him a gentle nudge. He stifled a smile, but I was sure he knew I was praising him. After all, he figured it out before any of us even got started, but he hadn't voiced it quickly enough to escape the 'no talking' rule.

"Now, I can see that Teamwork might not be a major issue with this team. I don't need to waste lesson time building the foundation from rock bottom. It's time to get started on individual qualities."

I tensed, feeling him working on our nerves again, building our excitement and suspense. His eyes landed on me again, but I didn't look away this time. Something was fishy about why he was paying attention to me, but I wasn't going to allow him the pleasure of seeing me crumble under his gaze.

Kakashi told us to follow him again, and we complied.

This time, we weren't lambs going to the slaughter together. We were merely lions moving together as a pack.

-X-

Kakashi watched in amusement as faces fell at the sight of the obstacle course - all except one. There was one lone player grinning from ear to ear, eyes taking in the extravagant challenge. Kakashi contained his smirk. That was one interesting Striker.

"How on earth did this hide something this huge from us?" breathed one team member.

"This is a course only offered to senior players under the pretense that they have what it takes to complete it. You have the choice to not take this test... which will result in your expulsion from this camp immediately." Frowns, Grimaces, Glares: the usual reaction.

Except for that one Striker, still smiling so brightly.

"You're lucky for a sunny day like this. This obstacle course can get rather dangerous when slippery. I will put it bluntly: this obstacle course is meant to challenge the utmost peaks of your agility, strength, strategic thinking, and much more. Each and every person will be timed, and only one person is allowed at a time. This is not meant to be a teamwork exercise. This is where your individual training begins."

"Your objective is simple. That is your starting point, and that is where you aim to end up," Kakashi pointed at said spots. "Take note of which obstacle you find the most difficult to pass and acknowledge your weakness. Watch your teammates. Obviously, the first to go will have the hardest time, since they will have no examples to follow and no time to calculate what would be the best approach."

Komet and Hawk players were nearby the obstacle course area. Akira recognized a few faces from the bus-unloading incident, so she knew it was one of the teams, but couldn't identify which team was which. She watched one team run laps around the track with someone shouting at them. Perhaps they had failed their teamwork lesson and were being punished.

Another team was making their way closer, giving the Konoha Flames dirty looks. It was obvious that they were on the same level as the Flames in terms of progression, because their instructor began explaining the obstacle course to them just as Kakashi had.

"Guy with spiky bleach hair, black shirt and blue shorts: Tanaka Kouji. Guy beside him with black hair is his best friend, Suzuki Akihiro." It didn't take a genius to know that Shikamaru was telling her the names of the guys from the night before. They were both fair skinned and pretty boys, even from such a distance. "They're the Kyoto Komets. The team running on the field is the Hokkaido Hawks. Far in the distance over there is a team from Okinawa or Aomori, I think."

"I see..." Obviously, there were more teams than just the, se but something told her that since Shikamaru didn't even know the names of any other team, they weren't as big of rivals as the aforementioned.

Kakashi's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Since we have two groups here, we'll alternate players. However, since you guys came first, it's only natural that the very first person to go would be from your team."

"Flames, take your pick." The Konoha Flames were confused. For someone who was usually mysterious and confusing as it was, his words always seemed to confuse them more than usual that day. "Since the first people to go will have the strongest disadvantage, you'll pick the opposing side's first unlucky contestant."

"That's easy," Shou snorted. The rest of the guys seemed to agree simultaneously, but Akira blinked in confusion. "Tanaka Kouji, why don't you do the honors?"

Kouji's eyes locked with Shou's in a glare down before he stepped forward, a smirk on his lips. "Nice to see you finally got off that toilet, Murakami."

"Huh? What are you talking about, man?" Akira and her room-mates tensed. Akira had used the surname 'Murakami' the night before as a cover-up, so as far as this Tanaka guy was concerned, Shou was the one in the bathroom! But from the way Shou reacted, it was obvious that he had no idea what Kouji was talking about.

Kouji's smirk dropped, noticing the unexpected reaction. Now that he thought about it, Shou's voice was very different from the one behind the washroom door. Kouji stepped forward, eyes scanning the members' faces. Shikamaru had an idea about where this was going, and he instinctively stepped in front of Akira, hoping to block Kouji's view of her.

"Akira," left Kouji's mouth, lip forming into a malicious smirk. "I want Akira of the Konoha Flames to go first."

Kakashi turned to face his group, eyes finding the distraught face of their Striker. The kid was no longer beaming as brilliantly as the sun, bouncing on the heels of 'his' shoes. 'He' gulped, and roughly pushed past the guys to face Kouji, eyes fierce with a rage that startled Kakashi.

"Hayashi Akira," 'he' growled, "here."

-X-

SO I'VE BEEN THINKING. What a shocker, eh? *sobs*

I was wondering which guy you liked the most. So why not tell me, because if there seems to be a favorite, I'll play him up a bit ^^ Gaara x OC seems to be pretty strong, but Kiba and Shikamaru aren't far behind, but not all reviewers have voiced their preference. Neji's kinda neglected by you guys **sad** I already see that many of you dislike Sasuke. But come on! He may be a misled, egotistical snob who doesn't have a respectable purpose in life and just RUINS everything in the Naruto Series, but he's still sexy and most importantly: HOTT, right? RIGHT?

Kay, I'll just keep my creepy pixel-attractions to myself. *sobs*