The Konoha AUs - The Konoha Gymnasium
500 words.
Geneology is taking over my life again. I meant to avoid that, but it's why you're getting this today instead of a sequel to the party, or a Itachi-Sasuke centric piece. I promise to have one of the others for tomorrow. And I'm still taking suggestions for topics, if you have something in mind.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
"Oh my god why is it so warm in here?" Takara says as she enters the gym. It's already sweltering outside but they usually keep it a steady 72 degrees inside the gym year round.
"The air conditioner is broken," Itachi greets her, "I already fiddled with the thermostat but Sarutobi is going to need to call for a repairman."
She finds herself staring at him. Itachi's hair is in its usual bun, but he's not wearing a shirt, just a pair of shorts and a ton of sweat. Clearly he's been working awhile already.
Her mouth is dry, but it's not from the heat. They've been training partners for nearly a year now, but she's done her best to ignore that he's an extremely attractive man beyond admiring his gymnastics. That's not going to work today. But first…
"I'm going to go change. Drink some water, you look like you're losing all of it to your skin," she tells him. She has a sports bra on under her leotard and a pair of shorts in her gym bag. It's way too hot to wear the leotard today.
When she comes out, she grabs a drink of water, then starts her warm up. That stretching puts her in prime position to watch Itachi go back to working on high bar. Warmth not from the atmosphere fills her stomach. This is probably his best event, his natural grace making him a treat to watch when he's fully clothed. But now, shining with sweat and bare chested… he's going to make the entire women's team unable to concentrate today. That cassina is just gorgeous.
She finishes stretching when he finishes his high bar practice.
"What are you working on today?"
"Strength training, I think. The rope and I are going to have a date."
"You still want more height on that vault, don't you?"
Takara smiled at him. She'd not yet told him that the reason she really needed the strength training was for a different vault, one she'd not let anyone see her do. She came in on Sundays to work on it, and late at night after he'd left, those nights she could convince him to leave first. It was why he usually beat her to the gym in the morning these days, as she made up the sleep.
The vault was a Produnova, a front handspring and two front somersaults, one of the most difficult a woman could do, with a huge difficulty score of 7.0. It was dangerous, which was why she needed the extra strength. She'd be less likely to break her neck if she could get the amplitude to complete the vault. She wasn't telling anyone she was working on it because she didn't want them to stop her, and they might.
She'd considered asking Itachi for help on it, but decided not to. He might feel obligated to tell their coaches and she couldn't risk it.
Not with what this vault could do for her.
Produnovas are rare and very few women have successfully completed them in competition. If you want a look at it, look up the Olympic Trials in Rio from this April: one of the women there pulled it off, with the highest score seen since scoring changed. If I remember right, she's the first Indian woman to compete for her country in Olympic gymnastics.