Title: Practice Advice
Genre: Humor and General
Summary: When some strange man approached her on the soccer field, she knew one thing for certain; there was no way she was going to get kidnapped without a fight.

There was only one reason Sakura Haruno played soccer. There was only one reason why twenty-five members of the thirty women team played soccer. The reason was that the soccer field was right next to the football field and both sports were in season. The football coach forbade 'onlookers' during practice because they (the girls) were distractions. Hence the girls needed to find a way to watch their favorite men in uniform. The brilliant ones and quick lemmings turned to soccer; the other female population at school had yet to figure it out. If so, there would be several teams of soccer, not just one varsity and one junior varsity.

The majority of the girls were pretty good at multitasking (keeping one eye on the ball and one eye on the boys); others, like Sakura were not so good at it…

"Haruno!" The coach screeched blowing her whistle for the eighteenth time.

The pink-haired daydreamer stumbled from her frozen deer position and looked down at her feet; where a ball of black and white stared up at her.

"You're supposed to kick it!" the coach screamed. The other girls burst into laughter.

A dark rose color formed on the girls cheeks and she awkwardly, without thinking, tried to kick the ball. It bounced several feet then skidded to a stop, a long ways away from the intended target.

The other girls started howling, leaning over in the grass. A few were on the ground hitting it with their fist at the hilarity of the young girl.

The color spread from her cheeks to her ears and the girl gave off a strained laugh.

"Alright," the coach glanced at the other field; the football team was leaving it looked like one for the members was injured, "it's time to head in."

The other girls composed themselves within a couple snorts and headed down to speak with football team.

Haruno sighed and began to follow.

"Not you," the coach reprimanded. "I wouldn't be so upset if I knew you were actually trying. But you're not. You're acting like this entire thing is a joke. The other girls here deserve to have a teammate that has her head in the game and you don't even have that. All that I ask is that you concentrate. We only have two more practices until our first game. I want to know that I can count on you. So please, just give us two hours of your time a day when you're not looking at guys."

The coached sighed and shook her head. "Why don't you practice some more goal kicks? Gather up the soccer balls when you're done. Your mom is working late tonight so it shouldn't be a problem." The coach walked off the field and to the locker rooms, leaving the girl on the field alone.

Everyone seemed to use the girl's mom as an excuse to hold her after school. Just because she was the principle's daughter didn't mean she had no life and had to be the best at everything.

Sakura kicked the ball closest to her and watched it sail into the air. She couldn't help it. When Sasuke played he was just too cool. She kicked at another ball and watched as it too took flight into the air. None of them were close to getting into the goal, but she wasn't really trying.

She went to the next ball and began pedaling it back and forth between her feet as she made her way towards the goal. Now! Her mind cried and her body reacted. The soccer ball flew directly at the goal… then it hit one of its side posts.

Sakura blinked as the ball went flying back at her. It slammed her in the chest and the surprise of the blow knocked her on her butt.

"Are you ok?" a voice called out.

Immediately, Sakura was up on her feet trying to brush herself off and look for the person who'd seen her blunder. The rose color was back, tainting her cheeks. Her green eyes glanced off in the direct of the woods, which framed the school's back border, and then her eyes scanned down the fence line towards the locker rooms. There in between was a tall man at the fence opening.

He was dressed in what looked to be white collar work clothes. He was not a teacher, and obviously not a student. Sakura gulped. He was making his way towards her. Radio shows talking about recent kidnappings rang in her mind. She immediately looked for some kind of weapon to protect herself. She sprinted to the goal where majority of the soccer balls rested.

"Are you ok?" the man asked again.

"I'm fine," she wasn't going to get kidnapped, tomorrow she had a test in math and she had to pass it or her mom would put her in tutoring again.

The man didn't stop his approach. His steps were long and determined. Sakura's hands tightened into fists. She'd give the guy one last chance before she made him stop.

She held up her hand and he paused, "You need to check in with the administrative building to get a visitor's tag."

The man laughed. He looked young, maybe just a couple years older than a senior, but that didn't mean he was a nice guy.

"Look, you seriously need to-"He was close enough that she could see him. He was at least six feet if not taller; his body looked agile and muscular as if he worked out on a regular basis. She definitely wouldn't win in a fist fight, even though she did pack a surprise; she wasn't as flimsy as she looked and her punches had some weight behind them; thanks to her kickboxing lessons. She probably had several seconds to run to the locker room…

She held up her hand. "Just go away, I got it." It was creepy, this had never before happened. Why in all the days did Hinata have to be sick? Predators usually were dissuaded by a number larger than one.

"I just want to help." He sounded earnest, but didn't they all?

"I said stop!" She growled at him and looked him in the eyes; remembering his features for police reference. He was handsome to the point of pretty. His raven locks were pulled back in a low pony-tail and if he had been any other man, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off. His chin was angular in an aristocratic fashion. If he wasn't creepily walking towards her, she'd probably try flirting with him.

He hadn't stop.

He'd had his warning and now she felt threaten, which meant she could use force.

Her foot slammed into the soccer ball sending it straight at the man's face. He caught as if it hadn't been a dangerous projectile.

Sakura let out a roar and began kicking at all the balls in the area. Almost all of them would have been a direct impact if the man hadn't dodged or caught them with a practiced ease.

Sakura was panting for breath as she kicked that last one; he tapped it with the ball in his hands and it flew back at her face. Her hands went up on instinct, guarding her eyes and nose. She caught the ball with her hands and she tossed it away quickly so she wouldn't lose sight of the man.

He was looming over her, less than eighteen inches away and he was smirking.

She tightened her muscles ready to pounce if he so much as made a move to grab her.

"You know, if you'd played with that much determination and focus you'd be the best player on the team," he said. "The coach would probably stop blowing the whistle on you too."

Sakura could already feel her face warming. He'd been watching her the whole time and had probably laughed at all of her blunders just like the team had. She bit her lip, it also meant he'd been watching her; he was a predator.

"So why aren't you concentrating?" He seemed to say to himself more than to her. His eyes flickered to the left side in thought. "Is your boyfriend playing on the football team?"

"N—" She almost said no, but caught herself. If he thought she had a boyfriend then maybe he'd fear the guy would come looking for her. "Yes, he's big and strong, he's one of the line men."

His smirk grew more pronounced and he leaned in closer to her face. "None of those little boys are big and strong. And I highly doubt you have a boyfriend."

She could feel her heart beat throbbing in her neck. This was bad. She was in one of those situations her teacher had warned her about. "Back off," her green eyes narrowed but did not break from looking at him in the eyes, "now."

His head tilted to the side as if trying to decipher what hidden meaning her words had.

She had to be strong, not break eye contact and be watchful of any hand movements. "_ off pervert."

The man's eyes widened with surprise. "You think…" He looked around as if finally realizing he was harassing a high school girl at soccer practice. He raised his hand as if to reach out and touch her. "Look I'm not—"

He moved and that was not a good sign for her. She reacted. She drew back and threw herself forward, tightened her arm and braced her elbow for impacting his stomach. The elbow slammed him in the gut, the breadbasket. He coughed and leaned over.

She knew better then to run now, it was still probable that he would run after her. She twirled and knocked him in the side, near his kidney; then pitched her weight with her knee upon his leg, giving him a dead leg and he was done for… at least for several seconds to make a getaway. He collapsed to the ground.

"Even try to get up and I will mess you up!" She snarled her fist held up behind her head as if to strike him.

He held his hands open as if in surrender while he coughed. "Look—"

He blinked as he realized she'd already taken off. He pulled himself to his feet. "Hey, wait!"

She was already nearing the fence line when she turned to see he was right behind her. She freaked. She aimed for the fence and tried to jump it, but failed. Her right shoe caught on the top part of the railing which sent her pummeling into the ground.

The man sped up and nimbly climbed up the fence and jumped down the other side.

Sakura tried scrambled to her feet, ignoring the pain in her arms and foot. A hand pushed her back to the ground and to be still.

"I said wait—" He breathed deeply; still trying to regain his breath.

He wasn't happy, which was very bad sign for her. He would probably torture her for several months instead of mercy killing. Her first escape hadn't gone well; but he was about to learn she would never stop trying to escape.

She turned suddenly trying to jam her elbow into him again. He caught her.

"You're covered in blood," he said in a disgusted tone, pointing out the obvious. Of course, she was covered in blood; she'd just slid across the ground with an extreme amount of force.

He stood and grabbed the back neck of her shirt, and then yanked her up.

"Now look, I'm just here to pick up my brother up from practice."

Likely story, she glared at him.

He put her down and took a step back. "It looked like you could use a couple of pointers. I was just going to give you some advice."

"Your advice is unneeded. I know how to kick a ball," Sakura said and chose the moment to once again to try and escape. As soon as her right foot touched the ground with her weight on it, she gave a yelp then swore.

"My first bit of advice it: don't try to jump a fence two heads taller than you. Or maybe I should just suggest you jump higher. You should join track…"

She swirled around on her left foot. Her green eyes glared at him through narrowed slits.

He was smirking.

"It's your fault." The man may not have been a predator but he was a jerk.

"How so?" he asked. If it had been anyone else she would have thought they were serious. But the smile on his face was teasing her.

"You approached a young girl in a suggestive fashion and continued your approach when she told you to stop," said Sakura. In the court of law, if she'd broken his face, she would have been in the right.

His smirk widened and he leaned in close. The smell of wintergreen invaded Sakura's nostrils. One of his hands brushed her cheek. Then he leaned in closer almost touching her face. She froze like a frog under a flash light. "This is suggestive, sweetheart."

Startled she stepped back onto her right foot. A vibrant string of words flowed from her mouth like a geyser as she tried to get off her foot. Her body swayed tilting off center as her left foot took on her full weight. Before she could fall, he pulled her into him and swooped her up into his arms, bridal style.

"Put me down!" she said kicking her feet.

"I think we need to start over. My name is Itachi. I know your last name is Haruno but what is your first?"

"Put me down and I'll tell you." If the man so much as walked towards the parking lot she'd claw is eyes out. She knew enough to know that her foot was bad. Before her mom became a principle, she'd worked in the medical field and she passed on some knowledge about injuries; such as don't walk on them. But she could hop well enough to get some help. She'd be alright. She didn't want the stranger's help.

"Don't think so; I'm sure the school nurse will know."

That would not be good. The nurses' office was right next to the principal's office and her mother… Her mother would think she skipped out on practice to go out with a guy. Her mom might even go so far as to think the foot injury was due to…

"Put me down now!" She screamed trying to flip around and strike him. They were right next to the locker rooms; why was no one coming to her rescue?

In response to her strike he tossed her up in the air making her scream before he caught her. "You know, I'm just trying to help you out."

"Then put me down!" Sakura screamed right into his ear.

He raised an eyebrow and his dark pupils seemed to burn a hole in her skull. "Fine," he said and dropped her.

One of her hands snatched his arm as she dropped and she quickly tried to straighten her position as to not hurt her injured foot again.

"Sure you don't want me to pick you up again?" he asked as she wobbled on her feet, still clutching his arm.

She turned and glared at him then centered her mass. "Positive," she spat then began to hop on one foot to the main facility.

The man sighed and continued after her.

"I'm fine, don't follow me," she said but he continued his pursuit.

"It would be rude for a gentleman not to assist a lady in need," he simply stated with an innocence she knew he did not posses.

She turned her head over her shoulder to glare at him. "What part of get lost don't you understand?"

The man smiled sweetly, "Lost… I used to be a student here, it's impossible for me to get lost in a facility I am so familiar with."

Only a long list of unstructured curse words flowed from the girl's mouth in reply to his answer. She turned her attention to the door before her and concentrated on her hopping. She didn't know who the man thought he was, but if he didn't stop soon she might end up being charged with aggravated assault. The only good thing about such a matter was that her mother wouldn't mind…

Suddenly he was next to her and opening the door. The surprise of his close presences threw her off balance. She swayed on one leg, a death glare plastered upon her features. "I can open doors myself."

"Hmm… you don't like accepting help that won't do; you're going to have to get used to it," the man said tilting his head to the side with a teasing smile.

"And why would I need to get used to it?" she asked sarcastically.

"Because I plan to get far more familiar with you," his smile stared at her.

That was... horrible… He was a complete jerk, a pretty jerk, a pretty eye-candy jerk but none the less a jerk. No way would she want to get familiar with him. He was being suggestive too. He was a perverted, pretty jerk.

"I don't think so, perv; go find another underage minor to infatuate yourself with," Sakura said then turned and quickly began hopping through the door and down the hall at an outrageous fast pace.

She didn't see how his smile now turned into a knowing smirk. He walked through the door and followed after her. She swore at the distance to the nurse's office; it was on the other side of the building…

"Yo, Sakura," a voice called from inside the cafeteria as she passed through it.

She could only scowl as she hopped by the man who was reading a book (most likely an x-rated book because the cover had been duct-taped over). He hadn't even looked up to see her hobble, or see the man chasing her. "Yo…" she snarled walking past.

The book shifted somewhat, as if not expecting to hear such anger from a student. It seemed for a moment that the teacher was actually thinking of putting the book down. The paged turned.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hatake," Itachi said speeding up his pace to keep up with Sakura.

"Hello, Itachi," the man didn't even take down the book to even look at what the said 'Itachi' was doing inside of the school. "You'll have to thank your cousin for me, when you see him; the books I confiscated from him are still my favorite."

Great. Her teacher was a pervert (she already knew such but to hear him say such things out loud) and he supported whatever activity Itachi was currently doing. She would find no help from him; she continued her journey down another hallway.

"Sakura's a pretty name," Itachi said his voice much closer than she expected. She turned slightly to see that he was fast walking next to her.

She decided to ignore his comment and continue to concentrate on hopping.

It seemed the man liked to be answered, "It would sound better with a different name besides Haruno after it…"

She didn't know what was wrong with the man, but she wanted nothing more to do with him. She turned radically to look at him, not noticing a group of people emerging from the nurse's office. "Leave me alone," she hissed, out of range of the group that was quietly staring at the two of them.

Itachi smirk only grew wider as he leaned in. "That's not nice thing to say to your future husband."

Her mother raised no pansy. Her mother raised a woman who took no crap from men.

Her fist flew at his face, but he expected it and caught it with ease. What he didn't expect was for the leg of her injured foot to rise up and knee him in the groin.

The man bent over, almost on top of her, but Sakura nimbly hopped backwards out of the way.

"If you ever come near me again, I will have a lawsuit against your perverted _," she growled.

"Sakura… Why did you just attack my brother?" one of the boys in the group asked.

Sakura turned to look at the boy she had been crushing on for several years. She'd heard his stories about his brother, his idol. 'Aniki' had never done wrong, was the perfect student, already had a profitable company, and was studious and perfect in all social connections.

She blinked at Sasuke; she couldn't even fake a decent blush (although if she had it would have almost been impossible to tell because of the flush color of her skin from the exercise). The person Sasuke believed to be his amazing anikiwasn't an amazing person. She felt cold, perhaps for her friend's sake. Her heart was no longer pounding in her chest at the sight of Sasuke as she realized that he looked almost identical to his older brother except not as handsome.

Her eyes narrowed at Sasuke, one of her few best guy friends, "Keep your 'aniki' away from me," she said snarling with spit-fire sarcasm at the word aniki.

Sasuke and the others around him: Naruto, who was in crutches; Karin; Lee; and Ino; all stared in surprise.

"Sakura, my beautiful blossom of eternal youthfulness, you are injured," Lee said regaining his composer before the others. "Let me carry you to the nurse, for you should get there immediately." Lee stepped forward as if to pick her up.

"Don't," she said with a hiss, "even think about it." She began hopping once again passing by the large group.

Itachi coughed while straightening himself.

"Brother…?" Sasuke questioned.

Itachi took a deep breath and a moment to control himself before he began to follow Sakura; he then stopped and patted the top of his brother's pointy head. "Wait in the car; I'll be out in a couple minutes," he handed his brother the keys and continued into the nurse's office.

He slipped in one of the side bedrooms and the nurse only gave him a nod, knowing who he was. Itachi gave her a smile in return and the older woman blushed.

He turned his attention to the girl sitting on the bed, her back turned to him, talking to the new principle. Hazel eyes rose to meet his own. One of her hands rested on her hip in a demanding authority; the other rested at her side.

Itachi dipped his head politely and walked further into the room.

"So it's all the jerk's fault mom—"Sakura said finishing her tale.

Itachi looped a hand on the girl's thin shoulder. "Yes, I am very sorry Tsunade. If I had explained the reason for my presence to begin with, your precious daughter would not have tried to jump the fence. I only wished to give her some practice advice; I was in varsity soccer when I was here at the school. Again, I apologize; perhaps I could make it up to you and your daughter, may I buy you both dinner tonight? If you enjoy Italian food, I know that Mama Alina's has excellent reviews and is close by. "

Sakura looked up in horror and shook her head frantically to indicate: 'No!' But it was too late. If there was one thing besides alcohol her mother loved it was free food. Not only that, Mama Alina's was a four and a half star restaurant. There was no way her mom would turn it down.

Blonde eye brows raised in surprise and hazel eyes scanned over him, as if critiquing his ability to pay for her exquisite tastes and alcohol. She smiled, he'd met her standard. "How very gracious of you; what time would you like us to meet you there?" she asked.

"What time would be best for you?"

"Hmm, I get off—"

"Mom we can't tonight remember we have that—" Sakura tried to finish but the woman stepped on her daughter's foot to shut her up… the woman had stepped on her sprained foot.

A jumble of words began spewing forth from Sakura's mouth but her mother quickly suffocated the child with a hug. "An early dinner will do us some good, if you don't mind, we can go in about ten. I have to get Sakura some crutches it's just a sprain."

Itachi dipped his head like a polite gentleman, "It would be my honor."

"Thank you," Tsunade said with a smile then she leaned over and began whispering to Sakura, "free food girl, hold your gripes until later."

She drew back from Sakura and continued to smile sweetly at Itachi. "I'll go get those crutches," she said giving her daughter a warning look before she left the room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sakura growled eyeing the hand on her shoulder that had yet to be removed.

"Taking a pretty girl out to dinner with her mother," he smirked with teasing eyes.

Sakura's hands curled into fists. "Why me?"

He kneeled so he was eye level with her. "Uchiha's don't like being told what to do."

"Excuse me?"

"We've only known each other for about… twenty minutes and within that time frame you've given me orders at least eight times, degraded my honor on several occasions, not to mention you've tried to wound me in multiple instances. I'm not going to go infatuate myself with another minor," he said ruffling her hair, "at least not when I get so much pleasure out of you, my love. Twenty minutes and I already fill invigorated even though I've had a long day of work. I can only imagine what it would be like if I came home to you each night," he said leaning in closer. "Oh, and that, again, was suggestive."

She swiped at him and he leaned away.

"See you soon," he said smirking as the tiny room filled with swear words.

Outside the door his brother was patiently waiting against the wall, his little friends next to him. He'd forgotten about his brother.

"Itachi, what did you say to Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi took a breath; any words he shared with Sasuke would spread like a wave across his close knit family. For once it would be nice to be able to pursue whoever he chose without out someone trying to 'aid' him.

"You shouldn't worry about what I say Sasuke," Itachi replied holding out his hand, "Keys."

Sasuke dropped them into the outreaching fingers. Confusion was clear in his eyes.

"Good, now, Naruto do you think your dad would mind giving Sasuke a lift home?" his date wouldn't be any fun if he had a tag-a -long.

"Of course not," Naruto shrugged, "but what did you say to Sakura to make her act so weird. Usually she gets all giggly and stuff around Sasuke."

Itachi's little brother socked his best friend in the shoulder. "Shut it dope."

How interesting, was his little brother really interested in the girl and the girl interested in his brother?

"It was odd… I've never even heard Sakura yell swear like that…" his brother led on.

"Pfft," Naruto laughed, "that just shows you've never been to her house."

It was too bad his little brother had no claim on her. Itachi felt touched, the girl he'd spoken with undoubtedly was her 'true form', which was way better than some giggling piece of trash. His brother was going to have to get over her.

The door to the room opened and Tsunade stepped out followed by the pink-haired girl in crutches.

"We match Sakura!" Naruto laughed.

Sakura didn't; she instead fixed Itachi with death glare. "So it seems Naruto."

"Ready ma'am?" Itachi asked his hand ushering to the door that led to the hallway.

"Almost," Tsunade smiled, "Thank you again for taking us to dinner." She poked Sakura on the arm.

"Yes, thank you for spraining my ankle," Sakura said with a fake smile that Sai could learn from. Her mom gave her a warning look. "Thanks," Sakura huffed, "for dinner."

Itachi held open the door and Tsunade walked through. "Like I said, I apologize for the misunderstanding. I hope we can get on better terms," he said.

"Fat chance," Sakura muttered for everyone to hear but her mother. Her crutches thumped against the floor as she made her way through the door.

Itachi put his hand on her back as if to support her. Immediately she reacted, turning and swinging one of the crutches at him as if to hit him. He dodged it easily and grabbed the metal object. If his brother liked her perhaps it was time he took his claim.

He pulled the object towards him and kissed the back of her hand which rested upon the handle. "I'm pleased to see you're excited about our date," he smirked.

Sakura tried to pick up the other crutch to hit him. "It's not a—"

Her mother grabbed her by the back of the collar, picking the small teenager off the ground. "You still need to get out of those gym clothes, come on."

Itachi gave a backward glance at his shocked brother. "Have fun little brother," Itachi teased.

The shock quickly turned to a scowl.

With that Itachi turned and left, looking forward to having dinner with the hot-tempered girl.

The point of this story you ask? Well, it's to explain to the poor soccer balls why they were not picked up after practice.

A/n: I poke a lot of fun at things; but keep in mind in reality (this is an AU fic of reality) kidnapping is not a laughing matter, majority of those taken and not let loose within 24 hours end up dead; majority of those kidnapped don't get released more are never seen again. (Which is why Sakura does not get kidnapped, it's not a funny matter.)

For my female readers: if a man approaches you (in a parking lot, at night, when you're alone) go back into a store or get to a well-populated place and ask for an escort or call someone you know.

Your elbow is also one of the strongest parts of your body; use it.

It's better to be safe then end up being taken, your body never found unless brutalized.

With gun holds, don't run in a straight line, run in a zigzag random pattern it makes it harder for them to shoot you.

Be aware of your surroundings and try not to get into the situation to begin with.

Also on a side note: with muggings don't hand them your wallet, throw it away from you and run in the opposite direction, this gives you a chance to run away.

Hope these were some useful tips.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, I hope you enjoyed.

Reviews are always appreciated.

Z.z