Chapter 45: Establishing Your Foundation

After admitting our feelings for each other, and then having to deal with our annoying siblings and a tag along immediately afterward, Gaara and I were able to enjoy the rest of our night in the other's company, sitting side by side as I continued my art and he continued reading one of the books he brought from home.

We didn't see anyone else until the first rays of sunshine burst in through the windows. I had just made a bowl of cereal for myself and Gaara was half finished with his cup of coffee when the first of our sleepy-eyed roommates walked into the kitchen looking for their next meal or caffeinated pick-me-up, and before long, the morning rush started in earnest.

As the room became overcrowded with people, I grabbed my half-finished bowl and headed for the living room to get some space, but as I stepped through the doorway, I realized my mistake as soon as I saw the two sets of eyes setting their sights on me.

I saw Gaara's siblings leave the kitchen as soon as they got their coffee earlier.

I never paid attention to where they went off to however.

"Hi Izuka!" Temari greets me in a tone that was supposed to be sweet, but only got my guard up instead. "Care to have a chat with little ol' us?"

"I usually don't like being interrogated while eating my bowl of Cheerios though." I say in my defense as I take a seat in the beanbag chair that was the furthest away from them.

"This isn't an interrogation, Izuka," Kankuro says, though his tone wasn't comforting either. "This is just going to be a nice talk among friends, that's all."

"And yet I find it ironically convenient that you want to talk to me now after my conversation with your brother last night," I say as I look up from my bowl.

". . . A conversation that you two were listening in on, might I add," Gaara suddenly says, walking into the room with his coffee mug in hand and suspicion in his eyes. "You guys just won't let this go."

"We're your older siblings Gaara. We'll never let this go," Temari told him, speaking with an authority that only the eldest sibling could muster. "We are inherently unable to ignore any relationship developments that you may have in your life. . . You just have to deal with it."

"And yet I wasn't this nosey when you guys had relationships," The redhead mumbles as he sat down in the bean bag next to mine, being careful not to spill what remained of his drink.

"No, but you did have a damn knack for popping in at inopportune moments," Temari counters, suddenly looking annoyed with her tattooed brother.

"Let me guess: He kiss-blocked you?"

"Damn straight he did," She growled as she glared at the redhead, who looked rather proud of his past actions.

Something tells me that I'm finally getting a glimpse of the notorious troublemaker I've heard so much about.

"I did time my moments. I'll admit that much," He finally says, his smirk getting a little bigger as he glanced over at Kankuro, who was also smirking. ". . . But sometimes I had a little help."

"A little help?" Temari grumbled as she turned to Kankuro. "You HELPED HIM?!"

"I'm your brother too, so yeah, it was my prerogative to interfere in your love life whenever I could, just as much as it was for Gaara. . . I just wasn't as blatant as him," The puppet enthusiast admitted as he placed his mug on the coffee table. "And it wasn't just me. Dad and Uncle Yashamaru helped too."

"Are you telling me that all the men in your family conspired together to make sure Temari didn't get to kiss any boys when she brought them home?" TenTen calls out, she and Hinata walking into the room with teacups in hand. ". . . Cause if that's the case, that's so rude."

"I would consider it highly overprotective rather than rude, but I understand where Temari is coming from," Hinata admitted, glancing back at the hallway just in time to see her cousin walk in after them. "Isn't that right Neji?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," The elder Hyuga is quick to say as he walks over to one of the bookcases.

"Are you sure?" Hinata prods as he starts to peruse the shelves intently, as if he didn't want his face to give away the true answer. "You don't think my father is too overprotective with me and my sister when it comes to boys?"

"You, no. . . You were too shy to even think about boys when we were younger," Neji blatantly admits, ignoring how his words made Hinata blush at such an admission. "Hanabi is a whole other story though. She has practically lived for tormenting your father since she turned 13. . . Bringing home various dates tends to be one of her favorite go-tos."

"It honestly drives Father up the wall, but you wouldn't find him complaining. He's too prideful for that," Hinata mumbles as she looks down at her tea. ". . . But one day, he will break."

"If that's the case, I wish your old man all the luck . . ," I say as I finish the last of my meal, just as the doorbell starts ringing. "Oh, looks like we have a guest."

"But who could it be though?" Hinata asks as Kiba and Suigetsu race to answer the door, though the former was ahead of the latter by about a foot. "Could it be one of the judges?"

"Tsunade and Jiraiya have made house calls in past competitions, but I can't picture Orochimaru doing it," Kankuro mumbled.

"You can't picture it, but he has done it," TenTen admits, always the helpful informer. "He just doesn't do it as often because if he's not at panel, he's back at his studio working on designs for his latest collection."

"And I hear he's creating quite the collection!" Yamato calls out, walking into the room like he owned the place, much to the shock of the rest of us. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear what you guys were saying."

"It's no problem . . ." Hinata says, so stunned by his sudden appearance that she had a hand on her chest, as if she was making sure her heart was still beating.

"I must ask. . . What's with the early morning visit?" Temari asked as the room started to fill up, likely lured in here by the sound of Yamato's loud voice.

"Isn't it obvious?" The runway coach asked as he stood in front of the TV. "I'm here to make my own house call. . . School's in session everyone. It's time for your first lesson with yours truly!"

"And you're doing the lesson here?" Kankuro asks, gesturing to the room around us.

"Pretty much," He admits, shrugging slightly as he tucked his hands into his pockets. "When I do my lessons and training with new models, I like to make sure that my clients are somewhat comfortable first. . . Doing the first lesson in your home away from home seemed like a good starting point."

"Wow, that's actually quite nice of you," I could hear Suigetsu quietly mumble from somewhere on my left, though the room was so quiet practically everyone heard him, including Yamato. ". . . Oh, I said that a little too loud, didn't I?"

"You did, but I don't mind," Yamato admits. "Actually, keep those compliments coming. They fuel me to do better. . . Is everyone here?"

"Pretty much . . ." Kiba mumbled as he looked around the room. "Uh, wait a sec. We're missing one. . . Where's Shikamaru?"

"He's probably still asleep. I'll get him!"

"No need Choji. . . I'm here," Calls the lazy brainiac as he finally enters the room, a warm cup of coffee already in hand. "Sorry I'm late."

"Apology accepted, but try to not let this happen again," Yamato declares, his eyes narrowing slightly as his gaze followed Shikamaru to his seat. "You don't want to be late to anything when you're a model. This profession is among the most unforgiving when it comes to lateness, so try to not make this a habit okay?"

"Understood. . ." Shikamaru manages to say, though his tone didn't sound as serious as you would like as he took a sip of his coffee.

Whether it's because he's still sleepy or because he actually wasn't taking this seriously, we may never know.

"Okay, first things first, before I can work with you in your shoes, I need to see how you guys naturally walk barefoot!"

"You want us to walk barefoot?"

"That's correct Ino. I hope you don't have a problem with that," The runway coach says rather cheekily, his grin growing bigger when the blonde nodded in the contrary.

"You see. I consider your barefoot strut your foundational walk. A good foundational walk is the stepping stone to how you carry yourself in the various kinds of footwear that you'll be expected to wear when you're a model. I'm talking from the conventional, like sneakers and stilettos, to the traditional, like waraji and geta," He explains, sounding like a college professor introducing his latest lecture.

"We're going to work on your foundational walks today and get them up to par. We'll only move on when I'm satisfied with your progress."

"So, what exactly is the ideal foundational walk then?" Naruto asked him, looking genuinely curious.

"Good question, but if I'm going to answer this properly, I'm going to need some help," Yamato admits, looking a little mischievous as his eyes kept moving left and right. "Would anyone care to act as my assistant for a little bit?"

"I will!" Sakura declares, narrowly beating out Ino by just a hair, much to the latter's chagrin.

"Thank you for volunteering Sakura . . . Please, come stand in front of me, but face toward the hallway." He instructs her with a flourish, watching as she does as told. "Excellent; now I want you to walk toward the doorway, and come straight back. Don't change anything about how you usually walk. Just walk how you normally would when out and about."

Sakura does just that, and we all silently watch as she moves from one point to another. Though I didn't think her walk was bad, the way Yamato's face became so scrutinizing in a matter of seconds was quite telling.

"Okay, I'm going to open the floor up to your fellow models," He declares, gesturing to the rest of us. "What are your opinions on Sakura's walk, and please, don't mince words. The blunter the better."

"I think it was fine, but the shoulders drooped forward a little too much," Matsuri admits as she scratched her cheek. "If she had pulled them back more, it would have been way better."

"Her stride could have been longer," Sasuke concedes, his words making the pinkette blush. "She takes short, quick steps rather than elongating them more."

"Her face showed that she was thinking too much," Ino added, almost looking a little smug as Sakura tried hard not to glare at her. "You could tell from her eyes that she was thinking about her next steps rather than letting things happen naturally."

"Ah, so you have been paying attention. . . Excellent!" Yamato cheers. "You've all made good points, and now it's time to build on it, starting with the shoulders."

"Were my shoulders drooping that much?" Sakura asks as she rolls them out slightly.

"It's not a very noticeable droop. Just enough to show that your default posture is not ideal," He explains, looking at her inquisitively. "Do you happen to slouch a lot, Sakura?"

"Not usually. . . I think it got progressively worse once I entered medical school. You know, all those textbooks and studying can throw your back out of whack."

"I'm just impressed at the dedication you've shown just by being here . . . I know a lot of people put things on hold for a chance to be in this competition, but medical school usually isn't one of them."

"Yeah; probably one of the craziest things I'll ever do, but hey, I took a chance, and well, here I am!" She practically gushed, earning herself a well deserved round of applause from the rest of us.

"And here you are, getting runway tips from me!" Yamato says, his voice equally gushy, but not in a mocking way. "And speaking of my runway tips, straighten up your back, keep your core tight, and your shoulders should go back and downward."

"Like this?" She asks, following his instructions as best she could.

"Exactly like that! Everyone, this is the starting posture that you want to ideally have for your runway walks," He advises us as he gestures at the still Sakura. "I don't expect you all to make this your new default posture all the time, but if you want a long, fruitful career, this starting position will be your new best friend."

"And this is the starting posture that every working model uses?" Sasuke asks.

"In the past, especially in the 80s and 90s, models were known for really enunciated walks that showed their personality. These days, unless they explicitly say otherwise, designers prefer calm, more natural walks so that the audience could really focus more on the clothes that they're there to see instead of the models wearing them," Yamato explained. "Instead of walking on the border of being theatrical, it's all about giving an air of nonchalant indifference."

"Like walking in the park on a normal spring afternoon, just with more proper posture," Shikamaru theorized as he sipped his coffee.

"Exactly Shikamaru. . . Hmm, looks like your grogginess hasn't affected your thinking as badly as I thought."

"You give me too much credit Mr. Yamato," Shikamaru mumbles as he looks down at his cup. "Some of it has to go to the coffee."

"Hmm, maybe it does . . . Anyway, I just gave you all some knowledge on the foundational stance that you all should keep in mind, so now it's time to put it into practice," Yamato declares as he gestures for those that were still sitting to stand up. "Let's head over to the runway everyone. It's time you guys got put through your paces!"

A/N: Please review!