Please read & review!
"Argh! Aww, nuts!" Kiba growled and stomped his foot frustratingly after his team lost.
Sai closed his eyes and puffed out the air from his mouth in tiresome.
"I swear I knew I bumped the ball! How could it not score a point?!" Kiba questioned exaggeratingly.
"You were passing it closest to the net, but it bounced backward," Sai muttered.
"Fuck this…" Kiba muttered.
"Team 4 is the winner! Congratulations to Choji and Shino!" Temari declared loudly, whereas Sakura and the others were cheering.
Contrarily, Ino was not satisfied with the result since she wanted her boyfriend to win. Although, she still acknowledged her friends and supports them equally. Plus, they all know that Choji has a massive amount of strength to pulverize things, despite the fact that he's slightly a bit bigger than the others. However, it didn't matter to him if he was called fat as long as he loves himself. He's gotten over his sensitivity and has been maturing each day.
"That surely felt like five seconds already," Tenten said.
"More like five minutes," Ino mumbled.
"Yosh! It's our turn! The last group of people! Let's go!" Naruto said enthusiastically.
"Okay. Team 5; Gaara and Lee. Team 6; Naruto and Sasuke. You guys are up!" Temari announced.
Lee turned to look at his friends, grinning in excitement. "Are you all ready for this?"
"Who isn't?" Naruto scoffed rhetorically.
Sasuke glanced at the red-haired Kazekage, saying. "I don't see the reason to back out. Let's make a pact. You and I can win in a tie. What do you say?"
"It's impossible for both teams to conquer victory. There can only be one team, just like only one person belongs to the other," Gaara stated lightly.
"I don't know what you mean, but it sounds like you haven't gotten over the fact that I almost beat you in our last fight," Sasuke smirked.
"Does it matter?" Gaara questioned in a calm tone of his voice.
"Certainly," Sasuke answered rapidly.
"Um, guys… Can we talk about this later? We have a game to play," Naruto pointed out, laughing in awkwardness.
The red-haired Kazekage and the dark-haired ninja were staring coldly at one another and began to walk towards the field.
"I hope these two doesn't go overboard. Thank goodness, it's only sports. Otherwise if it's ninja spar, I don't know how I'm able to watch them battle," Temari thought in her mind, then she cleared her throat. "Alright. Match can start now."
Lee grabbed the ball and prepared himself in the position. As soon as he held it firmly, he swung his fist before serving it. The ball was flying across the air and Naruto bumped it forward.
Gaara hit it back towards Sasuke, who smacked the ball driftly. But he struck it, which startled the dark-haired ninja. Everyone else was applauding for them.
"15 points goes to Team 5!" Temari declared and grimaced a little bit in her mind. "Gee, my brother seems to be capricious…"
On the other hand, Sasuke scoffed a little and said lightly. "I see you're very keen into this sport. It doesn't look like you're having fun."
"Believe me, I am. I tend to have durability," Gaara stated.
"Oh? I didn't know that you've been working out. A round of applause for sir Kazekage," The dark-haired ninja chuckled slightly. "I have gained more muscles these past couple of weeks."
"Ugh! Do we really have to know that, Sasuke?! You're trying to make us look bad! Jeez," Naruto groaned in annoyance.
"Hmph, don't worry. There are some people who also love to boost their ego. It's a pity," Gaara said.
"Well, you're one to preach as if you know everything a man is supposed to be," Sasuke snorted in amusement and shook his head.
"A real man who is not afraid to show his failures and flaws," he pointed out.
"Who are you referring to exactly? Because it could be anyone here like that time when somebody lost control over themselves," the dark-haired ninja thought blankly when he was looking sideways.
"That also reminds me of that person who decided to abandon their friends," the red-haired Kazekage said quietly.
Sasuke continued to smirk derisively and said. "You're really asking for it, aren't you?"
Gaara didn't respond back as the two of them locked their heads with their fierce gazes on each other.
"Why are they so serious? It's like they're about to kill each other," Tenten said concernedly while she was standing beside the scoring table.
"My guess is that this is not a friendly competition to them. This is their personal issue they haven't resolved back at the time when their match was discontinued in the chunin exams," Kankuro explained and continued on. "It's understandable they wanted to play fairly without having anyone to interrupt them, so let's give them that."
"Hmm, but I'm having second thoughts," Tenten gritted her teeth nervously.
"I know," Kankuro nodded in agreement as they both were watching the teams closely.
As for the pink-haired kunoichi, she was glancing back and forth between the two guys. She furrowed her eyebrows in wonder as soon as she was starting to have distorted images that were crossing her mind.
FLASHBACK:
The dark-haired ninja threw a few shurikens at the red-haired ninja, who was automatically protected by his sand.
He began to charge at the shield of the sand that transformed into a clone and hovered above him. The dark-haired ninja then used his taijutsu to dismantle it. He was about to throw a punch to distract him and flashed quickly behind him, setting the red-haired ninja off guard completely.
The dark-haired ninja and the others noticed the cracks appearing on his opponent's left side of his cheek. "Come on," he gestured for him to come forward.
Instead, he slid around and kicked him in the chest as the red-haired ninja fell back.
END OF FLASHBACK
She blinked a couple of times as her eyes were involuntarily moving from left to right. Her heart was beating anxiously as to what she was thinking. She couldn't understand what was happening in the scenario.
FLASHBACK:
Less than a second, the dark-haired ninja's attack went through the defense until a bloody scream echoed through the walls, much to the others' shock and dismay.
"My blood! My blood!" A male voice cried out in agony.
END OF FLASHBACK
Once Naruto started to serve the ball, Lee ran to the front and bumped it back. Then, Sasuke was the second person to score for his team after hitting the ball in a quick flash.
"15 points goes to Team 6," Temari said.
"Alright!" Naruto bumped his fist in the air, grinning.
The pink-haired kunoichi winced a bit at the sudden headache she was having. There, she was having a quick flashback to the time she was on the swings. Her radiant smile and laughter echoed throughout the area and the boy she couldn't recognize.
"Argh!" She hissed and crouched down onto her knees in pain.
Ino glanced at her in worry and came beside her. She placed her arm over her shoulder, but she was too weak to stand up. "Sakura! You alright?!"
The ball landed on the ground, which Temari had announced. "30 points for Team 6!"
"Hmph," Sasuke smirked after winning, then his eyes widened in alarm when he heard Ino's voice.
The rest of them whipped their heads to see what was happening in the back, so they all stopped the game for a moment.
"Time out!" Temari called out, making a T hand gesture.
Gaara also turned around as well and he became worried. "Sakura…?"
As he was about to make his way towards her, he halted when Sasuke shoved his shoulder against his, much to his astoundment.
The dark-haired ninja kneeled down to examine her condition. He placed his hand gently upon her forehead and asked the blonde-haired kunoichi. "What's the cause?"
"I think she's having flashbacks…" Ino guessed correctly.
Sasuke understood with a nod as his stare hardened deeply in thought. He looked back at the pink-haired kunoichi's unconscious state, so he carried her in his arms.
"Wait, wait! The match isn't even over yet!" Kiba said loudly.
"Be quiet, you…! Can't you see our friend is not feeling well?" Tenten retorted.
"Yeah. It's best to continue this later or not, whichever you guys decide," Shikamaru agreed with a sigh.
"I'll put her inside the tent. I'll be back here in five minutes," Sasuke said and hopped out of their sight.
Lee and Naruto slowly approached Gaara, who was standing on his spot, and patted him on the back.
"She's going to be fine and so are you," the green-leaf ninja said reassuringly.
"I'm going to go follow them," the red-haired Kazekage said and teleported away with his sand.
Lee frowned at this and sighed tiredly. He scratched the side of his temples and asked. "Do you think she will remember?"
"Of course, she will," Naruto said.
"How so?" Lee raised an eyebrow quizzically.
"You see, Sakura has already moved on from someone she used to love and her heart still belongs to someone who has been there for her these years. I believe she will still make the right decision," Naruto said, smiling warmly.
Lee nodded and said. "Right."
The two of them joined in with their friends and took a break while eating snacks and drinks
TO BE CONTINUED...