By the time the team arrived back in the gym, Naruto was actually out of breath. "Fuck, how far was that, ya think?"
Kiba was bent over, also breathing heavily. Maybe they overestimated how in shape they were.
"That was barely a mile," Sakura called. Naruto looked up just in time to catch her rolling her eyes. "Hey Ino," Sakura added. "Your recruits can't hang."
Kiba snapped up and scoffed at the insult. "I just don't usually run because cardio kills gains!" he defended.
"Yeah, sure." Several of the other girls giggled before they began pulling big blue mats from a nearby closet to cover the gym floor.
Getting teased by twenty girls was not how Naruto pictured this when Kiba had sold him on the idea.
Ino stomped over to them, lips pursed. "You guys better not embarrass me!" She whispered harshly. "Now get over there and stretch!"
Everyone spread out on the mats that covered almost the entirety of the basketball court. Naruto hadn't realized that Ino had recruited them and was leading the group in their stretches because she was, in fact, the captain of the cheerleading team.
He was surprised he didn't know. It seemed like something she would brag about. Or maybe she did and he hadn't been listening…
Ino stood at the front counting aloud as everyone held the stretches. Naruto and Kiba were in the back attempting to follow along. He stood with his feet together struggling to reach towards his toes and realized he should probably work on his flexibility.
"Psst!"
Naruto turned to Kiba who was wearing that same grin from earlier and nodded forward. Blue eyes followed his gaze to see all the girls bent over and twenty beautiful booties were up in the air. Naruto quickly looked back down at his feet and swallowed nervously.
"Say I'm a genius!" Kiba whispered, but Naruto just shook his head and chuckled.
After possibly the most thorough stretching of Naruto's life, the team all sat down on the mats for Coach Tsunade to address them.
"As you may have noticed, we have a few new additions to the team today. So please welcome, Kiba, Naruto, and Hinata!" The girls gave the new members a combination of greetings, claps, and smiles. "We'll have to retool the stunt groups to accommodate the new members, so that's what we'll be working on today. Any questions?"
A hand shot up in the air.
"Yes, Shion?" Tsunade said.
The blonde looked at Hinata, then back to their coach. "So I understand letting these boys join, but why let some rando who didn't even try out on the team?" Shion asked, not hiding her distaste.
Hinata stared at the ground in front of her. Why did she decide to join the cheer team? This was a terrible idea! She knew the other girls would hate her!
"Do you want to show them?"
Hinata's eyes shot up to Coach Tsunade, a combination of shock and embarrassment on her face. "Right now?"
"Did you need to warm up?" she asked.
"Umm... I guess I'll be fine," Hinata mumbled before pushing herself up to stand. She made her way toward the clear space in front of the group. Standing at the edge of the mat, Hinata rolled her wrists, concentrating, visualizing. She tucked her arms to her chest and twisted her body just to feel that motion.
The group all watched quietly, expectantly. She took a deep breath before swinging her arms back, taking two bounding steps, and threw a roundoff, back handspring, full. Out of habit, she hit an end post like she would after a pass in a floor routine, but then quickly remembered herself and dropped her arms.
Sakura whooped excitedly as the other girls clapped politely and whispered among themselves. Shion appeared mildly annoyed that she actually had talent.
"That was sick!" Naruto piped up. He raised his hand and looked to Tsunade, "can I learn to do that?!"
"You can definitely try," Tsunade chuckled. "I'd like for you to learn to tumble, so you can start having private lessons with Hinata."
"What?!" Hinata blurted, and then immediately covered her mouth. She wasn't usually one to question authority.
"You said you could do private lessons, right?" Tsunade asked. "Well, I have an eager student with absolutely no skills for you."
"Hey!" Naruto objected, but then again what she said was true.
"Oh umm, yes ma'am." Hinata nodded to Tsunade and returned to sit with the team.
She could hardly believe she was on the same team as Naruto spending every day after school together. Now she had to spend even more time with him... one on one?
Hinata tried to calm her breathing, her heart was beating way too fast. It's fine. They're teammates now, she should be able to spend time with him and teach him something that would benefit the team. She could do this. Right?
"Okay so pay close attention!" Ino told Naruto and Kiba as they stood behind her. The team had split up into what would be their "stunt groups".
Naruto was still working on learning all the lingo, but he had gathered that "tumbling" meant doing flips, and "stunting" meant throwing girls in the air.
"We'll start with something super basic, this is a half." The stunt group in front of them demonstrated as Ino narrated every step. "So your flyer will step her right foot into the base's hands, and you'll grab her ankle…"
Naruto furrowed his brow, there were so many terms to remember. Each move they did had a name, and each person in the stunt group had a specific role. Both he and Kiba were back spots, as was typical for taller, stronger cheerleaders.
"...then she'll step her left foot in the other base's hands and you'll push her butt up to help her stand, and grab the other ankle for support." The stunt group held their flyer's feet at about chest level as she stood with her arms in a high V.
Naruto stared awkwardly, just trying to absorb the information. Besides all the different terms, it didn't seem that complicated. Or was he missing something?
Kiba tentatively raised his hand. "So you're actually telling me to grab her butt?!" He seemed equal parts confused and excited.
Icy blue eyes narrowed into a mean glare. "No, you idiot! You are pushing her butt up for her to stand. If I hear about you groping your flyer, I will make you eat off of this filthy gym floor like the dog that you are! Do I make myself clear!?"
Naruto flinched when her eyes turned to him. "That goes for both of you!"
"Yes ma'am!" Kiba and Naruto said in unison, both terrified of Ino's wrath.
"Cradle-1-2," the back spot who demonstrated called, then the group bounced together throwing their flyer in the air and catching her.
"Okay, did that make sense?" Ino asked the boys. "Are you ready to give it a try?"
"Yeah, sure let's go for it!" Kiba shrugged. She went on to tell them the members of their stunt groups, before pulling Kiba over to his new group. Naruto had to wait as Ino would be one of his bases along with Sakura, and Hinata would be their flyer.
Naruto glanced over to Hinata who was being coached by one of the other flyers and decided to approach her. Maybe try to clear the air since he said some awkward shit to her during their warm-up.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be great," Tenten told Hinata, giving her an encouraging smile and a pat on the back. Tenten slipped away to her group as Naruto walked over.
"Hey Hinata," Naruto began, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that weird stuff I said earlier. Just... ignore me… haha."
Hinata looked up at him with those big lavender eyes, before glancing nervously at the other girls stunting, doing far more advanced tricks than had been demonstrated for him and Kiba.
"I think you were right," she mumbled. Naruto raised a confused brow, not quite following. "I think I might be too nervous, too... nerdy to be a cheerleader."
"What?!" Naruto's jaw dropped. "That wasn't what I said! Or-or if it was, that wasn't what I meant!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and bent down to be eye level with her. "Don't listen to me! I'm an idiot! Just ask Sakura!"
"You're not an idiot…" Hinata muttered, too afraid to look him in the eye. He was so close, heat began rising in her cheeks.
Naruto continued, not paying mind to her defense of him. "You obviously can do really cool flips and you like super… bendy, ya know!?"
Her blush intensified as she finally met his gaze. "You were watching me stretch?" Hinata whispered.
Naruto immediately let go of her shoulders, looking away as a blush crept on his own cheeks. He'd be lying if he said that seeing her in a center split didn't give his hormonal teenage mind a lewd idea or two. "...no?" he lied.
This was all Kiba's fault.
Hinata nervously tugged at the hem of her shorts. Oh god! She thinks he's a total pervert! She's probably trying to conceal herself from his perverse gaze!
"I'm not a pervert!" Naruto blurted.
Hinata's eyes widened. "I didn't think-" She shook her head, her hands covering her red-stained cheeks. That's not what she meant by him watching her, but that was obviously where his mind went!
"I swear! I just wanted you to know that! Like before we try stunting because they told me to touch your butt! I'm not lying! Ask Ino!"
"My wha-" she began breathing more heavily.
"Like so before you go thinking I'm grabbing your butt because I'm some pervert or something, just know that's how Ino said to do it! She said that was totally normal!"
Naruto. Touching. Her. Butt.
Hinata's face was a mixture of concern, horror, and embarrassment. But Naruto misread the situation, once again.
"Not that it isn't a nice butt! Definitely grabbable! I'm just saying I'm not trying to grab it! I mean I will because that's what I was told to do, but not in that way!"
Hinata could barely hear the rest of his nervous ramblings over the rapid thumping of her heart. Her vision slowly started tunneling. There was a vague feeling of falling, but she blacked out before hitting the ground.
At first, Naruto thought she was rolling her eyes at him (not an atypical response from other girls he's interacted with, but uncharacteristic of sweet Hinata), but then her body went limp.
He barely registered her fainting in time to break her fall. Naruto didn't exactly catch her, but it was fine as the cushy blue mats the team practiced on were soft enough.
"What did you do to her!?" Sakura screamed from across the gym.
"NOTHING!" Naruto defended nervously.