2

Sakura carefully braided her semi-short hair into two pink French braids. She knew Hinata was waiting behind her, watching. Getting ready for a tournament was always exciting. Volleyball was not like gymnastics, with all the makeup and glitter and putting on a show, but that didn't mean that she couldn't dress up for it. Hinata had somewhat agreed, stating that she wore makeup to games because she'd had a coach once comment, "You don't even look awake on the court!" and makeup helped liven her up.

Sakura snorted. Hinata was naturally pretty, but she had a shy, almost closed off expression when playing volleyball. She supposed the makeup softened the look. Sakura wore makeup because it made her look intimidating, and she was putting on a show. The braids were cute, but with her tall frame, dark nails, and darkly lined green eyes, she'd have no problem scaring her opponents across the net. It's all mental, she heard Ino's voice say. If you can impress them before the competition even starts, you've already won half the game. When she finished her hair, she spread tape around her earlobes. Two weeks ago, Sakura had gotten small gages in her ears. She did not want large holes, those were disgusting in her opinion, but the small ones added to her aesthetic, making her only look cooler, and accentuating her lean features. She couldn't take them out yet, but the rules during games and tournaments disallowed from earrings and gages being free to fall out or somehow harm someone, so she taped them.

Sakura slipped her slide sandals over her black socked feet, and turned and assessed Hinata. The short girl had a French braid gathering her bangs out of her face before being smoothed into a low ponytail with a lavender ribbon tying it off. Some flyaway pieces of dark hair still fell and framed her face though. Sakura had advised her to wear more eyeliner to accentuate her eyes, and her black libero's jersey showed through the black warmups. Hinata would be wearing all black, including her kneepads and the little fingerless palm guards she wore to prevent skidding her hands when diving across the floor. Perfectly intimidating. The rest of the team would be wearing the Konoha green, Hinata's jersey was different, allowing her to substitute in and out of the back row on the court quickly and without consequence. Black and green are such cool school colors, she thought. We're going to kick ass.

Sakura was an ace, she had enough power to hit the ball with a speed not all could manage, and she was aware and intelligent enough to hit around the blockers, through them, or find the hole in the opponents' defense and direct the ball wherever she wanted. She wasn't perfect, nobody was, but Sakura took pride in her skills. Plus, working with the upperclassmen and Hinata were doing marvels for her improvement.

She remembered her first practice with Hinata on the other side of the net. The girl was quiet, but fast and smart. Her ball control was some of the best Sakura had seen, able to reach backwards, one-armed, or even resorting to performing a last minute pancake with her palm flat on the court floor. She had good controlled form, but was also capable of being scrappy when she needed to. They made each other better, Sakura have to work harder to get around Hinata, and Hinata having to work harder to return Sakura's hits. Thankfully, they were on the same team. She filled both their water bottles to the brim with ice before filling the rest with tap water. Smiling and handing Hinata one, Sakura gave a simple "Let's go."

There were five courts total in the gymnasium. Konoha was on the last court; their first opponent would be Taki. As Sakura took a break from her peppering with Hinata, she scanned the bleachers. Tenten and Lee had made a rule that all the freshman athletes show support for each other by occasionally attending the games and meets. As this was the first volleyball tournament, most of the dorm showed up. She rolled her eyes when she saw Ino flipping her glittery hair everywhere and chatting to Sai, who was staring at the blonde with a deer-in-the-headlights look. On the other side of Sai were Sasuke and Naruto. Something inside of her squealed with happiness.

The team started returning to their bags, taking off their black warmups, and for the first time Sakura gave thought to the fact that the volleyball uniform included spandex shorts. For all her fashion forward styles, she was thankful her long jersey covered her butt. Sakura raised an eyebrow at Hinata, who had her black jersey tucked into her spandex and flatteringly bloused, butt fully exposed. Before crowding around their coach, Tsunade-sama (because 'sensei' wasn't respectful enough for the terrifying woman), Sakura casually glance over at Sasuke. He had on a black, long sleeve University of Konoha Basketball shirt and black jogger sweatpants. Black is always a good color, she thought, before mentally slapping herself and forcing her focus to remain on Tsunade-sama and the soon-to-start game.

Hinata was always nervous before a match, and honestly during the game too. She was excited, and she loved playing volleyball, but that didn't relieve the stress knowing that she was the first line of defense. If she couldn't do her job, then her team couldn't perform. She had to return the serves, hits, or lucky blocks. Every time she stepped back on the court, usually substituting for the tallest members of the team, the middle blockers, she forced herself to smile. She believed this helped her to relax. Hinata also bounced the ball exactly three times before she would serve. And, she briefly touched the floor between her spread feet with the tips of her right hand fingers before each play. Furthermore, she always scrunched her nose mentally saying, bring it, before the opponent served each time. Perhaps she was superstitious, but if she didn't do her little routines, she felt off and was distracted. It had to be just so.

She knew Sakura thought she was weird. Why would such timid girl play volleyball? Or any sport? But it was volleyball that gave her confidence. She remembered crowding in Ino's room a couple of weeks ago, confessing to Sakura and Ino why she played volleyball.

"I used to have a stutter, and didn't believe I was good or useful at anything. My dad wanted me to join a sport in middle school, and at least in volleyball the opponents are on the other side of the net. But I have good control, and my coach made me realize that I was needed on the team, because I was the only one who could get the ball exactly where it needed to be for the setter to use it."

Ino had twirled her hair and cheered, "Of course you're needed, Hinata!" and Sakura smiled sweetly, "Look at you now, playing at a collegiate level!"

Her roommates were quickly becoming her best friends.

As the team came to a split-second huddle after a good play, Hinata glanced at Sakura. There was sweat sliding down her sharp chin, and her light freckles were being clouded by the red tinting her face from exertion, but her smile was contagious. Their setter, a third year named Tayuya, congratulated Hinata on a nice pass and encouraged her to keep up the good work, and another outside hitter, Kiba's sister, Hana slapped her back as she headed to the end of the court behind Hinata to serve the ball. Her heart warmed, this was why she played volleyball, for the comradery between her teammates.

After making an especially good save, diving from the edge of the court toward the middle, she heard a loud whoop behind her. During the following time-out made by the other team, Hinata scanned the crowd on the bleachers. The entirety of their dorm came! Her eyes landed on Naruto. Oh, he looked so bright and joyful. He was wearing jeans and a faded cross country race t-shirt, but had on a University of Konoha baseball cap on his blond head. There were two empty Styrofoam cups that once held ramen on the bleachers beside him and he was now munching on gummy bears. Suddenly, their eyes met and Naruto flashed his glowing smile and held two thumbs up. Hinata could feel her face growing redder until Sakura elbowed her and dragged her by the elbow back on the court. Sakura's hands were then on her shoulders.

"Hinata! Focus on the game. You want to keep impressing Naruto, right?"

Just the mention of Naruto made her want to turn back around to the bleachers, but she resisted, reaching up to tug on one of Sakura's braids instead and giving a little "Hai."

She forced a little smile, reached down as she got into a ready position to brush the floor with her fingertips, leveled her gaze at the team across the net, and thought: bring it.

Sasuke watched Kiba, bouncing up and down in his seat from his peripheral. His teammate was going stir crazy, and it was only the first day of classes. They had Calculus I together, surprisingly, in a large lecture hall with rows of tables as desks and the type of chairs that swung out and underneath the desks. Sasuke knew Kiba had street smarts, but didn't take him to be the type to buckle down and study, and so far his assumptions were proving right. Kiba's restlessness was on par with Naruto's, but he wasn't half as considerate with his words when he opened his mouth. The girl next to him looked annoyed, but at least she wasn't offended by whatever Kiba was muttering. Sasuke thought he recognized her from the volleyball team, which meant she was probably used to it if Kiba's sister, also on the volleyball team, was anything like her brother.

Sasuke glanced to his right, where Sakura was studiously taking notes. Her choppy hair was pulled into a choppy ponytail, and he noticed she had a new piercing: a sparkly, tiny, stud on the side of her perfectly straight nose. He imagined she'd have to tape it for volleyball games just like she taped her ears and his face grew warm when he pictured the thin strip of tape that would go across her nose. He told himself to focus on class, like Sakura was. He should be taking notes, like Sakura was. Her handwriting was so neat. Dang it, he really needed to stop.

He focused on Kiba again, who had evolved from bouncing to straight up shivering in his seat. The tattooed boy met Sasuke's eyes desperately, but Sasuke just pretended to be oblivious to the pleading written over Kiba's face. Man, it was only a fifty-minute class. How did Kiba expect to be a veterinarian if he couldn't pay attention in class? Then again, Sasuke wasn't doing much better. They had forty-three minutes left.

Grumpily, Sasuke muttered to Sakura, "Wasn't today supposed to be syllabus day?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you were an art major, yes."

"Hn, my roommate, Sai, would be offended by that statement."

"Look, I'm here for four years to make a 4.0 GPA to get into medical school or die trying. I find it offensive when people who don't work as hard as I do complain about their oh-so-complicated art projects. Art is a hobby, not a major."

Sasuke studied her for a minute. Her pencil strokes were deeper and angrier than before. She was so rude. Art brought joy (or at least some type of strong feeling) to people, and Sai was exceptional at the skill. He was studying it to learn more about the skill, and it was complicated in its own way, relating to cultures and people and history. Back in the Renaissance period, talented artists were regarded just as highly as talented architects or scientists. But, he could see her point of view. Sai probably also could, although he was emotionally constipated, he was astute. Sai also probably didn't care. Kids usually had an idea what they were getting into when choosing their majors, and if they didn't, then they quickly found out. Or, a strange thought passed through Sasuke's head, maybe Sai did care…

"He gave you a nickname, didn't he?"

Sakura's hand stilled, her pencil almost snapping in half. "Yes." She grit out. "Ino invited him to our dorm last night and shared homemade strawberry mochi with him. Which A: Ino knows is my favorite dessert and they ate it all, and B: my nickname is Ugly."

Sasuke gave a loud guffaw before instantly regretting doing so, especially in the middle of class. Kiba swung his head and stared at Sasuke like some kind of freaked out unblinking chicken, and the rest of the class at the least gave him a quick glance.

"Don't worry; he gave Naruto the name of Dickless."

Now it was Sakura's turn to obnoxiously laugh. Her eyes shown with mirth as she glanced at Sasuke. "Did you get a nickname?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I told him I'd beat him up. His skinny little tennis arms have nothing on my basketball arms."

Despite her blush, Sakura leaned closer to him, resting her chin in her hand. "Do you think my volleyball arms could take your basketball arms?"

Sasuke leaned away and looked down his nose at her, considering. "Sakura, you have a weird way of flirting. Do you want to go get strawberry mochi later tonight?"

Sakura tapped the end of her pencil against her mouth, and Sasuke could tell she was trying not to smile. She nodded her head and elbowed him before turning back to her notes.

Sasuke didn't take any notes for the remainder of the class; too pleased with himself to focus on calculus. Kiba had stopped his bouncing and shivering, but was still giving him that unblinking chicken stare.

Later that afternoon, Kiba and Sasuke arrived at basketball practice. Much of the team was fierce and gruff; basketball had a way of singling out those types of players, a sort of "survival of the fittest." Kiba however, was a pansy. Oh, he could put up a tough front, growling and glaring like the best of them, using his height to intimidate, but despite his burnished brown hair, tan skin, and red facial tattoos, his pale eyes were usually too bright and excited to really pull off the dangerous aura that most teammates had. He was also, somehow, Orochimaru-sensei's favorite. Admittedly, Sasuke thought he'd be the one getting special treatment from the famous coach, as Orochimaru personally scouted and asked him to play for Konoha. But after the team had settled in during the last half of summer training, it was apparent that Kiba was everyone's favorite. He reminded Sasuke of Naruto in that regard, but he was less optimistic and less sunshine and rainbows than Sasuke's roommate. Kiba was more snow clouds and puppies and hope rather than blistering confidence.

Kiba, using all his bottled hope and energy bounced up to Orochimaru-sensei and said, "Sasuke's got a date this evening, so he can't get too smelly and sweaty, right? Also, it's the first day of class, so can we have an easy practice?"

Sasuke swore. What an idiot. Orochimaru turned his hawk-like gaze on Sasuke for a long second before asking Kiba, "Do teams who practice easy win?"

Kiba muttered a no.

"Then, we are not going to have an easy practice. We want to win, so we will work hard, Kiba." Raising his voice slightly, Orochimaru stated, "Everybody, complete eight rounds of running bleachers."

The team groaned, giving Kiba exasperated looks, but they couldn't stay mad at him long, even their giant center, Kisame, ruffling his hair. Two rounds in, Sasuke could feel the sweat trickling out of his hair and down the skin behind his ear. His thighs and calves burned, but he kept telling himself he was fine, he could continue. He would take a shower before going on his date and it would all be fine.

After their running, Orochimaru allowed them to scrimmage rather than doing drills. Kiba was a power forward, a little bulkier than Sasuke and with scrappy rebounds and passes. Sasuke was the small forward, a well-rounded player with a little more agility than Kiba. There were a couple of second years including, Zaku the shooting guard, and one third year on their team, but they were playing against Kisame and Sasori, third years and the current star players. Kisame was an especially aggressive center, while Sasori was a point guard with wicked ingenuity. It was a tough game, and Sasuke and Kiba lost relatively quickly to the more experienced team. Orochimaru called Sasuke over after the loss.

"This date of yours, who is it with?"

Sasuke almost glared at his coach. Why did he have to be so creepy and nosy? "Haruno Sakura, she's on the volleyball team."

Orochimaru looked a faintly surprised, and Sasuke wondered how he knew Sakura. Again, it was creepy. But his coach just nodded and said, "Make sure this doesn't affect your performance on the team."

Sasuke jerked. "Yes, sir." He did not want to lose his spot, could not lose his spot. He had to do well, for himself and his brother, Itachi.