Thanks to Kakau for the super reviews!
4
Shikamaru was feeling a little bit like a stalker. At the tennis courts last Tuesday, he had seen a blonde athlete practicing her serving in the barely lit morning. She was there early every weekday, and now so was Shikamaru. It was troublesome. Instead of sleeping he was waking up early just to watch this girl practice tennis. Running with Naruto and his roommates on the weekends was slowly killing his brain cells.
But the girl had her curly (spiky, kind of like mine, he thought) hair pulled into four tails and she always seemed to be wide awake and energetic in these early mornings and her control and precision as she practiced was amazing to watch.
He noiselessly sighed from his spot in the cool grass outside the court. Really, he could tell her features were pretty. The bare light of the dawn made everything seem colorless, and he could just focus on the profile and scale of her nose and lips and chin and…he needed to slap himself. If he wasn't careful, he would be caught one day.
Shikamaru heard quick footsteps. He lifted his head and made out the cross country team running through the soccer fields and up to the tennis courts. Oh, Naruto and an upperclassman were breaking away and jogging in his direction. Crap! He sat up quickly. Today would be that day, it seemed.
"Yo, Shikamaru! What are you doing up so early? About to start practice?"
Shikamaru glanced at the girl from the corner of his eye. She had paused in her serving practice, staring at his slouched frame in the grass. She looked kind of angry.
"Maa, Naruto. I was sleeping."
"Sleeping? In the grass? Why aren't you still back at the dorm then?"
"Yes," a voice purred, "why are you sleeping here? That is odd, don't you think?"
Shikamaru stared at the girl who had walked over, tennis racket perched on her shoulder and eyeing him down through the black fence. He gulped. "Uh, I fell asleep here last night…after cloud watching."
Naruto burst into laughter. The girl just narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. The upperclassman with Naruto gasped.
"Sleeping outside all night in such cool weather cannot be healthy! Shikamaru-san, I am Haku. Maybe we should take you to the nurse, to make sure you haven't gotten sick?"
He looked at Haku. How nice, and if he took the older boy up on his offer he could escape this embarrassing mess. "Thank you, Haku-san, I do think I feel a bit of a headache."
Naruto overzealously hauled Shikamaru to his feet and waved to the blond girl on the other side of the fence. "Bye, Temari-sempai! Have a good morning!"
Temari. Shikamaru repeated her name over and over again in his head. Temari. Temari. Temari.
Wait…'sempai?!' He groaned. How troublesome.
Ino squealed. Today was the first football game for the University of Konoha. She, Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten were all getting ready together. Tenten's roommate, Karin, had to get to the field early as she was a cheerleader, but she promised to take pictures with them before or after the game.
Ino sprayed her glitter hairspray into her blonde tresses, making sure they stayed in place, shone in the sunlight, and were still soft to the touch. She was wearing a black denim mini skirt with a cropped green Konoha Ninjas t-shirt. Her skirt was long enough to not be inappropriate, but a sliver of her abs was revealed between the waistband and her shirt. She would, after all, be sitting next to Sai.
She studied Sakura's and Tenten's outfits. Sakura donned an oversized Ninja football jersey with simple black shorts and bold white sneakers. She looked fierce as ever with her dark makeup and jewelry and had her crimped hair pushed back by a pair of black sunglasses. Tenten was wearing scalloped white shorts that showed off her lean runner's legs and a fitted green tank under her breezy black cardigan. She wore little make-up except for mascara and a glamorous, deep cherry lip gloss.
Ino turned to Hinata. The shorter girl was running about and fretting over what to wear. "Hinata? Everything okay?"
"No, it's going to be hot! I don't know what to wear, shouldn't we just dress comfortably? I don't know why we have to dress up anyway. And, how am I supposed to wear sunscreen with my makeup? What kind of shoes do I wear? I hear the student section stands up for the entire game!"
"Everyone will be dressed up! Especially because it's the first game. You should always wear sunscreen under your makeup, it prevents wrinkles."
Hinata plopped down on the ottoman in their common area, face in her hands and groaning. Sakura sat on the couch next to Ino before stating, "Naruto will be there."
Hinata groaned again and dramatically threw herself from the ottoman to the floor. Sakura rolled her eyes, hauling her teammate up as Tenten giggled. The four girls walked to Hinata's room and opened her closet. Sakura rifled through her clothes before selecting a simple, black dress.
"Look, it's casual enough for a football game, dressy enough to be cute, it's got short sleeves so you won't be too overheated, and it's black so it won't show your sweat if it does get hot."
Hinata numbly nodded and changed into the dress.
"You can wear the white high-top converse, Hinata!" Ino chirped as she dug through the pile of shoes at the bottom of the closet. "Now we just need something green."
Tenten held out green ankle socks to pop out over the converse, and found a matching green ribbon. She pulled the front of Hinata's hair back, leaving the bangs out and tied a bow with the ribbon. The finishing touch included a long green beaded necklace.
Soon, they had arrived at the stadium. It was one forty-five in the afternoon, and the male athletes had all been saving the closest seats in the student section since one fifteen o'clock. Ino zeroed in on Sai and took in his long khaki shorts, tennis shoes, and black Konoha Ninjas t-shirt. She nearly squealed as she saw his backwards Konoha baseball cap causing his black strands to poke out of the hole above the cap fastener. Ino may come off as shallow to many, but never let it be said she didn't have good taste.
Sakura couldn't help the excitement bubbling within her. The game hadn't started yet, but with all the exhilarated fans already calling out cheers and the music booming through the stadium and players warming up on the field the whole place seemed electrified. Sasuke stood beside her, hands in the pockets of his black joggers, his broad shoulders clad in a green Konoha Ninjas shirt. Sasuke had also bought her a soda and a foot-and-a half corn dog that she was scarfing down with plenty of mustard and ketchup. He was so thoughtful. She couldn't wait to see his pleasant façade crack when he realized how much of a football enthusiast she was. She grinned at him wickedly, he had no idea how loud she could be.
The players retreated to the locker rooms, and the video introducing the starting string and hyping up the crowd started on the gigantic screen at the end of the stadium. They went through the University's Alma matter and the National Anthem, and finally it was kick-off and Sakura allowed her voice to join the thousands of others in the stadium. She cheered as Konoha moved down the field and booed as the officials threw a flag for a fowl supposedly made by Konoha. Sasuke stared at her with slightly widened eyes for about seven minutes before slinging his arm over her shoulders and leaning in to whisper in her ear.
"Will you cheer this loudly for me at the basketball games in the spring?"
Sakura stood on her toes. "All this and more, I'll even make you a poster. How does Number Nine will Kick Your Behind sound?"
Lee could feel the blood pumping through his veins. Though it was a tough game, Konoha was managing to stay ahead. The football was tossed to him and Lee shuffled backwards to get a better look at who was open or if he could run the ball himself. He saw the defense straining against their opponents, he needed to move the ball before they were overpowered or exhausted themselves. His running back, Kimimaro, was blocked however, and Lee couldn't throw the ball to him. He could hear their coach, Jiraiya-sensei, bellowing for Lee to run the ball. Go, Lee!
There! The new freshman, Chouji, was pushing his opponent back, creating a path for Lee to slip through. Lee could make it! He was fast! He cradled the football against his side, just like a baby, and dodged and darted his way down the field. Soon, there was no one in front of him. He could feel someone on his tail though. Not knowing whether it was friend or foe, Lee didn't waste time to look back, he put on a burst of speed. Just as he was about to cross into the end zone, he felt the tackle hit him. Lee grit his teeth against the mouth guard. The two football players jarringly hit the ground and spun dizzyingly and it was all he could do to keep ahold of the football and try to land in bounds.
Finally their momentum came to an end, and Lee bounced up, feeling sore but thankfully not injured. The officials ruled a touchdown! Thirty seconds left in the game was just enough time for Konoha's kicker, Hidan, to give a manic smile before whacking the ball through the field goal. After shaking hands with the other team and congratulating them on a good game, Lee felt tears pool in his eyes. Chouji gawked at him.
"You're crying, Lee-sempai?"
"My dear kohai! This was such a youthful game! Everyone performed outstanding and we could not have done it without each other!"
Jiraiya-sensei ambled over to the celebrating players. "Yeah, yeah, good job everyone. This was a great first game and a good start to the season. If everyone continues to work hard throughout the year, I'll reward each and every one of you with a free and signed copy of the next Icha Icha novel!"
The team cheered even louder, drowning out the sound of Jiraiya's squawk as Kakuzu and Hidan poured a cooler of icy orange Gatorade over his head.
Lee spotted the glasses-wearing, redheaded cheerleader waiting for him on the field outside the entrance to the locker rooms. Jiraiya-sensei muttered to him that he didn't want to see Lee downstairs until after he had asked the girl on a date.
"When a beautiful girl seeks you out, Lee, you don't ignore that." His coach herded the players down through the tunnel and gave him a wink.
Lee turned to Karin, tossing his arms out, he happily yelled, "Karin-chan, we won!"
Karin bounded to him at full speed, leaping and wrapping her long, strong legs around his waist and causing Lee to drop his helmet and wrap his arms around her. He was grimy and sweaty and sore, but when Karin leaned down to give him a kiss, he felt invigorated.