A/N: I wrote this fairly quickly. O.o I decided to take the night off today since I've been sick for the past three weeks now. -_-" Imagine that. Working six days a week, preparing for an upcoming show, and taking Karate class (we also had to move out of our previous home AND a family member came over to visit us for a week) To think I've been sick through all these times. How the hell did I do it?! So yeah. I took the night off and decided to write one more chapter for BTW.

Note: I know Tomba was ages ago but let's just pretend, for this story's sake, that it's a new thing. Hahaha! I don't know what video games little boys like to play nowadays.

*DISCLAIMER APPLIES*

BEFORE THE WORST

A Footballer's Cheerleader

"You're going somewhere this Christmas break?" Naruto whined as she watched Sasuke dribble a school property soccer ball. They found the object laying about as they were on their way to the school main gates so they could be fetched by their respective guardians. Well, Sasuke would be fetched by his respective guardian. Naruto, on the other hand, was tasked to go home alone as her godfather was finishing his deadlines. She didn't mind; Uncle Jiraiya was always prompt to fetch her from school. These were just one of the rare times he would ask her to go home by herself.

"Yup. We're visiting my grandfather from Mom's part of the family in the eastside." Sasuke explained as he tossed the football with his foot and proceeded to juggle the ball with his knees and chest at random intervals. Naruto watched in amazement. Sasuke got pretty good at ball handling since their last Spring break. Very good, actually.

"Can I try?" She intently stared at the ball that went up in the air, back down, only to have Sasuke bounce it up into the air once more. The young Uchiha briefly paused his football tricks to fix a pointed smirk at his best friend. "You sure? You won't let it go flying to outer space like last time, right?" Sasuke securely placed the ball between his hip and forearm.

A tick formed on Naruto's head as she cutely sneered at the young skilful footballer. "Don't make me do to you what I did to your football, Sasuke." She cracked her knuckles for added effect; although, Sasuke took the threat to stride and simply chuckled.

Sasuke tossed the soccer ball to Naruto's direction. "Go for it, Naruto." And for a few minutes, the eight-year-old blonde was able to have good control of the football. She caught the ball with her chest and let it bounce to the ground. Simple footwork here and there; and a couple of dribbling. Heh. Take that, Sasuke, she mentally boasted.

"Huh. Not bad." But Sasuke spoke too soon. As soon as he said his compliment, Naruto made an erroneous manoeuvre and accidentally stepped on the ball causing her to land flat on her face.

Sasuke could only sigh at the blonde's clumsiness as he bent down to pick up the ball that managed to roll back to his place. "Defeated by a ball. Just let me handle the football tricks next time, airhead, so no one gets hurt."

Naruto groaned to express her physical pain as she sat up. "Aw phooey! I don't even like football." She crossed her legs and pouted. "If you ask me, I'd like to be part of the Leaf's dance troupe." Sasuke's ears perked at what Naruto revealed about herself.

"You want to be part of Leaf Twist?" He asked, quite a bit shocked that Naruto would even utter the notion. She must be joking.

"Yeah! They're pretty cool! Especially yesterday at the school's Christmas showcase! Did you see what that guy did! He looked like a ninja with those moves!" Naruto pressed her palms together while letting her eyes glimmer as she fawned over the dance group.

The Leaf Twist was one of the Organizations in the High School Department that was acclaimed for their dancing prowess. It was a well-known fact that Konohagakure High's dance troupe was the best among the three cities within the metropolitan. If they weren't champions, they would always be in the runner-up places. Only, unbeknownst to Naruto, they weren't just a dance group...

"...You do know that the Leaf Twist is also Konoha's Cheer Squad, right?" And with a snap of a finger, Sasuke shattered Naruto's little bout of fantasizing.

"What?!" Suddenly, Naruto was by Sasuke's feet, clawing at his slacks. "They're... They're cheerleaders?! With the pompoms, and the sparkles, and the glitter, and the skirts, and the girliness?!" Naruto outwardly cringed at the visual of her dream team being so ... so ... perky.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow at the girl while pulling his pant leg out of Naruto's grasp. "I think so. I mean they're a real dance crew but I heard that everyone in the group had to cheer during school competitions at least once."

Naruto hugged her knees and burrowed within herself, completing the whole doom and gloom vibe. "How do you know all this?" She slightly hoped that Sasuke was just misinformed. Cheerleading was NOT her thing.

Sasuke shrugged and looked at the blonde with a sceptical expression. "I overheard the middle school cheer squad talking about it one time."

Naruto heaved a sigh as she slowly stood up. She bent over and brushed off the little particles of dirt that stuck to her skirt during her fit. "Meh. Who cares? One day I'll be a good enough dancer and join Leaf Twist. I'll worry about cheerleading later." After she deemed her skirt dirt-free, she straightened her stance and beamed at her best friend.

Sasuke squinted his eyes for a split-second as something seemed to blind him with its reflected light. The little boy looked for the source of the light; and in a matter of seconds, he found it. There, situated on the upper part of Naruto's chest, was a bluish-green gem that was about an inch in length.

"When'd you get that?" He immediately inquired as he pointed to the necklace.

"Hm? This?" Naruto lightly touched the gem. "Oh, I've always had it, but Uncle Jiraiya kept it for me for safe-keeping. He just recently let me wear it since he thought I was old enough to not lose it accidentally." The blonde fondly looked at his necklace with clear signs of affection in her blue eyes.

"Where'd you get it from?" Sasuke was suddenly feeling irrationally jealous of the attention Naruto was showering the object.

"It was my mom's. It's all I have left of her."And the affection in those blue orbs was replaced by a sombre sadness. Sasuke softened his gaze; he wasn't feeling that jealous of the necklace any more.

The little Uchiha cleared his throat to get the little girl's attention. "Hey, let's get to the gates. It's time we go home." He awkwardly stated while simultaneously scratching his cheek with a finger. Naruto directed her eyes to the other and nodded.

As they trod to the gates, Sasuke decided to strike up a conversation to liven up the mood. "So Leaf Twist, huh? You'll be running around with a frilly skirt then."

Naruto grimaced at the idea of a frilly skirt. There would probably be tank top there too to complete the look. Ew... "Yup. I just have to volunteer for a game once, right? And then I can do cool moves for the group the whole time." She answered but kept her head straight forward.

"That's cool, I guess. Make sure that that single game you cheer for would be for my football team's game." Sasuke spun the football with his finger. It was a well-known fact that Sasuke dreamt to be the captain of their school's football team.

Naruto looked to Sasuke with a warm air to her. "Well, duh! Who else is gonna cheer for you the right way? If I hear another 'Kyaaa! Sasuke!' from the other girls, I might just puke!"

"Yeah, yeah. But first, you have to work on your dancing first. You can't join a dance group if you can't dance."

"But – "

"The Chicken Dance does not count, Naruto."

Naruto slumped in woe. It was true. She wasn't the best dancer. How would she expect to be accepted in Leaf Twist if she couldn't dance?

"But I know you'll be an awesome dancer someday." Sasuke stopped walking since they had finally reached the waiting grounds beside the school main gate. The young Uchiha was dropping the soccer ball in his possession when a funny idea came into his head. "Then you can be my little personal cheerleader, Elle." The little Uchiha teased as he poked Naruto on her forehead.

"Hn. Yeah. Whatever." Naruto blushed, not noticing how she picked up Sasuke's bad habit of answering with a 'Hn'. She actually felt flattered that Sasuke thought she had what it takes to get in Twist.

"So I got the new Tomba game. You wanna come on over to my house and play?" Contrary to popular belief, Naruto had never been to Sasuke's home. Usually, they would just meet up at the local park or wherever else with their guardians to play; so the notion of being invited to Sasuke's home to play her much awaited video game brought a smile to her lips.

"You know I want to, Sasuke, but I promised Uncle Jiraiya to head straight home after school." Naruto regretfully informed her best friend. "Maybe after you come back from your grandpa's place."

"Yeah, okay." Sasuke frowned and looked to his side. As if on cue, one of the minor school gates opened and in came Sasuke's mother with her car. "Hey, you want ride with us so you don't have to walk all the way back to your house?"

"No thanks, Sasuke. I don't get to walk home alone so much. Goes to show how I'm such a big kid now!" She bragged to the other. It was cute how something so inconsequential to adults seemed like such a big deal for little kids.

"Fine. I'll see you after Christmas Break." Sasuke ruffled Naruto's blonde spikes and then ran off while waving back to the little girl.

"Yeah. See you, S'uke!" She responded while she tried to fix the mess Sasuke made with her hair (as if Sasuke could make more of a mess of her already disarrayed hair).

Naruto watched her friend run to the car which was parked a few metres away. Before she could turn to leave, she saw an older boy exit the vehicle. If Naruto had to guess, the boy would look about to be the age of thirteen. The excited scream that followed was from none other than Sasuke. From where she stood, she could see her best friend chattering to the older boy at an accelerated rate. The young teen smiled and poked Sasuke's forehead (much like how Sasuke did to her just a few moments back). Sasuke then entered the vehicle as he rubbed at his forehead with a pout on his face. The older boy followed suit but just as the young adolescent held the door, for the briefest of moments, the older child accidentally directed his gaze to Naruto's person. Figuring out that she had been caught watching, Naruto abruptly turned and ran to the school main gate. The older boy, with a softened expression, released a silent chuckle and proceeded to enter the car.

As Naruto speed walked home, she unconsciously played with the gem that hung on her necklace. "That big kid looked a lot like Sasuke." The blonde whispered her observation to herself. Sometimes, Naruto really was an airhead. She tenderly grasped her necklace and smiled. Hopefully, the break didn't drag on. She hated to admit that she'd miss Sasuke while he was gone.

"I guess while he's away, I could practice my dancing." Although she was motivated to try and do so during the break, she couldn't help but repeatedly chant a single wish in her head.

I hope Sasuke comes back soon.