Cheerleaders

Me, Myself, and My Confusion

The day of the game drew near. On Monday, I was already jumpy and couldn't keep calm. On Thursday, after school, we'd show off our routine. I was entrusted with the easier tasks – you know, just tossing people high into the air – while the more experienced members did amazing flips and stunts. Three times during practice, I've gotten hit in the face by either a foot, hand or other head. Catching Ino, flying in the air, was difficult, because she had so much hang time that it was hard to guess when she was going to come down.

I started out with a heavy brown sack first. Which had, at one point, dislocated my wrist (Karin was delighted to pop it back for me), and had knocked me in the head more than a few times. Despite the pain that came along with cheerleading, there were some upsides. I felt my confidence had gone up, even if just by a little. I felt like I'd accomplished something great in being able to throw and catch human beings perfectly, and I felt stronger.

I still hadn't told my mom though, who looked at me funny every time she saw me come home late, looking exhausted. I knew that if we didn't work our butts off and impress the spectators, the cheerleading squad would be indefinitely removed. Ino told me they'd been threatened twice already in the past.

Plus, there was that deal about a new member to replace Naruto. Apparently, the guys were to host try-outs on Monday. That is to say; Today. The squad, excluding I, had decided that it was 'necessary' to witness these tryouts and help out with picking; though I knew they only wanted the temporary replacement to be exceptionally good-looking, as Hinata had put it when I'd questioned the girls' motives.

So currently, I was watching the clock placed right over the black board.

Three, two, one.

The bell rang and almost immediately everyone was standing and heading for the door. I was one of the last to exit. I was walking behind the growing crowd and was so overwhelmed by the amount of people around me I nearly missed my locker. After safely leaning against it, I watched the group move quickly but in orderly fashion down the hall. The whole throng of teenagers were heading outside, but not to the bus stop, to the field at the back of the school. They had all come for try-outs? I knew the school was big on sports, since we pretty much owned in every single one we played in, but this was just insane.

When the group thinned to a few chattering kids, I saw that the hall was still pretty populated. I sighed and turned around to my locker. I was just pulling open the Dudley lock when a group of people closed in around me. I turned around, to see more than a few new faces. There was one that I recognized the second my eyes found it.

Itachi looked as calm and collected as ever, with his blank expression bordering on amusement. Standing next to him were other students of the same age, grade, and, mostly, size. One very pale one – so pale he seemed almost blue – was extremely tall, towering over me with a sharp grin.

"Hey, pinky," The blue-man said in an edgy, deep voice.

"Uh..." I began, but stopped myself when he laughed aloud. I took that moment to examine the rest of the group. One was blonde, with blue eyes, and he looked fashionable enough. But his hair was long and pretty enough to make me question the smile he directed at me. On the other side of Itachi was a red head, with eyes that seemed to tell many stories. Something about him seemed strange. I then saw his left hand. It was wooden, and attached to his human wrist, unlike the rest of him. He must've been in an accident, I thought.

He looked at me, with a serious look, and said, "You're Sakura, the cheerleader?"

I flinched at the sound of my own name in his shiver-inducing voice. "Uh, yes." I said weakly, feeling my back against the lockers behind me as I stepped back.

"What're you doing here, standing all alone, uh?" The blonde one asked me.

I blinked, and half-turned to my locker. "Well, I was j- I was just putting my things away." I said quickly, stumbling over my words.

They all stepped to the side and looked into my locker. I held my hands in front of me, before my chest, feeling a little safer that way.

"You're going to see the try-outs, right?" The blonde spoke again.

I nodded nervously, and turned back to face them properly. Something about them... they were just too intimidating for me. But I faced them nonetheless, and I steadied my breathing, but not my heart.

"Then we'll go together." Itachi said, in a tone of finality. He was the student council leader for a reason. And then I freaked myself out by imagining what would happen if I opposed him.

I nodded again, wordlessly. I put my things away as quickly as I could, but the blonde kept picking things out of my locker to check them out. Before I closed my locker again, bag equipped with homework, he handed me my sketch book, mandatory for Art class, and nodded approvingly. I smiled and put it in my locker before finally closing it.

"Deidara, by the way." He said.

Before I could speak, the blue man said, "Kisame."

And then, the red head finished with, "Sasori."

I just nodded, and let them walk with me to the back doors, two behind me and one on each side. Students looked at me with strange expressions I couldn't read. I ignored them, and pushed open the two doors in front of me.

-

-

I already knew the Stadium was huge, but seeing it with actual people in the bleachers made it seemed even bigger – ginormous. It was barely a quarter filled, and the whole soccer team was pacing around the field, while soon-to-be players were doing warm ups on the field. While gazing at the open area, I didn't notice the four boys slip away.

"Sakura-chan," I heard, and turned to see Gaara, just coming out through the back doors. I turned a bit as he stopped at my side, looking at the field.

"Hm?" I said, pulling down the rolled up sleeves of my thin black sweater.

"Who were those guys you were talking to?" He asked me, just as he began walking forward.

I shrugged, trying to act like they hadn't scared the crap out of me. "Itachi and his friends." I said.

He glanced at me, eyes narrowing. "Kisame, Deidara and Sasori?" He asked.

I nodded, suddenly remembering the names.

He bit his lip in a way that made me nervous as we approached the bleachers. "Okay," He said, "Don't talk to them too much. They're bad news."

I didn't question him, only nodded and watched him run to the middle of the field, where his teammates awaited him. I saw the squad, sitting on the second row. Some of them had already seen me. They waved me over and I struggled to walk around and over the annoyed teenagers already sitting down.

"Sorry," I mumbled as I passed by one particularly pissed junior. She glared but pulled her feet back to let me pass. I rolled my eyes as soon as I'd passed her and finally found my seat between Ino and Hinata.

"Yo," Ino said, eyes on the new players, "We should totally get that one, over there…" She pointed to a tall, dark haired boy.

Temari scoffed. "Please, Ino. Tall, dark and handsome is all you can come up with?" She looked pointedly at another boy on the field. "How about him?" She asked.

Hinata shook her head. "He looks kind of full of himself. Look at the way he's standing." She observed, and I had to nod at this.

Temari was about to retort, but was interrupted by the blowing of a whistle. People cringed at the sound, sharp and piercing, but suddenly everyone had their eyes on the field. The newcomers were taking shots at the goal, all standing in a straight line. They were each given three balls, at three different spots on the field. The more goals they scored, the better chance they had of being accepted.

Hinata leaned forward and looked across me, "Karin!" She called. I watched as Karin also leaned forward and gave her a questioning glance. Hinata nodded to Sasuke, who was at the end of the bleachers, sitting down and drinking water. "Ask him!" She said in a low hiss.

Karin blushed and nodded, before standing up and walking down onto the next level. When she got to the ground, she walked over to him.

"What's she doing?" I asked in a whisper to no one in particular.

Ino turned to me. "She's been thinking of asking him out on a date for a while now. I think he knows she likes him." She said quietly, her body facing me but her eyes on said two people.

"Oh." I said, and leaned back in my seat. It was hard to explain how I felt. Maybe I was a little jealous. I was definitely disappointed when I saw him smirk and nod his head, and she smiled brightly back, though I felt guilty immediately afterwards. I tried not to sink in my seat as she came back, practically skipping as she got back to her spot by Hana.

I could see Temari glance at me, but I pretended I didn't. I remembered a conversation I'd once had with Itachi.

He looked away, to his brother, specifically. "Sorry, but I can't have that." He said, sighing.

I blanked. "… Have what?" I asked.

"You can't have a boyfriend." He said.

I felt my whole face heating up now. "W-What-"

He raised an eyebrow, immediately realising what I'd thought. "No, no. Sakura-san, Sakura-san…" He said, shaking his head, "Remember what we discussed with the principal? About Naruto? Remember?" He asked me.

I only felt my face flame in embarrassment. "O-Oh… right. But he was just a friend. Honestly…" I said. My voice was louder.

"Better be," he answered, "Or you can say bye-bye to the soccer team."

"Sakura-chan," Hinata said, awakening me from my reverie.

I quickly sat up straighter. "Yeah?" I asked.

She pointed to the field. Naruto was dragging someone forward, and he didn't look happy. I had to squint to recognize who it was. "Sai!" I couldn't help but gasp. "What's going on?" I asked.

"You tell me." Ino scoffed. "It's Naruto. Who knows what he's up to now?"

I just stared as Sai jerked his arm out of Naruto's grasp and stopped. Naruto turned around, and began saying something loudly. Loud, but not loud enough. We couldn't hear anything. Hinata put her hand to my back and pushed me forward.

With sad eyes, she said, "Go."

I stood. I didn't glance at anyone before jumping down the steps towards the ground. I walked briskly to the center field, where everyone was. I didn't want to run, but if I walked it would take too long. I watch Naruto point to the players, who were still shooting despite the apparent conflict, and yell something more. I couldn't hear exactly what he'd said, but it seemed like he wanted Sai to try.

What would be the point of that? If he'd wanted to join he would have done so on his own.

I started a quick jog just as someone bumped me from behind. I turned to see Sasuke, who looked right back at me. I turned back around just as we arrived at Naruto's side. Sasuke stopped there but I walked towards Sai.

"What's going on?" I asked to both him and Naruto, though my eyes were on him. He looked a little angry, or maybe just annoyed. The point was that he wasn't happy, and I wanted to know why.

"Naruto wants me to try-out." He said quietly. I could tell he was trying to calm himself down.

I stopped beside him and turned to look at Naruto. The blonde just glared at him. But then Sasuke glared at Naruto, who then gave up and turned around. I looked up at Sai, and saw that he was scowling into nowhere. I hesitated before taking his hand.

"Hey, whatever it is, you guys can deal with it later. No one wants any trouble, so let's just get away from the field." I suggested, and tugged at his hand.

He nodded, and I let go of his hand. We began to walk back to the school, away from the bleachers. We kept going until we were back in the school, walking in the empty hallways (with a few exceptions).

"I'm going to get my stuff, okay?" I said when we arrived at his locker. He nodded wordlessly and I quickly turned and left. As soon as I passed into another hall, my cheeks turned pink. What would everyone think? And the squad was supposed to come in half-way through the try-outs and 'encourage' the players. I smacked my palm against my forehead. Just as I was passing by an open classroom door, a hand reached out to me.

I dodged the outstretched fingers at the last minute and stepped backwards. Itachi was at the door, crossing his arms and giving me a look.

"Okay, okay." I said, putting my hands up, "I know I'm supposed to be out there, helping to pump-up the players in an atrociously small skirt and waving pom-poms around but I'm just being the good guy, or girl, I should say, and making sure Naruto doesn't get permanently suspended from the team." I raised my eyebrows as if to say; 'Okay? You got it?'

But he only looked surprised as he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. "Well done. You didn't stutter even once." He said, and then began to clap; slowly and deliberately.

My face flushed again. "W-Well, I-"

He stopped clapping and put one hand up to stop me. "I understand that you only want good out of this, but you should really be on the field right now." He said.

"But my friend-"

"With your friend." He paused, "Assuming that he is just your friend…"

I quickly nodded, "Y-Yes, of course. Just f-friends!" I said, waving my hands in front of me.

He didn't look like he believed me but decided to let it slip. "Fine, Sakura Haruno, but you better watch it. To the boys, you're like… fresh meat." He explained.

I narrowed my eyes.

"You see, now that you're a cheerleader, everyone knows you. I'm not saying that you weren't attractive before, but I'm saying that no one noticed that you were. Now you are standing in the spot light and the soccer team's got first dibs on you."

"W-What?" I sputtered.

"Mm-hmm." He said, nodding. "The problem is, you've got your friend, see? And now there's this huge debate as to who spotted you first. Who was it?" He asked.

I stood there gaping. "But I don't think they really-"

He shook his head, and suddenly he was waking away.

"Itachi!" I called after him, but he didn't stop. I stared after him, walking like a normal student in the halls, and then let out a long sigh. I turned around just as Sai appeared around the corner. I struggled to smile.

"Hey," I said, "I just went to the bathroom." I lied.

He smiled, "Okay."

I tried not to feel too guilty about lying to him. He would believe anything I said. After getting my bag and my scarf from my locker, we began to walk to the front doors. These doors led to the bus stop. We walked all the way there in silence, our footsteps making a mismatched beat as the distance between us and the school grew.

We arrived at the bus shelter and stood inside. I leaned against the advertisement and looked up, sighing. The sky was clear and it was sunny, but the breeze carried a cold October chill. I was glad I'd worn black leggings under it so that my skin wasn't bare. I felt Sai's stare on me, so I looked back down at him. He took one too many steps forward.

I felt his breath against my face as he said, eyes dark and unreadable, "Sakura."

I looked up at him, and bit my lip. "Yeah?" I responded weakly, putting my shaky hands in the pockets of my uniform hoodie.

He said, "I like you."

My eyes widened, and he leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against mine.