Much thanks to reviewers: and everyone else setting up alerts ^^
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Chapter Two
The following morning, Kuga Natsuki was having a peaceful sleep, cuddled comfortably in her bed.
Then Nao showed up.
--
"Wake up pup!," the redhead screamed out while standing just outside Natsuki's window.
At the lack of response, she cleared her throat and tried again, except louder and in a more annoying fashion.
"Rise and shine Romeo!! We have places to be, girls to chase!"
At that point in time, an angry looking blonde came out armed with a tennis racket and a bucket of tennis balls.
'Uh oh,' Nao thought as she sent over a sheepish smile to the younger girl and backed away slowly.
"A-alyssa... hey... morning," she said.
Alyssa gave a nod before calmly tossing a ball up in the air and catching it.
"Morning Nao... ready for service?"
The redhead paused and scratched her head, letting a quizzical look grace her features. Unfortunately Alyssa was in no mood to wait around for an answer...
"Oww! Oww with the ball hitting the face! What the hell Alyssa?!," Nao sputtered as she held her chin.
Just beside her a lone tennis ball was rolling to a stop.
Alyssa shrugged as she readied another one.
"Retribution for disturbing the peace outside my house," she said simply.
Nao's eyes widened as she tried her hardest to evade the bombardment.
"Pup, pup! Your sister's gone psycho! Little help!," she yelled out. "Natsuki! Keep the baby Kuga at bay!"
A few minutes later, Natsuki came out.
Looking between Alyssa who had paused in her activities and Nao who had dusted herself off and was currently flashing her the victory sign, the blue haired girl wordlessly held a hand out to her sister.
Alyssa nodded sagely before handing Natsuki the racket and basket of balls before giving a wave and making her way back inside the house.
Nao gulped.
"Uh. Morning pup?," she offered as she found herself once again backing away from yet another newly woken Kuga.
"Morning Nao," Natsuki replied.
"Watcha gonna do with that?," Nao asked motioning to Alyssa's old weaponry.
"You'll see."
"Oww! Wait, aaaah... not the face not the face!"
"Why the hell would you wake me up so early?!," Natsuki demanded to know as she pulled another ball out of the bucket.
"Think Shizuru Natsuki! Think hot Shizuru! Run to Shizuru!"
Natsuki sighed and shook her head at her friend. Throwing the racket to the side she wandered over to where the redhead was currently standing with arms up to cover her head.
Alyssa came out just a second after to collect her belongings and give her sister the thumbs up.
--
"Stop we got soccer tryouts today! Stop! Stop with the face!," Nao continued yelling out.
"Nao, I've already stopped hitting you. Please begin with the shutting up. And It's not tryouts today."
"Oh," Nao replied simply as she stood. Dusting herself off once more, Nao smiled and gave a wave at her friend.
Natsuki gave her an eye-roll in response.
"Well when Kuga Natsuki is shopping around for sports teams, you better believe there's tryouts today. Now hurry the heck up, there's lots of new people to meet and cause trouble for I'm getting excited! Anyway did you get a good sleep pup?"
Natsuki looked her friend up and down, as always Nao refused to show any signs of taking physical damage even though neither Alyssa or Natsuki were pulling their shots.
"Nao are you like invincible or something?"
Nao paused to stare at her friend.
"You mean you can't see me standing here?"
Natsuki face palmed.
"Whatever, I'm up and deaf now. I hope you're happy Yuuki, showing up outside my window in the morning and pretending to be a siren. What a great friend you are," Natsuki replied as she wandered back into the house to get things ready.
"Thanks Natsuki!," Nao said as she followed.
"Hey don't only listen to the stuff you want to hear!"
"Ok so here's the plan today."
Natsuki sighed as she and Nao made their way out of the house and started walking to the school fields.
"I already talked to the coach of the soccer team so..."
"Wait a minute why soccer?"
"Believe me, I checked over all the uniforms of our school sports teams, you'll look best in the soccer uniform."
"Your decision making skills scare me."
"Oh did I mention the cheerleading squad is most closely tied in with the soccer team? Talk about win-win."
"Talk about I'm hungry, where's my food? You could have at least come with Mai."
"I would have but she said she had to be out and about early today too. Now come on, I will show you the path you must follow!"
"Do I have to follow? What if I don't wanna get lost? If I go with you we're definitely gonna get lost."
--
A few minutes later...
Nao and Natsuki had reached their destination and before her friend could stop her, the redhead had already bolted off somewhere.
Natsuki walked down to the field itself and found herself being met by Haruka.
"I see someone took my advice on joining up," the blonde began. "Now you can be less delinquent and more champion of school spirit. So how do you feel?"
Natsuki shrugged.
"Nao woke me early, didn't feed me and dragged me here this morning. She's still alive so I'd say I'm doing quite well."
At the mention of a certain person, Haruka's stance changed swiftly from conversational into defensive.
"Wait a minute, you came here with the redhead? And she's no longer with you? Great that means she's roaming around here trouble-making at will! Way to go Kuga!"
"I heard roaring, anything interesting going on here?," Nao asked as she popped up from out of nowhere, prompting Haruka to jump and Natsuki to sigh.
"Nao, so happy to see you here," the blonde deadpanned.
"Oh look it's Yukino," Nao replied as she pointed behind Haruka.
"Where?," the blonde asked as she looked around furiously.
"Just kidding."
"I hate you."
"Love you too Haruka."
--
"What're you doing carrying uniforms around Nao? Don't tell me you're joining up too," Natsuki said as she opted for interrupting the conversation taking place before her.
Haruka's eye starts twitching at the thought of seeing Nao around on a regular basis and the girl was eerily silent.
"What else can I do, I'm the wingman. Besides, You're here to capture the heart of your first love, as I friend I have to be here to support you and be there should you fall flat on your face."
"Oi don't talk like that!," Natsuki huffed.
"Speaking of which Haruka, what's wrong with yours?," Nao inquired of the still twitching blonde.
"You're around idiot!"
Nao beamed at the admission. She wouldn't admit it out loud but the redhead loved getting a rise out of the blonde more than anyone else in particular.
'Haruka always reacts so interestingly,' Nao thought in her head.
"You're right sorry Natsuki. Mai already gave me a speech about spreading positive energy this morning. Well at least you know what I'm doing here," she replied aloud.
Natsuki nodded, happy that at least one friend was supporting her in a normal manner.
"Just try not to make trouble ok," she half pleaded.
"Tch. I think you and I both know I can't make any promises."
"I'm already having weird vibes about this whole thing. Afterall I'm here on the advice of Haruka, Alyssa and Nao. I'm starting to wonder if this whole situation even has the ability to end well."
"If it makes you feel better Kuga, the bubuzuke's always had some exotic taste. A delinquent who's a closest softy may just be what she's looking for."
"I'm neither of those things!"
"Sure sure."
Watching the exchange between Natsuki and Haruka, Nao smirked and elbowed her friend.
"I didn't know Haruka knew you so well pup," she said with a wink.
Natsuki sighed while Haruka scoffed indignantly.
--
At that moment, a slightly over-weight man with a soccer ball under his left arm, a clip board in his right hand and a giant afro on his head wandered over to the group.
"Oi, often excited cheerleader, sighing person and redheaded friend what're you all doing on my field?"
Haruka nodded at the man before raising an arm to wave and signal her goodbyes.
"Just leaving it sir. It's a very nice field by the way. I enjoy the many shades of green."
The man rolled his eyes and looked Natsuki up and down. He threw the ball at the girl and watched as Natsuki first controlled it with her thigh before letting it fall casually at her feet.
"Name?," the man asked.
"Kuga Natsuki," the girl replied.
Upon hearing the name, the man raised his eyebrows just before swiftly offering a hand shake.
"Welcome to the team," he said.
"Umm Coach? Isn't there some sort of a test or something?," Natsuki inquired.
The man gave a small laugh at the thought of making Kuga Natsuki actually try out for a team.
"Oh right that kind of thing," he replied. "Well, you can run right?"
"Yes sir," Natsuki said as she stretched her athletic legs, willing to show off her prowess if it was needed.
The man before her merely nodded.
"Can you kick things? Do you have good aim?"
Natsuki paused in her stretching to bring a hand to the back of her head.
"Umm, sometimes when people annoy me sir."
"Balls Kuga, can you kick balls?!"
"Well when they really annoy me sir yes I can!"
Nao, who was silently watching the exchange found herself unable to keep in the laughter and doubled over.
"I can't be the only one who got that right?," she asked between giggles while gasping for air.
Natsuki and the Coach just looked at her.
"Right? Come on!"
"Umm anyway, Kuga go meet the team. You too redhead, you look like you've got spunk," the man said while wandering away. "By the way, the name's Sakomizu. Your Captain will take care of uniform fittings and things."
--
At that point, Natsuki and Nao made their way to the mentioned captain who was at that moment sitting casually on a bench and watching the group of cheerleaders nearby who were awaiting their own practice to begin.
Natsuki herself scanned the group in an attempt to get a glimpse of her crush but sighed as she quickly realised it was Haruka who was trying to organise the squad.
"Greetings champs!," Nao said as she gave a nod of the head to the Captain and the young man who was sitting with her.
"Yo," Natsuki said belatedly.
The two sitting down looked up at the two friends and quickly stood to give bows and extend hand shakes.
"Harada Chie," the girl offered with a grin. "Key provider of team charm and general good looks, pleasure to meet you. Could you possibly be joining up with us?"
Natsuki nods Nao flashes a grin while the young man next to Chie crosses his arms and sighs at the girl.
"Harada, can't you just introduce yourself like a normal person?," he asked." Like hi I'm the captain. Welcome to the team?"
Chie paused for a moment.
"Wait a minute I'm the captain?," she asked in response.
"Hello? You give the pep talks before and after the game? You yell out instructions during it? You make all the team speeches?"
"Yeah that's me oozing charm in front of the fans."
"You organise positions and decide on the plays."
"Of course! I need to make sure everyone around me looks good too."
"Geez, you wear a giant 'C' on your arm at every game!"
"But my name is Chie... I thought it was like an initial thing."
"Tomoe's name is Tomoe and she's the captain of the other team. Hence she wears a 'C'"
"I thought her 'C' stood for crazy."
At a well placed cough from Natsuki, the two currently arguing team members gave the two new ones sheepish smiles.
"Sorry about that... well now that the atmosphere is uncomfortable and everyone is sweat dropping all over the place, please allow me to introduce myself. Tate Yuuichi is the name I'm the vice-captain of the team. The rest of the guys are still getting changed and stuff so you'll meet most of them later."
"Yuuki Nao and Kuga Natsuki," Nao said, introducing the both of them.
Chie raised her eyebrows and Tate grinned, unable to hide his excitement upon hearing the names.
"It's interesting to see you guys finally join up here. You get the best results whenever they test for athletic ability but you never ended up joining a team. What's with that?," Chie asked.
"Oh I guess I never really thought about it," Natsuki replied.
Nao then took the opportunity to wrap an arm around her shoulders and give a wink.
"Natsuki's hormones just kicked in this year. We're here to chase girls!," she said.
Tate smiled and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well even though that's the case, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad to see you both here. Welcome to the team," he said.
Chie stands and surveys Natsuki and Nao before pulling out her cell phone and shamelessly taking pictures of both.
"Chase girls you say? I think, that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!," she declared.
A.N: Great, thanks for encouraging me to continue guys :D Mybad for accidentally making you guys think Natsuki was gonna cheerlead lol oops!
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Re:
lildevilish: lol it's pretty likely that the others are gonna get their share of love in this fic, romance is in the air! Haven't gotten that far in thinking of pairings though xD;;