Disappointment
Competition day was finally upon them.
Shikamaru waited patiently inside the Den for the last of the members to arrive. Only seven people were selected to represent the club for the five sports, relay, sprint, long distance, high jump and long jump.
Temari had been chosen to take part in all of them, with a second Konohan representative by her side.
She was easily the best in the club, but Shikamaru wondered wether too much pressure was being put on her, not that he'd say it out loud. Temari would be offended if he expressed concerns over her well-being. Not that he was concerned, of course.
As the last team member arrived, Asuma, Iruka and Gai rounded the team and Shikamaru up and led them to the coach that was waiting for them.
Soon, they were on the road and headed to the national athletics stadium.
"ALRIGHTY!" Called Iruka, in a desperate attempt to get everyone's attention.
"This is only the heats, if we want to make it to the semi's we have to win at least three of the sports, or come in third and second place in three of them. Does that make sense?"
The team nodded.
"Good. High jump is first. We're third up, I want you to go first, Tenten, and then Temari can go second. After that it's relay, Temari can go first there, Hana can go second, our sub can be Tayuya."
More nods went around the bus.
"Great. Long jump is the same as high jump, Tenten, Temari, except we're up fifth. Then we have long distance. Tayuya, you're sub, Mai and Temari are mains. For the sprints, we have Temari and Yuu at 100m and Temari and Teru at 200m. Have I made myself clear?!"
More nods.
"Great, lets do this!"
O
The stadium was immense.
It wasn't full, only the first of five tiers were being used, but it was still impressive to see.
As the team went to the changing rooms, Shikamaru sat outside with the coaches and head admin, Asuma.
"Looking forward to this?" Asuma asked him.
"Yeah, I've never been to any sporting event before," Shikamaru admitted.
"It's great fun, I promise. Temari really is something else."
"Yeah..." Shikamaru said before he could stop himself, blushing once the words left his mouth.
Asuma chuckled and almost clapped him on the back before thinking the better of it and simply placing a hand on his shoulder.
"If I were Gai, I'd say something about youth, but I'll spare you the trauma."
Shikamaru found himself laughing at the older man's statement.
"I was speaking of her athletic abilities, Asuma. Nothing more."
Asuma gave him a knowing smile but said no more.
The team filed out of the changing rooms wearing khaki jersey shorts and dark grey tank tops. A few of them wore the club hoodie, a baggy burgundy pullover with a spiral shaped leaf on the back.
Temari's hair was in its signature four ponytails and she was hurriedly pinning her fringe back with small clips, which refused to stay in place. She gave up on her third attempt, letting her bangs fall in front of her eyes.
It was only after he heard Asuma clear his throat that Shikamaru realised he'd been staring at her.
He hastily gazed around the stadium and avoided looking anywhere near Temari's direction.
O
The high jumps truly were impressive. They were 1m50 and watching the competitors twist as they jumped, avoiding the bar, gave Shikamaru goosebumps.
The first pair to go managed to land on the bar twice, the second messed up only once.
When the Konoha Ath Club were up, the first girl to go-Tenten, was it?- cleared the jump with ease, not even coming close to it. Temari did almost as well, neither of them touched the bar at the top.
The next group did very well too, though one of their reps almost skimmed off the bar.
The final group knocked it over.
O
The relay was Shikamaru's favourite event of the day. Konoha came second after Hana tripped on her first lap and had to be replaced by the arrogant red head, Tayuya. Shikamaru was still bitter that she'd called him "Shaky" on his first day.
In spite of this, Temari sprinted quicker than Shikamaru had ever seen before, and got them back up to second place on her second round.
O
At long jump, Shikamaru watched as Tenten took fifteen strides before kicking off and landing and impressive six metres from the takeoff board.
Gai was close to tears as he practically sang of her impeccable technique.
Temari went soon after, Shikamaru counted a total of sixteen strides before taking off and landing exactly twelve centimetres further than Tenten had.
The commentator was practically screaming in excitement.
O
The long distance was next, two laps of the entire arena-a mile.
Temari was waiting at the starting block.
She had had a half hour pause since the long jump, and seemed perfectly fine, but Shikamaru was still concerned that she may have been overexerting herself.
In spite of his concerns, she still managed to come first place, though she was almost overtaken by the end.
Seeing someone so close to her seemed to give her an adrenaline boost and she accelerated and reached the end line ahead of them.
O
The last event was the sprints.
The hundred metre sprint had to be done twice as there was a false start from the other Konoha Ath rep, Yuu.
Temari came in second place and Yuu came third, impressive considering how many sports she'd just taken part in, but she looked disappointed.
She came third in the 250m.
As the results were being called out, Shikamaru congratulated the team members, but he couldn't find Temari.
"Hey, Shaky."
He turned to see Tayuya stalking over to him.
"Temari isn't well, go get a medic."
Shikamaru panicked, he knew she'd over done herself.
"Sure,"
He went to the paramedics who were at the event and told them that a Konoha rep was unwell, he pointed in Tayuya's direction, saying that she knew where she was.
Tayuya pointed to the bathrooms where they rushed to immediately. They came out a short while later carrying a pale Temari by wrapping her arm around their necks.
Gai burst into tears and ran up to them.
"WHY IS HER YOUTHFUL FACE SO PALE!?"
The medics reassured him that she was just faint, nothing too concerning.
She was helped down to the ground and rolled to her side into a recovery position, legs folded, head sideways.
After twenty minutes or so, she was allowed back to her feet and forced to eat a chocolate bar.
She shakily reassured the club members that she was fine, clearly annoyed by all the attention that was focussed on her.
Konoha ranked in joint first, and as Shikamaru looked at Temari, he realised that he'd never seen anyone look so disappointed in themselves.
A/N: Salutations, how is everyone? I really hope you guys like this story. I wrote it a while back and I was hesitant about posting it, but I'm really glad I did, I've gotten such positive feedback for it!
whattadragg~ Yes! I actually worked for a week during my midterm break in a centre for people with intellectual disabilities, and honestly I get really touchy on that topic, I'm so glad that people like you exist, they give me some hope in humanity! I hope you continue with the work you're doing, thank you very much for the review!
ayingChan~ Thank you for the review! Honestly, I think that you just summed up exactly what I hoped to portray. I really hope that you liked this chapter too!
king1012~ Friend! Hello! I'm really sorry to hear about your bro, I know from experience that it's hard knowing someone who has to go through pain in their daily lives. Not because they are "different" or any nonsense like that, but because it hurts to see someone you love hurt. I've never personally met someone with ALS, Shika in this story has PMA, but it stems from the same disease, and I really really really hope that if he does end up reading my shitty fanfic, there will be parts that he can relate to. The same foes to you, I tried to make this very personal and to show the affect that MND has on more than just the person who has it, you'll see that more clearly later on. Thank you so much for the review, I really hope that you'll enjoy the rest of this story.
Okie, that got really long, but yeah, thank you sosososososo much for all the reviews, I honestly can't express how happy I am, so I'll keep it at "thank you".
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~Lee