Authors Note: Okay-doky, well I am neither a photographer nor a cheerleader (totally different sport for me ;)), however those are two things I will be including in many of my chapters to come. Of course I'm doing my research, especially when it comes to the cheerleading stunts, but I wouldn't expect something completely accurate if I were y'all. I'm just saying this now so a real photographer or cheerleader doesn't get annoyed/offended by my description of the respective things. Both cheerleading and photography is really hard so don't think that my inaccuracy is disrespect! Thanks! :D

I don't own Naruto

No lamps were (almost) harmed in the making of this fanfiction.

Ino could hear laughing from the gymnasium. She was brushing her long blonde hair up into a high ponytail. A bit of hairspray went into it to keep it from frizzing and she tied it back neatly. She was dressed simply, with a pair of spandex athletic shorts, a school t-shirt, and a pair of very clean sneakers tied tightly to her feet. She checked herself over in the mirror, making sure her mascara (waterproof—she wasn't an idiot and knew that she would be sweating in a little while) wasn't smudged and that her hair wouldn't get loose. "Okay, let's go," she muttered to herself. She grabbed the clipboard that lay on the bench near her and strode out of the locker room doors into the gym.

Silence fell extremely quickly over the group of girls who were gathered around the bleachers. Ino kept walking, staring straight ahead of her as she did, into the middle of the gym and turned neatly to face the group. "Okay, I have no doubt that coach informed you about Karin being replaced as captain due to her unfortunate injury," she said, her tone completely business-like as she observed the girls, all in athletic wear similar to hers. "I'm Ino Yamanaka for those of you who don't know, the new captain of this team. I've been a cheerleader for 5 years, though I, obviously, haven't been cheerleading for the past couple months. Due to the circumstances though I'm back, and since coach won't be in for practice today, I'll be running it."

She looked at them and smiled jauntily. "Ok! So, I think I know everyone's names and what roles each of you have been serving in stunts. So let's just start out practice with some cross-training before we get into drills and cheers. The final games of the season are coming up in a little over a week and I am sure you guys want to make a great impression for the last game of the football season, so let's go!"

Ino had been staying up late for the past few nights going over the sort of things coach advised her on, what her old team captains did on the team, how they would lead practice, etc. She had even watched Bring It On a couple times to get pumped up, but she was still extremely nervous about actually having to run her first practice ever. She had more experience cheering then anyone on the team, including the seniors, but it was still nerve-wracking to lead them through some dynamic stretching before starting on calisthenics and laps. It became obvious which members of the team had which strengths. Which girls were the fastest runners, which had the most upper body strength, core strength, leg strength, which ones seemed to suck it up when it got tough doing laps and which ones seemed like they'd be harder to deal with.

She lead them through drills all day, not wanting to have to deal with routines this practice, but she did go through the "Hello Cheer" for practice at the end of practice. What with all the jump drills that day she felt like she did more toe touches and pikes then she had in the last five years… except for during that psycho routine for sophomore regionals. Of course, the team that year had been so horrible it had been a miracle they even got to regionals. Thank god all of the seniors had graduated. If Ino had to captain that team she might die a little inside. She was just glad she was confident enough to work on some cupies before practice ended. "Ok, awesome practice guys!" she said cheerfully as they trickled out. She sighed, collapsing onto one of the bottom bleachers. "Good god…" she muttered. "Like I didn't have enough stress in my life."

It only took a little while for her to shower off, reapply her makeup, and be heading out of school to grab some dinner before rehearsal. She knew as she was driving away that this new schedule was going to be the absolute death of her. Add to that that regionals were in the beginning of December, which gave her around 4 weeks to prepare, and that she knew there were bunches of seniors on the team who wanted redemption from last year… she needed to get them to place at regionals.

"Goddammit…"

That Night

Ino was lying on her bed, her homework lying in front of her. It was mostly finished, but what she was concentrating on now was looking over the game and competition schedule for the next couple months. They had two more football games, one tomorrow and one the week after that, the same day as a pep rally. Then they had a break before the first basketball games started, but that would just mean that the break would be occupied with regionals prep. Ino groaned, leaning forwards so her head dropped onto the pile of papers in front of her. "Why is life so complicated?" she moaned, pouting.

Her phone suddenly rang loudly. She started before grabbing her phone accepted the call before she saw who it was. "Yeah?" she asked, sounding extremely tired.

"Hey, it's Sai."

Ino perked up immediately. "Hi!" she said. "I am so glad you called, I am having the most stressful time!"

"Really? Why?" he asked mildly.

"Omigosh, ok, so you know how I got talked into captaining the cheerleading team?" She heard him say yes and continued into her explanation. "Ok, so I have cheerleading practice four times a week and rehearsal four times a week and a game tomorrow and a pep rally next week and then regionals in a month, and the play opens in a month and a half and I'm still trying to pass English, and I need to worry about what other classes I'm taking for next semester! I am freaking out! How am I supposed to handle all this AND plan my Christmas party? Oh yeah, and buy Christmas presents!" She let out a scream of annoyance. "This is going to be such a stressful couple of months," she moaned.

"Are you going to resign as captain?" he asked.

Ino gasped. "Nooo! I promised them I'd captain them to regionals, and I am aiming to get them to nationals too. Just because it takes a lot of time doesn't mean I'm going to resign!" She signed. "God Sai, how have you survived in high school without knowing this stuff?" she asked impatiently.

"No idea," he said, sounding amused.

"Humph… some supportive boyfriend you are," she complained.

"Sorry, did you want a pity party or something?" he asked.

Ino frowned. "Pity party is not the phrase I'd choose," she said indignantly.

"Oh, sorry. I'm not really good with phraseology."

She sighed and flopped back against her pillows. "No, it's ok. Sorry, I'm just really grouchy. It'll be fine though. Once I get through the last of the football season and get used to the schedule I'll be totally fine." She pursed her lips. "I dunno though… there's something about the team that just seems off… I feel like I'm missing something that could really make it better. I just don't know what it is though. Everyone's fit and they all seem well versed in the basic stuff. A couple of those girls actually hit better toe touches then I did." That reminded her to stretch out. She wasn't as flexible as she had been a few months ago, and she sunk into the splits. It took some working up into full ones instead of just being able to slide into them like before, but practice makes perfect. "I just don't know what it is. Maybe I'm just being paranoid after last year's team."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out. After you watch a couple more practices I'm sure you'll figure it out," he said. Ino smiled.

"Thanks. For someone who is super unemotional, that actually made me feel good," she said. Suddenly her eyes started to droop. She had gotten out of rehearsal early because they weren't doing many of her scenes that day, so it was only 10:30, but two nights in a row of staying up late and getting up really early were catching up to her. "God… I'm so tired," she muttered. "I'm going to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night."

"Night Sai!" she said cheerfully, before hanging up. She grabbed her papers and dumped them onto her desk before just stripping down and climbing into bed.

"Yay… sleep…"

Elsewhere…

"Are you kidding?"

Temari's voice hit a new pitch and volume previously uninhabited by anything baring dog whistles. She shrieked in joy, jumping around like she was having some sort of fit. She clutched a crumpled piece of paper in one hand as she thrashed around, almost knocking her table lamp over. An envelope floated serenely to the ground as she dropped it and she flung herself onto her bed, staring at the piece of paper once more. It was addressed to her and was very formal, like it was typed up by someone in a business suit, sitting in a cherry corner office.

Ok, so maybe typed up by the secretary of the person in a business suit in the corner office.

It was from a very reputable magazine that published photographers work. It was well know to be a magazine that could make a career if you got published in it. Right now it was having a contest for amateur photographers. The top ten finishers would be interviewed for an article and they would each have full spreads published in it. Temari had submitted her urban graffiti piece to it in the hopes of getting picked and they had written to her to inform her that she had passed the first cut. There would be two more rounds that would determine who, out of the 500 remaining photographers, would be chosen. She would have to submit another piece to get evaluated but just getting picked in the top 500 out of god knows how many photographers was amazing. She hadn't really considered herself part of the running until now.

She let out another holler before giggling hysterically. This really was the best news she had gotten in a while.

She heard a knock on her door. "Come in," she said, still laughing. Gaara poked his head in, frowning at her. She grinned. "What is it?"

"Are you ok? It sounded like something was dying in here," he said.

Temari giggled. "Nope! I am okay-doky. Tee hee…"

Gaara blinked. "What?"

"Oh god Gaara!" Temari exclaimed, jumping up from where she was lying. "I have to tell you! I've been picked in the top 500 photographers who will be able to stay in the running for that photography contest I told you about! Isn't it awesome?"

Gaara raised his eyebrows. "Wow. Good job."

Temari rolled her eyes. "You are so enthusiastic," she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, that's me," he said, walking off. Temari shook her head, too overjoyed to let his lack of emotion color her happiness. She grabbed the letter, looked at it affectionately once more, before pinning it to her white board that hung above her desk.

"This is my goal," she muttered to herself. She'd have to put together a new spread by the deadline which was in a few weeks. She sighed; it didn't give her a lot of time. She figured it was partially because of time limits for the magazine and partially because they wanted to see how well the photographers could work with deadlines. "I can do this," she muttered, nodding to herself. For her, the hardest part of a spread was getting imbued with the spirit of what she was photographing. There were so many amazing opportunities, but she needed something really inspiring to give her an idea for what to do the spread on.

She stared at the letter with triumph. She knew she was going to work her butt off for this. She just needed to get inspired. "I need a muse…" she muttered, sighing. Seeing as she didn't have one she'd just need to do the dirty work of having ideas by herself.

"Okay… let's do this bitch."