I don't own Naruto

Sakura had watched the entire event with the cheerleaders unfold from up where she sat in the bleachers. She had decided to go to this one game to cheer on Ino in her first venture as cheerleading captain. However the cascade of horror that started mid-way through the halftime show stopped her cheering in mid-yell, and she watched with wide eyes as the nurse and coach brought Maybe off the field and Ino shakily tried to regroup her cheerleaders for the second half of the game.

Sakura knew nothing about cheerleading but she knew their confidence was shot. They messed up simple moves and Ino looked closer and closer to cracking under stress as the game wore on and the cheerleaders got more frantic. The end of the game finally came, with a 21-17; Konoha's loss. The football team walked off the field dejectedly, and the cheerleading team followed. Sakura picked herself carefully up and walked out of the bleachers, following the cheerleaders towards the locker room. She paused until she could no longer hear the coach talking. From the tone of her voice she knew she must be chewing them out.

The coach finally stomped out of the locker room, and Sakura waited a few more minutes until she slipped inside. Ino was sitting on a bench, her head resting in her hands. "Ino?" Sakura asked quietly. Ino shook her head and Sakura went to sit down beside her.

"I can't believe that happened," Ino said, looking up at Sakura. She looked drawn and worried.

"Was it really that big of a deal?" Sakura asked, trying to sound optimistic.

"She sprained her ankle, Sakura," Ino said, her tone angry. "We just lost one of our best flyers because one of our bases couldn't get a frickin foothold." Ino shook her head. "It wasn't all Essa's fault though… she's not the best base we have. Realistically she would do better just tumbling, but we don't have enough girls with the right muscles. Even our spotters aren't the strongest they could be. You saw Yano out there," Ino said, referring to the spotter who had almost been crushed by Maybe, "She couldn't even stop Maybe from falling."

Sakura frowned slightly, not in annoyance but in concentration. "What are you going to do about it then?" she asked. "Make them lift more weights?"

Ino nodded. "Definitely more weight lifting, but… I don't think we can gain as much muscle as we need by regionals. Unless we take out all of the more risky stunts something like this could happen again and again. And if we did that there's no way we could even be in the running for a spot at Nationals."

"So… you just need more muscle?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah…" Ino said, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe you could try some of those muscle-building protein sh-" Sakura started, before Ino interrupted her.

"I've got it!" She exclaimed, standing up. The few cheerleaders who were still grabbing their things looked up in bewilderment from across the locker room. Ino lowered her tone excitedly as they left. "More muscle, but in a little amount of time… we need to make this team co-ed!" Ino said, grinning from ear to ear.

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Co-ed? But, who would do it? Most of the guys who are athletes are already on cross-country or football or something this season."

Ino nodded. "Yes, but fall's almost over and then people will be signing up for winter sports. If we can get enough guys interested in just trying out, we could end up with a group of spotters and bases good enough to not get anyone injured!" She jumped up and down excitedly. "It's perfect!"

Sakura was still staring at her. "What will your squad say?"

Ino appeared to wilt for a moment before shaking her head, her face set stubbornly. "They won't have to say anything. This is just the way it's going to happen, and that's that." She smiled. "Oh man, coach is going to be happy I'm captain after she hears this."

The Next Day

Hinata sat in a coffee shop, drooping over her chamomile all natural herbal tea. She had been doing a lot of drooping lately, as she thought about her life that woefully lacked direction. She had been thinking and thinking about what she wanted to do, and nothing came up. She liked dancing, but she wasn't good enough and didn't have the body or desire to become a professional ballet dancer. She liked math but so did a lot of people and not everyone became mathematicians. Volunteering in the library was nice because she liked the peace, quiet, and array of books but she didn't want to be a librarian. She sighed deeply and took a sip of her tea, looking up to see if Naruto had arrived already.

Just as she looked up he walked cheerfully into the shop, cheerfully ordered a coffee, and cheerfully walked over to Hinata. Everything he did seemed… cheerful. Hinata hadn't realized that she was staring at him like a kicked puppy until he stopped, about to pull out the chair, and stared down at her. "Hinata, are you ok?" he asked, looking alarmed. "Did I do something?"

Hinata blinked up at him, confused, until she realized her face was pulled into a miserable expression and she attempted a smile, shaking her head. "Oh, no, it's not you…" she said, trailing off and taking a quick sip of tea.

Naruto sat down, his face scrunched up. "What is it then?" he asked, sounding worried.

Hinata shook her head, suddenly feeling like crying. "Nothing… I just…" she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I just have had to think about some difficult things lately."

"Like?" Naruto asked.

"Like… what I'm doing with my life, my passions, what kind of person I want to be," she said.

Naruto took a swig of his drink. "That doesn't sound so bad… what have you figured out?"

Hinata shuddered. "I've found out I have absolutely no idea who I am or what I'm doing with my life," she said, her face getting red and splotchy and her eyes getting really glassy as she struggled to hold in tears.

Naruto looked alarmed. He had absolutely no idea what to do other than that he felt horrible for Hinata and wanted to make her feel better. Beyond that he didn't have a clue about what you should say or do in this situation. Naruto had known what he wanted to do for most of his life. He wanted to kickbox. Simple as that. It had started as a mix of loving martial arts and a misinterpretation of a part of Say Anything he had caught a glimpse of when he was 5 and his babysitter thought he was asleep. He didn't know what to do for people who didn't know what they wanted in life.

Hinata rested her forehead on the table, the splotchiness subsiding as a few tears she hadn't shed in the past few days leaked out. She was too tired to really cry and she sighed. "It actually felt good to tell someone that…" she murmured, her face still pressed into the table.

"I'm glad," Naruto said, his face scrunched up slightly as he desperately tried to think of something to do to comfort her.

"It's just hard to have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going," she said, looking up at him with a lost expression.

He decided that because he obviously wasn't doing much with words that maybe just holding her hand will help. From her smile, it seemed too, though Naruto was still thinking about what she was saying and if there was anything he could do to help her figure out what she loved enough to do for the rest of her life.

That Afternoon

"Maybe… birds… everyone likes birds."

Temari was talking to herself. Not in an insane way, but in a desperately-trying-to-figure-out-what-to-do-for-photography-contest way. None of the ideas she had had were all that good. She was slumped over in a coffee shop, tapping a pen on a pad of a paper. The paper was titled, Photo Ideas, and other than that it was completely blank. She closed her eyes and leaned back, sighing deeply. She could smell coffee, a strange, enticing herby scent, and something fresh and bready.

She opened her eyes and looked back at the pastry case. She had already managed to polish off a couple pastries for breakfast that morning, but now she saw they were placing fresh chocolate croissants into the case. Her mouth started to water and she grabbed her bag, leaving her pen, book, and notepad on the table, and marching over to the line. A minute and 2.63 dollars later she was back at her table and taking a nibble of the croissant. She had had a bit of a stress headache but now the sugar and food was helping to clear her head and the pain.

The next thing she knew her face was pressed against the tablecloth, she was drooling slightly, and someone was staring down at her. The light streaming out of the window was now dusky instead of as bright as it had been that afternoon. "You ok?" a voice asked.

Temari squinted up at the face above her and felt her stomach drop slightly. "Shikamaru… what are you doing?"

"Well, you looked like you were passed out and there's half a croissant shoved in your mouth. I wasn't sure if you were drunk on a Saturday afternoon or in a coma," Shikamaru said, his hands shoved into his pockets.

Temari sat up. Indeed, a soggy looking croissant sat beneath her on the table. It looked to be about 5 o'clock and she shook her head, feeling that half of her hair was squashed flat. "I'm not drunk and I was definitely not in a coma. Why do you even care?"

"You started to choke on the croissant."

Temari blinked. "Oh dang… well, thanks, I guess…" she trailed off awkwardly. "So, what are you doing here anyways?" she asked, sounding slightly pathetic.

"Just getting tea," he said, motioning to the cup he held. "What about you? Other then catching up on some sleep."

"Ah… Uhm, just trying to think up ideas for a photography shoot," Temari said, sighing and looking at her pad of paper. Still empty. She didn't expect it to have been filled up while she was sleeping, but one can dream. She slumped over, shoving the croissant away from her. "Any ideas, o person with no passions?" she asked, needling him a bit.

"Who says I don't have any passions?" Shikamaru asked, one eyebrow raised.

Temari snorted. "Yeah, of course you have passions. Because you so obviously care about things." She shook her head. "Nevermind. I'm just going to… go sleep more," she said, putting her things in her bag and picking up the croissant.

He shrugged. "Have a nice sleep," he said, walking off for a seat in the corner.

She walked outside before she remembered to throw the croissant out. Seeing some crows, she hesitated, and tore it into small pieces before scattering it for them. Then she climbed into her car and got ready to drive off. She felt a little bad about saying that he didn't care about anything, but she shrugged him off.

"It's not like I was wrong or anything…"