I do not own Naruto
Atsuko fell onto the mat with an "oof!" and Sasuke quickly offered her a hand which she took, pulling herself up with an annoyed expression on her face. Min-Yee came walking over, one eyebrow raised. "Sasuke… are you still having trouble with this?" she asked, propping one hand on her hip.
Atsuko stretched her arms above her head, loosening up her back. "I'll say he's still having trouble," she said ruefully. Atsuko had fallen down to the mat more times then she would like to count today. It wasn't that it hurt, it just built up to a rather intense soreness now. They were working on chair sits and cupies. Really rather basic, but Sasuke's complete newness to cheerleading was showing painfully. So far he and Atsuko were the only pair who hadn't successfully completed one stunt.
"Have some patience Atsuko," the coach said, coming over. "Niranjana, Min-Yee, can you demonstrate the chair sit for me?" she asked.
Niranjana came jogging over from where she was helping to correct Ryuu's stance and swung her arms back and forth to loosen them quickly. Min-Yee turned and grabbed onto Niranjana's wrists, before getting popped up into a chair sit. She held her arms in a high V before Niranjana put her back down. "Did you see how she stabilized Min-Yee once she was up?" coach asked Sasuke, who nodded. It wasn't really the idea he wasn't getting. It was more applying the theory and trying to keep his mind on the stunt, instead of wandering and ending up on Sakura.
"Do it again," the coach said, taking a few steps back. Atsuko braced one leg on Sasuke's knee, holding onto his wrists, before he popped her up into the chair sit. He could feel the stunt start to fall apart again, and so he tried to stabilize himself before she fell. Atsuko wobbled, her face tight, before finally holding, and throwing her hands up into a high V. Min-Yee nodded, and Sasuke smiled slightly, glad that it finally worked. "Alright, good job you too," the coach said, nodding.
Sasuke brought Atsuko down and she landed with slightly bent knees, before straightening, giving one of her patented cheerleader smiles. She turned to Sasuke. "Good job," she said, sounding grateful that she wouldn't have to fall anymore.
"You too," Sasuke said. "Ready to try it again?" Atsuko nodded and he popped her up into another successful chair sit. And another. And another. The just worked on chair sits for the next thirty minutes at least. After a dozen or so Atsuko made a face. "My tailbone hurts," she mumbled, looking chagrined. Sasuke nodded. His arm and shoulder muscles were definitely feeling it as well. They got ready to try the chair sit one more time when the coach walked into the center of the room.
"Okay!" she called. All of the cheerleaders stopped what they were doing, either dismounting from stunts, or just stopping preparations, to turn their attention towards her. "Everyone looks like they're making great improvements. Now I want to have you try some cupies. Niranjana, Min-Yee, and Ino will demonstrate this one. Ino, can you act as the spotter?" the coach asked.
Ino nodded as she and the other two walked into the center of the mat. "Sure thing, coach," she said. Min-Yee stood in front of Niranjana, who held onto her waist, with Ino standing behind Niranjana. Niranjana braced herself before sinking lower and then throwing Min-Yee up into a cupie that she caught by Min-Yee's feet, Ino holding onto Min-Yee's ankles to stabilize her.
"This is how you do a cupie," the coach said, motioning to the three. "Go ahead and cradle out." The coach turned back to the others. "I want each partner and two spotters to come up here and try. Then we'll see if we can't get you guys to work on them some more. Let's start with… Ryuu and Ino. Tenten and Echiko, you two spot," the coach said.
Niranjana and Min-Yee retreated from the mat as Tenten, Echiko, and Ryuu went to join Ino. "So, to do a cupie, you are going to hold onto your flyer's waist. Bend slightly at the knees and then pop up to throw lift her straight up and grab onto her feet, holding her feet at about your shoulder level. She'll jump when you lift her. Tenten, stand behind Ryuu. You are going to reach up and hold Ino's ankles once she's up. We're not going to try it with straight arms, Ryuu, until we can get this one down. Echiko, you stand by in case of emergency. Go ahead and try it!" the coach said, moving back to watch. The rest of the team kept their eyes glued on the quartet as Ino stood in front of Ryuu. He grabbed her waist.
"On the count of three," Ino said. "One, two, three!" They bobbed down slightly and he threw her up, Ino jumping as he threw her to get more air. He grabbed her feet and Tenten's hands were immediately on her ankles. She threw her arms into a high V, but suddenly Ryuu stumbled and she felt herself start to fall backwards. Tenten and Ryuu let go of her, and Echiko moved forwards to grab her, but Tenten already had her.
Tenten grunted a little as she caught Ino, but other than sinking slightly at the knees so she wouldn't overextend them she didn't give way or falter. She deposited Ino on her feet. "Nice catch," Echiko said, looking surprised. "You're a soccer player right? I didn't think soccer players had such great upper body strength."
"Yeah, we lift weights. And I do karate," Tenten explained as the coach stepped forwards.
"Alright," the coach started. "So, that's what happens when the base doesn't get a proper hold during the stunt. And that exactly demonstrates what the bases are for. Let's try it again and see if you can get it, before we move on to the next pair." Ino nodded and moved back in front of Ryuu, who looked a little shaken up.
Ino shook her head. "Don't freak out. It'll only make you falter in the stunts," she said. "Ready?"
"Yeah," Ryuu said, taking a hold of her waist again.
"One, two, three!" Again he threw her up and she jumped. He grabbed her feet, Tenten grabbing her ankles, and Ino tried to keep her balance even as Ryuu worked to maintain a grip on the stunt. They wobbled around, Ino feeling her weight start to shift to the right as Ryuu struggled. "Oop!" she exclaimed as she felt herself start to fall sideways and she jumped slightly, landing on the balls of her feet instead of having to be caught.
Ino shook her legs out. "Sorry!" Ryuu said.
"It'll take practice," the coach said. "Let's have the next pair. Sai and Masaki!"
Masaki strode into the center of the mat, her bleached hair practically glowing under the lights. Sai followed and stood behind her. Tenten and Echiko took their places. "Do you need me to explain the stunt again?" the coach asked. Sai shook his head. "Alright, whenever you're ready."
"One," Masaki said. "Two. Three." Sai lifted her into the cupie and gripped her feet firmly, Tenten holding onto her ankles. Instead of stumbling like Ryuu had, Sai seemed to have the balance down, and Masaki did a low V with her arms and the two held the pose for a few seconds.
"Very good!" the coach said. "Dismount."
Masaki dropped down, Sai helping to catch her. "Thank you," Masaki said, nodding to him. Ino almost laughed. Masaki was as cold as Sai was expressionless. They made a very amusing pair.
Nia and Alonzo also went, followed by Maybe and Keigo. The coach checked the time. "Ah, time for the workout. Good thing, Sasuke and Atsuko, I want you two to work on chair sits more before you try this. Sorry, but you two need to work on your balance more, and cohesiveness," she said as the rest of the team got ready for the workout. Sasuke nodded and Atsuko's face turned bright red.
"Are you kidding me?" she muttered under her breath, sounding furious. Sasuke glanced sideways at her. She looked livid. He sighed slightly. He imagined Atsuko would have preferred a more skilled partner.
"Ino'll be running the workout today," the coach said. Ino nodded and walked into the center of the room, her ponytail swishing.
She glanced down at the clipboard. "Today… we get the weight room," she said. "Follow me," she said, leading them out of the gym and down into the weight room. It was frequently used by the other sports team, but they got a couple sessions a week in it. "So, I'm going to write the circuit down on the whiteboard and then we can start," she said. She copied the workout down from her clipboard, and turned back to face the team.
"Let's get going."
Elsewhere
Temari was sitting on her bed, going over her pre-calc for her exam, and rubbing her temples. She felt a migraine coming on the longer she worked, and she was only able to force herself through three more problems before she shoved the book back. She still had one and a half sets of problems to do to prepare but if she had to go through one more math problem, she swore she'd scream. She curled up on one side, grabbing the worn out teddy bear off her bedside table and squeezing it in her arms, her mind going back to her conundrum of her photo shoot. Time flies, and she was starting to panic. She had absolutely no idea of what to do, and she needed one fast.
Of all the times to get photographers block… she thought, punching her pillow into a better shape before laying her head back onto it. She frowned and wiggled around, trying to get more comfortable. She wiggled again, kicking the pre-calculus textbook off her bed, causing her toe to protest from the pain. She winced and sat up, sliding off the bed and picking up the book. She tossed it onto the comforter and went over to sit at her laptop, firing it up.
She hummed to herself, opening up her email. She didn't have the focus for anything, but fiddling around on the internet didn't take a lot of focus. She began going through her new emails, clicking through a couple emails from colleges, one library hold notice, and one Runner's World newsletter. There was an interesting article about cross training that she opened and then paused. The picture at the top was overly done up, very magazine, but of a person lifting weights in a very dingy looking room. The lighting looks horrible… Temari thought, sounding amused.
Then she paused. "Oh boy," she breathed. Inspiration. She grabbed her camera bag, set it on the desk beside her just for comfort, and opened a new tab with Google search. Time to do some research.
Elsewhere
Sakura sat in her window seat, studying, the side of her head pressing against the glass. Ino still wasn't talking to her, Sasuke hadn't tried to talk to her since the lunch the day before, her other friends either nervously avoided her (Hinata) or threw her sympathetic looks (Tenten and Temari). She hadn't had a real conversation in days, she had just done her homework, gone to the soup kitchen to work, and gone to her science club meetings. The last one had been that afternoon, and marked the end of Sakura's stint in the science club.
She sighed and reshuffled her flash cards, staring out into the dark as she did. It was pitch black and freezing outside. "Almost Christmas…" she murmured to herself under her breath. She already had bought all of her presents, and they were kept under her bed so no one would stumble across them in her room. Ino's present was sitting there also, though Sakura didn't know if she would end up giving it to Ino, whether or not they would even be speaking by the time Christmas rolled around.
"Hey sis."
Sakura looked up from her now impeccably shuffled flash cards. "Hey Okako," she said, smiling slightly. Okako leaned against her open doorway.
"So…" he started. "You're heading off to London for a while," he said.
Sakura nodded. "Six months. At least," she added as an afterthought. She looked down. "It really sucks."
Okako sighed. "Yeah…" he said.
"Just as I started fitting in and making more friends and all this great stuff started to happen… we move. And I get to be the weird nerdy new girl again who liked studying nuclear chemistry and math and who is too shy to make friends," Sakura said, looking up at him dully.
"Yeah… you really are a nerd aren't you?" Okako asked, smirking. "I remember. God, you were so awkward your freshman year." Sakura snorted.
"Just because you made, like, fifty friends in your first week of high school didn't mean I had too," she said, chuckling slightly.
Okako grinned. "Yeah, I was pretty awesome wasn't I? You know, I'm thinking of rushing a fraternity in Spring."
Sakura shook her head. "To round out the whole stereotype?" she asked, grinning back.
"Totally," he said, walking away down the hall. "I'm getting food. Want some toast?" he called.
"Yeah. With a lot of butter!" she yelled back. She looked back down at her flashcards and ran through them again before Okako came back. He handed her a glass plate with two pieces of toast, slathered in butter.
"You're gonna get fat if you eat that much butter all the time," he said, wandering down the hall to go watch T.V.
"I don't care," she muttered, sinking her teeth into the bread.