A/N - Alright, now heres something a bit longer
It's a fork in the road dude.
Now you have to decide if you're going to take that leap of faith.
Just do it bruh. What is there to lose?
DISCLAIMER - I do not own Naruto
Song used for this chapter - Glude - Breathe [NCS Release]
I know it's stupid, but for awhile there during that summer, or hell the entire time in high school, I'd think about the past.
About how simple it was to be just us, me and Ino, going through basic shit.
I remembered when we had just hit middle school, and my mom had told me she'd start working late. It wouldn't have been a problem if I road the bus, but I couldn't because the school I was in was out of my district. And that was only because I did the work to make sure me and Ino were in the same school again after elementary, despite the fact that I wouldn't be able to bus home every day.
It took a lot of convincing, but of course. I refused to back down.
Leading to the fact that without mom there, since she would be working so late, I couldn't get a ride home right after school. I remembered how I was trying to figure out what I was going to do, because our middle school didn't have many activities after school. There was band, art, some weird science shit. But there were also sports.
And that was the only thing that peaked my interest.
Back when we told each other everything, where we practically shared the same brain as we attempted to think about any situation, I told Ino that I was thinking about doing basketball. I remember how she bit her lip when I told her, tilting her head in this cute way she usually did when she was thinking about something. But what I couldn't get out of my head was that smile that split her lips.
And how she told me that was a good idea, because then she could be a cheerleader to cheer me on.
I don't know. To anyone else it wouldn't mean much. But for us?
It shaped how we turned out.
Because the single blessing our high school offered was the fact that cheerbunnies existed.
It's the gist of whatever you figure. The cheerleaders in our school were all assigned an athlete, one for different sports. Football, soccer, hell even lacrosse had their cheerbunnies. Sure sometimes one cheerleader had three different athletes to juggle, but sports ran differently through out the year. The bunnies didn't have to worry about football and basketball because we played on different seasons.
They would always greet us before every game, cheering us on and gassing us up to stomp the competition. And after the game?They brought protein bars, Gatorade, and snacks. Win or loss, they were there. While it's stupid, honestly losing gamed sucked and they were one of the few things that made it better.
Cheerbunnies were my favorite only for one reason though.
Because Ino was one, and she was mine.
I guess it's cheap, silently cheering on to the fact that on game nights I knew it was, without a doubt, a night where it was all about me. And as a double win, she didn't have to hide the fact that I had all of her attention.
And I didn't have to hide how much I enjoyed it.
Because the boyfriend- yes now boyfriend- couldn't say a single thing. This was something he wasn't allowed to meddle with. Our school events, the opposite of his- which happened to be the rivaling school- couldn't and didn't concern him in anyway.
Root for small victories right?
So technically Ino was all mine for a couple of nights through out the school years.
Nights I took the fullest advantage of.
But during the summer, I relished in it. Only because, during summer our school went into scrimmages against other teams for some AU league. And I took full advantage of it all.
Every game night, I would have her in the dressing room with me. Alone. Where no one could see how she wanted to act when no one was there.
While Ino, out loud, to the general public- including me- couldn't out right admit she wanted me to herself; when it was just us, when no one was around, it was like nothing else existed.
No Kiba.
No reason.
Logic.
It was just us.
And that's why I always looked forward to game night. Even summer of senior year, when I should have been relaxing before stressing about college, which was a whole other issue. Yet I agreed to play for my last summer, just to be able to have her to myself for a few more nights.
One of the nights I was sitting on the bench with my back against the tile, hiding my smile as Ino pouted. We were in the locker room, alone. My team was on the court, warming up with a couple of lay ups and jump shots but I preferred to warm up in my own creative way.
And Ino didn't mind at all except she was peeved, maybe even breaking the surface of annoyed.
Because I refused to promise a winning game for her sake. I'd win the game regardless, to stroke my own ego I was that good, but she wanted it to be for her.
"Why not, Sakura?" She asked with a small frown when I refused again.
"Because you haven't given me any reasons to," I replied with another small smile.
The real reason was because I liked her like that. Biting her lip, looking desperate, asking something from me. She went back to being that little kid I met, and it only happened so often. But when she bit her lip now, it had an entirely different effect.
Just like when she wanted her way now, she tried in entirely different ways. And I had no complaints on how creative she'd get.
"You want a reason?" She whispered, coming between my spread legs as I continued to watch her from the bench, "Just tell the truth, Sakura. You want me to beg."
I adjusted my jaw, oddly effected by the accusation. The thought of her begging was hard to get rid of after imagining it. She smiled slightly as she caught me getting flustered, slowly slipping one leg over me as she came closer. Her other slipped against me a second later, leaving her in my lap as she ran lips up to my ear, "I'm right aren't I?"
I tilted my head away, annoyed. Hypocritical, but I liked when I had the upperhand over her. Not the other way around. The other way around reminded me how I had no control over anything between us. Not with the boyfriend ever lingering. Ever there.
Hand running up my neck, she pulled me back. I felt her smile against my ear as she mumbled, "Oh I am right. Now when did my best friend get into begging?"
My eyes narrowed as I stared ahead, "Aren't you supposed to be working for something? Or did you want my game winning shot to be to for one of the other cheerleaders that's been eyeing me all year."
"And now you're annoyed," she went on, laughing as she sighed and pulled back to sit straight. She gave me this smile, the irritating one that came out only when she was making fun of.
I set my jaw and watched her, not saying a word.
She sighed, rolling her eyes as she ran her hand up my shoulders, leaning back in when her fingers trailed up my neck again, "I don't know why you're so aggravated all of the sudden. I didn't say I was above begging... especially for you."
Out of reaction, I swallowed.
I hadn't even realized I grabbed her waist and pulled her closer until she mumbled into my ear, "You're going to leave bruises if you don't loosen up."My hands began to move away, but she caught them both and wrapped my arms around my waist, "Loosen. Not leave me cold over here. And are you going to tell me what this is about?"
For the first time tonight, she gotten serious as she backed up slightly to look at my face, "You're way more tense than usual."
I was. Because the combination of my imagination and her little teasing words had me officially on edge. There was only so much I could handle before I started to crack and lose it. Shaking my head, I mumbled, "Nothing. Last few games of this summer. It's starting to sink in."
Before she could pry, Temari barged in. She gave us one look and rolled her eyes, "A new ritual for getting your head right before the game is needed. I'm serious. This is getting ridiculous."
Ino pouted, "She was giving me a hard time."
Temari eyed me as I looked away in innocence. Huffing, she ordered, "Well that's enough. Ino get on the court the game is about to start, which means pre-spiritfingers. "
Ino groaned before standing up from my lap, "You're not even a cheerleader. Why do you care?"
"Because my boy over here needs to get her ass on the court as well. Supposed to be the best team in the league this summer we're going against, which means she needs to stop fucking around and step up to the plate."
I rolled my own eyes as I stood up, "I don't care who they are, they aren't going to win."
"They will if you two don't stop acting up," Temari countered while giving me a glare, "Get out there man, coach has been having a fit about it already."
"Why friends shouldn't play sports together," I mused out loud as I strolled towards the door, "Reason number one: They are a pain in the ass and strain the friendship in place."
"Like you'd get rid of your partner in crime," Temari called out with a grin, "On the court or at a party, I'm always ready to set a pick."
"Oh you mean the girls I deem not worth my time that you scoop up and entertain while I flee?" I asked, faking my curiosity as slow smile pulled my lips.
"Watch yourself," she warned, giving me a friendly push, "Now go ahead. You too Ino."
Ino gave me a glance before rolling her eyes and walking out the door.
I frowned as I watched her, but brushed it off a second later. Just when I was about to follow, Temari gripped my shoulder and stopped me. I gave her a glance, about to joke how she was stopping me when she was just rushing me out the door, but the steady look she was giving me forced me to pause.
"What's up?" I asked, turning around with another small frown.
"You good, man?" She asked, surprising me.
"Yeah, just ready to get the game over with," I answered with a grin, "Another win for the books before we are just a blimp in history to the school."
"You sure?" She pressed.
My eyebrows came together. Why was everyone on my case? "Yeah, I'm sure. Why? Do I look like shit?"
A smile slipped her lips suddenly as she shoved me towards the door, "You always look like shit, man. Come on, let's go."
"That's not what the girls think," I countered with a laugh, but her worry bothered me.
Temari didn't take interest if there wasn't a reason.
Maybe my frown as Ino left threw her off. But I couldn't worry about it. I had a game to win.
And a girl to win it for.
Needless to say, game winning shot went to me.
Just for the grinning cheerleader watching me with a huge smile as I pointed to her the second the ball left my palms.
X
Getting the game winning shot was almost like tradition for me. Of course it didn't happen every game, but if there was a bet laid out on who would get it in the next close game, I made sure to win it.
Because the team loved to spice up our boring ass winning streak.
During the years of high school, the bet was simple. We didn't have much cash on us, the entire team couldn't afford to get a part time job when we practiced so often to maintain our ivy league playstyle, so we had gotten creative.
It was a calibration of both cheerbunnies and the basketball team to keep up our wins.
Who ever won the bet got a lap dance from a volunteering cheerleader.
So yeah, of course I started to take that shit hella serious.
The bet had started as a joke from the soccer team. That's right, our cheerleaders were so awesome they were even on the sidelines cheering for soccer. The story goes that they were one game away from going to the championship, and the power forward told the guys that whoever gets the last goal got the lap dance. It only counted if they won though.
Which was slightly unfair, seeing as not everyone in soccer were able to score goals, but I didn't know much about soccer.
The tradition spread through out every team.
I remembered when I first got my game winning shot. It was sophomore year during one of our tougher games. The feel of it was amazing, despite the fact that I wanted to collapse from working so hard on the court. Cheering, fucking school going crazy, my team gassing me up as they shouted and tackled me.
Surprisingly enough, that wasn't the best memory of it all.
I mean it was obviously a close second, but the best memory of it all was sitting at the victory party. My team surrounding me as they whistled and acted a fool as I was forced to sit in the chair to receive my winning bet. Back when I was tunnel visioned, focused on Ino even though she was talking to a guy at the time, I was hoping it would be her that would give me the lap dance.
But it ended up being another cheerleader.
Like I said, I was tunnel visioned. I didn't find out until the next year that the girl actually had a crush on me, and that's why she volunteered.
Found out even later than that that Ino had actually offered first, but the girl stepped up to and they put it to a vote.
Shit it didn't really matter, it was the best time of my life. And the turning point.
See as I got that lap dance, I began opening my eyes to the girls around me.
And my optimistic self would like to think the little frown on Ino's lips as she watched with the rest of the crowd was because she was opening her eyes to me.
But it was a long shot. Two years later, summer of senior year, and I had been zoned so hard I had to listen to the gushing of her and Kiba's dates. Didn't matter though, because since that day Ino had made sure she was the only cheerbunny I had on my lap when my bets were won.
A smile slipped my lips as I thought about it all.
"Don't look so god damn smug," Temari joked as we came out from the locker room, back in our normal clothes.
I gave her a wink, "I'm allowed to be with that nice ass three pointer I made."
"Ladies and gentleman, the humility award goes to Sakura Haruno and her outstanding show of modest character."
Perking at the joke that was made behind me, I turned and grinned to see Sasuke coming up with a smirk. Naruto and Ino followed him as they approached us.
"Ay, you made it," I stated while walking up to them.
"Ah, what else is there to do this summer?" He replied with a shrug and a small smile, "Nice shot though, no lie."
"Yeah, that was intense as fuck," Naruto commented with a grin of his own, "I was at the edge of my seat. But do these games even matter?"
"There is a championship at the end, but it doesn't really matter to us," Temari answered with a laugh, "We graduated. This is pretty much for fun for us."
"Oh man, Temari. You were killing it out there too. They literally couldn't stop you from throwing in those layups," Naruto started to gush, but I was toning them all out.
Instead my eyes were focused on Ino as she gave me this little smile. She didn't want to show it, but I knew she was just a bit too happy about my shot for her. Leaning in slightly, I asked, "So, does that shot get me a dance?"
Her smile slipped a little higher, "Maybe."
"Great," I said, sounding enthused, "So who do I talk to into getting Kagura as my bunny of choice."
She narrowed her eyes at me, but she was faking her peeved look, "Depends, was the shot for her?"
"No," I admitted.
"Then sorry to say Sakura, but your dance is coming from me," she said in a mater of fact tone, "Oh, and this one will be one on one. Your jock friends get incredibly too excited about watching."
My eyebrows rose in interest, "From you? But I thought the cheerleaders discussed as a group who would step up to the plate."
"Well the cheerleaders weren't there when I was in the locker room with you before the game, were they?" She countered as she looked at her polished nails, "And neither was your team. Which means, the bet wasn't even valid and you shouldn't be getting a dance in the first place."
"But I'm getting one anyway," I continued on for her, smiling slightly.
"Yes," she replied, peaking up at me, "Because the winning shot made me happy."
I laughed, but the noise caused Naruto's arm to wrap around me, "What's so funny, huh? The amount of money we're going to have to shed on drinks tonight? Because that isn't funny at all."
"We win so often, I seriously don't think it's healthy to drink every time after a victory," I said with a snort as he forced me to walk with him towards the student parking lot.
"She might have a point," Temari mused out loud as we strolled.
"But the question here is if we honestly give a fuck," Sasuke pointed out.
"I don't think so," Ino answered for all of us.
We paused before laughing, all agreeing at once.
They started to chatter on about something else. As they did my eyes slipped to Ino's.
She had already been looking, and being caught brought a little flustered look on her face.
Cute, but I knew was that she better drop the act soon.
She wasn't allowed to be shy during my lap dance later at the victory party.
Moving right along.
Not much to say at this point