The Ice Prince

Chapter One

Kiba's P.O.V

3 years later…

It's finally off-season, a time of full relaxation and celebration for at least a week or two before we hit the ice again to practise. Although, that's what we were all expecting until we got the call. Or text, to be more precise.

This led us to sitting in a stuffy meeting room, pulling at the collars of our shirts as we waited for Coach to arrive. We'd be lying if we didn't say we were a bit disgruntled. To be summoned only three days after the season finishes is one thing. To be summoned over text was another. The text left a lot to the imagination.

9:30AM in the Meeting room, Monday.

Be there.

Otherwise, I'm setting Uzumaki on you.

- Hatake Kakashi.

It was debatable as to what risk you wanted to run with this text. Did you turn up on time, 9:30 on the dot, only to have to wait anywhere between 45 minutes to 3 hours for Coach to turn up? Or did you want to face the wrath of our Firecracker? Most would take their chances on the Coach rather than our renowned blondie. Especially as she was now the team physiotherapist, who gave every single player, on the team, sports massages and a personalised nutritional meal plan to follow. If you weren't following her instructions, you certainly knew about it. You most certainly felt it during her sessions too.

So, like the dutiful team we are, we're sitting and patiently waiting for Coach to arrive. Although, glancing at the big clock, ticking mechanically down the seconds, I couldn't help but notice that not everyone was present. Naruto was missing, alongside Shikamaru and Ino. Either one of the blonde's could be shaking Shikamaru awake right about now and dragging his arse over here, to be fair. It was also plausible that any of them could be assisting Kakashi with whatever plan he'd started this time round. A few months ago, Ino had accepted the position to be our Media representative, covering interviews or practically anything that other news specialists could have got hold of and twisted. Kakashi could be setting us up for a round of interviews with different news broadcasters and magazines. If he was, was it necessary to have to bring us all together? Wouldn't an email have sufficed?

Glancing at the clock, the time read 9:45AM. Groaning, my head made contact with the meeting table. We were in for a long wait. The Coach had given a sense of urgency in his text and made the point that tardiness wouldn't be tolerated. Yet he was probably the biggest, walking, talking hypocrite ever. He was notorious for his tardiness and famous for his excuses.

"Cheer up, Kiba, at least we have breakfast supplied."

Propping my chin on the table, I looked across to see Chouji with a plate stacked with four croissants, two pancakes, three apples, a small bowl of maple syrup, a glass of orange juice and a mug of coffee. Biting my tongue, I smile in acknowledgement. The food was probably part of the bribery for Chouji. Not that it was a bad thing. You just can't interfere between a man and his food. We'd all learnt that during High School. A shudder runs down my spine at the thought of the horror we faced. We all got the message crystal clear. No one talks about Chouji eating, especially if that implies anything to do with his body. My eyes rove over to the guy sitting at the end of the table, narrowing at the sight of him sitting with a paintbrush and easel. Well, everyone got the message apart from one arsehole. The number of times we'd had to pay out for damage in restaurants thanks to that prick was substantial. He still hadn't caught on to the memo and we were three years into being a team.

We never knew what he painted on those mini easels, mind. We did know that he only ever used one colour though: black. We'd all found that one out when we'd flown over for a match and his paint pots had exploded all over our kits. Hatake had the nerve to call it a team bonding experience. We called it a near death experience for one. Our warm up for that game had not been friendly.

"What breakfast items did you choose, Chouji?"

A resounding bodily twitch was set off around the table as we all stared down the other end. As if they thought they were only making small talk, the arsehole was still painting. He hadn't even looked up to see us. Otherwise the message would have been transparent. Do not talk to Chouji about food.

"Hmph? Oh…well, thanks for asking. I've got four croissants…I'd already eaten one when I arrived, mind…errr, let's see, two pancakes with maple syrup. I might get another one though… To wash it down I've got an orange juice and a coffee. Oh and this morning I had a sausage-" with each new food Chouji rattled off, the glares around the table had intensified. Our shoulders couldn't get any closer to our ears if we tried. All it would take is that arsehole to say one word and we'd all be paying the repercussions, quite literally and figuratively.

"Do you think there might be any more croissants left?"

In sync, all eyes turned to the breakfast table. One white plate sat on the side, empty aside from a few flaky pastry crumbs.

My fingers and toes were definitely crossed now. I may not be religious, but fuck me. To any god out there, please, please, please… My eyes shut as I mouthed my prayer.

"Oh, well they were on the table. It looks like they're all gone now." Choji replied.

"That's a shame. I would have liked one. I wonder who ate them all."

This time the bastard did look up. He made direct eye contact with Choji, who was polishing off the last of his croissants and licking the flaky pastry from his fingers.

"Why are ya looking at me like that, Sai?"

"Well, it appears you've eaten all of the croissants."

"Is that so? I'm sure someone else has had some too. Right guys?" Choji continued, moving onto his pancakes as he slathered maple syrup onto them. He was bouncing up and down in his seat, doing a little happy dance as he prepared his breakfast.

Dutifully, whilst squeezing our arseholes tightly shut, we all nodded.

"Yes Choji, they were delicious".

We were treading a fine fucking line. One wrong move and-

"On the contrary, no one else has a plate in front of them. You've eaten them all, Choji."

"Hmm? I have?"

Cold sweat dripped down my spine. That. fucking. Arsehole. Did he think this was a game? The last time we'd tried to hold Chouji back, we'd all ended up in the hospital receiving stitches.

Choji's eyes had snapped up to look Sai in the eye. There was a slight narrowing in his eyes as he said "What are you trying to say, Sai?"

Sai plastered that fake as fuck smile on his face.

A collective groan left the rest of us.

"It would've been nice-

"-nice to include some toast too or…some crepes or bacon and eggs. Right Choji? That would've been nice, right?" I interjected, pleading for Choji to take the line I'd thrown him. If he took it, we could reel him in and we'd be safe.

"Well, that would be…." the man paused, deep in thought for a minute, before turning and asking "Sai, what were you trying to say about the croissants? Were you implying something?"

Shit a brick and fuck me with it.

"Well, if we're being blunt Choji-

WHAM

We all jumped, turning to see the door bang open as a lithe man with spiky grey hair strolled into the room. A mask covered the bottom half of his face. He was wearing a jumper over a white shirt and black slacks. Clasped in his hand was a paper bag.

"Ahh Choji, I was walking past a local bakery on the way here and thought of you. Here you go."

Promptly, he placed the wrinkled bag on the table in front of Choji as he continued to stride to the front of the room, where a blank, black chalkboard stood.

"Really? Thanks 'Kashi! That's so thoughtful of you."

Without any more thought on what he'd just been discussing, Choji dived into the paper bag and unwrapped its contents. An egg, sausage and bacon muffin.

Kakashi - 1

Sai - 0

We could all breathe a bit easier in the room, thanks to that quick thinking. How their coach had known ahead of time that this would happen was beyond them. They may have just fallen in love with their coach that little bit more though, even if it forced them to skate extra laps around the arena.

Clearing his throat, Kakashi's eyes closed, gesturing with a smile as he did a quick two finger salute. We'd worked out in the years we'd had him as a coach what his facial expressions he was conveying behind the black mask, covering half his face. Clearing his throat, Kakashi put his back to us as he scratched on the black chalkboard, "YOU ALL FAILED", underlining it once he finished with his chalk.

"Hang on a minute, we got to the quarter-finals! That's pretty good for only our third year in the League."

Protests immediately started, whilst Hatake merely stood there with his arms folded. The mask pulled to just below his nose gave nothing away as to what he was thinking or how he was reacting to us.

The room fell silent when he spoke.

"Exactly. It's "pretty good" but it's by no means spectacular. You all could have done better. Who can tell me what your initiation task was to join this team?"

Neji calmly and collectively recounted the exercise, "You had us try to obtain two bells from your waist. Knowing there were six of us, it immediately set us apart. We all wanted to be part of this team. We only succeeded, however, when we worked together as a team."

"Correct, Captain." Kakashi praised before placing his left hand on the board. "That was at the beginning though. We've had three years together. I need to see more from each of you, which is why this plan was devised by my lovely assistants."

With that said, the door opened once more to reveal Shikamaru being dragged along by Naruto, wearing skinny jeans, white converse and a red t-shirt with a bowl of ramen designed on it in a funky cartoon design. She flashed a grin across the room as she made her way to the front. Shika was grumbling, trying to pry her hand away from his ear, which she was dragging him by.

Standing at the front, just next to the board with her hands on her hips and that wide grin, had us all nervous. We were all leaning forward, elbows resting on the table.

"Go on then, 'Ruto. Let's hear it!" I called out as I pushed back into my chair and brought my hands behind my head.

Still grinning, she shook her head, her messy bun's strands flying as her and Shikamaru flipped the board over.

Our eyes widened at the diagrams and notes drawn haphazardly all over the board. Squinting my eyes, I leant further forward to see what it said.

"Errr…what does it say exactly?"

"Uchiha always said your writing looked like chicken scratch…"

It was meant as a light hearted joke, yet the look that crossed Naruto's face…it was only for a split second. It honestly looked like she'd been slapped. Odd reaction… Tutting, I leant forward in my chair again, saying "Come on then 'Ruto, hit us with it. I'm sure you and Shika have come up with something grand."

The flash of appreciation wasn't missed as she explained, "Shika and I have spoken with the other teams. After our last season, we thought it would be great to get some extra practice in with them all. Because we worked so hard but we can definitely do better, y'know? We thought what's the best way to get everyone together? So we're hosting practices at our arena. Your training schedules will be sent out in the next few days. Those who've got appointments with me, good luck, and if you haven't already, schedule one with me because, trust me boys, you're gonna be busy, busy, busy for the next 3 months."

The resounding chorus that echoed around the room wasn't surprising in the least.

"3 months?!"

"ALL the teams?"

"Training schedules?"

Yawning, Nara blearily glanced at us each saying "Let me elaborate on those practices. There will be more detail outlined in your schedules but we're taking this opportunity to scout out the teams in the flesh. What are their weaknesses? What are their strengths? How can we exploit this? Videos only cover so much and we have to rely on the media's coverage of the events. It will also be a learning opportunity. If you know someone on a team who does something that is a little bit better, find out from them how to be that bit better." Sidelong glancing at the blonde next to him, he added "Naruto's going to do some snooping of her own with the other teams. I'll leave that side up to her though. I still don't quite get how she's handling that side."

"As I said Shika, you stick to cloud gazing whilst I go undercover."

"Undercover?" Neji questions, turning his gaze to the blonde, "As in, our renowned Orange Firecracker is going undercover?"

"How's that going to work?" I ask.

Naruto smirks, crossing her arms as she says "That's for me to work out and for you not to find out."

"You're not going to whore yourself out are you?" Sai pipes up from the end.

I lean over the table, arms braced, muscles flexing as I snap "Do you want to shut the fuck up before I do it for you?"

"I was merely asking a question."

My nostrils flare, pushing Lee slightly, who's sitting next to me, as I retort "Obviously she's not going to fucking whore herself out, you cum drop."

Before Sai can retort, the door to the meeting room is thrown open and the click, clack of heels is heard. We all swivel our heads to greet who's just entered.

"Good to see you're all having a lovely bonding session here. But I'm going to have it cut it short." Flashing a smile, she says "Sorry, Hatake, but I'm going to have to interrupt your meeting."

Strutting into the room in her black stilettos, Yamanka Ino looked like she was all business. She had a laptop tucked underneath her arm as she approached the table. Wearing tight suit trousers, a white blouse with just enough umph to showcase her girls, and a fitted blazer, she matched her sharp tongue and eloquent hairstyle. Tucking her side fringe behind her ear, Ino tapped furiously at her laptop.

"What's going on, Ino?"

"You'll find out as soon as I've got…" her powder blue eyes narrowed as she focused on the screen in front of her. Before turning her gaze across the table as she swivels her screen round to everyone.

Holding her hand out, to stop further comments by the team, she addresses them.

"I'm well aware of the upcoming schedule. I've seen it already. Media haven't quite got the picture on what's happening yet, which is to our advantage for now. However, they are creating quite the stir at the airport."

Pressing play, the video starts out shaky and fuzzy as the videographer is jostled to and from, in between the other journalists vying for front row. When the video became a little clearer, it was evident that they were clamouring round a terminal at the airport. Their voices grew louder as the jostling became rougher when someone seemed to be coming towards the terminal.

"Uchiha! Uchiha! Do you have a moment to answer our questions?"

"Uchiha! Over here!"

"Uchiha, Uchiha -"

Ino paused the video. Without a word, she looked up and glanced over everyone in the room. Her facial expression gave nothing away.

We were all lost for words, trying to quickly process what we'd just seen. Considering the split second decisions we had to make out on the ice, we were going pretty slowly.

"Oh, it's my ugly twin."

Well, some of us were.

Ino's eyes snapped to the person at the back. The inner fuel of anger was being suppressed by a single unlit matchstick.

All eyes swivelled to the voice at the end of the table.

"The fuck did you just say, Sai?" I hollered, pushing back in my chair, "wanna say that any louder?"

It was my turn to then be on the receiving end of Ino's glare as she ordered "Dog breath, fish face. Shut. Up. Sit back down. Save it for the arena, or better yet the locker room."

Thanks for our beautiful media spokesperson utilising her gift of the gab, we all wisely sat the fuck down and shut the fuck up.

"So, he's back." Neji announced.

"Shit, is he going to be at our arena?! " I asked, rubbing the back of my neck as the reality of the situation hit. We hadn't seen him in three years, which is madness to think. Everytime we had a game against Sound, he was never there.

"We're going to be practising together like we used to, I can't believe it! That's going to be insane. He's got to have come a long way." I marvelled, still in somewhat disbelief as I tried to stop the grin forming on my face.

Ino sucked her lips inward, squeezing them as her brows furrowed, looking perplexed. With a noncommittal shrug, Ino glanced around before hitting play against the video again. My brows furrowed. Was that not what was happening?

"Uchiha, Uchiha! Is it true you've quit the NHL Sound team?!"

"Uchiha, are the rumours true you've quit Ice Hockey for good?!"

This time, Ino didn't even have to turn the video off. Neji did it for her.

The video was paused on him, scowling into the camera. Some things never changed it seemed. Whilst I listened to the conversation around me, I took some time looking at him. The media coverage on him had been scarce, despite joining one of the most prestigious NHL teams. He was hardly at any games either. Why weren't they utilising him? Yet looking at him in this still picture, you could see he'd been through the rounds. There were dark bags under his eyes and his cheeks looked slighter leaner, almost hollowed out. What the fuck had happened to him?

"That's a load of bullshit." Neji stated "It's just another media spin to-"

The sound of the door slamming shut made us all stop our current trains of thought. Ino glanced up and let out a tense sigh.

"I'll go and talk to her in a minute. She probably needs space right now."

Shaking my head in disbelief at what was happening, I jabbed my leg up and down as I wiped my face. This was a lot to take in. We'd worked so hard as a team these past 6 years. At Konoha High we'd found our rhythm, we'd established ourselves and made teams whisper our names in the hallways during tournaments. I'd never been in a tighter team since, which is ridiculous to state considering we're only minus one player. But I think it was thanks to that arsehole staring back at me on the screen for how far we've come. As much as he was an absolute, hands down icicle in our arses, there was no arguing he was the bread and butter to the team. He told us how it was, there were no dick contests but it was more than that. We made memories. Some of us hadn't even picked up a stick at the start of the team. The after school chats, where we hung out in the crash room to binge watch tournaments and dig into greasy pizza, the sports festivals we joined in and the whole debacle over how we were going to showcase our sport. I think we all genuinely thought Naruto and Sasuke were going to kill each other at that point. I had to give it to the comedy duo though. As much as they may have hated each other, they really brought us together. We had to step up if we wanted to avoid an all out brawl. Of course there'd been the passing comments about whether the two of them just needed to be left in a room together. Jokingly we'd made that happen during the Halloween festival at school. Boy did we pay for it in training the next couple weeks after.

Pulling my phone out, I flick through my contacts to Hinata.

"Hey, how're you? How's work?

Any chance 'Ruto's headed your way?

We're gunna catch up with her after the meeting."

Kiss or no kiss…hmmm, to be or not to be.

Fuck it.

"Hey, how're you? How's work?

Any chance 'Ruto's headed your way?

We're gunna catch up with her after the meeting."

I press send.

Call me a pussy all you like.

Luckily, I quite like pussy.

I ignore the skip of my heart as my phone vibrates in my hand, quickly unlocking it to see-

"Hi…I'm ok. You? Work's good :).

She's just walked in with Sakura.

I'll update you…or see you later?"

She added a smiley face. Fuck, I should've added a smiley face. Why didn't I add a smiley face? Idiot. Internalising the embarrassment, I let out a huff as I type back.

"Thanks, see you in 20 mins. :)"

Locking my phone, I stand up and announce "I'll catch up with this shit later. …I need to go…" I eye the door and pull a face.

Nodding in understanding, Ino says "I'll catch up with you later, Kibbles."

Again, that fucking nickname.

As the rest of the team huddles round and focuses on Ino, I head out. I'd been too preoccupied with the actual video to notice her. It was a pretty big reaction but then it had been pretty big news. We were all going to be processing this for the next couple days. This wasn't something small, like needing a filling at the dentist. It was evidently life changing. We'd all been hooked on the joint dream. All of us, together, playing at the NHL, one happy family. Right now, it was beginning to feel as disjointed as we were dysfunctional as a family.

It should take 15 minutes to get to the bakery.

10 if I run.

I started jogging.

There was a cinnamon bun calling my name and an Orange Firecracker to help.

Author's Note:

Hey! Hope you enjoyed this chapter :) No one gets in the way of Choji eating!

As always, please let me know your thoughts!

Thanks,

Honey-Emily98