The Ice Prince

Chapter 4

Kiba's POV

"I'll see you at the arena for 10.

Need to catch up on yesterday.

- Ino"

Squinting, I look at the time it was sent.

6:58AM.

I swipe down on my phone to see the time now.

9:47AM.

Well then.

Lurching out of bed, I hit the door adjacent, dropping my boxers and springing into the shower. No time to wait for warm water.

With enough time to lather soap across my body and rinse it off, I was back out of the shower and chucking on gym shorts and a tee. Thankfully, the team were living in the condos adjacent to the actual arena. So I'd be in the meeting room with time to spare, then I could hit the gym.

Swinging my gym bag over my shoulder, I headed out the door. Walking through the living room, I could see Shika's laptop open, softly whirring. But Nara was nowhere in sight. Odd. It wasn't like him to leave his laptop open. Pursing my lips, I glance to the door slightly ajar. Neji was awake then. Grabbing my keys from the side table, I shout "Heading out to see Ino about yesterday. Gym later?"

Within the time it took for me to get to the door and twist the locks, to open it, Neji was standing at his bedroom door, dressed in gym attire too. His brunet hair, which cascaded down his shoulders, was plaited instead of its usual ponytail. He was mid stretch, his arms raised above his head, right right hand on his left elbow, which were bent at a 90 degree angle.

"Text me when you finish up. I'll get Nara ready and we'll head down."

Nodding, I cast a mini salute, chiming "Aye, aye, Captain' as I head out the door.

I'd be lying if I said my heart rate wasn't slightly increased. I obviously don't know what else was discussed after I left to catch up with Naruto. I couldn't imagine there would've been a lot. Usually Shika or Neji would fill me in if I had to leave a meeting early, which hardly ever happened anyway. But obviously this was fairly different to our usual meetings, which mostly consisted of a Disappointment speech, followed by Naruto's motivational speech, projecting to our next steps and who we were playing. I wonder how Ino wants us to handle this bombshell. She's going to be doing a lot of damage control because the media will be sniffing out every source or link that ties anyone to Uchiha. It would probably be a matter of time before we were all being hounded for opinions and statements on the current situation.

As I approached the arena doors, my phone pinged in my pocket. Pulling it out, I read the message that lights up.

"Change of plans. After lunch now.

Media's finally caught up.

I'm being swamped.

- Ino"

I fire a text back, acknowledging the change in time and wishing her luck. I didn't envy her position in the slightest. I'd been on the receiving end of the reporters and they were bashful, pressing and relentless. I could imagine how they were eating up the change in plans we'd catalysed. Keeping my phone out, I shoot another text off in our group chat for the team.

"I was supposed to meet Ino but it's after lunch now. Anyone down for gym?" - Kiba

"I shall meet you at the glorious battlefield! If I do not beat my PBs, I will personally make sure I do 100 laps of the ice." - Lee

I rolled my eyes at the response. No one ever doubted Lee's passion for training, even when he took it to the extreme.

"Will we get food after?" - Choji

"Yes, Choji. Arena gym or Tenten's, Kiba?" - Shika

Ahhh, that was a good point. With the media sniffing around, did I really want to step foot in the arena? Swivelling, I head back the way I came as I typed out,

"Tenten's. See you in 15 minutes." - Kiba

Tenten's gym was slightly further afield and way more open to the community but when she'd bought the gym, she'd turned the lower floor into a personalised space for the team. You could only get down there if you had a fob. She'd kitted out the entire space with top of the range equipment.

Mostly, the gym was run by herself but over the last two years she'd taken on some personal trainers, one being Lee's old personal trainer. I couldn't help but grimace. Might Guy. What a man… He was just…an absolute role model for Lee. We were all pretty certain it's where Lee got his quirks from. They could be twins if the age difference wasn't so apparent. The complete embodiment of an athlete, in mind, spirit and body. I prayed he wasn't there for our gym session. Lee would probably sulk and cry in a corner for all of a hot minute before he'd commit to even more sets and drills.

"Mornin' Kiba, good to see you back!" Tenten chirped from where she stood behind reception. Waving, I headed over.

She was in her usual gym gear, her brunette hair pinned back into two space buns. Using her arms to push herself up, she perched onto the desk as she asked "Is it just you or are the others joining?"

I grinned, "nah, they'll be here. Just taking their sweet time. We did have a bit of a change in plans to be fair."

She nodded in understanding, quickly looking around the room to see if we had any ear wiggers, before lowering her voice.

"Is this about the news that our Firecracker's putting you all through the rounds or the…news, news?"

I clenched my mouth shut, taking a deep breath as I thought my answer over. Tenten was a nice girl, we'd known her since high school. There was no way that I thought she'd go running to the media about anything we said to her. It was more that I didn't even know what to say.

"Oh, mostly the program. It's going to be a lot, especially as we've only just really got off the ice for this season. Look, urgh...I better go and get warmed up, why don't you catch up with us all after training?"

Nodding in understanding, Tenten shooed me off with a wink as she turned to an approaching customer.

We'd just wrapped up our gym session, bidding Lee goodbye as he swore to another three rounds before he felt he'd earnt his teacher's forgiveness. As we gathered our kit up, Shika let out a muttered "troublesome".

Turning from where I'd been packing my stuff up, I looked over my shoulder. He was crouched down at his bag, his phone in one hand and his head in the other.

"Everything alright?"

Narrowing his eyes, he hastily types something on his phone before throwing it into his bag. Pivoting, whilst still staying crouched, he turns to us all.

"Ino just reminded me I was meant to send out the schedules. We're meant to go through it later, instead of practice. Seeing as we're all here though, I may as well run through it now…unless anyone's got somewhere urgent to be?"

I checked my own phone at the reminder. 12:30. I was meant to meet Ino after lunch and I hadn't even left the gym, showered and got something to eat yet.

Hyuga pulled rank though as Captain, as he drained his water bottle, stating "let's hear it."

As Shika dug around for his phone again, our heads snapped to the door as we heard it open. Peering in, Tenten nervously smiled as she asked "Ahh, are you guys resting or finished up?"

"Just finished," Neji supplied, "why?"

Without answering, Tenten checked over her shoulder and shut the door, swiftly heading over and plonking herself down where we'd all gathered.

"I haven't seen you guys in ages and I might be being a little nosy. Can you blame me though? Stuff's going down. Do you guys know your schedules yet?"

I glanced down at her. She was sitting in a stretch position, with her legs out, bent towards the floor with her feet touching. Her hands were on her feet as she focused on lowering her knees to the floor. She had far too much energy, probably from excitement, as her legs rocked up and down.

"We're actually going through it now. You can join us."

Tenten squealed at that, spurring her into asking a multitude of questions.

"So, Shika and Naru planned this schedule? How long does the whole programme go on for? Surely not right up until you're back on the ice, right? How'd you manage to convince other teams to agree to the programme anyway? How does the other news affect this? Are you guys ok?"

We all shared an awkward look at that. There had been discussions, probably ones I wasn't even aware of too. We hadn't delved into it as a group yet though. I hadn't been filled in by Ino yet as to what I'd missed.

"Players in the NHL leave all the time." Neji stated, "Out of injury, retirement, substance abuse, physical aggression, even just losing passion for the game. It's a hard truth but a truth nonetheless. We've been told by Ino to respect Uchiha's decisions and stay out of it. I agree completely with her decisions. She's got enough of a headache doing damage control, thanks to this program."

Normally, I would never argue with Neji's decisions. He was Captain of our team and he'd led us to many wins. He'd been Vice-Captin during our Konoha High days. He was reliant, matter of fact still but he was able to see everything that happened on the ice, even if he was on the other side of the rink. Him and Nara made quite the fearsome duo if we had to appeal against a ref's decisions. It still stood though - to respect Uchiha's decisions and stay out of it. How could he just happily agree to that?

"Would Uchiha want that?"

All heads turned to me.

"What was that, Inuzuka?" Neji retorted, narrowing his eyes at my clear challenge.

"I said, would Uchiha want that? For us to not challenge him about this decision? There was a time where we challenged every single fucking decision he made because it was so left field. He earnt our trust because of it. It doesn't matter if he's our Captain now or not, we shouldn't be letting him down like this. What if he needs a bit of a wake up call? What if-"

"-Ino hasn't spoken to you yet, so you don't know." Neji interjected, crossing his arms. "There are two close sources that she's investigating a bit further into. One claims Uchiha left because of an old shoulder injury. Another says he just randomly quit one day, saying he didn't want to play any more. We're leaving it to her to investigate it because we need to focus on this program."

"He just randomly quit one day" I parrot back. "Does that really sound like Uchiha? Because it sure as hell doesn't to me. That guy had the last say, no matter what. I should know because it fucking infuriated me. He just never backed down, like ever. If it wasn't me trying to deck him, Naruto was practically strangling him. But he sorted issues. He stood up to Coach if he really thought what he was asking was out of line. He was a good Captain and a fucking amazing player. Remember our last game as a team? I was being rammed into the barrier but, sure enough, he was there and I passed the puck to him. My job on the ice was to deflect the attention away from him! Coach would ream our arseholes a new one, sure, but Uchiha picked up the pieces every. Single. Time. No, sorry, but I don't believe this for one moment."

Gritting my teeth, I fist my hands by my side.

"All I know is that Uchiha's left Ice Hockey, which is a fucking joke because he would never do that willingly and Naruto's acting all weird and she won't talk to me. Then I fucking annoyed Sakura because she wouldn't drop- a situation... The point is, she said Uchiha and Naruto were together. It seemed like she's known for a long time. So, what, am I the only one to not fucking know? Are you going to enlighten me as to why I couldn't know?"

Suddenly, a loud groan cut through the group. My narrowed eyes landed on Shika, who was lying flat on his back and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"This is so troublesome. Yes, I agree, Uchiha up and leaving hockey isn't like him. But we have the program to start and get our heads round. Teams have already started arriving today and the media are being whipped into a frenzy. You need to stop taking your frustrations out on Neji, Kiba. He's only following orders from Ino and Coach." He gave me a pointed look before reluctantly saying "…and finally, yes they were together. No, none of us knew officially. They never came out and told anyone. Although I thought they were pretty obvious."

A chorus of "They were?!" resounded round the gym.

Well, at least I'm not the only one surprised by that information.

"Ahhhh, why didn't they tell anyone?" Tenten exclaims, clutching her legs towards her chest as she asks "How long were they going out for? Wait, why did it end?! Was it because he was scouted and had to move? That's so sad."

"Jesus, woman, stop rapid firing questions like that." Shika complains, standing and hauling his bag over his shoulder.

"Actuaallyy…" Tenten added, thinking out loud, "...if I remember rightly, wasn't Naruto on and off sick during the last part of the season? It kinda felt like after the last game, we all pretty much dispersed… Naruto didn't even say goodbye to any of us. She went off travelling with her dad right?"

Hyuga nods, reminiscing, "I remember something along the lines of that, she definitely went off travelling with her dad."

"To answer your last question, they were probably going out for a year…year and a half. Not like it matters, it's their business and theirs only and that's where I'm leaving this conversation."

"Are we gonna go and get food now, Shika? Choji asked, munching on a bag of jerky he'd grabbed from his bulky sports bag. The guy had more snacks than a pantry, I swear.

Shika nodded, announcing "We'll go through the program later with Ino. It's probably better that way."

I ignored the pointed look in my direction as the anger inside bristled.

"Hang on," Neji calls, picking up his bag and turning to Shika and Choji, who were almost to the door. "How did you know that they were dating, Nara? If you knew, why did you never tell us?"

Shikamaru remained focused on heading out, calling over his shoulder with a wave, "No one ever asked me what I thought."

Ino's POV

"-as explained, Konoha Leaf makes no comment about the situation you are referring to. No, do not contact any of the team personally. If I hear that you have-" I'm cut off before I can finish my sentence. The biggest pet peeve I have. You don't interrupt a woman, ever. Huffing slightly, I grab my pen, rotating it in my hand to push it down on my notepad. The pen makes a satisfying click. Rotating the pen back around, I push down to create a little dot. I do this on repetition, something about it soothing me from the journalist on the phone and the building tension in my shoulders. Pulling the phone from my ear, I glance at how long I've been on the phone for. 28 minutes, 48 seconds. Jesus christ. That's time I'm never going to get back. Taking the pen I flick it in between my fingers, back and forth, as I put the phone back to my ear. The man just didn't seem to get the hint, which is astonishing as I'd been repeating the script since I'd answered the phone.

Sitting forwards in my chair, straightening my back, I interject "-right, I'm going to stop you there. As previously stated, and I will only reiterate this once more, sir, Konoha Leaf makes no comment about the situation you're referring to. As a journalist yourself, you should know the only story is the one straight from the source. I suggest you stop pestering my phone or you'll find this number blocked. Good day to you."

With that said, I hang up and throw my phone onto the notepad. I made that call number 9 for this morning, only one more call and I'd be hitting double digits. The media had been relentless. Whilst I completely got it, this was big news, I'd never received so many phone calls demanding they interview the team to get their opinions on Uchiha. They just couldn't understand the term no. It's also like they have no experience talking to an actual lady.

Huffing, my eyes glance at the list on my notepad as I take a sip of my coffee, which is stone cold. Great. First on the list was the person of the hour.

Uchiha Sasuke.

If I took a shot every time I heard his name, I'd be in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Everyone wanted the story. The Ice Prince had left the rink, officially and supposedly forever. Yet could anyone get a word directly from the source? No one. Yet. My lips formed a smirk. I hadn't tried yet but I just may have the way that could do it. Drumming my nails on the table, I circle his name. I'd have to bide my time and wait for the right moment. But-

The sound of my phone going off again had me groaning out loud and hanging my head. Make that call number 10.

"Hello, you've reached Yamanaka Ino." I greeted with a terse tone. The rest of my script was already on the tip of my tongue ready to fire as soon as they were done introducing themselves and why they were calling.

"Hey, Ino…it's me, Sakura. Is this a bad time?"

Brows rising, I sit back in my chair as my hand goes to rub my stomach, which is omitting a loud growl. I'd missed breakfast thanks to the persistent phone calls. It was nearing lunch time too. Swiping on my phone to my contacts, I shoot a quick text to Kiba to let him know I'll see him after lunch. I'd have this chat with Sakura and then head out for lunch. Although, I wasn't sure why Sakura was calling me in the first place. Don't get me wrong, we texted daily but I could've sworn she was working today.

"Hey hun, no, of course not! You're saving me actually. I was contemplating turning my phone off, it's been ringing constantly since…well, you know, everything."

"Oh right, yeah, I can imagine…they must be relentless. Must get irritating having to say the same thing time after time, huh? If there's anyone who can handle it though, it's definitely you, Ino."

I scoff at the compliment, waving my hands animatedly as I fold my leg over my other. "Trust me, Sakura, I'm at wits end with it all. I still can't believe Naruto planned this whole program for the off-season. She and Shika have a lot to answer for when I next see them. I had no clue any of this was happening during the season, then Naruto tells me just as I'm getting in my taxi from the airport to go home. Can you believe it? There was no relaxing for me. I thought I had the off-season to relax just a little bit. But no. Do you reckon she planned that? Honestly…I love her, I do, I really do, but, my god, that girl needs to work on her timing!" I let out a breathless laugh at that before waving my hand, "Anyway, enough about me and my rambling. You ok? Aren't you meant to be at work right now? Are you on a break or something?"

"It's ok, honestly, no worries…yeah, yeah, I'm fine…I've got the next three days off, so I was wondering if you wanted to go and grab a coffee sometime? It doesn't have to be, it could be a beverage instead. But I don't really want to go to the pub…I'll explain when I see you in person."

My brows furrow at the mention of not wanting to go to the pub, that's our place. We've been going there for what feels like a lifetime. To not want to go? That was a bit odd.

"I'd love to go for a coffee. Let me think…I'm meant to meet Kiba after lunch but I haven't actually had lunch yet. Considering it's…" I glance at my watch, "12, I'm gonna say I'm going to turn off my phone and meet you somewhere for lunch. I'll send him a text saying I'll see him here with the team later, we've got to go over the program anyway."

"Yeah, that sounds great. Shall I meet you at the usual place?"

I let out a giggle, responding "by usual, you mean Hina's bakery, right?"

"Naturally," she laughs. There's a brief pause before she speaks again "…erm, did you say you needed to talk to Kiba, by the way?"

Standing up, I threw my notepad and pen into my laptop bag before hitching it over my shoulder and grabbing my handbag. Walking out of the room, I flick off the lights. Fiddling with the locks, whilst I keep my phone to my ear with my shoulder, I reply "Err yeah, we just need to go through the media coverage at the moment and how to respond to it. You know how Kiba gets, he's protective to a fault, and out of anyone on the team, I'm gunning that he'll be the one to run his mouth to the media about this all."

"I hadn't thought of it like that…erm, anyway, I'll see you at Hinata's in 5?"

After locking the door, I head to the lift, feeling like Sakura was being a little bit off. I love the girl like I love all of the girls but you could always tell when she was a bit off. She was always a bit hesitant and timid.

"See you then," I responded before hanging up and heading into the lift. Hopefully with a coffee to sort out my energy levels and some food in my stomach, I could help sort out whatever's going on with Sakura too. If not…well, it's another one to add to the ever growing list of problems I had.

Author's Note:

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Please let me know your thoughts. It's a really good incentive for me to keep writing and I feel like people are actually enjoying the story. Otherwise I feel like I'm only writing for myself when I know you're all out there.

Feel free to review, I promise I don't bite :)

See you next time,

Honey-Emily98