[swimming AU, funny]

This is just 4x100 medley relay. You've got this. Win first this heat, and you're for-sure going to the Konoha Olympics. Hell yeah, my name is Sakura Haruno! The pink-haired girl tied her hair up into a ponytail and slipped her swimcap over it.

"Sakura, are you doing butterfly again?"

"Huh?" Sakura turned to her fellow teammate in medley relay, Ino Yamanaka, "no, not this time. I think Hinata said she was doing it instead. I'm doing freestyle."

"What?" Ino pouted, "screw you, I'm stuck with breaststroke..."

"Ha. That sucks." Sakura stuck her tongue out at the bleach-blonde as Tenten jumped into the water and held onto the starting block.

The announcer announced over the loud-speaker, "at this rate, the winning women's medley relay team is directed to the Olympics from here, right Izumo?"

"Ah, yes, Kotetsu." Izumo nodded, "fine groups. They'll be going to participate in the next Konoha summer Olympics coming right up!"

"Now we'll wait and see what this bunch has to offer in the women's 4x100 meter medley relay."

The buzzer went off and the swimmers took off.

"C'mon, Tenten!" Ino clapped and cheered loudly, "keep it going!"

"She's got the fastest backstroke out of all of us." Hinata stretched, "she'll be fine."

"You've probably got the strongest arms, Hinata." Sakura chuckled, "butterfly's your best."

"Don't be so humble, Sakura." Hinata rolled her eyes, "you should be one to talk. You can do any stroke and still swim so fast!"

"Well..." Sakura chuckled, "it all depends on the day."

"Better get ready." Ino adjusted her goggles and stepped onto the block, "wish me luck, guys!"

"Break a leg." Sakura smirked.

"Thanks, billboard brow." Ino chuckled. Tenten returned to the wall and she dove into the water.

"Good job, Tenten!" Sakura grabbed Tenten's hand and helped her out of the pool.

"How was... My time?" She panted as she took a towel, wiped her face, then glanced over at the clock.

"A second and a half faster!" Sakura smiled, "awesome!"

"Thanks." Tenten grinned, "go, go, Hinata!"

"Yeah, yeah." Hinata took her stance on the block. Once Ino slapped the wall, Hinata dove in.

"Yeah, Hinata!" Ino pumped her fists in the air.

"Good job, Ino!" Sakura and Tenten congratulated her.

"How are we doing?"

Sakura glanced up, "ah! First already!"

"Let's keep this up, Hinata!" Tenten cheered.

If I'm being honest with myself... I hate swimming freestyle. Sakura slipped her goggles over her eyes. Freestyle always goes last in medley relays, and going last puts you in a position in which the entire relay rests in your hands. It's all up to you to bring your team to the end. Not just to the end, but in first place, too. That's what my job is. Sakura took her stance and took a few deep breaths. When she heard Hinata's hand slap the wall, she dove into the water. Once she hit the water, time seemed to stand still.

"Save your energy until the final run."

"I'm going to fall behind right at the get-go." Sakura groaned.

"Yes, but you'll make your comeback in the end. Works more than half the time."

Sakura blinked, "not all the time?"

"Nope. I had a student that came in last." The gray-haired, masked man grinned, "but I know you can do it."

Gee, thanks, Kakashi-Sensei... His words ran through her mind. She could see the other swimmers moving past her, but she tried her hardest not to exert herself until the very end. Flip-turn, this was the last round. That's when Sakura pushed hard.

Shanaroo!

She moved her arms and kicked hard, and before she knew it, she grabbed the wall, resurfaced, then checked the times, "ah! First!"

"Damn, you're fast." the girl in the next lane panted, "good job, Pinkie."

"Heh." Sakura grinned as she pulled her swimcap off, "same to you."

"Sakura Haruno, she's a beast!" Izumo yelled.

"Calm down, Izumo." Kotetsu patted his fellow contender on the shoulder, "congratulations again to our qualifying team! We will see you all at the Konoha Olympics next week!"

"Yes!" Ino jumped up and down, "we got the qualifying team!"

"This is awesome guys!" Tenten grabbed her three teammates into a hug, "we're so awesome!"

"Let's go bring home the gold, guys!" Hinata beamed.

"We've got this!" Sakura nodded, "I believe in all of us!"

Later that night, the girls went out to celebrate with a late dinner. By the time it was over, it was already midnight and they were all on their way out of the restaurant.

"Just because we won the Konoha finals doesn't mean we can slack off." Sakura sighed, "we've got to keep at it so we stay in shape."

"Of course." Ino nodded, "Asuma-Sensei told me the same thing."

"Then we've got to make our Sensei proud." Tenten chuckled, "Guy-Sensei wanted me to have a training session tonight with him and Lee, but I had to politely decline. I'm going in early tomorrow."

"Ha!" Ino laughed, "that's Guy-Sensei for you!"

"Oh, speaking of." Tenten turned to Hinata, "how's Neji?"

"He's doing better." Hinata smiled, "he's definitely going to the Olympics for the Men's Medley Relay."

"Who's on his team?"

Ino suddenly gasped, "wait... Didja guys hear?"

"Hm?"

"Sasuke Uchiha is gonna swim for Konoha!"

The girls gasped in response, "what?" Tenten shook her head, "no way!"

"That Sasuke?" Hinata stared at her.

"Duh! Who else would I be referring to?" Ino rolled her eyes.

"Ew."

The three froze and stared at Sakura.

"What..." Ino stepped up to her, "did you say?"

"To be honest." Sakura crossed her arms, "I don't really like him. He's arrogant, full of himself, and a show-off. Not only that, he's such a chick-magnet, it's disgusting. He's probably slept with all the girls he wants."

"Hm." Ino rose a brow, "you're just jealous."

"No way!" Sakura retorted, "I'm being genuinely honest! I mean, if you girls love him, then I have no problem with that."

"Okay, okay. Let's simmer down." Tenten chuckled, "I need to go and get some sleep so I can actually swim early tomorrow morning. Bye guys. Good job today, again!"

"Me too." Hinata smiled, "bye."

"Okay, bye." Sakura and Ino waved at the girls, then Ino turned to her, "good job tonight, billboard brow."

"You too, Ino pig. Looks like you didn't drown this time."

"Same to you." Ino smiled and walked off, "see you tomorrow!"

Sakura chuckled and waved, "yep."

She sighed as she slipped her hands into her pockets and started walking down the sidewalk to her house. Just as she was walking past the same pool that she had just swam at, a huge crowd of girls flooded out the door. She peeked over the heads and spotted one man out of the entire swarm. A man with dark hair and dark eyes.

"Hm." She rolled her eyes and kept walking.

"Eek! Sasuke Uchiha! He's so much hotter in person!"

"Omg, omg! Can you sign my shirt?"

"Can you show us your abs?"

"Sasuke! Over here! Just one picture!"

Sakura didn't even hesitate. She just kept walking and didn't look back. Once she arrived at her duplex on the corner of the street, she checked the first door to make sure it was locked. She hadn't rented it out in years, and she wasn't planning on renting it out anytime soon. She walked on to her own front door and opened it, then walked in. Hmph. Sasuke Uchiha, there's nothing more annoying than a swimmer with an ego...

She dropped her gym bag on the couch, walked up the stairs to her bathroom, took out her contacts, then collapsed onto the bed. She reached for her back pocket and checked her messages.

Hey, Sakura. Practice tomorrow at the pool. Congrats on today. We saw it all on tv!

"Heh..." Sakura smirked, "Kakashi-Sensei..."

Hang on... We?

She tapped her chin, then covered her mouth at the response.

Of course. I had the whole Men's qualifying team down here watching and they're pretty impressed. They'll be at practice tomorrow ;) just saying

Sakura threw her phone onto the floor and smiled, "heh. Impressed..." She rolled over and gripped her fists, "yes!"

My whole goal is to make it to the Olympics and take home the gold, then mark my name in the history books and become famous for my swimming. Getting acknowledged by our Konoha men's qualifying team is a huge deal to me... I mean, I've never met them, but... They have to be top notch, if they're competing for Konoha...

Sakura grabbed a pillow, threw it onto her face, and screamed. She sat up, grabbed a water bottle, and chugged it before she could hyperventilate, "Kakashi-Sensei, you're the best!"

____________

"Kakashi-Sensei, where are you?"

"Sakura?" Came the exhausted Hatake's voice over the speaker of Sakura's phone the next morning, "what are you talking about?"

"Well, I'm already here!" Sakura chuckled as she walked through the doors of the pool building, then froze when she saw her coach standing by the pool.

"Yeah." He smirked, "I am too!"

"Kakashi-Sensei..." She sighed and ran over to him, "how long were you here?"

"Since seven this morning."

"What?! It's ten! You've been here for three hours? What have you been doing?"

"Ah, well." Kakashi glanced over at the locker room, "training my other students."

"I didn't know..." Sakura tilted her head, "you had other students competing..."

"Yeah, well." Kakashi gestured over at the blond-haired boy playing on his phone on the bleachers, "you know Naruto. He's on the Men's qualifying team."

"Seriously?!" Sakura beamed, "I had no idea! Congrats, Naruto!"

Naruto looked up from his phone and waved at her, "thanks, Sakura! Congrats to you, too!"

"Yeah." Sakura smiled, "who else qualified?"

"Well." Kakashi sat down on a chair by the pool as Sakura sat at the pool's edge, legs in the water, "we've got singles with Rock Lee and Kiba, as well as the team, then on the team are Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, and--"

"Kakashi."

Sakura froze. That voice. She turned, and the sight of the man almost made her throw up, "you're kidding! You're Kakashi-Sensei's student?!"

"Of course." The Uchiha smirked, "I thought I saw you last night when I was leaving the pool."

"Sasuke." Kakashi stood up, "you know Sakura Haruno. She's my top female swimmer."

"Hn." He turned to the Uzumaki sitting on the stands, "Naruto, Shikamaru's talking game plans. You missed it all."

"Oh." Naruto shrugged, "oh well. I'll do fine."

"You..." Sakura lowered her angry voice to a whisper of a yell, directed at Kakashi, "you never told me... You were training... Sasuke Uchiha..."

"What?" Kakashi chuckled, "you jealous? He's attractive, isn't he?"

"No!" Sakura gritted her teeth, "I'm furious! How could you coach someone so arrogant and snobby?! Sasuke Uchiha is the opposite of a perfect swimmer , the opposite of a perfect person, and the opposite of attractive!"

"You know..."

She jumped as soon as she felt his voice right in her ear.

"You whisper very loudly." Sasuke smirked.

"Get out of my face!" Sakura crossed her arms and regained her anger, "I don't need your sass!"

"Ahem." Kakashi cleared his throat, "well, you two are going to have to get along, because they have a new event this year."

"What?"

"Yep. They have a co-ed medley relay, which is the whole reason why I've gathered you all here today!"

"Wh-what?!" Sakura stared at him, "you've got to be kidding! Who's so stupid enough to come up with an idea like that?!"

"Well..." Kakashi coughed, "it was my idea..."

"And a brilliant one, at that." Sasuke nodded, "I'd love to see how these women swim..."

Sakura glared at Sasuke, "You are so disgusting, I don't think I could even get in the same water as you!"

"Oh really?" Sasuke looked the pinkette up and down, "I saw you swimming out there last night. You've got some strong arms and legs."

"Kakashi-Sensei." Sakura stepped back, "I refuse to work with this guy!"

"But." Kakashi put his finger up, "you want to get a gold in the Olympics, don't you?"

Sakura stared at him, then groaned, knowing that he was right. If she wanted to take home the gold in all her events, she had to cooperate with him, no matter how much she hated him, "whatever. Just stay out of my hair... "

"Your gorgeous hair?"

"I need some duck tape for this duckbutt's running mouth if you want this to work." Sakura picked up her bag from where she'd thrown it when she saw Sasuke, then walked to the women's locker room.

Naruto joined Sasuke next to the pool, "I thought she'd be like all the other girls."

"She totally digs me." Sasuke shrugged, "all the other girls are hot, but she's hot and a swimmer, like me."

"So what?"

"Ten times the attractiveness." Sasuke grinned, "I'm getting in."

"I should probably do that too." Naruto sighed as he set his phone down onto his towel, "do you think she was serious? You know, about the whole 'not getting in the pool with this guy' thing?"

"Of course not. Every girl wants to get in a pool with me."

Kakashi scoffed, "uh-huh. Tell that to Sakura."

"Nah." Sasuke shrugged as he set his water bottle and towel down on a chair next to the pool, "she'd probably punch me in the face."

"Mm, Sasuke. By the way." Naruto set his bottle down and wiped his mouth, "you don't really have a place to stay in Konoha right now, do you?"

"No." Sasuke turned to him, "why?"

"Well..." Naruto smirked, "I think I might know what to do about that."

____________

"Hey."

"Please don't talk to me."

"Hn."

Sakura ignored the Uchiha that followed close behind her, "why were you waiting outside the women's locker room, anyways?"

"Waiting for you."

"Oh please." She made her way to the furthest lane, set her water bottle down on a chair nearby, pulled her towel off, and dropped it on the chair.

"Mm."

She glared back at him as she tied her hair up, "what."

"Nothing."

"Stop staring at me, you pervert!"

"I'm not!"

"You're so stupid. I can feel it!"

"Yeesh." Sasuke rolled his eyes as he jumped into the lane next to hers, making sure to splash her in the process.

"Hey, Sakura!"

"Hi Naruto." Sakura replied dryly as she swung her legs over the side and into the water, "please keep this jackass duckbutt hair out of my lane."

"Uh..." Naruto scratched the back of his head as he walked over to her lane, "well, Sakura, if we're gonna practice medley relay, we're going to have to practice in the same lane, right?"

"Sakura, he's right." Kakashi approached her, "suck it up and deal with it."

"Whatever." She pulled her goggles over her eyes and dropped into the water.

This guy... I can't even look at him... How do they expect me to cooperate with this? Sakura kicked off the wall and glided through the water.

"If you want to make it through the Olympics, you need to cooperate with Sasuke to win."

Kakashi's right... Sakura gritted her teeth, started kicking, and moving her arms, slapping the water on each stroke. She kept swimming until she reached the other side, on which she flip-turned and kicked off, making her way back. She grabbed the wall back where she started and raked her hair back, then cringed when she heard a slow clap from next to her, "stay in your own lane, will you?"

"I really am impressed by your speed." Sasuke smirked, "and we're working on our relay, so deal with it."

"Huh. You sound so sarcastic, you know that? Is this just your way of being snobby and arrogant? You think you're so amazing at everything?"

"Calm down, Sakura." Naruto appeared next to her, "we're in this to win. Then you can forget about even meeting him."

"Trust me." Sakura groaned as she climbed out and sat on the edge of the pool, "I'm already looking forward to that last part."

•••

Written by xX_Fang_Xx