[swimming AU, funny]

"Hey, Sasuke."

Sasuke turned to the voice and grinned, "hey. Long time no see."

"No kidding." The man grinned a toothy grin, his teeth like shark's teeth, "so, ready to get started?"

"Yeah."

_____________________________

"Sakura, your exchanges are sloppy. You need to get more in sync with Tanaki."

"Right, sorry." Sakura pressed her goggles tighter against her face and stepped back onto the starting block.

"Is she okay?" Kakashi looked at Naruto, "what's going on with her?"

"Sasuke's been gone. You don't think that could contribute to most of it?" Naruto rolled his eyes, "c'mon Kakashi-Sensei. Why didn't you stop Sasuke when you had the chance? I mean, you are his teacher! Do you even have any idea of what he's doing right now?"

"I do have... Some idea..."

Kakashi watched as Sakura dove into the water a second too late from when Tanaki slapped the wall. He sighed, "Sakura, come here for a second."

Sakura followed Kakashi past the lanes of other swimmers and stood in front of him as he sat down on the first bleacher, "something wrong?"

"I was going to ask you the same question." He peered up at her, "look, just because Sasuke's gone doesn't give you a reason to slack off. You still have a tournament to swim, and you're going to swim whether you like it or not."

"Who's making me?"

"Me. As your coach, as well as Tanaki, Sai, and Naruto as your teammates. Not to mention the entire Village. You're going to let us all down if you don't get your head back into the game. We have two more days until the tournament. So I suggest you get your head screwed back on the right way and get back into the water with us."

Sakura stared at the ground, "there's no point."

"What?"

"Since Sasuke left... My motivation to swim... It's just been gone. I don't know what it is, but..."

Kakashi sighed, "the idea of never swimming with him ever again?"

She scoffed, "that's not it."

Silence.

"Lies."

Sakura looked away, "yeah, so what..."

"I can assure you..." Kakashi smirked, "you'll be swimming together."

"What are you saying?! He's gone!"

"Not completely." Kakashi crossed his arms, "he's still in Konoha, but he's swimming for a different team. Taka."

"Taka?"

"Yeah. He's swimming relay with them. They're some of his past teammates before he met you or Naruto. He's got a pretty strong team, actually."

"Well..." Sakura chewed on her thumbnail, "so, I'm not swimming with him on the same team... We're competing against each other?"

Kakashi shrugged, "I know you two are in a deep hole right now, but honestly, if that's not motivation, then I don't know what is."

Sakura chuckled, an evil grin played its way to her lips, "well... Let's just say I'm getting all fired up right now..."

_____________________________

"Hey, Sasuke! Let's go to the bar tonight, just you and me! Whattaya say?"

Sasuke wiped his face with his swim towel, "it's not a good idea to be getting drunk so close to the tournaments."

"No, it'll be just a little!"

"We all know that it's not going to be a little."

"Come on, Karin! Stop flirting with him! It's not working..."

"Shut up, Suigetsu! I'm not! I'm just... I'm just trying to be a good teammate! That's all!"

"Well, we all know that it's not really working."

"Juugo, don't you have anything better to do? Go do a hand-stand in the pool or something..."

Sasuke watched his teammates bicker and stared at the water of the pool. This was a pool he was vaguely familiar with. He's only swam in it for a few years until he moved to the pool where Kakashi coaches him.

"Sasuke? Is that you?"

The four turned to the blonde girl as she approached them, "oh... Ino..."

"Hey, I know you..." Ino moved her head to glance back at the trio standing behind him, "you're Suigetsu... You swam against us at the Olympics a few months ago... You're also a gold-medal competitor, aren't you?"

"You bet." Suigetsu smirked, "Sasuke, this your girlfriend?"

Three bodies tensed: Sasuke's, Ino's, and Karin's.

"S-Sasuke, you can't actually be dating this girl!" Karin exclaimed, a little bit distraught.

"No, of course not!" Ino blushed, "I'm... Just a fan!"

"Right..." Karin glared at her fellow competitor, "so, you're swimming in the tournaments, too?"

"Of course." Ino crossed her arms in response, "and you're swimming with Sasuke?"

"Of course! And I heard Sasuke left your pool to come swim with us. He's chosen his sides, clearly..." Karin adjusted her glasses.

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke shut his eyes in annoyance, "you both need to just shut up." He turned to look at his team, "get back to work."

"But--"

"Now."

The trio hurried off before Sasuke turned back to Ino, "let's talk outside."

They moved outside the pool building and found a park bench away from the entrance and out of earshot. Sasuke stood with his back towards her, "we both know you're not here by coincidence. Shouldn't you be training with Kakashi and the others?"

"Sasuke." Ino pursed her lips, "I think you know why I'm here."

Sasuke glanced at her over his shoulder, "I know you're not just any fan of mine. At least that was before I met..."

Ino waited, "yes? Met who?"

"You're her friend, right?"

"Yeah, uh, I'm her best friend, actually."

"Well." Sasuke dug his hands deeper into his pockets, "going back to your original statement, you're right. I do know why you're here, and all I'm going to tell you is that you're going to return to the pool empty-handed because I found my new team here. You can tell Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai that Tanaki has everything covered."

"You can't be serious..." Ino rubbed her forehead, "are you jealous?!"

"No."

"Then explain this attitude towards Tanaki."

Silence.

"So you can't defend yourself?"

Silence.

"Sasuke, if you can't give me a reason, then I think you need to come back! Sakura needs--"

Sasuke slammed his fist into the brick wall of the pool building, "don't.. Don't bring that name up."

Ino stared at him in horror and watched as he brought his clean, bloodless hand up to his chest and clenched the cloth of his jacket, "Sa... Sasuke..."

"Just..." Sasuke clenched his bloody hand and stepped away from the brick, "just don't let Tanaki near her. Understand?"

"No!" Ino countered, "what I don't understand is how you could just leave the girl you love in a state of minor depression! She hasn't returned any of my texts or calls and she's stopped swimming!"

He froze.

"So if you ever want to swim with her again, then all I could tell you is to talk to her before she throws herself off a bridge, for crying out loud!"

The color in Sasuke's face drained out.

"You need to stop being selfish and talk. It doesn't have to be me, but Sakura..."

He didn't react this time.

"She loves you, and you just took her heart and threw it in her face. Let me guess, you took her virginity too, didn't you? Thought so. Only makes you even worse than someone who uses his girlfriend."

Sasuke forgot about all the pain he was feeling in his hand because nothing hurt him more than hearing the truth.

"Do what you want." Ino turned around to leave, "the tournament is in two days." She started walking, "you knew what I was doing here. But the real question is if you know what you're doing here."

Sasuke stood in silence as everything that had been thrown at him in one large heap seeped into his senses that forced out his next reaction: he cried.

She's right... Every word... What the hell am I doing here in the first place, damn it!

"Sasuke?" Suigetsu ran outside, "I thought I saw you two come back here. Did you guys make out or something? Hey, what happened to your hand?! Dude, you need to get that fixed before the tournaments, geez."

Sasuke didn't reply. He only got up and let the blood from his hand fall into the dirt below, "Suigetsu."

"Huh?"

"Forget it. We have training to do."   

~~~

Written by xX_Fang_Xx