If Only

Three

After the school day has gone by and the last bell rings, Shouyu, Jai, Zhang and Riku go to football practice. Football and any other sport for the guys is somewhat important to them all. Zhang's dad was a quarterback years ago and was dynamic. He could throw the ball, run and barely made mistakes. On occasional trick plays, he could catch the ball as well as any other wide receiver. Liam was the wide receiver that every team would dream of. He could do anything he wanted and literally command the field. Jai's dad was a quiet and laid back defensive back that disrupted the passing game of every team. If the ball came his way, either it was a turnover or incomplete pass. Either way, throwing against him was always a gamble.

Their son aren't anything different. As a matter-of-fact, they eclipse their fathers.

Zhang's the quarterback. Hes very accurate and light on his feet. He set a school record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback last year and is the starter for this season as well. Shouyu is the wide receiver known as the phantom. He can get past any defensive back and can disrupt the game at any moment. He tallied a total of 1,100 yards last season and helped win the state title last year as well. Riku, along with Jai, took a different route than his father. He is a standout safety. He can cover anyone and holds the school record for most interceptions in a single game with four from homecoming last year.

Jai is the hyper active running back that fires up the team every game before they take the field and continues to feed them energy and momentum each time he touches the ball or is on the field. He has tallied 3,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in his short high school career.

As the guys leave the locker room, Jai stops Shouyu. "Amari told me what happened this morning with that prick Jin and his friends. Thanks Takari."

Shouyu fist bumps him. "No problem Jai. You'd do the same for me. So, its no sweat. Now, enough talk. Come on so the offense can pound the defense."

Jai smirks. Riku bumps them purposely while jogging and putting on his helmet, "You wish. Offense wins games. Defense wins championships. And don't you forget it."

While the guys are practicing, tryouts for the cheerleading squad have commenced. Reina walks out talking to her friend, "I wonder if Amari is going to try out this year. She has the looks." Keiri looks at her, I dont know. "I've been trying to get Amari to try out as well. She may not be very loud, but the girl has the body of a goddess." The girl forms sparkles in her eyes.

Reina snaps her fingers at her, "Keiri, seriously. You have got to stop doing that. And you asked Amari?" She shrugs, "Well, its better than asking Ezra." Reina nods in agreement. As the tryouts commence and girls begin to sign up, Reina notices her friends approaching. 'Amari? And even Ezra?' she squeals. Ezra quickly stops her, "Oh no. I'm just here to support Amari."

Amari folds her arms, "Yeah right. You just wanted to watch Zhang." Ezra forms hearts in her eyes, "But he's so. Dreamy." They sweat drop. Keiri hands her a napkin, "Izzy. You're drooling again." Ezra quickly wipes her face with the napkin and everyone laughs at her. While the cheerleading tryouts are going on, the guys stand on the sideline chatting.

"Hey Zhang. Your girlfriend's trying out for cheerleading?" Riku says. Zhang looks over to the girls. "Nah. I think she's just supporting Amari."

Shouyu snickers, "Either that or she came to oogle over you." The guys laugh. Zhang smirks while drinking Gatorade, "At least I have someone ogling over me." "Ooooooo." the guys say. Shouyu picks Zhang up wrestling style. They share a laugh before the coach calls off the break.

"Alright. Offense. Lets see if Riku can still cover. I right 32 fake okay?" the brown haired man says. "Break!!" the offense yells.

"Okay. Defense. Be ready for anything. So, lets try 3-4 Cover 3. They may try to test Riku but linebackers be ready when Riku calls for blitz." the shaggy haired man says. "Break!!" the defense yells.

The guys line up at the line of scrimmage. Zhang taps his foot at Shouyu. Shouyu runs to the other side of the field. "Motion. Motion. Bush Ralph. Bush Ralph!!!" Riku calls out. A freshman creeps to the line and Zhang smirks. "Ready, set, hike!!!" They snap the ball and he races through the line of scrimmage but only to be barracaded him which surprises him. Jai runs a straight route and Shouyu runs a deep post route. Riku knew this was coming. He slightly moves towards Jai to throw Zhang off. Zhang pump fakes to Jai which makes Riku turn in that direction. He shifts his shoulder and fires and missile towards Shouyu instead.

Riku breaks into a full sprint to run down the ball. Shouyu jumps and has the ball in his hands but at the last second Riku puts his hand under the ball and swats it away. Shouyu looks at Riku and smirks. He shakes his hand. "Good defense." he says to him. Riku nods, "Z nearly had me with that pump fake."

They jog back to the huddle and the coaches look at each other. "Nice trick Sarutobi." Konohamaru looks up and nods, "Nice call to counter that. I see you still have it in you Iwabe."

The girls have all finished their tryouts and surprisingly, Amari had the best tryout. She was an instant vote for the squad. The girls all screamed in excitement. As their coach, Moegi, calms them down.

A scream on the field snaps everyone out of their trance. They look over to see one of the guys lying on the ground holding his left shoulder and seemingly in immense pain. They all run over and so do the coaches and other players.

Riku and Jai are at his side instantly and are trying to calm him down. They hold him still to prevent further injury until Konohamaru arrives through the crowd of players.

Zhang drops down to one knee beside him and droops his head along with the others.

"Everyone give him a little bit of room. Stand back!!" Konohamaru snaps. Everyone backs up and Iwabe and Moegi make their way through the crowd. "Where does it hurt?" he asks. The boy points to his shoulder. Konohamaru and Iwabe carefully examine the young mans shoulder. A deep gash is right above his shoulder blade and blood has seeped through his sleeve. Konohamaru lightly squeezes his shoulder. The boy yells in pain.

"Its not broken. Thank god. But it IS severely dislocated." Konohamaru says. Lets get this equipment off of him. Moegi leans down and takes off the boys helmet and everyones eyes widen when they realize who it is.

Amari's eyes tear up when she sees him. 'Shouyu-kun.'