Hopelessly Devoted

5.

Naruto stood inside the fence, Lee and Kiba next to him. "Ya know, we suck right." Naruto said, his laughter eventually became the whole teams laughter. They all stood in the field, the other team setting up.

The coach called them over, "alright, play to win and win." The coach said, his voice was fierce and solid. They all looked to Naruto, waiting for words of inspiration.

He laughed a moment, "honestly, if we somehow score a point on this team we can celebrate."

The coach gave Naruto a look, he sighed, "alright! Fine, we can do this...right?" He whispered. His hands clapped together, "we can win! Just believe in all of us, team work is the best thing here." He looked at everyone, they all stared at the other team. Naruto put his hand in the middle, "we'll win, right?" The teams hands fell onto each other, their eyes met and they cheered.

They probably won't win, but playing is fun and Naruto plays to escape. Even if they lose, in some ways they're always closer to each other at the end, and they've won. In a different way.

"Winning would be nice though...." Naruto muttered, his eyes danced around the crowd. He spotted Hinata and Sai, he ran to them. "Do you think we're going to win?"

Sai looked at him and then the other team, back to Naruto's team. "Nope. But we'll stay the whole game."

Naruto huffed with a glare, "blah, blah, blah, that's all I hear when you speak."

Sai rolled his eyes and gazed around the crowd. "Look your brother and family came." Sai pointed to his family sitting on the bleachers. Naruto chuckled, happy Gaara was here. "I see the... you know, red head is doing better." Sai muttered.

"Watch your mouth Sai." Naruto warned, Sai raised his hands in defeat and pushed him forward. "Go win!" Sai shouted, Naruto flipped him the finger, Sai clapped in return a cheerful grin on his face.

"You're going to get punched one day." Hinata said. Sai nodded his head. "He won't punch me, he loves me too much." Sai said with a happy smile. Hinata shook her head.

"I don't know if that's true. You push him too far, and especially don't talk about his family."

"Hinata, I was there for the whole thing. I know the history, you don't have to warn me." Sai rolled his eyes and leaned back against the grass, his face closer to the fence. "I think, they might win."

"Why? They've never won before." Hinata said with a soft chuckle. Her eyes glued to Kiba, Lee danced around the dugout his bat swinging around.

"Naruto seems a bit different, like-someone's here and he wants all eyes on him." Sai stood up looking around, "you don't think Sasuke is here?" He examined the hills and crowd. He wasn't here. "Maybe it's his brother?" Sai whispered sitting back down.

Hinata nodded "Gaara and Naruto have always been competitive that's probably it."

Sai nodded his head content with that answer. They turned their attention to the game that was about to begin, Lee was up to bat first.

The opposing team was fast and making glances at each other. The pitchers foot slid left and up his arm snapped forward. The fast ball came quickly too quickly for Lee to see.

The call was made and Lee kicked out his shoes, his bat held loosely in his hand, he kept his eye on the ball as it came forward. He swung the bat making contact with the ball sending it flying back towards to the outer left field.

Lee did what he was known for, he ran. His speed was like no other on the team and he was agile. He sped passed first base his eyes on the players around him. He knew he should've stopped at second, he kept going. His foot slid against the hard dirt, his toes on the tip of the base. The baseman's gloves held against Lees arm, they looked to the umpire. His whistle blew and his arms stretched straight across, Lee laughed as he stood up. His eyes traced back to his team that was cheering him on. He was safe, he got lucky.

Naruto hit Kibas back harshly, he brought him closer and whispered something. Kiba nodded his head, he grabbed his bat. His cleats dug into the ground, dust kicking up. Naruto's words were stuck in his head, the bases were loaded and this was his chance to get at least one person home.

"Hit the second ball, and watch his foot work. The second ball will be a speed ball if you swing and miss the first one." Naruto whispered, Kiba wasn't so sure, and he wasn't going to miss a ball on purpose.

Kiba held the bat his eyes stared at the ball. The pitchers glove moved up, his arm snapped forward releasing a nasty curve ball. Kiba swung harshly, the ball flying past his bat. Kibas mouth hung open, the umpire called a strike and Kiba turned to his team. Naruto gave him a thumbs up.

Kiba readied himself for the next ball, he had faith in Naruto, not a lot, but enough. He watched the pitchers foot work and swung the bat. The ball flew passed the pitcher, gloves high in the air trying to catch the ball.

Lee ran to the home base, Kiba motioning the team to run and run, they tried to stay on base, Kiba ran forward. The crowd yelled loudly, urging the team to run, this has never happened. They were like a bunch of young children unaware how play. Naruto cursed loudly, it was pathetic really. The man on first base caught the ball, his foot hit first base and Kiba was out.

Naruto ran out to Lee and hugged him tightly, "we did it!" He shouted, Lee joined him by jumping on his back. "We got one point!" Naruto dropped Lee off him and ran to the pitchers mount.

His eyes drifted upwards towards the hill in the back, furthest from the field. The eyes connected and Naruto felt a burning hatred fill him, or perhaps it was warmer than that. Hate is burning and prickly, but love is burning and warm. And he was feeling both.

His arm swung he threw the ball fast, the batter swung and missed. The crowd cheered loudly, Naruto didn't feel the rush he usually did. But he continued to play.

After batting and running, the team was tired and out of breath. Naruto was trying to keep his head in the game and away from the hill. Away from the person who's eyes were trained on him. He wanted to go up there, to talk to him, to look at him. It was too soon, for both of them.

Naruto said he hated Sasuke, to his face, those words cut deep in both of them.

When the game was over Naruto was cheered on. They did lose, it wasn't a terrible loss, only 3-2 but it was another loss. He hadn't put his all in the game, his mind was else where like his eyes and heart.

Sasuke and him are going to end up together that was true. For now, they wanted to not be together, to be watching each other from a distance. To remember when they were different and learn how they've changed.

Naruto will be with Sasuke by the end of spring break. He believes that, Sasuke believes that.

Sai patted Naruto on the back, "hey you lost. I must be able to see the future." He laughed. Naruto rolled his eyes and shoved Sai away playfully.

Gaara walked over to them, his hands in his pockets. "Naruto, good game." He said. Naruto glared. He huffed and walked away, not in the mood for Gaaras weird way of showing love.

Kiba wrapped his arm around Naruto's shoulder, Gaara watched Naruto with all his old friends, laughing and joking around. Gaara felt empty. Like he was supposed to be there, and Naruto was supposed to be in the stands watching.

Gaara didn't like university, it felt wrong to be there. He wants what Naruto has. And Naruto wants what Gaara has.