I've just seen Eyeshield 21 and I loved it so much that I started translating it (new episodes come out way too slow). I had an awesome dream about it after that and when I woke up I had this story in my head (though it isn't complete yet). I named it after the second song of the series, cause it's my favorite and cause it fits. Anyway, I hope whoever reads this has a good time and if you can, please review. I'm still a beginner at writing but I wanna get really good so any tips are welcome :). Anyway, here we go:


INNOCENCE
Before the music starts...

It was a sunny fryday afternoon at Shibuya station. And like always at this time it was crowded. People were doing last minute shopping before the weekend and even more then normally, the place seemed to be crawling with people. Some people, in a hurry to get somewhere, tried to push their way through the crowds before giving up, just waiting till the current lead them to their destination. All except for one small boy, wairing a white with blue highschool uniform, who came running from the opposite side of the crossing before the station at a staggering pace. Unluckily for him the trafficlights were about to turn red and the entire crossing was full of people. The boy stuttered to a stop and seemed to hesitate, peering at the masses of people in front of him, before taking off at almost explosive speed. He cut throught the masses without stopping once, continuing his way to the station like the devil was on his heels…

Shin Seijiro seldomly wasted his time doing something different then training. Today though, after having been too ehhh… enthousiastic practising his tackle on severall of his teammates, the coach decided he should take a little 'break' from training with the team and had send him for a new video-camera (1 guess what happened to the old one). The good thing about metro's, Shin decided, was that you could still do pull-ups using the bars on the ceiling. Standing in front of Shibuya station though, he was dissappointed to see that roadwork would be impossible (at least here). Just as he tried to figure out the map Sakuraba had drawn for him to show him where he should go, something, from the corner of his eyes, caught his attention. Diverting his eyes from the map he just caught how a kid with spikey brown hair, wairing Oujou's uniform, raced through the crowd, did several cuts to avoid crashing into someone, and ran exactly at Shin. He approached dazzelingly fast, still not dropping his speed. Shin let go of his map and readied himself without thinking. The boy seemed to carry something and, getting closer and closer, he seemed to curl his body to protect it. At the moment Shin thought he'd crash into him the boy spun, turning around him and continueing his way. To Shin it didn't seem like that though… To him the boy seemed to blur from excistence and Shin felt like an electric current spiked between them as he was passed. He turned with lightning speed, more as a reflex then anything else, his arm shooting out in a tackle… to grab nothing but air.

Shin couldn't move for a second, frozen. Completely starteled he watched the boy disappear in the station. His first impulse was to go after him… but the boy was an Oujou student. Probably a freshman seeing as he hadn't noticed him before (and the schoolyear had just started 3 weeks ago). Clenshing his trembling fists Shin decided he'd find him at school, even though he wasn't sure what he was going to do when he found him. Having decided this Shin retrieved his map and continued his way to the electronics store… His hands still slightly trembling…

When Kobayakawa Sena was accepted in Oujou he could hardly believe it. He'd been so nervous that he had hardly dared to look at the board that displayed which students had passed, but since Mamori-neechan wasn't here anymore to hold his hand he'd gripped the neclace, she'd given him as a gift for remembering her by tightly, pulled all of his courage (which still wasn't much) together and looked. His childhood friend Mamori had moved to America with her parents almost half a year ago and she had been more than a little worried about him. Sena had almost thought she would stay behind to 'take care of him', which would be more than a little emberassing. So he'd done his best to assure her he was going to be fine. This was a promise he made to himself as well as Mamori, who had been his only friend the last few years… Sena didn't think he could change anything in the half year left in junior high but when he was going to high school, Sena swore things would change. He wasn't going to be an errand boy anymore! And he was going to make friends! With this forsight in the back of his mind Sena studied harder then he had ever done to get into the school of his choise as well as actually working on his running (not only while doing errands). Without Mamori he had been lonelier then ever and running reminded him of Riku, the one other friend he'd ever had. Riku had moved away years ago and had wanted Sena to stand op for himself using speed. Sena had decided that, while he still didn't want to fight, speed would still help him get away from the bullies from whom Mamori couldn't protect him any longer.

When Sena was accepted in Oujou he had taken that as a great sign. Things were going to change! Even he could do something if he tried his best! But even so, Sena was still Sena, which meant; naturally awkward. This made it hard for him to interact in a place lik Oujou where every student seemed to have some kind of dignity in the way they held themselves. Something Sena supposed most of them had learned in the three years they had been here already. Oujou was a joined junior high and highschool after all. He hardly dared to say anything in class and stuttered when anyone asked him something, always being overly polite. While he managed to avoid the bullies who had immediately dubbed him an easy target and were always on his tail, he didn't make any new friends either. He wanted to join a club, in fact Mamori had encouraged him to do this in severall of the mails they exchanged weekly. Sena had, in fact, been eager to. He wanted to find something HE wanted to do… but most of Oujou's clubs were sportclubs which Sena didn't dare join (and the others just didn't fit him). 'After all', Sena thought, 'he was too weak for things like that. If Mamori was here she would surely agree.' Oujou was a prestigious school, especially in the sports department, Sena was sure they would laugh at him if he joined, beeing one of, if not thé, smallest boy in his year.

In his first week Sena developed a habbit of watching the sportsclubs train before departing, slightly envious and always runing away at full speed the moment someone seemed to notice him. Overall, Sena wasn't overly pessimistic though. Sure, he hadn't made any friends in the first couple of weeks but that didn't mean he wouldn't later… Besides, there were still some people that would talk to him so all in all things weren't too bad. After school he spend most of his time by the river, studieing, just daydreaming or running, playing around while cutting throught the few trees that grew there. This was the place he, Mamori and Riku had spend most of their time and this was the place where Riku had taught him how to run. So it was the place that Sena liked most.

Unfortunatly for him this fact was found out by one of his classmates, a big bully named Arog who was in Oujou on sportscolarship and had joined the karateteam. He and his friends had tried to ambush Sena several times and were getting more and more frustrated with this little coward that had somehow wormed his way into Oujou and seemed to disappear every time they were about to teach him a lesson! So one day, when Sena was going home from there, they followed and jumped him…

Sena was just crossing a bridge when he felt someone grab his arms from behind. The small boy immediately freaked out and tried to struggle himself loose but the person who held him transported his arms to his back, holding them there painfully. Sena stopped struggeling, gritting his teeth in pain. Two boys he recognised as his classmates entered his vision and smirked at him as he tried to look up. "Hey shrimp, you still think you can make a fool out of us?" Before Sena had even the chance to awnser he was punched in the gut. The arms that had held him let go and Sena fell to the ground, coughing. He was kicked severall times before he was pulled up again, his face dirty and his jacket loose, Mamori's neclace showing…

One of his tormentors noticed and immediately grabbed it, pulling it off Sena's neck. The neclace was in fact an oval-shaped medallion which held one picture of Sena together with Mamori and Riku and another picture of Mamori taken about one year ago. Sena struggled with renewed energie. 'Give it ba..' he was pushed into the ground once more. 'Look at this! He actually has a girlfriend!' 'Yeah right! Probably someone the little creep has been stalking!' Sena was still kneeling on the ground, looking down, seemingly defeated. The guy who had the medallion continued mocking him. 'Actually we should report you! But since we're so nice we'll get rid of the evidence for you.' He brought his hand back, ready to trow the neclace into the river. Sena's head snapped up, eyes burning. Before anyone could stop him he had burried his teeth into the arm of the bully, who let go of Sena's treasure in pained shock. His 'former' victum wasted no time. Sena grabbed the neclace and 'took off'. But to those around him it seemed like he disappeared. 'There he is!' Enraged they made to chase the smaller boy who already had managed to create quite a distance between them.

Sena ran as fast as he could, the bullies behind him. To the station! If he could just make it to the metro they wouldn't be able to catch him! For the convenience Sena preferred to forget that he still would have to face them at school, tomorrow. (in Japan there is school at saturday morning) He ran… not even once stopping to take a breath… not untill he reached the crossing of Shibuya station… Sena faltered and stopped. So many people! How was he going to reach the station before they cut him off? He glanced once more at Mamori's medallion, glinstering in his hands, then squinted his eyes at the crowd in front of him… a path… any path… THERE! Sena lunged at the path he had seen; cutting, running, braking before cutting again. Moving through the crowd with amazing speed. He was almost there when he noticed he was running straight at someone wairing an Oujou uniform. Panicking he completely forgot to brake, he only noticed that his tormentors didn't have such dark hair when he was only a few meters away. But he was still going almost at his top speed and it was too late to change directions. Pushing away his increasing panick at the rapidly approaching collision Sena spun, narrowly missing the older boy as he slipped past him. Not taking the time to look back Sena kept running through the entrance of the station. He had long since trown off his persuers…

Shin was frustrated. And when Oujou's ace was frustrated everyone of his entire team knew it. Not that he would say anything about it, mind you, but from the fact that they had to train with him. On those days most of the team that focussed on 'attacking' pretended to have a stomackache to get out of training, not wanting to face Shins tackle. On those days not even Sakuraba would try to keep up with him. And Shin had been frustrated for over a week now. He'd started training twice as much (for as far as this was possible) and in the one football game they had played he'd been responsible for severall injuries (on the opponents side). Every time someone charged him he saw that short boy that had passed him at Shibuya in his stead. And he reacted agressively. Partially because he had been searching the cafetaria during lunchperiod closely every day (he refused to skip class, it would mess up his schedule) and had yet to even catch a glimpse of the boy who had, unknowingly, gotten through him. Granted, his tackle had only been a reflex and certainly not his best. but still…

The coach noticed his state of mind of coarse but he still didn't send Shin for any more errands. Which could have something to do with the fact that everything in the biggest electronics shop in Shibuya had 'misteriously' broken down on the day Shin went to get a new camera. A camera which was, strangely enough, still working. Maybe he was partially glad because Shin was so fired up. Shin was always more then dedicated but he had few rivals. So anything that got him fired up was something good in the coaches opinion.

Sena was tired. It had been a week since the 'medallion incident', as he had named it. He kept Mamori's neclace at home now but Arog and his friends had become more persistent and Sena had almost been caught severall times. He avoided the cafetaria during breaks and usually found himself hiding in the bushes or in the library while eating his lunch. While a big part of it was because of the bullies, part of him just didn't want to sit behind an empty table, eating alone while everyone around him was talking to their friends. At least when he was an errand boy he was always 'busy' during this time. Today he was sitting in the shadow under a tree beside the the footballgrounds while eating his lunch. It was saturday which meant he could go home for lunch, but Sena thought he'd watch the team train for a bit before going anywhere. Not that he knew anything about football but he DID know that running was a part of it… Well… that and the fact that it was waaaaaaaaay to dangerous for him. He wasn't worried about the bullies for a change. They would be at their clubs by now. Learning how to beat him up more effectively Sena supposed.

The small spikeyhaired boy pushed the last of his sandwich into his mouth as the first members of the Oujou white knights appeared on the field. Among them was a stern blackhaired boy who immediately started running arcross the field at incredible speed. Sena knew who he was. Heck, there wasn't anybody in the entire school who did not. Shin Sejiro, the best linebacker in Japan and ace of the football team (a team which Oujou was famous for). While Sena didn't have a clue what a linebacker did, he DID know that Shin was good at it. And now he knew something else. He was FAST!!! His interest now completely caught Sena kept watching with wide eyes. At the beginning he closed them every time the players crashed into eachother, completely intimidated, but it didn't take him long to get over that (he didn't have to stand there himself) and tried to understand the basics of the sport. In his small corner, feeling protected by the shadows, he started to immitate movements of the players as they ran, carefully staying out of sight. When he saw Shin's tackle for the first time he almost gasped. That had to be painfull! He started doing short dashes and fast cuts while looking at the field. In his immagination trying to get past the dark haired player who seemed so unbeatable. Soon he was completely absorbed in his own kind of 'training'. Then a shadow fell over him (stange he hadn't even noticed he had gotten into the sun) . Sena squinted his eyes, looking up at the person looming over him curiously. Normally his first reaction would be to run away. But the excitement of seeing Shin play and trying out those new moves was still in his blood so when he finally noticed that someone had appoached him Sena was even a bit irritated that someone had interrupted his fun (an emotion completely foreign to him). Well, at least at first. Immediately after that, embaressment and apprehension stuck him. Normally he got away before someone got close enough to recognise him dammit! Especially when he saw who it was that had approached him.

It was time for saturday afternoon training and, like always, Shin was early. Still frustrated because of his lack of succes (he'd started looking through the entire school, not just the cafetaria, and found nothing) he started running at full speed. When he was done he knew had improved his time again. But is wasn't enough. He had to do more, train more! He wasn't satisfied beeing an average person. He had to be the best and, according to Shin, he was still ways off. Just after the start of training he saw something move from the corners of his eyes. Shin looked, but there was nothing to see but treed and shadows. Training continued and Shin's eyes continued playing tricks on him. And every time he moved his head to look there were only shadows. And with every time Shin grew even more frustrated and angry at himself. He couldn't even focus properly! He put his anger into his next tackle and threw Nekoyama, one of their running backs, neirly 20 yards across the field. "SHIN!!!" The coach roared, "they still have to play in the next match you know!" Shin turned to his coach to awnser when he saw something moving again! And this time he was sure it wasn't his immagination. A spy maybe? Shin turned to the direction of the movement and narrowed his eyes. Someone was there. A short boy. he wasn't even hiding in fact. Irritated Shin started to walk up to the boy, his teammates profiting from the pause by taking a breather. The kid seemed to be doing some kind of 'steps', looking down at his feet before correcting himself. Shin narrowed his eyes even further, he was sure he'd seen him somewhere before. Suddenly the boy did a quick dash, putting his feet down the way he had just been practising (except of course much faster) and cut across a few nearby trees at a blurring speed before returning to his previous spot. And Shin immediately knew why the boy seemed familiar. He increased his pace, finally reaching the boy , who only then noticed him. He looked up, eyes blinking against the sunlight as Shin stood looming over him. Then he started shuffeling his feet, looking emberrased. Shin almost thought he was going to flee when he hesitatingly spoke up.

'Ah, Shin-san… I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to interrupt the training. I'll leave now…'

As Sena finished his sentence Shin's expression seemed to darken. "Did I do something to offend him?" Sena thought, worried. Shin still hadn't said anything and Sena hesitatingly started to take a step back when an arm shot out to grab his. The hand tightened painfully and before Sena could protest Shin turned around, walking back onto the field, pulling Sena along with him…

Sena struggled weakly as he was dragged across the field but the dark haired footballplayer in front of him didn't let go. And when he looked around and noticed that the entire team was staring at them he turned an amazing shade of red and quickly halted his resistance.

"What was going on?"

As far as Sena knew he had only seen Shin in the corridors of school a couple of times. They hadn't even spoken to eachother before. And yet the second-year was pulling him across the fooball field in the direction of the coach. "Wait a minute…

WHY would Shin take him there?! He hadn't done anything wrong… right?"

Slightly panicking Sena softly tugged on his arm, looking at the ground.

"Shin-san? Ano… where are we going?"

Where are you taking me?

Shin kept walking, and didn't even look back at Sena. Sena just thought that he was going to be ignored when a deep clear voice awnsered him.

"Just come…"

Sena's head shot up. He didn't 'sound' mad…

Sena had just decided that whatever was going on couldn't be too bad when Shin stopped in front of the coach. Like the rest of the team, he too had been more then surprised when Shin interrupted his training because of a freshman. Shin NEVER interrupted his training and, though he had friends with who he talked, it was rarely about something else then American football. Also, these conversations were rarely started by Shin. This situation however, was completely initiated by Shin, you only had to look at the starteled face of the boy he was pulling to know that. So yes, the coach of the white Knights was surprised. But unlike his team he managed to regain his composure before Shin and the freshman arrived. He send them both a sharp glare and the boy shrank under it. Then he turned to Shin.

'Explain.'

'He is going to train with us the second half of the afternoon.'

'EH?!!!'

Sena looked starteled from Shin to the coach and back. What did Shin mean; he was going to train? Those two however, completely ignored him.

'It's saturday. Saturday training is for regulars only.'

'The introduction training of the freshmen is over already. Let his be today.'

'Hmmm…'

Strange indeed. The coach hadn't missed the fact that Shin hadn't frased his 'request' as a request at all. Shin had been stating a fact, something he didn't do unless he was extremely serious. Well, he trusted Shin to know what he was doing…

'What's your name?!'

Sena, who had gone back to questioning what he had been dragged into, looked up immediately.

'K-Kobayakawa Sena sir!'

'What class?'

'Year 1 class 3 sir.'

'Okay. Go change! Be back here in 5 minutes!'

Sena immediately took off in the direction of the dressing rooms. The idea of running off or protesting didn't even appear in his head. There was only shock... Well… and maybe a bit of scared exitement…

When the boy was gone the Coach addressed the team.

'WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT! GO BACK TO YOUR TRAINING!!!'

Then he turned to look at his star athlete.

'Shin! Explain yourself.'

Shin looked square back. Silence was his only awnser.

'In any case, you started this so you'll be helping with his training this afternoon.

Does he have any experience?'

'…

I don't know.'

The coach narrowed his eyes. Shin didn't seem upset at all that he would have to skip his own training (granted he'd probably do twice as much in the evening).

'Okay, we will see...'

Shin just nodded.

Sena, wairing his gymclothes, walked slowly back to the field. Not knowing what to expect. Shin had said he was going to train. Did that mean he would join the club? Even if it was for just one afternoon, the idea made him somewhat excided. Untill he recalled the way the players had crashed into eachother and Shins tackle… 'Nooo, I'm scared!!!'

'Still', Sena thought, 'I wonder why he did that. There wasn't any reason for him to pay attention to me at all…'

'KOBAYAKAWA!!!'

'Y-YES!!!'

Sena quickly jogged towards the coach.

'What is your position?'

'Position? Ehhh…''

'Running back.' Shin interrupted.

The coach glanced at Shin before looking back at Sena.

'Okay, we will do the 40 yards dash to begin with. Shin, you go first.'

'Yes'

While Shin jogged to the startingline and got into position Sena worked up the courage to ask the coach a couple of questions.

'How long does it normally take to run 40 yards?

Okay, so that was not what he wanted to ask really, but it was an improvement compared to his 'not daring to ask anything at all'.

'For a normal highschoolar it takes about 5 seconds. You could say that the 5-second barrier is the difference between a normal guy and a sprinter. If a highschooler can run it in 4.8 seconds he'll be an ace in most schools. READY?! GO!!!'

Sena turned his head just in time to see Shin take off. The same thought as before went through his head. 'Fast!'

Shin sped past them and the coach pushed the button of the stopwatch he held. He didn't call his time however but just told Sena to get ready.

Sena walked towards the starting line without complaining. He actually wanted to know himself; 'how fast would he be after all the 'training' of the past half year?' That and… Sena closed his eyes, whitnessing once again Shins incredible dash… He probably couldn't do that… Of course he couldn't!.. But still… Slowly he got into 'his' starting position. For whatever reason he finally got to join a team. Even if it was just for one afternoon. If this was going to be the only time, he certainly was going to try his best!

Ready?!…. GO!!!

Sena exploded; shot away from the start like a cannonball and ran as fast as he could. Willing his legs to go faster, and knowing at the same time that it wasn't enough…

'Fast enough for what?'

Before he could find the awnser to that question he reached the finishing line…

Shin was burning. His 40 meter dash had had everything he had behind it and more… But when he returned to the coach and was informed that his new time was 4.38 seconds he hardly heard him. His eyes trained on the small figure that was getting ready to run. Well, in fact he just stood in front of the starting line but don't let that bother you…

'Show it to me... Your run.'

The coach glanced over Shin's tence form before nodding.

'Ready?!…. GO!!!

As Sena shot past them the coach stopped his stopwatch and then turned to check it. 4.57!!! Sure it was an incredible time, but…

'Shin! What do you think?'

Shins expression betrayed nothing as he looked at the boy that was taking his time walking back to them.

'This isn't everything he has.'

The coach nodded as Shin continued.

'With his start… he shifts from zero to his top speed in an instant. But he doesn't have the strength to keep that speed up so he slows down along the way… Still…'

The coach nodded. 'Yes, he'll be quite something. Shin… Try to make sure he joins.'

Shin nodded, 'yes', his eyes still not leaving Sena.


To be continued...