Hello and welcome!

You clicked on this story, and for that we thank you~

This is me and Hibisha's first collaboration, 'A tragedy of the past' (and she gets all the credit for that and the summary, since I fail at that sort of thing :P). She'll be doing the next chapter and the forth etc. etc. I hope you enjoy reading it, but let me take this opportunity to apologise. I'm sorry Gazel is a girl. I'm sorry, really. Don't eat me!

*Grovels on floor*

Ahem. Ok. Obligatory eventual Burn/Gazel is obligatory, and while I'm generally impartial to yaoi, I can't write it. That's my excuse anyway XD. Feel free to kill me either way. Actually, I adore Sakuma/Kidou and I could write that if I had some sorta plot. But I don't. And this is getting off track. On with the story, and for the love of Bidoof, Arceus and Aphrodi, please don't eat me...O_O'

I own nothing!

Not everyone in Sun Garden was an orphan.

The sun shone down strongly on Tokyo that day, much stronger than usual. It bounced of windows and cars and heat up everything it touched. A small thrush perched happily on one of the many Sakura trees that lined the street, pecking away at the pale pink blossoms. It paused abruptly, tired of the taste, instead scanning the street for any morsels of food that might have been dropped. A small piece of bread caught its interest and it fluttered down, only to shied back in alarm as a tall, suited lady hurried by, another small girl tagging along behind her. The bird, now back on its original perch, looked longingly at the slice of bread she held in her hand. As the older lady turned left and entered one of the buildings on the street, the younger paused for a moment and, much to the thrush's delight, tore of half the slice and tossed it into the street, before following her companion.

"Sit on this and don't you move until I get back, understood?"

Suzuno shifted uncomfortably around on the swing as she watched her mother enter the building. It was much too hot; she could feel it heating up her behind as she moved about trying to find a cooler position. She felt out of place; there were about a dozen other kids outside and as she'd walked in, they'd all stopped what they were doing and stared at her. Even staring at the floor as she was now, she could still feel their curious gazes on her- some of the less subtle ones were even pointing and muttering.

"A girl! That's great!"

A brief glance told her that the speaker was a redheaded girl, perhaps a bit younger than her, and she was talking to another girl, this one older than them both. She nodded in reply.

"It's about time we got another girl. There's only you, me, Clara, Yuki, Honoka, Fumiko and Ruru right now. And about three times as many boys!"

She glared at a small knot of them, standing near the slide, as though they had wronged her in some way. They seemed unsure of what to do; some hurried to the back of the slide, a few inside, and one or two stared back. Suzuno ignored them however, choosing to dwell on the two girls' words. 'Got another girl?' What did that mean? She was just accompanying her mother, right? Her mother had some important business with the man here, that was all. She pushed her thick silver fringe out of her eyes with her left hand and continued to stare at the floor. She wasn't used to having the attention of so many people on her.

"She has weird hair…" someone muttered.

Her fists clenched slightly; she didn't appreciate 'hair' jokes or comments, thank you very much. Raising her head slightly, she looked at the speaker- another redhead, this one a boy, with amber eyes. He seemed to sense her gaze, turning to look at her through slightly narrowed eyes. Another boy next to him, also with red hair- god, how many gingers were there? - nudged him with his shoulder.

"Have you seen yours Tulip Head?" he ducked as the other swiped at his head with a clenched fist. Unfortunately for his assailant, this was noticed by the young lady who had just come outside.

"Nagumo-kun! No fighting!" she called out, sounding like one who had repeated this message several times already. Nagumo scowled at her and she raised an eyebrow.

"He called me Tulip Head! Why don't you tell him anything!?" he protested loudly, gesturing towards him. Hitomiko looked at him briefly.

"Hiroto, try not to wind up Nagumo," she said calmly.

"That's not fair!"

"Nagumo…"

"You said 'try'! He could trya little bit and do it again! And you called him by his first name! You're not angry with him!"

"She never is," chipped in a boy sitting on the top of the slide. Hitomiko looked at him warningly but he continued to chatter away, seemingly oblivious.

"Remember yesterday? When we were go-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"

He slid of the slide suddenly, pushed by a skinny blonde boy who was grinning happily. Hitomiko groaned despairingly.

"Komazawa…what has gotten into you boys today?"

They stared at her innocently and she sighed, ruffling Nagumo's hair briefly (this was followed by a loud protest), before walking towards the swing Suzuno sat on. The child watched her with some apprehension, but she simply smiled and crouched slightly until she was at the same height as her.

"Hello there," she said softly. "I'm Kira Hitomiko. You're Fuusuke-chan aren't you?"

She nodded quickly.

"Welcome to Sun Garden! Are you hungry? I could get you something if you like."

A shake of the head. Hitomiko didn't seem bothered by the lack of response. She stood up and continued to smile reassuringly at her, despite her gaze having returned to the floor once again.

"If you need anything, come see me okay?"

She waved a goodbye and returned inside. Nagumo took this opportunity to pinch Hiroto, who yelped in pain. Nagumo stood innocently as Hitomiko poked her head around the door frame and looked at him suspiciously,

"Nee-Chan?"

"Hn," she grunted and left and he punched the air in triumph. He looked over at her again, this time wandering over and plonking himself on the swing next to her. The older girl from earlier looked at him suspiciously and took the third swing, adding to Suzuno's discomfort. She flinched as Nagumo reached over and tapped her bandaged right wrist.

"Do you want to come play?" he asked eagerly. "Do you play soccer?"

She looked at him cautiously. She used to play every day…until…until a few days ago. She was silent, before deciding there was no harm in answering at least.

"I play…" she informed him quietly. He looked pleased with this fact and swung higher on his swing.

"Great! You can be on my team!"

"Wait a minute!" the girl on her left cut in indignantly. "Why should she be on your team? We should have her! We have less people!"

"I asked first!"

"So? I say we should have her! It's fair, and she's a girl. That means she should be on mygirls team."

"Shut it Reina! She's ours!"

"You could ask her who she wants to be with," whispered a third, female voice. They turned to her, a short haired bluenett with two yellow bands, and large grey eyes. She didn't seem perturbed by the hostile looks she was getting from the two, instead she smiled at Suzuno.

"Go on. Pick."

A slightly panicked look crossed Suzuno's face. She didn't want to play! She'd only said she couldplay. But they seemed so eager to have her on their teams… she could play here. Clara continued to smile at her.

Looking at the two, it was hard to choose. Reina had a point, but she also, for some unfathomable reason, wanted to play alongside Nagumo too. He looked like a good player, one she could play together with…and compete against. With that thought, she pointed at Reina, somewhat regretfully. Nagumo narrowed his eyes angrily and dug his heels into the ground, stopping the swing. He jumped off and stomped away.

"We're still gonna win!" he called over his shoulder. "Eight on eight, in five minutes!"

Suzuno looked at Reina, who wore a rather smug look, and Clara questioningly.

"Isn't it eleven on each side?" she asked in confusion. Reina shrugged casually as Clara answered.

"There are only eight girls here, including you. It doesn't matter really."

"Come on girls" Reina slid off her swing and motioned to the other two to follow.

Five minutes later the two makeshift teams were assembled. Hiroto had been sent to coax Hitomiko into serving as referee, and sixteen children were in their respective positions. The girls Reina had mentioned earlier were all there. Clara was playing as goalie, Yuki and Honoka took the midfield, Ruru, Fumiko and An the defence, and Reina had convinced Suzuno to play as forward with her.

The boys had a slightly different formation. Nagumo and Hiroto as forwards, Komazawa, Netsuha and Kadomichi in midfield, Honba and Gokukawa (who seemed rather intimidating to the considerably shorter Suzuno) assumed the role of defenders and finally, the responsibility of the goal was left to Nemuro. She couldn't really see how he could catch any of the higher shoots, but she supposed that was a good thing for them at least. The rest of the boys who were not playing sat around, some near Hitomiko, others perched on the slides, swings and whatever they wanted.

Hitomiko, lacking a whistle, clapped her hands to signal the start of the game.

Hiroto immediately passed the ball backwards to Netsuha and the somewhat makeshift game began.

Of course, they weren't exactly world class players. They all had talent, that was clear to Hitomiko as she sat on the sides, watching. Some also had their own tics, especially Netsuha, who seemed to deem it necessary to show off in whatever he was doing, be it passing or dribbling, which led to him, more often than not, planting his face in the grass, much to the amusement of both teams.

As they played, Suzuno's mother emerged outside. Her daughter froze and looked at her, remembering the order to stay on the swing. Her mother's face was dark and disapproving as she looked around, registering what they were playing. The rest of the children stared and Hitomiko frowned as Suzuno flushed slightly and slowly crept towards the older woman, who ignored her and made her way to the main gate without looking back. Her daughter broke into a jog in an attempt to keep up with her lengthy strides.

As they reached the gate, the elder woman placed her hand on the handle and turned around, looking at her daughter with a frown.

"Are we going home?" her daughter enquired, once again horribly aware of the others gazes on her. Her mother raised an eyebrow and turned away.

"I'm going home. You're staying here." She made as though about to push open the gate, but was interrupted by an insistent tugging on her clothes. She looked down, irritated.

"Yes?"

"Are you coming to pick me up later?"

"No, Yo-"

"Is someone else going to?"

"No, Fuusuke, y-"

"Should I go by myself?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" she snapped, patience wearing thin. She was late for goodness sake, and she had to leave now. She gestured to Hitomiko furiously and she slowly stood up and walked over, stopping near the child.

"Will you please take care of her? I'm busy and I'm going now. Good day."

She left swiftly and her daughter turned to Hitomiko in confusion.

"Where is she going? When do I go home?"

Hitomiko crouched down and looked at her regretfully.

"Fuusuke-chan…I think maybe your mum wants you to stay with us for a while…don't worry, we all wantyou to stay, and I'm sure you'll have lots of fun," she attempted to smile at the child, who seemed to be trying hard to understand what was being said. Slowly, she pieced together a sentence.

"So…I'm not going…home? Ever?"

Hitomiko wanted to lie to her, she really did. She could tell her 'oh don't worry, it's just for a bit, you'll be home soon' but she couldn't. She just couldn't. Unfortunately, Suzuno seemed to take the silence (or was it her expression?) as a yes. Her face crumpled and she sat down on the floor and tried to hold her tears back, without success. She felt Hitomiko put her arms around her, and thought she saw some of the others around them too, but she didn't care. She continued to cry for her mother despite Hitomiko's attempts to comfort her, and she missed the furious glare the blue haired lady shot at the direction in which her mother had departed.

And that, is that! It was rather difficult to write, since I kept mixing it up with another Harry potter short I was planning, but postponed for this. Voldemort playing football against Harry anyone? Oh yes, and that damn addictive Ocarina of time 3D. Curses! What a foolishly foolish fool I am :D

I will now leave you to Hibisha, and thanks for reading!

EDIT: Forgot to wish Kaji-kun a belated happy birthday~