Summary: Slight AU. In a world where Kobayakawa Sena returns to Japan for his high school years from America and wants nothing more than to just play football. But if you want to be an American Football player, you need a fighting spirit, and Sena is starting to lack in that department.
Warning: Heavily hinted yaoi, but no pairing intended, cursing, violence, SPOILERS!, ect.
Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21
Pairing: Heavily hinted.
A/N: I don't know Japanese that well, so I'm sorry if it doesn't really make sense because you don't get it or whatever. But I tried to make it funny. I tried. I tried making it more realistic and stuff so. Yeah.
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"Don't worry, Hiruma-kun!" Kurita said, going through his third bread, "This is a new year and there are a lot of freshmen this year! We'll be sure to get someone!"
Hiruma snorted at the larger male as he worked on cleaning his gun, "Damn right we are. We're going to the Christmas Bowl!"
Kurita grinned in excitement and looked down at the dirty table in front of him.
"Don't worry, one day, someone is going to come into those doors and-"
The door opened, stopping the male mid breath and both males stared at the person in the front.
Small, tiny, was here to join? That's amazing!
"I'm here to join the American Football club."
"Really?!" Kurita jumped up to his feet. This was amazing!
For the first time since they had ever created the Deimon Devilbats, there was someone who wanted to join! This was the best thing that could happen to them!
"Yeah, I'm Kobayakawa Sena, year one, class 2," he said, his voice sounding a little different from a regular Japanese person. Kurita paid no mind to that though, it wasn't like you needed to speak in American Football really. "I want to be your running back. My number is 21, and I'll be needing an eyeshield because I have vision problems."
"Are you an Eyeshield 21?!" Kurita gasped. How could a hotshot like that join a school as small as Deimon? And then to join their tiny team?
This was great!
"Ah, sort of," the brunette said softly, his hand going to scratch the back of his head. "I just want to play football again."
His voice progressively got softer, but the look in his eyes never wavered. Kurita knew he (and Hiruma) could feel for him.
Kurita grinned brightly, just happy that there was someone who seemed to love the sport just as much as he did.
Him and Hiruma. (And of course Musashi.)
(It was a shame that the male couldn't do it for the Spring Season, but Kurita assumed that the male had to do a lot more jobs these days, even after the Earthquake all those years ago.)
And now, just like before, there would be another person and they would be three. They were at better numbers to go play the Christmas Bowl!
"Of course, I will be officially trying out, but when I picked up this flyer," and he lifted up the flyer, albeit a little moist and very wrinkled one, but it was definitely one of theirs, "it didn't have anything about try-outs..."
"Oh well, we don't really get people to try-out!" Kurita explained, almost brightly, as he began to become a little more sheepish. That probably sounded really bad. He tried to redeem it by saying, "But I'm sure we can organized something."
He looked to Hiruma for help. Hiruma would help them! Of course he would! He's probably just as happy as he is!
He didn't look very happy though.
"...Come back after school so we can see what you can do," Hiruma said at last, surprising him.
There was no shooting or anything.
The brunette smiled at them and nodded politely, and Kurita was so happy that they were going to get a new friend and teammate!
This was so exciting!
"Thank you very much!" Sena-kun bowed once to them, moving to leave (Kurita didn't really want him to, but he supposed that everyone should get to their classes someday). "Ano, and I was told a warning, and I think that I should tell you guys too, but there's this really dangerous person," he said, voice soft and brown eyes warm.
Kurita looked at him, curious. Vaguely, he wondered if there was anyone more dangerous than Hiruma.
"His name is Hiruma Youichi."
Kurita saw the grin in Hiruma's face as the door closed behind Sena with a short farewell.
Kurita knew that this was going to be a good year. He could feel it.
"What do you think about him, Hiruma-kun?"
"...I wonder how much of him I can use before he breaks. Where's the fucking Old Man?"
"I'm here," the door opened and Musashi walked in. "Did I just see a kid leave here unscathed?"
"He wants to join us, Musashi-kun!" Kurita cheered.
Surprise flickered across his face and Musashi stared at Kurita, "...Did Hiruma do anything to him?"
"Not yet, fucking Old Man. Kekekeke..."
"So, what's your time?"
Sena looked at Hiruma, and then at Kurita.
After the first day of school, Sena camed back to the clubhouse. He hoped that they would have a date for the try-outs. It was strange to him how no one really knew anything about the football team except for that a demon resided in the clubroom.
"...Time...?" he parroted.
"Un! Your 40 yard dash time!" Kurita said, motioning to the field and the marker for the 40 yards.
Something clicked and Sena smiled, "It's the average of 4.2."
"...'The average of'? What the fuck is wrong with your Japanese?" Hiruma demanded when he spoke nearly broken and incomprehensibly.
Kurita looked less bothered, more confused.
"I haven't spoken real Japanese in a long time," he admitted sheepishly, "It's... harder than I remembered."
Hiruma rolled his eyes, he can fix that later. Looks like he'll be a quieter player on the field.
"Oh yeah? And where are you from?" he demanded.
"I'm from Southern California, US," Sena repsonded simply.
"Eh? You're an Eyeshield from AMERICA?!" Kurita gasped.
"What do you mean by average?" Hiruma asked instead instead.
Sena's lips curled into a smile, a confused, uncertain smile, "It just means that. I can go slower, and I can go faster, it's just that I'm usually at 4.2 speed."
Hiruma frowned and instead said, "This better not be a fucking bluff. Go your fastest."
Sena nodded and walked towards the field, Hiruma close behind with his stopwatch.
"Okay."
"By any chance, were you Eyeshield 21?" Kurita asked, a kind smile and Sena gave an embarrassed smile.
"Yeah, it was a nickname. I never really thought that it would stick."
"Kekeke... I'll make sure to play with that," Hiruma cackled by himself and Sena, surprisingly enough, just shrugged.
"I don't really care as long as I get to play."
"So, are you the new guy?"
Sena looked up and saw and older looking man and nodded. "I'm Kobayakawa Sena."
"Fucking Old Man, this here is Eyeshield 21. Fucking Speedy, this is Musashi, our kicker."
The two stared at each other, Musashi a little more surprised than usual and Sena wondering if Musashi is young enough to actually be in High School. Well, he was always told that Japan was a little strange (and just look at Hiruma). Sena giving a respectable bow and Musashi returning the favor.
"Are you here because you want to be?" Musashi asked on a whim.
"I'm here because I want to play," Sena responded with ease. "And you?"
"I love playing American Football, with these guys," Musashi said instead, motioning to Hiruma and Kurita, who were already ahead of them.
Sena suppressed a shudder.
Japan was colder than he thought.
"Wait, you're Hiruma Youichi?" Sena blinked at Hiruma in surprise.
The other three, the ones that were dubbed as 'the fucking brothers' in Hiruma's book, had left earlier, since practice wore them down earlier than he had expected. That and Hiruma wanted to talk to him. Musashi had left in the middle of it because he had to go help out the construction company.
(Apparently, Musashi's family and company were the people that benefited from the earthquake, unlike people like Sena, who were more harmed than benefited.)
Hiruma said something about Eyeshield 21 being a secret, and that except for their original members, no one was to know. Then, he proceeded to say something about clubs and then he said a bunch of words Sena didn't recognize.
The male gave a smirk and the brunette blinked.
"Well then," he scratched the back of his head, and gave a soft smile at the blond. "I'm Sena Kobayakawa, so I'll be in your care, Youichi."
The blonde blinked at him, a little shocked by the sudden usage of his first name, and grinned, "Whatever you say, fucking shrimp."
"So, we're supposed to share phone numbers, right?" Sena brought his phone out to share, and Kurita cried tears of joy, swinging the embarrassed Sena around.
The trio shared contact information.
"So, when's our first game?" Sena asked.
"It's the day after tomorrow," Hiruma said easily.
"Eh?" Sena blinked, while Kurita panicked, "Don't we need more players... Or does the Japan high school football games have different rules...?"
"Ah, no, we still need more players," Kurita said a little sheepishly, "American Football in Japan still has, at the minimum, 11 players."
"Kekeke... Go recruit at least another player or else there will be a PENALTY GAME!" Hiruma laughed.
Sena smiled brightly, obviously not really understanding what was going on. "I love games!" he stated happily, really understanding a single word of the entire phrase.
Kurita noticed the brief moment of shock on Hiruma's face before he covered it up and instead, he sighed.
"Just go recruit people, fucking speedy."
The brunette blinked and then gave a soft smile, "Then excuse me."
"Ano, do you think we should mention to Sena-kun that athletes usually refer to each other by their last name?"
Hiruma snorted, "No way. This can be a lot more fucking fun."
"Hiruma-kun..."
"I'm so happy that we won! This is the first time we ever won so overwhelmingly!" Kurita cheered after their crushing win against the Koigahame Cupids.
Hiruma's ears twitched when he heard the faint whisper of Sena's voice saying, "It's cold."
Eyes snapped to the smaller figure. The small figure that was walking towards him after a touchdown. Alone.
For some reason, this truly bothered Hiruma.
Deimon cheered because they had won against the Koigahame Cupids, 54-6. It was pretty funny. Especially when Sena-er Eyeshield 21 was the one that continuously scored without a problem.
"...Hiruma, I'll make a promise to you," Eyeshield 21 turned to the blond devil.
"What do you want, fucking chibi?"
"I'll make a touchdown, from now on, in the first sixty seconds in every game that I play."
"Ho? That's a lot of responsibility," Hiruma smirked.
Eyeshield didn't even flinch, and instead looked at the blond, "The first thirty seconds when we're in offense of course. I don't always win blitz attacks and interceptions."
"Kekeke... Naturally."
He could look forward to that.
Usually, Hiruma was the one surprising, not getting the surprise done to. But then came along this tiny brunette with the skills of a legend.
True to his word, Eyeshield did so. He got his touchdown, baffling opponents, spectators and teammates alike and Hiruma didn't really know what to expect from the Greatest Runningback of this Era.
No one really did. Until that run.
Then, Hiruma could see them toppling the best of the best over. Hiruma saw (almost very clearly) winning the Christmas Bowl. Hiruma could just see it now and that's what bothered him the most.
What would happen if Eyeshield 21 was to leave their team? He said he joined for the thrill of a game, and that all he ever really wants is to play the game.
"I never thought that football could be so..." Eyeshield 21 had said to Hiruma and then looked back onto the field, "Dull."
Hiruma raised an eyebrow at him.
Eyeshield turned back to face him, " So, when is this amazing Shin Seijuro getting on for me to challenge?"
"Well, he should be getting on soon, kekeke..."
It bothered him slightly that the brunette wasn't bothered, like at all, when he did that laugh. The kid, he had to admit, was either so stupid that he didn't really know how to react or he was just impassive about everything.
Hiruma wagered the first one.
"Kekekeke... Alright, let's make this fun for you too then..."
Because that's the least he could do if he wanted to keep this guy.
By the time Shin Seijurou walked onto the field, Eyeshield could feel the shift in the mood of the field. In fact, everyone could. The White Knights were more focused and the Devilbats shifted uncomfortably.
"Go intimidate him," Hiruma said, pushing the team's ace forward.
Eyeshield and Shin stood face-to-chest and then, Eyeshield said one thing that could have probably changed the entire course of the game.
"Don't disappoint me."
Shin frowned at that.
The next time Eyeshield had the ball, he surpassed Shin with the ease that no one thought was possible and had already scored a touchdown.
In the twenty seconds Shin and Eyeshield faced off, Eyeshield had scored a touchdown and everyone was left, mouths open and some on their feet.
"...TOUCHDOWN!"
There was silence before the Deimon Devilbats ran up to him, yelling and cheering and Eyeshield turned to stare at Hiruma.
"...Please tell me that wasn't Shin."
"You defeated the strongest linebacker with ease!"
"Dude! Eyeshield! You're AMAZING!"
Eyeshield 21 turned to look at the ground in shame while his teammates showered him praise.
"It was nothing."
"Ah! He's so modest too!"
Slaps were given to him and Eyeshield lurched slightly forward.
"No, he really is nothing." He turned to move, and whispered out, "Let's do our try-for-point. It's getting cold."
Hiruma raised his eyebrow at this. He was noticing a trend in the temperature for Sena, and he wasn't liking it at all.
Hiruma watched as Kurita cheered extensively with the rest of the team over Eyeshield 21.
He stared at the male, before moving to sit next to him at half-time.
"How are you holding up?" he asked.
He glared the other players away from him so he could rest up. He needed to know how much of this running ate up at him. There was just no way he could have perfect stamina; he didn't care if he was from America or not.
"It's cold," he said instead.
Hiruma frowned, he had a hypothesis about this, and he wasn't really liking it.
"I really hate the cold," Sena murmured back. "I thought this game was going to be warm, because you said that guy was playing. But it's cold."
And his hypothesis was confirmed.
"You... do you call boring games cold?" Musashi, who was obviously listening to the conversation, slid in with ease.
"No, just the ones that have no thrill."
Hiruma stared onto the field, and despite the fact that they were winning, he couldn't find the thrill either. Not when the thought of losing their one hope was falling fast.
Then, a hand came to grip his and his eyes snapped over at Eyeshield. Even Musashi seemed a lot more surprised than Hiruma had ever seen on him.
His hand moved to his shoulder and squeezed. Hiruma barely felt anything, with the lack of strength in the grip and the tiny hand on his much larger shoulder and then, he saw the faintest of smiles on his face.
He could see eyes, wide and gentle staring into his and then he said it. He said the words that Hiruma never really thought he would ever hear from a teammate.
"Then give me the thrill, Youichi. If anyone, you can do that."
Then, he stood up, with one last sip of water, and moved to the field to set up for the next defense play.
And Hiruma found his fighting spirit once more.
"Isn't this great, Hiruma-kun?" Kurita said next to the quarterback and the kicker.
"What is, fucking Fatass?" Hiruma continued to move towards the field, where the rest of their tattered team slowly made their way there.
"We have real teammates now! We rely on them as much as they rely on us!"
"...Fucking fatass," Hiruma grinned, "This is where it really starts!"
Musashi carefully noted the grin on Hiruma's face isn't one he sees often.
This was the just start. And even if Hiruma has to reignite Sena's fighting spirit between every play, then he will. Because he was the man with Golden Legs and Hiruma will not be damned to not going to the Christmas Bowl.
He's going to fight for it. He's going to fight and win it.
With a team.