Christmas stories keep on coming. I'm on a roll people. With making up new stories, that is.
Anyways, I like about all characters from Sun Garden and I wanted to write a story with Kariya in it so here it is.
Italics = thoughts
Disclaimer: I don't own Inazuma Eleven.
Enjoy...
Kariya | Aliens and hot chocolate
It was a peaceful morning. The sun had risen just above the horizon and its light shone through the curtains of the chambers in Sun Garden, waking some of the orphans. One of them was a light teal-haired boy. He growled and pulled the duvet over his head.
Stupid sun.. It's finally holiday. So let me sleep in for once in this.. this.. He couldn't think of a word to call the orphanage. He sighed and lowered the duvet again. He might as well get up. The only one he could think of who could actually fall asleep again with the intense sun shining through the curtains was a certain redhead.
Kariya walked towards the window and peeked through the crack between the curtains. He sighed when he saw the entire garden covered in a thick layer of snow. Not that he hated snow. It was just the fact that entire Sun Garden would be holding a snowball fight for the rest of the day and you couldn't leave the door or a snowball would hit you in the face. He walked away from the window and sat down on the bed. Oh, how he'd love to be in Inazuma Town now, but Hiroto and Midorikawa had sent him to Sun Garden since they were only his guardians and he had to be in Sun Garden every once in a while. The reason he wanted to be in Inazuma Town? Well, he just wanted to throw lots of snowballs into Kirino's face.
When he was fully dressed he walked downstairs, deciding it was better to have breakfast now before the whole orphanage was up.
He entered the kitchen only to see no one there, not even Hitomiko. He frowned, but decided that he was more hungry than curious so he made himself some breakfast. When he placed the plate on the table, eggs still sizzling, he noticed a note laying on it. He took it as he sat down and read it.
'I have to do something important. Won't be home until late in the afternoon. Hiroto and Midorikawa will be here at eleven. Don't burn down the orphanage until then. Hitomiko.'
Kariya rolled his eyes as he laid down the paper and started on his breakfast.
When he was finished he dumped his plate in the sink and walked towards the living room. He knew he wasn't the only one up, but he was the only one smart enough to actually get out of bed. Well, he shouldn't complain. He could finally do something in peace instead of being surrounded by tons of kids. He sighed. Sometimes he really hated it here. But... he had finally come to accept that they were some sort of really weird, odd, crazy, insane family. Not that he would tell anyone that, ever.
He sat down on the couch, thinking of a way to survive the rest of the day without being caught within snowball fights, building snowmen or anything that involved other people. He wished he could play soccer, but well, the soccer field would be used as a battlefield for the snowball fight of the year so the only option he had left was to lock himself in his room and not getting out until Christmas was over. Just as he was thinking of a way to actually make that plan happen since he would need someone to bring him food every now and then and a door strong enough to keep Nagumo from bashing in, he heard someone dash down the stairs.
"Snow!" The boy, who looked about nine years old, yelled in a hushed voice as he slid past the door to the kitchen, nearly crashing against the wall. He somehow managed to stop and looked around to see if anyone was up yet. He gulped when he saw Kariya staring at him with a frown.
"Uh... Ohayo." The boy said awkwardly. (Ohayo = good morning)
"Ohayo." Kariya said.
"Uhm... Where is Hitomiko nee-san?" The boy was looking towards his feet which he scuffed around a bit.
"Out to do something." Kariya shrugged.
"Oh..." The boy said and he walked towards the kitchen.
Kariya was known for his want-to-be-left-alone attitude. So nobody even tried to make a long conversation with him. On one side he was glad for that, but on the other side he sometimes felt kinda lonely.
Kariya sighed. If that kid was up then more would quickly follow. So he stood up from the couch and sneaked past the kitchen. The boy was reading the piece of paper with a frown, then shrugged and turned towards the fridge.
Note to self. Make sure the window's open for a fast escape if they do set the orphanage on fire. Kariya thought and silently walked upstairs again.
He hadn't closed the door or he heard about half the orphanage stampeding through the corridors. He shook his head in annoyance and laid down on his bed.
Kariya nearly fell off his bed when someone was smashing against his door. He rubbed his eyes.
He must've fallen asleep again.
"KARIYA! YOU GET YOUR LAZY BUM OUT OF YOUR ROOM OR I'LL KICK DOWN THE DOOR AND DRAG YOU OUT!" An all too familiar voice said.
"Haruya!" Kariya heard something that sounded a lot like someone hitting somebody on the head. Then a more polite knock was heard on the door.
"Masaki." It was Hiroto. "You can't lock yourself up forever. So why don't you come down. There is hot chocolate."
Kariya grumbled. If there was hot chocolate it meant that the other kids were inside too and he didn't feel like having hot chocolate everywhere but in his mug.
"The other children are still outside. So you can drink it in peace. Unless you stay here any longer. I'm pretty sure that they'll smell it soon enough." Hiroto, who could somehow read minds, answered. Kariya suddenly noticed the lovely smell which was the final breakthrough for him. So he got up from the bed and unlocked the door.
Hiroto smiled when the door opened and a grumpy looking Kariya came out.
The two made their way to the kitchen where Midorikawa was stirring in a large pan and a grumpy Nagumo sitting at the table with Suzuno sitting next to him, a small smirk on the latter's face.
Midorikawa turned around when he heard footsteps and smiled when he saw Kariya.
"Ah, Masaki. Want some?" The greenette asked. Kariya wanted to give a sarcastic reply, but got nudged in the ribs by Hiroto. So instead Kariya nodded and sat down at the table, trying to evade Nagumo's glare.
Midorikawa placed the mug in front of the teal-haired boy and then another one in front of Hiroto, who had come sitting next to him.
"Tch. Why do they get first?" Nagumo growled. "He didn't even want to get out of his room." He nodded towards Kariya, who was staring at his hot chocolate, not yet sure if he should just drink it to not have to reply but risk burning his mouth and not being able to taste anything for multiple days or just stare stupidly at it with the hope that it would quickly cool down.
"Because." Midorikawa emphasised the word. "I like Masaki better and you should learn to get some patience."
Suzuno snickered and Nagumo growled something which sounded a lot like, "I would've so kicked your ass if you'd still been Reize."
Kariya frowned. "Reize? Wasn't Reize one of those alien dudes who destroyed schools ten years ago?"
The four adults suddenly tensed up.
"Uh... Well..." Nagumo was searching for an excuse and then wanted to hit himself. He could've just denied and blame the boy for hearing wrong.
Kariya looked to his seniors' faces with a frown.
"Uhm... Are you sure? Wasn't it Reiza?" Hiroto asked, taking a sip of his chocolate to look as nonchalant as possible.
"No... Reiza is the name of one of those from Protocol Omega..." Kariya said. Why are they so worked up?
"Ah. O-of course." Hiroto took another sip. Kariya looked from him to Nagumo, who was evading his eyes, to Suzuno, who was suddenly very interested in the weather, and lastly to Midorikawa, who had turned his back to him and was stirring in the large pan again.
Just as Kariya wanted to ask why they acted so weird, the door flew opened. A black-haired man quickly stepped inside and closed the door even quicker. When they heard the bangs of snowballs hitting the wood they understood the man's quick entrance.
"My, my. Those snowball fights get worse every winter I come here." The man dusted the snow off his coat and turned around. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the flustered faces of his friends and a rather confused Kariya.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
"Ah.. Saginuma nii-san." Kariya looked towards him, a little smirk on his face. "Nagumo nii-san mumbled something to Midorikawa nii-san which sounded a lot like 'Reize'. And when I asked if he was the alien dude from ten years ago they all refused to say anything."
Saginuma had stopped dusting off his coat when he had heard the name 'Reize' and was staring towards the teal-haired boy, Then he started to laugh nervously.
"M-Midorikawa, Reize? How preposterous." He started fumbling with the buttons on his coat. He then felt a lot of eyes on him so he looked up. Suzuno, Hiroto and Midorikawa were looking at him with big eyes, while Nagumo had smashed his head against the table.
"I never said that I thought Midorikawa nii-san was Reize." Kariya said, looking to all the adults.
"W-well, good. Because that definitely is not the case." Saginuma said.
"You're all acting so weird." Kariya frowned at them.
"A-ah... Masaki. You haven't taken a sip from your hot chocolate yet." Hiroto pointed out, deciding that they had to change the subject now.
"But I want to know what made Saginuma nii-san link Reize to Midorikawa nii-san." Kariya frowned and looked towards Saginuma, hoping he would spill more.
"N-nothing. If you don't drink now it will be too cold." Saginuma said. Kariya quickly took a sip.
"See. I took a sip. Now tell me."
"That's just a sip. You should drink all of it." Suzuno managed to keep his voice as cold as usual, but there was a slight hint of panic in it and that didn't go unnoticed by Kariya.
Kariya pouted and looked towards the mug. It was still steaming hot, but he really wanted to know why his 'brothers' were acting like this. So he took a deep breath, picked up the mug and gulped the hot liquid down in a time even Nagumo couldn't beat.
The adults looked at him with mouths open. When Kariya put the mug down on the table again he wanted to run outside and take a full mouth of snow, but his curiosity won over the pain.
"There, finished it." He managed to say.
"Well, that's good." Nagumo nodded.
"Now, tell me. Who is Reize?" Kariya said with a determined expression.
"Go to your room." Nagumo stood up as soon as Kariya had finished the sentence and pointed towards the stairs which were just visible around the corner of the door.
"Why? Just minutes ago you wanted to kick down the door and drag me out." Kariya stood up as well.
"THAT'S DIFFERENT!" Nagumo yelled and smashed his hand on the table, making Hiroto nearly spill his chocolate over himself.
"Why are you so upset about the aliens!?" Kariya raised his voice as well.
"WHY ARE YOU SO INTERESTED IN THEM!?" Nagumo's voice had a small hysterical note in it.
"BECAUSE YOU SEEM TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT!" Kariya yelled back.
"WELL IT WAS PRETTY HAPPENING WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE!"
"THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST TELL ME ABOUT IT!?"
"BECAUSE..!"
"ENOUGH!" Suzuno banged his fist on the table, making both Nagumo and Kariya jump in the air.
"This isn't going anywhere." The light grey haired man sighed. "Masaki, out."
"W-what?" Kariya stared towards Suzuno with a confused expression.
Suzuno pointed towards the door which led to the garden. "Out."
"But the snowball fight. I don't want to..." Kariya quickly grabbed his coat when he saw the threatening look in Suzuno's eyes.
When Kariya closed the door behind him, he put his hands in the pockets of his jacket and huffed. Then he noticed that not a single snowball had hit him yet. He looked up and saw everyone staring at him, either snowballs in their hands or laying on the ground covered in snow.
Great... Just great. Just what I needed. Everyone hearing me yell. They must think that I have some sort of anger management problem... Well.. maybe. But not as bad as Nagumo nii-san's. He quickly marched to his secret spot before they regained sense and started pelting him with snowballs.
Nagumo was panting heavily as he sunk down in his chair again. Sometimes that kid could piss him off nearly as much as Suzuno could. He felt Suzuno glare at him, but he went with his hand through his hair and evaded the man's teal eyes.
"Real clever, Haruya." Suzuno said coldly.
"It's not my fault." Nagumo said and glared towards Saginuma.
"You were the one who said Reize in the first place." Saginuma said calmly. Nagumo grumbled something.
"Well at least you've learned to grumble more silent now." Suzuno said with a frown. Nagumo humphed.
"Maybe we should just tell him." Midorikawa proposed carefully.
"Are you nuts!?" Both Nagumo and Suzuno exclaimed while Hiroto and Saginuma looked at Midorikawa with worry.
"Well, we can't hide it forever."
"Why not?" Nagumo asked with a frown, Suzuno nodding with him in agreement.
"Like he's not going to lay the link sooner or later anyway." Midorikawa shrugged. "He's not stupid."
"As long as none of us say that he's right, he will never know." Suzuno said.
"Indeed." Nagumo nodded as if to end the discussion.
"You do realize that he will bother us with that same question over and over again until he gets the answer." Midorikawa then threw in.
"That's true, but, Ryuuji, it's not something you just throw into a conversation." Hiroto said, placing down his mug.
"Yeah. It would go something like this." Nagumo said. "Hey, Kariya. Remember when I said that I would've kicked Midorikawa's butt so hard if he still had been Reize. Well you know what? He indeed was one of the alien dudes who destroyed schools ten years ago. And you know what's even funnier? I was Burn, Fuusuke was Gazel, Kira was Gran and Saginuma was Desarm. Actually, everyone from the orphanage ten years ago was an alien. And we wanted to take over the world with soccer. So Midorikawa was sent to destroy schools. When Raimon defeated him, Desarm took over. Then he got beaten as well. Next up, Raimon tied with Fuusuke and he nearly pulled his hair out that night.." Nagumo placed his hands over his head, because Suzuno slapped him, but he continued. "..And then he and I formed Chaos, because Kira became the Genesis, which was the title that went to the strongest team. Then he disrespectfully interrupted our match with Raimon and made sure we wouldn't walk in his way anymore. Then he got defeated as well and we all turned good. Funny how life goes, isn't it?" Nagumo made a that's-it motion and leaned back in his chair.
"The tulip-head has a point." Suzuno ignored the man's protests. "You can't just tell that."
"No. Less blunt, I think." Hiroto frowned.
Suddenly the door flew open and about all the children were standing in the doorway. Shaking, sneezing and completely covered in snow. They looked longingly towards the large pan.
"A-ah..." Midorikawa had completely forgotten that he had started making hot chocolate for the orphans, not for subconscious nervous ticks.
The children sat down at the table or went to the living room and were served by Midorikawa and Hiroto, who had stood up when there were more children than chairs.
While the children happily chirped away about the snow and which side had eventually won the fight, Hiroto noticed a blur of blue racing up the stairs. He smiled softly. That boy...
When Kariya saw all the children walk inside, he quickly got to his feet and slipped inside as well. He quickly raced up the stairs and went to his room. Once again locking the door behind him. He sat down on his bed and frowned.
Why in the world had they acted like that? I just asked a simple question, right? He growled and laid down, staring towards the ceiling. Nobody ever tells me anything. Even on the day I got dumped here by my parents. They had just said, 'Go sit in the car. We're going for a drive.'. It was that I had asked where we were when we stopped in front of Sun Garden or I'd just been left there without a word.
He laid there on the bed until the sun started setting. Then his brooding got interrupted by a soft knock on the door.
"Masaki? Can I talk to you for a second?" Hiroto asked. Kariya turned his head towards the door.
"Why? I'm not going downstairs again." He answered.
"You don't have to. Just open the door, will you?"
Kariya sighed and got up. Hiroto walked in the moment the door opened.
When Hiroto didn't say anything and just looked at his stuff, Kariya started to get impatient.
"Are you ever going to say why you're here or what?"
"Masaki. Do you like living here?" Hiroto asked calmly. Kariya, taken aback by the question, was staring towards the red-haired man.
"Eh?"
"No, I guess I should rephrase that question. Do you mind living here in Sun Garden?" Hiroto still didn't look towards the teal-haired boy.
"Mind?" Kariya thought about it Hiroto waited patiently for the boy's answer. He had a feeling the boy would say yes, but still... Kariya sometimes acted different from what you initially thought. When he had just arrived here he had secluded himself from anyone and didn't eat for three days. That was until Hitomiko had had enough of it and had asked Nagumo and Hiroto to hold him in place while Hitomiko forced food down his throat. The next day they had come by again to see how Kariya was doing, only to find a rather distressed Hitomiko. Apparently Kariya hadn't been seen for the entire day and she was worried that he might have run off. So the five ex-captains went out for a search. Just when they were about to give up and call the police, Hiroto and Midorikawa had found him on the soccer field. They had watched how he kept the ball high with open mouths. Then after some time they jumped in and joined him in practice. Kariya had first found this very odd and annoying, but later Hiroto and Midorikawa were sure that the boy loved 'sparring' against them.
"No."
Hiroto's thoughts of the past got interrupted and he turned towards the boy behind him. Kariya was staring towards the ground, his expression hidden behind his hair.
When Kariya noticed the man looking at him he looked up.
"I don't mind living here." Kariya said quietly. Hiroto smiled.
"Good. Now let's go downstairs. Hitomiko has prepared dinner with Ryuuji. So it will be delicious, I promise."
Kariya nodded and followed the man to kitchen which was, to his surprise, empty besides Nagumo, Suzuno, Saginuma, Midorikawa and Hitomiko. They were all eating dinner, so Kariya sat down next to Midorikawa.
"Ah, Masaki." Hitomiko said and stood up to give him some food. When she placed a plate in front of him, she asked, "How was your day?"
"My day?" Kariya looked towards the adults around the table, who were all suddenly very interested in their food.
"Oh, nothing special."
The adults let out a deep breath and seemed to relax a little until Kariya continued.
"I got to know Burn." Kariya said calmly and took a bite from his food. Nagumo however choked on his drink and all the other adults just stared towards the teal-haired boy. Hitomiko stared towards Kariya as well, but then turned towards the other five, who tried their bests to evade her eyes.
"What?" She said menacingly.
"N-nothing. That boy has been making up stuff the entire day." Nagumo had regained his breath after nearly choking.
"Really now?" She glared towards the redhead, making him feel like ten years ago when the woman always scolded the living hell out of him. Nagumo gulped and kept quiet.
"Well, Masaki?" Hitomiko wanted him to continue.
"Oh well, first I got yelled at by Burn to get up, then Gran coaxed me out of the room with hot chocolate milk from Reize. Then Burn wanted to kick Reize's butt and I asked why. Then Desarm came in, covered in snow, so I asked him since Burn didn't want to say a thing. Then I got in an argument with Burn and then Gazel sent me outside." Kariya shrugged and bent over his plate, a smirk playing on his face. The adults just stared at him.
"I thought you never wanted to talk about that time?" Hitomiko asked calmly. The adults now stared at her. They had expected everything but such a calm reply.
"W-we don't." Midorikawa said slowly.
"Then how come?" Hitomiko asked, raising an eyebrow. They now turned to Kariya again, who looked up from his plate.
"Well... I kinda overheard you talking when I sat down under the window behind the dumpsters." Kariya smiled a little. "And then I heard Nagumo nii-san's short explanation about, what was it again? Aliea Gakuen?"
They subconsciously nodded, then frowned.
"So, you eavesdropped on us?" Nagumo asked.
"Uh.. yeah.. kinda." Kariya said carefully. Nagumo slowly got to his feet.
"I guess your alien name would be Dropper then." He said calmly, but his eyes were spouting fire.
"In which team would I be then?" Kariya asked, which they all found pretty daring.
"I guess Gaia, Gran's team."
"Ah, why?" Kariya got to his feet as well.
"Because you have the same annoying aura around you that he has."
"Aha... But that does mean that I top Prominence since Gaia was the Genesis, right?" Kariya challenged the red-haired man. That hadn't been very clever.
Nagumo suddenly dashed past the table. Kariya, who had seen it coming, sprinted around the other side, grabbed his coat, threw open the door and sprinted outside as fast as he could. Nagumo dashed after him, not even bothering about a coat.
"GET HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!" The man shouted. "THERE IS NO WAY THAT GAIA IS BETTER THAN PROMINENCE!"
"Then how about Diamond Dust?" Kariya shouted back.
"WHAT!? I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET THAT!" Nagumo sped up and so did Kariya.
The other 'aliens' walked outside as well and were watching with amusement as the two kept running circles around the garden.
"At least Masaki takes it lightly." Midorikawa said cheerfully.
"Yes. He certainly knows how to tick Haruya off." Suzuno smiled.
"For the third time today." Saginuma added.
"Funny how life goes, isn't it?" Hiroto said and they all started laughing.
Hitomiko looked at them with a smile from the doorway. "It's good to see that they are still themselves after so many years." She said quietly to herself. "Otou-san would be proud."
Fin.
Whaa, crappy ending I know.
Well, hope you liked it. Reviews are always welcome.
I know it isn't really a Christmas fic, but the word Christmas in it. So... That's good enough to me.
Then how I got the idea for this. Well, I saw a video in which Reize, Desarm, Ulvida and Gran had ended up in the wrong time and Hiroto was having a freak out because of that. Midorikawa was a bit cooler, but both didn't want Tenma, Shinsuke, Hamano and Kariya to know that they were the aliens so they (mostly Hiroto) did desperate attempts to stop them from finding out.
Anyways. That's all. Have a merry Christmas!