I do not own any of these characters; the story is mine and requested by Mizashi Haruka as promised. Inazuma Eleven belongs to Level-5 while Mizashi Haruka belongs to... Mizashi Haruka.

It started off with just five hundred words and evolved into this monster. Ha-ha… my writing style has changed considerably. I think. ;-;

Falling in love with Haruka is the stupidest thing he has ever done

Ibuki scanned around the crowded bleachers, looking for someone he expected to come to attend his basketball tournament.

His lips tugged upwards upon seeing her; she was not hard to spot thanks to her noticeably pitch black hair and crimson eyes.

Haruka was looking back at him, smiling cheerfully and waving towards his direction.

And it was all Ibuki needed to make the last shoot before the game ended.

.

.

When Ibuki came out of the locker room after changing into more comfortable clothes, the first person he spotted was his best friend Haruka, who was sleeping by the bench with her hands neatly placed on her lap. She must have fallen asleep waiting for Ibuki to finish with his business.

He smiled yet again, carefully making his way towards her with quiet footsteps so as to not disturb her. She looked so peaceful in her sleep that Ibuki didn't have the heart to wake her up, so he gently carried her in his arms instead, unaware of the shy smile on Haruka's lips.

.

.

"Ne, Haruka, you have an ice-cream stain on your left cheek," Ibuki pointed out, staring at the said stain on the other's pale cheek.

"Really? Where?" the black-haired girl frantically touched her right cheek in all places to search for the stain.

Ibuki chuckled at how the girl can act very adorable sometimes without really noticing herself.

"Right here," he leaned down and licked the ice-cream stain away in one go, making Haruka pause and her eyes wide before blushing furiously with smoke steaming out of her ears.

That got Ibuki pleased.

.

.

Ibuki and Haruka were the best of friends. They were always there for each other and needed each other. If the other one is missing, the other cannot function properly and well. That was how Ibuki felt. He knew that Haruka was the only person that understood him and had always been there for him through thick and thin.

He'd refuse to trade her for anything else. She was by far too precious for him. Without her, he'd be lost in the dark, not knowing what to do.

So when he saw Haruka's pale hands outstretched to him, he took it without a single trace of hesitation in his purple eyes.

.

.

During basketball tournaments, Ibuki's team would always receive consecutive wins thanks to him. However, his teammates didn't like the way how he kept playing on his own but he didn't care about what they said to him.

He never listened to them and refused to be bossed around.

Little did he know, a certain black-haired girl was watching from afar, and didn't like the way how portrayed his attitude at all.

.

.

Ibuki changed.

Haruka noticed that. They would used to spend time together, happily chatting away and enjoying the other's company. However, instead of doing that, Ibuki has completely devoted his time to practicing basketball alone and kept on refusing her friendly invitation of going out for ice-cream. He once even shouted at her, and told her that he didn't need her company.

He wasn't the warmhearted and compassionate person she once knew.

This wasn't Ibuki. This wasn't her best friend. This was not the skillful and talented basketball prodigy whom she fully devoted her time to.

In short, the Ibuki who stole her heart was long gone and no more.

.

.

Ibuki has fallen.

He and his teammates lost the game for the first time in forever.

And top it all off, he didn't even get to see Haruka's angelic smile and supporting gestures during the match like she usually does.

.

.

The whole basketball court was empty and quiet.

Well, except for a bouncing ball and a pair of shoes making squeaky sounds against the smooth floor.

The rest of the basketball team and the audiences had left. But Ibuki stayed behind.

He ran and dribbled the ball; attempted a shoot and scored. He did this for numerous times.

He was enraged and too distracted to notice that someone had opened the door and stepped in.

"Ibuki."

When he heard a soft voice calling out his name, that's when he dropped the ball and turned. He was surprised to see Haruka standing there in the corner, but at the same time, he was happy that she at least showed up.

Ibuki was about to approach Haruka, but stopped half way when he noticed the girl's expression—her eyes were downcasted and held the emotion of sorrow, sadness. He frowned upon noticing her feelings and immediately wished that Haruka's smile would return to her beautiful face.

However, chances were slim of that happening, and Haruka was in no mood to smile at all. She was very disappointed and upset at Ibuki. She never imagined that his best friend would change greatly and even go as far as to hurt her feelings.

"M-Munemasa-kun, I—" she cut her sentence off. She was stuttering and looked completely lost. She may be his friend, but she didn't have the guts to confront him about his attitude and actions at all. What she did instead was mutter a quiet sorry—it was so quiet that Ibuki almost didn't hear it—and placed a water bottle on the floor before walking out of the gym and disappearing out of his life forever.

Ibuki's heart had stopped beating then.

.

.

The next day, he sat alone on a bench during lunch.

He sighed sadly and felt disconsolated. As soon as he arrived in school this morning, he rushed to his classroom and expected to see Haruka there, sitting on her desk quietly next to the window either reading a book or reviewing her notes.

She wasn't there.

He wanted to pay her a visit, but he didn't have the heart to do so.

He greatly missed her warm and comforting presence.

.

.

Haruka was no where in sight.

After school, Ibuki decided to go to Haruka's house for a quick visit to check up on her. Unfortunately, she wasn't home.

"Oi, kid, do you have some kind of important business here or something?" an old woman next door called out, holding a broom stick on one hand.

"Yes," Ibuki answered. "This house... a friend of mine lives here. Do you know where she is?"

"A friend of yours?" the woman carefully thought for a moment before speaking up again, "Oh! You mean the little ghost-looking girl with inky-colored hair and bizarre-looking eyes? Kid, she just moved away yesterday after a fancy man had confronted her on a proposal. I don't know what kind of proposal it was, but all I know is that that little girl took it gratefully. What? She didn't tell you about her moving away?"

But Ibuki didn't hear the old woman's last question. She moved away!?

Ibuki was sure that he was officially dead on the inside.

Done~

I was originally planning on making this as a one-shot, but turned it into a two-shot instead. Let's just say that somewhere along the way, I got exhausted and banged my head against the screen.

Anyways, thank you for reading! Haru-chan, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I made it extra special for you, so I hope you are pleased and satisfied. And forgive me for the mistakes.

Review please?