Requested by Arisa Takutomo
Takes place before GO
Keiza, Shindou and the rest are still part of the second team.
Second Team;
1. Abuyama Tamotsu [GK]
2. Sakisaka Satoru [DF]
3. Nishiki Ryouma [FW]
4. Kirino Ranmaru [DF]
5. Kurama Norihito [FW]
6. Aoyama Shunsuke [MF]
7. Kamino Keiza [DF]
8. Hamano Kaiji [DF]
9. Ichino Nanasuke [FW] Captain
10. Momoyama Gamon [MF]
11. Hayami Tsurumasa [MF]
12. Shindou Takuto [MF/FW]
Coach: Katuro Minashi
And now on with the actual story.
Keiza walked to her locker in the changing room and put her shoes and shin guards in it. Coach Katuro always gives her permission to leave practise a bit sooner so that she is almost done when the guys come in. Today's practise was a disaster, usually nobody wants to pair up with her, unless Kirino, Shindou and Ichino, but today they just ignored her and as she paired up with Satoru, he just started talking to the other ones. Every time she started talking to him, his answers were short and cold. No, today's practise wasn't fun. Keiza sighed as she pulled her bag out of her locker and saw her books falling all over the place as her bag slipped out of her hands. "Great," she mumbled as she walked over to her chemistry book and started pushing it with her foot back to her bag. "I think there's a faster solution to that." A voice behind her said. Keiza didn't listen to him and started picking up her pencils. "Not in a good mood today?" The boy continued. Keiza took a deep breath and turned around. "I don't really care, it also goes this way, Shindou." She said as she picked up her pencils. Shindou knelt down and took her maths and English book. Keiza looked at him, "you don't have to-" "I'd be rude not to." Shindou smiled and handed her over her books. "Did you study well for our maths test?" He asked as Keiza stood up and walked to her bag. "... Not really. But I'm not good at it, so it doesn't really matter if I study or not, I'll always get a bad grade." She replied. Shindou laughed a bit, "so you don't care if you fail this year?" Keiza shook her head. "No, I do."
Just as Shindou wanted to say something, the door swung open and Hamano, Hayami and Aoyama came in. "Konnichiwa!" Hamano said. Shindou looked up, "Ah." Keiza closed her bag and stood up. In time Kirino and Ichino followed them. "What was taking you so long today?" Shindou asked Kirino, who raised his eyebrows. "Just what happened that you were so fast?" He laughed. Hamano put his hand on Shindou's shoulder, "yeah, what were you two doing?" He inquired. "Nothing, really." Shindou said as he pushed him away, laughing. This was their way of teasing each other. "You should ask Keiza to know about that, maybe she says something else," Kurama said, he was leaning against one of the lockers. "Yeah." Ichino said. "Where is she?"
Keiza was in coach Katuro's office, telling what has been bothering her. "Kantoku, today I realized that I don't fit in this team. I really want to keep playing, but I don't know how. They just don't trust me." She told. Her coach Katuro Minashi stood up and walked to the window. "I knew that it would be difficult from the start, and you knew that too, didn't you?" He asked. Keiza slowly nodded on this. Katoru looked outside. "You're the only girl who is in charge of any school team in the country, you should be glad that you made it thanks to your cousin. Ichino knows about this, doesn't he?" He said, Keiza shrugged. "Yes, but it doesn't matter if the others just don't go along. I just feel like this team is better off without me." She whispered. The coach took a deep breath. "You should decide whether you quit or not." He said, "but I want to say that you're our ace defender and you're not a regular without a reason, understood?" Keiza bowed and said a soft "hai" before she left the room.
Shindou was walking home with Kirino and Ichino, they hadn't seen Keiza after she left, so they went without her. Although Shindou wanted to wait first, Kirino told him that they should study for their maths test together. They were talking about today's practise when Ichino suddenly remembered something. "Oh, guys, I'm afraid we can't do the movie night tomorrow. My dad's busy and he needs the room tomorrow in the evening, he also doesn't want a whole bunch of jumping kids around him when he's working. Well, that's what he says." He told them. Shindou nodded. "Ah, that's a shame," Kirino whined. "I really looked forward to the movie night." Ichino shrugged, "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do about it." He admitted. Kirino grabbed Shindou's arms. "Doesn't matter, because Shindou over here has enough space in his house." He smiled. Shindou looked at Ichino. "If captain's okay with that?" He asked. Ichino laughed, "of course I'm okay with that, but do your parents agree with it?" He replied. Shindou looked at Kirino, who had let go of his arms and sighed. "It's funny how much value you attach to that tradition." He said. "Fine, I'll ask my parents."
Kirino grabbed Shindou and Ichino's hand and began pulling them. "Come on, let's go to Shindou's house. The faster we go, the faster we know." He said as he pulled them along. Ichino walked next to Kirino but Shindou pulled his hand loose. "I-I don't think it's a good idea to do that now." He stuttered. Ichino turned around, "nani?" Shindou turned around. "I think I left something at school." He said quickly. Kirino raised his eyebrow, "so? You can get that tomorrow." He inquired. "No." Was Shindou's short answer. "It's my maths book." Kirino turned to Ichino. "But I saw him putting his maths book in his bag." Ichino shrugged, "he doesn't have a reason to tell lies." Shindou rolled his eyes. "Can I go now?" He inquired. Kirino gave him a small push and smiled, "nobody told you to stay here."
They watched as Shindou ran away in the direction of the school. "He's hopeless," Kirino said suddenly. "... Yeah, in love." Ichino added. Kirino's head shot up and he looked at Ichino with big eyes. "Pfffhrt. Shindou in love? No way, he's way too clueless." He burst out in laughter, Ichino joined him. "Not like anyone would ever like him with his girlish hair." He laughed. Kirino stopped laughed and glared at Ichino, "take that back." He claimed. The pink haired boy chased the other until they were at Shindou's place. Kirino slowed down and Ichino also stopped running, he turned around and looked at Shindou's house. When Ichino stared at him with a confused look, he pointed at the house. "Should we ask it?" He inquired. Ichino looked up, "I don't know."
Without saying a word, Kirino walked to the gate. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," he said to Ichino when the latter gave him an anxious look. He pressed the intercom on the gate and waited a minute. A soft click sounded and they heard a voice, "who is it?" The voice asked them. Kirino smiled at Ichino before answering the question. "It's Kirino, I can't find my pencil case so I thought I lost it in Shindou's room. Oh, and I have something to ask for Mr. and Mrs. Shindou." There was a moment of silence. "Ah, Kirino-san. Of course you can, but Mr. Shindou isn't home." The voice replied before it shut off with a loud click and the gate opened.
Shindou arrived at school and let his eyes search for a familiar girl, he wanted to ask her if she wanted to come to the movie night since it would probably at his place. Although he still had to ask his parents if it was alright. They held a movie night with the whole team every time they won a regional match, and this was the case. It would usually be at Ichino's place because he was the captain, but since they couldn't hold it there this time – and Keiza never went to those movie nights, he would ask her for only this time. She usually didn't come with an excuse that she didn't like the movie they would watch or that she had really much homework to do. Shindou knew that these were lies. He also didn't like every movie they watched at the movie night, but it was always fun with everyone. And Shindou, Kirino and Keiza were in the same class, so Shindou knew it when they had a lot of homework or not, though he seemed the only one to notice.
The longer Shindou looked around, the more shrank the hope to find her here. She must have already gone home short after the three boys left. Shindou sighed and lifted his bag. He let his eyes shift over the soccer building and the training grounds once more before he turned around and left.
The next day everyone gathered after school in the soccer building. Ichino mentioned that he had to tell something after practice. Shindou glanced at Keiza, who just came into the room. She had already changed her clothes before the others did so, as always. But something seemed off the last days, Shindou noticed, although he couldn't tell what it was.
Keiza waited outside on the field with coach Katuro and the managers Someru and Winta, the twin sisters. It would just be as always. Ichino, Kirino and Shindou would be first, then Hamano, Hayami, Aoyama and Satoru and finally the whole last lazy bunch, Abuyama, Kurama, Nishiki and Momoyama. But not this time, this time Shindou was the last one, to everyone's surprise. Kirino gave him a push against his shoulder, "you had to rectify your time from yesterday, didn't you?" She inquired. Shindou looked up and nodded. "Ah." Keiza walked to Shindou – a bit anxious though. "Shindou, should we pair up for this practice?" She asked him as soft as possible so that nobody would hear it. The brunette blinked before looking away. "No, I'm sorry. I already paired up with Kirino, I hope you don't mind." He replied and Keiza's heart sunk. "N-no. I don't mind... At all." She whispered and walked away. Kurama and Nishiki were doing some special shooting training with Abuyama so Keiza was alone for this time since nobody wanted to pair up with her and coach Katoru didn't order to make one trio.
During practice, Keiza saw how they all turned their back to her after a second of glaring. And after a minute of 20, she couldn't hold it anymore and shot her ball at the goal, although it didn't come that far. Their goalkeeper Abuyama was in the way and got the ball in his face. He started to swear immediately and exclaimed things like "who the hell did that?" and "I'm gonna crush whoever did that" Keiza looked away but couldn't avoid the eyes of her teammates. Was she sorry? Apparently not, she didn't really like him at all. "Keiza-san." Ichino said softly. "Don't ever talk to me again," Keiza mumbled before storming off the field, leaving everyone confused and wondering where that sudden frustration came from.
After shutting the door of the changing room, Keiza sat down and pulled the tie out of her hair. She took the black hairclip out of her bag and fastened the lock of hair at the right side of her head behind her ear. The shin guards and her football shoes found their place in the corner of the room, and that's where the tears came without announcement. Nobody at school didn't really hate her, but they also didn't like her as a real friend. She was always alone when they had to pair up in class. Was she just too different? What did she have to do so that they would begin to like her? Was that even possible?
Outside on the field nobody dared to say anything. They were all thinking about what just happened. Katuro sat down on the bench and put both his hands in his hair, Ichino, Kirino and Shindou looked at each other. Someru walked to the coach and put her hands behind her back. "Kantoku, do you know more of this?" She asked. Katoru denied this, "I wish I could." He whispered. Winta stood now next to her sister, "I think you know more about this" she stated. "How do you mean?" Ichino asked her. Winta looked at their coach before speaking up. "I heard them talking yesterday, Keiza said that she wanted to quit soccer." At these words, Katoru clenched his fists. Kurama looked at him. "No way." Someone whispered. "Winta!" Someru exclaimed, "you shouldn't eavesdrop on people!" Her sister turned around. "I thought that this was important and they needed to know." They were disturbed by Shindou. "Kantoku," he began. "Is that true?" Katoru nodded slowly. "Yes, Shindou. I wanted to tell you... But-" Shindou shook his head. "No. You didn't want to tell us, otherwise you wouldn't let us do this." Coach Katoru took a deep breath and stood up. "I thought that this was between me and Keiza, don't make it any worse. And now continue practice!" He exclaimed. Everyone didn't dare to say anything more, they hadn't seen their coach like this until now. Abuyama picked up the ball that Keiza shot in his face and turned to Kurama. Ichino and Aoyama also started continuing and Hamano put his hand on Hayami's shoulder. Shindou didn't move, he kept staring at his coach. Kirino tried to reach his friend with his words. "Come on Shindou, let's continue." He raised his eyebrow when the brunette walked away. "Hello? Earth to Shindou? We're in the middle of practice, remember?" Shindou didn't stop. "Who needs to practice when there's something important to be done?" Kirino frowned at this. "What then?" Shindou turned his head. "I need to set things right."
Keiza was sitting in the changing room, still crying. She had taken a blouse from someone to dry her tears with, although it wasn't white anymore, there was now a dark grey stain on it. Keiza looked at it. Well, I'm sorry, whoever this blouse is from. Since they all were the same, she didn't know whose blouse she just messed up. A small laugh broke through her tears and she tossed the – now wet and dirty – blouse away and changed her clothes. Outside the changing room, she took her bag from which she got a pen and a bit of paper.
When Shindou came into the club building, Keiza was already gone. He walked around and saw a paper on the table, walked to it and took the letter. After reading it, he put it in his bag. Away from anyone who could be interested in it. Just when he wanted to walk back, the letter couldn't let him, it just kept sneaking into his mind. He tried to ignore it, wanted to ignore it.
He stood there for a few minutes when he heard some noises nearby, the door swung open and Ichino stormed inside, drenched. Shindou raised his eyebrow and before he could say something, Ichino began to explain. "There's a storm going on outside." Behind him Kirino walked inside along with Kurama. "You shouldn't go outside for now." These said. "But how?" Shindou asked, "it was sunny when I left." Kurama rolled his eyes, "yeah, that was around twenty minutes ago." Shindou walked to the window and looked outside, the weather was indeed awful. He could see coach Katoru helping Satoru to the entrance of the club building.
Another thing that didn't go unnoticed, was a shadow of a girl. Shindou tried to focus his vision on it, but he couldn't get a clear sight. After a few seconds Ichino started talking. "I'm sorry guys, but we can't hold the movie night at my place tonight." Kirino pushed Shindou, "hey, what did your parents say about it?" He asked. Shit. He totally forgot to ask about that. There was an awkward silent moment before Shindou spoke up. "They said no, unfortunately." Ichino turned around and glared at him. "... What?" Shindou inquired. Kirino shrugged, "you big liar. I already thought you'd forget so we asked it for you." So now the chaos was complete. Thank you...
"So" Ichino spoke, "we'll all be at Shindou's place at...?" He turned around and pointed at Shindou, which meant that he had to come up with the time. He shrugged. "A quarter past eight, I guess?" Ichino turned to the others again and confirmed what he said. "Then we'll all be at Shindou's at a quarter past eight." When Ichino turned to Shindou again, he was gone. Kirino brought his hands up to show that he didn't know where he went either.
After a few minutes the door from the changing room swung open and Shindou stormed out of it. Ichino sighed. "Ah, there he is." But Shindou didn't pay any attention to them and walked to the door. He even hushed when Kirino began to talk to him about the movie night. The only words he heard were "what about" and "movie night." There was a moment of silence, before Shindou said a "don't worry about that." Before he left.
It was still raining outside, but Shindou didn't really mind. He had something to look for here. In silence he repeated the content of the letter on the table in his head. He knew who wrote it, God he was so certain about it. It must have been Keiza, no mistake. He wrote over her work so much times that he could recognize it right away. He left the school grounds in silence, the world looked sad from here. It looked so abandoned and Shindou didn't expect to see anyone here. Then why was he here? Where was his body taking him?
When he passed the old abandoned tram station, Shindou heard something, like the moving of trash cans. He turned around and looked into the dark. Would it be a person? Silently hoping on a certain girl, he walked to the place where he heard the sound coming from. To his disappointment, it was just a cat who tried to get home without getting too wet. And just a he wanted to give up and go home, he saw the shadow again. It was definitely a girl. Curious and with a bit more hope he walked to the shadow. It progressively turned into a girl. She got more detailed with every step Shindou took. Her face revealed itself along with her brown-green eyes. Her non-visual hair turned into brown wavy hair locks which were totally sodden and her uniform stuck to her body. "Keiza," he tried to say, but no word came out of his mouth. He looked around and eventually took his jacket off which he hung over her shoulders. She looked up and glared at him. "Why did you do that?" She inquired. Shindou raised his eyebrows, "what exactly?" "Ignoring me, I thought we were friends!" She growled. "Oh." Shindou whispered, "that." Keiza looked the other way. "... How could you?" She asked. The boy sighed, "it's complicated." He told her. "Give me an explanation. ... Please?" She inquired desperately. But Shindou refused. "I'll tell you later, promise." He said. "But only if you go with me. I can't allow to let you stay here." Keiza stood up and held Shindou's school uniform – which was already soaked though she didn't mind - with one hand. A small smile appeared on face. "Deal."She finally answered without any more objection.
They hushed as they walked to 'who-knows-where', Keiza guessed that they were heading to Shindou's house. She knew that he was wealthy and people said that he had a really big house so on one side she was really hoping to see it. On the other side it was kind of strange and scary to go with him, since she couldn't look into his mind. Or because she heard weird and disgusting stories, which she always shove off her mind until now. But Shindou had never done anything like that, right? Suddenly Shindou stopped and Keiza bumped into his back. She jumped backwards immediately and apologized with a soft "sumimasen." Shindou smiled. "Daijobu." Was the only word what could cal Keiza down a bit. Now that they had come to halt, Keiza looked around and assumed that they were at Shindou's place. They were standing right in front of a metal gate. Behind it was a huge mansion and a beautiful garden – though it wasn't really beautiful right now since it was dark and it was raining cats and dogs. Although the mansion was huge and really pretty, Keiza was a bit disappointed. She expected a castle of something like that. With a throne room and a ballroom, but she understood that that was a bit overdone. Shindou took his keys out of his pocket and picked a small magnet out of it, which he placed against a black plate which wasn't full black anymore Keiza saw. It had been used for many-many times Keiza figured. With a clattering sound the gate began to move and Keiza and Shindou headed inside.
A woman in a maid uniform showed up when Shindou closed the door behind Keiza. Keiza looked surprised, "do you really have...?" She asked Shindou. "Ah." Those replied. The maid asked if she could take their coats. When Keiza took Shindou's uniform off her shoulder the maid turned to Shindou. "Oh dear young master, you might catch a cold!" Keiza took a look at him. She was right, the raindrops were dripping off Shindou's nose as well off his hair or actually everywhere. His usually wavy hair was sticking to his face. Keiza was silent as Shindou refused to take a bath, of course he didn't want to, that would only be embarrassing now when she was here. "Yuki." Shindou said. "I've a guest, so calm down a bit, please." The maid looked at Keiza. "But of course, shall I lead you, young lady?" But she shook her head. "N-no. And you don't have to call me like that, if you mind... Or don't." The maid smiled at the confused girl. "Of course I don't mind." Keiza didn't know what to say on this and looked desperate at Shindou. He laughed a bit. "Yuki-san, could you get her some dry clothes?" Shindou asked. "Of course!" Yuki replied and walked off.
Shindou beckoned Keiza with a nod of his head and she followed him upstairs. This time she wasn't disappointed about what she saw, there were beautiful paintings on the walls and there didn't seem to come and end to the corridor. Keiza figured that the house was bigger than it seemed from the outside. Shindou entered a room what should be his own room – or that's what Keiza thought. There stood a grand piano in it, along with a bed, a couch and a grand flat screen TV. Keiza took a look inside. "Wow." She whispered amazed, "is this your room?" Shindou smiled. "Yeah." Keiza spoke further as she walked in. "It's amazing. I just... Well I just thought it would be different." Shindou raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean, different?" Keiza carefully walked to the window as if she was in a museum. She touched the white painted wood of the window frame. "Uhm, well. You know, different." She said as she looked outside where it was still raining. After a second she thought of what she had just said. "N-not that I really think about what your room looks like. It's really not like that."
The door opened and Yuki came in. "Shindou-sama" these said. "I couldn't find anything." She paused for a bit. "All what's left is a maid uniform." Shindou's head shot up. "Nonono Yuki. That won't do, right Keiza?" He sighed relieved as Keiza also shook her head. "Thank you, you may leave." When she was gone, Shindou sighed and brushed his hair backwards where it stayed because it was still soaked. He was the first who spoke, "I uhm." He pointed backwards to where the door was. "I'll look in my wardrobe if I got a shirt and some sweatpants for you."
It was now 8 o' clock in the evening and Keiza was still at Shindou's place because the storm hadn't subsided yet. Aphrodi, with who Keiza stayed over with wasn't able to bring her home either because he had still work to do. Keiza was looking outside while Shindou was just pressing one and the same key on the piano all the time. They tried to talk a few times, but every time it got awkward and they fell silent. Shindou guessed that Keiza had given it up, and he wasn't surprised about it. Keiza on the other side knew very well why she was acting like that.
The doorbell rang. Shindou stopped pressing the key and looked up. There was another moment of silent before a voice sounded. "Shindou-sama, can you open the door?" It was Yuki. Keiza saw how Shindou took a deep breath before replying. "Why should I?" Shindou shouted and rolled his eyes. "It's master Kirino and his friend Ichino. They say they're here for the movie night or something like that over the intercom." A slight shock was visible in Shindou's face. "Oh shit. I totally forgot." He whispered. Keiza looked at him. "Nani?" She asked as Shindou covered his face with his hands. "It's the movie night." He said softly. "I made a deal that we'd hold it at my place because Ichino's father needed his space. But I totally forgot." Keiza held her head a bit crooked and laughed a bit. "Then you should go quick." Shindou stood up and stretched his back. Keiza mumbled something and Shindou looked at her. "What?" He inquired and Keiza turned her gaze off. "I guess you didn't cool down properly." She said softly. Shindou raised his eyebrow on this. "You can tell?" Keiza couldn't reply to this as Yuki shouted to Shindou from the corridor. "Shindou-sama. Your friends are waiting in the rain!" Shindou sighed before he answered. "Hai!" He turned one more time to Keiza before he left the room. "You should go ask Yuki if your clothes are dry."
Sometime later Keiza changed back to her school uniform and was still upstairs because she was lost. Looking for Yuki was quite easy because she was in the room next to Shindou's, but finding the way to the staircase was something else. "Hell Shindou." She whispered to herself. "Why did you have to have a house that's so big?"
A little while Keiza walked downstairs. Shindou was carrying 5 glasses filled with drinks in his hands and Yuki was walking behind him, claiming that it wouldn't turn out well if he did that. As Shindou put the glasses on the table, he looked at Keiza. "What took you so long?" His only question was. Keiza avoided his eyes and shrugged. "You house. It's too big." She mumbled. Ichino stared at Shindou with his mouth wide open. Hamano – who also arrived in time along with Hayami – pointed at Shindou and then at Keiza. "You two are going ou-" He tried to say but was cut off by Kurama who stood up. "I knew it!" Shindou looked to the one to the other, obviously not understanding what they were talking about. Kirino stood up with a deep sigh and grabbed Shindou's arm. "I'm gonna borrow my best friend for a second" he said while pulling him along.
Keiza just wanted to walk away when Kurama began speaking to her. "So. What were you two doing here?" He asked. Keiza turned around and growled. "None of you business." ... This guy was pretty rude. Kuruma grinned and walked around Keiza so that he could see her face. She backed off while looking at Ichino. Ugh that guy. Ichino, DO SOMETHING FOR GOD'S SAKE. "I think you forgot something last practice. I think you should apologize to the team you just abandoned." Kurama claimed.
Kirino pulled Shindou to the corridor. When he closed the door, Kirino looked around. "What do you think you're doing?" He whispered. Shindou folded his arms. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She said while turning away from Kirino. The latter growled softly and turned his friend around. "I don't know what you're thinking Shindou Takuto." He exclaimed. "But this isn't like you. I. I mean you sneak away during practise, you're lying about leaving your maths book at school and about that your parents didn't give us permission to keep the movie night here. So if you have something to tell me... Just spit it out okay!?" Just as Shindou opened his mouth to object, they heard a voice coming out of the living room.
Shindou took this as a good excuse to cancel this conversation. He rushed to the door and opened it. Behind the door the whole team already gathered but there was some hostility in the air. Keiza had given up objecting and Kurama was still unleashing his anger. To Shindou's affright nobody did anything to it or just whispered that what Kurama said was true. After a few seconds Shindou recovered and his voice resounded through the whole room. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
This was not what Keiza thought it would be. She didn't expect her teammates to come here. It was all Shindou's fault! She should never have gone with him. Kurama and the others were still staring at Shindou. Keiza used this moment to turn around and run to the other with leaded to the exterior door. If she went outside nobody had the chance to bother her, Kurama nor Shindou. She didn't really care about the storm. But before Keiza could reach the door two strong hands grabbed her arm. A voice called her name. "No Keiza. Don't go!" The person was quick and turned around her so that he was between her and the door. "You don't tell me what to do or where I should go." Keiza cried out the last words as she looked up into the person's brown eyes. The boy hushed and laid his cheek or her head. "Shindou." She whispered, "why are they so mean to me?"
"I don't know." The brunette said softly. He didn't really know how to deal with this or what to say. "But they'll have to pay for it" he said after a long pause. He lifted his head and gave her some space, but Keiza didn't really feel like going away from him, she didn't know how long it would last. After a second or so she stepped backwards. "Really?" Was her question. "Yeah." Shindou had said when he laid his hand on the top of her head. "I promise."
After a few minutes Keiza pushed him away and ran to the door. "Keiza!" Shindou exclaimed for the umpteenth time today. The girl stood still in a fraction of a second. She turned her head and looked at him. "You don't know half how it is. People like you because of who you are." She paused. "Nobody ever told me that they loved me because of... Who I am." And with that, the door was opened and Keiza stormed outside into the rain.
The team which was in the opposite room was noiseless and everyone wanted to pick up parts of the conversation. Kirino was sitting on the couch with his hand on his knees, ready to stand up and jump in if something went wrong. After a few minutes of awkward silence a voice beamed through the room, it was Shindou's for sure. "God damn it Keiza!" They heard and Ichino stood up, ran to the door and opened it in one motion. But he didn't see Shindou nor Keiza, only an open door and the storm which was still going on.
Shindou tried to keep up with Keiza, and that was a lot harder than he thought it'd be. What soccer practice could do with you was showing off, but on both of them. And that was in Shindou's disadvantage. Another thing was that the ground was slippery because of the rain that had been falling for hours. The condition of Shindou's shoes also were a problem; they were not made for running or running on slippery undergrounds. This was only the thing Shindou wasn't aware of at the moment. Suddenly he felt how his feet were torn from under his body and he fell with his face on the asphalt. Keiza took the chance to run to the corner of the street and slowed down when she wasn't visible anymore. She leaned against the wall with her back and tried to catch her breath again.
After a few minutes Keiza was getting worried. She walked to the corner of the street but didn't walk around it. From the other side Shindou couldn't see her, if he was still there. Keiza doubted that he would still be here, on the other hand something could have happened. It was quite dark and these streets were well-known for gangs. Keiza stood with her back to the wall and tried to get that thought away. "Shindou?" She whispered. And after a few seconds again. "Shindou, are you hurt?" She was relieved when a voice came from the other side. "No." Shindou just finished his sentence when Keiza confessed. "Shindou, I'm so sorry. It's my fault." She whispered slowly as she walked around the corner.
Shindou was sitting on his knees and looked at her with a pair of red eyes - probably from crying Keiza assumed. She slowly began walking back to him, carefully because he might get angry. But Shindou didn't react to it at all. His wet hair made it look darker and was more straight than wavy. He had a scratch on his cheek and his hands were probably full of abrasions. Keiza stood still and looked at the brunette in front of her. "Gomenasai." Was the only word that escaped her mouth for that moment. Shindou tilted his head and opened his mouth to say something but Keiza was faster. "-It wasn't my intention." She said. A little smile formed on Shindou's face. "I don't think so either." Keiza was actually waiting for the worst to come but instead of that, he said this? She carefully looked at his face and searched for anything that would made his sentence turn sarcastic, but there wasn't anything that leaded to that. He was honest.
If people would see them right now, they'd probably think Shindou and Keiza had fought from the way they looked. And because of the dark sky, it looked even more dramatic. Both their clothes were sodden and the raindrops was dripping from Keiza's hair. Suddenly it stopped raining and the two looked up. A few dark clouds made place for thousands of stars and the full moon. This sight got Shindou back to his senses and he stood up. "I'll be the sun." He mumbled. Keiza looked in his direction. "What?"
"I'll be the sun on the north pole in the summer." Shindou continued. Keiza raised her eyebrow, "Shindou, did you hit your head?" She asked. "No really, please just listen to me." Shindou claimed. "I want to be the sun... your sun. I want to light up your life, forever." There was a moment of silence, a car behind them on the street passed and the headlights made Shindou's face light up. Keiza took a sprint to him and folded her arms around his neck. "Silly." She sobbed. "My international name is actually Luna."
Luna meant moon, Shindou knew that very well. So if he would be the sun and she the moon then...
He didn't have time to think any further. "I need you to shine. I can't shine without you." Keiza cried out in his ear. That was technically true; the moon needed the sun to shine or at least be visible. Keiza took a step backwards and stared from Shindou's hands which were covered in abrasions to his face. The scratch in his cheek was red and so were his hands. 'Of course', Keiza thought; it was a reflex, when you fall, you try to catch yourself with your hands.
Shindou got her out of her theory. "Will you come back to us, to the team?" He asked. But Keiza didn't know, so she shrugged and mumbled a short "maybe." They were quiet for a few minutes before one of the spoke up. "If you said you'll be the sun on the north pole in the summer, it means that you'll always be there." Keiza whispered. "Then where are you when it's winter and it's dark on the north pole?" Crap, he hadn't thought of that, what did he have to say?
"Do you believe the sun has died when it's dark?"
"No."
"I'll always be there, even if you can't see me." Shindou said. "Now let's go home."
So... Well that's what I've been busy with the whole time.
My writing is still a mess, gomen.
Please leave a review with tips and what you think of it.
R&R