Chapter 1: Twilight Memories

It was a beautiful day. The sun was beating down on him, his clothes were drenched in sweat, and his body was tense and ready - just how he liked it. The football match was already at its second half, and neither team seemed to be relenting. The score was 3-2, with his team in the lead. However, Kukai stood at his position -defense- with his legs slightly bent, ready for the ball, because he knew the tide could change at any moment.

Despite the tense atmosphere, Kukai was also a bit jittery with excitement. Most first years didn't play in official matches. At best, first years were back-ups, which didn't really mean much because almost none of the regular team members had ever gotten injured to the point they needed to be switched out. If a back up was needed, a more experienced second or third year back-up was used instead.

Thinking about it, Kukai was also a back-up, not a regular.

A regular member had caught a nasty case of the flu, leaving an empty spot in the line-up. Kukai had looked at the empty position with a whimsical desire, knowing his chances of being chosen were basically nonexistent. Sure he came to practice extra early, when none of the other member were around to train, and practiced vigorously, but he was still a first-year.

So when the team captain walked up to Kukai as he was doing some stretches, he was shocked. The captain stated that the team coach had seen Kukai train early in the morning (when Kukai thought he was all alone), and believed Kukai had the skills to temporarily replace the regular. The captain even joked that perhaps Kukai could be a regular next year.

So here he was, in the match right before the semi-finals. Kukai gave a small smile, happy his hard work paid off. His face became serious as he noticed the ball moving closer, moving around the midfield.

One of his teammates was trying desperately to keep the ball, dribbling it close to his body.; however, the opposition kept guarding him at every move. His teammate attempted to pass the ball, but it was intercepted by the other team. Kukai could see the ball was going to be passed into his area. He looked at his marked opponent, and tried to move in front of him to intercept the ball. Unfortunately the pass was successfully, and the opposing player began to dribble the ball toward the goal. Kukai knew that if the ball went in to the goal, his team would lose their lead. He saw the opposing player about to pass the ball to the forward, who would have then tried to make a goal, but Kukai quickly guarded the other player. The other player looked frustrated that his pass was interrupted, but began to dribble the ball sideways to get an opening. Reacting to this new direction, Kukai made a sudden turn.

Then he heard a "pop" in his right leg.

Suddenly, it was if a hole had opened up under where his right leg was. Kukai fell to the ground, unable to feel anything below his right knee except pain. He immediately hugged his knee to his chest and gave a terrifying cry. He didn't notice as tears emerged from his eyes. He didn't notice his teammates rushing over to him, all with worry on their faces. The only thing Kukai could do was cry, not only because of the excruciating pain in his knee, but because he knew he could no longer play in the game…

It was a beautiful day.

The dorm room was completely dark except for the silver of moonlight that sifted through the curtains. Kukai had immediately woken up, sat up on his bed, and reached for his injured leg. But looking at the bleakness of the room, there was a slight comfort: it was all just a dream. Yet, if it was all just a dream, why did his leg hurt so much? Kukai could only hug his knees to his body, trying not to think about the pain that wasn't suppose to exist. After all, his leg was healed a long time ago. Only a faint scar around his knee proved that he had ever gotten hurt.

Despite the pain that was burning in his knee, Kukai knew deep inside that the pain was just an illusion. The pain -like the scar- was only a reminder of what happened, and what could have happened three years ago. And that was what he was scared about.

*Hello. It may be obvious but this is a fan fiction dealing with Kukai and Utau (as they are my favorite paring in SC, and there are not many fics about them - at least compared Amu & Ikuto). However, because I am not good at writing romance (or fiction in general - I am more of an art person) and the fact I don't like pics that are 100% romance, there will probably a lot of friendship/family stuff going on.

Anyways, this fic required a lot of research. I looked up a lot of information about soccer/football injuries to decide how Kukai was going to be hurt. It was interesting, but I don't want to see/read about the more graphic injuries ever again.

I'm not very confident in my writing skills, so any feedback would be nice.