I had the idea for this story, so I wrote it. It's supposed to make you feel things, I hope it does... I'm not the best in this genre. I hope you people like it, if not, I won't write anymore and I apologize in advance for wasting your time with my awfulness.

If by some off chance, you like this story and actually want to read more of it, review please.

Disclaimer: I did use a scene from the actual anime in this story. I thought it worked, so it's in there, with slight modifications... I the only thing I own, is nothing.

Thinking Back

The Hungarian girl sat in her room, twirling her favorite frying pan with her fingers, and contemplated what to do. She ran her right hand through her hair, staring at the picture on the wall in front of her. All she had done for the past hour was stare at his face. Tired of sitting, the brunette got off the bed and took the picture down. She walked back to where she was, removed her slippers and laid down on the bed. Turning onto her side, she clutched the picture to her chest and cried silent tears, wondering to herself.

Why me?

Why do I have to love him?

How can I tell him?

How would he react?

She didn't want to love him. If she had the choice, she would've opted out years ago, but things weren't that simple. Elizaveta didn't even know what it was about him that she loved so much. His laugh? Love of fun and adventure? Stupidity? Maybe it was those enticing red eyes... Most likely it was a combination of all of it; everything that makes him who he is. Whatever it was, it always made her happy to be around him. Her day always went that much better when he was around.

She dozed off, thinking about when things first got complicated.

. . . .

"Hey Eli! You wanna play soccer?!" an albino yelled from afar, running up to meet his friend. Eli was leaning against the outside wall of her house, staring at nothing in particular. The German kicked the ball he was dribbling to latter.

"That depends Gil, do you feel like losing again?" the other child smiled. She kicked the soccer ball up and began balancing it on her knee.

"I can beat you; I just let you win that last time!" Gilbert protested.

"Really? You let me win ten to zero? I guess you're nicer than I thought." The Hungarian let the ball drop to the floor and kicked it to her adversary.

"I'm more than nice." The German stopped the ball and positioned himself to kick it. "I'm awesome!" The ball flew directly towards the girl. She deflected the ball with her chest, but soon after recoiled in pain. "What's wrong?"

Eli looked up weakly, "I didn't want to say anything, but I think I might be sick."

"What?"

"I've been having awful pains in my chest lately. A sort of throbbing pain... and I'm kind of out of it." The albino walked closer to the other kid as he heard her explanation, stopping when they were standing right next to each other.

"Really? That's terrible, maybe you should- SURPRISE ATTACK!" Gilbert rubbed his hands all over her chest, grinning evilly.

"It's not nice to attack by surprise!" Eli protested.

The German turned away and laughed a bit, looking at his hands. "That felt good," he mumbled, before losing all expression in his face. The albino turned back to Eli, whom he had thought to be a male. He stared at the slight protrusion of her breasts. Gilbert awkwardly walked back to her side. "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"You have a penis right?" "

Of course," the girl stating looking at her friend confused.

"Yeah, you have one. There's absolutely no way you could be a girl!"

"But why were you asking about my penis? You shouldn't worry about the small stuff. Well, just relax, everyone grows one when they get older anyway." To say Gilbert was shocked to hear this, would be an understatement. Elizaveta couldn't help but laugh when she saw the look on his face.

"You're a... no that's not... girl, but I... this had to be a lie... Wait, who told you this growing stuff?" Gilbert stuttered.

"Don't tell me you don't know that! Man, you're such a little kid" she said, pausing from her laughter momentarily.

"No, you're wrong... I hate to say this, but penises wo-"

"Eli darling! Time to come inside!" a woman called from the house behind the two kids

"Umm, what should I say..." Gilbert was still at a loss for words.

"Okay, I'm coming!" the Hungarian agreed.

"Hey Eli! Hold on! Listen to me for a bit! You're wrong about the growing stuff!" the German warned.

"Ahh, man. Your weirdness is really funny!" she stated, already heading for her house. She stopped to say one last thing. "My chest pains seem to have gone away too. But still, thanks for listening and talking to me today. One more thing, let's keep today a secret between the two of us! This is a promise between men." The Hungarian ran back into her house, leaving Gilbert to wonder about what just happened.

After that, it took Gilbert a while to act the way he used to around her, but things were never fully the same...

"Why don't we play soccer?" one of the boys asked.

"That sounds like fun!" Elizaveta smiled.

"No, you can't play with us," a boy with brown hair stated crudely.

"Why not?" Gilbert protested. "She can play a lot better than any of you." Elizaveta was happy that her friend was standing up for her, even though he didn't have to. It was comforting for her to know that he always had her back.

"Fine, she can play, but she has to be on your team," the same brunette compromised.

"I have no problem with that. Who else is on my team?"

"Dude, no one else wants to play on a team with a girl."

"Fine then, that'll just make our victory that much more awesome."

"One last thing."

"What's that?"

"We play shirts versus skins. We're shirts."

Gilbert glared at his adversary. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"What? That's how guys play."

"Well, she isn't a guy!"

The brunette, who was apparently the spokesperson of the group of guys, took a step closer to the German. "Then, she shouldn't be playing with them," he smirked.

Elizaveta grew tired of watching Gilbert argue for her. She didn't want to be the damsel in distress that needed saving, although he was her hero. She picked up the soccer ball and walked towards the field. She dropped the ball in the center and threw her shirt at her German friend. Once the article of clothing hit the albino's face, everyone turned to see where it came from. Sure enough, Elizaveta was standing on the field in black basketball shorts and a similar colored bra.

"Can we just start the game already?!" she yelled in order to make sure everyone who wasn't already looking at her, did. When she had everyone's attention, she whistled as loudly as she could, screamed go, and headed towards the opposing team's goal. It took Gilbert about a full minute to comprehend his friend's actions. The second he did however, he was dashing across the field to knock some sense into his friend.

"What the Hell are you doing?!"

"They said shirts versus skins, so I took off my shirt. You have to take yours off too, or else I can't pass you the ball."

"You can't just take off your shirt like that!"

"Why not? You do it all the time!"

Running his fingers through his hair, the German decided this girl wasn't going to listen to reason. He took off his shirt and continued to run next to her.

"See? Now we're on the same team, put your shirt back on. Everyone is looking at you."

"Of course they are! Look at me! I'm doing amazing." The Hungarian stopped near the empty goal. "My skills are so advanced, all they can do is wish to be me."

"That's not what they're looking at," Gilbert stated, eyes shifting down to her chest to explain himself without further use of words. She ignored him and kicked the ball into the goal, mentally patting herself on the back for her own excellence. As soon as the ball hit the net, heavy rain fell out of God-knows-where.

"Put this on." The German shoved not only her shirt, but his own jacket, which was previously tied around his waist, into her hands. Once she had those, he dragged her under the nearest awning.

"What were you thinking?!"

"I was thinking I wanted to play soccer. What's the big deal?" She asked putting on the clothes she was given. "You play shirtless all the time."

"I'm a guy. As a girl, you can't just run around without a shirt near a bunch of guys. That's not safe!"

"I can take care of myself! I don't need you to protect me."

"I never said you did! I'm just doing the awesome thing and trying to help you even though you don't want me to. That's what awesome friends do! Don't you consider me your friend?"

"Yeah, of course we're friends..."

Watching him get angry like that. Seeing the worry in his eyes. Learning about the protective side of him... I think that was the first time I realized that I wanted it.

I wanted to be more than friends.

"Then, can you just listen to me this one time?" Gilbert took the Hungarian's hand and just held it for a moment before he pulled her into a hug.

"What are you...?" Despite her confusion, she tightened the hug, getting as close to him as she could.

"Sorry, but your temperature was dropping really quickly. I don't want you to get sick." Elizaveta rested her head on her friend's shoulder.

I wish I could stay like this forever...

"It's... It's okay..."