A/N: This is a gift fic for Kuroka! And my first Inazuma fic! Oh yeah! XDDD I'm sorry if it's too simple and ordinary, and it might be suck, so again, I'm sorry. Anyway, enjoooooooyyy!
For five years, Gouenji S huuya lived in a world without Kazemaru Ichirota and lived in a world where Kazemaru Ichirota existed, but never met him. Gouenji always thought that those five years without Kazemaru had been one of the loneliest periods of his life.
Despite the fact that Kazemaru meant a lot to him, their relationship wasn't what you would call a 'nice friendship', because to be honest, Gouenji doesn't really know what kind of bond they have. They grew up together, yet they often fought with each other than getting along.
Just like right now. They were glaring at each other with their wooden sword in each other grasp. Their shoulders and chest fell rapidly, lips parted in order to greedily gulp in much air as they could. Kazemaru, who look much more exhausted than Gouenji, finally fell into the ground in a heap as his sword fell into the dirt, gasping for air. The smaller boy squeezed his eyes and fist clenched in anguish.
Gouenji, who's still on his feet let out a stuttered chuckle before he relaxed and lowered his weapon. He was just tired as Kazemaru does, but he refused to fall down. After a while, he eventually released the hilt of his own wooden sword and let it clatter to the ground. He shot a smug smirk at the loser, eyes glinting haughtily.
"In your face, girly-butt."
"Sh-shut up! You're just… lucky! Watch out or I'll—"
"Or you'll what?" Gouenji interrupted uninterestedly, a smirk curling up at his lips once again. "You'll cry on me? Wailing like a little girl? Wow, how scary."
At those words, familiar tears began to well up in those alluring honey eyes and Gouenji felt himself panic a little. The insane urge to rush to the other's side and try his best to console him and wiped those tears away overwhelmed him and, momentarily, he remained frozen, unsure what to do as he debated furiously with himself.
Kazemaru sniffed back a sob, angry with himself as he hastily scrubbed his eyes in attempt to wipe the tears away. He was angry because he had lost to Gouenji, again. He hated himself for being weak, and he cried because… even if he didn't want to admit it, Gouenji's words hurt. And as he was reminded those words again, he couldn't hold back the tears that finally streamed down his face now.
Gouenji froze, feeling himself brokenhearted upon seeing the sight in front of him. Only until he heard a loud sniffle and sobs that Gouenji finally step forward, though a bit hesitant.
He sat beside the boy a few inches away from him. He trailed his gaze to the smaller boy next to him, expression softening upon seeing Kazemaru tried his best to hold back his tears, scrubbing his eyes almost harshly.
Gouenji lowered his gaze to the ground, before he finally broke the silence that was accompanied by small sniffles. "My arms really hurt you know…" he spoke hesitantly, cheek reddening a bit. Confused, Kazemaru merely took to staring at Gouenji's face as his hand gently fall down to his lap, exposing his tear stained face.
"Wh—?"
"You… you got me pretty hard too. I-I can't really feel my fingers because you hit me hard with your sword." Gouenji pressed on, unable to look at Kazemaru's face. "I-I think you've gotten quite stronger."
The next few moment passed by with silence between them and Gouenji felt crestfallen at the lack of response. Maybe this time he really had gone too far and Kazemaru's really, really mad at him now. That thought hurt him more than anything, he couldn't bear the thought of Kazemaru hating him.
"…really?"
The timid voice broke his gaze away from the ground to look at Kazemaru. The smaller boy's breathing had calmed down, though the red nose and eyes were still evident on those pretty face. Gouenji look at his younger friend with a soft look and nodded. "Yeah, you are."
Kazemaru frowned as he lowered his gaze to the ground again. "But I still lost to you…"
"So? There's still so many chance for you to practice and beat me after that."
"…but you'll always stronger than me." Kazemaru said, a bit sadly. "If I couldn't be strong like you, I wouldn't be able to protect myself from those bullies."
Gouenji's face hardened. Yeah, those bullies. He hates—no, Gouneji loathed them because they always hurt his little Kazemaru!
"You don't have to force yourself to be strong," Gouenji said "You know that I'll always protect you."
"You don't have to protect me!" Kazemaru shouted shakily, glaring at his friend. He hated it. He hated to see Gouenji hurt, and for his sake. Gouenji always trying to protect him. "I can take care of myself!"
"No you can't!" Gouenji snapped back.
"Yes I can!"
"No you can't!"
"Yes I can!"
Gouenji sighed heavily as he resolutely dropped onto the grass in abrupt motion, clearly surprising Kazemaru. "Well deal with it…" he said, "Because whether you like it or not, I'm still going to protect you no matter what. Because… well, you're important to me…"
Gouenji inhale slowly, dropping his gaze to anywhere but Kazemaru as he was sure that his face had turned all red. Damn, he could die from embarrassment right now.
"…and, I'm sorry." He murmured, looking away, the hand on the ground gently reaching over for Kazemaru's and squeezing slightly.
"…you mean it?" a quiet voice asked, casting the brightest glimmer of hope.
"I mean it." He replied, voice slightly loud and clear. He squeezed Kazemaru's hand a bit tighter.
"…really?"
"I do, I really mean it." Gouenji said, turning to smile at the shorter boy. A soft smile whispered across Kazemaru's lips at that and he made a move to clean the dried trails of tears on his face. Gouenji used his clean hand to wiped Kazemaru's cheek gently, beaming at the light-hearted air that had taken the other boy's mood.
When they had stood up and were hobbling towards Gouenji's house to take a bath, both of them had shyly intertwined their fingers together, squeezing gently every now and again. Once they had reached the front door, Gouenji felt a slight tug from behind and he halted momentarily, and he looked back past his shoulder to see Kazemaru staring at his own feet.
A questioning expression graced his features, and before he could asked what was wrong, Kazemaru had already beaten him to it.
"Shuuya-kun… you'll be with me forever, right?"
Gouenji paused for a moment, mature enough to at least he couldn't trust in the word 'forever'. He really couldn't promise anything, and he was only a kid, and he had no true power to make big promises. Even so…
Gouenji closed his eyes before he opened them again to look down at Kazemaru with a small smile on his face.
"I'll do my best to. I promise."
Kazemaru hesitated slightly, eyes darting upward to meet Gouenji's sincere gaze.
"…really?"
"I did told you that I'll protect you, right? That's why I need to be with you." He said and this time he put both his hands around the back of Kazemaru's waist, pulling the smaller boy to his chest. A little embarrassed, Kazemaru struggled slightly, but he finally give in knowing that he won't be able to break free from Gouenji's strong grip and let a small sincere smile graced his lips instead.
"I'll protect you forever."
Honey eyes were closed and Kazemaru whispered with a choked tone, "Liar."
"Liar."
Gouenji smiled faintly up at Kazemaru, ignoring the splats of blood hindering his vision. He let out a small laugh before lifting his hand to the side of Kazemaru's face. "I'm sorry." He apologized sincerely, his eyes had the same sorrow just much as Kazemaru's did, "I'm really my promise can only extended until now."
Kazemaru looked down at him through his tears, his hand slowly move to grasp Gouenji's that was holding the left side of his face. It all happened too fast, this is not how it was supposed to be, he should have been the one who got hit by the truck, not Gouenji.
"This is why…" Kazemaru muttered angrily as a few angry tears escaped from the corner of his eyes and his arms tightened around Gouenji's body that slowly growing colder, his head dropped low to hover at his boyfriend's face, "…I don't want you to protect me."
Apologetically, Gouenji could only offer a smile as the image of Kazemaru's face blurred into darkness before him.
"Didn't I already said it before?" he laughed quietly as his eyelids grew heavier and his body growing limp.
"…You're important for me."
A/N: Yeah, Gouenji's dead… are you going to kill me now?
Anyway, review! Tell me what you think! (and I want to know just how many fans of GouenKaze out there) and Kuroka-senpai! Gomen if it this kind of story doesn't suit your taste