Prologue
Sena knew how much it hurts when someone close to you gets hurt.
It was a dark, murky feeling that lurked around in the darkest pits of your hurts, it's the throbbing pain when you least want to think about it. It's always there, reminding you about how that person was hurt, and until the person has healed, you never really feel better.
Sena knew that feeling well, especially after he saw Gaou break Hiruma's arm.
But Hiruma was going to heal, and that made Sena feel progressively better, but there was a hurtful thought in the back of his head: What if the person hurt never healed? Would Sena heal then?
But he never had time to elaborate that thought, because soon he had to fight to claim the title of 'Eyeshield 21' and he didn't want to lose it. Takeru Yamato was feared for a reason, and Sena wasn't going to let one thought get his way of winning.
They did win.
Sena was excited to spread the news to his parents, and he even pushed aside Hiruma's celebration party and dashed on home.
Only no one was there- in fact, nothing was there.
The piano that greeted Sena as soon as he opened the door, and that his father played proudly had vanished, so did the vases, lamps, the books and bookcases that Sena used to read all the time, the chairs, the sofas, and everything was gone.
Sena dropped his book bag and said nothing, fearing the worst.
When he saw the blood on the floor, he said nothing. As he followed the trail of blood that led him up the stairs, no words of any value came out of his mouth, not even a whimper. Then he saw the bloody mess of what could only be of two people, his parents.
He still didn't say anything.
He walked up to them, tears without sobs falling from his eyes.
He cried into his knees, no one there to comfort him, no one there to tell them that his parents would get better, because they wouldn't.
Three days after that, Sena, himself disappeared.
"Fucking shit, where the fuck did that damn shrimp go?" Hiruma swore for what seemed to be the billionth time.
Of course there was silence in the club room.
Everyone was there, the Deimon Devilbats, the White Knights, some of the Teikoku Alexanders, and inevitably, Agon, Unsui and Ikkyu. All shared the same knowledge: They all didn't know where Sena went.
Agon, responded without words. He got up and picked up the chair he was sitting on, and threw it at the wall with such force that it left a huge crater. "You better fucking find out." Then he left the room, just like that.
No one stopped Agon, Agon had delivered the words that they all wanted to say, just not exactly how they would deliver it, but they were all tired.
They just wanted to find Sena before the World Cup.
Two weeks passed by with nothing.
When there was only one week left, Hiruma found one tiny trace of Sena, but he didn't look but further into it, just grabbed that trace and chased after it without another thought.
He found himself at a crummy hotel in the middle of nowhere.
"Fuck," was all Hiruma managed to say as he kicked open the already broken door. The manager turned to him, not a single comment arising about how rude he was being.
It was a good definition of hell right there, no air conditioning, no heater. There were cracks in the wall where bugs and animals had taken refuge, and it seemed people stuffed some drugs in there to hide them. There Hiruma climbed up the stairs to the room where the manager had said he was most likely to be in and then, without knocking on the door, he opened it, knowing the locks would probably never work.
The room was fairly neat, despite the wallpaper peeling everywhere and the constant bugs crawling around, but otherwise, it seemed organized. Hiruma crept into the room; there was no bed, just a mattress on the floor, and on top of the mattress was a person.
Hiruma froze.
He bit his lip and grabbed the small blanket, too small to cover the person that had curled into a ball beneath it, and he threw it away.
"Shit,"
The little boy curled up in the blankets turned over, his brown, droopy hair covering his eyes, his adorableness spreading.
"Fucking shrimp?"
His eyes instantly opened and he jumped out of his bed in such speed that even Hiruma took a step back. Hiruma turned his whole body to face Sena, who had cowered up against the wall in fear, shaking so hard that Hiruma felt a pang of guilt, even though he had no idea what he did to make Sena so afraid.
Sena had his eyes squinted tightly close and when he heard Hiruma get closer, he winced.
"Sena, what the hell are you doing?"
Sena's eyes snapped wide: "Hiruma...?" Then Sena's whole stance softened and his eyes glinted with something like happiness for a second until suddenly he frowned (but Hiruma could tell it was a fake frown).
"What are you doing here?" Sena asked, still polite despite his panic attack before.
"Where the fuck were you?" Hiruma asked, his hand instantly shoving Sena against the wall, although with no violent intent.
"I wasn't anywhere that I s-shouldn't have been." Sena said simply.
"Sena, shut up." Hiruma scowled, and Sena winced to his tone. Sena just stared straight at Hiruma, his tired eyes staring at Hiruma and lips sealed tight, refusing to speak in turn.
"Hiruma," Sena simply said. "I can't go back."
"Fuck, why not?" Hiruma growled.
Sena could've told Hiruma the truth, but Sena knew better, if he told Hiruma, so many things could happen.
"W-Why should I tell you?" Sena frowned, genuinely this time.
There Hiruma knew, Sena had changed, in two long weeks, he had been replaced with someone- someone who had seen something he shouldn't have.
"Stop being so fucking selfish and think about us," Hiruma let go of Sena, walking to the door and slamming it closed.
Sena did.
He always thought about Hiruma, about the Deimon Devilbats, about his short-lived happiness after he won the title of Eyeshield 21, about all his past opponents- friends!... About the life he would never return to.
"Sorry," Sena said to the air, his mouth returning back into a tight line. "Just wait until I heal again."