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Even Tough Girls Cry
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"Why does she have to come? She'll bring me bad luck!" Yaya rolled her eyes at me while her sportsbag kept bringing up clouds of dust as she dragged it through the gravel on the path.

I narrowed my eyes at Yaya, but she was already back to talking to Hikari. I moved my gaze back down at my feet, feeling the sun shine warmly on my neck. It was a sunny day, with absolutely no clouds in the sky, and a warm breeze softened the heat of the sun once in a while. A ordinairy summer day, you could say. I was not to know that this day would turn my whole world upside down, if that wasn't already the case.

Soft noises of screams and cheers reached my ears, and they got louder the closer we came to the Spica Football Club.

Yaya had an important game today, seemingly against the number one of the competition, or so I had heard. Yaya had been all stressed and hyper about it, and somehow persuaded me to come and watch, along with Hikari and Amane. Nagisa and Shizuma would arrive later on. As if my day couldn't get any better, Yaya would constantly make comments about me because she's so damn nervous about this all and thus needs distraction.

"Yaya-senpai, that's not true!" I snarled when I catched onto Yaya's statement about me and my so-called crush on Hikari, which, by the way, is totally untrue. I would never, ever fall for Hikari. It's just that I admire her because she is Étoile and all. Nothing more, nothing less. Yaya just makes such a big deal about it because she actually is the one with a crush on the blonde.

"Oh, yes it is. Why else would you act so stressed about it then?" Yaya replied, looking over her shoulder slightly to look at me, her chocolate eyes twinkling ever so lively. I tried to come up with an answer, but I only managed to stutter a bit, caught up in those star-like brown orbs.

"Yeah, I thought so." my senpai grinned at me.

Finally, I managed to move my gaze from her eyes to my own feet again, a weird habit of me, which I do whenever I think. I kicked a pebble on the path away from my moving feet and tried to cast away my thoughts about Yaya. Those would have to wait until I had the time to properly sort them out.

After a short walk, we arrived at the Spica Football Club. Students ran around, yelling at eachother, laughing, or playing a quick game, passing the ball toward one another swiftly. On the field, a few girls were warming up already, carefully watched by their parents on the sidelines. I followed the rest of the group up the stairs to the cafeteria. Af few girls greeted Yaya, but she just coolly waved at them and proceeded to walk over to the balcony, which gave a good view of the fields and the people. I once again followed her and rested my elbows on the banister, just like everyone else.

I felt a little uncomfortable as a silence dropped over all of us, with Yaya, normally being the talker among us, focussed on the fields, probably looking at the other girls' techniques. I too moved my gaze toward the field, where another match was being played. The wind blew ever so gently as we stared for a couple of minutes like this. Then again Yaya spoke up.

"Well, I gotta go and change. I'll see you guys in a minute."

I nodded at her as she grabbed her bag and walked off.

And again, silence dropped over us three, the only sound the one of people, the breeze through the trees and the chirping of cicadas.

None of us had anything to say. Absolutely nothing. But, it was no awkward silence. I peeked at Hikari and Amane from the corner of my eye, but they were, just like me, quietly leaning over the banister, gazing over the with people filled fields. I sighed inwardly, but I accpted the fact that none of us would say, or even try to say anything, so I moved my gaze back to the fields again. The trees silently swayed in the breeze, and the sun was reaching its peak. I was glad I had opted to wear a summer dress this morning.

A couple of minutes had passed when Yaya walked back onto the balcony. Her hair, which shone ever so brightly, was up in a high ponytail, and she was wearing her football outfit, which constisted of a standard knee-high short, of course a shirt, which was imprinted with FC Spica and a few sponsorson the frontside,and on the backside her number, which was 5, and last name. All were in white with lightblue sides, and even white and lightblue horizontally striped socks.

As I shamelessly let my eyes roam over her for a minute, seemingly hypnotized by her appearance, redness attacked my cheeks and I quickly moved my gaze back to my feet. I had to admit that Yaya surely looked damn fine in her football outfit. Not to mention that it, surprisingly, gave away the most of her curvaceous form, which was in all the right places by the way. I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the uncomfortable heat on my face.

"Checking me out, were you now, Tsubomi-chan?" Yaya purred in my ear from a veryclose proximity. She added the honorific just for the measure. I could practically feel her smirk when her arms slowly and playfully snaked around my waist as she hugged me from behind. My eyes opened wide and my blush reddened a few shades. Quickly, I got out of her grasp, swatting away her hands. I gulped, but I knew this was typically how Yaya acted. Still, she'd managed to catch me off-guard again. I mentally shook my head and got into defence mode.

But why was I feeling this excitement? I quickly casted the thought away and huffed at Yaya.

"Hmpf! I was not checking you out. Why would I anyway?" I scoffed, turning around to look at Yaya, who was grinning widely. She could be so annoying when she wanted to be. So very annoying. In the meantime, I was hoping my blush wasn't too red too see clearly. If that was the case, I had sunburn. Definitely.

"Well, I'm sure you were, but I forgive you. I just knew you couldn't resist me. Nobody can." she said and patted my head before laughing heartily.

"I couldn't resist you?" I snorted, holding back my giggles. I continued, "Yaya-senpai, that must be the most stupidest thing you've ever said." While I was talking, I noticed that Hikari and Amane had picked up the conversation and were now also listening.

Yaya's grin just grew wider and more wicked.

"Tsubomi, you do realize you're blushing? Heavily."

"I got a sunburn." I blurted out, words said too quickly to understand well. Maybe a bit too quick because Hikari and Yaya both broke out in a huge fit of giggles. I crossed my arms in front of my chest in defendance, my cheeks puffed up in anger, the laughter coming over me like waves. Big waves.

The laughter subsided after a few moments, Yaya wiping the tears out of her eyes. Grinning smugly at me, her friendly brown eyes sparkling with malice, she proceeded to lean over the banister again. I huffed, rolled my eyes as if I didn't care and rested my elbows on the banister, my hands supporting my head. Hikari and Yaya began to chat a little, but I paid no attention.

Why couldn't Yaya just leave me alone? She always has to make jokes about me, tease me, embarrass me, et cetera. Sure, I was getting used to it, but that didn't made it more fun or something. Why does she has to make me feel like I'm nothing?

But still, even though I hate her at some times, I like her too... The attention she gives me, in negative or positive ways, it affects me. Even the fights we so often have. It at least made sure that I wasn't invisible to her, she noticed me alright. And then there were the occasional 'normal' conversations we rarely had; I truly cherised them; they'd enabled me to gather some information about her, come to know her better, get closer, laugh with her, share problems an-

"Tsubomi-chan, you okay?" Hikari's voice broke my train of thoughts. I looked at Hikari, realizing I had been staring into nothingness all the time. When I blinked a few times, I noticed that the blonde was staring at me worridly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I replied, coming back to full senses. I heard Yaya snicker in the corner and I shot her an angry glance, but that didn't seem to have any effect. I sighed, and stared at my own hands, those hands which I so badly wanted to touch her with, embrace her, run my fingers through her silky black hair.

Could I be in love with her?
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I scrolled through the songs on Yaya's iPod, which I was given in protection. I had to say that my senpai had a pretty good taste in music, even though mine was very different from hers. Faint cheers from the crowd entered my ears through the blasting music and I perked up, just in time too see Yaya's team punch their fists in the air, seemingly because they'd scored. Their yellow- and red-clad opponents didn't look too happy with that. A small smile played on my lips and I briefly took a moment to look at Yaya, who was high-fiving some of her teammates, before looking back down.

I just can't seem to let the thought go. Me being in love with Yaya. It's a thought that had crossed my mind many times before. I've already been through the 'denial fase' of my crush on Yaya, and I had accepted this fact a long time ago. Still, it haunts me, simply because it is just hard to find out what I like about her. What I love about her.

I tried to summon up everything I love about her, everything I ever loved about her. I love her because she's straight-forward, cool, smart, simple-minded and not to forget, laid-back. Truly a cool interior, and that to match with a stunningly beautiful exterior: long and shiny, dark chestnut hair, cascading down her back like a waterfall; friendly chocolate brown eyes, which are like pools of stars; her perfectly symmetrical face; her flawless silky-soft skin, so pale as if the moonbeams itself had descended upon it; a body as if chiseled out of pure marble, curves included; her smile, radiating happiness even within that wicked trademark grin of hers; the constant air of warmth around her, like the sun lived within her heart; and her scent, that smelled so sweetly and yet naturally, a mixture of everything she is, a scent which would remain nameless.

I could rant about her like this for hours, finding something new everytime, because in my opinion, she is just perfect. She is everything I ever wanted.

But with all those reasons, I still frowned as my mind started working at top speed. No, not only her features matter to me. The way she thinks is, how to say, determined. I like how she controls every situation with such care, she knows what she wants, and will do anything to get what she wants. She doesn't care what people think about her, if she's happy she will be fine. She has her soft side, she just doesn't show it often. Although she should. She has so many different aspects on things, she is complicated, though she doesn't act like she is. She acts tough, but she is oh so fragile. Like I said, she is just perfect.

But those are just the big, main things, who are easy to tell and summon up if asked for. There are a million other things, which some random person wouldn't see, no, I don't even think her so-called best friend Hikari sees them: the little things what makes Yaya just Yaya. The way her eyes sparkle when she laughs or smiles; how she quickly licks her lips in the middle of a conversation, like some nervous tic; the way she insecurely pushes her hair behind her ear whenever Hikari starts to talk to her; the emotion she puts into her music, and so in her duty as top of the choir; how she always says that she didn't learn for her exams with the greatest confidence about it; the way her eyebrows furrow ever so cutely when she ponders about something; the chewing on her pencil during a test; and so on. Those things. I see them, because I observe. She has so many of those little, but adorable things, which make her who she is. Which make her the girl I came to love.

My lips curled into a sad smile.

She's the exact opposite of what I am.

I am an arrogant, stubborn, annoying and overly proud first year, who likes to stick her nose into other people's business, much to their dislike. I am too mature for my age, which leads me to my constant scowling at people who do something wrong. Even my friends can't stand me at some times, especially Yaya, who could be easily seen as my rival. I even think Yaya sees herself as my rival, and enjoying it, too. Not a girl who you'd like to be friends with, is it? I like to study, too. My good grades are the best friends I have. I like to be left alone, but crave for attention on the other hand. And than there's my looks. Two words: pink hair. Says it all, doesn't it? And I'm still young, my body hasn't developed yet, so there is nothing to see there too. So I won't go on about that too. I know I don't have to be so negative and insecure about myself, but I am. I just can't help it.

Trying to think of ways why someone (with someone I mean Yaya) would like me, my thoughts were interrupted by a loud "oooh!" from the crowds. I looked up, and saw Yaya laying on the ground, her hands tightly holding her knee, face contorted with pain.

"Yaya-senpai." I muttered, more to myself than to Yaya. I felt sorry for her, but I knew that there was nothing I could do about it. This was the risk of the game, after all. I couldn't do anything but watch, hoping that she would be okay. Yaya'd been knocked down three times already today, and I could see that she was in pain, though she tried to act though and hide it. I didn't know if she could take any more blows from her opponents. The game was on for almost seventy minutes or so, and she'd been playing with pain, though not much, all that time. That's why I hate that Yaya does this. God bless her parents, who had forbidden her to do kickboxing.

I proceeded to watch the game instead of musing about Yaya and about myself, trying to focus on what was happening on the field and not in my head. That would have to wait for later. I needed to concentrate on supporting Yaya and her team, not on my own problems.

"What's with the sad face, Tsubomi-chan?"

I looked up, my eyes meeting the amber gaze of Shizuma, who sat herself down next to me, her platina hair swaying in the breeze ever so elegantly. I noticed Nagisa too, who was clinging herself onto Shizuma's right arm, nuzzling up against her.

"No, it's nothing." I said after a period of dumbly staring at Shizuma.

"Oh, I believe there is. Normally, you would be off scoffing at people! Look at you! You're just sitting here. That's not like you!" Shizuma bluntly stated, laughing a bit at her own joke, golden eyes sparkling with concern.

When I didn't answer, she forced me to make eye contact again. My gaze met hers again, and for a moment, it felt like the silver-haired beauty looked right into my soul, into my being, discovering a part of me that even I didn't knew about. Despite the warm weather, a cold shiver ran down my spine, and I tore my gaze away from Shizuma.

"It's nothing, okay?"

"If you say so." Shizuma shrugged, and she proceeded to give attention to a giggling Nagisa, purring sweet words in the redhead's ear.

I let out a inaudible sigh, looking down at my feet again, who were swinging just inches from the pavement, frowning as all sorts of thoughts raced through my head again. The gentle breeze blew my hair out of shape, and I pushed a lost wisp of hair back behind my ear, still deep in thought. Am I that obvious? I used to be able to hide my feelings from others, but lately people seem to notice my change in moods, and it is pissing me off. Before, I would be left alone by my friends without them asking me stuff, but as time passed, more people began to ask what was wrong with me, and why I was so quiet so sudden. I always said I felt tired or was feeling sick, but that doesn't work anymore after you've told that excuse seven days a week, trust me. It surprises me that Yaya hasn't noticed yet, as she likes to find things which she can tease me with. I tried to keep up a façade in front of my friends, but things had gotten worse, and I couldn't always pretend to be happy. I needed time to think, get my thoughts straight, and that doesn't really goes smoothly when Yaya is annoying the shit out of me.

I mentally laughed at that comment. Yaya and I have such a love-hate relationship. We could beat the shit out of eachother at one time, and laugh together about it the next day. She can insult me in to hell, and apologize for it the following minute. I can scold at her until even she gives into it, and swoon over her the next moment. Okay, not literally, but you get the point. We are complete opposites, and that is the cause of our weird relationship as friends. That's also the reason for my sadness on my crush on Yaya. I know that she would never ever fall for me. Mostly because she hates me, but also because we just don't match. We are night and day, sun and moon, north and south. Me and Yaya could never form a pair, that's just against the law.

I sighed as I played with Yaya's iPod some more, finding several songs that fit my mood perfectly. Just as I was about to put the other earphone in, loud screams and shocked gasps surrounded me. I looked up, only to see a massive fight being held on the field.

Blue, white, red and yellow were all tangled up in eachother, in one big mess of limbs. Girls were hitting eachother, some of them lying on the grass, face down, not moving. Players were screaming at one another, accusing them of what or who had caused this. Some students were holding other ones back who wanted to hit somebody else, struggling to keep one in place. I watched it all unfold right in front of me, without doing anything.

Staring at the mess of people, watching with my mouth hanging a bit open out of shock and eyes wide open, I saw some fathers who dared to jump over the fence, yelling and making wide gestures with their arms, to get their daughter out of the complete chaos what, a few seconds ago, was an orderly match. Mothers watched in shock, hands before their mouths, eyes watery from concern. After the first impressions had washed over me, I started looking around, and saw that Hikari had a disturbingly similair expression on her face.

My eyes scanned the field and the mass of girls, students and parents, looking for that familiar face, that glimpse of brown hair, that sparkle of those chocolate eyes. My heart jumped in my chest and my breathing fastened when I couldn't find Yaya. I started to panic, my stomach aching with a nervous touch to it. For a few agonizing seconds, when I couldn't find her throughout the chaos, I thought that Yaya was one of the girls who lay, I believe knocked unconscience, on the ground, but then I spotted her.

She was off the field, at the dug-out, with a hand over her face, and a worried looking young woman was taking care of whatever injury she suffered. I could see a few faint red stains of blood on the towel with which the other girl was taking care of Yaya, and another gush of panic and worry washed over me as my stomach knotted together tightly. Is she alright?

"Tsubomi-chan, come on." Shizuma tugged at my arm, pulling me with her, my thoughts coming to a thundering halt. I stumbled off the bench, following the silver-haired beauty as she let go of me. I relaxed a bit as the fact that they'd probably already spotted her before I did sank in, giving a spark of relief to my panicked mind. They might've even seen what happened to her. I tip-toed and craned my neck as we walked on, trying to get a glimpse of Yaya, trying to see if everything was okay, but my sight was blocked by my friends who were ahead of me.

I got back on my feet and walked on, anxious to see Yaya, to ask her if she was okay, to see if she was alright, to ask what happened. I pulled the earphone from her iPod out of my ear and paused the thing, stuffing it into my bag. When I could fully hear what was going on around me again, I noticed that the total chaos was gone, much to my relief. No more screams, no more sounds of fighting, no more concerned shouts from parents. Just the sound of conversations, apologies and people discussing the situation. A sound of people who were thinking straight again, bringing a suprising feeling of peace into my mind.

When we got at the dug-out Hikari suddenly leapt forward to the middle-high iron fence, shouting Yaya's name loudly and then throwing herself into her arms. Yaya barely had time to react and clumsily caught her, arms around the shorter girl, grinning widely and wickedly as ever. Still, something didn't seem right about her to me. I got a bit closer and rested my hands on the fence, which felt cold in comparison the heat of the afternoon.

"...And then this big, ugly girl just punches Misa into her stomach, out of nowhere, and Sumire and Yuki saw that and went for that girl, outraged of course. Then the choas started you know, everybody just jumped on a opponent, dealing out punches from everywhere in a furious and raged state or something. But Kanade, man, she was just hell! I tried to stop her, 'cause she was trying to hit some other girl, I don't know who, but she was stronger than me and had to I let go of her, but that girl, I believe her number was also five, hit me instead of Kanade. She just hit me full on my face, I'm glad she didn't break my nose or something... I'm just glad that every one's okay, though that's not to say about Misa yet, she got a real nasty punch in her stomach.."

As Yaya kept on talking in her rush of adrenaline, I took some time to study her face. Instead of it's healthy shade of red, it was paler and it shone with a cover of sweat. Around the spot where she said that the girl had hit her it was a tad swollen and it had a faint blue colour, the sign of a nasty bruise. Despite that, she still had that trademark grin of hers on her face as she talked on and on. But, that grin never reached her eyes. Those were red, puffy, and still filled with unshed tears. She'd been crying.

A strong feeling to hold Yaya, care for and tell her it was alright her washed over me, making me pity her. I always thought that she was tough, strong and foremost of all, always happy. The idea of Yaya crying was almost unreal to me. It's not that I couldn't picture her crying, but she never showed any other emotion than her smile, so it never really came up to me. Other emotions are hard to see on somebody who always has a permanently wicked grin plastered on her face. But it just didn't feel right to me. Someone like Yaya wouldn't have to cry. She doesn't deserve to be hurt, and no one should have the right to make her sad, especially after all she's been through with Hikari. No one.

A sudden hatred for the girl who hit had her engulfed me, dismissing all my earlier thoughts. I tightly clenched my hands around the top of the cold fence, causing my knuckles to get white. Why would she hit Yaya, even if she didn't mean to? No one should hit Yaya in an attempt to hurt her, and no one should have a reason to do so. It sounds over-protective, but I can't bear the thought of Yaya being hurt, or Yaya crying. It strenghtens my feelings for her a lot, because I care for her, and I want to care for her when she's hurt. I know that it would never happen that I could shield her for all the evil in the world, but one doesn't have the right to ruin perfectness.

"Tsubomi."

"Yeah?" I looked up.

Yaya stood there with her arms spread out wide, her eyes twinkling with new found happiness, though they were still red, gesturing with her hands. A smile played on my lips as I let go of the fence and walked over to Yaya to hug her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pressed my body close to hers despite the fence parting us slightly, and I felt the heat she was emitting. She rested her head on mine for a moment, and I took a deep breath: she smelled sweet as ever. I both enjoyed and used the moment before it could end.

"You've been crying." I softly said.

"Yeah, getting hit hurts you know." She said back, and I was glad that her voice didn't sound shaky, but steady and with a hint of humour. I elicited a brief laugh, pressed her a bit closer for a moment and then let go of her. I smiled. She really is a piece of art.
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A/n: Not sure wether this is finished or not! I have a few perhapses for the real ending, but I've been working on this for so long that I really wanted to post it, and this ending goes fine by me too. Yeah. All based on personal event.. Yep. I was there. Gigantic fight at my friends' football game (I still am not sure if it is ''soccer'' or ''football''). She got hit, but not as bad as I let Yaya get hit, it was more of a tiny scratch and a huge bruise xD So it's about 90% based on a real story, except for the feelings ofc P=

Hope I got all the characters in portrayed right, I really tried my best to let Tsubomi be a bit of a thinker and tsundere of course: big mouth and a little heart. And I tried to put Yaya down as the cool and tough friend, who can just as easily be hurt as all of us.

The whole story is really just thoughts of Tsubomi, and I really tried to make it just a slight bit angsty, but I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't the slightliest bit angsty. So yeah.

Reviews are very much appreciated!
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Disclaimer: Strawberry Panic! belongs to their respective owners. If I owned it, Tamao would be long gone and Yaya and Tsubomi would be married. :3 But I don't, sadly.
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