Hey everyone! I think this is the first fanfic where I haven't had romance in it. Hmm... something's wrong with me... OH WELL! I know this is a really long chapter, but the beginning is a little slow, so I thought that would be boring just for the first chapter, so I added stuff. So anyways, I hope you like it :)
Prologue
Hey everyone. Well... Where do I start? I know this whole intro thing is sort of strange, but I just wanted to try it out. So, if you don't know who I am, hi... My name's Gouenji Shuuya, and this is a story, well... Mainly about a really meaningful event that took place between my family. And by my family, I mean my father and I. If you don't already know, my father and I haven't really got along in the past. I mean when I was little, we got along just fine. But after my mother died around 8 years ago, he changed. You all probably know that story. He didn't want me to play soccer, I didn't want to become a doctor, we agreed on something (for once), I had to leave the FFI tournament, along with Endou and the rest of Inazuma Japan, but he let me keep playing, etc. That was a big thing between us. But this... Well... This was behold all of that. See, my father started to change again, back to his old self. He was becoming happier, which made Yuuka, Fuku-san and I happy as well. But on one night that started out like any other, one thing lead to another and... Well... Our relationship changed again, but worse than before. I never wanted to admit it, but after that night, I could honestly say I hated my father. I know it's a little confusing from what I'm trying to say. So that's why I'm telling you my story.
XxxxX
The very beginning of this story started when we all got back after winning the FFI International Tournament. For a while we celebrated our victory with each other and friends from Raimon and other schools. Then we all headed back home to see our families. I particularly wasn't expecting much of a welcoming when I got home. I mean, of course I assumed that I'd unlock the front door as usual and be knocked over by Yuuka, screaming at the top of her lungs from the excitement of seeing her big brother on TV and winning one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and walking inside to find the biggest meal prepared by Fuku-san as a congratulations gift. But I didn't expect anything from my father. I'd thought he wouldn't even be at home. And when we did get home, he would just look at me like he always would, and head to his study to work. But that wasn't really the case.
When I unlocked the door, there was no screaming Yuuka. The lights weren't even turned on. I never had realised how dark our apartment was without the lights on. I closed the door and made my way to the main light switch. I slowly walked in the dark to the living room, running my hands along the wall trying to find the light switch. My hand stopped once I hit the switch, and I turned it on, before quickly screwing my eyes shut and covering them from the immediate bright light. My eyes began adjusting to the new light, and I slowly opened my eyes. And what I saw really caught me off guard. Like I predicted, the dining table was completely covered in food and desserts. But the whole apartment was decorated with balloons and streamers. Plus a massive banner the read, "Congratulations Shuuya!" And, finally, with Yuuka, Fuku-san and... My father... Were all standing under the banner.
"Onii-chan!" Yuuka screamed as she ran around the table and gave me a hug. "You won! You won! You're the best soccer player in the whole wide world!"
"Thank you Yuuka," I said, laughing for her excitement.
"I missed you so much! It was lonely without you," she said, tightening her hug and burying her face in my torso. I smiled, and picked her up to my height so I could see her properly.
"I missed you too," I said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.
"Onii-chan!" She squealed with embarrassment, only making me laugh.
"Welcome home Shuuya-san," I heard Fuku-san as she walked around the table as well, with a smile and tears in her eyes. "And congratulations on winning the finals."
"I told you Fuku-san and Onii-chan would win. I told you, I told you, I told you!" Yuuka shouted.
"Yes dear, I know you did." She replied with a laugh.
I couldn't help but feel warm inside from what I saw. Yuuka and Fuku-san so happy and everything... I really was really happy to be home.
"Shuuya." I heard my name and realised I had forgotten my father was here too. Yet I couldn't believe. He was here... He actually came to see me... At least I thought he did. He walked towards me as I put Yuuka back down. He looked serious, like always. I thought he was going to say something along the lines of "Now that this soccer tournament is over, you can focus on your studies" or whatever. But he didn't.
"Shuuya, I watched a few of your matches from the tournament, and well... You did a good job," he said looking at me still with a serious stare. But I didn't care. I couldn't believe he watched me play. He hadn't done that in 8 years.
"You helped your team to victory... and I hope you're happy that I let you continue playing." Personally, I felt like he was trying to force a compliment out. But I didn't really care. He was actually saying I did a good job in the tournament. Coming from my father, that was pretty big.
"And I just wanted to say..." He began, before placing his hand on my shoulder. "Shuuya, well done."
I still couldn't believe it. He... Congratulated me... For the first time in 8 years. He quickly took his hand off my shoulder before saying, "How about we start eating before it gets cold?"
For the rest of that evening, we acted like the Gouenji family I remembered form when my mother was still with us. We ate, talked and laughed like we used to. Even my father seemed to becoming happier. My father, Yuuka and Fuku-san all asked questions about the FFI tournament and the experiences I went through when I was over in Liocott Island. After we had dinner, dessert and the rest of the food Fuku-san had prepared, we all sat down and watched TV, while Fuku-san made drinks for everyone. Around 10, Yuuka fell asleep, and Fuku-san took her to get ready for bed, which left just my father and I. Yet even though it was just the two of us, there was an awkward moment or silence. He continued to ask questions about the tournament and soccer itself. I truly thought he was starting to like soccer again. I felt happy about it. It was like he was trying to get to know me. I honestly didn't want that night to end. It just felt like old times.
XxxxxX
After that night, everything became to get better and better. Because there was no school on at the time, I was able to spend time with my father, Yuuka and Fuku-san. Each day started off in the same way, with Yuuka coming into my room and jumping on me, (yes, while I'm still asleep) and nagging me to get up and play with her. I'd get up and get dress, before playing numerous games with Yuuka around the apartment, like hide and seek, and sadly enough, dress up and house. I know it sounds pathetic, but it made her happy. Around lunch time, I'd help Fuku-san prepared food for Yuuka, herself and myself of course. Everyday she made something different. Most of the time I had never heard of what she was making. Yet she taught me everything about each recipe without hesitation. After lunch, I cleaned up the mess Yuuka and I had made from that morning, before the day went on. Around the after noon time, my father would finally come home from work. Fuku-san and I would have already made dinner, and together we would sit down and eat, discussing certain exciting things that had happened during the day.
However, on some nights after dinner, we would all go out to the near by park. Yuuka loved it there, for it had a playground, with swings, a slide, horizontal bars, you know the usual. On one night however, the oval that was next to the play ground had a goal post and net. Yuuka was super excited, and begged for me to run back to the apartment and grab my soccer ball so she could kick it around. Fuku-san insisted I did, so I quickly ran back to the apartment and grabbed my ball. When I made it back, Yuuka was about to explode with excitement. I placed the ball on the ground, and gently kicked it to her, before she ran for to the goal post.
"Onii-chan! Watch this!" She yelled before kicking the ball and shouting, "Fire Tornado!" She kicked the ball as hard as she could, causing it to miss the goal completely and making it go height into the sky. She lost her balance and fell to the ground, before the ball came down and landed in front of her.
"Oops..." she said. I couldn't help but laugh under my breath. I walked up to her and helped her up off the ground.
"How about I teach you how to shoot?" I asked.
"Yes please!" She shouted.
I showed her some basic techniques with dribbling and passing before we tried shooting. Her enthusiasm reminded me of Endou. Before we know it, it was almost completely dark. Yet Yuuka wanted to continue to practise. All of a sudden she stop dead in her tracks.
"What's wrong?" I asked, thinking something bad had happened. She ignored my question and quickly turned to my father and Fuku-san sitting at the bench on the sided of the oval.
"Otosan! Come play with and Onii-chan!" Yuuka shouted. I guess he was a little shocked by her question because it was so random and "out of the blue".
"Yuuka, I don't think otosan is a soccer kind of guy," I said, trying to stop her from getting her hopes up that he may come over.
"Oh really? Then why is he walking over here?" She replied in a cheeky tone. I didn't understand what she was talking about. But when I looked over to the bench, he was too standing and walking over to us, just like Yuuka had said. I was in utter shock. I never though in my life time I would actually get to play soccer with my dad again since mum died.
When he made it over to us, he rolled up the sleeves of his work shirt.
"I'd love to play. But one, I haven't played in years. And two, I'm wearing my work pants and shoes, so it'll probably be harder for me."
"Oh come on otosan. You'll do great!" Yuuka exclaimed before kicking the ball to him. He stopped it easily enough, before kicking the ball to me. When I tried to trap it, I fumbled a bit, causing it to go past me.
"What happened Onii-chan?" Yuuka asked. I wasn't thinking straight, and I couldn't concentrate. I just couldn't absorb the fact that I was playing actual soccer with my dad. I snapped out of my thoughts, and retrieved the ball before kicking back to dad. He trapped it quite easily, before he suddenly started smirking.
"Come on Shuuya. You can pass it a little harder than that," he said, before kicking the ball quite hard to me. I managed to trap he unexpected strong pass. He was mocking me... First he actually decided to play with us, now he was mocking me for not kicking hard enough? I think after that I went into match mode, and started to pass with the same strength I would if I was passing to Endou or Kidou. Yuuka decided to stay out of our way and just watched in awe. I can't remember how long we were playing for. All I remember was that I had the most fun I had had in ages. That, and that it was completely dark well we had finished. Plus Fuku-san and Yuuka had gone home. I really enjoyed playing with my dad that night. We were shouting and carrying on as if it was second nature. I honestly felt like he was my dad again.
After that night, dad and I began to spend time together. We went to the park to play soccer more and went to soccer matches for me. For him, we went fishing and went to the mountains and stuff. He preferred nature more than I did, but I enjoyed spending quality time with him. About 4 weeks after I had come home from the FFI tournament, I realised I had seen Endou and the other for a while, and we decided to meet up and hang out. The only problem was I had to ask my dad, for he had played something that evening with some of his co workers at the hospital. I decided to ask him head on and get to the point quickly. So after everything was decided about meeting up, I headed to my dad's office, and knocked on the door.
"Come in," I heard from the other side of the door. I opened it slowly, revealing my dad's office, with him sitting at his desk in front of his laptop as usual. I knew he had changed, but nothing comes between him and his work.
"Uh... otosan... I was wondering if I would able to see some of my friends from the team in a few days?" I asked. He stopped typing and looked at me suddenly.
"Of course you can go. I don't see why not," he said with a slight smile.
"Woah... really?"
"Yes. I just need to know what day you're planning on going," he asked turning back to his laptop.
"Well otosan. You see it's... um... on the day you're having your co workers over."
He stopped typing again. This time he didn't look at me. He just continued to look at his computer screen.
"Now I know you wanted me to be home for that, but I haven't seen my friends since the tournament. And that day is the only day where everyone is free. So I was just thinking that..."
"Are you sure that's the only day?" He asked, interrupting mid-sentence.
"Yeah... I'm positive..."
There was a pause before he spoke again. "Well... you have been good with looking after Yuuka and helping Fuku-san around the house these past few weeks. I guess you can go if you like."
"Wait... really? You're letting me go?" I asked in shock.
"Yes, I'm letting you go. Just have fun with your friends. Besides you probably don't want to be home while a bunch of doctors are in the one place, right?" He replied with a chuckle. I was still in shock. He had never let me go out with friends before, without saying, "Have you finished your homework and studying?" or "You have to stay and look after Yuuka," or "You don't have time for socialising. You have to focus on your studying." It was a miracle how much he had changed. I couldn't believe this was my father. He had become someone completely different.
I smiled to myself. "Thanks otosan," I said before walking towards the door.
"Shuuya." I stopped and turned around.
"Yes?"
"I want you to be home by 8 on the day you go out. I just want to know you're safe at home by that time."
"Don't worry. I'll be home by 8." And with that, I left to tell the others I was able to come with them.
XxxxxX
A few days later, Endou, Kidou, Kazemaru, Someoka, Fudou, Sakuma, Aki, Otonashi, Fuyuka and I finally got to see each other again after about a month of separation. Endou was ecstatic about seeing his soccer buddies again, and greeted us all with a massive huge each. We all went to have lunch and discussed about what our families did for each other us when we got home after the FFI tournament. After that, we walked around town, looking in the stores and all of that while we all talked. Aki, Otonashi and Fuyuka were walking up the front, chatting and running into a fashion store now and again. Next was Someoka and Fudou, wondering around, not really talking. Then there was Kidou, Kazemaru and Sakuma chatting together behind them. And then came Endou and I at the back. It was nice to see everyone again, and in a relaxed atmosphere made it even more pleasant.
"Hey Gouenji," Endou said all of a sudden.
"Hmm?"
"You seem happier than usually. Did something happen?" He asked. I'm amazed he was able to figure out I was happy. I was trying to act as normal as possible. Then again, Endou knew exactly how I usually acted.
"Well, yeah actually. My father and I are finally starting to spend more time together. I feel like he's finally starting to listen to me and everything. Like I asked him if I could come with you guys today, and he said yes without a second thought. Plus I think he's starting to have some interest in the things I like."
"Oh that's great. I'm glad to see everything with you're father is clearing up," he said with a smile.
"Yeah, me too."
XxxxxX
After we had looked through almost all the stores, we decided to go to the soccer field beside the river. And yes, it was Endou's idea. But we didn't practise shots or skills, we just played. Plus the girls joined, so we had to take it easy. But even though I had never seen any of them play before, they were actually pretty good. Watching them play made me think how much Yuuka would have enjoyed running along with them and all of that. We played until the sun had set, and the whole field was lit up by the light of the city and the street lights.
"Ok guys! I think that's enough for one day," Aki said as she walked to the side of the field to grab her phone. "Besides, it's already 8."
"Aww, do we have to stop already?" Endou whined. "I could play all night!"
"You always say that," Kazemaru said. Everyone laugh for they knew it was true. All of a sudden, I actually took in what Aki had just said, and realised that I was suppose to be home.
"Oh crap..." I said to myself, before quickly running to the side of the field to grab my jacket and phone. "Sorry guys, I have to go. I'll see you later."
I heard everyone yell out good bye as I ran up the stairs and starting sprinting home. I had lost track of time because I was having too much fun playing with them. It took about 10 minutes to get home from the river side field, so I decided to text my dad saying I was on my way home.
I personally think I had run faster to get home than I did running to get the ball in any of the FFI tournament matches. I finally made it home, and ran into the elevator. I quickly brushed off any dirt off my clothes and tried to catch my breath. I suddenly felt a wave of annoyance go through, for I realised I would probably have to talk to my dad's co workers. Honestly, I didn't like them. They annoyed me because they were like my dad. Well, the old dad, who was mean, strict and didn't listen. When the elevator doors opened to my level, I quickly took another deep breath and walked to my apartment door. I grabbed my keys out of my pocket, before I heard a loud thud coming from my apartment, followed by a bunch of old men laughing. I quickly unlocked the door and ran inside, wanting to see what the noise was. I went into the dining area and saw about 6 men included my dad, sitting about the table with a bunch of beer bottles and wine in front of them. One of the men realised I had just walked into the room.
"Shuuya!" The man shouted. "How nice of you to join us." His words were all slurred and muffled. I couldn't really understand him.
"Wow, look at you. You're so grown up now," another man said, standing up and walking over to me with a beer bottle in his hands. "I remember when you was a tiny little boy."
The man stunk of alcohol. It was disgusting.
"Shuuya." I looked behind the man and realised it was my dad calling me this time. He looked drunk, but not as much as the others. "Where the hell have you been? I thought I told you to be back by 8."
The tone of his voice reminded my of his old self. It was a little scary.
"I know, I'm sorry dad. I didn't realise the time until my friend Aki said..."
"Wait, Aki? Is that a girl's name?" He asked, walking over to me.
"Uh... yeah...?"
"You didn't tell me you were meeting up with girls," he said, sounding surprised and angry.
"Otosan, they're just friends. They're managers of the soccer club."
"Wha... you said "they" that time. Were there more there more than one girl?"
I was completely shock by his behaviour. I didn't understand why he was so mad about me hang out with girls.
"Otosan... I wasn't just me... Endou and some others were there too."
"Oh stop making excuses Shuuya," one man said. "What exactly were you doing with these girls?"
"What? Nothing!" I said firmly. "Nothing happened. We just hung out."
"Then why are do you look so guilty?" Another man asked. See, this was another reason I hated these men. There were persistent and rude. Plus I didn't know anyone's name, yet it seemed like they knew everything about me.
"Shuuya, stop lying and tell me the truth. What did you do to those girls?" My dad asked walking closer to me.
"Otosan... I didn't do anything. You know me, I would never do anything to hurt them."
"I've heard enough excuses from you. Tell me what happened." He continued to walk closer and closer to me, forcing me to walk backwards until my back was against the wall.
"Nothing happened!"
"Really? I don't believe him," I heard from the table.
"Same here. He's lying Katsuya."
I couldn't believe what was happening. My know father didn't believe. It was like he was back to his old self. Plus with that, his co workers were encouraging him that I had done something wrong.
"Come on Katsuya! Teach him and lesson or two about screwing with girls!"
"Show him what happens why you lie."
That's all that I heard from that group of drunken idiots. But all my attention was at my father. He continued to move closer to me. I felt like I couldn't get through to him.
"Otosan, who are you going to trust here? Your drunken co workers? Or your own son?" I begged for an answer, but received something... even better... Instead of words, my father used force. A clear strike to the face with his fist. It knocked me over onto a table beside me. I hit my head on the corner of it before hitting the ground. My visual went blurry, taking me a few seconds to focus again. I felt blood gushing from where I hit my head, and the side of my face throbbing from the attack. I managed to pull myself up, gripping my wound to stop the bleeding. He hit me... I knew my father well, and I never thought in my life time he would actually hit me. I slowly stood up, gripping the wall to help me balance before turning to my father in terror. The blood continued to run down my face and I could feel my purse from holding the wound. He father's face turned from pure angry, to concern. He had realised what he had just done, and started to panic.
"Shuuya... I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you," he said quickly while stuttering. he moved his hand to my wound, but I hit it away.
"Don't you fucking touch me..." I hissed. The apartment went completely silent. All of the other men didn't know what to do or say. No one spoke, so I quickly walked towards the door and left. Just like that. All I had was my phone and the clothes on my back. I made it outside of the apartment block, not knowing where to go. I still held my head, for the bleeding didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon.
"Shuuya!" I heard behind me. It was my dad. I didn't want to see him. I quickly started running from the building, just to get away from him. I had no idea where I was going, but anywhere away from him was good enough for me.
XxxxxX
After about 10 minutes of running, I slowly down and looked behind me. He wasn't there. I had finally lost him. I was in so much pain from my wound that I couldn't see straight. I wondered around the streets for god knows how long, until I started to recognise where I was. I turned the corner and realised I was at Endou's place. It was 9, and was starting to get cold. There was no way I was going home, so I decided to ask Endou if I could stay the night. I walked up to his front door and knocked. My head wouldn't stop throbbing, and the pain was becoming unbearable. Suddenly I heard Endou's voice.
"Coming!"
He opened the door with a smile, before it dropped into a frown.
"Gouenji...?" He said, before noticing the blood on my face and on my clothes. "Oh my god... What the hell happened?!"
I tried to answer and explain why I was there, but nothing came out. I suddenly felt my body swaying, and I was unable to hold myself up right. I fell forward onto Endou, who lucky caught. I could hear him calling my name in a panic. But slowly his voice faded, and all I saw was black.
Wow my hands are dying. I wanted to make that a one-shot originally, but it's already over 4500 words, so I'm going to do another chapter. There may be a third chapter, but I don't know yet. Anyways, my holidays are coming to an end soon :( So I think I'll only have time for one more update for something. If I'm lucky with time, maybe two. But I'll try my best. So until next time, BYE! :D