DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story and I do not earn money with them!

Tenma was humming to himself with low voice. It hadn't been raining for days now and the thermometer showed 34 °Celsius (A/N: about 93 °Fahrenheit), so the lawn on the soccer grounds had to be watered artificially. Usually, Ms. Kamata would take over that task, but in the morning, she had to discover that the pantry was empty. There had been enough food for breakfast, but then the necessity to go shopping came up. Because of the heat, Shinsei Inazuma Japan could practice in the evening only anyway, so the captain offered to water the lawn.

That's why he was standing in the middle of the field now, a garden hose in his hand, and sprinkled sometimes here, sometimes there.

"Tenma!"

The Tenma in question turned around, startled, and looked directly into the eyes of his friend Tsurugi. Ibuki was there as well, standing behind the navy-haired striker with his arms crossed. Both of them were in full get-up and Tenma couldn't help wondering how the keeper was able to handle that. Running around with gloves and a padded sweatshirt at these temperatures has the potential of killing! The field players came off way better with their light T-Shirts and shorts. (At least those were granted to Ibuki too, though.)

"What's up?" Tenma asked, as cheerful as always. "I thought you were practicing in the gym?"

"It's as hot as outside there, and stifling at that. So we decided that we can just practise on the field as well," Tsurugi explained.

"Matatagi also disappeared already," Ibuki added. "He wasn't scared away by the heat, nor are we!"

Tenma nodded to show that he got their point, happy about the motivation his team mates showed despite of the killer-temperatures.

"Alright then! You can use the goal over there, I'm ready with that area. But take care and don't slip!"

"Sure," Tsurugi said calmly and went onto the field, with Ibuki in tow.

"Bicycle Sword!"

Tsurugi's voice sounded over the whole field and Tenma watched Ibuki's efforts to improve Wild Dunk with a generous smile, totally forgetting the pipe in his hand. When he was surprised by a familiar voice again, he splashed Kusaka from head to feet. As fast as he could, Tenma directed the hose somewhere else and apologised profusely.

"Sorry, sorry! That was an accident, really! I wasn't looking and..."

"Don't mind, it'll dry again," Kusaka interrupted and the short Konoha accompanying him nodded shyly.

Tenma pulled himself together. "Eh, yeah... can I help you?"

"We just wanted to ask whether we can go to the park," Kusaka explained.

"Sure! But be back at 5 pm, we'll start with training then!" Tenma answered, but neither Kusaka nor Konoha were listening to him. They stared at a spot behind the captain, unable to bring out a word. Tenma, who finally realized that, turned around just in time to see a soaking wet Tsurugi spilling a bucket of water over his head. The midfielder dropped the hose in shock.

"What was that for?!" he bubbled at his friend and coughed.

"For your ability to take aim," the striker replied with a cold expression. But shortly after, his poker-face slipped away because of the garden hose going into business for itself and flailing around like a snake going berserk.

Konoha also became wet now, while the already soaked Tenma tried to bring the pipe under his control again. Too bad that the sillcock was out of reach!

At the goal, Ibuki was about to explode. The scene was quite entertaining, but a fit of laughter would be incompatible with the goalie's pride. Nevertheless, his afford wasn't enough to suppress a smirk. Amused, he watched Kusaka stepping on the hose and blocking the water. The pipe came to a halt and Tenma was able to pick it up.

"Thanks!" the brunette turned to his tallest team mate, who took his foot off the hose. As a result, the water spouted out with high pressure and the green irrigation help whipped itself out of Tenma's hand again.

And the water? Wanted to wash away Ibukis grin, as it seemed. The pressure was enough to overcome the distance to the goal and throw some liters into the white-haired boy's face. Dry person minus one. Equals zero.

"TE-N-MA!"

Ibuki fumed and the younger one fancied it a good idea to betake himself to flight. He let the hose being a hose and bolted.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Meanwhile, the others were taking a step back from the thrashing garden tool. Ibuki gripped Tsurugi's water bucket, stepped on the pipe energetically, picked it up and put the end into the bucket. Then he let go of the water tube and started to hunt Tenma around the whole field. The weight of the water didn't bother him at all, his strength was his greatest power after all. But because of the speed the smaller boy displayed, Ibuki ended up gripping the bucket under its bottom and catapulting the content towards Tenma's back.

"Bull's eye!"

It's not like the midfielder could get any wetter, but Ibuki was celebrating and punched the air. Unfortunately, his happiness wasn't supposed to last long because in this moment, another bucket of water was spilled above him. His headband slipped over his eyes, blocking his sight, but a surprised "Sakura!" from Tenma's mouth identified his attacker rather quickly.

"Man! Why didn't you guys tell us about you having a water battle?" the pink-haired girl pouted.

"Eh..." Tenma made, while Ibuki adjusted his headband, growling. He had dropped the bucket already.

"Well, doesn't matter! Let's get going!" Tetsukado stated with a grin, banging his fist in his palm. He stood a few meters behind Sakura. Also Manabe, Minaho and Shindou arrived in dribs and drabs, they wanted to look where the screams came from.

Then it really got started! The idea of having a water battle appealed to nearly everyone, except for Konoha, Manabe and Minaho. To Minaho, watching his seven team mates charging at each other with water guns they found in a shed next to the field, was most interesting. Manabe pushed his glasses higher on his nose and observed the pipe.

"With this angle and this speed, the water will hit us in exactly 0.71..." Splash! Manabe's and Minaho's shorts were dripping. "...seconds," the mathematics-freak finished his sentence unnecessarily. Minaho froze at his place, his eyes were closed and he struggled for self-control, but the temptation was overwhelming as an already filled bucket stood right next to him. Now it wasn't just Manabe's shorts which were dripping.

"Couldn't you have said that a little bit earlier?!"

Minaho's question remained unanswered. Manabe picked the pipe calmly and collected. He was able to calculate its position when he would grab it and avoided the pressure-problem this way. And everybody knows: Revenge is sweet!

When Minaho was almost drowning, Konoha stepped in and jumped on the hose with both her feet. The spout broke and the orange-haired defender took a deep breath.

"Okay, now we can just participate in the battle as well."

He walked off, getting an orange-colored water gun which matched his hair perfectly. Meanwhile, the satisfied Konoha jumped off the pipe, the logical result: Manabe lost it, just as Tenma did before. But now, no one cared about the crazy garden tool anymore.

Shindou was refilling his water gun, when an absolutely clueless Matatagi came around the faraway sillcock. The blood was rushing in his ears because of the demanding run and drowned the laughter and bubbling of his pals. He stopped in front of the pipe, which lay across the path, and decided to grab the chance to refresh. Tenma should be ready by now!

But to Matatagi's surprise, the water was running already.

"Slowcoach!" the sprinter mumbled and took a gulp. Well then, Captain should be able to endure that moment without water!

At the other end of the pipe, Shindou wondered about the absence of water, so he turned it to his face and took a look. Meaningless blackness twinkled into his eyes for a second, then the stupidity of this came to his mind. He should know better! But that reaction was automatic somehow...

Matatagi splashed a last gush of water on his burning face, then he was satisfied and put the pipe back into its original place. By the time, he had regained the ability to sense his environment, and when he heard a Shindou-like gurgling, he decided to set his further path next to the pipe. There was nothing better to do and it couldn't hurt.

Shindou smashed the hose to the ground when it suddenly worked again. Now he stood there, while eight people killed themselves laughing. Tsurugi suppressed it with all his might, but his broad grin and the amused glint in his eyes revealed his feelings.

Ibuki didn't hide his amusement this time, quite the contrary. He really enjoyed having the chance to laugh at the play maker once! And honestly, it was so spectacular that even the careful Konoha couldn't help but laugh! Then Ibuki could do so, too.

Matatagi for his share frowned, considering this view. He had missed the Shindou-show and was just wondering why the rest of the team was spread over the whole training ground, armed with water guns, and laughing at the top of their voices. How humans could have fun together has been a mystery to him for quite a long time now, but hell, where did this actually come from?! That was beyond his imagination.

He decided to clear off before someone would notice him, but Tenma thwarted his plans.

"Hey, Matatagi!"

With the bright yellow water tank on his back, the green-purple water gun belonging to it and his everlasting smile, the team captain appeared extremely naive and harmless, but Matatagi realized quite fast that the brunette could become very dangerous to him.

"Eh, yes?"

"Are you alright? You're looking overheated! Maybe you want to play with us? There is still a water gun left in the shed!"

Matatagi narrowed his eyes. That this guy would never let you say a word! But if he really wanted to, well then!

In the shed, the forward found a dark blue water gun with pump. The tank wasn't that big, but with enough patience, he could shoot water with high pressure. Perfect!

Matatagi caught the well-known wild pipe and filled his water gun, then he started to deal with the pump. For the moment, he stayed out of the battle, but once ready, he took aim, targeting the back of Tenma's head. The water hit the midfielder off-guard and the pressure made him fall to the ground, which had turned into mud already. Tenma stood up, shaking his head, while the others were mightily amused. Looking down at himself, the brunette had to realize that his T-Shirt had been blue-white the longest time and he figured that his face should look similar now. He tried to clean it with his hand, but the only consequence was that he spat out not exactly delicious earth. In the end, Tetsukado graciously spilled a bucket of water above him, which didn't make a big difference to his uniform, but at least his face turned not-so-muddy again so he could laugh with the others. He didn't think of resenting the self-satisfied smirking Matatagi for the whole thing.

It was 6 pm when Shindou remembered the fact that they actually wanted to start with training an hour ago, but he didn't see a reason to remind his cheery team mates. But Tenma stopped the group anyway soon, as it became cooler and some of them already started to tremble. They still had to tidy up, but everyone helped, so it didn't take too much time.

Back at the living quarters, the team members changed clothes, putting on their dry tracksuits. Tenma gave his uniform directly to the laundry. Aoi, who saw the group and realized the situation, asked Ms. Kamata for hot chocolate. The woman was surprised by this summer-untypical request, but agreed and shortly after, twelve cheerfully talking children sat in the foyer. Well, actually eleven, with Matatagi preferring to listen to Tenma who told Aoi about the day. Manabe and Minaho discussed their team mates' data, they had to update them despite of the absence of practice. All in all a successful day!

Edit from December 28/2015: So, this story is like... ages old. It's the first one I've ever published here, and it's a translation.

I've looked at it again and killed the mistakes I found from the time my English was still bad. And British. I mean, nothing against British English, but meanwhile, I've found a lot more American friends (or friends who talk American English) than British friends, and the scale had been toppling slowly but surely from school-English Oxford to American slang. And that's what I speak and write now.

I'm still not satisfied with the flow of this story, but to be honest, I'm too lazy to re-write it completely. Even though it's not my writing style anymore, as it changed dramatically since I stopped translating at all.

Thanks for reading! Hope I made you laugh~

Zentauria over and out!