For Shiranai Atsune - sempai

Jer-bear, I'm not dedicating this to you, because Okinaru hates me now. Pretty much Taiyou too if he knew. Keep Gami asleep, alright? 8I And OMTOMATOES I can't believe I mentioned her in the earlier chappie even if I knew what was going to happen here! I'm a bad mama…

Disclaimer: Question, do I own Inazuma Eleven? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no…


2: Eye to Eye

Orange and blue are complementary colors, you know.

For the past few days, Aoi had learned to be able to speak comfortably with Tsurugi. After the hair incident, as they'd addressed it, they'd become good friends— enough to actually share jokes and introduce one another to their families.

But when it came to being open with the club, Aoi noticed the difficulty it presented to Tsurugi. "Come on, I'm just like them, Tsurugi. We're all good people who love to play soccer and blah and blah. It's not that hard now, is it?"

"It is when I have to do it on my own," Tsurugi gritted his teeth and walked away from her as soon as the bell rang. He may not have class, but she did.

Something in his eyes told her of an unspoken feeling.


"Tsurugi, talk to me," Aoi grabbed the former's arm and spun him around to face her, just before soccer practice that afternoon. "Tsurugi, we're friends. And friends communicate; they talk to each other." Before the orange-eyed boy could retort with sarcasm, Sorano's words made him stop short of his own.

"I saw it in your eyes, Tsurugi. You were scared."

He sighed. Playing the angry ex-SEED card didn't work on the girl anymore, and secretly, he didn't mind it. He took the blue-eyed girl to a more secretive place, just to avoid Kariya's snooping around. "Okay, so I'm terrified of making friends. That's not the problem. I've been too mean and impolite to your team—"

"Our team," Aoi corrected him. "You're one of us now, and always will be." But Tsurugi shook his head. "You accept me because we're friends. The rest of them…my team almost pulverized them in one game; I got Minamisawa to quit the club, yet you're still here, watching out for me. Why is that?"

"Long, cliché explanation short, friends accept each other for who they are. And even if that's not what you think, how are you going to know if you're not going to try?" Sorano lectured sternly. Kami, she sounded like a mother already. But she so badly wanted Tsurugi to socialize; she can't always be there for him, even if she wanted to.

"You may be glaring at me, but Sorano, you're still a kid in my eyes."

Kyousuke patted her head softly, and Aoi felt herself blush. 'A kid,' He called me a kid. Ugh, Tsurugi!' She shook the thought away and decided on a smart retort. "So says the teen that's not mingling with the rest right now." It caught the blue-haired boy off-guard.

"Watch me then." He growled, having a short staring contest with the blue-haired girl before clumsily marching off to where the rest of the managers and players were. 'Wait. Did I just get really close to Sorano there? I smelled her strawberry shampoo.' Tsurugi stopped mid-thought, and turned back around to Sorano, who was actually quickly approaching him.

"Whoa, you okay?" He helped her up without much effort. The rest of the team was watching now. "Uh, Tsurugi, I just thought maybe you'd still need me beside you, especially at a crucial moment like this, so…"

"You're staring into my eyes again." He smirked haughtily. She blushed even more.

"It's called eye-contact! And don't get all high and mighty with me when you need my help!"

Tsurugi grunted, clearly against it, but secretly thankful. "Then let's go."

"You gotta stop staring at me first." Ha! Now she was able to get back at him for that staring thing. It wasn't her fault he had long lashes. Tsurugi suppressed a blush appearing on his features, and grabbed Sorano's wrist, ready to approach the team. 'I'm actually friends with this girl. Why do I not hate it as much as I'm supposed to?'


"M-minna, you all know Tsurugi," Sorano's buddy mentally facepalmed himself. He may have been socially awkward, but at least he knew how to make a good introduction. He felt her pinch his arm. "And, well, I noticed that you guys aren't talking to him much. We're a team, right? We should be friendlier with one another!" Sorano concluded. Ugh, even Tsurugi was trying hard not to ruin this.

"Well, we were kinda scared to approach Tsurugi, and you," Shinsuke spoke up first, with Tenma right behind him. "Because you two have been getting close often we thought it best not to disrupt you…" Tenma teetered. To the team's surprise, Tsurugi smirk-smiled and Aoi laughed a little.

"I thought if I started out slowly and one by one, the rest of you would go easy on me. I guess that plan failed." Tsurugi explained. Now Aoi was giggling even more. "Really? You're a horrible planner, Tsurugi."

"So says the girl who couldn't decide whether to come with me or watch me succeed."

"Succeed? You got to talk with Tenma and Shinsuke because I'm here!"

Everyone but Tsurugi and Aoi thought it best to just watch them. The two were talking— arguing more to each other than paying attention to the main objective. Well, the team promised to talk to Tsurugi and make him feel welcome, alright. Maybe when he's not busy gazing at Aoi.


"Your eyes tell me you wouldn't have liked being away from me, Sorano," Tsurugi crossed his arms smugly. Aoi felt her face reddening again. There will be hell to pay.

"And your eyes tell me that you're thankful that I was here to help you!"

"Come on, can't you read other facial expressions other than eyes?" Kariya booed boredly. Hikaru hid, in fear of being affected by his buddy's punishment or consequence or whatever Aoi-san and Tsurugi were going to do to him because of his comment.

"The eyes are the windows to the soul." Both Tsurugi and Aoi looked at the tealnet with so much conviction.

Those two were scary and cute at the same time…

"Do you guys always make eye contact when you talk?" Hikaru squeaked, which effectively stopped Tsurugi and Aoi's playful bickering. They looked at each other in a small, silent chat to see what the other was going to say. "Never mind, I guess that's a yes." Hikaru's mouth formed a small smile; even the two blue-haired teens had silent agreements and eye conversations. They were that close!

"I was just going to tell Sorano that there was a morning star in her eye." Tsurugi crossed his arms and huffed, attempting to look prideful despite the pink in his face. Aoi panicked. "Wh-what? Where? Oh my Kami, nobody told me? And it's been on my face the whole day! Someone get me a mirror, please!"

Tsurugi coughed to subdue a laugh. Who would've thought someone cute as a toddler and in their current state would be so conscious?

He said cute again. Shoot.

"I'm kidding, Sorano!" He chuckled a little, ruffling her hair softly. Kariya couldn't decide which of them was redder in the face. Hikaru gambled on Tsurugi. "Geez, you shouldn't worry much about that. Your eyes will crinkle."

"Why do you keep looking at my eyes?"

The two exited the room and onto the field. Nobody but them was walking through the hall. Sorano Aoi swore to herself that day that she was never going to crinkle her eyes. Ever.

"Because they're cute."


I'm quite fond of last words, huh…

Review, review and review! Come on, aren't you people KyouAoi fans? I know you are, cause you read this! Now review or face the wrath of my typing powers! Chachachachaaaaa. :D

Shiranai-sempai-sama, look! Chappie 2! Yay! \(*v*)/

-AniMa