Number Two: Now I Run From You

"Mamori-nee-chan is in love with Sena-kun?" Umi-chan repeated to herself warily. "It almost sounds too obvious."

Umi-chan rested on her futon serenely, as poised as a regal Siamese cat. Even her tank top and borrowed boxer shorts were not enough to keep her cool in the sweltering Tokyo heat. She stared blankly at a wind chime on her windowsill.

"But… if I can keep that secret, I'll find out who Kiyoko-chan's been in love with for so long…" Umi-chan leaned against the wall beneath her window, content with herself.

"Why care about Yasukah-san's relationships?" a random voice butted in.

"Because she's so emotionless!" Umi-chan responded gaily. "For her to love, after all the crap that's happened to her before…"

Umi-chan suddenly realized that she had no idea who she was talking to. She jumped up, staring out the window, before giving a sigh of relief.

"Oh, Shozo, it's just you," Umi-chan smiled. "You scared me."

"You need to close your freaking window at night," Shozo Togano, comic-book junkie, frowned. "How many times has everyone told you that?"

"Too many," Umi-chan replied, defeated. "Where are you going so late at night?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Togano shrugged, adjusting his sunglasses. "I wanted to see you."

Umi-chan blinked. "We see each other all the time. You live next door."

"I just read that article about Yasukah-san," Togano said coldly. "Honestly, Umin, what were you thinking?"

Umi-chan had been dreading this. Mamori wasn't very hard on her, and Kiyoko had been surprisingly subdued, but Togano wasn't going to take it easy on her. That's the unfortunate side-effect of knowing someone for twelve years and counting.

"Nothing," Umi-chan admitted. "I rarely think. I just do things."

"You should stop that," Togano berated her. "Uten-san is a nasty piece of work. He could use this to blackmail Yasukah-san later on in life. Or he could try something… like, maybe, getting her back."

Umi-chan smiled wearily. "You know, you're the first person who hasn't said something about Hiruma-san."

"I figured that one was a little too obvious to mention," Togano laughed easily. "…You know, Umin, you should try harder to keep the secrets you're given."

"Mamori-nee-chan and Kiyoko-chan are forcing me to do that," Umi-chan muttered angrily. "They told me, 'keep this secret while you write the article on the Devil Bats, and we'll tell you who Kiyoko's so madly in love with'." Umi-chan leaned down against the wall, beneath her window. "That's going to be fun."

"Well, I can tell you who Yasukah-san isn't in love with," Togano mused.

Umi-chan raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't care about Kiyoko-chan's love life."

"I don't. I do care about Kazuki's, though," Togano admitted. "Stupid Kazuki. It's very obvious that Yasukah-san does NOT want to date him. But he keeps asking. Oh well, life goes on…"

Umi-chan smiled. "Yes, life goes on… would Juumonji-kun be interested in me?"

"Hard to tell."

"Okay."

"…Would Suzuna-san be interested in me?"

"I doubt it."

"All right then."

"Stand still, Kiyoko! I'll end up stabbing you with this needle!"

Kiyoko obligingly held her arm out, frowning and angry. "Ako, it's ten-thirty at night. Can't we do this later?"

"Inspiration hit now. No time," Ako, Kiyoko's older brother, spat quickly before stitching some black lace onto a Gothic Lolita-esque dress. Kiyoko didn't want to be wearing it, as always, but, being the only one of the Yasukah siblings to still be in the house with Ako, she had no choice.

Ako, now twenty years old, was still in his parents' house because of Kiyoko. Ako ran a successful cosplayer's shop in the heart of Deimon, with his longtime best friend Meichi Masureko, and Kiyoko was the unwilling clothing model for all of his catalogs. Kiyoko really detested the Gothic Lolita style that was so popular amongst cosplayers, and since she hated most of the trendy anime, she ended up disliking costume designs, too.

Ako brushed some wispy black hair out of his face, giving his perfectly sculpted face some light. "This dress is going to be gorgeous, Kiyoko! I can feel it!"

Kiyoko sighed angrily. "It's also going to arouse dangerous thoughts in perverts' minds."

"It's called Gothic Lolita because of how morbidly cute it is," Ako retorted. "How many times must I go through this with you? It has nothing to do with tempting older men."

Kiyoko was silent as Ako tightened the lacy bows adorning her bell sleeves. Kiyoko looked down at her shiny Mary Janes and the sleek purple socks, pulled up to her thighs. Ako seemed satisfied with his work.

"Look in the mirror, Kiyoko!" Ako demanded, pushing her over to the full-length mirror resting against his wall. Through the measuring tape and fabric draped over its edges, Kiyoko could see herself in a dark Alice-in-Wonderland getup, complete with a black lacy ribbon in her hair, a Victorian style dress with bell sleeves and sheer black material around the neck, fishnet gloves, and a black hoop skirt beneath it all, to keep the shape of the dress. Kiyoko frowned, noticing the ruby red lipstick on her lips.

"I hate this Gothic Lolita crap," Kiyoko reiterated, "but this dress looks kind of cute. Like a Victorian fairy tale. A gloomy one, but still."

Ako rolled his eyes. "I'll never make a dress that you'll love."

"That's not true!" Kiyoko yelled quickly. "What about that wedding dress you made for Karasu-sama?"

"Figures you would like that. It's completely normal." Ako smiled. "…Actually, I am making something for you."

"Hmm?" Kiyoko murmured, letting Ako position her for a picture. Kiyoko sat on his favorite plush stepstool, ruffling her petticoats with faux sexiness. "Something for me?"

"Yeah, actually," Ako smiled, his effeminate features lighting up. "I think you're going to like it a lot, Kiyoko."

Kiyoko grinned, grabbing the edge of the dress. "Somehow I'm not sure…"

Ako readied the camera, studying Kiyoko's natural pose. "You really should look into modeling, Kiyoko."

"I've made up my mind," Kiyoko pressed, looking to the side shyly. "I'm going to be a mother."

"That's not a job," Ako told her, snapping the picture.

"It's what I want to do."

Kiyoko and Ako looked at each other, a slight tension between the two.

"How's your boyfriend?" Kiyoko asked nonchalantly. Ako turned bright red and pushed Kiyoko out of his room hastily.

Umi-chan adjusted the tie on her school uniform. Today was the day she started on her most important job yet – the Devil Bats article. So much was riding on this. Rumor had it that this article would guarantee her a position as co-editor-in-chief if done correctly, not to mention the fact that, if she kept Mamori's secret, she would finally discover who Kiyoko's mystery lover was.

And, Umi-chan thought with a smirk, it wasn't Juumonji. Maybe she had a chance with him after all.

Umi-chan confidently strode down the walkway from the second-year's entrance to the football field. Her notebook jutted out of the breast pocket of her blouse, and a pencil was stuck into her tight bun. Her hands were relaxed, her eyes were inviting, her stance was assertive, and –

"OH MY GOD!" Umi-chan screamed as a rocket launcher went off approximately three inches away from her face. All aplomb disappeared rapidly, and Umi-chan was back to her frantic, hyperactive self.

It was slightly entertaining to Kiyoko, but the rest of the team, who had stopped dead in their tracks to see who was screaming their head off, found it slightly idiotic.

Hiruma just ignored it. "STOP GAWKING, DAMN PIPSQUEAK!" (Sena flinched. His 'nickname' was being used.) "40-METER DASH! NOW! YOU TOO, YA DAMNED MONKEY!"

"I AM NOT A MONKEY!" Monta screeched. Hiruma pointed a Sig Sauer to his temple.

"SHUT UP AND MOVE!" Hiruma demanded. Monta was in no position to argue.

Umi-chan watched this entire exchange with an air of disbelief. Togano walked by her, trying to figure out which sleeve his arm was supposed to be poking out of. Umi-chan looked to him pleadingly. Togano laughed.

"Hey, you got yourself into it," was the only response he could give.

Umi-chan gritted her teeth before tromping over to Mamori. Mamori was watching in horror as Hiruma attempted to kill Yukimitsu for tripping over his own two feet. Umi-chan joined in her dismay before shaking herself out of her stupor.

"Wow," Umi-chan blurted out. She took the pencil out of her bun and clicked on the end of it. The mechanical pencil was now ready for use. Soon the notebook came out, and Umi-chan was scribbling down notes on the daily happenings of the team.

"You get used to it," Mamori smiled wearily. "If you want to get a better idea of the behind-the-scenes action, I would ask…"

Mamori looked to Hiruma. He was now yelling at Kiyoko, who was doing her best to keep her cool. It wasn't working.

"…I wouldn't ask about that right now," Mamori advised. "As for the players, Manabu Yukimitsu-kun and Monta-kun are the receivers. Sena also trains with them…" Mamori pointed the two out. Yukimitsu was balding, with black hair and a very lanky build, while Monta had a head full of auburn hair and a sort of squat frame. Umi-chan nodded.

"And the line?" Umi-chan mused.

"Well, we have Ryokan Kurita-kun," (a cuddly-looking, gigantic guy) "Daikichi Komisubi-kun," (a smaller version of Kurita, with a red nose) "Shozo Togano-kun," (Umi-chan grinned) "Koji Kuroki-kun," (a friend of Togano's with black hair and a tendency to overreact to everything) "and Kazuki Juumonji-kun."

Umi-chan looked over at Juumonji. He was silently, yet obviously, competing with Komisubi. The two of them were working with the tackle dummies, trying to get their respective dummy to move farther backwards. So far, Komisubi was winning.

"And finally, our tight end, Natsuhiko Taki-kun." Natsuhiko was showing off his flexibility, as usual. However, a chick with blue hair was beating the crap out of him. Umi-chan looked to Mamori.

"And who's the girl?"

"His sister, Suzuna Taki-chan."

Umi-chan looked at the blue-haired girl again. "She seems familiar…"

"She did go to Sakura Girls' MS for a while with us," Mamori reminisced. "I barely knew her, but I didn't really hang out with you in middle school."

Hiruma had stopped yelling at Kiyoko, and was now trying to kill Monta. Or was just passing the ball to him. It looked the same to Umi-chan.

"Wow." This time, Umi-chan was legitimately impressed.

Mamori glanced at Kiyoko, who was not five feet away, filling out some accounting forms. She was surreptitiously glaring – angrily – at Umi-chan. Mamori grinned gently, sidling up to her.

"Feeling threatened?" Mamori wondered. Kiyoko jumped before turning a furious red color.

"N-no!" Kiyoko stammered. "She just… doesn't know him, is all! She won't think he's so cool after she gets to know him!"

Umi-chan wandered off as Mamori smiled knowingly at Kiyoko. Umi-chan could tell that Mamori was destined to become a mother, just from her composure and her kindness. Umi-chan really had no idea where she was going, and meandered over to where Togano was adjusting his gloves.

"Shozo, who should I interview first?" Umi-chan asked him nervously. "I mean, look at these people! They are so… tough-looking… and crazy…"

"Well, you're probably going to want to interview Kobayakawa-kun," Togano informed her. "I know you're going to interview Kazuki, so whatever, not stopping you… just so you know, he's gonna try to ask Kiyoko out again today, so maybe you should interview him later in the week…"

Umi-chan's heart sank. "How many times will this be?"

"Twenty-three, if he does it again today," Togano frowned.

Umi-chan bit her lip, hurt. "Doesn't he get it? There are other girls… girls who would do anything for him…"

Togano and Umi-chan stood silently for a few seconds.

"Is Hiruma-san trying to kill Juumonji-kun?" Umi-chan suddenly asked.

"Hiruma-san tries to kill everyone," Togano replied blankly. "Actually, if you want to interview someone right now, a good bet would be the team cheerleader, Suzuna-chan…"

A flush rose on Togano's face as he spoke Suzuna's name. Umi-chan giggled.

"How cute," she murmured before walking over to Suzuna, who, at the moment, was cheering the Devil Bats on, even in their practice.

A/N: Normally, if I had no reviews, I wouldn't post the next chapter of something for a while. But in checking my stats, I noticed that the first chapter, without any second chapter to go to, had 82 hits – very unusual for a story of mine outside of the Family Guy realm, minus a few random instances (like The Plug or Coming to America). So, at the risk of sounding greedy, please review… if 80 people are interested in this story, let the world know it!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Eyeshield 21. I wish I did. Then I could quit my job.