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Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inazuma Eleven. It is not my property and belongs to its rightful owners.

CHAPTER: 2

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To say that Fuyuka was sad would be an understatement. The poor girl was devastated and had fallen into a deep, deep depression, similar to the one that she suffered from when her parents were taken away but not as severe, not so much traumatizing as to send her into a state of shock but nonetheless, it was great enough to make her lock herself in her room with loads of ice-cream and a TV. For the last week, she had spent all of her time locked up in her room, lights off, blinds closed, letting the room get enveloped in pure darkness. Only the minimal light that the rays of the television provided was the only source of illumination in the room. The girl herself had been wrapped in a cream-colored blanket on her disheveled bed, clinging to her plush pillow and sobbing her eyes out. She barely ate these days and only when her foster father, Kudou Michiyo, a fairly matured man with dark lavender hair and beard who was the current coach of Inazuma Japan forced her to.

Kudou Michiyo was worried sick about his daughter, to an extent that he was running around consulting various doctors, physicians and psychiatrists, anyone who could help cure her from the darkness she had fallen in. He was not quite sure what had happened to her since the man had never experienced anything like that in his teen years due to reasons unknown, but he did know that his daughter had been hurt, emotionally and was in a state of depression. The only other thing he knew was that it concerned his star player from the team Fudou Akio from the constant mumbling that his daughter had a habit of doing during sleep. In the end it was a hopeless struggle since the subject refused to visit or meet anyone. She had become stubborn and detached from the outside world. Day and night Kudou paced around in his room in search of a solution, a cure, or a way to bring his daughter back to the way she was. So far he had only one option in his mind, make the other person involved spill the beans. It would be hard, but Michiyo was determined enough to go to any extent needed. With the resolution of talking to Akio the next day in mind, Kudou ended his inner struggle by falling into a deep slumber, but not before checking up on Fuyuka of course. (When will his expert lock-picking skills come to use?)

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Absence of Fuyuka was also noticed on the soccer field. Most of the players of the incredible Inazuma Japan were clueless as to where their lavender-haired soft spoken manager went to, but the ones who did know the whole ordeal were distressed, worried and hoping at the end of each day for the return of the sweet girl. Endou Mamoru, captain of Inazuma Japan, a brunette with almond shaped deep brown eyes, hair spiked up on ends supported by an orange colored head band and a round face was the childhood friend of Fuyuka. They had been friends due to Mamoru's grandfather and Fuyuka's father being friends, even though there had been a lapse in which they were separated from each other

, it got quickly recovered once they met again.

"Aki-san, do you think we should do something? It's almost another week now." A very worried blunette, Otonashi Haruna, younger sister of the Inazuma Japan's Game Maker stared at Aki, a pretty brunette who was occupied with staring at the team's captain with a worried expression. She turned to face Haruna noting the worried glint dominant in her round aqua eyes but stayed silent for a moment. She understood perfectly how Haruna was feeling, her feelings were mutual. She kept on staring at the girl, trying to come up with a comforting reply. But as she opened her mouth, her voice betrayed her and not a single syllable escaped. Getting tired of Aki's silence Haruna turned to Natsumi, the head of the managers, a red head with a firm but a little snobby attitude.

"Natsumi-san, don't you think so too? Don't you guys think it's a little too long? What if something happened to her?"

"Haruna -"

Finally finding her voice, Aki tried to search for words of reassurance, anything to get the poor girl away from thinking all the ugly thoughts that she knew they all feared. It made her wonder if Fuyuka did resort to something desperate; she sure didn't look like the kind of girl who would have a hard time recovering from emotional pain. She may have suffered through a lot but if that poker face of hers was anything to go by, it was hard to tell indeed.

Natsumi, who was standing beside the player's bench where the other two resided was gazing at the soccer field, immersed in her own thoughts, so much that she didn't even register Haruna's worried mumbling. She was lost in observing Mamoru. For a while now the captain had been acting strange, really peculiar and out of character. His speeches about his love had gone to minimal. He barely smiled or talked even. And worst of all, his game was getting affected. It was certainly because of Fuyuka's absence she was sure. She cringed as that thought once again entered her mind. It was no denying that she envied Fuyuka's ability of catching Mamoru's attention so easily and was slightly delighted due to her absence which she instantly regretted as soon as the thought arose. Fuyuka was a friend. And thinking something like that of her was not Natsumi's forte. Sure they didn't have a good first impression of each other but they had been through the whole football frontier international together (well, the time when Natsumi came back that is) and she had assessed the lavender-haired girl well. She knew that Fuyuka was no threat to her feelings for the team's captain but she wasn't sure about Mamoru. With the way he was reacting, it was pretty obvious who had the hots for whom. Narrowing her eyes, her mouth opened in a silent cry as Mamoru failed to protect the goal once again and collapsed. As quickly as it came, the expression vanished. Natsumi composed herself and diverted her eyes from the scene as Aki and Haruna, along with a couple of other team members went to help their distracted mate.

Casting her eyes towards the ground, Natsumi covered her mouth with the back of her hand. Sometimes, she couldn't help but feel useless, like a burden slowing everyone down, un-necessary and an extra who was just there for no reason. She didn't know how to cook, she didn't know how to cheer, and she couldn't even encourage the team due to self-consciousness. No wonder the Captain never glanced her way. She was far below the other managers, heck, she was sure that if she hadn't taken an interest in Mamoru when she did, she wouldn't even be there. Tears accumulated in the corners of her eyes as she continued to stare at the lonely sand grains on the ground. It was clear in her mind that Mamoru would never see her in the same light as he saw Fuyuka, even though the feelings weren't and would never, she hoped bitterly, be mutual. Glancing one more time towards her crush, she shook her head, clearing it from the tear ushering thoughts and got ready to leave. A little time spent with her history professor can certainly occupy her mind.

Before Natsumi could take even a step out of the field, a figure emerged from the school building, coming towards her...or rather the field.

"Team, line up!" The voice boomed, alerting every single player on the team. His solute was commanding, eyes narrowed in a glare and arms folded firmly behind him. The players all gathered in front of the man, with the captain in front. Coach Kudou stared at each and every player with sharp narrowed eyes before speaking.

"Practice is over, everyone pack up your things and leave except for Endou and Fudou. You two, meet me in the staff-room as soon as you pack up."

With his final words lingering in the air, the man turned around and walked away.

In an instant murmurs and soft mumbling spread around the field. Questions quite similar to 'Did something happen Captain?' or 'what did you do this time Fudou!?' (Take a guess, who asked that one? :3) or 'I hope it's not something bad!' floated around as the two summoned players stared at the Coach's disappearing back in confusion. Akio narrowed his eyes and tsk-ed. He had no idea what his Coach wanted this time but regarding the situation, it was pretty obvious and judging by the extreme coldness that accompanied the Couch's voice when he called him out, he was pretty sure what this was going to be about. Even an idiot would be able to tell that it had something to do with their missing manager. But as he heard the questions that bombarded him, he wanted nothing more than to bang all of their heads on that wall at the far end of the field, yes the one which had that brown-ish stain that distinctly resembled faded and dried blood. The idea was mighty tempting and Akio nearly cackled out loud out of sheer evilness, but caught himself midway and resorted to cackling insanely in his mind. He didn't want to get acquainted with the bench during practice as well just because his teammates feared for his sanity.

Usually Akio was one of Couch Kudou's most favoured players and the Coach never used that sort of tone with him. But ever since Coach Kudou got to know of the incident (the big break-up as everyone called it) with Fuyuka, things changed. Akio was sure that it was one of the managers that blabbed to him. Those three bimbos could never keep their mouths shut. No wonder they were still single. There was no way that the Coach's little princess would tell him about her getting dumped. She was too secretive and sensitive about it. He bet the Coach didn't even know they were dating in the first place! Ha! Akio pitied his coach sometimes, for being so blind and clueless of his daughter's doings. If the Coach knew about them, he would have put his daughter in a cage and Akio would have been out of the team by now...maybe that was going a bit too far. He was the most awesome player after all! There was no way that the Coach would resort to that...right?! Akio cringed at that. The Coach didn't look like someone who would mingle their personal business with their work...at least from the outside...just like his daughter didn't look like a bundle of emotion overload. Damn, He was in trouble.

As he packed, Akio looked around. Majority of the players were still surrounding their Captain trying to come up with possible reasons for the calling, others were busy thinking on their own and some were running around worrying their non-existent brains out. Akio glared at his bag. He didn't want to be out of the team. Not until he graduated at least! Now don't get him wrong, he hated each one of those mindless and stupid teammates of his (well almost all of them) and wanted nothing more than to stay far away from them and spend as less time as possible in their company (who knows, stupidity could be contagious). But if he was casted out now, he would miss all the up-coming tournaments and precious ball-kicking time! It was the only thing that kept him interested in coming to this dump of a school every day. He really regretted giving up Teikoku for Raimon.

Akio zipped up his bag and searched the side pockets for his water-bottle. Upon not finding the orange colored bottle of water, he looked around once again, eyes zeroing on a similar bottle innocently sitting a few ways away near Ichirouta's blue hand bag. Casually, he walked alongside the bench, giving cautious glances everywhere before making sure that no eyes were on him. As quick as it could get, his hand shot out and grabbed its victim as Akio hurried back to his bag (still looking casual and as cool as ever, mind you!). He let out a heavy sigh before turning the mouth of the bottle upwards until a 'click' resounded and squirted water into his mouth. He relished in the feeling of extreme relaxation and wiped the sweat accumulated on his forehead. 'Damn this heat.' His hair was tied in a tiny pony-tail which was subjected to a lot of jokes from his teammates. They had grown out a bit, coming to nearly his shoulders but not quite reaching them, resting a few good inches above, and covering the whole of his head with bangs reaching his eyes. All in all, he looked quite sexy now (not that he didn't before but hey, the hair added to the charm). The down side was that they tickled his neck whenever he practiced. It was distracting and frustrating as hell making him cranky, so the Coach suggested that he either tied them or cut them again. Akio blanched. Even though it was uncomfortable, irritating, and annoying to have hair as long as they were to a point where he wanted to rip them out (he still didn't recover from his half-baldness~), he decided on tying them up. He didn't plan on getting a haircut anytime soon, no matter how sweaty he got from the extra warmth. Like he said, the hair added to his charm ...and the Mohawk had suffered even more humiliation from his peers in the past.

A hand found its way on Akio's shoulder and turned him around. Akio, choked on water, result of being caught in mid-drink, sprayed water on whoever assaulted him. Taking a while to register the other presence and blinking several times, a smirk crawled to his face. Slowly it morphed into a leer and then...full blown laughter escaped his mouth as one of his hands clutched his stomach while the other pointed none too subtly at a drenched face of one Kidou Yuuto, the infamous Game Strategist and the said assaulter. Yuuto furrowed his brows which indicated of a glare being given since those goggles were impossible to see through from the outside. His lips turned downwards, hands bawling into fists.

"What the hell Fudou?!" Yuuto's frown deepened and his glare intensified, seeing as there was no stopping the horrifying cackling of that maniac. Yes Fudou was a maniac and do not dare deny that! He huffed and coughed, subtly asking Akio to zip it. A futile effort. Yuuto knew it would be that was why plan 'b' was already in order.

A kick to the knee was all it took from Yuuto to shut Akio up, well...the laughing part at least.

"What the fuck, Goggles!?" Akio exclaimed, clutching his throbbing knee and trying to balance himself on his other appendage like a circus freak resulted in him falling over the bench. Watching Akio lose his balance and tumble down the bench behind him satisfied the inner demon known as revenge residing inside Yuuto. He nearly lost himself too, close to letting out a chuckle or two before realising who he was and in whose presence he was residing in, he settled on only letting a smirk slip by.

"My question exactly." Taking out a handkerchief from his pocket, Yuuto began wiping his face. He would wash it immediately after finishing up with the demon's spawn.

"Mind explaining this?" He twisted the piece of cloth, cringing at the disgusting sound it gave off and emptied the cloth's spit containing water on Akio.

Akio growled and tried to make an attempt on getting out of the way. "Fuck off. It isn't my fault you act as a ninja everywhere you go. At least make a sound while walking!" Yuuto frowned. It was a known fact that Kidou Yuuto loved to pop up out of nowhere and surprise the hell out of people. He did it a lot, especially to Fudou (he loved seeing that enraged and scared face of his foe).

"Did I scare you?" Eyes permanently settling in a glare, Akio stood up and sat on the bench.

"Fuck no. Like that'll ever happen." Slowly, he started caressing a reddish bump on his knee before applying more force and massaging it, cringing at every touch.

Yuuto watched, calculating his every move and planning the most immediate escape route if Akio resorted to violence. "You are nervous." He murmured.

Akio stopped momentarily to give Yuuto a confused look. "What was that, Spit-face?"

Yuuto frowned at the bastard's lack of hearing abilities, not admitting in the least that it was his fault for speaking too quietly. "I said that you are nervous." Tightening his hands further to his chest, he continued to glare down at the subject of his annoyance.

Akio continued with his actions, not sparing a glancing at the one towering above him. "And you are a Goggle-eyed spit-face." He looked up with a smirk and stood up.

Enraged, Yuuto blushed at the sheer audacity of Akio's pathetic and childish name-calling. Opening his mouth to shut him up for good Yuuto searched his brain for a particularly rude reply. But as time would have it, Mamoru decided to make his entrance. Sporting a frown on his usually cheerful and frown-free face, he looked between the two suspiciously before regarding Akio with a serious face.

"You ready to go?" The mere seriousness of their Captain's voice sent chills down both of their spines. They had never seen Mamoru like that, not even when they lost a match or two. It was surprising, scarring, and more than a little disturbing. Akio noted that he would gladly prefer the happy go lucky goofball of a Captain rather than this...um...thing!

"Whatever..." With a side glance towards Yuuto, Akio picked his bag and nodded towards his Captain. "See ya later Goggles." Slinging his bag onto his right shoulder he smirked and quietly counted to three.

"Stop calling me that!" Oh, how he loved getting under Yuuto's skin.

Before heading towards the school building, Akio chanced a glance to his right where the other players were packing up. He smirked; his luck was on a roll today. Just as he glanced to his side, he caught a certain green-head looking his way as well and none too subtly he might add. He was full-blown staring at him like in some sort of a trance with widened eyes and a trembling set of lips. The lingering smirk widened in size as he winked at the terrified teen on the opposite side who immediately turned away with a wonderful pink shadowing his tanned cheeks. Oh yeah, life was getting good.

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Chapter 2 over.