Love: Definition

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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Shotgun on all the OCs though.

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4. Soccer

Koushiro: Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players, and is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world. It's a game in which two teams of eleven players contend to get a round ball into the other team's goal primarily by kicking the ball with their feet. It's also my favorite sport.

Sora: That's Taichi's favorite sport.

Shun: Good sport. Badminton is better though.

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Koushiro took a deep breath. There was a storm yesterday, so the air was particularly fresh this morning. Both Sora and Shun looked at him and blinked: Sora smiled at him like someone who had no idea what was happening; his other friend only shrugged. The young boy didn't care that he was misunderstood; that wasn't enough to take away his good mood.

Little by little, Koushiro got used to Sora's presence when he walked to school. Things were going smoothly; as the days went by they found more things to talk about in the morning, and when Shun left in the evening, she would pick up where they had left off. Some times he thought that she was trying too hard and it showed; the day before it clearly looked like she didn't want to be there, but he was careful not to show he noticed. His heart also started to race less and less whenever he saw her, which was a good thing.

They first tried to learn more about each other, catching up to what they had been doing the past years. Sora had been surprised to find out he had been keeping tabs on her tennis career. He learned about her knew found enjoyment of Ikebana; he thought it suited her. He told her about the computer club, and how he still had work to do for Genai from time to time. All in all, they had both been busy.

Things had even calmed down between the tennis player and his best friend. The first couple of days Sora did not talk to him. That didn't prevent her from disagreeing with him all the time, simple out of the fact that it was him. He often wished that they could get along better. Of course he didn't hope for them to become friends or nothing of the sort; He felt Sora would never like the guy; and Shun, well he didn't really like anybody to tell the truth; not even Koushiro himself. He didn't expect things to change anytime soon, but going through their mutual resentment every day was taking its toll on him.

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When they arrived the school was in turmoil. It was to be expected: there was a soccer match this afternoon. It was an important one too, seeing a loss could prevent them from participating in the regional tournament coming soon. Add to this fact that it was the Odaiba High school favorite sport and it was obvious the event had everybody seemed the opposing team wasn't anything to scoff at either, so the tension rose dramatically.

As he walked through the corridors, all that Koushiro could hear were the whispers of the Odaiba Tiger fans. Some of them discussed of the recent goalie accident; others were remembering the last match, which they had won by a landslide; others were worrying about the near perfect sheet of the Sharks, the team the Tigers were against. All of the conversations had one thing in common though: Tachi Yagami. The brunette was the star of the soccer team; therefore one of the most popular guys in the school.

The young red head couldn't help but feel a little proud since he knew the star of the team. Yet he let out a sigh; he wouldn't be seeing the game. He didn't know why but he didn't feel like watching a soccer match today, which was unusual; Koushiro was a big soccer fan and never missed a game, especially his friend's. However, his friend told him something out of the ordinary would happen to him today; that was enough for him to want to change his plans. Koushiro wasn't superstitious, but when Hasegawa Shun record for bad things happening to you had a whooping hundred percent track record, you tend to listen.

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The morning was uneventful. Having no particularly pressing computer related matters that needed his attention, Koushiro offered Shun to spend lunchtime together. The delinquent refused; he always did. The red head simply shrugged and accompanied him anyway: This was the normal procedure.

"So what are your plans for this afternoon, Hasegawa-kun?"

"Plans?" replied the tall young man. "Nothing comes to mind; how about you?"

"Well, I don't know yet."

The corridors were different than in the morning: he could still hear the murmurs of the soccer enthusiasts, but he didn't hear Taichi's name in the conversations anymore. He also wasn't certain, but he could swear people were taking a glance at him when he wasn't looking. He soon shrugged it of; what could a glance or glare do to him anyway? For all he knew, the rumor section of the school newspaper was at it again.

They were close to the cafeteria when Shun suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Izumi, didn't you say you had no plans for the afternoon?"

"I did; why? Do you have something in mind?"

"I don't think I need to."

Koushiro wondered why his friend had said that. He was looking at a billboard; Koushiro figured the answer to his question was there. Upon closer inspection, he found out it was a list of the players that were participating in the soccer match this afternoon; nothing of interest there. However, he did hear that both the goalie and his replacement were not able to play today and was curious as to who would replace them. What he found out stupefied him.

"Huh… Hasegawa-kun?" asked a slightly troubled Koushiro

"Yes, Izumi?" His tone was neutral, as always

"Isn't the name of the Goalie replacement…?"

"Yep: Izumi Koushiro. That's what's written there."

"I thought as much." The "new" goalie's face was very close to snow white. "Hum, do you mind if I…"

"Nope, be my guest."

The next instant Koushiro was running madly towards the soccer field. As far as he was concerned, this was a big misunderstanding; he hadn't been approached by any member of the soccer team or anything of the sort. Well, it was true that they were in a heck of a pinch since they had virtually no one to replace the goalies, but replacing them by him? If they were that desperate, might as well pick one of the players of the defense to act as a goal keeper.

Taichi and the other members of the soccer were indeed discussing in the field like he guessed. The soccer star greeted the computer whiz. It seemed he wanted to tell him something but Koushiro stopped him with his hand. The young man wanted the misunderstanding to be cleared first, and before that, he wanted to be able to catch his breath.

"Tachi-san," he final said between pants.

"Koushiro, are you all right?" his voice had a bit of worry into it.

"I'm fine" he replied after taking a deep breath. "More importantly, you have to do something about that billboard near the cafeteria! I don't know why but it seems my name was printed there by mistake and because of that, people kept giving glares and…"

"Oh! So you already saw it. I guess that'll make things easier."

Koushiro's head snapped when he heard that. He took a good look at his friend; he had that mischievous grin he used when plotting pranks. This threw the genius completely off track. It meant what he saw earlier wasn't a mistake. It also meant that Taichi had planned this sometime prior.

"Tachi-san…" a short pause. Koushiro noted that his friend still winced a little at the mention of his name.

"This is a joke, right? Please tell me this is one of your retarded pranks and that I'm not on the roster."

"Hey! I'll have you know that my pranks are works of heart!" Koushiro sighed and looked towards the heavens, as if saying "can you believe this guy?" Taichi quickly came back on topic.

"Actually… Yes and no; see, it is a joke, but the joke is actually that you are in the team, get it?"

The red head had tried very hard not to throw a tantrum at him. He took another deep breath, this time to calm himself down. Tachi chuckled.

"But, I got to admit, the worried face you had just now was priceless."

On the other hand, maybe this was the time to throw a tantrum.

"Are you out of your friggin mind!? Do you have any idea of what you just did? And of all the times you could have done that it just had to be today! And how in the seven digital hells did you subscribe me for the soccer team!?"

"Ah well… I had your parents sing the form behind your back a couple of months ago," he answered proudly.

"And, and… and what about the uniform then?"

"Already taken care of."

"And what about the captain? Surely he's smart enough to realize…"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I am the captain."

"And the rest of your team actually agreed to this!?"

Tachi nodded. It seemed Koushiro was quite well known by the soccer team; in fact he was called their favorite fan. From time to time the young genius would come to the practice sessions to chat with the few of them that were resting. He sometimes ran a part of their laps to show support. He was probably the only one in school outside of the soccer team to know the names of all of the players. When the captain proposed the name, they all agreed.

"Come on, Shiro-sempai! We need you here!" said a familiar voice.

"Daisuke-san!" He had forgotten the new generation leader was part of Tachi's team.

"See? Even Daisuke wants you in the team. Besides, it's not like you never were a goal keeper before."

Koushiro was faced against all of the 13 members of the team. They were all looking at him with eyes full of hope. At this point it was clear to the red head he wouldn't be able to tell them "no". He resigned himself under the heavy cheers of the soccer club. He sighed; they certainly had no idea what he had agreed to expose himself to.

"I'm doomed."

"Now, now, Koushiro don't be like that. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"You're not the one who's going to be the reason why we lose today," he muttered darkly.

"Don't be too hard on your self. It's your first time after all. I'm sure my teammates will understand."

"Yeah, and I'm sure the rest of the school will understand too… after they lynch me for costing them the place in the region tournament."

At this, Taichi laughed nervously. "I'm sure it'll be alright," he said. "It's not like it's your fault the two others are unable to participate in the match, right? Besides we still got time before the match. We'll train until then. I'm sure you'll be able put yourself into shape."

So they spent the rest of their lunch and the time between school and the game kicking soccer balls at Koushiro. Needless to say this messed up Koushiro's schedule considerably. While trying to catch the balls he wondered if Sora would be angry at him for not showing up this afternoon. He tried to tell her, but he got dragged to the practice field as soon as he stepped out of his classroom. The last minute training did payoff in a way; remembered some of the basics of being a goal keeper.

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They were now heading to the park where the match was being held. The place wasn't too far from the school so they walked there. On the road, Tachi gave a pep talk. Koushiro was amazed at how effective it was on the team; they felt pumped and ready for action. He had always thought his friend had the charisma of a leader in the digital world. Seeing it in action here reminded him of the old times.

"Once again, remember our strategy," finally said the captain; "We'll concentrate on defense: we absolutely can't let them near our goal keeper."

Well that certainly showed how much trust they had for their new goalie. He couldn't blame them though; he himself didn't believe this would work. During the training he had only successfully blocked a third of all the shots, and that's because they went easy on him.

They were near the park when Koushiro was grabbed by the collar and dragged out of the sidewalk into a back alley. Surprised, the young genius turned around to see his classmate.

"Hasegawa-kun! What are you doing here?"

"'Came to wish you good luck." A slight paused ensued in which Koushiro felt the gaze of his friend on him. "You look like you're going to die."

"Thanks," he said bitterly, "that's just the thing I needed to hear."

"Weren't you a goal keeper before?"

"That was years ago, Hasegawa-kun," he whined. "I'm going to be ridiculed in front of the whole school."

"Well, that doesn't sound like you," he replied bluntly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the Koushiro I know is moronically optimist. He's also thankful for any chance he gets to help out his friends; truly an idiot that guy. And certainly didn't care what people thought about him; he's not that shallow. He always gives his all in everything if even if the chances for success are almost nonexistent. All in all, he's a truly annoying guy. Actually, I wonder why I'm his friend sometimes."

He didn't know to thank or to punch his friend. One thing was for sure though; he was much more relaxed since he saw his face.

"Thanks," he finally said. "Will you be at the soccer game?"

"Me? Are you out of your mind!? You know I hate things kind of things. Why would I spend near two hours watching this stupid…"

"You will come to game to cheer me on right?"

Koushiro had the look a death row convict on his face. Not to mention his hand was firmly grasping his friend's shoulder. His friend reluctantly agreed. After he made sure – ten times – of Shun's presence at the match, the computer whiz headed for the changing rooms. Once inside Taichi tried to give him some tips on today's match. He was surprised when he saw his friend's new attitude.

"Koushiro, you seem to be more into the match now."

"Yep: I remembered how much I loved soccer, I guess."

"Sorry I dragged you into this."

"Don't apologize for something you clearly don't regret."

Tachi laughed. "Well, if you're that sharp I guess I won't have to worry about you keeping the goal."

The genius was glad to see his new captain in such a mood. He had felt he was as nervous as he was and only now that he had seen more at ease did he realize it. The young red head was still apprehensive himself, but since his friend would be there he felt like he would have at least one ally in the stands, which meant a lot to him. He had prepared, and was supported both inside and outside of the field; things would be alright.

…Right?

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A/N: Happy New Year Everyone! I posted this chapter later than I wanted… no matter. I hope you enjoy it.