Summary: A childhood friend of Tezuka's comes back for a soccer tournament. They've always been close; now, with a limited amount of time, she has to tell Tezuka how she feels. But trouble gets in the way...not to mention her temper. TezxOC
Chapter 6
"First to five goals sound fair?" The captain asked Jun.
At Yumi's subtle nod when she glanced back at her, Jun smiled at the captain. "Excellent." Going back to the team on the bench, Yumi following, they formed a huddle.
-So what's our plan, Jun?- Yumi asked with a grin, resting her foot on her soccer ball and leaning in.
-It's first to five. I figure we'll take it easy. Don't worry about a time limit.- Jun answered. -Their coach is our ref, along with our manager Mrs. White. They're working some things out. But remember!- She said sternly. -Taking it easy doesn't mean getting careless. They've been watching our whole practice, resting themselves for this game. It's unnecessary for them to see our moves.-
-You heard the tactician, girls!- Yumi said cheerfully. -We have the Master Plan, now let's do this!-
The girls positioned themselves on the field, half of them remaining on the benches. The tennis Regulars watched from the top of the grassy hill that dipped down into the flat soccer field. The whistle blew.
At first it seemed even, neither team noticeably winning or gaining a lead. It was through simple passing that the girls scored the first goal, after their goalie had easily saved two shots. A second goal followed lazily afterwards, and a third trailed along. The boys had gotten a few more shots on net, but the goalie was completely ready for them.
"Wow, the girls are actually winning." Momoshiro commented.
"The boys are actually trying now." Fuji noted.
"They got careless." Tezuka said, watching the current play. "Red Hill isn't to be taken lightly; not after Yumi took over."
"She's in our class." Eiji spoke up. "How do you know her, Tezuka?"
"We're childhood friends." He answered. "She moved to America and I haven't seen her for awhile, but we stayed in contact. She told me about her soccer team and friends. Ieris and Cari, the girls in my class, are her closest friends."
"So you knew she was this good at soccer?" Oishi asked.
"I haven't seen her play, actually. Not seriously, at least." Tezuka admitted. "But based on her personality as a child and her developing talent, I know she's not to be taken lightly."
The whistle blew shrilly, interrupting anything else that was going to be said.
-DEANNA!- The girls cried out worriedly.
"Did you see that?!" Kawamura exclaimed.
"Fsh...foul play..." Kaidoh hissed.
Mrs. White, the team manager for Red Hill, hurried over to a girl who wasn't getting up from the ground. A few other girls crowded around as well. The boys stood off to the side. Yumi crouched down by Deanna worriedly. -How is it? That was one nasty trip tackle he gave you!-
-It's fine...ow...- Deanna rubbed her ankle.
-You sprained your ankle, it is NOT fine!- Mrs. White declared sternly. -You, young lady, will be sitting out for a little while.- When Deanna started to protest, Mrs. White said sharply -No buts! If you rest until the tournament comes then you can play. Right Yumi?...Yumi...?-
-Uh oh...- Cari whispered, as everyone sensed a dark looming aura of rage coming from Yumi.
-That stupid kid...- Yumi growled, eyes flashing dangerously. -Just because you're losing, it doesn't mean you have permission to injure someone!- She rounded on the boy who had purposefully caused the accident. "You BASTARD!!" She advanced on the boy, fists clenched. "YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH INJURING ONE OF MY GIRLS? HUH?!"
-You better stop her!- Ryoma called down to the girls.
-We would if we could!- Jun answered worriedly. -None of us know how without a bucket of water or something random like that! We just let her vent it all out!-
Ryoma translated that to the others, who now had even more worried looks. "Oh, I hope she doesn't start a fight..." Oishi fretted. "Someone else will get hurt!"
And that won't be one of the girls... Tezuka thought wryly, jogging down the hill and out into the field. He came up behind Yumi and abruptly covered her eyes from behind with one hand, so she couldn't see the cause of her rage. Then he grabbed her arm with his other hand, to stop her from pulling away from him. "Yumi." He said sternly. "Control yourself!"
Yumi stiffened and stilled before she sighed and took a few deep breaths. "...One..." The girls on her team gazed on in puzzlement. "Two..." The boys on the opposing team gazed on warily. "...Three." Yumi reached up and removed Tezuka's hand from her eyes. "...Alright, I'm fine now." She said calmly.
It was like a miracle to the watching girls; they had never seen Yumi's rage be contained so fast. They started whispering to each other; this Japanese boy definitely had to be the one that Yumi was really close to! Little did Tezuka know he was fast becoming a legend amongst the team.
"Obviously anger management classes didn't help much." Tezuka said wryly.
"Sometimes they do. Other times it just makes me angrier." Yumi replied. She turned back to the team. "Continue the game, we'll sub in a player." She said to the boys' coach, who just came back from giving his guilty player a time out at Mrs. White's insistence. Turning to the girls, Yumi barked out -Forget no time limit! This gets finished in five minutes! All we need are two goals!-
The girls shouted their agreement.
Jun gestured for another girl to go up and replace Deanna, who sat down on the bench and removed her shoe, sock, and shin pad. -Alright then girls, Yumi will finish this up for us. There's no need to show them anything else; we'll deal with them in the tournament.- She told the team, before shooing them back out into the field to clean up the game.
Yumi stood as center forward. She glared at the person facing off against her as the whistle was blown, and he took a step back in surprise. Before he could blink Yumi was dribbling down the field towards the net. She easily dodged the few unprepared defense players and scored.
"What happened, man?" The boys asked their center forward.
"That girl's got this demonic look in her eye that just freaks me out!" The boy answered. "She's pissed, but man, that's the first time a girl's scared me! Don't worry, it won't happen again. I'm ready for her."
The second time the center forward was prepared for the burning red eyes, but he still couldn't stop Yumi from bulleting past him and scoring again. The rest of Yumi's team had jogged up as back up in case Yumi needed it, and occasionally she had needed to pass to them, but they always passed back for Yumi to score. In less than five minutes they had gotten their two goals and the end game whistle was heard.
Yumi ran a hand through her bangs and turned to the captain. "...We'll save our REAL game for the tournament." She fixed the boy sitting on the bench with a stern look (his time out was too long for him to rejoin the game), and then turned away and walked to her team.
-Practice is over for today.- Jun said. -Let's get changed for the bus back to the hotel.-
Yumi hit Tezuka lightly on the arm as she passed the Regulars. "Wait for me? I want to introduce you to my friends." She said with a smile before walking on.
"...So WHO was it who thought she was innocent?" Ryoma smirked.
"S-She never seemed like the type with a temper..." Oishi stuttered, still surprised.
"That's the way she's always been." Tezuka said, although from his tone they couldn't tell if he meant it in a bad or a good way. "It's not that hard to stop her, though."
"Says you." Jun said, coming in on their conversation. "You're the first one we've seen do that." She hoisted a bag over her shoulder and tucked her clipboard under her arm. "You've become a living legend amongst the team, you know. You're just lucky most of the girls can't speak or understand Japanese." She added, before walking off to the bus.
"Well, Tezuka, you're a living legend now." Fuji remarked with a chuckle. "How does that feel?"
Tezuka didn't answer, just turned away to walk to the school gates and wait for Yumi. As long as it isn't Yumi who's thinking that, I don't really care. He leaned against the wall to wait. Yumi may be extremely forward and she had her faults, but she was completely herself with him, and he could appreciate that. He glanced at the bike racks to see a bicycle that was undoubtedly Yumi's: the chain was practically made of locks. He moved over there to see if he could figure out which lock it was that undid the 'tangled mess', and see if he still knew her as well as he used to.
-You scored with that guy, Yumi!- Karen said within the privacy of the girls change rooms. She had a huge grin as she started pulling her socks on. -He's hot!-
-No wonder you don't have a boyfriend back home!- Alison added with a laugh. -What's he like, huh?- She asked excitedly.
-Huh? Who, Kunimitsu?- Yumi asked with a confused frown. At their sighs of exasperation and rolling of eyes, she said with a shrug -As almost anyone who knows him would answer, 'he's Tezuka'.- Now seeing their 'come on' looks, she sighed. -Well, he's really serious and kind of strict, but get past that and he can be really nice. It takes a little while to get him to open up to you, though.-
-Never knew that was your type.- Lucy commented.
-It's our Yumi we're talking about here.- Lacy pointed out.
-My type?- Yumi laughed lightly. -Nah...The only one I've ever fallen for is Kunimitsu. But don't tell him that.- The girls all gave her looks that clearly said 'how can we?', and she decided not to tell them that he spoke English perfectly fine and that the twins spoke Japanese. She dried off from the showers and got dressed in her school uniform. "Ieris, Cari, you ready?" She asked, grabbing her soccer bag.
"Ready!" They answered.
-See you girls at practice in a few days!- Yumi called out, leaving to a chorus of goodbyes.
Tezuka felt someone hit him on the back, but he knew better than to turn around and look over his shoulder. Looking to his right, he saw Yumi grinning up at him. "Let me guess." He said, pointing to the bike in front of him. "It's the pink one."
"You know me too well!" Yumi accused, picking the pink lock and unchaining her bike. "Oh, right!" She turned so she could see both Ieris and Cari as well as Tezuka. "Meet my two best friends, White Ieris and Yamanako Cari! Girls, this is Tezuka Kunimitsu, the one who gave me my lock necklace!" Yumi stated proudly.
"Hm..." Ieris looked Tezuka up and down speculatively. "...Not what we pictured, is he, Cari?"
Cari nodded quietly.
"Don't mind Cari, she's shy but she'll get used to you. And Ieris is always like this." Yumi said with a laugh. "Ieris, do you mind riding home with Cari? I really need to catch up with Kunimitsu."
"It's getting late, though." Tezuka pointed out. "How about tomorrow, after school? We don't have tennis practice then."
"Sounds good; that's our day off from practice too." Yumi flipped out a pen and jotted her aunt and uncle's address and phone number down on Tezuka's hand before he could pull it away. "That's where we're staying; they're my aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Minamoto."
"Tezuka!"
Tezuka looked up to see his team come up, and quickly put his hand in his pocket. "Yumi, this is my tennis team." He said stiffly. "Everyone, this is Tsukiyama Yumi, and her two friends White Ieris and Yamanako Cari."
"We've met already." Fuji said with a smile.
"I didn't expect you to be into soccer, Cari!" Eiji said happily.
Cari just blushed and looked down. Yumi rolled her eyes and playfully hit Tezuka's arm. "Well? We don't know them, introduce us!"
"This is Fuji Syuusuke-" "A pleasure."
"Kikumaru Eiji-" "Hoi hoi!"
"Kawamura Takashi-" "Nice to meet you..."
"Inui Sadaharu-" "Three of them...good data..."
"Oishi Syuichirou-" "Hello."
"Kaidoh Kaoru-" "Fsh..."
"Echizen Ryoma-" "Hey."
"And Momoshiro Takeshi." "Momochan is fine, senpais!"
"Momochan? Whatever makes you happy I guess..." Yumi muttered. I think someone needs a better naming sense. "Nice to meet you all!" She greeted cheerfully.
"Whatever." Ieris said indifferently.
"N-Nice t-to meet you..." Cari stuttered, bowing slightly.
"Kawaiii!" Eiji declared, looking ready to glomp Cari on the spot.
A phone ringing interrupted the moment, much to Cari's relief. Yumi flipped out her phone. "Hello?...Yeah...uh huh...yeah, ten minutes tops. Later." She looked up. "Well, that's our cue to go home, girls!" She got on her bike and balanced easily when Ieris hopped on the front and Cari on the back. "See you tomorrow at school, Kunimitsu! Later boys!"
Once the girls had turned the corner, Fuji turned to Tezuka. "So what is it she wrote on your hand?" He asked mischievously.
"Nothing." Tezuka replied immediately.
Eiji and Momoshiro grabbed his hand out of his pocket and looked at it quickly before Tezuka pulled it back and clenched his fist so they couldn't see his palm anymore. "Her address and number!" They declared loudly.
"It's her aunt and uncle's house actually." Tezuka said stiffly. He turned and started walking off down the street before they could start teasing him and questioning him.
"Same difference!" Eiji and Momoshiro said once he was out of hearing distance.
"Those three girls weren't what I expected." Oishi remarked to the others.
"Wasn't Cari cute?" Eiji asked, smiling.
"Ieris-senpai was beautiful, but she acts more like our Echizen here." Momoshiro commented, trapping Ryoma in a headlock.
"Itai..." Ryoma muttered, rubbing his neck once Momoshiro released him.
"Yumi's turned out to be quite a unique individual." Fuji smiled. It's a little strange. One minute she calls us all idiots, and the next she's cheerful and friendly to us. Does she like us or hate us?
"I wonder what'll happen between her and Tezuka while she's here...?" Kawamura mused.
"Saa..." Fuji answered.