Okay. I'm back. I just got the manga books #4 and 5 yesterday so I'm totally motivated right now. Moving on… please review. I have 24 hits for my last chapter and I know they didn't all come from 3 people. At least say 'hi!'

Chapter 10: Hitana Middle

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Dang it, Yuki-chan! You know you're my best friend but if you ask me that one more time I might have to hit you," I growled. Yuki had bugged me all morning with that question and I was loosing my patience.

"Right. Sorry." She turned back to our teammates (who were stretching). "Okay everyone. Let's go." They nodded and stood, following their captain down the sidewalk at a jog. "Where are we going today?"

"How about Central Park?" Miyuki suggested.

"That's a long way."

"Well, we could take a break there and practice a bit. After all, we have our soccer balls." It was true. Yuki had suggested that we all start dribbling on our morning jogs. Luckily, we had begun to store our equipment and school books in our rooms instead of the storage shed and lockers incase of anyone seeking revenge. That way, we escaped unscathed.

After about 3 km of jogging we arrived at the park. Yes, 3 km! It turns out running in town is a lot easier than running in circles. There were more distractions. That didn't mean we weren't all bent over panting when we finally got there. Another thing, it took about 25 minutes to get there. If it hadn't been Saturday, we wouldn't have made it back in time to get to class. We didn't have any more games until the tournament next weekend so we didn't have a match right after either.

"Good job girls! ...We made it," Yuki panted. "We'll be ready for... our game next Saturday... for sure!"

"For sure?" We turned to see another group of 15 girls about 20 meters away. Their leader, a sturdy-built girl a few centimeters taller than Yuki, had a soccer ball tucked under her arm. All of them wore Hitana (no idea where these names are coming from) Middle School uniforms. I frowned, wondering what they were doing here. "You're Sakura Josui, right? I believe we are your opponents next weekend, so I wouldn't be so confident if I were you."

"Confident is better than cocky," Eva smirked. Their leader frowned. "Nice to see you again, Yume-chan," she cooed.

Yume gave Eva a look of distaste, voice dripping with venom. "You're with them? Should've known you'd turn traitor."

"I would be a traitor if Hitana Middle's soccer team had been worthy of my trust. You're just sour because now that you're goalie instead of forward everyone's scoring a lot more," Eva sneered. Clearly, this had been the team she was on before moving here 2 years ago and this was an old feud. She was enjoying this.

Yume's scowl deepened. "I'm flattered that you checked up on me."

"Don't be. Me and Nami were having a good laugh over it a few weeks ago." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Well, I looked up your opponents and sent people to some of your games. Apparently, you're all still beginners... and it shows. You've lost 3 games, tied once, and won... how many times was it?" She pretended to think. "Oh yes: twice." This time, Eva scowled. "We're going to crush you and you know it. Of course, the rest of your team doesn't. Maybe we should show them? How about a 15 minute game? There's a pitch over there." She pointed north.

"We accept," Yuki told the girl.

I stood nervously in center midfield. I didn't like the look on Eva's face. It was different from the one she usually wore. This one was extremely serious, like she knew that they were far beyond our level. But if that's true, why did she leave that team?

One of Hitana's substitute players blew the whistle and my mind snapped to the game. Yuki passed it to Miyuki who passed it back to me. Their players sprinted forward. I dribbled around the first one but was stopped by 2 more. They quickly blocked my progress. I could see other players between me and Yuki and Miyuki. They were too close for me to make a long pass and I couldn't control the ball well enough to feint around them. I'd have to wait for them to move first.

Unfortunately, their attack was well-coordinated and perfected and they took the ball easily. I growled, trying to take it back but they easily evaded me. It traveled down the field and easily passed the defense for a shot on goal. Of course, Eva was running on adrenaline and caught it.

She booted it to me and I found myself guarded yet again. Why am I being marked so thoroughly? Yuki's our best player. Then again, If I can't get it to Yuki they'll have nothing to worry about. They dribbled circles around me yet again, this time with a less-than-friendly shove. I scowled and jumped up determined to make up for my mistake. It made it back to Eva. But... when she went to stop the ball, she crashed head-first into the goal-post. I winced. That must've hurt.

She got up though and booted the ball. I frowned. Usually it went strait to me but this time it went a good 20 meters to my right. I sprinted over. Another player from the other team was there waiting to receive the pass so I waited for her to trap it and stole the ball while she was focusing on controlling it. I quickly passed it to Miyuki before I could get marked.

But they had anticipated that and intercepted it. Eva's hurt. There's no way she can stop it now. I'll have to steal it before they can get it down field. I blocked their path and went one-on-one with one of the players. My fellow half-backs helped block their passing lanes. I didn't even bother to try and gain control of the ball and simply booted it up the field, praying it would reach Kojima (I called her that on the field so that I didn't confuse Miyuki) or Miyuki. It never did, and they eventually passed me and scored easily on the injured Eva.

Then they began playing rough. The shoving was harder, elbows flew at my face, and slide-tackles came frequently. One particularly hard shove came while I was in the air, trying to head the ball, and it resulted in my landing wrong. My ankle bent unnaturally. I can't let it get to Eva! I ignored the pain and jumped to my feet but I wasn't fast enough and they scored again. And then once more. Finally, Eva got her hands on the ball and punted it hard. I volleyed it, not letting the other team get near it, but my left ankle protested and gave out on the landing. "KOJIMA!"

Yuki received it and immediately headed for the goal. Defenders were on her in an instant. With time running out she shot as hard as she could but the defenders had succeeded in narrowing the shooting lane down so much that a second grader could have stopped it. And their goalie did. The whistle blew a moment later, causing their entire team to smirk triumphantly. Without another word, they left. The 3 forwards gave me an unfriendly bump on the way past, making my ankle throb as I tried to recover.

I looked silently around at the team. They were panting and discouraged. My attention, however, was more focused on Eva. She was leaning unsteadily against the goalpost. Pain ignored, I ran over to her and demanded to know how bad her injury was.

The walk back to school was a long one and Eva leaned on me and Yuki to prevent herself from loosing her balance. When we arrived, Obaasan took Eva to the hospital. She had a concussion. As for me, I was looking for Coach Matsushita. I let them down. Because of my weakness, they were able to score. I have to get better before Saturday. If we don't win, it will all be over. Most of the girls probably won't come back next season and we'll have let all of our classmates get away with calling us weak.