" Shindou-san .. " Tenma went quickly with Tsurugi behind their team mate , surprised by his unexpected burst on the chairman's face ,,

Shindou was always a wise boy , he never yelled or talked with an impolite and threatening way to someone who's older than him , like he did seconds ago

" Shindou-san .. I'm really sorry ... but ... El Dorado's leader is only trying to help .. " ,

Shindou stopped walking ,, he turned his head to gaze at Tenma with a sharp way that made the poor boy stiffen on his spot

" Tenma ... don't tell me that you're with him .. " he hissed before turning directly to his junior , " do you really want me to use Kirino's weak moment so we can hurt him ? "

" i .. it's not that .. but ... what if Kirino-san and the others did something dangerous ? .. are you really going to be with them ? .. what if he hurt more peop- " suddenly , Tenma's words were stopped by Shindou's forceful grab to his forearms , shaking him hard

" and what about HIM ? .. he put his life on danger to save that old bastards along with their world .. and his reward now's THAT ? .. isn't he your friend too .. you think this doesn't hurt him ? "

" Shidnou-san .. calm down " Tsurugi interrupted to loosen the pianist's hard grasp on Tenma's arms , he looked at the little brunet who was too shocked to move the smallest part of his body , then turned his eyes to Shindou , who seemed like he already realized what he had done , staring at Tenma with bated breathe ,,, furious ,,, angry at El Dorado , at Tenma , at himself ,, at the WHOLE world ,

his eyes went red with his face showing a sad expression at a second and angry at another , as if he might burst crying at any moment ,, and he doesn't blame him ,

" ... you didn't see him .. " the prodigy said after a while , hiding his face with his bangs " .. when I was talking to him .. even with his cold face .. even with his hard words ... I could see the pain inside him .. he wants to break free but he CAN'T .. " he raised his head splashing all the tears he was holding , " ... he held his chest tightly .. caused himself all that pain trying not to hurt me .. despite being able to do at any second .. but he never did .. fighting all that DAMN power not to cause me any harm ... and it's not the first time ... even when he wasn't chosen for Inazuma Japan .. though I know he was disappointed as hell ... he smiled to me ... encouraging so that I wouldn't feel sad for him .. hiding his immense sorrow of not being able to play alongside us after all his hard training that went in vain .. and just cared for my feelings when he was the one suffering .. cheering in my presence not to dispirit me when he was the one feeling down ... he had ALWAYS done this for me .. AND YOU WANT ME TO DO THAT .. " he couldn't suppress the yell anymore , then shook his head with a disapproving gesture " .. no Tenma ... this time I'm not with you .. and if you and ANYONE will try to hurt him ... I won't forgive you all "

" .. Shin- .. "

" Tenma ... leave him .. " the bluette cut off his companion who tried to stop their senior from going " .. leave him to himself now ... the only one who can bring him out of this state isn't by his side "

Tenma watched his friends yellow eyes for a moment , before turning to the way his ex-captain went through , his face showing a total worry ,,

' .. Shindou-san .. '

The playmaker looked down the hill , how long has it been since he was last time in this place ? ,, maybe just a few months , but when the pleasant memories started to flow back to his mind , it strangely seemed to be long , long time ago ,

Suddenly , two figures started to appear on the field , he could see them clearly as if they were existed at the moment , one with soft pink hair and the other with the his brown curls , the cherry blossoms petals fluttering everywhere while they played alone , glancing at each other's eyes most of the time , as if playing with the other was the source of joy for both more than playing soccer itself , passing the ball between them and following one another with a big delight on their faces ,, feeling happy just by being together ,,

For a moment , and out of no reason , the brunette wondered if his friend had ever remembered these precious memories , if he stood the same standing or for a split second , did the boy feel what he felt right now , this hole of the disability to be with the friend of his life , just like the hole in this leaf that dropped in front of him , and he had a strong feeling that the pinkette was somehow watching the same scene , standing in the same place by his side , he looked around hurriedly to see him , wearing Raimon's navy uniform and with his former usual twin tails , watching the field with a somewhat depressed expression , eyelashes seemed longer than it was from the side ,, a peaceful breath of wind caressed his soft skin and strands , making him look more touching and breathtaking

" Kirino .. " he extended a hand toward the fascinating boy but as it made contact with him , the other's body began to vanish " .. Kirino .. " though being aware that it was an illusion , he called again even more longingly , before the image completely disappeared , but Shindou's body stayed still , with his arm still raised in the air as if hoping that it might come in contact with his friend at any second , but when the impossibility became clear , the curly haired slowly lowered his hand and turned to the field again ,, a scene came back to his mind , where his best friend was running behind him with bated breath and a tender smile never leaving his face , trying to catch up to him ,, if not for the tiring pain inside his chest the genius would laugh at the irony , how positions now where reversed , how at this time he was the one desperately following the other ,,,

' I wish to play soccer with you forever '

With the pure smile and awesomely twinkling azure eyes , Shindou remembered the unexpected phrase the defender had thrown at that time when they had paused to drink , it was so sudden and the midfielder didn't know what to say , returning the favor had crossed his mind but there was something , though he didn't know what it was , but maybe a strange air , or a tingling twist in his belly that prevented him from doing so ,

" .. I .. " the pianist's lips trembled along with his tone , he quickly closed his mouth after hearing how his voice sounded , like the weeping he withheld in his throat was about to break free at any second ,,

He just wished that he could go back to that time , tell the pinkette that he wishes to stay with him forever , playing soccer or not , it didn't matter to him now , he just wanted to stand beside him , see his charming smile , hear his soothing voice , nothing more , the mere remembrance of that feeling sent him a relaxing sensation like being in heaven , and he regretted not saying that sentence to him ,, it was the same fault he had always made , despite his big intimacy for the smaller boy he had always gone against revealing it , trying to sound as calm as possible towards the other ,

Kirino was always sincere , had no hesitating to show his big respect and care for him , while he , the older and seemingly more strong , hid it like a coward ,,

But again , wasn't it that weird feeling ? ,, why did he feel that showing his big care for the pinkette would sound like ,,,

" Shindou-san "

the called boy's trance was interrupted by a familiar voice , he quickly turned his face to see " .. Tenma .. "

the boy stopped in front of him , somewhat shamefully " I .. wanted to apologize for my inappropriate words with you recently ... I'm really sorry " the little brunet bowed in front of his senpai , sometimes the enthusiastic boy's polite attitude makes him feel ashamed for ever being hard with him

" no ... I overreacted as well .. excuse me " he averted eye contact with his kouhai , regretting his outburst on him when he wasn't the one to be blamed ,

" please don't say such words .. the mistake was by my side when I took the improper sight ... Kirino-san is still my senior and I shouldn't have thought of him that way when the whole problem is not his fault in the first place "

" .. yes .. but you had the right to worry ... Kirino now isn't the same person as before ... if he is ... then we would be together now " ,

When Tenma saw the agony displayed on the prodigy's face while looking at the field near them , he decided to put on some cheering in his words " .. I understand .. and that's why we should think of a way to save him .. like we've always done .. right ? " ,

" ... I don't know .. " Shindou looked in doubt when he answered " .. I don't know if this time ... we'll be able to .. " he halted his words , a tear threatening to fall from his eye ,

" we'll definitely save him .. " , Shindou looked at his companion when he heard his confident tone , and Tenma continued while walking in the direction of the field " .. we had gone through many hard situations .. but we where able to overcome everything by supporting each other ... therefore .. " he sat down on the hills edge , patting the ground beside him in an inviting gesture for his senior to sit there " .. I'd like to hear what's inside you " he smiled in a motivating way to his teammate ,, Shindou parted his lips slightly , but closed them again and accepted the offer , " so .. " the little midfielder began as his friend sat beside him " I've seen you watching this field for quite a while ... does it have any special thing for you ? "

Shindou stayed silent , watching that place for a moment before answering " .. we had used to practice here .. " , Tenma didn't need to ask to know who's the other person Shindou was talking about ,

" come to think of it ... you and Kirino-san seemed to have an extremely strong bond .. how long have you known each other ? "

Author's note

Oh my god the next chap's gonna be hard to write , I'll work so hard to make a suitable story for this fic about Shindou's beginning with Kirino and not disappoint you , I'm sorry about this but my brain's a total mess these days I don't know why 0_0

However I thank all people who are reviewing on my stories so soooo much , I appreciate it a lot minna , your nice reviews are like the fruits after sowing

too big thanks for reading , love you all my beautiful readers :*