The Soccer Ball's Tune
Chapter Two
Alyse Minamoto
The stars were beautiful that night. It was the one thing he smiled at when remembering the night it had happened. He had been scared, but he couldn't deny that there had been a since of unwavering anticipation of the adventure that was sure to come.
He was cold. He was getting colder. Why was he colder? Why did he feel... wet? He had an idea. If he was correct there would be a very dead 25 year old wearing that #86 jersey. He opened his eyes and the three boys near him and his bed stopped dead and gulped before they ran.
"Zachary! Travis! Michael! You guys are so dead!" Taichi jumped up out of bed started chasing them around the hotel room he was staying in. It was huge and made of marble, silk and it was just breathtakingly beautiful... If you didn't have a soaking wet body that is.
"What did we do? It's not like it hurt you!" Zachary yelled, ducking as a wet pillow came flying at his face. It hit Michael instead.
"What was that for? Oh, you're going down Tai!" And with that a full-blown pillow fight started in. Some of the other members on the team heard the screaming as well and came to join in.
That was until his door opened and everyone froze. Some of their legs were suspended in air, while pillows just stayed at wherever they were touching some else's body. The captain had walked in.
"Since we're all so very energetic. Practice in the park nearby. Now. Jeremy get the balls. Zachary get the weights. Michael get the cones. Let's go. You don't need to get in your uniform. Wear what your wearing right now. That includes the soaking wet one over there." He looked at Taichi and shook his head. Then he left the room. Zachary hit Travis one last time before everyone left to the park or to get the things they were appointed to get. Taichi helped Zachary with the box filled with weights since they were a bit heavy.
When they got to the park they were told to put on 3 lb weights on each leg and the goalie needed 1 lb weights on each wrist as well. They started to practice.
Half way into the practice game Taichi was in control of the ball and he was weaving in and out of the practice cones as well as dodging the people with red belts. The captain, James Garner, had a red belt on. He came up and made a kick for the ball but Taichi stepped back. The weights however seemed to have slipped his mind and he fell forwards, right onto the captain.
"Taichi, You alright?" James asked looking up at Taichi. He noticed the light tinge of pink on his face and said, "Is it too cold out here? I won't have one of my players getting sick. Go get changed." Taichi nodded, getting to his feet.
He felt weird all the sudden. Like he was gonna' vomit or something. He wasn't steady on his feet at all, and began to sway back and forth. He almost fell but James took hold of his shoulders from behind and said, "You're already sick. Why didn't you say so before coming out to play? Idiot."
He yelled out to the guys who had all come up to see if Taichi was awake to continue playing. He was going to take Taichi back to his room, as he obviously wasn't feeling very good.
His head hurt and his mouth tasted absolutely disgusting. He remembered puking, while someone patted his back? He opened his eyes and saw that he was in his room. And James was sitting in an arm chair near his bed. The sky outside the window clearly said it was late and somehow he felt honored that the captain would stay here and help him. It couldn't even be called a feeling when compared to the mortification he felt when he realized he's just puked out everything in his system, in front of that so called captain.
Oh god, it just had to be the embarrassment of the century. Seriously.
Why had he been sick in the first place though? Last night they had gone to a party, they were forced to by one of his bosses because a government official had wanted to meet him. Either way he hadn't drunk any alcohol, just a few cokes.
Ahh... Coke, Party, Travis. Travis would unfortunately not make it to the inter-nationals after all. He would become one of those mysterious disappearances that fascinated him so much.
Taichi started to get up when a wave of nausea hit him and he ran to the bathroom a few feet away. He'd woken up James apparently since he came in yelling, "Taichi!" and started rubbing his back again.
"Gomen asai, buchou."
"Taichi... You're talking in Japanese again. I can't understand you."
"Go- Sorry." Taichi was about to translate what he'd said when he doubled over and had to vomit again.
"You either drank alot last night, which I doubt, or have a very low tolerance system. That I don't doubt. Funny thing is it seemed to delay a bit. You were fine this morning." He grinned and pulled Taichi to his feet, half carrying him back to his bed. "Sleep and I'll go get you some water. It'll help."
"Arigato, buchou."
James just smiled. At least he got the feeling of what he was saying. And he knew buchou meant captain. He had asked once, when Taichi would always call him that instead of James or Captain.
When he came back with the water however, Taichi had fallen fast asleep already. James found himself watching the younger boy by 6 years without even noticing that he'd put the cup down on the end table.
w/ love
Alyse