Previously on Hemophobia

"They're in your hands now Endou. Both Raimon's future and soccer's. Hang in there coach Endou,"

"I won't give up either."

Endou walked to the exit too and found Tenma waiting for him, he patted the brunet a bit and they both walked away in silence.

An ominous feeling creeping into the younger brunet's skin.

Commentator's font

'Thoughts'

"Conversations"

Sudden flashbacks

A/N: I've decided that from now on I'll be calling Tsurugi by his first name.

A vermillion-haired woman walked out of the kitchen, looking at the time and noticed her husband was already up, looking at the television. Probably watching anything soccer related, however, as she got closer to the room.

"Yesterday at 11:30 pm, the body of 32-year-old single mother Etsu Fujimoto was found. Investigators presume her murderer was the same person that killed Akira Hiroshima and her son seeing she was murdered the same way..." The woman stopped for a moment and put her index finger in her right ear like she was trying to hear something: "Her thirteen son was found now at an alley not distant from the mother's position. Just like the previous murder, he had his right eye slashed and was killed. After some examinations, it was confirmed that some chlorine was in his circulatory system. The culprit's motive is still unclear and there seems to be no connection between the two mothers and sons except the fact that both mothers are divorced. The only thing clear for now is the fact that the identity of the killer is the same if the way of the four murders has anything to tell. This is morning breaking news and we'll be right back."

As he noticed his wife, he immediately switched off the news and looked at the wide-eyed woman.

"Endou-kun, you don't think it's him do you?" she asked worriedly.

"Of course not. The police have taken his years ago. It can't be him. It mustn't be him." He replied, the same horrified expression as his wife on his face.

Just on cue, Tenma came down rubbing his eyes and yawning. He went to the kitchen, made himself a coffee, drank it and went back upstairs, without paying minimal attention to the two in the other room. It would still be an hour before he woke up completely. That was enough time for the two to compose themselves.

An hour later, Tenma finally came down, he saw Endou and Natsumi in the kitchen having breakfast.

"So, when are we going to go?" he asked the man, walking towards the living room. He didn't want to eat anything not liking the idea of throwing up later.

"Tenma, please come and eat something. Even if it's just little," Natsumi pleaded, seeing the direction the brunet was heading. The brunet sighed, he loved his aunt, she was one of the people that helped him in his lowest time and helped him get back to his feet. So he went to sit and ate a little. Though the food was terrible, he wouldn't tell her that.

When they were done, Tenma and the older brunet stood up to get to school. Endou stopped at a newsstand saying he wanted to buy something for a moment. When he finished, he went back to the car noticing how Tenma was deep in thoughts.

"So, care to share what you're thinking about?" he asked starting the car.

"Nothing much. Just a few nightmares I've been having recently. Though I can't recall what exactly happens," he replied and then fell back silent.

Endou didn't know what to say to that so he kept shut and the whole journey to school was made in silence.

As they entered the meeting room in the soccer building, Tenma noticed Shinsuke and Aoi were there, watching Holy Road's last year final match.

"Oh, you guys are early!" Endou exclaimed as he entered, walking towards the wall with a poster in his arm. "Are you the only ones here?" he then asked.

"Yes! Which is a shame since everyone came yesterday to the riverbank," Aoi replied.

"Don't worry, they'll be here soon," Endou said to reassure them, he attached the object and looked at it satisfied.

Seeing what he did, Aoi and Shinsuke immediately ran to him, looking at the poster. In a horrible green colour, was the word Holy Road and in the background was a line of Fifth Sector's flags at their left and at their right was a group of identical-looking kids that looked like they were at some institute of death.

"Holy Road," Shinsuke breathe out.

"When I was your age, the tournament was called Football Frontier," Endou said and as on cue, the rest of the club members entered the room.

"Good morning," Sangoku said, pulling their attention from the poster and so do the others as they entered.

"Good morning, Senpai!" Shinsuke and Aoi greeted back, bowing slightly.

To everyone's surprise, Tsurugi entered too and sat next to Tenma almost like it was a normal thing.

Endou snapped their attention back on himself clapping his hands together: "Everyone, the Holy Road district preliminaries are coming soon. Now, let's start morning practice!"

After the practice, the principal came to call Endou informing him the Chairman wanted to talk to him.

"Alright, guys, that'll be enough for this morning. We shall practice again after lessons," he told the teenagers and followed the man.

As he got to the office and entered, he walked into the room and stood in front of the short man that still looked as constipated as before.

"Fifth Sector has given us a score order," the man said: "In the first match of this year's Holy Road district preliminaries, Raimon will lose 2-0"

"We don't score?" Endou asked, looking serious.

"Fifth Sector's decisions are absolute," the principal said smiling smugly. Little did he know...

"I see. Well then, if you'll excuse me," he said, bowing slightly and exiting the room. Outside the office, stood the blue-haired manager a worried expression was painted her face.

"It was about Holy Road, right?" she asked

"Seems that we lose," the man responded, he then smirked: "But I'm not going to tell to others that."

During the afternoon practise, true to his words, he said nothing to the teenagers and when finished, Tenma came to him and said: "I'm going home with Kyousuke today."

He then walked to the locker rooms to change to his normal clothes. After that, he walked out with the navy-haired boy though the direction they were directed wasn't that of the Kogarashi manor.

As they walked towards the hospital Kyousuke decided to start a conversation: "My brother knew for the past seven years ago. And he didn't tell me."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're pouting Kyousuke," the brunet replied, chuckling silently.

"But although I'm not (a/n: The Tsurugi Kyousuke does not pout), I've got all rights to pout. I mean he told me he knew the day I found out and since then he's been pestering me to bring you over. He's a real pain," the navy-haired boy said in slight annoyance.

"Well, I was going to ask you if he remembered anyway so he wouldn't have had to wait," Tenma replied

The two soon got to the hospital and went to Kyousuke's brother's room. The navy-headed had the brunet wait outside the room and went in.

As he entered, he found his brother in his wheelchair by the window as always.

"Nii-san," he said interrupting the elder's train of thought.

"Kyousuke!" Yuuichi exclaimed, turning his gaze to his little brother making the navy-haired smile.

"How are you feeling?" Kyousuke asked.

"Pretty good today," Yuuichi replied "Although I would feel a lot better if you let a certain someone visit me," he added without a thought.

"I knew you were going to say that so..." he said, rolling his eyes and smirking knowingly and went to open the door "So I decided to satisfy your selfish needs"

"Tenma," the elder Tsurugi exclaimed in joy and would have jumped up if he could so the brunet went in his stead and hugged the man. (a/n: well, he's 18 so...)

"So you finally decided to stop being a little shit eh Kyousuke?" he commented as soon as he separated from the brunet laughing inwardly at the tick mark that appeared on the younger Tsurugi's face.

"Yuuichi-san, it's been a while," Tenma greeted the young man with a small smile.

The three decided to talk outside, so they went to the hospital's garden. Children were playing soccer there and it made Tenma slightly nostalgic. He had been like them once. So carefree.

He watched as the ball landed amid Yuuichi's legs and the children shouting if he could give it back to them. The elder Tsurugi raised his hands shouting a yes and then tried to give them back the ball with his legs unsuccessfully, then he decided to just throw the object at them. And the brunet noticed Kyousuke looking at his brother, guilt flashed in his eyes.

"So, what happened to your legs this time?" the brunet asked bluntly: "Last time you were incapacitated during a war. What happened?"

"Well, I was still 12 at that time," Yuuichi commenced: "Kyousuke and I were playing soccer when it suddenly got stuck in a tree. Kyousuke tried to get it back but fell. And all my bones were cracked due to me softening his fall."

"I see... And have you found anything you could do about it?" Tenma asked.

"Well, taking surgery could fix it but we don't have enough money for the latest medical technologies overseas," Kyousuke responded and Tenma understood the reason he was a seed without him continuing the sentence.

"But, if I may ask, why are you asking these questions? You can't heal it as that would bring unnecessary problems," Yuuichi said, looking at the brunet questioningly.

"Well, I can pay for the surgery," Tenma announced suddenly making the two brothers' eyes widen.

"What?!" Kyousuke exclaimed.

"Yeah. I just have to ask my uncle. He has everything that belongs to me right now. Since I'm not yet an adult," he continued, leaving both male's silent.

Seeing how the two were speechless, he said: "Well, you don't have to answer immediately. Take your time."

Before he could stand up, Yuuichi stopped him and blinked away a few tears, looking at him with gratitude: "Thank you so much, Tenma."

He looked at Kyousuke but the boy was looking away, probably because he didn't want them to see his almost tear-filled face. At that, Tenma couldn't help a small smile. He was happy Kyousuke would be able to play soccer with his brother again. He was happy that even though he was useless and cause of death to everybody around him, he still was able to help someone.

"There's no need for you to thank me Yuuichi-san. Consider it thanks for everything you've done in the past," Tenma said.

Kyousuke stood up, telling his brother he had to follow Tenma home. The three greeted each other as soon as Yuuichi returned to his room and went to the manor where Tenma lived.

As they were walking, a man walked past them, his whole demeanour was screaming 'I'm-insane'.

Tenma started shivering, remembering the aura of the man that had ruined his life.

One body fell.

And another.

Another again.

This procedure continued until there were 10 bodies of young children, just seven or eight years old.

The man soon got closer to the shivering brunet standing in the middle, pulled him up by his neck and whispered: "I will take everything you love and rip it to shreds. Just like you did." The man smirked as he looked at the boy thrashing, trying to free himself from his grip.

He would certainly take pleasure in killing him.

To be continued...

Cliff hanger...

Dear little readers,

If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me. And yet survive this cliff hanger in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to this story. (Please, tell me you recognise this.)

I know, the chapter is shorter than normal and the and the cliff hanger was cruel of me but you know what, I did it intentionally because I want to know what you think will happen now.

I am slowly revealing information on Tenma's problems (trust me, they are a lot) cause I do not want a fast-paced story and I want to involve the readers. So review. Constructive criticism is much appreciated (flames will be laughed at).

And don't worry, the next chapter will be longer though this is not the first cliff hanger I will leave.

Muhahahaha...

Yours truly

Eztr

Don't forget to review and follow. Flames are allowed only if they are beneficial and adequate for the story otherwise, they will be ignored and I won't even take my time to answer.