Chapter Sixty Eight: Men Of Action

Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

Song Playing: No Church in the Wild

The Confrontation Arc 3/3

Full Title Quote from Princess Bride: "We are men of action. Lies do not become us."

Theme 70: Alone

If there was one thing that she hated more than anything it was being kept in the dark about something. And Mamori Anezaki was definitely being kept in the dark about something.

Now she didn't know what that something was. She didn't know how many other people were involved. She didn't know what was wrong or how she was a part of it. In fact what she didn't know was a whole spectrum of information. What she did know, however, were two unwavering undeniable facts. One: she did not like it. Two: Hiruma was at the beginning, middle, and end of it.

She had held her tongue for a full week. Initially because she thought she was being paranoid. When it became apparent to her that her paranoia was justified because something was actually wrong she continued to not say anything because she assumed that Hiruma had whatever it was under control and would notify her if he needed something/ once it was over. Now it was obvious whatever was wrong was very, very wrong and not under control at all. It was so bad that she had started noticing visible signs of worry on the Saikyoudai captain's normally confident personality. If he was worrying then it was probably time for everyone else to start panicking.

At any rate they were overdue for a confrontation.

And Mamori Anezaki was a firm believer that there was not better time than the present for a confrontation.

"What's wrong?" She stood in front of him: arms crossed and feet planted firmly on the ground. She waited until he looked up from his computer screen before adding, "What aren't you telling me?"

He popped his gum. "I made the team run the Highway thru Hell course you banned while you were at your council meeting: the offensive line failed, the specialty teams were miserable but made it, and we need new defensemen to replace the ones that didn't come back."

She was almost afraid to ask, "What do you mean they didn't come back?"

"I mean time was up and when I went back thru the course they weren't there and no one has seen them since." He shrugged and went back to typing away as if he hadn't just told her he couldn't find several members of their defensive line. There was a reason she had put her foot down and banned that particular course. It was ridiculously dangerous, even by Devilbat standards.

"You mean you lost them?!"

He didn't even spare her a side glance. "If that's what you want to call it."

"What- I-" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "That meeting was three days ago!"

"Which is why we need to replace them." She felt the hairs on the back of her neck bristle at the patronizing tone of his voice. "If they haven't found their way back by now we can't count on them being back in time for the game next week."

Her mouth was open and she had an absolutely scathing lecture all rearing and ready to go when the realization of what he was doing hit her. The jerk was trying to distract her from her initial purpose. The sad thing was he had almost succeeded. She didn't know what it was about him but he always knew just what buttons to push to get her ready for a fight. But this particular argument would have to wait until later. "You're trying to distract me."

"It was working up until now."

"Well it's not anymore." He was going to be the death of her. If she didn't kill him for giving her the run around first that is. "Now I want to know what's going on and I want to know now."

For a second it looked like he was going to deny that there was anything going on but he obviously decided that she wasn't going to let this one go. However instead of giving her explanations he did the next worst thing he could have done besides denying it. He went back to staring at his screen, "No."

"No what?" She felt a twitch begin to form in her eye.

"No I'm not going to tell you." His tone was amused and Mamori could feel the threads of her patience slip away with the smirk that was making its way on his smug face. It was in that moment that she realized this wasn't going to end nicely.

Turns out she was right. For a while he kept up the joke as her tolerance level steadily dropped until it finally ran out and the lid on her frustrations finally bubbled over. This is when things got real ugly real fast. She doesn't remember all of what she says next but she does know that at some point she crossed a line. She said something that she knew was below the belt and that's when Hiruma started getting tenser and meaner with his comments.

"Just tell me what's going on!" The sound of her hands hitting the table rings in his ears.

It is in this moment that the unthinkable happened. For the first time in his life Hiruma's mouth ran off before his mind could come up with a proper response. "It's none of your damn business so why don't you just leave!"

It's the worst thing he can possibly say and he regrets it the moment the words leave his lips but it's too late to take them back now. Instead he watches the change that over takes his ever loyal manager's features. He watches as she straightens herself to her full height, as her eyes become hard in a way he has never seen, as her mouth takes on a tight frown. He finds that these are not changes that he approves of.

The silence that follows threatens to swallow the room along with him.

When Mamori finally did speak it was in a tight even voice that grates down his spine like nails on a chalkboard. "Fine."

And that is all she says as she walks out the door like she's not coming back.

It isn't until the sound of her footsteps completely fades from his hearing that he allows his head to drop into his hand and let out a shaky breath. It's not fine. Nothing is fine and he knows it. With a sigh he picks up his phone and dials.

XxX

Leaving the club's headquarters does not improve Mamori's mood. In fact it makes it worse. Because, at the end of it all, she's still just as much in the dark about what the hell is actually going on as she has been the last week. It also isn't helping matters that she still has that creepy feeling of being followed. What she wants to do is yell very ugly and hurtful things at whoever is following her. But she retrains herself for two reasons. The first is that the person watching her is more likely than not some poor sap that is currently under Hiruma's thumb and really doesn't deserve to be yelled at. The second screaming at no one is a sure fire way to have everyone thinking she's lost her mind.

Instead she storms thru the campus. It takes almost an hour of alternating cutting through overcrowded public areas and rarely used obscure hallways but eventually the feeling of being followed stops. With a great sigh of relief she sits herself in a deserted classroom and allows herself to just breath.

She sits there by herself for another half hour before she decides that she's calmed down enough to go home. As she makes her way out of the mostly deserted building she comes to the sad conclusion that it'll probably be a while before she has any idea on what is going on. After all if it had Hiruma riled up to snap at her like that then things were much worse than she initially thought. Still, at this point the best course of action was to keep her guard up and be extra vigilant.

"Now, isn't this a pleasant surprise."

Her body's reaction to that voice is instantaneous. Everything inside of her turns to ice, her mind goes absolutely blank in a moment of genuine panic, and she finds that absolutely none of her want to move. Normally her flight or fight response demands that she stand up and take a stand. To protect those closest to her and if she was going down then she was going down swinging. But alone with that voice her fight response short circuits and her flight is no where to be found. Which leaves her in the horrible vulnerable spot of being out in the open and unable to move. Not to run. Not to fight. Not even to turn her head to confirm who the hairs standing up on the back of her neck knew was there.

Turns out she didn't have to.

A familiar pair of sunglasses framed by infamous dreadlocks made their way into her line of vision. Agon's smile was all teeth. "Well hello gorgeous. Fancy meeting you here."

Even after all this time Mamori can't quite put her finger on what it is about Kongo Agon that unnerves her so. She's thought about it and is no closer to figuring it out that she was at the beginning. It's both everything and nothing. All she know for sure is that the everything and nothing that makes up Agon paralyzes her with fear whenever they are alone, no matter how brief that time may be.

Fortunately their only interaction is at practice and they are never alone there. Thus while she always felt unnerved in his presence she was also always secure in the knowledge that if things were to go wrong that Hiruma and Cerberus were always nearby.

Only right here right now there was no one else. Not even a passing stranger. Just him and her.

'This-' She thought over the thundering of her own heartbeat. '-is bad.'

Then she felt his arm snake about her shoulders and her feet stumbled forward as he began guiding her to the more secluded part of campus. "I was just thinking I could use your help on a project I'm working on. You don't mind do you?"

'This is very very bad.'

She opened her mouth to say something, anything when a welcomed familiar voice pierced the quiet campus. Mamori couldn't bring herself to fully relax but she felt her heart rate slow down just a little and the panic attack she had been building start to ebb away.

"Fucking Dreads."

She was going to be okay.

XxX

A grin threatened to break out across Agon's features. Oh this was just too perfect. The spikey haired trash heap was going to play hero. How absolutely adorable. He made sure to tighten his hold on the girl before turning around, intent on savoring the look of unrestrained fury that was sure to be dancing across the Devil's face.

Only to have any joy he had been anticipating drop down into the very pit of his stomach boil in his rage only to cool and harden into a cold stone of hate. The thrill he had felt initially at having won was extinguished. His fingers dug into the Anezaki girl's shoulder hard enough that he felt her wince against him.

No. Fucking. Way.

The blonde bastard was standing there but there was no fury on his features. There wasn't even a smug smirk saying he had an ace up his sleeve. If anything his face was pinched, worry lines creased his forehead. He was so tense that Agon was willing to bet the asshole could shit a diamond. Unfortunately he couldn't take any pleasure in this as his eyes drifted to the real reason the little son of a bitch looked like he was about to pass a stone.

Rikiya Gao: towering over absolutely everything like a fucking vengeful god.

Over the sound of his own thundering heart rate and the blood rushing thru his veins only one thought kept making itself know, 'That little piece of shit cheated.'

It wasn't that he was scared of Gao, monster terror of a man that he was. It wasn't even that they were friends. They just... were. They got each other, knew how the other thought and more or less left each other alone. Somehow thru the games and practices and silent sit downs together they had become the closest thing either of them really had to a friend. An equal which, as far as Agon was concerned, was a hell of a lot better than what everyone else had.

They had reached a mutual understanding of one another and were the better for it.

It looked like they were going to reach a different kind of understanding right now.

As Goa strode over to where they stood, Mamori willed her legs to move. At this point any movement would have worked: running, kicking, giving out. Anything but the debilitating leg lock she was currently suffering from. On the whole she felt that she was actually a pretty understanding and mature individual. She was able to handle tense situations with grace and authority. However there wasn't enough yen or creampuffs in Japan to convince her that being trapped between these two powerhouses was a good place to be.

Just when she thought her heart was going to drum itself right out her chest she found herself moving. Suddenly she was no longer in the bruising grip of the more volatile Kongo twin. Instead she found herself being lead steadily across the field by a warm sturdy arm across her shoulders. All she wanted was to go home but her pesky responsible nature nagged that those two really shouldn't be left to their own devices. Especially considering the amount of tension and aggression that was present. However when she started to turn around Hiruma tugged her in closer and picked up the pace.

He didn't release her until they were seated on the train well on their way back home.

Once they took their seats Hiruma removed his arm from her shoulders and sat himself down next to her. Closer than he normally sat but still with plenty of space between them. Mamori found herself missing the warm familiar weight but was grateful for the space. She had enough of being manhandled for one day.

Looking down at her hands she was surprised to find that they had started trembling. Quickly she shoved them in her pockets. It seemed that she was more shaken up than she initially thought. She really didn't want to think about what might have happened if Hiruma hadn't shown up with Goa in tow. The shudder that overtook her was all the warning she needed not to continue that unpleasant train of thought.

"Thank you. I-" She wanted to say more but the words were lodged in her throat, refusing to come out. "Just thank you."

He didn't say anything but he did shift over until their knees were pressed against one another and she knew what he was really saying was, 'Any time.'