A/N: Ohayo~ minna-san! Thank you for those who set my story into their favorites and story alerts, but the happiest among them was putting me in their list of favourite authors~ arigato…even if I'm not really that talented in writing, well, I don't have much to say on this chapter, I don't own Inazuma Eleven, hope we all understand that disclaimer :) Enjoy or not!
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The van had finally arrived at the park, all the orphans opened the side doors and jumped out of their seats, they were all excited because every Sunday was the only time they had loads of fun, unlike back at the Sun Garden was just a small playground, where they could play soccer. But out at the park, they had more than enough space to play their soccer and chasing games. Plus, it even had a playground (a bigger one) with more playtime in it, like higher slides, monkey bars, teeter-totters, sandboxes and a lot more.
"Fuusuke-chan, Come on! Let's play hide-and-seek!" Haruya yelled, and as it resonated around the park, the others wanted to join too.
"Me too! Haruya-chan!" Atsuishi yelled.
"Oi, oi! Don't leave me Atsuishi-chan! Lemme join too!" the brunette Natsuhiko (Nepper) moaned, drawing closer to his best friend. Atsuishi smiled,
"Of course, Natsuhiko-kun…" it made the brunette blush when his best friend winked at him.
When almost everyone got to play in the game, Fuusuke childishly tagged the red-haired boy,
"Nyaa~ Fuusuke-chan…why?" Haruya moaned, he knew very well that he was one sneakiest kid in the Sun Garden, when it comes to hide-and-seek, usually, he would be the last found player in the game.
"You're too good at hide-and-seek; give us all a chance Haruya-chan!" Fuusuke grinned, well, at least the older boy received a good compliment right?
"Okay… I'll start from 20…19…18…" Haruya placed his arm on a tree, put his head on it and started counting. The giggling of the children from the Sun Garden was the only thing Haruya could hear, but it started fading when he reached the number ten.
-o-o-o-
Fuusuke came running towards another bench in the park, he peeked under, this was a great hiding spot! A kid would naturally think, but it wasn't once he found Nepper hiding under it,
"Oi! Don't look at me! What if Haruya-chan sees me? Find another hiding spot, Fuusuke-chan!" Nepper lowered his head even more, hoping the red-haired boy didn't see him.
The snow-haired boy just shrugged it off and ran somewhere else. He was hopeless then, finding other hiding spots to run into, so the teal-eyed boy sighed, sitting next to a tree, while he was blankly staring at the grass, he closed his eyes feeling really relaxed. Who cares if Haruya finds him? It's just a game anyways… he thought. He felt something drop on his arm, it was wet,
"Is it raining?" he softly questioned to himself, he saw another droplet land on his arm again, and it seemed to be continuous, he snapped his head up, only to find out that those droplets of water…wasn't rain, but rather a purple-haired girl sitting on top of the tree's thick branch, crying silently. Fuusuke wanted to call out her name, but he thought he might scare the poor and helpless looking little girl, but he wanted to know why she was crying,
"Oi, Miki-chan," Fuusuke started out shyly, but managed to cope up, "Are…are you alright?" he asked, the purple-haired girl shot up with tears running down her cheeks, someone had caught her crying… she simply ignored the snow-haired boy, she brought her legs to her chest and placed her head on her knees.
Fuusuke frowned, other than being bullied and belittled by other people, he too despised being ignored. He pulled himself up the tree and climbed on it, using his strong little legs to push himself up.
"M…Miki-chan…" Fuusuke panted as he reached the top, Miki was startled when she heard Fuusuke's voice beside her, she saw him sweating a bit and panting tiresomely. She didn't think Fuusuke was that determined to get other people's attention.
Fuusuke sat on the nearest branch next to Miki, while the girl stared at him in awe. He placed a comforting arm on her back and rubbed it,
"Why are you crying…?" the curious boy asked, Miki didn't want to talk, she just wanted some alone time. But Fuusuke interrupted it, so what else should she look up to?
The purple-haired girl didn't say a word; she just took her red sleeve and wiped some tears away.
"Miki-chan… it's alright to lose your loved ones… I lost mine too, I was really sad… but I had nothing else to do about it anymore. Look on the brighter side, Miki-chan. You have another family, and it's all around you!" Fuusuke grinned at the purple-haired girl. Miki's auburn eyes widened, weakly smiling at the snow-haired boy. He was right, she didn't only loose a family, she also found another one right now, who knows… it might be better than her last.
'"T-Thank you…" Miki looked up, tried remembering if he introduced himself,
"It's Suzuno Fuusuke, but you can call me Fuusuke-chan…" said the snow-haired boy.
"Thank you… Fuusuke-chan." Miki bowed her head.
The teal-eyed boy pushed himself next to where he previously went up,
"Miki-chan… we're playing hide-and seek, come on, let's go down now." Fuusuke grabbed her arm lightly, but Miki shook her head, Fuusuke raised a brow, "Why not?" he queried. The brown-eyed girl raised her head up, looking at the empty sky filled with nothing but clouds,
"Hitomiko nee-san said… that my parents are in heaven now, and heaven is above the skies right? I want to stay above the ground, because the higher I am, I feel much closer to my parents…" the purple-haired girl averted her head from the skies and looked at Fuusuke with a fake smile on her face; she was actually at the verge of crying.
The two were oblivious about the fact that they were holding hands, and of course for kids like them, they were a little too naïve about love.
Fuusuke thought that was really sweet, even if he wasn't sure about the fact that heaven is right above them. But he didn't mind, as long as the point of the conversation was about her love for her parents.
"Fuusuke-chan…" the girl called, "if Kami-sama really is listening to our prayers, why doesn't he respond back?" the purple-haired girl wondered. Fuusuke giggled,
"He is, silly, he just doesn't respond that way," Fuusuke meant verbally, "but he responds to your needs through a blessing or miracle… without speaking." Fuusuke smiled at Miki.
"Is what he'd done to me right now… a blessing?" Miki asked inquisitively, Fuusuke didn't really know how to respond to that question. But he gave it a shot.
"Maybe… it's just part of his plans. Everyone has problems Miki-chan, and even worse than mine and yours…you never know, Kami-sama might offer you a better life with these people around you." Fuusuke spoke honestly as possible, hoping it wouldn't hurt the little girl's feelings, "And what about… surviving through that accident, Hitomiko nee-san told me," the teal-eyed boy didn't really know what accident it specifically was, "isn't it a blessing that you're still alive?" Fuusuke smiled at her. "See, Miki-chan? Just because something bad happened to you, doesn't mean you're outta blessings…" Fuusuke finished, thank god his guess did end well. It wasn't so bad, in fact, it was better than what he expected.
"Fuusuke-chan… you're a really, really, smart kid!" Miki complimented, but the word 'smart' would've been better if she'd used 'wise', well, they're children…they have a long way to go when it comes to vocabulary, and even knowledge.
"Thank you very much!" she tightly embraced the ice-cold boy in her arms, the teal-eyed boy was so proud of what he had just done to the girl; he couldn't help but smile to himself.
Suddenly, Miki slipped out of her seat letting out a screech as she fell,
"Miki-chan!" Fuusuke grabbed her wrist, but her sleeves made it a bit slick for the ice boy to hold on to.
"Fuusuke-chan! Fuusuke~" she screamed, looking at the ground, seeing how it will end if she falls, "Don't let go! Please Fuusuke-chan!" she tightened her grip around the little arm of Fuusuke,
"I'm…trying…" Fuusuke gritted through his teeth, despite the heaviness, he could also fall off because the branch was only how many centimetres thick…
Miki kept on screeching, and it even got louder when her other arm slipped out of Fuusuke's grip,
"FUUSUKE!" her tears gushed down her cheeks…her mother died, her father died, and now the gods were taking her?
"Miki! I-I can't hold on to you much longer…." Fuusuke's voice sounded like he was going crushed in between walls, "HELP! HELP!" Fuusuke yelled at the top of his voice. Hoping at least one would come to help them,
"Fuusuke! I'm s-sorry for getting you in this…" the purple-haired girl tensed her grasp around his arm, slipping a few more centimetres away from the teal-eyed boy.
-o-o-o-
The children in the Sun Garden heard their voices, and immediately took Hitomiko's hand to the echoing voices across the park, luckily, Hitomiko was just on time.
"Miki-chan! Fuusuke-chan!" Hitomiko ran towards the tree, she was a tall teen, so all she had to do was tiptoe. She took the sobbing Miki in her arms, then putting her down safely, then took Fuusuke as well. "How in the world did you two get up there?" Hitomiko raised her voice in worry, "Fuusuke-chan! Answer me!" Hitomiko held his arms, forgetting about Miki, she didn't look like a trouble maker at all.
"Nee-san…" the purple-haired girl called, "It was me… It was me…"she repeatedly said, which kind of scared Hitomiko and the orphans,
"Miki-chan… you can stop." Hitomiko ordered, but the regretful girl didn't stop, she was like a broken record, playing all over again, "Miki-chan! You can stop, I'm not angry I was just really worried…" Hitomiko said, but it didn't change anything,
"It was me! It was me!" Miki fell on her knees bowing, "Please don't blame Fuusuke-chan!" finally, she changed her words. "I'm a burden!" she yelled, "I don't deserve to be in the Sun Garden, please take me out of here! Punish me! I don't give you any good! Maybe that's the reason why my parents died! It's because of me! I'm bad luck!" Miki apologized for an accident that wasn't intentional. She didn't do anything wrong, why should she be so sorry?
"Miki-chan… you didn't do anything wrong…" Fuusuke narrowed his brows and wondered why she was acting so guilty about what happened. "It wasn't your fault Miki-chan, please don't leave the Sun Garden…!" Fuusuke ran to her, holding her two hands, pouting cutely. He didn't want her to leave, he'd just got him a new friend, and plus, it was a really sweet one. "Fuusuke followed Miki-chan on the tree…and I didn't push you and you didn't do anything...so it's no one's fault." Fuusuke smiled at Miki, awkwardly talking in second person. "Oh, Miki-chan! See? The gods blessed you; it's a miracle we're still breathing after that mere accident!" Fuusuke referring to their conversation moments ago. Miki uncontrollably smiled, the teal-eyed boy tried his best to let Miki feel very welcomed to the Sun Garden.
Miki hugged the snow-haired boy once again, 'He's so nice to me…' she cried on his shoulder,
"Oi, oi…don't cry after such blessing Miki-chan…don't be sad…" Fuusuke tapped the Miki's back.
"I'm not sad…I'm just…s-so happy…" she sniffed. Letting go of Fuusuke, Miki heard murmuring, and it was coming from An and Honoka (Bonitona). She swear she felt them look daggers at her, were they mad at her? Jealous of her? What did she do wrong?
"Sorry… Fuusuke-chan." She lowered her head.
"What are you so sorry about, Miki-chan?" Fuusuke asked. But Miki didn't respond anymore when she sensed the two girls from her side glared at her to death.
Walking past Fuusuke and Hitomiko, a red-haired boy suddenly ran towards her, he looked kind of angry,
"What did you do to Fuusuke-chan?" Haruya yelled at her, even if they haven't personally met and talked to each other,
"Haruya-chan… she didn't do anything, look at my body, no scars nor scratches!" Fuusuke giggled, and found Haruya at that moment a bit too over-protective, even if he didn't get a single hair out of place from the accident earlier.
Yes, Haruya was jealous, seeing the two of them… actually to his point of view, Miki hugging his best friend, he started boiling up at the little touch of his best friend. The one word to describe the tenacious redhead was:
The giggling snow-haired boy was oblivious about that.
Miki, because she was nothing to the conversation anymore, smirked at the two. Haruya caught her smirking… 'SMIRKING…not…SMILING INNOCENTLY…' Haruya thought. What was in her head? He really wanted to know, was she plotting something against them? The purple-haired girl didn't know the yellow orbs caught her lips curved into reckless smirk. But that smirk started to fade, then whoosh, completely gone.
'Her emotions changed so suddenly.' Haruya thought. 'But isn't that just normal? Damn, wish I knew how to read minds' he looked back again at the brown-eyed girl. 'Maybe she's got some kinda two-persona-switch '.
Miki turned around groggily walking back to the van, alone. 'Why does she have to go back there? Playtime isn't over yet.' Haruya found Miki quite mysterious, but still had a tinge of anger on her for hugging Fuusuke. He decided to break the silence.
He raised the soccer ball in the air, "Oi! Minna~ let's play sakka!" he childishly yelled while everyone started giggling, Haruya was a bit too awkward at times, and usually was the one to break the silence. Well, that's his happy side, it's better than the jerky side of his personality.
But deep in the redhead's thoughts, 'Miki…who are you? Why did you smirk a while ago? Are you someone bad or good?'
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Sorry guys if there are any mistakes… I'm only human (but I wish I was anime XD), and sorry for the long wait too, I had vacation on this deserted island (nah, just kidding it's a resort, but it was more of torture than enjoyment I had back there), had not much access to the internet. :) If any of the characters have anything you don't like, you could tell me through PM or reviewing. Reviews anyone?