Hey, everyone! I'm back again! Fast update, huh… (compared to Snowy Dreams) (feels ashamed) Anyway… Let's continue with the story! I don't own Inazuma Eleven! I only own my plot, Charles, Kate, Sandy and my retarded imagination. I had a hard time thinking how I should describe Fubuki's wolf-ish behaviors. I also found it slightly difficult to express how Fubuki thought. But it was fun. XD I love challenges!
I had Ice Road (Fubuki's character song) on loop when I was writing this (and spent more than half of the time crying from the song). It took me several days to complete this chapter. I'd gone on Gospel Camp for Wednesday and Thursday (14th and 15th of December) and I didn't have the chance to get my hands on my laptop. But I tried writing a bit of Snowy Dreams at night with my other friends (who are also crazy about fanfiction). But my imagination and choice of words totally abandoned me and I was reduced to eating M&Ms and I got high from the chocolate for the rest of the night until I managed to fall asleep at 12:30 pm (which is extremely late for my standards).
Right. Back to the story. Author's rant finished. Let's start reading and please excuse my long-winded chapter (this is actually slightly shorter than Day 1).
Fubuki woke in Gouenji's room the next morning. He got up from the floor and yawned, stretching out his cramped limbs. Sleeping on the floor wasn't uncomfortable, but something softer wouldn't have caused the muscle aches. He then realized that his bear wound from yesterday was completely healed. There was no trace of the seven-inch cut. Just sleek pale grey fur. Wolf DNA, the super substance that worked miracles on supposedly normal people, huh…
Fubuki raised his head to peek at Gouenji, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, one arm over his forehead. His fur tingled as he thought of last night.
Gouenji had, blushing lightly, asked Fubuki to stay in his room for the night. Fubuki, glad to have accompaniment, had agreed immediately. The two had talked about their respective days: Gouenji about soccer and training, Fubuki about his first day as a werewolf/ abnormal wolf. Fubuki didn't tell Gouenji about what Charles told him about changing back, though. He didn't want to force anyone into loving him. He guessed that it would be fine waiting for a while. He was a bit young, too.
Flashback
"Charles seem nice," Gouenji said. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, beside Fubuki, having just finished listening to Fubuki's story.
"He is. Kate and Sandy were too. They explained stuff to me. If it weren't for them, I'd have thought that I'll have to stay stuck as a wolf forever, with no soccer, no school, no ice skating," Fubuki replied.
"So. How are you going to change back?"
"Uh…" Fubuki considered telling Gouenji the truth, but he went against that anyways. "They say you have to relax and let it go slowly. It'll happen soon enough."
"Make sure you change back in time for the match against Unicorn," Gouenji said.
"Un."
"And you should clean your paws before coming in. Coach's gonna flip." His tone was serious, but his eyes were light and joking. It was rare to see Gouenji's playful side.
"Un," Fubuki rested his head on Gouenji's right knee. He didn't know why he did this, but it felt right.
Gouenji smiled gently, placing a hand on top of his head, so he squashed his ears flat. "We need to sleep. Are you sure you're okay on the floor?"
Fubuki nodded and curled up on the woody-smelling floorboards. He closed his eyes. From far away, he heard a howl. Probably Sandy. Smiling inwardly, he fell into a deep sleep.
Flashback Ends
Fubuki craned his neck to check the clock on Gouenji's bedside table. 6:00am. Kudou usually had them up at 6:30am. Fubuki had always been an early riser. Now he had half an hour to kill before Kudou has the managers march up to their rooms and yell at them to get up.
He leapt up the chair at the desk, careful not to make any noise. Here, he had a good view of the window, and the world outside. The sun was slowly, steadily floating up the horizon, lighting up the navy sky with its beams. In Hokkaido, the sun would turn the snow bluish, then growing lighter and lighter in colour, until it was a dazzling white, glistening in the cold sun.
From Gouenji's window, he could have a perfect view of the soccer field outside. Oh, how he longed to kick the ball and run across the field – as a human. Be patient and don't force anyone into anything. Enjoy being a wolf for the time being, he told himself firmly. You've always wanted to be one, haven't you?
Fubuki's gaze drifted from the window to Gouenji's desk, where a picture of Gouenji and Yuuka stood on the desk in a photo frame. There was another photo on the desk. It was Fubuki. It the same as the one on his passport's. Human, wearing Hakuren's school uniform, smiling slightly at the camera.
Something else caught his eye. It was a photo of a normal, full-grown wolf, printed from the internet. It was dark grey and its flashing amber gaze was proud. Beside the Internet photo, was a newly printed photo. Fubuki could tell by the fresh smell. It was a very, very familiar werewolf. As Fubuki studied it, he saw that it was himself standing in the sunset. Haruna must have taken a photo of him and gave it to Gouenji. He began to compare the differences of him and the normal wolf. First of all. He was larger in size; his legs were longer than the wolf's and his tail flowed out behind him slightly, even he was standing still, unlike the wolf's straight tail, which hung downwards subtly. There was something more feral in the wolf's stare, but Fubuki's was milder, although it was slightly animalistic. His eyes were relatively larger than the wolf's, and there was a shadow of human in his features, while the wolf was completely wild, untamed.
A stack of papers of information on wolves sat next to the photos.
Wow. Gouenji was doing research on him.
Fubuki got back onto the ground and slunk under the desk, losing himself in his thoughts. If Atsuya were still alive, would he be like him too? From which parent had his wolf DNA come from? How long would it take him to transform back completely?
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, then Aki stepped into Gouenji's room, patting him gently on the arm. "Time to wake up, Gouenji-kun."
"A couple more minutes, please, Aki," Gouenji mumbled, struggling to open his eyes.
"Sure, take your time" Aki smiled. "Oh hey, Fubuki-kun," she patted him on the head before heading out again.
Fubuki went over to the bed. He poked Gouenji lightly in the ribs with his muzzle. "Wakey wakey," he murmured.
Gouenji sat up, running a hand through his messy hair, finally forcing his eyes open. "Morning," he said. "How are you feeling?"
"Slightly more human," Fubuki tried to smile. He only succeeded in smiling doggedly, with his tongue out and corners of his mouth hitched up.
Gouenji chuckled, and smiled a heart-melting smile at him. "You never fail to cheer me up, Fubuki," he said, opening the door and going out to the bathroom. Fubuki went out with him but trotted down the stairs to go outside instead, a pleasant tingle in his paws from Gouenji's warm smile.
Fuyuka greeted him and opened the door for him.
Fubuki went to the forest again. It felt more natural for him to be there. Guessed that he was still wolfish. He could get his own food here. Like heck he was going to eat dog biscuits again.
There was a rustle of ferns from behind him.
A blur of dark brown shot out from under the bush and onto him, bowling him over. Snarling, Fubuki managed to throw his attacker off. He swung to face the offender, immediately putting up a fighting stance. However, his expression softened at once. "Sandy?"
"Fubuki-samaaaaaa!" Sandy howled, jumping onto him again. "I was waiting for you!"
"Oi! S-stop it!" Fubuki gasped, trying to push her away gently without hurting her.
"Aw, there's no need to be shy," Sandy crooned.
"SANDY!" Another bark sounded.
Kate came stalking out from behind another bush. "You're suffocating Fubuki."
"Woops. Sowie~" Sandy leapt off him. "I'm sooooo sorry that I almost killed you, Fubuki-samaaaaaaaa… Do you know how handsome you are? I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…"
"I'm just coming over to hunt. I hope you don't mind," Fubuki said immediately.
"Sure, it's fine," Charles came out from behind a tree. "Hey there again."
"Hi. Thanks."
"No problem, man. Sandy… he's too young for you…" Charles prodded Sandy with his tail.
"I knowwww, but still…"
Kate nudged Fubuki. "Don't worry. She just admires the way you play. And your handsomeness."
Fubuki blinked. "Huh?" Now he was confused.
Kate coughed wolfishly. "Just in case you were uh… thinking wrongly…"
Flustered, Fubuki coughed too. "No no no no no… I like someone else already… really…"
Kate had a suggestive tone in her voice. "Good for you~ You two should hurry up," she said slyly. "Who's the lucky girl?"
"G-girl?" Fubuki choked out before he realized his mistake. Shoot.
"You like a guy?" Kate pressed on. "Who's the lucky guy, then? Is it Gouenji? I ship you two together, you know?"
"Uh… I'm hungry. I'm going hunting," Fubuki said hastily. "Bye, Charles. Bye Kate. Bye Sandy."
With that, he fled from the pack.
As he dug his claws into the soil, urging himself faster, he could still hear Kate howling, "YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION FUBUKI SHIROU!"
Finally stopping at an unfamiliar part of the forest, Fubuki prowled the undergrowth for weak and old animals.
He'd found an old squirrel, but his soft spot for squirrels prevented him from preying upon it.
He's soon walked over to a river.
Maybe he could try his luck at the river.
The clear water flowed along the channel slowly, lapping at the edges gently. The comforting sound of soft-flowing water reached Fubuki's ears.
Fubuki stared down to the river. He could see his reflection in those untainted waters. Hang on. Since when did his wolf eyes have those long, human lashes? Capable of showing perfectly human emotions? Was he continuing to turn back?
Deciding not to dwell on that, Fubuki scanned the waters for any sign of fish.
Once in a while, the water would shimmer slightly from silver scales. Fubuki watched for the telltale sign of fish.
The water rippled.
Silver flashed.
Fubuki swiped out his paw.
The fish landed on shore near the water, wriggling.
Just as Fubuki made to do the killing blow, the fish slid back into the water. He hesitated too much.
He needed to be firmer in his decision-making. Like Atsuya, who barged into everything without second thought. He should be firm and thoughtful at the same time. Yep. He should.
Kudou always told him he hesitated too much.
Now this was a good chance to push the hesitating bit in away.
More silver flashed in the water.
He swiped out his paw once again.
The fish landed on shore, wriggling.
Fubuki dealt with the killing blow immediately.
He'd successfully caught his second prey.
He soon finished his meal and continued to explore the unfamiliar part of the forest.
OoOoOoOoO
When he returned to the lodge, everyone was having lunch. Just like yesterday. How good was his timing?
"Good timing, Fubuki-kun," Hiroto said. He was sitting at the same table as Gouenji and Someoka. Strange. They usually didn't sit like that. (A/N: Suitors of Fubuki Trio LOL)
"Your eyes look different," Gouenji said, tiling his head with a finger and staring at him closely. Their noses were almost touching. They were so close…
"You look cool like this, ya know? Someoka said, breaking the moment with his deep harsh voice.
"Thanks," Fubuki said, managing to keep the disappointment from his tone.
"Do you want anything, Fubuki-kun?" Fuyuka asked.
"No thanks. I ate already," he replied, settling under the table next to Gouenji's feet once again.
OoOoOoOoO
After lunch, Fubuki went out to the forest again. He found a pond and spent the next two hours swimming.
Being a wolf could sure be boring.
There wasn't anything in particular to do.
There wasn't even anything he could do!
He couldn't play soccer, he couldn't snowboard… suddenly, homework seemed like an extremely appealing idea. Fubuki never hated school, but he despised what came after each school day. Homework. It was boring, annoying and time-consuming. It prevented him from having longer soccer practice periods, from having more time to do his snow sports, from spending more time with his friends. But now homework was like entertainment, relieve of his boredom. He wished he had something to do. He wished he could so something so he wouldn't be so useless, so he wouldn't be a nuisance to the team. He wished that he could spend more time with Gouenji, just to run beside him on the field as a human, or just to play a round of Inazuma Strikers together.
You think too much, Shirou, Shirou could imagine Atsuya's snide comment. You've been head over heels for Gouenji for ages but you still don't have to guts to confess… Just confront him or something once you have the chance. Don't make me push you towards him so you two would kiss "accidentally".
Fubuki face-palmed mentally. Yes. Atsuya could be annoying sometimes, but he did have good advice occasionally. But as Midorikawa would have said, some things were easier said than done.
He hauled himself from the pond and shook the water from his fur, suddenly realizing that he had lost the urge to bark or howl.
He shook his head to clear away the strange thoughts, and began his way back.
As he raced through the maze of trees, barely keeping track of where he was going, only by his previous trail of scent. He ran with the wind, for few times in his life, he actually enjoyed running on soil. Back in Hokkaido, moving across the snow on his ice skates would seem that he became the wind, sharpening his senses, everything a blur of white around him, sliding forwards on the smooth ice with uncontrollably high speed, moving forwards by merely leaning forwards and pushing the ice with a foot. But this was different. He was on dry, warm ground, claws digging into the soil under his paws, preventing him from slipping, going faster than he ever had before, trees turning into blobs of brown and green. He now felt that he had truly become the wind, running along the flow of air. Suddenly, it occurred to him that he and Kazemaru could work on something together. They could try and combine their speed. He wondered vaguely what kind of technique would be born. When he had managed to change back, they should try something together.
OoOoOoOoO
Fubuki ran all the way back to the edge of the forest. Unable to stop, he half-raced the way back to the soccer field, where the others were having a water break.
"Hey Fubuki-kun!" Hiroto waved at him before gulping water from his bottle.
"Everyone!" Haruna said, clapping her hands. "We have post from Japan!"
"Post!" Endou said excitedly. "I wonder how Handa and the others are doing!"
"Well, here's the answer," Aki said, handing him a letter. The address was written in Handa's handwriting.
The members from Raimon crowded around Endou to read the message from their teammates in Tokyo.
Fubuki sat down next to the bench, quietly listening to the conversations around him.
Hiroto had received a letter from Midorikawa, along with photos of his friends in Sun Garden and a photo of his adoptive father in prison, making a v-sign with his fingers from behind the cell bars, a wide smile on his round face. Hiroto seemed that he didn't know if he should smile at his father's optimism or cry from missing him. Fubuki could tell by the slight twitching of his mouth and his irregular breathing.
"You have mail too, Fubuki-kun," Fuyuka said, smiling at him as she dropped a letter between his front paws.
With slight difficulty, Fubuki slit the envelope open with a claw and carefully tipped out the contents. It was a letter with a photo of all his friends at Hakuren grinning and giving thumb-ups at the camera. He suddenly realized how much he missed his friends. Choking back an emotional lump in his throat, he unfolded the sheet of paper that was covered with Konko's handwriting. It said:
Dearest Fubuki-kun,
How are you doing in Lincott Island? Is the weather hot there? We all miss you so much! (And I miss your miso ramen. Kitami-kun's are no good at all.) Everything feels different without you. How's your leg? It just recovered, so don't push yourself too hard~ You haven't been overworking yourself, have you? It won't do you any good if you get hurt again so quickly.
Everything is doing great in Hakuren, aside from a severe blizzard that prevented us from soccer practice two days ago. Last week, I finally figured out a hissatsu of my own! It's called! I'll definitely show it to you when you get back!
Yesterday, Sorano-kun, Kitami-kun and me saw a wolf standing outside your house! He was very big and pretty. His fur was pinkish and his eyes were the same colour asyours. But the weird thing was, he sort of grinned at us and disappeared! He didn't walk away. He faded away like a ghost! When we went closer to look, there weren't even any paw marks in the snow! It was so weird! Now rumors are going on that your house is haunted with wolf ghosts. And I don't think so. ^_^ You have a nice house, really.
Everyone looks forward to your next match! Do your best and enjoy everything! We will always support you! No matter what obstacle is in front of you, we're sure that you can overcome it in time, because you have very good friends with you! Good luck! Remember what perfection means! Be like the wind!
Gotta go now. I need to help Sorano-kun with his English homework! I'll write to you again very soon! Bye!
Yours truly ,
Konko,
Hakuren Junior High Soccer team
Hakuren Junior High Year 2 Class B
P.S. Please reply as soon as possible! Everyone is eager to hear from you!
Fubuki swallowed, fighting down tears that threatened to escape. He didn't really notice how much his missed everyone back in Japan. He'd grown up with them, played with them since elementary school. They even spent weeks comforting him after his family's death. He was undeniably close with them.
He snuck a glance at everyone around him. Next to him, Endou was bawling his eyes out after reading his letter from his parents.
He guessed that it was okay to cry.
As Fubuki finally gave in and let his eyes cloud with tears, he faintly wondered if the pink wolf was his brother. The same coloured eyes, pink fur and signature grin… it was all way too obvious. So Atsuya inherited the wolf DNA too, huh.
After Atsuya died, Fubuki would occasionally see Atsuya standing in front of their house, grinning at him briefly, then disappearing into thin air, until he began to wear Atsuya's scarf, Atsuya stopped appearing, but he was in him, inside his head. What if… Atsuya's spirit roamed the earth once more? Do ghosts go through puberty too…?
His thoughts flew back to his friends in Hakuren. They'd done so much for him… and cared for him so much… Even with all he put them through… they still stayed with him all along… Fubuki sniffed quietly and rubbed his wet eyes with the backside of his paw. The tears soaked through his pale gray fur, darkening it with the moisture. He lowered his head so his chin touched the ground, trying not to let anyone see him cry.
There was a warm pressure on his back, and Gouenji's rich, comforting scent surrounded him. Fubuki lowered his head and let the human tears fall freely. Gouenji's warm hand rubbed gentle circles on his back. They didn't need to speak. The flame striker's mere presence comforted him.
Fubuki moved his head slightly so his head was on one of Gouenji's lap. His way of a silent thanks.
Gouenji's hand rested onto his head, stroking his pointed, furry ears. Fubuki looked up to see Gouenji's own eyes watering. A clear, salty-smelling drop of liquid rolled down a tanned cheek. Fubuki tilted up his face and licked the tear away.
A small smile broke out on Gouenji's face and he hugged Fubuki, face deep in his fur. "Thanks," he mumbled, pulling him closer, showing a rare emotional side. Fubuki could feel his eyelashes brush against his fur, his steady heartbeat slowly matching his own.
Unable to return the hug, Fubuki put his head on top of Gouenji's shoulder, nuzzling his hair with his nose.
And so the two stayed like that for the next fifteen minutes.
OoOoOoOoO
Dinner was rather quiet. Everyone was recovering from his or her letters from home and some of them were still clutching tissues. The two managers from Raimon (A/N Remember Natsumi was on investigation! XD) were the worst. They spent half of dinnertime crying their eyes out.
Fubuki and Gouenji, unable to stand the depressing atmosphere and Tsunami trying to cheer everyone up cracking bad jokes, left dinner midway to go to the beach for some peace and quiet together.
They sat on the powdery sand in silence, just watching the dark blue waves wash across the beach, leaving the sand soaking and glistening in the faint moonlight when they pulled back towards the ocean.
The scuttling of a crab reached Fubuki's sensitive ears. He jumped out of the way as a crab came crawling out from a hole from the sand underneath him.
He settled back down next to Gouenji when the crab left hurriedly, clicking its pincers and scuttling horizontally across the sand towards the water, letting the waves wash over it, soaking its shell, making it shine in the moonlight, soon disappearing into the ocean.
"I miss Yuuka," Gouenji said, his voice cracking.
Fubuki nodded. "I miss everyone in Hakuren."
There was an awkward pause when neither knew what to say.
Then Gouenji broke the silence. "Should we get back?"
"As you wish," Fubuki replied. "But I'm not going inside, unless Tsunami-kun stops his jokes."
Gouenji gave a small chuckle. "Yeah."
To be continued
Uwaaaaaah extremely lazy ending… Retarded Goufubu scene… Now I'm the Retarded Bookworm (as Maaya Zulaikha have said on Facebook) LOL okay whatever people. Just remeber to review I don't mind whether you're here to flame me to cinders or what I just want you guys to tell me what you think and what I can do to improve so you can have a more enjoyable reading experience! PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU!
Okay. Retarded Bookworm's rant over.
Now press the review button below. Thankies~ ^_^