Me: Boo! Here I am again. This time, it's Shindou's perspective. Just so you know, he's a human ;)

Kirino: No fair *pouts*

Me: Shush. Can you stop about that, please? You make me feel guilty.

Kirino: Good.

Kariya: Okay, what's going on here?

Me: Kirino is pissed because I'm writing a RanTaku fic with him as a merman.

Kariya: ... Kirino-senpai with Shindou-san? Pffthh! *starts laughing*

Kirino: *growls* Kariya!

Kariya: Come on, senpai, it's funny! *keeps on laughing*

Kirino: No, it's not.

Me: Kariya, stop laughing, you're mean. By the way, you're in the story too.

Kariya: *stops laughing* What?! Wait, what are you going to do with me?

Me: *innocent smile* nothing. If you behave, that is.

Kariya: Eh? O-of course. E-enjoy the story, minna! And Att-chan doesn't own Inazuma Eleven.

Shindou let his eyes wander over his surroundings. The coast was clear. He beckoned the four boys behind him and they crawled out of the bushes where they had been hiding. They were all wearing a grey cloth that made them nearly invisible in the dim forest.

Shindou looked each one of his juniors in the eye. Their faces showed nothing but doubt and nervousness. He didn't blame them, he felt just the same.

The five of them formed a small group within the army that their leader had gathered around him. The Leader was a strange man, but he showed to have potential to lead an army. The first thing that was off about the man? Well, nobody knew his name. He was always introduced as 'the Leader' and when you spoke directly with him, you had to address him as 'Leader-sama'.

The second thing was that the Leader seemed to believe in fairy tales. At least, that was how Shindou voiced it in his head. The mission that they had to fulfill right now was solid proof for that. The Leader claimed that there were other species, similar to humans, and that he could gain power from them. Shindou didn't know if the man was nuts or if there was something else going on, but he really didn't like it. Right this moment, he and his juniors were sneaking through the woods in order to find this secret cave in a cliff. They had to endanger their lives and climb down there, just because the Leader believed that there would be a hint for the location of a town for mermaids. Mermaids for crying out loud! Mermaids didn't exist, everyone knew that. Well, apparently, everyone except for the Leader. The man wanted to captivate one to take it's powers and use it for the upcoming war.

Shindou didn't believe at all that there would be secret 'mermaid' writings in the cave, but he didn't dare to disobey the Leader. The reason for that was that the Leader had a close group of minions around him that would punish every person who dared to utter a negative or doubtful word about the man. That was the same reason why no one dared to desert the army. The few that tried and failed got terrible punishments.

Shindou gritted his teeth when he thought about a good friend of him. It had been a good and eager boy, but he couldn't take more of the constant danger that surrounded them. So two months ago, during the night, after the moon had set and the entire world was covered in pitch black darkness, he had tried to escape.

Later that night, the boy entered the tent that he shared with Shindou. He tripped and fell on Shindou, causing the latter to awaken. Shindou was shocked, to say the least, when he saw his friend covered in terrible bruises and open wounds. He tried to clean them and he did his best to bandage the poor fellow up, but it was all in vain. As soon as the first daylight reached their tent, Shindou's friend died from his terrible injuries.

Shindou never left his side that night, reassuring the boy as much as he could. Strangely, the boy wasn't scared. He was happy. "Now it will all be over," he had smiled. "Now I will finally get rest, now the danger will stop. I will be safe." Those were the things he would say, the entire night. He kept repeating it as some sort of mantra and Shindou believed that the boy eventually forgot what the words meant. Shindou helped him as well as he could, but every time he gave the other something to drink, the boy would nearly choke and cough a lot, which obviously hurt an awful lot. After a few attempts, Shindou had stopped. Shortly before dawn, the other boy had opened his one eye once more (he took on a very hard blow on his right cheek and it was swollen, so he wasn't able to open his right eye). He looked at Shindou with that one eye and smiled a half-smile - revealing the dark holes where his white teeth used to be. Then, he told Shindou what had happened earlier that night.

"I wandered around the campsite and snuck past the guards. They had patrolled for almost three hours and they were already very sleepy, so that wasn't that hard. I got out and hid in the shadows of the forest, silently getting further and further away from this hell. When I was a few miles away, I relaxed a bit, because I thought that I had escaped. But suddenly, something grabbed my arm and everything got blurry. Just a few seconds later, I was in the Leader's tent. It was crazy, I don't know how I got here so fast, but I was there and he was too. He stood in front of me, calm as ever, and looked at me with his cold eyes. He said that he fetched me, that I was a coward for running off and that cowards didn't deserve to live. And then he started beating. He hit me and kicked me and scratched my skin with his nails. It was torture, absolute torture. I thought I would die immediately, but fortunately I didn't. When he was done, he tossed me outside his tent like a sack of potatoes. I managed to get up and reach you, thank goodness."

Shindou could still hear his friend's words inside his mind, he could still see the scene in great detail. After those words, the boy had grabbed Shindou's land forcefully. "Shindou," he had said. "Make sure that you are as safe as you can be, but more importantly, listen to your heart and mind. And leave. Find a good moment and get out of here, before he gets you too." Then, after one last shuddering breath, Shindou's friend had died.

It was funny that they didn't know each other very well. Shindou knew his name of course, and where he came from. But his hobbies? His family? His job before he joined the army? Shindou knew nothing about that.

His friend had told him to leave, but Shindou wasn't sure if he could. The Leader knew things about him, where he lived and who he held dear. If he ran, the Leader might punish the people close to him. And he also lost some of his courage after his friend's stories.

"Captain?" one of his juniors muttered. Shindou perked up at the naming of his rank and only then he noticed that a single tear ran down from his eyes. He quickly wiped it away and no one mentioned it although everyone saw it. These four boys had become close with their captain and leader, and they knew that he was very caring and sensitive. But this made them trust their captain even more, as they knew that he cared about their lives as well.

Shindou shook his head vigorously before he spoke to the others in a calm and clear tone. "Okay, we'll do it like the plan. I'll go first and take the bags while you wait behind the tree where the rope is attached to. As soon as I'm on the ledge, I'll tug the rope and then I'll go in further. Tenma, once I tug the rope, you can start climbing. Everyone, tug the rope when you're on the ledge as a sign for the next person to start, alright?"

"Hai," the four other boys said in synchronisation.

Shindou nodded, wished them good luck, took the rope, walked to the edge of the cliff and slowly climbed down. It was dangerous, since the rock was very slippery and steep, but he eventually managed to reach the ledge. He tugged the rope once and then went on into the dark hole. It was now even harder to maintain his balance as he couldn't see where he had to place his feet. He slipped away a few times, but his tight hold on the rope prevented him from falling. He was happy that he had put his sword and shield on his back, or else it would have terribly bothered him during the climb.

And then, after what seemed like an eternity, he reached the bottom. He sighed relieved and took a minute to relax his arms. But then he heard Tenma on the ledge and he hurried to light up one of the few torches that they had. He held it as high as he could to light the path for the other boy.

When Tenma had reached the ground as well, Shindou handed over the torch to him and lighted another one to take a look at his surroundings. The cave was neither really big, nor very small. There was a small lake, approximately sixteen feet in diameter, and the cave's walls were smooth and slippery. He sighed, it would be hard to get out of here again, even with the rope they had. Here and there were a few big rocks on the ground - some were even bigger than him.

When he had fully inspected the cave, he went back to the other boys. Tenma and Shinsuke were already standing there and Hikaru just reached the ground. If he listened closely, Shindou could hear Kariya on the ledge. Though he wasn't quite sure, because it could also be the waves that he heard. When the teal haired boy had joined them in the cave, Shindou lighted up one more torch and handed it to Hikaru.

"Is everyone alright?" The four boys nodded in response. "Great. Now, you all heard the Leader's orders. There should be a secret message around here."

"Captain, do you believe that it's real?" Shinsuke asked doubtfully. Shindou sent his junior an apologetic smile.

"I sure hope so. Let's not waste any more time. Tenma and Shinsuke, you take Tenma's torch and go look around those giant rocks, maybe they hold some clue. Hikaru, Kariya, you explore the left side of the cave. I'll check the area around the lake."

Everyone agreed and went to explore their part of the cave. Shindou walked over to the lake and put his hand in the water. He brought it to his mouth and tasted it, quickly spitting it out again when he realised that it was salty. Great, so they had to be careful with the amount of water they drank. He carefully inspected the walls, but he didn't see anything that could be a message.

"Captain?" Shindou turned around to see Kariya standing there. The boy pointed at the nearby wall. "Could that be it?" Shindou looked in the direction of his pointed finger, but saw nothing.

"What are you talking about, Kariya?"

"I saw it by coincidence. Here, give me the torch and take a few steps back." Shindou did as he said and turned around. Now he saw what Kariya meant. There was a strange glimmering in the wall that seemed to form strange signs. Shindou's heart sped up. Was this is? But then he noticed that it couldn't be a message, since the pattern consisted most out of vertical lines. When you took a closer look at it, you could see that it was caused by drops of water that had run down this walls for centuries.

He sighed. So this isn't a message from mermaids. He couldn't believe that he actually thought that. Hello, mermaids were something from a myth, remember? He rolled his eyes before he turned to Kariya again. The boy was still waiting for his judgement as a captain.

"I'm sorry, Kariya, but don't think that's it."

Then he got the feeling of being watched. Something was different, and it was absolutely not good. He turned around to find the source of his uneasyness. His eyes shot back to Kariya when he heard the younger boy scream in pain. He saw him laying on the ground, enlightened by the torch that had rolled a few feet away from him. Kariya despirately clutched onto his left leg, and Shindou could see why. The boy's left lower leg was pierced by a big arrow.

Aaaaand I'm just gonna stop it there. Okay, this turned out to be long - really long - and there doesn't even happen very much. Alright, about Shindou's friend? I didn't give him a name because I didn't think he was important enough for one :p. Okay, I split this chapter in two parts, cause I just kept on writing and writing and now this came out. I'm not really satisfied with it actually, but maybe I'll rewrite it later. It's just a bit hard do describe how Shindou feels, cause he's afraid of the Leader, but he thinks the man is crazy at the same time... So sorry if those parts are a bit crappy. And for some reason, I'm very tired, so my grammar and such is worse than usual, I think..

Please Read & Review :3 Wait, you already did the first one... Ah, who cares.

See you next time, folks.

Bye!

Kariya: Hold it right there!

Me: What?

Kariya: Why did I get shot by an arrow? I behaved!

Me: Actually, I'm kinda angry with you.

Kariya: Why?

Me: Have you ever heard your dub name? It's terrible!

Kariya: What? That's why I was shot?

Me: Yes. And now, goodbye! ^^