AN: review answers time!

SoccerGirl- Tsubasa's going to be slow for a lot of chapters, but he's getting there. He doesn't realize he's starting to have feelings for Sanae, but he's getting there bit by bit. also thank you!

yeah i dont own captain Tsubasa

Chapter 12: Letters and Messages

They closed the shop for the day. Her mom usually reserved the whole shop for her team for them to celebrate their victory. It's only open for the team, their family, and close friends her teammates wanted to invite. Naturally her boys were invited. It's not a party without them after all.

She was out of her jersey and into normal clothes consisting of a simple light blue shirt and jean capris. Her jersey needed to be cleaned after that match. It was covered in grass stains. She didn't mind cleaning them off. It was a sign that they played really hard and did everything they can to win.

And they did. They were going to Nationals.

She smiled as she saw everyone laugh and tease each other while eating the food her mom and the cooks prepared just for them. Her mom told them to pig out, to make up all those calories they burned. They were more than happy to oblige. Every match did leave them starving afterwards.

She chuckled as she saw Ayame pick on Izawa-kun this time, Chieko-senpai and Rinko-senpai joining in. Apparently Izawa-kun has a little crush on Rika-chan. The duo could only flush as her cousin and her senpai teased them more.

Huh, now that she thought about it, they did make a cute people. Hm, she wondered if she started the betting pool for them. She'll definitely put ¥200 yen to see them together.

Her eyes turned back to Ayame as she moved from Izawa-kun to Misaki-kun. Those two hit it off in the friendship department when Ayame suddenly talked to him in French. Ayame's grandmother from her mother's side was French Canadian who migrated to the United States. Ayame learned French from her because that's the only language her grandmother knew, along with a few English. So growing up, her parents can all switch from English, Japanese, and French in their household.

Ayame and Misaki-kun were probably speaking in French again since nobody was bothering them. But, she noticed that one smile Ayame wore whenever she was enjoying (like really enjoying not the sadistic enjoyment she showed a lot) something.

Ooh, it seems like her cousin has a crush. Must keep for further use in the future.

"Why aren't you out there celebrating?"

She blinked as she was interrupted from thinking of ways to blackmai- er, revelry and looked across towards the seat across from her. She was surprised when she saw him there.

"I figured that they could do the celebrating for me," she smiled as she shrugged. "I think the world can handle enough crazies."

He chuckled as they looked back towards their friends, who were now singing some kind of pop song like they were drunks.

"I see your point," he remarked. She only chuckled back.

There was a comfortable silence between. Their friends' laughter and chortles were the only sounds they could her, added by the adults' small talk a few tables away.

"Great job out there," he suddenly said. "I didn't tell you before. I figured you were already swamped by praise and congratulations back then. At least, right now when it sort of calmed down, you can hear it."

She turned to look at him and smiled. "Thanks," she said. "I- I appreciate it."

He smiled back and again her heart skipped a beat.

"You know that was a pretty awesome kick you did," he told her. "Any tips on how to make it?"

She gave him a weird look. "Is the Oozora Tsubasa asking for my advice?" she asked teasingly. "Wow, that's new. The world is full of surprises."

He made a little pout and crossed his arms. "I just wanna know how you did it," he whined. "I didn't mean anything by it."

She snorted and snickered under her breath. "You sound like your brother when you whine," she informed him.

"I do not!" he retorted, offended. "I don't sound like Daichi." And then he added as an afterthought. "And I don't whine."

She continued laughed again as he only stuck his tongue out at her like a child.

"Alright, alright," she finally managed to say after laughing. "Fine. You don't like Daichi." She turned towards him and leaned over the table. "You want to know how I made the kick?"

He leaned over the table, too close. Her first instinct was to move away, she wasn't used to that kind of closeness to him and her heart felt like it was about to burst from beating too fast.

But she forced herself to stay.

"Well," she started. "It's a secret!" She said as she moved away from him.

She busted out laughing when she saw the shocked look on his face.

"That was mean!" he whined again. "You made me all excited for nothing."

She calmed herself from laughing. "Like I'm going to tell you one of my techniques," she said as she stuck out her tongue. "Besides, you should know by now Tsubasa-kun. My cousin's Ayame. That should have warned you about what I could be."

"Fine," he grumbled. "You win this round. But, watch out for my revenge."

"I'll keep my eyes open," she answered happily.

There was another silence between them. She took a sip on the straw from her drink and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was still quite pleasing to the eye and she could stare at him fore-

"Why didn't you ever write?"

That caught off guard and she proceeded to choke on her drink. He turned to her and immediately panicked, asking her if she was alright –obviously not- and asked if she needed any help, but she waved it off and gulped down the nearby glass of water.

"I'm okay," she breathed out after drinking the water. She turned to him, who was still looking quite concerned, but she didn't mind it.

"Sorry, can you repeat that?" she asked, even though she heard him quite clearly.

"I said 'why didn't you write'," he repeated calmly. "But, you don't have to answer if you don't want to," he added. Then he scratched his cheek. "I was just curious, is all. I- I was looking forward to it I guess. The guys rarely mentioned you when they wrote, and yeah…"

She felt her heart skip a beat, and her breath hitch. She didn't expect him to bring this up of all things. She didn't expect to say he was looking forward to her letters.

But she has to answer something.

"I," she started as she turned away from him to look down to her lap, her hands clenched into fists. "I just thought that you didn't to be bothered with another letter. Everyone else was writing to you, and you would probably have been tired about hearing the same thing, except from my view."

They were quiet for moment, and then he said, "At least one letter would have been nice."

She knew he didn't it in any way to hurt her, but she couldn't help feeling the pang in her heart when she heard that.

"Oh," she mumbled. "Sorry. I- I guess I should have sent you some them." There's lots of them in her room, inside the last drawer of her desk. All of them were ready to be sent, but she was too much of an idiot to show them to him.

"But it's alright!" he tried to tell her. "We're here now, and it's no use wallowing in the past. Besides, it's more fun to talk face to face, right?"

She blinked the tears away from her eyes, trying not to show that she was about to cry. She looked towards him and smiled as cheerful as she could be.

"Right!" she agreed.

He stared at her for a moment, but returned her smile, albeit it wasn't as big as hers.

"So, anyway I got a text from Yayoi-chan and she told me that Misugi-kun is excited to face you again on the field," she said, trying to change the subject.

Good thing they were on the same boat.

"Really?" he replied. "That's awesome."

"Yup," she drawled. "Even Hyuuga-kun texted me back saying that you should be prepared to lose to him."

"Well, he can try," he answered smugly, but then a sour look came on his face. "How come you have his number anyway?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Well, duh. Who else was supposed to pick up Daichi when he's with his 'Kojiro-nii-chan'? The boys are too hostile against him, and will probably start a fight just as they start breathing in the same air space."

"T-that's not good," he said.

She hummed in agreement. "They're a total pain in the ass whenever they're with Hyuuga-kun, who mind you, thinks it's amusing to rile them all up. That jerk."

He chuckled at her aggravation and she couldn't help but feel glad about it. At least, they're not angsting about letters and whatnot anymore. They were better like this, laughing and talking like normal friends.

"You know, I've been here for almost a month now, and I still don't have your number," he told her.

She perked up and took out her phone. "Oh we can trade numbers right now if you want," she suggested. "I'll give you mine and you give me yours so we don't have to get crazy repeating numbers back and forth."

"That sounds like a good idea," he agreed as they traded phones. She took it and proceeded to key in her number and put her name in. They traded back their phones and she immediately went and to find his number. She found his name really quick and smiled to herself.

She decided to text him something.

There now we can talk even if we're not face to face! (*^^*)

Her phone vibrated immediately.

Haha you're right! Then I could bug you about the kick anytime now

She looked up to see him looking at her from the corner of his eyes, but there was smile on his face.

She stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to her phone.

I told you I'm not telling you. Ever

Her phone vibrated again.

You'll tell me soon. I just know it.

She glared at him from across the table and he only smiled back at her. She sighed and gave a smile back.

She might have failed to send him her letters, but at least by texting him, maybe she could make it up.

She opened the door to her room and trudged softly inside. The party ended a few minutes ago and everyone already left.

The setting sun's beams came from her window, lighting her way across the room. She stopped before her desk and sat on her chair. She gingerly opened the last drawer and saw yet again the envelopes all neatly stacked on top of each other. She took them all and laid them on her desk. She gingerly took one and felt the texture of the envelope with her fingers.

He said he was looking forward to have gotten one when he was in Brazil. Why didn't she ever send one?

Right, because she was an idiot and a coward. Now, she made a mistake and she couldn't turn back time just to undo it.

There were at least 30 of different letters, all in their own envelope. She wrote almost every month, she remembered, detailing the events in the past couple of days. There were even some special ones where she wrote about the games of the boys and some of hers, or about one of their shenanigans they always seemed to get pulled in.

She tried to imagine what his reaction would be when reading her letters. Would he chuckle like she did when he read how Ishizaki-kun managed to get a crab angry at him when they went to a beach? Would he be laughing as he imagined Izawa-kun and Kisugi-kun run away from girls on Valentine's Day? Would be proud when she told him she was picked as captain in her last year as a junior high student?

She dropped her head and tried to shake those thoughts away. It's no use wallowing for missed opportunities, they're never coming back.

Her phone lighted up from its place on her desk.

She was surprised to see a text from him with an attached image. She quickly opened it and laughed when it was him and Daichi, the little boy doing a peace sign as Tsubasa held the phone away from them.

Daichi wanted to send you a picture of us when he learned I had your number.

She quickly texted him back.

Aww! Daichi-kun's so cute!

Her phone vibrated as soon as the message left her phone.

What about me? Aren't I cute?

She smiled and pressed the keys on her screen.

Hmm… Maybe. But Daichi's still cuter.

Her phone received another reply.

Wow, thanks a lot. I think you just crushed my ego.

She raised an eyebrow and replied back.

You have an ego?

Then there was another reply back.

Boo. You meanie.

She smiled even wider than before tapped her buttons once more.

Glad to be of service.

Her phone lighted up again.

Ugh. Fine you win again. Mom's calling so I guess I'll text you later. Ja!

Her smile softened as she replied back.

Anytime.

She put her phone down and looked at the pile of envelopes on her desk. She gathered them again and put them back in the bottom drawer.

Those letters might have missed their opportunities, but she promised that she would never miss another one again.

End chapter

AN: Yeah, some little angst on this chapter, but not that bad. I don't think I can make them suffer that bad. Hopefully. I guess didn't realize it, but he was hurt than more he thought about Sanae not trying to contact him. They were really great friends. So yeah, this happened. Though with them exchanging numbers, there are going to be some interactions with them that other people would think they were flirting, but they don't see it as that and will constantly deny it (at least Sanae would while Tsubasa would look at them dumbly).

anyway, that's it for this chapter and hope you review (even a simple good job is very much appreciated).