AN: i wish i could draw so i could do some fan art for this baby, but my i cant so :(

SoccerGirl- aren't they? man, even im getting frustrated with how slow theyre taking everything. yeah, the visit from roberto is weird, and i have no idea what i was thinking when i wrote it. though tsubasa will find a way, i believe in him.

Nat2503- hello! thank you for liking my story and im happy that you always look forward to my updates, but im sad to say that theyre not going to be as frequent as i want them to be. school sucks sometimes (all the time). Im glad you want to see misaki and ayame's fic! i've been writing some of it, but i dont think i'll be able to post it soon. wanna focus on FOLW first. though i cant promise the dialogue in french. i only took two years of it, so the most i can do is probably make some references on, sorry :(. again thank you!

this chapter is brought to you by ciymii (or Chappy Ruki Oguri). She wanted some fluff and i wanted fluff. it was a win-win situation :)

yeah i dont own captain tsubasa

Chapter 30: Gifts

Contrary to popular belief, she did indeed know that Subaru-kun liked her. She would have been a hypocrite if she couldn't notice someone liking her. She was stuck for three years liking someone who wasn't even in Japan, when she could feel shy stares directed to her. Of course she would know when someone liked her.

That's why she was trying so hard not to lead Subaru on. It would be completely unfair for the guy, thinking he had a chance when she knew that he didn't because she honestly and completely in love with someone else.

But, so far it didn't seem to be working.

Sure, she talked to him in class since they did sit beside each other, and he was also in the soccer team, but that was it. They could chat about the simple things, like how he adjusted their family was to Nankatsu, or how Kaoru-kun was doing as a member of the Soccer Club now that he's in high school. She didn't give out any hints that she had feelings for him. She just wanted him as a friend, that's all.

His stares never stopped and she didn't know what to do anymore. So, she just left everything as it is, and refrained from talking to him unless it was for pleasantries.

Though, right now she should stop thinking about that problem, or any of her problems for that matter. It's her birthday after all. She shouldn't be thinking about any negative stuff. As her mom would say, it's all about her, so she there shouldn't be anything that would make her upset today.

And apparently, she was having a party, whether she liked it or not.

"Knock, knock," Ayame said as she peered into her room. "Are you alive? You haven't gone out of your room since you took your shower. In fact, are you even read- never mind, I can see you aren't."

Yeah, thinking about those things did leave her with just a towel wrapped around her body for cover. In her defense, she was looking for something to wear before her thoughts decided to move on more problematic things. Though she had no idea how in the world she got there, when she was looking through her closet.

"I don't know what to wear," she answered simply as she took a seat on her bed. That was a lie, she got distracted by her thoughts and yeah she didn't feel like picking clothes out.

"Sanae, your party's about to start in two hours," Ayame reprimanded her like how a mother would to a child. "The least you can do is get dressed while everyone of us are preparing our asses off for this day."

"But I really don't know what to wear!" she whined while she unceremoniously laid on her bed. She didn't even care that her towel might unwrapped anytime. It's just Ayame anyway.

Her cousin sighed deeply and rubbed her temples. "You have a fuck ton of clothes, almost as much as me and you don't know what to wear?"

"For the record, most of my clothes were things you picked out for me that I have no clue what occasion I'm going to wear it for," she remarked as she continued to look up her ceiling.

"Fine, I'll pick out the clothes for you, you overgrown child," Ayame grumbled as she rummaged through her closet.

She should actually be calling her cousin that, since she's the one who usually gets into temper tantrums. She just didn't want to pick out clothes.

"Thank you my amazing cousin," she replied as she stood up, getting some underwear from her drawer.

"Well, someone needs to be fashion savvy between us," Ayame said as she laid down a light blue dress, a white cardigan, and some white ballet flats on her bed. "There, that should be perfect for the birthday girl."

She looked at them and raised her eyebrows. "Where did you find those? I haven't seen any of them before."

"How can you? It's all the way inside, a place which you don't usually venture in, and also where most of your dresses are hidden," she deadpanned.

"I think that's where I put most of the clothes you wanted me to buy," she remarked offhandedly as she cut the tag off the dress. "Huh, this actually looks pretty cute."

"Of course it's cute!" Ayame roared at her. "I picked it."

"Sure," she conceded as felt the dress. Wow, it's pretty soft too. Why didn't she ever wear this before? Oh right, because she probably just put it in her closet and bought it just save herself from Ayame's bitchiness. Besides, she rarely wore dresses. She preferred shorts and capris. Speaking of shorts, she needed to find some spandex to wear under this dress.

"Now that that's over with," Ayame began as she walked towards her door. "Get yourself done getting dressed and I'll be back to do your hair and makeup."

Woo, makeup. That would be a pain to take off. Let's all hope she wouldn't forget to take it off before she sleeps or else her face would break out in hives of pimples.

"See you in 30 minutes as we finish cooking downstairs," Ayame called out as she got out of her room.

"Okay," she replied as she put on the dress. Oh wow, its hella comfy. She missed a lot from ignoring this dress. No worries, she would never do such an act ever again.

She was just checking to make sure that her dress was in place when her phone suddenly rang. Quickly, she took it off her desk and looked to see who it was.

Well, look at that, it's Tsubasa. Wonder what he wants.

"Hello?" she said as she answered the call. Instead of hearing his voice (which she was excited for. He was calling her! On her birthday!), she heard shuffling as he called for Daichi and started to countdown from three.

"Happy Birthday!" They screamed in unison. She laughed from their greeting as they made noises from the other line.

"Aww, thank you," she replied when they finally stopped whooping and shouting. "It's nice to hear from my favorite boys on my birthday."

She heard his chuckle from the other and she could feel her stomach warming up just from hearing it.

"I figured that this way would be more memorable than compete with a bunch of people later on when they start their race of who greets you first," he answered.

"Sneaky, aren't you?" she remarked jokingly as she sat down on her bed again.

"That's just how life is," he replied nonchalantly. "Anyway, that's what we made the call for-

"Anee-chan, Anee-chan!" Daichi's voice interrupted him. "You're gonna love what we got you!"

She giggled at his enthusiasm. He seemed more excited for her gifts than she was.

"I'm sure I will, Daichi-kun," she replied.

"Ooh, you're gonna love what Nii-chan got you too!" he added. "He got you-"

"Ah, Daichi!" he interrupted him this time. "You're going to ruin the surprise. Why don't we let your Anee-chan find out later when we she opens them?"

"Okay!" his little brother responded with the same energy, and then she heard the shuffling off feet.

"So, you got me something?" she tried to bring it up again she made sure he was back on the line.

"Of course, I did," he answered.

Oh now, she's even more excited for this day.

"Mind telling me what it is?" she prodded gently.

He laughed from the other line, and again she could feel the heat running through her body.

"Nope," he replied. "Better wait until later."

"What?" she complained. "That's just mean, you're getting me too excited for this and won't even tell me to save me from this misery."

"That's what it's supposed to do," he chuckled teasingly.

"But it's my birthday," she pouted, although she knew that he couldn't see it.

"Well, birthday girl, you just have to wait for it patiently," he told her. "Besides, your party's about to start in what, an hour? It wouldn't be that long."

"It is for me," she whined. "Can't you just give me at least one hint?"

"Nope," he said.

"Please?"

"No matter how much you plead, I'm not telling."

She pouted again. "Fine."

He chuckled once more. "Hey, cheer up. You're going to get lots of presents in an hour. Just tough it out. You'll have fun later."

She sighed and laid on her bed. "Why can't later come sooner?"

"Don't be like that," he chided. "You only celebrate your birthday once a year, after all. Take advantage of the time you have right now."

"I guess," she replied. "At least I got to talk to you before all we get swamped by the others later on."

"See, one positive thing came from not having later sooner."

"Yeah," she agreed. "But you make sure your still there later."

What he answered made her grin larger than ever.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

The party started right as everyone got in the shop. Her mom closed it again just for this occasion. Though she didn't think it was necessary, but her mom wouldn't have any of it.

So here, they were, acting like a bunch of normal teenagers (with also a bunch of adult supervision, so yeah no funny business for them) eating like crazy from what her mom and the others cooked for them. She was so happy she took soccer because if she wasn't she would have been overweight by now.

She was happy all her friends came to celebrate with her, and even Ayuri, Ayame's twin sister, came. Though, she did mostly keep to each other, seeing that they're all soccer dorks and she's not that soccer savvy. Ayuri was more into anime and art animation.

It was a bummer

Anyway, since Ayuri was there, naturally her other relatives would be there, especially their grandfather.

It was a surprise though when they found out that it was their grandfather who hired Misaki-kun's dad for the painting. Apparently, their grandfather saw one of older Misaki's work in a museum and totally fell in love with it, so he told his secretary to contact him to ask if he was willing to do some more paintings for him.

Of course, Misaki-san was more than happy to oblige.

But now, that their grandfather found out that they all knew each other, he decided to drop more visits in Nankatsu just so he could see how Misaki-san was doing and give him an excuse to visit his family.

Though really, she thought that he would just do that so he could ran from work.

Moving on. They were all done eating the cake her mother baked for her. Man, she didn't think she would ever get tired of eating her mom's Vanilla Strawberry cake. No matter how much she tried to recreate it, it just wasn't as good.

After eating, they ushered her to open her gifts. They seemed to be more excited for the gifts that she was. Well, whatever, she was grateful that they all got her presents, even when she told them that it wasn't necessary.

She was opening her last gift, which she noticed was from Tsubasa. Actually, this was the one she was looking forward to opening, since from their conversation earlier today. But, seeing that Ayame was the one giving her the presents from the designated gift table, her cousin probably plotted everything.

It just also happened that he was sitting right beside her, another ploy by her cousin she was sure.

"That's pretty big, Tsubasa," Ishizaki-kun remarked as they stared at the paper bag she was holding. She had to agree. This was pretty huge. Man, she couldn't wait to see what's inside.

"You've given a lot of thought about this, didn't you?" Wakabayashi-kun asked as he took a sip from his glass.

He shrugged from beside her nonchalantly. "Not that much," he answered. "I just thought this was the perfect gift for her, so I got it."

"Right," Taki-kun sniggered and Tsubasa gave him a light glare. She also gave the forward a glare, but more menacing than what he gave him. That shut Taki-kun up.

"Well, go on then," Ayame ushered. "Don't leave us all having. I, for one, is getting anxious to see what Tsubasa got you. Hopefully it's not something soccer related."

"Same here," Misaki agreed as Ayame gave him a high five.

"Hey!"

They all laughed at his offended cries, but it soon ended when she started to open the bag.

Holy shit, he got it for her! Oh my god.

"Oh my god, you bought it! For me!" She squealed as she took the light blue alpaca plush toy out of the bag. And it was the size she wanted too!

"Considering how much you've been gushing over it, I figured I might as well get it for you," he chuckled as she gave it a tight squeeze. "There's more too. It's by its neck."

She looked at the alpaca's neck and sure enough, there was a small square box tied around its neck by a white ribbon. She untied it from the toy and took it in her hand, laying the plush toy on her lap.

She was curious on what it could be, so she gave him a look asking permission if she could open it, to which he gave her a nod.

She took a deep breath, and gently opened the box.

"Oh, Tsubasa this is beautiful," she gasped as she saw what was inside. It was a silver charm shaped like wings, as small silver chains came along with it.

"Don't hog it all," Ayame told her. "I want to see."

She stuck her tongue out at her cousin, but showed it to everyone nonetheless.

"That is really pretty," Shiori-chan remarked as they all looked at it.

"Of course, it would be shaped like wings," Wakabayashi-kun said. "Fitting."

They all started to awe over the necklace as she showed it around and her mom asked him how he thought of this at all.

"Mom wanted me to come with her when she was looking for something to buy for Sanae, and we saw the set in one of the jewelry shop down town. We decided that she would pay for the earrings and bracelet while I woud buy the necklace. Besides, Sanae deserved the best."

That earned him another bout of teasing from their friends, but he only ignored them with a roll of his eyes.

"You should try it on, Sanae-chan," Rika-chan said to her. "In fact, you should have Tsubasa-kun put in on for you. It is his gift after all."

Everyone agreed with her, with a few more jeers and teasing than necessary.

She blushed lightly and turned to him shyly. "Can you?" she asked.

He gave her a smile that never failed to make her knees week. "Sure," he answered.

He stood up as she gave him the necklace, moving behind her. She lifted her hair with one hand and waited until he was done with clasping it together.

She released her hair once he said that it was done used Ayame's phone to check how it looked on her, and sure enough it looked gorgeous.

She didn't even know what came over her, or how in the world she didn't realize that there was people with them, but in the spur of the moment, she gave him a quick peck on his cheek.

She also didn't notice the surprise looks written on everyone's faces, even his.

"Thank you so much," she said to him, before returning to marveling the jewelry on her neck.

She was so happy with her necklace, she didn't even hear the teasing that suddenly erupted from their friends, nor did she see the loving look he was giving her.

End Chapter

AN: oh tsubasa, you are smitten already. just take her and kiss her, you dork! anyway, i figured i might as well post this since, yeah i'll be drowning in homework soon so i dont know when i'll be able to update again (im trying for the weekend but it doesnt seem like it). actually you can even skip this since i dont really how this contributes to the plot except fluff and cheek kisses and plush alpacas.

anyway, thats it for now. thanks for reading and please review! cya soon