A/N: Once again, thank you for all the reviews! I really can't stop thanking you when you guys are so sweet. *heart* And in answer to Daniiela-chan's question: their feelings are slowly growing, which is why they tend to feel confused around each other. ;3 Enjoy this chapter!

Burn was in a good mood. The sun was shining, there was plenty of room on the beach, and now that his vacation buddy had recovered from his fainting episode, he'd have someone to tease around so he wouldn't be bored. Even though he had been worried about spending so much time with Gazel, it was really no use to constantly connect him to a past he was determined to let go of. Plus, seeing as Gazel had the same goal in mind, they might as well try to work together.

"I claim this spot!" Burn ran over to an empty spot near the water and planted his bag on the sand. He turned around to Gazel, who was following him rather slowly. He had decided to cover himself under the comfort of his sunhat once more, in case the burning sun intended to make him break his promise.

Burn made a megaphone with his hands. "Oi, Gazel! Hurry up! I'll be in the water before you!" He quickly removed his shirt and pants and revealed a pair of red-hot trunks, as if to prove his point. Before he rushed into the water, though, he took a bottle of sunscreen from his bag. Sadly, even he was not immune to the powers of the sun.

Gazel made his way to the spot Burn had chosen and set his own bag next to his. He was already wearing blue-coloured trunks, plus a T-shirt to cover his chest. He preferred not to expose too much skin in this weather.

Once Burn had covered all of his body but one place with sunscreen, he handed the bottle to Gazel.

"Wanna do my back?"

"Huh?" Gazel blinked in surprise, as if he needed a moment to process the question in his head. Then, seemingly recalling something, he firmly took the sunscreen from Burn's hand and said: "Sure."

Burn spread out his towel on the sand and sat down with his legs crossed, waiting for Gazel to do his job. He flinched in surprise when Gazel's touch turned out to be surprisingly cold, and not just because of the sunscreen. It seemed that kid really was cold-blooded. But once he had gotten used to Gazel's hands, Burn enjoyed them thoroughly. In spite of his coldness, Gazel made sure to rub his back gently, caressing the sunscreen along his skin in such a way that it felt like a massage.

When he heard Gazel's short "Done", Burn got up and took the bottle back, grinning at Gazel.

"Thanks. You want me to do yours?"

Gazel hesitated. "… I think a shirt would be better," he eventually decided.

"Fine with me," Burn shrugged. He put the sunscreen back in his bag and added: "It's no surprise you can't handle the fire, though. After all, you couldn't even stand against the flames of the onsen."

Gazel glared at him and slowly removed his sunhat, as that was the only thing he needed to do in order to visit the sea. He wasn't the type to burn easily.

"Let's see you beat the freezing water then," he dared.

"Hah! Easy." Burn eagerly hurried over to the water, but stopped as soon as he'd made his first steps in. He felt his entire body freeze and goose bumps dominate his skin. Damn, that water was cold!

Gazel calmly followed him into the water, seemingly having no problem with the temperature. He continued walking until the surface reached his waist and then turned to Burn.

"Is there a problem?" he asked, his smirk giving away that he already knew the answer.

Burn narrowed his eyes at him. "Of—of course not! This is nothing!" Determined to wipe that smirk off Gazel's face, Burn made his way to the other boy, the water warning him all the while that this cold was not his thing.

Gazel, apparently immune to the same cold, backed into the water some more, finding he quite liked the situation of Burn following him for a change. The other boy was clearly determined to catch up with him and continued to follow with a frown on his face. Their little game continued until the pair perked up at a nearby conversation.

"I'll be Suzuno!"

"I wanna be Nagumo!"

Burn and Gazel both turned their heads in the direction of two little boys, who were playing further ahead with a beach ball.

"There's no way you can beat the freezing darkness!" the shorter one claimed.

"Oh yeah? I'll melt that ice with my red-hot flames!" the taller one challenged.

The original Burn and Gazel stared in awe at the boys, then at each other. Were these kids… their fans? They both thought highly of themselves, but they had no idea other people did the same.

One of the boys attempted to toss the beach ball to his friend, but the wind caught hold of it in mid-air and threw the ball to the side, making it land near Burn.

"Excuse me, sir! Could you give us back our—" As the boy turned to Burn while he spoke, he realized his idol was right in front of him, making his eyes widen. "… N-Nagumo-sama?"

His friend let out a cry in joy. "It's them! It's them! It's Suzuno-sama and Nagumo-sama!"

The noise the two boys made attracted more people around them, and soon it turned out many more people recognized Burn and Gazel as the famous Nagumo and Suzuno from Fire Dragon. They were quickly surrounded by their very own fangroup, and the two impersonators clung to Burn so heavily that he lost his balance and fell head-first into the water.

Gazel snickered at the sight, then focused on their fans. While Burn continued to serve as a jungle gym for excited little kids, he had a talk with two older girls, who told him the inhabitants of this island had always supported Fire Dragon.

"But why?" Gazel asked, confusedly. "We're in Japan, and Fire Dragon was from Korea."

"Yes, but you two are Japanese!" one of the girls reminded him. "It was just so cool how you worked together! And you even have your own hissatsu technique, what's it called…"

"Fire Blizzard," Gazel answered slowly, images of his teamwork with Burn flashing through his mind. He glanced down at the water for a moment, and as the memories reflected in the surface, they made a cold spot inside his chest burn softly for a moment. He and Burn had worked together many more times than just in Fire Dragon, and even though he had intended to forget about those times, he couldn't help but feel a sense of joy recalling them now.

Gazel got distracted from his thoughts when Burn suddenly let out a yelp. One of the kids chasing him turned out to be quite mischievous and had dropped a crab inside his trunks. He started running in circles through the water and cried in pain a few times, hinting the crab was alive – and angry.

"Get it out, get it out!" Burn screamed to no one in particular. He tried to pluck out the crab by himself, but the little creature was a very fast runner. The next moment, he suddenly felt a pair of cold hands grab him by the wrists and pull him backwards. Burn exhaled another yelp when the same cold hands pulled open his trunks and dove inside, successfully getting hold of the crab.

He turned around and saw Gazel stand behind him, one hand on his hip, the other holding the struggling crab in the air.

"Honestly, can you do anything on your own?" he grinned.

Burn's cheeks turned a shade of red, which darkened when the people around them started to laugh at the situation. He could deal with the outsiders, knowing they supported him anyway, but it was Gazel's eternal grin that pissed him off. He clenched his fists and snatched the crab out of his hand.

"Go to hell!" With a rough swing, Burn threw the crab at Gazel's face, but the boy tilted his body slightly and the crustacean disappeared in the water.

"Can't you do better than that?" he challenged, his grin spreading.

Burn felt his anger rise. Determined to show Gazel a lesson, he came at him with extended hands, just like he had done the other day. This time, though, Gazel was prepared and held up his own hands, catching Burn's and linking their fingers together. While the crowd around them started to cheer, the pair each tried to push the other in the water, grinning provocatively at one another.

"I can at least do you better than you," Burn hissed through gritted teeth.

"Yeah?" Gazel smirked. "Then beat this." Out of nowhere, he suddenly put zero energy in his struggle with Burn and swung aside, causing the other boy to fly forward and land face-first in the water for the second time.

Burn instantly got up with a piece of seaweed stuck to his tulip-shaped hair. He was now almost literally burning with rage, which only increased when he saw Gazel wasn't the least bit intimated by his fury. Starting to lose his patience with both him and the meddling crowd, he screamed: "Whatever! I don't care anymore!"

Deaf to the words the fans yelled after him, Burn left the water, aggressively dumping the sea algae in the process. When he passed his and Gazel's spot in the sand, he made sure to kick over Gazel's bag before making his way to an ice cream stand. There was quite a line waiting, but Burn didn't care. He needed something to cool off from that nasty situation right now.

Once it was his turn, he ordered: "One Spaceshuttle, please." He smiled when he had the popsicle in his hand and turned to walk away from the stand when Gazel was suddenly in front of him.

"Gah!" Burn stumbled back in shock, nearly dropping the Spaceshuttle in the process. Once he'd regained is cool, he shot the other boy a death glare. "Do I have to see your face all day?"

Gazel had his arms crossed and, much to Burn's relief, his grin replaced with a serious expression. "Weren't you the one who wanted to spend time together so badly?"

Feeling caught in the act, Burn quickly averted eye contact, wrapping his lips around the tip of the popsicle.

"I just didn't want to be bored," he muttered.

"Is that really all?" Gazel questioned with a persisting look on his face. He moved closer to Burn, filling the gap between them an uncomfortable lot. "What's going through your head, Burn? First you hate me, then you get all familiar with me, then you hate me again. It's annoying."

Burn glared at him at the sound of those words. "What about you? First you get all high of yourself, then you act like a girl, then you're confident again. You're the one who can't make up his mind."

"At least I respect your boundaries," Gazel reminded him. "Didn't you consider me your rival? Who takes a bath with his rival?"

"I'm just not used to this, okay?" Burn snapped. He was the one to take away the last bit of space, getting all up in Gazel's face. "Yes, you're supposed to be my rival! But ever since we created Chaos, I've felt— I dunno, something different! Chaos felt good! Teaming up with you felt good, even if we got beaten! I enjoy being with you, alright? And you do it too, otherwise you'd long have ditched me!"

Burn took a few steps back, taking in the shocked stare Gazel shot him. The emptiness in his teal eyes said enough to him: Gazel felt the exact same confusion. Wanting to spend time with Burn, but at the same time wondering if he wasn't supposed to.

Burn looked down at the sand. "Weren't we supposed to forget about the past…?" he said slowly. "I don't intend to be too familiar with you. That's just me when I'm taking my mind off of soccer."

"It would seem by now that forgetting the past is impossible for us; otherwise we wouldn't be arguing," Gazel pointed out, taking his example in avoiding eye contact.

Burn exhaled a sigh. "Then why not accept it… and move on?"

Gazel looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Rather than trying to forget, we just have to move forward," Burn explained, now returning eye contact. "We've been rivals and we've been teammates, but we can be more than that. There's more to life than soccer; after all, that's why we're on this holiday."

"So… you're saying we should have fun without worrying?" Gazel asked hesitantly.

Burn shrugged, flashing an easy-going grin. "Basically. Staying stuck in the past is no use, and the opposite of what we wanted." He extended his hand in Gazel's direction. "Let's have fun on this holiday, Gazel!"

Gazel seemed to need a moment in order to take this idea into consideration, but then began to smile as well. Confidently, he took Burn's hand and shook it in agreement.

"Okay!"

The rest of the day, neither Burn nor Gazel needed effort fulfilling their new promise. After Gazel had chosen his own share of ice cream (which was three times as big as Burn's popsicle), the two spent more time in the water, played beach volleyball with their fans and even ended up handing out a couple of autographs. No matter how much attention the fans asked of them, though, they were most focused on each other. Everytime they now eyed the other, they could only smile, having both found a new joy in life other than soccer: spending time with their new ally, comrade and friend.

By sunset, Burn and Gazel still found themselves on the beach. While other people packed up and left for a good night's rest in their hotel, Burn was napping under a blanket of sand, with Gazel reading a book next to him.

Gazel looked up for a moment, watching how the sun slowly sank into the water, far away from them. He glanced at Burn next, smiling at the sight of the boy sleeping soundly in the sand. He picked up his sunhat and placed it gently on Burn's face, intending to protect him from the last sunrays.

"Thanks, Burn," he whispered.

A/N: They've finally accepted each other! Next chapter... ooh-la-la. ;D