Sorry guys, I needed another chapter to set the foundation. ^^"

Chapter 4: Kirino's secret

Kirino ran away without stopping after he left Shindou on the roof of the school building. He didn't know what to do anymore, Soccer was still so important to him, but … Well, maybe he should just talk to someone about his problem.

"Tsurugi!" He nearly bumped into the other boy, who seemed to be on his way home, too. "Err, I'm sorry … Do you have a minute or two for me?"

The ace striker looked at Kirino. "What do you want?"

"Just talking." The pink haired boy guided his teammate to a nearby park. If someone would be able to help him, than it would be Tsurugi. After all, who was more manly than him? Kirino was thankful for this lucky coincidence, which allowed him to meet the other boy.

"I want to be more like you!" The pink haired boy needed all his courage to approach Tsurugi that directly.

The other boy looked surprised. "I didn't know you were my fan."

"That's not it", Kirino explained. "It's just that I want to be more like a boy."

"You're always so lovey-dovey with the captain. Why don't you go to him? I'm not a style adviser."

"Because … ", Kirino began as a car on the road passed by and flushed some birds who hastily flew over the chatting boys. "And today … ." Some passengers passed by curiously looking at the two Raimon players. A dog followed behind them and sniffed shortly at Kirino's shoes before something else caught his attention.

Tsurugi's eyes widened. "Now that's a surprise!" But then he calmed down as he usually was. "It might be difficult, but you should talk to Shindou about that. He needs to know – and the others as well."

"That would be the end of our friendship … and I … I don't want to lose him, regardless of the consequences!", Kirino answered crying. "I don't want to be without him anymore." The pink haired boy tried to stop his tears, he didn't want to show this much emotion before Tsurugi. "But there is one thing that is even more important for me." Now Kirino's eyes became serious. "I want him to be happy."

"That's easy", Tsurugi answered. "Just go to tomorrow's practice."

"You're completely ignoring my problem … How is going to practice supposed to help?" Kirino sighed. Playing soccer again with him would made this only more complicated. Besides going to practice tomorrow was impossible for him for another reason …

"I don't know." Tsurugi looked at the birds who sat a few steps away now. "But it means much to Tenma."

"What has Tenma to do with this?", Kirino asked surprised. 'Don't tell me Tsurugi actually cared for him?'

"That's my opinion about this issue", the striker answered cold. "You are the one who asked for it, so don't complain."

"Eh, sorry", Kirino answered shyly. "And can we keep this conversation secret?"

###

The next morning Shindou woke up by something itching on his nose. Wondering what was wrong he went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror, where he discovered a red spot above his nose. A pimple. It was nothing surprising for him; in fact he had already heard of this from Sangoku and the others. For the brown haired boy it was just another miracle of the mysterious thing called puberty. Somehow Shindou felt relieved, maybe he would now be able to understand the others.

The boy took a deep breath and waited a minute. But nothing had changed, he still felt the desire to play soccer together with his friends. And with Kirino. Kirino – he missed his friend.

Suddenly something else came in his mind. 'I can't going to school with that thing on my nose.' But what could he do against the pimple … Maybe he should call the maids and ask for advise, however, that would be too embarrassing, wouldn't it?

Sighting again he looked for his cell phone. Kirino would know what to do. Although his friend was acting really weird lately he would help him, after all they were best friends, weren't they?

Only seconds later, the reply came, which let Shindou smile.

"Seems like wearing sunglasses wasn't such a bad idea. Or else

Make-Up will help, but you'll be even more girly than I am. Just

wait and clean you face regularly from now on."

###

As it was finally afternoon and time for practice, Shindou had already forgotten about his pimple. His head was filled with thoughts of Kirino, his friend hadn't been at school today, which made him worry even more. He couldn't forget Kirino's words from yesterday and the way he left him alone on the roof. What was it that had let him become like this? Thinking of his friend made his heart aching, so much that he thought he was going to die. Wasn't there really anything he could do?

Then Shindou shook his head head. He still was the Captain of the soccer team and right now he should better focus on that. After all the team needed him. And besides Kirino's message from this morning sounded more like the old Kirino, so maybe everything was alright again. But somehow, he doubted that …

"Captain!" Tenma waved at the brown haired boy as he arrived at the Riverbank. Amazed to see the whole team besides Kirino practicing he waved back and forgot his sorrow for a moment. Tenma's spirit really seemed to have reached the others.

But then he became serious again. "Sorry Tenma, I couldn't bring Kirino back … ."

"Maybe he just needs some time." Tenma smiled.

"You know, Kirino has a reason for his actions and I'm sure he'll tell you soon, Captain. So for now, let's just concentrate on soccer." It was Tsurugi's emotionless voice. The boy suddenly appeared next to Tenma.

"You know about THAT?" Shindou was surprised. How could Kirino talk about his problems to Tsurugi and not to him, his best friend? "Why?"

But Tsurugi just shrugged. "I was just unlucky enough to meet him."

As Tsurugi went back to practice, Shindou looked after him. Since when were Tsurugi and Kirino so familiar with each other that Kirino would tell the other boy his secrets? He didn't know why, but he wanted to know every single word the two had spoken with each other, every single minute they had spend together and every single problem they had shared.

"Ok then, everybody listen!" Shindou waited until everybody paid attention to him, then he continued. "We'll divide into two teams and play a practice match. Since we have an uneven number of players, Tsurugi will sit on the bench."

The Captain of Raimon knew that it wasn't right, but he felt so angry of Tsurugi, that he couldn't stop himself. If Tsurugi was that close to Kirino, why didn't he help his friend? But was this really the reason of his anger or was it something else? Jealousy maybe?

His thoughts came to an end as suddenly the ground shook again and seconds later the Silent Strikers appeared again.

I promise next chapter the awesomeness will start. My fingers are shivering because I'm so excited to write it. xD Unfortunatelly I have to wait for tomorrow because the battery of my notebook is almost empty and we have only one socket here, which I have to share with my two roomates ... =(

Oh yeah, and the idea of TenmaXTsurugi belongs to Elfana (by the way you have to write more ;D). It's nothing I could came up with, although they are perfect for each other. If I get the chance I'll write more of it in the later chapters.

Thanks for the many review I got, I think I already said it, but reading your opinion makes me happy. ^^