Me: Can't I just do a disclaimer at this chapter and state that it applies for all the following chapters? Great, then that's the plan!

Disclaimer: Att-chan doesn't own Inazuma Eleven and she probably never will. As said before, this disclaimer will apply to all the following chapters.

Enjoy~!

"Captain..." Shinsuke said as he stared at the spot where their friend was a few seconds ago. He'd noticed it too. Cursing under his breath, Shindou walked a few steps back and peered at the fog between the trees, but there was no sign of Tsurugi's navy-blue strands.

"Wh-where is he?" Tenma asked as his eyes frantically darted between the trees, hoping to see his friend. Shindou sighed deeply. The four of them had been best friends for a long time and they faced every big event, good or bad, together. Shindou was actually one year older than Tsurugi, Tenma and Shinsuke, but he prefered the three boys' company over that of his peers in Raimon. Not that he didn't like the other children, but he somehow felt a connection with these three, and that connection existed for a long time already. All children in Raimon were friends and after a long day of work, they often played soccer together just outside the village. But within this large group of friends, smaller groups were unconsciously formed.

Tsurugi, Tenma, Shinsuke and Shindou formed one of those groups, and because Shindou was one year older than the rest, Tenma and Shinsuke used to call him 'captain' as a joke. In time, that title became more serious and Shindou knew that their respect for him lingered in it.

At the moment, being the oldest was a burden. Both Shinsuke and Tenma waited for his answer: would they follow Tsurugi or would they go back? Both seemed unthinkable and Shindou got torn by the dilemma. But deep inside, he knew that it wasn't a choise. Not really.

"Let's go," he said, trying not to show his own fear. "He can't be that far, can he?"

He put his right foot in front of the other, paused for a moment to gather all his courage and then continued walking. The clouds of mist swirled around his feet. Were they pulling his legs to trap him or was that just his imagination? He heard that Tenma and Shinsuke were following close behind him, both audibly shivering from fear.

As soon as we get out if here, I'll give Tsurugi a piece of my mind, Shindou thought with gritted teeth. His eyes frantically darted around, trying to spot any dangers. If we ever get out. He shook his head to clear the thought away and without turning around, he said: "As soon as you can't see me anymore, call my name and grab my arm, okay? We can't afford to lose each other in here."

"Well spoken, Shindou-san," an all to familiar voice said. It caused all three youngsters to gasp in shock. They all pivoted on the spot, only to find Tsurugi leaning with his back against a rather thick tree. Shindou's annoyance grew when he realized what was going on: Tsurugi had only walked a couple of metres before he hid and waited for them!

"Tsurugi..."

"You sure took your time. Come on, let's go." Tsurugi pushed himself off and walked past Shindou, who grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Let's go back, you mean. That's enough, Tsurugi, it's dangerous in here."

"Nothing happened, yet," the pale boy defended, but he, too, constantly scanned their surroundings.

"That doesn't mean that nothing will happen."

"Kariya traveled much deeper into the forest and he came out unharmed."

"He was almost stuck in a ritual, remember? Plus, he had a rope so that he wouldn't get lost." Tsurugi was hesitating, so Shindou pressed on. "Honestly, Tsurugi, why are you so focussed on going further? We all know that you're brave, but this is just foolish."

"I don't know what it is," Tsurugi admitted after a few seconds. "At first it was just to prove Kariya wrong, but now... aren't you guys curious what's up ahead?"

Tsurugi was a great friend, but sometimes Shindou just wanted to hit the other boy on the head with the blacksmith's hammer.

"I'll tell you what's up ahead: trouble. Just think for a moment, Tsurugi. What if we go further and Kiriyoshi gets angry with us? Then we're done for! We should turn around while we still can!"

Not to far away from them, a branch was snapped in two. The sound was loud in the silence that the mist provided and all four heads snapped up. Tsurugi drew the sword he always carried with him and stepped between his friends and the source of the sound.

When he was seven years old, a knight had passed through Raimon and asked Tsurugi's father for a new sword. That was the first time Tsurugi had seen a real knight in full-fledged armor, and ever since that moment he wanted to become a knight. The knight was fond of children and had asked the young Tsurugi to bring him the sword whenever it was ready. By the time the adult left Raimon again, Tsurugi had only one dream left: to become a knight. He knew it was nearly impossible, because he was supposed to fulfill the same occupation as his father, but nonetheless he kept his dream. When he was eleven, he made his own sword. It took him three full days to get the balance, length and width right, but then the sword was perfect for him. Every moment that he didn't spend in his father's workshop or with his friends, he spent practicing with the weapon. His father didn't mind, as long as Tsurugi didn't forget his other chores.

Of course, Tsurugi's skill couldn't rival that of a knight, but he was still pretty handy with the sword. This thought reassured Shindou a bit as he stared over Tsurugi's shoulder, trying to distinguish someone in the thick mist. Three full minutes passed and no one moved a muscle.

"Do you think it went away?" Tenma asked softly and obviously nervous.

The reply was another loud crack, seemingly closer than before. Shindou debated with himself what was safer: to stay here quietly or to make a run for it. A flight of birds suddenly flew up from a tree and after their noises died down, the Shindou's hair went to stand on end. Because even after the birds were gone, it wasn't silent. A strange sound, something like two sticks that repeatedly collided with each other, echoed through the mist. Speaking of the mist, it seemed to get even thicker and swirled around them as if it tried to trap them. The milky clouds produced a sibilant sound, as if there were snakes inside.

The rhythm sped up and Shindou had the unpleasant hunch that, as soon as it reached its climax, something bad would happen. His limbs trembled with fear, yet he was paralyzed and couldn't move. The next sound they all heard, was a laugh. The sound seemed to come from everywhere, making it hard to determine where the person stood. The laugh sounded youthful, so it couldn't be an adult, but it didn't sound cheerful. It was like this person knew he or she could take them. Like this person was challenging them to try and fight him, because he had something up his sleeve. Shindou could only think of one person.

Kiriyoshi.

The others seemed to have reached the same conclusion. They all started running at the same moment, as if it were scripted. Driven by their fear for the mysterious danger, they ran faster and faster than they'd ever done. But were they running in the right direction? Every direction was alike and even though they hadn't gone very far into the forest, the exit was nowhere to be found.

Despite everything, Shindou tried to keep an eye on the others. He dreaded the thought that one of them might wander away from the group and get lost. Not that they weren't lost as a group, but at least they still had each other. As he looked at both the trees that suddenly appeared on his path and at his juniors, he still managed to process that the rhythm got even quicker and... did it get closer too?

Then the youths suddenly saw a spot in the misty wall where the fog was thinner. Shindou unconsciously stayed at the rear to keep an eye on his companions. Tenma ran at the front, guiding the others to the exit. At least, that's what he hoped. There seemed to be more distance between the trees and the trees itself seemed to be smaller, indicating that it was the edge of the forest. But Tenma couldn't be relieved yet: they weren't safe yet. They changed direction and headed for the safety, driven by the scary sounds such as the dark laughter, the strange drumming and, suddenly, a loud, agonizing, pained scream.

They didn't turn around or look back, they just kept running and running until they finally entered the open field. They recognised it right away, it was the field of one of the farmer's who lived in Raimon. Sangoku Taichi lived with his parents in a nearby farm, along with Shinsuke and another boy called Kageyama Hikaru. Neither Shinsuke nor Hikaru was part of Sangoku's family, but they slept in the hayloft and ate with the family. In return, they had to help with the harvest and do other chores around the farm. Both boys originally came from outside Raimon and traveled together, looking for work. A few years ago, Sangoku's father hired them and they lived in Raimon ever since. They got along well with the farmer's son, but always stayed respectful as he was two years older than them. Sangoku himself appreciated the respect, but didn't think of himself as higher ranked than the other boys.

Right now, both Sangoku and Hikaru were busy plowing the field. The harvest had been brought in a few days ago and they needed to prepare the soil. It was hard work, seeing as they didn't have a horse to pull the plow, but the boys didn't complain. Shinsuke often helped out with these kind of chores, but he was too small to be of any help with plowing, so he had gotten some extra leisure time today.

Sangoku and Hikaru stopped with what they were doing and looked curiously at the youths who jumped over the low wooden fence. Sangoku frowned and walked towards them, Hikaru followed. "What are you doing here?" he asked, feeling both worried and annoyed that the other kids entered his family's field. Well, technically speaking it didn't belong to them, because they leased it from a tenant, but he ignored that small detail.

"G-gomenasai, Sangoku-san," Tenma panted with his hands on his knees. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the Misty woods, now about hundred fifty metres away. It was still too close for his liking, but at least they were safe now. Wisps of mist drifted around the trees. It was like they tried to get out of the forest, but something held them back. From this distance, they seemed like hungry tongues that wanted to devour the boys who had just come out.

Sangoku followed the younger boy's look, added up one and one and paled. "Did you enter the Misty Woods?" he exclaimed loudly.

"We're fine," Tsurugi replied. He was also panting heavily, but he was quickly recovering for he had a lot of stamina.

Sangoku shook his head incredulously. "Still, you know you shouldn't do such foolish things. What if..." He lowered his voice and shot a wary glance at the forest. "What if he had caught you?"

The youngsters lowered their gazes, ashamed to meet the older boy's eyes. "Gomenasai, Sangoku-san," Shinsuke said. "We won't do it again."

"You better not," Sangoku said as he straightened his back. His expression softened a little and he extended his hand to help them up. Hikaru did the same and when everybody was on their feet again, Sangoku gave them a last stern glance. "I'm still quite disappointed in the three of you."

And that last warning caused the newcomers to stiffen. Not because they were scared that they would disappoint the other boy or anything, but because of Sangoku's choice of words: 'the three of you'... They quickly sought eye contact with each other, only to discover what they hadn't noticed before:

Shindou wasn't with them.

Shindou laid on his stomach with his face buried in the dirt. Tears streamed down his cheeks, creating trails in the dirt and soaking the ground. He sobbed quietly, tried to minimize the noise he made. Whatever was hidden in the mist hopefully wouldn't notice him. His right ankle throbbed painfully, even if he kept it perfectly still.

He had been so close! He had seen the forest's edge, about thirty metres away from him. Tsurugi, Tenma and Shinsuke had seen it too, and they were still together. They would have made it!

But because the entire ground was covered in mist, he hadn't seen where he placed his feet. His right foot came down on a rotten tree trunk. The tree hadn't been very big when it fell, so the stem wasn't visible in the mist. As Shindou stood on it, his foot got stuck in a hollow part and he lost balance because of his momentum. During his fall, an unbearable pain shot up through his leg, originating in his trapped ankle, and he wasn't able to bite back his own pained scream. The others hadn't noticed his fall and kept on running, probably driven by his scream of pain. A few seconds later, they were all swallowed by the mist.

Shindou assumed that they had reached the forest's exit and were safe. At least, as long as Kiriyoshi hadn't placed a curse on them for entering his forest. But regardless of that possible curse, he wasn't safe yet. He couldn't see the forest's edge from his position on the ground, but it couldn't be that far, right?

He had tried to stand up, but the pain in his ankle was too immense. Even crawling had proved to be too painful for him, so the only option left was to stop moving, be quiet and hope that whatever had chased them wouldn't notice him. He bit down hard on his lower lip to distract his mind from the pain in his ankle. He wished it wasn't broken, but he wasn't sure. If it was, then he was even more vulnerable than before.

The drumming and the laughter had faded shortly after Shindou fell down, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched. Perhaps that was just caused by his paranoid fear of the Misty Woods and the evil sorcerer Kiriyoshi, but he couldn't say for sure. His intestines were constantly tensed from the adrenalin and tears kept escaping from his eyes, no matter how hard he tried to stop them. To say he was scared would be an understatement: he was utmost terrified.

How long was he laying here? Did his parents already know of his disappearance? Would they assign people to come here and look for him? He hoped so.

Gradually, his eyelids closed. It was strange that he was able to sleep right now: all alone, surrounded by unknown dangers, cold and in pain. But everything he had endured this late afternoon - Tsurugi's disappearance, the occult phenomenons, the chase and his injury - started to take their toll. He hadn't eaten anything since noon and he had woken up before sunrise, which was normal for him, seeing as he was the son of the baker. He was so drained of energy that his body shut itself down so he could recover a little.

He sank into such a deep sleep that he didn't even notice the figure that approached him shortly after his eyes closed permanently.

Me: Okay, in the next chapter, Kiriyoshi will finally make an on-screen appearance!^^ I hope you look forward to it!

Review please?