AN: hi its been weeks since i last updated. i have no excuses, here have this

Thao Nhi- aww thanks. Ikr, they're all so cute like stop being so damn adorable even i get butterflies. also, here have some TsuSan. I've been meaning to find some time to right them again, i just couldnt find the perfect opportunity. now i got it and i hope you like it! thanks for always reading and reviewing!

Hana2- is it really?! thats so awesome omg. you have no idea how excited i was when i got an email of your review and told me you finally have FOLW up, like my mood just totally shifted that time to joy and excitement. oh thank you so much for translating it to french. I hope you dont get tired of doing it! again thank you!

yeah i dont own captain tsubasa

Chapter 27: Second Round Over

One good thing about being injured, she mused, was that she could actually work on some stuff without trying to extensively plan how she was going to use her time. She didn't have to stress how she was going to study for the final exams coming up soon. She could actually take her time learning the things instead of cramming and pray that she remembered whatever she studied. Here's to hoping to she'll be able to pass her exams.

But really, what she was most grateful about was she actually had time to write. Not like a novel or something long, just short stories or writing prompts to get her back in the swing of things again. Writing those letters to Tsubasa actually had another purpose for her. It helped her practice her writing. She did tend to exaggerate some things in those that made it sound like what she and her friends did were quite amazing to imagine, but they were actually just everyday things people do. She just… liked writing.

Besides, she was always more comfortable expressing herself in writing than speaking. That and actions. If it wasn't for being able to kiss Tsubasa, Sanae didn't know how she was going to be able to say "I love you" to him as often as she wanted.

Anyway, she found it refreshing to be able to type up a story once again in her laptop as she put the last period on the word document. It was hard finding time to type up a good short story with all that happened since last year, what with Tsubasa coming back, their roller coaster of a relationship, school, soccer, and now this. Having free time to do stuff was really a good thing even though she was injured.

If only she could walk.

She clicked on the save icon on her laptop, waiting for the document to save itself before closing it. She quickly noticed the folder for her past writings on the corner of her screen, and a smile grew on her lips. It's been awhile since she read her old stories and she was feeling a bit nostalgic, might as well visit memory lane.

… Okay, bad idea. She didn't what was more embarrassing, her old writing or her new one. Like, there were some that she probably wrote when she was 13, which were humiliating, but then there were those she wrote two years after and they were phenomenal. Her current writing couldn't even compare with what she did then. Ugh, this was really embarrassing.

Then again, most of those stories were all sappy and full of angst, so much emotion and yearning and other pining emotions because it was the time she was really missing Tsubasa. Writing was the only thing that kept her from thinking about him.

On second thought, not really. Not with how angsty these stories were. These stories were like, written by a teenager who thought it was the end of the world when their crush dumped them (yes, she was a teenager, but she didn't think the world ended when Tsubasa left. No, you are wrong, she was functioning normally. She wasn't that desperate).

She released a defeated sigh and closed her eyes just as she felt arms wrap around her shoulders. Immediately, she felt another smile form on her face.

"Whatcha doing, love?" Tsubasa asked her as she leaned her head on his torso.

"Just reading," she answered simply.

"Reading what?" he continued before kissing her hair.

"My old writings," she said. Tsubasa let go of her with a smile, and went around the couch to sit down beside her. Without thinking about it, he put his arm around while she snuggled close to him.

"Must be an adventure," he remarked, peering onto her laptop. "When am I going to be able to read one?"

She chuckled lightly at his question. He did know about her love for writing. She wasn't exactly planning on telling him so soon, but he found out when she left her laptop unattended in her room while he was there to get them something to it. Needless to say, he read some of the passages she was writing because she had some free time. It was embarrassing too since it was a romantic story and they were at the part when she had her characters kissing like they're from a Nicholas Sparks novel.

Then he proceeded to tease her about it. Jerk.

"Maybe one day when I'm sure you're not going to make fun of me," she answered with false annoyance.

Tsubasa heaved a sigh in mild frustration. Was she really going to bring that up again? "That was one time, one time okay. I told you were an amazing writer after that didn't I?"

"That was because I refused to kiss you when you tried to steal one," she replied while closing the word document she just finished reading.

Tsubasa wrapped his other arm around her and laid his cheek on her head. "I said I was sorry. I thought I was forgiven."

"For the most part," she said, opening her browser to check on her email. To be honest, she was just teasing him at this point. She wasn't actually still mad at him over this. "I'm still hurt from what you said."

"Really?" he sounded so distraught about it, she was actually starting to feel bad. "Oh god, I'm really really sorry. I didn't know-"

"I'm kidding, Eagle," she interrupted him with a chuckle. "I'm not angry at you anymore. I was just pulling your leg."

He stared at her in disbelief, before he sighed and covered his face with one hand. "Damn it Sanae, don't do that. It's not good for my heart."

She giggled laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I just like teasing you. And don't complain about me teasing you too much. You do it to me too! Maybe even more."

"Fine," he conceded. "Truce?"

She got her head up and looked to him. "Truce," she said. They shared smiles between the two of them before Tsubasa leaned close to her to give her a peck on her lips.

"So," he started as he set her legs on his lap, making her sit sideways and settle her back against the arm of the couch. "How's the foot?"

"It's doing well," she answered, closing her laptop. "Himura-sensei said I could be able to walk with it sooner than expected. He liked the idea of people carrying me around everywhere apparently. The more I don't pressure on it, the faster it healed. He's going to check on it again tomorrow to see if I can get rid of the crutches soon."

"That's great," he smiled while he drew tiny circles with his thumb on her thigh. She bit back a moan. Damn it, Tsubasa's touches never failed to give her pleasant feelings to her body.

"What about you?" she asked to try and ignore Tsubasa's innocent caresses to her legs. "Ready for tomorrow? It's the finals against South Korea. Looks like Cha Inchon won't be playing tomorrow since he seemed to have reinjured his leg, but I Yonun and Park Hae-Won is still in."

Tsubasa shrugged but still continued his caresses. She felt herself starting to flush. Was it her or was his hands moving upwards?

"I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes," he replied and he was touching the inside of her thighs at this point. There was a light blush on her face, and she could feel warmth spread throughout her body. She felt her breath get shorter from all his touches because they just feel so damn good, she couldn't take this anymore. If not, she didn't know what she was going to do. Or what they were going to do.

But they need to stop. She didn't think both of them were ready to take their relationship were ready to take it to that level yet, as much as she loved kissing him, touching him, feeling him.

Moving quickly, she set her laptop down on his hands. He jumped in surprise and looked at her in shock.

"Y-you're treading dangerous waters, Mr. Oozora," she panted, her face still flushed.

"Dangerous waters?" he repeated in confusion.

He didn't even realize what he was doing? Really?

She took her laptop from his hands. "Look where your hands are," she ordered softly.

Both of them looked at his hands, where they were settled between her thighs. They were close, but thank god it wasn't close enough that she would feel his heat to where they might have regretted touching.

But she would be lying if she said she didn't want him to touch her there. It's just that… It was too early and they were in the rec room for god's sake!

"O-oh," Tsubasa stuttered while taking off his hands from her thighs like it was a hot iron. "Shit. Sorry. I didn't- I didn't notice. I- sorry." He turned away from her, his hand behind his neck while red colored his cheeks.

"Its fine," she mumbled quietly, refusing to look to him. She slowly took of her legs from his lap and set her laptop down on her thighs. Her cheeks were still colored a light pink, and her skin was still tingling from his touch. God this was hard.

She peered from the corner of her eyes at him, just to see he was still as flushed as she was. Although they have been dabbing into some dangerous territory in their past exploits, they were usually in the upper part of their bodies, never the lower part. And even though sometimes they could feel how… excited they both were, someone or something usually interrupted them from going any further.

This was the first time that one of them was the one who stopped them.

She sighed and scooched closer to him, content just to have him close. She put her head on his shoulder and laced their hands together. She felt him jump in surprise and untangle their hands from each other. What's wrong with him?

She raised her head to look up to him in confusedly. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," he replied quickly, looking down. "Yeah. I mean," he sighed before turning to her. "Are you sure, you want me you know, touching you? You know, because of what happened a few moments ago."

Was he serious right now?

She rolled her eyes with a huff of annoyance and took his hands again with hers. "Of course I want you touching me. Just because you were a little bit out of the safe zone, doesn't mean I don't want you to stop touching me. You're my boyfriend, of course I want you to touch me. We just… gotta be careful of where we place our hands from now on. But never no touching. I like your skin on mine. It feels- it feels like home."

She admitted the last part softly with her head down, she barely heard it. She didn't even know if Tsubasa heard it.

Tsubasa meanwhile, stared at long and hard before softening his gaze towards her. To be honest, he felt the same way too, that's why he could never get tired of touching her.

He cupped her face with his hands and directed her to face him, giving her a tender smile.

"You feel like home too," he told her, and her eyes light up with a million emotions. She returned his smile, puting her hand on his and leaned closer. His smile grew wider before he finally closed the distance between them to take her lips with his.

They might not be ready to take that leap, but they were happy with just the lightest of touch.

It was a good match really. Both teams gave everything they got even though both of them were exhausted from the all matches they played. Their team just had the advantage over set pieces that they managed to win by two points.

But it still didn't stop her of being proud of her team, proud of him. Her other teammates celebrated from beside her, and she barely even heard Frieda congratulating her about their victory. She was just so overwhelmed with emotions she didn't know what to do.

Confetti rained down the stadium as the crowd cheered their names. Everyone was screaming and shouting in joy she could barely even hear. She didn't care. They qualified for the tournament, they won the first ever U-18 Mixed Gendered Asian Cup, and that's all that mattered.

"We won senpai!" Himawari-chan squealed near her. She was jumping up and down and Sanae figured she would have done the same if she weren't injured. Himawari-chan gave her a huge hug, another excited squeal on her lips. Sanae laughed along with her, holding on her arm that was around her.

She turned her attention back on the field where their eleven players and their 17 reserve players celebrated their victory, the victory they fought long and hard for. She saw Shiori-chan on Rika-chan's back, laughing merrily on the field. She saw Saya-chan's lips curve into a serene smile. She saw Matsuyama-kun and Misugi-kun with an arm around each other. She saw Yumi-chan wiping the tears of joy from her eyes, a huge grin on her face.

Ayame latched onto Misaki-kun, happily holding onto him as he twirled the two of them around. Jito-kun and Soda-kun were both crying, tears streaming down their faces. She was glad they didn't don their "machoness" for this. It was just right for them not hold their emotions back.

Everyone was just so so happy, it was making her cry in happiness.

Then her eyes landed on him. He had an arm around Hyuuga-kun as they raised their free hands up in the air, laughing together in glee. She was so so proud of him for making this happen, for leading their team.

Tsubasa let go of Hyuuga-kun and turned around, looking up towards her direction. His eyes lit up even more when he found her and raised both of his hands. She laughed once more and clamped her hands together, sharing his happiness.

The ceremony began for them to get their awards, each of them on the field getting a medal. Every one of them clapped for their teammates, glad for their achievements. But nothing could beat seeing them being handed the trophy and watching them raise it up in the air.

Suddenly, Tsubasa ran from the field towards the stands, handing the trophy to Noriko-chan. What was he doing? They were going to be doing the victory lap soon. She turned around to see everyone having the same confused expression like she had.

"What are you doing?" she screamed over to him as she leaned over the railing, making sure that she didn't put any pressure on her foot. Her other teammates were beside her, expecting Tsubasa's answer.

"Picking you guys up of course," he shouted back.

"Why?" she asked. "You guys are going to be doing the victory lap soon. Go back to the field."

"I don't care!" he said. "All of you sitting here were part of the team just as much as we are. You deserve to be on the field too."

When she saw the look in his eyes, she knew that he wasn't going to argue about this, so she dropped it.

"We can't exactly come down there quickly," she told him. "It'll take a while."

"Then jump over the railings," he suggested.

"Are you crazy?" she shrieked. "Do you want us to get injured?"

"It's not that high Sanae," he retorted.

Okay, yes, it's not that tall but still.

"Do you want me to break my foot?" she screamed.

He rolled his eyes at her as if she just asked the most ridiculous question.

"You're not jumping obviously," he said. "Someone's going to drop you in my arms."

"What? No! That's dang-"

"Do you trust me?" he interrupted, his eyes hardening. She suddenly felt herself run out of breath. The only time his ever get like that was when he was serious about something, and she couldn't describe what it did to her exactly.

Gulping she answered, "With all my heart."

Then he beamed before turning his attention from her. "Throw her at me Taki."

"You got it, Boss," Taki-kun saluted.

She widened her eyes as she felt Taki-kun slipped his hands under her knees and took her in his arms.

"W-wait a minute!" she panicked. "Throw!? You didn't say I'm going to be thrown! You said I was going to be dro- I swear to god Taki Hajime if you throw me I'll- AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"My, what a great tournament this has been to watch. All these youth players were magnificent on the field. I can't believe I managed to be one of the people to be able to see such talented players play."

"Agreed! And nothing could compare with how our champions, Japan, did throughout the tournament. With their amazing opening match against Uzbekistan to their final game against South Korea, you have to admit that they deserved this victory."

"Speaking of Japan. Captain Tsubasa Oozora seemed to be rushing towards the stands, where the other members of the Japanese team were seated. He seemed to need something? Sanae Nakazawa –who showed us two of the best plays ever in the group stages by the way- is having some kind of heated conversation with him. I wonder what seems to be going on."

"It looks like Oozora's trying to convince her of something."

"Convince her? Of wh- What is Hajime Taki doing? He just started to carry her in his arms."

"Well, I talked with Nakazawa one time and apparently her teammates didn't like her trying to walk with her crutches. Remember she got injured in the match against China. She told me that her team pitied her because she wasn't good to using crutches, and instead they took turns carrying her from places as her mode of transportation. Maybe that's what they- Oh my god, did he just throw her towards Oozora?"

"Oh yes he did, Cara, yes he did. My, this team just doesn't stop surprising me. Look at Nakazawa's traumatized face."

"Poor girl, what do these boys have against her? Now, it seems like Oozora's trying to have her sit on his shoulders?"

"Look, the other members of Japan seemed to be jumping from the stands onto the field as they followed Oozora run towards the others in the middle. Watch Nakazawa closely, she looks like she didn't know what was happening."

"Well Alex, we don't know what's happening with them either."

"Oh wait, they're passing Nakazawa a flag. They seemed to be talking with each other. Nakazawa seemed to be against whatever they were conversing about but Oozora seemed to have her agree to it? Oh! I see now. How nice of them."

"I agree! Look at Oozora lead the team in their victory lap with Nakazawa on his shoulders, the flag waving behind them as she raised it high up in the air. Aw! That looks magnificent."

"And you could just see how happy they seemed to be as they run, their whole team complete on the field. This team has to be one of the closest teams in the whole competition."

"One of the best as well. I can't wait to see them again back in action this summer."

"Uh hmm."

"Well that's it for our coverage of the U-18 Mixed Gendered Asian Cup as Japan celebrates its victory as its first champion."

"Thanks for watching and Congratulations Japan."

End Chapter

AN: and switch off TV. thank god, we're over this arc. it is kind of rushed, but hey i'll take what i can get. with this, i can actually write what i want to happen, which includes a complete overhaul of world youth. i might use some scenes from the manga, but since i'll be using the FIFA world rankings and comparing both the men's team and the women's team, matches will really be different. they'll be huge changes from now on. adding to the lot i'll be showing the time between the end of the second round and the start of the cup, then it wont really be the world youth anymore and be more AUish than before.

but first, let's take a break from soccer. let them be teenagers for a while.

so yeah, im done with this chapter. hope you all liked it and please review! thank you

see you soon.