Life As Teikoku's Manager (an Inazuma Eleven f.f.)

Pomegranate Eyes

        "Tell him Sakurai Shizumi is here to see him. He'll open the door, trust me," I said, my voice oozing with fake confidence that I had forced. She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what I was thinking. Then finally when she thought there was no harm in it, she shrugged and gave me a I'm-telling-you-this-ain't-gonna-work look then shouted in the same annoying perky voice as before, "She says her name is Sakurai Shizumi!" There was a pause, then Kidou said, "Let her in." I couldn't help but give the shocked and glaring maid a smirk before slipping in the door.

        The room was the same room I woke up in after I fainted during our match with Senbayama. On the same couch I was lying before was Kidou sitting curled up hugging his knees. His goggles were lying on the table. That meant that for the first time I would see his eyes. I was curious, yet I also felt a little guilty, as if I was invading his personal space or seeing something I wasn't supposed to see.

        For a while none of us spoke. Then he broke the silence. "You can sit down if you want," he mumbled. I sat down stiffly on the other couch, knowing that he probably wanted his space right now. There was another awkward silence. It's now or never. I took a breath, then blurted out the question I had been holding in. "Do you hate me?"

        There was no reply. Finally, Kidou said something that was too quiet for me to hear. "Can you repeat that?" I asked gently, afraid that I was going to scare him. He seemed so fragile right now, not broken like after our match with Zeus, but fragile as in easy to crack.

        "No," he repeated, louder this time. "Then why are you angry at me?" I asked. "It's not you, it's me," he mumbled.

        "Care to explain why?"

        "No."

        I found no words to say after his flat reply. We sat there in silence. But something was nagging at the back of my head. It was the last piece to complete this puzzle I didn't know how to solve. Something Gouenji said earlier.... I remember now. Those words echoed in my head like the click of a key opening a door that had beein locked for over a century. At least I wasn't the one who broke his heart. Did he mean that, could it be, that Kidou liked me? As in more than a friend? I always thought he did all of that just for pure entertainment. But there were times it didn't seem like that too.

        My mind flashed to the time he took me by surprise and stole my first kiss. Then it flitted over to when he ran over to me during our match with Senbayama. Finally, my brain flashed to his frantic expression that had been burned in my mind, both after the match with Zeus and just before I fainted.

        Another thing was pulling at my mind, but I couldn't pinpoint what. No, it wasn't exactly a what. More like a memory of a feeling. It was....jealousy. I remember now. That day, when Gouenji led me and Kidou to the riverbank. Kidou had told his sister to be safe, and I had felt a pang of jealousy. That gave me an idea.

        "Ne, Kidou-san?" I asked. "Mm?" he replied without turning my way, though I could have sworn I saw his eyes flicker this way. "Do you like Otonashi-san? As in more than a sister?" He looked surprised, and seemed to think over the question for a few seconds. "Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know," he finally replied. "See? That's the same response I gave when you asked whether I like Hinata back," I told him. He was a little surprised, then thought it over, then frowned again. "That's different. She's my sister," he muttered. "So?" I asked, "You lost contact with her for half of your life, then met up later when you were both old enough to have those feelings."

        Kidou looked up at me, and for the first time, I saw his eyes for real. They were like two drops of blood on snow, two rubies in a pile of gold, and just like mine. Our pomegranate eyes met, and at that second, I realized just how much Kidou meant to me. Like that saying goes "You only miss the sun when it starts to snow, you only miss him when you let him go".

        I could almost see the click going on in Kidou's brain as a dark shadow grew over his eyes and his mouth curved into that devious grin I knew all too well. He leaned over to grab his goggles off the table, then snapped  them on, reminding me of a mafia boss slipping on his elegant white silk gloves."Say, Shizumi-chan?" he looked into my eyes and asked innocently, but I could detect the edge of myschief in his voice, "Will you make a deal with me?"

        I'm sorry, this chapter was so lame and sappy and cliche, but I especially liked the title. But I had no idea on what to write for an apology scene without going OOC, so I guess that's that. (Gouenji's might be even lamer, but bear with me please!) Next chapter may be short because it was supposed to be part of this chapter, but it got too long.

I was thinking of going to an anime convention dressed up as Shizumi, what do you think? I'll have to make the Teikoku uniform shirt, then buy a pleated skirt and red contact lenses.