The man of her dreams: Chapter 3 - The return of the devil
This was a difficult one...
title: The man of her dreams
rated: T
(I'm not sure about the rating since this is my first real FF, but I guess it's T.)
summary: In their third year Mamori suddenly finds herself being soppy on a new student. Meanwhile Hiruma has work to do in America. How will he react when he returns?
-Return of the king devil-
One week passed without anything worth mentioning. Mamori had managed to say “Hi” to Sakamoto but she still did not talk much to him and was shy in his presence. She found herself rather daydreaming instead of acting which wasn’t her style actually. But she didn’t care.
After the weekend Mamori was greeted by gunfire when she approached her class room.
‘So he is finally back’ she thought.
They hadn’t met since their last team meeting before the holidays and she vaguely wondered how they would deal with each other now that they were no longer team mates. She was startled when she realized that she was actually nervous.
‘I’ll have to be cautious’ she reminded herself, thinking of Sakamoto.
She entered the classroom. There he was, causing trouble as expected. A glance to her left showed her a pretty shocked Sakamoto. ‘That’s right, he hasn’t known Deimon’s demon until now,’ she thought. Some students nearly collided with her on their flight for the exit.
“Fucking fatty! Why did you let them stay without a proper lineman?! They won’t even fucking make it to the quarter finales with a crappy line like that!” He shot at the ceiling again. Kurita cringed but smiled apologetically at his old friend. He had long become accustomed to that kind of behaviour. Mamori eyed the situation and knew immediately that nothing had changed. Strangely enough it relieved her.
“Welcome back Hiruma-kun,” she greeted him from his back. Some students who cowered under their desks looked pleadingly up at her.
“Hello fucking ex-manager” he responded without taking his eyes away from Kurita.
“Hiruma-kun, I think you made your point clear. And it was not Kurita’s job to take care of a lineman for the team,” she calmly went on.
This made Hiruma finally turn around to face her.
“And what about you” he stared hard at her.
“What about me?” she glowered back. “Suzuna-chan will be a great manager for the team. She only needed some… persuasion”
“Kekeke, nice going fucking Anezaki” he cackled.
Mamori had to smile at that comment. She was proud of her powers of persuasion and glad he acknowledged her doings. She felt safe enough to... It was only for a second but it didn’t escape his perception. She glimpsed at Sakamoto. She couldn’t help it, she had to make sure he was alright. But this instinct gave her away. From the corner of her eye she saw how Hiruma’s eyebrows shot up. He didn’t even have to follow her glance. She knew that he remembered who was cowering in that very corner. She should have been more cautious. But it didn’t matter anymore. He had noticed. Stupid mothering instincts! She inadvertently tensed up and gulped. The way he stared at her made her feel very uncomfortable.
‘He reads me like a book’ she immediately thought, her heart pounding hard against her chest.
She mustered all of her courage and stared back. She would not give in so easily. And then -all of a sudden- Hiruma sat down and started reading a football magazine. Mamori gazed at him incredulously. Ako and Sara had emerged from the shelter of their desks, looking confused. She ignored them for the moment and sat down herself, her heart still beating madly, and tried to calm down. Later she would explain to them what had happened.
Nobody else seemed to suspect something although she was not sure about Musashi and Kurita. Class started and the students settled down. Those who had fled hesitantly returned to their seats while glancing nervously at the blonde demon.
Hiruma still seemed to be absorbed in his magazine but Mamori knew better. Again she was unable to concentrate during the lesson. Feeling the devil’s gaze on her she did not dare to make a false move. She imagined a poster decorated with pink hearts and “Discipline Committee Member being soppy on new student” written on it and felt sick.
The days passed and she became more uncertain with every day. Had Hiruma really noticed something? He did neither blackmail nor tease her and she found it rather strange. Ako and Sara thought that she was overreacting. Maybe she was…
‘No, he knows for sure’ she assured herself ‘I saw it in his eyes. But what is he waiting for?’ She decided to not let her guard down.
Every time he was close she unconsciously tensed up. She immediately prepared for nasty remarks that might come and made herself ready for any attempt from him to blackmail her. But neither of it happened. However, she knew him well enough to not become careless.
Days passed and suddenly the day of the party was there and she hadn’t asked Sakamoto yet. She had completely forgotten about it, being too preoccupied with the possible intentions of a certain guy.
“You said everyone will be there, so he will be there, too. I’ll meet him at the party then” Mamori said when Ako and Sara insisted that she should ask Sakamoto out. It was Friday, the day of the party, and they waited for their last lesson to end. Since it was arts they were able to talk without disturbing the class. Their task was to invent their own version of a Picasso painting and Mamori was doing surprisingly well by her standards. The whole situation had agitated her and she was unable to concentrate on drawing properly. The kindergarten drawings that would generally appear on her paper looked like unidentifiable abstract figures.
“But do you want to go there alone?” Ako asked concerned, “Sara brings Kaiko and I have a date as well…”
“I’ll be ok. I will ask Sena…or Suzuna or someone else from the team.” Mamori quickly responded. She hadn’t expected that her two friends both would have dates but she didn't show her surprise. She didn’t want to make them worry. “Maybe the team will all go together, that would be fun” she mused.
The thought of joining the Devilbats for the party excited her. She would have preferred to go with Sakamoto though, but she didn’t want to ask him out last-minute. And being with the whole team again would be great.
Mamori hurried to the club house right after the lesson had ended. She did not know if Sena had cancelled practise for the sake of the party. With any luck, he had not. When she approached the practise field her heart sank. No one was training and the club house appeared to be quiet. She opened the door with a sigh and was about to let herself fall onto one of the stools when she was met by a surprising sight. Kurita, Hiruma and Sena were sitting behind a table and talked to a nervous, big teenager, obviously a first year.
The rest of the team, however, seemed not to be there.
She jumped when suddenly someone screamed her name and hugged her. Suzuna had been sitting in a corner until Mamori entered the scene and was now embracing the former manager.
“You came to help us?” the small girl beamed at her.
“Ahhh… Well actually…”
“Take a seat, fucking ma- ex-manager and shut up. We have work to do here”, Hiruma shouted from behind. The familiar situation almost made him forget that they technically weren’t part of the team anymore.
The poor first year was sweating hard. This was all just too much for him. How had he ended here anyway? Someone had grabbed him from behind and told him that he would make a formidable lineman and here he was, sitting in front of a friendly giant, a scary vampire and a small boy who seemed unable to decide whether to be self-confident or insecure.
Mamori did as she was told and sat down. Although she was dying to ask why Hiruma and Kurita were there she kept quiet. Besides she already knew the answer deep inside. The team needed their help. Sena was a good team captain but sometimes it needed more drastic actions to recruit new player, she had learned that. Judged by the confused expression of the new guy he had been dragged there without explanations.
The young boy called Akamatsu Hiroki turned out to be a former rugby player who had recently moved from Autralia to Japan because his parents wanted to return home. When he found out why exactly he had been brought to the club house he was delighted. He had not heard of the Deimon Devilbats or Eyeshield 21 because he hadn’t been interested in any other sports but he could tell from the rules that it was related to rugby and that suited him. He promised to attend the next team practise on Monday.
“Ah, if you like you can accompany us this evening. There will be a party from Oujou White Knights School and whole Deimon will be there,” Kurita suggested.
“Yes, that would be nice” the new lineman smiled.
“That’s why I actually came here,” Mamori confessed. “Can I join you, too?”
“Kekeke, fucking manager did not invite some special boy for this event?” Hiruma cackled.
Mamori’s cheeks started to burn. So this was the moment he chose. She had expected this to happen sooner or later but she never thought he would confront her with this in front of their friends. He even seemed to have overheard her conversations with Ako and Sara during their arts lesson. Would he go so far as to humiliate her in front of the team? She felt anger growing inside her which replaced her fear of becoming the scorn of the school.
‘Wait, this is exactly what he wants!’ she warned herself.
Instead of giving in to her anger she quickly smoothed herself down and swallowed her irritation.
“No, I did not invite someone nor was I asked to go with someone” she answered as calmly as possible.
“Of course you can join us” Kurita exclaimed before Hiruma could think of a retort that would get her into a fuss. “This will be fun” The large ex-lineman beamed. “Taki, Monta, Komusubi and me will pick you up then. Sena can tell us the way. We’ll meet the rest of the team at the party.”
“Won’t Sena come with us, then?” Mamori asked, looking questionably at the running back.
“Well, actually I wanted to go alone with Suzuna…” he said a little bit embarrassed.
Suzuna blushed at this, smiling.
“Oh…” Mamori said. She had no idea the two would end up dating. She had rather thought of them as… siblings. It was strange… why hadn’t she noticed anything? Now that she thought about it, it was obvious…
“Well then I’ll go with Kurita and Co.” she said, smiling reassuringly.
She dared to look at the blonde demon who was typing on his laptop again. He had finally revealed that he knew about her secret and now acted as if nothing had happened. She did not get him at all. Despite the warning voice screaming in her head she still felt the urge to ask him: “What about you, Hiruma-kun?”
The former quarterback looked up from his laptop.
“Why do you fucking ask, want me to pick you up as well? Aren’t the Fucking Fatty and his gang enough guards for her Highness?” he smirked at her. “Maybe we should ask some of the crappy boys of your damn all-time fan club including a special someone if they would carry you all the way to the party on a sedan chair, kekeke.”
Mamori felt frustration rising inside her. She just wanted to make sure that he did not stay behind, wanted to know if he would go to the party at all and he was making fun of her again. No, it was not only fun, he was being mean. She clenched her fists, trembling with anger. He had hurt her on purpose. This was no one of his attempts to pick up a quarrel with her - this was about making her feel bad! She glared at him, hating herself for being so sensitive. They had argued a lot in the past, but it had never… it had never been this painful. What had she done to him to deserve this hatred? Tears welled up in her eyes. All the tension that had built up inside her during the week was about to break out. She felt unable to restrain herself and didn’t care about it any longer.
“Forget that I even asked. I keep on mistaking you for a human being with feelings” she snapped at him, holding her tears with all her might. “Excuse me for caring about you.”
She turned around and stomped for the exit, almost colliding with Musashi, who entered the club room in the very moment in search for his friends.
“See you at 8pm then” Kurita shouted after her a bit concerned.
“What was that about? And what’s with that dumfounded look?” the former kicker addressed Hiruma.
“Kekeke you’re seeing things, old man. Maybe you should get your eyes checked” the quarterback gave back after quickly recovering his poker face.
‘Did she just say…?’
He had stared at his leaving ex-manager wide-eyed after her last statement.
‘The old man better shut his fucking mouth about that’ Hiruma thought. ‘And why am I surprised anyway, the mother hen cares for everyone on the team, doesn’t she?’
He was annoyed that Musashi had seen him like this, but what angered him even more was this feeling inside him that had been awakened by her words. Fucking hope died hard.
“Erm, can I leave now?” Hiroki asked, visibly feeling awkward. He sensed the upcoming of topics that were far too personal for him and he was not ready to listen to any of them yet.
“Of course, I’ll come with you” Kurita answered and followed the boy outside. The redent incident left the ex-lineman feeling sorrowful. He had often witnessed his two friends fighting but this time it seemed worse than before. Someone had been really hurt and that had not happened in the past.
“We have to go, too. See you this evening” Suzuna hastily said. Sena had been giving her signs that they should leave. He looked pretty upset.
“Bye” Sena added and headed for the exit.
Musashi stayed intentionally behind and eyed his old friend. Hiruma watched his laptop screen more intensely than normal. The former kicker could tell that he was trying hard to ignore his last encounter with the girl and he considered that someone needed to help him along.
“So what do you think about this Sakamoto Masaru guy and Anezaki-san?” he finally asked. He was no friend of beating around the bush.
“Tche” was Hiruma’s response to that. He did not want to think about that, let alone talk about it. It made him feel uncomfortable… he didn’t want to admit to anyone including himself that it hurt him. But it really did and it was much more painful than he had expected. He did not understand why he felt this way which frustrated him even more. He was not interested in a love life or in romance. Stuff like that was useless in American Football so it was useless to him… still… when he had noticed that she had a crush on the stupid pretty boy he felt stung. Her last question at him had been a very tempting invitation to mock her. But he had overdone it. Perhaps he wanted to hurt her like she had hurt him…
“I guessed so” Musashi chuckled, interrupting the devil's train of thoughts. “It’s not too late you know …for you to step in I mean.”
“And for what stupid reason should I do that fucking old man?” Hiruma forced one of his devilish grins on his face.
Stepping in… what was the damn geezer thinking? Should he threaten her to forget the guy? What for? He did not want to date her or something. She was free to do whatever she wanted to do. He would only step in if it concerned American Football. Everything else didn’t matter to him. There was only this small stupid-ass part of him that kept hoping…
He reckoned his chances for the first time. The last incident had changed his success rate, hadn’t it? He guessed that his chances were 50:50… this wasn’t actually that bad... He hadn’t thought about that before, had tried to avoid the subject. But a few minutes ago she had more or less asked for him to interfere. She had stated that she cared. This was a start. Maybe the geezer was right and he should stir up the situation a bit…
Suddenly his grin wasn’t forced anymore. Why had he been hesitating? If he felt like she should be his then maybe he should make her his. No denying anymore. This was another game… and it was no use playing it without the desire to win.
“I know you don’t want to hear my opinion but I think she would be happier with… someone else.” The old looking man finished and got up. “I’ll leave you to your thoughts now… See you at the party” he said and left.
Hiruma responded with a grunt. An evil smile played over his lips. ‘She damn better should be’ he thought.
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Hiroki means big tree, fitting for a lineman ;)
I chose Australia because a lot of Japanese go there on holiday and as far as I know some stay.
In my first version Hiruma was too OOC.. so I changed the ending. This makes it more difficult to write the next parts because I lack some ideas but I like it better this way. Hope you think so, too.
I nicked the title from LofR xD It suddenly came to my mind and I thought it would fit.
I had a hard time writing their inner thoughts :/ I'm bad at this
link to Chapter 4: lila-libelle.livejournal.com/2367.html