• Disclaimer: I don't own Eyeshield 21 or it's characters.

    Indomitable Spirit

    Epilogue: A blonde, spiky haired teen leaned against the white wall of the infirmary room, arms folded across his chest, a sign that he was in denial over something, and that he was closed off from all else. He didn’t need to be there. He shouldn’t be there. But there he stood, staring down at the single bed in the room, or more specifically, the slight figure of a long, dark haired high school student. It wasn’t the first time he saw a scene like this, and for almost the exact same reasons.

    His face was twisted up in frustration and anger, and his uniform smelled of dirt and sweat. It was obvious he wasn’t happy about the injured person in the bed and almost seemed to be angry at himself…for some reason. Every now and again he’d glance up at the clock watching it tick down to an unknown deadline. Eventually, he pushed himself off the wall and approached the bed. Leaning over it, he muttered something to the prone figure.

    A few moments later, the door to the room opened and in walked 16 people, all of whom were wearing identical uniforms. “Hiruma, half-time’s over. It’s time to get back to the game,” a tall man with a Mohawk stated.

    The blonde didn’t move at first, but continued to stare at the prone figure. “Don’t worry Hiruma, we won’t lose this game,” a really short spiky haired boy said confidently.

    “We’ll win this, Max!” another short boy shouted.

    “Come on, let’s go knock them down a few pegs,” a red head declared.

    “Ah...Ahh….Ahhh!” three of them shouted one right after the other.

    “We win this, for us, and for her,” a tall brown haired girl said calmly.

    Finally, the blonde turned around to face them and an evil smile was on his face. “Heh…we’re not just going to win. We’re going to…KILL THEM!”

    The whole room erupted with a shout of, “YA-HA!”

    “We can’t let all our hard work from this year go to waste,” The short, spiky haired youth thought staring at the figure in bed. “We’ve come so far… with you two right there with us this whole time.”

    *****************************************************************

    8 months prior………

    It was after the match against Ojo White Knights, and everyone was leaving. Hiruma Youichi, as well of the rest of his team, had finished showing their respects to the opposing team who had defeated them. Oh well, it was only the spring tournament. They still had the fall. That would be their last chance…. His last chance. His and his biggest linebacker. But with their new player, Eyeshield 21, it was possible. If he could just get a few more good players…..

    He felt a vibration in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He recognized the number and frowned lightly. What could they want at a time like this? He pressed the answer button before holding it to his ear.

    “Yeah?”

    “Moshi moshi, You-you-chan,” a high pitched voice exclaimed from the other side of the phone. “You were great out there! You guys actually scored this year.”

    He pushed the off button of the phone before she could continue. Seconds later it rang again and he turned it on. “This had better be good,” he grumbled into the phone.

    “My apologies, but she actually did have a reason for calling you,” a slightly deeper, but still feminine voice stated from the other line. Look over at 2 o’ clock.”

    He glanced over in the specified direction and spotted a tall girl with long dull colored hair turning away from the field. He’d never seen her before and was curious as to why she was there. “Info,” he murmured.

    “Well, she’s the new transfer student who’ll start on Monday,” she explained. “Other than that there isn’t much. Her entire family seems to be shrouded in mystery.”

    A smile appeared on his face, “Well then, I want you to get all the information you can on this kid. I refuse to have anyone in this school that I don’t have leverage on.”

    “I’ll get right on it,” the voice said, and the line went dead.

    *************************************************************

    “Hi, my name’s Saki Takeda,” the new girl greeted with a bow to the class. “Please take care of me.”

    “Saki, why not take a seat in the back behind Kobayakawa Sena,” the teacher said pointing out the empty seat.

    Saki nodded and slid into the seat in silence. The moments she sat down, she took out her book and turned to the right page. As the teacher started his lecture Saki felt like somebody was staring at her and glanced back to see three guys sitting in the very back with dangerous looks on their faces. She rolled her eyes and turned forward before spying the frightened expression on the short kid in front of her.

    “I get it…they’re glaring at this midget…not me,” she thought with a sigh. “Good…I’d hate to get into a mess this early in the school year.”

    Class went on like any other boring lesson and by the end of it Saki was thoroughly bored. Sena, the short kid in front of her, turned around a couple times to say hi but she never responded. For the next few hours she sat in the same class ignoring most approaches to her, except the odd welcome to class, or different offers to join for lunch, which she politely declined.

    When lunch arrived, Saki took her food and walked all the way to the roof before taking a seat and digging into her bento. “Another boring day in a boring school,” she muttered to herself. “Honestly, if I don’t find something to do this time around I’ll be bored out of my mind. I won’t even be able to pra…have fun at home.”

    Suddenly she had the sensation that she wasn’t alone and looked over to see another girl with short blonde hair with a pair of binoculars held up.

    “Wh-what the….?” Saki muttered looking at the girl in confusion. “Uh…is she bird watching or something?” She glanced around but didn’t see any birds in the immediate vicinity. Then just to check, she raised her hand and moved it up and down.

    With sharp abruptness, the girl’s head snapped in Saki’s direction. Then inch by inch she scooted forward until she was right up in Saki’s face, staring intently, binoculars still in place.

    “Uh….” Saki breathed as the girl got increasingly closer. When the girl had reached her, Saki started to feel really creped out and reached up, pulling down the binoculars to see the girls face. “Um…what…”

    “Hm…. By your skin tone… I’d say, a mixture of Irish, Caucasian, German, French… maybe a little Yugaslavian, and japanese… in other words… a foreign mutt.” The sad part was, this was all said with zero ill intention.

    “Do I really look that foreign?” Saki wondered to herself. “I mean…my dad has some Japanese in him so I figured that’d come more in to play…but I guess those genes just got pushed to the background.” She shook her head to clear her head of the shock and asked, “Um…is there something I can help you with?”

    “I dunno,” the girl said lowering her binoculars to reveal a pair of bright baby blues. “Can you help me with something?”

    “Uh…” Saki was completely speechless by her complete…lack of common sense. “What do you want?”

    “Well, first off, I want world peace, but that’s a pretty unoriginal wish if you think about it… second of all, Animal rights should be acknowledged…” the girl said with an oddly serious look.

    “No I mean…what do want from me?” Saki clarified rubbing her forehead in frustration.

    “Huh? What do you have to give?” the girl asked.

    “Okay…I’m done with this,” Saki muttered before getting to her feet and walking to the other side of the roof. Then she sat back down and continued to eat her food while trying to ignore the girl’s gaze.

    “Haha…I can see you,” she laughed loudly.

    Saki grumbled and moved behind the little addition to the top in order to hide. “Geeze what’s wrong with that kid? She’s got no sense at all does she,” she muttered as she tried to eat in peace.

    Suddenly she felt something wet drip on top of her head and she looked up to see the girl hovering over her….drooling.

    Saki leapt to her feet and moved as far away from her as possible. “What the heck are you doing?” she demanded as she tried to get the saliva off her head.

    “That looks really good,” the girl said staring intently at the food.

    “If I give it to you will you leave me alone?” Saki asked, trying not to sound as irritated as she was feeling.

    “My name's Momo. What’s yours?” the girl asked suddenly.

    “Eh…it’s…nonya,” Saki replied coldly trying to give the girl a hint.

    “Nonya what?” Momo asked curiously.

    “Nonya business now beat it,” Saki replied.

    “Pleased to meet you Nonya-chan,” Momo said holding out her hand.

    “No that’s not…oh never mind. Look just go away,” Saki said losing control over her hidden emotions.

    “Oh, you don’t carry much around in your bag huh?” Momo asked sifting through it. Wait…. How…. When did she get it????

    “Hey that’s my bag!” Saki exclaimed snatching it back while visibly gritting her teeth. “That’s invasion of privacy you know…what are you doing going through my stuff anyway? You have no right to…”

    “Why are you wearing a wig?” Momo suddenly asked tugging on Saki’s hair. “Are you bald? Ooh, are you in the Yakuza undercover?”

    “That’s…it’s just a hobby,” Saki retorted smacking her hand away.

    “Oh so you’re a transvestite,” Momo guessed.

    Saki’s eye twitched a bit and in her mind she really wanted smack her over the head to make her shut up but held her temper anyway. “Look it was nice meeting you but I’m going back to class…I don’t want to be late,” she finally muttered after several calming breaths.

    Saki began to hurriedly walk away until she felt something grab the back of her school uniform and looked to see Momo looking up at her. “Now what?”

    “You dropped this,” Momo said holding up....

    Saki’s eyes widened as she saw her cell phone in the girl’s hand.

    “When did I…?” Saki wondered staring at the phone in her hand. “I’m pretty sure it was in my pocket until just a second ago.” She reached out and took the phone from Momo feeling as if she just met someone who was insanely clever in her own right. “Thanks,” she murmured now fully suspicious of the girl. Then she pocketed the phone and rushed off down the stairs without a backward glance.

    “Kekekeke, she’s pretty interesting, that new kid,” a voice said from behind, once Saki had gone.

    “Ah, You-You-chan!” Momo exclaimed happily upon seeing who it was and hugging him around the middle.

    “What have I told you about calling me that?” the guy demanded as he ground his knuckles against her skull.

    “Owowowow!” she exclaimed in pain. “Gomen!”

    “It’s Hiruma…that’s the only name I want to hear out of your mouth when speaking to me,” the guy ordered.

    “Whatever you say, You-You-chan,” Momo agreed with a salute.

    “I just told you not to call me that,” Hiruma shouted grinding his knuckles against her head again.

    “Owowowow! Wari!” Momo cried until he ceased his torture.

    “So, down to business,” Hiruma said taking a seat. “What did you get from that little encounter?”

    “Well, she’s part Japanese, but mostly a lot of other things,” Momo said suddenly becoming very straightforward. “She acts all shy, but really, she’s got quite a temper. And from what I heard, she’s bored and unhappy with her home life. And also…” Momo held up her cell phone with an incoming number on the screen. “I got her cell.”

    “Kekekeke….good job,” Hiruma laughed. “That’s why I hired you. Now what do you think about possible leverage?”

    “Hm… that might take a while,” she said honestly. “She’s a tough cookie.”

    “Heh…but one that you’ll crumble in no time,” Hiruma chuckled evilly. “As soon as you get it…let me know.”

    “Ha~i!” Momo said with another salute. “By the way… I was thinking for payment…”

    She didn’t get much farther as Hiruma’s boot landed in her back. “Your payment is I don’t sick Cerberus on you,” he said harshly. “Now get to class!”

    “You-you-chan is so mean!” Momo cried as she ran off only to get smacked in the back of the head by Saki’s left behind bento box.

    “Don’t think you’re off the hook, suteneko!” he shouted. Watching her leave he scoffed. “Even after all this time, she still hasn’t learned.”

    ****************************************

    LA: Yeah, so that's the start. If any of you out there could please tell me what you think or give us any suggestions to make the beginning better to where it makes more sense, that would be fantastic. Oh, and as a sidenote, 'suteneko' means 'stray cat'. Thank you for reading this and please review!

    Hiruma: *cocks his gun* Review or it's straight to hell! YA-HA!

    LA: I don't think you need to go that far. >_>'