A/N: This story is something I've written a long time ago and I also posted it on another site once. I've rewritten it and posted it here because I'm trying to get over my writer's block. It's not really romance, just a little crush thing of the adorable Toramaru. Also, Fuku calls Yuuka 'Dearest!'

Criticisms (especially grammatical and spelling errors) are highly appreciated~!

PS: This has nothing to do with my story, The Origin of the Flames!

Disclaimer: I don't own IE or any of its characters!

= At Gouenji-san's Place =

It's a bright Saturday morning at Raimon Junior High. Like normal Saturdays all of the clubs are active, especially the soccer club, that is still as noisy as it can ever be. The raging soccerballs, the calm commands from their strategist Kidou Yuuto, the cheerful comments of the team's captain and main goalkeeper Endou Mamoru, the moans and screams of the new players as they are being closely watched by their cold-err cool coach Kudou Nichiya, and the ever-so-helpful comments of the senpais of the club.

From a normal person's perspective, the scene is actually just a normal day at the soccer club, but for some club members, namely Utsunomiya Toramaru, it is one of the worst days of his life. Why you ask? Well, that's because the team's ace striker and his role model Gouenji Shuuya is absent today. He has a fever and the blunet believes he's responsible for it. He's responsible for endangering the life of his hero, of the very reason he has unlocked his potential, of the very reason he has enjoyed soccer again. How can he do that to someone he owes so much? Who knows when he'll be back? Who knows if he'll ever come back? All this thinking is making him crazy, putting him on edge, and its taking all of his focus and attention. And having his focus and attention taken only means that he isn't able to participate well on their practice. In fact, he already missed 4 goals today and the supposedly fifth one just comes flying right onto his face.

"Toramaru-kun!" Yells the concerned Kino Aki who comes running to him as soon as he fell on the ground. "Are you alright?!"

She gets an "Ouch!" as a response from the poor first year that she and the other members help to get up. Coach Kudou orders him out of the field. Ending him in a situation where he is now getting treated by Aki herself. The other managers, however, are told to look after the other teams, namely second, third and fourth, since the club has gotten bigger.

"Toramaru-kun, I know you're blaming yourself for Gouenji-kun's absence today and I also know that that's the reason you can't concentrate on practice," she softly states.

"But it is my fault!" he reasons. "Gouenji-san wouldn't have a fever if he didn't lend me his umbrella yesterday!"

"Toramaru-kun, you're exaggerating. It's just a fever and I'm sure that it's not even that high since, you know, Gouenji-kun's father is a doctor. He might just be really cautious. It was Gouenji-kun's choice to lend you that umbrella and you know him, caring for his teammates like that," she says with the usual kind tone on her voice.

"But still!" he tries to argue. He just can't forgive himself for being the cause of his absence. He knows more than anyone that the platinum blond doesn't like missing practice. Hell, he'd even go here to watch them even with an injury!

From this answer, Aki knows that she won't be able to lift the young striker's spirit with words alone anymore and that's when a light bulb suddenly appears above her head.

"Toramaru-kun, why don't you visit Gouenji-kun at his house instead. Then, you can personally apologize and return his umbrella."

From these words, Toramaru's face brightens and he suddenly feels like training again. In fact, he just ran all the way to their coach like he wasn't being treated at all earlier, Aki sweatdrops but still smile at the now enthusiastic Toramaru. Coach Kudou, upon seeing him, lets him play again and unlike earlier, he's actually shooting goals like there's no tomorrow.

"I'm glad that he'd become energetic but if he continues at that pace he might end up on a more serious situation than Gouenji," Kidou says to no one in particular, looking at the energized Toramaru. Aki hears him and just nervously smiles at the dreadlocked male's observation. "How did you got him back to his feet anyways?" He asks to the said brunette who's bringing the first team players their drinks.

"Well, I just told him to see Gouenji-kun," she explains while handing Kidou his drink.

"You mean to go to Gouenji's apartment?!" He says widening his eyes, of which no one can see because of his goggles, with his neutral tone of voice.

"I-Is there something wrong with that, Kidou-kun?!" She asks hesitant after 'somehow' seeing the gamemaker's reaction.

"No. It's nothing..." he answers while crossing his arms, like usual, with a matching shine from his goggles.

Toramaru has never been this hyped before. So hyped that his energy is even higher than Endou's. Well, why won't he be? Not only that he won't be guilty of anything anymore but he'll be able to see his senpai's house for the first time! Add to that the fact that he's already on his way right now. He just can't stop imagining what will his idol's room look like.

"Toramaru... Oi! Are you listening?!" Says the annoyed Kidou who volunteers to accompany him to Gouenji's place.

"K-Kidou-san! Hai!" He responds by unconsciously straightening his body and gripping the orange umbrella on his hand. He totally forgot that Kidou has been telling him something about 'stuff' that he shouldn't do about some things, or atleast that's what he thought he said.

"Then, it's great that you understand," he calmly states, not suspicious at all. "We're here.." showing a big apartment in front of them.

"Eeeeehh?! Gouenji-san lives in an apartment?!" His eyes widen at the surprise.

"You didn't know?! Ugh, doesn't matter I have to go now," he says rather quickly. "Just don't get too close to his sister if you don't want to get in serious trouble."

"Eh?! What do you-" Kidou has entirely disappeared before he even finishes.

'So fast!' He thought. "And what does he mean by that? Isn't Yuuka-chan just 8 years old? How can she cause any trouble?" He wonders entirely forgetting about the strategist's inhumane exit.

"K-Konichiwa! M-My name's Toramaru. Pardon the intrusion!" He greets nervously while bowing his head quickly, he's a little too nervous that he even forgets to say his last name.

"Ohh.. Nice to see you again, Toramaru-kun. I'm Fuku. Come on in," she greets back with a warm smile and shows him inside.

"H-Hai!" He answers whilst following.

"It's really nice of you to visit Shuuya-san and return his umbrella but I don't think he can see you right now," she starts while giving the boy an orange juice, who's now sitting at the sofa. "His fever is really high. I think it's because he came home soaking wet yesterday. He said he accidentally left his umbrella at school, though it's really unusual for him to forget things. It's really not a best time for the master, his father, to be in a conference out of town, too."

"I-I see..." he says after swallowing nervously. 'Aki-san was totally wrong... And I can't believe Gouenji-san lied to them for my sake!' He thought to himself making him feel even more guilty than before.

"Fuku-san! Telephone call for you!" Says the young twintailed brunette who storms to the living room where the two are talking. "Hai. Excuse me, Toramaru-kun," she bows to the polite visitor.

Toramaru recognizes the little girl right away. He even remembers the moment Gouenji introduced her to all of them. It's when they left Japan to go to Liocott Island. He remembers her sweet smile, her shining onyx eyes and how cute she looked with that pink dress. He just can't help but smile, "Hello Yuuka-chan!" he finally greets her.

"Oh! Toramaru-san!" She says brimming with a bright innocent smile.

"-san is not needed," he returns her contagious smile. "I'm not actually used to being called like that," he smiles again wondering why he feels so at ease talking to the sweet girl. 'It must be because she's just a little child,' he adds in his thoughts.

"It's Toramaru-kun then!" She smiles again.

Fuku comes back to the living room distressed. "What's wrong Fuku-san?" Yuuka questions, worry tracing her face.

"I-It's just.. Dearest, there's some emergency back at home and I'm needed there right away.." she says even more worried than before.

"Eh?! Really?! Then, you should go right away!" She replies quickly very concerned.

She really is sweet and honest Toramaru lists in his thoughts again.

"But.. I can't leave you and Shuuya-san like this.." the older woman protests.

Toramaru has thought of an idea. An idea that can solve all their problems right away and more importantly, he can be of help to Gouenji-san too.

"I'll look after them until you come back," he says feeling very responsible.

"Y-You will?!" Fuku asks shocked wherein Yuuka just stares at him in awe. She seems to be smart enough to catch on what's happening despite the young age. Fuku doesn't have time to think about it, it really is an emergency but she can't just ask Shuuya-san's friend to look after the house. He's a guest here, "Isn't that going to be a bother to you, Toramaru-kun?"

"Nope! Not at all!" He says even more enthusiastic, making Fuku feel confident on relying on him and Yuuka smile.

"Thank you so much for this Toramaru-kun I promise I'll be back as soon as I can!" She tells the young man. "Be good, Dearest. Don't bother Toramaru-kun, ok?" she adds looking at the little girl while holding the door.

"Hai! Fuku-san!" She answers making the old woman smile back and leave.

"So Yuuka-chan, what do we do first?!" He asks with a warm smile making Yuuka respond by pulling him inside the house. And very energetic too he thinks again.

The two start doing all sorts of fun things. Yuuka shows him her drawings of her Onii-chan, Toramaru makes soup for his senpai and themselves while being assisted by the female Gouenji, they play board games and house, and they did a lot of things that they enjoy greatly, especially the older of the two. He has never enjoyed himself this much before. He just realized how fun it is to play with someone else who isn't older. His childhood has never fancied him. Most kids his age hates him for being too good at a lot of things, especially soccer. He even thinks now that he'd only be able to enjoy himself with people older than him just like how he felt at Inazuma Japan but boy is he so wrong. Who would have thought that he'll be enjoying the company of an eight-year-old?

Just then, he remembers what Kidou said earlier.. Just don't get too close to his sister if you don't want to get in serious trouble..

'She seems very sweet and kind to me, so why?!' He passes in his head.

"Toramaru-kun, what's wrong?!" She says with a concerned face.

"Ah.. Oh! I'm sorry, Yuuka-chan! I just remembered something," he answers after jumping from where he is seated.

"You're funny Toramaru-kun!" She giggles of which Toramaru finds really cute. Not that he thought she wasn't earlier, it's just that her cuteness right now made him feel warm inside… Wait, what?!

"You know, Toramaru-kun," she says while pouring an imaginary tea at Toramaru's cup, "You're very friendly! I never actually had a boy as a friend before!"

"Eh?! Why?!"

"Don't know.. Usually they first talk to me about Onii-chan, about how cool he is and stuff, then the next time we meet, they don't talk to me at all," she sadly adds.

"Well, that's really mean of them!" He proclaims with a slight anger, "You're really kind and sweet, Yuuka-chan! They don't have the rights to ignore you!"

Yuuka's face becomes brighter than before because of her warm smile and Toramaru feels his heart skip a beat. He isn't actually sure what just happened to him.

"Toramaru-kun, you're different from them. I like you!" She says with an even bigger smile. Toramaru feels the heat crawl on his face and he's pretty much speechless. He knows he misunderstood what she just said, he completely knows that she meant that as a friend but he just can't stop feeling whatever he's feeling. He knows well that this is uncharted territory. He knows how young she is and that he's not supposed to feel whatever he is feeling now. And he definitely knows better than feeling this towards the Gouenji Shuuya's little sister. To make matters worse she doesn't stop there, "Toramaru-kun.. I'm happy that you're my first boyfriend!"

For the first time in his life, Toramaru feels overjoyed. He has never been this happy before. He's even happier now than when they won the Football Frontier International. He finally knows what it is, but he still can't believe it. How can he? He just doesn't know why but he has a crush on an eight-year-old and worst of all she probably only thinks of him as a friend. She probably even thinks that the word 'boyfriend' just means a 'guy friend!' Regardless of everything, he is still happy and he knows that nothing can spoil this moment.. Or so he thought.

"Well, well, well someone seems to be enjoying himself.." a familiar husky voice with an entirely different kind of scary tone suddenly surrounds the place making Toramaru feel cold for some reason.

"G-Gouenji-san?!" Screams Toramaru after seeing the man he has always admired being totally different from how he remembers him. The small tea cup he was holding slips on his hand without him realizing it. The third-year now has a considerable amount of negative aura around him and a terrifying grin over his face like he's going to kill someone. In fact, he looks so scary that the blue soccer printed pajamas he's wearing is not noticed by Toramaru at all! Normally he would be on his fanboy mode right now if he isn't too desperate to cling to dear life.

And it looks like he's the only one scared of him too because as for Yuuka, "Onii-chan! Are you feeling great already?!" She cheerily goes to Gouenji's side all of a sudden like it's totally normal for his supposedly sweet older brother to be that way while the young man pats her head.

"Yeah~! Never better! So, what was this I heard about a boyfriend, Yuuka?" He says still having the crazy negative aura around while giving out a sweet smile to only his equally sweet younger sister.

"Oh! Toramaru-kun's my first boyfriend Onii-chan! Isn't that great?!" She answers even more cheerful than before.

"Yeah.. that's great," obvious trace of sarcasm can be heard on his lower than normal voice. He looks viciously at Toramaru sending chills down the prodigy's spine.

Though he isn't moving at all, a lot of things are going on in his head right now. He knows his survival rate is getting slimmer by the second the longer he stays in that place. Apparently, this is the worst time for his legs to decide to stop working. It's funny how this known soccer-prodigy can't even stand when his team has successfully won over the strongest soccer teams in the world before he was even in middle school. He suddenly finds himself asking so many things before the time when his life gets taken come, 'How did he ever got himself into this? How come no one ever warned him about this?' It's just then that words from a particular goggled man comes back to him, again..

Just don't get too close to his sister if you don't want to get in serious trouble..

"D-Don't tell me?! K-Kidou-san's not talking about Yuuka-chan he's talking about-" before Toramaru even finishes on mentally cursing himself, he suddenly felt an arm over his shoulder. It was Gouenji's! He's smirking at Toramaru's face like a maniac. The spikey-haired blunet shudders at his deadly stare. It's like he can see himself on those sharp black eyes being shred to multiple tiny pieces. The freshman's complexion turns pale at the sight of his senpai. It's like his color has suddenly been drained out of his body. He even feels like his heart stopped beating.

"Ne, To-ra-ma-ru.." the moment Gouenji's voice got through him his heart starts beating again but now in a fast pace, very fast pace, but it's entirely different than the one he felt about the sweet little Yuuka. "Don't you think it's time for you to go home now?" whispers the flame-haired striker to his junior who is now seeing death in his eyes.

"H-H-Hai!" He manages to say while still engulfed in fear.

"Ehhh?! Why Onii-chan?!" Says the now confused Yuuka.

"Because Toramaru-kun's helping his mom with their restaurant so he needs to go right away, right Toramaru?!" Staring at death's door, Toramaru just nods incredibly fast without even understanding what he just said. He just knows that he has to get out of there asap!

"Eh! O-Ok.. Then, Goodbye Toramaru-kun!" She says happily to the tormented kid that's been forcibly being carried out of the house with the use of just a single arm of his brother's.

Gouenji opens the door and whispers, "See you Monday, To-ra-ma-ru-kun.." emphasizing the name Yuuka gave him in a very very dark tone. He looks at the gulping younger teen with a pair of eyes even more menacing than before after shoving him in the elevator and pressing the button inside, slowly. The poor boy swears he just saw the most frightening smirk he has ever seen in his life!

He's already outside yet he can still feel his whole body shaking. After crawling at some distance, he stands up and slowly comes home with an obvious traumatized look at his face..

At Monday Practice..

"Kidou-san! Kidou-san!" Toramaru's scream scatters throughout the almost empty clubroom where only Kidou, who was dismissed early from his class, is preparing himself for practice.

"Toramaru, Calm down. Tell me what happened," says the worried Kidou to the panting Toramaru.

"G-Gouenji-san's… Gouenji-san's going to kill me, Kidou-san! And it's all because I wasn't listening to what you're saying! You've got to help me, pleeeeeeeaaaaase!" He says dramatically begging at Kidou's feet. He doesn't want to go to school but he knows he has to. He can't let his dear mother down! That lands him on his last option, begging for the caped strategist's help. At least, he knows that his idol listens to his bestfriend Kidou.

"Judging from your reaction, I'm guessing you really made him mad. Tell me exactly what you did," Kidou calmly responds.

"Well I- eeeeeeek!" He stands in fright after seeing his worst nightmare, wearing the same uniform, walking in the clubroom straight to them with the usual cool air around him.

"So, how are the two of you doing?" Gouenji greets with a friendly-cool smile of which Toramaru questions greatly.

'Is this a test? Is he just acting? Is he trying to catch me off guard? Is he trying to find an opening so he can strangle me after Kidou-san leaves?'

"We should be asking you," responds the penguin-lover followed by short laughters from the two.

"Toramaru, are you alright?! You look pale," says the concerned striker, who has obviously no idea what he's done, after seeing his kouhai's face behind the cape of his bestfriend.

"He's alright. He's just feeling a bit cold today," explains Kidou trying to put Gouenji's attention away. "If you're looking for Kudou-kantoku, he's outside. At the field."

"Oh, I see. I'll be going then. See you, Kidou. I hope you get better soon, Toramaru," he says to both his teammates totally unsuspicious and has gotten quickly outside.

"Eeeehhhh?! Why doesn't he remember a thing?!" Toramaru says confused looking at the midfielder for an answer.

"Well…" trying to analyze the situation, "Is his fever still high when you saw him last Saturday?"

"I'm not really sure... but I do remember feeling him very hot when he put his arm over my shoulder…" he says trying to remember hard.

"I see. So that's what it was," the brunet says grinning over his accomplishment, "He might've forgotten what happened because of his fever." he concludes.

"Really?! You sure?" The shorter man asks.

"Didn't you see his reaction?!" He inquires raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!" The spiky haired boy rejoices. "But wait, does that mean that Gouenji-san only reacted that way because he had a fever?!" He puts his hopes up.

"Well, I don't know what exactly happened but I'm guessing that no. What ever he did to you that made you like that, it's probably something he can do even without his fever. He just happens to forget about it. And, I think I remember him telling me that he'd threaten young boys that gets close to his sister," Kidou informs that makes the young striker depressed once again.

"Yuuka-chan…" he tearfully - in a comical way - says earning a sweatdrop from Kidou.

= Fin =

I hope you liked it~