Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. ...other than the lame plot, of course.
Pairing: Mizuno x Kazamatsuri
Exploitation Investigation
By: yukuro
For many rival schools of Sakura Jyousui's soccer club, Mizuno Tatsuya was the main threat above all others. Besides being a nearly unstoppable soccer player, Mizuno was almost perfect most other schools noticed miserably. Fair minded, popular, intelligent, and good-looking all in one, Mizuno seemed to be the very epitome of perfection. Although most people had given up on finding some kind of crucial flaw, there was always a determined scout here or there that would stubbornly refuse to give up.
For a certain anonymous player of an anonymous school, exploiting Mizuno Tatsuya's weakness was essential to ensure victory of his own school. An investigation was in order, and what better way than to do a little snooping around Sakura Jyousui as a scout?
Observations were vital to this matter, so he could not afford to miss any little detail. Flipping his notebook open as he wandered the school, he scribbled in a few notes here and there after speaking to various teachers and peers of the greatly esteemed Mizuno Tatsuya.
Objective: Exploit Mizuno Tatsuya's weakness or conclude his invincibility.
Topic 1.0: Academics - According to peers, Mizuno Tatsuya is a dedicated student with academic achievements far past middle school level. Any possible subjects or topics of downfall?
"Tatsu-bon's too smart in spite of himself," a rather tall blond boy named Satou Shigeki, who in fact looked more like a gangster than a soccer forward, had explained. Cheerfully, the blonde had stated with a goofy grin while embroidering a white piece of cloth with girls squealing about him, "He never has to study at all for tests or anything. I remember when everyone was stressing about midterms. Ah, Tatsu-bon was the one that was helping everyone study so they could stay in the soccer club."
Satou Shigeki raised an eyebrow and stared pointedly while a smirk crawled onto his face. "Come to think of it," he began, "why is it that you're asking again?"
"H-High school scouting," was the rather choked response.
The blonde gangster-like boy continued to stare in a scrutinizing manner for a moment before shrugging carelessly. Grinning widely, he exclaimed with enthusiasm, "Well, if it's just for that, then I guess it's ok! Now if you were trying to date our little Tatsu-bon, then you'd be in trouble. I won't forgive anyone who gets in Kaza and Tatsu-bon's way, you know."
Insert choking sounds before rapidly taking a few steps back.
Note 1.1: In the aspect of academics, Mizuno Tatsuya is indeed unbeatable.
Side Note 0.1: Beware of those Mizuno Tatsuya surrounds himself with.
"Fuwa!" the blonde called out rather loudly into the hallway at an equally gangster-looking fellow with a book in his hand. Grinning widely, Satou Shigeki parted the sea of girls to motion for the boy named "Fuwa" to come to his side. Once said boy had arrived, Satou Shigeki then said in a rather suspiciously sly tone, "This guy here wants to know eeeeeeverything about Tatsu-bon. Shouldn't you have some input?"
There was a pause as the arrival named Fuwa stood in indifferent silence. Then, he shrugged and turned to speak in a confident manner, "Based on past data collected, Mizuno is acceptable in terms of intellectuality and competent for his position of captain. For further details on his life, refer back to the fake blonde you were speaking with earlier…"
"Hey now, Dai-chan," Satou Shigeki, who shall be hereon referred to as Gangster One, interrupted with a grin. "That's not a very nice thing to say!"
"…for anything else," the one named Fuwa, who shall hereon be referred to as Gangster Two, went on, completely ignoring the other, "I believe Kazamatsuri has the most experience."
"You say 'experience' like Tatsu-bon is some kind of activity," Gangster One put in, grin widening significantly. Leaning forward, his grin turned evil as he flicked Gangster Two's forehead. "Or maybe, that's what you're imagining?"
His eye was twitching, he swear he could feel it twitching. Were all acquaintances of Mizuno Tatsuya so…interesting?
Gangster Two simply stared. Promptly flicking the blond boy's forehead, he stated blatantly, "Your implications are vague and not reasonable. I suppose in this sense, one would use the word, 'stupid' to describe your unreasonable usage of word play."
"Just because you're smart, doesn't mean you can try to put down those who are older than you, dear Dai-chan," Gangster One exclaimed in a singsong tone before hooking his arm around Gangster Two to muse his hair roughly. "Anyway, it's better like that. Like I've said, I won't forgive anyone who gets in Kaza and Tatsu-bon's way, even if it's you!"
"You're annoying sometimes," Gangster Two stated bluntly as Gangster One continued to mess up his hair. "Fake blonde."
"I love you too," Gangster One replied in a fake, overly exaggerated tone of cheesy romance. "I love you so much, I'll make you a fake blonde too!"
"…I hate you."
Taking a few more steps back and out the door, Side Note 0.1 was then highlighted and underlined various times.
Topic 2.0: Mizuno Tatsuya's extracurricular activities – any type of embarrassing habits that can be exploited?
"Why do you want to know?" a very cute girl by the name of Kojima Yuki demanded in response to the question. "High school scouts shouldn't care about what he does outside of school. Besides, it's not as if anyone here knows anything about that anyway. All we know is tat he's always either training or out walking his dog."
Irrelevant Note: Kojima Yuki is quite cute, but vicious when angry. When this is over, try asking her out…if not killed first.
"What are you writing in that?" she demanded again, attempting to snatch the notebook away. "You're not really a spy are you?"
"Of course not," came the reply with yet again another cough.
Kojima Yuki was still staring rather suspiciously, but then gave in and sighed. "I'm sure Kazamatsuri must know more than anyone else about this kind of thing."
Note 2.1: Training and walking the dog, Mizuno Tatsuya is the epitome of the perfect obedient son.
By this time, the name "Kazamatsuri" was one that was muttered almost more often than Mizuno's when questions were asked about the captain. It was assumable that Mizuno had some sort of relationship with this "Kazamatsuri" as implied by Satou Shigeki upon first encounter. It was only logical to conduct further search on this "Kazamatsuri."
Topic 3.0: Relationships – who is this "Kazamatsuri" to Mizuno Tatsuya?
"I can't stand Kazamatsuri!" a first year by the name of Yamaguchi Santa, noted not "Santa" as in "Santa Claus" but "Santa" with the kanji of cedar and thick, exclaimed with a deep frown.
"Don't say such negative things about Kazamatsuri-san!" another first year by the name of Sakura Miyuki chided. "Kazamatsuri-san is the kindest and most dedicated person there is…"
Note 3.1: "Kazamatsuri" is popular with girls.
"I wasn't saying anything negative, Miyuki-chan," Yamaguchi Santa instantly apologized, nearly groveling. "It's just that I'm sure that I would make a much better forward than he does! He's only forward now because Captain favors him!"
Well, there was a surprise.
Note 3.2: "Kazamatsuri" is male.
"What do you mean by 'Mizuno's weaknesses?'" second year Takai Masato asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. "Mizuno has no weaknesses. It's like he's invincible."
"What about Kazamatsuri?" was the question.
"…what about him?" Takai asked, suspicion printed clearly on his face. There was a pause as thought passed over Takai's face. Then with a shrug, he began slowly, "Well, I guess it is true that it was Mizuno that befriended Kazamatsuri first and brought him back to the soccer club…and they are close friends now, but I don't see Kazamatsuri as Mizuno's weakness of any kind."
Takai projected an expression of confusion as he thought more carefully about it. "Well…I guess you could say Mizuno may be just a little protective of Kazamatsuri…but then again, Shige and Fuwa are too…"
Note 3.3: "Kazamatsuri" is apparently popular with males as well.
It was a great relief when that voice that was longing—well, not longing, but maybe desperately wanting—to be heard finally called out from the side, "Kazamatsuri!"
For a supposedly excellent soccer player, Kazamatsuri was quite small. He was smiling cheerfully when he jogged to Mizuno's side and continued to smile cheerfully as he chatted with Mizuno. From the information that had been previously gathered, it was assumed that while he was popular, Mizuno did not commonly show his good side to just anyone. It was very interesting the way the enigmatic Mizuno Tatsuya was suddenly smiling so brightly in the presence of Kazamatsuri.
"How was the test?" Mizuno asked the smaller boy with a gentle smile. At the moment, it seemed as if nothing in the world could bother him.
Laughing sheepishly and blushing slightly, Kazamatsuri rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, Mizuno-kun," he apologized sincerely, "Even though you especially helped me study, I still didn't do too well."
"You were up late practicing again, weren't you?" Mizuno asked gently, his kind expression wavering with a bit of concern. "Just make sure you take care of yourself and keep up with your grades. It's better for when you get into high school, and that way…we can always play soccer together."
Mizuno was blushing. It would have seemed like a scene from a bad romance movie if his words did not sound so sincere.
Flushing innocently, Kazamatsuri offered a sheepish smile. Beaming up at the other boy, he nodded, "Ah. There's nothing I want more than to always be with Mizuno-kun."
Lowering his head slightly, Mizuno leaned over in a serious manner, almost holding his breath in. Kazamatsuri still stood with a clueless, innocent expression on his face as Mizuno slowly drew close enough to kiss the side of his face.
Ears strained, the pen was lifted and ready to take notes.
"Kazamatsuri," Mizuno whispered softly, head lifting slightly to reveal his eyes again. "There's someone watching us in the bushes."
Blinking, Kazamatsuri turned to squint at the twitching bush.
"You!" exclaimed a loud voice with a heavy accent of a native Kyoto dweller. The blond gangster-like boy then leaped out of a nearby bush and stomped over to promptly pull the notebook away. "Didn't I tell you not to get in the way of Kaza and Tatsu-bon's moments?! What if they were going to kiss?!"
"SHIGE!"
"I think you just made it worse," Fuwa commented, rising from the bush that the blond had jumped out of and began picking leaves and twigs out of his hair. "I thought you said the point of spying was to actually be hiding. Besides, I don't think it was us Mizuno was talking about."
"Uh-oh," the blond whistled, taking a backward step towards Fuwa. In a singsong voice, he went on, "Tatsu-bon is fuming…"
Grabbing a nearby soccer ball, Mizuno dropkicked it after the retreating blond in angry embarrassment. Of course, the ball was skillfully cradled and passed off to the side, conveniently hitting Santa on the side of his head. At that point, Fuwa casually stuck his foot out, and by complete coincidence, or so it was believed, Mizuno tripped as he was bringing his leg down and stumbled onto Kazamatsuri.
Shading his eyes with his hand, the blond let out a low whistle, noting that Mizuno had conveniently placed a kiss on Kazamatsuri's forehead when falling. As the two boys embarrassedly lay in a sloppy pile on the ground, the blond commented cheerfully, "Well, at least we got to see that kiss."
Chaos then erupted in Sakura Jyousui.
Conclusion: Mizuno Tatsuya's only weakness is teasing about Kazamatsuri Shou. Otherwise, he is completely invincible.
Owari.
A/N: Hurray! 8D This fic has been uploaded for the sake of my anniversary. Stupid, yes, but oh well. Hahah. Anyway, this fic is pretty much like all my other Whistle! fics. And I must say I love writing Shige and Fuwa. Heh.
Thanks for reading! Drop a line if you will.