Title: Rebirth

Author: Krizzie

Disclaimer: I don't own Inazuma Eleven.

Timeline: The Aliea Academy arc (Season 2). When Kazemaru went all emo.

He doesn't deserve to even kick a ball around.

In the back of his mind, Kazemaru could see Endou's face; those big brown eyes that looked so beaten down –betrayed – and he couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself.

He had sworn to stand by his friends and he cursed his own weakness for not standing up to that promise. Because he is not enough. Would never be enough. And that was, in his opinion, the worst thing that could ever happen to a person.

"That's my spot."

Kazemaru did not need to look up to identify who had spoken. Wordlessly, he shifted to allow her room. He had met her the day he went back to Raimon –a day he would not likely forget– and she had said the same exact thing. He then had stared at her with blank eyes and she had stared back with an equally blank stare until finally he shifted just a little bit to the right and she sat down next to him.

Then she would open a book, and proceed to ignore him until five minutes before the bell rang in which she would stand up, pat herself clean and acknowledge him with a small nod before leaving.

Today, though, Kazemaru felt like talking.

"Hey."

She blinked. And somehow that action made Kazemaru feel as if something in the atmosphere shifted. She placed a battered bookmark between the pages then shifted her dark eyes towards him. Kazemaru noted the dark circles underneath and wondered why she wasn't getting enough sleep.

"Just to save ourselves from further awkwardness," she spoke in a tone that made him cringe. "I want to let you know that I'm perfectly fine with our prior arrangement of minimal interaction."

Kazemaru grinned –though the action did not seem to faze his companion a bit– but decided not to let her detachment deter him. Instead, he offered his hand and asked for her name.

"Ryuuki." She answered after a moment of hesitation before looking longingly at the book she had brought along.

"Kazemaru Ichirouta." He wasn't about to let her off.

"I know." She raised his eyebrow at the look of surprise on his face. "I kept up with the football frontier…" she paused and looked skeptically at him. "And Aliea Academy."

"Aa." Kazemaru felt awkward but could not find another subject to shift to so he just waited for her to reply, already knowing that the heavy feeling in his chest would increase tenfold. She did not keep him waiting for long.

"Since you're back here, I'm assuming you either got injured or you quit."

"I quit."

"Aa."

And just when Kazemaru was regretting even starting the conversation, she gathered up her bag, patted herself down, looking down blankly at him while she did so. "And just so you know, I don't respect you any less." And then she left.

That was the day Kazemaru started playing soccer again.

A/N: I wanted to both kick and hug Kazemaru when he left the team. Let me know if it's worth continuing. I already have a 'plot' in my head. XD