I'm so sorry for the late update. School has been a pain in the tush T.T! Read and enjoy!

Chapter 7

Plans in Action

Too shocked to do anything, we did as we told and laid down in the floor. This was a hospital! Not a bank! A rough hand grabbed me by the arm and lifted me into the air by my wrist, which, by the way, was very uncomfortable. The cold end of a gun connected with my head and my captor shouted, "No one move or this kid's gonna get a round in the head."

Fear grabbed me and something snapped inside of me. My foot moved without my accord and kicked the man hard in the side of the head, sending him flying several meters. The others turned on me, guns raised, but apparently I wasn't done. It was like watching one of those cheesy martial arts movies first hand as my legs lashed out and kicked the members one by one without pause. When I regained control of my limbs, the assaulters were in various positions, out cold. Suguru ran to my side and shoved me into a seat, Seven right beside him.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Do your lungs hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?" Suguru said at super speed without pause. I blinked rapidly and said, "What... what just happened? How did I do that?"

"I think that I can explain that," a soft voice said. We turned and found the doctor who we talked to earlier, my mom, and dad next to him. They ran to me and tackled me roughly into a tight hug, my mom bawling her eyes out.

"May I speak to your sons privately?" the doctor asked gently. My mom looked like she was about to argue with him, but my dad squeezed her hand and nodded. Suguru and I walked into a small white room and sat down on an examination table side by side.

"I talked to your coach a little while ago, and understand that Kakeru is playing soccer without the knowledge of your parents. I encourage that you continue. The exercise will help you strengthen your body, but be careful not to over exert yourself. Now to the matter at hand, have you boys heard of something called of something called "PZ"? Many players call it the Zone," the doctor said. Kakeru nodded and the doctor smiled, "PZ is actually when a person has short adrenaline burst in an exaggerated flight or fight response. It sharpens the skills an allows a person to do things that most people can only see in movies. It's probably what occurred just a few minutes ago inside you. Soccer, or any sport, should help you gain control over these adrenaline bursts."

"So it wasn't anything bad?" I asked. The doctor shook his head and said , "As for your lungs, they seem to have improved since the last visit, but I would still like you to visit every week so that we can ensure that another episode like this morning doesn't occur."

We thanked him and returned to the lobby. Seven had left for school and my mom gave us permission to miss school due to the hectic morning. Suguru and I changed as soon as we got home and decided to try to play the new video game that Suguru had gotten for his birthday. It had great graphics, but I stunk at it. Suguru beat me several times before he took pity on me and let our last match end in a draw. For lunch, we scoured the corners of the cabinets and finally found fixing for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. At about one, we decided to head over to school to go to soccer practice, but when we arrived I was attacked by other members of the team.

"Kakeru, on the bench. Now," Araki said and basically carried me to one of the small benches next to the field. Seven threw a towel over my head and said, "No playing for you today. You will sit right here and watch."

I tried to argue, but even Suguru shook his head with his straight face. The coach smiled and said, "Don't worry, give them about at week and they'll let up."

I groaned and said, "A week? I'll get all flabby by then."

"Flabby is better than coughing up blood," Seven said.

"It was once!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, it happened this morning. You are not going back to practice until you get permission," Seven said, gently flicking me on the forehead. I grumbled a little, but cheered on my team members as they played a practice match.

"Now gather round. As you know, we will go on a short, one week training camp trip right before our first game. You must hand in your slips by tomorrow or you will not be able to participate, do you understand?" Iwaki said. We nodded and I helped Suguru pack up.

"Kakeru! Suguru!" a small voice yelled. We turned and found Mito at the edge of the field, waving frantically, "Mom told me to come get you two."

We ran to her and Suguru ruffled her hair before I shouted, "Race you to the house!"

"Gosh darn it... both of you slow down!" Mito wailed as she tried to catch up with us. Knowing that if we went all out, Mito would get lost, we slowed down so that she could fall into step with us. When we arrived home, we skidded to a stop in front of the table and sat down quickly.

"Itadakimasu!" we chorused and began fighting each other for the serving utensils. Mom kept shaking her head, looking like she was torn between laughing and telling us to use our table manners, but eventually settled on laughing. Dad began singing as he drank a whole bottle of sake and we eventually managed to take away his second bottle before he got too drunk. It felt like a normal night, but at the end of dinner, Suguru and I put our plan into action.

"Hey mom, do you think it would be okay if I went on the trip with the soccer team. As a manager of course," I said with pleading eyes. Mom frowned and said, "I'm not sure. I don't want anything to happen to you while I'm not there. And your health isn't quite up to par yet either."

"Don't worry, our training building is right next to a hospital so if anything happens we're seconds away from help. Plus I'll be there to look after him," Suguru said, putting on his highly-organized-caring-brother act. My mom sighed and said, "Well, I guess if it's only a week."

I cheered and Suguru smiled. Plan get-mom-to-let-Kakeru-go-to-training-camp was a success. That night, Suguru insisted that he still sleep on my floor, even though I threatened to step on him the next morning and won the argument with his all powerful protective brother glare. We lay on our backs and very quietly, I asked, "Um... Suguru?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Suguru answered.

"Do you think that, I mean... will I get better?" I asked in a small voice. Something large smacked me in the face and I cried out in pain.

"Sorry, meant to slap your arm. I aimed a little to high," Suguru said, "But you are going to get better, I'm sure of it. We just have to be patient."

"Easy for you. I'm still going to have to convince Araki and Seven to let me play... and Yusuke. I bet he's going to go all out mother hen on me," I said with a groan as I rubbed my sore fore head.

"Most defiantly so," Suguru said, and I could almost feel his smirk.

"Thank you so much for that boost of confidence," I said sarcastically and he jabbed me in the ribs. We chuckled quietly and the silence gently lolled me into sleep.

-THE NEXT DAY-

I woke up early and Suguru handed me a fully filled out form.

"Wait, when did you get this? I was going to ask mom to fill it out at the breakfast table..." I said and Suguru held up his hands in mock innocence. I smirked and said, "What next, are you going to pull a rabbit out of a hat."

"I don't know, you always used to say you wanted one. I bet Seven would be overjoyed if you got a pet bunny," Suguru said. I sputtered, my face turning red and chased my brother all the way around the house until mom called us down to the table. When we arrived at school, we immediately went to coach Iwaki and handed in our slips. The day passed by quickly, but our next plan was put into action during practice after school.

"Hey Seven?" I asked, putting on my sweetest smile.

"Yes what is it, do you feel sick?" Seven asked worriedly.

"Oh no, it's nothing like that, I was just wondering, you see I got my slip signed by my mom to go on the trip, but I was just wondering if I had your permission," I said.

"My permission for what?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"To play of course, after all, I need to train to become a substitute for our upcoming game," I said and her eyes narrowed.

"No, absolutely not. You can play perfectly fine without practicing for a week," she countered. I sighed and said, "I didn't want to do this, but if you don't let me practice, I'll tell everyone that your actually "Little Witch" on Nadeshiko Japan."

She paled and said, "How did you find out?"

"A little hunting and gathering on both my and Suguru's part. Don't worry, the doctor said that exercise is good to strengthen my body," I said quickly.

"You know, you could have told me this before you tried to black mail me. Fine, do as you like, but know that I'm keeping an eye on you," she said. I nodded and put a mental checkmark next to her name. One down, two to go. Araki was an easy fix. Suguru had gotten his favorite candy from the grocery store and I bribed him with a whole box of double hot fudge cookies. The last, however, was harder to budge.

"Come on, please!" I begged, giving Yusuke puppy dog eyes. In response he flicked me on the forehead and said, "Absolutely not, Kakeru. You are not to practice till the end of this month."

"But that's two weeks away! I'll get fat by then," I exclaimed and made exaggerated hand motions towards my stomach.

"No," Yusuke said.

"But-"

"No!"

"Yusuke," a new voice said and Suguru stepped forward, putting on his best glare. Yusuke, being Suguru's childhood friend, actually was able to fight back for several minutes, but like all victims, eventually gave in.

"Fine, but I'm making sure you don't push yourself, go it," Yusuke said to me and I nodded. There, last member to convince; now how would the training camp go?

I'll update as soon as possible, but again, school is a pain in the tush!