[ES21] fic: Worse Than the Rumors
This was my second pinch hit that I wrote for
yuletide '06. I was really, really running out of time with this one! ^^;;
Title: Worse Than the Rumors
Fandom: Eyeshield 21
Rating: PG
Words: 1499
Summary: animeverse. Mamori's first encounter with Hiruma only makes her impressions of him worse than before.
Written For Yuletide 2006 for Yasmin
-----
It was in the later half of Mamori's first year at Deimon High that she first met Hiruma Youichi. Oh, she had heard tons about him previously. Who hadn't, after all? She had heard about how he had blackmailed the best athletes from all the sports teams, how he left girls and boys alike crying after he finished bullying them, how even his senpai didn't escape from his evil clutches. All the horrible things that ever occurred around Deimon High could very likely be tracked back to Hiruma.
She had thought that the rumors were probably a bit far stretched, such as the one about Hiruma having blackmail material on the principal...but her encounter with Hiruma squashed all such thoughts.
He was entirely capable of all those rumors.
If it weren't because of one of her close friends, Mamori would have never crossed paths with Hiruma. If there were one person that Mamori could do without ever meeting in her life, that person was none other than Hiruma.
"Tomo-chan? What's wrong?" asked Mamori, concerned. Her friend was shaking ever so slightly, her eyes glistening with tears.
"I-I..."
She broke into tears.
When her friend couldn't answer amidst all the tears, Mamori took hold of her hands, rubbing gentle circles on her friend's palms.
"Shh, it's all right, you can tell me," whispered Mamori soothingly.
Her friend gulped and nodded, rubbing her face with her sleeves. "I-it's my cat, Shay." Her friend paused and gulped again before she looked up with her wet eyes and exclaimed, "He's been taken hostage!"
Whatever Mamori had expected, catnapping had not been high on the list. Nonetheless, she took the entire thing very seriously.
"Who's the culprit?" she asked.
"H-He left a note..." murmured Tomo. She pulled out the wrinkled note and tried to smooth it out.
Mamori took the note and slowly read the note out loud.
"I have taken your cat hostage. Trade in your brother and I will let him go. Ya-ha!"
Mamori frowned. "What in the world?"
Tomo nodded. "You see? I can't do a thing! I can't exactly trade in my brother now, can I? But Shay, poor Shay..." She whimpered.
"Your brother..." murmured Mamori as she tucked a strand of hair behind her eye absentmindedly. "Have I met him before?"
Tomo tilted her head. "I think so...he's on the track team. I went to cheer for him last week and you came with me, remember?"
"Ah, right," replied Mamori. "So the culprit wants your brother, who's on the track team." She pursed her lips. "Who in the world would do such a thing as taking someone's cat hostage?" She peered at the note some more. "This thing isn't even signed!"
Tomo shook her head, her pigtails flying. "It doesn't need to be signed. I-it can only be...H-Hiruma."
After all, all the horrible things that ever occurred around Deimon High could very likely be tracked back to Hiruma.
Mamori was just about to find out firsthand.
She found herself storming towards the field where her classmates had said they'd last seen Hiruma. Her friend clung to her the entire way, begging for her not to go.
-----
"Hiruma! Are you Hiruma?" demanded Mamori as she laid eyes on a very tall boy who was very wide at the same time. His face was extremely round, just like his body, and his eyes were quite tiny in comparison. He towered over her menacingly.
"W-wha-" began the tall, round boy, his voice surprisingly soft considering his stature. The guy next to him kicked him in the shins, stopping him from speaking further.
Mamori narrowed her eyes at the other boy, who was tall, skinny, and lanky all at the same time. He had blond hair with sharp spikes and when he grinned, he revealed his equally sharp teeth. Combined with his ears, this boy was angles all over.
"Heh heh heh. You're correct, he's Hiruma," said the angles-all-over-boy.
Mamori gave a curt nod, though her friend grabbed at her sleeves.
Mamori turned to Tomo. "Tomo?" she ventured.
Her friend looked like she was about to say something, but for some reason, her eyes widened. She quickly shut her mouth and just shook her head, diverting her gaze. Mamori narrowed her eyes and spun back around, glaring at Hiruma.
"You must have been glaring at her and scaring her! Stop doing that!"
The tall, round boy blinked as Mamori jabbed at him.
"I uh, wasn't!" he replied as he flailed his short, stubby arms around.
Mamori frowned. This person really could lie straight through his teeth!
"You know why we're here. Give Tomo back her cat. Now," demanded Mamori.
The tall, round boy wrung his hands nervously while the angles-all-over boy just cackled. "I really don't know anything about her cat," replied the tall, round boy sadly. He seemed to be considering something as he brightened soon after. "But if you want to have some dessert with me, I'd love to share!"
Mamori gasped. "Y-You devil! Tomo's cat! How could you!"
A hard slap resounded through the air, and Mamori stomped away, tugging at her friend to follow her.
The tall, round boy touched his smarting cheek, shocked.
The angles-all-over boy merely cackled even more.
-----
Five minutes later, Tomo finally managed tell Mamori that she had mistaken Hiruma's identity. She had been too afraid to tell Mamori when Hiruma had been standing right behind Mamori, giving Tomo one of those looks and baring his sharp teeth.
"What?" Mamori's entire face reddened at learning her mistake. "Oh, this is so embarrassing!"
"I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you earlier..." mumbled Tomo, her eyes downcast.
Mamori hugged her friend. "No, no, it's not your fault! This is all Hiruma's fault! I'm going to get your cat back no matter what!"
Mamori paused.
"And...I have to apologize to that other boy," she whispered to herself. "Though he must be an accomplice of Hiruma's, I'm sure of that."
And that was how Mamori found herself back on the field.
-----
"Back already, woman?" asked the angles-all-over boy as he polished...his rifle! What was a rifle doing on school ground?
She ignored that thought, however, for more pressing thoughts were crowding her mind.
"You tricked me," she accused, her hands on her hips. She glanced around and was slightly disappointed to see that the tall, round boy wasn't there anymore. She had hoped to apologize!
"You believed what you wanted," was his reply. He finished polishing his rifle and immediately laid the butt of it against his shoulder.
Bang!
"What in the world are you doing?" exclaimed Mamori.
"Practicing my aim."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Meorw!!" yowled what could be nothing other than a cat. Mamori's eyes widened.
The angles-all-over boy was shooting at a caged kitty! Tomo's cat Shay!
She leapt into action, grabbing the closest thing she could grab onto, which turned out to be a broom of sorts. She swung it into his face.
"Watch where you swing that, you fucking woman!"
"I'll watch what I do when you watch what you do!" declared Mamori. "And the name's Anezaki Mamori, not 'woman'!"
She tried to swing the broom again, but right at that moment his hand darted out to grab hers. His grip was surprisingly strong. She struggled and pulled, but she couldn't pull out of his grasp.
"M-Mamori-chan!" shrieked Tomo-chan, who finally burst out of the front of the school, having been unable to keep up with Mamori's speed. "Hiruma-san, please, let Mamori go! I-I'll bring my brother to you! Please!"
"What, Tomo-chan, you, you can't do this! You can't give in to him!" exclaimed Mamori, but Hiruma only cackled.
"Mission accomplished, ya-ha! Be glad I've yet to let Cerberus loose."
Mamori glared at Hiruma, who merely glanced at her and smiled that smile full of sharp teeth, a dangerous smile that could only mean trouble.
She couldn't fathom why in the world someone would take a cat for ransom, and besides, what was Hiruma going to do with Tomo-chan's poor brother anyway?
All in all, Mamori didn't have a very good first impression of Hiruma. He was even worse than the rumors!
-----
It wasn't until Mamori's second year that she started understanding Hiruma better, if only because she had somehow landed herself in a situation that required her to be in Hiruma's presence constantly. At least, she felt that she understood him a bit better, but one could never tell with Hiruma.
She supposed it all started with her childhood friend, Sena...and with her own extreme distrust of Hiruma due to her previous encounter with him.
It was at Sena's welcoming ceremony that Mamori saw Hiruma with the tall, round boy who Mamori now knew was called Kurita. They cornered Sena with their towering heights and were talking about something that Mamori couldn't quite make out. Sena was clearly uncomfortable, given how he was shrinking into himself.
Mamori quickened her pace, throwing herself in between Hiruma and Sena.
"This boy, I won't let you touch him!"
She stared defiantly into Hiruma's eyes, those sharp, slanted eyes of his.
Mamori decided right then and there that she would do anything to protect Sena from Hiruma, to stop Hiruma from bullying him. If she couldn't stop Hiruma from wrecking havoc on the school, at least she could protect Sena, her childhood friend.
Little did she know that her decision would bring her much closer to Hiruma than she ever wanted to be!
-----
the end
yuletide '06. I was really, really running out of time with this one! ^^;;
Title: Worse Than the Rumors
Fandom: Eyeshield 21
Rating: PG
Words: 1499
Summary: animeverse. Mamori's first encounter with Hiruma only makes her impressions of him worse than before.
Written For Yuletide 2006 for Yasmin
-----
It was in the later half of Mamori's first year at Deimon High that she first met Hiruma Youichi. Oh, she had heard tons about him previously. Who hadn't, after all? She had heard about how he had blackmailed the best athletes from all the sports teams, how he left girls and boys alike crying after he finished bullying them, how even his senpai didn't escape from his evil clutches. All the horrible things that ever occurred around Deimon High could very likely be tracked back to Hiruma.
She had thought that the rumors were probably a bit far stretched, such as the one about Hiruma having blackmail material on the principal...but her encounter with Hiruma squashed all such thoughts.
He was entirely capable of all those rumors.
If it weren't because of one of her close friends, Mamori would have never crossed paths with Hiruma. If there were one person that Mamori could do without ever meeting in her life, that person was none other than Hiruma.
"Tomo-chan? What's wrong?" asked Mamori, concerned. Her friend was shaking ever so slightly, her eyes glistening with tears.
"I-I..."
She broke into tears.
When her friend couldn't answer amidst all the tears, Mamori took hold of her hands, rubbing gentle circles on her friend's palms.
"Shh, it's all right, you can tell me," whispered Mamori soothingly.
Her friend gulped and nodded, rubbing her face with her sleeves. "I-it's my cat, Shay." Her friend paused and gulped again before she looked up with her wet eyes and exclaimed, "He's been taken hostage!"
Whatever Mamori had expected, catnapping had not been high on the list. Nonetheless, she took the entire thing very seriously.
"Who's the culprit?" she asked.
"H-He left a note..." murmured Tomo. She pulled out the wrinkled note and tried to smooth it out.
Mamori took the note and slowly read the note out loud.
"I have taken your cat hostage. Trade in your brother and I will let him go. Ya-ha!"
Mamori frowned. "What in the world?"
Tomo nodded. "You see? I can't do a thing! I can't exactly trade in my brother now, can I? But Shay, poor Shay..." She whimpered.
"Your brother..." murmured Mamori as she tucked a strand of hair behind her eye absentmindedly. "Have I met him before?"
Tomo tilted her head. "I think so...he's on the track team. I went to cheer for him last week and you came with me, remember?"
"Ah, right," replied Mamori. "So the culprit wants your brother, who's on the track team." She pursed her lips. "Who in the world would do such a thing as taking someone's cat hostage?" She peered at the note some more. "This thing isn't even signed!"
Tomo shook her head, her pigtails flying. "It doesn't need to be signed. I-it can only be...H-Hiruma."
After all, all the horrible things that ever occurred around Deimon High could very likely be tracked back to Hiruma.
Mamori was just about to find out firsthand.
She found herself storming towards the field where her classmates had said they'd last seen Hiruma. Her friend clung to her the entire way, begging for her not to go.
-----
"Hiruma! Are you Hiruma?" demanded Mamori as she laid eyes on a very tall boy who was very wide at the same time. His face was extremely round, just like his body, and his eyes were quite tiny in comparison. He towered over her menacingly.
"W-wha-" began the tall, round boy, his voice surprisingly soft considering his stature. The guy next to him kicked him in the shins, stopping him from speaking further.
Mamori narrowed her eyes at the other boy, who was tall, skinny, and lanky all at the same time. He had blond hair with sharp spikes and when he grinned, he revealed his equally sharp teeth. Combined with his ears, this boy was angles all over.
"Heh heh heh. You're correct, he's Hiruma," said the angles-all-over-boy.
Mamori gave a curt nod, though her friend grabbed at her sleeves.
Mamori turned to Tomo. "Tomo?" she ventured.
Her friend looked like she was about to say something, but for some reason, her eyes widened. She quickly shut her mouth and just shook her head, diverting her gaze. Mamori narrowed her eyes and spun back around, glaring at Hiruma.
"You must have been glaring at her and scaring her! Stop doing that!"
The tall, round boy blinked as Mamori jabbed at him.
"I uh, wasn't!" he replied as he flailed his short, stubby arms around.
Mamori frowned. This person really could lie straight through his teeth!
"You know why we're here. Give Tomo back her cat. Now," demanded Mamori.
The tall, round boy wrung his hands nervously while the angles-all-over boy just cackled. "I really don't know anything about her cat," replied the tall, round boy sadly. He seemed to be considering something as he brightened soon after. "But if you want to have some dessert with me, I'd love to share!"
Mamori gasped. "Y-You devil! Tomo's cat! How could you!"
A hard slap resounded through the air, and Mamori stomped away, tugging at her friend to follow her.
The tall, round boy touched his smarting cheek, shocked.
The angles-all-over boy merely cackled even more.
-----
Five minutes later, Tomo finally managed tell Mamori that she had mistaken Hiruma's identity. She had been too afraid to tell Mamori when Hiruma had been standing right behind Mamori, giving Tomo one of those looks and baring his sharp teeth.
"What?" Mamori's entire face reddened at learning her mistake. "Oh, this is so embarrassing!"
"I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you earlier..." mumbled Tomo, her eyes downcast.
Mamori hugged her friend. "No, no, it's not your fault! This is all Hiruma's fault! I'm going to get your cat back no matter what!"
Mamori paused.
"And...I have to apologize to that other boy," she whispered to herself. "Though he must be an accomplice of Hiruma's, I'm sure of that."
And that was how Mamori found herself back on the field.
-----
"Back already, woman?" asked the angles-all-over boy as he polished...his rifle! What was a rifle doing on school ground?
She ignored that thought, however, for more pressing thoughts were crowding her mind.
"You tricked me," she accused, her hands on her hips. She glanced around and was slightly disappointed to see that the tall, round boy wasn't there anymore. She had hoped to apologize!
"You believed what you wanted," was his reply. He finished polishing his rifle and immediately laid the butt of it against his shoulder.
Bang!
"What in the world are you doing?" exclaimed Mamori.
"Practicing my aim."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Meorw!!" yowled what could be nothing other than a cat. Mamori's eyes widened.
The angles-all-over boy was shooting at a caged kitty! Tomo's cat Shay!
She leapt into action, grabbing the closest thing she could grab onto, which turned out to be a broom of sorts. She swung it into his face.
"Watch where you swing that, you fucking woman!"
"I'll watch what I do when you watch what you do!" declared Mamori. "And the name's Anezaki Mamori, not 'woman'!"
She tried to swing the broom again, but right at that moment his hand darted out to grab hers. His grip was surprisingly strong. She struggled and pulled, but she couldn't pull out of his grasp.
"M-Mamori-chan!" shrieked Tomo-chan, who finally burst out of the front of the school, having been unable to keep up with Mamori's speed. "Hiruma-san, please, let Mamori go! I-I'll bring my brother to you! Please!"
"What, Tomo-chan, you, you can't do this! You can't give in to him!" exclaimed Mamori, but Hiruma only cackled.
"Mission accomplished, ya-ha! Be glad I've yet to let Cerberus loose."
Mamori glared at Hiruma, who merely glanced at her and smiled that smile full of sharp teeth, a dangerous smile that could only mean trouble.
She couldn't fathom why in the world someone would take a cat for ransom, and besides, what was Hiruma going to do with Tomo-chan's poor brother anyway?
All in all, Mamori didn't have a very good first impression of Hiruma. He was even worse than the rumors!
-----
It wasn't until Mamori's second year that she started understanding Hiruma better, if only because she had somehow landed herself in a situation that required her to be in Hiruma's presence constantly. At least, she felt that she understood him a bit better, but one could never tell with Hiruma.
She supposed it all started with her childhood friend, Sena...and with her own extreme distrust of Hiruma due to her previous encounter with him.
It was at Sena's welcoming ceremony that Mamori saw Hiruma with the tall, round boy who Mamori now knew was called Kurita. They cornered Sena with their towering heights and were talking about something that Mamori couldn't quite make out. Sena was clearly uncomfortable, given how he was shrinking into himself.
Mamori quickened her pace, throwing herself in between Hiruma and Sena.
"This boy, I won't let you touch him!"
She stared defiantly into Hiruma's eyes, those sharp, slanted eyes of his.
Mamori decided right then and there that she would do anything to protect Sena from Hiruma, to stop Hiruma from bullying him. If she couldn't stop Hiruma from wrecking havoc on the school, at least she could protect Sena, her childhood friend.
Little did she know that her decision would bring her much closer to Hiruma than she ever wanted to be!
-----
the end