Hana Kimi Fan Fiction ❯ Years Away From What I Need ❯ One Step Closer To Home ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 3

Nakatsu exited the plane and made his way back to his apartment, dropped off his stuff, then headed back to the field for practice. The physical exertion distracted him from his thoughts - the new team members were energetic, and quite talented. They kept him running to keep up.

Taking a break, he looked out at his team as they ran exercises, trading the ball off back and forth across the field. They flowed like water downstream, predicting each others' movements, carefully threading the ball through each other toward the goal. `What a great team,' he thought watching them. He saw a couple of minor errors, but knew the coach was watching, would advise the players of their mistakes and make them run the exercise again until they got it right.

While he was watching, the coach came up beside him and patted his shoulder. “So what do you think, Shuichi? How's our team looking this year?”

Without even looking at the man next to him, he responded, “I think we have a chance at the world cup again. Kisho seems to be a natural leader on the field. But I think we might want to work with Jiro a bit - he seems to have a hard time when he needs to pass toward his left. A few weeks of exercise on that, though, and I know he'll overcome it. And that seems to be the weakest point of the team.”

The coach chuckled, “You looking to take away my job?”

Nakatsu looked at the coach startled. Then, he made a decision. “Coach, I think we should have a talk.”

Looking him up and down, the coach nodded and said, “Hm. Meet me in my office in 5.” Then he turned toward the field and blew his whistle. “Okay, everyone, 10 laps, stretches, then hit the showers! Practice starts tomorrow at 9. Nice hustle today.” He blew his whistle to start them on their laps.

He held a sealed envelope in one hand and the phone in the other. He could hear the ringing on the far end, and counted the rings while he waited for an answer. `3. . . What the hell am I doing? Will they want me to come home or - 4. . . will they no longer need me? I just-'

“Moshi moshi.”

“Hi, mom.”

“Shuichi! What's wrong?”

“Mom, why does there have to be something wrong? Can't I just call you to talk to you?”

“I don't know. Can you? You never have before.”

Sigh. “Mom. . .”

“What is it dear?” He could hear love in her voice. Even though she was always exasperating, he loved her very much.

“I. . . I'm going to retire from the team. Most players are done by 30. (AN: Before anyone tries to correct me, I know this is not true in the European teams. European teams have players in their 40s and 50s. However, I checked for Japan and in 2002, the average age of the Japanese team was 24.) And. . . I did what I wanted to do, so it's time to let the younger players get their chance. . .”

There was a pause on the other end. “Alright. So, what will you do now?”

Pause. “I. . . Mom, I wanted to know if you needed me back home or not. If you do, I put off your needs long enough to follow my dreams, so if you need me, I'll come back.”

He could hear only silence. Just before he was about to ask if she was still there, she responded, “But that's not what you really want to do, is it?”

“. . .”

“You have something else, don't you?”

“The coach is recommending me to become a coach myself.” Unthinkingly, he waved the sealed envelope toward the phone. “My old coach at Ohsaka Gakuen is retiring, and they need someone. . . Of course, there are other people who could take that job, so it's not like if I don't go there anyone will be put out, so-”

Her smile could be heard through the phone. “Shuichi, my son, I don't know if I've told you how proud of you I am. I've been hard on you, but I knew I needed to be hard so that you'd follow through to your goals without doubting yourself.

“If there's something you want to do, you know now that you are capable of doing it. We've got everything covered here, so don't worry. The Asaba boy has been helping out, so we're actually doing quite well.” Her voice softened, “I always knew our store was not your cup of tea. But if you ever do need a place to come back to. . .”

Nakatsu began to cry. “I love you, mom!”

“I know dear. I love you, too. So do you think you could call me more than just 4 times a year?”

Laughing through his tears, he promised, “I'll try, mom. I'll try.”

Two phone calls later, and his plans were set. So he settled in for a long night on the couch - just him, a bottle of sports drink, and a certain notebook for him to read. He was determined to finish the whole book within the next two days, before he'd have to leave for an interview that would determine half of his future.

XX XY XX XY XX XY

It was another flight where his thoughts consumed him the entire way. It had been less than a week since his last visit, and now he was on his way back home - back to where he'd spent three years determining who it was he really wanted to be for the rest of his life. It felt right that he was going back there now that all his decisions for the future were open again.

Retiring had been a lot easier than he'd anticipated. When he'd told the coach, he'd actually smiled and said it was about time, and it was perfect timing. Apparently, the sports event that Nakatsu had spoken at the day before at Ohsaka Gakuen (that was the reason he'd been there) had gone extremely well. Whatever he'd said had really fired up the students. His old coach had called his current coach that night to thank him for lending Nakatsu, and to drop the hint about the position becoming available.

Of course, he still had to be interviewed, but Ohsaka Gakuen always preferred to hire alumni, so he was the preferred choice. And his old coach was so excited about him accepting the job that he'd told him outright that if Nakatsu wanted the job, he'd go out of his way to make sure he got it. After all, none of the other applicants was a World Cup champion.

The announcement of his retirement was made to the team at the next day's practice, and Nakatsu spent his last day as a member of the team coaching the other members - giving them pointers to improve their game, and insights to some of the teams they'd be up against. Then, the team went out for one last celebration.

He got to bed quite late, and quite intoxicated. The next morning, was very fuzzy for him - which was probably a good thing. It made him calmer for the press conference. He kept it very simple: “It has been a great honor to be able to play for the best football team in the world. However, it is time for me to pass the torch. Our team this year is the strongest it has been ever, and I honestly expect that my retirement from the team will barely be noticed as the games go on. We've chosen Kisho to take over as the team captain, and if he doesn't keep the team in shape, I'll come back to kick his ass.”

There were a few more questions that the coach and he took turns fielding. Then it was back to his apartment to finish reading, and finish packing for the next day's flight. Which came in the blink of an eye.

A couple of the stewardesses asked him if he was really no longer going to lead the team to victory. He replied that it was a great team - they didn't need him to win. They'd smiled at that, and he'd smiled back at them. One of them asked him if he was retiring to be with a girl, and an image of Kyoumi flashed in front of his eyes. But his response was, “No. I'm retiring because I'm old,” followed by a wink. Her smile grew at that, and she took special care of him throughout the rest of the flight as he sunk into his thoughts.

He'd managed to read through her entire book. It made him wonder even more whether that one story was about him or whether he was being incredibly self-absorbed. There had been stories that he could see were about her sister, her brother, here parents, her pets, several about her supposedly gorgeous roommate who had a heart as bright as sunshine, a couple of her teachers, and about half that he guessed were entirely fictional. She had a keen insight into what made people tick and how they reacted with each other. But the funny thing was, she appeared to have a level of unshakeable confidence in who she was, yet insecurity that anyone could truly accept her for who she was deep down. It was amazing how much of herself was in each and every single story that she wrote. When he finished, he was again touched by how much she trusted him in giving him that microscope to her soul.

Part of him wanted to call her the moment he'd finished the last story. But he decided to let it all sit inside him for a bit and brew there. That, and calling her from in town would mean he could see her right away after talking to her. He was a little afraid that if he called her that they'd not connect like they had the last time they'd met. `God, she's so amazing,' he thought. Then, he forced his mind to the more immediate needs, preparing himself for his interview. Even if it was a “sure thing”, he wanted to wow them anyway.

XX XY XX XY XX XY

After finishing another day of classes, Kyoumi made her way to her favorite Sakura tree. She smiled as she thought, `I wonder if it's because of her name. . . I always write under a Sakura tree. I always have. And I never could write with anyone in the room until Sakura.' She chuckled at herself. `I'm probably just being silly.'

And then, her thoughts were again on Nakatsu. On Nakatsu reading her book. On what he could be thinking. It had been 4 days since she'd seen him. Had he read any of it? All of it? Had he liked it? Had he hated it? Would he really call her? Of course he would. He would return the book to her regardless of how he felt about her afterward. He was that kind of guy.

He'd remembered her. He'd picked her up and swung her. She remembered the feel of his arms around her and she closed her eyes, sighing and leaning back against the tree. He had the kindest brown eyes - she remembered swimming in them at the table.

It was a little funny. She was supposed to be infatuated with him before she met him again - but if that was the case, shouldn't she have pictured him as more amazing before she saw him? Not more amazing now that she'd seen the real him? `God! I'm an idiot. There is just NO way that he's going to be interested in a girl who's just barely more than half his age.' But he'd kissed her deeply. She couldn't deny that - no matter how she'd tried. That kiss had been keeping her up nights, and on edge during the days. She'd written more stories in the past four days than she had in the four weeks prior to the meeting.

She shook her head, eyes still closed, and a tiny secret smile on her face. Head back against the tree, with the notebook on her lap and a pen in her hand is how they found her.

“Oh! My! GOD! Kyoumi!” She heard Hisa approaching and really didn't want to open her eyes. Hisa could be a little exhausting. But that would be rude, so open her eyes she did, and turned to see Midori accompanying her.

“What's up?”

“You are NOT going to believe it!” Hisa exclaimed. Her face glowered as she looked at the girl, as if she was holding Kyoumi personally responsible for some wrong done to her.

“What?”

“They just showed on the news that your boyfriend announced he was retiring,” Midori said quietly.

“I don't have a boyfriend,” she replied, but internally her mind wheeled, `Retiring? Nakatsu?'

Hisa bent over with one hand on her hip, the other forefinger extended was shaking at her, “This is all your fault, Kyoumi! He's leaving our team, and it's all your fault!”

Opening her eyes wide in astonishment, she didn't get the chance to respond before Midori rushed to her defense. “That's not fair, Hisa, and you know it! Nakatsu Shuichi is 32 years old. Most players retire by the time they're 30. I'm sure that Kyoumi had nothing to do with it.” She turned conspiratorially to the writer and said softly, “But I sure do hope you benefit from it.” Her smile was gentle and hopeful. She really was a romantic.

“Nakatsu's retiring?” she asked.

“Oh, like you didn't know!” Hisa said.

And again before she could say anything, Midori said quietly yet sternly, “That's a new book she's writing in. Do you see how far into it she is, Hisa? She hasn't heard from him since that day.” She turned back to Kyoumi. Grimacing apologetically, she continued, “Sorry, Kyoumi, but you haven't, have you?”

Kyoumi shook her head no, sadly.

“Oh, sure! Whatever! But I'll tell you this, Kagurazaka Kyoumi, if we lose this year, I'm holding you personally responsible.” That being said, the girl spun on her heel and headed back to the dorm. Midori shrugged and smiled, then followed Hisa back to school.

`He's retiring? What does that mean?'

She sat under the tree for another hour, without writing a thing. She had no idea what to even think.