I Won’t Let You Fall

timidly hauled herself on the tall balance beam in the gym.  She had just finished taking a two month break from the Hyotei gymnastics club in order for her broken leg to heal.  But even after the long healing process had passed, and her fellow regulars still agreed, that she still shouldn’t be put in the lineup for a while yet.

Sighing, walked along the length of the balance beam, counting her steps carefully.  The balance beam was supposedly her best division out of all. 

Bending all the way backward on the beam, performed a slow back walkover, her feet landing perfectly one after another. 

She could still remember that day perfectly, two months ago.  It had taken place during the Kantou meet that determined which schools were eligible for Nationals.  had of course, been assigned to the beam by her coach. 

The crowd had been watching eagerly, as she had stepped up on to the beam.  The first two parts of her routine went well.  Easy things, like back-handsprings and aerial round-offs.  But when the time came for her to perform her finishing dismount skill, the full in-back out, it had turned awful.  In her nervousness and unfamiliarity with the skill, she had mistimed her steps and dismounted too early, yielding disastrous results.  In jumping too early, she had landed too close to the beam, causing her right leg to hit the side of it with a full force on the way down.

When the crowd realized that wasn’t moving from where she had fallen, the Hyotei gymnast regulars along with the coach rushed to her side.  After being sent to the hospital, the Hyotei gymnasts visited her regularly, assuring her that she would recover quickly and return to them in no time.  However, when had asked for the results of the Kantou meet, the rest of the regulars stood around her bowing their heads in sorrow. 

Because of ’s fall, their hopes of even securing a place had diminished greatly.  But the worst thing about it was that there was no denying that it was ’s fault the Hyotei gymnastics team had lost.

Shaking her head from the memory, lowered herself into a split on the rough beam.  “Don’t worry about it,” she thought to herself angrily, “we won the consolation meet, so stop dwelling on the past and think up a new routine already.”

Taking a deep breath, rose from her split and walked to the edge of the beam.  Looking around, she stretched her back and circled her arms.  No one was present in the gym today, as it had been raining hard all morning, with the exception of a redheaded boy wearing an oxygen mask running on a treadmill across the hall.  Judging from the amount of sweat, he had probably been going at it for a while. 

Finishing her stretches, shifted her weight on her toes and jumped up.  When she was satisfied with the drills she had done on the beam, she quickly bounded to the end, poising at the edge.  Bending her knees, then proceeded to complete a series of back handsprings on the beam towards the other end.

When she thought she had completed enough, bent her knees yet again and sprang up.  As she was in the air, she spun herself into pattern of 360 turns before her head skimmed the side of the beam.

“OW!!” cried , rubbing her head in pain.  Tears immediately sprang to her eyes as stars danced across her vision.  Using the beam as a support, she tried to stand but the pain in her head got worse, forcing her sit back down.  But by then, the stars had begun to blur out and everything she saw turned black. 

“Somebody…help me…” were the last words that had managed to sputter before she promptly passed out.

Awhile later, opened her eyes.  It had felt like countless hours passed after she had hit her head on the side of the beam.  The pain was still there though, and she could feel a bump already forming, on the place it had come in contact with the beam. 

Sitting up, looked around.  She was still in the gym, but someone had moved her away from the balance beam and on to a pile of squishy mats.  ’s jacket had been stuffed under her head like a pillow, while another jacket covered her.

Inspecting the jacket she was covered with, read “Seigaku?”

“Hoi hoi!!  I see you’re up already!” cried the redheaded boy, skipping toward the mats.  “Daijobu ka?” 

“Ugh, I’m fine, but what happened?” asked warily, rubbing her head.

“Oh, you kind of hit your head on the beam when you were doing a salto.  You must have misjudged your distance or something, Nyah!  But don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get it right next time.” the boy said cheerfully.

, hearing the last part frowned and lowered her eyes.  “I guess…well, thanks for saving me.”

Eiji making one of his notorious facial expressions of confusion piped up, “No problem!!  But what’s wrong?  Does your head still hurt?”

Shaking her head, replied, “It’s no use, ever since my accident last month, I keep misjudging the timing and distance for my dismounts.”

“Nani?  But that’s no reason to give up.  Here, I’ll show you.”  And with that, Eiji jumped off the bleachers and promptly scrambled up the beam. 

“Watch this!”  Flashing his white teeth, Eiji promptly executed a set of fast back handsprings toward the end of the beam, finishing off with her designated skill: the full out, back 2/1.  Landing on a bunch of precariously stacked mats, he flashed a v-sign at her, before the mats tottered and gave way, inciting a loud crash.

“O-OIII!!! Daijobu ka??!!!” she yelled clutching the jacket and running toward the pile of mats.

Five minutes later, Eiji found himself waking up in ’s lap.

“Itai…..” he rubbed his head and promptly sat up.

in her anxiety quickly pelted him with questions.

“Daijoubu ka?”

“Hai!”

“Do you remember your name?”

“Kikumaru Eiji.”

“School?”

“Seishun Gakuen.”

“How about the colors on my uniform?”

“Eh? Hm….” Eiji looked closer at her gymnastics uniform.  That grey, white, black, and teal seemed awfully familiar…

“Hey aren’t you from Hyotei?  That school with all those preppy and loud people, like Atobe and Mukahi?” Kikumaru sat up blinking at her uniform.”

, forgetting he was injured gave him a surprised look.  “You know Atobe-sama and Mukahi-sama?  Then that means that you’re on the Seigaku tennis team right?”

Eiji flinched at her choice of name endings, “Hai hai, I’m Kikumaru Eiji, acrobatic specialist and part of the Golden Pair!!”

“Ha-ha, maybe you should stick to the floor.”

“Meanie.”

“I’m , by the way.”

“Ah?  So you’re the vice captain of the Hyotei gymnast club?”

“H-hai, although I really don’t deserve the spot anymore…”

“Not true nyah!  You’re just out of whack because of your fall.  I know!!  Why don’t I spot you?  That way you won’t get hurt!”

“Bu-but…”

“Oh come on, your routine is good, and being spotted is nothing to be embarrassed about.” Eiji said cheerfully, hoisting himself up from ’s lap.

“It’s not that, it’s just that, I’ve been shaky ever since my leg broke during a fall in the Kantou meet last month.”

“Well, who said I would let you fall?”

blushed at the statement. 

“So come on, let’s go nyah!!” Pulling at ’s wrist, Kikumaru led her back to the beam.

“Ah…Kikumaru-san, are you sure we should be doing this?  I…I mean…we're still both injured you know.” said nervously.

“Oh come on!  You don’t grow, if you don’t make mistakes!  You shouldn’t be afraid when you fall.”

“Eh…it’s easier said than done.” sighed , but seeing Kikumaru pouting, agreed.

“Fine, I’ll do it.  But only if you spot me.”

“Yay!”

Mounting the beam, stood at one end as Eiji stepped to the side.  Positioning herself in the middle, looked around as Kikumaru put his hand behind her back to support her.  Making sure she was ready, Kikumaru gave her the okay sign and began her routine.  Occasionally he would adjust the positioning of her waist, but other than that, the routine proceeded smoothly.

“Okay, you’re doing good nyah; just do one more back handspring and you're finished.”

did just that and leapt up and outward off the beam.  However, in mid twist, lost her form and found her body dipping downwards toward the padded floor.

As fell, she closed her eyes in panic, feeling her body turn frigid, and her head go numb.  However, the fear was stopped short as a pair of thin but strong arms grasped her before she could hit the ground.

Opening her eyes, she met Kikumaru’s bright blue ones, his mouth curled into a cat-like smile, “Hoi hoi, I told you I wouldn’t let you fall!”

Still pouting, jumped down from his arms and gritted her teeth.  At the rate this was going, she was not going to survive Nationals. 

Kikumaru, sensing her displeasure, approached her and put a hand on her shoulder.  “Don’t mind, don’t mind.  It took me at least a year to master the full in-back out so you can definitely do it.  All you needed was a little more momentum and you could finish the twist!!  So with a little more practice and confidence, you can do it nyah!!”

Having been hit by Kikumaru’s cliché yet soothing speech stood up and replied firmly, “Hai!!  I will not let my team down!!”

“That’s the spirit!” cried Kikumaru before his eyes settled on the wall clock.  “Ah, it’s getting late though!  My mom will be wondering where I am!” said Kikumaru rubbing his head, “But first!  I’ll walk you home!”

“Eh…it’s alright Kikumaru-san, I need to practice more anyway…” replied .

“No no no!  Believe me; I know you want to practice!  But first, you need to rest your head.  Like my teammate Inui says, you will never be on top, if your body’s not.” cried Kikumaru, “And you can call me Eiji!”

“Yeah, that makes sense…Eiji-kun.” said with a smile, “Let’s go get our stuff then.”

A couple of minutes later, the two students emerged from the gym and through the exit.  By that time the rain had stopped pouring, so the two were able to move without any problems.  found Eiji to be rather pleasant, chattering away about school, the tennis club, how he came to be partners with Oishi, how he found Mukahi to be annoying, and other things.  Eiji also urged into the conversation as well, but before she knew it, the two had already arrived at her house.

“Again, thanks for saving me, Eiji-kun; I’d probably still be back there, if it wasn’t for you.” smiled at him.

Eiji rubbed the back of his head, “Ah no problem, you just take care of yourself ne!  I’ll see -chan at the gym again right?!”

“Ahaha, of course!!  I’m there around 6:30 every night!”

“Alright, then see you tomorrow nyah!”

After he had left, closed the door, throwing herself on to the family room's couch.  “What a day!” she said exhaustedly.  But surprisingly, she thought this day had been a good one, compared to the last couple of weeks where she struggled on the team.  This time, she had a new friend to help her.  A friend that wasn’t ashamed of her mistakes.

And so, the next two weeks she was trained under the guidance of Eiji.  After their respected practices, they would meet in the gym, regardless of the weather.  Kikumaru would spot her as much as possible, while would try her best.  And despite Kikumaru’s confirmation that Mukahi was indeed better than him in acrobatics, she was still impressed with his routines on the floor and the uneven bars.

During the Nationals Meet…

gulped, fiddling with her regular’s leotard, “Who knew there would be so many people?”  Scolding herself for her stupidity she mumbled the answer to herself, “Dumbass, it’s the final round of  the Nationals of course!!”

Looking around, looked for Kikumaru.  He had said that he’d definitely come to watch her, but having skimmed the crowd twice, she still couldn’t find him.  “Tennis practice must be keeping him late,” thought , “But that’s ok, I’m the last competitor in the group, so he’ll probably make it.”

The beam division in her team was doing mediocre so far with an average of 9.15.  It was a good start, but if they wanted the ultimate lead, they would have to do better.  However, after the 3^rd competitor had finished, the average had dwindled to an 8.98, lower than the Hyotei gymnasts had anticipated.

“ !! !!”

Snapping her head around, saw Eiji near a set of bleachers, and waved to him.  Now that he was here, he wouldn’t let her fall.  And that itself provided a great relief for her. 

The next couple of minutes went by quickly, as became very nervous.  Soon, it was finally her turn.  Flashing a quick smile at Kikumaru, she shed her jacket, and jogged to the balance beam.  

Hoisting herself up, mounted the center of the beam with a straddle, turning her body into a split position.  Silence soon passed through the audience, as the clock started ticking, indicating that should start.

1 minute 25 seconds…

Rising from her split slowly to take up time, performed a cycle of pirouettes and stag leaps to one end of the beam.  All went well for that except for a minor wobble during a turn in the middle of a pirouette, but managed to regain her balance, and went on. 

1 minute 03 seconds…

“If you can, take as much time as you need for the aerials.  It’ll balance everything out.”

Remembering his words, attempted to slow down the aerials and the split leaps more, topped off with a back tuck, leading her back to the other end of the beam.

0 minute 42 seconds…

Preparing for the dismount, started on the back handsprings.  Keeping her feet balanced she executed three perfect ones in a row. 

“Ok, now for the finish…”

0 minute 20 seconds…    

Feeling the edge of her heel on the beam, smiled, as she had successfully mastered the timing and the distance of the handsprings.  Bending her knees at the last second, sprang upward, twisting her body while flipping twice.  During that moment, she could have sworn she felt Eiji’s hands spotting her and giving her the extra push she needed.

0 minute 09 seconds

suddenly felt a small shock run through her body as her feet met the ground.  Throwing up her arms and arching her back, she stuck to the ground, earning cheers and jovial screams from her teammates.  The screams became even louder when the judges displayed ’s score: 9.78, giving them the final lead in the beam division over the other competitors with an average of 9.18.

The cheering didn’t die down for awhile, but when it finally did, the awards ceremony took place.  Once again, Hyotei living up to its reputation, had swept over the competition.  But of course, that was not a surprise.

Breathing a sigh of relief, sat back down in the locker rooms with a towel draped over her head, when one of the Hyotei gymnasts startled her.

“Oi Fukubuchou!!  Some guy is outside looking for you!  He’s pretty cute you know!  Is he from our school?  I don’t think I recognize him.”

immediately sat up, “Ah Eiji, that’s right I forgot!  And no he’s from Seigaku!!” she cried.

Grabbing her regular’s jacket as she rushed past her teammate, was tackled before she could set her foot outside the door.

“Hoi hoi!! You did it!!  Congratulations!!” cried Eiji as he enveloped in a hug.

“It was all thanks to you Eiji…” replied in a muffled voice through Eiji’s shoulder.  “Wait, here, let me give you something.”  Reaching into her pocket, she produced the medal that she had received, placing it into Eiji’s hand.

“WHAT?  I can’t have this!!!” he exclaimed.

smiled, closing his fingers around the piece of metal.  “Eiji, you deserve it more than I do.  If you hadn’t helped restore my confidence that day, I don’t think I could have made it this far.  In short, you’re amazing.  And I can’t thank you enough…”

Kikumaru merely stood there dumbfounded, tracing his fingers around the medal.  Looking back at ’s smiling face; he smiled in return, “Come to our Nationals!  I’ll introduce you to the team!!!”

“Of course!! I have to be there silly, I’m a cheerleader too remember?” smiled, “And although I’m supposed to be cheering solely for Hyotei, I’ll be cheering for you too!”

Kikumaru beamed, “And when Seigaku wins the championship, I’ll give you my medal!”

“Fair enough, if you can get past Hyotei first!”

“Oh we will nyah!”

“Then best of luck at the Nationals!”

“Thanks!!” Eiji replied still smiling, scratching the back of his head.  And leaning in, he gave a light kiss on the cheek, much to the delight of the other Hyotei gymnasts.

“Awww fuku-buchou has a boyfriend!!!!!!!” chirped the Hyotei gymnast regulars as blushed in return.

End

by: Jovitar

requested by: Kichy

edited: 6/24/06

Re-edited by Anon