Sena knew that he should be surprised that he found himself face down on the dirt because after everyone knew him as Eyeshield 21, other than the players he went against in the field, no one else has dared to bully him again. Especially if his tormentors were wearing skirts and ponytails.

"Yo, newbie," said one his bullies who was the one who tripped him, "care to share your summer pocket-money with us?"

"Sharing, caring, loving. That's the motto of this camp after all," pipped up her friend, kicking some sand in Sena's face.

Sena slowly picked himself up, dusted himself off and stared at the girls square in the face. Ever since he was a little boy, he only knew how to save himself by using his feet but after he joined Deimon Bats he has learnt to use his legs and his arms for defence and offence.
Though now, he flaundered for a bit, not knowing how he should handle girl-bullies. But after having gone against Agon in the Christmas Bowl, he figured he can keep his sense of gentlemanly behaviour and pride by only pulling a ponytail or two.

"What's going on here?"

Sena and the two girls turned around to see Tomiya walking up to them, her face unreadable but her posture showing alertness that people often have when getting ready for a fight.

"Shit, it's Tomiya," the second girl, whispered to her friend who scowled at her before turning back to the tall brunette.

"It's nothing." The first one shrugged as she non-chalantly dusted dirt off of Sena's shoulder, "Just welcoming the new girl to the camp, that's all."

"Hmm..." Tomiya nodded and the two girls walked away after giving the brown-haired camper a warning look.

"Are you okay?" Tomiya asked quietly, helping Sena dust off his shirt and hair clean.

Sena blinked as the girl brushed his hair with her fingers, feeling how wrong it was again that a girl other than Mamori-neechan has come to his rescue.

Quickly but carefully, Sena held Tomiya's wrist in his hands to stop the girl's movements before bringing her hands down to clasp them together with his other hand.

"Tomiya-san," said Sena carefully, "I'm happy that you came to help me out but... I'm okay, really. You don't need to come and save or help me everytime. I'm a big b- girl, and I can take care of myself."

"A friend should help another," Tomiya stated as a matter-of-fact. The way she holds herself, the confidence in her speech and the intense-ness in her eyes reminded him of someone, though he couldn't remember who it was at that moment.
Instead, he smiled and gripped the girl's hand tighter, "I know. But you should trust me as well. Especially since I will also help and protect you if you need me to."

Tomiya eyes widened at Sena words and with a blush, she turned away from his sweet smile. "Okay, I'll trust you."

Sena dropped her hands and beamed happily at the girl. "Great! Now, let's go play some Flag football!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sena sighed as he stepped inside the cabin's warmth after a long and refreshing shower in the stalls. As he promised Suzuna, and as his conscience demanded from him, he took a shower after all the girls have left and as he stood under the spray of water, the heat still radiating from his skin cooled down to a pleasuring thrum. Flag football was not as strenuous as the real American football and he did not mind it at all. It felt like being on a vacation from being Eyeshield 21 with giggly and enthusiastic girls chasing him around the playing field. Never in his dreams would he imagine anything like that to happen to him. His team-mates, especially the Ha-Ha-Ha brothers would die of jealousy if they found out. After they gang-tackle him and stomp on his body before feeding him to Kerberos that is.

Inside the cabin, Sena has already laid down his futon and next to it was Tomiya's, the tall girl sitting demurely on her futon as she brushed down her sleek black hair. Across from her was Tsuna, engrossed with a hand-held game while Harada read quietly on her stomach, moving only to flip a page slowly when she was done with it.

Carefully, Sena manouvered his way on tip-toes between the space of futons to settle on his spot. Tsuna looked at Sena for a moment before commenting, "Weird pajamas."

Sena scratched at his still wet hair and looked down at his sleep-wear. He did not know where Suzuna managed to get a pajama with the team's mascot as the pattern though he imagined Hiruma must've made a lucrative profit out of any Deimon Bats merchandise.

"I would peg you for a pajama-user that has prints of icecream, cute animals, flowers and rainbows but not this," Tsuna said, pausing at her game before looking more closely at the embarassed boy's clothes, "That bat looks evil."

"Well, there is the cute chibi-bat, too," Harada pointed out at the printed smaller bat with the little black beady eyes and fangless smile.

"Cute."

Even though Sena wondered if Tomiya was calling him or his pajama cute, he blushed anyway. Either girls usually call each other cute all the time or that they did not hear Tomiya say the word, Tsuna and Harada got back to what they were doing while Tomiya smiled at Sena, making the boy blush harder.

"Ummm... thanks."

Suddenly, a knock came from outside and their instructor, Naguchi Uyeda came in with a flashlight and a clipboard in his hands. Looking around the cabin, he saw that everyone was accounted for and made a tick on his list. "Alright, girls. It's time to turn in. There are more activities to be done. First off, I would like to thank Taki Suzuna for introducing us to Flag Football. It was an enjoyable game and we may hold the game every summer as a fixed programme."

A series of claps came from the girls and Sena bowed, blushing in embarassment.

"Well, goodnight and sleep tight." He bowed and the girls bowed back. "Oyasumi!"

After a brief moment, Sena looked up and saw that Naguchi was looked over Sena's head and when he turned around he saw that there was only Tomiya whose head was still bowed. When Tomiya looked up, the girl seemed to look surprised before dropping her head back down, her mouth set to a firm line.

"Well... that is all..."

Naguchi switched off the cabin lights and as soon as the door was shut, the girls all got into their futon for sleep. To his surprise, Tsuna has moved her futon closer to Harada's before tugging at spectacled-girl's blanket to wiggling her way under it.

"Don't you dare put your icicle toes on me, Tsuna," Harada warned, her seriousness in the matter making her drop the 'san' honorific that she usually uses for everyone around her.

"Aww... but it's cold," Tsuna whined, before she turned to Sena, "Join us! You can do this too, y'know."

"Join you?" Sena squeaked.

"Well, not with me and Makino. You share your blanket with Yuri, of course. It gets cold here at night, even during summer. Go ahead! Yuri won't mind!" Tsuna urged.

Sena turned towards Tomiya and the brunette merely nodded to affirm that she did not mind at all. The boy wanted to insist that he was fine but he was already shivering from his late shower and his hair was still damp. Reluctantly, the Deimon Bats player slowly shifted his futon closer to Tomiya's and without prompting, the quiet girl was already enveloping Sena together with her in her already warm blanket. Sena felt his face burn but the warmth from the girl beside him melted the cold from his body, relaxing him completely. It felt like being in Mamori-neechan's arms, sleeping together when they were kids a long time ago and he missed those moments where he need not worry about anyone (especially Hiruma) making fun of his attachment to their club-manager and just stay safe and cacooned in the comfort of affection and warmth.

Sena was nearly about to fall asleep when he heard Tsuna whisper, "Hey Makino-chan. How's that guy you've been seeing last year?"

Harada sighed. "We broke up. I never realised that he's such a doofus."

Tsuna snickered. "You're just waiting for that archery club president that you kept blabbing about - Toshiro, isn't it?"

"Baka," Harada said, flicking at Tsuna's forehead with her finger, "he's graduated already. And I do not blab."

"Eh...okay," Tsuna asqueisced as she rubbed at the sore spot, "How about the vice-president? He's probably in the third year now, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is." Harada hmm-ed for a moment. "He has potential."

Sena fidgeted under the covers. If it was not an opportune moment to ask for Tomiya of her love life, then nothing else would be.

"Ummm.... do you have anyone you like, Tomiya-san?" Sena asked, his breath bated as he waited for Tomiya's response.

"Yuri-kun dumped her boyfriend of two years last year," Harada said quietly. Around them everyone has already fallen asleep. "She found him cheating on her with one of their class-mates."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sena whispered, now feeling guilty for asking.

Tsuna giggled. "Not to worry. Yuri-chan threw him down with one of her judo-moves. She's a judo expert, do you know that? All the boys want to date her when she became single again. And she goes to Tsubaki Highschool. Do you know how cute their uniform is?"

"Oh." Sena chewed his lip in thought. So, Tomiya is single and popular and going to an elite school which tells him how rich and smart she really is. He feels Taki's chances at dating Tomiya going from slim to nil.

"Ah, it's nothing," Tomiya said and Sena was surprised to hear the shyness in her voice, "Let's just go to sleep. There's cooking to do tomorrow."

"Right." Tsuna yawned. "Oyasumi."

"Oyasumi," the three responded.

Sena felt Tomiya's arms draw him closer so that he lay spooned with his back against her and he felt the drowsiness begin to attack him again. Yawning widely himself, he unconciously snuggled closer, his eyelids already fluttering closed.

A sigh brushed against the hair at the back of his head. "...cute..."

~TBC~