A/N: Maka-chan has started a multi-chaptered story Oo This is a very rare occasion and should be stared at and poked (with caution). I don't even know where it came from, I'm just obsessed with these two randomly meeting on the streets of Tokyo at night, clearly... Anyway, I need to know whether I should continue or just give up and retreat back to Drabble Corner, so please leave a review at the end of your visit ^^

Disclaimer: Ah if only I didn't have to write this... Eyeshield 21 does not belong to Makayla, nor shall it ever and thank God for that.

Chapter 1

Sena shifted the bag in his hand and glared up at the sky as two big drops of water splattered onto his left cheek. His body was aching from the day's gruelling training and he'd forgotten to bring an umbrella.

The heavens opened mercilessly and Sena ducked beneath the shallow doorway of the nearest shop and sighed as the rain fell so hard it obscured the quiet night street. Occasionally a car would zoom past, its speeding tires sending sheets of water flying up onto the path.

It had been raining all day and Sena should have known better than to risk the outside without an umbrella, but really all he had been thinking of was how he'd be able to collapse on his bed as soon as he'd gotten to the shop and back; now it seemed he would have to wait a little longer for that privilege.

Sena looked down the street idly as he waited (hoped) for the rain to end. In the distance he could make out a figure, broad and hulking as it trudged determinedly through the downpour. Sena winced in sympathy as he (with those shoulders the figure had to be a man) jogged closer. The man's sweatshirt was soaked through and Sena could see rain dripping off the end of his redden nose. His dark hair was plastered to his forehead just as his tracksuit trousers were plastered to his legs.

Sena looked away as another car drove past, flattening himself against the cold wall to avoid the spray. He could still hear the steady thud of the persistent jogger but he knew it would be considered rude to look twice. Instead he squinted up at the sky, vainly looking for an end to the black cloud hanging over Tokyo's skyscrapers.

Unsurprisingly, he found none.

"Kobayakawa Sena?" Sena looked down in surprise.

"Shin-san!"

"Are you well?" The linebacker looked him up and down as though expecting to find some injury that prevented Sena from moving.

"I'm fine, just tired. Don't fancy walking home in the rain, you know." Sena replied with a watery smile.

"The rain's supposed to continue all night," Shin informed him with an apologetic tone.

"Oh," Sena looked back up the black sky tiredly, "I guess I should get back then." He shifted his aching shoulders with a wince.

"You are pain?" Shin frowned.

"No, no, I'm fine." Sena laughed a little nervously as he rubbed that back of his head, "Hiruma just gave us a pretty hard training session."

"Let me carry your bag."

"My bag?" Sena looked down at his carrier bag in surprise, "no it's fine honestly." Sena smiled again, "Anyway I should really get going." The high-school student looked apprehensively at the rain gathering in puddles across the street before stepping out into the icy downpour. "Ah, damn that's cold!" He exclaimed. He squeezed his eyes shut as the cold immediately streaked through his hair, down his neck and invaded the neck of his shirt- he was soaked in seconds.

The freezing running back reluctantly reopened his eyes and he gaped in astonishment as he registered the sight of Shin suddenly stripping in the middle of a rainstorm.

"Shin-san! What are…?" Sena's question was cut short as Shin held out his sweatshirt, "I can't take that! It's raining and you'll get cold!"

Shin shrugged now standing only in a plain blue t-shirt which was rapidly turning from damp to sodden, "My body mass is much more than yours, I am not as susceptible to the cold as you."

"Shin-san, you're shivering," Sena argued.

"I merely need to re-adjust to the temperature. I am not putting it back on so you may as well take it."

Sena looked down at the jumper; it was wet and the longer it was left in the rain the colder it would get, but the promise of its protection from the liquid ice currently running down his neck proved too tempting. Quickly he placed his bag on the floor and pulled it over his head.

It smelt like damp and sweat, swallowed his arms and hung down to the middle of his thighs, but remnants of Shin's body heat still clung to the fabric making Sena smile as he pushed the sleeves up to free his hands.

Shin swiftly used his distraction to steal the bag from Sena's side, holding it in his unbreakable grasp as he waited patiently.

Sena stared helplessly at his bag, "I said it was fine," he protested but already knew that his argument would be ignored.

"You are getting very wet." Shin answered plainly.

"So are you," Sena retorted with some childish rebellion.

"Yes."

Sena glanced up unhappily, "but you've already let me borrow your jumper."

"Then I will need to follow you home to get it back."

Sena opened his mouth to argue but the straight-faced linebacker had stumped him.

"Which way is your house?"

"But..." Shin's faced remained unmoved and Sena felt the last of his will crumble beneath the unrenlenting stare, "It's... it's just this way." Sena began walking in the direction Shin had been jogging and the other teenager fell into step with him.

They walked silently as the cold, harsh rain continued to fall, turning down the brightly-lit streets of suburban Tokyo. Sena tugged on the neck of his borrowed jumper in an effort to scupper any further attempts to freeze as much as his skin as possible and his fingers bumped along the excess material at its back. The boy remembered with an embarrassed jolt that this was a hoody, and therefore it had a hood. With a quick jerk Sena pulled the thick fabric over his head and a blue wall blocked his view of any look his delayed reaction might have received from his rival.

Shin said nothing, not that Sena was really expecting him to, but suddenly the silence seemed so much more imposing than it had seconds before. The running back fiddled with the hem of the over-sized jumper as he tried to think of a Shin-friendly conversation.

"H-Have you been out long?"

"Yes."

"…"

The silence mocked his pitiful attempts.

"Erm… so, when is Oujou's next match?"

"Tomorrow."

Sena blinked in surprise, "Tomorrow? Won't you be tired if you train before a match?"

"I train everyday, my stamina will be satisfactory."

"But… will you train after the match as well?"

"Of course."

"You must really like American Football." Sena replied, feeling a little awed at his resolve.

Shin looked down at him curiously, "like?" Sena watched as he turned away again, his eyes becoming distant. "I… guess."

"You guess? But you put so much work into it!"

"I like getting stronger."

"But- But you already so strong…" A quick list of all the things Shin had accidently broken because of his ridiculous strength ran through Sena's mind.

"I want to be stronger so that in our next match I can fight against you."

"You like getting stronger because it means you can fight against… me?" Sena parroted with surprise. Even after accepting Shin as his rival Sena still had a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that the feeling was mutual.

"I like to play against you."

"Oh," Sena felt a warm tingle build up in his cheeks and quickly ducked his head as a small smile curved across his lips. From the corner of his eye he sneaked a peak at the soaked form beside him.

Shin's shirt was now plastered completely to his chest, moving like a second skin against the muscles that stood as testament to Shin's strength. Sena was struck, as he usually was when he stood beside Shin, with a sudden inadequacy followed swiftly by a fierce determination to improve.

Sena smiled, "Yeah, I like it too."

Shin looked down- his lips twitching with the merest hint of a curve- then grimaced as the motion caused his clothing to find new places to adhere its freezing surface to. "Where is your house?" He asked.

"Oh sorry!" Sena's eyes darted round the street desperately and a sneaking feeling welled up in his gut, "heh heh heh," Sena scratched the back of his head before raising his hand into the downpour to point at a gate about five houses back, "it was that one," he admitted.

…

Sena slipped the door shut behind him, a blush still high on his cheeks as he replayed the last leg of his conversation with Shin in his mind. Only he could be so stupid as to miss his own house!

"Sena-kun is that you?" His mum asked from the lounge, pulling his thoughts back to the present.

"Yeah, I just got back."

"God you must be soaked! You didn't even take a jacket!"

"No it's alright; I borr-" Sena stopped mid-sentence as his fingers plucked at Shin's hoody and he realised with some horror that he was still wearing it.

"What was that honey?"

"Err- nothing, I'm just going to put the rice away," Sena sped into the kitchen as he tried to figure out how he was going to return it. Maybe he could find his address somehow and mail to him? Or he could give it back after the match tomorrow- except it was a Friday so Sena would be at school. Or maybe he could chase after him now- he wouldn't look too stupid would he? Sena's thoughts trailed off; yes he would look stupid because he didn't even know which way Shin had gone.

"Sena, you're being very quiet, are you okay?"

Sena jolted in surprise as he realised he was holding the bag of rice half out of the carrier bag and it was slipping dangerously.

"Ah! Yeah; I'm good!" He called back as he lifted the rice quickly onto the shelf and wrapped up the plastic bag for recycling. "I'm gonna go upstairs!"

"Ok then, good night honey."

"Night Sena."

"Night!" Sena bit his lip as he quickly climbed the stairs, grimacing at the clammy touch of his clothing and was already pulling it off as he stepped into his room. His body shivered in the cold as he hastily rooted out a pair of comfortable jogging trousers and an old jumper from the depths of his cupboard and he quickly tugged them on over goose-bumped skin.

Sena scooped Shin's jumper off the chair he'd thrown it on and hung it carefully over the radiator beneath his window. As he stared out at the torrential precipitation he wondered briefly if Oujou could sue him for inadvertently causing their Ace to contract pneumonia.

Remember, if you want more please leave a review! I won't be continuing this unless there's people who want to read it ^__^