Heart of a champion

Chapter 1 - Meeting A Professional Athlete

"So, this where your little brother practices?" The great lord and novelist Usami Akihiko asked his friend Takahiro Takahashi of ten years. The pair went inside a giant ice skating arena, the cold air hit them almost immediately as they entered the lounge area of the arena.

"Yup!' Takahiro chirped happily, 'He has been competing internationally for only a year now, but he has a few silvers and a bronze!"

Usami looked at his friend, raising an eyebrow, "No gold?"

"Not in international, only in domestic competitions ... but I know he has it in him. I just know it," both men went silent for a moment as they opened the man doors to the main rink area.

The silver haired man looked down at the ice to see a few boys practicing some moves, most however falling flat on their bottoms or simply gliding across the ice. But one boy in particular caught Usami's attention.

"Tighter Misaki! Tight!" A woman, who looked to be no older than forty, yelled at the smallest skater. A skinny boy with brown hair, that had bobby pins pinning back his bangs from his face, and he was wearing a loose hoodie with the logo of "World Figure Skating Championships 2013" on his back. Usami watched in amazement and wide eyes as the boy jumped on the air landing a fancy spin jump, before landing perfectly. The brat made it look simple.

"Excellent Misaki! Now just do it perfectly a few hundred more times." The woman said, with some slight sarcasm in her voice. Misaki groaned slight before picking up speed to redo his jump until …

"Misaki!" Takahiro screamed. The boy looked behind him, only to fall on his side and slide into the wall. Usagi cringed at fall, only to see Misaki get up almost as soon as he fell, the author was surprised anyone would get up so easily.

"Now I know why he never won any gold …"

"Takahashi! Don't distract my skaters!" The coach yelled, she turned towards the rink clapping her hands to get all the skaters attention. The boys gathered around her within seconds.

"Practice is over! Enjoy your weekend! You are dismissed!" All the boys bowed their heads, mumbling thank you, before skating towards the exit.

From that moment Usagi gained interest in the young skater, High School Senior Misaki Takahashi.

- After Practice -

"Misaki, I saw you landed a triple jump, I thought you wanted to do a quad?" Takahiro asked, as all three entered a small cafe restaurant. Misaki had taken all of the bobby pines out, which revealed wild looking layered hair, with the longest layer reaching the back of his neck.

"He looks younger now ..." Usagi silently observed.

"It's called a salchow Ni-chan, and it's a quad lutz combo I'm trying to land. Yuna-Sensei said I need to work up to quad first," Misaki sighed, as if he explained this before several times, but his brother never bothered to remember the technical terms.

Usagi looked at boy carefully, noticing a small scar on the skaters chin. The man looked away before the boy could notice being observed by the twenty eight year old novelist.

Takahiro laughed, rubbing the back of his head, "Of course, of course! Are you sure you can do it before the Olympics?"

"Olympics?" Usagi asked, not believing what he heard. Misaki looked down blushing brightly, as his brother hugged him from the side.

"That's right!' Takahiro beamed, 'He was the star of the 2013 Worlds team, so he'll probably make the Olympic trials too! And even get gold!"

"Ni-chan please!" Misaki pleaded before backing away from his brother. The boy then got up, turning towards the two men, 'I'll be right back, I'm just going to the bathroom."

The boy walked away without waiting for either to respond.

"Takahiro,' Usagi broke the silence, 'How did Misaki get that scar on his chin?"

"Oh that ... He was in an accident at the warm ups prior to his short program at Worlds, he has a matching scar on the very top of his forehead as well," Takahiro explained, frowning at the memory.

"I see. Is that why he only got a silver?" Takahiro only nodded in silence. Before either could talk, the young skater returned scooting next to his brother.

"Sorry for leaving! Eh?' Misaki noticed both men were silent, not chatty or talkative like when he left, 'Did something happen?"

Usagi remained silent before remembering something, "Misaki, how long did it take you to learn those tricks?"

Misaki looked at the man, his green eyes widen in slight surprise, "It took me a few months to really land a triple lutz combo correctly, from just a double lutz combo, without falling on my ass," Misaki chuckled, he felt a little weird about bragging to someone he barely knew.

The silver hair man smirked slightly, "I always thought ice skating was a woman's sport."

The brunette glared, feeling a blood vessel form on his forehead, "What the hell is that suppose to mean?!"

He did not appreciate his craft being belittled.

"Misaki! Don't be rude!" Takahiro scolded, giving his brother the 'look'. Misaki only huffed like a child, still giving the author a death glare. Professional athlete or not, he was still a child.

A waitress, with shoulder length black hair and Amber eyes, came by giving all three hot green tea, only to notice Misaki sitting in one of the booths. Her eyes widened as she recognized him.

"Oh! Are you Misaki Takahashi? The skater?" The teen nodded shyly, but he didn't look interested in the girl at all. Usagi thought it was a little strange that the teen wasn't interested, then again maybe the teen had a girlfriend.

"U-Uh, yes I am," he stammered. The waitress gave him a personal note pad and pen, which confused the teen for a moment.

"Please, forgive me,' she bowed her head, 'I'm just such a big fan of yours. May I please have your signature?"

Usually Misaki refused this type of attention, but the girl was pretty polite, so he mentally decided he would let this time pass.

He signed the notepad, to which the waitress bowed and left to give their food orders. The three men were silent until they saw her disappear until, Misaki started chuckling a little bit, followed by Takahiro and Usagi.

All three laughed continuing to talk for an hour, before both left for their separate ways. But one thought did cross the writers mind, what accident could be bad enough to cause two permanent scars, but still allow someone to be the second best in the world?

- Later that evening -

Usagi lounged inside his penthouse, lazily laying across his couch as he surfed onto YouTube. The author clicked in the box typing in 'Misaki Takahashi World Championship accident'.

Immediately several results appeared but one stood out, it was titled 'South Korean Skater Collides With Japanese Skater', with slight hesitation, the writer clicked on the video, waiting for it to play.

The video finally loaded ( after the advertisements finally finished) showing a bunch of skaters of all ethnities practicing, then the camera zoomed in on Misaki, who was picking up speed to execute a jump for his short routine, with the Japanese broadcaster commenting n the skater.

"Here is Japanese favorite, Misaki Takahashi, who just turned eightteen. Getting ready to-' without warning Misaki collided with another male skater, hard. Sending both small figure skaters to the ground, 'Oh my God! Takahashi is hurt! He is hurt badly!"

The crowd screamed in surprise and horror at the situation, soon the yelling quieted don as several members of the audience summered, questions if both the skater were ok, since neither made an immediate move to get off the ice.

The camera zoomed in on the two skaters, the other skater got up, only giving Misaki a second glance, before skating away to the exit. Misaki curled into a ball on the ice clutching onto his face, anyone with a brain could tell he was in a mass amount of pain.

"All skaters please get off the ice, attention all skaters must leave the ice. Only medics and othe coach personal may enter the ice at this time," a female announcer sated in English, latter a male Japanese speaker said the same thing, followed by a French speaker.

The screen shifted to slow motion, showing the moment the skaters colliding, but what Usagi say made even the hardened man wince. The other male skater was practicing an glide, but as he turned his skate hit Misaki, before both fell to the ground, with Misaki landing on part of his head.

"It looks like South Korean favorite, Kim Sungsu, was just too close to Takahashi, whom looks like he was practicing his quad combo. Now his coach is making is making her way onto the ice-'

The camera pointed towards the same woman whom Usagi saw earlier, but wait.

"Quads? Didn't Misaki only just get a triple combo down?"

The coach kneeled towards Misaki, giving him some instructions, while medics finally made their way into the ice. His blood was visibly on the ice and was making its way down the young boys neck and face, and photographers made no hesitation in taking as many pictures as they could.

"Who the hell likes to take pictures of kid with blood on his face?" Usagi thought angerily, he didn't understand why people would want to take pictures of someone in pain, then again shocking images sold better, and a teen skating prodigy with two gash's, bleeding all over the ice was very attention grabbing, even for non-sport fans.

Again the camera changed, showing Takahiro and his girlfriend looking at the scene in horror, with Takahiro getting out of seat, trying to make his way down the rink entrance, only to be halted by competition officials keeping the press and other onlookers from entering the ice.

"This why it is important to remember that often times it is not safe to be at the corners of the rink unless you are planning to execute a jump, because other wise you run the risk of colliding into skaters practice jumps, and as for Kim and Takahashi, both were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," the broadcaster concluded, with the video ending, showing Misaki being lead off the ice by his coach and a onsite paramedic before the video stopped.

Usagi sat in silent shock, he didn't want to admit it to himself, but the sport now looked more dangerous then just landing fancy jumps, and swirls. The hit Misaki took looked comparable to that of colliding with a knife!

The man scrolled down the page, reading some of the comments on the video.

"Baby! ;.; stay strong Takahashi-Kun!"

"My face hurts watching this!"

"Well in all fairness, wasn't songsu injured injured too? He had a gash on his shoulder takhashis blade …"

"He had a small cut! Takahashi had over 10 stitches! And still competed with a bandage around his head, a head concussion, fell five times and still placed in silver. Songsu cant even do a quad!" #TakahashiWasRobbed #TeamJapan

"I love you Misaki! Japan loves you!^_^"

Lavender eyes rolled at the cooing fangirls, now he would never complain about his fangirls ever again. As he scrolled down a few comments caught his attention.

"shame on Sungsu! How could he be so careless, only reason he won the gold was because his blade slashed his competitors face!"

"This World Championship was a disgrace, #TakahashiWasRobbed"

"Kim should have his face gashed open and try to compete in that condition #SungsuShouldHaveSilver"

"colliding into a another skater should be against the rules! #StripKimSungsuGold #TakahashiWasRobbed"

"Getting a silver even his face gashed open proves just how much technically better Misaki is compared to Sungsu! #GiveTakahashiHisGold #TakahashiWasRobbed"

Usagi was both impressed, and kinda annoyed at how quickly Misaki's a rabid fangirls seemed take his side, then again he knew nothing about figure skating or the South Korean skater, so at this point he had no room to argue.

A thought came the author, without waiting he typed in Misaki's name and looked at the results appearing on the screen. The first video was from the Japan times, he clicked on the video waiting patiently.

The video started with Misaki facing the screen while sitting on a high stool. He had his forehead and part of his right eye covered by a bandage and a square white bandage was on his chin as well. Misaki was also wearing his silver medal, which looked huge on the small boy.

"Hello, my name is Takahashi Misaki, I am a professional figure skater and the current silver medalist of the 2013 World Championships Men's Singles, thank you for having me today!" the boy stated bowing to the camera. The title quickly came out, 'A rising star? Misaki Takakashi'.

A woman appeared on the camera looking very excited to be sitting with Misaki, 'Hello I am Kikuno Kobayashi from Japan times and I currently sitting with skating prodigy Misaki Takahashi!'

She turned towards the boy bowing her head, 'Thank you for speaking with us today! Before we begin talking, how are you feeling today? I understand you just left the hospital recently."

"Haha, yeah I am doing good actually, i can still feel where the stitching is, but I'm thankful I was still able to compete after the incident,' Misaki breathed out. he was obviously remembering the not so pleasant memory, but he still carried a forced smile on his face.

"Amazing! Many people are still memorized by your performance at the 2013 world championships, you even broke a world record in your program! But many fans say that South Korean skater Songsu Kim ran into on purpose to injure you enough to affect your performance, how do you respond to such speculation?"

"Damn reporters care more about drama than learning about Misaki" The author was already annoyed by the interviewer, especially with how stressed Misaki looked.

"Uh ... well I don't really remember much, I fainted after I finished my free skate. We haven't spoken since then, but i think his victory was overshadowed by the accident, at the end of the day i won because i had more difficultly then Sungsu ... but I fell five times. which is why I didn't win." Misaki stated calmly, though Usagi could see right through the boys act. the man noticed he was playing with his metal as he spoke, it was obvious he was a nervous wreck during the interview.

Usagi paused the video remembering that he had promised Takahiro he would pick up Misaki at the rink tomorrow afternoon. With slight hesitation the writer closed the internet windows and decided he would just ask the World Champion himself tomorrow, about the accident, and what is his relationship with the South Korean skater is.

- The Next Day -

"Beautiful spread eagle, Misaki! Now use the speed to jump into your spine combo!" The female coach yelled across the ice.

The boy had his hair pinned back again, along with his hair being tied into a small ponytail. this time he was wearing black sweatpants with skin tight green sweater, along with mittens, so he wouldn't cut his hands on the ice if he fell during practice.

Sitting in the stands was Usagi. The man appeared 20 minutes before practice officially ended, the author was curious at how advanced the skater was, since his internet fan base was constantly cooing over him and his ice skating.

"Ok! Now pick up speed up your speed!' Misaki got out of his spread eagle position, picking up speed, while ignoring the sweet dripping form his face, 'Now go into your layout spin, transition into your donut spin and finish it off with biellmann spin, and remember to keep your arms locked up! You are not a spinner toy!"

Usagi could tell that, despite the tough love she place on Misaki, she truly did want him to win at all costs.

The author watched in curiosity as the boy began to spin with his body at quick speed, before being his body at a strange angle, while still finding enough balance to get a grip on his ice blade.

He had to admit. He was impressed by the 5'3" brat.

"Off the ice he is no different then any other brat, but on the ice he transforms into a different person"

Misaki kept his speed up, slowly rising himself out of the position, into a standing position, before raising his left leg, slowly stretching it till it was nearly a perfect split, while still holding onto his blade for dear life.

The boy placed his leg down, before using his toe pick to stop his rotation.

"How was that?" He asked, slightly out of breath. His coach gave him two thumbs up, which visibly relieved the athlete.

"Excellent job! Now before we finish today's session, I want to see your whole short program before you leave, then Monday we will practice your new long program choreography," the coach instructed. Misaki groaned, skating himself into position.

The coach walked off the ice, placing herself onto the outer part of the rink, she switched around several soundtracks until she landed onto a certain soundtrack.

"Ok! Please get into position!" Misaki skated towards the center, looking down, with his arms extended behind his back.

His coach turned around, smirking at the silver haired man with slight glee, "Be prepared to be amazed Usami-San,"

Without a chance to respond, the music started to place, on the CD player it read "Sand - Nathan Lanier".

The boy began gliding himself across the ice, without hesitation launched himself into the air perform a quad lutz combo, along with a triple salchow.

Usagi felt his violet eyes widen at the display, Misaki's coach only smiled at the man's reaction, "Not bad for a brat, eh?"

The man didn't answer, he was to fixated at the performance. The boy then did a death jump, immidiatly going to a sit spin.

"Good! Just like that! Remember to keep your arms locked up!"

He was doing it with text book perfection, until without a chance of warning, he stumbled, laying still on his side.

"Misaki!" Usagi yelled, the man than froze.

"Why did I suddenly get so concerned and panicked? He is just Takahiro's brat sibling after all …"

Misaki just got up, wincing a little at his right knee, wobbling a little as he tried to regain his posture.

"Misaki, is it your ACL again?" The woman asked. The teen only nodded.

"Come here, I'll give you some cortisone, but after that I want you to rest the entire weekend, understand? This is not the time to mess around with your weak spots,"

"Weak spots? Cortisone? Does Takahiro even know that his brother is being given drugs?!"

Usagi walked out of the rink, quickly getting his cellphone out, speed dialing his friends number. Without a moment to wait, the said man picked up.

"Hey Usagi! What is up?" Takahiro asked cheerfully.

"Takahiro, Misaki had a stumble during practice and his coach said she is going to inject his ACL with cortisone, are you even aware of this?" Usagi explained, slightly anger, but he didn't understand why. He had only known the teen for a week now.

Usagi was shocked to only hear a sigh come from the other line, "Usagi-San, ... I gave Sakamoto-San permission to give Misaki cortisone whenever his ACL injury was acting up …"

"Ehh?" Now the author was in a state of confusion.

"Takahiro, with all due respect I know the brat is your brother and you raised him, but isn't it extreme to give a teenager drugs just so they can perform?"

"Usagi ... I've tried to talk to Misaki, but it's always the same 'Ni-San! The Olympics are only eight months away! I have my whole life to fix a bad knee, I only have one chance to get gold!' It's scares me ... But at the end of the day athletes are willing to put themselves through hell just to have that chance, Misaki is no exception.'

The author looked down at the rink to see the coach snap at an injection needle, before injecting it into several spit of the boys right knee.

"He is just a child ... A stupid one, but still a child …"

"Usagi? Usagi!" Takahiro shouted through the phone. His voice shook the writer out of his trance.

"Uh, I understand Takahiro, practice is almost over, I'll drive Misaki back to your apartment soon,"

"Ok! Thank you again!" Takahiro chirped cheerfully, the seriousness of the conversion didn't affect the man at all, 'I'll see you soon! Bye!"

Without waiting for a response Takahiro hung up, leaving Usagi in his thoughts for the next few minutes, then an idea hit the man.

Not wasting another moment, he took out his cellphone, dialing his editor's number, "Hello, Aikawa-San, I think there is a new idea for a future book project," Usagi explained, not taking his eyes off Misaki, as the said boy was taking off his other skate while speaking with Sakamoto-San.

"A new idea? Wow! I didn't even have to threaten your life to get you to think of new ideas for your next book! What is it? Please don't be something absurd …" his editor rambled on the phone. Usagi let out a little smirk.

'Yeah, what do think about a story involving a a professional athlete? A male figure skater to be specific? And as an idea for my 'normal novels' I wanted to do a detailed book based on the figure skater Takahashi Misaki-' Without finishing his explanation for both book ideas Akikawa was already falling involve with the first novel idea.

"A steaming romance involving a male figure skater and his coach? Or a skater and someone outside his own little world as professional athlete?" Usagi could already tell that little hearts were forming around his editors head as she asked more and more questions.

Usagi watched as Yuna taking put Misaki's hair accessories, while the skater was busy taking off his exercise gear, "You could say something like that, I was thinking maybe someone outside the professional world of skating, a 'when worlds collide' type of romance story."

The man continued to eat ams all smile show as he watched th eyoung boy interact with his coach.

He couldn't wait to start his new project.