1Eyeshield 21: Slash
Chapter 1: Half-Breed
Defense wins championships. Offense scores points. In two sentences, that is football. When you're out on that field, you learn a few lessons: how to work with others, how to do you part to help the team. Put those together and you win games. When you think of girls playing football it's usually as a quarterback or kicker. Well, I am none of those.
My name is Haruko Nakajima. I play on defense. I play cornerback, strong safety, and special teams for the Nakayama Fighting Falcons. Growing up on the East Side of San Jose, I was raised in a bilingual house. My dad's Argentinian and my mom is Japanese. I am 5'9 and 175lbs. I got the Latina curves and tan, plus the Asian hair and brown eyes.
When I am on the field, I am a pitbull defending it's territory. I'm going hit you, and I'm going to enjoy hitting you. I give quarterbacks nightmares, and I make wide receivers cry. Sasuke Kanagushi of the Dokubari Scorpions says that everyone on his team hates my guts, but they all wish that I was playing for them. To me, that's what it's all about.
I don't play the way I do to be liked. I play to help my teammates win ball games. I have been playing football since middle school, and I have tasted the sweetness of victory and the bitter taste of defeat. Our team has only been in this league for three years, and our defense is so destructive that we are already catching the eye of the local media.
Get to know me, I can be your best friend. If you face me during practice or on the field on Friday night, then you will have to redefine the phrase, 'you hit like a girl'. Through practice and getting to know my teammates, our defense is a solid unit. Working with me is our free safety Devin Wells, and cornerbacks Landon Wright and Victor Townsend.
We are the enforcers in the secondary. Our captain on defense is Derrick Carter. A 5'10 and 190lbs middle linebacker, he did not put up a fight against me being on the team, let alone on defense. He must've seen something in me, and gave me this piece of football wisdom: 'when you hit them just right and hear that 'whack!' there's no better feeling'.
Our school colors are navy blue, silver, and white. Our helmets and facemasks are silver with a soaring navy blue F-16 outline. We wear navy blue jerseys with silver grey shoulders and white numerals with a silver bordering and a large silver lightning bolt on the sides of the jersey and pants. The navy blue pants and socks finish the uniform.
I pulled up my pants, and pulled down my jersey over my shoulder pads. If you're a wide receiver on the other team, you will fear the number 27. I picked up my helmet with chinstrap and mouthguard from my locker in the girls locker room. Derrick was the first to greet me behind the stands with my other teammates, "Go get 'em, Slash," he said,
"You got it," I said putting on my helmet, Steve Atwater was my favorite player growing up. Hence the number I had chosen, and the style of facemask. We got onto the field for our first game of the season against the Sengoku Samurai. Upon losing the coin toss, we had to kickoff. Our kicker, Danny Chen, kicked a beautiful one to start our first game.
The kick sailed into the endzone for a touchback. Captain Derrick Carter called us to our huddle, "Now we all hungry out here, let's do what we do best, Wright, Wells, Townsend, Nakajima...Unleash hell," said Derrick, we looked to each other and nodded and made various handshakes, "a'ight defense, we got this, let's get 'em, hit 'em and hit 'em hard,"
Derrick seemed to be reading the offense, and turned to me with a nod. That means I'm bringing the pressure on the quarterback. The quarterback dropped back to pass on first down, and I saw my opportunity with a huge hole in the offensive line. I hit him right as he was dropping back. He landed hard and back first into the turf. We scored a safety.
In football, you have to set the tone early. On second down, the Samurai tried again to get out of the endzone. The quarterback dropped back to pass and heaved a deep ball out of the endzone. I used my speed to keep up with the receiver, and picked off the pass. We lived up to our reputation for having one of the best defenses in the Kantou league
We were not stopping the nightmare on the Sengoku Samurai. We sacked the quarterback seven times, one for me and three for Derrick. We also recorded five interceptions with two going for touchdowns. I helped in the secondary bringing the lumber on receivers. I even knocked one out with a concussion. With help from the offense, we won 27-0.
The Samurai were getting a little rhythm going near the end of the fourth quarter, but too late for them to save the game. When the Samurai got to the fifty yard line, the quarterback looked to pass, and got his man for a first down or so he thinks. I led with my shoulder to his helmet to make the hit. His helmet flew off and he dropped the ball.
He looked up at me, and knew I was a girl. He asked me in Japanese 'what the hell are you?' I smiled back lightly, and helped him up. I am a fan of Metallica growing up, and I figured I would use one of my favorite songs, "Some kind of monster," I replied, and patted him on the helmet. To all the teams in the League, are you ready for some football.
