Disclaimer: I do not own Tennis no Ohjisama.

Author Notes: I've re-posted this story. This was originally on my old account on here. Why have I uploaded it on here? Well here's a simple run down: I forgot my password to my old account, Midnight Escapade. I also forgot my password to the e-mail corresponding to that username. As you could see, I was somewhat stuck in a rut. So I created this account out of pure annoyance at my forgetful brain. Then like two days ago, I remembered my password to my old e-mail address. ;-;'' But since this is now my main account, I'm posting the story here and taking the old one down.

Once again, I apologize if Kirihara's a bit OOC. His character is somewhat hard to grasp onto.

Anyways. I only edited a bit, since I'm far too lazy to actually re-edit this whole thing. -laziness starting to kick in- Annnnd. It just occurred to my that this piece of writing is ancient; it's from like three years ago. o.o''

Hope you enjoy it. :)

"Game, Sanada; six games to love," a voice rose as a detaining silence roared amongst the crowd of onlookers. As rays of sunlight fell upon the Emperor's shoulders, it was undeniable that he was powerful, maybe a little bit too powerful for his own good; monarchies were bound to fall after awhile. But despite his seemingly lofty appearance, Genichirou Sanada was not a man to be messed around with on the tennis courts; his presence was nerve breaking. He enjoyed other player's losses; he desired to crush them -- leaving them devastated with no hopes for the future.

It was the younger players whom he loved to deflate their ambitions of becoming, 'the best of Japan', and his latest victim was no different.

Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku was one of the best known schools for not only their academic achievements, but also for their remarkable tennis team; three years straight they had swept victories at nationals. Kirihara Akaya had admired such strength and monstrosity right from the very start, which was the key reason why he had joined the academy. He was already good at tennis, but 'good' wasn't good enough, his aims where much higher -- way higher; to become the number one player in Japan's one number one school.

However as ambitions and dreams go, for most of the time, they get crushed by a monster; for his objectives were crushed down by the three demons of Rikkaidai. That game that he had just played against the fuku-buchou, it made him feel hopeless. His hopes where shattered from that match, and his esteem felt as if someone had trampled over it; the power was just overwhelming -- and these where the things that Kirihara Akaya detested the most; failure.

So there on the tennis courts, right after he suffered the blow from the Emperor of Rikkaidai, laying on the forest green tennis courts, his tennis racket being blown aside, he made a promise to himself... a promise that he swore never to break, a promise that he'd keep. He vowed to work his way up; he would defeat those three demons.

'I'll beat you guys... all three of you; I'll rise to the top... I will be number one!'

--

His verdant emerald eyes bore down at the shield of green facing him as sweat clung to his uniform, soaking it in perspiration; overhead the sun shone forcefully. It was early in the afternoon, and the temperature was only going to rise higher; he didn't care. He wouldn't give up, no matter how hard it took; he vowed to reach that goal.

He clenched that petite yellow ball in his knuckles and flung it sky bound and brought his racket forcefully down on the ball, driving it fiercely into the wall where it spun erratically, then as fast as it came, bounced back at with the same velocity. Letting it fly pass his right shoulder, he smirked; his serve was getting better. It was faster now, and with speed came control; they were a dangerous combo.

'I will beat them!'

Another aggressive spin from the tennis ball, followed by another vicious swish of the ball as it sailed past his ear, missing his own head by just several centimeters. The knuckle serve was the most powerful version of the twist and kick serve; it packed the speed and disclosure for a person to get seriously injured if hit, but Genichirou Sanada returned it as easily as if it was a normal serve as he had witnessed in their previous game.

He smashed the ball into his racquet once more, only this time when he felt the wind wisp by his ear, there was no sound of the ball hitting the ground as his last several ones had previously done. Instead, he heard footsteps.

"Akaya-kun," her voice was soft-spoken, but there was a tinge of firmness that caused the teen to bring down his tennis racket to his right hand side. He smirked as he turned around; his emerald eyes connecting with her unreadable indigo ones. Her hand was held out. She was the reason why that that ball hadn't landed; she had caught it.

Right when he was about to speak, she cut him off, "Shouldn't you be inside in class?" she asked simply, tossing him the yellow ball before turning around and walking off, "You should stop... all you'll end up doing is hurting yourself if you practice in these conditions any longer,"

The second year ace glanced quizzically at her, hurting himself? How could he do that? Besides, it didn't matter, he had to train... to train would mean to get better. And getting better would mean victories; perhaps victories over them.

"Tch,"

The teen scoffed lightly as he turned around again, facing that wall and threw the ball up in the air watching it plunge closer and closer to the ground...

--

Her deep azure eyes watched the downpour of rain pelt down to the earth's surface; sliding into the grey cracks in the cement ground, the plants soaking up as much as they could. The weather was always haphazard these days; clear skies one minute then pouring the next, this day wasn't any different. A pencil rested on her hand, lightly tapping on the piece of loose-leaf paper which was covered front to back in her neat handwriting.

School had already gone out, but she always lingered behind for extra practice. She wasn't a bad student, not by a long shot; her scores where practically perfect -- and yet, she still put in a great deal of effort in her work. It was hard being the top in the class, one percentage point could be the difference of first and second; you simply just had to work your way up... there was no other way.

The sound of thunder roaring in the sky broke her concentration; she was sent back to reality once more. The curtains billowed outward in a ghost like manner; billows of white seemed like waves of an ocean.

Gently, she pushed in her chair and walked over to the window to close it, but something stopped her. It was the sound of a tennis ball hitting numerous times against a wall. Straining her eyes, she could see a hazy image in the rain; he was still practicing. She smiled as she shook her head; what recklessness. The smile vanished. It occurred to her then; he was like her, never giving up until the end.

"Expectations... your expectations are too high for yourself... Kanna, you'll only hurt yourself if you try this hard..."

--

As lightning struck in the air, drops of water dripped down from his soaking uniform onto the flooded grounds. He had been outside for over three hours just hitting the ball to the wall, ignoring his friends leaving, ignoring the sun, ignoring the rain; completely oblivious to the rest of the world.

'I won't give up!!'

He just as he was about to throw the ball up into the air, a final flash of lightning crashed through the ears; and for a second, everything froze. He could hear his heart pumping through his ears, the blinding flash of white lightening, the silence of the world around him, and his head felt as if he had been spinning around in circles. His eyes closed and he was shut into a world of darkness; devoid of light.

A thump was heard as his body fell to the floor; the tennis ball sitting in his palm rolled out of his grip and into the cold rain.

More Author's Notes: I think I deleted around three paragraphs of pointless ramble from the original copy. -sweatdrops- Hopefully that didn't make it more hard to follow. Well, that was my old Kirihara fan-fic that I've reposted here The sad thing is that I think my writing three years ago is better than my writing now. xD

Hope you liked it.

Reviews would make my day. :)