Of Tricksters and Transfers
He had her all figured out…or so he thought. She didn't like him at all…or so she thought.
A/N: Hi friends! I decided to give writing an OC story a shot, and I tried to stay consciously aware of my character and make sure she isn't a Sue, but if I have failed to do so...don't hesitate to kindly point it out to me =] I learn from mistakes pretty well.
Hmm well I decided to write a Niou story mainly because his character intrigues me...and I guess I wanted a challenge, because MAN is he difficult to write. Oh well. Never hurts to try, right?
But enough of my ramblings. On with the story!
Niou Masaharu leaned back in his chair, chewing his gum before blowing a huge bubble. He made sure it popped loudly, watching his history teacher flinch and turn around with a glare. A corner of his mouth went up to form a devious smile. Mission accomplished.
"Niou-kun, how many times do I have to ask you not to chew bubble gum in class?" The teacher's voice sounded defeated, not unlike many of Niou's other teachers. "And also, please don't lean back on your chair like that. It could be dangerous." No one else even bothered to look up.
Obviously, this was not an uncommon thing to happen in Class 3-B.
"Yes, sensei." Niou's chair was on the ground again and he propped his head up on his hand, bored out of his mind. He continued to chew his gum and blow large bubbles, making sure they were popping loudly. At this point, the teacher had given up and just resumed as if nothing happened. Niou scrawled something on a sheet of paper, folded it into an airplane, and flew it over to Marui Bunta's desk, just five desks to the right of him. Marui unfolded the plane, cracked a smile, and then scribbled something on the paper, refolding and tossing the plane back. He chewed his own bubble gum, as it was what he was most known for. Niou wrote something back and folded the paper up, raising his arm to send the airplane flying again when the door suddenly opened.
The principal walked in with a rather plain-looking girl following him. She stood at average height, had shoulder length brown hair, gray eyes, and held a textbook in her hand and a black backpack. She looked around at the people of the class, who, by then, were all staring at her. But she seemed unfazed. The principal simply introduced her as Tanaka Yuki, a transfer student from St. Rudolph Gakuen, told the class to be welcoming, and walked out.
The teacher, clearly pleased to have the class's full attention for once, turned to the new student and asked her to introduce herself. Yuki just looked at the teacher, whose eyes were pleading to just say something, anything, so he didn't have to put on the guise of attempting to teach history to these unruly children. They didn't particularly care, anyways, and it was only the third day of school so why not waste some time?
She turned back to the class, deciding at that moment she didn't like this school by the way some of the girls stared disapprovingly at her disappointing plain-ness or some of the people in general who just didn't seem to care for anything other than getting out of school. "Well, the principal already told you I'm Tanaka Yuki. He also told you I transferred from St. Rudolph. But aside from that, I have a twin brother in some other class. His name is Yutaro, but you probably don't care. I play guitar too. That's about it. Anything else anyone cares to know?"
One kid raised his hand and asked, "Do you play any sports?"
Yuki stared at him. "Does it look like I play sports? Nope, I'm probably the most unathletic person you'll ever meet. Anyways, moving on; anything else?"
Everyone else just sat there. Some had resumed doodling on their textbooks or passing notes with their friends. The teacher, who looked at the clock and decided he could continue for another ten minutes, thanked Yuki for introducing herself and directed her to a seat in the front row by the door.
Niou, whose interest had been temporarily piqued by the arrival of a new victim – er, student – that he could play tricks on, had returned to doodling on his desk. He had her all figured out. She was just another girl with a slightly sarcastic tongue. Slightly different from your average girl, but not by much. Playing tricks on her would get boring after a while, but it was better than nothing. Besides, after he was done bothering this girl, he would have tennis to look forward to. Oh, just to think of all the fun he had there…
A mischievous grin spread across his face as his mind swam with possibilities. Possibilities that included a red faced Kirihara and a scowling Sanada. Ah, tennis season. His favorite season of the year.
He reread the note between him and Marui.
This class is so boring. I wish something exciting would happen. Would it kill the teacher to attempt to make history interesting?
You never know. Something exciting could happen. It could just come through that door right now, for all we know.
Yeah right, as if.
Classes dragged on that day. The only subject Niou could really tolerate was math. Everything else was just…boring. Math provided a straightforward solution to everything, and that was why Niou didn't particularly mind it.
The same couldn't be said for Yuki, though. While she took a pretest that everyone else had taken on the first day of class, she could be heard muttering profanities under her breath, complete with a look of frustration upon her face. She bit her bottom lip occasionally and twirled her hair, sometimes looking at a wall or ceiling as if that would somehow give her inspiration. Niou, who didn't really have to pay attention in any of his classes to do well, actually found this display quite amusing and spent the class people watching.
-x-
When it was time for PE, the class all walked down to the gym to change and get ready to play tennis. Niou and Marui both donned bored expressions, for tennis to them was basically second nature. Niou bent down to make sure his ankle weights were on tightly and then checked his wrist weights. When everyone was out of the changing room and out on the tennis courts, the teacher blew his whistle and told everyone to pair up with someone, preferably of their caliber, to warm up with. Niou and Marui looked at each other, nodded, then each grabbed one of the crappy school tennis racquets and began to hit.
Yuki, yet again, appeared to be at the opposite end of the spectrum as Niou and Marui. Not only was she completely unathletic, but she didn't have a clue as to who her partner would be. She didn't know anyone, for crying out loud. Sighing, she tied back her hair in a ponytail and looked around, searching for anyone who looked athletically incompetent. Her eyes landed on a short girl who was walking towards the tennis racquets. She looks nice enough. And like she doesn't really know how to play tennis.
"Ah, excuse me, would you like to be partners?" Yuki smiled nicely at her, hoping she wouldn't say she had a partner already.
The short girl looked up, recognizing Yuki as the new girl who claimed to suck at sports. She smiled warmly. "Sure, let's go over to that court to warm up." She pointed to the court next to Niou and Marui, who were playing with their non-dominant hands at this point. Yuki nodded and followed her there, grateful to have found someone who wouldn't completely reject her. The girl walked over to the other side of the court, facing the sun, and bounced the tennis ball a few times. "Ready?"
Yuki bent her knees, giving her a thumbs up. The girl fed the ball to her. It was a nice, slow and easy ball that she could return. "I got it," she said excitedly. Yuki felt a rush of adrenaline. Winding her arm back and positioning herself to hit the ball, she swung forward dramatically and hit…nothing. The ball bounced past her harmlessly, rattling the fence lightly as it made contact with it, as if to mock her.
Her shoulders slumped. She sighed. I hate sports. Her dejected mood and sad thoughts were interrupted by chuckling from someone nearby. Yuki looked up. It wasn't her partner that was laughing…so who was it? Her eyes followed the laughing to the next court over, at a boy with silver hair tied back in a ponytail who was trying to hide his laughter.
She glared at him. "Is something funny?"
He stopped laughing and looked her in the eyes, a completely serious expression on his face. "Yes."
"Oh, really? Mind telling me what it is?"
"I don't think I need to." Niou grinned.
Yuki found her gray eyes glaring at Niou's own dark blue ones for a few seconds before turning back to her partner, who was watching this exchange between Niou and Yuki but mainly transfixed by Niou. "Hey, let's continue."
Niou pulled out a tennis ball from his pocket. "Here, I'm sorry for laughing at you. Take this tennis ball."
Yuki caught the ball he tossed to her – much to her surprise, not that she would show it – and muttered, "Yeah, thanks." There was something suspicious about his sudden apology and peace offering. Oh well.
Marui was about to serve the ball over when Niou held up one finger, signaling him to wait. Marui was confused. He followed Niou's line of sight to the girl at the court next to him. The new girl? I didn't think she was Niou's type…
He looked at Niou again and saw him snickering, like he was waiting for something to happen. Understanding dawned in Marui's eyes. He lowered his racquet and watched Yuki, blowing a watermelon-flavored bubble.
Yuki bounced the ball a couple times, then bounced it again and swung her racquet to hit it. Upon making contact with the small green sphere, something comparable to a mini-explosion happened. "Ah!" She coughed and waved the smoke away with her hands. What the heck was going on?
When the smoke cleared, Yuki looked down and saw the remains of what used to be a tennis ball. Her partner stood there, slightly surprised, then walked over to check if she was okay. Yuki slowly raised her head, fuming, to see Niou doubled over in laughter.
"Ah, Yuki-chan, are you okay?" Yuki's partner looked genuinely concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it wasn't anything dangerous. Just…irritating," she said, seething while she stared daggers at Niou's head. "Thanks, though. What's your name?"
"Me? Oh, I'm Takahashi Sayu. Just call me Sayu," she smiled and brushed some of Yuki's hair out of her face.
"Alright, Sayu-chan. What's," Yuki jabbed a finger in Niou's direction. "that one's name? The idiot who can't stop laughing?"
"Ah, that's Niou Masaharu. He's one of the regulars on Rikkai's tennis team, and he's amazing at tennis. And he's not that bad looking either," she said, sighing in his general direction - out of admiration or something else, Yuki couldn't tell - before continuing. "He's known as the Trickster, which could explain this little incident with the tennis ball. Don't worry, Yuki-chan, I'm sure he didn't mean any harm. He just enjoys playing tricks on people."
Yuki's anger turned into incredulity. She stared at him in disbelief. That guy was supposed to be Niou Masaharu? The Niou Masaharu? The one her brother hoped to defeat one day? Sure, she had heard he was a trickster of sorts, but she assumed that meant he had a lot of sweet tennis moves or something. How naïve of her to think that junior high boys could actually be mature in the least. Yutaro would be in for a surprise if he had to play him to try out for the Rikkaidai tennis team. She had to warn her poor brother. Yuki shook her head, slapped her cheeks a bit, and marched up to Niou, who now stood straight up and watched her walk towards him.
She tilted her head up to look him in the eye. He had a good 25cm of height on her, but that didn't daunt her. "Niou Masaharu. You," she said, digging a finger into his chest, "are a fool. And you don't scare me." With that, she pivoted and walked back to Sayu.
Niou's eyes followed her back to her and watched her continue to concentrate only to miss the ball. He smiled devilishly. Interesting, he thought, tossing a ball up in the air and serving it to Marui.
A/N: I'll be the first to admit, the first chapter isn't all too interesting. I'm pretty critical of my own writing and it's a pain...I feel so self conscious about it haha. But that's okay; review away!