Smashing Cupid
'I was Echizen Ryoma's older cousin, and unfortunately, studying at the same school. We had grown up together, learned tennis together, and learned the lessons of life together. Of course, with his skill level of tennis, I was definitely better, but I don't really have the motivation to go towards the top, unlike him. Or, rather, I didn't.'
"Yuri-nee-chan, you're too loud," complained the shorter tennis prodigy, who was enjoying his time relaxing on the school roof.
Third-year Echizen Yuri, scowled at her younger cousin."Is there a problem with that?"
"Yes."
"Oi, oi, don't start bickering," interfered Kawamura, Yuri's classmate.
Both golden-eyed Echizens turned to the 'burning' player to glare before continuing to stare out from the gate.
"Tomorrow's Valentine's Day," said Yuri softly.
Ryoma's curiosity piped up momentarily,
"Did you have anyone in mind?"
Even though his cap was pulled firmly over his face, she still noted the wide smirk on his face and raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe."
"Did you plan on getting him chocolate?" asked Fuji, smiling as he kneeled down next to her.
"I never said I was giving Tezuka chocolate!" protested Yuri in defense.
Fuji's smile widened. "I never mentioned any names."
Yuri's mouth opened, then shut when she realized she had nothing to retort. Turning away frustration, she ignored his teasing and stared at the metal gates. Fuji just smiled as he sat down next to her, silently mocking her.
"Oi, Echizen-senpai!" a girl burst through the doors of the roof and bounced happily to her friend, "Kasai-buchou wants us at practice!"
"Kaho," asked Yuri sighing, "does she seriously want us now? It's in the middle of lunch for heaven's sake."
The second year smiled bubbly, "Of course! You know how buchou is!"
Crushing her Peach Fanta can as she threw it into the recycling bin, she bid the others good-bye as she followed the girl lazily.
"Ah! I almost forgot!" she announced, "Tezuka-senpai wants the boys' tennis team down there too!"
Ryoma's eyes adverted themselves to her as he blinked, "Buchou?"
"Yeah, we're having mock-matches together," answered the girl.
"Mock-matches…?"
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"Gather up!" shouted Ryuuzaki-sensei, and both girls' and boys' regulars circled the coach, "I have the pairings for the matches:
'Kaho - Momoshiro(Court A)
Sasori - Echizen R. (Court B)
Kitsume- Kawamura (Court C)
Echizen Y. - Tezuka (Court D)
Arai -Kikumaru
Naomi- Oishi
Monomi - Kaidoh
Kasai -Fuji'"
Yuri's golden eyes lit up at her match pairings,
"Finally, a new challenge."
From next to her, Fuji gave a chuckle, "After the last time you beat the rest of us, I think it's about time you went against Tezuka."
The girl tennis prodigy turned to Fuji, "I take that as a compliment."
Taking her racket from her bag, she hummed a small tune before joining Tezuka at the far courts with Oishi as a referee.
"Good luck," she told the captain in English.
He merely blinked as he handed the tennis ball to her to serve,
"Your serve."
Her golden eyes turned a shade darker as she stood at the service line. Suddenly, she tossed the ball into the air and hit it with amazing speed.
"Sugoi! Yuri-chan started with her copy tennis already!" cheered Kikumaru.
Truth to be told, she had indeed copied her 'Wind Whistle' from Ootori's Scud Serve, but hers was not quite as fast as his. Tezuka, finding no trouble to catch up to the ball, merely hit it back as a strong return. Stepping into her usual play, she easily returned the ball in the same format. The rally seemed to drag on, and Oishi found it quite tiresome to continue watching the same thing.
Watching the ball with extremely sharp vision she shared with her younger cousin, she followed up the next top spin with a Tsubame Gaeshi stolen from Fuji .She was surprised, however, when Tezuka had approached the net with speed she didn't know was possible to return the shot as a drop volley.
So she 'borrowed' the same steps of Shukuchihou to share his speed. She waited for the ball to bounce, ready to launch into Fuji's next counter, Hakugei, when she noticed the ball had refused to, rolling backwards to hit the net.
"Love- 15!" announced Oishi, finally being able to say something from the silence of the game.
Noticing that he had been using his left hand, she again, served the ball high in the air, but his time, added a different spin. Though the serve was slower, when Tezuka had prepared a return, the ball had disappeared as it bounced, appearing behind him.
"15- all!"
"S-She just aced Tezuka-buchou!" shouted Horio from the sidelines.
Again, the serve bounced and then disappeared, but she had noticed that Tezuka was starting to get the pattern, as before she could win the first game, he had returned the serve.
"There go my chances of winning with the Phantom…" she muttered, returning the ball easily.
The rest of the points were racked up as a tight tie, going from 2 games to 3 in Yuri's favor to 4 games to 3 in Tezuka's favor. However, despite her desperate situation, she was thoroughly enjoying the match, her eyes fluttering back and forth to catch any unexpected balls. Though she had had to activate her 'Muga no Kyouchi', along with his plan of 'Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami' to lessen the strain, he had also had to activate his foresight of 'Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami' to match her strength.
Fuji's eyes opened in interest, "This is quite the match."
Echizen smirked to himself, proud of his older cousin. The two had long since passed 6 games all, going into a never ending tie break. Ryuzaki had to sigh to herself before she called the match off at 220 all when Yuri had sent an advanced version of Momoshiro's Dunk Smash that had blown Tezuka's racket away, so they wouldn't end up killing themselves over the match.
"Good game," pronounced Yuri in English as she shook Tezuka's hand at the net.
He nodded,
"Same to you,"
Heading home after school with Ryoma, she suddenly burst through the door and shouted loudly, "Oyaji, I want a tennis match!"
The lazy monk fell from the front steps as he looked at the older Echizen, then smirked, "Why, Yuri, that's the first time…"
"Zip it."
Commencing to her order, he got up with a racket, meeting her at the backyard dirt courts.
"Would you like me to close my eyes? Put one hand behind my back?" he asked with a smirk.
"Just hit the ball."
He shrugged nonchalantly as he allowed her to serve. Returning her fastest Wind Whistle easily, she started her 'Echizen Zone'. Snorting to himself, Nanjirou simply hit a slice-spin towards the sidelines, bouncing out of her zone, but to his surprise, she had ran to catch it quickly, sending it over with a different spin that he had never seen before. As he tried to hit the ball back, he was taken aback at her hard shot, and therefore, the shot had the net.
"Heh, now, where did you copy these?" he asked in amusement.
She glared at him, then, satisfied with one point, she grabbed the tennis ball and headed back inside,
"Sankyou, Oyaji,"
He raised an eyebrow as she walked away, then shook his head warily and followed her in.
"By the way, there's a box of chocolates on your desk," he shouted to her.
"A what?" she asked, turning around.
"For you to give someone tomorrow, you dope!" he grinned as her face flushed and stormed into the house.
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"Who am I supposed to give these to?" she asked, pointing to chocolates with her name labeled and an empty slot for the receiver that was rested neatly on her desk. She turned towards her younger cousin, "Ryoma, Happy Heart's Day."
He looked at the box of chocolates she held out to him,
"I don't want them," he answered flatly.
"Who do I give it to then?" she asked exasperated, "Fuji?!"
Ryoma's cat-like smirk widened as she glared at him, and before he could reply, she had stuffed his cap down to cover his face, "Don't answer that."
"How 'bout buchou?" he asked harmlessly.
"And hoard Tezuka with another box of chocolates? I think he'd get enough from his fans. 'Sides, I doubt he knows who I am other than someone who gave him a fair match," Yuri sighed.
"I'll take it," answered Ryoma bluntly.
"You'll what?"
"I'll take it."
"Okay… Here ya go."
Stuffing the chocolate into his arms, she pushed him from her room and slammed the door shut, not realizing the wide smirk on his face had widened ever-so-much more.
"Echizen."
The white-capped boy turned at his name.
"Fuji-senpai?"
The sandy haired third-year pointed to the pack of chocolates in his teammate's hand, "Whose are those from?"
"Ah, Yuri-nee-chan gave them to me; she didn't know who to give them to. Do you want them?" he offered the pack of chocolates towards Fuji.
The sadist's smile grew, "No, but I know someone who does."
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"Buchou,"
The tennis captain turned towards the short regular, "Hai, Echizen?"
"Here," he handed his pack of chocolates to Tezuka, who took them out of instinct, "They're from Yuri-nee-chan."
"I'm not telling buchou Yuri-nee-chan gave these to him," the golden-eyed prodigy had answered.
"Echizen," Fuji had told him, "If you put in certain terms, you're not lying. She gave the chocolates to you, you give them to Tezuka, so technically, she gave them to him."
Ryoma was starting to realize Fuji's way of twisting words as he spoke some himself. He saw Tezuka take the chocolates with his usual one-worded reply, "Aa."
Fuji's plan was working perfectly until Yuri herself had arrived,
"Aw, Ryoma, giving chocolates to your captain," she teased, and Ryoma scowled, "How cute."
She ruffled his hair as she eyed the present before frowning slightly,
"That's my box."
Ryoma took a step back,
"It was Fuji-senpai's fault. Besides," he grinned, "didn't you want to give these to him anyways?"
"Ryoma, get back here!" she shouted as she started to follow her younger cousin when Tezuka had held her wrist, keeping her in place.
"Echizen," he started, and Yuri frowned.
"You mean me or him?" she asked pointing to the direction her little cousin had run off to.
Tezuka sighed as she grinned,
"Just kidding," she continued with a smile, "Continue."
"Thank you for the chocolate," he finished.
Her grin never wavered.
"How many times have you said that today?"
"Once," at his answer, her grin dropped in confusion, "I didn't accept any others."
"You didn't what?" she asked," Why not?"
Jerking his grip on her wrist, he pulled her into his embrace,
"I was waiting for yours."
'Next time, I promise I'll say the special words, but for now, just let me hold you. Let me smell your sweet aura, feel your body against mine and let me enjoy the silence. Let me make sure this moment is real.'