Title: Things I'll Never Say
Alternative Title:Yakusoku
Pairings: RyomaOCFuji
Warning: Possible OOC ToT
(A/N)
Yahoo minna-san!
This is my first fic ever O.O
So brace yourselves!
This is going to be quite a long Author's Note. :D
This story may also be somewhat terribly clichéd. ToT
Apparently some people dislike seeing Romaji in English fics. I apologize in advance, because there might be quite a lot of that. It's just that…when I think about the scenes and stuff, I imagine them saying Japanese. Oo Anime Overdose XD
Oh and about the reference stuff. I don't like noting a little (1) or (2) here and there, because it always distracts me when I read fics. ;D Excuse me for any inconvenience caused.
Basically this fic will follow the PoT timeline, though some events might be altered due to my own characters. It starts around the time just before the District Tournament XD
I hope you enjoy!
Oh and I promise the other Author's Notes won't be that long, and I'll try not to abuse anymore Romaji. Thank you!
I also ever so humblyand sincerely beg you from the bottom of my heart to bear with my million mistakes, and maybe take the time to correct them. :D
Much love to Iris-senpai (Iris.D) for beta-reading! Also thanks to KiriharaAkaya for the tips and stuff. ;D
Thanks for actually reading this. :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. Takeshi Konomi-sama does. I am just really in love with it, its plot and its characters. Especially Ryoma and Fuji. kyaaaa!
I also don't own Barbie and My Little Ponies. Oo ;D
Summary: Ryoma & Fuji had always kept problems to themselves. Can the new girl rid them of these habits? It's amazing, the things you realize when you lose someone. We always wait until they're gone to say things we never had the courage to before. (RyoOCFuji)OOC.
A new, insecure girl enters Seigaku and befriends the regulars. Got quite close to two in particular. As the story unfolds you gradually learn more about her and her dreams and how she strives to achieve them, how she wishes to change herself into a better person. XD Oh and romance. No corny sappy fic is ever completed without romance! FIRST FIC EVER! XD RyomaOCFuji. OOCness.
("Are all boys like this? Always trying to act cool and composed?" She dropped her voice into a low, deep drawl, imitating a mentally challenged cow.)
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Promises are made to be broken.
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A light sigh escaped from 12-year-old Echizen Ryoma's lips as he stretched with his racket behind his back. Momo-senpai had suddenly called and said that he couldn't come to the street tennis courts today after all – "Something came up."
"Che." and Momo-senpai was the one who said they needed extra practice before the District Tournament began, too.
Ryoma disliked going to the street courts by himself, but since he was already here, he might as well stay – he would have to help mow the lawn or something if he went home now. Besides, even though most people who played singles here sucked – these courts were usually reserved for doubles players - a few were not so bad.
Today was one of those sickly sweet days – it had drizzled early this morning, and now that it was just after noon, the sun was shining down brightly, and a few crystal moist drops still clung to the leaves here and there, making the whole place seemingly glitter. The air around was fresh and clear, with the bittersweet smell of rain still drifting around.
It was these days that made Ryoma cringe, because they actually made him feel good. These days usually made him lose his composure and made him want to smile, which led to fangirls squealing, which led to utter annoyance in the end…which would then ruin the whole supposedly beautiful day.
He inhaled deeply, the fresh air clearing his whole body. A day like this made him feel all bright and cheerful inside, giving him an unsettling feeling that something good was going to happen. Something new, something…sweet. Something that he would like.
After finishing retying his shoelaces, Ryoma grabbed his racket and headed out onto the court, where his first opponent today was waiting with a leer that would soon vanish for sure.
The match began.
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A girl of about 12 stood outside a couple of tennis courts that she was unfamiliar with, fiddling with her loose red T-shirt and tiny black shorts. Her shirt was so big it hid her curves, her shorts so small that it looked like she wasn't wearing any at all. She was waiting for her cousin and also known as only friend so far in Japan – Yuiko- to come.
Yuiko had gone to run some errands all of a sudden and had told her to wait here, then they would go for ice-cream really quickly before the uniform shop closed. This girl forgot what school the uniform shop belonged to: it was the school she was going to enroll in! Today was Saturday so the shop closed early. They couldn't be late as it doesn't open at all tomorrow, and she would have to go to school on Monday!
This girl saw that some distance away, another girl was trying to get in the tennis courts…dressed in a pink mini-skirt and a white tank top. The big fat dudes who were watching the matches stopped her instead of the common reaction – drooling.
She could barely hear what they were shouting –
"This ain't no place for sissies dressed like you! Go home and play with your Barbies and Little Ponies, whatever! Just go away! No girls should come here!" the biggest boy said.
The mini-skirt girl looked as if she wanted to retort, but decided against it and drooped away.
Back to Yuiko's cousin.
She titled her head, a small smile playing across her pretty features. She had brought her tennis racket…and Yuiko was late anyway. She could just play one little match or find a wall…The fat dudes shouldn't mind if she was dressed in tennis gear.
One final touch though.
The girl took off her white cap and gathered her long black hair like a ponytail, put it on top of her head and placed the cap back on.
Now it looked like she had short hair!
Just in case.
She looked down at her black watch and saddened. They were not going to make it on time! After all the shopping…they were sure to miss her one of her favourite anime on TV. Oh well. She could look up the episode online later.
Holding her breath, she walked in.
Nobody bothered to notice her.
She could feel her ponytail bulging, but it seemed that everyone just assumed it as an extraordinarily large head.
She looked around for an available wall, one of those walls with tennis court markings. All were occupied.
"Ne," she heard a cocky voice say. "If you're just standing there, play me."
The girl turned into the direction of the voice and gasped.
Well, not really.
More like a, "Heh?"
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Ryoma sighed again. None of the good single players were here today. It was kind of boring actually…After defeating another player (6-0), he looked around desperately in search for another opponent.
Finally, he spotted a boy of about his age (with a very big head, he noted additionally) just standing there, holding a tennis red tennis racket that was just a shade brighter than his own.
He decided to play him…even though his hopes weren't high. If he didn't even struggle a tiny bit with older, taller guys around here, what could a boy shorter than himself give him?
Oh well.
It was better than going home and trying to escape from the massive bunch of perverted magazines that his baka oyaji would shove in his face.
The boy turned from the distance, and Ryoma couldn't really see his face – his coal black hair was framing it…
The boy seemed surprised, eyes widening. Still, he went to the other side of the court and got into 'ready'position.
Ryoma attempted to walk over to the net, but the boy seemed somewhat…scared, and backed away. He lifted an eyebrow and halted, taking a few steps back.
"Rough or smooth?" Ryoma said, preparing to spin his racket.
The boy merely shrugged. A hint of annoyance flickered across Ryoma's face. What was with this boy?
"I'll take rough then." The tennis prince spun his racket and it rattled to a stop – the logo of the racket upside down.
Echizen couldn't even bring himself to smirk. This was going to be too easy. Walking towards the service line, he faintly saw the boy nod, and hit his trade mark Twist Serve.
Seeing the boy gasp and barely dodge, Ryoma smirked – purely out of habit.
"Mada mada dane."
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Ryoma's current opponent – said boy gasped softly again as the tennis ball bounced towards her face. She dodged in the blink of an eye, trying to remember the ball's route and immediately remembered her mother's way of returning it.
She recognized her opponent. He was the son of her mother's friend, Echizen Ryoma.
Child Prodigy, amazing talent.
She'd wanted to play him for a long time…
Never thought I'd get to play him this way though, she mused to herself.
Echizen Ryoma thought she was a boy!
How very extremely amusing. She tried not to burst out laughing and kept quiet.
No, she wasn't shy. Far from it. When her friends were around, she was so loud that a classmate from USA had declared that he had ear cancer from encountering the misfortune of sitting next to her for one hour.
Yup, so she wasn't shy, she just didn't like talking to strangers. Especially those of the opposite gender. She was sort of scared of talking to them actually. It takes her quite some time to warm up to people, but when she did – eventually – she would display her famous habit - shout in their ear and laugh very, very loud.
"Maybe getting closer to her wasn't such a good idea after all." Most people would think that, after befriending her for long enough. Despite that though, her friends found her a great ball of fun, and they were this girl's most valuable treasures too. When her friends were happy, she would be happy – it fills her with such warmth when she thinks about how her friends would laugh and smile whenever she made a joke or did something eccentric – as usual. Her friends were almost, just almost, her everything – her source of strength, her reason for standing up again after another round with her mother.
Sure, she could live without friends. She didn't believe in the phrase, "Can't live without blah blah blah."
Because most people who says this probably could live.
Their lives would just turn miserable and not worth living.
And maybe then they would die inside.
She had had to leave all her friends behind in USA and return to Japan, her home town. But she trusted her friends to contact her often enough.
And she would meet new ones!
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Ryoma drew in his breath too quickly and almost choked. He had only hit the Twist Serve twice, and now this kid in front of him returned it on the third time with a return ace! The ball had accelerated at breakneck speed, and he couldn't recover from his shock fast enough.
"30-15!"
His eyes narrowed and he silently passed his racket from his right to his left.
----------
Both parties panted and heaved, sweat trickling down their faces.
Ryoma was breathless, expression aghast. This kid was the only one today who had managed to score more than 0 games.
In fact, the kid managed to snatch 3 games from him! Of course, Ryoma was leading 4-3, but still.
Said kid served, a familiar sharp serve that curved towards the face.
"Twist Serve?!" The two words sprinted across Ryoma's mind as he forced himself to hit it. It was a poor return, and his opponent smashed the ball down immediately
Ryoma cursed under his breath. His expression grew more bewildered by the second.
'Kid' seemed to have noticed, and forced her voice about one or two octaves lower.
"Okaa-san taught me that." She drawled. After hearing how retarded she sounded, she choked back a giggle fit. She definitely wasn't 'warm' with Echizen Ryoma yet, but his expressions were so funny!
And she really loved tennis. It made her hyper! The only things she liked more were her friends, anime, singing, and Allen-san.
…Forget her family.
Or lack of thereof.
----------
More and more people were gathering around to watch 'Kid' and Ryoma's game.
Echizen decided to use a move he had been saving for the District Tournament.
Twist Smash.
Everyone stared in awe as the ball spun and rotated at such a high speed that it became a blob of UFO-beam-green.
The blob – ball – bounced and before 'Kid' could move, it went for her hat and it flew off, releasing her long hair.
It seemed to cascade endlessly behind her shoulders until it came to a stop just below her waist.
She froze.
----------
Ryoma couldn't even muster up enough strength to say what he would usually say after making a comeback. All this time…he – no, she – was a girl?!
A girl managed to play him so long and win so many games?!
It took himvirtually three minutes to recover his shock – that's a lot for him – and he examined this girl.
Her black hair was slightly matted to her head from all the sweat, and her cheeks were flushed and tinted a rosy pink. Now that the hat was off her head, Ryoma could see her eyes. He wasn't sure, but her eyes were…probably black…a deep, sparkling black…or was it a midnight blue?
Ryoma shook his head to clear all these thoughts.
Who cared what colour her eyes were? They could be pink or yellow or rainbow coloured and he couldn't have cared less.
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She tried to relax as everyone stared at her, whispering.
One of the fat dudes from earlier couldn't help himself.
"A girl?!" he exclaimed.
Now the situation was certainly extremely amusing to the max. The girl couldn't resist smiling to herself.
"Don't be sexist! Like, yes, it's a scientific fact that most boys are stronger than girls physically, but not all! I mean, speaking as a not-so-objective third party outsider with only the tiniest bit of interest in the matter of concern and not that much experience in said topic – Japan males and females, that is." She babbled without taking a breath in between. This was one of the current tops in her "My Favourite Very Long Phrases to Confuse People" list.
She grinned in satisfaction as everyone gaped.
"Hai…finally! It was so hard trying to be a boy so you guys wouldn't feel embarrassed or anything for assuming that I was one in the first place!" In normal circumstances, she wouldn't say that.
But today she was exceptionally…energetic..
Then she turned to the temporarily-forgotten tennis prince.
"Are all boys like this? Always trying to act cool and composed?" She dropped her voice into a low, deep drawl, imitating a mentally challenged cow.
"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadaaaaaaaaaa maaaaaaaaaadaaaaaaaaaaaa daaaaaneeeeeeeeeee.:
Ryoma suppressed a grimace and cocked an eyebrow. He didn't sound like that at all.
…Did he?
"You're really amazing, Ryo-chan! Even more than my expectations. I mean, dude, your Twist Serve is so sharp!"
Echizen didn't seem to have heard her.
"Saa!" the girl who seemed to have a split personality picked her cap back up and plopped it on her head, carefully putting her hair through the hole at the back. Now it seemed like she had tied her hair into a ponytail. "Let's continue!"
It was Ryoma's serve, but he seemed to remain unresponsive.
Even more unresponsive than usual.
The girl wanted to frown, but apparently that uses up a total of forty-three muscles, and would also increase your chances of sudden death. So she decided to serve on her own – not to gain a point whilst Echizen Ryoma was unaware, nope, but to wake him up.
She threw the ball into the air and waited for the split second where the ball is in the exact right place -
"HIKARIIIIIIIIIII!"
"Eh?!" Surprised, she let the ball fall down on its on and whipped around to find the owner of the glass-shattering voice (her own voice may be louder though) glaring at her, albeit in a playful way.
"OH MY GOD! WHERE WERE YOU?! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE! OH MY GOD! I JUST TURNED AROUND FOR LIKE TENSECONDS! MOU!"
"Yuiko! Oh my God, where were you? You totally weren't gone for ten seconds, damnit! I waited for ages! Now I won't be able to watch "Kyou Kara Maou!" tonight!"
Once again, everyone gaped.
Oblivious, the two cousins continued arguing.
Finally, Yuiko grabbed Hikari's arm and tried to drag her away, failing as Hikari broke free to get her racket.
Once Yuiko saw to it that her younger cousin had retrieved everything, she tried pulling Hikari away once again.
"We have to go straight to the uniform shop thingy or it will close! AHHHH!!" Yuiko muttered, ending with a frustrated shout.
"Eh! Demo, you promised to go buy ice-cream! Yakusoku da, ya-ku-so-ku!" Hikari kept wailing the last word over and over.
Just as they were about to leave, Ryoma finally snapped out of his trance.
"Ma – matte!" he called as another unsettling feeling kicked into his stomach. It took a while to remember that feeling. He hadn't felt it for quite some time.
Fear.
He was actually scared that he would never see this girl again.
"Heh?" Hikari turned around; the wind was blowing, her hair floating around her face.
Ryoma stilled. He suddenly realized he had leapt before he looked– something he usually never did. He had called out before knowing what he even wanted to say.
"Eh…eto…you…you can't just leave like that! The match…the match's not settled!" He finally decided upon that.
"Ahh…souka, soudayo ne! Gomen!" Her smile was apologetic. "I – "
"TOO BAD!" Yuiko butt in, "WE DON'T HAVE TIME! LET'S GO!"
"Wait!" Ryoma called out for the second time. He still wasn't close enough to see the colour of her eyes properly, and he didn't like that. "Umm…at least…at least…"
He forgot what he wanted to say once more.
"What's your name?" he struggled to remain his calm.
"Oh right! Nihaha. Eto…Mitsuki Hikari desu! Yoroshiku ne! I know it's a weird name, don't ask! Heh." Hikari blurted at almost impossible high speed.
Mitsuki Hikari…
Ryoma tried to etch this name into his brain, despite his infamous horrible memory skills.
Then he remembered.
"Oh, right…and…I'm Ech - ," it wasn't right for Echizen Ryoma to stutter!
"It's Okay, I already know! Echizen Ryoma, ne? We'll probably meet again." Hikari wasn't sure why, but she felt so certain – maybe even more certain than any other time in her life, even – when she said that. "Yakusoku dayo! Ja neeeeeeeee!" Hikari's loud voice trailed off as Yuiko finally – using two hands, and all of her strength – towed her away.
After a few minutes of silence - except for the rustling of leaves – Ryoma crossed the courts and walked over to where Mitsuki Hikari had been.
A sparkle on the ground caught his eye and he picked it up without looking. It was Mitsuki Hikari's, he'd seen something drop off her shorts a while ago.
The 2 girls were nowhere to be seen – all traces of them were gone, as if what just happened was only a dream, and nothing more.
But since Mitsuki Hikari had promised that they would meet again…
Ryoma looked down at the less-than-thumb-size keychain clutched in his left hand – it was a chibi version of a dude from some kind of anime that he'd seen on TV ages ago, with longish blond hair tied in a braid and this metal arm thingy.
The chibi's arm had a blade, a blunt, plastic one, pointing up towards Ryoma. Its teasing glare was even more menacing
Ryoma gazed back at it, dumbfounded. A corner of his mouth voluntarily hitched upwards, forming a tiny crooked smile.
He whispered, "Yakusoku…ka?"
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But a promise blessed by fate would never be unkept.
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(A/N)
My god it sucked so bad! ToT
Sorry if it seemed as if the writing styles are different, cuz I was in different moods when I wrote them. O.O
Was it too long?
Too draggy?
Too boring?
Gahhh.
I'm not very sure about "the girl", "this girl" and "Kid".
I just wanted to keep my fanfic anime-ish and mysterious, though I'm sure I failed miserably. ToT
Reference/Dictionary thingy:
In case you were wondering,
I have a thing for fat dudes. :D
Not in the romantic way, but they crack me up :D
Bishounen– directly translated it should be "pretty boy", and though it may be an insult (sissy, girly dude, etc) in English, I think it is considered a compliment in Japan. Basically it describes a boy with really pretty features. Like Wolfram from Kyou Kara Maou! XD Ryoma can be described as a bishounen, I think. :D
Mada mada dane – I know he usually wouldn't say this right after the first serve, but I needed him to say it somewhere and I couldn't find another time XD
speaking as a not-so-objective third party outsider with only the tiniest bit of interest in the matter of subject and not that much experience in said topic – Japan males and females – yes, those of you who noticed – it is inspired by She's the Man. Heh. That's my fave non-anime movie! Muahahaha XD I really recommend it! ;)
Kyou Kara Maou! – The anime I am currently watching. So many bishies! EEEE! XD My best friend is like, obsessed with it. But then again, she's almost obsessed with all the anime(s?) she has watched :D
Eto/ano – Jap way of saying "Umm…" XD
Souka – directly translated is "Oh, I see" or something like that. I think. I learnt all this from watching anime! MUAHAHAHA. XD There is a meaning of "Oh, riiiiight!" in it though.
Soudayo ne! – directly translated should be "Oh yeah, you're right!" Or something with that meaning…--
Gomen ne! – abbreviation for gomen nasai [sp?, which means I'm sorry (basically).
(Gomen nasai- Sorry (most polite); Gomen, Gomen ne)
Nihaha – when Sekai laughs nervously, she'll laugh like that :D don't ask why. It's just cuz I like it. The main character of AIR – Misuzu – laughs like that too! How kawaii! XD
Mitsuki – according to Fullmoon wo Sagashite, it means full moon. Usually used for first names (first name as in John in John Smith). In fact, I don't think Mitsuki is allowed to be a last name at all. I dunnooo Oo; There's a reason though, and it will be revealed in later chapters. If I don't get around to plotting a place to put it, I'll just write up a random chapter :D
Hikari – light
Yoroshiku, ne! Yoroshiku is basically something you'd say after introducing yourself. In anime it is translated to "Please take good care of me" or something like that. "ne" is just something like "right?" or "okay?"
Yakusoku – Promise.
Dayo – something like…umm. If I say "Yakusoku dayo!" then it will probably be translated to "It's a promise!" or something like that.
Ja ne! – See you again! Or Bye! Or See ya! XD
Ka? – something like "huh?" but not in the "what are you talking about?" way. Like, "Yakusoku, ka?" is "A Promise, huh?" XD
('Ka' typically makes anything before it a question, as well)
Please review! I'm sure I had a ton of mistakes – even after Iris-senpai's wonderful editing…because I suck. ; I actually went ahead and changed things again after sending it to her for beta-reading…ToT