Chapter 1 – Chance Meeting

The afternoon sunlight shone through the slightly ajar windows, leaving patches of light on the painted walls. The room was orderly in spite of the mess of books on the bed, where a girl with wavy, dark brown hair lay, phone held close to her ear. She stared at the ceiling, green eyes looking but not seeing as her mind wandered.

The voice on the other end of the line spoke rather excitedly. "Onii-san won too. It wasn't even a match, really. They never had a chance!"

The girl only made a small sound of affirmation.

Instantly, she could hear the strong, feminine voice fill with concern. "Yuuko-chan?" her friend asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she answered, though her gentle voice held no sign that she was okay.

"What is it?" the other girl persisted.

Yuuko sighed. "It's really nothing, An-chan." Knowing that her best friend wouldn't stop at that, she relented. "It's just…I wish I could have watched it with you."

"Yuuko-chan…"

She knew that An was trying to think of something comforting to say to her. An was just like that. She was the best friend one could ever have. But…she wouldn't understand not being able to do something that one really wanted to do.

Yuuko had long accepted that she was different from other kids. For one thing, she did not have a normal childhood: she wasn't allowed to play outdoors with the neighborhood children. She always stayed inside, where she was safe and warm. Her friends were her stuffed dolls, staring and unmoving. For another, she was almost always sick. She had to stay in bed for days, weeks even, taking medicines, staring out the window, longing to be outside.

Really, she had gotten used to it. She never complained; she knew it was for the best. But then, she never knew about tennis back then, either.

Going to Fudomine was the first major decision she had made for herself, and thankfully, her parents had agreed, albeit not without a lot of arguing. There, she was exposed to a lot of wonderful things: being able to walk in a place totally different from her home, having people as friends, and most of all, the joys of tennis.

Admittedly, she never really got to play it—she wasn't allowed because of her weak heart—but she reveled in being able to watch the ball move: it hitting the sweet spot of the racket, flying over the net and into another racket, to be sent back to the other side. The beautiful plays, both in singles and in doubles, were a wondrous sight to behold. It was like stepping into another world. And being able to watch, she didn't really mind that much that she wasn't able to play.

But then, her curfew came knocking, demanding for her to come home. And then she remembered that she wasn't able to watch as much as she wanted to. She wasn't even allowed to go to tournaments. And really, she loved her parents, she understood, but sometimes, she couldn't help but resent the restrictions.

"…Hey, will you be able to hang out with me this Saturday?"

Yuuko blinked at the sudden change of topics. "Um…I don't know. I'll have to ask my parents first. But since I'll be with you, I think they'd let me, so long as I'm not gone too long. Why?"

"Oh, I just wanted to show you somewhere."

"Somewhere?"

"Trust me, you'll love it there. Ask your parents 'kay?"

"Sure," she agreed, though she couldn't guess what her friend was planning. An was spontaneous and unpredictable like that, but she found that as a great spice to her otherwise dull life.

"Hey, I have to go. I promised Okaa-san that I'd do the groceries today. Talk to you later."

"Okay. Ja ne."

Yuuko placed the phone down on the table, and stood up from her bed. Might as well ask her parents now. Asking them beforehand always was a good way to make them favorable to the request. And maybe she could add a stroll to that too. Her room was feeling kind of stuffy.

Her hair in the usual half-ponytail tied into place by a ribbon, she straightened her knee-length skirt and her sweater. It was mid-spring, but her parents insisted on it, worrying about her catching a cold. Yuuko compromised, accepting the little sacrifice. She'd rather wear it than not be allowed to go out.

She called out, "I'm leaving!" before she stepped out of their house and proceeded to stroll calmly, taking in the people walking by, going about their business. Her house wasn't far from the city proper, and soon enough, the bustling shops came in sight, with vendors trying to get the attention of passers-by, hoping to arouse their interest in their wares.

Somehow, Yuuko loved the hustle-bustle of the city. It made her feel strangely calm, more than silence. Maybe because it had been her companion for so long that she grew accustomed to it, and she longed for something else.

She was so immersed in her thoughts that she did not notice someone was in front of her until she crashed into that person. Yuuko bounced from the hard body and landed on her butt. Ow… she thought grimly, and she looked up, only to see menacing eyes staring her down.

Quickly she stood up and bowed, offering an apology. "Gomen nasai. I wasn't looking where I was going."

The red-haired man, face harsh and eyes burning with anger, continued to glare at her. "Damn right you weren't."

At first, Yuuko thought that it was an elder man in his thirties, but when she straightened up, she saw that although he was quite tall, he was only a high school student, and that lessened her apprehension. Still, it was better to be polite, so she lowered her head again and repeated, "Gomen nasai."

The student, it seemed, was not letting it go just at that. "What, only an apology? You should learn to know your place, kid."

Yuuko's brow twitched, apprehension forgotten. Kid? And what place? The guy was only a few years older than her! If there was anyone who didn't know their place, it was him! But her face remained blank, though inside she burned with anger. She only continued to bow, repeating, "Honto ni gomen nasai."

This seemed to anger the man more, and he opened his mouth to say something that Yuuko was sure was an insult of some sort, only she wasn't able to find out, because a voice from behind them interrupted, "Oi, oi, what's going on?"

At first, Yuuko thought it was a policeman, but when she and the man looked, it was a middle school student with a bike, probably her age, only a head or so taller than her. He had spiky black hair and purple eyes, and was still wearing his school uniform, a tennis bag slung over his shoulder. Yuuko could see the "SEIGAKU" printed on it.

"What do you want, kid? It's rude butting into other people's business."

"What are you doing with that girl?"

The high school student snarled and grabbed her wrist. Yuuko tried to pull away, but her weak form was no match against his strong grip. "This girl was being stupid and bumped into me. I was just trying to teach her how to apologize properly."

The look in the newcomer's eyes hardened. Then he closed his eyes, sighed, and commented loudly, "It can't be helped, it simply can't." Then he kicked the metal stand of his bike so it could stay vertical without him holding on to it, and made a show of cracking his knuckles. "Mister, I suggest you forget about 'teaching' her and just leave, or else it wouldn't be pretty."

The grip on her wrist tightened, and the guy growled, "You rarin' for a fight?"

It was all Yuuko could do to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Really, the guy was simply barbaric. Who in their right minds would get into a fight just for the sake of it?

"I, for one, wouldn't run away from a fight." The spiky-haired guy said.

Yuuko was now starting to dread the situation. If there was a fight, and her parents caught wind that she was smack in the middle of it, she would get the lecture and grounding of a lifetime! Even if she didn't get into a fight per se, she would still be the one with the horrible punishment in the end. Forget about not being able to hang out with An this Saturday, she wouldn't be allowed to go out of the house except for school!

Suddenly, the spiky-haired guy lunged, his fist connecting with the redhead's cheek, and consequently the grip on Yuuko's wrist was gone. She quickly moved away from the guy, wanting to avoid the punches that were sure to come. She was sorely tempted to run away and leave the two men to their fistfight, but she knew it was a bad idea as soon as she thought of it because 1) she had a weak heart, and she wouldn't be able to run for long, and 2) she had to show her gratitude to the spiky-haired guy for 'saving' her, and running away was not a way to do so.

Yuuko found herself thinking of her bestfriend. An was a diplomat in these cases; she always knew what to say to calm people down. She wished her friend were here now.

Then, to her shock, the redhead looked up bewildered, a hand grasping his injured cheek, and cursed his opponent and ran. Just ran. She couldn't help but gape. What happened to "rarin' for a fight"?

She gazed at the spiky-haired boy, who was looking just as taken aback as she was. There were only two possible reasons why the other guy ran: either he was just bluffing earlier and didn't really expect the other guy to start throwing punches, or spiky boy really did pack a punch and he figured that he wasn't going to win.

"Oi!" Spiky boy called after him. "Where are you going?"

Yuuko couldn't help it; a soft giggle escaped her lips.

When she looked back at him, she could see that there was a grin on his face. Then, as if he remembered only now, he said, "Ah! Ojou-san, are you alright?"

"Hai. Arigatou." Yuuko answered politely. Although she wasn't scared a while ago (well, for the most part anyway), she really was grateful to him. At least now she wouldn't be in trouble with her parents. And besides, how many guys nowadays stood up to bullies to save a girl?

A hand rubbed his neck quite sheepishly as he said, "Well, I better get going now." He kicked the metal stand back up and swung a leg over his bike. "Take care, ojou-san!" And without a second more, he started pedaling away.

"Arigatou!" she called after him. She stood there for a few seconds just gazing after his back. Then shaking her head, she about-faced and started heading towards home. She promised she wouldn't be out long anyway.

By the time she was back, the incident was already far from her mind, buried under the thoughts of exam results and her excitement for her weekly health assessment. So far, she had done well the past few weeks; another one with positive results, together with a high score on her History test, could only mean fewer restrictions on her. Maybe she would be allowed to hang out with An and the others!

In any case, the future seemed to bode good things for her.

…oOoOo…

Translations of the Japanese words used:

Onii-san – elder brother

Okaa-san – mother

Ja ne – bye, see you later

Gomen nasai – sorry, I'm sorry

Honto ni gomen nasai – I'm really sorry

Ojou-san – miss (as in 'young lady')

Hai - yes

Arigatou – thanks, thank you