K, I'm just trying something new here, please read and review, cause I don't want my editor to yell at me so often.
I do not own the Prince of Tennis. I do want to learn how to play crack tennis, though.
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The airport was bustling as always, cars streaming to and away from the lane as people rushed, hauling off their luggage so that they wouldn't be hit by the horde of cars moving about everywhere. The traffic situation was worse than that which one could find from a construction project and a car accident combined. For the taxi drivers and car services, it was especially infuriating, since they had to shuffle into the mess and move towards the sidewalk edge to gather potential customers, then somehow claw their way back out of the disaster.
One of these said car services drivers was already stuck in the sea of honking machines, waiting not for any potential customers, but a friend. It wasn't as if the company cared, as long as overtime was done later.
When would her friend get here? She wanted to get out of hell.
For the umpteenth time, she thought of how she ended up with her job, and sighed.
It was Tomoka-chan's fault, as always.
She remembered the fateful day when Tomoka decided that her friend needed to 'stand up for herself and make her own path' before dragging her to the nearest building, which ended up being the office of the car service building.
Apparently, they had needed another driver very badly, and when Tomoka mentioned that her friend could drive very well, they had hired her immediately. Next thing she knew, she was studying the maps of Tokyo, preparing for her new job.
"I should've known that she was planning something when she said 'Sakuno-chan' in that voice," she muttered as her eyes continued to idly rove about; anticipating the phone call was a thankless task. "Well, it's not a bad job, I guess… It has improved my sense of direction … God, it was crappy before…"
She'd sworn again without her noticing. That's not something I would do!
Tomoka was the one who had introduced her to such bad habits. "Oh, Tomoka-chan, why must you tie me to such insanity…?"
Tomoka's voice echoed in her head. Well, you did say you wanted to pay for college without too much help from your Obaa-san, right?
Sighing, Sakuno rested her head on the steering wheel. She did need the money if she didn't want to rely too heavily on her grandmother.
After all, Obaa-san had supported her for all these years; who would she be to burden Obaa-san any longer?
Her cellphone rang then, and with haste she withdrew it from her pocket.
Without dropping it, she noted idly. I'm not so clumsy anymore either…
Her ponytail brushed against her hand and for a moment she regarded her mane of cinnamon sadly.
Yes, quite a bit has changed since he left, but now's not the time to think about that. It was over a long time ago, and I need to take this call.
Flipping her red cellphone open with ease, Sakuno saw that the call was from her friend.
"Momo-sempai, how are you?"
"Ah, Sakuno-chan! I'm sorry, but apparently, An's brother came to pick us up, even though I insisted that I already got you to pick us up instead. I guess Tachibana still doesn't trust me…heh heh."
Sakuno gave an amused shake of her head as she imagined her sempai scratching his head sheepishly, as he must have been.
"Anyways, An and I are sorry for dragging you along for no reason, so…" Sakuno suddenly heard a bunch of incoherent whispering in the phone, and what sounded like an evil laugh.
"Actually, Ann just reminded me that somebody on the plane was interested in taking our spot for us, so we'll just lead him to your car before leaving ourselves. Is that alright with you?"
Sakuno thought about for a moment. Well, since I really did come here for nothing, I might as well get a customer out of it. "Sure, Momo-sempai."
"Thank you, Sakuno-chan! We're coming right now." The next thing Sakuno heard was the sound of the dial tone, signaling that Momo had hung up.
Sakuno readjusted herself in her seat as she patiently waited for her friends to arrive. Sure enough, there was a tap at the window – when she turned, she was welcomed by the sight of Momo and An with luggage in tow followed by a lone man who only carried a backpack with him.
Sakuno studied the man she had promised to drive. He was tall, but not as tall as Momo, and his face was obscured by a red cap that did not block sight of his black hair. Clad in a silver grayish coat with red stripes running across the chest, Sakuno beheld him with horror and squashed down the thoughts that were coming to her mind – but alas, to no avail.
Silver and red were his favourite colors.
Shaken, Sakuno continued her inspection, and found herself in need of squashing the thoughts she had when she noticed that the person carried a tennis bag along with the backpack.
I guess he looks safe enough, but I have to keep my guard. He still might try to mug me… or worse.
"Hey, Sakuno-chan. This person is going to take your car, okay?" Momo peered through the window almost anxiously as if he was worried about her reaction.
She nodded with a smile. "It's alright. I'll send this person. Good luck with An-chan's brother!"
Momo cringed at the thought. "Thanks, Sakuno-chan. See ya."
Momo and An left then, though Sakuno could hear An's voice scolding Momo even at a distance. "Momo, don't go around making her scared of nii-san…"
"So, where do you want to go?" she asked in her best business voice as the person climbed into the car quietly.
"The tennis shop near Seishun," he responded smoothly, setting his stuff down on the seat next to him.
Sakuno nodded. She knew where that was very well, especially since she had went there with…
Oh, stop thinking about him, damn it! What's gotten into you today?
###
Momo and An stopped as they watched the car begin to somehow snake itself through the clogged traffic.
As a siren blared, An began, voice soft, "It's hard to imagine Sakuno-chan as a driver… she doesn't seem that type."
"Hey, people change a bit sometimes. They do things that might not seem to suit them," Momo replied dismissively. "Besides, it certainly helped with this very nice… ah, opportunity. Though I hope this never reaches your brother; I'd rather save him the confusion he's certainly going to get."
"No shit. Why must you use my brother of all people as an excuse?" An huffed, and, folding her arms over her chest crossly, she turned her pouting face from Momo.
"Hey, it was all I could think of!" Momo protested. "It's not like Sakuno-chan is a simpleton. She knows when something's wrong."
"But you didn't have to - "
An was cut off when Momo shouted in greeting as he spotted a redhead jumping erratically in the middle of the sea of cars, apparently not caring about the possible attempts on his life.
"Hey, Kikumaru-sempai!"
"Momo! You're here! How did it go with O'Chibi?" Eiji Kikumaru bounded over to the two arrivals, vaulting and flipping over cars with little difficulty while the people inside stared at him in awe and puzzlement.
"Still hyper as ever, aren't you, sempai?" Momo chuckled as Eiji took the luggage with each hand and hauled them back into the sea of cars, twisting and spinning through the narrow gaps with no problem.
"Hoy, hoy! It just feels good to see you and An-chan again, nya!" Eiji replied as he reached a car and opened the back of its trunk, quickly stuffing the luggage inside it before clamping the cover down over it.
"Come on, Momo, An-chan, we have to hurry and follow Sakuno-chan's car, nya!" Eiji exclaimed happily as he opened the passenger door and ushered them in before.
Momo facepalmed as he saw the other two passengers in this car. "Of course the two of you would also be in on this," he muttered as the person in the front passenger seat turned his head, the light reflecting off the square lenses of his glasses.
"Well, it's always a good idea to get data," the passenger noted softly as he began scribbling in his notebook. "Chances of an outburst coming from the victim later…? 100%... Ii data…"
"Inui-sempai, we didn't need any data to be able to figure that out. And who the heck made Fuji-sempai the driver?" Mom exclaimed exasperatedly as Eiji climbed into the car as well, quickly closing the door.
"Fuji, after them, quick! Nya!" The redhead exclaimed as he waved his arms around, squashing Momo and An into a corner.
"Don't worry, I'm already on it," Fuji said as the car started moving out of the mess, Sakuno's black service car clearly in his sights. "Momo, exactly what is so scary about me driving?"
"It's because we almost die at least fifteen times every time you drive, sempai, and you seem to enjoy that!" Momo exclaimed just as the car lurched suddenly, stopping only millimeters away from the back of another car. "See? We've barely started and you almost killed us all!"
"Relax! A crash at that speed would only end up with a meeting in court concerning damage costs. If that should happen, you'll be paying the cost, right, Momo?" Fuji grinned sadistically.
Momo gulped, knowing that he should run, and run far.
But he was sitting in a car, so there really was nowhere to run. An was looking at him curiously, trying to find out what exactly was making him so agitated as he fished around his seat, looking for something.
"At least we have seat belts, right?"
Fuji's smile widened. "There were… until I tampered with them."
Momo slammed his head into the seat in front of him in despair as An stared at him in confusion. "Momo, what's wrong? It's not like we need seat belts…"
"Trust me, you'll be eating your words once we're done with this," Momo moaned.
Eiji, undaunted, passed Momo an empty shopping bag.
"Thanks, Kikumaru-sempai. I'm going to need that."
###
Sakuno's eyes were trained on the road before her, brown in a composed face that belied her inner anxieties.
Only her unsteady eyes betrayed her as she continued to alternate between staring at the rearview mirror and her strange passenger.
He was looking down at his feet as he sat, though all his stuff was strewn haphazardly to his left. A tell-tale white wire around his neck signaled that he had taken out an MP3 player to tune out the world.
Still, that wasn't going to stop her from starting a conversation. It might not have been quiet to him but it was sure as hell quiet to her, and she needed to do something about that silence.
"So… you play tennis?" she asked hesitantly, awkwardly, wondering if she would get an answer back.
The stranger didn't reply and silence filled the car again.
It was just that as Sakuno gave up on an answer he responded.
"Yeah."
Sakuno's eyes flicked back to the rearview mirror in surprise. So he can speak…and in English, no less. Well, Momo-semapi and An-chan did come back from America, so it's understandable that they met someone who can speak English.
It wasn't at all a problem. Sakuno was learning English in her free time, so she was actually rather proficient. She had gone a long way from her pathetic knowledge back in middle school.
And I had him tutor me for help… no, don't think about him! He's not coming back…he's not coming back.
"Are you any good?"
She swore he smirked. "Are you?"
"Well… I play, but I'm not very good. I'm a little clumsy," she replied hesitantly, attempting to contain the memories that were flowing in her head again.
He seems to be pretty good at filling my head with depressing thoughts…
The passenger chuckled.
"That's alright, I only play tennis as a hobby, anyways. I brought my racket with me because I promised my friends and family that I would play tennis with them while I am here."
"So your family plays tennis too?"
"My dad does, at the very least. I haven't beaten him yet, but I'm sure to do so this time."
Oh, why must this person remind me so much of him…? Ugh!
"Good luck with that."
"Thanks."
Silence settled into the car yet again, but this time, it wasn't so depressing. It was warm and comfortable, but Sakuno was too busy focusing on driving to really think about it.
###
An old man was lying on his usual spot on the couch, reading his usual scandalously lewd magazines that he certainly did not want his wife to know about (though they both knew she did already) when he suddenly erupted into a loud fit of sneezing.
"Hm, I wonder who's been mentioning me. It must be the brat… he is coming back today. I wonder if he got a girlfriend yet…" He chuckled. "Ah, I shouldn't worry about that. His sempais will take care of that problem for me."
With that in mind, he went back to reading his magazines, oblivious to the eyes glaring at his back as the eyes began stalking towards him.
###
Sakuno had just drove into the city when she heard a mewing behind her.
"Shh, Snowball… we're almost there…"
He even has a cat… Sakuno squeezed her eyes shut, trying hard not to be overwhelmed by the thoughts poking through the defenses in her mind. In hindsight, that was probably not the best thing she could've done.
When she opened her eyes again, she realized that she did not recognize what she saw. Glancing around in confusion, Sakuno fought the rising wave of panic inside her, trying to look as level headed as possible on the outside. There was no need to worry the customer, after all.
Well, maybe I'll figure out where I am on the next right… Sakuno was met with another bustling street, looking to her almost identical to the one she was just on. Or not. Alright, the next left.
Still nothing, and Sakuno was rapidly losing her cool. Um…perhaps left again? And so on, for the next fifteen minutes.
"You're lost, aren't you?"
Sakuno gulped. Apparently her customer figured her out anyways. Well…I guess I can kiss a good payment goodbye, huh?
"Yes…I'm very so - "
The stranger just sighed as Sakuno watched him pull down his hat over his face even further in exasperation. "Take the next left…"
With that, to Sakuno's extreme embarrassment, the stranger directed her right in front of the said tennis shop. Now that she got there, Sakuno was unsure how she forgot there. Again, it was one of those places she couldn't forget, no matter how much she wanted to.
I'm glad this is all over. That guy's presence is causing me too much grief. Sakuno thought grimly as the stranger began gathering up her stuff in the back. He handed a wad of cash to Sakuno without a word as he opened the door and stepped out of the car, quietly shutting it behind him.
Sakuno made to drive off, but she was stopped by a tap on the window. She looked out, puzzled, wondering why would the stranger bother talking to her anymore, and was met with a rather strange sight.
He had taken his red cap off and was holding it in his right hand, revealing that his hair, was in actuality, a dark green color. His piercing green eyes gorged into Sakuno's as her mind practically blew apart from the speed at which she was thinking.
No way no way nowaynowaynoway. NO WAY.
"Oi, Ryuzaki, looks like you've improved your English," the stranger said, and smirked. "Too bad your sense of direction hasn't gotten better, though."
He backed away from the car window and turned back to the tennis shop, walking smoothly into the shop as Sakuno just looked at his back, dumbfounded. He stopped at the door, one hand propping it open as he shot a glance at her.
"Mada mada dane." His smirk just grew wider as the door closed behind him.
Sakuno was in shock as she stared at the closed door of the tennis shop. …that wasn't him. It can't be. He's not supposed to be in Japan anymore…
Ah, but he WAS there, standing right in front of you, giving his trademark smirk and saying that stupid phrase that makes you want to smack him over the head every time he utters it.
Mou, don't give me such violent thoughts, other me…
Her hands were still shaking as she made to put away the wad of money in her hands, quickly counting them to see exactly how much he gave. Mou, why did he have to give me everything in American dollars…?
She paused in her counting as a slip of paper fell out of the pile of cash she was holding. Sakuno wondered why she didn't notice it beforehand; the paper was rather thick due to the fact that it had been folded several times. Picking the slip off the floor, she unfolded and read its contents.
Her shock was quickly replaced by anger as she read, her face a red balloon by the time she read the last sentence. She scrunched up the note into a ball before opening the passenger window and hurling it at the window of the tennis shop, shouting out a phrase she hadn't uttered in the last six years.
"Mou, Ryoma-kun!"
###
Ryoma smirked as he heard the muffled outburst from outside the window, noting out of the corner of his eye the paper ball that was thrown right at it. The store owner noticed the yelling as well as he looked at the window in surprise, wondering exactly had happen outside.
"What the heck is that lady doing, throwing something at the window of my store?" the owner yelled as he began to move from behind the cashier counter. "…oh, wait, it was just a paper ball. But still!"
Huffing and muttering, he began to tally up Ryoma's order. As he looked up to give Ryoma the price of the objects he ordered, he could not help himself.
"Um…why are you looking like at?"
Ryoma realized that his face was still contorted in a rather silly smirking expression as he quickly reverted back to his normal, neutral looking face. "Oh, nothing. It's nothing at all," he murmured, and paid.
The store owner, silent and unconvinced, gave Ryoma a receipt.
###
Fuji had been stalking Sakuno's car the whole time, expertly weaving in and out of cars to keep her within his sights. Perhaps too expertly.
"My fucking god, Fuji-sempai, that's the seventeenth time we almost crashed into the back of a car!" Momo hollered as his face bounced back from the head cushion of the seat in front of him. An only sighed as Momo belched and quickly put the now not so empty shopping bag in front of his mouth.
"Why do I have such a pathetic loser for a boyfriend? I really wonder sometimes…" she muttered as Momo vomited into the bag.
"Hey, shut it, woman! Or I'll dump this bag on top of your head." Momo snapped back as Fuji drifted through a narrow gap between two lanes. "And sempai, what the hell was that for?"
"Calm down, Momo. I know you're enjoying the ride," Fuji managed through his maniacally sadistic smile.
Meanwhile, An was busy trying to fix a headlock on Momo, who was, to his credit, was struggling very hard not to be choked by a girl, because that would be just embarrassing.
"Get off me, woman!" Momo grunted as he continued to hold back An's arm from wrapping itself around his neck.
"No way! Not after you threatened to pour your vomit over me," An retorted as she pulled Momo closer by the ear so she could attempt to get a better hold on him.
"Well, that's because you called me pathetic -"
"The sex must be nice, huh?" Fuji interrupted as he drove right past a yellow light at a terrifying speed.
"Wait, what?" Momo and An stopped their struggle and looked at the back of the driver's seat as Eiji, who actually haven't been doing much besides staring out the window like a cat, started laughing hysterically.
"Shut up, sempai!" Momo grumbled as he smacked the back of Eiji's head, with absolutely no effect.
"Well, the chance of you already having intercourse with An-chan is, according to your behaviors just now, 97%," Inui muttered as he flipped to the page he kept Momo's data and jotted the observation down.
"What the hell, Inui-sempai, don't write something like that in there!" Momo shouted frantically.
"That just became 99%. Thank you, Momo," Inui continued, ignoring Momo's protests.
"Saa, so you mean you did do it with her already, right Momo?" Fuji continued, unperturbed as Momo made a sound that was reminiscent of someone getting strangled. "Say, An-chan, why don't you answer that question for me? Did you and Momo do it already?"
"Well, we, um, uh…"
"Did he please you?"
"92% chance that he did and An-chan just doesn't want to admit it…"
Both of their heads lurched forward then as their head cushions were hit with tremendous force. "SHUT UP!" Momo and An yelled, both red in the face and refusing to meet each other's gaze. Meanwhile, Eiji had tears in his eyes as he laid back on his seat, still laughing.
"Really, though, Momo. It's nothing to be embarrassed about; you should be proud!" Eiji choked through his tears before continuing his laughter.
Momo picked up a mouse plushie from behind the seat and threw it into Eiji's mouth, shutting him up completely.
"Alright, where are we?" He demanded as he ignored Eiji's silent protests as he tried to spit the mouse out of his mouth.
"We're near Seigaku, but I think Sakuno got lost." Fuji replied as he swerved dangerously close to other cars, making Mom's face green yet again.
"Huh, Sakuno-chan really has a habit of getting lost in this place," An noted as they followed Sakuno around in circles.
"Maybe Echizen already told her who was sitting in her backseat, and she got so flustered that she got lost here."
"Doubtful. There's an 87% chance that Sakuno-chan would've called us to yell at us for our prank. Well, call you, anyways, Momo. There is no need for her to know of our involvement." Inui said as he continued to flip the pages in his data book.
"Oh, look, we're finally not going in circles anymore!" Eiji cheered as Fuji continued to tail the black service car, this time driving in a focused path.
"Huh, so he wanted to come to the tennis shop. So typical of Echizen." Momo sighed as they stopped half a block away from Sakuno's car, all of them intently watching it as Echizen left the car and tapped on the passenger window, taking off his hat in the meanwhile.
"Oh, look, he's revealing himself!" An squealed as Echizen leaned into the glass, looking through it.
"Come on, Echizen, just go in and kiss her already, you dumbfu - " Momo groaned as Echizen straightened and turned before walked into the shop, turning back and saying something before entering the shop.
"…Did O'Chibi say something?" Eiji asked, puzzled.
"99.99% chance it was 'Mada mada dane'," Inui muttered under his breath and the three people in the backseat groaned.
"Echizen is a prude, you know that?" An complained as she settled into the car seat.
"No, Echizen planned something, trust me. He wouldn't resist a chance to tease Sakuno-chan," Fuji said merrily as the others just stared at him in amazement.
"Really?" they all asked, Inui proceeding to scribble that down into his book.
"Just watch." Soon, enough, the car exploded with noise as something flew out the passenger window and hit the glass of the tennis store.
"Mou, Ryoma-kun!"
"See, I told you." Fuji said with a smile as he unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door. "Now let's see what that piece of paper was. I'm sure that's what caused Sakuno to get so mad."
"For all we know, it could just be a random piece of paper…hey, wait, why do you have a seat belt, sempai?" Momo asked as everyone else exited the car.
"Well, I am the driver…" Fuji said, and smiled beatifically.
Momo glared before chucking his barf bag into the nearest garbage can.
"Hoi, hoi, I got the paper!" Eiji called from the shop; he had already bound there in excitement.
"Hm…What does it say?" Inui asked as they all crowded around Eiji, who was beginning to unfurl the ball in his hands.
"I hate you all, sempais."
"Oh, hello Echizen." Fuji turned and smiled at Echizen, who only grunted in reply.
"I should've suspected something when Oishi-sempai told me about that reunion thing at Taka-sempai's, especially since Kaidoh-sempai 'sent' me my ticket as a 'present'…of course you guys would pull something like this. Is anyone besides Buchou not involved?" he asked crossly.
"Oh, Tezuka knows, alright. He wanted to warn you, but…he was preoccupied." Fuji's smile grew larger. "I spiked his juice with Inui's special recipe, after all…he's in bed right now, but Oishi guarantees that he'll be fine by tomorrow for the reunion."
"Hn." Echizen sighed as he turned his back on his sempais. No point of trying to take that note back if they already have it. Besides, it's not like it can make things any worse. Stupid sempais.
"Well, then, see you." Echizen raised a hand in farewell, not even looking back as he trudged along the sidewalk. Not that anyone cared at the moment, of course; they were too busy opening the note.
"…typical Echizen." Momo chuckled as he read the note along with everyone else.
To whom it may concern,
I wish to file a complaint on one of your employees, Ryuzaki Sakuno. My complaints? She glanced at the rearview mirror too often, jeopardizing our safety; she got lost on our way to the destination; her hair's too long.
Sincerely,
Echizen Ryoma
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