Disclaimer: I don't own POT
Careless
Chapter I: 15-0
Summary: For the millionth time, Tezuka recited the one piece of advice he could offer to his fellow members. To not get careless. But as Ryoma's older sister finds herself visiting the courts more often, making friends with the tennis club all in the name of protecting her little brother, Tezuka finds himself going against everything he stands for. Because she couldn't help but be careless.
The early morning sun filtered into Ryoma Echizen's room, bright enough to stir him slightly. He had never been a morning person, which showed in his infamous track record for always oversleeping and being late to everything. Instead of awakening, Ryoma simply turned onto his other side and snuggled closer to his pillow, welcoming the soft recess of his bed. It was only a few moments later when he suddenly shot awake, startling his cat who had been similarly asleep at the foot of his bed. Karupin shot out of the room in an instant, as Ryoma hastily grabbed his clock to check the time. The fluorescent digits flashed provokingly at him, signalling that it was way past the time that he should have gotten up, let alone left the house by. He was sure he set his alarm clock yesterday to wake him up early, but he didn't have any recollection at turning it off this morning. But never mind that; if he dwindled on it any longer, he could be sure that Tezuka-buchou would make him run thrice the amount of laps than everyone else.
Kicking back the covers, Ryoma was about to set a foot down onto the floor, when he was suddenly confronted with a sight he'd rather not have to see immediately after he had just woken up. Sat patiently on a chair, only a few inches away from his bed, was his older sister with a serene smile on her face, almost rivalling the freakishly unnatural set of Fuji-senpai's face.
"Sis?!" Ryoma couldn't help to exclaim. "What are you doing? Why didn't you wake me?"
His older sister pouted up at him with wide doe-eyes. "But you look so cute when you sleep. How could I disturb that peaceful little face of yours, huh?" she asked rhetorically as she took the liberty to pinch his cheeks. Yep, she was definitely someone he didn't want to see in the morning.
She was only one year older than Ryoma, but she acted as if he was a little baby. Brushing her hand away forcefully, he pushed himself out of bed and made a beeline to the bathroom to have a quick shower and brush his teeth. His sister ran after him, just about to ask why he was in such a rush, despite it being an hour earlier from when he usually awakes. However, before she could finish her question, the bathroom door slammed in her face and she was left with a slightly bruised nose.
"Gee," she sighed, "how rude…"
Instead of pestering her brother further, she decided to head downstairs, to where her father sat in the kitchen eating his breakfast and reading a newspaper. Everyone knew what her pervert father was really reading, but his occasional mumbles of 'stock market', 'is that so?' and 'global warming, huh?' prevented anyone, except her mature older cousin Nanako, from shattering his pathetic attempt at covering up his dirty magazines behind that broadsheet paper.
Sitting down at the table opposite her father, she was soon presented with a bowl of rice, miso soup and some extra sides by Nanako. "Here, Anna, eat before it goes cold," Nanako said with a genial smile.
"Aw, Nanako-chan, you're the absolute best cousin anyone could wish for!" Anna enthused as she dug into her rice with gusto.
"Slow down, kiddo, aren't you scared of getting fat?" her father advised without taking his eyes off his magazine. "Why couldn't you just be born like a normal girl who worries about her weight and likes to look nice for boys? Not cute at all like this," her father mumbled to himself afterwards, most likely to provoke a reaction out of his daughter.
"Hey, old geezer, that's no way to talk to a woman!" she retorted, shaking her chopsticks at him angrily.
He snorted at her and peered out over his newspaper with a wide grin. "What woman? The only woman in this room is Nanako-chan, right, Nanako-chan?" Without realizing it, Nanako had been unwillingly forced into the argument between father and daughter.
However, their loud banter was cut short when Ryoma rushed down the stairs, pausing at the kitchen entrance, with a frustrated exclamation. "You're both so loud," he said exasperatedly, which effectively ended all the yelling, as he quickly pinched a banana from the countertop and rushed back out to put on his shoes.
"Ryoma-kun, where are you going so early?" Nanako asked from the kitchen.
"Morning practice," he replied without skipping a beat. Before any of them could reply to him, or wish him farewell, he was slamming the front door and off running down the road with his racket bag firmly on his shoulder.
"Morning practice?" Anna echoed dazedly.
"Haven't you heard, Anna-chan? That boy's a regular in the tennis club now," her dad explained, averting his attention back to his magazine. "Seems like he's still trying to beat me… mada mada dane…"
Anna disgustedly looked away from her father's smug look. "Tch. You can count on it that Ryoma will beat you one day, dirty old man," she said confidently, meaning every word she said. However, her father's previous words about Ryoma becoming a freshman regular piqued Anna's attention. She always had faith in Ryoma's tennis skills and was proud that he had filled a regular's spot, and so she vowed to always support him in his, hopefully, illustrious tennis career. Spooning the rest of her rice into her mouth hastily, she quickly said her thanks before speeding off for her school bag and jetting off to school. "See you later!" she shouted before she slid the front door shut.
Like her brother, Anna also attended Seigaku Academy but they rarely bumped into each other in school, both because Ryoma was a freshman, whilst Anna was a 2nd year student, and because Ryoma had made quite a skill out of trying to avoid meeting his older sister around school. That wasn't to say that she didn't try to purposely catch Ryoma around the school grounds – she loved spending time with her little brother, but Ryoma was just too sly and stubborn most of the time.
Upon entering the school grounds, she decided not to go straight to homeroom, like she would have done every other day. But today, she had purposely left the house fifteen minutes early, just so she could pay the tennis courts a visit – after all, since starting the school more than a year ago, Anna had barely paid any attention towards the tennis club, despite their reputation around the school. But now that her brother was a regular, she would be sure to visit more often.
Making her way to the courts, she was impressed by the set-up of the whole thing. She hadn't realized till now how the tennis club were running such a vast operation. They had many courts at their disposable and quite a few members as well. Whistling lowly, she inconspicuously stood by the centre courts to observe from behind the fencing.
"Hmm, who knew the tennis people were so serious?" she said, watching as incessant rallies played between the regulars continued. She spotted Ryoma playing against a senior of whom she didn't recognize. But then again, Anna was indifferent towards anyone else in this school except her brother and her classmates. She was in awe at her brother's concentration on the ball, and he was continuously hitting shots with pinpoint precision towards the corners of the court. Her eyes wondered around, watching as other freshmen had the menial task of picking up abandoned balls and observing the shots of the other regulars.
A yawn ripped its way past Anna's throat all of a sudden. "Man, watching tennis balls being hit to and fro sucks up all my energy," she commented to herself, about to turn around to walk to homeroom. However, her tracks were frozen when she caught an intent stare from across the court. It narrowed as she turned her own eyes towards the source, and she was surprised to see a tall senior with glasses and light brown hair almost glaring at her.
She didn't think anyone would catch her discreetly observing a tennis club practice session, so to have been caught in the act surprised Anna. And it seemed like she was being silently chastised for it by a complete stranger. Shrugging her shoulders, she continued to ignore his presence and go on about her way. "He's weird..." she concluded offhandedly, settling into a light jog back to homeroom.
She didn't know exactly why, but something drew Anna to return back to the tennis courts after school. She knew that she wanted to see Ryoma play his tennis again, to support him, but something else had a magnetic hold on Anna which encouraged her to go watch from outside the fence again. However, she was disappointed to see that her brother had not turned up at the courts yet, despite all the other members in full swing of their practice. With half of her cause gone, she turned away dejectedly, kicking the ground unhappily.
As she was about to make her way towards the school gates, however, she was distracted by a cocky voice coming from behind the corner of one of the school buildings. She faintly recognised two of the voices, but the third came out as a prepubescent plea for help – definitely the voice of a freshman. Peeking her head round the corner, she was surprised to see her little brother with a broom slung lazily behind his neck, whilst his 'friend' looked close to receiving a baseball bat around the face. Further away, two freshman girls, who Anna assumed were Ryoma and the boy's classmates, were frozen in fear, watching helplessly as two 2nd year students, who, mind you, were almost twice the size and build of Ryoma's friend, were about to pummel the smaller boy.
'So this is where you were, little bro,' she thought to herself, as she realised that even talented tennis rookies still had to participate in cleaning duty after school.
"Oi, freshman, it turns out you're not only big-mouthed but also a liar, eh?" one of the 2nd year students said cockily, swinging his baseball bat precariously in the younger's boys face. The poor guy looked as if he had just peed in his pants when the bat came within millimetres of his nose. "How disappointing... right, Akito?"
Yep, she definitely recognised the two boys now. They were in her class, although they weren't anything particularly special. They were both wearing baseball kits and now she remembered that they would often boast about their baseball prowess to impress the girls in her class. She laughed at the recollection of their baseball pickup lines, which fortunately never seemed to work on anyone.
"You're right, Shin. Like those freaks in the tennis club could ever beat the baseball club. Are you a complete idiot? Those stupid regulars are nowhere near the best in the school," the second older male said confidently with his sharp, upturned nose.
Ryoma was just as cool and indifferent as usual, observing from afar and was only about to interrupt at the prime moment before things got nasty, but Anna seemed to beat him to it.
"Shin Akamura-kun. Akito Mizuhara-kun," she called calmly, emerging from behind the wall she had previously been hiding behind. In her peripheral, she saw her little brother stiffen at her dramatic entrance, before shadowing his eyes further beneath his cap. She placed a light hand on each of their shoulders, both pacifying and threatening at the same time. "Bullying freshmen? And I thought you couldn't stoop any lower."
Both boys turned around in shock to see someone interrupting. However, when they noticed it was Anna, they laughed nervously. She didn't relax her grip on their shoulders. "Anna-chan? What are you doing here?" Another nervous chuckle from Akito...
"What was it you said before again, Mizuhara-kun?" she said ponderously, ignoring his previous question. "The 'freaks in the tennis club', huh?" Her grip considerably tightened on their shoulders, and they couldn't help but to wince slightly at Anna's seemingly inhuman strength, especially coming from someone with such a slight stature. "...I was starting to rather like the tennis club." She spared a sly glance at Ryoma, who was still not paying any attention whatsoever to the events in front of him. Instead, he seemed to hoist his broom higher on his shoulder and started to walk away.
'Ah, little brother!' she wanted to shout after him. 'Don't you think your big sister is cool?!'
However, Ryoma walked away nonchalantly before anything like that could escape her lips. She whimpered internally, but never ceased her relentless iron hold on her classmates' shoulders. Ryoma's classmates scurried off after him, calling his name as they tried to catch up. The boy, who was previously the victim to Shin and Akito, was long forgotten about and he used his chance to escape after Ryoma.
Knowing that her little brother and his friends wouldn't be getting into anymore trouble with these 2nd years, she let go of their shoulders, and brushed her hands across her mint green skirt casually. "Well, I guess I can let you go today, Akamura-kun, Mizuhara-kun." She continued to smile genially at them, as if nothing hostile had just transpired between them.
"Hai!" they shouted, eager to get out of there. They ran off with only one lingering thought left in their scattered mind: 'Anna-chan is scary!'
Once they were out of range, Anna let out a sigh and looked towards the direction her brother and his friends went. They were long gone now, and Anna felt disappointed that she hadn't provoked a loving and grateful response from Ryoma. He was just as cool as usual.
"Hey, Ryoma-kun, who was that girl?" Horio asked curiously when he had finally caught up to his friend.
Ryoma buried his hands in his pockets, as a small frown made its way onto his lips. However, he disguised it before Horio could see it. "Who knows?"
'Tch,' Ryoma silently thought. 'Why does she always have to get involved?'
After cleaning duty, the two freshmen made their way to the tennis locker rooms, where they quickly changed. Ryoma started a quick warm-up before playing a friendly rally with Momoshiro. However, before he could start his service game, Horio made a loud outburst, which distracted him from his serve.
"Oh! Look, Echizen, there's that girl from earlier!"
Ryoma turned to look at where Horio was pointing, already knowing what he was going to expect, and dreading seeing her face again. Sure enough, Anna was standing at the fencing, looking in on their match, and when Ryoma made eye contact with her, she gave a small smile, unnoticed by anyone else. She had decided to follow him back to practice, eager to see him playing again.
"We should thank her for saving us earlier," Horio remarked, pushing a crate of tennis balls into the unsuspecting arms of Kachiro. "Here, hold these," he ordered. "Come on, Echizen, you should come too." Without even gaining Ryoma's permission, Horio grabbed his friend's sleeve and continued to pull him to the fence.
"Echizen?" Momoshiro called, still waiting on that serve. "Where are you going?" Momo's loud, incredulous voice attracted the attention of some of the other members of the tennis club, as they watched Ryoma being dragged away from a practice match. Momo couldn't help but to run after them, eager to see what was so important that Horio thought it was acceptable to interrupt practice. "Hey, Echizen-"
His call stopped midway through his throat, when he saw Horio stop before a girl behind the fence and bow down reverently. "Thank you for saving us earlier, senpai!" he enthusiastically said. "You should bow too, Ryoma!" he added, once he saw that Ryoma was hidden behind the shadows of his cap again. Much to the surprise of Ryoma, Horio pushed forcefully on the top of his head, to try and force the other freshman to also bow.
Anna was shocked to see her little brother and her friend's show of gratitude in front of her. Ryoma had never showed much appreciation toward her, thinking of her as more of a hindrance than a help. And even though Ryoma's bow was forced upon him, Anna was still pleased at the outcome.
"Ryoma-chan, you never told me you had such a polite friend," she said, appreciative at Horio's efforts. However, when she looked down at Ryoma, he was stood straight again with a deadpan stare at her. 'Oh. Maybe he didn't want his tennis friends to know about me...' Perhaps by calling him 'Ryoma-chan' she had crossed an unspoken line.
"Oi, Echizen, I thought you said you didn't know who she was!" Horio cried incredulously, feeling almost betrayed by his friend. He pointed an accusing finger at him, but Ryoma simply sighed exasperatedly.
By that time, Momoshiro had caught up to the two freshmen, and the other club members had ceased their practice momentarily to stare, baffled to see an interruption in their usual rigorous training regimes.
"Anna Akiyama-san?" Momoshiro greeted, as he stopped alongside the two freshmen. "What are you doing here?"
"Ehhh?! You know her too, Momo-chan senpai?"
"Akiyama-san is in my class," Momo explained helpfully. Anna should have known her classmate was a regular in the tennis club, considering he sometimes turned up to class with a racket and a regular's jersey, but she had never paid much attention to what went on. She was pleasantly surprised to see he had such a friendly relationship with her little brother when he saw the older boy ruffle Ryoma's hair affectionately with a sly grin on his face.
"Thought you'd have a secret relationship with an older woman, eh, you two?" He playfully teased an indignant Horio and Ryoma.
"Moron, it isn't like that. Anna's my sister," Ryoma explained matter-of-factly, much to the shock of everyone in the entire tennis club. It was pure coincidence that Ryoma would let out the juiciest piece of news within the tennis club just as most of the regulars were starting to pay attention to the conversation at the other end of the courts. Even Fuji's actions froze just as he was about to return a high-speed serve off of Takashi Kawamura.
And the tennis club was never quite the same after that.
I couldn't help it. I started a new story... despite only half-finishing all my others. Sigh...
I hope you like this one though, should I carry on? It's so difficult to write an original character without making her mary-sue. And especially by making her Ryoma's sister, it's all just so cliche amongst fanfiction but I'd thought I'd try my hand at it, because I really liked the idea of a one-sided sibling complex!
Also, I hope the name Anna isn't too much like Ann (Tachibana's sister) but I just couldn't resist; Anna is just such a cute name!
Also (long note, I know) but I haven't completely finished Prince of Tennis yet, although hopefully omitted details won't be too much of a hindrance at this point.
But anyways, review please! Following chapters will explain more and the gradual relationship between Anna and Tezuka will start to show itself soon! Exciting!
TBC.