A/N: Okay, so this is my first Atobe fanfic, but I've been meaning to write one for quite a while now. Please give this story a try, and read and review! I know it's a pain to write one, but it really makes my day, and I really appreciate any time given up in writing a review! This story may seem very cliché, but please don't judge it so harshly, and read the whole chapter before deciding. It's over six and a half thousand words- I tried extra hard to make this chapter a good one. Enjoy the chapter!
This chapter is dedicated to anyone who loves Atobe and thinks his incredibly huge ego is simply hilarious.
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, but I own the OCs.
Ninety-nine.
How she hated that number. So close, yet so far away from what she really wanted the most.
Tanaka Jun was a not-so-proud student of Hyotei Gakuen, and she was very conscious of that fact. To be attending such a school was bad enough- hanging out with all those snobby, spoilt teenagers was a trialling experience in itself. But to be attending Hyotei on scholarship?
That was the worst part.
It wasn't so much the scholarship that mattered to Jun. It was the sideways glances and the derisive whispers that mattered to her.
Every time she walked into a classroom, down a hallway, wherever it was- heads turned and whispers could be heard from every side. It was driving her insane- and it was all because of one person, and one person only.
Atobe Keigo was his name.
How Jun hated even the sound of his high-flown, aristocratic name. Rich was the only word to describe the sound echoing in her ears- just listening to students talking about him reverently was enough to make her gag.
What was his surname anyway? The name Atobe got him everywhere- around in limousines, into the spotlight of the already prestigious Hyotei, into the favour of every single teacher and the principal himself- really, where didn't it get him?
It was just so irritating.
It was because of him that Jun hated Hyotei.
Not so much because of his insufferable arrogance and narcissistic, almost on the brink of obsessive ego. No, if it was just that, Jun could handle it, no matter how annoying it was.
But it wasn't just that. It was the fact that for all his ostentatiousness and spoilt-brat-attitude, Atobe still managed to firmly sit in first place in all examinations without even once failing, while Jun was forced to trail behind a close second, which really made her angry.
From the beginning of her first year in Hyotei, Jun had not even once been able to take the first place from the self-proclaimed 'king' himself.
Of course, the Hyotei students did not like that.
Why give a scholarship to someone who can't even place first, they sneered, in their aristocratic, snobbish way. She's so pathetic.
Jun was weak, and she was afraid to admit it. She didn't want to acknowledge that all of the angry tears had been because of this- it just wasn't fair.
And the strange thing was she didn't actually hate Atobe. Not him. Just his name, his standing, his popularity- really, everything that he stood for.
It was already her third year, and she was going to graduate at the end of the year. Jun didn't have much time left to prove herself, and it was running out fast. There couldn't be that many midterms or examinations left until graduation. Defeating Atobe had once seemed feasible- it now seemed impossible.
She knew that she was going to have to do something else to prove her potential- and she knew that she had it- but she couldn't ever prove it. In every examination, Atobe's name was consistently above hers- sometimes Oshitari's was as well. The genius wasn't called a tensai for nothing- it stung that both could spend so much time playing tennis and still be top achievers.
Jun had given everything up- all her sporting activities, co-curricular club activities- all for the sake of her studies. But what was it all for?
She didn't even know the answer to that anymore.
As she stared at the posted midterm exam results on the noticeboard silently, she felt the familiar sinking feeling in her stomach, that seared and burnt painfully.
Losing wasn't a good feeling. She would know- she had experienced it firsthand too many times to even count.
"Jun-senpai!"
Jun turned around, startled out of her dark thoughts, to see Ootori Choutarou, towering over the other students around him, approaching her with a friendly smile. Despite her worsening mood, she felt a reluctant smile tug at her lips. Choutarou had that effect around her, like a drug.
He made her feel better- but when he left, she felt even more alone and disgusted with herself.
"Choutarou," she greeted him, as he jogged up to her. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he apologized to another student he had bumped into. His shy smile was as infectious as always, and although he towered over her by well over a head, he seemed like a little child as he laughed.
"Ah, gomen, Jun-senpai, I didn't mean to be late."
The slender girl just shook her mahogany hair out of her eyes again, sighing half-amusedly, half in exasperation. "Choutarou, you're always too polite. Grow some backbone for once!"
The second-year laughed sheepishly, and he shifted his school bag from one shoulder to the other for support. "Yeah, Shishido-senpai is always telling me that too-"
"What was that about me?" The third-year tennis regular was strolling nonchalantly down the corridor towards them, hands in his pockets and cap on backwards, as usual.
"Ah, I was just saying to Jun-senpai that you always tell me I need to toughen up…"
Shishido laughed. "Damn right you need to. Have you seen yourself, Choutarou? You apologize for things you haven't even done, for god's sake!"
Protesting, the second-year exclaimed, "No, I don't!"
"Sure you do, ask Jun and see for yourself!"
At Choutarou's pleading glance for help, Jun only laughed. "I'm sorry to say this, Choutarou, but Shishido's right, you need to grow a backbone."
Amidst the tall boy's protests, Shishido held out his fist to Jun and smiled in understanding, glancing towards the noticeboard.
I've got your back, he seemed to say. Jun lifted an eyebrow, before sighing and touching her fist to his. "Whatever, I guess we are comrades for now because we're bullying Choutarou."
"Jun-senpai!"
As Choutarou and Jun started walking off down the corridor, Shishido lingered for a minute, eyes narrowed as he glanced at the noticeboard. His eyes focused immediately on Atobe's name displayed prominently at the top of the list, and Jun's name printed underneath it.
With one last glance back at the exam results, he jogged off after the other two, trying to catch up with them.
"Oi! Wait up, you two!"
"Ha, where did the so-called dash specialist go? Got left behind again, Shishido?"
"Hey, watch it, Jun!"
"Ah, please stop fighting, senpais…"
As the three of them laughed and talked, Jun could almost forget the harsh sting of the midterms. Almost.
But it was still there, waiting for her to just slip up again.
Atobe was standing in the middle of the courts, and he was not pleased.
Normally, he revelled in the spotlight, the adoration and almost reverence that the Hyotei students, especially the girls, treated him with.
But at the moment, the screaming and shouting of the fangirls crowded around the outside of the courts was simply irritating.
Of course, he would never stoop to admit they were distracting him. He was an Atobe. It wasn't possible for him to be distracted by so trivial a thing.
But that wasn't the only thing that was…displeasing to him. Shishido and Ootori still had not arrived at practice. Atobe understood that punctuality was not something that commoners-he ignored the fact that they were attending Hyotei as well- could adhere to, but fifteen minutes late was not acceptable.
Really, they had better have a very good reason for turning up late.
"Kabaji," he snapped his fingers, and the tall second-year stepped up.
"Usu."
"Get me my racket. Ore-sama feels the need to play a game."
"Usu." With his ever-monosyllabic, universal reply to Atobe, Kabaji walked off and returned with Atobe's tennis racket, handing it carefully over. Atobe spun it expertly in his grip as he smirked and lifted his hand into the air.
The screaming from the fangirls had reached a climax, and Oshitari, who was watching from next to Atobe, shook his head and sighed. Really, Atobe had an insanely fanatical fan base.
Atobe snapped his fingers.
Immediately, the entire crowd went silent, and Oshitari prayed that for once, Atobe would just leave it there, and hence retain some form of peace and quiet. But of course, Atobe's narcissism would not allow him to leave it there.
"Be awed at the sight of my prowess!"
As if on cue, the entire crowd of fangirls starting screaming even louder, until Oshitari could feel his ears throbbing in pain. He coughed politely, and nudged Atobe. "Atobe, darling, do you think you could possibly ask your admirers to lower the volume? I can feel a migraine coming along."
The Hyotei captain scoffed elegantly, and turned to face Oshitari. "Yuushi, Ore-sama will not deign to beg my many admirers to subside. After all, it is only right that they worship my divineness."
The tensai rolled his eyes, and said in a placating tone, "Yes, yes, whatever makes you happy, Keigo dear."
"Yuushi, sarcasm does not suit your voice. And kindly stop referring to Ore-sama by that soppy description."
Before Oshitari could reply, a commotion burst out amongst the crowd, and the two regulars turned to see Shishido pushing his way through the crowd of fangirls, trying to clear a path through them. "Come on, move! Damn it, can't you see we're trying to get through here?"
Behind him came Choutarou, apologizing profusely to all of the offended girls that Shishido had pushed aside, who all immediately forgave them after seeing Choutarou's shy smile. Talk about puppy dog eyes.
Atobe sighed dramatically, before calling out to the two regulars making their way down to the courts.
"Shishido, Ootori, Ore-sama expects better from both of you. To turn up late to practice is terribly uncouth."
Shishido just rolled his eyes and walked right past him. "Yeah, yeah, Ore-sama is always right- it's terribly uncouth to talk to someone when they don't want to be talked to by a vain brat." Choutarou hurried after him, bowing apologetically to his captain, he was looking extremely miffed at Shishido's insult. "Gomenasai, Atobe-buchou! Sorry we're late!"
Atobe sniffed, turning back to an extremely amused Oshitari. "Hmph, at least Ootori has some semblance of manners. Shishido, on the other hand, has no sense whatsoever of-"
"I don't want to hear it, you mole diva!"
"Shishido, how many times must I educate you properly- it is not a mole- that is such a commoner term- it is a beauty mark that demonstrates pedigree and class-"
Shishido wasn't even listening to Atobe talk about his beauty mark- he was already taking out his racket and heading onto the court. Atobe scoffed again when he realised that the dash specialist wasn't listening to his words, and turned to Oshitari.
"Yuushi, play a game with me."
"Oh?" Oshitari looked even more amused. "And why am I the lucky one?"
"Because you're in front of my face, and I shall deign to play a game with you, despite your commoner background."
"…Atobe, that was uncalled for."
"Ore-sama does what he likes at all times, and is always nothing less than brilliant."
Jun was sitting in the back row of the stands again, waiting for Choutarou and Shishido as usual. She had her exercise book open, painstakingly writing out solutions for her maths class.
She cringed as a particularly piercing scream from a fangirl assailed her ears, and she glared surreptitiously at the crowd outside the courts. She couldn't study properly with all this noise around her- especially when they were all chanting the name of the reason that she was forced to study.
"Atobe-sama! Atobe-sama! Look over here!"
"Atobe-senpai is so amazing!"
"He's perfect in every way! I love Atobe-sama!"
Jun felt her eye twitching as she attempted to focus on the book in her lap unsuccessfully. If only she didn't have to wait for Shishido and Choutarou, this wouldn't need to happen, and she could be studying quietly at home…
Back on the court, Oshitari glanced over at the stands, and caught sight of the mahogany-haired girl sitting in the back row with a book in her lap. He looked over at Shishido.
"Shishido, isn't that your friend over there?"
The boy repositioned his cap as he looked over to Jun. "Ah, yes, she's probably studying again. Honestly, that girl tries way too hard…" His grumbling became unintelligible, and he muttered to himself. From the other side of the court, Choutarou nodded.
"Ah, Shishido-san is right, Jun-senpai studies too much sometimes…"
Oshitari adjusted his glasses as he looked over at the girl with renewed interest. Now that she had been mentioned, he remembered her name vaguely as one that was consistently in the top ten of the cohort…
As he performed a flip, Mukahi looked over in recognition. "Oh, you mean Tanaka? Hey Shishido, isn't she the one who used to be on the track team?"
Shishido nodded as he hit another forehand across the net. "Yeah, that's how I met her. But she quit the team in her first year, I think."
The blue-haired tensai thought about that as he tapped his racket lightly on his shoulder- her name seemed somewhat familiar. It was then that realization struck, and he turned to Atobe, who was busy running his hand through his hair.
"Atobe, isn't Tanaka-san the girl who usually comes second in exams?"
"Hmm? Why are you asking me?" Atobe examined his fingernails, obviously disinterested. "It's not as though Ore-sama keeps track of every commoner in this school."
"…Atobe, her name's always right underneath yours."
The captain ignored Oshitari's deadpan words, instead choosing to snap his fingers at Kabaji, who immediately stepped up. "Usu."
"Get me a copy of the most recent midterm results, Kabaji."
"Usu." Without any reaction, the big second-year trudged off, and quickly returned with a sheet of paper, which he placed in Atobe's outstretched hand. With a dramatic flourish, Atobe scanned the sheet he was holding.
Oshitari stared him in bewildered amusement. "Atobe, sometimes your ability to get whatever you want overwhelms even me…"
"Well, of course," Atobe sniffed. "Ore-sama is nothing less than brilliant in everything he does."
"…You do realise that you're talking about yourself in the third person, don't you?"
"Stop being so cynical, Yuushi. It doesn't suit you." Atobe continued examining the list, eyebrows lifted. "Hmm, who was it I was supposed to be looking for again?"
The tensai sighed in exasperated humour, and pointed deliberately to Jun's name listed underneath Atobe's. "Really, Atobe, how hard is it to look one name beneath your own?"
Atobe just waved him off with an elegant hand. "Ore-sama has no need to look anywhere beneath his own name. However-" his brow furrowed slightly. "Tell me, is this Tanaka not the commoner who is attending this school on scholarship?"
Oshitari's eyes widened in realization. "Yes, she is…so that's where I recognized her name from. She's in my class, I believe."
"Ore-sama has heard that she is rather mediocre for a scholarship student- never achieved first place. I am confused as to why she received the funding in the first place."
Oshitari rolled his eyes good-humouredly at Atobe. "Atobe, it may possibly be because you're monopolizing the first rank…have you ever thought of that?"
As usual, Atobe just ignored Oshitari. "And to think that the school is actually funding her education- now that I think about it, it's Ore-sama himself who is funding it. What a waste of money."
"…Atobe, your family funds more than sixty percent of the school. You're not one to talk about wasting money."
By the two hundredth and sixty-seventh cry of "Atobe-sama!", Jun had had enough. And yes, she had been counting, because she hadn't been able to shut the noise out.
Slamming her book shut with far more force than was actually necessary, she stood up, and looked around the courts for Choutarou or Shishido. Really, she knew she was being selfish, but it was going way too far.
She caught sight of Choutarou first- he had just hit another huge serve past his opponent, and was turning to call out to someone- maybe Hiyoshi, sitting on the sidelines. He looked up, just in time to see Jun gesturing at him.
His eyes widened in a look of confusion, but it didn't stay for long- the two had long mastered the art of mouthing to each other.
Can we go now?
Choutarou seemed to have understood; he nodded, and jogged over to where Atobe was standing, apologizing to his opponent on the way. Jun shook her head exasperatedly- the second-year said sorry far too much.
Atobe lifted an arched eyebrow as Choutarou ran over and bowed hastily to him. "Ah, Atobe-buchou, Oshitari-senpai…"
"Arn, what is it this time, Ootori?"
"I'm sorry, Atobe-buchou, but could I please leave early? I have something to attend to."
Oshitari answered instead of Atobe. "What's so important that you have to leave practice now?"
Choutarou looked sheepish, and glanced towards the stands, before looking over at Shishido, who was frowning in confusion at them, helplessly. "Ah…that is- I need to-"
Luckily for him, his doubles partner had come to save him from further stuttering and humiliation. Shishido had strode over, hands in pockets as usual. Without a word, he leaned over to Choutarou, who whispered something hurriedly in his ear.
Atobe and Oshitari observed the two with amusement and curiosity, as Shishido's frown deepened, and he too cast a look over to the stands before looking back at the two.
"He needs to leave for something earlier than expected," was his blunt and completely inadequate explanation.
Atobe scoffed amusedly, and Oshitari raised an eyebrow, smile playing on his lips. "Oh? And what is the pressing issue at hand?"
"Shishido, you really need to work on your elaboration."
"Oi, shut up, Oshitari!"
Choutarou took over the explanation, looking slightly relieved that the subject had been broached. "Ah, I have to go to a lesson, but I have to leave earlier than I thought I would-"
Atobe frowned in displeasure. "And you didn't realize it would clash with practice? Ootori, I am expecting more from you than this-"
Shishido interrupted rudely, defending Choutarou, who was looking embarrassed and a little ashamed. "Watch it, you narcissistic diva! Choutarou didn't know that the time was going to be changed!"
Oshitari intervened before Shishido could really lose his temper with the supremely offended Atobe. "Now, now, don't lose your tempers. Let's settle this diplomatically, shall we?"
Atobe merely sighed dramatically, and Shishido scoffed and rolled his eyes, muttering, "Whatever, this is so lame," under his breath.
Oshitari smiled kindly at Choutarou, adjusting his glasses as he always did. "So Ootori, care to tell us why you have to leave?"
The second-year boy looked nervous to have everyone watching him. "Well, I'm not really supposed to tell anyone, but-" He shot another helpless look at the stands. This time, Oshitari followed his line of vision, and caught sight of Jun in the crowd, shrugging at Choutarou's glance.
"Does it have something to do with Tanaka-san?"
Choutarou seemed extremely startled by Oshitari's perception- he flushed and stuttered, not knowing what to say. "Well- sort of…but-"
Shishido huffed out a snort, and dragged Choutarou off by the arm, sparing a disparaging glance over his shoulder to Atobe and Oshitari. "No time to talk, deal with it for now!"
The third-year was out in a flash, grip still firm on Choutarou's wrist, and the tall second-year stumbling along behind him trying to stammer out apologies to Atobe. Oshitari watched with an amused smile as Jun met them outside of the courts, before the three of them walked off.
Atobe, on the other hand, was not as amused. "Hmph, what could be more important than attending Ore-sama's practices?"
"Really, Atobe, your ego is inhumanly large."
Jun felt like a dwarf next to Choutarou, a stunted aberration of some kind. The second-year was way too tall for his age, and he easily towered over her and everyone else in their proximity. Hell, the top of her head was not even level with his shoulders yet.
As she said, too tall.
Shishido had strode ahead impatiently- he was always in such a hurry. Jun didn't even know why he had come along- it wasn't like he was the one being tutored. Although she had to say it- he probably needed it more than Choutarou.
Not that she would ever say that to his face.
"Um, Jun-senpai?" She turned at the sound of her underclassman's voice, and she looked at him curiously. "What is it, Choutarou?"
"I was wondering…if we could work more on English today? I mean, my midterm results weren't that good…"
"Yeah, sure, if that's what you want." Jun mentally sighed with relief- English was her one of her strengths. She looked up and realized that they had already arrived at the school library- they had walked faster than she thought.
As they walked through the glass doors, Jun wanted to hit herself in the face with the ostentatiousness of the library. It didn't matter how many times she had come here- the extravagance was just too overwhelming.
Of course, the library had been donated by the Atobe Corporation, just like more than half of the buildings on campus were. Trust that Atobe to make such a lavish affair about it.
Shishido was already slouched in a seat nearby, yawning in boredom. "Oi, can you two hurry it up? You're so slow."
"I'm sorry that we're not fast enough for you," Jun mumbled underneath her breath sarcastically as she took a seat opposite him. "We can't all be unnaturally fast runners like you."
Choutarou vainly attempted to stifle a laugh, and Shishido just scowled as usual, a reluctant smile appearing on his face. "Whatever."
Shishido pulled out his earphones and plugged them in while the other two got down to work. Jun began quietly explaining words to Choutarou as he listened carefully and painstakingly writing them out, frown of concentration on his face.
"My parent- uh, sorry- parents, was- sorry! –were going at- no, that's not right- to buy me… a apple?"
"An apple," Jun corrected gently. "Apple starts with a vowel, remember? And try not to make the sentence a question."
Choutarou nodded fervently. "I'm so sorry!"
Jun laughed softly as she mussed up his hair. "You don't have to apologize so much, Choutarou. It's not like it's your fault."
"Yes, I'm sorry-" He cut off his words with a hand over his mouth, and she laughed again at his embarrassment. "Jun-senpai, could you read the next sentence for me?"
"Why? Don't know how to read it?"
The silver-haired boy looked down in embarrassment again, cheeks pink and flushed. Jun decided not to embarrass him anymore, feeling sorry for him. "I'm just kidding." She quickly read the sentence he was struggling with and read out fluently in a perfect accent, "In the palace garden, he smiled at her and held her hand."
Choutarou struggled to replicate her pronunciation and wording, "In the pa…palace gar- garden, he smiles- smiled at she- sorry, her, and held her…hand?"
"Not bad, Ootori." Both of them turned around quickly at the sound of another voice behind them, and what did Jun see but Atobe Keigo, the king himself.
"A-Atobe-buchou! What are you doing here?"
All Atobe did was run his hand through his hair, and sigh melodramatically. "Ore-sama doesn't need a reason to be here. I can be wherever I want."
"That wasn't the point of the question, Atobe," Shishido snapped as he forcefully pulled an earphone out, glaring in annoyance at the captain.
Atobe just ignored him, looking at Jun in an unreadable manner before swiftly looking back at Choutarou, who was looking sheepish again. "So this is what you left practice for? Ootori, I didn't think your studies were going that badly that you require a commoner to teach you. You could do so much better than this."
Jun felt her cheeks burn crimson, but she didn't have the courage to talk back to him, and she knew it. All she could do was turn away and let her long hair veil her face from the others. Of course, both Shishido and Choutarou noticed. "Oi, watch it, you mole diva! Don't just go around calling other people commoners!"
Choutarou tentatively put a hand on her shoulder, asking concernedly, "Jun-senpai? Are you alright?"
She didn't respond, because at that moment, Atobe chose to continue talking in an obnoxiously loud, but somehow still elegant, voice, "Really, Ootori, you could have just asked Yuushi to teach you. He would have been a far more suitable choice-"
Just as Jun thought things couldn't become worse, another voice, suave this time, joined in. "What was that about me?" Through her curtain of hair, she saw Oshitari strolling casually over, as impeccable as ever. The tensai took a swift glance at the situation, eyes calculating behind his glasses.
Shishido looked as though he was ready to punch Atobe in the face, and Choutarou looked embarrassed and unsure of what to do. Atobe was sporting his arrogant, I'm-better-than-you-and-you-know-it look. And in the seat next to Choutarou, Oshitari saw a familiar head of mahogany bent over.
In a second, he realized what was going on, and he sighed in exasperation again. That Atobe and his ego, why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut?
"Atobe, we need to talk right now."
"What is it this time? Ore-sama doesn't have time to waste-"
Shishido interrupted, cracking his knuckles threateningly. "Atobe, if you don't just shut up right now-"
Choutarou tried to intervene, expression of anxiety on his face. "We shouldn't be fighting in here…"
As everyone tried to speak at once, Jun just sat there, staring blankly at nothing. All she could hear was Atobe's words, ringing in her ears, "You could do so much better than this."
The screech of her chair as she stood up caught everyone's attention and interrupted the rising voices. All of them stared at her as she stared at the ground, head bent and shoulders hunched.
"I have to leave now." Her voice was monotonous, and Oshitari winced at the blank tone of her voice. Atobe had really gone and done it this time. "Sorry for being such a hindrance, Choutarou." She shifted her books into her arms and walked as quickly as she could out of the library, biting her lip to try and hold back the burning tears that she could feel coming.
The door slammed behind her, and there was a moment of stunned silence. Then Shishido was onto Atobe. "Why, you bastard!"
He probably would have hit Atobe in the face if Choutarou hadn't seized Shishido by the arms and stopped him from jumping on the captain. Oshitari was in front of Atobe, staring at him in irritation.
"Atobe, what did you say this time?"
"He called her a commoner! I'm going to kill you-"
Atobe had the grace to at least look a little ashamed of what he said, but he replied with a movement of his head, "Ore-sama did nothing wrong, why are you placing the blame on me again-"
"Atobe, stop acting like a spoilt child. You know you were wrong."
The boy huffed in annoyance, and he crossed his arms. "Fine, I was wrong. I shouldn't have called her that. What do you expect me to do?"
Oshitari breathed a silent sigh of relief- at least Atobe was admitting his mistake. "Atobe, you can't just talk down to people like that, you hurt other people's feelings!"
Shishido had calmed down sufficiently by this time, but his expression was still murderous. "You'd better go apologize right now or I'm dragging you there by the hair you're so proud of!"
Before Atobe could retort again, Oshitari pointed a decisive finger at the exit. "Atobe. Go."
"Are you-" he started to protest, before Oshitari adjusted his glasses, giving him a deceptively calm, but sadistic look. "Now."
The tennis captain huffed in annoyance, before turning elegantly on his heel and striding off. "Alright, alright, I'm going. There's no need to nag me like a mother."
Oshitari decided to let the insult go just this once, and as the door shut behind Atobe, he turned back to Shishido and Choutarou, who both wore stunned expressions on their faces. "So, where were we at?"
Jun ran. Ran, like there was no tomorrow. She could feel the tears leaving burning streaks down her face as the wind whipped mercilessly across her face.
She knew she shouldn't have been crying. Really, she had heard it so many times before.
"You could do so much better than this."
She didn't know why his words had hurt so much. Far worse things had been said to her in her years at Hyotei- but she had never had to leave the room in tears.
It was a horrible feeling, feeling worthless. But of course, it wasn't really Atobe's fault, in a sick, twisted way. Of course he would have no idea what being a failure was like.
At some point- she didn't even know how she got there- she found herself standing in the hallway next to a row of lockers. Leaning against them, she felt the tears stain her face as she felt her body jerk with silent sobs.
She wouldn't allow herself to make a noise. It was already humiliating enough.
The sound of echoing footsteps caused her to hastily wipe the tears roughly away and straighten up, glancing warily at the approaching students. And what she saw only served to make her day just that much worse.
The students walking towards her were third-years, and their faces were more than familiar to her- at least, the girl walking in front of the other two was.
Red-haired, with fair skin and green eyes, Harada Minori really should have looked like a witch. But she didn't- just like the other Hyotei students, she carried herself with an elegant, cool air which made her rather queer colouring combination seem like it was the most beautiful look in the world.
Minori was acknowledged by everyone, even the upper-class, snobbish Hyotei girls, as the queen of Hyotei, as they called her. Funny, because that title made her seem as though she was together with Atobe.
Actually, they were almost the perfect couple- except for the fact that Atobe seemed to hate the sight of her face. Well, perhaps hate was too strong a word- Atobe didn't do hate, it was more like…finding her distasteful.
But Minori seemed bent on gaining the affections of Atobe- for what reason, no one knew. Sure, he was Atobe, but he was clearly not in the least interested, and this was Hyotei. There were plenty more good-looking, charming, wealthy and in every way almost as desirable boys.
Perhaps the key word to her infatuation was the almost. It was just not good enough for her.
So it was an unsolved mystery, just as Atobe's popularity in a school that was already full of the elite was. And in the meantime, Minori seemed content to stave off any female admirers that came near Atobe by scaring them off with her cool, freezing glance.
Really, she wasn't actually that mean- the way she worked was more subtle than that- after all, she was the only daughter of a wealthy businessman, and she did not do tacky. Her remarks were just so…condescending, as if she was looking down on everyone around her.
But Jun couldn't say exactly what she said that was hurtful to anyone- it was just the way in which she said things- but even that escaped her.
"Ah, it's Tanaka," Minori said nonchalantly, as if she and Jun were friendly acquaintances. But as she advanced slowly in an almost, but not quite predator-like fashion, Jun backed away, knowing that her deceptively harmless words were painful to the point of agony.
Where's the teacher when you need one? Jun thought desperately, as she glanced around for an exit or any sign of help. It wasn't her lucky day- there was no one in sight. The corridor was completely empty, and she was already backing dangerously close to the lockers.
Jun cast a nervous glance at Minori, and then at the two boys standing behind her. She knew one of them- he was a soccer jock, and by the looks of it, the other one was too. Even if Minori had not purposely sought her out, the dark-haired girl knew that if she didn't find a way out, fast, it would spell trouble for her.
"Y-yes, H-harada-san?" She inwardly cursed herself for stammering and making a fool out of herself in front of Minori, the queen of perfection.
"I didn't quite expect to see you here." A deliberate step forward. "What a coincidence, don't you think?" Another one. "I heard about the midterm results."
Jun couldn't help but flinch at this blow. After Atobe's unintentionally hurtful words, this was not how she wanted this confrontation to go. Minori had evidently noticed, because her gaze sharpened and her beautiful mouth curled slightly upwards.
She took another step forward, and Jun felt a lock digging painfully into her back as she pressed up against the lockers. In the back of her mind, she vaguely realized in some surprise what this confrontation would look like to a bystander if there was one.
"I'm so sorry to hear about your…unfortunate loss." Minori's eyes were wide open and awake, quite different from her usual air of boredom. "It must be so painful to come second again. But you shouldn't worry- second is good enough for someone like you."
Jun couldn't take any more. Suddenly breaking out into a dash, she blindly tried to run, but instead collided with an obstacle. One of the soccer players next to Minori had thrown out his arm to stop her, hissing, "Where do you think you're going?"
Jun, not prepared for the unexpected resistance, fell back, stumbling blindly, and felt herself trip over something and fall backwards.
Her head met the locker behind her with an ominous crack, and she slumped to the floor, too stunned to feel the pain yet. Through her blurred vision, she vaguely saw Minori's look of surprise.
Out of nowhere, she heard a different voice saying something she couldn't understand, and the next thing she knew, there were cool, firm hands lifting her head off the cold, hard ground.
With faint surprise, her last thought was of how steady the hands were, something she wanted so much.
And then she blacked out, eyes reluctantly closing in spite of herself.
It must have been only a few seconds later that she opened them again, head throbbing now dully.
Damn. Now she could feel the pain.
"What do you think you were doing?" an angry, cold voice could be heard saying, and Jun, with some difficulty, opened her eyes to see the handsome face of Atobe Keigo himself above her.
For a split second, she thought he was talking to her, and panic rose up inside. But then she realized that he was looking and speaking to someone else, and relief took over.
Her vision was clearing slightly, and her hearing seemed to be coming back too.
"Atobe-san! What are you doing here at this time?" Jun vaguely recognized another male voice speaking in astonishment and with a hint of guilt. It seemed that Atobe had heard it too, because his eyes narrowed, and he spoke again.
"That shouldn't be your concern at the moment. What were you doing to cause an injury to a fellow student?"
Jun was faintly surprised at his seeming sense of justice- she was still too disoriented to summon up a more coherent thought.
Minori spoke next- Jun wouldn't so easily forget her voice. "Atobe-san, you've misunderstood the situation. Tanaka here had fallen just as we were passing by- we were merely trying to help her."
There was some truth to that, Jun thought wryly. Minori had been genuinely surprised to see Jun fall- but the truth in the statement had been warped too much to be called true. It was more of a half-truth- Minori had plenty of expertise in those.
By the look on Atobe's face, he didn't seem to be buying it either. But he didn't push it, instead looking down at Jun. The palpable relief on his face shocked Jun a bit- she hadn't expected him out of all people to be so concerned for someone he barely knew.
"Finally, you're awake!" he breathed out, and Jun could feel the warm air fanning her face. She realized with a mild astonishment that she was actually freezing.
"A-Atobe-san?"
He ignored her surprised address, and stood to help her get shakily to her feet. His hands were firm and steady, but surprisingly gentle. Jun supposed even Atobe could be nice when he tried.
"Come on, let's get you to the nurse," was all he said before trying to lead her off. Jun only managed to take a shaky step forward before her head spun wildly, and she stumbled again. She crashed into something solid, and she looked up to see Atobe holding her with a startled expression on his face.
It seemed that he had caught her from falling again. She had to admit that he had good reflexes.
He had recovered his composure, and he only muttered under his breath, "Hmph, how troublesome," before he bent slightly and easily picked her up bridal style. Jun felt her face immediately burn, and she looked away from him, feeling uncomfortably close all of a sudden.
"Wait, Atobe-san!"
Atobe just ignored Minori's exclamation as he strode swiftly down the hallway in the direction of the nurse's office, not once faltering in his step or looking back.
The last thing Jun saw as she glanced back over Atobe's shoulder was the unreadable expression on Minori's face, and the shudder forewarning her that something was very wrong, and she had just gotten herself into trouble.
Damn.
A/N: So that's the first chapter! Please review! It's only my second story for Prince of Tennis, in fact, for anything besides oneshots! Just a note- I know I refer to Choutarou by his first name, but all the other regulars by their surnames- it's just that I feel like the name suits him more. Anyway, I plan on working on this story a lot- I really like the plotline I have thought out for it! But just a word of warning- updates may be erratic, as I am also working on my already 'in progress' story Shattered Fragments (TezukaOC) and I am also trying to juggle writing with my increasingly heavy school workload! So please bear with me, and give this story a shot! Until next chapter!