The first chapter and yes, I did call it the new kid on purpose. Special thanks to Rayne for the story and I hope I can keep up to your expectations ;) Anyway... Read and enjoy!
Remember, since it's Japan, they say their SURNAMES before their first names!
Bold = Shouting, random sounds and change of POV or a time skip.
Italics Exaggerated words, thoughts, flashbacks or different language(s).
(BRACKETS) = My thoughts ;)
Thanks for reading my author's note! =D
I do not own Prince of Tennis
Chapter 1: The New Kid in Town
Sakuno waited, clicking her heels together as she stared at the train station.
She smiled as she saw a silhouette she knew all too well coming out of the mob of passengers. Waving her arms in the air, her brown braids twirling by the gesture, she got the person's attention.
"Akira! Over here!" Sakuno called, turning her hands into a bullhorn around her mouth.
Akira, realizing the girl who had called was actually Sakuno, grinned and walked over towards her.
Sakuno smiled awkwardly as Akira got closer, looking down at her feet, "Do you still have to do...uhh... y'know ...according to your dad?"
Akira sighed, a forced smile appearing, "Yeah. But you're bound to be used to it by now, right?"
Sakuno took a deep breath, finally looking at her cousin by blood, Ryuzaki Akira.
He had a sky-blue cap with burnt chestnut hair, that resembled Sakuno's own hair-colour, tucked inside. Long brown bangs were tumbling down her sides to fringe his apple shaped face while silver-grey eyes resembling her aunt's and Akira's mother Ryuzaki Naomi, shined a luminous hue. Akira carried three bags, a big one probably for clothes, a medium sized one for belongings and a small one for other random stuff. He wore some long white-blue shorts with a white t-shirt with a rip-curl design on it. Two arm-bands that covered his elbow to wrist area presented an odd design that resembled some sort of kanji character and the same type of bands were covering his lower calf, hiding anything that was two-inches below his knee to his Achilles tendon. His sneakers were also white and blue, and Sakuno smiled inwardly.
Obviously he hasn't outgrown his favourite colours...
Sakuno scrutinized her eyes when she noticed something different about her cousin, "Did you cut your hair?"
Akira smiled, probably because someone noticed, "Yep, but my bangs are still really long. Other than that, I just had a trim," he pointed towards his cap, "But I'm not letting anyone see this hairstyle. It really doesn't suit me, so I got this new cap!" he paused, "Like it?"
Sakuno grinned, "Uh huh," before asking, "So are you going to Seigaku Academy?"
Akira looked confused, "Do you mean Seishun?"
Sakuno sighed, shaking her head in disappointment, "Yes, but everyone calls it Seigaku you know."
The male brunette shrugged before nodding, going on with the conversation, "Well I guess I am then. But I don't really get why dad sent me here in the first place."
"Isn't it obvious?" Sakuno's grin widened, "It's to see Obaa-san!"
Akira scrunched his face, "Why would I wanna see that ol' grandma?"
"Because she wants you to play in her team duh!" Sakuno smiled brightly.
"Team of what? Bowling?" Akira mock grinned.
Sakuno face-palmed.
"Baseball?" Akira's smile seemed to turn into a grimace.
Sakuno slapped her forehead, again. "No!"
"Volleyball?" Akira scratched his chin, clearly not understanding, "I haven't done a good rally in ages..."
"No! We've been talking about it for weeks and yet you still can't understand? Its tennis," Sakuno pouted, placing her hands on her hips, "Didn't uncle say you were one of the best in Kyoto?"
"Ah…no, he was just spouting nonsense again," Akira sighed, pulling his cap down.
Sakuno sighed, "When are you going to give in? We all know you love tennis."
"Yeah right, and I'm a monkey's uncle," Akira groaned, "Great don't tell me you're on their side now?"
Sakuno heard him mutter something unintelligible under his breath before she intervened, "So you are going to try out though…right?"
Akira sighed, a slow smile retracing his face, "Do I have a choice when my cute little cousin Ura wants me too?"
Sakuno blushed, "Akira! Don't call me by that when we're in middle school now!"
Akira chuckled, patting Sakuno's head, "Yeah alright," he replaced his bag over his shoulder, "So am I staying at your house?"
Sakuno nodded, taking his medium sized bag, "Here I'll help."
Akira took it back, giving her his small knapsack, a smile spreading across his face, "Sorry Sakuno, but a man's got to take care of the heavy load."
"But you've been lugging that along for your whole trip! Plus you're n-," she protested.
"It's fine Sakuno," Akira cut her off, walking off towards the exit.
"Ano…Akira," Sakuno caught up to her cousin.
"Yeah?"
"You're going the wrong way. It's the south exit, not the west," Sakuno explained, pointing towards the south doors.
Akira stopped short, turning over to his cousin.
"Sakuno-chan, you said we were going to your house right?"
Sakuno nodded hesitantly.
"Well it says here, the address that dad gave me, that it's on XX street," he held out the paper, before pointing towards the sign, "And it says over there that it's that way."
Sakuno's eyes melded to the size of dots.
Akira chuckled, "You're still the same Sakuno, having no sense of direction, even in your own town."
He turned around, walking over towards the exit before quickly rotating back to his cousin, "Aren't you coming Sakuno?"
Sakuno snapped out of her reverie, "Yep!"
{*}
Akira Pov
It was so exciting coming to a new school.
So far, I haven't made any friends. I still wasn't able to go in the class, so that's probably why I couldn't. Anyway, the classes seemed cool, the teachers weren't as strict, and the students seem easy-going enough. I even got to see Sakuno! But when the person in charge of me, I think his name was Inui Sadaharu, showed me the older classes I mentally freaked. It's a good thing I'm only a first-year, or else I wouldn't have been able to get in as easy, considering the second and third years are doing some sort of huge exam at the moment.
I shivered; I hate exams.
It's already the end of school, and the board says I have to join a club by the end of this week. I was hoping to join the art club, but Sakuno stopped me.
I sighed remembering her bickering about how I should do a damn sport, or at least find grandma Sumire to check out her team.
So here I am, looking around the school for that old lady.
Walking around the school, I noticed the place wasn't that bad. In fact, it was quite the high-classed area, with the green grass roaming the whole field and the recently trimmed trees outlining the school grounds, it could have been some rich kids' school. But then the classes...well, they're okay I guess. Though, the teachers do get a bit side-tracked when asked questions.
My eyes quickly caught sight of a guy who was carrying a racquet…no wait…three racquets!
He's most definitely in the tennis club, so I swiftly walked over to him, trying to see his face. When I got closer I noticed he was a first-year, and I realized I saw him before in Sakuno's class, but he was also carrying the Seigaku tennis jacket!
My word, I heard that it's really hard to get into the regulars in this school, so he must be good!
I tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey can you tell me where the tennis courts are?"
He turned around, and I mentally freaked.
Wow, second time today!
This guy had extremely sharp eyes, like literally. They seemed some-what similar but I pushed the thought away. He really was carrying the regulars' jacket and he didn't look like he was in a good mood. But as I locked gazes, he actually wasn't angry.
Huh, just goes to show you that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover!
Still, I could tell I would, and should, never play a game with him. He just has that sort of don't-mess-with-me-or-get-pawned air around him.
The boy pointed towards some random direction.
I rephrased my question, "I mean could you show me where the tennis courts are?"
He sighed, "Fine, but I need to get to practice soon."
"Yay!" I cheered, arms flying into the air.
I looked at the boy again, seeing a startled look caress across his face.
"You finally talked," I explained with a grin on my face.
He sighed, "I can't believe my senpai are always so kid-like…You're even shorter than me," he muttered the last bit, but I could still hear it.
"Woah, woah, woah. Back up there, how the heck do I look like a second or third year?"
The boy looked at me with sharp eyes, "You don't. It's just I've never seen you before in my classes, so you're bound to be older or something."
"Well I'm not. Name's Akira. Ryuzaki Akira if you must and I'm the new transfer student," I bowed like those royal Europeans, "What's your name?"
"Echizen Ryoma," he answered like it was a hassle.
Suddenly, he looked up, startling me a bit, "Wait, are you related to Ryuzaki-sensei by any chance?"
"Yep," I answered, popping the 'p' to prolong the sentence, "So could you show me to her please?"
Ryoma nodded, "That makes sense," he gestured over to the side, "Come on."
I followed Ryoma over to the court. Everyone was staring at me, probably because they'd never seen me before, but as soon they saw me, they all went back to practise with the same speed. It was surprising, seeing everyone so into the game. Heck, some of them were sweating like crazy! No wonder Seishun - I mean Seigaku was the top in Japan at the moment. I shook off the intimidation and was about to ask where grandma Sumire was when…
"Akira!" I turned seeing my Obaa-san on the bench.
She walked over to me, tugging me into a hug that made a lot of people stare and mutter/ask who I was.
Obaa-san grabbed me by the shoulders, "So you decided to come eh? You going to try out the tennis like your ol' grandma here?"
I sighed, "Do I have a choice?"
"Hey," I turned to see some random second-year, "Are you trying out the tennis club?"
I looked up at my grandma in response, "Can I? Or am I not allowed to?"
Obaa-san grinned, winking once at me "Sure. But you'll have to sign up later. Why don't you just play with these guys right now?" she pointed towards eight particular men in the far court, who all turned and looked at me.
Some held a look of surprise at grandma Sumire, but three of them just stared at me.
Freaky much. I thought to myself. Maybe they're the regulars...which means...
"Uh…no thanks. I heard about the regulars, and I'm not that stupid to go against them," I put my hands in my pockets, trying to shrink away.
"I'll give you a thousand yen if you play a game with," she paused, "that guy," Grandma Sumire pointed towards the first-year that was in a white ball cap.
I froze in my trackes, "A thousand yen? Seriously?"
Yes! A thousand yen could help me get those new sneakers. I'd been saving up since the new year and I just need a little more...
I ran over to the guy, wondering who he was. If grandma Sumire wants me to play a game or two with him, he must be pretty dang good. And from what I've heard, there's only one first year who's a regular, and I just met the guy a few strides ago. This guy didn't seem to be wearing the jacket so it's all good right?
He sat on a bench near some other in-experienced first-years, so he couldn't be all that or more...
People gasped around me as I asked him, "Hey do you want to play a game with me?"
"What?" I turned around, seeing a bunch of people staring at me, multiple eyes wide with shock before I repeated myself. "I asked, what?"
"Sure."
I froze, hearing a very familiar voice.
I turned, finding myself face-to-face with Ryoma, the first-year prodigy.
"Oh schnitzels."
A/N: By the way peoples, I did mean to spell the last word like that in this. The next chapter'll explain why Akira said 'schnitzels' :P