Ryoma Echizen drops his duffle bag.
It lands on the grass with a dull thud and the teenager carrying it soon followed. It had been a miracle that Ryoma had stayed awake this long in the first place and between the long plane ride and Momoshiro and Kaido senpai's bickering who could blame him? Heck he was sure that the entire team was horribly sleep deprived with the exception of Fuji, who despite everything fell asleep the moment he dropped himself on the plane seat. Really. The teenager sighed placing his trade mark cap atop of his face, he deserved a nice long nap. Silently he closed his eyes. Singapore. Would he see her here?"
cCc
"um.. lita ger du yu no wher tis plas is?" (what he's trying to say: little girl do you know where this place is?) Inui tried asking a girl on the street as he gestured to a Japanese flyer with a tennis court printed on it.
"hey is that how English is supposed to sound?" Momoshiro whispered to Tetzuka.
The team captain let out a distraught sigh.
"something like that" he replied shrugging "besides we are only in this situation because the two of you kept arguing about the directions and got us hopelessly lost."
"ne then what about Echizen-kun." Eiji asked, a finger resting on his lip. "Are we going to abandon him?"
"che the brat it's more like he abandoned us. The brat knows English he'll manage." Kaido spat
Tetzuka nodded " Kaido is right"
"for once." Momoshiro added with a hmph.
No one noticed then that the girl Inui was questioning had not answered him and had instead chosen to watch the rest of the team, stifling her laughter as she did.
"um miss?" Inui tried again.
"you guys are from Japan?" The girl spoke for the first time and in fluent Japanese.
The team turned their attention to the girl at her words and found that they could only nod, after all this girl was beautiful. Sure she was shorter than them, she in fact looked a head shorter then Ryoma, but that did not change the fact that the girl had soft looking pale skin and bright golden eyes. As she cocked her head curiously to the side the team noticed the way her long dark hair swayed with the moment framing her face perfectly.
"done staring?" she commented amused.
with a flush they turned away. She was cute, that was for sure in fact in that one moment a few of the players were already starting to give her coy looks and interested glances. It would have grown into a full blown battle royal for her attention if she hadn't said her next words.
"mada mada dane. Do all Japanese boys give girls lecherous glances or is it just you guys?"
They froze. For some reason she was starting to seem very familiar.
Fuji was the first to break the silence.
"haha I apologize, but you reminded us of someone for a moment there"
"Really." she deadpanned.
The team sweatdropped. There was no doubt about it. It was a female Ryoma right there.
"You mentioned that you were lost and missing a person?" she asked folding her arms.
Tetzuka sighed.
"well..."
cCc
"How troublesome." She nodded in understanding. A training camp to Singapore and they didn't even know the language she mentally chided
Though this Echizen person sounded familiar. And if he was the person she thought he was then things would be a lot more interesting from now on. Well she didn't know if it was really him but she hoped so.
"I think I can help. Wait here." she told them a hint of excitement in her voice. Was it him? It sounded like him.
And as she raced off she couldn't help the stupid grin that plastered itself on her face.
"Wait! what's your name?!" Eiji called
The girl paused and looked back, charming the team with her smile.
cCc
"Aria!"
a 9 year old Ryoma called running towards the small girl
"what is it Ryo-chan"
"Don't call me that!" Ryoma yelled.
"Well you're short just like a girl." Aria giggled. "Even I'm taller! so you have to be -chan" she concluded her childlike logic only making sense to the both of them."
"Well I'll grow taller than you!"
"No way midget!"
"Whatever tomboy!"
she stuck out her tongue
"Shut up-
cCc
"Ryoma!"
The said teen's face contorted as the light hit his features once more. With a growl he opens his eyes only to shut them tight from the suns powerful glare.
"what the" he mutters to himself wondering where his cap had gone. It was a pity he had woken up. He was having a nice dream after all. Although that last call of his name had sounded louder than it should have. Silently Ryoma wonders if he should simply turn on his side and go back to sleep, filing the mystery of the lost hat away for later. But then something kicks him in the side.
"Ryoma." the voice tries again and Ryoma can hear it's owners' smile in it. "Is it really you?"
Now normally Ryoma would continue his nap and disregard any moron who would attempt to disrupt his sleep in the first place. But just this once. Just this once he feels like opening his eyes just to make sure.
Slowly he manages his eyes open into a squint and sees a blur blob leaning over him. As his eyes adjust the image refines and he spots his cap in the strangers hands. well that solves that. Ryoma glances at her face and his whole body freezes.
Aria grinned. It seemed that she had been right. Right in front of her was Echizen Ryoma and she had found him exactly where she thought she would. It was that same field behind the airport where he had taken his nap when he had visited her with his parents it had been about a year since then.
"Aria?" Ryoma said unsure. The girl in front of him defiantly looked like Aria.
"Yep."
The boy could not help how his grin grew to match hers. It had been so long after all.
cCc
"Mou.. i wonder where Aria-chan went.." Eiji pouted
Inui pushed up his glasses . "For once I don't know"
As the team stared at Inui with disappointment Fuji laughed.
"Still it's surprizing that Aria-san resembles Ryoma-kun so much."
Tetzuka nodded and Momoshiro sighed "it's a waste!" he sighed loudly.
"What's a waste?" A familiar voice called out.
Immediately the tennis players turned their heads to see both Ryoma and Aria walking side by side
"Found Ryoma!" Aria called a satisfied look plastered on her face
"You don't have to shout Aria." Ryoma sighed a soft smile gracing his features.
"I was just worried that they wouldn't be able to see you shorty." Aria replied snidely
Ryoma rested his elbow on Aria's shoulder. "whatever you say midget-san."
Aria puffed up cheeks. It was true that Ryoma had grown just a little taller than her but that did nothing to stop her from shoving Ryoma's elbow off all while the teen snickered.
"there really are two Ryoma's now" Eiji stated, vocalizing the entire teams thoughts.
The team mates nodded their heads in harmony only Inui noticing how strange it was that both teens were so casual with each other, even forgoing the honorifics. In fact it was a mystery how Aria had known Ryoma's name in the first place seeing as to how they had strictly referred to him as Echizen the entire time, and all these paired with how Ryoma kun had been smiling and laughing. Something was defiantly up and the amount of data this would give him would simply be off the charts. Inui let out a dark chuckle.
"Is something wrong?" Tetzuka asked his creepy team mate
Inui shook his head.
"No, I was just wondering if you two knew each other previously." Inui questioned as he pushed up his glasses.
The two teenagers exchanged a look.
"Yeah, what of it." They replied together.
Inui nodded. "Interesting."
Tetzuka sighed if he did not intervene soon Inui would turn this conversation into a full blown interview "let's just get going for now. Aria you can join us for practice if you wish."
The girl nodded.
cCc
"Ryoma." Aria called as the two teens trailed a little behind the team
The above mentioned teen looked at the girl nodding once to indicate that he was listening.
The girl gave him a small smile. "This is the team you've chosen?"
The boy nodded "Yeah. They aren't bad."
Letting out a breathe Aria stretched, unintentionally causing some colour to rise in Ryoma's cheeks after all Ryoma had come to realize that Aria had developed some assets that he didn't remember her having the last time he saw her.
"Aria.." he called softly turning away.
"I want to see how good they are." Aria said mostly to herself as she raced off to the front of the group
"Tennis courts that way." She pointed before running off leaving the poor team to chase after her.
"Take it as a warm up" Fuji smiled. The team groaned.
cCc
The tennis court they had been led to was one meant for public use yet it had been surprisingly well kept.
"Eiji senpai? Ooshi senpai?" Aria called "'Lets have a match." She smiled.
Inui was sure that he was not the only one who caught the dangerous glint in her eyes.
"eh Sorry Aria chan but Ooishi and I only play doubles" The member of the golden pair said regretfully.
Unfortunately Aria did not seem to see the problem.
"Of course im talking about doubles senpai."
This caused the golden pair quite some confusion as they turned their heads several times to look for Aria's mystery doubles partner. Finally Ooishi spoke up.
"Who are you going to play with Aria chan?"
The dark haired girl smirked,
"Oi Ryoma! Lets play again. I wanna see how strong the doubles pair in this team is."
Ryoma glanced at his friend smirking to himself as he began his lazy stride towards her.
"That's good and all," Ryoma rested his elbow on her shoulder once more, his hand supporting his cheek. "But I really wonder if you can still keep up with me princess."
"Don't get cocky brat."
The boy smiled removing his hat before placing it atop the girls head.
"lets do this then princess."
Aria smiled. She had thought that time apart would have built a wall between them but apparently she had been mistaken.
"Ooshi senpai, Eiji senpai, Lets"
The golden pair exchanged glances, shrugged and took their place on the court. By now all the members were gathered around the court interested to know how the teenagers would fair after all with two teens as thick headed and strong willed as Ryoma on the same team it seemed undeniable that the match would simply be a repeat of the incident when both Momoshiro and Ryoma had teamed up. The only difference being Ryoma's new partner whose tennis skills were still unknown.
The match started with Aria's serve. It was over in a second. The golden pair had missed the serve entirely.
15 - 0
Aria just like Ryoma was more then she seemed.
"I hope you aren't going easy on me senpai." Aria remarked slyly
"hn" Ryoma added the smirk never leaving his face
Inui's glasses gleamed. Could it be? was it really the butterfly strike right there? The butterfly strike was an insanely difficult serve in known to few in the tennis world in fact it's difficulty was probably akin to Ryoma's twist serve, as expected, the amount of data waiting to be discovered here was humongous, just as he had predicted.
"Not bad princess." Ryoma remarked
"Though you've yet to prove yourself, prince kun" Aria shot back.
Inui paused. Prince? Princess? Of course! How had he not seen it before?"
"royalty." he muttered to himself attracting the attention of the team surrounding him. "Royalty, The doubles specialist!" He exclaimed at same time that Ooishi had returned Aria's serve. Quickly Aria jumped up as if to return the shot, making Eiji and Ooishi run closer to the net. Perfect Aria thought to herself as she ducked down, leaving a grinning Ryoma to return the shot, the tennis ball landing a millimeter away from the edge of the court.
30-0
"how's about that princess"
"hn. so so."
The golden pair gulped. They could no longer afford to underestimate their opponents.
"Um Inui? Whats the doubles Specialists?" Momoshiro asked
Inui pointed straight ahead towards the court where the two cocky teens were battling
"them."