Disclaimer: I am not Hino-sensei, therefore I do not own "Vampire Knight" or anything related to this manga, game and anime.
Author's Note: This has got to be the longest oneshot I have ever written/typed. I like how this came out to be; sometimes my oneshots/ficlets don't go the way I want them to be (I begin to think that they have the mind of their own, which is completely impossible . . . isn't it? o.O). Well, enjoy! :D
"Of Affections and Dilemmas"
"Kaname-niisama," Kuran Yuuki calls out across from where the said male is standing. She is holding a small, yellow ball in one hand, and a pink racket in the other.
She bounces the ball a couple of times, biting her lower lip to either hide her anxiousness or to prevent herself from bursting into fits of laughter. Why laughter? Kuran Kaname has no idea, but he's sure it has something to do with him since Ichijou Takuma is giggling from behind.
"Ichijou," Kaname glares at the said blond wearing the Night Class uniform above his shoulder, annoyance evident in his usually stoic wine-red eyes.
Truth be told, he is not easily irritated—maybe in some occasions and certain . . . topics—because he is used to his best friend's cheerful personality. But, it seems like everybody is amused, even Kiryuu Zero-kun who has a smirk on his face, and Kaname has that nagging feeling it's about him.
Correction: It is about him.
"Um . . . Kaname-niisama?" Yuuki's eyebrows begin to twitch abnormally. She breathes in a huge amount of air and sighs deeply, which Kaname assumes, to calm herself down.
"What is it, Yuuki?" He smiles a little bit, irritation gone in a flash. Ichijou and the rest of the Night Class sweat-drops at this; Kaname is quite bi-polar in their eyes. They make a mental note to approach Yuuki if ever they need something from Kaname.
"Do you . . ." Shaking her head, the brunette gulps, resuming her question, "Do you, by any chance, know how to play Tennis, Kaname-niisama?" There! She said it, finally! She has been keeping that particular question for a couple of minutes now, curious as to what Kaname's response will be.
Kaname, on the other hand, tries not to twitch visibly. Why, oh why, can't he lie to his beloved to escape the upcoming embarrassment? He knows, of course, that he can never lie to her because he can't bring himself to, and that he fears Yuuki may eventually be saddened by his lies.
Kaname taps his cerulean-coloured racket in his other hand, standing still at the field's baseline. "No, unfortunately, I don't know how," he admits ashamedly, giving Yuuki an uncharacteristic small pout, which the latter finds cute.
"That's okay, Onii-sama!" Yuuki grins, bouncing the yellow ball and holding in firmly in her hand. She points her adorable racket to Kaname's general direction, giving him tips and telling him the rules in this sport.
When that's done, Yuuki is ready to serve. She takes her position, flashing Kaname a bright smile, "Are you ready, Onii-sama?"
Receiving a nod from her brother/senpai/lover/fiancé, Yuuki tosses the ball high in the air, leans back slightly, and waits for the ball to descend before hitting it with her racket with the force she needed for it to reach Kaname's side of the court.
Kaname watches as the ball bounces to his direction. He stretches his arm out, ready to return it, until . . .
. . . the ball has somehow disintegrated into dust, seconds before it comes in contact with his cerulean racket.
Silence engulfs the two players and their spectators, before everybody roared with laughter, excluding Kaname, a bored Shiki Senri and Touya Rima, an uncaring Zero and a frozen Yuuki.
"Ha . . . Haha . . . Hahahahahaha!" Ichijou laughs as if he's gone insane, throwing his head back as he laughs harder. "Oh my God, Kaname! Hehehe!"
"K—Kaname-niisama," a dumbstricken Yuuki calls out, her innocent, caramel-coloured eyes shifting from Kaname to the once-bouncy ball. She face-palms, refraining herself from twitching for God-knows-how-many.
"I'm sorry, Yuuki, for destroying your ball," an apologetic Kaname says, feeling a tad bit guilty for what he had done. But it isn't his fault! That ball was going after him! He had absent-mindedly . . . annihilated the dangerously bouncy intruder. He really needs to restrain himself the next time.
"No worries, no worries!" Yuuki smiles awkwardly at her brother, then turns her attention to Zero who has an unreadable expression plastered on his face. "Zero!" she calls him, receiving silence. Slightly irked, she tries once more, "Hey, Zero!"
"Huh? What do you want, Yuuki?" Zero asks, tilting his head a bit to one side. Zero has been 'busy' trying to erase the horrible memory of Kaname slightly bending his knees to meet the ball—a perfectly horrible stance to have. Zero kind of pities the ball which had a tragic end with the Pure-blood vampire's fear.
Zero makes a mental note to throw (tennis) balls at Kaname to unnerve the 'prince' the next time.
"Zero, can you toss me another ball from my bag, please?" Yuuki says, joining her hands in a prayer. She waits as her best friend opens the bag and pulls out a . . .
. . . a G-string?
Zero blinks whilst Yuuki dashes to his side the second she saw it. She snatches the 'thing' from Zero's hand and quickly stuffs it into her bag and zips it close.
A pregnant pause. Then Yuuki looks at everyone and exclaims, "You didn't see anything!"
"Actually, Yuuki-chan, we saw something," Ichijou says bluntly, completely over his 'laughter attack'.
"Yeah," Aidou Hanabusa agrees, nodding. Then, as if an idea had popped from his mind, he adds, "It was sexy. Black in colour. Lacy and . . . seductive." Grinning like an idiot, he is about to walk towards Yuuki if not for Kaname's long, slender arms stopping him. With an intense glare from Kaname, Aidou whimpers like a frightened puppy and hides behind his cousin, Kain Akatsuki.
"How lame," Rima and Shiki simultaneously says in a deadpanned tone, annoying Aidou.
"Shut up!" Aidou shouts, a vein popping on his forehead. Honestly, those two likes—no, loves—insulting and provoking him! "One of these days, I'm gonna—"
"Yuuki-sama, why do you have a lacy underwear with you?" Souen Ruka asks in an amused tone. "Oh, it can't be because of that, can it?" Ruka smirks at the different shades of red appearing from the Pure-blood Princess' face. Oh, she is sure as Hell that she'll get an answer when they, the ladies, are alone, later.
"It's not what you think! I'm donating it—"
"—To charity? Yuuki-sama, I don't think anyone—especially the kids—would want to wear those things yet," Ruka chuckles lightly, amazed at how deep a red Yuuki's face can be.
"T—That is—" Yuuki trails off as Ruka gives her the 'we'll-discuss-this-matter-later' sign.
Yuuki sighs for the umpteenth time that day, meeting her lover's gentle yet questioning wine-red eyes. Yuuki feels almost embarrassed to go back to the court, facing Kaname after that event. Nevertheless, she shies back to her position, totally forgetting the fact that they don't have a ball.
Well, until Zero calls after her and tosses the tennis ball which landed on the palm of her hands. Yuuki thanks him, bouncing the ball on the ground below.
"Here I go!" Yuuki shouts as the ball impacts with the racket. And this time, the brunette thinks, please don't destroy the only ball I have left!
The ball flies to Kaname's face; his wine-red eyes starts to take in a deeper shade of red as he thought of . . . Shaking his head, Kaname has successfully returned the ball . . .
. . . only to land out of the court.
"Fifteen-love," Kain announces, sighing aloud at their precious leader's failure.
"Epic failure," Shiki says in a bored tone, whilst Rima nods in agreement. "Kuran-ryouchou is really bad at Tennis."
"I thought Pure-bloods were supposed to be good at everything they do?" Aidou says in disbelief, kind of happy that Kaname has a flaw or two.
Just then, a light-bulb from a nearby streetlight shatters to pieces (under, what seems to be, Kaname's anger). Aidou's ears perks up at this and immediately rushes to where the sound is coming from. He comes back with a huge smile stretching on his face and sharp shards in his hands. "Ah~ another one of my treasures!" he says gleefully.
Yuuki, once more, face-palms; Kaname has a vein appearing on his forehead, totally ashamed that he cannot even play an easy sport; Takuma smiles, watching everybody with amusement; Shiki and Rima are sitting peacefully on one of the many benches of the park, thankful that it isn't as noisy as being near the tennis court; Ruka is teasing Yuuki about the earlier events; Aidou is in his own little world, too happy about his treasure to even care; Kain shakes his head with all of these nonsense; Seiren is guarding the area, forbidding anyone to come to the park by Kaname's orders; and Zero is basically ignoring everybody, wondering how he got involved in this messy and idiotic situation.
Isn't today just peaceful?
End of chapter notes:
"Onii-sama" — a markedly more respectful version of 'onii-chan'/'onii-san'/'ani'. It is used mainly to refer to elder brothers.
"Senpai/Sempai" — used to address or refer to one's senior colleagues in a school, company, sports club, or other group.
"—kun" — used by persons of senior status in addressing or referring to those of junior status, or by anyone when addressing or referring to male children or male teenagers. It can also be used by females when addressing a male that they are emotionally attached to or have known for a long period of time. Although "kun" is generally used for boys, that is not a hard rule. For example, in business settings, young female employees may also be addressed as "kun" by older males of senior status.
"—sama" — a markedly more respectful version of 'san'. It is used mainly to refer to people much higher in rank than oneself, toward one's customers, and sometimes toward people one greatly admires.
"—chan" — In general, 'chan' is used for babies, young children, and teenage girls. It may also be used towards cute animals, lovers, close friends, or any youthful woman.
"Ryouchou" — It means "Dormitory Leader".