… Wherein Atobe acts like a total dork? (Three-shot)
/Notes and Warnings/ This is AtoSaku in crack so expect OOC-ness and randomness. See my profile page for other warnings.
/Disclaimer/ If I owned Prince of Tennis, I wouldn't be writing POT fanfiction.
ATOBE'S DILEMMA
By thedancingcheese
Part One: Possession
The first time the great Atobe Keigo laid his eyes on her, he fell in love. Only, he would never admit it to himself. Over his dead, beautiful, absolutely perfect body.
It was on a school day, and he was set to visit Seigaku's captain, Tezuka. But the Seigaku campus was so frightfully new to Atobe, who was used to have maps in his elite school, showing where was where. He got himself temporarily misplaced, and was relieved when he finally found a person in campus to ask.
"You," he called in his commanding voice. "Ore-sama has something to ask."
The young girl turned, her eyes wide in surprise. She held a tennis racket in her hands, and her face flushed red as soon as she recognized who she was about to talk to. Quickly, she gathered her things in her arms and hid them from him.
"Y-Yes?"
By this time, Atobe was curious. He walked towards her and took the things in her arms. It was a self-returning tennis ball. Smirking and about to spout something about the pitiable quality of training in Seigaku as compared to Hyoutei, he stopped himself. All of a sudden, blood rushed to his face, and he panicked slightly. What if he was having sun stroke? No. That was not it, he decided. He shook his head and looked back into her eyes – her large, chocolate-colored eyes – and he felt himself going dizzy. He pushed the tennis ball roughly back.
What was going on?
"Atobe-san? A-are you alright?"
He cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure. Looking away, he asked, "Seigaku's tennis club. Ore-sama needs to find it."
"Ah," came the small voice. "Just turn to the left… or was it to the right…? Um… maybe I should go look with you, Atobe-san? I'm not quite sure…"
Fighting back the urge to grin, Atobe kept his face away.
"Saa, if you insist."
o-o-o-o
After that, Atobe found various reasons to go back to the school. Whether it was as simple as inviting Seigaku to a practice match, or something totally unrelated such as delivering memos that the faculty needed to deliver (there were fax machines and the Internet, but Atobe insisted).
He couldn't understand why, but Atobe didn't like NOT knowing things, so he decided that it must be that way because he liked the refreshing simplicity Seigaku had. He needed to take a break from all the stuffy luxury in Hyoutei, he told his teammates in an attempt at a bored tone. And, in his point of view, they believed him.
Now, what was strange was that every time Atobe visited, he always made it a point to visit the strange pigtailed girl.
Her name was Ryuzaki Sakuno, from Class 1, Section C, he learned. He would pass by the school's rooms to take a peek inside. Not a peek, he would tell himself, smiling smugly. I just want to observe how commoners' schools work like. But once he would spot her room, he would stop by it and look shamelessly inside. Only when the classroom teacher caught him would he tear himself from it and walk dignifiedly away.
"I'm sorry," Tezuka said after one of their meetings. "We decline your offer."
"Why?" Atobe demanded, pounding his end of the meeting table.
"Atobe." The Seigaku Tennis Club Captain pushed up his glasses, his emotionless face unchanged. "This is the fifth time this month."
"Hah! Seigaku should be glad that Hyoutei would even bother to invite your small school to participate ore-sama's team practices!" he retorted haughtily. "Your meager facilities are no match for Hyoutei's state-of-art ones! You are an idiot to turn this down, Tezuka!"
Calmly, Tezuka put down the request papers and put his hands together. "I think you should talk directly to Ryuzaki Sakuno-san." Before Atobe could defend himself, Tezuka stood up and pushed a piece of paper towards him. "One of our players took down her number for you. I wish you good luck."
And he left Atobe alone, the piece of paper secured in his shaking hands.
There was no way in hell that the great Atobe Keigo would lower himself to do such a thing!
o-o-o-o
"H-Hello."
"Hello?" It was an old lady on the other line. And why the heck was Atobe's voice shaking?
He cleared his throat and said, "Is this the Ryuuzaki residence?"
"Hyoutei's Atobe Keigo, is that you?" came the surprised voice. Suddenly, Atobe heard panic sink in the voice. "I thought Tezuka already told you – we're not accepting any more joint practices and that is FINAL!"
"Ah, ore-sama did not call about that, sensei. Though ore-sama still feels that you are making the wrong decision," he replied, feeling his confidence rise again. "Ore-sama would like to talk to your granddaughter, please."
"Sakuno?! What the heck do you want with my granddaughter?"
Such rude language! Atobe thought in surprise. He decided to ignore it and continue pursuing his true purpose. "Nothing of importance. Do not worry, oba-sama. Ore-sama would take responsibility for her."
"RESPONSIBILITY?!"
"Ah, ore-sama has to go." Quickly, he slammed down the phone, his heart thumping hard. Oba-sama?! Responsibility?! He thought in panic, slapping his deep-red face. Ore-sama must be losing his senses! Atobe would rather roll around in mud like a pig than let this embarrassment remain long.
Quickly, he went back to the phone and redialed the number. He had to fix this mishap at once!
"Hello, sensei," he said once the phone was picked up. "Ore-sama is sorry, he did not know what he was talking about and it was a temporary moment of confusion. Please---"
"Atobe-san?" It was the girl.
Atobe slammed down the phone. Hard.
o-o-o-o
After more failed attempts, Atobe finally decided that a phone call wasn't very impressive at all.
And so, he now stood in the middle of the opening of Seigaku's gate, waiting for the last bell to ring. The students coming out began whisper among themselves, at the strange sight.
"It's the monkey king." It was Echizen Ryoma, together with Momoshiro Takeshi and Eiji Kikumaru. Ryoma was pointing casually towards Atobe.
"You must be pleased to come across ore-sama here."
"This is our school. Of course we'll be here," Momoshiro piped up, looking at him weirdly. "What are you doing here, Atobe-san?"
Atobe flipped a stray hair elegantly. "Ore-sama is here for an important business."
"Nya, I don't want to go to your school anymore!" Eiji said, frowning deeply, as if recalling a very bad memory. "Your food sucks, and it's not even free! Mou!"
"A-Ah, Eiji-sempai…"
"You lost your monkeys," Ryoma stated as a-matter-of-factly, and gestured towards his now bickering sempai-tachi. He shrugged and went ahead of them.
"Eh, what did you mean by that?!" Momoshiro said, grabbing Ryoma by the collar.
"Ochibiiii!"
Atobe sighed as he looked away from the ugly sight. Really, did the students of Seigaku have no sense of decorum at all? If only his business wasn't this important, he would've gone home to the familiar comfort of Hyoutei…
… and all of a sudden, a familiar pair of long pigtails appeared.
Atobe found himself getting weak in the knees – even more than the last time. He had to figure out what was wrong, and soon. Gathering himself up, he approached her. And as she saw him coming, she and her friend stopped in their tracks.
"G-Good afternoon!" Sakuno greeted politely when he stopped in front of her. She bowed slightly.
"Ore-sama needs to t-talk to you." The friend beside her gasped at his faltering voice and he shot her a deadly glare. "Come with ore-sama for a while." Without waiting for her to say yes (or no, but then again, Atobe did not consider that), he pulled her with him.
The bickering trio stopped just long enough to watch them leave.
o-o-o-o
"A-Atobe-san?" Sakuno exclaimed, as soon as Atobe's driver stopped in front of a familiar white building. "Why did you bring me here?"
"Ore-sama's family owns a share in this hospital," Atobe replied, waving it off as nothing important. "Ore-sama is interested in helping you cure your disease, which seemed to have affected ore-sama as well." Before Sakuno could protest, he held a stopping hand in front of her face. "Ah, save the gratitude; think of this as charity from the bottom of ore-sama's heart."
The girl said nothing more and sat back as the luxurious car was parked. Her forehead was creased and showed how full of questions she was. But Atobe did not see that at all; he was beaming proudly to himself and was inwardly patting his back for a job well done.
o-o-o-o
As expected, they were both healthy with no trace of disease at all. Atobe put up quite a fuss about it, and demanded the doctor to resign for he did not meet the standards of his hospital. The doctor remained calm and decided to just play along.
"Ore-sama does not understand," he told the doctor. "There is a problem! Ore-sama is sure of that!"
"What makes you think that?" the doctor asked with a sigh, hoping to get everything over with. He had more patients lined up – patients with real sicknesses. "Really, Keigo-sama, your physical tests show that you are at the peak of your health. Except for a slight increase in heartbeat rate, everything appears to be normal."
"Then this must be a new virus," the young master declared passionately. "For ore-sama to act so strangely every time he sees that girl – this is the first time it ever happened. His knees get wobbly and he becomes dizzy. It all came from that pigtailed girl, I'm sure."
The doctor smiled and stood up. Though status did not permit, he patted Atobe's head just like a child because he found him unexplainably adorable. And for once, since he was deep in thought, Atobe did not mind.
"You'll understand in time, Keigo-sama," he said. He took a prescribing pad. "Now, my prescription requires you to spend more time with her until you discover what this sickness is. Here you go."
Nodding, Atobe stood up to meet the equally healthy Sakuno in the hallway.
o-o-o-o
The confused and unconsciously smitten Atobe began thinking silently as Sakuno walked behind him. He had offered to walk her home – his own way of following the doctor's strange prescription at once. He wondered if they were dying and nobody knew about it, but seeing how healthy and normal Sakuno was calmed him down a bit.
"Anou," Sakuno began. "I'm sorry, Atobe-san. Can I know what's going on?" She kept walking.
Atobe, who was walking further ahead with his hands dug deep inside his coat pockets, turned around slightly and said, "Ore-sama is bothered by you."
"EH?!" Sakuno exclaimed, stopping. "I'm so sorry!"
At the sight of her panicked face, a blush came up Atobe. He covered his face with a hand and waved her away. It was the disease, he thought sullenly. It was getting worse! "Ah… it is nothing big enough to worry ore-sama entirely," he told her. "But we must hurry – it is getting dark and oba-sama would be worried."
Sakuno nodded, her expression still questioning.
Shakily, Hyoutei's captain held out an unsure hand toward Sakuno. "Come," he said, his face still behind his free hand. "Hold on to ore-sama so you won't get lost."
"A-Ah…" She was scared – it was obvious. Quite possibly, holding Atobe's hand was the last thing in the world she would've wanted to do.
Atobe shook his hand a little to persuade her, and, although nervous, Sakuno finally took it.
And they walked hand-in-hand home.
Somehow aware that he was wrong for the first time in his life, Atobe Keigo had the feeling that somehow, this wasn't a sickness at all.
He was possessed!
o-o-o-o
To Be Continued
/Note/
Ore-sama: 'my esteemed self' which shows conceit; in this case, I treated it as third person and substituted some with pronouns because it sort of sounds less awkward, like, "Ore-sama wants you to come to him" as compared to "Ore-sama wants you to come to ore-sama".