Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or anything related to PoT.
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Sorry if this is confusing to read with all this prose, please bear with me. ;-;
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The Flavor of Life
We need to experience life, not just let it pass us by.
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Prologue
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She stared at him. There was no blinking, no widening of the eyes; just two orbs that peered into his, revealing a look of shock that rendered both of them speechless. Her mouth, her delicate pink lips, gazed at him as it seemed and finally a small opening widened between the two cherry tinged rifts. To his disappointment, no words resonated out of her mouth and all it did was gape back at him like an endless abyss.
He had first hoped that she would accept his offering. At least that's what his heart screamed she would do, yet his brain knew better. Why of course, would a student in high school accept the word of a junior high student? Especially one she did not know, unless of course she had watched the National Tournament, something he knew she would not be interested in.
"Uh…" the sound rolled out of his mouth and flowed into the outer night air, "You don't have to answer me right now." Just as he said that, he wanted to berate himself for these foolish words, there was no definite way that they would meet again like this. Along with that, he seemed so much like a junior high student, not the calm, mature teenager most thought of him to be. Who knew that Yukimura Seiichi had times like these? He nudged himself in his head for his dumb thinking. There was absolutely no way that she would accept him after what he said. He tried smiling but it seemed more crooked and sad that the usual fake smile he could create.
Suddenly she breathed. It wasn't a deep breath or a nervous one that whimpered, it made her face seem alive again from the marble sculpture it seemed to be when he asked her for her answer. She gave him a smile that made his face freeze. The look now on her face was neither nervous as if to reject him or scared on replying to his question. And that made him have even more butterflies in his stomach now that he didn't know what to expect. Was she going to reject him or give him a stuttering explanation and leave him here?
"I remember you now," she said and he couldn't help but enjoy the beautiful sound of her voice. It was nothing like an opera singer's but it was beautiful filled with a feminine melody, yet with a calm grace and strength that edged towards the masculine side. It seemed, no matter how stupid it sounded in his mind, like water. It flowed in trickles and formed an everlasting sensation on the skin. Her voice continued to flow, "You were that junior in my art class weren't you?"
So she remembered him as 'that' junior. And he wondered if it was a good or bad thing. Now she probably realized that he was younger than her by a year and that probably was a negative for him, especially since she did not answer his question.
The delicate lips that once chatted about Renoir* in the past paused for a second, "I won't lie to you that I don't know your name, but considering that I was a teacher assistant that year to Emma-sensei, you were a junior last year right?-Since Emma-sensei only taught juniors."
"Yes," he stated evenly, supporting her fact. "I'm a senior now though and graduation day is not too far ahead." He said the last part to make sure she heard that he was going to go high school and maybe make the rift between them seem less, for what kind of girl in high school (at least in his mind) would want to admit that her boyfriend went to junior high. Although they were only apart by a year, in their time and age, a year made quite an amount of difference, no matter how much he wanted to admit it.
The wind picked up quite suddenly after his statement and drifted some of the petals of the sakura flowers, which were literally oozing out of the tree branches, to where they both stood on the ground. She tucked a rebellious strand of hair that strayed to her face, due to the wind, behind her ear and looked at him. She seemed calm and placid with a little hesitance was seen in her brown eyes when she gazed straight into his. "I don't know your name yet or anything about you."
That was true he had to admit. No one would want to go out with a total stranger. He opened his mouth to reply to her statement, but she cut him off.
"Yet, everyone deserves a fair chance right? So…" her mouth puckered a little, "I think you probably know this already since you are asking me out, but I'm Hajime Len**. And you are…?"
He gave her a real smile. It wasn't one that he hid his frail self or one that projected his kind, yet commanding trait as captain, but one that just showed calm delight and maybe relief. "Yukimura Seiichi," he replied, "Nice to meet you."
"You too," she said to him, the confusion that once flickered in her eyes seemed gone and she looked at him sincerely.
"As for your request…I honestly don't know whether I should accept it or deny it, so let's see how it goes before both you and I make the decision on whether we like each other."
He gazed back at her and couldn't help but notice to natural, even effortless way her silhouette seemed to glow in the light of the moon. "I don't mind," he stated solemnly with his voice contrasting with his gentle, warm look that he projected. He wished he seemed a bit more easygoing to her, but it was hard to seem funny on a subject he felt serious about. Anyways, she didn't seem to mind his more serious tone. She didn't blink in surprise but rather accepted it.
And then he couldn't help but keep smiling at her; it wasn't just the fact that she didn't reject him, but that she had actually given her a chance. And he was grateful for the choice she made along with the fact that his brusque, almost brazen decision to ask her out wasn't in vain. Maybe it was fine, even for a methodical and meticulous person like him to make the choice of asking a stranger out of the blue. Sure, he did know her name and appearance along with having memories of her in his art class that pulled on his heart, but he didn't know much about her. All he had known from her before was that she was attractive in his eyes and that she liked Renoir's art (something he managed to hear during her rare conversations with the underclassmen). Now he realized that she seemed, at least to him, attractive both on the outside and on the inside.
Maybe this would end someday, maybe this was nothing but a sham, but Yukimura Seiichi couldn't help but feel a sense of pleasure. From all the obstacles he had to face with his illness and all the losses and mistakes made to his teammates and in school, Yukimura felt a small sense of closure since he actually got one thing right. Although this might never wash away the loss he felt at the Nationals or the scars left by his illness in the inside, it was a small step towards the future and hopefully towards love. Maybe he would forgive himself someday for his failures and rekindle his relationship with his teammates, but for now, a simple look at the soft glow of the moon on her dark hair made him content.
Even if it is in vain, I hope it will last.
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Phew. It is done finally. Hurrah! The use of figuarative language (at least I hope it is expressive and beautiful) took forever and I don't think I did this story enough justice with it. I wanted to describe how they looked together and everything along with how Len looked, but I got sloppy with describing everything after like the first 3 paragraphs.
Anyways, I hoped you liked it, and here are what those little starry like asterisks meant.
*Renoir, as mentioned in the 40.5 fan book is Yukimura's favorite painter and he wants a book of Renoir's paintings. I made it that Len talked about Renoir in class, so hopefully she did influence in a positive way even if she someday breaks his heart. xD;;
** Ha-ji-me Ren is how it is pronounced. Yes, I know her name is Len, but in Japan, 'L' is pronounced as 'R' so it would be 'Ren'. ;3
Anyways, please Review, it really helps me going, I know I'm a terrible replier to reviews, but honestly, when I feel like quitting a fanfiction, reviews are the things that help keep me going.
Also, sorry for the grammar mistakes and everything, I typed this up fast and wanted to upload it as soon as possible, so you probably saw a bunch of mistakes. ^^;