Title: Of Clips and Ribbons: The Ribbon Close to her Heart
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis and all the characters you may recognize from this fic. Only this story and its prequel, Of Clips and Ribbons belong to me.
Warnings: Probably just Niou perving on Ann, and a lame sequel XD.
Rating: Uh…C for Crack?
Summary: All hell breaks lose when 'lucky' Marui Bunta gets chosen to transfer to Fudoumine Chuu. With Kamio Akira, Kirihara Akaya, Rikkai Dai, deranged fangirls and not to mention the dreaded Onii-chan interfering with his blooming love for Tachibana-imouto, will he be able to survive his new life?
「Chapter 1- "From Tensai to Tensed"」
"Do you know what Ann-chan's first words were? Ma-sa-chan. Not Ma-ru-chan, got it?"
"I, Tachibana Ann from Fudoumine Middle school, have chosen Marui Bunta from class 3-B to participate in the upcoming Student Visit Program."
Marui Bunta stood in front of a small house located in the big city of Tokyo, his luggage safely placed behind him. A week had passed since he heard the big news, and now he's going to transfer to the unknown school, Fudoumine.
He stared at the wooden door in front of him, hesitating on whether to knock or call out to the inhabitants of the Tachibana residence. Before he actually absorbed the whole situation he got entangled in, he was already ready to live in a place far away from home.
He blinked quite a few times as someone opened the door, a female with short russet colored hair and glistening azure eyes stood in front of him, an enthralling smile gracing her lips.
"Ann.."
Her sapphire orbs and his amethyst eyes met each other in one quick glance.
"Marui-san! It's good to see you again!" The girl gave him a quick hug, and then welcomed him inside her home. The redhead instantly followed her inside, pulling all his things with him.
"I'll go get you something to eat, Marui-san, you can stay here," She told the tensai, and the latter could only nod. The girl left and proceeded to the kitchen. Marui momentarily scanned the room he was in, and there, he spotted another person, seated on one of the couches, reading a sports magazine. Marui Bunta gulped, he was more intimidating than he thought.
Tachibana Kippei looked up from his magazine and eyed the boy. The latter stuttered a bit, then greeted the Fudoumine tennis captain.
"Ah…I…I'm Marui Bunta from Rikkai Dai Fuzoku." He told him abruptly, standing straighter than usual. Marui didn't know why he was so tensed, he never really been like that for quite a long time, because usually, he would be bragging about his great tennis skills and adroitness.
"Tachibana Kippei," Fudoumine's captain greeted, nodding as he looked up to the tensai.
"A-aah, hai." Marui abruptly answered, bowing ever so stiffly. "Yoroshiku!"
'What am I so clammed up about? I'm the tensai! Rikkai Dai's greatest tensai!' Marui thought, his body shaking nervously as he narrowed his eyes on the ground.
Tensai instantly became tensed.
"Marui-san! Here's some tea and cake!" Ann, who just got out of the kitchen, called up to him and gave him a warm smile.
"Uh…domo," Marui's hands were a bit shaky as he accepted the treats Ann readied for him. He then took a seat, a tad bit remote from the dreaded 'onii-chan' as he was still intimidated by him.
"I'm not going to eat you," He heard Kippei say, but the latter didn't bother to look up from what he was reading. Marui flinched. It was that obvious? Now he's even more scared. His thoughts were then disturbed when he heard a feint laugh from none other than Tachibana Ann.
"Ah…so the ever so arrogant, self-proclaimed tensai is afraid of my onii-chan?" She taunted, sneering at him insultingly. Marui shivered, her sneer was almost that of the trickster, Niou Masaharu.
Now this was torture. Tachibana version. Oh the agony.
The tensai mentally sulked, biting the piece of strawberry cake from his fork. Torture just loved him so much, and even followed him to Tokyo. The Tachibana siblings could only cast an odd look on him.
Kippei then stood up, leaving the magazine he was reading not a moment before in the small rack beside him.
"Ann, I'll be going out to take a short walk for a while okay?" Kippei said and took a quick glance at Marui. "And don't do anything weird to our guest okay?"
Ann gave him a quick glare and nodded, "Hai, I won't do anything."
"Marui Bunta," Kippei then faced Marui's direction. "Hope you enjoy your short stay here."
Marui fidgeted, squirmed, and moved relentlessly, "Hai, Aniki…!"
Tachibana Kippei gazed surprisingly at him, looking at the tensai like he was some loony who got even more mad. Ann too, gave the redhead a flabbergasted expression.
Marui looked at them oddly, it was like there was something wrong with what he said. What wrong did he do now?
'Aniki…'
Marui's eyes slowly widened in shock. Did he just slip? Why did he call him aniki? He was not his brother, so…why? Marui mentally slapped himself for being such an idiot, calling a random tennis player his big brother because he likes his sister. Wait. Scratch that. He did not just think of that. No. He didn't. Marui automatically covered his mouth to preclude himself from further embarrassment. He then waited and watched for Kippei's next reaction.
Silence.
"Maa. I'll be going now." With that, Tachibana Kippei took off. Too abruptly.
"Sayonara!" Marui bid farewell, more politely than ever. "Please, I beg you, go away and live at the far ends of the world and never come back."
There was deafening silence felt all over the room for a few seconds before the 'other' Tachibana broke it.
"Ah, Marui-san, I'm sure you're tired from your trip, do you want me to show you to your room or something?" Ann laughed nervously and pulled one of Marui's bags up.
"Yes, please," The redhead whispered ultimate thanks and rose up from his seat, pulling his other stuff with him. Ann went upstairs, signaling the tensai to follow, in which the tensai complied.
Marui took a single step up the stairs, then was surprised to hear a loud bang coming from the door. Ann instantly peeked downstairs and was surprised to see three familiar tennis boys clad in yellow.
"Tachibana Ann-chaaaaaaann!!!!" Niou Masaharu squealed as he ran inside the house, with Kirihara Akaya and Jackal Kuwahara following him close. Marui and Ann gave him, or rather, them, surprised looks.
"Niou-sempai!" Ann gave them a wide smile, squealing like the Trickster. Niou scratched his head and gave her a cheeky trickster grin.
"See that, Jackal? She still calls me sempai, very touching," Niou turned to the Brazilian tennis player and faked a tear, "They grow up so fast…"
"Congratulations." Jackal whipped up an uncaring reply then directed a quick smile to Ann.
"It was just like yesterday that Ann-chan was snuggled up in my arms, saying her first words…" Niou kept on mumbling, which earned him a popping vein from the tensai nearby.
"That never happened, Niou." Marui pointed out, both annoyed and stupefied. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"
"My, my," Niou grinned menacingly at the redhead. "You want her all to your self, don't you?"
"Wha-? No--"
"Do you know what Ann-chan's first words were? Ma-sa-chan. Not Ma-ru-chan, got it?" Niou narrowed his eyes at Marui. Marui then gulped. "And look at Akaya! He's becoming unhealthy!"
"And I thought for sure that Okaa-san told me my first words were 'it's a date'…" Ann mused with Jackal. Jackal nodded in agreement.
"I thought so too."
"What unhealthy? He looks perfectly fine!"
"You call that 'perfectly fine'?!" Niou pointed at the subject of affection, who was mumbling what they thought were incantations.
"I…I…I'm at Ann's house, seeing Ann's living room, seeing Ann in shorts and a spaghetti strapped shirt…"
As realization dawned upon the four boys, all their eyes turned to the said girl. And she was indeed wearing what Akaya stated. Jackal didn't react much yet Marui and Akaya's faces have instantly formed blushes. Niou on the other hand, gave Ann an devilish smirk.
"What? Is there something on my face?" Ann raised a brow at all of them, noticing their weird looks on her.
"You know you look sexy in that, Ann-chan…" Niou pointed her pink shirt. Ann could only place her right hand on her hips and give Niou 'the look'.
"Okay, okay, stopping now." Niou grinned and turned to Marui. "Now do you see how Akaya is being unhealthy? Maybe later he'll nosebleed!"
"Whatever Niou."
"So, Niou-sempai, why are you guys here anyway?"
"Well," Niou paused, briefly thinking of how to put things into a simple explanation. "Buchou, Sanada and Yanagi were dropping by to Tokyo for some tennis meeting with some school and we decided to tag along."
"You mean you…" Jackal muttered silently.
"What happened to this guy?" Ann suddenly pointed at Kirihara, who was busy indulging in a reverie.
"He just probably misses you so much and got too shocked to see you again." Niou said and took a seat on one of the couches. "But maybe…"
"Maybe?" Marui arched an elegant brow at the trickster, sensing that he was up to something no good yet again.
"Maybe if you give Sleeping Beauty here a kiss, he might wake up from his short trance." Niou gave them one last devious grin.
"No way in hell am I going to do that." Ann said, crossing her arms and looking away. Marui silently gave a sigh of relief and smirked at the trickster.
"Too bad, Niou the trickster. Looks like Ann's not going to bargain."
"True, my kisses aren't for free anyway."
"You did it once before, right? Before you left Kanagawa you kissed Akaya. And the day before that. AND probably the day before that as well. To sum up you at least got four kisses during your stay in Rikkai Dai. You wouldn't want Fudoumine-san to know all of this, do you? Your Onii-chan."
"--But since you put up such a great bargain, I'll do it. Just don't tell anything to Onii-chan or I'll get smashed." Ann immediately changed her mind since Kippei was put into the subject.
Marui could only slap his forehead.
Ann neared the dazzled boy and leaned for a kiss. Niou watched the unfolding scene excitedly, wishing that there was dumpling-flavored popcorn in his hands. Jackal just stood there, sweat dropping, while Marui stood in surprise.
Five…four…three…two…one…
Ann's lips touched the ace's, effectively waking the junior ace up. Kirihara snapped out of it then turned to look at Ann's blushing face.
"Ja-ja-ja-ja-jackal! Do you see what I see?! Finally! There! A blush on Tachibana Ann's face!" Niou screamed, shouted, yelled eagerly, seeing a face Ann never expressed before. "Where's my Camera, Where's my Camera?!!!!!!"
"You sure are excited about this."
Realization hits Kirihara and his eyes widened in deep surprise. He slowly pointed his shaking hand at her as he shouted,
"Ann!"
And so did the person on the door shouted. All eyes turned to the person on the door, Tachibana Kippei. Ann's eyes were the most terrified of all.
"I, Tachibana Ann from Fudoumine Middle School, am so dead."
To be Continued...
A/N: I haven't pretty much to say except that I made a sequel for my other story, 'Of Clips and Ribbons.' I'm currently trying to get over my writer's block so please bear with my possible late updates and probably lame chapters, but I'll try my best to produce a good story. XD -is being dramatically idiotic- I finished this a few days ago, but since I'm to lame to think of a good summary I only had the chance to post it now. Nevertheless, I hope you leave a review, it'll help me so much! XD
Later that day…
Marui: Wasn't this supposed to be my story? -sniffs-
Jackal: There, there. -pats Marui-
12/12/08
。Keisuke Cloudberry。