Hmm, how do I start this off… This is a story that's been on my mind for a while. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but I'm hoping for the best. The characters are high school students because, come on, those characters don't look like middle schoolers. I hope you enjoy the story and I would appreciate reviews ^-^ Here is ch.1 of Stay in the Moment.
*Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Six girls' alarm clocks went off at the same exact time. Their names were Kono Akemi, Ichihara Karen, Shirota Aki, Okada Megumi, Endo Rika, and Saeki Miyu. All part of the Seigaku girls' tennis team. Everybody is excited for the first day of school and they get ready for it like there's no tomorrow.
First one out of the house is Saeki Miyu. She lives farthest out of everybody and she has to leave earlier. Kono Akemi and Ichihara Karen get out of the house at the same time. The two have been neighbors for a long time. Akemi looks over and smiles at Karen's appearance: regular jeans instead of a skirt, and no ribbon on the shirt.
"Still no skirt, huh?" Akemi said.
"No way in hell. Other than that, good morning, Kono-Buchou."
"We're not in uniform for tennis yet, Ichihara-Fuku-buchou." The two laugh to themselves as they quietly laugh to themselves.
The next one is Shirota Aki. She walked out of her apartment and to Inui's house. The second she put her hand on the doorbell, he opened the door.
"Chance of you coming to my house at exactly seven-twenty-three AM: one-hundred percent."
"Just a 'good morning' wouldn't hurt, Sadaharu." She smiled.
"Alright, then. Good morning, Aki." He said. The two of them have known each other since their time in the baby nursery. They've always been together and are best friends.
Okada Megumi walked out the door with her iPod already on. She reviewed what her day would be like with her head up in the clouds.
'Okay, so tennis meeting right after school. Man, I'm so excited! We're all together for another year. Okay and after that, I have to run to the dance studio and dance for a while. Oh yeah, another year of-."
"Oh look, it's the dancer. Do you remember her in middle school?" a girl said as she walked past her.
'That. Do not let them get to you. Donotletthemgettoyou." She said to herself. She turned up the volume of her music and pretended she didn't hear them. She looked up at a billboard of a girl advertising a soda.
"I'm so jealous of you, Rika-chan."
Endo Rika begged her manager to let her walk to school.
"No, Rika-chan! I can't risk you getting hurt!" he said.
"I'm not going to get hurt, Imanaka-san! Please! I don't want to be labeled as the one-rich-girl-who-gets-everything-she-wants anymore!"
"But that's not true. You don't get anything you want, especially now. You are going to get dropped off by car."
"At least let me walk when I see Megumi-chan. That way, I'll be supervised by her and we're all happy!"
Imanaka sighed. Rika knew that meant yes, so she got her bag and walked to the car.
Miyu jumped off the train and ran outside.
"GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY!"
Everybody turned to look. All the store owners and employees were used to this.
"Good morning Miyu-chan! I just got a new batch of freshly baked bread, do you want some?" the bakery man said.
"Sorry, maybe tomorrow. I'm gonna be late for the first day."
She started walking, but stopped when she saw a short girl with braids. She had the same uniform on, and she looked lost. Miyu decided to walk up to her.
"Hello! Are you going to Seigaku?" The girl turned around. She looked at Miyu with her auburn eyes and nodded. "Yes, but I'm a little lost."
"Well, that's no problem at all! We can walk together, if you want."
"Oh, yes please."
"Alrighty, then! Let's go…uh, what's your name?"
"Me? Ryuzaki. Ryuzaki Sakuno."
Miyu thought for a second. She's heard that name before. The two started walking.
"Um, may I know your name?" Sakuno asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm Saeki Miyu."
"Saeki? Um, do you play tennis?"
The word tennis lit up the light bulb above Miyu's head.
"I got it! You're Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter!" she yelled.
"Yes, I am. So, do you play tennis?"
"I sure do. And you've probably heard of my brother then."
"Oh, that's what I thought."
The two walked quietly. Miyu just noticed that she was probably only taller than Sakuno by the size of an ant's eyelash. She frowned.
"Um, Saeki-senpai…"
Miyu beamed at the word "senpai".
"Did you just call me 'senpai'! I totally thought you would think I'm a first year!"
Sakuno smiled. "No, of course not. I was wondering if the girl's tennis team has a manager."
Miyu gasped. "Are you interested! You are greatly accepted. Well, you'll probably have to talk to Akemi-Buchou and Karen-fuku-buchou."
"Oi, Miyu." A person said behind her. She turned around and her eyes lit up.
"Karen-senpai!"
Karen smiled along with Akemi and Sakuno was confused.
"So who's this?" Karen asked. Sakuno got a little surprised.
"This girl's Ryuzaki Sakuno. Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter." Miyu explained.
"Well, that's interesting. I'm Kono Akemi, Seigaku's girl's tennis team buchou."
"And I'm Ichihara Karen, fuku-buchou."
Sakuno nodded, a little scared of Ichihara, because of her appearance. Akemi reminded her of Fuji. Smiling so much it seems like her eyes are pretty much closed. She was looking forward to her first year of high school. When the four reached school, Akemi noticed somebody.
Miura Kasumi got to school before anybody else. When the teacher came to open the gate, the teacher got scared. Kasumi's right side of her face is covered with her jet back hair with purple streaks. She heard there would be wind today, so she wore her mask to cover the half. She also wraps her right arm with white tape.
"Good morning, Miura-chan." Akemi greeted. Kasumi just bowed.
"Hey! Akemi-senpai!" a girl yelled. The four turned around to look and it was Megumi and Rika. The two walked over.
"Hi Megumi-chan, Rika-chan." Akemi said.
"Good morning, senpai." They said at the same time.
"Wow, Endo, no fan-boys yet?" Karen asked.
Rika laughed. "Not yet. Miyu-chan, who's that girl next to you?"
Sakuno looked at her. "I'm Ryuzaki Sakuno. And yes, I'm Ryuzaki sensei's grand-daughter."
"Wow, nice to meet you. I'm Endo Rika."
Sakuno paused, knowing she's heard that name before.
"You'll figure out who I am soon." Rika told her. She nodded. Megumi took a shy step forward.
"I'm Okada Megumi, second-year."
"Oh, I thought you were a third year."
Megumi smiled. "Nope, I just look older than my real age."
Miyu pointed and counted how many people were in her group right now excluding Sakuno.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, and Aki-senpai's with Inui-senpai over there. Who are we missing?"
"I can pretty much promise you," Akemi said, "that she's waking up right now."
"But the welcoming ceremony starts in fifteen minutes." Sakuno said.
"Trust me; she'll make it in time." Karen told her.
Oshitari Kanae's alarm clock went off. She searched for it with her hand and turned it off. She sat up and looked at the time. Her emerald eyes grew big.
"It's f****** seven-forty-five!" She yelled. She jumped off her bed and quickly changed into her uniform.
"Okay guys," her older brother said downstairs, "you know the drill."
Kanae ran downstairs as her five year old brother held out his hands with her bright green hair barrette.
"Thanks, Eisuke!" she said as she grabbed it. Her older brother tossed her some toast and she caught it in her mouth.
"Nice!" he said to her and they hi-fived.
"Kanae, why was your alarm on this late?" her mom asked. She swallowed her bread. "I left it on the time for the two weeks we had off!"
Her dad handed her bento from the table as he read the newspaper. She ran to the door, slipped her shoes on, grabbed her bag that her mom handed her, and ran out.
Kanae had a bad habit of this, but she had a record of never being late to school. She is known to be one of the fastest girls in all of Japan.
As she ran, she noticed two boys on one bike. The guy standing on the back had short greenish, black hair and a tennis bag over his shoulder.
"Momo-senpai, can't you pedal any faster?" he said.
"Shut up, Echizen! It's not my fault you slept in!" the guy with spiked hair said. Kanae caught up to them.
"Hey! Is this the late for school club!"
The two turned to look.
"Sure is! I'm Momoshiro Takeshi, second year!" he yelled.
"Nice to meet ya, I'm Oshitari Kanae, third year! I see you two play tennis."
"Yeah! Do you?" Momoshiro said, thinking she was related to the Oshitari's he knows. He did notice her kansai dialect.
"Uh-huh! I'm also in track. I can see this kid isn't much of a talker."
"Maybe you two talk too much. If you really don't want to be late, you should focus on running."
Kanae smiled at his cocky-ness. "Too bad, little one. This isn't even a fourth of my real pace."
Then she sped up and a gust of wind blew past them.
"Momo-senpai, do you think she's related to the Oshitari's we know?"
"I think so. Did you notice her dialect?"
"Yeah, and Momo-senpai."
"What?"
"We have less than five minutes."
Momo then yelled random words and pedaled faster than he knew he could.
Kanae, on the other hand, was already at the gate. She ran even faster when she saw her best friend. She scudded to a stop right in front of her.
"Hey, Kasumi." She said in a cool way to cover the fact that she almost tripped.
"Good morning." She said in a low whisper.
"So are you doing okay? I missed you the last two weeks!"
Kasumi just shrugged.
"Hey! Kanae-senpai!" Megumi said behind her. Kanae turned around recognizing the voice.
"Megumi! Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in forever!"
The two hugged. To Megumi, Kanae is the older sister she's never had. When she was being made fun of, Kanae always stood up for her.
"So how's the dancing going?" she asked.
"It's great! The real rehearsals start today. And this year, I get to perform an original solo for a competition!"
"Are you serious? That's awesome!" Kanae was going to say something else, but the bell rang.
"Well, time for the ceremony." Karen muttered. Everybody walked to the auditorium. Momoshiro and Echizen barely got there in time and ran to the crowd. Momoshiro accidently ran into Megumi.
"Oh, sorry." He said. She turned around.
"It's okay." She half smiled and turned back. Momoshiro was a little confused. Usually, it was a full smile showing that it really was okay. From her, it felt like she thought he did it on purpose. He looked back at her. The first thing he noticed about her that was different from everybody else was the fact that her back was strait. It wasn't slouched at all.
"Hey, Momoshiro! What are you doing just standing there! You look like an idiot!" somebody behind him said. He turned, but he wasn't so happy to see who it was.
"Shut up, Mamushi! Are you asking for a fight!"
"They're at it again, huh?" A jumpy red-head said, "Oishi, you better stop them."
Oishi sighed and walked up to them.
"Come on guys, not on the first day of school."
Momo and Kaidoh looked over and stopped.
"Hey, Taka-san, is the sushi shop going well?" a guy with a smile asked.
"It's great, Fuji. And you're still the only one who eats the wasabi-zushi." Kawamura said.
"Hey, where's Inui?" Eiji asked.
"Over there with Shirota-san." Fuji answered.
"Wow. Why don't they just say they like each other and get it over with?"
"Eiji! Don't say such things!" Oishi scolded.
"But you know it's true." Momo said.
"Yeah." Everybody said in unison.
Everybody sat down and listened to the principal's speech of what he expects of everybody, how he's looking forward to all the sports and other clubs and encouraged all the first years to join at least one after school activity. The first years were listening, but most of the second and third years were either asleep, or whispering to each other. Once the ceremony was over, they were all dismissed to their homeroom classes.
"Hey, Kasumi! Where's your homeroom?" Kanae asked. Kasumi showed her class paper. Kanae frowned.
"That's too bad. Well, I'll see you later."
Sakuno found Tomo-chan, and felt she was very lucky to have the same class with her. They walked to the classroom together and sat down.
"So, how is Ryoma-sama doing?" she asked.
"I-I don't know. Why are you asking me?" Sakuno stuttered. Tomo-chan smiled.
"You know why."
The teacher walked in and Sakuno let out a sigh of relief.
Miyu was liked by a lot of people and she made friends almost immediately. She chose a seat in the front because she's too short to sit in the back. The person behind her was Kaidoh. Now, it's not like she doesn't like him, she's just afraid of him. She decided to try and talk to him.
"Good morning, Kaidoh-kun." She said. He glared his famous glare.
"I-I'm sorry!" she said and turned around. She looked across the hall and saw Rika's class room.
Rika was upset she didn't have her close friends in this class. She looked around and sat by a window and got her old notebook out to read. A boy walked up to her.
"Hi, Endo-san! Do you remember me! I'm Kyun Soo Imm, yeah, I'm Korean, and I'm the president of your fan club!"
Rika looked up and tried her best to not look annoyed.
"So, my club and I are really looking forward to seeing you more often this year. And can you please sign this for me?"
He took out a picture of her soda ad. She sighed.
"Sorry, I don't sign anything when I'm in school, and I suggest you sit down. The teacher's waiting."
He turned around and sat down. Rika sighed again. This was going to be a long year.
Megumi was already sitting down. She decided to sit in the back corner to sneak some food during class. She looked around and realized she didn't have any friends. She took out a dance magazine and looked through it. As she was, someone sat next to her. She turned to look.
"Hey, you're the girl I accidently ran in to! I'm Momoshiro Takeshi."
Megumi was surprised by his friendliness.
"I'm Okada Megumi…"
'Hmm… I wonder why she's so quiet.' Momo thought.
"So, why are you sitting back here?" she asked.
"Food. If I don't eat something at least once every hour, I die. Or feel like I'm going to. You?"
"About the same."
"Okay, class, quiet down, take your seats. I'm your homeroom teacher, Azuma. What do I have in my hand?" he said as he put his hand up. A girl answered out loud and said that they were shreds of paper.
"Right. Now I want each and every one of you to take one, write your name, and write one word that describes you. Anything."
Everybody did so. Momo wrote hungry, and Megumi wrote dance.
"Is everybody done? Okay, now I'm going to collect them."
As he did, he was full of frowns until he got to Megumi.
"There we go! She gets the message!"
Megumi was confused. "Huh?"
"Um, what message?" a student asked.
"What do you mean what message? The point of this is to use a word that's you. I mean fun, friendly, shy, cool? Those are boring adjectives. She wrote a word that shows who she is and what she loves. Great job, Okada-san."
Megumi was still confused, but she felt that she was going to like this teacher.
Aki and Inui were in the same class once again. Everybody thinks Inui hacks the computer, because they've had the same class since first grade.
"Hey, Sadaharu, did you see the girl's tennis team today?"
"Yeah, are you trying out this year?"
"Of course. Are you?
"Yeah, but there might be something different happening this year for the boy's and girl's team."
"What's happening?"
"I can't tell you."
Aki frowned. "I hate you."
"No you don't. You dislike the fact that I won't tell you."
"I know, but why won't you tell me?"
"Because you'll find out anyway."
Aki sighed. "Is it a good thing?
"It depends on the person. I don't think it'd be much of a problem for you, though."
"Really? Then I'll wait."
The teacher walked in without energy and sighed at the class.
"Okay, we'll start with math." He said. Aki was happy that this was her first subject of the day. She loved math and science more than any subject, but she isn't that great at it. If you looked at her, you would guess that she is the girl version of Inui, but is actually the complete opposite. She was already lost at what was on the board.
Karen looked in her classroom before entering. All the girls looked annoying, the guys looked obnoxious, and the shy people were scattered in different spots of the room. She didn't know where to sit. Everybody looks at her differently because she's half Japanese and half White. Most people still kept their distance though. She was an all Japan karate champion. She walked in and sat next to a shy guy reading a book.
"Hey, Ichihara! Long time, no see, man!" a guy yelled across the room. He jumped over desks and stood in front of her.
"Hey, Oguri. It's been a while."
"So, you're a high school third year, who doesn't wear her uniform, is an all Japan karate champion, and the girl's tennis team fuku-buchou. That's pretty amazing."
"Thanks?"
"Well, I'll see you later then." He said and walked away. Karen looked around again. A group of girls were looking at her. Karen raised her eyebrow. They all went back to what they were doing. She looked at the guy next to her. She noticed he was reading a karate book. She read his name on one of his papers.
"Hey, Kawamura." She said. He looked over. He was surprised to see her. He's never talked to her before.
"Uh, yeah?"
"You do karate?"
"Huh? Oh, no. I quit after I hit middle school."
"Oh, why'd you quit?"
"I wanted to try something new. It's not like I hated it, though."
"That's good. What are you doing now?"
"Right now, I'm doing tennis."
"Really? Interesting, me too."
"Oh, good luck this year, then."
"Thanks, you too."
Akemi sat in her chair and got her sketch book out. She started drawing random things. Tezuka walked by her.
"Is this seat taken?" he asked, looking at the seat in front of her.
"No, it's open."
"Thank you."
"So, Tezuka-san, are you looking forward to this year?" she asked while drawing.
"Yes. I have high hopes for my tennis team also. What about you?"
"I have the same exact answer."
"Let's both do our best, then."
Akemi had always tried to be friends with Tezuka, but she felt that he didn't want to be friends with her. Tezuka didn't mind her. She just seemed hard to talk to. When he thought about talking to her, she was drawing with a serious face and didn't want to disturb her. That was how Akemi felt too. When she wanted to talk to him, he was always reading.
'We'll just see how it goes.' They both thought.
Kasumi managed to be the first one in her classroom. As each person walked in, he or she or they stared. Except one person: Oishi Syuuichirou. She's always wondered about him. He never stares or tries to get her to talk. She thinks it's weird because he's had the same class as her since their first year in high school.
Oishi has noticed her, though. He wanted to be friendly and nice, but when someone else tried, she seemed to be upset. He also noticed her arm and her covered face and wanted to know what was behind it, but felt that it would be rude to ask. The best he could do was sit next to her. After two years, this was his last chance to maybe get to know her.
Kasumi was surprised. There were more open seats around her, but he sat next to her.
"Good morning." He said with a smile.
Kasumi slightly nodded. Oishi mentally sighed.
'Don't worry; it's always worth a try.'
"Hmm… class three-six. Where is this? Nee~ Fuji! Can you find it?" Eiji whined.
"Don't worry Eiji, it's right here."
"Yay! I wonder who else is in this class."
"Oh, look, it's Kanae-san. Maybe she's in our class." Fuji said.
"Eiji!" Kanae yelled when she saw him. Eiji was happy to hear her cheerful voice.
"Are you guys in class three-six?" she asked.
"Yep. Are you?" Eiji answered.
"Yes! I'm really excited now."
The three walked in the classroom to find their seats.
"Kanae-chan, where are you sitting?" Eiji asked. She pointed to the seat in the back corner.
"Over there. It's the one area I've never sat in."
"Hmm… I'm sitting there then." Eiji said.
"What! No, Eiji!" Kanae yelled. But he was already sitting.
"Hey, that's not fair!" she started shaking his shoulder to try and get him to move. Eiji laughed and hung on to the desk. Now it was just the two of them being idiotic and laughing.
"Eiji, really, can you please move?"
"Okay!" he jumped up and sat in the seat next to her.
"Then I'll sit here." Fuji said and sat in front of Eiji.
"Alright! Now, we're the triangle of happiness!" Eiji cheered. Kanae laughed. "That's true. Hey, Eiji, what time did you wake up this morning?"
"Uh, around six-forty-five." He answered.
"What about you, Fuji?"
"Me? Six-thirty."
"Interesting. I woke up at seven-forty-five."
"What? How did you get here in time!" Eiji yelled.
"I ran, like always. I'm actually a little faster than last year, you know."
"Wow. So how's your tennis?" Fuji asked.
"It's better, I guess. You guys?"
"Same." They both said. They all waited a moment, and then laughed at the creepiness of how the two sounded together.
'This year is going to be awesome.' Kanae and Eiji thought.
A few hours later, the lunch bell rang. Miyu barged in Rika's classroom.
"Hey~! Rika-Chan~! Let's go find Megu-chan and go to the tennis courts!"
"Sure." She smiled and left the staring boys quickly.
"Which class is Megumi's anyway?" Rika asked. Miyu was already in a classroom and Rika followed. Miyu was just standing there looking at the back. Rika looked also and was a little surprised.
"Is Megumi actually talking to somebody that's not us, or her dance friends?"
Miyu nodded. "A guy, too."
They looked at each other, then walked towards them.
"Oh, hi guys." Megumi said, "This is Momoshiro-kun."
Momo waved and chose not to say hi because his mouth was full.
"Oh, I had you for my science partner last year!" Miyu said. He nodded, then looked over to Rika. She looked oddly familiar, but he just shrugged it off.
"Well, Megumi-chan, we're going to the tennis courts. Do you wanna come?" Rika asked.
"Wait, you do tennis too?" Momo said. Megumi nodded. See you later, Momoshiro-kun."
"The three walked out of the classroom and Miyu linked arms with Megumi.
"So, who was that guy, Megu-chan?"
"What do you mean? Didn't I introduce him?"
"Yeah, but did he start talking to you?"
"Yeah."
"Wow, so what do you think of him?"
"He's nice, funny, pretty interesting."
"What about his looks is what she's trying to say." Rika told her.
"Oh. Yeah, I guess he's pretty good looking."
"Agreed." Miyu said.
When the three got to the tennis courts, everybody else was already there, but was at the fence staring. The three stopped when they saw the engineers and random people demolishing the tennis courts. Then everybody yelled,
"What's happening to our courts?"
So that is chapter 1. I kinda felt that it's a bit long, but most of the chapters might be like this. I really hope you liked it and reviews are greatly appreciated.