Happy Birthday
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, though I wished I did, 'cause then I'd do a whole bunch of omakes…
Chapter 1 – Tezuka Kunimitsu
Tezuka Kunimitsu (1) had always been afraid of the incoming date of October 7th and still was. He couldn't exactly explain why it had caused so much horror to him and nearly scared the wits out of him. Though, few people could at least guess the possibilities.
The said few people being eight other Seigaku regulars. The regulars – though different in many ways all shared one common trait with their beloved Buchou(2).
And that was that they all hated to lose.
So of course, on this fine Saturday morning when he woke up had he really felt unlucky that day. He woke up, hair tussled unlike the stoic and calm, all the while neatly-dressed and always on-time Tezuka Kunimitsu, with a grim face on.
It was definitely not his lucky day. And he didn't want to admit it, but he had gotten rather fond of the word "lucky" ever since he had gotten back from Germany and his rehabilitation. There was no way he would ever tell Sengoku Kiyosumi(3) of Yamabuki Junior High(4) that.
Or anyone for that matter.
So on one bright autumn morning, he had woken up with a grim face. He glanced over at his old fashioned clock and noticed that he was late. How unusual… Wait, did he say that he was late? He switched his dazed expression off and then noticed that he was, indeed and very unusually, late.
Very late.
No, more like half an hour late for practice – and that was assuming he was a regular member – not the Buchou.
So frantically, but saving himself some dignity, he rushed into the bathroom to proceed with his usual routine.
Only ten times faster.
--
He had to admit, whoever had done that prank had done a great job – no – an absolutely terrific job. He just had to find out the hard way, hadn't he? Just as he was drying his hair with the fluffy white towel with his usual expression, he decided to make things quicker and multitask.
Ah, yes, that wonderful word that causes so many people to cry out in anguish. Multitask… Have you ever tried it? Perhaps you have, like eating ice cream while reading a book only to find that some of the delicious flavored dessert had taken a dive into the book. Or you've tried to brush your hair while brushing your teeth and found that you could only do one or the other without getting paste in your hair or hair in your teeth.
And that was what Tezuka Kunimitsu decided to do.
He decided to dry his hair while pack his school stuff – which should have been done the night before but he had gone out with his family so there really was an actual excuse that was not un-dignified.
As expected of the Seigaku Junior High School Buchou! (5)
It was then that he noticed there was something very wrong with his clock. He had stopped doing whatever he was doing (which was drying his hair and "packing") and picked up the said clock.
He stared for a long time, forgetting that he was unusually late.
He stared…
And stared…
And stared…
Until his eyebrows narrowed in frustration and a frown overtook his mouth. Today was not his day as it seemed. He lifted the clock and looked under, where the batteries were usually kept. Opening it up, he found, to his anger, what he had suspected.
No batteries…
Which meant that the clock had stopped working…
Which meant that he could be later than late…
Which meant that he could be waking up at the wrong time…
Which meant that Tezuka Kunimitsu would be in a very bad mood today at practice…
Which meant that he would be giving a lot of laps out…
More than usual…
A LOT more…
Which means I should stop…
Right now…
And continue the story…
He wanted to cry out of frustration, but we all know that Tezuka Kunimitsu was never the person to let out his emotions so easily. Instead, he only let out a snarl and continued to do what he was doing – which was drying his hair and packing his bag for school.
Only when he was putting on his watch did he notice the real time.
He wanted to curse, to swear, anything just to make the time go backwards – rewind… He was already late for the first class.
Yes, he was that late.
This time, he checked to make sure that his watch was working. He found out the hard way that it was. Soon, he was rushing down the stairs, bag, uniform, and ready to run out the door and dash to his school. Of course, he was never the person to do such a thing and instead, walked really fast down the stairs only to have his mother call him for breakfast.
"Good morning Kuni-chan!" (6) his mother greeted as soon as he walked into the kitchen. Kunimitsu cringed at the nickname and then a sudden realization hit him.
Didn't his mother realize what time it was?
He glanced up at the clock they had in the kitchen, it read that he was still later than late – later than he had ever been in his life.
"Okaa-san…"(7) he started with a frown, "Do you know what time it is?"
His mother had been frying a Western-style breakfast that included bacon and eggs. "Hm?" she asked absentmindedly as she flipped the egg over for the third and final time. "What did you say?"
"Do you know what time it is?" he repeated as his frown reached up to his forehead.
His mother only grinned a bit as if she knew something he didn't. "Kuni-chan…" she started as if trying to break something really important to him into tiny pieces so he could digest the facts, "There's usually school today right?" she asked with the same grin.
He nodded before he could remember that his mother had her back to him. "Ah."
"Well…" his mother started, "I called in today and told them that you were sick and couldn't come!" she finished with the same grin. She then started to lift the frying pan and slid the fried egg off the pan and into a plate.
"What?" was Tezuka's intelligent reply.
"I called them to tell that you were sick," she repeated, once again, preoccupied by her cooking of breakfast. "Are you going deaf like Ojii-san?" (8) she asked with concern.
Tezuka shook his head, "Why did you tell them that I was sick?" he asked and began to ponder the reasons why his mother had such an insane idea.
"It's your birthday, silly!"
Then it all came back. He was turning sixteen today. Wow, the big one-six! His frown had turned grim and immediately, he felt no need to rush into school today… Or anywhere for that matter.
"I'm going back to bed," he replied quickly as he spun around and started to head up the stairs to get some rest and sleep the whole day away, wishing that everyone would forget about his birthday.
"Now Kuni-chan, really!!" his mother scolded as she set the plates down on the table. "At least eat some breakfast…"
The said "Kuni-chan" let out a sigh and set his tennis/school bag down on the ground, making sure it didn't make a sound (he was sure that his grandparents were still asleep) and walked over to the table while tugging a button open.
"Ah," he grunted, 'Ah' meaning that he was agreeing. He sat down and started to eat, unaware of what could happen to him if he stayed home.
But…
That's another story, so we'll continue with THIS story.
--
"Buchou's not here…"
Those were the first words Echizen Ryoma had said as soon as he arrived at the Seigaku Tennis Clubroom. He had taken awhile to register the fact that his captain was absent for he was quite sleepy and had always been the person who woke up late.
"Ah, Echizen!" Oishi Syuichiro (9) greeted their freshmen ace as the said freshmen entered the clubroom, just standing there, observing and taking in details on who were there and who wasn't. "I heard Kunimitsu (10) called in sick today!" he explained, as if Echizen would believe him.
"…Sick?" Echizen asked, his brain still processing the word. "Ah… Of what?" he continued as he started walking over to his locker and setting his bag inside, then began to change.
Oishi shrugged and frown, "I don't know… But every year, in October, he takes a day off – supposedly sick I suppose…" he said, trying to explain what was happening, "Then again, maybe he just doesn't want to go to school on his birthday."
By this point, everyone in the clubroom who were changing had frozen in their spots, excluding Echizen who continued to pull his Seigaku shirt on.
"Birthday?!" the others chorused in unison, some of them, sounding way off key. "It's Buchou's birthday today?!"
Oishi's eyes widened and he mentally slapped himself for letting out his friend's birthday but then thought better of it. Maybe he'd be able to get the said captain something without having to run laps the next day…
Echizen, who had been the first one to talk about Tezuka Kunimitsu's absence with Oishi, was now tugging on his regulars jersey gave a sigh. "So it's Buchou's birthday, ne? Oishi-senpai?" he asked directly at the said senpai.
"A-ah, yeah," Oishi nodded and agreed, "but he doesn't like it and well… He's turning sixteen I think…" Oishi wanted to slap himself for not remembering what age he was turning. They were the same age so of course Tezuka was turning sixteen!!
It was Momoshiro Takeshi's fault. Really, Oishi had nothing to do with it. And it was partly Kikumaru Eiji's fault, too. Oh and while we are on that, it was Fuji Syuusuke's fault too. (11)
Really, Oishi had nothing to do with it, besides the fact that he practically told everyone in the tennis club when their Buchou's birthday was…
"Hey! We should throw a party for him!"
Yep, Momoshiro was the one who suggested it, not him – Oishi. The other club members all shouted with agreement, wanting to surprise their ever-stoic and cold captain.
However, the ever-mothering regular of the Seigaku Tennis Club just had to interfere. "We should get organize then," he reasoned to the others as the others quieted down to listen to their Vice Captain. "Let's start with the food!"
And so they had started.
--
There were things that Tezuka wanted; of course, one of them is to play tennis constantly without having to worry about such things such as injured elbow or any illness. Another was that he loved to go camping and fish and would love to do that more often if he had not been so busy with tennis.
Playing hooky at home with his mother on his birthday was something he did not want.
Especially, since he was the captain of the tennis club.
He sighed and resigned himself to eating breakfast. Soon after the meal was finished, he walked back to his room to change into a lavender shirt and a pair of black pants. No school meant no uniform, he thought to himself as he began to change.
He glanced at the clock and saw that usually, if he was at school, it was the beginning of second period.
So now what? Every year, his parents had taken a day off, and drove him out to the woods for a little camping, but that had a week's notice. Plus, he didn't take a day off of school and no one bothered to ask his birthday… (Either that or he just glared at them).
He plopped himself down on the bed ungracefully and watched the ceiling – counting the dots that were there.
Soon, his breathing evened out and he was asleep.
By the time Tezuka was up and about once again, his stomach was growling for attention and food. It was nearly lunch and he got up to go to the kitchen once more.
Once again, his mother was there, cooking lunch. This time, his grandfather had appeared as well as his father. He greeted the three of them and sat down.
"Ah! Kuni-chan, dear! I told them that you'd be there for afternoon practice since the cold wasn't as bad as last years'!" her mother exclaimed with a grin as she set down the plates for each of them and sat down next to his father.
"A-Ah…" Tezuka answered uncertain of whether or not he should go. "Thank you for the food…" he muttered along with his family as they bowed their heads a little bit.
Ah, much chaos shall begin.
--
"Up there!! A little higher!! Yep! That's it!"
"Unya! Hoi, hoi!! Everyone out of the way!! Momo's coming through!!"
"Out of the way!!"
"Momo-senpai, you'll crush the other people like th—"
"Shut up Ryoma!"
"With my two years of tennis experience, I shall lead the party to—"
"SHUT UP HORIO!"
Oishi sighed and he lifted a hand to rub his temples. There was much chaos as they tried to set everything up. It was now almost afternoon practice and he had been informed by the captain's mother that he would be there.
Earlier, he had sent two people at a time to go and buy something quick. Some, had already bought something, knowing that it was the captain's birthday (some being Fuji, Oishi, Kikumaru, and Kawamura). And others, didn't know when was the captain's birthday, had indeed bought something as a welcome back gift when he had returned from rehabilitation, but never got the chance to give it to him.
Other club members, including certain three regulars, hadn't even thought of a gift and resulted in having Oishi give them half an hour to find a gift in the nearest shop.
"Other club members" being Echizen, Kaidou, and Momoshiro.
So now they were setting things up. Somehow this reminded him of another time when they did this… When was it…? He asked himself as he surveyed his team members.
"Oishii!! Is this right?" a voice jolted him out of his thoughts as the owner of the voice stared curiously at him. It was Kikumaru Eiji, his doubles partner and one half of the Golden Pair.
"E-eh?" he asked, looking up to where he was pointing. He looked up at the huge white banner decorated with tennis balls and tennis racket prints and large bold, blue letters that read: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUCHOU!".
He smiled. "That looks great Eiji!"
Eiji grinned, "Momo did most of it, but he made Ochibi-chan here help!!" (12)
Oishi wanted to laugh. The clubroom was decorated so much, it was hard to tell that it was even a tennis clubroom in the first place. It looks so much like a birthday house or something… And even the courts!! The courts, itself, was clean and regular as always, but the fences were decorated with colored tennis balls which Arai had found in his room. How he got them, no one knows…
"This will be fun, Eiji…" Oishi replied, surveying the clubroom and the courts.
"This will be fun…"
--
And so, that was where Tezuka Kunimitsu found his day to be. Quite boring, playing a bit of Go, Chess or whatever came up with his grandfather, reading a couple of magazines that all of which were about tennis and a couple of chapters in a novel which he was supposed to finish reading by two weeks…
So to say that Tezuka had had a boring day was an understatement.
He was actually glad to find that it was nearing the afternoon practice, when everyone who didn't have after school activities or such would leave and he would be in command of his tennis team.
He quickly dressed in his school uniform, grabbing his tennis bag, which he had already packed due to boredom, and walked out the door with an, "I'm off!"
And then he found, that he wished he had stayed home.
When he had arrived at the tennis courts, everyone seemed to be practicing like usual, only… There was that, all-too-happy atmosphere as if Fuji Syuusuke had set up a scheme or plot against him and the other team members were all too happy to comply.
He looked around, surveying the members. It had seemed that none of the regulars were there, but the juniors and freshmen were behaving quite…too well…
So, without another moment's hesitation, he waltzed into the clubroom (not literally of course).
When he opened the clubroom door, however, whatever had he expected, this was not it, definitely not it.
Cheerful party favors were blown, streamers came flying and a general shout of "SURPRISE!!" with the following of "Tezuka-buchou!!" or just plain, "Buchou!!".
His usual stoic expression had disappeared and for what seemed like the first time to the other regulars, he was surprised.
Yep, that's right, Tezuka Kunimitsu was surprised.
Yes, that Tezuka Kunimitsu, the one with the always stoic expression, whenever angered or annoyed would order you laps.
The other eight regulars piled up in front of him, two lagging behind.
A small, soft smile graced his lips and he thanked them, "Thank you, everyone…"
Oishi smiled at his best friend while Kikumaru cheered, Fuji smiled while Inui scribbled something in his notebook (muttering something about data). Momoshiro gave a "Whoop!" while Kaidou hissed. Kawamura smiled and congratulated him on turning sixteen while the last and youngest member of the group lagged behind, not saying. Instead, he pulled his cap down to cover his eyes.
But Tezuka knew him.
He knew that that was his way of congratulating him and telling him "Happy Birthday!" though Echizen hadn't said anything.
Kikumaru chided the small boy. "C'mon Ochibi!! Say something!"
And suddenly all eyes were on the freshmen regular.
"Happy birthday, Buchou…" he muttered almost inaudibly, pulling the brim of his cap down further than ever.
Tezuka gave a nod, then, "Shouldn't you be practicing?"
Six of the other eight regulars stared at their captain with disbelief.
"Kunimitsu, do you really intend to keep practice going on your birthday?!" Oishi spoke up first, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"C'mon Tezuka!! It's your birthday!!" Kikumaru reminded him with his childish and hyper voice.
"U-Um, Tezuka, I think you should just take a break and…well, it's your birthday and all…" Kawamura spoke up softly, wondering if he had been heard at all.
Tezuka decided to dismiss this. He nodded and walked outside to give the dismissal for the end of practice early today.
"YAY! PARTY!" was Kikumaru's response to this.
Tezuka came in just in time to hear Kikumaru say that. He gave him a glare that said, Shut-up-about-the-party-or-I'm-going and asked, "Then what are we doing?"
"Well, I thought you'd like some gifts and cake," Fuji replied with his usual smile and closed eyes.
Tezuka looked taken back. He hadn't had gifts in a while… Maybe this would be a good experience… He smiled and thanked them once again, bowing to show it.
"Here, regulars first – by oldest of course," Inui said, deciding the order of how they would give the gifts to their captain and handing him a wrapped present in the shape of a cylinder.
"A-Ah…" Tezuka replied as he began to unwrap the unwanted present. He knew it, he just knew it! It turned out to a bottle of the latest Inui juice. This time, there was a recipe taped to the side. He glanced at it and saw that there were only sweets… Did everyone think he didn't like them? "Thank you Inui," he thanked his fellow third year.
"Nya!! My turn!" Kikumaru decided, shoving his gift at his captain, "Make sure you take care of him!!"
Take…care… of him? Tezuka thought, eyebrows narrowing in confusion as he wrapped the badly wrapped present.
It was a stuffed brown bear in which Kikumaru had kindly added a miniature Seigaku regulars jersey and glasses… Now where had he seen those glasses?
"Thank you Kikumaru," he thanked the next third year.
"Squeeze the belly, Tezuka!" Kikumaru chided as Tezuka stared at him with a confused look. "Just do it!"
He did so. What he found, was well, most have been amusing to the other club members. The bear had, in a high-pitched voice that sounded very much like Kikumaru as if he was mocking him and saying, "20 LAPS NOW!"
The clubroom filled with laughter and snickers. Tezuka, however, calmly put the bear down and proceeded with the next present.
It was in a random order but Tezuka had gotten his favorite grip tape plus a new fishing rod from Oishi, an album of pictures from when they were freshmen from Fuji, and a survival in the wilderness book – cooking edition from Kawamura.
It was then, the second years turn.
"Here 'ya go, Buchou!!" Momoshiro said, handing a large rectangular-shaped present to the captain. "Enjoy it!"
Tezuka nodded in thanks and opened it. It was a box of assorted snacks. Figures Momoshiro would be the one to be giving out food…
"Thank you, Momoshiro," he said and Momoshiro grinned.
"That way, you can eat and relax!!"
"Idiot," Kaidou responded as he handed the captain his gift.
Momoshiro was about to retort when Tezuka gave him THE look and instead, he scowled at Kaidou and went back to watching.
Tezuka proceeded to open the gift. He found it quite useful. It was a CD player in which he could carry around while jogging or doing laps for practicing or building stamina. Earphones also came with it as did headphones, since the second year didn't know which one to get for his captain.
"Thank you Kaidou," he replied in the same tone he had used earlier and nodded.
It was finally the youngest regular's turn. Echizen put his can of Ponta down and handed his captain a large rectangular-shaped box wrapped in red wrapping paper. "Happy birthday Buchou," he said once again.
Tezuka nodded and wondered what Echizen had that could be so heavy. He unwrapped the paper and found it to be DVDs with no names on the covers.
"From last year…" Echizen explained, "Ryuuzaki-sensei had taped them, gave them to my dad and he gave them to me… But I watched it already, I though you'd like 'em since… That was last year's team…" he explained in his usual bored tone. (Echizen remembered having them and since his home was close, he ran to go get them while "shopping" for his Buchou).
If Tezuka was an emotional person like Kikumaru or Oishi, he'd well up with tears and thank him. But he isn't, and he didn't. Instead, he thanked the youngest member and reminded himself to go easy on him for laps the next practice.
"CAKE TIME!" Kikumaru and Momoshiro chorused as they rushed to Echizen's locker to get the large cake out. (It went to him since he was the most responsible out of the three of them – Them being Kikumaru, Momoshiro and Echizen).
They took out the cake and opened the box. The cake was plain white as the frosting and in blue icing, were the words, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEZUKA-BUCHOU!!"
Of course, there has to be something that goes wrong, right?
Oishi was decided to be the one to cut out the cake since he was the most responsible out of all of them while Fuji delivered them.
While on the way to give a piece to the captain, fuji tripped and guess who caught him?
That's right. The stoic captain caught him and got cake all over his school uniform.
"Opps! Ah, sorry Tezuka," he said softly as he got up to brushed some crumbs and confetti off him. "Looks like you got cake all over you," he added as the captain closed his eyes in annoyance.
This was one reason why he hated birthdays – especially his.
"Well, here's a napkin…" Fuji continued as he handed the captain a napkin. "Oh! Drinks!" he remembered as he started to go get the drinks from his own locker.
"Ah! Fuji-senpai! Ryoma here can get it!" Momoshiro said cheerfully as he waited for his piece of cake.
"Why me?" Echizen asked as he sipped his Ponta.
"You're the closest…"
There was no arguing to that, and besides, he would have said something along the lines of "Senpai's orders" or something so Echizen went to Fuji's locker to find the drinks. Soon he found them and carried a tray of four over to Fuji.
He tripped.
Over that same darn crack that also tripped Fuji.
And he fell onto Fuji, too.
Knocking the captain down in the meantime along with them.
Echizen made sure to remember to give Momoshiro the bill for the next month.
"S-Sorry, Fuji-senpai…" Echizen apologized as he began to get up but instead was somehow pushed down.
"Now… It's alright…" Fuji smiled.
Tezuka grunted from underneath Fuji and Echizen.
This was not how he wanted to spend his birthday.
Especially underneath two of his teammates…
Both the younger of the three got up so that their captain could stand. "Ne Tezuka…" Fuji started as he advanced towards the older male.
"You have a bit of cake there…" he continued as his finger went up to the corner of Tezuka's lips, swiping a piece of frosting and licking it off his finger. "There, it's gone now…" he smiled cheerfully as if he had done nothing wrong.
The other members turned to see if their captain would react.
Sadly, to Inui's disappointment to gather new data, he didn't.
Fuji then turned his attention to the freshmen regular next to him who had golden eyes widened in shock for a brief second before retaining their bored look once again.
"Heh, so Fuji-senpai and Buchou are together?" he asked, smirking.
"No," was the said Buchou's stern answer.
"Eh? Are you sure about that, honey?" Fuji teased the captain.
"20 laps, Fuji."
"Around you?"
"40."
The clubroom was filled with snickers now.
"Nya! Syuusuke!! Why didn't you tell me about your relationship?" Kikumaru asked, clearly pretending to be hurt by his best friend's silence to speak about his new "boyfriend".
"Ah… Well, we just started it today…" Fuji replied with a smile.
"EH? Really? When?"
"Just now."
"100 laps Fuji."
Author's Note: ((stretches)) WAI!!! I finally finished!! This is my first ever Prince of Tennis fanfiction!! I hope you liked it!! And excuse the horrible attempts at humor. I am sadly horrible at it. Oh and now the footnotes. Heh.
- I'm going by last names first. Like in Japan.
- Buchou is Captain. I want to keep things as much like the original as possible.
- Again, last name first. He's that Lucky guy from Yamabuki who was drooling over girls.
- Yamabuki is that school Akustu Jin goes to.
- If you don't know anything about Seigaku Junior High, you're in big trouble.
- I don't know how his mother calls him, so I'm going with "Kuni-chan" 'cause it's cute.
- I don't know how he calls him mother, but I think it's formal.
- Ojii-san is his grandfather. I expect they call him "Ojii-san".
- Syuichiro can be spelled many ways. I'm going with this way.
- If Syuichiro and Kunimitsu were close enough to call best friends, I expect they'd be on first names now.
- Syuusuke can be spelled many ways. I'm going with this way.
– Ochibi-chan is what Eiji calls Ryoma. Kinda like "Kiddo" or "Squirt". But I like Ochibi-chan better 'cause it's cute.
Alright, that's it. Hopefully, you didn't need them. ((sighs)) OH and this is un-betaed. So I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes. It's just 'cause yours truly is too lazy to work her butt off to try and at least re-read and correct a few things so I'm sorry!!
By the way, I think this is my longest chapter yet! YAY!! XD
Please tell me if you liked it or not. Oh and up next is Kawamura Takashi!!
EDIT: Replaced chapter with the last names.