The first story, written from (mostly) Shiraishi's side. This takes place on his first year :) This one is written to fulfill someone's request in POT-meme on LJ. Prompt: keeping secrets.
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. It's Konomi-sensei's.
Sorry for bad English. Enjoy ^^
(on further information: this contains minor spoiler for Shin Tenipuri)
A Golden Secret Covered by Bandages
It was lunch break on a sunny afternoon in autumn. Euphoric atmosphere could be found in every corner of Shitenhouji middle school. Everyone ate their bento happily and chatted to each other talking about various things such as games, sports, movie, etc. They enjoyed the short amount of free time school gave them between classes. Well, everyone did, except a boy who had just walked into the infirmary with unhappy face.
The thirteen years old Shiraishi Kuranosuke closed the door behind him. He looked around. Thanked God the room was empty. He walked to one of a bed and sat on it. He put off his sweater then rolled up his white shirt's left long sleeve, revealing a golden gauntlet underneath. With a soft click sound, the gauntlet broke up into two. He wagged his now enlightened left arm. It felt much better now.
Geez, that Osamu-chan was trying to break his arm. The gauntlet was freaking heavy and forced him to put much more effort to move his arm. Let alone swinging a racket, he had already had hard time only from raising his hand up. Not to mention that the color of that gauntlet was really flashy. He had to wear extra sweater or his jersey even in a hot day in order to hide it.
He put the gauntlet atop of his neatly folded light brown sweater beside a pillow then lied down in the bed. Gazing at the ceiling, he wondered, what was the coach planning? Why had he given it to him? Why he forced him to wear it? Had he known that it was that troublesome, he would have refused to receive it from the first place.
He raised his left hand and looked at it closely. It was bruised and red, most likely because of the excessive pressure it received. He sighed then pressed his left arm to his eyes. Maybe he should take a rest for a while. There's still some time left before the next period started.
He was nearly falling asleep when he heard noises. He peeked through the eyelids and saw a figure that had just open a curtain that separated the bed where he was lying on and other bed next to him. Once he focused his eyes, he could see a girl with long black wavy hair tied in side low ponytail was staring at him.
"Oh, it's you Kouki-chan…" He sat up and tidied up his messy bed hair.
"What's that?" Kouki asked pointing at the gauntlet of which color was really attractive.
'Crap!' He mentally cursed. The golden gauntlet was something no one ought to know. "It's nothing." He quickly tried to cover it with the pillow. His attempt failed though. Instead of covering it, he accidentally knocked it off the bed with the pillow and it graciously landed on the floor with loud sound.
She could only watch him uncharacteristically in panic as he hurriedly got off the bed and bent down to take his gauntlet. However, as soon as he stretched his dominant hand, his muscle ached and he unconsciously yelped. He completely forgot about his left hand's current condition and shouldn't have overused it.
She knelt next to him and asked him in worry. "Are you okay? Does it hurt?" She carefully took his hand and examined it. She quickly stood up again and took a first aid kit box. She told him to sit on a nearby chair and he did so. She herself sit in front of him, quietly took a roll of bandages out the box. She opened its pack then used it, warping it around his sore arm.
Realizing what she was doing, he opened his mouth, but then he closed it again. Something was off but he wasn't sure how to say it. After she had been already half-finished, he opened his mouth again and finally said the thing that had been bugging him for a while.
"Shouldn't you use some kind of medicine first before putting on the bandages?"
Her hands froze after she heard his question.
"Ah, I forgot…"
He practically sweatdropped. Hahaha… She really forgot about it…
"Kouki-chan, really, you-"
"I'm so sorry! I'll redo it!" Her face turned bright pink. She was about to undo the bandages when he put his other hand on her hands to stop her.
"Nah, it's okay. It's pretty good even without any medicine." He said.
She looked at him and her face turned even redder.
He blinked in confuse. Then after a while he realized what was going on and he also blushed. Quickly he released her hands and shifted his right hand to the nape. Feeling embarrassed, he looked away. "A- Anyway, thanks for the help."
She slightly nodded and continued with her work. "N- No problem."
There was an awkward silence between them as they didn't know what to say anymore. He just hoped his heartbeat wasn't loud enough for her to hear. On the other side, she wished exactly the same thing as him.
Then suddenly…
The bell rang.
Both of them jolted in surprised. She was panic now and quickly finished warping his arm. She then stood up, tidied up the first aid kit box and put it back into a wooden cupboard.
"I… have to go back to class now. See you later, Shiraishi." She said then ran away exiting the infirmary before he could say anything in reply.
He scratched his head. "What was that?" He then looked at his left arm, which was warped with white bandages. It wasn't really neatly done, but he could see her effort. He couldn't help smiling as he remembered what had happened some minutes ago.
He walked to the bed where he had been lying in and took his sweater and gauntlet. Something then caught his attention when he passed by a full length mirror near the bed. He gazed on his reflection.
Hey, he looked quite good with bandages around his left arm…
Maybe he should try using bandages like this to hide the golden gauntlet tomorrow.
And that's how Shiraishi got the idea to use bandages XD
LOL seems that Kouki has forgotten about the shiny golden thing at all.
A very short story, I hope you like it. Please drop a review. I'd love to hear (read) your opinion ^^
