Okay, here is the next chapter. This is later than the first two cause well, the second one kind of makes up for that xD. I also realized that in the last chapter, Shinji called Torii "Torii-chan", that was a mistake on my part xD
*To Raf Kowalski: Kame's identity is a secret for now~ Revealed later on in the story!
I won't be uploading too frequently from now own. Umm, I have a lot stories right now and all of them are on-going, so I have a lot of work to do. So, sorry 'bout that.
Anyway, please enjoy this next chapter!
*I DO NOT own Prince of Tennis AT ALL!
Chapter Three:
Tennis For Beginners
"Here I go."
The light ball was gently thrown high into the air by Torii's hand, her petite frame following the motion to serve. Her pale blue eyes looked up, listening for sound. Quietly, quietly. Trees rustled from a small breeze. Birds chirped at the nice weather. Cars passing by on the streets. People out and about, their feet shuffling and their mouths chattering. Her eyes closed, listening for the sound of the tennis ball cutting through air. Her breaths light and easy, she could hear the light breathing of the raven-haired tennis player next to her. Exhaling, she heard the ball slowly coming down. Hearing the ball close in, she followed through, listening for contact. Nothing. Instead, she heard the tennis ball bounce onto the ground.
"I missed…" Torii admitted quietly, tugging on the blue cap that sat over her black locks.
"You waited too long," Shinji spoke, coming over as the girl's eyes opened once again.
"What did I do wrong?"
"The racket is like an extension of your arm. You waited until it was within your reach," Shinji explained quietly, blushing at the girl's pouting expression.
"I don't know how far it goes," Torii protested, holding out the racket. Shinji tapped the edge of it, putting a little pressure on it. "I got it…"
"Why don't you try again?" The mumbling tensai picked up the tennis ball on the ground, and gave it to Torii. Her hand tightened on the ball before getting back into position.
About an hour later, one-thirty in the afternoon, the two were still practicing. Torii panted slightly as she hit a tennis ball over the net, but missed the service box.
"This is so frustrating!" The girl complained, crossing her arms.
"Let's take a break." Shinji told the girl, as she happily complied. She walked to the end of the tennis court before stopping to wait for the second year who then led her to the bench. She sat, placing the racket on the bench and leaning against the back. "I'll get something to drink," Shinji mumbled, before going over to a vending machine.
"Cola please~" Torii called to the boy, tugging on the cap. Shinji got the two drinks, and brought them back to the bench. He handed her the brown can that wrote 'cola' in big, white letters. He watched as she fiddled with the can before finding the tab to open it, as he opened his own.
"You're starting to get the hang of it."
"Well, now I know the service box measurements and I've got the timing for serving down."
"It'll take some more practice, but you'll do good."
"Easy for you to say, Shinji-kun," Torii stuck her tongue out at his general direction, and he almost laughed. Almost. As the girl took a sip of her drink, she set it on the ground before standing. "Let's continue." Torii spoke, the tennis player following behind her, sticking his hands in his jean pockets.
Meanwhile, Kamio and Tachibana were doing shopping for the tennis team. Kamio carried two plastic bags over his shoulder while wearing a white shirt and a dark-colored vest with jeans. Tachibana carried two at his side, while wearing a black jacket and jeans.
"Ne, what else did we have to get?" Kamio asked, looking at the captain.
"Mori needs more tennis balls, and Shinji wants grip tape (of course)," Tachibana sighed, irritated that he had to do this. Kamio was irritated because he was filling in for Shinji. Shinji asked him to do it, and Kamio only had a vague idea as to why. In a few seconds, he would though.
"Why is serving so GOD DAMN HARD!" A girl's voice yelled from across the street.
"Well its not like you were going to do good the moment you started…" A familiar male voice spoke, before it began to mumble. Kamio and Tachibana looked to see the tennis club and a little to the left a tennis court with two people on it. Both looked familiar.
"Shinji-kun, shut up." The girl mumbled.
"Let's move onto forehand and backhand for now, Torii-san." Shinji sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Torii stuck her tongue out at the man before nodding to agree. Kamio and Tachibana looked to one another with a questioning look. 'Torii-san?' When did he start calling her that? The two tennis players decided to watch for a while to see what was going on.
Two hours later, the two second years were still playing tennis, and Torii was doing quite well. She had been doing great in everything, except serving. The two had decided to take a break as Torii sat on the ground and leaned against the bench. She loosely held the cola can by the top as Shinji stood and leaned against the bench's side.
"Do you want to continue tomorrow?" Shinji asked.
"Tomorrow is Sunday right?" Torii confirmed.
"Yea."
"Okay~" Torii nodded and smiled. Shinji's face flushed and began to put the tennis items away. "What time is it?"
"About three-thirty." Shinji spoke, looking to the pale-eyed girl as she stood.
"Kame-san is getting off work soon," Torii yawned and tugged onto the navy cap. She put on her black jacket that she had taken off an hour ago and zipped it up.
"Oi, Amaya-san!" A male voice called, making her look to the general direction.
"Kamio-kun?" Torii tilted her head. "Shinji-kun, I thought I told you to tell them to stop calling me by that name. I don't like it."
"Eh, really?" Kamio asked as he came upon the duo, still carrying the bags. Tachibana was behind him. Shinji nodded.
"I forgot," Shinji mumbled, looking at the girl that came up to his chest.
"Oh well. Now they know," Torii waved it off. "Eto, which way do we go?" Shinji walked up to her, after grabbing his tennis bag and putting it over his right shoulder. He began to lead her off. "Bye Kamio-kun, Tachibana-san," Torii waved good bye to the two as she headed down the sidewalk.
"She knew I was here?" Tachibana silently questioned.
"She must've heard your footsteps…" Kamio suggested to the third year.
October Twenty-Ninth
The weather was cloudy for the day, as Kame had told Torii, but it would be cold out. Kame had work once again, leaving the blind girl to herself until Shinji would pick her up at three. Since it was almost Halloween, Fudomine was going to hold a Halloween festival, and Shinji had to go help out. Torii didn't, considering she was blind and had her own class with no one else. The time now? 11:27 AM. Torii's condition? Bored. Not that it was anything new to her. Torii lounged on her couch, one of her legs hanging off. She wore dark wash jeans and a caramel colored t-shirt that had a tiger jumping down and the word 'strength' in English letters. The heat was on, making the room warm, as the black-haired girl listened to her ipod. The large black headphones sat around her neck, the wire leading to the ipod in her pocket. Currently it was playing music by 'The Gazette', the song at the moment was 'Nausea and Shudder'.
"So long hikari no mukoueSo long namonaki jiyuueSo long huanwo nomikomeSo long dareyorimo takaku tobe…" She sang along with the music, her voice in harmony with the music. She tapped her fingers along with the beat of the song, her eyes closed as she bobbed her head lightly with the rhythm. She had listened to music for a couple of hours, and then proceeded to read the Braille book she got from her teacher until two. At two fifteen, she was sleeping until three when she heard the doorbell ring. Standing, she walked to the door.
"Who is it?" Torii asked, before yawning.
"A delivery for the Amaya family. I need a signature." A male voice she did not recognize came through. Torii opened the door, even though she could not see him, it was a delivery man. He held a box, medium size, and a clipboard. He held out the clipboard, which Torii took along with the pen.
"Could you point to the signature line?" She quietly asked, embarrassed. The man seemed confused, but pointed to it, tapping on the clipboard. "Thanks." She then added as she signed her name. She handed back the clipboard and took the box. Giving a slight bow to the man, she turned and headed back into the apartment. She closed the door behind her. Moving to the kitchen, she placed the box on it. Torii did not know who it was too or who it was from. The label didn't have Braille on it. Going to a draw, she pulled out scissors, and opened the box. Feeling around in the box, she pulled out an item. It felt like fabric, soft, maybe a blanket. Torii wouldn't know until later. She moved back to the couch, and turned on the television. It announced the time and temperature as a commercial before going back to a TV show. The time was 3:14 and the temperature 52 degrees. Shinji was late. Closing her eyes, Torii tried to think of possible reasons, but couldn't find any.
"Why should I be so upset…?" She spoke to herself, before feeling a vibration in her pocket. It was her phone, a dark blue one. Flipping it open, she felt the Braille button to have the phone read the text she received to her. In an electronic voice it spoke:
"From: Kame-san: Sorry, Torii. I'll be working late today. I'll pick up dinner on the way home. End of message." Torii sighed, closing the phone and sticking it back in her pocket. Only the sound of the television was left, playing the news.
"Coming to you live from Tokyo. My name is Ikeda Yumi. I am at the scene where today at two-forty five pm, a bus had gone off course and crashed into a building. Three students believed to be from Fudomine Middle School were hit, but not killed. Their identities have not yet been confirmed, but they have not sustained serious injuries, as the bus driver was able to serve to the side at the last moment; avoiding a full on collision with the students. The bus' breaks had not been working, believed to be from faulty wiring. An investigation is taking place for any tampering with the brakes…" A woman's voice came from the television. Torii's eyes had widened at the news. Could one of those students…been Shinji? The doorbell ringing made her jump. She ran to the door, opening it. It was Shinji, standing there with his tennis bag over his shoulder and wearing his school uniform.
"Torii-san? I'm sorry I'm late. The setup took longer than we thought...and.." He stopped when he looked down at her. Her pale eyes had tears in them.
"Shinji-kun!" She cried, running into his arms suddenly. Shinji looked surprised as he had his arms around her. "I thought you were hit by that bus that crashed." Torii spoke between cries.
"It was three first year students from our school." He spoke, in a mumbled tone, his face flushed. Torii looked up at him, her face, too, flushed. She wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I'm glad you're okay." She embarrassedly admitted as she stepped back.
"Do you still want to play tennis?"
"Yea," Torii then smiled at the man. She grabbed her sweat jacket, turned the television off, and locked up the apartment. She then joined Shinji on their way to the tennis courts. The two walked side-by-side. Both their faces were flushed, and neither of them knew it.
After an hour of being at the club, the two decided to have a small practice match to test Torii's skills. Shinji served, and Torii barely returned it, but nonetheless it started a rally between the two. The raven-haired boy was going easy on her, so she could get some better practice. After about fifteen minutes, two voices made them stop.
"Tch. Look at these kids, using our court." One male voice spoke.
"Beat it you two." Another male voice went along with it. There were two men, looking to be high schoolers. The one on the left had black cropped hair and grass green eyes. The right one had long black hair, down to his shoulders and green eyes as well. They both wore black pants and a white t-shirt.
"There are other courts available. Use one of those." Shinji spoke, standing next to Torii.
"Telling us, the Kimura twins, what to do?" The long haired one spoke arrogantly.
"Why don't you take your girlfriend and beat it, middle schooler? Tennis ain't for kiddies." The other spoke. Torii's face flushed as well as Shinji's. Some people that were also using courts had been whispering to each other.
"Those boys again? They think they are the best and can push others around.." An older woman whispered.
"Forget it, dear. I don't want to be involved with them. I feel bad for those two.." An older male whispered back.
"Come on Torii-san, let's just forget them…" Shinji muttered to her.
"No." Torii firmly spoke. "I can tell just by their voices that they think they can push us around. Well they are wrong."
"Ohhh, so the little girl wants to stand up for herself?" The short haired one spoke. "What do you say about that, Haru?"
"Why don't we settle this with a doubles match? If we win, you two'll get lost and never come to this club again. If you guys somehow magically win, we'll never come back? Sounds fair, right Hiro?" The other, Haru, spoke to his brother, Hiro.
"You're on." Torii declared. Shinji looked at Torii, seeing her determination written on her face. With the battle declared, Shinji knew this was going to be a hard match for her to play.
"Let the battle begin." The twins spoke at once.
So, this chapter was kind of shortish. But I hoped you readers liked it. Umm, yea, I added a little drama with the bus incident. I needed to write something and it was all I could think of.
Yep, cliffhanger too. Torii's first real tennis match next chapter :O. How will it go? Who knows~
Also, for her music preference, I picked 'The GazettE', because I think their beast and I love their music.
Until next chapter:
Please Review :3
