Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis.
Day 3. Practice 1. The Marui and The Kirihara.
Sam made it on time to the Rikkai Dai tennis court. When she got there she noticed Sanada. He stood there holding onto his crutch and talking to a couple of other boys that were standing next to him.
'Great. He brought some friends over. I better not make a fool of myself.' Sam thought to herself. She tugged the tip of her black cap down a little.
…Sanada…Sam…Kirihara…
Sanada stood next to Marui and Kirihara, and talked to them.
"Hey Sanada. When do I get to see this girl Yukimura has been talking about?" asked Marui with a smile on his face. Sanada remember last night about the talk he had with Yukimura on the phone.
"There's nothing to be smiling about, Marui. And what are you and Kirihara doing here anyways?" asked Sanada. He took a quick glanced at his watch. 'She has 5 minutes to get her butt over here.'
"Yukimura told us to come and help you out, since because he couldn't come today." Marui answered. He blew his gum.
"But, I DIDN'T WANT to be HERE!" whined Kirihara.
"Stop complaining, Kirihara." Sanada started to get a bit annoyed by the way Kirihara whined like a baby. "I don't want you here either, but I have no choice. If it's Yukimura's ordered, we have nothing to do but follow it."
"Hey Sanada. Over there. Is that your little sister?" Marui pointed to a girl. The girl he was pointing to had short black hair. It was like the same hair style as Shiraishi Kuranosuke's from Shitehouji. Her hair color matched Sanada's. To top it off, her hat was the exact same one Sanada wore on his head. With her small feminine figure it was easy to mistake them as siblings.
Sanada turned and saw Sam walking towards them. "No."
Sam was ready to greet them, but then was cut off before she could say a word. "Sanada how come you never told us you had little sister?" Marui asked. He smiled at Sam.
"I never told you because I don't have one." Sanada said.
Marui eyed Sanada. "Oh, I see. Being a big brother and protecting her, eh?" Marui teased and slapped Sanada behind on the back.
"He's not my brother." stated Sam.
Marui turned to her and smiled. "Well then, if you aren't his sister…do you want to hang out sometime with me? We could go-"
"MARUI!" yelled Sanada.
"WHAT?! You said she wasn't your sis-"
"SHE'S NOT! That also means NO FLIRTING!" Both of them started to argue each other. Marui never expected himself to argue with Sanada, but he couldn't wimp out. Especially in front of this girl. He had to show some toughness even though he knew there would be a smack waiting for him. Marui wished he could have paid more attention and took notes on how Niou talked back to Sanada.
Over to the side Kirihara stood there staring at Sam. For some reason his feet couldn't move. They were planted where they were. He couldn't help take his eyes off her. -Ba-bmp- -Ba-bmp- 'What's this strange feeling?'
"YOU KNOW WHAT! 50 LAPS!" yelled Sanada ending the argument.
"ARGH!" Marui yelled angrily then went off to do his laps. At least it was laps and not a smack to the face. Sam got nervous and scared of Sanada.
Sanada turned his attentions to Sam. "Marui is sorry for wasting your time to practice." Sam didn't say anything. Sanada calmly asked. "Do you have a racket with you?"
"No, I'm sorry." Sam replied. She stared at the ground and hoped Sanada wouldn't be that harsh to her like he did to Marui.
Suddenly Kirihara felt his legs walking up to Sam. "Uh…you can…um…borrow one of mine." His face turned red. Kirihara quickly held out one of his rackets to Sam. He turned his head away to hide his blushing face from her.
"Thank you." Sam said quietly taking the racket slowly. He ran.
Sanada wondered why Kirihara had been so shy and his face beet red. On the other hand he didn't have the time to care about it right now. "Kamio. First go warm up. Kirihara will help you with that." Sanada's voice went back to his strict ordered tone. Sam nodded. "Kirihara I want you to-" Sanada looked around but didn't see him. He forgot that he ran off somewhere.
"MARUI! GO FIND KIRIHARA!" Sanada ordered. Marui stopped running in the middle of his laps and went to go find Kirihara.
"Sanada-s-sempai. Um, who are they?" Sam glanced up at him. He didn't look back at her.
"Marui Bunta and Kirihara Akaya. They're on the same tennis team as I am. Our captain ordered them to help out with your training." He looked down at her. "I don't need their help, but Seiichi-Anyways, I can't train you much in my condition." Sam nodded.
"SANADA! I FOUND HIM!" shouted Marui dragging Kirihara by the arm.
"Let go of me, MARUI!" Kirihara fought to get out Mauri's grip. When his eyes meet Sam's he fell forward.
"Stand up!" ordered Sanada to Kirihara. He stood. "Ok. First do stretches then afterwards 10 laps around the court. Then we will begin the first lesson." he ordered. Sam nodded. "Kirihara I want you to-" He looked over at Kirihara and notice his face all red. "KIRIHARA!"
Kirihara didn't respond. His eyes were looking at Sam. He couldn't feel anything except for his heart pounding inside of him. -Ba-bmp- -Ba-bmp- 'Why is my heart pounding?'
"KIRIHARA!" Sanada wacked him behind the head. "STOP STARING!" Marui cracked up in the background. He couldn't stop laughing seeing Kirihara blushing then getting wacked by Sanada. Sanada lost his mind and got mad at both of them. He couldn't believe Marui and Kirihara were behaving like this.
"MARUI! KIRIHARA! GROW UP!" yelled Sanada. He back-handed them both. Sam's eyes widen in shock. She was now really scared of Sanada. She hurried and ran off do her stretches and laps before she ended up like them.
…Sanada…Sam…Kirihara…
After Sam ran her laps, Sanada waited on one side of the court. "Ok. Lets start off with your swings." With Sanada's freehand he demonstrated. He repeated the swing and Sam followed, matching her swings with Sanada's. After she got the hang of it, Sanada demonstrated some other way in swinging a tennis racket. "Got the hang of it?" he asked. Sam nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I'm getting the hang of it."
"Alright. Marui is going to serve you some hits from the other side of the court. Just try to hit them with the proper swing I taught you." Sanada crutched his way to the side lines where Kirihara stood.
"Ok, here's the first one." Marui served an easy serve. He served straight to her where she could hit it. Sam swung the racket, making contact with the ball. The ball flew straight up then landed right next to her.
'Wow. That was sure embarrassing.' Sam thought. Her face started to turn red.
"Don't worry about it. Here's another one." Marui serve another ball to her. This time, after the ball was hit, it flew the side of her court. Sanada sighed and looked away. Kirihara just watched.
It took a while for Sam to get the hang of it. All her hits started to hit the net but never made it over. Marui only served straight to her where she could hit it, so the whole time, Sam stayed in one spot.
"That's enough! Take a five minute break." Sanada ordered. Sam suddenly fell to her knees on the court. Sanada shook his head and left to think things over. 'We have a long way to go.'
Marui walked over the other side and sat down next to Sam. He noticed her staring at Sanada and then looked away in disappointment. "Hey, don't worry about him. You're just a beginner, right? You'll get the hang of it later on." Sam sighed and fell back onto the court.
"…" Sam didn't know how to respond to Marui. She just watched the sky and waited for the five minutes to past by. Marui didn't mind. He chewed on his gum and watched whatever was interesting. He noticed Kirihara sleeping under a tree. He chuckled.
"I'll be right back. I'm going to go bug Kirihara." Marui said. He suddenly snatched Sam's hat.
"Hey! Give me my hat back!" Sam quickly sat up. Marui chuckled and place the hat back on Sam's head.
"Heh. You're cute." He said and then pushed the tip of Sam's hat lower that it covered her eyes. He stood up and left to go bug Kirihara. Sam blushed deeply. She pulled her hat over her face and fell back to the ground.
…Sanada…Sam…Kirihara…
After 5 minutes…
"Kamio. Will do the same thing but this time Kirihara will serve to the sides." Sanada explained to Sam the next part of the practice.
"Ok." Sam walked to the center of the court and then got into position. Kirihara served to the left of her. She ran to the ball. Stop. Then she followed into the swing until it made contact with the ball. Then the ball hit the net.
"Not bad. Here's another one!" Kirihara served to the opposite side. Sam ran, missing the ball by four inches.
'Ugh, almost had it.' she thought. She practiced for a while. When she hit the ball it always either hit the net or fell out of bounce. Half the time she missed it.
"At least she's getting the hang of it." Sanada thought. Practice continued. Marui and Kirihara switched serves back and forth, while Sanada studied her positioning and swings.
…Sanada…Sam…Kirihara…
"That's all for today." Sanada said. He packed his tennis equipment together. He looked at Sam. "See you tomorrow, and don't be late."
"I won't." Sam said. She sat on the court ground. 'Geez, I'm so tired. It seems that Sanada wasn't that harsh on me today, but I get the feeling its going to be rougher tomorrow.'
Sanada grabbed his stuff then left. Marui waved to Sam goodbye then left right behind Sanada. "See you tomorrow!" he smiled.
"See ya!" Sam waved back to Marui. Kirihara walked up to her.
"Um…I wanted to know…uh, I was wondering…" Kirihara wanted to ask her if he could walk with her home but his words wouldn't come out. He started to blush.
"Oh yeah!" Sam looked to her side and pick up the racket next to her. "Here you go. Thank you for letting me borrow it." Sam gave the racket back to him. Soon Kirihara's face was completely red. It almost looked like he would pass out any second.
"It-Its nothing." he looked at his racket. Then he made a difficult choice. "You can keep it if you want." Kirihara handed back the racket to her. He couldn't believe he was giving one of his rackets to her.
"I'm sorry." Sam said softly. She turned down his offer.
"Oh…" Kirihara felt disappointed.
"No, it's not that I don't want to. It's something personal." Sam said. She pictured her mother.
"It's alright." Kirihara shrugged.
"Well, see you tomorrow." Sam stood up off the ground. She took Kirihara's hand and shook it. "Thanks for the lesson." She smiled at him. She then left the tennis court.
Kirihara stared at his hand. 'That's it?!'
