Summary: Ayroka a world class gymnast has lost her fire to win; her coaches think that Seigaku, and especially the tennis team has the power to instill that fire back into Ayroka. AU, and maybe a little romance. I don't own any of the Prince of Tennis characters but I do own the OC characters. Have fun reading!
Chapter 4
Ayroka woke up in her apartment and couldn't help but smile, today was the first day that she would be learning tennis. She was amazed that she could be so excited about learning a sport that was not gymnastics. The whole time that she was getting ready for her morning practice her smile never wavered it just got bigger. Even on the bus amidst the disgusting smells she continued to smile.
When Koichi and Aito saw her walk into the gym with such a happy look on her face they immediately knew that either Seigaku was doing exactly what they hoped it would do, or she had finally decided to go through with her many threats of bodily pain. But the first option was more plausible Seigaku was finally giving her a life outside of gymnastics, and now she would not be solely focused on Gymnastics 24/7.
Practice that day started on floor running through her dance skills, she had just recently gotten new choreography and was still just a little bit rusty. Her floor routine was to the piece of music Vivaldi's Summer, a piece of music that she had loved since being a little girl. With the music though she had to bring a level of expressiveness that maybe if she was older she would be able to express but at fifteen she was not able to tap into her emotions as well.
She was going through the floor routine for a sixth time when during a grand jete she tripped and landed on her knees on the floor. "Ughhh… I can't do it, I can't make myself feel the music, the whole point of gymnastics is to cut yourself off from emotions; not to try to bloody feed into them." As she was sitting there looking at the floor she felt the floor compress as Koichi came and sat next to her.
There was a few seconds of silence and then "You know I think the maturity that you need for this floor music will come in time, just don't give up on it yet. You have all the moves just being able to feel what the music is telling you might be a little lacking but I can already see an improvement from two days ago and that is what we are looking for. I think that is enough of floor for today let's move onto beam for the last hour, and start working on the layout full twist."
Since it was her first day learning the new skill they began to work on the floor first. The combination on the beam that included the layout full was a back walk over, back handspring into the full. Since doing the layout full requires a ton of height and precision they were working on her entry and exit on the back handspring. She needed to be able to get enough power while still landing square on the beam so that she would not fall off. Beam in Ayroka's opinion was her second easiest event after bars although her coaches and most gymnastics fans would argue that she was best at the beam.
As she was working Koichi pointed out that she was slightly twisting into the back handspring, which was causing her to completely miss the white line that she was practicing on. As the hour went on she became even more impatient with herself, she began to perform even worse than before because she was not focusing as hard as before.
Finally Koichi just put his hand on her shoulder as she was getting ready to go again, "just stop for today, I think we've had a pretty productive practice and I think it's time to call it quits. I know that Aito said that he would drive you to Seigaku today but since I have some things to talk to you about I will take you."
Sitting in the lobby waiting for Koichi to finish talking to one of the younger gymnast's moms was boring but she didn't dare trying to interrupt since the last time that she did that the next day was absolute Hell. Five minutes later when he was done they walked out to the car and she began to mentally prepare herself for the news. "So what did you need to talk to me about, don't keep me in suspense forever!"
"Oh sorry, I spaced out for a second there. Aito and I have been talking about your meet schedule and I know that we already planned it out in the beginning of the year but we think that we should add a few small meets here and there so that you can get comfortable with your new skills before you have to do them in a big meet. So we are anticipating that you will have at least one of your new routines almost mastered in about a month." She opened her mouth to complain but he quickly cut in. "We don't want to add unneeded pressure we know that we have dropped a lot on your plate with school and a cutback on your workout schedule. If a routine isn't as ready by the time of the meet that is fine you can compete with the routines that you have now. How does that sound?" As he finished that sentence they pulled up to Seigaku.
"That's fine and Koichi I'm not some common gymnast I can easily get at least one skill by the time a month is done, I'm not going to slack even though I have less training time, I'm actually going to be even better than I would be with regular training times." She then gave a small wave, "Here I have to get to my first class but maybe we can talk later about the training schedule that you want me to follow so that I can master the skills." She waved as she was running into the building and then the doors swallowed her and Koichi could no longer see her.
She got into class just in time to hear the teacher ask for everyone to turn in their paper. She quickly pulled the 5 page paper out of her bag and turned it in with a quick apology for being tardy. As she took her seat the girl next to her leaned over. "Wow you got so lucky right there; usually Mr. Tan will make a really big deal if you are late. I'm Sayaka by the way, nice to meet you."
"Ayroka; Sayaka do you know why he didn't get angry?" Ayroka didn't know if it was preferential treatment or he just didn't care today. Sayaka gave a shrug "Hey I would just count my blessings and move on. You know since your new and all you should come and sit with me during lunch, my friends and I would love to hear about what you were doing before coming to Seigaku."
"Umm thanks for the offer I appreciate it but I already have plans during lunch, so maybe we can get together some other time?" As she was saying those words Sayaka leaned back and already looked uninterested.
"You know just because you are hanging out with the tennis team doesn't make you part of them, when they find you uninteresting they will set you aside and never talk to you again."
"You know I think that you have some misinformation, first of all I am the manager of the tennis team so technically I am part of the tennis team, and maybe you are jealous because you were ignored by them but that doesn't mean that you have to try to ruin my relationship with them." Ayroka turned her head away from Sayaka and tried to focus on her work without any more distractions.
When her last class before lunch finally ended she bolted out of the classroom and to her locker, she wanted to get her salad and eat it before she had to start teaching Fuji, because from experience she knew that trying to do a back flip on an empty or full stomach was not a good idea. She was the first to arrive at the regulars table as she sat there she realized that even though not openly she was being scrutinized.
The first to arrive was Kaido, when she said hello he hissed in reply and then took out his lunch and began to eat. She gave a quiet laugh to herself, Kaido reminded her of a friend that used to do gymnastics until she broke her leg and her parent realizing that it was a dangerous sport pulled her out. Ayroka remembered that day clearly because that was the day that she vowed that no matter what happened, she would never let herself be taken away from gymnastics. She had already lost so much in her life with her father being killed in a car accident when she was 1 and her mother giving her away to a foster home because she could no longer look at her without feeling sadness. She refused to let anything else slip from her hands.
When Fuji arrived since they had an hour and half lunch period he ate for about 15 minutes and then they threw away their lunches and began to head out. On the way Echizen who was just about to go up to the roof to go to sleep saw them and decided to go with them because in his mind watching Fuji try to do back flip was more interesting than anything else. They went outside onto a flat grassy area so that if he did land on his back it wouldn't hurt as much.
"So it's a good thing that you want to learn a back flip since it is a lot easier than a front flip. To start out stand on the ground and bend your knees, you then want to jump up and backwards while grabbing your knees so that you don't land on your head. For the first few times that you try until you feel comfortable I will spot you, does that sound good?"
"Ayroka do you think that you could go through the steps one more time and actually act them out because I am a little confused when you grab your legs." Nodding once she bent her knees and then swung her arms up and with that she pushed off and her body followed suit. Landing her arms automatically came up in a salute and then she quickly put them down.
"See nothing to it, just remember to really snap your legs, so that you don't end up hurting yourself, oh and don't panic I promise that I will not let you hurt yourself." Fuji nodded and then moved in front of where Ayroka was and bent his legs, and then jumped. As he jumped he tried to pull his legs through but already he could tell that he was coming straight down. And then suddenly there was a hand on his back that pushed him and gave him enough rotation so that he was able to land on his feet. He stumbled forward when he landed and then turned around gave Ayroka and Ryoma a big thumbs up.
"That was completely awesome. Let's try it again." This time he changed the way that he jumped and was able to make the flip without as much help from Ayroka as before. As Ryoma watched he became captivated with how Ayroka seemed to be able to know where to put her hands to help Fuji through the back flip.
"Ayroka where did you learn how to back flip so well, I mean you can do it on like a brick wall and I can barely do it on the ground." Fuji who had decided to take a break asked Ayroka the question that had been bugging him since yesterday.
"I guess I'm just a natural at these types of things, since a young age I have always loved doing flips. Hey Echizen would you like to try, I promise I won't let you get hurt."
"Sure I guess I can try." Echizen got up from his spot and reluctantly came over.
"Don't be scared, Echizen it's really fun and Ayroka won't let anything bad happen to you."
"I'm not scared I just don't have any interest in flipping all over the place." He walked over to the place where Fuji was. "I'm only doing this once." As Ayroka spotted he threw himself into the air and flipped. Ayroka did have to give him just a little more height but he was able to complete the flip without any other type of assistance.
They both continued to try to learn the back flip but after awhile it became apparent that they were making no real progress. "You know I think the reason why you're not getting better is because you are tired, if you want to meet again tomorrow then I think that you will have an easier time. Besides its almost time for the lunch period to end." Ryoma left almost immediately after she said that but Fuji stayed to help pick up some of the trash.
"I brought a racket for you to learn tennis with today, if you would still like to try." When Fuji said that Ayroka mentally punched herself, in her hurry to get out of her apartment and to practice she had completely forgotten about the tennis lesson.
"I would love to but I sort of forgot to bring sneakers today, do you think that I can play in these shoes?" The shoes that she had on had some support but they weren't as sturdy as regular running sneakers.
"Yes they should be okay for today since I will be teaching you how to swing the racket, so there's no real running going on except for the warm up." He gave a wave as he began to walk to the main building. "See you after school, if you can get there maybe 20 minutes early that will give us enough time to actually have a lesson!" He called over his shoulder.
Once he was of sight she lay on her back and looked up at the tree that she was sitting under, she had never been able to talk to someone like Fuji and she liked it, even though she was technically still not telling him the full truth. She felt like he understood the things that she was saying.
Her last two classes flew by since she was looking forward to her lesson with Fuji. Her teacher in European History her last class was able to let her out almost 20 minutes early since for the last quarter of class they were just doing that nights homework.
When she arrived at the courts and saw that Fuji was not there she decided to warm up by herself. She jogged a few times around the courts and was about to start stretching when she saw Fuji coming down the path with the rackets. She waved and saw his eyes crinkle in happiness.
"I brought you one of my old rackets," he handed it to her and then fixed the way that she was holding it "Since you already warmed up I want to start you on basic swings look at the way that I swing my racket. This swing is called a forehand and is usually the easiest shot for people to learn, give it a try." She continued to try the forehand with Fuji making corrections here and there. "Okay now swing it just like that 20 times. Tennis is all about muscle memory, if you can get your muscles to remember exactly how to do a forehand then you have won half the battle.
The thirty minutes that they had to practice flew by and it seemed to Ayroka like all of a sudden people were in the courts watching her swing and practicing themselves. As she began to get self conscious Fuji stopped her and told her that they would work on more tomorrow.
Even though watching the regulars and the other members practice yesterday was interesting today was even more so because she could semi relate to what they were doing. At the very end of practice the regulars who had a longer practice than everyone else began to rally amongst themselves. Oishi against Eiji, Tezuka against Fuji, Ryoma against Inui, and Momo against Kaido, Kawamura who had hurt his shoulder in a match before she became manager sat the rallies out. Even though the rallies were during practice all of them except for Fuji approached them as a very serious match. Ayroka could somehow tell that he was not playing seriously because of the way he smiled the whole time. Tezuka could tell that as well because half way through he stopped the match and said a few words to Fuji. Afterwards the match continued on but with a renewed sense of urgency.
As the last matches ended, the sky was already beginning to turn dark. Ayroka stifled a yawn and then began to help the regulars clean up the courts, and wipe down the equipment. By the time that everything was put up it was already 6:30. Because neither Koichi not Aito was coming to pick her up today and take her home she had to ride on public transportation, and even though it was relatively safe she did not enjoy it.
As she was walking to the bus stop she heard her name being called. "Hey Ayroka wait up, a bunch of us were going to go out to eat as a team bonding trip and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us?" Momo had run after her to catch up with her before she got too far away.
"Sure that sounds like fun. Do you have any idea of where we are going and about how long it will take?" Against her better judgment she had said yes, she had a really grueling practice schedule ahead of her getting ready for her different competitions and truly she should not go out, but she really wanted to have fun so she put caution to the wind for once and decided to go.
The food place that they ended up going to was a new fast food restaurant that Momo and Ryoma wanted to go to. While they were there Momo, Ryoma, and Kawamura (with a chopstick in hand) decided that they wanted to prove who was manlier by stuffing themselves with hamburgers. As she watched with wide eyes hamburger after hamburger was practically swallowed whole right before her. Just watching them eat gave her a stomach ache. As the night went on one fact about the tennis team became abundantly clear to her, just like their tennis each one of them was different; liking different things and activities but somehow they were able to bond over one common aspect in their lives and were stronger because of it.
As she was walking home from the bus stop where the bus dropped her off at her mind continued to drift back to gymnastics there was something bothering her, about her gymnastics. Somehow after watching Seigaku's tennis team and how much fun they were having while playing made her realize that the fun that she thought she was having, was not as pure as the fun that they had. Their fun made others want to join in where as hers just made her tired. Sudden realizations hit her as she was opening the door to her apartment if she even wanted to consider trying to make the 2012 Japanese Olympic team and try to win All around Gold she would have to change her approach to gymnastics. She would have to find her inner joy in the sport because without finding that she would not be able to last the next three years, and her dreams would die before she even had the chance to salute the judges.
