A/N: And I've updated! School has started, but I'm enjoying the inspiration. Anyways, like I promised, we'll have a guessing game. ^^ Can you guess whose point of view this chapter is in?

Dedication: Chris Allenson (whoever he is), Carnett Rose, Accidental_Englightenment, 9angels1idiot, Frog-kun, and HaveYouNoMercy. Special dedication goes to Leibniz Lagura. ^^

This chapter has been beta'd by Carnett Rose yet again.

It's Alright to Hate You
An AtobeOC fic by: Terry-May

Chapter 4 - It's a Date!

It was a Saturday, and we were all having tennis practice. Even though it was still summer break, we still had to practice. It was mandatory - we somehow had to make up for the defeat we had against Seigaku.

From the bleachers, Ashikaga-senpai and Fukuyama-san were watching the one-sided match between Atobe-san and Shishido-san. Obviously, Shishido-san was losing, and that contributed a lot to my motivation of playing a match against the captain. He is certainly an opponent anyone would want to defeat.

"Oi," Mukahi-san called to me, tapping my right shoulder with his racket. "Let's have a practice match."

And so, Mukahi-san and I engaged in a match. It took some time for us to finish. And of course, it was my win: 7-5.

After that practice match, we had swinging exercises and jogging. Afterwards, we the regulars went to out clubroom to shower and change.

In the clubroom, Oshitari-san and Atobe-san were conversing. I wasn't inclined to listening in on their conversation. It could be filled with irrelevant information. Shortly after they finished talking, Atobe walked out.

Mukahi-san suddenly jumped to his feet the moment the door closed on Atobe. With only one arm inserted in his polo shirt, he looked out of the window.

"Atobe's going on a date with a girl!" he then exclaimed so loudly, startling Shishido-san who was changing in the corner.

"Of course he would! Do you think he'd go on a date with a guy?" Shishido-san shouted at him, sarcasm intended. He was probably upset with Mukahi-san's interruption.

"Be quiet, Ryou!" Mukahi-san shot back at him.

"Alright, alright, calm down, you two," Oshitari-san said. "And no, Gakuto. Just in case you're asking if I would accompany you to spy, my answer is 'no'."

Mukahi-san put up an amusing annoyed pout. He looked around the clubroom. He stopped when his eyes landed on me. He smirked.

"Naa," he addressed to me with the smirk still apparent on his face. "Want to go on an adventure?"

I put up my nonchalant look and replied flatly, "No."

"Yeah!" Shishido-san joined in. "Why are you still interested in the captain's affairs when we all know how he handles them? He's just going to play along with her for an hour or two before saying that he isn't interested!"

Mukahi-san crossed his arms with a pout. "Aren't you two the least bit skeptical? What if this date ends differently?"

Well, I really didn't want to snoop into the captain's business, so I held firm to my answer. "No."

"I'll be lonely when spying on them…" And Mukahi-san has entered his 'State of Self-Dramatization'. "Yuushi~ Why won't you come with me~?"

"I'll take my leave. I leave this to you, Shishido," Oshitari-san said, standing in front of the door. He opened the door and then walked out.

"Yuushi! You're mean!" Mukahi-san shouted after him. I bet that Oshitari-san wasn't even able to hear him. If he even could, it would be greatly muffled by the door.

He gave up howling like a loser dog and turned back to me. Within that short span of time, I had already knotted my necktie and was ready to take leave.

"Alright, it's about time we go," he told me. He pulled me up by the collar to make me stand and then dragged me to the door.

"Who said I was-"

I stopped because I knew that my words wouldn't be heeded by him. It was best to give in to Mukahi-san because sooner or later, he would annoy you endlessly until you'd agree with him.

And that was how I ended up being forced into spying on the captain's date.

Mukahi-san and I tailed them silently from a good distance. I noticed that the air of their date was very different from the last date I happened to witness between Atobe-san and some girl from his year. The difference was that the girl seemed the least bit nervous, and she walked straight unlike those girls that tried hard to be cute. The situation gave me the impression that it was the girl leading the date and not Atobe-san.

"That girl is from your class, right?" Mukahi-san asked me while pointing at Atobe-san's companion.

I squinted my eyes a bit to get a closer look at the girl. I realized that indeed she was. Mukahi-san shook my shoulder. "Oi, answer me."

"She's Ueno Miyoko-san of my class. She's Tezuka Kunimitsu's cousin," I replied in a low voice.

We continued to walk. The two were now almost 15 meters away from where we stood.

"How do you know that?" he questioned me.

"Rumors spread fast, Mukahi-san - especially if it's about someone of the same class," I answered with a shrug.

"Ah!" he sounded as if he was startled by something. "They're walking into the tea house!"

With that said, he pulled me with him to catch up to the two who so quickly ended up right in front of a shop 20 meters away from us. Once inside, we sat down on a table close by. It was near enough for us to be able to listento their conversation but far enough for Atobe-san to see us.

"Atobe-senpai, what would you want? Ueno-san asked in a tone that made me think that she resented asking him out in the first place.

"Ore-sama will just be having black tea since you are the one treating me," the captain replied to her in all his stoicism.

I saw Ueno-san roll her eyes before echoing Atobe-san's order to the waitress dressed in a uniform that resembled a maid outfit, which Mukahi-san so gleefully pointed out after a similar waitress approached us for our orders. The waitress walked away with their order, leaving the two to their chat - which was completely nonexistent between them.

Shortly after their orders were taken, their tea and cakes arrived, and the two began eating them.

"Mou, this is uninteresting. They aren't even talking," Mukahi-san sounded, boredom evident in his voice.

As if to answer his plea for some action, Ueno-san spoke up. "Atobe-senpai, are you enjoying your meal?"

"More or less," Atobe-san answered. "Ore-sama doesn't have a choice, do I? You're the one treating me."

"Yes, and you don't need to point that out a second time," she told him flatly. Honestly, I am impressed with how she can look at him so seriously like that. "And for some reason, you're making this less and less enjoyable."

"Then why did you decide to ask me out? Aan?" he questioned her with that conceited look he often gave us. "If you were thinking of wasting ore-sama's time-"

"I just felt like it," she answered him coldly, cutting his sentence short. I, for one, would not want to know what the continuation of Atobe-san's sentence was.

"Ore-sama does not accept that reasoning," Atobe-san curtly said. He took a sip of the tea before crossing his arms.

"Hou?" She merely raised an eyebrow in doubt. "If so, why did you agree in the first place?"

"Nothing productive is coming out of this," he stated as if evading the question. "Just pay and then let's go."

Ueno-san seemed to brighten up at his last statement. I'd want to know what thoughts were going on in her head that made her semi-smile form into a devious smirk.

The captain walked out ahead of her. She grumbled out something, but whatever she said was muffled by Mukahi-san's murmur.

"For someone so high and mighty, he doesn't know what to do on dates? It's not right to leave a girl to pay."

Ignoring him, my gaze followed Atobe-san as he left. It didn't take long for Ueno-san to follow him out, walking past us but ignoring us completely. I wonder if she saw us or if she was too upset to bother with us being in the same vicinity as their date.

As expected, Mukahi-san purposely pulled me out of my seat to follow them out. He was close to following Ueno-san, when I remembered something.

"Mukahi-san, the payment for what you ordered," I reminded my somewhat scatter-brained senpai. He stopped in his tracks, let go of my collar, and then dug a hand into his pocket to search for his wallet.

He just chuckled nervously and held out an empty hand. There should definitely be a rule against mooching off underclassmen. With a slight grit of my teeth, I took out my own wallet and parted with a portion of my allowance.

After paying, Mukahi-san dragged me off again to follow the two. Honestly, it's very uninteresting watching a girl and a guy walk off to somewhere - which in Atobe-san and Ueno-san's case was the nearby park.

Mukahi-san had eavesdropping on them from behind a hedge. Apparently, the captain had Ueno-san sit on a bench while he stood facing her.

"Ahem." Atobe-san cleared his throat. "How should ore-sama put this without injuring your pride…"

"Just say it," she told him sharply.

"Ore-sama isn't interested in you," he said rather clearly and confidently. There was a heavy silence, and I was tempted to say 'I told you so' to Mukahi-san.

Out of his curiosity, he stood up to see if Atobe-san had made the girl cry. In the process, he pulled me up as well. I wonder if my shirt would still be the same after all the successive tugging.

I had expected Ueno-san to at least be looking away from Atobe-san, but instead, she was looking up to him. Not a single trace of a tear was on her face. She looked at him silently.

"I don't mind at all," she spoke solidly, appearing unscathed from what would be a heavy blow to any Atobe fan girl. "But, senpai, will you answer one question for me?"

"Aan?"

"Why did you do that to my cousin?" she asked him in a low tone of voice, looking down at her clenched hands on her lap.

"Was your cousin the one I rejected last week?" he questioned her in turn. If I were Ueno-san, I think I would be offended by his tone of voice.

"No."

"Then who is your cousin? When asking a question, be specific," Atobe-san drawled. Ueno-san kept her gaze fixed on her lap.

"…Tezuka Kunimitsu. Why did you injure his arm?" she sounded almost softly but firmly.

Just then, right after she spoke, a drop of water fell on my head. Then another one fell on my shoulder…and then on my arm. Then the drops of water began falling from the sky at a much faster pace. Mukahi-san swore under his breath and ducked. Needless to say, I ducked as well. We were now in danger of losing our regular positions since Atobe-san had spotted us.

"Oi, you two," the captain called back to us. The two of us stood up hesitantly. He was now standing with a dominating air in spite of the rain with his hands on his hips. "Can you explain why you two are here?"

All of his thoughts on Ueno-san were forgotten. Now, I think he's contemplating on throwing us off the team just for stalking him. Ueno-san remained seated without even acknowledging us.

"We just happened to be in the neighborhood…" Mukahi-san made up an excuse. Then he put up an angry expression. "But Atobe! That's no way to treat a girl!"

"Ore-sama decides what he wants to do," he spoke arrogantly. "Besides-"

"I shall take my leave," Ueno-san suddenly spoke up, standing in front of him. For the second time that day, the captain was interrupted. She then bowed down and straightened up again. "I'm sorry for wasting your valuable time, Atobe-senpai. I know that should've been dedicated towards your training."

And just like that, she walked off into the downpour, not even bothering with an umbrella - not like she had one on her anyway. After seeing her getting merged with the crowd of newly dismissed workers, I turned to look at Atobe-san once more.

"Since you two have been perfectly coordinated on following me on my outing," the captain began with that superior tone of voice. "I have decided that you will be paired up."

"That-" Mukahi-san was about to protest, but Kabaji had appeared from the other side of the park armed with an umbrella.

And like that, Atobe-san just left, not even feeling guilty of his 'misdeed' as Mukahi-san put it. But I guess in this steadily growing heavy downpour, it's about time to seek shelter.

xTx

A/N: Keh, you must've guessed who this character is already. But, carry on, carry on.

Cheers!