It was still a mystery as to what happened concerning Atobe's black eye. At first, he thought that KJ was teasing or tricking him, but then her side of the story got more believable. Atobe was good at reading people, and he knew that she was telling the truth.
Summer was passing quickly, and soon it was the middle of July.
"Hey Atobe!"
He was shocked to hear KJ call out to him, and he responded by warily raising an eyebrow.
She laughed. "I'm going to play tennis with some people- do you want to come?"
It was rare for KJ to be nice to Atobe. True to his word, he had been giving her tennis lessons every (save for a few) night since school got out.
"What people?" He asked before answering.
"My friend Kuro and some friends of her." She told him.
Having nothing better to do (but not admitting that, of course) Atobe decided to go with her.
They got to the tennis courts and no one was there. KJ checked her watch.
"They should be here soon. Want to have a warm up match?" She asked.
Atobe nodded.
They played a few sets before Kuro walked over to the two. With her were the Seigaku regulars.
"Atobe!" They all exclaimed, pointing. (A/N: Am I lazy or what?)
KJ and Atobe stopped playing. Kuro looked at the team.
"It's still creepy how you guys do that." She remarked.
They each responded in their own unique way: Kaidoh hissed, Taka apologized, Fuji chuckled, Eiji nya-ed, Momo laughed loudly, Inui adjusted his glasses, Ryoma 'ch-ed, Oishi blushed while smiling, and Tezuka…didn't do anything.
"In my opinion," KJ commented. "That was creepier."
Kuro thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess…But you get used to it."
"So what's Atobe doing here??" Momo asked loudly. (A/N: Let's just say that everything Momo does is loud and rather obnoxious.)
Kuro rolled her eyes. "Idiot! I told you guys that KJ might bring someone."
Atobe smirked. This would be fun.
"But this is Atobe." Momo pointed out. "Of Hyotei! They're our arch-rivals! He's the reason that Tezuka had to go to Germany!" (A/N: Or Kyushu…Whatever.)
"Oh so this is the Monkey King." Kuro pointed to Atobe, who frowned. Damn Echizen.
She laughed. "Oh KJ- sucks for you."
KJ scowled. "Well at least I don't put soy sauce on rice."
All the regulars and Atobe stared at her.
"I put soy sauce on rice." Oishi said.
"So do I." Taka agreed. "I know a lot of people who do."
"Ew, I don't." Kuro said.
KJ twitched. "Yeah, that's just wrong."
"What do you mean??" Eiji pressed. "I LOOOVVEE soy sauce on my rice! I put soy sauce on my rice every time I eat it! That's like three or more times a day!!" He said enthusiastically.
"Three or more??" KJ asked, bewildered. "Don't you get tired?? I think I would…"
"Nya, you two are confusing me!!" Eiji whined, holding his head.
"I put wasabi on my rice." Fuji cut in.
"I guess that's better than soy sauce." Kuro shrugged.
"But nothing should go on rice at all." KJ said. "Nor should soy sauce be put on any other food."
"Soy sauce is delicious! What are you talking about??" Momo asked.
"Soy sauce is the whore of condiments!!" KJ exclaimed. "And you are perverted."
There was a long break in the conversation where all that could be heard was Kuro and KJ laughing.
"Is there something wrong with you?" Kaidoh asked KJ, glaring.
Kuro put a finger to her chin. "Well…"
"Shut up!" KJ told her. "Would you be willing to bet there's something wrong with me?"
He hissed. "What are you saying?"
KJ smirked. "We'll play. If you win, there's something wrong with me, and I'll admit it. If I win, you have to run laps around the court until the sun goes down with a bucket on your head."
Kaidoh frowned. "If I win, you have to drink the Inui juice."
Kuro and the regulars turned to Inui who grinned and pulled out a water bottle from his bag. The liquid inside was a dark green.
"Fine. Let's play."
The two took their spots on the court and everyone sat down to watch them. They appointed Atobe as referee and Oishi as scorekeeper.
KJ got to serve, and she took her position with her left knee raised up.
Atobe smirked. "We'll see how far my lessons have gotten her." He told himself.
She started the game with her Crane Serve (A/N: The one she used in her "game" against Atobe in chapter five.) and it just barely went over the net. It hit the top and fell in, not giving Kaidoh enough time to reach it.
"Fifteen-love." Atobe announced. "That was cutting it close." He noted.
KJ retrieved the ball and sighed. That was her worst shot- she was horrible at serves. She did have one more, however, that was worth a try.
She repositioned her racket so that the face of the racket was pressed against her inner arm.
Inui opened his notebook and began scribbling furiously.
KJ threw the ball up and struck it with the racket's head by swinging her whole arm down.
It landed just inside the court, bounced softly once, and then stopped.
"Thirty-love."
"What
was that??"
The regulars were beginning to watch closely now.
"It was her Dead Serve." Kuro told them.
"Dead???" Eiji asked.
"Yeah- see how the ball landed? It didn't have a lot of power behind it, so it only bounced once." She explained. "It's part of her style- she plays with her racket in this position sometimes."
"Ii data…" Inui murmured, turning his page.
KJ won the rest of the set with her Dead Serve, and the two changed courts.
"KJ leads one to love." Atobe said.
Kaidoh served and the two began to volley- KJ playing with a typical grip now. Kaidoh hit a boomerang snake and caught KJ off guard- thus, she missed the return.
"Fifteen-love."
As Kaidoh got ready to serve again, KJ stood in the center of the baseline with her legs spread apart.
He served, she returned it, and he hit it to the far right. She stepped out with her right and bent her left knee. After doing this, she was easily able to return the shot. After volleying a couple more times, Kaidoh hit another boomerang snake and got the point.
"Thirty-love."
"That was strange." Fuji remarked. "How she stepped."
"It was her Broken Bow Stance." Kuro told him. "She was two others- the Drop Stance and the Cat Stance."
Ryoma perked up at the mention of the word "cat".
When another volley was hit to KJ, it was aimed lower than before. She dropped down on her right leg (bent knee) with her left leg completely straight. She returned the ball kind of high, but it allowed for them to continue. In the end, Kaidoh hit another boomerang snake that KJ was unable to return.
"Forty-love."
"That was her Drop Stance." Kuro pointed out.
Kaidoh served again and another volley began. He hit one shot that was directly to the center of KJ's person (mid-torso).
She took a small step out with her left and drew her right leg in- dragging her toe on the ground. Doing this, she was able to return the shot.
However, this put Kaidoh in the perfect position to hit another boomerang snake and get the match point.
"One all." Atobe announced as they changed courts again.
They played the next ten games like that- soon the score was five games all. It was KJ's serve.
"This is brutal!!" Eiji exclaimed. "When will it end??"
"How is it that she hasn't found a way to return Viper's boomerang snake?" Momo asked no one in particular.
"She's waiting." Atobe said to himself. "For the right moment."
KJ played and won her game entirely with her Dead Serve, but didn't change her grip when the two switched courts.
"She wants to end it." Atobe noticed.
Kaidoh served and the two began a volley. With KJ playing like this, he was forced to move to the net. He thought that this was a good thing until she quickly changed her grip and hit a smash right past him.
"Love-fifteen."
Determined to win, Kaidoh put the ball into play again. He noticed that she had switched back to her Dead Serve grip. As soon as he had the chance, he hit a boomerang snake.
It caught everyone off guard when she returned it. She took a step with her right over to the left (so that her back was to Kaidoh) and made a 180 degree rotation while hitting the ball.
It barely landed in. Everybody was stunned.
"How did she do that?" Taka asked.
"It's a variation of her Spinning Backhand." Atobe informed them. (A/N: See chapter five.) "She steps differently, but the arm motion is similar."
Only Kuro, who had actually played KJ before, knew what he was talking about.
The score was love-thirty, and although it seemed that KJ would easily win, Kaidoh evened the score by hitting a few unexpected snake shots.
"Thirty all."
KJ dropped her racket. "I can't play anymore."
"Tired?" Kaidoh asked mockingly.
KJ scoffed. "As if." She held up her right arm. A criss-cross pattern was imprinted into her arm and had cut it up. She was bleeding-almost badly enough to need to be wrapped. "I just don't feel like screwing up my knock out punch arm."
Oishi gasped and jumped up. "We should put some bandages on that!!"
"Great, KJ." Kuro groaned while rolling her eyes. "Now everyone's going to think that you're a little emo girl."
KJ laughed. "Seriously. But anyway, a deal's a deal." She shook hands with Kaidoh and cleared her throat. "I will admit that there is something wrong with me."
He didn't know why, but Atobe felt his heart pang in mock agony as he heard her say that.
Inui handed her the bottle of Inui juice.
"It can't be any worse than my own cooking." She shrugged. "I burn salad."
Atobe silently agreed.
As soon as KJ drained the bottle, her face paled. "I take it back…"
She dropped the bottle and crashed to the ground.
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Kuro- You know I had to. Can you forgive me, you know?
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Everyone else- Okay I really apologize for the crap-tastic (or crack-tastic) chapter, but I knew that the lack of tennis would drive all of the characters insane. If my terminology is off (or just plain wrong) let me know and I'll change it. I wrote this at like two in the morning (don't ask) and so it's probably full of mistakes…
