Current Poll results (Poll is still open, so vote now!)
Haruka~
-Atobe - 4
-Sanada - 2
-Yukimura - 1
-Niou - 0
-Marui - 0
-Jackal - 0
-Yagyuu - 0
-Yanagi - 0
-Other school - 0
-Harem - 0
Sakura~
-Marui - 3
-Yukimura - 2
-Niou - 1
-Yagyuu – 1
-Harem - 1
-Jackal – 0
-Sanada - 0
-Yanagi - 0
-Hyotei characters - 0
-Other school - 0
Thank you for all who have voted~! Please vote, we may change the pairing to whatever comes first!
Chapter 8
Ururuka and Sara stared quizzically at the green and yellow racquets in their hands, and then faced the two tennis teams.
"Oh, they don't know how to play tennis…" everyone thought.
Yukimura pointed to one side of the court and said, "Please over there and each stand in… uh, the square. I'll hit some balls, and you try to return them."
They nodded and took their place.
Pok!
Yukimura hit the ball lightly over the net, heading towards Ururuka's side. She gaped at the ball and hid her face behind the racquet, and the yellow ball bounced harmlessly to the side. Everyone watching from the sidelines sweat-dropped.
"Uh, there's no need to be afraid of the ball, Ururuka-san. Let's try again," Yukimura said, and hit another light ball. This time it headed towards Sara. Contrary to her sister, she stared determinedly at the small ball and gave a little shout, swinging with all her might.
Unfortunately she got the timing wrong, and swung too early. She also happened to lose her grip on the racquet, causing it to fly straight towards Yukimura. His quick reflexes allowed him to dodge it, and it flew past where his head had been.
"Waah, Buchou, are you alright?" a few of the Rikkai members shouted.
"Aaa, I'm fine…" Yukimura said a little nervously. "Right, Sara-san, try not to swing so hard. Just focus on getting the timing right for now."
Sara huffed and turned her head up, though she was a little embarrassed.
Pok!
The ball was almost in the middle of the court, though it was leaning towards Ururuka. This time, she looked like she was about to hit it, when Sara appeared and hit it instead, before, unable to stop herself, crashed into her sister.
"…Owww…" they both moaned on the ground, and slowly untangled themselves.
While Marui and Niou helped them up, Yukimura curiously stared at the ball being bounced on his racquet. The same ball that Sara had returned just a few minutes ago.
"That was… a perfect return…"
"Ouch! I landed on your racquet!"
"This rigorous exercise cannot be good for my wellbeing!"
"Except for the collision after…"
Once the twins were organised, Yukimura smiled at them. "That was a lovely return, Sara-san. Though try to be aware of your partner. Think of it as playing doubles, for now, whichever square the ball bounces in, the person in that square will return it.
Sara sighed and grumbled, "Can we just get this over and done with? That bad taste is still in my mouth."
Yukimura smiled and hit another ball. The ball headed towards Ururuka, who nervously stepped forward and swung. As the ball touched the racquet, she suddenly jerked her wrist to the left, putting a spin onto it. The ball bounced into Yukimura's side, and leapt off towards the left.
Everyone blinked at the ball.
"What… was that!" Momoshiro shouted.
"That's one of Haruka's techniques. Leap Frog I think," Jackal said.
"Is she back to normal?"
"Ara, that was strange. Am I allowed my tea now?"
"Guess not…"
"But it is a start. It looks like they are instinctively hitting the ball back," Fuji noted.
"Hey, looks like there are some brats playing tennis!"
Everyone turned to look at the newcomers. One guy had short, black hair and several piercings on his left ear. The other guy had quite long blond hair. They were both smirking and carrying a racquet.
"It's our turn to play tennis here, so buzz off!" The blond haired said.
Sara growled. "We got here first ya punks! Besides, I doubt you can even hit a ball."
"What was that ya little brat?"
"You must be deaf! I said, I doubt you can even hit. A. Ball."
"You think you can do better than us? Alright, we challenge you and you partner to a match! We'll see who can't hit a ball!"
Niou and Marui were about to protest when Yukimura silenced them.
"But Buchou…"
"Don't worry, I have a feeling that we are going to see a good game," Yukimura said, a smile stretched across his face.
The blond guy (let's call him Tim) and the black haired guy (or Joe) stood in position, sneering and smirking at the twins. Sara was glaring at the, but Ururuka didn't look like she wanted to play. Tim was opposite Sara.
"Ya know, pretty girls like you shouldn't play such a rough sport like tennis, you might break a nail," Joe chuckled.
"An ugly dork like you shouldn't insult me, you might get punched in the face," Sara retorted smoothly.
A tick appeared on his forehead, then he calmed himself. "If you're so confident, I'll let you serve first."
"Oh crap, we forgot to teach her how to serve…" was the thought accumulating over the tennis regulars.
"Okay! Get ready, ya suckers!"
Sara held the ball in her left hand, staring at it.
After a few moments, she was still staring at it.
"Hey, are ya gonna serve or what? Are you scared?"
"Hell no!" she shouted back, chucking the ball into the air and swinging… and missing…
Pok, pok, pokpokpok…
It was silent for a moment, before Tim and Joe burst out laughing. Niou turned to Marui and said, "They're doomed."
Sara growled at the ball, before picking it up again and throwing it. This time she hit it, and with surprising speed, the ball bounced into Joe's square. He easily hit it back, heading towards Ururuka this time. She cringed and held out her racquet. The ball bounced on her racquet, causing it to fly out of her hand.
Once again, Tim and Joe burst out laughing.
"Haha, do you two even know how to play tennis?" Joe cried out after he'd calmed.
"Buchou…" Marui said desperately. Yukimura just smiled.
"Watch."
Sara clutched the tennis ball in her hand. "That's it, just you watch! I'm gonna take you down!" she shouted determinedly, and served.
Bang!
Tim and Joe stared agape at the spot where the ball landed. There was clearly a scuffed up imprint. They hardly saw the ball fly past.
Sara blinked, but recovered quickly. "Haha! See, told you I'd take you down! Haha!"
"That's not a polite thing to say to strangers," Ururuka said.
"Shush! Say that when you can play as well as me."
"That was just a fluke! We'll get the next point easy!"
Sakura smirked and served, remembering how she did it last time.
Bang!
Once again, they weren't ready for it, thinking it was a fluke. They stared at the spot… the ball had bounced in exactly the same spot as last time.
"Hey, what's the score?" Sara shouted at the regulars.
"30-15," Fuji replied, thoroughly enjoying this.
"And how many more points do I have to get before I win this game?"
"Well, if you want to win this set, then it's only two."
"Haha, you two are going down!
"Che, cocky brat," Joe muttered. Tim walked to him and whispered, "Aim for the other one, she's useless."
Sara served. This time, they hit it back, aiming towards Ururuka. Looking at the ball, she swung. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and as the ball hit her racquet, her wrist twisted. The ball bounded off her racquet and landed in the other side.
Easy, Joe thought, ready to hit the ball. The ball bounced, but to the side, almost parallel to the ground. Joe was let to swing at air.
"Oh my, was I meant to do that?" Ururuka said, before turning to Sara and winking at her.
Sakura smiled and winked back at Haruka. Time to teach these guys a lesson they won't forget.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"They are really good at tennis nya!" Eiji exclaimed.
"Saa, I assume they have their memory and personalities back," Fuji noted.
As if psychic, Haruka and Sakura both turned and glared at Yanagi and Inui. They froze and started sweating.
Niou came up from behind, putting a hand on each of their shoulders and said innocently, "Ah don't worry, they're only gonna kick you where the sun don't shine… repeatedly, I would imagine. No big deal!"
"Niou," Sanada warned.
"Hey, just sayin'."
Inui and Yanagi were about ready to leg it soon.
"Still, I feel sorry for those two guys."
Everyone agreed.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"Game set match, 6-0 to us. Who's better than who- hey wait, come back I hadn't finished!" Haruka shouted after the fleeing pair. Though Joe had the nerve to shout, "We'll get you for this!" as if in a superhero movie, them being the thwarted villains of course.
"Hmph, what sore losers," Haruka huffed, attempting to hide her irritation at the fact that she didn't get to finish her speech.
"It's good you have your personalities back to normal," Yukimura said, which turned out to be the wrong thing to say, as instantly the twins glared menacingly at the two data men responsible, well Sakura just looked to be polite ofcourse.
"There is a 99.9% chance we will not live through today if we do not run," Inui stated.
"There is a 26.8% chance we will not be caught," Yanagi replied back. They nodded in unison, before spinning on the spot and running away, fast.
"Oi you two! Get back here now!"
But they were already long gone.
"Raaa, those two! You!" she turned to Fuji.
"Hai?"
"You promised me a drink!"
"I promised to serve you some green tea," he corrected.
"I hate green tea! Buy me some coke," she said, her frustration ebbing away, albeit very slowly.
"Hai, What would you like, Sakura-san?"
"Excuse me?"
"I said I'd buy you a drink too, remember?" Fuji said, his eyes closed.
"O-Oh! You don't have to…" she said, now nervous at being offered a drink.
Before he could reply, Niou butted in, putting his arms around Sakura exclaiming, "Stop flirting with my girlfriend, Fuji!"
Sakura tilted her head in question.
"GIRLFRIEND?" Haruka shrieked. She stormed over towards Niou, a menacing purple cloud surrounding her.
Niou nervously laughed, before quickly slinking away.
"Please relax, Niou-san. I will just be buying them a drink," Fuji said, though you could tell he was enjoying this. (Well, he is a sadist…)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Everyone went to a sushi restaurant. Sakura was looking at her hand, realising that her palm was red and bruised, probably from Sara gripping the racquet too hard. Suddenly Marui popped his head around and said, "Sakura-chan that looks sore, maybe you should bandage it."
"No it is ok, plus I can't put a bandage on without both hands."
"No problem, where is the first aid kit?"
"Oh it's here," she replied handing him the box.
"Ok so now where is the bandages?" he said to himself as he rummaged inside the kit.
Once he found it, he said, "Sakura-chan show me your hand."
"Umm… O…ok…"
He then randomly wrapped the bandage around her hand. Once it was done, he looked at it and looked pretty pleased with himself.
"You have had practice haven't you?" Sakura said.
"How did you know?"
"I know more things than you think I do," she replied smiling. "Like you know the first match we had on our first day?"
"Yes…"
"I haven't told Ruka-neesan but you guys weren't giving it your all, were you?"
"No, no, no, we went all out except…"
"You guys were wearing your power wrists?" Sakura finished the sentence off.
"Yea…"
"Don't worry, it was really fun," she said.
"That's good to hear."
"Oh I forgot to give this to you," Sakura said pulling out a packet of golden kiwifruit bubble gum.
"Thank you!" he shouted.
He opened the packet and offered Sakura one. She gladly took it and started chewing on it.
"I was always wondering, where do you get all your sweets, I mean no offence but your sister works for you guys to live so how do you pay for the sweets?"
"Oh, you know the sweet shop next to the café my sister works at? Well I am friends with the owners so they give me free expired candies that were left over, I mean you can't get sick from expired things unless it is more than a year old so yea."
"Oh I see."
"But don't worry, I bought that gum so it is not expired," she said smiling.
They were interrupted when Eiji gave a large shout of, "Momo! You stole my Uni!" The Rikkai regulars continued to watch in amusement as Eiji stole a sushi from Fuji, then proceeded to blow flames and run around screaming.
"What was in that!" Eiji shouted at Fuji.
Fuji replied serenely, "It's wasabi sushi."
Eiji just lay on the floor, mumbling, "Should have known, should have known…"
Marui was snickering at that, when he was tapped on the shoulder. Marui turned to see Sanada standing there.
"Give me all of your sushi, or 30 laps around the restaurant," Sanada stated.
Marui cringed, quickly handing him all of his sushi. 'Sanada' was just about to stuff them in his mouth when Sanada from a few seats down said, "Niou, 30 laps around the restaurant."
'Sanada' pouted, before taking off the wig, stuffing as much sushi into his mouth and walking out of the restaurant. Everyone laughed, except Marui, who was mourning the loss of his sushi and plotting revenge.
-.-.-.-.-.-
Everyone started walking their own way home. Haruka and Sakura departed saying good bye. As they walked along the dark sidewalk with some of the regulars still talking on the other side of the road they bumped into a gang of high school students. Sakura hid behind Haruka quickly.
There were about six guys and they all looked drunk. One guy probably the leader, came up to Haruka and said in a drunken voice, "Hi there!"
Haruka didn't reply just stood there ready to do something if necessary.
The leader guy continued, "What's ya name sweetheart?"
"I don't have to tell a loser like you!"
"Ooh you have a bit of a temper dear although you're pretty, you know that?"
"…"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Umm… no."
"Oh that's a shame, a pretty gal like you should have someone to take care of you, how about me?" he said as he drew nearer to her.
"Stay back! You filthy drunk loser!" she hissed.
"Ooh a feisty one," he mocked and his gang followers all laughed.
The regulars on the other side realized what was happening and started crossing the road, but unfortunately the big road was too busy and they were taking ages to cross.
"Go away!" Haruka screamed as she slapped the gang leader hard across the face.
He looked a little dazzled for a second before slapping Haruka back. She fell onto the ground. Sakura then stepped forward and said in a shaky voice, "Stay away..."
"Oh look another princess!" one of the guys said before coming close to Sakura who randomly hit the guy in the face with her first aid kit.
"I like gals who aren't so violent…" the leader mocked before grabbing Sakura's arm and squeezing it hard, so hard she squealed and let go of the first aid kit.
By now the regulars were running, even jumping over the cars (if that is possible but you know how the laws of physics don't really apply to these people…) to help them.
Suddenly the hand holding Sakura was wretched off by someone and before a blink of an eye, the gang members were on the ground gasping in pain.
The regulars ran towards Haruka and Sakura.
"Are you alright?" Jackal asked.
"Yeah I am fine, probably will get some bruises tomorrow but I am fine. How is Sakura?" Haruka asked.
"I am fine Ruka-neesan just another bruise on my arm." Sakura replied.
"So how did this happen?" Niou suddenly said looking at the gang members on the ground.
"We are not sure." Haruka said.
Suddenly a figure appeared out of the darkness and said, "Ruka, Sa-chan that was a close one you know."
Everyone looked at the figure.
Haruka and Sakura exclaimed, "Yu-kun/Yu-niisan!"
"Long time no see my two little sparrows."
"Yu-NIISAN?" was all the regulars could say."
-.-.-.-.-
At the park everyone surrounded the bench.
"Hi my name is Tashihiro Yu. As you can guess from my name I am not related to Ruka or Sa. We know each other from the orphanage."
"Oh hi my name is Yukimura Seiichi/Tezuka Kunimitsu/Sanada Geniichirou/Oishi… (you get the drill)"
"Nice to meet you."
"Sorry, but why do you call Sakura-chan, Sa?" Marui asked.
"That is when she was younger she had this habit of saying 'Saa~' before a sentence…"
"Like you Fuji!" Eiji teased.
"…and I call Haruka, Ruka because she used to be my girlfriend." He continued.
"WHAT?"
"Even she could get a nice guy like you…" Niou said half-jokingly earning a kick from Haruka.
Yu laughed, "She used to be gentler before. Actually they were like my two younger sisters, so I called them my two sparrows."
"O… ok…"
"Well it is late maybe we should all go home."
"Oh yeah! Seeya!" everyone said before scattering.
A/N: Wow, this was pretty long! Well anyway, hope you enjoyed, and keep voting!
