Chapter 10

"What's wrong with you?" Akashi asked as she sat down next to Niou. He was lying on the grass shielding his eyes from the sun with the sleeve of his jersey.

"My mom walked in on me with a girl," replied the mopey Niou.

"Eww."

"Yep."

"I take it you two haven't had the talk," Akashi made bunny ears with her fingers on the last word.

"Nope."

"But she's a nurse."

"So?"

"You'd think that she's seen her fair share of naked people-"

"Hey, this is my mom we're talking about."

"Sorry," but Akashi was grinning, she gently nudged her moody friend. "Honestly, with the way you've been carrying on, I'm surprised she hasn't caught you sooner."

"Shut up."

"I mean, you've been hooking up with everyone everywhere, the locker room, the classrooms, behind the school-"

"Shut up!" Niou repeated.

"Your mom had you didn't she? I'm sure she regretted it the moment you clawed your way out but to have a baby she'd need to get pregnant and in order to do so she'd-"

"Enough!"

"I mean she'd not the Virgin Mary, she'd had to-"

"Hey!" Niou quickly sat up and glared at his best friend who smiled sweetly at him. "She's my mom, as far as I'm concerned she and my dad were friends and they held each other's hands too tight."

"Well she'd have to be holding something-"

"Satsuki-"

"I mean, she'd had to have done it at least once in order-"

"Satsuki enough!"

"I'm just saying she'd be understanding," said Akashi with an evil grin. "She had you when she was sixteen didn't she?"

"And a fat lot of good it's done her," Niou snapped, leaning back on the ground. Akashi's expression softened, however she said in reply.

"It's not the end of the world. Now, you walking in on her, that-"

"Satsuki you evil-"

"Akashi? Akashi?" said Sanada pulling her away from her day dreaming. "You okay?" he asked, the two sat together in a small cafe near Rikkai.

"Yeah," Akashi replied with a small smile, truthfully she wasn't, while it was already their third date she still had no idea what they were doing. She'd been in two relationships in the past, one lasted a week, the other a whole year, in the end they both crashed and burned, almost taking the Rikkai tennis club along with it. "No," Akashi admitted, Sanada frowned.

"What is it?" he asked, his tone worried. Akashi took a good look at him, Sanada was always the steady one, the strict and reclusive steady one, someone she'd never be in the same room alone if she had a choice, because he was never really much fun, a year ago she'd rather be stuck with the monotoned Yanagi Renji than Sanada, but there they were, alone, talking and she was having a great time. Things were complicated in her life, Akashi didn't want to add to the drama, but he made her feel at ease, it gave her a break from the constant worrying.

"What are we doing?" she asked him.

"We're talking," he answered simply.

"No, that's not what I meant, I mean, what are we doing, the two of us."

"Huh?" Sanada was clearly confused.

"Is this just a friendly get together? Are we just meeting and catching up? Or is this a date?"

"I thought it was," Sanada replied taking Akashi off guard by his honesty. "I mean, this is nice, I like being with you, I was hoping we were becoming more than just friends."

"Just friends?" Akashi asked with a smile.

"You know what I mean. But, I guess we weren't very clear were we?" Akashi shook her head.

"I'm bad at relationships," she said. "You were there, you saw how my last one panned out, we nearly destroyed the whole club if it weren't for you and Masaharu. It was really bad, and-"

"Then it's a good thing we attend different schools, and that the club in danger now is Hyotei," Sanada remarked.

"I mean it wasn't just him, it was me too, I neglected him, we went days without talking to each other outside of class and club activities, and, and I'm messy. I eat messily, my room is messy, my life is messy. I not kidding, I am a ball of nerves waiting to go off and explode, and I have nuclear capability, I will bring you down as well, and I don't want to do that. But I like you, I really do and you're so sweet to me now, I mean, you were always nice to me but you kinda always had this stick up your a-you know what? Never mind, but-"

"Are you done?" Sanada asked, cutting off her rambling.

"Kinda."

"I can handle messy, the club is messy, not just because of you, but because we have a rare collection of social paths, pathological liars, borderline autistics and someone with split personalities. I can handle messy. So... is this a date to you?" he asked her. Akashi paused for a moment.

"Yes," she clarified, Sanada smiled, she'd rarely ever seen him smile in the past but now Akashi wished he'd do so more often, he had such a nice smile. "Is this a date to you?" she asked, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Yes."

"Okay," said Akashi, there was an awkward pause. Slowly Sanada reached across the table and placed his unsure hand over hers, Akashi watched as he wrapped his fingers around hers. "Okay then," she said again, this time with a smile.

XXXX

"You seem happy these days," Atobe remarked at morning training the next day. Akashi had a small smile on her face as she watched those who were late run laps around the courts. "Well, you've always had a sadistic streak but your smile today has a rare glow to it."

"Does that mean I'm dull normally?" Akashi asked, however there was still a slight smile.

"Not at all, but you're a dark and twisty sort of person, so a your idea of a cheerful is...actually I got nothing, but you're not normally bright and glowy," Atobe replied.

"Thank you?"

"No problem, what's gotten into you? Someone in your life?" A small smile appeared on Akashi's lips. "No way, did Oshitari ask you?"

"Ask me what?" she asked curiously. Atobe stumbled over his words during the next part, but he managed to piece together.

"Umm, to call him by his first name?" He said lamely, Akashi smiled brightly and nodded.

"That? That was ages ago."

"Yeah, I guess so," Atobe frowned in confusion, if it wasn't Oshitari, who was it? Changing the subject he watched her pull out what looked like a melted chocolate bar from her pocket. "What are you eating?" Atobe asked as he watched Akashi devour some type of brown candy in clear wrapping.

"I don't know," Akashi replied. "But it's delicious, Choutaro got them from some old lady yesterday and he gave one to me."

"Why is an old lady giving Ootori candy?" Akashi shrugged.

"He helped her carry stuff down some stairs, he's a good kid like that," she answered taking another bite.

"He's an absolute gem," Atobe replied. "Is that why you made him a regular?" he asked, holding up the updated roster for the coming tournament.

"Nope," Akashi denied. "I did no such thing."

"I have paper proof in my hands and you dare deny?" Atobe asked dramatically. Akashi smiled in response.

"You're such a drama queen, riddle me this, describe my hand writing?"

"It depends on your mood, when you try it's neat and clean, when you're lazy it's chicken scratch." Atobe took a closer look at the roster. "And this is neither, you don't do those loopy things with your letters."

"The coach made those changes," Akashi said taking another bite of candy. "As much as I like the kid, I thought it was too soon to be honest."

"Yeah," Atobe agreed. "I guess this is the coach pushing him out of the nest." Akashi sighed, clearly worried. "He'll be fine, he'll spread his wings and start flying."

"And if he doesn't?"

"Then he'll be bumped down to just another member of the club."

"So he'll become a cheerleader, great, just great."