A/N: Hope you like this chap! ^ ^
Disclaimer: I don't own POT
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Katou was feeling good in the morning. Even though last night was a bit hectic, she still found everything fun. And even though Yumi was a possible future criminal, she was okay to hang out with…for now…
Katou got up and went to go serve the guests since she did have to work in the inn with her mom and her younger sister wasn't really much help other than making the guests smile with her cuteness. Katou walked out the door and spotted her mom. She the walked to her and began a conversation.
"Good morning mom. Are there any guests I have to serve today?" She asked. Her mother shook her head.
"No but we did have a huge amount of boys come in yesterday in the rain. I believe little Kuni-kun was there as well," her mom smiled. "I also put them right next to your room where your friends are. Isn't that just lovely? I was going to tell you but you were having so much fun in your room that I didn't want to disturb you and your wonderful friends…Katou, are you alright?" Her mother added.
Katou was already pale. 'How much do they know?' she thought. 'Wait, Yumi was shouting in the room saying I'm a man with boobs…did Kunimitsu hear that!?' she wanted to kill Yumi so badly right now.
"Oh and they also went inside the spa a few minutes after you entered with your friends. They were all red when the came out hehe." Katou's mother added. Katou felt like dying.
'Oh my god…I'm pretty sure Amane, Airi, Sakuno-chan and Natsume would die of embarrassment. Sakamoto and Usio will not react except maybe try to blackmail the guys. Emi would faint of shock…' Katou kept playing millions of scenarios in her head.
"Mom, I'll go prepare breakfast for my friends." She staggered to the kitchen.
"Okay, have fun dear!" Her mother smiled, not knowing her own daughter's horror.
'What am I supposed to say to the others? Wait, maybe the guys didn't hear anything. I can't be sure unless I see them…' Katou thought.
Katou laughed hysterically and then almost fainted. She quickly got up and started to prepare breakfast. This would be a day where Katou would never tell the rest of the girls that the guys were there right next to them, sleeping under the same roof.
~Monday: Back in School~
"Katou, you look horrible." Sakamoto commented.
"Only one truth will never be told." She mumbled.
"Now you're talking nonsense." Emi added.
"Oh come on, we have to hurry to practice." Katou said, dragging both Sakamoto and Emi to the courts.
As soon as they arrived, the regulars were already there but Sakuno was the first one to be on the courts practicing her shots. She would be practicing with a second year. She would show no mercy and would make sure the shots were hard to return.
"I still haven't shown my full potential!" Sakuno's opponent said.
Sakuno couldn't believe that there were dishonest people but then again there were times like that when she saw some of Ryoma's matches in middle school so she couldn't be too sure about it.
Sakuno had been beating a number of kids. She would challenge each one when they were finished changing. She had a goal, a motive, and she wanted to get there so bad.
"Sakuno-chan, I need to talk to you." Katou said. Sakuno nodded and went next to her captain.
"Sakuno…I want to play a match with you." Katou said. Sakuno was so shocked to hear that. She knew that the captain was always smiling and never looked serious but she didn't look playful because Katou had more like a comfortable, casual air around her. Sakuno also noticed that Katou said her name without a suffix.
"Uh…why do you want to have a match with me all of a sudden?" She asked.
"Why do you want to challenge all the girls that come out of the changing room all of a sudden?" Katou asked. Sakuno took a step back.
"Okay, I'll play a match against you captain." She said. It would be a wonderful opportunity to play a match against her captain. She had never seen her style of play because the match she had with Tezuka was too short.
'If I can beat the captain then I'll be one step closer to beating Ryoma-kun' Sakuno thought, determined.
"We'll play after practice when everyone leaves." Katou said. She then walked away, dismissing Sakuno. Sakuno nodded and went back to practice.
-After Practice-
Everything seemed peaceful and steady. The wind would gentle blow, the tree would slightly move, and it would be quiet. Yet there were two girls still at the courts, Katou and Sakuno.
"You serve first." Katou said. Sakuno shook her head.
"No, you go first captain." She smiled.
"I said you serve Sakuno." Katou said as she slightly glared at her. Sakuno was a bit shocked. The always kind and happy captain looked like she was angry. Sakuno nodded and went to go serve first. 'Why is the captain acting so weird?' She asked herself.
Sakuno started her serve, sending the ball to the right corner of Katou's field. Katou returned it easily. She knew that Sakuno was only testing her first to try to figure out her style and then counter it since Sakuno didn't see Katou's playing style during the match with her and Tezuka. After that, it broke into a rally. During their rally, Katou and Sakuno would hold a conversation.
"What's your motive for playing tennis, Sakuno?" Katou asked, returning the ball to the far left of the court.
"There…I want to beat someone, to make him notice me." Sakuno replied, returning the ball with a load of power to the center of Katou's court.
"That's all? Nothing else?" She asked, returning the ball again.
"What do you mean? That's all." Sakuno replied returning the ball.
Katou watched the all carefully. She watched it slow down and she could hear her heart beats slow down as well. 'One…two…three!' she counted three heart beats and hit the ball in drop shot fashion. The ball quickly went over the net but slowed down and dropped near the net. She had just done a rougher version of Amane's timed ball.
Sakuno was speechless. "A-Amane-sempai's drop shot called timed ball." Sakuno said out loud, almost breathless.
Katou didn't stop at Sakuno's reaction. She went to the back of the court to begin her serve. As she served, Sakuno slowly regained her conscious back. She watched as Katou served the ball, not believing the shot that she just did a few moments ago.
"Tell me Sakuno," Katou served the ball only with her stance changing slightly. "After you beat him, what will you do next?" she asked as the ball made its way to Sakuno's side of the court.
Sakuno made her way up to net, attempting to return the ball. She was too late since the ball bounced up towards her face but when to Katou's side of the court b hitting the fence. The shot was Katou's reverse kick serve.
"I…I'll think about it when it happens." She said.
"Think about it now." Katou returned the ball and scored a point. She had been winning the whole time. It was already 4 games to love.
"The whole team called you Sakuno-chan for different reasons. My reason for calling you Sakuno-chan," Katou returned the ball and scored another point, "was because I didn't fully accept you to the team." She finished.
Sakuno felt a pang in her heart. 'Did everyone else think this way too?' She thought. She noticed that the girls would call each other either their first or last name but without a suffix (Excluding when Airi calls out to 'Usio-chan' or when Emi calls Katou 'Neko-chan').
"I already knew your motives were different from ours. We are a team that loves to play tennis. If you want to beat someone then fine. When you beat that someone, you have to get out of the team." Katou said, scoring the last point with her winning 6 games to love.
"If I'm correct, the person you want to beat is Echizen. I can't beat Kunimitsu yet he's on the same level as Echizen maybe more or less and since you can't beat me, you can't beat Echizen." Katou said.
"But I won a game against him!" She argued.
"Did he use his twist serve even once?" She asked. Sakuno froze. She quickly scanned her memory of the match, trying not to miss a single detail. She noticed that he didn't use any special moves on her and he still won those 3 games.
"The Kanto tournaments are coming. The only ones that can participate are the family of friends, in other words, the Seigaku High Regular Girls' team." Katou held out her hand to Sakuno and smiled.
"Be a part of our family." She said. Sakuno felt bad. Tennis was a sport that held the 'family of friends' together and she disturbed the balance but now she could be a part of that family.
"I can't…" She said. It surprised Katou a bit. "I can't because I don't have your motives but…I still want to be a part of it." She added quietly.
"Then be a part of it." Sakuno looked up to hear a different voice. It was the girls lined up near fence. "We all have our reasons for being here and our motives changed the longer we stayed here" Emi smiled.
"We already think of you as part of our family. If we didn't then we probably would have gone to a park instead of the museum when the GNO started." Amane said.
"Yeah, besides, Sakuno-chan, we all love you like a little sister!" Yumi shouted. Sakuno felt something pat her head. She looked up and saw Katou softly patting her head.
"You better go home, Sakuno-chan. I bet there's someone waiting for you." Katou smiled. Sakuno didn't know what she meant but she left in a hurry, wanting to know if Katou was lying or not.
Sakuno ran to the entrance and saw a shad figure standing there. As she came closer, she noticed that she shady person was drinking a can of ponta and everyone knows what little bugger drinks so much ponta that he's practically 80% grape ponta instead of water.
"R-Ryoma-kun? What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Waiting for you, what took you so long?" He asked nonchalantly.
Sakuno knew that Roma was like this. She would always come to him all the time, trying to strike up a conversation with him and after 2 years of trying, the guy would finally begin talking back like he was more comfortable. Sakuno found Ryoma to be very cat-like since it would take her a long time to make this cat more comfortable around her.
She also noticed that he would be nicer to her yet not show a lot due to his 0% experience in love and 100% density as Sakamoto predicted. She knew that he wouldn't know her feelings and she was fine with that because at least he was more comfortable around her.
The two walked home and Sakuno began to remember her goal. 'Beat Ryoma-kun and make him notice me…' She smiled at her goal.
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A/N: Hope all you like it. Please leave a review. ^ ^
