Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of the characters. I don't own any franchises, songs, video games, ect mentioned either (like Facebook, song lyrics, and DDR).
If you notice any spelling, grammar, plot errors please let me know. I will fix them as soon as I can. Reviews are always nice, like the chocolate syrup on top of a banana sundae, but aren't necessary.
.-.
Buchou and the other seniors have left the team in our hands. We've already started promoting the new season of tennis and there are a few new faces but mostly it's the same 1st and 2nd years. Next year we'll have a new round of freshman to take care of. All the girls mill about laughing and talking to each other, not really paying attention to Kiyomi, Imai, and myself. Imai clears her throat, they don't move. Kiyomi shouts "Hey!", they don't more.
"Hey!" I yell much louder and with more force than Kiyomi did. Everyone snapped to attention. "Line up!" Only a few people move. "Now!" Everyone runs to their places. Us three Captains all glance at each other trying to gather what we'll be doing.
"Alright." Imai steps forward, "We are the new Captains of the tennis team. If you didn't already know us; I'm Imai Hoshi, Mori Kiyomi, and Kokawa Amaya."
"We are not going to do that whole Captain, Co-Captain deal." Kiyomi steps forward and Imai steps back. "We're all acting as Captain and Co-Captain. None of us care how you refer to us, Buchou or Fukubuchou, ect, so long as it's respectful." A girl snickers in the background and I step forward.
"Even though it is off season we still need to keep ourselves and we can't get lazy and slack off. If you want to make it to the team you need to practice constantly. We will not tolerate anybody fooling around."
"We will know if something bad has happened." Kiyomi says.
"And you must keep your grades up. Failing marks will not be accepted." Imai adds. We pause and Imai clears her throat, "Ok, let's do twenty laps and stretches." Everyone runs off and the three of us keep close to each other as we run a few laps.
"Why don't we work on serves and backhands?" Imai says. "I saw a lot of weak backhands while we were at Nationals and from watching practice."
"Yea." Kiyomi nods her head.
"Aa." I nod my head too.
Twenty laps later Kiyomi gets everyone to double up and work on serves, and those that don't have room to practice on work on backhands in the sidelines. I wander around picking up a spare ball and tossing it back to a small black haired girl who smiles weakly at me. My eyes skim over everyone; their form, power, speed, accuracy. There are some people that clearly are just on the team to say they're on a team and then there are others that have potential, like the little black hair girl.
Imai and Kiyomi are chatting when I walk over, a new set of girls are practicing serves and their grunts and harrumphs act as background noise. "I think we should start working on doubles soon." Kiyomi says, "Amaya and I didn't have long to master doubles and I want the next pair to be good." I agree.
"Yea but you two turned out great."
"I don't want to risk it." I tell Imai solidly. "We should also start mastering at least simple formations with you, just in case."
"Yea!" Kiyomi bounces on her feet. "Plus then we can see how good the other team is." A tennis ball whizzes by our heads and we all turn to a second year with short spiky green hair. She has snake bites, a nose ring, and an industrial bar in her ear, along with three piercings on her lobs and another halfway between. Piercings aren't allowed but I guess since they're all clear dots I'll let it slide until tournaments arrive.
"Sorry guys." She says before she lifts the ball and turns back to her partner, a girl with long, flowing, baby blue hair and a large eyes. What an interesting pair. I watch them as Imai and Kiyomi set up round robin exercises. The punk has a powerful serve but the blue haired one has no problem controlling the ball and the power how she wants.
"Hey, who are they?" I point.
Imai peers over at them and smiles. "Oh that's Choshi Sachiko and Hida Umeko, they're in some of my classes. They're a surprisingly good pair but they never tried to get Doubles Two."
"Wait… wasn't there another good doubles team?" I look to Kiyomi who nods her head remembering as well.
"They were third years." Imai says.
"Damn." Kiyomi mutters and we watch Choshi and Hida and the other players.
After practice the three of us settle in our new office and set up a sign up sheet for doubles teams. I really want to see Choshi and Hida in action. I'm glad freshman usually don't make it to the team because we can set everything up now and have a whole year to hone our skills.
"Ok, so predicting Choshi and Hida become our Doubles Two, who makes Singles One and Two? I mean Singles Two is a huge responsibility… and we no longer have a secure three win." Imai leans back on her chair.
"I have a feeling that Choshi and Hida are good." I say.
"Yea, people that different don't get together if they don't play well together."
Imai nods her head, "Ok, well we still need a strong team, we're winning Nationals."
"Yosh!" I toss my fist into the air and Kiyomi laughs at me.
"Doubles first, then we'll work on singles." Imai nods her head surely.
.-.
Boy oh boy are Choshi and Hida good. They give Imai and myself a run for our money. Granted Imai and I aren't the greatest of partners but they're still good. Choshi dances back and forth along the net, her eyes taking in everything all at once while Hida observes and moves like a tiger. They're combination is good, Choshi seems to pay more attention to the ball and less to her partner so Hida is constantly on the guard and sets up moves for her partner. It's a good combination, in all honesty it reminds me of Marui and Jackal's play style.
I guzzle water down and watch the girls work on doubles formations. Besides Choshi and Hida the rest are decent at best. One girl actually knocks out her partner from swinging without looking around. Imai has to drag both girls off, one's knocked out and the partner is crying. Kiyomi and I glance at each other and sigh. No more doubles practice from here on out. Imai saunters back moments later rubbing her head.
"Man, clearly people need help with doubles."
"Yea, I think we need to work on doubles until at least spring."
"Agreed."
The three of us peer over the young teens attempting to play doubles. Choshi and Hida dominate the courts until I tell them ten cool down laps and everyone can hit the showers. First years stay behind and pick up balls, I can hear their grumbling about moving up in the world. Only a small handful of people run the laps and I step into the locker rooms to find everyone changing.
"Did you run your laps?" I ask loudly.
"Why are we training so hard?" A cocky second year leans against her locker in nothing more than her bra and a pair of short shorts.
"Because we need to prepare ourselves while we have the chance. I will not have a last minute team put together because you refuse to put any effort into the team."
"I'm not going to listen to you." The second year sneers at me.
"And you don't need to be on the tennis team." I fold my arms and glare. She puffs up her cheeks, gathers her things, and storms out of the room. Everyone is dead silent. "And if anyone else doesn't want to put effort into this team you can all just leave now. We will not tolerate slackers this year." I knew a lot of faces were unfamiliar, Buchou would never let anyone like these girls on the team. A good handful of girls actually stalk out of the room. The rest stare at me with wide eyes before racing off to the showers. Guess I get to be Bad Buchou.
"What was up with everyone stalking out?" Kiyomi asked me as I wait for the others to get out of the showers.
I shrug, "I just told them we need to put effort into this team and they left."
"Good, we don't need slackers on this team." Kiyomi stretches out beside me as the girls slowly filter out. Is this what Buchou had to deal with? Cranky, bitchy, slackers all the time? Wonderful.
.-.
"Being Buchou is hard." I whine as Sanada and I wander home side by side. Sanada's been staying late to study for exams and other fun things I get to deal with next year.
"Aa."
I whine for a moment longer before I intertwine our fingers and tug him close until I can wrap an arm around his waist. Sanada's solid under my grasp and I lean into his side enjoying every minute of it. With a loud sigh Sanada puts his arm around my shoulder.
"You'll make a fine Buchou." Sanada murmurs.
"Thanks." I murmur back. We reach my house and Sanada hugs me close. "Can't you come over tonight?" I mumble into his chest.
"I can't, I'm sorry Amaya."
"It's alright… wouldn't want to tempt you with kisses now would I?" I wink up at him trying to lighten the mood. Sanada just rolls his eyes and runs a hand through my hair before striding away. The week is almost over and then I can kiss Sanada again.
.-.
"Screw you!" I scream at the top of my lungs before slamming the door behind me. Kiyomi and Imai pound on the door to the office but it won't budge. I curl into the corner and sob. Stupid bitches! Why the hell can't people be nice? Yamasaki showed up with a hoard of little lackies and challenged us to a match. We beat them of course but when Yamasaki started shouting all these lies and rumors about me, Kiyomi, Imai and our new doubles team Choshi and Hida I lost it and punched her in the face. I understand why Kirihara was so violent in middle school, it felt so satisfying to feel her blood gushing against my knuckles. Now that the emotions have calmed I feel horrible. People bang on the door, I just sit in the corner, biting my hand in attempts to stop the screams from flying out of me.
"Open the door." Sanada's voice travels through the door with ease. I squeeze my eyes shut, frig, Sanada's just going to punish me too. "Now." It takes every ounce of willpower I have to crawl over to the door and unlatch it.
"Just Genichiro!" I yell through the door before scurrying back to my corner.
The door closes softly and I expect Sanada to start screaming at me but there's nothing but silence. After a moment I glance up at Sanada expecting to find anger in his eyes, instead I find sadness, disappointment, and worry. That scares me more. With a heavy sigh Sanada strides to me and settles beside me, carefully he grabs my hand that's currently in my mouth and pulls it. I let go and stare at the indents in my palm until they're enveloped by Sanada's large hands.
"What happened?" Sanada murmurs gently.
I tell him everything. "I just couldn't stand listening to her say such horrid things about us…. All of us… she called Hida the c-word and she called Choshi a mindless sl…" I trail off and wipe at my eyes. "I just… I just couldn't stop myself."
"That was very irresponsible."
"I know." I sob. "I know. I know. I know." I bury my face in my knees and cry. "I feel horrible about punching someone… no so much that it was Yamasaki but…"
"Kokawa," last names means bad news, "you do realize this means you should step down from your position and ask the rest of the team if they'd take you back." I nod my head and we fall silent for a moment. Sanada moves closer, his breath hot on my ear, "I heard it was a good punch. I wish I could have seen it." I smile and look up to Sanada who has a small smirk on his face. "Mind if we void the bet?"
"Only if you except that you lose." I reply.
Sanada lightly smacks the back of my head and says "Tarundoru." before he kisses me.
.-.
A/N: Be prepared for new characters -_- I was looking through my notes for this story and I had two girl's playing doubles back a long time ago but I don't remember where or what they looked like thus they were third years and we get Choshi and Hida!
Also Happy Halloween don't forget to read the latest addition to the "Life of a Teenager" series "Scary Life of a Teenager"