I dream of rainbows, Bright in the sky,
I dream of lightning, together we cry,
I dream of flowers, I feel such delight,
I dream of spiders, and I scream with fright,
I dream of fish, swimming in the sea,
I dream of sharks, coming after me,
I dream of lambs, frolicking around,
I dream of wolves, Hunting, no sound,
I dream of children, several of them ours,
I dream of them waking, Being up for hours,
Stay with me forever and together we'll cope,
Because when I dream of you, I dream of hope,
Dream awhile with me and together we'll see,
Not all dreams are bad, so dream along with me.
- Cathryn Martin
Without Oshitari or Jirou around, Hikari felt almost naked. It was like her shield had suddenly gone missing. She knew now why Oshitari was being so serious. As she walked the halls, it was like all eyes were on her. Not just the usual people staring at her light hair, but it was like every single female of the school population was staring at her with accusing eyes. She should have known this was going to happen. She should have refused Jirou. Yelled at him even to keep his clothes. Because this was going to be worse than sitting in a classroom with wet clothes.
The target was bigger now. She knew it was. And as she made her way up the stairs to her third class of the day, she made sure to stay close to the railing because every now and then someone would shove into her. And every time someone would snicker.
She made it to the floor her class was on, and she wasn't afraid to admit that she was happy to be on flat ground. Of course that didn't stop the occasional shove or trip attempt. It was a good thing that she was light on her feet. After another attempt at being tripped, Hikari looked up to see Hiyoshi walking farther down the hall in her direction. She had never actually talked to the player, but she knew of him. Jirou had talked about him now and again when he talked about practice.
She wasn't sure if he knew anything about her, but she needed relief from the struggle she was in. She was no longer thinking long term. If she thought about, it would have been best to ignore the regular, but she wasn't sure how long her patience with this treatment would last. She made up her mind.
She sped up her walk. "Hiyoshi!" She called out.
The regular had been looking down at the ground and looked up. He noticed her right away. It was hard not to with that hair of hers. But he also remembered her at practice the one day when the Seigaku players had showed up at their practice. He knew she was friends with Oshitari and Jirou. And he assumed the text Oshitari sent was about her.
"Hello." He simply stated unsure of what to say to her when she stopped in front of her. However, the looks she was getting did not go unnoticed by the tennis player.
"Are you going to class?" She fidgeted with her clothes a little.
Hiyoshi noticed they belonged to Jirou. He nodded in response to her question. "You?" She nodded also. "Which way is your class?" She pointed in the direction he had just come from. He knew he would end up being late to to his own class, but he couldn't let her go about on her own. "I'll walk you."
Hikari's face and body visibly relaxed. "Thank you so much." She said a little lower so no one would hear her except him. They walked in the direction of her class in silence. It was slightly awkward. Hiyoshi was basically glaring at the people that even so much as glanced at her the wrong way. When they reached her class, Hikari bowed to Hiyoshi. "Thank you, again." She muttered.
Hiyoshi was going to answer, but when he looked up, something caught his eye. He lunged forward causing Hikari to jump since his hand flew right by her face. When he pulled his hand back it was covered in the yoke of a broken egg. Hikari's face dropped at the sight of it. Hiyoshi continued to glare at the people behind her. Part of her wanted to look back at who it was, but she didn't know it she would be able to control the anger that was slowly beginning to develop.
"You should go to class." Hiyoshi said. He looked down at his hand. "I need to go wash this off."
Hikari felt terrible. She did this to him. By letting him walk her to class... she did this. "I'm sorry."
Hiyoshi shrugged. "Just don't be weak." He stated and walked away.
Hikari walked into her classroom. She felt guilty. She should have dealt with the problem herself instead of pulling someone else in with her. She sat down and could practically feel her anger growing. It had been some time since she felt this irritated about something. She usually only got this bad when she was playing tennis. Whenever she felt threatened during a match, her competitiveness to win would take over. And she hated to lose and right now she felt like she was losing. Big time.
Through the whole class she was thinking about ways to possibly get even, but everything seemed to turn back against her. There was only one way that she could get away with it, but it was a little risky. If anything, she had no doubt that she could take care of herself. She was probably going to be stronger than any of the girls that hated her. And she knew, hands down, she could take Yumi on.
As she left her classroom it was lunch time and she was starving. The stress of the day caused her stomach to growl. As she approached her locker she noticed that it was slightly ajar. Her stomach dropped. "You have got to be kidding me..." She opened it expecting everything to be missing, but she was wrong. Everything was there. She looked over everything twice just in case she forgot about something. She sighed in relief. Her books were still there, and so were her clothes. She looked over her door. Maybe someone guessed her combination? Nothing was bent out of place. She sighed when she realized that she would have to go get her combination changed for her locker. And then that's when she noticed. Her lunchbox... it was gone. Her stomach growled in protest. "Of course... the day I don't bring any money with me..."
She didn't go to the cafeteria. If she did, it would just make her hungrier. So she made her way outside. Maybe if she enjoyed some fresh air and took a nap, she would forget about her hunger. Fat chance. She sat there under a tree and everything around her reminded her of food. She began to wonder if the grass and leaves were edible.
"Oh? Isn't it Hikari?" She looked up at the sound of her name. It was Gakuto. He was holding his lunch in his hands. Hikari's mouth watered and her stomach growled. She lowered her head in embarrassment. Gakuto laughed. "What? You forget to bring your lunch?"
Hikari frowned but quickly laughed. She rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah... I uh must have left it at home."
Gakuto wasn't stupid. He knew what probably happened to her lunch, but he would feign innocent for her. He didn't want her to dwell on it. He pulled out some bread he bought a little earlier. He had seen her locker open and figured something bad had happened. The bread was just in case. If she had had her food, he would have just eaten it himself. "Here." He tossed her the bread and she caught it easily.
She stared at it. "Are you sure I can have this?" She asked. Gakuto nodded. "Thank you!" She said happily. She tore the package open and began stuffing her face.
Gakuto laughed. She was an interesting one. He sat down near her and continued eating his lunch. He would offer her little bits of his lunch so that she ate more than just bread. He would be fine for practice today. It was supposed to be very easy. In fact, the regulars technically didn't have to go. He just felt like it.
Hikari sat under the tree content. "You are a life saver." She smiled at him and offered him her hand. "My name's Fuji Hikari." She offered. "I don't think we've been formally introduced."
Gakuto smiled. "Mukahi Gakuto." He took her hand.
Eventually it was time for lunch to end. The two said their goodbyes and they went separate ways. Hikari had free period right after lunch. So instead of going back into the building to do homework like she had originally planned at the end of the day, she decided to stay away from the masses and stay outside. It was nice enough and she needed the fresh air.
As she wandered, however, she was not prepared to come across a large group of fangirls. They glared at her. This was what Hikari had been waiting for... wasn't it? So why did her throat go dry? Was it the sheer number of them. She didn't think she would go up against so many. Unfortunately, Hikari didn't see Yumi with them anywhere.
"We have something to discuss with you." A girl at the front declared.
Hikari just stared for a second. The only thought running through her head was: Well of course you have something to talk to me about... But she answered like she had no idea what was going on. "What do you want to talk about?" Was it better to act dumb in this situation? Probably not, but it was too late now.
"You need to stay away from the tennis team!" A younger girl beside the first yelled. She looked like she had tears in her eyes. Hikari wanted to shake her to make her open her eyes. They were just teenage boys. It wasn't like they were famous or going to become famous. They were just boys.
"Relax, Emi." The first said.
The second, Emi, stared in shock. "But Hana..."
"I said Relax..."
Hikari's mind was still trying to process everything. She was smart, but this was hard. One wrong move could set them all off at the same time, and that... that would be bad. "Have I done something wrong?" She asked. Then decided to be a little braver. "I have a few friends that play on the tennis team."
She watched as everyone tensed. The one who remained cool and collected was Hana. If Hikari remembered correctly from rumors, Hana was Yumi's right hand man. No wonder she was so relaxed. "Yes..." Hana said slowly. "But you've become too close to Akutagawa Jirou-sama." She motioned to Hikari's clothes.
Hikari laughed. "Oh this?" She pulled at the baggy clothes. "Someone spilled water on me this morning and Jirou forced me to wear them so I wouldn't get sick. You should blame whoever threw the water on me for this." She noticed a few girls glower and others seemed to tense even more.
"You think this is a joke?" Hana asked raising her voice a little. "Jirou-sama belongs to everyone. The tennis team belongs to everyone. We've always been watching them! You can't just waltz in and take them from us!"
Hikari held in her smirk. If she could just get them to throw the first move. Then she could retaliate in self-defense. "The tennis team doesn't belong to anyone." Hikari stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "Maybe instead of idolizing them all the time, you should make conversation. Being friends with them instead of trying to threaten others who do."
That hit the nail of the head. Hana raised her head up to slap Hikari in the face. Hikari knew she could dodge it, but she needed physical evidence that she had been targeted. She could hear Emi encouraging Hana. Hikari closed her eyes and prepared for the hit when Hana's hand began to descend, but it never connected. Instead, Hikari heard a collective of gasps.
She opened her eyes to see Shishido and Ootori standing behind her. Shishido had a firm grip on Hana's wrist. "Is this any way to treat your classmate?" He asked almost coldly.
Ootori the always kind one seemed disappointed or almost angry at the group of girls. "I suggest you leave before I call a teacher." He threatened just as coolly. From what Hikari knew of him, he was usually an easy going underclassman. But at the word of Ootori, and the presence of Shishido, the group dispersed aside from Hana and Emi.
"Let go..." Hana struggled under his grip. Emi was too shocked to speak. She stared wide eyed at the two tennis players.
"I'll let go." He stated. "But only if you give me your word that you won't threaten Hikari again."
Hana practically growled. "Fine." She mumbled. Shishido let go and Hana nursed her sore wrist. The two girls quickly left like the others had.
"Are you okay?" Ootori asked in his usually calm tone. Hikari nodded. She was slightly surprised at the sudden appearance of the two players also. "Are you sure?"
Hikari shook her head and nodded again. "Yes." She stated. "Thank you..." She seemed to be doing that a lot today. "Where did you come from?"
Shishido spoke up. "We have free period so we were going to go to the tennis courts for a little."
"Then we saw you and decided to help." Ootori smiled sweetly. "I'm Ootori Choutarou." He held out his hand and Hikari shook it.
"Fuji Hikari."
She turned and took the other boy's hand. "Shishido Ryou."
"It's nice to meet the two of you." Hikari said with a smile. Though she was a little bummed that she didn't get to blow off some steam, she had to thank the two of them from keeping the situation under control. "Thank you... again. I really appreciate your help."
Ootori shrugged. "Anything for a friend." He explained. Hikari's heart skipped a beat. That word: Friend. It meant a lot to her. Growing up, it was always difficult to make friends because of her light hair. They teased her and pulled her hair a lot. To hear someone call her a friend made her want to jump for joy.
She smiled brightly at them. "May I accompany you to the courts?" She asked. "I love to watch tennis." They nodded and motioned for her to follow. The whole way there she rambled about how she saw them play a little at practice the one day, but explained that she had been watching Jirou and Oshitari's match the most. However, she did think the two of them held a lot of promise.
And so Hikari continued with her day. The only thing she could hope for was that the last half would be better than the first.
Hello. Okay. I told marchmellowluver that this was going to get done by Sunday and I apologize that I'm late. So I made it longer than I had originally planned. (PS thanks for the review). ALSO a big thanks to babiix3, waterflygirl, sleeepymode for following the story! I hope that means you like it and Hikari and I thank you for your support.