So... did anyone notice the changing coverimages? xDDD
Anyway, THANK YOU FOR THE EPIC SUPPORT EVERYONEEE! You guys are the best! Hehehe.
WARNING: Brooding and kind of... confusing. Hopefully, I'd get to explain some loopholes to you in due time. xD
Please don't hesitate to review, minna-san! :) I loooove to read all of them and thanks in advance for giving me extra bits of your time. xD
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I Own Prince of Tennis
…
CHAPTER XIV: Turbulence
"Previously on Preservation: I ki—"
"Who are you talking to?" That was Gakuto, staring at Niou with a mix of anxiety and amusement. Mostly the latter though.
He grinned. "Oh, me? I'm just breaking the fourth wall." Just before turning to where Ryoma was. She was already walking away, of course. Niou coughed and quickly ran after her. He barely felt the large bulk on his face, he'd been through worse.
Well not really, plus they were caused by angry boyfriends of a few girls that fell for him. He did though, had an instinctive idea he would be going through much more pain if some other guy (or guys, he wasn't sure yet) was to find out about their 'accident'.
"C'mon~ It was an accident!" He repeated as he ran after her, not apologetic at all. It was, admittedly, a fortunate little accident. She didn't answer and he continued to bug her.
"Urusai." She finally spat, without looking at him. Her expression was unfathomable and very very dark, and if Niou wasn't Niou he would be terrified for his life. The other two continued to follow them, and as Niou started falling back, Oshitari was already patting his back.
"I doubt she'd forgive you. She seemed to be smitten with somebody else already."
And Niou nodded.
"Actually, she—" Ryoma halted her steps and quickly turned around to send them a strong glare.
"Leave me alone."
And so she went... again.
Gakuto actually marvelled how quick she was going, despite her small pace factor. "And... there she goes~"
"Where is she going though?"
Niou shrugged before following. "Who knows…"
"I didn't know Niou could be this pursuant."
"She gets lost a lot." The trickster said as he walked, never taking his eyes off the girl."The guy she likes might kill me.."
"She already has a boyfriend." Gakuto paused in ponder, but actually kept walking. "So the rumors are true! You do hit on girls with boyfriends!"
""The rumors are true, but not this time. She doesn't have a boyfriend... yet. Hmn..." He mused as he continued to follow her. "If anyone (else)'s gonna kill me, Sanada surely will, though."
Then Oshitari and Gakuto halted their steps and gaped, as they absorbed the latter part of what he just said."Wait. Sanada?" Gakuto gasped and Oshitari looked equally shocked. "Sanada Genichirou?"
With her hearing, unless she was completely in a daze, she would easily hear their conversation. "And yes... that Sanada."
"Is that so...?"
"Let me heeaarr it~!"
Ryoma's eyes twitched. He knew, by experience, that women could be quite the gossip. Men were no exception, but bloody top athletes? Seriously... And towards her friend, too!
She was very annoyed. And frankly she didn't think it was possible.
"Oi." She said, turning around and glared. "Don't you people have better things to do?
Crack
She cracked her knuckles to make her point.
And the three stepped back, ska-doodling for their lives.
…
/A few hours later/
Eventually, Echizen Ryoma arrived back home (as in the street) with those three annoying guys following her.
"Left!" Niou shouted and she frowned. She was going right,but her mind changed and she went left. Not because she listened to him (something she refused to do for more than an hour prior), but because she just felt like it. And there she was standing in front of her house and didn't even bother look behind her.
Creak
She stared at the gate as she opened it and willed herself to ignore the three idiots. "Good night, Echizen-chan~"
"Oyasumi Echizen-chan~" Gakuto followed while Oshitari chuckled.
Mentally, Ryoma groaned.
Whatever did she do to offend the gods this time?
YUKIMURA RESIDENCE
Echizen Ryoma entered the living room and paused at the sight of her mother reading a book nonchalantly on the sofa. Ryoma frowned in anxiety and looked at the clock.
11pm.
Oh, man...
"How did it go?" The woman said with her unfathomable expression, but to Ryoma's sharp eyes she knew she was annoyed. Ryoma just mused though, that was due to her getting back home later than usual. (She blamed Niou).
"The date, I mean."
"…fine."
"That's good." her mother said, staring. "You better go to bed now then, Seichi would not want you tired because of something so insignificant."
"Hai" She nodded, not quite sure what to make of her mother's tone, and absent-mindedly went to do as she was told. She was frowning the whole time and a very disconcerting feeling in her stomach did not diminish at all.
Her first kiss, she mused, unconsciously holding her lips. She wasn't sure what to expect but shouldn't it have felt at least vaguely similar to that time when Seichi 'Slipped'? It wasn't. It felt totally different— almost disgusting, in fact.
But what she felt was remorse—the guilt. That disappointment that her first kiss wasn't…
She stopped her tracks, noticing she was in front of his door. Damn it. She didn't think she'd be like any other girl when it came to this. She shook her head and tilted her head to face the door to her room, right adjacent to this one.
And frankly, it felt a hundred meters away.
Shit
But then she thought, wouldn't it be impolite of her to just go to her room without greeting him? She had been away for a long time…
And then she frowned again. She was trying to rationalize again. She needed to admit it. She really just wanted to see him.
So, she turned the knob but paused. She was still wearing her dress.
.
For a long time, she just stood there, pondering. Should she get in dressed like this? Of course not, but she really wanted to. But she wouldn't. She wasn't ready. She'd just have to tell him she was not gay, as he probably thought, some other way... for now.
Seichi...
Frankly, she felt a bit disappointed to find out his reason for pushing her away was just because of that. She knew how Seichi disliked them, that deep frown every time he saw one was explanation enough. But she thought their friendship was more than that...
But she shook her head of the thoughts, and she finally heaved a sigh before going back to her room to change.
Creak
She readied her new clothes and took off her old ones. Slowly, she wrapped that increasingly suffocating bandage around her chest. It had been a while since she had it off for so long, and it was beyond comfortable. But what was she to do? Suddenly enter a man's room and proclaiming she lied to him all this years?
Not to mention she did not have the strength to explain...
Eventually she finished, wore her wig, and she went back out to greet him. She made a slight knock, but there was no answer. Perhaps he was asleep? But she did so again just to make sure, but this time she called, but there was still no answer. So she turned the knob and peeked.
Ryoma carefully looked around the interior, and soon realized that everything was neat and un-moving. It didn't take long for her sights to end up on the study table; A familiar blueish hair was resting on the headrest. Ryoma quickly went closer to check up on him.
"Seichi." She called, but he still remained frozen. She walked quietly until she reached the table and her eyes widened slightly at the sight. He was asleep, but in a bad position in doing so. And one just didn't see the Yukimura Seichi sleeping in this kind of position often, and in her case..., ever.
Nevertheless, she mused that he would have a very sore neck after this.
So, she sighed and placed her hand to where his pale neck and the headrest touched, in an attempt to get him back to his bed. But just before she could exert the effort to carry him, her hands flinched as it made contact with his blue locks.
His hair was so soft.
Hmn...
Her hands… she wondered where it was going. It started moving on its own. From gently placing his head back down, albeit to a more comfortable position, to his soft cheek, and then… to his mouth.
Her mind went blank.
Just one
She just let herself give him one chaste peck on the lips. It was so, so, much simpler and less intimate than what Niou did but if felt otherwise. She stepped back at the realization of what she had done, and quickly separated.
Too late.
He was awake. And she now knew, he might have been awake the whole time.
…
Seichi's brain was a mess at the moment. A moment ago he was having this… nightmare…of him kissing a certain male bodyguard on the lips. It wasn't the first time, but he'd rather not think of the implications of the frequency of those… nightmares.
But when he woke up, he immediately heard a knock—hearing that aforementioned bodyguard's voice right after it. He moved by instinct but his eyes twitched as soon as he realize he couldn't move his neck. So he didn't answer. He closed his eyes and calmed, he wasn't even certain what he looked like after that dream he just had.
But then the door opened. Mentally, Seichi cursed. It was immediately directed to his pounding chest that he willed to calm. Ryoma would no doubt hear it if it didn't do so.
"Seichi." He called softly. He couldn't even flinch. He was frozen, literally. Ryoma's voice was being so… soft all of a sudden, as well. Seichi almost forgot that he was just from a date.
Date
Mentally, he cringed at that thought and he wanted to open his eyes and give him a piece of his mind already. But he couldn't without looking idiotic. And before he knew it the boy's hands reached up to his neck probably to carry him to the bed.
But then he paused, and a second later he could feel Ryoma's hand sliding to his cheek then to his lips. The gesture sent a thousand pleasurable lightning down his spine.
And what came afterwards sent him to the verge of insanity.
He didn't realize his eyes were wide open, and so were Ryoma's. Ryoma gasped as soon as he realized he had been awake the whole time. The younger boy stepped back, and Seichi stood up, suddenly having the energy, and managed to ignore his sore neck.
"I… didn't know you were awake."
"Clearly. I'm glad that I was, then." He said coolly, despite feeling the opposite. "How many times had you done that?" The same amount of time he dreamt of doing the same, he wondered.
Or rather, hoped...?
No, that couldn't be it.
"And why?"
Ryoma, on the other hand, didn't know how to answer that. Ryoma had no idea how to explain. She didn't know h-
"Are you gay?"
Ryoma stared. This was it. The reason she wanted to speak with him in the first place. "No.
"I...I'm not gay." She repeated.
"Are you certain?" He asked, and she couldn't tell what was in those orbs. That disappointed look on his eyes might as well be her imagination. "You're not telling me this just because you know I abhor homosexuals, yes?"
Doki
"I told you I'm not gay."
"You just kiss fellow men out of boredom?"
"No."
He frowned and stepped closer. "Then, why?"
Ryoma at the moment still had no idea what to do. She was panicking at his proximity. Albeit odd enough..., she did not regret kissing him at all. It was like the disturbing events that day were all swept away just like that.
New ones roused because of it..., but still...
"...well?"
"I... lived in America. We-"
"I'm not an idiot, Ryoma. I know traditions around the world, kissing you master in the middle of the night as he slept was not one of them."
Ryoma gulped as she tried to weigh everything. The still-rational part of her knew that the best course of action was to just tell him she was a girl. And at the moment, she was actually already forcing herself to voice it out, but the words simply wouldn't come out. She couldn't admit how many times she lied to him like this, nor did she know how to explain why she did it in the first place.
Telling him this was one of her greatest fears. And with Seichi, her bluntness was nonexistent.
Soon, he leaned closer, perhaps unconsciously. And something crept up her face that made his eyes go wide.
"Making that kind of face is unfair."
She blinked. What face?
It didn't take long for her to feel his hand slithering from her arms all the way up her burning cheek. What was going on? His words and his actions were so ambiguous she was going to go insane!
He went closer and her mind was slowly losing sight, but then he asked again. "Are you gay or not?"
"No." But after a gulp came, her brain suddenly made her say something. "Are you?"
That did not help.
Ryoma abruptly felt his hand freeze, and slowly it faded away from her. She was part disappointed and partly relieved. But she wouldn't just leave it like that now could she? After all, if he felt disgusted with her kiss as she felt with Niou's, then he'd be keeping his distance… right?
And maybe… he was confused, too…
Because of all her lies.
Maybe it really was time to suck it up, she thought, there was a slim chance he'd act like Sanada—letting her be with her secret until she was ready, but perhaps she'd been too selfish for a long enough time. Seichi might be pushing her away… but he was still her precious friend.
But then he chuckled… sardonically.
"You realize I cannot be gay because I abhor them, yes? Do you have any idea how rude that was?"
"And it wasn't to me?"
"Well you certainly act like one."
"I do not." Okay, maybe she did considering she really was a girl, but still. That pompousness of his and something else touched a nerve. "But what about you? Shouldn't you be stepping away from now if you thought I was gay?"
His eyes widened just before they narrowed. He only got closer, and hissed. "I'm trying to pull it out of you, to use your attraction towards me."
"..."
"I don't-"
"So you're saying a kiss is nothing special, then?" He asked, using that unfathomable mask of his again. Darn it. But at the moment, she didn't know what she was feeling the most: Embarrassment or… Hope.
Yes… she was having weird burst of feelings every single second. She'll probably die soon…
"And don't tell me you slipped as well?"
"I won't," She managed to utter. "That was your excuse."
"Excuse me?"
"Why did you kiss me?"
"Don't bring this back to me." He practically growled uncharacteristically, and walked towards Ryoma all the way until he was practically caging her to the wall. He was pale from anger, and yet that miniscule blush on his face was only fuelled the hope inside of Ryoma.
"I did slip," He said firmly. "Don't be so full of yourself."
"Speak for yourself, o-boccama." She feigned a mocking tone, but those shivers in her voice were actually out of pure nervousness. "This is like asking me to admit I am attracted to you without you telling me a better excuse than 'slipping.'"
Ryoma was looking away at the time, and there was silence that came after. She whipped her head back to him when she saw his arm bend on the wall.
Her eyes widened.
It was abrupt but it definitely happened, and when they parted she could swear her heart stopped. But when Seichi adopted yet another mask right after, she couldn't help but do the same by reflex.
"Like I said," he huffed, Ryoma couldn't tell if he was shaking of anger or nervousness anymore. "I slipped, and see? A kiss from you means nothing to me." He paused and continued on with his speech. It was long. "All I'm trying to show is that you don't bother me. I can do anything I want, but that doesn't mean you can just kiss me out-of-nowhere and not be gay."
Ryoma couldn't say anything. She didn't know if he was lying again, and frankly her brain was not working properly at the moment. She mused her brain probably disintegrated already.
"You are a hindrance, Ryoma, especially now that you are doing idiotic things on your own. I don't know why I still keep you. Perhaps it's because of your family."
Twitch
Her façade hardened and she glared.
"Just fire me if you want already, just don't go messing around with everyone's head." She said and pushed him away. "And don't bring my family into this."
And—
BAM!
She slammed the door.
…
THUMP
His back used the wall as its full support, practically dropping there. His legs were useless, and eventually, he could go nowhere but slide down.
Shit
"Unfair." Was all he said, huffing, before cursing the gods, and—dead tired—finally falling asleep in yet another uncomfortable position, there on the floor.
.
.
END OF CHAPTER IV
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER XV: Advancement
REPLIES TO ANGELS
deadlycute17- Nyahahah. Thank you for the review! Glad you thought so many of those things are cute. xD And about the bear... haha. Wanna guess? xD
kikumarucat- lol. I needed some Seigaku in the chapter. hahaha. We all miss them. xD And yay! GakutoxYushi really is cute, ne? Yaoi side-pairings banzaii~ And thx for the comment. xD
MintLeafeon- Niou... perhaps he'd live a little longer. Just because it's illegal to kill. *cackles* Shall we mentally beat him up tho? hahaha. Thanks for the comment, btw~
Natasya Ivashkov- Thank you for the comment~! Gehehehe. And I totally agree! Ryoma-chan is uuuubber cute! XD That lucky trouble-maker Niou! D:
o0violetphoenix0o- *cackles* When I think of a pedo bear named Mr. Muggles, he's the first person that came to mind. xD Really suits him doesn't it? xD Thanks for the comment as well~!
xDarkxKurokox- Nyahhaha. Thank you for the review~! And loool I just couldn't help it- I just had to make someone a tsundere and Ryoma would look so adorable as one! xDD (she reminds me of Killua Zoldyck like that hehe)
PurpleScorpion [x2! lololol] - Oh ,oh! I lurve Niou as well. xD Guess Ryoma was just in that bad of a mood. Gehe. And I agree, they'd be fun to watch as friends. Dunno how I'd show it deeply but I'll try. ;D And as for the pedobear... haha. There can be no better guy than him inside right? nyhahaha. That guy's too epic for his own good. Btw, Niou won't die... at least not in this chapter. loooooooooool. Thank you for the reviews~!
Guest [2/8/13]- Coool! Hello fellow Southeast Asian~ We celebrate New Years earlier than most people. Gahahha. Thanks for the comment~! :D
FudoYuki- lol, yeah. But if I was as good a trickster as Niou-my life would have been too fun so I could die peacefully. lololol. And you guessed right! Seigaku enters, and one is in costume. xD Thx for the comment~
Yuki Masaharu- Hahaha. Okay, okay! Depends on what kind of 'info' you wanna read. xD Thank you for the review, btw. xDDD
WhitewingsFlutter- Indeed! I'm still whirling about those terms tho. 'dere' here 'dere' there 'dere' everywhere! xDD And lolololo. Fuji the pedobear is really epic wasn't he? He could go and eat whole chapters for all we care. *wink* And btw, you understood right-the dirty pair helped. xD Thx for the comment~!
shanagi95- Geheheheh [insert grin here]. Ryoma lusting over his blood, eh? You might be surprised. XDD Thank you for the comment btw~
anGell012- Thank you for the comment~! And you guessed right. xD Momo wasn't the only member of Seigaku that showed up in that chap. xD
JuRy28- Ohh... well, we missed you here! xD And yes-Niou is so... charming no? XD And yes, yes, the pedobear is no other than your fav. guy. xD He'll probably show up again in a few chapters. ;D Thx for the review~
FranscoiseLaraLapis- Nyahehehe. Would it matter which one? They kissed! *squeaks* Now I'm pondering on writen 'em a story. xDDD But no. Thank you for the review, btw~
Guest [2/9/13]- *cackles* Indeed! It is him!xDD And about Niou... is he falling for her...? Perhaps, perhaps not. Pfft- And I love you tooooo~ And thank you for the review! xDDD
DT- You bet right! He won't be jumping in the love triangle... at least not now. Geheheeh. And oh my goodness! I wrote Marui? It must be the hair. Next time I'd be writing Gakuto when I meant Eiji lol. thx for the review!
BrokenBlackCat- lololol. Right! Niou should run run run~ hehehe. Dunno when I'll let those two find out for now tho. ;D Let's see! Hehehe. And aboutthe yaoi thing, I could tolerate it now since I have lotsa yaoi loving friends. xD Thanks for the review, btw~
sweet-Lia- Here it is! And proud to say in such a few amount of days, too! xDD Thx for the comment!
Daraegon- Thank you for the review~! And here's the update, coming out sooner than I expected~ xDD
TunaForDesert- I love you too! Nyahahahha. And yes! I'm writing yaoi now! (I know right) Only as a side pair... but it's a start, no? xDD Thank you for the review, by the way~! And for the lotsa I love you's. xDD
xXRandomnessPrevailsXx- (ch12) Indeed! In fact if guys are dogs then... women are cats! Gahhehehe. Ah, in Seichi's case it's more like he brought it upon himself to be the perfect child, I guess. ;)(ch13) Right! There can be no better pedobear than Fuji! Gyahaha . And lol. 'Nispeatery' is just one of the few places I named after myself. Some of my other stories are full of self-advertisments from me. XDD Thanks for the reviews btw~
Offtotralalaland- D'aw, thanks for the review~! And... I'll think about it. I don't think I'd be continuing your story since I firmly believe you'll return! xD I'll try and work on a different story with the plot device we came up witj, I guess. I won't be publishing it anytime soon tho. :)
JigokuTenshi834- lololol. He is really dead! Not literally tho. His fans are gonna kill me. xDD Thanks for the review~!
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Thank you sooo much for reading~!
But please don't hesitate to leave some feedback. They are all mean so much to me! :D