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Disclaimer: I don't, nor will I ever, own Prince of Tennis or any of it's characters. I also don't own any of the franchises or anything mentioned in this story, Mountain Dew, Facebook, Nintendo, ect.
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Kiyomi drapes her arm over my shoulder as we head to practice together. School had been uneventful, no notes in my locker, no crying babies, no getting shoved down the stairs. I was in a pretty good mood for once.
"Today we'll be practicing with the boys!" Bochou announces. "Everyone warm up!" We all begin to jog around the field a few times. After that we stretch and the mass of girls head over to the boy's tennis courts. Kirihara bounces on his feet the second he sees us. He's grinning from ear to ear.
"Everyone line up!" Yukimura announces as Kichida stands beside him. Sanada and Setsuko stand up front too while everyone else lines up. "We'll be holding practice matches today. First years and second years to the girl's courts and practice swings. Third years watch the matches. Aki, go watch the first and second years." Yukimura orders a third year off, the brunette grunts and runs off after the younger players. Kichida announces the same for us girls and half the team vanishes.
"Doubles 2 on Court A! Doubles 1 on Court B! Singles 3 on Court C!" Yukimura calls out. He refs the Singles game, Kichida refs Doubles 1, and Sanada refs Doubles 2. Niou and Yagyuu stand opposite of Kiyomi and I. I gulp nervously, these are National level players and I've only just started playing official tennis. Kiyomi grins. "Let's have a good game!"
"You too Butterfly, Ladybug." Niou winks at us and I roll my eyes and shake hands with Yagyuu. "Don't worry though, we'll go easy on you."
I get first serve and bounce the ball a few times and calm my nerves. It's just a game. Kiyomi bounces on her feet happily. I toss the ball into the air and watch it before I slam my racket into it full force.
.-.
"Game and match to Niou/Yagyuu pair. 6-0." Sanada announces, Kiyomi and I flop to the ground exhausted. Niou and Yagyuu are clearly a better pair than we are, they're just more experienced is all. Kiyomi sticks her tongue out at Niou childishly when he teases us about their straight win.
"Oh shut up." I crawl to my feet, sweat rolling down my body. "Jeez, you guys are good." I stretch my hands over my head and feel my muscles burn. The other two courts were still being used, our match was over in the blink of an eye.
"C'mon Amaya! Let's run laps! We need to work on our stamina!" She's panting just as hard as I am when she grabs my wrist and drags me out of the courts and start to run around the courts.
We run ten laps before Kiyomi just about passes out. I have to haul her back to a bench where we both collapse. Kiyomi drinks greedily from her water bottle I got her and I just even out my breath ignoring the metallic taste in my mouth. Of course Kiyomi's right, we need to work on our stamina but as long as we're working together I think we'll be fine. As I think something smashes hard into the side of my head, knocking me off the bench. I land hard on the ground and yell in pain.
"Amaya!" Kiyomi yelps as I grab my head and squeeze my eyes shut. "Are you ok?" Yea I'm totally fine, I'm just crying and yelling in pain because it's fun. "Ah… ah… what do I do? What do I do? BUCHOU!" Kiyomi suddenly screams out. I'm not hurt that bad, I think as I squeeze my head because it makes the pain hurt less. There's sharp pains on either side of my head and my face is starting to sting from me scraping it against the concrete. I try to sit up but my head throbs and Kiyomi pushes me back down. Feet come running and I hear people crowd around me.
"What happened?" Yukimura asks, panic in his voice as his cool hands press against my forearms.
Kiyomi stammers out the story at the same time someone says, "It was an accident! Some freshman hit a ball too hard." I'm not familiar with the scratchy voice.
"It's ok, Aki, as long as it was an accident." Yukimura says gently. Aki was that third year right? "Amaya, can you sit up, gently now." Yukimura and what I think is Kichida help me sit up and lean back against the bench. "Renji." Yukimura says idly as someone grabs my wrists and pushes them away from my head.
Fingers prod and poke at my head. I moan and just squeeze my eyes shut and ball my fists up. This hurts so bad. Make the pain go away. "Kirihara, go get the first aid kit." Yanagi says close to my ear. I peek my eyes open and find Yukimura and Kiyomi watching me worriedly. The others stand close by, some looking more worried than others. Yanagi presses a cool finger to my temple and I hiss in pain. Kirihara races back with a first aid kit, he stares at me with wide eyes. Yanagi opens the container and I hear a crack before he presses something against my head. "Kirihara hold that tightly." Kirihara takes the icepack and holds it to my head. I space out then and let Yanagi do whatever it is he needs to do for my head. He says it's nothing much and wants me to take it easy, stay hydrated, and keep my head on ice for the rest of the night. If I want any medication I need to ask him first.
.-.
Kirihara has questions on his homework so he and I sit on the hill by the courts and work quietly. My head aches and Yanagi won't let me take anything to dull the pain, so I fight through it. Kirihara asks simple math questions and English questions. Then we sit there in silence for some time.
"So… you're ok right?" Kirihara murmurs.
"Yea." I murmur back opening my tennis bag to put my math book away. Then I notice the stray piece of paper in between my rackets. I keep my bag neat and organized. No papers ever drift around.
"Slut, stay away from them or next time you won't wake up." The note reads in sloppy handwriting. My hands shake at the words, what? Was this a death threat? Tears pool in my eyes, I'm so emotional because of my head pain.
"Kokawa?" Kirihara asks noticing my distress, "What's th-" He stops short. "No, it's ok Kokawa, it's nothing." Kirihara takes the note from my hands and crumples it up. I start to cry. "N-no, don't cry Kokawa! Please!" Kirihara pleads but I can't stop myself I drop my head onto his shoulder and cry. "Ah! Kokawa! Please it's ok! There's nothing to cry about! It's nothing please." Kirihara scrambles to make me feel better, he has no clue what to do as I sob.
Eventually Kirihara just holds me tightly to his chest telling me not to cry. He pats my back awkwardly, until I finally can't cry anymore and my head feels like it's going to implode. "Sorry." I pant against his shoulder, wiping my tears against his already wet shirt.
"I-it's ok." Kirihara pushes me away gently and watches me for a second. "Let's go home ok?" I nod my head and rub my tears away from my face. "You should tell someone about these notes and stuff." The raven haired boy says as he pulls me to my feet. "I mean, this is pretty serious Kokawa-Chan."
"Well, everyone I've told says it's nothing… or does nothing about it."
"Tell someone important like your parents." I give him a look. "Ok, well maybe not your parents but maybe a teacher? Jun-Sensei? The principle? Somebody."
"I'm fine." I murmur.
Kirihara narrows his green eyes at me. "Clearly you're not."
"I'll be fine." I restate. "Look I have to go." Josh is by the gate looking a little frustrated. "See ya Kirihara."
"Bye Kokawa." Kirihara mumbles before he saunters away.
"What took so long?" Josh asks.
"Practice, and Kirihara needed some help." I explain sliding into the car.
"Oh, alright, why's your head red?" Josh jogs around the car and climbs into the driver's seat. "Did a tennis ball hit you?" I nod my head and Josh laughs. "Only you kiddo." If you only knew.
When we arrive home I head upstairs to my room and inspect my head, sure enough I have a red mark on one side where I hit the ground and a purpling bruise on the other from the tennis ball. Clearly this wasn't an accident, there was so much power behind that ball, and for a first year to be able to hit like that it was highly unlikely. With a sigh I do my homework silently, trying not to think too much because of my pounding skull. About an hour later the door opens and Mom walks in and sits on my bed beside me. "What happened?" She asks gently as she pressed an ice pack to my head.
"I got hit in the head with a tennis ball and hit the ground." I mumble.
"I'm sorry sweetheart." She kisses the top of my head.
"Mom… I think someone's stalking me." I admit.
"What do you mean?"
I tell her everything as I lean against her shoulder, her vanilla scented perfume drifts into my nose. She listens without a word, her hand rubbing my shoulder. "I'll see what your father can do. Until then I don't want you to be alone ok? Not anywhere."
"Yea." I murmur. She kisses my head and heads downstairs to make supper since I can't move very well. I look out my window, my face pressed against the cool glass, the sky is a golden color as the sun sets. I sigh and notice something moving by the road. Turning awkwardly I watch someone pace just feet away from my house. Back and forth back and forth. Then the figure pauses, looks up in my direction and bolts off. My heart beats out of my chest, that was the stalker, it had to be. I run downstairs and fling the front door open but there's nothing.
"Amaya." Mom calls but I don't listen. I step into my shoes and head out. My mind is racing, I need to figure this out and now. I can't live my life in fear. My feet carry me down the street as I hunt for anyone out of the ordinary. But there's nothing. Absolutely nothing. Frustration runs through my veins and I turn around only to find a tall figure standing before me.
"Ah!" I jump back and hold my hands up ready to fight. There's a millisecond of what sounds like a chuckle and I realize it's only Sanada. "Sanada-San!" I cry lowering my hands, "You scared me!"
"Aa." Sanada nods his head, "What are you doing out here?"
"Well, there was someone pacing by my house and when they looked up and saw me watching them they ran off… so… I followed." The more I think about it the stupider I feel.
"So you chased after some random person with nothing more than the clothes on your back?" Sanada asks.
"Yea, stupid idea I know… but it was a spur of the moment kind of thing. Ow." I hold my head which is aching thanks to my mad dash out the door.
Sanada sighs, "Let's go home Kokawa-San." When he turns I trail after him silently, my head hurts and I feel like an idiot. "If you plan on chasing this person down at least have pepper spray or something like that with you. Clearly you can't fight." His brown eyes assess me.
"Says who?" I pout.
"Me." He looks straight ahead.
"Whatever, I can punch just fine for a girl." Sanada chuckles for a millisecond and I pout on the outside while my whole body shivers on the inside. Sanada needs to laugh more often. I pull back my hand and punch Sanada as hard as I can in the side. He doesn't even move an inch while my hand burns from the contact. "Ow! Jeez! What are you made of lead?" I poke his side and he swats my hand away before storming away. He's rock solid and I'm incredibly jealous. "Sanada-San! Wait up!" I whine. He slows just enough for me to catch up to him.
"You can't hit." He states.
"Not everyone is made of lead you know." I glare at him but he doesn't speak anymore. I roll my eyes and let him lead me back to my house.
"My family keeps asking about you." Sanada says as we get close to my driveway. "They want to know how you're doing."
"Oh," I say, "uhm. Tell them I'm doing great." I give him a smile.
"They want to know when you're coming over again." He explains.
"Oh… I don't know." I shrug, I didn't know they liked me that much.
"Why don't you come over tomorrow after practice? I'm sure they'd like the company." Sanada offers. "And I could teach you how to punch correctly." I huff and roll my eyes but otherwise agree. "See you then Kokawa-San."
"Bye!" I wave and run up to my house.