Raising The Bar
By: Smash41KMF
Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis, but I do own this story and Kathryn!
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Our Mistakes
Hiya guys and peeps, I'm back and I'm feeling great about this story, I love Fuji and I love the thought of how he's so sweet, oh it'd be so great if he were really real, I'd sooooocall dibs!
By the way, thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed, favorited, or alerted my story! I love you guys, and thank you sooooo much!
By the way! Atobe will also be going in and out of being ooc, but he'll be mainly ooc with only Hikaru, and perhaps Sam later on, but with everyone else, he'll be the good old atobewe all know and love! Anyways, Enjoy!
Atobe growled to himself, running an aggrivated hand through his hair as he strode through the streets of downtown Tokyo, his mind racing as he tried to control his temper. He couldn't return home like this, not with the mood he was in; mainly for the reason that his father would only critize him for being weak, but also for the fact that such a claim would lead to his father pursuing his triad about everything Hikaru did wrong. Atobe scoffed, of course, even when he was angry he thought about her safety above all else. It was almost ironic to him. For all his life, there were countless girls who had the audasity to chase after his unrequited love, but for the first time, he felt no pride in ever entertaining them, seeing them, not since he had met Hikaru.
He sighed, tipping his head back and sighing as he stared at the fading blue skies. Since he had met Hikaru, there were other changes, some a tad less noticeable, but present nonetheless. He found himself listening and talking less when he was with his friends, and he could feel his interests in pointlessly entertaining his fan club gradually becoming even less appealling than it had been before. She was changing him, not on purpose, just by simply being around him.
"But the question is... why?" he asked aloud, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he continued past the closing store fronts and workers heading home for the day.
He had been with girls like her before, but only briefly before they became different people, it was like a game, getting him to open up, to get close to him, and then turn around and show their true colors after they know they have him. He hated those girls, and now, after so many disappointments, he developed the habit of accepting any girl daring enough to throw herself at him, only to dump her after the first date. He mended so many hearts, only to reopen those wounds and bath them in salt; and he suddenly wasn't proud of it. He use to love playing the role of the one who was too hard to catch, teasing them all for the sake of his own amusement, he led so many of them on, and he would only continue to do it because that's who he was now, and who he would always be rememebered as.
Now, of all times, he realized that Hikaru wasn't like any of the girls he had played with and then thrown to the curb minutes later, she wasn't someone he could play with and get away with it unscathed. She wasn't another toy to play with, he couldn't play hard to get anymore, not with her. She was someone he couldn't afford to hurt, to lose; and he was no longer the best at his own game. Hikaru had beaten him; withdrawn, scared, and fragile, all the while being strong, brave, and loyal. She was far too good for him, and yet she managed to see the person beneath all the glamour, the popularity, the wealth, but it was only because he did have the guts to show her the other side of him.
And that was his mistake.
He thought he could shield her from that part of his world, protect her from the evils that haunted him day and night. He thought... that if he could only hide that life from her, that she would never leave, but it came out, and here he was as the result.
He cursed, taking one large step and kicking a stray soda can as hard as he could, watching as it flew into the air and hit the walkway before him, before doing it again. This continued until the aluminum can was no longer recognizable, and with one last kick, the beaten can shot into the air as a ball of metal sharpnel, before landing in a nearby trashcan, causing him to hesitate. He paused beside the trashcan, gazing at the crumpled can as it lay at the bottom of the steel bin, and he strangely thought of Hikaru, how she must have felt when she learned he was hiding things from her... broken.
"How could I have been stupid?" he muttered, clenching a fist by his side as he turning abruptly away from the trashcan.
Stalking down the street a little further, he spotted a small jewelry store and approached the display window, glancing at the exspensive (to him cheap) pendants and rings that glistened in the reflection of the setting sun on the glass. He paused to wonder what he could do to apologize, get her a gift perhaps? Maybe earrings, or a necklace...
"You'd be even more of a fool to apologize with something so cliche, my boy."
He spun around, surprised to see a young woman, no older than his mother, barely forty if anything, standing a few feet away, shaking her head gently.
"Beg your pardon, I don't know what you mean, ma'am." he replied politely, another change from his arrogant 'Ore-sama' self-reference.
"I'm no fool, boy. You wish to apologize to a girl, a one-of-a-kind girl who you take to more than the rest, I presume?" she said, giving him a knowing smile as she approached him. "Jewelry is a material good for a girl of quality, like an insult to them, at the thought their forgiveness can be bought with something shiney and exspensive."
"Then what should I get her, hypothetically speaking of course." he said sheepishly, only to gasp slightly, when the woman took hold of his wrist and led him towards a tucked-away flower shop, hidden from sight behide the jewelry store.
"Flowers, with a simple note that tells her you're really sorry." she said gently, releasing his wrist and smiling at the slightly relaxed expression on his face. "And being there to give her them never hurts either." she said with a light laugh as she took a step back and let Atobe admire the displayed bouquets.
"Thank you... but how did you-" he began, turning around to thank the woman properly, when he realized that she was no longer there. He sighed, glancing at the door of the flower shop hesitantly, before carefully turning the knob and stepping inside, surprised by the enchanting aroma that filled the air.
"Purple Hyacinthes, striped tulips, and a hibiscus rose are usually best." Atobe turned around, tearing his gaze away from the bouquets of carnations and cosmos that had caught his eye the moment he walked in.
"Pardon?" he asked once again, watching as the gently smiling shop keeper, old enough to be his grandmother, walked over to a vase containing the named flowers and carefully picking and cutting them, before wrapping them in the plastic bouquet paper (I forget what it's called). She then added a few iris leaves and squirted them with water, before leading him to the front desk and having him pay for the flowers in silence.
After handing the bouquet to the younger Atobe, the woman smiled at him, and he smiled back.
"Thank you, for all of this, ma'am." he said, nodding as she smiled and waved him towards the exit.
"Don't thank me! It's so good to young people in love, come back and tell me how it goes, if she doesn't accept them, she may be meant for another. Good luck!" she called as he left the shop and started down the street, nervously approaching the Tezuka residence.
As he swallowed, climbing the stairs to the front porch and taking a deep breath as he raised his hand to knock on the door.
The sound of knocking on the door rang through the house, and I sighed as Kunimitsu and I continued to perpare dinner.
"Go get it, I'll look after the fish." he said, and I nodded, stepping away from the stove and swerving around Sam as he set the table. I jogged to the door, turning the knob and grinning as I found my aunt and uncle beam at the sight of me.
"KATHRYN! What on earth are you doing in my apron!" were the first words out of my aunt lips, before she tackled me in a huge hug, causing us all to laugh. "I can't believe it actually fits you now!" she laughed as small tears appeared in the corners of her eyes and she hugged me again.
"I know! I've missed you all so much!" I laughed as my aunt finally released me, and my uncle set down their luggage and spun me into a giant hug. "It's good to see you too, Uncle Kuniharu!" I laughed, hugging him back as best I could, before Sam came charging over and flew into his arms and I led my aunt into the main room, before going back to the kitchen to help Kunimitsu.
"Is that my son cooking! My, Kathryn, you've already made this house a lovelier place to live!" she teased, laughing as my cousin rolled his eyes, and my uncle chuckled, before having Sam hang up their coats as he took their things upstairs and Kunimitsu and I finished making dinner.
Per usual, dinner was quiet, with the exception of Sam excitedly explaining everything about his day and my cousin and I adding in our own happenings here and there.
"So, you wouldn't believe what happened on my way home today, while I was on my way to pick up Kuniharu!" my aunt exclaimed after dinner as we all sat in the sitting room.
We all looked towards the unusally estatic woman as she sat with a gentle expression on her face.
"It was a boy, about your age," she looked at Kunimitsu and I, before continuing, " looking for a way to apologize to a girl who caught his eye, but of course he was looking in the wrong place!"
"What do you mean?" I asked curiously, and my aunt simply grinned.
"He was seeking forgiveness in jewelry, and I told him was a cliche..." she said, as if it were obvious.
"Which means she most likely led him to your grandmother's flower shop, I almost pity the poor boy." I looked at my uncle, who simply chuckled at my aunt's sigh and my cousin's smirk.
"Oh please! My mother isn't that bad! She just takes a little getting used to is all, you know the Kuniharu!" she scolded, about to continue when there was a knock on the door, and we all exchanged curious looks.
"Are either of you expecting someone?" he asked, and Kunimitsu and I shook our heads. My uncle made a strange face, one of a mixture of curiosity and hesitance, before standing up and going to the door.
When the door opened to reveal a young man; tall, broad-shouldered, brown-hair adorning, with a pair of sharp green eyes, Atobe felt himself almost gasp. It was undeniable that this was none other than Kuniharu Tezuka, his rival's father, and the head of the Tokyo Police Force.
The young teen swallowed hard, hiding the bouquet behide his back shyly, as he attempted to form a cohert sentence.
"G-Good evening, sir." he said feebly, never before had he felt so nervous, and he could barely swallow that urge to run from the house, he didn't know if he could face her after what had happened earlier that day.
"Ah, good evening, can I help you?" the man responded, and Atobe took a deep breath, looking away sheepishly, before presenting the bouquet.
"I was wondering... if perhaps... you could give these to Hikaru for me... " he said firmly, looking up and holding the flowers out to the man as calmly as possible.
"Alright...but she is inside right now, would you like me to get her for you?" he asked, and Atobe hesitated.
Did he want to talk to her? Tell her about everything and have it break down from there on? No, he couldn't do that, to either of them. Not there, and not then. 'Later'
"No sir, I do not believe she would want to speak to me at the moment, but thank you for the offer, I will be taking my leave now." Atobe gave a bow to the older man and took a step off the porch step as he watched the man return inside with a baffled expression on his face.
Approaching the gates of the Tezuka residence, Atobe glanced back over his shoulder as the light of dusk painted the house, "Please forgive me, Hikaru." he whispered, before looking back at the ground and starting his walk home.
I watched with surprise as my uncle returned to the room with a delicate bouquet of hycanthes, hibiscuses, and striped tulips. My eyes lit up, the bouquet was incredibly beautiful, but when he turned to me and gently set in my hands, I couldn't help but gasp.
"Uncle Kuniharu... what is this?" I asked softly, completely confused as I looked around the room for answers, but my cousin and aunt seemed to be just as puzzled as I was.
"A boy dropped this off for you, I asked if he wanted to come in, but he said that you wouldn't want to talk to him." he said as everyone watched me gently take the folded card from the arranged leaves and petals.
'It's my turn to explain.' it read on the front, in a neat, golden ink.
I flipped it open, and pushed the bouquet at my cousin, before shooting to my feet and running to the front door and out to the gate, praying I would be able to catch him before he disappeared.
"Keigo!" I shouted as the brown of his uniform disappeared around the corner, not bothering to turn back. I sighed, hanging my head as I clutched the folded piece of paper in my shaking hands.
'I'm so sorry.'
So! What will happen! Will Atobe get to talk to Hikaru before Jyuun and Fuji tell her everything? And what happened to Yuushi? And what will happen at the Festival?
Read to find out!
Reviews are much appreicated!
By the way...
Atobe: 9
Fuji: 5
