As always, thank you to everyone who supported me this far! xD I especially appreciate the more time many of you spendd intoo letting me know your thoughts! ;)
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Prince of Tennis and Amou Nami
..
CHAPTER XXXVII: Insecurities
She did not black out… well, in the conventional sense of the word. So she still had her eyes open, definitely. She had completely lost control of her body—she couldn't even feel her fingers, and they were shaking like hell. It was like she was bare in the snow…, only she was bloody sweating.
"Tezuka!"
"Buchou!"
"Captain!"
A few of her teammates' yells sucked her out of her reverie. Many of them jumped over to the courts to aid him. How useful she was, just sitting there doing nothing…
"Go Back!" Tezuka yelled determinedly, further pulling her out of her gaze, and sent them a familiar stare. She knew no one could stop this fight, and he guaranteed it with looking like that. But she wanted to try.
Reina could only look at him pleadingly. 'Please stop this.'
Tezuka's expression changed for an instant but he regained his determination – that was, he was going to finish this game, with all he's got… and his teammates would be alongside him… all throughout.
Well, that's what the buchou hoped.
Tezuka coolly sat down beside Reina after the referee called for a time-out, grabbed a towel and a bottle of water… and willed all the pain to go away. After the others went back to their positions, Oishi said something but he wasn't able to hear anything… Cold hands touched his arms and he knew them all too well. Her palm was cold and she was obviously hampering shakiness, telling him that it took all the strength she had at the moment to move her hands.
She let out a quiet sigh… and mentally punched himself for making her so worried. At the time, he could only touch her hand back and maybe warm it up a little.
"I'll be fine, Reina. We've gotten this far—I don't think anyone of us would be willing to give this up."
"B-B…" she uttered slowly taking her hand away as she saw his reassuring smile.
"I'll believe in you. Don't hurt yourself…" she muttered and seeing as he already had, she added "further."
He nodded.
…
The battle continued and it was taking so so much longer than anyone could have anticipated. This has become purely a battle of the wills, and obviously Tezuka was not willing to lose. Reina trusted Tezuka, but there were simply certain things neither of them could control… like, say, Reina's growing urge to run to the middle of the court and stop this game. Yet, ironically, it was such a rare game that she just wanted to keep on sitting there.
"SEIIIGAAAKUUUUU!" Someone from above shouted encouragingly catching their attention. Kawamura and the coach had returned… and the first thing that came to mind was that she was no longer the bench coach… so she could… maybe go somewhere where she could be less involved in this fight.
It was an amazing game – but it was too straining, even for her. She needed to get some air.
"Where are you going, Echizen?" Horio asked.
"Here and there…" she just said as she walked up the stairs as nonchalantly as she could. Momo called her. He looked at her knowingly, although probably reading the strain as some itch to play tennis per se.
"Warming up? Let me join you."
She smiled at him weakly. Yes, she could use a good match.
"Arigatou."
…
Pak
Reina was not sure what the outcome of that match would be – she didn't really care.
Pak
Tezuka was having a great time
Pak
Despite all the burden on his shoulders both literally and symbolically. She heaved a sigh after getting another point from her very tired opponent.
Reina and Momo were warming up in an attempt to release all the tension as she watched Tezuka and Atobe play. The stress came from different things – be it excitement, awe, or anxiety.
In any case, Momoshiro was helping her quite a bit into avoiding looking like she just lost a whole arm. And she was very thankful.
And sorry.
…
"Are you—*huff* Alright? *huff*" Momo mumbled after Ryoma just beat him effortlessly. What a monster.
"Hai, senpai." She said and muttered a thank you. "Ann-chan would be proud." And of course, that was payment enough for the favour.
It was then that they heard screams, and the two of them sprinted to the courts. Tezuka and Atobe were having an incredibly intense tie-breaker.
"31-32!"
"33-32!"
And so on….
And so on…
Reina partly wanted to get out of there again. But she went against it. She had escaped from this long enough, and decided to watch until the end—no matter how much each shot made her cringe.
Eventually, Tezuka activated the zone and hit the ball. Time went slowly, then, and Tezuka looked like he was going to win.
And it was supposed to be his win, but his arm was no longer as controllable as they were. And so, by utter bad luck, the ball hit the net… and land at his side of the court.
Silence ensued for what felt like forever.
"7-6! Atobe Keigo wins!"
…
Fuji watched the crowd as they cheered for the great game, just escaping from his reverie.
In retrospect, he hadn't had the time to absorb everything that happened. A lot of games were lost, a few won, and all were exhilarating. And then Tezuka's arm acted out and may or may not have cost him a game. It was intriguing, that their captain could have won or lost either way.
She looked at Reina…, who was standing her for a full 10 second since Tezuka lost his game. Her eyes softened considerable though, when the two shook hands. He found his face doing the same thing.
Fuji though was thankful she didn't do anything uncharacteristic due to Tezuka's accident, he wouldn't have wanted to see that. It would have made him smaller—more unimportant, wouldn't it? Selfish, but everyone was.
"Oi, Fujiko~!" Eiji called his attention and he noticed they were about to go. He flinched but caught his composure quickly. "Let's go cheer for O'chibi later!"
That's right. A tie-breaker would be held, played by the subs. It seemed that a few minutes would be allowed so he would probably need a minute to compose himself. So, he just smiled at his red-headed friend.
"Of course."
…
Amou Nami put down her camera and called it a day. Or rather a break since there would be a 'battle-of-the-subs'. She overheard the Hyotei representative was the next captain… and was hence a secret weapon. The sub of Seigaku was no match, they said. Amou wanted to laugh. They had no idea how wrong they were.
In any case…., she, as a habit, went to check her photos. She stared at her digital copy, and frowned. They were normal photojournalism shots in first sight. But there was something common in the intersections of the rule of thirds—that was, there was always a focus.
Fuji.
She shook her head. Impossible!
How humiliating if these weren't mere coincidences—which, as much as she didn't want to admit it, probably weren't. What made things worse was the fact that her heart stopped when Tezuka fell meant that she still had feelings for him; and now she was taking pictures of another man?
"Is there anything wrong Amou-san?"
"Eek!"
It was Fuji and he flinched at her squeal, but otherwise remained impassive. He blankly hovered over to see whatever she was looking at but she reflexively pulled it back. Unfortunately, she couldn't do the same with her blush.
"You're cute when you blush."
She glared at him, and willed her chest to calm. He was flirting—but she knew his heart wasn't completely there. How utterly annoying of him to flirt! No—how dare he.
She watched him, perhaps inconspicuously, through the events. He was watching his team with care—but he was watching Echizen with love.
She would never fall for this sadist.
"You're a jerk."
"Hmn."
"And I would rather have unrequited love with Tezuka than fall for you." She said and walked hurriedly to the crowd, perhaps to distract herself with the upcoming game.
And Fuji did the same, blankly… soon watching, with everyone else, as Reina crushed that Wakashi person, winning 6 games to 2.
…
The next day was a lot more tiring than any of the day they had practicing.
Ryoma was hearing about how they could not believe Tezuka lost. Partly, she couldn't either but she knew Keigo and how much potential he, too, possessed. In any case, the coach announced that they should train for the regulars spot and everyone was hyped up. Kato was annoyed with this, though.
Kato probably misunderstood most of the team's enthusiasm. He thought that they were not worried about the captain – but were glad, instead. Arai sort of showed that. Reina knew better though, as Mitsu loved the team… the team loved him. And they knew by intuition that there was no use worrying. The captain would prefer that they spend their time training than thinking of him.
After all, thinking and worrying for that man was her job.
"Don't let your guard down, Reina." He said over the phone.
At that moment, she was hidden above a tree near the courts as she watched Kato's game. He said he just got off the train, since he was heading to the hospital. Reina offered to come with him, but he refused. The captain would want any of his teammates training, even when one of them happened to be his girlfriend.
She climbed down at the game's climax, and mentally smirked when everyone had finally made-up. She climbed up again though, when she sensed Oishi was going to be assigning laps.
"Everyone 20 laps around the courts!"
"EHHH!?"
She smirked. How smart she was, to hide so quickly. But she flinched when she heard a few more people climbing up. Weren't they too heavy? But apparently not. Only 2 children were joining her, after all.
"You two do this often?" she asked Ludwig and Michael.
"Only when they assign laps." Ludwig answered and Michael nodded in agreement. No wonder they always went missing.
"I don't get why we even have to run."
"It trains you. You'll find it useful in the future kids, so join them."
"What about you?"
She cleared her throat. "I've been doing this for years. I have the right-"
"Oishi-san!" Micheal uncharacteristically called his mentor. What has gotten int—wait. They planned this, the little twerps.
Her eyes twitched. 'Why you little-'
"Ara?" Oishi blinked, coughed, cleared his throat, and went serious-buchou mode. "You three get down here!"
And she could only curse.
…
Ryoma begrudgingly ran but did it effortlessly anyway. Eventually, she noticed the usually prying Fuji-senpai to be especially quiet that day. "Oi, Fuji-senpai, you seem even more out-of-it that usual." She stated, but only loud enough for them to hear.
"You and Amou-san had a fight?" He stared at her in surprise.
"I know." She smiled.
"You were watching me?"
"Watching over you." She corrected carefully. "I'm more mature, after all."
"How rude."
"Sad truth." She shrugged. "But yeah… we're friends, I need a distraction, and maybe I can help."
He chuckled light-heartedly. As if on cue, he saw a small alley made by two school buildings. His pace slowed and he turned his head towards her direction. "Can we talk?"
"We already are."
"Somewhere else. Alone." He said and pointed his head at the alley. She looked behind and ensured no one was watching them.
"Be stealthy."
He smiled. "I always am."
…
Amou Nami stared at them as inconspicuously as she could. And then to her utter surprise they suspiciously went someplace else alone… together. She frowned. What could be happening? And a huge part of her couldn't help but be suspicious.
Could they be in a relationship?
And the pain in her chest, she mused, was only because she would feel bad for Tezuka if that happened. It had nothing to do with Fuji himself.
Yes, that must be it.
In any case, she unconsciously held up her camera and followed.
…
"You see… I kind of attempted to use another girl to get over my feelings for you."
"What?"
"Isn't that what you wanted?"
"But I never said you can use someone."
"You never said I couldn't."
"You—"She glared at him but sighed. She forced herself to calm when she sensed a presence with them, hiding behind the building they passed to get there. She wasn't sure if Fuji noticed—he was looking like he always was—and she never knew for sure with him. But evidently, the other person was used to hiding.
In any case, the successive calming down allowed her to notice one thing: Fuji was dead serious. And more…
She narrowed her eyes. "So… what do you feel about this girl?"
"What?" He asked genuinely, telling her he had no idea of the eavesdropper, and she only stared. "Didn't I tell you I used her?"
"And… did it work?"
Fuji didn't speak, but the two girls knew the answer.
…
The next day, and she was fortunately allowed to oversleep. Reina woke up early presumably because of all the anxiety attacks. That and the relief that Fuji was finally moving forward. Sure, he hadn't made a move—and neither did Amou, who she found out was the eavesdropper due to her failure to hide her stutters afterward—but they were getting there, even her 12-year old self could tell.
Anyway, she smiled and passively went to check her phone. A lot of her friends texted her and asked how Tezuka (and she) was doing. Sakuno and Kuroro was sweet as always, Ann-chan highly encouraging, and even Keigo sent a message. Somehow, Seichi found out about it as well.
She went to call Keigo, despite the fact that he wanted his beauty sleep. His text was a tad too ambiguous and she was going to need more than that before she could pass the apology on to Mitsu as he asked. She dialled the number.
"What? At this time?"
"Do you want Mitsu's number?"
"Mit—Well, that would leave a bad taste—No, Why would I?"
"Don't you want to apologize from what you did to his arm?"
His eye jerked. "What in the world made you think that, Reina?"
"Well, you texted 'I sure do hope his arm is fine because I want to crush him in tennis soon. Tell him that for me, will you?'"
"… Okay. How is that an apology?"
"Oh , it is."
"Why do you act as if you know my own sentence better than me?"
"Because I do – and I'll send you his number."
"No. Just pass the damned message!"
"Geez. Keigo, no need to curse." She muttered, scratching the inside of her ears.
"No. I do not want his number, nor do I want to apologize to him."
"Sure you don't."
"I'll be going back to sleep now, damnit."
"Ha… whatever." She shrugged and ended the call. She pressed a few buttons and sent him the number, anyway. It's about time they become friends, too. After that, she went to call Tezuka.
"Moshi, Moshi?"
"Mitsu… how are you feeling?"
"I feel fine, Reina. Stop worrying."
"Ha. That's coming from you…"
She heard a quiet chuckle. "Good point…. But you're not me, you know."
"Hai, hai." She smiled and then recalled something as she stared at the ceiling. "By the way, before I forget, Keigo was implying some apology directed to both of us…"
"Keigo?"
"Atobe." She replied a tad puzzled, but then she remembered – she fell asleep when she was supposed to tell him! And how was he supposed to open such a topic by himself? And she recalled all the chances, she forgot to tell him.
Oh, man…
"You two are… close?" he asked, and her eyes twitched at the tone. It told her he had some sort of idea, but was surprised regardless.
"Well… Uhmm… he was a childhood friend of mine. Remember, about that story I was telling you about?"
There was silence for a moment, before he spoke quietly. "I… see… What a small world…"
"Mitsu?"
"Yes?"
"Sorry I forgot to tell you… Are you mad?"
"No."
She clenched her phone, "Why does it feel like it…?"
"…"
"…M-Mitsu?"
"Reina, I'll be there in an hour."
She blinked. "Hey! What about your arm!?"
"It's not paralyzed Reina. I can still move it."
"B-But."
"You worry too much."
"Yeah, and you don't." She muttered pointing out the worry in his eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
She flinched. "Mitsu… you know you can't lie to me anymore."
"I'm not. I… don't know—Is it not alright for me to come?"
"Of course, it's fine, but-"
"Then, I'll see you there."
"Wh-"
Beep
He hung up on her. Reina sighed in exasperation.
Tezuka Kunimitsu can be so rude sometimes…
…
She immediately got ready and ate her breakfast. She waited for him at the verandah facing the courts, like usual, and he walked over to her sitting figure as soon as he arrived.
"Morning." She greeted and he smiled as he sat beside her. "Why all of a sudden?"
"I'm not sure..."
"That's a lie." She said jokingly, despite the fact that she knew he wasn't. How could the Tezuka Kunimitsu be unsure?
He stared at the courts. "I don't know what I want to know more – how it was possible that Atobe wanted to apologize… or just what kind of relationship you have with him." And maybe he just wanted to be with her at the moment, he was having the nagging feeling that something he did not like was going to happen… As if having an injury wasn't bad enough.
"I already stated we were good friends…"
"How good?" he asked.
"Very...? We knew each other for years, we're not sweet or anything but I'm pretty sure we're best friends—in the laxest sense of the word."
"Aa…" he mumbled, not telling her his suspicions of Atobe's feelings. He didn't notice before because he didn't know. But in retrospect, someone like Atobe would not avoid looking at someone—and then give her stolen glimpses—for no good reason…
Reina stared at him. "Do you want to see our photo?"
He nodded weakly and she went up to her room to get one of her favourite framed photos [that I so graciously drew and colored], and ran back down.
Doki
Something twitched inside him, and it's not just envy… or jealousy. Which are pretty natural emotions to have now…
"Mitsu?"
"Ah… You all seem so familiar." In a different sense…
"Oh. This one." She muttered pointing to Yukimura. "He said you beat him before at an elementary tennis tournament."
"Ah… I remember…" he said, still feeling that he's missing something. He decided to shrug it off for now.
"You're amazing, Mitsu…"
He gaped at her sudden blunt compliment. He was glad of course, but he didn't think he deserved it.
"I have never defeated Seichi before…"
"Ah…" he paused. "But I only defeated him because his illness had been acting up. He wasn't able to use that technique of his that I heard before."
"ESP Tennis?"
"Yes."
"Well, he never used it on me before for who-knows-what. But I couldn't defeat him nevertheless…"
"What about Atobe?"
"I beat him all the time. " She shrugged. "But with his improvements and my seeming lack of it… I don't know if it's still the same."
"That's why I keep telling you for days now to stop worrying and start training."
She let out a quiet laugh. "That's a little unconnected."
"No its not."
She smiled, and then proceeded with a serious tone of voice. "You know it's hard…"
"But at least try harder." He stated firmly. Worrying was his job. He wanted her to feel as comfortable as possible, especially if she was with him.
She tilted her head down, and she flinched slightly when she felt his huge hands hold the side of her head and pull him to his chest. She flinched because the arm he used was the injured one.
"Like I said, it's fine. Something like this doesn't hurt."
She scoffed. "…much"
He smiled. "You're sound like a house wife."
"*cough* HEY!" she said moving abruptly in embarrassment, making Tezuka wince from the sudden jolt of pain. And her eyes widened when she realized.
"Wha—Gomen!"
Kunimitsu willed himself to remain calm, and so he looked at her serenely. He then touched her head and patted it, as he smiled reassuringly.
"I love you, Reina." He uttered making her flush even more. He laughed at the sight, and he leaned down to kiss her forehead. And it helped with his insecurities…,
Even if it was just a little bit.
…
TEZUKA HOUSEHOLD
That night, after speaking with Reina over the phone (because they talked after he got back home, too). He was planning, or convinced rather, on finally taking a rest. The day had been quite stressful, after all. The only time it was not was when he was with Reina and he wasn't thinking about what other men meant to her…
Tezuka layed down his bed and stared at the ceiling. The were a little too close, weren't they? As many times as he had said this, he trusted Reina. It was all those men that he didn't – especially when she trusted them so much, to the point that he couldn't picture her suspecting her 'best friends' even the slightest of having those male urges, especially with her involved.
No. This could not go on.
He swore to have a serious talk with Reina about it the first thing in the morning. And he knew he would have an even worse head-ache than he was having now.
And then, out-of-nowhere, his phone rang again. He was expecting it to be Reina.
"Reina?"
"Unfortunately, I am not your girl friend." A very deep voice answered making him jolt. He mentally pulled himself together.
"How did you get my number?"
"Reina sent it to me without my consent." He ranted, "That girl… is really so dense."
He frowned. "You…"
"Don't worry, Tezuka." He said decisively, obviously fighting with himself about something. "She had no idea how I feel, I was there when she was crying heavily because of the confusion she was feeling after all. I know all too well it will bring her nothing good."
His fist curled around his phone involuntarily. He was there?
"She was shaking in her bed. I had a hard time feeding her…"
His eyes jerked. Feeding her? In her room?
He let out a deep, deep breath and massaged his forehead. "What do you want, Atobe?"
"I'm just here to clarify things up – if by some chance Reina said something about me wanting to apologize then she misunderstood. Everything that happened during the game was planned by me."
"Whatever you say, Atobe." Tezuka said tiredly.
"Good." He responded arrogantly.
"Well, that is all Tezuka. Good night."
"Ah."
And Tezuka hung up, experiencing rather bad case of head-ache.
.
.
END OF CHAPTER XXXVII:
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER XXXVIII: A Week of Eccentricity – Part I
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Animelover4ever- Aaannd your ponderings are answered in this chap. So… did she outmother the mother hen or not? Ahahahah~ Thanks for the comment!
Mintleafeon- Aww yeah~ xD The trouble won't be that big, though~ At least not any bigger than in the canon. *wink* In any case, hope the following events are nice enough and thx for the comment~!
TarundoruSlap- Wahahha. First off I'm glad that it's worth it. xD And yes! Thank you for reminding me this is all my fault. xD I will do my best~! o/
BurnedSpy- Gomen ne~ It's hard to put in a closed ending in the middle of an ongoing story with some drama. Hehehe. Thanks for the reminder tho~
PurpleScorpion- Thank you for the review and I'm so glad you loved it. xD And in retrospect, there could have been more events in this chapter that can give the title justice but here's what I have for now~ Ahahah
AngelN- hehehe~ Hi there! xD Thanks for the attempt to comment. I appreciate it. :D
Heroldalefan- hahaha. I love Hyotei and yes! The characters could use some more limelight. xD And the crit was noted~I agree with you! Dunno why I hadn't thought of that. Haha. Thx for the review!
oxCuteKataraox- Yay~ Thanks for the review! Glad you liked my characterization of Jirou and the other characters. (/)9 And indeed! What Atobe needs are more girls worshipping him. LOL.
xDarkxKurokox- Hahaha. I like your narration! Feels like the men are in a boxing ring or something. xDDD But if they do that, Reina'll definitely faint. xD And btw, I can't open my PM for vaaaaaarious reasons. xD Sorry for making you all cringy. I'll try to make non-vague reviews~
Natasya Ivashkov- Lololol. I won't say anything about Atobe/Yukimura confessing. *wink* And glad you'll stay tuned! xD Thanks for the review~
DreamUnicorn247- Thank you for the review~! And here it is! I sure do hope that it's worth the wait~! Lololol
Kikumarucat- Yay~! Glad you liked the Atobe PoV~ It was fun to write. xD And thank you for the review! :D
Blueberryxn- Some say it's their revenge since they had a hard time as students, too. HAhahha. Anyway~ Thx for the review!
Shadowhawk- Indeed~! xD I'll try to make it better for him, too! After I get it better for Fuji. xD Anyways, most of your hopes have been answered! Lol. Thanks for the review btw~
ChaosDragon- Thanks for the comment~! I am not sure what you mean by 'tennis caption' tho. xDD
…
Thank you so much for reading!
If you're not in so much of a rush, do pause for a moment and let me know your thoughts!
They all motivate me so!