On My Orders
Summary: So, he could snap his fingers and get what he wants, right? Well...pretty much, and it was no different with his beloved Kagome...though, she didn't do it because he snapped his fingers and expected it to be done, it was to humor him, because when they were alone...it was nothing like that. He respected her beauty, and her talent, but he refused to let anyone else see that talent. That is...until he overhears a direct challenge to his girl, and watches as she struggles between his orders and her pride...
Anime/Manga: InuYasha/Prince of Tennis
Pairing: Kagome/Keigo
Genre: Romance/Humor
Rated: M for Mature Content
-x-x-x-
Watching the match, she saw how Shinjou hit the ball over the net, her eyes following the ball as it changed its spin midair. "What's that?"
"Mirage," the orange haired boy from next to her said, "using the exact same form, Shinjou can hit a heavy ball or a light ball, and he can also change the ball's spin."
Kagome nodded in understanding, "I see, if it's something like that...Oshitari-San should be fine."
"Hai," Keigo smirked.
"Cocky, aren't you,"
Kagome looked at the orange haired boy, "I feel bad asking this, but who are you?" Snickering came from the twin boys on her right as she looked at the boy on her left. She turned back to them and smiled, "I don't know your names either, sorry."
Sigh~
The collective sigh made her smile sadly at the three guys beside her. 'Is it my fault I don't know their names?'
Keigo looked pointedly at the orange haired boy, "he's Wakato, Hiroshi from Jyousei, and those two are the Kisarazu twins. The one with short hair is Kisarazu, Atsushi from St. Rudolph and the one with long hair is Kisarazu, Ryou from Rokkaku."
"...Keigo, how do you remember all two-hundred members of your tennis club and the name of everyone on everybody else's tennis team?"
Raising his hand to his hair, he ran his fingers through his bangs before flicking them aside, "it's no difficult task,"
'Right...' she eased herself beside him and let her weight shift a bit so that she was leaning on him a bit. Not too noticeable to those around them, but he noticed. His hand came up and rested on her shoulder to steady her a bit.
"Are you okay?"
"Mm, I'm restless. I need to walk, run...something." Sinking to her knees, she watched the ball hit Shinjou's racket as he served the ball again.
Oshitari jumped back past the backline and moved to the ball, his arm poised to return the ball.
"Whatever kind of ball you hit, if I go this far back, it's just an ordinary ball."
Ibu returned the ball that Oshitari hit, Amane returned it back... 15-30 . Oshitari had in fact figured out a way around his Mirage. "By moving back, he's supplied himself ample time to see the ball at its peak during its spin, he can hit it accordingly now." Kagome shook her head, "he's really something, and with Amane-San's racket, the court seems to be covered. How you can play with something that top heavy though..." her eyes glanced down at her wrists. Her build was too petite for that kind of racket, she'd ultimately end up causing her body more harm than any game would be worth. Even if it helped her win, the long-term damage wasn't worth the victory.
She looked over at Ibu, "he's not phased in the least, that guy."
"Ibu-San is an interesting character,"
"Most Genius's are," Keigo sighed, "doesn't matter who it is. Oshitari-San, Fuji-San, Yanagi-San, Ibu-San Inui-San...many others...they have oddities about them, but Ibu-San is surely a bit quirkier than the others. He's pretty much expressionless, more than Yanagi-San."
"...more than Renji-San?" She looked at Ibu thoughtfully, scrunching up her face in an unflattering way as she tried to imagine someone with less expressions than the pokerfaced Master of Rikkai Dai's Three Demons. "Are you sure? Even if he's standing in front of me, it doesn't seem real. I don't think that it's as simple as Renji-San not showing expressions...I simply don't think he has any expressions."
"Everyone has expressions, it's just a matter of who gets to see them."
This came from one of the Kisarazu twins. 'Now that I think about it, they don't show much emotion either...' she stared up at them from her spot on the ground. 'Ryou said that...I think. No, I'm sure, Keigo said the one with long hair is Ryou, and Atsushi is the one with short hair.' She looked at Ibu curiously, 'everyone has expressions, it's just a matter of who gets to see them. Who...do you show your expressions to, Ibu-San? Renji-San too? I wonder if Yukimura-Buchou or Sanada-San have seen his expressions...or maybe Akaya-Kun has.' She knew Renji could be protective of the second year, so it wouldn't surprise her in the least to find out that he'd shown a smile or two to the younger boy.
"Ibu-San's serve." Keigo nudged Kagome with his foot, "watch him, you might see something familiar."
Glancing at the sneaker that just nudged her in the side, she glared vehemently at it before looking up to see Ibu serve the ball. "What, the Kick Serve? It's a stronger serve than the Twist Serve, but hardly something I'd consider mind-blowing. Introduced in America in the late 1880's as the American Twist. I saw it frequently in America."
He smiled, "not that, keep watching."
She did as he instructed; there was a back and forth between Ibu and Amane, the other two seemingly completely forgotten as they rallied back and forth. Amane stalled in his returned. It was brief, but there. "Wait, was that..." she stood and moved to get a better angle of Amane, standing beside Ryoma now, she watched Amane stall in his return again and nodded, "Spot."
"Hai,"
Kagome looked at Ryoma and chuckled, "you've been on the receiving end?"
"..."
'Yep,' she nodded to herself, "a mix of topspin's and slices continuously used, the person receiving these shots very rarely notices until the damage is already being done."
"Tezuka-Chan has had the Spot used against her before too?" Eiji asked from beside Ryoma, leaning over Ryoma a bit as he wrapped his arms around the smaller player. His head resting playfully atop the boys' hat.
"Oh, yeah...back in America when I first went over, I had it done to me multiple times while learning it. It's quite a pain having your arm or leg go numb to feeling suddenly. However, I won't be falling for such things again. This technique...it's the same as mine. Ibu-San is kind of cruel though, you know?"
"Why's that, nyan?"
"Amane-San's long racket causes more strain to the muscles as it is," she shook her head and sighed, "using Spot on him causes the muscles to constrict faster due to the excessive pressure added from the racket's length. He's got to be acing Health class. Understanding the muscles like that, he's quite the exceptional player. What's more impressive is his eyes, he lets nothing show throughout his gameplay."
"Ibu-Kun is an expert at using the ball's rotation. Shinjou-Kun will undoubtably learn a lot from this match."
"Yes, well..." she smiled at Hanamura-Sensei, "I find losing a match to be more educational than winning a match."
"You aren't wrong." Hanamura sighed, "such raw and exceptional specimens!"
Sweat dropping, she ignored her Sensei, "look at their teamwork. They have never played together before this, right?"
"No, I don't think so." Momoshiro grinned, "it's pretty exciting though, this fighting energy."
"It's enough to make me want to be out there playing with them." She smiled, "Oshitari-San looks to be having fun, actually. I think he enjoys playing with Amane-San."
"I can't stand doing this with you anymore!"
"Game and match, Oshitari-Amane pair!"
"Thank you, Oshitari-San."
"Ah...though it seems that in the end, we've done a manzai routine."
"Though it's been "manzai," we won, so..."Banzai"!"
"That's enough!"
Walking to the entrance of the court, she listened to the two go back and forth with one another. 'Manzai...and Banzai...oh,' she chuckled, watching Oshitari step up beside her as he fixed the strings of his racket. "I guess Oshitari-San is really a fun kind of guy, huh?"
Oshitari shook his head as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I don't think so," he looked back at Amane and a small smile appeared. "He just brings out the comedian in people, I think."
She didn't get it personally, "I must not be a very comedic person then, but I'm glad that Oshitari-San had fun. You played a great game because of it, don't you think?"
"Hai,"
The matches had continued, getting half of them done before Hanamura had them run 20 laps, she was a bit put out that she hadn't gotten a chance to go. However, based on those left, Keigo, Wakato, herself and Kabaji, she had an idea who she'd be playing tomorrow.
"Kagome, I'll see you back in our room."
"Hm?" She looked up at Keigo, they'd been heading to the cafeteria when he said this. Her eyes followed his and she lifted her hand at Sakaki-Sensei who smiled charmingly at her. "Alright then, I'll see you later." Watching him walk over to his Sensei, she smiled as she watched the two exchange pleasantries before walking off to the compound. She couldn't dream of understanding that relationship. She'd never been all that close to her instructors, none of them, and she'd had her fair share. Living between Japan and America, she had split curriculum between both countries and while it was fun attending the different classes, bouncing around was a bit of a bother. She never had a chance to get close to anyone during her Tennis Touring. Mind you, it had been her request. She had wanted to surpass her brother, so she'd asked her mother if she could compete. Her mom agreed...naturally.
-x-x-x-
Keigo sat across from Sakaki-Sensei, he was waiting for a response. Having come to his teacher for a specific reason, he knew he'd get better results with him than he would with Hanamura-Sensei. There was a bond between him and his Music teacher that was like that of a nephew and uncle. Certainly, he acknowledged the man to be someone who truly cared for the students in his care.
"I will take this to Hanamura-San and Ryuzaki-San, from there, I'll see what I can do. However, it shouldn't be too much of a problem."
Keigo smirked, "thank you. Then let me know their answer when you find out."
Sakaki nodded and Keigo stood and left his office.
-x-x-x-
Sitting down with a plate of white rice, an egg and fried fish, Kagome looked over the notes she'd started taking down after she'd finished running. Just jotting them down from memory.
Wakato sat beside her, his head resting on the palm of his hand as he looked at her with a smile playing on his lips. Keigo wasn't there, he had excused himself to go and speak with Sakaki-Sensei. Honestly, she wasn't worried about Wakato, he was actually pretty harmless if the worst he did was eyeball her with what he thought was sexy eyes, and a flirty smile.
"Are you perhaps a data player?"
"Oh, Kami no!" She cringed at the idea of even being compared to Data Players. It was a harsh gameplay if she'd ever seen one, and she didn't have the brainpower to play to such an intellectual degree. If she played Renji, she felt she'd lose for sure. However, that was neither here nor there. She had to focus on the matches most likely to be played, not the ones that may never happen.
"What kind of Tennis do you play then,"
"My kind?" She shrugged, "I play with a mix of my brothers and mine. We learned together, so the Tezuka form is both of ours. However, while I was in America, I learned my own style and he intern grew with his. So, while they hold similarities, they are different."
"I see," Wakato looked thoughtfully at her before he sighed, "Tezuka-Chan, you and he are actually very alike..."
"What?" This had her looking up. She'd never been told that she was anything like her brother. Her mother who knew her like the back of her hand, Keigo who had been with her for three years, her father who she still wasn't on talking terms with since she left the house in a fit. Her brother even. No one had ever claimed she was like her brother.
"That focus, you go completely stone faced when you are really focusing on something. Even if you respond to me, you are only thinking about Tennis. Whoever your intended is, he must have the patience of a saint."
'What the hell does that mean?!' She narrowed her eyes at him, watching him raise his hands playfully in the air in a mock surrender.
"I'm just saying; he has no problem going at whatever speed you go at, and you are in Tennis Player mode, one hundred percent of the way. So that speed is nearly non-existent if Tennis is on your mind."
'That's not true...'
"Wakato-San, I think you've forgotten that it's dinner time, go grab something to eat and leave Kagome-Sama alone."
"Usu!"
Kagome turned to see Oshitari and Kabaji standing behind her. While Kabaji looked as gentle as always, Oshitari was looking more annoyed than she was used to.
Wakato also took on the appearance of agitation with Oshitari butting into his conversation. However, whatever he was going to say, he changed his mind as he placed his hat back on, stood up, and left to grab himself something to eat.
"Don't pay any mind to him, Kagome-Sama."
She sighed, "Oshitari-San, you know you don't need to refer to me as Kagome-Sama, right? You and I are the same age, isn't it weird for you to call me by such a regal title."
"Iie, I'd feel more awkward calling you anything less than "Sama". You agree with me, right, Kabaji?"
"Usu~"
"Oh, and that reminds me, we're meeting the others in the Training Room in the morning after breakfast."
She nodded, "at eight, right?"
"That seems to be the case,"
Smiling at the two as they settled beside her, she continued eating in the peace that followed. Though, she thought back to Wakato's words, they hurt hearing them. 'Keigo, gomen...'
-x-x-x-
Me: I think that this is a great place to leave you all off at, what do you think? ...no? No?! Well, damn, fine. Review and move on to the next chapter then. Oh, and Merry Christmas! Please enjoy the rest of this BIG BULK BATCH package~!