Unexpected
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Ego Trip: Oops seems things are moving too fast . . . sorry if you don't like it . . . I just wanted to move things along at a faster pace. So Fuji became my scapegoat. (sorry Fuji fans) I've read many stories where Fuji is the more passive one, low profile and often the "weaker" one in relationships. Therefore I wanted to see him in a more proactive role, more daring and forward. However, he does seem too forward now so I think I'm going to tone things down a bit, let them move at their own pace . . . Arggg sorry this is turning out so wrong. * weep and cry * Even though I hope you'll still read my story, I won't blame you if you stop. * sob *
Disclaimer: Prince of tennis characters are not mine . . .
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Flashback to a few months ago in New York . . .
"You're both grounded indefinitely! I can't believe that the 2 of you are deliberately disobeying me. I specifically forbid you from going to the tennis clubs . . ."
" But Dad, we were just playing street tennis at the park . . ."
"How dare you speak back at me so righteously. I expressly told you both not to spend anymore time playing tennis."
"Dad, I can survive without playing but Misaki can't, tennis is like breathing to him, an essential part of his life."
"What he needs to pay attention to is his school work, not tennis. I shouldn't have allowed your mother to talk me out of sending you both off to boarding school. I'm disappointed in you Kazura, didn't you say you would set a good example for your brother?"
"Dad, its not her fault, I was the one who wanted to play and I even had to drag her along."
"Why can't you two see that I tennis is not the best road for you?"
"You were the one who told us to pursue our dreams no matter what and never give up."
"That's it. I've had enough of your defiance. If you are certain tennis is the way you want to live your life, prove it to me."
End of flashback
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* Bam * "Ow! . . . pain . . ." cried Kazura, clutching her injured foot. Thinking about the past when unpacking is definitely a health hazard. She had once again failed to notice the boxes at her feet and had walked right into it, causing her to stub her toes painfully.
Looking at the box she had walked into, she saw the label "Tennis Stuff". Putting aside the clothes she was unpacking, she picked up that box and carried it over to her table. She hadn't planned to unpack it so soon but everything seemed to moving so fast and she seemed to be losing control over her own life.
A week had past since her first day school, she felt like she was finally settling into her routine, tennis, school, and more tennis. But something was missing, since leaving New York with Misaki, she hasn't played any tennis at all, and for the first time, she felt the withdrawal symptoms. Used to playing tennis almost everyday with Misaki, this long period without seemed extremely difficult. Even Ryuzaki sensei was beginning to hint that it might be time to pick up the racket again.
Unpacking her racket and videotapes of matches she had collected over the years, she felt a sudden urge to play, maybe tomorrow she would stay back to try out the new shots she had been thinking about . . .
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Next morning
"Kazura-kun, Fuji-senpai's here," shouted Sakuno. She was used to Fuji arriving every morning to pick Kazura up and was no longer nervous or shy around him. She invited him into the house to wait for Kazura as she went about her morning routine.
"Coming . . . " the sounds of Kazura hurtling down the stairs reached Fuji's ears as he waited for her. With a sense of foreboding, he went over to stand at the staircase landing.
A moment later, Kazura appeared and came down the stairs at a breakneck speed. True to her nature, she missed the last few steps and fell forward . . . right into Fuji's waiting arms.
Raising her head, she notice that it was Fuji who had prevented her from falling flat on her face. "Thanks Fuji-senpai! How did you know I was going to fall?"
Instead of answering, Fuji merely smiled and leaned down to give her a good morning kiss. 'Anyone who knew Kazura would have expected her to fall.'
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Lunch time
"Fuji, what are you looking at?" asked Eiji, arriving on the roof where they gathered for lunch. Curious as to what his friend was looking at, Eiji bounded over to where Fuji was standing, looking down at the tennis courts where the first years were having gym class. The girls were playing tennis in the courts.
Following Fuji's line of vision, Eiji noticed that Kazura was also playing and it seemed that she was a very good player, hitting solid strokes and skillful shots.
"Wow I didn't know Kazura was such a good player . . .," Eiji said. "I didn't even know she plays tennis."
"Of course she plays tennis Eiji, if not she wouldn't know so much about the game," said Oishi who had also gathered around to take a look. Though he said it calmly, Oishi was also surprised that Kazura seemed to be such a strong player. "Fuji, did you know?"
Fuji just shrugged and smiled.
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Flashback to that morning
"Are you planning to play tennis with us today?" Fuji asked, noticing Kazura carrying her tennis racket with her.
"Huh . . . Oh I dug it out from my mountain of boxes yesterday so I thought I might just bring it along and train with you guys a bit. I'm getting tired of just standing at the sidelines giving advice. I'm thinking about giving you guys some hands-on advice," Kazura replied with a sense of relish.
End of flashback
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After school in the teacher's lounge
"So you've finally decided to pick up your racket again," Ryuzaki said to Kazura.
"Don't make it sound as if I've been in hiding. I just never got around to unpacking my stuff," Kazura replied just a little defensive.
"Haven't you? Anyway, its time you started showing them your stuff, what you are doing now is something Inui can do. You should be going down to the courts and playing along with them," Ryuzaki sensei said with a sense of triumph. Finally Kazura's true abilities are going to be revealed.
This was precisely why she had been supportive of Kazura's decision to come to Seigaku instead of Hyotei. When the decision had been made to send Kazura and Misaki to different schools, two schools had come up, Seigaku and Hyotei. Having met the both of them before in New York, Ryuzaki sensei had been very impressed with Kazura's abilities. Therefore when Mr Takezato had asked for her opinion, she had advice him to send Misaki to Hyotei to have him polish his playing skills more and to send Kazura to Seigaku to polish her coaching skills more. Since both had different dreams, it made sense to send them to schools, which would benefit them the most. Misaki needed the "Do or die" environment in Hyotei, while Kazura needed the friendly competitive environment at Seigaku. Feeling that she had made the right decision, Ryuzaki sensei watched as Kazura walked into the courts with her racket in hand, ready to play. 'This is going to be an interesting show, I better get a front row seat . . .'
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"Everyone assemble now!" Tezuka shouted.
Within seconds, all the members had assembled in front of him awaiting instructions for today's training.
"The regional competition will be held in 2 weeks. From now on, training will be even harder than usual. Even though we are the top seed for this competition, we must train even harder not to be caught up by the others. 2nd and 3rd years in courts A and B, 1st years get ready to pick up stray balls. Regulars in courts C and D. Move!" instructed Tezuka.
After his speech, the atmosphere around the team changed. No longer was this normal training, they were training to win the competitions. Everyone began to feel the excitement in the air, in 2 weeks time, Seigaku would be taking on other schools for a place in the semi-regional competitions and eventually the national competitions.
"Oishi! I'm soooo . . . excited . . ." chattered Eiji who was clinging onto Oishi from behind, chatting his ear off.
"Calm down Eiji . . ." laughed Oishi, used to his partner's exuberance when it came to tennis. Eiji always wore his heart on his sleeve for all to see, whether he was sad, happy or excited, it was clear for anyone within 10 metres to see. Unlike their captain Tezuka who seemed to ignore most human emotions. At the moment, Tezuka was speaking with Kazura about training.
"What have you got planned today, buchou?"
"Regulars versus regulars"
"Hmmm . . . would you mind terribly if I hijacked your training today? There's something I want to do."
"What do you have in mind?"
"It's a surprise . . ."
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"Ok regulars gather please . . . I'm going to hijack your training today, there's some things I can't advice you by telling you, so I'm going to show you what I mean. So today we're having a practical lesson. Since I can't play with 2 people at one time, I'll play individually with each of you in Court D while the rest of you carry on in Court C. First up is Ryoma, the rest of you please proceed to Court C."
"Whoa Kazura's going to play with us individually? I know she's good but I wonder . . ." Eiji commented thoughtfully to Oishi who was surprised as well.
"How am I supposed to try and smash her face in?" whined Momoshiro, causing the others to wonder whether that's what he tries to do to them every time they play.
"Hmmm . . . this is a good chance to collect some data about Kazura . . ."mumbled Inui, with an excited look.
"How can you still smile Fuji-senpai? Ryoma's going to trash your girlfriend," asked Momoshiro, teasing Fuji.
"This is going to an interesting show," replied a calmly smiling Fuji.
Making a face at him, Eiji said," I knew you were going to say that."
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"Ok Ryoma, I want you to play all your best shots, give it all you've got. We'll each play one service game, whoever scores the most points wins, so don't save any shots, hit me with all you've got," Kazura instructed from across the net.
"Are you sure you want me to do that? Don't regret it," smirked Ryoma.
'You cocky little thing, I'm going to make you eat your words,' thought Kazura.
Tezuka, who was refereeing this game, gave the command for Ryoma to serve. The other regulars all crowded around Court D, abandoning their own game. Everyone waited with bated breath for the game to begin. This would be the first game Kazura has ever played here in Seigaku, the first time they could witness her skills.
* Thwack * The game began with Ryoma serving up his powerful twist serve. Everyone turned to look at Kazura, worried she the ball would hit her face. What they saw was an amazingly quick and controlled return, placed in a corner that Ryoma could not possibly have anticipated or returned from.
If someone had counted, they would have discovered 6 jaws on the ground. With the exception of Tezuka, Fuji and Ryoma, the rest had their jaws hanging wide open with shock. Ryoma's twist serve was something only Tezuka and Fuji had been able to return with such accuracy and speed. Yet Kazura had done it easily, anticipating the shot with eerie accuracy. Not only that, she had easily countered his first service with a perfectly executed winner. Even Tezuka and Fuji had taken a few shots to completely master how to return the twist serve.
There was a stunned silence throughout the court, as the regulars stared in varying degrees of disbelief.
'Such speed and accuracy . . . flawless return . . . anticipated that shot . . .' thought most of the regulars. It seemed hard to grasp the fact that Kazura had just won a point from Ryoma after his twist serve that was a problem for almost all of them.
"OH MY GOD! Oishi did you see that? "The sun is going to rise in the west tomorrow . . . Kazura just broke Ryoma's twist serve effortlessly . . ." Eiji exclaimed, tugging on Oishi's shirt for his attention.
"Hmmm . . . finally I can collect some useful data on Kazura . . ." mumbled Inui to himself, quite excited to finally gather information about Kazura's tennis skills.
"Mada mada dane . . . the best is yet to come . . . am I right Kazura?" asked Ryoma with a smile. There was nothing he liked better than a challenge and Kazura had just issued him a very interesting challenge by breaking his twist serve so effortlessly.
"Of course Ryoma, I still have all your other shots to break," Kazura said with a smirk. It felt good to play tennis, to hold a racket in her hand, to feel the adrenaline pumping in her blood and the excitement of playing someone like Ryoma. Having been observing him playing the past week, she had been able to formulate ways to break his shots, possible ways to return his shots with winner of her own and to combine his shots with those of the other regulars to come up with even more powerful shots. All this had taken place in her brain throughout the week and though this was the first time she had been able to try things out, she felt she was lucky that her shot was in. In her brain, she was already making adjustments to her shot, perfecting it in her mind.
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Fuji could almost see her thought process, the wheels turning in her head to come up with an even better shot. Even though seeing her play for the first time had been a shock for him, it was less so than for the others because he had felt instinctively that Kazura was a formidable player. They met every night at the park and would just sit on the benches and talk, about school, tennis, her life in New York . . . from their conversations, he could tell she was deliberately hiding her true abilities from him, merely glossing over her own skills. It had just fuelled his curiosity to find out more about her. The more time they spent together, the more he discovered about her, the more questions he had. She was like a never-ending mystery puzzle, and he had always loved solving puzzles. He found Kazura a never-ending source of fascination. There were so many sides to her, the klutzy accident-prone girl, the mysterious team manager, and the serious tennis player . . . there was just so much to learn about her. Even though she always wore a cheerful smile and seems carefree, he detected traces of sadness and loneliness under her grins and laughter. In the blink of an eye, she could change from laughing to serious to sad. It never failed to surprise him that she had such control over her emotions and feelings and he sometimes wondered if Kazura would have become like Tezuka if she hasn't deliberately chosen to wear a smile on her face.
Their own training forgotten, the regulars could only concentrate on the ongoing game between Kazura and Ryoma. As the game continued, one thing became clear, Kazura was indeed a very formidable player, able to return most of Ryoma's shots with speed, accuracy and skill. Whatever Ryoma hit at her, she returned with ease, hitting back so that Ryoma was forced to work hard to return her shots. Each of her shots seemed to be very familiar, much like the shots of some of the regulars. She had just easily countered Ryoma's smash with one of Fuji's triple counters, something only Fuji was able to do. This time, all 9 jaws hit the ground.
"Fuji! Have you been teaching Kazura your triple counters? That's not fair, you always refused to teach me . . ." wailed Eiji.
"I didn't teach her that . . ." Fuji replied, nonplussed at seeing someone else performing his special triple counter.
"Wait a minute, Kazura's shot is different from yours Fuji, remember the last time you used it on Ryoma? He managed to break it . . . but this time . . .," Oishi said.
"Kazura's shot is just slightly different from yours Fuji, a more perfect version, something almost unbreakable . . . it's almost scary what she seems capable of," said Tezuka quietly.
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On court, Ryoma had also noticed that Kazura's shot was different from Fuji's, while he had been able to see a way to break Fuji's shot, Kazura's left him baffled. In fact most of her shots were almost perfectly executed, leaving him with little breathing room. He could return her shots but with some difficulties, yet he could feel that Kazura wasn't really playing up to her true potential yet. She was merely giving him a lesson, teaching him ways to move and more effective ways of playing. Even though she didn't mention that, Ryoma could see that each of her shots was calculated to teach him something, to teach him how to counter shots coming from the directions he was weaker at. By continually hitting from those directions, she was forcing him to train himself to return those shots with better accuracy. She was simply playing to his competitive streak, knowing he wouldn't want to lose to her, he would likely chase down each shot and in the process learn how to handle those shots.
Even knowing that she was giving him good practical advice, Ryoma couldn't help wanting to beat her, which fired him up for the challenge. It had been some time since he had felt like he was losing, unsure of whether he could turn the situation to his own favour. This merely acted as a driving force for him to beat Kazura.
Seeing the gleam in Ryoma's eyes, Kazura knew her plan had worked. By playing with Ryoma, she had fired up his fighting spirit and he would now work even harder at perfecting his skills and learning more. However, playing Ryoma had shown her that she could not underestimate any of the regulars, even during a game, they were constantly evolving, constantly absorbing and improving their skills. 'Well as long as I can stay ahead of them . . .' she thought to herself as she prepared to serve.
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The game between Ryoma and Kazura soon ended, Kazura had won by a narrow margin of one point. However, she seemed to have been allowing Ryoma more room for attacking in her service game, hitting shots that allowed him to return and score with ease. When she hit a near perfect drop shot reminiscence of Tezuka's famous shot, Ryoma could only admit defeat.
Going up to the net to shake Ryoma's hand after the game, Kazura said teasingly," So . . . did I manage to impress you?"
"Though I hate to admit it, you've got some skill . . . but I'm going to beat you next time," Ryoma replied with a gleam in his eye.
Kazura made a face and stuck out her tongue at him," I'll be waiting . . ."
Watching from the side, Tezuka had to admit that Kazura was a superb player as well as a brilliant strategist. She had successfully shown Ryoma where his weaknesses were and had managed also to fire up his fighting spirit. Ryoma having never lost to anyone on the team besides Tezuka would likely be spurred by this loss to train even harder to reach a higher level. Kazura had accomplished all that subtly with finesse, without embarrassing Ryoma or hurting his pride. Tezuka began to wonder if he could beat Kazura when his turn cameā¦
"Ok next up is Momoshiro-senpai . . . please don't smash my face in . . . " Kazura said impishly, clearly enjoying herself.
"Let's see you return my dunk smash . . . I'm not as easy to beat as Ryoma you know . . ." Momoshiro replied, relishing the idea of playing Kazura who was obviously very strong.
"Hellooo . . . I'm the one who beat you before . . . remember?" groused Ryoma while the other regulars laughed in the background.
"Momoshiro versus Kazura, Momoshiro to serve . . ." shouted Tezuka.
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After training in the boys' locker room
"Wow! That was some training wasn't it Oishi? I've never had so much fun . . .," exclaimed Eiji who was still thinking about what had just taken place. In fact all of them had the same thing on their minds.
"Of course you had fun Eiji, you were the only one other than Takashi who managed to win more points than Kazura. But than again, her skills were really superb, she seemed to know where all my weaknesses are and she really took advantage of that . . . " Oishi replied, shaking his head.
Kazura had played with everyone excluding Tezuka and Fuji. Only Eiji and Takashi had managed to win their games against her, but only by a narrow margin. However, he had noticed that Kazura tried not to win by too large a margin. In fact it was almost as if she tried not to win, merely to hit to their weak spots so as to show them where they needed more work.
"Scary . . . her shots are almost exactly the same as ours, only with less power, more accuracy and surprisingly few errors. It's almost as if she's spent the whole week internalising our shots and perfecting them. But how did she manage that? She hasn't even had the time to try out our shots. Has she?" mumbled Inui sending Fuji a questioning glance.
"As far as I know, she hasn't played tennis since arriving in Japan," replied Fuji.
"Than how did she manage to master Fuji's triple counters and Tezuka's drop shot? She must be a genius . . ." Eiji wondered to himself.
"Anyway, why didn't she play you or Tezuka-senpai? Not fair!" grumbled Momoshiro. "It would have been fun to see her beat buchou . . ." he trailed of as Tezuka glared fiercely at him while Fuji giggled in the background.
Even before training ended, rumours about Seigaku team's very strong manager was already circulating around like wildfire. Everyone was wondering just how powerful a player Kazura was.
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In the teacher's lounge
"You seemed to be having fun . . ." Ryuzaki sensei commented to a freshly showered and changed Kazura.
"Tennis is fun . . . especially when I win . . . did you see their faces? It was hilarious . . .," said Kazura, grinning devilishly.
"What do you plan to do with Tezuka and Fuji?" asked Ryuzaki sensei.
"I'll arrange to play them privately, it won't do much good to play them in front of everyone," Kazura replied, reverting to her serious face.
"So you're confident of beating them?" Ryuzaki sensei asked.
". . . no . . ." Kazura replied. "That's why we have to play privately, my ego cannot take the loss," she deadpanned.
Trying hard not to smile at Kazura's odd sense of humour, Ryuzaki sensei waved her away. From what she had seen, Kazura had already succeeded in finding ways to break many of the team's special shots as well as being able to play them as well. It's almost scary how quickly she is able to see patterns in tennis and formulate ways to break them in her head and finally putting those thoughts into action. With her help, Seigaku can definitely make it to the National competitions.
End of Chapter
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Hi again. Thanks much for supporting my story! I know I didn't add in any romance bits in this chapter because I felt they were moving too fast. Anyway I wanted to write about everyone else instead of just the 2 of them. Sorry, more romance in the next chapter I promise. Hope you like this chapter as well, took me a longer time to write it because I was kinda busy. * Sorry * in a show of girl power, I made Kazura really powerful, maybe too powerful . . . hmmm seems a bit unbelievable that so many regulars would lose to her . . . * Again with the Sorry * Just wanted to see some of the mighty Seigaku players lose for once . . . that's my sadistic side making an appearance . . . Must go have my medication now . . . See you next chapter!
