(A/N: Thank you once again for reading my first fanfic. The reviews meant a lot to me. There was never really a straight Oishi fanfic out there. (Shorti-chan story was probably the closest one I ever found.) I hope I did a good job making one for him. This will be the last chapter for now. I did my best to incorporate this chapter to fit who his character is. XD. Anyways, on with the story!)
To Jen-chan: I have ideas to continue the story, but if I can get at least 5 people to reply to me saying they like the story and want it continued then I will write more. That many people would motivate me to continue. (okay by now I did get 5, but I still decided to continue on free will.)
To hoshi-star: Thanks for the review. Anyways…it was Fuji Syusuke, one of the Seigaku regulars that were with Reiko and Oishi at the bowling alley. It was Fuji Yuuta, Syusuke's younger brother that was at the street tennis courts with everyone else. I hope that explained it.
Disclaimer: All rights to PoT/Tenipuri belong to Konomi Takeshi. Reiko and all other characters I make up belong to me.
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Oishi opened his eyes. He noticed he was standing alone on a deserted beach just before sunrise. The cool ocean breeze made his skin tingle and he could hear the tall palm trees in the distance rustle. The brown sand beneath his feet felt warm and soft. He took a deep breath and allowed the cool salty breeze to enter in, which gave him a very relaxed feeling. Oishi loved the ocean and he enjoyed swimming. He walked towards the water and felt the cold, clear waters rush around his feet. For a moment, he felt he was in the most peaceful relaxing world.
Suddenly, he noticed a small purple bucket wash upon the shore. A frightening chill ran down his spine, for seeing that purple bucket actually brought back a long forgotten memory.
"Rei-chan?" Oishi looked around the beach and saw no one present. He quickly ran through the water. "Rei-chan?" He kept calling and frantically went deeper into the water looking above and below searching for her. Still…he found no one. All of a sudden, he saw something in the distance and the most horrified shocked look came upon his face. He swam frantically over there and reached out his hand.
"REI-CHAN!"
Oishi woke up and realized that he had yelled her name. He blinked a few times and saw that his hand was reaching out to grab something. It was still the middle of the night and he was sweating and breathing sporadically. Once he realized it was just a nightmare, he took a few slow deep breaths to calm himself down.
"Kuso. Not again."
Chapter 8: Mother of Seigaku
"SEIGAKU! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" All the 1st year members yelled. It was the start of another day of afternoon tennis practice. The regulars and all the 2nd and 3rd year members were on the courts practicing various tennis shots. Some of the regulars had buckets of tennis balls and were hitting balls to the players on the opposite side. They would hit a few balls to each member and then the next person would come up and hit. The 1st year members were running around collecting tennis balls.
"Next" Oishi yelled. He hit a tennis ball to the forehand, backhand, and then a lob, which the member was to smash. Oishi had just hit a ball to the backhand of the next member when the guy suddenly tripped and fell to the ground cutting his knee.
"Ah Yomura!" Oishi ran over to the other side of the court. "Are you alright? I'm sorry for hitting it too wide." Yomura, a second year student, just smiled and got up. "Its alright Oishi-sempai, I'm fine. Just a few scrapes on my leg." Oishi had a worried look. "Are you sure? I could accompany you to the nurse. I'm really sorry for making you trip." Yomura shook his head. "Don't worry Oishi-sempai, I can walk there by myself. Please continue with practice." Yomura then walked off the courts. From a distance, Eiji and Inui were watching the situation.
"Wah…Oishi is way too nice sometimes." Eiji said to Inui. Both of them were waiting for their turns to hit.
"That's why he's called the 'Mother of Seigaku', his worries are different from ours. He's ten times more concern then we'd normally be and he worries for everyone on the team."
"Sometimes though I wonder why." Eiji asked curiously. "Oh well, I guess that's just how he is." Eiji saw it was his turn and went up.
After a little bit of practice was done. Tezuka had all the regulars pair up and rally against each other. The regulars were playing with all their specialty moves. Momoshiro did a dunk smash, but it was countered by Fuji's Higuma Otoshi. Inui was using his data tennis to calculate where Kikumaru would use his acrobatic plays. Oishi saw Ryoma come to the net to attempt a Drive B so he countered with a Moon Volley. Kawamura was fired up and was hitting his shots with great power. Kaidoh was practicing his boomerang snake. Tezuka, who was to be on leave to Germany in a week or so, was standing to the side of the court. All the other members stood outside the court and watched in awe as they saw how strong their regulars were.
From a distance, there was a girl outside of the courts who was watching the entire practice. Reiko watched all the regulars and stood in amazement. "Wow…the boy's tennis team is really good. So much intensity in the way they play." She remembered the game she played with Oishi the previous week. Reiko looked at her hand and clenched her fist. "I wish I could play more games like that." She then continued to watch the boy's tennis practice.
Boy's practice soon came to an end. "Practice dismissed! Be careful of injuries." Tezuka yelled. All the members left to go change in the clubroom. As Eiji was leaving the tennis courts, he saw Reiko standing nearby outside the courts. "Hey Reiko-chan." Eiji ran up to her. "What are you doing here?"
"Girls practice today was really short so I thought I take a look and see how you guys were doing. You played really well Eiji-kun. I was very fascinated by your acrobatic moves."
Eiji blushed a little and rubbed his nose upon hearing the compliment. "Hehe…Arigatou Reiko-chan. Ne…Are you busy this evening?"
Reiko nodded. "Yup. I'm going over to Oishi's place after practice since his parents invited me over for dinner. It's been a while since I've last seen them."
"Oh I see." Eiji was a little down upon hearing that, but didn't think too much on it since Oishi and Reiko were old friends and knew each other's parents. "Oh yeah, we're still meeting up tomorrow after practice right?"
"Of course. I'll be needing your help and thanks for giving me your time."
Eiji just shook his head. "Don't be. I'm just glad you asked. Well I better go change now so I'll see you tomorrow." Eiji waved and ran to the clubroom to change.
"Tomorrow?" Reiko turned around and saw Oishi. "Hi Syu-kun. I'm meeting up with Eiji-kun tomorrow after practice and he's going to take me to the local pet shop. Mika-chan's birthday is coming up soon and she really wanted to get a rabbit. I heard that Eiji-kun goes to the pet shop often so I asked him to help me out with some things."
"Oh I see." Oishi realized he was still in his Seigaku tennis uniform and that he hasn't changed yet. "Ah gomen. Let me go change and then we'll go back to my place." Oishi ran to the clubroom. He proceeded to change quickly back into his school clothes.
"Tanaka-san is a really interesting girl." Oishi was startled by the comment and turned to see that it was Fuji who made the remark. "Oh hey Fuji. Um…yeah I know Rei-chan is interesting."
"Do you like her?" Fuji asked curiously. Oishi blushed upon hearing that question. "Well...I don't know. We've just recently met again. She's kawaii and we're good friends… I tend to keep a look out for her."
Fuji then leaned over and whispered into Oishi's ear. "She appears quite naïve about such things. If you don't realize it soon, you might let her slip away." Oishi was puzzled about what Fuji just said. "Realize what?" Oishi said in confusion. Fuji smiled. "Even Oishi can be naïve." "Never mind. I'll see you later." Fuji picked up his stuff and left the clubroom, leaving Oishi the last person in there. Oishi pondered about what Fuji just said. He then realized he left Reiko waiting outside so he finished changing and locked up the clubroom.
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Oishi and Reiko walked towards his house. The sun was setting and the sky was a bright orange-red color. For most the walk, both of them were quiet as they walked side by side along the hard concrete street. Soon, they passed by a small park that contained a few metal swings, a small metal slide, a large sandbox and a few red wooden benches. Reiko stopped walking upon noticing that she saw a young boy and girl around 5-6 years of age playing in the large sandbox. Oishi stopped as well and they both looked on at the two kids playing in the sandbox.
"Yuki-kun! That was mean! Please get that away from me!" The girl squealed as the boy tried to tease her with a small cricket that he recently caught nearby.
"What's wrong with a little bug Maya-chan? This will be perfect for guarding the sandcastle we just made" The boy placed the small cricket on a mound of sand next to the girl. The cricket jumped toward her causing the little girl to cry. The boy then patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sorry Maya-chan. I didn't mean to make you cry. See…the bug is gone."
The little girl opened her eyes and looked into they boy's eyes which showed a sense of reassurance. She looked around and noticed the small cricket was gone. "Sniff sniff…Arigatou Yuki-kun." The two kids heard someone call their names and both of the kids quickly ran off. Reiko and Oishi then walked over to the large sandbox where the two kids were playing.
"Looking at those two kids…reminded me of how we were when we were little. You used to tease me a lot just like that little boy did."
"It was fun teasing you. But of course I always stopped when I saw you start to cry." Oishi thought back on the times when they were little kids. He recalled when they played in the park, took tennis lessons together, had sleepovers, and walked to school. They both did many things together when they were young. Now it was many years later and they had grown up. "Wow…time does go by fast."
"Huh?" Reiko noticed that they left something in the sandbox. "The two kids must have left this. I don't think they ran off too far so I'm going to try return this to them. Please wait for me." She picked up a small purple bucket in the sandbox and ran off quickly in the direction where the two little kids ran off.
Oishi noticed the small purple bucket that Reiko had picked up. Suddenly, a frightening chill went down Oishi's spine. It was that same uneasy feeling he had in that dream before. His body started to feel tense and a queasy feeling began to lurk inside him. The little kids, the sandcastle, and the small purple bucket all brought back a chilling memory. His head began to feel a little dizzy so he sat down on one of the nearby wooden benches. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead as he tried to calm his mind down.
"Syu-kun?" Oishi looked and saw that Reiko was staring at him. He didn't even notice that she had walked back recently and been watching Oishi for some time. "You don't look so good. Want to tell me what's wrong?" Oishi just smiled. "I'm fine Rei-chan." Reiko walked towards him and placed her face a few inches away from his. Oishi blushed and turned his head. "Rei-chan, what are you doing?"
"Baka." Reiko said. "You aren't good at hiding things that worry you." She sat on the bench next to Oishi. "Why don't you tell me? You have nothing to hide from me." Oishi was unsure of what to do. He really wanted to tell her, but was scared as to how she'd react. He looked at her nervously and saw that she had a worried look in her brown eyes. Oishi then decided that now would be the best time to say it since they were alone and if he didn't say it now, the problem would bother him later on. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Rei-chan…do you still have a fear of water?"
Oishi looked at her upon seeing how she would react to his question. Reiko had turned her head away from him. Her bangs covered her eyes so he couldn't tell how she was feeling. A guilty feeling ran through him. "Crap…I should have never mentioned it." He wasn't sure what to say to ease the awkward silent moment. "Rei-chan I…"
"Sometimes." Reiko looked at Oishi and smiled. "I took swimming lessons a few times in America. I was able to get through it…but there are some days where I…" She stopped short upon seeing Oishi with a very depressed look. "Hey Syu-kun, what's wrong. Was it something I said?" Reiko placed her arm around his back and Oishi leaned himself next to her, resting his head on her shoulder.
"Rei-chan…I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?"
"Sorry…that I didn't protect you that time." Oishi closed his eyes and thought back on the incident:
*flashback*
The Oishi you see now was way different from when he was before. Like most little boys, he liked to tease. When he befriended Reiko, they became good friends and did many activities together. He liked to pick on her, but she didn't mind at all. They went to school together and were in the same class every year till Reiko left for America.
One summer (they were around 6-7 years of age), their school went on a trip to the beach. Oishi was really excited since he loved the ocean and all sorts of things that dealt with water. Reiko at the time had never been to the ocean before so she was pretty excited as well. Both of them were attempting to build a sandcastle. They needed water for a moat they just built so Reiko took a small purple bucket she had brought along and ran down to the waters. The tide that day was pretty high, but none of them thought twice about it. Oishi's head was turned away from the ocean as he was busy working on the sandcastle. After a while, he noticed that Reiko didn't come back.
"Geez…what's taking Rei-chan so long?" Oishi got up and walked around trying to find her. He thought that maybe she went to pick up some shells lying around on the beach. He then noticed a small purple bucket wash upon the shore. Oishi picked it up and realized that Reiko had brought a purple bucket. An uneasy feeling went through him. He ran toward the water and swam around. "Rei-chan?" he called repeatedly. "Where could she have gone?"
Suddenly, a group of people that were not too far from him was in a commotion. He heard something about finding a girl floating in the water. Oishi was scared. Oh no…please let it not be her." An adult brought the girl to shore and proceeded with CPR. An ambulance was quickly called and used more advanced technology to save the girl. Oishi ran over and saw his teacher talking with some of the medical group. His classmates were scattered around wondering what was going on. He squeezed his way through the crowd to see who the girl was. After catching a glint of who was on the stretcher, he fell to his knees. "Rei-chan…"
Reiko barely survived her near drown experience and had to stay in the hospital for a week. Reiko and Oishi were both scarred from the incident. As the years went by and they separated, the incident faded from their memory and they went on with their normal lives trying to forget what had happened. However since Reiko's return, Oishi began having vision of that incident again, leaving a large sense of guilt and regret.
*end of flashback*
"If only I wasn't so stupid back then I would have watched over you more carefully. Rei-chan, please forgive me for what I've done to you."
Reiko leaned her head next to his. "Syu-kun, please don't be like this. You've done nothing wrong so don't live in regret anymore."
"But I have to!" Oishi exclaimed. He gripped both her shoulders and looked at her with intense eyes. "Its because I was stupid that you almost died! It's truly all my fault that I did this to you!"
Reiko looked at him with a calm attitude. "You really don't understand anything do you?" Oishi just stood their confused as to what Reiko said. "I don't understand what you mean."
"Haven't you realized anything? Back then you didn't know I never learned how to swim and we were just children. It's true that we both were hurt by this incident, but it happened for a reason." Reiko smiled and continued talking. "Do you remember, what you said in the hospital?" Oishi shook his head. "I thought you probably wouldn't remember since you were crying like mad at the time. Anyways…I remember waking up in bed and I saw you crying next to me. You said that you'd promise to watch out and protect me from here on. And since you've made that promise, you've done that. Wherever we went, you would always keep a guard on me and protect me from harm's way. You would get antsy when I played guys in tennis since you worried they'd hurt me. Even when I left, you still kept to that promise. Not only to me, but to all the other people you cared for."
Reiko leaned next to him. "I knew it when I saw you care for the guy injured on the court today. You worry so much and are willing to protect everyone. No wonder people call you the 'Mother of Seigaku'. Everyone on the team respects you Syu-kun. I believe, that if the incident never happened, you'd probably never be the sweet guy you are today. So please, have no more regrets on this incident and don't carry this pain anymore."
Oishi was shocked by what Reiko had just said. He never realized it like that, yet it all made perfect sense. The regret that was paining his heart was slowly being lifted. He smiled and gave Reiko a hug. "Thanks for making me understand Rei-chan."
"That's what friends are for Syu-kun." Reiko smiled. She leaned in and kissed Oishi lightly on the cheek.
Oishi turned a ruby red. "Rei-chan!" He exclaimed and turned his head away. "W…Why did you do that?" He placed a hand on his chest and felt his heart was beating excitedly. Never before has a girl ever kissed him.
Reiko giggled. "Its better seeing you like that then all depressed. Seeing you sad bugs me and you really shouldn't worry a lot Syu-kun. But then again, I guess that's just how you are." She looked at the time. "Ah it's getting late! You're mom must be worried and I'm getting hungry, so let's go!" Reiko grabbed Oishi's hand and pulled him off the bench.
A few thoughts went through his head as he walked out of the park. He thought about what Fuji had told him earlier: "She appears quite naïve about such things. If you don't realize it soon, you might let her slip away." Perhaps Fuji was right. She did seem quite naïve about such feelings. He took a glance at her, watching her cheerful personality as she held his hand. Then again, he himself was not sure what feelings ran through his head at the time Reiko kissed him. Oishi smiled and decided not to dwell on it too much. "I think for now, its better we let time figure out what the future holds for us. Perhaps one day I'll understand what these feelings are and someday will be able to tell you."
Both Oishi and Reiko walked back to his house hand in hand.
Owari. (End of the childhood promise part)
(A/N: Oh I hope that was convincing. Sorry if you didn't like it (sakura2814 runs to hide under a rock to avoid bashing). I tried my best! Please review or email. I greatly appreciate feedback)
Important as of 8/29: There is now a Part 2 of the story. You can stop here if you'd like or continue on! ^_^