CAT CAUGHT MY HEART: DAY IV—MOMOSHIRO TAKESHI

Takashi was putting the tennis balls away when Kisara approached him the next afternoon.

"Taka-san." He looked up and saw Kisara, her hair unruly from practice, though she seemed tired, her ocean blue eyes were still dancing with the undying fire of eagerness.

"Yes?" He straightened up and felt his heart skip beat as he saw the pair of bells resting at her throat. Her white tennis uniform enhanced her moonlight colored skin's radiance and her tainted prism-pink lips were a sweet smile as she presented him with a little gift bag.

"I got this for you, Taka-san." She grinned with the excitement of a child, most sweet and charming. He was taken back as he accepted the bag automatically.

"For me?" He looked inside and drew out a little packet of kitty-treats tied delicately with a yellow silk ribbon. "Kitty-treats?" Kisara winked skillfully.

"For the special girl. You said she had a cat." She replied honestly. "Cats always like treats. You can give it to her the same time you're giving her the stuff kitty."

"T-thanks, Kisara-chan." Taka-san chuckled nervously, stuffing the treats back and looked around to see if any of his teammate saw what was in the bag. He leaned closer and whispered, "I'll be sure to do that. Don't tell anyone, please?"

"Sure!" She nodded eagerly.

"Kisara-chan! Come on, if we want a good spot, we have to leave now!" Momo bellowed from outside the fence.

"Ja né, Taka-san!" Kisara waved as she ran toward the other boy. "Momo-chan is taking me to the public street tennis court to practice playing doubles."

"I hope you do well!"

"Thank you!"

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"Here we are, then." Momo looked around, his expressions were pleased. "And just as I thought," he grinned evilly. "Our opponents are also here."

"Really?" The brunette girl looked around, her long hair pulled back by a white headband. "Where?"

"Momoshiro, what are you doing here?!" A demand in a male voice came from behind her. Trembling slightly from the rough outburst, Kisara turned around just as Momo's face split into a wicked grin.

"Kamio, Shinji, you're here! What a surprise?" Momo's smirk told everything but surprise. He indicated easily over to Kisara. "I was just going to show our new member here some moves for tennis."

"New member?" Kamio's eyes swept over to Kisara, and his sneer immediately disappeared as his eyes widened behind his dark auburn hair. "This is your new member?" He was distinctly dumbfounded. "B-but she's so…cute." And true to his words, as Kisara flashed an innocent smile, Kamio looked like he was about to die on the spot.

"Momoshiro," the other guy, Ibu Shinji, nodded and asked calmly. "What is this about?"

"She is our replacement, for Echizen Ryoma." Momo smirked. "And don't be fooled by her looks. She's good."

"How old are you, kid?" Shinji turned toward Kisara, his voice as cool as it had been with Momo. His black hair was almost a deep violet.

"Second year." Her charming, naïve smile melted Shinji's stoniness, and he couldn't help but return with a tiny smile.

"Second year? You certainly don't look that old. She's our age, Kamio. Kamio?" He looked over and saw that his friend had hearts in his eyes. He sighed and rolled his eyes. Everyone on the team knows that even though Kamio Akira was a dangerous tennis player in the Fudoumine school tennis team, his weakness was girls with cute smiles. And in this case, he definitely has something to be melting about. Beautiful and pretty doesn't began to describe Kisara, but cute, sweet, charming, and precious made all guys overlook the fact that she wasn't ravishing.

"She might not be old, but I'm telling you guys, she's just as good. Right, Kisara?" Momo grinned and gave the girl a pat. But what he thought was a light pat landed heavily against Kisara and she lost her balance. She stumbled backwards and stopped only when she fell against someone.

"Ah, sorry…" She gasped and turned around to properly apologize.

"Brat!" Came a hiss. "Look what you did to my shirt!" An older guy glared down at her with angry eyes. Apparently, when Kisara fell into him, she had caused him to spill his drink against his white shirt. "You think saying sorry would fix this stain?!"

"I'm sorry." Kisara was desperately trying to brush the excess liquid off his shirt with a handkerchief. "I'm very sorry." The guy slapped her hand away.

"You're making it worse, stupid!" He reached out and shoved her. With a cry, Kisara landed on the pavement. And at that moment, another hand shot out from the air and caught the guy's wrist. The guy grunted and tried to pulled away, but found that he couldn't even move his arm.

"Hey," Kamio said in a dark voice, his voice chillingly dangerous. "You just hit one of our players."

"Buster, who do you think you are?!" Momo was beyond the dangerous voice as he shouted and lunged forward. Shinji caught him in time, before his fist flew into the guy. Momo's violet eyes were red. Taking no interest in what was going on behind him, Kamio steadily repeated,

"You hit one of our players." It was a statement, coldly stated. His grip tightened.

"It wasn't my fault." The guy was defensive. "She ran into me. And look what she did to my shirt!" He added indignantly.

"You hit her." Kamio's one visible eye was getting darker and darker as it began to narrow. The guy gave a small cry as he felt his wrist being crushed under Kamio's death grasp.

"Kamio…" Shinji warned softly behind him. "Don't do it…don't snap his wrist."

"I-I'm sorry!" The guy looked like he regretted ever meeting Kisara. "I-I didn't mean to."

"You think saying sorry would fix this situation?" With a light flick of his wrist, Kamio sent the guy flying into the ground. Turning away, he added one last warning, "Don't cross my path again. I loathe guys that pick on girls."

"Y-yes." With the last of his strength, the guy ran for his life on shaking legs. Shinji had helped Kisara up and Momo stilled looked like he had half a mind to chase after that guy.

"So, Kisara," the redhead turned to her, his expression completely back to normal. His lips were smiling and his eye danced. "Shall we play? Is that okay with you, Momoshiro?" Momo snapped out of his trance and turned, chuckling with embarrassment.

"Yes, of course. I came here especially to play doubles."

"Then let's play! Kisara, you're on my team. I'll show you some good tennis moves."

"W-wait, Kamio—" Momo protested.

"T-thank you." Kisara's face was slightly pink. "Thank you, Kamio."

"Aw, it was nothing." He waved back nonchalantly. "That guy had it coming."

"Kamio Akira!" Momo growled. "Kisara's already my partner. We were before we even came here. I brought her!"

"Well, I rescued her while you just stood there like the fool you are." Was the cool retort. Flames bursting from his eyes, Momo shot back,

"If you hadn't been in the way—!"

"I was in the way!" Kamio exclaimed. "I can't believe you actually said that! If it wasn't for me—"

"—then I would have socked that guy out of his shoes!" Momo finished. Both guys were nose-to-nose now, smoke seeping from their ears.

"You should learn your place, Momoshiro, and stay out of mine!"

"You should know how stupid you look when you make false accusations."

"At least I wasn't the one beaten out of the regular's team!"

"You should talk, your school doesn't even have enough players!"

"I don't know why a cute girl like her would hang out with you! Your stupidity is probably contagious, you're so stupid!"

Shinji and Kisara looked back and forth from each boy, their insult-throwing competition was like a tennis ball, bouncing back and forth. Finally, seeing that they were very absorbed into their argument, Shinji looked down at Kisara with a smile.

"Shall we play?" He proposed, indicating the empty court. She smiled right back, her cerulean eyes engaging.

"We shall."