'Oh no, I'm late, I'm late!' Ayako thought frantically as she strode towards the tennis courts. She had Atobe's jacket tugged under her arm, the white parts of it practically shining. She had made sure there would be nothing to complain about. Although Atobe being Atobe there were no guarantees. And now she was late.
Atobe tapped his toes to the ground. Everyone's eyes immediately followed his movements. Nervous eyes watched as Atobe's toes rose from the ground and then sunk back again. When the movement suddenly stopped Ohtori let out a tiny gasp. It echoed in the thick silence that surrounded them.
"Ohtori! Ten laps!"
"Ha?" Ohtori paled and was about to say something when he received a glare from his captain and he yielded. "Hai!"
Shishido on the other hand hadn't been blessed with the ability to realise when to speak and when to shut up. "What?! You're making him run just because he made a little sound? Why don't you just- " He was cut off when Ohtori placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered: "It's okay, Shishido-san."
Unfortunately Ohtori had been too late to save his senpai. "Shishido, fifty laps." Growling and muttering under his breath Shishido started to run beside Ohtori. "The rest of you start practicing." Everyone scattered after hearing that, eager to get away from their captain who was in such a foul mood. Atobe retreated to a bench from where he watched others to train.
Five minutes passed before loud huffing could be heard and a panting girl emerged from behind a corner and hurried next to Atobe. Atobe had by now taken his 'I look like I'm in a good mood but you know it's just a bluff, don't you?'-look on his face. Ayako did know it. Her hands trembled and her voice uneven when she said: "H-here's your jacket, Atobe-sama. I'm sorry I'm late. The teacher- "
"I'm not interested in your excuses", Atobe cut her off, taking the jacket out of her hand. "You're late and that's all I need to know." He stood up. "Get my water bottle, I forgot it in the club room. And after that you can join them for…say, twenty laps." Atobe pointed Ohtori and Shishido. He watched as Ayako ran to get his water and smirked. 'Hehe, what an obedient little puppy she is. Perhaps I should make her into another Kabaji. Hmm…now that's a thought.' The rest of the team paled when Atobe joined the practice, smiling to himself and looking altogether far too pleased in himself. They wondered with a faint of fear why his mood had changed so quickly as they knew it couldn't be anything good.
Ayako returned after a while, ran her laps -they, by the way, exhausted her to the point of falling to the ground and remaining there motionless- ,asked further instructions from Atobe and continued to perform her duties. The duties consisted mostly of fetching things for the regulars and fanning them with a huge fan. Mukahi and Atobe proved to be the worst cases while the others asked for her help only occasionally. Well, Hiyoshi would have loved to use her more but Atobe didn't let him. After all, he didn't even lend Kabaji to others and Kabaji was by now fully trained, so what were the chances of him letting his new servant be affected -tainted as he himself said it- by others? A certain bespectacled boy from Seigaku would say that there's a zero percent chance of that ever happening. So that left Ayako running from Mukahi to Atobe, fulfilling their desires.
Oh, you might be wondering why Mukahi was allowed to use her when Hiyoshi was not. Well, the truth is that Atobe found Mukahi's whining voice extremely annoiyng and therefore often let him do what he pleased. Added to that -and I'm telling this in full confidence, don't tell Atobe where you heard this!- Mukahi almost always turned to Oshitari for help when Atobe did forbade him something and quite frankly Atobe was a little afraid of the team's tensai. Not that he ever let it show, of course, he just discreetly avoided situations where Oshitari could be displeased with his decisions.
"Ayako-chan! Bring me the griptape from my bag!" Mukahi said balancing his racket leisurely on top of his index finger.
"Hai, Mukahi-senpai!" Ayako answered, ran across the court, passed Mukahi, ran another five steps, took the tape from the bag, traced the five steps back and gave the tape to Mukahi.
"Here you go, Mukahi-senpai."
"Takahashi! Go and wake Jiroh up. It's his turn to be beaten by ore-sama", Atobe ordered.
"Hai! Atobe-sama!" And she ran again, this time towards the sleeping boy and began to carefully shake him. "Akutagawa-senpai! Akutagawa-senpai! Atobe-sama wants to play a game against you. You should wake up. Akutagawa-senpai!"
A few hours later Ayako sank in her bed, dead tired, and dreamt of Atobe ordering her to do this and that. And so forceful and commanding was his voice that when Ayako's brother came home from his late night work he found Ayako scrubbing some old boots with an old piece of cloth, fast asleep, mumbling repeatedly: "Yes, Atobe-sama. Yes, Atobe-sama." And the strangest thing was that there was a tiny smile on her lips.
Notes: Sorry it took so long. I've been busy graduating and studying for entrance exams. I'll try to be quicker from now on. Next time we'll see what Ayako thinks of her new job and just why she was smiling. To tell the truth I'm not entirely sure of it myself. Oh, and thanks for the review!
