Bokura no Kokoro de

Disclaimer: If you would believe it, I don't own Tenipuri

Summary: "Why do we have so many people who hate to lose on our team?" It's not that Seigaku can't be defeated. Seigaku refuses to be defeated, in and outside of their own team.

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Bokura no Kokoro De

Part One: Chapter Two First Practice

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There were many people gathered around the tennis courts that afternoon. It was the first practice of the year, after all, and everyone was anxious to get started. Especially the freshmen. There were over twenty new members of the tennis club that year, one of the most successful years in the club's history.

The freshmen were changed into their gym clothes, blue gym shorts and a white polo shirt, and were milling around the entrance to the club room in groups of twos and threes. Kawamura noticed this – and the fact that Inui was still following him – and sighed. He had originally planned to join the judo club, but since Seigaku had no judo club, he had taken the next best thing on his list.

"Average height . . ." he heard Inui mumble, scribbling in his notebook.

He inched away from the taller boy and consequently bumped into another freshman, who was standing behind him. Turning around to apologise, Kawamura found himself staring at the top of a bright mop of vibrant red hair.

"Hoi hoi!" the redhead greeted him energetically. "Are you a freshman too?"

"U-uh, hai." He stuck out a hand. "Kawamura Takashi."

"Nice to meet you, nya. I'm Kikumaru Eiji." Eiji shook his hand, pumping it up and down with a force that wasn't expected of his size. "Isn't this great? Seigaku's tennis club is so cool!"

Kawamura was about to reply when a creepily familiar voice interrupted them.

"Ii data . . . Kikumaru Eiji, freshman, red hair . . ."

"Hoi?" Eiji blinked at the newcomer. "Who's this?"

"Inui-kun," Kawamura explained, laughing nervously. "He's in my class."

Just then, they were interrupted yet again, this time by the arrival of Oishi. Inui began furiously scribbling data about Oishi while Eiji introduced him to them, earning himself a strange look from the new arrival.

"Is he – all right?" Oishi asked.

"He's . . . like that, I think."

"We're waiting for our new friend, nya!" Eiji said excitedly. He bounced up and down on his feet. "He's in class 1-1 and we met him today!"

"Eiji-kun, calm down!" Oishi exclaimed.

"Ah, gomen nasai, I'm late."

Fuji arrived then, dressed in his gym clothes, his smile ever-present on his face. A glint reflected off Inui's glasses and he started flipping through his notebook. Fuji continued to smile, but there was a message of slight confusion being directed to his friends, who shrugged. Inui then looked up and stared at Fuji, who looked back.

"Fuji Syusuke, am I right?" he asked.

"Hai," Fuji replied, covering his bewilderment with another smile. "And you are . . .?"

"Inui Sadaharu." The bespectacled boy opened his mouth to speak again. "I've heard about . . ."

"Nice to meet you, Inui-kun," Fuji interrupted smoothly. "I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun here in the tennis club, ne minna?"

There were general murmurs of assent amongst the freshmen. Inui, finding no way to continue on his previous track of speech, fell silent, much to the relief of the others. After Eiji introduced Kawamura, Fuji looked around.

"That's strange," he commented, "I came with Tezuka-kun just now."

"Did you just say Tezuka?"

At the sound of the name, all the freshmen whipped around to face Fuji. He obviously didn't know the impact of his words and just smiled as if nothing were wrong.

"Hai, what's the matter?"

"Don't you know?" Eiji squeaked. "Tezuka Kunimitsu is the best tennis player in the Chugaku circuit! Well, was, now . . . since we're in Koukou, but still! He won the Nationals last year!"

"Sou ka . . ."

"You really didn't know . . ." the redhead blinked in shock. "I thought all dedicated tennis fans knew him."

"Saa, I'm actually quite new in the tennis circuit," Fuji said. "I play, but I don't play in the circuit. I haven't been in a tennis club before now – I was more into photography then."

"You've been hanging out with a Chugaku tennis legend without knowing." Eiji pretended to swoon and faint onto Oishi's shoulder. "I'm in shock."

They laughed at his antics. Moments later, Fuji's expression brightened again and he waved at someone over Kawamura's shoulder.

"Tezuka-kun!" he called. "Over here!"

Immediately, whispers broke out amongst the freshmen as Tezuka approached. He bore an aura of extreme confidence and power, one that others just couldn't help but respect. When he noticed that everyone's eyes were on him, he sighed and looked as if he had a headache. Fuji just smiled.

"Where did you go, Tezuka-kun? You were here one minute and the next I couldn't see you anywhere!"

"Bathroom," was the curt reply.

Eiji gaped at Tezuka in shock. When the other turned his gaze to him, the redhead flushed and hid behind Oishi.

"I can't believe I called him a nerd!" he hissed in his friend's ear. "I called Tezuka Kunimitsu a nerd!"

"Is he all right?" Tezuka asked, motioning to Eiji.

"Ah, I think it's just shock," Oishi replied with a slight smile. "He gets like that sometimes. Nice to meet you, Tezuka-kun. I'm Oishi Syuichiroh and this is Kikumaru Eiji."

Tezuka bowed.

"Let me introduce the others," Fuji said, taking over. "Kawamura Takashi and Inui Sadaharu. We're all freshmen here."

The arrival of Yamato-buchou was met with whispers of awe, as well as a flocking of many of the girls' tennis club members. He and the fukubuchou, a second year named Takahashi Touya, came out of the club room dressed in the Regulars uniform.

This provided another gossip topic for the freshmen. They were in awe of the Regulars uniform the captain and vice-captain wore, as well as the five other Regulars. The blue, white and red jerseys and jackets, as well as the blue track pants had SEIGAKU TENNIS CLUB clearly and proudly emblazoned on them. It was the dream of all who entered the club to be able to wear them.

Tezuka stood off to the side, expressionless and silent. He was here to play tennis and not to gawk at someone who he saw as a potential rival. Fuji stood beside him too, smiling placidly, not seeming interested in what was going on. He did, however, make a couple of comments.

"Yamato-buchou is very popular. And that Regulars uniform is much better-looking than ours." When Tezuka grunted, he chuckled. "Are you going to tell me to stop making such superficial comments?"

"MINNA!" A loud voice called over the chatter. "GATHER AROUND!"

"Come on, Tezuka-kun."

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"Welcome, minna, to the beginning of another year for the Seigaku Tennis Club," Yamato began. "My name is Yamato and I am the tennis club captain. This is the vice-captain, Takahashi Touya, who is second-in-charge.

"First of all . . ." here, Yamato gave a mysteriously bright grin, "the weather is perfect for practice."

Ryuzaki-sensei coughed into her fist to hide a chuckle, while the other members of the team just smirked in amusement. The freshmen, however, were mostly confused. The randomness of the statement was unexpected and Tezuka was bemused by this fact.

"We will start off with everyone doing twenty laps around the courts, and then the freshmen will introduce themselves. After that, Regulars will practice on courts A and B, juniors and seniors will take courts C through to F. Freshmen will report to Takahashi, who will instruct you on your duties."

"HAI!"

"Everyone twenty laps now! Gather here in fifteen minutes!" Takahashi barked.

As they all went for the gate, Fuji fell into step next to Eiji, looking calm and relaxed. The redhead, however, was pouting again.

"Mou, I really hate running laps," he whined.

"It builds up stamina, Eiji," Fuji replied cheerfully. "And the weather really is nice for it."

Eiji made a face at him.

"You're talking like Yamato-buchou, Fuji," he said. "So weird!"

"If you let buchou hear you say that . . ." Fuji let it hang, but Eiji only laughed and jogged ahead to join Oishi. The shorter boy kept at his current pace and soon caught up with Kawamura. "Kawamura-kun, ne?"

"A-Ah, hai. What's the matter, Fuji-kun?"

"Oh nothing much." Fuji kept his gaze ahead, but he could see out of the corner of his eyes that Kawamura was looking uncomfortable and nervous. "Do you have friends here from chugaku?"

"No, I don't," Kawamura replied softly. "They all went to another school."

"That's too bad," Fuji told him sincerely. His smile dimmed a little. "I'm the same – the only one from my old school too. But that's because I moved. I used to live in the Chiba Prefecture."

"Really?" The taller boy was beginning to relax. "What's it like there?"

"Not as urbanised as Tokyo, obviously, with a more relaxing atmosphere. They have a beautiful beach there and when we had free time, my friends and I used to look for shells."

"Must have been nice."

"Mm, it was."

They jogged in silence, easily keeping up with the rest of the group as they rounded the corner to start their fourth lap. Some of the freshmen had already dropped out and were propped up against the wall, panting. Kawamura was glad of his stamina.

"Why did you move then?" he asked, purely out of curiosity.

"Pardon?"

"Why did you move from Chiba?" he repeated. When Fuji didn't reply, Kawamura flushed. "I'm sorry, is it personal? You don't have to answer it."

"No, it's not really . . ." Fuji gave him a cheerful smile. "My father thought it would be good to have a change in environment, that's all."

Kawamura wasn't stupid, he knew Fuji was lying, but it seemed personal, so he didn't press it. After a while, he began to lose his breath and fell behind and Eiji slowed his pace down considerably too. Oishi dropped back to accompany his redhead friend, but Fuji ran on without looking back.

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At the end of twenty laps, most of the second and first years had already dropped out. That left some of the third years and all the Regulars. What surprised them all was that six first years had completed all twenty laps and three of them were looking very calm about it.

Interesting first years we have here, Yamato thought to himself. His gaze rested on Tezuka, who was accepting a drink bottle from Fuji. Especially that one.

"Saa," he called, clapping his hands. "Freshmen to Takahashi and everyone else to your respective courts!"

"Hai, buchou!"

Takahashi approached him. The vice-captain was tall, fair-haired and dark eyed, with a gentle disposition. However, his voice could command armies, as some of his friends had told him, and everyone respected him.

"Yamato . . ."

"Likes bees to honey," Yamato said, before Takahashi could finish his sentence. "We will have a lot of fun this year, Touya-kun."

"I hate it when you do that," Takahashi sighed. He glanced over to where Tezuka was. "That's the one, huh? I'll keep an eye on him for you, Yamato, but you owe me one."

"Wouldn't full marks on your next exam be nice?"

"Stop it."

Takahashi went back to the first years and began instructing them on what they were going to do for the first semester. They were divided into two groups and one would pick up balls first, the other would be doing stretches. Then, when he gave the signal, they would swap over. When the stretches were doing, they would gather on an empty court and he would begin coaching them on practice swings and basic skills.

"Go to your duties now!" he ordered.

"Hai, fukubuchou!"

Tezuka was in Group A, who were in charge of picking up balls. He jogged to Court F, where some of the second years were having practice matches. He set to work immediately, an act which pleased the vice-captain. At least he was hardworking and didn't complain.

"I'm too tired to move!" a first year whined.

"Me too! My legs feel like they're made of jelly!"

"FRESHMEN!" he barked, making them jump. "GET TO WORK!"

Somehow, Takahashi was really starting to doubt Yamato's judgement.

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End Chapter Two

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Chapter Three:

After the first week of practice, Takahashi decides to put Tezuka up against some of the second years, which causes some discontent.

Translation Notes:

Ii – good

Gomen nasai – sorry, I'm very sorry (gomen means sorry on its own, but more casual, nasai is to make it formal and more polite)

Ne – I'm not sure if there's a direct translation, but ne can be used to ask opinions (kind of like, 'isn't that right?')

Minna – everyone

Koukou – senior high school (years 10-12)

Fukubuchou – vice captain (fuku – vice, buchou – captain)

Mou – a word of complaint, kind of like 'man!'

Reviews are appreciated this time too!

Relinquished