A/N: No time to talk, let's continue!
Edits: Something is bound to be wrong. 27.5.2009
Disclaimer: Queeny4001 owns nothing, not even this name.
Chapter Fourteen
Yumi Jinhana
Fuji split the groups up. The singles went off to practise while Nariko and I had time to better our teamwork. Later we were going to have a match with Kikumaru and Arai, the better two. I linked arms with a nervous yet patient Nariko and led her away to court C.
"Have you ever played doubles before?" I ask her once we reached the courts.
"No. I thought I'd be in singles."
"Yay!" I cheer and take her by the hands. "I get to train fresh talent. It's really simple once you get into it but we need a title, something that bonds us. Because I can see us working together for a long time."
For a split second Nariko's face went blank. She then asks why we need a title in a game of tennis. I'm overjoyed by her ignorance. She is so raw in this field that I feel honoured to be the one to train her. If she's cast into the aggressive hands of Arai or the flexible hands of Kikumaru who knows how she would have turned out. I giggle to myself and pull Nariko to the baseline.
"Right, first things first. What are your styles based on?"
"Well, birds."
"Really?" I couldn't hide my joy. "Oh, wow. We can be, like, The Rose and The Humming Bird. Yeah, that's it! We are now The Rose and The Humming Bird."
She doesn't seem too impressed. It doesn't matter; the name will grow on her.
"Fuji-sempai said something about you being able to develop my style or multiply them… but… well…"
I smile patiently. I love her calm character, her subdued doubt and willing desire to learn and understand. Though, sometimes when I glance at her, throughout the school day, I can't help but feel that she's lonely, so naturally I wanted to give her the time she needs to bond with me. Then again, this could just be my eyes seeing what I want. People say she's dark and a bit of a sceptic but my eyes sees something different and a little unsettling in her. I shake my head. I'm just distracting myself. I thought it best to tell her a little about myself.
"I am known as the English Rose because my favourite moves are based on the intricate differences of the beautiful plants that I have come to know and love. My last partner was Osaki-sempai, who has graduated now. We where called The Eden Pair because our moves were the epitome of beauty and humility. Now that she's moved on I want us to be The Rose and The Humming Bird. Why? Because those two creatures can come together to provide for each other. One is slow and supreme, the other soars and with frightfully fast movements."
She nods agreeably, grasping the concept. I hold her shoulders and position her in the middle of the baseline and asked her what she saw. A court, she replies quietly. I now ran to the service line and asked the question again.
"Someone in my way." She answers.
I open my mouth to correct her, thinking that this was going to be harder than I first thought.
"No Nariko-chan. I'm not in your way, I'm your partner. This is how we have to work in doubles. Let's swap places."
Nariko makes her way to the service line and I to the baseline.
"Now what do you see?" I asked.
She take as few seconds to think. "Not much."
"Exactly." Though her answer is unimpressed it's the right one. I approach her and stand beside her. "When you're the player on the service line and doing net play your view is clearly limited because you can't see what I, on the baseline, is doing. Though you can't see what I'm doing, don't just stand there as a spectator, and don't look back to see what I'm doing." I pointed my racket to the other side. "Always have your eyes on the two opponent no matter what."
"That's sounds difficult. I'm so use to being able to see everything. So… how will we know what each other is going to do?"
"Practise. We practise until we know each other inside out. Let me show you one of my serves."
I skip back to the baseline and tell Nariko to stay in mid court while assuring her I wouldn't hit her. I take a ball out of my pocket and test my want strength and speed by bouncing it twice on the ground. Once ready, I put the ball in service. It's at a normal speed but I put enough spin into it to get the serve I want. It passes Nariko easily. She flinches. The ball hits the corner of the left court. The ball doesn't bounce high but just sweeps the floor. Once it's near where the opponent would be standing, the ball spirals up vertically at a decreased speed from the actual serve. Not my favourite move but it gets the job done.
"What was that?" Nariko said turning round to face me.
"Hey, I told you not to turn around."
She straightens up and faces the front quickly. "Now Nariko-chan, I've just set the shot up for you. You now have to decide what the opponent is likely to do. Do you think they could return that shot or miss it? If they return it where will they hit it and how? And who of the two of us can better hit the return. With doubles your mind always has to be ticking because there's twice as many people on the court which can make it ten times as many moves to counter. Try figuring this one through."
I hit another serve similar to the first but instead of a slow spiral that climbed up, the ball shoots straight up after hitting the court and then drifts back down.
"What?" Nariko gasps with bewilderment. She watches the ball.
"Those moves belong to the vine and the bamboo. They are time wasters. That means if we're in a difficult spot, I can give us a few seconds to sort our game out before they return those shots. So, Nariko-chan how would the opponent return those serves?"
"You mean they can be returned?"
I nodded. She thinks about it.
"Nariko-chan, you don't have that kind of time to waste. Your mind has to be quick and sharp. Always thinking, always moving, never doubting."
Her head sunk slightly as the truth of the game all flooded to her mind. 'Don't give up Nariko-chan, I won't let you'. I'll teach her the basics and we can work from there.
I decided to teach her something else so I ran into the opponent's court and tell her to stay where she stands. I collect the two balls I served and make Nariko aware that unlike singles, sometimes, she has to leave the ball for her partner to hit. It's not all the time she should return the ball. So I started her off with three shots and on the fourth I told her to not return the ball. She flinched, not reacting in time and returned the ball. We watched it hit outside the court.
"Sorry."
"That was a good example. Sometimes you will make a shot like that which could have been avoid if you had let your base player hit it. Keep that in mind."
I set her off again. On the second shot I told her to leave it. The ball shot past her and she turned to watch it.
"Hey! Don't look behind you! You have to focus on where your partner is going to move to and you have to trust your partner to put the ball into a position to manipulate the opponent so that we can score a point. Of course keep it at the bare minimum that you have to look back. We tend to only do it before a serve."
She hesitates and nods.
"Don't worry, you'll get it soon." I say.
"I hope so."
I can't help but hear a moment of doubt in her words. Poor thing. I don't know why Fuji and Arai didn't put her in singles. Maybe they wanted to give Ai Suzu a shot for the up and coming months. Don't worry little humming bird, you'll fly solo soon. For now, just feed off my pollen.
We further practised for fifteen minutes before I heard the happy calls from Kikumaru. I waved the two over.
"Ready for a match Jinhana-chan?" Kikumaru asked.
"Of course." I winked at Nariko.
Arai leans on Kikumaru's shoulder. "Ever since Mizuki-sempai left, your game has suffered."
I didn't say anything in regards to her obvious slur. Though, it's true that The Eden Pair we're above any doubles pair on the girl's team. I chuckle to myself. I'm able to start afresh. At least I'm able to guide Nariko and develop a new game plan. As vice captain, she's overly arrogant. I'm surprised Fuji can put up with her.
I turn my nose up at them and join Nariko.
"I have full confidence in my humming bird. With practise, she'll become the best. And with her help, I will be doubles one again."
"More like a crow." Arai laughed. "That's some big talk from you Jinhana-chan. Let's put your humming bird to the test." Arai rose her eyebrow before she and Kikumaru took to the courts. They gave a high five and got ready.
I tapped Nariko's shoulder and advised her to be observant of the opponents play and not to worry too much about using her special techniques. We both took to our positions.
There isn't much that bothers me about tennis. You hit a ball back and forth and you win or lose, but as I threw the ball up to serve, I knew I wanted to be doubles one again and I wanted to win. That is my goal for my last year.
Let's go!
...tbc...
A/N2: That's the smell of character_development. Ahhh!
Chapter 15: Nariko gets some advice from Kaido before the games.
