A/N: Thanks for the reviews one and all... Took a little longer to get this one out cos' I didn't know how to end it. And by end I mean chapter-end. By no means is this the last chapter!
Edit: Can't 'ave Nariko-chan speaking broken English 6.12.08
Edited: Still not perfect… 13.8.09
Disclaimer: Takeshi Konomi was happy to hear your thoughts on Prince of Tennis but will sadly not be changing it.
Chapter Seventeen
Their second set of matches against Sunanobori Danini was being won with ease. Ryuzaki-sensei subbed Shikawara and put Yokoishi her place. (She didn't want Shikawara to damage anymore of the other school's equipment and neither did she want Yokoishi screeching in her ear.) She also put Jinhana and Arai as double 1 while Nariko had to adapt quickly to Kikumaru's skilful, unpredictable and free spirited style.
Right now Yokoishi was on the court. She took her optimism with her in her match and strangely cheered herself on and even her opponent.
Fuji rapped her fingers against the side of the bench. She wanted to open the envelope, but not in front of everyone and definitely not on the court. She would have to wait for the match to finish, so in their lunch break she would read it.
There was no doubt in her mind that Atobe was the one staring at her. She remembered his stares from last year. That's why she couldn't understand why this year his gaze was so much more intense. Sure, if he wanted to look, he could look, but… that kind of stare was a little possessive. She hummed a quick laugh to herself. Does Atobe want to possess her? Fuji hid a smile behind her hand. Want an absurd thought, more reckless on his part. When did Atobe grow so daring?
The thought made Fuji want to tear open the envelope and read what was inside. She reached into her bag and stared at it. Truth be told, there was nothing to say that it was from Atobe, though it was suspicious for him to be here in the first place, especially when he had this games next week. Either he was sure that he would win or he had a strong sense of team spirit. She doubted it was the latter. Was he at the girls' tournament last year? No. So he really must have other reasons for showing his face. Fuji took the card in her fingertips ready to take it out of her bag when she was called by Ryuzaki-sensei to get on the courts. Oh well, she thought as she zipped up her bag, this would have to wait a more few minutes.
***
Fuji won her game easily. Her opponent put up an interesting fight but her lucky shots couldn't pass Fuji, who was having fun returning the odd balls from her opponent. All that was left to play was singles 1 with Ai Suzu.
"Oh, boy." Arai said and readied her drink.
"Try and keep it short." Fuji said while coming off the courts.
"I can't hear you." Suzu went up.
Fuji wiped her face down. She saw inside her bag and the red card was staring up at her. Still the moment wasn't right to read it. She was squeezed in between sensei and Arai. Not good at all. She would definitely be told off for not concentrating on the game. So she waited. But what a bad time to have to wait. Suzu, bless her heart, shorted her game but only by ten minutes in contrast to her first game. Half an hour passed before they claimed victory and Fuji in all her patient only just felt the pain of waiting for something. Tezuka was one thing; the red envelope was completely different.
The umpire called them up and gave the usual announcements; Seishun were able to move on to the last games of the day.
"Aw, I'm glad that's over. Bring on the serious games now." Arai said and surprising Shikawara and Jinhana agreed with her.
"Don't get cocky you lot." Ryuzaki-sensei warned. "These are still the beginning games, anything can happen so don't lose focus."
"Hai." They all called.
"And don't wander off too far. And make sure you're back here on time."
Now it just felt like lecturing. They all quickly wandered off to eat their lunch.
"Fuji-chan, have you opened it yet?" Kikumaru asked.
"Not yet. I'm going to open it now."
"Oh, let me see too!"
They both went off to one of the picnic benches near the cafeteria and sat opposite each other. Fuji retrieved the red envelope from her bag and held it in front of them both.
"Erm, excuse me?" An unknown voice called to them.
They glanced up to see a scruffy looking college student standing at the edge of their picnic table. Kikumaru had to look twice when see saw the sleeveless black top and baggy white trousers standing above her. Fuji smiled calmly.
"Are you Sumiko Fuji-san, from Seishun Academy?" She nods. "Yeah, some pushy person asked me to give this to you."
From his cap he pulled out a blue envelope. Another one? This perplexed both of them, but Fuji wasn't going to make the same mistake she did when she let the little girl run off. She asked this person who gave him the card.
"Is it from, onii-sama?" She said, sure of herself.
His puzzled frown told them otherwise. "What? No, some girl told me to give it to you."
She blinked. That didn't sound right either. "A young kid with pink eyes?"
"Nah, one of the other tennis players." He put his cap back on.
"Which school?" Kikumaru asked him, now sitting on top of the picnic table.
"Hey, I'm just here to watch my kid sister. I'm not even sure which school she goes to. I've done my part. Enjoy the read ladies."
Their messenger walked off and disappeared into the crowd. Before, Fuji was sure that the first card was from Atobe and more or less she suspected that this second one would have come from him as well, but maybe not.
"What are you waiting for? Open it!" Kikumaru's impatience was getting the better of her.
Fuji still wanted to figure out what was going on. She peered up to her friend. In her left hand she had the red card, in the right hand, the blue one.
"Which one should I open first?"
Kikumaru nearly fell of the table. She couldn't understand why Fuji was stalling. She pointed vigorously at the red one. "Read that one."
Fuji places the blue one on the tabletop and carefully opened the red one. Inside was a plain red card. Clearly not brought from a shop, probably handmade. She took the card out and opened it. There was no writing inside but two flattened flowers.
"What does it say?" Kikumaru leant closer.
Fuji placed the open card on the table and the two stared down at the top flatten flowers. They had no idea what they were but one was pink and the other a deep purple and smaller than the pink one.
"There's no writing?" Kikumaru parted the pink one out the way to see if anything was behind the petals
"No, just these two flowers." Fuji said.
"Who gave you this one?"
"The little girl."
"Open the other one!" Kikumaru pushed her onto the other.
Fuji closed the red card not really sure what to make of it and opened the blue one a little rougher. Again it was a plain blue card but on the inside was fancy writing in gold ink. She placed it on the table again and they both read it together.
"I always get what I want." They read.
Now this didn't make any sense.
"What?" Kikumaru whined. She picked up the card and read it. "And they are from two different people?"
"Yeah, apparently…" Fuji couldn't make heads or tails of it. She was sure that it was Atobe staring at her but maybe one of the girls from the rival schools was trying to provoke her. "I know. Let's ask Jinhana-chan what she thinks the flowers mean. Maybe that will narrow the options down."
"What about the blue one?" Kikumaru said very puzzled.
"Well, I think maybe someone from another school is just challenging us. Maybe they want to let us know they are going to win."
"Hmm, sounds iffy. Oh, why are people making this so difficult? I wanna know! Let's quickly find Jinhana-chan."
Fuji scooped up the cards and went back to their courts to find Jinhana sitting in the stands with Nariko. They talked together but were happy to see Fuji and Kikumaru. Before they could greet them, Kikumaru pounced on Jinhana and pleaded with her to decipher the meaning of the two flowers in Fuji's card. Now the curiosity bug slipped into Nariko and Jinhana's ear on hearing the randomness of cards and flowers at their important tennis games. Fuji handed the red card to Jinhana and she opened it. Jinhana gasped with delight and took the two flowers in her hand.
"Well what are they?" Kikumaru shook Jinhana's shoulder, the one she looked over.
"How can you not know what these are? This big pink one is a beautiful cabbage rose and it only blooms once a year with all its many tiny, soft petals. And this purple one is a petunia. From where did you get them? Why would someone squash them? Poor babies."
Kikumaru turned to Fuji. "Tell her Fuji-chan, tell her."
"But, in terms of language, what do they mean?" Fuji pushed further.
Jinhana placed the cards back in the envelope and placed the flowers on her knees. "The Cabbage Rose means, Ambassador of love."
"Who would declare themselves that?" Nariko joined in.
Fuji had a very clear idea, but she didn't share it.
"The other one, well, hints at the other persons resentment and anger but they are trying to say that you soothe them. I can't understand why someone would give these two together. They don't really complement each other or look all that pretty together. But they were given for a reason, right?"
"Maybe Tezuka-senpai gave it to you, Fuji-Senpai" Nariko said out of the blue. "He does some gardening, doesn't he?"
Nariko was a little shocked when the three of them looked to her. Jinhana and Kikumaru seemed to think that was a logical explanation, but Fuji shook her head. As much as she wanted him to be, Tezuka was not here at the Sports Park today, and was he really such an indirect person? No, surely he wasn't that shy… If he had something to say, he would say it. Right? Right. These two cards were handed indirectly by a few other people.
"Who ever gave it to you understands the language of flowers, otherwise they might have just given you tulips or red roses, maybe they had something they wanted to say. But I'm intrigued Captain, if anymore flowers are given to you, make sure you fill me in."
"Me too. I want to know what's going on within the team." Nariko added.
Fuji smiled through it all and promised if anything new happened they'd be the first to know. Instead of going back to the picnic beach, Kikumaru and Fuji sat above their doubles pair and talked about the blue card. Fuji wasn't going to be fooled into thinking the young girl in the lilac dress gave her the blue envelope. The words were too serious for such a cute girl. Too pompous, too arrogant. If, like the college boy had said, the card came from one of the other players then they could have easily waltzed up to her and told Fuji what was on their mind. Maybe the blue one was from Atobe and the pink haired girl really just randomly gave her the red card. Fuji might have to announce her defeat for this one.
"It's made things a little more interesting don't you think, Fuji-chan?"
"Hmm." Was all Fuji could say against Kikumaru's excitement. "Maybe I'll get another card at the end of our match against the Fudomine girls."
The thought of getting another card bothered and intrigued Fuji to a point where she couldn't wait to finish the next matches after lunch. It bothered her because she would like for the person to come and face her instead of going in such a roundabout way, and equally it intrigued her because this little mystery was fun. Her smile turned into a smirk at the thought of coming face to face with the person who always got what they wanted.
...tbc...
A/N2: Jinhana's so helpful.
Chapter 18: Last match of the day. Fuji get's another gift and meets her giver of gifts. Thanks for reading along! Lots more to come.
