A/N: Konnichiwa FanFiction_Readers! I'm feeling good and I hope you guys are too. This one is longer than I wanted but it needed to be to get everything in. Am I shooting myself in the foot with all these subplots? Yes, yes I am... but I'm hoping they will tie together nicely; the Tezuka plot, the Tennis plot, the Atobe plot, the Yumi plot, the Chise plot, the Leiko Arai plot… (mumble in confusion) (o.O)
Edited: Why is it not 2010 where I am yet?!? Anyhow, so that those plots above can work, this is getting edited. (31.12.2009)
Disclaimer: How much would it be to buy Prince of Tennis off of Takeshi Konomi? £100 maybe?
Chapter Twenty Seven
For the second match that day they played against Kyodai middle school, which was an easier win than they expected (or it could have been that they got a little more serious.) Ryuzaki sensei kept the line-up the same. Shikawara missed out on playing again but she wasn't too bothered, knowing that she was stronger than most of the Kyodai's players. It was probably a good choice on Ryuzaki-sensei's part.
Shiba wondered over to get some angle shots of Seishun and the Kyodai girls. Though, she didn't stay for long. Knowing that Inoue-senpai was unsupervised around large groups of young girls meant she could only take a few pictures before rushing off. There was no doubt in her mind that he would get side tracked.
For now it was the end of the first half of their day. After lunch they had one more match, which they only had to win three out of five possible games. This meant that both Fuji and Suzu would miss out this time if the five before them won. After lunch they were to play Ginka. All they needed to do was win against them to enter into the top four, the quarterfinals. In two days they were likely to play the top seeds of each group. And that could be anyone from Hyotei, Miura or St Rudolph's.
Fuji and Kikumaru went off together to have lunch on one of the picnic tables by the entrance of the park. It was a lot quieter, giving Fuji time to think. Fuji watched Kikumaru and noticed something was different about her. She was exceptionally happy now that she's Oishi's girl. That would keep Kikumaru warm and satisfied for a very long time. Fuji, on the other hand, though she enjoyed Tezuka's boldness, thoughts of her sister really were stronger. The word 'amazing' lingered in her mind. It was amazing that her feelings and emotions towards her sister were stronger than her feelings and emotions towards Tezuka. It was amazing that Yumi could make such a grimace and it was amazing that she had such a slimy boyfriend. That punk. Fuji instantly disliked him. She knew it was jealously swirling within her, and she had no desire to correct those feelings or balance them out anytime soon.
"Maybe I should make him a bento. He'd enjoy my cooking… I should find out what he likes to eat first." Kikumaru grinned delightfully and unwrapped her lunch. "I humbly receive this food."
Fuji slowly slid a look to Kikumaru. "What are you talking about now Kikumaru-chan?"
"Again you're not listening to me. I was thinking what nice things I could do for Oishi."
Fuji stared at her for a few seconds. "Hmm…" She had no nice words right now so she didn't say anything.
"You know, if you just do the same thing, Tezuka-san'll say yes."
Fuji shook her head and looked into the crowds. "He's not that type of boy. Even if I said such concrete words, he wouldn't know what to do with them. He'd be more disarrayed than he is right now. He'd try and escape by playing tennis. I just know what he'd say so I won't ask. And beside… I like how things are. He doesn't have to say anything only keep his eyes on me. Action's speak louder than words. I think if he was to say he liked me, I'd be very suspicious."
"Huh?" Kikumaru said surprised by Fuji's thinking.
"Yeah. If it's not tennis, he wouldn't really talk about anything. I'd know that someone filled him with unnecessary ideas. I'd rather he do it his way and not the way of the world."
Kikumaru had to stop to think about what was just said to her. "It doesn't sound… well, I'm not sure… seems like an odd pace to go at."
Fuji smiled and faced Kikumaru. "It's our pace, but thank you for worrying about us."
Kikumaru hummed and quietly ate her food. Fuji did the same. As much as she wanted to think about Tezuka and herself, Yumi crept into the centre of her mind again and she lost her appetite and packed away her food. Kikumaru told her to eat to regain her strength but Fuji insisted that she didn't need to. Kikumaru knew to leave her alone.
They were able to sit and talk for most of their hour break. Not a lot of people passed by. The schools who still hung around stayed near their courts and those who came to watch stayed near the cafeteria. The two girls weren't expecting to be interrupted any time soon.
"Onee-san?"
A young girl scooted over beside Fuji on the bench and smiled warmly at her. When Fuji peered down she realised it was the little bright-eyed girl who gave her the red card with the two flowers.
"Oh, hello." Fuji said calmly even though she was caught unawares.
"Hello Onee-san." The little girl greeted.
Fuji faced her. "And why are you here today when you should be at school, little one?"
She showed a sweet grin. "I don't like school so I came here to watch you play against the other schools."
Kikumaru and Fuji both glanced at each other. That meant the last time Fuji saw her, she wandered down here by herself. It's really far from any *primary school… she had no guardian. Surprising? Yes. And yet, interesting at the same time.
"Won't you get in trouble with your teacher?" Fuji said.
She shook her head the energetic way only a child could. Her curly magenta hair bounced with her movements. "Nope. I do as I please!"
"And what would please you today?"
"I'm just going to watch over you, like a guardian angel."
Watch over me? Well, if Fuji could play along with Atobe's nonsense than she could happily go along with this little girl's fun.
"Hey, what's your name?" Kikumaru asked, intrigued with the whole conversation.
The little girl glared at Kikumaru with a sharp flick in her pink eyes. "I don't like you!" She blurred out.
Kikumaru flinched back in her seat. Even Fuji wondered what the little girl was thinking.
"What do you mean you don't like me? You hardly know me. So rude!"
The little girl remained true to her word and stuck her nose up at Kikumaru, now ignoring her. Kikumaru was taken aback.
"Now, now, Please don't upset my best friend."
"Oh, I'm sorry Onee-san, but I was telling the truth. I don't like her."
Kikumaru didn't appreciate the attitude of this little girl. She didn't like the fact she was being picked on and disliked before the person got to know her. She packed away her lunch. "I'll see you on the court Fuji-chan." Before Kikumaru left she stuck her tongue out at the little girl and matched off to find Jinhana and Nariko.
"That wasn't very nice at all." Fuji said to the girl. "Why don't you like Kikumaru? Is it her tennis you don't like?"
"Oh, no, it's nothing like that. I don't like the way she treats someone I know."
"Oh… okay. So what is your name?"
She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Uh-uh-ah! If I tell you my name, you'll know who I am. So you can call me… Chise-chan."
"Chise-chan? What are you trying to hide from me, little Chise-chan?"
She giggled. "Nothing. It's the person I know, they don't want me to say anything."
Fuji looked away from the girl and stared ahead. Her mind searched for a person this little girl could be keeping secret… It almost sounded like Atobe or was that her own mind wishing it was him? Where was he anyway? Fuji felt a small desire to see him. She'd be okay if she could just glance him from afar, maybe hear his foolishness and self-absorbed dribble...
Did she really just think that?
She did.
Did she really want to see him?
She did.
Atobe?
Yeah, Atobe.
Why?
She shook the thoughts out of her head. They may seem harmless, but she still had that the blue card on her dressing table; the budding rose was still alive in a small clear glass vase and placed in the centre of her sill so when she woke up she would see it every morning.
She asked Chise if Atobe was the person she tried to hide.
"Huh? No! I hate him more than anything in the whole wide world! And I heard what he said to you at your last match!" She jumped up. "You shouldn't get close to him at all. He's bad news."
Chise was so intense that Fuji couldn't help chuckle. She sounded just like Arai when Arai saw Atobe that day. Though with his name in the air, Fuji wondered what his next move would be. Whatever it was, it excited her.
"Do you like tennis Chise-chan?" She asked to distract herself.
"I like Seishun's tennis. I like Onee-chan's tennis the best. I'm going to watch all your games."
She was sweet. Now that Chise spoke her mind, she reminded Fuji of a young Yumi when her facial expressions didn't change… and she didn't have that twerp on her arm… Fuji really wanted to find out who that peacock was with her sister.
Fuji was brought back from her wondering thoughts when Chise held her hand.
"Haven't you got your last match today. Who's it against? Can we go and wait there now?"
They still had about twenty minutes before the matches kicked off, but Fuji saw no harm in waiting by the court. "Sure, let's go. Promise me you'll be nice to Kikumaru-chan."
Chise huffed. "I'll try."
They walked back into the park but they took the long way round. They walked around courts B and D to see what the other schools were doing. They quietly walked passed court B and travelled towards court D where Hyotei were situated. Surprisingly their dull colours were hard to see amongst all the bright colours of people's regular clothes. The team must have won their matches if they were still hanging around after lunch. Fuji looked and counted each person in the team… until she found what she was searching for. Her smile grew a little. She couldn't believe she was actually searching him out.
Again, he was at the park. Why, she didn't know, but he can't have anything important to do if he's always at the girls' tournament. If he doesn't play enough attention to his own team, he'll regret it. Atobe was caught in the middle of Hyotei's girls. They hung onto his arms and were all over him. Fuji hummed thoughtfully. She didn't think he was that touchy-feeling.
It was only a matter of time before the girls caught Fuji's eye. Three of them, who she remembered from last year, scorned her. Fuji wasn't bothered by them (she'd show them her power later). She kept walking with Chise and her thoughts, which could be considered as dangerous fantasies, circled in her mind. Chise tugged on her hand to hurry her up but Fuji, for the moment, wasn't in a hurry.
* * *
Ginka were a bit of a challenge for Seishun: Doubles 2 lost 7-5. (Again all eyes were on Jinhana. Because it was Nariko's first loss, Jinhana let it slide but she didn't want it to happen again.) Kikumaru and Arai struggled as well. They were down 2-5 games but were able to win their match with Arai's crazy strength and Kikumaru's unpredicted acrobatic skills. Shikawara seemed to be the only one in her team who had an easy and smooth win with 6-0 in straight sets. Arai's reasoning for it was that she didn't play this morning so of course she'd be fresh and ready to play. It wasn't as short as Shikawara's match in the preliminaries but it was as quick. With two wins it meant that they had to win the next match to make it into the quarterfinals. Yokoishi was to take the fourth game. Yokoishi loved every minute of it. She used her absorption technique and was able to use four combinations in one hit, which completely confused her opponent (and her team) because it was a combination of everyone's move who played before her. The score would have been 6-0 but for some strange reason Yokoishi felt sorry for her opponent and deliberately lost two games… (don't ask… no one else did!)
Fuji and Suzu missed out this time but they had more games to look forward to. Ryuzaki-sensei said she was going to mix things up tomorrow when they had morning and evening practise. That could mean anything.
Fuji sat outside the courts while the games were in play with Chise. They didn't talk much because Chise was so into the games. Yokoishi soon became one of her favourite players. As soon as it ended Chise thanked Fuji for keeping her company and made her way home, promising that she'd be back in two days.
"Good game everyone!" Shikawara said, she was the first to leave.
"Fantastic play today ladies." Suzu congratulated her team as she made her way home.
Kikumaru turned to Fuji who was still sat on the bench.
"Why are you still sitting there, Fuji? Let's go home."
Fuji sat forward and rested her head in her hands. "It's okay, I want to hang around a bit more."
Kikumaru went over and sat with her friend. She breathed out deeply and leaned back on the next seat above her.
"That was a hard match. I'm glad Arai-chan had the strength to continue on her own for a bit."
"It's because she trusts you, and trusted you to get back in the game. You did all right once you got your energy back."
"Yeah, but… I don't want that to happen again if we're to play some of the top seeds. It was kinda scary you know, getting so exhausted." She shuddered. "I need to train harder, you know, stop thinking about Oishi for a while." She giggled and stretched her arms in the air. "And the same for you! Stop thinking about Tezuka-san and get serious!"
They both giggled together. Kikumaru sat quietly with Fuji for a few minutes but she wanted to think about where she went wrong and concentrate on that. She stood up and dusted her clothes down. "Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow morning. Bye-bye."
Fuji waved good bye and leant back on the seat above. She sighed and thought about what Kikumaru just said. Stop thinking about Tezuka? Truth be told, that wasn't the problem anymore. All she could think about now was Yumi, that peacock… and Atobe. She could understand her worries with Yumi but what was it about that boy that made her want to see his face? Could it be that he's different? She didn't know.
"That's not good at all." She said in a whisper and turned up to look into the patchy skies.
She watched the spectator's filter out of the park and some of the other schools leaving in large groups. Some park officials tidied and cleaned up and changed the details on the boards. By the looks of things, they were going to play Hyotei in the quarterfinals. Of all the schools, it had to be that one. She'd rather play Fudomine again to save her and her team from the overflowing vanity they were to be bombarded with on the courts in a few days. But it's got to be done.
Fuji closed her eyes and enjoyed the sounds of the park. It wasn't long before she heard footsteps walking in her direction. She paid them no mind. The rhythm of their steps stopped and changed to treaded on the row of seats. They were moving towards her. She peeked through one eye to see who it was.
"If you keep coming over here, you'll make your teammates jealous." Fuji said once she saw who it saw.
Atobe stood on the row of seats above her and looked down on her quietly, making sure his eyes ran the length of her body. Fuji sat up and faced him.
"You're one to talk. The fact that you keep looking at me means you have an answer for me, right?" He calmly placed his hands in his pockets and leaned one foot frontward.
Fuji looked away. "You must not have anything better to do. You're team, who aren't here, must be worried about your ability."
He chuckled. "My team don't tell me what to do."
"That goes without saying."
Fuji didn't really know why she was teasing him, she didn't really know why he was playing along but she enjoyed it and didn't want it to end.
"I'm serious when I said I'd break your foundation. Still wish to gamble with me a lose?"
A cool shiver scaled from within her. It was that threat again, that provoking tone that made her excited to see him. Could that be the reason why she kept the rose and the card? Because it reminded her of something new and enticing?
"To gamble and lose? What do I get out of it?" She smirked up at him.
"My awesome company." He flicked his hair and peered ahead to the courts.
He was serious!
Fuji looked away as well and gave him an answer. "Then please, break my foundations Atobe-kun." She dared him.
He laughed heartily and stepped down. "You are quite a character Fuji-chan. I expected nothing less from you. Dare I say you're fearless like Tezuka? But I will give you one more warning, one more chance to change your mind. I am a fair man after all. Until then, Fuji-chan."
Please don't talk like you and Tezuka are friends. Fuji watched Atobe walk off. His swagger saw loose, but in a 'nothing-can-touch-me' manner. Once he was out of sight she chuckle to herself and let out a long and bothered sigh. What was she going to do with herself? She deliberately avoided his first question because it was shamefully true. She was watching him and wanted to see him. She grabbed her bag and held onto the handle as she played with a few more thoughts like what she would have done if he sat down with her and got too close and too personal… It's about time she left.
She didn't leave her excited thoughts of Atobe in the park. She took them home with her.
…tbc…
A/N2: Ooh, be careful Fuji!
*Primary school - It's elementary my dear... well, Elementary school!
Chapter 28: Fuji has a serious chat with Kikumaru.
Thanks for reading! X
