A/N: Hey. It's Sunday! Well it is and it was Sunday! This chapter is dedicated to the one who feels things. Tamika Yokoishi… I think all the characters have had a chapter now… Yay character development! (Wait… Ai Suzu hasn't had one!)

Also, Yokoishi calls everyone Senpai or chan and she calls Shikawara, Taichi! One thing not mentioned yet is that she refers to herself as big sister (Aneki) Why? I dunno! And if she hasn't in the past chapters I will change it!

Disclaimer: I'm running out of ways to say Prince of Tennis belongs to Takeshi Konomi!

Edited: because my ego is bigger than my spell checker… (17.10.10)


Chapter Thirty

Tamika Yokoishi

Ugh, I can still taste it on my tongue… it won't go down… I think I'm going to throw up. I look above the sink to see Arai-senpai, Jinhana-senpai and Taichi.

"Guys, we can't stay here forever." Taichi is brave enough to move first. She holds onto the side of the sink and spits out the last of the drink that's stuck in her throat.

"Did anyone stomach that?" Jinhana-senpai asks as she stands up and tosses a defeated grimace to the sky.

"Inui-kun, I'll kill you myself." Arai-senpai murmurs.

Taichi has to leave school on time. She staggers into the changing rooms and staggers out several minutes later. She can barely hold herself up. Oh dear, what will her bodyguards think once they see her on the verge of puking? I hope they won't go after Ryuzaki-sensei… then again, I'm not one to turn a blind eye to retribution!

Jinhana-senpai spun on her heels and tried to follow after Taichi's footsteps. She can't stand the regurgitated smells so needs to be in the comfort of her father's flower shop before she can feel at ease with what she drank.

I guess I should be the next to move. Arai-senpai has to lock up the changing rooms and can't do it with me still being here. I guess I have no choice but to move. The thick liquid in my stomach slivers around like the goo in a lava lamp.

I walk towards the changing rooms and feel something in the air that takes up most of my attention and all of my thoughts. Where is it coming from? Over there. Around the corner. I peer down at my hands and they are a horrible grey colour. My body is already rejecting the drink and I might throw up pretty soon, but I have to experience that feeling. I carry myself carefully around the corner towards the boys' tennis courts. It's coming from over there, but which one?

I stop suddenly when that sickening feeling rings through my chest. I drop to the grass and stay on my hands and knees until the need to heave passes. That overpowering feeling is calling me to the courts so I have to follow, just until I got it under my skin.

I'm glad no one's around to see me crawl over the paths and grass to get to the courts. I push the door open with my head and crawl on in. It's no different from our courts. I lay down when Inui-senpai's drink starts moving. I smother my cheek into the green tarmac and white painted lines. Ooh, it feels good against my cheek, and as for the energy engulfing the space within the courts… so powerful… someone good played here. It's not just any energy… It's not Tezuka's, I know what his energy feels like. It's enough to make me faint. I scramble onto my feet and walk towards court C. I want to test it out. Sugar! I don't have a racket!

"Oh, Crazy-chan, what you doing?"

I glance up to see Tomikuma Iwara-senpai staring down at me from behind the fence. He's one of Tezuka's boys who plays in singles as a regular. He's a sweet guy, a little clueless at times but he loves tennis and is good at it.

"One of us is in the wrong place, and I know it ain't me." He says.

"You missed out on the madness Iwara-senpai. I tasted Inui-senpai's veggie drink."

He screws up his face and walks onto the court. "No, I saw… crazy girls, drinkin' that stuff willingly."

I lick my teeth. "Ryuzaki-sensei tricked us."

He laughs. "Still doesn't explain why you're over here."

"That's right! Do you have a racket senpai?"

"Huh?"

"There are a few good things in the court and I want to try them out before they disappear. Hurry, hurry, get your aneki a racket!"

He went to get one. I made my way over to the other end of the court and sit on the baseline. I close my eyes and feel out the energy that is swirling around. Wow, what a pulse! On this side I can feel something blue waving in the air like the oceans current, then it turns green and slivers on the floor before striking through the net. Ooh… I wonder… yeah! I'll try that! These two are so strong I have to give them a go.

As I'm about to get up and capture those feelings Iwara-senpai hits me on the head with the racket.

"Here. Don't tell me you're gunna try and play a game?"

"Who played on this court today?" I ask.

Iwara-senpai rolls his eyes to the sky. "I think, Kaidoh-kun and Inui-kun."

"No… someone else was here too. I can feel it. Did you bring a ball?"

He flicks his wrist up and the little yellow ball floats towards me. I catch it in one hand and take to my feet. I'm still feeling queasy… nothing, not even the good energy of the earth could dispel that taste.

"Watch, I'll show you what I'm taking about."

I shoo him out of the court's bounds and hit the ball into play. I don't serve it but follow the flow of the energy around me and it guides me, shows me how my hands should twist, how tight my fingers should grip the handle, where my hips should turn and how my feet should land. It told me everything right down to the strength and the time it would take to execute.

The ball shot out at an odd angle, really sharp. It curved round the pole and back into the other side of the singles court. Iwara-senpai gasps. Then the ball did something weird… it kinda… shot up into the air.

"No way!" Iwara-senpai steps towards me "You just… did you just do boomerang snake and a twisted serve in one shoot?"

I stare at Iwara-senpai… (and he calls me crazy!)

"What did I just do?" I ask, bemused by what I did. Is that really what I felt?

Iwara-senpai is lost for words. He can't quite understand it. "Have you seen those two play before?"

"Who two?"

He laughs. "You're really something else. To be able… it's not even copying your… you just did Kaidoh-kun and Echizen-kun's move in the blink of an eye."

"Oh… I did? I was doing what I always do."

Wow… What is Iwara-senpai doing! I can see all kinds of colours emitting from his body… orange like the heat waves in the evening. Is he challenging me? His energy pours out without him even doing anything.

"Give me another ball." I tell him.

He tosses it to me the same way. I don't catch it. I let it hit the floor and I whack it over to the other side of the court. But something odd happens… it just floats over the net like it's in slow motion. What the hell!

"Eew! What's it doing and how?" I shiver.

I turn to Iwara-senpai and he looks at me with the same glint of horror in his eyes.

"How d'you do that?" He shouts.

"Do what? What is that?" We watch the ball glide over the net and slowly, at it's own pace, lands in play and rolls along the floor like a sloth.

"That's one of my moves!"

"Oh, Iwara-senpai you're energy is killing the ones around me. Stop emitting energy. It's because of you. Why would you have such a useless move?"

"Hey, whoa! Stop doin' what? What you talkin' about, Crazy-chan? You have no idea how useful my moves are, do ya?"

I snub him. "Your team's moves are boring."

"What?"

I crouch down on the floor. "I came over here because I felt something amazing, really powerful and mind blowing, and all you tell me I did is a snake and a odd looking serve… uninteresting... That's not what I came over here to search out… looks as if there really is a limit to my technique."

Of course Iwara-senpai doesn't have a clue as to what I'm talking about, but as long as I understand… it sickens me, but such is life… I can continue knowing I did Kaidoh's bizarre move and Ryoma's boring serve. What a waste!

I hand Iwara-senpai back his racket and with reduced strength I go to pick up the two balls. There really is something in the air. Something really amazing and universally but as always it's out of my reach. I still don't know who it belongs to, that's why I sneaked over here to feel it out.

"Tezuka-buchou!"

Yeah… maybe it is Tezuka-senpai's energy after all… it keeps changing from time to time. Iwara-senpai suddenly runs over to me, evasive-like, and drags me down to the ground and covers my mouth. He pulls me to the side of the fence and all this before explaining what he's doing and why.

"We're not s'pose to be here."

"Senpai, why didn't you say that?"

"Do you really want to be given a hundred laps around the courts?"

"He'd really do that?"

Iwara-senpai doesn't bother answering. Instead, he listens out for Tezuka-senpai' footsteps. I know he isn't anywhere near us so stoop up far enough so I can see over the fence and see what he's doing. He's talking to someone but I can't see who. I shimmy over to the right to be at a better angle but Iwara-senpai tries to pull me down. I take his hand and pull him up to see. I ask him who that girl could be and he tells me. I hide a scream behind my hands. I glance up and see that it really is her. I had no idea!

I whisper to him. "I didn't know he and Arai-senpai were on talking terms!"

Iwara-senpai rolls his eyes again. "Those two are always talkin', you know, in corridors and stuff. It's nothing new… for the passed few weeks now."

I pause for thought. I can't quite get the words out. "Why is the aloof one talking to that temperamental girl?"

"Aloof Tezuka-buchou is, but… well, she seems to be able to bring the words out of him. You'd be surprised about the rubbish they talk about. I'm ashamed to call him buchou at time."

"…Huh…" I say bemused by the sight before me.

I slide down to sit on the court to think about a few things. I know I shouldn't get involve because it's really not my business but something new is clouding up the atmosphere around me. I've being feeling it for a while and thought nothing of it. But because I respect the people involved I'm unsure whether to say something.

"Has he gone yet?" I ask. Iwara-senpai waves me up to join him.

"Look. See. Chummy!"

Tezuka-senpai obviously said something that made Arai-senpai laugh lightly with him, and he, in response to her laugh, nods in agreement.

Not my business!

I slide back down and nurse my tummy. "I don't care about that. I'm still feeling sick…"

"Ew, don't get sick on the court!"

Though it really isn't my business I can't help but want to see them talking together… They were like leopards in a jungle: rare indeed. We watch them talking for a good long while. They really could talk about rubbish and for ages. From what I can see, she seems to be leading the conversation. Them talking doesn't bother me at all. They looks like two friends having a chit-chat… but life has given me something close to a sixth sense and what bothers me, on some level, is their energy… I can feel and see it and I don't like it one bit, especially Arai-senpai. I slide my eyes over to her and watch her body language… she's definitely gotten more confident and cocky around him. However, her energy is more telling than the way she holds herself.

I stand up and walk out of the courts. I walk straight up to them. Something is wrong here. And it's not only her. The closer I get the more I can sense that… it's him as well.

"Yokoishi-chan!" Iwara-senpai whispers harshly but even he can't conceal himself once I walk out.

Arai-senpai looks up first and then Tezuka-senpai looks around to see me. I look at them once and realise something annoying. I wish I didn't discover it but the two colours were so bright that it could only really mean one thing.

"Why are you still here? I thought you were gone?" Arai-senpai tried to hide her alarm. "And you're not even changed yet!"

Before she says anymore, I grab her wrist and pull her away. I glance over my shoulder and catch Tezuka-senpai's emotionless gaze. I can't see it in his eyes. I can never tell what he's thinking, but he emits tiny amounts of energy into the surrounding. And it's always the small things I notice amongst the larger ones. I'm used to feeling everyone's energy but right now… I could only cut my eye at him.

Though, I shouldn't be completely frosty towards him… Fuji's energy, which at the best of times I can't feel at all, is completely entangled right now.

"Yokoishi-san, let go!"

I pull her right away from the corner where they had meant and take her back to the changing rooms. She had already locked the door but I stood in front of it. Annoyance, frustration… I can't believe she would be so audacious.

"Yokoishi-san, what is the matter with you?" She tries to fight her wrist out of my hand but I held onto her tightly. She's strong but she's not going to get out of my grip. I can't help but absorb the energy through my skin. I shut my eyes tightly, and my hold tightens too.

"Ow! Yokoishi-san. What's with you?"

I turn to her, stepping close so that only an inch of space is between us. She tries to move back but I follow her. I guess not a lot of people have seen my 'dark' side, let's say. It's something I like to keep under lock and key. Only on moments when the air begins to taste foul do I let a bit of it leak out.

"Your aneki is going to tell you something important, you can decide what to do with it." I say. She closes her mouth and listens. "I know what you're thinking and I'm telling you not to upset her. You'll regret it."

The corner of her mouth wrinkles. "What?"

I let her hand go. I can't tell her more than that. "If you continue the way you are, no one will respect you."

"Sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about Yokoishi-san."

"You know me, Arai-senpai… you can't hid anything from me. I told you I can feel energy all round me. Yours, I don't like, so I'm warning you not to upset her."

She flaps her arms down by her side. Sure enough the thought isn't immediately on her mind but it's there. Fine, I thought, play ignorance now but I'm not on your side. She chose to ignore me. Arai-senpai rummaged around in her bag and got the keys out and opens the changing rooms. I say nothing to her after that. It's being a long time since I got that annoyed with anyone, but I had every right to. I could feel the faint change in the air and I don't like it.

Like always, I'm going to have to watch it unfold in front of me.


tbc…

A/N2: Ooh, Yokoishi knows what's going to happen even before I do!

(Is Aneki spelt with an 'a' or an 'A'? Not sure.)

Chapter 31: Wow, lots of important plot devices in this chapter (what should I tease you with?): Tezuka catches Atobe talking to Fuji.