A/N: Yeah, you're right, this is one long a** story, which is why I thank you guys for sticking with it. XOX (^_^) You're probably wondering why I would take a break at such a crucial moment in the story? I'm glad you asked. When I get excited by the coming chapters, I tend to want to skip on detail, so I had to step back.
But I'm so over that now. Plus, I have three chapters ready... well one long chapter, cut up. Enjoy! ^_^
Edited: Mistakes... I hate 'em. (14.4.2010)
Disclaimer: I asked Takeshi Konomi what music he listens to when drawing Prince of Tennis and he said Latin music. (No es cierto, pero es interesante/aleatorio.)
Chapter Forty Nine
"Momoshiro-senpai! I want a headband too! Give us some!" Yokoishi shouted from the spectators' seats.
It was the day of the Boy's Kantou tournaments and the girls were lucky enough to get a day off to witness their games, as well as give them their support to a possible victory.
The officials changed the venues again at the last minute from Shikinomori Sports Park to the Arena Tennis Courts, which was just around the corner. Although the distance was short, the size of each court showed just how important these games were. Only a small fence, about waist height, separated the players from the spectators. The six rows of seats went up to ground level. If you stood up you could see clearly across the two courts.
The girls sat on the second row of seats from the top. Yokoishi had already ran down to get the team some headbands while Kikumaru, Fuji, Arai and Umeko sat together on a row leaving Yokoishi, Nariko, Shikawara, Jinhana and Suzu to just below them on the third row. The other team members sat close to the regulars and also those in the boys' team who were non-regulars.
Kikumaru seemed preoccupied and always turned back every now and then towards the entrance. Fuji sat forward with her head in her hands and watched the excitement unfold quietly. Arai spoke every now and then with Umeko, who readily accepted a headband from Yokoishi.
"Are you okay Kikumaru-chan?" Arai asked when Kikumaru nearly head butted her with her constant peering around.
"I can't see Oishi anywhere."
"You sure he's not with Sai-kun?"
"He's not anywhere!"
The two peered down to Ryuzaki-sensei, who was shouting into her mobile phone. No doubt she got a hold of Oishi and was talking him where he was. Kikumaru stood up. "This isn't like him." She murmured and couldn't help but go down to see what was wrong.
They watched the commotion before them. Kikumaru took the phone from sensei and screamed at Oishi that she wanted to watch him play. Whatever he said to her, she quietly handed the phone back to sensei. Soon after, Momoshrio took off out of the park and the boys dragged Katsuo to dress up as Oishi, to which Kikumaru was not happy about so they shooed her away before she blew their cover. Not soon after shooing Kikumaru away, they got another phone call. Kikumaru had already dragged herself back to her seat so she couldn't interfere.
"What was all that shouting about!" Arai asked.
"I don't know. They wouldn't tell me anything. But Oishi was really humble about something. Hmph. He told me to trust him, so what else can I do?"
No sooner did Kikumaru sit down did Echizen follow in her footsteps and sat himself between her and Fuji. "Is it alright if I sit here?" He said having already decided that he was going to sit amongst them anyway.
"Sure." Fuji smiled.
Neither of them expected Kikumaru to grab him around the neck and hold onto him like he was a giant teddy bear. "Ochibi! It's not fair. Why isn't Oishi here too? I really wanted to see him play today."
"…Like I know…" He mumbled.
They waited for Momoshiro to return, and when he did he had Oishi's jersey on.
"Isn't Oishi-kun gunna play?" Suzu asked those in front of her.
One of the boys said he couldn't make it and that they should play without him.
"Wow, drama already!"
They didn't have time to complain or explain. As soon as Momoshiro entered the courts they shoved him out with Sai. Their team cheering them all the way. Even though Oishi wasn't there with Sai, the team had much confidence in their players. Kikumaru didn't like it but she had to share in their faith. She took to her feet and shouted above the voices to Sai. Sai recognised that optimistic voice too well and turned straight for Kikumaru.
"Sai-kun! You better win! I'll never forgive you if you lose this match!"
Sai nodded, appreciating her reasons. He gripped the handle of his racket and shouted back.
"Anything for you Koneko-chan! I won't call you Eiji-chan anymore! You're a fierce kitten!" He blew her a kiss and made his way to the baseline.
Some of the girls giggled at Sai's response but it only further annoyed Kikumaru. She sat down quickly and crossed her arms. "I'm only cheering him because he's Oishi's partner. He better win…"
He didn't take long for the army of Hyotei's school to drown out all the voices from Seishun Academy. Their chants were off putting. The girls could see Momoshiro was slightly put off by the cheers, but Sai, with his usually demeanour couldn't care less.
The four of them walked to the net to shake hands. Sai was the first to exchange taunts.
"Look Momo-chan, it's the comedy duo. Be sure to give us something to laugh at, won't you."
"The only thing you'll be laughing at is your pitiful score." Oshitari said as he gripped Sai's hand.
"Every word you said made me giggle inside." Sai turned away. "Might be hard for me to take you lot seriously."
Sai missed the confident glint in Oshitari and Gakuto's smile as they took to their positions. The umpire started the match and Seishun were to serve.
"Let's see how good you are Sai-kun." Leiko Arai murmured to herself, but it was one thought that all the girls were thinking. They only knew of Sai's more annoying side and didn't know anything about his playing style.
Sai took the first, clean serve and aimed it towards Oshitari. Oshitari matched the quality of the serve and hit the ball across to an unsure Momoshiro. Momoshiro barely managed to catch the ball and hit it off the edge of his racket, making the return a lob.
That over confident smile beamed across Gakuto's face again and, out of nowhere, he jumped high enough to catch the ball in his sweet spot.
"There it is, senpai's 'Moon salute'" Hyotei cheered.
"There's a familiar move." Fuji said to herself.
Gakuto caught the lob and smashed it down but wasn't prepared for Sai to catch the ball in his left hand. Kikumaru jumped to her feet again in disbelief.
Sai was hoping for a fun match. He couldn't help staring at Gakuto in disbelief. Momoshiro walked over and shook Sai's shoulder, wanting him to get serious. Hyotei weren't too impressed either, even though they won the point.
"Oi, Oshitari-kun, you sure your partner isn't a girl in boys clothing?"
"What did you call me!" Gakuto wanted to charge the net but Oshitari held him back.
Sai pointed into the stands. "You see that redhead in my school, the one in the skirt?" Gakuto glanced up to see Kikumaru. "She's a lot better than you, so stop doing that. You're moves aren't even all that impressive, for a guy."
"So why didn't you hit it back?" Yuushi asked with little interest?
"It's a disgusting display. I couldn't return such a thing." He bounced the ball on the floor and took to the baseline.
Gakuto fumed at being compared to a girl and was ready to prove his worth. Sai saw that his taunt got through to Gakuto and couldn't help murmuring. "Idiot… hasn't even seen her play before and is getting worked up…"
"Why would you give them the first point!" Kikumaru yelled at him. To vent her frustration she grabbed Echizen's shoulders and shook him about. "Why didn't anyone tell me there was someone who could play like that? If he loses to that short punk I really won't forgive him."
Echizen slumped down in his seat and didn't bother to reply. It didn't help him that Kikumaru refused to let him go.
They continued with the game but it wasn't turning in Seishun's favour. Oshitari was able to silence Momoshi's Dunk Smash with a move Fuji was all too familiar with.
"Momoshiro-kun is over-thinkin' things 'n Sai ain't even tryin'. What's wrong wit' those two? They're not workin' together." Iwara said as he glanced at the scores; 0 - 4.
Sai ran his hands through his hair and carried on with the game without a care. Momoshiro could tell something was bothering him and had to ask what it was. "Senpai, you're not playing your usual game. Oishi-senpai said you might get like this but I didn't think it was this bad?" Momoshiro wanted to grab at Sai's shirt but had to fight the urge.
Momoshiro's confession surprised Sai. It made him push his glasses up and place his arm over Momoshiro's shoulder. "Get out of the clouds?"
"I'm not?"
"The game felt weird…" He rotated his shoulder and stretched his neck. "But if I continue to have too much fun with these clowns, I think mama-chan will be very disappointed in me. Won't you, Oishi-kun?" Sai shouted and looked to the stands.
Everyone looked up to see where Sai was staring and saw Oishi standing on level ground confidently.
Oishi held a clenched fist out, telling them to not give up. Sai shook his head reluctantly and put the taunts and laughter behind him.
"Momo-chan, listen." Sai leant over and whispered in his ear, which brought a new energy to both of them. They continued the game with a new formation and were able to swing the match in their direction. In no time they levelled the score and put a dent in Hyotei's momentum.
Oishi walked down to join his team when Kikumaru called out to him. He saw the worried look in her eyes. He couldn't fix that expression. He lifted his arm and showed the girls the damage to his wrist. Before they could say any words of sympathy, he carried on down to his team. Kikumaru gripped Echizen tighter and moaned how unfair things were turning.
Sai and Momoshiro won their match, but Fuji and Arai could tell that Sai was sulking. They couldn't gauge his strength from this match.
Next up were Inui and Kaido. They weren't a known doubles pair but they had potential. The girls were completely taken by the speed in the game. Hyotei serve was amazingly fast but once Inui got serious he pretty much matched the speed, give or take a few numbers, and Kaido finally performed his boomerang snake, which made the Seishun separators cheer louder. The score was 0-5 before Inui started using his 'Data Tennis' given Seishun some points, but it wasn't enough and Hyotei won the match 6-3.
"Wow! That was awesome! Their energy is-is mind blowing." Yokoishi jumped up and cheered with her school.
"That was really good, huh Fuji-chan?" Arai smiled at her, feeling the momentum of their match.
"Yeah, but… I'm only interested in one match."
"Oh really, and who would that be?" Arai asked. She didn't wait for an answer and turned to clap for Inui and Kaido as they came off the court.
Arai didn't wait because she knew Fuji wouldn't answer.
"Ah, such a shame they couldn't win." Kikumaru said, still clinging tightly to a bothered Echizen.
Next up were Kawamaru and Kabaji. With one win and one loss, both teams were hoping to make this their deciding match. But neither Hyotei or Seishun expected both players to injure themselves, causing the match to end in a null match.
"Boo!" Yokoishi, Umeko and Jinhana jeered. "The point should go to Seishun! Hyotei gave up first!"
"Be quite you lot! Show some sportsmanship." Ryuzaki-sensei reproved back.
"Ahh, it was good while it lasted. I've never seen Kawamaru-kun so determined." Kikumaru said as she watched Kawamaru walk away with Kabaji to visit the nurse.
"That's a real copy cat for you." Jinhana said of Kabaji.
"Yeah, clearly, a woman's level of imitation is a lot better, as it doesn't cause harm to the imitator. Kabaji-senpai was reckless. But the fact that he was able to copy Kawamaru-senpai move for move, who's to say he's not using a touch of his feminine side?" Yokoishi answered.
Echizen couldn't hide his amusement as a restrained laugh escaped him.
Kikumaru pressed her cheek against his. "What's so funny ochibi? Your team might lose. Cheer for your team!"
"Don't wanna." He murmured and titled his cap down. "If you're going to give me a weird nickname, you can't tell Sai-senpai off for doing the same thing."
Kikumaru's grip tightened and she went off into another rant.
While the teams waited for Iwara and Jirou to start Fuji sat forward and slipped her head into her hands. Her sight slipped away from her friends and down to Tezuka. He barely moved. He'd looked stiff all morning. Not even his hair shifted when the wind hit it. She sighed when those thoughts entered her mind and was happy when Ryuzaki-sensei walked pass her with Kawamaru and Kabaji. This gave her the opportunity to steal a glance at Atobe. Unlike Tezuka, Atobe looked bothered that his good friend couldn't secure a victory. But the annoyance didn't least long. Jirou took to the court.
"Who's that guy, ochibi?" Kikumaru wondered, and refused to stop calling him 'ochibi'.
"That, my dear Koneko-chan, is what you call an enemy. No need to worry about him." They turned to find Sai standing above them.
"What do you want?" Arai said with no intention of being inviting.
"I want to enjoy the view." He replied.
"Aren't you going to cheer for Iwara-kun?" Jinhana peered up.
"He can hold his own. He plays like you lot after all." Sai took a seat at the end, beside Fuji so that he was away from the other girls and rested his head on her shoulder. She didn't push him away as some of the others might have done.
"Are you still sulking?" Fuji asked him and he didn't answer.
Iwara's match started and the girls got excited. They really wanted him to win. Sai took advantage of their focused minds and spoke to Fuji.
"Fujiko-chan, you know, my heart is still broken and withered."
"Why?"
"Saw something."
"What was it?"
"Picture."
The crowd muttered in amazement when Jirou brought forth his style, causing Iwara to make a change in his strategy.
"What was in the picture?" Fuji lowered her shoulders.
"A couple."
"Oh, what were they doing?"
Sai went silent. His head slipped down to Fuji's arm and he left it there. "… Doing couple stuff."
"Was it a girl you liked?"
"Enough to make me want to do bad stuff to her." He took his glasses off and wiped his eyes.
"That doesn't sound like you at all. Do I know her?"
Sai laughed a pitiful laugh. "You see her every morning."
"So, who is she?"
Sai slowly rose up and leant in close to Fuji. He stared at her eyes. It was unfair because she couldn't see his but she knew it was a deep and intrusive gaze. Sai smirked soon after and sighed, knowing now wasn't the time to say anything. He lifted his hand and pointed at Kikumaru. Fuji giggled. He wasn't telling the truth. Kikumaru wanted to know what was so funny. When Fuji told her she pulled the skin of her eye down and stuck her tongue out at him. Sai returned the gesture and placed his head back on Fuji's shoulder. He didn't say anything more throughout Iwara's match. He didn't want to fight over the loud cheers from Umeko and Yokoishi, instead he wanted to enjoy the fact Fuji didn't push him away.
Seishun all jumped to their feet when Iwara won his match 6-1.
"I'm gunna use that move Iwara-senpai" Yokoishi screamed down.
"Two games to one! Tezuka-san to win!" Umeko bellowed.
"Seigaku! Fight-o!" The rest of the school yelled.
Iwara shook hands with a zealous Jirou and waved up to the crowds. He walked over to Tezuka and tagged him in. "Make it sweet, cap'ain." He said and went to get a towel from Oishi.
Tezuka took up his racket and went onto the courts first. A heavy silence fell over the area. They could sense the determination in his manner and they could feel the provocation in the air.
"Ooh-" Yokoishi started and in an instantly all the girls looked to her. "what?"
Umeko, who sat directly above Yokoishi, reached down and shook her. "What do you mean 'what'. He's oozing energy isn't he? What is it? What does it mean?"
Yokoishi didn't look at Fuji. "Well, you don't have to be amazing like me to know he's concerned about something."
The girls were even more intrigued that they pulled at Echizen and Sai's interest.
"What? What?" They continued and Yokoishi hushed them up before answering.
"B-because of Oishi's injury? Maybe."
"Liar!" They shrieked.
And they knew that if Yokoishi had to say something so ridiculous, she had no intentions of saying anything. Fuji could feel it too, and it didn't make her too confident. She asked Sai if anything happened to him and he answered ambiguously. "Could have seen something." That didn't mean anything to Fuji so she watched him attentively.
No sooner had Tezuka took to the court did Atobe make himself known. He slowly elevated his hand in the air. When his finger was strongly poised the whole of the Hyotei spectators roared with a fearsome might that made the girls jump. On and on they went, booming that Hyotei were going to win and Seishun were going to lose. Atobe had trained them will. Whenever he moved his hand, his followers knew what to say. This display of admiration gave Fuji a chance to look at him, as the other's in her school did too. Mind you, they sneered, and in Leiko's case, she swore openly.
Once Atobe was done with his routine and his school was now quiet, he walked up to the net to shake Tezuka's hand. But Tezuka didn't move from the baseline. Atobe waited and Tezuka refused to move.
"Ohmigosh, he's not shaking his hand." Kikumaru half strangled Echizen.
"Hmm, things just got interesting." Sai sat up to watch the tension.
"He's really serious about winning this match." Shikawara said, but the boys saw something else, especially Oishi.
Atobe placed his right hand on his hip and with his racket in his other hand, pointed up into the spectators' seats. He moved along the rows until his line of sight landed on Fuji. She held her breath. Everyone glanced around in curiosity.
"I wish to dedicate this match to Sumiko Fuji. Be sure to be in awe of my prowess."
Fuji didn't know when she started breathing again but she didn't feel any motion at all when everyone's eyes were on her. She didn't like this one bit, and the fact that he said anything with all these people around made her go blank. She didn't know what to think, so she got angry. Yet, that anger didn't have a chance to grow as there was another invisible rage that defused her own. Tezuka flicked the slightest glance towards Fuji and it nullified her desire to feel anything but growing anxiety and anticipation.
"Fuji-senpai what are you hiding from us!" Umeko half cried in desperation.
"He totally dedicated the match to you. What's that about?" Arai cornered her.
"It must have something to do with that day he turned up at our preliminaries." Jinhana reminded them; Fuji thought they forgot.
Kikumaru didn't add anything to the conversation.
Echizen sighed loudly. "You girls gossip too much." With is, the girls decided not to say a word more, leaving a rigid Fuji to sit and watch.
Sai faced her. "Why does he know your name, Fujiko-chan?"
Fuji heard Sai's voice, the dull and castaway tone that reminded her of Tezuka's way of wanting to know but not wanting it to appear as important, even though it was. She opened her eyes but kept her sight on Tezuka. How could she answer when she knew all the girls were listening? "…I don't know." It was either a safe or evasive way of answering, but for now it kept them quiet.
Whatever was to happen, Fuji knew this wasn't going to be a good match.
…tbc…
A/N2: Yeah, had to split this in three. Go fig.
Chapter 50: Yay 50 chapters, only, about 50 to go! (really?!)
Anyway, It's Captain vs. Captain, over the girl?!
