A/N: It's too hot… brain not working so well… (x_x)
Wanted to upload four chapters but I've only finished these two. Two now, two later.
Disclaimer: I asked Takeshi Konomi how the new Prince of Tennis was progressing and he said they would climb a cliff-face. (not-so-random)
Chapter Fifty Eight
Umeko gasped. "Did… did anyone feel that?"
Yokoishi wiped her arms and shivered. "Too much, Fuji-senpai."
"That can't be Fuji-chan, can it?" Jinhana felt it too, as did Nariko, Nozomi and many other spectators.
But no one felt it more than Fuji. It flooded through her blood, having been kept dormant for as long as she could remember. The fact that it burst through her with such strength meant it was over flowing and ready to be released. But it was kind enough to allow her some of her sanity… for the time being. That smile that came when she was delighted and forced its way through when pain stuck, fell immediately. There was no desire in her to be pleasant. It wasn't that Yumi merely wanted Fuji to open her eyes, it was that energy she remembered from long ago that she wanted to rekindle. She didn't want Fuji to hide or mask her true self behind that deceitful smile.
That's the one; Yumi felt it. A sudden dread hit her. It had been a long time since she felt that energy. She forgot how overbearing and sinister it was, but she could finally smile, even feeling tempted to chuckle Fuji didn't understand Yumi's joy.
"Now serve." Yumi crouched down.
Fuji stared at Yumi. She wouldn't serve. A slow breeze developing around her. Fuji stood for a moment and felt the sharp twirls of air kicked her hair up, while the currents carried around her limbs. It was beautifully soft like his sweet touch that has caressed her. She would never forget it, so she called out to it in a whisper. "Don't leave." It obeyed her. It gathered and fell around her gently before running out into the crowds. It ran full circle of the arena and hovered over everyone, waiting for her instruction. Only those on Yokoishi's level and higher understood why Fuji stood doing what seemed like nothing.
The world seemed so much brighter to Fuji. When exactly did she put those rose tinted glasses on? They worked a little too well it would seem. Look how much Yumi has grown. Fuji could never really see Yumi's maturing features or hear her developing words until now. The dress fitted her well, making her the cute type, despite Yumi past resentment. Oh, she was even slightly taller than her! Why was it only now Fuji noticed? Why did it take this long for her to really see her sister?
"Can Seishun's player please resume the match."
Fuji peered up to the umpire. Her slow and unhurried stare only irritated him, but he never rushed her after that.
"I said serve the ball!" Yumi jeered but Fuji looked across at her team.
It would be the first time they'd see her play with a bit of heart and they wondered exactly what she would do. The score was five-sets-to-love, 40-love after all. What could Fuji do?
One of the ball-girls held the ball up to Fuji and she accepted it. The spectators took a deep breath. What would she do? Fuji gripped the ball in her hand. The breezed watched and waited for her command. Yumi was unsure but ready.
Fuji held the ball in the tips of her fingers and twisted it like a coin to many spectators' confusion. Before the ball hit the floor, Fuji put it into play. It flew comfortably over the net, but Yumi was able to follow the path and moved deep into the right corner to return the shot. Yumi swung her left arm back. Something was wrong. She heard the ball cut through the air but she didn't feel it recoil off her racket. If that were so, why could she hear it bounce off the floor behind her.
"15-40"
Yumi shot a look behind her. The ball really was there. She turned to her sister and flinched when Fuji deliberately waited to see the confusion on her face. The way Fuji took the ball out of her holder made Yumi more determined to win the last point. Fuji looked into the sky, making sure that the breeze was still around. It was. It wouldn't dare leave.
"Yumi-chan, I can't play you seriously. I have no reason to."
Yumi looked around thoughtfully. Was Fuji still playing around? Yumi rolled her shoulders. Really, she should have expected as much. That only meant she had to draw Fuji's serious game out.
"What the hell was that?" Umeko whispered harshly as she moved her hands from her mouth. She felt that overbearing force and didn't even want to whisper.
Nobody knew what kind of serve it was. Fuji had never used it before. They didn't recall her using it last year… maybe something she developed this year… but she's hardly practised? This confused them even more.
Fuji delivered Yumi another cut serve like the one before. Yumi followed the path but her racket hit the obedient breeze.
"30-40."
"Yumi-chan?" Fuji called to her and she looked up. "Did it disappear?"
Yumi seethed but swallowed the anger and got ready for the next serve. Fuji repeated the same move and levelled the score. The umpire called it at deuce and Yumi started to get annoyed. It wasn't the same annoyance that made her scream out, but a different one. She still wasn't given a chance to play her properly, at least, now she would have like.
She was indifferent towards the serve Fuji kept using but didn't say anything against it. The path was easy to find. She just needed to figure out where the ball would shoot off. Left? Right? Up? Down? If she could muster that much she could return it. So Fuji was to serve her cut serve again. Yumi watched the spin. It was clockwise. Fuji swung her racket from the end of her racket to the top. Yumi watched as best as she could and saw that the ball spun diagonally, which meant it would either switch up or down. There was no way it could go left or right. The spin wouldn't allow it to. So… which way should she go?
Yumi stepped forward to take the shot. It hit into her court and she dipped her racket. That ball definitely bounced low. But it still eluded her. Yumi kicked the ground and walked back. She was sure she had it. For a moment she took her eyes off the ball and didn't know where it went. What she did know was that it didn't dip low. She spied her sister as she turned and noticed a breeze ruffled her hair. It never touched Yumi at all. Yumi left it alone.
"Advantage Seishun."
Fuji wasn't letting up. She twisted the ball again and cut it. It flew over towards Yumi. She gambled where to put her racket. She swung and caught the ball. She didn't have a chance to celebrate because the ball rolled over the frame of her racket and onto the floor. Once it double bounced it shot out diagonally towards her coach.
"5-1. St. Rudolph to serve."
Fuji's team cheered within themselves. None were happier than Umeko. Though, it was still early days. All Yumi had to do was win four points and it would be over before Fuji could have a chance to win another six games.
"My heart is beating so fast." Jinhana spoke.
"Seriously, I don't know why you're all so surprised. Fuji-chan always plays like this." Arai murmured into her hand. She admitted she was pulled in my Fuji's little stunt before Yumi's out burst.
Her team turned to her. "Play like what? You're kiddin'! She's never played like this!"
Arai shook her head. They didn't understand… then again… neither did she.
Fuji and Yumi swapped sides. Fuji kept her eyes ahead of her; the breeze followed. Yumi watched from the corner of her eye. Just exactly how serious was she? There wasn't much of an expression there now that her eyes were open. She seemed withdrawn. Irritated. On edge. Yumi could see she was close to letting it all out but she needed to be pushed a little more.
"Win your serving game, Yumi-chan!" Her school yelled.
Yumi wouldn't be satisfied with that. Fuji may have poured out that energy but she was keeping it until control, not like how she did in Chiba. Yumi wanted that to come out. And if it meant prolonging the game, she'd try her best until she got what she wanted.
Yumi tossed the ball up and served. Fuji was right under it. She sliced it and sent it back over to Yumi. Unfortunately, there was no chance of a return as it skidded across the ground without bouncing high, hitting against Yumi tennis shoes.
"I won't let you hit it Yumi-chan." Fuji warned.
Yumi was surprised that Fuji remembered, but she hid it on her face and got another ball. She served it, expecting Fuji to slice it, which she did, giving Yumi the chance to run into the court to catch it before it hit the floor. She caught it on the tip of her racket, or so she thought. Not again. The ball disappeared in front of her and reappeared behind her.
"30-0"
"Dammit!" Yumi cursed, as she stood upright. She swung her racket about, wondering why she couldn't hit it. What was causing the ball to vanish?
"Wow! I didn't know she could do that too." Yokoishi sat on the edge of her seat. Even she didn't realise Fuji was on this level. Two moves in one. Just like her!
"Those stupid tricks again." Yumi muttered and served without hesitation.
Fuji thought she'd just hit it normally to see what Yumi would do… but Fuji wasn't in the mood to give her what she wanted. That wasn't the point, was it? Giving Yumi what she thought she wanted only made her more fed up, so she would do the opposite. She performed her tsubami gaeshi effortlessly. It swooped over the net and dived quickly and along the floor, out of the courts. There was no chance Yumi could catch it. She had to let it go.
Yumi watched the ball roll in front of her and paused to think to herself. She blocked out all the commotion around her to think. There had to be away to break that annoying shot.
She remembered back home in Chiba, when the two of them were very young and still on talking terms. Fuji tried to let her hold a junior racket but it was too heavy for her. They both giggled and Fuji placed it in front of her and she ended up chewing on the handle. Fuji called to her attention and told her to watch the next move, the tsubami gaeshi.
"Wow!" She remembered gasping, with a sweet and bubbly voice. "How did you – how did you make that happen?"
"…It's our secret…" Then Fuji told her.
Fuji called to her sister who was standing, staring at the courts. "Yumi-chan? Did you enjoy that thought just now?"
If she wasn't blushing then, she certainly was blushing now. Her cheeks redden quickly. Out of embarrassment, she served an awkward ball that landing right in front of Fuji.
Fuji wanted to smile but the expression wouldn't come to her. She got ready to return the ball with a tsubami gaeshi. Yumi saw it coming and stayed on the baseline. She had that much space with to manoeuvre. Once the ball hit the ground and hovered, Yumi scraped her racket across the floor to sweep up the ball. She could only lob it but it was enough for her to win back a point. Fuji watched the ball fly high over the net. She was too surprised to run from it. Yumi would have been the first person to return that shot. Again, she wanted to smile, but she only felt something else swelling inside her.
"30-15."
Fuji tried the shot again, just to be sure, and Yumi was able to return it. Never mind. It wasn't ever a problem for Fuji. When Yumi served, Fuji used her counter attack and Yumi returned it with the same recklessness, scraping her racket along the floor.
"She's being stubborn." Shikawara said of Fuji.
But it was that stubbornness that got Fuji the next set. Just when Yumi thought she sussed her out, Fuji seemed to get more and more tactful. And it was not as if she made any big changes. It was little things, a simple flick of her wrist or an unseen twist to her waist was all she needed.
Fuji easily gained back four sets. Yumi trying her hardest to win back some points, what with Fuji 'toying' with her at times, it certainly wasn't easy. Fuji deliberately pulling her into a long rally before delivering the finally blow. Despite this, Yumi kept her cool. She still had a few moves up her sleeve.
It was Fuji's serve. She wiped the light sweat that was on her forehead and served. Yumi had to stretch out to get it, causing her to pop it up. Fuji watched the path and readied an easy return. She glanced up to see where Yumi stood only to find her standing in a strange pose. Her left arm was extended into the air but her body was crouched down towards the floor. Fuji didn't know what to think of it. She felt a level of confidence ooze from Yumi's team. It meant that her next move was a strong one.
She changed the course of her return and hit it away from Yumi, but Yumi shifted quickly. She was right under the ball.
Yumi swung her whole arm, like she was chopping a log and the ball shot down in Fuji's court. Fuji skidded forward. The ball hit the ground and recoiled high above her. St. Rudolph cheered brightly. The ball bounced far behind Fuji but her eyes didn't follow it. She heard a faint sound. Fuji would have missed it had the breeze not carried it over to her ears. It was a sound she was very familiar with. Why was it coming from her sister? Yumi's shoulder was tense, slowly heating up and getting fatigued. Yumi held her right hand over her left shoulder and rotated it forward.
Such a horrid and ugly sound. It reminded Fuji too much of Tezuka's wounds. She tapped her chest and rebuked the breeze for sending that sound to her. She couldn't imagine where Yumi learnt such a move. Maybe it had something to do with her new school. 'That' was not an enjoyable move. 'That' was not a move to make the game fun. Making tennis fun was something Fuji always told Yumi when they were growing up. This match wasn't what it should be... but it was mostly her fault.
She shook it off and served again, humouring herself in the process, hoping that she was seeing and hearing things, but she took those glasses off a long time ago…
Yumi repeated the move and Fuji wretched back. That exhausting sound of flesh rubbing against tired tendons was carried to her. The breeze couldn't easily break its habits.
"Y... Yumi?"
She stood up. "What?"
"Who taught you that move?"
Yumi thought about it and blushed. She flicked a quick look into the crowds. "None of your busin-"
"Don't use it. I forbid you."
Yumi could barely find any words with which to retort her sister. "Just serve the ball!"
Fuji couldn't shake it. She couldn't shake the thought of Yumi going so far to merely punish her big sister. To damage her body? Foolishness! Fuji now understood how irresponsible she has been in her ignorance. She never realised Yumi was suffering so much. Did Yumi know that she was hurting her shoulder? She must do. She rotated it and rubbed it. Just… just like Tezuka…
A devastating though hit Fuji. Would Yumi physically leave her too? To go as far as Germany?
"…Yumi… if you…" She could barely speak, she wanted to threaten her sister but the only way she could get it through to her was to win. If winning meant Yumi would be physically sound, then she would gladly destroy her.
…tbc…
A/N: Had to split this in two… just cuz…
Chapter 59: Same as the last one. It's on the other side!
