A/N: So, a new chapter up. Not a whole lot to say here, so I won't say much. Ha. Anyways, for thsoe of you who know about Nationals, then you can kind of guess the purpose of this chapter is. I swear, they made things difficult. But enough of that, on with the show!
I don't own PoT
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The day was bright and sunny. The kind of day that was perfect for tennis. At least, that was what Hiyoshi thought at first when he woke up. As instructed, he ate breakfast, got dressed, gathered his things, and was out the door with plenty of time to spare. It was not a long walk from his house to the park where they would be practicing and there was still time, the second year decided to get in some early exercise and jog there.
On the way, he ran into a few people though there really were not that many since it was the time of the week where most people finally got to sleep in. No such luck for him, but seeing as how wonderful a day it was, Hiyoshi thought anybody still indoors now was insane.
When he arrived, Oshitari and Gakuto were already there with the latter currently climbing a tree.
"I'm not going to catch you when you fall."
"Psh, who says I'm gonna fall?"
Hiyoshi shook his head at the two. They were a couple of the oddest people he knew and considering all the players within the Kanto region, that was saying something. Oshitari continued to indirectly urge Gakuto to fall while the acrobat continued to climb insisting that he was the best there is. As he walked over to them, he suddenly tripped over something on the ground. He checked to see what the stumbling block was, and he wished he could say that he was surprised. Jiroh was sleeping peacefully on the grass using his tennis bag for a pillow. Hiyoshi silently wondered when the third year arrived and how long he had been sleeping. It did not matter though, soon, Atobe and the others would be arriving and they would soon begin their training. Nothing else mattered now since Hyotei needed to be at the top of their game for nationals.
"Shishido-san, you really shouldn't say things like that."
"Everything's cool here, Choutarou."
The urge to grumble and gag was almost overwhelming when he heard the two talk. Shishido and Otori were giggling like school girls as they approached the others. Hiyoshi constantly had to fight the urge to blurt out how annoying it was. However, being a disciple of self-control, he refrained. As far as he understood, Shishido and Otori did not live close to each other nor were their houses on the way. Therefore, there should be no reason for those two to always arrive together and be giggling over something.
"Good morning everybody!"
Chirpy and kind as always, Otori managed to stop what he was talking about with his doubles partner long enough to form a greeting.
"Good. Everybody is here."
All heads turned to see Atobe strutting towards them with Kabaji following right behind. Hiyoshi frowned even deeper when he noticed that Atobe was carrying an extra bag. It had to contain some sot of torture device since the looming second year had both their tennis bags.
"Today, we're going to be doing drills. Before the actual tennis, we need to be in the best shape possible and in order to do so, I created some training regimes."
The tennis regulars managed to stay silent, but Hiyoshi could tell that they were eerie of what Atobe had in mind. It was no rarity for him to come up with something he dubbed brilliant while others dubbed it sadism. He would then tell them that it was simply a matter of semantics.
"I hope none of you have plans since this is going to take all day...Jiroh, wake up!"
He nudged the volley specialist with the tip of his shoe and was miraculously enough to wake him up. Jiroh sat up groggily and looked up at Atobe.
"Oh, what are we doing now?"
"Drills."
"Do we have to?"
"Yes."
A not so subtle sigh escaped his lips causing Atobe to pinch the bridge of his nose. He said nothing but dropped the bag he was carrying on the ground and everybody slightly jumped when it made a clunk and clink.
"Uh, Atobe, what's in the bag?"
Shishido pointed with a combination of fear and disgust at the bag. Hiyoshi was glad that that Shishido always had enough guts to ask the question everybody had, but nobody wanted to ask. Nothing good could come out of this, not with Atobe.
"You'll find out soon enough. No need to be so anxious. First, stretch out. Ore-sama does not want to hear complaints about pulled muscles or other. Pair up and go at it."
The first two pairs were obviously made up the minute Atobe said "pair up" as the two sets of doubles immediately went for each other. In an odd turn of events, Atobe more or less threw Jiroh at Kabaji while he walked over to Hiyoshi.
"Don't look so surprised. Ore-sama is more than happy to grace you with my presence."
Hiyoshi involuntarily shuddered when he said that. Swallowing that wave of discomfort, he began stretching out his legs while Atobe did the same. After methodically going through each of his limbs, Hiyoshi sat on the ground and stretched out his legs into a v-position. Atobe came up behind him and began applying a little pressure on his back in order to help him stretch a little further. As he allowed himself to be pretty much shoved onto the ground, he looked at the others. Oshitari was making some snide remark resulting in Gakuto attempting to push down unnecessarily hard on his back. Ever the perfect duo, Shishido and Otori were apparently getting more joy out of this than most people would. And then there was Kabaji and Jiroh. Hiyoshi let out a small snort when he saw those two. Jiroh was attempting to push down on Kabaji's back except he was practically sitting on top of him and bouncing in an attempt to apply enough pressure.
After a few more minutes of stretching in multiple directions, it was time to switch. While Hiyoshi began to help Atobe stretch, he idly wondered how the vain captain would even sit on the ground without some silk lining beneath him. Instead, he was in the same position as everybody else. Speaking of which, Hiyoshi also noticed that Atobe was fairly flexible. He applied more and more pressure and Atobe just became gradually more parallel and closer with the ground.
"Alright. Now, it's time for the fun. Kabaji!"
"Usu."
Ever the yes man, Kabaji opened the bag and pulled out the first item. Simple enough, it was a standard rope ladder and Hiyoshi figured it was a typical device to practice agility and speed. Then, he pulled out a few weights. Again, nothing too shocking since this was to build strength and endurance. Atobe then looked over at Jiroh.
"Jiroh, did you bring it?"
"Yup!"
He bounced over to the base of one of the trees and picked something up from off the ground. Bounding back over, he handed it to Atobe. Okay, now there was something a little unconventional. A hula hoop was definitely something new. A few ideas floated across his mind as to what it could be used for, but no real answer came up.
"So, why the hoop?...Ooh! Are we going to practice hula hooping?"
"...No Jiroh."
Atobe flung the hoop like a person would at a ring toss game except, instead of a prize, the object it encircled was Jiroh.
"Too bad. I'm really good at it."
"Yes Jiroh. Kabaji, continue."
"Usu."
The next object pulled from the bag was a long length of rope. That dreadful sinking feeling that develops in the pit of the stomach was never a good sign to Hiyoshi. He just hoped that whatever else was in the bag, it did not involve Popsicles. The last time Atobe decided to be creative in drills, it ended with a mess of Popsicles, rope, and cones. There was no way he could explain to his mother why he had a Popsicle stick in his hair a second time.
The final object was definitely something he had never seen in all his years of practice. It appeared to be a harness and bungee cord. Hiyoshi pondered the mystery surrounding the objects and the bag they were all pulled from. He was slightly surprised to know that Atobe was the one who carried it. Judging from the various objects' weights, it must have been fairly heavy and Hiyoshi was sure that the diva would have made Kabaji carry it. Then again, this was Atobe and it was never a good idea to question him in any form or manner.
"That should do it. Let's begin."
Hiyoshi looked around at the others who were also glancing at each other warily. It seemed as though they were all slightly concerned at why certain objects were present. However, nobody complained since it would all be lost on Atobe and chances were, it would make him angry in some way or another causing even more of his judgment to rain down upon them. Hiyoshi just swallowed his growing concern and did as he was instructed.
They were split into groups with each taking turns at various stations. Each stop had one of the objects and of course, they worked on drills. For the most part, each exercise was straight forward enough though far more difficult than he imagined. But again, Hiyoshi recalled that this was Atobe and he would undoubtedly find a way to make even the simplest things overly difficult. After the first station, Hiyoshi could already feel his muscles being pushed to their limits. However, he knew that meant there was room for improvement so he continued to try his hardest and push himself further.
Now, while going through the other stations, he had constantly been wondering about the hula hoop. Apparently, Atobe decided it would make a nice jump rope minus the rope. At first, Hiyoshi imagined that it would be easy since there really was not that much of a difference. How wrong he was. Never had he experienced the pain and humiliation of attempting to jump rope with a hula hoop. When he asked Atobe the purpose, he got some sort of semi-answer.
"It helps with precision and it is so entertaining to watch."
At that, Hiyoshi suddenly tripped himself by sweeping the hoop to high and knocking his feet from beneath him. A small chuckle escaped Atobe.
"Hmph. Let's see you try."
He thrust the hoop to Atobe who gingerly took it with one hand and carefully stepped inside of it while still holding onto it. Placing his two hands side by side, he began to rhythmically made circular motions bringing it over his head and underneath his feet. Like with everything else, he make it look disgustingly easy. Hiyoshi studied the method in order to see what he was doing wrong. The first thing he noticed was that Atobe was not moving as fast as he had tried to and seemed to be making a rhythmic pattern that let him jump perfectly in time so his feet never got caught on the hoop.
"Ore-sama no bigi ni yoina!"
He exclaimed his ever present catch phrase as he made a final triumphant jump through the hoop and held it out to Hiyoshi who just grunted.
"Alright, switch!"
They were finally arriving at their final station. It was now time for the bungee cord. Despite the initial fear, Hiyoshi was actually more curious and eager to try it. He watched as Atobe waltzed over to the harness and slipped it on. After making sure it was secure, he handed the other end of the bungee cord to Hiyoshi.
"Hold on tight to it. Keep your feet like that...Good. Now pay attention."
Atobe suddenly got into a ready position, minus the racquet, and began running after an imaginary ball to the side court. He ran until the cord was pulled tight and Hiyoshi pulled back on it to keep from shifting. Then, he repeated the movement by rushing to the other side. Again, Hiyoshi had to dig in his heels in order to keep from moving. Back and forth he went while Hiyoshi kept watching.
He was actually impressed with the idea. Not only did it build strength, but endurance, speed, and control. It basically worked on everything. After making multiple runs, Atobe finally let himself approach the baseline letting the line loose. Taking off the harness, he then passed it to Hiyoshi.
"Your turn. Make sure you pull against it enough, otherwise it's meaningless."
Easy enough. Hiyoshi had payed closed attention when Atobe had done it and it did not seem overly complicated. He strapped himself in and then looked back at his captain who nodded and smirked.
"Run."
Turns out, running around attached to a bungee cord is not all that easy after a while. At first, it did not seem that bad, but after a few runs back and forth, trying to pull against the tension became exponentially more difficult. Just when he thought he could not go another time, Hiyoshi felt the cord go lax.
"Good. Everybody! Lunch break!"
With an easy snap of his fingers, all the regulars ceased what they were doing and watched, with never ending disbelief when two butlers and maids appeared from over a hill. Hiyoshi slowly felt his eye begin to twitch. He, like the others, had brought something to snack on during the day, but leave it to Atobe to bring his staff to serve them lunch.
They climbed the small hilltop and found a large blanket on the ground covered with food. The spread was nothing over the top like he tended to do at his "cottages," but rather, consisted of natural energy foods that were filling and most likely tasty too. Hiyoshi was surprised to find no separate table set up for Atobe since he figured the diva would not deign to sit on the ground with the commoners. Then again, there was no doubt that the captain was, to put it mildly, quirky. Soon, they were all sitting comfortably on the blanket devouring the food in front of them.
"Afterwards, we'll begin tennis matches."
Jiroh seemed to perk up when he heard that. He scooted closer to Atobe and began tugging at his sleeve.
"Hey, hey, hey! Atobe, am I gonna play with you?"
Hiyoshi about choked on his bite of food as he listened to Jiroh go on about how great it was when he got to play tennis with Atobe. He had to keep from snorting at it. What was so great about playing against him anyways? If anything else, it was potentially detrimental to a person's health.
"No, you'll be playing Kabaji. Speaking of which, Kabji."
"Usu."
"Hit hard and keep Jiroh at baseline. You need to practice your approach when an approach shot is impossible."
"Usu."
"Right."
While he agreed, some of the spunk Jiroh had vanished into thin air as he began yawning. Hiyoshi rolled his eyes and continued to eat. After filling himself up, but not to much, he thanked Atobe for the food, stood up, and stretched.
"You'll practice with me today."
He did a double take when he heard Atobe calmly instruct him on the next portion of the practice. In all the two years he had been on the tennis team, Hiyoshi realized he never once had played against Atobe. It was not an official match, nor any type of challenge, but it was perhaps the golden opportunity to show the captain why he, Hiyoshi, was going to take over. The excitement built up inside of him as he studied his captain. Atobe did not seem interested in the least, and a part of Hiyoshi understood that it was most likely because Atobe wanted to see where his weak points were and correct them. However, that still gave him the chance to prove himself.
Not that I need to...
Shaking his head to dispel the unwanted thought, Hiyoshi nodded his head at Atobe and began stretching while the others finished up. It did not take long for the food to be cleared away and for the regulars to take hold of their racquets. As they walked over to the courts nearby, Atobe stopped and studied the group from behind. Hiyoshi noticed this and looked over his shoulder. He wondered what was going on in that head.
"Jiroh."
"Huh?"
"What happened?"
"Happen?"
"Your ankle."
"What are you talking about, Atobe?"
Jiroh smiled innocently at Atobe who continued to stare with a sort of detached, analytical eye. By now, the others had stopped as well and were watching the little exchange. After closer examination, it became clear that Jiroh was trying to lie to Atobe and if there was one thing that everybody was in awe of, it was their captain's insight.
"...Jump."
"Uh, okay."
The volley specialist hopped up and landed on the ground with no problem, though Hiyoshi thought he saw something odd about the landing. He decided to wait to see if Atobe noticed anything. Of course he noticed.
"See? Nothing's wrong!"
"Why did you land with your weight on your left foot?"
"'Cause I always do."
Atobe smirked causing Jiroh's smile to falter a bit and gulp.
"No, you always put your weight on your right."
All heads swiveled to see the shorter boy's reaction. He chuckled nervously.
"It's nothing really. Just something I did in gym class a little while ago...I mean, uh, it was just recently...uh, it's fine, nothing's wrong at all!"
Their captain remained skeptical and kept his gaze fixed on Jiroh making him shift uncomfortably.
"Don't-"
"Waa! Atobe!! It's fine. It was just a little sore after running around and I'm sure a little exercise will do it good. Besides, I promise I won't overdo it or anything today. Pleeeease!"
A deep sigh escaped Atobe's lips as he studied the pleading boy clinging helplessly onto the front of his shirt. After several minutes of silence on his part, he finally conceded.
"Kabaji, keep an eye on him..."
"Usu."
Now that that was settled, it was time to start the matches and take one step closer to fulfilling his philosophy of gekokujou.
The remaining members were split with Otori against Gakuto and Shishido playing Oshitari. The Hyotei tennis team pretty much took over the public courts and used them all for their matches. As the started playing, it drew a small crowd of spectators. Hiyoshi had to wait a little longer since Atobe wanted to make sure everybody was doing what they were supposed to be doing.
"Shall we begin?"
"Of course."
Hiyoshi served first, using a simple topspin serve which Atobe returned easily. They began to rally back and forth with the captain creating impossible angle shots and overall, just controlling the game play. It was slightly annoying how Atobe was playing only in a way as to study him and teach him. That meant that Hiyoshi was not good enough if the object he wished to overcome was giving him pointers on how to play a better game. Granted, Hiyoshi was not playing at his full power since it was just a practice, but he was still trying. Atobe did not seem to be trying at all. In fact, he appeared to be studying not only Hiyoshi, but the others as well, particularly, Jiroh. Hiyoshi grumbled. If he was going to push him around, Atobe could at least have the decency to put all his attention on manipulating him and not the others. It was impossible for him to ever get his captain's full attention.
Thus, the day wore on with nothing overly exciting occurring except for the random yelling that came from the general direction of Gakuto and Shishido. It was a good thing their doubles partners were nearby to placate them into silence again. Speaking of silence, Hiyoshi was suddenly frozen in mid-swing when there was a loud yelp from the other courts.
Atobe jogged over to the source of the sound. Hiyoshi followed at a slightly slower pace. When he approached, he found Jiroh rolling around on the ground whining and whimpering while clutching his leg.
"Stop...moving so much...Gr, Kabaji!"
"Usu."
The captain had tried to hold Jiroh still but the smaller boy was persistent. It took a firm grip from the towering second-year to keep him still and allow Atobe to examine the injury. After some light poking and prodding, grumblings and whimpers, the Hyotei diva stood up and sighed.
"Sprained. What happened to taking it easy, aan?"
"I was!...Kinda...but I saw this great window of opportunity to try something new, but when I did, my ankle suddenly started hurting really baaaad."
Somehow, only as Jiroh was capable of, he was able to explain something while complaining about it. To his credit, a sprained ankle was painful, but what was more painful, was the fact that there might not be a chance for the volley specialist to play in nationals. Though, at the moment, that did not seem to be bothering him, but then, not a whole lot seemed to bother him. Hiyoshi imagined how upset he would have been if he were in Jiroh's position. For all he knew, Jiroh really was upset or maybe it would set in later. It was anybody's guess and not really his place to question.
"We'll call it an end for today. Tomorrow, practice resumes on schedule. And for you..."
Hiyoshi was surprised once again when Atobe offered his hand to Jiroh who grabbed it and was pulled up to his feet. With some maneuvering, Atobe was able to drape the shorter boy's arm around his shoulder and help take the weight off his injury.
"Kabaji, tell them to bring the car around."
"Usu."
He jogged off to find the servants that seemed to be hiding all around the park while Atobe began to slowly lead Jiroh towards the parking lot leaving the others behind.
"Why'd he let Jiroh play? You knew he would do something stupid and hurt himself."
"You really shouldn't say things like that."
Gakuto huffed and crossed his arms while Otori seemed distracted at the prospect of an injured companion. At least, that was what Hiyoshi thought. In his mind, Otori was like the towering black sheep Hyotei. As always, he was concerned about the others just like when Shishido begged to be let back on the team. Oshitari stood silently next to them studying the situation.
"Well, today certainly was interesting. I am curious as to how this will play out."
As was his usual style, Oshitari appeared to be talking more to himself than to anybody in particular. And because of that, nobody knew what to make of it. Hiyoshi had his guesses, but that was all that they were, simple guesses. They could stand there all day trying to reason out that little fiasco, but that would get them nowhere.
"See you tomorrow."
Oshitari waved over his shoulder as he slowly sauntered off followed closely behind by Gakuto. Shishido and Otori were next to leave and as predicted, walked together even though there was no real reason for them to. That left Hiyoshi to himself and to gather his thoughts.
Even though he got to play a little bit with Atobe, there was nothing satisfying about since the captain's attention was divided among the other players. Then, Jiroh's little accident ended the practice a little early and now, after today's practice, there was a good chance Atobe had already formulated a plan and would begin to make them practice it. That meant Hiyoshi was hard pressed for a chance to play against Atobe again. It was not fair, he decided. All he needed was one moment. One moment to prove his worth.
Wait...why should I prove anything to him of all people?...No, I don't need to prove anything...all I need to concentrate on is overthrowing the upper...Yes, that's all I need to think about...
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A/N: Poor Jiroh hurt his ankle. I needed some sort of excuse to get him out of the picture. Well that sounded mean...Oh well, it was a noble sacrifice. You know, I just realized that this is going to be a bit longer than originally anticipated. Now that I know much more about Nationals, more explaining needs to be done. But anways, I just hope you enjoyed reading!