I'd like to thank all of you for reviewing, and reading... This is the fourth chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
Tensai, tensai, tell me why
You just can't let sleeping dogs lie!
"Hey, Fuji." She greeted him.
His lips curved into a captivating smile. "Shyoko. Coming for tennis practice today?"
"There's practice today?!!" She panicked for a moment before relaxing. "Only for the boys' team. The girls aren't practising today."
"But you're practising with the boys' team now." He stated calmly.
Hands planted on her hips, she turned to face him. "And since when did I become a boy, Fuji Syuusuke?"
"Since you played mixed doubles."
"Yeah, right... WHAT?! I have to go for practice today?!!" His smile confirmed her worst fears. "But I didn't bring anything – no racquets, no shoes, no clothes!"
"You can borrow my racquet," He offered.
"And my attire? I can't play in this thing." She looked at her school uniform distastefully.
"Why not? The skirt won't trip you up, will it?" The offending garment was exactly sixteen centimetres above her knees.
"Well, no... but it's so uncomfortable running in this! Maybe I'll just skip practice..."
A wicked grin formed on his face. "Now that you're practising with the boys, you can't slack off that easily. If you do..." He trailed off ominously.
"If I do?" She prompted him.
"Well," He smiled cheerily. "There's always the option of being the first one to try out Inui's juices. I believe he's got a new one – the Deluxe Penal Tea. Besides getting fitter by running at least thirty laps the next practice."
"Okay, okay. I get the idea." She let out a depressed sigh. "I guess I'm just going to have to learn to play in this..."
"You can take it off if you want to." Fuji's eyes were curved in silent mirth, his suggestion earning a death glare from Shyoko.
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When she arrived at practice with her uniform, there were a few raised eyebrows and snide comments about girls not dressing decently for the sake of looking good. Her icy glare soon shut them up properly, and she went on the courts feeling extremely satisfied.
Fuji tossed her a light blue racquet. "Let's start."
"Today, you two will be playing doubles against the golden pair – Oishi and Eiji."
She walked to the front of the court. "Remember, Fuji, if we lose today it'll be all your fault."
"My fault?" His voice had a faintly incredulous ring to it.
"Well, it obviously won't be my fault. Besides, I need someone to blame."
"Oh." His smile grew. "Then we'd better not lose."
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"Three games to love. Oishi – Eiji leads. Change court!"
Shyoko, who was getting increasingly waspish due to the sizzling weather and the fact that they were losing badly, hissed. "Stop fooling around, Fuji."
His patience was also running short, though he showed no outward signs of it. They simply couldn't work together. To begin with, neither of them were very clear about which bit of the court was theirs, and reaching the ball just as the other person decided to hit it was extremely frustrating.
"Shyoko, the court is divided into two halves, right? Front and back."
"Yes." She said, feeling like a stupid preschooler. "I know that."
"Well, when I serve, I'll get the balls that land in the back half, while you take those in the front court and vice versa." He said it slowly and clearly, as if explaining something to a very young child.
She shrugged. "Anything you say."
The next time a shot landed in the back half, she forced herself to ignore it, although she readily admitted that turning her back on a tennis ball had never been one of her great skills. But when she barely avoided getting brained by Fuji's Tsubame Gaeshi, she exploded.
"This is ridiculous! How can we play doubles like this? I GIVE UP!!" She threw her racquet down and stormed off the courts.
Fuji, Eiji and Oishi looked after her in bewilderment and shock.
"Nya," Eiji hesitantly broke the silence. "Shyoko's never been this touchy before, ne?" He looked at Fuji.
The blue-orbed tensai let out a deep breath before following Shyoko. Patience is a virtue... patience... patience...
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He found her in the tennis club's room, intent on destroying anything in sight.
"Shyoko..." He was mildly horrified at the amount of damage she had caused. She hadn't broken anything, but the room was a total mess. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong? Nothing, just that I can't play the stupid freaking DOUBLES!" She let out her frustration with an ear-splitting yell.
His voice was calm, soothing. "You'll get better in time. Don't worry, with a little more practice we'll be able to sort this out."
"But the tournament's only two months away!" She wailed.
Cobalt blue eyes flew open in surprise. She did tend to take tennis rather seriously, didn't she? "That's enough time. We'll be able to make it." Inside, he was wondering how he got twisted into the awkward position of defending something he didn't really enjoy in the first place.
She calmed down slightly, surveying the chaos she had caused. The room was extremely messy, with various objects belonging to the team strewn randomly all across the floor. "Uh-oh... how am I ever going to fix this before the rest of the team comes in and has hysterics?"
Fuji smirked, picturing the regulars' reactions if they happened to see their personal space trashed like this. It would almost be worth it...
Shyoko sighed resolutely and began picking up stuff.
Never mind... "I'll help you."
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They found quite a few interesting things while cleaning up the mess.
"Say, whose cat is this? It's so fat!"
"Let me see that." He took the picture from her hand and examined it, chuckling lightly. "You'd better not let Ryoma catch you saying that."
She picked up a book lying on the floor. "Oops... I dropped Tezuka's book."
"Tennis club book? It's not damaged, is it?" She passed it to his willing hands, unaware that she was giving him a golden chance to peek into the contents of Tezuka's constant companion, and possibly more material for blackmail...
"It's just tennis stuff." He said, sounding slightly disappointed.
She gave him an odd look, but her attention was soon captured by a far more unusual object. Slender fingers fished out a red piece of cloth.
"What is – " She gave a bloodcurdling shriek and dropped it like a hot potato.
"Why?" He picked up the offending object and started to laugh. "Red briefs!"
"Dirty red briefs." She corrected him, scrunching up her nose in disgust. "Put it away!"
"But I don't know whose it is!" He objected, not unreasonably.
"Just put it on the table. The rightful owner should have enough sense to claim it."
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When the regulars came in after practice, they were greeted by an unusual sight – a pair of red underwear lying innocuously on the table. Eiji was the first to spot it.
"Nya! Whose is that?"
Eight pairs of eyes turned to it. "Red underwear?!!"
Two bright spots of scarlet burned, matching almost precisely the shade of the briefs.
"It seems that the owner's not going to claim it, ne?" Fuji smiled, before suddenly turning to the person at his side. "What's wrong, Echizen-kun?" His voice held a note of affected concern.
His cheeks blazing, he replied curtly. "Nothing."
"Echizen! Are you sick?" Oishi, ever the worrier, sprang into action at once. His hand touched Ryoma's forehead while the other hand felt for his pulse.
"I'm fine, Oishi-sempai." He brushed the other boy's worries aside and stalked to the lockers, glaring at Fuji on the way. Fuji-sempai knew what he was doing. Oh yes, he knew – and by the look on his face, he was clearly enjoying it. If he ever got his hands on Fuji-sempai...
"Echizen," came Momoshiro's teasing voice. "Then why are you so red?"
The only reply was angry silence.
"Perhaps it has something to do with..." He glared extra-hard at Fuji-sempai, willing the brunette to shut up, "the object on the tabletop?"
Eiji finally made the connection. "Nya! Ochibi! That's yours?"
"Echizen, you wear red underwear?"
"I – "
"Echizen wears red briefs..." Inui trailed off into incomprehensible muttering as his pencil flew over the page.
Even Tezuka looked just the tiniest bit shocked.
Ryoma turned, amber eyes glaring angrily at Fuji, who stood there smiling for all he was worth, as if Christmas had come early this year. "Fuji-sempai..." He growled.
"Echizen wears red un – " Momoshiro's taunts were cut off by Kaidoh.
"Fsssh... you're so juvenile."
"What?!! You - !" And they were at it.
Ryoma never wavered from his target. "Fuji-sempai..."
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Shyoko opened the door to find a scene of utter chaos. It was so confusing that she couldn't even see what exactly was happening, just that the regulars were all embroiled in one big fight.
"Regulars!" They came to a halt at the stern voice issuing from the coach. Momoshiro still had a death grip on Kaidoh that didn't look like it was going to be released anytime soon. Fuji was on the floor, with Ryoma's fist stopped halfway in a punch towards the tensai's face, while Oishi was trying to calm an overly excited Eiji down and prevent the whole team from committing homicide. Takashi had somehow gotten hold of a racquet and promptly joined the melee, only stopping when the racquet was accidentally knocked out of his hand. In short, it was total pandemonium.
"What happened?"
"Echizen left his," Momoshiro smiled deviously, "red under – " He was promptly tackled by a furiously blushing Ryoma.
"Ryoma!" The coach's admonishment had its desired effect. He froze mid-tackle. "Explain. Now."
"I – I –" He stuttered, wondering how to explain the scenario without any further embarrassment to himself.
"Echizen-kun left his red underwear on the table." A mellow voice helped Ryoma.
"Oh! It was yours!" Shyoko blurted out, causing everyone to stare at her in surprise, and Ryoma with a certain degree of mortification. "I mean, you wear red underwear?"
Ryoma was by now a very unbecoming shade of beetroot.
"Why, Echizen, you're the exact shade of your underwear!"
"SHUT UP!"
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Okay, I know this chapter was pure crack - but it was fun writing it though! Review!