Happy Birthday
Chapter 3 – Kikumaru Eiji
Nyaaaaaaa…
Kikumaru Eiji yawned and stretched, cat-like indigo eyes opening and blinking out the last specks of sleeping sand. He rubbed them to get more out and glanced over at his calendar.
The 27th of November – tomorrow would be his birthday!! He grinned and jumped up – he couldn't wait until tomorrow!! But for now… He had to go get ready for school. He sat up quickly, throwing the covers off and stretching.
"EIJI!! BREAKFAST!!" he heard his sister call from below.
He jumped up, startled. Usually, he would be the one calling for his sisters to come down for breakfast, not the other way around. He turned to find the clock.
"NYA!!" he gasped and quickly grabbed his school uniform, towel and other necessities and ran into the bathroom. "BATHROOM!" he yelled to his sister downstairs so they knew what was keeping him.
Soon, his hair wet and gelled up, he slid down the railing of his stairs and dashed into the kitchen with his tennis bag and stuff.
"'Morning!" he greeted his sisters as he quickly gobbled down the Western breakfast and gulped down the milk and tea.
His sister smiled(1) and said, "Well, hurry up or you'll be late for school!"
He nodded and soon he was out the door.
"Happy birthday Eiji!"
He didn't hear.
--
"Da-da-da-daaaa!! Kikumaru Eiji is here for practice!!" Kikumaru grinned and shouted for the whole world to hear.
Kawamura smiled and nodded in return, "Hi Eiji, thanks for…you know…"
Kikumaru grinned and said, "It was no problem for Kikumaru Eiji, nya!" he then dashed off into the locker room to change.
"Oh… By the way Eiji, happy birthday…"
Kikumaru didn't hear.
--
Kikumaru grinned his usual cat-like smile. He didn't know why, he felt…giddy today… He quickly pulled on his Seigaku jersey and then his pants. (Ever heard of "bottoms first?" XD)
He then grabbed his racket and skipped over to Oishi Syuichiro. "Oishii!!" he greeted with his usual added "I".
"Ah! Eiji!" Oishi greeted as he looked up from jotting something down. "You ready for morning practice?" he asked with his usual motherly smile.
Kikumaru nodded and said, "Mou… Though I feel a little happier, I don't know why…"
Oishi gave him a confused look and got up; the golden pair then started to walk out into the courts. Pushing the door open, Oishi and Kikumaru found themselves face-to-face with Tezuka lecturing Kawamura on tardiness.
"—and that's your second time—"
"Oishii!! Buchou's bullying Taka-san!"
"—20 laps for being late—"
"Help him Oishii!!"
"—You too Kikumaru—"
"U-Uh…Kunimitsu—"
"—some too, Oishi?
"Unya!! Taka-san!! Run away!"
Tezuka felt another headache coming and rubbed his temples.
"What's wrong Kunimitsu?" asked his concerned friend, Oishi who was ignoring his wild partner who was yelling at Kawamura to go and run.
"…Kikumaru…20 laps for being disruptive!" Tezuka suddenly bellowed as Eiji turned around with a shocked glance.
"Unya??!! Why me?" he asked, starting to pout.
"30 laps."
Kikumaru quickly ran off.
Oishi leaned over to Tezuka and whispered, "Should you really be giving out laps on his birthday?"
"It doesn't seem like he knows it's his birthday otherwise he'd be saying something about it," Tezuka replied with the same stoic face. (In other words, it's "What he doesn't know won't hurt him").
Oishi only sighed and wondered how his teammates could be so weird. (Even though he's weird himself!!)
--
Kikumaru sighed and continued to run. Why did he feel so…giddy today? He wondered to himself as he ran his 25th lap and started the 26th.
He shrugged it off and began to focus on running.
A sudden noise alarmed him that he was in dangers way of –
--A FLYING TENNIS BALL!!!
He ducked in time for the tennis ball to miss his head and glanced over to see who had thrown it or hit it.
A tall figure can running to him.
"I-I'm sorry Eiji-senpai," he said rubbing the back of his neck as if embarrassed, "I wasn't thinking straight and well… the aiming was off…" he continued and then looked to see that the ball had stuck itself in the fence.
Kikumaru grinned, "Well if it wasn't for my reflexes my head would have been cut off!"
"Eiji-senpai!"
Eiji laughed and waved a hand, "'Kidding, kidding!"
"Why are you running laps?" Momoshiro asked suddenly.
"Eh? 'Cause I annoyed Tezuka too much…" he pouted as he remembered the 4 more laps he had to do. At least it was less than 5 now…
"Why? Isn't it your b—" his question was cut off abruptly by a pale hand that slithered from behind.
"Ah, Momoshiro, what are you doing?" Fuji asked with the same usual smile on his face.
There was a muffled response and Fuji smiled before taking his hand off.
"I-I was just getting my tennis ball," he replied, totally forgetting about the earlier question.
"Ah, I see, well, back to practice," Fuji answered, "And Eiji?"
"Hm?"
"You still have 5 more laps to go."
Kikumaru wanted to protest but that would only earn him more laps from the captain so he groaned and continued his way.
Meanwhile Fuji hid a laugh.
--
By the time practice ended, Kikumaru was as tired as he could be. EXHAUSTED. As he entered the clubroom, he saw a couple of the other non-regular members walk by wishing him a "happy birthday".
Wait… "Happy birthday"?
Today wasn't his birthday.
Nevertheless, he grinned and thanked them for being a day earlier. That only earned him confused looks.
He shrugged those thoughts away as he pulled over his uniform for school. "Nya… It's so tiring to go to school… Why can't we just play tennis?"
"Ah but then where would we be?" Fuji asked, appearing out of nowhere once again.
"HOI!" Kikumaru yelled and jumped in surprised, "FUJIKO!! You scareddddd me!!" he whined.
Fuji chuckled and said, "Well, what happened to your cat-like reflexes?"
Kikumaru only tried to glare at Fuji but ended up only looking cuter.
"Maybe Kikumaru-senpai lost them to someone else…" a bored voice spoke up suddenly.
Kikumaru spun around and glomped the said person, "OCHIBI-CHANNNN!! WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN?!"
"Why are you glomping me when you said I'm mean?" Echizen Ryoma asked with the same disinterested look.
"UWAH!!" Kikumaru said, letting go of the boy and latching himself onto Fuji. "Fujiko!! Ochibi-chan is being meannnnnnnnnnnnn!!"
Fuji chuckled, "You should let go or we'll be late."
"Happy birthday Kikumaru-senpai."
That sentence came out of nowhere and almost inaudibly, that both Kikumaru and Fuji almost didn't hear.
"Eh? You too Ochibi-chan?" Kikumaru asked in the stillness of the three, blinking quite cutely, "You're a day early…"
"It's November 28th right?"
Kikumaru nodded slowly, giving Fuji the elbow when he snickered.
"That's today."
Kikumaru laughed quite hysterically while Echizen gave him a confused look.
"What do you mean it's today?" Kikumaru choked out, "Today is the 27th!"
Echizen shrugged and walked away, slipping his cap into his tennis bag.
It was Fuji's turn to laugh now, "E-Eiji! Today IS the 28th!"
Kikumaru felt blood rush to his cheeks.
"Nya…no way…"
--
So that's how his birthday went. Everyone else saying happy birthday to him with he didn't even notice or thought that they had the wrong date. However, now that he knew, he thanked them. By the time school ended, he found that his locker had been stuffed with many presents from fangirls.
He sighed and "nya"-ed as he wondered how to carry all the stuff home. He could just stuff it in his tennis bag but that would be a pain and plus… It would damage his rackets…
Ah! That was the perfect idea!! And it was a good thing it was food too. They must have assumed he liked food a lot. Well he did but that wasn't the point..
"Momo!!" he called from his locker, waving an arm to give the second year powerhouse a sign to where he was.
As if on cue, the tall Junior came walking, arms filled with bundles of snacks he had bought earlier for the ride home. "What's up, Eiji-senpai?" he asked as his gaze fell upon the stash of presents. "Whoa! That's a lot of present!" he commented as his eyes bulged out.
"Nya… It's too much for me so…"
Momoshiro looked up hopefully.
"So… would you mind taking it?"
Momoshiro grinned, "Su—"
"Of course, you pay for a month."
That wiped his grin off but he agreed nevertheless.
"Fine, but this is your birthday present then," Momoshiro answered with a dark and gloomy cloud over his head.
Kikumaru only grinned.
--
Kikumaru sighed and leaned back. They had gone to Kawamura's again – extra sushi and eel especially for him – he thought as he licked his lips remembering the wonderful taste.
Birthdays were birthdays – they only marked the date of a person's birth but it was so very important… To the person born… 'Cause it was the day they became …alive…
He grinned, remembering that he had thanked his team mates for all their presents. From Ochibi-chan's stuffed cat that looked very much like a certain familiar Himalayan to Oishi's photo albums of their first memories as the Golden Pair (he had been embarrassed when Kawamura crowded around and wanted to see it) to Sadaharu's strange love potions to Tezuka's book on new formations.
Birthdays were birthdays and they were always fun.
Author's Note: I rushed. I sorta got bored. XD Well, I hope that wasn't too boring of a chapter for you… Sorry if you get bored of Seigaku but I'm afraid I only know a couple of birthdays and if I did everyone then… OO! I would cram…
1 – I don't know how Eiji's sister is like so I'm making up her personality.
So yeah, please comment and tell me what you think.