Through Karupin's Eyes
(Ryoma's POV)
I know this day will come sooner or later…
I sigh as I walk beside oyaji, aiming for the tennis court. Usually I will get excited about the match that is about to happen (I always get excited by watching Fuji's or Buchou's game btw) but I just can't imagine Fuji comes out as the winner for this game. Not when his opponent is that pervert monster. And somehow I feel a little uneasy about the whole thing. Now why do I feel like that?
My steps are abruptly stopped as oyaji pull my arms, causing me to turn over and shot him an annoyed glare, but he is too busy shooting his own glare to Fuji. Heh. I never know he can glare. Anyway, what has Fuji done this time?
"Would you mind walking in front?" Oyaji asks in a high-pitched tone, obviously he is annoyed by something.
"Saa, it's okay. I enjoy the view from here."
I can see Fuji's eyes glint gleefully and his lips are making a nice curve and form a smile. Wonder what makes him so happy… Wait. Masaka… God, Fuji.. Can you be normal for just one second??!! You pervert!!
(Fuji's POV)
I know this day will come sooner or later…
I smile cheerfully as I tail the two Echizens. Well, not so cheerfully actually since that good for nothing Himalayan cat is resting peacefully in my Ryo-chan's arm (does Ryoma have to carry the damn cat wherever he go?), but I'm contented nonetheless. The thought of playing a match with the Echizen Nanjirou is overwhelming even for me, I can't wait! I'm not sure I can beat this guy but one thing is certain, I am NOT going to lose Ryoma.
So I walk. And I walk. And I began to feel bored even though we have only walk for about three minutes. At first my eyes landed to the beautiful scenery around me, and to the clear blue sky upon me, and then as they continue their search for beautiful objects they stopped at the figure walking in front me. And I have to fight down a chuckle. Some say sometimes the beautiful things lies just ahead of you, they don't know how right they are.
Have I mention that Ryoma is so hot in his pajama? Well, add the evening sunlight piercing down his body and a couple of sweat on his nape and you will have an exquisite Ryoma. And I have to say that I enjoy seeing his back from here, I giggle mentally on that thought, careful not to let my sadistic aura leak (or Ryoma will notice what I am up to). That is when my train of thoughts were scattered as Echizen senior snapped at me.
"Would you mind walking in front?!"
"Saa, it's okay. I enjoy the view from here." Seriously, I add mentally. Seeing Ryoma's back side is totally enjoyable.
"The more reason why you should walk in front! You'll make a hole in my son's ass if you continue staring it like that!"
Aw, if a simple stare can make a hole in something then Ryoma's body is practically hollow by now. I chuckle at the thought and Ryoma, as usual, able to catch me while doing it so he sent me one of his (unintentionally) cute pouting face. See, Echizen-san? We are so deeply in love with each other, there's no use to separate us apart.
Okay, after much debating which involved countless intimidations between the samurai and me, I agreed to walk beside them (like hell I will walk in front), particularly beside Ryoma (this is where the intimidation takes part). The tennis court is just ahead and I can't help but feel a little nervous. It's not like I'm afraid of losing the game but more like afraid of not getting the samurai's approval for dating his son, not that it matters much btw but it definitely makes things a lot easier in the future. But the nervous spell is broken as I felt a warm hand slipping beside mine, making its way to clutch my hand firmly. I blink several times, hardly believing that Ryoma is actually making the move on me. Does that mean…
"My hand is cold…"
Is his lame excuse for claiming my hand (not that I have anything against it). I just gave him a quiet snicker as I tightened my grip. Ryoma may be a very good athlete but he is the worst liar. How can his hand be cold when it feels like a steaming bun in my palm? Not to mention that it is still summer in Japan. "I'm sure it is." I said in gleeful voice, fighting down the urge to pull his lithe body closer since Echizen-san will kick me out of his house that instant.
"Do your best." He says before he let go his hand, which is not an easy thing to do when my hand refuses to lose the warmth that has been lingering around for a few minutes, but I let him pull his hand off mine in the end after I give him a squeeze one last time.
"Cute…"
Through Karupin's Eyes
Karupin was too distracted by Ryoma's warmth that she didn't notice what was going on between her master and her rival, coz if she did, Fuji's going to have an arm fully covered with blood right now. When she gained control of herself again however, she found that she was on Ryoma's lap. Yep, she definitely love Ryoma's lap and she's not willing to share it with anyone.
"Hey, Karupin.. what do you think of Fuji?"
Pervert? She said mentally as she met Ryoma's gaze, feeling a little annoyed every time she heard that specific name. Annoying, evil, sly, psycho, smiling idiot, need me to continue the list?
"I think he's an idiot."
Well, at least we agree on that one. She thought happily, letting her master to brush her fur as she arched her back. "Meow."
After ten minutes of warming up, Nanjirou and Fuji started to talk about some rules. They agreed that the game would be self-judged, considering they both were sportive athletes they didn't need a referee in the first place, and they would use the sudden death system. Ryoma of course, protested the decision since that meant he couldn't watch the game up close on the referee bench but his effort was useless so he went straight to the nearby tree and sit there, grumpily.
"Oi, kiddo. We'll only play one game. Don't hold back or you'll be sorry."
"Sochira koso."
Fuji won at the coin toss so he chose to serve first, letting Nanjirou to choose court. Of course he won't hold back, Ryoma was at stake here. He wouldn't use his usual 'observe and strike back' strategy but rather go all out from the start.
He took the yellow ball and went to the base line, ready to serve. He hesitated for a while, deeply considering which move should he use first. He couldn't use his most powerful attack at the beginning of the game because he was sure that Nanjirou would figure out how to counter every single of them once he unleash it… Hm..
He began the game by giving Nanjirou his cut serve, not his most powerful serve but it would do. Nanjirou gave the brunet his amused look while rubbing his chin, thinking that the kid was quite good but the kid was nowhere near his ability. "Oops! I almost lose it." He said as he hit the ball with a volley.
Now that was rare, he didn't expect the ex-pro tennis player to be able to counter his cut serve on the first trial. This game would be longer than he predicted..
I'll hit it with a top spin… He thought as he raised his racket swiftly.
"Hey, don't be stingy. I wanna see your special slice. Ryoma couldn't stop bragging about how beautiful the moves was."
Fuji raised an eyebrow in amusement. And he thought that Ryoma never talk about him in front of anyone… Not so far away under a nearby tree, the said rookie was choking like crazy and almost fell back to the ground. "Dammit, oyaji! You just can't keep your mouth shut can you??!!" He said desperately as he leaned down the grass, pulling Karupin closer to his chest.
"Ne, Ryo-chan…" He called in a loud voice the minute he release his top spin toward Nanjirou, causing his lover to roll his eyes over, and then mouthed the rest of the sentence as if he didn't want Nanjirou to hear it, 'Mada-mada-da-ne' and as a closure, he gave a small grin which successfully make the smaller tennis player to blush
"15-0!" Nanjirou shouted victoriously as the tennis ball flew out from Fuji's court. "You better fix your eyes on the court, kid."
"Ah, gomen…"
"I don't want a top spin. Where's your slice?"
"Do you mean, Hakugei? If that so, I'm afraid I can't show it to you."
"Humph. Stingy!" The samurai whimpered as he served with a style that had been so familiar for the brunet, the twist serve, but this time it was heavier and sharper than the one Ryoma used to give him. Fuji had to use all his strength to return it, and he frowned at the process. Turned out that the brunet was making a nice volley. Nice as in 'easy to hit with a smash'.
"You have a nice footwork but strength is definitely your downside." He smirked, hitting the ball with a powerful blow.
"We'll see about that.." Eyes snapped open, concentration at maximum (he didn't even get jealous when Karupin licked Ryoma's earlobe) and he was ready to launch his favorite from the triple counter, "Higuma Otoshi." Was his last word before he intercepted the flying ball. He was confident that Higuma Otoshi would always work for every smash. Haha.. guess again..
"30-0! Return ace."
What?!
"That should teach you not to turn your back during a tennis match."
Okay, so turning your back during a match was not the brightest idea one could come up with (it was a cool pose nonetheless) but that had absolutely nothing to do with Nanjirou being able to return his counter. That old man was just ridiculously skilled.
"Does Ryoma-chan brag about all my triple counter to you?"
"Every single one of them. In detail of course."
For the first time in his life, Fuji was torn between happiness and annoyed state. Happy because Ryoma was willing to brought him as a topic when the younger one was having his 'father-son conversation', annoyed because Nanjirou could figure out how to counter every single of shot because of it. Maybe he should create the fourth counter…
Through Karupin's Eyes
Tezuka was putting his clothes on when he heard the doorbell rang. He dried his hair with a towel before throwing it in to a nearby basket and moved his legs toward the door.
"Echizen?"
"Konbanwa, buchou."
"Meow."
A cat?
Before the captain allowed them to come in, Ryoma stepped inside, taking Karupin along with him. In normal condition, he wouldn't mind having one or two regular in his house. But it was Echizen who showed up in front of his door at NIGHT. Or to put it in a full sentence, it was Fuji's, the notorious possessive tensai who got jealous easily, lover named Echizen who showed up in front of his door at NIGHT. Fuji was so going to strangle his neck when the brunet found out about this…
"What brings you here?" He asked as he closed the door, leading the way to the living room. The younger boy just shrugged and threw himself to the nearest couch.
He sighed, knowing that he could spend the whole night asking the same question to his youngest regular and still unable to receive an answer. So, instead of forcing the boy to speak, which was obviously something he didn't want to do right then, he offered some juice.
"Doumo.." The prodigy answered as he took the juice from Tezuka, one of his hands still brushed the Himalayan cat, which apparently sleeping soundly in Ryoma's lap, gently.
An awkward silence. The captain was expecting such thing actually. Not that he had Inui's ability to predict things but rather it was what likely to happened when you have one stoic tennis club captain who didn't like to talk much and one tennis prince who was too preoccupied with his own problem to start the conversation.
"Where's your parent?"
"Away on business trip."
"Oh.."
Another silence. Truth speaking, he didn't care about the silence. In fact, he enjoyed the solemn mood. But the sheer curiosity was killing him so he had to do something about it. "How's Fuji?" He finally asked to break the silence. Which made Ryoma to spurt his juice over Tezuka's clean T-shirt.
"Ah!! Sorry, buchou!!" The boy quickly got up from the couch, completely forgot that there was a sleepy Himalayan cat on his lap, and wipe the juice stain with his hand. Hm, one thing was for sure, there was Fuji involved.
Karupin was too sleepy to even protest so she chose to take a nap on one of Tezuka's couch.
"Having a problem with Fuji?" Again? He added mentally as he caught Ryoma's wrist, causing the younger boy to stop his activity. He could hear a quiet 'Hnn', signaling that he was right, and then sighed. "Care to give some explanation?"
What was he thinking??! Tezuka-buchou was obviously not the first person to cross his mind whenever he wanted some advice. Sure the captain was wise enough but… shouldn't there be someone who's more suited for this kind of role? Oishi-senpai for example. Or Momo-senpai. Or even Kikumaru-senpai. Then how come he found himself in Tezuka-buchou's house late at night? Mystery… Oh well, since he was there, he might as well asked some 'dating' advice.
Tezuka was stunned when he heard Ryoma's story and quickly regretting his curiosity. "Fuji did what?" Ryoma pulled down his cap deeper to cover the blush creeping on his face, "And, correct me if I'm wrong, you want me to give you 'dating' advice?" A nod was all it took to make him feel like the end of the world was coming in his way. Cursing mentally, Tezuka was tempted to yell 'There is Oishi for this kind of thing for God's sake!!' but he managed to keep his composed figure and only made a twitch.
"I need to go change my shirt (and take some aspirin, he added mentally). Wait here."
Tezuka was reluctantly changing his shirt, hoping that it would take him forever just to do such simple task, sulking about he shouldn't be in that kind of mess in the first place when suddenly his cell phone rang.
"Moshi moshi"
"Tezuka…"
Gulped..
"Fuji...?"
"I need to talk about something. It's important…"
Somehow he felt he knew where the conversation would lead…
"It's about Ryoma-chan…"
He then buried his head on the pillow, not wanting to listen to the rest of the words. Didn't anyone go to Oishi anymore? Social skill was certainly something he lacked of but that didn't seem to stop anyone to ask for his help, oh joy…
Being a responsible captain that he was, he forced himself to listen to Fuji's problem. It was the exact thing that Ryoma had told him earlier but Fuji was able to say it in a more… vulgar approach, which made his head ached. Now where did he put the aspirin?
"Echizen-san told me to break up with Ryoma-chan, which is an impossible thing to do, so I thought I should do something extreme like…"
Tezuka pull the phone away from his ear, he didn't hear the rest. He didn't WANT to hear the rest. Maybe he should just hang up… wait… he couldn't hang up on Fuji… so what should he do??!
Suddenly he could hear someone knocking on his door. Thank God!! Maybe his parents had come home!!
"Tezuka-buchou? You okay?? You took a really long time just to change your shirt.."
Or maybe not.. Bummer..
"Why do I hear Ryoma-chan's voice?"
Damn.. Things were turning from worse to worst… he better explain the whole situation FAST. He definitely didn't want to have Fuji as his enemy…
"Buchou? Are you dressed yet? I'm coming in.."
Yes I am dressed but you're not allowed to come in!! Fuji's going to kill me!!
"Hold a sec. I'm on the phone." Was his answer.
"Tezuka.. You owe me an explanation!" Tezuka shuddered instantly. Seemed like Fuji was able to send his evil aura from a faraway place.
Okay, he had two options… First, hung up the phone and dealt with Fuji's wrath later. Second, packed his clothes and spent the night on a hotel or a nearby acquaintance's house (since he couldn't bring the rest of the regular in his mess), hopefully those love birds would take the hint and LEAVE HIM ALONE. The second option was so tempting and doable but it would make him look like a sissy. Oh well… first option it is..
"Fuji.. I'll explain it LATER." And with that he hung up. Hoping that all the heavenly being up there would took a pity on him and give him protection to stay alive. At least until the next tournament…
a/n:
Hahaha… okay, so I messed Tezuka's personality… (Tezuka's fans… don't kill me!!) but he's so hard to write! Anyway, I kinda rush this chapter since I don't have any free time in April (and May and June). It is either I post the chapter now or in late june / early july, so.. I'm sorry if it doesn't turn out like you expected.. (it certainly doesn't turn out like I first planned, that's for sure..)
Oh yeah! I just realized that you guys are being SO nice to me… the last chapter really sucks and I still have a nice reviews… (I swear I am going to send my self a flame, once I figure out how to write one…) Oh, and I'm planning to re-write chapter 2 and 3 if I found the time (and the mood).. Anyway, I kinda change the story's mood, do you like it?? (less humor, that's for sure..) Hoho.. I'm in this lovey dovey mood lately
Japanese terms:
Masaka: Don't tell me (This is a tricky word actually since I can't translate it literally… but oh well..)
Sochira koso: You too (when someone ask you to do something and you want that someone also do the same, you use this line)
Konbanwa: Good evening
Moshi moshi: Hello
I'm not feeling like adding the footnotes (I have to re-read this chapter if I want to make one…) so I'll skip it this time.. haha :P oh yeah! I know that there might be some inconsistency between chapters so I'm going to give a quick review: Only a few selected regulars know that Fuji is dating Ryoma (they are Momo, Eiji, and Tezuka. Oh, and Inui. Tezuka knew because Fuji told him, obviously, and Inui knew because he's Inui). Btw, I REALLY don't understand… I don't think the last two chapters are funny (I was like this: TT when I wrote/read it) but oh well.. people has their own reaction…
Extra note: I know I said I didn't have any free time in April – June, I forgot that I have 3 days off for Easter.. hahaha… silly me.. Unfortunately, I'm not in the mood to continue this fic just yet so the next chapter will be posted next June.. or July.. I'm not sure…
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is NOT MINE. Never was and never will be.