"Hitomi. Tezuka."
The two teenagers stopped their individual resistant training and walked towards their trainer.
Hitomi glanced towards Tezuka as they approached.
Maiya Kimi watched them as they stood quietly before her, "Hitomi this is Kunimitsu Tezuka, Tezuka this is Minamoto Hitomi."
The teenagers turned to each other.
Hitomi smiled and politely extended her hand, "Hi."
Tezuka shook her hand, "Hello." He said casually.
Both turned to the trainer again.
"As of this moment, you will be each other's training partner and when you're on the tennis court you will be playing doubles."
Hitomi looked at her trainer confused, "But I don't know how to play doubles."
Kimi nodded, "I know. Neither does Tezuka but you will both learn and play doubles until further notice." She looked at Hitomi then at Tezuka, "Understood?"
"Hai." They both answered simultaneously.
"Good." She turned to Hitomi who still looked confused but not against the idea, "Well then, off you go. Back to your exercises."
Hitomi turned to her new partner, "Shall we?"
Tezuka nodded and they walked off together.
Kimi watched them carefully. So far they seemed too be getting along fine. She wondered if this idea of Tsuta Arisa was really going to work. She had agreed with Arisa-chan that something needed to be done about Tezuka. She had known he was going to be a challenge the moment she had been assigned to him after his former trainer had quit to pursuit her tennis career. She watched quietly from the corner of the room as Hitomi spoke to the stoic Tezuka.
"Do you have any experience playing doubles?" Hitomi asked glancing over at Tezuka. She had heard of him back in Japan. Captain of his school's tennis team and a national level player. She had seen him for the first time here at the center, and although they may have been two of maybe less than a handful of Japanese athletes here, she had never spoken to him.
"No." Came the short stern reply.
Hitomi looked at him curiously. She had heard other people say that he was the most serious and cold person they had ever met. Now she knew what they meant, "Cheer up. It can't be that bad."
Tezuka turned to her. He was surprised that she thought he was worried about playing doubles but he kept the emotion in check. He wasn't happy that he was being partnered up either. Hopefully he would gain something from the experience that would improve his tennis skill. He turned to focus on his leg presses again.
Hitomi watched him casually. This was similar to working out by herself except that she got more time to rest between exercises. She looked away at all the other athletes that were in room. All of them were working out on their own or with a trainer. So far, in her stay here, she had never seen anyone get partnered up. Then why had Tezuka and herself been assigned to work together?
"It's your turn Hitomi-Chan." The deep voice beside her said as he climbed off the leg press machine.
"Oh. Okay." Hitomi went to adjust the tension and climbed into the seat.
Tezuka stood silently at her side as she adjusted her seat. His eyes swept over the tensor bandage covering her right knee, before he looked away.
"I tore the medial Collateral Ligament." She said casually.
Tezuka turned to her. He hadn't asked.
Hitomi shrugged, "Accidents happen…" She said softly as she looked away and she started her leg presses.
They didn't speak much after that. Each waited for their turn until they had completed all their exercises.
"I guess I'll see you later this afternoon then." Hitomi said and with a little waved walked away.
Tezuka resisted the urge to sigh and turned to walk in the other direction to his room. He pushed open the door and went to his desk to turn on the computer. Opening the Internet browser he checked his e-mail.
Two new e-mails.
He opened Oishi's e-mail first.
Hi Tezuka,
I hope everything is going well. Everything here is fine. I'm definitely feeling some of the pressure you must feel being the captain of the team. I never realized… Telling the members to run laps just doesn't have the same effect when I order them. I think Ryuzaki Sensei is starting to feel a little more stressed in your absence, since she has to do a lot more disciplining. Anyway, Don't worry. Everything is fine. I just wanted to touch base with you. Concentrated on getting better. We need you for the nationals.
Oishi.
Tezuka re-read the e-mail again and decided it needed to be addressed right away.
Oishi,
Be firm. Keep the goal in mind.
Tezuka.
He pressed the send button then opened the next e-mail. It was from Fuji. He scanned over it quickly. Echizen was getting better. He was very tough now. Tezuka closed the browser and turned off his computer. He grabbed his tennis bag and left the room again.
Hitomi walked around the corner towards the training wall. She frowned. He was here too? She sighed and pushed open the door and entered. She walked over to the bench and lowered her tennis bag to the ground as she sat down a moment and watched him. He didn't look over at her once, but she knew that he had seen her because his strokes had slowed and he wasn't hitting the ball as hard as he had been when she had first seen him. She bent down and reached into the tennis bag for her racquet and a ball. She slowly got to her feet and went to stand in front of the training wall at least ten meters away from him. She served the ball and started practicing.
Tezuka glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. She definitely had good ball control to be able to keep hitting it without having to move a step. He saw the yellow blur at the corner of his line of vision and swung his racquet. It made contact with the ball and flew towards the wall. He turned his attention back to his own practice.
' . . . Ryuzaki Sensei is starting to feel a little more stressed. . .'
Tezuka hit the ball.
'I never realized'
Another hit.
'...more disciplining'
He swung his racquet again.
'...Echizen is getting better...'
'Don't worry.'
'We need you… Echizen is getting better."
'More stressed.. . never realized… getting better… Echizen getting better… don't worry… never realized… getting better… we need you…'
Oishi and Fuji's words flashed in his mind. Repeatedly. More and more…
"Tezuka-san…"
A soft feminine voice stopped his train of thought and he let the ball fly past him. He lowered his racquet and turned to her.
She reached out and took hold of his racquet, "Let go." Her voice was still soft.
Tezuka simply stared at her.
"Just for a few minutes." Hitomi added as she felt his grip tighten on the handle, "Please?"
He loosened his grip but she didn't pull the racquet away from him. No, she simply held it and waited until he had removed his hand from it completely.
Hitomi tucked her own racquet under her left arm and switched his racquet to her right hand. She raised it to her eye level and turned the head curiously. Taking a step back she swung it a few times and smiled, "It's a nice racquet." She said meeting his blank look. She turned and walked over to the benches.
Tezuka watched her take off with his racquet. He finally came to his sense and realized that his heart rate was elevated and he had broken into a sweat. He hadn't realized he had been practicing so hard. He casually walked towards the bench and sat down.
Hitomi passed him back his racquet, which he took and placed it across his knees, "Would you like to rally for a bit?" She asked casually after taking a sip of water.
Tezuka turned to her and nodded his head once. He got to his feet and went to get his tennis bag and the ball that had rolled back towards the wall. He could feel Hitomi watching him. He took his time in re-joining her.
"Let's go." She said, as he got closer. She got to her feet and grabbed her tennis bag before walking out of the training court and over to the tennis courts. Only one other court was currently in use. They walked over to the bench to deposit their bags before moving to opposite ends of the court.
Hitomi held up a ball.
Tezuka nodded.
She served it to him and they started a light rally. She watched as Tezuka hit the ball back to her. He didn't seem to be hesitating at all and he was using the full range of motion of his shoulder. Maybe his shoulder injury had not been as severe as she had heard everyone say it was. She hit the ball a little harder and it was returned to her with the same intensity. She hit the ball to slightly to his side to make him move. He returned it to her with ease. So she did it again and again, and each time he returned it back to her. So she hit it harder.
Tezuka saw her eyes narrow. She was getting frustrated. He swung his racquet and hit an easy ball to the far corner of he court.
Hitomi stepped to her right and made contact with the ball as she hit it back to him.
Maiya Kimi walked up to the tennis courts and stopped stunned. They were both already here playing. Interesting. Then again, they loved tennis, so it wasn't that surprising. She smiled and walked onto the courts, "Well it looks like you're both already warmed up." She exclaimed.
Hitomi caught the tennis ball coming at her and they both walked up to the trainer.
"Kimi sensei." Tezuka welcomed.
"Kimi sensei." Hitomi also welcomed but with a smile that her partner had lacked.
Kimi smiled, "How long have you two been playing?"
Hitomi glanced at Tezuka, "An hour or two?"
"Aa."
Kimi looked over the young man, "And you've been using only your right hand?"
"Hai."
"Good." She turned to Hitomi next. The girl was watching Tezuka, "And how's your knee?"
Hitomi turned to her with a smile, "Good."
The trainer nodded, "Alright then, we'll continue. Tezuka, you may use your left hand. I want light shots to all four corners of the court." She turned to the young lady, "Hitomi you will return them just as lightly. Your objective is to move around the court using proper footwork. Do you both understand?"
The two teenagers nodded and walked onto the court.
Tezuka held up a ball.
"Underhand serves only Tezuka-kun!" Kimi hollered. She watched him nod and underhand serve the ball to the opposite end of the court.
Hitomi watched stunned as her partner aimed the ball perfectly to every corner of the court, "You're left handed." She called over the net.
"Hai."
"No wonder you didn't look injured before."
Tezuka simply hit the ball back over the net.
Kimi watched them curiously. Tezuka's motion was fluid and slow. He didn't seem to be experiencing any discomfort. She turned to Hitomi and watched as she ran to the front right corner to return a shot than run back to center court. She waited for the next ball and moved for the back left corner. The girl could have been faster, but it was natural to be a little reserved after a bad knee injury. Maiya Kimi watched them rally this way for a short time before she stopped them and called them in.
"That's enough for today." She turned to Tezuka; "You are not to use your left hand again today. You can't push it to hard too fast if you want it too heal properly."
"Hai." He nodded.
Kimi turned to Hitomi who was slightly out of breath, "You haven't done much cardio since your injury, and I know you want to get back into shape but you should still take it easy for the remainder of the day, understood?"
Hitomi nodded.
"Good. You both did well today. I will see you both tomorrow morning. Dismissed."
"Thank you." Both teenagers said bowing before moving to the bench.
Kimi watched them a moment then left the tennis court.
Hitomi collected her things and looked towards Tezuka. They met at the exit and walked together in silence towards the man building.
"See you tomorrow, Tezuka-kun." Hitomi said as they stepped inside.
"Aa." He nodded and watched as she smiled amused and turned to head down the hall. He turned and walked in the other direction.
Author's Notes:
Yuire and Tezuka eiri: The story came about because of a thought I had. I'm honestly not too sure how far it will go but if oyu have any suggestions I'm always glad to hear them! Cheers,
CelicaChick