"Hey, Viper! Your serve!" Momo said, passing him a ball.
"I don't need any kind of handicap from you," Kaoru hissed and threw it back,
"You serve"
"Hey! I told you to!" Momo snapped, firing it back.
"Well, I declined!" Kaoru spat back, returning the ball.
"You wanna fight?" Both yelled at the same time. Fuji sighed from next to Eiji
on the court over from them.
"Nyah! Why are they being partners if they hate each other so much? All they end up
doing is fighting!" Eiji commented, showing his laid-back demeanor.
"Who knows?" Fuji asked with a smile. "Shall we?" Eiji returned it.
"Yes," he handed Fuji the ball.
Taka bowed from his side of the net, "Thanks for playing me Sadaharu." Sadaharu
nodded.
"Sure, pick up your racket Taka," He said and Taka did, suddenly alive and ready.
"Bring it on! I'm BURNING!" He yelled and the game begun.
Ryoma moved to cover Shia's volley, lobbing it back over the net. Shia jumped
up for a smash and smiled when Ryoma returned it, she moved to the far corner and hit a
cross back over the net, Ryoma returning it with a hit to the opposite corner. As the other
starters finished their matches they wandered over to watch.
"Dang, they're still goin'?" Momo asked, wiping some sweat off his face with a
towel, "Hey you two, what's the score"
"Zero-all." Both answered, never taking their eyes off what they were doing.
"Y-you're kidding!" Taka said, "Everyone else has finished their matches and
neither of you have even scored a point yet"
"I would have, but..." Shia started.
"...I can't find..." Ryoma said.
"...A weak spot." Both cursed under their breath and Shia moved to volley another
ball. Ryoma used his one footed split-step to get across the court and hit it back to the
perspective corner. Shia moved over and caught it in her hand.
"Your point," She said, "but I'm tired of volleying, you serve." Ryoma smiled.
"Sure," he said, switching his racket to his right hand and hit his famous twist
serve. Shia smiled.
"I was hoping you'd do that," she said and volleyed it back over the net, putting a
stop on it so it never bounced. Everyone just stared for a moment. A twist serve Ryoma
hit right handed came right at your face and wasn't easy to volley, but this girl had done it like it was nothing. "So that's how it works huh? Oh, how exciting!" Ryoma tossed her
the ball for her serve. "I think... I'll give it a try..." She smiled even wider as she threw the ball up and then hit a twist serve right back at him, Ryoma returned it with a lob, though he was a little stunned that she could hit it by just deciding to try it. "Lets try something else I saw earlier!" She said and jumped up into the air using a move very fammiliar to the Seishun tennis team members.
"The dunk smash..." Momo muttered incrediously as Ryoma struggled to return it.
He did though.
"And here's another one," she said and she hit a lob that landed right on top of the
back line of the court.
"Moon volley..." It was Oishi's turn to be surprised. Ryoma moved back as far
and as quickly as he could and managed to catch it on the bounce, just barely. (Yes, I realize that doesn't seem possible.) Shia moved
to hit it from the odd angle of Ryoma's return and hit another shot she had seen that day.
"The snake..." Kaoru hissed, "How could she have learned that...?" Ryoma
returned this one as well, but Shia was at the net though and she hit one more shot.
"The triple counter..." Fuji mummbled seriously. Since it never bounced, or rather
it bounced so low to the ground it seemed to roll, Ryoma couldn't return it. The score was
one to one. Ryoma was about to pass the ball back to her for her serve when she waved
her hand.
"I conceed," She said with a sigh, glancing at her watch, "I really need to get
home." She started to move towards her bag when several of the guys blocked her way.
"Hold on," Momo said, "How did you hit those shots"
"I think she's with one of the teams that're spying on us," Kaoru put in venomisly.
"Those aren't easy shots to hit," Fuji reprimended them and turned to Shia, "But
how did you learn to hit those shots"
"Huh?" Shia asked with an innocent smile. Their eyes opened wide.
"What do you mean.. 'huh'?" Oishi asked and Shia smiled.
"By 'huh' I mean: huh?" she said, "I learned those shots while watching your
practice and paying a little bit of attention to the games you played against each other just now. I have a photographic memory, when I want to remember something I remember it.
Plain and simple." (Meanwhile at Yamabuki, the 'Plain and Simple' doubles team just sneezed.(Manga version, ya nkow)
"Huh?" They all said at once and Shia sighed.
"Okay, maybe not that simple, but it's just the way my mind works, I can't help
that," She shrugged, "But really I have to get out of here, I'm late. Bye." She waved and
grabbed her bag before starting off the court. The starters al said goodbye and then
thought for a moment.
"Those shots require skill and training," Taka sighed, "There's little chance she
could just study it while watching"
"Why not?' Sadaharu asked, "I found out how Kaoru hit the 'boomerang snake'
in the district prilimanaries, didn't I?"
"Well, that's you Sadaharu, no one else can really think like you do," Eiji sighed,
"Nyah! You're like a robot or something!" The others, except Kunimitsu, all smiled a bit at this comment.
"She did just move here," Ryoma said, "This was her first day. She told me that
she used to play when she was little, but she isn't planning on going out for the girls
team"
"Why not?" Fuji asked, "She'd certainly make it"
"She said that she didn't want to," Ryoma answered.
"Weird..." Momo said, "I got the feeling that she lived for tennis... I don't think
someone with an attitude like that would have spied on our team before... I think she
really did just learn from observation"
"If she did then that's just scary," Eiji smiled, a sweatdrop running down the side
of his face.
"Yeah..." The others agreed.
"Well, practice is over," Sadaharu said, "I'll see you guys tomorrow"
"Yeah, bye." One by one the players grabbed their bags and headed home.
Shia walked into her house to find her mother waiting on the couch in the front
room. Her mother, her arms folded across her chest and her eyes hidden behind trendy
specticals, had a grim look on her face as she asked, "Where have you been?" Shia
stopped in front of her.
"I stayed after school to talk to some of my new teachers," she lied, she had
already thought of all of this. Her mother reached out and grabbed her wrist before Shia
could move it away and flipped her palm face up.
"What's this? Where did you get these scratches?" her mother asked, her eyes and
voice made of solid ice. Shia, however, had expected this as well.
"I tripped on the way home and my hands got scratched up when I caught myself"
She said, the story had been well rehersed in her mind and her tone stayed steady. Her
mother let go and she turned to head for the stairs. "I think I'll go to my"
"Your racket is sticking out of your backpack," her mother cut her off and Shia
turned back in surprise. The woman was already up and had grabbed her wrist already to
keep her from running. Her mother slapped her, raking her nails across her cheek. "Do
you think me a fool! I told you to never play that cursed game again! Aren't you
listening?" Shia winced in pain. When she was angry, this person wasn't her mother any
more. It was 'That Woman'. She bit her lip as the woman struck her again, backhand this
time. "You're demon spawn! You need to know that!" This time it was a sweeping
kick, knocking Shia off her feet as a fist met with her stomach and another wave of pain
rushed through her body. Shia heald in her cries, she wouldn't give that woman the
satisfaction. "I regret nothing I've done in my life... Nothing except having you"
Another rain of blows fell down upon Shia until she was forced into a ball sacrificing her
arms to protectect her head. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore. She screamed. The
blows stopped, but Shia just trembled, unable to find the strength to get back up. She
turned her head slightly to see that woman moving towards her backpack. Her mother
unzipped it all the way and took the racket out. "This is an instrument to bring out your
demonic powers!" She said and took it in two hands.
"No..." she mumbled, "Don't do it..." Her mother ignored her, bringing the racket
down and slamming it against Shia's arms, which were still protecting her head and
breaking the racket. (It was an old wooden one)
"Now you cannot do the devil's bidding," She turned away from Shia, "I'm
making dinner, but you won't be eating tonight. You will lay there on the ground until I
say otherwise, do you understand?" The woman waited for an anwer but Shia's voice had
left her and she couldn't find the strength to nod her head. The woman spun around and
kicked her in the stomach. "I said do you understand?" She snapped and Shia managed
to find her voice.
"Y-yes!" She said and the woman turn away again.
"Good," She said and walked out. When she was gone Shia let it all out. She
cried, her tears wetting the carpet.
Everyone stared as Shia came into class the next day. She was wearing jeans and a long
sleeved shirt, not the Seishun uniform. She also had a bandage on her right cheek and an
embarressed smile on her face. She turned to the teacher. "I'm sorry," she said, "I tripped
yesterday and my uniform became covered in mud, I haven't had a chance since I got here
to get an extra one so I had to wear normal clothes today. I would have washed in last
night, but I was busy trying to catch up in my classes for what I've missed this year." The
teacher just nodded and told her to take her seat. She did so and Ryoma cast her a
suspicious glance.
"Is that what the bandage is from to?" he asked and she smiled almost
appoligetically.
"Heh heh, yeah, I scratched myself up a bit on some rocks," she said. As always,
she had an excuse to go along with the scenario. Lying was a skill that she had prefected
over her life, most people just took what she said as the truth. Why would innocent,
clueless little Shia have to lie? Just as she had predicted, Ryoma left the subject alone for
the rest of class.
On her way to her locker she ran into Fuji. He smiled in his childish, yet sadistic way and they both said hello.
"Ryoma said that you're not joining the girls team, may I ask why?" He asked.
"You can ask, but that doesn't mean I'll tell you," Shia said with a fake smile.
"Well, I might as well try. Why not"
"I don't want to." Shia answered, her eyes glazed over in that odd way.
"Really? I got the empression you loved tennis," Fuji commented. Though he
seemed plain, Fuji was a genious, he was trying to lead her into telling him the truth.
"I do!" She said, her mind working overtime, "I just don't want to play girls that
don't really know what they're doing...! I used to play coed and the boys were always
stronger and faster, more of a challange." She smiled and rubbed the back of her head
subconsciously, "I just don't think it would be as much fun!" Fuji smiled.
"Really? Hmm, I suppose that makes sense"
"Yep! That's exactly it"
"Ryoma told me about how you tripped yesterday going home. That's how you
got hurt on your cheek right"
"Yeah," She said, looking embarressed again, "I can be a bit of a klutz
sometimes!" She laughed.
"Is that how you got the bruises on your arms and legs too?" He asked and Shia
froze up for only a split second, but Fuji caught it.
"No, those are from when I fell down the stairs, I missed a step and lost balance, it hurt alot, but nothing too serious." She smiled again, hoping this would pass, she could
think of nothing better so quickly.
"Oh, you should be more careful then," Fuji said with a smile, "I suppose I'll see
you later"
"Yes, bye,"She skirted off down the hallway. She didn't stay to watch practice
that day or the next. For an entire week she avioded tennis, watching it, playing it, talking about it, she blocked it from her mind. The pain her bruises gave her was an almost
constant reminder of what would happen to her all over again if she wasn't careful. As the
bruises healed, however, her hope rised as well and she started coming to watch the
practices again. She stayed on the other side of the fence, so as not to tempt herself into
chalanging someone, but she watched, always leaving as soon as it was over, never
spending any less time than was needed. That woman didn't make an appearence during
that time. No, that woman didn't know, life was fine... but not for long...