Hiya, I'm back again, with this newest installment of 'The Prince of Tennis and the Princess of Lies". I'm thankful to everyone who reads and supports my work. As always, please read and review. I really enjoy it when people tell me what they think of my stories.
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'I hate him,' Ryoma decided, lying in bed that evening. He had barely paid any attention at the special dinner they had to celebrate Shia becoming a starter, or when she recollected the incident where she had kissed Tezuka. He couldn't stop thinking about that mysterious person from Shia's past. "Ashi," He said aloud, not even liking the way it rolled off his tongue. 'Ayashii Seikaku. His name even means Suspicious Character' He sighed, 'And he says he goes by Ashi... Evil...' He sighed again, "And Shia doesn't even notice these things..." He put his hands behind his head, letting out a breath in a way almost as Kaoru would have done. 'She's such a fool...' Even so, he blushed at the thought, 'Why do I want to protect her so much?' He rolled over on his side to face the wall. 'Of course, worrying about this guy isn't protecting her...' "This is just jealousy."
Shia couldn't understand why she would run into Aya, 'Ashi', she reminded herself, after all of these years. Life was finally looking up for her, but this would surely turn it upside-down again, and probably shake it up to boot. On the bottom bunk Nanako slept on, not realizing the troubles racing through her roommate's mind and the mind of her cousin just down the hall.
The next day both woke up grouchy, not having gotten much sleep. Shia, more used to putting up a front, didn't let how tired she was register in her face, Ryoma almost matching her in this skill thanks to his pride. Nanjiro noticed, however, though he didn't say a word about it as he passed the toast around to the two Seishun freshmen. Shia looked like she might actually show that she was tired, by falling into her toast, when suddenly the blonde sat strait up, her eyes wide.
"Echizen-san," She said, her voice urgent and excited; "Ryoma and I are going to a pool party on Friday!" Nanjiro raised an eyebrow at his son.
"Don't you mean you're asking if you can go?" He said, somewhat hostily, but only because he wished he could go as well.
"Nien!" Shia said, saying the foreign word before she could stop it, "It's mandatory! For tennis!" Naniro's other eyebrow went up, a look of surprise and confusion covering his face. "Jah! Jah! Buchou said I had to go! And Ryoma has to go because that was part of another girl's dare!" Nanjiro looked stunned for a moment, his perverted mind racing at the possibilities (Author: Sweat drop.) then he shrugged.
"Sure," He said and Shia smiled widely, than thought of something, "I need a swimsuit!" She glanced over at Ryoma slyly, unable to resist the opportunity, "Ryoma-chaaaan, will you go with me to pick out a swimsuit? I'm afraid to go all by myself and I need someone's opinion on what I get. I'm thinking about getting a bikini!" she said, her voice dripping with honey. To her great pleasure, Ryoma turned so red he dropped his fork for an excuse to crawl under the table and hide it. "Just kidding!" Shia said in a sing-song voice, which reminded Nanjiro vaguely of her mother once again. "Nanako, will you go swimsuit shopping with me?"
"Sure!" Nanako grinned, happy to have seen a rare moment when Ryoma couldn't get cocky. His face still red, Ryoma quickly finished his toast and left the table, Shia following behind.
"Don't be such a spoil-sport Ryoma! It was just a joke!" She said, still smiling. He turned around, a bit of anger betrayed in his eyes.
"Why don't you go with Seikaku-san?" He snapped, but then regretted it, seeing the look on Shia's face, neither hurt nor ignorant of what he had said, but still penetrating.
"Why would I?" she asked, her voice on the verge of sounding hurt, although she controlled it for the most part. She shook her head and then turned away, "I don't know what's up with you, but we have to get to our morning practices, come on." She grabbed her school bag and her tennis bag with out another word and headed out the door.
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"Shia! Shia, pay attention!" Christine's voice called and Shia moved to the right just in time to avoid a tennis ball as it whizzed past her head. She didn't get angry with the older girl, but a little bit frustrated with herself for having gotten lost in thought in the first place. Day dreaming was a wonderful thing, but not something to be done during a morning practice.
"What the heck is up with you!" Cara snapped from beside her, shaking her head. "We're about to start a match you know, you can't just space out like that." Shia nodded.
"Sorry," She murmured, "I'm just…"
"Shia, we all have personal lives, but you need to abandon yours on the court if it is a distraction," Kiri's tone was calm and controlled and called for immediate attention. Shia nodded and got ready. They were going to play a doubles match, Shia and Cara against Sharr and Shira. The twins grinned knowingly as each gave a slight tug on the rope that connected them. Shia glanced down at her own rope, which connected her to Cara, not letting her get more than eight feet away at all times.
"Why did they team me up with the rooky anyway?" Cara grumbled to herself and Shia gave such a violent pull on the rope that she stumbled. A small laugh was heard as a girl Shia had never seen before stepped onto the courts.
"You, Cara Mitoshi, are grouped with Shia Raiku because you need to learn to work together as you are both on the same team," The girl's green eyes reminded Shia, as they did many others, of data streams carrying information from place to place. She continued, "Also, Cara, Shia needs to prove herself worthy of her position else you will never accept her and the rest of us will suffer for it, both on and off of the courts." She turned with a slight bow to Raina and Kiri, "Unfortunately, I am late."
"Yes, you are late, Hikaru-san," Kiri sad, her sliver eyes cold, "Mind explaining or would you rather run laps first?"
"Yes, it is regrettable, as I said, but I was quite busy this morning," She said, bowing again, "however, I will still run the laps if you wish."
"She was staring at Inui-sempai again, Kiri-niisan," a higher pitched voice came from a girl behind the fencing and Hikaru frowned. Raina waved to the small girl, who she knew as Kiri's sixth grade sister, who often watched the morning practice before heading to the grade school not too far away. She often served as Kiri's extra eyes off the courts. The younger seemed delighted to catch someone's attention and smiled brightly. Kiri nodded to tell her that she had heard and then turned back to Hikaru.
"Stare? No," the girl scratched her head, "I was merely observing him, hoping to learn new training techniques. I would never simply stare for no reason."
"Except maybe that you lik-" Kiri's younger sister started, but Hikaru sent her a glare that could kill a fluffy kitten (Author cries in the background) and the girl fell silent. Kiri, unaffected by the look, continued as if it never happened.
"Reasons or not, twenty laps should be sufficient. As our manager you need to set a better example."
"Of course," the data girl bowed again and started her laps.
"Need I ask who that was?" Shia said and Cara turned to her with a heavy sigh.
"You don't know anything at all do you?" She sighed, but continued to explain none-the-less, "That was the team manager, eighth grade, Canti Hikaru. You better get to know her if you plan to remain a starter for long." Shia nodded, ignoring the rudeness of the first part of her comment.
"Worry about it later," Kiri ordered, "I don't want her disrupting practice anymore than she already has. You need to start your match." All four girls on the court nodded and the twins smiled again.
'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' Shira asked through the telepathic bond she shared with her sister. Sharr sent her a feeling of annoyance, symbolized in Shira's mind as a light red, but didn't stop smiling outwardly.
'Of course I am. I always leave all barriers down during a match. We think the same thing,' Sharr said, sending her a few images of past matches they had won this way. Shira sent back a pink that was her amusement and laughter.
'Good,' she grinned, 'I'll need a lot of cooperation if we want to pull this off.'
'You're just a show-off,' Sharr answered her, but her signal was the same pinkish color, only slightly different than Shira's own.
"Ready when you two are," both girls said at once and Cara gave a slight tug on the rope connecting her to Shia. Shia nodded in silent agreement to put aside their arguments until the match was over.
"Shira and Sharr Yuuba VS Cara Mitoshi and Shia Raiku for one set match! Begin!" Kiri yelled from where she sat in the judge's seat. Cara tossed the ball into the air and hit a simple speed serve to the far left corner of the twins' service box. Shira, grinning like a fool, moved to get it, Sharr in perfect unison with her, though staying a few feet behind and to the right, and the rope showed no sign of tangling as Shira hit a flat shot towards Shia. Shia returned it with another flat shot, a perfect imitation of the one Shira had just hit.
Sharr's face was the exact opposite of her sisters, a look of pure relaxation and concentration, as she moved to volley it, approaching the net. Cara moved to return it, but managed to get herself tangled up in the process, so Shia moved for it, merely to be caught in the same trap. The ball bounced in.
"Easy!" Shira laughed, "I like this drill!"
"People hate you more when you plan for things like this to happen to them," Sharr informed her sister, but smiled nonetheless. Her eyes narrowed slightly, "They don't like to be humiliated. It's not their fault they aren't able to know exactly what the other is thinking at all times." Her smile changed to be almost devilish, "They think it is unfair and that we are warped when it is something we cannot help. We are only using our skills, just like they are, but they don't see it that way."
"And people hate it when you get like that," Shira grinned, "You're scaring the seventh graders." Sharr glanced at the few nearby, which were indeed shivering, and shrugged.
"Merely another thing I cannot always help," she sighed, but her face relaxed slightly, at the mental bidding of Shira. Kiri glanced at her watch and sighed.
"A full match will have to wait for another time," she said, "Morning practice is over. Goodbye." Kiri walked off to the girls' locker room without saying anything else to anyone. Raina looked just confused as everyone, not able to get into the head of her best friend. Kiri had so many secrets…
Cara sighed as she got up and untangled herself. "That was pathetic…"
"I know," Shia agreed, following suit. Cara's eyes seemed to ignite.
"We'll just have to beat them another time," she said and Shia looked surprised, then smiled. She hadn't expected to ever see such a look in Cara's eyes, but she respected her more for it.
"Yes, we will," She grinned. Shira smiled to, but for a different reason.
'Mission Success,' she chimed, her colors taking on their general shades of purple and green, the true self she only allowed her sister to glimpse. Sharr smiled and shook her head, her colors coming across in a light blue mixed with gold.
'No matter what people say, you're certainly a snake Shira. A slippery, mischievous snake,' Sharr told her, and Shira laughed.
'You know me too well…'
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'I know I messed up…' Ryoma thought to himself as they walked home after practice that day, 'but I didn't know I screwed up this bad.' Shia still hadn't said more than two words to him. She ignored most things he said entirely and said the bare minimum when she had no other choice but to answer. He didn't realize that she merely had too much on her mind, not that she was still upset. She had almost forgotten it completely. Almost.
It still lingered at the back of her mind, just out of the reach of her thoughts, which were still thinking of the day's events. The doubles match especially hung in her mind. She remembered having seen the Golden Pair, Eiji and Oishi, play a doubles match once when she used to watch their practices and knew they were known as Seishun's best doubles team. She had to wonder what the outcome would be if they played Sharr and Shira, which Cara had starters calling 'Double Trouble'. Shira had found it amusing but Sharr had scowled, though she didn't protest. 'That would be the match of the century,' Shia decided, guessing that even the twins' mental connection would be about equal the genius unison the Golden Pair was known for. She had been about to ask Ryoma when she realized that he knew nothing of the girls' playing skills, so she stayed silent.
"Shia, are you still angry?" He finally gathered the strength to ask and she laughed at him, not meanly, but still laughing.
"No!" She exclaimed as she got over her laughter, "Why would you think that?" Ryoma frowned, embarrassed.
"You… were just really quiet… I thought you might still be upset about this morning," he explained and this time she didn't laugh, simply smiled with that same tortured look in her eyes.
"I'm… not worried about it," She said, closing her eyes quickly so he wouldn't see the look she knew she couldn't keep from appearing in them. "It's really not a problem!" She opened her eyes, avoiding his, and looking instead at the house, which they had finally arrived at. "That reminds me, Nanako and me are going today to get our new swimsuits. She decided that she would get one too, for when summer rolls around." She began to run towards the house. "Hurry up Ryoma!" Ryoma sighed as he started after her, not liking her answer or the way she kept avoiding his eyes. She headed inside, ignoring the fact that he was still walking slowly behind her.
"Hi there," the voice came and Ryoma immediately turned to find its source. Ayashii Seikaku smiled as he watched Ryoma's face darken. "Ryoma, right? We met before, you obviously remember."
"Leave her alone," he said in an icy tone, "I don't know what you did, but she doesn't like you." And neither do I, he resisted saying, "Just leave her alone or---"
"Threats?" Ashi shook his head, his smile never disappearing from his face, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to tell me what you plan to do to me later. I'm the one delivering threats here." He walked past him and, leaning over he whispered into Ryoma's ear, an evil look passing over his face, "Stay out of my way." He walked past and raised a hand in farewell, "Bye bye now." Ryoma didn't say anything, but an annoyed and angry look passed over his face as he headed in the house. He was definitely going to get in Ashi's way now… Only few got away with messing with Ryoma Echizen. And absolutely no one got to mess with Shia, not when Ryoma was there to stop it. He smiled to himself, unable to help it, as he thought, 'I guess I'll just have to be around her from now on…' And he wanted to be.