Sorry it's been a while since I updated with Christmas, school and New Years and all...
--00--
THE COURTS!
Kirihara heard the familiar sound before he even saw the courts. Marui-senpai and Jackal-senpai were having a doubles match against an oddly familiar pair. On the side of the courts were two other boys watching.
"Marui-kun! SUGEE!" the strawberry-blonde on the side shouted, jumping around when Marui-senpai returned the serve.
"Gekokujo" the other boy muttered, satisfied, when the Mukahi missed the ball – he'd just jumped in the wrong direction.
"Shit!" Mukahi screamed, and looked as if he wanted to hit something or someone. His partner apparently tried to calm him down, with some success. Then, a tennis ball slowly bounced onto their side of the courts.
"Don't you know its good manners to wait before the opponents are ready?" the blue haired boy drawled in Kansai dialect.
"I thought you were out of balls since you're taking so long!" Marui shouted over the net.
Niou snickered and Yukimura stifled a smile behind his mouth. A smile that froze when Oshitari said: "So Marui-kun… I heard that you're dating Sanada now?"
Marui almost dropped his racket in surprise. Jackal shouted for him to ignore the comment.
"Yuushi! Is that true?!" Mukahi shouted, flabbergasted.
"That's what Atobe said and he should know" Oshitari said, and then grunted as he served.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Marui shouted, returning the serve.
"Only that our buchou has had his eyes on Sanada for some time now, and then you come from nowhere and nick him right in front of Atobe" Oshitari drawled, as the two were rallying.
"It's not like I came from nowhere, I'm a tensai too y'know" Marui protested. "And we're not dating!"
"Well then what are you doing?" Mukahi said, returning the shot. Now it had become a 2 against 1- game since Jackal was standing at the baseline unable to get any shots at all.
"We're just… kissing" Marui said, hitting a shot at the corner of the opposite baseline. "And it's none of your business anyway! 40-15!"
Oshitari served.
"Well that makes sense" Mukahi suddenly said. "I mean, why would Sanada want to date someone like you, when he could have Atobe?"
- - -
"What the-" Kirihara snarled, and turned to his senpais. "Niou-senpai what the hell's that guy trying to pull on Marui-senpai?!"
"Probably just trying to make him lose his cool" Niou said, eyes narrowing. "Just be quiet and watch, Akaya."
- - -
"I happen to be a tensai!" Marui shouted, and by now his face was getting almost as red as his hair. "It's not like I'm just some lousy D2-player like you are!"
Mukahi hissed, but he'd lost his cool too and the ball flew too high up in the air.
"Oi! Chance ball!" Yuuta exclaimed.
Marui jumped high, and smashed the ball – straight into Mukahi's face.The boy howled in pain as he fell to the ground.
"Gakuto!" Jirou exclaimed, rushing out onto the courts to help his friend. "Aaaah, Marui-kun why'd you do that?!"
"Game set, 6-0!" Hiyoshi shouted, but he didn't move from his spot on the side of the line. "Gekokujo…"
"Anno…" Yuuta said, looking at the boy. "Aren't you Hiyoshi Wakashi from Hyotei?"
"…my idiot senpai-tachi are from Hyotei too" Hiyoshi said, looking over at the courts where Oshitari and Jirou tended to Mukahi's face.
Then, a hand fell onto Yuuta's shoulder. When he turned around he met Mizuki's face. In fact, Mizuki's face was just inches from his own. Uh-oh!!
"Uh… M-mizuki-san!"
"Nfu… Yuuta, what are you doing here?" Mizuki said, and for a moment Yuuta's heart almost skipped a beat. Then, the manager said: "We haven't been on these courts for ten minutes and you already wander off on your own! Come along now, we're leaving since the courts here were taken. It's almost time to return home anyway."
"H-hai Mizuki-san!" Yuuta said. "Bye, Aniki!" Lucky, he never noticed I left the team earlier today!
The St Rudolph team, on the other hand, looked a little bit dazed. as they made their way towards the train station. That was most likely a result of Mizuki's yammering about purple and roses. Yuuta, on the other hand, didn't seem tired at all thanks, to his escape earlier.
"Come to think of it" Fuji suddenly said as he saw his younger brother take off, "the three of you are probably going to be captains next year." Damn that manager of his to take my brother away! he thought.
"Ah, but the brat won't get captain if his grades doesn't improve" Niou drawled. "He failed a test in English again last week."
Kirihara gulped, when he saw the look in Yukimura's eyes.
"Now, we can't have that, can we Akaya?" he said. "The captain of the tennis club should set an example for the rest of the members. And failing classes is not-"
"But buchou, I'm no good at tending to little flowers like you are." Pop. Marui had arrived from the courts.
"I wasn't saying you should be like me" Yukimura said, forcing a smile. "And Marui, what was the meaning of that last smash? Becoming like Akaya, are we?"
"Well, at least I'm not failing any my classes" Marui grinned. "And I'm not a member in some girly committee like some people are."
Niou and Akaya gulped, backing a few steps away from Yukimura, who was a member of the school's fine arts committee. Smiling as he was often did, they knew their buchou sometimes would get his look of murderous intent.
But Yukimura just continued to smile. Maybe Marui would get away with it this time?
"Alright then" their buchou said. "I'll call Genichirou and ask him to help Akaya prepare for when he has to retake the examination. In two weeks, was it?"
The boys present could almost see Mauri's grin fade away as he realized the meaning of Yukimura's words.
"Nooo!" Kirihara howled. "Why can't Renji help me like he did last time?! Or Jackal!!"
"Renji helped you last time?" Yukimura arched a brow. "Even though I told him to only concentrate on his own schoolwork?" More gulping from Kirihara who immediately realized he'd said something stupid.
"Uh, no… fukubuchou will do fine! Just fine!" the boy quickly ensured.
"Great" Yukimura said, smiling wider. "Come along Marui, Fuji-kun. Let's go get some ice cream. My treat" he added when he saw the look on Marui's face. Instead of being treated to ice cream, he looked as if he'd just suffered a total defeat. Two whole weeks? he thought. What the hell, Sanada'll be pissed off!
--00--
Niou watched them leave; he didn't feel like ice cream right now anyway. Instead, his eyes wandered towards the boys from Hyotei; Mukahi was whining about headache, while Oshitari snapped at him to be quiet. Jirou was simply trying to wipe Mukahi's bloody face with a wet towel, making the other boy wince.
Yeah, he's pretty cute… Niou thought, licking his lips. Oshitari chose that exact moment to look up. He gave Niou a cold stare. Steady gaze, just as expected from the tensai of Hyotei.
"Let's go" Oshitari said to his friends, tossing his blue hair out away from his face with a hand. "My driver should me here any moment." He didn't even glance at Niou as he walked past the Trickster, so close their hands almost touched.
--00--
Totally unfair!! Kirihara thought, his lower lip trembling. Why the hell did he have to learn English from fukubuchou?! Wasn't it enough that he had to withstand him at practice – now he would have to see him after school too!!
"They left without you too huh" a voice suddenly said and Kirihara's lip stopped trembling.
"Wha-?! Hiyoshi-kun" he said, surprised. "I thought your senpais left already!"
"They did. But they forgot to take me with them (as always)" he muttered. "I'm used to it" he added. Gekokujo! He thought, it had happened again and not even Jirou-senpai had remembered him this time.
"Oh. You want to grab something to eat? I'm starving!"
"Sure. Your treat though."
Maybe my senpais aren't that bad after all Kirihara thought as they walked away from the courts. They treated him like a baby, and more often than not they were pretty unfair too. But at least there was no way they would forget him on a trip.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed, startling him. He flipped it open without even checking who the caller was. Stupid Kirihara!
"Hello?!"
"Akaya" a stern voice said. Uh-oh! "Yukimura called me. Come over to my house after lunch and bring your English textbooks" Sanada said.
"But its Sunday-"
Klick.
--00--
THE END (of this story)