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Sun And Sunflower

Yukimura x OC, Tokugawa x OC, Tanegashima x OC

Chapter Eight

"It's been a while, Haruka-san."

"Ren-kun..."

As Haruka tried to sneak into the group of Rikkai members to watch the match between Yukimura and Sanada, she failed to be unnoticed when Yanagi called her out. The two looked at each other and silently nodded before looking back to the court. To call them friends seemed a little inappropriate. Haruka only knew Yanagi through Yukimura and Sanada. They were more acquaintances; their interactions consisting of only hellos and goodbyes mostly. Although, Yanagi was always the one who took note of Haruka's presence at their practice and at the hospital visiting Yukimura.

It was definitely interesting to see how her presence was going to affect both Yukimura's and Sanada's play.

Back on the court, Yukimura kept his eyes on Haruka, noting the small interaction between her and Yanagi before looking back to Sanada. "Don't hold back on me, Yukimura." There was no need for Sanada to remind him. Yukimura was not the type to hold back on anyone when it came to tennis after all.

"You never hold back to begin with, do you Sanada?"

Haruka was nervous. This was the first time she was watching them play against each other. In fact, it was the first time she was watching Yukimura play since the match she saw him play when they were seven. She never got the chance to watch when they entered middle school because she transferred away before any competitions started and she avoided him at all cost since. Then, Yukimura got sick. Even after he got better, she skipped out of watching the National's finals.

The match itself was intense enough based on the fact that it was Yukimura playing against Sanada. Two of the Three Demons up against each other. But everyone watching was soon feeling on the edge because as they promised, neither of them were holding back. Especially Sanada who was unleashing all his moves at once though Yukimura effortlessly countered all of them. As a result, while everyone else who started at the same time was finishing their game, Yukimura and Sanada were still rallying for the first point of theirs.

But as they watched on, even an amateur like Haruka was starting to notice something different about Sanada. He was not moving like he usually did. And the more she watched, the more her fear was growing. Out of nowhere, the familiar feel of paralysis, the feeling of darkness overtaking her sight, was coming back to her. Somehow, Haruka had a feeling that Sanada was growing through the same thing except more intense.

"Geni-nii..."

"You've realised?" Yanagi asked, looking to Haruka who had her eyes on Sanada. "This is Yukimura's tennis. As he returns every single shot the other player throws at him, Yukimura slowly takes away their senses. Simply put, he puts them in the state of yips. By now, Sanada most likely can't see or hear anything."

"It's scary..."

Yanagi frowned a little at her comment. Only those who ever experienced yips playing against Yukimura would ever say it was scary and he highly doubted that even if Yukimura did play against her before, he would use it on Haruka. But it was the girl shaking that got Yanagi realising she was truly scared. "Haruka-san?" he asked, his tone of voice clearly concerned. As he reached to touch her shoulder, Haruka reacted a little over the top.

She swatted his hand away, stepping back but tripped over her own foot and fell backward. As Yukimura took the first point, he noticed the little disruption outside the court. When the umpire called out the score, Haruka turned her head to look onto the court though it got Yukimura worrying because fear was the only thing written on her face. She scrambled onto her feet, refusing Yanagi's help and hurried away, slipping once as she climbed the stairs.

It was a distraction but Yukimura was soon focusing on the game. He promised Sanada he was not going to hold back. He was not going to let a distraction affect him because it would not be fair on Sanada though the result was rather obvious by now. Sanada had always been there for him. Sanada was the one who took over the club and made sure that they would be better while Yukimura was away sick. He was grateful for his friend, he truly was. But the difference between them was a little too big for Sanada to overcome.

With seven points to one, it was Yukimura's complete victory.

Sat on a starting block at the swimming pool, Haruka stared down at the water while swinging her legs, watching as her toes dragged across the surface and made ripples. Since the tie-break matches yesterday, after watching Yukimura play and running off, Haruka found solace at the swimming pool. There, she sat for hours on end doing exactly what she was doing right now until Haruko came looking for her.

Despite having duties, Haruka skipped out and came to the swimming pool, sitting in the same position as she did yesterday. For the first time in two years, her nightmares were coming back to haunt her. Her sisters were kept up all night by her screaming but they were more worried about the fact that Haruka was having nightmares again. Which was the reason why no one came looking for her although they had to cover for her.

"Haruka."

With a scream, Haruka jolted up and slipped, falling right into the pool. A hand instantly went into the water and grabbed Haruka by the elbow, pulling her to the side where she managed to pull herself out with some help. A gentle chuckle was enough to give away who it was who scared her. Haruka pouted and swung her hand at Fuji but he dodged her slap before going to grab two towels from the side; one to wrap her up with and the one to dry her hair with. "I could have drowned..." she mumbled, wrapping her arms around her knees.

"I wouldn't have let you drowned," Fuji smiled. "I didn't think that I would have scared you that much. Then again, you're Haruka." Haruka shot a glare up at him but Fuji only continued smiling, rubbing the towel against her hair. "What are you doing here? I didn't see you at morning practice." With her hair wet and him drying it for her, Fuji could not help but notice the scar that was well hidden behind her bangs usually though he refrained himself from asking about it.

"I don't want to see Sei-kun," Haruka confessed.

"That's a little different, coming from you," Fuji pointed out.

"Shu-kun...what would you do if there was someone you really miss but seeing them scares you?" Haruka asked.

"I would conquer my fear so I can see them again," Fuji smiled. Haruka looked into Fuji's eyes, somewhat feeling calm as she did. Fuji always knew what to say. And the one thing that Haruka loved about him was that he never pushed for answers. She knew she could go to him to talk about something that was bothering her without any details and he would still give her advice without asking for any. "This is about Yukimura-kun, isn't it?" The way Haruka's eyes widened made Fuji chuckle. "It's not hard to tell, Haruka. It's written all over your face."

She was an open book. Or so she had been told. But Haruka never thought that she was that easily read.

"Sei-kun and I...we used to be really close. With Geni-nii too. But I'm really scared to be around him now."

"This is the first time you ever talked about Yukimura-kun like this with me," Fuji said. "You know, Haruka...there's actually a lot I don't know about you." Haruka could only stare at him. It was true that she kept a lot of things bottled up. Fuji was polite enough to never ask but it seemed like she did owe her friend some story-telling. "I always thought that you avoided the match with Rikkaidai because you transferred from there and it brought back bad memories for you. But it seems like there might have been another reason?"

"It's been seven years. Seven years since I met Sei-kun."

~Seven years ago~

"Wow! This is where onii-chan is going to play?"

"Don't run off, Haruka!" Hikaru called to his younger sister, watching as she was excitedly zipping in and out the crowd.

This was not his first tennis match but it was the first time he brought the youngest Kobayashi along. When she was younger, their mother refused to let her go because there would be no one supervising her while Hikaru was playing. Now that she was a little older, Haruka took the chance to ask Hikaru to bring her along. He knew she was going to be excited but it still worried him to see her dashing from here and there.

Running back to Hikaru's side, Haruka wrapped her arms around his and followed her brother around the sports park. They went to register first before going to a court that was meant for warming up and some light practice. Despite being excited to come and watch her brother play, Haruka was soon tired of waiting for his match to start, having only sat by the side and watching him warm up.

"Haruka," Hikaru smiled, beckoning his little sister. "It's boring now, isn't it?" he laughed, giving her a small pet. "It's still going to be a while before my match begins so why don't you go and buy some snacks?" Hikaru picked up his bag and rummaged inside, pulling out his wallet and handed Haruka a few notes. "There's a little shop just down there. Buy me a drink too, okay? Don't spend all the money!"

At the idea of exploring somewhere else, Haruka's excitement was coming back to her. As soon as Hikaru presented her with the money, she took the notes and dashed off with her brother shouting behind. She followed the directions Hikaru gave her, coming up to a snack shack and joined the line. When it was her turn, she bought some crisps and two drinks.

As she was turning to head back, a match that was going on in the court just opposite the shack caught Haruka's attention. She pushed all the way to the front, sipping her strawberry milk as she watched. It was a match between two boys way younger than Hikaru, perhaps even around Haruka's age. But it was clear that one was dominating the match. Even at a young age, he was playing exceptionally well and the only other person she knew who could play so well was her own brother.

Whom she had forgotten about.

Instead of running back to Hikaru, Haruka lingered at the court she discovered, waiting for the match to finish. When the crowd was slowly dissipating after the match, Haruka was the only one remaining. She waited until both players were leaving and she approached the one who just won with a big smile on her face. He was polite enough to return the smile.

"You were really awesome on the court," Haruka grinned. "Only my brother plays that good."

"Thank you."

"What's your name? I'm Kobayashi Haruka!"

"He, you're cute. Yukimura Seiichi."

~Presently~

"Even Haruka has cute stories like that, huh?" Fuji teased. "It sounds like the prequel to a great love story, meeting and becoming childhood friends."

By now, Fuji was sat on the bench with the soaked Haruka by the pool side. The pool was in use but no one was paying attention to the two middle school students chatting. Wrapping the towel around her head, Haruka made a face at Fuji's comment.

She thought about her meeting with Yukimura seven years ago a lot. Koharu taught her to think of her happy place whenever she was having a panic attack and that was her happy place. That specific match on that specific court with that specific boy. "We're not lovers and this isn't a romantic film," Haruka stated, avoiding looking at Fuji as she spoke. "We became good friends after that. We did a lot of things together. I used to watch him play and Sei-kun would teach me too. He even introduced me to Geni-nii. The Three Musketeers, my mum used to call us."

Fuji tilted his head as he listened. Haruka's expressions were different whenever she talked about Yukimura. He was someone important to her, that much Fuji could tell. It still did not explain to him why she was afraid to see Yukimura again. Or why she even transferred from Rikkai in the first place. So far, with a great start to a great friendship, it seemed like there was no reason at all for her to leave.

"But something happened, didn't it?"

Haruka froze at the mention of that. She clenched her fists tightly and she was starting to shake again. Fuji frowned, knowing that he had pushed too far this time. He placed his hand over hers, looking at her with a soft smile and kept telling her that it was alright, that she did not have to talk if she did not want to. Needless to say, Haruka kept her mouth shut.

"We should probably get you out of those wet clothes," Fuji said, changing the subject as he stood up, offering his hand to the girl. Haruka looked up with a raised eyebrow and Fuji could not help the laugh. "What are you thinking about, Haruka? I meant that I should take you back to your dorm room so you could change into some dry clothes."

"I wasn't thinking about anything," Haruka mumbled, taking his hand and stood up.

"So..." Fuji hummed, still holding onto her hand as they started walking. "Yukimura-kun calls you 'Haru', doesn't he? Can I call you Haru?"

"No, you can't."

"Why not?"

"You just can't."

"Is it a Yukimura-limited nickname?"

With a basket of laundry in her hands, Haruka was heading for the laundry room. And for the umpteenth time, she let out a yawn. After Fuji walked her back to her dorm room, Haruka changed into a set of dry clothes and went back to work. Except, Haruko was not exactly the understanding older sister she was in the morning. Once she saw how Haruka was back to her usual self, Haruko dumped all the work she was supposed to do and more onto Haruka. She barely had any rest though she knew she could not complain. She was the one causing them trouble in the first place.

The walk to the laundry room seemed to be a long one, despite it being just a mere five minutes walk usually. When she came up to a small lounge inside the building, Haruka took the opportunity to sit down. There was no rush to get the laundry done (preferably before the day ended but definitely no rush) so she took the chance to have a little rest.

"Just for a little while..." she whispered to herself. She made herself comfortable, laying on the sofa in the lounge and closed her eyes. Although she kept telling herself that she was only taking a small rest, she ended up falling asleep.

And fate would have it that Yukimura went by at the same time. Seeing Haruka fast asleep on the sofa only brought one thought to his mind, 'She's still the same'. There was a small smile plastered on his face as Yukimura tread carefully before sitting down gently on the sofa. Haruka moved a little when he sat down but the motion was not enough to wake her. "What am I going to do with you, Haru? You really should be more careful about where you're falling asleep."

Yukimura took the jacket on his shoulders off, using it as a blanket to cover Haruka. Even when they were younger, he always found it odd (and rather cute) how Haruka could always sleep no matter where she was. She always fell asleep on the train with him. It was the rattling of the train and the gentle swaying that rocked her to sleep, or so Haruka said. He found her sleeping against the fence surrounding the tennis courts too, after getting too tired of waiting for him. The fact that she even found herself a sofa this time was impressive.

He kept quiet, watching her sleep and reached his hand out to brush her hair out of her face. He was glad to know that there was still something about her that did not change. But it also prompted Yukimura to wonder just how much Haruka had changed. He never got the chance to properly talk to her, to have a proper reunion. He wanted to ask how she had been. Was she liking Seigaku? Why did she leave in the first place? What was her relationship with Fuji? ...Had she forgotten about him?

"Sei-kun..."

Haruka's voice snapped Yukimura out of his thoughts. He could not help the smile, hearing his name coming from her. He missed it. He definitely missed having her call out his name every so often. He even missed the fights she would have with Sanada. As Haruka moved in her sleep, adjusting into a more comfortable position, her bangs fell out of place and Yukimura frowned, spotting the same thing Fuji did when he dried her hair.

A scar.

When did Haruka get a scar like that? How did she get a scar like that?

There was definitely a lot more than what Haruka was letting on that she was hiding from them.