"It's too hot to play," Kirihara grumbles, but doesn't have the energy to complain much more. He only drops his racket, and then his body, falling into the shade.
"We still have to practice," Yanagi murmurs, but doesn't push him to continue with practice. Instead, he joins Kirihara on the grass beneath the large tree, leaning back against it and just waiting. The sun in unbearable; it will make practice miserable.
Yanagi closes his eyes, and feels Kirihara's head land on his lap.
The knowledge of time lost doesn't leave, but there are times when the price paid is worth it.
-
The clouds overhead threaten to unleash their power at any moment, but refrain: Yanagi, pulled from his classics by Kirihara, thinks the gods are fighting; that is what the clouds look like.
Lightning strikes, and enxt to him, Kirihara jumps, squeaks, throws himself into Yanagi's arms. Yanagi wants to chuckle, but doesn't, because Kirihara is pressing in an uncomfortable way against his body, and anything will trigger a reaction.
He's not used to being unable to control his own body. Hormones, he muses briefly, are horrible things.
Kirihara doesn't think so. He shifts, and Yanagi finds his lips locked against another's.
-
The rain pours and Yanagi finds himself trapped beneath Kirihara, roving hands and lips that are unrelenting, forceful. Kirihara kisses like he plays tennis, holding nothing back.
Kirihara's hands wrap around him, and Yanagi doesn't think after that; it's too much to handle. He's gasping and trembling when the door opens and its the first time Yanagi knows of that he does not pay attention, does not care who enters.
"The locker room isn't your bedroom." Yukimura's voice breaks through Yanagi's stupor, because Yukimura's voice can break through anything.
What a return, Yanagi thinks, staring at his captain with open eyes.
-
Fall means no tennis, or not as much, and Kirihara finds himself scowling at more walls, more faceless, nameless opponents, more balls that never return.
The walls even seem to mock him, he thinks, as he stares at the ball on the ground, a foot and a half away, and he wants to throw his racket and even raises it to hurl it at the wall, uncaring, when a voice stops him.
"Play a game with me, Akaya. If you don't beat me soon, you'll have to wait an entire year."
It's not true, but that's unimportant.
The game is what matters.
-
Kirihara takes a game, then loses the rest; loses the first five, takes the last; gets up to two games and celebrates by dragging Yukimura to dinner.
It becomes a thing of routine: a week of playing against walls, on the street courts with boring players who are only there to kill some time, on the game systems he's got at home. And then Yukimura smiles down on him, and asks him for a game.
As if Kirihara can refuse his former captain.
He'll win eventually, and thinks he has the truth of it when Yukimura kisses him after dinner.
-
Games and dinner turn into games and heavy make-out sessions, never in the locker room even though Kirihara tries, because he knows Yanagi won't see them there. Yukimura likes the outdoors - park benches and public spots. Kirihara doesn't think anything of it until Yanagi stumbles upon them.
"The world isn't your bedroom," Yanagi murmurs, and Yukimura's lips twist; Yanagi's eyes flutter and Kirihara wonders what's going on - it's the first time he's realized something deeper is going on.
Yukimura doesn't ask him for a game the next week; Yanagi avoids him. Sanada's the one who seeks him out.
-
Sanada watches from the bench, as Kirihara slams ball after ball against the wall. He's not stupid, he's got a sense of self-peservation. Kirihara demands a game every day, but Sanada's not going to give in to his requests for a game.
But he'll watch while he plays a wall, and make sure Kirihara gets home after dinner. He will wait until Kirihara's calm enough to play an actual game.
Across the court, Yanagi nods in Sanada's direction. Sanada doesn't react, but focuses on Kirihara, waiting: the force in the shots grows.
There will be no game for a while.
-
Kirihara grumbles but accepts the key from Yukimura, avoids looking directly at any of them, as Marui and Niou clap and whistle and cheer.
"We'll be back to check up on you," Niou tells him. "Better keep up the work."
"Any slacking off and it'll be laps for you," Marui adds.
"But Buchou and Fukubuchou can't assign me laps anymore," Kirihara protests, and smirks at the two he's referring to.
"You'll be back in a year, we'll just add them up," Sanada says, and tugs on his hat in the silence that follows, hiding his face and the smirk he's wearing.
-
"Sanada," Kirihara calls, and tosses the snowball as Sanada turns. There's not even a chance to duck, before Sanada ends up with a face full of snow.
Sometimes, Sanada thinks tennis is a bad thing for Kirihara: his aim is too good.
Kirihara's no match for Sanada, who uses force in face of finese: he shoves snow down Kirihara's shirt, tackles him to the ground.
Sanada feels like a kid, especially when Kirihara flails and pushes snow in Sanada's face.
He doesn't feel like much of a kid when Kirihara pulls him closer; and then any feelings at all disappear.
-
Yukimura sits on the bench, watches the match playing in front of his eyes.
"One last day here, Seiichi?" Yanagi asks, sits next to him, and pretends to focus on the game.
"Spending anymore time here will undermine Akaya's authority."
"He's doing a good job of managing so far."
Yukimura nods once, and concentrates on watching, as does Yanagi, but they both know neither of them are watching the match. Despite everything, the results are the same: Sanada will win.
They are focusing on the players, instead.
"We did a good job in training him," Yanagi says softly. "Genichirou especially."
-
Yukimura watches the day dawn, because he can't sleep; he wonders if anyone else is, but doesn't call, doesn't brood: faces will show later. The day is too important, in such a small, almost insignificant way that Yukimura isn't sure why he's not sleeping.
He sleeps fine before a match.
His quiet chuckle after that thought doesn't drown out the buzz of his phone, with a message.
Want to play a match?
There is only one who would be awake at this time, naturally, and who would ask on this day: Yukimura sends a quick reply back and rushes to get ready.
-
"It's not a big change," Marui says. "We're just missing Akaya, and he'll be with us soon enough. Time'll fly."
Yanagi glances at Yukimura, and they glance at Sanada, who is scowling. Time won't fly quickly enough.
"Have to keep adding up those laps for Akaya?" Niou asks and snickers. "He'll be the only freshman to have a hundred laps the first day."
They disperse then, except the demons.
"A new world to conquer," Yanagi comments.
Yukimura glances around. "No. The same world - just in a different form." He looks from the crowd to Yanagi, and grins. The same, just completely different.