Usual disclaimer; Prince of tennis is definitely NOT mine.
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"Jiji-chan!" Ruka called.
Nanjiro looked up suspiciously; Ruka never called him that unless she wanted something, "Hai, hai Ru?"
"You know how Ryoga-nii is coming back soon?" she asked, "Think we could have dinner out when he does? Can we, can we?" she pleaded.
"Ask your mum." He huffed, going back to his magazines.
"Demo, 'kaa-san said to ask you, since you're paying."
"NANI?!"
xxx
Ruka watched from the mesh wired fence as the Regulars huddled in a group, discussing their upcoming match – the first of the season. After watching them train for the past two weeks, she had no doubt that King Rikkai would win.
Over time, she found herself growing closer to a few of the regulars. In fact, she'd almost gotten used to their wacky ways.
Haru-senpai's fetish for pulling pranks on her – of which she then realised why her senpai had said sorry the other time.
Bun-chan's love for anything sweet – especially his green apple flavoured gum (although she didn't want to admit its unique taste danced on her own taste buds).
Renji's data (yes, they are now on first name terms), he never stopped collecting it. He even mentioned once or twice he had about three notebooks of data on almost all the regulars – exclusion of Sanada -senpai and Seiichi.
Lastly, Seiichi, was just, sadistic.
Other than that, she'd never really talked to the rest of the regulars. She wanted to get to know them all though – maybe minus Sanada-senpai. He just ignored her all the time.
Ruka noticed that the club had already packed up and left. She was about to turn around and head home (Rinko finished work at nine today, so just this once she was taking the train home) when Seiichi came up, the rest of the regulars trailing behind him.
"Hey, senpai-tachi." Ruka greeted and the said nodded back in return.
"Ne, Echizen-chan," Yagyuu said, "we were think of going out for a snack, care to join?"
Ruka nodded, giggling slightly at Jackal trying to stop Marui from jumping at the thoughts of his snack (ahem, feast, ahem).
"Saa, let's head off then." Seiichi smiled and grabbed the handle bars of Ruka's wheelchair. She pouted but didn't complain nonetheless.
The group headed off, out of the school and down main streets to reach the small shopping district.
On the way, they made small talk, mostly of which was about tennis.
"Ne, have you thought of the line-up for the prefectures?" Ruka asked, turning her neck to face them. The wind blew lightly and she shivered.
"Doubles 2 Marui-Jackal doubles 1 Niou-Yagyuu and singles 3 Kirihara." Sanada said, all too stoic and frowning – again. He slipped off hi regulars jersey and handed to her, giving her a look, telling her she had no choice but to wear it.
"Hmmm, ganbatte ne? And thanks." Ruka smiled, putting it on.
"You're not coming to watch?" Kirihara asked, surprised.
Ruka shook her head, "Sorry, I promised my brother I'd go see his game already."
"Ah, that's a shame. 100% you're talking about the freshman ace on Seigaku's team." Renji sprouted.
"Hai! I'm guessing Inui-senpai told you when he gave you that drink, huh?" Ruka stated, receiving a slight nod from the brunette.
Marui and Kirihara paled slightly at the mention of 'that drink' but it faded as they push the thoughts of it away. They'd never felt so sick in their life.
The rest of the journey continued in silence, only footsteps of their fellow teammates to be heard.
They turned the corner onto the busy street and stopped to face Marui, who pointed to himself and blinked innocently.
"Hurry up and pick somewhere already," Kirihara complained, holding his stomach, "and make sure it's a good place."
"Eh?" Marui popped his gum, "But shouldn't Ru-chan pick a place? It's her first time here after all."
Ruka shook her head, "It's ok, you pick, since your preference is probably better."
Marui was quick to agree. "OK! Let's go to Mini and Dot's (made up)!" he hopped from one foot to the other, ready to set off down the street. The rest nodded and trudged after him, hoping that their wallets weren't the ones emptied today.
xxx
The door chimed loudly as the group entered. They took the largest table instead of their usual booth so Ruka needn't feel left out.
A waitress immediately bustled over, carrying a tray of water. She placed each cup down carefully and gave a sweet smile to each regular, but frowned when she reached Ruka.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave, wheelchairs aren't permitted." She flicked her hair then walked off to serve another waiting customer, leaving behind a VERY shocked table of Rikkai Dai regulars.
Ruka smiled as they started to apologize and casually took out her phone.
"Oh no!" she exclaimed, "I have to go, sorry senpai… I'll come next time. Promise!" she called, quickly leaving the café.
"W-wait!" they all called, rushing after her. Of course, Ruka was at a disadvantage here, they were all faster than her, and she felt like she was being hunted by a pack of wolves.
Her blood ran cold as she remembered shadows creeping up on her, and stopped, the regulars almost running past her.
She blinked and shook her head violently, getting rid of her thoughts. Pasting on a smile, she looked up to her senpai's and said, "You could've stayed you know, I really have to get going anyway."
"Eh? We couldn't leave you! You're our friend!" Bunta, Kirihara and Jackal exclaimed.
The rest stood silent, Sanada frowning, Seiichi giving off an eerie aura, and, well looks of disappointment.
"Besides, that girl is just jealous." Bunta added when Ruka didn't say anything.
"It's ok, I have to be back soon anyway, my parents will be worried. You should go enjoy yourselves." Ruka said, moving forward toward the train station. "Ja na."
The rest of the group looked at each other, not sure what to do.
"I guess we should make sure she gets home safely." Yagyuu suggested, his line of sight still focused on the retreating girl.
They all nodded and headed after Ruka, keeping a fair distance. They'd never seen her upset or angry before, so who knows what she would do?
Their walk to the train station was in silence and you could see Ruka bobbing her head to a beat in the distance.
As soon as they reached the said destination, the train had already departed, Ruka along with it.
They climbed up the steps, talking about random things they'd done in school when they heard a loud thump.
The regulars turned around to see their beloved buchou curled up on the ground in pain.
His breaths we're short and choppy and he was wheezing.
They rushed to his aid as Renji dialled the ambulance. People around just watched, but did nothing to help the poor boy.
How shameful.
xxx
Ruka pushed herself across the bridge that led toward her home. In the middle of the bridge, she spotted to familiar people arguing. Tuning her ears in, she heard one grumbling.
"Ugh, I ate too many burgers thanks to you."
"You're way too stubborn, Momo-senpai."
Ruka twitched. Of all people, she just had to bump into her brother and his senpai.
"Eh? We're on the same page here." The boy, now identified as Momo said. "Ne, that girl from the shop, she's right. Singles 1 and 2 are going to be buchou and Fuji-senpai. We all know who doubles 1 is and there are only four of us left. We only need three more in our line up. So who's going to be in doubles 2 and singles 3?"
"Hmmm, you said something pretty smart for once, Momo-senpai." Ryoma stated.
"Hey! What are you implying?"
"Implying? There's another big word, coming from your big mouth. Anyway, singles 3 is going to be me." Ryoma said.
"Che, anyway, singles 3 is mine." Momo said at the same time.
The arguing two turned at the sound of a laugh. "You two should stop arguing so loud. You've probably woken the dead." Ruka giggled even more.
Momo turned red when he saw her, and Ryoma, didn't miss this.
"Oi, I'd rather you take the girl from the shop." Ryoma nudged his senpai in the ribs and hissed. This caused the broom head the blush even more and glare at his kouhai.
"Singles 3 huh?" Ruka cut in again. "I heard there are some nearby street courts. Why not settle it there? Oyaji wants me home, so I can't come with you. Ja ne!" she waved and left, leaving the two stubborn boys behind.
"She's right. Let's go." Ryoma said, picking up his bags.
xxx
From: Niou Masaharu
To: Echizen Ruka
Buchou is in hospital, he fainted right after you left. Just thought you should know. Don't worry, it shouldn't be anything serious.
Ruka read the text over and over again, part of her wanted to call and make sure he really was ok, but the other half knew she should probably butt out of the situation. They were friends, but she wasn't as close to them as everyone else.
She deleted the text and set about her homework. Cranking open her History book, she groaned and answered the questions, skimming the textbook each question instead of reading the whole chapter, then answering them.
There was a faint knock on the door.
"Come in." Ruka called, looking up from her home work. Ryoma popped in, his eyes sharp. He walked further into her room and flopped on her bed, his face buried in her pillow.
"Ryo-nii." She greeted, turning back to her unfinished work. There was a rustle and Ryoma picked himself up and sat cross-legged on her bed.
"Ne, Ruka, you know a lot about doubles, right?" he asked. Sighing, Ruka dropped her pencil and took off her glasses, turning around to face him.
"Doubles? You never play doubles." She said.
"Well, I do now."
"O-kay…" she drawled, understanding his man's pride. She opened a drawer and tossed him a book. "Here, I used this when I first started."
"It still looks new…" he said, flipping it open.
Ruka chuckled sheepishly, "I may have only read the first page…?"
"Trust you to just wing it in the end."
"Eh, well, it was only that one game."
"Yeah, and you thrashed it."
"Maybe," she smiled, "ooh, here's a tip. Don't think about yourself, it isn't singles. Support each other; no matter how stupid you look doing it. Also, try work in harmony, don't argue and stuff."
She turned back to her work, knowing there really wasn't anything else to say.
"Heh, ok thanks Ru, I'll keep looking through this book." Ryoma said, hopping off her bed and padding out of the room.
'Doubles, eh?' Ruka thought, grinning to herself.
xxx
Ruka sat at the dinner table, munching on her croissant. She was dressed in combat boots, army printed baggy pants, and a large white t-shirt with a cartoon cat on the front. Over it, she had Sanada's jacket, which proved to be very warm the day before. She had just chucked on the first few piece of clothing she saw after all.
"Ryoma's not up yet? It's already past 9.30" she asked Rinko.
As if in sync, they heard a muffled yell, "Shimatta! I'm going to be late!" Doors slammed and there was loud thumping for a few minutes as the other Echizen's just enjoyed their meal 'peacefully'.
Finally, Ryoma emerged into the kitchen and sat down. "American food again?" he complained.
"Ryo-nii, we're going to be late! Momo-senpai is outside waiting!" Ruka called, already having finished her meal and at the door.
"Coming, coming!" Ryoma called after his sister, grumbling something about why she didn't wake him up instead.
The two reached the temple stairs to see Momo waiting on his bike. "Oi, Ryoma, took your time."
Ruka smiled and waved at him. "Ne, Momo-senpai, there's no time to fuss about that. Could you help bring to wheelchair down for me?"
The said boy gulped and hopped off his bike. "Sure." He said, jogging up the steps. He was about to left Ruka up when Ryoma stopped him.
"She said the wheelchair. I can carry her." He said sharply.
"Ne," Ruka said, "I'm still here you know, and if you two spoilt eggs don't hurry, you'll be late." She scolded lightly.
"Eggs?" Momo said confused.
"Baka…" Ryoma muttered.
They finally made it to the park 5 minutes before they had to hand in their line-up. "You're late." The boy who was obviously the captain said not even taking notice of Ruka beside Ryoma. He then turned and walked up to the sign up booth, the rest of the Seigaku regulars in tow.
'Oh my gosh… It's another Sanada-senpai.' Ruka thought, looking up at another stoic and frowny man.
"Nya?" a familiar childish voice called, "O'chibi? Is this your girlfriend?" A redhead with cat like eyes jumped around Ruka's wheelchair excitedly.
"Ano… I'm his," Ruka pointed at the capped boy next to her, "sister. Echizen Ruka, pleasure to meet you. I go to Rikkai Dai, so that's why you haven't met me until now." She finished, catching the eye of a tall boy whose glasses glinted in the sunlight. He whipped out a pencil and started scribbling frantically.
The Seigaku regulars stood there silently, mostly. The redhead nudged Momo beside him.
"Ne, is that the 'Ruka loves chips' girl?" he whispered not-so-quietly. Momo violently shook his head back, not-so-subtly.
"Saa, Ryoma-san, I'd never expected you to have such a cute sister." a boy with angelic features opened his cerulean blue eyes to look deeply into Ruka's golden-olive ones.
Ruka blinked as she recognised a familiar face within the smiling brunette's in front of her. She shuddered, remembering Masaharu's text.
'Sei-chan too? Also Bunta and Renji…' Ruka looked at the 3 players on Ryoma's team that had similar personalities to Rikkai's. (You probably know who they are.)
"Echizen-san." The hawk-eyed captain said.
"Hai?" the twins looked up, then at one another, smirks pulling at their faces.
Everyone sighed as they realized the situation they were now in.
"Just call us by our first names then." Ruka suggested, and they all nodded.
A boy with a moon shaped head stepped forward then, "Nice to meet you too, Ruka. I'm Oishi Shuichiro." He introduced, bending down so he was now the same height as Ruka and shaking her hand firmly.
"Kikumaru Eiji nya~" the redhead came bouncing up next; "Oishi and I are doubles partners." He gave her a big 'V' sign.
"Fuji Syuusuke." The angelic boy tilted his head to the side as if observing her.
"Fssh. Kaidoh." The boy with the bandana shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. 'Cat t-shirt…' he thought.
"T-Takashi Kawamura… BURNING! NICE TO MEET YOU!" the shy boy was suddenly provided a racket and he swung it around furiously. Ruka blinked at what she saw, but cracked a smile when she realized how funny it was.
"Inui Sadaharu. Renji has told me a lot." The tall boy pushed up his glasses, still clutching his notebook. Ruka noticed he was the only one without the regular's jersey. The manager maybe?
"Tezuka Kunimitsu." The frowny boy bowed down, "captain of Seigaku's tennis team."
After the introductions, they headed off to Court B, where their first match would be played.
Ruka, who couldn't sit in the bleachers from the lack of ramps, stayed at the fence around the court, giving her a nice view of each game.
"Doubles 2. Gyokuiin's Izumi and Fukawa pair. Seigaku's Echizen and Momoshiro pair. The match is now starting." The referee called from his chair.
The two teams got into position and called for who served first.
Ruka's eyes narrowed. From the start, she could tell the difference in experience when it came to doubles for the teams. Although the gap was fairly large, she'll just have to wait and see how it played out.
"Alright, let's go with the AH-UN strategy." Momo said, of which Ryoma nodded back.
There was a buzz around the courts, wondering if it was some sort of special doubles move, but Ruka just laughed.
'THIS was their strategy to play doubles?' she thought 'I mean, I told him to support each other and work in harmony, no matter how stupid they look… but; they're going to make clowns out of themselves now!'
"OI!" I loud voice broke into Ruka's thoughts. She looked beside her to see that the space was now occupied to three freshmen. Most likely from Seigaku.
"I'm Horio, with two years of tennis experience, and I know you're not from Seigaku. ARE YOU SPYING ON US?" the same loud voice came from the most flashily dress freshman, who gestured to her Rikkai jersey.
"No, I'm not a spy… I'm just here to watch." She explained.
"SO YOU ARE SPYING!" the same boy exclaimed.
"Sorry, but I'm no spy. I'm just here to watch him play." Ruka pointed to her brother, who was playing awfully. She winced slightly as they used the AH-UN strategy for the second time.
"So now you're spying on Ryoma? If anything, you should be watching me play, I'm better than him." He held his head up high.
"Then why aren't you on the line-up with the regulars?" Ruka questioned.
The two shyer boys behind Horio sweat dropped. "Ouch, that must've hit hard on home…" They whispered to one another. "But Ryoma is way better than Horio… ne?" the nodded furiously, agreeing with one another.
"Ano, we've never met before… have we?" Ruka changed the topic, "I'm Echizen Ruka, nice to meet you."
"Eh?! Echizen? You mean… you're?" the three stumbled over their words.
"Yup! I'm his twin sister! It's been awhile since I've seen him play tennis in a real competition." She said happily.
"Twin? But, why don't you go to Seigaku then?" Horio asked.
"Ah, because there's no ramps."
"Oh…" he trailed off.
"Well, let's focus on the game at hand… ne?" Ruka turned back to the ongoing match, sweat dropping slightly when she saw the two boys of Seigaku not even playing a proper doubles match anymore.
'Mada mada dane…' she thought using her family's favourite catch phrase.
A/N: Thanks to all the votes, reviews, PMs, favs and follows so far! I'll try update more often since my holidays are coming up :) ONLY ONE DAY LEFT OF SCHOOL YAY!