Thank you for all the reviews, votes, constructive criticism etc. it's really helped me with this story so far, and I hope you keep reading.
GOMENASAI! THIS CHAPTER MIGHT BE A LITTLE OOC TO YOU. AND I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN TWO WEEKS (and I feel like I've let you all down =3=') Gomen, gomen…
THIS IS SORT OF A FILLER!
Voting is still open :)
M'kay, I'm done now, ENJOY
"Give me my shirt back!" Ruka snatched the soaking shirt out of the maid's hand and hugged it tightly.
"And I'm not wearing that!" she snapped, eyeing the offending pink dress with disgust.
"Miss Echizen, Atobe-sama asked that you wear this dress." the maid tried to explain.
"Then tell him; NO! I WILL NOT WEAR SUCH A HIDEOUS THING." Ruka screamed the last part and the maid frantically bowed before heading out of the room.
Ruka sighed at the newfound silence and grabbed a towel from the basket on the floor and started drying her hair. It was no use trying to escape; she'd end up lost in this place anyway.
The door to the dressing room opened and the same maid came back in, holding two large boxes with designer brand names on them.
Ruka scowled at her, as if sending a message to the poor maid – she will NOT wear anything fancy.
"P-please do Atobe-sama a favour and wear these… y-your clothes are wet anyway and this are the only replacements that we are able to find that will fit your size…" she held the boxes out before her and bowed down low.
"Fine..." Ruka gave in, knowing that it wouldn't be the greatest idea to lounge around with soaking clothes for the rest of the day.
She slipped off her clothes and handed them to the maid, "I want them back though." She said as the maid hurried off the dry clean them while Ruka changed into the provided clothes.
She cautiously opened one of the boxes and carefully lifted out what was inside, holding the sleeves of the dress her mind screamed, 'Oh guacamole, please no.' Knowing she had no other choice, she slipped the dress on, wriggling around uncomfortably from the lack of movement in her legs, 'This is exactly why I hate dresses.'
It wasn't frilly or pink, unlike the other dress, but rather, it was forest green and had a sweetheart neckline with off the shoulder sleeves, and the hem of the dress pooled delicately around her ankles.
"Just this once or there better be hell to pay." she mumbled to her reflection in the mirror, before continuing her struggle to get back into her wheelchair.
A light breeze of cool air entered the room when the maid re-entered, squealing with delight.
"You look perfect!" she gushed, "Now, come along, we need to put some make-up on you."
"No way. If I have to wear this dress, I am not wearing make-up." she tried to calm herself down, 'think happy, think happy.' She thought to herself.
She looked back up to the maid and smiled, "I'd rather not wear make-up please, if that's okay with you."
"S-sure." The maid tried to hide her shock at Ruka's sudden change of attitude. "The accessories are in that box, would you like some help?"
Ruka nodded happily and leant forward, picking up the second box and placing it in her lap.
"These are… pretty." She said, lifting up the silver accessories. She put on the simple ballet flats – glad of the consideration that she wasn't given heels, while the maid secured the silver bracelet and necklace on her. She then expertly flipped Ruka's hair into a stylish bun before stepping back so Ruka could see herself in the mirror.
"Thanks, I think we should head to the courts now." Ruka suggested, hiding the fact she didn't like her dolled up reflection and pushing herself out the door, leaving no room for argument.
xxx
"Senpai-tachi, Ruka's been abducted!" the seaweed headed sophomore ran towards the rest of the team. After the scream from the girl ten minutes ago, no other sounds were heard.
"Bakaya, that's impossible." Masaharu flicked the poor boy on the forehead.
"Ne, ne, Marui-sama, who's that?" the sleepy blonde of Hyotei tugged on the said's sleeve and pointed to someone who'd just entered the courts.
"Jirou-san, please get off me." Bunta pleaded, holding his ear where the blonde had excitedly shouted in.
The figure came closer and was soon recognised as two, one being Atobe and the other Ruka, who seemed to be straining a smile.
"Let's play some tennis shall we?" Ruka said, clapping her hands together.
"Oshitari… she's in a wheelchair, a WHEELCHAIR!" Muhaki emphasised, teasing the bluenette next to him about his 'leg fetish'.
No comment was made from Oshitari as he pulled a book out of nowhere and flipped it open.
A tin of Popsicle sticks were shoved under his nose and Oshitari looked up to see the Emperor of Rikkai holding the tin out towards him.
"Draw out a name." Genichiro said, causing the other boy to nonchalantly pick one out.
"Yagyuu-san." he said, reading out the name before walking onto the court with his racket, the gentleman following soon after.
"Can I umpire?" Ruka looked at Genichiro who nodded.
"One set match, Hyotei's Oshitari vs. Rikkai's Yagyuu. Should we say it's fair to let Hyotei serve first? We are using their facilities after all." She said, causing everyone to nod in agreement.
The match was full of basics, neither used their special moves, yet neither gave in.
While Ruka watched, Renji stood next to her, writing down the things she pointed out.
"Hiroshi-senpai's reaction time is a bit slow. At the moment it's about one second, but we want to keep him on his toes… ne?" she smiled while Renji nodded.
"0.982 seconds to be exact." He calculated.
Twenty minutes later, Ruka signalled the end of the match.
"Game and match, 7 – 5, Hyotei's Oshitari." She called, as the opponents shook hands, "Who is up next?"
"That would be me." Renji stated, closing his notebook with a firm snap and walking onto the court.
"Good luck." Ruka called, smiling at the data master.
"Chance of winning – 3%" Renji murmured to his opponent.
"Alright! One set match, Hyotei's Kabaji vs. Rikkai's Yanagi. Hyotei to serve." Ruka fist pumped the air, causing everyone to look on with amusement at a girl fist pumping with an elegant dress on.
(Sorry, I won't go into details about the matches, I'll write more about important ones though, even if I'm not the best at it, constructive criticism appreciated! :D )
xxx
"Misters and Mistress, lunch is served."
The grand double doors opened into the large dining room, the table filled with rich foods.
Each were led to a seat, the Rikkai regulars on one side and the Hyotei team on the other, with – obviously – Atobe at the head of the table, and Ruka, sadly having to face him on the opposite end, it being in her general direction.
"Uh… what… is… this?" she picked something up with her fork.
Silence filled the room, the Rikkai members also curious to know.
"Escargot, do you not like it, Miss?" a maid came up next to her and asked.
"Sounds good!" Ruka smiled before popping it into her mouth, "wow, it's really chewy," she swallowed, "so tell me again, what is this 'Escar-thingy'...?"
"Um, its snails, Miss."
Akaya paused with the fork halfway to his mouth. Dropping it, he took his glass and gulped all of its contents down.
"I ate four of those!" he exclaimed, "Ugh, I need more water to wash the taste away!"
He grabbed the glass next to him and hastily drank that too. All of the attention was now turned to him as he turned blue and held is throat. He dropped to the ground as Jackal rushed to his aid.
"Akaya! Are you ok, you're not choking or anything are you?" he shook Akaya fiercely.
"Ah…" a voice spoke, "that was the last of Inui's special juice… also known as Tonbo (dragonfly) juice."
The other Rikkai regulars paled considerably.
"So… you mean… Bakaya is as good as gone!?" Bunta shouted, but he was ignored as Renji pulled out a jug and continued mumbling.
"At least I still have some Rainbow power up juice." He said, pouring the bubbling, thick – not to mention black (it's not even rainbow!) mixture into his empty cup.
Jackal picked up Akaya and a maid led them out of the dining room – probably to bring their poor kouhai back to life.
After a while, the commotion died down from a snap of fingers.
"This is why I shouldn't associate with you commoners, you're too loud." Atobe egotistically remarked.
Silence once again ensued, and the clinking of utensils on a plate was only heard.
Ten minutes later, the peacefulness was broken when Ruka finally spoke.
"So… I was wondering, what's the recipe for the 'Escar-thingy'? They taste really nice." she said, smiling innocently and now pointing to the empty plate of Escargots which everyone else thought had remained untouched.
"You can't be serious." Akaya slurred, coming back into the room, slumped on Jackal.
"No, I must say, you're one with an exquisite taste. I also recommend this dish." Oshitari cut in, "in fact, the girl in the book I'm currently reading is just like you – an amazing taste when it comes to food, minus the fact that, she has better legs of course." He continued, ignoring the glares of a few Rikkai students.
"I'm sorry…" Ruka ignored his last comment, "It's good that we like the same foods and all… but, um, what was your name again?" she chuckled nervously.
"Ahem…" Masaharu and Bunta coughed, holding back laughter.
Eventually, they couldn't help it and burst out, their laughter echoing off the walls. Soon, Akaya, Muhaki and even now awake Jirou joined in.
The scene was so loud no one heard these two words.
"Tarundoru."
"Gekokujo."
xxx
"Well. That was fun!" Ruka said as she led the silent group through the streets of Tokyo, now back in her dry, casual clothes. They had been dropped off at the train station but the regulars had decided to hang around the Capital for a few hours before heading back to Kanagawa.
"Puri." Masaharu said, popping Bunta's gum with a poke of his finger, making the chewy substance explode all over the red head's face and hair.
Groaning, Bunta picked at the pieces of gum, keeping in mind to get his revenge later.
"So, where to now?" Akaya bounced up and down, having recovered from the deadly juice and had vowed never to drink from a random cup, bottle or whatever, ever again.
"Food." Bunta suggested.
"Idiot, why do you always get to pick?" Masaharu said.
"I'm hungry though."
"The arcade then?" Jackal said.
"But, I didn't bring any money." Akaya pouted.
"I know, how about your house Ruka?" Masaharu smiled mischievously.
"Uh…" Ruka muttered. She wasn't too sure about having her friends over. Her perverted father said enough about her private life.
"52% your family will embarrass you if we came over, 48% you're embarrassed of your family." Renji sprouted; even he was interested about how Ruka lived her life outside of the school grounds. 'Good chance to collect data.' He thought.
"Your data proves right…" she laughed – there wasn't really any reason to lie, "but I'm sure Oyaji wouldn't mind." 'I never bring friends over after all…' she added in her mind as an after-thought.
"Lead the way then…" Hiroshi pushed up his glasses.
xxx
"NO WAY! YOU LIVE IN A TEMPLE?!" Akaya yelled.
"Mhmm, a family friend is letting us live here as long as we look after the temple grounds and ring the bell." Ruka nodded.
"Ii data…" again, a notebook was pulled out of nowhere and scribbled into.
Once a small argument of who helped Ruka up the stairs was over, they were led to the bell, where a monk like figure sat, ringing it.
"Oi Oyaji, that better be an actual newspaper this time." Ruka told her drooling father off, "I'll be inside—"
"You have a tennis court here?!" Ruka was cut off by Bunta and Akaya's excitement.
"A-re? Are you Ru-chan's friends from school?" Nanjiro looked up to see the group of boys, "Aw, why didn't you bring home any cute girls?" he complained.
"Baka, you'll scare them away. You'd be too old for them anyway, and 'kaa-san will burn your magazines." Ruka laughed at Nanjiro's usual childish antics.
"Hn, since you're here, anyone up for a tennis match?" Nanjiro smirked, eyeing their tennis bags. 'They're one hundred years too young to be hanging out with my daughter.' He thought, his fathering genes kicked in.
"It would be an honour to play with the Samurai, Mr Echizen." Renji stated.
"Samurai? You mean Samurai Nanjiro?!" Bunta and Akaya once again yelled.
"Un! Oyaji gave up his tennis career to raise us actually." Ruka said, "Ah, that reminds me, where's Ryoma?"
"Still sleeping." Nanjiro shrugged, "go wake him up if you want, he can join."
"He sleeps enough as it is…" Ruka shook her head lightly, "but he did look pretty green last night, something about a bad stomach and bubbly drinks, I think." She brushed the idea off, and noticed the pale looks of the regulars behind her, especially Akaya. But Renji, seemed to smile in the slightest.
Nanjiro shrugged again and picked up his racket. It was old, but one of a kind.
"So who wants to go first?" Ruka turned to face her friends excitedly.
"You." Nanjiro pointed his racket at Genichiro, "I pick you first. What's your name?"
Genichiro stood there blinking for a few moments before answering.
"Sanada Genichiro, sir." He said, unzipping his tennis bag to take out his racket, before walking onto the court.
"Hn… You look old enough to be my brother. Which?" Nanjiro scoffed.
"Rough." The fourteen year-old ignored his comment.
"Your serve then, self-judge alright?"
Genichiro nodded, getting in position. He threw the ball up and hit it across the net.
"You like speed balls huh? Nice try." Nanjiro taunted, hitting back the serve with twice the speed.
The regulars stood in shock – even Renji. In fact, he'd dropped his pen and was muttering things about exceeding his data.
Genichiro served again, hitting the ball with a loud grunt. Nanjiro seemed to take pity on him and started rallying.
Wanting to earn the first point, Sanada pulled out his Invisible swing.
The ball flew past Nanjiro and he stood there, blinking.
"Hn, not bad, not bad."
They started another rally, and it wasn't long until Genichiro hit another invisible swing. This time, Nanjiro took a couple of steps back and returned the fast paced ball with ease, earning him a point.
"Demo, mada mada dane." Nanjiro added, "so what is it now? 30 – 15?"
Ruka sat there, her eyes wide in anticipation. Genichiro was good, no doubt, but what else did he have up his sleeve?
xxx
"Tezuka zone?" Jackal wondered, remembering the time their fukubuchou had versed the captain of Seigaku.
"No, it's the Samurai zone… it seems to be a more completed version, unlike Tezuka's." Renji said.
In only one rally, the great Samurai Nanjiro had defeated all of Genichiro's Fuu Rin Ka Zai.
Genichiro had used 'Ka' repetitively, trying to use force to break the Samurai zone, but to no avail, it sadly had not worked.
"Ka seems to be a strong, powerful shot that could force you back or break a similar zone, but since Oyaji learnt Samurai zone years ago, he's had opponents try breaking it. I guess you could say he used those opportunities to build a stronger zone and complete it." Ruka said thoughtfully, recalling a time she'd noticed a flaw in Nanjiro's zone once and had almost broken it before he realized and called her a 'cheeky brat'.
She was 7 then.
"Looks like I win kiddo." Nanjiro stood victorious on one side of the court, while Genichiro knelt on the other side, trying to regain his breath and not to mention, sweating buckets.
A hand holding a towel appeared before him and he looked up to see Ruka smiling at him.
(Although kneeling, Genichiro is now only a tad shorter than Ruka, so I can't really say 'smiling down'… ehehehe)
"That was REALLLYY cool. You have to teach me someday, Gen-chan!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air after he took the towel from her.
"Hn." Genichiro momentarily seemed angry with himself, then stood up and walked past her.
"Will he be ok…?" Ruka looked worriedly at his retreating form.
"He'll be fine, once he calms down that is." Masaharu said seriously, for once in his life, but ruined it by smirking afterward and patting her on the head.
"W-who did this?!" A voice shouted.
"O-Oyaji?" Ruka looked shocked for a second before rushing toward the sound of the voice.
The regulars stood there, listening to the quiet conversation, but not being able to hear anything. They could tell Ruka was scolding Nanjiro but wondered why.
"MASA-CHAN! I know you have scissors somewhere!" Ruka called out, causing everyone to look at their resident prankster, only for him to have disappeared.
"NIOU MASAHARU. TARUNDORU." A deep voice yelled from the other side of the house.
"My guess, Masaharu ran off after placing trip-wires around the property while we were focused on the match." Hiroshi, knowing Masaharu best, pushed up his glasses slyly.
"…And do you have any idea where he would be now?" Jackal dared to ask.
"OI! OYAJI! WHY'D YOU LET KARUPIN INTO MY ROOM COVERED IN MUD!?" another voice yelled.
"Well… who knows?" Hiroshi stated bluntly.
A loud grumble filled the following silence and everyone present turned to look at the culprit.
"What? I'm hungry." Bunta held his stomach.
xxx
Ruka sat lifelessly at her desk on the next day. Not only had she fallen asleep late, but she'd woken up again at three a.m. after feeling a slight falling sensation. Only to be kept up by Nanjiro's snores for the rest of the night.
"Ru-chan?"
.
.
.
"Ru-chan? Anybody there?" an arm waved in front of her as she jumped out of her reverie and looked around.
"Ru, the bell for lunch has already gone."
"Oh… really? Okay, let's go!" Ruka smiled tiredly and picked up her bento and headed out the door, Bunta trailing behind her.
"Oi… you're really out of it aren't you?" Bunta pointed in the opposite direction, "The roof is that way, and you're heading towards the Sakura tree..."
"Oh that's right, I'm supposed to water the plants today." Ruka said. She'd happily taken Seiichi's job of tending to the plants while he was gone and always looked after them with care.
The two headed up to the roof, courtesy or Bunta helping her up the ramp.
"Ne, that reminds me," Ruka said, opening the rooftop door to reveal the rest of the regulars.
All of their attention turned to the two and Ruka continued, oblivious.
"Why isn't Sei-chan out of hospital yet?"
Sorry again! I find this chapter a little OOC myself and I feel really bad D:
If you have any TIPS on DESCRIBING A TENNIS MATCH PM me or REVIEW – it's much appreciated.
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