Helloooo! Chapter 12!
Over 10,500 views. 110 Followers. 80 Favourites. 1 Community. 136 Reviews. Wow. I am beyond ecstatic! *^_^* |||.
Also, I wrote a short one-shot called Just Because. If you've read it, thankyousomuch! If not, just a suggestion for a short read :) It's royal-pairing so yay! There's also Hello' and that one is sleepy-pair based. (:
I guess this chapter was written a little differently, but I had an idea and wanted to add it.
So yeah, on with the story!
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"Niou." The said boy looked sceptically at the three curious faces.
"Puri?" he cocked his head to the side and smirked.
"Why were you with Ruka yesterday?" Hiroshi got straight to the point.
"None of your business." Masaharu frowned slightly, had Hiroshi followed him?
"You don't even like sweets." Bunta got up in his face. Masaharu cursed. How long had they been watching him? Besides that, who else had seen?
"Look, seriously. None of your business. Go ask Ruka." He sighed. Both Hiroshi and Bunta were surprised he'd actually been serious for once.
Jackal sighed, "Regionals are coming up in two weeks against Fudomine, you should really rest a little." Although partially annoyed at Masaharu's blunt reply, he said nice words otherwise.
"Okay." Masaharu nodded slightly, and then walked off.
Tennis training was a horror. The rat-tailed boy could feel the agonising stares of three young teenagers and he couldn't help but break out into a sweat… over all the other sweat from Genichiro's death training. In fact, Masaharu was now almost frowning like his fukubuchou.
Honestly though, Hiroshi knew too, so why didn't Ruka choose him?
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"Because you owe me one." Ruka crossed her arms and smiled triumphantly sticking her tongue out slightly, "That's why I picked you."
"Eh? How?" Masaharu sweat dropped at her reply. Thinking back, why did he owe her?
"Well, first of all, you dropped red goo on me all the way from the roof. And then you shook that can of ponta once, not to mention you then gave it to me. I'm pretty sure that time someone tricked me by dressing up like Renji was also you too. Then just last week – mmf wgrer."
"Okay. I get it." Masaharu took his hand off Ruka's mouth as she let out a hot breath that tingled against the palm of his hand. He sighed bitterly. Had Ruka spent too much time with their buchou?
xxx
Ruka quickly made her way out of her maths classroom when the last bell went, hoping to make it out of the building before all the other flock of students poured out and pushed her around, running to their club activities.
Too late.
Everyone crowded out, the hallway buzzing from chatter as everyone met up with their friends and walked towards their designated club activity area. Ruka was almost pushed over when a few girls from the girls tennis club purposely shoved into the side of her wheelchair, quickly walking off with a glare, hissing something along the lines of 'stay away from the tennis club'.
It was quite often that the other student picked on her, whether it is about her 'intimacy' with the tennis regulars or just seeing her as a psycho in a wheelchair. Either way, it was a daily habit for her to be pushed out of her wheelchair at least once; leaving her awkwardly sprawled out onto the floor.
Before, Ruka chose to ignore it, and it was soon to push at her limits… but then, she realised that it gave her an opportunity, one to try and stand up and walk a few painful steps to sit back into the chair.
Once again, she was shoved, this time from behind and the wheelchair teetered forward, Ruka almost landing on her face.
Two strong but thin arms wrapped around her small body as she was pulled back to safety and was saved from possible embarrassment in front of the whole sophomore year level.
"A-Akaya." She blinked up at her 'saviour'. The two were awfully close and Ruka could feel her cheeks growing warm.
"What's the rush?" He grinned, a red tint to his cheeks, as the crowd parted around him and he was able to sit her wheelchair upright.
"Ah, I'm meeting up with someone outside of school…" Ruka said.
"So you're not watching us train?" he pouted slightly, as if giving the puppy dog face to someone 'cuter' than him would work.
"Not today…" she giggled, giving him a pat on the back as he carefully sat her back into the wheelchair, "I've got to go… Ja` ne."
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"So, how do you think your rehab is going?" Suzuki asked.
"Nothing much yet… but I've started playing a little bit of tennis again."
"Ah, explains why you look so much happier and fresh." The man smiled.
"Hmm? Really?" Ruka touched her skin lightly in a thoughtful manner.
"These things take time, so work hard. Since yours is overcoming the numbness of your nerves, due to not walking for such long periods of time… anyway, it shouldn't take as long as others… maybe a couple of months. I've heard of some people with a similar situation recovered in just a few weeks." He clapped his hands together softly, as if cheering Ruka on.
"That'd be really good…" Ruka nodded, to overcome her disability was proving hard, her daily exercises seeming to fail her, but she kept faith, knowing that one day, all of this hard work and disappointment could possibly pay off.
"Actually, I did some research, and I found a few new things you could do, it's to help regain the muscles in your legs, so that when you start to walk again, they don't fail you too quickly. Of course, you'd still only be able to play a light match." Suzuki turned to his computer and his fingers flew over the keyboard as he typed away furiously, "I'll print some things out for you to work on, hey?"
"And you're supposed to be my psychiatrist, not my rehab mentor…" Ruka giggled.
"Hmm, I can't say I'm not excited… helping people like you really makes my day. I wouldn't be doing this job otherwise…" he laughed lightly along with her.
They sat there afterward in silence for a few seconds, the two thinking about all the questions they were hoping to ask. Ruka finally built up the courage to open her mouth, but Suzuki beat her to it.
"So, I heard tennis is quite a popular sport nowadays." He leant back in his chair, "What gets everyone so pumped up about it these days?"
"Well, I guess you could say it was the thrill of it. Every player you vs. is different. Everyone has a different play style, and overcoming that is fun in its own way. Losing is another thing too, obviously, not everything is about winning, and sometimes losing helps you become stronger. But that's just what I think." Ruka shrugged, honestly, she'd never thought about such a trivial thing before.
"What's your type of play style then?"
"That's a secret." She poked out her tongue in a joking manner.
"Back to a more serious question though…" he crossed his arms in a formal manner, "How have your dreams been lately?"
The aura in the room changed as Ruka looked down, "Hmm, I can't say that they're any better or worse. They've been appearing less though."
"That's still a great achievement!" the man smiled, proud of the young girl – one of the youngest clients of his actually.
"Suzuki-san…"
"How many times have I told you to drop the honorifics?" he smiled softly.
"Suzuki… thank you." She grinned back.
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"Sei-chan…" there was a soft knock at the doorway. The bluenette middle schooler looked over to see Ruka, her eyes brighter than usual.
"Ruka… how have you been?" Of all people, Ruka and Genichiro were the people who visited him most. Ruka came on a weekly basis (after appointments) and Sanada whenever he had the time.
"Good… really good." She smiled and Seiichi's heart throbbed violently in his chest.
"How about school? Is everyone treating you well?" Seiichi asked.
Ruka nodded vigorously, "Yeah! Everyone is working hard for Nationals too!"
The boy sighed inwardly and shifted around in the hospital bed when she didn't seem to get the point of his question, but continued on with the light conversation anyway.
An hour later, Ruka looked at the time on the digital clock by Seiichi's bed and her eyes widened.
"Ah! I've got to go, or I'll be late!" she looked frantic for a second and turned to leave. She was halfway out the door when she quickly rushed back and threw her arms around the unsuspecting boy, "Get better soon!" she mumbled into his chest.
She pulled back with a flushed face and a happy smile, then sped off again.
The buchou of the Rikkai tennis team sat there in a shocked silence, unmoving. He blinked a couple of times, trying to register what had happened.
A tint of red slowly started to appear on his cheeks and there was a quaint buzz in his stomach.
"Sleep…" he muttered, "I need sleep…"
xxx
"You're improving already…" Masaharu grunted as he fired another shot back towards Ruka's stationary position.
"Well I used to play… so I guess it's just all coming back to me." Ruka smiled even brighter – if possible, "I haven't had this much fun in ages."
"Puri." Masaharu pulled a cheeky smirk as he noticed a flash of unmistakable red hidden behind the trees. His grip on his racket shifted as he hit a high lob, forming a perfect arc over Ruka and past the base line of the court.
"Ow! What the hell!" there was a yelp as Bunta ran out and glared at Masaharu, pointing at him accusingly, "You did that on purpose!"
A tanned arm reached out and pulled him back into the trees. There were hushed whispers and then the noise finally quieted down.
"Was that… Bun-chan?" Ruka looked around, slightly worried yet more curious.
"It was nothing…" Masaharu quickly reassured and Ruka nodded, seeming to believe him.
He quickly took a fuzzy ball out of his pocket and served toward the gullible and naïve girl again.
They rallied intensely, Masaharu final grasping the basics of Ruka's tennis and copying her.
"Masa-chan… why do you play tennis?" Ruka suddenly asked.
Masaharu stopped, letting the ball bounce past him. Ge looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging.
"I don't know. It's fun?" he replied.
"I never knew you thought dressing up was fun…" Ruka giggled, recalling all the times when he'd dressed up as Sanada, prominently scaring Akaya away, or when he and Hiroshi would pretend to be each other during a double match.
"What?! No!" he blubbered, suddenly not himself.
She blew him a raspberry and laughed, "Just kidding!"
A relieved look swept across his face as his mind exploded with new pranks to pull on Ruka.
"Puri."
xxx
"Gen-chan… you shouldn't push them too hard." Ruka tapped him lightly on the arm, looking at the almost dead group of regulars lying on the ground.
"TARUNDORU! You are all weak. You should be able to run twice that amount without breaking a sweat!" the fukubuchou knew he was exaggerating, but he needed his team ready for the upcoming match, even if he knew it was an easy win.
Just recently, he'd also found out that Seiichi's operation was a week after the Region finals, he found the information slightly putting him at more pressure.
He looked at Ruka, who'd specifically asked to have half the training session to help.
The girl nodded and faced the tired group.
"Alright, I think… today you can take off your weights." She smiled as everyone quickly unstrapped them, dropping to the ground with a hefty thud, "I want Bunta and Masaharu on court A, vs Jackal and Hiroshi. Use only basic skills, no finishing moves on your own. Try hold out the rallies for as long as possible. What I want you guys to do is study your partner – the one you'd be pared with in the regionals. So Bunta and Jackal, then Masaharu and Hiroshi. Watch each other, see what each of you lack in, because your partner is your teammate on the court and has to help you cover up those weak spots. As an opponent, they'll be able to see those and break through them. So that's why I'm making your doubles partner your opponent, because it's actually helping you see from a better point of view."
She finally let out a breath as everyone nodded and the four regulars moved over to the court behind them.
"Renji and Akaya, on court B, I want you to learn to control 'Devil Akaya' and Renji you need to help him…" Ruka finally turned to Genichiro and grinned, "You can run your fair share of laps now."
Genichiro's eyebrows shot up, he had to run laps?
"You can run 85 laps like everyone else did." She then quickly wheeled away, leaving a bewildered fukubuchou in her wake.
Sighing, he started off jogging at a slow space. Ruka was in charge, so technically he had to do what she said.
He mentally slapped himself silly for being weak and following a girls orders.
She would… no, will probably be the death of him.
xxx
"Want to try some ULTRA Stamina juice?" Renji held out the bottle he was drinking from, as Ruka had been staring at it curiously.
She violently shook her head. Silently, she saw the team as cats when it came to juice, and so far, they'd lost about six of their nine lives to that deadly juice.
"Hmm, it's not as bad as everyone says." Renji said monotonously as he took another swig from the bottle.
Ruka laughed lightly, "But aren't your taste buds warped?"
"Maybe, it is a 76% chance that they are." Renji stated, causing Ruka to laugh even more.
Renji looked away from the sweet girl and her smiling face, it was 100% too much for him to handle. He needed to go back to the easy-peasy data collecting days.
Quickly walking out of the room, he left Ruka behind to clean up and roll the nets. He felt guilty, but he also didn't want to be stuck in a room alone… he'd probably just stand there, awkwardly staring at her in awe as she flawlessly did things.
xxx
A boy walked out of the store, a small charm in his hand.
"Ah! Lucky! I got the last one." He sang, almost dancing on the spot.
"Excuse me." A voice spoke.
"Hm?" he looked around, trying to figure out if it was him being spoken to or not.
"Down here." There was a small huff.
"Ah!" Sengoku finally noticed Ruka and peered at her from a closer distance a slight redness tinting his cheeks, "Would you like to do the honours of becoming my girlfriend?" he winked.
"Umm, not to be rude, but you're blocking the door way." She grimaced slightly, not too sure of the blunt question.
"Eh?" he blinked… did another girl just reject him? Aw, and she was so cute too. He pouted.
"Domo…" she said, a slight twinkle in her eyes as he stepped aside to let her in.
Intrigued, he decided to follow her, come to think of it, he didn't think he'd really seen her before. Something about her stuck him as familiar, but he didn't know what. Walking back into the store, he hid behind shelves and racks, concealing his identity.
He watched as she bought a cute cat's toy and left the store.
She went down the busy street, towards the park and Sengoku hid behind a bush when she turned around, frowning.
Keeping an eye on her, he kept peeking from time to time from odd hiding spots as she entered the park and immediately waved to someone.
"Ryoma!" she called out. The said capped boy turned around and gave a small wave back, walking towards her. Since Ryoma's face was slightly hidden, he couldn't see the similarities between the two and took it as a different piece of information.
Sengoku's eyes widened, oh-ho-ho… was this some new gossip he'd found.
THE Echizen Ryoma… had a girlfriend? He had high expectations and a pretty good taste. Sengoku noted as the two walked away, Ruka holding up the cat toy she bought.
He pulled out his phone and quickly texted all of his friends in the tennis team, including some gossip goats from other schools. That should be enough to spread the word. But. Who was this mysterious girl that Echizen just happened to luckily catch? Before him, of course. Sengoku still had his pride. Definitely.
xxx
A boy paced his room. It was late at night, and most of the neighbourhood were probably off to bed. He, though, was still up, racking his brain for something inspirational.
"I really like you, so Ruka… could go out with me… ARGH, no that's not right!" the boy scratched his head, frustrated, "Ruka, I need help with tutoring, can you come over? That doesn't sound right either! She could even take that the wrong way!" he fretted, I mean, even Echizen had managed to get his hands on a girl. He'd even read the text about five hundred times.
Another head popped into the room, a knowing smile on her face as she held in a laugh.
"You know, as much as I would like a daughter in law, it'd be nice if you could keep it down a little."
"O-Okaa-san!" he blushed, his face beet red as his mum left the room, humming.
"Ah, young love." She giggled.
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Hehehe, just a little teaser for you at the end there :P
Review your thoughts! (: