I'm sorry for updating so late!

To saya: Don't worry, I'm not in the habit of taking reviews as flames, so you're safe... :D But about the part about her looking good at the dinner? It's the professional assistance which Atobe hired... ;) so those thick lashes are really Extra-Length Mascara-ed lashes...

Warning: This chapter is not beta-ed, since Shirlynn has gone into exam-caused seclusion, and which I will be undergoing shortly too... :(

Chapter 14

Two mothers sitting together over the coffee table was never a good sign. Especially not if they had identical, evil gleams in their eyes.

Maika's mother sighed. "But it won't work…"

The other conspirator looked up, surprised. "Why not?"

"Maika's so stubborn! If you push her one way, she'd probably go in the opposite direction just to spite you," Her mother explained, feeling somewhat guilty for bringing such a rebellious child into the world. "She'd probably cut off her nose just to spite your face."

Atobe's mother adopted a thoughtful expression. "Now that's a problem…"

They lapsed into a contemplative silence.

"What we need is for her to have to totally depend on him… so we should make her learn something she's never done before in her entire life…" A small smirk made its way up Atobe's mother's face. "I think I've got an idea…"

Maika's mother brightened. "What is it?"

"Does Maika play tennis?"

----------------------------------

Maika was not in the best of moods today. For some unfathomable reason, her mother had suddenly developed a bad case of insistence-is and had practically ordered her to learn tennis.

"But kaa-san, I don't even like sports! The only sports I play is during Physical Education classes!"

"Exactly my point! You have to exercise more, dear, or you'll grow fat." Capitalizing on every girl's nightmare of extra adipose tissue was Atobe's mother's brainwave. It would have worked, if it hadn't been Maika she was talking to.

"Well, then I'll grow fat and jolly and not exercise a single ounce my whole life!" She retorted, much to her mother's chagrin.

Atobe's mother exchanged an I-see-what-you-mean look with Maika's mother.

"Then you'll become obese, and you'll get a heart attack and die before me! I don't want to outlive my child, Maika! Can't you even do this simple thing for me?"

Maika thought it was highly unlikely that any of those awful scenarios would unfold in real life, but decided that it would be too much trouble to explain why. So she replied brightly, "Well, at least I can be sure that someone will bury me when I die, then!"

Atobe's mother gasped, and Maika's mother resisted the urge to smack her forehead. Girls weren't supposed to be like this, for goodness' sake! They were supposed to turn all teary and be docilely obedient!

But then again, this was Maika they were talking about here.

"I'm sure you get my point, kaa-san, Atobe-san." She bowed lightly. "May I be excused?"

Her mother looked up. "No, you may not."

Maika had barely opened her mouth to protest when her mother cut her off. "Quit arguing and get your lazy ass out there right NOW!"

"Yes, kaa-san."

-----------------------------------

After she had changed into tennis gear, she walked over to the private tennis courts in the Atobe residence with an impending sense of doom. Atobe's mother had graciously offered the use of their 'magnificent' courts, as her own dear mother had termed it, and even hired an instructor, and as her one and only mother had added, "So you had better jolly well enjoy it!"

Her eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of one Atobe Keigo standing in the middle of the courts in the hot sun, quite possibly destroying his complexion due to over-exposure to sun rays.

"Atobe!" Her shout made him look up.

"Maika? What are you doing here?"

She promptly ignored his question, shooting off a question of her own. "Are you here to learn as well?" She hoped he was, because then at least she wouldn't be alone in her utter and complete lack of knowledge in tennis.

He looked extremely confused. "Learn what?"

She looked at him strangely. "Um… tennis?"

"Learn tennis?!" He choked out.

"Well, yeah… why else would I be here?" She gave him another odd look, before turning to scan the courts. "Have you seen anyone else here? There's supposed to be this instructor who's going to teach me how to play, according to your mum…"

He suddenly had a very bad feeling about this in the pits of his stomach. A very, very bad feeling.

-------------------------

"No, you hold your racquet like this," He instructed her for the umpteenth time, demonstrating with his own racquet.

"Like this?" She gripped her own racquet.

"Too high."

"This?" She slid it down a few centimeters.

"Too low."

"This?" She tried again.

"Too high."

"This?"

This was getting ridiculous. He marched up to her and positioned it perfectly in her hand for her. "Like that!"

She frowned, and readjusted her grip so it was exactly one centimeter too high. "But this is more comfortable!"

He gave up at that point.

-----------------------------

"Now, bring your racquet back and swing it in a big C. Like this." He demonstrated, his racquet making a perfect curve in the air.

"A big C…" She frowned, and concentrated on making as perfect an arc as his.

She was concentrating so hard that she saw nothing other than her racquet, and swung it as hard as she could.

And hit something solid.

What the –! Did I hit a ball? How come there was a ball? I managed to hit it?!

"OUCH! What the hell were you trying to do, baka?!"

She snapped out of her trance-like state to see Atobe hopping about most undignifiedly on one foot, cursing in apparent pain.

Sheesh…

"…and I thought I had actually managed to hit a ball…"

----------------------------------

"You stand over here, and I'll feed you balls from the other side of the court."

She looked at him blankly. "Stand where?"

Kami-sama…

"Here." And he grabbed her hand, pulling her to the service line. "Now stand there and don't move or I'll chop your head off."

"Hai, tou-san," She grinned cheekily.

He decided to ignore that last comment for the sake of his sanity, and got into position instead.

"Ready?"

"Yes!"

And he served.

Maika concentrated on the coming ball, remembering to put her left foot forward before taking her racquet back to perform a big C, and as the ball came towards her, she swung her racquet.

And missed the ball totally.

"What the hell?!"

-------------------------------

By the end of their session, Atobe was sweating more than he'd ever sweated before in his life. Who knew it was so much work to pick up balls that went out of court? Of course, that was probably because he had never seen anybody who managed to hit 99.9 percent of the balls out with as much accuracy as Maika.

"Why can't you ever hit it in?!" He groaned, as yet another ball went sailing gaily out.

"I'm trying!" She snapped irritably. "I'm new at this, okay?"

Atobe snorted. "I don't remember having hit that many balls out in my entire lifetime of playing tennis! I've never seen someone as hopeless as you before…"

"At least I can hit the ball…" She retorted. "After two hours of training with a useless coach, what would you expect?"

"Useless coach?!" He could hardly believe his ears. "It's not my fault you can't even control the ball, is it?"

"Shut your mouth, Atobe," She growled as she sent another ball out of bounds. "…or it'll be you who'll be flying through the air next…"

------------------------------------

"And what's worse, I have a two-hour session with him every day after school! Every day! Can you believe it?" She fumed. "Two hours wasted with that stupid baka, playing the stupidest game in the world…"

Tezuka was torn between agreement that Atobe was, indeed, a stupid baka, and strong disapproval at tennis being called the stupidest game in the world - and a little niggling feeling that Atobe should not be spending so much time with Maika on a regular basis.

He settled for a neutral response instead. "I could teach you how to play, if you want."

Maika looked at him blankly for a moment before realization dawned on her. "Oh, that's right. I nearly forgot that you play tennis."

"!!!"

---------------------------------

"Kaa-san, Tezuka's offered to coach me in tennis," She mentioned the fact in passing at the dinner table.

Her mother nearly choked on the piece of sushi she was eating. "And what did you say?"

"I said yes," She replied, and wondered why her mother had suddenly started to hyperventilate. "Didn't you want me to learn tennis as best as I could?"

"Really, Maika, I didn't mean you had to go to such extremes…"

She rolled her eyes. "And two hours a day with Atobe Keigo is not extreme?"

"You really shouldn't tax yourself too hard, Maika… are you sure you want this Tezuka person to coach you?" Her mother tried again.

"Well, if I'm going to spend so much time on it, I might as well make sure I can at least play a decent match, no?"

Sometimes her mother just wished that Maika wouldn't be so logical. It made winning arguments a lot harder.

----------------------------------

Gosh, I think I'm starting to like Atobe better - and this is a Tezuka/OC fic! -is shot- Just out of curiousity, though, who would you rather Maika end up with?

Review and tell me what you think, ne?