Hello, more replies to reviews again.
Yagyuu Hiroshi- Yes, there are 4 specific tournaments that have 1.5 million dollars in prize money. They are called Grand Slams, and the French open is one of them.
tennisnohime- Yes, Shinji is just too cute to not tease. XD
...
Tachibana Kippei lay in his hotel room alone. His sister usually sat and hung out with him before he went to sleep, but she went out to visit Momoshiro. He just hoped that she didn't do anything that could hurt Momoshiro emotionally. Otherwise he wouldn't do so well in the French Open, and anyone who loved competition like Tachibana Kippei wouldn't like that. He turned on his left side, and looked out the window. It was amazing that a big city like Paris, with all it's lights and tourism, that you could see stars. He sighed and held his hand up to make it look as if he were touching them. Sometimes he wondered how everyone else handled their fame and success in the tennis world. It was so fast paced, Tachibana never imagined his life would be like this.
"Maybe I should retire," he said to himself. He did have a lot of money, and he knew he wouldn't have to work again as long as he lived simple like he and his wife wanted. But there was just one thing that was stopping him, and he knew that one thing.
"But I love this game too much," and it was his drug.
A knock came from the door of the hotel, and Tachibana went up to answer it. It was a man about his age, holding a letter in his hand.
"This is for Tachibana Kippei from the head-director of the French Open tounament," the messanger said, and handed it to Tachibana once he showed identification. The man left and Tachibana closed the door softly behind him and opened up the folded paper. He read through the paper quickly to see it was an invitation to a party a week before the French Open. Kippei didn't like the idea of going to a party before a tournament before he realized who the letter was from. Not only was he the head-director for the French Open tournament, but it was a familiar friend.
"Tezuka Kunimitsu..." (1)
...
As Kaidoh reached in for a kiss, Ryoma pushed him away. Kaidoh had fast reflexes though, so he caught himself before he fell off the bench.
"Kaidoh-sempai, damn it! I can't..." Ryoma muttered, looking more confused than Kaoru's ever seen him. Kaidoh held his hand and asked why. Ryoma sighed and said, "If I try to get into a relationship during my career, it'll distract me. Whether it's during a happy time or a sad time, I won't be 100 percent focused on tennis." Kaidoh smiled and hugged the younger man.
"It's okay. You just tell me when you're ready to try it. Here," and grabbed Echizen's cellphone and put in his cellphone number, "I've always been good at waiting (2)," and left...
...
Momoshiro Takeshi and Tachibana An were entering the restaurant, looking at the place in amazement. The ceilings seemed to be as high as the sky, tables were great in number, and everyone looked happy.
"Table for two please," An said to the man. He nodded and he took them to their table...which was right next to Syuusuke, Oishi, Eiji, Yuuta, and Mizuki's table. Momoshiro's eyes bugged out while the female Tachibana went over and said hi, gushing about how this was such a cool coincidence. As An kept talking more, Momoshiro looked at the person who was responsible for this coincidence...his sempai Fuji Syuusuke. Syuusuke could feel someone's eyes on him, and opened his own to see who it was.
"Ah, Momo, isn't this such a lovely predictament? Now we can all eat dinner together," the older Fuji said, and told the waiter to instead of giving them a table, just get their table two more seats.
Oh, this was going to be one long night...
...
Kirihara was outside jogging still, trying to get some low impact training in before going to bed. He put weights on his ankles to help simulate what it'd be like when he played on the clay as he jogged. There were lots of skaters and bar-hoppers he passed by on his jog, but it didn't distract him. It was when he went to the park and he noticed two other people jogging, Atobe Keigo and Jirou Akutagawa. He sped up so now that he was jogging along side the two.
"Hm, never thought you'd actually jog outside Atobe Keigo," Kirihara joked. Atobe looked at him with an annoyed look, and said, "Ore-sama guessed you're just one of those people who don't understand the difference between a nice city like Paris and a dinky town that only has a thousand people." Jirou kept looking at Akaya, wondering why he looked so familiar. He knew he was from the pro circuit, but he knew he saw him before...wait!
"Hey, you were that eighth grade Rikkaidai ace that lost to Fuji Syuusuke a long time ago! Boy, I wonder how good at tennis Fuji is now? HE WAS SO COOL! I bet he still is, isn't he Atobe?!" Jirou yelled. Fuji always made him so hyper. Atobe just nodded, not wanting to talk about Fuji Syuusuke while he was jogging and helping Jirou not fall asleep while jogging. Kirihara looked at the blonde with an angry stare, trying to say silently, "I'm not just some guy Fuji beat you know!" but he knew it would be in vain. He knew Jirou. Atobe would remind him of people whom he adored, and that was how he even stayed awake in a match. He wondered how the boy became a pro if he had to be motivated every time he had to do something tennis related.
"Don't look at Jirou like that peasant. Ore-sama knows you're not that much different yourself," and that made Akaya stop as the other two continued jogging. What was that about?
"I'm nothing like him," Kirihara whispered to himself. But then he thought, maybe Jirou dreamed of those moments when he was pushed and lost, and how glorious the feeling was to have to play better than your best in order to even keep up. And the adrenaline of your team mates patting you on the back, even if you lost, they were just so proud of how you did. Those were great times, and that was what made him want to play tennis and be a pro as well...
"I hate it when rich kids are right..."
...
Inui went back to his and Kaidoh's hotel room, finding a letter at the foot of the door. He picked it up, and skimmed through. His mouth gaped a little once he found out it was from Tezuka. Even Inui hadn't had enough college education to become a director of a tennis tournament and organize how everything would be.
"Tezuka, somehow, you always win against me," he said with a smile.
Dear Kaidoh Kaoru and his coach Inui Sadaharu
A week before the French Open, I would like to treat all 128 players, their coachs, and managers, to a party held at the grounds of the Louvre museum.
There will be alcoholic beverages and an assortment of food there.
I hope both of you can come.
From the Head-director and Organizer of the French Open,
Tezuka Kunimitsu
...
Shinji sat down in the park, drinking some juice that he brought from a cafe. Nothing happened until he saw Atobe Keigo and Jirou Akutagawa jogging by. They stopped to take a rest and then looked at Shinji. Jirou though went to sleep quietly against a tree next to Ibu's bench, and Atobe sat down next to Shinji. He looked at the young man and how calm he looked.
"Neh, you should be training instead of behaving like a fat kid," and woke Jirou up so they could jog again. Shinji poked his stomach again and said to himself, "Who do I like? David Nalbandian? (3)"...
...
This evening wasn't the way Momoshiro planned it out to be. An was talking to Fuji, Eiji and Oishi were catching up with each other and how they've been doing, and Yuuta and Mizuki were just talking about if this was a coincidence or not. He sighed and continued eating his filet mignon, trying to forget about this nightmare coming true.
An noticed his sigh and tapped him on the shoulder, "Hey, are you mad at me?" He looked at her and smiled, "Of course not. I just thought we could spend some time catching up together just...by ourselves." An felt kind of bad that she had been ignoring him, and leaned over in his ear, "Why don't you and I meet La Petite Cour? That way we can dine with my husband as well." Momo gasped and almost choked. Her husband?!
"Hehe, someone I know?" he asked. She nodded, "Yeah actually, Kamio Akira," and Takeshi felt the urge to bang his head against the table...damn it...he did all this for a woman who's already married. But she was a great friend so...
"Oh, that's great!"...He guessed he could just be friends...
...
Echizen was resting on his hotel bed, trying to sleep his problems away. The thing is, they wouldn't let him go to sleep. After all, how would you feel if your friend just reached in for a kiss out of nowhere? Especially since you promised yourself that you wouldn't have a relationship until you retired from tennis. And then it reminded you of those other people you hurt and how much they cried...
Ryoma grabbed the other pillow on his bed and smacked it on his head. He already had enough guilt on his mind, why should he bring up anymore?
He looked at the hotel alarm clock to see it was 10:30p.m. Echizen looked at his cellphone and then looked at the clock. He couldn't do this. Relationships always distract people from their goals. Like his dad, he was married and had a son, and it distracted him from being number one. His dad wanted to raise him and that made him quit. Ryoma didn't want that to happen to him, but yet...Kaoru was a great rival and was really the first step for him into developing his own game. Finally, he grabbed his cellphone and called him...
...
Well, you know what these are for by now...
1. Yes, Tezuka is pretty successful. He organizes the French Open and everything. ;) Yeah, I'll explain what he went threw to get through highschool and college before age 19 at the party.
2. I always pictured Kaidoh as a romantic deep down inside if he really wanted it. XD I know, it's pathetic.
3. David Nalbandian is a great tennis player, but he has a little tummy problem. He eats a lot, and doesn't like practicing for more than three hours, so he makes his matches longer so he doesn't have to practice. He's also made fun of by lots of commentators who say he's the athlete that'll be 100 lbs heavier once he quits tennis and be in McDonalds' ads. XD Poor David, just because he doesn't have a six-pack, everyone makes fun of him!
Well, thank you for reading, and review whether you like or hate my story. Bye,