A/N: Don't you just hate it when the author doesn't update for over two months without explanation or warning? ^_^; I know; it's awful. I feel terrible. All I can say is that college life caught up to me with a vengeance. I swear there will not be nearly as long a wait for the next update.
I'm really sorry for the long delay, but here is the third day, heavily revised. Thanks to everyone who reviewed; you guys were my guiding light in my plot-bunnyless darkness. (Hopefully, you are still out there…) This chapter so thoroughly kicked my butt I can only pray it'll live up to your guys' standards.
Disclaimer: You're gonna make me say it again, aren't you. Prince of Tennis is not, and never will be mine.
Third for the one overlooked most often,
An annoyance, a pest, frequently forgotten.
The Third Day
"Chhk! The bunny is leaving the den. Chhk!"
Ryoma rolled his eyes.
"I know that Momo-sempai. I'm crouching right next to you."
The bushes a foot to his right quivered. "Shut up! You'll give away our position to the target!" they hissed.
"Shut up yourself," Ryoma replied coolly. "You're the one shouting like an idiot. If Ryuuzaki didn't know you were stalking her before, she certainly does now."
The bushes shook violently.
"Stalking!" they exclaimed in an indignant whisper. "I am not stalking her! We are surveying and monitoring her for her own protection! And don't call her 'Ryuuzaki.' It's 'the bunny,' got it?"
Ryoma raised an incredulous eyebrow.
"Hai," he said, in the tone of voice which Momo knew roughly translated to "This is stupid, but arguing about it would be a waste of time."
Momo bristled. Who did the little brat think he was anyway? There was nothing for it. It was time for another lecture. Life Lesson # 134: Real-Men-do-NOT-Disregard-the-Safety-of-Cute-Girls-in-Need.
"Listen you—" he began.
"Your target is walking away," Echizen interrupted, his voice bland. Sure enough, "the bunny" was nearly two blocks away now, calmly walking to school, happily oblivious to the stares of her self-appointed body guards.
"Kuso!" Momo growled. He'd been careless. He cast a disgruntled glance sideways to where Echizen sat, cool as a cucumber. That punk! He hadn't escaped the lecture, that was for damn sure! But now was not the time. Momo took a deep calming breath.
"Time to follow the target, Echizen." Waiting until Momo was sure nobody was watching, they stood up, brushed the leaves off their school uniforms, and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Before Ryoma had taken a step however, Momo grabbed him by the shoulders, staring at him with utmost seriousness.
"Remember," he said, face grim, "follow subtly." On tiptoe, quietly as a mouse, he took a step.
And promptly stubbed his toe.
"AAAAUUGH! #$%&^!" he yelled, hopping on one foot as he clutched the other.
Ryoma smirked. "Congratulations, Momo-sempai. Very subtle."
"Shut up, Echizen," Momo moaned, still holding his poor, injured toe. Ryoma kept smirking. Nearly two blocks ahead, Ryuuzaki Sakuno stopped walking.
Momo's eyes widened. He grabbed Ryoma unceremoniously by the collar.
Ryoma pointedly looked down at the offending hand, then back up to Momo's face, his gaze insolent.
"Where's the fire, Momo-sempai?"
Not bothering to answer, Momoshiro promptly dragged him back into the bushes, his other hand clamped tightly over Ryoma's mouth.
Sakuno looked around, head tilted to the side. She could have sworn she had heard someone…
Ryoma frowned. Stupid Momo-sempai still hadn't let go, large hand still tamped tightly over the lower half of Ryoma's face in order to—Ryoma rolled his eyes derisively—keep him from talking.
Well, he didn't have to take it.
"Oi, Momo-fempai." He nudged Momo none-too-gently in the ribs. "Your hand if on my fafe."
"Shut up!" hissed Momo, distractedly peering through the leaves, pressing his hand even tighter over the younger boy's nose and mouth.
Ryoma scowled. He struggled under Momo's restricting hand, but to no avail.
"Your hand if on my FAFE, Momo-fempai."
"Jeez, Echizen, keep it down! I'm trying to see if she's gone!" Momo whispered frantically.
With a detached aggravation, Ryoma noticed that the lack of oxygen was getting to him. Slowly, he began to turn blue.
Two blocks ahead, Sakuno turned back around, shaking her head. Great, that was all she needed. It had only been one day, and already the stress was making her hear voices.
Come on Sakuno, get a grip!
Determinedly, she started forward once more, eyes focused straight ahead.
From their hiding place, Momo sighed in relief, his grip loosening.
"Whew. She's gone."
Ryoma had had enough. Roughly, he pulled Momo's hand off his mouth, gulping in sweet, sweet air. Momo turned to him in surprise. Ryoma gave him a black look. Momo raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"What're you so pissed about?"
Heavy silence. Momo's eyes narrowed in confusion.
"Why are you breathing so hard, Echizen?" Ryoma didn't deign to answer, letting his flattening glare speak for him.
Momo considered being annoyed. Here he was, kindly showing concern for his underclassman, and how was he repaid? With scorn and stubborn silence! Granted, it was usually the way he was repaid, but still. There were standards. He had nobly kept his kohai from revealing their position to the target, at great risk. So why was the little brat so ungracious? It's not like he had been expecting praise, or even thanks, but here was the kid, acting as though Momo had just shoved Amane Hikaru's extra-long racket up his butt!
Wait…
He had…kept Echizen…from the target.
Aha!
"Echizen, Echizen, Echizen," he said, with a conspiratorial grin, slinging an arm over his shoulders. "Echizen, Echizen, E—chi—zen."
Ryoma wished Momo would stop saying his name now. He also wasn't loving the arm on his shoulders. He sent his overly helpful sempai another glare, but Momo was seemingly immune and just grinned more, launching into "Smug Lecture Mode".
"There come a time in a man's life, when—" Ryoma blanched. Oh no. It was one of those talks.
He had never moved so fast. In an instant he had tugged free from his sempai's stranglehold and was walking briskly down the pavement at least half a block away.
"Oi! Echizen! Get back here!"
Make that very briskly.
"Ryuuzaki Sakuno?"
"Yes?"
"We are the officers of the Echizen Ryoma Fan Club. We would like to have a chat."
"In…the bathroom?"
"Yes. Two of our members are standing guard outside this door. This…interview will be completely private."
"Oh, um, g-good I suppose."
"Now, some of our members feel that they would like to see you hanging by your ankles in the bottom of a well, but we feel that it would be much easier if you just told us what was going on."
"Yeah, and tell us the truth you little—."
"Patience, Motoko."
"But President Kajiwara, she—!"
"No. Now, as I was saying, we understand that rumors may be false or exaggerated. We would like to hear in your own words what happened Tuesday morning. Umi, are you writing this down?"
"Yes. Every word."
"Tuesday…morning?"
"Oh please, Ryuuzaki-san, don't play dumb. It's very tiring and a waste of our time. Very well then, I'll ask you straight out. Did you kiss Echizen Ryoma?"
"Ehhh?! K-kiss him?! No! I w-would never p-presume—"
"So you deny it, Ryuuzaki-san? How interesting. Umi, please make sure to include the stutter."
"Hai."
"So, Ryuuzaki-san, if you didn't kiss him, what did you do? What were you doing at the tennis courts?"
"I-I was watching the team practice."
"Ah, of course, you were watching them practice. Just like you always have."
"Y-yes."
"Tell me, Ryuuzaki-san, do you always watch practice from inside the fence?"
"…I-I-"
"Yes? 'You-you-' what?"
"I dropped my, um, my…hairpin! Yes, my hairpin, and it—it fell on the other side of the fence. I couldn't reach it from where I was, so I went inside to retrieve it."
"Did you now?"
"Y-Yes."
"…Alright then!"
"What? She's obviously lying, President!"
"Now, now, Motoko. If Ryuuzaki-san says she dropped her hairpin, I believe her. After all, her hair is so fine and smooth they must be sliding out all the time."
"President, plea—"
"That's enough, Motoko. We have already wasted much of Ryuuzaki-san's valuable time. Umi, you may stop writing now. Everyone, back to your classes. Oh, and Ryuuzaki-san? Wait a moment, please."
"Yes?"
"Please take care that your hairpins stay where they are supposed to. If too many drop in unexplainable places you might just lose some of your pretty hair."
Rows upon rows of undisturbed books lay docile on the old shelves, accumulating dust. Pale afternoon sunlight filtered through the old library windows, illuminating the three figures standing between the bookshelves, quiet and—
"—and after lunch, we had to run the track for two—no, six hours!"
Well, mostly quiet.
"Then it was push-ups, and sit-ups, and ball drills until midnight. Then we—hey. Hey! Are you listening?"
Katsuo started, torn abruptly from his musings to face a familiar pair of eyes glaring out at him accusingly from underneath a unibrow.
"What? Oh! Ah, yes, Horio-kun."
Next to him, Kachiro rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, we were just at the bit where you were wrestling an alligator to the ground using only your racket strings and five years of tennis experi—Ouch!"
Horio eyed the pair suspiciously. Katsuo smiled innocently, simultaneously removing his elbow from Kachiro's ribs.
"We're listening, Horio-kun," he said kindly. "Aren't we,Kachiro?" he continued, with a stern look sideways at his friend.
Kachiro shot him a dirty look. Katsuo blinked innocently back at him. Kachiro sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"Yeah. I guess we are."
"Good," said Horio, a trifle pompously. "Now, as I was saying…" and again, he was off, rambling here and there about his fabulous tennis exploits, pausing every once in a while for a reaction.
Katsuo smiled. Kachiro nodded.
Katsuo nodded. Kachiro smiled, or tried to at least.
Katsuo smiled again. Just before it was his turn to nod, Kachiro caught a glimpse of long braids out of the corner of his eye. He grinned.
"Hey look! It's Ryuuzaki-san!" he said eagerly, seizing on this new distraction with near frightening enthusiasm. Horio, who had been scowling at the interruption, rapidly turned quite pale. His mouth snapped shut.
Sakuno did not turn to acknowledge them, continuing to stare pensively at the ground. Well, if at first you don't succeed…
"Oiiii, Ryuuzaki-sa-oomph!"
"Kachiro!" his friend admonished, his voice a loud whisper as he once again elbowed his friend, "This is a library. You can't just go yelling at people."
Kachiro rubbed his side, with another half-hearted glare.
"You know, one of these days you're going to miss," he muttered. "And what do you do to your elbows anyway, sharpen them? Besides, do you really want to listen to any more of that?" he said darkly, with a quick, meaningful glance Horio-ward. Katsuo grimaced.
"Fine. Just try not to be so loud." Kachiro gave him an irritated look.
"Ryuuzaaaaakiiiii-saaaaan," he called again, in as loud a whisper as he could manage.
This time, she noticed. More accurately, at the sound of her name, she twitched. She turned, smiling uneasily as her eyes alighted on the trio in the stacks. All too glad of a chance to escape the possibility of another lecture or errant elbow, Kachiro trotted briskly towards her. The other two followed in his wake.
"Ryuuzaki-san, hey!" he said cheerfully when they had reached her. At his side, Katsuo smiled calmly.
"Hello, Ryuuzaki-san."
Sakuno bowed politely, murmuring a quiet greeting in reply, but her eyes were distant, her entire manner much more subdued than usual. Watching her, Horio flushed, his skin an unflattering blotchy purple.
"Murblexhh."
Kachiro glanced over at Katsuo, one eyebrow raised. Katsuo nodded minutely. Kachiro grinned.
Momentarily startled from her stupor, Sakuno tilted her head to the side, eyes wide and curious.
"I'm s-sorry, Horio-kun, I didn't quite catch that."
Horio gulped manfully.
"I said, good afternoon, Ryuuzaki-san," his voice only containing the smallest slivers of pretension. Sakuno smiled weakly.
"Ah, y-yes, it is," she said faintly, trying to sound convincing and failing utterly. Katsuo frowned.
"Ryuuzaki-san, are you alright?"
"H-Huh? Oh!" She smiled again, her cheeks pink with embarrassment, waving her hands placatingly. "Who, me? Well, uh, n—I mean, yes. Yes, I'm fine, r-really," she stuttered, speaking just a little too quickly. Katsuo and Kachiro exchanged a glance, unconvinced. Loudly, Horio cleared his throat. Kachiro and Katsuo braced. Dear god, he isn't--
"Well, you know, Ryuuzaki-san," he said, his tone patronizing, "if you ever need help with class work or, of course, tennis, or anything else you can always come to me."
Kachiro stared at Horio in disbelief. Katsuo winced.
Sakuno smiled, a little wryly. "…Thank you, Horio-kun."
Horio flushed again, looking away.
"I mean it," he said gruffly, his normally nasal voice quiet. "Anything."
The other boys gazed at him in shock. This was Horio? Sakuno smile widened, if a tad nervously.
"That's very—eep!"
Kachiro cocked his head. That's very eep? The other two boys were similarly nonplussed as they watched the color drain from Sakuno's cheeks. She stared as though transfixed, her gaze caught by something in the passage behind them, eyes wide in alarm. Kachiro turned, following her stare. He looked back at the girl--her frightened eyes, her high shoulders, hunching over as if to make her look smaller. Then back down the aisle. What was she so afraid of? All he could see was—
"Echizen!" Horio's loud voice rang out abrasively, echoing slightly.
No, no, no, no, no!
Sakuno's mouth was very dry, her knees shaking slightly as she watched an all-too-familiar figure look up.
For a jarring moment, startled brown eyes met cool hazel. Sakuno forgot to breath. She couldn't move, couldn't think. All she could do was stare.
He's here! Echizen-kun is here!
Her heart almost stopped when, slowly, the figure turned, and, in calm, measured steps, began to walk down the aisle towards them.
As he glanced between the two, Katsuo's features furrowed in a concerned frown.
"Ryuuzaki, is something wrong? Are you alright?"
Ryoma was less than ten feet away now. Sakuno gulped, her mind racing.
No, I am Not Alright! I just had a run-in with some of the most terrifying girls in history, and if they find out that I have so much as looked at Echizen-kun, they will eviscerate me, and feed my remains to the wolves! And they'll cut off my hair!
"I-I have to go," she whispered, her hand tightening its grip on the handle of her schoolbag. Ignoring their startled protests, she turned on her heel and fled.
Horio started. "Ryuuzaki, wai—!"
"Yo."
The boys turned back to look at the newcomer. Confused, and a bit put out, Horio rounded on the tennis prodigy.
"Oi, Echizen! What's going on with you two?" he squawked irritably. "She practically ran away."
Ryoma met Horio's indignant glare with his own flat stare. "It's not my business what Ryuuzaki does."
Was it just Kachiro, or did he sound even colder than usual?
Panting, Sakuno darted through the stacks, glancing this way and that, constantly checking for teachers or signs of pursuit.
Am I far enough away? I don't see anyone. Why did I do that? The smart thing would have been to just act normal until I had thought of a reasonable excuse to leave. Now they probably think I'm weird, or an idiot, or—
Stop.
What? Why? I need to get away, as far from them as possible.
No.
No? What do you mean, "No?" What is this anyway? Am I hearing things again? Have I finally gone crazy? Obaa-chan, I'm sorry! Your only granddaughter has lost her mind, and can't seem to find it--
Go back.
No way. I'm not listening. I can't hear anything. There is no one in my head besides me, there is—Huh? Why am I turning around?! No! Wait! What's going o—!"
Sleep.
Horio coughed. "So, as I was saying—"
Kachiro stifled a yawn. Katsuo sighed, and prepared to put on his "Attentive Listener" face once more.
Ryoma blinked.
"Ryuuzaki."
She stalked towards him, her eyes full of strangeness. Unconsciously, Ryoma took half a step back, bracing as she walked right…past…him?
Ryoma watched, dumbfounded, as, without any further ado, she grabbed Horio's face with her hands and kissed him soundly.
"…"
Horio wasn't struggling all that much. He was still stiff as a board, his entire body rigid, but he hadn't pushed her away. Ryuuzaki moved her hands to cup his jaw, and the boy's previously wide eyes began to close…
Ryoma stepped forward. But Ryuuzaki was already pulling back, stepping away without a word. Something about her expression was not quite right…
"Hey!" The five students turned. At the other end of the aisle stood an old man with a bucket, an old mop, and a crotchety expression. Nakamura Goro continued to glower, his eyes narrowing at the hat-wearing member of the group. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
Behind him, Ryoma heard a quiet gasp, and Ryuuzaki brushed past him. Head down, she hurried past the janitor and out of sight.
During a respite in after school practice Ryoma scowled, bouncing a ball on his racket.
Pok. Pok. Pok.
It was confusing.
Pok, pok, pok.
It was all confusing and messy, and he didn't like it one bit.
PokPokPok.
It was all confusing and messy, and he didn't like it, and he needed to play tennis.
PokPokPokPokPok!
Ryoma caught the ball.
"Kaido-sempai," he said, his voice flat, speaking to the bandana-wearing player behind him who was currently tying his shoe.
"Play a match with me," he said, still not turning around. Kaido's fingers fumbled.
"Hai," he answered, the slightest tremor in his deep voice.
Ryoma turned back slightly, his cap hiding his eyes. Kaido saw the smirk on his kohai's face and shuddered. Ryoma's smile widened, fierce and hungry.
This would be fun.
--
A/N: Hey all! Thanks for reading. Let me know what you liked, didn't like, and why. I'm not as happy with this chapter as I have been with previous ones; any concrit is welcome. Here are the replies to your reviews. Sorry it took me so long.
Next time: A dream, a scheme, and Ryoma's feeling green! (I know it doesn't quite scan, just go with it.) Ye gods, the next chapter actually has some tennis in it.
faeriespark: Thanks! Yes, poor Inui and Sakuno. I feel bad for torturing them...but then, it's so much fun! XD
songstress08: HaHa! Victim is a good word for it! Well, I pretty much failed you on the "soon," but I've got the "update" part at least.
hye kyo: Yay! I'm so happy you liked it! As for the second part...*scuffs ground with toe*...well, the next chapter will be out much faster.
mysweetkat: Ah, yes, poor dear Kaidoh. Yet another character I seem to torture. I hadn't noticed until I reread your review, but I do mean stuff to Kaidoh in this chapter too--making him play a disgruntled Ryoma only the day after he was ravished by Sakuno! XD Hang in there, Kaidoh!
Fire-Chan9490: Go you for guessing right! For such a smart guy, Inui is being awfully dense, isn't he? My in-world explanation for this is that he has also been preoccupied with schoolwork, and so has been too busy to go to his lab. No worries about lateness; as of now, of the two of us, you definitely have the moral high ground!
Devatron2000: Thanks!
mouster: Have I ever mentioned how much I love your reviews? :D They are pure awsomeness. I'm glad that somewhere out there Goro has a fan! I like him too; he's my kind of evil, and it's nice having someone around to put Ryoma in his place. ;) I must confess, when I first read your 'dirt' joke, I snickered. I, too, have a secret weakness for lame puns. Well, not so secret anymore, I guess. Oops.
YuKiOnA-Ga: Thank you so much! And don't worry--even though it may take me a while, I will definitely finish this story.
lani: Sweet! That was what I was going for. Thank you. :)
andrea sonozaki: Man, you and me both. Thanks for the encouragement!
Mitchy: Okay, you are on my official uber-cool people list. Two reviews for one chapter? Five million cookies and the Seigaku regular man-slave of your choice! I'm glad you like the fan club; they may be ever-so-slightly demonic, but they are darn funny. Er. As long as you don't touch, speak to, or breath on Ryoma. :3
Elvira-RM: Thanks for sticking with it. And look! I finally posted!
amethyst: Huzzah for continuation! Here 'tis.
Japanese Words
Kuso!: swearword, about the equivalent of "Damn!" (Naughty Momo!)
Kohai: underclassman