Hina-chan: I was watching a few more episodes of POT. And I had this feeling to write another chapter for you all T^T
Kanna: Finally, summer break is just around the corner...how do you think you did on that literacy test?
Hina-chan: Although it seems easy, it was really confusing as well.
Natsume: You think everything is confusing.
Tatsuya: Natsume-kun, don't be mean to your teacher.
Natsume: Kanna-senpai is my teacher though...right?
Kanna: Er...sort of...
WARNING: Contains a serious and intense tennis battle and also includes winks over at Ryoma's area ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own the anime or the manga!!!
Previously~
"I know, what happened in the past was a mistake and I don't intend to make the same mistake again. Everything will be fine Oishi"
"I wish I knew what you were thinking at times"
The day had finally arrive and Ryoma was getting more and more impatient about what was to come. It was morning still and only two hours before the big match up. He sighed as he got dressed in his most girlish outfit he had by Tezuka's orders. He twirled around in front of the mirror seeing if it was just the sort of thing that his competitors were hoping for. Since the matches were to be private from everyone else, Ryoma thought it wouldn't hurt to dress up like a girl once in a while.
His attire consisted of a red polo t-shirt, a plain yellow vest that had a pocket on either side of it. Instead of his normal cap he usually wore, he had a light blue star hair clip on the right side of his head and a small pony that a little girl would have on the left side of his head. A small, long strapped bag hung from his left shoulder. His pants flared at the knees and had a small, purple flower stitched on the bottom right corner of the pant leg. He winked at himself in the mirror before putting on a red and black choker around his neck.
He hurried down the stairs and grabbed a piece of toast that was on his plate and went for the door. He was about to grab his shoes to put them on until his father stood in his way and blocked him from reaching for them. Ryoma looked up with a confused look but ignored his father and went around the man's feet, grabbing his shoes as he bolted from his previous position. Nanjiroh watched as his flashy-dressed son left the house wearing no shoes.
'Sometimes I wished I had a girl in this family...' The man sighed and retreated to the kitchen table as Nanako began eating her own lunch.
"Ah, the prince finally shows up, what took you so long, Echizen?" Ryoma was out of breath by the time he showed up and began to pant heavily, trying to catch his breath before sitting down on the bench next to Tezuka.
"Oi, Tezuka, please tell me why Echizen-kun is part of this little match"
"You mean to tell me he doesn't know yet?" Ryoma asked, looking over in Tezuka's direction.
"No...I thought it was best you told him if he actually won against me" With that said, Tezuka put his arm around Echizen's shoulder and pulled him closer to his side.
"Don't...you'll ruin my vest and my polo shirt"
Tezuka ignored Ryoma's request and leaned down against his neck, placing small kisses and smirking at Momoshiro and Atobe. Ryoma blushed a bit and pulled away, pushing Tezuka away without much force. Momoshiro glared at the captain with hateful eyes while fixing the net of his raquet.
"Tezuka, please do that in a more private area, this place is for tennis lovers only"
"He's right captain...start the match already" Tezuka gave the two of them a thumbs up to let them know that he was starting the match.
"I'll let Momo serve first, poor guy looks uncomfortable standing there" Atobe ran a hand through his flipped hair while Momoshiro threw the ball into the air.
Atobe smirked and readied himself for the oncoming ball that was vowed to destroy any opponent that was in Momo's way. He watched as the ball came toward him with a lot of power, aiming for his face. Acting on instinct he moved aside to smash the ball back to Momo. Momoshiro was going to go all out and put both his hands on the racket, charging up and bracing himself just in case it was a heavy ball. He was right about the ball being heavy and shot it back at Atobe.
"Hm? Jacknife will not work on a beautful person like myself" Atobe waited for the ball and bent his arm up a bit.
"What the hell kind of stance is that?" Momo blurted out and readied himself for the big blow.
Atobe smiled slyly and gripped his raquet very hard, pushing just a little on the ball but not so much as to turn it in to a full return. He swung his arm forward but not too fast.
"A...a lob?" Momo asked and raced toward the net as fast as he could but missed th ball by five inches.
"15-0"
"Jeez..." Momoshiro gritted his teeth as Atobe served.
He noticed that Atobe served a normal ball instead of hitting one of his techniques and returned the ball swiftly. Atobe ran up to the net and hit the ball with a full force, hitting it back to the right side of the court. Momoshiro cursed himself for falling prey so easily to the attack. Ryoma felt a hand going down his back and down his pants. He gasped when he felt his captain's hand squeezed his buttocks. Momoshiro saw the devilish look in Tezuka's eyes and growled in disappointment as the next ball was headed toward him. Momo smacked the ball in Tezuka's direction, surprising Ryoma and Atobe especially Tezuka himself.
"T-Tezuka...are you alright?" The ball had hit Tezuka on the side of his face and had left a mark on his face as well as a small bump.
"Momo, calm down, this match is free styling right?" Momoshiro just looked away while Ryoma tended to Tezuka's face.
"Maybe it's better if you tell him" Tezuka nodded in agreement.
"Echizen-kun is the girl you saw that night, Atobe-san" Atobe laughed to himself.
"What are you talking about, that was a girl I saw at the...how do you know I even met a girl, are you spying on me?"
"Momo-senpai thought it would be funny to bet on who would lose and who would win. Eiji-senpai and Kawamura-senpai had a match...Eiji-senpai lost and I was forced to wear a dress that night...Momo-senpai came with me but disappeared to eat food. That's when I bumped into you..."
"You mean...that was you...Echizen?" Atobe asked, feeling his lips for a while.
"Yeah. Now there's this big match, if you win you have to win against Tezuka. I understand if you don't want to do it and back out now"
"No, it's fine. A match is a match. No matter what the reason"
"That's fine by me, but I have no intention of losing Ryoma to anyone" Ryoma squirmed while Tezuka held onto the boy next to him.
"Don't hold back Momoshiro, this obviously means war"
"You're damn right it does...ha!" Momoshiro served a fast ball but it was caught before it could land.
Atobe caused the ball to go up and turned it into another lob. Making Momoshiro think it was a lob, Atobe jumped up and smashed the ball toward Momo's wrist and cause Momo to move his arm away.
"Rondo towards destruction!" Momoshiro said in a surprised voice.
Before Momo could react to the attack, the ball reached the ground and rolled down a little and stopped.
"What's the matter Momoshiro? Echizen-kun is the prize so why aren't you participating with full energy?" Atobe sneered and began to serve another ball.
Momoshiro gripped the handle of his racket and swung at the served ball that was coming at him. He hit like he was in a baseball game, releasing his jackknife once again.
"I told you didn't I?" Atobe smashed the ball backhanded.
"That my jackknife won't work, I know, doesn't hurt to try!" Momo turned it into a lob and jumped up with great power, smashing the ball toward the left side of the court.
"Ah, the dunk smash was it?"
"The one and only, I'm sorry to burst your large and rich bubble but I'll be the one to win Echizen's heart, right, Echizen?"
"Mada Mada dane" Ryoma replied.
"I wonder if Ryoma-kun forgot..." Sakuno wondered to herself as she looked at her watch again. She had been standing there for at least ten minutes straight.
She had her hair down and had dressed up nicely for him as well, hoping he wouldn't let her down. Her face saddened a bit and she looked at the traffic under the bridge.
"Oh, Sakuno-chan?" Sakuno looked up and noticed Oishi and Eiji walking toward her.
"Ah, E-Eiji-senpai, Oishi-senpai. Good afternoon" Sakuno bowed.
"Hey, hey, did kiddo show up yet?" Sakuno shook her head sadly.
"He hasn't shown up at all yet but I'm still going to wait for him"
"Eh, you mean Echizen went to the match without telling the poor girl?" Eiji became sad and latched onto Oishi.
"W-what match?"
"Sorry, I'll tell you in Echizen's place. Echizen was asked to watch the match between Momo and Atobe-san"
"I see...oh well, um...Eiji-senpai, there is something that Fuji-senpai wanted to talk to you about, I don't know the full details but...he wanted to talk to you in private sometime today if you had free time"
"Hm...Fuji wants to see me?" Sakuno nodded.
"Well, I have to go now, goodbye!" Sakuno bowed and ran off in a hurry.
"I feel a little bad for her having to wait for Echizen..."
"Yeah..." Oishi and Eiji went on their way.
"Why don't you give up, it's 3-4, you'll be finished by the 5th game" Atobe spoke out as he smashed another ball to the left side.
"Shut up!" Momoshiro lashed out in anger by slamming the ball with his racket, causing it to bounce up in the air, giving Atobe a chance to smash it past Momo's head.
"Can you tell what Atobe-san's doing, Ryoma?"
"Yeah...Momo-senpai doesn't realize it though. He keeps running back and forth and both sides kind of like Kaido-senpai's snake right?"
"Ah..."
"Momoshiro-kun, you look very exhausted, are you sure you don't want to take a break?"
"I'm...ha...sure..." Momo replied and wiped away the sweat that clung to his forehead.
Atobe smirked and threw the ball into the air carefully. He smiled a bit and hit the ball toward Momoshiro. It was a normal serve but Momoshiro never knew what was about to hit him. He gritted his teeth and smashed the ball past Atobe.
"15-0"
"That will be your last winning game, Momoshiro" Atobe put his hand on his face and looked frantically around his opponent's play area, visualizing every step before Momo served the ball.
"Don't count on it!" Momoshiro meant to hit the ball at the right side of the court but Atobe somehow saw through the attack and hit the ball back, aiming for Momoshiro's blind spot.
Momo saw that the ball was aiming behind him and he quickly jumped back to catch the ball before it had a chance to bounce. He held out his raquet as best as he could and forced the ball back to the other side of the net, turning the spin that Atobe had put on the ball, into a volley. Atobe acted quickly and swiftly ran toward the net, smacking the ball back over toward the right side of the court.
"15-15"
"Is this all you have to show me, you really must not love Echizen-kun that much"
"Bastard..." Momo slowly got up and shook off whatever sweat was left on him and tried to clear his head for the game.
Momoshiro took a few breaths in and began to jump. Atobe saw this and smacked the ball as hard as he could. The ball landed past Momoshiro before he had a chance to even chase after the ball at all.
"W-what the hell?" Momoshiro asked, looking around.
"When things get heated up for me, I get really serious"
"15-30" Momoshiro snarled at Atobe and began jumping again.
"I've seen through your attack mode and your plans, I won't be defeated so easily"
"You speak too much for such a good player, serve already!" Atobe growled at him and served the same serve he did last time.
"3-5, change courts" Atobe smiled and winked at Echizen while walking past the bench.
Ryoma sighed as both the men on the courts readied themselves for another game of tennis. Momoshiro began his jumping again while Atobe served the fast ball again. Momo saw where the ball was headed and caught it just in time, smashing it with his jackknife at full power. Atobe had a tough time holding onto the ball but returned the ball. Momoshiro smashed another jackknife at Atobe and was starting to smile that he had fallen for his trick.
"Atobe-san is in for it now..."
"Yeah" Tezuka replied as the two of them continued to watch the powerful and fast match that was happening before them.
"15-0 all right!" Momoshiro jumped for joy and served a dunk smash.
Atobe scowled at Momo and jumped up in the air, smashing the ball faster than Momo could react. The ball hit the racket out of Momoshiro's hand as he returned to the ground gracefully.
"15-15"
"You're getting too cocky" Momoshiro picked his raquet up quickly and got ready for the serve attack.
Atobe served another fast ball and Momoshiro couldn't reach the ball in time. Again and again, Atobe kept serving a fast ball each and every time. The game had ended with a 4-6 and Momoshiro was taking it pretty badly.
"Oi, captain Tezuka. You're up next!" Atobe put his hand on his hip and smiled at Ryoma and Tezuka.
"You should rest first, your battle with me might be more challenging"
"Hmph..." Atobe sat on the bench that was on the other side of the tennis courts and placed a wet towel over his head.
"Momo-senpai...good match"
"Ah....see ya later Echizen" Ryoma went to go after him but Tezuka pulled him back.
"Tezuka, he might quit tennis"
"If he loves tennis more than anything, he will not quit"
"I guess so..." Ryoma sat back down on the bench.
A/n: :D That's it for this long baby, I will be back with another new chapter ok? Review until then!