Everyone! Go to my profile and check out my website! It has profiles and pictures of my OCs and for all of you who want to know the characters better, the profiles are detailed!^^

Chapter 17

Competition Over! (Well Almost)

Tezuka was standing on the the front porch of the beach house. His hands gripped the railing around the porch so hard that his knuckles turned white. He still had no expression on his face. It was as stoic as ever, but there was a burning look in his eyes. His eyes were burning in an angry way, and he worked hard to control his breathing.

He had failed. He just wanted to protect Tsubaki because he knew how Yukimura could really be. Yukimura was a nice and polite person, that was true, but there was a side of him that could be dangerous. That was why he had been with Tsubaki so much, he didn't want her to get hurt by that side of Yukimura. Also . . . he didn't know why, but he just felt . . . unsettled when she was with Yukimura. He didn't like it at all. It was a feeling in his gut that made him uncomfortable. The sooner Tsubaki stopped being around Yukimura, the sooner the feeling would go away.

Tezuka had woken up early. The training for that day wasn't scheduled until eight o' clock, but he had woken up at 5:45 and he wasn't able to go back to sleep. In fact, for the whole night, Tezuka had had a hard time sleeping. He didn't toss and turn, but he just laid there unable to go to sleep. When he was able to sleep, he would wake up and then doze off again. The cycle kept continuing like that. By six o' clock, he had showered, dressed, and eaten. He was fast. Efficient.

Tezuka didn't turn as he heard the others starting to wake up. He could hear the sound of someone's alarm clock ringing through an open window on the second floor. The beach house was really big. Bigger than most houses. The sounds of footsteps were also heard as they traveled upstairs and then down the stairs.

The door to the porch creaked open and Tezuka turned around to see Tsubaki. She was already fully dressed and bathed too. She would never allow someone to see her in her pajamas once she woke up, it was something that she made sure of. It seemed lazy to her to travel around the house still in pajamas after waking up.

"You're awake early, Tezuka," she commented.

"Yes, but I see that you're fully dressed too," Tezuka replied almost stiffly.

"The others are just starting to wake up. Should we start early today?"

"I think we should decide that as soon as everyone wakes up first. Also, Tsubaki."

"Yes?"

Tezuka hesitated for a second. He didn't want to be obvious about his aversion to Tsubaki being with Yukimura. "Would you mind just sticking to the Seigaku team today?"

Tsubaki raised an eyebrow at Tezuka's request. "Sure, but why?"

"It's just that I've noticed that you've been spending a lot of time with the other teams, and I was hoping today we could just have a private all-Seigaku training regiment. Inui already thought it up."

"That sounds like a good idea." Tsubaki took a sip of tea from the cup she was holding. The aroma wafted over to Tezuka and he turned to stare at Tsubaki next to him.

Tezuka still remembered the feel of Tsubaki's hand in his. He didn't mean to grab her hand last night, he had just wanted to comfort her, but when he tried to let go, she had held on tighter, and for some reason, that made his heart beat.

Tsubaki's short, curly/wavy black hair was blowing gently in the wind and she had a serious expression on her face. There was a small crease between her eyebrows as she was thinking about something.

"What are you thinking about?" Tezuka inquired.

Tsubaki snapped out of her revery and looked up at Tezuka with serious black eyes. She seemed confused for half a second but then she replied, "It's nothing. It's not even important. I was just thinking about something that happened last night."

Tezuka felt a dull throbbing pain in his chest. He was confused about what it meant. It wasn't heartburn, so what could it be? It hurt, but it wasn't painful or anything. Tezuka held a hand up to his chest for a second to try to figure out what was wrong with him.

He knew what Tsubaki was talking about when she mentioned the thing she was thinking about. It was Yukimura's kiss that she was thinking about. The more he thought about her thinking about it, the more the throbbing pain became apparent. He calmed down a bit though when he rethought on what she said about it. She said it was nothing and that it wasn't important.

"You have such a serious expression on your face," Tsubaki commented.

"I always do," Tezuka replied.

Tsubaki just shrugged her shoulders. "You should be coming in now to eat breakfast. Unless you already ate without us."

"I already ate."

"Then you should get your things together so we can go training as soon as possible."

Tsubaki walked back inside. In the dining room, all of the Seigaku girl and boy regulars were gathered there. They had tired expressions on their faces and some of them leaned their heads on the table.

Kumiko had a pissed off expression on her face as Oishi was talking to her about tennis and training. She already knew all that he was telling her, so why was he still talking? She wanted to make him shut up but she was a bit too tired for that right then.

"Can you stop talking?" Kumiko cut in.

"Kumiko-san," Oishi sighed, "it's not polite to cut in like that. Not only that, but that was a very rude thing to say! You should at least say excuse me."

"Well sor-ry! What are you? The manners police?" Kumiko was grumbling while she was saying that. She continued to list things about Oishi that she thought was annoying. His politeness, his care for others, the fact that he was nice to everyone, how he took care of everyone. Those were just some of the things she listed.

Sitting on Kumiko's other side was Eiji and he had a confused look on his face. He cut in while Kumiko was still talking and asked, "Why do you not like those things about Oishi? Those are good qualities! That's what everyone likes about him! And yet you're the only one that doesn't like those things about him!"

"You know," Kumiko hissed, "it's not polite to interrupt someone while they're talking! Not only that, but I was in the middle of something!"

Eiji and Oishi were silent after Kumiko said that. Eiji gave out a small laugh that he tried to hold in.

"What?" Kumiko asked. "What?"

"It just . . ." Eiji tried to hold back his laughter some more. "It's just that you sounded exactly like Oishi! And that's a trait you don't like about him!" Eiji burst out into laughter as soon as he said that.

"What?" Kumiko screeched. "You have got to be kidding me! I'm turning into him? I'm becoming like him?" Kumiko suddenly stood up from her seat. "I have to get out of here! I'm being contaminated by him! I have to leave before I become nice!" Kumiko ran out the door as soon as she was done saying that. Her expression was shocked and she almost tripped over her chair as she rushed to get out.

"Wait!" Oishi called out. "Kumiko-san! It's not good to wander around alone like that! Plus, we're going to go train soon! Come back!" Oishi hurried to follow Kumiko out.

"Those two have got to learn to get along," Miki muttered.

"I don't think Kumiko-san likes Oishi-san that much. She seems to hate him . . . ," Takashi replied next to Miki.

Miki took a bite out of her apple before asking, "Are we the only two people on the teams who don't hate each other?"

"Well, there's also Aine and Momoshiro."

"Yeah, but Aine doesn't hate anybody. It's impossible for her to hate anybody. That's just how she is."

"Ah, I see your point Miki-san." Takashi smiled at the thought of another girl regular not hating the guys. He didn't like the conflict that was going on. They were all on the tennis teams, and they went to the same school, so there was no need to hate each other.

"Oh, and Taka-san?" Miki turned to look at Takashi.

"Yes? Miki-san?"

"It's okay if you call me Miki-chan. -san just sounds so . . . formal. We're friends aren't we?"

Takashi was surprised for a moment. "Yes, we are friends."

"Then you can call me that."

"That would be nice." Takashi smiled again, but this time it was directed towards Miki. He hoped that the girls' team and the guys' team could be friends too.

Meanwhile . . . sitting right across from Takashi and Miki was Koizumi and Eiji. Koizumi seemed too tired to hurt Eiji, and for that he was grateful. He didn't want to talk to her though, because he thought that if he brought attention to himself, then that would mean that she would start to hurt him again. So he just sat quietly next to her, silently eating his breakfast.

All of a sudden, a sharp pain burst from his foot. He looked down to see that Koizumi had stepped on it with the heel of her foot.

"What was that for?" Eiji asked in a painful gasp.

"That's for breaking my guitar," Koizumi replied without even looking up from her food. A bored and tired expression was still on her face as she said that.

"I said I was sorry, Koizumi-chan! Please forgive me!" Eiji pleaded with Koizumi.

"All this time we've known each other, you've mostly called me Koizumi, but now you're calling me Koizumi-chan? What's with the change?"

"Uh . . . no reason! But anyways, please please please forgive me! I'm begging you!"

"Maybe . . ." A strange expression suddenly crossed Koizumi's face. "Only if you train with me all day today."

"Um . . . train with you?" Eiji gulped a loud gulp as he remembered what happened the last time he and Koizumi had trained together after he broke her guitar. She had tried to hurt him very badly. "Um . . . okay Koizumi . . . but only for today right?"

"Uh . . . sure! Whatever you say." Koizumi turned away from him and chuckled an evil laugh.

"What was that?" Eiji suddenly asked.

"What was what?" Koizumi asked back a bit too innocently. "I didn't hear anything."

"Right . . ." Eiji suppressed a shudder and went back to his breakfast.

Minutes later, Oishi had come back dragging a very very very very angry Kumiko who as spewing profanities out of her mouth faster than Kamio and his speed.

"Let's go to training already," Oishi sighed. "Maybe it'll stop Kumiko from cussing."

Tezuka came in after them and said, "That's a wonderful idea, Oishi."

They all left the beach house and started heading for the training grounds.

Inui stopped everyone and said, "Since today is a Seigaku only training session. We're going to be training somewhere else today!"

"Where?" everyone asked.

"It's a secret, private, training location not that far from here."

"How can it be secret if it's not that far from here?" Ayumi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You'll see." Inui pushed his glasses further up his nose.

They all started walking with Inui leading the way. There was some inquiries about where they were going, but Inui was as tight-lipped as ever for some reason. He refused to let them know where they were going.

Soon, they reached their destination. It wasn't exactly a secret location per se . . . it was more like it was unused in a long time, but the place had been cleaned up and looked almost as good as new.

"This reminds me of our training courts when we went to the mountains in middle school," Ryoma muttered.

"I know," Inui replied. "That's why I chose this place."

"It looks . . . old," Ayumi commented.

"It is, but it'll do for our training needs."

The girls and guys split up as they started to train. At first, the girls were only training with the girls. They did sit-ups, push-ups, and they ran laps. After they did the basics, they started to play against each other. The guys did some training with weights as Inui watched them and recorded how many pounds they could take.

"I have a surprise for everyone!" Inui laughed. He held up a bottle of Super Deluxe Inui Juice.

Everyone paled visibly as they saw what was in his hand.

"That's only for the guys, right?" Ayumi asked.

"No this is for everyone," Inui replied.

The girls gulped. They had heard about the juice, and some of them even tasted it. They knew that they would be sick if they drank it.

"What are the conditions?" Kumiko asked.

"Let's all see who can last the longest while running laps with weights strapped onto them."

"Okay, that'll be easy!" Saori exclaimed.

They all got weights strapped onto their bodies and they were all jogging in place to test it out. It was ten pounds strapped to their bodies.

"Ten pounds isn't that much," Koizumi commented.

"You girls can actually take it?" Kaido asked surprised.

The mood on the girls' side darkened and they all had a glaringly red aura around them as anger started to swell up.

"We train just as hard as you guys!" Saori shouted.

"Yeah!" Faye agreed.

"We might even train harder than you guys," Miki added in.

The guys all backed up from the girls' angry aura. Then they said, "We're sorry. We didn't realize."

As they were set on the track, Inui explained the route they were suppose to take. "Whoever can't run anymore will have to drink the Inui juice."

They all started running then. At first, the weights didn't even bother anyone, but after ten laps, the weights really started to drag them down. They were slowing, and it was getting hard for both the girls and boys to keep up running, but none of them wanted to stop because they would have to drink the Inui juice.

"I . . . have to . . . keep going!" Saori gasped out.

Koizumi was running besides Eiji. He was struggling a bit more than her since his stamina wasn't as good. Koizumi stuck out her leg and Eiji tumbled over it. He fell on Momoshiro and they were both out as they tumbled down the hill and landed in a bush. Momoshiro was yelling at Eiji the whole way down and Koizumi stifled her laughter as she saw both of the guys go down the hill. Poor Eiji, he had promsied to train with Koizumi. She looked around to see if any of the guys saw her trip Eiji, but the only ones that saw were the girls and they were trying not to laugh either.

"This bush has a lot of thorns!" Eiji cried out from the bottom of the hill.

"This really hurts. Thanks a lot Eiji-sempai!" Momoshiro shouted.

Inui crept behind the two guys and held out his strange brownish-gold juice.

The regulars still running heard screams of pain from the bottom of the hill and they all shivered.

Soon, more than half of the people had dropped out due to *cough cough* tripping, and various other things.

The only ones left were Tsubaki and Tezuka. Inui decided to call it quits since everyone had been running for so long. Hours in fact. The other regulars were gasping and drinking as much water as they could. They were scattered around the old courts and were lying down on the grass.

"Is it . . . is it over yet?" Saori gasped out.

"I think so," Kaido replied.

Saori was lying next to Kaido and they were both panting for breath. They wanted to get the taste of Inui juice out of their mouth as soon as they could, so they were talking to each other.

"I'm so happy then," Saori said.

"I know. I never want to taste Inui juice again."

Saori tried to get up, but then she slipped and fell on Kaido. They both groaned because 1) they were so tired and 2) the Inui juice had affected them a lot.

"I'm sorry," Saori groaned.

"I am too," Kaido said sarcastically. He gently pushed her off of him and they both continued to lay there.

"I'm just going to lie here for a bit longer," Saori commented.

"Me too."

Fuji was the only one who wasn't lying down and moaning because of their stomach pains. He sat down next to Faye who was leaning against a tree. She closed her eyes as she rested, and she decided to ignore Fuji who sat down next to her.

"You don't like Inui juice, Faye?" Fuji asked.

"I don't like it one bit," she replied.

"Well, I suppose that's just too bad then." There was no one around to watch the two, and yet, Fuji was still acting so nice towards her and he was being around her too. He usually only did that when they were in public, not when they were alone at some secret training courts.

"Why are you still acting like this towards me?" Faye inquired. "We're not in public, so there's no reason to do this."

"Well, I like hanging out with you. You're fun," Fuji replied. 'Fun to tease,' he actually thought.

"Yeah, right, sure."

"You know, you were really cute in that yukata during the Hanami festival. You should wear one again. I would also like you see you in a dress."

"Why?"

"Just because."

Fuji and Faye's conversation was interrupted when Inui called out, "Let's go back now everyone! Get up so we can go back!"

Everyone gave out groans as they stood up and started to walk slowly back to the beach house. It had been a long day, and even though they had trained in the morning, it was nothing like the training they had in the afternoon.

As they were walking back, they saw the other teams coming back to their beach houses from the main training courts. Yukimura looked at Tsubaki, but she quickly looked somewhere else. She didn't want to deal with him yet. She just wanted some time away from him. She already felt awkward after what happened because she couldn't return his feelings. Yukimura looked away from Tsubaki and locked eyes with Tezuka. He gave him a smirk.

Tezuka stopped everyone and they all stared at him in a confused way as they saw that Tezuka was walking towards Yukimura.

"Yukimura-san," Tezuka said, "I would be honors if I could play a match with you." There was a strange glint in Tezuka's eyes as he said that.

"Of course Tezuka-san. I've always wanted to play you too."

The two went on the court and started to play against each other. In the first serve they were already going all out. They wanted a quick match, and they both wanted to win very very badly. All of the Seigaku members stared open mouthed at the two playing their best.

The two kept tying and because they were going all out, they soon got tired, but none of them gave up. They kept on playing no matter what. The match went on for a long time. Longer than they both expected. It looked like the two would collapse at any moment, but none of them stopped. It wasn't just a regular practice match, it was more than that. Tezuka was angry that Yukimura kissed Tsubaki (he didn't exactly understand why he was angry at that, but he just was angry) and Yukimura didn't like how Tezuka was always with Tsubaki when he wanted to be with Tsubaki. They were at a tiebreak and it kept continuing where one would score a point, and then the other so that they were following each other.

"Tezuka," Tsubaki called out from the sidelines.

Tezuka quickly turned around to face Tsubaki. Even Yukimura stopped playing to see what Tsubaki had to say.

"I think we should be getting back to the beach house. All of the team members are tired, and you could continue this practice match with Yukimura whenever you wanted. So I think it would be best if you just stopped now," Tsubaki stated.

Tezuka hesitated before turning back to Yukimura and asking, "Yukimura-san, is it okay if we continue this some other time. I think Tsubaki-san has a point."

"Of course it's fine," Yukimura replied. "I'll be looking forward to playing you again." Yukimura gave him a hard glare before quickly reverting to his sweet look.

The team started to head back to the beach house, but Momoshiro quickly excused himself, he said that he had to do something very important and that it couldn't wait. All of the members raised their eyebrows as they wondered what could be so important, but Momoshiro ran off before they could ask. They all just shrugged their shoulders and started to head back, but Aine couldn't help but worry about Momoshiro so she ran after him.

She saw him, and she was about to call his name, but he was with his girlfriend Mei. Aine quickly hid behind a beach umbrella as he saw them talk.

"Mei-chan," Momo started with a somber voice.

"Yes? Momo-kun?" she replied smiling.

"I don't think this will work out between us."

Mei was silent for a moment before tears started to well up in her eyes and her cheeks started to get red from anger. "What's wrong with us? I thought we were getting along fine! There's no reason for you to do this."

"I just don't feel as if I like you as much anymore. Also, you're not very nice to my teammates. You seem to hate Aine, and all she's done so far is be happy for us. So I really don't think this will work."

"You're breaking up with me for her aren't you? I knew it! That's why I hate her!" Mei slapped Momoshiro and ran off. Her reaction was too over-reactive and Momoshiro was sort of glad that he broke it up with her before she could get too attached and hurt him more when he broke up with her.

There was a red mark across Momoshiro's face, and he sighed and started to head back to the beach house. Aine popped out from behind the beach umbrella with a surprised look on her face. She almost looked like she was about to cry.

"Aine-chan . . ." Momoshiro started to explain.

Aine shoved Momoshiro and shouted, "How could you make a girl cry? That was mean of you Momoshiro-kun! Go and apologize to her!"

"But . . ."

"No buts!"

"She was being so mean about you!"

"What?" Aine had a confused look on her face.

"She was being mean about you and everything. She didn't really like anyone on Seigaku."

"What did we do to deserve that?" Aine asked.

"Let's just go back to the beach house okay? And don't worry too much about her. You're too nice of a person, Aine-chan. That's what everybody likes about you though. That's why I didn't understand why she hated you."

"Yeah . . ."

Aine walked silently back to the house with Momoshiro. However, unbeknownst to them, they were being watched through a pair of binoculars.

"So, Momoshiro-san broke up with Mei-san eh," Inui said as he wrote down in his notebook. "I wonder, is it because of Aine-chan like what Mei-san had said before she slapped him? Well, I guess I'll find out in time." Inui closed his notebook and an unnatural gleam crossed his glasses. "Not only that, but Tezuka seems to have a rivalry with Yukimura-san. This is just getting interesting."

Thank you everybody for reading my story! It makes me really happy.^^

Also, if you all have the time to do so, please review because it makes me happy and encourages me! I can't wait to read all of your reviews and I'll get another chapter rolling as soon as I can! So enjoy and the next chapter will come out soon. :)

If you want to see the characters. They're on my profile as usual, and don't forgot to vote for your favorite OC!