Chapter 9

Of Rain and feelings

The next few days were as regular as they could get with this team. It all seemed so natural for me now. School, math with Syusuke, tennis, the pizzeria, going to the café, going to Taka's, randomly meeting most of the tennis team around school, getting answers from Tezuka in ten words or less. It wasn't until one day when me and Kaho decided to stay over for the tennis practice that something unusual was happening. First, it seemed like the regulars were being paired off against each other, and it also seemed like they would all be playing at the same time. The first game would be Syusuke and Ryoma, Oishi and Eiji after a few minutes would start on another court, then Taka and Kaidoh, and Momo and Tezuka. I was inexplicably surprised at this, mostly considering that they would be playing during the weekend, and it was merely Thursday. I walked over to where Oishi, Syusuke and Inui were standing; Kaho following closely and keeping an eye on Oishi.

"Special Inui training?" I asked as I got near them.

"Nope, this it seems is Coach Ryusaki and Tezuka's idea." Oishi said looking at the pair in question.

"It'll be fun" Syusuke said.

"You are just saying that cause you've been wanting to play against Ryoma for a while" I said a little teasingly.

"You knew?" he asked, his eyes seemed… off… at least from the rest of his expression.

"You get that look in your face when you see his matches lately" I said a little offhandedly, not noting his expression at all.

"Good data" Inui said scribbling down something.

Just then Syusuke was called by Coach Ryusaki, and the match soon begun.

He did look back once or twice at me, as he readied himself for the match. As everyone gathered around the court, the match slowly picked the pace up. It seemed like they would be evenly matched, but after a while Syusuke was forced to do a lob, which Ryoma set himself up to smash.

"That's not going to work" Momo said with a smirk.

I stopped paying attention to the conversation and saw how Ryoma smashed the ball, and then Syusuke did a turning motion, and hit the ball back, behind Echizen, and too far for him to try an return.

"Higuma Otoshi" Inui said, scribbling madly in his notebook. "The second triple counter."

Ryoma looked half surprised but also half amused or excited it would seem. Soon enough, it was about forcing Syusuke to lob, and then trying to brake Higuma Otoshi. The match went on, until the other guys had to leave to their respective matches. I stayed between the courts where Eiji and Oishi were playing, and I kept watch on Syusuke's match.

It didn't take that long before the skies darkened and rain started to pour down. Tezuka had already beaten Momo, and the other matches stopped after the rain got bad, but Syusuke and Ryoma kept going. It didn't matter to them that they could get injured, or sick for that matter. Then Ryoma did the impossible, somehow Syusuke's Higuma Otoshi landed out, and Ryoma go the point. It was then when I noticed what he did, the ball had hit the net, and with the deflection, Syusuke couldn't hit it to perfection and the ball was out. The look on their faces as they continued the match was pure enjoyment. But it was a game cut short when Coach Ryusaki came out and yelled at them for their stupisdity of playing in the rain. I had taken partial cover under a tree so I wasn't soaked to the bone. Syusuke's look as he came out of the court held me in place, and made me wait out until he got ready to leave.

I saw as most of the guys left soon after, and noted how Kaho was sharing an umbrella with Oishi while Eiji bounced around them. Momo and Ryoma left together, and Kaidoh went one way, while Inui and Taka set off in others. Only Tezuka and Syusuke were missing, and sure enough, Tezuka left the clubhouse a few minutes later. I walked over thinking Syusuke would be right behind him, but when I noticed he wasn't and Tezuka noted me, he also waved me over.

"You can go in, he is ready, but he might be a while" Tezuka said, and opened an umbrella.

"I don't want to disturb him" I said and looked at the clubhouse.

"You won't" he said and nodded in goodbye.

I took notice on how he said that. It was almost as if he added that intentional emphasis on the word you. I chose not to think about it much, and just head into the clubhouse, as the rain got a little harsher. The first thing I noticed was Syusuke sitting on the bench by the door, and looking out the window. He was wearing his school uniform pants, and his shirt, but the shirt was halfway opened, and the jacket lay on the ground next to him. I walked over as he basically didn't notice me and picked up the jacket from the ground and put it in his lap, while I sat across from him. He finally looked over and stared for a few minutes before looking back out the window.

"You were winning" I said.

"But he was getting better"

"You want to finish the game"

"Yes"

"Are you disappointed you didn't"

"Yes, but not because of the game"

"Why then?"

"Because of what it made me feel"

"Excited"

"Saa… somewhat, it was like playing an opponent whom the more you tried, he would still improve, and so you had to play to your highest skill to beat him"

"It doesn't happen in every game?"

"I don't know. I've never felt the need to play to my fullest… until now"

"That's what you told Tezuka just now?"

"More like he told me. I asked him if he felt like this when he played Ryoma… He said I have never played to the best of my abilities, because I have never felt it as a challenge for me to play as such."

"But you've been wanting to play Ryoma for a while, was it because you knew he would be a challenge?"

"I don't know… maybe… I was amazed at his natural skill, and at his progress"

"Because he might be better than you?" I asked a little incredulously.

He chuckled at that, and looked back outside. "Who knows, maybe or maybe not" he said and then looked back at me. "Why aren't you on your way home?"

"It's raining"

"It's called an umbrella"

"I was worried"

"About me?"

"No… Yes… Sort of"

"Vague"

"I felt like you needed to talk"

He nodded but didn't say anything at that. We stayed quiet for a little while, before he asked about the pizzeria, and then we veered topic randomly until the rain softened enough that we wouldn't get completely soaked. As usual he walked me home, and as usual I watched him disappear down the street, but something different happened. When he reached the next streetlamp on his way, he stopped, and looked up to the sky for a moment before he continued walking.

The wait until the Yamabuki game was filled with several incidents that made people wary about the time. First it was one that I witnessed with Kaho. We'd been walking around the tennis courts when we saw this guy walking away, and he just looked weird. We went the way he left only to find Ryoma, his face bloodied and filled with scratches, Kachiro with what looked to be a soon black eye, and Arai beaten up as well. We helped them to the nurses office, and noticed that none of them wished to say what had actually happened. The next incident I only heard about, and it happened that same day. Something about that particular guy, a girl, and a glass of soda dumped on Taka's head, and a challenge by Ryoma.

The game against Yamabuki was interesting to say the least. Won and lost in doubles, and Momo won in Singles 3 with an amazing effort. Then Ryoma played that creepy Akutsu guy. Let's just say, his tennis style was odd. Seigaku won, and we celebrated winning the entire tournament at Kawamura's knowing that soon again there would be another intraschool tournament to look forward to.

After all the celebrating, Syusuke decided to walk me home as usual. I didn't even bother telling him he didn't have to anymore. Besides, I always found his company quite pleasing. Though something did happen this time, something I really did not expect. We were on the sidewalk, a few minutes after leaving Kawamura's; I stumbled on something and fell forward, my hand hit the pavement so I wouldn't fall face first, but I didn't finish falling, as Syusuke took me by the waist and held me from completely falling. He lifted me up too quickly, and we ended up standing close together, looking at each other. It took about a minute of staring at each other, before he looked down, and noticed something. I didn't look away from his face, and I slowly felt the hand that I had used to brace my fall, being lifted, and I could see his eyes widening just a tiny bit. His deep blue eyes, that could very well have pierced me still, unable to look away, or even realize what was going on. And then he spoke.

"You're bleeding" he said, and I looked to my now bloodied hand.

He walked all the way home with me, but he didn't leave me at the door. He went in, and hanging out at my house as often as he did, he went for the first aid kit, on his own, leaving me sitting on the kitchen counter.

He slowly cleaned my hand, taking extreme care not to cause me any pain, and soon, he was putting the disinfectant, and wrapping a bandage around it. I would have cared about the slight stinging, if my hand didn't feel like burning whenever I felt his fingers on it. At one point he was finally done, and I had to keep from pouting at the loss of contact.

"It should be ok soon. Just keep it clean" he said, taking his tennis jacket, which I didn't notice he'd taken off. "I'm heading out now"

"Thank you" I managed as I walked him to the door.

"It's fine" he said. "See you on Monday"

I noticed his eyes stayed open, right until he left, and even after he did, as if something was keeping him from being his utterly happy self. I walked back to my room, and realized something very important. At some point during our friendship, I'd come to grow attracted to Syusuke… I had a crush.