A/N: In my prologue, if you guys remembered, I typed that Atobe's first time to see Hotaru's expression is that time when he gave her the annulment papers of their engagement and the 'restraint order', if that's what it called. However, I always write in the next chapters about how he sees Hotaru's expressions without her knowing them sometimes, or she thought that no one see her but thought wrong.
I would say that it was like that so it would not appear that Atobe didn't entirely care about her and I want him to have a little glimpse at Hotaru's indifferent façade because, as I say, he's the only one she ever loved, and always will.
WARNING: Amnesia's rating may change from rated T to rated M; most likely for the violence part that will occur in the next chapters, and although I said that I will not put any smut/lemon/citrus/whatever you guys call it, I still think that I may use some for the upcoming events. Also, you may find the following chapters grotesque or insanely hard to read because of the high violence.
I know that this fanfiction gets more and more darker, and even I don't like where it is going but I think that these chapters may help me bring out the most beautiful part. As some say, "There is no beauty without ugly."
Bold letters are for the extras' parts.
I want to thank Helloimlxs. Thank you very much for following and such.
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
Two month had passed and Atobe and his friends are on his house again to have a pool party. He sat on a lounge chair underneath a big umbrella, his wallet, phone, and glasses propped in the table beside him. He called out his friends because he's getting bored and frustrated at the same time. It's been two months... two months.. and he still couldn't forget the despair he saw on Hotaru's face and it was haunting him every night in his sleep.
Once, he decided to get advice from one of his friends, Oshitari perhaps, because he was the one who gave him the tickets. But then, he decided not to. He remembered when they met after that fateful day on Monday, he was on his English class and the teacher was out because of a sudden meeting. Oshitari, Gakuto, Shishido, and Jiro walked up to him and began asking about his date with Hotaru.
His answer, "I don't know what you are talking about!"
After that, they didn't ask any more. They always know when to bother their captain, or push him to the edge. But that doesn't mean that they do not talk about it in private.
Then he heard Oshitari and Gakuto's loud voice from the tennis club's locker room talking that maybe their captain and Kinomichi-san ended up in a love hotel and he did wonderful things on her. Or the date went wrong somehow and it upsets their dear captain that's why he's grumpy.
What they didn't know was that he planned on hurting Hotaru's feelings; that every time he sees her on some of the occasions of upper-class families, she avoids him. His pride always stop him from apologizing to her. And he still thinks that his father is way closer to Hotaru if the concerns she gets from his dad is any indication.
He heard about Hotaru getting suspended or something, but he doesn't know if that is true. He eavesdropped once and heard that his father fixed some things on Hotaru's school so that he could protect her. Atobe was real pissed that time and he didn't eat dinner that night with his father again.
That's why he held a pool party because he wanted to relax.
"Our training camp is on two months already," Oshitari mentioned beside him.
"Yeah," Shishido answered. "I still couldn't believe that we won on the prefectural. That was really amazing." He looked at their captain with high respect in his eyes.
Gakuto, in his swim shorts and water dripping from his wet body, walked to them to grab his juice, and said, "Baka! You should already believe it!"
Shishido frowned at him before picking him up and throwing him back into the swimming pool. Gakuto gasped and coughed up before saying, "Damn you!"
Oshitari and Shishido just laughed.
When Shishido jumped in the pool leaving Oshitari and Atobe alone, the former turned towards his captain and said, "You're so silent. You've been like that since then."
"Hn," he murmured. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know what I'm talking about," Oshitari said. "Did something wrong happened on your date with Hotaru-chan?"
"There's no date."
Oshitari's eyes went wide, "No date!? How so?"
"I didn't show up," he answered meekly, and Oshitari exploded.
"You ditched her!?" Everyone looked at their direction.
"I do not want to talk about that now," he abruptly changed the subject, "So the camp is two months from now? Why is it so late, why not sooner?"
Oshitari want to pushed the subject more because he's really concerned, so instead of taking the bait and just move on, he said, "And did you apologize to her? Did you call her to cancel it or you just didn't show up at all?"
When there's still no answer, he shouted at Atobe, "Are you insane? Do you know that by raising her hopes up then crushing it down, she will avoid you until even her shadow is not visible to you anymore!? Are you not thinking about her feelings?"
"What's happening here?" Shishido, Gakuto, Hiyoshi, Jiro (who woke with a jolt because of Oshitari's loud voice), Chotaro, and Kabaji encircled them.
Oshitari point at Atobe, "Because our friend here ditched Kinomichi-san!"
"Ehhh!?" Gakuto, Shishido, and Jiro exclaimed. Kabaji's still poker face. The juniors Hiyoshi and Chotaro kept their mouth shut but also speechless.
"Uhhmm," Gakuto started. "I don't know what happened, but... did you and Kinomichi-san have a problem?"
"You are so proud to introduce her to us last time," Shishido said slowly, careful at his words but also want to knit his brows in confusion. "Are you.. Are we an idiot to assume that you like her? Because if we do, then maybe... maybe..."
"We really an idiot to see that you like her," Oshitari finished.
"I do not like her," he answered without emotion. He really do not blame them if that's what they think. Even he confused his feelings to like, but then he remembered that he promised himself when he met her that he would not like her. "I do not like her. I thought I did, but then she's just an emotionless bitch who is ready to do what her father wants her to do just so she could marry me and have our money"
"Do you remember when I my dad called me into the company?" he asked Oshitari who nodded, "He told me that a large amount of money went missing and found in the Kinomichi account."
They gasped. They couldn't believe it, Oshitari feels that he's going to hysteria or something, "You're saying that they needed a lot of money so they stole from your company's?"
"That's what I'm saying," he said, now that it's out, he could breathe a little.
"So, so she seduce you so that the two of you could get married?" Gakuto asked.
"No," he shook his head. "We are what you call engaged-since-kids," he explained. "Our father agreed to marry us off, that's what dad told me before they announced the official engagement thing. I just couldn't believe that they extort to something like this, isn't our union enough?"
"Maybe you should ask about that from your dad or to Kinomichi-san herself," Shishido advised.
"I'll ask dad but he never seems to get home early this past few weeks."
"He's reverting like he is before?"
"No, he explained that the lost profit is for the workers of our company and he was having a hard time going through with it because he doesn't want to have any anomalies and strike protest. I understand him. I also help when I can, sometimes I feel like I am a son of a politician, not a businessman."
Oshitari shake his head, "I still couldn't believe it." He saw her eyes while she stare at Atobe, that's an eyes of someone who knew love. But he considered, many woman love Atobe.
"Me, too," his friend whispered. However, he didn't get enough time to talk about it with his father, because he was busy with the intra-school tournament to figure out who will going to go to the camp. When he remembered about it, it's already too late.
The warm air brushes the skin of those teenagers running happily in the way towards their neighborhood. An older man scrutinized his subjects and decided to called out, "We are going to Kyoto for our training camp this year's Kanto." A whispers of pleasure rise at the excitement of those who are chosen to come with them.
"As you all know, the Fudomine and Seigaku decided to join us," a hushed of protest came out from the mouth of those who really thought that the idea is bad. But some of them just grinned. "We are to attend this camp with them to observe them and to practice with them."
"The three schools decided to contribute for the payment of necessities such as housing, food/drink, and such. We rent a ryokan near the camp field for us to stay."
"We are not going to stay in the camp?" someone asked in the crowd.
"No," Coach Sakari answered. "We will be very tired and we need a ryokan with hot springs that will help us relax." Several nodded at this. "That's it, go in the bus."
The selected members of Hyotei Tennis Club moved to ride the two buses that were parked at the back of their talking coach. Gakuto, Jiro and Shishido went straight to the back of the bus. Gakuto and Shishido so that they could get noisy as long as they want and Jiro, so he could sleep all the way to Kyoto.
"Why didn't we just take the bullet train?" Oshitari whispered.
"The coach want us to stay together," Atobe answered. "Besides, it really does look awesome for all of us to walk in there together like the Justice League or the Avengers."
Oshitari raised a brow at this, "Maybe it was the reason he decided to have a little speech earlier."
"Usu," Kabaji agreed.
The ride was so long that they decided to stop several times and took them almost five days. They almost meet an accident because their driver closed his eyes a second. Coach Sakari reluctantly drive himself. When they arrived, instead of looking fresh and cool like Batman or Superman, they all look like dogs who ran many times around a track for a week.
"Please, coach," one complained. "Let us take the train on the way home."
"Yes," he answered quietly. His eyes encircled with black marks and look like a panda because of the lack of sleep.
After getting fresh and had enough sleep, Hyotei are ready to go eat and dig in. As Atobe walk through the hallways of the Hamasaki Ryokan, he scanned his surroundings. The ryokan is not the same like other ryokan which sometimes very traditional in theme or very modern and doesn't seem to be called ryokan but instead hotel. It was a mixed of two.
To the right of the hallways is a floor to ceiling glass window where you can see the Japanese garden with a gazebo in the middle of the ryokan. It was three-story and much like a house but with commodities of a hotel, like elevator, verandas, bed instead of tatami/futon. Of course, the other wing has those, but the left-wing is the traditional part while the one where he's at was the modern part.
The ryokan was built like a rectangular building with another rectangle in the middle, like this: []. There's the front where people check in, the lobby, and the receptionist. The interior is very welcoming. There's a mantel in a make-shift receiving area, with a carpet and sofas full of pillows in a shade of brown, blue, and black. Very romantic for those who want to snuggle in there at winter. Near it was two coffee table and a large family table. You could also find restrooms and cafeteria in the first floor, front.
In first floor, left, the hallways to the right was lined up with paintings of famous artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, and the wall to the right is the glass wall. It's the same for the right-wing, just the reflection of it. The first floor is where they could find the indoor bath. The first floor, back is the same at the front without the reception desk and cafeteria. But most people crowded it because both walls are glass and the feeling is homey and comfortable.
Atobe is on the third floor, Tezuka's team and some of Tachibana's claimed those in the traditional side, but that's okay for him, not too okay for Gakuto and Shishido who want to sleep in a futon.
He was so deep in his thoughts about his surroundings that he collided with someone in front of him. "Oof," they exclaimed as they stumbled into the ground. A girl in a ryokan attire looked up at him with a wide eyes.
"S-sorry," she quickly apologized and started to collect the towels she threw in the air.
He help her by reaching for her right arm and pulling her up, "I'm sorry." When he looked up, his heart stopped at what he saw. The most beautiful girl is in front of him. This girl has wide, green eyes, thick eyelashes. A permanent blush made her look cute and innocent. Her skin is fair and pale.
She smiled at him at what he seems to be the sweetest smile. "T-thank you." She dashed, but not fast enough.
"What's your name?" he asked. And her eyes widened more.
A/N: Minna-san, please read and review and follow. I decided to have a lime instead of lemon. The difference is that it will not be in detail. But those chapters are still far. I apologized for any mistakes.
I don't really know what I am talking about as I explained how the Ryokan looks like. But as you can see from the two brackets I put, it's like that. I am satisfied for this chapter but I think that you and I will love the next one.
I just need to rest and I will going to type the next one later. Again, please READ REVIEW, and FOLLOW.