HELLO THERE~. Sorry for the long wait (as always), hope you enjoy! ~(^w^~)
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Prince of Tennis OR Tezuka Kunimitsu. You guys would sooooo notice if I did.
Today was Monday, the Monday that Rin was going to start school at Seishun Gakuen. She had woken up already, a few minutes after her grandfather, and had started getting ready for the day ahead of her. Once she was dressed, she lazily walked towards the kitchen and grabbed a banana out of the fruit basket on the countertop. Her grandfather turned his attention away from the breakfast he was making and looked at her.
"Oi, you aren't eating breakfast at home? I made your favorite Japanese dish," said Ryota as he held out her plate for her to grab.
"It's okay Ojii-san. I'm not that hungry. Plus, I've got to get going. I wanna get there early so I can go tour around the school. I want to know where I'm going, you know," Rin replied as she finished up packing her tennis outfit and racquet into her tennis bag.
"You playing today then? How long are you gonna be there?" Ryota asked. He had a feeling she wasn't going to be home until late considering how long the tennis club hours were after school.
"No, I just want to see how good Seishun Gakuen is. Also, I heard the girl's team isn't all that great, so I'll just probably hit the courts for a while. I'll be home before dark though," Rin replied as she finished up and started heading for the door.
"Oi, just be safe and have fun alright kiddo? Try to enjoy your first day here." Ryota walked her to the door and smiled at her. He then waved and shut the door.
~squiggly~
Rin walked to school (or in the general direction of the school) not knowing which way to go. Her grandfather decided to live in a secluded area near the park that would keep annoying kids and teenagers out of his way. Apparently, this secluded area was also very hard to navigate from his house to the school while also considering that this had been her second time out of the house. It might also not help that Rin had no sense of direction whatsoever.
Rin kept wandering and grabbed her phone to check the time. She had left the house almost half an hour ago. She should have been at the school fifteen minutes ago, but she didn't know where she was going. The neighborhood was a giant maze to her. She had stopped to look around for signs or anything that signaled where she was. She gazed to her left, then to her right. What caught her eyes was the boy wearing a school uniform. He wasn't quite that tall, but he had long brown hair that appeared to be shoulder length. Rin paused, consciously debating whether or not she should call out to him.
"H-Hey!" Rin yelled as she stood there awkwardly. She wasn't one to call out to random strangers.
Once she called out to the boy, he turned around confused. His eyes were shut, but his eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. He looked around, then back to Rin.
"Did you need something?" He asked courteously.
"Y-Yeah. Do you know where Seishun Gakuen Jr. High is? I've gotten lost and I don't know how to get there." Rin smirked a bit and rubbed her neck nervously. Old habits die hard.
"Ah, yeah I do. I actually attend that school. Would you like me to walk you there?" He asked, looking at her with a small smile on his face. Rin replied to his question with a nod then started to walk with him towards the school.
While they were walking, he decided to strike up a conversation between them to ease the tension and break the ice.
"So, what's your name?" He asked while looking forward.
"Usagi Rin. You?" She replied back with her own question while looking over to him. His face hadn't changed from earlier, that smile was still there. Up close, she noticed he had soft looking skin that was like an alabaster white.
"Fuji Syusuke. Did you just transfer here? I've never seen you around before."
"Yeah, I just moved in with my grandfather. I just came home from living in London with my mother. Though, I would like to add that I've lived here before."
Rin continued talking to Fuji, finding out that he wasn't that bad of a guy. They both had made it to school together on time. Once they reached the gates, Fuji was bombarded by a small group of maybe fix or six girls all shouting his name with incredibly idiotic honorifics following his name. Rin flicked her gaze over to the harassed Fuji, who appeared to not be panicking. It seemed that he was used to this everyday. She started to ponder, what made this guy so special?
Rin watched as Fuji excused himself from the group of girls that made up a small portion of his fan base at the school. It was bothersome really, all of the girls finding him at the most inopportune time. He was originally planning on taking her to the attendance office to see what class she was placed in, and to see if she was going to be in the same class as him before they were bombarded by enthusiastic fan girls. The girls stopped yelling for Fuji and slowly started to quiet down. Their gaze had been distracted by something else, no, someone else. Long brown strands of hair bouncing up and down as he took long strides towards the entrance of the school, sharp eyes looking straight forward hidden behind thin-framed glasses, a straight posture, and an air of authority about him. Rin felt she had seen him somewhere before.
She looked over to Fuji to ask him a question, but he already beat her to it.
"That's Tezuka if you're wondering who that is. He's the captain of the boy's tennis team here." Fuji looked over to her, smile still intact. Rin bit her lip and flicked her eyes back over to him as he walked. So it was him, Tezuka. Kunimitsu. It hadn't dawned on her that she had been staring at him for possibly the longest time. The bell that rang five minutes before the start of class had snapped her out of her daze.
"Sorry Fuji-san, my thoughts trailed off. Can you please take me to the attendance office?" Rin remembered that she still needed to find out which class she was going to be placed in.
Fuji nodded and started to lead the way. Once at the attendance office, he quickly waved her goodbye, wished her good luck on her first day, then walked off briskly to class.
~squiggly~
It had only taken a few minutes to sort things out and for Rin to get her class schedule. Fuji had told her before he left to class that he was in year three, class six. On her schedule, it read: year three, class one. Rin's gaze shifted back up once she was done looking at the schedule. The paper in her hand had started to crinkle at how hard she was starting to grip it. The only friend she had started on a good foot with wasn't going to be in her class to help her. She began counting to five to try to calm her nerves that were jumping everywhere. She sighed and started walking off to class. Her edginess hadn't gotten any better in the past years, and it certainly isn't improving now as she was still feeling jittery and anxious.
Rin walked down the halls looking up at the signs that hung over the doors of the classrooms. She finally reached the sign that read: 3-1. Letting out the breath she was unconsciously holding in, she slid the door open. The teacher paused mid-lecture and turned his head towards her.
"Ah, you're the new student aren't you? Please introduce yourself to the class then take an open seat. I'll have a classmate fill you in on where we're at in regards to the lessons." The teacher took the opportunity to erase the chalk board while Rin talked.
"My name is Usagi Rin. I just moved back here from London, nice to meet you all." She nervously looked around the classroom. Left to right, right to left. She scanned all of the faces that read boredom, interest, or complete disregard.
"That's great, Miss Usagi. Please take…hm…," he said as he reached over his desk to grab the clipboard sitting there. She could only assume that what he grabbed was the seating chart. "Desk number eleven. It should be in front of Tezuka-san and empty since Miss Hato has transferred schools."
Rin looked at where he was pointing and noticed the one empty desk in the sea of faces. She made her way over there, careful to avoid eye contact with anybody. She reached her desk, bent over slightly to put her bag down, then lifted her head up. Her eyes made contact with Tezuka's face, scanning it to see if he remembered her or if he was going to acknowledge that she was even there. He didn't. His gaze was still locked forward and his face devoid of any emotion as ever. His pen was resting in his hand before Rin walked over. Once she locked eyes with him, his hand gripped it harder, to the point of where his knuckles began turning white due to the pressure. It seemed like he was waiting for her to hurry up and sit down so the teacher could continue the lecture on today's math lesson.
"Tezuka-san, if you can, please fill Miss Usagi in over here about what we're doing right now and where we're at." The teacher then turned back around and started writing new numbers and words on the chalk board, followed by the sound of scratching pencils as the students copied everything down.
Rin turned around halfway in her desk and looked at Tezuka. His eyes were locked on hers now. A steady, yet neutral stare that sent shivers down her spine. His eyes then shifted down to the book page where today's lesson was focused around. His hand reached out and slid the book towards her so she could see the contents of the page they were currently on. Rin nodded and turned back around, getting her book (provided by the teacher as a loaner), and opening it to the page they were working with. Class had been like this for some time. The teacher would write notes, the students would copy it down, and the whole process would repeat again.
~squiggly~
Rin sat there, chin perched on her palm. She was gazing out the window staring at nothing in particular. The trees outside had rustled and the wind blew leaves in random directions.
"…and that concludes today's lesson. Please pack up as the bell will ring in a few minutes." The teacher said as he began erasing the board again and started to tend to the pile of papers on his desk. As he stated, the bell rang about two minutes later signaling the beginning of lunch. Rin smirked happily as she strode out of the classroom and towards the lunchroom. On her way there, she was so focused on getting to the place without getting lost that she wasn't paying attention to where she was going or who was calling out her name. A hand had landed on her shoulder, causing her to stop and look at the hand on her shoulder. Her eyes flashed up to the owner of the hand's face. It was Fuji. Apparently, he was trying to tell her that she had passed the lunchroom and was heading towards the library.
"Eheh, sorry Fuji-san. I'm still new here. I've also got a bad sense of direction." Rin smiled as she walked alongside him again.
"Don't worry about it Usagi-chan. It's a good thing I stopped you before you went too far. You would've missed lunch." Fuji said as he held the lunch door open for Rin to walk in. She thanked him and headed towards the table to eat, pulling out her bento box that she had prepared this morning. Fuji sat down across from her and pulled out his own bento box. She was about to dig into her intoxicating food that she had been waiting all morning to eat until a loud yell was heard coming from what sounded as if two boys arguing.
~squiggly~
"OI MAMUSHI, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING! YOU ALMOST MADE ME SPILL MY LUNCH!" A tall boy with spiky hair and purple eyes was staring furiously at another boy around his age wearing a bandana.
"FSSSHHH!" The bandana boy's reply didn't make any sense…was he supposed to be a snake? Rin started getting irritated because they were being so loud and obnoxious. The yelling continued over something as trivial as food. The voices got louder as it seemed like the two boys were approaching the table where Fuji and Rin sat.
"Oi oi! Fuji-sempai! Please tell this stupid mamushi that he should be apologizing because he almost spilled my food on me!" The boy with spiky hair was already testing Rin's nerve when he started yelling practically next to her ear.
"FSSSHH! Stupid idiot, that's your doing. I didn't even touch you." The 'viper' replied.
Fuji couldn't really do anything, as he didn't like to partake in their arguments that they practically had everyday. Rin clenched her chopsticks tightly to the point of where they snapped. She finally had enough of their senseless bickering.
"OI! I'm trying to eat here! Take your whining and complaining somewhere else or grow up! One of you should be the bigger man and just apologize or just drop the damn subject! Is it really that hard to do?" Rin asked exasperated. The two bickering boys had stopped and were now staring at her. The boy with black spiky hair started to grin a bit after he recovered from the yelling Rin did.
"Oi oi, I like you! What's your name? Mine is Momoshiro Takeshi, but you can just call me Momo!" He was grinning while looking at Rin.
'What on earth is wrong with this boy,' was all Rin could think of for the moment. One minute he's yelling, and then she yells; now he's saying that he likes her? The 'viper' looked at her, scoffed, and then started walking off.
"Yeah, ignore him. Stupid mamushi doesn't like anyone. Oh, by the way, his real name isn't mamushi. It's just a nickname. His name is Kaidoh Kaoru. He's got a scary face, doesn't he?" Momo started snickering and eventually took a seat next to Rin. "Fuji-sempai, you never told me where you found her. She's got fire in her!"
Fuji looked at Rin and smiled at her, reassuring her that he indeed knew Momoshiro.
"Oh yeah huh, you never answered my question," he stated turning to Rin, "so what's your name?"
"Usagi Rin," Rin said as she pulled out a pair of backup chopsticks. She split them apart and started digging into her bento.
"Usagi? As in rabbit?" He couldn't hold it in any longer, Momo started snickering and trying to hold in his laughter.
"Kind of ironic considering you're anything but a rabbit."
"You've only known me for five minutes and you come to that assumption?" She looked at him with a bland expression on her face mixed with annoyance.
"Yup," was his reply to her long question.
Rin sighed and went back to eating, letting Momo and Fuji talk to each other to what seems to be about tennis. Rin listened closer to them as they were talking about the upcoming prefectural followed by the regionals if they were to win the prefectural. This intrigued her as she played tennis as well and that the two people sitting with her planned to go to the nationals with their tennis team.
"Eto…Fuji-san, what's this about the nationals?" Rin asked. Her interest was piqued once tennis was mentioned.
"Ah, our tennis team, Seigaku, is planning on going to the nationals once we defeat everybody else in the regionals and prefectural. Just one step at a time." Fuji replied with the everlasting smile on his face.
"…Oh. D-Do you have tennis practice today? If you do, can I please watch?" Rin was hoping he would say 'yes' and let her see what made their team think they could go to the nationals so easily. As she hoped, Fuji replied with a nod and a smile following it.
She gleamed with happiness as soon as he gave her his response that she was hoping for. She would get to see Seigaku play, and hopefully play some tennis herself.
"You know, we do have a girl's team here," Fuji said, interrupting Rin's inner dance of glee.
"O-Oh, no it's fine. I'm not looking to join a team. I just kind of want to play, but not competitively." Rin finished up her bento, grabbed her bags, and started heading to her last class.
~squiggly~
Class had ended a little bit early as the teacher dismissed the students while praising them on a job well done. Rin was nearly the last to pack up as she had fallen asleep and woke up right when the bell rung. The other person in the room with her was Tezuka, and he was packing up his notes and books as well. An awkward silence spread around the room as neither of them were talking, just the sounds of shuffling paper and the zipping of bags.
Once done packing, Rin grabbed her school bag and tennis bag then proceeded to run off towards the direction of the tennis courts. She ran to the girl's locker room and changed outfits quickly, throwing on her shorts and polo with ease. She neatly tucked her stuff away in the cubby, grabbed her racquet, and headed out the door. The tennis courts were full of boys her age and younger practicing their forehand strokes. The coach was nowhere to be seen. Out of the thirty people around, nine people stood out particularly.
The nine boys were wearing jerseys with the word 'Seigaku' on the back. The uniforms were blue and white with red stripes. Rin scoffed at the uniforms and looked over at the rest. It seemed that the groups were separated by seniority in this club. The freshmen were picking up balls while upperclassmen were rallying at a slow pace. The special nine seemed like they were practicing their accuracy as they hit a ball towards a tennis ball canister. They were successful as the ball hit the canisters, sending them flying in random directions.
Rin slowly opened the gate to the courts and walked in. She started heading over to the nine boys dressed differently from the rest of the club. She recognized one immediately.
"Fuji-san!" Rin yelled ecstatically. "Long time no see!" She joked as she walked over to him.
"Ah, Usagi-chan. Nice seeing you here, like you said you would be. We're in the middle of practice though, would you like to watch?" He asked he walked over with the tennis racquet tucked between his arm and body.
"Sure, I don't mind. Hey, I was wondering about this. Why do you and eight other people have specific jerseys and the others don't. Are you guys the school's tennis team? I don't get it."
"Oh yeah, you're from London so you've never seen how a tennis team at a Japanese school would work. Well, the team is determined through ranking matches, and the strongest eight are the school's tennis team. The club just calls us regulars though, as that's the common grouping we go under."
"Wait, eight? But there's nine of you," Rin said as she pointed out the other guys.
"Just recently this year we received a freshman that plays extremely well. He's replaced one of us on the team. Right now, he's replacing Inui-senpai over there. He's the one wearing glasses. The freshman is Echizen Ryoma, the one wearing the cap." Fuji pointed out Inui practicing with the club members instead of the regulars. He then turned his body the other way and pointed out the short boy with green-blue hair that was Echizen Ryoma.
"Ah, I see. What time does your practice end?" Rin asked as she took out her racquet from under her arm and started to adjust the strings. "I kind of want to rally before I head home."
Fuji smiled and grabbed his racquet. "Practice ends in about twenty minutes after our last batch of laps. If you want, I'll rally with you for a while. I have some time before I have to head home too."
Rin smiled and nodded, leaving Fuji and heading back to the benches where visitors sat. She was waiting for a good five minutes before the gates to the tennis courts opened up and someone walked in. That someone was Tezuka, and he clearly looked mad. Rin looked up from what she was doing and over to where he was glaring. It looked like Momo and Kaidoh were arguing again, causing a big ruckus and mess as tennis balls were dropped and scattered.
"Everyone, forty laps!" Tezuka exclaimed in a demanding tone.
Once hearing those words, everybody stopped what they were doing and started running around outside of the tennis court perimeters. It was only Tezuka and Rin in the courts now, with Tezuka standing with his arms crossed watching them run and Rin sitting there on the bench watching Tezuka watch them run. Tezuka noticed that there was another person besides him who wasn't running. He turned around and threw a stern glare at her.
"Didn't I say everyone had to do forty laps?" He questioned her.
"W-Wait! I'm not a part of this club!" Rin exclaimed while trying to get out of doing the forty laps he was trying to assign her.
"It doesn't matter. Forty laps," He said as he inclined his head to tell her to start running. Rin groaned and put her racquet down on the bench. She started heading out the gate and running to catch up to Fuji and Momo.
It took a while, but eventually the forty laps were done. Everybody was tired and sweaty from the heat and exhaustion that the laps caused. The club members were dismissed except for the regulars, who had to stay behind for a short meeting.
~squiggly~
Rin had managed to finish her laps and sat on the bench trying to catch her breath. Fuji and Momo had gone to attend the regulars meeting and left her sitting there to try and calm her heart rate down. Noticing that everyone was nearly gone, she headed back to the girls locker room and grabbed her stuff. She put her racquet away and headed out the door. There, she waited for Fuji to come out.
It had only been ten minutes before Fuji finally emerged from the boy's locker room, carrying his Seigaku tennis bag. He was still wearing his jersey polo and white shorts with his racquet in hand.
"Did you have any courts that you wanted to use in particular, Usagi-chan?" Fuji finally stopped as he stood next to her, waiting for her to answer him.
"Huh? Oh, yeah sure. There's this park by my house, if you don't mind going there. It's better than the street courts because there aren't many people that play tennis at that park." Rin replied as she started leading the way back to her house.
"Oh, I see. How did you know that this park had a tennis court?" Fuji asked curiously as he hadn't heard of this park before either.
"I used to come here with a friend and my Grandfather everyday when I was little. My grandfather and my friend's grandfather would go off and play Shogi. My friend and I would run off to the tennis courts and practice for hours there. It brings back good memories," Rin stated as she looked forward and recalling her memories to the front of her mind.
"May I ask who this friend is?" Fuji smiled as his eyes slowly opened a bit.
"Oh, it's no one, really. He and I just used to get along really well and eventually we started drifting. I moved before we could say our goodbyes so I guess it's partially my fault."
"Sounds like you guys have had a bad history together. Have you made up with him?"
"…," Rin didn't reply as she tried to get the thought off of her mind. She didn't want to talk about Tezuka at a time like this because of the memories that were beginning to flood her head. "Sorry Fuji-san, I kind of don't want to talk about it. If that's okay."
"I understand. I shouldn't have pried, I'm sorry. Oh, and you don't have to use the –san honorifics with me, I'll be happier if you consider me as your senpai." Fuji shut his eyes again and threw Rin a smile that seemed to lighten her mood a bit.
"Hah, I guess. Alright then, Fuji-senpai it is. Hey, we're here at the courts." Rin pointed out as the tennis courts were coming into view.
It seems like they weren't alone though, as the sound of a racquet could be heard smacking against tennis balls inside of the courts. As they got closer to the courts, the figure could be seen as tall, long-haired, and male. Finally reaching the doors and pulling it open, Rin saw a person that she didn't want to see right now. Specifically someone that she was just talking about.
~squiggly~
Tezuka stopped his serve midway once he saw Rin and Fuji walking side by side to the tennis courts. Rin walked calmly to the courts parallel to Tezuka's, set her things down, and got her racquet. Fuji only needed to drop off his bag and grab a couple of tennis balls before heading over to Tezuka's side. It seemed as if he had started a conversation with Tezuka, and Tezuka answering back. Rin waited for Fuji to begin the rally, and distracted herself by looking anywhere but at Tezuka. Fuji finally stopped talking to Tezuka and refocused on Rin. He dropped the ball and swung at it, hitting it to Rin's forehand. She returned it easily and started a quick but controlled warm up.
Once she was finally warmed up, she requested a game with Fuji. Fuji agreed and let her have the first service.
As their game started, Tezuka glanced over from where he was. He was watching Rin's form and Fuji's reaction to her reflexes. Fuji had used one of his triple counters and easily got a point off of Rin. Tezuka shook his head. Echizen's signature catchphrase would come in handy right now as, "mada mada dane" was the only thing he could think of to say to her. She had gotten better from when they were kids, but she still hadn't reached her full potential. It was as if something were pulling her, keeping her from reaching what she was supposed to be.
The game quickly ended with Fuji winning 6-2. Rin was tired by then, and quickly understood that she had underestimated Fuji and Seigaku. Tezuka walked over and handed Fuji a towel to wipe his sweat. He then walked over to Rin and handed her a towel as well. She muttered a small 'thank you' to him as he walked away.
Fuji smiled at Rin as he walked over to her, bags slung on his shoulder already.
"Hey Usagi-chan, I've got to go. My sister is already here waiting for me. You think you can head home safely?" Fuji asked with concern as he didn't want to have her walking home by herself.
"Yeah, don't worry about it Fuji-senpai. I've got it. It's nothing I haven't done before." Rin replied as she smiled and wished him goodbye.
She packed up her tennis racquet and grabbed her bags. She exited the tennis courts and shut the gates behind her. What surprised her was that Tezuka was leaning on the fence casually, and it seemed like he was waiting for her.
~squiggly~
"Usagi, I'm going to walk you home." He stated blatantly.
"No," was her only reply as she began walking in the direction of her grandfather's house, leaving Tezuka standing there staring at her back.
"You have no say in it. It's for your safety." Tezuka replied as he began walking to catch up to her, eventually slowing his strides down so he stayed behind her.
After a while of Tezuka following her, she stopped and let out a sigh. "If you're going to walk me home, at least walk next to me so my grandfather won't think that you're a stalker."
Nothing was heard from Tezuka as his footsteps increased and he was soon walking next to her. While walking, it seemed like Rin had looked at everything except for Tezuka. An air of silence surrounded them as neither made an effort to talk to each other.
Thoughts were running through Rin's head, making her wonder about what she should do in this situation. She had thought over things like apologizing to him, asking him to be her friend again, or just staying silent throughout the whole walk to her grandfather's house. In the end, she went with the third option. Although she wanted to follow the first option, her vocal box appeared to fail her at the most inopportune times. Tezuka was also walking silently next to her, his gaze forward and stoic as usual. They finally reached the premises of the Usagi household. Rin turned around and bowed to Tezuka as she tried to swallow the nervous bulk that had built up in her throat.
"Thanks, Tezuka-san. Goodnight."
Rin saw him nod and continue to wait until she finally reached the front door. Her grandfather opened the door and looked around while exclaiming that it was late, dark, and a girl her age should never be alone at a time like this. She quickly declined that she was alone and nodded her head towards Tezuka, who was standing there watching her and her grandfather.
Ryota waved to Tezuka and yelled, "Thanks Kunimitsu for taking her home safely! Tell your old man that we have another match this upcoming weekend!"
Tezuka seemed to get the message as he nodded and started heading off in the direction of his home.
Rin closed the door behind her as her grandfather threw her a questioning look.
"Look, I didn't ask him to walk me home. He just did." She tried to explain to him. He narrowed his eyes as if he was trying to say that he wasn't thinking about that.
"No, we didn't make up. If anything, it seems like we're further apart. I guess after I left it made a big impact on him, so it's my fault that we're like this now. Don't worry about it Ojii-san, I'll make up with him. I don't like him being so distant to me; it's not the Mitsu-kun I know." Rin said as she went deep in thought about how to get Tezuka back to her.
A/N: So how was it? Any good? Tehehe. Not how you imagined they would meet, huh? I didn't want to rush things though because IT'S ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS, BABY! Man, I sound like Kawamura now... ; u ; Please review!