Hyotei's First Date
By Narutoandbleach
When Ryoma gets word that the hyotei captain has become obsessed with him, everyone knows that something is up as a secret is kept between them and Ryoma's friends. Are they dating each other or is this all a ploy to bring two rivals as one together?
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis isn't mine and I will never own it
Chapter 33: Atobe's Hidden Secret
A few days later after the club party, Genichirou and Atobe were still trying to confess their true love for Ryoma since the rookie tennis prodigy has no idea whom he is truly wooing for. Furthermore, there is still the question of getting ready for the nationals soon and everyone still needs to be mentally and physically prepared for an event like this. Many of the other schools are working hard to prepare after that relaxing break. However, for Sanada and Atobe, it was a different story.
Those two lovebirds still haven't resolved their obsession over Ryoma since the big boys always had a thing for him, but Sanada feels that Atobe was stealing all the glory away from him since he was trying his best to control his emotions, but he feels that the time to relax wasn't in his repertoire since he was lost in thought as to what sort of decision to make on the brat due to the love triangle taking effect on him. Just then, Yukimura walked up to his friend and said, "Hey, Genichirou, are you ready for the nationals?"
Sanada turned and glanced at his best friend and captain because he found it odd to see his captain standing beside him after his surgery. Furthermore, the captain was more than ready to take down any opponent in the nationals as long as he takes it easy on his body.
"Yes of course, with our team complete, we still have to remain vigilant if we want to win."
Yukimura chuckled at that response since he feels better with his vice-captain around him. Although Sanada was still a bit stiff, he was very flexible and has the ability to get along with his kouhais. All Sanada needed to do was to relax as long as he was able to do so.
"I don't think our team will lose focus."
"I still have my doubts."
Yukimura was confused at that response. "Oh, why do you say that?"
"Akaya tends to get side tracked and Marui always spends time reading magazines and chewing bubble gum day after day. I can't believe those guys have such short attention spans." Replied Sanada.
"They like to enjoy a long break after practice. True, we still have to work hard at practice, but it doesn't hurt to relax once in a while." Smiled yukimura.
Sanada only huffed at that response before he went silent. Yukimura then chuckled at him.
"What's so amusing to you?"
"You love Ryoma, don't you? I believe you spent a lot of time with that kid since he knows how to enjoy himself."
"Yeah at the expense of his other big brothers in the club, and here I thought I would never mention that brat's name ever again."
Yukimura managed to playfully poke Sanada in the arm and grinned.
"That little brat was very cooperative to say the least, you had a thing for him and I know you enjoyed that party and I can see it in your eyes that you've developed feelings for ryo nii-chan. Come on, admit it you are blushing!"
Sanada blushed furiously at that remark from his captain while face palming like crazy. "Yukimura-buchou, I enjoyed the party and the company with that cheeky rookie, but when I am around Atobe, I am so not comfortable with him hogging my lover all to himself. He thinks he is prince charming or something. This is why I never enjoy parties with Atobe around." He fumed.
"Why didn't you try to leave the party?"
"you don't understand, the moment you ask him to keep out of Ryoma's love life, he just goes for the gusto and will command people to do as he says."
Yukimura rubbed his chin for a moment before continuing.
"Sanada I-"
"No, don't get me started on trying to get me to escape that madman, he even forced me to get on the same bed in the hotel last time. Can you honestly believe that sexist pervert? Those two are sleeping together in the same bed naked!" shouted Sanada.
"Genichirou, I highly doubt that you are a victim of Atobe's crazy stunts. He can't even hold you by force if he wanted to. After all, you are bigger than he is and most likely stronger too. As for Atobe's stature, he is not that impressive. Besides, it's not like he was threatening your life or anything." Sighed Yukimura.
"Buchou, you don't understand. Atobe has a lot of powerful abilities that no human could ever understand. If I was running, he would probably send Kuranosuke or the Yakuza after me or something…."
The captain looked at his teammate with confusion on his face.
"Yakuza? They don't exist anymore."
Sanada looked at his captain with a stoic expression while Yukimura continued to stare at the vice-captain questioningly, but he was cold as a statue. Sometimes, the captain wondered what was going through the fukubuchou's mind, but there was one thing that bugged him: Sanada having fear and dread of Atobe.
"Really? I would have to agree, but he is not a mafia boss."
The two tennis gods turned to face Niou masaharu, the joker of Rikkai grinning mischievously at the leaders of Rikkai.
"Think about it, how did Atobe come up with the money to reserve a club for all the tennis players and his date? It has to be his father with a high end job. But still, the stuff that Atobe has gotten for the club is more than what his father's salary can afford."
"They are rich, so could it be some sort of zaibatsu?"
Sanada sighed in frustration as another tennis star with glasses joined in on the conversation.
"Yagyuu, don't try to instigate Sanada's fantasies since he can't admit his true feelings for Ryoma."
Yukimura ignored the cold gare and the frustration building up from Sanada since Atobe has covered the charges for all the players. Furthermore, the king of Hyotei could harass them all he wanted without having anyone else to deal with this mess. Despite that, Atobe does have a soft spot for little kids, but not everyone feels that way about him.
"Niou's argument does not have any logic to it."
Sanada fukubuchou was prepared to close off this topic as it was starting to get out of hand, but he had no such luck when Yanagi Renji, the demon of Rikkai interrupted them.
"Statistically, there is a 95.4 percent chance that Atobe has a strong connection with zaibatsu and Yakuza all together.
"Who said anything about yakuza!?" shouted Sanada.
"It's your fault for bringing that up." Said Renji.
Sanada had the urge to beat up the demon, but he couldn't bring himself to do so as Yukimura chuckled at his sudden lack of control over the other rikkai members.
"Whatever guys, just leave me out of this." Replied Sanada as he tugged the corner of his cap before storming out of the locker room. Yukimura watched him depart down the hallway and sighed.
"Sometimes Sanada needs to learn to have some fun sometimes, he just needs time to deal with stress."
Renji nodded as he stood beside Yukimura while watching Sanada disappear into another hallway.
"Is there a way that we can help him relax? How about we get someone for the job?"
"You and Yukimura-buchou are really close to him, could you guys do it?" said yagyuu.
Everyone agreed with that statement, but Renji and yukimura shooked their heads and said, "Sorry, we wish we can help, but I have to help Yukimura catch up on what he missed at school."
"Our success rate would drop if one of us did it." Sighed yagyuu.
At that moment, Kirihara casted renji a questioning look.
"Why shouldn't we help him? It doesn't make sense."
"Actually, it makes sense to us."
Everyone turned to look at Niou for a moment and agreed.
"At this point, Sanada sees us as important members of the Rikkai tennis team that he is a part of. If we hang around him for much longer, it will be considered an extended tennis practice. Furthermore, what do you say one of us call up Ryoma? I mean that brat has been visited by Sanada on several different occasions. Therefore, fukubuchou is still the same uptight guy we all know, love, and fear."
"Exactly." Said Marui.
"So what shall we do?" asked Jackal.
"I got a plan." Said Yukimura. He smiled cheerily as he gestured for the other members of his team to come closer. After their little huddle, many of them broke apart grinning like crazy.
"Won't Sanada get mad at us?" asked a nervous akaya
"Who cares if he gets mad at us or not? He needs to relax a bit since it is worth is. Besides, as a fukubuchou, he has to act accordingly for this team." Stated Jackal.
"All, right, I will give him a call." Said Yukimura as he picked up the phone and dialed Atobe's number.
That day, everyone resumed practice as usual while others went about their business. Although all wasn't going well as it should have been, concentration was what bothered him. Furthermore, Sanada was supposed to be rejoicing at his team staying focused, but after that conversation in the hall, he wasn't sure if he could ever start a conversation with his friends.
"is something troubling Sanada?" asked Jackal.
"Nah, he just needs time to think about what we had said. I am sure he will be fine. Everyone else is doing exactly what they should be doing." Replied Yukimura.
Sanada didn't say anything else because his captain could tell otherwise. At this point, they both decided that it is best to keep quiet about the whole thing. As for practice, they continued in the same manner without any other incidents. After everything was cleared out of the clubhouse, Sanada made sure the door was completely closed before walking home. As Sanada thought back to practice, he wanted to see if he could remember anything else out of the ordinary, but he couldn't come up with anything. The minute he thought about it, he ended up freezing without having a chain of thought. At this rate, tennis practice was on everyone's mind and they were concentrating on trying to hone their skills. Did that mean that Sanada was goofing off?
After Sanada eliminated the unpleasant features from his head, he found himself at the doorsteps of his house and looked it through. It was still large and built in a more traditional Japanese style. "Such a boring house, I wish I could live at Ryoma's place." Thought Sanada to himself as he walked inside, slipped his shoes off and changed into the house slippers.
"I'm home." Called Sanada.
"How was your day, dear?" asked his mother.
"It was fine."
"That's good. I left some dinner for you."
Sanada nodded as he went into the bathroom to wash up for dinner before heading to his room. Every day was the same with him even after his defeat at the hands of Ryoma since he couldn't find any other ways to get stronger. However, he learned a lot from his match with the seigaku brat and would do whatever it takes to have a rematch with him again in the nationals later on. But after that date with Ryoma, Sanada wasn't sure about asking him for that match when Atobe is around. After dinner, he went to take a shower before settling his school belongings down on the ground. He then focused on his homework assignments while ceasing to think about other things.
The following day, Sanada woke up the same time as he did and headed towards the dining room for breakfast. Today was a Saturday so he should have plenty of free time to do his daily routines. His father was eating silently before looking across the table at his son.
"So, what's your plan for today?"
"Well, I am going to practice at the dojo before I meet up with Marui and Jackal at the arcades later this afternoon." Said Sanada.
Sanada's father gave him a nod of approval before returning to his breakfast. That was just sanada since he couldn't have a conversation going with his parents unlike Atobe does. He knew if he could, he would like to have longer talks with his family, but no one in his family are particularly social. After Sanada finished his breakfast, he changed in to his training hakama. He was planning to start with the sword kata, but his mind was too distracted with other things, one of which was the way everyone acted the other day. "This is not going to work for my mind, I need to clear my head of unpleasant images." He thought to himself.
And to do that, he had to meditate because this was the only way for the fukubuchou to gather himself some time for peace and quiet. As he kneeled on the floor and settled down, he closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. He then exhaled slowly in order to think about good things while gradually driving everything else out from his mind. After that, he began to gain a sense of peace and tranquility. As Sanada continued to meditate, something was caught in his throat, but he continued to keep his eyes closed while balancing out his thoughts by breathing. He found that this was gradually getting difficult to do. At this point, Sanada debated on whether or not he should continue meditation in order to find out what was going on, but after a while, he opened his eyes and was shocked to see a familiar face standing outside of the dojo doorway, thereby letting all the air leaving his lungs.
"What the hell are you doing here, Ryoma?"
"Why? Can't a rookie come here to meditate with you?" said Ryoma indignantly.
Sanada groaned at that remark as Ryoma settled down next to his lover before resuming their meditation.
"What is your other boyfriend doing here?" asked Sanada.
"Did I disturb you? I thought I would wait until you guys finished meditating." Smiled Atobe.
Sanada was confused as to why those two lovebirds managed to intrude into his residence without permission and how long they have been sitting and staring at him. But then again, he feels that it was better not to ask.
"Keigo, how did you find me here? Your presence alone is disturbing.
"How rude, and here I came all the way to see you."
At that moment, Sanada was deeply disturbed. The thought of Atobe being here was beyond his comprehension and he was positive that this was going to cause more trouble for his family.
"Why me?" groaned Sanada.
"Ore-sama needs his good graces to lighten your day."
"Doesn't Tezuka need you the most?"
"Sorry, but Tezuka is busy prepping for the nationals and the world cup since he does not want to deal with my love life.
"I see, but you can see that I am busy as well."
"Nope, I don't see you working on anything else."
"Doesn't meditation count as work?"
"That means you are not doing anything and meditation doesn't count. Therefore, you need to come with me."
Atobe grinned while Ryoma snickered quietly. Sanada was really beginning to get annoyed at those two invading his privacy as he tried to move backwards away from the sly diva.
"Where are we going?" asked Sanada.
"Outside into society, you need to go to places that you haven't visited."
"Sorry, but that is not going to happen. How about a duel? If you win, I will go with you. But if I win, you and your lovebird must leave, do we have a deal?"
Sanada observed Atobe taking the wooden sword before looking straight into his eyes.
"Deal."
This was a rare moment to see two rivals falling for the same kid dueling one another since Sanada was a kendo master. He knew Atobe would never beat him since everyone has the limits. He was positive that Atobe never dueled before and this will give fukubuchou the upper hand.
"You're going down, and Ryoma will be mine!"
"You think so? Ore-sama still has dibs on that brat."
"He is my boyfriend until I saw otherwise."
Atobe just lightly shrugged and smirked as he moved into a defensive stance while positioning himself in offensive mode. Sanada was impressed that his rival knew a basic stance like this, but then again, most people did if they ever watched Samurai Deeper Kyo or Ruroni Kenshin. Therefore, no one had anything to worry about. At that instance, Atobe sidestepped backwards as he watched Sanada charged forward with lightning speed before bringing the boken towards an upward swing.
"You are going to have to do a lot better than that to beat me." Said Sanada.
"Try it, you will see that I am also a master swordsman." Replied Atobe.
As Atobe approached, Sanada could see that his opponent was holding the boken in a very odd manner while Ryoma recorded the whole thing on his video camera. But Sanada didn't take much notice as he adjusted his sword's position before trying a quick thrust on Atobe.
Atobe did something unexpected as he swung his sword, connecting it with Sanada's weapon, leaving him caught off guard. This was to show that Sanada wasn't prepared for a move and he lost a bit of his balance. Furthermore, he kept his eyes glued on Atobe smiling at him. Once more, Atobe had a chance to rush towards Sanada while his guard was down again, leaving the boken into another swing. This time with the boken on his shoulder, he kept his eyes on Sanada's grip before be brought the sword crashing down onto the floor. Sanada quickly picked up his weapon to try and block, but his grip was still too weak and he could see Atobe's boken was right at his throat.
"Ore-sama no bigi ni yoina!" called atobe.
He was victorious at that match and was pretty proud of it. Even ryoma smiled at how well these two had fought despite the fact that Sanada was going head to head at a sport that he had no knowledge about, except for tennis of course.
"There are no words to describe how I feel about this loss." Groaned Sanada as he dropped to the flooron is back with his eyes closed. He had just lost to Atobe at the one sport that he was positive to win. As Sanada took a deep breath, he felt something plop on his stomach. When Sanada opened his eyes, he could see Atobe sitting casually on him as if he was a floor cushion.
"Ore-sama loves to keep everyone speechless with his victories."
"Get off of me, please." Grunted Sanada.
"Not until I have your full cooperation."
"Fine, I will do that on my honor or what little of it I have left. And also, Ryoma will still be in love with me no matter what happens. You got that?"
Atobe grinned and nodded triumphantly and stood up. Once Sanada straightened out his clothes, he questioned Atobe.
"Did you use tennis techniques?"
"Very observant of you, does that mean you are impressed by my skills?
"As clever as you think you are, you have used one of the tennis grips that gave you more reach since you held the sword at the base."
"Yes of course, my genius is unsurpassed. I hope you enjoyed that last move since it was so beautiful." Smiled Atobe as he danced around the dojo like crazy while Sanada sweat-dropped.
"How come sports like these always have to involve tennis?"
"I wondered that question myself, it's what makes tennis so great besides just me.
Sanada could only face-palm as Atobe laughed.
"get yourself ready."
"What are you and I going to do?"
"You are going to take Ryoma to date Kuranosuke Shiraishi.
"So that was your secret you have hidden for so long? What is wrong with you? You want that poor sap to date a health advising psycho in western japan?"
"Yes, but he is not a psycho since I want you to call him and ask him to show the kid around places just like when you came crawling and begging me to let you take that brat to the club last night to meet with some stoic girls. I must admit, I am impressed that some of the girls at the club took interest in Ryoma and I am very happy that your mission succeeded. That's why this next assignment is of utmost importance to me." Said Atobe.
"What do you mean by stoic girls? Just what exactly are you planning here? Aren't you the one that is in love with that brat?" growled Sanada.
"Now now, no need for that sort of temper. You see, stoic girls are not my type and after my recent breakup with my girlfriend, I just don't feel that girls are attracted to me. Only cute boys like Ryoma will win my heart."
"I don't buy your story for one bit." Groaned Sanada.
"Please, I am so over girls, I have an addiction with males because they are just so hot like me. Imagine myself at the beach in Nagano where all the high school boys seeing me in my speedos they will beg for their girlfriends to check out a hottie like me."
Sanada raised his hand to stop Atobe from continuing to talk about his weird fetishes. "That's where your issues are, you just don't want to give the girls a chance. Besides, I have seen plenty of girls fall for a guy like me when I am playing volleyball with Yukimura. I just couldn't believe that you have an ego that is the size of Russia."
Atobe wasn't fazed by that comment at all much to the amusement of Sanada since he was having a verbal disagreement with Atobe.
"Well then, the girls are up for debate." Replied Atobe.
"I don't think we should continue the conversation. Anyway, I will try and hook up Kuranosuke with Ryoma, but I hope this plan of yours will work." Warned Sanada.
"Don't worry, I always have a back-up plan in case this one fails. However, I feel that you are very slow at picking some things up."
"I don't normally talk to girls unless they ask me out for a date or if they have relationship problems with other men of their same age."
"You don't need to have a conversation with a girl straight away, but with flowers, champagne, and a phone call, that girl will instantly fall for you no matter what they look like. That is if you plan to lose your virginity."
"Excuse me?"
Atobe jaw dropped at that response. He couldn't believe that Sanada never heard of such a phrase before and from the way that he was talking, Sanada would have understood the joke, but this was not the case.
"Wait, don't tell you never fucked a girl before marrying them?"
"Atobe, what the hell are you talking about? What does losing viriginity have to do with getting a girl to like me? Dude, you are not making any sense at all. Just go into the living room and watch television or so until I come out." He then faced Ryoma and said, "you too brat. I don't want you anywhere near my bed and you will not tell anyone about the conversation that we had today, is that understood?"
Ryoma nodded his head as he and atobe left the dojo. Atobe stopped for a moment and turned to Sanada and said, "get yourself ready. There is much to do before the day is over."
"I know that! Can you guys please give me some privacy?" boomed Sanada as he slammed the door shut.
Atobe and Ryoma settled down in the living room couch while reading a couple of tennis magazines to keep themselves occupied, but as for Ryoma he suddenly started giggling like crazy at what Atobe had said earlier. "Man, you are such a riot, I just can't believe Sanada never had a girlfriend before in his life."
"Well you know him, he just needs to find the perfect girl for his age. I think he is just having trouble accepting love just like you did when we first met. After a while, I think he will get used to having girls at his place."
"yeah, I agree with you on that one. Still, do you think he is ready for this?" asked Ryoma.
"I certainly hope so, because I am planning to give him a lesson on fashion later on." Replied Atobe.
After thirty minutes, Sanada took off his old clothes and put on a shirt from the back of his closet, the same ones that he wore when he and yukimura went to the club. He quickly took some slacks and a casual button up shirt before making sure they were buttoned properly. He then grabbed his hat from the corner of his chair and headed towards the living room.
"Darling Sanada, you look like the real prince charming." Smiled his mom as she quickly grabbed her phone and took a few pictures of the new Sanada. He feared this was going to be even worse than before. Atobe was in the process of talking with Sanada's mother who was smiling and clapping her hands in entertainment since this was something that he never saw before.
"Oh genichirou, your friend and I were having a conversation.
"That's… cool"
"you look really good in those clothes , my son. You should hang around Atobe and Ryoma since they are good influences for you."
"yes mother, they are very nice to have around."
Atobe lightly chuckled as he watched Sanada trying to be polite but having trouble admitting his true love. In order to save his friend from any other awkward situations, Atobe stood up and bowed elegantly at his mother who giggled like crazy.
"It was so nice meeting you, if you will allow us, we will take your son for some fun time."
"of course, you guys have a great time!"
Sanada smiled at his mother who waved as the three tennis stars headed towards the door. Afterwards, Sanada turned towards atobe.
"What the heck were you doing?"
"Talking to your mother of course. You know she is really fun to talk to because you don't get your social skills from her. I haven't met your father yet, but still I didn't know you got your looks from your mom."
"I see you got a friend there. What's your name?" asked the father.
Both turned to face the man of the house and Atobe was mildly surprised at what he saw The father didn't look that much like his son, but they shared a striking similarity.
"Father, this is Atobe Keigo and he attends Hyotei Gakuen and was my partner during the Junior Selection tournament. He is also dating Ryoma Echizen since those two are lovers."
"I see, so he has a boyfriend. That's so cool. Allow me to congratulate you on your successful date with the brat from Seigaku. After all, marriage runs in the family. It's also a pleasure to meet you, Atobe-kun."
Atobe blushed at that remark but nonetheless, shook the man's hand. "Likewise, I am so honored to meet the father of the rikkai emperor."
Much to Sanada's surprise, the father laughed and this wasn't something that the son would expect. He then looked at Atobe's charming smile while doing nothing else. It was amazing to see atobe getting Sanada's parents to open up to him while he himself had difficulty in getting a social conversation out of them.
"You sure have a very interesting friend. Now then you guys should get going, don't let me keep you."
"Of course, it was great meeting you." Replied Atobe as they left the house before bowing at him again.
As the trio left, Sananda walked up towards Atobe and said, "How did you do that? What did you do to get my parents to talk like that?"
"This isn't rocket science, I suppose that they are quiet people, but when they are relaxed , they are very amicable. That's where your problem lies I suppose."
Sanada didn't understand what his partner was talking about, but then again, he had a feeling that this was going to come up sooner or later so he decided not to pursue it any further.
"So, no vehicles today?"
"Nope, we are going to be riding a train towards Osaka so that we can introduce Ryoma to the health advisor. We have all day to get there so just relax."
"I always thought that the car would get you there much faster."
"See, you need to stop and smell the roses. You will find that they are wonderful and will offer some comforting experiences for you."
"Is that a figure of speech?" asked an amused Sanada.
"Of course!" said atobe as he whacked Sanada upside the head as they headed towards the train station since Kuranosuke is prepared to give Ryoma a taste of what true love really feels like. Furthermore, there is a chance that Kintaro might join them as well.
A/N: Okay, I had to add the Samurai anime as references for this chapter since Sanada is a huge fan of those series. This chapter also stems from the junior camp where there is an Atobe, Sanada, and Kuranosuke tennis triangle. This is a running joke where Atobe would view this as a warped love triangle since tezuka would completely ignore it and gets taken out of the equation and his position gets filled by the health expert, leaving sanada clueless. There you have it. If you have any questions about this chapter, feel free to ask me because you will find the entire chapter to be funny. So don't think too hard and just accept it for what it is. I had fun writing this chapter and I hope you will all have fun reading it as well.
By the way, "Ore-sama no bigi ni yoina" means "Be awed by my prowess" since this is a phrase that has been used many times throughout history.
