Me: Hey thanks for the many reviews you've sent for this story! I really appreciate it! Now, I know there are some questions that cropped up due to some stories in The Queen's Lives. Do not worry, the story will answer everything in due time especially about the very wild pairing that will soon happen! By the way, I don't own Prince of Tennis!
Chapter 65 – A Spoonful of Awkward
Damn.
That was all Shizuru could think when she saw who her group mates were for the training session.
Dangnamit!
Well, she had thought of something a lot worse but wisely chose to keep her mouth shut unless she wanted her coach to really go bonkers on her.
Left with Ryuuzaki-sensei, she found herself grouped with Sanada Genichirou, Tezuka Kunimitsu, Souma Fuuka, Inuzuka Miaka, Ohtori Choutarou, Oshitari Kenya and Fukuhara Erika from Shitenhouji. Although she had not acquainted herself with the Shitenhouji team or even remembered the many faces that she had faced, Shizuru managed to keep her calm and serene composure although wondering how she was going to deal with the awkward silence between her, Sanada and Tezuka. Although the rejection had ended smoothly, she couldn't help but fathom the many possibilities that would happen between Tezuka and Sanada. The Emperor took it well that night she had rejected him and even danced with her one last time before he sent her off. Now with Tezuka standing beside her, she couldn't help but feel her heart pounding wildly and her brains jumping back and forth and racking up any way to get her out of the situation. Looking at the area surrounding them, she inhaled deeply to keep calm while looking at her coach.
"Honestly, I see no problem but if you guys want to make sure you can fight internationally then I will make sure of that," Coach Ryuuzaki walked along slowly and looking at each and every one of them carefully, as if they were in military. "After all, it's not only America who will be present in the games. There will be other countries as well."
Shizuru nodded slowly as Ohtori lightly nudged her, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry everything's going to be fine."
Shizuru laughed softly at her classmate and group-mate's optimism, shaking her head. "I don't know. It just feels a bit..."
"Awkward?"
"Yes, unfortunately..."
Sighing deeply to herself, Shizuru glanced at the other members of the group as Ryuuzaki-sensei folded her arms and stood in front of them. "First, we're going to start with the warm-up. After that, we will head into physical conditioning. I don't want to break you too much on the first day because it may prove to be dangerous later on. After that, I will pair you up with certain people to rally with. Learn how to get along with them because for all you know – they may become your partners in the mixed doubles matches. Each of you will have two partners: one girl, one boy for the mixed doubles matches and the segregated matches."
Shizuru's and Fuuka's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Wait, there's mixed doubles?"
"What the fuck? How are we gonna learn how to do mixed doubles if we don't even know each other," Miaka kicked a pebble on the ground with a disgruntled snort, glaring at the coach.
"It may sound difficult but that is why we coaches are here, Inuzuka," Ryuuzaki-sensei raised an eyebrow at the shaggy dark haired girl, folding her arms sternly. "Are there any other problems, Souma?"
"Tch," Fuuka scowled deeply, rolling her eyes and tapping her foot on the ground. "Fine, let's just get it on."
Erika smiled kindly at Shizuru, bowing lightly. "I hope we do get along, Kurenai-san."
"I hope so too, Fukuhara-san," Shizuru returned the gesture as they began their warm-up, jogging around for their laps.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Isane wanted to crawl and hide under a rock when she found out who her teammates were.
Shishido stood next to her on one side and Niou on the other and being the tall one, she could clearly see the tension sparking from the capped dash specialist and Rikkai's Trickster. Niou's gleaming blue eyes spelled "you're-too-near-for-my-liking" and the dash specialist's sienna eyes glared holes that clearly spelled "jerk-off-jackass". She whimpered slightly before slowly reducing her height to prevent her from seeing the tension between the two boys. Along with her, Sarah Jaeger stood next to Niou with a male known as Amane Hikaru and some other girl she had never seen before despite being a senior. Yamabuki also had one of their female members standing next to Akutsu who stood only until her waist with a pair of huge circular eye-glasses and cat-like whisker markings on her face. Although Amane seemingly had his puns and messed up, hobo hair look, what made her shiver more was that in her team she also had Yamabuki's Akutsu Jin. Well, not that she had any problems with Amane but Yamabuki's Akutsu Jin looked like he wanted to skin her alive or something.
"Alright," a young woman walked out with magenta coloured hair, tipping her glasses as she did so. "It seems I'll be the one handling your group. Do you have any questions before I give your training schedules and your partners?"
Isane swallowed hard before shaking her head vigorously.
"Alright, the event consists of three divisions: male's tennis division, girl's tennis division and the mixed doubles division," Hanamura smiled as she folded her arms, looking at them carefully. "Now, I have all the data given to me by your coaches on what your strengths are. However – that is not what we're going to deal with today."
Isane swallowed hard as an evil glint appeared on the woman's glasses; she knew that completely spelled trouble.
"Uchiha Isane – according to records, they say you're a terrible volleyist," Hanamura smiled lightly with her glasses tipped down, causing shivers to run down her spine. "Another is – your sense of self-esteem is horrible and that you're easily intimidated by stronger opponents especially by those who are stronger physically due to your lanky stature correct?"
Isane swallowed hard; if there's anything she knew about Jyosei Shounan's coach, she had crazy teaching methods! She immediately began looking around for any other person to join them but somehow, things were just getting uglier every minute. Her eyes widened as she found Niou and Shishido in some weird stare off with Niou keeping some calm and composed demeanour but she saw past his liquid blue eyes that he was seething deep inside. Unlike Niou, Shishido expressed his hatred openly. The capped dash specialist pursed his lips and after being his classmate for three years – Isane knew he was plotting some murderous plans for the Trickster standing next to her.
"Miss Uchiha?"
Isane instantly snapped out of her daze and found everyone standing next to one another with their partner except her, shamefacedly scratching the back of her neck with abashed smile. "Eh? I-I'm sorry, who's my partner again?"
"It's me, weirdo."
Isane froze as she slowly turned her head towards the gruff voice that called her. She swallowed hard upon realizing that her partner was Yamabuki's Akutsu Jin, trying her best not to faint out of fear. She knew how brutal his tennis was and how powerful his shots were. She gulped and fought back her urge to have her fear paralyse her on the spot. Never mind fighting against Sunamyou Shina and her crazed attitude or going against Ayane when Atobe had done something wrong again but having Akutsu within a small proximity of her sent shivers down her spine. Fighting back her fear, Isane trembled and dragged her feet towards her partner as Hanamura clapped her hands with a slow smile.
"Good, let's begin!"
Niou snorted lazily as he walked away with whom she heard was Metsuku Yokome from Yamabuki and Shishido ended up with Sarah Jaeger of Rikkai Dai. Amane on the other hand didn't seem to mind that he was paired up from someone from his school as they started taking their positions on the court. The silver haired sniper swallowed hard as she saw Shishido and Niou take courts right next to her. Ignoring the tension between the two, she immediately began focusing on her rally match with Akutsu.
I'm gonna die before the whole week ends!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Game, Marui-Kobayagi: five games to three!"
Atobe managed to conceal his urge to gawk in admonishment at the instant change of tides of the match. The first round – Marui and Ayane barely showed any signs of cooperation and now they were working together without even talking to each other. He shook his head in astonishment but a little happy deep down inside. Ayane had grown up so much without him but it also hurt to see her working well with another man who wasn't even her boyfriend. He quickly snapped his mouth shut before he could say some witty retort as he found Ayane laughing and smirking with Marui as if they had completely outsmarted them and as if they had been playing doubles for this very moment. When did Ayane start going near Marui and when did that red headed idiot forget their deal? Many questions began to run through the king's head until another volley promptly flew right past them with both opponents grinning at them as if they were going to crush them. He then glanced at his partner up front with a snort of annoyance; the girl barely had half of Ayane's skill or strength yet how was she able to defeat Ayane until he noticed how quiet she was during the game.
Psychological warfare – Tch, she's a mind player like Kurenai except Kurenai has the physicals to show off.
Because Vera could barely match up to any of the regulars, her mouth did all the fighting. Atobe scowled darkly as he remembered the day Ayane had lost because Vera wouldn't stop badgering her with her words. Talking during a match definitely got on to his nerves but he never expected the margin to be extremely big between Ayane and Vera. Then again, he could handle the both of them on his own prowess so why didn't he? Atobe kicked himself internally; he could've saved his face ages ago! Seeing a serve flying out from Marui, Atobe immediately ran past Vera much to the blonde girl's surprise.
"Atobe-kun," Vera blinked in shock as Atobe sent a drive volley down at Ayane. "What are you doing?"
Atobe for once refused to talk; if anything, the way the blonde had added "-kun" to his name made his skin crawl and cringe at the tone of her voice. Ignoring the shiver running up his spine out of pride, Atobe continued volleying with Marui who smirked triumphantly at him. How dare he smirk at him when he was playing against him! Worst of all – how dare he play doubles with Ayane! What was Sakaki-kantoku thinking? He'd rather pair up with Ayane rather than the crazy blonde following him around. Marui grinned boyishly as Ayane smiled in return as the two stepped up the attack. The purple haired king of Hyotei snorted as he continued volleying with Marui as the exchanges became faster. Ayane stayed behind with her emerald green eyes darkly staring back at him. He bit his lower lip while trying to maintain his concentration against Marui. The red head volleyist started moving around easily as his bubblegum began to make bubbles, much to his annoyance. The moment however he looked at Ayane, he saw a huge smile on her face.
"Go get 'em, Bunta," Ayane lowered her stance to prepare for her ground shots.
"Heh, you got it," Marui twisted his body to launch more power into his volleys, knocking the ball to clip the net.
When did Ayane start calling Marui by his first name? The king glared holes at Marui as the Magician shrugged it off nonchalantly. Atobe fumed darkly but continued to ignore it as his opponents seemingly played doubles without even breaking a sweat against them. His icy eyes blue met for a moment and saw the mirth shining in the Hyotei vice captain's eyes as she started switching places with Marui. He pushed himself back as Vera went to confront Ayane with whatever skill he hoped she had. The tangerine haired girl however had completely dodged Vera and sent a speeding forehand towards him, forcing Atobe to lightly deflect the shot before it sent him tumbling backwards. As the ball flew, Ayane stood there for a moment before switching with Marui the last minute and having the Magician attacking Vera's left side. Shocked by the sudden development, Vera immediately dashed for the ball but tripped and fell to the ground, resulting to a light drop. Marui immediately dropped it a wee bit higher, smirking as Atobe went to cover for his partner to give her time to regroup. Atobe, fuming deep inside, sent a far shot towards Ayane's side as she backhanded it with the Magnolia Blade right towards Vera. The blonde girl winced as the ball slammed against her racquet and ricocheted right off it and spiralled straight towards Marui. Seeing his chance, Marui sliced the ball as it spun right on the net and began rolling on it before falling onto the ground.
Vera could only gawk in astonishment and admonishment. "That's the...!"
"Game and match: Six games to three," Sakaki inhaled deeply as he rose from the chair, deeply disappointed with Atobe but more impressed by Ayane's capability. "Ayane, you've been improving."
Ayane grinned happily before casting a sly and evil smirk at Atobe and Vera. "Oh yes, I don't intend losing to the same opponents," – crushing the poor tennis ball in her hand to the point of deflation as she heavily emphasized on the word "opponents". "Twice."
Marui immediately tried to restrain his chuckling and his snickering with not much success as he noticed how pale Vera became when Ayane had deflated the poor tennis ball. Although he too pitied the tennis ball, Marui couldn't help but sit beside himself with glee as he found the colour draining from Atobe's face and noticing how powerful Ayane's shot had become after their little meetings in Rikkai Dai. Sanada had worked on her power and Niou taught her a thing or two about pissing off Atobe although Sanada always had Ayane clobber the other male on the head with something. Marui chuckled upon remembering how Ayane managed to randomly fish out a baseball bat from her bag, chased Niou down and hit Niou straight on the head with it. The Trickster had gone home with enough bumps to even make Sanada shrink in comparison in terms of backhanding power. Kirihara loved Ayane's fool-hardy nature especially when they started playing video games. A true button masher, Marui grinned fondly at the memory. He remembered the multiple strawberry short cakes she had made with him in the Rikkai Dai Baking Club room especially because they took so long since he kept trying to lick the spoon. He chuckled sheepishly on that memory especially when he remembered how hard Ayane could hit him with a wooden spoon. How the heck could she hit so hard? He could only wonder if the Hyotei girls did have their eccentric sides even though they looked like prim and proper girls.
"Oh well," Marui shrugged nonchalantly while looking at Vera fuming angrily at Ayane who seemed to be smug about crushing the little tennis ball, although he definitely knew in her head that was no tennis ball. "You know what they say: The more prim and proper they look, the bigger the surprise. I wonder what each of them has. I know Momo-chan's a big fan of motocross racing and she loves rally racing..."
Sakaki then started pacing quietly with his eyes staring daggers into each of them. "Now that you all have your partners, understand their strengths and weaknesses because they will be your partner for the whole time you will be training here. Dismissed."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Wow, so many volleyist people," Kiyone blinked several times as she found the narcoleptic Jirou standing next to her before grinning. "Wow, Yane-Yane was right. He can sleep anywhere and in any way!"
Yagyuu dutifully on one side with Yukimura Ai while Shitenhouji had Shiraishi Kuranosuke and another member – Tatsumi Yukari, standing next to one another. Kikumaru on the other hand jumped onto the unsuspecting Mouri Enma who seemed to be more or less used to the sudden ambushes done by the hyperactive acrobatic player. The sandy blonde haired girl grinned lightly to herself as she found the bluenette from Rikkai Dai jumping around and pulling out candy from her pocket. Liquid blue eyes widened with amazement and awe as Kiyone started moving towards her. Ai on the other hand had started chewing her Pochi candy until she found a shadow looming over her. Her lavender eyes met liquid blue ones that were staring expectantly at the batch of strawberry jelly-filled Pochi in her hand.
"You like Pochi," Yukimura's expression suddenly beamed expectantly as the smaller girl nodded vigorously; with this, Ai's eyes widened with joy and happiness as she threw herself into the arms of the smaller girl. "Waaaaah, candy sister!"
"Yay, someone who appreciates candy as much as I do," Kiyone jumped into the younger Yukimura's arms as they began dancing around. "I know a place with A LOT OF CANDY!"
"Ah, I must be in charge of this group then?"
Ai suddenly stopped as she looked up to find her older brother, serenely smiling at them. "Seii-nii, what are you doing here?"
"Why I'm going to be your coach of course," Yukimura smiled with a soft chuckle before glancing at the liquid blue eyed volleyist narrowing her eyes at him. "Oh, you must be Hyotei Gakuen's Getsugan Kiyone. Well, quite a pleasure in meeting you. I've seen many of your games and you're quite an adversary against Rikkai Dai."
Kiyone didn't know what to say but remembered how much Yukimura meant to Mai. For the tensai to cry, she never expected someone so dynamic to break at the sight of someone who looked more feminine than her own captain. Blinking for a few moments, she untangled herself from the Rikkai Dai captain before looking up at the tall bluenette. Kiyone cocked her head to one side before blinking at him innocently as if trying to examine him for something. The Hyotei baby had many ideas how to make him suffer for not remembering her senpai but right now – she needed time and a whole lot of materials if she wanted her plan to work. Pixy stick or no pixy stick, wasabi chips or no wasabi chips or if they were to deprive her of her whole bottle of Tabasco sauce, it would be fine! As long as she managed to fix this man's brain to make him remember her dancing senpai, a sly toothy grin appeared on her lips. Rubbing her hands together devilishly, Kiyone started coming up with plans.
"Now before any of you decide to try and beat me," Yukimura smiled slowly, instantly sending shivers down people's spines. "Someone please wake up Akutagawa-kun."
Kiyone shrugged nonchalantly, folding her arms with a snort. "We can't, he has narcolepsy. Only a few stuffs wake him up."
"Give him candy," Ai punched the air in delight, grinning childishly and walking up to him and ruffling his curls. "But he's already cute as is!"
"I don't think that would be a good idea, Yukimura-san," Shiraishi scratched his head sheepishly, looking at the sleepy Hyotei team member. "Narcolepsy is something more in the body system. Even if you throw in a whole bunch of candy, it would take forever to get someone like Akutagawa-kun to wake up."
Yukimura nodded solemnly, looking at the curly haired volleyist that grabbed his younger sister's attention. "Hmm, I guess we must try a much harsher method then."
Ai's eyes widened as she embraced the sleeping volleyist protectively, knowing how scary his wrath could be. "Noooooo, don't hurt him!"
Yukimura smiled serenely at his younger sister although the others knew better what hid behind that smile, shivering at the dark aura the Rikkai Dai captain started to emit. "Don't worry Ai; we're just going to need a little water is all."
Kiyone shivered slightly as she watched Yukimura walk to his water jug, serenely smiling as he walked back to them and pointed the water jug at Jirou. "He has five seconds."
The moment those words left Yukimura's lips, Ai frantically began shaking Jirou. "Akutagawa-kun, wake up!"
Kiyone swallowed hard fearfully as Shiraishi and Yukari took a step away from Jirou with Yagyuu shaking his head in defeat. However, Jirou literally hung his head slept his day away with a slight snore, causing the whole team to sweatdrop at the oblivious narcoleptic. People could only stare at Yukimura and then at Jirou while wondering how the narcoleptic couldn't even sense the fearful captain that was Yukimura. Yagyuu glanced at his captain; there has to be something wrong there. Yukimura's threats alone got Niou and Kirihara running laps willingly and those two were the most rambunctious and crazy among them. Yukimura on the other hand sighed, looking at the sleepy boy not even budge despite the aura of murder spilling out of his body. He then tried squirting the water into Jirou's face to which the volleyist just snored away without even batting an eyelash.
He's either extremely oblivious, his condition is that severe or I must be losing my touch.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Lunch time rolled around as many of the teams found themselves staring at a very high tech and posh cafeteria. Ayane gawked at the sight of the three vending machines and the tables had a modern flair to it. The table tops were made of glass and the legs were made of stainless steel with the chairs being made out of white leather. Huge windows gave everyone the sight of the whole club area, including the tennis courts, the swimming pool and everything. Kiyone however found herself staring in awe at the huge red bottle sitting on the condiment bar.
"HOT SAUCE," Kiyone immediately jumped for it until Momo grabbed the back of her shirt. "But, Momo-senpai...!"
"Kiyone, behave," Momo wagged her finger while chiding the smaller girl, ignoring the childish pout.
"I WILL NOT CONFORM TO THE STANDARDS OF SOCIETY," Kiyone yowled and started kicking and struggling against the Shinigami, trying desperately to reach the huge bottle that read TABASCO SAUCE.
The whole Hyotei Team blinked and stared at their little volleyist with everyone else gawking at how easily Momo lifted Kiyone off the floor and dangled her a few inches off the ground. However, the sandy blonde volleyist continued swinging and kicking to force Momo to lose her grip. All the teams could only stare at the whole scene unfolding in front of them as Kiyone tried to bite off Momo's hand with very little success. The Shinigami however seemed to be perfectly fine from dangling Kiyone from the garter of her tennis skirt. Shiraishi could only gape at how easily Momo lifted Kiyone off the ground: was she that light? However, he remembered the match between the Hyotei Doubles Pair against the Jerrard-Ryuuzaki pair and for Kiyone to easily leap up on Ayane's shoulders and for the other girl to balance her proved how light she was. But the whole Hyotei Team stared at astonishment with one thought in mind: who knew Kiyone knew words that big and profound?
"Hey, I'm not stupid – Yane-Yane's the oblivious one," Kiyone stuck her tongue out impishly, folding her arms childishly.
"HEY!"
Haruka sighed deeply while separating the two regulars, still holding onto Kiyone's shirt. "Okay guys that's enough. No Tabasco sauce unless you behave."
"I'm not a dog," Kiyone pouted impishly as she allowed herself to be dragged away from the condiment bar.
Soon, the teams found their tables – each school eating separated from one another. There was the usual loud chattering between teams along with the low humming of the air conditioning unit. Ayane went to the cafeteria line and saw the long buffet of food, with her eyes widening with surprise. She knew it wasn't the usual Atobe class food otherwise she would have seen lobster or steak somewhere in the buffet. She sighed deeply before glancing at Atobe who seemed more occupied by his friends as she found a cup of pudding – well more like the last cup. A devilish smile appeared on her lips as she grabbed straight away and walked towards her chair without looking back. It does seem petty, Ayane mused for a moment as she waited for Atobe to get to that part of the line. But it's the petty things that the mole diva seems to notice the most.
"Ayane, you must be desperate to resort to something that simple," – Ayane swivelled her head around and found herself facing her teammates, letting out a groan in defeat.
Ayane sighed deeply before plopping down on the chair, placing her tray down. "Sheesh, does it really look that desperate?"
Rin shoved a dumpling into her mouth with her chopstick with a slight shrug. "Only to a few since I have Insight, buchou's a walking emotion detector, Mai knows these things, Haruka has a maternal instinct and Hitomi-chan knows things about you inside out. So yeah, basically more than half knows. But I think so do the others but they just don't want to say."
"Clearly Atobe has gotten a new bitch to play around with so why stick around for that," Mai shrugged nonchalantly, taking a sip from her drink.
"It's probably the same reason why you stick around Yukimura even if he has a new bitch," Ayane sharply retorted before grabbing her spoon roughly, shoving a spoonful of rice into her mouth.
Mai darkly narrowed her gaze at the tangerine haired girl. "Ayane, you've been nothing but seething ever since that match. What's going...?"
"FUCK OFF," Ayane slammed her palms against the table and stormed off, nearly catapulting the plates if not for Momo's and Shizuru's quick reflexes to hold down the table.
The whole cafeteria suddenly fell silent as Ayane slammed the door with enough force to shatter the hinges, letting out a loud bang. People stared at a few moments at the door where the tangerine haired girl had stormed off to before resuming to their meals. As the chatters grew louder, the other girls started staring at them and Haruka cast a withering glance at Vera's smug triumphant smirk. The Hyotei girls stared at the door as they all turned to each other, biting their lower lip. Kiyone hid her face slightly while feeding herself a little faster than normal whereas Mai had remained silent. Shizuru exhaled deeply before standing up, feeling nauseous slightly from the tension.
"I'll be right back," Shizuru quietly made her way to the door without disrupting anything else.
As their captain left, Momo glanced at the red haired tensai with a shake of her head. "Mai, you're one to talk considering you've been bumming over him like a lovesick puppy."
"But the thing is – Yukimura didn't do it on his free choice and that's because it's still biologically reparable," Mai narrowed her eyes at the Shinigami, slicing out a piece of chicken. "Atobe on the other hand clearly made his choice and decided to be a douche. He doesn't have any psychological illness."
"Other than narcissism, he's definitely sane," Haruka mused lightly as she drank her tea quietly. "But, Momo's right. You know that the wound's still fresh. She just realized that someone is stronger than her out there, not only that – that same girl decided to take her boyfriend just like that and to top it off, she's really frustrated and doesn't know what to do. Mai, I don't think she needs a quadruple whammy right now."
Mai remained silent and prepared to look for Ayane until Momo grabbed her hand. "What?"
"Wait here," Momo tightened her grip on the red haired girl's hand, narrowing her dark eyes at the amber cat-like ones of the dancer. "Walking to Ayane when she's angry is like throwing yourself into a pit of lions. Let Shizuru fix this."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"ARGH, STUPID CAMP! STUPID EVERYTHING! I HOPE A STICK IS SHOVED UP HIS ASS!"
Ayane kicked a pebble straight into the sky with an annoyed snort while continuing to saunter around the tennis grounds. The trees swayed gently to the wind as the leaves started rustling floating towards her as she whacked the leaf away from her face in annoyance. Purple flowers started dancing as the flowers floated right towards her with the wind blowing right beneath her skirt. Her emerald eyes gazed kindly at the flowers as she held one in her hand, fingering the soft petals. The purple colour brilliantly gleamed under the sun as Ayane continued stroking the small petals gently.
It's so soft like his hair...
Ayane bolted out of her daydreaming, flicking the flower off her hand as she continued on the stony pathway. The defeat remained fresh in her mind as she remembered the howling laughter of her nightmare. How could she possibly think of Atobe after everything? She shook her head vigorously and tried to take out his image from her mind but remembered seeing his bright ice blue eyes gazing back at her. She hissed in annoyance before picking up a rock and throwing it as hard as she could, suddenly hearing a car alarm in the distance. Mouthing a small "oops", Ayane spun around and began to whistle while taking another path and pretended not to know anything about the car. She bit her lower lip as Vera's haughty laughter echoed her ears as her body began to violently tremble underneath the fear. Marui had woken her up day and day again as he made sure she had a peaceful sleep during their breaks of their training. Sanada had really worked her down to the ground and she winced upon remembering how strong Kirihara's shots were when she was told to practice against him, massaging her wrist.
"Ayane, there you are."
The tangerine haired girl swivelled around and found her captain standing behind her with her usual calm expression. "Buchou, how did you know...?"
"Being an empath has its quirks," Shizuru walked towards her before smiling kindly, extending her hand. "Walk with me?"
Sighing deeply to herself, the tangerine haired vice captain walked along with her senior as the summer winds began to blow and tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. "Buchou, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to blow up at Mai-senpai like that. I guess I'm just being very edgy ever since..."
"Vera has cornered Atobe-senpai," Shizuru cut her smoothly as she continued to match her stride and slowed down her pace. "The loss against Seigaku has always been the hardest to recover from. Believe me; it was agonizing the first time I had Fuuka launch strong shots like that to pop out my arms from their sockets. However, Vera had overstepped her bounds. She did not have the right to rub in that pain. I understand your rage towards her but you should not forget that we are here too to help you with your pain."
Ayane scornfully snorted, folding her arms. "Tch, this is coming from a person who hides her own pain."
"I say because I have the most experience of knowing the pain of being alone and frustrated," Shizuru's red eyes seeming flashed with fury, causing Ayane to slink away slightly. "I suppose you still have nightmares of your defeat?"
Ayane's eyes widened with astonishment. "Who...?"
"It is a common thing for those who are new to defeat," Shizuru smiled kindly and let out a bittersweet giggle, letting her angry aura die down. "I too once had those. When I first entered the circuit, my opponents fell before me one by one. I was climbing higher and higher and probably, I had become very arrogant. The time when I had to fight Seigaku came – well, let's say the fight did not end too well. In fact, I took defeat a whole lot less gracefully than you did..."
Ayane swallowed hard; her buchou capable of anger? "What did you do?"
"I broke down and cried in front of the whole world," Shizuru chuckled sadly as she sat down on one of the benches. "It hurt to lose. Definitely, especially when I told myself that the whole game had been sewn up. My teammates felt bad and I felt that I had let them down. Worst of all, I felt that I had let down the people who had given me a chance to become great."
Ayane remained silent as Shizuru continued with a soft whisper.
"Not only that, I felt that I had let him down. I knew he was somewhere there in the crowd watching me yet I had failed to make a good impression of being a worthy opponent. But enough of that, what matters is – you have taken action to make sure that the defeat you incurred shall not happen twice."
"Ah, I guess you're right. Who's him by the way," Ayane swivelled her head towards her buchou as she noticed a letter in her hand. "By the way, where did that letter come from?"
Shizuru blinked several times, realizing that she held her mail in her hand and never had opened it. "Oh, whoops. I just received this today. I was going to start answering it since the morning batch is done for the day."
Ayane, sneaking a little closer to Shizuru, grabbed the envelope with an evil grin. "Hmmm, I wonder what it says..."
The captain, not realizing she had let her guard down, saw the letter in Ayane's hand and frowned. "Ayane, give that back."
"No," Ayane stuck out her tongue childishly and scream at the top of her lungs, waving the letter and making a mad dash to the cafeteria. "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!"
Shizuru, sighing deeply and shaking her head, smiled lightly as she at least accomplished one objective and now – she had to hound her vice captain for her own private and personal matters.
"Kobayagi Ayane," Shizuru twitched furiously with her voice slowly rising. "YOU WILL GIVE THAT LETTER BACK TO ME RIGHT NOW!"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Rin found herself placed with the afternoon batch starting at 1:30 PM as she found Gakuto sulking on one side. Kirihara walked in while talking to Torinaka Yui and Rokkaku sent in two of their members: Saeki Koujiro and some girl she could not recognize as well. Seigaku's Inui Sadaharu and Shibuya Rangiku also had joined the group as she swallowed hard at the sight of the extremely happy-go-lucky little girl. The black haired acrobat sighed and began looking around, wondering which group Kajimoto got thrown into. The black dragon inhaled deeply while looking at each of the members lining up when Banji of Yamabuki decided to walk in. Rin knew the rumours surrounding Banji – his doubles pairs were always amazing but who could she pair with? Gakuto barely had the stamina she had! Kirihara, she shivered upon remembering the rumours about him. Kirihara practically manhandled anything that came across his path!
"Alright," Banji continued to keep up his smiling expression as he folded his arms across his chest, standing erect. "Tell me your schools and the positions you usually handle."
Seeing he was the first from the right side and everyone was looking at him, the two toned haired male nodded stiffly. "Saeki Koujiro – Rokkaku Chuu, Singles Two."
"Touhou Kameko – Rokkaku Chuu, I play in Singles Three," – Rin noticed a brown haired girl with a straight bob cut and wearing a crimson red hobo hat, bowing humbly.
"Rikkai Dai's Devil Kirihara Akaya, Singles Three," Kirihara folded his arms with a huge arrogant smirk on his face.
"I am Torinaka Yui from Rikkai Dai. I usually play Doubles One desu," the auburn haired freshman smiled cheerily, swinging to and fro with her low pigtails. "Please take good care of me!"
"Inui Sadaharu," Inui adjusted his glasses with his usual business smile, reflecting off some sunlight. "I am from Seishun Gakuen, playing Singles or Doubles."
Rangiku smiled and spun around with a huge cheerful grin. "I am Shibuya Rangiku from Seishun Gakuen, I play Singles Three!"
"Mukahi Gakuto, Hyotei Gakuen and awesome acrobat for Doubles Two," Gakuto gloated with a fold of his arms, chuckling with a smug expression.
Rin remained silent as she started wondering where Kajimoto had been placed. She sadly sighed upon remembering Ayane storming out with her buchou going after her but where would the two have gone? Hyotei could not lose their commanding powers so early in the game! Sure Momo had some sense of authority due to seniority but Shizuru still had the power as their captain. But that still didn't mean that Ayane could go off storming out. She bit her lower lip, remembering how tense the atmosphere became in the bus especially when Ayane and Atobe had sat next to each other. None of them had said a word and nobody could get a word in edgewise. Rin sighed as she watched another group and saw Kajimoto running with them for jogging.
I wonder who he's under.
"Oi, Shorty!"
Rin snapped out of her daze before instinctively whacking Gakuto at the upside of his head, pursing her lips impishly. "I'M NOT SHORT!"
"I didn't even call you "Shorty", idiot," Gakuto snapped heatedly at the black haired female acrobat, sticking his tongue out at her. "Did that even sound like me?!"
"You're the only one who calls me "Shorty" when clearly you're shorter than me, kuwee~," Rin pursed her lips distastefully, averting her eyes from Gakuto.
"Alright, that's enough," – Rin and Gakuto found Saeki pushing the two of them apart, shaking his head distastefully. "We're here to train not fight our daylights out. Kirihara-kun was calling you because you haven't introduced yourself yet."
Rin saw a snickering Kirihara before throwing a withering glare at his direction before smiling sweetly at her coach. "Ah, I'm sorry! I'm Shimohi Rin – Hyotei Gakuen and player for Doubles Two!"
Banji nodded lightly as he clapped his hands together, smiling serenely. "Well then, let's start making some progress then. It seems that one of the main problems with your pairings is that one has lower stamina than the other. Am I right, Ms. Shimohi, Mr. Mukahi?"
Rin swallowed hard, hanging her head guiltily and twiddled with her fingers. "Y-yeah, it's kind of like that."
Gakuto spat in annoyance and smugly snorted, folding his arms. "Heh, I've solved that problem long time ago!"
Banji remained completely serene despite the rude outburst, pulling out some sheets of paper from his pocket. "Very well then, I will start training you now. By the end of the day, I'm very sure that all of you will be able to achieve new heights. For starters, let's begin the warm-ups. Thirty laps around the tennis court and then after that, we'll have a little footwork."
Thirty laps only? Buchou makes us run 60!
Rin began running her laps as Gakuto started off pretty slow, giggling slightly when she found herself running next to Saeki Koujiro. She had heard about Rokkaku being number three Seed in the Kantou Region but she wasn't quite sure if that applied as well to the female division. Hyotei never had to face them since Seigaku always eliminated them early in the tournament. Even now that Shibuya Rangiku had joined them; she knew Seigaku had become more formidable. She glanced at the dancing trees as the wind passed by, tossing around her black tresses.
"Geez, when did you learn how to run like a monkey?"
Rin swivelled her head to find the male magenta haired running right next to her, huffing and puffing. "You said you conquered that problem long time ago!"
"Pshe, I'm catching up to you aren't I? I'm just getting warmed up," Gakuto snorted as he continued heavily gasping for air, trying to keep up the speed.
Rin rolled her eyes at her fellow acrobat before pushing herself to move faster. She watched Kirihara and Saeki take the lead with Kameko and Yui following behind them, kicking up her pace a little bit more. As she continued to run, the wind continue to blow against her cheeks as she vaulted over Yui and Kameko much to the two girl's surprise and landed right in front of Saeki and Kirihara. The two boys gawked in astonishment as Rin continued running past them. She smiled brightly as the sun began beaming down on her, kicking up her pace.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Well, this is a surprise," – Momo swivelled her head up and found herself looking at a Yamabuki female Regular. "I never knew that the Shinigami would be in my group. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Momo narrowed her eyes suspiciously, biting her lower lip. "And who might you be?"
"My name is Sengoku Tohru," she smiled with a more regal bearing, nodding curtly. "You must be Sanada Momo."
Momo glanced at the orange haired girl as her layered messy orange hair cascaded smoothly down past her shoulders. Her black eyes seemed to have a sharpened gaze instead of the usual goofy blue eyed expression she had gotten used to from her boyfriend. The orange haired girl stood with a more imposing stance as her arms remained folded as her eyes met with Momo's dark ones. The Shinigami could easily detect the hostility in her tone and her action alone proved a few things. The tanned skin girl then sat next to her with a small smirk, folding her legs.
"Sengoku may be the kindest, goofiest and probably not the brightest crayon in the box but you have no right to take advantage of that," Tohru stared darkly at Momo as the Shinigami stood her ground, glaring deep into the female samurai's eyes. "If you ever do hurt him, I will hurt you so bad that I'll make you want to slit your own belly."
Momo narrowed her eyes at the girl, desperately fighting her urge to threaten with her hidden blade inside her racquet. "And who are you to tell me that?"
"Nee-chan, I didn't know you were part of my group! And Momo's here too – I'm so lucky!"
Momo and Tohru turned around and found Sengoku happily jogging in with his tennis bag. The purple haired girl noticed the murderous aura fade away instantly as Tohru beamed sweetly at her younger brother. The Shinigami maintained her usual calm and composed expression but wondered who this girl was. She knew that Sengoku called a lot of girls older than him "nee-san" although, he never did tell her that he had an older sister. The female Sanada regained her composure while watching Sengoku moving closer, smiling cheerily at the other orange haired girl.
"Ah, Kiyo-chan – it seems the coaches believe that we would gel very well with one another," she smiled sweetly as Momo rolled her eyes with a sideward sarcastic snort. "I am not quite surprised. We are the Sengoku siblings after all. You did eat lunch before you ran here right?"
"Of course I did," Sengoku stared aghast as his sister started ruffling his hair. "I'm not that forgetful, nee-san!"
Tch, what an actress.
Momo bit her lower lip with a slight sigh; sure there were sisters who cared deeply for their younger brother's welfare. But at the way Tohru had fired at her, Momo felt more than a declaration of war. Brushing her hair aside, Momo then found herself standing next to Oshitari Yuushi who lazily sauntered in with some other of the male tennis players. Momo sighed deeply as the blazing sunbeams lit up her skin while she saw Shitenhouji walk in with Tooyama Kintarou and Amakusa Natsuki along with Seigaku's Mouri Enma and Momoshiro Takeshi.
"Alright," Momoshiro stretched his arms to loosen up with a determined grin, cracking his knuckles. "Let's get this party started!"
Natsuki drawled with her thick kansai accent with a tousle of her charcoal gray hair, chuckling lightly. "Well, this is gonna be one lively party. But make sure ya can keep up, Momoshiro-san. Ah can't have ya lookin' like somethin' the cat dragged in."
Watching an old man saunter in, Momo bit her lower lip as Tohru glared at her while Sengoku had gone off to chat with Momoshiro.
"You stay away from my little brother."
The Shinigami however had a confident smirk on her face, folding her arms. "Well then, if you think I'm such a useless whore – prove it to me through your tennis."
"Before ya start steamin' up with a little cat fight," Natsuki smiled before pushing the two girls apart with a smirk. "Ah do suggest someone wakes up our coach."
As the two broke away from eye contact, the whole team sweatdropped as they found the old man from Rokkaku sleeping peacefully on his own two feet. The Hyotei Shinigami sighed deeply to herself as the coach continued to snore peacefully without even being disturbed by the tension between the players. She cast a withering glance at Tohru as Sengoku continued chattering away with Momoshiro.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Haruka groaned lightly as she continued doing the pull-ups, swinging her legs and feeling the ache in her abdomen. She watched her other teammates do it as Hiyoshi began testing his stamina against a treadmill. Jackal had been grouped up with her as well luckily and made things a wee bit more bearable for her considering that her coach was being insane about making her do 200 pull ups. With another huff, the pearl dragon pulled herself up as her arms began to ache.
"That's pretty agonizing."
Haruka looked down to find Jackal standing in front of her as she dangled a few inches off the ground. "You don't say?"
Jackal chuckled humourlessly as Aoi and some other member of Rokkaku were stuck doing weights. "I know Yukimura-buchou would have done the same thing if we had the equipment. The thing is – instead, he makes us run constantly or play constantly with conditions people would consider inhumane."
"I bet you haven't been made to play tennis with butter and cream cheese on your fingers," Haruka giggled lightly as she continued doing her pull-ups, slightly letting out a grunt as she did so. "Kotetsu was crazy back then."
Jackal chuckled lightly, doing leg ups with two weights on them. "I've played with lard smeared on my hands. Where Yukimura-buchou managed to find that much lard I have no clue."
Giggling softly, Haruka raised an eyebrow while continuing to do pull-ups. "I'm guessing for the reaction time training he went for the dodge ball game right?"
"You have no idea what his version of dodge ball is."
Haruka chuckled lightly before doing her last pull-up, wincing at the pain in her shoulders, abdomen and arms. "Does he throw basketballs at you?"
"I never thought a watermelon and a pineapple could be so harmful," Jackal shuddered violently as Haruka could only giggle at the expression on his face. "What? I don't even know how he managed to get all those watermelons and pineapples! He said he got it from this place called the Philippines. I never knew Pineapples could grow that big!"
"Wow and I thought Kotetsu was crazy," Haruka chuckled lightly, taking a seat next to Jackal. "At least Shizuru makes sensible ones instead of going for those although she always makes something like training come out really fun. I guess it's because she knows us too well."
The Brazilian-Japanese scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, say Haruka – what exactly do you do?"
"Huh? Oh, we have our own version of target practice via cones and tennis balls and then we sometimes go laser tag," Haruka pondered deeply, placing her fist on her hand. "Oh yeah then, we sometimes have a marathon race."
Jackal shook his head, blinking as she continued listing down her training schedule. "Um, Hikifumi-san...?"
"Then we sometimes have some rallies but with limitations! Oh there was a time Rin and I had to play barefoot since Hitomi said it would help with giving another way for Synchronization..."
Jackal slightly frowned; how to make a girl stop babbling was way beyond him. "Hikifumi-san!"
"Eh," Haruka swivelled her head towards Jackal as the tanned skinned Regular finally sighed in relief after getting her attention.
"I meant, what do you do asides from tennis?"
Haruka literally gawked at his statement and here she was blabbering about what Shizuru had done to their training schedule! She mentally slapped herself; she had given out the secrets to their success! The pearl dragon sighed at her blunder before looking at Jackal again, realizing that she had begun to space out.
"Oh Hehehe, nothing much really," Haruka blushed shyly, shaking away her embarrassment. "I do Wu Shu in my spare time and practice a little for Dragon Dance performances since I'm part of the Foreign Cultures club in Hyotei Gakuen. But..."
Come to think of it, what was her version of fun?
Most of the time, she stayed at home balancing accounting books and managing the Hikifumi Enterprises. Her father had hired a governess to make sure she learned everything and knew everything by heart. She let out a frustrated snort before casting her glance towards Jackal with a small sigh.
"You know, I never went to a carnival before," Haruka suddenly remarked off handedly before it took her five seconds to realize what she said. Shit, what did I just say?
Jackal blinked several times as he noticed her face seemingly staring off into space. Did she say she never went to a carnival before? That was downright awful! As his mother would say, people who had never gone to a carnival in Rio de Janeiro had committed an act way beyond sacrilege. He began to ponder whether or not Japan had a nearby carnival but with the Goodwill games going on – finding one would be almost downright impossible. Biting his lower lip, Jackal immediately began racking his thoughts until a bolt of realization just hit him.
"Wait, have you at least gone to the Festivals held in Kanagawa?"
Haruka blinked several times before suckling the air sharply; he had heard her? "Well, no – the governess never allowed me to go to those things..."
"I can take you to the Fireworks festival. It's just along the Tama River," Jackal scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, waiting for her response. "It's going to be happening this Saturday so I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go with me."
"YES," Haruka almost squealed in delight, her eyes widening on what she had done before becoming more composed. "Um sure, what time?"
Jackal fought down the urge to laugh at her as he clasped his hands. "Well then, let's resume training before Ryuuzaki-sensei comes back and murders us all for slacking."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Hitomi on the other hand began running through the analysis as she found herself rallying against Seishun Gakuen's Fuji Syuusuke. Biting her lower lip, the blonde sent the ball flying towards Fuji's blind side as she prepared to launch another shot. Surprisingly, Yukimura seemed to lighten up a little more than she expected. According to most of her sources, the way he trained people absolutely had some horrifying element to it. She glanced around and found St. Rudolph playing with their two representatives Fuji Yuuta and some other girl she had never seen in the games. With a slight sigh, Hitomi dashed forward with a quick volley as Fuji caught up with her.
"Saa~, for someone who barely plays in the games – you play pretty well," Fuji sent a backhand towards the left side of the court.
Hitomi immediately sprung towards it before sending it a quick drive attack, smirking with her usual business-smile in all confidence. "Heh, just because I don't play as much as the other eight players doesn't mean I don't have the capacity to play well."
The blonde mastermind continued keeping her eyes on Fuji without it moving away from her opponent. Despite him playing with his eyes shut, Hitomi managed to catch his movements while watching his foot or leg twitch in whatever direction he needed to go towards. She bit her lower lip as Fuji changed his strategy and went straight for a strong forehand instead of his usual counters. Hitomi clucked her tongue in annoyance; was he holding that much back? She quickly set a spin on the ball as Fuji's eyes finally opened. A smirk appeared on her lips as she started analysing him before his eyes shut again.
Here it comes, the Tsubame Gaeshi...!
However, much to her dismay, the ball did not roll and instead jumped right over her racquet instead of rolling on the ground. Luckily, she managed to bend back to delay her reaction and clumsily send it back. As she teetered backwards, Fuji took the opportunity to strike with a quick drive volley as she sprung forward with a swing of her body.
On the other hand, Fuji seemed to be more amused by the blonde's facial expression than her tennis skill.
He knew that the Hyotei Girls needed someone with an analytical, cold and calculating precision on their opponents almost to the point of ruthlessness. Hitomi definitely fit the profile as he continued watching her mannerisms. Her eyes never tore themselves off him, watching instead of his closed eyes but his leg twitches and his body movement. A chuckle bubbled from his lips as he remembered the story he had heard from Oishi about how fast she easily hacked into the security system of a huge castle. He chuckled upon remembering how bright red the vice captain's face became upon mentioning the times they had constantly bumped into each other.
"Well then," Fuji chuckled in amusement as he attacked the shot again. "Who is the Mastermind really behind the glasses?"
With a quick dart from her former position, Hitomi lunged at the shot before scoring right behind Fuji. "Heh, you should concentrate on the match more instead of trying to figure out my personality type."
The tensai chuckled lightly as he walked away to let Kurobane play next with their Challenge-the-Winner themed practice and so far, the girls hadn't had a shot to play considering Hitomi had cleared off the other players. He then glanced at Yukimura wondering where the bluenette had begun staring at before changing his direction towards the other court where Mai had been pitted against a pair of doubles players. The red haired tensai danced through the match without breaking a single sweat as her confident smirk curved up her lips. With a finishing spin, Mai sent a whirling smash and sent the two players falling back, catching both of them off guard.
"Well, you're being a bit negligent for once," – Yukimura suddenly spun around to face the tensai standing in front of him, narrowing his eyes.
"Ah Fuji-kun, shouldn't you be doing the rally," the bluenette's eyes narrowed into deadly slits, revealing a darkened glare replacing the usual serene expression.
Fuji however remained completely undeterred. "Well, I only wanted to see whether or not you were just using the rally as a way to pass time while you're trying to figure out your fragments."
Yukimura's expression visibly changed into that of bewilderment. "Fragments?"
"Ah yes, memories can be so powerful and so fragile at the same time, no," Fuji took a seat next to Yukimura, taking a drink from his water jug. "One day you can lose them yet they're the one thing that keep yourself whole. Even divinities have memory problems and they always have this one thing that allows them to be who they are."
Yukimura smiled serenely. "Oh Fuji, don't you realize how I can have my hand accidentally slip and do something to your training schedule?"
Fuji chuckled in amusement, looking at the demi-god with a challenge-accepted smirk. "I wouldn't mind."
And I may just have the right pieces to make a little intervention.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Night slowly descended on them as Isane emerged from her room to go get a drink from the soda machine outside at the end of the corridor. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, Isane trudged along in her pale blue bunny slippers before dragging herself to the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway, the rooms on the same floor had a common room where there were two vending machines that catered to drinks and another that catered to food. The silver haired Sniper was certain that her dorm-mates had raided the food fridge considering how much ramen they managed to get out of it. Upon finally reaching the vending machine, she shoved her hand into her pocket before giving the bill and punching the numbers. After that, the machine suddenly stopped with her drink only halfway falling down to the bin.
"Aww not this again," Isane fumbled miserably with her pyjama pockets before staring at the brightly lit up machine finally deciding to bang her head against the machine. "What do I do now?"
What she didn't notice was the gray haired boy sitting in front and watching in amusement and annoyance as she banged her head against the machine.
Akutsu only wanted to have a good smoking session. After four months of abstaining from it, Akutsu chuckled in pride that he managed to stop himself from becoming a horrible chain smoker and saving up some yen to spend on speed racing. Sengoku would constantly bugger him for being a heavy smoker along with Dan Taichi. The two even went as far as confiscating his wallet and hiding it in the girl's bathroom. Despite being the self-declared badass that he was, Akutsu knew where the line was. One, he never entered a woman's sacred haven: the bathroom. Two, his mom taught him better than to enter the sacred haven where a woman was at. Three, he didn't want to burn his eyes out too early nor get a fine critical hit to the nads in an early stage in his life.
Yes, even he, the badass and rebellious Akutsu Jin had a set of morals and a good honour code.
Now, Akutsu found himself giving the Sniper's back a droll stare as he puffed out a small puff of smoke. She didn't seem to be stupid if she could calculate and target exactly where the ball should land with her service and Hyotei definitely didn't just accept any rich kid. Unless he considered the magenta jumping moron that he found the other day, Akutsu chuckled in dark amusement. What the hell was the Sniper doing pointlessly banging her head against the vending machine?
"Aww man, why are vending machines always like this with me?"
Akutsu rolled his eyes; geez, the girl must've been really drunk or really dense to not notice that she could just kick the damn thing instead of headbutting it! Isane seemingly just leaned on the machine before letting out a whine, much to his chagrin. If he didn't get that drink now, she was going to do something a whole lot worse. One thing he learned from his mother: women are vicious when they don't get what they want. He remembered the times that she didn't get her soda and went bonkers on him. Sighing in reluctance and annoyance, Akutsu rose up and shoved the sleepy lanky girl out of the way before giving the machine one powerful hammer kick. A loud kablam echoed throughout the hallway as Isane flinched from the loud crunching sound from the machine. Her emerald green eyes widened as the drink rolled out into the bin as he roughly shoved it at her.
"Geez, you could have just kicked the damn thing instead of being such an idiot and headbutting it," Akutsu scowled before falling back onto the sofa, continuing to smoke.
Isane stared in amazement before bowing politely. "Um, thank you..."
Akutsu scoffed before puffing out a small puff of smoke, snorting in annoyance. "Tch, just don't act stupid. I didn't know Hyotei students were that dumbass."
Isane hung her head lightly as she stood quietly, looking at her soda. The rally she had with him awhile ago was extremely intense and she found herself getting tangled by her own legs. Akutsu had shifted back and forth from one position to another without even flinching. She quietly took a seat next to the sofa as she plucked the can open and proceeded to drink the juice.
"Why the hell are ya still here? I could break your bones for all you know," Akutsu scowled darkly, stuffing his box of cigarettes into his pocket. "Besides, I hate rich kids."
"...Um, I just wanted to say," Isane swallowed hard, fighting back her urge to run away in fear. "Thank you in advance for putting up with me for the next three months as your partner..."
Akutsu let out a hollow chuckle; when did girls actually thank him? "Tch, it's no big deal. I'm just here since Sengoku dragged me over with Dan. Besides, you think Rat-Tail and Gangsta-Boy are gonna settle peacefully if one of them became your partner? Are you that fucking retarded? They're guys. They will fight and kick each others asses until one of them is broken in eight different directions."
Isane's eyes widened. "You..."
"Before you got there, the two douche-bags were spouting off shit about whooping each other's asses with the Gangsta-Boy getting his ass kicked," Akutsu snorted as he played with his lighter, watching the flame dance around. "You tangoed with the wrong set of bastards. I thought you rich bitches liked guys with enough dough to buy a villa in France."
Isane twiddled with her thumbs, averting her eyes. "Not all of us are like that."
"What makes it even more fucked up is you have two idiots fighting over you like you're some damn trophy," Akutsu flipped his lighter open again, lightning another cigarette. "Damn it, man up! Jyosei's whack job coach was right. With the way you are, Sleepy Boy won't even have to lift a finger to kick your ass."
"Sleepy Boy," Isane cocked her head to the side in bewilderment until she remembered Jirou. "Oh, you mean Akutagawa-kun?"
"Yeah, that moron that keeps sleeping all the time," Akutsu scowled deeply, brushing away the smoke. "Well, since I'm stuck with your sorry ass..."
Akutsu stood up and stared down at her, flicking her forehead and earning him a yelp from the silver haired Sniper.
"Fucking hell, I'm gonna make sure you're gonna know how to make those two douche bags suck their own balls."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Sighing in relief, Shizuru finally managed to grab back the envelope before Ayane had manhandled it into nothing more but a crumpled piece of paper. She walked towards her side of the room before pulling out a clipboard and her sign pen before gawking at the sight of her teammates. Fuuka slept upside down with her feet on the headboard and the pillow on her stomach. Ai on the other hand had not returned from somewhere and mumbled something along the lines of "Sugar Sister". Natsuki on the other hand started playing Battle Star Galactica on her laptop in silence. Seeing that her roommates were currently distracted, Shizuru silently opened the letter and began reading its contents.
Dear Shizuru-chan,
Congratulations on being selected for the games. It will be quite a challenge but something I know your level of skill can handle no doubt. Your teammates must be awestruck and inspired to follow someone of your calibre. Your creed as a captain in itself is a source of inspiration enough to your teammates and I do believe it is what will propel you to the Nationals. I will be watching your matches and I pray that you will attain the victories that your team and you have dreamed of. About us meeting each other, I will certainly be most happy to be able to see you. There is something that I must convey that I believe on face to face will do. I believe we can meet somewhere in the tennis camp. How does 2:30 in the afternoon this Saturday at the red brick pathway heading towards the gardens sound to you?
I will be awaiting your response.
Anonymous
Shizuru blinked several times before frowning slightly. The letter had been unusually short but a small smile curved up her lips as she prepared to write. Her auburn red eyes gazed at the starlit night sky while placing the pen against her lips, pondering on what to say. Sighing softly, the Hyotei captain uncapped her sign pen and began to write.
On the other hand, someone else had been waiting and wondering about her response.
Tezuka found himself staring at the night sky, inhaling the cold night air. His towel draped itself on his shoulders as his hair remained wet after a refreshing hot shower. He glanced at the small envelope peeking out of his bag where he had tucked away all the letters he had received in response. His heart pounded wildly as he slapped himself mentally. How did he suddenly gain the gall to ask to see her? The Seishun Gakuen suddenly froze in realization before he shook off the daze. Now she was finally going to see the man behind the letters! He exhaled deeply before pulling out one of the letters she had sent. Glancing at the last letter, he glanced at one line that caught his eye.
I guess the only reason why it caused me so much pain is because I love him...
Now, if he had no discipline – Tezuka would have been jumping for joy but no, this is Tezuka Kunimitsu. He inhaled deeply and tried to prevent himself from rushing over and shocking the poor girl but he had to be patient. Sitting down on his bed and holding the notebook in his hand, he began skimming through his drawings until he found one unfinished drawing. He pulled out his pencil to finish the image but found himself unable to do so. He traced his fingers lightly on the piece of paper before sighing deeply.
I can't... complete this...
Tezuka bit his lower lip and shook his head; why couldn't he complete a simple picture? Why couldn't he finish the drawing? Exhaling again, Tezuka stared momentarily at the notebook as his pencil tapped against the side of the page.
"Maybe it's because you feel you can't capture the emotion right?"
Tezuka swivelled his head towards Sengoku who sat up from his bed. "Sengoku?"
"You know, they usually say an artist can only capture an image only when he has felt it," Sengoku grinned goofily before fixing his ruffled up orange hair. "It's like me and Momo. I couldn't use a sword unless I saw Momo use it or she taught me how. I didn't know the feeling of bravery before but ever since then – I felt I could do more. When I fought Toyotomi, I wasn't joking when I said I just wanted to throw the blade and run away but Momo taught me how to stand my ground. That was the traditional sword art of samurai swordsmanship. It was because of her that I learned. Maybe it's time you really just came out clean to Kurenai-chan before her whole team or someone else forces you guys."
Tezuka remained silent as Sengoku shrugged.
"Anyway, I'm gonna go back to sleep. Night," Sengoku grinned before falling onto his bed with a snore.
Tezuka found himself contemplating on Sengoku's words before looking back at the unfinished drawing. With a sigh, Tezuka leaned back and closed his eyes while leaving a notebook open with an unfinished image of two faces closing in towards one another with their foreheads pressed together.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
There's Chapter 65! Wow, Tezuka finally gained some gall WITHOUT any help and how did that happen? Who knows? Please don't forget to review!