[fic] Tennis Teens for Charity 4/9

[stormy1x2]

Title: Tennis Teens for Charity 4/9

Author: Stormy1x2

Words: 7400 /45,000+

PG13: language, innuendo

Summary: The day of the tournament arrives! Everyone has to sign in – this can take a while. ^^

 

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Chapter 4

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Day of the tournament

 

 

And the day had started out so promisingly too.

He had opted to pick up An from her house – “No, Syuuske, it’s not a DATE, she’s my partner!” *pause* “TENNIS PARTNER!” – and they’d chatted easily all the way to the sports complex owned by Atobe’s uncle that was serving as the venue for the tournament. An was wearing a cute white tennis skirt and a brown tank top with white piping that made her look like she was wearing St Rudolph’s colors.

When he’d pointed it out, An smiled and told him she’d assumed he’d wear his team uniform and she’d tried to match it so they’d look like real partners. It had made him feel all warm and fuzzy again.

His good mood was fading though, and it had everything to do with the idiots in front of them, holding up the sign-in line. The Hyoutei student glared at them. “This isn’t a mixed doubles tournament!” he said frostily. “And no girl would ever be up to the caliber of what is required to even think of placing here.”

An’s whole body quivered with highly-strung tension. Yuuta looked at her, at the Hyoutei boy, back at her, and then stepped back, grinning widely. An lifted her racquet, pointing it merely an inch from the Hyoutei boy's nose. “Listen up, bucko,” she snarled. “I am a Regular on the girls' team at Rikkai. I have checked the rules for this tournament, and nowhere does it say a girl can’t compete. Now back off and let us sign up!”

The boy rolled his eyes and looked towards Yuuta. “Man, are you serious? You’re gonna enter with a chick?”

Yuuta, who had been wearing a small, proud smile for the past week ever since An had suggested they team up in the first place, suddenly turned a glare on the Hyoutei members that rivaled anything his brother could have thrown. The menace radiating off him was enough to make the two sign-in boys back away from their table. “No. I’m going to enter with my partner,” he said slowly, carefully. He reached for the pen and finished signing himself in. Then he turned it over to An who wore a triumphant smirk as she went to sign it. The boy yanked the paper away.

An’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You little—“

“What’s the hold up, ahn?” Atobe’s distinctive drawl suddenly cut through the crowd that had gathered in front of the sign-in desk. “There are many people who have to yet to register for my tournament, and I would hate for them to be disappointed.”

“Atobe-buchou!” The Hyoutei sycophants jumped to their feet and leaned forward in a synchronized bow. The boy with the paper spoke first. “It’s just that this, this girl, is trying to enter your tournament and—“

“Really?” Atobe cut off the babble with a curt movement, turned his head and met An’s fuming gaze. “Tachibana An, isn’t it?”

“You know who I am,” she said calmly. She nodded at the large sign behind the desk. “I checked your rules, Atobe. Are you going to stop me from entering the doubles competition?”

Atobe looked from her to her obvious choice of partner – one Fuji Yuuta. “A decent player with a neat talent for handling left-handed players,” he said coolly. “I remember you.” He smirked. “You didn’t give us much of a show back then, did you?”

Yuuta growled. “You—“

An grabbed his arm. “Yuuta!”

Atobe waved his hand. “Now, now, save it for the tournament.” He nodded at the two behind the desk. “Stop wasting my valuable time and sign these two in.”

“But Buchou…?”

“Atobe…” An blinked. “You’ll let me compete?”

“I hope you’ll be good enough to draw a decent player out of your partner there,” Atobe said, smirking. Yuuta rolled his eyes. “I look forward to seeing something interesting.”

An grinned, her eyes flashing with coiled anticipation. “You will. Come on, Yuuta!”  She gave Yuuta’s arm a yank and dragged him back towards the desk, snatching up the pen. Yuuta flailed helplessly behind her. 

 

______________________________

 

Takahisa Kajimoto still couldn’t figure out how Wakato had convinced him to sign up for Atobe’s tournament. As a Doubles pair, no less.  Wakato was a dozen steps ahead of him, all but bouncing his way to the sign-in desk surrounded by a bevy of his female fans. That was another thing Kajimoto couldn’t figure out; how on earth Wakato didn’t go deaf when the girls that followed him seemed incapable of lowering their voices to an acceptable decibel level.

Was it too late to try and convince Wakato to let him play in Singles instead?

“C’mon Takahisa-chan!” Wakamoto had whirled around and stood there with his hands on his hips. The girls copied him instantly, until there was a whole group glaring at him. Kajimoto raised an eyebrow and folded his arms.

“Excuse me?”

Wakato blinked, and then turned a blinding smile on his followers. “Hey girls, why don’t you go on and find yourselves good seats to watch us, okay?” He made little shooing motions with his hands that Kajimoto was disgusted to see them all obey, giggling and wiggling their way on to the grounds. Then Wakato turned back. “What’s wrong with you?”

Takahisa-chan?

It wasn’t obvious? Kajimoto didn’t move except to start tapping his foot. “Takahisa-chan?”

“Oh, relax, I’ve called you worse,” Wakato pouted. “Why are you walking so far behind?”

Kajimoto blinked, and then sent a very pointed stare in the direction Wakato’s flock had disappeared to. “You really can’t guess?”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Neither is the flu, but you don’t see me going out of my way to catch it,” Kajimoto grumbled.

Wakato looked at him for a minute, finally looking serious for a change. “You really don’t wanna play doubles, do you?”

There it was – the perfect chance to get himself situated properly back in Singles like he should have been all along. But when he opened his mouth to agree, all he could see was the veiled look of disappointment in Wakato’s expressive eyes. He closed his mouth, sighed roughly, and then offered his friend a weak smile. “It’s fine.”

His friend wasn’t fooled. “If you really don’t wanna do it, we don’t have to.”

“But you want to,” Kajimoto pointed out quietly. “Right?”

Wakato shrugged, and gave him a weak smile. “I’ve always wanted to try Doubles,” he said.

Kajimoto blinked again. “Say what?”

Wakato laughed, and then tension seemed to lessen. “Seriously! I mean, I’m a good Singles player, but that doesn’t mean I never want to try different things.” He shrugged. “Not to mention, there’s never been anyone else I wanted to play with.” He smiled at Kajimoto, who was dumbfounded. “We’ll never get the chance on the team to play Doubles because we have two strong teams and a back-up pair ready to take over in a pinch, but this isn’t a school tournament. It might be the only chance we have to play together in a competitive arena.”

This was huge news to Kajimoto who had never even entertained the thought of playing Doubles with Wakato – though he had no real aversion to Doubles in general – since Wakato had never given off the Doubles vibe. The Singles 2 player was dedicated to his role and had never before hinted that he wanted to do anything but play Singles. “…Seriously?”

Wakato nodded, his face determined. He held out his hand to Kajimoto. “C’mon, ‘Hisa,” he murmured. “Captain. Please?”

Kajimoto looked at Wakato’s outstretched hand, and a small smile broke over his face. He reached out and gripped Wakato’s wrist firmly, squeezing once in silent promise. “Let’s do it.”

Wakato beamed. “Yeah!” And with that, as though the entire interlude had never happened, he resumed his bouncing towards the registration desk, leaving Kajimoto resigned to following a dozen steps behind. The difference this time though, was apparent when Wakato paused, almost vibrating in place as Kajimoto caught up to him, and they reached the desk together.

 

___________________________

 

Muromachi Touji was having an easier time with his partner even though like Kajimoto, he too was a Singles player. It helped that his partner was the adorable Dan Taichi, who was so excited about playing a match with his sempai he couldn’t stay still. One minute, he was gripping Muromachi’s hand tightly as he pointed someone or something out on their way to the registration desk. The next, Muromachi was gripping air as Dan darted to one side or another to exclaim something at someone. There were just too many good tennis players hanging out as they waited for the tournament to begin, and Dan had to go and profess his admiration to all of them.

“Muromachi-sempai! Did you see, desu? It was  Kurobane-san and Davide-san, desu!” Dan hopped up and down like a blue-haired rabbit. “I hope we can play them! That would be a great game, desu!”

Muromachi smiled. “Yeah, I saw—“ and then he was blinking in stupefaction as Dan squealed and took off again, this time apparently professing his deep and unending respect to the ex-Fudomine player Shinji who was standing at the side of the court path, looking bewilderedly at the excited little fan boy in front of him.

Tempting as it was to leave Dan there, Muromachi decided to take pity on Shinji who was mumbling under his breath at the same time Dan was listing all of Shinji’s recent achievements on the high school circuit. “C’mon Taichi, we’re never gonna get to sign in at this rate.”

“But we have to, desu!” Dan looked horrified at the prospect of missing out on the tournament. “Sorry Shinji-san, but we have to go! Come on Muromachi-sempai!”

Muromachi was dragged off again. He could still hear Shinji’s fading voice though – “…such an odd little boy and who goes up to people he doesn't know and talks like that? So very strange indeed…” and whole-heartedly agreed.

 

_______________________

 

Kaido leaned against the trunk of a tree, arms folded, scowling at the ground but without any real heat to it. The scowl was a habit, meant to keep people from bothering him while he waited for Inui-sempai. He’d heard about the tournament from Momo-the-halfwit, and had initially refused to enter on the grounds that anything Momo volunteered for had to be an exercise in idiocy. Then he’d heard through the Seigaku grapevine – also known as ‘tennis practice’ – that most of the Regulars were planning on participating. Echizen was a given – the brat never could resist a challenge. But to hear that Tezuka-Buchou and Fuji-sempai were playing Doubles had made him rethink his decision.

He had greatly improved from his middle-school days. He wasn’t the same snake that Momoshiro accused him of being. Inui had once predicted that at his level of improvement, he would one day be a top contender in the pro tennis world, a dream he had every intention of meeting one day. But that was still a long way off, and he knew better than to assume he could beat Buchou or Fuji one-on-one yet, not if they were playing seriously.

But if they were playing Doubles, then that meant he had a chance to take the Singles round. He wasn’t prone to bragging, but once he’d decided to enter, he’d asked Inui to find out who else was competing. All the big names, the ones sure to take top prize? Most of them were playing Doubles. Apparently it was a chance for them to do something different, since the school wasn’t counting on them for a Singles win.

Along with bragging, Kaido wasn’t much of an opportunist either. He wouldn’t shy away from a real challenge. But he knew that with the big names out of the picture – Atobe, Yukimura, Sanada, Tezuka – he had a real chance to win.

He had half-expected Inui to ask him to play Doubles in Hyoutei’s tournament and dreaded it for a change – he didn’t want to insult his sempai by telling him he preferred to play Singles this time around. But Inui, recovering from a recent bout of bronchitis, had decided not to risk aggravating his lungs and opted to coach him instead.

“Ah, Kaido. I expected that you would arrive fifteen minutes before our scheduled meeting time.” Speak of the devil. “I see I was correct.”

“Aren’t you always?” Kaido asked dryly. He looked up and offered his sempai a faint smirk he knew Inui would see as a smile.

Inui pushed his glasses up on his nose and smiled back. “It’s good of you to say so, Kaido, but I still have a long way to go to perfect all of my data - particularly my data concerning you. You have a habit of surprising me.”

Kaido snorted. “If you say so, sempai.” He pushed himself off the tree, and jerked a thumb at the registration desk. “I haven’t signed in yet.”

“Then let us proceed.” Inui grandly gestured that Kaido should precede him, and with a hiss and a blush Kaido stalked past him. 

 
_____________________________

 

“I still haven’t quite figured out why I agreed to this,” Tezuka muttered as an aside to Fuji.

Fuji smiled brightly. “Because you wanted to make your best friend happy,” he said firmly, one hand on Tezuka’s shoulder – presumably, Tezuka thought – to make sure he didn’t try to escape.

“And you couldn’t play with your boyfriend because?”

Another grin. “Because Saeki promised Aoi he’d play Doubles with him. Besides, I’ve always wondered how we’d do as a Doubles pair.”

Tezuka blinked at that. If he was being honest with himself, he had to admit his own curiosity regarding their Doubles compatibility as well.  Being close friends for such a long time had given them insight into each other that they had no trouble using, and such an ability would doubtless serve them well if they paired up. But as he mentioned, he had been expecting to see Fuji ask Saeki instead.

Fuji dating Saeki had come as a shock to everyone at Seigaku except Tezuka. Saeki had been blatantly pursuing Fuji for years. Their mothers, best friends since their own high school days, had known their children would pair up years ago. Saeki-san had spent her university years – and several years after – living in San Francisco and had married a man as open-minded as herself. In a situation that would spell disaster for almost anyone else, (with only a few notable exceptions), Fuji and Saeki had come out as a couple with very few problems at all. Though, Tezuka reflected wryly, it was to be expected of Fuji. Apparently his skills as a tensai transferred over to many aspects of his life.

His thoughts were drifting. He did not approve of any part of him standing idle, including his thoughts, and so he returned to the conversation at hand. Tezuka frowned. Despite believing they would mesh well together on the courts, they were still at a disadvantage in other ways. “I don’t think we will be as successful as you anticipate,” he said calmly. “I have very limited experience in Doubles, and we will likely be up against established pairs.”

“That only makes the game more interesting,” Fuji insisted. “Besides, remember what Inui told us. There are many first-time Doubles pairs in this tournament just like us. It’s such a rare opportunity that we get to play competitively without the school relying on us, so we’re free to try different things.”

Tezuka shot him a knowing look. “I suppose this means you won’t be playing seriously, since it doesn’t matter?”

“I’m wounded,” Fuji said tragically. He held his fist to his chest. “Such a sentiment gets me, right in the heart.”

“I believe the rumors around the school center around the idea that you don’t possess a heart.”

“So cruel, Tezuka.” Fuji actually chuckled this time as they approached the desk. “Now be a good Captain and sign yourself in.”

Tezuka resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to get out of this – not if he wanted to avoid any of Fuji’s revenge tactics. He didn’t particularly want to relive the fateful day he’d had to practice in pink shoes and shorts when his regular clothing had mysteriously vanished not long after he’d denied Fuji the right to skip practice to visit his boyfriend on his birthday.

He didn’t want to know how despite going to separate schools fully across the city from each other, Saeki had managed to assist with the switch, bringing the infernal clothing in question to Fuji even before practice began. Some things were better off remaining a secret, particularly if he wanted to keep his sanity intact.

 

____________________________

 

 “I still think you should enter.” Sengoku Kiyosumi shook his head and tsked with mock disappointment. “Taichi was so disappointed when you refused to play Doubles with him.”

A low growl came from behind the tree where Akutsu Jin was lounging, a burning cigarette dangling loosely from his fingers. “If you don’t fucking leave me alone, Sengoku, I swear—“

“And smoking too,” Sengoku continued, as though Akutsu hadn’t said a word. “You’re going to develop lung cancer, just you wait and see.”

“Fuck you,” came the eloquent response.

Sengoku grinned. He hadn’t feared for his life around Akutsu since middle-school. He had figured out – luckily, of course – that Akutsu had a kind of grudging respect for those who stood up to him. Not bully-style – but in a, ‘I will defend myself even if you break me into tiny pieces’ kind of standing up. The first time Akutsu had grabbed him by the front of his jacket and threatened to pound his face in, Sengoku had merely looked back calmly, and told him if it would make him feel better, he could go right ahead. One intense stare-down later, Akutsu had burst into gruff laughter, cuffed him sharply in the head, and told him to stay the fuck away from him.

Two weeks later, Sengoku had run into a young man who took personal offense to Sengoku giving his girlfriend a compliment (though to Sengoku’s credit, the girl had been alone when he’d offered it). The angry young man had snatched up a piece of pipe from a garbage-strewn alleyway and had threatened to take Sengoku’s head off.  Akutsu had been in the area and apparently heard the threats the man was shouting. Sengoku had been astonished when the swung pipe stopped dead in its tracks, held fast in the iron grip of Akutsu. In fact, Sengoku wound up saving the young man from a month in traction at the local hospital by persuading Jin it was not in his best interest to smash in all the man’s teeth and use their remnants to make a pair of maracas.

Since then, they had developed a kind of resigned and mostly one-sided friendship. It had grown stronger with the addition of Taichi back in middle-school – Akutsu could deny it all he wanted, but he had a definite soft spot for the puppy-eyed boy, who had managed to do the impossible and smooth out some of the rough edges in Akutsu.

It seemed though, that making Akutsu quit smoking and rejoin the tennis club was out of his range of ability however. “It would have been interesting,” Sengoku mused. “Big, tough Akutsu with his tiny, adorable partner. Kind of like that Jyousei pairing from middle school.”

Akutsu snorted and ground the cigarette out on his boot before dropping the butt into the grass. “You’re really starting to piss me off, Sengoku. I told you, I don’t play tennis anymore.”

Unless there was a challenge. Sengoku didn’t need to say it out loud though – they both knew it was the truth. He smirked. Or unless Taichi asked him to help him practice a new technique. Though he couldn’t blame Akutsu – Sengoku couldn’t deny the kid anything either. “Are you at least going to watch the match? He’ll be disappointed if you don’t.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Akutsu said, shrugging indifferently. “S’not like they’re gonna win.”

Sengoku raised an eyebrow. “No faith?”

“It’s goddamn Muromachi,” Akutsu spat. “He’s a lousy Singles player and he’s fucking worse at Doubles. And Taichi sucks at Doubles.”

It was true, Sengoku had to admit. Playing Singles had forced Taichi to rely on himself. He had improved in leaps and bounds in such a short time. But whenever he played Doubles, he fell into a pattern of following his partner’s lead – particularly if his partner was one of his sempai. A true Doubles pair didn’t have one player defer to the other. They had to work together as a team.

But Taichi wanted to try Doubles, and Muromachi was even worse at turning down the kid than Sengoku was.


Sengoku might have agreed to play with him, had he not had his heart set on playing Singles. There were some great Singles players he wanted a shot at, and besides, he’d never been very good at Doubles either.

Ah well. It’d be a good experience for Taichi regardless. Sengoku stretched and then nodded in the direction of the registration desk. “I gotta go sign in. Gonna watch my match? Wish me luck?”

“Go to hell.” But Akutsu didn’t immediately stalk off in the opposite direction of the courts, which was as good as him loudly proclaiming he’d be there to watch Taichi and Sengoku screw up. 

Sengoku chuckled and jogged off to enter.

______________________

 

Momo had a lazy arm stretched across Ryoma’s shoulders as they made their way to the registration desk. Anyone watching them would have assumed it was because they were such close friends, but really, it was to keep a close eye on his partner. If Ryoma showed any signs of backing out of their agreement, Momo would simply grasp the back of his collar the same way you’d hang on to an angry kitten, and carry him directly to the sign-in sheet.

“I said I would be your partner,” Ryoma sighed rather sulkily. But he didn’t make an effort to dislodge his sempai’s arm, and so Momo took that as permission to leave it there. "You don't need to drag me."

“Just making sure, just making sure.” Momo was waving with his free hand to the familiar faces they passed. “Look, there’s those freaky twins from Jyousei Shounan,” he hissed. “It’s just weird how they finish each other’s sentences. They freak me out.”

Ryoma smirked. “Scared already, Momo-sempai?”

Momo casually curled his arm up to smack Ryoma lightly in the back of the head. “’Freaked’ does not equal ‘scared’.”

“Heh.”

“Hey, there’s Inui-sempai!” Momo grinned and waved. Then he scowled. “And the damn snake. I thought he said he wasn’t playing Doubles.”

Inui saw them coming, and nodded in greeting. Kaido hissed in Momo’s direction and then looked away.

“Inui-sempai. Are you Kaido-sempai’s Doubles partner today?” Ryoma asked.

Inui shook his head. “My doctor advised me to avoid straining my lungs for a few more days,” he said. Momo belatedly remembered Inui being absent from school for bronchitis. “I have offered my coaching services to Kaido.”

Momo grinned. “Scared, huh snake? Need some help?”

Kaido glared at him. “Shut up, you idiot. I wouldn’t talk. You’re playing Doubles so when you start losing, you can count on Echizen to bail you out.”

That was hitting below the belt. Momo took a step forward, hands clenched into fists. “You wanna say that again?”

“That’s enough!`

All four of them turned around to see Tezuka and Fuji standing there. Fuji had his usual cat`s eye smile on, but Tezuka had that irritated expression they knew so well.  They usually saw it just before they were assigned a new record in laps.  Momo hunched inward a little and Kaido lowered his eyes. Both of them mumbled, ``Sorry Buchou.``

Tezuka was still frowning when Ryoma tugged Momo to the desk so they could sign in. Momo slunk over, scrawled his name, and then cleared his throat. ``So, ah... we`re gonna go get ready. See you all later!`` He grabbed Ryoma by the arm and began to drag him away.

"What are you doing, Momo-sempai?”

Momo shot a furtive glance over his shoulder. “I wanted to leave before Buchou made us run laps,” he said.

Ryoma didn’t say anything, but as he tugged the brim of his cap down, Momo knew he was laughing at him anyway.

________________________

 

“’Kira-nii, look! I see Shinji-nii-chan!” Michiko was bouncing up and down, waving her arms for all she was worth.

Sachiko was doing the same thing. “And I can see Sengoku-nii-chan! Can we go say hi?”

“You gotta let me and Akaya sign in first,” Kamio repeated for the fourth time. The girls were familiar with most of the Kanto players, having attended many of Kamio and Kirihara’s matches, and they were already running late because they felt the need to stop and talk to absolutely everyone they saw. “Once we sign in, I promise, we’ll walk around and let you guys go and socialize.“

Sachiko obviously wasn’t listening. “Marui-nii! Marui-nii!”

Kirihara rolled his eyes. “At least say hi to the decent players,” he drawled.

Marui  strolled up to them and whacked Akaya on the shoulder without pausing. “They are,” he stated with a smile. “They have the good taste to greet their favourite tensai.”

“Yeah, that would be Shinji, right?”

Kamio groaned. “Behave.”

Akaya blinked. “Who, me?”

“All of you.”

“I see An-chan!” Michiko shrieked.

Kamio checked his pockets for the familiar feel of his Tylenol bottle. There it was, safe and sound. He was going to need it fairly soon, he was certain.

An had obviously heard Michiko – as had most of Tokyo, no doubt – and was heading in their direction with Fuji Yuuta in tow. Kamio waved at her as she arrived, and she pulled him into a warm hug. “Hey An-chan.”

“Hey yourself,” she returned. Akaya waggled his fingers at her, and she hugged him too. Michiko bounded over and attached herself to An’s leg. “Why, hello Michiko!”

“An-chan!” Michiko beamed, happy as a clam with one of her favourite people.  Sachiko latched on to An’s hand and began to babble along with Michi, pointing out all the people they knew to An.

Kamio grinned at the sight, and then turned to look at Yuuta. “So I heard An talked you into playing Doubles with her.”

Yuuta gave him a wary look. “More like she ambushed me, but yeah.” He shrugged. “I figure it’ll be interesting.”

Kamio nodded – it certainly would. Yuuta was a decent player, and An was damn good herself. “You better treat her right,” he said warningly.

Yuuta nodded – and then caught himself, blushing furiously. “It’s not like that!” he protested. “We’re just playing tennis together. That’s it!”

“Sure thing,” Kamio said easily. “We’ll be watching.”

Kirihara smirked at Yuuta’s obvious discomfort. “Have fun there, Fuji-junior.”  Behind Akaya, Marui sniggered.

Yuuta snarled wordlessly, and then turned, stomping off, pausing only to tell An he was going to get a drink. An nodded, and once he’d left, she turned and smacked Akaya in the arm. “Would it kill you to be nice, just once?”

“Probably,” Akaya admitted with a grin.

“Likely,” Marui corrected.

“Did you sign in already?” Kamio interrupted.

An nodded. “That guy—“ she pointed to one of the Hyoutei students behind the registration desk. “—tried to stop me from entering.”

“Really?” Kirihara gazed at the student with a disturbing gleam in his eye. “That one on the left?”

Kamio pinched Akaya’s arm. “No violence,” he said warningly. To An, he asked, “So what happened?”

An laughed. “Would you believe Atobe himself told the guy to stop wasting time and just sign me in?”

Marui popped a piece of gum into his mouth. “Really?”

“Really.”

The familiar sound of muttering reached them all, and they turned as one to see Shinji standing behind them. “...and it’s getting later and they still haven’t registered. I don’t think they’ve changed their minds about entering but if they don’t sign in soon, they won’t have a say in the matter.”

“We’re still entering,” Kamio said. “Hey Shinji. I guess that means you’ve already signed in?”

Shinji nodded solemnly. “Are you still entering Singles?”

Kamio and Kirihara nodded. “I don’t play Doubles,” Kirihara said with a shrug.

“What if you guys wind up against each other?” An asked.

“I’ll kick his ass,” Akaya said with a grin.

“I’ve got five hundred yen on Kamio,” Marui countered. “He’ll bat his eyes, and you’ll let him win.”

Kamio’s eyes flashed. “I’ll kick his ass if he does.” He looked at An to answer her question. “We play. Like we do in practice, or at the street courts. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve faced each other.” Akaya winked and leaned in for a quick kiss that Kamio returned.

Sachiko, used to PDA’s from her brother and his boyfriend and just as used to interrupting them, tuned back into the conversation, suddenly standing by her brother and looking from him to Akaya and back until they broke apart and looked at her. “I hope you don’t play each other,” she said.

An crouched down. “Why not, sweetie?”

Sachi gnawed on her lower lip, looking worried. “’Cause I won’t know who to cheer for,” she admitted.

An grinned. “Oh, that’s easy kiddo. Cheer for your brother.”

Kirihara glared. “Hey!”

“I’ll cheer for ‘Kaya-nii!” Michiko declared, inserting herself back into the conversation. “Sachi can cheer for ‘Kira-nii.”

“There ya go,” Marui laughed, snapping his gum. “It’s all settled.”

Kamio rolled his eyes. “Wonderful,” he said. “Can we please go sign in now? Otherwise this is all going to be a moot point.”

“What’s moot mean?” Sachiko asked.

“It means if we’re late, it won’t matter who you cheer for ‘cause neither of us will be playing,” Kirihara told her.

Michiko and Sachiko exchanged looks, and then charged forward. Miki grabbed a hold of Kamio, and Sachiko latched on to Akaya’s hand. Both began tugging as hard as they could. “C’mon!” Michiko urged them. “Can’t be late!”

“Gee, why didn’t I think of that?” Kamio said, rolling his eyes but allowing his siblings to drag him to the registration table.

An laughed and followed along. Shinji did too, actually moving directly behind Kamio and Kirihara, as though he wasn’t sure the girls were capable of dragging them all the way there, but that was okay because he was there to push if necessary. Kamio stuck his tongue out at his friend at the thought, and Shinji shrugged, a small smile lifting the sides of his mouth like he knew what Kamio was thinking, and he was right.

Kamio decided they’d been friends for too long.

Sachiko and Michiko did however drag them all the way to the desk. Michi even took the extra step to put the pen – an elaborate silver pen with gold inlay, typical Hyoutei – in his hand. “Here 'Kira-nii,” she said anxiously, and turned to look at the boy behind the desk. “Are we late?”

The boy looked them up and down with visible distaste, pausing on Kamio’s old and worn sneakers and faded track pants with a visible shudder. Kamio had opted to wear his old Fudomine jacket, faded and battered as it was, as it wasn’t a school team event. His clothes were old but clean and comfortable, and it felt good wearing them again. But obviously the guy in front of him had a different opinion. If his sneer got any bigger, Kamio was afraid he was going to lose his temper. The boy shook his head, but asked in a dry voice, “Name?”

“Kamio Akira.” He would be nice. He had his sisters there, and he needed to set a good example for them.

“Who?” The boy looked bored.

Inwardly Kamio growled. “Kamio. AKIRA.” He bit off his first name a little bit harder than he’d meant to.

“No need to get testy. I can’t possibly be expected to know everyone who’s playing today, and you don’t look like someone I should know,” the boy said with a frown, and began rifling through the file folders. “Ah, yes. Here’s your registration form.” He handed it to Kamio – who was still frozen speechless from that little jab – and turned his bored gaze on to Akaya. “Name?”

“Kirihara Akaya.” Akaya leaned forward. “And if I have to repeat it, or listen to a snarky little comment from you, I’m gonna show you why they call me the demon of Rikkai.” He felt his eyes flash red in warning as his temper began to boil. The boy drew back in fright, knocking over the pile of folders. Kamio shook off his stupor and touched Kirihara’s shoulder.

“Hey,” he said softly. So softly, he was unheard by anyone except Akaya. “It’s okay, calm down.”

Akaya clenched his fists and then relaxed them. He turned to look at Kamio with eyes that were clear, and he finally growled. “He shouldn’t talk to you like that.”

“His opinion means nothing to me,” Kamio said with a shrug. He leaned companionably next to him, and Miki  - who hadn’t moved from Akaya’s feet – tilted her head back until she was looking straight up.

“Smile ‘Kaya-nii!” she chirped.

Akaya rolled his eyes. Then he crossed them and stuck out his tongue. “Laak dis?”

“Gross!”

Sachiko pushed a pen into Akaya’s hand as the idiot behind the desk finally pulled out Akaya’s paper. A few minutes later, they were almost finished signing in, and Kamio told the girls to go back to An and Shinji. Marui moved up to sign in once they were done.

Akaya handed Marui his pen and slid the paper back. Kamio watched the boy behind the desk take their papers and file them away, adding their names to two slips of paper that he dropped in a drum (names would be picked shortly after sign-in closed). He was about to turn around when Akaya moved suddenly, hand clamped onto the Hyoutei first year’s arm. “Akaya?”

“You having money doesn’t mean you’re worth a damn cent more than anyone else,” Akaya snarled into the kid's face.

Apparently he wasn’t going to let the matter go as easily as Kamio had hoped.

Kamio knew that the right thing to do was to stop Akaya, yet the sight of Akaya going all protective on him never failed to turn him to mush. Mush was not capable of doing anything except being mushy, much less stopping the force of nature known as Kirihara.

He noticed Marui smirking, subtlety standing just behind Akaya with his arms folded, a silent hint to the other Hyoutei boy that Akaya was not there alone. The other boy hadn’t said a word during the entire sign-in, and was even more speechless now, eyes wide as dinner plates.

Kirihara gave the kid one last shake. “You’re already on my shit list for trying to keep An from playin’ today,” he growled. “Insulting Kamio was strike two. Do not make me tell you what happens when you reach strike three.” The boy nodded rapidly, his face grey-white and dripping with a sudden sweat that had come over him the minute Kirihara had effortlessly immobilized him with one hand. Akaya let go, and the boy scuttled back to his seat, still watching them warily.

Kamio sighed. “Are you done intimidating the freshmen yet?”

Akaya turned and smirked. “Yup!” He took one step towards Kamio, planted a chaste, smacking kiss on Kamio’s forehead, and then bounded off to join the girls. Kamio smacked his palm over his face, muttering about idiots.

Marui started laughing so hard he dropped the pen as he finished signing himself in. The two Hyoutei boys' eyes were even bigger now, jaws dropped open like gaping goldfish. Marui threw the pen at the first one which hit him in the chest, making him yelp. “You got something to say?”

“N-nothing!” they choked out.

“Wonderful. C’mon Kamio.” Marui led the still-muttering Kamio back to their group. Two more people had joined them while he and Kamio had finished up at the sign-in desk. Kamio forgot all about the Hyoutei snobs when he saw who they were and broke free of Marui, racing towards them with a huge smile on his face.

_______________________

 

Sakurai, Uchimura and Mori had decided to meet at the south gate of the courts and go in together. Sakurai was late though, and they were gone when he arrived. He figured they must have already signed in, and he decided to hit the registration desk to find out. Thanks to the signs everywhere – more friggin’ purple – Sakurai found the sign-in area without any problems. There were two Hyoutei teens picking up file folders, looking shell-shocked. Sakurai was concerned.

More friggin' purple.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked. “You guys don’t look so well.”

“That, that thug, tried to assault me,” the first one said in a tone quivering with fear and anger.

Sakurai raised an eyebrow. “Thug?” He followed the finger the boy pointed and recognized the jersey and messy hair instantly. The fact that he was surrounded by people Sakurai knew very well, also helped. “What did you do?”

The boy looked at his Jyousei Shounan jacket and gave him a brief smile. “I just don’t see why certain people seem to think I should know who they are.” He sniffed. “Particularly when it’s obvious they aren’t in the same, shall we say, circles? Socially?” He shrugged. “I think people are far too sensitive these days.”

As always, next to Kirihara was Akira. Sakurai could see the familiar faded Fudomine warm up coat Kamio still wore frequently when he wasn’t at school. They all wore them still. Call them sentimental, whatever – none of them would ever forget Fudomine was the school where they’d gotten their start. Who knew where they’d be today if they hadn’t begun there? “Social circles?”

The boy resettled the folders on the desk and sat down, everything back in order. “Well, it’s fairly obvious that that one—“ He pointed to Kamio with an expensive-looking silver pen. “—hasn’t had the same sort of… luxuries in life as we have.”

Sakurai leveled a flat look at the boy. “So you insulted that guy ‘cause he’s not as rich as you?” He set one hand on the desk and leaned in. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I’m not at Jyousei Shounan because I can afford it. I’m there because I’m good enough at what I do and got myself a scholarship. I’m the same as him.” Sakurai pressed the other hand flat against the desk, looming over the smaller boy. “You have any other snobby shit you wanna say to me?”

“N-no!” he yelped and shoved his chair back. His foot struck the desk and the neat stack of folders fell off the side, scattering all over the floor.

“Wise move.” Sakurai turned to head over.

“A-aren’t you going to sign in?” the second boy spoke up timidly

Sakurai ignored them and kept moving.

Sachiko saw him first and screamed loud enough to wake the dead. “’Saya-nii!”

“Hey kiddo!” Sakurai knelt down and let the small girl cling to him. He stood up, easily carrying her slight weight, even as he pretended she was almost too heavy for him to lift. “Oof, girl! Has Kamio been feeding you rocks?”

“Only the finest rocks and sticks,” Sachiko agreed. “I missed you a lot, ‘Saya-nii.”

“I missed you too,” Sakurai said honestly. Michiko attached herself to his legs, and he looked down with a smile. “Hey Michi. Gonna let me walk?”

“Nope.” She shook her head and settled firmly on top of his foot, wrapping her arms and legs around his leg tightly.

“Oh, good.” Sakurai lifted her with some effort and finally joined the group – all of whom were watching him with varying looks of amusement. “Hello all.”

Kamio waved happily. “Hey Sakurai!” He nudged Kirihara until the boy finally waggled his fingers. “You know Marui, right?"

“Yeah. Hey man.” He nodded at the redhead, and then gave a reluctant greeting to Akaya. “Hey.”

“…Hey.”

Mori had his arms crossed. “You forget we were supposed to meet or what?”

Uchimura waggled a finger at him. “Dude, you are SO late.”

Sakurai finally set Sachiko down. “Sorry man. I overslept, and Mom thought since I wasn’t playing, it didn’t matter if I signed in.” He smirked. “This is true, but anyway. I’m here now.” He looked at An-chan and Shinji.  “Hey, you two! No greetings? I’m hurt. I knew I wasn’t loved.”

An-chan stepped forward and soundly thwapped the back of his head – an age-old tradition for his sarcasm – and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You dolt,” she said affectionately, and kissed his cheek. “We miss you all the time.”

Shinji nodded. “I do miss you, as I miss all my friends, but I don’t think I need to kiss you to show it, do I? I don’t really want to. It’s not terribly hygienic.”

“Shinji, I love you man, but I don’t want you kissing me either,” Sakurai reassured the blue-haired player, and instead pulled him into a quick hug, thumping him on the back. “How are you?”

“Good, now that everyone seems to be here. Kamio and Kirihara were almost late, which is not very responsible for two former captains.”

“I agree,” Sakurai said solemnly, giving Kamio a wicked look and a wink.

Kirihara rolled his eyes – while they would never get along, they were at least able to be civil to each other these days – and Kamio snorted outright. “Oh please,” he said. “Which former vice-captain is being kept OUT of this tournament because he waited too long to send in his application and the spots filled up before he could be accepted?”

Kirihara let out a bark of laughter. “Ha!”

An-chan giggled. “Ooooh, you got burned, ‘Saya.”

“We told you to send yours in when we did,” Uchimura said with mock-sadness.

“Now you can be one of the cheerleaders.” Mori nodded at the girls who had the same backpacks with them they always had when Kamio brought them to a match. “Hey girls, can Sakurai borrow your pompoms?”

Sakurai opened his mouth to say something that would be considered completely indecent with children around, and was cut off by Kamio preemptively slapping a hand over his mouth – and the sight of Michi thrusting a familiar black, pink and white striped pompom at him. He accepted it, ignoring the snickering coming from Marui and Kirihara’s direction, turning it over in his hands slowly. How many times had he seen those pompoms up in the stands? Usually with An-chan, and cheering them on with everything they had. He smiled at the memories. He looked at Kamio and saw the knowing grin on his face. “I am not being sentimental.”

“Of course you’re not,” Kamio said, while nodding his head that yes he was. “You sucker.”

“Whatever.” He held the pompom up and gave it a twirl. “I’m gonna sit with the girls and we’re gonna cheer for all your opponents, right girls?”

“Why?” Sachiko asked.

Sakurai gave her his best puppy dog look. “”Cause they’re being mean to me, Sachi. Very, very mean.”

She immediately had a sympathetic look on her face. “Aww, poor  ‘Saya-niii…”

Sakurai sent a victorious smirk in Akaya and Akira’s direction.

“…but we already promised to cheer for ‘Kaya-nii and ‘Kira-nii,” she finished apologetically.

Sakurai dropped his head with a groan. “I can’t win, can I?”

Uchimura chuckled and nudged him. “You never could.”

“What made you think anything changed?” An asked with a grin.

“Now that the comedy act is over for now, can we get inside?” Akaya drawled. “They’re gonna pull the names in ten minutes, and I wanna see who I’m playing.”

Sakurai sighed. “I’d hope for someone unbeatable but with my luck, you’d be given someone easy to beat.”

“How can I?” Akaya asked innocently. “You were too late to enter.”

Sakurai chased the snickering Kirihara all the way into the tennis club.

________________

End chapter 4

 

End Notes:

This part just flowed so quickly and smoothly. ^^  Chapter 5 is technically done but I’ve added so much to it, I want to wait for my beta-reader to come back from vacation before posting it. Too many tournament details to keep track of – I need a second pair of eyes. :D

Thanks to everyone who’s reading and reviewing. It’s very appreciated and is extremely encouraging. ^^