The Silence In The Dark (Prince of Tennis) ||REWRITE||

Chapter 7

Reichi had quickly succumbed to the rinse repeat motion of having his knee hit and abused by the tennis ball, a slight skid of blood prominent on the yellow color of the tennis ball. His breathing was slightly ragged as he stared at Kirihara. Tied even as their second match had just ended in favor of Kirihara. "Change court!" The umpire called, watching with a worried gaze as Reichi limped slightly, making sure not to put too much pressure on his knee at once as he slowly sat on the bench for their short break. Bending down and pulled his ankle weights off, followed by his matching wrist weights. 

Carefully caressing his knee to inspect it and brush away dirt and grime. The constant feeling of his heart hammering in his chest and audible in his ears, making the surrounding noises drowned out and hazy. His eyes zeroed in on the blood marking his fingertips from the skid on his knee. His mind became hazy as he stared at the slight dribble of blood before he grabbed his towel to wipe his knee clean. Taking slow, deep breaths as hushed murmurs passed over the audience that had gathered. Watching the young boy as he extended and bent his leg. A grimace pulled at his lips gently before he stood, taking a chug out of his water bottle. Disregarding the worried looks of the regulars who were watching him.

Reichi's mind raced with jumbled thoughts of how he could win this game. And he just couldn't focus on that and the pain of his knee all at once. So his brain just gave up on him. Left him to figure it out on his own. And if that wasn't a feat and a half in and of itself. He made his way back to the courts. His legs carried him to the service line, staring across the courts at Kirihara with a narrowed visible eye. "Serve already, you short bastard, I want to crush you." Kirihara's words were spoken like a thinly veiled threat. A promise of pain in the near future.

Reichi threw the ball up, watching it climb high into the air before crouching slightly, making the conscious decision to ignore the throb he felt in his knee, then he jumped. Following right after the ball quickly, extending his arm up then all at once he twisted, connecting the ball with his racquet and sending it flying across the court. It landed with a soft thud, rocketing upwards with a barely-there angle toward Kirihara's face. He dodged it, stepping back quickly as he could, his arm raised to hit it back harshly. Starting another rally between the two.

Reichi ran to the net quickly so he could get the incoming drop volley, he knew he shouldn't, but he didn't want to lose this match. He returned it with a simple high lob, which was almost instantly turned into a smash coming back at Reichi. Instead of hitting his knee, it hit the back of his head harshly, sending him tumbling forward. Kirihara's eyes went back to normal in a rush as he panicked, rushing toward Reichi, as well as the other regulars. Reichi was in a daze, eyes closed softly as he rubbed his head. His head throbbed, shuddering breaths leaving his lips quietly as he stayed bent over, eyes squeezed shut tightly. A throb of pain settled behind his eyes causing him to slowly open them. His breath hitched as his vision was filled with blotches of black and blurry color in his one, usually, good eye. His eyes darted around what he knew was the ground since he was still bent over, barely able to make out the white lines of the court. 

He was fucked.

His vision was shit, he was temporarily impaired from the ball hitting his head, he slowly stood up and brushed off the questions with a slight smile and signed 'I'm okay,'  from muscle memory to them before he bent down. He played off not being able to find his racquet right away as 'I'm still dazed from the hit'. It worked, the regulars, all but Kirihara, left the courts to let the game continue, Reichi went back to his service line and threw the ball up. He concentrated and brought his arm up, hitting the ball with more force than he probably needed. The small yellow ball flew across the court, landing near Kirihara's feet before bouncing up, the raven-hair boy hit it back, and Reichi struggled to find where it went and tried to keep up with it. His eyes squinted and narrowed heavily as he tried to track the misshapen blob that he guessed was the tennis ball.

Within just fifteen minutes Reichi was down 1-4, panting and slightly sweaty. "After that blow to the head, he hasn't been playing as well... I wonder if he's okay.." A few of the non-regulars voiced their opinions and concerns, murmurs going across the court as they watched the game. He hadn't been able to hit back many of the balls that rallied to him. But just as that thought left somebodies mouth Reichi, who was standing there, panting, leg bent as he hit a drop volley back up, and just as Kirihara hit it back and yelled out "I'm surprised you've been able to hit this many back! Considering you can't even see!!" His bloodshot mode had come back. The other regular's eyes widened and were rushing to the court entrance to stop the game that instant.

Reichi swallowed thickly, I don't want to lose- I don't want to lose, I can't lose right now, I can't I can't I can't I can't. Not now. Not right now. Not this match. Can't lose.

Can't lose. can't lose. Can't lose. Can't lose- Cantcantcantcantcant- Can nOT- SNAP.

A blurry aura surrounded him, sweat easily evaporating off his skin, arm swinging out and hitting the ball back harshly. Sanada and the others stopped short, just outside the court gate as they stared in shock. Reichi's panting evened out to subdued and slow breaths, visible eye narrowed as he stared at Kirihara, determination unmoving, the heat of a thousand suns in that stare. If looks could kill, Kirihara would be violently murdered. His head slowly tilted to the side as his vision came back slowly, blurry- blurry- blurry- clear.

"Echizen... You've already advanced because of this one match... You've already opened one of the gates... The 'State of Self-Actualization'..." The captain whispered lips parted softly as he watched Reichi move to the service line again.

Reichi's head was foggy, it almost felt like he wasn't in control of what he was doing, brain disconnected and relying on muscle memory and moves of people that he had gone against in the states. Moves he couldn't put names to or faces of whose they were, moves that weren't his and would never be his- but moves that were quick, and rough around the edges. Moves that weren't quite perfect but good enough for right now, body moving through the actions and rallies with ease, and just like that the match was over and Reichi was dropping to his knees with a harsh exhale of breath, harsh pants leaving his parted lips.

Seiichi beat feet into the courts once the match was called officially over, grabbing the two boy's water bottles on his way over to them, Sanada quick on his heels, taking Kirihara's bottle and going across the courts to tend to the second year. Seiichi crouched beside the heavily breathing boy, offering the water which was quickly downed and set to the side before the small body slumped forward.

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Old Word Count: 841

New Word Count: 1119

Hello hello, I'm kinda sorta back from my hiatus, not fully but this tab has been opened on my laptop for about a month now and I figured I'd publish the chapter just to get it out of the way.

EDITED 7-12-22 (11:53 PM)

FULL CHAPTER REVAMP.

-Ender

I believe I edited and added to this chapter on the 1st but I'm not entirely sure.

Anyway- grammatical mistakes fixed, tenses fixed, replaced some dialogue, added a bit to the chapter overall.

[New] Word Count: 1356

(02/03/23 2:39 AM)