A/N: Let's just pretend that the above picture looks like Fuji Syusuke, ok? Ok. ^_^
Ryoma's POV:
I made up my mind, and casually walked over to Amori.
"Hi!" I said brightly.
Amori's body tensed and turned around. Seeing it was just me, he relaxed slightly.
"Echizen-kun," Amori greeted me. "Do you need something?"
I grinned. "Want to practice together?"
In an instant, the whole court fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.
Amori blushed slightly and the person beside him looked at me incredulously.
"Nani?" The person said. "You, want to practice, with him?"
I tilted my head. "Um, hai? Is it a problem?"
Amori blinked, and quickly accepted. "Of-course, Echizen-kun. But, ah, I'm really no good."
"Well, that's where I come in," I decided. Turning around, I was met with Seiichi's amused face.
"So you already have a person in mind, hm?"
"Uh, kind of."
Seiichi shrugged.
"If you need anything, tell me. I'll be happy to train him with you. After all, he caught you attention--as well as mine." Seiichi replied. People gasped. Waves of jealousy was felt rolling off of them. Casually, he continued. "Looks a bit like Syusuke, no?"
I flushed. "And there's also that."
Amori looked confused.
"Echizen-kun, buchou," Amori began. "Who is this......Fuji-senpai that everyone keeps on talking about?"
Seiichi nodded in understanding. I was just gaping like a fish out of the water at him.
"YOU DON'T KNOW FUJI-SENPAI???" I shouted/asked. I think I heard Akaya's snicker.
Seiichi gave a small tsk at my loudness but nonetheless explained. "Syusuke is a regular at Seigaku Gakuen, or just Seigaku for short. He's the only one to date able to nearly keep up with me, perhaps even surpassing Genichiro. As such, he's known as the 'Tensai (A/N: Genius) Tennis Player of Japan'. Though......Ah, never mind. I'll soon know soon enough.........."
I looked at him strangely. Ignoring my urge of curiosity, I instead focused on something else. "Amori-senpai--"
"Why are you calling me senpai?"
"Ah. Because I'm not really a second year. So you're older than me. Once I know you better, I'll start calling you Sora, so don't get used to it," I teased. Amori raised his eyebrows.
Seiichi rolled his eyes, and started to yell for laps.
"Regulars, 50 laps around the court! Everyone else, 20!" Seiichi raised his voice.
I shot him a slightly annoyed look. Seiichi gracefully raised an eyebrow.
"Have a problem with my arrangements, Ryo-kun?" He softly stated with a dangerous undertone.
My eyes rounded. "Of course not, buchou. Your arrangements are absolutely fine. Amori-senpai, let's--"
Leave the devil alone, I finished in my mind. Seiichi smirked as if he was reading my thoughts.
"Come now, Ryo-kun," Seiichi commanded in his usual gentle voice.
"H-Hai, of course," I replied almost immediately.
Amori looked lost at our interaction, so I just grabbed his arm and took off. Feeling he got the hang of it, I let go and turned to Akaya.
"Hey Aka-kun, race?" I suggested with a smirk-like grin.
Akaya smiled evilly.
"Oh Ryo, you are on," Akaya agreed.
After 30 minutes of sprinting.........
"Damn, Ryo," Akaya panted, his face flushed. "You crushed me........."
I was sprawled on the floor, coughing and wheezing.
"Ryo-kun!" Seiichi's concern voice trailed over.
I rolled to my back, glancing hazily at Seiichi's face.
"I'm fine," I finally chocked out.
Seiichi frowned. "Honestly, Ryoma!"
I managed to sit up.
"It's fine, buchou. Really. It was only 50 laps." I reassured.
Seiichi gave me a light smack on the head. "Don't you dare race with Akaya. Ever. Again."
I pouted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seiichi's POV:
Are those puppy dog eyes....? And did you actually just pouted? I thought incredulously. I'll never fall to them!
But.......................
"Fine. You can only race for 10 laps." I heard myself say.
Damn it, Ryoma! You and your face!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryoma's POV:
I beamed. Taking in a few deep breaths, I stood up and grabbed Amori. Surprisingly, he wasn't panting like a dog, unlike the other non-regulars, except for one--some nameless person I don't know. "Buchou, can I have a court?"
Seiichi nodded.
"Court C is all yours."
Taking my favorite red racquet, I dashed towards the court and started to stretch. Turning around, I gasped softly. Amori's body was like water when he runs, bending and arching both elegantly and gracefully, but also with a touch of gentleness. The front of his shirt came up slightly from the wind, reveling a well toned body that wasn't usually found on a non-regular. Though curious, my questions died on my tongue as Amori's piercing one-shade-darker-than-cerulean eyes gazed at me.
"Echizen-kun," He said. "Where do we start?"
I blinked rapidly. Pulling on a small smile, I eased into my usual persona when I'm nervous.
"Ah. Of course. Well, do you know how to serve?" I asked, a slight sarcastic undertone.
"Yes, but not a twist serve," Amori informed me mildly, ignoring my sarcastic tone.
I nodded absently. During my walk to the other side of the tennis net, I saw Amori did a quick stretch, almost casually, like he does it everyday. Frowning to myself, I was convinced that Amori wasn't all that he seems.
I picked up a tennis ball from the basket over by my left, and bounced it a few times on my racquet's edge. Throwing it up, I smashed it down, a fast but normal serve. Amori's eyes trained on the ball, and he was already there, but his stance and his hold were visibly awkward. Fumbling, he managed to barely hit it back.
My arm shot out, catching the tennis ball.
"You're fast," I stated, surprised.
Amori's eyes clouded over briefly, though he quickly hid it.
"Hai, Echizen-kun. I like to........run," Amori told me softly. "But like I said, I'm no good at tennis."
I smiled. Suddenly, I threw the ball up, and did the bullet serve. Amori's head snapped up, and within milliseconds, his body appeared behind the ball. His swing and technique is very juvenile, though he speed.....................I thought with shock. See the ball sent back, I smirked and did a very high speed shot, the "Laser Beam". Even if he couldn't return it, he could catch up to the ball. Easily, too.
"Oi, Ryoma!" Nio's voice rang out. "I see you know my Laser Beam!"
I raised my eyebrows at him. It was then that I saw a small crowd of non-regulars gawking at us.
"Your, Laser Beam?" I asked.
"Ya. I first used it in training camp in 9th grade against Hiroshi," Nio informed me with a thin smile.
"Go back to practice!" Sanada stern voice cut in.
Seiichi's soft voice spoke up also. "Pause again and you'll get a tennis ball in your head." *Smiles*
I felt the familiar shivers go up my spine, and quickly began to explain to Amori how to properly hold his racquet.
"Ryo-kun," Seiichi said innocently. "Mind showing us how much you taught Amori at the end of practice?"
I suppressed my fear. "Of course buchou."
Sympathetic glances from the other regulars--including fukubuchou's--were felt. Sighing, I continued my long stringed explanation of tennis to Amori.
After 1 hour...........................
"Ryo-kun?" Seiichi muttered in my ear.
I screamed, until I was turned around to be face-to-face to a amused Seiichi.
"Calm down. I'm not going to kill you," Seiichi scolded lightly.
"Yeah right," I mumbled under my breath. "And trees grow on clouds."
"And cows are pink."
"And the Earth's flat."
"And the moon is fake."
"And Hitler's still alive."
"And it snows in summer."
"And fukubuchou cross-dress."
Seiichi blinked. Then he started to giggle. "Actually, in second grade he dressed up as--"
"Seiichi, be quiet!" Sanada yelled.
I snickered. "Fukubuchou, a cross-dresser? Well that would be a cold day in hell."
"Oh you bet. Surprisingly, at least 10 boys asked him--"
"Seiichi! Close your mouth!" Sanada shouted, bordering on a shriek.
Obviously, a lot of people were amused at our interactions.
"Hai, hai, Chiro-chan," Seiichi teased. Sanada silently fumed at the terrible nickname, but didn't dare say it out loud. "Now, Ryo-kun, about your teaching progress?"
I stilled. I felt a strange chill, even though it was a warm spring day. Seiichi rolled his eyes and messed up my hair in a brotherly fashion. Putting a arm around my shoulders, he gently pulled me to my side of the tennis court.
"Come on, Ryo-kun," Seiichi told me, voice soft and devoid of his usual sadist undertone.
I hesitantly shrugged his arm off. "Um.......buchou, keep the score!"
"Score?" Seiichi mused. "I'm under the impression that you'll beat him 7-0."
"You're ruining my point," I grumbled, surprised at my own daring. Seiichi scoffed.
"Fine. But your training menu will tripled, if you don't," Seiichi told me with a twinkle in his eye.
"Favouritism!" some unknown senior shouted with jealousy.
Seiichi frowned angrily, and the temperature lowered at least 10 degrees. "Excuse me? Do you doubt my decisions? Do you have any clue what his training menu is? Do you? Probably not, if you made such a naïve comment. Is your intellect lacking? Do you want me to make it lacking? No? Then I suggest you refrain from talking to me like that. That goes for Ryo-kun as well. And everyone else your eyes landed on. Unless, of course, you want to land in the hospital? It's better than testing my fury. Trust me, it is. At least, you get protection there."
I blinked. Whoa, calm down, I thought, probably like everyone else. I'm surprised he didn't launch the same scary speech when I talked against him..............Oi! I better start the match before someone else angers him!
"Ah, Amori-senpai! Heads up!"
Quickly, I launched the ball up in the air, and did the my usual Quick Serve that I learned in the US. Then the Laser Beam, Zip Liner, Meteor Spin, Kikumaru Beam, Quick Sand, Lightning Bolt, Multi Arrow, Wind Breaker, Waterfall, Neo Scud Serve, Bullet, Shot Gun, RAY and finally my enhanced COOL drive. Amori returned some of my not-very-powerful, though super quick shots/serves both easily and quickly, without losing his stamina, though he couldn't take the power of my COOL drive, Laser Beam, Kikumaru Beam, Lightning Bolt, Neo Scud Serve and Waterfall.
"Stamina, 6/5; Mental Strength, 4/5; Speed, 6/5; power, 1/5; Technique, 1/5," I listed off from my fingers. "Overall, 2/5."
Seiichi gave a 'hm' of approval. "Good job, Ryo-kun."
I smiled. But a thought kept on pestering me.
"Amori-senpai, I really mean no offense, but.........." I began. "How is it that your stamina and speed is equivalent to a regular's?
Even though my eyes were trained on Amori, I can feel everyone's eyes on us. Amori sighed in defeat, and raised his eyes to meet mine.
Hesitating a bit, he told me in a mumbled voice.
The result was me gasping in surprise, and Seiichi left gaping at him.
"H-Honan Academy, you say?" I said weakly.
A/N: Dun-Dun-DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!
>0<