Tennis Love

It was spring time as Tezuka Kunimitsu sat in his class, staring at his book while students were slowly coming into class. He was there, early as usual reviewing his notes even though he already knows what the whole semester is going to be based on.

“Good morning everybody! We have a new student today. Her name is . She has recently moved back from America and will be spending her 3^rd year with us. Please make her feel welcome,” the teacher announced.

Tezuka looked up to see who this new transfer student was. She had light brown hair which was layered from her eyes to pass her shoulder. Her green eyes were alert yet friendly as she smiled to greet everybody. Her legs were built indicating that she is an athlete. Tezuka was surprised to see a tennis bag hung around her shoulder as she took a seat in front of him.

Class presumed as usual and as time went by the final bell has rung. As captain of the Seigaku tennis team, Tezuka immediately packs up his items, grabbed his tennis bag and as he was about to leave the class a voice called out to him, “Anou, you play tennis right?”

Tezuka stops and looked at the new girl. “Yes. I do” he replies. “Can you please show me where I can locate the tennis courts? I would like to join the tennis club,” she asks. Tezuka gives her a nod and walks her out of the school.

~~~

“Nyahh! It’s so nice outside!” the acrobatic player says as he and the tensai leave their class.

“Saaa… do you see what I see Eiji?” an open eyed Fuji asks. “Hoi nyaa? Nani nani?? Is that buchou with a girl??? Neh she’s so kawaii…” Eiji responds, “But don’t we have practice? Why is buchou going on a date when nationals is right around the corner??”

An evil grin flashed on the tensai’s face, “Let’s follow them.”

~~~

As Tezuka and walk around the school, he also points out the where the important classrooms that she needed to know.

“She looks so familiar… but I can’t put my finger on it…” he thought.

They have finally reached the girls tennis court and almost immediately silence was heard.

Whispers can be heard as the two walked towards the coach.

“Arigatou gozaimasu, Tezuka-kun,” politely bowed to Tezuka. Tezuka replied with a bow, “If you need anything else, I’ll be on the other courts.” nodded and Tezuka walks towards the boy’s tennis court.

~~~

“Nyaa… that’s so boring! Buchou was just showing her around! Must be a new girl,” Kikumaru whispers to Fuji.

“Saaa… if they’re not going out then…” Fuji whispers back. A smile formed on the angelic tensai making Kikumaru sweatdrop. “Mah…let’s go to practice now, Eiji.”

~~~

“Man… this is WAY too easy for me. I feel so bad for the regulars.” As hit another powerful return, she felt bad for beating every single regular that the coach has partnered her up with.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have said that I had experience in tennis I wouldn’t have to face the regulars. Now everybody’s gonna hate me.” But couldn’t help it. She always had to be serious when it comes to tennis and learning new techniques. She doesn’t underestimate any of her opponents, big or small.

“Game and match, . 6 games to love,” yelled the referee. The coach was dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe that this new player had beaten almost every single one of the regulars. The other girls were shocked to see how easily the regulars were beaten.

“Wow. She’s awesome! And she’s so pretty…” thought Sakuno, as she stood in awe with the other none regulars.

“WAAAAH! Sakuno! Who’s that girl??? She’s so good!!!” shrieked Tomoko.

“Ah! Tomo-chan! She’s the new girl, . She just transferred from America. She’s good, neh?” Sakuno replied.

“Ok everybody! Practice is over a little earlier than usual because I have to go somewhere! Ichi-nen! Go and clean up the court please!” the coach yelled out.

“Arigatou gozaimasu!”

Sakuno started picking up the balls while the other girls were taking the nets down.

“That’s not very fair, making you guys pick up the balls when you didn’t even get to really play” Sakuno twirls her head around to see the new girl picking up the balls with her racquet.

 

“Ah! Sempai! It’s ok! That’s what we are suppose to do for the first year. You don’t have to help!” Sakuno stuttered at the older girl.

“Iie. I’ll help. It’s not like I have anything better to do. Well, maybe my homework, but it shouldn’t be too hard,” said as she picked up three balls and served it towards the basket, scoring all three at once.

“Wow… sugoi…” Sakuno whispered. smiled, “This is a lot easier than it looks. You just need to practice a lot.”

~~~

On the boy’s tennis court

“Baka mamushi! Your boomerang snake is so lame! It won’t even go in the singles line!”

“Shut it stupid powerhouse! You only win because you knock your opponents unconscious with your dunk smash!”

“Nani?!? Wanna go at it mamushi?!?”

“Fshhh!!”

“Momo! Kaidoh! 20 laps right now!” Tezuka ordered. The two sophomores grimaced and started to run their laps still bickering at each other.

“Hoi hoi! Kikumaru beam!!!” Eiji exclaims as he grabs another point from Oishi.

“Nice one Eiji! You’re beam’s getting sharper and faster!” said his doubles partner.

“Kawamura, if you hold your racquet 1.3 cm lower, your hadokyou will raise by 5%” Inui informs Taka-san “ORA ORA! Gimme more data! INUI! MOER UZE BURNING!”

“I didn’t know that you were the buchou of the tennis team Tezuka-san.”

Tezuka felt his heart skip a beat and glances to the side to see standing behind the wired court.

“You never asked,” replied Tezuka with a small smirk. smiled, “He’s so cute!”

“Nyaa!! Look Oishi! It’s the new girl I was telling you about! The one that buchou was hanging around with this afternoon!” Eiji exclaims as he started to bounced over to .

“Eiji! Come back! Or Tezuka will-”

“Kikumaru! 20 laps right now!” Tezuka yelled at the red head.

“Huh nyaaa?? I just wanted to know her name buchou!” Tezuka gave him a cold stare and Kikumaru knew what it meant. Run now or more laps.

Practice was over and the regulars were slowly piling out of the change room.

“Ochibi!!! How’s your stomach feeling?”

“Better I guess,” the little one replied after going to the washroom for the last half of practice to barf out Inui’s latest concoction. He then saw Tezuka speaking to a girl with her back facing him. When he heard the girl laugh, he smirked and started to walk towards the two.

“Neh. Don’t you have something better to do than stand there and chat your life away?”

turned her head, ready to smack the living day lights out of the person who rudely interrupted her conversation with Tezuka. But just as she was about give one to the intruder, her face lit up.

“Ryoma!”

WHUMP

“Itai! -sempai!” gasped the golden eyed prodigy.

’s hugs were comparable to Kikumaru’s when it comes to Ryoma.

“Ehhhh??? Echizen has a girlfriend?? Heh… she’s pretty and she’s older too!!! Nice Echizen!” Momoshiro yelled out cheerfully.

“Che, he has a better chance in getting a girlfriend than you baka powerhouse,” Kaidoh responded.

“What did you say mamushi??”

“Fsshuuu…”

“Oi, oi calm down you two” said the mother of Seigaku, Oishi.

“I’m , but you guys can call me -chan,” replied as she continued with her death grip on the boy.

“Ii data. Echizen’s girlfriend is two years older than him…” mumbled the data man as he scribbles loudly onto his green notebook.

“Neh Echizen, how do you know her?” Momo asked.

As Echizen slowly regained the color on his face, golden eyes flicked and a smirked is formed in the ichinen’s face, “First of all she’s not my girlfriend. Second, you guys really don’t know who she is, do you? Sh-”

“She’s , the world’s top ladies tennis player.” Tezuka interrupted. Now he remembered who she was. Her face was in a lot of the tennis magazines that he has read. It took him a while to realize that it was her because there’s only a small section of the magazine dedicated to ladies tennis.

Jaws dropped.

“NANI???”

“Then what the heck are you doing here in Japan?!?” asked Kikumaru.

laughed, “I just wanted to see Japan again. After all that traveling I’ve missed coming back here. I still play tennis though and I wanted to see what style of tennis this place and this school is renowned for.” She winked at the regulars.

“Saaa… shall we show you what we’re made of then?” Fuji gave a challenging smile towards .

“Nah, not today. I need to get home and unpack. Also I need to catch up with this cutie here!” replied as she pinched Ryoma’s cheeks.

“Itai -chan.” as Ryoma pulled down his cap while hiding a blush.

“Anyways, I have to go! I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” said to the team and heads off.

“Saa… Tezuka… she’s real nice neh?” Fiju sweetly said.

“Eh? What was that suppose to mean Fuji-sempai?” asked the confused Momo.

Tezuka raises an eyebrow and heads towards the bus stop.

“He’s so cool and calm. Not the usual loud and arrogant guys that I see in America. But he has this presence that makes me feel safe and wanted.” thought as she was eating her lunch with Tezuka.

It’s been like that for the past few weeks. They have even met up after school to study or just hang out.

Tezuka couldn’t believe that he was actually having fun without thinking too much about tennis, but when they do start talking about tennis it was great to have somebody who also understands the dedication that he has to the game. Little did he know that he was slowly falling for the new girl.

“Neh, Echizen. You didn’t tell me how you know -sempai.” Momo said as the two friends were walking towards the burger joint on a Sunday afternoon to meet up with Eiji.

“She was like a sister to me. All the other American players would always pick on me because I was the youngest there. She always stood up for me and would just hangout with me. She wasn’t like those stupid fan girls.”

“Heh? Ochibi got picked on in America??” the acrobatic player asked as he entered the burger joint overhearing the two kohais.

“Mada mada dane Kikumaru-sempai,” was all Echizen could reply.

“Konichiwa mina!”

“Nya! Konichiwa -chan!” Eiji happily replied as he went to hug her.

“Mou, you guys are ALWAYS eating burgers. Hurry up so I can beat the crap out of Ryoma in tennis!” teased.

“Mada mada dane. Just because you beat the other guys, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to beat me,” the first year responded.

~~~

“Game and match, Ibu. 6 games to 4” Tachibana An yelled out the result.

“That wasn’t fair! The guy’s mumbling more than usual so how am I suppose to keep up with my rhythm??” Kamio complained.

“You just need to understand that I’m better than you and that you will never be able to beat me. My tennis is much better than your speed…” mumbled Ibu.

“Mou, you two need to just practice some more” An attempting to stop their argument.

“Oy! Fudomine!”

An looked up to see Momo, Echizen and .

“Yo! Momoshiro! Let’s play a game!”

“I will! After I see Echizen get beaten by a girl!” Momo replied with a snicker.

“Eh? Echizen? Neh, who’s that girl beside him anyways? She’s looks good. She just might be able to beat the runt that beat me. But wait that would be embarrassing for me because if she’s able to beat him that means she’s able to beat me which means…”

“Ibu! Shut the hell up!” Kamio shouted at his doubles partner.

“If you guys want to watch them play, you better shut up and come to the other court!” Momo waved to them.

“Game and match, . 7 games to 5!” Momo announced happily.

“Wow! Sugoi! I’ve never seen this kind of tennis! That was awesome!” Kamio said with a surprised tone.

smiled and wiped off a bead of sweat as she looked at the panting first year. She then noticed another person looking at the court. Her eyes lit up.

“Tezuka! Glad you could make it!” waved at the buchou.

Tezuka nodded in response. He was amazed to see that had beaten the rookie.

“I definitely have to ask her to play against me one day”

~~~

It was the day of the girls’ tennis club exhibition game. A day where all the girls tennis club get to know who the other girls’ tennis team. had invited regulars to come and see the tournament.

Everybody was dressed in regular clothes and they looked good. They also brought their racquets just in case there were open courts.

“Nice day to take lots of pictures of , neh Tezuka?” Fuji happily took a picture of who was waving them over.

“Fuji. Don’t get any ideas.” Tezuka answered coldly.

“Hey everybody! Thanks for coming! Sorry to bother you guys on your day off,” said sheepishly.

“Iie daijoubu -chan. It will be interesting to see the girl’s tournament instead of the guys for a change,” Oishi responded.

“Ok let’s go!” smiled and turned to lead the team to the court where the Seigaku girls were playing.

“Hey beautiful! Would you like to tell me your name? I’m Sengoku and I’m feeling lucky today!” said an oranged hair boy.

looking very surprised to see the boy right up to her face, nose to nose. The other boy smiled as he continued to check ’s face out.

Tezuka immediately stood between the two, “Please refrain yourself from scaring our classmate.”

“Heh? Tezuka’s being overprotective of her eh? I didn’t know that she was your girlfriend. Lucky!” the other boy replied with a cheeky smile.

“Sengoku-sempai. There are 24 schools competing today desu and we need to go back to the coach or else she’ll send us home desu,” said a little boy ran towards the flirt.

“Ah? 24 schools? That means there are… 192 girls that are here. That’s counting the girls on bench! Plus they probably brought their cheering team too! Lucky! Demo, this one in front of me is real cute! O well! I’ll see you guys later!” winked Sengoku, “Let’s go Dan-kun!” and the two scurried off to probably stalk some other girls.

blushed as Sengoku ran off and Tezuka standing in front of her.

“Hehe… that was the 5^th guy today. Well let’s go you guys! I want to see when I’m playing,” she said feeling slightly embarrassed.

Tezuka raised an eyebrow and said nothing as they all followed towards one of the courts.

“Neh Tezuka. You better do something before she gets away,” Fuji noted to Tezuka, “If you don’t do anything soon, a lot of guys are more than happy to take her.”

~~~

“Game and match, Michiko. 6 games to 3.Hyoutei wins,” announced the referee.

“Arn~ our girl’s team is not so bad. They would do better if I wasn’t here. Look at them. They’re so distracted by me. Nah Kabaji?” Atobe smirked. “Usu.”

“Then why are we here then Atobe? You just want to be seen and be worshipped that’s why,” said Shishido.

“I thought it was an excellent idea. I can see many potential ladies that I will be asking out,” said the kansai prodigy.

“That’s because all the girls here are wearing skirts. I feel so bad for them. Being stalked by a deranged leg fetish guy like you,” said his double partner.

“Mah that’s not nice sempai,” said the tall silver-haired player.

~~~

“Oy what are we doing here sempais?” Kirihara complained.

“We’re here to observe the girl’s team because coach said so,” replied Sanada

“Plus my sister’s playing and I want to see how she does,” added Yukimura, “Any other questions Kirihara?”

Kirihara sweatdrops, “Iiie… buchou…”

“Ah quit whining Kirihara. Look! Those girls made cakes! I’m gonna go ask for a slice!!” Marui skipped towards the girls.

“I’ll go get him before he embarrasses our school,” said Jackal.

“Puri, I thought that would be Kirihara’s job,” joked the trickster.

“There’s a 80% chance that Kirihara will start to bicker and a 93% chance that Niou will retaliate and win,” calculated Renji.

“It’s gonna be a long day…” Yagyuu quietly said as Kirihara and Niou started to argue.

~~~

“Game and match, Kira. 7 games to 6. Seigaku leads,” announced the referee.

“Uwaaah!!! The girls are having a hard time playing against Hyoutei!” exclaimed Eiji.

“Even though these games don’t really count, it shows which schools are prepared for the actual games,” said Oishi.

“Oy! It’s -sempai’s turn! GO -SEMPAI!!!” Momo yelled excitedly.

“Shut up stupid powerhouse. You’re embarrassing her,” sneered Kaidoh.

“What did you say? I’m just showing my support!” Momo twitched.

“Mada mada dane. Let’s just watch her game neh?” Echizen managing to quiet the two while drinking his grape ponta.

“Saa… this will be great for my photo collection. Want some copies Tezuka?” Fuji smiled.

“The next game is singles 1. Please come to the court.”

Tezuka kept his composure and stared out into the court. was taking her jacket off and took her racquet out. She looked around to where everybody was and when she saw Tezuka, she waved. Tezuka made a small smile and Fuji took a picture.

“Arn~  Seigaku. Nice team, nah Kabaji,” Atobe said. “Usu”

The Hyoutei regulars arrived the scene and somehow found their way beside the Seigaku regulars.

“I have to agree. Their singles 1 looks very well prepared,” Oshitarui observed with a smirk.

“Oy Yuushi! You have that look in your eyes. It’s scary man!” Gakuto shivered.

Tezuka made a side glance as he remembered what Fuji had said earlier.

“You better do something before she gets away.”

“Game and match, . 6 games to 1. Seigaku wins!” the referee declared.

“Impressive. That game finished in 10 minutes. Ore-sama is very impressed. She just might have what it takes to be with ore-sama, nah Kabaji?”

“Usu”

“Let’s go everyone,” Tezuka suddenly said. The regulars started to walk away from the hyoutei team.

“Hmm… seems like we touched a nerve there Atobe,” the blue-haired boy said.

~~~

“NYAAA!!! -chan was crazy!” said Eiji as he jumped on almost causing them both to fall on their faces.

“Eiji! Be careful! We don’t want to injure her before her next match!” Oishi said as he tried to unhook Eiji’s grasp on .

laughed, “Thanks everybody. I have to go and cool down for 5 minutes. My next match is in half an hour. What did you think of my game Tezuka?”

Tezuka looked at , “You did well . Keep it up and don’t get careless.”

rolled her eyes and smiled, “I’ll see you guys later! The next match is in court B.”

“Buchou”

Tezuka looks up from where he was sitting to see Echizen.

“What is it, Echizen?”

“Play a game against me,” the first year said.

Everybody looked surprised to see the rookie suddenly asking Tezuka to play.

“Ehh?? What’s wrong with you Echizen? We’re here to see -sempai play and relax. Then you suddenly ask buchou to play against you?” Momo asked

Tezuka looked at Echizen and slowly stood up and grabbed his racquet, “Let’s go.”

The two boys found an empty court and started getting ready while the rest of the team were outside the wire court.

“Hoi? Why is ochibi being serious about playing against buchou?” Eiji asked.

“I think this is Echizen’s way of interrogating potential guys for -chan” Fuji replied.

“Eh? You really think so Fuji?” Oishi asked.

“That’s true. Echizen did say that -sempai had some bad experiences going out with tennis players. Heh. That’s so Echizen,” Momo answered.

“Buchou. If you beat me with within 15 minutes and answer all my questions, then I’ll let you go out with -chan,” Echizen said as he started the game with a twist serve.

~~~

“Yukimura, you’re sister’s up,” Sanada informed Yukimura who was sitting on a bench.

“Let’s go then. I want to watch her play. If she doesn’t win, she’s gonna get it…”Yukimura smiled. Everybody on the Rikkai Dai team sweatdropped.

“Oy. Even his own sister he makes her suffer. I feel so bad for her…” whispered Kirihara to Niou. Niou nodded in agreement.

~~~

“The best of one match. Rikkai Dai Yukimura to serve!”

looked around the court. She didn’t see a sign of any of the boy’s regular. sighed, “They probably found an empty court to play in.”

“Oy everybody! -chan’s playing against Rikkai Dai! And guess who she’s up against? Yukimura’s little sister!!” Oishi exclaimed as he ran back from the courts to tell the other regulars.

“EH?! Let’s go everybody! Hurry up and pack your stuff Echizen!” Momo yelled as he ran with Oishi.

~~~

“Seigaku eh? She’s pretty good Yukimura. Even your little sister is unable to catch up to her,” Yagyuu pointed out.

Yukimura stared and couldn’t believe that his little sister was being dominated. He smiled. “That means I get to make her run laps until the cows come home.” Everybody sweatdrops again.

“Yukimura, let’s not have another incident where she didn’t show to school for 3 days,” Sanada reminded his buchou.

“O yea. I forgot about that. Don’t worry, I won’t let her drink that stuff that Renji made this time. This time, I’ll make her drink what I made,” Yukimura smiled even broader.

Sanada sweatdrops, “What the did Yukimura’s parents do to him when he was kid?”

~~~

“Game and match, Seigaku. 6 games to 3. Seigaku wins!” the referee announced. The Seigaku regulars managed to see the game and was happy to see how well their school made.

“She likes to eat a lot of ice cream and hates scary movies. When it comes to tennis she hates it when guys don’t play seriously against her. Take care of her buchou. She deserves it.”

Echizen’s voice echoed in his head. Tezuka had managed to easily beat Echizen within the time limit. He thought about how he’s going to ask out.

“Tezuka, relax. Don’t do anything stupid or else you’ll lose your only chance,” Fuji said breaking Tezuka’s trail of thought.

“Fuji…” Tezuka ready to give the tensai 50 laps.

“Hey everybody! Where were you guys? I thought you guys saw a free court and ran off as usual!” asked as she finished packing her items.

“ -chan. Buchou has something to ask you”

“Eh? Tezuka? What is it?” asked

Everybody almost swore that they saw Tezuka’s face paled a little.

“ -chan, let’s go for a walk,” Tezuka finally said.

“Alright… Are we all still going to go to Taka’s place for dinner?”

“YEA! Totally! After buchou finishes his business that is!” snickered Momoshiro.

“Hoi nyah! Go buchou! We’re cheering for you!” Eiji giggled.

“Momo! Eiji! 30 laps! Right now!” Tezuka barked.

“EH?!?”

“Serves you two right. Go and do your laps. We’ll meet you at Taka’s place Tezuka, ,” Oishi smiled.

As and Tezuka walked off, Fuji couldn’t resist taking a picture of the two.

“What is it Tezuka? I’m hungry!” said with her hand behind her head.

“You don’t like scary movies eh? I don’t either.”

stopped and looked at Tezuka.

“Heh… how did you know? Been stalking me haven’t you?” joked.

“Let’s play a match,” Tezuka suddenly said.

“Eh?? Are you serious? But I’m tired!” whined.

“If I win, I’ll pick a scary movie to go watch so I can see you scared witless,” Tezuka replied with a smile.

“Heh? And if I win?” asked.

“You pick the movie and the restaurant where I’m going to treat you.”

smile got even bigger.

“You’re on.”

~~~

Written by Babybel