6-4!" Some of his fellow seventh graders cheered and Ryoma smiled a bit as he headed up to the net. He stuck his hand out.
"Good game," He said, but his opponent, who had been Kaoru Kaido and a fellow starter, ignored him and walked off the court. Ryoma sighed and walked off the courts himself. Some of the seventh graders, Kachiro, Horio, and Katsuo, ran over to him.
"Good job, Ryoma!" Kachiro said immediately. Ryoma thanked him meekly,
leaning his racket against the fencing.
"Man," Horio started, "Kaido sure hates your guts, he has ever since you beat him when you were becoming a starter"
"Well yeah. For a starter to be beaten by a seventh grader... And then for that same seventh grader to become a starter...!" Katsuo said, "It's definatly his pride"
"Yeah and he's scary when he's mad!" Kachiro shivered and the other two had to agree. Ryoma just stood there and let them all talk, only half paying attention to what they were saying. Eventually he said that he had to go, grabbed his bag and waked away.
A young blonde haired girl hopped out of the back of a moving van carrying a
box. She hummed to herself as she brought it into the big house that had been newly
labeled 'Raiku'. She went inside and took it upstairs and into the room she had picked out
three days before. She promptly plopped the box next to all of the others on the bed and
went to get the last one from the truck. She brought it up and sighed in relief. A golden
retriever bounded up the stairs and into her room. She pet it affectionately and rubbed it's
ears.
"What, Samson, you want to go for a walk?" She asked the dog, closing her blue
eyes in delight. She could here the dogs tail thumping on the carpet and took it as a yes.
She opened her eyes, "Good, because I need an excuse to get out of here for a while." She
grabbed a leash from one of her boxes and then fixed it to Samson's collar. The dog
stood up, waging is fluffy blonde tail and then they bounded down the stairs and headed
for the door, "I'm taking Samson for a walk!" She hollered through the house.
"Shia, wait," Her mother's voice called and she stopped in her tracks, "Where are
you going"
"I'm taking Samson for a walk," She said, "I thought I'd also check out my new
school." She smiled, "Seishun academy."
"Dang, I lost again," Ryoma said and put the controller for his video game down,
"This guy's serve sucks, he really shouldn't be allowed to compete." He sighed and pet his
cat, Kalpin, which had been laying on his lap. Something hit the window and it rattled.
"Huh?" Kalpin moved as Ryoma got up and walked over to the window, opening it.
"Ryoma! Lets break a sweat before dinner!" His father's voice called up. Nanjiro
Echizen had once been called 'Samurai' in tennis, but he had retired at an early age. Now
he stood outside, holding the tennis ball he had lobbed at Ryoma's window, cigarette in
mouth, expecting a match from his son. "Come on, I'll only play you with... one leg
today." He called up.
"I don't need a handicap," Ryoma sighed, but headed for his tennis bag, he would
need his best racket to play his father anyway. He was surprised to open the bag and for it
not to be there. He thought back. The fence! He had leaned it against the fence at his
school. He grabbed the bag, dashed out, and hurried past his dad, "I forgot my racket." he
explained as he passed and his dad chortled.
"Excuses, excuses."
"Wow, so this is Seishun? It's huge!" Shia said happily, "Isn't this school big for
it's tennis? I wanna see the courts!" A teacher walked out of the building and Shia ran
over to it, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the tennis courts are"
"Go around the school to your right and then turn left at the edge of the building.
You can see the practice courts from there," he said, looking disapprovingly at her dog.
"Thank you!" She said and bounded past him, Samson toppling him over as they
raced to the court. She followed the teachers directions and soon she could see the courts,
"Wow!" she whistled and then headed down there. She let go of Samson's leash for a
moment and he trotted over to something. He barked to get her attention. "A racket?" She
examined it, "Red... It's pretty..." She swung it a bit, "and very well made." She glanced at the fence. She could see a bucket of balls inside and the gate was unlocked. She smiled,
"Shall we?" she asked and Samson barked in agreement as they walked in. She grabbed a
tennis ball and threw it up into the air. Her serve whistled over the net and the dog
jumped up to catch it on the bounce. He trotted back to her and place it at her feet, then
went back over to the other side of the net. She smiled and served again.
Ryoma had stopped running as soon as his dad was out of sight and now he could
see the school. His feet walked the familiar path to the courts without his thinking. As he
rounded the last corner he heard the familiar twack of a racket meeting a ball. Not just
any racket either, but his. He walked down to the fence and watched as a girl served the
ball with tremendous speed and the dog, with equal agility, jump into the air to catch it on
the bounce. Ryoma couldn't help but laugh at this spectacle and the girl looked over at
him, blushing furiously.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't even see you there, uh... How long...?" She asked frantically.
"Not long at all. That's an impressive trick though, with the dog." he said,
walking in. The dog moved over to him and Ryoma let it sniff his hand before petting it's
head.
"Y-yeah, I taught him that before we moved here. Uh, do you go here"
"Obviously"
"Oh, oh yeah! Of coarse!" She said scratching the back of her head, embarrassed,
"I knew that"
"No you didn't"
"Yeah, you're right," She sighed. "anyway, I ought to get going, I'll just put this
racket back where it was"
"You don't have to do that," Ryoma told her.
"Huh? Of course I do, it's not mine, I'm not going to steal it!" She said,
seemingly outraged that he had thought she would.
"No, I meant you don't have to because you can just give it to me, it's mine." He
explained and she blushed an even deeper shade of red.
"I-I-I'm so sorry! It was just sitting there and I didn't have a racket and there were balls in here and I wanted to play and-" Ryoma cut her off abruptly.
"It's alright, I don't really mind, you didn't intend to take it," he said and she
relaxed, handing him the racket. "Actually," he said, "If you want to play tennis, I'll play
with you." Her eyes lit up.
"Really!"
"Yeah," He nodded.
"I would love that!" she smiled and Ryoma handed her back the racket, "My
name is Shia by the way." She introduced.
"I'm Ryoma," he said, moving to the opposite side of the net. He tossed her a ball.
She smiled as she caught it and Ryoma shifted his racket to his right hand.
"I'm very pleased to meet you," She said and tossed the ball up into the air. As
she was about to hit it Ryoma got into a ready position, but the ball never crossed the net.
It came back down out of the air and she caught it again. "Before we start..." she said and
Ryoma straitened up a bit. "Why are you playing with your weak hand?" Ryoma was
surprised for a moment and then smirked.
"How could you tell I was left handed?" he asked.
"Easy, your left hand is only slightly larger than your right hand, this means that it has more use, the muscles are harder. However, because they are so close in size one
could assume that you tend to go easier on others, using your weak hand. It's really pretty
simple," she finished with that same child-like smile, "Why don't you show me what you
can really do?" Ryoma smirked and changed his racket to his left hand. Shia smiled and
tossed the ball into the air again. It whistled over the net, faster than when she had played with the dog. Ryoma was quick though and got to it fairly easily, volleying it back over the net. Shia's eyes were alight as she ran for it, making it to the left side of the court just in time to get the ball and slam it back over. The game went on, neither really playing to their full ability, but both seemed to be mildly enjoying themselves. Eventually they stopped, both sweating slightly and out of breath. "That... Was fun..." Shia said between deep gulps of air. Ryoma just nodded and Samson barked. Shia looked over to him and
then at her watch. Seven o'clock. "Dang, Mom's gonna kill me"
"What was that"
"Nothing, but I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow at school I guess, that's when I
start going here," She said, swinging the racket in the direction of the school. "Oh yeah"
she moved over and handed him the racket, "Just remembered that wasn't mine. You're
on the tennis team, yeah? Maybe I'll come watch practice tomorrow, I've really got
nothing to do." Ryoma didn't say anything, but she smiled none the less. "Alright then,
buh-bye"
"Bye," Ryoma returned the gesture and watched her walk out of the court and
around the school. Once she was out of sight he let out a sigh, "What a strange girl." He
put his rackets into his bag and headed home.
"Shia? Is that you?" Shia closed the door as her mom hollered the question from
the kitchen.
"Yes," She answered and let Samson off of his leash. Her fingers tinging when
they brush the leash, small scraps covered her hands that had grown so soft over the years
she hadn't held a racket. She started for the stairs, she couldn't let her mother see her
scratched up hands. "I'm not really hungry, so I'm going to go unpack my things and go
to bed, okay?" She rushed up the stairs without waiting for an answer. She went strait to
her room and closed the door quickly. She let out a huge sigh of relief and rubbed some
lotion onto her hands. She loved tennis, but she hadn't played in so long... Not since.
She refused to think about it. That was over and it would never happen again. Never. She
grabbed her boxes and began to open them. She put away clothes and plugged in her
stereo, moving books and the like onto shelves. When there was only one box left she just
stared at it. It was the only box that had been unlabeled, all that was written on it was
'Shia' in small jagged letters. She took this box and put it into the closet, she wasn't sure what to do with it yet. She sighed again as she flopped onto her bed and was soon asleep.
It was dark when Ryoma got home. He walked into the house and closed the door
behind him. "Hey," his father said when he walked past the living room, "What took you
so long?" Ryoma didn't stop walking.
"I ran into someone," He said and walked up to his room, "I'm going to bed"
Nanjiro Echizen smiled on the couch.
"Hmm, I wonder what he's trying to hide?" He chuckled to himself, "He's always
like that when he doesn't want to tell me something"
The next day Ryoma was up early. His cat, Kalpin, moved off his bed as he threw
the covers off and swung his feet over the beds edge. He dressed hurriedly and grabbed
his tennis bag before heading out the door.
"Uh... Where am I?" Shia scratched the back of her head. She saw a teacher at the
end of the hall. "Hey, it's that teacher from yesterday! Hey! Mr. Teacher!" She waved
and the man looked like he was scared out of his mind.
"No! Not you!" He yelled and ran off.
"Huh, I wonder what he was afraid of?" She looked around behind her, "That silly
man! There's nobody else but me around!" She laughed then looked sad again, "Oh yeah,
I'm lost..." She looked around, but no angel in disguise came down the hallway to save
her. She sat down and leaned against the lockers, her head buried in her arms. She felt
like she should cry or something, but no tear flowed from her eyes. It was almost a
comical thought, how you only seemed to be given so many tears in one life, and then
when you used them up they were gone, a resource that disappeared.
"Hey," A voice said and she felt a hand graze her shoulder. She looked up. "Are
you okay?" She looked up at a boy with a smiling face and light brown hair. "Hi, I'm
Shusuke Fuji"
"H-hi, I'm Shia, Shia Raiku," Shia said, blushing slightly. She averted her eyes
slightly, "Uh, I'm a bit lost... Could you tell me how to get to class1-B"
"1-B? Isn't that Ryoma's class?" Fuji asked, mostly to himself, his smiled never
disappearing from his face.
"It is," Another voice me from the end of the hallway. They both looked over to
see Ryoma, his tennis bag tossed over his shoulder. "Come on Shia, this school isn't that
big"
"Wait, you two know each other?" Fuji asked.
"Y-yeah," Shia answered for the two of them, "We met yesterday when I was checking out the grounds. He helped me out then to, now that I think of it..." What
better help could he give? Giving me the chance to play tennis again.
"Well, I trust that he can get you to your class then," Fuji said, "I'm a bit late
myself! See ya around! And I'll see you at tennis practice Ryoma"
"See ya!" Shia yelled with a smile and a wave and Ryoma muttered his good bye.
Ryoma sighed and started off down the hallway.
"Come on," He sighed and Shia followed, a smile still alight on her face. When
they finally entered the classroom, the room broke into whispers and the teacher moved
back.
"Hey, it's the scardy man!" Shia said happily and the man ran to hide behind his
desk.
"Why me? Why meee!" He sobbed. The rest of the classes were uneventful and
the day ended rather quickly.
Ryoma sighed as he stepped onto the tennis court that afternoon. His racket in his
hand, his shorts already on, he was ready for whatever the practice might throw at him. At
least, he had thought he was ready at the time, but really, he was anything but ready for
what happened then.
"Hiya Ryoma!" The voice startled him and he turned around to see Shia. She
laughed, "Don't look so surprised, I said I'd come"
"Yeah, you did," He said, "But they won't want you on the court. Did you sign up
for the girls team"
"No, I... don't want to play..." She said, her eyes and face strangely blank and
without emotion. He sighed under his breath, She's a terrible liar. "Anyway, what kind of
school is this that they wouldn't want me on the courts"
"Well, the starters are about to have practice." Ryoma informed her and she
became aware of shadows towering over her.
"Well, well, who is this? You're girlfriend, Ryoma?" An eighth grade starter
named Takeshi Momoshiro asked jokingly. Ryoma shook his head in an annoyed manner.
"Hey, it's Shia!" Fuji said with a smile. The ninth grade starter grinned with the
same childlike plainness as he had before.
"Hello, Fuji-san! It's good to see you again!" Shia went on happily, "I didn't
know you were a starter"
"Naturally." Fuji answered.
"What is she doing on the courts?" Another starter asked, this one being the
eighth grade Kaido.
"Hmm?" Shia glance at Kaido, "You're just a little bit scary!" Kaido's temper
flared and ninth grade starter Eiji Kikumaru chuckled a bit. She continued, "Hey, don't
get mad, I'm just stating a fact." She sighed, "Anyway, I'm going to go over there and
watch okay? Buh-bye!" She waved and walked away to the courts edge and sat down, her
back against the fencing.
"She's not going to get behind that fencing, is she?" Ninth grade starter Shuichiro
Oishi sighed, but Fuji just smiled and told him that she wouldn't.
"I just hope that she doesn't get hurt..." ninth grade starter Takashi Kawamura
looked nervous and timid. Ryoma, who couldn't see her because she had seated herself
directly behind him, smiled a bit.
"Is there a racket near her?" He asked and the others seemed mildly surprised.
"Well, yeah," Momoshiro answered, "There's one about two and a half feet
away"
"To her left or right?" Ryoma asked.
"Her right," Momo was the one to answer again.
"Then she'll be just fine," Ryoma said.
"Wait, what do you mean?" Momshiro asked, but the captain, Kunimitsu Tezuka
came over before Ryoma could answer.
"Come on, we got practice to start," They all nodded and followed him over to a
court where Sadaharu Inui was waiting.
"Hello everyone," He said, moving his glasses a little higher on his nose, "Today
we're just doing the cone drill, and then maybe some practice matches." He told them all
and they all sighed and get into a line on the edge of the court. Momoshiro moved into the
court and waited. Sadaharu moved to the other side and grabbed a random ball from a
bucket. He tossed it up into the air and then lobbed it over Momoshiro's head.
"Red!" Momoshiro jumped up and slammed it into the red marked cone. He
grinned and moved off the court. Ryoma moved on and did the same thing, calling a blue
ball and hitting it to the perspective cone. Shia smiled as she watched, her eyes alight
with interest. They did this for a long time until they were all pretty tired.
"If we want to improve," Kunimitsu told them, "Now is the time to do it, while
we're tired. 30 laps each." No one argued, they simply left and started to head out.
"Wait." Sadaharu said and they all stopped, glancing back. He was smiling, "Who
ever finishes last has to drink my vegetable extract." They all ran. Shia got up, dusted
herself off and followed, running fast enough to keep up with Ryoma.
"Ryoma!" She shouted and he looked over at her.
"Why are you running?" He asked and Shia smiled.
"I like to run. Hey if I beat you in will you play me again? For real this time"
"I'll play you after practice if you want but when I win this race you better be the
one playing for real.
"Is that a challenge"
"Yeah, I would say so"
"Bring it on!" She yelled happily and picked up the pace. In the first couple laps
they raced past Kunimitsu and Oishi, who were planning to save their energy to the end,
and then past Fuji, who didn't really care if he had to drink it. They dashed past Taka a
few laps after that, one on either side, and then struggled a bit to catch up to Momo and
Kaoru, who were in a dead heat. With a bit of trouble they managed to make it past them
finally they finished their thirty laps, everyone in a dead tie. Shia leaned back against the
fencing of the courts.
"Man, you guys... Run hard," She said between gasps for air.
"L-like-wise," Taka answered her. Shia turned to Ryoma.
"I guess we're both playing for real?" She asked and Ryoma smirked.
"What fun would it be if one of us slacked off?" He asked and Shia returned the
smile as she laughed.
"Well," Sadaharu said, "I don't see why I couldn't play a practice match with one
of the starters if Ryoma thought this girl was enough practice. I mean, as long as
Kunimitsu doesn't mind"
"I don't," Kunimitsu answered all of the questioning looks.
"It would probably do Ryoma some good to play someone his own age anyway"
Fuji smiled. Ryoma nodded.
"You'll be needing a racket again then?" He asked and Shia shook her head.
"I brought my own today," She said and walked over to her school bag to get it.
Ryoma studied it.
"Looks old," Momo commented.
"It is, but it's also lucky," Shia grinned.
"Well, the rest of the starters pair up! One on one matches today!" Kunimitsu
barked and all of the starters followed instructions as Shia and Ryoma moved to the far
court.
"Treat me kindly," Shia winked and Ryoma sighed.
"Sure, you serve first." He tossed her a ball and she obliged. The game had begun.