This is my first time uploading a story but it's an OC. I really hope it's alright. First time and all. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Kazuma Reiya sat on the bench, admiring the beauty of Osaka as she listened to the breeze that kept passing the hill. It was nice being alone once in a while. She could have done this from where she came from, but because of important business for her grandmother and her friends' eagerness to have a 2 weeks vacation, she might as well enjoy her time there. She thanked god silently though when she was able to escape from their shopping madness.
However, she growled inwardly when she felt a shadow looming over her. She opened her eyes slowly whilst sighing before hearing a man's worried voice, "Daijoubu desu ka?"
Reiya looked up to see a man in his early 20's with a hair colour that doesn't seem natural at all; it wasn't brown, it wasn't grey. It was somewhere in between. "I'm fine thank you. I'm just admiring the beauty of this place. Isn't it just enchanting?" Reiya replied the guy finally. "Osaka is beautiful but there's another place here that's much more enchanting than this especially during sunset or sun down," the stranger said as he took a sit beside Reiya.
Meanwhile, she still had her eyes on him and then they fell on the bag he was carrying, "hmm? You play tennis I see." The young man turned to look at her before realizing how she knew. He laughed slightly, and patted the bag, "ah yea, I play tennis at a nearby tennis club for this one university. Do you play tennis?"
The woman replied him with laugh and a shake of her head, "not one bit. I watch people play tennis. I'm a manager for a tennis club at my university. I was forced into it actually. So it explains why I don't actually know how to play tennis. It is fun to watch you guys play tennis especially those in my team. They have some sort of…burning passion in their eyes when they play. I'm easily inspired by them." The guy gave a knowing nod as he looked back at the view, "I know what you mean. Watching my team mates play, especially when it's a tournament makes it hard not to be pulled into their enthusiasm."
There was silence for a short moment as they both enjoyed the scenery but Reiya gave out her hand, "Kazuma Reiya by the way."
The guy took the hand, "I'm Shiraishi Kuranosuke."
Reiya was about to ask something when her phone rang, "Good afternoon. This is the crazy hotline. How may I help you tame your craziness?"
"KAZUMA REIYA! WHERE ARE YOU! YOU PROMISED TO BE HERE BY 4PM!" Reiya had to put her phone at arm's length to avoid any hearing problem in the future. It was rare to piss off a usually soft spoken violinist and this was one of the rare moments.
"Gomen gomen! I got side track by Shiraishi-san and the beauty of this place. I'll be there in 5 minutes alright. Don't get your knickers in a bunch. Ja!" she quickly hung up before Iori could say anything else, "Sorry I had to use your name. Iori won't forgive me if I actually told her I've been enjoying the scenery since an hour ago."
Shiraishi, who heard heard the whole conversation couldn't stop himself from chuckling, "it's no problem. It was nice meeting you."
"Nice meeting you too," Reiya gave her sweet smile to him before she took off. Shiraishi watch her walk away, contemplating about something and when he finally thought about it thoroughly, he called out her name.
Reiya then turned around to see a slightly blushing Shiraishi, "anou…would like to learn how to play tennis tomorrow? At least you can go back to your tennis team and show them what you learn in Osaka, right?"
Reiya was quite surprise by the sudden invitation but nevertheless, she smiled, "As long as you don't try anything funny I don't see any problem why I shouldn't agree to it."
Shiraishi grinned widely, "I'll see you here tomorrow at 10 in the morning then, Kazuma-san."
"Reiya. Just call me Reiya," with a last bow, she left.
Shiraishi came quite early the next day. He looked at his watched. 15 minutes left.
"Shiraishi-kun?" she gave a chuckle, "and here I thought I'd impress you by coming earlier than you but I guess I was beaten. How long have you been here?"
Shiraishi smiled sheepishly, "9."
Reiya was definitely impressed, "I'm really sorry to make you wait! I'll treat you to lunch for making you come early."
He quickly shook his head and chuckled at the girl's apologetic attitude, "I was the one who decided to come early. It's alright." Reiya kept quiet for a second before giving a nod and her 1000 watt smile.
"Alright. You have the stance and the strokes,now I'm going to throw this ball at you, and all you have to do is just hit the ball inside the court," Shiraishi explained.
Reiya nodded and waited for the ball to come. Once it was in sight, she gave her racquet a good swing.
She gapped slightly and saw Shiraishi did the same. 'Oh crap, he's going to kill me.' She cleared her throat and gave out a shaky chuckle, "I'm really sorry. I hope no one got hurt by that ball."
Shiraishi seemed to snap out from his surprise too and laughed loudly, "no worries. By the time it drops from the sky, I think its momentum and force would have lessen…I hope. Anyways, how about we try this stance instead? It might help to reduce the power."
He posed for Reiya, who copied the move. Shiraishi 'hmm'-ed and went behind her. Reiya could feel her back pressing against his chest, his hands going around her body as they held her hand and racquet.
"I hope this isn't awkward," he whispered. Reiya shook her head but deep down, she was actually holding in her blush.
"no worries. I'm used to it," Reiya said, but for some reason she regretted it. It sounded so wrong. Shiraishi chuckled as he thought her how to swing.
A few minutes later, he heard a gasped and several snickering and the next thing he knew was a loud voice booming from in between the other guys, "SHIRAISHIIIIIII! How come you didn't tell us you had a girlfriend!" Shiraishi quickly let go of the girl. Both of their faces were now red as they were caught in an unlikely position.
"Kin-chan! She's…she's not my girlfriend! I just met her yesterday. I was just showing her how to play tennis," Shiraishi replied in defense. Reiya nodded quickly in agreement.
"Suuuureeee. Let's just go with that excuse for now, shall we? Yuu-channnnn, aren't they just adorable like ussss?"Hitoji the comedian of the group said with a huge grin, holding his partner by the arm.
Shiraishi gulped before gathering back his composure, "what are you all doing here? It's a day off today. No tennis practice."
"We know. But Kenya passed by and heard your voice and hers. So we just had to know what was going on," Chitose stood there with a smirk on his face as they caught their captain having a close contact with a girl.
Ishida Gin, the powerhouse of the group then spoke up as he took something out from his pocket, " Ah. I take it that this ball was actually hit by you then. It belongs to the club and you two are the only one here."
Reiya gasped slightly as she muttered quietly to Shiraishi, " oh shoot. It did hit someone. Of all people, it hit your large team member." Shiraishi laughed slightly and patted her back, "Nah. It's alright. It's better that it hit my team mates, ne?"
" Guess so," Reiya quickly faced the group and bowed at Gin, "I am really sorry! I really don't know my own strength. It's one of the reasons why I don't actually play tennis or badminton. Especially ping pong. I'm really sorry!"
Gin shook his head at the sudden apology he was given, "It's ok….erm.." "Kazuma Reiya." "I'm not mad Kazuma-han. It's alright." Reiya gave a short nod as she still felt guilty for the strength that she had used.
Shiraishi chuckled. Her personality was just very amusing. May be he should have brought a notebook and keep track of her apologetic moment. "So…since we've been interrupted, how about I show you around instead? I'll see you guys tomorrow then!" He grabbed her hand, picking up their stuff and quickly made a run for it with Reiya.
When Shiraishi was sure that they were out of sight, he let her go. Looking at each other, they fell onto the grass, laughing at their escape. It wasn't everyday that you meet a stranger, play tennis with them and actually running away from their team mates before laughing on the green grass at a nearby park.
When they finally able to calmed down slightly, Shiraishi took in some air, trying to recover from those that were gone from laughing, "gomen ne. My team mates are a bunch of busybodies." Reiya's own laughter was slowly dying down, "it's interesting actually. Are all tennis clubs this interesting?"
"I'm not sure what other tennis club you know, but our club, yeah very. Luckily you miss Hitoji's and Konjiki's weird homosexual comedy play. It's not really good for your eyes or mind," Shiraishi sat up, staring down at the raven-haired girl.
"I guess I am lucky to miss that," Reiya grinned as she got up from her position, "anou, you're the captain of that team, aren't you?" Shiraishi followed suit, brushing off his pants from the dirt and leaves, "how did you know?"
"You have the same aura as the other sport captains I've met. Different personalities but the same leadership aura," Reiya replied, "Let's get something to eat!" and as quickly as that, Reiya took hold of his arm, dragging him to an ice-cream shop.
"I still can't believe that you spent your days here hanging out with a guy instead of hanging out with us," Ryuu muttered frustratingly. He was just being his overly protective self. Reiya knew because he always was when it came to her or their other best friends.
Nevertheless, it made Reiya sighed. She had already gotten a long lecture from him during the second day she met the tennis player and after 2 weeks of meeting the guy, Ryuu still wasn't too happy. Iori smiled softly, knowing how the other felt. She placed a gentle hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, trying to calm hit hot headedness. "Rei was here because her grandmother asked her to check a few stuff, not to go shopping with us. She did go out with us to the beach and stuff. So stop your brotherly complex."
"So, does he know you're leaving today?" Minami asked, with a knowing grin.
Reiya gave a nod but it soon followed with a dreamy sigh, "Spending the day with him yesterday at another hill was amazing. The place had so many flowers!"
"Well too bad we're leaving already," Ryuu mumbled as he took out all the vegetables out of his sandwich.
"It's not like she's not coming back. Osaka's not THAT far away. She could always take a cheaper ride. There's a train or she could drive," Iori defended her best friend, as she argued with Ryuu. Her friend hasn't been in a relationship for ages and it's not really healthy for 21 years old. Knowing that there's a possible candidate out there, she was willing to argue with her boyfriend for the sake of her best friend's happiness.
She watched at her two best friends argued about her. Being the topic of discussion wasn't that fun especially if it was about her love life. Reiya heaved a sigh as she excused herself for the toilet. It was as she walked back to the café when she saw someone running through the doors of the airport. Her heart was pumping faster than the usual but as she looked closely, it wasn't the person she was hoping for.
She was suddenly jealous at how some girls were able to get a romantic ending like most romance movie had. Cursing her luck, she continued on walking and that was when she heard her name from behind. Without a moment too soon, she turned around and that was when her light grey eyes met with a deep dark hazelnut brown eyes. She didn't hide her surprise at all.
There he was, panting just slightly, with a package in his hand, "Shiraishi….-kun?"
"Reiya-chan, you can't leave Osaka without anything to remember me by," Shiraishi handed her the package with his two hands and as Reiya took the package, their fingers touched and Reiya couldn't help but to feel something.
'May be there was a reason why Ryuu didn't want me to meet this guy everyday,' she thought about the possibility of them meeting up again.
"Thank you Shiraishi-kun," Reiya muttered loud enough for him to hear, a smile already gracing her face. She saw his smile, that could easily weaken any girl's knees and melt their hearts. It was a face that she might not see again. 'How could I be so careless', she mulled as she scolded herself in her head.
She took something out from her bag, a purple handkerchief and she dabbed his forehead gently before giving it to him. She let out a very light laughter, "you're sweating. I wonder how far you ran." Shiraishi couldn't help but to laugh along with her, "quite far if I say so myself."
Reiya laughed again before she gave a bow, "it was nice meeting you Shiraishi-kun. Really it was. Until we meet again, please do take care."
He saw her bow, and he knew that his chance in meeting her again was slim even with modern technology. For the past few weeks, being around her actually made him feel free and remembered how fun it was to hang around a girl. He had his share of heart breaks, and after a while, you get tired of getting your heart shattered over and over tried to remember his last relationship from 2 years ago but it seemed his meeting with her made his memory fade to black. Now he thought about it, he felt like he had the old Seigaku's captain's personality. Priority was tennis and his studies from middle school to university. He was like that for 2 years.
'Baka Osamu for creating another tennis club for the old regulars,' when he thought about his past life. Snapping out from his own thoughts, Shiraishi nodded, 'now or never.' Gathering up all his confidence, he pulled her into a hug, surprising the girl but it didn't mean she didn't like it. She hugged him back and he whispered to her ear, "You too. Take care." He watched her walk away and prayed for more chances to meet her once more.
"You went to the toilet and you got yourself a present?" Ryuu speculate at his friend's life. Reiya just shrugged with a smile that has not yet left her features. She sat down, slowly unwrapping the present and giggled (causing several stares from her friends). Pulling out a green and gold jersey from the box, she touched the kanji that was stitched onto the clothing and she just couldn't help but to sigh happily. "You know, we should take a video of this. It's not every day we see our Reiya acting like a high school girl," Iori muttered to her friends.
Author's note: I was thinking of giving this story an extra chapter. However, with exams coming up, it might be updated quite late. So we'll see. :D