literature

8 Racquets part 1

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      It was never supposed to happen like this. They had won the nationals, their dream had come true! The journey had been hard but they had done it! And they had made so many friends along the way. Atobe Keigo had even organized a party in their honor, to celebrate their victory. Most of the schools they had faced, all their new friends had planned to go. Hyotei, St. Rudolph, Fudomin, Yamabuki, Rokkaku, Shitenhoji, Higa Chuu, Josei Shonan, and even Rikkai Dai had gathered to make it one giant celebration to celebrate how far everyone had gotten and how great the year had been. Atobe had opened up one of his mansions for them, party to show off but mostly to gather all his friends and congratulate the Dream Team of Seigaku. It was going to be the party of the year, if Atobe had anything to say about it. Everything was supposed to be amazing, fantastic, wonderful… it was supposed to be everything but this, just not-not this.

       Tezuka Kunimitsu sighed deeply, his lips twitching as he held back a smile. His team- or rather, he thought, make shift family, were fighting… again. He ignored the other passengers’ annoyance, his family had worked hard, they had accomplished a lot, and he wasn’t going to stop them from their celebration.
     Inui Sadaharu wrote diligently in, what his brothers’ thought had to be his 100th, notebook- the book happened to be red, as it had in fact been a birthday present and was not his usual handpicked green notebook- without glancing up. Kikumaru Eiji was currently hanging off of a very disgruntled and annoyed Echizen Ryoma, who sat with a glare plastered on his face. Fuji Shyuusuke sat next to them, smiling widely as he watched his best friend and brother smother the baby of the family.
       “Saa, Eiji-Kun, Ryo-chan is turning blue.”
    “Gomen, Gomen!” Eiji wailed, jumping away from the younger boy and straight into his double partner Oishi Shuichiro lap.
        “Eiji!” Shuichiro exclaimed turning away from his conversation with Momoshiro Takeshi to wrap his arms around Eiji to make sure he didn’t fall.
        “You ok? Ryo-chan?” Takeshi teased, his smile growing as he reached over and stole Ryoma’s hat.
        “Fshhhhuuuuu, stop being so loud Takeshi.” Kaidoh Kaoru hissed, his eyes dark as he glared at his brother.
       “What did you say mumshi?!” Takeshi yelled, turning and rising to stand over Kaoru.
     “Guys, don’t fight!” Kawamura Takashi said, pulling them apart.
       “I regret informing you, that I saw any of you as older brothers.” Ryoma announced loudly, his face set in a glower.
       Kunimitsu turned trying to hide the smile that formed on his face. Just thinking back to that time gave him a sense of calm and warmth. It had been the time before the nationals, when the baby of the team, as they were not quite yet the family they were today, was leaving them for the U.S. Open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FLASBACK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       Kunimitsu had woken up sudden, a mixed feeling of anticipation, dread, and anxiety noted up his stomach, a feeling he wasn’t use to. Ryoma, someone who had stormed his way onto the team, Kunimitsu’s team, was leaving. Ryoma had helped make the team, before Ryoma they had barely been a team, they had barely been friends. They had never hung out together, they never celebrated each other birthdays, they had said a passing happy birthday but that was all. Ryoma had come in like a cyclone and took their carefully balanced distance and destroyed it. Before Kunimitsu had realized it, before any of them had realized it they had become a team, they had become friends… no, they had become brothers. And the youngest, the baby, was leaving them.
       Kunimitsu sat up, his thoughts had made the feeling worse. His bed side clock informed him that it was early morning, just past midnight and he knew he wasn’t going to back to bed anytime soon. The agonizing thought of their-his youngest brother leaving them was become painful. For a moment he froze, Ryoma was strong and resourceful, but he was also innocent and ignorant. Kunimitsu could just imagine all the trouble he’d get himself into, trouble that he, Kunimitsu or any of their brothers, wouldn’t be able to protect him from. A new burning desire raced through him and without much thought he got up and was dressed, tennis bag firmly in hand, he left. He wondered through the streets, not slowly but he refused to run. Kunimitsu wondered past Ryoma’s house, a feeling of emptiness filled his heart when he saw the dark windows before he pushed himself to move on. He wondered past the street courts, the tennis shop, and even Kawamura’s sushi. He walked, and walked until he was right outside of Seigaku.
       “Aaayyyaaaa! Look Fujioko- its Tezuka! Ya-Ho!”
     Kunimitsu turned around, his eyes locked eyes with their resident tensai and hyperactive acrobatic both carrying tennis bags. Two of his brothers.
       “Saa, seems Tezuka felt it to.”
     “Eh, Tezuka!”
        “Buchou!”
     “Ah! Taka-san, Oishi!” Kikumaru Eiji exclaimed, by-passing Kunimitsu to throw his arms around his doubles partner, forcing Oishi Shuichiro to drop his tennis bag.
         “It seems we all had the same thought,” Fuji Shyuusuke smiled, picking up Eiji’s bag and moving to take his place next to Kunimitsu.
     “But we are missing people!” Eiji wailed, hugging Shuichiro closer.
         “Saa, I wonder.”
      “Oh what do you know Fujioko?”
          “Everyone! I hear something!” Kawamura Takashi exclaimed.
      “Come on then! Let’s GO! LET’S GO!”
          “Eiji! Quieter! It’s still morning!”
      “Hai-Hai!”
          The sight that meet the five senior middle school students was something that made all of them smile- if only for a brief moment (Tezuka) - Inui Sadaharu and Kaidoh Kaoru were playing doubles against Momoshiro Takeshi and Echizen Ryoma.
       “It seems like we are the ones that are late.”
      Kaoru turned his head, looking up to see who had made the noise, making him miss the bright yellow ball and giving the Momoshiro-Echizen pair a point.
         “Lucky!” Takeshi shouted, grabbing onto Ryoma and hugging him close.
      “Huh, wanna try that again peach butt?” Kaoru hissed, glaring angrily at his rival.
         “Not my fault you were distracted mumshi!” Takeshi laughed, realizing Ryoma.
      “Uh!”
         “You wanna go?!”
      “Che, Mada mada dana, sempia!” Ryoma cut in, pulling down his cap to cover his eyes.
          “Why you little brat!”
       Takeshi abandoned his glaring match against Kaoru to catch his kohai.
           “There was a 73% chance you would come between 12 and 1, 14% chance before 12, and 10% after 12.” Inui announced walking towards the fence, his notebook magically appearing in his hand.
       “What was the other 3% Sempai?” Kaoru asked.
           “Fuji.”
       “Saa.” Shyuusuke smiled brightly.
           The team ended up taking turns playing each other. They found out that pairing Echizen with Fuji, Eiji, or Tezuka and you had a semi-decent doubles pair but anyone else and he just fought with them. They found out that Kunimitsu could only be paired with Fuji, Echizen, and oddly enough Oishi. Even with all the new pairing it was still impossible for any of the doubles to beat the golden pair.
       It was as pale blue melted into the sky and the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon that the nine boys fell onto their backs, panting and sweating- yes even Fuji and Tezuka- falling onto the tennis courts. Catching their breath the group fell into silence, and as dawn broke, they could make out the chirping of the birds and persistent creaking of the crickets and other insects.
      “Everyone.”
          Then the silence was broken. Each boy turned, looking at their youngest member.
      “Thank you.”
  Takeshi grinned moving forward to get up to hug his best friend.
      “Thank you, for protecting me.”
  Takeshi froze, his eyes widened, as Ryoma’s golden eyes looked up, peering at all of them from under his cap.
      “For taking care of me.”
          He glanced at Shuichiro especially, a smile playing at his lips.
       “For teaching me.”
   Ryoma looked away, and the others could just make out a pale, pink flush on his cheeks.
         “Thank you for being my friends- no- for being my brothers.”
        “Arigatou gozaimasu.”
            “No-” Everyone’s head turned, looking at the usually smiling tensai, who had gotten unexceptionally serious, having opened his eyes and had locked his sapphire blue eyes squarely on Ryoma staring intensely.
        “Thank you.” His voice carried over the courts, turning into wind. “Before you came we weren’t even a team, you made us brothers. So Ryoma, Thank you, Otouto.”
       “Hey! No crying! No crying!” Eiji yelled standing up, whipping his tears away.
           “Yes, this isn’t really good bye!” Takeshi shouted, climbing to his feet.
       “You should call us, and email us, we’ll watch all your matches!” Taka said earnestly.
“Hai Sempai!”
           “None of that, you admitted it, we’re brothers! It’s Syuu-nii!”
       “Yeah nicknames!” Eiji yelled jumping up and down before dashing over to gather Ryoma into a bone crushing hug.
      “Kiku-nii please let go!”
          “O-chibi has a name for me!”
       “Eiji!” Shuichiro shouted, pulling Eiji off of the rapidly bluing Ryoma.
           It was much later, almost noon, when their coach, Ryuzaki Sumire, found them. The nine boys had eventually fallen asleep sometime in the early morning. Their bodies were huddled in a giant nest around each other. Takashi had ended up acting as a pillow to a slumbering Shyuusuke, while Shuichiro and Eiji had ended up tangled together, right beside them. Kaoru laid in a ball with his fist clutching the end of Sadaharu’s jersey. Takeshi laid sprawled out like a starfish, snoring loudly into Sadaharu’s side. Kunimitsu had ended up with his back to the fence, facing his brothers, slumped over in sleep. At the end of Kunimitsu’s feet was Ryoma, with no more than three other jersey draped over his small figure.  Shaking her head, she had quickly taken a picture, before waking the boys.
       “To be young.” She muttered under her breath as the boy hurriedly gathered their things and bolted out the court gates.
          It was only a couple of hours later that they all gathered at the airport.
       “Do your best!”
          “Don’t you forget about us!”
       “Call! Fushh!”
          “Follow the training menu I gave you, you can’t fall behind of us!”  
       “Take care of yourself.”
           “Don’t let your guard down,”
       “Yeah you’re playing people older than you! So be careful!”
            “But most important, Ryo-chan, don’t forget, you always have a place here, with us.”
       “Arigatou… Aniki-tachi.”
             It was two weeks later the team ran to the T.V. to see their baby’s U.S. Open debut. They weren’t the only ones.
       “That Brat!” Atobe Keigo laughed.
             “You go Chibi.” Echizen Ryoga cheered his eyes glued to the T.V. in the display.
      “Akutsu-Sempai! Look, look its Echizen-kun!” Dan Tachii yelled.
             “Look at his hat.” Yanagi Renji pointed to his team.
       Ryoma walked onto the court with his head held high. He wore a white and blue jersey with an embroider S on the back. His signature white baseball cap now had a single red going across the side of it. No one in America understood, but in Japan, every school they had faced, all his past opponents, and his most beloved team, smiled.
“That cheeky brat.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~END OF FLASH BACK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Yes, Kunimitsu thought, glancing up at his brothers, let them have their fun. The year had been long and they had accomplished a lot. They had won the nationals, a dream that he had been dreaming about since freshmen year. His shoulder had healed, Shyuusuke was talking to his younger brother again, Ryoma had left them and had come back, he had returned to their arms with a soft smile and a Tadima. Ryoma had spoken to his parents, he wasn’t leaving Japan, wasn’t leaving them, anytime soon. It wasn’t till after their second official match against Hyotei that Ryoma had told them what happened in America. Hours later when Ryoma fell asleep his mother, Rinko, told them how when he hadn’t been playing tennis he had sulked. How before they came to Japan, Ryoma, didn’t have any friends as the students thought he was to smart or was a freak because of his obsession with tennis. It was that moment when everyone realized how much they depended on one another.
      They had all come from different backgrounds, Kaoru like Ryoma had no friends. Takeshi whose family had slowly fallen apart. Shyuusuke who while being a genius suffered greatly because of his love for his brother. And without much thought they had banned together, to achieve a dream, to create a team, to play the sport they love, and unintentionally make a family.
     “Mitsu-buchou,” Kunimitsu was snapped out of his thoughts, his head automatically turning to his younger pseudo-brothers.
Both Eiji and Ryoma were looking out the train’s window, their eyes wide. Slowly the other members of the team and the train’s passengers took noticed of it as well.
     “We’re going way to fast.”
Panic surged through the train car. In less than a second three men had run to the front of the car and out the door to try and get to the conductor. The other passengers had all tried to move, people were pushed down, and shoved into seats as passengers began to swarm to the door.
     Kunimitsu raised his voice to his brothers.
        “Stay together!”
     A hand latched onto Kunimitsu’s sleeve, in a vice like grip. He glanced to his left to see Sadaharu, his book had been knocked out of his hand and was currently being stamped on. On Sadaharu’s left was Kaoru, his knuckles turning white as he held on to Sadaharu to keep himself in place. Across from them Kunimitsu could see Taka and Shuichiro being forced away and into the crowd. Eiji had pushed himself over to cover Ryoma, Shyuusuke following shortly after, their faces set in a determined scowl as they used their bodied as a human cocoon to make sure Ryoma wasn’t forced off his seat and squashed by the panicked passengers.  
    “Takeshi! Where’s Takeshi?”
        A cold weight set in Kunimitsu’s stomach, his eyes franticly looking over the crowd. Suddenly a pair of arms snapped up from the sea of people that were pushing and pulling at each other.
    “I’m over here!”
        Kaoru grunted and pushed off of Sadaharu to force himself through the crowd, shouting out every once few seconds.
    “Ay! You Giant Peach Where Are You!”
        Suddenly the train jolted. Kunimitsu’s eyes meet Shyuusuke’s and for the first time since he meet Shyuusuke, he saw fear.
     Ryoma was trembling, his eyes widening impossibly so, when he felt the jolt. His arm snaked around Shyuusuke, while he used his right hand to hold on to Eiji’s jersey.
         “Don’t let go, ok Ochibi? Don’t let go.”
     “O-ok Kiku.”
          They were expecting it, that didn’t mean they were ready for it. The train jolted again, the lights flickered off, and loud BA-BOOM, echoed down the cars. Shyuusuke and Eiji tightened their hold around their youngest brother, and moved to push their leg off the seat, planted their feet as firmly as they could on the train floor.
      In a matter of seconds they were thrown across the train, head first into the small crowd of people. Kunimitsu and Sadaharu were flung back. Hand gripping each other’s tightly, their heads slammed against the glass as their back hit the seat. Taka and Shuichiro were now on top of a small pile of people who had toppled over. Kaoru had fallen and to get away from stamping feet he shuffled himself under the train’s chairs. Takeshi, had disappeared completely, was under a pile of people that had tried to get to the door that he had been close to.
      People began to stand up, looking at each other, laughing and giggling hysterically.
         “That wasn’t so bad-“
      Then the train flipped.
Prince of Tennis:
After nationals Hyotei is throwing a party for Seigaku! But something goes horribly wrong...

This is inspired by www.fanfiction.net/s/9175320/1… by EmeraldRain25! Who Is a Great Writer~~~~
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