Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Encounters of Another Kind - Part 1 ❯ Aftermath ( Chapter 4 )

Encounters of Another Kind

An An and Yuuta Story

By Andrea Readwolf <andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com>

Chapter: 4

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: An and Yuuta

Genre: AU, Humor, Romance, Seduction

Warnings: Underage characters in romantic and sexual situations of self-discovery. Characters may be seen as OOC, but they are written in character according to author's interpretation.

Spoilers: none to my knowledge

Summary: How will An and Yuuta handle their first fight?

Disclaimer: Tennis no Ohjisama, characters and settings are the property of Konomi Takeshi.

Date Started: June 15, 2004

Status: complete

Revised: August 5, 2004

Word Count: 1501

~Aftermath~

"Where does she get off telling me I'm not my brother so I should stop trying to beat him?" Yuuta growled, thrusting the bar into the air above his chest. "She doesn't know what it's like. She can't. She's a girl. No one expects her to measure up to her brother's standard. And even if they did, her brother isn't a perfect little genius!"

With a final roar, he dropped the bar back onto the rests and sat up, glowering. It took Yuuta a minute to realize that the fluffy, white blur in front of his face was actually a towel. He shot the only other person in the room a quick look before accepting the offer graciously and wiping at the sweat covering his face and neck.

"It's a nice day out today," Mizuki commented in an almost off-handed manner; except, Mizuki never said or did anything that he didn't have a motive for. He had wisely kept silent while his younger teammate ranted and raved about the Tachibana girl. He had two older sisters, after all, and knew from personal experience how utterly ridiculous and impractical the female sex could be.

"We should get off campus for a while," the dark haired teen continued, as if musing aloud.

Yuuta exhaled, trying to calm the tenseness out of his sore body. "I thought we were supposed to be using this free time to study for finals?"

Mizuki shot him an amused look before eyeing the workout room they were in. "And this is how you study for finals?" the older boy asked, one eyebrow lifted in mock question and he twirled a lock of hair around one finger.

Yuuta grinned, albeit, a bit sheepishly. "You have someplace particular in mind?" he returned.

Mizuki just smiled. It was a rhetorical question, anyway. Yuuta was already heading for the door and his dorm room where he could take a quick shower, change, and grab his tennis bag---you couldn't leave home without your tennis bag, after all.

~~~****~~~

"I don't know where he gets off being so dense all the time," An growled, only half-heartedly watching as Momoshiro and Akira argued at each other from across the net.

"Mm," Shinji agreed wordlessly.

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma sighed.

"I mean, at first it was kind of cute, I'll admit. But, for crying out loud! He's a junior high student! He should *act* like it!"

"Mmn." It was Ryoma's turn to agree wordlessly, still watching the court with disinterest. "Are those two idiots going to argue the entire time?"

"Quite inconsiderate of them," Shinji mumbled. "Don't they know other people would like to use the courts, too? They're not the only persons here who like to play tennis, so why are they wasting time arguing when they should be *playing*. Yes, it's quite annoying..."

"Shinji!" An cried, clearly upset. "Are you even *listening* to me?"

"Of course I am," the older teen replied, tilting his head just a little towards An but not enough to actually *look* at her. "He's an idiot. If he wasn't an idiot he would have understood what you were telling him without getting upset. We are each our own person; even though we can admire and like, and even love, whomever we want, even if we wished we could be them, imitating their style or character, we can't be them, because we are only ever ourselves. And sometimes when you realize that, you get upset and instead of wanting to be like that person, you try to deface their image, to prove that they were never really that great and were never worthy of your adoration. So you become very angry and push that person as far away from you as possible to distance yourself from the very thing you love and admire most, and are those two every going to stop arguing and *play*?"

An blinked several times---and then she threw her arms around Shinji's neck and cried, "You really *do* understand!"

"Of course," Shinji agreed mildly. "I'm not stupid. Ne, An-chan? Will you go down there and say something to those two? They'll listen to you if you tell them to stop arguing and start playing or get off the courts so others can play."

"Mmm!" she agreed happily, standing up and brushing off her tennis skirt before darting down the stands to the courts below.

"Mmn. Pretty good," Ryoma murmured his appreciation after the girl was out of earshot. "But you'd better be careful. What would Kamio do if he saw you two all hugging on each other like that?"

"Hn. Nothing. He doesn't get jealous over An and me that way because she just doesn't see either of us like that. Ne, Echizen? You'll play with me, right? I still owe you for that grip tape."

"Ah. Understood," the freshman replied with a grin.

~~~****~~~

"Are you gonna *Play* or argue all day?" An demanded, fists resting on her hips as she *looked* at the two boys.

She would be lying if she ever said the looks of abashment on their faces didn't make her feel just a tiny bit better. Really, all boys were just little kids in need of a "mother" it seemed. Well, fine. She could do that.

"In case it has escaped your notice, other people are waiting to use the courts, too, you know."

"Sorry," Akira mumbled, dutifully looking down and away.

Momoshiro just laughed away his own embarrassment, raking a hand through his hair before scratching his neck. "Ma! Ha ha, sorry. Sorry, An-chan! Guess we got a little carried away, again. Ha ha!"

"Don't call her 'An-chan'!" Akira growled, shooting daggers at the taller teen, "So familiarly!"

"Whatever," An quickly interjected before another argument could ensue--sometimes it was really cute how protective Akira was of her, but it could also get really annoying, really quickly. "It doesn't matter. Are you going to play or can someone else use the courts now?"

"Yes," another voice spoke up. "It would be a shame to have wasted the time to come here and not be allowed to play."

The two boys turned to focus their glares upon the newcomer. An found herself frowning at Mizuki, too. That was, until her attention was snatched up by the sullen looking, sandy-haired boy standing just off to the side and slightly behind the annoying dark-haired boy, frowning in that mulish way that only Yuuta could make look cute.

"You didn't return any of my phone calls," Yuuta finally spoke up.

"I didn't feel like talking to you," An admitted bluntly.

Yuuta's frown deepened. "That movie you wanted to see is out. I was gonna ask if you wanted to go see it."

"Now?" An blinked, a little taken back, not quite sure what she should say or how she should act. On the one hand, she really was kind of happy to see Yuuta again... but on the other, she was still just that little bit angry with him, too...

Yuuta sighed. "Listen, An. I'm sorry for pissing you off or whatever," he said suddenly, surprising her even more. "But--things between my brother and me... they're complex, okay? And you can't really understand because you're *not* me or my brother, okay? So, could we, ah, just leave it alone?"

He looked at her, and he looked so sheepishly cute and endearing and, damn it. Hell no, she wouldn't leave it alone! Didn't he realize yet that--"Okay."

It was Yuuta's turn to blink; and then he gave a relieved little smile, and An felt her insides go to mush----he really *was* cute, in his adorably, boyish way....

"I'm sorry, too," she said, because she felt she should at least reciprocate something, even if it wasn't completely truthful. "I shouldn't have tried to give you advice on your family life."

"So, um," Yuuta looked away---way too cute and shy for his own good, in An's opinion. "How about that movie?"

"Sounds great," she smiled back at him. "Just let me grab my bag," she replied, darting back up the bleachers to where Shinji was now sitting alone mumbling to himself about the inconsiderateness of others and how Echizen was supposed to be playing against *him*, not trying to challenge Mizuki to a match..

"Thanks for listening to me," An smiled at the dark-haired boy, pecking his cheek quickly before darting away again.

"Mmm. That's nice. You're always welcome, but who's listening to me, I wonder. Saa. No one, that's who. It's their own faults. Right. I claim no responsibility in this mess. It would be nice, though, to be kissed again. Have a good time, An. Be safe, take care. And don't stay out too late because we have finals next week and we should really study some. Why we have to take finals, though, I don't know. It's not like we'll ever really need to remember half of the useless information we're forced to learn about......"

~~~****~~~