Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ I Don't Get It ❯ 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Title: I Don't Get It

Author: Hex

Pairing: Taka+ Fuji (sort of, if you squint) Actually, it's more Fuji + The hack/The house/the stones/the button…:p

Rating: PG, for a sport other than tennis…

Warnings: Fuji, Taka and a sport other than tennis.

Summary: Taka doesn't get it. Fuji tries to explain his love.

 

Taka glanced up from his homework to peak at the computer screen for what felt like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes.

 

"Nice shot, nice shot," Fuji muttered and shifted forward slightly. His homework lay abandoned in the floor between them. Fuji was sitting Indian style, his chin resting in his hands and his elbows planted on his knees. He smiled at the computer screen and Taka just barely restrained the urge to shake his head.

 

When Fuji had asked if he minded listening to a match on the computer while they did their homework, Taka had been quick to assure him that he didn't mind at all and would, in fact, enjoy it. Taka had, of course, been expecting to watch a tennis match. This wasn't a tennis match by any stretch of the imagination. Taka considered himself an understanding sort of person, so he had bitten his tongue and accepted it. The problem being, he didn't understand the appeal of the match at all.

 

"I don't get it," Taka finally said. He squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of the game's slow pace and strange play.

 

"Hmmm?" Fuji asked absently. He shifted his gaze away from the computer screen and turned his focus to Taka. Taka couldn't help but blush.

 

"This… sport." Taka was hesitant to call it a sport. To Taka, if it didn't require you to sweat from exertion then it was a hobby, not a sport. He rubbed absently at the back of his neck. "I don't get it."

 

"What don't you understand?" Fuji asked, his glance flitted to the screen.

 

"What's the point?" Taka blurted out. It wasn't exactly the way he had meant to pose the question, but it would serve its purpose.

 

"Well, like most sports, the points are the point. You want to get more than the other team to win."

 

"Fujiko." Taka gave Fuji a dry look. Fuji chuckled.

 

"Ok, each team is made up of four people. You have a lead rock, a second, a third or vice Skip and a fourth rock, generally the Skip who is the team captain." Fuji snatched up a piece of paper and drew two lines, making an alley. This is the ice. This," Fuji drew a thick dot at one end of the paper, between the two lines, "is the button." Fuji drew three circles around the button each larger than the rest. "These are rings. One is four feet, the next is eight and the last is twelve feet in diameter. They exist to help judge distance from the button. Whichever teams' rock, red or yellow, is closest to the button, scores the point."

 

"What if they're the same distance from the button?"

 

"Then neither scores the point. They cancel each other out." Fuji said. He sucked in a breath and tilted his head to the side as he stared at the computer. He narrowed his eyes and hummed. "Trying to blank the end?"

 

"What?" Taka asked, feeling a little bewildered as he glanced from Fuji to the computer screen.

 

"They're trying to blank the end. That means they're trying to stop the other team from scoring, but they're also trying to avoid taking any points as well." Fuji explained.

 

"Why wouldn't someone want to score? And what's an end?"

 

"A game involves either eight or ten ends, each end concludes after sixteen rocks have been thrown. Eight players, two stones a piece. Here," Fuji pointed to the screen, "They're on their eighth end. Championship games are always ten ends. The yellow team leads by five points but they also have hammer. Hammer means that they throw last rock. It's like having last bat in baseball. It's an advantage." Fuji took a breath, and smiled, shaking his head as Taka opened his mouth. "The way you lose hammer is to score a point. As soon as you score a point, hammer goes to your opponent. This late in the game you want to keep hammer, but you don't want to your opponent to score any points. So the goal it to try to make sure neither you nor your opponents score. You blank the end to maintain hammer. You don't gain anything, but you don't /lose/ anything either. It's about strategy."

 

Taka paused, mulling over Fuji's explanations. He stared hard at the screen before sighing.

 

"I still don't get it."

 

"Well, I downloaded several games last night. We can watch them together and I can explain it to you more fully as we go along. It's easier when you're actually watching and I can explain things as they happen." Fuji gave Taka a beaming, expectant smile. Taka folded like paper. He let his shoulders drop and gave a resigned sigh. "You could even stay for supper."

 

"I guess so." Taka looked mournfully at the computer screen and winced internally. It looked so /boring/.

 

Fuji went back to watching the game, a smile dancing on his lips.

 

"Fuji?" Taka decided he could at least try to understand Fuji 's fascination.

 

"Hmm?"

 

"Why is it called curling?"

 

--End--