Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Reflections of Myself - Rikkaidai AU - Niouyagyuu ❯ Chapter 3

Reflection of Myself

A Prince of Tennis Rikkaidai AU Fic

By Andrea Readwolf [andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com]

Chapter: 3

Rating: PG

Pairings: Niou Masaharu + Yagyuu Hiroshi, Marui Bunta/Jackal, Yukimura Seiichi/Sanada Genichirou

Genre: Drama

Warnings: AU story. Shounen-ai. Family secrets.

Spoilers: Rikkaidai arc, perhaps.

Summary: Niou transfers into Rikkai HS as a freshman with ulterior motives. But things may get more trickier than Niou had planned on.

 

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

 

Date Started: Fall 2004

Status: complete

Word Count: 2999

 

 

"Reflections of Myself" Chapter 3

 

 

Yukimura didn't bother to hide his frown of displeasure when Niou and Yagyuu didn't complete in the rankings, but the former captain chose not to force the matter, either, allowing the two new partners to make their own choices. He did, however, decide to have a talk with his childhood friend about the newest member to their circle.

 

“Why aren't you and Niou-kun in the ranking matches?” Yukimura asked casually as they left the student council meeting.

 

“It's too soon,” Hiroshi replied after a moment. “We'll go next semester. Our game will be more solid then, and it will still give us time to compete in the tournaments.”

 

“You both could have made it this time,” his long-time friend stated confidently.

 

“There's no rush,” Hiroshi answered nonchalantly, and he believed it, too.

 

“I wonder,” Yukimura replied thoughtfully, and Hiroshi responded with the appropriate murmur of inquiry for the other boy to continue. “Well, why do you think Niou-kun came here, to Rikkaidai High School?”

 

He did not even need to think of another answer. “To play tennis.”

 

“Yes," Yukimura granted before reminding him, "but there are other schools that possess a highly ranked tennis team.”

 

“Rikkai is one of the best in all of Japan, and probably one of the closest to where his lives.”

 

“No, it's not.”

 

Hiroshi paused, turning a questioning look towards his long-time friend.

 

“Niou-kun lives on the Tokyo-Prefecture border,” Yukimura informed him. “He could have easily gone to Hyotei or Seigaku.

 

Hiroshi hoped he hid his surprise well, but was sure Yukimura would know regardless. There wouldn't be enough time to change and warm up before the first bell, but they could watch the others for a while, and the other teen continued as they walked towards the tennis courts.

 

“He and his mother live in an apartment on the inside; she works two jobs just to make ends meet." Yukimura sent a short glance in Yagyuu's direction. "So why choose to come to a school that requires more tuition then they can comfortably pay in addition?”

 

Hiroshi remembered the file Yanagi had given him back in the beginning of the school year and realized that Yukimura, too, must have a copy. Yanagi, after all, was very thorough, and Yukimura was a possessive young man. He would have no qualms about reading through that file to learn more about his newest team member. Which meant Yukimura currently knew more about his partner than he did.

 

“I'm sure he had his reasons,” he answered, and then he left Yukimura at the fence as he went over to watch his partner and Marui banter back and forth from across the net, Jackal attempting to keep score at the side lines.

 

He caught Niou's eyes as his partner shot him a wicked, triumphant grin. `Why are you here?' he wanted to ask but couldn't find his voice amongst all the others present.

 

But he thought he could hear Niou's voice, regardless, answer, `For you.'

 

~*~

 

Sometimes Masaharu thought he could hear Yagyuu's voice in his head, like the other boy was talking to him. Some of Yagyuu's would-be comments, he understood without Yagyuu having to say anything. And he could almost always tell when the other boy was nearby.

 

Yagyuu wasn't nearby this morning, however. It was Marui's voice that was babbling in one ear and out the other as the redhead continued to devour the pastry his mother had given him for breakfast that morning. Masaharu and Marui became fast friends, spending most of their time together when not at practice or hanging with the others.

 

Marui was fun to be around—he could appreciate a little trick better then most, and he had interesting ideas. Marui's dad was French, his mom Japanese. His parents had met when his dad was visiting Japan, and then his mom traveled to France where they got engaged and a year later were married. For a while, Marui's parents actually lived in France, but when Marui was two or three, they returned to Japan, where his parents opened up a French bakery.

 

To hear Marui tell it, it was a real-life romance story worthy of a movie or something.

 

Masaharu thought it was pretty cool how proud Marui was of his parents' “sickening sweet” relationship. And no matter how much the redhead complained about his parents' displays of affection, Masaharu couldn't help laughing because he'd seen for himself those same lamented displays turned on Marui's partner when the redhead thought no one was looking.

 

Marui had two little brothers, aged five. They were cute kids, not too bratty or anything. Yagyuu and Sanada were the only others to have siblings—Sanada had an older brother who was attending the university division like Yagyuu's older sister. Yagyuu also had a younger sister who was attending the junior high school division. Masaharu wondered what it was like to have siblings and live in a big house with them and both your parents, but he could never bring himself to ask. Yagyuu almost never talked about his family, and Masaharu wasn't exactly on friendly terms with the grumpy bear who followed Yukimura around like a faithful body guard.

 

That pretty much left only Marui. It was hard, however, to ever get Marui to shut up. Still, Masaharu liked hearing the stories of family melodrama that Marui would gregariously share.

 

By the end of the first month, school life had settled into a comfortable routine for Masaharu.

 

Every morning, he would meet up with Marui a couple blocks away from the school --the redhead usually moaning in delight over some confection or pastry his mother had made--and then they'd walk the rest of the way to school together, Masaharu usually succeeding in wheedling Marui to share some of his treat. Once at school, they would join most of the others at morning tennis practice. Marui and Masaharu were the only ones from their group of friends who were always at morning practice, though.

 

"The others have committee meetings to attend," Marui explained one morning, "So they can't always make it."

 

After practice, they would head to class, arriving with just enough time to remember any homework they might have missed the night before and double check their answers with other classmates--usually Jackal's, whose homework and notes were always the most organized of their classmates.

 

During breaks Marui, Jackal, and him would go meet up with the others in the hallway, or sometimes they would end up in one of the freshmen classrooms, and compare stories and class lessons and scores. They'd usually end up loosing track of their ten minute break time and have to dash back to class to make it to their seats before the teacher arrived for the next lesson.

 

At lunchtime they would all meet up again. Sometimes Yagyuu, Jackal, and Yukimura had student council meetings to attend to. When that happened, Sanada would usually retreat to his library and Yanagi would mysteriously disappear, leaving Marui and Masaharu on their own. When that happened, the two would head over to one of the sports fields and have some fun kicking around a soccer ball or playing a quick game of stickball with some of the other freshmen.

 

Most often, though, they found themselves back at the tennis courts after lunch.

 

At first, after school and practice was over, they used to go grab something to eat at one of the local burger shops. After a while, though, they headed over to someone's house to study instead-- midterms were approaching, and no one was taking them lightly. Masaharu was privately relieved when they stopped going out to eat. He didn't have the money to buy anything more complex then something off the dollar menu and half-hearted replies that he just wasn't hungry weren't as believable when he casually stole fries from Yagyuu's or Marui's tray. However, he was also slightly anxious about going to the others' houses--what if they wanted to study at his house one night?

 

But it never came up; everyone seeming comfortable hanging out at Yukimura's or Marui's or at a shopping center. And before Masaharu realized it, his first semester at Rikkadai High School was over, and his second semester had begun.

 

~~~*****~~~

 

After finals, the freshmen teachers announced that the freshmen classes would be rearranging their rosters.

 

“Maybe they decided based on our test scores,” Masaharu suggested at lunch.

 

“Yeah, but which class score? I mean, I might have done okay in Social Studies, but I almost flunked English,” Marui sighed--`Okay' being the top score in their class and `almost' being one point away from a failing score.

 

“Overall average?”

 

“Well, that's possible.”

 

“Maybe they decided by club activities?”

 

“Then we would all be in the same class,” Jackal pointed out as he split his lunch in twos and threes, to which Marui amiably helped himself to.

 

“Well, maybe they used social clubs and not sports,” the redhead suggested.

 

“Then Yagyuu would still be in Yukimura's class instead of ours,” Jackal reminded him, switching lunches with Marui so he could start dividing the redhead's lunch up into portions as well.

 

“Oh. That's true,” Marui deflated.

 

“Besides, not everyone belongs to a social club,” Masaharu put in.

 

“Yeah, they do," the redhead corrected him. "It's, like, a requirement here.”

 

“Really? I never joined—“

 

“I took the liberty of signing you up for the cultural fair committee with Marui.”

 

Masaharu turned around to look at the new arrival. “You did what?” he asked his partner as Yagyuu took up a seat near him and began unpacking his lunch.

 

“Well, it's as Marui said—everyone is required to participate in at least one social club, and since you never signed yourself to one—“

 

“What gives you the right to—“

 

“Freshman Class Representative,” Yagyuu reminded him as he leaned over to exchange portions of his lunch with the others. "Don't start a fuss, Niou," he continued, seeing Masaharu's glower. "I delegated you to the Cultural Festival with Marui."

 

"Cultural Festival, eh?"

 

"Yes," Yagyuu nodded solemnly. "Plenty of room for your... creative influences."

 

Masaharu grinned--his partner knew him so well.

~~~****~~~

 

Hiroshi was reading a book Niou had recommended when the front door opened and his father called out a greeting.

 

"I'm home!"

 

Startled eyes flew to his alarm clock as he closed his book and stood.

 

"Papa! Papa! You're home!" Tomoko cried out, flying down the stairs. "How was your trip? Did you bring me back something?"

 

"Of course," the man replied, dropping his overnight bag and briefcase by the entrance way. "Would you like it now or after dinner?"

 

"Now, please. Show me," the youngest demanded politely as Hiroshi and his older sister emerged from their hiding places.

 

"Very well," his father agreed, reaching into the front pocket of his bag. "Noriko, Hiroshi? No greeting for me?"

 

Hiroshi swallowed and pulled the shroud of propriety tightly around him. "Welcome home, father. I hope your trip was well."

 

"Yes, yes. Now come here. I've brought something for you both, as well."

 

"Thank you, father."

 

"Yeah, thanks for remembering," Noriko sneered. Hiroshi thought that was a little unfair of his older sister. After all, their father had never failed to bring something back for all three Yagyuu children.

 

But then, after so many years, antagonism was expected from Noriko, and his father simply sighed before asking, "Where's your mama?"

 

"She went to pick something up from the store," Tomoko answered, carefully picking at the tape holding her present hidden.

 

"I see," Hiroshi's father said with another sigh. "Well, then, Hiroshi, I'd like a word alone with you." And that was enough to allow the other two the freedom to withdraw.

 

With a nod, Hiroshi followed his father into the living room. His father wasted no time in getting to the point.

 

"Your mother tells me you're a member of the school tennis club again." He paused, as if waiting for Hiroshi to say something, but there was nothing he wanted to say, and finally, his father sighed again. "Hiroshi, you're old enough now to make your own decisions, and I know I don't have to remind you of what happened last year, but I would like to caution you--Please, don't do anything that will gain certain people's attention. Another scandal is the last thing this family needs."

 

Hiroshi nodded, not trusting his voice to say anything. Niou was nothing like Jun. In fact, in his grandfather's opinion, Niou would probably be worse Hiroshi thought, remembering the file tucked away safely upstairs on his bookshelf. ['It took me over half an hour to print out his school files alone.'] Yanagi had said...

 

"I understand."

 

His father released another breath and seemed to shrink into an old man right before his eyes. "Hiroshi, I want you to be happy, you know that, right? I want you to be a strong young man who's smart enough to make his own choices in life and not just do something because he was told."

 

Hiroshi studied his father measuringly, and then dared to ask a question he'd wondered about many times over the past year. "Do you still see her?"

 

His father looked surprised; after all, they'd only ever once talked about the woman he had met before marrying Hiroshi's mother. The woman his father had cared about more than Hiroshi's mother. His father had never told him her name, or even said that he loved this other woman, but Hiroshi suspected.

 

"Sometimes," the older Yagyuu admitted. "Once or twice a year, I check-in on her. But nothing ever happens, Hiroshi. I made my choice when I married your mother, and I tried to be a good father to you and your sisters... But, yes... sometimes I do still think, and maybe I wonder a little bit, if I hadn't followed your grandfather's orders, if I had married her instead... But it's useless, Hiroshi. Thinking like that, it's a trap you should avoid at all costs---'ifs' and 'maybes' and 'should haves' and 'could haves'. They're nothing but a waste of time and energy."

 

Hiroshi looked away, but he nodded his understanding. "I will try, father."

 

And the older man smiled. "You're a good, strong, young man, Hiroshi. I'm proud to call you my son."

 

"Thank you," he replied softly, not knowing what else to say.

 

~~~****~~~

 

There was no school the next day, but Masaharu and Yagyuu had agreed to meet up during the afternoon and just hang together. They settled on a park near the Bay where the surf breeze left a salty aftertaste in their mouths and the mountain loomed overhead. They had talked of many things normal teenage boys normally talked about when left to their own devices--school, sports, movies, friends.... And right then they were enjoying an easy stretch of silence, laying stretched out in the drowsy sun.

 

And then Yagyuu went and ruined the lazy atmosphere.

 

"What do you think of fatherhood?"

 

Masaharu blinked at the sudden topic. He had known something was bothering his doubles partner, sure, but... "Fatherhood?" he repeated.

 

"Or, more precisely," Yagyuu's lips twitched and he expanded, "the traditional role of the Japanese male in the family structure."

 

Masaharu let out a heavy puff of air and rolled over onto his stomach, poking at a blade of grass, inspecting it as if it were the most interesting bit of grass he'd ever seen.

 

"I don't think I'm really a good person to ask, Yagyuu," he said after thinking for a moment. He really didn't want to talk too much about his family life, but.... "I hardly ever see my father. He--he doesn't live with us," he explained somewhat hesitantly, not quite able to look directly at Yagyuu. "He has-- another family, you see. I'm just, sort of, a second thought, I guess. Unimportant.

 

And then, like a damn being released, Masaharu found himself rambling on non-stop.

 

"I mean, we see him once or twice a year when he calls to check up on us and make sure I haven't done anything stupid, like blow up the school or something. He gives us some money and then leaves again, so, I don't know. I guess... I guess maybe I've wondered about it, sometimes. I mean, what would it be like to have a dad who actually gave a shit about me and my mom, someone who was there everyday instead of just for an hour or two, if that.

 

"What would it be like if my mom didn't have to work two jobs... If I had a brother and a couple of sisters, and we got to grow up together and live in a big fancy house and--- Well, it's all pretty useless, don't you think?" he stumbled, scared to look over at Yagyuu and see what his reaction was. "To waste time thinking about things like that, things that can't change and won't change no matter how much you might think and dream about it being otherwise. It's like a trap--or a really bad trick that won't end..."

 

A hand touched Masaharu's back, startling him from his own dark thoughts.

 

"You're not unimportant," Yagyuu stated firmly. "You're my partner--that makes you very important."

 

"Yagyuu~" Masaharu started, and then turned away. "Stop being so mushy, man." Yagyuu withdrew his hand with a small frown, and Masaharu did his best to ignore it. "Why you ask about fatherhood anyway? Thinking of starting your own family already? Knock some girl up or something?"

 

"Hardly," Yagyuu drawled, falling back into grass. "No. My father came home from a business trip last night. It was the first time my entire family was forced to endure a meal together in.... I don't know how long."

 

"Sounds pleasant."

 

"It wasn't, I assure you."

 

They both silently agreed not to talk of their respective families again, and before Masaharu knew it, it was summer break.

 

~~~~******~~~~

 

To Be Continued.