Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ The Elements of Tennis ❯ Rivals ( Chapter 40 )

The Elements of Tennis
Chapter 40
Rivals

 

Needless to say, Kikumaru had fun at the Pet Shop taking care of the animals. But the next day it was back to school for everyone, the girls to Basic Elements of Tennis Junior High and the boys to Seigaku Junior High, all dressed in their uniforms.

The girls arrived at school and met up at the tennis courts just like always as their peers filed into the school wearing their assortment of silver, blue, red, hot pink, baby blue, lavender, white, and black. B.E.T. was one of those schools that cherished the individuality of the students while still maintaining the usual school uniform dress code. Each student had a choice they made when they came into the school: what color uniform did they want to wear, one color their entire time at the school or did they want a whole set so that they could pick and choose depending on the day. The main rules were that the student had to be presentable and their clothes had to be all of one colored uniform. What color each student wore was up to the student. The tennis regulars maintained their usual colors of uniforms, representing each eighth of the student body through their outfits.

"Great, another boring day of school," Hikaji complained.

"Oh cheer up…"

"If you say it's a beautiful day I'm going to kill you," Hikaji cut Mizu off.

Mizu sealed her mouth. Hikaji rubbed her eyes as she tried to curse the sun back down over the horizon.

"All right, I'll see you guys after school gets out," Kurai sighed as she headed up to the school.

Each had their own thing, and during the day not only did they have to have the regular classes, but because the school focused mainly around tennis, each had to participate in a different club activity in the middle of the day. They would attend their first few classes, Japanese and English; then go to PE, then they'd have lunch followed by a few more classes, Math and Science, then they'd have their activity period and they would end the day with History and Technology classes. Each of the eight members of the tennis club participated in a different activity. Kurai had martial arts, Akari had band, Shinzoo had badmitton, Koorai had bowling, Chikyuu had construction, Hikaji had photography, Mizu had school paper, and Seeshin was a member of the year book staff.

The day was boring beyond belief in the eyes of most of the tennis players. They just wanted to get to practice after school where the real work began. When they finally got there, Shinzoo and Akari couldn't contain their excitement as they began doing cartwheels around the courts.

"What a waste of energy," Kurai shook her head as she pulled out her history text.

"You're such a geek," Hikaji joked as she noticed her teammate was studying.

"Shut up. We've got a test tomorrow and a crap load of homework tonight," Kurai mumbled as she sat back and started reading the text.

"What are you guys doing just sitting around?" Seeshin asked once she arrived. "You should be running laps or practicing to get warmed up."

"Give us a break," Mizu commented. "A few of us have major tests tomorrow that's we're not ready for."

"True, I suppose we all have tests coming up, don't we?" Seeshin stated as she juggled the folders, binders, and envelopes in her arms. "Why don't we turn today into a work period instead?"

"You've gotta be kidding me," Hikaji complained.

"Well, those of you who don't have stuff to do can go practice if you want to, no one's stopping you from using the courts," Koorai stated the obvious, Chikyuu nodding in her agreement.

"All right, Akari, Shinzoo, you two against me," Hikaji declared as she grabbed her racket. "Two on one; and I don't plan on losing."

"We'll just see about that," Akari giggled. "Shinzoo and I are an unbeatable pair."

Kurai crammed her text book back into her bag and threw the bag over her shoulder.

"I'm out of here, I've got other stuff to do tonight," she sighed as she turned to leave. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Kurai, you don't want to stay and watch Akari and I kick Hikaji's butt?" Shinzoo pouted.

"Why would I want to watch something so predictable?"

"How dare you underestimate me?!" Hikaji screamed. "I'll beat them, you just wait and see! Then I'll beat you."

"Ain't gonna happen, I don't even know why you try," Kurai smirked. As long as I keep up this rivalry Hikaji will get stronger. Then it'll be easier for me to leave this team behind and move on with my life, she thought as she walked away.

"That's it, get your racket and get in here. I'm gonna make you eat your words!" Hikaji demanded as she threw a tennis ball at her teammate.

Kurai just barely dodged the ball as she turned back around.

"Come on!" Hikaji shouted as she stalked her way to the tennis court.

With a sigh, Kurai took out her racket, placed her bag on the ground by the fence and entered the court to face her high-tempered teammate.

Within a half an hour, the match ended, 6-0 in Kurai's favor just like always.

"I told you," Kurai stated as she put her racket away and walked out of the courts, leaving Hikaji laying on the court, exhausted. I'll have to hold off on playing against her again until after the nationals, Kurai thought as she walked away. She's strong, a few more games and she might actually be able to put up enough of a fight to steal a point from me at the very least. Once out of sight from the group, Kurai sat down on a small wall and examined her right ankle as it started to swell. Damn it, I have to get rid of this before my next match, she thought as she started to calculate her schedule trying to figure out how much time she had before her next big event. Two days until the Gymnastics final tournament, that doesn't give me much time to heal a sprain. But at least I can get the swelling down.

With that, she stood back up and continued on her way to her home in the park beneath the tree, calling Kenji on the way. When she got there, he was waiting with an icepack and ace bandage.

"Thank you, Kenji," Kurai sighed as she crawled between the roots and sat up in her cave-like dwellings.

Kenji entered as well and helped her wrap the icepack around her ankle.

"What'd you do? This is pretty bad, Kurai," Kenji commented as he looked at the bottom of her foot to see that most of the calluses she had built up from playing barefooted had been rubbed off and her foot actually had a slight layer of blood on it, not enough to leave a trail, but blood none the less.

"I had a match with Hikaji," she explained as she grabbed a towel from her bag and wiped the blood away.

"She's really getting strong, isn't she?" Kenji smiled.

"Yeah, and it's a pain in the ass. I can't play against her anymore," she admitted as she grabbed her right shoulder. "My shoulder's shot too. The next time we play she'll probably take that point from me. So, until we reach the nationals I have to hold her at bay. But the first things first, I have to get this ankle up and running again before the Gymnastics tournament in two days."

"You're crazy," Kenji shook his head. "You need a break."

"I'm not giving in to them, Kenji. I'm not giving up our freedom for something so stupid," she declared. "I'm the only one who can hold their ridiculous plans at bay and ultimately call them off. Don't you want to be happy?"

"I'm going to be happy no matter what happens, Kurai. You're like my sister, so even if we wind up getting married, I'm still going to take care of you with everything I've got," Kenji promised. "I promise, everything is going to be all right no matter what happens."

"Don't you get it, I don't want to marry you, Kenji," Kurai admitted as she looked up at him. "I want the freedom to choose who I'm going to be with. I want to be free to date guys that I like; I want to be able to be a normal girl like Chikyuu…ok, well, maybe not that extreme, but I at least want the option."

"I get it, I get it. But just know that if something happens you will be taken care of," Kenji smiled as he ruffled her hair.

"It's getting late and I have a lot of homework to do, and tests to study for, so go home," Kurai ordered.

"I'm gonna go get you something to eat before I leave for the night," Kenji stated as he left.

"You stubborn male," she called after him before smiling to herself and pulling out her homework.