Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ The friendly match, side story to What If ❯ part 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Title: The Friendly Match!

Rating: PG-13

Type: 1/2, Side story to "What If"

Warning: Shonen-ai hints, don't read if you don't like... Not beta-ed.

Pairings: FujiRyo, TezuAto, MaruiEiji, JirouOC(Hiroshi)...

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Prince of Tennis... However, I did own my OCs in this fic...Namely, Hiroshi, Carl and James.

A/N: Sorry, if this fic is sloppily written... I just wanted to get this fic over and done with, so I can concentrate better on my other series. It's too long, hence I break them up into two parts... This is the first part, the second part had yet to be written. I'll get them done as soon as possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rikaidai Jr.High tennis court was exceptionally crowded with people milling around on this Saturday. It's the day of the friendly match between Rikaidai, Hyotei and Seigaku with St.Mary academy Tennis Club from America. Supporters of these four schools were crowding around the perimeter of the court, they're all here to support their respective teams. High tension stung the air, anxious whisperings between the supporters making it official rather than friendly.

Echizen Hiroshi swallowed the bile formed in his throat, he hate to admit but he was indeed nervous. He knew he shouldn't be, not after all those international matches he took part, back in United Kingdom. However, none of those opponents knew him as well as James Mckenzie, his opponent for this match. He was so uptight that he nearly dropped his racquet when Jirou tapped him on the shoulder.

"Aa...Jirou, is anything the matter?" Hiroshi asked shakily.

Jirou said nothing but took his racquet away from him. He shot his boyfriend a questioning glance but did not protest. He watched curiously as Jirou sat down on one of the benches by the sideline of the court before he felt himself being pulled and landed beside Jirou.

"What are you doing?" Hiroshi frowned at Jirou's antics.

"Nothing... just wanted to be close to you..." Jirou replied, giving Hiroshi a reassuring squeeze on the hands.

"Oh..." Hiroshi caught the underlying message, he knew Jirou was merely trying to make him feel comfortable.

He glanced around the surrounding trying to locate his cousin, Ryoma. Scanning the crowd, he finally located Ryoma standing with the rest of the Seigaku team. He tried to stand and join the Seigaku team, however, he felt a weight on his lap pushing him back down in his seat.

Glancing down, he found his boyfriend fast asleep. Shaking his head, he shifted Jirou's head from his lap to his sports bag. He then stood up with his racquet and headed towards the Seigaku tennis club members. Upon reaching the group, he nodded politely to Tezuka seeking permission before heading towards Ryoma.

"Ryoma, care to join me for a warm-up game?" Hiroshi smile apologetically at Fuji, he knew Fuji had wanted to warm up with Ryoma. Under usual circumstances, he would approached others for help in warming up but since he's going up against James, help from Ryoma is essential.

Hiroshi watched as Ryoma shrugged and glanced at Fuji for a moment before turning back to him and said "Sure, why not?"
Without waiting for Hiroshi, Ryoma headed towards the nearest empty court. Hiroshi shot Fuji a grateful look and hurried after Ryoma for the court.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

" Fuji..." Oishi started hesitantly.

"Yes, Oishi?" Fuji prompted.

"Have you seen Eiji anywhere?" Oishi frowned as he started glancing around, searching for his doubles' partner.

Fuji pondered for a while, before replying "No, I haven't seen Eiji since we arrived at Rikkaidai..."

"Where could he be? The game's about to start soon..." Oishi started pacing and mumbling relentlessly.

"Oishi... calm down. I think I had an idea on Eiji's whereabouts, but I would suggest you not to search for him there. That is unless you want another cold shower episode..." Fuji smiled serenely.

Oishi blinked, frowned then turns crimson when Fuji's words sank into his mind.

"Well? Do you want me to direct you to Eiji?" Fuji asked, smiling wickedly.

Oishi's face turns beet red and blurted "No... I'll just wait for him here..."

With that, Oishi turned away from Fuji taking several gulps of air trying to calm himself down. He had no desires to shut himself in the bathroom for another session of cold shower, he could still remembered his last visit to Rikaidai vividly. He shuddered at the thought of walking in on Eiji, he don't want to know what he'll find there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~

Time passes by in a flash, soon it was mid-afternoon and the friendly match had been half-over by now. The game had started with Hyotei Tennis Club going up against members from St. Mary Academy. The results had all been predictable, Atobe won with a perfect score of '6-0'. The highlight of the morning match would be the game between Hiroshi and James, both of them played their full strength. The tension between them was high and intense, the game had started with James leading but soon tables were turn around. The game had ended with Hiroshi scoring '7-5', it was half-way through the game did Hiroshi started playing full strength. Hiroshi had applied all skills he learnt during his years of playing tennis, at the end of the match, they had earned themselves a round of applause from the crowd.

The afternoon match is between Seigaku and St. Mary Academy, it will begin in an hour time. Kikumaru Eiji bounced over to the Rikaidai's table and stopped in front of Marui. Without bothering to ask for permission, he grabbed one of the strawberry cake which Marui always brought along before a match.

Majority of the Rikaidai's regulars glanced at Marui warily, half-expecting their fellow team member to start biting their heads off. They counted to three in their mind and waited, Marui Bunta glanced down at his cakes and realised he was missing one of them. He glanced around his surrounding before he found Eiji standing in front of him, eating his strawberry cake with ease.

"Eiji..." Marui started, his fellow teammates froze in their seat.

"Yes?" Eiji blinked innocently.

"You ate my cake..." Marui stated calmly.

"Yeah, so?" Eiji replied without a flinch.

"Without asking..." Marui's eyebrow twitched, his fellow team mates turn rigid while they waited for an explosion to take place.

"Aa... I didn't ask?" Eiji furrowed his brows slightly.

"No... you didn't." Marui answered matter-of-factly.

"Sorry... I'll buy you another one, later on." Eiji shot Marui a sheepish grin, and plastered on an apologetic expression.

"Eiji..." Marui started dangerously, but melted at the sight of Eiji's puppy-dog eyes. "Fine..." he sighed.

Eiji immediately brightened up, however, it faded instantly when he heard Marui's next sentence.

"Eiji, I want a Strawberry cake with cherries..." Marui smirked evily at Eiji.

Eiji stuttered for a moment before uttering "Fine!" and fled the scene with embarrassment.

Marui then turned his attention back to his team mates and asked "What are you guys staring at?"

"No... nothing in particular..." They answered in unison. All of them had the same thought in mind, that is 'I had no wish to know what he wanted to do with those cherries...'

~To be continue~

date completed/revised: 13/04/05