Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Translate This ❯ Meeting the Family ( Chapter 3 )

Diclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis and it's characters, but Tenaya is all mine! All mine to do whatever I want to with!! Muhahaha…

 

 

 

 

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Translate This

 

 

 

 

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Meeting the family

 

 

 

 

 

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The first half of the walk home was spent in silence. Echizen walked slowly, backpack over one shoulder, hands in his pockets, and his mind in thought. He looked at the girl in front of him, about 10 meters away, standing there holding her skateboard with an expression on her face that clearly said that she was itching to yell "Hurry the hell up!!". Echizen smiled and quickened his pace slightly.

 

 

 

So far, the routine for Tenaya when she walked home was skate, stop, wait until Echizen caught up, and repeat. It was getting a little tiring, so she decided to walk with him.

 

 

 

"You should meet my family. My brother would probably really like you." She said as he finally caught up. It was true. Carter liked to annoy the hell out of her too.

 

 

 

"You have a brother?"

 

 

 

Tenaya nodded. "Yep. A sister too. But Joan's younger than me. She's 12, Carter's 16. Both are super annoying."

 

 

 

Echizen pushed his bangs out of his eyes. "I wouldn't know. It's just me, my parents, and my cat Karupin."

 

 

 

Tenaya looked up. "Oh cool. You have a cat? I have a dog. Hikari."

 

 

 

Echizen inwardly shuddered. He didn't really like dogs all that much. Unfortunately, Tenaya caught him cringing. She faked a gasp. "What?! You don't like dogs? They are the best ever!" She chuckled. "I think it's kinda funny that you're afraid of them."

 

 

 

"I am not!"

 

 

 

"Oh, sure..."

 

 

 

"Fine. Think what you like."

 

 

 

"I will."

 

 

 

There was a pause when neither of them said anything, just focused on the road ahead.

 

 

 

"You gotta admit it's funny though."

 

 

 

Echizen sighed and gave up. This girl was so weird. So unlike any other girl he'd met before. Every girl he knew just giggled and shrieked all the time. And they were always fixing their makeup. What was up with that? Jeez. None of them did much sports either. Probably too afraid that they'd break a nail.

 

 

 

Tenaya's voice cut through his thoughts. "Oh yeah! Didn't you play some sport for the school?" What a coincidence that they were both thinking about sports... "Oh damn. What was it? Wait! Don't tell me! Umm..." Her voice trailed off as she concentrated. Then a second later, for some odd reason, she burst out laughing. Echizen looked confused. "What?"

 

 

 

"Just thinking about you playing football. Ha! There's no way, but the image does make me laugh. Not basketball either, sorry, but I noticed that you weren't exactly Mr. Slam Dunk.”

 

 

 

Echizen sighed. So what if he sucked at basketball? No one would care. "You're pretty good at it though," he thought out loud.

 

 

 

Tenaya smiled. “Thanks! That's really nice of you. Hmm…Kinda makes me wanna be nicer. Anyways, is it tennis?”

 

 

 

Echizen blinked. It took him a minute to register her question. “Actually, it is tennis. How'd you know?”

 

 

 

She shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

 

 

 

“So,” Tenaya hopped onto her skateboard, still keeping pace with Echizen. “You play for the school don't you? When do you practice?”

 

 

 

“Every day except Wednesdays.” He replied.

 

 

 

Tenaya looked up. “Oh. So you practice tomorrow then? After school?”

 

 

 

Echizen nodded.

 

 

 

Tenaya grinned. “Are you good?”

 

 

 

Echizen looked a little surprised. “I don't know. Who's to judge?”

 

 

 

Tenaya gave him a “duh” look. “Uhh…you?”

 

 

 

Echizen shrugged. “I dunno. I'm okay, I guess, but I want to get better.”

 

 

 

Tenaya thought for a second. “Hmm. You practice tomorrow after school. I don't have to do anything tomorrow.” She looked up. “Mind if I come to watch?”

 

 

 

Echizen shook his head. “Sure, you can come, but you'll probably get bored after a while.”

 

 

 

“Don't worry. I can always find a way to entertain myself. Plus, this way, I can get a chance to meet your team-mates, right?”

 

 

 

Echizen pondered this. Yep, his team-mates would probably like to meet her. They'd probably really like her too. “Do you play?” He asked her.

 

 

 

Her smile faded a little. “No. Not anymore. I used to though…before…” Her voice drifted off. She quickly shook herself out of her daze and smiled at him. “Don't worry about me, I just wanted to check out the famous Seigaku tennis team. Heard you guys were really good!” By this time, they had already reached her house. She skated up to the front door, Echizen following. “Thanks for walking me home.” She turned around and started to head inside when she stopped. “Oh wait. You should come in and meet my mom, if you have the time.”

 

 

 

Echizen shrugged. “Okay.” Not like he had anything better to do. He followed her inside, and she closed the door behind him. “Mom! I'm home!” She yelled as she kicked her shoes off and dumped her skateboard and backpack on the floor. Echizen carefully took off his shoes and followed after her.

 

 

 

“Hey honey! I'm in the kitchen!”

 

 

 

Tenaya started heading towards the voice, Echizen trailing behind her. “Like I know where that is, I just moved here this morning.” Tenaya muttered. As they reached the kitchen, Echizen saw a middle-aged woman sitting at the table, writing something. “Hey mom. This is Echizen Ryoma.” She looked at all the empty boxes lying around. “Jeez mother, you unpack fast. Oh! Food!” She said, leaping for the candy jar.

 

 

 

Her mother looked up. “Oh hi Ryoma-kun! It's very nice to meet you! Tell your mother that after we've finished unpacking, we'll invite you guys over for dinner.”

 

 

 

Echizen nodded. He looke up as Tenaya threw a lemon drop to him over her shoulder. “Candy?” He caught it and examined it before popping it into his mouth. Her mom got up and walked over to where Echizen was standing, and whispered into his ear. “And thanks for showing her around, she's really very stupid when it comes to Japanese, don't you agre-“

 

 

 

“I can hear you mom!!”

 

 

 

Her mom stood up and held her hands up in front of her. “Just kidding! Okay, okay, I'm gone.” She said as she backed out of the kitchen.

 

 

 

Echizen sighed. What a weird family.

 

 

 

At this moment, a white German shepherd came bounding down the stairs. Echizen gave one frightened look and ran behind the kitchen counter. Tenaya laughed and bent down to give Hikari a hug. “Oh come on! She's really friendly.” He narrowed his eyes and pointed. “That thing's bigger than me!”

 

 

 

Tenaya snorted. “What isn't?”

 

 

 

Echizen glared.

 

 

 

“Just kidding, just kidding, no death glares please. Come here and pet her. Don't worry! She doesn't bite.”

 

 

 

Echizen looked reproachful as he slowly inched his way over. Tenaya rolled her eyes. “Hurry it up old man!” She said as she grabbed his hand and pulled him over, placing it on Hikari's head. Echizen stood there, shocked, for a second before slowly petting Hikari's head. After a moment, he relaxed and smiled a little.

 

 

 

“See?” She said softly. “Isn't her fur just so soft?” Tenaya stood up after giving Hikari one last hug. “Come on! You should come meet my brother.” She padded down the hallway.

 

 

“Carter? You home?”

 

 

 

A voice came from the room to her left. “Yeah! Over here.”

 

 

 

Tenaya opened the door and stepped in. Carter was typing away on his computer. Tenaya stepped up to him. “Hey nerd!”

 

 

 

He stood up and gave her a little hug. “Hey punk.” He looked up. “Oh hey! You're Echizen Ryoma right? I'm Carter Rialles, nice to meet you.” Carter walked over to where Echizen was standing and whispered in his ear. “Thanks for dealing with my little sis. She gets good grades and all, but actually, she's pretty dumb most of the ti - Ow!!” She threw a pillow at him. “I'm still here you know!” She lifted up her arms and looked at the ceiling. “Jeez, is the whole world against me?”

 

 

 

Carter chuckled. “Hey, you know I'm just messing with you right?”

 

 

Tenaya cocked an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, whatever. Anyways, where's Joan?”

 

 

 

Carter resumed his typing. “Volleyball practice.”

 

 

 

“What?! We just moved halfway across the world, and she still goes to volleyball practice?!”

 

 

 

“No, it's just that tryouts for her school team were today, so she tried and made it, that's all.”

 

 

 

Tenaya crossed her arms. “That's just plain weird.”

 

 

 

Echizen watched this conversation with interest. At that moment, Tenaya's mom poked her head into the room. “Hey, Ryoma-kun, are you going to stay for dinner?” Echizen looked at his watch. “No, actually, I should probably get going. Nice meeting you Carter.”

 

 

 

Carter gave a wave. “Ditto.”

 

 

 

Echizen started heading towards the front door, Tenaya following. “Bye Mrs. Rialles.” He called out as he pulled his shoes on.

 

 

 

“Bye Ryoma-kun! Come back soon!”

 

 

 

Tenaya slipped her shoes on as well. “You don't live far right? I'll walk you home then. Hikari needs her walk anyway.” She said as she clipped a leash onto Hikari's collar. “Be back in a minute mom!” She yelled before shutting the door. Together, Tenaya and Echizen walked towards his house, Hikari trotting a few feet ahead of them. Tenaya looked over at Echizen.

 

 

 

“Thanks for showing me around, its a big help.”

 

 

 

Echizen shook his head. “No problem. Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow?”

 

 

 

Tenaya looked surprised. “Oh. Yeah, um, that would be great. What time should I be ready?”

 

 

 

“About 7:30.”

 

 

 

“Okay.” By this time, they had already reached Echizen's house. She walked him up the stairs and stood there as he unlocked the door.

 

 

 

“Bye then. See you tomorrow.” He said, giving Hikari a pat on the head. “And thanks for walking me home.”

 

 

 

She smiled, her gray eyes twinkling. “My pleasure. See ya.”

 

 

 

 

a/n: Geez, I'm really updating pretty fast huh? So far, I've been able to get two chapters up today, and will probably get one more. I'm trying to post as fast as I can so that none of you lose interest in the story. Just to tell you, it's going to be pretty long, so don't count on it ending anytime soon. Anyways, hope you enjoyed chapter 3! Constructive criticism, comments, and flames all welcome.