Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ What You See Is Not What You Get ❯ A Caged Soul Set Free ( Chapter 4 )

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

Warning: I do not own Prince of Tennis or anything that is linked to it via manga or anime so do not sue me for anything in here. However, I do own the made up characters that are not in the original plot and story line of the manga/anime. Also, this is a fictional fan-fiction of Prince of Tennis. It may not, and probably will not, follow the manga's/anime's plot and story line.

~Story Starts~

For the next couple of months Akiko didn't talk much to the team unless it was during practice and she was telling then how to do something or how to fix something. Everytime Ryuzaki tried to bring up the subject, or had Tezuka try to speak to her, Akiko would either change the subject or, more often than not, walk away and go help someone on the team in a specific thing. Ryuzaki was bothered by this, but Tezuka didn't mind. In his words, as long as she still helped the team improve, that was all that mattered to him.

After the episode with Tezuka at the Hiruka residence, Mr. Hiruka started showing up forty-five minutes before practice ended and stayed until it was over, at which time he would escort Akiko to the car immediately and they would drive home.

Mr. Hiruka had cracked down on Akiko the past few weeks. He made sure that, outside of school and practice with Seishun Academy Middle School's tennis team, Akiko had no time to do or think about anything but tennis. This, however, ment many sleepless nights for Akiko, as she would have to do her homework at night while everyone was sleeping since she had not been given time during the day to complete it. Last night....had been one of those nights.

Akiko trudged to the tennis courts after school and dropped her bag on a bench. "Alright, you know the drill, start you mile while I talk to the coach!" She yelled from her spot, sending the team on their run as she headed to coach Ryuzaki.

"Are you alright, Akiko?" Ryuzaki asked as Akiko came over to her.

"I'm fine. Just get them on their normal warm up while I set up for practice." Akiko replied irritably as she went to the teams' bags and got out everyone's tennis racket, placing each on a court across from another.

After the team finished their warm up, Akiko called them over. "Today you will be playing singles against each other." She explained. "Each game will last ten minutes. The person with the most points will move up and the person with the least will move down. In case of a tie, you will serve one more ball and the person to miss a receive moves down." Akiko explained. "Today is your chance to size where you are on the team skill-wise. Any questions?" She finished. The team shook their heads and Akiko sent them out.

As practice continued and Akiko watched, seeing if the team had improved since she had started joining their practices, smiling when she saw that they had indeed improved, Mr. and Mrs. Hiruka showed up. "Akiko, dear, why have you stayed here instead of coming home an hour ago to get ready?" Mrs. Hiruka called, looking at her daughter with slight puzzlement and concern since she was afraid how Mr. Hiruka would act.

"What do you mean?" Akiko asked, looking away from the team and at her parents, noticing that they were dressed formally.

"So, you forgot, did you?" Mr. Hiruka asked, narrowing his eyes and walking into the courts.

"Sir, only the team is to set foot in the courts during practice time." Ryuzaki said, walking over to Mr. Hiruka.

"Well then, since my daughter is not part of your team, she shouldn't be here either." Mr. Hiruka said, smirking. "Grab your things, Akiko." He said, narrowing his eyes at Akiko, just daring her to try and argue.

Akiko sighed and walked over to the bench she had set her bags down on and picked them up, swinging them onto her shoulders and walking over to her father, not looking at Ryuzaki or the team, but was stopped when Ryuzaki put her hand on her shoulder. "Actually, sir, Akiko is a member of our team." Ryuzaki said, smirking this time.

"Nonsense!" Mr. Hiruka yelled. "For one, my daughter will not join your team and lose sight of her goal to become the best tennis player in the world. Not when she is so close to achieving that goal. And second, a girl cannot join an all boys tennis team!" He replied, grabbing Akiko's arm hard enough that it would leave a bruise and yanked her away from Ryuzaki before the coach had a chance to prove that Akiko was indeed part of the boys' tennis team now.

"Father, STOP!" Akiko yelled, yanking her arm out of his grasp. "It has never been my goal! It has always been yours!" She replied. "Ever since you learned I had an interest in tennis, you have made it my LIFE!" Akiko continued, not giving her father a chance to say anything. "Sure, I liked tennis and had dream of becoming good at it, but I never wanted it to be the only thing I drank, ate, thought, and did! I wanted a life outside of it! I wanted to grow up like a normal child with friends and people around me! But no, you rook that away from me!" She continued, all her pent up anger and emotions coming out. At this point, Akiko didn't care that the tennis team and the coach were watching. "You know what, if you want to have the goal of being the best tennis player, then be my guest! But, stop pushing that dream onto me!" She added, glaring at her father.

"I will not have you speaking to me like that, young lady!" Mr. Hiruka replied, his face from anger. "You are already late for the dinner scheduled with the sports magazine to talk about you incline and future in the tennis world, so get in the car. We will talk more at home later." He added, narrowing his eyes.

"No." Akiko replied, crossing her arms.

"Akiko." Mr. Hiruka's voice was filled with warning.

"No." Akiko repeated. "You can go to that stupid dinner that you scheduled for me on your own because I QUIT!" She yelled, dropping her bag and running out of the tennis courts, across one of the lawns, and around a corner.

Mr. Hiruka grew angry and chased after her, but lost her rather quickly around the corner. He looked around, but growled and walked back to where Mrs. Hiruka was. "Come on, I will have a big talk with her later, but we cannot keep the magazine representative waiting any longer." He said to Mrs. Hiruka as he got back into the car with her and they drove off, Mrs. Hiruka hesitantly and regretfully.

After the vehicle was gone, the team started talking among each other. It was at that time that Tezuka decided to share with the team what had happened when he had gone over to the Hiruka residence. After Tezuka's story the team agreed to split up and look for Akiko.

Two hours had gone by and the team, spread out throughout the entire town, had still not found Akiko. "By now she could have scheduled the next available flight out of here and could be on her way onto the plane." Eiji said, shaking his head as they regrouped at Seishun Academy Middle School's tennis courts.

"There is one place we haven't checked." Momo said. "Wait here." he called over his shoulder as he went around the corner Akiko had previously disappeared around. Once he disappeared from the team's sight he headed into the school building and up to the roof, smirking when he saw Akiko staring at the city as the sun set. "So, this is where you went." momo said as he walked over to where Akiko was.

Akiko turned at a voice and was surprised at who she saw there. "Momo..." She looked at him and tried to figure out what he was doing there.

"You've had us all pretty worried." Momo said, looking down at her. "Everyone, the team and coach Ryuzaki." He added, grinning. "We thought by now you would be on the next flight out of here." Momo continued.

"I am. The plane leave in two and a half hours." Akiko replied, sighing.

"Where are you going?" Momo asked.

"I'm not sure yet." Akiko replied, sighing and looking back at the sunset. "All I know is I can't go back home." She added, looking down at the roof top.

"So you're going to run away with your tail in between you legs and show your father that he does still have control and power over you?" Momo replied, his tome and expression completely serious as he looked at the city.

"What else can I do?" Akiko replied, defeatedly, not looking up from the roof top.

"You could stay. I'm sure one of the team members could give you a temporary home." Momo replied, grinning. "In fact, the Echizen residence is pretty good sized, I'm sure they would have a spare bedroom." He continued. "Common, what do you say?"

"I don't know..." Akiko replied, sighing and shaking her head lightly.

"Why let the man, who has done nothing but ruin your life, continue to ruin it?" Momo asked, looking at Akiko.

Akiko sighed and then looked up at Momo for a minute. She then smiled lightly. "Alright." Akiko replied, grinning.

Momo grinned as Akiko agreed. "What do you say, should we go back down to the team?" He asked. "And what ever happened to 'never speak to me again'?" Momo added, curious.

Akiko laughed slightly. "Might be a good thing." She replied, starting towards the door and stairs that led back into the building. "And, I'll take that off now that I have gotten to know you better, but the 'babe' part is still in effect." Akiko answered over her shoulder as she started down the stairs, smirking.

Momo laughed at her reply. "Fair enough." He replied, following her.

Once they had regrouped with the team and Momo explained everything, Ryoma agreed to let her stay in a spare bedroom and they all decided to go out for dinner together, including the coach.

As they were walking to the pizza place they had decided on Akiko looked up at the fading sky, smiling. She knew that she was, for once in her life, finally free. Akiko knew she was riding on the wings of freedom, and that thought made Akiko smiled and enjoy the rest of the evening with the team, truly laughing for the first time in her life since she had started playing tennis.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TBC
Please R&R!!!!!!! I would like to know if anyone looks forward to reading this story. I'll wait till I get at least new 2 reviews to continue.