Aishuu Offers:				
Private Hells
~ A Prince of Tennis ficlet ~
mbsilvana@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine.
NOTE: For those of you in the know, I finally have my
computer working again. Secrets 8 and the final
Sakurazakumori Subaru story are now with their
respective editors... hope to have them by the end of
August. I apologize for the delay.
					
~*~*~*~*~

It wasn't something Fuji and Tezuka plotted
consciously; no, they didn't need to do such things.
Rather, Tezuka had an agenda, and Fuji, being the
perceptive person he was, managed catch onto exactly
what those plans were.  And if there was one thing
Fuji couldn't resist, it was meddling in a good plan,
and adding a bit of his own touch to it. 

It would, of course, work out the way Tezuka wanted it
to... with a few modifications that Fuji found most
amusing. All in all, if Echizen Ryoma knew exactly
what his senpais had in store for him that day, he
would have grabbed Karupin and crawled back into bed
and not gotten up for the next month.

****

It was their day off from school, which meant tennis
practice. 

For Ryoma, every day meant tennis practice, but
Sundays were special because the club would spent the
entire day together. He wouldn't admit it to anyone,
but he liked playing against his senpais, pitting his
skills against theirs... even helping avoiding the
Inui juice attacks which occurred with even more
regularity as Kantou approached. In the last week, the
regulars had managed to avoid Inui's latest "Inui
Experimental Hyper Power Juice," but Ryoma had the
feeling that today their luck would run out.

Ryoma smiled as he heard the familiar sound of racquet
hitting ball. He could tell it was the first years
practicing, even though they were out of his line of
sight, since the sounds were irregular and the rhythm
wasn't quite right - rarely was there the perfect
sound of the ball hitting the racquet's sweet spot...

"Let me show you how it's done!" he heard Horio say,
and it was all Ryoma could do to stop from rolling his
eyes.

Ryoma was running late, of course. He was never on
time, but people had gotten used to that. He
anticipated Tezuka making him run an extra twenty
laps, but he didn't really mind - it was worth
sleeping in. Aside from tennis, his favorite thing was
sleep, and he especially liked sleeping in on Sundays.

Still, he wondered where his senpais were. Someone
should have deflated Horio's ego by now...

A wicked thought crossed his mind, and he didn't even
try to squash it. Every time he said something to
Horio, it was like dousing him with water, and it
sounded like Horio needed a little reminder of his
place... it was one thing to be confidant, it was
another to be arrogant. Ryoma knew the difference, and
liked driving it into people's thick skulls.

Well, who better?

Ryoma rounded the corner, and to his surprise, the
court was full of... girls. Girls and first years...

/Oh, no...../ he thought, noticing Sakuno looking at
him hopefully. His stomach twisted uncomfortably, and
he felt a bit off-balance. /What's she doing here?/

"Ryoma-kun!" she called, waving a hand and taking her
eyes away from the ball that was flying at her head.

He knew exactly what was going to happen with
sickening certain. He lowered his brim, not wanting to
watch, knowing that even if he yelled a warning, she
wouldn't be able to react in time. Her reflexes were
just too poor. He just hoped that she wasn�t hurt too
badly....

WHACK!

Sure enough, the pigtailed girl went sprawling as the
ball hit her upside the head.

He sighed. He had no clue why she had taken up tennis;
she had no natural talent for it, but her persistence
was admirable. She was sweet and nice, but her spacey
nature kept getting her in trouble.

"I'm so sorry!" another girl said, rushing over to
help Sakuno to her feet. "Maybe you should sit down?"

"No... no..." Sakuno said. She smiled as she wobbled a
bit on her feet. "I'm fine!"

>From the way her eyes weren't focusing, Ryoma would
have begged to differ. "What's going on?" he asked
curiously.

"It's a joint practice!" said one of the other first
year girls, smiling at Ryoma shyly. "The boys team is
helping us with some skills..."

Ryoma glanced around nervously. "Where are all the
senpais?" he asked nervously. The only people on the
court were first years, and from the way the girls
were looking at him, he was beginning to feel
decidedly out of place. With the regulars and second
and third years absent, he knew he was far and away
the most skilled person around.

"The boy's team went to the girl's court to work with
the girls� regulars, and the second and third years
went with them... all the first years are here," the
girl said. "We're supposed to be working on our
basics."

It didn't make sense to Ryoma why the boys went over
to the girls� courts. The better courts were the boys�
courts, and it would have been logical to have the
seniors on them, and the first years at the girls�
facilities... and Ryoma could have met them. "Um, I'll
go find them," he said, eager to get away from the
girls, who were looking at him like he was an ice
cream cone.

It might be a good idea to play hookey... he could
deal with the 100 laps Tezuka would give him
tomorrow....

Sakuno's face fell, and Ryoma felt a twinge of guilt,
but the other girl was more aggressive. "Aren't you a
first year?"

Ryoma just stared at her, not used to girls yelling at
him.

"Well, you ARE!" the girl insisted when he didn�t
answer aloud. "Come and help me with my swing... I
think I'm doing something wrong!!"

Ryoma felt even more trapped than when Nanjirou
started to smirk at him.

****

"Where's ochibi?" Kikumaru asked after executing a
flying receive to the applause of the girl's team. He
was thoroughly enjoying the attention of the females,
playing up his acrobatics for all he was worth. The
girls probably weren�t learning much, paying more
attention to his pretty eyes than what he was doing,
but no one really seemed to care.

"Late," Oishi sighed. Watching Eiji revel in female
attention made him uncomfortable, especially after the
girls started to ask for autographs. Fuji and Tezuka
were involved with the girl's regulars,  leaving the
rest of the Seigaku team to keep the other girls
occupied.
			
It was a daunting task. One girl had actually tried to
pinch him.

Momoshiro and Kaidou were in rare agreement, both
looking terrified, while the girls seemed terrified of
the usually quiet Kawamura, who went into burning mode
with his tennis racquet. Inui was scribbling in a
book, muttering about hormones and relationships, but
Eiji was in his element, ever the showman.

Oishi was glad that one of the regulars seemed to be
up for it.

"Would he know to come here?" Momoshiro asked,
blushing when one of the girls blew him a kiss. "His
sense of direction isn't the best..."

"I don't think he can get lost on school property..."
Oishi replied. Focusing on where Echizen had wound up
seemed like a safe thing to do.

"No. Echizen has probably arrived, but was detained by
female classmates," Inui said, flipping through his
book. "According to my data, 84 percent of the first
year female tennis club members are also members of
his fan club. That means his chances of making it here
unmolested are only 14 percent."

/UNMOLESTED?/ Oishi thought, wishing Inui hadn't
chosen that word. �Maybe I should-�

"I'll talk to him," a voice said from across the
courts.

The others started, amazed that Fuji had over heard
their conversation. Then again, Fuji was always
surprising them...

Tezuka paused in his stroke demonstration, studying
Fuji for a minute before nodding. There was a seven
percent tilt to his head that Inui knew indicated he
was curious. A wave of silent communication passed
between the two singles players before Fuji�s smile
widened even more.

"I�ll be back shortly," Fuji replied. The sweet voice
he used sent shivers up the rest of the regulars
spines, making more than one of them feel a bit of
sympathy for the ornery Echizen. Grabbing his racket,
he left the court.

�I would not want to be Echizen right now,� Momoshiro
said, watching his senpai leave.

Oishi was silently forced to agree. Whenever Fuji wore
that particular look, it meant trouble.

****

Fifteen minutes after he arrived, Ryoma knew there was
a hell on earth - and he was in it.

"RYOMA-SAMA! Is my swing right?"

"RYOMA-SAMA! Can you help me get a more accurate
serve?"

"RYOMA-SAMA! Senpai recently commented on my form...
what do you think?"

The shrill questions were irritating, but no where
near as obnoxious as the constant tugging on his
clothes, the way the other first years were glaring at
him, or the fact he couldn't think straight from all
the noise. As soon as he replied to one question, two
other girls were in front of him, fluttering eyelashes
and clumsily attempting to flirt with him.

He wanted OUT!

"Echizen," a voice said, and all the sudden the angels
of heaven began to sing.

Ryoma turned to see Fuji standing against the fence,
watching the whole scene with his thrice-blasted smile
on his face. Still, Fuji would be able to help him get
out of there, so Ryoma wasn�t about to look a gift
horse in the mouth.

"Where is everyone?" Ryoma asked, yanking himself away
from a girl with long blonde hair who had been trying
to get help on her grip, which for some reason
required a lot of hand holding.

"Helping the girl's regulars," Fuji said, still
smiling. "How's it going?"

Echizen just gave him a LOOK.

"That's good,� Fuji said cheerfully. �I came to tell
you that you were needed over here, since none of the
other regulars can be spared. And I know you've taught
other girls how to play..." Fuji said, casting a look
at Sakuno, who was still sitting on a bench.

If Ryoma wasn't Ryoma, people would have sworn he was
blushing. But Ryoma didn't blush, of course. 

"Oh... and since you were late, we didn't order you a
lunch. Maybe one of the girls brought enough to
share?" Fuji suggested innocently.

Now Ryoma was sure he was paling, feeling thirty pairs
of feminine eyes fasten on him like cats going after a
canary. "Um, Fuji-senpai...."

"I'll see you after practice!" Fuji said cheerfully.
"Have fun!" He walked away quickly, leaving a hapless
Ryoma behind.

�Ryoma-sama! I�ll share my lunch with you!�

�No, mine!�

�I�m a better cook!�

�Ryoma-sama!�

As the girls closed in around him, Ryoma decided that
all the rumors of Fuji's sadistic tendencies hadn't
been exaggerated.

***

The day came to an end, as all days had to. Ryoma
finally ran into the rest of his senpais in the locker
room, minus Tezuka and Fuji.

"Ochibi!" Kikumaru said, grabbing the first year and
giving him an enthusiastic embrace before Oishi pulled
him off. Ryoma looked plain exhausted, and something
in his face warned the vice-captain that the first
year was on the verge of snapping. "Where have you
been?" Kikumaru demanded, undeterred.

Ryoma merely gave them all a sulky look, hastily
beginning to change. It was obvious he was in a hurry
to get out of there.

"Enjoying Ryuuzaki-sensei's granddaughter's company?"
Momoshiro teased. 

Ryoma was still silent as he zipped up his pants, but
Oishi detected that the young prodigy was about to
explode, and hastened to intervene. "Well, tomorrow we
have a morning practice, so maybe we should all get
home?" he said.

"I wonder how many love letters Echizen is going to
get from today...." Momoshiro continued irrepressibly,
only to be rewarded by getting a tennis ball in the
face.

Echizen grabbed his tennis bag and bolted for the
door. The rest of the regulars just stared at where he
left.. 

�Touchy, isn�t he?� Momoshiro asked after a moment.

Kaidou hissed at him to shut up, and a minute later,
the two were in a full-fledged argument.

***

Fuji and Tezuka made their way to the locker room long
after everyone had left. Tezuka had practiced long
after everyone, and Fuji had watched, always curious
about the silent boy. Besides, Fuji realized that
running into Echizen would have been a bad idea.

"Did you have fun today, Tezuka?" Fuji asked his
captain.

Tezuka sighed, rolling his shoulders to relieve some
tension. "It was a learning experience for everyone,"
he said. 

"Wasn't it?" Fuji asked sweetly.

"You could have brought him over with the rest of us,"
Tezuka said after a minute. 

"He needs to learn how to teach, doesn't he?" Fuji
asked. "He wouldn't have the same opportunity with the
rest of us around.�

"Yes," Tezuka sighed, collapsing on a bench. He had
worked a bit too hard, lecturing and doing too many
serves. "But he didn't need to stay there all day."

"It was more fun that way," Fuji said.

"You'll never change."

****

All Ryoma wanted to do was go to bed and put his day
behind him. 

/Girls... who needs them?/ he wondered.

"Oi, shonen!!!" an excited voice called from the door
as he kicked off his shoes, "I hear you just spent the
day surrounded by girls!!!"

Ryoma gulped and turned to face his over-excited
father, silently wishing the floor would open up and
swallow him.

END

=====
Down, down, down, would the fall never come to an end?
Wonder how many miles I've fallen?

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