Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Translate This ❯ A New Victory ( Chapter 9 )

Translate This

 

 

 

 

 

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Chapter 9

 

 

 

 

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A New Victory

 

 

 

 

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*Narrator's POV*

 

 

 

Ryoma sighed and sat up. He had been laying on his bed for the last hour or so, thinking. About tennis, his game with Atobe the day before, but mostly about his talk last night with Tenaya. He looked at his clock, which read 3:55. He remembered her saying that they should do something fun today, but he hadn't heard from her since. Maybe he should go to her house himself. After making up his mind, he changed into long, baggy black pants, and a short sleeved shirt. He slipped on his favorite blue and white wristband, but decided not to wear a hat.

 

 

It was a warm, sunny day, and Ryoma took his time walking down the street to Tenaya's house. But once again, his thoughts drifted to her. He dind't know why she seemed to care so much. Before, he had always kept to himself and this was the first person, outside of his family and Tomo and Sakuno, who seemed to care about how he felt. Even then, his family gave up after a little while, and he would rather Tomo and Sakuno mind their own businness. But Tenaya's voice when she spoke to him last night, was so sincere, that he subconsciously welcomed it. His thoughts were cut short though, when he found himself on Tenaya's porch. A little while after ringing the doorbell, Tenaya's mom welcomed him in with a big smile on her face. "Tenaya's down the hall in her room, in case you were looking for her." She said.

 

 

Ryoma nodded his thanks, and made his way down the hall. As he approached her room, he heard music floating softly through the door. At first, the thought it was the radio, but it seemed more real than that. He stood there listening for a little while, to the beautiful tune, before opening the door. He was surprised to see Tenaya sitting cross-legged on her bed, playing the guitar. She looked up as he walked in.

 

 

"Oh, hey Ryoma! I was just about to go over to your house." She smiled.

 

 

He smiled back. "Yeah, I decided to save you the trouble this time."

 

 

"Thanks!" She said, and bent down to study her guitar again. Ryoma sat down on the bed, and turned to face her.

 

 

"You never told me you could play the guitar."

 

 

She shrugged. "You never asked."

 

 

"So, is it yours?"

 

 

She nodded. "Yep. I've had it forever." She smiled lovingly down at it. "I had to wrestle my mom just so I could bring it with me here though. It used to be my dad's..."

 

 

Ryoma noticed the way her voice seemed to soften when she spoke of her dad, and realized that he didn't actually know that much about him, since she didn't seem to talk about him very often. "What other instruments do you play?"

 

 

"Just the piano." She grinned at him.

 

 

"Did you bring your piano too?" Ryoma smirked.

 

 

She laughed. "No, but lucky enough for me, there's a piano here."

 

 

"Oh, really?"

 

 

"Yup, lucky me. It's over in the family room."

 

 

Ryoma leaned down on his elbows. "So do you write songs or what?"

 

 

"Well, I write them, and usually make some music to go along with it. Most of the time, I pair vocals too."

 

 

He frowned. "Do you ever perform?"

 

 

"Oh, no. I just don't like sharing my music with strangers that much. And plus, Joan and Carter do the singing sometimes, and I want to respect their privacy too." She took her pick and stuck it between the guitar strings, and put her guitar away. "I was just working on an unfinished song of mine, but I can always do that later. Now let's go! I have plans for us."

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

"You're taking me to dinner?" Ryoma asked as the approached the small restaurant.

 

 

"Yep." Tenaya smiled. She looked up at the restaurant. It was small, but clean and pretty. It had kind of a tropical theme with tables surrounding the outside walls of the circular building. She had passed it the weekend before, and was waiting for a chance to check it out. "Well, not really. More like a snack."

 

 

"Oh, okay." Ryoma smiled. He had seen this cafe, Chiyo's, many times before, but had never tried it.

 

 

As they sat down at one of the outdoor tables, a waiter came and brought them water. Ryoma ordered a small rice plate with fish, and Tenaya got soba noodles. The waiter then took their menus and informed them that their food would be there shortly.

 

 

Tenaya peered at Ryoma over her cup of water with a small smile on her face.

 

 

"What?" Ryoma asked when he noticed her staring.

 

 

Her smile grew wider. "Nothing," she said as she took a sip of her drink.

 

 

Ryoma, confused, decided to just ignore it, and turned to his food which had just arrived. Tenaya grinned. In truth, she was smiling because of the way Ryoma acted the night before. He had always been a calm, controlled guy, but last night, she had seen a different side of him. The side that he seemed to be hiding most of the time. She felt that she knew him better now, and she was glad.

 

 

While Tenaya thought about that, Ryoma was doing some thinking of his own. Why did Tenaya seem to care about him so much? He had gotten moody and depressed before, and at those times, people just left him alone, and that was what he wanted. To be left on his own to think. People crowding around him wanting to know what was wrong, just made his situation worse and everybody knew it. But last night, Tenaya had confronted him, even after he heard Momo tell her to leave him alone, and somehow got him to open up. And right after he burst, all it took was a few words from her to calm him down. It was a completely new experience, to tell others his troubles, then have them comfort him, and he wanted that feeling to stay.

 

 

Ryoma finished up his food quickly, and looke up to see that Tenaya was done as well. They split the bill, and then stood up to leave.

 

 

"So, what do you wanna do now?" Ryoma asked.

 

 

Tenaya shrugged. "I don't know."

 

 

"I thought you were the hose here."

 

 

She smirked. "I was, but the host has just run out of ideas."

 

 

He sighed. He thought for a while, then finally came up with a plan. "Follow me."

 

 

Ryoma smirked as he led Tenaya away from Chiyo's. He knew the perfect place for her.

 

 

“Oh my god.” Tenaya said as they approached their designation. It was a huge skate park. There were three huge skate ramps and multiple small ones for self practice. At one of the bigger ramps, there seemed to be a competition going on. There were three guys, each flying down different sections of the ramps, completely trained on what they were doing.

 

 

“Oh no you don't.” Tenaya said, shaking her head.

 

 

“C'mon Tenaya. You should go.”

 

 

“What? Join their competition? No way. They probably won't let me anyway.”

 

 

“Well then, lets go ask.” Ryoma said, dragging a reluctant Tenaya along over to where the judge stood.

 

 

“Excuse me,” Ryoma said. “Is it too late to enter another contestant?”

 

 

The judge shook his head. “Warm-ups just ended. You can enter but you just won't have any warm-up time.”

 

 

“Okay.” Ryoma nodded. “But I'm not competing,” he said, and pointed to Tenaya. “She is.”

 

 

The judge stared. “A girl?”

 

 

Ryoma blinked. “Why not?”

 

 

“Well, this is skateboarding, which is usually a guy's sport.”

 

 

“Oh.” Ryoma sighed. He didn't know that. He didn't think there was a guy's and girl's sport, but then again, he didn't know much of anything about skateboarding. So he turned and told Tenaya what the judge said. “Lucky you. You're off the hook today.” He sighed, and turned to leave. But Tenaya stopped him.

 

 

“No. I'm competing.” She said, with a fire in her eyes. Ugh, the nerve of that judge. What did he mean “skateboarding is a guy's sport”?! Well, she was going to show him something.

 

 

But the judge obviously wasn't the only one who thought the way he did, for when Ryoma announced that she was competing, an audible gasp came from the crowd. Everyone stared while the other three contestants smirked. Surely, a girl would mean an easy win for them. Hmph, she though. Yeah right.

 

A moment later, when the judge finally snapped to his sense, he announced to the crowd that a last minute contestant had arrived, although he didn't need to. But Tenaya heard none of it as she carried her skateboard to join the other contestants.

 

 

 

*Tenaya's POV*

 

 

I sat quietly as the announcer blabbered something in Japanese. Back in America, I had faced some sexist discrimination on the topic of skateboarding, and it always angered me. Even now, the three guys sitting beside me were snickering amongst themselves. I ignored them. I'd show them exactly why a girl is as good as any guy.

 

 

As the competition began, I watched intently while the other three guys each took their turn. At first, I was wondering how good they were, but I shouldn't have thought too much. They turned out to be pretty good. Really good, actually, but I was sure I could beat them. One of them fell twice during the course, and the other two each fell once. I smirked. Sure, this was my first skateboard competition, but the course being used was one I'd practiced before. It was a tricky course, but as long as I didn't fall, I could win.

 

 

I smiled at Ryoma before stepping up to the ramp edge, and he smiled reassuringly back at me. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and let go. A few seconds later, I forgot that I was actually competing and just concentrated on having fun. The course was harder than usual, but I was doing good, so far. About 3 minutes later, I finished, out of breath, back where I started. I smiled. I hadn't done perfect, but a lot better than the other contestants. I slipped once, but caught myself before falling. Not bad for my first competition…

 

 

Finally, a new victory.

 

 

 

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a/n: So tired…Just got back from Fresno…not enough sleep…Sorry if this chapter sucked…

 

Thanks to Koreangirlme for reviewing!