Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ When Tezuka Had Fallen For Her ❯ Act vii ( Chapter 8 )

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, everyone! Here's my act vii!! Thanks so much for the reviews…I really don't know if I can do this without you. So, enough for these annoying messages! Enjoy yourselves!

 

 

Disclaimer: I know you already know this, but I really don't own PoT (Really, I think I already need to hire someone to say this for me). Though I described Tezuka's mother, father, and grandfather with my own visualization because they weren't shown in the anime series (I don't know if they made any appearance in the manga, and if they had, then please let me know, so I can fix my errors).

 

Ja!

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

Act vi

(Chapter Seven)

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

“Tezuka-senpai,” she said hoarsely, “We're…neighbors?”

 

“It seems so.”

 

“I can't believe this,” said Ringo. “We're so much stuck together. You're right; this is suspicious.” She sighed and looked at Tezuka. “Thanks again, Tezuka-senpai. I'm going now; I think the landlady told me something about a brief meeting. So…ja!” She bowed briefly and made her way towards the entrance to the building.

 

Tezuka watched her back for a while, then turned on the spot to go to his own house, when suddenly Ringo called him back.

 

“Tezuka-senpai!” she said loudly.

 

He turned. She was already at the building entrance, waving her hand at him. Her other hand was cupped by her mouth as she yelled, “Smile more often, okay?” By that, she turned her back to him and disappeared into the apartment building.

 

The captain raised his eyebrows at the compliment and silently proceeded to his house.

 

“Tadaima,” he said, as he closed the Tezuka residence's front door behind him. He sat on the pavement and made to untie his shoes, when his mother, Tezuka Ayana, emerged from one of the passages lining the hallway.

 

“Okaeri, Kunimitsu,” she said, smiling. She is a kind-faced woman in her mid-forties, with dark-brown hair that fell over her shoulders and soft, chocolate eyes. “Your friend Oishi called me this morning. He said you didn't attend morning practice and you weren't answering your phone. Ryuzaki-sensei called around lunchtime and said you were fine. Did something happen?”

 

Tezuka had done removing his shoes and put them neatly together in one corner. He stood and faced his mother. “There was a commotion along the way. I'm sorry for making you worried.”

 

Ayana smiled. “It's okay. You better go to your room and ease up a little. You might be exhausted from practice.”

 

“Hai.” Tezuka wore his slippers and walked along the hallway and up the stairs. His room was through the second door on the right, and as he entered his room, he heard the doorbell ring, and his mother's footsteps as she hurried to open the door and her voice as she greeted who seemed to be one of her friends.

 

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

“Tadaima!” Ringo said cheerfully as she energetically opened room 245. Her unit was a rectangular room with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. The landlady had obviously prepared everything for her; the apartment was already furnished, and when Ringo opened the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator, they were already laden with sorts of food. She even also had been already registered to have daily newspaper delivery.

 

“Home at last,” she breathed, kicking her shoes off her, getting in her slippers, and proceeding inside without bothering to fix her shoes in place. She laid her school bag on the living room sofa as she passed by it on her way to the kitchen, and then opened the refrigerator to get a green apple.

 

“Mmm!” she said, as she took a bite of the fruit. She loved green apples more than any food. She bounced back to the living room and threw herself facedown onto the long light blue couch.

 

“I'm in Japan, at last,” she sighed to the couch. She contemplated silently for a short moment, before turning so that she lay on her back, all the cheerfulness she had before gone without the slightest trace. She raised her hand with the apple above her face, absently staring at the dent where she had bitten the apple. “If only mom and dad are here…”

 

She slowly sat up, and her head turned towards the small table positioned against the wall beside the television and component. On top of it picture frames stood, their glasses glinting as they caught the afternoon light seeping through the glass window running the width of the wall above the couch where Ringo sat. She looked at the largest frame, whicj depicted a picture of a seven-year-old Ringo in a high ponytail laughing as she sat between a man and a woman, whose faces cannot be seen due to the light the frame glass was reflecting.

 

Ringo didn't notice that she had tightened her grip on the apple. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that she had already lost everything. Her Dad, her Mom…and now, tennis…

 

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

 

(Note: All the words written in bold letters are spoken in English)

 

 

“Dad,” a five-year-old Ringo said, looking up at the man who held her hand as they stood before an electronic shop in England, watching the TV's displayed beyond the glass window, all of which televised a tennis match. “What's wrong?”

 

Her father looked down at her. Because of the bright sun, all Ringo could see was the lower part of his face, which was curled up in a small smile.

 

“Nothing's wrong, Ringo,” he said. “It's just that it was Dad's old dream to become the best tennis player in the world.”

 

Ringo's blue-gray eyes widened in joy. “Really?”

 

Her father nodded. “I said to myself: `If I become the best tennis player, I will become rich, and I will make my Ringo the happiest daughter in the world!' ButsadlyDad didn't become one.” Ringo's smile faded when she saw that her father's smile drop, to be replaced with a thin line of sadness.

 

“Why?” the five-year-old asked.

 

“Because Dad is not strong enough, Ringo.” Her father's voice sounded bitter, and his grip on Ringo's hand tightened. “He was weak.”

 

Ringo looked from his father's face back to the television. The audience in the TV cheered as the match ended, and the winner's face was focused in the camera. He sported a very wide smile, even if he panted in exhaustion and sweat beaded his face. Ringo then looked back up to her Dad.

 

“Dad wants to hear the people cheer, right?” she said. “Dad wants to smile when he wins, right?”

 

Her father chuckled. “You're right.”

 

“But Dad is not happy because he is not a tennis player, right?”

 

Her Dad forced a smile. “It was just an old dream.”

 

“Then that will be Ringo's dream too,” Ringo said, her face unfurling into a wide smile. “Ringo will become the best tennis player in the world, then she will be rich, and she will make Dad the happiest Dadin the world!”

 

Her father's mouth opened slightly at her compliment. “Why do you say that, Ringo?”

 

“Because I always see Dad crying with Mom,” said Ringo. “If Ringo will become a tennis player, Dad will be happy, and if Dad's happy, Mom will be happy, and if they are happy, Ringo will be happy. We will be a happy family!”

 

Ringo smiled widely at her father, but was confused when she saw that his shoulders and his hand that held her shook. He kneeled to be in level of her, and pulled her into a tight embrace.

 

“Why is Dad crying?” Ringo said sadly. “Did Ringo hurt him?”

 

“No, darling,” said her Dad in her ear, his voice wavering. “You made Dad the happiest Dad in the world.”

 

Ringo smiled.

 

 

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

 

Ringo's eyes shot open. She found herself still sitting on the couch. The apartment was already dark, and her body felt numb for being seated for so long. The green apple she had not finished lay forgotten on the floor.

 

“I…fell asleep,” she whispered, her head still leaning on the couch's back. Slowly, the memory of her dream drifted in her mind. “Dad…” Her hands clenched into fists, and her shoulders shook violently as tears began to fall on her lap.

 

“Today…was the day…right?”

 

 

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

“Gomen, Kunimitsu. I didn't know until now that we had run out of powder.”

 

“Daijobu, Okaa-san.”

 

“And Kunimitsu,” added Tezuka Kunikazu, Tezuka's grandfather, peeking his head out of the living room door to look at his grandson, who had just finished tying his shoes, “also buy my favorite green tea. Your father had a strange knack of bringing packs with him as he goes to his damn work, he wasn't asking my permission!” His hair was already silvery, though his brown eyes were still exactly as shrewd and sharp as Tezuka's.

 

“Hai, Ojii-san,” said Tezuka. “Ittekimasu.”

 

“Ittarashai,” called out Ayana, as her son disappeared behind the door into the night. She then turned to Kunikazu, who had already withdrawn his head and was back to his newspaper. “Otou-san, those packs belonged to your son anyway.”

 

“Hmph,” grunted the old man behind the paper. “Were they?”

 

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

“Oh, Tezuka-san!” said the young girl behind the counter in a high-pitched voice, as she spotted a tall form enter the herbal shop. “Irrashaimase!”

 

Tezuka nodded at her and went between the racks and racks of herbal products, failing to see the girl turn red.

 

When he had found the green tea his grandfather was greatly demanding, he went to the counter and handed it to the girl, who had it glide across the barcode scanner.

 

“It's been a while since you last went here, Tezuka-san,” the girl said, as the scanner beeped and she stuffed the tea packs in a plastic, which had the store's name imprinted across it.

 

“Today was kind of urgent,” said Tezuka, handing out his payment. “Okaa-san has already prepared for curry when she remembered that we don't have curry powder. Ojii-san also told me to buy these while I'm on it.”

 

“Sou ka,” said the girl, seemingly more focused staring at him than listening to what he was saying. She handed the plastic to Tezuka and bowed at him as he made his way out of the shop. “Thank you for coming!”

 

Tezuka silently observed his surroundings as he made his way home. Many teens around the same age as him were loitering about, either having a group date or on their way home. Many sidewalk vendors and customers were gossiping as well. What they were saying weren't making the slightest sense on him, though. So he just concentrated on walking back home.

 

He had been walking for a short while, and the gossiping people still filled his ears, when a woman's voice caught his attention.

 

“I heard about that young girl,” she said. “She's new in here. In Keiko Apartment, I think. She came from Europe.”

 

Tezuka glanced at the source of the voice, and saw a flower vendor talking to her customer. What she said caught his attention because of the mention of the apartment building just across his house.

 

“That explains it,” said the customer, “I was thinking that she sure has money for buying that huge bouquet.”

 

“She moved in here alone,” said the vendor. “What landlady-ne-san told me is that she's here on her own country's government's orders.”

 

“Honto ni? I wonder why.”

 

This time, Tezuka looked over at them, and saw that they had their eyes on someone overhead. He followed their gaze, and he found himself looking at the back of a short girl. He recognized the waist-length, pale brown hair.

 

Ringo, he thought. He mentally shrugged and continued walking, musing as he went. So Ringo was here on the British government's orders. But why?

 

He was distracted, however, when a gang of rogue-looking guys standing in front of a boarded-up, dilapidated building about ten feet from him hooted and whistled as Ringo passed by. The girl seemed not to notice, though. She just continued walking until Tezuka lost sight of her.

 

He watched as the gang nodded to each other and straightened up to walk away, and he was alarmed when he realized what their motive was as they also turned to where Ringo had before she had gone from his sight.

 

Tezuka's grip on the plastic he was holding tightened. She's in deep trouble.

 

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

“Konbanwa, Ojou-chan,” a raspy voice said from behind.

 

Ringo swiftly turned around, and her blue-gray eyes sharpened as they fell on four young men, all grinning at her in a maniacal way. Her eyes darted around her. Damn, she thought. No one's around. The street was dark aside from the spots where lampposts are stationed, and no living thing is in sight aside from the four hooligans.

 

“Is there anything I can do for you?” she asked in a dangerous voice. She held a bouquet of assorted flowers protectively in her arms.

 

“Why so skeptic, Ojou-chan?” asked who seemed to be the leader, who wore the hippest clothes and had the largest number of piercing. His hair was spiky and highlighted with green hair dye, and his eyes looked at Ringo wickedly.

 

“Won't you be if someone approaches you in a dark street with no one around?” replied Ringo darkly.

 

The four men laughed.

 

“You have some guts,” said another guy, who had long, yellow-highlighted black hair tied in a loose ponytail. “Why don't you come with us and have some fun? It's not that late.”

 

Ringo smirked. “Sorry, but I have no time with faggots like you. Ja.” She turned her back to them and began to walk away.

 

“Why you…” In a swift movement, the leader grabbed Ringo's shoulder violently to make her face him.

 

The next things happened too quickly to be registered in one's mind.

 

“That's your limit!” shouted Ringo when she felt a hand on her shoulder, throwing the flowers she was holding to one side and using the free hand to punch the leader square in the face.

 

The other three men gaped in disbelief as their leader staggered backward and fell on his back to the ground, unconscious and nose broken and bleeding.

 

“YOU BITCH!” shouted one man as he turned to Ringo, and was slightly taken aback when he saw Ringo in a fighting stance. He smirked. “Martial Arts, eh? Don't get so cocky, wench.” (A/N: Oopsie! I was wrong when I rated this fanfic for all readers! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

 

Ringo smirked more widely. “Try me.”

 

The remaining three men attacked her at the same time. When they were near enough, Ringo launched forward and kicked the nearest man in the stomach. As the man yelped in pain, she rotated her body to punch the other one beside him in the face. Both fell on the ground, meeting the same fate as their leader.

 

“How about you?” Ringo said, resting a foot on one of the guys' stomach, glaring at the last one, who was frozen on the spot, looking at her as though she was a monster.

 

“W-We'll re…mem…ber t-this…” stammered the leader, slowly getting on his feet and supporting one of his fallen `friends.' The remaining unscathed member did the same to the other unconscious man, and they left to the shadows.

 

Once they were out of sight, Ringo eased up and sighed audibly. She stared at the ground sadly. “I shouldn't have done that…” she whispered, closing her eyes. “I'm sorry.”

 

That was when she noticed a person standing in the shadows of a nearby lamppost. She quickly looked up at it, and her eyes widened.

 

“Tezuka…senpai.”

 

Tezuka stepped out of the darkness to approach her.

 

“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking away from him. She felt him stop three feet away from her.

 

An eerie silence ensued. It was a moment before Tezuka went over to one side to pick up the large bouquet of flowers which Ringo had left a while ago to finish off the gang. He then went back in front of her.

 

Ringo hesitantly looked up at him. He was wearing an unreadable expression.

 

“Your hands,” he said. “They're shaking.”

 

Ringo looked at him in mild bewilderment, before looking down at her hands, which fell limply on her sides. Her fingers were indeed shaking.

 

“Here,” Tezuka said.

 

She looked back at her senpai, who was reaching out the flowers. She slowly took it in her arms and glanced at Tezuka with a small smile on her face.

 

“Tezuka-senpai,” she said silently. “Can you…accompany me back home?”

 

 

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

The two of them walked silently. It was quiet aside from their footsteps, and the cold breeze that swept by ruffled Ringo's indigo blouse and white skirt, and Tezuka's loose light-blue shirt. Ringo placed a hand on her hair to stop it from fluttering.

 

“You saw it, didn't you?” she said, after a while.

 

Tezuka gave her a sideways glance. “You did the right thing. I thought you were in trouble, but it seems that you were able to handle it without my help.”

 

Ringo smiled, but not happily. “That always happen.”

 

“What do you mean by that?”

 

Ringo sighed. “I'm the one who's finding trouble. There are many other ways back home other than that way, but I still preferred it because I know something like this will happen.”

 

Tezuka was taken aback, though his face barely showed it. “Why are you doing this?”

 

There was a short pause.

 

“Today is my father's fifth death anniversary,” she said, after a while. “Until now, I still hadn't moved on.”

 

“That explains the flowers.”

 

Ringo nodded. “Every year, whenever it's Dad's death anniversary, I'm crying. But, I'm so lonely that even crying is not enough. Today, I was so sad that I let this happen. I feel so sad that I wanted to hit somebody. I regretted doing it when I saw what happened. I think I should apologize to them.”

 

“That's impossible,” said Tezuka. “You angered them, and it's sure that they'll find every opportunity to have revenge on you.”

 

Ringo sighed for the umpteenth time. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that…”

 

Tezuka stared at her. He hadn't seen anyone look so regretful as her. He looked back at the road ahead and said, “Don't be.”

 

 

 

 

~>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+>+<+> +<+>+<~

 

 

 

 

End of Act vii.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note: Act vii…is a dark chapter, eh? Hehe, I don't know what to think of Ringo now! Ringo, a baddie! Hehe…well, not really…I do hope this chapter satisfies you…Please leave a comment/review….thanks for reading…Ja!