96Sister of the Prince- Chapter 4
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A/N: I know, I know, it took me a really long time to write this, and I'm sorry you guys had to wait! Forgive me? Anyways, here's the latest chapter of 'Sister of the Prince'.
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Echizen Ryuu is 170cm. She has dyed white (Actually platinum blonde) hair with cat-like golden eyes.
Yukimura Seiichi is 175cm. He has dark blue hair with grey eyes.
Sanada Genichirou is 180cm. He has black-blue hair and light brown eyes.
Marui Bunta is 164cm. He has reddish-pink hair with light purple eyes.
Jackal Kuwahara is 178cm. He doesn't have hair (lol. I just couldn't resist putting this here). His eye color is brown.
Niou Masaharu is 175cm. He has silver-grey hair with teal blue eyes.
Yagyuu Hiroshi is 177cm. He has purple hair. His eyes are usually hidden behind his glasses.
Kirihara Akaya is 168cm. He has black hair with green eyes.
Yanagi Renji is 181cm. He has brown hair and brown eyes.
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"Ring ring, ring ring…"
The alarm started ringing and barely five seconds later, the…'unfortunate'…alarm went flying across the room, missing Nanako by mere centimeters.
Nanako's eyes screwed shut and her arms quickly rose in a cross, above her head protectively, keeping her safe from any major harm.
After a moment of silence, she cracked opened an eye, breathing out a relieved sigh, before proceeding to properly stomp over to Ryuu, dragging her out from under the blanket by her ear. "Ryuu…" she growled, "don't throw things randomly…! Has it ever occurred to you that it might actually hit someone…?"
Ryuu woke up immediately from the pain, hands shooting to her ear where Nanako was gripping so hard. "Itai-tai-tai…! Gomen, gomen…! I won't do it again…!"
"Ryuu…! Don't you know-!"
-10 minutes of agonizingly slow torture later…-
"Well! Off you go! You still have to get ready for school!" Nanako said cheerfully, all traces of anger from before completely gone.
When she left, Ryuu clutched at her heart, sweating heavily. "This is why I always wonder why people find me 'scary' when they haven't even met Nanako-chan! I swear she's bi-polar!"
Nanako's head appeared in the doorway, her smile ever so beautiful. "Did you say something, dear?"
"No…" Ryuu said slowly, "nothing at all…"
"That's what I thought!"
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"He~y! Ryuu! Today is the day you promised senpai the continuation of the match! You have to meet him!"
Ryuu looked up from her psychology book. "Aa…? Alright then, I'll see him later."
Kirihara groaned. "You have to be kidding me…! That's all you can say…?"
Ryuu quirked an eyebrow, as if wondering if he even needed to ask. Kirihara sighed. "Yeah…I shouldn't have asked."
The corner of Ryuu's lips twitched up. "Well, then…you better go back to you seat, huh, Kirihara-kun? Seeing as sensei is so venomously glaring at you," said the white-haired student, finally looking up from his book, smiling sweetly.
Kirihara faltered, looking over his shoulder, and met the steadily darkening face of their sensei. He actually let out a soft, unmanly "Eep!", which he quickly covered his mouth, hoping no one heard. When he looked around, to his relief, his classmates were either chatting away or munching on something, too busy to notice the sound from him. However, when he glanced at Ryuu cautiously, he paled.
Ryuu's lips moved upwards, slowly forming the most sadistic smile the messy-haired boy had seen, making him sweat buckets. Ryuu's fringe was covering his eyes, deepening the effect and terror it inflicted. Slowly, he raised his hand, showing a tape recorder. Before he could click on the button though, Kirihara tackled him to the ground, ferociously trying to wrestle the tape recorder away from the 'evil' classmate of his.
At the close contact, Ryuu flushed a little, expertly hiding it in a couple of seconds.
Suddenly, they felt an unearthly killing intent from behind. "Kirihara Akaya!"
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"Oi~! Ryuuuuuuuuuuu…!" the messy haired boy whined, "let's go already!"
Ryuu sighed, snapping the book shut. "Alright... I suppose I do have a promise to fulfill, after all."
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The tennis gates made a grating sound when unlocked. The regulars looked towards the door, taking a short break from their practice.
A head of white hair peeked out from behind the gates, as well as startling golden cat-like eyes, which curved into a semi-circle when he spotted them. "Aa…Ohayo, senpais…"
Messy black hair (that some would call seaweed) that looked uncombed and a pair of emerald green eyes that blinked from the hot sun when greeted them with his usual nonchalance. "Ohayo, minna-san…!"
The third-years all nodded their heads slightly in a show of acknowledgement, before continuing their practice as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Ryuu sweat dropped and entered the tennis courts, thinking that the Kirihara's behavior was probably normal for him, and thoughtfully stepped aside to let his classmate pass through.
Kirihara perked up and looked around in a child-like behavior, before spotting who he was looking for. He waved wildly at the said person. "Ohayo~! 'Mura-buchou! You're finally back…!"
Their ''Mura-buchou' had dark blue hair and shining grey eyes. He smiled kindly and looked at Ryuu. "Aa… are you Echizen Ryuu that they've been telling me about these past two days?"
Ryuu blinked, seeming like a cat even more with his eyes. "Ahh…hai. Yoroshiku, senpai."
"Right… well, it seems you're here for the match with Niou, right?"
Ryuu nodded.
"Well then, let's get to it!"
Marui cheered. "Alright! Finally! Some action!"
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"So we start from…"
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"Game set and match! 7-6! Echizen!"
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Kirihara, Marui, Jackal and the non-regulars who had been around by chance when they started playing were gaping at Niou who was on fours on the ground, panting and dripping heavily with sweat.
Sanada's face darkened. "Echizen…"
Ryuu, who was slightly out of breath from the match, looked up hearing his name being called. "Just call me Ryuu, Sanda-senpai."
"…Since you have defeated one of our regulars, you have to join the tennis club. Our rule is that no one can lose. It is your responsibility since you defeated Niou."
Ryuu scowled. "No way. I told you I was joining the Karate club, did I not?"
"…Niou will be kicked out of the regulars unless you join, since it is a disgrace to lose to someone who is not even in our team."
Kirihara's eyes widened. "Wha-! Senpai! You can't do this! We need Niou-senpai!"
"…I can and I will."
Ryuu frowned. "…Fine. Since it was my fault, I will take responsibility."
Just then, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break. Kirihara groaned and dashed off, breaking the others out of their stupor as well. Everyone except Ryuu, Sanada and Yukimura had left to go to their classes.
Ryuu sighed. "Ne, senpai…sure I defeated Niou-senpai, but you didn't have to go that far, you know? I would have eventually joined if you piqued my interest enough anyways."
"…Yeah. But that would have taken a really long time knowing your personality."
The white-haired girl laughed. "Yeah. That's true. You probably wanted me in time for some competitions, huh?"
Yukimura stepped in. "Ryuu-kun, it's not like that. I will be leaving for the hospital soon for an operation, so we need someone to step in for awhile."
Ryuu sighed. "That's fine, but are you sure this is alright? Since you are a boys' tennis team after all." When he heard no response, she looked down from the blue sky and peeked at her senpai's face.
Sanada's mouth was slightly open in a gape while Yukimura was blinking furiously. "E-eh…? Ryuu-kun is a girl?"
Ryuu smirked. "Oh, you guys weren't able to tell? At least now I know that my disguise can fool even senpai-tachi."
After a minute of awkward silence, Yukimura spoke up. "If I recall, a couple of years ago, the tennis association made a rule that girls were allowed to take part in boys' tournaments/competitions. But since most of the girls were either uninterested or would rather cheer us on instead, there has never been a girl that competed in the entire history of competitions."
"…well I'm all clear then. This should be fun…I might get to meet Ryo-chan on the courts."
"…Ryo-chan?"
The second-year girl smiled. "Hi-mit-su~!"
Chuckling, Yukimura started walking off, Sanada following behind. "Ja, Ryuu. There's practice later on, so please attend."
Ryuu smiled slightly. "Aah… I don't feel like attending class today. Seems like a little skipping class is in order."
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A sleeping figure on the rooftop woke up, yawning and stretched. Ryuu checked her watch. "Aah…school's over already. I have to go for tennis practice."
With that, she walked down the stairs and headed towards the tennis changing rooms.
When she walked, in, she was greeted with a sight that she would rather not have seen…and that sent her blushing furiously.
Kirihara looked at her just when she managed to get her emotions under control. "Hey! Ryuu! Start changing, alright? Buchou is going to have our ass if we don't get there soon. The other regulars (besides Sanada and Yukimura) made grunts of acknowledgement.
"I-it's alright… I-I'll w-wait outside for you to finish c-changing…" Ryuu cursed her stuttering voice and noticed that she had started blushing furiously again. Even her ears felt warm.
Kirihara and the rest of them stared at her sudden stuttering. Niou spoke his mind. "Ryuu…? Why are you stuttering and blushing furiously like a girl?"
If it was possible, Ryuu blushed harder, and escaped the changing room, collapsing on the wall next to the door, her knees betraying her, making her sink to the ground.
She buried her head in her hands, still blushing.
A couple of moments later, after she got her blushing under control again, the regulars exited the room. One of them spoke (she wasn't sure which one), "Ryuu…are you gay?"
Her blushing came back full-force again. Her head shot up, and she said in a scandalized tone, "No! Baka senpai-tachi…I'm a girl!"
It took a few moments for it to sink in. "…Uso!" Kirihara, recalling that he had been standing in front of Ryuu, blushed even harder than Ryuu was blushing now. Amongst the regulars, there were a couple of others that were blushing hard as well. They included: Marui, Niou, Yagyuu and Jackal (who was so tan that it wasn't very obvious). Yanagi was the only one not blushing, writing down the new information in his notebook and all.
After Ryuu got over her embarrassment, she told them, "I'm going to change, so can you guys explain to 'Mura-buchou for me?"
They nodded in response to her request, walking off to the courts.
Ryuu changed quickly, not wanting someone who came late to walk in on her changing, since it was the boys' changing room.
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"This is our newest regular, Echizen Ryuu. He beat Niou, so he has the qualifications to be a regular."
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The first few days were pretty awkward for the regulars since they were conscious about a girl training with them, but they got over it quickly seeing as Ryuu trained just as, if not even harder, than them. What they didn't know, however, is that when Ryuu got home, she trained even harder, weights, speed-training, sound training, she did them all.
Seeing his sister work so hard, even when she said that she wasn't going to play tennis for awhile, Ryoma worked much harder than before, not wanting to lose to her. If she got even stronger than she was now (which she was), he was never going to be able to beat her, let alone his oyaji!
It was a wonder that both of them didn't collapse from the daily training that they did each day, but it did miracles for their body and strength.
During this time, Ryuu had noticed that she was relying on her sight too much and was slightly slow when she could not see the shot. It had probably something to do with her perception ability, taking note of everything her opponent was doing and predicting what they were going to do, but it had made her rely on her eyes too much.
Thus, she acquired a black blindfold that she now wore every time she trained. Since her hair had been long enough to cover her eyes, no one had noticed anything out of the ordinary as of yet.
She was often paired up with Kirihara, being the same year and all, and Kirihara had grown leaps and bounds, his competitive spirit rising during every training session.
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"Ryuu, Akaya, go have a practice match!" said Sanada, calling out to the two who were currently lazing around.
"Hai!"
Both sophomores stood facing each other across the net. "Rough or smooth?"
Ryuu chose rough and Akaya spun the tennis racket. It landed on smooth.
"Service."
"End."
Kirihara served using a normal speed.
Ryuu's blindfold was still on (not that anyone knew) and she ran accordingly to the sound that his racket had made when he hit the ball and returned the speed normally as well.
"Game, 4 all!"
Ryuu served and accidentally hit Kirihara in the face, making him fly back with the force of the ball.
The regulars watching them paled. Yukimura had told him that he wasn't allowed to use it on other tennis members in their school, but when someone hurt him using a tennis ball, it came out anyway.
Akaya's eyes turned bloodshot, and he started releasing killing intent. Startled, Ryuu ripped the blindfold off her eyes, hurting them a little at the sudden sunlight.
They gaped at her. She was wearing a blindfold? How come they never noticed?
Ryuu started cursing. "I knew it! I knew I saw you before somewhere!"
"Heheheh…enough talking! Let's start playing already!"
Ryuu's face darkened. "Tch…fine. I'll show you that you can't use it lightly."
A return was aimed at Ryuu's knee at full-speed. To her, it looked like it was hardly moving at all. She moved away and returned the shot using her full-speed. The watching regulars couldn't see it at all.
Startled, their eyes widened. "…Ne, Genichirou…is that faster than yours?"
"…it just might be."
If it was an anime, there would probably be an "!" mark above their heads.
The match ended in a couple of minutes, at the score of 6-4, the demon of Rikkaidai not scoring a single point. Just before Akaya collapsed, she said, "…Be thankful that I didn't go all out in those shots at all."
At her statement, the regulars gaped, including Sanada who looked lost and confused. His best speed had probably just been topped and here she was, saying that she didn't even go all out. What kind of training had she been doing at home? It definitely wasn't due to the training regimen that she had been given by Renji.
Just then, Akaya collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. Ryuu sighed. "Senpai-tachi, I'll bring him to the nurse's office, so please go on training. Still in their stupor, they just stared at her blankly. Thankfully Yukimura had recovered enough to give her his permission.
Ryuu picked him up with one hand and carried him bridal style. They continued gaping at her.
When she left, they broke out of their awe. Marui and Niou started snickering. "If Akaya finds out he was carried like a girl by a girl, he's going to flip."
The others started laughing and even Sanada allowed a smile to slip through.
"I don't think any of us ever thought that she was holding back so much. Besides, did you see that blindfold she ripped off when Akaya went into devil-mode?"
They nodded, agreeing with their captain's view of things.
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-In the nurse's office-
Akaya slept like a log on the bed, whilst Ryuu stayed by his side on the chair that the nurse had left there for other students who did something similar to her and waited for their friends to wake up. The nurse had not reached school yet and Ryuu applied first-aid on Akaya's face, cleaning up the dirt and stuck a bandage on his nose.
Watching him sleep, Ryuu was suddenly struck by the thought that he was really adorable when he was sleeping, not at all alike when he was awake. She blushed a little when she realized what she just thought, shaking her head like it was going to help her get rid of the unwanted thoughts.
A couple of hours of waiting later, he woke up, groaning. "Itai…did anyone get the license plate number of the truck that ran me over?"
Ryuu laughed a little. "No…but the person that caused you to pass out from exhaustion is right in front of you."
His brain caused him to have a headache when the memories suddenly came rushing back at him. "Oh man…Sorry, Ryuu! I can't control myself when I go into Devil-mode… though if I recall correctly, you didn't get hit at all."
At this time, the lunch bell rang, and the regulars came piling in moments later. "Aka-chan~! Are you alright?"
Akaya scratched the back of his head sheepishly, and said, "Yeah. Oh man…this is embarrassing. I couldn't even get a shot in even though I went into Devil-mode."
Ryuu's lips twitched. "Heh. Don't feel bad. Since yours is just a copy of the original."
His eyes widened. "How did you know that?"
The rest blinked. "Eh?" they said in union.
"Right…it's a copy…Akaya…don't you remember the person you got it from anymore?"
He scrunched up his face thinking. "…I don't remember her face anymore, but I remember thinking she was really pretty and really strong."
Ryuu flushed slightly. "…Right. Well, you went to a tennis tournament in China and watched the 14-16 year olds play tennis. Amongst one of them, there was an eight year old that won the tournament. You were amazed at her ruthlessness, but she pieced them back together and reversed the psychological damage that she caused each of them. At the end of the tournament, you approached her and asked her if you could use her style in the future. She told you it was fine as long as you didn't claim the credit of using that style."
Akaya's eyes widened. "How did you know that? Only I should have known that since I went to watch by myself."
Ryuu's smile from before widened to an evil smirk. "How I know…? Why, there should be someone else who knows, right? Since…that person you asked is…me."