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Learning to Land	By : Suteishichic Category: Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Ohjisama > General Views: 11419 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis (Tennis no Ohjisama), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Learning to Land. Chapter Sixty Eight ~Tachibana~

Warnings: Yaoi, Love, Angst, Fluff, and Lots of Sex. Some kink. You've been warned ;)

Disclaimer: Nope not mine. Still in my dreams. ;)

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Tachibana Kippei's first love was tennis. He fell in love with it at a very early age and loved it with his entire being. It seemed to love him back just as completely. Tennis became his passion and his joy. He figured out that life and happiness were quite simple--he put forth all his sweat, heart, and effort and in return, he would be repaid completely by constantly being a winner. It helped that lady luck was also obviously on his side. His body grew healthy and strong. His mind was quick and bright. His parents, who were by no means wealthy, still found a way to scrape together the money to send him to the best tennis schools in Japan. They kept their son supplied with the best equipment, and sent him to all the best training camps and instructors who kept his hungry mind and active body wrapped up completely in his love.

He understood that in payment for all his parents' hard work and belief in him, Tachibana had just two jobs to do. One was he had to make and maintain excellent grades, and two was that he had to win. If he could just do both of those, his parents would continue to fund his dreams. Tachibana dreamed big and his dreams seemed always within his grasp. He and his instructors believed that he would be nationally ranked before he reached high school, that he would lead one of the top school's tennis teams to win the prestigious national All-Japan championship in both junior high and high school, and that he would turn pro as soon as he graduated high school. For most of Tachibana's life, everything went according to his plan and he could rely on himself to get through any rough spots. Because of this, Tachibana was very confident to the point of being cocky, but he felt it was a confidence he had earned step by step, and sweat drop by sweat drop. He and his parents had sacrificed a lot for his dreams but it was all worth it because his dreams would pay off handsomely in the end.

Tachibana knew he was also attractive. Girls confessed to him all the time and told him how attractive they found him. Even occasionally a guy would say something about how good looking he was. He knew it was true. His body was honed lean muscle from the hours of practice and he was tanned to a honeyed bronze hue from playing in the sun. His hair was his one vanity. He dyed it blond and it kind of looked like a lions mane as he aggressively played. He enjoyed the swirling feel of it around him in the wind he made as he ran. In fact, in news articles praising him he was often described as lion-like for his vicious attacking play style. Tachibana was naturally popular with his fellow students and a favorite of the female population. He was a born leader. He was someone you noticed and wanted to be around, and what was more, he was someone you wanted to notice you in return. He was frequently scouted by other big name schools all offering him all kinds of things from free tuition to other perks if only he would change to their school. Tachibana was always surrounded by an adoring crowd of fans and admirers and he thought that would never end. He was wrong. Within the span of one horrible year he found the things that mattered most to him suddenly no longer seemed to mean anything to him. He somehow had lost it all including himself.

Trying to regain his footing, he made a hard decision to start over completely from scratch. He knew that no matter how bad things were, he would never be able to give up his first love, tennis, so he declined all the invitations that still came in from noted tennis schools all over Japan, schools with prestigious names like Shidoukou, Hyoutei, and Jousei Shounan. Instead he decided upon a school that was near his family's house. For the first time in years, he lived with his family again instead of in a dorm. His new school, nick named Fudomine, was a poor local city school. It was practically unknown and had an unranked sad little tennis club. However, it was specifically because of those factors, that there he planned to rebuild himself and his life. Tachibana did not know if he could make the changes needed to rebuild his life or if he could ever turn it all around in time to go pro. He only knew he didn't like what he saw when he looked in the mirror and needed to start over fresh.

He began with his hair which he shaved off the moment his decision was made. It felt right although it took him several days to quit shaking his head to move his hair off his shoulders--hair that was already gone. Over school break, his hair grew back a few centimeters and he resolved to keep it short and its true black color. He was determined to never be vain about stupid things like appearance again when what was inside of you mattered so much more. Because of what happened, and because of his decision to leave school, friends he had known most of his life now acted as strangers to him. He wondered how he ever liked people like that. Cutting all ties and burning all bridges, he saw things with new eyes and was disgusted with how low he had allowed himself to sink.

Grimly resolved and alone, Tachibana walked to his first day at to his new school alone, anonymous, and un-lauded. It was mid-week and the school year had already started when he transferred in. He quietly registered for classes, and then went immediately after to the teacher's lounge to introduce himself to Fudomine's faculty tennis club supervisor and tennis coach. His name was Mr. Yamamoto or Yamamoto-sensei and he was a short man with a rather protruding belly who seemed to chain smoke. Yamamoto-sensei as Tachibana knew had only started the beginning of the year and was the school's newest English teacher.

Tachibana's main hope was to not be recognized despite being nationally ranked. Thankfully he wasn't--at least not by Yamamoto-sensei even after giving his name. He knew that many coaches would fall over at the boon of having a sudden nationally ranked player join their little club, but here in the middle of nowhere Tachibana was treated as any other newcomer would have been. He tried to keep the pleased grin off his face as Yamamoto-sensei told him in front of six gaping freshmen that he was welcome to participate in the newcomers competition the team was holding in a week along with any other Juniors and Seniors that wanted to try out. The coach explained that so many people had left the tennis club, the school was making them seek out new members. Though Yamamoto-sensei if anything did not seem pleased about the situation. He seemed disgusted and informed Tachibana if he beat the current regulars he could take any of their spots.

Coach Yamamoto then dismissed them all with a negligent wave of his hand, and lit up another cigarette. While once this would have disgusted the junior, he was too elated at things working out so well to barely notice. He had begun a new life and could shape himself from scratch. The six freshmen followed Tachibana out of the teachers' lounge and all of them seemed so distressed, that even though Tachibana did not want to get involved, he hesitated a moment before walking away to find his first class. He turned to look at them and five of the six were staring at their feet as if they just received devastating news, but the sixth, the one with flaming red-hair was staring in awe at him as if he knew who he was.

Tachibana had expected to blend in and just be another nameless, faceless student. He had wanted to escape his past and make a new future for himself. He'd had no other choice really. He was hated at his old school after what happened. Hated and feared and he did not want a repeat performance so it was better to keep his ugly inside hidden where no one could see it until he changed for the better. He reasoned if he just played tennis in such a small place, a place where it didn't matter because the team would never participate in any major tournament, then he would never be tempted to become the monster he knew he was again. Without the temptation, he would grow and learn how to be a better person. It was clear to him from what had happened the year before that highly competitive tennis brought out the very worst in him. And that worst began that summer with what happened at camp. He was a monster and monsters had to be punished, and if no one else was smart enough to know it, he certainly was. He deserved nothing more than scorn and isolation until he proved himself and improved himself. Until then he deserved scorn for the terrible things he had done, and isolation so he never hurt anyone again.

He was totally changed from who he was a year ago. He looked different, felt different, and because of everything that had happened, saw the world in a completely different way. Nothing was the same or going to be the same anymore and his plan to be anonymous even with the coach seemed perfect, so Tachibana had never in a million years thought anyone would recognize him. Not now. Especially another student after everything had been going so well. So on that first day he was too stunned to immediately answer after Kamio Akira gaped open-mouthed at him and excitedly asked, "Uh...excuse me...senpai...are you Tachibana Kippei? THE Tachibana Kippei? THE nationally ranked tennis champion Tachibana Kippei? You are! Aren't you?"

In shock, Tachibana hesitated a split-second too long before answering. Tachibana should have said the guy had him confused with someone else, or lied and said he had never played tennis before. He should have said he was not that Tachibana Kippei any more. He should have said something, anything,other than what he actually said. Sounding defensive and cocky, and like his old self he was trying so hard to no longer be he said, "So what if I am?"

His heart racing, his mood darkened further as he pushed past the thrilled redheaded guy who said too loudly to his friend, "Gods Shinji, do you know who that is? Tachibana-san is nationally ranked! He's in the top five tennis players his age in all of Japan! I wonder what he's doing here!"

Someone else asked passing by the now excited freshman huddle, "What who is doing here?"

Tachibana sped up his walking pace to get away from them all. He cursed his recurring streak of bad luck silently under his breath as he rounded the corner.

Still just before getting out of earshot he heard that redheaded guy say, "Tachibana Kippei! He's this amazing tennis player and he's going to school here!" Tachibana did not stick around to hear the rest. He headed right into the closest men's room with his heart pounding so loud he couldn't hear anything else. Trying to keep his hands from shaking as he washed them and then his face with cold water he tried to console himself that it didn't matter if one guy knew who he was. All the bad things he had done would not follow him here and haunt him. He still had a chance at a fresh start, and once the freshman understood he was no longer that same person, he would have to leave him alone wouldn't he? Besides the guy was just a freshman, so how much influence could one guy have? Really none he decided, despite the five guys that were gathered around him, because they were all probably freshmen. Just newbies to tennis and no one paid any attention to freshmen.

Five minutes and about fifty muttered curses later, his courage and resolve were restored. Tachibana found his first class and tried to blend in by being the new guy. He resolved again to be just the new guy who was barely noticed and for a time he was. Everyone else around him warmly greeted their friends and he was largely ignored--just the way he wanted things.

He got another break because it was raining after school so all the sports clubs' activities were canceled that day. This was amazing to him because in his former school they practiced rain or shine, but at a non-ranked school where sports were considered only fun and exercise he guessed he would have to get used to it. He knew he should consider it a chance to catch up on the homework he was behind in for transferring during the school year, but after sitting in classes all day, he itched to move. He started to walk home when he heard a very distinct and recognizable sound. It was the sound of wet tennis balls being hit. Without thinking, his feet followed the noise to where he fully expected to find some die hard tennis club seniors and maybe juniors practicing.

To his surprise, he all discovered was the six freshmen from earlier that morning soaked to the skin and practicing with all their hearts on some beat up and obviously dis-used courts. There were no nets and few markings left on the ground. Their wet clothes stuck to their skin and were covered in mud as they battled rather than played. Four of them fought in a doubles match, their faces set in grim determination. The other two practiced in the spare area that must have once been a court. They played some strange close quarters, intense game that involved two tennis balls constantly in motion being hit back and forth between the two standing only a few meters apart from each other. Every one of them was so engrossed in what they were doing, that no one noticed him watching them entranced for a long time.

He was simply awed at the raw talent he saw playing before him, and the phrase diamond in the rough came to mind. The redhead was fast and played passionately. He was so fast he moved in a blur, even in this down pouring rain, and if he could only work on his shot accuracy, he would be competition for some of the best players in the best schools. The quiet one playing him with dark blue-black hair had an amazing sense of the ball and seemed to instinctively return any ball the redhead shot to him. Tachibana wondered how long he had been playing because out of all of them, he alone seemed to have had some formal training. Those two grimly played their singles game, the rule of which seemed only to be to keep both balls moving as fast as possible at all times.

In the worn and battered space of what passed for the next court the other four freshmen played a doubles game so hard it seemed as if their lives depended upon it. One with dark brown hair was an excellent strategist and covered the antics of his fast little friend at the net who wore a baseball cap. They played evenly matched with the other pair. The front player on that pair had dark curly hair and was fast with turning the any ground the guy with the baseball hat won quickly back around. His partner was the muscles of the pair. He was taller than everyone else and had long distinctive blond hair he wore back in a large white scarf or bandanna. All four played so hard they made Tachibana's blood race and he considered that if the rest of the team was this good, then somehow he had erred in choosing this school. They all seemed to be playing for blood rather than keeping score. Every one of them was soaked to the point of being drenched, but they were long beyond caring. Tachibana knew that feeling well. He missed it.

He was startled out of his reverie where he had just decided if the doubles teams shifted partners, each team would be stronger and balance each other's weaknesses out when he heard someone call to him, "Oi! Tachibana-san! You wanna play?" It was the redhead and though his sopping wet red hair covered one of his eyes, his grin was wide as if he was thrilled at their being discovered. Everyone stopped playing at his greeting. The six of them seemed pleased that he was there and very proud of themselves for so reason. Tachibana felt suddenly very alone on the outside of the broken fence. He wondered for a moment what it was like to be that close to a team. Sure he had seen teams that were close before, but he had always played singles in such a competitive arena that every match was you fighting to do your best or lose your place. There was little team spirit when you had to be most concerned with yourself.

"No." Tachibana said although everything in him wanted and screamed to say yes. In his mind's eye he clearly knew how to beat each and every one of these freshmen, and yet, he knew that they would each challenge him in some way. And he would challenge them in return even though they would lose. They would learn. They wanted to learn. He could see how eager they were to soak up knowledge. How hungry and excited and open for him to join them.

There were things this rough group could learn, simple things that would up each of their games. They sparked his interest, and he felt his old self stir wanting to defeat all of them soundly to show them he was the best. Yet, because he was trying to be a better person he shook his head no although he could not help giving a little advice, "You guys shouldn't be playing when it's raining so hard. Someone could get hurt." A crack of thunder off in the distance added weight to his words. He turned and with an odd feeling of regret started to walk away.

In less than a minute the redhead in a full out dash had caught up with him. He matched Tachibana's pace, and apparently had grabbed his things. "Uh...thanks Tachibana-san! My name is Kamio Akira! We were just finishing up anyways. So, be honest Tachibana-san, what do you think?" The redhead looked eagerly at him. "Look, I know we're not ready for real games or anything, and we haven't been taught by anyone like you who really knows what he's doing, but we're pretty good aren't we? Be honest." The rest of the freshmen by then had run to catch up with them and walked along. They seemed anxious to hear his words--his judgment. Tachibana kept a brisk walking pace trying to get away from the sudden attention as the redhead continued, "We know we're better than the regulars, and if the coach would just keep his word and let us play in the newcomer competition, we know we could take the regular spots..."

Tachibana with a noise of disgust cut the rambling redhead off in his fast lipped rambling, "Those are your senpai's you are talking about. You should learn to show some respect." The redhead looked at him shocked. His mouth moved but no sound came out of his mouth.

The little guy with the baseball hat interrupted, "Tachibana-san, you don't know what's been going on here! We..."

The dark brown haired guy who played as his doubles partner covered his mouth and quickly said, "Of course, you're right senpai! Please forgive us!" He glared at the little guy with the baseball hat who glared back at him.

The baseball hat said in a harsh whisper, "But he needs to know...!"

The guy with the curly dark hair shushed him as did the guy with the long blond hair wearing the bandanna. While Tachibana was distracted and looking to see who would speak next, the redhead had somehow sped up and was suddenly standing in front of him. Tachibana was only able to stop short enough to not knock them both over from years of tennis requiring quick direction changes. Somehow the redhead knew he would stop in time and he stood there bowing deeply to him. "We know we aren't worth your time, Tachibana-san, but could you please do us the honor of teaching us what we need to know to win? Please! We'll do anything you say...even just a few small pointers would go a long way to help us reach our goals..."

Tachibana looked around at these eager strangers and had to suppress a laugh, "And what are your goals? You're all freshmen right? Do you honestly think a bunch of freshmen stand any chance? Do you think a bunch of freshmen from an unseeded and unknown team without any formal training can win All-Japan?" They were by now all stopped and deeply bowing to him. At his words they all looked up and at each other. Excitement shone in their eyes and then as one they all bowed again.

The redhead, Kamio spoke after a long moment of silence where all Tachibana heard was his heart beating faster and the rain falling, "Maybe, but right now Tachibana-san, all we want is the chance to play." He bowed deeper, "Please help us."

Tachibana went to walk around him--them actually, and continue on his way home. He felt annoyed by them and he realized only then that when he was at his worst, back with how he used to be, he almost always had spoke down to and bullied a lot of young tennis players. A surge of guilt came with another twinge of annoyance at these freshmen now for bringing this feeling out in him. They were not bringing out his best and he decided to be rid of these foolish freshmen as soon as possible. It was absurd for this rag-tag group with no formal training to even consider winning All-Japan. They were as naive as they were untrained--and not his problem. "You'll have to help yourselves. Good luck at the newcomer's competition."

The guy with the long blond hair spoke, "There won't be any newcomer's competition. Not for us, and maybe not for anyone, Tachibana-san. The coach has been promising us a newcomer's competition since the beginning of the year and every week he changes it to the next week, and the week after, and the week after that. It never comes. Over and over he has broken his word to us. That is what we were talking to him about when you came in today."

The short guy with the baseball hat said, "All he tells us is that freshman should learn to pick up balls and learn club traditions. Senpai, when we started this year, there were over thirty club members. Now it's just the seven regulars and us. That's all that's left. All we're asking for is a chance to play. A fair chance."

Tachibana thought it over and came up with the same answer, "If it's club policy that the freshmen don't play, then freshmen don't play. I'm new here. There is nothing I can do. Sorry."

"But...!" The hat guy cried after him as he started to walk away, "But you don't understand Senpai! You don't know what's really going on here! You need to know!" The guy's voice cracked with emotion. Which was strange. It was just tennis. On an unseeded team. In an unknown school. What could bring about this much emotion?

Tachibana slowed down and glanced back. Each of the baseball hat guy's would-be teammates had their hands on the little guy's back or shoulder in a gesture of solidarity and complete support. The redhead Kamio--obviously their leader--said to him softly, "It's okay. Kyousuke, let him go. We're gonna walk him home. You guys stick together. I'll call you later. Love you guys."

Tachibana found that an odd way of parting, but had already returned to walking away at his usual quick pace. Behind he heard them call goodbye to each other with more of that phrase used to each other, "Love you guys." Eventually Kamio and his silent friend with the dark black hair long to his shoulders ran to again catch up with him.

Tachibana said as they fell into step beside him, "There is nothing for me to do, and I do not need you to walk me home."

The redhead peered out at him from his soaking wet hair that covered one eye completely and almost covered the other as well. Tachibana resisted the urge to smooth the hair back so he could see what the guy looked like. Kamio smiled and cheerfully said, "It's okay. We don't mind, do we Shinji? Like I said, I'm Kamio Akira and this is my best friend Ibu Shinji. Shinji is a tensai, but he doesn't talk a lot anymore."

Tachibana turned to look at the guy who nodded at him in greeting. He wondered why the guy didn't talk but quickly squelched his curiosity because he reminded himself he didn't care. It didn't matter and had nothing to do with him.

Kamio picked up the conversation as if it was flowing nicely instead of being completely one-sided, "So did your family just move here and that's why you transferred? But wait you were going to that boarding school so even if they moved you didn't have to. Did something happen? Did you get in trouble? Sorry, you don't have to answer that if you don't wanna. I'm just really glad you're here! I can't wait to see you play! So whod'ya got?" He finally took a breath and Tachibana was going to yell at him to leave him alone but when he turned to look at him, the redhead continued undaunted, "For teachers? Whod'ya got?"

In disbelief of himself Tachibana found himself telling them the teachers he had that he could recall. He even took out his schedule from where he had folded it in his pocket to show it to the redhead. The rain was slowing up but still steadily falling. Just as he thought he really didn't want to get his schedule wet, an umbrella went up over his head. Ibu held it over him with a nod when he said thanks. He listened to Kamio Akira ramble on and on about each of his teachers and all the gossip the guy had heard about them that before he knew it they were down the street from his house. He did not want this overly enthusiastic fan knowing which house was his so he said, "Thanks for seeing me home, I live right down the street."

Kamio shook his wet hair out of his eyes for a moment and Tachibana noticed his brow was creased as if in confusion. He looked over at his friend and nodded. Then he said a bit deflated, "Oh...uh...okay. Well, see you tomorrow!" He smiled as if for some reason his heart was breaking.

Tachibana said good night and started to walk away, but he felt so bad about that last smile he saw, that he reminded himself that being a better person started with being kind. He turned and said, "Kamio, you need to work on the accuracy of your shots. Catching up to the ball is no good if you can't make it go where you need it to when you get there. And have your doubles teams switch partners. It will balance out their weaknesses. You both play singles?"

Slack-jawed Kamio nodded.

"Who is your third singles player? Does someone play both?" Tachibana asked and suddenly his head was filled with possibilities again.

Kamio found his tongue, "We can all play both when we need to." He bowed deeply again, as did his friend, but only Kamio spoke, "Thank you Tachibana-san!"

Hiding a smile, Tachibana turned to go home, but the laugh and cheer the redhead made as he jumped on his friend made Tachibana pause. He went to continue on when he heard Kamio yell back, "Oi! Tachibana-san? Maybe our third singles player is you! Think about it Tachibana-san! We're good! I know we're good! Good night! Thank you!" He had just reached his front steps when he heard the guy yell so loudly it echoed, "See Shinji! I told you he was a great guy! Wait and see Shinji! Every thing's gonna be better now! Yes! Woo-hoo!"

Despite smiling and feeling better about himself, Tachibana wondered what the hell exactly what all that meant. He figured it wouldn't matter because it wasn't like he was going to really see or talk to those freshmen again. He was a junior and would spend time with the other senpais.

Two weeks later, Tachibana walked along in the chilly morning rain on his way to school and felt wet and annoyed. He knew already what would happen when he rounded the corner, and there was no avoiding it, just like there was no avoiding feeling damp and cold on a day like this. He knew it and no matter what he had tried, he just could not stop it from happening every morning when he walked to school or every afternoon when he walked home.

He sighed ten steps from the corner to get some of his frustration out of his system so he wouldn't let the source of his great annoyance know he was slowly being worn down as constant and unyielding rain wears down even the most formidable mountain of pure stone. Slowly drip by drip the rain seeps in and makes cracks. Cracks which eventually widen as the drips become trickles, the trickles streams, and the streams mighty rivers polishing the hard cold stone smooth as it wears it down before washing it away.

He had to accept that there was nothing he could do about this. It was surely going to happen just like it did every single day. Oh he had tried taking other routes. He had tried arriving late and leaving early as many times as he had tried leaving early and going home late. He had tried every single thing he could think of to stop this, but nothing worked. No matter what he did or how he tried to avoid it, the freshmen, especially Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji would not leave him alone.

Sure enough, he rounded the corner and despite the drab gray morning, the first thing he saw to his annoyance was a shock of blood-red hair. So impossibly red it gleamed despite the water saturating the head it sat upon. Next as always he noticed a nearby head of dark black hair, so black it was blue in the light. Not that there was a lot of light today. The only variation this morning was the blue black head was standing in the shadows under a large black umbrella. Why the one guy was under the umbrella and his best friend was soaking wet, Tachibana couldn't venture a guess. Not that he cared of course. Just like he didn't care that the smaller redhead was listening to his mp3 player as always even though his hair was so wet that it was dripping dangerously. The guy could be electrocuted.

He didn't care, really it was just he didn't understand why this happened every single day. He truly did not know why the small red haired boy insisted on meeting him every morning here with his silent best friend or why the three of them had to walk to school together every day. He certainly did not encourage this. He did not want the attention or the camaraderie of the small, enthusiastic auburn-haired guy who as always when he noticed Tachibana rounding the corner blasted out a music-deaf too loudly yelled greeting of, "Oi! Tachibana-san! Good morning!"

And as happened every morning, the other guy, thin and perhaps mute just looked at him and nodded. Ibu Shinji had not spoken one word that Tachibana had heard. He had heard things about him though, that the guy was a genius, some even said like Kamio had the word tensai implying that he was some kind of child-prodigy. Tachibana figured this had to be true enough, because it was only on the second day that he realized the freshman was in several of his junior classes including his chemistry class. When he had walked in the class and was introduced by the instructor, he hadn't noticed the silent guy in the corner, but the moment the instructor asked for volunteers to be his lab partner, Ibu's hand had shot up in the air long before anyone else's. So he discovered they were lab partners, and in fact in every class they had together, Ibu had raised his hand or volunteered first so that now they were seatmates too. By the instructors' pleased clucking on how Ibu would get Tachibana caught up in no time, he figured the teachers liked Ibu well enough that the guy had to be fairly intelligent--even for someone who couldn't speak.

Tachibana had heard something about that too and there seemed to be a lot of rumors surrounding the six freshmen. Supposedly Ibu's mother was sick and his father deserted the family. The rumor was that Ibu lived alone, and when his mother went into the hospital, he stopped speaking completely. Everyone seemed to accept this story enough and even the teachers indulged the freshman in his silence, although Tachibana knew it could all just be rumor. Ibu had become adept enough to making his words and feelings known without paper or pencil in little subtle ways most of the time. When his best friend was around though, Kamio translated for him and seemed to be able to read his best friend's very thoughts.

There were other rumors about the tennis club also. Rumors of why so many people had quit the club. It was a hotly debated and whispered topic. Some said that there had been beatings and sexual assaults on club members, but no one had come forward. The team had started the year with thirty seven members and was now down to thirteen before Tachibana joined. Interestingly enough all of the former club members had quit the school which, as students whispered to Tachibana in warning, should tell you something. Everyone warned him to be careful, but who he had to be careful of or what he had to watch out for he was not certain. He felt like he had walked into a mess, and it weighed heavily upon him. He had been so sure for some reason that coming to Fudomine had been the right choice, and he was disheartened to discover his instinct to transfer here was so completely wrong.

Tachibana said a terse good morning as he passed Kamio and Ibu by. He was as lost in his dark thoughts as he was hoping to leave them far behind. He knew they were not the source of his troubles, but he sensed there were things the freshmen weren't telling him. Not just these two either but it seemed to be all six of them holding important things back. He continued walking past them and the two boys scrambled to catch up to his quick long-legged stride. They each walked on either side of him. Kamio as was becoming usual, filled in the conversation for all three of them. Tachibana grunted occasionally and wished the guy would shut up for five seconds, and the other boy never uttered a sound but held the umbrella over mostly Tachibana's head as if he was a prince or some kind of royalty.

As Kamio prattled on about the weather and tried to get him to verbally speculate as to whether there would be afternoon tennis practice or not, Tachibana tried again to think of a nice, gentle way to discourage this from happening every morning. He had tried hinting. He had tried telling them outright to not show up or wait for him, but they always did. He thought ruefully that no good deed goes unpunished. The nice thing though about Kamio talking his ear off all the way to school was that it took up most of the morning classes for Tachibana to digest all the verbiage the teen was able to rapid-fire pack and spew into his morning monologue. It filled up the lonely spaces when Ibu wasn't silently sitting in class next to him. In his other classes at school no one else spoke a word to him--unless it was to ask Tachibana questions about himself he didn't want to answer or to fill him in on more gossip, speculations, and rumors. Either about the six freshmen or the tennis club mysteries.

Kamio that morning was particularly excited as they walked to the tennis club room to change. Every morning it had been only Tachibana and the freshmen bothering to warm up and practice. As he was the only senpai there, he naturally started telling them things to work on and tried to help them out. Little things, nothing big and the first few mornings this had happened, he expected the captain and the rest of the team to be annoyed at him for stepping on their toes. Instead they only showed up in the morning long enough to trash the locker room, give the freshmen grief and threats, and to assign them laps to run. The regulars assigned the freshmen so many laps to run that there was no possible way they could finish before school began so for some reason they all ran them during lunch every day. It wasn't until the day before, almost two weeks after arriving at Fudomine, that Tachibana discovered the freshmen all had his same lunch period. He had never seen them there before because they stuck together, ate together, and ran their falsely assigned laps together.

The other four freshmen greeted them when they arrived in the club room. Everyone filled Tachibana in as they all changed on what they did the afternoon before. Despite the problems they were having, they were all in very high spirits. Everyone had gotten out of practice early the day before, to Tachibana's disgust, because the five seniors and two juniors who comprised the tennis club regular members decided yet again they had things to do. This meant in reality they wanted to get burgers and go to an arcade rather than practice.

So Tachibana and the freshmen the day before again practiced for a while alone until he decided based on the fifty laps the freshmen had run between the morning and lunch they were done for the day. Uchimura told him the six of them had walked Tachibana home and then apparently gone on to some nearby public tennis doubles court to play various doubles teams. Kamio and his band of freshmen had used some of the simple things and team orderings Tachibana had taught them. Ishida excitedly told Tachibana they cleanly swept even the best teams there. They were hoping to get out again early today and go back. This time though, Kamio invited Tachibana along, but in such a way it was hard for him to say no partly because they were so enthusiastic, but mostly because they never really paused to listen for his answer before going on and on about how well they had done. He found he didn't have it in him to disappoint them, and really he had nothing better to do anyway.

Two weeks had gone by and one thing was clear to Tachibana, he was never going to get his shot to play the regulars--just as the freshmen said. The five seniors and even the two juniors on the team--guys in his own class treated him poorly but they treated the six freshmen even worse. The coach when he bothered to show up--usually smoking the entire time--usually ogled girls around the grounds with the seniors or made rude comments about the freshmen. There was no real supervision and no real team, and Tachibana had just about enough before he started seeing all the hazing the freshmen had to endure. It was constant and took place both in school and out. It was worse than the pointless seemingly endless laps they were constantly ordered to run, and worse than the far flung tennis balls they had to chase down--often aimed at them. It was worse than the locker room that was trashed daily--to the point of the regulars urinating and defecating knowing the freshmen had to clean it up. It was far worse than the physical bullying they were forced to endure silently. They were tripped and kicked "accidentally" as often as they were accidentally punched or shoved to the ground. All that Tachibana had seen before.

Any guys in a competitive setting could expect some hazing, but what shocked him was the level and the intensity of it here where there was no need. And his shock and concern grew as he began to notice all the sexual comments the freshmen were subject to. Things were said and threats were made that locked Tachibana's fists in rage and set his blood to boiling. No one should have to put up with this, especially good guys like these six freshmen. At his worst, and most monstrous, at his most egocentric, Tachibana knew he his friends were never this cruel and out of control.

Kamio maybe because he seemed to be the freshmen's leader was a frequent target, and yet Tachibana gave him and the other freshmen grudging respect for putting up with it and still showing up every day. None of them ever fought back even when they "accidentally" were hit or punched. Kamio, quick to temper normally, never hit back when they knocked him to the ground, instead he stared at his tormentors defiantly until they laughed at him. Occasionally Kamio or another freshman tried to challenge one of the older boys to play a match, but the seniors always backed down and the two juniors always deferred to the seniors.

Tachibana also began to notice that none of the six freshmen were ever by themselves. They always walked the halls and to and from school together, and while at first he thought it was just because they were all friends, it was the constant to and from school walks Kamio and Ibu met him on every day that made him wonder if they were trying to in some way protect him too.

That day though despite their excitement from playing so well the day before, something was different. All six of them were tense and taut like bowstrings even as they stretched to warm up. It was as if they were waiting for something bad to happen. Tachibana noticed, the biggest freshman, the strong one, Ishida Tetsu, had worn his bandanna to school on his head, but Tachibana could clearly see, underneath it, his long blond hair was gone. The other five gave small glances to him and to each other, and Ishida blushed when he noticed they were watching him. He wondered if the guy had a sudden impulse to cut his hair or if his parents maybe made him. No one was talking about it and there was no good natured ribbing as he would normally expect to see between the close friends. To dispel the tension Tachibana said to him, "A few weeks ago, I had blond hair as long as yours. Sometimes change is good, and it grows back."

"Oh...uh...thanks Tachibana-san..." Ishida stammered his reply and looked away.

Tachibana looked around confused wondering what he had done wrong. They all looked away. Their faces looked furious or upset except for Ishida who looked embarrassed and blushed. No one would meet his eyes except for Ibu who shook his head no slightly to let Tachibana know he should let the matter drop. He nodded back to Ibu telling him he would, and Ibu inclined his head politely as if in thanks. Wondering what was going on and noticing how stressed everyone still was, he suggested that they run five warm up laps. It would do them all good he figured for them to move. To further motivate them he ran with them and halfway through said whoever came in first could play him. Though he had practiced with them, he had not yet played and of them. He suddenly was burning with the need to seriously play someone.

All six of them took off running after a moment of shock at hearing his challenge. Apparently they wanted to see him play as badly as he needed to. Tachibana found himself having to suddenly run hard just to catch up. Speed demon Kamio was in the lead although both Ibu and Uchimura were keeping pace with him as they began the last lap, while Ishida, Sakurai, and Mori were not far behind. Tachibana was squarely in the middle and impressed. All those laps the freshmen had been forced to run had clearly paid off in speed and stamina because they could all apparently keep up. Or so he though at they ran around halfway through the last lap. With a laugh after looking over his shoulder, Kamio announced, "I'm gonna have to up my tempo! Sorry but the winner will be me!" He took off suddenly like a shot and Tachibana was awed by his speed.

The rest of them fought to catch up but how can you possibly catch up with someone whose feet are so fast they never even seem to hit the ground. Tachibana was reminded of Hermes with wings on his shoes because Kamio might have been wearing them. He beat the others including Tachibana easily. They were breathing hard but not winded, Tachibana noted. He assigned everyone courts and decided to take on Kamio first and then next Ibu who had come in second without giving anyone the chance to rest. He was very pleased when the freshmen went immediately to play without one of them making a groan or any noise of protest asking for a rest. They seemed if anything recharged and in a better mood than earlier.

At least they were until the regulars walked into the courts a moment later. They were earlier than they had been since Tachibana arrived, and half of them looked barely awake although the air crackled with tension again. Not one of them was dressed to practice, but instead they seemed only there to cause trouble. The supposed captain and his cronies walked right up to Ishida and ordered him to remove his bandanna saying some lame excuse that it was not regulation or allowed. Blushing, Ishida did and only then did Tachibana notice that his hair was not only gone, his head was cleanly shaven. The seniors and other juniors laughed at him and called him names ranging from cue ball, to baldy, to then saying how his head looked like a naked penis. They ordered the freshmen to do twenty laps with baldy in the lead around the school so everyone could see the shine of his head. As the freshmen went to run, several of the seniors spit on Ishida's head and made gestures of polishing it saying they wanted it to gleam. Ishida and the freshmen offered no resistance and Tachibana could not understand why. This was beyond hazing or team pranks. He found himself saying in disgust as another person coughed up phlegm before spitting on Ishida, "That's enough!"

Everything around him for a moment froze after everyone turned to look at him. Even Ishida, mortified and blushing met his eyes for an instant. The only person who moved was Ibu who unnoticed by everyone else shook his head ever slightly no. Had everyone else been moving, Tachibana would have missed it. He had no idea why the freshmen were willing to let this go on, but he was not.

The seniors sneered at him and the captain said calmly as if nothing was going on, "Is there a problem Tachibana? I'm sorry...am I bothering your freshmen?"

Ibu shook his head again slightly no. His eyes bore into Tachibana's almost pleading with him to let this go, but he found he couldn't.

What he figured he could do though, was borrow a little of his old self and get them all out of this by taking the focus off of them and putting it on himself. Tachibana answered the sneers with his most confident and cocky smile. He offered, "Shall we play for it then...senpai?" He paused long enough and said the honorific with enough sarcasm to turn it into a direct challenge. Tachibana ignored Ibu's head shaking no...no...no more and more emphatically and suggested, "One game, senpai? What do you say? I'll even let you serve."

The captain after a moment snorted at him and said to his friends, "Look at the new guy getting all serious! We haven't even had breakfast yet! Hell, I'm not even dressed to play. Lighten up Tachibana! Learn to enjoy life--you'll live much longer if you do." At this all the seniors and other juniors laughed as they walked away. They made parting remarks at Ishida standing there not even removing the dripping spit and goo from his head and face as they left. No one except Tachibana in fact moved until they were gone and long out of earshot. The freshmen stood there taking the abuse until Tachibana broke the silence by handing Ishida his own towel and saying, "Here."

Ishida said a very quiet thank you as his face flamed red and his eyes burned with rage. His hand was shaking as he wiped himself off.

Kamio moved past him, touching Ishida softly on his shoulder before ordering the rest of them, "Let's go."

As one all six moved to walk off the court. Tachibana did not understand what was going on until he suddenly figured out where they were going. "You're running? You did nothing wrong. They're not even here. You don't have to do this."

Mori touched Tachibana's shoulder as he passed in a show of support, "Thank you for helping us, but we decided you were right Tachibana-san. They're our senpais, for now, and we need to show them some respect as you said. When we're done running however, we will be honored to practice with you, Tachibana-san."

The rest of them bowed at him including Ibu and as one they started running--leaving Tachibana standing there feeling furious and frustrated.

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Learning to Land