Glen's Fanfiction - Prince of Tennis - Rematch

Characters: Ryoma Echizen, Tezuka Kunimitsu.

The day was bright and clear, with just a hint of a chill to the air, indicating that summer was coming to an end, autumn was right around the corner.  Ryoma stepped onto the Tennis Courts, setting his bag down against one of the walls before working through his stretching routine to prepare himself for his regular practise.

"You're late, Echizen! 10 laps around the court!" a familiar, but commanding voice cut through the air, causing him to smirk.  He turned to face Tezuka, saying "Ah, but I'm not in the tennis club anymore and neither are you, 'Captain'.  I trust you are well?"

"As well as can be expected." Tezuka replied, giving a friendly handshake; he had not been back from Germany for long and wanted to see how well his old teammates had been doing in his absence.

"Good to hear.  What brings you out this way anyway?" Ryoma asked, curiously, continuing his warm-up exercises.  "Would you like to play a game against me? It has been a long time since we played against each other... I think the last time was when you told me you wanted me to become Seigaku's pillar of support."

"Sounds like fun." Tezuka moved to the far end of the court, spinning his racket against the ground to determine who would start.  "Rough or Smooth?"

"Smooth." The racket dropped to the ground, rough-side up; Ryoma had lost the starting toss.

"I win, but I'll receive. You can serve." Tezuka said, moving into his ready position, waiting for Ryoma to serve.

"If you're sure..." Ryoma started dribbling the tennis ball repeatedly against the court, his usual tell-tale sign that he was going to use his signature serve.  Surely enough, he hurled the ball up in the air, swinging at it powerfully, sending it flying at Tezuka.

Tezuka dropped down low, ready for the ball to fly up as it always did; Ryoma's "twist serve" had a nasty habit of flying up at the receivers face.  He knew just how to counter it though, having come up against many skilled opponents in Germany.  He caught the ball and sent it flying back at a slightly surprised Ryoma, who intercepted the ball without missing a beat.

"Didn't expect me to return it so easily, did you? Tezuka asked, keeping his usual straight face, never one to give away his intentions easily.

The exchange between the two of them continued for a while, Ryoma a little perplexed for a moment that Tezuka was returning all his volleys with ease, when it occured to him that Tezuka had not moved from the centre of the court. He was using the 'Tezuka Zone', a skill that manipulated the spin of the ball so that it always returned within hitting distance from him.

"You cheater!" Ryoma called out, giving a laugh, not meaning what he had just said in the slightest, he knew quite well what his old captain was capable of.

Tezuka responded calmly "Perhaps I should start playing more seriously then." Ryoma saw him drop his racket just slightly, knowing what was coming next, but still unable to respond in time, as Tezuka flicked the ball deftly, performing a drop shot that landed near the net on Ryomas side without so much as an extra bounce.

Ryoma gave a groan, moving to scoop up the ball. He gave a mock glare at Tezuka "You never change.  I guess there is no reason to fix something that isn't broken though."

The game continued back and forth for a while, both scoring points off each other at an equal pace, showing that Ryomas skill had increased dramatically while Tezuka had been in Germany, though Tezuka himself was still quite the formidable foe.

As Ryoma scored a winning point, levelling their score at 6 games each and taking them to a tiebreaker, they both became aware of the sound of cheering from nearby.  Looking off to the sides they saw they had drawn quite the substantial crowd.  A bigger surprise still was that a number of their old teammates could be seen standing together, resting against the fence, enjoying the show.

Inui, as always, had his nose stuck in his notebook, making notes of valuable data from both players in case he ever played against either of them; Eiji and Oishi, the 'golden pair' of Seigaku were chatting between themselves, having a friendly argument over who was likely to win the match.  Kaido, Kawamura, Momoshiro and Fuji were able to be seen as well, scattered among the crowd, it seemed all the 'regulars' were there.

"Well, we have everyone watching us, so what do you say we really give them a match to remember?" Ryoma said, his hair and eyes turning an emerald green as he tapped into his latent abilities, making use of an ability known as 'Teni'muhou'.

Tezuka nodded, an aura seeming to spring up around him.  He gave a yell, driving a powerful serve across the net, almost too fast for the audience to see, but Ryoma returning the ball without  even batting an eyelid.  The pace of the game steadily increased, with both players making use of their strongest abilities.

The two were so evenly matched however that before long, the score was tied at 40-40, with no end in sight; each player was now fully soaked in sweat.

Oishi, originally the vice-captain of Seigaku, stepped forward, saying "Come on, you two. You've played 'best player' long enough, why not be content that you are just as good as each other and leave it at that?"

Ryoma looked up at the clock, seeing that the two had been playing for several hours at this point, then looked over at Tezuka, before nodding and offering his hand in a handshake, smiling as Tezuka took the hand and shook it firmly, giving a rare smile in return.

"Good game, Echizen.  We will have to play again soon."

Current word count - 988.  Requires pruning.