Green Flames (Prince of Tennis Fan Fiction)

B/D-day

Well, hello there! I'm so terribly sorry the update is first coming now, but I just started in school again -_- I never really got to enjoy my vacation, sigh... Oh by the way, the voting for PoT watty awards has started! Go and vote for your favorite! I voted for "when you smile", 'cause it was my first PoT fan fic I ever read, and "the phoenix of tennis" because it's awesome!!! Anyway, here's the 17th chapter and I hope you like it :)

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The regulars trained like crazy, to be ready for the tournament. Sweat dripped from their head, empty water bottles laid on the sidelines, towels on the bench, but of course. There were only a few days before the first match in tournament. And guess who their first opponent is. Rikkai Dai, not to say their second match would be against Hyōtei, if they would win, if that's it. But there was something else there was bugging them too. An new team. With Giovanni Lacosta as sponsor and coach. Who should have known, that a millionaire would also be a tennis coach.

Tezuka looked around to check how the others were doing. Though, he couldn't help but to look longer at Shin, than he did with the others. She had acted strangely that day than others for some reason. She was more quiet and spacing out a lot. Suddenly, for his surprise, she missed a shot from Ryoma. It seemed to be hard one to catch for a average player, but it should have been a piece of cake for Shin.

"Shin" he called.

Her eyes looked at him, but for some reason he kept thinking they looked different.

"What is it?" she asked a bit cold. "And before you ask, no, there's nothing the wrong. I missed the ball, because I missed the ball. Even I do that sometimes."

She picked up the ball and served it. He kept looking at her and examined her movements. Her playing was a lot more bad than usual. Like she had too many thoughts on her mind, just taking all her concentration from her.

"Shin."

"What...?!" she asked angry; cold as the ball flew past her.

"Take a break" he ordered and looked away.

The sound of feet walking away, made him look in the corner of his eye, to see if she really did as he said. It was true. She really did just sit down the bench, taking a sip of her bottle without even mention a thing about his uptightness or say something cheeky. Something was bugging her. He just knew it.

****

As the team was leaving one by one, Shin just stood alone, staring down at her racquet in her hands. It felt weird to hold it, now her hand was normal again. The doctors made a great job about it, but still it felt like something was missing. The feeling of pain was gone. Though, was that a good thing?

"Shin" Echizen called. "Are you coming?"

"Just go ahead" she answered without smiling to him. "I'll catch up on you."

"Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better if you got some sleep for tomorrow?"

"Just go...Ryoma."

At first he just stood still. She was smiling her happy, sad smile, which meant something was bugging her. But of course he knew, that she had her reasons, and started to leave her behind. But after a few meters, Sakuno came walking over to him, after her own training was finished.

"Ryoma-kun" she said as they walked side by side. "Shin-chan has acted quite strangely today..."

"How do you mean different?" he asked just to check, if she really knew something was wrong or it was just a hunch.

"Today at lunch break, I asked if she wanted to eat with me, and she just answered with "sure". And in class she stared out of the window with a expressionless face and she hasn't said "what a pain" today at all...! It's not like her to be like that."