Five rackets and a hood (A Prince of Tennis FanFic)

Chapter 5: Headlights

Ryouma's POV

All I saw was Sai's face drop in utter horror. Momo had said something, I guessed, that spooked him. Without any warning whatsoever, the blue haired fellow rushed out of the room, grabbing his racket bag with him and leaving the door wide open for me to close. I debated whether to follow but I knew Momo needed me right now.

Junpei's POV

My twin and I stood on the opposite court of our worst enemy, Shishido and Otogi, Hyotei doubles players. I last remembered Shishido with long, brown hair but now it was cut short with a cap placed backwards on his head while the others hair was silver-gray.

They stared at us, and we stared at them, ready to play. I just wanted to crush them ,slowly, and threw the ball up.

"Don't you dare hit that ball, Junpei, or so help me, I'll whoop your sorry ass again!" A voice startled me, causing my head to tilt backwards.

My eyes lay upon someone I hadn't seen in at least three years. It was Sai, an old Russian friend. I lost all interest in the opponents, much like Jun and made our way to the hooded figure. Once we stood in front of the blue haired boy, we realized how much taller we had grown. I didn't remember Sai being this short.

"Sai-nii, why are you here?" I asked, confused.

"That's not the point. Where's Suzuki?"

"Over on the court with black jackets, why?"

But he didn't answer, instead grabbing our wrists and dragging us along to the court with buchou. Our captain seemed rather energetic even though he was being confronted by half the black jackets. It seemed he, as usual, caused the most trouble. I noticed Misaki and Marco trek our way, Misaki holding his one shoulder limply.

"Misaki and Marco too?" Sai-nii looked bewildered at the apperance of all of us.

"Yep, Yep. We got invited over. Why are you here?" I asked him, swinging my racket with my free hand.

Third person POV

"Hey, is that Sai-nii?!" Misaki shouted once he was able to see the vibrant blue of Sai.

It only took him about seven point three seconds to run over and lift the shorty into the air and spin around before setting him back down. Sai blinked a few times to regain his vision, glaring at the auburn haired boy. The Russian hadn't expected the invited school to be Yokai Academy. The last time he had been there, he had gotten picked on for looking like a girl and called cute by a few girls and not to mention, there tennis club had almost killed him. Twice.

"Hello, Sai-kun." Marco spoke, his voice as slow and emotionless as usual.

Sai opened his mouth to speak when Mizuki came bouncing up behind him, raffling his hair into a frizzled mess.

"I knew I recognized that fluffy neon hair." He spoke cheerfully, racket resting over his shoulders.

The shorter was quick to fix his hair, scarlet eyes glowering. These five were something of a nuisance but they were a dangerous bunch. Extremely dangerous to the point of ,well, you saw Momo.

"Again, why are you five here? I thought you were banned from tennis games." He asked, hands dragging his hood over his head as a shield.

They all glanced at Mizuki seeing as he was the captain and rightfully so. Mizuki possessed genius abilities, not just in sports but in the arts as well. He could sing, act, paint and play four different instruments. His basic understanding skills was top notch and envied internationally.

"Well, I don't quite know. We got invited suddenly and that was it. Why are you here??" Mizu countered, eyes looking down at Sai "We thought you were in Holland, recovering from last year."

The minute he mentioned Holland and last year, Sai noticeably tensed and his pupils seemed to dilate ever so slightly. A flashback passed through his mind, just for a minute but it was their.

Knees crashed to the asphalt, shaking with immense pain. A drop of crimson fell upon the fair thighs, sliding down the white skin and to the black tar road. The rain was not welcomed, but a cold and haunting friend that should have been long gone. Muffled voices seemed to speak from everywhere, asking things and telling others. And upon the body, headlights stared them down. The bright headlights that hadn't entered the peripheral vision. The headlights that hadn't been seen.

Then it ended. It was nothing but a quick flash to the past, memorable yet horrid. Sai shook his head as if to rid himself of the awful memories.

"I was invited here too. They told me that I could get better." He lied through his teeth.

They always knew him as Sai-nii. Not Sai-nee or Saika. Just Sai-nii, nobody else. He wanted to keep it that way. The answer seemed to satisfy them as was so he was relieved. But it was time that he got to the point in why he was pissed.

"Which one of you used Lucifer?" The question was blunt and rather unforgiving.

The minute the name left his mouth, he could see the faces of pain and guilt. Without having to be told, Mizuki brought his left wrist out, flipping it palm up for Sai to look it. Upon his wrist, a black tattoo of the Leo zodiac sign was etched into his skin, prominently outlined with purple. The tattoo looked faded as if it had been on for years and bleached multiple times. Sai's hand suddenly slapped the tattooed wrist, leaving a red welt. Mizuki pulled back quickly, a whine escaping him.

"I thought the doctor told you not to overuse it! Are you trying to kill yourself?" He scolded harshly, hands moving as he spoke.

None of them spoke a word, hands fiddling with each or or eyes looking elsewhere. With a deep sigh, Sai turned on heel, beckoning them to follow.

"You're going to fix the one you broke and if you don't, I'll be forced to use Jibreel." He threatened, leading them towards the dorms and leaving quite a few confused players on the courts to stare at there leaving.