Courting an Emperor
Part One
"He doesn't ever allow himself to have fun," murmured the legendary captain of the boys' tennis club of Rikkai Dai Fuzoku. Yukimura Seiichi tucked a stray lock of hair behind his ear as he gazed after the retreating back of his vice-captain. Tennis practice had just ended and all the regulars were heading off to a nearby café to get something to eat – all the regulars minus one Sanada Genichiroh, much to his captain's chagrin.
Raising a perfectly arched eyebrow, Nioh Masaharu snorted, "That's the understatement of the year, buchou."
The younger boy chuckled softly and reached over to ruffle the trickster's already wild hair. "I suppose that is true."
Nioh made an indignant noise at the back of his throat, swatting at the offending hand that was successfully destroying his carefully styled hair. This only managed to amuse Yukimura further and he renewed the attack on his team mate's hair. "Stop that! Hey, come on. I don't randomly attack your hair, buchou! This is plain harassment," Nioh whined, ducking behind his doubles partner. "Oi, Yagyuu, I need some help here."
Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Hiroshi chose to ignore the childish antics of his team mates. "So, what do you propose, buchou?" he finally asked.
Yukimura gave him a sidelong glance and smiled. "Propose? About what, Yagyuu?"
The bespectacled teen gave him a pointed look.
Silence reigned over the regulars as they awaited the answer that never came. After a few more seconds of watching Nioh groan and struggle with his ruined hair, the soft-spoken captain sighed. "Well, there's nothing I can do about it, is there? If Sanada refuses to indulge himself in a bit of fun, now and then..."
"He'll end up as one of those extremely grumpy hermits who just goes around slapping anyone who disagrees with them." supplied the youngest member of their group. Another heavy silence followed the rather blunt comment. Even Jackal, who had opened his mouth automatically to reprimand Kirihara Akaya for his cheek clamped his mouth shut when he realised the undeniable truth behind the statement. Yukimura managed to look even more anxious.
"But he's like that already. So what's the big deal?" Marui drawled, absently chewing on his gum and looking bored. "Now, can we please go and eat? I want some strawberry cake."
The worried look on their captain's face turned into one of horror. "You are absolutely right, Marui," he whispered, gazing at the red-head as if seeing him for the first time in his life. "How could I have not seen it?"
"Well, you see it now. So, can we go and eat?"
Jackal felt an inexplicable urge to thump his doubles partner on the head. Their respected captain was obviously reeling from the recent revelations (which the rest of the regulars had known all along, how did it escape the attention of their intelligent leader?) and all Marui could think about was food. Sometimes Jackal really feared for the sanity of his friend.
"Yukimura, there's really no need to be so worried." Yanagi spoke. Everyone else jumped at the sound of the deep voice, whirling around to face the taller boy in surprise. They had nearly forgotten his presence as a result of his quiet observation through out the whole exchange. "I'm sure Sanada allows some fun in his life."
Nioh snorted, "Of course. He attends school, plays tennis, practices kendo, completes his homework and then sleeps. His life is full of fun!"
How the data player managed to give Nioh a death glare through half-closed eyes was shrouded in mystery. The other regulars edged away from Yanagi as the temperature around him dropped a few notches. Nioh merely ignored him and regarded his captain, a very unhealthy mischievous glint obvious in his eyes.
"Well, if you are interested," he started, "I have a very simple solution to this little problem, buchou."
Eyes nearly snapping open in alarm, Yanagi tried to intervene. "There's no problem, so we don't need a solution." he said urgently, hoping that Yukimura would have enough sense to listen to him. It was not that he was scared of his friend, but he also did not think a furious vice-captain would be appreciated at tennis practice. Unfortunately for him, Yukimura seemed to have left his sanity back at his house on this particular day.
"But it is a problem, Yanagi. He is too serious. That can't be good for his blood pressure, can it?" muttered the gentle boy. Watching the rest of the regulars shake their head in response, Yanagi realised that it was a very tough job to refuse their charismatic leader. "It would be a nice change to see him openly smiling for once, right?"
Unable to ignore the imploring look on Yukimura's face, Renji shrugged in defeat. "I suppose so, but keep me out of whatever outrageous plan you are brewing, Nioh."
~*~
The sun shone brightly outside, painting the cloudless sky into a fine azure. A light breeze tickled the greenery surrounding the vast expanse of Rikkai Dai Fuzoku, softening the dry heat that surrounded the school. The birds chirped melodiously, rejoicing the beautiful morning. It was the perfect beginning for yet another fun-filled school day. Students buzzed around the corridors of the school, some chatting excitedly, while others drifted around in a sleepy daze as they made their way to class. belonged to the latter group. She mumbled an apology for the nth time that day as she bumped into someone in her heavy-eyed state.
Whoever decided to begin school at such an ungodly hour needs a thorough beating, thought grumpily. In her opinion, mornings were meant to be spent sleeping in and not sitting in class as the teacher droned on and on about solving some unknown in an equation. How was one supposed to concentrate on math when they couldn't stay awake long enough to see the equations?
I've still got a few more minutes before class starts. Stifling another yawn, she shuffled in the general direction of her class, thinking of her beloved desk that would have to substitute for a bed while she caught some last winks of sleep. With that brilliant plan in mind, she reached over to grab the handle of the class door – only to be swept away by a big black blur.
"Wha—?" she gasped in shock. Shakily, managed to gather her wits enough to deduce that her feet was dangling a few feet above the ground and that she was currently thrown over someone's shoulder. The last hints of sleep disappeared in the face of anger and she struggled against her kidnapper's strong grip, thumping on his back with her fists.
"Hey, that hurts, !" A very familiar voice drifted over. stopped her struggles and peeked at the man who was carrying her around like a sack of potatoes. Wild silver hair that was tied in a small ponytail greeted her. She should have known – only her childhood friend would resort to such extreme measures. Students had stopped in the hallway to stare at the pair. Unfortunately for her, none of them tried to intervene.
"Put me down, you idiot!" she snapped, punctuating her command with an insistent tug on his ponytail.
Nioh yelped. "That hurt, too. Don't worry; I'll put you down very soon. My shoulder is kind of aching under all this weight," he muttered, "what have you been eating, ?"
She pulled on his hair again with a lot more force and he yelped some more. However, before she could think of a biting comeback, a door opened and her friend dived in to the classroom. "Oomph!" The air was knocked out of her as Nioh dumped her into a chair abruptly and then collapsed onto another one with a sigh.
"What's wrong with you?" lashed out at the boy as soon as she managed to regain her breath. "If you needed to talk to me this badly, couldn't you have waited until class ended? Or at least talked to me in class?"
"I'm afraid that's not possible, -san." A soft voice spoke.
whirled around in her seat and gaped.
The regulars of the boys' tennis club greeted her. All of them were seated around a long table as if they had been about to begin a meeting.
"Yukimura-kun?"
The handsome captain smiled at her, with an apologetic look in his blue eyes. "-san, I apologize for inconveniencing you," His eyes drifted to the side where Nioh was slumped in the chair. "Really, Nioh. Couldn't you have brought her here in a more respectful manner?"
The silver-haired tennis player shrugged and smirked, "You wanted her here, she's here."
bristled at the casual tone, but she held back her angry rant. After all, she did not want to come off looking like a crazed banshee in front of the respected idols of the school, especially when a certain vice-captain was – not there? She blinked at the group of regulars and then looked around the room carefully. With a start, she realised that the classroom they were occupying was none other than the student council room. Her face dropped very slightly when the absence of Sanada was confirmed. But why was the tennis team meeting here? glanced at Yukimura who was still scolding Nioh for his less than gentlemanly manners.
Maybe the tennis club's locker room is occupied, she wondered, so Yukimura must have pulled the 'Student Council President' card to use this room. Even so, if it was a regulars' meeting, then why wasn't Sanada present? As the vice-captain, shouldn't he supervise it as well? And why in the world was she needed for this meeting?
"Well, that's because we have a favour to ask of you." Yagyuu answered the question for her. She flinched, realising that she had spoken the question out loud.
"A f-favour?" she stammered hesitantly. really did not like the way Kirihara was smirking at her, as if he had just discovered one of her biggest secrets.
Yukimura gave another one of his genial smiles, which only made her even more wary. Her classmate was a genuinely friendly person and she did like him a lot. Even so, sometimes he got a certain glint in his eyes that made her see him as a predator that had just spotted a rather tasty prey – and currently, the glint was rather prominent in his eyes.
"Yes, -san," the captain replied. "You see, we have a rather pressing problem that can be solved only by you."
She nodded blankly, eyeing the clock on the wall behind Yukimura. There were only ten minutes left until the class bell. Maybe if she kept acting dumb and forced Yukimura to repeat himself several times, she might be able to escape without agreeing to do any favours.
"A problem?" she echoed, fixing a puzzled look on her face. Next to her, Nioh snorted and reached across to pinch her cheek.
"The 'dumb' act is not going to fool us, ." he chuckled, pulling on her cheek. With a growl of frustration, she swung her feet hard and grinned triumphantly when the kick landed on her friend's shin. Nioh howled in pain and made a grab for her long braid that trailed across her back.
A popping noise brought their attention back to the situation at hand. "Geez, at this rate we are never going to get this done," drawled Marui, popping another pink bubble. ", we want you to sed—umph!" Jackal had clamped a hand across his doubles partner's mouth. Kirihara and Nioh burst out laughing.
"The bell will ring in eight minutes and twenty seconds," Yanagi stated, rubbing a hand across his forehead. "Yukimura."
"Ah, yes. -san, you must have noticed the absence of our vice-captain by now," said Yukimura, his smile a bit shaky this time. Whatever Marui had tried to say was not something that they had wanted her to hear. She nodded with a frown. "Well, that is because this favour involves him."
Now was really confused. "Involves Sanada-kun?"
"Yes. It has recently come to our attention that Sanada lacks a social life," her classmate muttered, a light pink tinge appearing on his cheeks. "This puts him under a lot of stress most of the time. And we fear that this might affect his health, which would be rather unfortunate. Don't you think so?"
Is this a joke? wondered incredulously, maybe Yukimura is trying to be funny. Yeah, that should be it.
However, with the exception of Kirihara, Nioh and Marui, everyone else looked fairly serious.
"I haven't given it much thought, Yukimura-kun." Her eyes flicked towards the clock again. About six minutes were left. Why in the world was time moving so slowly?
"Well, we think so. And that's where we need your help. -san, could you—"
Nioh groaned. "Buchou, you are taking ages with this. We are running out of time, so let me just cut to the chase." He winked at his startled captain and then leaned in towards . ", we know that you like Sanada. No need to deny it, I've seen the way you look at him and buchou has seen you gazing at Sanada during class." The blush on 's face rivalled a ripe tomato and she gaped at her friend in horror.
"Nioh—" Yagyuu started warningly.
The trickster ignored his doubles partner. "On top of that, you are the only female who has managed to have a steady conversation with him, which means that he is not repulsed by you like the rest of his fans. Fortunately for us, you are also not shy around guys and quite fun to hang out with."
In her dumbstruck daze, she thought she heard a compliment.
"So, do us all a favour and ask Sanada out on a date. Show him a good time and let him know that there is a lot more to life than school, tennis and kendo." Nioh finished smugly. "What do you say?"
"Huh?" was all she managed to say. For the first time in her fifteen years of life, was speechless. She felt like a tornado had sucked her in, whirled her around and spat her back out. Hazel eyes scanned the faces of the other regulars as tried to digest everything that her childhood friend had said. Her eyes landed on Yukimura who looked a bit pale. His attempt at an encouraging smile was squashed under her glare.
"Have you all lost your mind?" she spoke in a quiet, controlled voice that held a promise of violence. "Or have you always been this stupid? Oh, and I doubt that Sanada-kun would appreciate you guys nosing into his private life like this,"
Yukimura opened his mouth, hesitated and kept silent.
"Come on, . It'll be fun. For you, for him and for us as well." The silver-haired idiot sitting next to her chuckled. "We all benefit from this."
Snarling, she gave his chair a mighty push with her feet. The chair teetered on one of the legs precariously and then crashed onto the floor, taking the amused boy with it. The rest of the regulars eyed her warily.
"I cannot believe this! You are actually asking me to seduce Sanada-kun?" spat angrily. "This is outrageous. I thought you were above such cheap schemes, Yukimura-kun,"
They had never had the privilege of seeing her in a state of fury, unlike Nioh. All of a sudden the small and petite girl they knew seemed a lot taller than just five feet. And her expression could have frozen a whole continent over. Looking at the nervous expressions on his team mates' faces, Yanagi Renji decided to take control of the situation. So much for him not being involved in this scheme, he wondered wryly.
"I told you that this wouldn't work," he murmured, glancing at Nioh who was glaring at while rubbing his shoulder gingerly. "-san, we respect your opinion and your anger is justified. We are really sorry for requesting such a ridiculous thing from you,"
huffed, looking scandalised.
"Didn't I tell you that the best candidate for this task is Sakuma Kaoru?" Yanagi continued, turning to his captain. "She is one of the biggest admirers of Sanada and has been pursuing him for a while," Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed stiffen. "And Sanada doesn't seem to mind her company either." That was a blatant lie.
Fortunately, Yukimura was quick to catch on. He nodded with a sorrowful look. "We are extremely sorry, -san. I just assumed that you would be a better match for Sanada." Then turning to Yanagi, he said, "I suppose we should ask Sakuma-san if she would be interested."
"Fuku-buchou sure is lucky!" exclaimed Kirihara, eyes gleaming mischievously. "Sakuma-san is extremely hot."
The rest of the regulars agreed with him with the exception of Jackal who looked lost.
"In that case, we don't need your help anymore, . So you can head off to class if you want," smirked Nioh, noticing the play of various conflicting emotions on his friend's pretty face. "Unless you want to stay and help us think of a way to set the two up. Do you?"
shot a dirty look at her friend, thoughts whirling around in her throbbing head. The idea of Sakuma Kaoru sinking her claws in to Sanada made her skin crawl. The girl might have been one of the most beautiful girls in the school, but in 's eyes she was no better than a tramp who liked to flirt with anything that moved. Sakuma was also extremely aware of her good looks and flaunted it to her best, especially around the vice-captain of the boy's tennis team. Worst of all, the girl had also managed to figure out 's feelings concerning Sanada and ever since she had doubled her efforts to get closer to the oblivious boy. Luckily, to this day Sakuma had always failed with her advances. But seriously, how long would it be before Sanada started responding to such beauty? Especially, if all of his friends were egging him on...
Gritting her teeth together, decided to swallow her pride. "There's no need for you to bring her into this." she mumbled.
The planning came to a halt as all eyes focused on her. "Excuse me?" Yukimura inquired politely.
She let out the breath that she had been holding and muttered in defeat. "I said that there is no need to involve Sakuma. I never refused to participate in this outrageous plan of yours, did I?"
Yukimura hesitated. "Well, no. But you are obviously uncomfortable..."
"No, I'm not," insisted, staring straight into his eyes. "As Nioh said earlier, I do like Sanada. So, what's the harm in me asking him out, right?"
A chorus of agreement followed the statement. fought the blush that was threatening to take over her face. "You can leave this to me. I'll carry this out to the best of my abilities," she finished stiffly. One minute to the bell.
"Aw, that's my cute little -chan!" Nioh exclaimed, sweeping her up into a bear hug. "Go for it, girl!"
"Good luck, -san. Fuku-buchou is quite the challenge," snorted Kirihara, looking amused.
pried herself away from her overly affectionate friend. The regulars had extremely pleased looks on their faces. Even Marui who had acted bored with the whole situation was beaming at her. The feeling that she had been played easily did not make her feel any better.
"Thank you for agreeing to do this, -san," Yukimura sighed. He had an oddly satisfied smirk on his face. "We are forever in your debt,"
The bell rang, startling them all out of their chairs. groaned. She was going to get reprimanded for coming late to class. As class representative, she was always expected to arrive ten minutes before class began to prepare everything for the teacher. Grabbing her bag that she had dumped onto the floor earlier, she followed the others out of the student council room alongside Yukimura.
However, before they went off in different directions, Yagyuu stopped her and showed her a small tape recorder. "Oh, and one more thing, -san. I've recorded the last bit of our discussion where you agreed to go ahead with the plan. By any chance, if you ever entertain ideas of chickening out, just remember that the tape is with me," he finished with a smile. At the sight of the horrified look on her face, Yagyuu chuckled softly. "There's no need to worry. Just think of this as insurance."
Then he was gone with Nioh in tow. She blinked several times and only remembered to move when Yukimura called after her several times. Had anyone told her that she would end up getting ambushed by the tennis idols of Rikkai Dai Fuzoku and nearly blackmailed in to dating one of them, she would have sent them straight to the mental asylum.
Oh my god! What have I got myself into? thought despairingly as they jogged off to class with the bell ringing in their ears.
~*~
End of part one.
+ + + + + + + + + +
Rheah
16.September.2006
Notes: OK, I admit that not much of anything happened in this chapter. But never fear!
Part two will be solely based on interaction with Sanada.