Rikkai's Highly Unusual (and Suspect) Methods of Maturing one Kirihara Akaya [Rikkai gen]
For fic-promptly, for the prompt: Prince of Tennis, Rikkaidai, why are our uniforms coloured like bumblebees? and originally posted here. 753 words.
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Rikkai's Highly Unusual (and Suspect) Methods of Maturing one Kirihara Akaya
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"Sanada-fukubuchou," Kirihara says, taking a deep breath. He needs an answer. "Why are our uniforms coloured like bumblebees?"
He is expecting a frown, followed by the harsh snap of a, "Stop asking stupid questions and get out of my way!", but instead Sanada's mouth twists into a strange shape that Kirihara has never seen before - it looks kind of grim - and Sanada coughs a little as he says instead, "ask Yukimura."
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Kirihara thinks before he speaks when he is with his buchou; possibly the only time he does. So when he finds Yukimura he has already found a way to make his question a little more tactful.
"Yukimura-buchou, why are our uniforms..."
"Yes, Akaya?" Yukimura replies, glancing up from his seat. His lips curve up into a reassuring smile.
"-why are they... the colours... they are?" Kirihara stammers. He doesn't know where to put his hands. Yukimura knows him well enough to know that isn't the exact question he was going to ask, but at least he can't read minds and find out what it really was.
"It's Sanada's fault," Yukimura says with a sigh. Kirihara wonders for a fleeting, terrifying moment if Yukimura is going to send him back to Sanada for an explanation. He'd rather forget the whole thing, thanks. "When I became captain I wanted our uniforms to be gold. Gold is the prize of first-place after all. I wanted everyone to know who the winners were right from the start. But Renji speculated that the visual of us all wearing gold shirts might be a little... Questionable. When I polled the Regulars about it - of course you weren't one at the time - Niou said the idea made him think of gay clubs and tank tops, and Yagyuu suggested Elvis impersonators. I had to take their points."
Kirihara feels Yukimura's eyes on him then, and nods. He doesn't exactly get it, but he senses he needs to agree that Yukimura made the only decision possible. Not that Yukimura-buchou ever needs reassurance, but he expects his choices to be supported anyway.
"After that Renji and I tried to think of an alternative, but we couldn't think of anything, so we took it to Sanada. Sanada is quite unimaginative; he suggested yellow as the closest thing to gold we got manage. I was disappointed at the time, and simply agreed to it. It turns out yellow isn't much like gold at all..."
Kirihara backs away with small but very fast steps as Yukimura begins to trail off into a murmur and sighs. When he gets like this eventually he stops all of a sudden mid-sentence, and if anyone is still around they usually suffer the consequences for having sending Yukimura off into thoughts he doesn't much like.
Kirihara may not be the sharpest crayon in the box, but his survival instincts are pretty good. Two steps out of the clubroom he breaks into a run.
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"Yo, kid, what are you supposed be?" His opponent drawls.
"A bee?" His friend emphasizes, and they both snigger. Kirihara grips his racquet tighter and says nothing.
"Hurry up so we can start the match and I can swat you right out of here, bee!"
Kirihara is pretty damn sick of people mixing up bees with flies and promising him they're going to swat him right out of the court before a match. At least he has managed to get his revenge up until now by constantly proving them wrong.
He glances round at his team and realises Sanada-fukubuchou has overheard the teasing by the twitch of his eye. Now, Kirihara thinks to himself in despair, now he knows why I was asking about the uniforms! But Sanada will expect him to simply go out there and demolish his opponent anyway. If he runs his mouth a little and gets warned by the umpire it's okay, so long as he doesn't get himself disqualified. It's always been that way, unspoken but true.
But Kirihara pauses mid-way to the net as the image of himself and the entire team wearing gold shirts slips into his mind, and he plays his match in a completely subdued manner. Not a peep out of him, not even to crow victory over his whimpering opponent at the end of 'six games to love to Kirihara!'
Kirihara sits down on the bench and when he thinks nobody is looking he hugs himself firmly. He loves his uniform after all. It could have been so much worse.
"Look, Sanada," Yukimura says, nodding over at Kirihara with a soft smile on his face. "Our little boy is growing up."
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This entry was originally posted here on Dreamwidth. Comment there if you'd prefer!
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Rikkai's Highly Unusual (and Suspect) Methods of Maturing one Kirihara Akaya
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"Sanada-fukubuchou," Kirihara says, taking a deep breath. He needs an answer. "Why are our uniforms coloured like bumblebees?"
He is expecting a frown, followed by the harsh snap of a, "Stop asking stupid questions and get out of my way!", but instead Sanada's mouth twists into a strange shape that Kirihara has never seen before - it looks kind of grim - and Sanada coughs a little as he says instead, "ask Yukimura."
-
Kirihara thinks before he speaks when he is with his buchou; possibly the only time he does. So when he finds Yukimura he has already found a way to make his question a little more tactful.
"Yukimura-buchou, why are our uniforms..."
"Yes, Akaya?" Yukimura replies, glancing up from his seat. His lips curve up into a reassuring smile.
"-why are they... the colours... they are?" Kirihara stammers. He doesn't know where to put his hands. Yukimura knows him well enough to know that isn't the exact question he was going to ask, but at least he can't read minds and find out what it really was.
"It's Sanada's fault," Yukimura says with a sigh. Kirihara wonders for a fleeting, terrifying moment if Yukimura is going to send him back to Sanada for an explanation. He'd rather forget the whole thing, thanks. "When I became captain I wanted our uniforms to be gold. Gold is the prize of first-place after all. I wanted everyone to know who the winners were right from the start. But Renji speculated that the visual of us all wearing gold shirts might be a little... Questionable. When I polled the Regulars about it - of course you weren't one at the time - Niou said the idea made him think of gay clubs and tank tops, and Yagyuu suggested Elvis impersonators. I had to take their points."
Kirihara feels Yukimura's eyes on him then, and nods. He doesn't exactly get it, but he senses he needs to agree that Yukimura made the only decision possible. Not that Yukimura-buchou ever needs reassurance, but he expects his choices to be supported anyway.
"After that Renji and I tried to think of an alternative, but we couldn't think of anything, so we took it to Sanada. Sanada is quite unimaginative; he suggested yellow as the closest thing to gold we got manage. I was disappointed at the time, and simply agreed to it. It turns out yellow isn't much like gold at all..."
Kirihara backs away with small but very fast steps as Yukimura begins to trail off into a murmur and sighs. When he gets like this eventually he stops all of a sudden mid-sentence, and if anyone is still around they usually suffer the consequences for having sending Yukimura off into thoughts he doesn't much like.
Kirihara may not be the sharpest crayon in the box, but his survival instincts are pretty good. Two steps out of the clubroom he breaks into a run.
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"Yo, kid, what are you supposed be?" His opponent drawls.
"A bee?" His friend emphasizes, and they both snigger. Kirihara grips his racquet tighter and says nothing.
"Hurry up so we can start the match and I can swat you right out of here, bee!"
Kirihara is pretty damn sick of people mixing up bees with flies and promising him they're going to swat him right out of the court before a match. At least he has managed to get his revenge up until now by constantly proving them wrong.
He glances round at his team and realises Sanada-fukubuchou has overheard the teasing by the twitch of his eye. Now, Kirihara thinks to himself in despair, now he knows why I was asking about the uniforms! But Sanada will expect him to simply go out there and demolish his opponent anyway. If he runs his mouth a little and gets warned by the umpire it's okay, so long as he doesn't get himself disqualified. It's always been that way, unspoken but true.
But Kirihara pauses mid-way to the net as the image of himself and the entire team wearing gold shirts slips into his mind, and he plays his match in a completely subdued manner. Not a peep out of him, not even to crow victory over his whimpering opponent at the end of 'six games to love to Kirihara!'
Kirihara sits down on the bench and when he thinks nobody is looking he hugs himself firmly. He loves his uniform after all. It could have been so much worse.
"Look, Sanada," Yukimura says, nodding over at Kirihara with a soft smile on his face. "Our little boy is growing up."
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This entry was originally posted here on Dreamwidth. Comment there if you'd prefer!