[unfinished girl!Sanada snippet, Prince of Tennis]
characters/pairing(s): girl!Sanada, Yukimura, Yanagi, Rikkai Regulars.
genre: gen, genderswap
wordcount: 2053
notes: Unfinished WIP, not planning to go anywhere further with it, so just posting it up as is :) Written back in January, apparently.
-
"Detention again, Sanada-chan?" The teacher says as she walks in. Yukimura peers over the tops of his feet that are crossed over one another and resting on the desk. It's unusual for a girl to get detention even once. "Who did you slap this time?"
Sanada glares at him, cheeks tinged pink, and walks to the back row to be as far away from the teacher as possible, which is where Yukimura happens to be chilling out, relaxing.
"Keep calling me 'Sanada-chan' and you'll be next," she mutters darkly while her back is to the teacher. Yukimura bites back a grin. Arisue-sensei's attention slides from Sanada to him.
"Yukimura-kun, feet off the desk please."
Yes sir," Yukimura replies, swinging his feet off and counting off ten in his head silently. They have an arrangement, he and Arisue-sensei. Every so often Arisue-sensei tells him to take his feet off the desk and he does. Ten seconds later he puts them back, and at some undefined point later, Arisue-sensei will ask him again as though it is the first time, just to make a show of being a disciplinarian. Yukimura is sure the teachers have given up on him. He isn't a troublemaker like his friend Niou - though he has learnt a lot from Niou - he's just too tennis-minded to let something like constant detentions for skipping class stop him from doing it again.
When they tried setting his detentions during tennis practice, Yukimura simply didn't go. That led to a week's suspension, which was fine because Yukimura was able to spend the week playing tennis at the street courts all through the day, thrashing everyone who came into his path. The rumours had spread so fast the teachers had discovered what had happened; Yukimura never even had to confess. Now, so long as he puts minimum effort into his classes and tries to keep from daydreaming they accept the odd truancy and punish it with a detention Yukimura goes to amiably.
It can be boring, though. Detention. Yukimura puts his feet back up on the desk and threads his fingers together over his waist. He is supposed to be using this time to do schoolwork, but he never bothers. So long as he keeps the tennis club in order and asks Yanagi for nothing in that respect, Yanagi helps him maintain his grades just well enough to keep him out of trouble. It keeps Yanagi from having to take over the club and add to his many responsibilities. It works out for them both.
Yukimura glances over to Sanada, sat on his right. She has her head ducked down into a book, writing furiously just like any other person would be. He can't imagine how someone who looks as clever and hard-working as she does - in his opinion - has managed to get more than one detention.
He finds out after their confinement is up. Sanada packs up her things, waits patiently to be told she can leave. She is polite and respectful to Arisue-sensei who seems to expect it, and even smiles at her a little. Arisue-sensei leaves first; bad enough he has to stick around to monitor detention, he isn't staying longer than necessary. Yukimura watches as Oka-kun contrives to bump into Sanada as she charges to the door, aiming to be next out of the room.
"Don't apologize," he says with a smirk, "I can see you can't control where those mega tits of yours are going, I forgive you."
Yukimura watches as Sanada goes from tightly-contained to hot-rage in less than ten seconds. She raises an arm without thinking, and Yukimura has to move quickly to step behind her in time to grab her wrist. He levels a glare at Oka which sends him sprinting in the opposite direction.
Sanada turns to look at Yukimura with fire in her eyes. She snatches her arm out of his grip, and he lets her.
"I'm only stopping you because Arisue-sensei is still at the end of the hall," Yukimura says softly. "All it'll take is the sound of that slap and a red mark on Oka's face and you'll be in detention all over again. Even I try to spread them out a little."
Sanada takes a deep breath, lets it out, and finally nods. Yukimura feels the danger disperse in the air.
"Thank you," she says, and it sounds pretty sincere. Her voice heats up when she says, "I just can't stand boys who say things about-"
"I see that," Yukimura says with a perfectly straight face, before she has to cut off her irritation with embarrassment because she can't finish her own sentence.
"You're the boys' tennis team captain," Sanada says all of a sudden. Yukimura nods.
"I am."
"You're very good," Sanada says. Yukimura finds himself biting back another smile. It takes her a moment, probably because she's never been in this situation before, but she realises she has just complimented a boy with no prompting. "At tennis!"
"You consider yourself an authority on that?" Yukimura asks lightly. He can't help his character, even though as soon as he says it he realises it might be dangerous to toy with Sanada. It turns out there's nothing to worry about.
"I know what good is when it comes to tennis," she replies shortly. Her arms cross over her chest, quite a feat, but she manages it. Yukimura keeps his eyes above her neck. "You're better than just good."
"Well, thank you," Yukimura says in the end with a surprised blink. She might say it in a flat tone, but she clearly means it, and hardly seems the type to compliment without reason. He would stop to wonder idly if he has impressed her with more than just tennis, if she is one of the many girls at school with a crush on him, but her no-nosense attitude seems at odds with that. "You play, I take it?"
Sanada looks at him through strands of hair that fall in her eyes from the way her hair has been so shortly cropped. It's shorter than Yukimura's is. She seems to be weighing up the pros and cons of admitting it or not.
"Not at school," she admits finally. "The girls' team aren't worth my time. Useless, all of them."
Yukimura thinks much the same, but hearing it out of someone else's mouth still surprises him. Sanada must be something, to have a ghost of the attitude he brings to the game. He can admit he wants to know more.
"We practice tomorrow after school," he says casually. "Why don't you drop by? Bring your racquet."
-
"Buchou," Kirihara says, tugging lightly on Yukimura's jacket. "Buchou, there's a-"
"-girl sitting on the bench, and she keeps glaring at you. Yes Akaya, I know."
Yukimura doesn't bother to turn around. From the way Kirihara is glancing between himself and Sanada, back and forth, and fidgeting like he needs the toilet Yukimura can tell exactly what is going on without even having to look.
"I take it this is the person you 'wanted me to meet'?" Yanagi asks, coming up to Yukimura's other side and speaking quietly to the air in front of him. "I didn't expect you to be swayed by love, I must admit."
Yukimura snorts. Kirihara, not having heard the conversation, stares up at him with wide eyes. Yukimura pushes him off.
"Akaya, go practice your serves," he says. "Take a basket. One hundred in a row. You need to develop your arm in order to put more power into your serve."
With Kirihara out of the way, Yukimura turns his attention to Yanagi. Yanagi smirks, and when Yukimura walks over to Sanada, he follows.
"Sanada," Yukimura says, nodding his head. She appeared a good fifteen minutes ago, and thanks to Yukimura's tightly run ship attitude only the bare minimum of fuss was raised by her unexpected appearance. She has been sitting silently, watching their practice with an expressionless face. "This is Yanagi Renji, he's my vice-captain and the second best player on our team."
Yanagi nods too, not one to offer out a hand to a girl to shake. He also isn't the kind to gape openly at Sanada's assets, unlike Niou or Kirihara, which makes Sanada like him better immediately.
"I expected your training would be... harder," Sanada says eventually. Yanagi and Yukimura both look down at her where she sits with matching expressions of puzzlement. She realises she is going to have to try and be tactful, which has never been her strong point. "It seems a little... relaxed."
"I don't make a fuss," Yukimura admits. "Except in minor cases. My team know what I expect of them, and what will happen if they fail to deliver. Other than that, I don't see the need to constantly be at them. It seems like too much work."
"Where's the discipline?" Sanada asks sourly, mostly to herself. Yukimura can't help but find her amusing, even now.
"If you believe there is something lacking, you could pit yourself against one of the team?" Yanagi suggests. He makes it out to be a casual offer, but Yukimura can see he is already burning with curiousity. Yukimura knew Yanagi would understand his decision within moments of meeting her, especially after he had related the detention incident.
"Fine," Sanada replies, standing up immediately. She has a tennis bag propped up against the bench next to her, and she unzips it and pulls out a racquet that is obviously well-used but well-loved, Yukimura knows the type. He doesn't even notice her pulling on a cap, he is so caught up in looking at the way her hand fits the grip so comfortably, and the way her stance changes to something as fierce as when she is about to slap someone.
"What do you think?" Yanagi asks him in an aside. Yukimura pauses. Somehow he doesn't want to insult Sanada by asking her to play someone weak. It has to be a regular; not anyone who specialises in doubles, but not himself or Yanagi either.
"...Akaya?" Yukimura ventures. It isn't like him to phrase such a thing as a question, but he honestly isn't sure. Will Akaya run his mouth and cause a scene? Will he not take Sanada seriously because she is a girl? And yet, if Yukimura asks him to play this match Kirihara will do as he is told, and accept it as having a worthy meaning somehow. He hopes.
"I'll go and let him know," Yanagi murmurs as though Yukimura's decision was never wavering. Yukimura trusts that Yanagi will explain it in such a way that Kirihara won't react badly. Kirihara latches on to Yanagi in a way he can't with Yukimura; Yukimura is too out of reach to him.
"Kirihara-kun is a second year," Yukimura admits to Sanada, "but he has been improving at an extraordinary rate ever since he joined the tennis club properly. I wouldn't hesitate to say he is the third-best player on the team, after Renji and myself. Beating myself and Renji is what he lives and breathes for."
"How careless," Sanada responds.
Yukimura has to admit he can see what she means after Sanada crushes Kirihara, winning six games to two. And she clearly only gave away the two to scout out his initial skill and lull him into a false sense of security. Yukimura can tell that isn't Sanada's usual style of attack at all, but Kirihara does give off that ridiculous cockiness that makes you want to take him down a few pegs. Kirihara is fuming but he can't find a single word to express it. Sanada's expression is grim, her mouth tightly set in a line.
"Could I trouble you to play another match?" Yukimura asks. He's curious, insanely curious to know exactly what she is capable of now. His entire body is taut with muscles that twitch in anticipation. Sanada shrugs in response, but he can see the way she moves into readiness again. She is eager to do so.
"Do you think Niou, or Yagyuu?" Yanagi asks. Yukimura knows he is being purposely dense. If Sanada can beat Kirihara then none of the rest of the team are even worth bothering with; Kirihara is their protege, their second-year ace.
"Go on," Yukimura replies. Yanagi is the only possible choice now.
-
This entry was originally posted here on Dreamwidth. Comment there if you'd prefer!
genre: gen, genderswap
wordcount: 2053
notes: Unfinished WIP, not planning to go anywhere further with it, so just posting it up as is :) Written back in January, apparently.
-
"Detention again, Sanada-chan?" The teacher says as she walks in. Yukimura peers over the tops of his feet that are crossed over one another and resting on the desk. It's unusual for a girl to get detention even once. "Who did you slap this time?"
Sanada glares at him, cheeks tinged pink, and walks to the back row to be as far away from the teacher as possible, which is where Yukimura happens to be chilling out, relaxing.
"Keep calling me 'Sanada-chan' and you'll be next," she mutters darkly while her back is to the teacher. Yukimura bites back a grin. Arisue-sensei's attention slides from Sanada to him.
"Yukimura-kun, feet off the desk please."
Yes sir," Yukimura replies, swinging his feet off and counting off ten in his head silently. They have an arrangement, he and Arisue-sensei. Every so often Arisue-sensei tells him to take his feet off the desk and he does. Ten seconds later he puts them back, and at some undefined point later, Arisue-sensei will ask him again as though it is the first time, just to make a show of being a disciplinarian. Yukimura is sure the teachers have given up on him. He isn't a troublemaker like his friend Niou - though he has learnt a lot from Niou - he's just too tennis-minded to let something like constant detentions for skipping class stop him from doing it again.
When they tried setting his detentions during tennis practice, Yukimura simply didn't go. That led to a week's suspension, which was fine because Yukimura was able to spend the week playing tennis at the street courts all through the day, thrashing everyone who came into his path. The rumours had spread so fast the teachers had discovered what had happened; Yukimura never even had to confess. Now, so long as he puts minimum effort into his classes and tries to keep from daydreaming they accept the odd truancy and punish it with a detention Yukimura goes to amiably.
It can be boring, though. Detention. Yukimura puts his feet back up on the desk and threads his fingers together over his waist. He is supposed to be using this time to do schoolwork, but he never bothers. So long as he keeps the tennis club in order and asks Yanagi for nothing in that respect, Yanagi helps him maintain his grades just well enough to keep him out of trouble. It keeps Yanagi from having to take over the club and add to his many responsibilities. It works out for them both.
Yukimura glances over to Sanada, sat on his right. She has her head ducked down into a book, writing furiously just like any other person would be. He can't imagine how someone who looks as clever and hard-working as she does - in his opinion - has managed to get more than one detention.
He finds out after their confinement is up. Sanada packs up her things, waits patiently to be told she can leave. She is polite and respectful to Arisue-sensei who seems to expect it, and even smiles at her a little. Arisue-sensei leaves first; bad enough he has to stick around to monitor detention, he isn't staying longer than necessary. Yukimura watches as Oka-kun contrives to bump into Sanada as she charges to the door, aiming to be next out of the room.
"Don't apologize," he says with a smirk, "I can see you can't control where those mega tits of yours are going, I forgive you."
Yukimura watches as Sanada goes from tightly-contained to hot-rage in less than ten seconds. She raises an arm without thinking, and Yukimura has to move quickly to step behind her in time to grab her wrist. He levels a glare at Oka which sends him sprinting in the opposite direction.
Sanada turns to look at Yukimura with fire in her eyes. She snatches her arm out of his grip, and he lets her.
"I'm only stopping you because Arisue-sensei is still at the end of the hall," Yukimura says softly. "All it'll take is the sound of that slap and a red mark on Oka's face and you'll be in detention all over again. Even I try to spread them out a little."
Sanada takes a deep breath, lets it out, and finally nods. Yukimura feels the danger disperse in the air.
"Thank you," she says, and it sounds pretty sincere. Her voice heats up when she says, "I just can't stand boys who say things about-"
"I see that," Yukimura says with a perfectly straight face, before she has to cut off her irritation with embarrassment because she can't finish her own sentence.
"You're the boys' tennis team captain," Sanada says all of a sudden. Yukimura nods.
"I am."
"You're very good," Sanada says. Yukimura finds himself biting back another smile. It takes her a moment, probably because she's never been in this situation before, but she realises she has just complimented a boy with no prompting. "At tennis!"
"You consider yourself an authority on that?" Yukimura asks lightly. He can't help his character, even though as soon as he says it he realises it might be dangerous to toy with Sanada. It turns out there's nothing to worry about.
"I know what good is when it comes to tennis," she replies shortly. Her arms cross over her chest, quite a feat, but she manages it. Yukimura keeps his eyes above her neck. "You're better than just good."
"Well, thank you," Yukimura says in the end with a surprised blink. She might say it in a flat tone, but she clearly means it, and hardly seems the type to compliment without reason. He would stop to wonder idly if he has impressed her with more than just tennis, if she is one of the many girls at school with a crush on him, but her no-nosense attitude seems at odds with that. "You play, I take it?"
Sanada looks at him through strands of hair that fall in her eyes from the way her hair has been so shortly cropped. It's shorter than Yukimura's is. She seems to be weighing up the pros and cons of admitting it or not.
"Not at school," she admits finally. "The girls' team aren't worth my time. Useless, all of them."
Yukimura thinks much the same, but hearing it out of someone else's mouth still surprises him. Sanada must be something, to have a ghost of the attitude he brings to the game. He can admit he wants to know more.
"We practice tomorrow after school," he says casually. "Why don't you drop by? Bring your racquet."
-
"Buchou," Kirihara says, tugging lightly on Yukimura's jacket. "Buchou, there's a-"
"-girl sitting on the bench, and she keeps glaring at you. Yes Akaya, I know."
Yukimura doesn't bother to turn around. From the way Kirihara is glancing between himself and Sanada, back and forth, and fidgeting like he needs the toilet Yukimura can tell exactly what is going on without even having to look.
"I take it this is the person you 'wanted me to meet'?" Yanagi asks, coming up to Yukimura's other side and speaking quietly to the air in front of him. "I didn't expect you to be swayed by love, I must admit."
Yukimura snorts. Kirihara, not having heard the conversation, stares up at him with wide eyes. Yukimura pushes him off.
"Akaya, go practice your serves," he says. "Take a basket. One hundred in a row. You need to develop your arm in order to put more power into your serve."
With Kirihara out of the way, Yukimura turns his attention to Yanagi. Yanagi smirks, and when Yukimura walks over to Sanada, he follows.
"Sanada," Yukimura says, nodding his head. She appeared a good fifteen minutes ago, and thanks to Yukimura's tightly run ship attitude only the bare minimum of fuss was raised by her unexpected appearance. She has been sitting silently, watching their practice with an expressionless face. "This is Yanagi Renji, he's my vice-captain and the second best player on our team."
Yanagi nods too, not one to offer out a hand to a girl to shake. He also isn't the kind to gape openly at Sanada's assets, unlike Niou or Kirihara, which makes Sanada like him better immediately.
"I expected your training would be... harder," Sanada says eventually. Yanagi and Yukimura both look down at her where she sits with matching expressions of puzzlement. She realises she is going to have to try and be tactful, which has never been her strong point. "It seems a little... relaxed."
"I don't make a fuss," Yukimura admits. "Except in minor cases. My team know what I expect of them, and what will happen if they fail to deliver. Other than that, I don't see the need to constantly be at them. It seems like too much work."
"Where's the discipline?" Sanada asks sourly, mostly to herself. Yukimura can't help but find her amusing, even now.
"If you believe there is something lacking, you could pit yourself against one of the team?" Yanagi suggests. He makes it out to be a casual offer, but Yukimura can see he is already burning with curiousity. Yukimura knew Yanagi would understand his decision within moments of meeting her, especially after he had related the detention incident.
"Fine," Sanada replies, standing up immediately. She has a tennis bag propped up against the bench next to her, and she unzips it and pulls out a racquet that is obviously well-used but well-loved, Yukimura knows the type. He doesn't even notice her pulling on a cap, he is so caught up in looking at the way her hand fits the grip so comfortably, and the way her stance changes to something as fierce as when she is about to slap someone.
"What do you think?" Yanagi asks him in an aside. Yukimura pauses. Somehow he doesn't want to insult Sanada by asking her to play someone weak. It has to be a regular; not anyone who specialises in doubles, but not himself or Yanagi either.
"...Akaya?" Yukimura ventures. It isn't like him to phrase such a thing as a question, but he honestly isn't sure. Will Akaya run his mouth and cause a scene? Will he not take Sanada seriously because she is a girl? And yet, if Yukimura asks him to play this match Kirihara will do as he is told, and accept it as having a worthy meaning somehow. He hopes.
"I'll go and let him know," Yanagi murmurs as though Yukimura's decision was never wavering. Yukimura trusts that Yanagi will explain it in such a way that Kirihara won't react badly. Kirihara latches on to Yanagi in a way he can't with Yukimura; Yukimura is too out of reach to him.
"Kirihara-kun is a second year," Yukimura admits to Sanada, "but he has been improving at an extraordinary rate ever since he joined the tennis club properly. I wouldn't hesitate to say he is the third-best player on the team, after Renji and myself. Beating myself and Renji is what he lives and breathes for."
"How careless," Sanada responds.
Yukimura has to admit he can see what she means after Sanada crushes Kirihara, winning six games to two. And she clearly only gave away the two to scout out his initial skill and lull him into a false sense of security. Yukimura can tell that isn't Sanada's usual style of attack at all, but Kirihara does give off that ridiculous cockiness that makes you want to take him down a few pegs. Kirihara is fuming but he can't find a single word to express it. Sanada's expression is grim, her mouth tightly set in a line.
"Could I trouble you to play another match?" Yukimura asks. He's curious, insanely curious to know exactly what she is capable of now. His entire body is taut with muscles that twitch in anticipation. Sanada shrugs in response, but he can see the way she moves into readiness again. She is eager to do so.
"Do you think Niou, or Yagyuu?" Yanagi asks. Yukimura knows he is being purposely dense. If Sanada can beat Kirihara then none of the rest of the team are even worth bothering with; Kirihara is their protege, their second-year ace.
"Go on," Yukimura replies. Yanagi is the only possible choice now.
-
This entry was originally posted here on Dreamwidth. Comment there if you'd prefer!