The Kunoichi of Tennis (by DaPsionicFox)

Chapter 11- The Bear

Chapter 11: The Bear

Ayame went down the path to the park. She came around the fountain and saw something that she's seen a couple of times before: a small boy being bullied by some third year middle schoolers. She felt anger rising in her as the little boy got punched. She took out her tennis racket.

"Hey, you!" she shouted as she hurled the tennis racket as hard as she could at the middle schooler who punched the boy.

The tennis racket hit the older boy in the face. Ayame ran over to pick up her racket and proceeded to hit the middle schooler repeatedly with the racket.

"Why don't you go pick on someone your own size!" she shouted as she swung the racket rapidly.

The other boys, seeing that their friend is being beat up by a first year middle schoolgirl, started to attack her. Ayame reacted fast and used her Ninja Dash to move out of the way. She then proceeded to duck, dodge, and kick the other middle schoolers while they couldn't land a hit on her. When the dust cleared, all the third year middle schoolers were laying on the ground, beat up, while Ayame stood over them triumphantly.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, onee-chan!" the younger boy said.

"No problem!" Ayame said, smiling.

She left the park and went on her usual strolls, eventually turning around and heading back to her neighborhood. She stopped by the Echizens for a visit. As soon as she stepped through the front door, she did her usual "kick-the-old-pervert" routine.

"Where's Ryoma?" she asked Nanako after she settled down.

"Ryoma-san is napping in his room," Nanako replied.

Nanako's answer prompted Ayame to do a pratfall.

Why the hell is he always sleeping whenever I stop by at his house? she wondered.

She went upstairs and found Ryoma asleep on his bed.

I hope he won't mind if I do this... she thought as she turned on his game console and started playing on it.

Ayame loved video games, as she would sometimes go to Ryoma's house and play video games with him. They sometimes had heated competitions with each other, with both not wanting to lose to their friend. Ayame doesn't own video games at her house, but she learned very quickly when she played at the Echizens.

Ayame started playing games on Ryoma's game console, but she didn't play for five minutes when Ryoma woke up.

"Yo," he said drowsily as he recognized Ayame.

Ayame said nothing, as she was too concentrated into the game to notice that Ryoma was awake. She often concentrated very hard when playing video games, enough to not notice any changes in her surroundings, causing her to be oblivious to little things around her.

As soon as she finished the game, she looked behind her back to notice that Ryoma was awake and sitting on his bed, watching her. Once she saw him, she leaped up in surprise.

"Since when were you awake?!" she cried out.

"When you started round one..." Ryoma answered.

"Damn, I got busted..." she muttered.

"It was okay for you to keep playing..." Ryoma said.

Ayame finished the game.

"Oh, whatever," she suddenly said. "I'm just gonna go for a walk again. See you later, Ryoma."

"See you," said Ryoma.

Ayame left the Echizens and went back towards town again. Ryoma went downstairs and grabbed something to eat. After twenty minutes, the radio playing in the kitchen stopped playing music to bring up news. He stopped to listen. Apparently a wild bear was running loose somewhere in Tokyo, and the officials are still looking for it to catch it. All residents were warned to stay inside.

Ryoma had no plans to go outside. He could always play with Karupin or take another nap. Soon, the phone rang, and Nanako answered it. As she spoke to the person on the other send, she seemed concerned about something.

"That was Kanna-san," Nanako said to Ryoma's mother Rinko when she hung up. "He called to see if Ayame-chan was here, because she's not home. She forgot her cell phone at home, so he has no way of contacting her."

Ryoma overheard the conversation and remembered that Ayame said that she was going for the walk. As his mind recalled that fact, he was slowly filled with horror.

She probably doesn't know about the bear... he thought. She must be out there somewhere! I have to go warn her!

Ryoma knew that Nanako and his parents wouldn't let him out of the house to go look for Ayame, so he snuck outside with his tennis bag. He started running down the neighborhood, and knew that whenever Ayame took a walk, she often passed by the park. He headed there immediately.

Before he could get there, he heard a terrified, piercing scream, followed by a roar. He came around the corner. Backed up against a tree was a middle schoolgirl his age, and staring right at her was a brown bear.

Ayame! Ryoma recognized her.

Ayame's face was stark white and she was petrified with fear as she stared back up at the bear. She looked ready to faint. Ryoma knew that she was terrified of wild animals, and that if he doesn't do something, she's going to get mauled.

I can't let the bear get me either... his thoughts reminded him.

The bear roared again, and Ayame screamed. Ryoma knew it was now or never. He took out his tennis racket and executed a Twist Serve. The ball hit the bear in the face.

Ryoma! Ayame recognized him.

The bear's attention was diverted to Ryoma, as it started heading towards him with murderous intent, giving him a look of hate. Ayame realized that Ryoma was saving her life, and now his life was at stake with the bear coming for him. Fighting her fears, she took out her tennis racket and hit a Twist Serve at the bear to divert its attention back to her.

Ayame had an idea, and she lobbed a tennis ball towards Ryoma, hoping that he was thinking the same thing. With a great leap, Ryoma executed his Cyclone Smash and hit the ball directly at the bear's head, knocking it out. Ayame went over to Ryoma.

"Arigatou..." she said.

"Your dad's worried about you," Ryoma said. "He said you forgot your cell phone at home so he couldn't contact you as soon as he heard that the bear was on the loose."

Ayame hung her head in shame. "I was wondering why the place was deserted..."

Ayame and Ryoma walked back to the neighborhood together.

"I'm real sorry that you snuck out to go look for me," Ayame said.

"Don't worry about it," Ryoma said. "At least you didn't die."

Ryoma followed Ayame to her house, where her father was relieved that she was alive. He thanked Ryoma for rescuing her. Ryoma then walked back home.

"Where have you been, boy?" Nanjiroh asked as soon as Ryoma stepped through the front door.

"Nowhere," Ryoma replied.

Ryoma knew that if he told Nanjiroh that he went to go find Ayame, Nanjiroh would make fun of him about it. Unfortunately for him, Ryoma had to explain to Nanako and Rinko about why he left.

"So you went to go look for your girlfriend?" Nanjiroh asked Ryoma, causing his son to glare daggers at him immediately.

Before Nanjiroh could say anything, suddenly Ayame was there, and she gave him a hard kick in the face.

"Shut the hell up, old pervert!" she shouted.

"Ayame?" Ryoma said, stunned. "Where did you come from?"

"You saved my life," Ayame answered. "I owe you five cans of Ponta."

Ayame handed over five cans of grape-flavored Ponta, which Ryoma happily accepted. He proceeded to open one of them and drink from it, while Ayame continued to kick Nanjiroh repeatedly and yell at him to die.

Meanwhile the officials have found the bear unconscious at the park. They noticed that the bear has suffered a blow to the head, but by what? They puzzled over it for a long while, but they would never find out that it was the work of two first year middle schoolers who have an addiction to tennis.