The Kunoichi of Tennis (by DaPsionicFox)

Chapter 21- Ryoma and Ayame's Rematch

Chapter 21: Ryoma and Ayame's Rematch

Ayame strolled down the dirt road through the park. She was going on an early morning stroll before the park gets noisy. As she walked, she was contemplating about her life as well as dwelling on her past.

What was bothering her most was the match she had with Ryoma back before the Nationals had began. It bugged her to not know if she has surpassed Ryoma yet and more than anything at this moment she wanted to know.

Back when I used to play with Ryoga, it was true that I was better than Ryoma... she thought. But when we grew up together he was better than me because of my lack of power. And that last match told us that we were evenly tied. But at this point of time it's hard to tell because I've been working on my power and Ryoma learned some new tricks up his sleeve. I guess we'll have to settle it again.

She decided to walk back to the hotel and have some breakfast. As she reached the door to her room, she quietly opened it, got inside, and closed it lightly. Ryoma was still sleeping soundly, and she didn't want to wake him. She had breakfast and then decided to play another match with Ryoma... although it couldn't be now due to the fact that her opponent was still fast asleep.

It's this early in the morning... she thought as she looked at the clock. Looks like I'm gonna have to wait for hours for this bastard to wake up.

Ayame began spinning her racket on one finger while waiting. She began counting in seconds how long she could spin the racket before it fell.

1050, 1051, 1052... Ayame's thoughts went.

Right then, the racket on her finger fell onto the floor.

Dammit... she thought as she picked her racket back up.

To her surprise, Ryoma had slept through the noise the racket made when it fell. She packed away her racket and decided to just do nothing while she waited for him to wake up.

Hours soon passed. Ryoma finally opened his eyes and he spotted Ayame sitting on a chair pulled up to the window. She was staring out the window with a blank expression, and looked exactly like when she was staring at the clock.

She's petrified again... Ryoma thought drowsily before closing his eyes.

He fell back asleep and slept for another few hours before waking up again. Ayame was still in the exact same position as when he last saw her. When he realized that, he began to get creeped out.

When she was petrified like that, it was only for a few minutes... he remembered. Did she possibly stay like this for this long? Or is she doing this to scare me? Wait... during that time when I was sick, I didn't know how long she was staring at the clock...

"Oh, you're finally awake?" a voice interrupted Ryoma's thoughts.

He looked to see that Ayame has finally moved and she was looking at him.

"How long have you been sitting there?" Ryoma asked.

"Dunno," Ayame answered with a shrug. "Maybe two hours or so, looking at the time. Anyway, now that you're up, wanna go play a match and finally settle the score?"

Ryoma smirked. "You're on!"

"But first, you gotta change. You don't wanna play in your pajamas, do you?"

Ayame's response caused Ryoma to do a pratfall out of his bed.

"I'll be waiting for you at a tennis court," she said as she picked up her tennis bag and left the room.