Chapter 7

Surprised Meetings

"Akaya? Where are you going?" Genichirou Sanada asked seeing Kirihara leave the tennis courts.

"I have to go to the hospital." Kirihara paused then said looking at his teammates, "my cousin is there. It seems like she had gotten her wrist broken."

"Okay," Sanada said nodding his head to Kirihara.

Kirihara left soon afterwards.

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Kaneda had gone to the hospital once again to see if he could visit Kara. Lucky for him there was a different nurse at the front desk.

"Um, hi." Kaneda said to the nurse. "I had stopped by last night to visit my friend here. And it was too late to visit her. So I was wondering if I could visit her now?"

"Yeah," the nurse said. "Her room is the sixth door on the right side of this hallway." She said pointing towards the hallway to her rightside.

"Thank you," Kakeru said almost unable to bear his excitement. He had gone to the room the nurse had said was Kara's.

He opened the door to find Kara sleeping still. Kakeru closed the door just as another kid entered the hospital.

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Kirihara had walked into the hospital and towards the front desk.

"Excuse me. I'm here to visit my cousin."

"What is her name?" The nurse asked.

"Kara Tamiyaka." Kirihara said.

"Her room is the sixth door on the right side." The nurse said pointing in the same direction she had shown Kaneda.

"Thank you," Kirihara said then left to go to Kara's room.

He was about to open the door. When he heard some noise inside the room.

"You're going to like what I'm going to give you, bitch!" A male voice said inside the room.

"Let go of me. You bastard!"

Kirihara flinched as he heard Kara's voice talk raspily as if she was being choked. He opened the door and in an instant was fighting the guy.

Security gurads came to the room and broke up the fight.

Dr. Kiritama came into the room and asked what happened.

Kara had pointed to Kaneda as she held her throat choughing for air.

"He had choked you?" Kiritama asked.

She nodded her head.

"Get him out of this hospital right now!" Kiritama yelled to the security guards. He turned to look around to face Kirihara and asked in a stern voice. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kara-chan's cousin Akaya Kirihara." Kirihara said looking at Kiritama.

"Is that true Kara-chan?" Kiritama asked wanting to make sure she was really okay with someone else in the room with her.

"Hai, Akaya-chan is my cousin." Kara said looking at Kiritama.

"Okay. Then he can visit you for a while." Kiritama said as he left Kara's room.

"Who was that Kara-chan?" Kirihara asked.

"His name was Kaneda. He goes to Fumoshime Middle School." Kara said looking at Kirihara.

"So you know him personally." Kirihara said.

"Yeah," Kara said nodding her head.

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Eiji and Fuji had walked into the hospital and went up to the front desk.

"Hi. We're here to visit Kara Tamiyaka." Eiji said.

"She must be really popular with the guys." The nurse said smiling at Eiji and Fuji. "There were two other people who came here today as well. A man named Kaneda who said he was a classmate of Miss Kara's. And a young man named Kirihara who says he's Kara-chan's cousin."

Eiji and Fuji looked towards eachother then left to Kara's room.

"Kara?" Eiji asked opening the door.

"Ohiyo Eiji-chan." Kara said smiling towards Eiji.

Kirihara looked towards the doorway and saw Eiji and Fuji.

All three were wondering what the other was doing there.

"It's been a while since we had seen you Kirihara." Fuji said smiling at Akaya.

"Yeah it has." Kirihara said. He paused then said glancing at Kara, "I'm lucky I had gotten here when I did."

"Why?" Eiji asked.

"I had entered Kara-chan's room right when she was being choked by a dark haired guy named Kaneda." Kirihara said in an angered tone.

"Kaneda," Eiji repeated in an angered tone. "He must have been the other person fallowing us last night."

"I didn't know you guys were cousins." Fuji said smiling at Kirihara and Kara.

"Yeah. We used to play tennis when we where kids." Kara said. "Akaya-chan had always beaten me." She said laughing.

Eiji and Fuji laughed hearing what Kara had said.

Kara smiled at her two friends.

Eiji looked towards Kara's neck and saw red fingerprints around her neck.

"Kara-chan. Your neck," he said gently brushing his fingers across her neck.

Kara squinted in pain as she said smiling, "I'll be alright. Don't worry about it."

"It's not alright." Eiji said with a worried look on his face.

"Don't worry about it, Eiji-chan." Kara said as she placed her hands on his. "I'll be okay."

Akaya smiled at Kara and Eiji knowing the had a special relationship. He had decided to leave and go and visit a certain school. Fuji had fallowed him outside of the hospital.

"Kirihara?" Fuji asked.

"I'm going to pay that school a little visit. I used to walk with Kara-chan to school because our schools were close together. I want to see what this tennis team is like."

"Kirihara! Wait!" Fuji yelled to stop him from walking out the door.

Akaya had turned around and looked at Fuji. He saw Fuji's eyes opened and knew he was thinking about something serious. Fuji had always done that. He had always smiled showing his sweet character. But anyone who knew him. When they saw him look at them with his eyes opened. He was dead serious about something.

"You want to tell me something important that I don't know." Akaya said looking towards him.

"Yeah," Fuji said walking with Kirihara.

"What is it?" Akaya asked looking at him.

"What I'm about to tell you is going to make you real pissed." Fuji paused then said looking at Kirihara. "There is this one person who had put Kara-chan in the hospital because he had snapped her wrist."

"Go on," Akaya said feeling his anger begin to boil up inside of him.

"His name is Akira. He's on the tennis club at Fumoshime Middle School."

"So he should be there when I go and visit the school today?" Kirihara asked giving an evil smile to Fuji.

"He should be since he is the captain of the tennis team." Fuji paused then said looking at Kirihara, "how about I come with you? Kara and Eiji need to be alone for awile after what happened earlier. And I want to see this tennis team as well."

"Sure, why not." Akaya said smiling at Fuji knowing he was also angry with these bastards as well.

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Sanada and the others had finished their practices as they saw Akaya and Fuji walking together.

Sanada walked up to then and asked what was going on. Akaya told him everything he had found out that day.

Sanada told everyone else goodbye as he left with Akaya and Fuji. He was also curious about this Fumoshime team after hearing what Akaya told him.

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"Hey Akira. We have visitors." Nakashima said looking at the gate.

Akira looked and recognized Fuji. "I see one of her 'friends' she wanted to protect from me is with the other two people."

"I think the black haired guy is another one of her 'friends' like Kikumaru-kun." Kaneda said looking towards where Fuji, Akaya, and Sanada were.

"Shall we invited them to come and play a game with us?" Tetsuo asked.

"Sure. Why not." Akira said laughing.

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Fuji, Kirihara, and Sanada were surprised when they were allowed inside the tennis courts.

"I wonder how many 'lovers' Kara-chan has?" Akira said laughing towards Fuji and the others evily.

"Matte, Kirihara." Sanada said as he saw Kirihari gripping one of his tennis balls.

"I want to crush him." Kirihara whispered angrily to Sanada.

"I have a proposition." Sanada said to everyone. "How about we have a doubles game. Kirihara and Fuji. Against Akira and Kaneda."

"Sounds interesting to me." Kaneda paused then said smiling at Kirihara, "I'll make Kara-chan's boyfriend pay for ruining my time I had with her today."

"Sure why not," Akira said not sounding the least bit interested in the game.

"Watch what you say about my-," Kirihara said.

"Kirihara," Fuji said placing his hands on Kirihara's shoulder. "Let them think what they want. They'll be beaten no matter what."

Kirihara nodded his head. Agreeing with Fuji.

"I shall be the referee." Sanada paused then said looking at the other members of Fumoshime. "I shall keep the game fair. I don't trust your judgments on the game."

Tetsuo and everyone else looked towards Sanada with a pissed off expression.

"Since we're playing on their courts. Fumoshime's, Akira is up to serve first." Sanada said standing across from the tennis net next to the fence.

Akira tossed up the ball and swung his raquet forward as the ball appeared in front of it.

Fuji had reacted first and hit the ball back over. The ball went towards Kaneda. Kaneda had used his strength to hit it directly at Kirihara.

Kirihara had smiled as he swung the raquet hard enough to make a point and have both Akira and Kaneda miss the ball.

"15-0, Kirihara and Fuji." Sanada called out.

"Damn it!" Kaneda said angrily.

Kirihara was up to serve next.

Fuji and Sanada both looked at Kirihara and seen him grip the tennis ball in his hand so tight. It woud most likely break if it wasn't released soon.

"Knucle Serve!" Sanada and Fuji both thought simutaneously.

"What's the matter?" Kaneda began taunting. "Afraid to let go of the ball? Or are you afraid I'll get to see Kara-chan again?" He asked laughing.

"No. You won't be seeing Kara-chan ever again." Kirihara said grinning as he had thrown the ball up into the air. He swung his raquet as the ball reached infront of him.

Kaneda was still laughing as the ball was flying towards him. The next instant Kaneda was on the ground spitting out a tooth that had been knocked out. He looked at the ground and saw his tooth. "You had knocked out my tooth you bas-"

Akira looked towards Kaneda and asked," "what's wrong, Kaneda. Get up and play the game."

"Sorry about that, Kaneda." Kirihara said tauntingly.

Fuji and Sanada looked towards Kirihara and saw his eyes were red. Fuji remebered the match in which he had first seen them. But this time was different. Kirihara wasn't taunting anyone. He was planning to 'crush' Kaneda.

"Kirihara!" Both Fuji and Sanada said at the same time.

"It's alright." Kirihara said smiling. "I'm just going to play with Kaneda for a while."

"What in the hell do you mean 'play with' !" Kaneda said angrily to Kirihara. "You-," Kaneda stopped as he saw how Kirihara looked.

"'You' what?" Kirihara asked looking at Kaneda.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" Kaneda asked with a little fear in his voice.

"I'm just showing you my other side." Akaya said grinning at Kaneda.

Fuji looked at Kirihara and thought, "Kirihara had always allowed the other team to win a game first. Just like he did with Tachibana and me. But this Kirihara is different. They had messed with one of his family members and friend. 'This' Kirihara will stop at nothing to make Kaneda pay for what he did to Kara-chan."

"You've become a monster," Kaneda said with a tremble of fear on his lips.

"No," Akaya paused then said. "I've become a pissed off guy."

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Eiji was in Kara's room watching her rest. He grabbed a washclothe from the set of towels in the washroom. He soaked it with cold water and wrung it out as he dapped Kara's neck along the red lines. They were starting to disappear.

Eiji looked towards the door as he heard it opened.

"Eiji why didn't you and Fuji meet us at Kawamura's?" Oishi asked as he walked into Kara's room.

"Gomen, Oishi." Eiji said moving to get more cold water on the rag.

"What happened to Kara-chan?"

"Kaneda from Fumoshime had attacked her. But Kirihara had saved her from anything else. That's why she has the fingerprints along her neck."

"Kirihara?" Oishi paused then asked. "You mean Kirihara from Rikkaidai?"

"Yeah," Eiji paused then said looking at Oishi. "He's Kara-chan's cousin."

"Wow." Oishi said looking toewards Kara. "I'm glad he arrived in time then."

"Same here." Eiji said.

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Fuji was up tp serve next. The score was 1-0 with Fuji and Kirihara in the lead.

Fuji had just finished serving the ball just as Akira was at the net. The ball didn't even pass the net by a foot before Akira returned the ball.

Kirihara had then swung his raquet fast enought to score a point.

"15-0. Kirihara and Fuji," Sanada called out.

"Damn it! We're losing to these bastards." Akira said then left the courts.

"Where are you going?" Kirihara asked looking towards Akira.

"I'm done playing. So I'm going home." Akira said not looking back as he walked off the tennis courts.

"Since it's going to be like that." Sanada paused then said, "Kirihara and Fuji have won this game."

Kirihara, Sanada, and Fuji had left the tennis courts.