Title: Rivals or Not
Author: Luce Red
Crossover of series: Hikaru no Go, Prince of Tennis
Disclaimer: characters owned by Hotta and Obata, Konomi, Shueisha, Jump and their affiliated parts.
Notes/Summary: Overuse of ellipsis, some gratuitous Japanese.  The measure of a rival.

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Momoshiro and Kaidou met—entirely by accident—at the path leading to the street tennis courts.  Ignoring each other with the ease of long practice, they made their way there in silence.

When they reached the courts, Momoshiro was surprised to see a boy with a blond fringe already there, standing by the sides, holding a battered but familiar-looking racquet in one hand as he remonstrated with a dark-haired boy who was wearing a white dress shirt and sitting on a bench.  Kaidou shot them a look, and walked to the side to do his warm-up exercises

“Come on, Touya,” the first boy was saying, “Stop thinking about it for a while.  A loss is not the end of the world, you know.  You’ll win the next time.”

After a few seconds, Momoshiro thought he recognized the blond-haired boy.  He had seen him on occasional runs in the park, and who sometimes stopped by the courts to watch matches.  As for the other boy, Momoshirou had never seen him before, though he noted with interest the remains of a suit jacket on one side, and the dress pants on him that now looked slightly wrinkled.  What kind of high school student wore a suit to the park, anyway?  His companion was dressed more casually: a long-sleeve t-shirt with a checkered red shirt over it, and plain blue jeans.

“Shindou,” the dark-haired boy muttered, as if trying to avoid his companion’s attention.

“Come on, Touya.  Play some tennis with me.  It’ll take your mind off things.”  When there was no response, the blond-haired boy looked annoyed.  “You’re always like this,” he declared.  “For your information, obsessing about one losing game isn’t going to improve things.”

“You never know,” Momoshiro murmured, then raised his hands in front of him in apology when both boys looked up.  “Sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing.  It’s different for some people, you know,” he said, directing his words to the Shindou boy.  “A guy I know, for example, was able to improve his skills because he was so obsessed.”  Ah, Ryouma.  Where was the brat, by the way?  If he was late again…

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t work like that here,” Shindou shot back, then looked abashed.  “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Momoshiro said.  “Did you want to play tennis?”  The tennis courts were often deserted at this hour, and they could play singles if they wanted.

Shindou shrugged, looking at his friend.  “If I can persuade Touya to play.  If not, you and your friend can go ahead first,” he nodded towards Kaidou.  “Are you from a school nearby?” he asked, curiosity in his voice.

Momoshiro nodded, approaching them.  “My name is Momoshiro Takeshi, from Seigaku Junior High.  I’m the Captain of the Tennis Club.”

“Cool,” Shindou said, his eyes shining with enthusiasm.  “My name is Shindou Hikaru.  Seigaku… that’s really well-known for its sports, isn’t it?  Baseball, soccer, basketball and tennis.  Wah, I really wanted to go to Seigaku.”

“Why didn’t you?” Momoshiro asked.

“Well, er…” Shindou shuffled his feet.  Momoshiro noticed that his companion seemed to be smiling absently at his act, as if into memory. “I sort of ended up going to Haze Junior High when I was in the sixth grade.”

“In the sixth grade?” Momoshiro repeated, confused.

Shindou shrugged.  “Long story.  Anyway, I went to Haze Junior High instead.  Besides, my friend Akari went there as well.”

“Did you play tennis in elementary school?” Momoshiro asked, nodding at the racquet in his hand.  He was sure he had seen that racquet before…

“Baseball, mostly,” Shindou said.  “But tennis is fun, too.  I’m trying to get him to play with me.  This is Touya, by the way,” he introduced.

“You two are friends?”

Shindou looked startled.  “We’re rivals!” he declared.

Momoshiro noticed that Touya looked calmer when Shindou said that.  “Were you looking for your friend?” Touya spoke for the first time, his voice low and polite.  “The one wearing a white baseball cap.”

“That’s Echizen, yes,” Momoshiro said.  “Is he here?”

“He lent us his racquets while he went to get a drink,” Shindou said, waving the racquet.  Momoshiro belatedly noticed the tennis bag at his feet, and realized that the racquet was one of Ryouma’s spares.  “He said to tell you that you owe him hamburgers for being late,” his eyes gleamed with amusement, “Momo-senpai.”

“That guy,” Momoshiro griped.  “Well, I’ll just play with Kaidou first.  Oy, Kaidou!” he yelled to get the man’s attention.  “That’s Kaidou.  He’s my rival. Sort of.  A bunch of us from school play here sometimes in the summer, with our senpai from high school.”

Kaidou approached.  “Idiot,” he growled.  “Can’t you see that they got here first?”

Stung, Momoshiro retorted, “But they’re not playing!”  He turned to Shindou.  “Sorry.  Do you want to play?”

Shindou waved his hands in a ‘go ahead’ gesture.  “No, it’s okay!  Since Touya doesn’t seem to be interested anyway.”  He gave them an exaggerated look of defeat.  “We just came here for a walk, and bumped into Echizen-san, that’s all.”

To Momoshiro’s mind, rivals seldom took walks together.  At least, Momoshiro would have never thought about wanting to talk Kaidou out of a bad mood if the latter lost a match.  Then again, good rivals could be good friends too, he’d heard that somewhere.  He recalled what Shindou was saying when they first arrived.  “Did your friend lose a match?” he asked.

“A game, yes,” Shindou corrected.  “You’ll get stronger, and beat him next time, Touya.”  He directed his comments to his friend again.

“That’s what I thought when I first lost to him,” Touya said.  “I didn’t think I’d lose to him a second time.”

Shindou shrugged.  “So you’ll beat him next time.  You’ll get Ogata-san.  I know it.”

“Yeah,” Momoshiro added, not entirely understanding what they were talking about, but feeling that he had to offer a few words of encouragement just the same.  “Come on, even your rival is encouraging you,” he joked.  “Not many rivals who would do that, you know.”

“That’s right!” Shindou said.  “You’ll get stronger, just like I’ll get stronger, and one day I’ll beat you!”

“You, Shindou?” Touya said, almost reflexively, it seemed.  But he sounded more cheerful.  “I’ll have to look forward to it, then.”

It was interesting to see Shindou’s cheeks puff in rage, Momoshiro thought.  “Why, you!” he growled, then took a deep breath.  “Do you want to play tennis?”

“Shindou,” Touya’s voice was polite with exaggerated patience.  “I don’t know how to play tennis.”

“You don’t?!”  The amazement in the exclamation was almost visible.

“Shindou,” Touya looked up at both of them, and Momoshiro saw for the first time that his serious-looking eyes were alight with mischief and frustration combined.  “I’ve been playing Go since I was two.  Where would I find the time to learn tennis?”

Shindou rubbed the back of his head.  "Oh, yeah," he muttered.  "I forgot.  You only play Go."

Momoshiro looked at them.  "Go?" he repeated, quite confused.

"Idiot," Kaidou directed the insult at him before turning to Touya.  "Touya Akira," he identified, "Go pro, right?"

At their combined expressions of surprise, Kaidou looked embarrassed.  "My dad plays Go for fun.  He buys Go Weekly sometimes," he explained.

"Ah."  Shindou nodded knowledgeably.

"Go?" Momoshiro said again.

"Idiot," Kaidou said, and nodded towards the courts.  "Let's play.  I'll beat you this time."

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Luce (redacanthus@yahoo.com)