Story Notes
Setting, background, titles.
Arc: Prince of Tennis
Arcs in Prince of Tennis: Standalone | Mirror Writing | Challenge | Third Watch | Swallow the Moon | Yaru | Hearts and Spades | Translated | Every Night and All
Immanent
A new, young samurai arrives at the central castle of the Uesugi clan.
Echizen Ryouma had been in Kasugayama for a week, and one of Uesugi’s warriors for three and a half days, before he ran into trouble.
At First Sight
The young women of the castle sneak a look at the new warriors.
“Oh, oh, over here! Come here, Sakuno, you can see the new warriors from here!”
Convex
Echizen cleans his sword and thinks about his new place.
Ryouma sat in his rooms in the middle town, with his sword over his knees, cleaning it. His hands moved automatically, years and years of familiarity guiding them while his eyes rested on the blade without seeing it.
Unnoticed
Echizen escorts Sakuno and deals with a little trouble. Other sorts of trouble, he misses completely.
Or, she admitted to herself with a silent sigh, maybe he hadn’t done it for her at all. He was a samurai, after all; she was young, but she knew how the men of her own class could be about fights and challenges.
Tarnished
Tezuka watches his newest warrior and wonders about him.
Kaga would be a good place to see Echizen’s real mettle. Kunimitsu’s mouth tightened.
Echizen’s form was beautiful. Deadly.
And wrong.
Need Beyond Want
Echizen enters his first battle as a samurai of Uesugi, against the forces of Kaga under Tachibana.
They would probably have been fine if Echizen’s opponent hadn’t seen himself about to be caught between the two of them and panicked. Momo reacted automatically to the man’s desperate, circling slash.
So did Echizen.
Pride
Tachibana’s officers renew their bonds in the aftermath of their battle with Uesugi.
Akira hovered beside his friend as Shinji flexed his arm. He wanted to go on to recheck the rest of their injured, but he was wary of the thoughtful expression on Shinji’s face.
Hold
Tezuka tries to break through to Echizen.
Ryouma knelt where he was, staring up at the General. He could feel the deadly thin line of Tezuka-dono’s sword against his throat. It didn’t move when the General spoke.
Washed Dry
Fuji decides to try his hand against Echizen. It provokes a lot of thought.
Shuusuke felt a touch of excitement flicker along his nerves as they moved out into the open, feet scuffing up tiny puffs of dust to mark where they set themselves. Echizen was good. Not good enough to make Shuusuke lose, but perhaps…
Three Plus One
A scene that might come just after issue 339. Kirihara angsts a bit until his team makes him see reason.
Yukimura-buchou didn’t look away from the game. “Did you hear what they were calling you?”
Six Examples
Takes place after the Sanada v Atobe match (manga). With some prodding from Yukimura, Sanada loosens his brain up, and finds some new techniques. Also with sex via tennis.
“I don’t care how you do it. But we can’t afford to have you paralyzed whenever someone besides Tezuka actually manages to push you.”
Architect
Mizuki reflects on their defeat and has an epiphany.
Hajime leaned back in his seat on the bus, staring into the vanishing point of space, deaf to the murmurs of the St. Rudolph team around him.
They had lost.
The King is Dead
Yuuta takes over the tennis club; he and Kaneda talk about club politics and their senpai.
This captain thing wasn’t nearly as easy as Akazawa-senpai had made it look.
Foundations and Extensions
Mizuki studies the opposition, looking for the things he missed last time.
He was starting to think that it wasn’t his facts that had been wrong, exactly. They just hadn’t been enough, and he’d been missing some pieces.
Especially some of those strange pieces that changed every time he looked at them.
Palm to Palm
Mizuki comes across Yuuta practicing and they have words; and a match; and maybe another epiphany.
Using a shot that wore so hard on his body, Yuuta would never last three more years at this rate! What was the boy thinking? How was Hajime supposed to draw Yuuta back, year after next, if he went on like this?
Ace, King
Yuuta tries to decide how it’s going to be between he and Mizuki from now on.
This was the feeling he remembered, the feeling of driving right up to the edge of his strength and endurance and staring the limit down. The feeling of advancing.
Approaching Fineness
After watching Regional finals, Yuuta and Mizuki both have a new range on their goals.
Hajime smiled; observing the tournaments seemed to be doing good things for Yuuta’s awareness of the mental game. That would be useful.
Heat Imaging
Yuuta plays some with Fuji and they wind up discussing Mizuki.
And Mizuki-san looked at him differently, too, which Yuuta wasn’t going to say because he didn’t know how to describe the difference. At least not so that Aniki wouldn’t have a heart attack.
Steel and Cypress
After watching the National semifinals, Mizuki wrestles with his ambitions and fears—at least until Yuuta gives him a push.
Hajime’s mouth quirked. What a spot to put himself in, a sensible, logical person agreeing to go forward alongside this firebrand and push both of them to the edge and beyond.
Percentage by Volume
Yuuta puts some work into repairing Mizuki’s reputation among the St. Rudolph tennis club.
“I didn’t do that with any special skill or talent,” he said, flatly. “I could do it because I’ve been working my ass off, according to a training schedule Mizuki-san made.” He paused to let that sink in, and to catch his breath. “Now. Do you want to be able to do that?”
Cold Fingers and Hot Drinks
Yuuta and Mizuki train with each other over the winter and find their way toward an understanding.
Hajime’s hands were cold.
He didn’t bother telling himself it was because they were playing outside in the dead of winter. He knew better, and he did try not to lie to himself, at least.
Heart Shaped Petals
It’s graduation, and Mizuki’s intentions are finally unmistakable.
Yuuta supposed it was all sorts of good omens and stuff like that for the third years to graduate just as the sakura were blooming, but this year he felt just a little lost, watching the petals fall over everyone’s carefully pressed uniforms.
Strawberry Season
Yuuta lets himself be a little distracted by new things; his team notices; maybe Yuuta doesn’t care.
“Kaneda,” Yuuta growled, knowing he was more flushed than exercise could excuse, “they are betting on my personal life.”
The Bees and the Bees
Yuuta wants Kaneda to explain some facts of life to him.
“No.” Yuuta kicked the door shut behind him, because he really didn’t want the whole dorm hearing this. “I just… well I wondered… what it’s like. I mean what happens. When you… um.”
Cotton Sheets
Mizuki and Yuuta have some pillow-talk about the ongoing tournaments and more about names.
Once he made up his mind to something, Yuuta had no self-consciousness Hajime had been able to discover, and he seemed perfectly content to lie in bed naked and discuss tennis while Hajime’s hands wandered over him.
See and Raise
Mizuki comes to see Yuuta play; so does Fuji; a little silent competition ensues.
He’d never really taught Yuuta anything about managing people; he’d never had to.
Shreds of Cinnamon
Yuuta and Mizuki enjoy some intimacy and experiment a little in bed.
Hajime-san laughed, the soft, throaty sound that he only ever made in bed, the one that made Yuuta hard just hearing it
The Evening and the Morning
Yuuta is down, after Nationals, and Mizuki prods him out of his end-of-the-world gloom.
Yuuta stopped short, looking out over St. Christopher’s courts, which they had come out at the back of. “Oh,” he said, very quietly, eyes wide.
Patience and Concentration
A year and a half later, Mizuki and Yuuta have some more hot sex for very good reasons.
“So, I’m evil?” Hajime-san murmured against Yuuta’s shoulder, after a moment.
Yuuta laughed. “Yep. I like it that you are.” He tangled his fingers with Hajime-san’s and pulled his hand close to kiss the knuckles. “It’s fun.”
Lignin
Loosely based on the Five Stages of Love prompt. Yukimura and Sanada, over the years.
Seiichi nodded toward the rest of the club. "What do you think?"
Sanada crossed his arms, gazing across the courts again. "I’m glad you’re here."
If It’s One That You Can Keep
Yukimura and Sanada have victory sex in the shower, after Nationals.
The sound of his team rummaging around and getting dressed beyond the tile wall was both immediate and distant, the way everything had been since the blinding moment he realized the last point was his.
He was glad for it when warm arms slid around him and pulled him back against a solid chest.
Reconstruction
Twenty things about Yukimura. (Because Konomi lost his thread completely and I don’t find Yukimura’s Svengali Tennis the least little bit convincing.)
At first he thought it was strange, playing tennis in teams, but he’s come to like the school club. It makes inside and outside clear.
Full to Overflowing
Arriving in high school, Kirihara gets a nice welcome back from Sanada. Written for Porn Battle, with the prompt: Sanada/Kirihara, size queen.
The day couldn’t get much better than this. It was a new year; he was a Regular on the high school team; everyone else had gone home and Sanada-san was fucking him, hard and big, stretching Akaya open perfectly.
Brittle Edge
An outsider samurai visits, looking for a challenge. Echizen
gives it to him and comes a little closer to figuring things out.
They met in the training yard.
"The kid again, hm?" Akutsu looked down at Ryouma with cold eyes.
Ryouma shrugged. "We didn’t finish, last time."
Feline
Tezuka coaxes Atobe into an afternoon of relaxation. Written for the Porn Battle prompt: Tezuka/Atobe, languid.
It was Kunimitsu’s personal discovery. If Keigo was petted for long enough he unwound, forgot to be driven and arrogant, and relaxed into a languid sprawl of limbs, lounging against Kunimitsu’s chest for hours at a time without protest.
Elemental
Kirihara’s view of Yukimura. Written for the Porn Battle prompt: Yukimura/Kirihara, elemental.
When Seiichi-san made love to him it was pure and intense and wiped Akaya’s mind clean of everything but the body over him, inside him, the hands spread against his back, the dip of Seiichi-san’s dark head over him.
Things to Wear
Yukimura really, really likes the way Sanada looks in a kimono. Written for the Porn Battle prompt: Yukimura/Sanada, traditional dress.
Seiichi liked how Genichirou looked in traditional clothing. The falling lines of a kimono or even yukata displayed Genichirou’s broad shoulders and straight height, reminded everyone who watched of the power waiting in that still, composed figure.
Fire and Gravel
Guessing gift for Lynn. A moment of tension before a match reminds Ibu of why he fits in with Fudoumine, past and present.
Shinji’s head turned, eyes tracking the one who’d made that last, disparaging, comment. He could feel the old, quick rage boil up, the fury that wanted to claw that smug dismissal to ribbons, that raged against the wall of disbelief.
Time-lapse
Post-canon. Yukimura has recovered and Fuji has left tennis. They cross paths over art and weave a new acquaintance.
"What are you thinking?"
It was not the kind of question Seiichi expected to hear out of the blue, but he recognized this voice and so it surprised him less. "Fuji."
The Finest Things
Atobe deals with some trouble among his officers.
"How badly were Taki’s forces defeated?" Tarou-sama asked, evenly, eyes
on the men passing him."Completely," Keigo reported, keeping his voice dispassionate, no matter
how much he wanted to grind his teeth with frustration. "They would
have lost two out of three, had we been in the field."
Detachment
Yukimura and Sanada discuss the future a little.
Yukimura turned his head back to look up at the ceiling. "I may not be with you at Kawanakajima this time." The curve of his mouth could not be called a smile.
Fire and Fleet and Candle Light
A rewrite of the end of Regionals and the month until Nationals. Echizen gets obsessed, Rikkai is still on edge, Tachibana is brooding, Momo is insightful, Kirihara retrains, Atobe is annoyed, Fuji gets down to business, An is delighted, Yukimura is not particularly happy, Tezuka is plotting, and everyone is coming to town.
When the match with Sanada reached five games all, Ryouma knew he was in trouble. It was a new feeling. When he played his dad, he was always in trouble, so the knowledge was meaningless and he’d learned to ignore it. When he’d played Tezuka he’d barely had time to understand that he really was in trouble, and notice what it felt like, before the game was over. After all, it wasn’t like a lower score meant he was losing! He’d come from behind plenty of times and won anyway.
But he could feel his pace falling, now.
The Fire Shall Never Make Thee Shrink – Day One
Rewrites the Nationals matches in which tension and uncertainty still abound, motivations are examined, justice is served, second-years consider the future, and everyone gets extremely heated up.
His teammates knew things he didn’t. Knew things about the teams here and who they were and what they’d done years before. It was like… like a road that they’d been walking down and he’d… he’d been in a train tunnel. He knew everyone on the train, all the best international players, their moves and their statistics. But he didn’t know this road, and it felt strange. He had to rely on other people’s knowledge, here.
If this was also what Tezuka-buchou meant about his team supporting him, he wasn’t sure he liked it. But his dad’s train-tunnel way obviously wasn’t good enough to win with, so he supposed he’d have to try this one anyway.
The Fire Shall Never Make Thee Shrink – Day Two Morning
Quarter-finals. Fudoumine is making progress and gives Shitenhouji a run for their money, Higa is shocked by Rikkai, and Kirihara has an epiphany that he doesn’t particularly enjoy. Atobe, on the other hand, enjoys his quite a lot.
The Fire Shall Never Make Thee Shrink – Day Two Afternoon
Semi-finals. Atobe takes Sanada by surprise, Zaizen’s senpai help him start to think more flexibly and Echizen finishes the job, and Shiraishi pushes Fuji all the way.
The Fire Shall Never Make Thee Shrink – Day Three
Finals. Spectators gather and next year’s players start to think about the future, as Rikkai and Seigaku battle it out. Yuuta is gleeful, Kirihara is thoughtful, Zaizen starts getting to grips, and Echizen finally figures out what’s more important than winning.
Every Night and All Appendix
Some notes on titles, translations, venues, and full details of the Nationals bracket for this ‘verse.