Title: Rose Garden
Fandom: Prince of Tennis: Fudomine Chuugaku
Characters: An, Kirihara Akaya, Kippei
Prompt: 063 - Summer
Word Count: 453
Date finished: 05/28/2007
Rating: G
Summary: An escapes, and meets someone she'd rather not.
Author's Notes: Crack Pairing Generator again. An/Kirihara - Roses. I don't like Kirihara (or his team. Blame the uniforms - ugliest things in the anime. Yellow! ack!). They might be reconciled in the Anime, but he hurt her brother, so I'm not sure I believe it.
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Konomi Takeshi, and whoever did the anime. At any rate, it's not me.

The celebration for the end of the Kanto tournament was semi-formal. It was still warm, deepest summer, but at least it was at the end of the day, when it cooled off enough to actually stand close to someone if they asked her to dance.

She didn't think there was much of a chance of that; she'd already told Akira and Shinji to stop hovering around her, but they hadn't gone very far. Frustrated, she turned and stalked from the dance floor and headed for the doors to the garden.

It was cooler out here, cool enough to make her almost wish she'd brought her wrap, but only almost. She was not going back in there.

The garden, it turned out, had once held roses. They were mostly dead, now, but it didn't detract from the beauty of the place.

"Won't someone be missing you?"

Her hands fisted even as she turned to smile at the boy behind her. "Probably," she said, as nicely as she could. "Won't someone be missing you?"

Kirihara Akaya smirked. "Doubtful."

"Neither will I," she said, and turned away to find a quieter part of the garden.

"That isn't nice," he said, and she sighed when she heard him following her.

"No," she said, and turned around. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anything to say to that. "Would you please find another place to… do whatever you're doing?" she asked.

He hesitated. "No," he said after a moment. "I don't think so."

She stared at him. "Why not?"

He shifted, a little uncomfortable. "So no one tries to take off with you."

An sighed and folded her arms, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Listen to me," she said. "I already have one over-protective brother and his six over-protective teammates. I don't need anyone else trying to protect me - especially not someone who the other seven probably think I need protecting from!"

He took a step back, and then smirked at her. "Oh, do they now?" he almost purred.

"Yes," she said, teeth clenched together. "But they don't realize that I don't need protecting from you, of all people. Nor do I need your protection."

"An?"

She sighed again, so frustrated she wanted to cry. "I'm over here, Kippei," she called.

He came around the bushes and smiled at her. "I'm sorry," he said, walking past Kirihara without a glance toward him. "I know you hate being watched over, but I also know you will be upset if you miss dinner. They're starting in a few moments."

An smiled and took his proffered arm. "Yes, I would be," she said, and was faintly relieved when Kippei said nothing about finding Kirihara with her for the rest of the evening.

Fudomine Table | Challenge Main

Home | Stories | Links | Contact me