Under My Protection

"I'm so going to crush that damn girl."

"I've always known she was a bitch, I can't understand why you asked her out."

"Shut up. I wanted to prove that she was not so innocent. Damn it, I'm pissed off."

"Well, I would have been to, if I've been rejected like you've been!"

"I'll have my revenge. She'll understand I'm a man, and her, only a girl. Atobe's protection won't be enough this time."

Oshitari Yuushi lifted an eyebrow. He didn't intend to listen to the other boys' conversation, but they were pretty loud. Oshitari knew them: they were third year's student in Hyoutei, sons of rich business men. They were Atobe like, but worse. Atobe Keigo would never attack a girl, and certainly not with the help of two other persons. But, if Oshitari was right, this same Atobe wouldn't see any wrongness in kicking these guys' asses if their plan came to his ears.

Oshitari didn't like them either, but he was not going to sell them to Atobe. Not for now.

**********

Oshitari spotted a girl on his way to the courts. She had braided her long black hair, ready for practice. He slid behind her, and whispered in her ear:

"Pretty as usual, -chan."

"Horny as usual, Oshitari."

The girl smiled, and put a cap on her head. She hadn't been scared by a sudden voice in her ear, or by the closeness of the boy. She was used of Atobe's protection, Oshitari thought. Being the cousin of the most powerful guy in the school, Atobe had always lived under Keigo's safety. A protection that she even never needed, because she was nice to everyone, and everyone liked her. But even the most loved person can find jealous people.

"I heard of your altercation with Yutaka. That was really intense."

shrugged.

"I didn't mean to make him fall in the middle of the class. But he was annoying me, whispering weird stuff and touching my hair. I couldn't let that guy grope me!"

"Hmm hmm. And would you let me grope you?"

"Funny."

smiled, and took her bag. She didn't seem annoyed, or anxious, and Oshitari knew she didn't have a single clue about what could happen to her soon. He leaned close, and fixed his serious eyes on hers.

". This guy you rejected, he took it very wrong. You have to be careful."

"Bah… I'll just tell him again that I don't want to date him."

Oshitari sighed. A guy like Yutaka would never understand a 'no', especially not coming from a girl with so pretty grey eyes.

", you'll have to do something for me."

The girl looked up to meet his eyes, and nodded.

"Never stay alone. Always keep someone with you."

"You sound scary. It's not like I'm going to be murdered."

"Things worse than murder can happen. So you'll do as I say?"

"Yes, yes, I will."

She gave him a big smile and a wink, and he understood that she didn't care at all about what he just told her. She may be nice, but the blood of Atobe's family was running through her veins. Keigo couldn't think of losing a game, couldn't imagine that bad things could happen even to her. Or she thought that Yutaka was too stupid to attack her.

"He's stupid. That's why he'll have the courage to do something…" Oshitari thought for himself, while talked about her last racket.

**********

During the next few days, Oshitari had followed like a shadow. He was always there when she got in or out a room, and offered to take her home every night. The young girl didn't seem to really notice the attentions of the genius, and she was just happy to have someone to talk to on her way home. The incident with Yutaka was already forgotten, because she didn't understand how someone could be offended for that. After all, she wouldn't have forced herself to go on a date with a guy she didn't like. She couldn't see the grey cloud menacing above her head, while Oshitari knew something would happen soon. Boys understood boys.

And the Friday after the bumping of Yutaka, between the loud bursts of laughter and random offers of dates meaning the end of the school week, Oshitari saw his expectations becoming true.

He was quietly following , hands in his pockets, when someone grabbed his arm. He turned his head, quiet surprised, to see Shishido frowning at him.

"Oshitari. Atobe told me to remind you that we have extra practice later."

"So it was today? That would be a little annoying…" Oshitari answered, while looking for among the crowd.

"Just don't be late. Atobe wouldn't like it, and we would be the ones suffering. I don't want to spend my weekend in bed because I'm exhausted, okay?"

"Yes, yes, Shishido. I'll be there."

The genius bit his lips. The few seconds he talked to Shishido made him lost . He spotted one of her friends, and rushed to her.

"A...;? I... don't know. She...; she went that way." The girl babbled, and she pointed her finger to the girls' court.

Oshitari quickly thanked her, for once not noticing how happy yet embarrassed the girl was to have had a conversation with Oshitari Yuushi.

Something was hurting in Oshitari's stomach while he hurried to the direction left. There was so much noise in the school then that no one could hear if someone, if screamed. How could he be so stupid? Oshitari thought. Friday was the best moment to try something on , and him, he let her go alone. The more he thought about what was maybe happening, the more his stomach hurt. He wouldn't forgive himself if…

"Get your hands off of me, you pig."

Oshitari heard then a strange noise, and someone fell on the floor. Anger flushed into his mind, and he rushed to the place of the sounds. He now wished he had said a word to the stupid guy before, and not just waited for something to happen. But the genius stayed stunned where he was when he finally caught what was happening.

"Next time, I'll break your arms! Don't even dare looking at me!" shouted to the three boys sitting in front of her.

Yutaka and his two friends seemed totally shocked, and looked at with fear. Yutaka's lip was even bleeding. The young girl told them to get out of her view, and they, to Oshitari's surprise, obeyed immediately. But when Yutaka passed next to him, the genius noticed the anger in his eyes. It was not over.

"Can you believe that?" said to Oshitari. "They were waiting for me! Ah, I didn't make them wait for nothing!"

Oshitari smiled. He was so relieved he could have hugged the girl, but she did not seem in need of tenderness. Her cheeks were pink, and her eyes shone with rage. She kept muttering about how they dared to touch her, that she was not that kind of girl, and that Keigo…

She suddenly shut up, and looked up at Oshitari.

"You won't tell him, right? You won't tell Keigo what happened?"

"Why not? He would make Yutaka and his friends expelled from school."

"You won't tell him."

"And how are you going to explain that wound on your leg?"

was about to answer, but Oshitari bent down to give a look at the wound. The girl started to scream while she pushed the young man away.

"Aren't you a little too old to look under girls' skirts? You pervert!"

"I think I'm indeed old enough to look under yours. But I just want to see your leg."

failed to remain serious, and laughed.

"You do sound like an old pervert. But you won't tell Keigo. Please."

Oshitari sighed, and nodded.

"Fine, fine. If he asks what happened, I'll just tell him that I kissed you so greatly that you fell on your knees."

"He wouldn't believe you."

"Oh? But it's common knowledge that I'm the best kisser in Hyoutei."

"Yeah."

"You don't believe me? Maybe I should show you then…"

"You wouldn't dare."

The genius winked, and led the young woman to the nurse.

**********

"Oshitari. I heard that you hurt my cousin. I want explanations. Now."

Oshitari sighed and looked at Atobe with affected surprise. The captain of Hyoutei frowned, but didn't add anything.

"Ah…" The genius sighed. "I may have damaged her body but she broke my heart."

"Listen to me carefully Oshitari. I don't care if you play with all the girls in Hyoutei or elsewhere. You can do pretty much what you want to, but I won't allow you to touch my cousin. Laps on the courts is not the only power I have on you, remember that."

**********

"If you had seen your face when that girl confessed to you, it was amazingly funny Choutarou."

"Please stop making fun of me, Shishido-san. I… I… What could I do?"

"Well, you should have told her that…"

"This time no one would save you, damn Atobe!" Someone said behind the lockers.

Shishido frowned. He knew this voice, even if he wasn't able to associate a face with it.

"Shishido-san…" Choutarou whispered.

The capped boy told him to be quiet. He walked silently a little closer to the voices, and waited.

"We can't do it at school. Oshitari is always here, always watching me. I want Atobe to be alone." The same voice said.

"On the way home maybe?" Another boy asked.

"Impossible. We'll always find someone who'll stop us." The first voice again.

"Man, why don't you give up? It's just a waste of time." A bored boy said.

Shishido and Ootori heard a weird noise, followed by a moan of pain.

"Idiot. I want to crush Atobe. I want to make suffer, I want to hear screams, I want to hear begs."

"Are they talking about our captain?" Choutarou whispered, surprised.

"That damn girl will regret the day she said no to Yutaka!"

"Ah really? I'd pay to see that if you can still walk tomorrow."

Yutaka and his friends jumped. Shishido just appeared behind the lockers, followed by the huge Ootori. If the three boys thought they could match the two tennis players, they were very wrong.

**********

"So that's what happened." Shishido concluded.

Atobe Keigo fought the urge to beat up the three stupid boys again, and stood still. He finally understood a lot of things, and he knew he had been unfair to Oshitari. But he was sure the genius had a lot of impure thoughts towards his cousin, so he was right, somehow.

The day after, Yutaka and his friends were forced to apologize to publicly, in front of all the students. The young girl looked at them in the eyes, but Oshitari, who was behind her, saw her shake many times. After that, the boys were expelled from Hyoutei and asked to go back home immediately.

**********

A few days later, Oshitari noticed sat on a bench, near the courts where he was playing a match against Mukahi. Curious, he played quickly the last ball and joined her.

"Taking a sun bath?" He asked.

"Kind of." She winked. "I wanted to talk to you."

Interested, the genius sat next to her, noticing the light embarrassment on her cheeks.

"Hmm… I wanted to thank you. For what happened with Yutaka, I mean. You protected me, and… Well, thank you very much."

"You can avoid any other problems, if you make me your official protector."

lifted her head and fixed her grey eyes on his.

"Why not?"

##########
September 4, 2008
Written by: Serena
Edited by: LeiLei