Game, Set, Catch
"You've never played tennis?" Inuyasha asked Sesshomaru disbelievingly as they lounged on the terrace of their room in the holiday resort they were staying at. "I mean, I've never
seen you play it in all these years, but you've really never played before?"
They had a beautiful view of the sea, and far off to their left, they could see the tennis courts, and the little green balls flying back and forth over the net.
"No, I haven't."
"Why not? The game's been around for hundreds of years and you've
never tried it?"
"I've never seen the point," Sesshomaru stated.
"It's a sport to those who take it seriously, and it's fun for everyone else. There isn't a
point, unless you're aiming to go professional, or something. Otherwise, it's just enjoyable."
"I see nothing enjoyable in swinging a dull weapon at a fuzz-covered ball," Sesshomaru murmured. "I would rather swing a sharp blade at a few hundred heads."
"Of course you would," Inuyasha replied slowly, in his most patronising tone of voice, the one he used when he was talking to anyone he regarded as an idiot.
"Don't use that voice on me," the taiyoukai grumbled, closing his eyes and listening to the roar of the waves.
"Come on, we're at a holiday resort. The tennis courts are waiting to be used by learners like you. Let's go!"
Sesshomaru growled and protested, but Inuyasha's enthusiasm was not to be dampened, so he let himself be dragged into it. They changed into T-shirts and shorts, rented racquets from the sports centre at the resort, and engaged one of the coaches for a couple of hours.
"We don't need a coach," Sesshomaru sighed. "Just run the rules by me, whack the ball at me, and I'll smash it back. How complicated can it be?"
Inuyasha was not to be deterred from going about this the right way, however. So the coach got down to work, starting by spending some time checking out Sesshomaru's swing – which he quickly judged as excellent for a total beginner, except that he was hitting much too hard, because at least four balls were smashed open, and the racquet strings broke twice.
"Connect firmly with the ball and follow through," the coach said patiently, despite his surprise at the slender man's incredible strength. "Don't attack the ball itself as if you were trying to kill it. The aim is to send the ball back across the net, not annihilate the ball."
"Hmm," was Sesshomaru's reply as he tried to work out how to bash something without trying to kill it. He did a little better when he imagined Inuyasha's head in place of the tennis balls, complete with fuzzy white ears. There, that was easier – he was quite used to engaging in all-out battles with his brother and mate without ever actually killing him.
"That's very,
very much better, Mr Souga," the coach praised him as he watched the rapid improvement. "I think we might be ready for you to start a proper game with your brother, and I will guide you along the way."
"Give it all you've got," Inuyasha grinned at the taiyoukai as he stepped onto the court. He laughed at the look on Sesshomaru's face as the coach began giving him a quick rundown about scoring, foot placement, serving from different sides of the court for each point, and changing over. The taiyoukai wore a vague expression of irritation, and a
What's The Point? look written all over his face. Even disguised as a human, with no crescent-moon or stripy markings, he still looked every inch the supercilious bad sport that he really was.
As they began to play, and to attack each other with a ferocity that the coach had never seen in all his years of teaching holidaymakers at resorts like this, Sesshomaru gradually began to get it, and to enjoy himself just a bit. However, he continued to be annoyed by the little rules, especially when the coach pointed out his foot faults, reminded him which side he had to serve from, and stopped him a couple of times from continuing to serve because he had lost track of the score and forgot that it was Inuyasha's turn.
His hanyou brother was quietly laughing his head off – Sesshomaru could almost swear he could see those doggy ears waggling with hilarity even though he had put on the spell to hide them from view.
After an hour, he huffed in a fit of irritation at the rules, because all he wanted to do was to hit the ball back and forth for the exercise and satisfaction of thumping
something, inanimate or not.
"You two play," the taiyoukai growled, leaving the court to Inuyasha and the coach. "I'm done."
The coach observed with curiosity that although the brothers had been working so hard that they had seemed to be engaged in a life-and-death duel, neither of them had so much as broken a sweat. Their platinum hair was as fluffy as ever, and their skin looked cool and clean. Most odd. But he was soon caught up in a challenging battle with the younger of the brothers, and had no time to ponder such small matters. As they played – and the younger brother was an excellent player, he had to admit – the older one watched from the side of the court.
As a spectator, Sesshomaru was at first not all that interested, except to note approvingly that Inuyasha was holding back his strength so as not to completely destroy the coach, and he moved beautifully and looked spectacular. Oh, what he would like to do to that delicious body once he got him back inside their room...
But after a while, the taiyoukai began to grow fascinated by the sight of the ball itself soaring and flying back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It became quite a hypnotic spectacle, disrupted only whenever one party won a point.
How fascinating that little green thing was, bouncing and whizzing and floating in great lobs overhead... he simply could not take his sharp golden eyes off it.
It started to annoy him that both Inuyasha and the coach were such good and precise players that the rallies were short, and the points fast, with aces and smashes coming thick and fast, so the ball wasn't in motion as long as it could be. The hanyou was definitely holding back his more-than-human speed and strength, and was challenging himself purely on technique and accuracy, or else the equipment would have been pulverised, and the coach thoroughly crushed. But still, he was playing superbly, and the coach was keeping up.
Soon, however, Inuyasha began to get much more interested in the technique and placement of his shots, and noticeably slowed down as he tried to perfect his strokes. The rallies became longer and longer, and Sesshomaru found himself swivelling his head from side to side for substantial periods of time, watching the ball with fascination, practically drooling. They were now on a rally that was going on and on and on, and the ball was bouncing left to right, back and forth, to and fro, and Sesshomaru was following it intently until he quite lost himself in its movement.
The taiyoukai's instincts suddenly snapped free of their usual restraints, and the dog demon soared into the air, caught the tennis ball in his teeth, and crunched down on it until it split. He felt a surge of triumph in his breast that he had caught the
irresistible bouncing object – a surge that just as quickly subsided at sight of the coach and Inuyasha gaping at him. The coach was astounded enough to be spluttering, while Inuyasha was giving him his "You did NOT just do that in public" look.
Sesshomaru spat the punctured ball out of his mouth, cleared the fuzz from his teeth, and forced his features into the most dignified expression they could assume.
"Those balls should be much tougher than they are, but I will pay for all the damage," he stated haughtily and grandly.
Then he turned on his heel and stalked off the court, knowing that Inuyasha would never, ever let him hear the end of this.
He knew he was in for a long spell of teasing starting from that very night, when he emerged from the bathroom to find Inuyasha reclining temptingly naked on the bed against the mokomoko, but posing with a pair of tennis balls in one hand.
"Hmm…" the hanyou murmured. "I always thought you preferred
my balls to all others, but I wonder if I might not have competition…"
Inuyasha's eyes glided over to the neon-green, fuzz-covered spheres in his hand, then down his own body towards his crotch while Sesshomaru stared.
"I wonder if I should maybe cut these off and replace them with the green ones…" the hanyou continued musing aloud.
"Get rid of those things – the green ones, I mean," Sesshomaru growled.
"Are you sure?" Inuyasha teased. "Maybe you want me to tie these things to my butt so you can chase them? They bounce, you know. Tempting, right?"
"Don't be absurd."
"Given a choice between the irresistible bouncing balls and these down here which maybe don't bounce so much, I wonder which you would choose?"
Inuyasha experimentally lobbed one tennis ball across the floor and called out: "Catch, boy!"
Sesshomaru rumbled and ignored the bouncing green object, pouncing instead on the hanyou on the bed.
"Damn. I guess they're not enough of a distraction, eh?" Inuyasha remarked, tossing the other one away as the taiyoukai zoomed in on the other balls, the ones that didn't do much bouncing. "You obviously still prefer
those."
"There's no competition," Sesshomaru purred against Inuyasha's inner thigh.
"That's nice," the half-demon sighed contentedly.
"Is this what they call a love match?"
"You're a fast learner - the coach would be so proud," said Inuyasha sardonically.
"Shut up about that stupid game and just enjoy the strokes."
"Oooh, you sure are an ace at scoring points with me..."
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Note: As Wimbledon has just come to an end for this year, I figured a tennis-themed chapter would be in order. And I believe I forgot to mention last time that this story was voted Best Yaoi/Yuri in the Feudal Association's March 2011 term awards. Thanks to inuyashaloverr for nominating it, and to anyone who voted for it!
