Current mood:	lazy
Current music:	Gou - Narita Ken feat. Nagashima Yuuichi & Noto Mamiko

For 30_characters: Reflect, Not Fade - Tennis no Oujisama

Title: Reflect, Not Fade
Character: Osakada Tomoka
Theme: 8. Once upon a time
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Tennis no Oujisama belongs to Konomi Takeshi, et al.


Tomoka stumbled into pictures from her junior high school days while cleaning the attic. She traced their outlines with her fingertips, smiling in the dim light, trying to decide whether she was now embarrassed by that loud, spiritedly vocal freshman.

Strangely enough, no one had ever seemed to genuinely mind her. Her beloved Ryouma-sama's response to her antics barely extended beyond a surprised blink. The upperclassmen regarded her with mild amusement, someone a little pushy than your average cheerleader, sure, but harmless enough and possibly amusing to boot. And then there were the occasional attempts to override her from Horio, which usually fell short of the target.

"I wish Sakuno weren't so much of a sweet little thing," Tomoka said aloud, then laughed - a shy little sound that enthusiastic freshman would never think of making. "I needed somebody to shake me and tell me to sock it, and actually get me to listen."

She did not flaunt her heart on her sleeve these days, of course; an annoyingly necessary part of growing up. There were too many channels into which her energy must flow instead - mapping out this week's menu, making sure her boys wear clean socks outdoors, shaking her husband awake when that worthy fell into a drunken stupor once he got past the door and pried his shoes off. At the end of the day, she was too tired to even remember why she no longer played tennis, for fun if not for exercise, or when life started to become so pedantic.

She closed the photo album carefully, relishing in the sudden impulse to jump up and down and wave her arms tonight while watching her favorite actor on television.

--
Note: I have this nagging feeling that someone else has taken this perspective on Tomoka before, but I wouldn't know, since I don't read very many TeniPuri fics, or find many Tomoka-centric ones.