Summary: When twins, Alice and Riku Ikuma, found out that they were moving to Japan, they knew that there was only one way they could deal with it: tennis. The result: Yamabuki Chuu, meet your new doubles pair. Everyone else... look out.

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~The Splits

Chapter One

Impossibly Possible

Ring-ring! Ring-ring! Ring-! A woman looked up from her work, an irritated frown puckering her lips, "Why am I the only one that ever answers the phone in this house? Is it really that hard?" she mumbled to herself, setting down her pen and picking up the object of her frustration.

"Hello? This is the Ikuma household…hmm? Of course, I'll go get him right away." Mrs. Ikuma set the phone down lightly on her desk and stared at it for a minute, irritation forgotten. The caller was her husband's father, and she didn't think that she had ever heard him sound quite so… strained. Normally, he sounded very brisk and business like whenever he called. She sighed and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers. "Staring at the phone isn't going to solve anything." She murmured while mentally telling herself that her daughter had simply rubbed off on her and that she didn't have anything to worry about by talking aloud to herself. Mrs. Ikuma sighed and stood up and, grabbing the phone, went to find her husband.

"Dear!" Mrs. Ikuma called as she walked out of her office, holding her hand over the receiver end of the phone. Walking down the hall she called for her husband without receiving an answer until she reached his study and found the door shut. Knocking gently against the wood she waited for her husband to answer before opening the door. Looking in, she found him buried by a mound of paperwork sitting on his desk. He looked flustered and worn out as he ran a hand through his once neat, dark brown hair. Seeing his wife at his door, Mr. Ikuma smiled tiredly. She was always a welcome distraction from his seemingly endless workload.

"Yes dear? What is it?"

"The phone-it's for you." She replied, holding it out towards him.

Mr. Ikuma's smile disappeared as he groaned a little, imagining more work for him to do; which was the last thing he wanted. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he asked his wife; "Can it wait? I'm really busy right now trying to get this deal to go through." Exasperation laced his voiced as he turned his attention away from his wife and back to his desk. He sifted through the papers there, looking for one in particular. As CEO of the European branch of Ikuma Sporting Goods, which was based out of Italy, Mr. Ikuma often spent hours a day filling out tedious amounts of paperwork when a deal was on the rocks, which said nothing about the amount of paperwork he had to wade through once the deal was actually made. Finally locating the paper he was looking for, Mr. Ikuma made a noise of triumph and immediately began reading over it.

"It's your father on the phone dear. I'm afraid it can't wait. He says it's very urgent." Mrs. Ikuma said apologetically as she stepped into the room to hand the phone over.

"What?" Mr. Ikuma looked up at his wife, a frown furrowing his brows. "I hope he's finally calling to answer those questions I had about this deal we're trying to pull through..." Getting up and taking the phone from his wife, he walked back to his desk so he could jot down whatever he needed to, seeing as his father was the founder and owner of Ikuma Sporting Goods. Leaving her husband to his work, Mrs. Ikuma returned to her office where she had been tending to her own work; she was the partial owner, with her three sisters, of a big business that planned events for the rich and famous. On her way back, she passed the living room where her two fourteen-year-old children were finishing up a game of chess that they had started before dinner. It was obvious from the looks on their faces that Alice was winning. As usual.

"Who was on the phone, Mom? An ex- boyfriend who still can't accept the fact that you're married?" Riku joked, looking up from the board, happy to have a distraction from his impending loss.

"Of course not." Mrs. Ikuma chided with a smile. Riku could be such a jokester. "It was your Sofu. He needed to talk to your dad about the business."

"Ah." Riku said, pulling a face. "That's worse than actually being called by an old boyfriend, if you ask me."

"Antonio!" Mrs. Ikuma scolded. She was the only one in the immediate family to call Riku by his Italian name. "Just because you don't like your Sofu doesn't mean you can say things like that about him. He is a very responsible and hardworking man. He doesn't deserve such things being said about him by his own grandson."

"Sorry Mom." Riku replied with an exaggerated sigh. "I know Sofu is responsible, hardworking, and boring, okay?"

"Antonio." Mrs. Ikuma sighed in resignation, placing her palm against her cheek.

"You know you love me." Her son replied with a grin.

"And you're lucky I do or I'd feed you to a jabberwocky when I got the chance." Mrs. Ikuma replied with mock seriousness, hands on her hips.

"Oh yeah, and where are you going to find one of those? Don't tell me you're going to try and follow Alice down the rabbit hole." Riku laughed as he glanced at his twin who was too absorbed in the game to notice their conversation. Typical Alice.

"Who knows? Maybe I've been keeping one in the backyard all this time and just haven't told you about it."

"Yeah right Mom, and how does Dad not know about this pet you've been keeping?" Riku replied with a roll of his eyes. Looking each other in the eyes it only took a moment before the two of them were laughing together. At the sound of her husband's voice calling for her, Mrs. Ikuma pulled herself together.

"Be right there dear." She called back. "I'd wish you good luck Antonio, but I doubt it'll do you much good against Alice."

"It's the thought that counts. Nobody in their right mind can even hope to beat Alice." Riku called after his mom as she walked back down the hall.

"Are you talking to yourself Riku? That's the first sign of insanity you know, and going insane now isn't going to help you beat me." Alice said looking up from having moved her rook.

"Well look who decided to climb out the rabbit's hole." Riku joked as he looked at Alice's move. "And for your information I was talking to Mom, not myself. She was here just a minute ago."

Eyeing the board, Riku moved his black bishop only to look up and see his sister smirking, a wicked gleam in her eye. Riku knew his fate was sealed. Several moves later found his king being knocked over by Alice's queen as she triumphantly declared, "Off with your head!"

Groaning at having lost again, but not actually upset with the familiar outcome, Riku began picking up the black pieces and putting them back in the box while Alice cleaned up the white ones. When he was finished, Riku stood up and ran his hand through his short red hair, which he liked to spike forward-a habit that he'd picked up from his dad.

"So what do you want to do now Alice? I'm not playing chess again."

Smiling, Alice replied, "I know I miss a lot brother, but I got the fact that we weren't playing again by the whole putting away the game pieces thing." She smirked at her brother before turning to look out the window, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"It's still light outside. Why don't we go play some tennis? Maybe we can find some new people to play against at the courts tonight. Hopefully someone not too boring…" Riku smiled slightly, knowing that it was unlikely to find anyone new to play if they went to the exclusive tennis courts that were part of a sports center owned by the company their dad worked for, like they always did. If anything, though, it was always fun to play singles against his sister opposed to the mixed doubles that they usually played together.

"Why not? I'll go grab our stuff. Don't take any trips to Wonderland while I'm gone, Alice, or I might just leave without you."

"Riku." Alice threatened.

"Kid-ding." Riku chuckled, sending an exaggerated wink his sister's way. Walking out of the room, leaving Alice to put away the chess set, he headed down the hall until he reached the stairs that would lead to their rooms. He'd only gone up a handful of steps when his mom's head poked out of the study his dad used for his work.

"Antonio?" Riku looked back towards his mom, a questioning look on his face.

"What's up?"

"Could you go get Alice? Your dad has something he needs to discuss with the family." Nodding, Riku came back down the stairs and retraced his steps along the hall to the living room. Alice had put the chess game away and was now staring out the window from the couch, a blank expression on her face. Grinning at the perfect opportunity to mess with his sister, Riku snuck up behind her and tapped her on the left shoulder before swiftly dropping to his knees behind the couch. Alice swiveled her head to look, but nothing was there. Turning suspiciously back towards the window, Alice nearly fell off the couch in surprise when a pillow hit her in the face accompanied by a shout from Riku; "Attack!"

"Riku!" Alice shrieked throwing the pillow back at him, but she missed because he had doubled over with laughter.

"Haha, you should have seen your face Alice. Man I wish I had a camera right then."

"You'll pay for that!" Alice grabbing the other pillow off the couch. Jumping to her feet she ran over to Riku and began hitting him repeatedly with it. After a couple of hits Riku grabbed onto the pillow and pulled it from Alice's grasp.

"I'd like to survive this battle, thank you very much." Riku laughed as he threw the pillow back on the couch.

"You're the one that started it. Here I thought you'd gone to get our tennis stuff and instead you come back and attack me. By the way, where is our tennis stuff? We were going to go play tennis, right? Did you forget to grab it Riku? That is not very like you. Perhaps you're taking after me more? That'd be problematic. If we were both forgetful, neither of us would ever remember anything and-" Alice rambled on until Riku finally cut her off.

"I was going to grab our stuff, but Mom asked me to come and get you. Apparently Dad wants to talk all of us in his study, so we need to go do that first."

"Talk about what?" Alice asked putting the other pillow back on the couch.

"I dunno, but Mom sounded pretty serious when she asked me to grab you, so it must be something important." Glancing over at Alice, Riku lifted his hand to point at her head. "You need to fix your headband again. It's about to fall off."

Looking up, Alice found several locks of her chin length red hair hanging in her face instead of being held back like they were supposed to be. Pulling off her small, stretchy sports headband that she always wore, Alice slipped it back over her head and around her neck. Brushing her hair back quickly with her hand, Alice secured it back in place with the headband, patting it once she looked to Riku who nodded in approval.

"Much better." Alice smiled at him and was about to comment when her mom's voice sounded from down the hall.

"Alice, Antonio?"

"Coming Mom." Riku called back. Bowing with mock elegance he indicated that Alice should go first. As she passed him, Riku slid his foot out and tripped her before taking off down the hall laughing. Irritated, Alice chased after him, nearly crashing into him where he'd come to a sudden stop in front of the study, his face one of bewilderment. Stepping around her brother so she could see into the room, Alice felt her eyes widen. Their dad had his head in his hands as he rested his elbows on the desk while their mom stood behind him with her hands placed on his shoulders, lightly massaging him in a comforting way. Standing at the doorway in hesitation, all fun and games forgotten, Alice and Riku stared in shock as their dad took his hands away from his face to look at them. Tears were swimming in his eyes and his cheeks had traces of tears that had been wiped away-a sight neither of them had seen before.

"Come in you two. I have some sad news to tell you." Mr. Ikuma said as Alice and Riku came and took the seats on the other side of his desk, both of them fidgeting slightly in the solemn silence. "I just got off the phone with your Sofu, and I hate to say it but…my brother…your oji-" He paused for a moment, clearing his throat and bowing his head before continuing. "Your oji has unfortunately passed away last night. You know that he was battling cancer, and last night…" Silence met his words as Alice and Riku stared at him, speechless, not really comprehending what he'd just said.

"You know, this joke isn't very funny Dad." Riku said, trying to force out a weak laugh. "The punch line is just terrible."

"Riku," Mr. Ikuma said sternly, "this isn't a joke. I know it's hard to accept, but it's the truth." Riku opened his mouth to reply, but shut it without making a sound. He didn't really have anything to say, and a joke right now would just land him in hot water.

"There's more news I'm afraid." Mr. Ikuma continued. "Not only do I need to go to Japan for the funeral, but your Sofu has asked that I come back and run the Japanese branch of the company." He stared down at Riku and Alice, pressing upon them the importance of what he was saying. "He's getting too old to do it himself and he'd rather have me come back than try and find someone else to fill your oji's position. Your mother and I will have to talk about it in more detail, but, at this point, I want you two to know that it's almost sure our family will be moving to Japan to fulfill your Sofu's request."

The twins continued to stare at their father for a moment before glancing at each other uneasily. This just couldn't be happening. Alice was the first to speak. "What would be the point of you going to Japan? If you left, Sofu would just have to find a replacement for the Italian branch anyway…" She trailed off, staring at her father imploringly, trying to tell him with her eyes that this was absolutely unacceptable.

Mr. Ikuma sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry Suzume, but The Japanese branch is the more important of the two branches, and as such, your Sofu will give that branch priority." Just like Mrs. Ikuma had taken to calling both of the twins by their Italian first names, Mr. Ikuma called both of his children by their Japanese middle names. "You're correct that we'll have to find a replacement either way, but we feel that my experience is what is needed in Japan, and a replacement will have to be found to take the position that I am in now." Alice frowned at her father, noticing the shift of him saying "your Sofu" to simply using "we". She knew that when he made this shift, the decision was final. No more arguments would be appreciated from her. She nodded at her dad and reached over to grip her brother's hand, a silent apology for not succeeding. Usually she could wrap their dad around her little finger and get him to agree to whatever she wanted, but not this time.

Riku squeezed her hand back, his head bowed in acceptance. He wasn't happy with the situation, but there was nothing he could do and he knew it. It seems that the Ikuma family would be moving back to their dad's homeland of Japan, and away from Italy which served as a homeland to both the twins and their mother.

*%%*

Alice and Riku stared out Riku's window from his bed, their idea to play tennis completely forgotten. After their father had dismissed them from his study so that he and Mrs. Ikuma could talk more, the twins had immediately set off to Riku's room, where they always went when they were going to have a serious conversation.

In previous conversations that had taken place in Riku's room, one of the twins always knew how to start. This time; however, neither twin knew what to say. They were, unescapably, moving to Japan, a place they associated negatively with their grandparent's, on their dad's side, their Sofu and Sobo.

Alice and Riku's Japanese grandparents were the typical traditional rich business owners that people generally associated with older Japanese men and women, and every time the twins went to visit, their time was filled with etiquette lessons, dance lessons, piano lessons, business lessons for Riku, and, for Alice, tea parties along with other 'flowering socialites'. None of this had helped endear the land to the two novice tennis players. The only good thing about Japan had been their oji, but now he was gone.

"…Riku?" Riku snapped out of his thoughts at his sister's worried whisper.

"Yeah?"

"I can barely find my way around here without getting lost or sidetracked…" Alice swallowed down tears, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them, her arms hugging her shins. "What are we going to do in Japan?"

Riku stared over at his sister, concern painting his features. She wasn't exaggerating. Alice was smart, almost a genius when it came to planning. All of their friends called her the chess master, and a chess master she was. She even held the title in Italy for Junior Chess Master to prove it. But chess wasn't all she used her brilliant mind to strategize in. Alice had a way of planning strategies in tennis. She could, amazingly, pick apart her opponent and counter their strategies with her own without having ever played them or seen them play before.

Alice's strategy brilliance was a double edged gift, though. His mom had once said that "Alice is brilliant, yes, but to have room for all of that brilliance in her head, she had to leave something behind." And boy did she leave something behind. Alice had troubled staying grounded in the here and now. She'd often zone out when she wasn't paying enough attention and would start planning anything and everything. Her concentration for things that she wasn't particularly interested in was low. Worryingly low.

Their dad had taken her to doctors when she was younger, but after a while, all the doctors would inevitably come to the same conclusion: there was nothing wrong with Alice, she just had problems concentrating. And if she forgot things often, it's because she wasn't paying enough attention in the first place. Because of the redundancy of going to more doctors just to hear the same thing, and because Alice herself wasn't suffering or unhappy, their dad had dropped it.

Now, though, they were moving away from a familiar place where Alice could zone out and feel comfortable, and Riku was worried. Not because he was overly protective of her, but because he was the one that had to live and deal with her on a daily basis. If Alice was having a rough time it meant that, without a doubt, he too would not be enjoying life.

He dropped an arm around his sister's shoulders, "It's going to be alrigh-"

"No!" Alice leapt from the bed and slapped the window with both her hands, ignoring the sting that came from it. "It's not going to be alright! How is this alright? We're moving. To Japan. I don't know if you remember or not, but we hate going to Japan! We-"

"Alice."

"-hate all the stuffy rich people and the etiquette and-"

"Alice!"

"-the tea parties! I hate them! And Sofu and Sobo are horrible-"

"Alice Suzume Ikuma!"

"- and they don't let me play tennis and we won't see Nonna and Nonno and I just-"

Becoming irritated with his sister, who usually ignored just about everybody but him, Riku jumped up off the bed. Grabbing Alice by the shoulders he spun her around to make her pay attention to him, but at the sight of the tears in her eyes he instead pulled her into a big bear hug.

"It is going to be alright, Alice!" Riku said as much to reassure himself as to comfort her. "Mom and Dad and I, we're all going to be there for you. And you'll have new friends before you know it! Nothing's going to happen." Riku continued to try and comfort his sister as she cried, rubbing her back and stroking her hair awkwardly. It wasn't always easy being the boy out of the two of them. "It's going to be fine Alice. Just fine. You hear me?"

Alice sniffed and stepped away from her brother, looking up at him to meet his eyes, as he was two inches taller than her. "How? How will things be fine? I don't want useless comforting words!"

"Then what do you want Alice?" Riku said, throwing up his arms in exasperation. Turning suddenly, he strode over to his desk and pounded his fist against its surface. "I may be your twin, but I am not a mind reader. I hate this just as much as you do, but I can't just magically make things happen the way we want them to." Whirling, Riku glared at Alice. "You really want to know what we can do about this Alice? Absolutely noth-"

"I just want a plan!" Alice cut in; her voice was frantic as her hands flew up to tug at her hair, her tawny eyes wide in frustration and panic as she stared into Riku's identical eyes.

Breathing out slowly to somewhat regain his composure, Riku finally nodded. "Alright, then we'll come up with a plan." Pulling out the chair from his desk Riku collapsed into it, bouncing his leg up and down quickly in agitation. Across the room Alice flopped back down onto the bed. Staring up at her brother's ceiling, tracing the plaster lines as if hoping for inspiration to appear, Alice sighed. "A plan." She murmured. A tense, contemplative silence fell over the two.

Breathing deeply Alice worked to reign in her panic, knowing that it wasn't helping her or Riku. She had to come up with a plan of some sort, because Riku was absolutely horrible at coming up with one this far ahead of things. It wasn't exactly fair for her to ask him to come up with a plan. He was better at making it up as he went and adjusting accordingly. Change didn't affect him nearly as bad as it did her.

"School just ended…" Riku looked up from his examination of his carpet to his sister. "School just ended here," she continued, "but I remember that school in Japan doesn't end for another couple months. They have that weird year-round schedule thing…" Alice stood up and once again went to the window, this time placing her hands gently on the glass. She looked out over the yard and garden to the familiar sight of the neighbors' homes. She'd have to leave it all behind. It just didn't seem right when she'd lived here all her life.

"We won't move for a while yet, though dad will probably head out immediately for the funeral and to take over the company as soon as possible. We'll be left here with mom to pack everything." She paused, pursing her lips, and, turning to her brother, she continued, "We'll have maybe a month or so to get to know the area and our neighbors…"

Seeing that Alice had pulled herself back together Riku relaxed slightly in his chair. She always thought best when she was calm. From experience he knew that right now it was best to let her talk through and figure things out while he just listened. In just a couple of minutes she'd created a satisfactory plan without any help from him at all.

"We could probably go explore the school as well, get to know the layout of it on weekends when they have their break. Then we could find the nearest tennis courts…" Alice trailed off, looking to Riku to see what he thought of the idea. From where he sat Riku nodded once.

"It's possible then? I mean, we can do this…right?" Alice inquired of her brother, willing to accept comfort now that a plan was somewhat laid out.

Resting his arms back against the edge of his desk Riku smirked at his sister. "Some people believe six impossible things before breakfast, but for now I'll be satisfied with believing one possible thing after dinner."

Japanese to English dictionary:

Sofu: Grandfather

Sobo: Grandmother

Oji: Uncle

Italian to English dictionary:

Nonno: Grandpa

Nonna: Grandma