Rikkaidai Fuzoku.

The name brings respect to everyone who heard it in Japan. It was the middle school section of the most prestigious education institution in the nation, from its elementary sector all the way up to Rikkai University. Not only were the students so academically talented that those whom normal people deem "geniuses" are dime a dozen, but the pupils of the school were exceptionally well rounded as well. The sports teams boast of national-level players, and national championships are a normal state of affairs, while the music, arts, drama, photography and other culture societies often were invited to perform concerts or host exhibitions. In a school full of unbelievably talented people, one would imagine it would be hard to stand out. However, that was exactly what the tennis team regulars managed to do. Two-time national champions, led by the undefeated so-called Three Demons, Rikkaidai's tennis club attracted the attention of the student population both due to its talents and the interesting characters that it is home to. Little do the students of Rikkai know, but the tennis club is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

"Ryoma, hurry up! We don't want to be late on the first day of school"

This is Echizen Kevin. With his blond hair and blue eyes, Kevin is easily recognizable as a foreigner. Abused as a child, he was removed from his father's custody and the Echizens adopted him five years ago. Angry at the abuse he suffered, he chose to change his surname from Smith to Echizen.

"Relax Kev, it's not like the first day of school is a big deal."

Meet Echizen Ryoma. Small for his age, Ryoma is nonetheless extremely good-looking with his dark emerald hair and large topaz eyes. At the moment though, he was wearing a huge scowl along with his trusty Fila cap.

"I have no idea why you're so worked up, Kev."

"Don't you want to see for yourself what the best tennis team in the country is like, Ryoma?"

"I'm sure they're just going to be mada mada."

"Whatever, you're boring to talk to sometimes."

"Betsuni."

By the time they had made their way to the principal's office, Kevin had already given up on trying to engage his brother in any meaningful conversation. "Ryoma really isn't a morning person, seems like he's almost asleep on his toes." Out loud he said, "Oi, we're here."

"Why are we at the principal's office again?"

Kevin stared. "Haven't you been listening to anything I was saying on the way here?" At his brother's blank face he sighed and shook his head. "Never mind, should've expected something like that from you. Anyways, the principal wanted us to come in early to discuss some things with our schedule in relation to the results of our entrance exam."

"Tch, how annoying."

Kevin ignored the comment, and just as he was about to knock on the door, it flew open. Startled, he saw two boys, seniors by the look of them. One standing slightly in front was extremely beautiful. Yes, beautiful, that was the only word Kevin could use to describe him, with his wavy shoulder length blue hair and his purple eyes. However, although the boy has gentle features, Kevin immediately knew that he just wasn't someone to be taken lightly, for the boy had the quiet authoritative air of a born leader. The guy standing behind him was tall and dark, with dark hair that was hidden underneath a black cap and piercing brown eyes. Here was someone diciplined and stern, both inside and outside. The two boys looked curiously at Kevin and Ryoma, and Kevin looked curiously back, while Ryoma just seemed supremely bored. Yukimura (yes, the impossibly beautiful boy is Yukimura, while the other as you might've guessed is Sanada) gazed at the two freshmen before him, and took note that they each had a tennis bag slung over their shoulders.

"Saa, Genichirou, let's go." Yukimura nodded politely at the freshme, while privately he thought to himself, "Hou it seems like we'll have some interesting freshmen this year. I just know it!"

Shrugging off the encounter, Kevin entered the principal's office, followed by Ryoma, who was quite reluctantly dragging his feet.

"Ah you must be the Echizens! Welcome!" An unexpectedly young and cheerful person greeted them. "As you probably know, I'm the principal of Rikkaidai Fuzoku, Shimizu Akio!"

"Echizen Kevin, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" Kevin politely introduced himself. "This guy doesn't seem like a principal at all! I thought he would be more stuffy."

"Echizen Ryoma, yoroshiku." Ryoma muttered. "This guy is too cheerful it's annoying."

Ignoring his newest pupil's grouchiness, Principal Shimizu cheerfully went on to explain, "Well you must be wondering why I asked you to come. The reason is simple. Both of you have English abilities that surpass the rest of your peers by a large margin. In order for you to not waste more time learning the things you have already learned, after discussions with your senseis I have put both of you in class 3-A. Namely, you will study with third years for your English period. I hope that you find this arrangement suitable."

"That is very kind of you, Shimizu-sensei," Kevin responded. Then he very unsubtly stomped on Ryoma's foot.

"Arigatou sensei."

Amused by the sight, Principal Shimizu just grinned, "Don't worry about it! I assume both of you will be joining the tennis club? It is quite exciting for our school to welcome the children of Samurai Nanjirou!" He thought to himself, "Well it seems like these two will liven the place up!"

"Yes, we would very much like to join the club, we heard that it is the best in the country." Kevin was by this point resigned to take on the role of spokesman for both himself and his anti-social sibling.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck. Enjoy your classes and if you have any problems don't hesitate to contact me!"


Since it was the first day school, the homeroom period was the first period of clas, and everyone had to introduce himself or herself. By the time introductions were done, the girls were already fawning all over Ryoma and Kevin, who they had deemed to be "KAWAIIIIIII". There was one annoying girl in particular called Tanaka Aimi, who kept on cooing over how good looking Ryoma and Kevin are. Kevin, being the relatively more polite of the two, tried his best to distract her, while Ryoma was getting more and more annoyed for missing out on precious nap time due to the loud noise the girl was making. Then there was the guy whom the Echizens dubbed "Annoying No. 2", Itou Takeo, who was boasting about his, well everything, from academic skills to tennis skills.

"And I have been taking classes since I was a kid. Rikkai's tennis club is definitely the BEST! Hehehe I might even be able to play in the rankings tournaments soon! Do you think I would get to play the buchou? He's very, very good!"

"Betsuni."

"Awww come on Echizen, don't you want to be in the tennis club?" (Their class had come to a silent agreement. Since there were two Echizens, Kevin would go by his first name while Ryoma by his last. This quite illogical solution is probably due to the fact that Kevin looked more foreign and would not mind the more informal address.)

Just as Ryoma's scowl deepened to a worrying depth, the bell rung.

"Ah, come on Ryoma, we're supposed to have English with the third years now!" Kevin took the chance to drag his murderous looking brother away, leaving the other freshmen gaping at his remark.


Yukimura was feeling bored. True, his face didn't show his current state of boredom, as it would be quite unsightly for the "Child of God" to be bored, yet his friend Sanada and Yanagi, who were in the same class as him, knew from the slightly more vacant smile that Yukimura was giving to the fan girls that flocked around him that the buchou of Rikkaidai's renowned tennis team was very bored indeed. It could be because tennis season hadn't started, or it could simply be because the previous class of Japanese History was too boring, but either way a bored Yukimura is never a good thing, since he would use the time to think up of fresh ways to torture the tennis regulars, torture that would be disguised as "training". To Sanada and Yanagi's relief, the bell rung, and the teacher stepped inside the classroom.

"Good morning class! Today we have two first years who will be studying with us." Ignoring the uproar, the teacher continued, "This is because they have lived in the U.S all their lives prior to coming here, therefore their English abilities far surpasses their peers'. Now, come on in."

Yukimura perked up in interest when he recognized the two boys he met outside the principal's office, and he glanced at his best friend. He knew by Sanada's slight change in expression (yes, Sanada actually has different expressions despite common belief) that he noticed, too.

"Hi everyone! Echizen Kevin desu! It's awesome to be taking this class with senpai-tachi, I hope you'll take care of me! By the way, since both of our surnames are Echizen, you can call me Kevin so that it won't be confusing!" The blond haired, blue-eyed foreigner beamed.

"Echizen Ryoma, yorosiku." Said the slightly insolent boy next to him. Everyone sweatdropped at the short introduction, but Yukimura found it highly amusing. "Maa, seems like we have an antisocial junior. I'm sure he'll get along fantastically well with Genichirou."

"Erm, right! Are there any questions that anyone would like to ask Echizen-kun and Kevin-kun?"

"Hai! How come you guys are brothers? You look nothing alike, not to mention Kevin is so obviously a foreigner!" A girl wearing heavy makeup sitting in the front row asked. Ryoma glared. It was, as everyone heard it knew, a very tactless question.

Kevin quickly stepped in. "I was adopted by the Echizen family five years ago, senpai, this is why I look so different."

"Don't you think it's weird for you, to be in a family of Japanese people when you aren't?"

By this point, everyone in the classroom could feel the dark aura coming from the green-haired Echizen. Kevin too was getting annoyed.

"It's not blood or looks that makes a family senpai." He said in a voice that clearly indicated the conversation was over.

"Ah, right, I think it's time for class to start," the teacher quickly cut in before a real fight could break out. "Echizen-kun, why don't you go sit next to Yukimura-kun, and Kevin-kun, you can sit next to Yanagi-kun. Yukimura and Yangi, please raise your hands."

Smiling widely, Yukimura raised his hand and watched as the topaz-eyed boy reluctantly shuffled his way over to the vacant seat next to his left. His brother took the seat to Yanagi's right, and class resumed. As soon as the class started, Ryoma fell asleep, much to Yukimura and Kevin's amazement. The sensei of course was none to pleased at the youngest member of the class, and decided that he must teach his students a lesson in paying attention.

"Ryoma-kun, please come up here and translate this passage for me." The sensei called, waving a text that was at least university-level in difficulty.

"…" Ryoma continued snoring.

"Ryoma-kun!"

"…"

Trying to stifle his smirk, Kevin decided to take pity on the poor teacher. Getting up from his desk, he walked over to Ryoma's chair and kicked it hard, at the same time shouting, "I just bought some Ponta!" To the class's amusement, Ryoma immediately shot out of his chair. Grinning, Kevin quickly explained what had been happening. Yawning, Ryoma walked up to the blackboard, peered at the text, and calmly began translating. Five minutes later, to the teacher's utmost astonishment, the blackboard was covered with accurately translated text.

"Ne, sensei, is that okay?"

"Ah, yes that is good Echizen-kun, you can return to your sit."

"Your English is not to bad either, sensei, though we say 'seat' and not 'sit'."

Leaving the sensei to do an immaculately accurate imitation of a goldfish on stage, Ryoma walked back to his seat and promptly fell asleep again, while Yukimura looked at him in amusement.


When lunchtime rolled around, Kevin had finally managed to drag Ryoma out of his seat, and as the siblings were headed towards the cafeteria, a figure suddenly stepped in front of them, barring their path. Looking up, they saw that it was the pretty senpai from earlier. Yukimura smiled down at the two freshmen who were giving him curious looks.

"Why don't you guys have lunch with us?"

"Who's 'us'?" Kevin asked suspiciously, at the same time as Ryoma asked, "Who're you?"

"The tennis team regulars. I notice that both of you play tennis, judging from the tennis bags you were carrying when I bumped into you this morning."

"Ah, um, Yukimura-senpai, arigatou but that really wouldn't be necessary." Kevin said, poking his brother who was still looking at Yukimura with a blank expression.

"Really?" Yukimura smiled more widely, making Kevin and Ryoma shudder slightly. "That would be a slight shame. After all, this would be a good chance to meet the regulars of the team you're going to join."

Realizing that there really wasn't any escape, Kevin exchanged glances with his brother and finally sighed. "Okay, senpai, we'll eat with you."

Yukimura led the siblings to the rooftop garden where the tennis team regulars always gather for lunch. Here was somewhere they could rest with some peace and quiet, and other students, even brainless rabid fan girls, knew better to intrude on the tennis team's private lunchtime. As he opened the door to the rooftop garden, the usual, chaotic sight that was his tennis team greeted him. For all that the Rikkaidai Fuzoku tennis team was famous and intimidating on court, the team was actually just eight crazy teenagers thrown together. Here was what was going down at that exact moment: Niou was trying to spray paint Akaya's hair neon green, Marui was stealing food from everyone's bentos, Jackal was trying to keep peace, but was as usual failing, Akaya was whining about being picked on by Niou, Yagyuu was trying to read and tune out his crazy teammates by listening to music, Yanagi was noting down everything around him (though goodness knows how the childish behavior of his teammates was related to tennis strategies), while Sanada looked as though he was nursing the world's biggest migraine.

"Saa, it seems like everyone's here!" Yukimura smiled at his teammates angelically, and they immediately stopped what they were doing. They after all wanted to live to see the next sunrise.

"Eh, buchou, who are the people with you?" Akaya temporarily forgot about crying his woes to his beloved captain as he spotted the two first years trailing behind Yukimura.

"Oh, these are Echizen Ryoma and Echizen Kevin! They wanted to join us for lunch since they think that it's a good idea to know the regulars before they joined the team!" Yukimura smiled. His teammates, however, weren't exactly convinced. They all knew how good Yukimura is at forcing, er coercing, er persuading, people, and the slight reluctance from one freshman and the outright rebellious look on the other confirmed their feelings.

"But how do you know them, 'Mura?" Marui asked through a mouthful of food, an art he had long perfected.

"They're in the same class for English as me, Genichirou, and Renji."

"Nani!" Kirihara yelped.

"Yes, Akaya, it's true. You should do well to learn from them," the resident Data Master mused. At this Kirihara blushed, while Niou and Marui had to hold back sniggers. The second year ace's utter and incredible incompetence in the English language is quite a well known fact.

"Why don't you guys introduce yourselves? The Echizens only know Genichirou and Renji" Yukimura suggested, though when Yukimura suggests things, you had better do them or else.

"Marui Bunta, resident tensai!" Marui talked around mouthfuls of cake.

"Yagyuu Hiroshi, yoroshiku," said The Gentleman politely.

"Kuwahara Jackal, but just calling me Jackal-senpai would be fine." The half Brazilian smiled kindly.

"Niou Masaharu, puri~"

"Ah, um Echizen Kevin, yoroshiku!" Kevin beamed. Indicating to his sullen brother he said, "The is Echizen Ryoma, my brother."

"Ehhhhh! How could he be your brother? Both of you look so different."

If looks could kill, Kirihara Akaya would be a very dead teenager with the glares that Ryoma and Sanada were sending his way.

"I was adopted." Kevin shortly explained.

To divert the conversation topic onto safer ground, Jackal quickly made space for the two first years to sit and eat, and asked, "So, are you guys joining the tennis team?"

"Hai," Kevin nodded enthusiastically, while Ryoma just nodded. Of course, Jackal really didn't expect any other answer. Just from the fact that Yukimura took such an interest as to invite the two freshmen up for a meal with the regulars meant that they interest him, and very few things could capture Yukimura's attention outside his responsibilities as captain.

"It's such a shame that you guys will start off by picking balls!" Akaya exclaimed gleefully. Kevin chose to ignore his senpai and concentrate on his bento.

"Mada mada dane." Ryoma muttered, pulling down his cap low.

"What did you say?" Kirihara demanded.

"Akaya! Enough!" Sanada yelled, trying to keep peace, though he too was slightly displeased by Ryoma's attitude. "Another brat with attitude problems that needs disciplining, not to mention he might not be as good as Akaya and is only bragging because of his parentage." His mind wandered back to the conversation that he and Yukimura had with the principal this morning, and the real reason why Yukimura was so intensely interested in the two first years.


Flashback

"Ah, Yukimura-kun, Sanada-kun, please come in!" The ever-cheerful voice of the principal called.

"Is there anything that we could help you with, Shimizu-sensei?" Yukimura inquired politely.

"Yes, yes I actually have a piece of news that I thought would interest you. This year, there are two freshmen students enrolled at Rikkaidai who have, I believe, great potential to contribute to the tennis club."

At this, both teens' ears perked up. A chronic worry for the captain and the vice captain had always been the fact that most of the regulars save one would be graduating this year, and that there would be not enough suitable people to continue to support Rikkai's champion tennis team. Fresh blood, particularly talented fresh blood, is therefore always welcome.

"You see, being a tennis fan myself, I was quite surprised to come across a very familiar name when I was going through the details of the newly enrolled students. Echizen Nanjirou, otherwise known as Samurai Nanjirou, seems to have decided to send his two children to Rikkai as opposed to his alma mater Seigaku. Though I don't know the reasons why, if the two freshmen are as talented as their father, I am sure that they would make a welcome addition to your team."

Even ten years after the retirement of Samurai Nanjirou, the name of the most prominent tennis player from Japan was still well-known, and even Sanada was quite impressed. Indeed, if the two first years are as talented as their father, Rikkaidai's tennis team would safely remain invincible for many more years to come.

End Flashback


Ryoma silently ate his bento, while Kevin engaged their senpais in conversation. He knew that his anti-social and insolent tendencies already riled up some people, in particular the stern-looking fukubuchou, but to be honest he really could care less. Standing up he nodded to the teens, "Excuse me, I'm going down first." Hands in pocket, he walked away without a reply.

Kirihara, being the direct person he is, asked Kevin, "Ne, Kevin-kun, why are you so nice while your brother is such a…"

"A brat?" Kevin smiled tightly. "He is rather bratty isn't he?" Sighing he looked around at the regulars, and finally his gaze landed on Sanada.

"I know that Ryo's attitude is off-putting, but please believe me when I say that Ryo has his reasons."

"Reasons for being a brat?" Marui asked incredulously.

"Iie, reasons for being the person that he is today." So saying, Kevin walked away and let the older tennis players ponder what he had just said.