"I steal don´t know why she wants me back"

Sakuno Ryuzaki thought while walking through the crowded streets of Tokyo. For some reason, her grandmother Sumire Ryuzaki called her a few days ago and asked her to visit her, well, she demanded her to visit her.

When she was eight, Sakuno moved to Germany to be trained by one of her grandmother's friends. When Sumire realized the potential that her granddaughter had she knew that someday Sakuno would be as good as she was or even better. Her granddaughter loved tennis, there´s no doubt in that.

She asked her old friend and rival Beckenbauer to take care of her. It was a really hard decision for her but she had her responsibilities with the schools team. Beckenbauer is one of the most respected and feared tennis players in all Germany, he retired a few years after Sumire and for some reason he rejected the opportunity to become a couch. But as a favor to his old friend he accepted and Sakuno always wondered why.

For nearly eight years she has been under Beckenbauer´s tutelage and thanks to him she is now one of the most respected and feared tennis players in Europe. The one´s who feared her are the one´s who insulted her because she is a girl. She couldn´t blame them. She always wears baggy shorts and t-shirts and her long brown hair is hidden under her cap.

Sakuno walked through the park as she watched the sunset. She put her tennis bag on one of the benches and rubbed her sore shoulder; she walked to the vending machines and inserted a few coins to get her favorite drug.

Ponta

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey you can´t do that! We had deal!"

"The deal is off little girl, now get lost!"

A bald guy pushed a brown haired girl while his friends laughed. The girl fell to the ground and she glared at the trio of idiots…, definitely this had not been a good day for Ann Tachibana.

First she woke up late for school and got detention which caused her to stay in her classroom and missed practice. Then she planned to get rid of the stress with a simple street tennis game in the park and when she got there she found these assholes who were challenging every freshman in the tennis court. She accepted and made a deal with them; if she won they would go away and never bother her or the other freshman again.

If they won she would never play in the street courts again. She defeated then one by one but to her luck none of them was an honest player. She tightened her grip around her racquet and suddenly one of the bullies took her racquet.

"Stop it! I won, you can´t do that!" She rose from the ground and tried to stop him.

"Shut up!" The bald guy slapped her and pushed her to one of his friends who wrapped his arms around her. "You should thank us; tennis is not a sport for little girls like you" shiny head said grinning. He looked at his friend and nodded. His friend –the one holding Ann´s racquet – smirked and began to smash her racquet against one of the electric poles.

"Stop it! You are going to destroy it!"

Ann struggled to get free from the idiot´s grip but it was useless. The trio was laughing when suddenly two tennis balls came from nowhere and hit the bald guy in the face and the guy that was holding Ann´s racquet. Both fell to the ground covering their faces while screaming in pain. The last idiot and Ann looked at them in shock.

"Pathetic"

They both looked behind them and saw a stranger who was holding Ponta juice can and with his right hand was holding a tennis racquet while bouncing a tennis ball with it.

"Destroying another player´s racquet is really low, you know?" the stranger voice was grave and cold. He looked at the idiot from underneath his cap and he immediately trembled with fear. With this distraction, Ann stepped on the idiot´s foot and he immediately released her. She grabbed her racquet and ran to hide behind the stranger.

She looked at her savior in amazement while holding her racquet against her chest.

"I´ll give you a chance to go and don´t forget your friends"

In a blink the guy was gone and Ann barely managed to see his running form in the distance with his friends over his shoulders.

"Sugoi…" Ann whispered.

"Oi, are you alright?"

She turned to see her savior who was currently walking towards one of the parks benches.

"H…Hai…!" She managed to say before following him. "Ano…, thank you for helping me…"

Her savior shrugged. "Betsuni…"

Ann watched him as he put his tennis racquet inside the tennis bag that was on the bench. Quietly, he sat on the bench and continued drinking his juice. "Etto…, may I know your name?"

"Ryuzaki. Sakuno Ryuzaki"

Ann blinked.

"USOOOO…!" Ann stood in front of her to take a better look. "You are a girl! No offense but, you are really scary…" Ann laughed nervously. "I´m Tachibana Ann, nice to meet you Ryuzaki-sama" she bowed and Sakuno arched an eyebrow.

"Ryuzaki-sama…?"

"Hai…! From now on I´ll call you Ryuzaki-sama because you are so cool!"

"You are very sincere aren´t you?"

After that, both girls began to chat. They talked about tennis and thanks to that Sakuno founded out that there was going to be a mixed tournament. Suddenly Sakuno realized why her grandma insisted for her to return to Japan.

"Tachibana-san, does Seishun high has a female tennis team?" She asked while Ann pressed the cold drink against her bruised cheek.

"Etto…, I heard that they were planning to. Why do you ask?"

Sakuno sighed taking her cap off. "My grandma convinced me to return to Japan. She´s Seigaku´s tennis couch and thanks to you I know why she insisted so much" she ran her fingers through her long hair and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Does…does she wants you to be part of the team?"

"And wants' me to train the girls…, yes"