Hello there, Cruza here. This isn't exactly my first fanfiction, seeing as I was a writer on Quizilla (previously known as Imouto-Neko-Chan). As stated in the original version, this story is dedicated to my friend whom I shall refer to as Inu. Feedback is much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. That prestigious honor belongs to sir Takeshi Konomi. I do, however, own all of the original character concepts, and plot. The main character belongs to my friend. Thank you.

Chapter One : Return

Her fingers were clack clacking away at the keys of her laptop. Sharp blue eyes scanned the words contained in the recently received e-mail from a good friend of hers. Her right hand reached up and tucked a few stray strands of shoulder-length blond hair behind her ear. A smile crept its way across her face as she sighed and moved her head to stare out of the airplane's window. She would be arriving soon. She was on her way to Japan, where her father was waiting. Her name you may ask? Tenx Medici. Half Italian on her father's side and half-Japanese on her mother's side; she looked more European than anything. She traveled to Japan on occasion with her mother and even attended summer school in the land of the rising sun. However, for the most part, she was educated in Italy, her father's homeland. But now, her father, a successful restaurateur who just opened a new chain of Italian restaurants in Japan, would be allowing her to attend middle school and high school there. It was something she had always dreamed of. She loved the country because it was, after all, the place where she had met her best friend... The same one whose e-mail was still displayed on the screen of her trusty laptop...

~Flashback~

Young Tenx, probably no more than eight or so years old, always looked forward to staying in Japan for the three months of summer. That year she decided to attended summer school in the country. Why? She had a burning desire to become fluent in their intriguing language. That's why. And there, in the same school in the same class, she came across another foreign student - though this one wasn't as obvious.

This particular young girl was a foreign exchange student from the Philippines, a neighboring country of Japan to the south. So yes, she was Filipina. Her golden brown skin set her apart from most of her fair-skinned peers as she sat at the seat closest to the window. Her chocolate brown eyes gazed out at the trees from behind the frame less glasses that sat on the bridge of her nose. Her silky black hair reached her mid-back and was tied in a rather long ponytail as she sat silently, ignoring everyone else in the classroom. Why Tenx decided to approach this particular student she never really did understand. All she knew was that the Filipina was giving off this "vibe," as she called it, that was similar to her own feelings for being at the summer school: calm on the outside yet excited on the inside and seemingly detached from the world around her. Well, whatever the reason was, the young Medici just knew that this girl was different, unique.

A goofy yet friendly grin on her face, the rather pale (though not sickly pale or pale as in one that had never seen the sun before) European girl approached the Filipina and when she stood next to her, stuck out her hand. The Filipina noticed it from the corner of her eyes and slowly turned her head to meet Tenx's enthusiastic stare with her own calm glance.

"Hi," said the Italian in Japanese, "Uhhh...Medici Tenx, desu. Umm..." She trailed off but was a bit caught off guard when the other girl responded, in English no less.

"Hello, pleasure to meet you Tenx-chan. Don't worry; I can speak English fine so don't wrack your brain." The Filipina's chocolate brown eyes danced in amusement at the astonishment she found in the European's blue ones. The former wrapped her slender fingers around the latter's hand as she introduced herself, "Eriol Cruz."

Tenx eventually snapped out of her daze and her grin returned. "Eriol, huh? So, you can speak English?"

Eriol nodded and withdrew her hand, "Yes, I'm here for Japanese classes. My guess is that you are too...?"

"Yep! You betcha!"

And that was the start of a beautiful friendship, so to speak. Both Tenx and Eriol got along well, making so many inside jokes with the lessons they learned in class. One particular day, they decided to give the other nicknames derived from the Japanese words for different animals. Tenx loved dogs, therefore Eriol dubbed her 'Inu' whereas Eriol loved cats so she was called 'Neko.'

"Basu means bus?" Eriol asked, staring down at the paperwork before her. She had invited Tenx over to her house to complete a homework assignment together and the two had gone to the Filipina's room to work. The Filipina was on her belly on the floor, a pillow under her arms. She eyed the Italiana lazily as she was hunched over her work, sitting on the floor.

"Hai!" Tenx responded, looking up from her own papers, "So...yellow bus is...kiiro basu...?" Eriol scoffed. She then scribbled something on the paper and, highly curious, Tenx took it when she was finished writing.

"What the heck?! 'Nekobasu?!' Cat bus?!" she exclaimed, totally confused.

Eriol gave her friend a smirk, "Yes, 'nekobasu.' Or, would you prefer 'konekobasu,' kitten bus?" The two ended up laughing and making up more senseless words. Needless to say, no work got done...

~End Flashback~

Snapping back to reality, the now fourteen-year-old Tenx realized she had a stupid smile on her face and quickly righted herself. Almost as quickly as they had met, both had to leave. When summer was over, Tenx had to leave for Italy again. She was crestfallen to learn that Eriol wouldn't be in Japan the next time Tenx was. Why? Eriol had to return to the Philippines. Her foreign exchange student program expired that year and the summer school class she took was to master what little Japanese she had yet to learn. And, that was the last time the Italian girl saw the bespectacled Filipina. However, they still kept in contact through e-mails. Whoops! Almost forgot. Tenx turned her head back to her laptop, her friend's message still displayed on the screen. It read:

Tenx,

It's great how things are going for you and your family. Sounds like your father's making quite the name for himself with those restaurants of his. I'm guessing you'll be leaving for Japan soon. Or, knowing you, you're probably already on a plane that's almost at the Tokyo airport. Well, am I right? Ne, write me back soon. You've no idea how boring (and painful I might add) it is for me to sit here typing this up while my grandmother babbles excessively about a party we're hosting in two weeks in the background.

- Eriol

Tenx stifled a hearty chuckle. Ah yes, Eriol's family. Tenx knew about them, and their social status in the Philippines. She found out when she and her Filipina friend had a sleepover at the latter's house - scratch that - mansion. Seriously, the "house" was HUGE. Apparently, it was the Cruz family vacation home and Eriol was there with her grandparents. Tenx had eventually learned that Eriol was the granddaughter of a successful accountant turned CEO of a company specializing in the medical field (her grandfather) and the heiress to an extremely large inheritance in land (her grandmother). It took a while for Tenx to understand but Eriol had patiently explained the entire situation to her: her grandfather was really good at math, excelled in the medical field, and had a lot of business smarts while her grandmother had a very wealthy father who lent money to people and held onto the deeds to their land while waiting to be paid back (most never did so the land legally belonged to Eriol's family). Eriol was constantly expressing her annoyance for helping her grandmother plan out lavish parties in which she was required to dress nicely and be on her best behavior. Tenx was invited to one such party and through it developed a new found respect for her high-class friend who constantly sat through these hours of torture without so much as a sigh of boredom. As the Italiana was about to begin composing her response, a pleasant ding was heard throughout the cabin of the plane. Tenx sighed and closed her laptop; the pilot had just announced that they would be landing soon. She looked out the window and her blue eyes shone with anticipation as they caught sight of the many buildings of Tokyo below.

Saturday, the day she landed in Japan, quickly melded into Sunday and Sunday suddenly became Monday. Oh how fast the weekend went for Tenx, with all the unpacking and getting settled into her new house. It was nothing special; just an ordinary two-story house in the suburbs of Tokyo. And it wasn't all that far from the new school she was to attend: Seishun Gakuen. According to her father, there was a tennis team there that she could try out for. Now, Tenx was a bit nervous at this proposal. Why? She had only picked up a racquet a year ago, thus she lacked confidence in her own abilities.

"Just give it a try," her father said, dropping her off in front of the school that morning, "Besides, I already filled out the application for you. And, if it wasn't meant to be, then it wasn't meant to be."

"You suck," the younger Medici grumbled, getting out of the car with her school bag in one hand and her tennis bag slung over her shoulder.

Her father chuckled, "Love you too. Bye."

"Bye..." The blond-haired Italiana watched her father's car drive off. With a sigh she turned to take a good look at her new school. She huffed, tugging at the green skirt a bit, and then set off to find the office to get her schedule. It didn't help that she entered Seishun in the middle of the second month of the school year. Sure, the year was still technically beginning but she was still the new kid and she never really liked that feeling. Well, at least she could read the signs yeah? Following them, she found herself in front of the school office. Just as she was reaching for the handle, the door flung wide open and there stood a boy not much older than Tenx herself with a couple boxes in hand. The Italiana's blue eyes locked with his black ones and they stared at each other for...quite a bit.

"Oi, Mamushi!" a voice behind the boy called, "Get a move on yeah? These boxes are heavy!"

The boy broke eye contact with Tenx and turned his head to the side, talking back to the owner of the voice behind him, "Shut up, you idiot."

"EH?! You wanna start something?!"

The boy in front scoffed, "Baka, we have to deliver these boxes. I'll kick your ass later." He then walked off in the direction opposite Tenx and not more than a few seconds later a second boy with black hair and violet eyes followed, a scowl on his face.

"Oh...kay...," the Italiana commented, watching them go for a few seconds and then entering the office herself.

Tenx was outside her first period classroom, shuffling her feet in place. She huffed, turning her attention from her feet to the door. On the other side, she could hear the teacher prepping the class for their new student. She pursed her lips together. Come on now! She was just another student for goodness' sake! There's no reason to prep them. It's not like she'll give anyone a heart attack because they didn't know she was coming. Heck, she didn't even know anyone at this school.

"You may come in now," Tenx heard the teacher call for her. Drawing in and expelling a deep breath, Tenx opened the door and entered the classroom and went over to stand next to the teacher.

She bowed politely and introduced herself to the class, "Ohayo, minna-san. Medici Tenx, desu. Please take care of me."

"Thank you," the teacher said as she was straightening up, "Would you like to say a few things about yourself, Tenx-chan?"

"Oh, not at the moment. But I will say that although I am from Italy, I have been to Japan a few times before. I look forward to the new school year here," replied the Italiana. The teacher gave a nod and pointed at two open seats by a girl seated at a window.

"Please, pick one of the two seats available."

"Thank you," Tenx said with a curt nod, heading up the aisle to the empty seats. Her piercing blue eyes were focused on the girl who occupied the only seat there. She was staring out the window, at the trees just beyond them. Her chocolate brown eyes...her sun-tanned skin... This girl...she was so familiar... The girl turned toward Tenx and gave her an acknowledging nod as the Italiana picked the open seat right next to her. 'She has a distant look in her eyes,' Tenx noted as she returned the nod and sat down, facing the front of the room. The teacher began writing notes on the board, about a lesson he had begun the day earlier. It had to do with homophones and similar subjects in the English language. Tenx reached into her bag and produced a few pieces of paper as well as a pencil to write with. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the girl pull out a notebook and a pencil as well. She seemed to open to a random page and began writing. There was just something about her that struck Tenx as odd... The blond shrugged it off; this was a new school, new things were bound to be perceived as odd. Minutes passed and Tenx was totally into the lecture and the notes. It's not that she was new to the subject as English; she wanted to know what the class knew. After all, she spoke English fine.

"Nekobasu... Konekobasu...," the Italiana faintly heard from her left. She immediately stopped writing and slowly turned her head to face the girl on her left, white as a ghost. Had she heard her classmate clearly? The sight of the girl merely writing in her notebook and not even sparing Tenx a glance greeted her blue eyes. However, as the girl turned a page of her notebook, Tenx was able to glimpse the picture of a bus with features of a cat on it. 'Nekobasu...' Tenx realized. Just then the door opened and Tenx's attention was drawn there. She could hardly believe her eyes; it was the boy from earlier, not the loud one but the one in front of the loud one.

"Gomen," the boy bowed to the teacher, who was writing more notes on the board, "I was delivering packages to Ryuuzaki-sensei. I didn't know it would take that long."

"It's okay, Kaidoh-kun," the teacher said. He then pointed at the empty chair by Tenx, "Please have a seat and copy down the notes."

"Hai..." The boy Tenx now knew as Kaidoh walked down the aisle and for a brief moment, their eyes met for the second time that day. Kaidoh took sat down and opened his own notebook, scribbling down notes as fast as he could.

"Ano...Medici-chan," came the soft voice of the girl to her left.

Tenx blinked a few times and faced in her direction, "Hai?"

The girl handed her a folded piece of paper, obviously ripped from her notebook, "Please hand this to Kaidoh-kun on your right. It's very important."

"Uh...hai...," the Italiana replied, a bit confused. She took the paper from the other girl and turned to her right. "Excuse me, Kaidoh-san?" Kaidoh looked up from his note taking to spare Tenx a glance. "Here, this is for you from...," she trailed off, holding the folded up piece of paper out to him. Kaidoh took the paper but looked at Tenx, waiting for her to utter the name of the one who sent the note. Tenx leaned back in her chair and pointed at the girl to her left. In response, Kaidoh moved forward a little in order to get a better view of who sat on the other side. The girl, noticing this, moved forward a bit and sent Kaidoh a friendly smile and wave. A look of recognition came across the male's face as he nodded and sat normally again, opening the note and reading it. After quickly reading it, he scribbled something on it and turned to Tenx.

"Ano...I didn't get your name, but could you send this back?" he asked, in a low gruff voice.

"Sure...," Tenx replied, confused and totally out of the loop. She had sat back and watched the whole exchange. She took the note and handed back to the girl.

The girl opened it and replied while reading, "Araigatou, Medici-chan."

"A-ah...," Tenx nodded.

The rest of her classes zoomed by and she had met a few new people. The friendliest, she had to admit, was Seiki Mayonaka. She was a member of the tennis team there and seemed to be overjoyed at the prospect at having Tenx on the team.

"You should most definitely try out," Seiki told her on the way to lunch after art, "Buchou would love to have you on the team. And I'm sure fukubuchou wouldn't mind!"

Tenx chuckled, "Thanks, Seiki-chan. Perhaps I'll give it a go, hm?"

Seiki grinned and turned her attention from her new friend to ahead of her, "Ah! We're here. Hey guys!" The silver-haired girl waved at a group of girls and two boys seated under a sakura tree.

"Hey! It's Seiki! Ne, isn't that the new girl?" the boy with violet eyes shouted. Tenx recognized him from that morning.

"The new girl has a name," Seiki said, as she and Tenx stood before the group, "This is Medici Tenx. She's from Italy. Tenx, the dimwit is Momo."

"Oi! I'm not a dimwit," Momo retorted, "I just haven't met her yet."

"Sure... Anyway, I'm sure you've already met Kaidoh since you both have English first period," Seiki went on. Tenx and Kaidoh merely nodded at each other. "Great! Okay, so these are some of the other members of the girl's tennis team," Seiki went on, pointing to each one as she introduced them, "That's Yuzuki Asahi who plays doubles with her partner, Uminai Yoshimi. And that's Takona Satsuki. She plays doubles with one of our senpai." Tenx smiled and gave a wave as the mentioned group said a chorus of greetings. Seiki looked around, "Hey...where's fukubuchou?"

"Mm? Oh! She's with buchou," Asahi replied.

"Ah...that's too bad. I wanted Tenx to meet with her before she tried out for the team," Seiki sighed.

"Ne, ne. Are you ladies gonna stand there chatting for an hour or are you two gonna join us for lunch?" Momo interrupted.

"Fine, fine," Seiki said, waving a dismissive hand, "Come, Tenx-chan. Let's have lunch, ne? I'll take you to the courts after school."

"Hai. Araigatou."

The day seemed to speed by for new student Tenx. Although, she didn't think she was all that ready to face the buchou and fukubuchou of the girl's tennis team. Why? Well, there's a reason each obtained the position they have now, right? Tenx definitely wasn't sure of herself but her new found friends were trying to reassure her.

"Don't worry so much about Hinami-buchou," Asahi told her, "She's awesome! She doesn't care if you have one week or three years of experience; she gives everyone a chance."

"Ne, ne. But it's fukubuchou who usually helps Hinami-buchou decide on whose best for the team," Satsuki added.

"The...team?" Tenx questioned, "But, isn't this a tennis club...?"

"Hai, demo...," Yoshimi began, opening the door to the locker room for the others to enter, "The tennis club and the tennis team are two separate groups, although both interact with each other frequently. The team consists of the elite of the club."

"Oh...," Tenx murmured, "So..."

"So! All you really need to do is make a good impression on both Hinami-buchou and fukubuchou!" Satsuki exclaimed.

"Oh...joy...," the Italiana groaned, getting ready to change into her athletic clothes, seeing as she didn't have a uniform as the other girls did.

The girls were simply rallying on the courts. A few were having practice matches before formal practice began. Tenx was rallying with Seiki, trying to find some confidence in herself.

"Ne, Tenx-chan," Seiki called from across the net, "You have great form. No movement wasted."

"Heh...araigatou..." The creak of the gate to the courts resounded throughout the girl's courts, prompting some of the members to turn toward it.

"Konnichiwa, minna-san!" a cheerful voice greeted the club as a whole. Tenx cast her bright blue gaze upon the owner of the voice and was shocked: there stood the girl from her first period class. She was dressed in a regular's uniform and carrying a clipboard in her right hand.

"Konnichiwa, fukubuchou!" a chorus of voices responded.

"Fuku...buchou...?" the Italiana repeated, dumbfounded. This...girl was the vice-captain?! Then...that technically made her...Tenx's superior...

"Ne, Tenx-chan?" Seiki touched her shoulder, causing the surprised Italiana to turn to her silver-haired friend, "You zoned out for a minute. C'mon, fukubuchou called the team in." Tenx cast her blue eyes back in the direction of newly arrived female and found that all the other club members were gathering around her.

"Oh...yeah..."

She followed Seiki and noticed that all the girls were getting into rows.

"Uhhh...Seiki-chan?"

"Hmm? Oh, just stand behind me. You'll be fine," the other female answered.

"Okay...if you say so..." Within a matter of seconds, things quieted down and the only sound that could be heard was that of the fukubuchou lifting up a paper on the clipboard to read the sheet beneath it.

"Ne...," began the raven-haired vice-captain, "Hinami-buchou will not be joining us today. She and Tezuka-buchou are with Ryuuzaki-sensei on a captain's meeting. That means that Oishi-san and I are in charge of our respective clubs today. And, we've decided that today we will have co-ed practice." She raised her chocolate brown eyes from the clipboard and beamed a smile at the enthusiastic female tennis players before returning her gaze to what she held in her hands. "Ne, before the boys arrive though, I'd like for us to complete our drills. Everyone, I want twenty laps around the tennis courts. Afterward, I want all the eighth graders to practice ground strokes and seventh graders are to be in position to collect the balls. Ninth graders, you will be supervising this drill and feeding the balls. As for the regulars, you are to come with me to the boy's courts. Inui-san said he had a special workout in store. Got it? All right then, hop to it ladies!"

"Hai, fukubuchou!" came the reply shared by many voices. The large group of female tennis players then began to make their way to the exit to begin their laps. However, the vice-captain's voice rang out again and called out to one particular female, "Saa...Medici-chan. Where do you think you're going?"

The mentioned was just barely making her way passed the former. "I...I was going to run my laps with the other girls…" came the slow, confused reply.

The vice-captain once again raised her head and turned her warm chocolate brown gaze on the Italiana. "In my hands I have the application to join the tennis team. Now, for filling it out, you automatically become a member of the club."

"But I didn't-"

"Yes, I know," the raven-haired female interrupted her, chuckling, "But, the fact still remains that the application has been filled out and submitted. So, that means I have to take care of it." Tenx stared at the smiling fukubuchou as if she had just sprouted another head. What she was saying...it wasn't adding up for her. And then, as if the other female knew what Tenx was thinking, she said, "That means that you'll be accompanying me to the boy's courts, Medici-chan, so I can ascertain your skill level."

"Oh..." Italiana blinked, still confused as ever. 'This isn't going to end well...' was the single thought running through her mind as she followed the vice-captain out of the girl's court, clutching her own racquet for security. With her back to Tenx, the latter was unable to see the smirk on the vice-captain's face.

'Inu...long time no see...Everything's going according to plan...'