Disclaimer: I don't own the Prince of Tennis.

The sun was just barely beginning to rise, spilling into the room through the large, uncovered window and playing a beautiful scene on the blank white walls. Kiku hardly noticed the beautiful illumination of her bedroom, too busy staring over her shoulder into the mirror while trying to clean the burn on her shoulder blade. The angle was awkward and no matter which way she twisted her slightly out of proportioned arms she couldn't reach the cotton ball in her hand to the entirety of the burn. Sadly this meant that the circular burn, about an inch in diameter, would scar. Another to add to her less than attractive collection.

Kiku refused to be too distraught; the other two had been reachable and she had cleaned them and applied a liberal amount of aloe vera. Sadly it would be too difficult and timely to properly address any of the slightly more than superficial burns, but at least she could try to prevent too much pain. She very carefully applied a square bandage over the triangle of soon to be scars and taped it in place before going about her usual morning ritual of preparing for school.

The uniform for her junior high was a sailor style in green and white with a pink bow, which Kiku layered over a white camisole. The sleeves were long enough to cover the array of burn marks on her arms but the skirt fell slightly short of hiding the scars on her thighs. Luckily they were difficult to see unless one got very close and Kiku never let anyone so close.

No one except for Ryoma, her closest and only friend. She could hear the sound of tiny pebbles hitting her window and bouncing off, alerting her of his presence in a fashion that would hopefully go unnoticed by her still heavily intoxicated father. Kiku walked to the window, pulling her mass of wavy, sandy brown hair over one shoulder and braiding it loosely while gesturing for Ryoma to wait a few more minutes. She was running late, having spent too much time attempting to clean the fresh burns on her shoulder.

She turned away from the window and sighed softly, eyes falling shut as she finished her braid and tied it off with a ponytail. Ryoma would know immediately that something had happened; somehow he always knew. Kiku hated explaining the appearance of new injuries to him, knowing how deeply her abuse upset him.

They hadn't known each other for terribly long. It started when he'd needed directions to the grocery store and she happened to be in his way. After a mass of stuttering, nervously looking anywhere but at him, and gesturing down the road he'd muttered something under his breath and walked off. Kiku had watched him go for several seconds before walking after him and, even more nervously, informing him he was walking in the opposite direction of where she'd told him to go. The catalyst for their friendship had been her getting in a huff over his refusal to walk in the correct direction without her tugging him along by his sleeve. He later informed her that he liked the way she didn't swoon over him.

Ryoma weaseled his way into her life slowly but surely over the summer, unwinding her tightly coiled secrets and holding them tautly exposed. Kiku hated him at first. He stalked her to and from the park where she spent most of her time, dragged her to his home and to tennis matches he participated in and always, always won. But after a while she stopped resenting him. While not a huge fan of people, Ryoma made an exception for her. For some reason, he liked her. Enjoyed her presence. And that was something incredibly new for Kiku. So after a time, she stopped ignoring him when he sat next to her at the park. She didn't whine when he brought her to his house as long as he let her help him with his chores. She held his hand and walked in his shadow when he brought her to tennis matches instead of making him drag her along by the sleeve of her jacket.

She realized soon after accepting his friendship that Ryoma made her feel safe and she coveted that kind of feeling, since it wasn't something she often experienced. He wasn't huge, but he was big enough to hide her when she cowered behind him. He let her hold his hand whenever she wanted even though he grumbled and complained. He didn't let anyone talk down to her, he protected her from bullies.

Another pebble hit her window and drew Kiku back into the present, where she still needed to grab her backpack and meet Ryoma outside. She stuffed her books and notebooks into her bag before quietly slipping out of her room and creeping down the stairs. Making it silently out of her house was a skill she had acquired at a young age, when she realized that waking her father was a mistake.

Ryoma met her at the front door, holding out a hand to help her off the step down from the door to the sidewalk, "You're late."

"Sorry Ryo-kun," She murmured, allowing him to take her backpack and put it over his shoulder with his tennis bag.

"We'll be on time," He shrugged carelessly and let her take his hand before beginning the walk to their junior high school.

As per usual, Kiku walked about half a step behind him in his shadow. The closer they got to the school, the more she shrunk into herself. Ryoma could feel it, the way she crept closer to his back and her grip on his hand tightened. He'd realized early on that going to school scared her almost as much as going home. Other students weren't necessarily mean to her, but they weren't nice. They considered her too smart; teachers praised her relentlessly, she never got a bad grade, and everyone in her classes ended up compared to her. The attention bred resentment in her peers. Often times they didn't treat her so much as a person as a tool, a convenient study method.

They stopped just inside the gates of the school, Kiku finally coming to stand beside Ryoma instead of behind him. Both regarded the building from a moment before she tugged her hand away and retrieved her bag from his shoulder. From this point, Ryoma went to morning practice while Kiku went to the art club meeting. Both were hesitant to leave each other's side; Kiku hated giving up the safety Ryoma offered while Ryoma loathed to stop offering that safety.

With a sigh, Kiku habitually tugged his sleeve in goodbye before making her way into the school, shoulders curled and head down. There was slight activity within the halls, others arriving early for morning club activities. As she headed to the art room she heard talks of tests coming up for the upperclassmen and forced herself not to groan. When there were lots of tests, lots of people came to Kiku demanding private tutoring sessions. It caused her excessive amounts of stress and unease, not knowing when or if she was going to be accosted in the halls or during her club. Especially considering she only tutored because it was school program the teachers asked her to participate in and she only took on students they asked her to (with the exception of tutoring Ryoma occasionally). Currently, all of the after school tutoring slots she offered were taken.

She was meant to take on a new tutoree this afternoon once classes were finished. Momoshiro Takeshi would be taking up her last available slot, Mondays after school. It meant she would be forced to follow Ryoma to the tennis courts after school on those days, since that was where the upperclassmen had requested the sessions take place. Usually they only took place in the library, but the tennis regulars got special privileges.

In the art room, several other people had already settled in. Kiku found a place near the windows, so she could watch Ryoma practice while she drew. Although she liked drawing well enough, Kiku had only joined the art club because it was one of the largest clubs in school. Large meant anonymity for Kiku and even if she didn't have a scrap of artistic ability she likely would've chosen to join anyway.

The majority of the meeting went off without much hassle. Kiku was asked to hand over one of her drawings for a collage the club was planning to put up in the hall and she gave up one of her mediocre landscapes to avoid attention. She was asked by only two people for studying help which she stutteringly denied, offering masses of apologies and instructions on how to request a proper tutor. Both had stalked off grumbling in annoyance about tests and grades and that little brat who couldn't help out a bit. By the time classes were getting ready to start and she was packing up her supplies, Ryoma had materialized next to her table.

"Hurry up," He grumbled lowly, ignoring the adoring stares aimed at him from multiple directions.

Kiku hummed slightly in response and carefully put her bag over only one shoulder, avoiding pressure on her injury, "Hai, Ryo-kun."

When she turned her attention to him, his keen olive eyes were locked on her shoulder. She tried not to sigh as she reached out and took his hand, tugging him around. He wouldn't look at her. It happened regularly, whenever he noticed or deduced some new injury on her person. Kiku pulled him all the way to the door of her classroom before letting go and taking his hand instead of his sleeve.

"Lunch time, Ryo-kun," She murmured, squeezing his hand twice before entering the room without looking back.

She knew he would stand there for several minutes before going to his own class, watching her silently from the doorway. He told her it was because he was making sure no one bothered her before class started but Kiku was sure he was surveying her for other injuries. He watched for a limp or a wince or a bandage beneath her clothes. Tonight, he would somehow talk her into staying at his house instead of going home. His parents would condone it so long as she let Rinko treat whatever was hurt while badgering the young girl to let them tell the school counselor or the police. Then they would find reasons to keep her at their house for the next few nights. Kiku wouldn't end up sleeping in her own home until at least Thursday. Her father wouldn't notice or care.

The rest of her morning passed quickly. Most of her classes were at a level too low for Kiku's intellect so she only followed along absently while surreptitiously reading senior level textbooks. When the bell rang for lunch, she replaced her things into her bag and waited for Ryoma to stroll into the room before standing up. Before she could put her backpack over her shoulder, he'd taken it and put it over his own before grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind him.

Despite the fact it was lunch time, neither of them actually intended to eat. Instead they would go up to the roof, where Ryoma would nap lazily in the sun while Kiku either read a book or napped with him. On this day, she would likely nap alongside him due to her late night and early morning.

"I need help in Math," he stated as they settled on the roof, Kiku pulling out her ponytail holder and releasing her thick, wavy hair down her back while Ryoma placed their bags under the bench and laid down on it.

"Kiku tutors after school today," she replied, sitting on the ground with her back against the bench.

She could feel Ryoma's arm brush against the back of her head as he got comfortable, his fingers coming to rest lightly against her shoulder, "Come home with me after practice and tutoring. I'll fail if you don't help me."

Kiku had been waiting for it and instead of arguing she simply nodded, "Hai, Ryo-kun, I'll come to your house after school."

"Mom's gonna want you to stay for dinner."

"If I can help you do the dishes afterwards."

"It'll be late by the time we're done, you'll just stay over tonight."

"Hai, Ryo-kun."

A/N: Ahh, and so we have yet another rewrite. I'm sure y'all hate me at the moment and I apologize but oh my god you guys I was reading through the original, trying to think up the next chapter on a whim, and was physically pained by what I had written. Talk about painful reminders of past mistakes. Which leads us to now. This rewrite should feature plenty of character growth, realism and overall plot improvement (mostly because I actually have a plot for this one). I still want y'alls input on pairings though; the most popular from the original were Kiku/Ryoma and Kiku/Kaido. Just let me know. Also let me know what you think of this new one. How are we feeling on the Kiku/Ryoma interaction? Feedback, my friends.