Disclaimer: I don't own Tennis no Oujisama

That damn new girl
Seigaku Senior High School was large and confusing at the best of times. With its multitude of stairwells and numerous passages, it was far too easy to get lost.

Alex Sinclair looked around her new school curiously as the bell rang. She knew it was past time she went to her homeroom, but there was just one problem. She had no clue how to get there. Hurriedly, she scanned the foyer for somebody who looked like they knew what they were doing, and spotted a tall boy making his way purposely through the crowd of last-minute arrivals. Reasoning that he probably knew as much about the school as anybody, she quickly approached him.

Kaidoh scowled at the obviously European girl coming towards him. He was already late for homeroom as it was, and did not need to be delayed by yet another mindless fangirl. The fact that he'd never seen this particular stalker before bothered him slightly, for he was sure that he would have remembered a so obviously not-Japanese girl following him, but it didn't bother him enough that he wouldn't try to avoid her now.

However, before the unfortunate mamushi could successfully lose himself in the crowd, the girl stopped in front of him and addressed him with a polite 'excuse me'.

As ignoring her now would be rude, Kaidoh found himself forced to acknowledge her presence. "What?" he hissed, glaring at her. Maybe if he scared her, she'd leave him alone.

The girl simply ignored the glare and pulled a piece of paper out of her bag. Kaidoh scowled, sure that she was about to give him a love-letter – he'd seen random crazy girls approach many of the other regulars with such foolish confessions. Normally his stalkers were too cowed by his permanent glare to do that, but he supposed there were exceptions to every rule. He really didn't have time for this.

Before he could protest however, the girl consulted her paper. "Would you happen to know how to get to room 1-3?" she asked calmly.

"…Yes," the surprised young man admitted reluctantly, noting that this girl spoke perfect Japanese.

"Would you be able to give me directions?" the girl asked, apparently not noticing his surprise.

Kaidoh stared at the girl. Why wasn't she cowering in a corner? That was the usual reaction of a girl subjected to his glare. Instead, she didn't even seem to notice. Something about that piqued his curiosity. "I was just going there," he muttered "You might as well follow me…"

Some distant part of Kaidoh's brain wondered why in the world he just said that, but quickly gave up the fight since, as logic reasoned, what was said could not be un-said.

The girl smiled with relief. "Ah, thank you so much. I'm actually not all that great with directions," she admitted.

Suddenly, a cheerful red-haired boy latched himself onto Kaidoh's back, glomping him from behind. "Hoi hoi! Kaidoh-kun has a girlfriend, nya!" he mewed enthusiastically, embarrassing Kaidoh into a bright shade of pink. "She's not my girlfriend, senpai!" he hissed furiously, pushing the acrobatic tennis player off him as the girl looked on without a change in expression. Apparently, she wasn't at all bothered by the allegations - or the yelling either, for that matter.

Eiji continued teasing Kaidoh, dancing around the frustrated snake cheerfully as a third boy hurried over. "So, aren't you going to tell us your girlfriend's name?" Eiji sang. Kaidoh just scowled at him. The new arrival sternly told the red-haired boy to leave the other alone.

"Oh, sorry," the girl apologized calmly, ignoring the chaos and addressing the question instead "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sinclair."

Keeping with Japanese custom, she gave her surname first. "Sinclair Alexandra."

She bowed politely. "Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Kikumaru Eiji, nya," exclaimed the red-head cheerfully, this time hanging off the newcomer's shoulders. "But you can call me Kiku-chan!" he assured her, holding one hand up in a peace sign.

"Ooishi Syuuichirou," offered his friend politely, attempting to bow with Eiji on his back. "I'm pleased to meet you, but I'm afraid we have to go. We're already late for class."

He dragged Eiji off to class, berating him for stopping to tease Kaidoh and worrying about the wrath of the teacher, who, as Eiji loudly pointed out, was probably even later than they were.

Alex stared after the two bemusedly, then returned her attention to Kaidoh, who quickly introduced himself. "We probably need to get to class too," she commented when he was done. Kaidoh scowled. Thanks to Eiji, he was now really late. He stalked through the corridors towards their destination without checking to see if Alex was following.

Alex and Kaidoh bowed to the teacher and apologized for being tardy. Sending Kaidoh to his seat, the teacher addressed Alex, berating her for being late on her first day, and warning her not to make it a habit. Finishing his lecture, the teacher introduced himself. "I'm Ishizuka-sensei, your homeroom teacher. I'll also be teaching you English," he said, doing his best to ignore the whispers as several fangirls speculated as to who the new-comer was and what, exactly, she had been doing with 'Kaidoh-kun'. "I already know who you are, but most of the class doesn't, so would you like to introduce yourself to everyone?"

Despite the phrasing, it wasn't a request. "State your name, age, and where you transferred from."

Alex obeyed without protest. Going to the front of the classroom as Ishizuka-sensei indicated, she bowed to the class. "Hajimemashite," she said quietly, though still loud enough that everyone could hear her. "My name is Sinclair Alexandra. I'm 15 years old, and I recently moved to Japan from Australia. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

She bowed again.

Moving towards the one empty seat in the room, she stopped abruptly when the teacher held her back. "Does anybody have any questions for Sinclair-san?" he asked the class.

Several girls put up their hands.

"Yes?" said Ishizuka-sensei, nodding at a random hand. The girl chosen put her hand down and stood up. "What were you doing with Kaidoh-kun!" she asked shrilly, as the other girls lowered their hands and nodded in agreement.

"Does anybody have any sensible questions?" Ishizuka-sensei asked the class exasperatedly before Alex had a chance to answer the question. "No?"

Ishizuka-sensei nodded to Alex. "You may sit down now."

Alex obediently went to her seat and began to prepare for class.

During lunch break, Kaidoh noticed that Alex was sitting in a corner, eating her lunch while reading what appeared to be an English novel. Girls flocked around her, seemingly intent on irritating the hell out of the new-comer. Most of them were repeating the earlier question regarding her business with Kaidoh, but were getting no reply. In fact, as Alex took a sip of her milk and turned a page, Kaidoh realized that she didn't seem to realize the other girls even existed.

Curious about this strange achievement, Kaidoh made his way over to the group. Tuning out determinedly annoying girls was a skill he'd never quite managed to master, and he wanted to see how she did it.

Without looking up from her book, Alex spoke, surprising both him and the surrounding girls. "Kaidoh-san, is there a problem?"

If she hadn't just spoken, he would have sworn she didn't even know he was there. She continued to read, seeming as oblivious to the world as before, her eyes flickering rapidly across the pages. Several girls who had failed to notice his approach until she spoke swooned dramatically.

Kaidoh stared at her. How did she do it? Just in time, Kaidoh remembered that it would be impolite not to reply to her query. "No," he muttered. "There's no problem."

Alex marked her place in her book and closed the pages, giving him her full attention. "Very well. Since you're here though, you may as well have a seat."

She drew one out from the desk across from her and motioned for him to take it. Sitting down, Kaidoh eyed her warily. This girl made him nervous. She was like nothing he was used to. For one thing, she didn't seem at all scared of him.

One of the more obnoxious girls spoke, demanding to know why Alex had been ignoring them. Kaidoh hissed and glared at the girl, waiting until she backed away nervously before turning his glare on the remaining girls, who fled, scattering to various safe places in the room.

Alex watched quietly. "That's a useful talent," she remarked when he'd finally finished exterminating the pests. "I wish I could do that."

Kaidoh looked back at her, surprised. He opened his mouth to ask her how she managed to ignore them like she'd done, when a boy with spiky dark hair approached. "Hey mamushi, you got yourself a girlfriend now?" he asked loudly.

Kaidoh was on his feet in seconds. "Shut up, you idiot!" he hissed.

"Oh yeah?! Just try and make me, damn mamushi!" the other boy growled.

Alex watched impartially as the two rolled up their sleeves and yelled in each other's faces. Several people jumped on the two and quickly pulled them apart. Obviously the two didn't get on, and fights must be regular enough for the other boys in the class to become quite practiced at separating them.

Unfortunately, by the time Kaidoh had stopped raging about Momo's stupidity, the bell to mark the end of lunch break had rang and it was time to get back to taking notes.

Alex sighed and adjusted her spectacles, which had slowly begun to slip due to the gently swaying motion of the train she was on. It had been a long first day. She'd had no idea that Kaidoh-san had such a large following of fangirls. If she had, she might never have approached him for directions in the first place. Fangirls were a dangerous breed – like sharks. Alex had absolutely no desire to mess with them.

They, however, seemed to have other ideas. It hadn't even been 24 hours and already Alex would be surprised if there was still an unbruised patch of skin anywhere on her body. And all just because she'd shown up late with Kaidoh-san. It seemed they were even more vicious than she'd given them credit for. It wasn't her fault she'd gotten lost on the first day.

Making a mental note to research the main fanclubs in the school and avoid both them and their idols like the plague, she quickly stepped off the train as the doors opened at her stop. She suspected she'd end up having to avoid about half the school, possibly more if today were any indication.

Exiting the train station, she strode along the street until she reached her mansion building. On her way up the flight of stairs it took to reach her apartment – the building didn't have an elevator – she rummaged in her satchel for her house keys. Not finding them on her way up, she stopped outside her apartment door and emptied the entire contents of the bag onto the floor, before finally finding the keys in the first place she'd looked.

Shoving everything haphazardly back into the bag, she unlocked the door and went inside, slamming it shut behind her. One of these days the neighbors would complain about that. Until then, though, she would continue doing it: it felt so good to take out her daily frustration on the solid piece of timber.

Slipping her shoes off in the genkan, she stepped onto the worn floorboards and into her almost empty apartment, dropping the chaotic schoolbag on the floor. Though designed to house a small family – it had two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and combined living/dining area – the place contained almost no furniture and no decoration to speak of. In fact, she didn't even have a television. But that was ok – she had a clock radio, and had never really been interested in TV.

Wandering through the living area past a large cage of mice, Alex stepped into her kitchen and put a pot of water on the stove to boil – after that hellish day, she really needed a soothing cup of tea.

While she waited for the water to boil, she went to her bedroom and opened a large glass enclosure, like a fish tank. Reaching in gently, she pulled out a huge olive python, which immediately coiled itself over her shoulders. "Hey, Monty. Did you miss me?" she greeted it softly. Monty – that was the python's name.

She stroked the snakes head gently, before moving her arm so he slid down onto the floor. He slithered away to somewhere in the apartment.

She had a quick shower, and by the time she got out the water on the stove was boiling. Rushing to the kitchen to take it off the heat, she then dressed into a pale lavender coloured kimono decorated with delicate pink sakura blossoms, wrapped around with a darker purple obi. The edges of a two inner kimono – one pale pink, the other cream – were visible around the neckline.

While she was pouring her tea, Monty returned from wherever he'd gone and resettled around her shoulders. She sat down on a cushion at her little table, and drank her tea quickly, taking the time to relax slightly before she had to go to work.

Yes…

I heard about the rash of unkind reviews to the authors of OC fics a while ago… and decided I could do with some sort of entertainment. This is not usually the sort of thing I'd write – or even read, for that matter.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against OC fics – I just tend not to read them until I've been nagged to insanity by White Alchemist Taya.