Author's Note: Actually, no, this is not crack. I wanted to try something...unique.

Uh, this is the first chapter of a full-length story, so it's short. That's how my multi-chapter stories usually go...the following chapters will be very long, promise.

Multiple pairings on the side, too. Just to be fair, I'll warn you of some Dirty Pair hints in this chapter...but it will all dissolve into GakuxTezu.

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.


Catch Me When I Fall


For everything, there's a ton of unwritten rules. But usually, nobody tells you these rules, and you've gotta figure them out yourself. One of the first ones I figured out, being an acrobatic tennis player, is to never fall into your own trap.

Well, guess what?

I broke that rule.


Mukahi Gakuto flipped, mid-air, and the ball connected with his racquet's sweet spot.

The umpire shouted, "15-love!"

"There it is!"

"Mukahi-senpai's Moon Salute!"

Hiyoshi, his partner, scoffed. "You'd think they be used to seeing it now."

Gakuto shot the orange-haired second year a grin. "Well, it's impressive."

"Yes, it is...good job, Gakuto." Oshitari smirked from the other side of the net. "Unfortunately, I've already figured out how to seal it..."

"Just try, Yuushi," Gakuto countered, and Jirou decided that serving at this moment would be a nice idea.

Hiyoshi quickly caught up to the ball and sliced it back.

"Jirou! Lob!" Oshitari ordered. Jirou complied, setting up a perfect situation for the Moon Salute -

Gakuto returned it with a smash, disappointing Hyotei's tensai.

"Yuushi, if you say you've sealed it, I think I'll believe you."


"So in the end, Mukahi-senpai's team lost by a point in the tiebreaker?" Ootori chewed thoughtfully on his lunch.

Shishido nodded. "Oshitari sealed the Moon Salute. Or, well, maybe not, but he said he did, and Mukahi believed him."

Jirou snored softly from the other side of the table, and Atobe ate silently, gazing at a table a few meters away.

"How did Hiyoshi and Mukahi-senpai react, Shishido-san?" Ootori asked curiously, pushing a food article away with his chopsticks.

"How do you think, Choutarou?" Shishido answered, turning to face the same table Atobe'd been staring at.

Oshitari and Gakuto sat at opposite ends, Gakuto looking stubborn and pissed off, Oshitari staring at his usual doubles partner, slightly apprehensive.


"Anyway, I wanna prove, once and for all, that Seigaku's stupid excuse for an acrobatics player - "

"Kikumaru," Jirou supplied helpfully.

Gakuto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Kikumaru...anyway, I'm going to prove that he's inferior - "

Hiyoshi cut him off again. "You're really obsessed with him, Mukahi-senpai."

"I am not." Gakuto was visibly offended.

"Hiyoshi's got a point," Jirou pointed out.

"He does not." Gakuto pouted. "Anyway, any idea on what to do to prove that he's inferior?"

"Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!" Jirou squealed, left hand up in the air.

Amused, Gakuto said, "Jirou, then."

"Get someone that he respects to fall in love with you!"

Hiyoshi spit out the water he'd been drinking. "So, what, you want Mukahi-senpai to seduce, I dunno, Tezuka Kunimitsu?"

Gakuto's eyes glittered as the group paused by Seigaku's tennis courts. Tezuka was talking with Oishi, the vice-captain of Seigaku...

Kikumaru was chatting amiably with a group of freshmen, a big happy smile on his face...

That stupid cat-boy wouldn't know what'd hit him.

"Y'know, Hiyoshi, that just might work."


End Chapter One.

Reviews are appreciated. :)