Crossing Paths:

Chapter One:

The irritating sound of an alarm clock was the first thing to register in Ryoma's sleep clouded mind; he hadn't slept well.

A letter had come two days ago, and it was that very letter that led to so much nervousness. The letter hadn't really been bad but it wasn't exactly good either.

Ryoma thought back to what the letter had said:

Dear Ryo-chan,

It's been a while since I last wrote, ne? I've really been wanting to visit you, ever since I heard of your accomplishments on that tennis team of your! I know you may still be angry with me for the incident last year, with those spiders, you remember? I'm really very sorry about that! I had only meant it as a jest, for I could never truly hurt my dear, precious Ryo-chan! Anyways, I just wanted to warn you before that adorable Nanjiro-kun told you, I'll be coming to live with you for a while. It seems our lovely cousin Mamouru has finally tired of me. Alas, I shall be alright, for they never liked me anyways; I was treated with so little respect, like the dog they think me to be! But I shall be strong, for your sake my dear, dear Ryo-chan! For you I would gladly die a thousand painful, agonizingly brutal deaths! Well, I guess that is all I can say for now, sadly I shall not arrive until Monday, and I INSIST that you come with to pick me up!

Your one and only,

Kenbo-chan!

Ryoma sighed in irritation. It's not that he didn't like his cousin, because he loved him very much; he just had no patience for the slightly older boy.

"Ryoma!" He heard his cousin call from downstairs, "Ryoma! Hurry up or we'll be late! Uncle says you'll be going with me and that he's busy." Ryoma snorted in exasperation; yeah, right, his father. Busy? PAH! That'd be the day!

He shrugged off his irritation and got up slowly from his bed. He really wasn't a morning person….but he'd do it this once, for Kenbo. He had already made sure the school knew he'd be late today, and that his cousin would be coming with them. He was slightly older then Ryoma, but he'd be a freshman because he was transferring at a bad time.

As he got dressed and got ready to leave he realized that he had forgotten to tell his senpai-tachi about his cousin, and so he'd have to bring him with…oh well, he smirked at that thought. Kenbo will have fun with that, and he's liable to scare even his buchou-sama. His smirk grew even wider at that thought and he grabbed his tennis bag and headed out the door, following his other cousin.

It took about twenty minutes to get to the airport, and then ten more to find the right gate. By the time they arrived there everyone was leaving the plane and as a familiar voice reached his ears Ryoma smiled softly. Standing in the doorway to the plane a beautiful woman, dressed in leather combat boots, and a ripped camo skirt. She wore a dark green tank top with the words 'I live for my uke' written on it. Her arms were covered in black, fingerless cloves and many silver bracelets. Her hair was a shiny black that reached down to mid back in the front and had uneven feathery bangs in front that reached her chin. Her eyes, outlined lightly in coal were a brilliant green and her ears had many silver earrings up and down the sides. There was a leather spiked dog collar around her throat and a tennis bag; camo of course, was slung over one shoulder. The only problem was it wasn't a woman. Yes, his cousin was a cross dresser, and he was damn proud of it too!

Kenbo looked around curiously, and when he spotted Ryoma his face lit up and he shot forward, surprising those around him. "RYO-CHAN!" He shouted happily and glomped the poor chibi. Many people stared, because in all appearances it looked like a 16 year-old girl had tackled a 12 year-old boy. Kenbo didn't seem to care though, as he kept kissing his cousin's cheeks, completely oblivious to his cousin's protests.

"Ken-no! STOP!...No! Matte! Onegai-ONEGAI!" Ryoma shouted, but it had little effect. Sighing in resignation to his fate he gave up and waited for the boy, who was almost a head taller then him, to stop. A light blush had spread across his cheeks and he looked around, embarrassed.

Finally Kenbo got a hold of himself, and just settled for putting an arm around his cousin's shoulders. As soon as they had calmed down they went in search of Kenbo's bags, there were only two rather large ones, which Kenbo picked up with ease. When he handed one to Ryoma though, he staggered back from the weight and dropped it. He stared as his cousin easily picked it up again and smiled sheepishly at Ryoma. "Gomen Ryo-chan, I sometimes forget how heavy they are…"

Ryoma shrugged nonchalantly, "s'okay, I just wasn't expecting that." He smiled again and when it was returned enthusiastically, they set off to get the car. When they got back to Ryoma's house, Kenbo put his stuff away in an extra room and they headed off to school, chatting amiably as they went.

"So Ryo-chan….think they'll let me play with them today? Just for fun? His cousin asked, and Ryoma nearly choked. His cousin rarely offered to play with anyone he didn't know well. He rarely even played with Ryoma! He nodded, too shocked to really say anything. Kenbo was a very strong player, with his own unique style of play. Ryoma was hard pressed to even tie with the older boy. He snickered when he thought of his teammate's reactions and Kenbo seemed to realize what he was thinking and laughed as well.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure not to hurt anyone this time." Ryoma sighed, true, last time he had played with his cousin there had been a few accidental injuries…but he was confident in his team's ability to dodge even Kenbo-level smashes.

"I guess, but you'll have to prove yourself first, they probably won't agree at first. Are you going to join the team?" Ryoma asked, a bit nervous. If his cousin played he would definitely be a regular member in no time, but then someone would lose their place….he didn't really want to think about that at the moment though.

"Maybe, I've been thinking about it but I don't want anyone feeling I've taken their place or anything. If only there could be one more regular and two on reserve. But I guess that's too much to ask, ne?" His eyes lowered as he sighed slightly, but then he brightened up, for his cousin's benefit. Ryoma looked up to him, in a way, and so he had to stay cheerful, for his sake.

Ryoma brightened as he saw his cousin smile again and they entered the school, only to be met with an eerily quiet hallway. Kenbo shuddered and they walked through the deserted hallways, to where Ryoma's class was. As they slid the door open, all attention was focused on them.

It just so happened that this was his English class, and Horio, that annoying little boy was in the same class, as well as the other two freshmen in the tennis club (they didn't really annoy him much). Horio's jaw hit the floor as he saw Echizen enter, with a beautiful girl's arm over his shoulder. When had Echizen met that Tenshi! He thought blushing like mad when she looked at him. She smiled brightly when she looked in his direction and the blush deepened even more.

Kenbo glanced around the classroom, and when his eyes came to the one he had heard of as Horio, he smiled brightly, thinking 'Saru!' and not really focusing on anything else. When his attention was focused back on the teacher he smiled and bowed, and introduced himself. "Watashi wa Echizen Kenoki, but you may call me Kenbo or Ken-chan." Many of the people in the class looked startled. They hadn't known Echizen had a cousin.

"Pleased to meet you, Echizen-kun," The teacher said pleasantly. Kenbo smiled politely and the teacher continued, "Please, take a seat next to your cousin, and if you would like to tell the class anything about yourself, feel free." Ryoma groaned at this, but everyone ignored that.

Kenbo took a large breath and started, "Well, I lived in America for the past ten years, and I traveled around with my dear Ryo-chan here, we played tennis together for many years and I really really like oden, it's so yummy and I also love strawberry pocky, it's so-" here she ran out of breath and Ryoma dragged her to their seats without bothering to say anything. Kenbo continued to smile while he panted and when he sat down, it was next to Horio.

Horio was relieved when he heard Ken-chan was Ryoma's cousin, he had been worried that she was taken or something. 'Oh what am I thinking! Of COURSE a beautiful girl like that is taken already!' as his thoughts turned down that path his face darkened and he slumped in his seat.

"Pssst" he heard from his side and he realized it was the very person he was thinking about that had tried to get his attention. He looked over, blushing furiously, and his eyes widened when she bowed in her seat and said "Nice to meet'cha Horio-kun, I've heard lots about you from Ryo-chan here! I must say, there aren't many who could look as saru-ish as you and still be adorable!"

Of course, was just being polite in his own way, but Horio need not know that. His blush deepened and he looked down in embarrassment. Ryoma's snort of amusement made him look up.

"You shouldn't get his hopes up Kenbo, you're such an evil person, you know that, right?" He asked, extremely amused.

Kenbo snickered but tried to stop, "I'm just being polite, if they don't learn then they'll never get experience!" Another snort from Ryoma and they both quieted down from a glare from the teacher. He didn't look happy with all the talking going on in his class.

The rest of the day went about the same way, nobody realizing that the beautiful 'tenshi' they all seemed to admire was really a boy. And that's how Kenbo liked it. He found sadistic pleasure in the moment that everyone found out he was a guy, it reminded Ryoma of Fuji-senpai…

Finally the time came to go to the Tennis club and practice, and Kenbo's smile hadn't left his face since the last bell rang. "Is it time? Is it time?" he asked anxiously, his impatience only showing in his voice.

Ryoma smirked. "Yeah, it's time. I should go and change, you wait outside by the courts, okay?" Kenbo nodded enthusiastically.

As Kenbo waited he noticed the stares he was getting from those around him, and snickered as some of the guys blushed. She started singing under her breath, "Kirisaite kimi notede tooihi no kiwokuwo/ kanashimi no iki no ne metekureyo" (sp?) it was the opening to Full Metal Alchemist, one of his favorite anime. He especially loved Hughes. After a few minutes Ryoma returned and Kenbo squealed at his uniform.

"WAI! That's so adorable Ryo-chan!" It wasn't said in that high pitched voice almost all his fans used, but in a slow, deep voice. "Oi, oi, where's the rest of your team? Are they doing naughty things in that room?" she asked, and Ryoma blushed deeply. He snorted again when his cousin put his arm around his shoulder again, but this time leaned his head on Ryoma's. They looked like a couple, and that made Ryoma blush more.

"Ryoma-sama!" came the irritating mating call of one Osakada Tomoka. Ryoma's eyes widened and he froze as Kenbo covered one ear and winced.

"What in the hell was that annoying screech?" He asked, and got the answer a second later as she was tackled and pushed away from Ryoma.

"AYA! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH RYOMA-SAMA, YOU HUSSIE!" Tomoka shouted, getting off of the downed cross dresser. It was then that Ryoma started backing up, really slowly. He saw the twitching of his cousins eyes and he ran inside the closest building, slamming the door and startling the rest of his team.

"Echizen-kun? What's the matter? You look pale." Fuji said, his smile never wavering.

"You haven't gotten sick, have you?" Momo-chan-senpai asked, concerned.

"Yeah ochibi-chan, it looks like you've seen a ghos-" Just as Kikumaru was finishing his sentence a loud screeching was heard from outside and shouting. And what sounded like a fist fight.

"M-my cousin…Tomo just…tackled her…." Ryoma said, terrified of his cousin. He had this really bad temperament, and it usually didn't take much to make him snap.

"Why would she do that? And what's this about a cousin?" Momo asked, slightly confused. Okay, so he was very confused, but that's not the point.

"Well, Kenbo was leaning on me and…I don't know, but my cousin…he's….well…he gets angry very easily. And he's terrifying when he's angry. He's going to be living with me for a while, and-" a sudden loud crashing noise cut off the rest of that sentence, and Ryoma opened the door cautiously. When he looked around he noticed two things. His cousin's hair covered his face and Tomo was nowhere to be seen. He worried a bit about that, he didn't think Tomo would give up so easily….and then he heard a muffled voice from above him. He walked out slowly, turned around, and looked up, not surprised to see Tomo gagged and bound, sporting a nice black eye. She had been thrown onto the roof, and she looked terrified.

Ryoma sighed in relief, his cousin hadn't broken any bones or anything; with his strength it was hard for him to control it. He glanced back at his cousin and he had a terrifyingly pleased look on his face. He sighed and realized the rest of his team was finally ready and coming to see what had happened.

When Kikumaru saw his cousin's handy work he couldn't stop from snickering. "Ochibi-chan's cousin must be really strong."

Kenbo blushed slightly and they finally seemed to notice him. "Ah, watashi wa Echizen Kenoki, but you may call be Kenbo, or Ken-chan!" Her cheerful smile was back in place and everyone stared, confused.

Momo was the first to say anything, though. "Didn't you say your cousin was a guy..?" he asked, and the rest of the people nodded.

Ryoma looked at them blankly and said, "he is a guy." When they still just stared he sighed and said instead, "He's a cross dresser-"

"And damn proud of it too!" His cousin shouted in his ear, back to leaning his head against Ryoma's.


-One thing people may have noticed is Kenbo introduces himself as a girl, using watashi wa instead of Boku wa. I figured this would be simpler for Kenbo, and he seems to enjoy people confusion, so I thought this worked best.

Another thing is the lyrics to the FMA song, I'm sorry if the lyrics are spelled wrong, but I was going on memory there.

Also, the Tomo bashing was so SOOOO fun! I will not apologize to those who like her, because I feel they must be too stupid to realize that I offended them. There WILL be more Tomo and Sakuno bashing as well.

>Well, I hope you enjoyed this, and I hope I write more soon! (I think I may enjoy this enough to continue!)

There WILL be yaoi in this fic, though I have NO clue of the pairings as of yet.

Things to come: Who will agree to play Kenbo? Why is Kikumaru wearing kitty boxers, and who's the one who told on him?

Those were not what is to come (maybe XD).