A Little Too Early

Ryoma joins Seigaku Middle School just a leeetle too early, just a small year or two. And enters a class with people older than him, like Momoshiro and Kaido. This is NOT a yaoi fic. And this is my first fic; do read it :D

Hey everyone, thanks for clicking on this fic to read it, please enjoy! (and review after that).

Disclaimer: Once and for all, P.O.T. is mine, so there, now go sue me or something. Don't pester me to write this again.

Chapter one: Hey you're too small!

It was the best day of Ryoma's life. No more rushing, no more chasing balls, but just a normal school life as an elementary student. Elementary right? Yea, eleven-year-olds generally went to elementary school. Ryoma lied down on his bed. It had been one hectic day for him. This entire day he was running around his new house unpacking and re-arranging their household items, under the command of the retired tennis champion, who had his nose buried in explicit magazines. Ryoma was royally annoyed when he saw his father doing absolutely NOTHING while ordering him about. But now ii was over. He could laze on his bed for as long as he like, go to elementary school, learning elementary stuff, which he already knew. But unbeknownst to him, his father had a different plan for him, and was just filling up a form to confirm Ryoma's acceptance for school. Nanjirou chuckled as he signed off on the bottom of the form. It read, "I _________ agree that Echizen Ryoma will be enrolled as a student under Seigaku Middle School…" Snoring could be heard from Nanjirou's room as he fell into a deep slumber.

---

The next day

"Wakeywakey!" Ryoma opened his eyes slightly. It was still dark, but his sharp eyes could make out the fuzzy shape of a cat "floating" in mid air, as well as his father's head under it. The Chinese cat jumped off and started scratching his face.

"What in the world is your problem! Are you crazy waking me up at 6a.m. in the morning?"

"Oh dear, little Ryoma is getting angry," Nanjirou purred trying to imitate the cat and failing badly. "C'mon get up and have breakfast and prepare for school"

"Damn, what crazy school did you enroll me to, I said I wanted one that started in the afternoon."

"It's a surprise! You'll love it."

"Yea, right…"

--

1hour later

Ryoma stared at the wonderful 'surprise' in store for him. Inscribed on a shiny metal plate were the words "Seishun Gakuen". The pissed off Ryoma turned his head 180 degree to stare daggers at his father, but apparently, the old man had disappeared, unsurprisingly. Ryoma sighed and walked into the school. Tonight that old pervert was going to die. Ryoma caught sight of a long line of student, assuming they were registering themselves; he went forth to join them.

After 20 freaking minutes of standing in a queue, generally motionless, Ryoma was finally standing in front of the counter. As much as he tried to suppress it, his feeling of triumph radiated from him.

"What's your name?"

"Echizen Ryoma"

"Alright, please hold on for a second… Oh! You're that special case 11-year-old! That's amazing! I bet you're really smart!" All people within hearing range automatically turned their heads to look.

Ryoma, not very pleased with the attention grunted.

"Oops, sorry, please forgive me. Would you please go to room 27 on the second floor?"

Sighing, Ryoma walked past the crowd and climbed the staircase, trying to ignore the stared and looks he received. It was a bad day for Ryoma and it got even worse, for he found himself walking into the wrong room on the second floor.

"Kawaii!" A few girls exclaimed as the young boy walked into their classroom.

"Damn" Ryoma muttered under his breath. "A third-year class room"

"Hey Chibi did you lose you way? Where were you heading for?"

"Room twenty seven" He said, trying once more to ignore the eyes on him. Fortunately, a guy noticed his discomfort and led him to his destination. As they were walking, the third-year showered Ryoma with a hail of questions.

"So, how old are you?"

"Eleven" Ryoma responded indifferently.

"So, why are you here?"

"Some stupid father."

"I see, you should appreciate them you know. Anyways you do know who's in room 27 don't you."

"No, not really."

"She's the head of the tennis club." Ryoma's eyes widened as he understood where the situation was going.

"Damn" Ryoma muttered. His stupid father had obviously signed him up for Seigaku, and they accepted, based on his tennis skill. This obviously meant he was going to join the tennis club, which obviously meant his hope for a normal school life was destroyed. This obviously means that Ryoma was pissed. A whole lot of obvious facts.

"Here we are. Before you go, what's your name? Mine's Isako. You'll get to know me later on"

"Echizen Ryoma" The young Echizen said as he walked into Room 27.

--

In Room 27

Ryoma caught sight of an old lady, probably late fifties. "Ohayo, I'm Ryuzaki. So you're Echizen Ryoma? You don't look like your father at all."

Ryoma's questioned, "You know my father?"

"Of course I do, I was his sensei when he was just your age."

Ryoma's eyes widened as thoughts swirled through his head. So this is the person who trained my father to become the world champion. Maybe she will be able to help me to beat that pervert. What did she ask me to come here for? Should I join the tennis club? It might help me out after all.

While Ryoma was drowned in his thoughts, he did not notice the old lady smile slightly. The method Nanjirou told her to use was so effective, at this rate, Ryoma would want to join the tennis club, just as his father had planned. She chuckled, at times her student could be so scheming. Some coughing from Ryoma broke her from her train of thoughts.

"So… How do I join the tennis club?"

The old Ryuzaki smiled…

--

Ryoma strolled down the narrow hallway to his class, meanwhile his mind was lingering on the events of today. Firstly, he was going to be studying at a FREAKING MIDDLE SCHOOL. Next he was going to join the tennis club. This has been weighing on his mind for quite some time. He had traveled from America to Japan to take a break from tennis and live as a normal student, but now, he had made the choice to enter the tennis club. Sigh, this day couldn't be worse.

--

Classroom 1-7

Ryoma looked up at the sign. 1-7. Checking again to make sure he was at the right room, he knocked on the door twice. He definitely did not want to go into another third year room accidentally.

"Come in!"

Hearing the reply to his knock, he opened the door and walked to the teacher.

"Good morning. I am Echiz…"

"Oh here you are!" The teacher cut him off mid sentence. "I was expecting you to be a little bit later, but it doesn't matter. We are doing some class bonding activities. Would you like to join?"

Ryoma wanted to reject but the look on his new teacher's face looked like she wouldn't accept a 'no'. Grudgingly, he agreed.

"Class let me introduce you to a new student. He's a special case student and is eleven this year. But this won't make much of a difference. I hope that you will be able to be his friend nevertheless."

And for the next hour, Ryoma suffered from boredom from his 'class bonding session'.

--

After 'Class bonding session'

After one dreadful hour, Ryoma heard one of the best sounds in life. The bell.

"Ah, there goes the bell! How unfortunate, we were having a great time." Ryoma rolled his eyes. "Well, goodbye class, we will meet again tomorrow. Please remember to sign up for your choice club! All the best!"

The moment their teacher walked out, a classmate decided to tease Ryoma.

"Oh! So you're the special case student! I bet you're really smart!" He said in a sing-song voice. Two of his buddies sniggered behind him.

Fortunately they were cut off by another classmate. His hair was dark and spiked up. "Shut up and go away Arai. You're not the smartest student either."

Arai shut up and glared back at him, then walked out of the room with his two buddies. Just then, the dark haired boy caught sight of Ryoma walk out through the back door of the room and ran to catch up.

"So you're really smart eh?" He said with a smile. Ryoma grunted. "You should be a little more social. I'm Momoshiro and you are?"

"Echizen Ryoma"

"I see, so you're going to be with our class for the year, you better watch out for Arai. He's one loudmouth..."

"And so are you." Ryoma muttered.

"Hey! I heard that!" Momoshiro shouted and thumped Ryoma on his head.

"Ouch…" Ryoma said and rubbed his head lightly.

"So what club are you joining? I'm joining tennis! I've got lots of experience! I bet I'll be a regular next year. Did you know Seigaku's tennis team is reaaally strong?"

"Really?" Ryoma looked up with slight interest.

"Yea like Tezuka for example, he's a sophomore this year but he is great!…That's right. I need to warn you. This year's captain is quite violent. He's style of play is very dangerous. You'd better not mess around with him." Ryoma's mouth opened in an O shape and remained silent. This will be fun, I want a match with the Tezuka guy and Buchou.

"Well I better get going, need to sign up for tennis club, see you tomorrow what's it again?"

"Ryoma"

"Oh yea, bye then." Momoshiro turned around and walked off, he remembered he had one unanswered question left. He spun around 180degrees and found that Ryoma had disappeared in the crowed. Oh well, looks like I have to find out about his club tomorrow.

--

Meanwhile Ryoma was wandering around the school to get familiarized with it, when he found himself looking at the tennis court. He saw many Seigaku students already on the court playing tennis and other doing exercise. Ryoma's opinion of Seigaku was raised one notch. Not bad, it's the first day of school and they're already working hard. Still inspecting them he walked into the court, subconsciously.

"Hey what are you doing here freshman?"

"Oh shit." Ryoma muttered.

"Aren't you a little small? Anyway are you going to join the tennis club?"

"Probably"

"I see," The sophomore grinned and rubbed his chin. "Let's get you started then."

--

With Momo

"Sigh, so bored, so bored." Momoshiro spoke to himself. Just then he caught sight of his long time classmate. "Hey Kaido! There you are!" The said bandana boy turned to look at him. Momoshiro ran up to Kaido. "Hey did you join the tennis club already?"

"Yes" Kaido grunted his one word answer.

"So where are you going?" Momoshiro's answer came into sight almost immediately. He saw the rows of tennis courts with the green fence around the perimeter. "Whoa. Cool." Momoshiro whispered silently. Then his eyes trailed on the green haired boy he saw talking to a few seniors. Familiar, familiar, who is it? His eyes lit. That's right Ryoma! Did he join tennis as well? Momoshiro ran up to him.

--

Back to Ryoma

"Every freshman has to go through this test," The sophomore explained, "See those cans that have been prepared? There are many colors. Now this is how it goes. You have ten tries that you MUST use if you play the game. You will stand at the other end of the court and hit the ball. Now here are the penalties and Prizes." The sophomore handed Ryoma a list.

"HEY! I'LL PLAY TOO!"

Ryoma winced at the voice he heard. Momoshiro. The name rang in his head.

"Huff…huff… Yea, I heard the rules I and Kaido will be playing too."

Kaido glared at him but agreed.

"Great", the sophomore said. "Please read the list"

The Momo and Kaido crowded around Ryoma and read the list.

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Green: -100yen

Blue: -200yen

Red: -500yen

Gold: 5000yen

Failing to hit a can: -200yen

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"So I just have to hit the Gold to win?" Momoshiro said excitedly.

"Yup!" the sophomore responded and sniggered softly.

"I'll go first!" Momoshiro shouted and picked up a ball and a racket. Momoshiro looked at the pile of cans. There was only one gold can in the middle, surrounded by 8 red cans, surrounded by 15 blues, surrounded by 25 Greens.

Momoshiro threw the ball up high. Looking at the cans, he stared intently at the gold one and took a careful aim. "Thump" The ball connected with Momoshiro's racket and flew towards the cans. Just a second later, the sound of a can being crushed could be heard. "Damn! A blue can!" Momoshiro shouted disappointedly and picked up another ball.

Normally, the sophomores would be sniggering and happy with the extra money in their pockets but instead they were shocked at the power the freshman had. The ball had hit a blue can and crushed it completely. Even they would have quite some time doing that.

"O MY GOSH A RED! ARGH!" Momoshiro interrupted their train of thoughts. The sophomores looked up and saw another of their cans being crushed. Well, at least the money they got would cover the cost of getting more drinks for cans.

The next eight shots didn't turn out well either. In total, 3 Reds, 4 Blues, 2 Greens and one miss. Momoshiro broke down sobbing as he handed over 2700yen to the sophomores. He wished Kaido good luck and sat on the floor to whine to himself.

Kaido looked at the cans left, there were several holes in the pile of cans as the cans that Momoshiro crushed were removed. Eyeing those holes, he came up with a plan. Kaido took a ball and threw it in the air. Instead of hitting the can itself, he was going to hit the ball into one of the holes and bounce up to hit the golden can. "Whack!" The racket connected and the ball flew into the hole beside the golden can and bounced, a little too high. It missed the golden can and hit a red one instead. Kaido hissed and took up another ball. The sophomores were impressed, that had been very close, and he would have hit the gold can if he put in less force. They watched as Kaido took his next try. The ball flew, from the racket and moved towards the gap between a blue and green can. The ball bounced upwards and curved with the gravity, then flew downwards again. The sophomores looked intensely as the ball moved closer and closer to the gold can. The ball homed down with a thwack and a can was hit, the golden one. However, Kaido looked in horror as the ball bounced again off the golden can, leaving the golden can standing like it was at the start.

"Damn." Kaido muttered. The sophomores were stunned, the ball had touched the golden can! If they hadn't cheated and put stones into it, they would have lost 5000yen.

After the next 8 shots, Kaido pulled out his wallet and handed over a total of 1600yen, Kaido repressed his feeling of disappointment and went to join Momoshiro on the floor.

"I hoped Echizen does well." Momoshiro whispered into the air and watched as Ryoma took his turn.

Ryoma looked at the cans. He knew something was wrong with the golden one. Kaido would have gotten his money otherwise. Rocks. Came into his mind. The only way to fall a can with rocks is to hit it from the upper edge. He had learnt this lesson while training with his father, who had also used this dirty scheme.

Ryoma glanced once more at the gold can and whacked the ball. The sophomores felt horror come over them as the can gave way and fell, scattering the rocks all over. Ryoma smirked and swung his racket over his shoulder.

"That wasn't too hard. If I hit it 10 times will you give me the 50000yen?"

Ryoma then proceeded to slam balls into the can until it got disfigured into a piece of scrap metal.

"YEA! NICE! THAT'S WAS AWSOME RYOMA!"

The Sophomores fell on their knees and begged Ryoma, "Please leave us alone! Take this 19000ryo and leave us alone!" they dropped the notes and coins on the floor and ran off in a flurry.

Ryoma picked up the change and gave back to Momo and Kaido what they lost. Momoshiro put his hand behind his head sheepishly, "Thanks." He said with a grin. Kaido merely muttered thanks and walked away.

"Don't worry about Kaido, he's always like this." Momoshiro explained to Ryoma. "Well I go to go now bye…"

"Bye"

Momoshiro picked up his bag and racket and walked off towards the school gate. Ryoma did the same, not knowing of the eyes that had watched him during the can game.

"He's and interesting one." Inui said to the regulars around him.

"Interesting indeed, I would like to have a match with him…" replied the vice-captain, Isako.

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Authors Note

Ta-da! I hope that wasn't too bad. And I've introduced my OC here, his name is Isako (based off my own, Isaac). xD and he will be seen again in the next chapter.

Originally I had wanted to have a short match between Isako and Ryoma but that has to wait. I need to iron some stuff out.

So thanks for reading my first fic ever, and I hoped you enjoyed it.

P.S. Please DO DO DO review the story :D thx

Story word count: 2830

I hope to hit 5k a chapter one day :)