Title: Of Leaders and Friends

Summary: In which Kirihara Akaya earns his first non-Rikkai friend and learns something about leadership.

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis and all the characters used in this work belong to Konomi Takeshi.

A fast food restaurant somewhere in Japan was quickly being filled by customers. It was lunch time, after all. In a corner of the said restaurant, two people were sitting contentedly. Shiraishi, ignoring the looks people were giving him because of his bandaged arms, carefully puts each food into his mouth. Kintaro, on the other hand, was already finished eating and was making engineering feats from the used food wrappers.

"Hello. Is this seat taken?" a hoodie-wearing lad said while pointing towards the unoccupied seat beside them. Being the good person that he is, Shiraishi let the boy have the seat. But something about the boy was nagging him. So he stared at the boy and racked his brains until finally, he remembered that he actually knew this boy.

"Oh my, aren't you Kirihara Akaya of Rikkai Dai?" hearing his name, the lad, now known as Kirihara Akaya, looked up from his meal and answered, "Yeah." Slightly gazing at Shiraishi's arm, "And you're Shitenhouji's captain, Shiraishi Kuranosuke right? You're the only weirdo I know that wears bandages in his arms." At this, Shiraishi laughed.

"But where are the other Rikkai Dai members?" Kintaro piped in, suddenly excited of the thought that he might be able to play tennis with strong opponents. "They're not with me." A little deflated, Kintaro let out a sigh. But another question popped into his head, and so he asked again. "Then, where are your other friends?"

Kirihara watched the red-haired kid and decided to just ignore him. But Kintaro, ever the stubborn one, continued to stare and wait and stare until finally, Kirihara couldn't take it anymore and replied with a grunt. "I don't have other friends aside from the team. I don't need friends who are weaker than me in tennis."

Shiraishi's reaction was subdued, with only a raised eyebrow from the statement. Kintaro, however, was a different case. Pushing down the table to stand up, Kintaro exclaimed fervently, "That's sad! That's really sad! Although I do understand that life revolves solely around tennis. But it's important to make friends, you know. Yosh, I've decided! Kirihara Akaya, right?" Kirihara was so overwhelmed by the burning passion in Kintaro's eyes that he could do nothing but nod. "Then, Kirihara Akaya-san, from now on, I, Kintaro Toyama, is your first ever non-Rikkai tennis team friend! Aren't you happy?"

Kirihara just sat there; dumbly staring at the human-looking monkey that's trying to hug him. It took a while for his brain to fully comprehend what the hell just happened. Shoving the monkey away from him, "No thanks. Even if you're better than me in tennis, which is obviously not true, I still won't be friends with you."

Shocked from the harsh rejection, Kintaro looked at Shiraishi for support. "Don't worry Kin-chan. Kirirhara-san was just joking. Right, Kirihara-san?" Kirihara just grunted in reply. "But Kin-chan does have a point, Kirihara-san. Why don't you try befriending some of your classmates?"

"It's useless, they're all afraid of me." Kirihara said after drinking some of his orange juice. "But it's alright. As that Mach-person said, 'It is better to be feared than loved'".

"I do understand why they would be afraid of you but," Shiraishi released a sigh before continuing. "The whole quote from Machiavelli is actually 'It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both."

"It's not like that makes any difference."

"It does!" Shiraishi loudly exclaimed, startling Kirihara. "Fear is needed by an absolute leader in order to make his constituents obey. But an absolute leader must also make efforts to be loved. After all, fear can very easily change to hate. And if a leader is hated, no matter how powerful he is, his constituents will not obey him. Besides, if you are loved, it's so much easier to making people into doing your will."

Shiraishi would have continued his tirade, if not for the hand that suddenly appeared in front of his face. "Shiraishi-san, I think I understand." Abruptly, Kirihara stood up, clenching his fork in his hand. "I obey Sanada-fukubuchou because I don't want to be bitch slapped to hell."

Pausing, he stabs a sausage and puts it in front of his face; eyes alight with awe from the revelation. "But Mura-buchou doesn't need to do those things to make me follow him! Of course, he can be really scary when I do something he does not like. But ultimately, the reason I obey him is because I respect and love him so much!"

At this, he happily eats the sausage and looks at Shiraishi. "Shiraishi-san, as Rikkai Dai's future captain, I thank you for giving me such an enlightening lesson. Now then, I must go and train to become an absolute leader this Mach-person was talking about."

"Yup, be an amazing leader like Yukimura-san."

"Yes. So long, Shiraishi-san and red-haired monkey." And with a bow, Kirihara left.

Eight minutes after, Kintaro finally spoke. "I don't really understand, but it was fun watching his monologue." Shiraishi chuckled. "Isn't he adorable? I think he's going to be a splendid leader someday."

"But aren't we supposed to have him make friends?"

"Oh, right. I forgot about that."

A/N: Hallo, it's nice of you to read this whole thing. I don't really have confidence in my writing (especially descriptive writing, and characterization o), but I think this is a really good way to practice. So, um, comments and constructive criticisms are very much appreciated :D