Hi guys! This is, well, I guess this would be my first Prince of Tennis fanfic on the site. I've been into it for a few months now. Anyway, this story is inspired by the fanfiction Curiosity Makes the Most Beautiful Season Written by Allegoriest. It is a really nice fic and I really recommend it. Anyway, after reading that it sort of gave me an idea on how to write a fic that I've had planned since the moment I saw Niou and Yagyuu together. So anyway, thank you, Allegoriest! By the way, does anyone know Yagyuu's real hair color? As for Niou, his hair is black in the earlier times because his parents won't let him bleach it yet, as if he'd listen to what they tell him, but that is a story that comes later in the series. Please enjoy, and yes, this will go on to how they met as a double's pair for RikkaiDai Fuzoku. By the way, this is NON-YAOI! Anyway, please review!

By the way, the title of the story, Escape, kind of shows the two's feelings and how the switch came about. If you want me to change the title or have any suggestions then please let me know in a review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. If I did RikkaiDai would have won the Nationals and Ryoma would have lost more than a handful of matches in the series. The list of changes I would have made would bore you and change the series into something it isn't. Let's just say we love it for what it is, how it is, and I can't wait to start the series The New Prince of Tennis!

-Saph

"Class, this is Yagyuu Hiroshi. He will be joining us as of today." The teacher called cheerily as she introduced a small boy with brown hair. He stepped in, eyeing everyone wearily. He looked around the place as though he were afraid of it. His gaze fell on a boy sitting at the back of the class, a boy with spiky, jet-black hair and blue eyes. As soon as he laid eyes on him Yagyuu knew that the boy would bring him trouble to no end. He made a mental note to avoid that boy. But fate had a strange way of playing cruel games to people who were least expecting it, or not wanting it at all. Less than two seconds after he had sworn to have nothing to do with the boy he had labelled a bad influence the teacher directed him to sit in the empty desk next to said individual. In his opinion, the seat was empty for a reason.

From the back of the room Niou Masaharu smiled. Finally! A new toy! He thought as he saw the goody-two-shoes boy walking up the aisle to the empty seat.

Perfect, now sit! Niou willed. He had planted a whoopee-cushion on the chair and was waiting to hear the sound and laugh at the next sap who fell for it. It was thanks to his reputation as a trickster that the seat was empty. No one wanted to be within five feet of him.

As the boy walked closer Niou inwardly jumped with glee. He was going to do it! He was going to fall for it! He saw the boy bend down to sit. Any second now...

...any second now...

The sound never came and Niou looked over to see that the apparatus had been brushed to the floor. He stared at it, then to the boy in the desk. Mr. Perfect already had his English book out and was staring at it, concentrated.

"Niou-kun, would you please read the next passage?" The teacher asked. He never knew why the teachers asked, it was clear that the child would read no matter what, they had no choice. Why did they pose it as a question when it was clearly a demand to read it, an order. Niou stood up, smiling. He had another trick up his sleeve.

"I would, teacher, if only I knew how to read." He smirked as he stood up and bowed. The teacher and the rest of the class stared at him.

"T-That's impossible! Y-You were all taught how to read! I-I saw to it!" the teacher called.

"Yes, Teacher, you did try to teach us. But I think it may have either been that I was too dumb to learn, or that you just aren't a good teacher." Niou states in what would be considered an innocent voice. At this the rest of the children in the class burst into laughter as the teacher has a mental breakdown. All are laughing but the new kid. Niou smirks and sits down, basking in the laughter and praise the others are giving him. This was how he got his name, the Trickster. He was only in the second grade, but in those few years of school he had already gotten quite a reputation. The faculty called him The Devil with Blue Eyes. He had never been expelled, no other school would take him after hearing his name. So this poor school was stuck with him. Well, they weren't stuck for long, at least the staff weren't. Three months had passed in this school year and he had already made two others have a mental breakdown which led to them being unable to teach. One of them was still in therapy. He smiled and relished that. Good times.

And now this was his third victim. He smiled. A new record. Three teachers let go and sent to the crack house in as many months.

As the sun baked the sidewalks and the skin of the children running home Niou stopped. He saw the new kid, in his starchy clothes and uniform buttoned all the way up to his chin. He ran up to the child.

"Hey, today was great, huh? Three teachers dispatched in as many months, a new record!" Niou laughed. The boy just stared pointedly ahead, trying to ignore the trickster. "Hey, come on, man! Laugh a little! Laughter makes you live longer!" He touched the boys' thin arm. Nothing he had done before had gotten the attention of this guy, until now. The boy flinched and yanked his arm free.

"Don't touch me!" He shrieked. He then recollected himself and continued walking. Niou's mouth had fallen open in shock but then he recovered as he skipped to catch up with the other. So he didn't like being touched, he stored that information away for blackmail.

"Aww, wait up! That's not how to talk to a friend, Hiro-chan~!" Niou called, using a high-pitched tone for the nickname. It had the desired effect. Yagyuu stopped and wheeled around, anger clear in his eyes.

"For one thing, I am NOT your friend. We just met and the first time we exchanged words would be right now. Also, you shouldn't do that to the teachers. They try so hard to teach us, and when they get a mental breakdown for their efforts, that's just wrong! You shouldn't be proud of hurting people. And lastly, my name is Yagyuu Hiroshi and you will address me as Yagyuu-kun." He states. He turns around and storms off. Niou smiles and skips closer.

"Aww, Hiro-chan, are you mad?" He calls in a sing-song voice, faking a cute pout. Yagyuu tries his best to ignore him. Niou snickers. The rest of the trip home continues in this manner, with Niou talking to Yagyuu and Yagyuu ignoring everything.

"Should you really be following me? Don't you have your own home to return to?" Yagyuu states.

"Huh? Who said I was following you? My house is this way too, having you along was just a bonus, someone to talk to on the way back." Niou states. Well, it was more like something to pester while he walked home. Yagyuu ignored him and walked towards the right fork. "Oh! You live there?" Niou asks. Yagyuu just walks away. "I live to the left!" Niou calls to his back as he goes to the left fork. He smiles. Yagyuu Hiroshi, it would be fun to play around with that. He wanted to break that good-boy image.

When Yagyuu got home he did the usual. Announced his return to his family while taking off his shoes and putting them in the cubby. He took his bag and neatly put it on the chair in his room as he collapsed on the bed in an unruly manner. He thought about Niou Masaharu. Why couldn't that boy leave his mind after all that? Why did his mind always wander back to him? It was that reputation. Niou Masaharu was a trickster. He laughed and had fun in life. He didn't worry about anything and wasn't so uptight. He wanted that. Yagyuu had wanted so badly to be like that. His family had always been one of those strict households where everything was sparkling clean and top of the line, the picture perfect image of an aristocratic family. He hated it. It was suffocating. Ever since he was little he had wanted what Niou had. He had wanted to go out and run around. To have his hair in a mess and it called normal. To run around, known as the terror of everything and still laugh. Yagyuu wanted that. When he was little he would watch the other children run around and skin their knees, cry, get a bandage, then keep playing. He had watched it all through the window of his house as the teacher shut the curtains to continue with their lesson. He acted like the perfect son, but had traded his childhood for it. Now, more than anything, he wished he could have it back. He wished he could trade places, trade lives with Niou Masaharu even if just for a day.

On the opposite side of the fork Niou Masaharu is busy dealing with his own problems. He enters his house and throws off his shoes. He had picked up the mail and saw that the rent for the house was due in a week. That was bad. His father was passed out on the couch. Niou ignored it, the old man would fall onto the floor on his side later on anyway with another of his perverted dreams, that would save him from choking on his own vomit. Niou walked into the kitchen and looked in the fridge. It was empty as it always was. He sighed and took an apple from the counter as he went to his room.

His room was a mess. Old clothes, papers, a soccer ball, a few shoes, socks, anything you name it, it was there. He sighed and pushed the crap off of his bed as he flopped on it. He thought about Yagyuu and how he wished he could have had a life like that. He hated being trapped in this dead end life. His father was a drunk and his mother was a...well, he didn't know what to call it but he knew it involved her dancing in her underwear in front of drunk men and then disappearing for days on end before calling them and telling them that she was coming home because 'the man got too grabby' or 'his wife found us' whatever that meant. It meant very little to young Masaharu. He just knew that when she got back they would have just enough money to pay the rent and maybe buy a few things to live on for a few days. His life really sucked, so he turned to laughter and being the class clown. Sure, no one wanted to be near him, but he could at least make people laugh. It made him feel as though he was making people happy. That never happened in this house. When his father wasn't passed out he would rant on and on about how Masaharu was an unwanted child and that if he hadn't been born he would have all the money he needed. It was thanks to Masaharu that their father was a drunk. All Masaharu ever heard was that everything wrong was his fault and that he should die. He hated it.

And so, fate brought together the most unlikely two people.

To be continued...

So, how was it? Was the first chapter okay? Please review if you thought so. I really like Prince of Tennis and I've got this story all planned out. How the switch mane about and why they seem to work so well together when they get to RikkaiDai will be revealed in this story. Please review.

-Saph