OriginalCrazian: So it's a Tezuka fan fiction… I hope it flows well.

(6/15): It's been fixed.

Disclaimer: I do not own POT

Don't let Your Guard Down

Chapter 1

Off

Spring, the time of new beginnings. The weather was just perfect, not too cold and not too hot, everything was just right. At Seigaku, all athletic regulars were ecstatic to practice later in the day, and both students and teachers appreciated the season. Even the school's ideal student, Kunimitsu Tezuka, took notice of the brilliant day. Well almost everyone appreciated the weather and took advantage of it.

Kira Niwa, who had sat in between the windows and to the left the Tezuka, had her head down and her sea green sleeves covering her face, once again fallen asleep in history. Normally, her classmates and teacher would continue class. Although some of her classmates followed her lead, teachers highly disagreed with Kira's defective learning methods.

Everyone knew that Kira's grades in history weren't the best, she often scored a 76 on average. In fact aside from Gym, English, and Chemistry, she had been pretty much average at all other classes.

Tezuka had just finished taking his notes when he noticed Kira's random mumbling as she slept, of course being Tezuka he simply ignored it until he saw his teacher walk down the aisle approaching Kira's desk. As the foot step closed in, his neighbor's body jerked awake.

Kira scratched her head oblivious to the situation that she was in. She yawned and scratching her head she mumbled in a dazed, "What was I dreaming about?"

The students around her watched as Kira took noticed their angry teacher. She continued her daily routine complimenting the teacher before she received another detention that would make her late for her tennis practice and interfere with the boy's practice.

Tezuka did not approve of this routine, he had often complained (which he rarely did about anyone). He did not like the way she would impose on their practice because of her habit of sleeping in school. Today he was going to confront the two people that could stop the girls' "Ace" from consistently being late.

-In Detention-

Kira always hated it detention. It wasn't her fault that she was an insomniac and just happen to fall asleep in a boring class. Dang it, she has to sleep somewhere.

Kira fumed, annoyed, playing with her dark hair that had be kept in a messy pony tail. She waited for the hour to pass quickly before she could play tennis.

Argh, why do I have to spend my detention with these tutors?! I'm not stupid, people. I can figure these lessons out. I have books for a reason. And why do I still have an English tutor? History, I can slightly understand but English, really, Kira thought as her English tutored tried to explain a metaphor to her.

Kira to her classmates had been known as the English genius. Regardless if she slept in the class or missed it, she would score a ninety or higher on her English tests. She was, after all the daughter of an English teacher, was being the key word.

"Niwa, pay attention or you'll fail your next quiz." The tutor snapped.

"Yes, yes.." Kira replied.

Just a few more minutes… Kira thought as she sat up in her desk, hoping God would be merciful and speed the time up so she could play tennis, precious tennis.

-Thirty minutes later-

"Oh, thank God!" Kira shouted with her hands in the air. She couldn't be happier to be outside, where the sunlight warmed her skin and the sent of fresh air filling her nostrils. A large glowing smile had been carved on her face. Finally she was out of detention.

"Now, I have to find that captain of mine," Kira thought aloud. She looked around for the tall captain. Suzuru usually stood out considering her height, loud voice, and her crazy orange dyed hair.

"Are you looking for me?" Kira jolted at the sound of the voice, she quickly turned around to see her tall captain.

"Ah well, yes. I'm wondering what to do-" Kira replied, scratching the back of her head as though to give a carefree feel.

"You're late detention's only fifteen minutes not thirty," Honda Suzuru snapped, she was angry.

"Ah, well about that, I got detention for English and History," Kira grinned, "So what do you want me to do?"

Suzuru sighed, regardless she could not let her good friend go with out punishment.

"Go run fifteen laps. Then find one of the regulars to play against you."

Kira began to walk off answering, "Aye, aye Captain."

-Track-

Kira stood there observing the scenery, she was surrounded with the boy's team again.

I suppose if I don't finish my laps quickly Tezuka would be mad again. If that happens, Suzuru will yell at me, Kira concluded as she began running.

Her feet beat against the track field in rhythm. Her heart pounded against her chest, and her nose length bangs clung against her face, as sweat poured down her face that hot afternoon.

"Niwa! Watch out for the hurdles!" one of the track members warned. But Kira just accelerated, jumping over the hurdles. A smile carved on her face, she loved the high it gave her, the attention; the feel of all eyes falling on her. Yes, Kira loved it very much, so much she wouldn't trade if for the world.

The balls hit against the ground over and over as Kira lead her game with her opponent. Her clothes filled with sweat, she wiped her brow with the back of her sweat band. Kira had won the match again. Kira walked over the benches sitting down. She could hear her heartbeat increasing, her breathing increased, her legs felt like lead weights. She let the water flow through her lips.

"Niwa-sempai," Kira looked at the freshmen who had called her name, she raised an eyebrow as the freshmen continued, "Honda-buchou and Ryuzaki-sensei want to see you in her office."

Kira nodded, dragging her feet against the concrete towards the outdoor office. As she entered the building, she could feel the dramatic temperature change in the air-conditioned room, not to mention the atmosphere. The carefree feel that she had gain from the courts, had been overwhelmed with the tense air of the room. She shut the door behind her.

"I don't like this feeling," she mumbled under her breath. She continued louder asking, "You wanted to see me?"

She looked at the three people that had summoned her, Tezuka, Suzuru, and Ryuzaki.

"Have a seat," Ryuzaki suggested, be Kira shook her head, "I would rather stand."

Suzuru sighed, "Well, Niwa, I've been meaning to talk to you for a while about this."

"About what?" Kira asked.

"You're off the team," Tezuka stated.

"You're consistently tardy, sometimes I wonder if you should even bother showing up. You constantly distract other people from other clubs and impose on the Boys' Team as well." Ryuzaki explained, "We don't need players that can't fulfill their obligations."

Kira looked over to Suzuru as though asking if it was all true. Her friend just looked away. Kira sighed, keeping her composure. She forced a smile, bowing she responded, "Alright then, I guess I will be going now."

Suzuru jolted when she saw Kira's silver eyes. Kira's eyes were filled with anger, and unless Suzuru was mistaken, sadness. She had never seen her happy-go-lucky friend so out of character. Honestly, that scared Suzuru more than anything. Kira, when she wanted revenge while she was still herself had been a force to deal with by itself. Suzuru shivered at the thought of her friend's endless horrors she could inflict in this mood.

-With Kira.-

Kira emptied her locker throwing everything into her bag. Regardless if it was fragile or not, it was harshly thrown. She couldn't think straight, everything that she had held dearly taken away from her.

"Damn it," she swore, she had accidentally slammed the locker door on her finger in her fit of rage. She ignored the pain, zipping up her bag noticing that her water bottle and tennis racket weren't in the bag.

"Crap I left it on the court," she thought aloud. She tried to calm down, at least if she was going to leave at least she had to look dignified. She fixed her hair, washed her face and prepared herself.

She walked outside of the locker room, her face plastered with a smile and her whole personality changed back as though nothing has happened. Kira walked over to the court where her gear had been. She noticed that Tezuka was also on the sideline watching the golden pair go up against Kaidoh and Momo in a doubles match. She just quietly picked her tennis gear trying to avoid looking at Tezuka. Kira knew that Tezuka had been one of the reasons to why she was kicked off of the tennis team. Kira then realized that she had a history project with him, she sighed before stood up, and turned to Tezuka.

"Hey, Tezuka-kun, maybe you should come to my house later so that we can start our project," Kira suggested, "It'll be easier that way."

Tezuka just simply nodded, "What time should I come over?"

Kira pondered a bit, "Maybe at five, I'll ask Sora-nii if you can stay for dinner, I'll call you if anything changes."

He nodded as she began to leave, once she was out of sight he noticed that the doubles game had been over.

"Hoi hoi, Tezuka-buchou, what were you talking about with Kira-chan?" Eiji asked.

"According to my data, Tezuka and Niwa have to start their science project tonight," Inui answered.

"Everyone ten laps, now," Tezuka commanded. The members groaned before starting their laps.

Tezuka's family had always been close to Kira's, their grandfathers used to be good friend in the same police force. Even after their grandfathers had both retired (Although Tezuka's had started to teach judo to the new policemen), the Tezuka's and Niwa's still kept in touch. Although but Tezuka and Kira had grown up in similar environments they both ended as different results, her being a careless delinquent and him a top model student.

-Later-

Pok-pok-pok

The racket bounced the ball against the wall over and over occasionally falling against the pavement of the Niwa's back yard. Kira the sounds of the ball continue hoping that all her frustrations would go away.

Tennis was everything to her. Now that is was gone, who was she? She wanted to shout, yell, throw a fit, and just vent all of these feelings out.

Kira sighed as the ball rolled away she leaned against the back door. She needed to calm down.

Alright, Kira began thinking, let's think of why I started tennis.

She stood there trying to think of the reasons why she had first started tennis but none came to her. As far as she thought back it had always been forced onto her rather than playing for herself.

Her father had pressured her mother into letting him teach her tennis. And it stuck.

The door that had supported her began to open and Kira fell backwards. If it wasn't for her brother Sora catching her she would had a rather large head ache.

Sora was a bit taller than Tezuka, he like the rest of his siblings had dark hair. However unlike Kira, her brother inherited their mother's blue eyes.

"What the hell, I could've gotten a concussion if I fell!" Kira snapped regaining her footing.

"Watch your language," Sora replied, looking down at his sister, "Anyways, dishes need to be done, table needs to be set, living room's a mess, and laundry needs to be done."

"What am I, the maid?" Kira sarcastically replied, "It's your mess, you clean it up."

Sora sighed, knowing that he wouldn't have to do any cleaning with Kira's slight obsessive-compulsive disorder on his side. Once Kira had stepped into the house ,she noticed the mountains of dirty dishes that piled in sink, the counters were shrouded with excess garbage that had been at one point food. Sora simply walked over to the stove to check on the night's dinner menus. Kira looked passed the door into the living room that was loitered with baskets of clothes and Sora's books. She couldn't take it anymore, it must be cleaned.

"You're such a pig," Kira yelled. Sora smirked as Kira quickly began cleaning the house.

Within an hour Kira had finished the cleaning the dishes and counters, had set the table and began mopping the floor. Sora noticed the extra plate that his sister had set out. " Can't you count?"

"I can too! If there's an extra plate then there's another person. If there's another person then we have a guess. Get with the game, Idiot," Kira dully replied.

"Who? Is it a boy?" Sora asked. Kira sighed, "Yes, it's Kunimitsu Tezuka."

"Oh," He said. "I thought you finally got a boyfriend. Did you tell 'jii-san"

"No! If you tell him, how can Tezuka and I concentrate on our project?" Kira replied.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he sighed. Unknowing to them their grandfather, Mako, had overheard their conversation.

-Five O'clock-

The doorbell rang through the house as Kira rushed down the stairs to answer the door.

"I got it!" she announced, opening the door. When she opened the she just expected the tall megane, with brown hair and dark eyes, whose face wouldn't be grace with a smile. The same guy who had her kicked off of the team the first place. But she did not foresee his whole family there.

"Um hello, Kunikazu-sensei, Kuniharu-san, Ayana-san, and Kunimitsu-kun what are all of you doing here?" Kira asked, inviting them in the now cleaned living room.

"Oh, he's here?" Sora looked out from the kitchen opening, "Oh ,they're all here. Did you invite them?"

"I invited them over! I over heard that Kunimitsu would be coming over for a study session and I thought why not invite the whole family? So I called up Kunikazu and invited them over," her grand father announced, descending from the stairway in a summer kimono.

Kira let out a sigh. "Well, I suppose that I'll set out some more plates."

"'Jii'-chan I wish you'd tell me ahead," Sora sighed. "Dinner should be ready in half an hour."

"Kunimitsu-kun, we can start our project upstairs while the other talk," Kira smiled.

I really wanna gag, she thought as she gave him her brightest smile.

Kira quickly finished up setting out three more plates and led Tezuka into her room.

Kira's room had a quiet peaceful air about it. It wasn't loud, vibrant or messy as Tezuka had expected. It was a very solemn room that reminded him of his.

"Well sit down," Kira stated as she walked over to the small table in her room. Tezuka nodded before sitting down. He half expected that Kira to explode or yelled at him for getting her kicked off of the regular's team. But she didn't. Maybe he was just over reacting or expecting too much? Kira just sat there, talking about a schedule for the project and how much they would get done. She was much more responsible than he had expected.

The half hour went by quickly as they agreed to start the project on Saturday and after school Monday. Neither of the two teenagers made eye contact. Kira was avoiding him and Tezuka was focused on the project.

-Dinner-

Kira glanced at the food that lay in front of her. She noticed the large amount of vegetables that she believed, Sora had set close to her on purpose. She glanced over at her brother and Sora gave her a stared that shouted. "EAT YOUR VEGITABLES."

She sighed, as she quickly took a piece of the stirred fry beef and fried rolled eggs and drank her miso soup.

"Kira, you hardly touched the vegetables," Ayana pointed out, noticing that Kira had avoided anything green from the dinner, "You should eat some, it's good for your skin and health."

Kira gave a smile to Tezuka's mother, who she thought was quiet lovely. When they had first met she couldn't believe that Ayana was Tezuka's mother. She was much more laidback and too young to be his mother. But as Kira sat across from the two of them, she could see the resemblance. Both Tezuka and his mother had great posture and they both looked elegant.

"Ah I was just saving them for last that's all," Kira lied, taking a few from the plate.

"No, no, no you should take more, you're a growing girl," Ayana said, encouraging Kira. Kira did as she was told, taking enough to Ayana's satisfaction. She stared at her plate that had now been filled with green beans, snow peas and spinach. She could almost hear her brother's triumphant laugh. Kira quickly ate the vegetables trying her best not to show her distaste for them.

Dinner slowly turned into a social gathering as the parents and Sora began discussing about medical studies. The grandfathers and Yuki (who had came home half an hour after the Tezuka's had arrived from a study group) had moved into the living room to discuss old times as Yuki listened. Kuniharu had volunteered his grandson to help Kira wash the dishes, like an obedient child Tezuka did as he was told.

The two stood there side by side, Kira washing and Tezuka drying. The kitchen was quiet, so quiet it had made Kira slightly uneasy.

"Hey Tezuka," Kira began trying to make small talk, "Thanks."

"For what?" he asked.

"For getting me kicked off of the team." Kira's heart jumped with joy as she heard him respond. "You see earlier, I was so angry I wanted to punch, yell and do God knows what to you. Tennis was the only thing I had left but when I tried calming down. I thought of reasons why I started tennis, why I needed it so much. I couldn't think of a single reason why."

"Why did you start it?" He asked. Kira stared at him not expecting him to ask that.

"My parents growing up wanted me to play a sports, being my father's daughter it only seemed natural to follow in his footsteps and become a tennis player," she answered giving him the last dish. She smiled gently, she expected him to just ignore her like he did in class, but he was genuinely listening to her. She looked at him, noticing something had changed as well, "You've grown. I haven't noticed until now but you're taller than me now."

In freshman year, Kira remembered, Tezuka being shorter than her, she was ecstatic when she first met him. Seeing him play tennis against the regulars, she even remembered developing a small crush on the boy. But that was then and this was now.

"Hey do you want to go and play a game of tennis? The public court is just around the corner," Kira suggested, "If I don't do anything I might end up gaining weight and become highly unattractive."

He sighed nodding, "I'll get my stuff."

Tezuka didn't live far from the Niwa's, actually he lived across the streets from them.

"Okay I'll tell Sora and your parents," Kira smiled leaving the room.

-The Match-

Kira huffed wiping the sweat away from her brow.

How can he still go on, she thought, Alright Kira just two consecutive points and you win this game.

Tezuka was leading five to one, but for the game they had been playing they were in a duce. Kira served again. The ball went back and forth but in the end Kira couldn't keep up giving Tezuka the advantage.

Why? Why is he still able to return like that, Kira thought. She kept coming up with the same reasoning.

"I forfeit," She sighed angrily, "If you're going to beat me, next time leave me with some pride and don't give me a handicap. Next time we play, I will defiantly make you play at full. But we should go home."

He nodded as Kira began picking up the ball. He was surprised that she had notice his plays were not at his best. Tezuka just didn't want her to feel inferior. He followed behind her closely.

"Hey Tezuka," Kira began, "Why did you start playing tennis?"

He didn't answer.

-later that night.-

Kira stared at the ceiling, a melancholy atmosphere arose from the room, she felt her cheeks slightly wet. Thinking of the events today, oh God she loved tennis and Seigaku, she really loved being on the tennis team. Now that her title was taken away from her, what remained of her identity? Who was she?

OriginalCrazian: So, I started off with an idea! And somehow it Manifest itself into this story I like it really. It's long though, this first chapter. I'm sorry if it's too long. And it sounds somewhat sad. I promise the next won't be sad! She sounds a little…Mary sue-ish… But it was slightly needed for this chapter. Maybe… well good night!