For the year after he left Seigaku, Ryoma practically disappeared. Now he's back and armed with a completely new and improved tennis style; ready to take on the Australian Open. But first, he has to get pass the Jr. Tennis Player Prelims. Featuring Tezuka, Kevin, Inoue, Shiba, possibly Atobe,

Reappearance of a Samurai

Chapter 1

The park was peaceful; with the wind blowing hundreds of fallen sakura leaves in the same direction. Under a particularly large sakura tree, a group of about six boys stood while an older man close by. One of the boys faced the others with a stoic expression. His blond hair was being blown by the one and the sakura petals seemed to dance around him. The man behind him didn't say anything.

"Well, it's been fun." Said Kikumaru Eiji, the redhead of the group. He sounded like he was trying to sound happy, even though he wasn;t. He most likely didn't have school, because he wore a pair of silky white shorts and an orange hoodie. Tezuka Kunimitsu, the boy standing opposite from the group nodded, but didn't say anything.

"We wish you luck, Tezuka-kun." Said the former tennis powerhouse Kawamura Takashi solemly. Tezuka's eyes twitched sligtly and his head dropped a little, but he said nothing.

"It has been an honour to play with you Tezuka-kun. I hope you have fun and accomplish your dreams." Said the genius Fuji Syusuke. His brown hair had grown a bitter darker over the years, but mostly retained its form. Tezuka, dying to say something, turned to look at Oishi Syuchirou.

"Thank you Tezuka-kun, for helping me...for helping us find ourselves and find each other. We wish you luck on your journey." The former vice-captain of Seishun Gakuen said. Finally, it was Tezuka's turn to speak. He looked into every person's eyes before turning back to Oishi.

"Thank you all for your support, for you all...I will play my very best in the Australian Open." Tezuka said in his usual, commanding voice. Fuji smiled while everyone else cheered loudly. He looked at Tezuka and then grabbed everyone's attention.

"Tezuka-kun, here is something for the road. I hope you enjoy yourself." The brunette said, pushing his hand out. In it was a CD player with a set of headphones on top of it, but Tezuka didn't have a clue what was on it. He looked at Fuji and nodded and gave Fuji a 'thank you.'

"Well, our plane leaves soon, so we better get going. Thank you all again." Said Inoue, who would be acting as Tezuka's interpreter as well as an advisor (although Tezuka's parents would be his agents). With a final good-bye, Tezuka stepped into Inoue's car and the two drove off. The four high school sophomores that were left slowly turned and walked away.

On the Plane

"Hello Tezuka, this is Fuji and what you are about to hear is just something I thought you'd like. Good luck, we will all be rooting for you..." Tezuka waited for the CD player to switch to the next 'song', ready to listen to music. However, despite all of his warnings, Tezuka found that he had let his guard down. The next voice wasn't a singer:

"Ah, Tezuka, this is Ore-Sama. Fuji is here getting people to give you a good-bye. Anyway, you'd better not lose Tezuka. I'll be watching you and remember 'yuudan sezou ni ikou'." Tezuka chuckled and Inoue beside him had a look of surprise on his face but quickly hid it and started looking out the window.

Thank you...Fuji-kun, Tezuka thought.

In America

"My sons are taking part in the Australian Open...I'm so proud!" Said the 'Samurai' Echizen Nanjiroh with false sadness. His fourteen-year-old son Echizen Ryoma rolled his eyes. Also in the large car where Ryoma's mom, his older cousin Nanako and his older half-brother Ryoga (who was also taking part). The five were driving to an airport in New York, in order to get to Australia for the Australian Open. It was a normal family outting, albeit one formed from three tennis champions.

"So, Ryoga-kun, Ryoma-kun; are you two excited?" Nanako asked. The half-brothers merely shrugged, but it was only Ryoga who said something.

"I guess it's something new." Ryoga said. He had been in college while the rest of the Echizen family was in Japan and was astounded to hear about his little brother's prowess. Of course, Ryoga was still the better of the two.

Hours later, at the Open

"Hello to you all, I'm so glad that you could make it!" Said a dark-haired man with tan skin and an Australian accent. He had a rugged face and was one of the few adults in a room full of teenagers aged between 14 and 19. All of them were facing him, as he was the adult who was about to tell them what to do.

"Now, don't take what I'm about to say offensively, but because of your ages, the board has decided to hold a preliminary competition that will cut the lot of us down to about sixteen or eighteen." The man began. He noticed a couple of translators doing their job for foreign kids as well as those who could understand him glaring.

"Trust me, it's not to be discrimatory or anything, but if we have a bunch of kids losing to adults, spectators, espcially loved ones, are going to try to argue and then everything just turns into a big mess. So that's why, we're doing this on live TV so that all spectators can see that any losses, either by adolescent or adult, will have nothing to do with age; but everything to do with skill. With that, I now have to go set up the tournament. You all stay here and socialize or head back to the AO Hotel." The orator, Mr. Johnson Casey, said over the murmuring crowd. Seeing a few nods of understanding, he left.

A few minutes later

Taking in what Inoue translated for him, Tezuka nodded. The sixteen-year-old took a glance around, but saw nobody familiar. And so he turned to leave. And that's when a semi-familiar voice called out to him.

"Tezuka-san?" The voice wasn't deep, but wasn't high either. When Tezuka turned around, he saw an amber-eyed boy with spiky black (with blue and green tones) who was a head under him. The boy wore a pair of loose white shorts and a electric blue t-shirt. Tezuka didn't understand what was written on the shirt, but he knew the boy wearing it, though it took him a while to recognize him.

"E-Echizen?!" Tezuka said. Once again, he had disregarded his own advice and let down his guard. The blond and his former kouhai looked each other in the eye before Ryoma smirked.

"Ryoma? Is that you? It's been two years since I last saw you? How have you been?" Inoue blurted. Ryoma blinked and then looked between Tezuka and Inoue. Tezuka quickly deduced the obvious: Ryoma didn't remember Inoue.

"Um, good...so, uh, Tezuka-san, how have you been?" Ryoma asked uncertainly. Inoue's sudden excitement more or less creeped him out. Tezuka smiled inside, but didn't actually show any emotion.

"I have been doing fine. So you will participating I presume," Tezuka said as a boy who looked a little Ryoma walked up behind Ryoma. The other boy had darker skin and his hair stood flat, but Tezuka could see the resemblance regardless.

"Yeah, my brother and me are going to be taking part. I'm guessing you are too?" Ryoma replied. Although the younger boy couldn't tell, being in America for a while had drastic effects on his speech. It was more casual and formal, even in the presence of a senpai. Then Tezuka remembered: He was no longer Ryoma's senpai...just a friend.

"I will look forward to playing against you. Yuudan sezou ni ikou." Tezuka said, imparting some last wisdom to his new rival before leaving for the hotel. As Tezuka slowly began disappeared, Ryoma chuckled.

"Who was that?" Ryoga asked in Japanese.

"My old captain, from Seigaku, -"

"RYOMA!!" Shouted a loud voice. Ryoma cringed in annoyance. Ryoga backed away from the dark aura enmating from his little brother. As Ryoma turned, Kevin Smith came closer and closer. The blond was wearing a black tanktop along with khaki shorts. A pair of sunglasses adorned his forehead. Ryoma's amber eyes glared into Kevin's blue ones. Ryoma sighed.

"You know I hate when people do that." Ryoma said, switching from Japanese to English effortlessly, though the accent stuck for a few seconds.

"Do what?" Kevin asked innocently. Ryoma glanced at his tennis racquet and shifted between hands experimentally. Then he pushed all thoughts of whacking Kevin with it out of his mind. That would probably get him disqualified.

"Shout my name across a huge group of people." Ryoma said with another sigh. Sometimes Kevin was impossible. Other times he just needed to be hit with something. He really did give blonds a bad name. Kevin blinked and looked a little lost before achieving some kind of epiphany.

"Oh, sorry, I kinda did it on impulse. I saw ya, so I shouted." Kevin said sheepishly. Ryoma rolled his eyes.

"Just like you do everything, huh?" Ryoma asked. Kevin beamed.

"Yep!" The blond exclaimed.

Okay, well there it is. I'm sorry that I kept chopping up the story, but I hope I didn't screw it up too bad. Anyway, please review. Also, if i get at least ten reviews askin for pairings, I'll make 'em happen, but I dont rly like doin romance, so yeah. Anyway, here is a little deleted scene from earlier.

"Ah, Tezuka-senpai, this is Momo. Guess what? I was at the Jr. High and baa-chan told me that HORIO is the captain! Can you believe it? Well anyway, good luck senpai