Disclaimer: I do not own PoT. Just messing with some characters.

Chapter 1: Blissful Listlessness

Inoue Mamoru, a reporter for a tennis magazine, stepped out of a dusty old jeep outside of a town in the middle of the desert. He could clearly see the sand dunes of Egypt behind the stone temple. The Nile, however, was about two or three kilometers away so the air seemed less dry.

How and why he came all the way to Egypt was an interesting story in itself. After covering a story on child tennis prodigy, Ryoma Echizen, he and his photographer, Shiba, began turning their attention to an equally talented member of Seigaku's tennis team, Kunimitsu Tezuka. The boy was an enigma, to say the least. Silent and cold, it was a mystery how he became that way. According to Fuji, Tezuka's quiet disposition was already like that before the incident with his arm, but he had no idea why. Inoue had the pleasant experience of meeting Tezuka's grandfather and found that he had the same disposition as his grandson, but Inoue thought something was missing. Inoue tried to get a hold of Tezuka's parents. It proved to be more difficult than anticipated, so he decided to try to get some information from Coach Ryuzaki.

Inoue knocked on Coach Ryuzaki's office door. "Come in," came a low female voice.

"Ryuzaki-sensei?" Inoue opened the door slightly. Ryuzaki smiled, "Well, Mr. Inoue. How may I help you?"

"I hope you don't mind, but I came here to ask a few questions."

"About Ryoma?"

Inoue shook his head, "Not this time. It's on Kunimitsu Tezuka."

Coach Ryuzaki looked surprised. Everyone knew Kunimitsu was an elite player, probably the best there is but rarely was anyone interested in him. No one except her granddaughter, Sakuno, ever asked her anything about him.

"I cannot get a hold of his family, only his grandfather. But he is too busy to talk," he paused, "Officer Hadakuru seemed agitated when I asked him."

"Have you not thought to ask him yourself?"

Inoue gave a wry smirk, "As a reporter, it is my job to get as much outside information as possible, then dive in for the final input. Also, ever since he reached high school Tezuka has been busier and busier. It is to my understanding that he is a junior this year, is he not? And I also take pride in…"

"You're afraid of him, aren't you," Ryuzaki said knowingly.

Inoue admitted bluntly, "Terrified." He couldn't explain it, but every time he looked into the kid's eyes, his spine shuddered in wonder of what sort of things is going through Tezuka's mind.

"Since my last few stories on Ryoma were hits, I thought of continuing on with more stories Samurai Nanjiro and his son. But I think I need something different. Now that Ryoma is starting high school the old Seigaku team is surely to return. I also hear you are the sponsor for the high school team as well. You've worked with Tezuka for a long time, surely you can give me something," Inoue knew he was rambling but he wanted just the tiniest information from this woman.

Ryuzaki just smiled, "I admit that none of the Seigaku team expected Kunimitsu to return that year. He had planned on going to Germany and we were all convinced that we would never see him again."

Inoue thought about it, "Come to think of it, I did hear something about that. So why didn't he go? With his skill, he would have no problem being a top competitor. What changed his mind?"

"Well, to my understanding, there are many reasons. School being among them but I will tell you that is not the main reason," Ryuzaki frowned looking remorseful.

"What is?"

"It is not my place to tell you," she answered sternly, making Inoue feel like a scolded child. His heart sank. "But I will give this little bit: His skill is in the blood. That is all I can say."

Inoue left Seishun Junior High with Coach Ryuzaki's words floating around in his head. He was smarter than he looked. He knew she meant Tezuka's bloodline, just as Ryoma Echizen's skill could be attributed to his father's skill. Inoue called an investigator friend to get information on the boy's family, before driving to Nanjiro Echizen's house for tennis lessons. Saori Shiba came along since she had a car and Inoue did not have a ride. They found Echizen lying on his deck stroking a Himalayan cat, "Ah, Mr. Inoue. Back for more?"

"Yes," Inoue answered succinctly, bowing.

Echizen led Inoue to his court, "Alright Mr. Inoue do you remember the fundamentals of the typical split-step?"

"Of course," Inoue began bouncing on his toes, spinning his racket with his hands.

"Good, now-,"

A sharp ringing noise from Inoue's bag interrupted Nanjiro.

"How respectful Inoue-sempai, keeping your phone on when someone is trying to teach you something," Shiba scolded. Inoue apologized and took out his cell phone to answer.

"Ah, well, its not like I have anything else to do," Echizen scratched his chin. "He's improving, yet he still has a ways to go." As Echizen shouldered his racket, Inoue hung up the phone, a curious look on his face.

"What is it?" Shiba asked.

"I've got a name to Kunimitsu Tezuka. His father is Tora Tezuka," Inoue answered.

"Tezuka…Tezuka…"Nanjiro mumbled distantly searching his memory, "That sounds familiar. Wait! Tora Tezuka?!" Inoue and Shiba jumped at his outburst.

"Yes. Do you know him?"

Nanjiro looked stern and folded his arms, "He's the only tennis player to beat me."

"He…beat you?" Inoue looked shocked. His seemingly invincible hero admitted to him that he was defeated once.

"I hate to admit it, but it was very one sided," Nanjiro sat on the bench. "I got too cocky."

"He must be good then," Shiba stated, "to beat you…"

Nanjiro scratched his behind, "I knew we would have a re-match the next year, but to my chagrin…"

"That's a big word for you," Shiba scoffed.

"Shut up. To my chagrin he disappeared. That was my last year playing tennis and all I wanted was a rematch."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"Hell should I know," Echizen shrugged, "You asked the old hag didn't you?"

"She didn't give me much," Inoue murmured.

"Well I won't leave you with nothing. They called him the 'Tiger', named after his Tiger Shot."

"Tiger Shot?"

Echizen nodded, "Impossible for any human to return it without losing a limb or something. But it's not just his shot, it's…other things as well."

"Like what?"

Nanjiro Echizen scratched his head, "You know I can't recall the specifics…"

"What do you mean?!" Shiba yelled in frustration. "Shouldn't you have a more vivid memory of the only man to defeat you?!"

"Eh?" Echizen backed away, "I just wanted to forget it. I don't take losing gracefully."

"Why am I not surprised?"

That night Inoue went on his computer and searched 'Tora Tezuka'. There was an article of him winning the National Tournament, but he found another article from England with the lineup of a tennis tournament. It was three years after the National Tournament. He e-mailed the article to Shiba.

Inoue had to convince his editor to give him and Shiba flight tickets to England. The chief editor was reasonable and allowed them leave to fly to England. However, when Inoue arrived at the airport, Shiba rushed to his side, "Wait, Inoue-sempai!"

"What is it?"

"He's not in England," Shiba huffed. "I contacted a sports journalist in England on Tora. He e-mailed me saying he left England six years ago.

"Did he say where he went?"

Shiba nodded, "To Egypt."

A/N: A few things. When I started thinking of this story, I did not know Tezuka's family was ever specifically mentioned. I only knew he had a grandfather. So because of this is AU. I know that in Japan, the family name is often mentioned first, so sorry if my reversal pisses some of you guys off, but I have some foreign characters so switching can be confusing and a hassle for me and probably for some readers as well. Just bear with me. A few chapters of this story contain a crossover with characters from a game called Bladestorm by Koei. I have another fanfic on here about that game, so it was on the mind when I wrote the draft. The chapter title is taken from the song "Losing" by Hurt. Please Review!!!!