Chapter 1: Feisty at Heart
Disclaimer: I don't own PoT.

Making his way down the road home, Fuji sighs into the burgundy scarf wrapped about his neck. The tennis player, pondering upon the day, had begun to figure Tezuka had been in one of those moods, seeing how practice had been abnormally vigorous.

I wonder what could've happened to leave our dear captain so disgruntled?

Fuji chuckles to himself at the thought, the memory of Tezuka's putout expression. Or at least as much as expression as Tezuka would allow. He continues down the sidewalk, rounding the corner absently. Fuji feels the rushing children far before he even processes hearing them, one of them colliding with his legs and sending Fuji's racquet from his hands to the concrete. The second child, having narrowly avoided the collision, stumbles to a stop before bursting out in laughter at the sight of the other child crumpled upon the ground, pointing and grinning.

"Ha ha! Mamoru is such a klutz!" the boy—Fuji finally noticing that both children were male—barks through laughter.

"Am not!" the other boy counters, hopping speedily to his feet.

The laughing boy replies by sticking his tongue out and Mamoru kindly returns the favor. The unnamed boy feints a punch and alarmed Mamoru steps back...and onto Fuji's racquet.

The sound of something snapping draws the attention of both boys. The smaller of the two—the one called Mamoru—instantly jumps to the left in alarm, spinning on his heels and looking down to assess the sound. The boy notices Fuji's racquet, formerly beneath his feet, and instantly his brain does the math, filling in the blanks. Mamoru splutters before ushering out a breathy apology.

"I'm sorry!" He cries out over and over, tears pooling in his eyes.

Fuji frowns momentarily at the sight, but offers the small boy a smile, stooping down to his level. The boy's tears overflow and he rubs at his eyes with dirt laced hands. Shaking his head somewhat fondly, Fuji gingerly places a hand atop the boy's head.

"It's alright," Fuji reassures, "it's nothing I can't fix, so don't cry."

Mamoru hiccups a bit, his huge eyes finally peeking from between his palms to peer at Fuji.

"But I...broken..."

Again Fuji shakes his head, hand still patting the boy's head, "it's alright. I promise."

Mamoru lets out a weak sigh, nodding at Fuji's words as the river of tears began to dry. Fuji sighs with relief and a smile.

'I remember when Yuta used to behave this way...'

Fuji chuckles to himself, both quietly and fondly. The sound of dashing footsteps garners all attention. Roughly an unknown girl turns the corner, skidding to a heated halt. She's panting, clearly out of breath, as her eyes dart about the area. Immediately her gaze lands on the two boys and an angry grimace overcomes her visage.

"You two!" she grinds out through gritted teeth.

She approaches—marching really—somewhat dangerously and opens her mouth to say something more, but stops short at the sight of Fuji and the boy's tear-stained face. She looks between the two young boys before her attention snaps to Fuji and she steps forward.

"I'm not sure what they did, but please let me apologize!"

She bows so deeply, so formally,—seemingly throwing her body forward— that if Fuji wasn't already so certain, he'd have probably begun to think that perhaps he were secretly royalty all his life and simply never knew. Still, Fuji internally frets. How did she know it was the boys who did something to him and not the other way around?

"I really am so sorry! They're a bit reckless, but they're really good kids! I swear it!"

Promptly Fuji rises to his feet, waving his hands to placate the girl standing before him, forcing his usual smile into place. That always seemed to work with most girls.

"No, it's fine. Nothing happened."

She looks at him somewhat dubiously, but reluctantly nods.

"Alright." she murmurs seemingly unconvinced.

"Now, the two of you…!"

"Ack!" the taller boy exclaims dramatically, pointing histrionically to the girl, "Code Red! It's the beast! We must flee!"

Mamoru, with prior tears clearly forgotten, giggles as he allows the taller boy to take up his hand and tug him swiftly down the sidewalk.

"Damn it! When I get my hands on the two of you, I'm gonna...! Oh, you're gonna be in so much trouble!"

The children dash away, giggling and shouting taunts over their shoulders as they run, and Fuji simply moves to take up his racquet. The girl is quick on her feet, revved to take off after them, but she slows to a stop before spinning he heels to address Fuji.

It's her shadow over his shoulder that alerts the tennis player to her lingering presence. He turns inquisitively,

Her face is clouded as she chews on her bottom lip, eyes focused on the racquet in Fuji's hand.

"I really am so sorry," she mumbles softly, almost a whisper, "Is there anything I can do…?"

Simply Fuji shakes his head, subconsciously remembering to keep his false smile on,

"It's alright. It's an easy fix," he assures gently and he can only hope it's the last time he'll have to do so.

The girl offers him a soft half-smile and an almost timid nod. Internally Fuji sighs with relief. It seemed the girl was finally placated.

"Well, I'm off," he utters, a pathetic effort to relay his impending and much desired departure.

Wordlessly, the tennis player turns on his heels and begins to make his way home.

"It's Rei!"

Fuji falters in his steps, halting and turning around to observe the girl. She's standing there, rolling and unrolling the edge of her T-shirt between both her index fingers and thumbs.

"What?" he mumbles somewhat lamely, unsure as to what else he could possibly say.

"Rei. I mean my name is Rei," she pauses, lifting her eyes from the concrete to look up at Fuji,

Fuji is silent as her observes her. Was this some sort of joke?, Fuji wonders. Instead of inquiring aloud, Fuji settles with absently blinking at her. Suddenly, she gasps—seemingly having realized something—before her face flushes a light shade of pink.

"I'm sorry! I just had the urge to tell you my name. Gosh, you must think I'm so weird!" she rambles, her grip on her shirt visibly tightening.

"Uh…no. It's fine," Fuji answers awkwardly, coughing to clear his throat.

The girl—Rei—laughs awkwardly to herself as she takes a small step back and then another.

"Okay then…gotta go catch those brats," she points in the direction the boys took off over her shoulder with her thumb and then there was another step, larger this.

"I'm gonna go…"she mumbles and Fuji nods a bit dazedly, "Okay. Bye!"

With that she's off, dashing off with a speed that Fuji is certain any athlete would be envious of. He lingers there—rendered stationary—for a few moments longer, silently watching her fade into the distance. With the shake of his head, Fuji sets off to make his way home again.

Hopefully for real this time around, Fuji thinks somewhat condescendingly.

Fuji spares the empty space where the girl once stood and nonchalant glance before his slings his racquet bag over his shoulder and shoves his hands into his pockets, silently meandering down the sidewalk.

What a day…

With a weary sigh Fuji shut off his desk light, the click of the button echoing about his quiet room. At long last his homework was complete and he was free to do as he pleased. He spares the digital clock resting on his leftmost bedside table and lets out a lazy sigh. There was still at least an hour or so until dinner would be ready. What was a bored boy to do? Feet pressed flat against the wall behind his desk, Fuji pushes back. His chair rolls smoothly back, the seat spinning a bit leftward at the motions. Fuji pushes himself onto his feet, stretching as he stood. The athlete glances to his window, taking in the almost absent sun, and recalls the evening forecast. It was supposed to be nice out tonight. Perhaps he'd go for a walk.

Resolved and decision made, the pale-haired brunette heads downstairs and to the foyer. As Fuji slips on his shoes he can hear the sound of his younger brother humming—sadly, and amusingly, out of tune— and the elder brother chuckles. With a smile on his face, Fuji slips his shoes on and snags a jacket of his from the coat hanger by the door. Then he was off. With it being a bit late into the evening Fuji opts to head to the neighborhood park since no one would likely be there.

Leaves crunch under his feet and Fuji sighs contentedly at both the sound as well as the fresh and crisp air of autumn. As Fuji approaches, he hears voices and slows his steps a bit. This was certainly unusual. Usually the park was empty this time of day. Well this was a bit of a letdown. Fuji had really been looking forward to some time spent alone. Fuji makes to turn on his heels, but curiosity gets the better of him. He could at least see the faces of the individuals who unknowingly spoiled his evening. Peering quietly around the edge of on one the man y trees that surrounded the park, Fuji takes in the parks current occupants: five other boys and one girl.

His eyes grow instantly wide at the sight. It was the girl from earlier today, the Rei girl.

Well, what are the chances…?, Fuji ponders with an almost amused smirk.

"Heh! Looks like we caught Fujisaki's captain all by herself. No one here to save you now," One of the unidentified boys, the boy who stood in front the other four boys, says tauntingly, cracking the knuckles on both his hands.

The girl—Rei—rolls her eyes, hands moving up to rest lazily on her hips.

"Well, don't you sound confident?" Rei drawls dryly.

"Don't think just because you're a girl well go easy on you," another boy calls from the back, but Fuji can't assess as to which one in particular.

Rei simply smirks in response, lazily examining her nails, "Now where would be the fun in that?"

The boy in the front—the one Fuji elects to address as the leader—glares at Rei with his jaws clenched. He lets out a noise, one Fuji can only parallel to that of a growl, before he speaks.

"Get her!" the leader demands and the other boys immediately move to abide by his words.

The boys move towards Rei with uneven speeds, but Rei is clearly unalarmed. Easily Rei dodges the right hook of the first boy, timely veering right and out of reach. The boy stumbles forward, having missed his mark, and Rei is swift to move in behind him and deliver a smooth round kick to his back. The boy cries out as he tumbles to the ground and Fuji winces at the sight. Was this really same timid girl who was so concerned about hurting his feelings from earlier today? It seemed so surreal.

"One down," Rei taunts with a playful quirk of her brow in the direction of the leader.

A second boy rushes head on towards Rei, arm drawn back and revved to swing at her. But Rei is clearly not only more agile, bit far more swift. By the time his fist takes on a downward motion, Rei has already moved in to deliver a blow to his throat. The boy gurgles, stumbling back before dropping to his knees as he hands moved to nurse his throat.

"Next!" Rei teases once more and the two boys still standing respond with angry grunts of their own.

The third boy runs at Rei and delivers a heft and speedy kick in her direction. Rei narrowly avoids the blow and her close call is apparent on her face. As she attempts to recover her balance the fourth boy runs at her from behind. He grabs her from behind, tightly locking her arms beneath his death grip about her lower torso.

Rei barks out angrily as she struggles against his hold and as she minds her current captor the other boy dashes forward, grinning all the while. As he charges he yells wildly and the sound draws Rei's attention. She shifts her footing to prepare for her next move. Obscenely precise, she draws up a leg, nailing the boy in the face and quite possibly breaking his nose.

The boy releases Rei as he draws up his hands to nurse his bleeding nose and Rei darts to the right. The charging boy collides heavily and painfully into his ally and both topple down into an excruciating heap. In one smooth motion, Rei rolls to her feet and moves to supply a nasty kick to the face of the third boy. Wordlessly he crumples into an immobile mass upon his bleeding comrade and Rei smirks devilishly as she surveys her work.

Rei rolls her shoulders and the sound of the bone cracking almost echoes in the sudden silence. She turns to address the leader, who has yet to move since his orders. His teeth are gritted and trembles with unadulterated ire. He is visibly livid. Still, Rei maintains a calm demeanor, though the look in her eyes—from what Fuji can tell—seems so much more staid in comparison to her relaxed deportment.

"So what's it gonna be Renji? Admit defeat or it's you and I, one on one?"

"I'll never admit defeat!" Renji yells as he charges recklessly at Rei.

His speed and timing are impeccable and Rei is unable to dodge. Renji crashes weightily into the girl, wrapping his arm about Rei's waist and forcing her to the ground, effectively knocking the wind out of her.

Rei winces as the pain in her back as she struggles to find her breath, but the moment she opened her eyes Renji is mid-swing. Hurriedly she rolls to the right just in time to avoid a painful blow to the abdomen.

Despite her lingering shortness of breath, Rei hops back to her feet as soon as she darts away from Renji's attack. Again Renji swings at Rei again, but this time Rei dashes forwards, sliding under his legs on her back. Renji visibly startles, but by the time his body is no longer swept up by the momentum of his swing, Rei has already risen to her feet. Nimbly she jumps up from her left foot and, twisting her lower half just right, her right foot collides with Renji's face in the form a mean roundhouse kick.

As Renji topples to the ground, Rei lands her kick, stumbling a slight bit at the momentum as well as from the solid contact of Renji's skull. When Rei finds her full balance she walks over to Renji, ramming her foot into his face as she stooped down.

"I win," She whispers somewhat breathily, but the look of triumph is beyond evident upon her dirt-laced visage.

After a confident smile and a stroke to her ego Rei shoves at Renji's face with the heel of foot before moving to address the other boys.

"You all lose. Now get off my turf!" Rei demands fiercely and the boys are quick to adhere to her orders.

Those who were left conscious grab their fallen buddies and flee, the boy with the bloody nose moving to drag off their fallen leader. Fuji gasps with dismay, the diminishing of the tension from earlier—which had unconsciously forced him to hold his breath—allowing him to release the breath he hadn't even noticed he'd been holding. Fuji finds his legs growing weak and in response he leans somewhat heavily against the tree beside him. The movement makes the leaves beneath his feet rustle and Rei jumps at the sound, her eyes assertive as well as cautious.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" she orders as the surveys the expanse of the park.

God, did he really want to reveal himself to her? She was insane! But Fuji was a rational individual. He knew there was no way he could out run her and perhaps his chances of leaving the park unscathed were higher if he simple revealed himself.

So gathering himself, Fuji pushed himself up and off of the tree, both hands help defensively, "Just me."

Rei is both still and silent as she observes Fuji, who smiles as he cautiously draws near. The moment Fuji finds himself standing beneath one of the lamplights in the park, Rei's eyes grow wide with surprise.

"Ah! You're the boy from this afternoon!" She pauses to offer him a smile, "I never did catch your name."

Fuji dwells upon the situation for a moment. Did he really want to tell someone like her his name? He looks back to Rei, who sis simply smiling at him as though she hadn't just singlehandedly defeated five boys almost twice her size. Still, there's something about that smile of hers, alarmingly open and trusting. If Fuji hadn't just witnessed her techniques when in combat, Fuji is certain he'd chalk Rei up to being the kind of girl who trusted far too easily and commonly wound up hurt.

But who in their right mind would ever cross her in the first place?, Fuji muses to himself.

Rei's gaze upon him is rather expectant, but certainly not demanding and Fuji thinks perhaps it'd be alright to tell her. Besides, all he had to do was stay on her good side long enough to get the hell out of here and avoid her for the rest of his life.

Sounds easy enough.

"It's Fuji. Fuji Syuusuke," he finally replies.

Rei nods to herself as though Fuji had answered a life-altering question, "Fuji-kun. That's a nice name it fits you!"

Rei's smiles grows wider and she moves forward towards Fuji, but she falters a bit, shifting her weight to rest heavily on her left foot, emitting a hiss of pain past gritted teeth as she shifts her gaze to assess her right ankle.

"Your ankle. Must've happened when you kicked that last guy," Fuji utters slightly urgently as he quickly makes his way over to Rei, wordlessly bending down to examine it.

"You…you saw that?" Rei mumbles anxiously, her face speedily taking on a noticeable shade of red.

Did she actually think he hadn't see that outrageous scene? Not only that, she was embarrassed?

Fuji, still stooped down, peers up to look at the girl. Rei chews nervously on her bottom lip and with sigh Fuji stands to his full height, reaching out a hand to pat her on the head.

"I know you won't hurt me," Fuji says with a surprising amount of sincerity, an easy smile slipping onto his lips.

Fuji found himself slipping into his element. It was so much easier to be himself when he was taking care of others. Rei falters and looks up to him with surprised and wide eyes, but soon her frown is all but forgotten and a warm smile moves in to replace it. Fuji finds it easy to smile at her this time around—much less forced than his smile had been when he first met her this afternoon. Rei looks to him with unadulterated gratitude and Fuji finds her gaze somewhat difficult to take.

Certainly, plenty of his teammates wore their hearts on their sleeves, but it was an entirely different thing for it to be a girl, more so with said girl so very close. Still, Rei's seemingly ubiquitous warmth is nice in the chilly air and for a moment the two linger in silence, Fuji's hand still atop her head. When the wind blows, whistling as it passed by, Fuji recollects himself, coughing to both clear his throat as well as his head. He removes his hand from Reis' person, pointing down to her ankle before shoving both his hands into the confines of his pants pockets.

"You should probably get that wrapped," he pauses to gesture again to her ankle with the jerk of his head, "How far is your house from here?"

"Just across the street," Rei replies somewhat dazedly, gaze still focused on Fuji.

"It's closer than mine. I'll help you home," Fuji says, paying her almost intrusive gaze no mine, as he moves to wrap his arm around her waist to assist her on her journey home.

Momentarily, Rei tenses at the contact and Fuji looks up to her, eyes inquiring if the contact made her uncomfortable. Swiftly Rei shakes her head, ducking her head down—dark brown tendrils falling over her face to conceal her eyes—and relocating her focus to keeping her weight of her injured ankle. Fuji says nothing of it and silent the two head off. It doesn't take long for the two to reach the house and the moment Fuji ushers the door and helps Rei inside, footsteps from the stairwell can be heard storming down.

"Aneki!" a voice shouts decidedly angrily and Fuji feels more than he sees Rei flinch in his arms.

He tears his eyes from Rei and moves to find the owner of the alarmingly familiar voice.

"Ah! Tomoka-chan?" Fuji mutters, visibly startled

"Fuji-senpai?" Tomoka stutters, also stunned at the presence of her fellow schoolmate.

Rei's head snaps up at the sound of Tomoka saying Fuji's name and a conspiratorial smirk slips mirthfully onto her face, "I take it the two of you are acquaintances."

"Fuji-senpai goes to Seishun," Tomoka explains almost as an afterthought as she watches Fuji gingerly place Rei on the couch, mindful of her wound.

"Oh! So you go to the same school as my little sister," Rei says, suddenly playful as she pats the spot beside her on the sofa gesturing Fuji to sit.

Wordlessly, Fuji abides, too bemused by the situation to refuse,

"What school do you go to?" Fuji finds himself inquiring, albeit somewhat unconsciously, observing as Tomoka climbed down the last few steps of the stairs from the corner of his eye.

"Fujisaki High!" Rei cheers proudly, throwing an eager fist up.

"You're in high school?" Fuji blurts out, clearly appalled.

He had assumed they were of the same age.

"Oddly enough," Tomoka mutters dryly with the roll of her eyes as she draws near.

"Ah. Tomoka-chan is just too cute! Don't you think so, Fuji?"

Fuji isn't really all that sure as to what he should say, but he is spared having to when Tomoka speaks up instead.

"Yes. It helps people decipher me as a girl!" Tomoka snaps angrily

"Ooh. Harsh." Rei mumbles, but her eyes relay that she is clearly not insulted.

Still Tomoka sighs, running a hand through her bangs before releasing a shuddering and irritated sigh.

"Sorry," she grinds off, eyes focused somewhere off in the distance and clearly avoiding Rei's gaze, "I'm just mad. You left so suddenly and came back hurt none the less!

"Heh!" Rei chuckles fondly, "I love you too!"

Rei blows her younger sister a kiss and Tomoka slaps the invisible kiss away with yet another roll of her eyes. Rei merely lets out a bark of laughter.

"Do you have any bandages?" Fuji asks, steering the conversation to treating Rei's injured ankle.

"Ha!" Tomoka barks almost condescendingly, "With her around, we've probably bought out a whole pharmacy."

With that Tomoka turns on her heels to head upstairs and acquire the necessary bandages.

"Cute, isn't she? I give you permission to date her," Rei teases as she reclines back into the couch with her eyes shut and relaxed.

"I'll have to pass," Fuji answers honestly.

Rei trills with delight as she shifts to face Fuji, opening her eyes before speaking.

"I know what you mean. If I were a guy I wouldn't date her either. She's too bossy. Even when I do something good she still finds some reason to get me in trouble. Buuuuut as her sister, it's my job to love her to the fullest!"

Fuji chuckles and finds himself unable to spare Rei a smile. Tomoka was a constant in his life—though Fuji was well aware her sights were set elsewhere—and she was around enough to assess how much of a handful the girl could be. Fuji couldn't help but draw parallels between she and Yuta and himself and Rei. Rei grins back and that same unfamiliar feeling from before settles upon them with neither speaking. Tomoka's hurried footsteps down the stairs breaks the moment and Fuji tears his gaze from Rei to Tomoka. Rei regards Fuji for a few moments longer, but shakes her head and to turns to address Tomoka.

Tomoka moves across the room and over to them in a few long strides, poignantly dropping the many rolls of bandages onto the coffee table. She places her hands one her hip in an almost annoyed fashion, foot tapping impatiently.

"The blue one is my favorite. It's got yellow stars on it. It's really cute," Rei supplies as she points to said bandage wrap.

"It's sad really. She has a favorite bandage," Tomoka sighs as she takes up the roll and moves to settle down on the floor in front of Rei and begins to wrap her sister's ankle.

Suddenly the front door opens and a man and a woman carrying brown bags of groceries enter the foyer.

"Mom! Dad!" Rei calls as waves from her place on the couch.

"Be still," Tomoka demands, pinching Rei on her thigh to make her point.

"Oh goodness. What happened this time?" Mrs. Osakada calmly inquires as she moves into the kitchen, places the groceries in her hands atop the counter.

Mrs. Osakada's nonchalant demeanor is initially surprising to Fuji, but he eventually gathers that Rei must often find herself in these sorts of predicaments for her parents to be so calm it.

"AGH! MY REI!" Mr. Osakada yells as he drops the groceries in hands on the table in the foyer before rushing over conspiratorial to Rei.

"Daddy. I'm fine. I just tripped. You know I'm a klutz." Rei assures with a silly smile and the man nods with tears of relief in his eyes.

Wordlessly, he takes up Rei's left hand and clings to it as though she were lying on her deathbed and not just sitting with a likely sprained ankle.

"Okay…" The man stutters "I'm gonna go wash my face."

"Kay'!" Tomoka and Rei call out after him in unison.

Mr. Osakada heads upstairs and Mrs. Osakada walks over to Rei with a sigh.

"I didn't have the heart tell him," Rei says as she looks up at her mother, who was standing behind her and the sofa.

Mrs. Osakada shakes her head, "Not telling him was the best thing to do."

The mother's eyes veer towards the steps of the stairwell as the sound of rushing water can be heard as well as the sound of two children giggling. The woman then moves her eyes to the children in the room.

"You all hungry?" she asks.

"Yeah!" Tomoka and Rei cheer, yet again in complete harmony.

"Hey, Fuji? You wanna stay for dinner?" Rei inquires and Fuji notices that looks is back her eyes.

That look alone is almost enough to render speechless and quite possible agree to stay. But Fuji manages to shake his head.

"No, I should probably be heading home."

Rei frowns and in order to avoid the disappointed look on her face, Fuji stands to his feet. Rei is quick to follow suit, standing to her feet, mindful of her injury.

"I'll walk you to the door," Rei says as she makes for the door.

"No, it's alright—!" Fuji starts but Rei ignores him, already making her way to the front door as Tomoka and Mrs. Osakada moved to the kitchen.

"Thanks for your help today, Fuji-kun," Rei says as she draws the door open, the cool autumn air rushing in.

The cool air is much welcomed seeing that being in close proximity with Rei seemed to leave him feeling a bit heated.

"No problem," Fuji pauses as he ponders upon how he should appropriately address the high-schooler before him, "Onee-san."

Rei makes a face and swiftly shakes her head, "Ack! Don't call me that! Just Rei is fine."

"Okay…Rei."

Rei harrumphs happily as her usual smile slips into place and again Fuji cannot resist offering an easy smile. Fuji steps across the threshold and into the fresh air. He makes his way down the slight steps of the house, but pauses a bit of a ways down the walkway to look back to Rei once more. She's reclining relaxed upon the jamb of the door with a lazily grin on her face and when Fuji turns back to her she startles. But she quickly recovers and offers him a toothy grin and a zealous wave. Fuji, in return, gives her a clipped nod and a very apparent smile of his own, before shoving his hands into the pockets of his hands and turning to making his way home.

Rei sighs somewhat blissfully as she watches Fuji fade into the darkness of the night. She shuts and locks the door behind herself as she moves back into the living room.

Fuji Syuusuke, huh?, Rei thinks to herself, a secretive smile playing about her lips.

Rei cannot quite assign a name to the feeling swelling in her chest. The sensation is most certainly foreign, but Rei cannot pinpoint anything bad about it. Mostly, all Rei really know—hopes and wants—is that she certainly hopes to be able to see this Fuji Syuusuke at least one more time.

"What is it you two want to eat?" Ms. Osakada calls from the kitchen.

"Spicy Ramen!" Rei shouts as she excitedly draws near, placing her newfound feelings on the back burner for now.