The moon shone down on a lone figure, the not-so rhythmic sound of a ball hitting a wall was their only company. Sweat ran down Ryuzaki Sakuno's forehead as she yet again missed the ball. She was improving, no one could deny that, but she still had a long way to go. Running after her ball in the empty street tennis court she thought she heard a noise in the bushes, however glancing in that direction and seeing nothing she assumed her mind was playing tricks on her; it was quite late after all. "Oh no," she thought, "Oba-san will be worried, I better start home soon. One more try…" Returning to the wall, ball clutched in hand, she raised her arm to serve as, once again, she heard a sound. This time though, there was no doubt that she really heard it this time as the sound was of people talking, and they were talking to her. Sakuno spun around and came face to face with ten high school boys. They were all wearing matching jackets and holding tennis racquets and a tennis ball.

"What are you doin' here?" what looked like the leader of the gang growled, a cruel smirk forming on his face.

"J-j-just p-practicing" Sakuno stuttered getting very nervous "I-I'm just l-l-leaving, s-so you can u-use the court n-now"

"Oh no" the leader's smirk grew even wider and crueller "You can help us with our target practice, right boys?" and with that her drew back his hand, and served the ball hard and fast , hitting Sakuno right in the ankle.

Sakuno cried out in pain and fell to the ground clutching her ankle. She could hear all ten of the boys in front of her laughing, and looked up at them through her tears. The leader once again raised his arm to serve another ball at her. Sakuno looked down and braced herself, but instead of pain she was met with the sound of a ball being hit by a racquet.

Echizen Ryoma walked through the park towards the street tennis court where Momoshiro was waiting for him. As he was walking he heard the unmistakeable sound of a tennis ball being hit.

"No-one uses these courts at night," he thought, "there are no floodlights." Getting curious as to who would practice this late with no floodlights, Ryoma moved closer to the tennis courts so he could look inside as he walked past. As he got closer he noticed that the sound of the ball hitting the wall was irregular and sloppy. Whoever it was that was making those shots was very inconsistent with their power and timing. "Probably a novice" he thought. As expected, the sound of the ball stopped and the sound of running footsteps followed. Deciding it wasn't worth wasting his time here, Ryoma started to move away from the fence, when the sound of voices caught his attention.

"What are you doin' here?" a gruff voice growled followed by a familiar, soft, shy voice.

"J-j-just p-practicing" came the voice of Ryuzaki Sakuno.

"Ryuzaki?" Ryoma thought confusion and surprise washing away his usual expression of boredom and contempt.

"I-I'm just l-l-leaving, s-so you can u-use the court n-now" Ryuzaki stuttered again.

"Oh no, you can help us with our target practice, right boys?" came the other voice again, confusing Ryoma even more. Suddenly he heard Ryuzaki cry out in pain. Ryoma started to run toward the court, the sight that greeted him made his blood boil. Ryuzaki was on the ground clutching her ankle, tears streaming down her face, and surrounding her were ten boys, all about high school age, laughing at her. One of the boys raised his arm to serve a ball at her, and Ryoma sprang into action. He ran as fast as he could towards Ryuzaki, his footsteps ringing through the court arriving just in time to hit the ball away from Ryuzaki and towards the boys who hit it in the first place. Saving the clumsy girl from gaining any more injuries.

Sakuno raised her head and there standing before her, arm raised from hitting away the ball, was the prince of tennis himself. His emerald hair dancing slightly under his Fila cap as the wind blew through it.

"R-Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno whispered in disbelief. However, before Ryoma even had a chance to reply the leader of the group decided to speak up.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING KID?" he yelled "YOU ALMOST HIT ME! ARE YOU LOOKING FOR TROUBLE?"

Ryoma just smirked and replied "Mada mada dane. You honestly think you guys are trouble?"

This just made them all even more pissed; although this time he refrained from yelling; instead he spoke with barely repressed rage. "You asked for it kid, you may be able to hit one ball away, but how do you do against ten?" he ended with a cruel smirk, followed by the raising of his arm. The others soon followed suite and Sakuno started to panic.

"R-Ryoma-kun -"

"Don't worry Ryuzaki" Ryoma whispered, a look of concentration forming in his eyes and his smirk growing wider. Sakuno just stared and watched in amazement as all ten of the boys hit their balls towards her and Ryoma. With expert skill, Ryoma hit each one of their serves, twice as hard, right into each of the ten boy's faces. Cries of pain rang out in the night as they all fled to the safety of their houses. The leader however had a parting message for the two "We will get you for this kid. You may be able to beat ten of us, but how will you do against twenty, or even thirty. We will all come after you, and we will finish what we started girly." And with that he ran off into the night.

Ryoma turned his attention to the girl sitting on the ground, a mixture of pain, fear and confusion visible on her face.

"Can you stand up?" he asked her, all traces of his smirk now gone, replaced by a look of concealed worry.

"Y-Yes, I think so," she said with a blush and began to get up. As soon as she put any pressure on her ankle however, she fell back to the ground in pain. Tears began to well up in her eyes but she kept them from falling and instead wondered what on earth she would do. Meanwhile Ryoma gathered up her stuff and slung her bag over his shoulder along with his own. He then proceeded to make his way over to Sakuno and bent down in front of her.

"Put your arms around my neck" he stated. "H-huh?" Sakuno stuttered "Put your arms around my neck Ryuzaki, then I can help you up." Blushing like mad Sakuno put her arms around Ryoma's neck, and he proceeded to help her stand up. Once she was standing up, Ryoma put her arm around his shoulders and they started to slowly walk out of the tennis court and through the park. "This isn't the way to my house" Sakuno thought.

"R-Ryoma-kun, w-where are we going?"

"To my house, it's closer than yours, just through the park" Ryoma replied, continuing to help her along. Sakuno blushed even more at the thought of going to Ryoma's house and stayed silent the rest of the way there. "I wonder how my baka oyaji will react…" Ryoma thought, shuddering as he did so.

A.N. Hey this is my very first time writing a fanfic. I've had this idea for a while and my friend finally got me to write and post it. As long as someone is reading I'll keep posting chapters. I'll try to update as regularly as I can, but you know, life goes on. Anyway please R&R and I hope you enjoyed reading.