Complications Chapter 1: Seigaku Here I Am, a prince of tennis fanfic

Complications of tennis (Better title will come...I think.)

I really shouldn't be making another story, but Prince of Tennis…It's something I can relate to man! I play tennis and Never would I have thought someone would have made an anime out of it! I just had to write a story about it. So Here it is, another story which will take just as long to update as my other ones. Enjoy~

Summary: All Mitsu Yukimura wanted was her father to finally show her love that she never had for the last ten years of her life. She figured if she could be really good at tennis then perhaps her father, a Pro Tennis player, would finally show her love that she so desires. With the help of her cousin Seiichi Yukimura she slowly became a tennis player to not be messed with. However, her father didn't approve of her training and sent her to live with her grandparents on her mother's side that recently moved to Japan. Still determined to show her father that she was worthy of his affection, she now strives to become a strong tennis player and compete in the U.S open. In order to do that she has to go to a middle school and the closest school near her grandparent's house is the famous Seigaku, where the boy's tennis club is famous for their players. A perfect place for her to join…her only problem…she was a girl. It couldn't be that hard to impersonate a boy…right?

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis only my OC character Mitsu.

Talking: Hello

Thinking: What the heck!

Tennis Moves: Twist Serve!

Mitsu's POV

"Hey Mom, it's my first day of middle school. It's pretty nerve racking, going to a private school after being homeschooled for pretty much my whole life. I'm going to Seigaku and I'm going to join the tennis club there. Hopefully I'll make the team." I said fondly to a photo frame that had a picture of a young black haired woman smiling at the camera with a child of two years hugging her.

"Mitsu-chan you're going to be late." An elderly woman called from the floor below. I jumped up in surprise before I grabbed my bookcase and racket case before I headed out of my room.

"Coming Baa-chan. Bye Mom, see you when I come back!" I said as I grabbed my lunch that my grandfather held out for me as I rushed towards the door. "Bye Baa-chan Ojii-san." I said as I rushed pasted them.

"Bye Mitsu—I mean Ryu." My grandma corrected herself. "Have fun in school." I gave them one last smile before I ran towards the corner of the street to catch the bus that was ready to leave. Once I safely made it inside, I took a seat at the back of the well kept bus and looked out the window of the bus, watching the cars race by us.

Mom, please watch over me and help me get on the tennis team at Seigaku. Maybe then…Dad will finally recognize me as his daughter for once. I sighed as I took out a sketch pad and drew for the rest of the bus ride to school.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Mitsu Yukimura the daughter of a very famous pro tennis player, Kyo Yukimura, one of the best—If not THE best Japanese Tennis Player out there—next to Nanjiro Echizen. They still play with each other…when they're actually in the same country for once. I'm fifteen years old, I have…well had long black hair until Bunta cut it a couple of days ago to match his hair style and I have light bright blue eyes. As you probably already noticed, I have a photo of my mom which means….yeah she died a while back, when I was about..four or five. I don't remember much what happened, but Dad said she died in an accident but that's all. After that…my Dad has been pretty distant with me, never going to places with me, ignoring everything that I've done to impress him…it's like he's ashamed of me. So one day I came up with a brilliant idea, an idea that a five year old could come up with, that if I acted more like my dad, then perhaps he would notice me more. He really loved playing tennis, so I figured if I played tennis just as good as him, then he would finally notice me.

As my father took me to his practice matches with my Uncle and cousin Seiichi-chan (who at the time was learning from both my father and Uncle) I watched his matches and memorized his movements and stances he used during the match. As the weekend came, I would ask my father to send me over to Seiichi-chan's place where I persuaded Uncle to help me learn tennis so I could one day impress my father. He eventually agreed and thus began my lessons for tennis.

Surprisingly, the lessons went really well, probably because Seiichi-chan and I always competed with each other on every drill, and eventually, Uncle said that with more practice, I would have a high chance of going to the U.S Open and actually win some games. With that goal in mind, I pushed myself even harder and I even came up with some of my own moves. Both Uncle and Seiichi-chan were proud at my accomplishments, and when Seiichi-chan entered middle school, he still continued to help me play tennis along with his team as they became familiar with me. But alas, all good things must come to an end.

During Seiichi-chan's second year of middle school (I would be in the same grade as him, if I ever went to private school), my Dad somehow caught wind of the secret tennis lessons that I had been taking and got mad at me. I tried asking why he was upset at me, I mean, I only wanted to learn how to play tennis so he could be proud of me. But he didn't give me a straight answer and sent me to live with my grandparents on my mother's side. That was last year, I haven't seen him since and I have yet to get a straight answer from him.

So that's where I am now. Just a couple of weeks ago, my grandparents decided to send me to a private school, since I had the brains for one, and I was conveniently close to Seigaku. I heard about their famous tennis club, mainly the boy's tennis club, and I instantly made up my mind to join them. With Dad not here; he could not tell me not to play tennis and I still had my goal to become one of the best tennis players so I could enter the U.S open and the tennis club could help me with that goal. I only had one problem…I was a girl and it was only the Seigaku boys tennis club that was famous, not the girls.

So I had to convince my grandparents, Seiichi-chan and surprisingly the Rikkaidai tennis club, to let me join the Seigaku tennis club…as a boy. That day was hell; luckily my grandparents gave in, Seiichi-chan eventually let me do as I pleased, as well as some of the tennis club, there were some of the tennis club members that opposed my idea, (as expected) but the majority agreed to let me do what I wanted and now I'm off to Seigaku as Ryu Honda.

"Hey, are you getting off or what?" a voice said, shaking me out of my thoughts. I looked up from my sketch pad and saw the bus conductor looking at me. I looked out the window and saw that we had arrived at the school.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'll get off right now." I said, bowing at the conductor, quickly stuffing my drawing into my bag before I grabbed my gear and ran off the bus. "Thank you!" As the bus took off, I took the time to look at the school in front of me and I gasped lightly. The Sakura trees were in full bloom and the petals floated down gently as a small breeze swept through the school. The brick walls surrounded the entrance of the school and in the front held the main office and a huge golden clock tower, that suddenly chimed to notified it's students that school would be starting soon.

This place was too good to be true! I checked the bronze plaque just outside of the gates and sure enough it read "Seishun Academy." The school was much bigger than the pictures I saw online. Although I couldn't see much with the two buildings blocking most of my sight...

This is it, I thought, walking through the gates with confidence, This is where it starts. As I passed various students, the clock tower chimed once again and many children started running towards their class. I better make my way to the office. I need to get my schedule and perhaps….they can give me a guide so I won't lose my way around this school. I sheepishly thought as I pushed the doors of the main office open, the air-conditioned air blowing softly at my face. Inside the office building, teachers and staff members were rushing about, answering telephones that rang nonstop, passing stacks of papers to each other, and answering questions of concerned parents. I made my way through the busy crowd to the main receptionist. She was answering another parent's question when she finally noticed me.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?" she asked with a questioning look.

"Um I'm new here. My grandparents came here a couple of days to register me. I'm Ryu Honda." I answered her hoping it would clear up some confusion. She looked at me suspiciously before she snapped he fingers.

"Oh now I remember! Your grandparents told us that you were homeschooled and they wanted to give you a chance to go to a real school before you entered high school! I'll be right back to get your schedule. Oh and Hana-san, can you call up a third year to the office to show Mr. Honda around the school? I'm sure he'll need help navigating his way around this school." The receptionist said as she left the counter to search for my schedule.

As I waited for her to bring me back my schedule, I sat down on a nearby chair and played with the sleeves of my boy's black uniform feeling a bit guilty that I was tricking a whole school about my gender before I shook that idea way.

"It's fine Mi-Ryu." I whispered to myself as I saw Hana-san put down the phone and went back to answering questions for another parent. "Just stay calm and no one will find out."

"Mr. Honda? I have your schedule ready." The receptionist from earlier called out. I walked back to the desk and she laid the piece of paper in front of me. "Well since you're entering as a third year, you're schedule is a bit different than the others. Your home room is 2-A and you have Japanese language with English literature, Algebra two, biology, Music, Drawing, Japanese History, and your grandparents had the liberty of telling us that you planned to join the Tennis Club so you won't need physical education and unlike the first years, and you won't be taking health as well." She said as she handed me more papers. "These are the class supply lists so I recommend you get theses as soon as possible. I know there's something I'm missing…Oh, Hana-san where is that student that I asked you to send up?" She asked her co-worker as she remembered.

"He's right here. Fuji-san come over here." Hana-san said as she motioned over a teenage boy that had entered the building moments ago, towards us.

"Yes, Mika-san?" the Fuji boy said as he came towards us. He stood about five feet five inches, he had medium length light brown hair and strangely his eyes were closed, as if he was eye smiling at us. I blushed at his physical features and he chuckled when he saw my flushed face.

"Ah, sorry! I didn't—I'm not like that—it's," I sighed dejectedly, "I'm just going to keep my mouth shut before I make a fool of myself." Fuji merely smiled at me.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have laughed, but it's not the first time I got a look like that from a boy."

"Oh," I said awkwardly before I turned my attention elsewhere.

Well, he doesn't know that I'm a girl so I guess it's not that awkward.

"Excuse," the receptionist said, getting both of our attention. "I hope you don't mind Fuji-san, but could you show Honda-san around the school and show him the ropes?"

"Not at all ma'am." Fuji said.

"Great, now run along and get to your classes." She said as she ushered both of us out of the building. "And have a wonderful first day here Honda-san."

"H-hai!" I said as Fuji opened the door and the both of us exited the main office. "Um let me introduce myself. I'm Ryu Honda, a homeschooled student that transferred here, pleased to meet you um Fuji…sempai?" I asked wondering if I should add the sempai after his name.

"Fuji-san is fine. You're not underclassmen so you don't have to call me Sempai." He said smiling lightly at me.

"Ah ok Fuji-san, I hope I'm not a burden to you." I said shyly as we walked towards the building 2-A.

"Not at all. Are you planning to join the tennis club?" He said as he motioned to my racket case.

"Yes, and I'm actually hoping to make the regular team." I chuckled sheepishly as I grabbed the strap of my racket case out of nervousness.

"I see, well I wish you luck on the tournament matches."

"Tournament matches?" I asked confused. Fuji nodded as we entered a three story building after walking for about a couple of minutes.

"Yes, we have tournament matches to decide who the regulars will be. Only eight make the regulars." He said as we began climb up a set of stairs. I took this time to look around the building and I was amazed to see how many classrooms there were on a floor. I could hear chatter coming from the rooms making me more nervous, my courage leaving me as I realized how much I did not know about private schools.

There's so many people in these classrooms. I hope I can adjust well to this new place, it would be weird if I couldn't interact with anyone besides Fuji-san.

"Honda-san?" Fuji asked me asked I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Ah sorry! I didn't mean to space out! It's just this is a bit overwhelming and I'm kind of nervous." I said as I apologized to the smiling boy.

"It's fine. Going to a public school after being homeschooled is a big change. Being nervous is normal."

"I know it's just…I'm scared that I might be the one out-casted you know? I don't really have many friends besides my new friend that I befriended at the tennis park a couple of months ago. My cousin and his friends act more like a family to me and I'm not very sociable. What if I make a horrible impression of myself and everyone thinks that weird and I'll end up as the loner and—"

"Calm down Honda-san." Fuji chuckled as he placed a hand on my shoulder as it began to shake. "You'll make plenty of friends. You can even consider me your first friend here at Seigaku." I suddenly stopped, staring at him with surprise written all over my face.

"R-really? You'll be my friend?" I asked. Fuji just nodded.

"Hai."

"T-thank you!" I smiled brightly at him before I nervously looked at him. "Then can I call you by your first name?"

"Sure. My name is Shusuke Fuji." He said as he held out his hand. I took his hand and shook it, smiling at him.

"Then you can call me by my first name as well. I'm glad to have made a friend like you Shusuke-kun."

"Same here Ryu-kun. We better get to class though. We wouldn't want to miss our first period."

"Hai!" I said as continued to walk up the stairs. "Hey Shusuke-kun? Are you joining the tennis club as well?" Shusuke just chuckled.

"I am already on the tennis club. I'm a regular."

"Ehhh!" I shouted surprised. "You're a regular? Wow! You must be amazing at tennis then! I'll look forward playing with you then." I smiled at him as we reached a classroom. Standing outside of the classroom, I could hear a teacher lecturing the students inside. Before I could ask Shusuke for a couple of minutes to compose myself, he placed his hand on the door handle, ready to open the classroom.

"Likewise." Shusuke said as he pulled open the door. Immediately, all eyes went to us as we stepped into the classroom. A tall lean female teacher, with her blonde hair tied into a pony-tail, looked up from her book she was reading aloud and looked at me.

"Are are you the new student, Ryu Honda?" She asked.

"H-hai." I nervously said as I bowed to her.

"Well then, come to the front and introduce yourself. Fuji-san sit down." She said as she went to her desk as sat down on her chair. I looked nervously at Shusuke who went to sit down next to a red head with a bandage on his right cheek who grinned happily at him.

"W-well." I started, grabbing the strap of my racket case even tighter as all eyes were set on me. "My name is Ryu Honda, I'm fifteen years old, and my hobbies include playing tennis, drawing, listening to music, watching anime and traveling. My favorite subjects include history and art. I don't like English and science. My dream...well." I paused for a moment considering if I should tell them the truth and decided to give them a modified version. "To have my father be proud of me I guess. And…to make friends." I said smiling sheepishly at them, ending my introduction.

"Well I have good news and bad news." The blonde teacher said, smiling at me as she got up.

"Wait what?" I asked confused and momentary scared. The teacher smirked at me.

"You can call me Mayu-sensei and the bad news, I teach English, your least favorite subject." All the students chuckled at her joke and I blushed bright red. "But the good news, I'm sure you'll make lots of friends here." She said smiling as she patted my shoulder. "You can sit behind Kikumaru-san. Kikumaru-san, raise your hand if you will." The red haired boy that sat next to Shusuke raised his arm high into the hair and gave me a foxy grin.

"You can call me Eiji-kun if you want, Ryu-kun." Eiji said as I took a seat behind him.

"Um hai, Kik—Eiji-kun." I mumbled nervously as I placed my racket case on the floor and proceeded to take out my school supplies. A few papers flew from my binder and as I tried to get them back, Eiji quickly snatched them before they fell to the floor.

"Oh, what's this?" he asked as he took a look at the papers.

"Nothing!" I said, blushing bright red as I realized that the papers were my sketches that I worked on in the bus that morning. I must have placed them in my binder instead of my sketch book. "There's nothing to see!"

"Wow, Ryu-kun you're really good at drawing! It looks so realistic nya~" he smiled as he suddenly showed them to Shusuke. "Look Fuji-kun! Aren't they really good?" Shusuke looked over my drawings that I desperately tried to take back from the energetic red head and Shusuke raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Wow, they're really good. You have talent Ryu-kun." He said as he took the papers from Eiji and gave them back to me, which I quickly placed back in my sketch folder.

"Ah, thank you, but I still have ways to go." I muttered, as I blushed bright red at his comment.

"Oi, less chit-chat and more reading brats! Turn to page twenty-three in your books, Honda-san share with Kikumaru-san for now, and we'll begin reading the passage in English. Honda-san read the first paragraph." She said as she picked up the book from earlier and began walking around the classroom.

"H-hai." I stuttered as Eiji gave me the book to read from. "About half way between West Egg and New York…"

The first half of the day went relatively smooth considering that this was the first time I have ever been in a private school. We had English for about an hour before another professor came in and began teaching Biology, which I had difficulty understanding, but with the help of Eiji and Shusuke I managed to understand what to do for the first half of the homework. Next came Japanese History and this time I was the one helping Eiji and Shusuke understand the concepts we needed to understand for the advance placement test at the end of the school year. Lunch break came and Eiji and Shusuke, mostly Eiji, dragged me to the roof where he said I would meet up with their friends Oishi and Tezuka. I hardly had any time to grab my lunch as Eiji pulled me out of the classroom once the bell for lunch rang.

"Oishi-kun! Oishi-kun, I want you to meet my new friend! His name is Ryu, nya~. He just transferred to mine and Fuji's class. Isn't that great?" Eiji shouted to two boys sitting down waiting to eat their lunch. Shusuke quietly followed behind us and chuckled as Eiji enthusiastically introduced me to his friends. The one with black short hair, that had two strands of hair almost reaching his eyebrows , looked at me with a smile.

"Ah, I see." He then got up and bowed politely to me. My name is Suichiruo Oishi. It's a pleasure to meet you Ryu-kun. Oh and this is Kunitmitsu Tezuka." The boy named Kunitmitsu…Tezuka—that sounds a bit easier to pronounce—merely nodded at me. He had shorter brown hair than Shusuke-kun had, but it was longer than the average boy had it. His brown hair, while messy, looked very sophisticated on him, or perhaps it was the glass that he wore, making him look older than what he really was. Overall he had an air of…how should I say it…leadership. Like how whenever people go up to Seiichi-chan, they always say that he gives off an air of importance and it's hard not to follow him. Tezuka had that same atmosphere around him and it sort of…

"Nya~ Ryu-kun are you going to say hi?" Eiji say pushing me out of my thoughts as he nudged me.

"Eiji—"Oishi said in a warning tone to the red haired boys before I shook head.

"It's alright, my name it Ryu Honda. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I hope we can become good friends." I said, muttering the last part nervously.

"You have nothing to worry about." Oishi said, smiling at me. "Any friend of Eiji and Fuji is a friend of ours. I hope Eiji hasn't been bothering you too much." Eiji just pouted.

"Ryu-chan doesn't mind. Right Ryu-chan?" He asked as he got close to my face, smiling at me.

R-ryu-chan? I thought confusingly, When did he decide to call me Ryu-chan? He was calling my Ryu-kun a few minutes ago.

"N-no, Eiji-kun hasn't been a bother at all." I smiled as I weakly pushed Eiji away from my face, only for him to latch onto my shoulder. "He's been rather kind to me, as well as Shusuke-kun."

"See! I didn't bother Ryu-chan!" Eiji smiled brightly as he hugged me with one arm before his stomach gave a loud growl. "Nya, can we eat lunch? I'm kind of hungry." Oishi, and Shusuke laughed lightly and Tezuka merely gave Eiji a small smirk that nearly went unnoticeable had it not been for my slightly sharp eyes.

"So which school did you transfer from?" Oishi asked as he sat back down next to Tezuka, Eiji and Shusuke followed his example and I quickly joined them on the floor sitting right between Eiji and Shusuke.

"Ah, Um I didn't go to any school before. For the past several years, I have been homeschooled by my father and last year, he left me in the care of my grandparents and they decided that before going to high school, I should have some sort of public education and here I am." I said as I opened my homemade lunch and began eating the sushi that I had prepared the night before.

"You also want to join the tennis club right? That's why you had a racket case with you right?" Eiji smiled as he took a piece of fish and swallowed it whole.

"H-hai." I said after I had finished swallowing my sushi. "Are any of you in the tennis club?" They all nodded and I nearly dropped my next piece of sushi in surprise. Who would have thought that my new possible friends were already in the tennis club? "Are all of you regulars like Shusuke-kun is?"

"Hai. I'm the vice captain for the team—"

"And he's also my doubles partner, nya!" Eiji interrupted Oishi as he gave me a foxy smile.

"And I'm the captain of the Tennis Club." Tezuka said as he calmly ate a chunk of rice with meat from his lunch.

"What position do you play?" Shusuke asked as he finished taking a sip of water.

"Well, I don't really mind. I can play doubles or singles fairly well. I'm just hoping to become a regular."

"Why is that?" Oishi asked.

"Well…I want to make my father proud of me and tennis is the only thing I'm really good at besides drawing so I figured I should try to become a professional tennis player. I heard that Seigaku has a really good tennis club, so I thought if I could make the regular team I would have more chances of going up against stronger people thus giving me more experience as a player and I can become a better tennis player as the year goes on." I said giving them a brief and slightly altered truth.

"Why isn't he proud of you? You seem to be a good kid." Shusuke said.

"It's…something I don't wish to talk about yet." I muttered as I looked down at my lunch. Everyone was silent for a moment before Eiji latched on to my shoulder looking over it to see my lunch.

"Nya, can I have some of your Sushi? It looks good."

"Eiji!" Oishi said startled, "That's—"

"Perfectly fine." I said interrupting Oishi, "I have extra, you can have them." I was rather thankful that Eiji changed the subject; I didn't really want to think about the past.

"Yata! Thank you Ryu-chan!" Eiji said as he took two sushis from my lunch box and plopped them into his mouth. "Wow, they're really good! Did your grandparents make them?" he asked.

"Ah no, I made them myself." I sheepishly said, rubbing the back of my head with my left hand.

"Sugo! If you were a girl, you would make a very good wife!" At his random comment, I blushed really badly.

"U-um, I-I uh…thank you?" I said after trying to come up with a reasonable sentence and failing miserably.

"You're welcome, nya~" Eiji said before he let go of my shoulder and latched on to Oishi and began talking rather quickly to him.

Is…Is he always like that? I never seen a person so carefree…well besides—

"Eiji can be a little overwhelming at times, but he means well. The way he's talking so casualty towards you means he already considers you a friend." Shusuke said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Really?" I asked as I turned to face him.

"I've known Eiji for a while now and he usually isn't like this towards many people. Right Tezuka?"

"Hai." He said, before he went back to eating. After a couple of more mini conversations, the bell rang indicating that lunch had ended and the three of us, Shusuke, Eiji, and I, went back to our homeroom to finish up our school day. We had Algebra next, followed by drawing and finally we had music appreciation.

"And by tomorrow, I want these worksheets done." The professor said as he finished up his lesson as he passed out the worksheet. "They shouldn't take long and I expect complete sentences—"

RIIIIINNNNNGGGGG The bell rang loudly and the whole class quickly went to put away the worksheets into their backpacks and waited for the teacher to dismiss us.

"And no sloppy handwriting! Dismiss." He sighed and the moment he said those words, half the class was already out the door.

"Come one Ryu-chan! Practice is next come on nya~!" Eiji said as he pulled me out of the classroom with Shusuke following behind us. After walking out of the classroom building, the three of us continued to walk through the school towards the tennis court and Eiji made it his goal to get me to talk more to him. By the end of the walk, I was talking happily away with Eiji and Shusuke as if I had been friends with them for a couple of months. We continued to walk until we reached a set of bungalows with a large tennis court next to them. I could see kids walking out the bungalow, dressed for playing tennis and chatting rather happily. I stopped cold as I realized my identity as a girl was on the line. If I had to change with a bunch of guys, it would surely give away my gender! Not to mention it would be rather embarrassing to see guys change. The only guy I have seen shirtless was my cousin and even then, that was awkward!

"What's wrong Ryu-kun?" Shusuke asked as he noticed I had stopped walking.

"Um…do all guys change in that bungalow?" I asked nervously.

"Well, most do but we have a separate bungalow to change into. Why?" Eiji asked as he came up behind me.

"W-w-well, I'm not used to changing with other guys and I rather change where I have my privacy." I muttered as a dark red blush appeared on my face.

"Neh? Are you scared of changing with other guys?" Eiji asked before he chuckled. "There's nothing to be worried about!" he said as he pushed me towards the bungalow despite me trying to stop him.

"Please! I'm really self conscious and changing with others is not going to help!" I said rather panicky as I got closer to the bungalow and I could hear other boys chatting away.

"Eiji." Shusuke said as he stopped Eiji from pushing me further into the crowed bungalow. "He's not used to a private school yet. Don't force him to do something that he doesn't like." And then Shusuke lead me to another set of bungalows that was pretty vacant. "Here, you can change here with no worries of other's seeing you." I sighed in relief.

"Thank you Shusuke-kun. It means a lot to me." Shusuke merely gave me an eye smile as he went to another section of the bungalow and began changing along with Eiji. "Don't worry, we won't peek at you." Shusuke chuckled as I heard a whine coming from Eiji and I gave a small laugh as I placed my tennis bag on the floor.

Not taking any chances still, I quickly opened up my black boy's uniform and discarded it on the floor as I pulled off my white shirt underneath, revealing a bonded chest. Opening my tennis bag, I took out a white thin tank-top and pulled it over my head and smoothed out the wrinkles once it covered my chest. Then I took out a light blue, with black sleeves, collared t-shirt and pulled that over my head. While it wasn't possible to get my shirt soaked so much that the bandages would come loose, I rather stay safe than sorry and put another layer of cloth on. Taking my shoes off, my pants came off next. With relative ease, I put on my white shorts—with a black line going down the side—that went a little higher than my knees, but were longer than a girl's short. Next came my white and black tennis shoe that Seiichi bought for me a couple of days before I came here since my old pair was about to rip.

"Neh, Ryu-chan are you done yet?" I heard Eiji ask as he came closer to my little secluded section. Quickly I grabbed an arm warmer from my tennis bag and pulled it over my scared left arm.

I wasn't kidding when I said I was self conscious. Apparently at a very young age, I was in an accident that scarred my left arm pretty badly. I don't remember much, but Dad said that was normal since I also hit my head when I got my scar, but that's all he'll tell me. I tried asking my grandparents, but they also don't remember how I got the scar and no one else knew about the accident. Anyways, the doctors, at first, said that the scar would eventually go away on its own, but the accident had scarred not only my arm, but the tissue inside my arm. So as I grew older, my skin stretched out and the scar became larger and larger. It grew large enough that if I ever wore a t-shirt, I would be wearing an arm warmer to cover my scar that everyone always stared at if I left it out for everyone to see. Even in hot weather, I would still wear the arm warmer with a tank top; the stares are just too uncomfortable.

"H-hai! I'm done." I said as I stuffed my clothes into my tennis bag and quickly went to join Shusuke and Eiji.

"Took you long enough nya~" Eiji smiled as he proudly showed off his Seigaku regular tennis outfit along with Shusuke. "Wait, why do you have that on your left arm?" Eiji asked as he pointed to my dark blue arm warmer. I chuckled sheepishly.

"Well, um…when I said I was self conscious it meant that I didn't want people to see my um…scar that I have on my arm. People look at me weirdly and I rather not have to deal with that all the time so I just like to change in private and wear this arm warmer whenever I use a t-shirt." I explained as we headed out to the courts that were slowly becoming busy with other tennis members.

"Eh! Really! I'm sorry Ryu-chan! I didn't know!" Eiji said apologetically. I waved him off.

"It's fine really. You didn't know that's all. It was just a small misunderstanding."

"But I should still make it up to you." Eiji pouted as we reached the courts. "Ah! I know, why don't you practice with us nya~! Usually new members don't play today, but I don't think Buchou will mind! Come on! You can practice with me Fuji, and Oishi! Come on nya~!" He cheerfully said as he pulled me into the courts—just as I got my racket out of my tennis bag—earning me a lot of stares from the regulars…most of them…annoyance.

"B-but—"

"Oishi-kun! Oishi-kun! Let's practice together!" Eiji called out to the surprised Oishi who was taking off his regular jacket.

"Eiji-kun, Fuji-kun, and Ryu-san?" He greeted us as we arrived at the courts. "Eiji-kun you know he can't play—"

"But Oishi-kun~" Eiji whined as he gave me a hug. "Please! I want to make it up to Ryu-chan for being a bit mean to him! Please!"

"N-ne it's fine Eiji-kun, you don't have to do this." I said trying to struggle out of his grip. Oishi merely sighed before he turned his attention to Shusuke.

"Do you mind if Ryu-san practices with us then?" Shusuke gave him a small smile

"Saa…why not. We can see if he has talent then." Mentally I was rejoicing; this could be my chance to show that I deserved to be on the team!

"A-are you sure?" I asked, not wanting to sound too happy, "I don't want to get you into trouble…"

"Nya! Its fine! And if Buchou does get mad, I'll take the blame!" Eiji smiled happily. "Let's have a small doubles match! Me and Oishi against Fuji and Ryu-chan!" I gave a small smile to Shusuke who happily returned it.

"I guess I'll be playing with you sooner than I thought. I hope you don't mind though."

"Not at all Ryu-kun."

"Yata!" Eiji exclaimed jumping high into the air, surprising me with his agility. "Yosh! Let's play! Rough or smooth!" Eiji smiled as he placed his racket, head first on the floor, ready to spin.

"Smooth." Shusuke and I said at the same time. We both chuckled as Eiji spun the racket before gravity took hold on the racket and caused it to fall on the rough side. "Nya~ It's rough! Let's serve first Oishi!" Eiji bounced to his partner, ready to play. Oishi merely chuckled.

"Hahahaha ok. Which side do you want?" He asked us.

"You can choose this time Ryu-kun." Shusuke said.

"Um…I suppose we can stay on this side." I said, shuffling my feet. "That's if you want to."

"I don't mind. Come on, let's play." Shusuke said as he moved to the baseline.

"Hai!" We all said as we went into our position. Both Eiji and I were at the net and Oishi was at the baseline, ready to serve.

"Here it comes." He smirked as he threw the ball into the air. I watched the ball as it slowly came back down to earth and I prepared myself. Oishi gave out a loud grunt as he hit the ball with his racket and the tennis ball, soared over the net faster than a normal person's serve, and right into the corner of the serving box. I looked back to see Shusuke rush towards the ball and hit the ball with a forehand hit. Eiji was prepared and hit the ball back with a backhand while laughing. Quickly, I side stepped and volleyed the ball on the opposite side of a surprised Eiji before he smirked.

"Got ya~" He smiled as he quickly switched sided for me to see Oishi smirking as he managed to hit the ball towards the center of the court.

"Shusuke!" I shouted as I tried to reach the ball and failed.

"Don't worry," he said as he gracefully backhanded the ball back to the pair. "I got it."

"Nya~" Eiji smiled as he acrobatically jumped for the ball, nearly making it out of my reach. "You're not bad at all."

"Thanks," I smiled as I hit the ball crosscourt, Oishi barely managing to save the ball. "I practiced a lot."

"But we're going to win this practice match." Eiji smirked as shouted "Kikumaru Beam!" The ball quickly shot past Shusuke, who had switched places with me, and clearly out of a normal person's reach. Not wanting to have this match end so quickly, I raced towards the ball with a burst of speed and placed myself into a fighting stance, holding my left hand straight up and I pulled my right arm back, ready to hit the ball.

"Not yet! Jiguzagu!" I shouted as I slammed my racket against the ball, putting a strong spin on the ball at the last second, aiming straight to the right corner, where Oishi rushed to get the ball. I smirked as the yellow ball bounced on the floor before it shot out to the left, right behind Eiji making a partial zigzag.

"N-nani!" Oishi said surprised as he saw the ball spin the opposite direction, giving us the first point.

"It's one of my own moves." I smiled as I saw their reaction, along with the other members of the tennis club. "My specialty comes from crosscourt as you have seen. Not only do I hit the ball to the corners of the courts, but I also put a very strong spin on it, so when it lands, it doesn't go straight. Instead it goes towards the opposite direction of what it originally intended, making the player unable to get it, because they can't reach to it in time." I smiled sheepishly.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Eiji smiled as he jumped up and down. "That move alone isn't going to help you win this game right Oishi-kun?" Eiji said as he looked at his partner.

"Right." Oishi said as he smiled at me. "We won't be that easy to beat."

"Let's do this Shusuke-kun!" I smiled determinedly as I looked at Shusuke who nodded back.

"Right."

"Love-fifteen, Oishi serve."

Our game went on for a while, longer than I had originally intended. None of us were willing to back down and our rallies went on for at least five minutes at the max. Our small match had the whole tennis team watching in awe as they saw our skills.

"For a newbie, he's good." One would say when we were switching sides.

"To play with the Golden pair and not be bageled, it's a miracle."

"But he has Fuji-sempai on his team, that's why they're not loosing entirely."

"But he won just as many points as Fuji-sempai has, he's just as good as the regulars," Whispered many of the team members who stopped their games just to watch ours. I even saw a few more regulars looking at us with interest. A boy with spiky black hair and glasses wrote furiously in his notebook, while another; a thug looking one, looked at me with piercing eye that resembled a snake.

"Match point! Yata~ We can do this Oishi-kun!" Eiji shouted as he jumped in place at the net.

"Ryu-kun, let's play our best." Shusuke smiled at me as he bounced the ball in place before he served with a grunt.

"Right!" I said as I balanced on my legs, ready to move at a moment's notice. Eiji quickly volleyed the ball, but I had anticipated his move and volleyed it back to their side. The rally continued on for another couple of minutes before Oishi dragged his racket on the floor as a ball came towards him.

"It's Oishi-sempai's Moon Volley!" Someone shouted as Oishi lobbed the ball high into the air, heading straight for the baseline.

Wow, I never seen a lob that high before, I thought as I rushed to reach the lob, It shouldn't be that hard to get, just a little more… Just as I reached for the ball, a familiar figure stood behind the wired gates, staring at me intently.

"T-tezuka-san? I-I mean buchou?" I said surprised as I let the lob bounce, hitting the line, giving Oishi and Eiji the match point and game. Fuji and I had lost to them, Four-six.

"Ne Ryu-chan what's—buchou?" Eiji cried out in surprise as he came towards me and also saw Tezuka standing outside the courts.

"Care to explain why a new member is playing on the courts when it's only supposed to be second and third years?" Tezuka asked the both of us, while staring intently at us. Eiji and I both gulped.

S-scary! Seiichi-chan was never this scary…but then again he never got really mad at me.

"S-s-sorry!" I quickly apologized. "I um didn't mean to I just—"

"I invited him to play Buchuo!" Eiji quickly interrupted pushing me back, "It's not Ryu-chan's fault! Don't blame him!" Tezuka looked at us with calculating eyes before he looked at me, his glasses providing a glare so I couldn't see his eyes.

Oh damn! I can't see his eyes, but that might be a good thing right? So I can't see if he's glaring…maybe he's…oh who am I kidding! What if he kicks me off the tennis club, what if he won't let me join the team! Oh my god, what was I thinking when I let Eiji drag me onto the courts when I knew I wasn't able to! Oh god my dream is over before it even be—

"Be ready for the upcoming tournament matches Honda-san" Tezuka finally said as he cut through my frantic thoughts.

"I'm so sorry I'll—wait…what?" I asked surprised.

"You'll be playing in the regulars ranking tournament matches to see if you'll make the regular team." Tezuka calmly said as he turned away from the both of us. "You do still want to play right?" Speechless I could only nod before I muttered a small 'yes' as I realized he couldn't see me. "Good, now please exit off the courts. You're not allowed to play on them today."

"H-hai! Thank you!" I said as I saw Tezuka retreat from the courts. I turned around and saw Eiji, Oishi, and Shusuke looking at me with surprise. "W-well, I guess I should get going then. It was nice playing a match with you Oishi-kun, Eiji-kun, and Shusuke-kun." I waved sheepishly at them as I walked off the courts, making sure not to disturb the other matches. "I guess I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Hai, bye Ryu-kun. It was a nice match we played." Shusuke said as he waved at me.

"Make sure to get plenty of rest." Oishi said as well.

"Yata! Maybe you'll make the team Ryu-chan!" Eiji shouted as he waved enthusiastically.

"Twenty laps, for disobeying the rule Eiji." Tezuka said as he passed me at the entrance.

"N-nani!" Eiji shouted as I walked away, chuckling.

"Maybe I'll make the tennis team after all." Said to myself as I picked up my racket case from the bench outside and headed to the bungalows to change. However, a small audience on another set of tennis courts intrigued my interest. "What's going on over there?"

"Ya! Ryoma-sama is so cool!" I heard a girl shrill as I came near the small group that were watching two players inside the abandoned courts. As I came closer I finally saw the group more clearly. The group consisted of four small first years, a girl with long pigtails that were tied into braids, another girl with pigtails that reached her shoulder, and inside the courts were two boys, one with a bowl cut hair and the other nearly like Oishi's. Behind the girls, were two adults; a young woman about the age twenty or so, with a camera around her right shoulder and standing next to her was a man in his thirties with a brief case and a camera as well. I looked inside the courts as saw a rather tall boy with spiky black hair, a yellow shirt and blue pants standing at the baseline waiting for the other boy—much smaller than the spiky hair boy—with a white hat, black shorts, and a red and white collared t-shirt to serve.

"Wait. That was a fault, so he has to serve again." The woman explained to the pigtailed girl. "If he faults again, it's a point for Momoshiro-kun."

"Really? Ryoma-sama!" the girl wept as she looked back at the courts. Deciding to stay back and watch, I stood about ten feet away from the courts and watched the game unfold.

"I don't want slice serves. Don't hold out on me." The taller boy said as he pointed his racket at the other boy.

"No," Came the immediate response from the kid, surprising the older boy.

"Arrogant brat." He muttered, nearly too soft for my ears to hear, before he stood ready at the baseline. The collared t-shirt boy, began bouncing the ball with his left hand, before he grabbed the ball and threw it into the air, putting a familiar spin on it.

"So he knows Twist Serve too huh. I wonder how good it is." I muttered, smiling softly as I saw the kid jump into the air and slammed on the ball hard. I saw the older boy take a step back and prepared to hit the ball, but I knew he wouldn't…at least not on the first try. The ball slammed down near the serve line spinning rather quickly, before I shot towards the older boy's face. I saw the look of surprise on his face as he saw the ball fly towards his face, but instead of the ball hitting his face—or at least near his face—the ball slammed into the other boy's racket grip and caused him to lose his grip. Everyone stared at the serve with complete shock.

"Um excuse me," the pigtailed girl asked the older man, "But what is a Twist Serve?" Deciding that I had stayed hidden for long enough I made myself known to the group.

"It's a serve that has a counter spin, different than a normal serve which is a slice serve that has a left spin, and bounces towards the player with a top spin." I said as I moved towards them.

"Um…who are you?" the girl with the braids asked as they all looked towards me.

"My apologies." I chuckled sheepishly. "I'm Ryu Honda, a third year transfer student who knows a thing or two about tennis um…what are your names?" I asked feeling more embarrassed.

"Ah, my name is Sakuno Ryuzaki" The girl with the braids said, bowing a bit.

"Tomoka Osakada!" The other girl said with confidence, also following Sakuno's example.

"Kachiro Kato." The small boy with the bowl cut hair said

"Katsui Mizuno" Kachiro's buddy said, who resemblance to Oishi was uncanny. "And sitting on the umpire seat is Satoishi Horio." He said pointing to the boy with a green and orange shirt and brown hair, sitting happily at the high seat.

"Mamoru Inoue." The older gentleman said, "I'm a journalist for a tennis magazine."

"Saori Shiba" the woman said, smiling at me, "I too, work for the tennis magazine."

"It's a pleasure to meet all of you." I said smiling at them.

"Wait, you said earlier that a Twist Serve has a top spin on it right?" Shiba asked. "Doesn't that mean that the ball bounces towards the face?" she asked Inoue this time.

"Yes, you can't return it that easily." He said.

"Once you get how the ball spins though, it gets easier to hit back. It's just the shock that a ball is coming towards you that surprises most people and makes them unable to hit the ball back the first time." I explain.

"So do you know how to hit back a Twist Serve?" Inoue asked, and I smiled softly at him before turning my attention towards the two on the courts.

"Perhaps." And I kept it at that.

"But still, I can't believe a middle schooler can use that serve, it's unbelievable." Inoue muttered looking at the boy who had preformed the Twist Serve.

"Amazing!" Tomoka squealed, "Ryoma-sama is getting cooler by the minute!" The boy in the yellow shirt, went to pick up his racket that was thrown out of his hand by the ball before he stood up and gave—if my indications are correct—Ryoma a smiled.

"Scary, scary. You caught me off guard." He said rather care freely.

"Are you ok? You're sweating" Ryoma asked the surprised boy. The boy merely glared at Ryoma before muttering 'Bastard' as he went to his position at the baseline, smirking at Ryoma.

"Fifteen-love!" Horio said, as Ryoma began bouncing the ball again. A few seconds later, Ryoma threw the ball up in the air again, putting a spin on it as it flew towards the other side of the net.

"It's the Twist Serve again." I muttered to myself as I saw the older boy rush towards the ball, probably hoping to get the ball as it rises and not when it would hit his racket.

"Good! Here I go!" he shouted as he pulled his right arm back and prepared himself to hit the ball. As the ball came closer, the boy swung his racket forward and managed to hit the ball but he didn't hit it at the right angle and it resulted in the ball hitting the net. The boy smiled as he placed his hands on his head. "Looks like I can't return it with good timing alone. Interesting."

"Even Takeshi Momoshiro, a Seigaku regular, is losing in a power battle." Inoue said shocked.

"He's a regular?" I asked a bit surprised. "Then why isn't he practicing with the others?" I muttered mostly to myself.

"Thirty-love! Echizen leads!" Horio cried out the score as Ryoma prepared to hit another serve.

Echizen…I wonder…if that's the case then I really shouldn't be surprised of his skills. It would make perfect sense. And Dad's out of the country again, those two can never be in the same country at the same time can they. I mentally chuckled before I focused back at the game.

It was once again the Twist serve. Momoshiro once again ran towards the net and managed to hit the ball, with a better angle this time and the ball bounced off the cord of the net and made it to the other side. Ryoma and the others were shocked that Momoshiro managed to hit the unbeatable serve.

"Oh? Lucky, I was lucky!" Momoshiro smiled as he gave Ryoma a peace sign.

"He returned the serve!" Kato said shocked and the rest of the group gasped in awe.

"thirty-fifteen." Horio said, surprise evident in his voice. Ryoma once again used the Twist Serve and this time Momoshiro returned it and the two players began to rally it out before Ryoma tapped the ball, causing it to barely make it over the net. Momoshiro saw the hit and tried to run towards it, but he suddenly fell and the point went to Ryoma.

"So Ryoma also knows Drop Volley as well then. Interesting." I muttered as Momoshiro voiced what I had just said aloud. "I wonder what else he knows."

"Forty-fifteen."

"Ryoma-sama, do your best!" Tomoka shrilled, nearly blasting my eardrums. Inoue took out his camera and began taking shots of Ryoma before he said in surprise,

"Those eyes…that boy…Ryoma Echizen…is Nanjirou Echizen's…"

"Son. Yeah, I believe he is." I whispered, smiling at the boy.

"If he gets this in, it's Ryoma-kun' win!" Kato said excitedly.

"Mada Mada Dane." Ryoma said smirking at Momoshiro as the Sakura trees rattled softly against the slight breeze, sending down Sakura petals on the court before he switched his hands. His racket now was in his left instead of right.

So he's a lefty…just like—

"Time out," Momoshiro said just as Ryoma was about to serve. "I quit. It's over" He said, surprising all of us. "I'll let you go now." Ryoma stared at Momoshiro for a moment before he walked off.

"Doesn't matter to me."

"Nice serve you have there kid." I said catching his attention as he went to get his racket case.

"So?" he asked as he went to put his racket away in his large black tennis bag.

"If you twist your wrist a little more the right, stand just a few more centimeters parallel to the base line, and if you work out your arm a bit, you could have a faster and stronger Twist Serve." I explained to him, causing him to stop what he was doing and looked at me.

"Nani."

"Just what I said. Just giving you some advice." I said shrugging. "It's your choice if you want to listen to it or not." Ryoma merely stared at me before he said,

"Show me." I raised an eyebrow in surprise before I smiled at him.

"Sure." I placed my racket bag on the floor and took out my blue and black racket that I had played earlier with Shusuke, Eiji, and Oishi just a couple of minutes ago. Momoshiro was walking towards an elderly woman with brown hair tiled into a ponytail before they turned their attention towards me.

"Twist Serve usually has more power to it if you have a harder swing to it, but not many people can buff up their arms and still twist the ball so it has a counter spin." I explained as I grabbed a ball and walked towards the baseline, bouncing the ball as I prepared to show Ryoma and the rest my serve. "So the best way is probably to add more spin on it. By being more parallel to the baseline and twisting your wrist a little more than usual, you can achieve a better spin." I caught the ball after bouncing it a couple of times before I threw it into the air and as it came back down, I swung my racket against the ball, twisting my wrist a little more than Ryoma's and turning my body to give the ball more spin. Faster than Ryoma's serve, the ball bounced in on the other side of the court before it shot straight towards the invisible receiver that would have been hit if they didn't have fast enough reflex.

"S-sugo!" I heard the first years and adults gasp in shock. "It was so fast…I didn't even see it go over the net until it shot straight up." Horio said.

"Play me." Ryoma said, smiling as if he met a worthy opponent. I shook my head.

"Sorry, but I really do have to go. I promised to help my grandparents at the store. Maybe another day." I said as I went to grab my racket case and quickly placed it inside without wrinkling my clothes inside. While I didn't really have to help Baa-chan with the store, I really did need to go. Seiichi-chan said he would call me after school to see how my day went and I didn't have a cell phone with me so I would have to wait by the house phone. If I wasn't there to pick up the phone, Seiichi would get worried and actually come over to see what happened to me that prevented me from answering his call. Not that I don't enjoy his company, but when he comes…the whole team comes and I rather have a peaceful evening for once. And if I told them that I was waiting for a call and that's why I had to leave…that wouldn't sound very manly which I was trying to act. Acting like a guy is tougher than I thought.

"It was nice meeting all of you. Good-bye!" I said bowing to the group as I rushed out of the courts before Ryoma could object or anyone else for that matter. I made it outside of the school gates in a matter of minutes—which was rather good since I was still getting used to the layout of the school—and sadly I missed the bus that would take me to my house and the other bus would be here in thirty minutes and by that time traffic would be at its worst. I looked at the clock tower behind me and saw that Seiichi would be calling in about fifteen minutes or so. "Screw it, I'm running." I muttered as I began the long thirty minute jog towards my house. "I really do not want my peaceful evening to be disrupted by those people.

"And after all that training I did with them, I still wasn't fast enough to get the call and an hour I had a house full of Rikkaidai tennis members." I sighed as I flopped on my bed, exhausted from the visit of my cousin and his teammates. The phone next to me suddenly vibrated and I sighed, knowing who it was. "I still can't believe they got me a cell phone. It's not like I'm going to get kidnapped or anything." I flipped opened my new phone and saw another text from Akaya

-One day I will defeat you and the big three and become number one!

I slowly texted him back, not yet familiar with the whole texting thing.

-You texted me that how many times already? Stop wasting my texts, you guys are supposedly paying for it so I'm sure you wouldn't want me to go over my limit.

I pressed send before I placed the phone on silence all, and placed it on my desk. After all, if I can't hear the text then I never really got it right?

"Mitsu-chan! Come down, it's dinner time." I heard Ojii-san said from the floor below.

"Coming!"

The rest of the days went rather uneventfully as I waited for the tournament matches to come. I ran across Ryoma and the trio of freshman a couple of times at the tennis courts, but because of our grade difference they couldn't talk to me when we practices.

"Oh Honda-sempai hello!" I heard Horio, Mizuno, and Kato said together in unison, out of breath, as I walked onto the courts again after changing in the bungalows that Fuji kindly let me use. I made it out quicker than them, but they told me not to wait for them, so I made my way towards the courts.

"Hello." I said smiling at them. "Hello to you to Ryoma-kun" I said to the silent freshman who seemed to have riled up the seconds years in only two days. He merely gave me a small nod. "I see you're working hard." I chuckled as I saw the three panting heavily as they tried to catch their breaths while Ryoma looked rather unaffected by the harsh routine.

"I have never worked this hard before." Kato said as he fell to the floor as his knees gave out.

"Don't worry, all of this training will make you stronger in the end. Trust me." I said as I went to place my racket case on one of the empty benches and took out my racket. Suddenly Horio looked alarmed and whispered harshly to Ryoma trying not to be heard by whoever made him scared.

"Echizen, Echizen! They're here!"

"Who?" Ryoma asked as he looked behind him (I turned around as well) and we saw three second years scowling at the "super freshman". The one in the middle (Arai if I remember his name correctly), had brown hair that was pushed back by a green-teal headband and he, along with the other second years, wore the Seigaku tennis blub jacket. He glared at Ryoma as Ryoma looked at him with indifference.

Why is it that I always have to know the arrogant brat wherever I go? Isn't Akaya enough? I sighed mentally.

"Hey, don't show off because you can play a little tennis." The brown haired kid said, "The regulars will be practicing with us today and—"

"Thank you for the notice, Ari-kun," I said emphasizing on the kun, while glaring at him a little. "But I think they already knew that." Ari glared at me,

"Why you—"

"T-th-they're here!" Horio cried out as we saw the regulars come in through the courts. All of the freshman gasped in awe as they marched in together; the bandana kid I saw on my first day at school in the front, on his left was Oishi and Eiji, and on the right was the glasses boy I saw on the first day of school as well, followed by Shusuke.

"Cheers!" We all said, with the exception of Ryoma, as they reached the courts.

"We want the newcomers to feel right at home." Oishi said as he gave the freshmen a kind smile. "So pick a court and start hitting." All the freshman cheered excitedly as they could finally hit some tennis balls after conditioning to a long time.

"Ryu-chan~!" Eiji shouted as he glomped my shoulder, nearly knocking me off balanced. "Come hit with us for a while! I'm sure Fuji and Oishi-kun wouldn't mind right~" Eiji asked the two said tennis regulars.

"Not at all." Shusuke said as he chuckled happily.

"We can do it until Tezuka arrives." Oishi said as he picked up a basket off balls and headed off to another court.

"Yata! Come on Ryu-chan!" Eiji said as he pulled me away from the freshmen before I had a chance to say good bye to them.

At least I can play with them…they're rather good rally partners to play with…wait…I don't think this is a normal rally. I thought as I saw Oishi stand on one side of the court and the rest of the regulars were spread out, even going to the other courts.

"Fushhh…what's he doing here." The boy with a bandana said as he looked at me with cold eyes.

"He's going to hit with us Kiado nya~" Eiji said as he pulled me closer into the group making me feel very self conscious.

I think this is a regular practice warm up…and I have a feeling I shouldn't be here just yet.

"He's not a regular—"

"So! Oishi and Fuji says he can warm up with us, until Buchuo arrives." Eiji pouted.

"But—"

"Calm down Kiado," Oishi said before Kiado could get any more aggressive. "He'll just be practicing with us for a while. Besides, Tezuka said that he would be participating in the ranking tournaments, we should have him at least prepared." Oishi explained.

"Tch." Kiado said as he turned away from me. I sighed, looks like I wasn't going to make much friends besides Oishi, Eiji, Shusuke, and possibly Tezuka.

"Alright, for this warm up, all you have to do is hit the ball back into the basket." Oishi said as he grabbed a couple of balls before he lobbed on high into the air towards Kaido.

"Tch." Kaido said as he slammed the lob back into the basket.

"Don't worry, you can do it, I'm sure." Shusuke said as Oishi lobbed another ball this time towards Eiji who effortlessly hit the ball back into the basket.

"Here it comes Ryu-kun" Oishi said as he lobbed a ball in my general direction. I quickly ran towards the ball and just as was about two feet from my head I swung my racket and the ball soared across the net and straight into the basket.

"Good Ryu-kun, but you need to swing a bit faster. Here!" Oishi said as he lobbed the ball to the right of Shusuke. Shusuke quickly ran towards the ball and just like me, he smashed the ball inside the basket.

"Fuji, you were one step late." Oishi said as he lobbed another ball. We continued to hit the ball into the basket and I could hear all the other tennis member gasp in awe. Suddenly Oishi lobbed the ball a bit too far and it went towards the still standing Ryoma. Seconds before the ball would hit Ryoma, he pulled his arm back and smashed the ball straight towards the basket, causing the ball basket to nearly fall over with the force of the smash. The rest of us stared at Ryoma, smiling as we saw the potential that he had. Ryoma turned towards Arai and placed his red racket on his shoulder smirking at him.

"It's unexpectedly simple." I heard him say before Arai grabbed Ryoma's t-shirt and growl out,

"Damn you and your arrogance! Don't get on your high horse so fast! There's no room for you annoying freshman!" I wanted to intervene but Shusuke held me back.

"But Shusuke—"

"Don't worry Ryu-kun. Tezuka won't let anything get out of hand." He said as he pointed towards Tezuka who had surprising appeared out of nowhere.

"What are you arguing about on the court?" The two arguing quickly turned their heads around and everyone quickly greeted the captain. Not even taking his eye off the two boys, Tezuka continued to talk. "Penalty for causing a disturbance. Run ten laps around the courts, both of you." He ordered and Arai quickly got upset.

"W-wait, it was…he—"

"Twenty laps." Tezuka said without hearing Arai's explanation which would probably have been a lie.

It's like another Sanada-kun….although he's much less violent….wait….the only thing they probably have in common is that stoic expression.

"H-hai!" Arai said, not wanting to get into more trouble and Ryoma merely adjusted his hat, probably his way of saying ok.

"Everyone warm up! When they're done, junior and seniors will enter the courts!" Tezuka said in a loud and commanding voice. "Freshman, prepare for ball fetching!"

"HAI!" everyone shouted together, before they all ran into their positions and began warming up.

"Nya~ Looks like you can play with us for a while longer Ryu-chan!" Eiji said as he bounced towards Shusuke and I.

"Hai."

The rest of practice went rather well and before I knew it, the sun began to set and I saw from the corner of my eyes Ryoma entering the courts after his twenty laps.

"I wonder if he does it on purpose or not." I muttered, "Ryoma-kun doesn't seem very bothered by the fact that he has riled up the second years pretty badly."

"So you know Echizen then?" Shusuke asked as he stood at my side as we saw Arai give Ryoma a very worn out racket and smirking at him.

"I met him on the first day of school. He's pretty good, although his attitude could use a little work. If it wasn't for the fact that he has the talent to back up his words, he would be in big trouble.

"Arai is causing trouble with the freshman again." Eiji sighed gaining the attention of the other regular members as we all watched the event unfold.

"What should we do? Stop them?" the large boy with the glasses asked Eiji. No one said anything and I took their silence as 'We'll see what happens and if it gets too out of hand, we'll interfere.'

"I think Ryoma will be alright despite that he has a disadvantage against Arai." I said as I saw Ryoma go and walk towards a court ready to play against Arai.

"Hmmm….I think you're right Ryu-kun." Shusuke said as he placed his right hand on his chin as if he was thinking. "I would like to see the outcome of this match."

And thus the match of Arai and Ryoma began. Arai went onto his side of the court and he smirked arrogantly as he served the ball.

"Here I go!" he shouted as the ball flew towards Ryoma. Ryoma quickly ran towards the ball but as he hit the ball with the worn out racket it made a strange sound and didn't even make it over the net.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Arai smirked as he prepared himself for another serve. "You're the one with the big mouth. Now you're going to suffer 'til the end!" he shouted as he served the ball but this time, instead of hitting the net, Ryoma's hit went out of bounds and hit the wired gate behind Arai.

"No use. You can't hit it normally." The boy with the glasses said.

"You're right, some other method has to be use." I said as I kept my eye on Ryoma wondering what he would come up with.

"With that racket you really can't spin the ball." Shusuke said.

But there are other ways you can add a spin on a ball. I thought, Let's see if Ryoma knows any of them.

"You have no chance in hell!" Arai yelled out as he served the ball again towards Ryoma. As the ball come over the net, Ryoma quickly ran towards the ball, but instead of standing in a normal forehand position, he twisted his body even more and when he swung his racket the ball went over surprising Arai.

"He twisted his body to add more spin on the ball." Eiji said a bit surprised.

"He's good." Shusuke said.

"That ball was slow," Ryoma said in response to the other tennis members who were mumbling away in shock.

"Shut up!" Arai screamed, "Just because you returned one ball! You brat!" He quickly served another ball out of anger and just like the last hit, Ryoma effortlessly hit the ball over the net and Arai missed the ball.

"A great calligrapher doesn't need to choose his pens…"Shusuke suddenly said, turning my attention towards him and I was surprised to see his eyes open for the first time and I saw his sky blue eyes look back at me. "Right Ryu-kun?"

His eyes…they're a rather pretty color…guah! Stop sounding and looking like a love struck girl! Answer him back! I mentally shouted as I fought my blush back down.

"Yes, you're right." I quickly said as I turned my attention back towards the game just in time to see Ryoma smash the game ball at the tennis ball under Arai's feet. Arai, shocked at Ryoma's skill, fell down to his knees and probably humiliated beyond belief.

"Tch. What a fool." Kaido said as he turned around from the game. "Losing face for the juniors." He muttered out as he began walking off the courts.

"Oh Kiado," the boy with the glasses said, but Kiado kept on walking. "Washroom break."

"Well, that was an interesting game to watch." I said as Oishi came back, when he left I had no idea.

"Everyone run twenty laps." Oishi ordered.

"N-nani!" everyone cried, including myself. What did we do to deserve to run? Not that I mind running, but if I have no reason to run they why run at all?

"Buchou ordered everyone to run, even the regulars." Eiji at this point groaned.

"Why!" he whined.

"Go before Tezuka decides to make it forty. But after the laps everyone can go home." I sighed, still a bit mad at the fact that I still had to run, but I felt better that practice would end after that. I was getting hungry and Baa-chan said she would have arroz chaufa at home. One of my favorite dishes and I wanted to get it when it was hot from the stove.

"Let's get this over with." I said as I began jogging, Shusuke right behind me. "I'm ready to go home now."

"Nya~ Ryu-chan are you ready for the tournament matches today!" Eiji said as he smiled happily at me as Shusuke, Eiji and I made our way towards the bungalows. Apparently we didn't have to attend classes today because we would be playing for ranking. I was thankful for that. I didn't think I could stand another hour of Biology or music appreciation.

"Um, I guess I am. I just hope I'll make the team." I said nervously.

"I'm sure you will~!"

"I heard that Tezuka changed the ranking board this year." Shusuke said as he walked beside me.

"Eh? Really? Buchou did? I didn't think he would change anything." Eiji said surprised.

"Um…how usually are the regular ranking matches then," I asked as we reached the bungalows.

"There are four blocks with twelve people and from those blocks, eight regular members are chosen." Shusuke explained. "But I guess we'll have to see what changes he made this year." Shusuke said as we began changing into our sports attire, with me in the other section as usual.

"Maybe you'll play against one of us Ryu-chan!" Eiji said excitedly. "I want to see how you would play for real!"

"Well, maybe." I chuckled as I finished changing in record time and Shusuke, along with Eiji finished at the same time. "Let's go."

"Well…this is certainly a surprise." Shusuke said as we reached the courts and saw the board that determined which players would complete in the ranking tournament.

"Buchou added another box." Eiji said surprised.

"My name's in there." I said as I saw my name at the top of the box. "So…am I playing for a regulars spot?"

"Tezuka decided to add a substitute into the regular team this year." Oishi said behind us.

"Really!" Eiji cried as we all turned around and greeted the vice captain.

"So in other words…whoever wins in this block will—"

"Be a member of the regulars, but they won't play as often. Maybe substitute a player for a couple of matches, but that's it." Oishi explained.

Well…I won't be an official regular member, but there's still a chance that I'll be able to play in the tournaments that Seigaku participates in. I will just have to use this opportunity and hope for the best!

"Everyone in block E please come to court six." Some called out.

"You'll do fine Ryu-kun." Shusuke said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "And good luck."

"Thanks, and good luck to all of you." I said smiling at them as I went to my designated court where five other, second but mostly thirds years, were at. Surprisingly Tezuka was there too.

"Is everyone who is supposed to be here, here?" He asked and every nodded. "Good I will be explaining what the purpose of this block is. I have decided to add one more member to the regular team this year, but they'll be acting as a substitute switching with the regulars every so often." Everyone on the courts began to mutter excitedly before Tezuka continued his explanation. "However, unlike the other blocks, there will be only one winner. That's why there's only six of you in this block. There will be three rounds, if you lose the first round, then you're out. In the second round only two will play each other while the third will have a pass. Then on the final round the person with the pass and the winner of the second round will play against each other for the substitute spot. Any questions?" No one said anything. "Good, play hard and try your best. Ryu Honda and Arai Massori on court one…" and Tezuka began paring the players together before he left the court to play his own match.

"No hard feelings, but I'll be wining this round Honda-sempai." Arai smirked as he placed his racket on his shoulder.

"If you think so, but just so you know," I smirked at him as well, earning a small gasp from him. "I don't intend to lose. I will make the team."

"I really wish that I could have had that pass, but I guess it can't be helped." I sighed as I took a sip from my water bottle as I made my way towards the board to tell the score keeper of my win. I saw Oishi writing away in a note book before he looked up and saw me.

"Ryu-kun, how did your match go?" he asked, ready to write down the results.

"Hello Oishi-kun. I won, Six-love. How are the others doing?" I asked as I looked at the matches going on, on the others courts.

"They're doing well actually." Oishi smiled as he wrote down my score. "Even the freshman, Echizen Ryoma is doing well. He's won all of his games so far."

"Really? Huh…it shouldn't be much of a surprise though." I said as I took another gulp of water. "Who's he playing next?"

"A regular member, Kiado. I believe you met him already."

"He's the one with the bandana right?" I asked.

"Yup."

"Well, I wish him luck against Kiado." I said. "It's a shame I can't watch the match since I have another one to do today. It would have been exciting to see. Well, good luck on your next match Oishi-kun." I said as I went back to the courts.

"You too Ryu-kun."

The matches were rather easy to win, even without my Jiguzagu and my Twist Serve, and I won the second round just as I had won the first. Sadly, that was all we were going to play and it wouldn't be until tomorrow that we would finish our tournament. But at least I could watch Ryoma's match tomorrow against the large glasses boy…what was his name again? I have to ask Shusuke or Eiji tomorrow. Suddenly, I collided with another person and I nearly fell to the floor if it wasn't for an arm that shot out and grabbed my own arm.

"Ah, sorry Ryu-kun I wasn't watching where I was going." I heard Shusuke said as he helped me get steady on my feet.

"No it was my fault. I should pay more attention." I said rubbing the back of my neck with my left hand out of embarrassment. "Are you finished with your games for today?" I asked.

"Hai, and what about you? How did your matches go?" Shusuke asked as we began walking towards the bungalows to change.

"It went well. I beat my two opponents, six-0. And I have one more game tomorrow and then the matches will be done."

"I believe a congratulation is in order." Shusuke smiled warmly at me.

"Thank you. And I think I don't need to ask how your matches went huh." I smiled at him.

"I suppose you don't." Shusuke chuckled. "Say, do you want to come with Eiji, Oishi, Tezuka and I to eat out?" he asked suddenly.

"N-nani?" I was so surprised that I nearly tripped, but Shusuke once again caught me.

"Am I going to have to make this catching you before you fall, a regular thing?" Shusuke chuckled as I blushed bright red.

"S-shut up." I muttered, "That question just surprised me that's all. I don't…go out…often, at least not with friends."

"Huh…do you not hang out with your cousin and his friends or your other friend that you said that you met a couple months ago?" Shusuke asked a bit surprised.

"Well…I would if it wasn't for the fact that my cousin lives to far for him or I to visit each other regularly. And my other friend…well we can't meet up that much either. She goes to a public middle school not far from here, but she wants to go to a private high school and her family doesn't have much money. So she studies really hard in order to be one of the few students to be qualified to get a scholarship. I hardly ever see her and when I do, we usually just play tennis for an hour or so before her parents pick her up and she's back to studying." I explained as we entered the bungalow and we went into our separate sections to change.

"I see…do you still wish to hang out with us today then?" I heard Shusuke ask as I finished putting my school uniform on.

"I would love to!" I said excitedly before I calmed myself down and proceeded in a calmer tone, "but Baa-chan has a doctor's appointment today around two O'clock and Ojii-san has to drive her. I have to be in charge of the store until they get back. Gomen." I apologized as we both came out of the changing room with our uniform on.

"It's fine, perhaps another day then." Shusuke said.

"Yeah…maybe another day." I sighed, bummed out that I couldn't hang out with Shusuke, Eiji, Oishi, and Tezuka today. "Well, I have to go now. If I want to make it before rush time." I said. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Hai, bye Ryu-kun."

"I won't let you win that easily!" My opponent gasped out angrily as it was his turn to serve. "Take that!" He shouted as he served the ball over the net and straight towards the left corner.

"You have to try better than that if you want to get at least one point." I said smiling as I hit the ball back over the net to the every right of the single court boundaries. I frowned a bit as the ball landed on the inside of the white line. "Damn, I have to work on that. It would be better if it was more on the line." I sighed as I ran to the front of the net as my opponent managed to tap the ball, causing it to lob.

"Damn it!" he shouted as he ran back towards the baseline, ready for the smash that I had hit so many times throughout the match.

"Nope, not this time." I chuckled as I tapped the ball lightly over the net, making it impossible for my opponent to hit it time.

"Match point!" the umpire called out as I walked back towards the net.

"I'm not done yet!" he shouted as he once again served the ball.

"Too bad." I muttered as I backhanded the ball with my right hand only. "I'll be winning this game for sure."

" GUAH!" He grunted as he barely managed to reach my back hand hit before he ran back towards the middle of the court.

"Better, but you need to be a little more faster." I chuckled as I hit the ball towards the right. He ran towards the ball and managed to backhand it towards me, but with not as much power. I heard excited screams over on the next couple of courts and I could hear the faint cries of Tomoka's cheering.

Ryoma must be playing against that large glasses boy right now. I really want to see that match…I guess I end the game now.

"As much as I would like to continue to play, I would like to see Ryoma's match so…Ninja Slice." I smirked as I pulled my right arm into a backhand position but instead of my racket being near my lower left leg, I held it up near my head. As the ball came closer, I let my arm fall into a slicing motion and as the ball hit the racket, the force of the backhand placed a strong counter spin on the ball. The ball then flew off my racket and over to the other side of the net before it bounced forward, hitting my opponent's side of the net. He was left gasping as he saw the ball bounce forward.

"H-how?"

"Game set! Won by Honda Six-zero." The umpire said as I went up to the net to shake hands.

"Good game." I said as I held out my hand for him to shake. My opponent merely chuckled as he shook hands with my.

"You're really good Honda-sempai. You deserve the substitution spot for the team." He said as we finished out handshake and went to our benches to grab our things.

"Neh Ryu-chan!" I heard Eiji's voice behind me. I looked up from my bag and saw a smiling Eiji along with Oishi. "Great game you played! And that was a cool slice you did nya~!" he smiled as he tried to imitate my Ninja Slice.

"Thanks, but it still needs work." I chuckled as I began to put my racket away in my case. "Did you make it on the regular team, Oishi, Eiji?" I asked as I met up with them at the entrance of the gate.

"Hai, and it looks like we'll be gaining a new member this year." Oishi said as he looked over at the over crowed courts that I had screams coming from moments ago. I had to smile even though he had a better spot than me.

"Who is Ryoma playing against?" I asked as I walked to the left of Oishi and Eiji on the right of him.

"He's playing against Inui! He's a regular as well nya~!" Eiji smiled as we walked towards the courts, from a distance I could see Shusuke standing with the Ryoma's friends watching the game intently.

"I hope we haven't missed—"

"Game set! Game won by Echizen Six-four!" I heard the umpire from the court shout out.

"—it. Aw man." I chuckled as we finally reached the courts just in time to see Ryoma shaking hands with Inui. "And here I wanted to see how the little kid did against Inui."

"He did rather well." Shusuke answered me. "Beating two regulars…he's good."

"Sure is." Momoshiro said, as I finally took notice of his appearance behind Ryoma's friends, apparently so did they.

"Momo-chan-sempai!' Kato said surprised as he looked behind to see the towering second year.

"I told you it was fine to call me Momo-chan." He said, smiling at the freshman before he looked up at Ryoma who was talking his time getting off the courts. "He was an amazing opponent against Inui-sempai." Suddenly he smiled widely as he grabbed the trio freshman and hugged them happily. "His Twist Serve is more polished than it was when I played him!" Momo called out happily.

"So the chibi is going to be on the team?" Eiji asked before he broke out into a foxy smile. "And so are you Ryu-chan! This is going to be a defiantly good season nya~!" Eiji laughed.

"I suppose so." I chuckled.

"Eh? You're on the team as well?" Momo suddenly asked as the freshmen went to greet their friend. "Ah gomen, my name is Momoshiro but you can call me Momo-chan. And you are…"

"Ryu Honda. Third year transfer student that possibly might be on the team." I said as I shook hands with the taller male.

"Ne don't sound so modest Ryu-chan! Of course he'll be on the team Momo-chan! He won his block with straight wins! Six-zero for all games! And Buchou said that whoever wins that block will be on the team as a substitute!" Eiji explained rather rapidly.

"Ne Honda-sempai." I heard Ryoma call out, directing all of our attentions towards him. He merely stared at me as he held his racket on his left shoulder. "Thanks for the advice on the Twist Serve. It really helped." He said before he walked away with his friends in tow.

"Advice?" Shusuke asked along with Oishi and Eiji. It was Momo who responded.

"Oh that's right. On the first day of tennis, you showed him your Twist Serve after our mini game. And to think, his serves got sharper because of your advice. Just how good are you?" He asked. I chuckled nervously.

"N-not that great. It's a serve that I practiced a lot on and so I had a couple more years of experience on it. I figured I should share that advice to a fellow Twist Serve user." I explained.

"Hmm…it seems you're a strong player too Ryu-kun." Shusuke said, smiling at me. "Have anything else up your sleeve?"

"Not as strong as all of you." I said, rubbing my neck as I grew embarrassed by the compliment, but I still continued to answer his question. "Um…just one more move. I don't have a lot of moves despite what you think." I laughed weakly. Truth to be told, I had many moves up my sleeve, but there was only so much that I could reveal before someone figured out where those moves originated from and then my cover would be blown. I had to stick to my few original ones that I had and I could only go far with those moves.

I don't think it would be all that bad. I mean, this way I'll be forced to come up with a different style than my father's. Not to mention it would also help me strengthen up my—

"Hmm. I'll look forward to see it in action soon." Shusuke said interrupting my thoughts. "So you're done with all your games?" he asked.

"Hai, now I get to rest and watch the rest of the matches." I smiled as I took a seat on a bench near Shusuke. "And I'm going to assume that you all made it as regulars?" I asked Shusuke and Momo as Eiji quickly took a seat next to me.

"Nya~ Correct Ryu-chan! All we're waiting for is these last couple of matches to see who's going to be on the team next! I wonder if Inui or Kiado will stay on the team." Eiji asked himself as we watch the last match for Ryoma begin.

"We'll just have to find out." Oishi said as he stood next to Shusuke and then the five of us proceeded to watch the next couple matches. Ryoma, unsurprisingly, won his last set and secured his spot as a regular and then it was the suspenseful last match between the two regulars Kiado and Inui to see who would take the last spot as a member of the Seigaku regular team.

"Game Set, won by Kaido. Seven-five" The umpire of their match called out surprising many of us, who had thought that Inui would win since he was in the lead.

"That was an intense match." I said as I stood up and saw that Tezuka had joined us, replacing Momo's spot. "Ah, hello Tezuka—er Buchou." I said as I greeted the coach.

"Hello. I see you've won all your games." I nodded, "Go warm up on court two." He said leaving me confused.

"N-nani? Why?" I asked.

"You're playing another match."

"Wait, didn't I make the team already? I mean, I won my block." I said. Instead of answering me, Tezuka nodded at Oishi before he left. It seemed that Oishi knew what was going on.

"Eh? What's that about? You're vice captain Oishi-kun, why does Ryu-chan have to play another match? Isn't he a regular now?" Eiji asked Oishi beating me.

"Well, technically Ryu-kun your still a sub and Tezuka just wants to know if you have the same potential as Inui, otherwise he'll replace you with Inui for the substitute spot." While I knew that Tezuka's reason was reasonable, I wished he would have told when he told us about the rules for the block. Or maybe he just made his mind about it now.

"But Ryu-chan made it fair and square!" Eiji pouted

"Don't get mad Eiji, Tezuka just wants to make sure that Ryu-kun has the skills to be a substitute member on our team." Oishi tried to explain to his partner.

"It's fine, really. I'll just go warm up now." I said as I got off the bench and took out my blue and black racket.

"I'll help you warm up." Shusuke said as he took out his own light blue racket.

"Ah thank you." I said as we reached the courts. "I'll take the other side, and would it be alright if I hit first?"

"Not at all."

"Alright here it goes." I said as I served the ball over and once it hit the other side of the court, our rally began. We rallied for at least ten minutes, with none of us losing a ball, before I saw Inui entering the courts.

"Fuji-san, Tezuka wants our match to begin."

"Hai," Shusuke said as he used his racket to catch the ball. "Good luck to the both of you, Inui…Ryu-kun." Shusuke said as he left the courts. Now it was only the two of use on the unused courts and with every other match having ended moments ago, everyone came to watch.

"Looks like we have a full house." I muttered as I went to the net to greet Inui.

Whoa, I knew from afar he was tall, but…I looked up to the towering boy and I couldn't help but feel a like a midget, I knew I should have listened to Baa-chan when she told me to drink more milk.

"Honda-san, I'm looking forward to this game." Inui said as he adjusted his glasses, making a glare appear.

"S-same here Inui-san" I said shaking hands with him. "I never thought I would be facing you this quickly."

"Good data will be collected in this match," He said as he walked over to the base line, "So please do not hold back."

"Good data?" I asked myself as I went to my position on the baseline.

Good Data…where have I heard that line before?

"Best of one set match!" the umpire called out as Inui bounced the ball, shaking me out of my thoughts "Inui service play!"I stood ready at the baseline, holding my rack in front of me ready for either a backhand or a forehand. Inui looked up from bouncing the ball, sending another glare of his glasses before he threw the ball high into the air.

Show me how powerful a regular member is. I thought as I saw him hit the ball and watched as the ball came over the next. Show me that I can achieve my dream here at Seigaku! As the ball bounce on the right corner of the service box, I returned it with a forehand cross-court, but I was surprised to see Inui at the net already, slamming it back down before it could go any further.

"Possibility of hitting cross-court…95%"

"N-nani?" I gasped as I saw the ball flew towards my left and I quickly ran to get it. "Take this then!" I muttered as I backhanded another hit, this time I aimed for the back right hand corner. Just as before, Inui was already at the net and went to volley the ball to the other side of the court.

How does he know where I'm going to hit! I thought as I waited for a split second before I ran after the ball. I can't go all out right now, not when there's a possibility for someone to recognize my father's moves. And without those moves, it'll be nearly impossible to counter hit Inui's hits. The ball was barely out of my reach when in bounced in the service line. It's going to be a lot tougher to beat Inui than I thought it would.

"Fifteen-love!" The umpire shouted out the score as a first year came to pick up the ball before he rushed back to the safety of the sidelines. I switched sides and waited for Inui to serve. Inui bounced the ball a couple of times before he repeated his moments again but this time, the ball bounced to the left corner of the service box. I returned it gracefully with a backhand, but surprisingly he was already at the net.

Damn! I thought as I raced for the ball he returned and tried to hit it pass Inui only for him to block it. He's at the net again, ready for my ball! How does he know my next move! Let's see if he can counter my Jiguzagu then. I thought as I got myself into position for my famous cross court hit. As the ball came towards me, I placed my feet into a fighting stance before I placed my left hand straight up in front of my chest and pulled my right arm back, ready to hit the ball. As the ball collided with my racket, I placed a strong spin on it and as it soared over the net, Inui was already there ready to intercept my hit.

Impossible! How—

"Possibility of using Jiguzagu….96%," Inui said as he slammed the ball down before it could even land on the court. With an unintentional added spin to the ball, as the ball landed on my side, it curved to left preventing me to be able to get it.

"Thirty-love!" I stared at the ball as it rolled off the courts before Inui suddenly spoke up.

"Honda-san, I know you can play much better than this. Just how much do I have to push you to unlock your full potential?" he asked, I looked at the floor before I went to fix my strings not answering him. "In your previous matches, I have seen you hit cross-court when you receive serves. Not because it was an opening but because you have grown used to it and feel more comfortable with it. If you want to beat me, you have to use another method." He said as he walked back to the baseline preparing to serve again and I followed his example once I finished fixing my strings. "That is what I would say if I did not know your moves," He said as he looked back up, ready to serve, "So chances of you winning this match using cross-courts…0%."

"Then I'll use other methods." I muttered, as I raced for the ball Inui served.

But what other methods? I asked myself as I forehanded the ball back—down near alley this time—but Inui was there once again to interpret the ball. He seems to know all my moves before I can even decide. I raced for the ball and backhanded the ball, aiming for the left hand ally this time, but Inui stood ready at the net. Damn and I was sure hitting down near the alleys would throw him off!

"Possibility of feeling pressured and trying something new…70%" Inui said as he volleyed the ball to the other side of the court, nowhere even near my reach.

"Forty-love." I looked over to where the ball had hit the floor before I sighed deeply.

Get it together Mitsu…there must be a way for you to get a point…there's the Ninja Slice but he'll be at the net after he serves so it won't be as affective. My Twist Serve can only be used on my service games, but there's a chance that he countered that serve by playing against Ryoma….and then there's my other move…but I don't want to use it just yet. I guess it'll be my ace card when it comes to a very close game. But what's with all this 95% and 70% stuff? His methods seem really familiar but I don't know where I heard it from. It would really be a great help if I remembered.

"There has to be a way," I muttered as I went to the baseline. "There has to be a way to get the ball pass him." The ball flew over the net as Inui's racket made contact with the ball and I ran up towards the ball with an intention of hitting it to the right of Inui. But as usual, Inui was at the net, and quickly killed my shot. "I'm not going to give up that easily!" I shouted as I raced towards the ball and shot it back towards Inui who was waiting for my ball.

"Frustration level rising….possibility of not thinking straight….75%" Inui said as he back handed a ball towards the other side of the court. Despite the distance there was between the ball and me, I couldn't let it go. I jumped for the ball and luckily I managed to touch the ball with my racket but it had hit the frame.

No, I thought as I saw the ball soaring over me and towards the net. I…it won't…it's game. I sighed sadly as the ball bounced on the net before it rolled onto my side of the court.

"Game won by Inui." The umpire said as I heard people mutter around the courts. I picked myself from the floor and the both of us switched courts. As we walked to our new side, Inui muttered

"95%." I stopped to stare at him, but he never turned around. He merely began to explain his small phrase. "As I had said previously, you hit more cross courts shots than a normal person would. You had hardly lobbed any balls over when I watched your previous games and even if you did, my height would give me an advantage. Straight shots are reserved when you're desperate and so your game is based on mostly cross-court shots making it too predictable how to counter act your shots. I have already figured out your game."

My head snapped up as his words triggered a memory and realization appeared on my face. I turned around and smiled to myself.

"I don't believe you have figured out my game Inui-san." I said was I walked away from the bewildered Inui, "I have figured out yours."

"1-0, Honda serve." The umpire called out as I took the balls from courts and placed two of them in my pocket and bounced the other ball as I took my position at the baseline. After a couple of bounces, I grabbed the ball and looked up to see Inui standing at the baseline ready for my serve. I smiled as I threw the ball up in the air and fondly remembered the memory that made me figure out Inui's game

Flashback

It was two years ago, that day was relatively normal. I had convinced my father to let me stay at Seiichi's house for the week and I was getting bored waiting for Seiichi to come back from tennis practice so I made my way towards Rikkaidai tennis courts….again.

"Seiichi-chan!" I called out for my cousin as I saw him standing on the courts with other freshmen.

I remembered seeing a boy with a rather strange hair cut, but his closed eyes stood out the most.

"Mitsu-chan? What are you doing here?" Seiichi asked as he walked over towards me. Behind him the courts were empty, practice had ended and Seiichi probably wanted to practice some more. I smiled brightly at him as I showed him my racket case.

"I came here to play! It's boring waiting for you to come back so we can play at the park, so I decided to come here again." I said as if it was a perfectly reasonable answer. Seiichi sighed before he smiled at me and ruffled my hair playfully.

"I suppose we can play, but you'll have to play against Renji-kun. I promised Genichiro-kun that I would play a match with him and before you ask, it's singles." I pouted as he answered my question before I could ask him if we could play doubles.

"Fine, I hope he's good as you then, I want to get better!" I said as I took out my racket from my case. "So who's Renji-san?" I asked as we walked towards Seiichi's new friends.

"That would be me." The boy with the closed eyes said as he looked…I think he looked at me.

"This is my cousin, Mitsu-chan, the one I told you about who I practice with." Seiichi introduced me.

"Mitsu-chan or Mitsu is fine." I said, smiling at them. "So can we play already? I wanna play against Renji-san!" I said jumping up and down. Seiichi merely laughed at me.

"Very well, just don't hurt yourself now." I took Renji's hand before he could even speak and dragged him to the next court.

"Don't worry I won't! So…Renji-san, ready to play?" I asked as I took my position on the other side of the court.

"But…aren't we supposed to spin—"

"I'll let you choose, what do you want? Side serve?"

"I suppose I'll take serve." Renji said as he grabbed a couple of balls left by the previous tennis members. "You'll provide some interesting data."

"Data?" I said as I bounced up and down slightly from my spot.

"Hai." He threw the ball up in the air and served the ball at an alarming speed.

"Well at least you're not too bad." I smiled as I ran towards the ball and aimed for a cross-court hit. "Show me what you got!"

End of flashback temporarily

"Take this!" I shouted as my racket made contact with the ball and it soared over the net. Inui quickly raced towards the ball and forehanded the hit back at me. I backhanded the ball to the other side, as Inui was halfway to the ball. We both rallied for a while before I smirked at Inui, surprising him a bit.

"Tell me Inui-san, what would happen to your "Data" if you were suddenly weren't able to calculate my next move." I said as I volleyed the ball in.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he backhanded the ball to the other side. I quickly ran towards the ball, positioning my body for a cross-court hit. "You haven't changed your strategy." He ran straight towards the net ready for my hit.

"Really now." I muttered as I closed my eyes, concentrating on clearing my mind. "I'll show you something that not many people have the privilege of playing against." I said, my voice suddenly becoming void of emotion. I opened my eyes to reveal my once bright blue eyes becoming a dull blue. As the ball came closer towards me, my body was still positioned for a Jiguzagu.

"That won't work." Inui said as he positioned himself at the right side of the net, ready to get the ball.

"Psych." I said, and as the ball was about less than a foot away from my racket, I suddenly switched my position to a forehand hit and I hit the ball down the alley, not giving any time for Inui to react.

"N-nani!" Inui and the rest of the crowd gasped as the ball bounced against the wall and slowly rolled back to Inui's side.

"If you can't beat Data, you screw it up." I said, my voice still in monotone.

Continuation of flashback

"Game won by Renji. Five-two." Seiichi called out from the sidelines, taking the position as our umpire.

"What the heck!" I shouted as I saw the ball roll back onto the court, before I looked up at Renji. "How are you doing all that? And what's with that 95% and stuff!" I asked.

"It's called Data tennis." Renji said as tossed the ball to my side so I could serve. "I collect data from my opponents and then by calculating their moves, I can act accordingly to counter act their tennis strategy and win." He said, not giving me a second glance. "And I have already figured out your game." I stared at him for a moment before I chuckled at him, the chuckle then turned into a full blown out laugh. "Hmm? What is it?"

"It's so simple!" I laughed as I bounced the ball. "To beat your "Data Tennis" Renji-san. I can't believe I didn't think of this before." I stopped bouncing the ball and then I threw it into the air. "You're lucky, not many people get to play against me when I'm in this mode." I said as I closed my eye as the ball came down towards my head.

"Mitsu-chan—" Seiichi began before I suddenly snapped my eyes open and quickly slammed the ball before it was one feet away from my head.

"Don't worry, Seiichi-chan." I said, my voice suddenly becoming dull. "It won't be that long."

Third person POV

"That girl" Yukimura sighed as he watched his cousin use her special tennis mode that she reserved for games that she felt pressured by or just when she just wanted to beat her opponents quickly. "When I tell her not to hurt herself she goes and uses that."

"Her attitude has changed drastically," Sanada said as he watched the game with stoic eyes. "Not only has she become more calmer, but her eyes…if I remember correctly they were bright blue…now they're a dull blue. What did she mean by mode?"

"I suppose it's my fault that she created that mode." Yukimura sighed as he watched Mitsu switch her body at the last minute to hit the ball, messing up Renji's Data. "But to put it simple words…that mode…it clears the users' mind from everything but their instinct. They use that instinct to play tennis and it suddenly becomes very unpredictable. It's like playing an animal that's fighting for survival, her power levels go up, her slices have more spin to them, her stamina rises and she becomes nearly unstoppable. However there are three levels to that mode. Mitsu is at the first level right now. She still has somewhat control over her mind, allowing her to change her mind at the last minute, thus throwing off Renji at the moment." Yukimura explained to his friend as Mitsu quickly won the next point.

"What are the other levels?" Sanada asked, now intrigued by his friend's cousin.

"The second level…Mitsu has less control over her mind and you can see her moves become more powerful become less predictable. However…it's the third level you have to watch out for."

"What happens?"

"Mitsu looses herself to her instincts…she's even less predictable and worse of all…..she won't stop playing tennis…not until she either destroys her opponent or….when she has pass her body's limits and has to be hospitalize." Yukimura said, giving his cousin a worried glance. Mitsu quickly dominated Renji in another game and Yukimura sighed.

"Game won by Mitsu. Three-five. Renji serves."

End Flashback.

"N-nani!" Inui and the rest of the crowd gasped as the ball bounced against the wall and slowly rolled back to Inui's side.

"If you can't beat Data, you screw it up." I said, my voice still in monotone. I walked over to the other side , bouncing the ball as I waited for Inui to get into position. "Congratulations Inui-san, you have made me use my tennis mode that only a few have ever seen." I muttered, my dull blue eyes locking on his. I saw him take a step back and I lightly smirked. "Don't expect to win."

And Done. I hope I did an ok job on this chapter. I don't really know if I made the other characters sound in character; I hope I was close enough. :3 I also apologize for the horrible details of the tennis games. When I think about it, (and while I was writing) describing a tennis match is rather…difficult. Or perhaps it's just me. I also apologize if there are any grammar mistakes. I try to catch all of them, but there's always those few that escape.

I would appreciate if you guys would review and tell me your opinion about my chapter and if there's anything I should do to make it better. Thank you for reading and hopefully I won't take too long to update this story.

Oh, the moves that I created are based on somewhat real life tennis experiences I had/seen. Jiguzagu (Zigzag in Japanese) is based on my tennis hits that I use whenever I play a match with my tennis partner (I actually play double on my school's high school team). While it doesn't have a huge spin on the ball, I do hit deep cross-court hits that make my opponents run a lot. Ninja Slice is actually based on one of the moves an ex-varsity tennis member used last year. Basically it was a back hand slice she would hit and she would shout "Ninja Slice" as she hit the ball. The ball actually sliced a lot that it seemed to actually bounce back to her. (It's actually a possibility that it did now that I think about it.) And yes, more moves to come! And I'll give you guys the history behind them if you wish.

Once again thank you for reading!

-Midnightmich.