Note: Not meant to be taken seriously, just a fun fic that was originally an RPG post. This is the sequel to my earlier fic, Initiation.

Ryoma's Revenge (Prince of Tennis)

By Haruka (email: haruka at ymail dot com)

It's never easy to listen to my classmate, Horio, speak (especially when he brags about his 'two years of tennis experience') but to listen to him laugh at me is unbearable.

Horio did a lot of laughing after my 'initiation' incident. Surprisingly, though, he also said something that made a lot of sense.

"Wait a second, Echizen!" he gasped after being doubled-over with laughter at my expense. "If all of the other Regulars smacked you with ping-pong paddles as an initiation, does that mean they all got smacked when they first earned their positions?"

"No," I replied, trying to keep the sour note out of my voice. "You could say it's a brand-new tradition."

"Oh." Horio looked at me curiously. "So that means YOU'RE the only initiated member?"

I opened my mouth to say something about not wanting to discuss it anymore, then stopped myself. He was right. If the purpose of an initiation was to test someone's worth in joining a group, then I was the only worthy Seigaku Regular at the moment by their own standard.

And I couldn't let things stand like THAT, could I?

After school, I slipped a ping-pong paddle out of the gym and hid it in my bag. There was no tennis practice in the afternoon, and for a change, I was glad. I'd never be able to pull this off if they were all in one place – having them all separated was critical to my success (not to mention my survival.)

One good thing about my 'initiates' being Seigaku Tennis Club Regulars was that locating them around school was easy. It never took long to find a fan who knew where at least one of them was. I smiled to myself as I headed upstairs. I was going to start at the top.

When I reached Ryuzaki-sensei's office, I was relieved to find the door open. The element of surprise was also critical, and having to knock would ruin that.

I peered carefully around the edge of the doorway. Tezuka-buchou was there, all right, and I was in luck. Both he and Ryuzaki-sensei were over by the window, looking down over the tennis courts and talking. Neither noticed me as I crept up behind them and drew out the ping-pong paddle.

*WHACK!*

Both of them jumped, and Tezuka-buchou's hand went to his backside. "Echizen?!" he demanded angrily.

"Just returning the favour, senpai," I said, wagging the paddle. "Can't have all of you going uninitiated."

As I left the room, I heard Ryuzaki-sensei ask Tezuka-buchou if he would care to explain what just happened. I took some grim satisfaction in that and went to find my next victim.

From Captain to Vice-Captain – Oishi-senpai was conducting a meeting of the student council. I'd have to intrude, but was beyond caring. If I had to wait until all my teammates were alone, I'd never be able to wallop all of them. Besides, I'd been smacked in public places by every one of them. There would be no mercy from me.

I tucked the paddle into a back pocket and knocked on the door to the room where student council meetings were held. This might be tricky, but one way or another I was going to do this.

The door opened and Oishi-senpai blinked in surprise. "Echizen!" he said. "Is something wrong? We're in the middle of a meeting."

"It's very important," I said calmly, thinking that I needed for him to be facing the other way. I glanced past him. "You'd better go look out the window."

Oishi-senpai's face reflected concern and I almost felt guilty (but not quite.) He moved quickly to the window and I tailed him, pulling out the paddle as I walked. A couple of the other student council members began snickering before I actually slammed the paddle against Oishi's butt, and afterwards they laughed outright.

Oishi-senpai looked shocked and embarrassed, his face red. "What on Earth -?"

"Just your initiation, senpai," I said with a shrug. "You wouldn't want me and Tezuka-buchou to be the only legitimate Regulars, right?"

Realization dawned on his face. "Tezuka … you did this to HIM?!"

"I have to go," I said, not bothering to answer. He'd already figured it out, anyway.

I found Inui-senpai right where I'd been told he'd be – in the chemistry lab. He was standing by a table, carefully pouring a green liquid into a red liquid.

I crept up behind him, drew back the paddle and let him have it.

"AHHH!" Inui-senpai cried, spilling both beakers across the table (I'm still surprised that stuff didn't eat through it.) He cursed under his breath and turned to glare at me.

"Echizen-kun, not only did that hurt, but you just ruined my latest version of Inui-juice!"

I returned his gaze steadily. "That one swat didn't hurt, Inui-senpai. My getting smacked EIGHT times hurt. Consider yourself initiated." I left without saying out loud that the destruction of the juice was an added bonus.

I left Seigaku grounds, because I knew my other teammates would not be found there. I knew where to find two of them for sure, but the others would be hit or miss. No, that isn't a pun.

Luck was with me. On my way to find one of them, I spotted another. Kaidoh-senpai had apparently finished his afternoon jog and was performing another part of his vigorous exercise program.

He was doing push-ups, but not like most people would do them. Kaidoh-senpai had his feet up on a bench, with his palms on the sidewalk.

I couldn't have asked for a better scenario. He was concentrating hard, his eyes on the ground, so it wasn't going to be hard to sneak up behind him. Plus, because he was face-down, my specific target was already within easy access. Best of all, starting from that awkward position, he'd lose valuable seconds before he could chase after me. I had no illusions that if I failed in making a quick getaway, the Viper would wipe up the ground with me.

I gave the bench a wide berth, approaching from behind, across the grass. I withdrew the paddle from inside my jacket. Carefully … carefully ….

"Ryoma-kun, what are you doing?"

Both Kaidoh-senpai and I stopped and looked up at Sakuno, this boring girl who is always hovering around me but rarely says anything. I couldn't believe she chose NOW to open her mouth!

So rather than a stealthy approach followed by a good headstart in my escape, I had to leap forward in a rush as Kaidoh-senpai was climbing out of his push-up position. I whacked him with the paddle so hard that he staggered and stumbled, falling flat on the ground.

A nice guy would have stayed to help him up. A nice, STUPID guy. Me, I ran for my life.

I was heading for the Kawamura sushi restaurant next, but I took a roundabout route to get there, making sure to duck around a lot of corners and take as many back alleys as I could. Kaidoh-senpai would surely have caught up to me if he'd seen which way I was going, but only by taking the long way did I avoid my untimely demise. I knew I'd end up answering for the unexplained attack sooner or later, but right then, avoiding him until he'd cooled off seemed like the best idea.

It was a safe bet that at this time of day, Kawamura-senpai would be helping out his dad at the sushi restaurant. He was a good guy that way.

Cautiously, I peeked inside and looked around. Kawamura-senpai was washing tables in preparation for the evening meal. As all the tables were traditional Japanese and low to the ground, he was on his knees, bending over them. With his back to me.

Oh, yes. Another easy mark. I tip-toed inside, readying my paddle as I crept toward my oblivious teammate. Then I sensed motion to one side and looked over to see Kawamura-senpai's father watching me curiously from behind the counter. I didn't know how to explain myself except to hold up the paddle and grin, glancing toward his son. Kawamura-san knows me (our whole team has eaten for free there often enough), and though he couldn't have known what motivated me to do this, he smiled and went on about his business as if he hadn't seen me.

Having been given that green light to go, I wasted no more time and padded straight over to wallop Kawamura-senpai with the paddle solidly.

It was a testimony to my swinging arm that he ended up prone on top of the table. He then looked up at me in hurt confusion and I remembered that Kawamura-senpai had been in 'BURNING' mode when he'd swatted me, so maybe it wasn't fair to take it out on his gentler, non-burning personality.

Oh well, them's the breaks.

"Echizen-kun," he started, then stopped when I held up the paddle in plain sight.

"Who's 'burning' now, Kawamura-senpai? Congratulations on your initiation." I walked out, hearing Kawamura-san chuckling behind me as he asked his son what that had been all about.

I wasn't really sure where to find my remaining senpai-tachi, but I figured the best places to start would be at their homes. Since I didn't have all day to run around, I took out my cell phone.

Eiji-senpai wasn't home, but his big sister told me where to find him. There's a tennis shop that we all haunt – it has everything from balls to clothes to a racquet-stringing service. Eiji-senpai had gone to get some grip tape, and hearing that gave me a chill. The last time I needed grip tape, I ended up in that store holding fast to the last roll while Ibu Shinji of Fudomine also held onto it. We had a tennis 'shoot off' to decide who got to buy it, and I won (taking down a thief with my ball while I was at it.)

So maybe I shouldn't have been surprised to arrive at the store to find Eiji-senpai and Mukahi Gakuto from Hyotei fighting over grip tape, both of them holding on to one roll. You'd think that tape was first prize at Wimbledon from the way they were going at it. Their fight was a lot noisier than mine and Shinji's had been, but then we're quiet people. Those two are not.

"I saw it FIRST, Kikumaru!" Gakuto yelled as he tried to wrench the tape away.

"You may have seen it first, but I REACHED it first because you're slow, nya!" Eiji-senpai retorted cheekily.

"I can out-leap you any day!"

"In your dreams! Let go!"

"YOU let go!"

I'm sure their fight was all-important to them, but I had my own reason for being there.

"I'm telling you right now that this tape is MINE!" Gakuto declared, digging in his heels as he tugged on the roll.

"Not a chance, Mukahi, it's myYYYAHHH!" Eiji-senpai finished his sentence with a scream as my paddle met his backside squarely. He let go of the tape to cover his rear, causing Gakuto to overbalance backwards into a display of ball canisters.

"Hoi, Ochibi-chan!" Eiji-senpai exclaimed, staring at me with a hurt expression. "What did you do that for?"

"Just completing your initiation, senpai."

"Kikumaru, you jerk!" Gakuto sputtered as he scrambled to his feet. "You did that on purpose! I'm gonna –" he stopped, realizing he was shaking the coveted roll of grip tape in Eiji-senpai's face. He suddenly grinned and ran for the cashier.

"Hoi! That's mine!" Eiji-senpai forgot about me and charged after him while I took my leave. My work there was done.

I checked the time after leaving the tennis store. It was getting a little late, but I wasn't known for being punctual and any comments Oyaji might make would be easily ignored. I only had two more stops to make, anyway.

Fuji-senpai's sister said he was at home, so that's where I headed. I had to admit, approaching Fuji-senpai with the intent to do bodily harm made me even more nervous than what I had done with Kaidoh-senpai. Fuji isn't aggressive or scary in the obvious way that Kaidoh is, but somehow, his version of it is worse. Fuji-senpai, despite his soft voice, pretty face and angelic appearance, has a sadistic streak. If he didn't see the justice in what I was about to do, his revenge might be ugly. In fact, that might be the case even if he DID see the justice.

I got lucky when I arrived at Fuji-senpai's house. His younger brother, Yuuta, was home, and he was the one who answered the door. "Echizen-kun?" he said in surprise. I'd never gone to their house before.

"Is Fuji-senpai here?" I asked, waving the paddle. "I have 'something' for him."

Yuuta's eyes widened and then a knowing smile spread across his face.

Fuji Syuusuke and Fuji Yuuta have a strange relationship as brothers. Both are tennis players, but Syuusuke (Fuji-senpai to me) is #2 seed at Seigaku, and when Yuuta was attending our school, all he ever heard was that he was 'Syuusuke's little brother.' It upset him to the point where he quit Seigaku and went to St. Rudolph. Although Fuji-senpai smiles most of the time, I know his brother's resentment hurts him. But I also know Yuuta really loves Syuusuke, despite the rivalry.

Maybe it wasn't right of me to use the paddle as a carrot to lure Yuuta into letting me in, but hey, it worked. And as I'd hoped, he even offered to help.

"Aniki!" he called up the stairs. "Could you come down here?"

When Fuji-senpai started down, I was hiding under the stairs. "What is it, Yuuta?" he asked as he reached the bottom, and I leaped out to whap him good across the butt. In the hall mirror reflection, I saw his eyes fly open in shock.

Yuuta burst out laughing, "Oh my God, that was great! For once he didn't see something coming! Thanks, Echizen!"

"Thank you, too," I said, then looked at Fuji-senpai. "What goes around comes around. Right, senpai?"

Fuji rubbed his bottom and smiled, his face back to its usual cheerful mask. "I suppose you're right, Echizen-kun." He glanced toward his sibling. "I hope my little brother keeps that in mind, as well."

Yuuta gulped and his laughter died a sudden death. I left them alone and hoped that Yuuta would bear the brunt of Fuji-senpai's own revenge, rather than me.

Now I was left with just one remaining Regular who had not been 'initiated' – Momoshiro. I wanted to do something special for my best friend on the team, so I started with phoning to invite him to spend the night.

"Hey, Echizen!" He grinned when he came in with his overnight bag and tennis gear. "Thanks for asking me over. Are we heading out to your court right away?"

"Yep," I said, shouldering my tennis racquet. "Grab your stuff and let's go."

We spent an hour playing and for a while I was having so much fun that I almost forgot my objective. Almost.

"That was great, even if you DID beat me!" Momo-senpai said as we went into the house.

"I'm glad you came over," I said and handed him a can of Ponta, taking one for myself.

My mother smiled at us both. "It's getting late, you two should get into pajamas."

"Sure, Kaasan." I motioned to Momo-senpai and he followed me upstairs.

Karupin meowed at us when we entered the room and I picked him up for a hug. "I hope you won't mind that he'll be sleeping with us."

"Nah, I knew about him already." Momo-senpai put down his stuff and opened the overnight bag, pulling out his pajamas. "So long as he doesn't sleep on my face I won't mind."

I put Karupin back down on the bed and began to change, surreptitiously watching as Momoshiro, facing his bag, pulled off his shirt.

I raced to get my pajamas on, all the while keeping an eye on my teammate. Luckily for me, it took him an extra few seconds to pack away his shirt and socks, and when he finally pulled down his pants, I was already changed and armed with the paddle. I crept up behind him and the moment he bent over to pull on his pajama bottoms, I let him have it with a resounding WHACK!

"YEEOOWWTCH!" Momo-senpai yelled, nearly overbalancing but catching himself on my desk. He yanked up the pajama bottoms quickly and spun around to glare at me.

"Boys?" my mother called from downstairs. "Is everything all right?"

"Just fine, Kaasan," I replied, my gaze locked with my friend's. "Momo-senpai just stubbed his toe."

"You're a pretty good liar when you want to be," Momo-senpai hissed. "Is that why you asked me over – so you could hit me?"

"So I could initiate you," I said calmly. "You wouldn't want to be the only one left out, right?"

He stared at me, open-mouthed. "You got everyone else already?"

I nodded. "Now we're all rightful members of the Regulars." I turned to put the paddle down and felt his weight slam into me, knocking me onto the bed so that I nearly squished Karupin, who darted out of the way just in time.

"You think you can get away with that so easily, Echizen?" Momo-senpai asked after he got me on my back with him straddling me. "It's one thing to play out your little revenge, but a kohai has to know his place, and it's not yours to whack your senpai-tachi with a paddle."

"What are you gonna do about it?" I challenged.

He grinned mischievously. "Punish you, of course!" He began tickling me mercilessly. I squealed, bucked, and tried to scream, but he covered my mouth with one hand while he tortured my ribs with the other. Instead of doing something useful like leaping on Momo-senpai's back with his claws extended, Karupin wandered over and began licking my face. That got Momo-senpai laughing and he stopped tickling me.

I was about to say something to the effect that he should get his big fat weight off me when I was suddenly struck dumb as his lips met mine. It was a nice kiss, soft and warm, not demanding. My first kiss.

He sat back and I regained the power of speech. "Was that more of the punishment?" I asked breathlessly.

"Think of it as your next initiation," he said with a wink and got off of me. I sat up and straightened my pajama top, blushing.

"Does this mean I have to kiss all the other guys now, too?" I asked blithely. I heard a weird noise and both Momo-senpai and I looked toward the doorway to see Oyaji standing there. His usual smirk was missing and he looked a little stunned.

"I'll get the cot," he remarked and quickly left.

Momo-senpai scratched his head. "I thought we were sharing the bed."

"You can have the bed," I replied. It was worth sleeping on the cot to complete my revenge, earn my first kiss, and best of all, freak Oyaji out.

After all, he started this stuff to begin with.

(2005)

Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

This fic is not to be re-posted.