Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

Note: This story is being "cleaned-up," per se. I read over this a couple days ago and found myself facepalming about every two lines. I got rid of all of the unnecessary bolded characters, simmered down the caps lock usage, and redid some other things. I hope this version will be a much easier read. Thanks!

I.

"…Ok, Echizen, Sakuno's racquet also needs stringing again, so could you-"

"—Haaii."

"…Really, Echizen, take care of her," the woman said before falling into a coughing fit. She regained herself and continued in a serious tone, "… I mean it."

Nanjirou raised his brow. "O-ok…old hag… Ja." And with that, he left.

(Wednesday. 8/27. 5:30 A.M. Echizen Residence.)

A certain ex-tennis prodigy sat cross legged in the living room of the Echizen residence. He looked pretty perturbed at something, and it showed in his tone, "Ryoma! Get down here now!"

"Haaaiii," Ryoma was too tired to protest to his old man, so he lazily trudged down the stairs and into the living room. When he saw his father on the hard, dusty floor sitting Indian-style with no questioning books to be seen, Ryoma was slightly puzzled. "Nani?"

Nanjirou silenced for a moment, then sighed, "…Help me."

"What?!" the boy was so shocked that he used English to respond to his dad. Ryoma knew one thing, and that was that his father never asked him for help. "Look here, Oyaji, if it's about me going to that disgustingshop and buying those exotic magazines for you because you aren't fully satisfied with that whole bookcase full of them, then I'm not—" The boy was stopped by his dad's fierce look,

"Ryoma… I'm serious," Nanjirou sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Just help me and go with Ryuzaki's granddaughter for new strings, got it?"

Before Ryoma could even say one word, Nanjirou got up and went outside.

"…Hai," the boy just responded and thought nothing more of it.

(Tuesday. 8/26. 8:20 A.M. Homeroom.)

Everyone was in their classroom, discussing the usual subjects; upcoming tests, classmates … and especially tennis and the ranking tournament that was to be held that afternoon. Horio was jabbering away to his two groupies, while our Prince of Tennis was glancing out the window, showing no sign of interest in their conversation.

Horio was running on diesel, as always, "Well, of course we all know who's gonna take the last regular spot without guessing."

Kachiro, feeling sarcastic today, decided to answer, "Who?"

Horio cockily jabbed his chest with his thumb,"Me, of course, with my two whole years of experience."

"Oh, really," Kachiro looked at Katsuo, and both of them sweat-dropped. He whispered to Katsuo, "A little cocky, don't you think?"

Katsuo looked at him, "I'm starting to think he was born that way."

While Ryoma and two-thirds of the ichinen trio reluctantly listened to the other one-third blabber away, a conversation between a shy girl with pigtails and her outspoken friend could be heard from across the room. Tomoka spanked Sakuno's desk with both her hands and stared at her with glittering orbs, "Sakuno-chan, you know who's going to take the last regular spot, don't you?"

Sakuno, looking sort of downcast, sub-consciously picked up a pencil and started to swing it in front of her face. The girl could barely hear her blabbering friend beside her as she quietly thought to herself.

"Sakuno-chan!?"

Sakuno's trance was broken, and she propped her chin on her left hand, "…Umm…" She was obviously troubled by something.

Tomoka just shrugged her shoulders five inches downward, "Well, Ryoma-sama, of course!"

Sakuno then began to tap one end on her desk,"…But I thought he was a regular already."

Tomoka's eyebrows ascended up her forehead a few millimeters, "Sakuno-chan, remember the ranking tournaments start over sometimes? Wow, I thought you knew about that, ne!" Tomoka then quietly thought to herself and frowned slightly, something's up with Sakuno-chan.

Sakuno just replied with a soft voice, "Oh, right." She then put the pencil down and settled her head in between her now intertwined arms, sighing softly. Ryoma saw the sudden change in her behavior, and slowly got up to "sharpen his pencil".

"…Sakuno-chan, is something wrong?" Moments passed, but Tomoka got no response from her best friend. The tennis prince slowly approached the two girls as Tomoka continued attempting to get a response from her friend, "Sakuno-chan…Sakuno-chan…" She needed another tactic to get Sakuno's attention so she decided to call someone over. She lifted her head and yelled for the whole world to hear, not knowing that the person she was addressing was three feet away from her, "…RYOMA-SAMA!!!"

At the sound of his name, Ryoma flinched and Sakuno shot her head up and fell backward, limbs flying everywhere. She expected an impact, but because of her lightness, someone caught her just in time.

Tomoka gasped. "Sensei! Gomen, Sakuno-chan!"

Sakuno only showed the slightest bit of shock, but it was then coated up by a whisper," Gomen…sensei."

Their sensei lifted her up back into her seat with a scoff, and then walked to the blackboard to start the lesson. "Ryoma, go back to your seat so we can start class."

Everyone turned to look at him except for Sakuno, who slumped back onto her desk. He turned to her, and slowly made his way back to his seat, dazed.

(Present Time: Wednesday. 8/27. 12:00 P.M. Seigaku Tennis Courts.)

The sun glistened above Seigaku's goldenrod clock tower, making it illuminate grandly as the day rolled on. It was about time for the regulars to start practice; they were only waiting for their captain and Ryuzaki-sensei. Everyone else was outside by the courts.

A freshman regular was pinching his racquet strings a bit too hard for the day, and this caught Fuji's eye. Curious as always, he walked just a few ways off from where Ryoma was standing, listening for any signs of the topic on his mind.

Ryoma stood outside the court, deep in thought.Practice better start soon. Tezuka-buchou and Ryuzaki-sensei are already thirty minutes late… Thoughts of not having practice swirled around in his head, and his fingers pinched even harder on his tennis racquet, almost bending the face. Ryoma loosened his grip and glanced around for any sight of his tennis coach and captain. Something kept tugging his brain, and after a while it started to give him a headache, so he walked over to a secluded spot under a shady tree. He had a knot in his stomach, and he didn't like the feeling of it. What's going on?

Fuji followed a few paces behind him, hid behind a nearby vending machine and waited. Following him around the corner were three Seigaku regulars.

"Hoi, Hoi, Fuj—PHHTT!!" Before the redhead blew his cover, Fuji swiftly heeled on Eiji and clamped his mouth shut with his right hand.

"What's going on F-PFFT!!!?" The other half of the Golden Pair got the same welcoming gesture from his tensai's left hand.

"Fu- uhh…" Fuji, seeing that he had no free hands, just decided to stop Momo with a simple "Fuji-glare".

It worked.

Syusuke whispered, "Shh…" After a few moments he let go of Eiji and Oishi's mouth, leaving them coughing and sputtering for oxygen. Fuji looked down at his right hand and noticed it was soaking wet. Eiji…"Saa…"

"Who are you spying on this time?" Momo just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"Shh." Fuji looked back to where Ryoma went while calmly swabbing his right hand on Momo's shirt. Seeing that Ryoma was still there, Fuji turned and smiled at his sempai. Momo was thinking about smacking the tensai when Fuji finally answered, "Echizen."

Eiji finished chuckling at Momo's reaction, "Oi, you mean our o'chibi?"

Fuji turned to him and smiled that smile he was oh-so-famous for, "Saa… now we observe. He's thinking about…" Fuji's head swerved back to the clueless boy under the sakura tree and furrowed his eyebrows. After a few moments of silence, Fuji turned back to the anticipated trio, "Ryuzaki-chan."

Oishi had second thoughts about his next question right after it slithered out of the corners of his mouth, "How do you know?"

The sadist of Seigaku just smiled back at Oishi, and he got the message. Oishi inwardly gulped.

While the four regulars were busy spying on Ryoma, Kaidoh came up from behind them to take a look at what they were looking at. Feeling someone breathing on his neck, Eiji looked back to see who it was. After he saw beady eyes, a pointy nose, and a sagging mouth, he screamed,

"AH! STALKER!" The acrobat player jumped ten feet in the air from the shock.

Ryoma's eyes snapped open, "Eiji-sempai?!" He swiveled around to see nothing, since Eiji plopped down in between Fuji and the vending machine just in time.

"Hmph," Ryoma huffed before going back to his previous cargo train of thoughts.

"Wha-PFFT!!!" Before Kaidoh could react, he was pinned by three hands.

Eiji huddled next to the vending machine, frightened from the previous incident and from Fuji's harsh glare. "H-Hoi, H-Hoi… D-don't S-scare me like t-that… I get s-scared eas-s-sily, ne…"

Oishi already knew this, but he sensed something else in Eiji's voice, like something was troubling him. "Eiji, is everything ok?"

"H-Hai…" Eiji said that, but he gave Oishi a look that portrayed his true feelings.

"O-ok." Oishi looked calm, but he was starting to get the same feeling in his stomach.

"Look at that, you made your sempai scream!" Momo was so occupied with bothering Kaidoh that he ignored his sixth sense.

"I…said…hush." Fuji had his eyes wide open by now, obviously irked.

Momo pushed down harder, adding weight to Kaidoh's suffering lower facial features, "Yeah, hear that, mamushi?! He said 'HUSH'!"

Before Momo could say another word, Kaidoh broke apart from their hands and met him face-to-face, barking in his ear, "Oh, you're one to talk, PINHEAD!!!"

Momo was quick to backfire, "Say that to my face, FISHLIPS!"

"H-he did… M-M-Momo-S-sempai-" Eiji couldn't help himself.

"Eiji!" Momo was not in the mood for smart-talk.

"Ah, Oishi! He's gonna eat me!" Eiji bolted to Oishi's side.

"…He probably would if he was willing to…" Kaidoh found that very amusing.

Momo on the other hand found that very insulting. Face purple, he shoved his index finger into Kaidoh's line of vision, "Ok, that's where I draw the line! Get over here!"

Oishi, being the motherly person he was, decided to resolve this matter in a calm and motherly way. After he got Eiji to calm down and practically ripped Momo and Kaidoh apart from each other, he turned to Fuji and gave him an exasperating thumbs-up sign. Then, sensing that the captain would be there shortly, he whispered, "Fuji-sempai, Tezuka-buchou should be getting here soon. You better hurry up!"

"Don't worry… Oishi-sempai." Fuji seethed. There was a brief moment of silence after he said that, so Fuji took advantage of it; Momo, Eiji, Kaidoh, and Oishi stood quietly as they watched Fuji's back while he resumed to spy on his kouhai.

I wonder what's wrong with that Ryuzaki girl, she wasn't acting normal at all today. Usually my name is every other word that comes out of her mouth, but she didn't say it even once today … Hmm … Sakuno…He widened his eyes a little bit, realizing about who he was thinking of.Why the heck am I fussing over her? After a few moments he went rigid, realizing that he actually said her first name. He also couldn't believe the fact that he remembered her first name. …Why did I just call Sa-Ryuzaki by her first name? I've never even thought of other girls' first names before… Why hers?By now, the Prince of Tennis was the Prince of Confusion.

His face flared up just enough for Fuji to see it.

Just in time for his camera to click.

The sadist grinned at his camera and whispered softly, "I love you…My precious."

All three of his "prisoners" sweat-dropped three puddles of embarrassment after he said that. Momo was about to swipe the Polaroid out of Fuji's hands when an abrupt,

"Everyone line up!" Rang throughout the atmosphere.

Momo tightened his oversized knuckles, "Aw, Man!"

Sakuno stared deeply into the light-sapphire sky for quite some time. Alone, that's what she wanted to be right now, just alone. Not even the dancing sun's rays could brighten up her face today. Only one thing… or, person was on her mind right now. I need you,-

Suddenly the door to the classroom bust open, "Sakuno-chan, what's going on?"

No,Tomo-chan I want to be alone…please…

Tomoka had had it: the falling incident in class, Sakuno suddenly depressed, and now she found her in class instead of lunch. She knew something was up. After getting no response, she tried again, "Sakuno… what's the matter with you?"

Sakuno's bloodshot, chocolate-glazed eyes shot open, still piercing through the glass window. S-she left out the… C-Chan…Sakuno was at a loss for words, for Tomoka was now being too serious with her.

"…Is it about… Ryoma…sama?"

Despite Sakuno's current state, crimson streaks still evaded her facial expression, "No, Tomo-chan!" She swiveled her head towards Tomoka. "I-it's about… O-" In an instant ebony dots swallowed Sakuno's vision and she swayed in her seat. "Ry-Ryoma-kun…h-help…" The only thing Sakuno remembered at that time was the sight of Tomoka pushing around desks to get to her sinking form, shouting something inaudible, and then her world went black.

He was sure of it—he heard a camera. Swiveling his head around, he looked at the vending machines, eyes narrowed. An eyebrow rose. Hn?

Silence.

No one.

He felt the knot in his stomach again—this time it scared him. A surge of frosted awareness darted throughout his body, but was quickly brushed off when he heard someone call his name.

"Echizen!"

He winced. Tezuka-buchou.That's twenty laps minimum already.He shook it off fully and walked briskly to the courts. Ryoma looked down at his racquet grip to find that it was wearing away from his sweat. He thought to himself, I just changed my grip two days ago. His hand that was around the racquet was pale white. He switched hands and stretched out his left hand. Ouch.

Thinking that nothing else could go wrong, Ryoma pinched his strings. To his dismay, one of the strings made a small 'ping!' as it popped from the impact.

Ryoma lifted his racquet to his face and smirked. Well, since I need restringing… and so does Ryuzaki… This should be convenient.

To be continued...

Thanks for reading! If the next chapter looks messy, it means I'm busy at my computer doing some clean-up. I'll hopefully get it up soon.