author's note: The usage of Seichi-nii belongs to Neon Genesis, by the way. GO READ SIX FEET UNDER THE STARS RITE NAO. So this idea was originally GlaciaLeafia's. It's stated that Yukimura has a younger sister, but as we don't know what her name is or how old she is, I apply artistic license.

summary: Yukimura Shizuko represents the famed Rikkaidai tennis team for two reasons: 1. Her brother is Yukimura Seichii, aka The Child of God. 2. She's the manager of the team! She thinks her position is for the better, until a girl--Tachibana An--transfers to Rikkaidai and attracts the attention of the entire team. And to make it worse, she didn't expect to like someone... a certain someone who could make life a veritable hell...

a blooming flower

ch. 1 - resignation

-

OUTof all the tennis regulars, I thought I would have said Seichii would have been my favorite.

Then I realized after he was defeated, maybe he wasn't the only one.

-

Sanada Genichirou lives a block-and-a-half-away. He's been my brother's best friend--and also his biggest rival--since we moved in Kanagawa. To him, and most everybody, I still represent someone related to Yukimura Seichii, a person the Child of God would do anything to protect. So I'm just there, not really like the Shizuko that my Mom wanted me to be like. I'm just Seichi-nii's little sister.

But Sanada's extraordinarily polite around women, even if he's extraordinarily strict towards his teammates. He too gets up early, and I pedal a little faster to catch up to him.

"Ohayou, Sanada-san," I said, kicking the brake and hopping off my bike. I pulled out a bag from my knapsack. "Seichii-nii wanted to return this to you."

"Ohayou, Shizuko-san," he replies. "I don't remember Buchou borrowing anything from me." Which is rude for Sanada, because one, he's asserting that my brother didn't honor him with the privilege to borrow something from him, and two, he's shielding Seichii from responsibility in the case that my brother actually would lose something that belonged to someone else.

"Just take it, okay?" I suppress the urge to roll my eyes. "I'm just making a delivery for Seichii-nii."

He reluctantly takes it, and I get back on my bike. "Want to catch a ride?"

"No thank you," he says, his eyes very serious and solemn. "I believe it would a burden on you physically."

This isn't the first time I've wanted to kick him in the balls--his family always had a streak of sexism, them being traditionalists and all--but I take after my brother's side in tact, so I shut up like the good Yukimura that I'm supposed to be.

"All right, Sanada-san. I'll see you at practice, then."

Ha. Practice. He's a freak on the courts--which is really saying something, considering that everyone on the team are freaks. There's Niou, with his creepy tricks and Yagyuu that compliment their doubles play. Yanagi-senpai, one of the Three Demons of Rikkaidai. Jackal and Marui, who are definitely artistic on the court. Kirihara and his Devil Mode.

And finally, Seichii-nii: kind, talented, bright, and a Child of God. One of the most powerful players in Japan, including the professional players.

I steer my bike near the racks and make sure that my lock is secure before I head off to the shoe lockers--but even before I can do that, I'm stopped by Niou, who casually waves to me.

"Yo, Shizuko-chan."

Niou is one of those people that you can't find when he doesn't want you to find him. He's unusually good-looking, mysterious, and plays the resident bad boy role exceptionally well, leading to drones of girls pining away for his affection. They haven't gotten very far, I've heard.

"Hey. What are you doing over here?" I ask, scanning his face.

"There's no law against greeting my second-favorite kouhai, right?" he says lazily, and I scowl. I think I hate being inferior to Kirihara.

I don't have time for that, so I start snapping the lock on my bike and head over to my locker. Unfortunately, Niou followed me, which in return won me about a million glares from a million people.

"Can you please stop following me?" I hissed. "I swear, you are totally doing this on purpose."

"There's no law against checking a hot girl out," he reasoned out, which would have been flattering if the people who glared at me thought the same as well.

"Last time I heard, there was a law against checking out Yukimura Seichii's younger sister," I snapped, and shut the door of my shoe locker harder than was necessary. "What did you want to tell me, Niou?"

"Ooh, feisty. I just wanted to say that, supposing if you ever want to try out for the girls' team, I might seriously consider dating one of them. You know, as an incentive for not having such a crappy team that represents Rikkaidai."

"And be associated with morons? I'm the freakin' sister of Seichii," I said flatly, as if that was reason enough not to try. "If I let Rikkaidai down, it's not only me that's the big time loser, it's also him that gets a rep for losing."

"Come on, Shizuko, I bet at the rate you're coming you'd be captain in your second year."

What the hell. I can't even beat one of the top alternates, much less a regular on the boys' team (not that I didn't try). The skeptical look on my face does not go unnoticed.

"I'm serious! Look, the only reason why you don't think you're such a great player is because you've got ridiculous standards."

"Anyone would get ridiculous standards if Seichii-nii lived in their house."

Niou shrugs. "I'm just saying. Because like, you're a great manager and all, but if you're going to seriously hide behind us..."--he cleared his throat significantly at this--"...you might miss out on stuff."

"How is being the manager of Japan's number one high school tennis team missing out?" I asked incredulously. "You're the one who's missing out--you've got every girl desperately wishing she could be your number one, and you turn out to be ... " I bite my lip. "Well, I'm just saying."

"I like being mysterious," he said plaintively. "A sexual attraction and an extracurricular activity are two very different things."

-

So it's Sanada and Niou for breakfast, and I get my fill of Kirihara Akaya around noon because he's the sort that forgets his own training schedule. With the help of Yanagi-senpai, I recorded most of the team's training schedule using an electronic notepad. Being the manager means I have to devise all sorts of creative training methods, which is really quite annoying because every time I come up with something good, all of them will eventually master it in less than a week.

"Sorry for forgetting it, Yukimura-san," he said apologetically. "Sanada fukubuchou's so cutthroat, y'know?"

I grin appreciatively at this jibe, because it's true. The only person that could possibly be more brutal then Sanada would be Seichii-nii, and even then he didn't have a compulsive need to slap someone whenever they goofed off.

"No problem. That's my job, remember?" I tear off a Post-it note with dates and times and hand it to him. "Winter tournament's coming up; you'd better put in some training on your Sundays, practice or no practice."

"Aw," he said, but shrugged it off easily. "So, I guess I'll see you at practice?"

"Yeah, after I finalize the alternates."

"Finalizing alternates," he scoffed. "I bet Sanada's piling paperwork on you."

Kirihara is a funny person to be around with whenever the Three Demons aren't there. When they're with Kirihara, it only takes a glance to make him shut up.

By the time practice rolls around, I've already taken roll of all the tennis members (which is around fifty) and fire up the speedometer. Then the regulars step into the court, and everything stops. The regular members stop talking, practicing, whatever when they see the team. Even the girls that come to the court early are holding their breaths for a second.

I don't blame them. The sight of the regulars stepping in airplane formation is pretty intimidating. Seichii-nii is obviously the wing leader; confidently striding up to the tennis courts as if he owns them, while the others take their cues from him. He's not talking, but the squadron is listening. They're listening like Yukimura is telling them the secrets of the universe, those funny, clever, precious secrets; the secrets that make them the chosen ones. I'm not the only girl--or guy--looking at them. And they know it.

But I turn away. They are beneath my notice, at least for today. I've got work to do, and for once it doesn't have anything to do with them.

"Ne ne, Shizuko-san!" a couple of girls nudge me. "What does it feel like to be in charge of the team?"

I'm a little annoyed by this because by answering them, I'm going to waste time when I could be checking out the alternates that my brother took the time to write down on my clipboard.

"In charge of eight pumped-up boys on the way to Nationals?" I ask grumpily. "Not easy." This explanation obviously doesn't satisfy their curiosity, but I don't have time to dawdle. I walk to Court D, where they've already set up practice matches.

I find Eishirou Ayumu, an average-looking guy as far as the freaks go. But his tennis style is all rounder, and he plays it very well--exceptional speed, good power, and a killer backhand that would put him on equal footing with Marui and his techniques. Very talented for a first-year. He was often underestimated by opponents for his short stature, which was only another added bonus when he was on the court.

I signal to the ref for a short break.

"Eishirou-san, just a minute."

"No problem," he replied, stretching his arms out. "Just got done with warmups."

"The district prelims are coming up," I informed him. "Rikkaidai's first seed, and 'Mura-buchou wants you to play in Singles 2."

He flashes a smile. "That's great! I've always wanted to play a couple of official matches. Erm, so who's in Singles 1?"

I sigh. "Sanada. He just couldn't take a break. Just between you and me, it was only because of Seichii-nii that you got to play."

He nods understandably. "Give my thanks to him, okay? I got to get back to this match."

It's a beautiful day, so instead of being cooped up in a room I take out a clipboard and plonk myself on the bleachers, reading over the future lists of possible opponents. Not that I was particularly worried, but it was just another cumbersome task that the manager had to do.

I gazed at the courts, watching idly as the regulars were duking it out against each other. The other half belonged to the girls. Compared to the boy's, they were a living joke... Rumors had it that the only reason why the principal hired a coach for the team was because of the reputation of Rikkaidai.

Niou's words came back to me. I wondered if he would make good on his promise if I joined...

Then I wondered if there were any players who transferred to Rikkaidai just for the tennis, and if so, if there were any girls.

The thought of it made my spine tingle.

Of course, it would only take miracle to find eight decent players that could keep their head screwed on in the presence of pretty boys.

I sighed. It would be impossible... High school girls were creatures who naturally melted in the presence of eye candy. It would be unnatural if they didn't. I myself had to actually talk and get to know the boys personally to get over their beauty. In the end, I had a greater respect for hard work more than the color of a person's eyes. Yes, they all had talent. But what mattered most was devotion and practice. They certainly didn't get to Nationals level by being idle all the time.

"Hell-ooooo, earth to earth, Zuko-chan!"

I jumped. Marui was standing right next to me and waving a hand across my face. "Did you not hear buchou calling you?"

I blinked twice, and then my mouth opens. "Oh my god--Marui, how much time did I just spend zonking out?"

"Um... ten minutes, I guess? Kirihara thought you'd be done with the alternates already."

I fish for a ballpoint pen. "Uh, yeah. Just give me a minute." I did most of it during lunchbreak. All that was left was some checkmarks and a couple of signatures to make it official, and soon I'm jogging down the stairs beside Marui, who as usual was blowing a magnificent green-apple bubble.

We took the long way around court, which was the path with the girls half. I spotted seven turning their heads at the sight of Marui.

"Aren't you the stud muffin," I commented dryly as more girls turned to look.

He shrugged. "I'd be more worried about you than myself, personally," he said casually. "You're working yourself to death."

"I enjoy it," I said honestly. "And anyways, someone's got to do it."

"That's true... but I wouldn't be complaining if those rings under your eyes weren't getting darker."

He glances over at the girls (some momentarily swoon). "Why don't you play tennis? 'Mura-buchou said you were an excellent player in middle school... "

I'm saved by answering this question when Seichii waves us over. "Shizuko-chan! Over here..."

Seichii-nii smiles one of those angelic smiles. "I'm only borrowing you for a minute. Now, look here, Shizuko-chan."

My brother doesn't beat around the bush. "I want you to find an assistant manager for the tennis team. This week."

"What for?"

"Coffee cups. Buying six pack energy drinks. Converting the clubroom into a mini-office. It's obvious you need help."

"I don't need help," I find myself saying, even though my sensible side agrees with him. "I can manage all by myself."

"Stop being stubborn and listen to yourself for once," he insists. He's smiling, and it looks like a real smile, but I know better. That's one of his I'm-just-barely-not-ripping-your-head-off smile.

"You're going to find one, or I'm going to elect the next kid that transfers to Rikkaidai."

"You wouldn't," I said, daring him.

How very wrong I was. After all, Yukimura Seichii wasn't the Child of God for nothing.

End of Chapter 1 notes:

This is the part where Tachibana An comes in.

Shizuko is a workaholic. Probably forty percent of her brain is dedicated to managing the team's affairs. I have to say it's probably no small joke to be in charge of the Rikkaidai team.

Concrit would be appreciated and reviews would be -love-.