"The Echizens?" I asked as my racket made contact with the tennis ball and the ball went flying over the net. My father barely moved his feet as his racket extended out and hit the ball. I watched its trajectory and ran over to the left corner of the court. "Like, Nanjiro Echizen? The tennis player?"

"Yes, we knew them before they moved to America. Why don't you remember this?" I bent down and swung my racket to hit a volley. Echizen…that name sounded very familiar to me. Why couldn't I remember? It was on the tip of my tongue.

"She doesn't remember because her brain is too focused on tennis all the time." Touya, my older brother, said from his position on the porch of the dojo. He was laying down with a book on the porch. I turned to glance at him only long enough to stick my tongue out at him. He pulled his eyelid down with one finger and stuck his tongue out at me.

"Hikari, pay attention!"

"Ah!" I ran over cross court to grab the net ball that my father had just hit. Thank God I was fast or that would have been out of my reach.

"You played tennis with his son, Ryoma. You two used to play all the time together. His son has become one of the wonders of the young tennis world. He has won four American national titles, in a row." My father's brown eyes were looking straight at me. He didn't even have to look at the ball to return it to me. It is a shame he hurt his elbow all those years back…he could've been such a great pro player.

"Ryoma Echizen?" I pondered the name for a moment. Ryoma…why on earth couldn't I remember? I hit the ball again. "I don't remember."

Dad shook his head. "You amaze me sometimes, Hikari. He had black hair and golden eyes? Used to wear a baseball cap all the time? I am telling you, you used to play with him. You two were practically inseparable." He returned my ball by stepping over one step to the left. I needed to hit farther back by the baseline if I planned on scoring a point.

I shook my head, trying to remember. It was hard enough playing tennis with him and talking at the same time. I was already panting because he had me running up and down the court, like always. Talking was just using up my energy even faster. I didn't want to have a conversation while playing tennis. Couldn't he have waited till afterwards?

This was always how our conversations were though. He would bring up something while we were playing a match. It was kind of like our bonding time.

"Think about it Hikari,"

I hit the ball back and tried to remember. Black hair and golden eyes…baseball cap…Suddenly an image of a small boy all scraped up and covered in sweat with a white baseball cap twisted sideways on his head. He had a tennis racket in his hand as he bent down to pick up the ball. I was there with him, right alongside him just as equally sweaty and scraped.

"O-oh!" I said suddenly. "I remember him!" I stood still for a moment as the realization hit me. Ryoma Echizen…he and I had been childhood friends because our fathers were friends.

The ball whooshed past me and bounced right inside the baseline and went out. "Game-set and match to dad! Six games to love," Touya called barely looking up. I looked at the ball behind me shocked. I hadn't even realized he hit it!

"Nya! No fair!" I exclaimed throwing my hands up. "You distracted me!" I accused pointing my racket at my father. My father laughed quietly as he walked off the court.

"You allowed yourself to be distracted, Hikari. You need to focus on the game." I huffed and crossed my arms.

"I want another match!" I demanded. It didn't matter that I was sweaty and exhausted. I had wanted to take at least one game from my dad today! My dad chuckled and grinned up at me.

"All right," My dad said as he started back towards the court. I picked up the tennis ball and grinned.

"Ah-ah no!" My mother's voice came from inside the dojo as she started to walk out. I turned my head to see her lean down and snatch the book out of my brother's hands. "We are going over to the Echizens for dinner, remember? You have to get ready, especially you Hikari. I expect you to look like a girl and go not sweaty."

"Nya, but mom," I whined. She wanted to me go looking like a girl meant she wanted me to put some sort of skirt of dress on. No freaking way. This Ryoma was no one to impress. "If this Ryoma likes tennis as much as I remember," though truthfully I didn't remember all that much, except what he looked like. I figure he must love tennis, if he's won four national titles in America. "Maybe he will want to have a match!"

"No, no tennis for one night." My mother stood firm with her arms crossed. I rolled my eyes as I wiped the sweat off my brow. Touya had stood up at this point and was making his way back inside. "Now go shower, Hikari. Touya go change and Hideki stop tempting your daughter! I have a hard enough time pulling her from that stupid racket to get her to do anything without you indulging her."

Dad sighed and mussed up his hair. "All right, you heard your mother."

I groaned. "Fine, but tomorrow we are having a rematch." I told my father as I started to finally walk off the court with my racket in hand. "Is Uncle coming with us?"

My father grinned at me. "It is a date." My mother answered my question about my uncle, "No, I can't drag him from his TV. You know how he gets." She shook her head and I grinned. I loved my uncle, he gave my mom such a hard time. He was like my hero.

"Wipe that smug little grin off your face, Hikari," My mom stated as I walked past her. I scoffed and shoved my hands into my shorts pockets. I always practiced in shorts when I played tennis with my father or on my own. I thought they were much more comfortable than the mandatory skirts we had to wear at school practice or in competition.

"Let's see if we can avoid you two fighting at the Echizens eh?" My dad said. He rubbed the back of his head as he turned to my mother. I simply kept walking to the bathroom. My mother and I couldn't get along because I was everything she didn't want her daughter to be.

I walked into the bathroom. We had a traditional bath, but also a shower that my mother had installed when we moved in here when I was just a baby. She hated living in a dojo because it lacked some of the higher luxury goods she had wanted. However, when my Uncle asked my father to move in and help him care for this martial arts dojo in his old age, my father said yes without hesitation.

I opted for the shower as I got undressed. I guess I should introduce myself huh? My name is Hikari Tanaka. I'm twelve years old, a first year at Seishun Gakun, or Seigaku. I am a part of the girls' tennis club. If you hadn't noticed, tennis is my life. I love it and my goal is to go pro one day. For now, though, I'm content to play and get even better.

In addition to tennis, I practice martial arts and gymnastics. I know what you are thinking, gymnastics? Talk about one of these things is not like the other right? Basically, my mom would only allow me to continue both tennis and martial arts if I also did gymnastics. She insisted that a girl should not be as into tennis as I am and that I need a more girly sport. I kid you not, she said that. I didn't mind too much, I like gymnastics well enough. I get annoyed when it takes away from my tennis, though. Most of the time, however, it actually makes my tennis better because I am more flexible I can do moves on the tennis court that not even the best tennis players can.

Like I said, I mostly don't mind gymnastics. I practice martial arts mostly because my Uncle and father are masters of jujitsu and everyone in my family is expected to learn it. The dojo we live in is actually a jujitsu dojo and my uncle and father run classes here. My older brother Touya, who is sixteen, is one of the best in modern Japan when it comes to high school jujitsu. He quit tennis two years ago so he could focus completely on his martial arts. I think the fact that he quit tennis was a tragedy; he had been one of the best and had such great potential. He is also a part of his soccer club. However, if I am annoying enough and he is in a good mood I can get him to play a tennis match with me.

I'm about 151 cm tall, or 4'11", and 45 kg or about 100 pounds. So, I'm kind of short, but it never stops me. I have dark blue hair that goes an inch below my shoulders and green-blue eyes. I'm kind of average looking and I don't mind. Basically, I am an athletic tomboy.

What else is there? You already know I live with my Uncle, mom, dad, and older brother in this dojo. Location wise, we live in Tokyo, Japan. I also have an older sister, but she doesn't live with us anymore. She lives in an apartment in the city with her fiancé. She is a music teacher at a primary school. Hm, yeah I think that's about all you have to know about me. You'll learn more about my family as we go on.

An hour later, we were standing outside of the Echizen's dojo, or the dojo that they were staying in anyway. My mom was glowering at me as we stood outside the door. We had had a big fight about what I was wearing to this, and I had won. I refused to dress in a skirt or dress saying that there was no need for a simple dinner. I had ended up wearing a pair of my snugger fitting jeans and a t-shirt that I had gotten from a tournament I was in last week. My hair was pulled back in one braid.

My brother looked completely bored and my dad actually looked worried. I wasn't sure whether because he was worried about seeing Nanjiro after so many years or about my mother and I fighting. After a knock on the door the screen door opened to a monk with short brown hair and stubble on his chin.

"Eh Nanjiro-san!" My father exclaimed. Nanjiro grinned lazily with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Hey Hideki," He greeted as he stepped aside to allow us in. Touya was the first to enter giving a gracious smile at our host Nanjiro and his wife. We all followed soon after.

"Nanjiro, I am sure you remember my children, Touya and Hikari," he gestured in our direction. I saw Touya smile out of the corner of my eye and I gave a small nod towards Nanjiro. I couldn't believe I was meeting Nanjiro Echizen! The legendary Samurai Nanjiro…he had essentially taken the Japanese tennis world by storm before dropping off the face of the earth.

He certainly didn't look as intimidating as his stats made him sound. Nanjiro looked around, "Ryoma is around here somewhere. Nanako, where is my useless son?"

"I'm right here, old man," came a voice. I looked up to see a boy who looked about my age sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. He had a white baseball cap on that hid his eyes and a red warm up jacket on with a pair of blue shorts. On his lap sat the newest issue of tennis pro monthly, I would know because I had received the same issue just yesterday in the mail. I couldn't help but grin, so he was into tennis.

"You should socialize, Ryoma!" exclaimed Nanjiro turning to his look at his son. Ryoma shrugged his shoulders and shut the magazine. It didn't do much good as dinner progressed Ryoma said hardly anything at all. The conversation was mostly forced from us kids. They would ask about schools and sports. The only time Rymoa ever spoke up was when it was about tennis.

Luckily the dinner passed without incident and the adults and Touya were talking about something. I wasn't paying attention and I didn't want to talk to anyone. Ryoma had retreated to the porch and had his tennis magazine out again.

Curious, I walked over to Ryoma and peered over his shoulders. Maybe I could have a conversation about tennis with him. After all, we were childhood friends right? He was reading an article on Kenji Sato. I peered over his shoulder to see what he was looking at, "Nya Sato's serve is way more powerful than they actually said in that. In his match against Hideyoshi, his serve made the record speed."

Ryoma glanced up at me. This was the first time I had been able to see his eyes and they were striking. "Yeah, I know, but Yamagata's serve is way more powerful…Sato's serve is just fast. Did you see their match at the Australia Open?"

I nodded my head as I sat down next to him. "Yeah. It was pretty sweet; I think Yamagata and Sato have the best chance for making a name for Japan in the tennis world."

"We will have to see how they perform at Wimbledon, though, to really see," He noted, his fingers flew up to grasp the tip of his hat. I couldn't help but smile slightly as I nodded. I couldn't believe that I couldn't remember this kid! He loved tennis almost just as much as I did.

I grinned. So this was Ryoma Echizen, the "Prince of Tennis", huh? I'd have to play a match against him sometime.