Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis by Konomi Takeshi.

A/N: Just a warning, but y'all can safely expect a flood of updates from me the next few weeks. Probably. Hopefully.

This is a look into Ikeda Minori, the snow queen of Rikkai's head, and a certain trickster. Enjoy.

Summary: The not-love story of Ikeda Minori and Niou Masaharu, from middle school to high school to a little ways ahead.

~xXx~

so lovely when you say goodbye

~xXx~

"Someday my pain

Someday my pain will mark you

Harness your blame

Harness your blame, walk through

With the wild wolves around you

In the morning I'll call you

Send it farther on."

—Bon Iver, The Wolves (Act I and II)

~xXx~

Minori is in love with Niou Masaharu.

She's known it since the moment he first grinned at her when they're twelve, across net as they rally together. "I'll never hear the end of it if I lose to a girl," he'd said, briefly flashing her a wolf's grin.

Minori had never seen him smile before. Maybe that's way it only takes one for her to know that she's in love, or that she will one day fall in love with him. But she also knows that she is in love with a broken boy, that her love won't be able to heal him.

So instead, she tells him that she's better than all the other girls, and that she'll prove it to him—and she's not just talking about tennis. For Minori believes in love, but she does not believe in being weakened by it. She will continue to love this boy until she wakes up one day and forgets about him, but she will never impose her love on him unless he wants it.

And when his mouth curls up in a different kind of smile, like he's drinking up the air, Minori knows that he'll fall in love with her too, one day.

~xXx~

"What's going on between you and Niou-san?"

"Nothing," Minori shrugs, lifting and lowering one shoulder impassively. "Nothing that I know of, at least."

Azami isn't quite so sure, her vibrant green gaze gives that much away. She's always been a skeptic, Azami, naturally suspicious and unsure of others until they've done something to prove her wrong. Minori may have gotten on her good side after years of friendship, but Niou Masaharu has not done anything to change Azami's mind. Quite frankly, Minori doubts that he even cares what Azami thinks of him, even if she is Minori's best friend.

"It's just," Azami frowns the way she does when there's a problem she can't solve. "I get this vibe that he's always looking at you, like he's checking to make sure that you're still there. I don't know really, maybe I'm just seeing things," she sighs, flopping backwards.

Minori shrugs again.

~xXx~

When she was young, Minori's father taught her the art of keeping a perfect poker face. Mouth closed, but not too firmly, he'd said, critiquing her form. Chin lifted, but not too much. Face relaxed and smooth. Eyes, well, you've got them down already.

Minori inherited teal eyes from her mother, who died minutes after giving birth to her only child. Her father once said that the eyes were perfectly passed on, both in pigment and expression. And by expression, he meant that they were expressionless, never showing or betraying emotion. Not even the best readers of people could understand her.

"But isn't it bad to not show my feelings?" Minori had asked the first time her father had demonstrated for her.

He had only shaken his head. "No, Minori. You won't get hurt as easily this way."

So she continued to practice the perfect poker face, until every time she looks into the mirror it's all that she can see. Mouth neutral. Chin lifted. Face relaxed.

~xXx~

Her second year of middle school, and Minori is still in love with Niou. And she knows that he doesn't even know it, because no matter how good a reader he is, she is better at shielding. Not even he completely understands her.

How strange, she finds it, that she is so unreadable, while she can read others so well. She sees through every quirk and gesture from her friends, like how Azami doesn't trust most people, but is really just shy. The way Shizuku is always the one to play the mature mother hen, but underneath that docile armor is a passionate and proud soul that won't take any shit. Like the way Minori is the first to notice Takara and Marui's affections for each other. How Hana is fierce and sassy to everyone, but that her amber eyes soften and that she is endlessly kind to those she loves. When Yagyuu glances back at the fox girl every now and then, and even though his eyes can't be seen through his glasses, something resembling peace crosses his face when he sees her. Like the subtle difference between Yukimura's love for tennis and fondness of Yume that not many can pick apart.

Above all, Minori sees Niou, sees him for all that he is. For the broken boy raised by solitude and neglect to the troublemaking trickster who creates illusions on the courts. She sees right through him, can read him like he's a book.

When Yukimura collapses at the train station, Minori is not there, and she wishes that she had been. Not just because she has grown to respect and care for Yukimura as a comrade and competitor, but because when Niou calls her to inform her of the news, there's something in his voice that sounds wrong, like someone else's voice has been given to him. And that is enough for Minori to know that he has been affected deeply, that Yukimura's sickness has not affected just one person.

She finds Niou the minute she enters the hospital—or he finds her first, because he has been waiting for her. He looks lost, and she doesn't blame him. When the strongest pillar falls, when the brightest flame of hope is suddenly blown out, what are you supposed to do?

So she does only what she can, which is to lend him strength, to let him know not through words that everything will be okay, that he needs to keep looking ahead. Minori reaches over and slips her hand through his, and together they walk to the fallen captain's room. She considers the thought that he may keep holding her hand, but that consideration is quickly dismissed when he lets go the second they see Jackal and Yanagi coming towards them.

She knows then, at that exact moment, that Niou is in love with her, too. Because even though he let go, it means that he just shared with her a secret, that he feels lost and small, but doesn't want his teammates to know. He has stripped himself bare of guarded layers, and although she has always known that he is broken and unhinged on the inside, this is the first time that he has willingly shown his weakness to her.

She's in love with him, and he's in love with her, but there's nothing to be said now, in a time of sickness and great loss.

~xXx~

They are fifteen when he first tells her that his life is shit.

It's just the two of them left at the tennis clubhouse, long after practice has ended. She'd been doing paperwork when he came in, none too discreetly holding a bottle of whiskey by its neck. No words need to be exchanged, just a smirking brow raise from him and a single nod from her.

Forty minutes later, as they sit on the floor leaning against her desk, the bottle is not even half-empty, both taking their time. Minori does not enjoy being under the influence of anything other than herself, and she knows her limit even if she's never gotten drunk before. She can tell that Niou has the same thoughts by the way he turns the bottle around in his fingers, staring at the liquid with a neutral face.

"You know," he says suddenly, lifting his wintry gaze up to meet her drowning eyes. His mouth quirks down into a flat line, like a monitor when the heart decides to stop beating. "My parents used to travel a lot. They weren't home six days out of seven, so my siblings and I grew up with a lot of different nannies."

Minori doesn't know why he's telling her this, because it's certainly not the alcohol that's speaking. But she doesn't mind, in fact, she's rather curious. She knows more than anybody else knows about this boy, but not even she can know his deepest, most personal thoughts. "Why were there so many nannies?" She asks, plucking the bottle from his fingers and taking a sip.

His lip curls in a rueful scowl. "We always tried our best to scare them off—Nee-san and Ryouhei and me. We thought that if they had to keep on hiring new ones, our parents would get the point and just come home already." Niou pulls his knees up to his chest, crossing his arms around them and resting his chin down. "It wasn't like we missed them, really, but more like the idea of having parents that would be waiting for us after school every day and ask us how we were doing, like how parents were supposed to be," he explains, and this is trudging into dangerous territory, because he's baring so much to her.

"Parents aren't really like that, you know," she points out, mimicking his position. "My dad doesn't get home until dinner, and he doesn't always ask me how my day's been. Usually it's more about politics and ways to outsmart people," she laughs once.

"But you love him, don't you?" Niou asks, and the way he says the word love makes Minori's heart erratic.

She says, "More than anyone else in the world," because it's the truth. Her father is the only parent she's ever had, and the only she'll ever need. He is the one that taught her to stay guarded while being able to see through others, after all.

Niou shrugs, or does the best shrug he can while hunched over the way he is. "There you go then. Nee-san and Ryouhei and I, we hardly knew enough of our parents to remember clearly what they looked like, much less that we were supposed to love them."

You're not forced to love your family, Minori is about to say, before she realizes that he probably already knows this, and that it won't help him at all. Instead she says, "You said that they used to travel a lot. What about now?"

He shrugs again. "Yeah, they've stopped going away. They're always here now though, like they think they can make up for all the years gone. Nee-san was pissed at them for a few years, but she's over it now and comes back to visit all the time." Suddenly he is angry, flames alighting his ice cold voice. "I wish she hadn't. They don't deserve forgiveness after the shitty childhood we had, but somehow they still get it. Ryouhei's pretty much forgiven them, but that's more out of pity than anything."

Minori places the bottle of whiskey between them, the color of the amber nectar transfixing. "And what about you, then?" She whispers, not sure if she wants to know the answer.

To her surprise, she feels a weight settle on her shoulder, silver bleached hair tickling her neck and face. When he speaks, she can feel his words vibrating against her side. "I'm undecided," he says, lowering his eyelids and turning his face so it's pressed against where her shoulder meets her neck.

In the clubhouse with the late afternoon light streaming through the blinds, warm and just slightly giddy from the whiskey and the boys she loves resting on her shoulder, Minori can taste the words on the tip of her tongue, sweeter than sugar and more true than anything else in the world. But she swallows them back, because it's not the right time. She cannot confess to him in his time of weakness.

So she chooses to let him fall asleep on her shoulder, and when his breathing becomes heavy and even, she slips out and gives him a cushion as a pillow and drapes her jersey jacket over him like a blanket.

Good night, Masaharu

~xXx~

"May I speak to you briefly, Ikeda-san?"

She doesn't need to look up to know that it's Yagyuu. Who else would speak in such a cordial tone, only to be hiding layers of hidden scorn and sarcasm?

Minori also knows what this conversation is going to be about before it even starts. "Niou?" She doesn't ask so much as states, turning around to face the best friend of the boy she loves.

"Yes," Yagyuu nods once, curt and formal. "Forgive me if I may come off as offensive, but I find the depth of Niou-kun's feelings for you to be rather…concerning." The way the brown haired boy says the word "concerning" suggests that he has another word in mind, one that is not so civil.

Mouth neutral, chin lifted, face relaxed. She dips her head down in a gesture of respect. "I'm sorry to have caused concern for you, Yagyuu-san, but nothing's going to happen to him, I promise."

"Oh?" Yagyuu's lip curls in doubt. He is just as attractive as Niou, but in a much more refined, gentlemanly way of sophistication. He and Hana balance each other out, being a boy that hides passion and a girl that hides kindness. "Surely you must know, Ikeda-san, that love is not an emotion suited for Niou-kun."

"Of course I know," Minori shrugs, turning her back to him. She's never liked Yagyuu very much, finding him to be even more enigmatic than Niou. Yagyuu hid more beneath the surface, much of which was more disturbing that Minori was willing to see. "But," and she rotates back around to meet his challenging expression. "Surely you must have also thought that Hana wasn't capable of loving or being loved, and look where you two have ended up now," says Minori innocently, feeling vicious pleasure coursing through her at the tensing of Yagyuu's shoulders.

"Just take a warning, Ikeda Minori," Yagyuu spoke ominously. In one smooth movement he removes his glasses, and his eyes stun Minori momentarily. They were grey like stone, and just as rock hard and formidable. "If you break Niou Masaharu, you won't be forgiven."

~xXx~

Watching Niou when he plays tennis makes her unreasonably sad. Not in the way that she wants to cry and bawl out, but in the way that she feels pity for him.

No one would dare to accuse Niou Masaharu of being an incompetent tennis player, because he is far from that. But it is saddening to watch when he uses the special moves of other people, life he himself is not enough to win.

She knows that it's not true, though. Because even if he played using only the simplest of strokes, Niou could still beat most players on the high school circuit. Still, she watches him using Marui's showy Tightrope Walking or Yagyuu's speeding laser beam, and she wonders why he feels the need to when he is so talented all by himself.

But those are minor things that she has learned to not question, and when one day, during Niou and Yagyuu's Doubles 1 match against Seigaku, Niou reveals a tricky serving technique that looks oddly familiar, Minori only shakes her head and smiles. The others are all appalled that Niou would imitate the signature move of a girl for once, but she knows differently. That he's been watching her do that serve for years and practiced long hours to get it right, just as he did with the Tightrope Walking and Laser Beam and all the other techniques he's copied. It's all nothing but hard work.

And when he uses that same serve to seal the final winning point, he grins up at her swiftly before shrugging carelessly, like he's saying, you've got to do what you have to to win.

~xXx~

Once upon a time, a girl loved a boy, and a boy loved a girl.

But their story is more complicated than just that.

~xXx~

"Ikeda Minori-san?"

The chatter in Class 2-A dies immediately as everyone collectively turns to look at her. Niou is among them, his cool gaze settling on her. Minori, maintaining her perfect poker face, looks up at the teacher expectantly. "Yes, sensei?"

The teacher looks nervous and concerned, sympathy flickering in his eyes. Immediately, Minori feels her stomach drop.

"We've just received a call from the hospital. Your father has been admitted as of this morning and is asking for you."

~xXx~

Without even waiting for a proper explanation, Minori stands up and runs straight out of the room. She doesn't stop running, either, until she sees the white and grey walls of the hospital.

"Ikeda Amane," she pants out between breaths, her body fatigued from the running but she just didn't care. "My father, he was just admitted this morning."

The receptionist nods. "Room 109," he says, and with that, Minori is off running again.

She bursts through the door, about to call out for her father, but the sight before her elicits a small, strangled yelp out of her instead. How many doctors are crowded around her father right now, desperately demanding to turn up power? Why, no matter how many times they charge up the machine, is the heart monitor making that dull, elongated noise?

Why is there only a line on the monitor instead of peaks?

Finally, the doctor in charge shakes his head remorsefully, setting down the charges. "Time of death, one twenty-two," he sighs.

At that moment, Minori's poker face, perfected over the years, broke.

~xXx~

When she gets home, all she can do is fall on her knees and scream. Scream to the world for its unfairness, for taking her thirty-nine year old father far too early. For ripping away the only the family she'd ever known, the only family she's ever needed.

First mother, then father. Orphaned at sixteen. Wryly, she wonders if Niou will be the next loved one she loses.

She keeps on screaming until her throat is dry and parched, so she chooses to cry instead. Cry until it feels like her entire body has been drained, but somehow tears still manage to escape.

~xXx~

"Multiple heart attacks," she explains bleakly, voice stiff and emotionless. "One of our neighbors found him unconscious in the elevator, so he called an ambulance and tried CPR. They revived him at the hospital, but by the time I got there, he'd had another one. The doctors said that having so many within two hours was probably too much for him."

Hana wraps her arms around Minori in a fierce hug. "It's okay, Nori-chan, you're going to be okay," she says protectively, like she's trying to shield her friend from everything cruel in the world.

On Minori's other side, Yume pats her shoulder comfortingly. "Hana's right, Minori. Nothing's fair, but you're going to be okay," Yume says.

"I am okay," Minori insists, pulling away from Hana's embrace. She looks at each of her friends, at Hana and Azami and Yume and Takara and Shizuku, and wishes she could tell them the truth. But more than that, she just wants to be alone. "Honestly guys, I'm fine. Akiko-buchou can't run practice if it's just her and Misaki-fukubuchou, so you should get back to school now. I'll be back tomorrow," Minori promises.

None of her teammates look very convinced, especially not Azami. But if Minori shows weakness now, they'll definitely stay, and that's not what she wants for them or for herself. "Seriously, just go. I'm fine."

They traipse out after that, Azami being the last. She pauses at the door, turning back to look Minori straight in the eyes. "You know that I'm always here for you if you need me, right?" Azami says seriously, voice suggesting that it's not so much a question as it is a statement.

And Minori knows that Azami is and has always been there for her, but she doesn't want Azami to be burdened with something this heavy. "Of course I do," she says, offering a fleeting smile to her best friend. "It's always been you, Aza."

Azami smiled back in return, before waving. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Minori. Hope you feel better."

The door shuts, and Minori is alone.

~xXx~

Not even ten minutes later, there's a knock on the door. And she thinks she already knows who it is.

"I waited until the others left," he says, his hands in his pockets. His posture is slouched over as usual, and he hasn't even changed out of his school uniform despite the fact that tennis practice should have started almost an hour ago. But his eyes are what Minori focuses on, because she can see something resembling sympathy in them.

"You didn't have to come," she says, wrapping her loose grey sweater around her slim frame.

He merely looks at her, and at sixteen, he is just as captivating as he was when he was twelve. "You're not okay," he states simply. Doesn't try to even ask, doesn't question it. It's the one thing he knows about her for sure.

She grips the fabric of her sweater. "I'm not," she agrees. Mouth neutral, chin lifted, face relaxed.

If this were a fairytale or a love story, she would have let loose all of her emotions and jumped into his arms, and he would have held her while whispering that everything was going to be okay, that she still had him. But this isn't a fairytale or even a love story, because love isn't something suited for him, and because she has already screamed her everything out.

Instead, he holds up a bottle of tequila and asks if he can come in.

She obliges.

~xXx~

He crashes on her couch that night, and in the morning she doesn't expect him to still be there. So she takes a shower and brushes out her hair so it's smooth and pretty, then gets dressed into her school uniform. She's in the midst of knotting her tie when she stumbles into the kitchen and freezes.

A plate of eggs and fruit wait for her on the table, and there, at the sink, is Niou, drying the skillet. He turns at her footsteps and shrugs, as if to say, I'm a gentleman, what else did you expect? Which makes her want to laugh, because he is many things—broken, wintry, reserved, a boy—but gentlemanly is not a word she'd ever use to describe him.

Niou tosses her a box of tablets. "For the hangover," he explains, nodding to the glass of water next to her breakfast.

"Thanks."

As she eats, she notices the now empty tequila bottle on the counter, along with two glasses. "I thought you'd be gone by now," she comments, popping open a pill.

"Yeah, well," he shrugs lethargically. "I overslept."

Liar, she smirks, hiding her expression by drinking the water. It's such an obvious lie that he doesn't even try to sell it, already knowing that she can tell.

He studies her face intently. Minori knows that he's always been frustrated by his inability to read her when it's so easy on others. He knows no more about her than Azami or others do. "You're still not okay," he says at last, the only conclusion he can make out.

"I'm not," she admits as she sets her plate in the sink. "But I will be."

~xXx~

"Are you okay?"

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Ikeda-san."

"Do you need any help?"

Minori is so tired of those words. She never wanted for anyone to look at her differently, even if she feels pain down to the core.

Niou seems to notice this, and one day, the questions and condolences stop. Minori shakes her head, wondering just what he said to make it work.

~xXx~

At the end of their second year, something happens that causes all hell to break loose.

Minori is walking with Azami and Shizuku by the tennis courts, when they see a sight they've never seen before. The boy regulars are lined up in front of Yukimura, all watching in awe as Yume, his longtime girlfriend, shouts at him. The copper haired beauty is a good couple inches shorter than Yukimura, but the child of God is the one that looks uneasy.

"I can't believe I've dealt with your shit all these years when I should have ended it from the start!" Yume snaps, stomping her foot down for good measure. Usually Yume is the second most mature and docile behind Shizuku, but whatever Yukimura has done must be major, because Minori has never seen her this angry before.

Yume jabs an accusing finger at her boyfriend. "You've never cared about anything other than yourself and tennis. Because there's never been anything but tennis that you saw, right? You're so selfish that you don't even care about your teammates as people, just for their tennis, and even then it's always been about your reign. Making sure that Rikkai wins during your three years of high school, and then saying 'screw it' to everything else. What about Kirihara, when the third years all graduate? You claim to care so much for his wellbeing, but have you ever really considered him?"

"Yume," Yukimura says her name like he's tired and resigned, like he's not taking her seriously. "Yume, of course I care about Akaya. You're just overreacting—"

"So what if I am?" Yume yells right back, practically bristling in anger. "Because I've got a damn good reason to be! If you really cared about Kirihara you wouldn't exploit his devil mode when you know that it's not healthy for him, and you would at least try to think about his next year as the only returning regular. I bet the thought has never crossed your mind, has it, that Rikkai even has a future after you're gone? That everything revolves around you, and once you leave it just doesn't exist anymore? Look me in the eye and tell me that that's not what you think, Seiichi, and if you do that maybe I can believe you," her voice steadies, but she is still as angry as before.

To everyone's great shock, Yukimura doesn't say anything, doesn't even look at the girl he loves.

Yume takes in a deep breath, calmly clasping her hands together behind her back. "I understand how much you love tennis, Seiichi, and I have never once asked you to put me in front of tennis. Countless times I've let you cancel dates at the last minute for tennis and never confronted you about it, but seeing how you treat your teammates—the ones that stood by you for so long when you were sick and weak—is not something I will put with. You are selfish and tunnel-visioned and imposing, I'm done with you, Yukimura." Her voice betrays nothing, no shaking or unstableness detected as she walks away. For when Yume has made up her mind, she never fails to follow through with it.

Yukimura, meanwhile, looks dazed, like he's been shot with a stunner and is unable to move. Minori feels pity for him, before remembering that he must have done something extremely out of line to cause even-tempered Yume to break up with him.

Finally, the blue-haired boy snaps back into reality. "Well?" He raises a brow to the boys standing in front of him, hushed and shocked by the earlier outburst. "Aren't you going to start practicing?"

It takes less than thirty seconds for the team to start rallying, but whispers are already spreading like wildfire.

~xXx~

"Yukimura was kind of being a dick," Marui admits during lunch the next day. Minori, Takara, and Jackal are all sitting with him, the latter pursing his lips at Marui's comment.

"I have to agree with Marui here," Jackal sighs, albeit reluctantly. "Yukimura-buchou's always been an empowering captain, but yesterday I think he was having an off day or something and he snapped at us, especially Akaya."

"So that's why Yume was defending Kirihara so much," Takara muses, hazel eyes thoughtful.

Jackal nods. "Basically, I think Yukimura-buchou's getting nervous because third year is starting in a couple of weeks. It's his last shot for Rikkai to win three years in a row, and what with Seigaku's Echizen coming back and all, Yukimura-buchou's getting impatient."

Minori raises a brow that is much darker than her hair color. "Is he really all that worried that he'll lose to a freshman again?" She can't help but feel a little vehement, because Yume is her friend and she is on her side, even if she does sort of like Yukimura.

"Who knows," Marui shrugs, popping his gum. "But when we played Seigaku in the semis last spring, it got pretty close. Yukimura-buchou almost had to play Tezuka, and who knows how that would have gone down."

Minori does remember. Rikkai had suffered a rocky start, with Kirihara losing Singles 3 to Fuji Syusuke again. There was just some thing about the angelic looking Seigaku player that scared Kirihara, and because he no longer used his Devil Mode, his loss was rather unfortunate. Yagyuu and Niou clinched an easy Doubles 2 win, followed by Marui taking Singles 2 against Momoshiro, and then Sanada and Yanagi paired up to take on the Golden Pair. Through sheer force of individual domination alone did Rikkai manage to win, though the match was almost too close for comfort. Minori could understand why Yukimura was nervous, and she almost felt sympathy for him. Almost.

"So then what happened?" Takara asks, subtly sneaking a hand towards Marui's pile of candy in front of him. Marui, being the ever observant lollipop head, slaps her hand away without even looking, shooting her a teasing smirk.

"He kind of just got really quiet, but in that way where you that he's threatening you. Akaya seemed pretty uncomfortable, since he was the only one that lost, and that kind of made him a target. Miyake-san happened to come by when Yukimura-buchou was being especially intimidating, and she sort of just snapped," Jackal finishes, tiredly rubbing at his eyes.

"She even slapped him," Marui shudders at the memory. "Buchou tried to interrupt her, and she slapped him right across the face. She has more balls than our whole team combined."

Takara's mouth falls open in shock. "Yume did? I'm sorry, but are you sure that it wasn't like, Hana in disguise or something?" Takara is extremely vocal in her dislike of Yukimura, but even she is shocked by the fact that his ex-girlfriend slapped him in front of his whole team.

Jackal nods in confirmation. "It was definitely Miyake-san. She shocked us all, but I don't think anyone was as in awe as buchou was. I think he may actually be afraid of her now."

"Probably not," Minori disagrees. Just earlier this morning, Yukimura had tried to approach Yume in the hallway, but she'd just slammed her locker in his face and stalked off without a word or a single glance. From the way it looked, Yukimura was trying to make amends and possibly rekindle their relationship, but Yume was having none of it. "Yukimura probably feels humiliated after what happened, but he still genuinely likes her so he wants to get back together. If anything, I think Yume's knocked some sense into him, and he's finally realizing it."

"Either way, it's a royal mess," Marui sighs, subconsciously taking Takara's hand in his. "And we're going to be the ones to suffer Yukimura-buchou's wrath."

"Definitely," Jackal agrees, looking equally defeated.

Neither Minori nor Takara bother attempting to tell them otherwise.

~xXx~

Suffer the boys do, while Akiko and Misaki quietly congratulate Yume on standing up for herself. "You did the right thing, Yume-chan," Akiko says, who, despite her rivalry of sorts with Yukimura, is supporting her own teammate nonetheless. "From what I heard, he had it coming."

"He definitely had it coming," Misaki echoes.

Yume does not answer either of her seniors.

Akiko sighs, before turning to the rest of the second years and Hashimoto Sayuri, the sole first year. "Well, there's not much that can be done about that. As you all know, this is our last practice together since the third years are unable to attend clubs the last two weeks of school. Due to that, it's about time we unveiled the next captain and vice captain. Which, well, I'm sure most of you have already guessed."

"Of course we know," Hana rolls her eyes amusedly, flashing her half-smile, half-smirk. "Nori-chan and Taka, of course." Everyone else nods in agreement. Captain usually went to the strongest senior, while vice captain went to the most charismatic. There was no senior more skilled than Minori, and no one more charismatic and suited to the job of vice captain as Takara.

Misaki grins openly. "Well well well, here we have Ms. Sassafras not even giving her seniors a chance to finish. Let us at least keep the small amount of dignity we have left, Hana-chan, before we have none at all," her hazel eyes glimmer.

Akiko shoves her best friend. "Anyway," Akiko says, clearing her throat. "Yes, Ikeda and Suzuki are your new captain and vice captain, and Misaki and I expect you all to treat them well. Or at least as well as you can, in Akamine's case here." It's a well known fact that Akiko doesn't smile very much, but that doesn't mean she isn't loved by all of her friends and teammates. She doesn't offer them a smile here, either, but in a way, it's more encouraging.

Besides, Minori already found the handwritten letter and woven bracelet in her locker specifically addressed to her. If anyone claims that Akiko didn't care, Minori would defend her now former captain to the death.

"Well," Misaki claps her hands together. "Since there's not much left to be said, please excuse Akiko and I as we go bawl our eyes out once we're out of earshot."

"Misaki," Akiko sighs, but her voice rings with amusement. Reluctantly, she turns to look at the team once more. "Goodbye, girls. Keep on flying."

~xXx~

When Minori arrives home late that night from her job—although her family sent her plenty of money to support herself after she started living alone, she refused to live as their charity case and got a job waitressing at a four star restaurant—Niou is already waiting for her at her door.

Still dressed in his tennis uniform with his bag slung over one shoulder, Minori would have thought that this was any normal day, that he frequented her apartment often, except she can't. The large red mark on the left side of his face is far too jarring, as well as the cut at the corner of his lip.

"What—" she begins to ask before stopping, meeting his level, challenging blue gaze. What a stupid question, because since when has anybody ever asked Niou Masaharu anything and gotten an answer when he didn't give one first? Changing directions, she unlocks the door and leaves it open for him to follow if he wants. He does, to her satisfaction, and the corners of her lips turn up when her back is to him.

Minori gets out supplies in silence while Niou lounges on a stool in the kitchen, watching her. Finally, he says, "It was Yukimura."

She almost drops the box of bandages. "He slapped you?"

"Yeah," Niou shrugs, like it's just another daily thing, except it's not, because why would he be showing up at her door if it were? His eyes never leave hers as she comes near him, not even when her fingers touch his chin so she can wipe at the cut with antiseptic. As if he doesn't even register the sting, he continues. "Sanada was getting mad over a prank I pulled on him, and then Yukimura came by. He told Sanada that since he was vice captain, he had more power and authority than I did, so Yukimura told him to slap me."

Minori suddenly finds it hard to keep her hands steady, so she lifts her fingers from his face. Oh Yukimura Seiichi, what's gotten into you? "But then Sanada-san wouldn't, so Yukimura-san did instead, right?" She guesses, partly because Niou has already said it was Yukimura, partly because she knows that Sanada's slaps leave a much bigger imprint.

He nods. "Sanada was probably too shocked to actually do it, so he froze. Next thing I know, Yukimura's already hit me, and then he hits Sanada too. Pretty hard."

"Did Yukimura-san say anything?"

Niou smirks a twisted, cruel smirk. "Other than calling Sanada a disgrace and unworthy of his title? Nothing."

This time, Minori really does drop the bandages. "Seriously?"

"Would I ever lie to you, Ikeda darling?" And he's right, of course he is, because he has tricked countless others, but he has never once spoken false to her.

Minori doesn't say anything else as she sets the bandages down, deciding that Niou doesn't actually need them because the cut isn't very deep. "So," she says, keeping her voice casual. "Where's the usual alcoholic drink? Or did you forget this time?"

He smirks again, with less cruelty. "Brandy in my bag."

She opens his bag, and sure enough, their bottle of the night awaits them. "Oh, and I forgot," Minori suddenly remembers something as she fishes a cork screw out of a drawer. "Just what was this prank you pulled on Sanada-san this time?"

"Restringing all of his racquets so they were pink. His face was priceless," Niou laughs, accepting the bottle and raising it up. "Here's to you and me, Ikeda, and to slaps and messing with Sanada," he says right before taking a swig.

He ends up sleeping on her couch again that night—or sometimes she wonders if he ever sleeps rather than lie awake restlessly—and the next morning, he is gone with only a quarter full bottle of brandy left as proof of him being there.

She downs the rest of it before noon.

~xXx~

"Can I help you, Ikeda-san?"

"Yukimura, we need to talk."

Only two days after the slapping incident, Minori has decided that Yukimura needs to get his act together. She's seen the way that Sanada walks with his head slightly lowered in shame, how Niou bares all his teeth to people who stare at the large cut on the side of his mouth, and Minori has had enough. What right did he have, Yukimura Seiichi, that made him think he could go around and impose himself on others—Yume and Sanada and Niou and so many more—without there being any consequences? None, as far as Minori knew, and she was intent on keeping it that way.

She leads him out to a secluded area behind the clubhouse and turns to face him directly, shoulders squared and posture perfectly straight. Mouth neutral, chin lifted, face relaxed. "It's come to my attention that you've been acting rather out of control after Yume broke up with you, and I'd like for you to put a stop to it now," Minori commands, straight to the point without any pleasantries.

Yukimura grimaces, and a small twinge of pity forms in Minori's heart. She does think that, despite in lieu of recent events, Yukimura is a good person, but everything Yume said about him has an element of truth to it. Minori believes without a doubt in her mind that he loved and still loves his ex-girlfriend, whether Yume may know it or not, but that Yukimura's love and desire for tennis will always be stronger, that he will always choose tennis over her. He is selfish in that respect, while Yume has been selfless enough to never once ask him to cast aside tennis for her, not even just a little. But everyone reaches his or her breaking point eventually, and Minori knows that Yume will never take him back.

"If you are speaking of an incident which I am certain you are thinking of," Yukimura replies evenly, but Minori can feel the anger brewing beneath the surface. "Then I would suggest you stay out of it. The way I handle my team is not of your business."

Selfish bastard. "If it involves Niou then I am automatically concerned, whether he wants me to be or not," Minori shoots back, lifting her chin even higher in a defiant position. "And clearly this also involves Yume, who is my friend that I will defend when I feel she's in the right, which I know she is."

Yukimura's expression turns dark and twisted and painful at the mention of Yume, which only fuels Minori on more. "You need to understand that she broke up with you for a damn good reason, and that reason is that she doesn't want to be with someone as selfish as you. Which, if you ask me, is a damn good reason to break up with someone, so you need to accept it too. Yume's not going to get back together with you, and you know this but you aren't taking it yet. Don't be this person that you're starting to become, Yukimura, because if you do, she's only going to hate you more."

Calmer, she lowers her voice, says, "You love her, don't you? Because if you really do, you'd think about what she told you and realize that she's right. You'd try to change and become a better person that doesn't slap their teammates and shame their close friends. Put your life back together, Yukimura Seiichi, and do it quickly, or else you're not going to have anything left."

Finished and satisfied with herself, she walks past him without waiting for a response.

~xXx~

The next time she sees Niou during practice that afternoon, he is annoyed with her. Pulling her aside, he berates her, saying that he doesn't need her protection, and that she shouldn't have spoken to Yukimura like that for his sake.

Unaffected, she calmly retorts that she's never needed his permission to do what she wants, effectively silencing him. He throws her arm that he's been gripping too tightly down to the side and stalks off, muttering something about she didn't know a fucking thing about him.

(Which they both know is wrong, but she lets him go, anyway)

~xXx~

A year later, the majority of the boys and girls' tennis teams graduate. Minori and Takara pass on the torches to Sayuri and Maiha, the only returning regulars, while Kirihara decides to fly alone without a vice captain.

Yanagi and Azami are dual valedictorians, because after all the exams and teacher recommendations, their score is exactly even. Azami, being the selfless soul she is, lets Yanagi make the graduating speech, claiming that public speaking has never been her thing. Still, Yanagi is equally as selfless, so he asks to her to co-write the speech with him, anyway.

Even excluding the two brainiacs, Rikkai's tennis teams dominate the top academic spots. Yagyuu scores second and Shizuku third, with Sanada close behind in fifth. Niou is seventh, which is unsurprising because he is smart enough to be in the top three but never does because he carefully plans to stay within the top ten but never too high. Minori herself ranks a solid ninth, while the rest of her teammates achieve good ranks as well. Hana manages to wriggle herself into twelfth, Yume gets tenth, and Takara shocks everyone when she scores a personal high of twenty-third. Jackal clinches twenty-sixth, and even Marui, who has never been particularly interested by academics but is intelligent nonetheless, gets nineteenth.

Their third year has been rough in many patches and smooth in far too few, but they are all willing to look past all the hardships and into the future now that they are finally done with high school. For in just a matter of weeks, university is going to begin, and all of their decisions have led them down different paths, save for Yagyuu and Hana's complicated family matters and Marui and Takara, who have stayed together all these years and are going to still be together in the future, everyone just knows it.

"At the end of every great reign, no matter how long, there will always be a downfall," Yanagi's words echo across the whole auditorium, his smooth and even voice captivating the audience. "Rikkai has seen many long reigns and equally as many heavy downfalls, whether it may be from the arts or athletics or academics. But," Yanagi opens his eyes, revealing a calm, soothing brown that is capable of picking someone apart analytically. "Just like how no reign lasts forever, no downfall shall, either. New hope will eventually arise and bring Rikkai back to its greatness. As the graduating class, we can do nothing but pass on the torch to our legacy, and they will find and harness that hope. Remember that with all good comes bad, with all bad comes good in return, and that no downfall will last forever if you look ahead with hope."

Only then does Minori notice that there is something wet streaming down her face, that for the first time since her father's death, she is crying. Everyone is crying, she realizes, everyone from Azami, who holds her hand as she sits beside her, to Marui, who is trying to stifle back tears by chewing ferociously on his ever present piece of gum. No family of Minori's was able to make it to her graduation, but she wonders if her father would have cried too if he heard the speech, if he would have cried when he had to let her go.

Probably, she thinks, and when she turns to look at Niou, who sits slouched and without any trace of emotion on his face, she wonders what her father would have thought if he'd ever met the one she loved

~xXx~

Takara has organized a party at her house, but Minori politely declines, saying that she'd rather stay in for the night and pack. Unlike the others, who still have a few weeks, she leaves the very next day to travel around Japan for a bit, and then she'll return for two days only to pack up and head off to university immediately.

As expected, Niou also opts out, and as they stand clinging to the handrails on the train together with two bottles of champagne clinking in his bag, she wants to chide him for doing so. But she doesn't, choosing to accept his company for what may be the last time.

"Tonight," he drawls as they exit the train station. He's standing closer to her than usual, and she can't tell if he's doing it on purpose or not. "Tonight is the only night that I'm allowing myself to get shitfaced, fuck the hangover I'm going to have in the morning."

Minori laughs. She doesn't doubt that he'll drink himself full tonight, because she plans on doing the exact same thing, even if she does have an early flight.

They walk the rest of the way to her apartment in silence, arms occasionally brushing and shoulders bumping. To anyone that didn't know them, they would have thought that the two were lovers. But Minori knows that they are simultaneously more and less than that, that she loves Niou without him knowing and that he loves her but love isn't something for someone like him. How much, she suddenly realizes, does she really know about the boy beside her? She knows how he acts, can memorize the way he moves like the back of her hand. But she knows nothing of what he's been through and how he's resulted from those experiences, which is what really makes a person.

How foolish she has been all this time, to think that she knows all these people by reading them like books, when people are so much more complex and simple than that. People are people, no more and no less, and in the end, Minori knows nothing other than to keep her mouth neutral, chin lifted, and face relaxed.

She speaks up when they get in the elevator and wait for it to reach the very top floor. "My father collapsed in here," Minori says, not daring to meet Niou's eyes. She hasn't spoken of her father's death or even mentioned him since her second year, and everything comes flowing out once she's started. "I've always wondered at point exactly his heart decided to stop beating, like for how long he was just lying on this floor before Uesegi-san found him," she smiles ruefully. "But I guess questions like that are impossible, right, because he was all alone, and there isn't a camera in here."

"Ikeda," Niou begins to say, his tone low and warning. Then he stops, like he's just given up, and Minori has never known Niou to be someone to give up on anything. Resignedly, he sighs, says, "So this is what you want, huh?"

Before she can answer, the chime of the elevator doors opening rings, and she walks across the hallway to her door and unlocks it, stepping inside and turning to face him on the other side.

For so long she has loved him, and yet, on perhaps the last time she will ever see him, she knows what to do. So she carefully takes his hand and laces her fingers through his, holding their intertwined hands in between them. Minori looks into his eyes and they remind her of glass. Pale and beautiful and see through, but sharp and cutting if you came too close.

"Goodbye, Masaharu," she says as she lets go of his hand, her voice surprisingly strong and clear. His eyes of glass grow somber as they glance down to their now separated hands, and he nods reluctantly.

Reaching into his bag, he pulls out one of the two bottle of champagne and offers it to her. "You're probably going to need this," is the last thing he says to her, lifting a hand to his head in a small salute. And then he turns his back on her and traipses back to the elevator.

But she doesn't want her last glimpse of him to be in the same place her father began to die, so she closes the door before she can and grips the champagne bottle tightly as her heart breaks.

Goodbye, Masaharu.

~xXx~

That night, she drinks the whole bottle as she flips through photographs of her last Nationals Tournament. She'd been in the middle of packing when she discovered a thick envelope full of the pictures, courtesy of Hyotei's Fukumitsu Erena, the tall photographer that Minori had dueled it out with during the season.

There are so many pictures that Minori wonders if Fukumitsu's finger was permanently glued down to the camera button. Snapshots of Hana and Shizuku in doubles, a fiery grin on Hana's face as she stands at the net with a much calmer Shizuku. Of Sayuri arching her back in a serve with a glimpse of Takara and Marui holding hands as they sit on the bleachers. Maiha, her stone grey eyes amused as she calls something out to a smirking Kirihara. There's even some of the boys' team, like of the Big Three seated together with Yukimura in the middle, of Jackal as he performs his routine of shaving his head. Minori smiles when she comes across a picture of Rikkai's two teams lined up together, two trophies—one for first and one for second—placed on the ground between them.

Then she finds a close up of Niou and pauses. There have already been several shots of him, but Minori flipped past all of them after seeing that he had been in the midst of his Illusion in all of them. None of those expressions or postures were his, so what were the point of taking those pictures?

In this particular picture, however, only Niou is present, and it's the purest, most real capture of Niou that Minori has ever seen. His racquet is rested on his shoulder in a lazy position, his posture just as bad as ever. But it's Niou's face that gets Minori's attention, because she's seen it countless time before. His slightly narrowed eyes are sharp and quick, appearing to be in the midst of analyzing something, and his mouth is quirked up in a smirk, like he's saying, gotcha.

Carefully, Minori folds up the picture and takes out her wallet. She already has a picture of her father in there, with his pale blond hair that resembles hers, but with brown eyes that she doesn't have. Your mother had the same teal eyes, Minori.

She sticks the folded up photograph of Niou behind the one of her father, and takes another drink.

~xXx~

In a fairytale, the girl and boy would have confessed their love and have a happily ever after. In a love story, a happily ever after was a choice, but maybe they would have ran away together, or maybe their story would turn tragic.

But this isn't a fairytale, nor is it a love story.

~xXx~

Sixteen years later

Minori balances her cell phone between her ear and shoulder as she flicks through a client's file. "Yes, Erizawa-sensei, I understand why you'd like for me to take on this case, but I'm just saying that there's not nearly enough evidence to support Hoshino-san. Yes, I believe that she's innocent, but the judge isn't going to take my word just because…Is that really going to help at all? Fine. Send in Hoshino-san's detective representative—oh, they're already here? Good. Akeno-san knows to let them in already? Alright, I'll call you back with my decision in around an hour, Erizawa-sensei."

She shakes her head as she hangs up on Yokohama's head detective. Though she was often at odds with hotheaded Erizawa, he still trusted her with the most tricky client cases, and Minori returned the favor by succeeding in countless court cases. Minori took up a case unless she herself was positive that the suspect was guilty, and her record was perfect so far.

The door opens behind her. "Hoshino-san's representative is here, Ikeda-san," Minori's secretary announces politely.

Without turning around, Minori nods. "Thank you, Akeno. You can go back now, and close the door behind you."

Minori still doesn't turn around until she heard Akeno shut the door, and even then her eyes are glued to her papers. "Lock the door, would you? I don't want to risk anyone coming in during such an important meeting," she orders the detective, who up to that point hadn't spoken a word.

The detective laughs, and Minori suddenly freezes. "Strange isn't it, that I expected to be greeted a little differently by you, Minori," a familiar voice says, and the usage of her first name brings chills up her spine.

Goodbye, Masaharu, she remembers saying all those years ago, and as it turns out, they weren't final. Minori finally manages to look up and what she sees is more beautiful than the sun.

His hair, which had been bleached silver a lifetime ago, is now dark brown, but she can already see streaks of grey in it despite his young age. And he still stands with his shoulders hunched over, but instead of wearing a yellow and black tennis uniform or a forest green school suit, he dons a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and black pants. His badge gleams on his belt, where a pistol is also hanging.

"Hello, Minori," Niou greets, and it's like he's from another world, one where she didn't say Goodbye, Masaharu. He leans his head back, mouth parting like he's drinking in the air when he first smiled at her. "I've got to admit, I was pretty surprised to find that I was going to be meeting with you. So you're the scary as hell, dead eyed prosecuting attorney that Erizawa was talking about, huh?" He smirks the exact same way he did back in high school.

Regaining her bearings, Minori lifts her chin and smiles at him mysteriously. "It would appear so."

Niou's smirk widens as he takes in her appearance. Physically, Minori hasn't changed much since high school, other than her features aging here and there. She still has her dark eyebrows that don't match her pale hair, still has her drowning teal eyes. And he, she notices with satisfaction, still has the same blue eyes like glass.

Then, his smirk shrinks a little when he sees the picture frames on her desk. One of her father, whom she continues to miss every day, and another of two people that she knows he doesn't recognize. "You got married," he comments, eyes flickering over to her left hand where a ring rests.

"Not until May," she shakes her head, love sweetening the blood in her veins as she thinks of kind, perfect Ren whom she met in university. Of his proposal to her after she won her twenty-fifth case in a row, and how happy she felt with him. "We have a son, though," Minori answers Niou's next question before he can ask. "Kazumasa. He just turned five last week."

Niou nods, and she thinks she sees a gleam of melancholy in his eyes before it's gone. "Happy late birthday to him, then," he says, glancing at the frame one last time before shaking his head and looking up at her expectantly. "We should probably get to work, or else Erizawa's going to pop a vein."

"Yeah," Minori agrees, sitting down at her desk. In another world, she thinks, things could have turned out differently. But this is this world, and, as Yanagi said, all there is left to do is look ahead to the future. Niou Masaharu, the boy she loved, is her past, but Niou Masaharu, the detective assigned to the same case she was, is a part of her future along with Ren and Kazumasa and whoever else happens to comes along.

This world is as perfect as it can be. Minori knows that much.

~xXx~

No, this isn't a fairytale, nor is it a love story.

But that doesn't mean there can't be a happy ending.

~xXx~

A/N: That was a real monster to write, and I'm not too sure how I feel about it. I might take it down and rewrite it later, but we'll see.

I hope you all enjoyed this (monstrous) one-shot about Minori, and in case any of you were wondering, I purposefully left out a lot of stuff about their third year so nothing that's going to happen in From Sky High is spoiled.

Also, I don't condone underage drinking, despite how much of it Minori and Niou do. Wait until you're old enough, kids.

Anyway, should I write more one-shots like this? Let me know what you think, and if so, what should they be about?

Love, Cara