Disclaimer : i do not own The Prince of Tennis only my love for it... and a few minor characters i threw in. since you're stumbled upon this, thank you in advance for living through it..!

Why, if I do, do I love Tennis...

Chapter 1

A sandy haired, averagely tall youth walked down a sidewalk lit partly by the soft glow of awakening street lamps. It was evening and gloriously though the sun bathed the horizon, it would soon go down. The sound of a tennis ball being bounced to and fro on the gravel caught his attention and made him stop. Fuji Syusuke watched the two neighbors' kids play a game of tennis against each other.
The good humored, light hearted mood in which they both played drew him back to a contrasting memory of when two other pairs of feet had scrambled across that court, neither willing to yield their side of the court to the blow of the other. Both playing in high spirits. One in the spirit of the game while the other in the spirit of winning the game. Smiling a genuine smile, rarely seen, eyes opening to uncover intense blue irises, he said only one name as nostalgia and memories overtook him. "Yuuta..."

"Yuuta, we've been playing for over two hours now. It's nearly time for dinner, shall we stop?" a small Fuji Syusuke called to his younger brother as he served the ball. As he scrambled to receive it, Yuuta answered defiantly, "No! Not until I beat you!"

"Don't say that...how about after this game?" Syusuke called again, still smiling. Apparently annoyed that his brother was not taking him seriously, Yuuta yelled, "I said not until I beat you! You don't believe I can??" Syusuke only continued to smile and play the game. They would probably have played all through to dawn if Yuuta hadn't suddenly tripped due to his tiredness and skinned his knee slightly. Syusuke's face tensed in worry as he ran over to his brother, "Yuuta, are you alright?" The other child's only response was to lower his head and start sniffling. "It's alright, look up a moment, I want to see your knee." Syusuke crouched over the younger boy and tried to comfort him.

"Syusuke! Yuuta! Where are you?" they could hear their sister's voice calling from a distance. "Nee-san, we're here!" Syusuke called. "Yuuta hurt his knee..." At this, Yuuta curled up even tighter as the sound of running feet could be heard crossing the cement court. "Yuuta! Is it that bad?" their sister, too, crouched down beside Yuuta and tried to comfort him. It was a few minutes and only after she put an arm around him and told him that they'd prepared his favorite dish that night, did he raise his head. "Your knee...there's a bit of blood." She took out a handkerchief and began to clean it up but not before using a corner of it to wipe his tear-stained face. Syusuke watched, no longer smiling but rather concerned.

"All better now, ne, Yuuta?" their sister said, smiling as she stood up and brushed the dust off her skirt. Yuuta still looked rather forlorn until Syusuke suddenly smiled and held out his hand, "Let's go home..." Taking his brother's hand and even managing a watery smile, Yuuta got up and began to walk with them. Their parents questioned the time spent at the tennis courts and why they were late but aside from that, dinner was uneventful.

That night, after a shower, as Syusuke buttoned up his pajamas, Yuuta suddenly exclaimed, "I still want another match with you, aniki! That one isn't counted!" Turning a small angle in surprise, Syusuke smiled and replied, "Of course...does your knee still hurt?" Yuuta stretched and jumped on the bed, his expression rather defiant. "It didn't really hurt just now anyway. I just wanted to play some more, that's all." His brother laughed, "I see. So, we'll play again soon. Good night, Yuuta."

A peaceful, restful silence that came with the night ascended over the Fuji household where two young boys slept in single beds across from each other. Their sister, on her way to bed and wanting to say goodnight, peeked in and found Syusuke sleeping peacefully with a smile upon his face as usual while Yuuta was turned towards the wall in a curled up position. Smiling she tiptoed out, closed the door and whispered "Ah, I'm too late again tonight." then walked away to her room.

Morning brought about the two boys again. Syusuke, an early riser, was surprised to find his brother also up and sitting up on his bed staring out the window into a still dim sky. Wordlessly, the younger of them turned and his eyes met his brother's. Children though they were, and perhaps precisely because they were, there was no need to say what they both wanted. Syusuke started the motion by climbing out of his bed and getting into his morning routine while Yuuta watched him for a moment then followed suit. Right after, both made their beds picked up their tennis gear and went as silently as two seven and eight year old boys could be down the stairs to get something to eat. As they left, Syusuke placed a note he'd written upstairs on the table and closed the door silently behind him.

It was only after they had turned the corner at the end of their street that they finally broke the silence. "Ne, aniki, do you think father and mother will be angry with us for sneaking out?" Syusuke only smiled that seemingly carefree smile and replied, "They probably will be a bit but not if we get back in time to do chores. I also left a note for them..." His younger brother was still unconvinced and continued, "Then, will nee-san be angry?" Not breaking a stride, Syusuke countered this with, "Why will she be angry? If we wait for her, she'll have to escort us and I don't think it's much fun for her." Nodding satisfied, Yuuta took a bite out of the sandwich Syusuke had made for him. "Is it good?" the small 'chef' asked, taking a bite out of his own sandwich. The other shrugged, whether to shift his tennis bag to a more comfortable position or in response to his brother's question no one knew. "It's ok, quite like nee-san's. You'd better eat up, aniki. I want you to play with full energy later!"

Still smiling a carefree smile, Syusuke took his brother's comment as one of concern and looked to the horizon where the sun was rising fully now. They were coming to the bottom of the stairs that would lead them up to the tennis courts.

Yuuta frowned. He turned to his brother to check if he was hearing things but, as they approached the court, he realized he hadn't. That rhythmic thumping of a tennis ball against the cement had been real and there were two kids, both easily two years older than Syusuke, playing on the court. He turned once more to look at his brother but realized he'd gone ahead.

"Excuse me, when will you be finished with the court?" Yuuta winced a little at his brother's boldness but it was too late to do anything as one of the older boys got distracted and missed a shot. Looking annoyed, he turned to Syusuke. "What did you say?" Syusuke shrugged, "I asked when you would be done with the court. My brother and I want to play." The kid looked like he would've yelled but his partner intervened. "Sorry, but we won't be done with it till lunch time and we can't yield it to you because we got up really early to play."

"Yeah, so don't expect us to just because you're kids." At this point, Yuuta couldn't not say anything. "What do you mean? We woke up really early too and we have a match we're not done with! I won't give in just because you're bigger than me either!" Early in the morning, tempers rise faster especially when incomplete matches are at stake and so, the bigger boy began advancing on Yuuta, wanting to start a fight. "Wait. I'll play against you." He stopped and turned. "You? Why would I want to play against you?" but his partner seemed interested. "My name is Keito and his is Kai. We'll play with you but I'm only interested in a doubles match." "Okay."

Later, on their side of the court, Syusuke managed to speak to Yuuta. "I'm sorry." "What?" "I arranged this match without asking you first." As they were speaking the ball fell on Yuuta's side of the court and bounced away. Caught off guard, Yuuta hissed, "Forget it, aniki, just concentrate on winning this game." And readied himself for the next shot, which came full force, powered by Kai's enthusiasm. Yuuta managed to return it this time and the ball passes to and fro between them for a while until Keito volleys it over both Yuuta and Syusuke, scoring another point. Smiling, he shrugs and says, "Thirty-love." Then walks to his position. Feelings of annoyance and irritation were starting to ebb at Yuuta while Syusuke seemed engrossed in the game but did not yet seem to take it seriously.

It continued in this vein until the score, once again announced by Keito, was two games to love. Preparing to serve, Keito spoke, "For such good cooperation, you don't seem to be putting much into this game. Are you brothers?" Syusuke frowned but replied, "Yes, why do you ask?" Keito smiled, "Nothing, I thought you were but your cooperation is weird. As if you don't know how to compliment one another." Bouncing the ball against the ground, he looked directly at Syusuke whose eyes had opened, then added, "But that's just my observation. From the net, Kai began complaining, "Keito! Hurry up and serve! I want to finish this quickly and play against you." Even Yuuta felt impatient hearing this and unknowingly, Syusuke had begun to feel the push of determination in him. When Keito served, he could feel a surge not unlike the rising motion of the tennis ball and he shot a look at Yuuta to see if he would take it. Yuuta took it. Syusuke relaxed his grip only slightly. From now on, he would be cautious. The situation would be in his hands. 'POK' the ball made contact with ground and bounced out of Yuuta's reach. "Forty-lo..." words faltered and died in Keito's throat as Syusuke had somehow positioned himself at the base line and returned their shot. Raising his head, his tone echoing Keito's, he announced, "Thirty-fifteen."

"Follow up with another and you might be worth playing against." Kai shouted, looking more energetic now. "But it won't be easy..."

It was as if Kai had voiced Keito's thoughts exactly. It continued to and fro, to and fro until it was openly a match between Keito and Syusuke with Yuuta and Kai fitting in between. At the last moment, Keito smashed straight down at Syusuke, expecting an opening. True to his calculations, Syusuke moved to avoid it making way for Yuuta to counter with a drop shot. All four players stood motionless, watching each other. "Seven games to five." That score rang clear, voiced by Syusuke. Both Kai and Keito seemed to see them in a new light. Kai seemed frustrated at being beaten but Keito faced Syusuke like an equal, and met him at the net with an outstretched hand.
"Ah, yes, I didn't ask your names."
"I'm Fuji Syusuke." He heard Yuuta come up behind him. "Just call me Yuuta."
"Well, Syusuke-kun, Yuuta-kun, I'm sorry but we still won't yield the court to you. Like Kai told you, we woke up really early to practice for a tournament tomorrow. It's really important to us. Thank you for the match just now." Kai too extended his hand, "Maybe we'll meet here if you ever want to play again." Yuuta shook his hand and walked away as Syusuke was about to protest. Seeing this, Syusuke let his posture relax and nodded to Keito and Kai. "Thank you. That match taught me a lot. Good luck in your tournament." Then gathered his things and went after his brother.

Catching up to Yuuta, slightly breathless, he waited for Yuuta to say something but Yuuta seemed to have lapsed back into their earlier silence. 'Is he disappointed with that match?' Syusuke wondered but didn't say anything, not showing that anything was wrong so Yuuta could turn to him if he needed comfort. They were both drenched with sweat from the earlier game and the heat from the rays of the morning sun.

The arch of the swings loomed ahead of them not quite distracting attention away from the 'giant' slide towards the centre of the park. Syusuke stopped to take in all this and then followed his brother in his 'climb' up the slide. When they reached the top, everything that had held Yuuta's voice back before, broke loose. "Aniki, you're a tennis genius! Who taught you all that? I have to work hard now to beat you, don't hold back anymore, aniki!" At this outpour, Syusuke looked slightly taken aback but smiling openly at his brother now, he shook his head, "Just work hard to be the best, Yuuta." Exuberantly, Yuuta turned to him and they high-fived. Raising his fist into the air, he shouted, "We'll be the best!"

When Fuji Syusuke came back to the present, the sun had already set and he found himself bathed in the soft glow of streetlamps instead. The children who were on the court earlier, which had triggered his journey back in time, in the first place were also gone, probably run home to dinner and Syusuke knew he was late. "Ah, the food will be cold." was all he said as he resumed his walk home, lips curved in an unreadable smile.

A/N: kyaa...I'm afraid the characters sound OOC but...ah well! I'll learn.
Another thing, I called Fuji Syusuke, Syusuke since this involves Yuuta who is also a Fuji and so to avoid confusion... Also, Yuuta calls Syusuke aniki [big brother] because of a whim of mine and also because I can't get used to making it any way else... "