Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis or any of it's characters.

Chapter 1

You can do it! She thought. You only have to reach a few more centimeters.

Sakuno Tezuka was in trouble She was currently balancing on a skinny tree limb that was 15 feet off the ground desperately reaching for a tennis racquet that had strategically fallen on the roof.

--

It had all started on an afternoon tennis practice during spring vacation. The girl's tennis team didn't have practice that day, but she decided to go with her brother Kunimitsu's to his Seigaku regulars practice for extra training. Her onii-san has always the emphasized the importance of hard work for improvement, and Sakuno's tennis skills definitely needed improvement. Besides that she also got to see Ryoma, whom she still had a crush on.

When Kunimitsu and Sakuno got to the courts, they recognized the face of Yuuta Fuji among the familiar faces of the rest of the regulars.

"Good morning Tezuka and Sakuno-chan! Shusuke Fuji greeted them cheerfully. "I see you guys remember my little brother Yuuta."

"Today St. Rudolph's team has all gone on vacation except for Yuuta-kun and Shusuke was wondering if he could practice here with us. It would benefit everyone if he did." Shuichiro Oishi explained to her onii-san.

Sakuno watched her brother think intently, silently weighing out the pros and cons of the situation placed before him by his best friend.

"All right." He said after a while. "But only because it's a free play day today." He added.

"Thank you Tezuka, I knew you'd understand." Shusuke said sweetly.

"Yeah, Thanks" His little brother Yuuta added quietly.

It was evident to all that Yuuta was uncomfortable being an outsider in the Seigaku practice

To make him feel better, Sakuno introduced herself and mentioned that she tagged along with her brother to practices all the time. After this, Yuuta and Sakuno struck up a short conversation about tennis as they waited for all the other regulars to arrive. They could both relate to having amazing tennis players for brothers and their own desire to improve.

"Tezuka, Fuji, practice is about to begin." Said Ryoma, interrupting their conversation.

Finally all the regulars got there and her brother started to announce the stretching and the warm-ups of the day.

What's he doing here and why is he talking with her!? Ryoma muttered to himself. He didn't understand why he was so angry. Maybe he was jealous? No way… He thought. What's there to be jealous of, I don't even like her! But a part of him knew that he was wrong.

--

After 15 minutes of stretching and 15 laps around the track, the tennis playing was about to begin. Everyone matched up to play against each other. Ryoma was playing against Yuuta.

"Sakuno, you should practice by hitting balls against the wall by the water fountains until I finish my game against Shusuke. Then I'll go over there and help you. Don't forget what I told you last time about hitting the ball on the right place on the racquet." Kunimitsu advised.

"Hai." Sakuno said enthusiastically, happy to improve her tennis. She reached into her bag and searched around for her racquet until she realized that she forgot to put it in that morning because she had been busy worrying about the bento that she made for Ryoma as congratulation present.

"Ano... onii-san, I think I forgot my racquet at home." She told her brother apologetically.

Kunimitsu sighed and said. "It can't be helped. Here Sakuno, use my racquet and I'll use my spare."

"Really? Thank you onii-san!" She said.

Onii-san let me borrow his favorite racquet, the one that oto-san and oka-san gave him when he went to Seishun 3 years ago. She thought.

After 20 minutes of practice, Sakuno was sure that she was hitting the ball on the center of the racquet like her brother told her to do. Filled with confidence, she hit a particularly strong serve, lost her balance and fell face first to the ground.

Owww…She thought. Onii-san was right, I should have never let my guard down.

She picked herself of from the ground, determined to try again, when she realized that when she fell, the racquet had been flung from her hands.

She frantically searched everywhere for it and eventually found it on the roof of the tennis clubroom which was at least 15 feet off the ground.

Oh no! That was onii-san's favorite racquet and I have to get it back or he'll be mad! But how do I get to the roof? Since it's the vacation the school doors will be locked. What am I going to do! She thought.

Suddenly, Sakuno noticed the tree that was growing next to the club room and made up her mind to climb on it so that she could reach the roof. She carefully climbed up the trunk and made it all the way up to the part that was the same height as the roof. Then she cautiously edged onto a branch that brought her closer to her brother's racquet.

You can do it! She thought as she stretched her arms out in an attempt to reach it. You only have to reach a few more centimeters.

--

"5 minute water break!" Kunimitsu shouted so that everyone could hear him.

Ryoma and Yuuta had finished playing a long game against each other and were thirsty so they made their way to the water fountains behind the tennis club room.

"Good game Echizen. I was closer to beating you this time." Yuuta said enthusiastically. He was happy to play tennis again just for the love of playing it and not just to win. Recently, he had been feeling a lot of pressure from Mizuki-san, his ambitious manager. So much pressure, that he was really getting sick of even playing tennis.

"You are a lot better this time but still mada mada dane." Ryoma said nonchalantly.

What a stuck up guy, I still can't believe he's only a 7th grader. Yuuta thought to himself and chuckled.

As the two boys walked nearer to their destination, they both saw the figure of Sakuno Tezuka balancing dangerously on a tree limb while trying to reach something on the roof.

"Tezuka?" Ryoma called out in surprise.

At that moment, Sakuno instinctively turned her head toward Ryoma's voice and lost her balance. Before she knew it, she was falling all the way to the ground. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact with the hard ground but it didn't come. Instead she found herself in a pair of strong thin arms.

"Ryoma-kun?" She said not daring to open her eyes.

"No, it's me Yuuta Fuji." Said a voice.

"Yuuta-kun…arigato." Sakuno said breathlessly as they gazed into each other's eyes.

"Were you looking for this?" Another voice said. Ryoma was standing in front of them holding Kunimitsu's tennis racquet that had fallen during all the commotion.

"Oh! Onii-san's racquet! Thank you Ryoma-kun."

"Are you okay?" Yuuta asked concernedly.

"Hai. Sorry for causing you trouble Yuuta-kun." Sakuno replied. When he was trying to put her down, Yuuta felt a sharp pain in his left arm and cried out.

"Yuuta-kun!"

"Fuji!"

"I think that there's something wrong with my arm." He said weakly, his face twisted with pain.

"You might have hurt it when you ran to catch Tezuka; I'll go get Inui-sempai he'll know what to do." Ryoma said.

"I'm so sorry Yuuta-kun!" Sakuno cried out.

--

"It's a sprained wrist." Sadaharu Inui pronounced. "It seems that when you caught Sakuno-chan, you landed on your wrist the wrong way and the ligaments got twisted."

"When can I play tennis again?" Yuuta asked.

"A week." Inui replied.

Yuuta felt a sense of relief wash over him. One week of no tennis pressure from Mizuki-san. He was distracted from his thoughts by a small sobbing noise.

"Yuuta-kun, I'm really very sorry for doing this to you. If you hadn't caught me I'd have gotten hurt but now you can't play tennis for a week!" Sakuno cried out, she was on the verge of tears.

"It's alright." He replied as he explained about the pressure he was feeling from his demanding captain. "Now I have an excuse to get away from Mizuki-san's nagging for a while."

"Sakuno, what were you doing to fall in the first place?" Her onii-san asked sternly.

Sakuno hung her head in shame and told her story of the racquet and the rooftop.

"You idiot! What were you thinking!?" Kunimitsu yelled angrily. "If Yuuta hadn't caught you, you could have gotten hurt, you could have died!"

Sakuno flinched at the sound of her brother's raised voice. This was the first time that he had been this mad at her.

"I can always get another tennis racquet but I can't get another little sister." He said, gently hugging her. "Don't scare me like that again." He muttered.

Everyone else in the court was stunned; they had never seen the captain show so much emotion before.

"I'm sorry onii-san. I'm sorry Yuuta-kun. I'm sorry Fuji-sempai. I'm sorry everyone." Sakuno sobbed.

"I told you before it's alright. Heck you're even doing me a favor!" Yuuta said cheerfully.

"If you don't stop apologizing Sakuno-chan, Yuuta and I will never forgive you and we'll make you drink a full liter of Sadaharu's vegetable juice!" Shusuke joked.

The laughter in the room was drowned out by the grumble of Yuuta's stomach.

"I must have worked off all my breakfast and now I'm hungry again." He said.

Sakuno immediately ran to her tennis bag and grabbed the bento that she originally made for Ryoma.

"If you want, you can have this." She offered tentatively.

"Thanks Sakuno-chan." Yuuta opened the bento and ate it enthusiastically.

Ryoma glared at the two of them beaming at each other. That bento was his and he knew it. He should have been the one to catch her when she fell too.

"Yummy, this is great! You're a really good cook Sakuno-chan! My mom and dad are on vacation right now so I haven't had a good home cooked meal in a long time."

"Really? Arigato Yuuta-kun!"

After hearing this Kunimitsu got a good idea. "Sakuno in order to apologize to Yuuta-kun you should make him lunch everyday until his wrist heals." He suggested.

"Okay, if that's alright with you Yuuta-kun." She asked shyly.

"Okay? That'd be great! Shusuke is a horrible cook; I've been eating nothing but burnt food for days!" Yuuta replied happily.

"I'll see you tomorow then!" Sakuno replied with a smile on her face.