Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, the Big Tennis Names, Real-life Tennis Products, and anything that already existed in the real world.

The Determination of Ryuzaki Sakuno

By Simon Layton

A Prince of Tennis Fanfiction

To Dad, fellow Prince of Tennis fanatic, a Kaidou in the court but performs Momo's Jack Knife more often, looks down to me like I'm some sort of pillar of support, and coolest coach ever.

Practice Session 1: Plans and Probabilities – A Boys Tennis Club Chapter

"The probability that Echizen played a match with a female is…two percent."

Heads turned to Sadaharu Inui when he stated his calculation to his 3 teammates. "Why are we talking about Echizen, all of the sudden?" Takeshi Momoshiro mused, putting his tennis bag down. "Well, it does make a bit sense," Syuusuke Fuji said while grabbing his Seigaku Regular Jersey, "that Echizen-kun hasn't played ball with or against a girl, but it would be interesting to watch." Eiji Kikumaru agreed by nodding his head. "Do you think we could play the regulars from the Girls Tennis Club?" Momo* said, in the midst of tying his shoelaces, "Ann—Tachibana's little sister—from Fudomine is actually good. I played with her once, at the street tennis place." Everyone gave Momo approving nods. "We should sometimes ask the coach if we could have practice sessions or an event with the girls," Kikumaru suggested, "like a mini-tournament."

"Sounds great!" Momo cheered, "We should suggest it to the coach then."

"But back into the discussion," Inui broke in. They were talking about Echizen's experiences with a female player, not about tournaments that may not even happen in the future. "Any female you know that can take on Echizen?" Inui needed names for compatibility. Echizen is a very interesting subject, and he needed data.

The three players were deep in thought. They didn't know any female players (Momo considering Ann) that could take on the Rookie Player of Seigaku. Maybe their classmates are tennis players, but they didn't know; they were too absorbed with their own tennis. And their siblings can't play either. Even though they were tempted to say Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, and Martina Hingis to tip over Inui, eventually, they said in unison, "No, We have no names."

Inui frowned; so much for his data.

"What about Ryuzaki-chan?" Fuji suggested.

"You mean the coach's granddaughter?" Momo said, "I heard from Ryuzaki-sensei that she just started playing tennis this year. She's been practicing."

"Yeah, but word from the girls tennis club said she's progressing greatly and a few even consider on making her a regular, even though she's still a first year," Fuji said, nodding to himself.

"Just like our first year, right?" Kikumaru chimed in, "But how do you know all of this, Fuji?" Fuji chuckled. "I occasionally past their courts and their coaches' voices were loud," he concluded. Meanwhile, Inui was listening hard at their casual conversation, and furiously jotting down notes on his data notebook. He would have to check out this Ryuzaki girl at the tennis courts later on.

"But hey, I'm pretty sure that Echizen played with a girl in the past, right?" Momo tried to change the subject. "He was in America for a long time, so maybe he defeated some foreign chick back then."

"That's just cruel of him," Kikumaru slightly frowned, "can't he just hold back and be a gentleman in the court for once?"

"Ah, but we all know Echizen-kun," Fuji said, "When it's about tennis, he won't hold back. We're all the same too, am I wrong?"

"Gentleman…" Inui mumbled, "Gentleman…inner self…that's it!" he bursts out, which startled his teammates. "We haven't seen Echizen's inner self when he is at this school, so maybe when he's outside…maybe he has a soft side for something."

"Ah, but Inui-senpai-" Momo started (he didn't get that 'inner self' thing but he sure has the gist of it) but he was drastically interrupted by his senpai.

"Maybe he secretly admires someone and we couldn't tell. Of course, with his personality…"

"I'm pretty sure Echizen doesn't fancy someone, but Inui-sen-"

"-Or maybe he has a soft side for animals like Kaidou-"

"-Viper likes animals? I should've guessed, but Inui-sen-"

"-Like cats-"

"-Echizen has a cat in his house, but Inui-senp-"

"-Or maybe he has insecurities-"

"Impossible, Inui-senpai!" it was Momo's turn to burst out. "We have been with Echizen for a while now, and we see the same Echizen everyday! He has no interest in girls, he has a cat at home, and I'm sure that he isn't scared of anything! Besides, I can't imagine Echizen being a gentleman!"

"What about those days off? You know, tennis-free days?" Kikumaru pondered, picturing an Echizen frolicking with cats. A bit disturbing, if you ask Kikumaru, even though he likes cats too.

"It's Echizen. To him, there are no tennis-free days." Momo replied. He remembered that his family had a tennis court near their house. That lucky brat gets to play tennis day and night.

"Oops, we're going to be late for morning practice!" Kikumaru exclaimed, glancing at the wall clock of the changing room.

"Oh dear, well, Inui, we'll be going now." Fuji, Kikumaru and Momo picked up their racquets from their bags and went on outside, leaving Inui alone.

Inui, being busy writing down data into his notebook, sighed and thought loudly, "…that 'boys vs. girls' tournament idea…it sounds good."

"A mini-tournament?" Sumire Ryuzaki, one of the tennis club's coaches, repeated the phrase. "T-that was the plan, sensei." Vice captain Oishi Shuichiro hastily added. The coach silently watched the matches of the tennis club's members as she slowly processes the thought into her mind. Oishi stood nervously beside her. Why do they have to drag him with the idea? Oh right, he is the temporary captain, and that because he can handle the wrath of a teacher (other than Tezuka) better than anyone in the club. But even so, he actually liked the idea. "It sounds good, but I'll have to talk about it with the other coaches, probably with the school principal as well," the female coach concluded, "We will take it into consideration. But right now, we are currently focusing ourselves with the tournaments ahead of us."

"Thank you, sensei," Oishi briefly bowed to her.

"Go back to the courts, Oishi. Hey! What kind of shot is that? More power! And keep your eyes on the ball!" Coach Ryuzaki started to yell at the members, grabbed the nearest racquet (Takashi Kawamura's racquet, switching off his Burning! mode), and shot fuzzy yellow balls at them. Most of them ducked down from the balls that went like bullets, while some attempted to return one ball (with thoughts of knocking down the coach).

But Oishi didn't go back to the courts. He was glancing around the facility when he caught sight of Inui outside of the girls' tennis courts, with his data notebook in hand. "Is there something interesting going on?" Oishi said as he stood beside his fellow third year. "No, no, just collecting data…" Inui assured. Oishi could hear Inui muttering, "Forehand: eighty-five percent completed. Backhand: fifty-three percent completed," and the scratching of his notebook. "So, Inui, w-who are you collecting data from?" Oishi asked, out of curiosity. There was a slight oddity in the atmosphere around them, like Inui was thinking…thinking of something menacing. "Sakuno Ryuzaki," Inui replied, stating his notes, "granddaughter of our coach, Sumire Ryuzaki. First year, class one. Birthday is January 14. Height is 151 centimeters. Dominant hand: right. There is a possibility that she will be a net player, play style could be 'serve and volley', according to the data…"

Oishi nodded. He was impressed to his teammate for watching the said first year from where they stand, and they were far away. "And the reason to collect her data is…?"

"To find a female player that could defeat Echizen in a tennis match." Inui finished. Oishi found this reasoning very unusual, but it probably doesn't matter; maybe it all has something to do with this mini-tournament everybody had been talking about. Inui closed his notebook and sighed. "This should be for today, I will have to go back to our court and start improving my service," He mumbled, and then turned his head to Oishi. "But I need something for my next Inui juice. The main ingredient…"

Oishi involuntarily cringed when Inui's gaze suddenly turns to him, and just hearing the words Inui Juice makes him want to run away. "Would you recommend something to me…?" Inui pressed on.

"I-I don't know—fish?" Oishi stammered. Fish was the first thing that popped into his mind, and he regretted stumbling to it and saying it in front of Inui.

"Fish…" Inui pondered, clearly deep in thought, "Yes…maybe I could, but what kind? Salmon, Sardines or Clams…?" and with that, he turned and walked away, muttering to himself. Oishi felt relieved and sighed. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen that involves this new Inui juice. But it will be alright, right? Besides, fish taste good…even though Oishi doesn't eat much of it.

"About Sakuno?" Coach Ryuzaki repeated, eyeing Inui suspiciously. Somehow, today, many of the regulars had been asking questions about the girls' tennis club, especially his granddaughter. What are they up to? The coach sighed and rubbed her nose. "Well, I don't know how it clicked to her," she decided to tell the story, "but a few months ago, we were watching a match on tape—Pete Sampras vs. Lleyton Hewitt at the 2001 US Open—when Sakuno suddenly declared that she would like to play tennis. What the on earth are you all doing here?"

Momo, Kikumaru, Oishi, Kawamura and Fuji were all staring at her, interested at the starting conversation between the student who makes the dreadful Inui Juice and the coach who likes to yell at them. Coach Ryuzaki's right eye twitched, startled by the crowd obscuring her view of the tennis courts. This was getting nowhere. "You all!" she started, glaring at them one by one, "Go back to the courts! You too, Inui!" her head shot at Inui, "As much as I want to talk about Sakuno's interest in tennis, you all shouldn't be slacking around! There are many strong players in the Nationals, and we all have to work hard! Sakuno has nothing to do with this!" Because of the coach's booming voice, the regulars ran back to the courts and started playing ball (some playing in fear). At the same time, Echizen Ryoma made his way out of the changing room. "Cheers," he greeted the female coach.

"Oi, Echizen, stop right there," the coach ordered, "You're late for practice. 20 laps around the court before you enter."

Echizen slightly flinched and stopped in his tracks. Coach Ryuzaki couldn't see the expression on his face since his back was turned. "Yes, sensei…" he mumbled. He removed his Fila cap, put it back again, and then started jogging. Echizen was the only regular that doesn't seems to have any interest (either friendly or source of data) on her granddaughter, thank goodness. Maybe the other regulars had been fired up by this mini-tournament idea that who-knows-who started and suddenly wanted to challenge Sakuno. Maybe it's because of her weak stature that they could beat her.

No! Coach Ryuzaki was confident that her granddaughter will turn out to be a good player, and besides, the coach knows that they—the Seigaku regulars—wouldn't try and beat someone up (physically) with tennis. "This 'boys vs. girls' tournament…" the coach said to herself, "…it should be interesting."

Story notes: Momo - short and informal way to say Momoshiro.

A/N: Hey, and thanks taking interest in the story and reading through the first chapter. The actual story hasn't started until the next chapter, which involves loads of tennis stuff. If you aren't a tennis player, then you are still welcome to read this fanfiction because it would be full of tennis tips and all things tennis that I've learned through my own training. Also, this fanfic was based in the manga, where Sakuno is more mature than in the anime, and she doesn't get much appearance as much in the manga (or maybe because I'm more familiar with the manga world). Though you don't need to read the manga just to understand this story. This also helps me practice my Female viewpoint writing, because females are important when it comes to writing.

So basically, this story is focused on Sakuno and Tennis. And if you are looking for RyomaxSakuno something, there will be no romance in this fanfic. Sorry, bout that. Just loads of friendly concerns on each other. And if there is romance, it's going to be slow. very slow. Enough rumbling, see you next time. (Constructive Criticism, always welcomed!) And also, this mini-tournament wasn't part of the plot. Well, not yet. And maybe I over exaggerated on the 250 character story summary.