Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. If I did...

Also, I do not own much else...

Summary: When a girl meets a guy on the train who's drowning in boxes of chocolate, she can't help but ask.

I don't even know how this plot bunny came to me but it wouldn't leave me alone. I hope you're gentle with it.

Visit my other story 'It Girl' an AtobeXOC fic if you're a fan. :D

Enjoy!

Fangirls are scary, Yuushi thought with an imperceptible shudder as he lifted the large paper bag filled with chocolates and presents the aforementioned people gave him when school finished just two days earlier. Currently, he was taking the train to Osaka to visit his relatives there. They could take all the gifts off his hands. Kenya liked chocolates anyway.

It was rare for him to be taking the train there but his parents would be delayed in their visit and he thought a ride on the Shinkansen would be amusing. It would give him a longer time to read than if he were on a helicopter or a plane.

He took his seat and flipped open a book, waiting for the train to start.

Hirose Akari.

Cousins are so annoying, Akari thought frustratedly, pulling at her hair incessantly as she went through her text messages on the way to the train she was taking back to Osaka. That Kura knew she was only in Tokyo for two days and he had her buy so many expensive things. That man was a shopaholic. And to think he had an arm of gold...Add to it that shameless Kinta who didn't have any idea what the word limit meant.

She paused in the midst of pulling her hair out when she noticed her seat on the train was currently occupied by a mountain of pink boxes and a tennis bag. She put two and two together to get...

"Oh, fanclub," The word was out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. She bit her bottom lip quickly before turning to the person in the seat next to hers who looked up just as the word escaped her mouth. Akari raised an eyebrow imperceptibly.

"I'm sorry, is this your seat?" She noted his heavy Kansai-ben drawl and nodded internally and externally.

The guy cleared the seat cooperatively and Akari plopped down into it, placing her own tennis bag in between her legs.

Interesting, was their simultaneous thought.

"Want some?" He asked halfway into the trip, offering her chocolate in a newly opened pink box from his stack. "You seem to know where they've come from."

She smiled at him and got a piece. "I know too well, in fact," she replied in her own Kansai accent, shaking her head laughingly as she tossed the candy into her mouth. "Yours have pretty good taste."

He put one into his mouth himself. "Nice to know they're good for something."

"You just have to know what strings to pull, and they'll be quite the companions," Akari told him nonchalantly.

He laughed and, at that moment, Akari figured she knew why this guy had a fanclub. He was sexy to the extremes. "I'll be sure to try that when I get the chance," he smiled. Her eyebrow went up another notch.

"You should," she replied as he extended the box to her again. "It'll definitely get you more chocolate."

He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose with a smile. "That probably won't be one of the things I'll find them useful for."

"Too bad. Anyway, I couldn't help but notice you have a copy Utsubo Monogatari, there." She grinned, pointing at the book in his other hand.

"Yeah, assigned reading. It's not actually the kind of story I usually go for. You're interested?" He asked.

"Nope, same, assigned reading, too. Wouldn't even look at it if I didn't have to, in fact." She explained. "You think you can tell me what happened after the first chapter in exchange for me taking those chocolates of your hands?" She joked.

"I wouldn't mind," he answered lightly, handing her another box of chocolates. He was probably thankful for something to distract him from reading the book in question, too, ironically.

Akari gaped. "My good karma has finally cashed in."

"Likewise," he drawled, winking, but Akari was too busy savouring her new box of chocolates to notice. He shook his head amusedly. "Where should I start?"

"Where exactly was Toshikage?" Akari grinned.

"Let's start there, then." He said, bookmarking his novel and stuffing it into his bag under the seat.

Offering chocolate to him, she grinned wider. "I'm listening."

Yuushi had just gotten to the part of the story where he stopped when the announcement sounded that they were ten minutes away from their destination.

She straightened up in her seat and stretched her arms over her head before going to gather her tennis bag from the floor. "Thanks," she told Yuushi as they readied both their things. "You saved me at least three days of reading on that."

He smiled, securing his bag of candies which was significantly and conveniently lighter than when he'd gotten on. "Always glad to help. I wouldn't put anyone through the hardship of reading something they didn't want to."

The train began to slow down and she hopped up from her seat and began slipping on her jacket, preparing to face the chilly early spring wind. "Now both of us will just have to toil through the next half of the book."

"Right," he agreed with a smirk just as her phone rang in her pocket.

She drew it out and grimaced as she checked the caller i.d. "I'll just take this," she bowed slightly to Yuushi.

"Please," he said politely.

Smiling at him wryly, she leaned against the wall behind her and flipped her cell open just as the train came to a complete stop. "This is the Magic 8 ball, please try again in five minutes." She said in a sugary sweet tone that did nothing to hide the annoyance behind it. Yuushi stifled a chuckle, not even slightly remorseful that he was listening in on a one-sided phone call. "Yeah, you slave-driver, the doors just opened." She announced into the phone. "Yeah. I'll see you in a bit. Yes, I got what you wanted. No, you don't need to put him on the phone. I don't have any more money to make any of these 'stops' that you speak of. It was all spent buying that stuff you told me buy for you." At this point, she pushed herself off the wall and shrugged her bag onto her shoulder. "Five minutes. Of course, thank you for deigning to pick me up," her voice was getting more sarcastic by the millisecond but Yuushi, being the sharp observer of human nature he is, noticed the amusement laced in her tone. She began walking towards the crowd exiting the cabin but not before stopping in front of Yuushi, who had just stood up and was checking his own cell phone, and inclining her head politely. "Thank you. It was really a pleasure to meet you." She told him with a sincere smile.

"The pleasure is all mine." He answered, tipping his head forward as well.

She sighed before talking back into the receiver. "Patience is a virtue." With that said, she turned to Yuushi and bowed even deeper. "I'm sorry I really have to go. Thank you, really!"

Yuushi didn't have much time to react as she suddenly bolted for the door, pulling at her hair as she went. His eyes caught onto one thing in particular as he watched her dissolve into the crowd.

He blinked and she was out of sight. He was pretty sure that he didn't see wrong.

The words on the back of her jacket read Shitenhouji, he swore to himself.

Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask Kenya about it later.

"Took you long enough," Koharu and Yuuji whined in unison as Akari approached them.

Akari simply stuck her tongue out at the two jokesters and gave her dear cousin an affectionate punch in the gut. "Welcome back, cuz." He huffed, smiling in that boyish way that made the females in the vicinity swoon. "Did you get what we asked for, Ri-rin?"

"I wouldn't even have a bag with me if I didn't," she replied venomously.

Kura took her bag and slung it over his shoulder. "I'll treat you to some ramen as a thank you gift, then."

"It's the least you can do for your favourite cousin, right?" She sing-songed.

He smiled. "Of course."

"Hey, Ri-rin," Senri asked as they walked out of the station. Akari replied with a noncommittal grunt they'd learned meant 'continue.' "Who was that person you talked to earlier?"

Akari smirked at the memory of 'chocolate guy' – yes, chocolate guy. "Just a person of interest I met on the train."

Seeing the expression on his cousin's face, Kura brought his bandaged hand to his face smoothly. "Ahh, ecstasy..."

Utsubo Monogatari is literally "Tale of the Hollow Tree" and it is Japan's oldest full-length narrative.

Toshilkage, on the other hand, is the very first chapter of Utsubo Monogatari.

I have nothing against Utsubo Monogatari. Actually, from the summaries it actually seems fairly interesting but this operates on the fact Yuushi is an avid fan of romance novels.

Hope you liked it! Tell me what you think!

READ and REVIEW, please!