If I owned Prince of Tennis, Sakuno and Tomoka wouldn't be there…

It was the day after Rikkai lost to Seigaku. The Rikkaidai boys' tennis club regulars were at the hospital, celebrating; but not because they lost to Seigaku; that would just be ridiculous. Of course, they were celebrating the success of Yukimura's operation.

"Niou!! That slice was mine!!" Marui Bunta yelled at the trickster of Rikkai, who took his slice of cake, strawberry to be exact.

"Why? Does it have your name on it?" the trickster AKA Niou Masaharu, asked the red-head, wearing an amused smile.

"Niou! Marui!-" the emperor AKA Sanada yelled but was unable to continue since Yukimura spoke.

"It's okay Sanada. We're having a party, lighten up a little." The Child of God smiled at his vice-captain with his 'lighten-up-for-a-while-or-i-will-double-your-punishment-for-losing' smile. Sanada, seeing the smile, kept quiet and got some cake for himself.

"Mura-buchou, Mura-buchou, Mura-buchou!!" the junior ace, also known as Kirihara Akaya, called. "Niou-senpai called me 'gay'." He said, pointing at Niou.

"Akaya, it's not good to point." Yagyuu Hiroshi, the gentleman, told the sea-weed head.

"B-but," Kirihara puppy-eyed.

"Don't worry Akaya, Niou won't do it again, right, Niou?" Yukimura said wearing his 'do-it-again-and-you-will-see-Satan-soon' smile, freaky much.

"Ah-" Niou was expecting a chill run down his spine yet it didn't came. "Hai." He answered in a low voice.

A week and a half after Yukimura's operation, he was already allowed by the doctor to play in the courts-allowed to play tennis, practicing with his team.


A month after the Kantou championship, the regulars were at the clubroom, changing to their school uniform (this occurred after morning practice). Nothing much happened. Niou was irritating Marui and mind-raping Kirihara, Yagyuu was telling Niou that what he was doing was wrong, Jackal was left out, and Renji was scribbling some data… again.

"Ne, Mura-buchou," Akaya called his captain, who turned to him after he was called. "I think I noticed something." He continued. Niou snorted, which made him earn a glare from his captain and his vice-captain.

"Hmmm… what is it Akaya?" Yukimura asked.

"You and Soutame-senpai hadn't talked to each other for, like, YEARS." The bratling pointed out. Then Marui's gum popped.

The others were surprised on what the bratling just said. Did bratling just say something a little productive? Puri, Niou thought. Yanagi, after being dumbfounded, scribbled down on his notebook. Sanada froze like never before, and Yukimura just smiled, not saying a word. No one and I mean no one ever dared to break the awkward silence…

"Huh?" Akaya raised a brow. "WHAT'S WITH THE SILENCE!?" AND WHAT'S WITH THOSE FACES?!" Well, maybe there was one who dared to talk. He hated silence as much as he hated English, which was his worst subject ever. He sucks at it, so what? It doesn't matter, all that matters for him was to beat the 3 monsters of Rikkai. (A/N: which is an impossible dream)

Before anything else happened and before anyone could say anything, the school bell rang, which meant that there was only 5 minutes left before classes began to start.

"Excuse me but I better go ahead, I don't want to be late for class." Yagyuu said, as he took his bag and walked out of the room. The others followed him since, of course, classes will start soon.


Right after the daily afternoon practice of the tennis club, the ones left in the campus were Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi. They were just about to walk away from the clubroom when a familiar girl came out of the school building's main entrance. The girl leisurely walked out of the school grounds, holding her bag over her left shoulder. The 3 stopped dead on their tracks and they merely stared at the girl.

The girl stopped walking when she felt someone watching her. She looked over her right shoulder to see who it and her eyes widened. She turned back and walked away, in a faster pace.

As for the trio, they were just standing there, staring at the gate where the girl passed by. Seconds later, Yukimura turned to his companions, smiled and then asked "Why did I end up with her again?"

"…" the other 2 said nothing. They didn't know why Yukimura ended up with her. Yup, even Yanagi didn't know ... he forgot to collect data about that since the Kantou tournaments were about to start that time. And Sanada never allowed himself to interfere with other people's personal lives.

Receiving none other that silence as response, Yukimura looked at the gate again and sighed. "Forget what I said. Come on, let's go." He said, as he was already a few feet away from his teammates.

Damn, damn, DAMN!! Why am I thinking about him? Again! Just because I suddenly saw him?! Damn this. She was walking in the hallway the next day, not even watching where she was going. And if someone is not looking where he or she is going, obviously he or she is going to BUMP someone. And that was what happened.

"Sorry," she apologized, not looking at the person who she bumped into.

"Soutame-san?" the person she bumped into spoke.

The girl, who was called Soutame, looked up at the person. "Yagyuu-san? Ah, I'm sorry." She apologized and added it with a bow.

"No, it's fine. No need to apologize." He replied. "Soutame-san, what happened to you and buchou?" he really wanted to ask her that but it wasn't only him but also the rest of the team (excluding Yukimura).

"Ah, sorry Yagyuu-san, but I have to go." Soutame Chieru said, as she started walking towards the gentleman. When she was already at his side, she heard him whisper "You better clear your thoughts soon." then she answered it with an "I know."

Still walking in the hallway, Yagyuu's words were still echoing inside Chieru's mind. She knew that she needed to clear things up and she hoped that she can do that very soon. She looked up to see where she was going and saw Yukimura walking towards her direction. She relaxed herself, not wanting to look stupid in public.

Just when they were about to pass each other, just like with Yagyuu, she whispered "Sorry." and continued walking to her classroom.

Yukimura just acted normal and didn't stop his tracks. But somehow he was happy inside. Maybe it's because she talked to him even if it was just for 1 word. Quite a happy lad. And so he walked until he arrived at his classroom.

The last school bell rang and classes were dismissed. It was time for afternoon practice… again. Yukimura entered the clubroom and found Sanada and Yanagi sitting and staring at each other. The Child of God made a confused face. What were they doing? It was a rare sight and he was glad that he was the only one who saw it.

Sanada saw Yukimura "Ah. Yukimura, good timing. Renji and I made a tune for Kirihara's composition, just like you what you had asked." he said. He turned to Yanagi and they hummed the tune for Kirihara's errrr… composition. They even did an idiot dance while they were at it.

Yukimura smiled at them while they continued humming and dancing. He then went to his locker and change. Right after he had finished changing, as if on cue, the clubroom door opened. A bemused Chieru stood there, looking down which made her bangs cover her eyes. Before the people in the room, the 3 monsters, could talk, she spoke.

"Yukimura, can we talk?"

Sanada and Yanagi turned to the captain and saw that he had nodded. "Sure." their captain agreed.

"Let's go." she merely said and started walking away from the clubroom. Yukimura just obediently followed her.

She led him at the back of the school building. Once she stopped walking, she turned around and looked down not wanting to have eye contact with the blue-haired lad.

Yukimura stopped taking more steps when he found the girl with him halted. He saw her turned to him while looking down at the ground. Guess she's avoiding eye contact. And so, he was just there waiting for the other teen to speak. Silence grew for a few moments and then seconds later, he saw her looked up and glared at something behind him.

She was glaring at something, more like someone, that was hiding behind a tree nearby. Two figures were found and guess who the 2 spies were. They're none other than Sanada Genichirou and Yanagi Renji.

They (Sanada and Yanagi) saw her (Soutame) glaring at them. It was her 'get-out-of-here-coz-you-don't-know-what-I-can-do-if-you-don't' glare. They immediately ran quietly, not wanting to see Satan so soon. This event happened so fast that when Yukimura turned to see who Soutame was glaring at, he didn't see anything suspicious.

"I better start talking, I don't want to be the reason why you'll be late for practice." she started. And with that, Yukimura turned to her and nodded. "I guess you're already wondering why you ended up with me." she smirked. "I am likewise, Yukimura." she laughed at herself, not knowing the answer at all.

Yukimura kept his mouth sealed; he knew that she wasn't done talking yet. Then she spoke...

"But all I know is that I really like you. Well, actually I just figured out how much you mean-" she paused and laughed at herself again. "Uhh... I really don't want to sound corny or anything." she chortled. "I'm really hating myself right now." she doesn't want to be corny like those she saw in drama series, she thought those were ridiculous.

Yukimura just stayed there. He knew that the lass in front of him hated being dramatic or overly-dramatic or like what she just said. Why were they even avoiding each other? He didn't really know why. It just happened, guess God only knows.

She was wondering why Yukimura didn't say anything from the start. Why was she avoiding him again? She never knew the reason, she just felt guilt, or something like that. "Sorry." and that was it. She was done talking, nothing more to say.

Silence grew and the wind blew harder. They didn't move an inch but they didn't know about centimeters though. Yukimura, without him knowing, moved closer to his schoolmate and hugged her. They stayed in that position a little longer and then broke the hug. Actions speak louder than words and it was all loud and clear. He had forgiven her and now they can start from scratch.

"Puri." a person from the 2nd floor said while looking down at the couple below him... "We're finally saved. No more extra punishments from now on, Puri."



Author: I think this one sucks... and I'm serious, I don't think that this one is good. huhuhu TT-TT

Okay, if there were parts in this story that are somewhat random or ridiculous, it's not my fault; I just got this from my dream. And yeah, I had a hard time remembering what happened.

To those who are waiting for "Say What?!" chapter 12, I'm already working on it. It was all my brother's fault, he formatted the computer without me knowing… and so, it was deleted. Sorry again.

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