For the year after he left Seigaku, Ryoma practically disappeared. Now he's back and armed with a completely new and improved tennis style; ready to take on the Australian Open. But first, he has to get pass the Jr. Tennis Player Prelims. Featuring Tezuka, Kevin, Inoue, Shiba, possibly Atobe,

Reappearance of a Samurai

Chapter 2

Final Destin8ion-kun doesn't not not own Prince of Tennis

By 9:00 at night, Tezuka really needed to sleep. Jetlag had made itself known, much to his chagrin. Ryoma's brother, Ryoga, had convinced the 16-year-old to stay in the same room as themselves and Kevin. Ryoma and Kevin would occasionally come into the room, talk a little while or watch TV, then leave again to do some unknown activity. At 9:15, the two had just left as Ryoga came out of the shower.

"You already took your shower, right?" Ryoga asked with his usual carefree grin. Tezuka nodded. He had been busy pondering the changes in Ryoma. For one, his former kouhai was much more relaxed and fun-loving (if still not aloof and obnoxious). Another thing that bothered Tezuka was that he hadn't seen Ryoma play yet.

"How much better has Echizen, er, Ryoma gotten?" Tezuka finally asked Ryoga, who was flipping through the channels. Ryoga gave him a surprised look that slowly turned into a sly smile.

"Ah, trying to get a leg up on the competition, huh? I'm just kidding. From what Ryoma's told me about you, that doesn't seem like a very Tezuka thing to do. As for your question, that's tough to answer. And that's because Ryoma has completely scrapped the tennis style that you've grown used to him playing with." Ryoga began. Tezuka blinked, startled.

"By 'scrapped', you mean he no longer uses his Drive techniques?" Tezuka asked, amazed. Ryoga nodded with a smirk.

"Yep. He now uses a style known as 'The Samurai', named after my father. However, the name is the only similarity. That's all I'm going to tell you though." Ryoma's older half-brother said.

"I see. And what about you? And Kevin too?" Tezuka asked. Ryoga chuckled and then looked at the door.

"Well personally, like my dad, I prefer to use the Drives. Much easier to use. As for Kevin...well frankly, I've never seen him play. I've heard Ryoma compare him to some kid named Atobe though." Once again, Tezuka took the news with surprise. Kevin was comparable to Atobe?

"Well now it's your turn. Ryoma described your style as 'simple, but tricky and hard to play against.' " Ryoga said, casting an excited look into Tezuka's eyes. It was a look Tezuka had never seen on Ryoma. Tezuka, being as vague as possible, told Ryoga about his Zero-Shiki (but didn't tell him about the serve) and the Tezuka Zone (but only hinted at the Phantom).

"Yo!" Kevin said, walking into the room with Ryoma in tow. Tezuka looked at the two fourteen year olds in a new light. Especially Ryoma.

"Are you okay Tezuka-san?" Ryoma asked. Tezuka nodded and then got ready to go to sleep.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tezuka was the first person awake. According to his cell phone, it was 6' in the morning. The tournament would be starting in four hours. Ryoma and Kevin were both sleeping in the same bed while Ryoga slept on the couch (which actually looked really comfortable). The TV was on some kind of American show that Tezuka ignored. Looking around, Tezuka sat up and went to go get dressed.

7 minutes later

When Tezuka came out, he saw Kevin messing with an iPod nano. One half of it was in his ear while the other was in Ryoma's ear. Tezuka couldn't tell whether or not the latter was up or not.

"Good morning Tezuka-san." Kevin said politely and surprisingly in Japanese. Tezuka quickly recovered.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" The older boy asked.

"Good I suppose. It's not really home though. Ryoga already went to get breakfast. This loser probably won't wake up for another couple of hours." Kevin said. Without warning, Ryoma's hand pinched the pressure point just above Kevin's knee.

"Not a loser." Ryoma mumbled. Tezuka found himself hoping that Ryoma was awake. It would be kind of creepy if he weren't.

"Good morning Echizen." Tezuka greeted. Ryoma didn't reply and Kevin sighed.

"He kind of slips between consciousness and unconsciousness for a while before he finally gets up." Kevin explained. With a nod, Tezuka placed his clothes inside of a spare pouch in his suitcase and then exited the room. He looked back once more to see Ryoma open his eyes for a few seconds before closing them again.

"Yo, Tezuka!" Ryoga called. Tezuka looked up to see Ryoga with a relaxed and cocky smile on his face. Without replying, Tezuka went to sit by his new acquantince (sp?).

"Good morning." Tezuka greeted calmly.

"Good morning." Ryoga replied just as calmly. Tezuka looked into Ryoga's eyes, but saw nothing familiar. Except for the hunger to win, something that he had seen in Ryoma's eyes before.

"Ah, hello Tezuka-senpai...this is Kaidou and I just wanted to say good luck...fsshhhhhhhh."

Um...yeah...sorry about the updating but um, if you haven't noticed...I kinda suck at it. Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story. And if you're not: Tell me what I can do to make it better. Thanks for the reviews. FD out