Disclaimer: I wish, but I don't own Prince of Tennis.

To all those people who are pushing for a RyomaXSakuno fic, guess what? You got your wish.

And all the regulars/people are in high school. Just make a note of that.

To Catch A Falling Star-Chapter Two: Signups


"Hey, look at this!"

"No way, the female tennis team is asking for signups?"

"Heh, everyone on it must suck if they're still asking for signups so late in the year! And especially with the new decision…"

"Female tennis tournaments? The committee must be crazy!"

"You think, if everyone sucks, maybe I have a chance?"

"I'm signing up!"

Ryuzaki Sakuno managed to squeeze herself through the crowd of people that appeared magically. A signup sheet and an announcement had been pinned to the bulletin board, for those who didn't attend the extra practice session yesterday. She had gone; it was a requirement for all club members.

It was only 7:30 am, yet the signup sheet already had at least ten names. She didn't recognize any of them. Apparently none of her fellow freshmen students signed up.

"Sakuno, Sakuno!" someone squealed. A pair of arms enveloped her. "What are you doing?"

"Ah… Tomo-chan…"

Tomoka peered at the board. "An all-girl tennis team with mixed doubles?" she exclaimed in excitement. "Sakuno, just think, if we get on, we'll be able to play with Ryoma-sama! Are you signing up?"

"Ah… yes," She smiled slightly. "All the members of the girl's tennis club are required to. I won't be able to become a regular, but it's an honor to be part of the competition."

Her friend let out an exasperated sigh. "If I didn't have to look after my bratty brothers, I'd be able to join. Non-members can play too, right?"

"Yup, anyone can join." Sakuno said.

Tomoka fished in her bag for a pen and scrawled her name on the sheet. "Well, I'll sign up first, and see if I can squeeze the time out later," She grinned and grabbed Sakuno's hand, "C'mon, we'll be late for homeroom."

"Tomo-chan, we still have half an hour…" Sakuno protested weakly as her friend dragged her away.


Izumi let her eyes linger on the sheet for a moment. Should she, or shouldn't she? Exhaling, she forced herself to walk away. She did have until lunchtime to sign up. It was dangerously tempting, but she hadn't played tennis in a long time, and she didn't want to make a fool of herself out on the courts. 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.'


Sayaka signed her name with a big flourish. She would finally get to show off all those years of tennis practice. Her thoughts brought a smile to her face.

"Sayaka-chan?"

"Hey," She turned to see her gymnastics team captain. "'sup?"

"I'm sorry about our team," the captain said, slightly uncomfortably. "The school cut our funding, so…"

"'s ok. Gymnastics weren't my only thing anyways."

"You're floor routine was amazing and you weren't shabby at the trampoline either," the captain informed her. "You could've gone places with those skills."

"Maybe I still can."

"I beg your pardon?"

Sayaka grinned at the puzzled expression on her captain's face. "You haven't seen Kikumaru play tennis, have you?"


"Morioka Izumi?"

She got up and walked to the front of the classroom, accepting her test papers.

"You did very well. One of the top three in the grade." the teacher said for the whole class to hear. "Keep your grades up and you'll get into a great school." He gave her a sympathetic smile.

Her insides were coiled with anger but she still managed a small bow and a half-hearted "thank you". She didn't want him to pity her. So she lost first place to Tezuka again. Who cares?

Kikumaru craned his neck to get a look at her papers when she sat back down, but she shoved them in her desk before he could see.

"Morioka-chan," he whined. "Please let me see!"

"No." she replied shortly.

"Please! I'll show you mine."

"No deal."

Fuji sat down after he had gotten his papers. The girl behind him peeked over his shoulder and gasped in surprise. "Fuji-san! You beat Morioka by 0.5 points!" she exclaimed so loudly that the whole class turned around to stare. Whispers immediately filled the room.

"No way… Morioka in 3rd place?"

"She never dropped below 2nd before..."

"I wonder what happened…"

Izumi hated the feeling of eyes upon her. For an instant, she wondered how that girl knew her grade, but then decided it didn't matter. She didn't want them talking about her. She didn't want anyone to feel sorry for her. She just wanted them to leave her alone. She glared at her desk, not looking at any of them.

"It was just luck." Fuji said, smiling. He turned to look at her. "I'm sure you'll beat me next time, Morioka-san."

"I don't need your sympathy." she said coldly, still staring at her desk.

"That's so mean, nya," Kikumaru commented. "Fuji was just trying to be nice. You don't have to get so upset."

"What do you know about it?" she exploded, her eyes flashing.

Eiji's already huge eyes widened even more in surprise. The whole class was silent; shocked at her sudden outburst. They knew her as the silent, creepy one. Izumi took a second to register what she had done. She closed her eyes, let out a breath, and abruptly stood up. "Sensei, I'm going to the bathroom." Without waiting for an answer, she strode out the door, feeling everyone's eyes follow her.

"Ah…" Even the teacher was speechless. "Ok…"

When she was standing in front of the mirror, Izumi let the tears come. With every blink, another drop traced its way down her cheek. She looked into the mirror and saw more than just sadness or resentment in her eyes. It was a feeling that she couldn't describe.

'Why do I push myself so hard? What am I searching for? What is it I want so much, it's beginning to hurt?' Her fingers reached for the girl in the mirror and met cold glass. She wasn't a genius; she only excelled in school because she put twice as much effort on it. Maybe that's why she always felt so down when she lost 1st place to Tezuka. It felt like everything was in vain.

Her skin was so pale; bleached by hours of studying before a computer screen. The paleness made her black eyes seem all the more shadowy, and enhanced the dark spots under her eyes caused from sleepless nights. No wonder they thought she was creepy. Maybe… it was time for a change.

Her breathing gradually steadied; no more tears were shed. Quickly, she rinsed her face, so no one would guess that the water there came from her eyes. With the water left on her hands, she smoothed her bangs down, then ran them through her long dark hair. Suddenly, she felt a soft nudge at her shoulder.

"Morioka-chan?" Kikumaru poked her. "Are you alright?"

She whirled around, hair swishing around her waist. "You shouldn't be in here." It was just like him to wander into the girl's bathroom. 'Hasn't he ever heard of privacy?'

"I know, I know. But I just wanted to make sure you were ok." His face was so innocent, so earnest.

"I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine." he said, continuing to poke her shoulder, as if checking if she was one of the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." She slapped his hand away. His reflexes were good; he pulled his hand away before she could hit it.

"Is it because Fuji beat you at the test?"

"No."

"It is, isn't it? You're disappointed."

She lifted her eyes to his. "You don't understand."

"I don't, nya. My grades are low 80s, so how can I understand?" He laughed and winked. "People like you and Tezuka and Fuji… you're just too smart for me."

"Evidently." she said coldly, and walked away. Before she had gotten two steps, he grasped her wrist.

She turned and gave him the sharpest glare she could muster. She hated people like him. Always being so kind, involving themselves in everybody's problems, thinking they were helping people… She hated them. She hated people like that.

No, she didn't really hate them. She hated herself.

She needed them. She wanted them to help her. She wanted to feel their kindness light up her darkened soul. She wanted to be supported by them, to have someone to cling to.

And for that, she hated herself.

It was weakness, she decided. Ever since she was a small child, Izumi had rejected help, rejected support. She never turned to others for anything. She had always stood on her own two feet. If she wanted something done, she'd always do it herself.

The gaze in her onyx eyes was so harsh it actually made Kikumaru take a step back, letting go of her wrist. "Morioka-chan… tell me what's wrong. Please? I can help."

"You can't."

"I can try."

"That'll just make it worse."

"Please?" He was so damn persistent.

She sighed, touching her wrist slightly with her other hand. It was still warm from where his hand had held on to it. "Eiji… we've been in the same class for more than three years. You know me better than anyone. And you should know that there are some things about me that no one should ever find out."

"What's really wrong?"

"I'm just tired…" she said, closing her eyes. "I'm tired of working so hard and always an arm's length away from my goal…" She exhaled, opening her eyes. "Maybe… maybe it's time for me to stop trying. Maybe it's time for a change…"

"You're giving up?"

"I've had enough!" she suddenly retorted. "Enough of fighting and always losing, enough of trying and never getting there… I work so hard to climb to the top, only to realize I'm still an inch away. Every time I try and fail, I'm swept in an empty wave of despair. I don't want to have this feeling anymore."

"Morioka-chan…"

"Please, no more."

What Kikumaru felt next was surprising anger. His hands clenched into fists. "You're right, I know you better than anyone, and I know that you quit everything you start!" he accused. "The student council, tennis, the dance team… And now your studies! You'll never get anything done if you keep giving up!"

Instead of arguing, she turned away, her eyes slowly becoming red. Quickly, she blinked the tears back, ordering herself not to cry in front of him. She knew he was right. "Please…" she repeated. "No more, Eiji."

He didn't see any tears when she turned back to face him, but he heard the shakiness of her breath and fell silent.

Subconsciously, she felt the side of her forehead with her fingers. There were too many thoughts, too many memories inside her mind, more than enough for one lifetime. With one final glance at the girl in the mirror, she stepped out the door…

…and crashed into someone who was standing outside.

"Ah, gomen…" the person said, even though it was mostly her fault for not looking where she was going.

"Fuji?" Her eyes widened. She was so shocked she forgot to and a "-san" after his name. "What are you doing here?" 'Don't tell me he likes to wander around in the girl's bathroom too…'

His smiling face became serious. "I may… have said some things that hurt your feelings." He opened his eyes and looked into hers. "I apologize."

'So blue…'

"It didn't have anything to do with you…" she replied, trying to take her eyes away from his but not quite managing to do so. She tried hard to convince herself that he was stuffy and pompous, like all the other students in the school. 'Not everything has to have something to do with you! The world doesn't revolve around you!'

"I wasn't implying that it had to have something to do with me…" he said, reading her thoughts. His smiling face was back but his voice was still sincere.

Now that the blue of his eyes was hidden, she finally tore her eyes away. His voice made her skin tingle, and she wasn't sure it was a good sign. He was her rival, she reminded herself. 'Besides competing in studies, we don't have anything in common.' "Wait… I didn't hear the bell go off." she suddenly murmured, almost to herself.

"Class isn't over yet." Fuji explained.

"Sensei didn't even try to stop us. We followed you out before the bell rang, nya." Kikumaru said.

"…why?" Her suspicions were immediately aroused.

Kikumaru poked her cheek. "Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?"

'Friends?' The concept was foreign to her. Strange… they had been in the same class for three years, but she knew nothing about either of them. Sure, she had dropped the honorifics with Eiji in her second year of high school, and they did talk on a regular basis (Because he was so insistent on forcing her to have a conversation with him)… She couldn't help wondering why he wanted to be friends with her. He was popular as the class clown; whereas she was… she didn't really know who she was anymore.

As for Fuji Syusuke… she didn't know him at all. Even though they were classmates, they didn't talk much... She had a closer relationship with Yuuta when he was at Seigaku, probably because the similarities in their personalities.

'Friends?' Her mind rejected the idea, yet her heart wanted it. She shook her head in order to clear the confusion that was fogging it up and experienced a slight throbbing pain. Was it possible to get a headache from pondering unanswerable questions?

"Friends…" Fuji repeated, as if reading her thoughts again.

Not sure how to reply, she turned away. "Let's get back to class…"


The door opened. "Ryuzaki-sensei, you wanted to see me?" Oishi said as he stepped inside the classroom. He glanced at the clock on the wall. There was still forty minutes of lunch break.

"Ah, Oishi," Coach Ryuzaki looked up from her papers. "Perfect timing. We're here to talk about how the tryouts are taking place this afternoon," She turned to her right and gestured at the girl sitting next to her. "This is the current captain of the Seigaku girl's team, Ito Akane."

"We've met," Akane stood up to shake Oishi's hand. "But it's a pleasure anyway."

"Nice to meet you… again. No, wait, I mean, it's a pleasure too." Oishi stammered, flustered. He turned bright red. The captain of the girl's team was a girl, and an attractive one at that.

Akane laughed. "It's ok, Oishi-kun, I don't bite."

Ryuzaki cleared her throat. "So, the tryouts…"

Tezuka nodded. "Since we don't have much time before the regional tournaments, I believe an elimination tournament is the most proper way of determining the regulars."

"Eh?" Oishi blinked. "We're not using the block method?"

"We can't." Akane replied.

"This is the amount of people that have signed up." Tezuka passed him a sheet of paper.

Oishi's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Seventy-four?"

"And unless you can divide that evenly into four blocks, I think Tezuka's method would be more sufficient." Akane said.

"Ah… I suppose. But wouldn't that be a "winner takes all" method?" Oishi said thoughtfully. "If two strong players were pitted against each other in the preliminaries, the one who lost would lose all her chances of becoming a regular."

"Hmm… good point," Coach Ryuzaki murmured. "That way we may be eliminating some players with huge potential."

Akane brushed a curl of her light ginger hair out of her eyes. "We'll watch every match carefully and keep track of all the scores. Our decisions won't be based on the tournament itself. What we really want to see is how these players perform on the courts. This way, if someone with potential is eliminated in the preliminaries, she will still have a shot at getting a position as a regular."

Tezuka tapped his pen against the sheet. "We may not have enough time for that. Our club can't sacrifice more than four days without practice. With the upcoming tournaments, both clubs must be given more time for training."

"That's right," Oishi said. "An elimination tournament would be very time consuming."

"Then let me suggest an alternative," Akane responded quickly. "Those who win in the preliminaries will go on to round two. There will only be two rounds, and we will decide on the regulars based on the skills they show when they are on the court."

"Works for me." Coach Ryuzaki said with a shrug. "What about you, Tezuka?"

He nodded. "Since all the courts are going to be taken this afternoon, I'll have our tennis club regulars watch the matches and see if they can spot any talent in any of the players."

"Oh, and one more thing," Akane said. "Make sure that the one watching the matches is completely unbiased."

"Practical as always, Akane," Coach Ryuzaki said as she checked the papers again. "So the tryouts will start from 2:30 pm and go until sundown," She shuffled them. "With any luck, we'll be able to have the semis tomorrow."


"Hey there." Sayaka greeted the person who had chosen the locker next to her.

"Hi," Akane smiled. "I'm Ito Akane. Nice to meet you."

"Momoshiro Sayaka. Same here."

"You're trying out?"

"Yep," she replied as she changed clothes. "It's about time I start making my idiot brother look bad at tennis."

"You're Momoshiro's twin," Akane said in amusement, stepping back to take a good look. "I see the resemblance now. So you also play tennis?"

"Yeah, he got me into it," She ran a hand through her wild, short black hair. "But I've never competed in any tournaments or anything; my training was just watching his matches and practicing in secret. What about you?"

Before Akane could answer, someone covered her eyes from behind. "Akane-buchou, Akane-buchou! Guess who?"

"Take your hands off if you don't want to die, Kimiko."

"Waah!" the new girl cried. "Buchou is scary! Kimi doesn't wanna play with you anymore."

Sayaka felt her mouth drop open. "You're the captain of the girl's team?"

"Yeah, about that…" She turned around. "Kimiko, remember, I'm not your buchou anymore. Tezuka's captain of both teams now. And it's about time you grew up and stopped acting like such a child."

"Kimi is a child!" the girl complained. Her head had a bright crop of magenta hair that just barely reached her chin. "Kimi is only a second year!"

"Eh?" Sayaka quickly tried to conceal her surprise. So this Kimiko was her age? She was almost sure that she was a first year. 'She's two inches shorter than me!' Come to think of it, why hadn't she ever noticed this girl in her grade? Surely the pink hair would've made her easy to identify.

"Do you think you guys could shut up over there?"

Another girl appeared.

Akane looked unfazed. "Hey Suzume."

"Suzume-chan?" Kimiko suddenly fell silent.

"It's annoying that we tennis club members also have to try out," Suzume said, slinging her bag of rackets over her shoulder. "After all, all the regulars will be the from the tennis club, no doubt."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Sayaka said before she could stop herself. Every word that came out of Suzume's mouth just seemed to make her blood boil.

Suzume cast her a side-long glance. "I didn't realize there was an outsider here," She smirked. "Let me offer you a piece of advice: Beware of your overconfidence. You'll have to eat up all your words."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Sayaka replied angrily. "But I don't think I'll take your advice."

"And that's coming from a member of a team that got cut because they weren't good enough." Suzume said.

"Kimura, watch your tongue." Akane warned before Sayaka could retort. Good thing too, or else Sayaka would've launched at her, claws extended.

"Hai, buchou." she muttered before walking out the door. She knew that when Akane started calling people by their last name was when she was most likely to be pissed off.

Kimiko sighed and turned to Sayaka. "Sorry you had to meet her like that," Her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh right, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Marui Kimiko!" She grinned and made a victory sign next to her face, as if she was posing for a picture. "How do you do?"

"Kimura Suzume's the club rebel. We don't know what to do with her; but we wouldn't know what to do without her." Akane stated.

"You'll get used to her." Kimiko said cheerily, back to her usual self now that Suzume had left.

Sayaka stared at the nametag on Suzume's locker and clenched her fists. "I doubt it."

Akane watched her. "You'd do better to."


Izumi was the last person to leave the classroom. She shut the door behind her slowly, balancing her three textbooks on her other arm.

'Eiji was right.' What he said to her earlier that day seemed to be on automatic replay in her brain; it was all she could think about. '"You'll never get anything done if you keep giving up!"'

After that incident, she had immediately signed up for the girl's tennis team, and borrowed Tezuka's physics test so she could correct her mistakes. She had also approached Inui for his chemistry test, as he was more skilled than her in that particular subject. Shame that his English skills weren't so sharp or he would've also rivaled her in studies. 'The only English words he uses are "Inui Juice"…'

Her Japanese language skills were the best in the grade, but it was on this particular test that she lost 0.5 points to Fuji. However, she didn't ask him for his test. There was something refraining her from doing so, some type of invisible barrier that prevented her.

She hoped that she wouldn't run into another teacher. After the midterm exam results had come out, every teacher she met congratulated her with that look of pity in their eyes.

Her books weighed heavily down on her arm as she walked down the hallway, and she shifted them to her other arm. Suddenly, the classroom to her right opened and someone stepped out. She sidestepped quickly to avoid a collision, but in doing so, her books slid out of her arms and onto the floor. The test papers flew out of the pages of the books and scattered.

"Gomen," the person said, leaning down to pick up the books and the test papers. He handed the papers to her, folded carefully inside her physics textbook, a smile playing upon his lips. "We have to stop crashing into each other like this, Morioka-san."

"Arigato, Fuji-san." She reached out to take her other two textbooks, but he tucked them under his arm.

"I'll carry them for you. We're both heading for the courts, ne?"

Her expression hardened. "Fuji-san, I'm not a weakling."

"I never thought you were," he replied. Then he gestured down the hallway. "Shall we?"

They ended up walking side by side down to the courts. She made no attempt at conversation; her thoughts were still echoing in her head. Was she really doing the right thing? What if she had forgotten how to play? And her studies… how many more midterm exams were there before graduation? Would she ever be able to stand at the top of the academic rankings?

"You used to be the lead dancer on the dance team, right?" Fuji suddenly broke the ice.

"Used to be."

More silence.

"I didn't know you played tennis."

"There's a lot about me that you don't know."

He stopped walking abruptly. "Morioka-san, are you all right?"

Izumi paused for a moment before saying, "What do you mean?"

"You seem… troubled." He opened his eyes.

She looked him in the eye. "I'm fine."

Her dark eyes clashed harshly with his piercing blue gaze. His eyes were blinding, burning into hers like twin suns. So blinding, so pure, it felt like they could strip away all the barriers she had set protectively around herself, look into her very core and unveil every black drop of her soul. She was sure that when she looked away, she would still see them watching her.

She was afraid of those eyes.

He smiled lightly, and his eyes folded back into crescents. "That's good."

After a few more minutes of walking in awkward silence, they reached the courts. She turned to go. They way his gaze made her feel like her innermost secrets were being revealed… it scared her.

"Good luck becoming a regular, Morioka-san." he said, even though she had already turned around.

"Izumi." she said before she could stop herself.

"Sorry?"

"Call me Izumi."


Coach Ryuzaki looked at all the girls gathered before her. There were so many! Even her granddaughter had shown up, clutching a racket timidly to her chest. "Those that are here for tryouts, please look at the board to see which court you are assigned to and who you'll be playing. Once your match is finished, leave your court and report your score to Inui Sadaharu immediately."

Akane stepped forward. "Your success rate at becoming a regular is based on how you perform. The more talent we see from you, the more likely you'll be chosen, so don't hesitate to go all out."

"Now then," Coach Ryuzaki continued. "Let the tryouts begin!"


End Chapter Two

Again, the more reviews I get, the more motivation I get to continue writing. So spend a couple of seconds to press that button that says "review".

And for the next chapter, I'll have a little more action because the tryouts are going to begin! Whoot!

Chapter Three: Girl Power!

Coming soon. (Or it depends.)