Author's Notes:
I seriously hope I didn't rush too quickly with the introduction |D I've rewrote this piece of crap for multiple of times XD; I submitted it as chapter 2 before, but then...can we just say 'BLEHRGH!' for once? :D And I've been typing this chapter slowly too, since I get distracted with a lot of things and write this to the fullest at early in the mornings! |D Like...4 a.m. or something.

This chapter is sort of boring a bit, so if you want to ignore it, feel free to do so~

I don't own Prince of Tennis in any way :D

Mami had woke up earlier that morning, and had arrived to the campus ground an hour earlier than usual. It wasn't because of practice, it wasn't because of any school meetings; it was today that she and her two best-friends will put up the try-out forms for their club. The sandy-haired female jogs towards the main entrance of the school, meeting up with both Nanase and Yuuka.

"Have you guys bought the forms?" The other two girls nod at their captain's question. "How many did you guys printed out?"

"Let's say, around ten." The captain was puzzled. That's a lot of papers. "I'll stick six try-out forms at the hallways where first, second and third years students' classrooms are, while Hayashi would stick the other four forms on notice-boards."

"Didn't you said you had a plan to gain more members with the try outs?" the blue-eyed female quickly questions. A devilish smirk appears on the purple-haired female's lips, as she raises one of the try-out forms with a chuckle. Squinting her eyes, a grin soon cracks on Mami's face as she laughs softly.

"Oh, Yuuka, you are a genius!"

"Thank you~"

-x-x-x-

As the hours passed by, more students arrived at school. The hallways were noisy as girls pushed through the crowds that had formed in front of every sign-up forms. Their hands writing their names on the paper as they quickly exchanged whispers, squeals and thoughts amongst them.

"If we ever get in the tennis team, we'll probably be able to see Marui-sama up-close!"

"Kya~! Maybe we could play doubles with Yagyuu-kun too!"

"That would be awesome!"

Suzume's dark purple eyes were focused on the sign-up forms as she stood at a place far from the 'dangerous-looking' crowd. Her mind was debating, should she, or should she not join? The debate of her mind came to an end when the crowd starts to lessen. Fishing a pen out of her blazer's pocket, she writes down her name with a simple smile on.

"Mouri-san."

"Ah, good morning, Jackal-kun!" The black-haired female greets her Brazilian classmate. The tall male's eyes turn towards the sign-up form. "You're signing up for the try outs?"

"Yeah, I don't want Hayashi-san to be in her 'pits of despair' again if her team gets dissolved," Suzume replies with a laugh as the two of them head to their classroom. "Or that her grades drops down drastically because of her despair."

"That's...quite nice of you," She thought that he was trying to make her feel better about doing a favor for her friend, or was it just her imagination?

-x-x-x-

"Yuuka-san," Looking up from her novel, Yuuka's lavender clashes with a pair of familiar purple eyes. "Yes, Yukimura-kun?"

"Am I interrupting you?" With a light laugh, she shakes her head with a whisper 'No'. "I wanted to inform you that since the courts will be used for your try-outs this evening, we might as well help you out with the try outs."

"Really?" She didn't wanted to sound too overexcited, hoping too much that the well-known boys team will help them. "It's really no big deal if-!"

"Saito-san agreed with it," the blue-haired male cuts her off. "And since she is your captain, it would be impossible to disagree with her, right?"

The lavender-eyed female laughs a little. Yukimura must've know them too much. "It would be much more impossible if you have an overly-devoted vice-captain, Yukimura-kun."

-x-x-x-

"Oi, Saito! Heard that you just got kicked out of the kendo team!" Laughter fills through the air of the already-noisy classroom of 2-D as a brunette walks towards her seat, stopping when she heard her name being called. "Wait till Hayashi-senpai hears this! She'll be overly thrill!"

"She will be...if Saito didn't wrote her name in that try-out form earlier!"

"Saito's signing up for the tennis team? She must've suck in every sport she plays!"

Saito Koyuki said nothing as wild laughter ring into her ears. Her pace quickens as she quickly sits down on her seat. The laughing starts to fade away when someone else enters the classroom. Whispers were exchanged as the said two persons whom just entered the classroom walk to their seats.

"Saito-san." Koyuki's brown eyes look up, as they met a pair of lime green eyes. She merely smiles at her American classmate. "Yes, Abe-san?"

"I'm sorry to hear what happened with the kendo club," Abe Rachel said, tucking a lock of burnt sienna-colored hair behind her ear. "Sensei should have see what a good student you were."

"It's alright, the club probably doesn't want an invalid player to fill in the empty spaces anyway."

"You could always try other clubs, if..."

"If I can't get in the tennis team?" Rachel shot up her head. She didn't meant to said that, nor to make her feel bad about herself. What she expected was an angry reply from her classmate didn't appear, instead a gentle smile forms on her lips.

"Abe-san, you'll never know until you try." The American student didn't quite understood what her classmate was saying. Sure, she was the captain's sister, she probably had trainings with the older girl but with her skills focusing on kendo and acrobatic, how is she going to make through the try-outs that evening?

"Have you ever see those stunts-with-swords in samurai movies?"

...

Now that had made her completely speechless.

-x-x-x-

"Sorry that I'm late," Yuuka apologizes, entering the student council room. Yukimura had asked Yagyuu if they could use it for a small meeting, and eventually, he agreed to. "Sensei said that he needed my help and I was rushing and-!"

"No need to continue," Mami quickly said, holding up both of her hands. "The good thing is that you're here, and that's all that matters. Now, we have thirty minutes before lunch break ends. I wanted to discuss the amount of students that signed up for the try-outs."

As Mami said this, she unfurls the try-out sheets as it drops down onto the floor. The purple-haired female felt her lavender eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets as she felt light-headed and losing the strength to stand up. The ground seems to be non-existent to her now.

"M-Mami, I need to sit down." When the captain nods, Yuuka lands into a chair that Nanase had slide below her just in time. "You have to be joking! How many people sign-up for this!"

"How many places did you put in each form?" Yukimura questions.

"Twenty per form."

"Then it's more than fifty people if three pages are filled in." Nanase states, holding her friend's collar. She swore she saw Yuuka's spirit escaping from her mouth for a moment, sweat-dropping at the sight. "Mami, can we get to the point please?"

"Right," the captain nods. "Since Yukimura had agreed that his team will help us out, I suggest that we have an elimination match-session."

"Elimination match is enough, Mami." The brunette vice-captain said. "Besides, it's to eliminate those who aren't worthy on the team and those who are will stay. It's needed right now, that is of course, if Mami wants to fill the club with a lot of girls who can't even hit a ball straight."

"But, there's a catch, Nanase," the sandy-haired female said, raising her index finger up. "I'm not going to based on how many scores they got if they play dirty, but...I'm going to look for players who had the potential to be in this team."

"That was merely an 'if' right?" One look from Mami, that resembles both a hungry tiger and lion had made Nanase's skin to crawl. "May I say something?"

"Ah, Yuuka, finally out of your trance?" Nanase snickers as the said purple-haired female gave her a death stare, before giving one to her captain. "Do you want to hear what I have in mind?"

"Sorry," the sandy-haired female laughs softly, trying her best not to burst out laughing hysterically. "Please continue."

"Why don't we set judges who aren't so familiar with the players?" the tall female suggests, leaning on one side as her fingers played with her hair-bobble. "I do think it would be fair enough."

"That..." A smile slowly forms on Nanase's lips as she cups her chin, nodding. "That's a great idea, Yuuka."

-x-x-x-

As the last bell rings deafeningly throughout Rikkaidai's campus, female students starts to fill in front of the tennis clubroom. As they were busy chit-chatting and whispering amongst themselves, they did not know that three pairs of eyes were watching them from the inside of the clubroom.

"That's...a lot of people."

"Nanase, make sure you have a chair near you in case Yuuka faints again."

"Right!"

"I will not faint again, Saito-buchou." As they took notice of a certain burnt-sienna-haired female approaching and telling all of the students there to collect the uniforms in the changing room. The three third-years gave each other glances.

"Do you think Abe-san could handle more than fifty people?"

"If she can handle a head-aching second-year, handling a large crowd might not be a problem for her...right?"

Both Yuuka and Nanase couldn't stop themselves from falling back-wards. This is going to be a long day.

"Saito Koyuki."

The said brunette looks up at the manager before walking towards her. Rachel hands her a piece of note and said, "This is your locker's number and key. Saito-buchou told me to have your locker near hers."

With a simple nod, Koyuki takes the key and note in her hands as the manager whispers, "Good luck."

"Thanks." As she parts away, she could her remarks tossed at her. Her mind kept telling her to ignore them and their remarks.

"That girl, she makes me sick."

"You think you're the only one? I can't believe that she's in the same class with me, two years straight!"

"Saito Koyuki, teacher's pet and soon, captain's pet."

"See? Saito often gets the best, and will always since she's the captain's sister."

"Yeah, no doubt."

Sinister laughing starts to rings in her ears as she quicken her pace to the girls changing room. She quickly took notice of the number of her locker, which is number 18 and heads towards it. The brown-eyed female quickly took notice of the contents inside it; her racquet, a can of tennis balls and the girls team's uniform. There was a note attached to the uniform. Picking it up, the short brunette reads it quietly.

'From your captain: The sweat-pants is only required when you're not a Regular or reserved for a game.

From your sister: Do your best. I'm watching, even if I'm not judging.'

"Lucky being the captain's sister, isn't it?" Koyuki nearly jumped up when she heard a whisper beside her. Turning to her right, she took notice of a blue-haired female smiling at her.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't meant to scare you there," she said, giggling. "I'm Uesugi Amaya."

"Nice to meet you, Uesugi-senpai."

"So," As Amaya opens her locker, the light gray-eyed female places her school bag in it and began to change. "I didn't think that the captain's sister would have to be in try-outs too. I thought that you joined the team the same time she did."

"Nah," the brunette took her uniform off too as she explains, "I was in the kendo team before."

"Before? Why did you stopped?" the third-year asks, closing her locker and sat down to tie her shoes.

"It's not that I stopped," exclaims the short-haired brunette. "It's because...sensei wanted me off the team."

"Eh?" Amaya was confused. According to what she heard, Saito Koyuki isn't just someone who is just well-known for her tennis-team-captain sister, but also her winning first place and leading the kendo teams from school competitions to regional to nationals. "Why did you stopped? You were the team's number one!"

"I didn't stopped, Uesugi-senpai." As the brown-eyed female closes her locker, she flashes her senior a small smile. "It's because of an injury."

"And we seriously hope that injury won't give us trouble," Nanase said, as her blue eyes clashed with Koyuki's brown orbs. A look of uneasiness spread across both of their faces.

"Hey there, Hayashi-san." Amaya greets as she swings her racquet onto her shoulder. Passing behind the shortest girl, she ruffles her brown-colored hair and flashes her a wink. "See you on the courts, Yuki-chan. Don't mind if I call you that!"

A chuckle escapes from the said female's lips as she straights her messy hair back down. The taller vice-captain turns away from the other third-year towards the smaller girl in front of her.

"Listen here, Saito." It was a long-time question why the vice-captain often calls her sister by her first name, and her by their family name. "Don't go thinking that just because you're the sister of the captain, you could get away with anything and win this try-out."

"Frankly speaking, Hayashi-senpai, I don't." Nanase didn't expect her to talk back to her in a blunt and sharp tone. "All I know is that I've lived with merely one principle in my life; if I want something, I need to get it myself...Now, will you excuse me..."

As Koyuki passes the vice-captain, she knew that the taller and older female was giving her a death glare. For a long time, she wonders why Nanase had been so harsh on her for no reasons. Most of her seniors, who were mainly from the tennis team, was fine with Koyuki being around her sister, but not Nanase.

"Something on your mind?" A voice snaps her back to reality as the second-year's brown eyes met a pair of lavender ones. Shaking her head slightly, she didn't felt like telling the purple-hared female her thoughts. Although she didn't, Yuuka knew what her captain's sister was thinking about.

"Don't worry, Koyuki, in time, Nanase will warm up to you," As worries rushes through her thoughts, she frowns her brows and whispers, "Hopefully."

The brunette merely laughs at her senior's attempt on assuring her. "I highly doubt that, Itou-senpai, she hates me. No doubt."

"That aside," the tall female said, looking at her clipboard as she raises one paper up. "You're at Court Number Two. Just find Yukimura-san and Sanada-san and you're there."

"S-Sanada-fukubuchou?" Yuuka can't help it but laughs. Maybe assigning her to the court where the scary-looking vice-captain is isn't such a good idea coming from her own captain, and sister. "I could change your courts to another one if you want to, but I'll have to-!"

"No, no! It's O.K.!" Koyuki quickly holds up her hands, waving them around. "I'll be fine on Court Number Two!"

With that, she quickly runs off faster than a hungry cheetah. If it's Sanada Genichirou watching her during the try-outs, she's going to need to work to the fullest in order to get in the team.

This chapter is pretty much boring, but hopefully the next one will be a lot more interesting to you guys! ^^;

And no, I haven't introduce most of my OCs here yet. Two more OCs haven't been introduced properly yet :D

See you in the next chapter, everyone! * O * /