.x.

Happy Spring Break to those who are on Spring Break (SB)! Time for the season with all the pretty flowers and stuff, joy. (For Angel, SB = Sleep Break.) xD

.x. Just in case no one knows, (No one knows…) Love Like This is actually a song by SS501, a Korean boy band. :D

.x. And in case anyone cares, (No one cares…) I really liked the song and the pretty Asian persons in it. Definitely check out the MV on YouTube when you have a chance! :3

.x. Love Like This .x.

…"more than just star-crossed"…

Love Like This © Angel Ballet

Prince of Tennis © Takeshi Konomi

Chapter Two: Endless Moment

"Be Yourself; Everyone Else is Already Taken." –Oscar Wilde

Previously…

I turned the opposite direction from where I was walking and attempted to concentrate. Echizen followed.

To my surprise, he seemed to have a rather amused look on his face.

"What?" I asked, staring back at him, curious.

He shrugged and smirked. "Nothing."

A pause. I felt myself dying to know what he was thinking behind that pretty face.

Oh, dear God.

Being around Echizen really was scarring my sanity.

It turns out Echizen was really good at tennis.

As in, really good.

I mean, I can't say I expected anything less from someone of his structure; good build, above average height, lean leg muscles…

Point proven.

But really, after I showed him where the tennis courts, I couldn't help but stay at the sidelines and watch for a tiny bit. Just a peek was enough after all… School was over anyways, what could go wrong?

Apparently all the regulars on the tennis team already knew him. The moment he appeared within sight, I could hear his name being chanted by the freshmen of the squad, in particular, the females of the tennis club.

Oh, how could I ever forget how he dismissed me?

'Thank you, Sasuki, you can go now.'

Frown. 'You don't need help getting home?'

Smirk. 'Of course not, I'm not that horrible at directions… I know where the parking lot is, at least.'

Glare. 'Rub it in, will ya?'

'I'll see you tomorrow.' Grin. 'Bye, Sasuki.'

Jerk. Stupid, stupid jerk.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms as Echizen's accusing tone mixed with a bored face continued replaying in my head. Surprisingly, I didn't even notice that tennis practice was ending.

With a small sigh, I prepared to walk back to the classroom. It was past time to go home.

To my surprise, I saw Kaoru walking out of the tennis courts with some other tennis player wearing glasses, both completely drenched in sweat from their practice.

"I'm not drinking that concoction, Inui…" I heard Kaoru growl, or rather, hiss.

The black-haired man wearing glasses smiled. "But Kaoru, you lost. This was part of the bet."

I paused where I was to hear the conversation. I mean, bet? With Kaoru?

Kaoru seemed disgusted and embarrassed at the same time, not that it was surprising or anything. "You're the one who lost, are you not keeping track?"

"But Kaoru, it was 4-5, I was the winner. Just drink the concoction."

"But I won, besides that thing can kill if you dr-"

"Cheaters never win, Kaoru."

"Inui, I said n-"

I heard a laugh tear out of my throat, catching both Kaoru and 's attention and interrupting their conversation at the same time.

Kaoru's eyes widened. "You."

I rolled my eyes, a playful smile still on my lips at their previous conversation. "Yes, me, Kaoru."

The black haired man next to him adjusted his glasses and stared at me. "Your friend, Kaoru?"

I was about to answer that we've known each other since we were toddlers, but Kaoru replied first.

"Nope, I don't know her. Let's go, Inui."

I frowned and crossed my arms. So quick to leave, was he? "Fine, Kaoru. You stupid snake-wad."

Without waiting for a reply, I dashed back to the classroom, just in time to avoid Kaoru's wrath.

"She's quite interesting." Inui commented.

Kaoru just rolled his eyes. "You'll get used to her."

"Oh? You seem to know her pretty well."

A shrug, Kaoru sighed. "Only because I've known her since we were younger. It's hard to figure out anything about her."

Inui adjusted his glasses against the bridge of his nose once again. "Meaning, she's a dull person?"

A short pause before Kaoru walked off towards the locker rooms. "No, you just don't know what she's capable of."

Inui smirked. "Was that sarcasm, Kaoru?"

"Up to what you think, Inui. You are the expert after all."

Inui smiled, adjusting his glasses for the n'th time; of course he was the expert. "Isn't she the one that was taking Echizen around school? It's been the talk of the day."

The two entered the locker rooms in silence.

"I didn't hear about it," Kaoru replied, sounding disinterested. Inui couldn't see the expression on Kaoru's face, or judge his tone.

"She's not ugly, Kaoru. I wasn't surprised." Inui remarked, matter-of-factly.

A silence blew through the room as Kaoru toweled off all the condensation left on his body after his practice with Inui.

It was a silence that didn't go unnoticed by Inui. "In fact, I think she likes Echizen already."

A pause.

Inui didn't really know, he really just wanted to see what kind of reaction Kaoru would have. Especially since Kaoru never talked about a girl with Inui before. And since Echizen was such the intimidating person, it shouldn't take much for a girl to fall for him, right?

Much to Inui's amusement, Kaoru said nothing. Just continued with wiping his face, covering his expression at the same time.

"Kaoru…" Inui gave a creepy smile, his glasses masking his eyes, "Say something already, or else I'll think something I'm not supposed to."

Kaoru stopped wiping his face and glared at Inui with his usual glare. "Like you don't already."

Inui smile innocently. "What ever are you talking about?"

Another pause.

"It would take more." Kaoru said, wiping his elbow and arms now. "It would take more than pretty boy looks to impress Sasuki, Inui."

Inui's eyebrow rose in amusement but said nothing.

"She's hard to impress. Good-looking? Well, she'll notice, of course, what female doesn't notice?"

Kaoru paused to wipe his back by folding the towel and rubbing it across his well-toned back.

"But she's not that easy."

With that, Kaoru stuffed the drenched towel in a nearby trashcan and walked out the locker rooms, leaving Inui to deal with the baggage full of new data by himself.

That was probably the first time Inui ever heard Kaoru say so many interesting things

Sometimes, I think Kaoru's insults and his way of ignoring me is his way of saying he cares.

Sometimes, I think Kaoru does it just to hear an insult of my own directed back at him.

Sometimes, I think he's just being his usual snake-like self.

Ahh, typical Kaoru.

I turned back to glance at the fading figures of Kaoru and Inui after I left them at the tennis courts.

Who knew our tennis team was so interesting? They have to drink concoctions when they lose? Who knew…

To my amusement, I had been at the tennis courts for an hour… So much for just a peek.

Stupid Echizen. It's all his fault I came here in the first place! And it's probably somehow his fault I ended up staying so late anyways.

It was getting late, the sky was orange and the sun was setting away.

Oh, beautiful, beautiful, orange sky.

I was lucky the school had such a nice view of the sky. One just had to stop by and stare at it before going on his or her merry way.

It took about two minutes or admiring the sunset did I remember I had around ten pages of homework that was stuffed in my backpack, uncompleted. But whether or not I'd be the responsible person and do it was the real question.

After around half a minute of debating, I decided I would do my homework. Partically because I didn't want to get yelled at by someone as terrifying as Akira-sensei.

And Echizen was sitting right next to me now. Oh, how him and his bored expression would judge me!

It was a shame, the weather was lovely; warm yet cool with just the right breeze. I decided to make my stroll home as slowly and relaxing as I could make it, which probably wouldn't be long since I lived about a five minute car drive from my school.

First things first; I had to run back to class and grab my jacket, I completely forgot about it! (Much thanks to Echizen.)

So, after running all through school, I was safely in front of my own classroom. The whole school was empty, it was extremely easy to get around now.

I reached for the knob in slow motion, expecting someone to walk out of the door if I didn't turn it slowly.

Instead of the usual twist and turn knob it usually was, the knob didn't budge.

Locked…?

There was no way; it was only an hour after school! It wasn't even raining, it was bright and orange outside! Who would lock up a classroom this early? Teachers were supposed to stay until the tennis clubs, or any sport clubs finished!

A million possible conclusions streamed through my head with inhuman speed.

Akira-sensei.

I couldn't blame her anyways. (If she was the one…) She probably knew I would forget my jacket in the classroom…

Akira-sensei was well-known for locking the doors before schedule. It was actually surprising she wasn't fired already…

Or maybe, it was just because I had such horrible karma…

I groaned in frustration and kicked the door as hard as I could.

Pain immediately unnerved at my toes, yet the door didn't budge the slightest bit.

"Oww." I whimpered, bunny hopping around on one foot lightly.

I'll admit, that was probably the most stupid thing I've done in a while… I mean, was I really expecting the door to open?

I was so lucky no one saw me do that to the door. It would be the new talk of the school, more popular than any fan news on Echizen's personal life.

I could see it now. Student at Seishun breaks toe kicking a classroom door.

But really, I needed my jacket. My keys were in there! How was I going to get home now? Especially with my mom at the hospital until tomorrow morning!

Frustrated, I groaned again and buried my face in my knees and wrapped my arms around them, I might as well save some energy and sit down if I was going to be at school all night. This was the best day of my life.

After a few moments of pretending to be asleep, I heard footsteps clatter softly against the stone floors. Too quiet to be heels or flip-flops, yet too loud to be sandals.

It was probably the janitor or something.

The footsteps grew louder, and finally, it stopped somewhere near me.

"What are you doing here?"

I was too out of it to recognize the voice and far too lazy to lift my face to see the person, but I did, in fact, hear his or her voice.

"The doors locked." I mumbled; my words were a fine jumbled mess thanks to the mouth that was practically shoved against my knees.

There was a silence before I heard footsteps continue walking towards me. Closer.

"I have the keys."

It took me a few more seconds to realize what the janitor had just said, but when I did, I immediately raised my head to smile and thank my savior.

"Thank y-," I paused, the smile slowly transitioning to surprise as I started at the person I had just been communicating with.

It wasn't the janitor.

It was Echizen.

Echizen in a sports hat.

Hey, he's kinda cute…

Wait, wait, no. That's not what I meant to think.

"What are you doing here?" I yelled, caught completely off-guard.

The handsome transfer student shrugged, seemingly very bored again as he dangled the classroom keys a few inches from my surprised face.

In case it wasn't obvious, Echizen just finished his tennis practice for the first day, he held a covered tennis racket in my hand with a sports bag slinging across his shoulders, and to my surprise, he, like Kaoru, was sweating quite a bit.

Echizen turned away from me and my gaping expression to the locked door with a key in his hand instead."Akira-sensei told me she had to leave early today and gave me the keys in case I had to come back to the classroom."

I frowned. She always leaves early though… Then I rolled my eyes. She basically gave her classroom to the student who just transferred here today.

Quietly, Echizen inserted the key into the bolt below the knob and with a gentle click, the door was unlocked.

"What did you forget?" Echizen asked calmly, uninterested.

It makes me wonder, if he was so uninterested, why did he even ask the question…

To my surprise (mostly shock), Echizen held the classroom door open, signaling for me to walk in before him like a gentleman.

"My jacket," I answered before walking past him into the classroom.

The moment I walked into class, I saw my jacket slung carelessly over the chair of my seat. I almost wanted to laugh at how stupid I was to just leave it there with my house keys in the pockets.

Echizen walked towards his own desk, shuffling some papers and a couple of books on his desk in the process.

I couldn't help being curious. "Did you forget something?"

He didn't answer my question as he looked through his desk, moving aside his newly obtained papers and books. Then, he carefully reached toward his chair and pulled off the backpack that was hanging on it neatly.

"This, I didn't know I was supposed to bring it to the locker rooms after school."

I laughed slightly. "Of course you are, where else do you keep it?"

Echizen shrugged but didn't bother to look at me once as he scrimmaged through his backpack neatly, searching for something particular.

I rolled my eyes and tugged my jacket off the chair, then I carefully dug through the pockets, checking for my keys. They weren't in my left pocket, which was where I put them this morning…

Ugh, I really was stuck at school for the day… And I lost my keys, my mother was going to shoot me.

I groaned. "I can't find my keys."

Maybe it was a bad idea to tell Echizen, but I wanted some company if I was going to stay at school all night, even if it was a few last minutes with Echizen.

At first, Echizen didn't say anything, he just continued to look through this own bag, his face unreadable.

"My keys…" Echizen muttered, still zipping open and violating every section of his backpack that was possible. "They aren't here either."

My eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second.

Surprise, surprise? What are the chances! So I guess Echizen makes mistakes too… Now we're both stuck here!

Oh, dear God, do you love sticking me with him for as long as humanly possible? Are you planning to have us confined together after death too?

I tried my best to remain calm, but it was hard to have the same sleepy and bored expression Echizen had on all the time.

"So, um, do you remember where you put it before you went to the tennis courts?" I asked, attempting to be the slightest bit helpful, and it probably wouldn't even succeed.

I watched, mesmerized as Echizen rolled his eyes and dropped his backpack to the floor before sighing. "I should be asking you that, Miss Parking Lot."

I felt my face slightly heat up as I remembered why that was my new name; and if I must say, it was quite a mouthful. "You distracted me! And it's not like I go to the tennis courts everyday to know where exactly it was!"

Echizen smirked playfully, it was a true devil's cute smile. "How was I distracting you?"

"You… You… Ugh," I scoffed. "Forget this."

I saw him grin before I turned back around to grab my jacket.

"So what do we do?" I asked, somewhat relieved I wasn't the only one who lost their keys, spare me the embarrassment. Still, I could have re-sworn my oath to God that I put my keys in the left pocket of my jacket; it was where I put it every day.

Echizen shrugged. "How should I know? It's not like I've been to school here for more than seven hours."

I sighed quietly. "Can't you just go home though? Your parents are home, aren't they?"

"My mom isn't coming to Japan until next week, she's still packing, and she wanted me to come here earlier so I don't miss too much school work. And the only time my dad's awake is when a pretty girl's at the door, knocking."

I paused, somewhat amused that the almighty Echizen was telling me about himself and his father. "Oh."

He turned to look at me. "What about you?"

I was somewhat dreading that question. "My mom works night shift at a hospital so she can take care of my younger sister in the mornings. My older brother's in college."

A short silence.

"What about your dad?" he asked.

I bit the bottom of my lip lightly. The dad topic… I didn't tell anything about my family to anyone, only Shiori…

"He's at work," I lied.

It wasn't technically a lie. He was, in fact, at work. He was just on the other side of the world with his new wife and children. Yes, my parents were divorced. I could deal with it, but that didn't mean I wanted to talk about it, especially with Echizen.

Echizen didn't seem to notice my lie, much to my relief. "Then wait at the door until he gets home."

Hmm, how to answer that without giving too much away… "He works late."

Echizen crossed his arms and took a deep breath. "Then I guess we're stuck together for a while, hn, Miss Parking Lot?"

I glared at Echizen, who was seated near a desk near the windows, the beautiful orange sunlight glowing all around him. "Stop calling me that, it was an accident! The parking lot is near the tennis courts, you know."

Echizen smirked. "Sure, sure." Then he paused for a moment when he saw a pout at my lips as I glared at him. "Why were you at school this late anyways?"

I was kind of watching you play tennis.

"None of your business!" I snapped.

A devastatingly handsome smile played on his perfect lips. "I saw you at the tennis courts watching me during practice."

I felt a chill crawl through my spine. "No, I wasn't! You were imagining!"

"Don't lie, I have perfect vision, I could have sworn I saw you."

I crossed my arms. "It's none of your business."

He looked amused. "A girl is stalking me and it's none of my business?"

My mouth opened, prepared to defend my pride, but no words would come out.

"Well, Sasuki, I don't mind followers, as long as they know their places and don't interfere with my life." Echizen joked playfully.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not a stalker, or a follower, I don't believe I'd ever stoop low enough to do that."

Echizen's eyes widened in amusement as he leaned his cheek into the palm of his hand.

"Besides, what's the point if everyone in the world loves you, Echizen?"

I paused before continuing. "You'll never have to fight for anything. Fighting for what you love is what makes life so entertaining, you know."

It was slightly embarrassing saying such poetic things to someone like Echizen, who would probably care less about the things that were so important to me.

"Besides," I laughed, suddenly remembering something humorous that I could inform Echizen of. "You'll get fall in love and get married so easily!"

At this point in time, I could see pure surprise hanging all over Echizen's face as he stared at me. I'm pretty sure he thought I was drunk on the sunset outside the windows where he was sitting.

"Miss Parking Lot," he asked. "Isn't that a good thing?"

I pouted slightly. "Of course not, what's the fun in that? I'd rather fall in love the hard way; through hardship, fights, and have the bond of a generation, no?"

Echizen laughed. "You've got a ways to go."

Hmm, I change my mind, Echizen might not be impossible to get along with.

I smiled back. "Do I?"

Slowly, I leaned back against my desk and stared at the sun that was still in the midst of setting.

Echizen and I had a much appreciated silence as we enjoyed the sunset, surprisingly, together.

I sighed. "I think I'll go to Shiori's house to spend the night."

Echizen turned casually to look at me. "Who?"

"My best friend, she lives close to here."

He blinked. "Oh."

I smiled and stood up, stretching my arms in the process. "Why don't you try crawling through the windows of your house or something, Echizen?"

He smirked and I could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "I'll do that."

It was a nice chat, some bonding between classmates I suppose. Echizen was his own kind of person, one of a kind indeed.

"It gets cold at night, you should head home now. Besides, if you stay any later, your new fan girls could rape you overnight." I told him, grabbing my backpack and key-less jacket in the process.

He chuckled lightly and stood up as well. "I hope that was sarcasm."

"Of course not," I retorted. "You aren't aware of the effect you have on the female gender? In case you haven't noticed, you have the ability to change their eyes to big, puffy, pink hearts."

"Maybe, but apparently you're unaffected." Echizen said teasingly.

I scoffed, I was so not unaffected, I just never showed it. "I'm leaving, Echizen, remember to lock the doors and make sure you don't leave anything else behind."

He smirked. "I should be telling you that, Miss Parking Lot."

I glared at him before walking angrily to the door. "You need to stop calling me that."

"But it's true."

I pointed my index finger in his direction accusingly. "'Miss Parking Lot' doesn't make anything true; it doesn't mean anything! Everyone gets directions wrong some point in their lives!"

Echizen shrugged, going into his bored faze again. "Whatever you say."

I groaned before turning away from him. "I'm leaving."

"You said that last time but you're still here." Echizen said, yawning.

I didn't bother replying to his last comment and walked off angrily, but not before turning around one last time to make sure Echizen had locked the doors like I told him to.

He did, much to my disappointment, lock the doors… Correctly too.

Echizen noticed me staring at him with a frown on my face and smiled at me, waving one hand in the air.

"Good night, Miss Parking Lot," he called, every sound echoing down the hallways.

I just had to glare at him. Him and his pretty eyes.

"Stop calling me that, Echizen!"

I heard him laugh merrily before I stormed off in the opposite direction.

Well, that was kind-of sort-of long-ish. o.o (For me at least.) Is the POV okay? I mean, not every day you see the OC's every thought on hawt boys!

I think Ryoma was slightly OOC… Forgive me! D: (Extremely OOC at the end…) And the sudden Kaoru entrance, bleh, I don't even like Kaoru that much! Fuji & Eiji FTW! :D

Review! …Even if it is criticism or just to insult the story, as long as you don't insult Korean Bands (Super Junior, DBSK, Big Bang, etc…), I'm good. :3

So… Reviews plaaaaawks. :D (WTF is plawks?)

**Review Please. :3