Chapter 1

It was 6 months after I had arrived in Japan and I had just been released from the hospital. I had to go back once every month for a checkup. 'That was going to be hard', I thought. 'But if I was able to play tennis again I would be happy'. I was currently standing outside of a house that was owned by my dad's older brother. It looked nice and my parents had said that my cousin would be staying with me to make sure I was alright.

"Mmm? And who might you be?" I heard a voice behind me ask.

"I could ask you the same thing," I replied turning around, recognizing the sound of my cousin from when we had talked on the phone. "Oshitari Ruri."

"Eh? Oshitari Ruri, huh? So you're my cousin," he said. He had dark blue hair and he wore glasses. A tennis bag was slung over one shoulder along with a blazer. "Come on, might want to go inside before it starts raining."

"'kay," I replied, following him inside the modest more traditional style two story house. Once inside I noticed a large room to the front with a staircase of to the right. I caught sight of a doorway just as my cousin disappeared behind it. Sliding glass doors to the left led to a small porch with some flowers and a bonsai tree. A coach sat with its back to the stairs, small table rested in front of it. I finished taking in the room and slipped off my shoes and grabbed a pair of slippers.

"You're going to Seigaku, right?" he asked from in the kitchen.

"Yea, what school do you go to?" I asked, leaning against the doorway.

"…" he didn't reply right away, he had started making tea. " Hyotei Gakuen, it's not far from Seigaku."

"Meow," I glanced down to see a black long haired cat rub up against my leg, making me smile.

"You have a cat," I said bending down to pet him. "What's his name?"

"Nikki, and it's a girl," he replied walking over to me. "Here," he said offering me a cup of tea.

"Thanks."

"No problem," he replied walking over to the couch and sitting down. "Your uniforms upstairs in your room, by the way. It's the first room on the left the bathrooms the next room down on the left."

"Thank you," I said heading up the stairs.

"Dinner will be ready in about an hour," Yushi said.

"Okay."

"You sure you'll be alright?" my cousin asked again, the following morning as he adjusted his tie and made sure he had all of his things and I had all of mine.

"Yes, I'm sure I'll be fine Yushi-san," I replied and headed out the door before he could ask again. He had given me a map of where Hyotei was from Seigaku and the house we were sharing in case I ever needed anything.

"I'll see you after school!" I said to him before turning left and walking down the street.

"Right," he replied waving, heading in the opposite direction.

"Oshitari…Oshitari…Ah! Here it is!" exclaimed the secretary. "Oshitari Ruri, Class 3-6. Here," she handed me my schedule and a map. "Good luck," she said as I left to find my classroom. 'Okay, that's on the third floor.' Once I was on the third floor I started looking for my new class room. 'Class 3-6…3-1…3-4…Ah, Class 3-6'. Before I could open the door, someone from the other side opened it.

"Ah, you're Oshitari Ruri-san, right?" asked a woman who I took to be the teacher.

"Hai," I replied. She looked to be in her mid-thirties with shoulder length brown hair and glasses covering chocolate brown eyes.

"Come in, I'll introduce you to the class," and with that she turned around and heading back into the classroom calling out to the class for their attention as I followed her inside. "Okay, today we have a new transfer student, her name is Oshitari Ruri." The whole class was murmuring as I took my seat. "Okay everyone take out your books and turn to page…"

"Oshitari Ruri?" I heard a curious voice behind me ask. It was lunch and most of the students had already left.

"Hai?" I replied turning around to see two guys. One had his eyes closed and was smiling while the other had dark red hair with a white piece of cloth on his right check.

"Would you like to have lunch with us?" asked the guy who had his eyes closed.

"Mm…Sure," I replied standing up and following them out of the classroom in the direction I hoped was the lunch room.

"By the way I'm Fuji Shusuke," said the guy who had his eyes closed.

"And I'm Kikumaru Eiji. Nice to meet you nya~!" said the guy with the red hair.

"Nice to meet you," I replied looking around at the surroundings. "Where are we going?"

"The cafeteria," replied Fuji. "The other regulars probably want to meet you."

"Regulars?"

"We're on the tennis team nya~," said Kikumaru giving me the piece sign.

"Oh," I said surprised. I had been on the tennis team with my sister and best friend before having to move.

"Do you play tennis Ruri-chan?" asked Kikumaru.

"Hmm," I replied. 'I wonder if I should tell them about the team I was on…Nah they'd probably find out eventually'. "I played with my sister."

"You have a sister?" he exclaimed.

"We're here," interrupted Fuji.

"Nya~! Oishi!" shouted Kikumaru running towards another third year student who was sitting at a table completely ignoring the two of us. I glanced around. The room was about the same size as the one back at St. Augustine's. The freshman were easy to pick out, as were the seniors.

"Uh…"

"He's always like that, don't worry," said Fuji following Kikumaru. I trailed behind, familiarizing myself with my new classmates. "You'll get used to it." I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, slightly suspicious now.

"Ah, Fuji-senpai," said who I guessed to be a second year with purple eyes and black spiky hair. "Who's the girl next to you?"

"The new transfer student," Fuji replied sitting down and gesturing for me to sit next to him.

"Oshitari Ruri, it's nice to meet you," I said nodding not only to him but the other students sitting at the table as well.

"Oshitari?" repeated the second year with the black spiky hair.

"Oshitari? Like the one from Hyotei?" exclaimed a curious first year.

"I didn't know he had a sister," said a third year with short brown hair.

"Ano…I'm not his sister," I replied chuckling softly. "He's my cousin." 'This was going to be an interesting year…'

"But you are related to him?" asked Eiji.

"Yes."

"Is that why you play tennis?" asked Fuji while taking out his bento.

"No, I only meet him yesterday," I replied. 'Apparently Fuji-san hadn't really paid attention to me when I was talking to Kikumaru-san.'

"You only meet him yesterday? Where'd you live before if you just meet him nya~?" asked Kikumaru.

"Um…I lived in Spain." There was no way I was telling them I had been in a hospital for the past 6 months. Not until I could trust them to not spill it to the whole school.

"You lived in Spain?" asked Kikumaru disbelievingly staring at me with wide eyes. "But you speak Japanese so…well!" He exclaimed gesturing wildly.

"Spain? Where's that?" asked the second year with the black spiky hair who's brows where furrowed in confusion.

"Baka. Spain is in Europe," said another second year. "Psssshhh."

"What was that Mamoshi ?" demanded the other second year, standing up.

"Ano…Fuji-san, what are their names?" I asked turning away from Kikumaru and the two second years fighting.

"Ah, that's right they haven't introduced themselves," said Fuji. "Ma…mina, I think you should introduce yourselves."

"Ah, you're right Fuji-san!" said the third year Kikumaru had run to when we first entered the cafeteria. "Oishi Syuichirou I'm the vice-captain."

"Inui Sadaharu," said a third year with black hair and glasses, though I couldn't see his eyes. He also had a notebook with him. 'What it was for…I had no idea. And I didn't really want to know.'

"Kaido Kaoru," said one of the second years that had been fighting. And still was.

'I wonder if all those two do is fight…'

"Takeshi Momoshiro," said the other second year the one with spiky black hair, glaring at Kaido-san.

"Takeshi Kawamura," said the third year who had wondered if I was Yushi's sister.

"Echizen Ryoma," murmured the sole first year at the table, pulling his cap lower over his face.

"And I'm Tezuka Kunimitsu, Captain," said a third year I hadn't noticed was there. He had brown hair and glasses and a serious look. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," I replied.

Ring.

"Eh? Whose phone is that?"

Ring.

"Echizen, is it yours?"

"Don't have one," he replied pulling his hat down over his face. I rolled my eyes before answering my phone.

Ri-

"Hello?" I said answering my phone, smiling when the tennis regulars all stopped and looked at me.

"Ruri-san? It's me. How's school?" asked my cousin.

"It's fine."

"Make any friends?"

"Mm…yeah."

"That's good. See you at the house," Yushi said before hanging up. 'Huh. That was short,' I thought as I glanced down at my phone in faint amusement.

"Ne, Ruri-chan, who was that?" asked Kikumaru.

"Oh, it was just my cousin checking up on me," I replied finishing up my lunch and standing up to leave. "It was nice meeting you. Ja ne."

I was the first one to arrive at the classroom after lunch was over. As soon as the bell rang the students started coming in, including Fuji-san and Kikumaru-san.

"Ruri-chan~!" I heard Kikumaru-san say from the direction of the doorway. "Will you come to the tennis courts after school with us?"

"Hmm…" Yushi-san might not like it but I didn't see why I couldn't. "Sure. I wouldn't be in the way though, would I?" I asked looking over at them. I had a feeling I didn't want to upset there captain.

"It's fine," said Fuji-san smiling before continuing down the aisle to his seat.

"Yeah!" said Kikumaru-san jumping up and down before following Fuji-san and heading to his seat.

After the bell rang signaling the end of class I got my things together and followed Fuji-san and Kikumaru-san out to the tennis courts.

"Wow," I said when we got out to the tennis courts.

"Stay here 'kay?" said Kikumaru-san grabbing Fuji-san and heading towards the changing room. "We have to go change."

"Okay," I replied, looking around. There were already some students on the tennis courts setting up the nets and bringing tennis balls out. I recognized a few of the students on the court, they were in a few of my classes. I also recognized the regulars who I had been introduced to at lunch. Though it seems they didn't see me as they just headed to the changing room that Fuji-san and Kikumaru-san had entered a few minutes ago.

"Ruri-chan, over here!" yelled Kikumaru-san, I hadn't seen him leave the changing room.

"Huh? Ah," I replied turning towards where he had called. When I got closer to the courts I released they were almost as good as the ones I had played on back in Spain.

"Bucho said you could sit here," he told me when I got closer, pointing to a bench just inside the fence around one set of courts.

"Okay," I replied sitting on the bench. "How long is your practice?" I asked curious swinging my legs back and forth, looking at the some of the team that was already practicing.

"Hmm…It depends on Bucho, Inui, and sometimes Ryuzaki-sensei," he replied.

"Inui?" I asked. Wasn't that the name of one of the regulars?

"Ah, because Ochibi beat him in the Ranking Matches he's been working with Ryuzaki-sensei to help come up with our training regime," he replied shuddering a little at a memory.

"Uh…Who's Ochibi?"

"Oh, that's what I call Echizen nya~," he replied smiling.

"Everyone gather!" a voice yelled, I looked towards the source and saw Tezuka-san.

"Ah!" exclaimed Kikumaru-san. "I have to go, see you after practice Ruri-chan!"

"Ah," I replied looking after him to see the whole team gathered with the regulars in front. I could just hear what Tezuka-san was saying.

"…said that Hyotei…sometime today…practice match…don't…careless." was all I could distinguish from what he was saying. But it looked like they would be playing Hyotei…meaning my cousin was going to be there. Crap.

'Speaking of the devil and he shall appear.'

"Ruri. What are you doing here?" I turned around when I heard the voice, hoping he wouldn't tell my parents. (They had clearly said that I had to go straight home unless I asked them first).

"Hi," I replied looking rather sheepish. "Um…well Kikumaru-san asked if I would come down to watch their practice."

"Did you ask your parents?" he asked looking like I was giving him a head ache.

"…uh…no, but I didn't want to wake them up!" I replied in my defense. My parents were in America for a small concert series.

"Whatever," he replied heading towards the Seigaku tennis team who didn't looked like they had expected them to arrive there that soon.

"Oshitari-san, who were you talking to?" asked another guy with red hair who was standing with who I assumed were the Hyotei tennis team.

"Hmm? Oh, my cousin," he replied after turning around. "If you touch her I will be forced to kill you…Or so her parents said," he told the redhead with mock seriousness. I smirked; my parents knew I could take care of myself.

"A-ah," the redhead replied walking quickly away.

'Mm', I thought. 'I wonder if it was my mom who threatened him with that…I doubt dad would say that to his own nephew.'

After the practice matches were over (Hyotei winning) the Seigaku regulars were grumbling as they entered their changing rooms while the Hyotei members got ready to leave. I was also getting ready to leave when Yushi walked up to me.

"Ruri? My team would like to meet you."

"Mm? Okay, why?"

"I'm not sure, but they keep insisting in wanting to meet you," he replied walking back towards his friends with me following behind closely.

"Oshitari! Why didn't you tell us you're living with your cousin?" asked the redhead when we got closer.

"Because I just meet her yesterday," he replied, smirking. "Ruri, this is the captain Atobe Keigo," he pointed towards the guy who had silver hair and an arrogant look on his face. I smirked.

"Be awed by Ore-sama's presence."

"Kabaji Munehiro," he pointed to a guy with dark hair and brown eyes.

"Usu."

"Akutagawa Jiro," he said pointed to the tennis player that was being carrying by Kabaji. I raised an eyebrow, he was sleeping.

"…"

"Mukahi Gakuto," he said pointed to the redhead he had been talking to when they had first arrived. I wrinkled my nose in distaste.

"Oshitari~! Answer me!"

"Shishido Ryo," he pointed to a tennis player that had a blue hat on backwards.

"Yo." I nodded back politely.

"And Otori Chotaro," he said pointing to the tennis player next to Shishido, he was taller and had silver hair.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Ano...Atobe-san, why do you talk in third person?" I asked. Everyone stared at me as if I had broken some unspoken rule.

"Oshitari, did you not tell her?" I heard Mukahi-san stage whisper to Yushi.

"Mm? I didn't bother to tell her. I wanted to see Atobe's reaction."

Mukahi stared at him instead.

Meanwhile, it looked as if Atobe couldn't believe what he had heard.

"Um, did I say something I wasn't supposed to?" I asked right before Yushi grabbed my arm and turning me around.

"He's the heir to a rich family," he whispered.

"Oh, I still don't see the problem," I said staring at Yushi. "Anyway, I'm going home," I said to him before leaving.

"Did she just…?"

"Wow…"

"Brave girl…"

Atobe just smiled.

'Who would have thought that I would meet him here…'