a/n: So, what I've mostly noticed about Yukimura Seiichi is this - HE HAS TOTAL BEDROOM EYES. they are, to put it bluntly, the sexiest part of his character.

For example, in the Nationals OVA where he plays Echizen, he's got these really awesome facial features that clearly say, "I am going to rape you in this game of tennis whether you're ready for me or not". (Since I hate Seigaku in general I will say this: The Child of God should have won. I mean, for fuck's sake Yukimura went through so much pain, rehab, and surgery. How does Ryoma win? Oh, by having fun at tennis? Yeah OK like that overcomes obstacles, right?)

Mucho gracias to the people who reviewed me, especially to Everlude. I've tried my best to improve the quality of this story. :)

Last Chance

2. rules

-x-

Kasamatsu Haruka was exactly one hundred and sixty centimeters tall. Brown hair, brown eyes that could express liquid happiness or scorching anger, depending on the situation. In addition to having a scar on her eyebrow, she had a crooked nose. In sixth grade she participated in a game of dodgeball where somebody had thrown a ball a tad too strong and knocked her out. When she'd woken up, she'd found a nose splint in the center of her face.

While some people thought her face interesting and possibly even pretty on several occasions, she couldn't help but protectively touch the bridge of her nose, like it was a token of shame. She hated her nose. But, like everything bad that had happened to her, she took it calmly as it was an inevitable part of life. If her nose happened to be crooked, well, so be it. If her brother ran away from home after being pressured by her parents to enroll into a prestigious university, so be it. It wasn't up to her to protest against the rules.

Rules. She hated them. Not that she didn't abide by them, but she hated them anyway.

-x-

Yukimura Seiichi was one hundred and seventy five centimeters. He had different forms and shapes, depending on the situation. When he was with the Three Demons, he emerged as a brilliant commander, a person to be looked up to for direction and guidance. On the court, he was frightening; a prodigy, a genius, a Child of God. In the hospital, he had the mental resolve of a soldier and the kindness of a nun. For a person who possessed so much strength, it was surprising to all that he could still play with innocent children who had yet to understand the rules of life.

He had built his own family with his own talents. The Rikkaidai tennis team had been composed of the most talented players, carefully aligned, studied, and dissected to attain results. Yukimura would not settle for anything less than perfection and complete domination when it came to tennis. This was the Law of Rikkaidai: to win, and only win.

Rules. It was his way of life, perfectly assembled in a straight line. To his thinking, rules were the only way to properly maximize one's potential.

-x-

Haruka had been sitting in a meadow, her elbows resting on the fresh green grass. In her lucid dreams, it always went like this - her favorite place, her favorite person. A short conversation would commence.

"Onii-san, I met someone who was perfect today."

"Is that so?"

"Uh-huh. He reminds me of you."

"How?"

Haruka tilted her head, thinking for a while. "He's just as nice as everyone's said. He's dedicated and he's modest and he's not afraid of anybody."

Her brother laughed. "I'll have to meet him sometime."

"When? You never come home."

"I will, sometime. But not now. I don't want to come home right now."

Haruka's eyes were deep and sad. "Mom and Dad - "

"I've missed you sideways, Haruka." Her brother was gentle, cupping her chin with his hand. "But it's time for you to wake up."

-x-

Lunch break. Time to eat. Or initiate a conversation, which was what Haruka had intended to do that afternoon.

"You just look like my imaginary friend when I had when I was a kid. Only older, you know?"

Haruka didn't know why she'd just said that to Yukimura Seiichi. Never mind that she was too old for imaginary friends - she had plenty of real ones, anyway - or the fact that the imaginary friend she had when she was young had lopsided ears and a monkey-like tail. It was a sort of test, to match up whether her personality was really compatible with his.

No, what couldn't be argued was that Yukimura was most definitely a human, and while he seemed polite and friendly, there was no denying that he preferred the company of a very select few. To her, Yukimura was a puzzle that she couldn't exactly figure out. And it was curious, because for most people Haruka could bounce off a few words and see if they matched up to her. It was how she made friends, whether it was in the convenience store or school or her little chamber music sessions.

He gave her a cool look, but with a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Maybe I am."

Haruka smiled happily. It'd been the perfect response - playing along, but not fully committing. Interesting.

"It's all hazy, anyways. I think I grew out of him when I was twelve."

"Must have been an interesting fellow."

"He was," Haruka agreed. "He was pretty intense though. We'd never really agreed on what games to play."

"Huh..."

Lunch break had found the two of them eating by themselves. It had been mere coincidence that Yanagi had been off to the Science committee. Sanada, unfortunately, had been spending more time in the company of a rather spirited fille, and thus could not spend more time with his captain than attending practice. Rather than look for Niou or even Kirihara, which he was sure was in his sister's homeroom class, Yukimura had decided he would save his energy later, and would eat lunch by himself.

As for Haruka, her friends had flocked off somewhere, ostensibly to ogle at cute boys at the tennis courts. Or was it the soccer team? She'd forgotten an hour ago.

"Incidentally, did you have any quirky childhood memories?"

"Not really. I remember discovering tennis, but other than that... no."

She bit into a carrot with her strong, sharp teeth. "I bet that was fun."

"It was. My parents were hysterical. They thought I'd been kidnapped while I spent all day at the tennis courts."

The thought of little Yukimura chasing after a yellow tennis ball was amusing. Haruka crunched on another carrot stick, and wondered what would happen if her friends saw her right now, actually having a decent conversation with the boy they'd been dreaming about for ages.

"I played tennis once. My friend hit me in the knee."

"That's too bad. Tennis is a lot of fun."

She'd probably think it was fun, too, if she won all the time. But Haruka had never been an athlete - she probably wouldn't stand for any more physical education than walking from her apartment first thing in the morning to Rikkaidai Fuzoku.

"So what's it like to be really good at tennis?"

"I wouldn't know," Yukimura said modestly.

"... You're not being humble just because I complimented you, right?"

"Well, truthfully," he said, "I'm always looking for better players."

"Oh, so you're saying you're the best."

His smile was remarkably charming, acknowledging her insinuation of his arrogance. "Simply because I choose to say that I would like to challenge more formidable opponents doesn't imply that I think I'm the best, Kasamatsu-san."

The conversation halted to a gentle stop when another classmate asked for Yukimura, requesting him to do something. Haruka watched his back turning away from her and out of the classroom, remembering every word she'd had the luck to exchange with him. She bit into another carrot stick, relishing the crunch and snap of the vegetable.

In the end, Haruka had more questions for Yukimura than she had in the first place. He was like a knot that became more convoluted the more she tried to untie it.

(She couldn't tell if that was supposed to be incredibly alluring or incredibly frustrating.)

-x-

Heard you talked to Yukimura yesterday.

He's the guy who sits next to me, what'd you expect?

So? Do you not concede he is the most perfect, most brilliant and charming guy in school?

No.

Haruka, you're in denial.

About what?

God, are you clueless? This is your perfect chance!

What, to date him? No way.

Lots of girls would give up their eye and tooth just to be in your position.

Well, I'm not most girls.

He just smiled at you. Look, he's staring at you now!

God, get off my back. I'm not obsessed with him, okay?

You're blushing.

Am not.

Are too! I can always tell.

I'm not blushing, and I don't even think of Yukimura-san in that way. Stop saying that.

Still... you guys would look good together.

I don't even like him.

You talked to him.

He's got a girlfriend. Jeez.

What, are you jealous?

No, no, and no.

-x-

"Would you like to order something?"

"Uh... One iced coffee, please." Haruka said. "And... get a slice of red velvet cake for her," she pointed at her friend, who seemed too busy craning her neck outside of their booth to pay attention to the waitress. It was all her fault.

"Of course. Please wait a few minutes."

Her friend told Haruka she had witnessed with her own two eyes a pretty girl walk into a nearby cafe with Yukimura, and to boot wearing a Hyotei uniform too! So naturally -

"We have to follow them, Haruka."

Haruka wasn't okay with this. But after a little bit of cajoling, Haruka had figured that she might as well stop for a short snack before going home. It wasn't because she was interested in checking out Yukimura's girlfriend or anything. That was more her friend's department.

"Okay, thank you. Please wait a few minutes."

Haruka kicked her friend under the table. "Oi! Stop glaring at them! You're making it obvious!"

"But it's not fair," her friend whined, rubbing her injured knee with a wince. "She's really pretty. And she looks so freaking sophisticated it makes me want to puke."

"She" being the supposed girlfriend of Yukimura. Naturally, her friend just had to follow the two into a cafe, dragging Haruka along just because Haruka happened to be there at the right moment.

Haruka gave a quick glance at Yukimura's table, who was chatting amiably with a girl who was dressed in a tailored blazer, blouse, cute skirt, and a tie. It seemed too posh for a casual environment, but if she was conscious of this, she didn't seem to be. She had golden, intelligent eyes that spoke of a slightly bored disposition, an easy smile, and Haruka had to admit her friend was right. She was pretty, with the right clothes and her sleek hair which was twisted in an elegant bun.

And Yukimura was talking to her as if he was unaware of the two possibly insane teenage girls who were trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. Which was a good sign.

"One order of iced coffee and cake, coming up."

"Thank you," Haruka said politely, and pushed the confection towards her friend. She took a sip, and was kind of surprised to find out it was... Really good. It was sweet enough to take the bitterness off your tongue, but not so overly sugary that you couldn't appreciate the subtle fragrances of the coffee bean. She'd have to come here more often.

She couldn't say she was disappointed. But the way Yukimura described his girlfriend ("Sweet. Nice. Kind of insecure, actually, when I think about it. We met at a tennis tournament.") made her assume that she'd be... well, not as pretty as the model-esque figure who sat next to him. And she certainly didn't seem insecure, talking to Mr. Perfect like it was no big deal. Maybe it was the absence of all his fangirls, or the weather, or something.

Her friend tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, I just like, took a picture of her to send to my friend. And guess what? Apparently she's a Nationals level tennis player - "

"Uh-huh," Haruka said, pretending not to be interested. She was poking the ice cubes in her coffee. Regardless of how many times she pushed them down with her straw, they kept bobbing back up to the surface.

"Yeah, and apparently, she goes to a really fancy private school. Looks, money, and talent - god, she's like, perfect for him."

"As you'd suspect from the infamous Yukimura Seiichi," Haruka deadpanned. "So what's her name?"

"Nagase Kana. Man, she even has a nice name."

"Huh... "

"So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Nagase-san, of course!"

"She seems nice enough."

"And... ?"

"And nothing," Haruka finished. "We should go, before they see us."

Her friend was about to protest, but thought better of it. "Okay. Fine... You're probably right... Yukimura-sama wouldn't like that either..."

-x-

Yukimura looked at the mirror that had been dangling on the other side of the wall. Did they really think he couldn't notice the two Rikkaidai students exiting behind him?

The other girl was inconsequential, but he'd been surprised to notice Kasamatsu following after her. He didn't really expect someone like her to resort to stalking. Actually, now that he thought about it - he really needed to finish that game with her. He hated to leave things unfinished.

And anyway, she could form her own conclusions. For now.

Nagase caught his gaze and smirked. "Friends of yours?"

"Not really," he said and finished his glass of iced water. He'd been looking forward to meeting Nagase for a while - he'd heard rumors of how she pushed and shoved her way to the top of Hyotei's tennis system. She had contacted him via email, wishing to have a discussion about tennis. And he'd accepted.

So far, he'd been disappointed. Nagase Kana had no intentions of discussing anything but his sister. He'd deciphered her motives as soon as she made small talk leading up to the girl's team. For a captain, she seemed rather pathetic for not being able to find perfectly capable players in her own school - but he kept his judgments to himself.

"The tall one is pretty cute, though," she remarked. "She looks like she'd make a pretty good tennis player."

Yukimura almost had to laugh. "You mean Kasumatsu-san? I wouldn't think so."

"Ah, you never know. At Hyotei Gakuen you'd be kind of surprised."

"I'd probably guess the same... Atobe threw us for a loop in the Kantou Tournament last year. Small chat aside, what do you want?"

Nagase wasn't one to mince words. "To put it plainly, your sister. She's a damn good player. And I'm scouting for fresh talent."

"You can't have her. Rikkaidai's not that generous, Nagase-san."

"But Hyotei might be a good fit for her."

"No, I don't really think so."

Nagase stirred her tea carefully with a spoon. "You know, we captains have to stick together."

"I know." I've heard that one before.

"And your sister could be captain of my team next year."

"I'd prefer her to wear black and yellow instead of white and blue."

"But it'd match her hair."

Yukimura stared at her. "...She's not that vain. In case you've forgotten, Nagase-san, not all people resemble Atobe-san."

Nagase was unapologetic. "I suppose this means no?"

"No," Yukimura confirmed.

"You know, Yukimura-san, I appreciate that you took the time to see me." Nagase fiddled with an expensive ring on her finger. "I really do. But you should think over it before making your decision for Yukimura Shizuko. I could make her nurture her talent and take her to different heights. Surely the Child of God would understand."

He didn't like the insinuation.

"Rikkaidai Fuzoku has always been a league of champions, Nagase-san," Yukimura said coolly. "Our record stands on its own. As for my sister, I'm quite sure she'd like to stay at Rikkaidai." He had a smile that dripped of condescension, yet Nagase could not acknowledge it as that would have been impolite.

But Nagase, similar to Atobe Keigo, only took this in stride as if it was not an obstacle at all to their plans. "Very well, Yukimura-san. I will have to talk to her on an individual basis in the future - she would make an excellent Singles player. Have a nice day."

She got up, still smiling, and paid for both of their drinks. Her heels clicked away smartly as she headed back to Hyotei.

It was interesting, Yukimura thought, how headstrong a woman could be.

SO YEAH, REVIEW GUYS. would really appreciate it.