Disclaimer: I as always, do not own Prince of Tennis.

ENJOY!

By the way, if any of you have read my Shiraishi/OC/Yagyuu story, yes, I do realise that OC character, Aki, is also a vice president of a student council. Hehe.

Chapter 2: Denial

"Oi, Kazuma-san, come back to Earth, please."

The dark haired girl blinked several times before realising who was beside her, "Pardon me, Takahiro-sempai?"

The spiky haired senior chuckled, walking towards the vice president who stood at the outdoor sinks, "Sensei was having a hard time trying to figure out why one of his best pupils was daydreaming during Kendo practice jus now. I thought you came out here to freshen up?"

"Ah, I did but with the school festival coming up and all, my head has been quite occupied with so many things," Aki replied, bending down to cup some water in her hands. 'That and the fact Saeki has been avoiding me for some reason,' she thought, splashing the collected water to her face.

"You're deep in thoughts again, Kazuma-san," Aki snapped back out of her reverie to find a clean white towel offered to her. As Aki reached out to accept the towel, the sempai spoke up in a nervous tone, "Anou, Kazuma-san…"

Suddenly feeling nervous at the change of tone, Aki ended up taking the towel cautiously, while waiting for the senior's continuation. His face had a tint of red as he stuttered, "Kazuma-san, I like you."

'Well, that's pretty blunt,' Aki thought but cursed herself for being caught in the situation. "Will you go out with me?" Takahiro was now blushing furiously and had bowed to her to hide his face.

The vice president stood stiff, not knowing how to reply and to make matters worse, she felt that there was an audience. She turned to her right to see Saeki was standing at the opposite sink and was staring at her with an unreadable expression.

"Saeki-kun…when did you get here?"

The tennis player was about to reply when the kendo sempai pulled back Aki's attention, "Kazuma-san, since we were disturbed, I'll wait for your answer tomorrow. You should clear your head. I'll tell sensei you're not feeling."

"..err..ah..sure…," was the only thing the kouhai was able to answer. Takahiro gave her a warm smile but as he turned to leave, he looked at Saeki with a face filled with resentment. Saeki felt taken back but he did not know how to respond, instead he just watched the senior walk away.

Saeki felt splashes of water droplets hitting his face, pulling him out of the puzzlement. He quickly brought his attention back to the girl in front of him, who was waiting for him to answer her previous question.

"oh…I got here when he was about to confess. Apparently both of you were too engrossed in the situation that neither realised my presence," Saeki explained with a light laughter, "I felt like I was watching a shoujo anime."

Aki stared at him, ignoring his teasing. Saeki, realising this, became very uncomfortable. He quickly waved a hand in front of his classmate's face, pulling her back into reality, "Are you ok?"

Aki nodded, as she started to walk away, "Are you free after class tomorrow?"

Saeki raised an eyebrow, "I have tennis practice again. Don't you have a date with Takahiro-sempai?"

The girl bit her lower lip, "I'm…I'm still thinking about it. Anyways, I wanted your help to get a few things for the school festival but since you're busy, I might take up sempai's offer instead."

"Oh…," was the only thing Saeki muttered. Aki had looked back at him, a small smile on her face. She stood there for what seemed like a minute, waiting for something else to happen but they just continued to lock eyes.

Finally giving up, Aki grumbled, "Later, Saeki-kun." She walked away, sighing inwardly, 'Baka, Saeki!'

The second year guy heaved a heavy sigh as he crouched down, hands on the edge of the sink, "I lied to her again. I should have at least asked to do it on a different day."

"Sae…should we be worried that you're talking to yourself again?"

Hearing the familiar voice of Kisarazu Ryo had startled him causing Saeki to hit his head on the edge of the sink, much to the amusement of his tennis members. He cursed loudly, rubbing the sore spot before facing his teammates, "I'm fine."

"Keep telling yourself that. We've been watching from the corner since just now," Kurobane snickered, washing his hands at a free sink. "If you like her, you should go for it. We only have one year and a few months left to get ourselves a girlfriend. Though I don't think David can get one if he keeps telling his jokes," Ryo encourage, and in cue, their red haired teammate opened their mouth to tell a joke but before he could, his partner kicked him.

"Being friends is good enough. We're both going to be busy, especially once she becomes the president of the student council and with me being the tennis captain next year," Saeki tried but the others did not buy it.

"Aoi-kun will finally be joining us. So we get back our old regulars. No worries. We'll play like old times. And with a girl cheering for us, we might even do better," Itsuki pointed out the zero faults in having a girlfriend.

"Anyways, you shouldn't worry. There were rumours saying she's quitting the student council," Kurobane placed an arm around his friend's shoulder and gave him a mischievous look, "may be she's quitting for you." "Where did you get your information from, Bane-kun? I heard she's quitting Kendo instead," Ryo, disagreed with his fellow classmate and member. Saeki had enough, he backed away from his friends and said, "it doesn't matter if she quits a club or not. Like I said, I'm fine with us being just friends. If we became anything more, we might just end up ruining the relationship we currently have. I'm going back to practice, so please stop talking about Aki."

"may be one of us should teach him a lesson and try to steal Aki away from him," David/Hikaru suggested jokingly but his eyes widened as his teammates seemed to be contemplating, "Guys, I was just kidding."

"But you got a point there, David. Saeki doesn't realise it but his play has been quite…unprofessional for the past week. It might be because of Aki," Kurobane nodded, arms crossed as he tried to figure out a plan.

Ryo raised an eyebrow, "hold on. We don't even know what the real cause is. So don't go jumping to conclusions!"

Kurobane shrugged before heading back to the courts, "it won't hurt to try something. Saeki's being quite pathetic."

"Oi! I don't even think we're Aki-san's type," Ryo yelled after the members who had left him behind. He grumbled, stomping his way to the practice, whilst uttering about nonsensical friends.

To Be Continued