HI! HIME-CHAN HERE!

Thank you for all the readers last time!

Although I was slightly disappointed by the slight lack of reviews, it's much better than my previous stories, so I hope you can continue to support me! THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME COME THIS FAR!

In reality, any sign of having read my story is appreciated: favoriting, alerts, reviews, PMs, etc.

Just something so I don't have to panic that no one is reading my story and then scurry over to my story traffic page before I see that actually a decent number are reading, but no one's responding. -_-

OK, I'm done complaining. I'm such a whiny person, aren't I? ^_^ In any case, thank you so much for your support!

Love you all, and please enjoy this next chapter of Crush! (Btw, I uploaded a different story for Gakuen Alice a couple weeks ago. Please head to my profile if you have seen the anime and are interested! ILY!)

Disclaimer: none of the characters of Prince of Tennis are my possessions. They are owned by Takeshi Konomi-sensei and his producing company.

This chapter is dedicated to MadBlossomingPrincess, who I am very grateful to for giving me a full review and bonuses of story alert and favoriting. Thank you so much, dear! ^_^ Hope you enjoy Ryoma's POV as well! (He might be a little OOC, as is Tezuka)

NOW, LET'S GO!


Crush—

Chapter 2:

Ryoma POV

Ryoma headed into the locker room, still puzzled from the spread of heat across his cheeks just moments before. I think I'm getting sick from this stupid heat

"Hoi hoi chibi!" He heard a familiar, happy voice call.

"Yo, Eiji-senpai." The older regular looked him up and down.

"Hey what's up? You don't look so good. You have a fever or something?" Eiji asked worriedly.

"Maybe I'm coming down with something…But I felt perfectly fine before…" his statement faded as he was beginning to realize exactly what he was suffering from.

"Yes?" Eiji prodded him on innocently; curious about what was wrong with his little kouhai.

"Er, well…" the young prince stammered. He pulled his trademark cap downwards towards his face, reluctant to share what had occurred just now. "It's nothing big really, just Sakuno—"

"Oh ho ho?" another male popped up and joined the conversation. "Seems like something's amiss, Echizen." Fuji had on his characteristic smile, but Echizen shuddered when he saw his face. There was definitely something sinister about this Angel from Hell.

And yet another regular spoke up. "Haha, I can get good data from this." Inui muttered happily to himself, pen ready, notebook open, just waiting to hear something juicy from Echizen.

"Oi, Fuji, Inui. Cut it out! Echizen'll get embarrassed." Kawamura and Oishi nudged Fuji and Inui respectively in the ribs to get them to shut up.

Ryoma feebly attempted to thank his two more sensible senpais, but was interrupted by the noisy entrance of two more comrades.

"Heh? Echizen, did you get yourself a girlfriend?" Momoshiro Takeshi screamed into his kouhai's vicinity. Ryoma clapped his hands over his poor ears to temporarily prevent himself from going deaf.

"Don't ask people stuff like that, stupid peach-head!" Kaidoh hissed to Momo.

"What was that, you dumb snake?"

"Fssshhhh…"

"Do that one more time!"

"Fssh. You want a piece of me?"

"Bring it!" "Come and get it then!" etc etc etc. (Not a day goes without their fighting, huh…)

Perfect. Ryoma thought. Taking advantage of the commotion, he attempted to slink out of the locker room to freedom in his class with Sakuno, but was blocked by the entrance of the last and by far most intimidating member of the regular team.

Who is it? Yup, you guessed it!

Just as Echizen was about to tiptoe out the door to freedom, in walks Tezuka Kunimitsu, 3rd year, straight A student, a favorite of the teachers, a hottie target for the girls, and known for being wise in all aspects of life.

Also known as the captain of the Seigaku tennis team.

"Kaidoh! Momo! Cut that out! Everybody except Echizen, 50 laps around the courts. Get going!" Tezuka barked out his usual punishment for the regulars.

Everyone froze, except Fuji, who grinned slyly, knowing exactly what Tezuka's purpose was.

Unfortunately, since everyone froze, no one was smart enough to start running. Tezuka narrowed his eyes. "Ok, never mind."

Everyone let out a relieved breath, thinking he was going to be nice today…

"100 laps!"

"WHAT?"

"You heard me! And if you don't…Inui, prepare your drinks! Get out, NOW!" Tezuka was starting to get irritated at his team's apparent inability to hear instructions clearly.

1, 2, 3 silent seconds passed, and then a scrambling group of 7 tennis regulars dashed out the doors in fear of Inui's Special Deluxe Excellent something or another, with a huge dust-cloud following them. Tezuka turned to Ryoma.

"Echizen, is it true?" Ryoma's respected buchou asked. All right, obviously this guy listened in on the conversation beforehand. But it saves time, and also definitely makes things unbelievably awkward for our little prince here.

"…No." Ryoma denied after a moment's pause.

Tezuka grinned for .0000001 seconds, but hid it just as quickly as it had come. "Liar."

Ryoma looked up in shock. "How'd you know?"

The 3rd year sighed. "See? That's how. It's written all over your face, Echizen. You let your guard down too early."

Ryoma collapsed against the locker room wall and slid down onto the bench, slipping his head into his hands in defeat and frustration. He knew he could tell Tezuka without the chances of it reaching other ears; the guy has no tendencies to gossip and has a moral code made up of 100% honor.

But it's so confusing and embarrassing…then again, he was in need for some serious consultation help here.

Looking up at his buchou, Ryoma saw zero smiles and one serious face waiting patiently to hear him out.

He sighed in defeat again, and began. "Well, I felt perfectly fine this morning, but then during the matches today…"

"And you see, now I'm really not sure. I think I'm coming down with something." Ryoma ended.

Tezuka looked at him blankly for a second, digesting his words, and then chuckled.

Ryoma froze. Buchou, laughing? Hold on a minute! Are the pigs flying yet? He looked out the window to see if he could find the pink oinkers in the sky. But no winged pigs. Just Tezuka, laughing his heart out now at Ryoma's ignorance.

"Oi, Buchou. What's so funny?" the young prince was starting to get annoyed now.

Tezuka immediately stopped laughing, adjusting his glasses, and clearing his throat, he asked incredulously, "You really don't know what's wrong?"

Ryoma narrowed his eyes into slits, frustrated that he knew nothing and had to repeat himself. "Like I said, I'm coming down with something!"

Tezuka frowned. "You know that's not the truth."

Ryoma averted his eyes and pulled his cap further down his face to cover his almost imminent blush. "Of course it's the truth. What else could it be?" He denied.

Stupid fever! Go away, shoo! Ryoma willed the warmth away from his burning cheeks.

At first, Tezuka didn't know what to do. He thought about how to approach the young prince for a while, and then grinned mischievously. "Ryuuzaki Sakuno…chan, huh…"

Ryoma's neck snapped upwards in a flash; his eyes were wide at Tezuka's familiar address of Sakuno. His cheeks aflame, a scarlet red, he asked as nonchalantly as he could, "What about her?" He knew this had something to do with Sakuno, (OBVIOUSLY) but…

Asides the fact that she's making you blush like a tomato? Tezuka chuckled inwardly. Nothing much.

"What?" Ryoma asked again, suspiciously.

Tezuka smirked. "Echizen, you've got a crush on that girl."


Mini Translation for non-Japanese people:

Buchou = captain

Chibi = literally, small; connotation: little one

Senpai = school upperclassman

Kouhai = school lowerclassman

"-chan" = very familiar way of addressing young girls; indicates intimacy to the point of boyfriend or extremely close female friend


LOL! How'd you like Chapter 2? It's kind of worse than chapter 1 in my opinion.

Please leave a review, or some sign that you've read my story; I'd REALLY REALLY REALLLLYYYYY appreciate it! ^_^

If there's a twist to the story that you want, please comment. I'll try to fill in requests through reviews and PMs, just contact me thru this account or my email: .

I love you all! And thank you so much to all the reviewers as well! Yes MadBlossomingPrincess, especially you!

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU! I'LL UPDATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

LOVE YOU ALL!

~Hime-chan, over and out.