A/N: Don't worry jv, he's not going to be a player. I just meant that throughout the story, he will have a few girlfriends. Not multiple ones at the same time. And thanks everyone for the reviews. Also, another thing that I forgot to mention in the last chapter is that this story is following up off the manga, not the anime, so Ryoma has not been to the US Open. So, onto chapter number two…

Chapter 2

At the Echizen household, Echizen Ryoma, now sixteen years old, sat bored on the couch in the living room. His dad had mumbled something about the temple and grabbed a magazine before leaving the house. His mom was cooking something in the kitchen, and his aunt was back at college for a while.

Karupin jumped up on the couch, and crawled into Ryoma's lap, nestling himself comfortable against Ryoma's stomach and purring as Ryoma petted him. Just as some stupid commercial started on the television, the phone rang loudly. The noise scared Karupin, who quickly jumped off the couch and ran into the kitchen. Ryoma picked up the phone next to the couch.

"Yo," he greeted whoever was on the other end.

"Echizen?" a voice asked on the other end. It was a voice that Ryoma had not heard in a few months, but was easily recognized as his former tennis teammate, the genius, Fuji Syuusuke.

"Ah, Fuji-senpai," Ryoma replied.

"Echizen, I need you to meet me at the new tennis courts near Seigaku," Fuji replied. Seigaku, Seishun Gakuen in full, was their old middle school. There were tennis courts built near there a year ago.

"Why?" Ryoma questioned.

"I'll explain there. Can you make it?" Fuji asked.

"Yeah," Ryoma replied simply.

"Okay. Cool," Fuji replied, hanging up.

After finishing his conversation with Ryoma, Fuji continued on to call the rest of hid old teammates from Seigaku, also asking them to meet him at the tennis courts. After he was finished calling everyone, he put on a jacket and headed over there himself.

About twenty minutes later, Ryoma, the last to arrive as predicted, finally showed up. Most of them looked the same. Ryoma was about a foot taller, but that was the only difference among them. Obviously, they had all aged four years, but for the most part they looked the same.

"So, why are we all here?" Ryoma asked lazily, leaning up against the fence.

They all laughed. Fuji grinned. He had missed them all, and Ryoma's lazy cockiness was something that he'd never forget. They all went to different high schools, except for Oishi and Tezuka, but every now and then, they'd call each other up for a match, so they hadn't completely lost each other.

"Well, recently…" Fuji started. He wasn't exactly sure how to give everyone the good news. "Actually, today, I got a letter from the USTA. Apparently, I've been invited to the US Open Qualifier Round," he said simply.

Everyone seemed to erupt with applause and excitement and started flooding Fuji with questions, especially Eiji. Ryoma just sort of shrugged, but Fuji could see him smiling under the bill of his hat. Kaidoh just gave his snake hiss sound, but he was also grinning. Even Tezuka smiled. Fuji was quite happy. He didn't remember seeing all of them this happy since they won the nationals.

"So are you going? Who are you playing first? When is it? Are you gonna win?" Eiji hit Fuji with about a billion questions a second.

"Umm, I'm actually not sure if I'm going. I haven't even asked my parents yet. I mean, it's a trip all the way to America and I'm not even twenty yet. But, if I am going…I'd like whoever can to come with me. I want some people to help with training and stuff, and who better than my own teammates?"

"Wow! Cool! Go to America?! Man, that's going to be awesome!" Eiji exclaimed.

"But I'm sure you all will have to ask as well, so how about the same place and same time in about a week?" Fuji asked.

"Sure," they all said.

When Fuji returned home, his parents and sister were already there. They greeted him and he returned the greeting with a smile. He decided to wait until dinner to ask them if he could attend the US Open Qualifiers.

About two hours later, Yuuta returned, and they started eating dinner. Fuji took a deep breath in, and then let it out. He had to ask them sooner or later, and it would be better to do it as soon as possible.

"Hey, mom, dad…I got something in the mail today," he said before biting into a piece of fruit.

"What was it Syuusuke? Another tennis scholarship?" his sister, Yumiko, asked.

"Umm, well I got a few of those. It was actually an…I got an invitation to the US Open Qualifying Round. I wasn't sure if you would let me go…" Fuji trailed off, letting it be its own question.

The table got unusually silent and Fuji felt a little awkward. He threw in his signature grin just in case it could help. He saw a bright smile on his brother's face, and a grin creeping onto his sister's face, but the ones that actually counted were his parents, and they still had shocked looks on their faces. He wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not yet.

"Syuusuke, that's wonderful!" his sister said excitedly. She then also looked to their parents, wondering the same thing that Fuji was wondering.

"Umm…" Fuji's father started. "We'll have to see…we need to know things like the cost of transportation, nights at hotels, things like that," Fuji's father said.

His expression was solid, but Fuji somehow knew that he was excited inside. His mother was smiling kindly, and Fuji returned the smile. He was happy that they would at least consider it.

"So, you think you'll get far, bro?" Yuuta asked, seemingly automatically thinking that Syuusuke was allowed to go.

"I don't know. The pros in the world are just so amazing these days…"

"Come on, don't be modest. You'll be the champion easy!" Yuuta said, smiling.

Syuusuke laughed. He was happy that his brother was happy for him, instead of being mad at him like he would've been four or five years ago.

That night, Fuji lay in bed, thinking about what would happen if he went. He wondered how far he would get, what people would be like in America, and all sorts of other stuff. Before turning over and falling asleep, he made a mental note to ask Ryoma about the big cultural differences so that he wouldn't look like an idiot while he was there. He already was pretty good at speaking English, having taken English all through high school, so that wouldn't be much of a problem.