This was supposed to come out last night, but my power was knocked out. I want to dedicate this chapter to Miss Hazel for being so patient with me. I apologize. Now, on with the tennis!

Could this not be just a wee bit easier? Really…Fifteen laps before the challenge matches even started?

It wasn't like she was going to need this energy she was wasting later on when she was fighting for her life on the court.

Nooo, of course not.

Sakura furrowed her brows while she turned another corner, willing herself not to sound like a weezer as she continued on with this torture. She had never been much of a runner. It was odd, she hardly ever lost a match because of fatigue. But if you made her run, she would be out of it before she even got started. Her old coach used to say because her passion was so great for tennis, even fatigue couldn't overcome her mentally while playing.

She huffed as she turned another corner.

Umm..This was one big pile of SUCK.

Apparently, because the Uchiha was the captain or his laziness was dominant at the moment, he didn't feel the need to run with them. She scowled at his highness across the court at his perch by the gates.

Oh, how she loathed him.

Sakura felt her breathing start to become even more labored. Trying to find something to keep her mind off the inevitable cramp coming up in between her ribs, she focused on strategies. What if she was put up against Uchiha? She knew absolutely nada about his techniques. She felt a little disgruntled all of the sudden.

In fact, not knowing the Captain's game worried her greatly. She had never seen him play, only rally for like 2.45 seconds whenever she was showing off her serves two nights ago.

Should she be worried that she has no idea if he is even right or left handed?

Maybe.

Scratch that.

Psh. As if.

Sakura doesn't do apprehension of unknown beast-like males that can crush opponents by just looking at them on the court.

Deciding that panicking was not the best option,(Really, at the state championships she went up against girls she had never laid eyes upon before.) she forced her body on and made another lap.

Was it just her, or was continually turning left as you ran around courts boring as freaking HEL—

"Everyone gather around." Though his voice never rose one ounce in pitch, it carried effortlessly across the courts. She was only on lap eleven.

Well, it seemed captain got tired of waiting.

Sakura looked to her left and found Captain in the middle of the courts tapping his foot patiently. Altering her running course, she gracefully swerved and continued her jog until she landed right beside him. Trying hard to control her breathing, she looked at him.

She seriously hoped she was up against someone…lame.

Rewind. She was not weak.

Okay, so not a lame opponent; But not God-like strategies with the speed and agility of a cheetah either.

"Everyone that is not in the top eight can go sit in the bleachers to watch. This will be your only off day, so enjoy it. As for the rest of you men.."

Um, could we get a time out?

Did she just hear correctly what spewed from his mouth?

She raised a delicate brow in his direction for it only to be promptly ignored.

No matter, her lucky Prince lavender two-piece that she was wearing definitely shouted 'fierce female' last time she checked.

His annoying voice continued.

"We are going to be having some fun. The paper that tells who you are up against is on court one. Good luck."

Sakura, not facing the fact that her captain was smirking at her, automatically turned on her heel and headed towards court one.

This was it.

She couldn't even deny the anxiety that was building up in her stomach as she neared the piece of paper crudely clipped on the chain-linked fence.

Waiting for the crowd of boys already there to disperse, she finally made it up to the deceivingly innocent parchment.

She felt her jaw drop in shock.

1) Naruto U.

Sasuke U.

2) Neji H.

Sakura H.

3) Shikamaru N.

Siwon K.

4) Konha L.

Shino A.

So she didn't get it easy yesterday after all. Even if she did beat Neji, she was going up against Sasuke right after. Judging from Naruto's avid complaining at the moment, he seemed to know that he was fixing to lose. She looked at the bracket again.

There was no way in heck that she was losing in the first round. Her goal was now moved to from being in top three to remaining in top four. Sakura shivered and turned to see someone right behind her.

"You do know that I took it as a silent challenge when you slammed the kick serve the other night to show off Haruno. How…amusing this is that I get to face off against you."

Neji Hyuga stood before her in all his glory.

Sakura angled her head to the side as she looked him straight in the eyes.

"Hyuga, it seemed to me as if you were the one to doubt my abilities in the first place. I only showed you what ignorant males seem to forget: Women do it better."

Sakura didn't wait for a reply; he was her opponent after all.

Walking back to the bleachers to get her bag, she observed that Naruto and Uchiha were on court one already rallying. That meant Hyuga and herself was to occupy court two.

Joy.

Everyone that could possibly intimidate (but not really) her was within a twenty yard radius of each other. But at least she could sneak glances at her 'opponent to be' every once and a while. Gingerly walking over to her bench beside her court, she already found her canned trio of balls waiting for her, opened. Shoving two of the yellow spheres in her bloomers, yes that's what really short sliding shorts are called in her ah-mazing sport, she threw the last ball at her opponent in passing. While walking to the base line, Sakura sneaked glances at the rest of the boys lined up to play. No one seemed to have started yet, and it also seemed no one was warming up with their true potential. These were going to be harder opponents than she had ever played before.

Not only physically because she was female, but she knew that these boys played just as much of a mental game as a physical game.

Sometimes Sakura called tennis 'Chess for Jocks.' It wasn't just about just trying to get the ball back when you were at this level. Oh no, these boys were on the offensive; lining up moves in advance. They could hit a ball at you only to move right where you are going to hit it back as if they were psychic. For example, if Sakura could hit it into one of the corners, it was almost a given that Neji was going to hit it cross court back at her. If she could hit three consecutive corners to where he gets lazy and stops going back to the middle only to run back to the same spot, all she would have to do is smack on good shot to the other side and he could never make it in time. There is only one huge problem with that scenario. Players at this level nearly all knew these tricks too. So everyone knew ways to counteract these set traps and let them back fire on the original initiator.

And we can't forget that Neji was one of the top dogs already. Sakura silently wondered if her opponent would match her skills at strategy.

Watching said boy walk to the opposite side of the court, she grabbed a ball from her shorts, throwing her racket back simultaneously and started the first rally.

Five minutes later, they were warmed up on long strokes and started the serves. Sakura noticed that if she didn't know any better, she would have thought Neji to be only a mediocre player. In warm ups, he only seemed to work on form and concentrate just on getting the ball back over the net. She could see how that could make some pig headed male like Kyo think he had the Hyuga in the bag, only to be rudely awakened. In essence, he was putting on the same front she did with Kyo, though she wasn't dumb enough to fall into that trap. If she was doing this correctly, which she indeed was, then she would come to conclude that he was thinking the exact same thing about her. She wasn't doing anything flashy at all at the moment. In fact, she hit a couple in the net for good measure. They both knew this match would be a challenge. Sakura felt a little excitement flutter in her body; a challenging match for sure.

"Are you ready Haruno?"

Neji didn't wait for her answer as he started walking towards the net for the spin off. Sakura made her way towards him.

"M or W."

Neji smirked and decided " W."

Sakura spun her racquet and was let down when she glanced only to see the Hyuga won.

"See Haruno, W is for winner."

Sakura regarded him lightly. He really would be quite handsome if he wasn't such a prideful jackass.

"No Neji, W is for wooden stick. You know, like the one shoved up your ass?"

His smirk immediately changed to a menacing growl-like glare as he shifted in her direction.

Like he would hit a girl….

Maybe she went too far that time.

Woopsie.

Giving the irate teen a quick smile, she went back to her respective side only to await his serve.

Neji took his time, apparently trying to get his mindset on track. Finally it was time to start.

"0-0"

Sakura bent her knees slightly and brought her racquet up into ready position at her chest. She honestly had no idea what to expect. With a serve that was as much graceful as it was deadly, she watched as the ball lofted into the air and only to get slammed by his racquet.

Sakura barely returned it.

He definitely had pure brute strength on his side. Hitting the ball down the line instead of cross court to where he was standing, Sakura watched him easily make it and slam the ball back. Now she knew that wherever she hit the ball, he would make it. Making a gamble she left the base line as she swatted the ball cross court and watched him run again. Running her way to the net, she knew that he had nowhere to hit it back except exactly where she was headed. She had just made it to the net when he slammed it into her direction; Sakura wasted time in making the perfect volley to the complete opposite side of the court. The sheer force of her swing and her closeness to his side of the court ensured that he had no time read into her swing to decide where she was going to hit it, or at what rate. She had just won the first point.

Sakura smirked at him before making her way back to the base line once again. Her adrenaline was pumping like crazy through her veins.

It was official: Sakura had no chance at beating him with physical anything. Anything she hit at him he would most likely return with double the velocity. On top of that, he was fast. She would have to simultaneously run him every chance she got to wear him out while thinking ahead. This only left strategy, and she would have to keep him on his toes. Even then, she didn't know how long she could outwit him.

Why didn't they just have a girl's team? This was ridiculous.

Neji went and prepared his serve.

"0-15."

The ball came so fast she had no idea how her racquet found it on time. It was obviously pure instinct that made her return it. Surprising her, he hit a short ball right back. Forcing her to run to the net to where the ball just landed, she barely got it back over. Trying to run back, she knew it was in vain when she felt the ball wiz by her head and land deep in the back of the court, perfectly nestled inside the line.

Fudge.

This was getting sticky.

Looking up, she glared at her opponent.

"You better watch out Haruno, you never know when a stray ball will take you head off."

Sakura scoffed.

"Stray ball my butt, you jerk."

She walked back to await the serve she knew would be flying at her any moment.

An hour and fifteen minutes later, it was obvious they were at a stale mate. The rules were easy. The first one to win would have to beat their opponent by being the first to win eight games, and by two. That means you can't win eight games to seven. To ensure fairness, you would have to win nine games to seven. Currently, Neji was down by one game, that meant Sakura would have to win this next one, which was her serve, to win the match. The only problem was that the game count was currently 13-14. Everyone else was finished, and Sasuke was patiently waiting to see who he would have to play next.

All eyes were glued onto court number two.

Sakura took a deep breath as she prepared to serve. Neji had almost beat her too many times for comfort; But not this time. She was going to win her match point even if it killed her.

"0-0"

Sakura served her spin serve and watched it as it was gracefully returned. Running him to the other side of the court, Sakura waited for it to bounce back but it never did. She looked up. Apparently she had finally tired him out to some extent. Watching him huff in annoyance of not being able to get to the ball, she decided on her course of action. Throwing the ball into the air for another serve, Neji never expected it when she barely tapped it only for it to just squeeze by and make it bounce over the net. Seeing what she was doing, he ran from where he was to try and make it, but was well behind the base line. He watched it double bounce when he was still three feet away.

Sakura only walked to the other side to get ready to serve again.

"You play cheap."

If she heard, she made no comment. The object of the game was to win, and no matter how dirty, as long as she called good shots and was fair, everything was taken into account.

"30-0"

She saw Neji move up as he anticipated she would pull that stunt again. He really was losing it, she would never pull the same trick twice in a row.

Lofting the ball and letting her racquet come down hard upon the object, Sakura was already smirking as she sent it deep. Much like Kyo, Neji was too close to hit the ball correctly. Stepping out of the way, he managed to catch the ball with his racquet. Sakura was running to where the ball was going to hit and waited patiently as it hit the ground.

It landed only about five inches outside of the single line, effectively making it-

"Out."

Neji cursed from across the court.

Sakura realized what this meant.

She was just one point away from winning.

Match-Point.

Fixing to serve, Sakura announced just that. Bouncing the ball three times, she realized that everyone around them had stopped what they were doing. Even the kids on the bleachers were leaning in, as if to get closer to the action. Sakura stopped bouncing the ball. She had used every card up her sleeve this match except one. Seeing as Neji was finally fatigued, there was no other time to use it except now.

She started her serve once again, letting the ball drop from her hand three times before letting it loft from her fingers.

Just as it left the pads of her digits, she customarily arched her back as anyone would as they would perform a kick serve, and sent the ball flying. Neji growled as the ball flew past him.

Sakura had just aced Hyuga Neji to win the game.

She could feel everyone gaping at her.

It wasn't entirely a bad feeling either.

Walking towards the net, she held out her hand. It took some time for Neji to give in, but he grasped her's briefly before muttering "Good match," and walked towards the bench. Sakura slowly walked to her side before no so gracefully falling onto her bench and closing her eyes. She sat there for a couple of minutes before she heard footsteps in her direction. Peeking from her eyes, she saw none other than Captain.

"I was wondering when we were going to see that serve, but you saved until the very end."

Sakura made no reply, she was simply too tired. So, she grunted instead.

"You're match with me will prove to be more challenging."

She lowered her eyebrows, didn't she know that already?

"I'll only say this once Haruno, I've watched you enough to know that to underestimate your opponent would be a grave mistake. I look forward to tomorrow."

Just like that, he walked away. Sakura looked after him until he hit the gates only to see Naruto turn towards her.

Just like that, he was in front of her.

"Wow Sakura! I've never seen Neji be beaten so ruthlessly by a girl!"

She only giggled at his antics. But her amusement was short lived when she realized what tomorrow would bring.

She already felt the nerves in her stomach start to build in anticipation for the upcoming match.

VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

For the next month, I will be taking Kinesiology for my pre-med program in a Summer Session. I will try to write, but my grade unfortunately must come first. I will apologize in advance for the delay in updating. Please don't hate me!

Question!

Have any of you taken this course before or know anyone who has? If so, what can I expect?