A/N: Some of you have asked me the same question: How does the houses stand? I have tried to make a little sketch. Who lives in the places with ? will be revolved in the later chapters when the people had been mentioned.

- Syusuke - Eiji -.-.- ? -.-.- ?

? -.- Ryoma -.- Seiichi -.- ?

Disclaimer: Do not own anything!

~~ Making Friends ~~

~~ 24. February, Night ~~

He was on his way around the city, looking for a place where he could play a little bit tennis against a wall and rest. He had missed the chance to challenge a few good players in his school, he needed some kind of highlight for the day and mostly, he needed to get this voice out of his head. It was still there, playing over and over again inside his ears. He couldn't sleep, all he did was lying around in his small bed, waiting for sleep to take over but he couldn't. His mind wouldn't let him.

So what else made him relax other than sleeping? Right... tennis. His father had just laughed, after he had seen him changing into his sport outfit with his Fila cap on his head and his tennis bag over his shoulders. The people all over the streets rushed past him, hectic and out of time it seemed

Were all Japanese like this? It took him less then fifteen minutes to find the so called Street Courts. It wasn't so crowded - it was pretty late and only a few older players hovered on the courts. It looked like they were amateurs, their grips were wrong, they tried to copy some bad techniques, he saw it on the first glance. Everything at all – amateurs who had no clue of real tennis. Not wanting to get unwanted attention, Ryoma walked quietly to the wall which was behind a little house. The toilettes, he guessed. He wasn't in the mood to challenge those idiots and teach them some lessons.

Today, he only wanted to play quietly to relax and calm down, to get rid of the voices circling inside his head.

He unpacked his things, pulled out his red tennis racquet and swung it a few times to loosen his stiff muscles in his arm. He couldn't get rid of this one certain thought, of this single image of a beauty with dark blue hair. Ryoma heard some guys yelling, some other were fighting over nothing, grabbing each other's collars.

How noisy. Those were probably some amateurs who couldn't agree with the solution that they both are horrible players.

The mute shook his head, focused on his own movements and began to play, throwing the yellow ball in the air and swung his racquet with his right hand against the ball. The smacking sound of cloth meeting stone was like music. He repeated this movement over and over again, till he felt the sweat pouring down his skin and his muscle aching slightly with every move. It had been only two or three days without him practicing and he already felt the effect of it.

Ryoma didn't know how long he had played, smashed the ball against the wall, when a second ball from behind him entered his playground. He forced his grip to tighten and smacked the yellow ball hard, leaving a loud sound from the ball connecting with stone. Both balls returned and got caught by the intruder playfully.

"You're pretty good, really good. Wanna play against me?" Ryoma turned around, gazing into the stranger's face. The guy before him had spiky black hair and a grin on his face. He seemed to be friendly. The dark purple eyes shone in joy and a sweat drop streamed down his temple. The mute had the feeling to stand in front of a good player, so he nodded and followed the other male onto one of the courts. Hopefully, he would have a good challenge. Now he was ready for one... The two stood at the net, the smaller teen had his racquet over his right shoulder, tipping it impatiently against his skin.

"Rough or smooth?" The spiky-haired teen asked with a goofy-like grin. Ryoma shot him a glare, pointing with his thumb up to declared that he wanted to say 'smooth'. The goofy grin got replaced by an open standing mouth with blinking eyes, dumbfounded as to how he should take this kind of answer the guy shrugged. "Okay… I'll take this as smooth. You're not a social person, huh?" The teen twirled his racquet on the ground, grinning all the while as it spun around. The racquet came slowly to a stop, landed with a loud sound on the ground, smooth. "Your serve. Good luck."

Yeah… the guy would need it.

Ryoma shot another piercing glare to his opponent before walking at the right corner of the court, getting ready to play. He hit the ball a few times against the ground, played with it for a few seconds before throwing it up one last time and hitting it with his racquet in his right hand. The ball flew at the other side of the court, twirled at the ground and jumped up at the other male's face. A yelping sound roared out of the guy's throat and Ryoma couldn't hide the proud smirk full of satisfaction.

He tugged his cap further down, hiding his proud and amused eyes. His Twist Serve gave his opponents always a hard time.

"What the hell was that?" The other teen asked, still recovering from the first shock. Ryoma simply shrugged and continued to serve, not even waiting for the black-haired guy to get ready. The ball flew across the court in high speed, a crowd surrounded them as soon as the real game started and watched with awed eyes and mouths. Though, nobody said a word or made a sound, they simply waited and watched the game till the end in silence.

The result of the match was 6:2 for Ryoma. The spiky-haired guy approached him, grinning goofily with sparkles of enjoyment in his eyes and also a little bit of shame and shyness. Yeah, this was indeed a good player.

The emerald-haired teen had little drops of sweat on his temples, wiping them away with his free left hand's backside. The bigger guy grinned from one ear to the other, held out his right hand, as he wanted to shake hands and congratulate the other for his win. Changing the racquet from his right hand to his left, Ryoma took the offered hand and shook it twice before he let go again.

"My name is Momoshiro Takeshi. I hope we can play again." The older teen said as their hands separated and the younger teen smirked before turning around and packing his things back into his bag.

Yeah, he hoped so too. The match was fun.

The smaller teen left without having spoken a single word, not even turning back and waving good bye...

Strange.

This guy was definitely strange. Momoshiro Takeshi had never seen him before, never seen such a talented and weird boy.

"Momo!" A voice from the east entrance shouted. The called teen viewed around, seeing his senpais winking and jumping to him. The redhead had a big smile on his face, in hyper-mode once again. His guess was confirmed right by the extra hard and choking hug he received from said senpai, Kikumaru Eiji. "Momo! Momo! I saw it all! You played against Ochibi! How was he? Was he good? Why did he leave?"

"Eiji-senpai! Stop clinging on me, please." The childish senpai let go unwillingly while pouting, his double partner, Oishi Shuichiro peeled him off carefully.

"Eiji, stop struggling him too much. Momo is exhausted; he could fall and sprain his ankle." The five people, who had followed the redhead and Vize-Captain of the Seigaku tennis club, rolled with their eyes and sweat dropped. It was so Oishi-like to worry about something like an injury - the mother hen was completely in his element.

The tensai of the group chuckled; his icy blue eyes were still fixated on the now empty space where the fascinating boy had stood only seconds ago. Would he be able to catch him if he sprinted?

The tickling feeling in his hands and feet let him truly think about this strange idea. As if he was possessed about the new teen, totally interested and itching to find out more about him. The last time he had such fascination for something was when he had met him. And the result for his eagerness turned out to be his biggest mistake. Why couldn't he understand it? Hadn't he felt the thrill?

"Saa, Momo. How was Ryoma-kun?"

"Ryoma? You mean the boy I had just played tennis with? You know him? He was pretty good but stra-"

"Momo-chan had lost against him." His hyper active senpai shouted and grinned like a cat from one ear to the other. Momoshiro twitched and grimaced, yelled at his red-haired and jumpy senpai for falling in his back. How should he have known the kid was so good? He had watched him practice alone with the wall. The young teen looked good, nonetheless, he hadn't looked like a better player than him. More like someone who had some experience but not much and was simply throwing a few balls against the wall to train his balance...

"Momoshiro, 30 laps around the courts for lacking off!" The captain of Seigaku's tennis team appeared at last on the court. It amazed Momoshiro each time... Wherever his buchou entered a place or simply stood somewhere, the people couldn't help as to look at him and obey his orders. It was like Tezuka-buchou had some strange scent on him which was poured out of his pore and forced the people who smelt it to obey... funny...

He grinned by the thought and snickered louder than wanted. "...50 laps, Momoshiro!"

While Momoshiro ran around the courts, a soft giggle reached Tezuka Kunimitsu's ears. He suppressed the annoyed groan which wanted to leave his throat. Oh dear... Why now?...

He glared at his friend, knowing the reason for the sadistic tensai's amusement. Hiding something from his dear boyfriend never ended well. Syusuke had a too sadistic vein as to let a matter rest when he noticed the person's nervousness about it. It was always the opposite - the tensai would dig deeper to know why and how he could use this weakness against this person... Just like now...

Even when he was curious about the new guy - just a little bit, only a tiny bit - he would not give in and ask, never. Kunimitsu was sure that he would understand his boyfriend's interest in the short teen soon enough. He would remain calm and emotionless, wouldn't repeat the same mistake again. He had given in once, the curiosity had been too much to bear and what had happened? Right, the tensai had blackmailed him with it and given him nightmares for a whole week!

It had happened in their first year of High School. As soon as Fuji Syusuke was in puberty and felt his crazy hormones jumping in his body he had started to take what he wanted - no matter if the person or thing wanted to belong to him. His boyfriend lived after the motto What I want, I will get! ever since. Sometimes it was amusing, but mostly it was exhausting.

"Too proud to ask, mhm..." Fuji mused and smiled sweetly at him with his blue eyes closed. Sometimes, Kunimitsu really wanted to rip the mask off of him and see behind the facade. What was his lover planning now? What was he hiding? Why didn't he show his true self? Why didn't he show his feelings, whenever they were needed and unclear for someone else. For example: for him and right now...

They were a couple for a few month now and still he had never heard the three words from the other brunette's lips, so he hadn't said them either. The sweet and amused chuckle interrupted his thoughts. "I'll tell you if you ask nicely. Don't worry, I won't bite." The tensai teased his lover, watching him for a second with sky blue eyes before closing them once more. Eiji was faster and, luckily for Kunimitsu, asked the itching question.

"Fujiko, since when do you know his name? He hasn't told any of us, yet." Somewhere near a bench was a sparkle from glasses to be seen. Nobody noticed, though.

"Saa, who knows..." The redhead pouted and slung an arm around his best friend, begging at his friend for an answer. Trying to convince the tensai to tell them the answer was hopeless. Kunimitsu could say from experience. Never would the brunette tell anybody how he got all the information. However, Kunimitsu could already guess, whom had given out those kind of information. Inui, the data-collector in their tennis club, wasn't their manager out of nothing.

'I think I have found a new entertainment. Ne, Echizen Ryoma.'

~~ 25. February, Early Morning ~~

Ryoma couldn't believe it and pulled the blanket over his head which lead his cat to fall from the bed. Karupin meowed over and over again till he had enough and left his master's side, going to eat his breakfast. Why should he care if his dear master would be late once again? He had tried his best to wake him up.

It was way too early for Ryoma to wake up and make himself ready for the boring school. He still couldn't understand why he should go to such a school... It was still an enigma to him. Well, perhaps he would never understand as his father's thoughts and ways of thinking were more than simple and easy. They were twisted and insane instead.

"Shounen, wake up! Time to rise and shine!"

Ryoma groaned silently and pulled the warm and puffy pillow over his head, tried desperately to shut the noises out. It worked till his noisy father walked in, hammering loudly with a large spoon against a pan and screamed at him for being such a lazy son. The pillow, followed by his useless alarm clock flew right at the man. A small 'uff' and the incoming silence were heaven for Ryoma's ears, a sign he had managed to hit his father right in the face. A satisfied smirk appeared unconsciously on his face. Maybe the morning didn't start so bad at all.

"Oi, Shounen! Your friends are here to get you, so hurry up! You shouldn't let them wai-" How good it was to have a book on your bedside table. It was quiet once again, the room slowly filled with the sunlight, the sound of birds' chirps and the creaking sound of his window being opened.

"You're not a morning person, I see. Shall I help you to wake up?" A gentle voice asked him and a picture of a certain bluenette entered sneakily his mind. It was a mystery to Ryoma why especially this teen lingered in his mind most of the time, nevertheless, he let it slip and enjoyed the tickling feeling of someone playing with his hair. The person laughed out loud.

This laugh, this voice. Ryoma snapped wide awake, his eyes meeting the clear blue sky. Was it really the sky? He blinked once, twice and also a third time. The view hadn't changed. The emerald-haired teen jolted up, recognizing the person above him and wanted to shove him not so gently out of his bed but the teen was quicker and climbed out of the bed. Ryoma shot him a toxic glare which was replied by an amused giggle and closed eyes. The tensai was having fun and played with him. He could feel the challenge, the thrill, and he would answer this challenge and win.

"My, my, don't be so grumpy on such a nice day. I was friendly enough to wake you up, so you would be right in time for practice." The younger teen glanced up by the word practice, his glare turning into a curious look. "You played yesterday against one of my friends who is also a regular of the tennis team of Seigaku. You go to the same school as we do and you'll join the tennis club today. Hurry before we come too late and need to run laps. Tezuka does it to everybody who comes late. Sometimes you're lucky and can drink Inui's delicious juice." Ryoma felt dizzy by all the new details overwhelming his poor and still sleepy brain in the early morning. At least he didn't need to do any paperwork to join the tennis club but they would need at least a handful of good players to keep him in the club, otherwise, he would leave. The emerald-haired teen pointed at his door, glancing from the door to Fuji and back to the door. The tensai understood, smiled and walked out of the door, stopping one more time and turning around to gaze into golden eyes.

"I'll wait in the kitchen for you." The brunette said and closed the door after he had left.

Ryoma rushed into the bathroom, brushing his teeth and taking a quick shower. He sprinted back to his bedroom and put on his school uniform. The boy paused in his movement when he saw a figure at the other side of his room across the window. The bluenette was already in his uniform and Ryoma believed to see a tennis bag on the older guy's shoulder. How interesting. Maybe he could ask the bluenette for a match. Just to see if he had a good tennis player around to practice with, not because he wanted to know more about him…

He couldn't stop staring, listening to every word the stranger-like bluenette spoke but not realizing any, only listening to the calm and melodically voice. The creaking of the door behind him made him shake his head, trying to focus on anything else than the sight of the beauty next window.

Syusuke had already waited more than five minutes and his new friend hadn't still shown up yet. It was boring to wait as Syusuke had always been an inpatient person. Being bored meant being annoyed and what else could he do to change his mood than playing and teasing his little new kohai? Deciding that a fast peek at Ryoma wouldn't be so bad because it would bring him another one of those shocked and annoyed glares, he stood up from the small kitchen chair and headed to Ryoma's room.

He sneaked into the room for the second time today. The sight which greeted him surprised him and changed his mood for the worse. The sight made him furious… His new fascination was lost in thoughts, his view directed out of the window inside the next house and straight to a blue-haired male whom Syusuke knew all too well. He gritted his teeth.

He wasn't amused at all that his new enigma had found interest in someone other than him. The teen hadn't even noted him coming inside his room another time. He would change it! The tensai placed his angel-look back on his face, opening the door with a loud creaking sound.

"Ryoma, it's time to go." He pulled on the sleeves of the named teen's uniform and pushed him out of his own room. Syusuke's neck tickled and burnt as a sharp piercing glare hit him from behind and he put on a satisfied smirk all the while opening his blue eyes to give the person across the room the same sharp and piercing glare. His blue eyes glared at violet eyes. The tension thickened, the hate and anger intensified. It was clearly visible, their dislike for each other.

'Take your hands off of him, Yukimura. This time I won't give in.'