Author's 2 cents

I must apologize if my writing is getting dry, I'm definitely trying to keep the story going. Also I'd like to mention that I know the anime makes our loveable TeniPuri boys seem like DBZ tennis players (Super saiyan lvl 4), but to keep it somewhat more realistic, let's just say that there's a good reason why pros are pros and that Ryoma only won national junior tournaments (but not necessarily the US junior title.)


Lost Within Myself

Palm sized burgers

Rinko excused herself to speak with Ryuzaki-sensei. She gave Keira a slight squeeze on her arm as Kikumaru Eiji bolted from the tennis courts.

Keira found her self vis-à-vis with a very apologetic red-head who bowed so low that his head nearly touched his knees.

"Ochibi no Oneesan,hounto ni gomensai!(1)" he said, distress evident in his voice.

Ryoma's older sister stood there for a moment, unsure how to accept the apology. She really wasn't that offended by Kikumaru's honest mistake. The resemblance between Ryoma and their mother was strong and Rinko Echizen looked much younger than her years.

"Kikumaru-san,daijoubu (2)," Keira said gently, touching the red-head's shoulder.

Wide blue eyes gazed beseechingly into kind golden ones. "Really, you aren't mad?"

Keira chuckled and shook her head. "I was surprised, that's all. My mother has been mistaken as my sister before as well."

Kikumaru made a face. "If it were any of my sisters, I'd be dead now."

"Eiji, don't exaggerate. You're sisters' aren't that bad," Oishi said joining his doubles partner.

Kikumaru gave Oishi a long look.

The vice-captain scratched his head "Maybe a beating but I doubt they'd kill you," he reasoned.

Someone cleared his throat.

They all turned to Inui. His glasses obscured his eyes and his lips were set to a thin line. He held up a glass.

Everyone blanched, taking an unconscious step away from him, eyeing the INUI SPECIAL VEGETABLE JUICE VERSION 2 warily.

"Echizen, you were late for practice today." Inui offered him the glass.

"Yada!" Ryoma protested. "I've barely recovered from yesterday. You want to explain this to my mom?"

The threat of parental involvement did not deter the tall data collector. The glass vile concoction hovered steadily before the first year who glared at it with undisguised fear.

"I'll drink it."

Heads pivoted sharply at Echizen Keira.

"My brother was late because of me," she explained, her tone reasonable. "I'll take responsibility."

"Oneechan…" Ryoma was openly relieved and he gave Keira a rare look of gratefulness.

"Keira-san, that isn't necessary," Kawamura said, taking a step to place himself between Keira and the Inui Juice.

Ryoma studied his sister's face. Curiosity lurked behind her thin mask of responsibility. As much as Ryoma loved his sister, he would rather take a bullet for her than down another glass of Inui Juice. Catching Inui's glasses (the sunlight hid his eyes) he said, "Oneesan's serious."

The other regulars looked at Tezuka who merely stared impassively back at them, before turning to Keira.

"This isn't necessary, Keira-san."

"I insist."

She reached for the glass.

With reflexes that rivaled a cat on a mouse, Inui Sadaharu immediately flipped open his green data notebook. He had never tested his creations on a girl. This will be good data.

Sniffing it, Keira wrinkled her nose. She caught a swirling incompatible mixture of various herbs and leafy greens. Raising it slightly in a mock toast, she brought the rim of the class to her lips.

And drank. The viscous fluid disappeared between her parted lips.

The Seigaku Regulars could only stare at the girl, watching with intense concentration as the volume of Inui Juice decreased.

Without so much as a twitch, Keira handed the empty glass to Inui who frowned thoughtfully. She felt the aftertaste in her mouth and found nine pairs of eyes waiting for her reaction.

"It could use a bit of sweetness, Inui-san. Maybe honey?"

Kawamura's jaw dropped open. "That's scarier than 'burning mode.'"

"Echizen no oneesan…" Kaidou began to say, surprise sticking in his throat.

"… is invincible!" Momoshiro finished his rival's thought. It didn't escape their upper classman that the two were synchoronized.

Fuji's smile was wide. "It's refreashing, isn't it?"

Keira gave the shorter boy a strained smile, the only indication that she may have been experiencing ill effects. "It sure is," she replied drolly.

Ryoma studied her under his cap. His sister remained alert, healthy, and conscious. While he wasn't as surprised as his teammates, he admitted in his conscience that he was a tad bit disappointed.


"Six cheeseburgers," Ryoma told the cashier.

"Six?!" Kikumaru eeped, looking morosely into his wallet.

"Six?!" Keira exclaimed, staring at her little brother.

As Momoshiro placed his order of another six cheese burgers, Ryoma turned to his sister.

"The burgers are about a third of the size of an American burger," the golden eyes boy explained reasonably. "And you know I normally ordered two burgers over there."

"Six though?" Keira repeated, still surprised. She wasn't a big fan of WcDonald's but six cheeseburgers sounded like a lot, even if they were small. As a professional athlete, Keira had to watch what went into her diet. She glanced over at their red-headed companion who was counting the cash in his thin wallet.

"Don't worried about, Eiji-senpai. Oishi-senpai ends up covering the other half of the bill," Ryoma explained as if it was the fairest situation in the world.

After practice, Kikumaru had offered to treat Keira to food because he still felt bad for mistaking her for Ryoma's mother. The girl had tried to turned the offer down but Ryoma had nudged her side with a sharp elbow and Kikumaru insisted that he wanted to treat. As Kikumaru's voice grew louder with each request, it turned out to be a Seigaku Regular's outing. Kawamura had to return to his family's sushi restaurant to help his father and looked sad at missing out on the extra outing. Fuji promised to visit him afterwards. Kaidou and Tezuka were the only ones who didn't invite themselves to go, but Fuji managed to convince Tezuka saying that a captain must be social as well. The young captain had no choice but to accompany them. He took his captain duties very seriously, Keira thought.

Echizen Rinko had just smiled and shooed her children off to join their friends, reminding Ryoma that Keira had yet to explore the area so he could keep an eye on her. Keira bit back a grin as being escorted by her younger brother was rather amusing. Much to the others' surprise, Ryoma actively pointed out places and landmarks out to his sister. The first year almost became an entirely different person in his sister's presence.

Fuji Shuusuke stepped around Ryoma to order another three burgers with wasabi mayonnaise. Keira glanced up at the menu to verify she had heard right.

I must be too American, she thought wryly to herself as she saw the extra sauce options.

"Have you ordered anything yet, Keira-san?" Oishi asked, standing beside her.

Keira shook her head. "About the bill… I think I'd like to pay for part of it," she offered, mentally counting the number of cheeseburgers ordered. Even though the burgers were a lot smaller than the ones in America, they still cost the same amount.

Oishi waved her off. "Ah, don't worry about that. We're all contributing. That's why Kikumaru invited all us third years. It's not as much as it sounds."

"Demo(3)…"

The boy laughed. "Don't worry about it, Keira-san. It's our treat." Oishi gestured with his chin at the menu. "So what would you like?"

Keira ended up ordering two cheeseburgers and a sesame side salad with the encouragement of Seigaku's vice captain. They all managed to squeeze into a large circular booth in the corner, with their pile of tennis bags at taking over the adjacent booth.

Fuji offered Keira one of his wasabi packets. She politely declined earning approving nods from the other boys. The tensai just shook his head and continued to devour his burger merrily. Despite his slender frame, Fuji Shuusuke definitely had a teenage boy's appetite.

"You weren't kidding." Keira had unwrapped one of her burgers. It fit in the center of her palm.

Ryoma looked over at her from his vantage point in the middle of booth. "Told ya'," he managed to say with his mouth full.

Keira could finish the entire burger in two bites. And she did, earning another round of approval from her companions. There was something about WcDonald's cheeseburgers that satisfied the most specific of taste buds. However, she could not help but anticipate the ill effects that may occur later that evening. She couldn't comprehend as she watched her brother finish his second burger with relish.

"So you must have arrived from America recently," Momoshiro said after taking a long drink.

"Early yesterday, actually," Keira replied.

"Is this your first time in Japan?" Oishi asked her. "I have cousins in America, and they can't speak a word of Japanese."

Keira's dimple deepened in amusement at Oishi's comment. "I came once when I was very young, but only to visit. Our –'' she pointed at her and Ryoma, "—mother and grandfather made sure that we could speak Japanese. We also spoke Japanese at home in America."

"That's really cool," Kikumaru said. He threw an arm around Ryoma. "You can do my English homework, Ochibi."

Ryoma shot him a that said never-in-your-life.

"Eiji, you can't ask a kohai to help you with your homework," Oishi pointed out.

Kikumaru pouted. "I know, I know. But English is so hard. My tongue doesn't move that way!"

Fuji turned to Keira. "Are you going to school here or do you work?"

Keira smiled. "School. Hopefully I won't be working for a long time."

The girl wondered if a professional tennis career was work. It was certainly a career option for the best players in the world as the top earnings were usually prize winnings in the hundreds of thousand dollar range. Keira's own winnings were chump change compared to seeded players. Hardly enough to make a living off of and she was only fourteen. Oftentimes, Keira had to remind herself that she was only fourteen.

"What are you studying?" Tezuka asked curiously. It was his first time comment since they got to the burger joint. Seigaku's tennis captain seemed to be keen on education as well as tennis.

Keira placed down the burger she was about to bite into. "I'm not sure. History, math, science," she guessed. She looked around the table, "What is normally taught in third year middle school?"

Silence replied to Keira's answer as she saw looks of astonishment from the other boys. Ryoma just shook his head, keeping his mouth from pulling into a grin by stuffing it with one of Momoshiro's burgers. The second year didn't even notice. Keira didn't look like a college student to Ryoma, but then again, he was her brother. It's nearly impossible to see her in another person's standpoint. Sure, she was taller than most girls - at least in Japan - at her age, and an athlete's lifestyle had given her a rather toned physique. But for Ryoma, Keira was Keira. He did enjoy watching her surprise his teammates though.

Inui's face disappeared behind his notebook as he flipped through previous pages, adjusting some of the notes he had made. Keira's eyes narrowed on the taller boy who promptly blushed at the attention.

"You're a third year, middle school student?" Kikumaru exclaimed, his eyes wide. "I thought you were a - " He cut himself off, realizing he was about say that Keira looked older than she was. He didn't want to make the same mistake twice in one day.

"You're the new student that enrolled at Seigaku," Oishi realized. "I was told by the Headmaster during the student body meeting."

Keira nodded. "I'm starting at Seigaku on Monday."

End Chapter 7


(1) Hontou ni gomenasai means "very very sorry."

(2) Daijoubu means "that's alright," "I'm fine," "it's ok"…

(3) Demo means "but"