It has been very long, sorry. This chapter might seem confusing, but it will work out in the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, all rights belong to Takeshi Konomi.


"Sempai?" Sakuno asked, confused that Tezuka Kunimitsu would be calling her of all people so randomly.

"Ah" Was his reply, which made it difficult for Sakuno to respond to, and the fact that it came from the man with a deep voice that commanded total attention was even worse. When he talked you couldn't help but listen and respect him, and it scared Sakuno who had the voice that could be so over looked by anyone. For a while she was silent and an awkward atmosphere consumed her when she got the courage to speak again.

"Tezuka…- sempai, I-Is there anything you need?" She asked cautiously.

Tezuka gave an inner sigh that looked as if he was taking a long blink. It seemed to him that she found no comfort with him.

"Yes…" He stopped himself and thought of his next phrase. "How are you doing?" He asked calmly.

Sakuno took the phone away from her ear and looked at it for a second before putting back by her ear to respond awkwardly.

"I-I'm doing fine, thank you. How are you sempai?"

"I am well, but I'll get to the real reason I called." He said in his stoic tone.

"Y-yes? W-what is it?" She asked scared and confused. Her thoughts wandered and he was acting so strangely maybe he was being held at gun point, or something of that nature.

"I want to offer my condolences." He said.

"Eh?" Her mind went a bit blank for a moment then it hit her and her cheeks grew red and her she smiled softly.

"Thank you, sempai. Thank you for bothering yourself like this." Sakuno said calmly and both sides went silent, but it was not awkward at all for Sakuno.

"Ryuuzaki-san, I was not bothered, you are not a bother." Tezuka stated.

Taken aback Sakuno took a big gulp and yelled into the phone.

"Thank you sempai! Goodnight!" And with that hung up the phone quickly while trying to cool down, because such kind words were a big surprise to her especially from Tezuka. It was very rude of what she did but there was no going back on it now, she didn't have the guts to call back and apologies.


(With Tezuka)

Tezuka was still holding the phone by his ear with a blank stoic face in place. He was trying to understand what happened, he didn't think he was being to outrageous but, apparently from her reaction he guessed wrong . He then put the phone down gently and walked away.


(Next day)

Sakuno hurriedly walked onto the school campus and looked around to see the one and only Usagi. She was wearing black spandex pants with a jean skirt and a black skin tight shirt. Her black and silver parasol was laying next to her while she sat under he favorite shady tree and reading a book. Sakuno took a deep breathe and walked over to her.

"H-hello, Usagi-sama." Sakuno said softly.

"Yes?" Usagi said while raising her head giving herself a dignified look. She really thought that she was the queen of some grand kingdom.

"Umm…H-How are you?"

"Well, I've been better of course! I am still aching from the loss but I will fight the pain." She said dramatically.

Sakuno with a saddened look she sat down beside her. "I-I understand what you're going through."

Sakuno became the type of person who wouldn't think badly of others or look at people's faults even if they were obvious. It was true Usagi was being overdramatic, but Sakuno only saw her words not her attitude or her expressions, Sakuno stopped looking or understanding after she lost the two most important people in her life.

Usagi slightly irritated gave a pout and gave a short " I see." before turning her head to look at something interesting. She wanted to get attention, not to be understood.

There was an awkward silence then and the air was thick.

"Umm…" Sakuno started.

"Goodness, must you be so awkward?" Usagi commented and turned her head in Sakuno's direction swiftly.

"E-Eh?"

"No! No! Not "eh?" your mumbling is annoying, be more prominent." She said harshly to the young girl.

Sakuno lost all the color in her face and her eyes widened for a moment before looking to the ground as she clenched her hands together trying to keep herself composed.

"It's always been this way, I am so annoying, useless, horrible. I don't matter, I can't do anything right." Sakuno started to berate herself with words she has heard before, and what she thought describe herself also.

"S-sorry." She said barely above a whisper, her kind nature coming through. Her need to apologize was overwhelming.

"What?" Usagi questioned simply.

"S-sorry." Sakuno said a bit louder.

"Hm?" She hummed.

"Sorry." Sakuno stated again with a slightly normal voice.

Usagi put her hand be her ear and leaned in a bit. "Didn't catch that." She said with a smirk.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled her face growing red.

"Ah, Now I can hear you properly, it must be the way this school is planned out, the acoustic is terrible. You really need to use your diaphragm if you want people to hear you properly."

There was silence for a couple minutes as Sakuno cooled down and relaxed her body.

"I don't like you." Usagi commented as she leaned back on her favorite tree.

Sakuno hurt by the sudden declaration was left with mouth agape and her face growing red again.

Usagi sighed and looked at the tree branches. "You're too cute and innocent to be here." She said more to herself than to Sakuno. "Haven't you noticed?" She asked looking at Sakuno with mild interest.

"Noticed what?" Sakuno asked unsure of what Usagi was talking about, because she seemed to be in her own world that Sakuno couldn't reach.

"You and the people here of course."

"All the girls are a lot cuter than me though."

"Not that! The people and they're weird talents, everyone has something that makes up for their phobia except you, unless being shy and innocent are a talent."

Sakuno pouted and was a bit angry by that remark. "S-sorry, I have no special talent, it's not my fault." Sakuno said trying to defend herself somewhat.

Usagi stood up and put her hands on her hips. "That's true most of us were born with our gifts, I hate mine though."

"What is…"

"Fine! If you must know I will show you! Geez!" Usagi exclaimed in her common over dramatic way.

Usagi started with a hand stand which for Sakuno was already beyond her ability, then keeping her legs together and arching her back she pulled them closer to the ground so her body resembled a 'U'. She lifted her head up and with one hand grabbed her legs and pulled them closer to her face. After a moment she straightened herself and stood up normally.

"W-Wow! That was amazing." Sakuno said while clapping a bit.

"I don't even think Eiji-sempai could do that." Sakuno thought to herself with a small smile.

"I was born naturally limber, but don't think I will join some circus because of it." She retorted quickly.

"Of course!" Sakuno said a bit surprised by Usagi's hostility towards her even though she didn't say anything about that.


The bell rang and Sakuno ran off quickly to her classroom, being near Usagi was exhausting mentally, and Sakuno was actually looking forward to talking to Yoi.

When she got to class she gave Ikeda a wave, who looked a bit surprised but waved back with a small smile on his face, he than got embarrassed and looked at his desk. Sakuno then went to Yoi who was writing something down. She looked very calm and mature and Sakuno couldn't help but stare at her. Sakuno wouldn't have guessed she was a bubbly person by looking at her, because she seemed to act serious when her friends weren't around, nor did Yoi ever try to start a conversation with anyone.

"Sakuno-chan, I'm blushing." Came the light voice of Yoi then a small giggle. She seemed to have noticed Sakuno staring and wanted to break her out of her trance.

Sakuno bowed. "Good morning!"

"Yes, good morning Sakuno-chan, another wonderful day in Kamikaze high." She said light heartedly. "Will you be joining us again for lunch?" Yoi asked with a big smile.

" Ah…C-Can I? I mean I don't want to impose." Sakuno asked in disbelief.

"Of course, everyday you can hang out with us and you don't need an invitation." Yoi said reassuring her.

"Th-"

"Get to your seats and open your texts books to page 394!"* The teacher yelled angrily, as he was writing furiously on the board and even broke the chalk a few times.(old fashion black/green board)

Sakuno ran to her seat and was trying to write down all the notes he was putting on the board, and was starting sweat. He was writing for what seemed to be hours and Sakuno's hand along with many others in the classroom were cramping. When he finished with the whole board her would erase the first half and keep going until that side was full then the next half. When all was said and done the teacher ordered them to re-write what he wrote in a different notebook and highlight the important ideas. Sakuno was sure she was going to die, because this seemed to be the least of her homework pain.

The main focus of his writing was based on Psychology of the brain and personality disorders. They had to answer a good 20 questions in their books, and they weren't one word answers either. Thankfully the other subjects were not so heavy but the teacher gave no help and just assigned work to do in their books.

When it was finally time for lunch they were released from that hell hole into the fresh air. Yoi and Sakuno walked over to the table they met yesterday to see Rai and Shiro passed out on the table and Kaito sitting on one of the benches peeling an apple.

"Ho? You guys being attacked by work by the teachers too?" Yoi asked.

"Sempai!" Sakuno yelled worriedly.

"I'm okay, just need time to heal, I think I tore some tissue in my wrists." Rai said with a moan.

"Don't worry Sakuno-chan, we're men." Shiro said with a groan. "We're men…" He repeated weakly, tears running down his face.

"Hey, you guys are covering the whole table, I want to eat my food on that." Yoi said with an upset expression and waited for the boys to move, but they didn't budge.

Yoi let out a sigh, picked up Rai ,and sat him on the bench with what looked like relative ease. She did the same with Shiro and no one beside Sakuno was amazed, it seemed rather normal for the rest of the group. Yoi looked like a mother picking up her tired children, even though she was probably annoyed with having to baby them, she was very caring with how she handled them.

Sakuno sat down next to Shiro and looked at Rai for a moment, she was hoping to ask him something but he looked so tired.

"You must have had a tough class, Rai-sempai." Sakuno said trying to get his attention.

"Yeah, it was murder basically." Rai said resting his head on one hand and giving a glance to Sakuno who could tell he was bitter about the events.

"It wasn't that bad, pretty simple actually." Kaito said after he had finished peeling the apple perfectly, chopping it into wedges and setting out in the middle of the table for everyone to eat.

"That's just you!" Shiro complained.

"That's true, you're used to moving your hands non stop for hours." Rai added.

"You see we're only human." Shiro added with a smirk.

"I don't see your logic." Kaito said with a stoic look on his face.

For a moment Sakuno could almost see the visage of Tezuka, and she felt her face grow a bit warm. She really should have apologized to him, but it's already so late, Sakuno decided the next time she saw him she will apologize properly even if it's awkward.

"Guys, be nice." Yoi said softly with a warm smile.

"But! It's true though! If you look at his writing it looks as if a computer just printed it out! Smells like it too." Shiro informed.

Yoi's smile didn't falter but she gave off a bone chilling aura, and repeated strongly and calmly. "Be nice, Shiro-chan."

"E-Eh! Ahh…right." Shiro said while looking away swiftly.

"Does Yoi-san like Kaito-sempai?" Sakuno wondered.

"So did you have something to ask me Sakuno-chan?" Rai asked suddenly.

Sakuno who was looking toward Yoi turned to him with a curious gaze, she didn't think she was hinting at anything but maybe she was staring too much again.

"Y-Yes, I was wondering if Jiro-sempai was okay." She asked looking to her hands placed in her lap.

"Hm, actually he didn't come to school today, but he does that from time to time. He is a lazy, genius type so his parents let him get away with it." Rai said with a dismissive tone.

"Len didn't show up either." Shiro added.

"Oi, Don't try to freak people out, Shiro." Rai said.

There was a silence in the group for a moment, and Sakuno felt a pain her stomach. It felt like abnormal pressure that seemed to be growing like the silence that filled the air. An uneasy feeling, or paranoia, thinking the unthinkable was swallowing her. The rest of the group went back to normal discussion, asking what they were forced to do in class and how they hated it, except Kaito because it involved mostly hand work. From what Sakuno has heard he is a computer genius and has hacked his way into many places he probably had no business in.

No one specified what those places were though.

"Sakuno-chan! What shampoo do you use?" Yoi asked suddenly.

"U-Um…I-It was…strawberry?" Sakuno answered while tilting her head in embarrassment, because she completely forgot which shampoo she used.

"Told you!" Shiro said standing tall with a big smile.

"Hm…I never said you were wrong I just thought Sakuno was more of a mango person. I like lavender personally." Yoi said softly.

"Hehe, I still count it as a victory."

"I like m-mango." Sakuno said softly.

"Well, I don't care about that stuff, I use man shampoo and it doesn't have a girly smell, right Rai?" Shiro said happily while walking over to Rai and wrapping his arm around him.

"Hehe, yup. Men have no need to cover their own scent as long as we're clean." Rai said with an exasperated smile.

"I like orchid with a hint of coconut." Kaito said nonchalantly.

"Th-that's very nice. I always did smell coconut when you were around." Shiro said a bit surprised Kaito actually admitted it. Shiro may be outgoing but he wasn't the type to make his friends feel ostracized , he never liked it himself.

"I think that's cool." Yoi said with a smile.

Sakuno looked over to Yoi and smiled at her friend for a moment before eating her lunch.

"She does like him, that's so sweet I hope the best for her." She thought to herself.


When lunch ended Sakuno and Yoi both went back to class to see that the teachers have cooled down somewhat and disregarded some of the homework. Still, the teacher felt a need to pick on the students today and the poor kid to be harassed today was none other than Ikeda.

The teacher wanted Ikeda to confront his fear in a way and gave him some chalk and told him to draw stairs. Ikeda stood in front of the black board his body shaking as the teacher yelled for him to draw some stairs. Sakuno was aching and she looked around to see that everyone else was either looking at their desk or covering their face. No one was going to help him, the poor boy that didn't do anything wrong, it wasn't fair but Sakuno new she couldn't do anything.

"Fine if you wont do it on your own I will just have to make you!" The teacher yelled and grabbed Ikeda's hand with the chalk in and forced him to draw stairs as he screamed and tried to wrestle away. Everyone was looking away , but Sakuno couldn't help but stare as Ikeda's eyes grew wide with fear and he yelled for help. Sakuno put her head on her desk and held her head as tears of pity and hate formed in her eyes.

"St-stop" She whispered.

In that moment Sakuno heard her weak, and shaking voice for the first time. Her feelings were over flowing, she hated the teacher she hated what he was doing, she hated that no one did anything, she wanted it all to stop. Sakuno who never tried to impose her feelings onto others wanted something with all her heart, and she was going to try to get her way.

"Stop it!" She yelled standing straight up her hands on her desk and her body leaned forward. Her voice was not as loud as she wanted it and it sounded as if she were begging for her life, but she said it and sat down as if she all her energy was taken from her. The teacher stopped and Ikeda ran back to his seat when the teacher loosened his grip. On the board was a poorly half drawn flight of stairs.

The teacher than told them to read over their notes, he seemed satisfied with what had happened and walked outside to make a phone call.

"Wow, Sakuno-chan, I could never be that strong." Yoi said as she walked over to Sakuno's desk and patted her head softly.

"Thank you." Sakuno looked to her side and saw Ikeda holding his arm and rubbing it every once in a while.

"I-I'm sorry, I wish I could do more." Sakuno said bowing her head.

"Then listen to my story someday." He said softly before going back to his seat.

Yoi looked at Sakuno with surprise then smiled to her. "Sakuno-chan, you're so innocent."

Before Sakuno could say anything the teacher walked back in and ordered the rest of the class to their seats. The class went back to their book work until they were dismissed.

When Sakuno left the classroom Rai was waiting outside and offered to walk her past the school gates which Sakuno accepted, thankful but finding it odd. When they got to the school gates Sakuno saw a surprising figure in the front.

"T-Tezuka-sempai?" She asked astonished.

"I guess he will have the pleasure of seeing you home. Take care." Rai said and left her alone.

"No! Don't leave me." Sakuno thought as her face grew red.

"Ah.."

"Let's go." He said quickly pointing to the car.

"He seems angry." Sakuno thought.

She sat in the car and Tezuka was beside her with the awkward silence that seemed to be becoming common today.

"T-Tezuka-sempai…" Sakuno said softly as she turned to him a bit.

"Yes?" He asked looking straight ahead.

"I-I'm sorry about that phone call!" She said with a deep bow that she didn't raise for a at least 6 seconds.

When she lifted her head her eyes were downcast. " I was very rude." She added.

"It's fine." He said.

"U-Umm…how is everyone?" Sakuno asked kindly.

He looked at her and she looked into his eyes for a moment, and one could not tell that Tezuka was surprised but he was deep down. Her voice was different, it was there he could hear Sakuno Ryuuzaki.

"Don't worry, Everyone is working hard and want to see you." He said adding more than necessary.

"Thank goodness." She said softly and gave a small smile.

Tezuka looked at her for a moment, and could tell she was changing drastically he wasn't sure if it was good or bad but he wanted to make sure she was happy in the end.


*Harry Potter refrence, that I do not own.

Okay let's review.

Rai-great eye sight. Shiro- Great smelling ability. Yoi- Strongest person of the group. Usagi- Super felxible.

Nana- Great hearing ability. Kaito- Computer genius.

Have questions? ask them.