"The only good thing about Mom's family vacation is that I don't have to deal with Sudo," Naoki complained as the Iries' rented van neared their destination.

"Mmm?" Kotoko raised her head from his shoulder. "At least the ride was scenic," she said drowsily.

"As if you watched any of it!" Yuuki scoffed from the seat beside her.

"I can't help it if your father is such a good driver," she shot back, aggravated when she saw that the younger boy had discarded pistachio shells in her lap. Luckily, that was his only mischief since Naoki had prevented him from either drawing on her or inserting pocky sticks in her mouth.

Mrs. Irie turned from the seat in front. "Here we are, children!" she chirped. "Romance Mountain Resort!"

"Romance—ugh!" Yuuki pretended to vomit and Kotoko took revenge by pounding him on the back.

"I agree with my brother," Naoki murmured to her. When she turned to frown at him, he added, "How 'romantic' a trip can it be with our folks around?"

Mr. Irie and Mr. Aihara opened the back and had just begun to pull out the luggage when a booming voice sounded near the entry. "Please allow me to assist you with those!"

As a familiar mustachioed figure approached, Naoki cursed. "Damn! And now it gets even worse."


"Be ransomable, Naoki," Kotoko tried to get her boyfriend into a better mood, "there's no way that Obasama could have known that this resort belonged to Sudo-sempai's family."

"And if she did," Yuuki pitched in, "she sure wouldn't've booked it. After all," he smirked, "she thinks that he has a 'thing' for you."

Kotoko reached over to pinch the boy for the remark. Naoki grabbed her hand. "What gives her that idea? Has he tried something?"

"Of course not," she scoffed. "He can't see anyone but Matsumoto-san."

"Yeah, Mom thinks that he's picking on her because he likes her," Yuuki explained. "Man, I wouldn't even do that, and I'm only in grade school."

"Well, you're probably more mature than he is." By Naoki's dispirited tone, it did not appear that anything would cheer him up. "So," he looked around, "what are the sleeping arrangements?"

"You'll have to ask your mother."

As if on cue, Mrs. Irie stepped into the room. "Boys! What are you doing in the girls' room?"

"I suppose that answers my question," he muttered. "You mean four of us have to share a room while only two of you are? How is that fair?"

"Now, Onii-chan, they have no larger suites, since this is a small resort, designed for relaxation." She trilled out a laugh. "Surely, at your age, you don't want to sleep in the same room as your mother?"

"It's not you I have a problem with," he retorted. "When I was sharing with Yuuki, he snored like a truck."

"Oh, dear," her hands fluttered, "it appears that he takes after his father."

"You mean, I've got to listen to them in stereo? Plus Aihara-san?"

His mother winked at him. "Why else would I arrange it thusly? I thought I deserved a little 'vacation' from a noisy bed partner."

Naoki chuckled as she departed the room. "It won't be as quiet as she thinks."

"Why?" Yuuki and Kotoko asked in tandem.

"You," he tweaked her nose, "also make a little racket during the night."


Mrs. Irie had frowned upon first sighting Sudo at the inn. However, her suspicions were mollified when the only member of the party with whom he seemed interested in conversing was her older son.

It didn't hurt that he was called back to work by his irate aunt after exchanging just a few sentences. "Kou-kun! Stop flapping your jaws and get the guests' luggage to their room!"

"What is up with Sudo-sempai?" Kotoko asked Naoki at the end of the first day.

He laughed and flopped onto the couch next to her. "His manliness has been offended."

"Say, what?" she asked as he laid his head in her lap.

"He wants to have a solo rematch with me. You know, the one that the captain forbade?"

Her fingers, which had been combing through his hair, stilled. "That was a doubles match—including me—wasn't it?"

"Yes." His eyes remained closed as he patted her hand to continue its work.

"Okay, so how will that work out, without Matsumoto-san as his partner?"

"He has decided not to include the female component in this particular challenge."

Kotoko let out a relieved breath. "Thank goodness! But," she peered down at him, "are you going to play him?"

"Not interested," he replied drowsily. "I hope to get in some good study—"

Click! Flash! "Oh, what an adorable pose!" Mrs. Irie beamed as she checked the picture. "Of course, it would look so much more romantic in a pastoral setting, perhaps a wide plain with waving grasses and wildflowers."

The mood destroyed, Naoki sat up. "We're in the mountains, Ma. There are no wide plains for kilometers."

"Such a party-pooper you are!" His mother pouted then turned at the sound of footsteps in the hallway.

"Kou-kun! What are you doing lollygagging around the guest rooms? Get down to the kitchen and take out the garbage!"

"My," Mrs. Irie commented, "this place certainly does not live up to its assurance of 'peace and quiet'. Now, what set you two off?" she asked the giggling couple.


With Naoki continuing to refuse to meet him in 'battle' (despite several attempts involving juvenile baiting and name-calling), Sudo decided to attack on a different front. Kotoko, not interested in either fishing with the fathers or hiking with the boys ('I had enough trouble keeping up when we walked in the forest. If you two are climbing the mountain just to see a waterfall, you can do it without me!'), decided to sunbathe on the grassy slope behind the hotel while Mrs. Irie took an early afternoon nap.

"Eek!" Kotoko opened her eyes when a shadow fell across her face and she discovered Sudo leaning over her.

"Hey, Aihara," he said cheerfully as she panted and pressed her pounding heart. "I want to see if you can be a good girl and persuade Irie to play me."

"You frightened two years off my life just to harp some more about that dumb game?!" she scolded.

"C'mon, you have no idea of how much this means to me," he pleaded.

"Go pester someone else," she refused, sliding her sunglasses back on her nose.

"But you gotta help me!" He reached down and grabbed her shoulders. "It's my masculine honor at stake!"

"It's your stupid perverted ego at stake!" she yelled back at him. "Now, let me go!"

Mrs. Irie, her mother's instincts working overtime, had roused at Kotoko's initial cry of astonishment. From her vantage point, after pushing the curtains aside, it appeared that her dear daughter-of-the-heart was about to be assaulted. "Halt, you perfidious villain!" she cried as she raised the window sash and leaned out.

At the same time, Sudo's Aunt Sachiki called, "Kou-kun, you lazy bucket of bones! Leave the Iries alone and get back to weeding the garden!"

"Damn!" Sudo muttered and released the girl, loping rapidly to a fenced-in area a few hundred meters away.

The intruder routed, Mrs. Irie quickly made her way downstairs and threw herself upon Kotoko. "Oh, my dear, what a terrible experience! Are you all right?"

Kotoko, realizing that her restful afternoon was over, hugged the older woman. "I'm all right, Obasama. Sudo-sempai was just being his usual pesky self. He won't take 'No' for an answer."

Mrs. Irie gasped. "Has he been sexually harassing you? Oh, my dear, this won't do!"

"No, no!" she laughed as she corrected her. "He wants to play tennis with Naoki."

"He wants to play Onii-chan?"

"Yes. He was trying to set up a match to impress another girl and Aijima-sempai put a stop to it." She lowered her voice in imitation. "'Irie owes me this since the captain cheated me out of the opportunity' or some such ridiculous crap."

Mrs. Irie's face froze in concentration for half a minute before she stood and pounded one hand with the other. "If he wants a match, then he shall have a match!"

"Uh, Obasama? Naoki might not want—"

"Now, never you mind, dear." She patted her shoulder. "Just leave it all to me!"


"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Kotoko whispered to Naoki as they traveled in the van, Mrs. Irie at the wheel.

"No, I just know that she insisted we both accompany her."

Yuuki pouted behind them. "And I had to come because the only rental boat available this morning wouldn't fit three!"

"Almost here!" The vehicle made a wide turn and braked at the guard's booth of a swank-looking tennis club. "Irie party!" she called through the open window.

Checking his computer screen, the uniformed official nodded. "The remainder of your group has already arrived. You are on court four."

"Thank you!" She fluttered her fingers in a gay farewell, and the tires spun as she accelerated.

"'Group'?" Naoki inquired. "What's this about, Mom?"

"Just taking care of some of your unfinished business, Onii-chan!" She glared at him in the rear-view mirror.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" he moaned. He repeated the sound when he recognized the dusty work truck from the resort. "Mother, what have you done?"

"Yo, Irie!" Sudo waved cheerily at them. "You're a brave man, bringing all these witnesses to your humiliation!"

"Drat, he has a tennis racquet in his hand." Kotoko made sure to remain shielded behind Naoki, tugging Yuuki to her side.

"Mother, I do not care what you have promised, but I am not going to play this egotistical maniac just to satisfy some sort of revenge fantasy he has!"

"Nonsense, Onii-chan." Mrs. Irie calmly removed her jacket, displaying that she wore a chic tennis outfit. "He is going to play an Irie, just not the one he expected."

"Huh? What's this?" Sudo asked when Mrs. Irie began bouncing tennis balls on the court, checking its firmness.

"You replied to my challenge," she informed him calmly.

"No, no!" He pulled a crumpled piece of paper from a pocket. "I'm here to play him!" He pointed at Naoki.

"At no place does it specify which Irie, now does it?" she asked cannily.

"But I thought—!"

"Did I ask what you thought when you responded to the note? Are we playing or not? Of course," she shrugged, "if you wish to concede…"

Realizing that he was well and truly cornered, he gave a condescending laugh. "Well, now, ma'am, I guess I could give you a game or two. I'll take it easy on you. Why, you can even serve first."

"How kind." She gave him a saccharine smile. She pointed to the other side of the court. "You might want to get into position."

Sudo's confident grin lasted less than a minute. Mrs. Irie's serve was blistering, and he barely managed to get his return over the net, stumbling as he did so. She expertly smashed the ball into the opposite corner.

"Fifteen-love," Naoki pronounced in an emotionless voice.

"It's not fair!" Sudo waved the racquet above his head. "You can't be an impartial referee—you're her son!"

He gave him a slow smile. "Feel free to object to any of my calls."

Sudo gave a low growl and his brows flew together as he gave a brisk nod and readied himself for Mrs. Irie's second serve.

Half an hour later Kotoko observed, "Obasama sure is a good tennis player."

"That's an understatement, Onee-chan. She's wiping the floor—uh, the court—with him!" Yuuki cracked.

"She taught me," Naoki apprised them before calling, "Forty-fifteen! Match point."

"So, does that mean it's almost over?" Kotoko asked.

"Yes," he said, right before the volleying began. Thirty seconds later, he commented, "She's toying with him. I wonder what she has up her sleeve?"

It didn't take long to find out. Mrs. Irie maneuvered Sudo into just the right location before slamming the ball into the exact spot that her son had a few months earlier. Sudo collapsed on the court, writhing in pain.

Naoki covered his eyes, bowing his head. "She really did it."

"Irie!" Sudo howled from the ground. "You set this up!"

"Me?" he replied, walking over and helping him to his feet. "I turned you down at least a dozen times. You brought this on yourself."

He, bent over and panting, glared at Mrs. Irie. "She's a ringer!"

"No, she was regional champion in high school and college. The last two decades she has been winning tournaments at the country club. We have an attic full of her trophies."

"Wow." Kotoko patted Mrs. Irie's face with a towel. "I didn't know all that."

"Well," she tossed her head, "I don't like to brag. Now," she stomped around the net to Sudo, "young man, you are to stop pestering my Kotoko-chan! She belongs to me—that is, to my son!"

"Huh?" He goggled at her. "Aihara? I'm not interested in her. My heart is overflowing with love for Yuko-chan!"

"Yuuki-chan?" She darted a glance at her younger son. "Why, you pervert!" She began beating him with her towel.

"No, no!" he cried, backing away. "Yu-KO! Yu-KO! Matsumoto!"

"Oh." She stopped abruptly. "That overly-made-up-and-permed witch who is trying to take Onii-chan away from Kotoko-chan?" She picked up his racquet and poked him with it. "You need to settle your own love affair and keep her from interfering in that of my children!"

"Now, now, Mother." Naoki took her by the shoulders gently. "I believe he is doing the best he can," his mouth twitched, "with the materials he has available."

"Hey!"

"If I promise that I won't let her split up Kotoko and me, will you calm down?"

Her chest heaved in a great sigh. "I suppose so. But that's a promise!" she reminded him.

Naoki linked pinky fingers with her. "Yes, it is."

She reached up and kissed his cheek. "It's been a long time since we did that. But just because this one," she glared at Sudo, "has been settled, doesn't mean that I can rest easy. There are plenty other enemies out there."

"Just take them one at a time, Ma," he said with a resigned tone. "And maybe, don't be too hard on them?"


"You know, you were great this morning, Obasama," Kotoko said as she massaged salve into Mrs. Irie's thighs that evening.

"Ow! I know, dear," she gasped.

"And you hit Sudo-sempai in the same place that Naoki did at tryouts. That's amazing."

"Well," she preened as well as she could, face down on the floor, "such was my intent. But I also realized something."

"What is that, Obasama?"

"I've gotten soft, playing only old folks." She groaned, "On one level, I'm going to regret what I did. Ow!"


A/N: To the anonymous reviewer who thinks this story should get more reviews: Thank you very much for the thought. While I love reading reviews, it also cheers me up to look at the statistics and see that my stories are being read.