Living is a disease from which sleep gives us relief eight hours a day.
-Chamfort

Atobe was a very strict captain when it came to his team practicing. He wanted his team to be the best, but of course he had to be better than them. That was just a simple given. He sat quietly on the sidelines for the day's practice and analyzed each of the regular's games. For him, though he was captain, this became quite boring. Everything was always the same outcome. The same people went against the same opponents and the same person always won in a certain amount of time. It was becoming much too redundant for him.

Sometimes Atobe would look out to see if any of the spectators had changed. He felt like those people never changed either. The same girls came for the same tennis regular and they yelled the usual cheers and were always filled with way too much excitement for just a practice. The usual scouts were there from other schools, but he was never surprised to see a new school appear now and then. In fact that just helped boost his out of control ego that seemed to have no end.

But as Atobe nonchalantly scanned the crowds he saw someone that didn't seem to fit the typical fan girl status. She was not acting overly excited nor like she was love stricken for one the regulars. She was just there watching the matches with a content smile on her face. She was sitting in the stands with her elbows propped up on her knees and her head resting comfortably in the palms of her hands. Atobe raised an eyebrow as he watched her carefully trying to analyze what this girl was doing. Because no girl ever came to just watch tennis. There was always some ulterior motive.

He followed her peaceful gaze to Jirou and instantly became interested in the girl. He was far from stupid, how could Ore-sama not notice that Jirou's behavior today was completely different from what was considered the norm. Atobe had even gotten word from Jirou's teachers that he had stayed awake in all of his classes.

Atobe paid little attention to the other two games. He knew what the outcomes would be. Ootori and Kabaji would play a full game of tennis. Kabaji would try to copy Ootori's Scud Serve, but he wouldn't be able to control it. Then Ootori would overpower Kabaji with the power of said serve. Shishido will play Hiyoshi. Shishido would win that match because he never gives up. Of course Atobe would never admit that he actually liked that about Shishido. Then Shishido would play Gakuto and in all honesty Atobe could care less about that outcome. So Atobe focused on watching Jirou's every move since Oshitari was having a very difficult time against the orange haired boy.

Jirou was playing above the usual excitement. He didn't usually show this much enthusiasm playing against his own team unless it was against Atobe. He was acting even more excited than when he played against Fuji from Seigaku.

In the end, Jirou ended up winning the match 6-4. Oshitari was completely stunned at the turn of events. The only thing he could do was watch as Jirou started celebrating and yelling, "Yes! I won! I beat Oshitari!"

Jirou was still celebrating with himself and Oshitari was about to go observe the other games that were still going. Atobe watched his actions carefully. Oshitari stopped walking away and stared past Jirou. Atobe realized that the girl was now standing by the side smiling brightly. "I don't believe it." Oshitari said to himself but Atobe could hear him. "I never thought I would see you of all people here." He said much louder than before because now he walking over to the girl who was smiling softly.

Jirou stopped celebrating when he heard the girl's slight laugh. When he turned around, he saw Oshitari walking over to the girl. "Hello, Yuushi-kun!" The girl said with a soft smile. Atobe was quite curious on how close they were.

"I never expected to see you of all people here watching tennis." Oshitari said again seriously as if to emphasize the point. "Doesn't it bother you?"

Atobe watched as her smile vanished for a few seconds. "Hm…" She hummed but then smiled as she looked to the side. "Things change…" Atobe thought he heard. He followed her gaze to where Jirou was standing.

Oshitari also looked to where the girl was looking. A smirk appeared on his face when he noticed she was looking at Jirou. "Jirou was talking about a girl with blonde hair and brown eyes, but I never expected it to be you." He said as Jirou was walking over.

Atobe smirked when he saw Jirou's surprised and embarrassed face and the girl's face blush slightly. Things seemed to be getting interesting. It was a nice change from the normal days. Before Oshitari could say anything else, Jirou walked a bit quicker to reach them. From what Atobe could see, Jirou actually looked jealous… "Hikari-chan, you came." Jirou said with a smile.

Atobe focused in on their conversations as he pretended to watch the other matches. Now and then, he would glance in their direction. "Of course I did." He heard the girl, Hikari, say. A small laugh escaped her lips. "I told you in class that I was going to come to watch."

Atobe glanced over to see Jirou shrug. "Did you like the match?" He asked as Atobe looked back at the tennis matches that were still playing.

"It was amazing!" He heard her exclaim. "You're style of play is interesting… I like how you use your volleys during the game." The two laughed together making Atobe's smirk widen.

"Thanks." Jirou said. There was a slight pause in the conversation. "I didn't know that you knew Oshitari…" Atobe heard Jirou say. He had to admit that he was curious about what the answer to that would be. He could also hear how unsure Jirou was about it.

"Oh!" He heard Hikari exclaim. "Oshitari is in most of my classes. He was the first person to befriend me. It made it easier for me to study here." Atobe turned to see Hikari turn toward Oshitari. "I always meant to thank you by the way."

"It was my pleasure." Oshitari smiled. Atobe was surprised to see him smiling. This girl was getting more and more interesting by the second.

"I see…" Jirou yawned and Atobe figured that it was from staying awake all day. But he was impressed that the orange haired boy was able to stay awake and attend all of his classes. "Hey Oshitari… can we leave now that our game is done?"

"Ah… I believe so." Oshitari replied. "We were only playing one match each except for either Shishido or Hiyoshi."

"Well I'm leaving then…" Jirou said and Atobe glanced back to see him smiling. "Come on Hikari-chan!" Jirou jumped over the fence that separated him from Hikari. He grabbed her wrist and started pulling the girl away from the tennis courts.

Hikari yelled out from surprise. "Uh… bye Yuushi-kun…" She tried to yell as Jirou continued to pull her away.

Oshitari laughed softly as he walked over without thinking to stand beside where Atobe was simply lounging around watching the game. Oshitari seemed deep in thought when Atobe began to speak. "Oshitari, that girl seems to be quite interesting." He said never letting his eyes leave the match in front of him.

Oshitari looked down at Atobe from behind his glasses trying to understand what Atobe was speaking about. "Are you talking about Hikari?" Oshitari asked while hoping that he was talking about some other girl in the large crowd.

"Yes, I believe that Jirou had called her that." Atobe said a smirk threatening to play across his face.

"Why would someone as plain as her interest you?"

The smirk finally reappeared on his face. "She just seems rather intriguing; I can't quite put my finger on it." Oshitari watched Atobe carefully. "Tell me Oshitari, what is your relationship with that girl?"

Oshitari realized that he was never going to get Atobe to call Hikari by her actual name, but that actually made him relieved to some extent. Maybe Hikari wasn't as 'intriguing' as Atobe was making her seem. "She is a friend of mine. I met her at the beginning of this year." He didn't want to give Atobe any unnecessary information until he knew exactly what his intentions for Hikari were.

"Then if you are friends, why don't you tell me a little about her?"

This isn't what Oshitari was hoping for. "Well… she was originally from this area, but it was almost three years ago that she moved over seas. She said that she moved back to this area at the beginning of the school year."

"Why did she move back? What is her family status?"

Oshitari hesitated. This was getting a little too personal now. "I'm not sure…"

"Oh please, I know you Oshitari, you must at least know this information."

Oshitari sighed. "Well her father moves around a lot for work."

"And what does he do? They must have some large amount of money if she is able to attend here."

"…I honestly do not know what kind of business her father does. She attends due to an academic scholarship…"

"Interesting… what did you say her full name was?"

"I didn't." Oshitari said.

"Well, you can say it now can't you?"

"Her name is Fuji Hikari…" Oshitari said sounding defeated.

Atobe smirked. "Yes… very interesting indeed."

Oshitari said nothing else. He began to watch the other matches along with Atobe. They seemed to be taking longer than usual. Oshitari could not focus on the matches that were taking place in front of him. He kept going over the conversation that he had just had with Atobe. He just wished that he knew what his captain was thinking about, or if Atobe really found Hikari interesting. Oshitari hoped that this wasn't the case, for he knew that when Atobe thought someone was interesting or worth noticing, it usually meant that he had something in plan for them. Oshitari wanted to protect Hikari. He decided that as soon as he saw her smiling so brightly with Jirou. At the beginning of this year she wouldn't have smiled like that if she was around tennis, but something was changing and he would try to help her if he could.

Oshitari was so lost in his thoughts. Soon he heard people whispering and when he turned, Oshitari saw Fuji and Eiji of Seigaku looking around. Oshitari glanced at Atobe who was smirking at the two. "Go welcome them." He said to Oshitari. He nodded and went to go and greet the two tennis players. This whole ordeal was becoming quite entertaining for Atobe.

Oshitari stood in front of the Seigaku tennis genius. "What are you doing here, Fuji-san?" Oshitari asked.

Fuji's stared Oshitari down. "I'm looking for my cousin, Fuji Hikari." Oshitari's eyebrows rose slightly. "Have you seen her?"

Oshitari sighed and looked out over the tennis courts. "I'm afraid I haven't seen her for a while now." He looked back at the Seigaku players, but kept his head facing another direction. "I'm surprised two of you came to escort her home."

"She's my cousin." Fuji replied.

"That girl can handle herself." Oshitari turned his head to look at Fuji more clearly. "She's not weak you know."

Fuji stared at him. "Hikari needs me." His voice was serious. "You don't know her like I do." Eiji stood there confused.

"Maybe you're right." Oshitari replied but his voice sounded sarcastic.

Fuji turned to Eiji. "Come on Eiji, we can find Hikari without his help." They turned to walk away. Atobe smirked when he saw Hikari and Jirou running towards them.

"Syusuke!" Fuji turned to the sound of his name. When Hikari was standing in front of him, she continued, "I'm so sorry." She was bent over trying to catch her breath. "I didn't mean to make you worry." Jirou walked up next to her.

"It's fine." Fuji said.

She glared at him. "I told you to stay at the front gate." She hissed. "I always listen to you. Why couldn't you just wait like I told you to?" She was annoyed.

"You were taking too long." Fuji countered.

"Fine." She huffed.

"Hikari-chan's okay!" Eiji yelled and tried to jump on her. However, Jirou pulled Hikari to the side causing Eiji to miss her. Eiji was able to do a hand spring to land on his feet. The two began to glare at each other. Hikari looked to Oshitari and Fuji to stop them, who nodded in response.

Fuji placed a hand on Eiji's shoulder. "Let's go Eiji, we have to get home." He said and Eiji nodded. He turned and started to walk away. Fuji waited for Hikari.

Oshitari placed a hand on Jirou's shoulder. "Come on Jirou. We have to clean up after practice."

Jirou glanced at Oshitari and nodded. He turned to Hikari and smiled softly. "I'll see you tomorrow, Hikari-chan."

Hikari nodded. "Bye Jirou-kun." She said happily. Atobe watched as she left with her cousin. Jirou stood there watching her leave. She glanced back and waved goodbye to him shyly. Jirou easily returned the gesture with a bright smile on his face. When she was out of sight, Jirou began his walk to the tennis courts. Atobe returned his attention to the courts. Gakuto was finishing up his match with Shishido. Shishido was winning. The other members of the tennis team were cleaning up on the other courts that had already finished their matches. He watched the game in front of him with a smirk.

Oshitari returned to his spot by Atobe. He saw the look on his face and knew it wasn't a good sign. Somehow, Oshitari knew that whatever Atobe was thinking had to do with Hikari. He could only hope that whatever he had planned, he would not hurt her in any way.

Atobe was beyond joyous. He didn't care that Hikari was related to Fuji. It didn't matter. What did matter was that he cared enough about her to come all the way here to pick her up. It meant that the two of them were close. Atobe began to calculate possible ways to use Hikari against Fuji in some shape or form. Then another thought occurred to him. He could possibly use her to make Jirou play like he did today in every match. The possibilities seemed endless and it was all thanks to this normal, average girl.

He was still thinking of possibilities when Jirou came over to talk to Oshitari. Atobe smirked. This was very interesting…

Oshitari returned when Shishido finished the match against Gakuto. "Oshitari," Atobe began. "What did Jirou wish to talk about?" Of course Atobe was pretty sure what or who it was about.

"Jirou just wanted to know more about Hikari."

"Did you tell him what he wanted to know?" Atobe asked.

"No, I told him that he would have to find out on his own." Oshitari said and noticed Atobe's facial features change. His smirk began to disappear.

"I think that you should help the boy out." Atobe explained. "He is very new at this kind of thing and it would only be fair to give him some advice about Hikari since you seem to be close with her."

Oshitari was surprised… though he did his best to hide it. He knew. He knew that Atobe had a plan for Hikari now. Atobe had gone out of his way to remember and use the name of an average girl. "I cannot do that captain." Oshitari said with as much respect as he could. "I had promised Hikari a long time ago not to tell anyone about her. She is very self-conscious about some things."

"Everyone is about something." Atobe said trying to hide his annoyance. "I'm sure you'll be able to help him by at least telling him what she likes."

"I don't think I can."

Atobe was clearly annoyed now. "Fine." He said rather quickly. "We'll see if you practice with the regulars for the rest of the week." Atobe stood from his bench to leave.

Oshitari stared at him in amazement. He wouldn't actually remove one of the greatest aspects from the regulars. Atobe began to walk away. But this was Atobe… He could do it if he really wanted to. "Wait." Oshitari said cursing himself slightly. "I'll see what I can do." He felt so defeated.

"That's good to hear." Atobe said with a smirk. He said nothing more as he left Oshitari on the courts.

Sorry it took so long. I've been swamped with work. Thesis papers and what not. They are killing me with work. And I'm going to Costa Rica this summer for a study abroad program. So if you guys don't hear from for a bit that's why. I'm going to try to update as much as possible but I apologize ahead if I can't keep this promise :( I'll do my best.