Reply to anonymous reviews:

cityangelz: I'm grateful that you reviewed even though the system wasn't working. Man, if last chapter actually counts as a genuine kiss then I must be more promiscuous than Kenichi. Going by the whole indirect kiss thing means that I'm a total homo as well. Go figure.

hoshikaze_shana: Thanks for the review. Say hi to Scarlette Shizuru for me! And no, I didn't know that Queen of the Suits was updated already. I've been kinda busy with other things lately. Eh heh...

Chapter 10 – The Ultimate Technique

By the time Sakuno returned to the court, she noticed that the two high schoolers were waiting expectantly on the court, their arms folded in a casual manner. She swallowed nervously. It was time to resume the match.

Apparently, nobody noticed dear Karupin slip off the umpire's chair and wander off in his own little adventure.

"Meow," meowed the cat as it ambled around the streets of suburban Tokyo.

Until... Karupin was discovered!

"Meow," meowed the cat as a boy came running it its general direction. The boy was jogging and there was a towel around his neck. Just as he was passing by, he noticed Karupin near his foot and halted abruptly. He was a very scary looking middle school boy indeed; he had a face fit for glowering.

"Here, kitty," he said to Karupin and made an odd hissing noise.

Karupin blinked at Kaidoh, for Kaidoh the boy was. Then Karupin nonchalantly turned around and paced away, leaving Kaidoh to stumble after him. Poor boy couldn't help himself.

Over at the street tennis courts, the match was still going on, and Mizuki, Yuuta and Akazawa were still watching with rapt attention.

"Neither one is backing down," Akazawa said, his eyes not daring to flicker away from the action.

Yuuta agreed with him. "They're meeting each other blow for blow!" he added.

Mizuki peered at the action through half-closed eyes. He was impressed that two freshmen in junior high could play so evenly against high schoolers, although he couldn't say he was utterly shocked, since Seigaku had a pretty consistent track record for such feats.

Just as Mizuki was considering this, he could hear Nodoka calling out the score: "4-3; change ends!"

"And you know," Kenichi added, "we still haven't shown our ultimate technique, right, Nodoka?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah!"

That's right, Sakuno thought, trembling slightly. So far, the match had lacked special techniques.

"It begins here," Ryoma said, voicing Sakuno's thoughts. He stood as tall as a short guy like him could stand, confidently bracing himself for Kenichi and Nodoka's ultimate technique.

Nodoka walked over to Ryoma and kissed him on the lips.

Naturally, this action garnered a general response of surprise among the underage viewers, which was everyone at the tennis court.

Mizuki's jaw dropped several feet, Yuuta jumped backwards in alarm and Akazawa started bleeding from his noise. Sakuno went cherry red in the face. In vain, she tried to formulate words but all that issued from her mouth was an incoherent babble. All the while, Kenichi tried to catch her eye but Sakuno's attention was focused entirely elsewhere.

She was looking directly at Ryoma's face, the colouring of which went from healthy to faint pink to pale white in a motion similar to that which traffic lights go through. At first, Ryoma had been far too taken aback at the fact that he was being kissed to do anything. Then suddenly, he felt something warm, wet and disgusting brush his tongue and alarm bells went off in his head. His strength returning to him, Ryoma violently tried to pull away from the kiss, but Nodoka had a vice-like grip on the back of his head.

So strong...! Ryoma thought frantically, eyes opening even wider. How...? He could feel her fingers brushing through his hair, as if searching for something. He could see that she was leering at him with positive disgust and yet her lips were still locked against his and -

Black.

As Ryoma's unconscious body slumped against Nodoka's ample chest, she let go of him and let him fall to the ground. The plan had worked perfectly, she thought as she gazed scornfully at the senseless boy. Having distracted him by kissing him, she had gotten herself close enough to hit a certain pressure point on the back of his head, thereby knocking him out. Her movements were so subtle that nobody watching could tell what she had done. The only thing they would have seen was a shell-shocked Ryoma falling onto Nodoka's chest and from there to the ground.

"Hmph," Nodoka snorted. Ryoma's mouth had tasted like grape Ponta. And he wasn't much of a kisser either; he'd make a horrible boyfriend.

Whatever. The lengths that Nodoka had to go to rescue Emily... geez. She looked up at Sakuno to see what her first verbal response would be.

"Ryoma-kun!" the girl gasped, horrified, and she ran over to the fallen boy's side. She urgently nudged Ryoma but he didn't wake up.

"Looks like he was so shocked, he fainted," Kenichi stated. Nodoka nodded along with him.

"B-But why'd you...?" Sakuno began. It seemed that 'kiss' was too overwhelming a word for her to say at that moment.

Nodoka only giggled foolishly in response. It had been Kenichi's idea to use kissing as a last strategy to break a pair up. Nodoka was far less interested in boys than Kenichi was interested in girls, so she didn't like to use this particular strategy. Still, it was an ample trick that the Couple Cleaver had up its sleeve.

"We can't continue this match," Nodoka pointed out, "and since Kenichi and I are leading, you can say we've won the match."

"And you know what that means," Kenichi added.

Sakuno stared at the two high schoolers in horror, but it seemed she was too dumbfounded to say anything. She didn't argue.

"That's dirty!" Yuuta exclaimed. "Tennis is a non-contact sport so kissing isn't allowed!"

"I don't think it'd be allowed even in rugby," Akazawa said dryly.

Mizuki smirked. This was proving to be a very interesting turnout indeed.

Sakuno was backed up against the fence like a cornered rabbit. With fear, she gazed wide-eyed at Kenichi, who towered over her. She didn't expect everything to come to this. Even Ryoma couldn't protect her now.

"Please, pigtailed girl," Kenichi began in a benevolent tone, "do not be frightened. It is only a kiss. I would rather you offer yourself willingly to me."

Only a kiss?! Sakuno thought with despair. Ryoma had fainted because of a kiss – kissing obviously meant a great deal to him as well!

Wait... did it? The Ryoma that Sakuno knew wouldn't have placed romantic emphasis on a kiss. He would have just found it to be repulsive. He wouldn't faint; Ryoma never lost his cool!

All of a sudden, Sakuno thought of the look that had crossed Ryoma's face when he had first seen his cat in Nodoka's arms. There had been a look of genuine alarm on his face – and worry.

Karupin...

"Emily!"

Nodoka's shrieking interrupted Sakuno's thoughts. It also distracted Kenichi, who swung around and glared at his doubles partner in annoyance. She was gazing up at the empty umpire's chair with evident consternation.

"What's the matter now, Nodoka?" he snapped.

"Emily's not here!" Nodoka whined. "She vanished!"

"Who cares?" Kenichi replied irritably.

"I care!" Nodoka responded at once. She stood tall and gazed at Kenichi huffily. "If I don't get my cat then you don't get your kiss, Kenichi!"

"That's not fair!"

"Well, where's my cat, then? Help me look for her." With that, Nodoka grabbed Kenichi by the ear and dragged him unceremoniously off the court.

"Wait for me, pigtailed girl!" Kenichi called out as he disappeared from view.

Sakuno waited in silence for a full minute after the Couple Cleaver had departed. When the two high schoolers didn't return, she sighed deeply in relief. Her lips were saved.

But still, poor Ryoma. She wondered if that incident earlier had been his first kiss. And where was Karupin anyway?

"Hey, are you okay?" Sakuno heard a boy's voice behind her. She squeaked in alarm as she swung around to face the person talking to her. There were three boys and Sakuno, not being inclined towards boys at that moment, paled at the sight of them. Then she recognised their uniforms: they were from St. Rudolph.

"We saw everything," the boy who had initially called out to Sakuno explained. He was the one with the short brown hair: Fuji-senpai's younger brother, Sakuno recalled.

"Echizen won't wake up. He's been knocked out good," a tanned boy said. Sakuno didn't know his name.

"Maybe we should give him mouth-to-mouth," said the curly-haired boy who sounded gay.

Sakuno's face paled yet again.

"He's only joking," Fuji's younger brother assured her. "The problem is getting Echizen back home. Do you know where he lives?"

Sakuno was about to shake her head in dismay when suddenly the nearby bushes rustled. Sakuno had been emotionally battered far too much by now to even react to the sight of yet another boy appearing on the scene. She did react, though, when she realised that it was Kaidoh.

"K-Kaidoh-senpai!" Even at the best of times, Sakuno was just a little intimated by this particular Seigaku regular.

For some reason, Kaidoh started blushing when he heard his name. Sakuno noticed that he was holding Karupin in his arms. She smiled in pure delight.

"That's Ryoma-kun's cat!" she said happily.

Kaidoh seemed somewhat taken-aback by Sakuno's enthusiasm. He hissed as he put Karupin down by Sakuno's feet. His eyes followed the cat as it immediately made its way towards Ryoma's fallen body.

"What happened?" Kaidoh asked gruffly. He looked surprised. Karupin was nudging Ryoma with his paw but the boy was still refusing to stir. Something was clearly up.

Sakuno sighed. "I-It's a long story. K-Kaidoh-senpai, could you please help us get Ryoma-kun home?" she asked, looking up at her gruff senior beseechingly.

Being the nice, well brought-up young man that he was, Kaidoh was clearly in no position to refuse the young girl's request. With a low hiss issuing from his throat, Kaidoh glared at Sakuno and said "Yes" with genuine earnest. After all, it was up to the older students to help out their underclassmen in times of need.

Later...

When at last Ryoma woke up, he felt a heavy burden on his chest. Karupin was sitting on him.

He couldn't help but smile. He sat up and hugged his cat very closely to his body. With that, a feeling of sheer relief washed over him. He felt content.

It took him about a minute to work out where he was after that. The lights were turned off and the curtains were shut but there was still afternoon light seeping in through the blinds. Ryoma could see that he was on his bed and that he was still wearing his tennis clothes. Why was this? The first thing that came to his head was Sakuno. Of course – he had been with her after tennis practice. What had happened to her?

Just then, the door opened and Ryoma's cousin Nanako walked into the room. She was dressed in her usual apron and she was carrying the telephone in her delicate, white fingers.

"Ah, Ryoma-san, you're awake," she said, smiling. "When your bandana-clad friend dropped you and Karupin off here and you were unconscious, I was worried."

Bandana-clad friend...? Ryoma thought groggily. Oh, of course. Kaidoh.

"Ryuzaki-sensei is asking for you on the phone," Nanako went on. "But if you're still sick, then I'll tell her."

"It's fine," Ryoma said. He took the phone and held it to his ear. As he did, he gestured for Nanako to leave. She did.

"Hello?" Ryoma said into the phone, sounding slightly bored.

Ryuzaki-sensei's voice came through the line, direct and crisp in a comforting and familiar sort of way. She sounded absolutely furious.

"Sakuno tells me that you and she were up to trouble after school today. Echizen! How could you be so irresponsible? Explain yourself!"

Ryoma did not understand.

"I don't understand," he confessed.

"I'll bet you do," Ryuzaki-sensei replied. "Wait, Sakuno wants to speak to you."

There was a pause, and then Sakuno's nervous, feminine voice sounded in Ryoma's ear.

"Um, Ryoma-kun... I hope you're all right... That k-kiss before knocked you out..."

Ryoma's eye twitched.

Again, there was a pause, then Ryuzaki-sensei's voice came through the phone again. "Now do you get it?"

Huh? Ryoma thought stupidly.

"Huh?" he said stupidly.

This time, it was Sakuno who responded. "Ryoma-kun, I know you must be more upset about not being able to finish things today. It wasn't right that she interrupted everything. That's why we'll do our best, Ryoma-kun and make our relationship work!"

Now, Ryoma really wasn't the type to care much for any romantic undertones, but even he could see something had clearly happened from the way Sakuno spoke. He spoke up. "You're talking like I kissed you or something." He didn't remember anything of the sort.

"U-U-Um! Ryoma-k-k-kun!" Ryoma winced at the sound of Sakuno's agitated spluttering. "N-No!" the girl insisted vigorously. "You didn't kiss me at all! I mean, you sort of did, but – Grandma! Ah!" The line went dead.

Ryoma stared into the phone, more puzzled than ever. No matter how hard he wracked his brain, the last thing that he could remember before waking up in his bed was walking down the street with Sakuno trailing behind him. Then there was nothing. Just static.

Hmm, the last time something like this had happened, there had been an ultimate technique involved somehow. He'd have to ask Sakuno about it tomorrow. She seemed to know all the details. Plus, he knew that she was super loyal to him. That much stuck in his mind.

At that point, Karupin let out a purr and started rubbing hid head affectionately against Ryoma's leg. The young boy looked down at his cat and the corners of his mouth turned upward slightly. So that was the source of the sudden warm sensation he felt tingling inside of him. It was kind of nice.

Circumstances were not kind to the hapless Couple Cleaver, meanwhile. After half an hour of fruitlessly searching the block for 'Emily', Nodoka and Kenichi dejectedly returned to the street tennis courts. The place was completely devoid of signs of life. Rather than blaming their own selves for their utter lack of common sense, Nodoka blamed Kenichi and vice versa.

"If you had kept an eye on the cat the whole time...!"

"No, if you had the pigtailed girl come with us the whole time...!"

After about another half-hour of squabbling in this vein, the two high schoolers stopped. Nodoka said:

"Using our knowledge of martial arts and the human body, I managed to knock out the brat and wipe out all his memories of us. But do you think we should have used our real martial arts tennis? What then?"

Then -

"Nah, we're saving that for the mixed doubles championship, aren't we?"

Next chapter: And here comes the obligatory fanservice-y beach episode! Fuji spices things up by aspiring to be the best beach cricketer on the tennis team. I have no idea what this has to do with mixed doubles. Even though it's so obvious that Fuji and Sakuno will never hook up, apparently the next chapter has some unintentional FujiSaku interaction.

Fuji: Is that so? Are you sure this is still a boy's story, Frog-kun?

Frog-kun: I worked out that there are no boys reading this. Every good novelist knows he must write what people want to read. It's called understanding the demographics.

Fuji: Ah ha... That is a little...

Frog-kun: Dude, aren't you supposed to be a genius? How I'd love to write a story about me piloting a giant mecha robot and squashing you like an ant but that would be totally Gary Stu and I'd probably get flamed.

Fuji: …

NOTE: Frog-kun has been watching way too much mecha anime lately. He likes to think he can pilot the Evangelion but unfortunately, he fell into depression after realising that he was not mentally unstable enough to be an NGE character. Help cure Frog-kun's depression by reviewing/alerting this story today!