A/N: This chapter is for SunneRaine for leaving possibly the longest and most helpful review that I've ever received. Oh and she's the fiftieth reviewer! Isn't that coincidental? XD

Since last chapter had so many OCs in it, this chapter will be more canon character oriented. :P Hope y'all don't mind terribly.

So, I was looking up for some stuff in the canon for the Rikkaidai team. Apparently Yukimura Seichii loves Brahms (the conductor, not the ice cream shop) and is in the arts committee of his school! -swoon- Renji has a little sister as well! And Yukimura's type of girl? "Healthy." Now, let me ask you - WTF does that mean? XDDDD

a blooming flower

Ch 10 - reconfigured

"Now, it's my turn. Who is Ageha-san?"

The silence was almost tangible. There was a wide range of emotions flickering in her eyes. Surprise. Sadness. And most curious of all - resentment.

"Who told you?"

That whisper, that quiet, delicate voice seemed to hold unimaginable truths. In that moment, I saw a person who was afraid - afraid of being human.

Suddenly I wanted to tell Toudou Hisako that it was okay. I didn't mean to tip her off-course, didn't mean to see through things that weren't supposed to be seen through.

"I - I found a photograph - " My fingers dipped into my jersey to instinctively touch the glossy square. "You dropped it a few days ago."

She didn't ask for it.

"Ageha... used to be my doubles partner," Hisako said. She looked straight into my eyes as she said this, but I wasn't sure if she was telling the entire truth. Then she added, "She doesn't go to Rikkaidai anymore, unfortunately."

"Oh." And somehow, a switch had been turned on, and she was back to her old self; the persona that was rude and snobby - but it wasn't really Hisako, not really. I had figured that her provoking words, her beauty that seemed to serve as a mask - it was all a show. Just something to defend herself from the real world and to isolate herself from whoever she really was.

She gave me a sad, twisted little grin as if she knew that I knew that she wasn't being completely honest with me.

"Well, kid, there you have it."

"Aren't you going to ask me another question?"

"Not today, kid," she said, and skipped down to the lower bleachers to talk with the older team members. "Maybe tomorrow."

-x-

My brother had insisted on meeting me after my team had won five straight matches. I had been disappointed: Yokosuka was no challenge for Rikkaidai, and therefore I wasn't able to see any spectacular techniques or skills coming from the older teammates who had been on the team for quite some time. We progressed to the Districts championship, although I did hope that there would be someone finally able to challenge our own individual talents. So in the meantime, I took Kyoko to meet my brother and had explained exactly who he was in the high school tennis circuit.

"Onii-san, this is Tanaka Kyoko. Kyoko, this is my brother, Yukimura Seichii."

"How do you do," my brother said warmly, flashing a beautiful smile which would have elicited a squeal from most girls at school.

Kyoko, however, was suitably abnormal and reacted to this in a very rational manner. "I'm good, and you?"

"I'm doing fine. I've heard that you're quite the tennis player yourself."

"Oh me? Speak for yourself, I can't believe I'm meeting the captain of Rikkaidai's tennis team! You've witnessed three National championships under your leadership."

"You give me too much credit, Tanaka-san," my brother said, although I detected a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "I have a great team. Without them, I wouldn't be able to win Nationals."

Apparently my brother felt the same way. He wasn't flanked by Sanada or Yanagi this time, just meeting up with me. I brought Kyoko along just because she was curious who my brother was.

"So, Yukimura-senpai, are you playing Singles today?"

"Mm... Yeah, I am. I've always been more of a Singles player, although I've been curious to see how the yips would affect a doubles team."

Kyoko was confused. "The 'yips', you said?"

I coughed loudly at this. "Ne, Onii-san, who's playing right now?"

"Right now? Er - it's Genichirou at the moment - "

"We should go see them!" Kyoko said excitedly. Thank God she had a short attention span. "I've wanted to see Sanada-senpai play again."

Now Seichii-nii was the one who was confused. "You've seen Genichirou playing before?"

"Yep! The match with Sanada playing against Atobe-san."

"Oh, I remember. Yes. That was an exciting match, wasn't it?"

"Yes it was! I couldn't believe Atobe-san had such an amazing serve."

I sighed in relief. Hopefully Kyoko wouldn't question me later on why I had interrupted her question. The problem was that I didn't know how Kyoko would react to my brother's methods of stripping a person of their senses while playing a match with them. From what I had observed, she was a person who usually rooted for the underdog - a person who stood for integrity and fairness, especially when playing tennis.

I must have missed something, though, because Kyoko was pulling on my wrist and saying, "Shizuko, let's go see Sanada-senpai's match!"

"Huh? Oh... Okay."

Seichii winked at me. "Tell Genichirou I'll be catching up to him soon. I have to take care of a few things, okay?"

I didn't like what he was implying, and was about to tell him so had Kyoko been pulling on my arm like a puppy with a chew toy.

When we had gotten to the court, it wasn't as if anybody from the team was paying attention either. Yagyuu was half studying, half glancing at Sanada as the match was going on. Akaya was nowhere to be found, presumably walking around the other courts in boredom. Jackal was reading something in Portuguese, his legs crossed.

An greeted both of us and gave me a hug. "Shizuko-chan! And... Tanaka-san, right?"

"Hi, Tachibana. Team doing okay?" Kyoko's hair as usual was wild and stuck in different directions, giving her the impression that she did everything without care.

"They're doing great!" An chirps with obvious enthusiasm. "They're benefiting from my Super Deluxe training menu!" Cue a thumbs up and wide grin because she's doing so well.

"No kidding," Marui groaned, and he came up to our little group. "I think I still have those bruises from a day ago," he complained good-naturedly.

"Marui-senpai! It's for your own good!" An protests. "Just because you need to overdose on sugar - "

"Don't lecture me on that," Marui sighs. "You think I haven't heard enough of it from everybody by now, and then a cute girl comes to tell me I'm gaining weight - what's a manly man to do, huh?"

I smiled. "How have you been doing?"

"Good. Not the same when you were managing us - but okay." He ruffled An's hair affectionately, and An let him, albeit with a small protest. "Stop that, senpai!"

"Of course, 'Mura-buchou kind of misses you, but that's to be expected when you're busy with your own tennis. But at least we have An-chan."

At hearing his news, I was glad. I didn't see much of the regulars on the team except for Kirihara, and that was because he was in my class with An as well. Mostly I kept to myself and studied during lunch, but sometimes Kyoko would pop in and say, "Hey man, got any change? I forgot to bring my lunch today." Other than that, the team hadn't acknowledged much about my resignation, a fact that made me doubt what effect I had on the team in the first place. Certainly Marui had never ruffled my head like he was doing to An...

"She's zoning out again," Kyoko said, and poked me in the cheek. "Shizuko? Are you like, okay?"

Marui laughed. "Yeah, that's Shizuko for you. She's smart and pretty, but she can't help but zoning out when she's thinking about something - Kind of reminds me of 'Mura-buchou, actually."

Now Niou was walking up to us. "If you're here to see fukubuchou's match, it's nothing new. Kid's getting crushed, actually."

I turned to see a beautiful forehand grazing on the opposite side of the court. The other team's player had an expression akin to sheer, bloody panic. If he wasn't on the opposite team I'd be feeling quite sorry for him.

We took our seats, and I kept quiet while the others kept chattering as usual. I had changed into street clothes, so I looked like an ordinary girl who had stopped to watch Rikkaidai's match. Sanada didn't disappoint, taking two straight games without a sweat.

"Want a drink?" An asked. I nodded and passed her a few coins. "Apple cider, please." She left her seats, heading to the nearest vending machines.

"I'll go with you, An," Marui said, and he stood up to accompany her as well. An didn't look altogether pleased, but she made no refusal as they two left the bleachers.

"She looks like she's doing well with the team," Kyoko said.

"Better than me," I shrugged. Yet it nagged at me - why her and not me?

-x-

A game later, An and Marui returned with drinks. I took the bottle of apple cider and unscrewed the cap, taking a small sip before setting it next to me.

Kirihara for some reason with them as well, and An was arguing about cockroaches.

"Hey, don't hate on cockroaches. I know that they're the scum of the Earth, but - "

"You wouldn't know scum if it hit you on the head," An retorted. "Cockroaches are disgusting. Especially when they're not one-hundred-percent dead."

"'Kay, it's not my fault I didn't completely squish it - "

"Well, you could've! You were too slow!"

The rest of the team completely disregarded this as if they were used to it on a regular basis. Yagyuu was still studying and Jackal was still reading. The two most normal people on the team were calmly avoiding this.

"Um... shouldn't somebody stop them?" I asked Marui. An seemed almost angry enough to punch Kirihara.

He blew a green-apple bubble. "Nope. Even Sanada hasn't tried for the last week. I think it kind of gives dimension to the team, you know? Like boy-meets-girl, hate each other at first sight, and then finally make out at a dance or something."

I looked at them again. Kirihara was arguing with vigorous hand motions and his voice was inflected to different pitches in response to An's heated words.

I've never seen him so interested in anything before An came. Why was that so?

Kyoko was looking at them as well, sipping on a juice-box, looking for all who cared very much like an overgrown elementary school kid.

"I didn't expect him to be interested in Tachibana," she mumbled mostly to herself, and I remembered that she was the one who told me that Kirihara was "cute".

Then she crumpled up the juice box and threw it into the nearest trash can, making a perfect arc in the air. "Eh, whatever. I can deal," she said, and turned her back on the two of them to enjoy the match in front of her.

"Deal with what?" Marui asked, and Kyoko actually blushed. "Nothing. I said nothing."

He shrugged. "If you say so." Then he got up again to interact with other fans who had showed up in support of Rikkaidai's match. Everywhere they played, people always showed up for a Rikkaidai match.

I stood up and hopped over to the captain's bench, as Seichii wasn't sitting on it. As the argument between Kirihara and An wasn't exactly dissipating as I had hoped, nobody would be watching out for Sanada's condition, and the sun was bound to cause dehydration. The officials allowed a minute of rest at match point.

"Here's a cold towel," I said, and handed it to Sanada as he sat on the bench.

He took it without a single word of thanks, wiping the sweat from his forehead after removing his cap.

Without his usual cap, it was like the edges of his features had softened, and he looked less like a middle-aged man and more of an young emperor. His aristocratic nose was straight and his shoulders, while broad, filled out his shirt out in a very attractive way. His eyes, a beautiful shade of amber brown, seemed to hold a piercing quality to them, as if he had no weaknesses whatsoever. And -

"Is there something wrong you'd like to point out?" he asked me in the middle of my musings, and at this, I realized two things.

First, Sanada Genichirou was attractive. Like, ridiculously hotter than normal. Since when did that happen?

And second, he caught me staring at him.

Fuck my life.

"There was a just bee in your hair, Genichirou," my brother interrupted just in the nick of time with a smile that was suspiciously too happy to look real. He descended from the steps. "Shizuko was just thinking about telling you, but it flew off."

Okay. So not only was that a bald-faced lie, but my brother actually witnessed the whole thing. My life couldn't just get any better, right?

Luckily, Sanada seemed to accept this and put his cap back on. He walked away, and Seichii-nii only had a smug expression on his face.

"Shut up," I mumbled.

"I didn't say anything."

"But you're thinking it."

"I am," Seichii said most pleasantly. "And I do say, the denial from both sides are entertaining..."

-x-

Over the next few days I was trying my very hardest to concentrate on my tennis, schoolwork, and pretty much anything that didn't have to do with the boy's team.

It didn't work.

"Ne, Shizuko, about the roster for the District championships - what do you think?" Seichii asked over dinner. Our parents were at home for once, and we were sitting at the table with some takeout sushi.

"Ummmm," I said, stalling. Don't think about Sanada, don't think about Sanada - too late. "I dunno. Why don't you ask An instead?"

"Oh, but she doesn't really get them like you do. You've been taking care of my team longer than she has, like Genichirou - "

I nearly choked on a piece of tuna.

" - and Renji from the elementary days."

My mother took this time to say, "Oh, I haven't seen them in a while! You should invite them over some time."

What a lovely woman. How is it that mothers know the exact thing to mortify their daughters?

"Saa... maybe that would be a nice idea, instead of going to their houses so often. Shizuko-chan wouldn't mind, right?" my brother asked, now directing the question towards me.

I scowled. "I don't care either way."

My father was staring into a great void, like he always did. I had the feeling that his family were pets to him. He was a college professor who spent much of his time thinking, and if my mother (who worked as an office lady in an insurance company) forgot to call him and ask where he was, he would usually stay on campus either to write or explain arbitrary concepts to his students.

Of course, me and my brother didn't mind that much. We were mostly self-independent, and while my mother sometimes nagged me to be more like Seichii, it wasn't as if we depended on our parents to live our life for us. After dinner, my father read the news and my mother did the dishes. All in all, a typical Japanese family, for now.

I went up to my room and laid face down on my bed.

Sanada Genichirou had always been my brother's best friend. So why... why did I happen to think he happened to be good looking? Was it because he happened to be an amazing tennis player?

No, if that was the case I'd be falling in love with Kirihara. Or Yanagi-senpai. Or pretty much anybody on the team, really.

He was sometimes impatient, too blunt, and if one thought about it for some time, he had the potential to be a total asshole. And let's not mention that he almost never talked, the bastard.

But he could be nice sometimes, too. Like, I guess if that elusive, rare smile of his said anything, it would be that he sometimes listened to what I was saying - and sometimes maybe, he actually agreed with me.

I rolled up on my side, hugging my pillow as I considered it, a finger absentmindedly curling a piece of my wavy blue hair. A few minutes later, I arrived at a simple conclusion.

It must have been the sun. Yep. No way I could ever like that blockhead...

-x-

"Hey, Kyoko, what do you think about me?"

We were changing in the locker room, and as usual me and Kyoko were the only ones who actually bothered to change in a place where anybody could see us. This, ironically, gave us quite a bit of privacy from the other tennis club members, who usually waited around the girl's bathroom to change in the cubicles.

"Huh?" Kyoko said in mid-zip. "What do you mean?"

I tried to explain in a way so Kyoko would understand. "Like, if you were a boy, what would you think about me?"

"Um... Well, you're good looking and good at tennis." She glanced at me even further. "Does that count?"

I frowned. "That doesn't tell me if a guy wants to date me or not."

Kyoko looked at me as if I had gone a little crazy. "Shizuko, I'm not a dude. Seriously. If you want to know, why don't you ask the guy yourself?"

I sighed. "It was just a question..."

"Say, who is the guy anyway? Is he on the tennis team?"

I gave her a pointed stare. "It was a hypothetical question."

Her gray eyes were boring drills into my own. "Uh-huh... Do you remember when I told you were a terrible liar? 'Cause I know when you're lying, Shizuko, and you are definitely lying right now."

Insert a very long and awkward silence here.

"... Okay, that was a little scary," I admitted. "You can stop interrogating me now."

Kyoko chuckled. "Yeah, I wanted to do the whole bad-cop routine. But seriously - Shizuko, you're cool and pretty and smart. If a guy doesn't see that for himself, that's his loss. Not yours."

She picked up her racket and pushed the door open. "Now are you coming out or do I have to drag you out of here?"

I grinned. Tanaka Kyoko was a girl to be reckoned with.

-x-

Tennis practice had run just a little later than usual, so my brother wasn't there to wait for me. I bid Kyoko goodbye, and was about to go out to my bike rack when someone was waiting for me.

It was, of course, Sanada. How thrilling. As if I hadn't been thinking about him for the past few days.

"Um... What are you doing here?" I asked him. For all the good it did me, I was pretty good at banishing my own social awkwardness.

"Your brother wanted to pick up something from the convenience store and asked me to pick you up," he said. A perfunctory glance told me that he was a little irritated about it.

"Well, you don't exactly have to if you don't want to," I offered. "I have a bike anyways."

"It's fine. I'll jog."

The sky was getting awfully dark. I supposed it was just as well to have a tall guy escort me home safe and soundly... And wow did that sound wrong.

"Well... I think I'll walk instead," I decided.

I could ditch the bike for a day, couldn't I? That way Sanada wouldn't have to strain himself to keep up with me after practice.

"You don't have to - "

"Shut up, okay? I just said I'd walk with you."

And to his credit, he actually does shut up. For a second I thought he was going to actually slap my face, but he didn't, taking my silence as a cue to start walking towards my house.

It's a comfortable silence, although secretly, I do try to sneak glances at him.

To my surprise he's the first one to break the silence. "I tried your ohagi. It was good."

"Was it too sweet? I thought it was too sweet."

"No. It was perfect."

I don't know what to make of this. If there's only one thing rarer than Sanada's smile, it's a compliment from him.

I decided to change the subject. "Oh yeah - I forgot to ask you. Do you remember when I told you were, uh, arrogant?"

He dips his head slightly, and there's a tiny lift of his lips - almost imperceptible, but there. It was sort of cute, in a way.

"Who was the first person who told you that?"

"Atobe."

"Oh. That's rich, coming from a guy like him."

Now his smile widened just a little bit more. It was like a flower - you had to wait for the petals to unfold, but when it bloomed, it was really something remarkable to see.

"Atobe is one of those rare types of people who means everything that he says," Sanada said. "Unfortunately, that just means he naturally excels at everything, to the consternation of us mortals."

I couldn't help smiling. Seriously, when did he have a sense of humor?

"Speak for yourself, senpai," I said. "At least you beat him in a match of tennis."

"That was more a battle of wills rather than anything."

"You still won." I was surprised he didn't take his victory as another sign of his prowess on-court.

"The point really was to enjoy the game in the first place," he explained. "As long as both of us are fighting to the best of our ability and trying our best, it doesn't matter who wins or loses."

"But - " I start, and then I stopped to think about it.

It was certainly a very mature attitude towards what one would simply deem as a sport. But the point of playing tennis competitively was to win. Surely the Emperor of Rikkaidai would share that sentiment.

"I don't understand," I finally admit to him. "You don't care if you win or lose?"

He shrugged. "I used to, but I'm a little too old for that responsibility anymore."

Of course. He and Seichii and Yanagi have gone through so many National Championships that they could care less if they lost a few matches on the way.

Still... it bothered me. Atobe and Sanada had been so passionate on the court that very day - how could Sanada dismiss his magnificent victory like that?

And what of his old motto - there can only be one winner? It was too confusing. Out of character for such a person who I thought was one of the main pillars of the Rikkaidai tennis team.

The conversation is over, and neither of us broach the silence anymore.

My house is coming up close, and I realize that I, for all my intentions, actually enjoyed having a semi-conversation with the Emperor of Rikkaidai.

Seichii was waiting for us, still in his tennis jersey. He tossed Sanada something small, to which there is a confused expression on his face.

"Your favorite grip tape," he says simply. "I picked it up for you."

And then - that small smile is there for a second, before it vanishes. "Thank you." He left the neighborhood quickly, and I realized that he had been slowing down his pace. For me.

"Shi, aren't you going to come in for dinner?" my brother asks.

"Yeah," I say, sparing Sanada one last glance before coming inside the house. "Let's go."

-x-

A/N: I thought this might be a better place to stop. AND WHUTTTTTT I MADE IT TO TEN CHAPTERS! (of course, after two years of working on this story, lol.)

Unfortunately I have to say this: Don't expect another update until next summer. If you've known the kind of habits I pick up, it is most definitely this: I usually have most of my inspirational bursts during the summer because of all the free time I have in the world. I write my best when I have no external distractions. And when school comes around, that is a biiiiiig external distraction (senior year, wassup mannn!). Not even Christmas or Spring Break do I bother to update my fanfiction.

Hopefully there may be room for one more chapter, but after that - not very likely for me to update this during the cooler months. I'm sorry to all my faithful readers, and this is most definitely a story I've enjoyed writing. It has revitalized my interest in Prince of Tennis, which is really quite an awesome anime full of awesome characters.

So - July 2012 is probably the best time to start waiting for my next chapter. Thanks to all of y'all and of course - REVIEW! C:

~Tally, aka asobi seksu