"Taki," the ice king inclined his head to acknowledge his newly arrived club member. Taki closed the door to the coach's office and joined Atobe the oak desk. He gave a short bow to his captain.

"Buchou," Taki began hesitantly, "Though I may sound ungrateful, I don't think….that is…there should not be 9 regulars. We aren't Seigaku and…."

"Taki," Atobe sighed, "Ore-sama is not going to go against his own decision, worry not. Actually, there is a favor I need to ask of you. Come take a seat."

Intrigued, Taki sat himself in the chair opposite the gray haired senior. The Yukimatsuri captain didn't often drop his peculiar speech habit.

"What do you think of the brat?" Atobe asked. His eyes bore into his old friend's. "As a person, I believe perhaps you are the only one in this team who has an accurate account of our usurper. I trust you have gathered much from your match with him. Don't rush. Take you time and analyze like you are so good at doing. Here have some water."

Taki fell silent as he accepted the ice cold bottle Atobe handed him fresh from the mini fridge inside the club office. Taki took a small sip as he gazed down at his hands, his mind whirling like a computer. Almost painfully he recalled the events of earlier that afternoon, walking through his last game as a regular step by step. His blood froze in his veins.

"He's cold," the green hair boy finally whispered with a shudder. "Tsukino, he's a good kid…normally…but he's cold, so cold…and just as cruel."

"Cruel? Is that all?" the gray haired teenager repeated, his eyes narrowing a bit, "Well, it is not surprising. I suppose, with the way the club is structured, we do foster something of the sort. In fact it is only to be expected…"

"NO!" Taki's very nearly hysterical voice cracked in the tense air. "It's not the same thing Atobe. You and I, the other club members, we are different. Hyoutei is a very competitive, self-serving school. It's full of ambitious people who will vie for the top while cutting losses be they friends or whatever. We are the wolves of business. That is how we are."

Taki took a deep breath so calm down.

"Tsukino…Tsukino, he's fundamentally different. Couldn't you feel it, Atobe? He's completely different. He's…he's not malicious in his cruelty. It's not a methodical thought process that eliminates weakness, or appeal to strength…no. It's all instinctual; he is cruel automatically because he is. Perhaps he isn't even conscious of it. He's like – I don't know – like a forced of nature, a snowstorm, I would guess. People don't matter to him. As long as he has a goal to focus his attentions on, everything else ceases to matter; his teammates, his opponents, whatever. It's as if we're all numbers and figures in a homework problem he wants done as quickly as possible. Whatever happens to get in his way; too bad. If you're smart enough to stay out you don't be destroyed. It's all the same to him when he wants something badly enough. " Taki took a moment to breathe before he continued. "And the scary part is…he's really not such a bad person when you take him out of that context. He's such a good boy. What could have happened to him, I wonder, to make him like that?"

Taki halted abruptly. He averted his tired eyes. Atobe too said nothing, but took a sip from his own, now only mildly cool water. The young captain looked out the nearby window for a bit, to collect his thoughts maybe, before he regarded his old friend.

"Watch after him, Taki…closely. There is something about Tsukino Reiki that leaves a bitter feeling in my mouth. I do hope I'm just being unreasonably paranoid, but at least I will rest easier once I know I'm wrong," Atobe finally said, his voice carefully neutral though there was a conviction beneath it that was very persuasive indeed. Suddenly a sad, regretful smile stole across his handsome face. "He really isn't a bad child, is he?"

"No Buchou," Taki replied shaking his head. He too bore a sad smile. "I can't say that he is."

-Scene Change—

"Tsunawatari!" the red-haired girl stood back with a smirk as the neon green ball rolled along the top of the net and dropped off neatly just inside the white lines of the tennis court. Her opponent, a being whose gender is practically indistinguishable, cursed.

"Ah! Damn it, I give it!" Tsukino growled as she threw her hands into the air. "That move is impossible!

She stomped off the smooth green concrete of the court over to her bag on a nearby bench. They had been at this for hours and still she had been unable to learn the self-proclaimed tensai's infamous Tight Rope Walk.

"Oh come now, it's not impossible," the red-head chuckled, "At least not for a genius like me."

She was a very pretty girl, with shoulder length blood red hair and large expressive lavender eyes. Her slender frame was covered by an old but well-beloved and familiar yellow jersey bearing Rikkai Dai's stylized R. For once it was paired with a black tennis skirt instead of the white shorts.

"But Marui-senpai!" the younger girl whined. "How do you even get the ball to follow the net? It can't support a tennis ball; and anyway it keeps moving and makes the ball bounce weird."

"It's music, chibi-chan!" she laughed. "The net waving, it's like music isn't it? It dances to it's own rhythm, and all you have to do is hit exactly the right notes to make a miracle."

"You do realize," the younger girl grumbled annoyed. "No matter how many times you say that, it doesn't help me in the slightest.

Suddenly a large tan hand pressed a cold can of juice against Tsukino's cheek effectively cutting her off.

"Tsk, tsk, you oughta know by now Tsuki-chin," a playful male voiced chided, "Bun-bun here is a music major. You shouldn't expect her to speak human!"

The red-head smacked him in the back of the head with her racket. "Shut Up idiot Haru!"

The silver haired boy laughed playfully as he raised his arms to fend of the blows of his irate companion. In a stunning display of flexibility, Masaharu Niou managed to avoid both his girlfriend's racket and her fist to place and affectionate kiss on her forehead. She promptly blushed and pointedly turned away from him. However, Niou heard no protest when he gathered the smaller figure into his arms and bade her sit down with him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he apologized before turning back to his kouhai. "It's a nasty bit of math. You need to take into account both wave motion and wind interference. Not even the great Niou-sama before you has quite managed it exactly right. On the other hand for living music boxes like this woman here, even though her arithmetic skills leave much to be desired-ow!"

"Baka Haru!" she smacked him again.

"You're so mean to me!" Niou whined with a mock pout. "Anyway for people who live an breathe music like her, wave motion is something she takes note of almost instinctually. We mere mortals simply do not possess the necessary inner eye – ah, Setsubun!"

"Shut up, you deserve it!" the slighted tensai insisted. For the moment, the petenshi wisely decided to abandon his attempts of placating the furious female and began to run for his well being, laughing merrily. It was a while before Setsubun gave up and returned to her friend. For her part, Tsukino had pulled her notebook out and was writing furiously, only pausing to type in a few numbers on a calculator she had also brought.

"And Tsukino, I did tell you that my name never really was Marui Bunta, no?" the older girl asked as she tried to pummel her former teammate from afar via tennis balls. No good, Niou was too damn fast.

"Yeah but Maruichi-senpai sounds so weird," Tsukino insisted. "Any you prefer Marui, don't deny it."

"Maybe," Marui sang. When she noticed Tsukino tugging impatiently at her Yukimatsuri uniform, Setsubun's face grew grave. "How are your chest pains, are they very bad?"

It was a moment before the raven haired girl replied: "Not so bad. Don't worry. I always leave plenty of breathing room. That and I'm still not as…ahem," she gestured to the older girl's chest, "…as you were back then."

A blush colored Marui's cheeks. It was true. Marui Bunta, Maruichi Setsubun, had been a prodigious B cup when she had stopped binding her chest and she had only grown since then (a fact that delighted Niou). All of a sudden, Tsukino's notebook and calculator were tugged away, courtesy of a petenshi who had finally deemed it safe to return. When his young friend went after it, he held both items high above his head.

"That's enough studying for one day, pipsqueak," he scolded, smiling, "It's Sunday. We're three young, free, and sinfully attractive teenagers. We should be out on the town, partying!"

Shaking her head at her boy friend's antics, Setsubun none the less gathered her stuff together.

"Come on," she smiled at Tsukino, "let's get lunch. Niou's buying."

"Hey what?" was the distressed yelp of one about to be broke trickster.

-scene change—

Taki came to the early morning regular's practice deep in thought, Atobe's latest assignment plaguing his mind. He wasn't entirely sure how to go about doing it. Sure, normally the younger freshman was friendly enough, but he wasn't looking for how Tsukino acted normally. He was looking for that something that worried Atobe. He was now, once again, posing manager of Yukimatsuri. He was very early, hoping to get some time to think as he warmed up, but once out on the court he realized he was not the first one.

Unsurprisingly, Jirou was there curled up on a bench…Had it not been only Saturday that Atobe had called him in to chat he would have wondered if Jirou had stayed at school all through Sunday just to sleep…. It wasn't that far-fetched a thought.

However what really shocked him was Tsukino who was running suicide drills on the near-by court. The state of his clothes and windblown hair was evidence that he had been there for a while.

"A tad early to be up isn't it?" Taki asked, unable to keep a chilly bite out of his tone. He barely held back the urge to laugh when the boy in the purple cap looked up and promptly stumbled over himself comically. The subsequent smile that broke over the younger's face made Taki feel slightly guilty however.

"Good morning, Taki-senpai!" the boy chirped happily. "Great day, huh? The sun is out; it's not hot. I don't know HOW Jirou-senpai can sleep when the day is so beautiful!"

Tsukino himself was quite literally bouncing on the balls of his feet. Funny, Taki had never pegged him for a morning person. It was barely 7.

Abandoning that train of thought, the green haired boy placed his clipboard down and began his own warm ups. It was scarcely ten minutes later when two familiar figures appeared on the edge of the courts.

"What on earth can you two be doing, pray tell, at this unholy hour?" the team captain almost growled as he virtually stomped across the court his hair just a touch more frazzled than normal. Apparently it was a bit too early for 'Ore-sama'.

Of all the things that Atobe Keigo can claim to be, a morning person was definitely NOT one of them. Unfortunately for him, the only free slot for regulars-only practices in Yukimatsuri was early in the morning before classes. As a result, he was grumpier than Hiyoshi during early practices and had a temperament to give even Rikkai's Sanada Genichirou a run for his money. As such the sight of the over-enthusiastic freshman only annoyed him further.

"You!" he barked at Tsukino, "Are you warmed up?"

"Yes sir!" The younger boy chirped.

"5 laps and then swing drills," Atobe commanded, "50 per hand, keep, alternating until the other arrive! Taki, watch the brat while Kabaji and I warm up."

"Hai!" Tsukino piped energetically and began on his laps. Taki sighed and nodded. Looking at the boy, he just hoped that those laps managed to kill off some of that excess energy.

Not 10 minutes later the scowling face of Hiyoshi Wakashi could be seen approaching. Unlike atobe his bad humor had less to do with the early morning and more to do with their newest regular player. When he saw the younger boy's antic, a sporadic twitching developed at the corner of his eye.

"Who the hell gave THAT THING COFFEE?" he growled. "Do you WANT to torture me?"

"I wasn't me!" Taki insisted gesturing to the freshman who was running laps on hyper speed. "It was Jirou if it was anyone! And Atobe says five laps, and then swing drills, go!"

The junior grumbled something unintelligible and began to jog.

Taki watched as Hiyoshi caught up to the young boy and a sort of cat and mouse chase began. Despite what Hiyoshi previously said about his underclassman, his scowl eased a bit as he got one good smack in before the raven haired child pulled away from him. It seems not even the master of gekokujou is immune to his infectious good humor.

The green haired boy sighed as he took a seat next to the snoozing Jirou.

"I wonder if I'm doing the right thing," he mused to himself.

The slight furrowing of Jirou's brows went completely unnoticed.

Allow me to beg forgiveness...I had hoenstly ran out of inspiration for this story until just reccently I re-read some of my stuff (i was honestly on a hetalia streak for the longest time)

Gomen nasai

and yes...i made marui a girl becuase there are like no remotely cannon-like het-pairings in PoT, becuase i wanted to involve Niou, and becuase I love maru-haru...

Yes, Taki is important (gasp!)