I am back, and within the week! Yay! I think some people are on their Spring Break about now, at least in the mid-Atlantic region of the US. I know around here everyone not in college is off. Anyway, though, I apologize if this chapter is boring. It's necessary. And I think it's kinda cute. And Kazue is finally introduced!

SPOILER ALERT: This chapter includes the results of the entire Prefectural Tournament, which means the matches against Ginka and Yamabuki.

"Miki, wake up!" a deep voice called from somewhere downstairs. Miki opened a weary eye and stared at the door to her bedroom. With a groan, followed by a hoarse cough, she rolled over and pulled her comforter over her eyes. It was Sunday and she had no need to be up so early in the morning. She had already missed some school that week from whatever she caught in the rain during the practice match between Echizen and Fuji. Rest was all she had planned for a while.

"Oy, Miki! You need to get up!" Sometimes I really wish Kaa-san had taken him with her, Miki thought grumpily and sat up. Tissues were balled up all around her room and her trash can was overflowing with them. They were signs of her misery, along with the mask she had on her desk and the pile of work Kikumaru had brought over for her.

"Shiratori Miki! If you don't come down here then I'm sending your little friends up there to see you looking all sick and nasty!"

Miki jolted out of bed and nearly fell over from the comforter getting tangled between her legs. "I'm coming Kazue! Be nice to them!" she yelled, holding her throat in pain from the effort. She quickly ran into her bathroom and tried to make herself appear a little human before scooping up her mask and running downstairs. She hooked the loops behind her ears just as she saw her older brother standing with three familiar Regulars.

Kazue smirked at her, staring her down with his deep chocolate eyes. He crossed his long arms and gave her an expectant look. She blushed a little, thankful that the mask hid most of it.

"Ah, Kazue, this is Kaidoh-san and Momoshiro-san. You remember Eiji-kun, I would hope. They're all Regulars on Seigaku's tennis team. Minna-san, this is my onii-chan, Kazue."

"Yoroshiku," Momo and Kaidoh mumbled, bowing in respect. Kikumaru bowed in greeting as well.

Miki watched Kazue's smirk increase and silently mouthed "dame" to him, but he just shook his head. "So," he began conversationally, "Which of you is dating my imouto-chan?"

"Kazue!" Miki snapped as her entire face flushed. "Leave them alone! They're just my friends!"

"If you say so," he sang and started walking to the kitchen. "Must be some friends to come visit you at 9 in the morning on a weekend."

Miki almost stuck her tongue out before she remembered that she was wearing her mask. "Gomen, ne? Kazue likes to be mean. What are you boys doing here so early? Don't the-" she was interrupted by a sneeze, followed by a coughing fit.

Momo gave her a worried look. "Maybe you should sit down, Miki-chan."

"Iie, daijoubu," she managed to wheeze out. Kaidoh gave her a look and she smiled to herself behind her mask. My friends are so nice, making sure I'm okay. "I was saying, aren't the Prefectural Semi-finals today?You guys should be there by now, practicing or something."

"We were thinking of a way to let you know about the match as it happened," Kikumaru said, winking at her. She gave him a puzzled look.

Momo smirked as well. "We figured we would have someone text you during the match to keep you updated."

"So, since Kaidoh is a reserve and you seem to like him," Kikumaru continued, ignoring the noise Miki made in protest and the nasty glare Kaidoh gave him with flushed cheeks, "We decided he would be the perfect person!"

Miki gave them all surprised and embarrassed stares. "Did Kaidoh-san agree to this?"

"Hn," Kaidoh responded. His cheeks were still flushed and he seemed very uncomfortable.

She sighed. I know he doesn't want to do it. It's not fair to make him. "You don't have to, Kaidoh-san. I'm sure I'll hear all about the match later tonight or tomorrow from Eiji-kun anyway. Just enjoy the match, ne?" She tried to smile at him with her eyes since he couldn't see behind her mask. Then she gently ushered everyone towards the door. "Now come on, you guys have to get to the courts. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Ganbatte!"

"Ja ne, Miki-chan!" Kikumaru and Momo called, waving at her.

"Fshhh," Kaidoh hissed quietly, giving her one last long glance before he followed the other two.

Miki watched them go with a wide smile and she removed her mask. She was sad that she wouldn't be able to watch their games today but she knew they would do fine. Seigaku was full of incredibly strong players and they would never stop fighting.

A heavy weight rested on Miki's shoulders and she looked up into her onii-chan's smiling face. "Really, which one is it? Was it the spiky-haired one?"

"Kazue!" she whined, smacking him lightly in the stomach. He chuckled at her embarrassment and winked at her.

"I'm just looking out for you, Miki-chan. Onii-chan has to be on the lookout for people wanting to hurt my imouto-chan's heart." He looked away in thought. "Like that bandanna one. He didn't look to pleasant. You should be careful of him."

She snorted. "You shouldn't judge by looks, Kazue. Kaidoh-san is a very nice person and a great tennis player."

"So was Shinshiro," he retorted quietly and Miki's smile dropped. She turned around and started up the stairs to return to her room.

Kazue started to follow her to apologize but she turned around and gave him a stubborn look. "Kaidoh-san is nothing like Shinshiro. I trust him."

As Miki closed her door, Kumo lazily swatted his blanket off of his face and blinked his mismatched eyes up at her. She gave him a sad smile and picked him up gently. "Kazue was being mean again, Kumo-kun. He embarrassed me in front of Eiji-kun, Momoshiro-san, and Kaidoh-san."

Kumo mewled quietly and nudged his way out of her grasp and onto her desk. Her digital camera was sitting there and he swatted at it, then stared up at her expectantly. Miki watched him with curiosity. "You want me to add the pictures to my scrapbooks?" Kumo swatted the camera again and she smiled. Grabbing her blanket, laptop, and a fresh box of tissues, Miki settled in at her desk and started the long process of uploading and printing out all of the pictures on her camera. Thanks to the age and cheap quality of the camera, she had to do this for each picture one-by-one.

:: Later ::

About two hours later her printer finally sputtered to a stop and she had a decent stack of pictures printed and ready to be put away. Kumo had fallen back asleep on her desk so she moved quietly, careful not to wake him. She reached out and picked up an album with "Seigaku" embroidered into the cover. It was a deep blue with stripes of red and white at the top and bottom, reflecting the tennis uniform and the school flag.

Opening it to a random page, the excited faces of Kikumaru and Oishi stared back at her. It was from two years ago, when the two had first started their partnership and friendship. She flipped to another page and saw Fuji smiling gently while holding his racket in delicate hands. It was also from a few years before. Those three were the only ones who had pictures already in the photo album, and the pictures were few and fairly old. I'm going to have to really update it with pictures of everyone this year. I suppose the evil digital camera will have to manage for a few weeks.

When she came to a blank page, she marked it for the particular match and started flipping through the pictures she'd printed out. As she had expected, only one for every three or four weren't blurred. Not one picture of Higuma Otoshi or Drive B had survived. They were too fast. Miki pouted and threw the blurred pictures in the trash. Her mood worsened when she realized she had two pictures that showed Fuji's eyes, but the rest of his face was blurred as he turned. I was so close!

A loud buzz made Miki jump and drop the pictures in her hands. She looked around and saw her phone blinking. She had a new text.

The Ginka team forfeited immediately, so we made it to the finals against Yamabuki. Fuji-sempai and Kawamura-sempai lost to them in Doubles 2, 6-3. ~ Kaidoh.

Miki blinked and reread the message. So Kaidoh-san is actually going to be texting me? For some reason, that made her mood improve and she smiled to herself. It was a shame that Seigaku had lost their first game, but their strength was in Singles anyway. Except for the Golden Pair. They were sure to win.

She put her phone down and started scooping up the dropped pictures. More found their way into the trash can for their quality. But she suddenly froze, staring down into the familiar pitch-black eyes. They were much more cheerful that they had been the last time she saw them.

"Shinshiro," she muttered, looking over the picture. The red-haired boy had his arm wrapped around her shoulder and he was holding her chin so she would look into the camera. Shinshiro had won his first match as a Josei Shonan Regular and Miki had brought her camera to take pictures of the team.

She flipped through other pictures behind it and saw they were from the same match, of her old friends and other members of the tennis club. One of her sitting on her favorite sempai's shoulders while wearing his trademark hat made her smile widely at the memory. She reached over again and pulled out another photo album, this one an aqua blue with dark blue trim. "Josei Shonan" was written across it in block letters. She flipped through the pages, not taking time to reminisce, and placed the photo of her and her sempai on an empty page.

I hope things at Seigaku go better than they did at Josei Shonan. I miss Wakato-sempai and the others. I don't want to lose Seigaku too.

Kumo suddenly jolted awake and stared angrily at Miki's phone, which had vibrated its way toward her cat and woke him up. She giggled at him and stroked his cloudy fur to calm him down. Once his fur wasn't sticking up anymore she checked her phone.

Kikumaru-sempai and Oishi-sempai won in Doubles 1, 7-5. ~ Kaidoh.

Miki smiled knowingly and responded to the text.

I knew they would. I'm glad to hear things are going well. Arigatou, Kaidoh-san, for keeping me updated. Who plays Singles 3? ~ Miki.

"My boys aren't doing too bad, ne, Kumo-kun?"

He mewled at her and jumped down from her desk. She watched him weave his way through the tissues and he stopped by her film camera.

"You're right," Miki told him thoughtfully. "The pictures in the dark room should be dry by now." She surveyed the room. "I think I should clean up first, though."

Her phone buzzed again, startling her into another fit of coughing. If I survive this, I will never stand out in the rain again. This is so miserable. She picked up her phone and checked it while popping a cough drop to soothe her throat.

That baka, Momoshiro. Luckily Echizen and Tezuka-buchou are playing Singles 2 and 1 or else we might lose because of him. ~ Kaidoh.

Despite herself, Miki laughed. Those two will never get along. At least, not while other people are watching them.

Kaidoh-san, be nice to Momoshiro-san. I'm sure he'll play well. Tezuka-buchou helped him a little during practice a few days ago. It will be fine. ~ Miki.

She sighed, wishing she could be there to watch the match with Kaidoh and the others. The best she could do was remember with her pictures. She cleaned up the tissues in her room and walked down the hall to her special dark room with her album in hand. She had already soaked, developed, and washed the pictures the night before and hung them up to dry before she went to bed. They were surely dry and ready to be cut and placed in her album.

The pictures of Momo and Kaidoh from the St. Rudolph game had turned out beautifully. Not one blur showed up on any of the pictures, and a few actually showed the ball against the racket as the respective player followed their shot through. Not bad, if I do say so myself, Miki thought proudly. She carefully took down the first copies of her pictures and created new sections in her scrapbook for Momo and Kaidoh.

"You seem to like those two; you have a lot of pictures of them."

Miki jolted to the side and barely caught her scrapbook before it hit the floor. She turned and glared at Kazue, who had snuck into her dark room without her knowledge.

"My camera broke after their game, and I made copies of the pictures to give to them." He gave her a suspicious stare, which she ignored. "You shouldn't be in here anyway. If I were developing pictures you could have ruined them."

"Ah, but you aren't developing anything so there's no problem." He gave her a wicked smile and poked her in the side. For some reason, that caused her to sneeze powerfully, sending spit all over his hand. He stared in horror at his hand, then gave her a disgusted look. "Miki-chan, you infected me!"

She rolled her eyes at her dramatic brother and tuned out his whining about getting sick and having to be bedridden for the rest of his life. Sometimes I wonder who really is the adult in this house. She pushed her pathetic onii-san out of the room and stalked back to her own. Once inside she let herself flop onto her bed. She was exhausted and her head was pounding. It was only the early afternoon but her body felt like it had been put through so much. Before she realized, she had drifted into a light sleep.

A while later, she received another text that woke her up. She stretched her hand to reach her phone without getting out of bed.

The baka won his match. I have no idea how. Now Echizen is playing that Akutsu person. ~ Kaidoh.

Miki replaced the phone and curled up on her bed. She pulled her thick comforter over herself and nuzzled into her pillow. Kumo wiggled his way into her arms and the two fell into a deep sleep.

:: Even Later ::

Miki woke with a start from a terrifying dream. She tried to remember what it was about, but all she knew was that it made her insides go cold. Her room was dark, as were the windows, telling her that she had slept into the evening. After turning on her table lamp, she quickly grabbed her phone and scrolled through the texts she had received. She had one from Momo, and the other was from Kaidoh.

Miki-chan, you should have been here! I destroyed Sengoku-san in Singles 3 with my Jack Knife! If you think that Mamushi's snake moves are good, you should have seen my Jack Knife! Why do you always miss my good matches? You better get well soon, there are plenty more of my matches that you have to see! ~ Momo.

That Momoshiro-san, so excitable. I wish I could have seen it too. I'm sure you were amazing. She smiled softly to herself and went to check her other message

Echizen won his match, and Seigaku won the Prefectural Tournament. Nobody was hurt and we're going to the Kantou Tournament. ~ Kaidoh.

Miki smiled widely, excited for her team, and pulled her Seigaku album over onto her lap. She slowly looked through the pages of her boys and thought about how they would do as they improved and went up against stronger teams. Omoshiroi, ne?

Well, that was fun to write. Moving along the plot, in any case. The next one will be more fun. Now to thank my reviewers!

darkheart1992: It always makes me happy to see a review from you. I get one about every chapter and it's so nice to know that you're keeping up with the story and that you review for each chapter, even if it's short. Thank you very much! And isn't Kumo-kun adorable? If he were real I would want him.

CRdragonPyro: It's the same with darkheart1992, I love seeing your review for just about each chapter. Makes me happy. Yeah, Kumo-kun is a little troublemaker. Definitely not always a good thing. With Kaidoh, though, it's cute. Thank you for the review!

Until the next one, my lovely readers! Ja!