A/N

My prediction was wrong- I ended up leaving this fanfic for 5 days before I wrote this chapter. I guess I'll try to not make predictions anymore, except that I'll try to update as soon as possible.

Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi. My name isn't Konomi Takeshi, and it never will be.

Chapter 10

"Everyone will run 20 laps now, and the person who finishes last will have to drink my special Inui juice!" Inui stated, his glasses flashing.

The regulars sweat dropped.

"Nya, Inui, what is that thing?" Kikumaru asked, slightly afraid of the answer he might receive. The juice changed colour between orange and green, and was bubbling.

"I don't even want to know…" Kaidoh interrupted. "3…2…1… Start running!" Tezuka ordered. The regulars rushed to start, each one trying not to be last. Kikumaru decided that he wanted to be in the top 4, and dashed to the front, reaching the first place in a few seconds.

"Hey, no fair Kikumaru-senpai!" Momo challenged, and ran even faster.

"You wish." Kaidoh ran the fastest he could go, and usurped the first place from Kikumaru.

It's a good thing that I'm actually a fast runner. That juice doesn't look very appetizing, Yuki thought. She slipped into 4th place, preparing to dash to the finish line as fast as possible when it came into view. The other regulars hardly noticed Yuki, since she was the shortest regular.

In a way, it made her sad that she wasn't challenging each other loudly like most of the other regulars. The thought just echoed even louder in her brain when Fuji decided to give Kawamura his racket. With a loud "BURNING!" he ran up to first place, where the other three competed for the top 4 places.

Yuki was now 5th, and although it wasn't much of a difference, it slightly depressed her considering that the regulars wouldn't recognize her as a fast runner, as she was in her previous years. Actually, she was well above average for her age and height, but she paled in comparison to the 4 players in front of her.

"I actually want to try Inui's juice. Don't you?" Fuji asked, catching up to her.

"That thing looks toxic! Even if he says it's healthy…" Yuki complained.

"Saa… it looks edible to me."

"I'm actually afraid to drink it myself." Oishi added.

"It wasn't originally intended to become a punishment, as it contains many healthy nutrients." Inui confessed. The other 2 stared at him in slight surprise, although Fuji just smiled and asked if he could have a taste later, which Inui gladly accepted.

Great… now they've all caught up to me. I might as well be the slowest regular now. It's hard transferring from the fastest to the slowest, eh? Yuki thought, sighing. Although, I do feel slower than normal today. Perhaps I'm out of practice?

By the time they were almost done the 20 laps, Kikumaru, Momo, Kaidoh, and Kawamura were tired. That allowed the other regulars to easily catch up with them. Kikumaru's stamina ended up putting him in last place.

But, nonetheless, every regular gave it their all towards the run to the finish line.

Aaaaand, they all finished at the same time. Typical, right?

"That's unfortunate… no one has to try my juice now. Well, unless you'd all like to try some…-"

"NO!"

"Also, I should probably mention. I put weights into your wristbands and socks. Of course, you didn't notice until you started running. Did anyone feel slower, of heavier?" Inui asked.

WHAT?! That explains it… Yuki sighed.

"No, I actually didn't feel anything…" Kawamura revealed.

Of course he didn't. He's ridiculously strong himself. In girl's tennis, there aren't many power players, so I ended up being extremely weak. I can't even do a decent smash. Great… against boys, I don't really stand that much of a chance. Actually, Fuji-senpai and Inui-senpai look weaker than the others. I wonder if I could just train with them all the time… Yuki realized. She sighed again.

Then Yuki realized something. Wait, what? That's impossible. There's no way Inui-senpai could have put weights in my socks and wristbands when I wasn't looking. I would have noticed if they went missing! I don't leave my clothes in the change room either! How did he do it?

"But, Inui-senpai, that's impossible! I don't remember you putting weights there!" Momo argued.

"Of course you didn't. You were asleep as a result of my previous juice, the Inui Complex Juice 200. It erases your memory after as well."

"WHAT?!"

"After discussion with Ryuzaki-sensei, we have decided the order for the Tokyo Preliminary tournament." Tezuka said. Murmurs of excitement spread through the tennis club.

"Doubles 2, Kaidoh-Momoshiro. Doubles 1, Kikumaru-Oishi. Singles 3, Kawamura. Singles 2, Fuji."

Yuki gasped. They wouldn't put her in Singles 1- would they?

"Singles 1, Tezuka. Satou will be on reserve." Coach Ryuzaki finished.

Yuki's heart dropped. She was… the reserve player? This couldn't be happening. Her emotions were all jumbled up. Part of her was angry that Satou Yuki, one of the greatest tennis prodigies in America, was put on reserve. Another part of her was crying already, knowing that the other regulars hadn't acknowledged her at all, and they that they knew they were better than her. But the 3rd part of her was agreeing. After all, she was a new regular. Shouldn't she be on reserve so that she could learn how the tournaments worked?

For the moment, she decided to stick with the 3rd part of her.

"Don't worry! I'll sure you'll be playing in the next tournament!" Momo exclaimed with a smile. Of course. He had no idea how she felt.

"…Right! I'll become stronger by the time the next tournament comes around!" she replied with a fake grin.

"That's the spirit, ochibi!" Kikumaru added.

Actually, if I think about it in another way, perhaps I'll only play in the important tournaments? This is only Tokyo-wide, and it's only the first match. Besides, Ryuzaki-sensei probably wanted me to get used to how official matches are held here in Japan, Yuki reasoned. Now she could smile normally.

"Kaidoh-senpai, how about we play a match? Tezuka-buchou said that we would be playing matches now." Yuki asked politely.

Kaidoh turned to look at her. He glared, but she didn't flinch. With a slight sigh, he replied "Satou, right? Don't complain when I win."

Ugh! I knew it; everyone thinks I'm weaker than them, Yuki thought angrily.

"I won't. Let's start the match!" Yuki said, deciding to act soft. She couldn't wait to see the look on her senpai's face when she won instead.

"Satou vs Kaidoh. 0-0. Satou to serve." The umpire called in a monotonous voice. A few students came to watch the match, but only because they were bored. Everyone knew who was going to win. Well, they thought they knew.

Yuki gripped the ball tightly and threw it up as hard as she could. She couldn't stand the other students underestimating her anymore. With a loud 'smack' she served the ball in a way no one had ever seen before.

I should thank Kirihara-senpai for the Knuckle serve. He taught it to me after all, Yuki thought with a grin. Or rather, she would have been grinning, if the serve went normally into the service box, with a little technique added.

Yuki panicked. I can't believe I used that! Kirihara-senpai only showed it to me against a wall. He never told me what it actually did… Yuki thought.

The ball bounced once and hit Kaidoh forcefully in his right knee. Everyone gasped.

Kaidoh immediately fell, being surprised at the shift of his center of gravity.

"Oh no, are you alright?!" Yuki asked, jumping over the net and rushing over to Kaidoh. Blood started oozing out of a cut that the tennis ball made.

"Someone take him to the nurse!" a student called.

A few people ran over to Kaidoh. Momo and Kikumaru helped him walk to the nurse. The freshmen decided to call the janitor to clean up the blood that had stained the court. All the students were murmuring amongst themselves, staring at the cause of the incident.

A few tears dripped out of her eyes. Instead of proving her ability, she had just made it worse.

"Satou! Come to my office, now!" Ryuzaki called angrily.

"You knew full well that Kaidoh is participating in the tournament. Why did you injure him?" Ryuzaki asked.

"I didn't mean to! I… didn't even know what the serve did, and…" It took Yuki a few minutes to realize what she was saying. "I'm sorry for hurting Kaidoh-senpai. I won't injure anyone with tennis ever again." Yuki apologized.

She might as well take responsibility for her actions. Knowing her parents, they would never allow her to transfer schools in the middle of the year. It would be troublesome if she had tainted her record within the first month of school.

"You might be, but I can't allow you to use that serve again. I'm sorry, but you'll be the reserve player in the next round as well." Ryuzaki said. "Use the time to find another serve. And try to conceal the fact that you're a girl as much as possible. Tezuka dismissed the club, you can go back now."

"Uh, yes." And she walked out of the office.

It took a while for the words to sink in.

What? Reserve again? I know what I did was wrong, but can't she see that I can help them win? There was no point in coming here if I wasn't going to play in tournaments! Hm, but again, it's only Tokyo-wide. I'll get to play eventually. Until then though, I should probably be guilty for my actions. After all, Kaidoh-senpai's playing in the tournament. If he's injured, then the reserve player will have to play-

Then she understood.

They all misunderstood. They thought I was angry and wanted to play so badly that I would hurt a player and take their place.

"He'll be fine if he rests for a week. If what you're saying is true, that he was injured by a tennis ball, then the server was pretty weak. You can still participate in the tournament." The nurse informed kindly.

"Thank you for your time." Tezuka replied, and he signaled for everyone to leave Kaidoh and go home. Sighing, all the regulars walked home (except for Momo, who had his bike) and left Kaidoh to rest.

Yuki was speed walking as fast as she could. She had to clear it up with him, to tell them the truth. On the way there, she noticed the regulars coming her way.

"Hey, why'd you do that? I know you're upset about being on reserve, but that's no reason to hurt someone!" Momo complained. The rest of the regulars gave Yuki a disapproving look.

Part of her wanted to angrily tell him the truth, another part wanted to break down crying, and the last part wanted to walk away and ignore them. Yuki was tempted to listen to her 2nd part, but in the end she chose to walk away.

"I'm sorry…" she said quickly and walked off.

"Kaidoh-senpai!" Yuki exclaimed, and rushed over the moment she passed the regulars in the hallway. "I'm so sorry!"

"I'm fine, fshhhh." Kaidoh replied. "Although I didn't know you wanted to play in the tournament that badly. You could have just asked, you know."

He thinks the same. That's it, I don't care if the others think I'm terrible, but at least not him! Yuki thought desperately.

Something inside her clicked, and she closed the door.

Yuki hid behind a curtain and undid the things that made her look like a boy. She removed the wig, took off the binding under her shirt, and spoke in her normal voice.

"My name is actually Asahino Yuki, I'm a tennis prodigy in America, I've won many competitions before, and I'm actually a girl."

A/N I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this chapter. It totally disobeys the plot that I made when I started this fanfic. I originally only wanted Fuji and Ryuzaki-sensei to know that Yuki was a girl. But, I guess Kaidoh can keep secrets, so it shouldn't change it too much. I also considered the order for the tournament- it's the same, except in the anime Kawamura is on reserve and Ryoma plays against St. Rudolph's singles 3 player, Yuuta. It's the opposite in this.