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DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own prince of tennis


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CHAPTER XII: Tennis with old pervs

ECHIZEN RESIEDENCE, FRIDAY NIGHT

It was already dark that night, but the figure hiding himself in the shadows was even darker. He watched the two as they exchange their goodbyes in front of a temple.

"Ii. Data." He muttered.

'So this is where the Prince of Tennis lives, eh?' he mused. He was very interested in the kid from the start, first because he watched his games before and definitely saw potential. And second was that his partner in Sadism was also interested in the kid, although in a totally different reason altogether.

But, Inui Sadaharu, as calculating as he could be, never saw that coming.

-Flashback-

The night after he met the interesting freshman, he immediately decided to look into him. All he knew about the Prince of Tennis was his name, after all. He had the same last name as the samurai, but the he only had a 21 year old son and a 12 year old daughter. It was a perfect chance to get data on the boy.

He hacked the school's database to get info on the freshman, but his data was located in a much protected server for some reason. And of course, that couldn't bring him down, now can it?

It only made him more curious.

So, he followed the target home.

To his surprise he had the 2nd years and Fuji with him. He saw them enter a fast food chain. Fortunately, they were too busy with each other to notice him placing himself in an easily overlooked table on the corner and watched them. He found out that he had a huge appetite… and a really pretty smile. But upon seeing the interactions, he concluded that it would be just a typical dinner of four friends.

Only several minutes after that, though, he went in for a shock.

He had considered the fact that the prodigy of Seigaku was gay. But seeing was something completely different altogether. Not that he didn't understand his attraction towards the boy. The boy can indeed be quite charmi- tolerable, after all.

He continued to observe them apathetically for a while.

He never saw his friend in such a state before, he looked pitiful yet he looked happy as well. It was complicated, even for the resident data man. He could only smirk at his new found 'curiosity'.

His glasses shimmered as he vehemently scribbled in his notebook.

"Ii. Data."

-End of flashback-

He was still watching the two, but his camera was now in position. It wouldn't miss anything, this time, he swore.

He recalled his little failure earlier. He was so busy writing that he totally forgot to take photos. That used to be Fuji's job. But he forgot that fact, which was unlike him. He mentally berated himself for making a mistake an accomplished stalker shouldn't.

In the end, though, nothing interesting happened… much to his disappointment.

And so, Inui Sadaharu decided to leave quietly as to make sure his targets never knew he was there.

...

"I'm home." She said stoically partly expecting the shout of her over-protective father and brother that followed.

"REINA!" they yelled. She just ignored them and went to her mother who was watching them with amused eyes.

"O-Oi! Reina, don't ignore us! We were so worried!" She shrugged.

"I called home, you know." She replied without turning her head.

"Yeah. To tell us that you're hanging out with guys." Ryoga stated alone since Nanjiroh couldn't bear say it.

"Che. How noisy… I've always been hanging out with guys, remember? Only Sakuno is my female friend." She muttered under her breath and went to greet her mother. Rinko smiled.

She was saying something to Reina but she was looking at the two boys. "Someone called a few minutes ago. I told HIM to call you back."

The two paled.

"NANI?"

"Moshi. Moshi." She said indifferently after taking the phone. A vein appeared as she noticed her two idiot family members, gawking at her from behind.

"Ano… Echizen-san, this is Kachiro." A very soft and childish male voice said.

'Kachiro…? Who's that?'

There was a momentary silence. But soon enough he continued as if he read her mind, "I'm one of the freshmen in the tennis club- the smaller one who isn't Horio."

"Oh… So, what do you want?"

"Ano… My father invited us to play in the club he's coaching at. It has great facilities so…"

Great facilities he said. She imagined the temple courts. Surely, it was better that that.

But what about the players? She was planning on playing with her father since Ryoga would be out tomorrow. And right after her usual defeat, she would play with Karupin to lighten up her mood.

'Karupin…' She thought sadly as she recalled the cuteness of her cat. Then, an abrupt image of her cat being petted by his kidnapper popped up.

Her eyebrows met.

'That bloody pretend-sadist with bloody mood swings.'

...

*THE NEXT DAY*

"I'm off now…" She announced apathetically. The two idiots never took their eyes off her since the time she went down. They saw that she was cross-dressing so it wasn't a date.

But they couldn't be too sure, right?

"Bye, bye~!" Ryoga smiled sweetly as he decorously waved his hand.

"Take care~!" Nanjiroh followed his lead.

They said different things, but the smile on their faces were definitely the same.

Ryoma glared at them, especially annoyed. Not that she wasn't always annoyed with them, it was just that a certain Buchou's 'lack-of-reply' the previous night didn't help her mood.

"You two better not be planning anything stupid." She threatened coolly. The two syn-chronically shook their heads with their odd smiles still on in a bad attempt to feign innocence. Her eyes twitched.

'I better walk fast so that they can't follow.' She decided and quickly went out the door.

"I'm counting on you, Oyaji." Ryoga stated as he patted his father's shoulder.

"Leave it to me."He grinned as he proudly posed in his 'Ninja-monk-spy' costume.

Ryoga gave him a supportive thumbs-up but he was laughing boisterously at his father on the inside. 'Oh my god! I'm gonna die if I don't let this out soon! Pfft-!"

"I'll be off then." The father of the house confidently said as he went out the door to follow his daughter.

When the door closed, Ryoga laughed his ass off.

"GAHAHAHAHAH! OHMY-WAHAHAH! He looked so stup-GAHHIHIHIIHIHIII! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S MY FA—SHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH!"

The very amused Rinko, who was watching the whole thing, couldn't help teasing her son.

"You know, they say that your father was just like you when he was young."

CRACK

And so, just like that, Ryoga shattered to pitiful, pitiful pieces.

...

KOUHAKI TENNIS CLUB

In a very lively and well-maintained tennis club somewhere in the middle of Tokyo, five small figures were waiting for another one.

"Where is he, anyway?" Horio complained. They told him an earlier meeting time because Sakuno said he would definitely be late if they didn't. And he certainly was. They've been waiting for an hour but still no sign of Ryoma.

"He's lost again, I'm sure." Sakuno sighed and wondered out loud. "I wonder why won't Obaa-san buy Ryoma a new cellphone… "

Katsuo blushed. "You two sure are close, Sakuno…"

Sakuno blinked. "Aa…"

"Of course they are! They've known each other for a while now, right?" Tomoko intervened.

Sakuno nodded. Tomoko looked at her friend, and asked out of curiosity:

"Ne, Sakuno. How long have you known Ryoma-sama, anyway?"

Sakuno pondered for a moment before answering. "Hmmm… I think I was just 8 years old when I first met him."

"OhhhH~!" Mizuno and Horio exclaimed.

"How romantic~! Childhood friends turned lovers!" Tomo exclaimed as she clasped her hands.

Sakuno's sweat dropped. It wasn't that long ago…

"Aren't you kids a bit too young to talk about those things?" A man looking rather similar to one of them commented as he approached the group.

"Tou-san." Mizuno smiled at his father.

"He's still not here?" He asked calmly.

"Gomen ne. I'm certain Ryoma's lost since he isn't going here with Momo-senpai." Sakuno said. Momo said he had something to do in the morning so he said he was going to catch up with them later.

"Seriously, that Echiz-" Horio complained but halted as he saw the person they were waiting for.

"Yo." He greeted nonchalantly.

All of them, save for Sakuno, lost their footings.

"Y-You're two hours late and that's all you can say?" Horio yelled getting Ryoma to frown.

"Actually she was only late for an hour since we told her an earlier meeting time." Tomoko blurted out, much to everyone's annoyance. Ryoma stared at them stoically.

"What she said. I was only late for an hour." She reasoned.

"An HOUR is not a short time." He shot back.

"At least I wasn't late for two hours."

Horio's eyes twitched. "Like I said—"

"Mou, let's get going now… we've wasted enough time." Sakuno intervened. She knew Reina would not apologize because of Tomo's little slip up.

"B-But-" Horio stuttered and Sakuno felt a few more of her mild-mannered nerves to click.

"GO!"


MONTHY TENNIS OFFICE

Shiba Saori went inside the office like she always did only to see her senpai packing up. "Where are you going senpai?"She asked in curiosity.

"Not just me. Us."

"Hn?"

"We're going for an interview of the Samurai Nanjiroh." He stated proudly.

"Ohhh…" She just replied, impressed, and conditioned herself for a poise-full interview.

Disappointment came afterwards, though...

For several minutes later, they found that their trip was for naught.

"Oh…man, senpai. I can't believe we just missed him." She muttered slouching down as they walked away from the temple.

"And are you sure that's where he lives? I mean, his house is a temple. And how can you be so sure that he's even in Japan. Isn't he in the states the last time we checked? "

"I have my connections." He said, pertaining to a certain pink-haired coach. "He should be."

Inui recalled that the woman agreed to tell him in the condition that any information about Nanjiroh would not be published. Inoue immediately agreed. He was really more of a fan than a reporter when it came to him, after all.

Shiba, seeing that her senpai had entered his fanboy-mode, let out a deep breath of exasperation. "So… where are we going now, senpai?"

"Nanako-chan..." he paused, savoring the sound of the pretty girl's name (much to Shiba's annoyance).

"That we will find him in a private tennis club."

"No, duh." Shiba stomped.

"Hm?"

Shiba ignored him, and lead the way.

...

Sniff Sniff Sniff

Echizen Nanjiro sniffed for his daughter's scent like a dog. She dIDn't even wear perfume. But it was the only thing Nanjiroh could think of to track his lost daughter.

Soon enough, he realized that he made no progress since he started.

He groaned in despair.

"WHERE THE HECK IS SHE?"

...

"E-Echizen! Don't you have any mercy?" Horio shouted as he crouched to the ground sweating buckets. It wasn't even 5 minutes and he couldn't stand anymore.

Ryoma just stared at him. All of the shots she made were all unbearably slow… she had the sudden urge to tell him so that his bragging would diminish. But when she was about to attack his self-esteem, she abruptly heard voices from a distant court.

"Ryoma-sama?" Tomo asked after looking at the freshman prodigy's line of sight.

"Do you hear that?"

They shut their mouths to listen. They did hear some noise, but it was really indistinct. Ryoma could not hear what they were saying either, but their tone of voices was enough for a conclusion.

Ryoma lazily looked at Kachiro.

"You're dad's getting bullied."

"EH?" he expressed incredulously, but that stoic look on Ryoma's face told him he's not joking around. Not that Ryoma ever joked around with him... So they went to take a peek, anyway.

As they approached the court in question, Ryoma began to understand the conversations.

"I don't need to warm up! I'm a finalist in the high school tournaments, you know!"

"But Sir—"

He was cut off by a haughty chuckle. "Why don't we play a game and see who's right?"

They arrived exactly when the first shot was made.

"Eh? What's going on? Why are they playing?" The others, except Ryoma, shook their heads as they looked at the other two people with Kachiro's dad.

"The old man who let us use the courts was challenged by that ugly old man over there so that he'd feel better about himself." He stated, loud enough for everyone in the court to hear.

The two adults stopped playing and stared at her. While the youngest scoffed and asked her arrogantly:

"What was that, kid?"

"You sure don't kno—"He stopped upon recognizing who he was talking to.

"Ah! It's you." Sakuno exclaimed, startling everyone.

Ryoma stared at Sakuno, then to the ugly high-schooler. She arrogantly pointed her thumb at him. "You know him?"

Sakuno sighed, unsurprised. "He was the 1st guy you beat after coming here."

Ryoma blinked, still trying to recall. Sakuno scratched her head for more descriptions.

"You called him monkey-face."

Her eyes widened by a millimeter at the memory. "OH."

Then she looked at him straight into the eyes. "Have you learned your grips yet?"

"OI!" Sasabe gritted his teeth in annoyance; he was about to say something when his attention was taken by the older and uglier tennis player.

"You were defeated by an elementary school kid?" He asked the younger one, obviously trying to bottle up his anger.

Sasabe gulped. "O-Of course, I was. I can't let a kid lose his confidence in tennis right, dad?"

His father's anger vanished and smirked arrogantly. "Ehhh…" He uttered than stared at Ryoma.

"You heard that kid? Don't get so arrogant, he lost to you in purpose."

Twitch

"Better start watching your mouth when you don't know that much in tennis anyway."

Twitch Twitch Twitch

Ryoma smirked coolly to Sakuno's surprise. She was sure Reina was going to beat the old man up. 'Reina-chan didn't get mad…?' She thought incredulously.

"I don't?"She asked feigning ignorance. "…then mind teaching me how to play?" She requested nonchalantly, but those who knew her could now feel the freezing air that surrounds her. Sasabe tried to warn his father but his father ignored him.

Sakuno sighed.

'I guess not…'


A tall figure with spiky hair was running hurriedly to the club.

"I'm sooo late! Darned errands. And I wanted to play, too… But at this rate I might not be able to reach the place in time." He told himself frantically.

"Where was it aga-"

Thump!

"Watch where you're going brat!" An old looking old man with a handkerchief place on his head and tied to his nose shouted.

'Oh my god, I ran into a maniac!' He anxiously thought, he knew he should've taken those formal boxing lessons.

"G-Gomen. But I have to g-go." He incoherently stated and started backing away from the dangerous-looking man.

But the retard placed his hand on his shoulder sending him goose-bumps.

'Does he have a knife? A gun? Shikuso…. I don't even have any money left to give thanks to that kid! I swear that if I die, I will sooooo hunt him for the rest of his life. '

"Oi, Brat." He asked and Momo stutteringly turned his head to him. "N-Nani…?"

"Do you know where the tennis club is?" Momo blinked.

"Which one?"

"Any. As long as it's a club." Nanjiroh stated. Well, it's a start, no?

Momo exhaled a 'thank-you-kami-for-letting-me-live-another-hour' breath, and willed himself to be a satisfactory tour guide.

Otherwise, he thought that he'd probably die.


"I'm getting tired, Inoue-senpai." Shiba complained.

"Stop complaining, there are only two clubs left." He replied frowning at his Kouhai's unenthusiastic attitude.

"Aren't you interested in the best player in the world?" He asked her, although what he said is only theoretically true.

"…not really…" He sighed. It's time to motivate her.

"Even if I say that he might be related to Ryoma-kun?"

She stared at him.

"Samurai Nanjiroh's full name is Echizen Nanjiroh."

"But I thought that only had one son? And he's a young adult already?"

"It's true. But Ryoma and Ryoga look alike… so I thought they might be cousins or something…" He said again, blushing, remembering another cousin of the Echizens.

Shiba's eyes livened in delight, no longer noticing Inoue's infatuation for another long-haired girl.

"LET'S GO THEN,SENPAI!" She shouted pointing at the club like a child, embarrassing Inoue like hell.

...

Meanwhile, at the courts, the prince of tennis just missed a ball.

"Meguro's golden retriever?" She asked as she let the opponent brag since he took (well, she let him take) the first game.

The man grinned showing his teeth. "I have golden teeth and I retrieve the ball."

"Eh? I thought it was the dog."

"You're mistaken if you think I'd be offended with that."

"I didn't. I thought the dog name was pretty smart since it could be a metaphor of sorts. But I guess you took it too literally. For an old man, you sure are stupid. And here I thought monkeys are smarter than most animals, too…"

"WHY YOU-" The old man raised his voice but caught himself at the sight of the people around. He was not going to embarrass himself.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson, kid."

She smirked, as if to answer that threat.

'I'll crush you.'

...

"Game and match. Echizen 6 games to 1!"Kachiro's father shouted with amazement at Ryoma... and pity to the man for not only was he no match, he sprained his ankle in the end proving him wrong twice.

"I t-told you dad…" Sasabe whispered to his now stooping father.

"SHUT UP!" He shouted at his son, he forced himself to stand up and slowly walked away with his son trailing behind him.

"Thanks Echizen." The Kachiros said as they ate their lunch, courtesy of Sakuno. Ryoma just shrugged.

"You were amazing, Ryoma-sama." Tomo declared and the others nodded. She shrugged, and gestured to take her first bite.

"Mada Mada Dane."

...

"We're here." Momo stated as he looked at the odd-looking man he walked there with.

"Ara? Momo-kun?" A familiar voice called getting him to turn around.

"Ah! Shiba-san, Inoue-san!" He waved at the two approaching figures. He didn't notice that the old man beside him was also waving at the woman.

Shiba shivered at the sight. 'Gross! A freak! With Momo! Eek!' She immediately looked away pretending not to see him, while her senpai was doing the exact opposite. He looked at the man with intense eyes.

'Could it be…?'

...

"Sugoi, Ryuzaki-san!" Horio complimented as he ate the bento.

"Of course! Sakuno-chan is the best cook ever! Ryoma-sama deserves the best, after all!" Tomo declared so loudly that Sakuno blushed in pure humiliation. She sighed, and it was followed by footsteps.

"Here you are." A grinning teenage boy stated, attracted by the loud voice.

"Ah, Momochan-senpai." Mizuno uttered and he quickly sat down with them at the sight of the food. Momo hungrily eyed the food before shouting in excitement,

"Itadakimaaaasu~!"

"So what took you so long, senpai?" Ryoma interrogated.

"I had an errand… That, and I bumped to a crazy looking monk."

Ryoma froze. But everyone else just blinked.

"Monk?" Horio asked. Momo nodded in affirmation. "He's pretty creepy, which was why I had no idea what Inoue-san was thinking…"

"Inoue? As in the reporter?"Sakuno asked meekly.

"Yes. And guess what he did?"

Silence.

Everyone waited in anticipation… except for Ryoma, of course. She was frantically thinking of a way to get away as soon as she could.

"He asked the monk to play tennis with him.

"They're playing in court F, I think." Momo said as they walked to the match.

"That's the court reserved for us." Kachiro stated. Momo stared at him and asked: "Why'd you leave, then?"

"Circumstances." Ryoma intervened. She wanted them to keep quiet, she was still thinking.

Then, as they walked the path of hell towards the said court, she saw the public toilets. A light bulb appeared above her head and she smirked.

"You guys go ahead, I'll follow." She stated pointing at the toilets.

"Are you sure you'll be able to?" Momo teased earning himself a glare. He grinned. "Be sure to get there, ne?"

"Che." She muttered as if she was planning to come back.

She would definitely do what she could to avoid that idiot of a father. And so she started walking to the restrooms.

Tap Tap Tap

She paused.

Ryoma never used the male's bathroom before- it was too smelly. At school, she was allowed to use the comfort rooms for staff and faculty members as well as the clinic's. Then, she felt nature calling her. She swiftly looked around to see if there are people to see her entering the girl's bathroom.

'The coast is clear.' She thought and entered the room.

But, after her 'relief' was another complication. She went out of the cubicle only to see a taller girl staring at her with wide eyes.

She had reddish-brown hair with a number of hair-clips pushing the long bangs back. She didn't say anything. She was just staring at the odd boy who was using the girl's bathroom. She doubted he got lost. The room was freaking pink after all.

Ryoma sighed at her dilemma. The girl probably thought she was a pervert or something. The last thing she wanted to be compared with was her father.

So, it was either let her know she was a girl or let her believe she was a pervert.

The former sounded much, much more acceptable.

So she decidedly grabbed the girl's hand and placed it to her chest getting the girl to instantaneously blush and step back in shock.

"W-Wha!"

Ryoma remained impassive, and stared coolly at the unfortunate female."Yeah. I'm a girl. But if it isn't a bother, please don't tell anyone." She said. After a few moments of silence and seeing the girl wasn't going to speak for a while, Ryoma sighed and just waved the girl goodbye.

"Ja ne."

...

"What's taking him so long?" Horio asked Sakuno as they watched the reported get pummeled by a monk who wasn't even looking at the ball.

"He's missing this!" Momo exclaimed in incredulity and amazement.

"Ano… I don't think he'll come back." Sakuno said to them, now understanding why Ryoma was acting weird earlier.

"Why?" Momo and Horio asked at the same time.

"I can't tell you…"

"Sakuno-chan~ Aren't friends supposed to tell each other everything?" Tomo implored.

'It's not my secret to say, Tomo-chan." She just replied in serenely. And no one could interrogate the demure Ryuzaki. So they all just decided to continue watching the match. It was not like a match they had seen before. None of them could think it was possible to play like that. And after the game, they couldn't stop themselves from either gawking or clapping.

After all that amazing feats, it was not hard to conclude that the crazy-looking monk was a monster.

But their impressed reactions was quickly turned to utter shock by what Inoue said after regaining his composure. The man smiled and went to shake the monk's hand.

"You're still amazing, Echizen Nanjiroh-san."

Everyone, except Sakuno, all paled.

"USOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

.
.

END OF CHAPTER XII

Coming Soon:
CHAPTER XIII: Admittance


...


REPLIES TO ANGELS:

MintLeafeon - Thanks for the comment! And he's going to be a bit more trouble later. Hehe

Body Horror - HAHAHA. He'll regain them~ In like 10 chapters from now... ahahaha. Thanks for the comment~!

Frostfire613 - Yes. He'll find out.. eventually. Hehe. Thanks for the comment!

SoulSilverShipping - I researched. Gakuensai no Oujisama is a game, right? Is it any good? HAhaha. Thanks for the comment~

KyomotoSora - Here it is~ No romance, though... Thanks for the review~

xbamsod - Oh yes they will~ Hahaha. Thanks for the comment~!

blueberryxn - Thanks for the reviews~! Much appreciated.

rfijblue - Yep. Reina was playing as Ryoma in tennis competitions. She went to school as a girl, though, but no one recognized her because she wasn't that famous yet in the tennis world. Only hardcore tennis fans would really see the resemblance. Hope I answered your question~ And about Yumiko, she'll appear 3 chapters from now. Thanks for the comments~! And Advanced HAPPY NEW YEAR~

jury28 - (Ch.3)Oh, I love Jollibee. Since as far as I could remember! Haha.

(ch.4) Thanks for the review! And a lot of people thought the same as you. Just a little more Pillar-pair fans voted. Hehe

(ch10) Yeah, I guess I managed to do that, huh? Hahahah. Thanks for the review~

(ch11) Thank yoU~! And Happy new year to you~

PinkyRocks - They would end up together. Not too soon, though... Thanks for the comment!


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