I don't own Prince of Tennis.

It's five days until the preliminaries and Minori felt like flipping tables and throwing Ryos at the trickster-gone-serious.

"I swear to god, I'm going to kill—where is he?" She stopped dead in her step once she reached the classroom, huffing and staring at both Toshio and Marui. "I know he's here."

They stared back. Then they doubled over laughing.

Minori's left eye twitched. "Very funny."

Marui banged his fist against the desk repeatedly in an attempt to stop the cackling laughter. His cheeks were red already. "You—" he wheezed for breath, fanning himself some air. "You look like a parrot, ahahaha!" He went back to laughing and pointing.

"Really now." A feather slipped into her eye. She plucked the offending object (yellow) from her hair and threw it away. It taunted her by hovering generously slow to the ground. "If you don't give me an answer within the next two seconds—"

"Cockatoo!" Toshio generously whooped from his backseat.

To say that Minori was fuming is a teensy bit of an understatement. She spun around, facing the front now, where she spotted a familiar auburn mop of hair. "Oi, Haruma."

Only when she called out to him did she notice his shoulders trembling from restrained laughter. "Mh?" he managed coolly, not even bothering to look over his shoulder. Oh, so you're laughing about me, too, my dear practice partner, she thought deviously. "I'll crush you on the fields today." Sometimes it's good to take a leaf out of Akaya's book. It sure felt relieving.

"You try that, canary." He snorted into his fist.

These guys. These guys! Another feather dropped from her head, fluttering to her feet. This time it's blue. Too bad all she saw was red. "I'm seriously going to strangle all of you if you don't tell me where the hell that fu—"

"My, is that a new hairstyle you're trying out, Minori-kun?"

You know, all of a sudden enlightenment hit her. Noriko-chan's urge to be swalloed by the earth at every convenient while seemed very appealing right about now. Because turning around to meet your tennis captain standing in the door behind you was among the worst case scenario that could've transpired just then.

Especially when said Captain was smiling his evil-gentle smile, that no stranger could decipher but she could smell from a mile ahead. A green feather limped over her eye. Minori flipped it back upright. She was seriously molting. Molting. In front of her Captain.

"Does it suit me, buchou?" Nothing like a forceful makeover to make the Captain talk to you. And just when she'd gotten used to dodging water buckets that trickster comes in with a gooey mess of something to rub into her hair. She's molting, for goodness' sake! It's such a ridiculous thing for a teenager to do!

Yukimura's smile never faltered even as he carefully flicked one of the colorful feathers (what's that? Orange?) atop her pied head. He chuckled at her deadpan stare. If he weren't her Captain... "Very. It makes you stand out. You are quite easy to overlook sometimes." She managed to restrain a fit of anger by forcing it into a poignant shiver running down the length of her spine until evaporated. If he weren't her sick Captain... "You're unusually quiet, Minori-kun. Is something amiss?"

"Not at all, Captain." She beamed at him. Way to go to add salt into the wound. He's in a good mood, isn't he? It's almost as if all the panicking from the Ranking Matches had been for naught. "You know, I think I should go now. To clean up. Myself. Yes. Good plan," she squeezed through gritted teeth, no longer daring to steal a glance at his smiling face for fear of losing her temper in front of his dignified presence. With a nod she excused herself, rushing out of the third-years' classroom, howling laughter following her every step.

Niou peeked from his hiding place, looking over the rim of the teacher's desk. "Is he gone?"

"Oooh, you're the best trickster in the world." Marui practically flew into the silver-head's arms alternating between hugs and high-fiving. "We need to take a photo! Oi, Toshio, you got a phone?"

Said blonde raised his phone almost devilishly. "Already made one," he snickered.

Yukimura turned his head to the side, blinking once before calling out into his neighboring class. "You might want to dodge."

Niou and Marui jumped apart, only just avoiding the slipper aiming for their heads. The white shoe crashed into the chalkboard before falling to the ground with a silent thud.

Minori stood in the door frame again, wicked grin plastered on her face. "You think I wouldn't know? Too bad buchou warned you." She drew the other slipper off her foot, gray eyes slanting as she took aim. "I get another try, right?"

"So long as you don't hit me," Yukimura answered in amusement, watching as his regulars scrambled to their feet to outrun a fuming, feathery midget, who's hitting them over and over with his loyal slipper wielded firm in hand. "I should advise Genichirou to include more punishments like these." He chuckled when the older boys screamed in protest and Minori laughed.

"That's my Captain!"

Holding her head beneath the jet of water, Minori's words came out more like a gurgle than anything coherent. "It'sh jusht the firsht 'our and you're a nuishance already." She hit her head against the faucet and then the sink when she withdrew her head. "You're the worst, Stalker-kun."

"Please don't call me that, it's bad for business," Niou answered nonchalantly, checking his face in the mirrors. He'd earned a good few red marks resembling the form of her slipper very suspiciously.

Minori snorted, rearranging the strands of her hair and plucking out the feathers that didn't drown along with the goo. "Shall I call you Haru-pun instead? To celebrate the spring of our close friendship." Her fingers were sticky again. She turned the faucet back on again, drowning herself under the stream for another minute before turning it off, blinking the water drops away. "God, what is that? Actually, please don't answer the question. I don't want to have to cut my hair again."

He watched her, lips curved in a smirk. "Special concoction. Made by yours truly."

"Of course it's DIY." She slicked her hair back. Looking handsome, boy. For a girl. She turned to leave, Niou close at her heel. "You're going to turn my day into a horrible nightmare, aren't you?"

They passed the pissours without her even glancing so much as in the standing boys' direction. Niou whistled, resting his head on her shoulder once they were out on the corridors. "No shame whatsoever."

She flicked his forehead and he stood his full height once more. "You should be used to that by now."

His eyes met hers. "Minorin."

She stood her ground. "Haru-pun."

Then they both drew the hand-sized water pistols they'd been inconspiciously refilling in the washing rooms and the revenge battle commenced right then and there.

Minori dropped her head on her desk. "I'm so tired. And it's only past lunch break."

Chiaki drew soothing circles across Minori's shoulder blade. "You did well."

"I'm gonna die by the end of the day," she groaned into her arms. "I can feel it in my bones. I'm running out of ideas." Hell, he even carried around the same water pistol model she did! And there's only so many bananas she could eat in a day. Without accidently tripping Jackal, poor guy. At any moment he's going to drop something big at he again, she was only waiting for it to happen.

But what could it be?

The long-haired girl still hummed comfortingly, still drawing those circles. The tension fell from her shoulders and Minori actually got around to enjoy the administrations she received. Now if only neither Ryo nor Akaya would turn up to ruin the moment, she would sacrifice a sheep to any deity that wanted it.

"M-Minori-kun?"

Her eyes snapped open. That voice! "Noriko-chan!" she exclaimed excitedly. The girl in question gasped when all attention suddenly switched to her, cheeks burning up and brown bangs covering her eyes as she looked down at her feet. "Come in, come in. No need to be shy," Minori added with a grin, lowering her voice to normal levels again. She was too used to yell over Ryo's dramatics and Akaya's banshee-mode. Neither of them were the quiet type.

Maybe she should befriend Yagyuu. He seems like a good change of pace in her hectic lifestyle.

The tiny girl shuffled forward with equally tiny steps. Minori turned to Chiaki. "See? I told you we managed to talk it out. It was all a big misunderstanding." Minori drew the last word out extra long and extra loud for the rest of her class to hear. After all, the girls here had turned against her briefly as well. There you go, I'm innocent!

Chiaki chuckled. "I knew there was something about those rumors that didn't seem natural." She followed Minori's example and drew the last word out. To Noriko (who'd managed to creep up to their desks in her crawl), she added, "Minori-kun is a really nice boy, isn't he? A bit rude sometimes, but overall nice."

"You're too blunt, Chiaki-chan," Minori intervened.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm stating the truth."

"Which is pretty much the meaning of blunt. You're tactless sometimes, you know?" Minori leaned over to Noriko. "She is, isn't she? Be on my side, come on. I could use some encouragement today."

"Uhm." Noriko fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. "I'm not going to choose sides when I don't know the people well that are involved. I'm sorry, Minori-kun, Chiaki-san."

Chiaki hummed like a content mother hen. "She really is well-educated. My name is Inoue Chiaki. You may call me Chiaki-chan if you like." Noriko nodded, mumbling in thanks.

"Don't know if you noticed," Minori nudged her classmate with her elbow. "She's pretty shy."

Noriko turned tomato-red. "I'mnotgoodwithsomanypeoplethatIdon'tknow." On instinct she turned around to leave, halfway out of the room before Minori threw herself over her desk in order to catch the girl by her collar and drag her back. Shyness-level over 9000. And as fast as a cheetah if she wanted.

"That's what we're going to change. Ice Queen can't be around forever."

"Who can't be around forever?" a voice snarled from the door. A much too familiar snooty voice. "I will protect her until death may us pa—woof?!" Before Koizumi Kaoru even realized what she'd done, she had a pen between her lips, caught by her teeth.

Minori grinned triumphantly. That's the best way to go about turning her day for the better. "You really are like a dog."

Kaoru spat the pen out instantly, growling at the transfer student before she was hit over the head by another person in turn.

"Stop growling. If you go around proving the point, no wonder people start calling you dog." Akiyama Nana stepped up behind her tall friend who did as she was told, pouting and nursing her wound instead. Nana pointed at the dropped pen on the floor. "And pick this up again, you're polluting the environment."

Immediately Kaoru was back to vindicating her actions. Against her favorite subject. "It's his pen! He threw it first!"

"Oi, oi. Outta my way," the angry snarl of Akaya flickered through. "You're not even in this class. What are you doing here?"

"What's going on?" Ryo added in, squeezing past the girls and stumbling right into Chiaki's desk. "Ouch. Minori? Oi, where's your awesome hair?!"

Her eye twitched. "I thought you wanted to protect me." He may have fended off the double assault of water buckets but like in a really fast tennis match he did not see the surprise attack coming—Niou's own hands as he went straight for the kill, opening clear and wide. They had been deceived, thinking that his repertoire of tricks had run out. "Where have you two been?"

Akaya's green eyes bristled with nuisance as he pushed past a similar bristling Kaoru. Minori silently cheered him on. "Teach needed some help in the storage room down the hall." He brushed past her chair, settling on the table next to her. "Who's this?"

It was a feat she took pride in, having Akaya on talkable levels and not throwing pencils at her like when they first met. Now his rude manner was usually directed to people outside their little trio. She felt like glomping him and his childish ways more and more with each passing day. It's way easier to endure than Niou's dastardly ones.

Thinking of the trickster: there's still lots of times for pranks open. And something big had yet to come. Five days until the preliminaries. What's he going to do right under Yukimura's watchful eyes?

Well, the merry band's complete now, isn't it? She slid an arm around Ryo's shoulder, pulling him down to her height. "Noriko-chan, this is Satsunomi Ryo. The guy that never shuts up. But he's lovable, really." Said inkhead blinked perplexedly at the tiny girl before bowing his head in greeting, flashing teeth as he did so. Noriko swallowed and returned the gesture. Good start!

"Ryo, this is..." Minori blinked, arm stretched in Noriko's direction. "I never even asked for your full name, did I?" Now that she thought about it... there had never been the occasion, nor a real introduction. It's not like she'd known the girl for all that long and most of their meetings had been brief greetings on the hallways and even shorter talks. Not until the weekend's date but that was just as forceful an introduction as her new hairstyle had been earlier today.

Noriko blinked, lips parting in surprise. "Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know. It's—"

Kaoru chose that moment to squeeze between them, almost taking down the whole desk with her. Her hair fell in long strands down to her chest. "You don't even know her full name? What sorta guy are you, huh? Huh?!"

How Minori felt her eyes twitch. That girl was really out to get her, wasn't she? Not that Kaoru needed much of an incentive but neither did Minori in that case. "We skipped formal introductions and went straight to a first name basis." Minori smirked. "Whatcha gonna do about it, doggy?"

Her eyes went wide, pupils dilating inside the cool blue. "You—!" Her hand went for Minori's collar then, half-dragging the small boy out of his chair.

Akaya bristled, standing up and glaring at the girl himself. "Oi, you wanna fight?" Ryo had to jump onto his back to get him away from the scene lest this escalated entirely. "Leave me alone! She picked to mess with me!"

"I'll get to you later, Kirihara Akaya," Kaoru smirked before turning her attention back to Minori, tensions rising. "If you so much as think of doing something indecent to my cute, little Noriko—"

"Kaoru," Nana warned.

"Indecent? What the hell kinda thoughts are you having?"

"Minori..." Ryo huffed, still struggling with Akaya.

Their noses were only inches apart. "Guys only ever think of one thing. I'm going to make sure that you forget that thing very quickly." Her eyes slanted into a glare aimed between Minori's legs. "Possibly forever."

Minori placed a foot atop the table. "Really now. Let's see how you'll go about that."

Kaoru followed her example, own foot coming to a halt opposite hers. "You want to bring it on, Kobayashi?"

"If you think you can—"

And then a collective ow! as Ryo and Nana bonked their heads together, one via stumbling, the other by a well-aimed fist, and they fell off the desk they'd been battling on and right onto their butts. "Why did you do that?!" both of the fighters exclaimed at the same time to each of their guardians.

Nana crossed her arms over her chest, looking as cross and indifferent as ever. "You're exaggerating again. They're not even dating. Do you remember how she didn't even get around to actually confessing? Because I clearly remember you talking my ear off about that before telling it the whole year."

"But Nana, that's then and this is now. You never get the differences!"

Meanwhile Ryo rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, but fighting with girls will get you punishment laps from Sanada-fukubuchou. A lot."

Minori exchanged a glance with Akaya, who sat just as comfortably on the floor as she did. "You could've told me that before we almost scratched each other's eyes out." They helped each other up.

Chiaki and Noriko exchanged a glance, sitting in the middle of the two fronts, erupting in a happy round of girlish giggling. "I think they'd make good friends," Chiaki stated.

Noriko nodded her head, small mouth tugged into a relieved smile. "I'm not the only one then."

Really, what's up with these Japanese? Minori slumped, holding onto Akaya's shoulder to catch her fall. "The adrenaline's gone. I feel exhausted again." He heaved her up and back into the chair. "We almost got punished by fukubuchou. As if being seen by Yukimura-buchou wasn't enough already."

Akaya and Ryo exchanged looks before doubling over with laughter. "Yukimura-buchou saw you with that hairstyle?!"

"Shut it!" she snapped.

When their teacher entered class after a while, the students from 2-E quickly escaped the room, each giving their own sorts of more or less threatening goodbyes as they headed for the doors, waving and smiling. Minori waved back before freezing in the middle of the motion, remembering the very start of this whole mess.

"Oi, what's your full name again?" she shouted after Noriko.

She smiled, sweet and soft. "It's Hanajou Noriko."

And the big, bad prank hit her like an anvil across the face.

Minori slammed the door of his locker shut. "You're kidding me, right?"

Niou blinked at the girl-in-disguise before slipping into his yellow tennis shirt. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She was already dressed, he noticed. She kept up with her plans well so far.

Her eyes shifted left and right, sweeping across the slowly filling changing rooms, checking on anyone listening in. Then she pulled his head down to hers and even he could not deny the brief moment of surprise when he was suddenly much closer than usual to those gray eyes. He hid it away expertedly. "The girl from Saturday's date?" she whispered harshly. "She's Haruma's little sister."

Well, he did say he hit a gold mine. "Oh my," he trilled. "Isn't it a fun coincidence? And she's the cutest thing ever."

"If you count in the one-sided-love spouse-queen she comes packed with. Not to mention the brother that has his eyes set on crushing me." She rolled her eyes. He snorted. It's fun watching her expressions. And she could hold her ground, he'd give her that.

He pat her over the back—those weights again—and ushered her out of the changing rooms. They were a little too stuffed now to be able to talk privately. "Let's get back to training, shall we? No need to bother about trivialities like me knowing that Haruma is going to kill you if his little sister came back from a date with Minori-kun shedding so much as a tear." He grinned triumphantly. "Right?"

Minori stared, mouth agape. "She's not only his sister...!" Her hands went to her head, expression twitching, mouth closing and opening, but never straying too far from one of utter shock. "He knew about her going on a date with me!"

As if on cue, the auburn-haired boy passed them on their way to the courts, still in his uniform but appearing all the bigger now, brushing shoulder-to-arm with Minori. "Yo, canary." He left without saying another word.

Niou had to try his best to not show any sign of the laughter he was holding back with increasing difficulty. "Oh my," he repeated. "What a weird triangle this is."

"He's going to kill me. Kill me, I tell you!"

The trickster placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm betting on you, baby bro. Make sure to get out of this alive. Big brothers are never happy if their little sisters find a boy they like more than them. Just ask yours." He found his partner waiting for him on the other side of the courts and waved. "Good luck. Puri," he added mockingly, starting warm-up and leaving the befuddled girl to deal with the mess she'd dug herself.

Because really, it had all started with a simple rumor he had overheard. Cross his heart, it was an act of unadultered manly honor that even Sanada would be proud of. The trickster simply had to tell Haruma about the secretely arranged date. Niou snorted.

Heh.

If she wanted to play serious, let's see how she dealt with this.

"12 point tie-break. Kobayashi to serve."

Minori wiped the sweat from her forehead. They've been at this one match for what seemed like eternity, the sun glaring mercilessly down on them. Her legs were at times numb and tingling and at others heavy as lead. She rolled her wrist. They were taking the biggest toll, constantly switching modes of play between her ice hockey style and classic tennis. She didn't even dare add any more alteration—her body would not be able to take it.

She closed her eyes and exhaled all the tension from her body out into the air. When she snapped her eyes open Haruma was still as little out of breath as he had been before. He's been training his endurance these days, that's for sure.

And seeing those eyes, ever so guarded around her, indifferent and curt, she didn't feel like having a match with him at all.

You made his sister cry. Then you went on a date with her. Now you're friends with her and he still doesn't like you one little bit more than since the day you met.

It's a real horrible foundation to go into a match with. Even to her own ears it sounded like she was some sort of player and the thought alone made her cringe. She raised her hand and flicked the ball up with her wrist, starting the new round with a Pinball Serve.

"1-0. Kobayashi leads."

Haruma was awfully quiet today, and he was seizing her up. "I don't get it." He smashed the ball to her side of the field, the furthest corner he could reach. She missed it by a hair's breadth. The tall boy had long since used her short frame to his advantage, making her run all over the field to reach the ball.

"1-all."

She raised her arm and stretched to fake a Pinball Serve. "My hair's not naturally canary-colored, if that's what you're talking about." He fell for the fluke, dashing to the far back when the ball dropped into the right middle field.

"2-1. Kobayashi leads."

The ball almost disappeared in the palm of his hand when he picked it up. "You think I'm stupid?" he snorted. The ball whizzed through the air, disappearing in a sun glare. Minori squinted her eyes. Shit. "The special treatment you get."

Yellow smashed into the ground, right next to her feet. What? "2-all."

"What do you mean?" she asked tentatively. "I—look, the whole thing with your sister was a big misunderstanding—"

Haruma snorted again. Minori was taken aback by the sound. What's going on? "She explained it to me, don't worry. It's her life. Serve." So he's not angry or out to get her then? It would be his chance, the best reason he could have ever wished for. Or did they grow past the initial grudge? They've never talked as much as she and Akaya did nor exchanged numbers but they greeted each other in passing, snickered at the other person's demise and kept things in a polite sphere. Hell, he'd even loaned her some exchange when she hadn't had enough to buy some bread from the cafeteria. He'd been standing behind her in queue by chance.

Pinball Serve, she thought, watching the length of his legs and how far they were spread. She flicked the ball up into the sky. He'd dash too far and—"I mean Yukimura-buchou."

—her serve went out. "2-3. Hanajou leads."

"What?" Her eyes sought his. He couldn't have noticed, could he? Not even Niou knew there was something off with the Captain—nobody did, Yukimura had explicitly said so. "I don't get special treatment from the Captain," she frowned.

"So you weren't personally asked by him to join then?" His eyes were unrelenting, brown close to a red in this lighting. He threw the ball high into the sky. "Top 8 non-regular. Hanging out with the actual regulars like it's nothing." Spinning, the ball accelerated downward, right into the reach of his racket. "Do you know why?" He hit it across the field.

She defended, sending it soaring back to him. "3-all."

"I bet you're not going to tell me it's because I got a point off Yanagi-senpai. You know, tennis skills and all that." Her back arched, serve and point.

"4-3. Kobayashi leads."

His serve was just as swift, both of them drawing renewed energy from god-knows-where. Something was in the air; something she did not like one bit. They rallied over this point as if it were the match point. It wasn't, so why was he drawing her closer and closer to the net—

The ball landed behind her, a high lob she was never going to reach. "4-all."

Haruma stared her down and she could reach out to touch him over the net should she want to. There's something off with him. And it had nothing to do with his sister. The brown (red) of his eyes drilled into her as her blood rushed past her ears. "They don't want you here because of your skills," he said, lowering his head so that the referee would not hear his next words.

"They want you here because you're a girl."

Minori snorted. "That your conclusion, Sherlock?" Her heart doubled over, beating loud, hard against her ribcage. He couldn't have found out. How? "Gotta say, it's not all that creative considering my looks but alright." If she could face off Niou, then Haruma should prove no problem.

His lips were a straight line. "Trying to deny it. Obviously."

There's a difference between him and Niou. She frowned. "Did you hit your head?" Her hand sweeped across the tennis courts. "There's about fifty guys on the team. I go to the nurse for regular check-up due to my phobia. Don't you think somebody would notice if I'm missing my wang?"

"Why, I wonder," he hummed. "I'll enjoy finding out your reasons."

"It's a race. Who brakes first, loses."

The difference was that Niou made a game out of it. Haruma didn't. He won't keep quiet for the sake of finding out. No, instead he pulled her up by her collar and her heart sped up all the more. He can't know. This can't be. Not this close. Not with Yukimura's condition still so unclear—"I don't know how you do this. But just so you know: I don't have any qualms about telling that to everybody unlike your dear Niou. If you want to play around with our guys, then sorry, the game's over."

No way. No way, no way, no way!

This is his big prank? It felt like her heart just jumped into her throat, choking her. They'd been joking around mere hours ago. Just like that...?

Her braing had gone into a shut-down, not even noticing as Haruma let go of her and she stumbled onto the ground, barely catching herself; his expression visibly pleased. All this time. The questions raced through her head as she stared into that knowing brown (red, red, angry red). How—When—Why?

And then: why was she so surprised? It's the way things were meant to be. Someone would find out. And it's not always bound to be the challenge-loving trickster stretching the torture of knowing.

"I could finish it right here," he said, taking back a step. No, her mind screamed. He couldn't tell anybody. Not now. Not this sudden. Not he. Her eyes found his, staring, staring and thinking, churning, deciding—what is she going to do now?

He took another step back—what to do, no, no, no—, turning towards the referee. "And I will do it right now. Let's end this game of yours."

No longer thinking, Minori jumped over the net and reached out to punch him straight in the face.

CLIFFHANGER! Booya!

Who expected this twist? Be truthful! Haruma found out, Haruma knows. Hehehe. Seriously Minori. Good job and all that.

EDIT (02/01/15): I like to think I made the sudden plot twist better than before. The tiebreaker as the symbol for their tug-of-war is definitely at the top of my list for most ingenious ideas, harhar.