A/N: Back again, with a new chapter! So because last chapter was pretty rushed and below standard, I've made this chapter extra filling, to make up for it! Thank you to the TWELVE people who reviewed last chapter! Please review when you finish the chapter- there are so many readers who don't bother to take the time to write a quick message, and they don't know how much a few words can mean to the author. Thanks!

This chapter is dedicated to three people who have been there to support me for the past few chapters, and I really appreciate your encouragement! So thank you to nukrat, Alison Raven, and TheRavenSlayer13!

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, but I own the OCs.

"It's all your fault! Why are you blaming me?"

"What are you talking about? It was you that decided to get two jobs and not leave any time for me!"

"Excuse me? You went and had an affair- and you didn't even apologize when I caught you WITH MY BEST FRIEND!"

"What's your problem? It was just a little fun…it's not like it means anything…"

"You bastard! And here you are, blaming me!"

"You're the one who never loved me!"

"You're the one who I caught with another woman!"

"You ignored me!"

"You cheated on me!"

"You-"

The voices escalated, growing louder and louder, as the little girl crept silently out of her bedroom, feet barely making on a sound on the wooden floor as she reached the landing, peeking out fearfully and still half-asleep through the railing as the two adults below screamed and yelled at each other.

"It's your fault!"

"Why are you blaming me?"

"Because it was your fault!"

"It was yours, woman!"

"What?!"

The little girl covered her ears, not wanting to hear any more. But the voices still rang in her ears, burning with their bitterness.

Finally, the woman shrieked with frustration, and stormed out of the house, but not before slapping her husband- hard- across the cheek, leaving a searing red mark. He just stood there, stunned, fingers automatically lifting to touch his face.

The little girl just crouched there without a word, peeking through the railings, trembling and shaking with fear.

She accidentally let out a stifled sob, and her father heard it. He looked up, startled, and saw his daughter crouching behind the balustrade, tears shining unshed in her eyes. He started forward, but stopped when he saw her recoil.

He lifted a hand, trying to calm her down. "Reika, it's not what you're thinking-"

"T-tou-san?"

He sighed with defeat, and at last, told her the truth.

"Reika…your mother and I are getting a divorce…"

"…and that's my life." Rei laughed half-heartedly, eyes still fixed on a spot on the ground in front of her. Tezuka's expression had softened, and he was gazing at her with an unreadable, but by no means harsh expression.

"Your mother's…dead?"

Rei didn't seem offended or hurt, as Tezuka had feared- she merely let her fingers trail along the chain around her neck, the gold ring dangling from it. "Yes, she died when I was nine. Heart failure."

Tezuka didn't say anything, and Rei was strangely grateful for that. Too many people had told her I'm sorry, and she didn't even know why they apologized.

"So in a twisted way, she really did die of a broken heart." She laughed humourlessly, and spun the ring absently around her finger.

"I-" He wanted to say I understand, but in reality, he knew that it wasn't what she wanted to hear. After all, he didn't really understand what it was like to lose a mother, and go through the confusion of a divorce.

He settled for an "Aa," instead, the monosyllabic, trademark reply the only answer he could think of at the moment. He almost regretted saying it as it left his mouth- but Rei didn't seem offended; rather, she seemed relieved.

Rei was about to say something when the doorbell rang, and she looked around strangely. Tezuka looked at her in surprise- why was she looking so scared?

She got up in silence, and headed over to the door. Peeking around the half-opened door, the tension in her shoulders relaxed at the sight of whoever was outside.

A few murmured words followed, as Tezuka gazed curiously- with slight interest, he preferred to say, curious was such a nosy word- at her back. Finally, the familiar crinkle of paper transferring hands could be heard, and then Rei stepped back and closed the door behind her, walking back over.

Sitting back down again, and huffing a sigh that sent some of the strands of hair around her face fluttering softly, Rei looked more tired and drained than Tezuka had ever seen her before.

In her hands, he noticed she was clutching some sort of letter- an envelope, crisp and brand-new white- like the colour of hospital walls, he noticed with distaste- with a short line of very cursive handwriting on the flap.

"What is it?"

She glanced up at him, faintly surprised, but not displeased. "Oh...it's a letter from my father…"

Time had some kind of grudge against them, Tezuka decided. Really. But he remained silent and watchful as Rei slowly opened the letter, carefully easing the flap open and pulling out a neatly folded letter.

He noticed that her hands were shaking as she unfolded the piece of paper.

The only sound that could be heard in the room at that point was the suddenly loud crackle of the paper as Rei stared at whatever was written on the letter she was reading.

"…what does it say?"

After a long moment, she looked up at him, a resigned look in her eyes. "It's an invitation to his wedding."

Akira was having an amusing day.

She had finally found the weakness of her childhood friend and rival, Nagasaki Shizuka. And she had been mercilessly exploiting it all week.

And it was no one other than a fellow second-year by the name of Momoshiro Takeshi.

After a long period of suspicion and mere guesswork, she had finally forced it out of the two of them. She had been suspicious of them for a long time before Valentine's Day. And when Momoshiro had asked her to the dance, and Shizuka had reacted so violently, she knew she was right.

Shizuka and Momoshiro liked each other.

A plotting smirk grew on her face as she mused about it even more, realizing how obvious their relationship actually was.

Love-hate relationship pretty much defined their interaction. Actually, on the side of Shizuka, it was mostly hate, at least in front of Momoshiro himself. But Akira had been fortunately privy to a heated display of hidden affection from the small, brown-haired girl once.

It had been back in their first year, after Shizuka had just had another huge argument with the boy, and was fuming in the seat next to Akira, glaring daggers at the desk in front of her.

"I can't believe the nerve of that jerk!" Shizuka hissed in a loud whisper, not willing to risk the teacher hearing her.

Not that there was much chance of that happening. It was a free period, and their teacher was already nodding off, the old man's eyelids fluttering heavily.

Akira just yawned and glanced at Shizuka dismissively. "I don't care about whatever you're talking about, so just shut up, baka risu." She plugged in her earphones. It wasn't like she had anything to be doing in this class- she was only there because her teacher was absent.

The smaller girl just ignored Akira's cutting remark- Shizuka just kept right on ranting about whatever she was talking about. "He said I was too short! No one calls me short and gets away with it!"

"Mm," Akira mumbled disinterestedly, not even paying attention, while busy tapping her foot to whatever music she was listening to. Shizuka noticed this time around- she turned on her childhood friend indignantly.

"Hey! Why aren't you listening to me?"

"I am…"

"No, you're not! You're the most amazing person I've ever met!" This was said in a sarcasm-laden voice. "See, did you even hear what I just said?"

"Thank you, I know I am." Akira finally looked up with a faint expression of annoyance at Shizuka, who had her mouth hanging open in indignation and shock. "Are you done whining yet? All you've done for the past few weeks is gripe and complain about Momoshiro. What's your problem with him?"

"My problem? He's the one who has a problem! Calling me short, who is he to talk?" Shizuka began her rant afresh, causing half the class to turn and stare at her with curious eyes. Akira wanted to just punch Shizuka in the mouth, feeling annoyed by all the gazes on the two of them.

Finally, she had had enough. "Shizuka, maybe he said that because you are short." This blunt, cutting remark managed to stop the other girl in her tracks- her mouth was agape and her eyes were wide. Akira continued before she could recover from her shocked state.

"Stop taking offence to everything the guy says. You insult him and call him worse things all of the time anyway, it's tooth for tooth here! Don't take everything so seriously like he's trying to kill you!"

There was a moment of silence between them as Akira paused for breath and Shizuka stared at her in bewilderment. And then-

"WHAT THE F- you punk cherry, what are you trying to say? You calling me short, huh? And why are you siding with that idiot?"

Akira's face immediately became extremely irritated. "Che, shut up and do your work, baka risu." But there was some strange sort of half-smile on her face as she turned back around.

Shizuka was smiling rather ruefully too; she gazed with a half-resentful, but amused expression in her eyes. "…look who's talking, punk."

While Akira had been sitting in her home, thinking with a smirk on her face, the rattle of keys in the door jolted her out of her reverie. She looked around from the slouched position lying on the couch she was in, and called out, "Nii-san, is that you?"

An answering rattle followed, before the door opened and a young man walked in, easy smile on his face and grocery bags in his hands. "Hey, Akira, what's up? What are you doing here?"

She rolled her eyes without any ill meaning. "Can't I be on my own couch if I want to?"

He chuckled and retorted playfully, "Uh, no, that's my couch you're lolling on. If you want to mistreat it like that, go and do it outside."

Akira just snorted and flopped back onto the couch. Her older brother dumped all the groceries that he had been carrying onto the kitchen counter, before dropping his keys onto the table and coming over to his sister, rolling up his sleeves. "But seriously, why are you on the couch? It's not like you."

The red-haired girl avoided the question, instead choosing to play with the ends of her black streaked hair. "Just make dinner, Hiro-nii-san."

Hiro saluted her playfully, saying, "Aye aye, captain, whatever you say. Your wish is my command." He went back into the kitchen, where the sound of rustling plastic bags could be heard, and a few minutes later, Akira heard the distinctive sound of the stove being turned on.

It wouldn't be long until dinner.

Her fingers trailed absently over the several piercings in her ears- she was thinking about getting another one soon. Life needed something new, after all. It wouldn't do to get bored.

Or maybe another tattoo would be better. They were more easily hidden by clothing during school hours, and she had less of them than piercings.

At the moment, only two were showing- the black feather inked on her left ankle was partially revealed underneath the edge of her rolled up jeans, and the tip of a line of small black birds could be seen peeking out from her top on her collarbone.

There was another one on her shoulder, but that stayed hidden…for the moment.

Akira barely suppressed a laugh as she remembered how lenient and relaxed Hiro had been about her getting multiple piercings, tattoos and dyeing her hair.

Shizuka had been with her that day, and had been asserting all along that her brother would never allow it, she was being childish and spoilt, this was something that should be left until she was older, and many other things that Akira hadn't even bothered to listen to.

Akira wanted to burst out into laughter when she remembered the shocked, almost horrified look on Shizuka's face when at her bluntly put remark, "I want to get a tattoo and another piercing," her brother had just calmly looked up from the newspaper he was reading, and said, "Sure, if that's what you want." And then he had gone back to reading.

Of course, ever since that day, Shizuka had been muttering things like "irresponsible" and "far too soft" under her breath whenever Akira or Hiro was around. Not that it mattered to the tall girl- she couldn't care less what other people thought.

As far as she was concerned, Hiro was the best brother she could have, and she wouldn't trade him for anyone else in the world, no matter how annoying he could be.

She wouldn't trade him even for her parents.

"His wedding?" Tezuka repeated slowly, for once in his life not sure if he had heard her correctly.

Rei nodded, the envelope still clutched in her hand. "Yeah…he's getting married to his new fiancée, I guess."

"…Aa." He didn't really know how to reply to that kind of sentence- really, what was there to say about it?

She continued anyway, staring at the invitation written in fancy lettering that she was clutching far too hard in her hand. Creases had already appeared in the creamy white paper. "It's in three weeks' time…and I have to go to visit him for that week."

He hadn't been expecting that. Tezuka realized that it would mean that she would be absent from school for a week.

"And he's found someone he wants me to meet."

Those words immediately rang suspiciously in Tezuka's ears. "Are those his words?"

Rei's forehead creased, as though she was thinking about his words. "Well, he says there is someone I particularly want you to meet…I'm sure that you'll like him."

An ominous silence echoed between them, and for a moment, Tezuka felt a flash of something foreign inside him, that he couldn't quite place a name to.

Not quite jealousy, but something that held the same sort of sickening twist.

Rei was the one who broke the silence. "You know, it would be a lot easier if I could just get someone else to come with me…then I wouldn't have to put up with my father's attempts to set me up."

"Aa."

The dark-haired girl sighed, and crossed her legs on the couch she was sitting on. "If only there was someone I could take with me…"

"I'll go with you."

Rei's head shot up, startled. Tezuka's words had been sudden and completely unexpected. "For real? Are you serious?"

"Yes." Tezuka was beginning to feel uncomfortable- he wasn't sure if the expression of shock on Rei's face was good or bad. What was he supposed to think? "Only if you want to, of course."

"…" Rei's shocked silence was growing more and more prolonged. Finally, "…Really?"

Tezuka breathed a silent sigh of relief at that, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly, in a ghost of a smile- as close as he could get to one. "Really."

Rei's face broke out into one of the brightest, most sincere smiles Tezuka had seen from her in a while. "Tezuka-kun…really, thank you."

"Aa."

But her relieved expression was soon replaced with one of worry and concern. "But can you really? I mean, it is for a week, after all, and you'll have to miss school and practice as well. And I don't want to drag you into my family problems-"

"It's fine," he interrupted, before she could work herself up into a frantic rant again. Rei smiled a rather sheepish smile at him, knowing why he had interrupted her sentence. "I don't mind." If it's for you went unsaid, although Tezuka didn't realize that he was subconsciously thinking it.

The relieved smile was back on Rei's face. "Are you sure?"

"Aa." He was rather amused by her indecisiveness and uncertainty, which was usually something he did not particularly approve of. But when it was Rei, he found that he didn't mind at all.

"Well, alright…" She still looked slightly unsure, but had clearly accepted his offer and decision. "It's in a couple of weeks, so we still have some time…"

"I see."

"Tezuka-kun." He looked up at Rei, to see a very serious- perhaps the most serious he had ever seen- expression on her face. "Are you sure about this?"

It was the third time she had asked about it, but it seemed as though this time, it was a heavy question- one that seemed laden with implications.

But it didn't matter anymore. In that one second, he was sure of his decision. "Yes. I'm sure."

Seigaku had breezed through the first round of the Kantou basketball tournament, defeating their opponent eighty-four to twenty-two.

But that was nothing compared to the challenger that awaited them in the next round.

Originally, the team had been drawn to face off against the third seed, Hyotei. Sora had been increasing the training during practice, especially defence, because of Hyotei's reputation as an incredibly offensive team.

But things hadn't worked out quite as planned.

Sora was tying her shoelaces while sitting on the bench, ready for practice, when a second-stringer ran in, huffing and gasping for air. Rei was stretching next to Sora, reaching for her toes, and she looked up curiously.

The second-year girl finally managed to catch her breath, and looked desperately at Sora, who had half-risen from her seat. "Sora-buchou! B-bad news!"

Immediately, the blonde captain was all business. "What is it?"

The tired girl thrust a crumpled piece of paper out to Sora, who instinctively grabbed it and looked at it with dawning horror.

Rei looked around worriedly, not knowing what was going on. "Hey, Kaji. What's the matter? Is it about Hyotei?"

Just as Sora's keen, searching eyes found the words that she was dreading on the paper she was clutching, the girl burst out, "We're not playing Hyotei in the next round!"

Rei's eyes widened. How was that even possible? Hyotei was the third seed, and a formidable team that had been slated to at least make the semi-finals.

"Are you serious? But Hyotei is such an experienced team! How is that possible? They shouldn't have lost in the first round!"

Kaji shrugged helplessly. "The results came in today. Hyotei lost their game twenty to fifty-five!"

Rei felt her face twisting into an expression of outright and impending horror. For such an offensive-based team to lose with such a large difference was almost unheard of. She felt her lips forming the words that she was already dreading the answer to. "Who did they lose to?"

There was a moment of silence. In the end, Sora was the one who answered. "Jyosei."

Although Rei had never heard of the school before, the name still sent a shiver up her spine. There was something that Sora wasn't saying, as she knew that if she heard it, she would most likely regret it.

But she didn't have to ask. Sora said it anyway, with a heavy, almost fateful voice. "They're a defensive school. And they completely overwhelmed Hyotei. Morita was completely shut down- she didn't even score a point."

Rei's mouth fell half-open in horror. Morita Leiko, the famed shooting guard of Hyotei, almost on par with Rei's talent, not scoring even once?

It was impossible.

"…Morita didn't score a point? How-?"

Sora's voice was flat and blank. "Jyosei has an iron-clad defence. Not one of their players is particularly noticeable in offence, but they have flawless teamwork and excellent defence. Especially the captain."

"Saito Kana is her name." Kaji had spoken up again, eyes wide with awe and something akin to fear. "She's a transfer student from America, so she isn't well known. But her defence is incredible!"

Sora continued from there. "We got the tape of the Hyotei versus Jyosei match. Saito is very tall- she may be taller than even Yuki." Rei's eyes shot wide open at this- what sort of monster was Saito Kana? "She has extremely fast reflexes, and she's big as well as fast. She's shut down every single offensive team so far into the tournament. And she handpicked her team for defence. There's not one of them that isn't over one hundred and eighty."

Right, that was just crazy.

"What does she do?" Rei had to ask the question- she couldn't contain the looming sense of ominous dread creeping over her. Sora's serious, hard look at her only confirmed it.

"In every match, she's gone straight for the shooting guard or the ace, whichever is more essential to the other team's scoring. And she's completely shut them down."

Sora was not one for empty words. That practice, she had almost doubled the amount of training, and had begun focusing on offence dramatically more. Whenever someone asked her why, she merely said in a hard voice, "We're playing Jyosei, not Hyotei. We can't lose."

No one had dared to utter a word of complaint, not even Akira or Shizuka. Both of the two normally loud and rude second-years were uncharacteristically quiet that day, throwing themselves into the training.

During the half-way break in the middle of the training session, Akira and Rei had dove right into one of their famous one-on-ones again. By the time Sora yelled out time, Rei had emerged the victor narrowly again.

As Sora had been watching the two of them, the normally silent and calm Yuki had leant over and asked, "Why do you think they're so serious today?"

"Yeah, they look like they want to murder each other," Shizuka added.

Sora could see why she would think that. This time around, both Akira and Rei were giving everything they had, and sparks seemed to fly from their eyes as they dashed and whirled around the court, almost too fast for the eye to see. "It's because both of them know that Saito will most likely target one of them. And both, even though they won't admit it, are in a way afraid that she will."

"Is this Saito really that good?"

Sora stared at the ground with a hard expression, adjusting her glasses grimly. "Yeah, I've seen the tape recording. The way she moves is just…incredible," she stated grudgingly, but with a slight hint of admiration in her tone. "Even I have to admit it, I've never seen anything like her in terms of defence."

"I can understand that punk cherry's suddenly all macho about that, but I've never seen Rei-senpai so fired up before a match!"

Yuki cut in before Sora could answer. The normally quiet center was rather intense as well- her eyes were filled with some sort of emotion that neither of them had ever seen in her before, not even during a match. "Rei-san is good at pretending most of the time."

Shizuka just looked confused. "What do you mean? But Rei-senpai is always so carefree and relaxed…"

It was Sora who answered this time. "Rei has always had a way of making others believe that she doesn't care about anything." A small smile appeared on the blonde girl's face. "But in her heart, she is more passionate about winning than perhaps any of us here." A glance over at the court had confirmed it. "Except maybe Akira."

Yuki nodded, smiling softly at the two prodigies of the team, battling it out in full style on the court, skidding sounds echoing around the gym from their shoes. "Yeah. The two of them combined leaves everyone behind trailing in their potential."

Shizuka had never thought about it, but now that her senpais had pointed it out, she sort of understood where they were coming from. "Yeah, maybe."

Tezuka was just finishing up his practice match with Kaidoh- in which he had noted, with a faint sense of satisfaction, that the second-year had become a lot stronger- when a call from Inui first alerted him to her presence.

"Hey, Tezuka, there's someone here waiting for you."

He had looked around, and his eyes had immediately focused on the dark-haired girl sitting cross-legged on the bench, watching his match. With a look at Kaidoh, who without a word, had straightened and begun heading over to the sidelines, he walked over.

The first thing he noticed was that Rei had an uncharacteristically worried and stressed look on her face. The second was the piece of paper she was clutching between her fingers.

As soon as he drew close, she held out the crumpled piece of paper to him, and he instinctively took it, looking down at what seemed to be a profile of some girl that he had never seen before in his life.

Rei explained. "That's Saito Kana, captain of the Jyosei basketball team." At Tezuka's inquiring look, and Kikumaru's question, "What's Jyosei?" she continued, "We're playing her team in the next round."

Cries and exclamations of "What?" and "No way!" came from the listening tennis regulars, who by now, had all gathered around to hear the news.

Over the last month or so, the tennis and basketball teams had become rather friendly with each other, and several of them found themselves greeting students whom they previously would never have even looked at.

Fuji gazed curiously at Rei. "But weren't you drawn to play Hyotei in the second round? What's this about Jyosei?"

The dark-haired girl looked down at her hands, and with a low voice, said, "We're not playing Hyotei. Not anymore. Jyosei ran them over in the first round."

Gasps of shock rippled around the regulars. Even Tezuka looked slightly surprised. Hyotei's basketball team was very well-known, even in comparison to the glamour of Atobe and the tennis team.

Inui took over from Rei's explanation, lifting a hand to adjust his glasses. "You see, Jyosei was originally a no-namer team. But with the arrival of Saito Kana-" at this, he gestured at the paper that Tezuka was holding, "-a transfer from America, the entire team dynamic has been changed. Saito has handpicked a formidable defensive line-up."

"What do you mean by a formidable defence?" Momoshiro asked curiously.

"I mean that not one of the starting players is under one hundred and eighty centimetres tall."

"WHAT?"

Kikumaru jumped up and down, agitated. "But that means that every single one is taller than Tezuka!" He pointed at the stoic captain, who just looked faintly shocked. He hadn't been expecting that sort of figure to be launched at him.

Inui nodded, seeming slightly pleased with his extensive knowledge. "Yes, the team has crushed all sorts of offensive teams so far, including Hyotei. Morita Leiko, the Hyotei captain and shooting guard-"

At those words, Momoshiro's head jerked up. "Shooting guard? Isn't that Wakanari-senpai's position?"

Rei nodded. "Yeah, she's almost on the same level as me. I had a hard time defeating her back in second-year, and it may have been just pure luck that I did."

"She's that good? And she still got beaten so badly?"

"Yes." Inui seemed rather miffed that his spotlight had been temporarily stolen, a slightly offended expression on his face. "Morita is a nationally recognized basketball player- her fame may be on par with Wakanari-san and Igarashi-san's."

Rei nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but in the match with Jyosei, she didn't even manage to score a single point."

"WHAT?"

"Is that even possible?"

"Not even one point?"

"Are you serious?"

Rei nodded at all of the questions that were being fired at her by the tennis regulars. "Yeah, Saito completely shut her down. Didn't give her a chance to score from the beginning of the game."

"…dude, that's scary…"

Inui adjusted his glasses again. "My sources tell me that Saito is over a hundred and ninety centimetres…a hundred and ninety-six, to be exact. That means she's even taller than Hasegawa-san."

"Ehhhhh?"

"No way! She's taller than Hasegawa-senpai?"

"Yeah." Rei seemed rather exhausted. "In every game she's played in throughout the entire tournament, she's always immediately gone straight for the ace or the shooting guard. She's big and fast- that's not easy to have. Her defence is…amazing."

There was a minute of sobering silence amongst all of them, before a hard voice came from behind them all. "It's true. I've never seen anyone like her."

All of them turned to see Sora standing in the entrance, arms crossed and a grim expression on her face. "Saito Kana is a force to be reckoned with, and her team is no less of a threat than she is. Their teamwork is flawless."

This was followed by another long, tension-filled pause before Oishi finally broke it nervously. "W-well…I guess that you'll have to do your best! I'm sure you'll be able to win!"

Both Rei and Sora broke out into a reluctant, but soft smile. "Yeah…I guess."

Akira was dribbling on the court, relentlessly charging for the basket and slamming the ball in. On the last shot she had made, she had hung from the hoop for a few seconds, before releasing it and landing heavily on the ground.

The ring was quivering with the pure force of her shot.

She stood there panting, gasping for air, staring at her hands, callused and bruised from all of the harsh practice regimes she had imposed upon herself.

It wouldn't do to slack off. Not when they were facing the dark horse of the tournament, the ultimate defensive team Jyosei.

She felt something akin to adrenaline- she couldn't tell whether it was fear or excitement- at the thought of playing someone who might be able to stop her.

It was exhilarating, but absolutely terrifying at the same time.

From what she had heard, Saito Kana was someone who was not to be treated lightly. Although Jyosei was a no-namer school, it was perhaps even more dangerous than Hyotei would have been if they had made it as expected.

At least Hyotei's play was known to them. With Jyosei, there was nothing. It was all unknown, in the dark, something that they would have to face blindly. Recordings could only go so far- nothing quite replicated the thrill and terror of being on the court, facing an opponent.

As Akira made another powerful dunk, she looked at her hands with dissatisfaction. What was this? She knew her shots were good- hell, what high school girl could make dunks like her? But it just wasn't enough- there wasn't enough variety.

What if Kana chose to shut her down? Akira knew there was an even chance that she could go for Rei or her- and she dreaded being chosen, but wanted it so badly at the same time.

It was a painful dilemma, and she knew that she had to be prepared for any situation. In their one-on-one that day, her vice-captain had told her, Your shots are too obvious. Try to be more versatile, more unpredictable. Like a tornado.

Like a tornado, Akira mused, she rather liked that phrase. She liked to think of herself as a force on court, blowing away all of her defenders and scoring relentlessly with displays of raw power and talent.

But Rei was right- she had to stop always dunking straight away- it was too predictable. If Kana chose to defend her, there was no way that she wouldn't catch on to Akira's weakness of predictability.

As she picked up the ball again, and glared determinedly at the hoop, she made a promise to herself.

I'll win this game, even if it takes more than I have!

A/N: So finally finished, and there is the first hint of a love triangle (not really)! Anyway, Shattered Fragments has reached seven thousand reads, almost eighty thousand words, and eighty-seven reviews! Thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting this story from the beginning, you're the reason I have managed to keep updating all this time!

Please leave a review! If you do, maybe I'll update the next chapter faster!