Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of the characters related to it. They all belong to Konomi Takeshi. Also, I do not own Fire Emblem or any of the elements from the series.

Rating: T for implied adult themes in certain chapters. K for the rest.

Author's Note: The heavily anticipated return of Niou (and his amusing mother) in the longest chapter yet! He has avoided all of the seriousness and chaos thus far, but no longer shall he escape the clutches of my story... Fwahaha! XD Just kidding, I had this story all planned out months ago and he wasn't going to appear again until certain events happened.

Reviews are much love!

Part 2 - Chapter 6 - Tournament

"Mother?" Niou groaned, pulling the covers over his head as the door to his bedroom creaked open. "What is all of the commotion going on?"

"Masaharu, please tell me you're joking."

"I'm not this time," he answered, voice muffled by his sheets and his mother yanked them off. "Hey!"

"It's time to get up anyway," she replied as he sat up with an exhausted look on his face. "You usually don't get up this late."

Niou sighed as he ran his fingers through his messy hair. It was true that he slept in longer than usual, but that was because a certain light brown haired knight had been occupying his dreams and he didn't want to return to a reality where they didn't personally know each other.

"Eh… just tired."

"Go to sleep earlier tonight then."

"I did though!" Niou retorted as he climbed out of bed and hastily put the sheets back into place. "It's just… my mind doesn't want to slow down."

"It happens dear," his mother comforted as she led the way out of his room and into the kitchen. "Are you stressed about something?"

"No. Don't worry about it - I'm sure whatever it is will go away soon," Niou lied, knowing that all of the power in the world would not remove his current obsession from his thoughts anytime soon.

"Okay, but remember I'm always here if you need me."

"Thanks mom," he said, pulling over a plate of food and prodded the eggs with a fork. "You never did tell me what was going on today."

"Oh right! Today's the day of the festival. And they're having a tournament as well."

"You mean an exhibition for the aristocrats and military to show off how apparently great their skills are or how much wealth they posses?" Niou scoffed as he took a bite out of his eggs and started chewing it. "I don't think they need another means to show off their might."

"Why do you disapprove of them so much?" his mother questioned seriously, sitting down at the table as well with her own plate of food. "Lord Yukimura has done nothing but good for his country."

"I don't have a problem with him specifically. I just hate how they all live their lives by rules - what is proper and what is not. How they always have to appear perfect and in control. They're like caged birds that are never given the freedom to fly, confined by what others before them had dictated was going to be their destiny."

"Masaharu. Your reasoning was a lot deeper than I had originally thought."

"I know, mother. You probably thought I was going to say that I hate how they have money and we don't have that much or something. That doesn't bother me because at least they're fair about helping out the less fortunate folks. Other countries are not quite as well off."

"At any rate, I'm glad to hear you don't hate them personally," his mother said gently. "Because their holding an archery competition during the tournament."

"And this concerns me how?"

"You're going to participate."

Niou stared at his mother in utmost disbelief.

"How about no?"

"You don't have a choice. They're offering a grand prize of 5,000 gold to the winner of each event and I know you can do it."

"We don't need the money."

"No, but it would be nice to get some supplies to repair a part of the house and to eat a bit fancier once in a while. Do it for me Masaharu - you might even have fun today." Niou's unbelieving stare intensified at the notion of having fun while being surrounded by prissy people and hot-shot competitors.

"Fine. But only for you mom," he reluctantly agreed and she smiled happily. "The things I do for you."

"That's wonderful! This exempts you from today's chores then."

"Wait? Aren't you going? And where are my siblings?"

"I can't - I'm doing all of your chores today and your siblings have already left to get over there. But I will be cheering you on… not that you need it much since I don't think there are a lot of people who are as good as you when it comes to the bow."

"Stop embarrassing me!" Niou said, trying to hide his faint blush. "Okay, I'll go get changed and head out as soon as I can."

"A late dinner will be on the table for the champion."

"It better be a good one too. Especially since you're going to have more money than we make in a month or two."

'It's amazing how pretty much the entire town fits easily into one large area,' Niou noted as he arrived on the eastern grounds. There were tents and stands in neat rows with the merchants selling their merchandise and cooks selling their food. Niou couldn't help but feel delighted at all of the wonderful scents of food pervading through the air and caved in to buy some roasted pork with some rice.

In another area, local artists had their masterpieces on display and people were milling about slowly, appreciating what they were seeing or attempting to understand the more abstract ones. There were some individuals creating pieces on the spot - paintbrushes flying across blank canvases with splashes of brilliant color. The children in particular enjoyed watching the display of talent.

The schedule of tournament events were posted on stands scattered throughout the area and Niou saw that he arrived partway into the jousting tournament. He shrugged and figured that he might as well go since he didn't feel like buying things or looking at art at the moment. On his way, he stopped at the registration table, put in his name for the archery tournament, and was assigned a number to wear later.

After maneuvering his way through the large horde of socializing people, energetic children, and soldiers on duty to keep the peace of the crowd, he arrived at the large field they had roped off for the event. They had a pretty hearty sized audience there, sitting on bleachers on two sides of the field.

'I wonder what people enjoy about two guys on horses knocking each other off with lances?' Niou thought sardonically to himself as he found a seat towards the top. 'The stupid things that people subject themselves to for entertainment.'

He adjusted the hood of his cloak when an unexpected breeze occurred so that it kept most of his face in shadow. He normally didn't wear a cloak, but he didn't feel like revealing his identity at the festival until his turn at the tournament. His beloved bow and quiver of arrows were carefully hidden in a tree on the edge of the grounds - he would have to go back for them later.

"My my, it looks like he is in top form today, doesn't it?" a gentle, endearing voice drifted to his ears from behind him somewhere to the left. He found that he was absentmindedly eavesdropping on the conversation while watching the show because he wanted to know who they were talking about. Plus he found it strange to hear a man speak with quite an effeminate voice.

"Indeed. All of his opponents have failed to come close to touching him with their lance," a baritone voice agreed approvingly.

'Either this guy has arms that can extend to get his opponent first or he has some superior dodging skills,' Niou thought dryly to himself as he scanned the area for who they could have been referring to.

"Ah, General Sanada! What kept you?" the soft, sweet voice spoke again and Niou felt a bead of sweat trickle down the nape of his neck when he realized just who he was sitting near… and who he had accidentally insulted.

"Sharpening my axe for the axe users tournament," a bass voice answered seriously and the two chuckled.

"Even though you will only be fighting in the final match, please don't completely destroy the champion."

"The champion will need to face me with valor and strength. It is not my fault if he is inferior to my skills."

'The guy is merciless,' Niou thought as he watched two knights both get knocked off of their horses. 'But I suppose it would be a honor to face him in a mock battle. A ridiculously stupid honor.'

"If it is any reassurance, my lord," the baritone voice added in. "I will be on standby to heal up the poor soul that faces the general's axe."

"Thank you, Sage Yanagi," the first voice said graciously. "Oh - there he is!"

"Captain Yagyuu? I presume you have been discussing him before I arrived…"

Niou's mind completely left their conversation when they revealed to him who they were talking about. His eyes quickly darted around the field and saw the light brown haired man with his silver armor and dark clothing riding his steed proudly to his starting area. Niou felt his heart start to race - he didn't even think about the fact that he was going to be here.

'Of course he would be, you moron,' Niou scolded himself as he observed Yagyuu raise and lower his lance. 'He's the captain of the Lance Knights and most likely the closest person to the Three Demons.'

A whistle was blown and the two knights charged at that foes at an incredible speed. Niou's mouth couldn't help but drop in awe as they met each other mere seconds later in the middle and a large thud was sounded as Yagyuu's lance met the other knight's armor and knocked him off of his horse, sending him crashing to the ground. The crowd erupted into applause as Yagyuu turned his horse around and approached his waiting spot near the stands with a small, content smile.

"Not bad, Captain Yagyuu," said the commander and Niou strained his ears to hear the rest of the conversation. "If his form was a bit better, there would have been no question about his victory."

Niou gripped his hands tightly to prevent himself from attempting to strangle General Sanada to death for his comment. He was aggravated that his joyous moment in watching Yagyuu win a match was wrecked by someone who only saw flaws in people. Especially in someone that Niou very much considered to be the perfect being.

"He didn't hesitate with the others," the sage commented. "It won't happen again I'm sure. It's amazing to see how much he's grown - especially this past year."

'I like him,' Niou thought to himself as he followed Yagyuu's every movement with his eyes. 'The sage is much nicer and wiser than that idiot they call a commander.'

Niou watched the rest of the jousting tournament (they were now on the quarterfinals) with his vision fixated on Yagyuu even if he wasn't the current competitor. He picked on several unconscious habits while he watched - the way Yagyuu always straightened his hair just before his turn, the way he bent down to whisper to his horse, and the way he held the lance in his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze just before he nodded to the referee. Niou's favorite thing about him was his small, content smile as he approached the crowd - it was very humble and genuine. Or the tenacious resolve he radiated when he was in the midst of competition - that was a close second.

After the jousting tournament (the money prize was given to the second place finisher since Yagyuu chose not to take it), they segmented off different parts of the field for the next events to take place. Each segment had their own class of fighters - axe, sword, lance. and knives/daggers so that the crowd could pick who they wanted to focus on. There were hardly any magic users in the area, but the few that were put on a little showcase out on the edge of the festival area, which Niou felt like seeing. He was also hungry again so he bought some more food, this time some extremely tasty curry and a loaf of bread, and watched in astonishment how easily the mages manipulated wind, fire, and lightning.

Next was a quick stop by the tree that his equipment was hidden in. He took off his cloak and folded it neatly, leaving it stashed in the tree and taking his bow and arrows with him. He visited the registration table to have his number attached to his back and confidently set off for the field to get ready for his turn. On his way, he saw that quite a few archers were starting to head the same direction, and he scrutinized each one to see if they would prove to be a challenge.

A set of mighty roars pierced the sky and Niou looked up to see a fleet of wyverns take to the air in formation. He smirked as he watched the show taking place above - their riders were extremely skilled and did some dangerous tricks to cause the crowd to go crazy cheering. He would have to try riding a wyvern sometime - it would be fun to get away for a bit, feeling the wind traveling through his clothes as he soared through the skies without any particular destination in mind.

Following the wyvern show, the Lance Knights had their own exhibition, which overexcited Niou. They did some fancy formations before going into pairs to stage a mock battle. The lance work they were able to execute completely blew Niou's mind, but none more than the silver knight who moved his weapon so quickly and precisely that it was hard for the eye to even follow. They ended with all off the units surrounding their captain and attempting to take him down as he dodged and weaved his way through their circle to tumultuous applause.

When the field was cleared, targets were put up and the hundred archers were put into groups of ten (their grouping pre-determined earlier through a random drawing). They would all have ten shots and the five best scorers in each group would proceed on to the next round. From what Niou could tell from looking at his group, he was going to completely dominate them.

The Three Demons were in their spot in the stands, right at the top and in the center, with interested expressions (Lord Yukimura's was the most pronounced). Niou noticed that Yagyuu was making his way up the stands to be with them and he felt his pulse skip a beat when it occurred to him that Yagyuu was going to watching him. He needed to impress him the same way that Yagyuu had done to him throughout the day.

On a normal day, hitting the bullseye at the distance they were at would have been a cinch. This was not a normal day - he kept looking at Yagyuu out of the corner of his eye, at how he applauded the other archers with polite admiration, and he felt a sting of jealousy as he waited. When it was finally his turn, he was so mentally overwhelmed that he hit only six bullseye and the rest were quite a bit off.

'So not complete domination,' Niou said, throughly disappointed with his poor performance. 'At least it was enough to get by…'

The fifty were also put in groups of ten, moved further away from the target, and only two from each group were to proceed on. Niou felt the weight of pressure that he had hardly felt before - sweat pooling on the back of his neck and along his back. A quick glance back at the stands informed him that Yagyuu was still there, watching with almost a mesmerized stare.

'Is it me or is he watching me specifically?' Niou questioned himself as he approached his spot and pulled on his bow string absentmindedly. He shook his head and blamed his imagination for thinking that Yagyuu had eyes only for him. How he wished that it was true.

This time was much better - he shot seven bullseye, but the other three shots were in a higher scoring zone. He felt the crowd's appreciation reverberate around in his chest and he couldn't help but grin a little. Another indiscreet glance told him that Lord Yukimura's interest level had greatly perked up and that both of his advisors had leaned in to speak with him.

The final round had the ten of them remain where they were and shoot for the winner. Niou tugged at his shirt to keep it from clinging to his body and told himself that he needed to appear confident and in control to have a chance of catching the silver knight's attention. Taking a deep breath, he shot arrow after arrow, each one making it to its desired location except one that strayed off-target slightly.

Niou mentally breathed a sigh of relief - that score should be plenty to declare himself a winner. He took a look at everyone else's target and saw that he was indeed correct until he noticed the one at the far end.

"My my," Lord Yukimura's voice rang out clearly into the stunned silence. "Looks like we've found two very capable archers in a tie."

The crowd erupted into applause at the announcement and each competitor gave a small wave back in recognition. Inside, Niou was almost seething - he wanted to outshine everybody, and instead, found himself in a tight spot because his mind was currently occupied with thoughts unrelated to what he was doing. He vowed he needed to train harder to learn to block all distractions for his mind - even if they were dashingly handsome and completely irresistible.

"In the case of a tie," Sage Yanagi spoke after everyone had settled down. "We will back the competitors back even further and have them shoot with the same rules."

Niou nodded and proceeded to his new spot before turning to face his target again. The distance they were at made it hard to discern the bullseye clearly and he felt a drop of intimidation slide down his throat. He hadn't practice shooting from that distance often, but he was confident in his own abilities. It was the other person's unknown abilities that he was afraid of.

'Come on Niou, this is easy,' he reassured himself, thinking back on all of his practices. 'You've hit harder targets before… well, maybe one, but that's not the point…'

"Archers, please draw your bows."

'It's all or nothing.'

"On my signal, you may begin."

'He's watching me, isn't he?'

"Go!"

He released the taut string after he confirmed the angle he needed to aimed at and watched as the arrow zoomed across the pitch and into the dead center of the target. The crowd went wild… a little too wild for the news to be good. It wasn't - the other archer had hit his bullseye as well. Perfection was the only way to win now.

Shot after shot, they still found themselves in a deadlock and Niou cursed to himself. He would have normally been finished by now (he prided himself on how fast he was), but he knew he needed to slow down this time to be safe. He knew that the Three Demons were staring intensely at the two of them, but on his last check, he noticed that Yagyuu was only watching him.

'Or maybe it's a trick of the light,' Niou thought when a split second later, it looked as though that Yagyuu wasn't focused on him at all.

The other archer messed up his second to last shot and Niou saw his chance. One more bullseye and his victory would be set in stone. His visioned wavered as he looked at the target in the distance and he took a deep breath to settle his rapidly beating heart. He could hear the stretch of the string as he drew it back - he could feel the tense strain of his arm muscles as he worked to hold the arrow steady. He closed his eyes, trusting his intuition, and let it go.

Time stood still for a moment and then it was over. It took a second for Niou's brain to comprehend where the final arrow had landed because it looked like nothing had changed. Upon further observation, he saw that he had split one of his other arrows in half right in the center of the target - a completely rare sight to see. He did it - ten out of ten bullseye.

There was nothing to describe the flood of elatedness that surged through his body as the referee declared him as the winner. He took a moment to congratulate the other archer on a job well done and they both headed over to the stands to deafening applause and loud cheering. The Three Demons and Captain Yagyuu had left their spot in the stands and were striding out to meet them.

"Congratulations to the both of you," Lord Yukimura said and the two of them bowed to him in thanks. "To the runner up, I offer you a consolation prize of 2,000 gold for your impressive skills." The other archer took his prize graciously and bowed once again before departing the field with a large wave of his hand and a large grin on his face.

"And to our winner," he continued brightly, sapphire blue eyes twinkling as he held out a bulging bag. "His prize of 5,000 gold for proving himself as the most skilled archer while appearing quite confident under a great amount of pressure."

"Thank you, Lord Yukimura," Niou said gently, also taking a long bow and Yukimura beamed. The crowd cheered one last time and he acknowledged them with a nod of his head and a polite wave.

"Niou Masaharu, is it?" Sage Yanagi asked and Niou nodded without questioning how he knew his name. "Your talent for archery is outstanding. The way you handle the bow with such deft and precise movements and your strong form has earned my respect."

"Thank you, Sage Yanagi," Niou replied, feeling a bit red in the face from the amount of praise that he was receiving. It was the first public display of his skill so he didn't think about all of the attention that he would be subjected to. For someone who preferred to be by himself, it was a bit overwhelming.

"Congratulations on your accomplishment," General Sanada added in, approval apparent in his voice. He shook General Sanada's extended hand with a firm grip, noting that it was probably one of the few times that the commander was very impressed with something. It still didn't mean that he liked him very much.

"Your archery skills have inspired me," Captain Yagyuu said, also holding out his hand. "It was a pleasure to have witnessed you in your element today."

Yagyuu's words rang in Niou's head like a choir of angels that had chosen to bless him with their voices. He seized Yagyuu's hand in his own and shook it, looking into his gray eyes with his blue-green ones and smiled. This was the closest he had ever been to him and he wanted to soak in every detail of the person he was looking at.

"I should say the same about you and your lancework," Niou replied smoothly and Yagyuu looked like he turned slightly pink.

"Thank you very much, Niou," he said courteously, releasing his hand and also smiling gently.

"Anyway, I should be on my way. Need to find my siblings and head home for dinner," Niou said hastily, feeling the heat rise in his face to an alarming amount. It was a good thing that his skin didn't show exactly what he was feeling - someone would have given him a strange look if it did.

"Indeed. Dinner sounds splendid," Yukimura concluded, turning to face the direction of his castle and noticing that the crowd was rapidly thinning out to go get food. "General Sanada."

"Yes, my lord?"

"Have the soldiers help with cleaning up the field and leave a section or two to monitor the merchants' tents until they tear down."

"What about the bonfire and dance tonight?"

"A different and smaller section should suffice since many of the soldiers will be enjoying the festivities."

"It will be done."

"Come Yanagi, Yagyuu," Lord Yukimura invited and they both nodded. "We will get dinner ready since our servants are also out and about taking pleasure in the festival."

"Thank you again for this, Lord Yukimura," Niou said, indicating his prize. "And for holding this festival."

"Not at all, Niou," he answered and Niou could have sworn he saw a shadow of a demonic thought flash by in his eyes, but was quickly replaced with a charming twinkle. "You have earned my admiration today. Please have a safe journey home."

"Will do," he said in farewell as he departed, giving one last glance at the four of them before trying to figure out where his siblings had run off to. As he searched, he couldn't help but think about the glimmer of a smile he swore Yagyuu gave him right as he left. Maybe it was his imagination running rampant again, but at least he knew that his words of praise held only truth, and to Niou, that was the best prize in the world.