Disclaimer:

M-i: I own Tennis no Oujisama. I own Tennis no Oujisama. @_@

2 mins-----

Shrink: Okay~ that's a wrap for our session for today. You passed your test on Reverse Psychology 8-)

M-i: ;_; *bangs head on the table*

A/N: Konnichiwa, minna-san! XD I'm just all hyped today cuz it's my first day of freedom!! ^-^ Demo, atsui na~ *fans herself* Arigatou for those who are kind enough to review!

Reitsu: Whaa!! *glomps* Arigatou! Here's the next chap! Demo, gomen! I promise I'll put LOTS of yummy scenes for your Golden Pair! Kawaii desho? ^_^ Only, it will have to come later on, ne? When I come to it, I'll dedicate it to you! ^^
Chapter 4: Ichatsuku! By M-i

The 8:00 am morning bell finally rang, signaling the start of a new school day. But by all means, from what is currently happening now, it wasn't your typical day. Ryoma sat as usual, normally asleep during his classes. But now, we see him staring outside the glass windows in expected boredom. It was Science after all. Though it was his favorite, the fact that he can do well in it without much effort makes it a bit similar with his English classes.

But his spacing out wasn't really fruitless unlike those other times he simply got bored or sleepy. Under that bushel of green locks, something was occupying his thoughts.

Izumi Ryo. Heh~ weird guy. Anyway, this sucks. I missed morning practice and now I have to miss Saturday practice.

TENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNIS

*flashback*

"Ara, Echizen! You're back! But you missed practice. It ended 5 minutes or so earlier." Ryuzaki sensei smiled as the freshman walked up to both her and Tezuka, as they were both discussing about possible improvements on the training menu.

"Ryuzaki sensei. Tezuka-sempai." Echizen nodded as an acknowledgement, "Ano, do we have practice for Saturday?"

"Saturday? Naze?" Tezuka asked, eyes not leaving the boy.

"Maa, I think so. From 2 to 4 in the afternoon. Why? Something going on?" She eyed the younger boy as well.

"Hmm. Ashikawa sensei asked me to give tutoring classes in English."

"But isn't that supposed to be on school days?"

"Hai. But the one I'm going to tutor requested for a Saturday session." Echizen scratched his head and shrugged, "Don't ask me."

"Sou ka. I guess it's okay just this once. But the problem is, you have tutoring even on schooldays. When?"

" M-W-F. Heki da. We'll eat up English session time. I'm exempted. But if his performance requests attention after school then I'll miss club trainings."

" *sigh* Is this student *that* bad?? It would surely take most of your practice time."

" De, who are you tutoring? Maybe we can arrange a more comfortable schedule to balance your club activities." Tezuka asked, strangely in a colder manner.

" Izumi Ryo. Though I've never heard of him." Ryuzaki sensei cocked an eyebrow.

" That rich freshman? Since when was he failing? I've always commended him at least a bit because he has adequate to high grades to match up to his arrogant attitude. But now that he's failing-" she shook her head in disappointment, "I wonder why only now. Maybe lessons are getting tougher."

" Maa ne. It's the same as before anyway."

" Maybe to you. Well then, what do we do now? You'll miss 3 out of 5 days every week. That is not good. What do you think, Tezuka?"

"."

"Tezuka? Oi." The senior knitted his brows for a while and thought hard. He still gave no response but from his expression, he wasn't dealing with the whole thing very well. ESPECIALLY when he won't see his Echizen now more often.

" *sigh* I'll talk to him. If I'm lucky, he won't be that dumb." Echizen turned around and walked away waving his hand.

*end of flashback*

TENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNIS

RIIIIIIIIIINGGGGG!

"Hmm?" Echizen looked at the time and stood up, "That was fast."

"Yo! Echizen!" Horio screamed from the other end of the room. "Nani?"

"Ashikawa sensei is asking for you!!"

"?"

Letting out a sigh, he stood up and excused himself from the next teacher. Indeed, Ashikawa sensei was waiting for him outside of the classroom. However, with an extra baggage.

"Echizen-kun. Did you talk with Ryuzaki sensei already? As I've said before, I need your answer by today as soon as possible."

Why is he in such a hurry? " Hai. She said I can miss one practice this Saturday." Ashikawa sensei beamed, stepping aside to reveal and introduce formally the boy standing behind him.

" That's great! Echizen-kun, this is Izumi Ryo. I believe you haven't met before."

Standing there was a freshman like him, though only slightly taller. Silvery white strands of hair fell along his face, which was a bit long as it reached along his nape and under those bangs were two very dark blue midnight eyes that were unfathomable as it met gold ones. He would have been the perfect model for coolness as well as coldness if Echizen didn't catch that playful grin that graced his lips.

"Nice too meet you, Echizen Ryoma. It's an honor to have quite a tennis prodigy as my tutor." Izumi chuckled as he held out a hand in greeting. Echizen raised a curious eyebrow and looked at the offered hand before taking it. Izumi smiled, "Not the talkative type huh?"

"..."-_-

"So I guess I'll see you on Saturday then, SEMPAI *wink*"

"Don't call me that."

"Haha! Why not? You'll become my extended teacher and you *are* older than me by a few months, ne? I came late."

"..." -_-

"Well then, I'll be going now-" Izumi jogged away before turning back and smirking, "-sempai!"

"..." -_-+++++++++++ *twitch*

" Don't mind, Echizen-kun! ^^;; He's like that, really. Actually, it surprised me on how he showed a milder manner." Ashikawa sensei stroked his chin, "He's not usually like that. Oh well."

" Whatever. I'll be going back inside now, Ashikawa sensei, if that's all."

"Aa."

While in another corridor, a white haired boy can't seem to take off his grin from his face.

He's even cuter on personal.

TENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNISTENNIS

The final bell rang and Echizen was more than ecstatic, even if he didn't show it, to run into the locker room, change and have a good exercise of tennis. Though as soon as he stepped into the tennis courts, SOMETHING *really* freaked him out about today.

Like how Fuji-sempai snuck up behind him at least 5 times and his smile was more of a predatory grin.

-_-;

Or how his doubles practice with Momo-sempai turned out worse than before. (They were tied together but Momoshiro seemed to be more interested on pulling or tripping him, which coincidentally, he always fell on the junior's arms. Tezuka immediately stopped the doubles practice since it was going nowhere. (A/N: Really TEZU~KA. ^^)

-_-;;

Or when Kikumaru-sempai, with all his nicknames for him like ochibi, Seigaku's baby boy and stuff, got a slip of a toungue and called him 'koi'! And he seems to be using his *great* reflexes for something else.

-_-;;;

OR when Seigaku's 'okasaan' Oishi-sempai, seemed to look like an over ripe tomato, either staring at him with unknown intensity or as silent as a mute since he came and until practice ended.

-_-;;;;

OR whenever Kaido-sempai hissed at practically everybody who talked to him and cut them in-between by passing through them or waving his racquet violently. Especially to Horio and the others.

~_~;;;;;

OR how more people kept on coming up to him to ask about what was wrong with him and Inui. He found out that his glasses-wearing sempai also seemed to be asking almost all the people in campus for data of none other than him! (And it looks like he threatened them with his killer Inui juice too once in a while ^^;;)

0_0;;;;;;;;;

EVEN Kawamura sempai has another word in his vocabulary when he held the tennis racquet!

His vocab list: GREATO!! , BURNING!!! VICTORY!!!, BABY!!, --- ECHIZEN!!

0_o;;;;;; *falls down*

When practice ended, the poor freshman did naught but run as fast as he can from the courts. He paled when he heard someone finally noticing his fast disappearance, which only made him run faster. What the hell happened back there??? Only Tezuka was acting normal! Ryuzaki-sensei also noticed on how different their performance was and decided to end 1 hour earlier, which earned quite a rare bombardment of complaints from the regulars except him and their cold captain. Well, one thing's for sure; he won't be looking at any of his teammates the same way again! Especially Momoshiro's 'offers' for a bike ride to his house.

@_@

TBC.
A/N: Well, I still think that this chap is short though it *is* about 1-2 pages longer than usual ^_^ Anyway, hope you liked that one and you aren't asleep while reading it ~_~;;. Aww man, I feel sorry for Ryoma-sama! Eh? The meaning of the title? It's, um, how do you say. flirt? ^^;

Echzen: Damn right you should be!

M-i: Ack! Here they come!

Echzen: *looks back* Wha-! Already?? *runs away*

Please read and review!!

-M-i-