Disclaimer: If Tenipuri belonged to me, this story would appear in the manga, right? So by inductive reasoning, Tenipuri and all its characters do not belong to me, and I am just borrowing the characters. :( Please cheer me up by reviewing. Arigato!

Notes on text:

************************* marks flashbacks.

Italics generally marks thoughts.

Dialogue spoken in English marked by single quotes.

Arai let the locker room door slam after him. He wanted to send a clear signal: Stay the hell away from me. He was in one of his moods again, and his club mates knew better than to approach him when he got like that. It happened all too often, and the best course of action is to just let him cool down on his own.

            As Arai stormed his way onto the tennis court, the events that took place earlier in the day kept replaying in his head.

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            It had taken him weeks to get up the courage to decide to talk to her, to ignore her friends who stared and whispered when he pulled her aside. He was having trouble articulating himself. All he could do was imagine how great he'd look with one of the most the beautiful and popular girls in the class on his arm. He was so lost in his daydream that he barely heard her speak.

            "What?"

            "I said I'm sorry Arai-kun," she said.

            "What?" He still hadn't snapped completely back into reality.

            "I said I'm sorry I can't go out with you, " she replied, a little impatient now. "I kinda like somebody else," she added quietly.

            Arai felt his anger rising. "Who?!" he demanded.

The reputation Arai had for his bad temper was wide-spread and well-known. He must take her for an idiot to expect an answer to that question. "It's not really any of your business," she said brusquely. "Look, Arai-kun, I am flattered, but, well, I'm just really, really sorry. I have to go… class will start soon." She walked away from him and was quickly assimilated into her waiting circle of friends, who began chattering excitedly. He rushed off to his class to avoid them.

            He was fuming. The entire day, a trial of whispers and chuckles followed him wherever he went. He just knew that they were talking about him, and he did not appreciate that. In fact, it infuriated him. Arai kept his eye on her the entire day to see who could possibly be his rival. He wondered how he had missed those quick glances she kept throwing to a certain boy in the class.

Hmpf, that's using the term "boy" loosely.

The apparent object of her affections was the so-called prince of the class. A member of student council, he was a soft-spoken thing with effeminate features. He knew many girls went for that type of boy, but he did not understand why. Hell, Arai had mistaken him for a girl the first time he saw him. If it hadn't been for boy's uniform, he would have never known. He had hated that rich, spoiled brat ever since that first day, and of course, now the sight of him pissed Arai off even more.

*************************

            The school day had ended, and he was still fuming. He had changed quickly so that he would be the first one on the court. He wanted to be alone so he could take out some of his anger on a few tennis balls. That was why he became even more pissed off when he caught sight of an unfamiliar figure already on the courts.

This was definitely not someone in the club. Arai gave this person an once-over and made a quick assessment – he was a quite bit shorter and smaller than himself, wearing a cap that covered half of his face, baggy warm-ups. A skinny hand protruding from the baggy clothes was moving up and down quickly, grasping a tennis racket, bouncing a tennis ball up and down.

PYON PYON PYON PYON

            "Hey you. What are you doing on the court? We're using the courts for practice. Only members are allowed here," Arai demanded at the stranger.

He's not even looking at me…. Arrogant brat! Suddenly, Arai had a flashback to the first day of tennis club, the day he was humiliated by that damned first-year, Echizen Ryoma. Of course, the memory that day only incensed Arai further. What a horrible day this has been! I can't believe I now have to deal with this jackass!

"Who the hell do you think you are, you damned first-year brat?!"

The shorter form turned towards Arai with a tilt of the head, but still said nothing as the tennis racket continued moving up and down.

PYON PYON PYON PYON

By this time, a vein on Arai's forehead had appeared and was threatening to pop. Good, I was looking for a good fight! Arai stepped forward to grab the shorter one's free arm.

            Takeshi Momoshiro and Ryoma Echizen hurried to the locker room.

            "Hurry up, Echizen, or we'll be late and Oishi-sempai will make us run laps!" the taller boy told the smaller one.

            "It's your fault Momo-sempai. You were the one who wanted to stop by the cafeteria first!"

            "But I was hungry," Momo whined. "I hardly had anything for lunch! And what way is that to talk to your sempai? Show me some respect here!"

            "Mada mada dane," the boy replied, right before he slammed into older boy. "Momo-sempai! What's wrong with you?!"

            He turned to look at what his sempai was looking at, and he realized why Momo had stopped so abruptly. Of course, standing in the middle of main court were Arai and a stranger. The former looked like he was about to grab and hit the smaller form, while the latter looked on, nonchalantly bouncing a ball on a tennis racket.

            The air of indifference that exuded from that punk, even while being held by the arm, infuriated Arai. He's still bouncing that stupid ball. Show-off! He could practically see the smirk on the brat's face, even though, in reality, the cap had obscured everything from his view. He pulled his fist back, ready to wipe that smirk off.

            "Arai!! Stop!" Momo yelled, as he ran towards the two. Ryoma followed behind slowly.

Arai stopped to look at the boy that was approaching. He let go of the shorter form's arm, unsatisfied.

Dammit. Damn damn damn damn damn! As much as he wanted to send the kid flying to the fence, he wouldn't dare do it in front of Momoshiro. Arai was reasonably certain that this boy would be Seigaku's tennis team's next captain. Well it sure isn't going to be the mamushi and it can't be the first-year, Arai thought. He could not afford to make an enemy out of him. That, and the fact that Momo was known for being a powerhouse had not escape Arai.

"What are you doing Arai? Picking on cute little kids?" He turned to look at the person in the hat, who was looking at him. Or at least that's what it seemed like to Momo. He couldn't tell since the cap covered so much. He looks like Echizen, Momo thought amusedly. Well, he's a little taller than Echizen.

"Momo! This brat was disrespecting…."

"Ryoma!" was the first word out of the short person's mouth, interrupting Arai in the middle of his defense.

Ryoma looked up at the shortest of the three people standing in front of him, and a slight smirk appeared on his face.

            "Oi Echizen, you know this first-year?" Momo inquired.

            "I'm not a first-year."

            "What?!" Momo and Arai said at the same time.

            Momo saw the smirk on Ryoma's face grow into an obnoxious grin.

            "I said I am not a first-year. I'm a second-year."

            "No way!" Momo exclaimed in amazement. "You're the same year as us?!?" Arai just stood, not convinced. Suddenly, on an inspired thought, he reached out and grabbed the cap.

From that feminine voice, Arai had expected long flowing hair to fall out from the hat, and a beautiful face to look up at him. Instead what appeared was a scowling face (Damn, he is a boy, Arai thought) and black hair that was tightly held in a bun (What type of queer-ass wears his hair in a bun?)

"Huh? A bun?" Momo asked confusedly.

Giving a sigh, the source of their amazement turned to the first-year and asked, 'They don't get it, do they? Are your friends kinda slow?'

PYON PYON PYON PYON

'Yes.'

'Nice to see you're as blunt and talkative as ever. So, Ryoma, how are you? It's been a long time. I haven't spoken to you since we were on the podium for the last championship before you left.'

Ryoma made a sound of indifference in response. Meanwhile, Momo looked at the two people in front of him, very confused and a little put off by the fact that Ryoma had not explained himself. Momo was no dummy. He did okay in his classes, but English was not one of his strong suits. He could only catch a few words of their conversation; they were speaking too rapidly for him to understand everything. He turned to look at Arai, only to find him quaking with anger.

"You stupid kid, who the hell are you?"

For a response, Arai found a pair of big brown eyes boring holes into him. Arai studied the features of the face that held those eyes and found them entirely too feminine. It reminded him of the reason he had been pissed off the entire day. I don't care if Momo turns against me. I want to wipe that smirk off his arrogant face. "What the hell is with those eyes? Don't take that attitude with me! What the hell kind of boy are you supposed to be? You look more like a girl than a boy! People like you make me sick!"

He pulled his arm back, ready to hit him when he heard a soft, cheery voice ask, "What was that?"

Arai spun around to see the smiling tensai, third-year Syuusuke Fuji. Shit! Shit, shit, shit!!!! If Arai had been afraid of starting something in front of Momo, he was absolutely terrified of doing it in front of Fuji. It was not simply because he was an upperclassman, but well, the short quiet boy who always wore a smile scared him. Arai might have a temper, but even he was not stupid enough to cross the tensai. No one was.

"Ah, Fuji-sempai! I was just teaching this first-year to show us upperclassmen some respect."

"I said I.AM.A.SECOND.YEAR! What part of that don't you get?" the frustrated figure asked the taller boys and then turned to the shortest boy, 'Ryoma, am I not saying it right? I mean, I know my Japanese is a bit rusty, but I know I can say something as simple as that!!' The tennis racket was now moving faster, harder.

PYONPYONPYON

"You are saying it right," Ryoma responded in Japanese. Not that anyone could tell by his expression, but he was very amused by the situation.

"Ne, Echizen. Care to introduce us to your friend?" Momo asked.

"Not really."

"You really don't think of me as your sempai, do you?"

"Why should I?"

"Why you…"

"Momoshiro, Echizen, Tsuyoshi! Why aren't you guys dressed yet?" a sharp stinging voice barked at them.

The five looked toward the source of the voice. "Baasan! Uh, we were just going! Heh heh" Momo chuckled. "Come on Echizen."

"Ryusaki-sensei, I can't wear this?"

"No, go put on your uniform. Then come to my office."

With a small sigh, a slender hand was extended towards Arai. "My hat."

Arai huffed and handed over the cap.

Fuji smiled as he watched the figure walk off the court. Hmm, this should be interesting.

Momo changed into his regular's uniform in record time once they reached the locker room. As he put his school uniform in his cubby, he turned to first-year, "Hey Echizen, what's the story on your friend? Where did he go anyway? Didn't baachan tell him to change? I was going to ask him some questions."

"…"

A/N: Is it obvious? Anyway, please review.

Next chapter" The identity of the mysterious person is revealed!