Standard disclaimer: Tennis no Ohjisama belongs to Konomi-sensei, not me.

For anyone who doesn't know, Yumiko is Fuji's sister, and Sasabe is the guy from the first episode of the show. His family has an encounter with the Seigaku tennis club in the OAV where they get humiliated by the team.

Thank you to those who are still reviewing. ^__^

Some strong language. I know the insults in the Sasabe scene aren't really insulting. I'm sorry! I guess I wouldn't make a good bully. ^^()

"Thank you for today!" Everyone dispersed, getting ready to go home and relax on their day off after a hard practice.

The week had passed without much more major commotion. Aya had begun to wear her normal, baggy warm-ups to practice instead of the girls' uniform. She felt more at ease with the change, and the pants allowed her to blend in better with the boys' team. The majority of the members in the boys' tennis club had come to terms with the presence of the girl. Those who did not like the girl kept their feelings to themselves after that little outburst during her match with Arai. Even Arai was beginning to gain a grudging respect for the girls' skills. Not since her encounter with Inui's Penal-tea had the girl made another mistake during practice.

Aya changed quickly and headed for her aunt's house, her home for her stay in Japan. Just as she was approaching the entrance of the school, she caught sight of a group of about six girls from her class, girls whom she recognized as members of the prince's and Oishi's fan clubs. They seemed to be arguing amongst themselves, but stopped when they saw her.

Just wonderful, she thought as she walked by them.

Just when she thought she was going to get away without a confrontation, one of the girls called out to her.

In an instant, they had formed a circle around her.

"Elizabeth Ayazumi Tsuyoshi," one of the girls spat at her. "Why are you going after Oishi-sempai if you're already with the prince, slut?"

Aya rolled her eyes. There were so many things wrong with what she just said that Aya wondered if it was worth it to correct her.

"Just leave our prince alone if you're with someone else," one girl pleaded.

"How could you two-time our prince like that?!" a girl, looking like she was on the verge of tears, yelled.

"Oishi-sempai deserves better than you!"

"I heard that she's after the first-year regular too!"

"Who do you think you are, Coming here and trying to steal all the boys?"

"You can't have them both. Which one do you want? Answer us!"

"We ought to kick your ass for being so heartless, bitch!" the biggest one sneered.

Aya faced the one who just spoke. "Yeah? Go ahead." Aya smirked at her. He's right; why should I care about people like them? She took off her tennis bag and placed it on the ground. Her patience having run out, she would have been more than happy to show them exactly why she was not scared of them.

The taller one reached out and grabbed the shorter girl by her shirt. The taller girl pulled her arm back in anticipation of throwing a punch into Aya.

Fuji watched as the group of girls surrounded the female tennis player. The girls' regular looked unconcerned at the center of the circle. He was too far away to hear what they were saying, but the expressions on their faces were unmistakable. They were yelling in frustration at the one in the middle. For her part, Aya simply stood there and made no replies. Then one of the girls grabbed her. To Fuji, it was strangely reminiscent of Aya's first encounter with Arai. He could see that she was still wearing a smirk on her face. He began walking towards the group.

"She doesn't deserve either one."

"We need to protect our prince and Oishi-sempai from people like her!"

The girls crowded behind that biggest girl.

Aya narrowed her eyes at the girl holding onto her. The hands at her side curled up into fists. Well, so much for that no-fighting bet. Dammit, I really should stop making bets against my brothers.

Suddenly, the taller girl let her go and backed away. Aya looked at her. Was that a blush on her face?

Were those blushes on all of the girls' faces?

Then the silly grins appeared. Some of the girls looked startled, while others fixed their hair and put on their most polite faces.

Aya rolled her eyes at the other girls' reactions. I wonder who he is.

"Fuji-sempai!" one of the girls said in a silly voice.

Aya turned around and was startled to find the boy with chestnut brown hair had approached her without triggering any of her senses and was nearly beside her. Except this boy did not seem like the same boy that she had been in practice with for the last week. His trademark smile was gone; his deep blue eyes had an air of gravity. For a brief moment, the tensai looked frighteningly dangerous.

But when the two tennis players made eye contact, the smile reappeared, and his eyes closed. Without a word, he walked off, leaving all the girls speechless. They watched in silence as he headed off campus.

He had just gone out of sight when Aya realized that he had been carrying two tennis bags. She took off after him, leaving behind the other girls who were still awestruck.

"Fuji-sempai, wait! Give me back my bag!"

--------------------------------

            Fuji was in an excellent mood as he walked toward the tennis court park. His hand clutched the tennis bag slung over his shoulder.

As he approached the steps that led up to the courts, he caught sight of three figures sitting at the foot of the steps. What surprised Fuji was that he recognized one of them. It was the high schooler they had encountered during the team's training excursion into the mountains, Sasabe. When Fuji walked closer, one of Sasabe's companions pointed to him, and all three looked at him. The three whispered to each other and got up to block Fuji's way as he neared the foot of the steps.

"Why, it's Fuji Syusuke, the famous tennis tensai of Seigaku," Sasabe said derisively.

"Sasabe-san." Fuji did not let his smile falter one bit.

Being as easily provoked as he was, Sasabe's temper flared at Fuji's coolness. No, the memory of the humiliation he and his family suffered at the hands of the Seigaku tennis team had not faded, but he was looking at one soft-looking middle school student, facing three high-schoolers all by himself. What could that boy do?

"Hey, sweetie. What's a pretty little thing like you doing all by yourself?" one of them said with a lecherous smile.

Fuji paid him no attention. He was quite used to this. Fuji did not think that he much resembled a girl, but his slender frame, slight stature, and quietness had often given people the wrong impression. But the tensai knew that this was not the case here. The three older boys were meaning to provoke him, a mental battle of will and wit to undermine the determination of the short tennis player.

And if this were purely a psychological battle, Fuji knew that he would not lose.

"He's not your type," Sasabe said.

"'He??'" the other said with feigned surprise.

"Oh, I know he looks like a little girl, but don't let his girly voice or that effeminate face fool you. This is the famous tensai of the Seigaku boys' tennis team."

Still, the Seigaku third-year smiled. It was the type of smile that sent shivers down one's back before sending one running. That is, if one were not as dense with stubborn determination as Sasabe was. He wanted revenge, and presented with what was, to him, a perfect opportunity to exact it, he was not going to back down.

"Speaking of the fags, where are your little boyfriends, huh?"

            No answer.

            Sasabe kept pushing; he must have a weak point. "Are you going on a date with your captain, Fuji-chan? Oh wait, didn't he break his arm or something during a tennis match and have to go to Germany to rehabilitate? Oh, so it must be that 'burning' boy that got all bloodied during his match. Wait, didn't he hurt himself in that tournament too? How incredibly careless of them..."

            Fuji's smile faded. "I think, Sasabe-san, you should be more careful when speaking about my teammates," he said in a low voice.

Bingo, Sasabe thought proudly. "Oh, and didn't they both lose, too? That wasn't a good day for your team, wasn't it?" he growled at the boy. "So which of the fruits on your team are you meeting here, queer?"

"Sasab--" Fuji started in an icier voice, but was interrupted by a shout coming from the side.

"Syusuke!" Fuji heard just before he was glomped by the source of the cry. Arms circled around his neck as the female form pressed against him in a hug.

            "A-Aya," Fuji stammered in an uncharacteristic show of a lack of grace. He looked at the girl who had latched herself onto him.

"I'm so sorry I'm late!" she said, pulling back ever so slightly to look straight into his eyes.

Fuji understood and smiling, placed his hands on her waist. "It's okay," he said in an assuring voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry; first I missed the train, and then I got lost. You must have been waiting for such a long time!"

"No, I haven't been waiting long."

"Still, I'll have to find a way to make it up to you, Syusuke," she smiled at him as she brushed her finger on his nose. The boy's chuckled in response.

Sasabe watched this scene playing out in front of him. The boy and girl paid no attention to him as they embraced each other and had this sickening little exchange. It was disgusting. He gave a slight snort.

With her arms still around Fuji's neck, the girl slowly turned her head toward the trio of high school boys as if noticing them for the first time. "Oh, I didn't see your friends over there," she said coolly. Aya gave Sasabe a quick, icy glance-over before turning her face back toward her sempai and asked, "Did I interrupt something?"

Fuji did not answer, but turned to face the high-school boys. The smile had disappeared from his face, and his eyes flashed open for a second before narrowing dangerously at the trio of older boys. It was the type of look that seemed to see past any façade, one left suggested that there was something horrible to come. Sasabe's two friends started to fidget nervously at the sight of Fuji's not oft-seen glare. Sasabe himself pulled back slightly when he saw Fuji's eyes boring holes into him.

Hell, even Aya's first instinct was to pull away, had not she caught herself and realized that she was in the middle of a show. And the show had to go on.

She turned to face the high-schoolers as well, with an evil smirk on her face.

"Uh, w--we have to run," Sasabe stammered. The three backed away until they were a safe distance from the Seigaku students before turning and running off.

The middle-schoolers watched as the older kids fled. Just after they disappeared around the corner, a small chuckle escaped from the girl. Fuji smiled as the chuckles grew into giggles. "Cowards," Aya said as she turned her head to look at her sempai. She felt the heat rise to her face as she realized just how close she was to the tensai and what a compromising position she was in. She moved her arms from around the boy's neck.

"Sorry, Fuji-sempai! I shouldn't have been so presumptuous and acted so forward!"

"Uh, no, it's all right. Thank you, Aya-kun, for saving me."

"Saving you?" Aya replied with a smirk. "Don't ask me why, but I was actually trying to save them. You looked quite scary, and they looked like they needed an opportunity to run away."

"You heard everything?"

"Just the last part. Fuji-sempai is very protective of his teammates, ne?"

Fuji did not respond, but simply looked at her with opened eyes.

Such beautiful eyes. That's the prettiest shade of blue I've ever seen, Aya thought. But why is he staring at me like that? Creepy.

Perhaps it was that Fuji could really read minds or perhaps it was the legendary special sense that made Fuji a tensai, but immediately after that thought flashed through Aya's head, Fuji put on his normal smile again, and his eyes disappeared.

"You're dressed up. Are you going on a date?"

"Huh?" She looked down and realized that she was dressed up. Well, dressed up for her, anyway. Her hair was tied up with a ribbon rather than her usual elastic band. She was wearing a skirt that flowed down to mid-calf, the only skirt (other than her tennis and school uniforms) she owned, in fact.

"'A date'? I guess you can call it that," she answered light-heartedly. "I'm on my way to a big family gathering."

Fuji looked her, head slightly tilted in puzzlement. "You look very pretty today, Aya-kun," he said in a louder-than-usual voice.

Aya blinked, and it was at this moment that she realized that she was still very close to the tensai, whose hands were still resting comfortably on her waist. A slight blush spread across her face as she murmured self-consciously, "Thanks, Fuji-sempai." She brought her left arm up to look at her watch, "Oh no, I'm late! I have to go now!"

Fuji released her as she pulled away. Having ran a few steps off, she turned and smiling, waved to him, "See you later, Fuji-sempai!"

Fuji returned the smile with one of his own and waved goodbye to the girl who was now running off again.

A smirk appeared on the face of the tensai.

"Hello, Yuuta," Fuji loudly addressed the shocked boy at the top of the stairs behind him without looking at him. The tensai had been aware of his brother's presence for several minutes by this time. He had arrived just after Sasabe and gang took off and had been watching the exchange between his brother and the girl.

"A--aniki…" Yuuta said softly, almost in a whisper. Then he clenched his fist as a vein on his forehead began to throb. He had caught that smirk in his aniki's voice and was certain that the same was now gracing the elder Fuji's face.

Fuji turned and walked up the stairs. When he reached the top, he said to his brother with a huge smile on his face, "Yuuta, shall we began our date now?"

"Idiot, don't call it a date!! It's not a date!" Yuuta's face grew bright red as he stormed off. His brother chuckled and followed behind.

Fuji hadn't planned on spending his one free day on the courts. However, when Yumiko asked him to bring a package to Yuuta, he couldn't ignore the opportunity knocking on his door. Fuji used the one thing that he knew Yuuta would not be able to resist: he invited Yuuta to the tennis courts.

            It had been a long time since he had spent some quality time with his little brother. Yuuta had been there to watch the matches at Kantou, but circumstances had prevented Fuji from really speaking to his little brother, whom he missed dearly. Sure, it had been fun unnerving Aya and the girls from the day before, but it was nothing compared to the fun he could have teasing Yuuta. His reactions were just so predictable. That boy was as readily flustered as Oishi and blushed as easily as Kaidoh.

            And Yuuta hated himself for it.

And he hated his aniki for preying on it.

Fuji knew that it may be a little cruel, but hey, what's the good of having a cute baby brother if you can't torture him once in a while?

Fuji was slightly disappointed to find Yuuta had invited some other people along for their little get-together. Specifically, three of his teammates had accompanied him to the tennis courts: Atsushi Kisarazu, Shinya Yanagizawa, and Hajime Mizuki.

It seemed like the brothers never spent any time alone anymore. Fuji wistfully remembered the days when his little brother idolized him and followed him everywhere. But he was also grateful for any time he had with Yuuta. Anyway, now he had another chance to have some fun pushing the buttons of one Hajime Mizuki.

Mizuki knew Yuuta wanted to play against his aniki, but he couldn't allow that. Truth be told, if there were going to be a singles match, Mizuki would have liked the chance for some revenge against the Seigaku tensai. However, there was only one court and five players. Through the luck of a draw, Fuji was paired up with Kisarazu against Yuuta and Yanagizawa in the tennis match, and Mizuki was once again left to referee.

At least I can collect some data on him, Mizuki thought.

Soon after the set began, he realized just how futile that was going to be, as the tensai was obviously not taking the game too seriously. To the dismay of the St. Rudolph data man, Fuji seemed more interested in chatting with his brother from across the net during the game than playing tennis. This didn't upset Fuji's head-banded partner though: they were still winning 5-2.

"Are you having fun today, Yuuta?"

Kisarazu easily returned Yanagizawa's shot.

"Shut up and play seriously!"

Fuji frowned in a half-serious manner. "You used to want to talk with me all the time."

Yanagizawa hit the ball back toward Kisarazu.

"Why don't you talk to her instead?" Yuuta replied, running to catch the shot just hit by Kisarazu.

"'Her'? Who 'her'?" Fuji responded innocently. He moved to cover the side left open by his partner.

"That ugly wench you were holding earlier," Yuuta grunted as he hit the ball toward his brother.

"Gee, how many times do I have to apologize? I was only a couple of minutes late!" the Seigaku girls' regular pleaded to her companion.

"Fine, fine, just shut up already. I'm sick of hearing your bad American accent," the tall young man replied.

"Like yours is perfect."

As the pair walked, a fence came into view.

"So this is the great secret place you were dragging me off to? A tennis court?"

"You said I got to choose, so shut up about it! Besides, it's not just a tennis court. I saw one of my sempais come here earlier with tennis gear. If you're lucky, you'll maybe get to see him play!"

He groaned. "I don't understand what you see in that game. It's so boring."

"Hey! Like baseball's real exciting. 'Ooh, I stand out in the middle of right field where no one ever hits the ball!'"

"Watch it," he warned. He walked to Aya's side at the fence.

"Oh, come on. See the one with the brown hair?" Aya pointed to the tensai. "That's the guy from my school."

"The one with his eyes closed?"

"Yeah."

"Why's he smiling?"

"I dunno. He's always like that."

"How does he see?"

"Good question. I've been trying to figure that out myself."

"He's not doing anything. It looks like he's just chatting with that other kid."

"Hmm, you're right. But he's really good… really, really good when he wants to be."

Just then, they could see Fuji's expression change in response to something the taller brown-haired boy said. There was a flash of seriousness as he returned a shot from the boy with an X-shaped scar on his forehead. Everybody's jaw dropped when the ball landed in his opponents' court and, instead of bouncing up, crawled across the ground.

"An--aniki…" Yuuta stammered in astonishment.

"The Swallow Return…" Mizuki mouthed. He quickly recovered. One of Fuji's famous Triple Counters. Huh, what Yuuta said must have really pissed him off for him to pull out that move. Mizuki snickered. I will get your data yet, Fuji-kun. "Game and match, Kisarazu-Fuji pair, six games to two."

            The announcement by Mizuki snapped Fuji back into reality. He looked and saw the shock on his little brother's face. Fuji's hitting the Swallow Return was purely accidental, an atypical show of anger for him. He turned to Mizuki and could see the calculations going through the data man's head. "Maa," Fuji chuckled.

"Oh my god! Did you see that? What the hell was that?!"

"That… must have been one of Fuji-sempai's famed special moves, the Triple Counters." Aya replied, still a little shocked from witnessing such a shot.

"That was so fucking cool!!"

"And you thought tennis was boring," Aya smirked. "But will you stop your shouting already?" she admonished.

It was too late; all eyes on the tennis court had turned toward the source of commotion.

"Aya-kun." Fuji smiled as he walked toward the pair at the fence.

Sheepishly, Aya dragged her companion onto the court. "Hello." She surveyed the group on the court. Behind Fuji was the boy with the scar, two boys with sleek bluish hair, with one wearing a headband, and a tall boy with reddish hair that, for reasons she couldn't place her finger on exactly, reminded her of Donald Duck.

"Why don't you introduce us to your kanojo*, Fuji-kun?" Mizuki said when he approached the Seigaku students. Something about his voice sent shivers down Aya's back.

Fuji pointedly ignored the request. He was acting as if he had heard nothing. Mizuki clenched his fists. That bastard!

The tensai looked at his teammate and her older companion and smiled. "How is your date going, Aya-kun?"

"Huh?" the young man with Aya asked.

Aya sniggered. "Just fine, Fuji-sempai. This is my older brother, Ken."

"Kenichi Tsuyoshi, nice to meet you," he offered his hand to Fuji.

"Tsuyoshi-san," Fuji took his hand and shook it.

"You don't have to be so formal with him, Fuji-sempai. Just call him Ken."

"Yeah, Ken's fine."

"Ahh, okay, Ken-san."

Fuji grabbed Yuuta's arm and pulled him next to himself. "This is my little brother," Fuji said, smiling.

"I am not your little brother! I am me, I am Fuji Yuuta! Fuji YUUTA!" Yuuta grew bright red in frustration.

Ken stole a look at his sister, but decided not to comment.

Smiling, Fuji continued, "He goes to St. Rudolph's, and he's in the tennis club there. He's a second-year like you."

"Hello, nice to meet you, Fuji Yuuta-kun," Aya said, putting emphasis on the last part.

"Uh, hello," Yuuta blushed slightly, realizing what a scene he had just made about his name. Kisarazu cleared his throat. "These are my sempais."

Kisarazu gave a quick greeting, while Yanagizawa sidled up next to Aya and asked, "I'm Shinya Yanagizawa, da-ne. Do you want to go on a date with me, da-ne?"

"Excuse me? What did you just say to my little sister?" Ken said in a threatening voice, causing Yanagizawa to pull back slightly. Aya chuckled at overprotective brother act.

            Then he spoke up; "I am Hajime Mizuki, a member of the special reinforcement group at St. Rudolph's. It's so nice to meet you." There was something so unctuous about his voice that it felt almost sinister. Mizuki stole a look at the tensai. Finally, some useful data on him!

            "I'm Ayazumi Tsuyoshi, a second-year on Seigaku girls' tennis team."

            "Ahh. So, how long have you known Fuji-kun, Aya-chan? I don't think I've heard him mention you at all…" Mizuki asked, seemingly innocently. It was a perfect chance for him to gather as much information on the tensai as he possibly can.

            "I've never heard him mention you either," Aya replied. "But I've only known him for a week."

            "Oh," Mizuki said disappointedly. Was that a smirk on Fuji's face that he just saw?

            "So, are you guys going to be playing in the mixed doubles tournament?"

            "Uh, no. Our school is all-boys."

            "Oh."

            For a moment, there was just silence.

            "Hey, Fuji-chan," Aya's brother spoke up. "That last shot you did was so cool! You should teach it to her," he gestured to his sister. "She doesn't have any special shots or anything."

            Aya elbowed her brother. "Shut up, Ken."

            "What? Hey, I'm your older brother. Show me some respect here."

            "No."

            "What do you mean 'no'?"

            "No. 'N-O.' Uh-uh, no way."

            He gave his little sister a little shove on her arm, causing her to lose balance for a second. "See what I have to deal with? I bet your little brother doesn't treat you like that, right Fuji-chan?"

            "I AM NOT HIS LITTLE BROTHER!"

            "Oh right. I forgot about that. Sorry, uh…" Ken hesitated. Damn, what was his name again?

            Yuuta gritted his teeth as he made a fist. What was so hard about his name that people just can't seem to remember it?

            "Yuuta," Aya reminded her brother, surprising Yuuta out of his anger. Aya felt bad for him; with two accomplished athletes for older brothers, she knew exactly he might be feeling.

            "Ah, right, Yuuta-chan. Sorry, sorry."

            "What have you been doing in college? You can't remember anything anymore." At this, her brother gave Aya a punch on her arm. "Ow," she whined.

            The boys exchanged glances; it's been a long time since they've seen a brother and sister pair act so unsibling-like. Fuji spoke to break the tension. "Where do you go to school, Ken-san?"

            "I'm a sophomore at Stanford."

            "Stanford! Isn't that in America, da-ne?" Yanagisawa exclaimed, asking for all the St. Rudolph students.

            "Yeah… Ken and I are from America," Aya answered cautiously.

            "America… wow." That explains a lot.

            "Hey, Aya, I hate to interrupt this, but we have to leave or we're going to be late."

            "Oh right! Let's go then! It was nice meeting you all. See you tomorrow, Fuji-sempai."

            "Nice meeting you. Bye," Ken said to the younger boys.

"Come on, Ken. Let's finish our date." Aya, grinning, hooked her arm around her brother's arm. The man shook his head slightly with a sigh, and the two walked away.

The boys all stared as the brother and sister walked off. The St. Rudolph boys felt slightly rattled by the strangeness of the two Americans they had just met. Fuji, however, watched wistfully, slightly jealous that his relationship with his brother was hardly that close. This melancholy quickly disappeared as Fuji decided that he liked the relationship he and his brother had.

"Let's finish our date, Yuuta."

"IT'S NOT A DATE, BAKA!!!"

*kanojo – female friend. It just doesn't sound right with the translated version.

A/N: Wow, this story has gotten off-track. (I'm kinda losing interest like most people.) It's going back to the team in the next chapter. Thanks to all the people who have read and/or reviewed!!!!

Next: A special guest appearance by some very special people. :-)