Thanks for the reviews, minna! ^_^ Just reading the reviews made my day… which I think scared a lot of ppl O.o;;;; To be truthful… I have no idea just yet of this will be a Karupin-seme or Ryoma-seme fic, but if am basing it on the reviews… it might be a Karupin-seme fic ^^;;;;. Oh, and before you read, Carmela, *pulls down eyelid and blows raspberry* U can blame your cousin for it :P it's not my fault I got the idea from what she said :P. Anyway, sorry for the delay, here's chapter 2, everyone. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Look at chapter 1
~*~

Chapter 2: On the Street Courts

"Oi, Echizen!" Momoshiro's voice boomed from the gates of the Echizen household. "Come on, we won't get any courts if you take too long."

"Come on, Karupin. We're going." Ryoma called.

"Mrryoma?" A quiet voice asked, making Ryoma look back. "Uh, Karupin, did you just say my name?"

"Ryo…ma…Ka…ru…pin." Karupin said slowly, trying his best to pronounce the words properly. Ryoma stared at his former pet and thought, 'So I guess he can talk… well, sort of.' "Let's go, Karupin."

"Hai!" Karupin replied placing the baseball cap that Ryoma had given him. The two boys walked out of the house and greeted the loud senpai.

"Finally, you came out. Eh? Who's the kid?" Momoshiro asked as he saw the boy beside Echizen. Ryoma froze. He didn't even think about what he was going to say to his senpai. He was about to say something, but was cut off by…

"Karupin."

"Ah, charming name for a kid. So is he coming with us?" Momo asked, Ryoma then replied by walking ahead.

"Yes he is. Come on, Momo-senpai. You said so yourself, we won't be able to get a court for ourselves if we're late."

The three boys kept walking. Well, Momoshiro riding his bike and both Ryoma and Karupin were walking behind him. Karupin looked at the high ledges and was very tempted to jump up. Just as he was about to take his leap, he felt a firm tug on his collar. He looked back, tilted his head inquiringly towards Ryoma.

"Karupin, you're not a cat right now." Ryoma whispered, so that only the two of them can hear it. "I don't want you jumping up ledges, okay? Also, promise me that you won't run off while I'm playing with my senpai's okay?"

"Hai." Karupin murmured, his shoulders drooping and his posture slumped. Ryoma noticed this and sighed in defeat.

"Hey, don't feel bad. I just don't want you getting hurt, alright?" Ryoma said with a light smile, taking off the other boy's hat and playfully ruffling his hair. "Now come on. Let's go before Momo-senpai wonders why we're stalling."

"Hai!" Karupin replied, his steps were practically skipping all the way to the street tennis courts.

~*~
"Nanjaro hoi hoi!" Eiji Kikumaru said as he did a passing cross-shot between the two opponents they had on the courts.

"Game and match, Kikumaru-Oishi pair. 6-1."

"As expected from Seigaku's Golden Pair." One of their opponents commented. "I knew they were strong. Man, we've been flattened after that one game."

"Yeah," his partner commented as they were walking away from the courts. "They probably gave us the first game so that we can save face."

His partner shook his head. "No, your Bullet Serve was great! Too bad they were able to read and react to it after the first game."

On the sidelines Oishi was passing Eiji his towel and Eiji passed him his water bottle. The three boys that were walking came up to them and greeted the Golden Pair.

"Eiji-senpai, Oishi-senpai! Sorry we're late!" Momoshiro greeted. "Echizen was being his usual slow self today and he also brought a guest."

"Hoi? Ochibi brought a guest? You're actually being social in things beside tennis?" Eiji asked as he draped his towel over his racket bag.

"Eiji! Watch what you say!" Oishi scolded. "Suma, Echizen." Oishi then turned to face Karupin to profusely apologize for his partner's brusqueness. Karupin blinked in confusion, but nonetheless accepted the apology. He then placed a finger on his cheek in thought and then tilted his head. 'I wonder why that guy was apologizing… he didn't do or say anything wrong.'

"Yosh! One set match between Ochibi and Momo!" Eiji declared as the two players entered their sides of the courts.

"Which?"

"Smooth." Ryoma replied as Momoshiro started to spin his racket. Within a few seconds, the racket landed on the floor showing "rough".

"I'll take that court and you'll serve first, alright?" Momoshiro said, walking around the net to get to the other court. Ryoma just shrugged his shoulder and walked towards the other court.

"Here I go." Ryoma announced, throwing the ball up in the air in preparation for his Twist Serve. Karupin watched the upcoming match with earnest, excited to see his 'owner' play. Though he had seen Ryoma play before, it was a different feeling watching right now because Ryoma is playing with another opponent and not his oyaji.

"Kshhhh!"

Karupin's cat ears popped up as he heard a familiar sound. He turned his head left and right to look at where it came from. Standing up, he started walking towards the place where he *thinks* he heard the sound came from. Subconsciously, he let go of the cat toy and started to walk away in hopes to find the boy that played with him before.

~*~
"Game and match, Momoshiro. 6-2."

"Hora, hora Echizen. You don't seem like your playing like your usual self." Momoshiro commented." You weren't fighting back. That doesn't seem like you. Not like you at all."

"I know, I know something seems to be wrong, Momo-senpai." Ryoma grumbled irritably, "I just can't seem to fig-"

Ryoma's jaw dropped as he saw the bench that Karupin was sitting on was empty. The green cat toy with a fuzzy yellow head sat peacefully by itself on the bench, opposite to what Ryoma was feeling right now.

"Momo-senpai, I'll be right back." Ryoma said, tossing his racket beside his bag and ran off in some random direction.

"Nya? Where's Ochibi-chan going, Momo?" Eiji asked after taking a long sip from his water bottle. "Unya~ where's the other Ochibi?"

Momoshiro looked up from his spot and looked around. "Hmm… I wonder where that other kid went…?"

~*~
"Karupin! Karupin!" Ryoma called out. "Man, where can that guy be."

Ryoma walked -more like ran- around the tennis courts looking for his former cat. He passed by the vending machines and then contemplated if he wanted to buy his usual juice 'Ponta', or skip the drink and look for his 'guest'. Considering that this was the first time Ryoma had lost Karupin as a human, he decided to skip the drink and continue on looking.

Unbeknownst to him, behind the vending machines and a couple of trees, a young boy with dual colored hair was lying down on the grass, hidden from Ryoma's view. There was Karupin, lying down in the grass, sleeping quietly underneath a tree.

~tsuzuku~

AAH! I just remembered something! I'm asking a favor for anyone who's interested. Considering am not really good at drawing, can anyone please draw human Karupin for me? Onegaishimasu?!?! *runs around while pulling her hair* whew... I think am okay now… Karupin's hair color is the same as his fur color, kk? Well, hope u liked this chapter. Sorry for making Ryoma lose, but hey, something was wrong, so he had a reason. Too bad I didn't really put a lot of Karupin/Ryoma interaction, oh well, there's always next chapter. Ja matta ne!

Ritchie Waterfighter