Disclaimer: I don't own any of Prince of Tennis. If I did, I'd retire from working and just write fanfics all day. Too bad.

In the Middle

"Ne, what did you call me out here for?" Echizen asked in non-chalant tone. "Did you want to play a match?"

"Eh? Ah, no no...well maybe later. I actually needed to talk to you about something, Echizen-kun."

"Hnn?" Ryoma adjusted his tennis bag. "What is it?"

The brown-haired tennis player lowered his tennis bag and sat down on the bench. "Anou…I…You were the only one who could possibly help me with this one."

Ryoma sat down as well. "Help with what?"

Fuji Yuuta took a deep breath and grasped his hands in front of him. "You see…Um…Mizuki-san…and…I…well…"

Ryoma's eyes widened slight in interest upon hearing Saint Rudolph's manager's name.

"…Anou…we started dating…and my broth—"

The now freshman at Seigaku high suddenly interrupted. "Nani???"

"—er for several…Ah…Yeah. It started during my last year as junior high." Yuuta explained with a reddened expression.

Ryoma straightened up. "Um, well congratulations to both of you. So…what does this have to do with me?"

Silence.

Ryoma turned slightly. "Yuuta-sempai?"

Yuuta breathed deeply again and leaned forward, with his arms resting on his elbows. "I kind of need to tell aniki."

"Masaka…" The freshman regular remarked. Ryoma tipped his cap down. "My condolences then after Fuji-sempai is done with terrorizing Mizuki-san."

"Echizen! That's not funny! " Yuuta said. "This is where I need your help." Yuuta tugged on his collar nervously. "I…Aniki…I…I was on the phone with Mizuki-san the other night and…Aniki heard me saying 'stuff' you know…over the phone. After the conversation, he wanted me to tell him who I was seeing." He stood up and paced a bit. "Of course I wasn't going to tell him it was Mizuki-san because I would never hear the end of it. Also, I was worried for Mizuki-san's health."

Ryoma's eyes narrowed and then widened substantially as he started to get an idea where this conversation was headed. "Fuji-sempai…You…You didn't say it was me, did you?"

Yuuta blinked. "No no! I didn't say it was you. At least not directly."

"WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!"

Yuuta backed away from Ryoma. "I…I swear I didn't tell him directly! I was…just describing what…um my 'koibito' looked like…Black hair…Tennis player…Er…about the same age as me…Then, um, I said someone with unbelievable tennis skills…And that aniki will probably lose to him…which I know won't happen but…anyway, well…And…then he suddenly said your name! So please don't tell him, Echizen-kun! I'm begging you!"

Ryoma didn't know if he should purchase a one-way ticket back to the US or kill Yuuta ten times over for making the elder Fuji think he was dating his younger brother. "Why should I do you any favors? I'm going to be a dead tennis player after practice tomorrow."

"No! I mean…I…I have a plan," said Yuuta. "And you're the only one who can help me with it. Really!"

Ryoma grasped his head in irritation as he tried really hard to keep from strangling the younger Fuji-sempia. "Let's hear it."

Yuuta noted that Echizen had somewhat calmed down and sat down next to him again. "Well, it goes like this…"

--

Echizen Ryoma walked nervously to school. After his so-called heart to hear talk with Fuji Yuuta-kun yesterday, he went straight home and asked his father for his American passport. His father, of course, decided that it was a perfect opportunity to coax him into playing a tennis game in order to discern its location. Ryoma lost but Nanjirou realized that he had to put in a lot more effort to beat his son as he seemed really determined to get his US Passport. He wondered why his son had such a sudden urge to leave Japan. For good, it seemed too.

Ryoma felt a shiver creep down his spine as soon as he passed the entrance to Seigaku High.

"Echizen."

Ryoma gripped his tennis bag tightly and forced himself to calm down. 'Relax, he just called you by your name.' His tension increased substantially though as he felt the tensai's hand on his right shoulder.

"I've been looking forward to seeing you today," said Fuji Syuusuke in an awfully cheerful voice. "Ne, I want to ask you something."

Ryoma gulped and pulled away from Fuji-sempai when he felt the hand on his shoulder tighten its grip. "Ah, anou…maybe later, Fuji-sempai. I don't want to be late for morning practice."

Fuji's eyes opened. "Maa, that's too bad," he said in a serious tone. "You see…Yuuta and I had a conversation last night…"

Panic was becoming all too familiar. The younger student forced himself to calm down. If Yuuta-kun's plan was going to work, he needed to be really convincing. "Oh? And what does that have to do with me?"

Fuji's creepy smile suddenly appeared. "Maa, you tell me."

Ryoma feigned confusion and slowly backed away, trying not to be so obvious. "Anou, I have no idea what you're talking about, sempai. Gomen, but practice will be starting soon. Don't you think we should be hurrying up to the lockers already?" Without giving his sempai another chance to say anything, Ryoma briskly walked away into the locker rooms and changed quickly for practice. He would have made a run for it, but his legs shook too much.

--

Ryoma breathed a big sigh of relief when he managed to get out of the locker room without seeing his eerie sempai. He had luckily managed to avoid the upperclassman the whole school day. Thinking about it now, he wondered why in God's name did he agree to help out Yuuta-kun. He didn't exactly owe him anything nor did Yuuta have anything on him. But then Yuuta had to stroke his ego by saying that he was the only one who could do it against Fuji-sempai. His own competitiveness and determination to be the best did him in.

"Ne, Ryoma…" Momoshiro said with concern. "Did you do something…Etoo…Did you do something to upset Fuji-sempai?"

Ryoma stopped himself from flinching. He reminded himself that he was doing Yuuta-sempai a favor. "Ah, not that I recall. Why?"

Momoshiro hushed his voice. "He's been giving you that serious look all day. Like he's thinking of so many ways to…terrorize you."

Ryoma felt sweat form on his forehead. "I'm sure you're imagining things."

"OCHIBI!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!?!?!" Kikumaru Eiji pounced and tackled Ryoma to the ground. "ARE YOU INSANE?!?!?!?"

"Itai!" Ryoma gritted his teeth in pain. "Kikumaru-sempai, why did yo—"

"I JUST FOUND OUT THAT YOU'RE DATING FUJI YUUTA!" Kikumaru said animatedly.

Momoshiro gasped. "ECHIZEN! Are you crazy!?!?! That's Fuji-sempai's brother!!"

"Anou, could you get off me now, Kikumaru-sempai?" Ryoma pleaded. He rubbed his head and recollected himself. "Why would you think I was dating Fuji Yuuta-sempai?"

"Oh, you're not?" an amused voice asked.

Ryoma jumped slightly as he recognized his blue-eyed sempai's voice behind him. 'I'm going to die.' "Anou…"

"Fuji-nya! Is it true? Ochibi's dating your younger brother? That's so cute!" Kikumaru cheerily remarked. "It's a good thing it's Ochib then, nya!"

Momoshiro blinked. "It is? For who? Echizen looks like he's about to p—"

Ryoma grabbed his racket and walked towards the exit. "I'm going out to the tennis courts. See you all later."

"Just a minute." As he was passing Fuji-sempai, his senior spoke in a low voice. "Echizen. I want to play you today."

Ryoma touched the tip of his cap. "Hai." He suppressed the goosebumps that threatened to show. On one note, he was ecstatic to play a serious sempai. But on the other hand, he was worried that he might have bit more off than he could chew.

Nevertheless, he can't afford to lose.

TBC