Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, nor am I making any money from writing this.

Author's Note: Here is the revised version of chapter 4. Thanks for the reviews submitted before. I always welcome them.

A Love Game: Chapter 3 – Love 2, Ryoma 2

Ryoma frowned at the clouds that threatened to block out the bright sun that late afternoon. He observed that it was a bit humid that day and wondered if it might rain again. He hoped not since he had an interesting match to play that day.

Echizen versus Fuji.

He was a bit surprised at the encouragement he received from the other club members when news of it broke out. It seemed that his freshman peers wanted to know how he would do in an all-out match against the tennis prodigy. Ryoma was very curious himself, disregarding the annoying feelings that hounded him recently whenever he entertained thoughts of the prodigy.

"Echizen."

Ryoma stopped in mid-stride and turned to face the person who called him. "Captain?" He hesitated at first but eventually walked towards Tezuka when beckoned. "Yeah?"

"Are you ready"

Ryoma regarded his tall captain, knowing that he referred to the match. "I suppose. What do you think?"

Tezuka gave the young tennis player a quick glance. "No one on this team has played a serious Fuji. I know him. And from the last serious match you had with him, I'm sure you glimpsed it."

"Hnn."

Echizen," Tezuka continued, "Fuji's capabilities… They're not something that can be gauged. Even now, it's very difficult to determine his actual skill level. I'm sure you've heard that even Inui couldn't get real data on him."

Ryoma turned and looked at the tennis courts. "Is this meant to make me worry?"

Tezuka ignored the question. "That match you played against him… I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

Ryoma was slightly confused. He couldn't really grasp what his captain, if anything, was trying to tell him. Was he telling him to back off from the match, he wondered. Or was this Tezuka's way of showing his possessiveness toward the prodigy? Ryoma raised his hand to lower his cap over his eyes. "Captain, are yo—"

"Don't lose," Tezuka cut him off. "He will coax out your true potential so make sure that you don't lose."

Surprised, Ryoma could only nod briefly. "Um, Captain… When will I get to play against you again?" He looked up at the darkening sky.

Tezuka followed the freshman's gaze. "Concentrate on the match that's in front of you right now. There will be plenty of time to think about our rematch in the future."

"Echizen! Tezuka!" Oishi called out from the tennis courts. "C'mon! We should start practice soon or the rain will get us!"

Ryoma tipped his cap and started walking toward the tennis courts, followed by a stoic Tezuka. "Captain…"

"Hm?"

"Whatever the outcome of my match against Fuji-sempai may be," Ryoma said with a calm voice, "I can at the very least say that won't be a Love game."

"I never expected it to be."

Before entering the tennis courts, Echizen felt the captain's hand on his shoulder. He turned to face him with an inquiring look.

"Do you want to play some warm up matches first?"

Ryoma blinked. "Sure. With you?"

"No," replied Tezuka. "At least not yet. Play a match against Momoshiro first. Then we'll take it from there."

"Okay."

As soon as he exited the locker room, Fuji immediately looked for the freshman Regular. A frown creased his face when he saw Echizen standing by the tennis courts with Tezuka's hand on his left shoulder. 'Interesting…'

He made his way toward the pair but was intercepted by a pounce courtesy of an energetic Kikumaru Eiji.

"Fujiko! Let's have a practice match!"

Fuji smiled. A warm-up match might be nice. "Sure, Eiji. One-set match?"

"Hoi-hoi!" Kikumaru grinned. "Of course!"

Twenty minutes later, a once energetic Kikumaru walked off the court, extremely exhausted. "Ne, Fujiko-nya! What's with you today? You played way to seriously against me!"

A smirk formed on the prodigy's lips. "Ah, sorry. Just felt a little uptight."

"Mou! That's not fair!" Kikumaru protested. "You sealed my acrobatic play!"

"Saa, saa. Sorry about that." Fuji looked around. "Hey, have you seen Echizen?"

The red-headed tennis player blinked. "Ochibi? He's having a match with Taka-san right now. He played Momo-chan earlier and just killed him on the court. Kaidoh's up next, I think."

"Oh? We were supposed to have a match today." Fuji reminded him.

Oishi appeared next to Eiji. "Tezuka's menu for Echizen today, I suppose. Maybe he didn't know about you wanting to play against Echizen today, Fuji."

Once closed eyes opened. "Maybe." But Fuji really doubted it.

Oishi shrugged. "I'm not sure what Tezuka's thinking but I'm sure it's all in preparation for tournament play. He probably wants to help Echizen develop his play while he's still around. After all, we won't be around here for much longer."

Fuji crossed his arms over his chest and thought to himself. 'Seigaku's Pillar of Support, is it?'

Kikumaru observed his friend carefully. "Nya, Fujiko…what's wrong? You don't look very happy."

A smile came back to the prodigy's face. "Ah, nothing." He reached for his tennis racket. "Say, Oishi…do you want to play a match with me?"

"Eh? What? Now you mean?

"NYA! You better watch out, Oishi! Fuji's playing seriously today!"

"He is? I mean…wait…what?"

Fuji rubbed his chin. "Hey Eiji, don't make it sound like it's a bad thing. In fact, I'll even play both of you as doubles if it makes you feel any better?"

Kikumaru examined him. "Okay!" He grabbed Oishi enthusiastically and pulled him to the tennis courts. "Let's go then! I want to try out this new formation I saw on TV. C'mon Oish! Let's make Fujiko sweat! He won't win even if he plays seriously against the Golden Pair!"

Fuji smirked and followed after the pair onto the court. Just before Oishi served, he chanced a glance towards the other court where Echizen and Taka-san were playing. His eyes narrowed sharply as he muttered to himself, "Mada mada da ne."

"Game and match! Fuji, Six games to Two!"

Kikumaru and Oishi stood stunned on their side of the court. Fuji went all out against them. "Um, Eiji… Is something bothering Fuji? He seemed possessed on the tennis court today."

Kikumaru panted heavily. "Nya, he's been like that since practice started. Won't tell me why he seems upset. It's almost like someone took his candy away."

Oishi, with a concerned look on his face, took a few steps headed toward the prodigy. "Maybe I'll talk to him." Before he could take another step, a tennis ball hit him on the back of his head. "Ow!"

Kikumaru lowered his hand after he threw the ball. "Oishi, he's in one of those moods. Don't bother because if you get in his way, he will come after you. No one wants to be in Fuji's way when he gets like this."

Oishi rubbed the back of his head. "I see. Do you think Tezuka might know what's bothering him?"

"That's the thing. I suspect it's got something to do with Tezuka and Ochibi. Momo mentioned something like maybe Tezuka and Fujiko were seeing each other. But after I asked Fuji, it sounded like there was a love triangle involving Ochibi," Kikumaru said thoughtfully.

Oishi paled. "That could be bad, right?"

The acrobatic player shrugged. "Nya, maybe. But at the same time, it's very interesting, don't you think?"

Ryoma leapt up high in the air, twisted his body awkwardly, and them slammed down a Cyclone Smash toward Taka-san's court. Taka-san made a reach for the high-velocity ball but could only swing at air as he missed it by a racket's length.

"Ara, ara. You're getting so much stronger now, Echizen-kun," said Taka-san. You're making me run around with so many of these power shots. I can't get setup for my Hadoukyou."

Ryoma breathed heavily as he rested his hands on his knees. "Ah… You're making me work so hard for it, Kawamura-sempai."

Taka-san walked on over by the freshman and patted him on his back. "That's okay, isn't it?"

The black-haired youth smiled. "Yeah." He turned around to the other tennis court and found himself caught in the eyes of the blue-eyed prodigy. Ryoma flinched slightly but held his gaze. He wondered what he thought now that Tezuka-buchou cancelled their scheduled match.

At first Ryoma thought that maybe Tezuka-buchou didn't want him around Fuji-sempai. But now he wasn't so sure as his captain encouraged him to win against the prodigy. He got confused now that he thought about it more.

"Echizen."

He broke off his gaze from the fair-haired senior. "Yes, captain?"

"Kaidoh's waiting for you in the next match. After that, see me again."

"All right."

Tezuka was watching Kaidoh's and Echizen's match when he felt an unhappy presence approach his side. "Fuji."

"Hey, Tezuka," Fuji said in a callous voice, "why'd you do that?"

Tezuka kept his eyes trained on the court. "Why did I do what?"

"You're keeping him away from me."

The captain looked briefly at Fuji. "You must be imagining things."

"Hm, Maybe I am. You really wou'dnt want to get in my way now, would you, Tezuka?" Fuji's voice lowered a bit. "I thought you weren't interested in him that way."

Tezuka didn't reply for several minutes. When he finally spoke, his voice had an edge in it. "This isn't a game, Fuji."

"Saa."

Ryoma took gulps and gulps of water from the fountain. The match with Kaidoh-sempai really took a lot out of him. His senior Snaked him at every opportunity, forcing Ryoma to hit the ball at very sharp angles on the tennis court.

It irritated Ryoma quite a bit because the upcoming game was more appealing to him. No offense to Kaidoh-sempai, of course. Unfortunately for him, Kaidoh-sempai really made it a difficult one for him. He won but his legs felt really wobbly. Now, he was faced with having to play against Tezuka-bucho with jelly-like legs and almost thoroughly exhausted endurance.

"Echizen…"

Ryoma froze. 'Damn. I almost forgot about him.'

"It seems that we can't find each other on the court today," a humorless voice said.

Ryoma picked up his cap and tried to make his way toward the tennis court. "Ah well." Nerves of steel, he reminded himself.

Arms on either sides of him suddenly trapped him against the water fountains. "Fuji-sempai?"

"You sound like you couldn't care less. Maa, even though you seemed excited about this afternoon, you ditched me to play a match with others instead."

The freshman flinched, an odd mixture of fear and excitement coursing through him. "Wasn't my call. Tezuka-bucho—"

"Echizen." Speak of the devil. "Fuji, he's going to be late for his match."

Fuji smiled at his junior before removing his arms. "Hmm, I was just talking to him about our match that was supposed to happen today, Tezuka."

Tezuka, with arms crossed over his chest, stood unmoved. "You can talk to him later. Echizen and I have a match to play right now."

Echizen was never more relieved to follow after his captain. He wished though that he had a chance to wash up again because Fuji-sempai's actions caused an embarrassing blush to creep up his face. His sempai's face got a tad too close to his! Though he felt quite exhausted earlier, Ryoma suddenly felt very vigorous and enthused about his upcoming match with his captain.

"Echizen"

Ryoma heard the gentle call from behind him. He turned briefly to find the blue-eyed prodigy smiling at him. "Hm?"

"I'll be watching."

TBC