Chapter Five: Surviving Practice

The rest of the night with Tezuka resolved in Fuji taking over Tezuka's bed without his permission, and forcing him to go sleep on the couch. However, we all know that Fuji's true intensions were to dig up more blackmail, and dig up she did. By the time the two had finished a light breakfast and started off to practice, Fuji had a nice one-inch pile of photographs, essays, and tiny trinkets that would have Tezuka bending head over heel to do whatever Fuji willed and wanted. Oh, yes, how Fuji loved that sense of power.

"So, Tezuka, can you do me a tiny favor?" Fuji pestered as Tezuka scowled.

"What?" he bitterly mumbled as Fuji clapped her hands together in joy. Tezuka did not like the words 'Fuji' and 'joy' being so close together.

"Well, as you know, since I'm going to be a girl for the week, my family probably won't-"

"You are not staying at my house for the week," Tezuka immediately answered. Fuji pouted.

"Actually, I was hoping you could make up an excuse to tell my parents why I won't be returning to the house for the whole week," Fuji asked sensibly. Tezuka continued to scowl, not answering the girl. Fuji decided it was a good time to start using what she collected yesterday.

"My Best Friend, by Tezuka Kunimitsu," Fuji began with a smirk. She was definitely enjoying the look of pure horror on Tezuka's face.

"My best friend is my stuffed kitty name Neko-chan. Neko-chan is-"

"Fine I'll do it, just stop reading," Tezuka hissed. He was really now beginning to regret letting Fuji use his room. He just knew that she had a whole bundle of more blackmail material in her bag. Blame his mother for making him save every single little thing.

"Thank you, Kuni-chan!" Fuji mocked. "Now, would you also be so kind as to handle all of my transferring sheets and applications for the school? After all I can't go to school pretending I'm a boy, can I?"

Tezuka mumbled something incoherent and about why Fuji even wanted to go to school, but Fuji took all that as a yes. The two had now arrived at practice by now. Everyone immediately stopped whatever they were doing as soon as they saw Tezuka accompanied by a girl.

"What are you guys looking at?" Tezuka said to them. "Continue with practice!"

Everyone stuttered a yes and continued. However, everyone's hits were sloppy, their serves were horrendous because they were all just looking at Fuji smilingly evil- I mean sweetly, and Tezuka looking like he accidentally took an unhappy pill too many. Eiji and Inui immediately came up to the two, as well as Momoshiro and Echizen for who knows what reasons.

"Eh…" was what the four said as they bumped into each other.

"We'll go first, right Echizen?" Momoshiro said as Ryoma sighed and took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. Unfolding it, he announced:

"Fujiko-san, I am very sorry that I shoved my racket up your breast yesterday. I will never do it again. I only did it because I wanted to know if you were actually my sempai cross-dressing, because it seemed like something he would do. Besides, you don't even look that pretty, and-" at this point, Momoshiro yanked the piece of paper out of Echizen's hand, silencing the capped boy by doing so.

"ECHIZEN!" he screamed after quickly scanning the 'apology'. "What kind of apology is that!"

"…I was only telling the truth," Ryoma mumbled as he turned to walk away. However, Fuji's hand clasped around his shoulder, holding him back.

"Don't you owe me something else, little boy?" Fuji said in a wickedly evil tone. Ryoma gulped. Girls were truly of a different species.

"Eh…"

"Let's play a match!" Fuji announced happily as everyone blinked in surprise at how quick her mood changed. "Ne, let me borrow your racket for a while, Kuni-chan, okay?"

Tezuka twitched but nonetheless obliged, seeing he knew that Fuji would have forced him into it some other way nonetheless. He didn't get what was going on at all, and he was quite sure that he didn't want to find out. If only Fuji would stop calling him 'Kuni-chan'. . . Fuji was going to run a lot of laps after she turns back into a boy…

"Nya? Fuji… uh, Fujiko-chan, are you sure you want to do this?" Eiji asked. Everyone turned to look at the girl except Momoshiro, who was still gagging at Ryoma's so called 'apology'.

"Of course!" Fuji replied as if it was so obvious.

"I don't mind," Ryoma mumbled.

"Best of a one set match, Echizen to serve," Momoshiro announced as the rest of the regulars and practically the entire tennis club gathered around to watch. Why was Tezuka allowing such a thing to happen? And who was that girl?

"Inui, what happened?" Tezuka asked. Fuji's story that she told him yesterday sounded too farfetched.

"Eh? I thought Fujiko-chan told you everything, didn't she, Kuni-chan?" Inui smirked as an irritated look crossed Tezuka's face. Inui knew that the percentage of Tezuka making him run laps was one hundred percent. Data doesn't lie.

"Inui, twenty laps, now," Tezuka ordered as Inui took off. Eiji took up the data boy's previous spot next to Tezuka.

"Nya, who do you think will win?" Eiji asked with interest.

"Eiji, is that the same Fujiko-san from yesterday?" Oishi asked as Eiji meekly nodded, too engrossed in the match.

"Eh? Fujiko-chan? That reminds me of Fuji… where is he anyways?" Kawumura asked.

"He's visiting a dying relative and will be gone for the week," Tezuka made up, keeping his face straight. You couldn't pick up a single clue that he was lying.

"Oh, I see…" Kawumura murmured sadly. He'd have to ask Fuji about that later.

"Fshuu…I don't buy it," Kaidoh mumbled, but everyone had already turned back to the match. It was now four games to three, Ryoma leading.

"Heh, not bad, Echizen, not bad," Fuji mused as she bounced the ball a few times. Saa… a few tricks won't give me away, right? Adding a spin to the ball, Fuji served.

"Hey! Isn't that… isn't that one of Fuji's moves? Is she related to Fuji?" Oishi gasped as Ryoma took a swipe at the ball and missed, only to hear:

"Game, Fujiko, four games all," Momoshiro sighed as he leaned back into his seat.

"Nya? She can do that in that state?" Eiji mused. Leaning closer to Tezuka, Eiji whispered, "Nya, Tezuka, what did Fujiko here blackmail you with to let her do such a thing?"

"Kikumaru, twenty laps, now," Tezuka snapped as the acrobat sighed. Tezuka must have waked up on the wrong side of the bed. He was crankier that usual.

"What did Eiji do?" Oishi asked, blinking.

"Oishi, twenty laps now."

"Huh? Tezuka? Why are you-"

"Kawamura, twenty laps now."

Kaidoh dared a small smile, but was only greeted with a "Kaidoh twenty laps now."

"Ehehehe… Tezuka-buchou sure is scary today," Horio commented somewhere in the background with the two other freshmen.

"Everyone, twenty laps now!" Tezuka demanded. Everyone was of course, taken aback, but obeyed nonetheless. So now they were all forced to watch the Fujiko versus Echizen match while running. And Tezuka… Tezuka was just plain unhappy.

"Heh… no bad," Ryoma commented as the two continued rallying. "Are you sure you're not related to Fuji-sempai?"

"No," Fuji said flatly as she hit a hard return, ensuring her the game.

"Game, Fujiko, four games to five," Momoshiro announced. Everyone (still running of course, courtesy of Tezuka) was rather surprised that an utter stranger, a girl stranger no less, could have faired so well against Ryoma. But they also knew that this is where the real game started.

"Heh… not bad at all, but-"

"Mada mada dane, right?" Fuji smirked as Ryoma mumbled something about it being his line. Fuji had completely crushed his rise to confidence. Such a pity. But nonetheless, the look in the two's eyes showed that they weren't about to hold anything back now.

"G-game, Fujiko, s-six games to seven," Momoshiro concluded, stuttering. He, and along with almost all the rest of the tennis club (save the three who knew Ryoma was actually playing Fuji) were absolutely shocked, but Ryoma was the most shock of all probably.

Saa… shouldn't have used to many dead giveaways… Fuji mused. She recalled having accidentally used Tsubame Gaeshi at least once, and almost having used Higuma Otoshi, but prevented herself at the last moment when she remembered she was wearing a skirt still. Hopefully, no one would make any assumptions like Ryoma did, but…

"WAH! Sakuno! Look! Look! That girl that beat my adorable Ryoma-sama looks just like Fuji-sempai! And she uses the same moves too!"

"Eh, Tomo-chan…"

"Sakuno! Sakuno! I think it's Fuji-sempai cross-dressing!"

There was an immediate silence on the courts as everyone suddenly stopped running (some so abruptly that everyone behind him fell into a heap) and just stared at Fuji. Fuji herself mentally kicked herself. What was it with the cross dressing deal? She didn't look that feminine, when she was a he, did she?

"Do something, Tezuka!" Fuji mouthed to Tezuka. After half a second of nothing, Fuji added, "or else!" That got Tezuka going.

"Why did everyone stop? She's my cousin. Continue running, and add another twenty laps!" Tezuka announced as everyone groaned, but continued running nonetheless. Tezuka was not happy that he had to cover up for Fuji. Really, his cousin? Why couldn't he have done better and used that foreign exchange student excuse like Fuji did yesterday? Well, at least he didn't say girlfriend, that would have been just plain freaky and detestable…

"Awww! Kuni-chan! Thanks for saving my cover back there! I feel like I should give you something really special!" Fuji melodramatically thanked the stoic captain. Tezuka was still not happy, but then again, was he really ever?

"Give me back the things you stole from my room," Tezuka answered flatly as Fuji frowned. No way was she going to do that, ever.

"Nope, and I never intend to," Fuji smirked as Tezuka scowled. "Well, I should be off trying to find some place I could stay over at tonight seeing Kuni-chan's so mean not to let me stay anymore." Giving Tezuka a sweet smile, a quick hug (much to Tezuka's dismay) and a girly wave, Fuji skipped, yes, Fuji skipped off to find her next victim for blackmailing. Isn't it wonderful to be a girl?

Tezuka? Tezuka was still calm and cool as ever, but made a mental note of making Fuji keep running until the boy (or girl as she is now) had shed off all of his psycho-ness. Maybe a thousand laps would do the trick?

Eiji and Inui eventually caught up to Fuji, and the three were now trying to think of whose house she should go to tonight. The conversation went like this:

"Well, it should be someone from the other schools, seeing they'd have a less chance of recognizing you, or-" Inui was rudely cut off by Fuji, who had already had a plan.

"I can go to Saeki's house. He'd believe I've turned into a girl," Fuji pondered. "But I've already have enough dirt on him…"

"Nya, Fuji? Is that all you think about? Blackmailing people?" Eiji asked.

"Hmm… well, in order to succeed, a little manipulation and push along the way isn't that bad, is it?" Fuji answered as Eiji sighed and shook his head. Fuji was impossible.

"Well, there's a seventy-eight percent chance that you two will think of something before eight o' clock, so there's not much need to worry," Inui explained. Fuji and Eiji cast him strange looks.

"What about you, Inui?" Fuji asked.

"I have to go home and work on a new juice I'm developing," Inui smiled evilly. "So you two have fun on your little date."

"Nya! Inui!" Eiji protested with a slight blush. "Don't put it like that! It's too weird! Why don't you go date Fuji and I go home and finish my homework?"

"Eiji, eighty-two percent of the time you never even start your homework and always end up begging Fuji for the answers," Inui informed him as Eiji pouted. Fuji just stood there and smiled through the whole thing.

"It's alright, Inui," Fuji told him as she grabbed Eiji by the wrist. "Eiji and I will have lots of harmless fun, right?"

"…Fuji! You're too scary!" Eiji whined as he got dragged away by an evil Fuji. Inui shrugged and went home to develop his new juice, writing in all the data he had collected today. At this rate, there was a ninety-five percent chance that he will have to get a new notebook tomorrow due to data overload.

The date, if you could really call it that, went by like any other time Eiji hung out with Fuji, except the fact that Fuji was now Fujiko. After having a pleasant dinner at a nice restaurant that Fuji forced Eiji to go to, (despite his protests that it was too strange and bizarre for them to do that in Fuji's state) the two were now aimlessly walking down the streets, Fuji acting oddly giddy and hyper.

"Fuji, will you please stop giggling?" Eiji whispered. "People are staring at us!"

"Let them stare all they want," Fuji answered with a pleasant smile. Eiji groaned. Inui was so cruel to leave him with Fujiko-chan here. At least she didn't try and hug him like Tezuka… yet.

"Nya! Fuji!" Eiji whined. "You're so evil!" For some reason, those words seemed to be coming out of Eiji's mouth an awful lot these past days.

"Aren't I?" Fuji answered absentmindedly. "Come on, Eiji. There's still someone I want to see if I can catch…"

Eiji decided he wouldn't be dating anyone for the next couple of years right then and there, especially if they were anything like Fuji, dragging him all around. Girls were so strange!

Fuji always had a knack of knowing where, when, and what people were doing, and his little brother was certainly no exception. In fact, he probably even knew more about Yuuta than actual person himself, always picking up miniscule habits that most of the times proved to be useless at the moment, but quite informative in the future. So how Fuji knew that his little brother was going to be the street tennis courts with some of his teammates at exactly seven forty-nine that night was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Eiji," Fuji said suddenly as they halted.

"Nya?"

"I can take it from here. You can go home if you want."

Eiji frowned and blinked at Fuji a few times before replying in a curious voice. "Are you sure, nya?"

"It's fine. I can handle it," Fuji repeated as Eiji shrugged. Truth to be told, Eiji was very glad that he could escape the insanity of Fuji for the day.

"You know where you're going to stay?" Eiji asked as Fuji nodded, giving him the cue to leave. However, he hadn't even taken two steps when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"By the way… thanks for our little 'date'. It was certainly interesting."

Even though Fuji couldn't see it, she was positive that a tinge of pink had crawled up her friend's cheeks, and she was pretty sure it wasn't just from embarrassment but also a hint of agitation and anger mixed in as well. "Fuji!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

"Nya! You better be!" And with a light punch in the arm Eiji stalked off. Fuji's lips hung in a smug smile for a second or two before turning to watch Yuuta play a purple-clad Mizuki.

This will certainly be amusing…