Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis and I do not want to either, too much work because it is a long ongoing series but I love the characters anyway.

Chapter Two: The Cake-Crazy Boy

Miyu rode her bike to school bright and early the next day. She had gotten her brother to wake her up before he went to morning practice. She enjoyed playing tennis but to her, it was more a sport and recreation than an essential part of life as it was for her brother and his lot.

She saw a familiar looking girl in front of her with two long braids swinging back and forth as she walked along. Miyu was about to call out a greeting when suddenly the girl in front tripped and fell.

Miyu sped up and stopped next to the girl on the ground, Sakuno. She stepped off her bike and gave a hand to Sakuno, saying, "Morning, Sakuno! Are you alright? That looked like a pretty heavy fall."

Sakuno looked up and accepted the hand of help offered to her. She pulled herself up, blushing a little at the thought of her new-found friend seeing her clumsiness.

She thanked Miyu prettily and said, "I am such an accident prone that I am actually used to falling down, so you don't have to worry. This is normal for me, I am very tough!"

Miyu smothered her urge to smile for Sakuno was one of the most petite girls she had ever seen; even Miyu was taller by half a head, so the idea of Sakuno being tough was rather amusing. Still, not wanting to hurt her feelings, she kept the thought to herself.

Instead, she said, "Hop on, girl! I'll bike you to school!" Sakuno giggled and got on the back of the bike. They reached the school very soon after that and walked to their classroom.

888888

Marui Bunta finished off his bento and dessert on the roof top. He then made his way down to the school grounds looking for a place under the trees where the shadows would be cool and he could have a nap before the afternoon lessons began.

On the second floor, he suddenly smelt something that he loved.

The smell of freshly baked cakes!

He followed his nose and soon came to a first year classroom. He walked inside, still following his nose and not noticing the glances the first years, mostly girls, were giving him. He finally stopped in front of a desk where two girls were sitting.

He looked down and saw the cutest, sweetest-looking cup-cakes he had ever seen. He started drooling and thankfully, even in this hungry-for-cake state, he still managed to remember his manners and asked without looking away from the cakes, "Can I have some cakes please?" His tone was pathetically childish that it would take a heart to stone to reject him.

Sakuno was not only without a heart of stone, she was also softer-hearted than most, so it was not surprising that she said gently, though somewhat shyly, "I-If you like, senpai, I will wrap some up for you to take away."

Miyu was looking on with a wry expression on her face but when she heard that some of Sakuno's delicious cakes were going to be given away, which meant less for her, she spoke up quickly, "Sakuno, no! Bun-chan just had a load of cakes I can tell you. He always does at lunch. Don't give him any! It's unhealthy!"

Bunta looked at the person who dared to call him his childhood name and got a shock. "Miyu! What on earth are you doing here? And don't call me Bun-chan. It's Marui-senpai now."

Sakuno looked at them, her shyness over a boy who was also a stranger forgotten momentarily, and asked, "Do you know each other, Miyu-chan?"

Miyu wrinkled her nose slightly and nodded, "Yeah, this is Marui Bunta, one of my brother's friends. They are in the tennis club together. Bun-chan is one of the regulars. I hate to say it but he is not half bad when he plays. He loves cakes and eats them all the time, so don't bother giving them to him, he's already had a lot today and I'm sure he still has some in his school bag for before and after tennis practice. By the way, Bun-chan, I'm here because this is my classroom and I am eating with my friend, Ryuzaki Sakuno."

Bunta was annoyed at having his cake-fetish revealed in front of this gentle-looking girl with the delicious cakes, not that it was any big secret but still...

"I can always have more cakes, can't I? I do so much exercise that I really need the sugar! Besides, if you want, I'll swap my cakes for yours. Your cakes smell so nice." With that, he went back to staring and drooling at the cakes on Sakuno's desk.

Sakuno looked at Miyu and back at Bunta.

She said, "Ne, Marui-senpai, if you already had cakes this lunchtime, maybe it would be better for you not to have my cakes."

Miyu beamed and Bunta's face fell. "However," Sakuno went on quickly, "Tomorrow I will bring more cakes for you to eat at lunchtime, is that alright? That way, you can tell me what you like and I will try and make them. Okay?"

888888

Bunta thought for a moment. He really wanted to try those cakes but it might not be a good idea to eat that much because he did have a lot of cakes earlier and later he would be sick if he did not stop now.

He did not mind being sick for the sake of cakes but there was tennis practice today and if Yukimura and Sanada found out that he missed practice because of eating too many cakes, there would be hell to pay and he could kiss his cakes goodbye until, like, forever. Moreover, Miyu would be annoyed if he took the cakes and she would definitely tell Yukimura some tale or the other and he would be in trouble anyway because Yukimura was very protective of his sister.

He then came up with an idea. He grinned at his own cleverness and said, "How about I have one cake now and have the rest tomorrow."

Miyu was somewhat surprised that Bunta would give in so easily that she did not protest. Sakuno smiled and agreed.

Bunta took up one small cup-cake with a chocolate button on top. The cake was nicely golden and puffed out just right. Tears almost fell from his eyes as he regarded the lovely little cup-cake that gave off such a delicious aroma. Miyu rolled her eyes and sighed in a low voice, "Don't mind him when there are cakes in front of him, he is cake-crazy."

Sakuno giggled at her description of Bunta. She looked at Bunta as he peeled away the paper cup and popped the little cake into his mouth.

Bunta felt as if he was in his seventh heaven. The cake was not too sweet and not too stale, nor was it too soft or too cold. It tasted just right, as though it was made just for him.

He moaned to himself silently because he really wanted to eat another one but with Miyu there, he knew he had better not or there might be no more cakes in the future from anyone.

He knew for certain that if he annoyed Miyu that meant annoying Yukimura at the same time, and this Sakuno, with the lovely cakes, was Miyu's friend. Therefore, he turned to Sakuno and said, "That was really yummy! I promised to have one only so you have to make me lots and lots of cakes tomorrow, ne?"

Sakuno smiled at this rather cute and non-threatening senpai and nodded, "I promise. What flavour would you like, Marui-senpai? If you like, I can make enough so that you will have some for after school, ne?"

Miyu said dryly, "Are you sure you want to be so nice to him, Sakuno? He might want you to make cakes for him every day if you are so nice now."

Bunta's face lit up at the thought. Sakuno was not quite sure what to say. Miyu, knowing Sakuno to be a kind-hearted girl, sighed and said, "Don't worry; I won't let him bully you into doing that. I know him too well."

Bunta looked at Miyu with a puppy-hurt-look on his boyishly handsome face. "How can you say that, Miyu? I will never bully Sakuno-chan! I'm a gentleman!"

Miyu snorted rudely, "Yeah right, I believe you won't bully her but you'll try to get to do what you want anyway with your puppy-eyes trick."

Sakuno giggled at their bantering. "You two are so funny." She said with a twinkle in her eyes.

At that moment, the bell rang. Bunta winked at Sakuno and said quickly, "Any flavour would be fine as long as you're the one who make it!" With that, he ran out of the classroom quickly, missing Sakuno's blush after hearing his words.

Miyu shook her head and sighed again, "The cake-crazy boy!"