Disclaimer: I do not own any part of The Prince of Tennis.

Author's Thanks: I would really like to thank some people who have read my story and cared about it enough to send me reviews. They are Fujiko-chan, whitelilies Shy-Lil-Dreamer, noomma, Eien no Kaze, vines-throughXfate, Angel and Kei.

I read fanfic and sometimes at the end, the author would say more reviews would help her/him update faster. I didn't understand why at the time but now I do. I meant to finish more chapters before updating but now I just had to put this up in case anyone's waiting.

Angel-san, thank you for your long review. I know I am focusing on the Rikkai Boys at the moment but don't worry, the Seigaku Guys will come up, but as to what will happen... I am afraid you will have to wait and see! I want to comment on your pairings but I can't because that would be giving the story away. Therefore I will settle for 'all of them will get a chance to interact with Sakuno' in future chapters, of course, some more than most or that's to be expected.

Kei-san, thank you for saying that I am keeping the characters in... well, in character (sounds kind of odd, put like that ) but I was really pleased to see you write that because I try and I re-read to make sure that they keep as close to the image from the manga and anime as I can possibly make it. It was really nice of you to notice!

By the way, fellow fans of The Prince of Tennis, I love your reviews but if you can, please send along with your review a way for me to reply privately, like an email address. Most of the time, I prefer to answer the reviewers separately because that way I can write more and answer more specifically what each person has to say. Besides I want to the story to itself and not add comments. It looks neater that way. Don't get me wrong, I am honestly grateful for all the reviews I have received, they are like Christmas presents to me. I just like to answer these presents personally.

Just one more thing and then you can get on with the story! I am very quickly doing a short piece on the Rikkai Boys and Valentine's Day. When it is posted, I hope you will enjoy it as you did this story! Cheers!

Chapter Seven: Meeting the Rikkai Regulars (Part Three)

Just as Sakuno was about to cry, Yagyuu Hiroshi came up and lifted Sakuno from his doubles' partner's arms. Sakuno was surprised and she forgot she was about to cry, which was precisely what Yagyuu was hoping for.

He carried her gently over to a side-bench and set her down. Then he took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders for it was a chilly day. Sakuno blushed for the umpteenth time that afternoon and thanked him softly. Yagyuu nodded and walked off.

Although everyone wanted to crowd around Sakuno and be nosy… well not everyone, because Yagyuu, Sanada and Jackal were already getting ready to practice again. Yanagi had come back after stashing his camera somewhere safe, with Bunta still running after him half-heartedly.

Bunta had suddenly realized that he did not really care about the photos since he was just carrying Sakuno's stuff, unlike Niou who would be teased if anyone saw those photos. I should rephrase, Niou might be teased by anyone who saw those photos and was suicidal enough not to be afraid of retribution.

Bunta winked at Sakuno and was about to go over and check on her when Sanada pulled on his collar and dragged him away. Sakuno giggled at the sight.

Yanagi being one of the three who was in charge of the tennis club, ignored the signals for the start of practice and went over to chat with Sakuno.

He sat down next to her and got ready to record data. Yanagi said, "Ryuzaki-san darou? I'm Yanagi Renji. How are you feeling?" Sakuno looked down at her twiddling thumbs, "Uh… I-I'm fine, thank you, Yanagi-senpai." Yanagi continued to ask, "So… you are in Miyu-chan's class… she is a nice girl, isn't she?"

To those who might get the wrong idea here, Yanagi was trying to put Sakuno at ease. He was not interested in Miyu as a girl.

Sakuno brightened and smiled at Yanagi at the mention of Miyu, "Hai, Miyu-chan is very kind. She helped me so much these first few days! Without her, I would have been so lonely!" Yanagi smiled and noted that down, then he went on, "Yes, she had always been a friendly girl, we, everyone here that is, have known her since junior high." Sakuno nodded, much more comfortable when talking about her friend, "Hai, Miyu-chan told me senpai-tachi would go to Yukimura-senpai and Miyu-chan's house sometimes."

Yanagi already heard from Jackal earlier that Sakuno knew Bunta, so he tried to steer the conversation to that direction, "Miyu-chan calls Bunta 'Bun-chan', do you know? It is really quite funny because Bunta hates it and gets annoyed every time. That is probably why Miyu-chan keeps on doing it."

Sakuno laughed out loud; rather unusual for her but the memory of yesterday afternoon was quite funny, "I know, she did that yesterday when Bunta-senpai came to our classroom. I think that he had smelt the cakes I made because when he came in, he was sniffing and he wasn't looking at anyone until he stopped by my desk. Bunta-senpai didn't even notice Miyu-chan until she called him. Bunta-senpai makes me laugh; he's a really nice senpai."

Yanagi was quickly noting all of this down, adding comments like, "Bunta has a nose like a dog's when there are cakes nearby, must try it with other nice-smelling food, maybe made by Ryuzaki." And "Ryuzaki has good impression of Bunta, thinks he's nice." And "Ryuzaki is very polite to everyone, even Bunta."

He did not speak for a while, being engrossed in his data. Sakuno did not mind; she was watching the famed Rikkai regulars play against one another. It was truly something to marvel at; their swiftness, their strength and their style.

She thought, "I didn't know that boys can be beautiful… did I? I seem to have seen someone who plays tennis beautifully before… who was it?"

At that moment, her head started to hurt and her train of thought was broken. She groaned softly, putting her hands on her head and shaking it from side to side, as if she was trying to dislodge her headache.

Yanagi noticed and asked with concern in his voice, "Ryuzaki-san? Are you alright, Ryuzaki-san?" He patted her back to try and catch her attention without the others noticing.

If practice was disturbed again, Sanada would probably flip and Sakuno would get even more frightened of him. Now that would not do at all because he was looking forward to collecting some interesting data concerning the regulars' behavior around this little girl.

At least some of them acted differently when she was around, like Niou, Bunta and Yukimura. By Jove, Yukimura seemed almost reluctant to come near Sakuno again because he thought that he had made her cry.

Sakuno looked up at Yanagi when he patted her back, not registering who he was at first glance because her head hurt so much. Then it slowly subsided and she blinked, "Uh… Yanagi-senpai?"

Yanagi repeated his question patiently and Sakuno blinked several times before she had the presence of mind to answer, "Uh… uh… I-I'm fine, thank you, Yanagi-senpai." She turned back to looking at her hands which were now resting on her knees.

Yanagi looked at her for a while before noting down, "Ryuzaki has possible health problems. Ask Miyu about it. It may be important later." He was about to speak again, then thought maybe she probably needed someone more sensitive after her earlier obvious physical discomfort.

He knew himself reasonably well and when he was in data-collecting mode, he could be rather callous. It would not be in his best interests to invoke negative emotions in Ryuzaki at the moment. He caught his own line of thought and mentally punched himself for being callous in this type of thinking concerning this hurt little girl.

He said, "Excuse me, Ryuzaki-san." Sakuno replied, "Uh… hai, Yanagi-senpai." Yanagi made his way to the spot where he put his tennis bag and got his racket, ready to practice again.

He was also thinking who would be the best person to comfort Sakuno and just maybe… no, that would callous… but, ahhh… morality issues and data collecting, which would be more important? Em… he thought some more about it, not that anyone could tell because he always looked as if he was thinking about something or the other.

He finally came to a conclusion that since he would not be the one collecting data directly; there would be no morality issues for him, just for the person who would be giving him the data.

He mentally congratulated himself on getting around that issue and went back to thinking of one possible data collecting… no, possible sensitive and good-at-comforting candidate out of the regulars.

Sanada, Jackal and Yagyuu were all not suitable.

Sanada would frighten her too much, besides it would extremely difficult to get data about girls from Sanada; he could be really dense.

Jackal was engrossed in practice at the moment and besides, he was not the overly curious type and therefore would not care for the mission.

Yagyuu was a gentleman therefore he would be too polite to broach any interesting topics, thus he would be useless.

Niou may be a possibility but to get data out of him was too risky, besides he was not good comforting material, at least not that he could see.

That leaves Bunta, Yukimura and Akaya. Yanagi pretended to adjust his shoelaces while he thought some more.

Bunta was quite smart when he wanted to be and would also be very easy to bribe for data. However, he seemed to be quite friendly with Ryuzaki and might not be inclined to give any information about her.

Yukimura would want some time to compose himself before facing the girl he recently frightened into tears; Yanagi thought he knew why Sakuno cried but Yukimura would not believe him; the shock was too great to see a girl cry because of his words… em… partly because of his words.

That leaves Akaya. Would that be a good idea? Akaya was rather cold at times but he would be easy to glean data from because he did not have an interest in keeping quiet anyway. Akaya was also intelligent and sharp; he noticed many things that people would normally miss.

Anyway, he would be the only one left besides Yanagi and he was useless when he was only interested in data-collecting; he would probably forget himself some time or the other and ask some really embarrassing question and frighten her.

Having made up his mind, he motioned to Yukimura, who would be easier to persuade than Sanada about letting Akaya keep Sakuno company until practice ended. There was only about thirty minutes left anyway.

Yukimura came over obligingly. He looked at Yanagi with his head tipped to one side, a habit that many girls thought extremely cute; Yanagi had that noted down somewhere. He said directly, "Seiichi, I think it would be a good idea to let Akaya keep Ryuzaki company until practice ends. She seems lonely over there."

Yukimura looked surprised and a little touched, "I didn't know that you are such a caring person, Renji. That might be a good idea; in fact, we have caused her quite a lot of misery today."

He grimaced slightly, "I would have to apologize to her about making her cry earlier. That will have to wait because I am just not prepared to do it yet." For all his outward calm and sophistication, Yukimura was actually rather shy around girls except for his sister and mother.

Yanagi coughed and said, "Yes, well, then I will call Akaya over and introduce her to Sakuno." Yukimura nodded and went back onto the court, thinking about his apology. Yanagi then motioned to Akaya, who looked pleased to be out of Sanada's way for the time being.

Sanada had been in a bad mood because of continued interruptions to today's practice and he was being especially strict with Akaya because of that. Yanagi noticed Sanada glare at him out of the corner of his eye but he ignored it; his data… no, a little girl was more important than Sanada in a bad mood.

Akaya smirked insolently while his greeting was polite, "Hai, Yanagi-senpai. What do you want me for?" Then he muttered under his breath which Yanagi ignored as well, "Anything to get away from Sanada-fukubuchou when he's in that mood."

Yanagi explained, "Akaya, Yukimura and I want you to keep Ryuzaki company until the end of practice. She seems to be lonely over there and we have given her a lot of trouble today, with Niou and later, Yukimura. She also seems to be rather shy. Try and put her at ease and get her to talk, maybe that will help her to forget her injuries. Later, I will ask for your report in case you said something to disturb her, so take care you don't or I will hand you over to Sanada for the rest of the year."

Akaya shrugged, "Whatever." They walked over to where Sakuno was sitting. Yanagi smiled, "Ryuzaki-san, this is Kirihara Akaya. He is in the year above you and since he's taking a break, I thought he could keep you company."

Sakuno looked up, "A-arigatou-gozaimasu, Yanagi-senpai, Kirihara-senpai. I would be glad of some company." That amounted to saying she was bored and Sakuno was startled that she dared to make such an insinuation in front of the regulars.

She was about to apologize when Yanagi patted her head, totally treating her like a little girl, "That's alright, I would be bored too. Now, I leave you two to get better acquainted."

Not realizing that he sounded like a matchmaker, he left the pair, feeling very satisfied.