Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except for Yukimura Miyu.

Author's Words: I am not very good with actions in my stories and I do not know much about sports at all. If there were any mistakes in the very few lines that I actually described a tiny bit of the games, then please let me know. This chapter and the next few ones will be slow going because I am seriously bad at action scenes. Pleasebe patientwith me, thank you very much.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: At the Beach (Part Nine)

Neo saw Stellar skipping happily at the edge of the sea and Shinn was standing near her with a gentle smile on his face.

Neo called out, "Stellar! Shinn!"

Stellar looked up and her face lit up when she saw Neo. She ran towards him, "Neo!"

When she stopped in front of Neo, he patted her on the head softly and Stellar smiled innocently at him.

Shinn scowled and walked towards this stupid pair of 'father-daughter'.

He did not know which were worse, Auel and his stupid mother-complex or Stellar and her annoying father-complex.

They were not even blood related parents and children. He knew that it was very mean of him to think like that but he disliked seeing Stellar so close to anyone other than him.

Neo waved at him with that annoyingly sunny smile. Shinn scowled even harder but when Stellar turned back to him and took his hand, his scowl melted away like ice on the stove.

Neo was always amused when he saw the different expressions on Shinn's face.

He would never make a good politician, Shinn Asuka. He was too emotional and hot-tempered, not to mention that mouth of his. Anyway, it was not his problem.

Neo said, "Murrue wanted to ask if you two want to go and watch that beach volley tournament with us. Auel and Sting are entering and Mayu's over there already."

Stellar's eyes lit up at the mention of her two 'brothers'. Then she looked puzzled, "Beach… volley?"

Neo smiled at her, "It's a sport played at the beach. Auel's very excited about it."

Shinn said, "Stellar, do you want to go and watch it? It's sounds kind of fun. If Rey's here, then I might go and enter too."

Stellar nodded childishly and said, "En! Let's go and watch Auel and Sting!"

Neo laughed at her excited expression and he said, "Come along! Murrue's waiting for us!"

Stellar nodded happily again and pulled on Shinn's hand, "En! Come on, Shinn! Come on!"

Shinn smiled and let her pull him up the beach towards the noise and the bustle. He was glad that she was so happy at the beach.

He knew that she had always liked the sea and she had played at the edge of the waves all day since they had arrived at the beach.

They half-ran and half-walked on the sand, Stellar excitedly pulling Shinn to go faster.

When they arrived back where their stuff was, Neo and Murrue were already waiting for them.

Shinn asked, "Where's that tournament held, Murrue-san?" She answered by pointing in a direction.

Shinn looked at where she was pointing and he gaped.

Somehow, sometime, a large expensive looking pavilion had been erected on the sand and there was a huge banner on the top of it. It read, 'Atobe's Special Beach Volley Tournament'.

Shinn said, "Wow…"

In front of the pavilion, there were already a lot of people. He could see several nets as well and guessed that those were the courts.

He had not played volley ball before but had watched a bit of it on TV and he thought beach volley must be something similar to that.

They walked towards the crowd and Shinn was prepared to push and shove his way to the front so Stellar could see.

When he was getting all tense and ready, Neo's mobile rang. He answered it and it was Mayu.

When Neo finished talking to Mayu, he said, "Mayu told us to wait here for her because she's coming to get us. I think she had really good places to watch or something like that."

Shinn was skeptical but since Neo had spoken, they stood where they were and waited for his sister to appear. Soon he saw Mayu running to them.

She stopped in front of them and panted a bit before she said, "Atobe-san said that we can go through the pavilion and watch with the teams. He said that it's the best view and it won't be crowded!"

Murrue wanted to ask if that Atobe-san was one of Auel's new friends but Mayu had already started running in the direction of the pavilion.

They followed her to the side of the crowd where there were men in black guarding a side entrance to the pavilion.

Up close, it looked very much like a huge tent and if it was more colorful, it could have been almost like a circus top with flags flying on top of it.

The men in black obviously recognized Mayu because they let them pass without a word.

Shinn had a quick thought when he saw them. He thought that they must be very hot in those black suits.

Once they were inside the pavilion, it became much cooler, though it was still noisy. The reason for the coolness was due to an air-conditioner at the back.

This Atobe-san must enjoy his material comforts very much to prepare all that just for an afternoon of tournament.

The pavilion was so big that it had flaps dividing it into sections. The section they were in was filled with people. They were all in swimming trunks, T-shirts, swimsuits or bikinis.

Everyone was talking at the top of their voices.

Some were bragging about how they were going to ace every ball, which was bullshit of course. Others were going on about what they were going to do with the prize money.

From the front of the pavilion, they could see the courts and the people who were sitting or standing around, waiting for the games to begin.

Suddenly, Mayu waved her arms at someone. It was a girl with very long braids.

She was standing with some other tall teenagers which included Auel and Sting. Because the others were so tall, it made her seem exceptionally short.

Neo noticed that she had a neat figure though. Murrue, who knew him very well, elbowed him sharply with a smile on her face as she looked with interest at the young girl coming over to them.

She could also see Auel and Sting talking with the other teenagers. Auel did break off and run after Sakuno to come over to them though.

Still, Murrue was surprised and happy to see them interacting with other people. Usually they kept to themselves back at home except when they were playing basketball or when they were at the game centre.

It was a good sign, she decided.

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Auel caught up with Sakuno and they stopped in front of Mayu and the others.

Sakuno wondered if these were some of the people Auel had talked about before.

She already knew Sting who enjoyed playing in the game centre like Auel and she knew Mayu who had a crush on Sting.

She looked at the lovely woman with kind eyes and gentle smile and thought if this was Auel's mother whom he was so fond of.

The tall man next to the woman had a cheerful grin on his face but what caught her attention were the scars on his face. They were not horrible or scary but they did stand out.

Despite that she could not help thinking that he seemed to be a very optimistic person. He was also very handsome in a manly, sunny way.

Sakuno said, "Mayu-chan, are these the people you wanted here to keep you company?"

Mayu nodded cheerfully, "Hai, arigatou ne, Sakuno-neechan. If you hadn't asked Atobe-san, everyone would have to stand outside and roast with the others. Now we can all see clearly how amazing Sting is!"

Auel snorted rudely while Sakuno blushed, "Eh… it was nothing… besides you were with me when I asked him so you didn't have to thank me. A-ano, yoroshiku onegaishimasu, I'm Sakuno, Ryuzaki Sakuno!"

She greeted the people behind Mayu.

Apart from the two adults in the group, there was also an ethereal-looking girl with dreamy eyes and a taller youth with hair dark as night and eyes as fiery as lava.

The girl was looking at everything curiously and the youth kept close to her protectively.

She knew without asking that something special linked them together. It was more than a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship and suddenly, just for a second, a person's face appeared in her mind. And just as quickly, it vanished.

It came too quick for her to know who it was but she was sure that it was someone she knew and was close to. She felt a pang in her heart at the same time.

It was a familiar pang, like when she was love again. It was also different from when she was in love with Ryoma-kun.

Before she could delve deeper, the woman had held out her hand to her and said, "Nice to meet you, Sakuno-san. I'm Auel, Sting and Stellar's mother. My name is Murrue Ramius."

Sakuno took her hand and gasped, "But you're so young!" Then she realized that she had been rude and said, "Ah! Gomen nasai! I didn't mean to be rude, Ramius-san!"

She blushed again. Murrue smiled kindly and it was as if the sun had come out. She said, "Thank you, Sakuno-san. It's nice to know that I am still young in a young girl's eyes."

Neo broke in with a laugh, "You're always young in my eyes! By the way, I'm these three scamps' dad. They're not our kids by blood but by adoption.

Though I would have liked to hear to them call me dad or father or something, they never do. Only Auel calls Murrue 'kaasan', the little scamp."

He was so funny and comical, pretending to be heart broken that Sakuno could not help laughing.

Murrue also chuckled, "He's my husband, Neo Lorrnoke. Don't mind him, he's always like that."

Auel said, "Yeah, he's always like that. You can understand why we don't want to call him tousan, right?"

Auel's tone was so dry that Neo once again put on his heart broken expression which made Sakuno giggle. Then Mayu said, "Mayu's turn! Mayu's turn!"

She pulled the youth with the black hair to the front and said proudly, "This is Mayu's onii-chan. He's called Shinn Asuka and he's always fighting with someone."

Shinn and Sakuno both gaped at Mayu's introduction while Neo laughed and Murrue chuckled.

Shinn said, knocking Mayu on the head lightly, "Baka, who would introduce their brother like that! And I don't fight all the time."

Mayu smiled sheepishly, "Hehe, gomen ne! Oh, and that's Stellar-neechan. She really likes the sea."

Shinn stuck his hand out roughly, "Hi, thanks for taking care of my sister while she was with you."

Sakuno shook hands with him and she looked at Stellar who was also looking at her. Sakuno smiled tentatively and Stellar blinked her dreamy eyes at her.

Then the corners of her mouth lifted up and she smiled sweetly at Sakuno. She came over and pulled gently on Sakuno's braids.

She leaned closer, putting her flawless face close to Sakuno's and with that beautiful face so close to hers, Sakuno could not help blushing.

Stellar fingered the braids, "Pretty…" Sakuno turned en even darker shade of crimson.

Suddenly, someone jumped onto her from behind and hugged her enthusiastically.

Sakuno almost screamed with fright but before she could, the person who was hugging her had said excitedly, "Ryuzaki! Ryuzaki! What are you doing here? Come on, hurry! The tournament's about to begin!" It was Jiroh.

Sakuno's face was now so red that her knees were feeling wick.

What with Jiroh hugging her so tightly from behind and Stellar leaning in so close from in front of her, she did not know what to do.

She was simply not used to so much skin contact with beautiful people or the opposite sex! No, make that she was not used to much skin contact at all!

Luckily, Shinn saved her by calling out to Stellar, "Come on, Stellar, let's go and get a drink from over there and grab a seat to watch the tournament."

Stellar looked up and smiled at Shinn, "En, coming." She finally realized Sakuno's braids and Sakuno signed with hidden relief.

Auel smiled happily at Murrue and cheerfully ignored Neo, "Kaasan, I'm going to find Sting now. You gotta cheer for me, ne?"

Murrue smiled and patted him on the head. Even though Auel was no longer a real child, he still liked it when she mothered him like that.

He beamed and gave her a hug and ran off, calling for Sting. Neo called after him, "Auel! What about my hug?"

Auel looked back and called, "You don't get one, baka"

Neo grinned and waved him off. Jiroh tugged at Sakuno's braids, "Ne, ne, Ryuzaki Come on, let's get ready too! Ryuzaki"

Sakuno answered him patiently, "Hai, Jiroh-san. Ano, mate ne, Murrue-san and Neo-san!"

She gave them a polite little bow and let Jiroh pull her off to warm up.

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Due to the fact that there were so many people entering, Atobe ordered his people to prepare two more courts and now, there were eight courts in total.

The preliminaries would go much quicker this way.

There were sixty-four teams entering in total and the preliminaries would eliminate half of that, leaving thirty-two teams for the second round.

Then it would be down to sixteen teams, then eight teams, four teams and then the last two.

Atobe had every intention winning this tournament which he himself held.

Due to time, he had decided to have a limit of fifteen minutes in the preliminaries and the second round. If any game was still going on after fifteen minutes, then they would decide the winner by points.

He saw his butler coming his way and knew that it was time to begin the Atobe's Special Beach Volley Tournament.

He made his way to the front of the pavilion and took the microphone from his butler with Kabaji in tow.

He held up his arm and snapped his fingers. There was immediate silence.

No one knew how or why but one snap of his fingers could always command attention.

He announced grandly, "I hereby proclaim Atobe's Special Beach Volley Tournament to begin now!"

After he said that, there was thunderous applause as usual, for him that was. He had wanted to say that the winner would be him but being aware that he was also the one holding this tournament, he withheld himself.

He had grown up after all and apart from becoming even more skilled in tennis, he was also learning the intricacies of being head of his family's business empire.

He could afford to be gracious because his world had widened ever so much more.

Atobe smiled to himself as he turned to walk back into the pavilion.

The first sixteen teams were going out to get ready for their games.

Atobe sat down on the chair his butler readied for him. From where he sat, he could see all the games perfectly.

His eyes sharpened as he saw that Sanada and Kirihara were out there, as were Tachibana and Sengoku.

They were not going against each other yet. Sengoku was already back to his usual lucky-go, happy self.

The games started and Atobe paid especial attention to these two pairs.

After all, they were not only some of the most brilliant tennis players of their age, they were also exceptional sportsmen in themselves.

He saw Sanada start with a hard overhand serve that was so fast his opponents did not even have time to react. Atobe sat back.

He could tell it was going to be a quick game for Sanada and Kirihara. He turned to Tachibana and Sengoku.

Sengoku had toned his muscles all these years and was not only fast but also very strong.

After Tachibana caught and set the ball, Sengoku performed a very heavy spike that threw the person trying to catch it off his balance.

It was another easy game for them and Atobe did not bother to watch anymore.

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Niou and Yagyuu were standing with Yukimura, Yanagi, Oshitari and Gakuto as they paid attention to both Tachibana-Sengoku and Sanada-Akaya.

Jiroh pulling Sakuno excitedly after him came up to join them. He was very much wide awake and jumping around now that the games had started.

He looked forward to playing against Bunta and did not even think about the possibility that the chance might not come because of the groupings.

He did not bother to check because he was so firm in his belief that he could finally see Bunta across the net, even though it was not a tennis net.

Niou and Yukimura both noticed Sakuno and they started for her at the same time, only to stop when they saw Jiroh pulling her hand excitedly.

Niou narrowed his eyes and wowed that the next time he caught Jiroh sleeping…

Yukimura's face frosted over as he contemplated playing against Jiroh the first moment he could arrange for practice game against Hyotei.

Oshitari saw Sakuno's half-red face as she tried to catch up with Jiroh's over-excited babbling and went over to help her.

He said to Jiroh, "Jiroh, I think I saw Marui somewhere over there."

He pointed in a vague direction and Jiroh immediately brightened, "Really? Thanks, Yuushi! See you later, Ryuzaki!"

He released Sakuno's hand which he had been pumping up and down vigorously while he had been talking and ran off in some vague direction.

Sakuno sighed a little sigh of relief. She liked Jiroh because it was just impossible to dislike him but he was so hyper-active!

She turned to Oshitari and smiled gratefully at him. She said shyly, "Arigatou gozaimasu, Oshitari-san."

Oshitari quirked a smile but he kept his distance. He was too sharp not to notice the faces of some of the Rikkai regulars near him. He had no intention of bringing their wrath down on him.

He said dryly, "Jiroh can be very tiring on a person sometimes, don't worry about it."

Sakuno giggled at his tone and then she caught sight of Yukimura who was looking her way. She smiled happily when she saw him and excused herself from Oshitari.

Sakuno half-ran to Yukimura and said sweetly, "Yukimura-senpai, how is the game going? Are Sanada-senpai and Akaya-senpai winning?"

She was a bit anxious about Sanada and Akaya so when she asked Yukimura, she unconsciously pulled on his shirt.

Yukimura did not mind in the least while Niou stood there, annoyed. Sakuno did not mean anything by not talking to Niou. She just did not notice him yet.

She was still waiting anxiously for Yukimura's answer. She was so short and there were so many people that she could not see the games clearly.

Yukimura smiled gently at her and said, "Don't worry about Genichirou and Akaya. They're fine."

He then had an idea and with a mischievous twinkle in his deceptively gentle eyes, he said, "Why don't I let you see clearly?"

Before Sakuno could react, Yukimura picked her up and hoisted her up on his shoulders.

Sakuno squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck to hang on for dear life. She could feel her face going bright red and she stammered, "Y-Yukimura-senpai!"

Yukimura smiled, "See, there's Genichirou."

Sakuno was too conscious of being on Yukimura's shoulders to be distracted and she was about to ask Yukimura to put her down when Yanagi said, "Ah, they've finished."

She looked up to see Sanada and Akaya walking off their court.

Niou was fuming by now at Yukimura's actions while his partner was merely surprised.

Oshitari was chuckling at the action unfolding before his eyes while Gakuto was pretty much oblivious to it.

Gakuto was looking at Oshitari warily though, "What's up now, Yuushi? I hate it when you have that expression on your face."

Oshitari waved his question away, "Never mind, Gakuto, I just thought of something."

Gakuto shrugged and ignored him. He did not want any part of any mischief his partner might be up to.

Well, this time, he actually did not have to worry because his partner was only laughing at the sight of one very pleased young man, namely Yukimura Seiichi, the famous captain of the esteemed Rikkai Dai tennis club; one very annoyed and jealous young man, namely Niou Masaharu, the notorious Trickster of the same team and one very red, again trying to get down little girl, namely Ryuzaki Sakuno, most assuredly the treasure of the esteemed Rikkai Dai regulars.

Niou could have killed his captain gladly, slowly and painfully at this moment. He was that annoyed with him.

He was about to step up and 'save' Sakuno when Sanada reached them and stared at Yukimura pointedly.

Yukimura only smiled, "You won, well done." Akaya was stretching his arms behind Sanada, "It wasn't a game at all, it was so quick!"

Then he noticed Sakuno on Yukimura's shoulders and his eyes popped out, "Buchou? What are you doing with Saku-no-bunny?"

Yukimura explained, "I just wanted her to see better. You can see clearly now, can't you, Sakuno?"

Sakuno, very red still, said, "A-ano, hai but Yukimura-senpai! You can put me down now!"

Not only could she see the games now, she could also see the people that were looking their way because of what Yukimura was doing.

Yukimura was enjoying himself too much to really want to let her down. She was so cute, he thought but again he did not want to embarrass her too much so he regretfully set her down slowly.

Sanada helped her down and Sakuno smiled at him, "A-ano, Sanada-senpai, congratulations."

Sanada smiled that rare, small smile of his at Sakuno, "It was nothing."

Not wanting to be left out, Akaya hugged her from behind, whining, "Saku-no-bunny! What about me? You didn't say anything to me? Saku-no-bunny!"

Sakuno was almost used to being surprised by random hugs by now and she giggled again because Akaya sounded so petulant.

She said, "Gomen ne, Akaya-senpai, congratulations to you for winning so easily and quickly."

Akaya released her and grinned, "That's more like it!"

Sakuno smiled and she was about to say something when she noticed Tachibana and Sengoku making their way to them.

She exclaimed, "Ah! Tachibana-san and Sengoku-san are finished too!"

Sengoku saw her and his face brightened. He was about to dash over when Niou beat him to it.

Niou blocked Sengoku's way and he said to Sakuno, "They should be ashamed of themselves if they could not get past the prelims, yo, Hiroshi?"

Yagyuu who had also come over with Niou, nodded and said, "That's a fair point. Even if there are different sports, with the basic training we normally do, it should not be too hard to win in games like these."

Sakuno looked up at them, "Then, Niou-senpai, do you think I will be okay? I-I am a bit worried that Jiroh-san will lose because of me…"

Niou clapped both his hands on her shoulders and bent down to look at her straight in the eyes.

He said firmly, "You'll be fine, Sakuno! I know that you're worried but first, you've been playing tennis for a long time. Your body will remember to move if you let it relax. Don't think about losing. Think about catching the ball. Trust Jiroh because even if he's like that, he's also an exceptional sportsman."

Yagyuu added, "He's right. Jiroh might want to have all the action anyway. Just relax, Ryuzaki-san."

Sakuno looked at Yagyuu and then at Niou. She was touched that they were really concerned for her.

She smiled shyly, "Hai, Niou-senpai, Yagyuu-senpai, I feel better already!"

Niou straightened and quirked a half-smile. Yagyuu also smiled gently at Sakuno.

Then they turned to get ready for their game because it would be in the next round.

In fact, out of the eight courts in the next preliminaries, there would be five courts with teams that they all knew.

Yanagi and Mizuki did not talk about it but they were both thinking that Atobe must have had a hand in this arrangement.

He was making sure that none of them would be against each other in the preliminaries.

In the next round, Niou-Yagyuu team would be out; Mizuki-Yuta team would be out; Yukimura-Yanagi team would be out; Shishido-Ohtori team would be out and Miyu-An team would also be out.

Both Yukimura and Niou were thinking whether Sakuno would cheer for them.

However, without them knowing, Sakuno's thoughts had already gone out to Miyu and An.

All the first round of preliminaries were finished and the second round were ready to start.