Authors note: Hey guys! Remember me? I hope so.. I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! I've started school again and I've been busy with homework and projects. The next chapter is really long so it's taking a while. Don't worry though! Stick with me and I'll try to get it done as soon as I can. Well, I'm off to read 100 pages of a book by tomorrow! xP

So many comments from Maki Totakiyami. I'm in shock! Thank you!

Edit-You're replies to this chapter made me feel guilty.I also made an edit to the Zatch Bell chapter. I added a bit too it because I realized how boring it was.
And now... on with the story!


Things to know: Eiji is Kikumaru's first name; Viper is Kaidoh's nickname since he uses a shot called the Snake; a southpaw is a left-handed player; Kikumaru, Momo, Fuji, Inui, Kawamura, Oishi, Echizen, and Kaidoh are all regulars in their tennis club. Everyone else is a non-regular player and don't participate in tournaments; Kikumaru has lots of nicknames for Echizen, including kiddo and chibi; Ryoma is Echizen's first name; when they say "Sensei" (teacher) they're referring to their coach; "Mada Mada Dane" means in English "You still have lots more to work on"; "Desu" is used to indicate politeness but excessive use is strange; "Oji" means old man.
"Ow!" I shouted as I landed on my back on what felt like hard pavement. Then the wind was knocked out of me as Akumei slammed down into my stomach. After a moment, I pushed him off and looked around. I was in the middle of a road and surrounded by buildings. It was a wonder no one was staring at me… Then I looked over and noticed a group of four boys just a couple years younger than me standing on the sidewalk nearby. All of their mouths were hanging open but then one leapt over to me. "Hey, Kira!"

I blinked a few times as he helped me get out of the road. "Oh, Kikumaru!" I grinned, as I realized who he was. "Long time no see!" Then I realized the others standing around were Oishi, Inui, and Kawamura. I raised a hand in greeting.

"What… are you doing back here?" Inui asked.

"Are you alright?" Oishi added. "You hit the ground pretty hard just then."

"I'm fine." I replied. "And I get transported to worlds at random with no choice of where I end up, so I just kind of ended up here again. But what are you all doing just standing around here?"

"Echizen and Momo are in a love triangle and we're tracking them." Inui replied. "But Fuji just called and said it seemed like a love square. We're waiting for Kaidoh now."

"What? With Echizen?" I started. "That doesn't seem very likely… so, where are they?" I followed Inui's finger as he pointed up the stone stairs we were standing at the base of. "Oh, well I'm going to go see. Watch Akumei for me?" I ran up the stairs, still talking, tying Kaidoh's on bandana on the way.

"W-wait…!" Oishi called but I was already gone.

I appeared over the top step and saw nine people already there, spread out in two groups on a tennis court. I recognized two as Ibu and Kamio, and two more as Momo and Echizen. There was a younger girl in the middle of one of the groups and I listened in to find that her name was Ann. Fuji was just walking over to each group with someone following behind him and being completely ignored. One of the three guys I did not know was Fuji's younger brother, Yuuta. Another was Mizuki, the one following Fuji around. The last was Shinya, who said "dane" after everything he said.

They were too caught up in their various arguments to notice me as I stood watching, wings tucked in as tightly as possible and tail around my waist. I listened in to find that Yuuta and Ibu were fighting over who got to play against Echizen. Kamio and Momo were fighting over the girl Ann, with Momo saying it wasn't a date that they were on even though Ann insisted it was. Mizuki was trying to get Fuji to notice him so they could play a match, but Fuji kept walking right past him. Shinya was attempting to ask Ann on a date but both Momo and Kamio screamed each time he spoke. I watched and saw them all gather around and pull strings to decide who would play who. It resulted in Ibu and Echizen on a team against Momo and Kamio. The others sat on the courtside benches while Mizuki acted as ref.

I inched a bit closer as the match started. Echizen and Ibu started off very well because of Momo and Kamio constantly fighting, but then Momo called Kamio over and whispered something to him. From then on, Momo would make signs behind his back and then they'd each move in different directions. This threw Echizen and Ibu behind so Momo and Kamio took the lead.

I moved a bit closer as they switched court sides and heard that Momo and Kamio only needed one more game to win. Then Echizen looked over at Fuji and Ann, who were sitting on a bench, laughing and talking, and had Ibu bend over so he could whisper something to him. As Momo was about to serve, Ibu asked, "So who's really Ann's boyfriend?"

"It's got to be Momo." Echizen replied, as Kamio shot Momo a glare. "He said it himself!" He added as he returned Momo's serve. Kamio missed it out of shock and fell over. From then on Momo and Kamio fought and yelled about every little thing and Echizen and Ibu won in the end.

Suddenly Ann jumped up and ran off, saying she had to be somewhere, and Fuji said that she had a date with her brother. Kamio and Momo both collapsed in shock and then leaned against each other, back to back, tired from the match.

"Hey!" I called, walking up towards them.

"Oh Kira! What are you doing here?" Momo called, still sitting.

I shrugged, grinning. "I'm not really sure."

"Well welcome back." Fuji smiled.

"It's you!" Kamio shouted, pointing at me.

"Yes, yes it is…" I replied.

"Oh!" Shinya leapt to his feet. "You're cute too, dane! Will you go on a date with me, dane?"

"No, that's ok…" I scratched the back of my head nervously, turning as Oishi, Inui, Kikumaru, and Kawamura came walking up. "H-hey!" I stammered. "You didn't leave Akumei alone, did you?"

"Umm…" Kikumaru started, but I dashed past him and back down the stairs before anymore could be said.

"Who was that?" Yuuta asked.

"A demon from another world." Fuji replied.

"We want to know seriously…" Mizuki muttered.

"I was being serious. Why else would she have wings, a tail, and wolf ears? She was wearing Kaidoh's bandana to cover them up." Fuji pointed out. Nobody found a reply to that.

I jumped down the stairs, several at a time, almost slamming into the person at the base. "Kaidoh!" I yelped, narrowing avoiding him. "What are you doing?"

"K-Kira?" He stammered. "Inui asked me to meet him here. What are you doing here?"

"Well, he's up there with everyone else if you want to see him." I replied as I found Akumei still leaning against the wall. I slung his arm around my shoulder and hoisted him to his feet. "And I told you I'm transported between worlds at random. I just happened to end up here again."

"Who's up there? What are they doing?"

"Umm… Oishi, Inui, Kikumaru, Kawamura, Echizen, Momo, Kamio, Ibu, Fuji, Yuuta, Shinya, Mizuki… Most were just there to play tennis but Inui, Oishi, Kikumaru, and Kawamura thought that Echizen and Momo were a part of a love triangle with a girl named Ann who had left already."

"Oh… Then I no longer have a reason to see him." Kaidoh murmured as he started walking.

"Ok…" I said in almost a whisper as I watched him go and then I lugged Akumei up the stairs with me to rejoin the others.

"Kira!" Kamio shouted immediately. "I've been practicing and I want a rematch!"

"Are you sure? I've had to do a lot of running around lately…" I replied, thinking of breaking out of that building called Holy where I had been locked up. "And I was carrying Akumei as I ran…" I added as I set Akumei down leaning against a bench and placed my sword and camera beside him.

"Are you really a demon, dane?" Shinya blurted out, jumping in front of Kamio as he was coming towards me.

"A wolf demon." I grinned, showing my fangs. "Now excuse me…" I walked past him to Kamio before he got pissed enough to start another fight. "Are you recovered from your match? I won't go easy on you at all." He nodded so I went on. "Where are we racing to?"

"Ten laps around all of these courts." He replied. "And I won't need you to go easy one me." I looked around to see what he meant. We were standing on two courts but on the other side of a small building were two more courts. We were supposed to run around all four. "First one finished wins."

"I'll keep track of Kira's laps." Mizuki offered, smiling towards me. I smiled nervously in return.

"And I'll count Kamio's." Ibu said.

"Wait a second!" I cried out suddenly. "I'm… in a skirt."

"Were you on a date too?" Momo asked, ducking away from Kamio's glare.

"Nope, I just ruined my other clothes and these were all that was given to me to replace them."

"Well, it's pretty long. Nothing should happen." Fuji said.

I sighed and shrugged, lining up beside Kamio. "Ready?" He asked and I nodded. "Go!"

We both took off, remaining even for a split second, before I pulled ahead. Less than a minute later Mizuki shouted, "One! I think…"

"What? There's no way!" Momo gasped.

"One…" Ibu murmured.

"Two!" Mizuki shouted. "I'm sure of it. I can barely see a blur go by but she's tapping me and whispering the number each time she passes."

"Are you sure?" Yuuta asked. "She's really fast…!"

"Three!" Mizuki shouted. "She seems to be getting faster as she progresses."

"Two…" Ibu murmured again.

"She's definitely faster than the last time she was here…" Inui pointed out. "But she could have just been holding back."

"It's amazing though!" Oishi cried. "If she played tennis, imagine how hard it would be to get the ball by her!"

"Four." Mizuki said.

"Three." Ibu continued.

"She could probably learn to play acrobatic tennis like Kikumaru." Echizen smirked.

"No way!" Kikumaru shouted.

"Five." Mizuki said.

A few more minutes passed and suddenly I appeared out of nowhere. Mizuki jumped, caught off guard and then said, "Ten."

There was a chorus of "wows" as I stood there, just the tiniest bit out of breath, waiting for Kamio to finish too.

A couple minutes later and he skidded to a stop, panting heavily and doubled over. "I still have a long way to go…"

"Don't worry about it!" I smiled. "It's just because I'm a demon and I've undergone special training! That really felt good though. I haven't gotten to run without being chased or holding something heavy in a long time!"

"Don't those wings slow you down, Kira-senpai?" Kawamura asked.

"Yes, I guess they do… and just Kira is fine." Breaking the long silence that followed these words, I turned towards Yuuta, Mizuki, and Shinya. "Can I have your pictures?" I asked, holding up my camera. After a very short explanation, the three agreed and stood with me while Momo snapped the picture. "Thanks!" I cried.

"It's growing late…" Oishi said. "We should all be heading home." He turned towards me as everyone prepared to leave. "Kira, do you have a place to stay?"

"Actually… no, but I'll manage."

"Are you sure…?" I nodded and he reluctantly left with the others.

I turned and sat down beside Akumei. "Well, where are we sleeping tonight? Oh, I know! Let's try that park where I fell my first time coming here." I hoisted him up again and made my way down the long stairs, heading towards the forested park. Finally I reached it, and went down the path, stopping somewhere towards the middle of the trees and then leaving the trail. I stopped once it was out of sight and leaned Akumei against a tree. Then I sat by another. Gradually I fell into sleep.


I awoke the next morning to the bright sun glaring down on me through the tree leaves. Hiding did no use so I finally forced myself to get up. "Man, it's another hot day…" I whimpered as I shielded my eyes and crawled towards Akumei. "I'm going on a walk. Don't go anywhere." I added with a sigh.

Standing, I made my way back to the path and walked along it. I saw nothing but trees and ended up staring straight up at the sky as I walked. "Oh-!" I cried as I tripped over something. I looked down and saw it was someone's legs.

There was a boy with short, curly orange hair leaning against a tree and apparently asleep. My fall had disturbed him and he was now slowly blinking awake. He turned towards me as I sat up. "Oh, what are you doing?" He yawned.

"What am I doing?" I blinked. "I tripped over you sleeping in the middle of the path!"

"Oh, is that where I am?" He yawned again.

"Yes, and it's not a very good place to sleep." I muttered.

"Oh…" He sighed and finally opened one eye to look at me. "What?" He shouted in alarm.

"What?" I jumped in surprise.

"You have a tail! And wings! And you're wearing a sword! And… a camera!" He seemed perfectly awake now.

"Well, yeah…" I muttered, staring at the ground. "Ah-!" He pulled me to my feet and began circling me.

"What are you?"

"A demon…"

"You aren't going to kill me, are you?" He asked it in the same nonchalant way as if he were asking the time.

"Nope, but can I take your picture instead?"

"Oh sure." He replied without hesitation. I pulled out my camera and quickly took it.

"Thanks."

"No problem! By the way, my name's Jirou." He held out a hand.

"I'm Kira." I said, taking it.

"Wow, you have claws…!"

"Y-yeah…" I stammered.

He let me go and checked a watch on his wrist. "Oh man, I gotta go! I'll see you again, maybe!"

"K!" I called after him as he dashed off, laughing to myself as he disappeared from view. "So strange…" I spun on my heel and returned to Akumei. "Akumei, it's so boring! Please wake up!" I pleaded as I arrived on the scene, but he remained asleep and unmoving. I slumped against a tree and placed my head in my arms. Soon I was asleep again.

I jumped awake as I felt something grabbing hold of me and opened my eyes to see someone staring at me. He was holding my shoulders in his hands. "A-Akumei…?" I gasped after my eyes grew used to the dark.

"I'm… so glad we're both still alive… I'm sorry to have left you alone for so long!" He whispered. "It must have been so scary…"

"N-no! It wasn't at all! I met lots of people and-" I was cut off as Akumei placed a finger over my lips.

"No, I was, at times, aware of what was going on around me. I've been such a burden… Maybe I should have just stayed behind. I'm sure I could have done something to help that girl transport you."

"D-don't say that! Then I really would have been left all alone!" He smiled as I sat before him and pulled me into a long embrace. Before I could stop myself, the tears were flowing. "W-why am I crying?" I whimpered, face pressed to his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. You have been keeping everything locked inside again. It's good to let them out before they build up inside. You don't have to be ashamed of your tears."

I nodded, without lifting my head, and eventually cried myself back to sleep.

The sun was up when I blinked my eyes open again. I had fallen on my side and Akumei was sitting against the tree nearest mine. "Morning…" I yawned, rubbing my puffy eyes and sitting up.

"Good morning." He replied. He placed a hand quickly over his stomach but my ears caught the rumbling.

"Hungry?" I laughed. "Actually, I am too… Let's go wander around town! Except…" I glanced over my shoulder at the large, feathery black wings. "I think it's time I tried to hide these again."

"This is the first time I've really seen you with them." Akumei pointed out.

"But they're really hard to hide and I have a feeling that we'll be here for a while…" I sat on my knees and closed my eyes, clenching my fists by my sides. Akumei watched curiously as I bowed my head. I pictured the wings withdrawing clearly in my mind. I felt the feathers begin sliding painfully against my skin as it started working and bit my tongue to keep from crying out. Somehow, I kept the image in my head and as soon as the mental wings were entirely gone, I let out a short scream and collapsed forward onto the ground.

"Kira!" Akumei shouted as he came to my side and helped me sit up, noting the steady flow of blood going down my back. He placed a hand over the two deep slits in my back near the shoulder blades and they healed instantly. "Are you alright now?" He asked, wiping the blood from my back before it reached my clothes.

I unclenched my fists and sat up slowly. "Yes… I'm just not used to doing it yet… Thanks though."

"Hey, what's going on?" Someone shouted. I lifted my head and saw a very tall boy with short gray hair that was combed upwards. He saw me doubled over on the ground and instantly seized Akumei by the front of his robes. "What did you do?" He screamed.

"No, you don't understand!" I cried, jumping in between them.

The sudden move made me dizzy and I fell forward. The boy released Akumei and caught me instead. "What do you mean?" He asked.

I waited for a moment and then stood again. "He helped me. He hasn't done anything wrong."

"What were you two doing here in the woods, away from the path?"

"Sleeping… but not together!" I added hastily, face flushing red. "What were you doing?"

"I heard you scream." He muttered, scowling at me.

"Oh… Well, thanks…" I smiled. He turned to go but I caught his sleeve. "Hey, can I take your picture? And… what's your name?"

He glared at me for a minute and then sighed as he saw I wasn't afraid. "What are you?"

"A demon…" I said bluntly, holding up the camera. "So how about it?"

He paused and then said, "Fine… And it's Akutsu…"

"I'm Kira." I smiled as I stood beside him after showing Akumei how to use the camera. After it had been taken, I turned back to him. "Man, you make me feel really short…"

"That's because you are short." Akutsu replied.

"N-not very…!" I stammered.

"Whatever…" He grunted and turned back in the direction of the path. "See ya."

I watched him go and then turned back to Akumei. "Hey, you can make clothes, right?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm almost out of energy right now."

"Oh… Well you don't exactly fit in with those robes…"

"And you do?"

"Yes, I do! These are modern clothes! Perfectly normal to be seen on the street." I was still wearing the blue backless top and knee length black skirt that Emiko had given me.

"Ok, ok…!" Akumei laughed. "But we'll manage I think."

"Alright… Follow me." I murmured as we went the way Akutsu had gone and soon emerged from the trees. "This is so much better!" I cried.

"What is?" Akumei asked.

"Having you walking with me, instead of carrying you!" He grinned and patted me on the head as he continued past me. "Hey, don't treat me like a little kid!" I shouted, running beside him.

"But you are. At least compared to me."

"You're not that old…"

"In human terms, I'm in my mid twenties and therefore about ten years older than you."

"Wow, that many?" I gasped.

"Hey, that's not old!" He yelled.

"But you just basically said it was." I replied.

"…shut up." He muttered.

"Hey, that's not very mature!" I stuck out my tongue and he remained silent while we walked on. After a while, I paused, sniffing the air. "Wow… Something smells good!"

"What is it?" Akumei asked.

"Umm… A hamburger!" I cried happily. "I haven't had one of those in over a year! Oh… But I don't have any money…"

"Kira!"

I looked up as someone called my name. "Oh, hey Momo." I said, smiling again. "Hey Kikumaru."

"Hey…" Kikumaru began, circling behind me. "What happened to your wings?" He sounded really disappointed.

"I pulled them in. It's a lot easier to blend in this way. Though I do stick out rather well still…" I sighed.

"I thought it hurt to do that. Why would you bother if you're leaving in a couple days?" Momo asked.

"I think something happened to the person who's supposed to be transporting me. I've already been here three days. That's more than normal. I'm afraid I'll end up staying here for a while…"

"Well at least your boyfriend's awake." Momo offered.

"W-what?" I stammered. "Akumei's not my boyfriend!"

All three began laughing at me as I stood there turning red. "I know." Momo snickered. "I just wanted to see your reaction. It was better than I hoped."

"Shut up…" I muttered.

"Hey, do you want to go eat with us?" Kikumaru asked, after everyone had calmed.

"Yeah!" A split second later, my face had fallen again. "Except… We don't have any money…"

"No problem, I'll pay for it." Momo offered. Before I could argue, he had grabbed my hand and was pulling me towards the burger place. Kikumaru exchanged glances and quickly followed. I plopped down at a table and Akumei sat next to me as Momo and Kikumaru went to order food.

They returned, each baring a tray, and sat down across from us. Kikumaru had three meals on his but Momo had one plus nine extra burgers. Kikumaru handed Akumei and I each one from his while Momo began eating. "Do you always eat that many?" I gaped.

"Is there anything wrong with it?" Momo asked as he started his second. "I have to eat this many, otherwise it doesn't feel like I ate."

"Oh…" I shrugged as I took a bite of mine.

Soon Akumei and I had finished and Momo was eating his tenth burger when he turned to Kikumaru. "You're not eating?" He asked.

Kikumaru sighed and held his tray towards Momo. "Here you go, the eleventh."

"Thank you, I'll eat it!" Momo laughed as he took it. Kikumaru, Akumei, and I just smiled.

After he finished I asked, "So what are you two doing?"

"Oishi asked us all to meet him tonight." Momo replied.

"Do you want to come?" Kikumaru asked.

"Oh no, I can't invite myself to something!"

"But I'm inviting you…" Kikumaru pointed out.

I laughed. "Well yeah, but it's not the same. I'll see you tomorrow instead, ok?"

"Ok…" They replied as I got to my feet. Akumei stood as well and we both left.

We wandered through town, entering various stores to look around as we went. Akumei seemed very interested in taking in as much as he could about, as he called it, "this strange world". I just laughed and showed him around, even though this was my first time wandering aimlessly around Japan as well.

It was dark when we reached the outskirts of town and found ourselves at the base of a forest growing along the side of a rather small mountain. "Let's go!" I cried, and Akumei followed me as I started up it. After a while, the trees parted and I froze.

"What's wrong?" Akumei asked.

"There's a path…" I murmured. "We could have taken a path instead of fighting through the trees."

Akumei laughed as he walked and stood beside me in the middle of the small trail. "Don't worry. The other way was more fun, don't you agree?"

"I guess…" I smiled. "But since we're here, let's keep going along the path." Akumei nodded, still laughing, and followed. We reached the top and broke out of the trees. I took one look around and gasped in surprise, accidentally revealing I was there.

"Kira!" Kikumaru ran forward to me. "You decided to come? But how did you know we were here?"

"W-what?" I stammered. "I didn't know! We were just exploring the area…!"

"Well since you're here now, you can wait for the sunrise with us." Kikumaru grinned and he led me over to the others. Oishi, Tezuka, Kaidoh, Momo, Echizen, Inui, Kawamura, and Fuji were standing by a railing that kept you away from a drop off on the mountain. Spread out before us was the city.

"Oishi, there are so many clouds out. We won't be able to see the sunrise, right?" Kikumaru asked.

"That's not true!" Oishi cried, checking his watch. "Just five more minutes and it'll be dawn." Everyone waited in complete silence, staring over the cloud strewn city. Oishi constantly checked between his watch and the view. After several minutes, he hung his head in defeat.

Almost instantly, the clouds began to part and the sun fought through. "It's the sunrise, Oishi-senpai." Echizen murmured.

"Oishi." Kikumaru said, laying a hand on Oishi's shoulder.

"Look." Fuji added, standing on Oishi's other side. "The sunrise."

Oishi's face lit up as he repeated, "The sunrise."

"The sunrise!" Someone yelled. I noticed that almost everyone was smiling, even Kaidoh, and were each celebrating in their own ways. Fuji pulled out a camera and that reminded me to take my own pictures as well. Finally, he made everyone gather for a group shot. After some prodding, Akumei and I were pulled into it as well. Fuji set the timer on both his and my cameras and then ran, jumping into the picture at the last second.

After this, everyone prepared to leave. Oishi turned to me. "Kira, where are you staying while you're here?"

"Oh, I'm fine… Don't worry about it." I replied, masking my nervousness with a smile. After a pause, I added, "Am I allowed to come to your practices? To watch or something? I won't get in the way…"

"Of course that's fine." Oishi smiled. "We have one tomorrow morning. Maybe we'll see you there?"

"Maybe…" I grinned. "See ya!" I waved as they left and then turned to Akumei as he began to speak.

"So, where are we staying?"

I paused and stared around. "I guess… here…"

"The forest again…?" Akumei moaned.

"Do you have any better ideas?" I snapped as I headed for the cover of the trees. Akumei frowned and then followed me. We each sat at the base of a tree and soon were both asleep.


"Hurry, hurry!" I called, waving over my shoulder to him.

"Where are we hurrying to?" Akumei asked.

"We're going to watch them practice." We were currently walking down the crowded sidewalk. Both Akumei and I were getting strange stares and trying to ignore them the best we could.

"That seems boring…" Akumei sighed.

"Well, do you have a better idea?" I frowned. "There's really nothing else to do!"

A slow smile spread across his face. "I can think of a few things…" He said, smirking at me.

I felt my face turning red. "Shut up!" I cried out in alarm as his arms wrapped around my waist and hoisted me over his shoulder. "H-hey!" I yelled. "Put me down!"

"Make me." He laughed, and began carrying me back towards the woods.

"Akumei…!" I whined. "You're supposed to be the older, more mature one!" We were getting three times the amount of stares this time and I was feeling nervous. I brought a hand to my head to make sure the bandana was still there. He just laughed and proceeded forward.

Finally, we arrived back at the woods and he set me down once we had entered deep within the trees to a slight clearing. "So, what are we doing?" I asked.

"Fighting." He grinned. "You're out of practice. I bet I could beat you right now."

"What?" I cried. Instead of answering, he closed both his eyes and seconds later, a shadow rose out of the ground beside him. It took the form of a human but remained all black, the only visible thing being glowing red eyes. "What's that?"

"You're opponent." With that, the shadow leapt at me, a sword appearing in its hand.

I leapt back, the tip of the blade grazing my shirt. "Damn it, Akumei, I'm wearing a skirt!" I screamed, drawing my sword and clashing it against the shadow's.

"That makes it more fun for me."

I glared at his response as the shadow and I sprang apart and then collided again. It kicked out, catching me off guard, and knocked my feet from under me. I fell over, rolling out of the way as his sword stuck in the ground where my head had been. I leapt to my feet and stabbed it through the middle as it tried to pull the sword from the dirt. I turned angrily to Akumei. "It's trying to kill me!"

"Well you are fighting."

"If I die, then you're stuck here, you know."

"I know. That's why if you do die, I won't let you stay that way."

"What? You can revive people?"

He nodded. "Only if I really want to. In your case, I would, so feel free to go all out."

"But there wasn't a need to!"

"Now there will be." He closed his eyes again and this time not one, but four shadows sprang up.

"Akumei!" I shrieked as all charged me at the same time, each from a different direction. I jumped in the air and leapt over their head, landing just behind one of them. I stabbed it through the stomach and it disappeared. The other three were on me now. I blocked one's attack with my sword and blocked the other's with a sword made of my spirit energy. The last swung at me from behind but an energy shield sprang up and stopped its shadow sword. Akumei smiled his approval as I kicked one in the stomach and ducked out of the way as the ones in front and behind me swung and missed, killing each other instead. They disappeared and I stabbed through the last, sending him away too. "Are we done…?" A sword swinging at my head answered me but I held up a hand and sent a green blast at the owner's instead. "I said, are we done?" I repeated in annoyance.

"No, this is fun." Akumei grinned. "Let's make it harder…"

This time an exact copy of himself rose from the ground. I gaped for a moment, knocked free of my trance as the Akumei copy attacked. I jumped back as he pulled the hidden sword from his robes and swung at me. We clashed swords, sprang apart, and met again many times but neither of use could over power the other. I gritted my teeth, holding my sword in both hands as I pushed against his. It probably looked funny. His little, thin sword was equal with my gigantic one. My eyes narrowed at the thought. "This is stupid!" I screamed and slammed forward, knocked Akumei's sword aside. He blinked in surprise as I pierced his stomach, and then disappeared.

The real Akumei laughed. "So it seems I'd lose to you in a power match. But what if I used my powers?"

"Powers?" I asked, eyes still narrowed. He nodded and made another Akumei clone. This one approached me without drawing a sword. I held mine at the ready and glared at it. I blinked and in his place hovered a small black bird. I ducked as it soared over my head and then found strong arms around me. I struggled as my own were pinned by my sides.

I shivered as the Akumei copy whispered in my ear. "Had you forgotten when we first met…?"

"I've gotten stronger since then!" I shouted, breaking free of his grasp and spinning around to face him. Before I could move further, four shimmering ropes sprang up and wrapped around my ankles and wrists. I gritted my teeth as I was dragged down.

Once I was on my knees with my fists planted on the ground, Akumei's copy approached. He crouched in front of me and smirked. "My powers surpass your strength."

"You don't know that…" I growled, glaring at him.

"Oh? It seems pretty obvious to me."

"Then I guess I'll… get… serious…!" I shouted, straining against the ropes. Akumei backed from me in surprise as I began to get to my feet. There was a soft tearing sound and then all at once, the ropes snapped and faded.

Akumei winced as if he had been struck. "H-how…?" He stammered.

I was the one smirking now. "My strength surpasses your powers." I swung with both hands, bringing my sword sideways and all the way through his side. His eyes went wide as his top half separated from the bottom and he disappeared. I turned to glare at the real Akumei.

He too was staring wide eyed at me. "I… guess I was wrong." He murmured.

"Yes, you were. Now send something else at me!"

"What? I thought you didn't like this."

"Well, you've gotten me in the mood for it now." I snapped. "So come on!" With a hesitant nod, Akumei created more shadow things for me to fight. My eyes began to glow red as I got more into the fight. It carried on well into the night when I finally destroyed the last one and collapsed against a tree. "I'm done…" I panted.

"Good…" Akumei said, also breathing heavily. Creating these opponents for me took a lot of his energy. The more powerful his creation, the more it drained him. "Let's sleep now." I nodded and slid down the tree until I was sitting. Without a word and almost instantly, I drifted into unconsciousness.


I woke up early the next morning and glanced over at Akumei. He was still sleeping soundly. I climbed to my feet, leaving my sword beside him but taking my camera with me as I started towards the school where the guys practiced, Seigaku. Only after I was already there, did I begin wondering how they'd react to seeing me still in the same clothes as when I arrived. At least I had kept them from being torn during the matches with Akumei. "Oh well…" I murmured as I followed the sound of tennis balls and people shouting.

Walking along a stone path, I finally arrived at the courts. There were three in the same fence, all beside each other in a row. On them was the school's entire tennis club. Freshmen were running around gathering the balls as the upper classman practiced. I caught site of Momo as he slammed the ball downwards, scaring his opponent half to death. Beside him, Kaidoh performed a strange shot that went out of bounds, around the pole, before hitting in bounds once more. Echizen was amazingly into it as well. I stood off to the side watching until it ended and then paused before heading over. Maybe I shouldn't bother them today… I thought to myself. They all seemed sort of worked up about something.

"Hey, Kira!" I flinched as my name was called out and turned to see Oishi waving me over. I smiled and went to stand before him. "I didn't see you yesterday."

"Yeah, I couldn't come. Akumei kept me busy…" I laughed, rubbing the back of my head. "What's everyone so worked up over today?"

"Tomorrow we continue the Kantou regional tournament." Oishi explained.

"Oh, can I come watch?" I asked.

"Of course! The more supporters, the better." Oishi smiled, turning as Fuji walked up beside him.

I bowed my head as Fuji looked me over. "Kira, are those the same clothes you were wearing when you came here?" I looked at him and nodded hesitantly.

"W-what?" Oishi stammered. "You don't have a change of clothes?"

"I told you I was sent from my world by surprise. I didn't have time to pack or anything." I frowned.

"Where are you staying?" Oishi looked really worried now.

I couldn't keep myself from answering. "…The woods."

"What?" He exclaimed. "You told me you had a place to stay!"

"It's fine, I'm ok!" I replied, guilty faced.

"Well we have to find somewhere for you. You could come stay with me if you need to."

"No I can't! It would be too much trouble for you! Plus, Akumei would have to come too then and I don't want to bother you like that…"

Oishi frowned at me and then sighed, turning towards the small building beside the courts. "At least stay there. You'll have a roof over your head and that's the important thing."

"B-but don't you guys use that?" I stammered.

"Yes, but only to keep our things during practice, so it will be alright for you to stay there while you're here." Oishi smiled.

"I-I…!" I stopped and stared at the ground. "Ok, thank you…"

Oishi put a hand on my shoulder and turned to the boys all packing their tennis equipment away. "Everyone!" He announced, getting their attention. "This is Kira. She's going to be staying there…" He pointed at the building. "…so please don't be alarmed if she and another are in there while you are. She won't bother you and you shouldn't bother her." My face turned bright red as I felt everyone's gaze on me. They were all whispering in surprise, some recognizing me from the last time I was here. Oishi turned back towards me. "Alright, now you just need some clothes."

"My older sister might have some she no longer wears." Fuji said.

"No, you've already done enough!" I cried, waving my arms. "I don't want to trouble you further! I can get my own clothes."

"It's no trouble, but if you're sure…" Fuji shrugged. "Then I'd better be going. I'll see you tomorrow Oishi, Kira." He smiled and headed off.

"Oh, that's right." Oishi turned towards me again. "Do you know where the tennis courts are?"

"I'm sure I'll be able to find them." I nodded. "Oh, is it alright if I ask where Tezuka is?"

Oishi's face darkened slightly and he frowned. "Tezuka injured his shoulder and went to Germany to have it healed."

"O-oh…" I stammered in surprise, quickly recovering. "Well I'm sure you'll be able to win anyway!"

Oishi's smile returned. "Yeah." He nodded.

Slowly we said our goodbyes and I wandered around through town, knowing I would eventually make it back to Akumei. "Ah-!" I cried out as something slammed me in the back. I fell forward onto my hands and knees, skinning them across the sidewalk. In front of me, a man was staring horrorstruck and backing away slowly. I glanced over my shoulder, leaping out of the way and pulling the man with me as a sword's blade sunk in deep where I had just been. I turned to face the giant shadow that was glaring at me with its glowing red eyes as the man ran for it. Reaching for my sword, I gasped in surprise as I realized it wasn't there. Damn it… I growled. Akumei, not in the open! I jumped up as the sword swung at my waist, placing a hand on the flat of the blade and pushing myself into the air towards the shadow's head. My palm found the shadow's forehead and a green blast shot out and straight through it. The shadow disappeared and I landed lightly on the ground. I glanced up and saw everyone in sight staring at me and of course, Kikumaru was there.

"Wow…!" He cried, running to my side. "You sure showed that thing whose boss!" He paused. "What was that thing?"

I sighed, pulling him with me as I quickly began to leave. I wasn't sure of what would happen after all those people who saw me recovered from their shock. "Akumei made it. He was making them fight me yesterday. That's why I couldn't come watch you guys practice."

"Wow…!" He repeated in amazement. "But where's your sword? It would have looked so much cooler with your sword."

I couldn't help but laugh. "I left it with Akumei. You kind of get a lot of strange looks when carrying a sword around."

He grinned and nodded. "So, you're coming to our match tomorrow?"

"Yep, so win ok?"

"Yeah." He smiled. "I'll see you then!"

I waved after him as he ran off, next proceeding directly to the woods. I stopped in the clearing to find my sword sitting there, but no sign of Akumei. "Akumei!" I screamed. "Get out here!"

I stiffened as someone grabbed me around the waist. "Why?"

I pulled free, spun around, and punched him soundly in the face, all in one fluid motion. He toppled backwards, hitting a tree. "For sending that thing after me while I was in the middle of town! You almost killed someone!"

"I knew you wouldn't let it happen…" He whined, rubbing his jaw. "And you didn't have to hit me so hard!"

"Yes, I did. I have only been hitting your copies lately. It's about time you got some of what they've been feeling." I frowned.

He pouted at me. "Fine…" He sighed as I sat down beside him.

"Tomorrow we're going to watch them all play in a tournament and you're not going to keep me from going this time."

"Are you sure…?" He asked, a mischievous look in his eyes.

I thwacked him lightly on the head. "Yes, I'm sure." I looked up at him suddenly. "Can you make me new clothes now?" I asked.

"Hmm… Lets see." He murmured, as if deep in thought. He waved his hand in front of me and my clothes changed to a black t-shirt and jean shorts with Kaidoh's bandana still firmly placed on my head. The old shirt and skirt lay at my feet.

"Yay, thank you!" I grinned. "What about for yourself? You don't exactly blend in here."

He sighed. "Fine…" Then he waved a hand in front of himself as well. Instead of his robes, he was now in a white sleeveless shirt and jean pants.

"Cool." I smiled, looking up to see it already dark. I remembered Oishi telling me to sleep in that building but ignored it. One more night won't hurt. I frowned. "Goodnight Akumei…"

"Night." He replied, leaning back.


"If you don't want to come, you don't have to!" I called. We were on our way to the tennis courts. I was having somewhat of a hard time picking out which scents to follow that would lead me there. The people staring at me were just adding to my annoyance. "Maybe I should have asked them to show me…" I murmured and then shook my head. "No, I can find it!" I looked over my shoulder again at Akumei who was strolling casually behind me.

"Alright, alright…" He muttered speeding up and falling into step beside me.

My head shot up as I caught a strong and familiar scent. "Echizen…?" I murmured and saw him standing at the end of the sidewalk ahead of me. Across the street sat the tennis courts I had been searching for. "I found it Akumei!" I cried, pausing just behind Echizen as a bus with the word "Johsei" pulled up on the other side of the street.

Immediately a large group of girls in school uniforms began frantically shouting in high pitched voices as they swarmed it. "Here they are, here they are!" I clamped my hands on my head over my ears, trying to drown out their shrieking. Akumei laughed but I glared at him and he quickly shut his mouth again. The screaming doubled as a boy stepped from the bus. He had hair that flipped up oddly and a white hat on top of his head that was turned sideways. They circled him. "Wakato, please win today no matter what!"

"Of course!" He said cockily waving his hand and obviously enjoying the attention. I glared at him now too as the girls screaming pierced harshly through my overly sensitive ears. The rest of the team and their coach, a pretty woman with long brown hair, were watching. Then I noticed Echizen walking past. I hadn't even noticed him leaving!

The woman turned towards him. "You're Echizen, right?" The entire team tensed and stared at him as he froze and turned to face her. "Let's do our best today." She continued. "I'm Hanamura, Jyousei Shounan Tennis Club's coach. I'm glad to have met you."

"Thanks." Echizen said.

"You're great material." She went on happily. "I've been watching you all along. You would be even better if you came to us. I'd be able to complete you as the best masterpiece ever. It doesn't matter if you come after the Kantou Regionals. Please consider it."

"No way." Echizen replied. "To complete… That would mean that's the end, right?" Then he turned to leave. Hanamura and her team simply watched him leave, most of the team glaring.

Hesitantly I crossed the street with Akumei trailing behind. I smiled faintly at them as I passed and skipped up the stone steps three at a time, aware of them watching me as I went. I reached the Seigaku team in time to see them all put their hands on each other's and cheer loudly. "Then everyone, leave cheering to me." Kawamura said. He was the substitute player.

Momo offered him his racket anyway. "Here."

Kawamura tried to push it away but Momo finally got him to accept. As soon as he had grabbed it, Kawamura screamed out as if a switch had been hit. "Now, all you guys! Listen to me! If you win it's all you can eat sushi, if you lose you win one year of wasabi sushi, ok? Seigaku, victory!"

Everyone on the team's heads popped up. "All you can eat sushi?"

Then a freshman girl, Tomo, who was wearing a yellow shirt with a large blue "S" on it, a short blue and yellow skirt, and holding pink pom-poms ran in front of the team cheering loudly. The girl standing beside me, Sakuno, who was dressed to match, blushed badly. "T-Tomo…" She stammered.

"Kira, you made it!" Momo greeted me.

"Yep." I winced as a new wave of shrieks erupted from the girls surrounding Wakato. He was standing by the courts having his picture taken with them.

"What's wrong?" Momo asked, following my gaze. "Oh… it's your ears, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they pick up on things really well so their screaming is killing me."

Three freshman boys, each holding two pom-poms in embarrassment turned towards the noise as well. "Who's that?" One of them asked.

"Jyousei Shounan's regular…" Inui said.

"Seems like an idol…" Sakuno breathed.

"He's the one with that exceptional interview, huh?" Inui added. Wakato had been interviewed for a tennis magazine and had said that Seigaku must be a school full of clowns. He had really teased Kaidoh's special move.

Kaidoh frowned. "That's him, huh?"

The freshmen frowned and one of them said, "They look really strong." He was referring to the other team.

"Don't judge by looks alone." Momo advised. "But on the other hand, that woman is hot!"

"That's their coach." Inui replied.

"But she's strange." Echizen added. "She was hitting on me earlier…"

Three freshman, Kawamura, Kikumaru, and Momo all gathered around him and shouted simultaneously. "Eh…?"

"Jyousei Shounan Middle School vs. Seishun Gakuen will start now." A woman announced over a loudspeaker. "The first match is doubles two. Please come forth."

Momo and Inui stepped out onto the courts as two boys came from the other team. They stood on opposite sides of the net. "Their pair of players are twins, huh?" Momo asked. One of the boys, Kouhei, had his hair in a ponytail and the other's, Youhei, was short and down but otherwise they looked identical.

"Yeah." Inui nodded.

"We are not a pair!" One of the twins shouted out. They spun around and faced Momo and Inui back to back. "Unit, as we would like to be called."

"Unit?" Momo echoed. "A pair is a pair!"

Inui placed a hand on his shoulder. "Momo, don't get too excited now. We haven't even started."

"Sorry…" Momo pouted.

All four took their places on the court and prepared to play. Suddenly Momo threw the ball into the air and served. The tournament had begun.

I stood by the court with the rest of the team to watch as Akumei stood beside me, looking completely bored. The twins were able to predict where the ball would by listening to the sound of impact and they played on the baseline, close to the net. Momo started to get frustrated and made mistakes, hitting the net a few times. The twins infuriated him more by turning face to face and talking about test scores. They began only hitting to Momo knowing that he'd make mistakes. Inui was left helplessly standing by.

"They're only hitting to Momo…" Echizen pointed out.

"Momo, who isn't used to doubles, hasn't realized that yet." Fuji added.

After a while longer, one of the twins tapped the ball into the air. Momo ran at it and leapt up to slam it downwards for his dunk smash, ignoring Inui as he yelled for him not to. Momo hit it but the twins were already in place. They swung together and slammed the ball at the same time, one racket behind the others to return Momo's ball. It went shooting past Momo as he stood in shock and dropped his racket, mouth hanging open.

"To think that those two easily returned Momo's dunk smash…" Kawamura murmured.

"No, Momo-senpai isn't playing at his normal strength." Echizen replied.

"Yeah, by losing his calmness the timing in his jump and stroke are off." Oishi explained.

We all turned back to watch as the match resumed. "Momo, calm down." Inui said, but this only frustrated Momo further. The game paused again with Momo and Inui losing four games to none.

One of the freshman boys, Horio, suggested something and another, Katsuo, promptly told him it wouldn't work. Soon they had grabbed each other by the front of their shirts and were screaming. Everyone turned to stare, even Momo and Inui from the court. "Calm down, calm down!" Sakuno cried.

"Do you think I can calm down?" Horio yelled.

"Ah, this is the same as Momochan-senpai!" The last freshman boy, Kachiro, pointed out.

That caught Momo's attention. I watched him while Oishi and Kikumaru went to pull the freshmen apart. "Just like me…?" Momo whispered. He walked over to Inui. "Inui-senpai…" He began. "Please forgive me!" By now everyone was watching him, including the entire other team. "I was almost playing by myself, but everything's fine now!" Momo declared. "From this point we're going to play seriously."

"Alright Momoshiro." Inui smiled. "Let's show them our doubles."

The two prepared to play once again and everyone stopped fighting to watch. Inui whispered to Momo where to serve to and Momo did. The twins were caught off guard and didn't return it. They began talking to each other, wondering what had happened.

"Why are they in tune now?" Kouhei asked.

"Don't worry." Youhei replied. "We'll send a lob and provoke him."

Momo served again and they returned it, knocking the next ball they received lazily high into the air. Momo jumped up and looked like he was about to perform his dunk smash, but instead let it fall just on the other side of the next. Youhei dashed forwards and returned it but Inui was there, having predicted what Youhei would do, and slammed it past him.

"Inui gave Momo instructions after their bodies adapted to this irregular formation." Fuji said, speaking of how the twins stood on the baseline side by side.

"Yeah, their combination is working well." Kikumaru agreed.

The game proceeded great until Momo sent another dunk smash at the twins. They swung together to return it, but instead both of their rackets were knocked out of their hands by the force of the shot. Their entire team stood watching with mouths hanging open. With that point, they won another game, now only down three games to four. They paused for a water break and Momo thanked Katsuo and Horio as they stood unsure of what they had done. "It's because of you guys that I calmed down." Momo grinned. "Thank you." The freshmen were still standing in bewilderment. Momo turned towards Inui. "Inui-senpai, let's finish this off now!"

The game continued again until they were up five games to four with only one more needed to win the match. They were having another water break. As Momo took a drink, Inui reached a hand towards him. "Oh, that's…" His voice trailed off as Momo turned towards him.

"Yes…?" He was still smiling when he collapsed.

"H-hey… M-Momoshiro…?" Their coach, Ryuzaki asked. "Pull yourself together, Momoshiro!"

It turns out he had drank from Inui's bottle. As Momo was being carried out on a stretcher, Inui said, "I'm sorry Momo. That one is still in the experimental stages. The balance of taste isn't…"

I shivered, thinking back to the drink he had me try during my last visit. "It's ok…" Momo moaned as he was carried away.

"Jyousei Shounan wins the doubles two match due to Seigaku withdrawal." The referee announced. Everyone stood watching in shock.

"Really now, I question the coach's abilities." Hanamura, the opponent's coach called rather loudly.

Ryuzaki took out her anger out on Inui, waving his water bottle in his face. "But really Inui, you shouldn't bring such weird things onto the court!"

"Weird… weird things?" Inui frowned, looking taken aback.

"Everyone, let's cheer up." Kawamura said as they called for the doubles one teams.

Kikumaru walked onto the court with Oishi. "Oishi, lets play our best. I'm going to play like I always do."

"Yeah." Oishi nodded as they looked over their opponents. There was a huge height difference by at least three feet. One was huge and well built with spiky black hair and the other was tiny with goggles and hair to his shoulders.

Oishi served underhand and the huge guy, Daichi, hit it out of bounds. It continued for a while longer until I noticed something. "Hey… Is Oishi's right wrist ok?" I asked.

Fuji shook his head. "He injured it a while ago…"

I frowned as I watched the little guy run up Daichi's back and then jump off to hit a smash from high into the air. With that point, they increased their lead at five games to two. A short water break was held and when they returned, Oishi and Kikumaru were standing in what they called the I formation. Kikumaru stood up by the net, crouched lower than it, in the middle of the court with Oishi serving from straight behind him at back. By having Kikumaru at the net in the middle, it confused the receiver so he wasn't sure where to hit. Kikumaru could then fairly easily return it.

"They are aiming for the middle of the opponents." I looked away to watch Inui as he explained. "Gathering the balls in the middle of the opponent has two advantages. Hitting the ball in the middle makes it difficult to return at an angle. Thank to that, the one at the net doesn't have to move very far and can stay in the front. In other words, it means Eiji has access to a wide range of attacks."

"At this rate, Oishi has a bit more time to rest his wrist." Kawamura pointed out.

Finally, at one point Kikumaru let the ball go by over his head. Their opponents charged the net and Oishi smashed it by. They had forgotten about him, another good point of the I formation. The next thing I knew, Oishi's face was scrunched up in pain and he dropped his racket on the ground. Kikumaru crouched next to him but Oishi grabbed it back up. "I'm fine. I don't want this to be our last match." Since they were seniors, if they lost this tournament, Kikumaru and Oishi wouldn't be able to play tennis again. "Come on, let's resume the game." Hanamura snapped her fingers, signaling for her team to target Oishi and his hurt wrist. Oishi was heavily pressured but still just smiled and nodded when Kikumaru asked if he was ok.

I glared from Oishi's obviously bruised and red wrist towards the other team. Somewhat to my relief, they seemed to be feeling guilty about targeting him, however I quickly grew angry again as they continued anyway. "Don't worry Oishi. I'll do all the attacks. You just stay back on defense. We won't lose." Kikumaru said, handing Oishi the racket that had just been knocked from his hands. "Let's go to the nationals!"

Oishi stared at him for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah!" They continued again, going as Kikumaru had planned. Because they weren't following their normal roles in a doubles match, their opponents became confused and no longer were able to just target Oishi. Kikumaru signaled to Oishi behind his back and Oishi nodded, dragging his racket along the ground and hitting the ball upwards. It soared over the little guy's head as he jumped off Daichi's back but dropped sharply, just hitting the out of bounds line. That was Oishi's special shot, the moon volley.

"Game and match, Seigaku seven games to five!" The announcer cried. Cheers erupted from Seigaku's side as Oishi and Kikumaru high fived each other. I covered my ears as screaming girls started yelling out again surrounding Wakato.

"Kaidoh, it's your turn." Inui said.

Kaidoh turned to look at him, holding up his racket. "I'm ready whenever."

I watched, wincing, as Wakato walked onto the court, waving to the hordes of girls waving signs and banners with his name on them. He blew them a kiss and their screams intensified. Kaidoh was on the court waiting for him. They shook hands and Wakato laughed. "Well, I should decide who your opponent should be."

"My opponent…?" Echoed Kaidoh.

"Hmm… The player that fits you best will be…" He trailed off and reached into his pocket, pulling out the white baseball cap and tossing it high into the air. He snapped his fingers and shouted, "Change!"

"Over!" All the girls screamed in response.

Wakato reached up, caught the hat as it fell back down, and put it on his head backwards. When he looked up again, he was no longer smiling but looked instead very serious.

"His eyes suddenly changed." Echizen said.

"Change over…" Inui murmured.

"It means to change I guess." Oishi said.

"This will become interesting." Fuji added.

Kaidoh served and Wakato crouched low, waiting, and hit it back. Everyone gasped in surprise and I turned to them. "What…?"

"That style belongs to Lleyton Hewitt, one of the top pros in the world." A man who was reporting on the game, Inoue, replied.

"Now that you mention it, even his habits are the same!" Kikumaru pointed out.

We turned back to the game to see Kaidoh lob it high over Wakato's head yet somehow he managed to return it with his back to the net. Kaidoh hit the net and Wakato got the first game. Kaidoh didn't get a single point of a game where he started serving. Of course, all of Wakato's fan girls started screaming as he waved to them. The next game started up and they hit it back and forth for a while. Suddenly, Wakato hit it to him, and Kaidoh ran to get it, hitting it so it bounced across the court instead of to the back of the other side. This was his move called the snake and was the one Wakato had made fun of specifically in the interview.

"It was more powerful than I thought…" Wakato said, smiling. "But it wasn't something worth hiding."

"What?" Kaidoh asked angrily. Wakato just laughed and resumed the game. When Kaidoh got another point off him, he paused to stuff the hat back into his pocket. He snapped his fingers and yelled "change!" again, and once more all the girls answered with "over!" His face changed again from serious to constantly smiling and so did his entire stance.

"P-Pistol Pete." Inoue stammered.

"That playing style…" Kikumaru started.

"Yeah, looks like this time it's…" Fuji added.

"Pete Sampras." Echizen finished.

"Pistol Pete is Sampson's nickname…" Inoue went on. "He was called that for his sharp serves. I can't believe Wakato can copy an all around player like him. He even mimics all the little habits. This is Wakato's Style of the Pretender."

Wakato approached Kaidoh after he had fallen flat chasing a ball. "You don't have to try that hard. You're going to lose in the end."

Kaidoh just stared at him. "Shut up. You're just a copycat. I'm not scared of you one bit. I won't lose to a guy like you."

"I see… why don't you try to win then?" Wakato replied.

I listened in on the rest of the team as Kaidoh resumed playing. Wakato served and then ran up to the net. "Serve and volley." Echizen said.

"He's good, a mirror image of Sampras." Fuji murmured.

"It's just like with Hewitt." Inui added. "He is mimicking them perfectly."

"He can't do it unless he practices it a lot." Oishi pointed out.

"So that's his Style of the Pretender." Kikumaru finished.

"No matter how good he is, he's just a pretender." Momo muttered from where he was leaning against a wall, still obviously sick. "Come on Kaidoh, you better not lose to that copycat or else…" Momo and Kaidoh were fierce rivals to the end.

We turned back in time to see Kaidoh score another point. Wakato looked frustrated as he served again. "Kaidoh is getting used to his opponent's style." Inui said.

"Go Viper, make a comeback!" Momo muttered, clenching his fist.

Echizen turned to look at him. "Momo-senpai, are you sure you should be up?"

"How can I sit at a crucial moment like this?" I laughed and moved closer to him slipping his arm around my shoulders to help him stay standing. He seemed to be having troubles. He barely seemed to notice as he concentrated on the game. I gave an amused smile and turned to watch as well. Kaidoh hit another Snake that circled around Wakato and gained himself a game, bringing the score tied at one each.

Wakato stood with one hand on his hip and the other below his eye just as he had done before changing styles each previous time. "My, my, it seems this style has depleted all its usefulness." He laughed and pointed his racket at Kaidoh. "I have just thought of the perfect style for you!" He threw a hand into the air. "Change!"

"Over!" The girls screamed back.

Wakato crossed his arms over his chest and then threw them wide, yelling loudly. "Are you stupid?" Kaidoh asked, and then served the ball.

Kikumaru pointed a finger in aggravation. "What's with that guy changing his form like that?"

"What…?" I asked. "Who's it now?"

"Andre Agassi." Inui answered. "Most fast serves won't work on this return genius." As if to prove this, Wakato easily returned Kaidoh's Snake and shortly after won another game. In response to his cheering fan girls, Wakato kissed the ball before cheering. I flinched as they shouted louder.

"Stop fooling around, you bastard." Kaidoh muttered.

"Don't fret, I'm thinking of the perfect opponent for you." He answered. He shouted "change" and the girls shouted "over". Then he crossed his arms over his chest, spread them out again, and switched to playing with his left hand.

"Was he a southpaw?" Momo gasped.

After watching him play for a bit, Echizen frowned. "He's Goran Ivanisevic this time."

"He is one of the top ranked left handed pros in the world." Inui added. "He is a serve and volley specialist like Sampras, but he's more emotional." Wakato won another game so now the count was three games to two, in his favor.

Before changing courts, they had a short water break and Kaidoh was sitting on the bench wiping his face as he listened to the girls fawning over Wakato. "You're too loud! Don't talk during the game. Shut up and watch!"

"What's up with that guy?" One of the girls frowned.

Wakato just smiled over at him. "I should tell you something. Your Snake is just a variation of the Buggy Whip Shot. It's not something you invented, which means you have nothing original too. It means your development is slow compared to those who copy another person's style and incorporate it into their own." Kaidoh just watched him steadily and then returned to the court. After winning another game, Wakato changed again, this time to Gustavo Kuerten, who was known for the grunt he made when hitting the ball.

"I admit you're good, but I know people who use those moves better than you!" Kaidoh said, referring to his teammates, after scoring another point. It continued until it was six games to five in Kaidoh's favor.

"I just determined the ultimate opponent that will crush you." Wakato said. "Change…"

"…over!" The girls replied.

Wakato placed his hat on backwards and bent low, arms hanging in front of himself. He even imitated Kaidoh's hiss. The backwards hat took the place of his bandana. He mimicked Kaidoh's moves all perfectly, even the Snake shot. "I can't believe he can do Kaidoh…" Oishi murmured.

"Nobody's ever played themselves." Fuji replied. "All the experiences mean nothing at this point."

I glanced nervously towards Akumei who was suddenly smirking back at me. Momo noticed. "What's wrong?"

I shifted myself underneath him as he leaned more heavily on me but smiled at him. "It's nothing…" We turned back to watch the game. By imitating Kaidoh, Wakato had won and now they entered a twelve point tiebreak.

"He's good…" We all turned towards Inui.

"You think so too Inui?" Oishi asked. "You mean…"

"You mean his racket is millimeters away or something?" Kikumaru interrupted.

"Don't be stupid." Inui replied. "He's centimeters away. What's amazing his how he uses his muscles. That's not a simple snake shot that you can just copy. No normal player can hit like Kaidoh does, but he copied with only slight imperfection."

"But still, you have to be honored that you're being copied by Wakato, who mimics all the top pros in the world." Kikumaru smiled but Oishi simply turned his head towards Kaidoh who was glaring so fiercely that Kikumaru backed away a few steps. "Total displeasure!" He shouted.

"Kaidoh-senpai is really mad…" Echizen said.

"Of course." Momo replied. "How could that stupid Viper take the fact he just got beaten by his own…" He trailed off and clamped a hand over his mouth, as he felt sick again.

"Don't throw up on me!" I squealed, still holding him up.

"Hey take a rest, Momo." Kawamura exclaimed.

"Making Kaidoh angry is a skill I want too." Inui frowned. "Let's see what you got…" He quieted and we all turned to watch as Wakato served again. We watched as they hit it back and forth several times. "Kaidoh used the running Buggy Whip shot just now." Inui said. "In a Snake war, being forced to run left and right will be numerous. So, he's making Kaidoh use buggy whip shots to bide time."

"That Wakato boy is interesting." Fuji laughed. "But if he keeps pushing it…"

"He might get bitten." Echizen continued.

"Bye the fangs of the Viper." Fuji ended.

"So dangerous, dangerous." Momo murmured.

"What… do you mean?" I asked, watching as Kaidoh hit his around the pole shot, the Boomerang Snake.

"Boomerang Snake!" all the freshman shouted together.

"There. Just got bitten!" Fuji and Echizen said simultaneously. Wakato stood in blinking in a slight shock until he shook himself out of it and they resumed. The two kept hitting Snakes at each other and then returning the shot with another Snake. Kaidoh was hitting them deep to put unneeded stress on Wakato's knees. Suddenly, Wakato copied Kaidoh's form again, hitting a Boomerang Snake! It hit out of bounds but caught everyone by surprise.

"He's good, it almost went in." Fuji said.

"But it won't." Inui replied. "It won't with that swing. You can hit a Snake by lowering your body and swinging upwards, but not a Boomerang. Boomerang required much more refined wrist action and swing. Without it, he can't hit a real Boomerang."

"I see." Fuji smiled. "Without refined training, the Boomerang is impossible. Very Kaidoh."

The game proceeded for a little while and then the referee shouted, "Game and match, Seigaku's Kaidoh!"

"Ha!" I shouted, laughing at the girls who had burst into tears over Wakato's loss.

"You did well, it was a complete defeat." Wakato said as he and Kaidoh shook hands.

"Why didn't you change?" Kaidoh asked.

"Oh, that was because of my stubbornness. You understand, don't you?" Kaidoh just glared.

There was a short break and I helped Momo sit back leaning against the stone wall close by the tennis court. Akumei was sitting half asleep by the court's fence and kept complaining about how bored he was so I wandered around to get away. I looked up, flinching, as two of Wakato's fan girls saw Kaidoh walking ahead and screamed out. "Kaidoh, look this way! We love your bandana!" Kaidoh turned around and gave them his normal fierce glare, which was pretty much the constant look on his face. Both of them screamed "I'm sorry!" and one even poured her own drink on her head. I burst out laughing as Kaidoh watched them leave in a kind of shock.

Echizen walking by, smiling. "You're a stud, Kaidoh-senpai."

"Kaidoh!" I laughed, walking up to him. "That was great! You scared them away just by looking at them! Haha, shut those stupid girls up…" I added under my breath as I held my ear through the bandana I wore. Kaidoh gave me a somewhat nervous look. I noticed and smiled, waving it off as we proceeded back to the courts. I placed myself in between the two teams, but closer to Seigaku. Echizen and his opponent, Shinjyou, walked onto the court and shook hands. Shinyou was at least three feet taller. "Wow… That guy's huge!" I gasped. He had extremely short blue gray hair as well.

"No, you're just small." Akumei smirked, standing behind me. He placed his chin on my head and his arms on my shoulders and leaned forward so I was holding him up. "Actually, you seem to have shrunk even more."

"It's just because it feels strange being taller than all of them…" I muttered, referring to the Seigaku team. "And I'm not small! I'm five foot six!" Akumei just chuckled.

I turned back around as Kikumaru said, "Wow, another huge height difference! I wonder if kiddo will be ok…"

"I have almost no data on Reiji Shinjyou. No data…" Inui frowned.

Suddenly Sakuno burst into cheering and Tomo joined her. Soon after Kikumaru jumped in and then pretty much every non-regular member was cheering loudly. I stood staring in a slight stupor as Momo and Kawamura smiled cheerfully. At least they're not high pitched and deafening… I thought with a sigh.

Finally, they quieted as the match started. Echizen scored the first four points and easily won himself the first game within minutes. Shortly after, he had won his second. Echizen finally lost his first point when Shinjyou served it and Echizen hit it back and out. "There's something hidden there… In the serve." Fuji murmured.

I turned glanced over at the other team's captain and strained to hear as he said, "That was it, the Mirage." The Mirage…? I frowned and continued to watch. Shinjyou served another identical ball but this time it knocked the racket from Echizen's hand.

"It's not like Echizen to miss and easy return…" Oishi frowned.

"What do you think, Fuji?" Inui asked.

"It looks like an ordinary serve but…" Fuji trailed off as Echizen hit another ball all the way to the opposite fence. "His form. His form is always the same." He resumed. "His form is the same when he hits the ball both hard and soft. You cannot tell how hard he's hitting the ball."

I frowned. "So that's his Mirage…" I watched as Shinjyou won this game and Echizen served. Shinjyou returned it and when Echizen tried to as well, the ball went flying to the fence again. Shinjyou could use the mirage in returns too and not just when serving.

Kikumaru's eyes went wide as he watched them continue. He blinked his eyes and took another look before saying, "He hit the ball with a top spin, but it change to an under spin!"

"No matter how good he is, it's not possible to change the ball from top spin to under spin." Kawamura replied.

Kikumaru turned towards him. "Don't you trust my eyes? I have the best vision on Seigaku. Take a good look!"

"I-I saw it…" I blinked. I had thought I was just seeing things. Momo and Kawamura leaned forward and then confessed in shock that they saw it too. Shortly after, the ref announced it was tied, two games each. Before I knew it, Shinjyou had gained another and led by one. Echizen served, first switching to his right hand from his usual left. He served the ball and it hit the ground, spinning for a moment, and then shooting up towards Shinjyou. He promptly hit it back and Echizen fired it out of bounds again. Instead of trying something new, he gave the same serve again, called the Twist Serve, and Shinjyou returned it. This time so did Echizen and he hit it back as a Twist ball, which was pretty much the same as the serve, and also headed straight towards the opponent's face. "I see through your technique." Echizen declared, and then scored his first point in three games. From then on, he kept easily returning all balls hit at him.

"Shinjyou's form is slightly off." Inui explained. "Every player dodges without knowing when a ball is heading straight towards them. Too much power will be used all of a sudden. I'm sure it's only off by a few millimeters, but Echizen is aiming for that."

"I see…" Kikumaru nodded.

Their coach, Ryuzaki, spoke up. "Survival instincts will affect everyone slightly. Once that happens, the Mirage becomes just a regular return."

Echizen won another game, bringing it to three each. "You and your coach are both Mada Mada Dane." Echizen smiled towards Shinjyou.

I jumped as Shinjyou's eyes widened in anger, just for an instant, and then returned to normal. "What's wrong?" Akumei asked. He had still been leaning on me.

"N-nothing…" I murmured. I looked back up to see Shinjyou serving again. He crossed his arms in front of him with a ball in one hand and his racket in the other.

"Reiji, no, don't use that move!" Hanamura, his coach, shouted suddenly. My eyes darted towards the rest of the team who were all staring in shock. Shinjyou ignored her and served. The ball came speeding towards Echizen, much faster than any previous hits, and grazed his cheek. Echizen gasped out and fell over backwards, dropping his racket.

"E-Echizen should not have insulted his coach…" I whispered, staring at Shinjyou who looked enraged.

I watched Echizen slowly sit up and listened in on the other team. Kajimoto, their captain frowned. "Deep Impulse."

"Deep… Impulse…?" Youhei and Kouhei echoed.

"Sensei's is going to be mad." Wakato stated. Hanamura was staring at Shinjyou in a horrified shock.

"It looks like an abrasion…" Inoue said, referring to the red streak on Echizen's cheek.

I turned back towards Kajimoto. "Shinjyou, I know we have to advance to the finals, but to use that serve… Is Echizen Ryoma that special of an opponent?"

The referee paused the game for Echizen to get a new racket. I looked now and saw the strings in the middle of his were all snapped. "That move was not in Shinjyou's data." Inui frowned.

"That was a move?" Kawamura asked. "It just looked like a really powerful shot to me."

"The position of his body during the serve, the instant impact and movements were all shown in his mirage shots." Inui explained. "This isn't something you can do with just power. Everything was calculated."

We all watched again as Echizen returned with his spare racket in hand. Shinjyou served again and crossed his arms like before. He hit another Deep Impulse and it circled around Echizen's racket as he tried to swing, and instead added another red mark on his cheek above the first.

"That bastard… Why is he serving like that?" Momo yelled.

"It seems his goal is to injure the opponent." Fuji replied.

I listened once again as Kajimoto spoke. "Deep Impulse is a technique that Shinjyou used before he met Sensei. But Sensei forbade him from using that move.

"Even though she forbade it…" Youhei started.

"…He must have still been practicing it." Kouhei finished.

"There is no excess in his moves. Perhaps next time I should become Shinjyou." Wakato said and I smiled slightly at his imitation.

"Deep Impulse is a technique designed to injure the other player." Kajimoto went on. "The shot formed from that concentration contains a lot of power."

"But this is the first time I've seen it. Why did Sensei seal it?" Daichi asked. "It's so powerful."

They paused to watch and I did as well. This time Shinjyou did a normal serve and then hit Echizen's return back as a Deep Impulse. "Deep Impulse is not just a serve." Kajimoto said. I watched as Echizen switched to his right hand again and returned it, but I noticed another red line near his chin. "It's started, this is the real Deep Impulse. In tennis, you usually hit to opposite where your opponent is or get the point by making them miss. But Shinjyou uses his super control and power to hit it towards the opponent. It makes the opponent feel danger, lose fighting spirit, and lose. He has such good control that he's certain to hurt his opponent." I clenched my fist and growled softly, quickly trying to hide it as Kajimoto glanced over at me.

"That's dangerous. I don't ever want to play against Shinjyou." Daichi frowned, crossing his arms. Soon Shinjyou won another game, ahead four to three. Echizen served now and Shinjyou returned it. The ball sped up at the end and knocked aside Echizen's racket, grazing his cheek again. They continued for a while when Echizen ran at the ball. Just when it looked like it would slam him in the face, he stopped dead and hit it back, knocking the racket from Shinjyou's hand. Suddenly Echizen was able to return the Deep Impulse.

"Oh, you've thought about it Echizen." Inui smiled. "Maintaining a low posture and then stopping. That step is Stuttered step. Echizen is attacking the ball before it has a chance to accelerate. He's using that step to shorten the distance between himself and the ball, making it easy to return and lessening the power of the ball."

"But wouldn't the burden be on yourself too?" Momo asked.

"But the burden would be much greater for the opponent, than the one on his hands." Inui replied.

"It seems like every time it's hit, it sounds louder." Oishi pointed out.

"Chibi's probably testing how heavy the ball can get." Kikumaru said. Continuing to use the step, Echizen brought the game tied at four each again. Shortly after Echizen won another, because Shinjyou used it to calm himself down. They resumed and started up a rally, hitting the balls back and forth to each other as hard as they could. Finally, Echizen approached the net and slammed it back towards Shinjyou. It hit his racket and knocked it out of his hand, leaving a small red streak on his cheek.

"Echizen injured Shinjyou!" Kawamura smiled.

"Echizen has amazing power." Momo nodded.

"The ball that hurt Shinjyou was his own." Both of them turned in confusion towards Inui. "Echizen is using Shinjyou's power. As the game progressed, he was able to get the timing down. How he can hit the ball without putting too much burden on himself."

Echizen served again after Shinjyou replaced his racket and another rally began. Echizen's hand was becoming strained from returning all the hard shots, and Shinjyou started using the Mirage again to shake him up. Then he positioned himself to return with a Deep Impulse, but instead hit a normal shot, messing with Echizen's head further. Yet another rally started as Echizen began to overcome his mind games. Finally, he hit a ball past Shinjyou, one that accelerated towards the end and left red marks on his arm. He scored his next point when the ball hit the edge of Shinjyou's racket instead of the middle. Shinjyou ran at the ball, hitting a Deep Impulse on the way and Echizen somehow managed to return it, scoring his last point to win the sixth game. Shinjyou only had four games so Echizen won the match.

Cheers erupted everywhere as Echizen gave a relieved sigh. "Akumei, get off me now!" I whined. He seemed to have actually fallen asleep leaning on my shoulders and still standing behind me. I frowned and slipped from beneath him, turning back to catch him and lower him to the ground. "It wasn't that boring…" I muttered, glancing up to see Kajimoto standing beside me and staring. "Yes…?" I asked nervously.

He turned away and approached Oishi, taking his hand to shake it. "Hi there, I'm the captain Kajimoto."

"I'm the temporary captain, Oishi." Oishi replied.

"Congratulations on making it to the best four." Kajimoto smiled. "By the way, who was singles one?"

"I was." Fuji said, approaching. "But it looks like Echizen took it from me." Because Seigaku won three out of the five matches, there was no need to play the last.

"This is our Fuji." Oishi nodded.

"I've heard of your abilities. I would have loved to play you if we made it to singles one. It's too bad."

They shook hands as Fuji agreed. "Same here."

"Good luck with the nationals." Kajimoto said to Oishi.

He nodded. "Yeah, we'll try our best."

I was crouched down beside Akumei, muttering under my breath as I jabbed him sharply in the arm with my claws. "Hey, wake up! I know you can't be this dead asleep! I know you don't want to be woken by a punch to the face."

"Is everything alright?"

I looked up to see Kajimoto smiling curiously down at me. "O-oh yeah… Everything's fine!" I felt myself blushing. He's really pretty…! I thought to myself. He had medium brown hair that flipped slightly up at the back and purplish blue eyes. His ears were pierced too. "I'm just trying to wake him up…" I nodded towards Akumei.

"Ah, I see." Kajimoto laughed as he crouched beside me. "Were you listening as I spoke during that last match?"

"Uhh…. I…" I stammered. "I-I didn't tell Echizen or the others anything to help them win or anything!"

He laughed again at my reaction. "I wasn't saying you did. I was simply wondering how you heard when I was speaking quietly." He stared closer at me and then continued. "Also, why does it look like there is hair where your ears should be?"

My eyes grew wide as I clamped my hands over the side of my head. "W-what? You can tell…?" I gasped. He gave an expectant look and I hesitantly went on. "Because…" I glanced around to make sure no one was watching and then quickly pulled the bandana off my head. "…I have these ears instead. They're also how I could overhear you from a distance."

He stared for a moment until one twitched and then reached out and tugged lightly on it. "So they're… real? …What are you?"

I nodded, tying the bandana on again. "…I'm a demon, but please don't tell anyone! I'm just here until I can return to my own world again!"

He blinked and shook his head, then smiled back at me. "Alright, I won't tell. It was nice meeting you…?"

"Kira." I replied in relief as I shook his hand.

"I'm Kajimoto." He said. "Well, I'll see you later." He stood up again and returned to his team.

I watched and snapped a picture of them all together when they were facing me and then turned back to Akumei. "Wake… up…!" I yelled, smacking him on the cheek.

He sat bolt upright. "What?" He screamed, and then realized what happened and glared at me.

"Well you deserved it." I said, sticking my tongue out.

I looked up as Kawamura approached. "Kira, we're heading to my father's sushi bar for the all you can eat sushi I promised. You're coming right?"

"Oh, but I didn't do anything!"

He smiled. "Well you were here… Plus, the freshman and reporters are coming along too. You can bring Akumei with you even."

I laughed. "I've never had sushi before…"

The next thing I knew, I was sitting on my knees in front of a table full of food with Tomo, Sakuno, the reporter Inoue's assistant, Shiba, and Akumei. "Eat all you want!" Coach Ryuzaki announced and all of us, excluding Akumei who was eating too, stared in shock towards the team. They, mostly Momo, were stuffing their faces with anything they could reach.

Momo had something shoved almost into his mouth when Kawamura popped up beside him with a huge tray in his arms. "Wait a sec! Did you forget? The losers have to eat wasabi sushi."

"Why?" Momo screamed.

"I'm jealous." Fuji said earnestly.

"Of course Inui has to as well." Oishi smiled.

"I guess I have to…" Inui frowned, his eyebrow twitching in disgust.

"W-wait a minute!" Momo cried, crawling away from Kawamura and the tray. "I was the victim here! You should blame Inui-senpai."

"Stop whining Momo, just eat it!" Kikumaru said.

"Hey Echizen, say something will you?" Momo asked.

"Mada Mada Dane." Echizen placed more food into his mouth.

"Eat up!" Oishi, Kikumaru, and Kawamura said in union, each holding some wasabi sushi towards toward Momo and Inui, who flinched back in fear. Their horrified screams filled the air that night.


"Where are you going?"

I looked back at Akumei who I had thought was asleep. "To watch another match."

"Ah come on, it's so boring!"

"No way, I think I'm going to start playing tennis when I get home!" I grinned and then ran from the clearing before he could try anything. I continued at a sprint along the sidewalk, making sure that the bandana was on tight as I dodged around pedestrians. Finally, I arrived at the courts and saw Inui, Fuji, Echizen, Momo and the girl, Ann, already there. I made my way towards them at the top of the bleaches and waved. "Hey, sorry I'm late…"

"Ah, no problem!" Momo smiled and then turned back to the game. "If Kamio wins this match, Fudomine will move onto the nationals like us."

I turned back to watch the game where Fudomine Jr. High and Yamabuki Jr. High were playing each other. I looked down on the courts to see Kamio playing against a guy from Yamabuki. He had short, messy orange hair and turquoise eyes. His name was Sengoku. He had Kamio running all over the place but Kamio caught him off guard with a move called Sonic Bullet that shot the ball back at the sound of speed. Even though he could see it, Sengoku never managed to hit it back. They tied with six games each and moved into a twelve-point tiebreak. Kamio needed one more point to win and was about to serve when he dropped the ball. "My bad…" He murmured as he picked it back up. He was sweating and breathing heavily, having reached his physical limit from all the running. Sengoku hit it to the far corner and Kamio stumbled on his way to it, knees giving out. He gritted his teeth and began to fall forward. Suddenly, at the last minute, he screamed, "damn it!" and caught himself with one hand. Everyone stared in shock at the sight of him holding himself up with one hand on the ground, the rest of him in the air. He swung and hit the ball back before collapsing.

"You've got to be kidding…" Sengoku gaped.

"Sorry, but Kamio's already played a guy as persistent as you." Fudomine's captain, Tachibana replied. I followed his glance to see Kaidoh standing on the far side of the courts. He stared at Kamio and then turned to walk away.

"Game and match, Fudomine's Kamio, seven games to six." The announcer declared. "Let's cheer Fudomine as they advance to the best four."

I watched as two teammates lifted Kamio from the ground and supported him and then turned towards Momo and the rest. "Well, I have to go. Akumei's probably mad at me for leaving him." They just laughed and said goodbye as I began to walk away. I passed Kamio and Ibu on the way. "Congratulations you guys!" I grinned and then waved as I went on.

"Thanks." Kamio said tiredly and Ibu shrugged as the rest of Fudomine stared after me curiously.

Walking around town later that day with Akumei trailing behind me, I bumped into Oishi. "Kira!" He called, coming over to me. "Have you tried out the building at the courts yet?"

"Actually, no…" I looked away guiltily.

Oishi just laughed. "Well come on, I made an extra key for you-"

"You didn't have to do that!" I interrupted.

He smiled. "Come on, it's almost dark so I'll take you there."

"Are you sure? You don't have somewhere else to be or something?"

Oishi shook his head and I followed with Akumei back to Seigaku and up to the tennis courts. We went to the little building near them and Oishi produced a key, sticking it into the door handle and turning to open it. "There we go." He smiled as the door swung open. It was a small room with square lockers to set their things in while they played and had one bench along a wall.

I stared around for a moment and then smiled. "Thanks Oishi…"

"No problem! Here's the key…" He pressed it into my hand. "And I'd like you to come to this." He pressed a piece of paper into my hand and then left, waving behind him, before I could ask about it.

"What's that?" Akumei asked.

"I don't know…" I looked it over and then read aloud, "Seigaku Tennis Club, Celebrating Top Four, Recreation Meeting, 9:00am." I glanced back up at Akumei. "Why would they want me there?" He shrugged and sat down on the bench, leaning back against the wall. "It says to bring you too…" I added, hoping to get a better response. Instead, Akumei just closed his eyes. I sighed and sat down next to him, staring at the floor until sleep took me.


The next morning I woke up and shook Akumei awake as well before leaving the building and locking it behind us. We went along the street until I caught a familiar scent, Kaidoh's. "Hey Kaidoh…!" I called as he turned around. "Do you have any idea what this is?" I waved the flyer in front of him.

"You got invited too?" He asked.

"Yes, but do you know about it?"

Kaidoh shook his head and kept walking. I trailed along in silence behind him. Finally, we arrived at our destination. It was a bowling alley. Oishi, coach Ryuzaki, and Inui were all waiting and said in union upon our arrival, "yo." With that, they, Akumei, Kaidoh, Fuji, Echizen, Momo, Kikumaru, Kawamura, the three freshmen boys Kachiro, Katsuo, and Horio, and I all entered.

"We dropped Hyotei Gakuen and Jyousei Shounan Gakuen to reach best four in the Kantou tournament…" Ryuzaki began.

"I thought we could celebrate our achievements." Oishi added.

"Forget about tennis today and enjoy yourselves." Ryuzaki picked back up.

"I can't believe I got up early for this." Echizen scowled and turned to leave, yawning.

Inui stopped him, holding a large pitcher of blue liquid in his face. "I forgot to mention. Those who forfeit will have to drink my Inui Special Recovery Juice: Aozu. The losing team will also have to drink it. And for people who get gutter balls…" He paused and held up a tiny shot glass. "This…"

Kikumaru stuck a shaky finger towards the glass and pulled out one drop, letting it fall on his tongue. "W-what is this? So sour…!" He shouted loudly and started waving it away. "It's vinegar, just vinegar!"

"How rude, I adjusted the taste." Inui frowned.

"W-well I heard black vinegar can be good for you body…" Kaidoh started, trying to be optimistic.

Momo cut him off. "Kaidoh, are you stupid? Look at it! It's blue, blue! Does that look like a natural color to you?"

"Who are you calling stupid? Are you picking a fight?" Kaidoh hissed and immediately the two got in each other's faces as Kawamura tried to calm them.

"C-come on Akumei, we're leaving…" I stammered in a faint voice. I started inching away, pulling him with me, but Oishi caught my sleeve.

"No, we're all playing, right Kira?"

I bowed my head. "Right…" I said in a defeated voice.

After everyone put on the right shoes, which I refused to wear no matter what, Ryuzaki announced the teams. "Momoshiro and Echizen, Kikumaru and Fuji, Inui and Kaidoh, Kawamura and Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo, Kira and Akumei, and I'll be in Oishi's team."

"Oishi-senpai, will you be ok with your wrist?" Momo asked.

"Yeah, it's just recreation so I thought I'd go with my left."

Things started and Kachiro and Katsuo got a spare their first time. Kaidoh's ball resembled his snake shot and curved so much it hit the gutter. He froze as he realized Inui was hovering over him holding a shot glass full of blue liquid. Everyone froze to watch as Kaidoh drank, screamed, and collapsed unconscious on the ground. They propped him up on a seat.

Inui cocked his head to the side curiously as Momo stammered in horror, "H-he passed out from a shot glass…"

Fuji threw next and also got a gutter ball. Inui popped up beside him with a glass as well. "So, how does it taste this time, Inui?" Fuji asked.

"I envy Fuji. Inui Juice has no affect on him." Everyone froze to stare at Fuji as a blue liquid dribbled down his chin. A half empty shot glass slipped through his fingers as he fell face first into the ground. Everyone panicked but set him on a seat as well.

Now it was my turn. I managed to knock down most pins but then Akumei had to try for the rest. He had never even bowled in his life. Actually, he didn't even know what bowling was! I told him how to hold the ball and wished him luck. It did little good though and he stared stupefied as his ball rolled into the gutter. Inui handed him a glass as well and, after a little prodding from me, he drank it and joined Fuji and Kaidoh unconscious in the chairs.

The game resumed and Ryuzaki and Echizen both got strikes. So did Oishi and that's when it was discovered that Ryuzaki and Oishi both had personal bowling gloves.

"I thought it was strange… They're bowling freaks!" Kikumaru muttered.

"Oishi even has a left hand bowling gloves…" Momo pointed out.

"Which means he's been bowling with his left all his life." Echizen finished. "We can't lose!" Momo and Echizen agreed. They watched in horror as Oishi got another strike.

"Mada Mada Dane…" Ryuzaki said as Oishi echoed a noise Momo always made after doing his signature move.

Echizen and Momo glared and Momo bowled, yelling in rage as he did so. Somehow he pulled off a strike.

"Eiji's getting hot…" Oishi murmured, referring to how well Kikumaru was suddenly doing.

As Kikumaru was about to throw his ball, coach Ryuzaki placed her hand on a ball and shouted in horror, "This ball has no holes!" Kikumaru turned to look as she laughed. "No, this is just Oishi's head." Kikumaru nearly fell over in surprise and dropped his ball in the process. He watched helplessly as it rolled into the gutter. Inui was there immediately with another glass of Aozu. Kikumaru drank, screamed, and passed out. "Did we do something bad…?" Ryuzaki asked Oishi slyly.

"Those two are scary…" Momo murmured.

"More like they're dirty." Echizen frowned. Kawamura was the next to have to drink it, making it five people dropping out.

Inui had been hitting the same pin every single time using the same throw every single time. Finally, he decided that he should just gutter the ball and drink a small glass than come in last and have to drink the pitcher. Momo noticed. "He's aiming for the gutter!"

Inui started to throw but stopped as someone grabbed his ankle. Kaidoh had dragged himself over to him. "Until the end… Don't you be… giving up…!" He gasped out. Inui jumped in alarm and fell back into Ryuzaki. Both their balls fell right into the gutter.

"W-wait, that's not it…" Ryuzaki pleaded.

Inui held a shot glass to her face and one for himself in the other hand. "Let's drink together!" Ryuzaki fell immediately but Inui stayed standing for a moment. He turned towards Oishi and said, "I overdid it." Then he fell too.

"Don't make something you can't drink yourself…" Oishi sighed. Now seven people were propped around in the chairs. Horio guttered and made it eight.

I was barely holding on and somehow doing fairly well until the ball curved into the gutter at the last second. I stared at it in horror, reluctantly turning around to see Oishi holding a shot glass of blue liquid towards me. I took it in a shaky hand and drained it in one gulp. "Are you ok?" Oishi asked.

I stared at him for a moment and opened my mouth to speak. Before anything came out, my eyes closed and I hit the floor. I was the ninth to be taken out. Oishi went next, slipping on some spilt Aozu and dropping his ball into the gutter. Momo expressionlessly handed him a shot glass, ignoring his pleas. Oishi screamed and was knocked out as well to be the tenth.

Now it was only Kachiro, Katsuo, Momo and Echizen left playing. Momo and Echizen smirked evilly towards the other two, who coward back laughing nervously. "Alright, they have to each get a strike in the last frame to beat us!" Momo cried. "Sorry freshmen, but we've got this one!"

"Th-that pitcher of Aozu… I don't want to drink it!" Kachiro screamed as he through the ball. "N-no way, my first strike!" He gasped.

"If I drink that… I'll die!" Katsuo yelled as he went and got a strike too.

"Th-this is probably the end…" Momo stammered as he and Echizen watched in horror.

"Mommy…!" Kachiro shouted as he threw the last ball.

Echizen and Momo watched helplessly as it sped down, knocking aside every pin. They pressed their noses frantically to the scoreboard and found they had lost by a single point, 156 to 157. "We-we lost?" They cried and tried to make a run for it instead of drinking the pitcher full.

All of the unconscious people seemed to come to life, only half awake. "Stop!" Kaidoh screamed. "Don't back out, you bastards!"

"That's right, drink it up!" Kikumaru added.

"It's pretty good…" Fuji moaned.

"Now then, all together…" Oishi and Ryuzaki said in union, rising up from nowhere to block Momo and Echizen's path. They screamed out in terror as Kachiro and Katsuo watched blankly.

"I'm so glad we won. Must be beginner's luck." They laughed nervously, stopping as Inui popped up beside them.

"I forgot to mention…" He said, holding up another picture. This one was full of smoking red liquid. "This is a reward for the winner. Inui specially-made Nutritional Strengthening Juice: Akazu." They screamed in horror and flinched away.

Hours later, I could faintly make out voices. "Customers, please wake up! This is a problem… Customers, the game is over! Please wake up! Geez, what were these guys doing?" He stood staring helplessly as everyone single one of us draped over random chairs or even flat out on the floor, all unconscious.


The next time I awoke, I was lying across the bench in the small court side building. In my closed hand was a small silver key Oishi had given me. I slipped it into my pocket and sat up, head aching as I looked around. Soon I saw that Akumei was against the wall at the foot of the bench and I tapped his shoulder lightly. "Akumei, are you alright?"

I pulled back as he slightly groaned and then looked up at me. "We are never going with them to anything ever again."

"What?" I exclaimed, grinning. "Why not?" He just glared at me. "Alright, alright…" I sighed, climbing to my feet. "Well, let's go find something to do." He sluggishly followed me as I practically bounced from the room. I wondered over to the tennis courts first thing, since they were already so close, and saw a kid dressed exactly like Echizen. He wore the same hat, same shorts, same shirt, but he did not have the regular's jacket. His hair was dark and messy too.

He bowed low. "Nice to meet you, desu." He stood straight and continued. "I'm Taiichi Dan, a freshman at Yamabuki Junior High." I watched the confused looks everyone gave him for a moment and then saw some of the guys notice me. I smiled and waved at them before continuing on my way.

Once out of sight, I turned towards Akumei. "So, what do you have planned for today?"

"What do I have planned?" He echoed. "I have no idea… There doesn't seem to be that much to do around here."

"I'm bored!" I wailed. "We've already been here for over a week!"

"A week…?" Akumei asked.

I laughed. "Seven days." I yelped aloud as something hit me hard in the back, sending me skidding across the pavement and into a cement wall. I clasped my hands over my face, feeling the blood trickling down my forehead. "Ow!" I screamed. "Akumei, what's your problem?"

"You said you were bored…" He said, smirking mischievously.

"A little warning would be nice!"

"Do you expect to always get a warning? Did you get a warning before you were transported this time?"

I glared at him, knowing I couldn't argue with that. I yelped again and leapt out of the way as a crater was left in the ground where I was sitting. I glanced back in time to see the shadow sink back into the ground. "Are you trying to kill me? And you're destroying school property!" Akumei waved his hand over the hole and it fixed itself good as new. "Fine…" I said grumpily, diving for the shadow as it began to sink again. I blinked as my claws went right through its head as if it were smoke.

"What will you do…?" Akumei asked amusedly.

I glared at him and stared around, waiting for the shadow to show itself. Finally it did, and I closed my eyes, rolling out of the way, as it leapt towards me. Just before it hit the ground again, I opened my eyes, now glowing bright green, and grabbed at the shadow. As my fingers closed into a fist, a ball formed around the shadow. It was now trapped inside, scratching furiously at the walls but unable to escape.

"Oh, very nice." Akumei clapped. "But what will you do with him now?"

I watched as it glared at me through glowing red eyes and shrugged. "I don't know… How about you just make it disappear?"

"No, solve this problem on your own."

"But you started it…" I muttered as I glared back at the shadow. Sighing, I placed a hand on my forehead to heal the wound there and then looked back at the creature I had trapped. "Fine…" I held my hand towards it and slowly closed it into a fist, the ball growing smaller with my hand. The shadow scrambled frantically around but the ball closed in around it. I reopened my hand suddenly and a black mist rose into the air and disappeared.

"Good job, you've defeated it." Akumei smirked.

"Shut it." I frowned, drawing my sword.

"Oh, you want to fight now?" Akumei asked. My glare answered him and he scrambled to make a copy of himself as I charged forward. "Hey, take it easy!" He yelled as he retreated further away, watching me fight the clone.

I just growled as I swung the sword again and his copy countered. We continued at a face pace and soon my eyes were glowing bright red as I fought. Akumei kept transporting short distances to attack me from behind and it was growing difficult to fight back. My ear twitched as I heard a sound from behind me and I swung with both hands, freezing in shock.

A boy stared back at me, eyes wide. It was Sengoku, the boy who Kamio had beaten in the tennis match I had watched. Before I had time to stop myself, my sword was buried deeply into his side. I pulled back and he fell to his knees and then collapsed fully. My sword clattered to the ground and shrunk down to its regular size.

"I-I didn't mean to! Please be alright!" I screamed as I darted to his side. I rolled him gently onto his back and placed both hands on his side after pulling his shirt up so I could see. I blushed at the sight of his abs but grimly noted how horrible and deep the gash looked. My hands glowed bright green and I saw the wound rapidly healing. I finished and shook his shoulder lightly. "Sengoku… Can you hear me…?" I asked urgently.

His eyes shot open and he jerked upwards, clutching at his side. "What… happened to the cut?" He asked in shock.

"I healed it. I'm very sorry…" I turned towards Akumei. "Please fix his shirt, ok?"

Akumei nodded and kneeled at Sengoku's side, who watched in fascination as Akumei waved a hand over the shirt and it instantly mended.

"Wow, you guys are really… strange…" He murmured. "I guess this was a lucky day. And I got to see a beautiful girl."

"No, it was us who hurt you in the first place…" I frowned, blushing deeper.

"Don't worry about it! No harm done." Sengoku laughed as he got to his feet.

"Um… what were you doing here anyway?" I asked. He went to Yamabuki, a different school.

"Looking for girl- I mean… I got lost." He laughed, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Well, I better get going…"

"Alright, see you later." I called as he walked away and out of sight. "Akumei!" I screamed.

He flinched. "What did I do now?"

"Don't start fights in public!"

"You were the one who asked for it…"

"Well you were the one who called forth the shadow thing that started it all!"

"Fine, fine… So what do you want to do now?"

I sighed and plopped down on the ground. "I don't know… There's nothing to do here."

"Hey, Kira!"

I turned as someone called my name and saw Oishi jogging towards me. "Yeah?"

He stopped in front of me. "We're going to the beach tomorrow for some extra training. Would you like to come?"

"Um, I… Why are you including me on everything?" I asked.

"Well, because… I know you're going through a hard time and… I want to make sure you're ok and…"

I laughed and nodded. "Alright, I'll go and I'll help you out any way I can."

"Great!" Oishi smiled. "I'll get you from the courts so make sure you're there. I'll know if you don't sleep in the room."

"Yeah, right…" I laughed nervously, waving after him as he left. "Are you up for a beach trip Akumei?" I teased.

"Sure, ok…"

We wondered around the town until nightfall and then returned to the school. I pulled the small key from my pocket and opened the door of the small courtside building, unlocked it, and entered with Akumei trailing behind. Closing and locking it behind me, I sat down on the bench. "Hey Akumei, can you make me some clothes for tomorrow?"

"Sure." He said and waved a hand across me.

"Akumei!" I shrieked, crossing my legs and placing my arms across my chest and stomach. "What are you doing?"

"Getting you appropriate beach clothing." He smirked. I was in a tiny black bikini, my previous t-shirt and shorts sitting on the ground at my feet.

"Change it, now!" I screamed.

"Fine…" The bikini slid off to be replaced by a much less revealing one. It was black with red trimming and covered most of my stomach. Over that appeared a small t-shirt and shorts.

"Thank you." I sighed, gathering the used clothes in a pile and placing them with the skirt and shirt I had saved. I took the key from the pocket and put it into the one of the shorts I was currentlywearing.Stretching out on the bench, Igradually drifted into sleep.


The next morning I sat up and yawned, rubbing at my eyes. Waking Akumei, we slipped from the house and locked it behind us just in time to see Oishi approaching. "Oh, you're ready." He smiled. "Everyone's over here…" I followed him to see Echizen, Momo, Kaidoh, Fuji, Kikumaru, Kawamura, Tomo, Sakuno, Horio, Kachiro, and Katsuo all gathered around waiting. They greeted us and we all set off for the beach.

Once we arrived, it only went downhill. Kachiro, Katsuo, and Horio lost the coupon for the hotel so while they looked, we just stared around at the beach. "Running on sand would be very good for the legs." Inui pointed out. "And I heard sea water is good for the body.

Just then Horio, Kachiro, and Katsuo returned but we could tell by their faces that they hadn't found the coupon.

"We came this far, just to return home at the end of the day!" Tomo frowned.

"Why are you two here?" Momo asked, referring to her and Sakuno.

"We came to cheer of course!" Tomo said. "Right Sakuno?

"Yes." Sakuno replied, blushing.

"I understand your situation." We all turned to see a man in robes with bandages covering above and below his eyes, which were hidden by sunglasses.

"You are…?" Oishi asked.

The man pointed to a building. "I'm the manager of that store. If you help out, I'll cover your hotel fee. We're very short on help."

"What should we do?" Oishi asked.

"It's very strange…" Momo added.

"Why not?" Fuji asked. "Experience is everything."

"Really, you'll do it?" The man exclaimed. "Thank you! It's so rare to find young active kids!" He went around shaking the hands of everyone and managed to pull Momo, Oishi, Kawamura, and Kaidoh into a hug. He shook my hand especially long as I just stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to release me. I noticed Echizen glaring out of the corner of my eye.

Soon we were situated around the shop with some selling ice cream in front and the others preparing food in the back. I was stuck wearing a pink apron and going around bringing food to tables. "Hey, where'd Akumei go?" I asked suddenly.

"He said he had something to do." Momo replied as he fixed another ice cream.

"That slacker…" I growled.

"Hey, Echizen's gone too." Horio noted.

"He went to talk with the manager." Kachiro said.

"Here you go, sorry for the wait." I smiled as I set a plate in front of a young man at a table. While doing so, I listened hard for Echizen's voice and finally found it.

"So that's why you're not around the house these days…" Echizen's voice said.

"He asked me to be the manager just for the summer." The man replied. "The fish is good and there are tons of bikini clad women around. I guess this is what heaven on earth is like."

"And the bandages on your face?" Echizen sounded annoyed.

"Oh these? I fell asleep while tanning."

Echizen sighed. "Let's get one thing straight. No one is to know you're my dad." I nearly dropped the ice cream I was holding in surprise.

"Why not? Are there circumstances?" The man asked.

"You embarrass me." Echizen said bluntly.

"What? Where do I embarrass you?"

"Everywhere…"

They were interrupted as Horio went out to see them, explaining that we were out of supplies to make more food. "I'm very sorry. Please be patient…" I said, bowing slightly to a table of angry customers. I turned to stare as Kaidoh and Momo began arguing again, faces almost touching as they yelled. Kawamura tried to stop them but couldn't so Kikumaru tossed him a racket. Kawamura took hold and proceeding in chasing Momo and Kaidoh around, smashing tables in two. Of course, all the people fled and the place was entirely wrecked. Kawamura stood staring in shock at what he had done.

"This is bad, very bad!" The manager cried, rushing out from his hiding place behind the counter. "If this keeps up not just your hotel fees, but even my salary will be in danger!"

"I apologize for my club members…" Oishi said.

"Are you all reflecting upon your mistakes?" The manager asked.

"We are." Everyone nodded.

"Then please do as I say." He started up a contest, saying that if you beat Kaidoh and Echizen in a volleyball match, you would get a free meal. If you won, you win a Hawaiian vacation. Two people came and a match started, which brought others in to watch. They were sold drinks. After a while, a father and son pair who had been beaten by Echizen in tennis before showed up. They played dirty, kicking sand into Echizen's eyes at one point and calling the ball out if it hit near the line, but lost because of Kaidoh and Echizen's strategy of making them run for the ball. The two worked really well with each other. Kaidoh hit a snake shot with the volleyball that slammed into the father's face and Echizen returned that with a hard strike to the son's stomach to end the match.

It turned out the father and son, though rich, had taken the lost hotel coupon, but before anyone could grab it again, it was picked up by the wind and blown out to sea. So, we ended up returning at the end of the day anyway. I managed to find Akumei again before we left.

While walking down the street, we passed a very small, very old man with a bald head and a long white beard at a vending machine. Echizen stopped for a drink and he and the old man tried putting in a coin at the same time. The man's rolled into the street and he went after it as a huge truck was approaching. Echizen darted out and dragged him back onto the sidewalk at the last second.

Everyone gathered around to make sure he was all right and promised to get his money when the light turned red. "Hey all of you, stop it!" Someone shouted.

We turned to see a young boy around Echizen's age but much taller standing a bit further down the sidewalk. He had fairly close shaved dark hair and dark blue eyes. "Stop what?" Momo asked.

"What are your intentions by circling a weak senior citizen on the pedestrian walkway?" He continued angrily. "Aren't you ashamed?" He watched in surprise as everyone began laughing.

"Hey, hey you're mistaken…" Momo said.

Echizen pointed to the money in the road. "Can you see that?"

"What about it?" The boy asked.

The old man pointed from the coin to himself as Oishi explained. "We were just helping out this old man. He tried to get it just as a car was passing by. It was dangerous."

"Is this true, Oji?" The boy questioned. The man nodded and the boy broke out in an extremely embarrassed sweat.

"Your misunderstanding." The man pointed at him.

The boy's face was bright red now. He began bowing and frantically repeating, "Please excuse me! I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Oishi smiled.

The boy blushed, frowned, and then turned around waving. "It's ok! They're all nice people!" Four people came out to stand behind the boy who called them and stood staring down the Seigaku members. Fuji recognized the one with shaggy gray hair as Saeki as the old man crossed over to stand with them. "Sae-san, do you know these people?"

"They're Seigaku, our next opponents in the tournament." Saeki replied.

"That's right, they're Rokkaku." Fuji confirmed. All five were wearing the same red jackets and all had tennis bags over their shoulders.

"Did you hear that Ryoma? They're your next opponents." Horio said.

I glanced over to see Echizen drinking from a can, seeming entirely uninterested. The boy however, rushed right over and clasped Echizen's hand around the can he was holding. "You're Ryoma Echizen? Wow, I knew I had seen you somewhere before! Even though I'm a freshman, I'm also a regular. My name is Kentaro Aoi, nice to meet you! Echizen… How exciting! If you could, would you play some light tennis with me?" Though also a freshman, he was a couple feet taller than Echizen, just like everyone else was. He was also the captain due to the strange doings of their coach, the old man.

"Sure." Echizen said uncertainly.

"Really? Tank you so much!" Kentaro exclaimed, bowing continuously.

"Our tennis courts are close by." Oji, the old man said as he pointed down the street.

"That's right, everyone's welcome. This way!" Kentaro yelled and then sprinted down the sidewalk.

We arrived at Oji's wooden workshop since before coaching he was a skilled woodworker. Taking us around back, Saeki showed us the huge playground that the woodworks had been made into, with rope bridges, tire swings, and many other things. Laughing children climbed and ran all over everything.

Upon seeing us, two young boys called out, "Hey, it's Bane!" "Welcome back Davide!"

"We're back and we brought some guests." Bane said as the children crowded around him, tugging on his jacket.

"Guests…?" A small boy echoed as he looked over me, Akumei,and the rest of the Seigaku team.

"Yes and Kentaro's going to have a practice match now."

"He's small… Is he good?"

"I don't know, but I doubt Kentaro will lose."

While Echizen and Kentaro were preparing to play, I followed Saeki with Akumei, Fuji, Kaidoh, and Momo deeper into the playground. "Isn't this amazing?" Fuji began. "Oji built this all by himself. It seems like this playground has grown since I was last here."

"This place is open to the neighborhood children." Saeki explained. "While they play here, they learn how to play tennis."

"Uwaah…" I breathed, looking around. "Can I climb on it?"

Saeki laughed. "If you really want to, it's fine."

Our attention was averted as a young girl ran up holding a box of food. "Bane, Davide! Look what my mommy and me made! Ah-!" She tripped on a rock and started to fall.

Bane ran over and caught her and in the same instant, Davide pulled out his racket and balanced the box on it to keep it from spilling. The racket was near three feet long, which is what really surprised everyone. Then Davide ruined the moment by telling a joke that didn't make any sense at all and then snickering at how funny it was to him.

"What a stupid joke…" Horio murmured.

Davide glared at him. "Who's jokes are not funny?" Then he snickered again.

"Your stupid jokes are really not funny!" Bane yelled, kicking him in the head.

Looking away from them, I turned back towards the playground. "Don't kill yourself." Akumei smirked.

"Shut up, you know I won't." I frowned and then leapt nimbly to the wooden framework. I jumped again and settled on the highest peak, shying away as I noticed Saeki and a bunch of the children, staring at me awestruck. "Hey, uh… What's Kikumaru doing?" I asked, trying to divert their attention. Luckily it worked.

There were wooden poles placed sticking from the ground and Kikumaru was leaping from one to the next, swinging perfectly along ropes, and doing flips over the wooden walls. The crowd of children now watching him burst into applause upon his completion of the course. "Do it again!" One yelled.

"Alright, watch this." Kikumaru began along it again but soon one of the boys from Rokkaku, with shaggy brown hair and a rather large nose followed awkwardly after him.

The boy, Itsuki, exhaled through his nose and asked, "Hey, why are you so springy?" Then he blew through his nose again as he followed Kikumaru onto the next section of the playground. "Hey, why?"

"And you, why do you keep blowing from your nose?" Kikumaru shot back.

"Oh!" Itsuki cried. "You're the first person to ask me why! Why do you ask questions? Hey, hey. Why, why?"

"And you, why?" Kikumaru returned, moving onto the tire section with Itsuki close behind. They kept this up for a while.

Finally, Kentaro yelled out. "Hey, we're going to start!" Everyone, including the children, swarmed to the tennis court.

After a while, we began to notice that no matter where Echizen hit it, Kentaro would always return the ball to the same spot. Even though it was supposed to be just for fun, the match quickly became serious.

"Echizen, I watched your match against Hyotei!" Kentaro yelled while playing. "Please be as fired up as that time! You're supposed to be a much more amazing player! Get more pumped up, or else I won't have a reason to play well!

"What do you mean by that?" Echizen asked as he returned another ball.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Kentaro replied as he hit one back as well. "I'll be waiting for you in singles three of the semi-finals! You heard me, singles three!"

After a while, we all said our goodbyes and boarded a train to get back. On the way, Echizen stood and turned to Oishi. "Senpai, please put me in singles three."

After he sat back down Oishi laughed. "He means business."


"Come on Akumei, I want to watch!" I called as I made my way to the tennis courts.

"Why are you so interested in that stupid game?" Akumei frowned.

"I know them so now I like to see who wins."

"Can't you just ask afterwards?"

"It's not the same, now come on!" It was a Sunday morning and I was dragging Akumei to the semi-finals to watch Seigaku play the team we had met yesterday, Rokkaku. Once I got him to come, we arrived quickly at the courts and saw a crowed gathered around a bus. I went closer as I saw some kids I recognized from the playground getting off. Shortly after, the Rokkaku team unloaded as well. I watched as the kids marched over to Momo, Fuji, Kawamura, and Inui, who I had just noticed were there.

"No matter how much you investigate you won't beat Rokkaku." One of the kids said confidently.

"Investigate?" Momo asked.

"Weren't you investigating during the match with Kentaro?" Another kid asked.

"But that time you're captain was-" Momo began.

"Kentaro won't lose!" The same kid screamed.

"But…" Momo faltered.

Fuji stepped forward to break the tension and bent down to the boy's height. "Do you like tennis?"

"We'll be a part of Rokkaku next year." The boy replied. "If you guys are going to be around next year, I might even let you play us."

"Let us play you?" Momo echoed angrily.

Fuji just smiled. "I don't think next year will work since we're graduating and all, but it would be nice if we played someday."

"We definitely won't lose." The boy said again. Fuji laughed slightly as the gang of children walked away.

"Hey guys." I called as I approached the four.

We jogged back towards the courts and I was talked into wearing a ribbon around my head to support Seigaku. As the two teams faced each other on the court before the game began, Itsuki started asking questions again. He asked Kikumaru why he always wore a bandage on his cheek and Kaidoh why he always wore his bandana and if it was because it was cool. Fuji was asked why he smiled all the time. Then he asked why their captain wasn't there.

Finally, it started with Seigaku's Kawamura and Momo against Rokkaku's Davide and Bane. Bane took the first serve and his very first hit slammed Kawamura so hard in the stomach that it knocked him over. Davide scored the next point with his long racket, easily returning both Momo and Kawamura's best shots. Next, to return Kawamura's strongest shot, the Hadoukyo,Bane leapt up and batted the ball with his normal sized racket, landing balanced on one foot. Pretty soon they were behind five games to zero. Realizing this, Momo and Kawamura began pushing even harder and finally won a game.

Momo began scoring point after point, winning another two games, by using mind games and reading what the opponent was going to do next. Then he'd hit a shot to confuse them and catch them off guard. I had never seen Momo's face more serious than it was then. Suddenly, as Kawamura was serving, he shouted, "Taka-san, do it now!"

Kawamura bent low with one hand on the ground and one arm stretched behind him. Then, darting forward, he hit the ball so hard it knocked the rackets from both Davide and Bane's hands and then lodged itself in a self made dent in the fence. This was his move called the dash hadoukyo. Kawamura collapsed to the ground, exhausted from using it.

From then on, Bane and Davide remained paranoid about Kawamura using that move again and it caused them to make mistakes. The last play of the match was Davide hitting it out of bounds to give Momo and Kawamura the final win needed. It was then that Kawamura let them know that if he used that shot twice in a game he'd have broken his wrist.

Next Fuji and Kikumaru went out on the court to play against Saeki and Itsuki. Kentaro took Oji's place as bench coach so he'd be able to see the match better and cheered them on from there. Fuji and Kikumaru took the first three games without giving up a point but Saeki had spent that time watching Kikumaru's moves and had figured out a way to tell what direction Kikumaru would hit the ball each time by reading his muscle movements. Then he proceeded in hitting opposite of where Kikumaru was heading. Fuji kept trying to cover for him, but Saeki only aimed towards Kikumaru. After a couple games, Kikumaru figured out a way to return the balls by running to the left and back to the ball within time to hit it but this also tired himself out so he was unable to return it again in the next games. Fuji took over and tried to use one of his special movies, the tsubame gaeshi, but Itsuki kept hitting balls with no spin, sinkers, so it wouldn't work. Instead, the two just kept hitting back and forth within a two foot wide area.

"This is… crazy." I sighed to myself, shaking my head. "Tennis is so insane! At least when it's these guys playing…" I jumped as Akumei slumped against me from where he was standing against the fence next to me. I frowned but slowly lowered myself down, bringing him with me, and sat crossed legged on the ground as he leaned against my side. Then I focused on the game again as Fuji positioned himself to hit another tsubame gaeshi.

"It's impossible, Fuji!" Oishi yelled.

Everyone froze as we watched the ball roll across Fuji's racket before he hit it back to perform the spin needed to hit a tsubame gaeshi. I watched wide eyed as the ball hit and then seemed to roll across the ground. Then Itsuki crouched down as the ball began to rise a few inches and smashed it back, hitting the net. Inui explained that it had floated a bit because it had not gotten the necessary spin needed. The next time it happened, Itsuki returned it cleanly but Fuji returned it with another tsubame gaeshi, this time turning the racket so the ball rolled from the bottom to top along the net. Still Itsuki returned it perfectly.

I frowned as Saeki said something to Fuji and instead turned my attention on Kikumaru who was standing in the middle of the court with his eyes closed. My ear twitched under the bandana and I could make out his slow counting under his breath. What's he doing…? I thought as I adjusted Akumei against me.

"Itsuki's the only one who can hit a sinker, right?" Horio asked. "So why doesn't Fuji aim towards Saeki?"

"Because…" Momo answered. "That would mean running away from a duel against Itsuki. Unless he beats the sinker, the tsubame gaeshi won't mean anything."

I looked back at the court as the ball hit by Itsuki skidded across the top of the net. This time Fuji returned it with a perfect tsubame gaeshi that hit the ground and then rolled across, causing Itsuki to swing right over it. Everyone's mouths fell open as it happened another time.

"By hitting the net, the ball got the necessary spin." Inui explained.

Saeki's eyes followed Fuji's every move until he detected the habit Fuji did to make Itsuki hit the net. "Don't hit the net!" He cried.

"Ok!" Itsuki nodded and hit a lob high into the air and over Fuji's head.

Fuji just smiled as I heard Kikumaru steadily counting. Suddenly he threw back his head and said "one hundred." He ran back and jumped into the air behind Fuji, smashing the ball back for the match winning point. Itsuki and Saeki had totally forgotten about him and stared in shock as he did a flip and landed.

In the short break between matches, everyone watched as the freshman Kentaro started stretching and walking on his hands. Then he did a flip and landed on his feet, smiling at Echizen. "It's our turn next. Show me your true form."

Echizen stared at him and tugged on his hat. "I don't like that kind of stuff." He stopped by Kaidoh on his way to the court. "I'm sorry senpai, this will it for today. You won't get to play."

"You're annoying. Just go." Kaidoh glared.

On his way to the court, Kentaro pulled out a racket with a hexagonal frame and strings, one that his coach Oji had made.

As they stood across from each other shaking hands, Kentaro said, "win or lose, let's have a good match."

"You know what?" Echizen frowned.

"What?"

"Your voice is really loud."

"It's just that I'm really happy you're in singles three like you promised!" Kentaro explained happily, pumping Echizen's hand up and down. "Let's go all out today."

Echizen served with a twist served but Kentaro returned it even though he looked about to fall over. "That's a magnificent serve Echizen!" He acknowledged his next hit as well. "You're return is good too!" Even though he had to run back and forth and return while off balance, Kentaro kept returning the ball to the same small area every time. "Echizen, you need to get more pumped up!" He cried. "It's not fun unless you're serious!" Echizen stared as Kentaro lobbed a ball up into the air. "Here you go!" Echizen had to rush back and barely returned it in time. Kentaro took a running leap and still hit the ball back to the same spot as all the others.

"Must be humiliating, right Echizen?" Fuji recognized.

"Are you saying Echizen's being toyed with?" Momo asked.

Fuji nodded. "So it would seem.

Echizen tried to mess him up by hitting a lob, but Kentaro leapt into the air and was able to return it from the tip of the net and still keep control because of the hexagonal strings of his racket. "Depending on where the impact is, the racket deforms differently." Inui explained to the confused crowd. "As a result, no matter where the ball hits the racket, it's made to return with a hard hit."

Kentaro hit another lob to Echizen, inviting him to use a special move. Echizen attempted a drive B, where he hits the ball and it bounces twice quickly as if making a B. Kentaro easily returned it for a point. He returned Echizen's serve by leaping forward and doing a flip after hitting it, all to increase his speed with his weight. He was able to quickly get back to return a deep hit and then barely missed the next one at the net, allowing Echizen to get a point. Next Echizen hit another drive B that Kentaro returned but Echizen was waiting at the net and hit it back while Kentaro was still in the air to make the game count three to three.

"You're amazing Echizen!" Kentaro cried. "This is the first time I've played such a match."

"Thanks." Echizen replied indifferently.

"You've shown me my weakness." Kentaro went on. "I'll be more careful from now on. The more tennis I play the more fun it gets. Let's play to our hearts content, Echizen!" He finished, leaning down and grinning in Echizen's face.

He flinched away. "I… see…"

The match continued and with neither giving up points, three hours passed by and the sun began setting. With it almost entirely down, Kentaro scored a point to tie it at four games each when the referee called both coaches over.

Both teams assembled in the center of the court as the ref explained. "The match will stop because of sunset. It will resume tomorrow morning at 9:30."

I remained sitting on the ground as I waved goodbye to the others. With a sigh, I looked down at Akumei who was still leaning against me in a peaceful sleep. Not feeling like fighting to wake him up, and with nothing else to do, I turned around slowly so my back was to the fence and let myself fall asleep as well.

A few hours later, I awoke to the sounds of someone playing tennis. I mumbled as I rubbed my back, feeling the imprint of the chain link fence there and looked over my shoulder threw it. Echizen and Kentaro were playing even though it was still dark. I watched in silence as the sun began to rise yet they never once stopped. I remained still as they finally walked away together and followed at a slight distance, watching as they got some drinks from the soda machine and sat down in the grass. Soon they were asleep next to each other, surrounded by cans and tennis equipment. I smiled to myself and returned to Akumei to wait for everyone else.


After they arrived, I followed them to where Echizen and Kentaro were sleeping and grinned to myself as Kawamura managed to wake them up. Echizen sat up yawning and stretching while Kentaro sat bolt upright and dashed off to find his team. After sitting in a daze, his coach yelled at him to go wash his face so Echizen ran away as well.

Each awake and refreshed, Kentaro and Echizen returned to the court and yesterday's game resumed. After winning the first game to make it five to four, Kentaro began making Echizen run back and forth from corner to corner, greatly tiring him out since it was another long game like yesterday.

Oishi watched Kentaro score another point and frowned. "Who'd have thought their freshman would be this good?" He turned to Kaidoh. "Hey, go warm up!" Kaidoh didn't move. "Kaidoh, I said go warm up!"

"That's won't be necessary." Kaidoh replied, still not moving. "That brat will come through for sure. That's the kind of guy Echizen is."

We all turned back to watch as Echizen turned the game around so he was the one forcing Kentaro to run. Then he ran forward, skidding on his feet and but towards the net and hitting the ball from his side at the end. It bounced three times before Kentaro even moved.

"A normal drive B impacts too high so the high bounce was targeted." Fuji explained. This drive B was hit by lowering his stance as much as possible."

"Furthermore…" Inui continued. "By lowering his stance, his take off is more explosive which gives the ball that much more speed."

"You're amazing Echizen." Kentaro exclaimed. "This is the first match that has made me this excited."

"Want to get even more excited?" Echizen smirked.

The game continued with them always staying within a point of each other until finally it was match point. Echizen got it with his new form of the drive B and won the match six games to four.

I congratulated the guys on their win, laughing as Kentaro immediately began asking Echizen if they could play again later. He even asked if they could start a practice match right then! But Echizen refused saying he was going to sleep.

After the two teams were done talking, Oishi approached me as I was trying to awaken Akumei again. "Need any help?" He laughed.

I smiled and shook my head as I stood to face him. "No, I think I'll manage."

"Alright… Well, we have plans tomorrow so will you be alright on your own?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Besides, Akumei's with me! And I can't invade on everything the team does."

Oishi looked hesitant but then smiled again. "Ok, thanks. I'll see you later!"

I returned his wave as he wondered away and turned back to the snoozing Akumei. "All you ever do is sleep!" I whined, crouching beside him and pinching his arm. He stirred slightly but otherwise remained the same. "Wake… up!" I shouted, slapping both sides of his face at once.

"W-what?" He sat bold upright, staring around wildly.

"You sleep too much." I said simply, trying to suppress an amused smile as I began walking away.

"That doesn't mean you can hit me!" He pouted, rubbing his face.

"Well how else was I supposed to get you to move?" I asked and he remained silent, without an answer. "Let's go find something to do…"

"I have an idea." Akumei said suddenly, grabbing my wrists and tugging me around to face him. He pulled me closer and smirked as I eyed him apprehensively.

"What are you doin-?" My voice turned into a bark and I realized with a start that I was now looking up at Akumei. I growled and attempted to change back but couldn't. What did you do? I thought in a panic. He smirked and turned to walk away. Angrily, I bit his shirt and held him there. Change me back! I yelped as a spark leapt from him and stung my nose.

"No." He said smugly and turned to go again.

Growling, I followed close behind him. …I hate you. I thought to him.

"I hate you too." He chuckled.

After a while of trailing behind him, we entered a park. A group of kids immediately swarmed me, calling to Akumei. "Hey mister, is this your dog?"

"Yes, she is." Akumei answered, smirking at me.

"Can we pet her?"

"Of course!" I sat helplessly letting the children pet me all over, unwilling to lash out at any of them.

"What kind of dog is she?" One of the kids asked.

"Well…" Akumei frowned uncertainly. "She's a mix…"

"Of what?"

"…dog and wolf."

"Is that why she's so big?"

"Yeah." Akumei grinned, patting my head. "Pretty isn't she?" The kids soon left and I glared at him scornfully as a man came up to us.

"Excuse me, is that your dog?"

"Yes, it is." Akumei nodded.

"You'll need to keep it on a leash if you want to have it out here." I flinched every time I was referred to as "it".

"Oh right…

Sorry." Akumei said, reaching behind his back. When he pulled his hand back out, in it was a dark blue collar and leash. I eyed him apprehensively but allowed him to buckle the collar around my neck and then attach the leash.

"Thank you." The man said and then left rather quickly.

I had seen him eying me strangely. Maybe he was afraid? I shrugged and glared at Akumei. Well, master, where are you taking me now? I thought, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Akumei just laughed and tugged on the leash until I finally gave in and followed. We went towards the broad, fast river and walked along the back. Soon he pulled me down the steep, grass coveredslope to the flat bit at the bottom that led into the water. Staying on the dry part, we walked along until we found a bridge that we stopped underneath. What are we doing here? I thought.

"We've never been here before… I wanted to wonder around some and this is where I ended up." He replied as he sat down against the slope under the bridge. I watched him silently for a while and then ran over to the grassy ground and rolled around in it on my back. "What are you doing?" Akumei laughed.

My back itches… I pouted, sitting back up.

"Come here then." He ordered. I frowned and stayed put. With a soft chuckle, Akumei held up a hand towards me and long ropes shot out and wound themselves around me, dragging me towards him. I fought it but soon realized it was useless and gave up. I ended up by his side as he laughed again. "You don't have to always be so on edge! I think of you more as a sister than anything, so doing anything would be really disgusting."

Hearing this, I bit the hand he reached towards me and turned to walk away but was pulled right back again. "Calm down!" He smiled, running his hand down my back. I shivered and he smirked slightly, pulling me more to him. "Admit that you like it and I'll stop." I shook my head and didn't respond as he began rubbing my ears. My tongue rolled out of my mouth and my eyes closed as I lay across his lap. He unhooked the leash from the collar and set it aside, leaning back but still scratching me gently as he sat in thought.

A while later I awoke with a start to find I was still lying across Akumei's lap, with him now asleep. I stood up slowly and stretched myself out, next trying to change back to my normal form and failing once again. "What's wrong?" Akumei asked suddenly, causing me to jump.

I glared at him. You know perfectly well… I growled.

"Aw, is that any way to thank me for yesterday?" He smirked but my gaze didn't let up. "Fine, fine…" He sighed and instantly I felt myself changing back. "Just kidding!" He cried and I shrunk back into a wolf. He saw my face and froze, quickly recovering and scrambling up the hill as I lunged at him.

Change me back! I screamed as I a took off after him, quickly gaining. We raced all the way back to the park before I finally leapt and managed to land on his back, sending his face colliding with the ground.

"I give, I give!" Akumei cried, covering his head with his hands as I stood growling on his back.

"Oh my god, are you ok?" I heard someone scream and turned around in time to be grabbed forcefully from behind and lifted from Akumei. Several hands held my collar and I couldn't manage to slip out of it. "Are you alright?" Another man asked, helping Akumei up.

Akumei laughed, causing the surrounding faces to fall into bewilderment. "Of course! Can't I wrestle with my dog in peace?"

"You… wanted that? Looked like it was about to kill you!"

"Nah, she wouldn't do that." Akumei smiled, patting my head. I forced myself to wag my tail happily in response.

"Are you… sure?" Another man asked. I felt the hands loosen on my collar and slipped around behind Akumei, watching the group warily from there.

"Yes, I'm sure." Akumei nodded, fastening the leash to my collar once again. "Sorry for bothering you all." He turned and left, humming to himself as I walked at his side, leaving the group of men in a dazed confusion.

After we were safely clear of the park, I turned to face Akumei. Now turn me back. What if something else happens?

Akumei sighed but the smirk shone through. "Fine…"

I felt myself growing taller, hair disappearing and growing from my head instead, ears and tail remaining, and paws forming into hands and feet. I smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem. Now… fight me!"

I looked around and realized we were by the river again so no one was around. "Ok…" I frowned and drew my sword.

He whipped his out as well and charged me but I easily blocked it and kicked him in the stomach. He grinned and came at me again. He lunged forward with the sword and I spun to the side, dodging and bringing a hand down to claw his wrist. He bit his lip and lunged again. This time, however, when I made to jumped out of the way, two ropes wound their way around my legs. "What the-" I cried but was rooted in place. I swung my sword upwards and knocked his away just before it hit me.

"How will you get out of this situation?" He yelled as he lunged yet again.

"You know that's getting pretty old!" I shouted back, gasping as a hidden dagger flew out to stab deep into my right shoulder. I gritted my teeth and made to knock his sword away again anyway, but my arm was too weak. My sword fell to the ground with a clatter as his rammed straight through my stomach. I gasped for air, not receiving any, and fell to my knees and then to my side.

I felt the ropes slither away from my legs and stared with wide eyes as Akumei hovered over me. "You didn't put up much of a fight there…" He frowned. "Were you thinking I'd be as simple as those clones of mine you've been defeating? Now… How will you get out of this?"

I stared blankly at him as his voice began to sound very distant but I saw the blade coming down towards me very clearly. Instantly a transparent green bubble sprang up around me. Akumei started attacking it forcefully as I placed a glowing hand on my stomach. I breathed a jagged sigh of relief as I felt the warmth spreading throughout me and rapidly healing the wound. "No fair…!" Akumei frowned.

"All's fair in love and war." I retorted weakly as I shakily got to my feet, holding a still lightly bleeding stomach. Pooled around my feet was blood, being added to every second by the liquid running down my arm. I picked up my sword again, slippery in the wet hand, and glared at Akumei. I felt dizzy from using so much energy after having not used it in a while. I flinched as Akumei pounded on the shield again and then let it fade altogether.

He charged at once and I cried out in pain as I blocked with my sword. Without even thinking, I summoned an energy sword to my left hand and swung at him while he was focusing on the other. He dodged at the last second so I only managed to tear a strip from his shirt. "W-why are you attacking so seriously?" I gasped out.

"You seem to be out of practice…" Akumei responded, charging again.

I leapt to the side, batting his sword down with my own so it stuck deep into the ground. As he passed, I slammed him hard with the flat of my real sword to send him falling to his face on the ground. He started to get back to his feet but I held both swords to his neck and stepped one foot on his back. "I am not out of practice." I growled.

"Alright, you've proven your point." Akumei frowned nervously. "Do you want to get off of me now?"

Instead of stepping back, I stumbled back, falling to sit in a huddled lump as I let the spirit sword fade and instead focused on healing myself. I fully fixed the stomach wound and got my shoulder to a slight trickle before turning to Akumei. "Why did you injure me so badly…?" My voice faded as I collapsed to my side, unconscious.

Akumei just smiled and leaned me against the sloping hill. He held a hand out and frowned as huge raindrops hit it and stared from the dark and gray sky to the river. It might overflow the banks if we wait here… He frowned as he scooped me into his arms and made his way to the school where we had been staying. It began to pour as we entered school grounds and he broke into a sprint for the rest of the distance, pausing in front of the locked door. He froze and then hesitantly reached into my pocket for the key. I stirred once but didn't wake up and he got the door open. Laying me across the bench, he waved a hand over me and my wet clothes fell to the side to be replaced by long, loose pants and a black shirt with very thin straps. He slid the right strap a bit down my arm to get a look at the shoulder I hadn't finished healing. Wincing guiltily at the sight, he fished around the room until he found a first aid kit and began wrapping it. "Good night, feel better soon." He whispered and leaned himself against the wall, soon falling asleep as well.

He awoke early the next morning to the sounds of quiet whimpering. "Kira…?" He asked.

I hid my face further in my hands and turned away from him. "I-I'm fine."

"You are not fine, now tell me what's wrong." Akumei ordered as he moved to the seat beside me.

There was a long pause before I finally whispered, "I-I miss them... I miss them all so much!" I raised my head and faced him. "Do you know how long it's been? Twelve days! Twelve days spent just at this one place! What if something happened to that girl and we're stuck here forever!"

"Don't worry…" He said, rubbing my back comfortingly. "She'll get us back, I know it."

"Hey… Why can't you just transport us back? And why can't you tell her how you controlled where I went like last time?"

"Because if two people are transporting the same person around, it just becomes a huge mess. Also, she has to realize how to do it on her own. It's not something that can be taught."

"Why not?" I cried out. "Why can't you! I just want… I just want to go home…"

"I know …" Akumei sighed, taking me into his arms and holding me to him as he rubbed my back. I buried my face into his chest and eventually cried myself back to sleep.


"Come on Akumei, I need to do something to cheer myself up!"

"Alright, but you don't have to walk so fast…"

I led the way down random streets and stumbled across a tennis court. I was going to just head right past, but froze as I saw who was there. Kaidoh and Momo were on the court facing Kajimoto and Mizuki, two players they had previously played in the tournament. Kajimoto's coach Hanamura stood by watching as well as Echizen, Kikumaru, and the Seigaku freshmen.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked as I walked over and sat on the wall behind Kikumaru.

"Ah, Kira! They made a deal that if Momo and Kaidoh lose, then Kaidoh has to join Mizuki at St. Rudolph and Momo join Hanamura Sensei at Jyousei Shounan!"

"Are you… serious?" I blinked as I turned to watch.

Kajimoto served first, tossing the ball in the air and then bending so far back his head almost touched the ground before springing up again to hit it. Kaidoh hit it back and Momo returned Mizuki's next hit, but the one after, both of them ran for it and the collided, letting the ball pass.

"Kajimoto, just follow my strategy. We'll win for sure." Mizuki said and Kajimoto nodded and hit it down the middle again. Momo and Kaidoh stopped this time before running into each other and let the ball get by again. They realized the ball was being aimed down the center, but instead of working together, would jump in front of the other to hit it back first. Doing this, they lost the first game.

As they were switching sides, Momo yelled, "Hey Kaidoh! Quit getting in my way! What happened to your boomerang snake?"

"Well, let's see your dunk smash!" Kaidoh screamed back.

"Stupid." Momo muttered. "How can I hit a Dunk with a low ball like that?"

"Well, I can't hit a boomerang from the center of the court…" Kaidoh retorted.

And then they both realized it: Aiming low and to the center was not to throw off their combination, but instead to seal their special attacks. "If this keeps up, both of them will have to leave Seigaku!" The freshman cried.

"We can't do anything about it." Echizen said, walking to stand behind them on the bleachers. "It doesn't look like either of them wants to win."

"What did you say?" Kaidoh asked.

"Don't want to win, you say?" Momo added.

"What are you talking about Echizen?" Horio questioned. "Are you saying it's ok for them to go to a different school?"

"Doesn't matter. Isn't that better? If that happens, they won't have to face losing horribly in the finals."

I turned my attention back to Momo and Kaidoh as the game started again. Suddenly, the pace changed so Mizuki and Kajimoto were only hitting shots that Momo and Kaidoh could do their special moves from. They were finally working together perfectly, affected by Echizen's words. Finally, Momo slammed a Jack Knife through that knocked the rackets from Kajimoto and Mizuki's hands.

"Game and match to Seigaku's Momoshiro-Kaidoh!" Kikumaru exclaimed.

"Nice!" Momo and Kaidoh cried, clasping hands and then abruptly letting go as they realized again that they hated each other.

"Er… It's not really because of you." Momo said uneasily.

"I know." Kaidoh replied. "We just didn't… want to lose."

I smiled and sprang from the wall, walking down the stairs as Akumei followed me. Mizuki and Kajimoto where there talking. "Those two ruined my strategy again…" Mizuki sighed.

"Just as expected from Seigaku, eh?" Kajimoto nodded.

"But Kajimoto, you're really something." Mizuki went on.

"Mizuki, don't tell me you were collecting my data during the match…"

"So what if I did?"

I walked up smiling. "Good game you two."

Kajimoto turned around. "Oh, Kira!" He laughed slightly. "We got crushed though…"

"Well not at the beginning!" I replied, seeing that he had instantly looked first at the bandana still covering my ears and then at the tail around my waist. I resisted the urge to cover my head as Mizuki followed his gaze.

"Hello." He said confidently. "I don't believe we've met before?"

"Well, I've seen you once but we didn't really talk…" I extended a hand. "I'm Kira."

"I'm Mizuki." He replied with a sly grin, taking my hand in his. I blushed uneasily, ears twitching under the cloth as Hanamura's voice rang out. "Let's go home, Kajimoto!"

"Yes, Sensei!" He called, turning back to Mizuki and me. "I'll see you later." Then he jogged down the stairs.

"Bye!" I called after him and then gently slipped my hand out of Mizuki's grasp while he was distracted.

"So…" He asked. "Are you new around here…? Oh, I remember! You're the demon!"

I flinched. "What? Who told you?" I glared at Akumei as he burst out laughing.

"Fuji did. I asked who you were the first time I saw you almost two weeks ago."

"And he told you straight forward that I was a demon?" I frowned.

"Yes." Mizuki nodded. "Why do you have it hidden?"

"Would you like to walk around with everyone staring at you like some freak?" I asked bitterly.

"I'm not staring."

"That's because they're not show-" I was cut off as he reached out and snatched the bandana from my head. "Hey!"

He laughed as he reached out to touch one. "I think they're cool."

"Thanks…" I sighed.

"So, is he your boyfriend?" He asked, nodding towards Akumei.

"No! Why does everyone keep asking me that?" I exclaimed.

Mizuki laughed. "Because he's following you around everywhere."

I frowned and stared up towards the sky. "Well, the sun's beginning to set. I have to go."

"Want me to walk you home?" Mizuki asked.

"What? No, it's ok. Thanks though…" I smiled. "I'll see you later!"

"Alright…" He replied as we went our separate ways.

Once he was far out of sight, I turned to Akumei. "I didn't find anything to really do…"

"Well you shouldn't have stopped to watch that game." Akumei commented.

"But I wanted to…" I frowned as he came upon the small building we were staying in. I took a place on the bench and stared at the wall until I drifted into sleep.


The next day was spent wandering around aimlessly. I passed Oishi at one point and he told me that the finals of the tournament were tomorrow. "Will you come support us?" He asked.

"Of course!" I nodded.

"Alright, I'll see you there. I'm sorry, but I have something else to do."

"It's ok, I'll see you later!" I called as he ran off. I grinned at Akumei as he gave an exasperated sigh, unwilling to watch them tomorrow. "Well you don't have to come." I said and he remained silent.

In the middle of the night, I woke up, hearing noises outside. I stretched and yawned, next poking my head out the door. I smiled and went soundlessly next to the fence to sit and watched. Momo, Kaidoh, Echizen, Oishi, Fuji, Kawamura, and Kikumaru were all playing at the courts, with Inui off to the side taking notes in his journal, practicing for tomorrow matches.

After a while, Oishi tapped me on the shoulder, causing me to jolt awake. He laughed at my sudden movement. "We're ready to go."

"Oh, sorry…" I yawned, standing up to stretch. I got Akumei from the building where he was still sleeping, and followed Oishi and the rest on a bus that we rode to the courts. There was a slightly uneasy tension in the air the entire ride so I remained as silent as the rest of them.

Finally, we arrived at the school only to be met by a sudden on pour of rain. We all rushed under a sheltered area with picnic tables spread around underneath and hid from the rain while the two team's coaches talked about the match.

"Oh man, it was sunny when we left school…" Kikumaru moaned, laying his head in his arms on a table.

"The probability of rain was fifty percent." Inui remarked. "There's a possibility that the match will commence if the rain clears and the court dries up. But, I think that it will most likely stay like this."

After a while of sitting still, Momo leapt up and grabbed his racket. He began swinging it around rapidly, shouting, "Why did it have to rain? I was so psyched up!"

"Getting mad won't make it clear up any sooner." Echizen murmured, opening a can of juice.

"What was that?" Momo muttered agitatedly but Echizen simply ignored him and took a sip.

"Echizen's right." Fuji nodded. "The match won't start even if you are all annoyed."

They turned to watch me as I ran around in the rain, doing cartwheels, laying down, jumping in puddles, and generally soaking myself entirely, yet this didn't serve to lighten their mood at all. Kaidoh stood stretching out his legs while Kikumaru moved restlessly. Oishi kept tapping his arm impatiently with Inui reading his notebook beside him. Momo remained standing off to one side, racket in hand. Everyone else was sitting around the table. I sighed and leapt nimbly to sit on top of the shelter, staring upwards into the rain as a round of thunder clashed overhead.

I looked back down as I heard footsteps approaching and quickly forced the wet and sagging bandana back onto my head. Seeing who it was, I smiled and slid back down to the ground.

"Hey, how are you all doing?" Kamio asked, the girl Ann walking alongside him.

"Hi!" She waved, happily smiling. Everyone's head shot up at once to stare.

"Hey, it's Fudomine." Kikumaru said.

"What's up? Did you come to cheer for us?" Momo asked.

"Moron!" Kamio frowned. "We're here to gather information."

"O-on us?" Momo stammered.

"On Rikkaidai, obviously." Kamio muttered. "We'll get revenge at the Nationals for the humiliation we suffered at the semi-finals here!"

"That's why I wanted to record the match and show it to my brother." Ann held up her video camera. "But it looks like it's going to be postponed."

Fuji stood and faced her. "How's Tachibana's condition?"

"That…" Ann's voice trailed off as she frowned.

Suddenly, Kaidoh stopped his ceaseless stretching and stood, turning around, and glowering to the side. Everyone turned to follow his gaze as a brilliant flash of lightening lit three boys all standing in the rain, facing us. One had shaggy black hair with a constant arrogant smirk on his face. The one in the middle, their captain, wore a baseball cap, hiding his straight brown hair, and a perfectly straight face. The last had his brown hair in a type of bowl cut and was also staring blankly.

Oishi got to his feet, frowning now as well. "Rikkaidai…"

"So that's the Rikkaidai we're playing in the finals…" One of the freshmen, Kachiro, murmured.

"They have such an amazing aura!" Horio added.

"Kirihara…" Kamio muttered. The black haired boy laughed lightly as Kamio and Ann glared hatefully at him.

"Akaya Kirihara…" Oishi murmured. "He's the one who caused Tachibana's injury."

"Yeah." Fuji said simply, though I saw his face darken.

There was a long silence, broken by Rikkaidai's captain. "Let's go." He and the other brown haired guy turned to go, but Kirihara advanced on his own towards the rest of us.

"It's been a while, Seigaku." He said, coming to a halt right in front of Fuji. "Syuusuke Fuji… With Tezuka not around, you're Seigaku's ace. I hope you'll at least put up a little resistance in our game."

"What was that, you jerk?" Momo screamed, raising the racket he still held over his head and coming at Kirihara. Fuji quickly raised his arm and placed it between them. "Fuji-senpai…"

Fuji still glared evenly at Kirihara. "I don't know if we'll be playing today, but let's have a good match."

Kirihara just smirked in Kamio and Ann's direction. "Fudomine, is it? You came to ask Seigaku to get your revenge?"

"There are still the Nationals." Kamio answered straight faced. "It won't go the way it did last time."

"I can't wait." Kirihara closed his eyes. "If you give me another screwed game, I'll feel so unsatisfied."

"Screwed game?" Ann echoed and leapt at him, but Kamio held her back.

"Getting injured during a game is proof that it was screwed."

"You're the one who caused him to get injured!" Ann pointed furiously at him, still straining to get away from Kamio. "It's your fault my brother's in the hospital!"

Kirihara looked away and smiled. "Not only Seigaku, but now Fudomine has a retired captain too. Tachibana and Tezuka must have been practicing way too lightly."

Before I realized what I was doing, I had tried rushing him, but Akumei caught hold of my arm. I glared at him, sighed, and then turned back towards Kirihara. Akumei, however, did not let me go.

"What did you say?" Momo screamed, lunging at him in my place.

"Calm down Momo!" Oishi shouted, grabbing him and struggling to keep him back.

Kirihara held his ground with Momo reaching towards him in rage. "An injury during the match is the person's own fault. He must not have been properly prepared." He looked back towards Fuji. "I'd like to have a real match with you."

"Same here." Fuji replied shortly.

"But really victory will be Rikkaidai's anyway." Kirihara went on.

"I wonder. We won't know until we play." Fuji locked eyes with him as everyone looked on uneasily. I had never seen Fuji so… intense.

"Kirihara." We all looked over to see Rikkaidai's captain standing there.

"Sanada." Kirihara smirked.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and come to the meeting place."

"I'll be right there." Kirihara turned his face towards everyone again. "I was just introducing myself."

Momo stepped forward as Kirihara went to stand with his captain, Sanada. "Hold it, Rikkaidai. Would it be all right if I said a few words? Since your player gave us a piece of his mind."

Sanada stared at Kirihara who just smirked back, and then looked towards Momo. "I do not know what he said, nor is it going to be necessary to know."

"What did you say?" Momo shouted as Kirihara's smirk grew wider.

"It is something you will understand when you play us." Sanada continued. "Without Tezuka you have no chance of beating us. And even if you had Tezuka, the result would be the same." With that, the two walked off.

Once they were out of sight, Momo kicked a support column of the shelter angrily as he swung around his racket violently. "I will never forgive those guys!"

"Calm down Momo." Oishi crossed his arms. "You're playing into their game."

"It seems Kirihara's even more intimidating that the last time we saw him." Inui commented.

"I won't be content until I kick his ass!" Momo screamed. "Let's hurry up and get this match going!" He raised his head to the sky. "Damn rain, stop already!"

Their coach, Ryuzaki walked up holding a pink umbrella over her head. "Calm down." Everyone's attention focused on her. "The officials have made a decision. The match has been postponed for a week."

"This little rain is nothing." Momo frowned. "Let's have the match, the match!"

Ryuzaki glance at him. "Enough, it's the official's decision.

As everyone began filing back onto the bus, a gust of wind swept the bandana from my head. I grabbed at it but missed as it was carried further away. I whimpered and then turned to Akumei. "Go back without me. I'll catch up!" I called as I darted after it.

He frowned but boarded the bus anyway, eager to escape the rain. A ways off, the bandana sunk low enough for me to jump up and snatch it from the air. I landed and tied it back around my head, looking up as I heard noises. Quietly, I crept towards a building and peered around it. Sanada was on the tennis court, racket in one hand and ball in to the other, staring intensely at a plant. A drop of rain slipped from a leaf and Sanada hit the ball, smashing the raindrop perfectly in its center. My eyes widened. Wow, he's really good… I couldn't help admitting it.

We both looked over at the same time as someone else gathered on the next court over. I blinked as I saw it was Echizen. Both he and Sanada served at the same time and both perfectly struck a falling raindrop. Echizen smirked lightly at him as he stared back. On his next serve, Echizen knocked Sanada's ball away and hit his raindrop for him.

Sanada looked at him again. "Do you have something to say?"

"Today's match was postponed." Echizen replied.

"I expected as much."

"I don't think you could bear to wait another week either, right?"

Sanada's face remained blank. "What are you trying to say?"

I followed the pair to a better court and watched from around the edge of a wall as Sanada spoke. "Are you sure you're ok with this? If they knew we had a match before the finals… I don't think it will just blow over for you."

"We can stop if you're getting nervous." Echizen replied.

They both pulled out their rackets and stepped onto the court, on opposite sides of the net, staring across at each other. As Sanada prepared to serve, he said, "I still don't know your name."

"You should announce your own name before asking for others'." Echizen replied. "That's common knowledge."

"I'm a senior at Rikkaidai Ruzoku, vice captain of the tennis club, Genichirou Sanada."

"Seigaku freshman, Ryoma Echizen."

Sanada's mouth opened as he stared at him. "So you're the freshman everyone's been talking about. I've heard many stories."

"Stories? What kind?"

"That you're not so bad for a freshman. That's all." Sanada prepared to serve again. "Here I go." Echizen got into position as well as Sanada tossed the ball into the air.

I had to cover my mouth to keep from gasping. As Echizen shifted his foot to prepare to return the ball, it was already past him. He missed the next one, but the one after Echizen made contact, however, the ball knocked the racket clean out of his hands. I watched as he stared at them in shock while they shook violently.

"Hey Echizen, would you mind picking up the ball?" Sanada said. Echizen remained staring so he raised his voice. "Echizen, the ball!"

Echizen finally snapped out of it. "Don't be in such a rush. The ball's not going to run away." He finally returned to the next serve, only to have it smashed back at him.

When Echizen started serving next, he shot a twist serve, the shot that spins on the ground and next shoots at the opponents face. He charged the net after but Sanada easily returned it and shot it right past him.

I jumped as I felt someone leaning over me and squirmed as a hand covered my mouth. "Quiet or they'll hear us." A familiar voice whispered gruffly. I glanced up and saw the boy who had found Akumei and me in the woods, the one with gray hair combed upwards. He was still as tall as ever, towering over me.

He looked back down at me, a constant scowl across his face, and released me. "Akutsu?" I asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"The same thing you are, I guess…" I shrugged.

We both turned back to the game and I followed Akutsu's gaze to Sanada. "He's not your average player." I nodded as I saw him standing perfectly calm while Echizen gasped for breath.

The rain began to pick up again and a bright flash of lightening split across the sky as Sanada served again. Echizen was only able to watch the ball as it whizzed past. "Match point." Sanada announced. The next return, Echizen had time to pull back the racket partway and then fell to his knees. I saw Akutsu's mouth fall slightly agape and his eyes widen as Sanada said, "Game and match."

Stuffing his racket back into his bag, and slinging it onto his shoulder, Sanada turned to Echizen. "That was more enjoyable than training against a wall." Echizen said nothing, packing his racket into his bag with his head down and freezing halfway through. He had lost without scoring a single point, probably for the first time in his life. I had definitely never seen him lose before.

I turned to Akutsu. "What's he going to do?"

He scowled at me, saw I still didn't flinch, and turned away. "What do I care?"

I frowned. "I could tell by your face that you do at least a little, right?" He turned and started walking.

I crossed my arms over my chest and followed at a distance until he called towards me. "What are you doing?"

"Walking back to the school." I replied.

He turned and looked at me now. "Walking to Seigaku from here? Is that where you're staying now?"

"Yes, I have no money and they're letting me stay in the building alongside the courts. It beats sleeping in the woods." I shrugged.

His face darkened slightly. "They could at least let you stay in a real house with a real bed."

"No, it's ok! I told them not to. I don't want to trouble them further."

He paused. "How long have you been here?"

My face fell and there was a pause as I counted to myself. "Sixteen days…" I said finally, heart sinking as I realized just how long it had been. "I'm starting to think I won't ever make it home…" My voice unintentionally broke into a whimper.

He stared at me for a while and then muttered. "Come on, I'll let you stay with me tonight, and get some dry clothes and a bath."

"What?" I exclaimed. "You don't need to! I'm fine!"

His glare's intensity doubled. "I said come on."

I glared back but finally gave up. "…fine." I muttered. He began walking and I followed, trailing beside him as the rain continued pouring all around us.

We boarded a train and he forced me to take the seat while he stood beside me. There was an uneasy silence the entire way to his house and I finally stopped in the doorframe. Akutsu turned to me, annoyance all over his face. "What are you doing?"

"What will your family say?" I asked, nervously fingering my tail in my hands.

"No one's home tonight." He growled and pulled me inside. I followed him hesitantly upstairs and watched as he went into a room, obviously a girls, and picked out some clothes. He thrust them and a towel into my arms and led me to the bathroom. "Take a bath and then I'll show you where to sleep."

"Th-thank you…" I stammered before he pushed me inside and closed the door behind me. I frowned but approached the tub anyway, setting down the clothes and starting the water. After a while, I stripped the wet clothes from myself and stepped in, sinking below the water. I shivered as the warmth hit me, unaware of how cold I had been. I quickly washed my hair and myself and then got back out again, hastily drying off, resisting the urge to turn into a wolf and shake it off, and dressing. I left the room with my old clothes clutched in my arms and the towel draped over my back.

I found Akutsu lying across a couch, flicking between TV channels. He looked up when he saw me coming. Without a word, he took my old clothes from me and disappeared. I stood looking around awkwardly until he came back. Then he led me to the girl's room we had entered earlier. "You can sleep here." He said.

"But what if they won't want me to?" I asked, referring to the room's owner.

"It's my older sisters. She won't mind." Akutsu said shortly and then went across the hall to another room, vanishing inside, and shutting the door behind him.

I sighed and looked at the extremely welcoming bed. Unable to resist, I finally crossed the room and climbed in, not settling under the covers, but instead laying on top. It felt like I had never been more comfortable in my life. I really do miss my bed… I laughed at myself and fell asleep shortly after.


I was woken by a hand on my shoulder. I tried to ignore it, but it kept shaking me. Eventually I rolled over, yawning, and jumped when I saw Akutsu's scowling face in my own. "You've been sleeping forever. Get up." He ordered. Reluctantly, I rolled off the bed and stood. "I'm going to talk to Kawamura. You can come if you want."

"Ok…" I said, wondering how they knew each other in the first place. I tied on my bandana, grabbed yesterday's now clean clothes, and followed him out the door.

This time we walked to a park and Akutsu stood on the sidewalk outside it and froze there, leaning against the wall and waiting. I shrugged and wandered around, keeping him in sight. Soon I heard another voice and saw Kawamura approaching. "I've been waiting for you." Akutsu announced, eyes still closed.

"Akutsu!" Kawamura exclaimed. His eyes found me as well. "Kira too?"

"We need to talk." Akutsu said. Kawamura followed him to a small building that sat in the woods near the park. I trailed behind the both of them, listening as Akutsu explained about Echizen and Sanada's match.

"I'm sorry Akutsu…" Kawamura smiled. "Coming all the way to tell me that."

"It's not just this." Akutsu frowned. "Lend me your racket."

As Akutsu went to find Echizen, Kawamura and me followed at a distance and ended up watching from a bridge as he was found practicing alone on a court. "He hasn't been able to keep a ball in play today…" Kawamura told me. "By the way, what were you doing with Akutsu?"

I frowned slightly. "We both ended up watching Echizen's match last night and then he brought me to his house to get warm clothes. I slept in a bed for the first time in so long! Um… By myself." I added quickly, blushing.

Kawamura laughed. "Of course."

We watched as Akutsu scooped up the ball Echizen was reaching to pick up and balance it on his racket. Echizen's eyes opened wide in recognition. Akutsu frowned. "You're one useless person, brat."

"Didn't you give up on tennis?" Echizen replied.

Instead of answering, Akutsu went to the opposite end of the court and knocked away all the scattered balls. "Ready?" He served and Echizen hit it back and way out of bounds. Both of them watched it pass. "Long time no see. You got weaker, brat." As Echizen stood in frozen shock, Akutsu served again. Echizen lunged and weakly returned it. "To think that you actually lost… That pisses me off!" Akutsu bent low and jumped into the air with his top half still bent over and his arms hanging low. He lifted his head slightly to speak. "And you dare say you want to go to the nationals? Don't make me laugh!" He yelled, slamming the ball past Echizen.

A while later Echizen stood breathing heavily as Akutsu stood straight, ready to serve again. "Game count, four to zero." He announced and then stared at Echizen's face. "What's that expression in your eyes? Did you see another shadow while daydreaming? When I lost last time, your eyes reflected focus and determination." Echizen stood in stunned shock as he listened. "Like this…" Akutsu went on as he leapt high into the air to smash it. "It's over!"

Suddenly Echizen sprang back to life. He shouted and twisted around, slamming the ball back between Akutsu's legs. His smirk returned as he said, "I'm not going to let it end like this, right? Mada mada dane."

Akutsu laughed and returned to his spot. "Here I come, brat."

After a while, Akutsu was the one doubled over. "Haven't played in so long… I'm a bit tired." He said more to himself, and then stood to face Echizen. "Let the one who caused your defeat feel his own defeat, without hesitation." He turned to walk off the court with Echizen staring after him, soon giving a thankful bow.

Echizenglanced up and his eyes widened as he saw Kawamura and me. Kawamura just smiled and walked away and I hurried to follow. We met up with Akutsu on the bridge. "Thanks Akutsu." Kawamura nodded. "It looks like Echizen's recovered from his defeat."

Akutsu responded by thrusting the racket towards a startled Kawamura. "Don't get the wrong idea." He jerked his shirt back as well. He had just been wearing his black undershirt to play. "I just wanted to teach the little brat a lesson." He scowled and walked quickly away as Kawamura smiled after him.

"Bye…!" I called, grinning, and was surprised to see him raise a hand in response. I turned back towards Kawamura. "I really have to find Akumei. I haven't seen him since yesterday… Sorry!"

He laughed. "It's alright. He was sulking beside the courts at school."

I shook my head, smiling. "That big baby…" I laughed as well. "I have to go find him now. I'll see you later!" He waved after me as I ran off towards the school. I bumped into Fuji on the way and stopped to say hello.

He glanced down at the armful of clothes I still held. "Oh, do you need a bag for those?"

"No, I'm fine!" I said a bit too quickly.

Fuji laughed. "I'll get an old one of mine if that's alright."

I bowed my head. "Y-yes, thank you…"

He smiled. "You're allowed to let people help you out, you know. Especially someone in your place, trapped in the wrong world."

I nodded slightly. "I guess so… I just don't like troubling people."

"Well it's no trouble to me, so don't worry about it. I will give it to you tomorrow before practice. I'll see you then."

"Ok…" I waved after him and then ran the rest of the way to Seigaku without further incident. I approached the small building slowly and quietly pushed open the door. Akumei was asleep, lying across the bench, his feet hanging far off the end. I smiled slightly and added my clothes to the growing pile before sliding down to sit with my back against the wall. The more I fell into sleep, the more I tilted to my side and eventually I was curled into a ball on the ground, back to the wall.

"Kira, wake up."

"Hmm…?" I murmured, rubbing my eyes drowsily. I looked up and saw Fuji crouched beside me.

He smiled. "Sorry to wake you, but it's already pretty late and I wanted to give you this." He held out a medium sized black back that zipped close. There were straps on it so I could wear it on my back.

"Oh, thanks!" I cried, accepting it happily.

"Anytime. Now, I have to get to practice."

"Alright…" I watched him go and then looked over, jumping as I saw Akumei staring at me. "H-hey Akumei." I stammered uneasily.

He glared at me. "You left me here for a whole day and night with nothing to do."

"I'm sorry! I was busy!"

He frowned and crossed his arms. "Fine, whatever…"

"Well I'm back now… What would you like to do?"

"I don't know…"

Now I was the one to frown. "You can't complain and then have nothing to do in mind!" I muttered as I stuffed my clothes and camera into the bag Fuji gave me. Then I adjusted the bandana on my head again. I sighed and plopped down beside Akumei on the bench. "Do you know how long we've been here?" He shook his head. "Eighteen days… Usually we stay in one place three at the most!" I buried my face into my hands to hide the tears that suddenly leaked out. It didn't work.

Akumei lifted my face to his and gently pulled my hands away so he could wipe away the tears. "Please don't cry… I have a feeling it will be soon, so don't give up yet!"

"I haven't given up… It has just taken so long! I'm so frustrated… I just want to go home."

Akumei nodded. "Yeah, me too. But all we can do right now is wait. We shouldn't worry ourselves too much. I know we'll make it back soon."

I stared at him for a moment and then nodded, wiping my face. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry…"

He laughed and pulled me into a hug. "Don't worry. Just have to be patient."

After a long while of sitting in silence, I turned to him again. "Akumei…?"

"Yeah?"

I frowned and tugged on the navy collar still around my neck. "It won't come off."

He burst out laughing as I glared. "But it suits you so nicely!" He grinned, tugging on my ear.

"Shut up…" I growled, pushing his hand away. "I'm going outside." I quickly left the building, heading to the courts to watch the guys finishing their practice for the day.

"Hey, Kira!"

I watched as Oishi walked up to me. "Yeah?"

"You know that the finals have been set back a week?" I nodded as he went on. "Well, we're going to a camp for a week to prepare. I'm sorry, but we won't be here…"

"Oh, it's alright! I understand." I smiled. "Make sure you train hard and beat them, ok?"

He looked somewhat relieved at my response. "Yes, we will. Take care while we're gone."

Early the next morning, I waved them off as the bus drove away. Sighing, I plopped down beside the fence and stared through at the empty courts. After a while, I fell back with arms outspread beside me and stared at the sky.

A shadow fell over me and I looked up to see Akumei taking a seat beside me. "It can't be comfortable lying on the…" He paused for the word. "…cement?"

I closed my eyes. "I don't care…"

Kira…?

I sat bolt upright as the timid voice spoke in my head. Y-yes? My voice was shaking, even inside my head.

I'm very sorry it's taken so long! The voice cried. I went too long last time and passed out. I only just woke up again!

It's all right! I'm just so glad to hear you… I was afraid you'd never respond again!

I am sorry… I'll hurry and send you now.

Thank you… She remained silent and I looked up at Akumei, tears in my eyes. "We're leaving this place." I sprinted to the building and scribbled out a note that I was leaving and then ran back outside with my bag of clothes, camera, and sword all tightly strapped on. I was almost bouncing with excitement. "Now promise you won't sleep the entire time again!"

Akumei frowned. "I can't promise you that…"

My face immediately fell. "What? Why not?"

"Well, what if we're attacked while both of us are too weak to do anything? What would we do then?"

I remained silent, unable to come up with a firm argument. "Fine…" I finally muttered just as we began to glow. "This is it!" I nearly shrieked. "We're leaving!"

"We might not return home you know…"

"I know, but we're getting out of here, after nineteen long, boring days!" I screamed, clinging to Akumei.

He just laughed at my enthusiasm and ruffled my hair. "Whatever you say."

I grinned at him as we disappeared without a trace.


"Will you shut up?" Hiei muttered.

Kyoshi turned to look at him, having been murmuring a song to himself under his breath. "It's not bothering anyone… And I'm bored!"

"Then why don't you just leave?"

"Why should I? I want to see Kira just as much as you do." Kyoshi smirked. "Or maybe not. You seem to be taking her disappearance quite hard. But you are silent all the time. It's so hard to tell with you. You have been sulking a lot though. Ack!" He rolled out of the way as a black fireball landed where his head had been. "What is wrong with you?" He screamed.

"I've warned you countless times…" Hiei said in a deadly whisper. The two locked eyes in a fierce glare.

"I've sent her."

Both Hiei and Kyoshi jumped at the sudden small, but firm voice of the little cat girl. "W-what? You're awake?" Kyoshi exclaimed, darting to her side.

"Yes, I've recovered, and I've just sent her again."

"How was she?" Hiei asked, eyes narrowed.

"She seemed perfectly fine. She was… relieved to hear from me." The girl added guiltily.

"Yeah, I bet she was!" Kyoshi murmured. "How long has it been?"

"Near three weeks." Hiei muttered.

"I-I'm sorry…" The girl whispered.

Kyoshi tried comforting her. "It's alright, just try getting her back soon." She nodded and closed her eyes again. Hiei shot him another glare before crossing his arms over his chest and turning away.