A/N: Yeah yeah, really slow update compared to last time. I AM SORRY, school started getting a little busy for a while. Sighhh. But yes, yes, I'll update faster from now on – especially with the support of reviews! Hehe.

Disclaimer: I do not own PoT.

Review Replies:

Rilakumadesu: FFFS thank you, thank you – and ohmg, I'd be so flattered if you drew out what you think Nanao looked like, haha!

AlwaysRunning9: Ah, ah, thank you so much! I do try to put my own spin on clichés, and stuff. Hehe. Thanks for reviewing!

Guest: LOL yeah, silly Oshitari. Bahaha! And, you know, what would Atobe be without his theatrics? XD Thanks for reviewing!

Lucy Nikolaievich Derzhavin Hehe yes, I love the Atobe-Oshitari interactions, too. ;D Thanks for reading and reviewing!

The human principle: ;D LOL OH NANAO. There's really no winning against Atobe.

Astalavisbon: Haha, yeah, I think bully drama would be a bit much at this point. =A= And I know, I know, the chemistry is not yet there – BUT I PLANNED IT TO BE SO. SO KEEP YOUR EYES PRIED, HEHEHE. I've got something in store for you all. 8D

Charmainelst: Ahhhh thank you! I love readers who read multiple fics of mine, hehe. Thanks so much for reviewing!

Lone Panda: HAHAHA Atobe is the king – and Hyotei is the winner. XD And omg, I'd just die if I dated him. BAHAHAHA. And I'll be sure to check out those pics! Thanks for reviewing~

PurePrincess: Ah, thanks!

Whimsical Omelettes: LOL Atobe would not be Atobe without his dramatic flair. XD

Xxdreamergirl95xX: BAHA thanks, Atobe is a riot, isn't he? Hehe. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

KL93: LOL, with Atobe, anything is possible yo. HAHA.

Aayuready: Omg, thanks, I'm so flattered. ;A; But yeah, I try hard on their interactions, because I feel like they all have such cute chemistry. Hehe. Thanks for reviewing!

A Midsummer: OMG YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW FLATTERED I AM THAT SOMEONE'S MAKING A PDF OF MY FIC. OTL SDLkFJDSLK A fanfiction writer's joys. HAHAHA. Tell her I said thank you! And eee, tell me when you get your account back girl. =,= I wanted to chat with youuu – PM me when you can log in!

Devil's Blade: Aww, I'm glad I could! Hehe thank you.

Shubhs: HAHA, thank you, thank you.

Atobe Keigo, Nanao thinks, is really something else.

She sat, huddled with her knees close up to her chest, on the bleachers, playing watch-guard over the haphazard items of the regular players, which were strewn around her on the level below and above her own seating. A Greek textbook was open on her lap (Keigo said that he could not be seen in public with such a terrible grasp on the language, and made her study it more than usual). Nanao blinked against the harsh sunlight, focusing in on the figure of one Atobe Keigo, who stood on one side of the courts-

Nanao wasn't a very good tennis player, but she'd learned enough as a child to know how to watch a game. And this, she was quite sure, wasn't the typical tennis game. After all – the whole "I see it – your weakness" speech was a bit unnerving, not to mention the fact that his opponent had yet to return a single hit from Keigo's side of the courts. She wasn't sure what was going on, really, but she could figure that Keigo's tennis was certainly not normal.

As he finished up the game and stood back, Nanao blinked – his racket was positively gleaming in the sunlight, she could swear. And standing there, beads of sweat illuminating his porcelain skin against the sun, posture regal and expression incorrigibly superior, he looked like a king.

Nanao's lashes fluttered as she blinked a few times-

-and Atobe quirked his chin up, then, and his cobalt eyes caught Nanao's own. Her eyes widened. His lips curved into a smirk.

It was only when he glanced away to flit his gaze over his recovering opponent, that Nanao felt herself able to breathe again.

"Waiting for Keigo again?"

Nanao shifted her gaze upwards from her book to the figure who stood looming over her, eyes peering through a strand of hair that had fallen over her vision. She moved to tuck it softly behind her ear, and allowed a smile to cross her lips when she saw who it was. "Ah, Oshitari-kun – hi," she murmured. "And yeah – he and I are going to try to do some of our project today, so I'm waiting for his practice to end."

Oshitari's blue eyes slid to glance at Atobe, who stood with his arms crossed, watching a few members rally off against one another, and then came back to rest at Nanao. When she caught his gaze, she felt her heart skip a little beat, before settling back in her chest.

He smiled a polite smile, and reached down to retrieve his water bottle. Nanao watched as he tilted his head back and allowed the liquid to pour into his throat, the bottle hovering a few inches above his lips. When he lowered it, he offered her another smile, before placing the bottle back into his bag.

"Suzuki-san?"

Nanao looked up from where her gaze had been attempting to read the text once more. "Yes?"

"Keigo's really quite a great catch, you know," he murmured smoothly, eyes coolly regarding her from behind glinting glasses; an amused curve sat upon his lips, and Nanao found her eyes widening despite herself.

"I-"

"He can come off as a bit forward-" Nanao almost snorted. Almost. Forward was perhaps the largest understatement she'd heard that year. "-but you'll come to find him charming soon enough; they always do, after all."

The fluttering in her stomach was anything but comfortable.

Flip. Flip. Flip. From across her, Atobe flipped quickly, easily through the pages of the textbook, eyes scanning the text quickly before moving on once what he sought wasn't found. He had such a natural grasp on the language that he hardly needed to glance at the characters to decipher what they meant, and Nanao's lips were parted in slight-envy, slight awe, eyes unable to tear themselves away from his reading. Her own textbook was open before her, on some page – not that it mattered, considering she could hardly read it.

Atobe paused, then, and tilted his gaze to raise a brow at her. "Ore-sama knows he's divinely handsome – but such blatant staring is a bit obvious, no?" he murmured, a hint of amusement in his voice, before he assumed picking through the pages once more.

Nanao's cheeks flushed, and she quickly ducked her head to focus on her own book. A few minutes, though, and she accepted the hopelessness of the situation; this project would be the only way to save her grade, after all, if this continued. She let out a long sigh and leaned to rest her chin on the table. Atobe paused again, and this time, moved his chin entirely to stare directly at her.

Nanao blinked. "Yes?"

"It's really not that hard – Ore-sama cannot fathom how you fail miserably so," he replied with a sniff. Nanao's cheeks puffed in a deep pout.

"Well I mean- It's just… It's hard for me," she finished lamely, unable to come up with another excuse. Atobe, with a snort, resumed reading again.

A few more minutes passed in silence, save for the sound of the pages of his book being flipped with efficiency. Nanao peered up carefully at Atobe, eyes tracing the curves and lines of his face – he really was good looking, she admitted to herself. She sighed inwardly; some people really did have it all, she supposed.

And then, she lifted her chin up from the table and moved to prop her elbows on it, instead. "Hey, Atobe-kun-"

"Keigo."

"Ah- Keigo-kun."

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you just get a real girlfriend?"

At last, Atobe paused and looked at her in the eyes. For a moment, Nanao wondered if she'd been too forward – but wasn't he always painfully blunt, too? And then, Atobe let out a quiet sigh, and leaned the side of his head against his palm, one finger underlining his eye; the gaze in his eyes had her heart thumping painfully in her chest.

"For a smart girl, you can be really slow."

Nanao's cry of affront had another smile slipping onto his lips. "Weren't you the one who said that those who adore me do it for no real reason?"

A stark chill pooled in the pits of her stomach as she paused.

"It's troublesome to date girls – doubly so when she has no real affection for me, no matter her delusions. Dating in itself is quite a trifling matter."

"I think you're just cynical," Nanao replied, pressing her lips into a line.

Atobe's lips quirked into a smirk. "Really? Isn't it troubling, to court someone? To cater to their each and every whim, on the off chance that she may return some teenage hormone-inspired 'feelings'? It's a simple analysis of cost-benefits; the energy input into dating isn't worth the return."

"I think you're wrong – because you see, Keigo-kun, when someone really does have feelings, the 'output' can make them feel so happy that they'd be willing to spend however much energy they need to. It's something indescribable-"

"Have you felt it?"

Nanao's heart skipped a beat. "What?"

"Ore-sama is asking, have you felt such feelings before?"

She faltered. "Well- no. But I'm sure that's the way it is."

Atobe laughed. "Why don't you get back to me when it happens, and Ore-sama shall see."

Nanao frowned.

"Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi na."

Nanao's inner feelings wanted to scream. Fortunately, she didn't have to – for precisely one hundred and seven other girls did, and the cafeteria was lost in a tumble of scraping chairs and clicking heels as the female students shot from their seats to wave exuberantly, reverently, at Atobe. He helmed the entire procession of tennis regulars, who strode through the crowded cafeteria in their tennis jerseys; the crowd, Nanao noted with half-horror, parted for them as though Atobe were some figure of Moses.

Even after years of watching it all, it was still unnerving – doubly so, since now, she knew them.

Atobe's tennis jersey fluttered dramatically upon his shoulders, and Nanao idly wondered if he'd had it made it out of material that did so easily – she wouldn't put it past him, really. He always did have a penchant for dramatics. The thought slipped an amused, affectionate smile on her lips-

"Nana! Nanao!"

Her eyes snapped up to her friend, who'd been violently shaking her shoulder. "Y-Yeah?"

Her friend leaned in to whisper fiercely in her ear: "I think Atobe-sama is here for you!"

…What? For a moment, Nanao was lost in confusion – before she remembered that oh, right, she was dating him. Or, well – supposedly, she was. She turned to look at Atobe, who she found still-approaching, and her eyes widened when he paused a few paces away.

"You, girl," he murmured, a hand draped across the right side of his face in that way of his. Nanao caught Oshitari poking Atobe harshly at his side, and she saw the way Atobe bit back a flinch. "Nanao," he amended, though not without a flat-eyed glance at Oshitari, who simply smiled delightedly back.

"Come."

He swept a hand forward to gesture her forward.

Somewhere in the background, Nanao was sure she heard the telltale sounds of a girl's quiet sigh and a thump as she fainted.

She stared, frozen, lips slightly parted and eyes wide. Really, she should have been more used to this by now, but it was still hard, when said person was Atobe Keigo. He really deserved a class of his own, in Nanao's opinion.

"Is she retarded?" broke her out of her thoughts. "Why's she just gaping there like a fish?"

"Gakuto-senpai, that's mean!"

"I'd like to ask why the fuck we're standing here in some triangle behind Keigo to begin with – it's bad enough he makes us walk in formation into tournaments because he likes the way his jacket flutters behind him when he's at the front, damn it."

"Oh, I know, right? He's such a little priss."

"Senpai-"

"Gekokujo."

"Hiyoshi, you really do need a new catchphrase-"

"Suzuki-san – would you care to join us for lunch?"

Finally, finally, Oshitari's pleasant smile and calm words had Nanao reacting; without realizing, she'd been simply staring at her supposed boyfriend's summoning hand. She fought down the tinge of red that threatened to overtake her cheeks, and scrambled to retrieve her things. "Um- Yeah! I'm going," she breathed, yanking up her bag onto her shoulder, and stumbled over to Atobe.

"Such a slow girl," Atobe murmured, leaning in to brush a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Nanao's eyes widened, and her chest felt squeezed.

"Time to go; as much as Ore-sama enjoys the adoration of the masses, it's not quite the same when they're doing it to watch something that I've to put up an act for," he sighed, and Nanao quickly fell in line as he moved the group forward and out the cafeteria.

Behind them, another pair of girls fainted with a sigh.

Nanao was not an only child – rather, she was the youngest daughter, with an older brother and an older sister. She supposed that her parents had been hoping for another boy, but she was never too put off by it; they loved her all the same, as their child. She was often the little 'baby' of the family – the little darling girl, to be dressed in pretty things and be given pretty accessories and to be fawned over.

To be a pretty little girl, and nothing else. "Nana doesn't have to worry," her father had said. "Papa will take care of everything – just sit and smile, okay?"

She'd enjoyed it, before. That her family loved her, that she didn't have to do anything but be their 'baby girl.' But slowly, somewhere along the way, she learned that there was a fine line between taken care of, and being patronized.

"Oh, sweetheart – Hyotei? Don't you think that school would be a little too hard for you?"

"Tennis? Honey, leave the sports to your brother; it's much too hard for Papa's little girl."

"Ah, Nana? Smart?" A laugh. "She's just my little sister, you know?"

"Nanao, onee-san bought you a pretty dress- oh? A test? Tomorrow? I'm sure you'll do fine, Nanao, no need to study so hard; it's not like you'll get first place, is it?"

"Study business? Isn't that a little hard, baby?"

"Papa will take care of our little girl, so don't worry about the family business."

Her older brother – the oldest – was twenty two, and finishing up his college education at the all-prestigious Tokyo University. He was to be their father's successor to the throne of the corporation; he was a bright, charming young man, with all the world laid out in front of him.

Her older sister, twenty, was taking a gap year between her next year of college and now, though she was studying corporate law. A fine addition to the family company, her parents had said, when she declared her intentions to pursue the major.

And Nanao- Nanao wasn't quite sure, what she wanted to do. But every time she brought it up with her father, he'd only laughed and wiggled Nanao's nose, as if to say, 'silly little girl.'

This time, though-

"Nanao – I heard you have a new boyfriend?"

The clatter of spoons and forks fell in favor of a stark, deafening silence. Her mother wiped daintily at her lips, as though she hadn't just brought up a bombshell at the family dinner table. Her father was the first to react-

"A boyfriend? Who?"

"Atobe Keigo," her mother replied before she could, a certain ring to her words that sounded oddly like smugness.

"Atobe Keigo- you don't mean that Atobe," her brother said, loudly, eyes as wide as platters.

"Hiroki, please – don't be so loud at the table."

"Sorry, mom."

"Isn't he supposed to be voted the most eligible bachelor in Tokyo Weekly?" Nanao's sister exclaimed, interest lighting her pretty eyes. "Nanao – well done!"

"Eligible bachelor? Why, he can't be older than seventeen!" her father protested.

"Um- he's eighteen, actually."

"Why didn't you tell us, honey?" Her mother directed a stern gaze – though she still detected the hint of a pleased air in her voice – at Nanao, and she falterd.

"Well I just-"

"Oh, mom, what teenage girl just reports to their parents about every new boyfriend?" Megumi waived a hand airily, before giggling. "But wow! Atobe Keigo! Even I heard a lot about him, back when I was at Hyotei – quite the catch."

"And how did you find out, mother?" Her dad sounded a little put off that he'd been second to know.

Her mother wiped her lips again with the napkin. When she placed it down, a smug smile had been spread across her lips. "Oh, you know, I was just chatting with the girls again, when they mentioned that some charming lady finally managed to capture the attention of the young Atobe heir. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be our little Nanao. Oh, all the girls were so jealous."

"Mom, I think you're enjoying yourself a little too much," Megumi teased.

"Nonsense."

And then-

"Well done, Nanao; this will be a nice conversation starter for when I meet with Atobe next week to discuss the possibilities of a business project."

At that, Nanao brightened, and smiled.

"Well done, Suzuki-san! Your work with Atobe-kun must have really paid off!"

Nanao smiled hesitantly at the teacher, who beamed back and forth between herself and Keigo, who sat languidly, elegantly, across his chair from beside her own desk. She flickered a glance at him, only to flush when his lips curved into an amused smirk and his brow quirked at her. Silly girl, his gaze seemed to laugh at her.

When Nanao sat down, she traced a finger over the small index card placed carefully at the open page in her book. As her turn to read had approached, Atobe had figured out which passage she'd be assigned, and had written out the greek in pseudo-Japanese, intoning out how each word would sound, instead of actual Greek letters. Of course, she was a bit slow at certain points to decipher out the way he'd sounded things out-

-but it'd still been a huge improvement from her attempting to read on her own.

From across the classroom, she saw Mukahi-kun stare at her curiously, brows raised in surprise. She ducked her head to scribble notes in her binder.

Atobe chuckled from beside her, and she reached out with a foot to kick lightly, almost playfully, at his outstretched one. He gave her an affronted look soon after, and she, too, burst into quiet laughter.

Atobe rolled his eyes.

Nanao flipped the index card to the clean, blank back, and wrote something neatly across it with her pen. She slipped it onto Atobe's desk unnoticed by the others in the room.

Atobe quirked a brow at her, and Nanao, with a small shrug, turned back to pay attention to the next reader in the class.

Atobe flipped over the card.

"Thank you, Ato-" There, his surname was crossed out. "Keigo-kun. I'll buy you some ice cream!"

He snorted.