A/N: I enjoy making up my own techniques... so much fun. Thanks for the reviews! I'm a few chapters ahead so I'll post them when I've typed them up. (I tend to write as I go along. Everything is roughly planned, that's why it takes a few... months... thinking isn't always that easy... Anyhow, here's chappie 26!

Edited: Still not 2010, but I'll edit anyway! (31.12.2009)

Disclaimer: 30% of this belongs to me, the other 70% belongs to Takeshi Konomi. (percentages may go up as well as down...)


Chapter Twenty-six

"I'm glad I'm not playing against Yokoishi-senpai. I didn't know she was so… scary." Nariko said and Shikawara agreed.

Yokoishi was up against the captain of Narishima, and winning 5-0. It was the last set and Yokoishi needed two more points to end it all. Yokoishi loved every minute of her match. To those who played before Yokoishi, her style annoyed them down to their very core, because when Yokoishi got overexcited her true talent shone through.

Before the ball was served Yokoishi looked to her team and those of her opponent's. She rested her racket on her shoulder and spoke to them.

"Watch me Nariko-senpai, Jin-senpai, you too Kira-senpai and Kiyo-senpai, because I'm going to use your moves."

For a moment the court fell silent. Could she really copy their moves? And how exactly? Other people's moves weren't something you could copy by looking at them. And even if you did manage to copy their move, you would lack the control to pull it off successfully. All who watched, except Nariko, saw her boast as nothing more then enthusiasm in its most excessive form.

Yokoishi bounced on the spot as the thought of using their moves got to her head. "Tell me if I make a mistake, okay?" She beamed and hopped back to the baseline on the right of the court. Before the captain served the ball, Yokoishi untied the red ribbon in her hair and covered it over her eyes.

"She's kidding right?" Nariko said quietly, with a small smile of excitement of her own.

Yokoishi pulled on the ends of her ribbon and left them to fall on the back of her head. She couldn't see a thing so closed her eyes and when she did, she understood the feelings that were going around her and over her skin. She turned to Nariko and gave her a thumb's up. The captain of the other team wasn't going to let Yokoishi nonsense go without winning at least one point. While Yokoishi was waving around like a mad girl, she served a fast ball that would land in the middle of Yokoishi's service court.

"Why is she doing this?" Arai cringed, knowing Yokoishi was going to miss the ball.

Yokoishi heard the ball before it hit the captain's racket, so when the ball flew over the net, she heard it cut though the air. Yokoishi changed the racket to her left hand and caught the ball in her sweet spot, sending it nicely over the net. And as promised she made the ball disappeared, just like Kira did.

Narishima's team gasped but their captain was unfazed. "Do you really think I wouldn't know how to defeat my own player's move?"

Their captain moved forward to catch the path of the ball. It hit her racket and became visible again and was sent back over the net. Narishima's captain glanced up, not expecting Yokoishi to be at the net in the exact spot her returned shot headed in. And Yokoishi was still blindfolded! Yokoishi returned the ball with a volley, but not just any volley. Once the ball went over the net, it was visible, but it hit the floor and didn't move.

"You're kidding!" Jinhana gasped. "My lily?"

Yokoishi removed her ribbon and cheered. "Woo! It worked. Aren't I amazing, Senpais!"

She waved towards her team and danced around at the same time. Some spectators laughed with her and others couldn't quite believe what they saw. Her term looked around at each other.

"Scary, definitely scary." Jinhana said and they all agreed.

With one point left, Yokoishi took to the baseline and announced her last winning move.

"It's there so I'm going to give it a shot." She looked straight at Kiyo. "I'm going to win this point with your move Kiyo-senpai."

Kiyo jumped up. "What do you mean?" I didn't even use my technique! How can you use what you didn't see?"

Again Yokoishi distracted herself by answering. "I don't need to see it to know you used it… I can feel it."

Kiyo's captain served and Yokoishi lobbed the ball high into the air. Those watching thought it was unavoidable for Yokoishi to lob it, seeing as she wasn't playing attention. They quickly changed their minds when Narishima's team watched in disbelief. The ball kept going up until it masked the path of the sun. Narishima's captain looked up to follow the ball. She didn't really think Yokoishi could use Kiyo's move, especially that Kiyo didn't unleash it.

"Captain, don't follow it!" Kiyo yelled.

It was too late for warnings. The sun blinded her. That annoying blind spot appeared in her eyes. She quickly looked away. It wouldn't fade anytime soon. Before the match had even ended Yokoishi congratulated herself and took her eyes off her opponent.

"Again with my own players move!"

"Yeah! I won!" Yokoishi cheered, ignoring their captain.

Narishima's captain hopped back a few steps. If she known Kiyo's move well, it always ended shallow and landed in the service box, so if she waited for it to land she would be able to hit it after it bounced. She waited for the ball to hit the court while at the same time ignoring Yokoishi premature cheers. As soon as the ball came down she readied herself. She waited for the bounce to come towards her… But it didn't come!

"No way – not again!" Narishima's captian gasped.

Yokoishi planned her last shot, which gave her the right to cheer long before the ball came back into play. Yokoishi understood how Kiyo's moved worked. Yokoishi knew her opponent would move back, given her a chance to use Jinhana's lily so that there was no change of a return.

"Game, set, and match!"

Jinhana's shoulders slumped. "Do you know how long that took me to master, and she does it within seconds? Crazy blonde…" Jinhana huffed.

Kikumaru patted her back. "We've all experienced her absorption technique, don't worry about it."

"Yay! We won! Seigaku! Woo!" Yoko continued cheering.

"That was crazy. That kind of play is too unpredictable." Her opponent said as she reached over to shake Yokoishi's hand, but seeing as her opponent was Yokoishi, Yokoishi pounced on her with a hug and then shook her hands with too much vigour.

"I knew you'd like it, but it has its limits! If nobody does anything, I'd lose for sure." She giggled.

Narishima's captain understood and smirked. "No wonder they put you last."

"Seishun academy advance to the next match!"

Yokoishi bounced over to her team to receive their praise.

"That was amazing Yokoishi-senpai. How did you managed to use everyone's technique?"

Yokoishi winked at Nariko "A woman never tells her secrets."

After they all shook hands with Narishima, Ryuzaki-sensei gathered them around outside the courts.

"Listen up you lot. I'm happy that you guys got through the match, but some of you struggled against Narishima. Go check the boards to see who you're playing against next, then go and refresh yourselves. I still don't think some of you are playing with much seriousness so make sure when you're refreshing yourselves, you remind yourselves of the games you had last year." She paused so that the year nines' and eights' understood. "We have fifteen minutes before our next match." Ryuzaki-sensei finished off and dismissed them. While she went off to register the next game.

They all went off and did their own thing. Jinhana and Nariko went off to figure out some combinations, Shikawara, Kikumaru and Yokoishi jogged around for a bit, Suzu studied the winners table with Ryuzaki-sensei and Umeko and Arai stood around chatting.

Fuji knew that when Ryuzaki-sensei said some weren't taking the games seriously enough, she was being referred to. She couldn't help have a wondering mind. She won her match 6-3. It would have been 6-0 if thoughts of Yumi being around didn't distract her. She remembered after checking the board this morning that their school was on court B. She made her way to the next court to find St. Rudolph's were still playing their first set of matches, and they looked set to advance to the next round. Fuji got close enough to see the teams on the bench and the two players on the court. She tired to spot Yumi's short and spiky brown hair but couldn't see her. Fuji hummed to herself, a little disappointed. She circled around the court to watch a bit of the match. She didn't want to get too close, in case Yumi was watching with her team.

Again her mind drifted. She couldn't quite keep her thoughts off her sister. For someone who liked tennis, and wanted to take part in the club when she was at Seishun Academy, why wasn't she here? Fuji looked at those on the bench again. She counted the players and saw there were only seven of them on the court. Then maybe Yumi was the other one… but where was she?

The fifteen minute rest period went by quickly. Fuji had to get back to her own court. As she turned to leave she saw the missing member of St. Rudolph's team. Fuji stepped forward to see who it could be. The light brown hair was familiar to her eye but the front of her hair was grown out. The young girl held into an older boy's hand. A nerve sparked within Fuji and shot up her spine. He had curly black hair and when he glanced around to look at the courts she saw a very mischievous and cocky smirk press across his lips. Fuji stepped further out into the main path once they walked passed her.

"Yumi-chan?" She called out, a little bothered by the display before her.

The girl turned around. Her fringe covered one half of her face, the part of her forehead that held the scar from the past. It really was her…

The two sisters started at each other. Fuji couldn't help but smile softly even when she felt dubious; she smiled even though the grimace on Yumi's face hurt her inside. They didn't exchange words. They couldn't. Fuji didn't want to cause any trouble or upset her sister and Yumi refused to say as much as hello. Yumi's lips twisted with disgust. She held tightly onto the boy's arm and pulled him away once she had enough of glaring at Fuji, dragging him closer to the court.

What's going on? What is she up to? Were some of the questions that came to Fuji's mind. She didn't want to cause a scene here. She thought it best to leave but she couldn't find the will to move. Her gaze slowly shifted towards the ground. Those around were going to ask if she was okay, haven't just seen Yumi and Fuji glaring at it other. They didn't intervene because they saw someone walking up to Fuji. Fuji was so lost in thought that she didn't feel the hand that softly touched her shoulder.

"Fuji-chan?"

It took Fuji a moment to turn to the hand that touched her. It was her vice captain. Arai knew to follow Fuji, knowing she would do something like this.

"Don't think too hard about it Fuji-chan. You know why she has those feeling towards you, right?"

Fuji didn't answer, she couldn't.

"Tch, let's just put it this way. Me and my brother fight all the time about minor stuff. You know why? Sibling rivalry!"

It was the first time the thought crossed Fuji's mind. Things were never like that with Yukio and herself so she didn't expect it to happen with Yumi.

"Even your best friend Kikumaru experiences it. Why do you think she learnt how to cook so well? Not forgetting her toothpaste thing." Arai rolled her eyes. "It's something done so they can stand out in the family." Arai could tell that Fuji wasn't buying any of what she said, so she carried on. "Do you remember how people treated her while she was in Seishun?"

Fuji wanted to say something but she wasn't sure the answer was right.

Arai shook her head. "She was always in your shadow. Image how she felt? Every time she tried to play tennis: 'Oh there's Fuji-san's little sister. I wonder if she's as good as Fuji-san.'"

Fuji looked to the court where Yumi had sat herself. She crossed her arms and seethed on the bench with her team.

"Image how she felt Fuji-chan. No one bothered to learn her name, of course she'd be angry. Just let her burn off some steam and don't force yourself to talk to her. She'll talk to you when she's good and ready. Okay?" She patted Fuji's shoulder before she walked on.

Fuji looked away from the courts with a new understand of life… at least now she had a reason.

"Thanks, Arai-chan" Fuji whispered.

As she turned to rejoin her group there was one thing she hoped wouldn't happen…

…She didn't want to play against her little sister in the tournaments...

…ever.


tbc…

A/N2: Hmm, more subplots in the mix.

Chapter 27: Three things happen in this chapter, one of them relates to Atobe's appearance, the other two…