A/N: Yeah... I was taking a break, trying to make the next set of chapters make a little bit of sense and making sure that they are in 'time'… but I'm thinking you don't really care about that (T_T). Here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Erm… what was I meant to say here again? Something about Takeshi Konomi and Prince of Tennis… not totally sure!

Edited: Because I know there's a mistake… 17.10.2010


Chapter Thirty Two

Fuji kept a hold of Tezuka's hand. When they both got up to watch Nariko's match, she walked beside him with his fingers snugly in her grip. He didn't tell her to let go or fidgeted awkwardly. If anything, he swung his hand gently with hers.

They watched Nariko and Jinhana, who both won their singles matches as promised. The surrounding team cheered for them loudly, of course never as loud as Hyotei's crowd. They cheered for Arai as she got her match underway.

Leiko Arai's moves weren't very special. She wasn't flexible like her partner Kikumaru, her moves weren't inventive or creative like Jinhana, Nariko or Fuji's popular shots, she didn't have the added help of unknown forces like Yokoishi. Arai played clever, sharp and close to professional tennis. She paid attention to her opponent's movements and never underestimated a single shot however simple.

But she had a weakness – her own temper. More than once in her game the umpire gave her two warnings that he would take her off the court if she didn't calm down. If not for Kikumaru cheering her on, she would have lost it completely. Not even she knew what would happen once she went pass the mark and used that untouched and raw fury.

"Arai-chan! Arai-chan! Arai-chan!" Her school chanted.

"Yeah, yeah." She yelled back. "I'm almost finished."

She wiped the sweat from her forehead. She turned to the board. Three more points. She was about to serve when she saw her opponent's face. She couldn't quite believe it and couldn't help bust out in laughter, which helped her regain her focus. Her opponent's make-up oozed down her face with her beads of sweat. She looked a mess. With the minor distraction the Hyotei player couldn't concentrate on her game. Because she wanted to quickly get off, she made ridiculous mistakes, and didn't really care. Looking ugly on the court was a problem for her. It was a worry because the whole team was more concerned with the quality of their make up. Could it be because Atobe was watching? The win belonged to Arai. She held back from spitting on the court. She wasn't satisfied with the win at all. Whatever, she thought. A win was a win no matter how stupid it was.

Arai walked to the side of the court and waited for both teams to join her. Fuji slipped her hand out of Tezuka's and drew his warm coat off her shoulders.

"Here. Just until I get back." She said.

He didn't take it. "You can hold on to it."

She folded it up neatly and placed it on top of her bag. "Don't you need it?"

"You can give it to me tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Does that mean you're not going to stay?"

He looked away. "I wasn't able to get out of calligraphy class … and Yamada-sensei wouldn't let me out of world history."

She nodded feeling a little disappointed but she wasn't going to be so selfish as to impose on his education. "I understand." She smiled once more. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She didn't have the opportunity to watch him walk away. With his coat off she wanted to get a look at his butt, but she had to hurry onto the courts.

Seishun Academy bowed out and had a short intermission before the next match. It seemed Miura academy and her sister's school had only started their singles two match. Ryuzaki-sensei shooed the boys off to give the girls a moment of encouragement. She was happy with how the new set-ups worked out but she wanted to reset it back to doubles playing doubles and singles playing singles. Kikumaru cheered. She would finally get a chance to play. Ryuzaki-sensei decided to team Arai up with Jinhana and Kikumaru with Nariko. Singles would go to Yokoishi, Shikawara and Fuji. With that decision made, the girls went their separate ways to get ready for the semi-finals.

Fuji quickly linked arms with Kikumaru and pulled her away before she could hover towards Oishi.

"What's wrong Fuji-chan?" She wondered knowing she was deliberately being pulled away and feeling very annoyed by this.

"I need to tell you something."

Kikumaru sighed. "All right."

Fuji led Kikumaru to the front of the park so they could have a private chat.

"Is this about what happened earlier?" Kikumaru said first.

"Yeah, it is."

"So? Did Atobe-san say anything to you?"

"Atobe-kun is Atobe-kun. He's still being difficult… doesn't seem to want to leave me be, but I'm not so worried about him… Tezuka-kun was acting really strange."

"Can you blame him?" Kikumaru said and crossed her arms because she too was annoyed when Atobe showed up, and not just because he called her a moron.

Fuji turned and faced Kikumaru. "The look on his face when he saw Atobe-kun was… kinda scary and then he asked me if Atobe-kun had made any passes at me."

"Wow! No way! Tezuka-san really asked that!" It wasn't the reaction Fuji was hoping for but Kikumaru couldn't help but giggle. "That's good! That's really good! That means he's thinking about you. Why aren't you happy about that?"

That was exactly why she wasn't happy about it. "Someone's talking to him." She said very sure of the matter.

Fuji placed her thumbnail between her tooth and thought about who could have filled his head with subjective words.

"What do you mean? Like, someone is telling him that you're flirting with Atobe-san?" Kikumaru said bluntly, which made Fuji drop her hand down to her side.

"…Maybe."

"You think it's Chise-san?"

Fuji shrugged. "I hoped not."

"I think it might be her. She's been snooping around the park. Who's to say she's not talking with Tezuka-san at the boys tournaments?"

"Kikumaru-chan, it's not her."

Kikumaru held her hands up saying not to rule her out. "Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Not really." She looked out of the park. "You should have seen his face Kikumaru-chan. If you did, you would have understood."

Kikumaru leaned against a pillar when she noticed three of the Hyotei girls walking by. Once they caught sight of the Seishun tennis dresses, they stopped to see who wore them. When they saw it was Fuji, they prowled over like a hunting pride of lioness. Kikumaru watched them cautiously. Fuji didn't notice them as she had her back to them. Even when they had walked right up close to her and stood directly to the side of her, Fuji didn't register them. Kikumaru tapped Fuji on the shoulder. Fuji peered up and ahead of her. Kikumaru pointed at 'them' and it's then that Fuji saw them.

Anyone but them! "Hi. Good game today." Fuji greeted.

The shorter one out of the three dropped her hands down on her hips. "Who do you think you are, talking to Atobe-sama so causally?"

Fuji faced the three girls fully but didn't say anything. They had obviously been waiting a while to speak their minds.

"Yeah, and why do you keep looking at him?" The one who Nariko bet spat her words with much distaste. She looked like the boffin type, with large circular glasses and neatly tied back hair. Not forgetting the natural toned makeup.

"Not only that, you're not even worth his time! You've blackmailed him, haven't you?" The other one added.

They finally stopped talking to get their answer. Kikumaru stood beside Fuji. Fuji just glanced into each pair of eyes and pointed. "Your make-up's running."

The three girls checked their faces in their little mirrors. By the time they realised Fuji had lied, Fuji had linked arms with Kikumaru and tried to walk away. The shorter one chase after her. For unknown reason she seemed to be the angriest even though on pervious occasions Fuji never caught her gaze.

Rumi Suzuki, who was the short one of the three, grabbed Fuji's arm and pulled her back.

"I'm warning-" Suzuki stopped suddenly.

Fuji, who was okay with verbal abuse (to some degree) could forgive people for their empty words, but when it came to physical contact, it was one of those things that she hated, especially if it was done with negative intentions. The tight grip on Fuji's arm jolted her. She didn't expect it, not from a peer. She stepped back because of Suzuki's pull, and glared at the small girl while opening her eyes a little. A fierce aura poured from them that cut into Suzuki's skin like razor blades.

"Let go." Fuji ordered.

Suzuki fingers unwrapped against her will. She winced back, away from that sudden dark feeling. She gathered herself and her friends Junko Takanaga and Misora Kisaragi stood close to her also having felt something in the air.

"Well… just… remember that the likes of you has no business talking to Atobe-sama."

The likes of me? Fuji unlinked her arm. Kikumaru whispered for her to behave but Fuji was beyond wanting to be passive. She walked up to Suzuki and was about to take a hold of her shoulder when she saw Ryuzaki-sensei ambling along with one of the coaches from another school. She lowered her arm and step closer.

"Are you bold enough to tell Atobe-kun to leave me alone?"

"Of course we are!" They protested stepping back.

"Good. Even though it's his will to talk to me, you're going to give him orders?"

They couldn't reply. Even they knew of Atobe's bad temper when he can't have his way.

"So why don't you go to him and tell him to leave me alone?"

They knew they couldn't do that, but they didn't back down. "Yeah, well, why do you keep looking at him?"

"Because don't you think it's odd for him to be here when he has his own team to get in order?"

"He does what he wants!" Kisaragi said a little too proud of that fact.

Fuji couldn't be bothered to talk to them anymore. She looked away and saw Ryuzaki-sensei was still close. "If that's the case, if he wants to talk to me, it's no business of yours?"

They hesitated. "Keep away from him. He's not hanging around so some Seishun dog can talk to him."

"There's no need to be like that!" Kikumaru snapped.

"Have you said all that you wanted?" Fuji cut in before the two could get into a quarrel.

The three of them glanced at each other. They hit a brick wall with their threats. All they could do was repeat what they said. By the time they said what they had to say for a third time Fuji walked away with Kikumaru following behind her. They could only stand bitterly before deciding to take matters into their own hands.

"You think that was the best thing to do, Fuji-chan?"

She didn't say anything.

"Just ignore them Fuji-chan. They're just bitter that we bet them in the quarterfinals. Speaking of which let's see how your sister's doing."

The thought was appreciated but Fuji didn't want to see her sister. She didn't even want to know if they made it to the semi-finals. If Yumi and her team had made it and bet Miura, Fuji hoped Yumi was benched. She tossed a look to the sky and wondered how so many annoying things could plague her mind at once. Tezuka's new expression, Atobe, Suzuki and her friends… the thought of playing against Yumi, and now she had that peacock's cocky smile in her mind's eye. She wiped the side of her face and looked to the ground. Out of everything, that peacock annoyed her the most. How did he worm himself alongside her sister?

"Yeah… let's pry." She murmured.

"Huh? What did you say?"

Fuji's distaste for that peacock made her smirk. "You haven't seen him yet have you?"

"Who!"

"A peacock's stalking my sister."

Kikumaru could see the troublesome smirk that slowly curved on Fuji's lips and told her to behave. Fuji didn't response to this and quietly walked with Kikumaru to court B. As always it was crowded and the cheering furious. The two got as close as they could to watch Singles two drawing to an end.

Even from their distance, Fuji could see that Miura were on another level to St. Rudolph's ability. Or maybe it was luck of the draw.

"Ah! It's Uki-san." Kikumaru said, remembering her from the time they were in the ice-cream parlour. "whoa, she's amazing as always." She quickly covered her nose with a certain smell irritated her nostrils.

"She's already using it." Fuji said, looking to see how her opponent was fairing against her. "I feel sorry for her. No one can really bet Uki-san after that move."

"Yeah, I know." Kikumaru coughed the bad air away.

"I wouldn't mind playing her… see what bad memories I have."

"Fuji, that's not funny! She could really unearth something terrible… you remember last year right?"

"Of course… but I'd rather play her than anyone else, not even Hattori-san interests me."

They hung around the courts to watch the schools bow out before making their to Ryuzaki-sensei to see how she arranged the line-up.


tbc…

A/N2: (Bad ending.) Tezuka doesn't hang around for long, does he! More trouble in the mix. Lovely.

Chapter 33: The semi-finals begin and it's not looking good for Seishun!

Thanks for reading x.