A/N:Yo, that last chapter gave me a bit of trouble, but I'm bouncing back, but let me not speak too soon… (-.-)

Disclaimer: Takeshi Konomi asked me if he should carry on with Prince of Tennis.(Random)

Edit: (16.1.2012)


Chapter Seventy Two

She rarely carried money with her, but after the sound advice from her brother for such situations, she always had some emergency money in her shirt pocket. Fuji had more than enough to catch a bus and headed back to school.

She shuddered, still feeling cold and sick in her stomach. She didn't like where her mind was going. Sure, her thoughts once told her that she would look upon other people because Tezuka was no longer around, but she didn't think Atobe would continue to hover around her. She didn't count on this at all and it sent her mind into a frenzy. All that she first felt engulfed her. All that she spoke to Kikumaru about on the school roof was an insignificant whisper. The insignificance of the mark was beginning to develop meaning.

Her dark energy delighted in the idea of making Tezuka suffer, so it allowed her thoughts of Atobe to manifest. However hard she tried, she couldn't get rid of those old tempting thoughts. She held onto her shoulder and closed her eyes. She didn't know what more to do, and stayed like that until the driver told her that she arrived at her stop, not wanting a student to miss out on their education.

She hesitated. Her thoughts shocked her. When – no! How could he replace Tezuka? How could she replace the two? She accidentally grabbed her left hand and the pain broke her from seeing those images. It was only then that she heard the driver and got up to leave. He dropped her off right outside the school gates. The North gates, the buildings that dealt with arts and literature. She walked in slowly and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She fought so hard to stop her dark energy but it would always have the upper hand without Tezuka around.

Fuji parted her lips, wanting to mutter something to herself but couldn't find a way around the guilt to say it. It hurt her that Tezuka would stand there and let Arai kiss him, but what was she doing picturing herself kissing Atobe as Tezuka kissed her? If she were to say anything it would have been the word 'dangerous', because she could start to desire it.

Why was she at school? Did she think she would be able to find him here? Was she relying on old thoughts, thinking he was still around? Despite that, she walked over to the tennis courts and sat by the fountains, staring off into the distances, beyond the courts and into the sky at the dark clouds that were billowing over. Several planes crossed her view and she couldn't help but start crying. At times she knew why, and at other times she didn't have a reason for the tears.

By the time she stopped the tears from falling, she heard people moving around her. She turned away from the sky and heard the familiar sound of tennis balls being knocked about. Geez, what time was it? Was she that exhausted that she didn't have the strength to go home? She got up and dusted her clothes downs. She didn't take her belongs with her to the tournament grounds, which could example why she came here after all. Before she left to get her things she washed the tear tracts off her face and cooled her cheeks. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain why she was red in the face. It was too embarrassing to think about. She went to her homeroom to collect her bags. She glimpse one of the clocks as she entered the building and realised she wasn't sitting around for as long as she thought. It was about two o'clock they started their match so the six hours she thought had drifted by were only two.

She reached her empty room and her stuff were where she left them, in the corner. After having her favourite racket sabotaged, she checked her remaining two and all her other gear. They were still there. She didn't know why she brought it to school, there wasn't the opportunity to use it.

She put her school bag over her left shoulder, carefully, as the pain seemed to travel from her hand upwards. Her tennis bag she carried in her right hand as she couldn't properly put it on her shoulder, and made her way to ground level. On her way, she glanced out the window at the tennis courts, which were on the opposite side to her classroom. The boys were out on the courts running the length of it furiously. No doubt influenced by Iuni's training methods. She stopped and watched them from the window. She could identify all of them and could see the reddening of their faces. She wondered why they were sprinting around like that. After about ten more laps they didn't come around again, from the corner of the building where she could see them. After a while she saw Oishi's and Iwara enter onto court A. She carried on to ground level and stepped out onto the school playground when she heard a loud roar from the courts. The boys were pretty excited about something. Seeing as she wasn't in the mood to go home, Fuji changed her direction and went to see why they were revved-up after all that running.

She dumped her stuff by the girls' changing rooms and walked towards the corner. They roared out again. She wondered who they cheered for. Fuji peered around and all the non-regs crowded around court D, nearest to her. She searched around for the other regulars. They must have all been on the courts, so she approached without hesitation.

Fuji walked up to the non-regulars and stood behind them until they noticed her.

"Whoa." She startled them because they parted so she could have a better look. "Where did you come from Fuji-senpai?"

"I was on my way home, that was until I heard all the noise. Who's playing?"

They parted a little further and encouraged her to step forward. She walked up to the fence and saw Echizen playing against Momoshiro. Apparently, the score was tied at two-a-piece, with Momoshiro catching up. She watched quietly with the boys cheering loudly around her. She couldn't help but get drawn in.

She watched both of them, but she mainly watched to see what was so special about this boy that Tezuka would tell him to be their pillar of strength. That's a lot of responsibility on those little shoulders. Yet something about the strength in him was able to calm her down. Echizen didn't notice her. That didn't bother her as much. Tezuka didn't take an interest in just anybody, what other reason did he have to cause him to pick Echizen over, say Iuni or Oishi? Maybe it was the way he played tennis. Would his styled take the team to the Nationals? It was only something she would understand once she got on the court with him, as Tezuka did.

Fuji thought about what Echizen said to her that day she hugged onto him. That challenge. If that wasn't enough for her to ask the boys to part again so she could go and get her stuff, she also hadn't had a decent match in months. Fuji made her way back and took out her racket and tennis shoes. She bargained with the idea of getting changed but it was too much effort. She'd have to be careful not to rip or dirty her uniform and went back over to the fence.

"Echizen-kun?" She called to him.

All those by her looked to her, Echizen included, not expecting Fuji to be in school today. She lifted her racket.

"Let's play."

He paused for a second and faced Momoshiro. "Momo-kun, Fuji-senpai has cancelled our match, I think she wants me to follow her."

"Tsk! Don't say it like you're not looking forward to it, you punk!" Momoshiro ranted from the other end, but by then Echizen had walked off to follow Fuji.

Those watching didn't quite understand what was going on. They asked Momoshiro why Echizen walked away. Momoshiro explained that he wanted to see what was so good about Fuji's tennis that Tezuka would acknowledge it.

"Basically, the fool wants to beat her. Good luck to him. I don't think he's played a girl as serious Fuji-senpai before."

By this time, Iwara and Oishi were finishing their match. When they saw Fuji on their courts they were bewildered. Fuji didn't smile when she told them she'd be borrowing their court and walked ahead of them. They turned to Echizen to see what he had to do with it. He pointed at Fuji.

"Oishi fuku-buchou, Fuji-senpai demanded she play against me now. As my senpai, I can't refuse her."

Iwara chuckled, allowing him to go ahead before Oishi could understand what was happening.

"Did you see the excitement in his eyes, Oishi? That little guy's up for a fight." Iwara said.

"What?" Oishi still couldn't get his head around Fuji being able to play. What about her hand?

Oishi was about to call to the two of them when Iwara pushed his hand down on Oishi's head and pulled him out of the courts. He, like the others gathering around, wanted to see him play against the former captain of the girls tennis.

"Fuji-senpai, I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're a girl. I'll treat you how I treat everyone else."

She smirked. "I wouldn't expect anything less." She glanced up to Iuni who was all the more ready with his notebook in hand. "Sorry for intruding." She said to him.

As she got into place and realised just how many of them were watching, she wished she got changed. Too late for that now. She would have to be very careful. Even more so when she held her left hand up to retrieve the ball one of the year sevens threw to her. She had to step out to her left to catch it on the face of her racket. There was no way she could serve with a bandaged hand. Every movement made it hurt. She bounced the ball on the racket before passing it over to Echizen.

"Sorry Echizen-kun, I'm going to give you a handicap. You have all the serves."

Murmurs rang around the courts. Who would give up serving? They were the easy wins. Echizen would win this match in no time! They couldn't get their head's around Fuji's thinking, but then, they didn't damage their hand to know how awkward it would be.

"Fuji-senpai, I don't need a handicap." By the time he finished speaking, he served a powerful ball.

Once it hit down close to her feet, she realised he wasn't messing around. He came at her with a twisted serve, winning himself the first point in seconds. But those watching didn't know what was more scary, the fact Echizen would be so cheeky towards a girl or the fact that Fuji didn't flinch out of its' path. It just missed her face, flicking part of her hair up. Fuji soon closed her eyes with ease. That's what she was looking for and suddenly felt a peace come over her.

"Echizen-kun, I'm going to play you seriously too."

He thought nothing of it and served another twisted serve, not expecting her to be able to return it on the second serve. But he was ready for the game to start. If Tezuka acknowledged her talents, the match wouldn't end so easily or quickly.

Fuji kept her game simple to start off with. Echizen seemed to want to play by the same tactics. She thought he would be quick to show-off his moves but he wouldn't be so daring after she easily attacked his twisted serve. But due to the growing pain in her left hand, she made silly mistakes, giving Echizen the second and third point. Iuni was quick to give the points to Echizen, feeling the excitement himself. When Fuji glanced over the other end, she noticed that Echizen wasn't happy. Of course he wasn't! It became more of a challenge than he thought.

For the next serve Fuji was able to keep him to her pace. Whenever he tried to get to the net, she aimed for his feet, pushing him back to the baseline. She could see the climbing frustration in his eyes and it entertained her for the moment. It kept her mind off the annoyance of the morning.

"You okay, Echizen-kun?"

He didn't reply and she wasn't expecting him to. When he started to push out of her annoying defence Fuji had to change her strategy and push him to either corner of the court. Somehow, he managed to keep up with her. She barely had to move from her spot, but he broke out suddenly with a split-step. His speed is really increasing.She wondered if he noticed. Did he really want to win? I won't let you.

"Does anyone know why this is happening?" Oishi asked around. Only Momoshiro answered him.

"He wants to measure himself up against someone strong."

"But why Fuji-chan? She's injured."

Momoshiro shrugged. "Oishi fuku-buchou, she asked him to play." (Which was only half true as Echizen put the idea in her head first.)

Oishi couldn't make sense of it. When the team cheered for Fuji the two turned back to the game.

Fuji won a point back. Neither of them showed more then they had to, but on the inside they were both thrilled. Finally, someone to remind them why they played tennis in the first place. She became his next biggest challenge. He helped her to forget, but she also didn't want to lose to him. I've seen your twisted serve and your spilt-step, what next Echizen-kun? Maybe I'll use my triple counter on you.

She crossed over to the other side of her court and waited for him to serve. He bounced the ball down a few times and served with the twisted serve. His teammates could see he was being stubborn, only four points into the game. But, as Fuji alined herself to hit the shot, Echizen came up the middle to deliver his drive B.

"Already!" She thought, alarmed that he was ready to attack.

The returning shot had heavy rotation on it so it came down quicker than normal. With her own split-step she raced after it, being slightly careless in her approach. She nearly fell on her hands, but managed to pushed her foot under her body in time. The ball hit off the top of her racket. She accidentally lobbed it and couldn't understand why she kept hitting the top of the racket. When she looked up she saw Echizen getting ready to smash it down. She half panicked and gathered herself to get under the ball and returned it over her head.

Echizen froze.

Fuji breathed out and turned around to face him. That was too close, she thought. He was pushing her back but she wasn't going to give up so easily.

"You looked shocked Echizen-kun. Weren't expecting that?"

He tilted his cap down and walked back to serve. Oh. What was that? Is he sulking? The idea that he was made her smile. Knowing that her move wasn't easily defeated, she would torment him with lobs, just for a bit of fun. Just to see if he'd crumble or grow stronger. Maybe then she would understand Tezuka's thinking.

Echizen didn't hold back, he served and after the second return Fuji lobbed it.

"Idiot, why is he being so stubborn." Kaidoh commented.

"Looks like he's sussing her out." Iwara added.

"Yeah, but he'll lose points like that. Not smart." Momoshiro said.

"Ha! He hasn't lost this badly in a long while." Masashi Arai laughed.

"You don't think this has anything to do with Sai-kun, do you?" Oishi wondered.

"I don't think our young man cared too much for Sai to avenge him." Iwara added, not wanting rumours to start.

"First set to Fuji-chan!" Iuni called out.

The two switched ends and continued. Echizen continued to serve. After three returns Fuji gave him an easy lob. The guys didn't think Echizen would take it, but Fuji could see the determination in his eyes and was more than happy to do her 'higuma otoshi'.

Echizen smashed it, and in a few seconds the ball flow over his head.

"I'll break it, Fuji-senpai."

"Be my guest."

She delivered another lob and he took it, sending her a twisted-spin smash, but the result was the same. It went over his head and landing in court.

"That's the same move Oshitari-kun uses…" Momoshiro mumbled to himself. "How many times has that move stopped my smashes?"

The two carried on like so until the score reached 3-0, with Fuji winning, and that was only due to his stubbornness. Not that she minded. She ducked under the ball to perform the move and smiled to herself as it flew over his head.

"Out!" Iuni shouted.

"Damn" Fuji turned to see where the ball went, and it really was out. But she knew it would be because the ball didn't land in the centre of her racket.

She looked for Echizen and could see a smile breaking thought that stubborn expression.

"You don't have to keep lobbing it Fuji-senpai."

Now she was the one who didn't reply. Once he served, she lobbed just to see if it was her bad positioning or if he had figured something out. Once he smashed it, she had a split second to see what he was doing before catching the ball. She felt it landing in the wrong place again. So when she countered the shot she knew where it was going to go.

"Out."

Hmm, interesting, he's being precise. They were about to move when a roar of thunder cracked through the sky allowing a shower of ran to belt down on them. Those watching began to sort out the equipment.

The heavy rain ran thought Fuji's hair and it soon mixed in with the sweat on her forehead. She watched those getting ready to leave. She didn't move. She looked at her hand and it was shaking. Even when she fought her sister, they didn't shake this much. Echizen was strong. Had he not run around the courts beforehand and had a match with Momoshiro, she wondered if she would have had the strength to counter those smashes. She faced him and he was already staring at her. The rainwater began to drip from his cap.

Not going to let a little ran make you run are you, Echizen-kun?

You can go now if you don't want to be beaten, Fuji-senpai.

Serve the ball if you think you can win.

She got into place just as Echizen switched the racket to his left hand and threw the ball up to serve. The puddles on the ground didn't hinder her. If she could use the wind, she could and would use the rain too.

"What!" Those around, once they heard the ball being put into play, glanced over.

"What are they thinking?" Oishi was going to tell them to stop when Iwara held him back. "Iwara-kun?"

"Let 'em play, man."

Oishi pushed him off to tell them to stop when a booming voice roared over them. They thought it was the thunder when they heard the gate open and Ryuzaki-sensei charged in to stop them.

"How long are you going to play for! Get off the courts! Fuji-san!" There was more shock then fury in her voice when she saw where the young girl had ran off to. She would deal with her after she gave Echizen an ear full "Have you lost your mind! If your were to slip, how would you play in the tournament you have tomorrow? You've already damaged your eye, you want to brake your arm!" She couldn't get what Umeko did to her opponent out of her head.

"I was just about to win sensei." It was as if he didn't hear a word she said.

Ryuzaki marched up to him and pinched his ears. "I said get off the courts! You two can play anytime. It doesn't have to be now and it doesn't have to be in the rain!" She shoved him off the courts. By then it was only Fuji and Ryuzaki-sensei.

Fuji cast her eyes to the puddles in the rain. When she saw that Ryuzaki-sensei wasn't going to move, she gripped her racket and had to move towards the gate. Once she got close enough to Ryuzaki-sensei she stopped. Her wet hair covered her eyes.

Ryuzaki-sensei merely watched Fuji for a moment and couldn't be angry with her. After seeing she would go so far as to play tennis in the rain just so she wouldn't forget the feeling, she couldn't be angry.

"They won the match for you, Fuji-san."

Fuji looked ahead. It softened her heart to hear that. Ryuzaki-sensei gave Fuji the spare keys for the changing rooms so she could change out of her wet uniform and dry off. She took the keys and gathered her things. Before she went she looked over to the boys and they were piling on top to Echizen, wanting him to explain himself. Her gaze lingered before hurrying on.

He was something else, a tough little cookie who had a amazing desire to win no matter who was in front of him. She sat herself down on the bench and rapped her towel around her head. Fuji sat for the moment, enjoying the silence in her mind that was slowly slipping away. She leant her head against the wall and slid down a little. Tezuka was like that. He had an amazing desire to want to achieve the best he could. Yeah... the two were a little bit alike. Only Echizen wasn't so unreadable.

"Anyway." She got up and dried herself off before she got the shivers, and before Ryuzaki-sensei bothered her.

She changed, left the room, locked it and turned to return the keys to sensei. Ryuzaki-sensei didn't say anything to Fuji and allowed her to go home without saying anything to her. Really, she was hoping Fuji had a few words for her, but Ryuzaki-sensei could wait. Sensei left to get some paper work done as Fuji made her way towards the school gates.

An exciting match ended pretty quickly… kinda like the weak match she had with Tezuka a few years back. That was dissatisfying to say the least, but he promised her he'd get stronger… but she wondered just how much stronger he could get. It kinda scared her to think she wanted to played against him at full potential…

"Fuji-senpai?"

She glanced up and Echizen was waiting by the exit. He grabbed his bags from the floor and faced her with his hands in his school trousers' pockets. Fuji walked within distances of him and waited for him to lift his head to speak to her. With a bold smirk on his face, wet by the last fall of *drizzle, Echizen held her gaze.

"We haven't finished our match."


tbc…

A/N2: Overly determined to beat her, but will he win? And how will Fuji feel if she loses.? Meh…

Drizzle: Not every country has the same weather so I thought I'd just say that drizzle is like a soft misty fall of rain, not enough that you're need an umbrella, but it'll sit on your clothes like morning dew.

Chapter 73: Echizen invites Fuji over to his place.