... I don't know what to do with my first line break if I don't put SOMETHING here...

Love y'all. This chapter was a bitch. I have a field trip today. Read and review. I love reviews... ON WITH THE DEMON CHAPTER (that I never wanna touch again. It has a special form of the plague that only I can get -3-)!

Here We Go Again

Chapter Nine: Prefectural Finals I

"Come on, come on! We're going to be late, nya!" Kikumaru led the way into the tournament grounds, tugging at whoever's hand was within reach. As the entire team stepped through the gates, murmurs rippled out through the crowd.

"Ryo-chan's presence seems to cause a stir wherever he goes," observed Fuji, smiling and shaking in silent laughter.

"There's a reason I never went out in public over the past two years," replied the short teen, drifting to the center of their group and tugging his hat down to avoid drawing attention.

The team continued through the maze of tennis courts and people, eventually arriving at the match's venue. There was a collective sigh as numerous bags were dropped on the bench with a loud thump.

"Don't sit down, everyone. We're going to line up now." Tezuka's steady bass rang out to his teammates.

There was a lax chorus of, "Hai, buchou," as the team picked themselves up once more. Falling into line, Seishun Kokou faced their opponents.

"We will now begin the Tokyo Prefectural Finals between Meshika Kokou and Seishun Kokou."

The female announcer's voice rang out of speakers mounted around the courts, barely audible over the crowd's cheers. On each side of the net, eight teenage boys stood in a row. One line was a mass of clean red and blue lines on a white background, the other a simple yellow with a green zigzag down the center.

"Let's have a good match!" chanted the two rows.

As Seishun Kokou's players returned to their bench, Tezuka cleared his throat once. "The order for today will be: Doubles Two, Momoshiro/Kaidoh pair-"

Several loud groans and complaints came from the two. "But I thought you weren't going to put me with Mamushi again!" groaned Momo.

"Fssshhhhh. Like I want to be stuck with the idiot."

"What was that, bastard?"

Before another fight could break out, Tezuka spoke up again. "Momoshiro, Kaidoh, stop or it's five laps around the complex after your match.

"Hai…"

"Doubles One will be Oishi/Kikumaru pair; Singles Three, Fuji; Singles Two, Echizen; Singles One, myself. Inui, you'll be sitting out this round. Doubles and Fuji, I want you to end this match. Saa, yudan sezu ni ikou."

"Che. I don't get to play, then," Ryoma stated, walking off. Of course, those who knew him well got the extra meaning. 'Che. I'm off to get Ponta.'

"Don't mess this up, Mamushi," warned Momo, standing slowly.

"Don't get in my way, Momoshiri."

The rivals walked away from their teammates coolly, heading for the net. "We will now begin Doubles Two, Meshika Kokou's Kita/Nitobe pair versus Seishun Kokou's Momoshiro/Kaidoh pair. Both pairs please enter the courts."

"Ne, ne, Oishi. Isn't that the pair that beat Fujiko and Taka-san in Middle School?" asked Kikumaru, looking up at his partner.

"Aa," replied Oishi, scrunching his eyebrows together as he stared at the four players shaking hands.

"I honestly don't know how they did it," commented Fuji, his smile looking a bit forced. While losing didn't particularly bother him, losing to those that he could beat easily…

"Best of one set match. Seishun's Kaidoh to serve!"

The air seemed to vibrate with anticipation and the roar of the crowd as the Snake Shot player got into the serving position. Tossing the ball up and slamming his racquet into it, Kaidoh sent the ball hurtling through the air, to bounce in the corner of the receiver – Kita's – box.

"Oi, Momoshiro, yours!" he shouted as Kita's counter shot came flying towards his partner.

"Doryaa!" Momo let out a loud grunt as he hit a jackknife, going all-out from the beginning. Nitobe's attempt at returning the backhand left his racquet on the ground and his arm trembling. "Lucky!"

Across the net, Meshika's pair gritted their teeth. "Oi, Kita. Seishun's gotten better again…"

Nitobe, still trying to stop his hand from shaking, mumbled in reply, "I don't remember the jackknife being so strong last year…"

"Freakin' show off…" muttered Momo's current partner.

"Eh? If you're going to grumble, then do something, Mamushi," commented Momo with a silly grin. "Now get going."

Throwing one more glare his rival's way, Kaidoh walked to the other side of the court to serve again. As the ball flew past the net, Nitobe tensed.

Turning his body and bringing his arm back to hit the ball, he suddenly paused, gaping. As soon as the little yellow ball had bounced, it had cut rapidly to Nitobe's left, swinging in a sharp arc around him. As it passed less than two feet from his head, he could hear a faint hiss of air marking its passing.

Under a tree not far away, a high, drawling voice rang out as the user lowered a can of Ponta from their lips. "Heeh… Not bad, Momo-senpai, Kaidoh-senpai."

~X~

There was a loud bang as the ball impacted with the ground. "Game, Seishun. Two games to love! Seishun's Momo to serve."

"Yosh! Here I come!" The new and improved Bullet Serve rocketed towards Nitobe at almost 200 kilometers per hour, signaling the start of the set's third game.

'I can barely return it,' thought Nitobe, bracing his racquet with both hands.

As Kaidoh's eyes followed the yellow streak's path to his position, he bent his knees and swung one arm up behind him. A Boomerang Snake exploded from his racquet, whipping around the net post and under the referee's chair. Kita raced to the other end of the baseline to catch up to it, accidently hitting a lob in his haste.

"Chance!" yelled Momo, leaping into the air. Using his Dunk Smash at its full power, he landed lightly on the balls of his feet. "Don! …Huh?"

Nitobe had attempted to return the finishing smash, and was staring dumbly staring at the rough hole in the middle of his racquet's gut. The ball had gone straight through the strings and smashed into the court, leaving a sizeable dent in the court's surface. His arm was shaking wildly again, and beginning to swell.

"Oi, Nitobe, you okay?" gasped Kita, wide-eyed at the damage his opponent's smash had caused.

"I th-think so…" mumbled the brunet. However, even as he spoke, his racquet clattered out of his hand and to the ground.

"Oi, leaf-head, you okay? Sorry about that!" Momo yelled across the net, looking excessively sheepish.

"Idiot. If we don't get to finish this match, it's your fault," growled Kaidoh, crossing his arms in irritation.

"Nitobe, if you can't even pick up your racquet, you can't play," stated Kita seriously. Ignoring all of his partner's protests, he called out to the referee, "We're forfeiting this match, ref!"

The official nodded, raising his arm. "Due to Meshika Kokou's forfeit, Seishun Kokou wins by default."

"Eh? That's too bad. I hope your wrist turns out okay, dude!"

"Such a lame way to end the match…"

As the players walked off to their respective benches, an announcement rang out across the courts. "Excuse the interruption. There will be a brief intermission before Doubles Two begins to repair the court. Both teams, please be prepared to play."

"Mou, Momo-chi, because of the dent you made, we've got to wait before our match!" whined Kikumaru.

"Chiisu (1)."

"Nya! Ochibi, when did you get back?" inquired the startled Kikumaru.

Ignoring the question as he tossed an empty can of Ponta into a nearby trash bin, Ryoma turned to the two bickering juniors. "Ne, Kaidoh-senpai. What was that serve during the first game? It wasn't bad."

"That's Kaidoh's 'Rattlesnake,'" Fuji chimed in.

"Heeh…" The teen smiled, eyes glinting at the thought of being up against the strange serve.

The team sat around, chatting amiably. "Ne, ne, Oishi! Can we use Synchro in this match? Please, we haven't used it yet in the tournament!"

"Eiji, we're only supposed to use that in emergencies," soothed Oishi with a smile at his lover's antics.

"Eh? But–but–but–!"

"We apologize for the wait; Doubles Two is now safe to begin." A woman's voice rang pleasantly over the speakers.

"Unyah! C'mon Oishi, let's go!" Kikumaru, immediately recovering from his dismay, jumped up from his seat and grabbed Oishi's hands. "Ne, we're facing the Jimmies, right?"

"Aa…" The mother hen scowled faintly. Over the past two years, he and Eiji had gotten to the point that the Jimmies were no competition for them. That didn't make his earlier memories of the pair any better. "Ite!"

"Oishi." Kikumaru stuck out his bottom lip, withdrawing his fingers from where they'd flicked him square on the forehead. "We're going into Synchro. It'll keep you from getting stressed, right?"

"Eiji…"

"Don't mind, don't mind," replied the redhead, waving his hand as if to brush the matter away. "Let's go, everyone's waiting." With that, the Golden Pair walked calmly to the net. As they strode forward,

'Oishi… Can you feel it? We're all alone here, where we can just play tennis together. Relax, ne?'

'Aa… Thank you, Eiji. I did miss going into Synchro with you. We haven't since last year, have we? Let's just use this chance to enjoy it again.'

'Un… It'll be fun.'

"Let's have a good match," said Eiji, smiling tranquilly, his eyes an unfocused gold.

Higashikata gave a forced smile. "Looking forward to it…"

~X~

Ryoma smiled and let out a low whistle, resting his chin on the palm of one hand. "Senpai-tachi's aura seems to have gotten even stronger over the past two years."

"That it has. You should've seen them last year during the finals, Ryo-chan," replied Fuji complacently. "Now watch that aura do its job. They're about to start."

Sure enough, Kentarou was bent at the hip, slowly bouncing a tennis ball. Drawing back, he hit a straight, forceful shot, signaling the start of the game.

Returning the basic shot, Kikumaru rushed the net, eyes glowing pools of gold. Oishi shadowed him closely, his movements mirroring that of his partner.

The two began to play, moving across the courts in perfect synchronization. The state left them at the height of their concentration, yet completely detached. As the first point went to Seishun, the partners slapped a quick high-five.

"I guess we can see how this match is going to end," drawled Momo with a large smile from where he was sprawled on the bench.

Ryoma smiled, eyes glinting again. "Mm… No fan of doubles, but they don't look bad."

The first game ended, then the second, the third, and the fourth. The Golden Pair took them all, breaking through Meshika's techniques and strategies one by one. Kikumaru and Oishi deepened their synchronization with each passing point, the tennis match turning into an ethereal dance.

The two teenagers sprang across the court gracefully, moving in time to a beat only they could hear. The ball traced zigzagging patterns over the net, coming to a stop time and time again on the opponent's side of the court.

As a member of the tournament staff drew his hand away from the newly formed lines of a '5 – 40,' on the green surface of a scoreboard, a roar rang out. Kikumaru had leapt into the air, twisting the length of his body sinuously. Turning upside down, he prepared for a Kikumaru Beam… and dropped, catlike, to the ground again.

The ball plummeted to the ground, accompanied by the scraping of a racquet on the court. The spectators were silent as the yellow orb completed its arc, landing with a clean 'pon' on Oishi's racquet.

"Moon… Volley…" muttered the slack-jawed Kachirou.

"Game and match, won by Seishun Kokou's Kikumaru/Oishi pair. Six games to love!"

"Yatta! Oishi! We won!" The excitable acrobat jumped on his partner, snapping out of Synchro in an instant and wrapping his limbs around the man.

In response, Oishi smiled affectionately. "Aa. Thank you, Eiji."

"No problem, nya. Now, let's go get some water, I'm dying here!" Hopping down from his favorite perch, – Oishi's shoulders – Kikumaru smiled brightly at the hidden joke. With the amount of stamina training he'd been doing since middle school, the idea of him getting tired was absurd.

"Good luck, Fuji," encouraged Oishi with a smile as the two sat down.

"Mm…" Brown strands of hair danced lazily in the wind as Seishun's tensai stood. "There's a nice wind today."

HALLELUJAH! Oh, my goooodddddddd…This chapter. Took so long. Seriously, it took at least two weeks (funny enough, it's still the shortest chapter yet, sans the prologue). If anyone cares about the fact that I barely write matches, tell me. Otherwise, it's staying like this.

Also, when someone says "Mm," they're saying that in contemplative agreement, not "Mm, that's good food."

(1) Is it 'Chiisu' or 'Cheers?' If no one knows what I'm talking about, Ryoma sometimes says it (or Uisu) as a greeting.