A/N: Sorry this took so long, school held me up. DX

Thanks to all those who reviewed! You've made me so happy... :3

Disclaimer: Me no ownie...

Chapter 2 – And They Meet Again

"An-chan, where are you taking me?" Yuuko really, really tried to get An to tell her where she was taking her that fine, Saturday morning, but her bestfriend wouldn't budge. She had told An that she had to get back home by noon for her health assessment, so now the other girl was dragging her by the hand, quite in a hurry.

"Wait and see!"

Yuuko could only sigh. Another thing about An was that she was a pretty stubborn girl, and when she insisted on keeping something, Yuuko would never get it out of her no matter how hard she tried. Not that she really did, most of the time. Just in times like this did she try, when she could practically feel her friend's excitement radiating, and couldn't help but feel excited and quite impatient as well. But An really was obstinate, and she could clamp her mouth shut when she deemed it necessary, even when both of them were emitting waves of excitement.

So she settled with listening to her surroundings. For a few moments, she could hear nothing more than the usual car horns and voices, but when she concentrated, she could hear the faint sounds of balls being hit back and forth.

Yuuko blinked, green eyes widening as a tennis court came into view, two pairs of players battling it out as they hit the fuzzy, yellow ball, trying to score a point. A handful of people were frolicking around, either waiting for their turn on the court or just watching the match. Since most of these people were in pairs, she assumed that it was a doubles-only court. Well, it was only logical when there were a lot of people wanting to play and there was only one court.

"Well?" An asked excitedly. "It's a great place, isn't it?"

"It is," she agreed, all the while staring in awe at the current match. The people who were playing weren't amazing like, say, Fudomine's tennis club, but they weren't clumsy and horrible like some people who pretend to be good. At least they knew what they were doing.

"And!" An added, blue eyes sparkling, "I invited some other people too! They'll be arriving soon." She stood on tiptoes and started looking around for good measure.

Just then, a voice behind them called out, "Yo, An-chan! Yuuko-chan!"

The two girls turned around and saw Kamio waving a hand at them, and beside him was Ibu, who was looking around rather uninterestedly. Both had their tennis bags with them.

"Hey, Kamio-kun, Ibu-kun!" An greeted back.

"What are you guys doing here?" Yuuko asked, smiling. She rarely smiled; she rarely even showed what she was feeling to other people, covering it up with a mask of politeness, but she regarded the pair in front of her as friends who had earned the privilege to be able to see Yuuko as she was. She couldn't—wouldn't—betray them by wearing the same mask she wore in front of strangers.

She had first met them when they were all in their first year in Fudomine, and she was just introduced to the world of tennis by An, her only friend then. She had seen them being bullied by the upper years, gaining the help of Tachibana Kippei—An's brother—and fighting for a better tennis club. Tachibana was an acquaintance before, as he often saw she and An together, but eventually, their bond became stronger as her and An's had, and soon he became her friend as well, along with all the other members of Fudomine's new tennis team.

The team—Tachibana, Kamio, Ibu, Ishida, Sakurai, Mori and Uchimura—were all great friends and brothers that she never had, and she felt happy in their company. It felt like a makeshift family—strange, yes, but a family nonetheless. And if smiling at them at every chance she got was a way to pay back the love and care they showered on her, then she would.

Kamio grinned back at her. "An-chan asked us to come by so you could watch some great tennis."

"Really," Ibu added, "I don't blame her for asking us. Look at the people here; they're not even good enough to win against that Gyokkurin pair, not that I'm saying that they're good. Well, they are good, but not that good; they'd never win against Fudomine with a doubles pair like that, that idea is just ridiculous, especially now that we've been training very hard ever since we lost to Seigaku. And anyway, what's with the hard training? There are times when my body is aching all over when I get home that I actually consider convincing Tachibana-san to make the menu a little milder. I'm not saying that I can't handle them, but I don't think it's a good thing to push the players hard when the difficult matches are just about to start…"

The other three sweatdropped as Ibu went into another "mumble fit", as Yuuko liked to call it. Still, she found it endearing, and uniquely Ibu, and she laughed a little. "You're right, Ibu-kun. So, can I watch this 'great tennis' that you guys are talking about?"

She could see that the two were ready for a match, but An waved a hand at them distractedly as she looked around some more and said, "Not yet, we're still waiting for someone."

Kamio shot her a questioning look, but Yuuko only shrugged, as puzzled as he was. Who else were they waiting for? It didn't seem to be the other Fudomine Regulars, or Kamio and Ibu would have mentioned it. So who—?

"Oi! Tachibana-imouto!"

Instantly, An's expression soured as Yuuko looked for the source of the voice. It seemed that Kamio knew the voice as well, because anger was now written all over his face. And Ibu was looking somewhat surprised.

"I told you, my name is An-chan! Stop calling me Tachibana-imouto!" An protested at the same time that Kamio blurted out "What are you doing here, you bike-thief!" and finally Yuuko located the owner of the voice. He had spiky black hair and purple eyes, a tennis bag on his shoulder, with the word "SEIGAKU" printed on it—wait, that description sounds vaguely familiar…

"Ah!" they both exclaimed at the same time, the spiky-haired guy having seen her, and Kamio and An momentarily forgot what they were about to say as they stared at them.

"Do you know him, Yuuko-chan?" Ibu asked for the two who were too surprised to do or say anything. Or maybe he was asking for himself, just as curious as they were but less speechless.

Yuuko shook her head. "Not really."

The surprise faded and anger returned on Kamio's face. "Oi, Momoshiro!" he demanded. "How come you know Yuuko-chan here? Don't tell me you've been stalking her! You—" he tried to lunge at him, but An held him back with a cry of "Kamio-kun!"

The spiky guy—Momoshiro—frowned at Kamio. "Oi, stop thinking like that. That's not good; really not good." He then looked at Yuuko thoughtfully. "Ojou-san, aren't you the girl I rescued from that bully a few days ago?"

Yuuko barely kept her eyebrow from twitching at the word 'rescued', but she let it pass. How would he know anyway that she didn't need any rescuing? He was just trying to help. So she nodded her head briefly.

Almost immediately, Kamio and Ibu turned to her, slightly frowning. "Yuuko-chan, is that true?" Kamio asked. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"If you had told us, we could've taught the guy a lesson," Ibu said. "A lesson he is unlikely to forget, one that he would likely take to his grave. We would've made certain that he never comes near you again. Do you still remember his face? Or maybe you got his name? Maybe Kamio and I can still find him, I can think of a lot of ways to make him fervently regret ever thinking of laying a hand on you… I wonder if he plays tennis; maybe then we can show him who he's messing with, and then we can get him to apologize properly to you, although that wouldn't be as satisfying as hurting him, but it would just be appropriate…"

Yuuko appreciated them worrying over her, but really, she was just fine. And didn't they hear what that Momoshiro guy was saying? She was already 'rescued', no need to rescue her now when the guy wasn't even in the area. "I'm fine," she said quickly, hoping that they wouldn't push the matter further. She then turned to the newcomer and bowed, "Thank you again."

"Sugoi, Momoshiro-kun!" An gushed. "You really rescued Yuuko-chan?" Momoshiro blushed and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head at the compliment. Then An slapped her forehead. "Oh! I forgot to introduce you." She gestured to Yuuko. "Momoshiro-kun, this is Kouda Yuuko-chan, my bestfriend." She then turned to Yuuko and gestured at Momoshiro. "Yuuko-chan, this is Momoshiro Takeshi-kun. He's a Seigaku Regular."

Yuuko bowed and said, "Yoroshiku", and Momoshiro did the same, pink still tingeing his cheeks.

"What is this bike-thief doing here, An-chan?" Kamio hissed. Apparently, he still was not appeased by Momoshiro's good act of saving her from a bully, and his anger seemed to be bubbling because of a different reason. Maybe it had something to do with the way he called Momoshiro 'bike-thief'…?

"Oi, that was a long time ago, and I already said sorry," Momoshiro said. "Stop griping about it."

Kamio was just about to answer him with something that Yuuko was sure was scathing and insulting, but another voice—an unfamiliar one, this time—piped up. "Momo-senpai."

All four of them looked up, or more appropriately, looked down towards the source of the voice and saw a short boy, olive green hair and a pair of golden eyes peeking under his white cap. He was also carrying the same tennis bag as Momoshiro, and Yuuko concluded that the boy was also a Seigaku Regular.

"Echizen!" Momoshiro said, surprised. "You're already here? Why didn't you say so?"

Yuuko was sorely tempted to roll her eyes, and she could see that the Echizen guy felt the same way. "I just arrived, and you were busy arguing with Kamio-san."

Momoshiro blinked. "Ah, is that so?"

"Echizen," Ibu voiced, deadpan, staring straight at the boy. "How was the grip tape?"

The short boy shifted his focus from Momoshiro to Ibu, and he stared back with equal iciness before answering, "It was good."

"Was it? Ah, I envy you. It should have been mine if you weren't there, and I badly needed the tape too, since the grip of my racket needed changing, and I wasn't able to find the same brand of grip tape. I had to wait another time; good thing Tachibana-san was willing to share his grip tape with me, although it wasn't my favorite brand, but I couldn't have done anything since I needed to practice. It was really inconsiderate of you for not wanting to share the grip tape with me, although it wouldn't have been enough for the both of us, but still, I am older than you and you should have thought about it even for a second and not just go ahead and not let go of it until it was yours and be all smug about it. Besides, what was with that contest that your teammate suggested, anyway? 'The one who would be able to hit the thief would get to have the tape'? It's not a very good test, seeing as winning it could only mean you have a lot of luck instead of skill and—"

"Well!" An declared, clapping her hands together, successfully cutting off another round of Ibu's dragging monologue. "Now that you guys are here, we can start the tennis match!"

There was a resounding "Eh?!" coming from both Kamio and Momoshiro. It was obvious that, like with her, An hadn't told them what she had planned. And seeing how Kamio and Momoshiro acted when they first saw each other, and how Ibu had turned quite icy when Echizen arrived, as did Echizen, well, it was hard not to guess exactly why An did that. But then, if that was the situation, why did An think of it in the first place? If she knew the people involved would be unlikely to cooperate, how could she be certain that she would get to see what she came here for?

Still, Yuuko couldn't help but feel anticipation at the prospect of watching this doubles match. She knew that Kamio and Ibu were synchronized and that they were as good in singles as they were in doubles, so they would be able to show an exciting match. But what excited her was that she would get to see how the Seigaku Regulars played. She had heard of Echizen from An's stories of the previous matches of Fudomine vs Seigaku (although she only remembered them now), so she had an idea as to how good he was considering he won against Ibu, even though he was only a first year and with an injured eye. And about Momoshiro…well, if all the Seigaku Regulars were of Echizen's caliber, then she had to believe he was good as well.

When Yuuko broke away from her reverie, Kamio and Momoshiro were raring to go, and Echizen and Ibu were heaving long-suffering sighs. Her brows knit together. Weren't they just shocked and disgusted at the idea of playing doubles against each other a little while ago? Then she caught a glimpse of a smug An by the sidelines, and it hit her. Of course. An had yet again used her talent with provoking others using only words. She had thought that that talent only applied to Kamio, but it seemed it applied to Momoshiro as well. Hmm, that was kind of interesting…

She shook her head. This was no time to think of such things, not when she was about to witness something spectacular. She hurried to sit down on one of the empty bleachers and focused as the game came to play.

…oOoOo…

It was disappointing. Echizen and Momoshiro…lost, to put it mildly. To put it realistically…they were crushed. Totally, utterly crushed. Well okay, she was exaggerating a bit; a 6-3 loss wasn't really a crushing defeat, but still. She had expected so much from them. What the heck, Fudomine lost to this kind of players?

She could see that they were arguing on the court. They absolutely weren't doubles-player material: any doubles player would know not to argue with his partner since it would mess up their combination. Or maybe that was just when they were paired with each other, and that didn't necessarily mean they were bad at doubles. Just bad when playing as each other's partner.

Still, it was disappointing. She had had great expectations of them, especially since she had heard so much about them.

But then, wasn't that why Fudomine was taking the District Tournament by storm? Sure, they lost to Seigaku, but they had won over everyone else, even Hyoutei. It was why people were stopping in their tracks and paying more attention to the unseeded school.

People were expecting too much from the seeded schools, thinking they would go undefeated and automatically move to the Regionals. They didn't pay attention to the other schools who trained hard to have a chance to prove their strength. And the seeded schools became too arrogant, so they didn't do their research and just put their feet up and relaxed. That arrogance became their downfall.

Well, it was human nature. And anyway, the match all in all was good, on Kamio and Ibu's part. It was probably true that they trained harder nowadays; she could definitely see the improvement from the last time she was able to watch them play, which wasn't that long a time ago.

Anyway, match aside, Momoshiro and Echizen seemed like interesting singles players, what with Momoshiro's Dunk Smash and Jack Knife, and Echizen's Twist Serve and One-Footed Split Step. Maybe they weren't overrated players after all. Just…not in doubles.

Well, today was certainly interesting, she mused. Meeting new people, talking with Kamio and Ibu again after quite a while, and being able to watch a good match…this day was going to be remembered and kept in her precious box of memories which she held close to her and opened whenever she wasn't allowed to go outside.

And, strangely, she had a feeling that she was going to have lots more of these days she would want to remember in the near future.

…oOoOo…

Translation of Japanese words:

Imouto – younger sister

Ojou-san – miss

Sugoi – amazing

Yoroshiku – nice to meet you