Chapter 2

Declaration

That next day, Hibari and Haru were gathering their things to leave class. They certainly didn't expect their classmate Kirihara to come up to them and ask them something. He had sauntered up to them, his hand nervously running through his black hair as he glanced at Hibari, then averted his eyes to look at Haru.

"Will you two… follow me to the tennis courts?"

His words were met with silence, and then a curious stare. "Why?" Haru asked carefully, wondering what Kirihara was up to. It was probably mischief or something falling into that category, knowing Kirihara. Still, after meeting him with his friends, he didn't seem that outrageous… more child-like, but with that daring nerve. Of course, they hadn't seen him play tennis yet.

Kirihara didn't say anything for a moment. "I, I mean we, the Rikkai Dai regulars… would like you to come practice with us." There. He had said it. Now what would their response be? He wasn't sure if Yukimura wanted him to actually convince them to come to practice if they refused initially, or just let them be. To be honest, he would rather go with the latter. The hands of the clock on the classroom wall were the only sound and movement as they counted the passing seconds.

"Alright, I'll go," said Hibari quite calmly.

Both of the boys, Kirihara and Haru, froze for a moment to stare at the thin, green-eyed girl standing between them. "Wh-what?" Haru stammered, surprised at his sister. "Are you sure? I mean, for all we know, this could be his way of tricking you into going out with him!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! Why would I ask your sister out?"

"Was that just an insult to my sister?"

"Of-of course it wasn't!"

"So you're saying you do want to ask her out?"

Conversation went on like that for the next minute or so, until the two calmed down somewhat and Hibari spoke again. (She had been enjoying watching fight, and was somewhat sad to see it end). "Don't worry Haru; he asked both of us to come, didn't he? Besides, why do you have to be so protective?" she sighed, glancing at her brother pointedly, as if to say 'You're such an idiot'.

Haru looked down at the floor nervously, avoiding his sister's gaze. Yes, there were moments when she won and he hated those moments. He looked up again, at Kirihara this time. "Fine, we'll go with you."

*****

The twins walked behind Kirihara into the tennis courts, where the other regulars were waiting patiently for them. "What took so long?" asked Niou, pretending he was annoyed. Of course, he wasn't. He was too preoccupied thinking how cute Hibari was, and what it would be like to take her on a date some day. But then again, he'd have to deal with that ever-so-protective twin brother of hers. Perhaps it just wasn't worth the trouble.

"I'm sorry, but-"

Kirihara was cut off by Yukimura, who simply gave a nod for the boy to stop and to show slight appreciation, but then walked over to the Kyori twins. "Thank you for coming." He gave a friendly smile to the two. They were, after all, classmates.

"So, why are we here?" Haru asked the tennis captain, his tone sounding almost bored.

The other team members almost snickered at this question, but held back in respect for their captain. "As you know, we are the tennis regulars. And we would like to see how good you are. In other words, you are here to test your tennis skills."

"Tennis skills?" Haru breathed. Damn it, they found out. It hadn't been their plans to have others discover his and his sister's tennis status. They preferred to show what they could do themselves, but it was too late for that. "So, I guess you know, then?"

The others nodded with smirks on their faces.

All of a sudden, Niou thrust a racket into each of the twins' hands. "And so, here's your test. A doubles game! You two against me and Sanada over here," he declared happily, placing a hand on his current partner's soldier. Sanada didn't seem to enjoy that too much (but then again, his face is always like that…).

*****

Hibari stood a little a ways from her brother on the tennis court, facing Niou and Sanada. She had never seen them play, and had heard nothing about their playing style. Oh well, it didn't matter. As a national-ranking player, it was only natural she be able to find her opponent's weakness during the game. The other thing bothering her was this was a doubles game. It wasn't that she and her brother didn't make good partners (they were excellent, actually), but it was the fact that she played much better as a singles player.

She was the one to serve first. The others sat on the benches, eagerly anticipating an interesting match. Taking a deep breath, Hibari tossed the ball up for her own signature serve. The ball flew straight and quick, but seemed to disappear as Niou raised his racquet. The tennis call reappeared just inside the court lines. As the ball shot to the other side and past Niou, who looked shocked that he hadn't been able to return it, Haru began to smirk and adjusted his grip on the racket he held. The game was starting.

"You used your signature serve, 'Shooting Star' for the first move. How worked up are you?" he asked his sister knowingly.

"Not too much," she sighed in reply to her brother.

[Thirty Minutes Later]

"Game set, won by Haru and Hibari, 6-4."

Haru smiled brightly at Yukimura's declaration, while on the other side of the court, Niou was panting for air while Sanada just seemed plain shocked. The two newcomers had beaten them. Hibari and Haru were also breathing heavily, but they still stood with that quiet confidence they were known so well for.

*****

From that day on, the Kyori twins had been good friends with Rikkai Dai tennis team. Somehow, Hibari had become their manager (she had refused to be part of the girl's tennis team, saying that they weren't good enough) and Haru part of the regulars. Of course, it was no surprise.

Hibari stood out near the tennis courts with Yukimura and Kirihara as they waited for the rest of the team. Suddenly, they saw a strange sight.

At first, Hibari thought it was her brother coming from the school building to the tennis courts. And she was right. Only someone was with her brother… and he didn't look too happy.

"Get off me, damn it!" her brother shouted in annoyance at the girl clinging to him. The girl seemed to have no intent on letting go, and kept that simple fan girl expression on her face.

"But Haru-sama, I love you!!!" squealed the fan girl. Her voice was very high-pitched, and her grip on Haru only tightened. "Haru-sama!!!" said the girl while smiling.

"Damn it, who the hell are you?"

Haru was finally able to pry her off and run away to the tennis courts. The girl could be seen looking around for him. Gosh. What a desperate fan girl.

Niou watched the entire scene as he also exited the building. Once Haru had escaped, Niou put his arms around his soldier, grinning as if they were the best of friends. "How is it that the girls come to you, and I have to actually work?"

"You can take all the fan girls for all I care, Niou-sempai."

*****

Finally, everyone came and they had begun tennis practice. Hibari sat on one of the benches while watching Marui and Jackal rally, Kirihara having a match with Sanada, and everyone else was practicing their serves and different techniques. Expect Yanagi of course. Half the time he was practicing, the other time he was observing the others.

Suddenly, Marui let the ball fly past him as he flinched backwards.

"What's wrong?" asked his partner Jackal.

"There were bees flying around me."

"Bees? That's all? Don't worry about them."

But they did have to worry. Noticing something strange, Hibari looked at the nearby sakura trees that lay outside the fence of the tennis courts. She saw… a dark, flying mass. Bees.

Attracted by the Rikkai Dai regulars' black and yellow uniforms, the mass flew straight into the tennis courts. Surprised by the ambush of insects, the boys stopped what they were doing immediately and started running. First, it was just running within the tennis courts, but that didn't work. Then, they all ran out onto the grass, hoping that perhaps the swarm would dissolve and they wouldn't suffer from any stings.

Meanwhile, Hibari just sat on her bench, laughing.

Desperate, the regulars made a drastic decision. They jumped straight into the school's pool. Luckily, there wasn't a swim meet going on (but the real relief was that they all knew, though some only vaguely, how to swim). The bees, not being able to go into the water, disappeared back into the trees.

The boys surfaced, gasping from air and scrambling out of the chilly water. They were all shivering from the cold. Luckily, Hibari came walking over nonchalantly carrying a stack of neatly folded towels.

She handed them the towels so they could dry off, then smiled gently, if not teasingly. "You know, maybe having the uniforms yellow and black wasn't such a good idea."