The Prince of Tennis Play

Disclaimer: No owner will write a fanfiction…

Rating: G or K

Genre: Drama, humor, slight suspense

Pairing: Implied one-sided Kawamura and Fuji, implied Tezuka and Fuji

Warnings or notes: OOC-ness, grammar and other errors (English is not my mother tongue), 1500 words.

Wow, it really has been a long delay. Sorry. But oh well, my life is messed up. Anyway, I present to you chapter 12 of this fanfiction. Hope you enjoy. A little insight within their drama practices and Ryoma's corrupted life. Hehehe. Next chapter shall be the real drama… but please don't rush me to update okay?

Oh yeah, someone suggested an idea to me long time ago and I decided it's time for me to include it in my story. Sorry to make you wait that long and I hope the way I wrote your idea is up to your expectations.

Thanks to Carzla for editing my story. :D And to the readers, please review na?

: Ready… Go :

Chapter 12 - Plan

"… Kawamura-senpai, you are reciting Tezuka's lines…" On the stage, a slightly annoyed Kaidoh informed a burning mode Kawamura in a polite tone.

"Burning! You must marry me, Fuji-ella!!" In the middle of the stage, Kawamura appeared not to hear what Kaidoh said.

"Inui-senpai, why is it my role becomes stepsister all of a sudden?!" At the backstage, a very pissed off Momoshiro yelled at an unabashed Inui.

"Calm down, Momoshiro. It's just a typing error." Also at the backstage, a worried 'mommy' Oishi tried his best to sooth his second year junior.

"But Echizen keeps rubbing it in my face!!" Moving to stand in front of their vice-captain, Momoshiro pointed an accusing finger at a smirking freshman.

"I just followed what's written in the script, Momo-senpai." Pulling his cap down, Echizen merely thought 'Revenge is sweet. Lesson from Fuji-senpai.'

"Nya! Everyone else is messing up, na Fujiko? … EH?!" Somewhere between the front stage and backstage, a hyper Eiji gasped when he saw something unexpected.

"… Fuji." Trapped between Fuji and the floor, a dangerous Tezuka glared at the smiling genius.

"Sorry, Tezuka. I tripped because of these… high heels." Rising to his feet and offering a hand, an amused Fuji only offered a half-hearted apology for the little accident.

"100 percent Fuji tripped on purpose." Behind the paperboard bushes, a data collector appeared from backstage to jot down the important details.

In short, the first few practices were totally… chaotic.

Echizen Ryoma was born to face doom everyday. He had a great prodigy father who gave up on a championship and who was only interested in reading perverted magazines behind his newspaper. Not to mention that his father loved to mock his baby son and he was the reason Ryoma was blackmailed by Fuji in the first place!

'Stupid oyaji and his perverted thoughts,' Ryoma thought grumpily as he walked away from the hall to buy a can of grape Ponta. After a long drama practice, the directors decided to give them a short break of ten minutes. The young prodigy simply nodded at Inui's announcement and turned to leave.

"Horio-kun, someone has entered our school compound!"

The first year trio was on their way to the hall as promised. Inui and Oishi asked them to lend a hand on the backdrops and being agreeable kids, those three immediately agreed whole-heartedly. What they did not know was… that day was the first day they had a full dress rehearsal. Meaning to say, everyone was to wear their respective costumes. Well, only Fuji's costume was sent back to be readjusted and thus, he had to wear casual clothes (but he did try to wear the high heels. According to the genius, he wanted to get used to those shoes. Hah, as if Ryoma would believe him). The youngest regular had a strong suspicion that it was one of the steps in Fuji's scheme.

"From my two years of experience in tennis, I'd say she's a pretty girl! Let's go!!" Horio, the big mouthed freshman exclaimed and happily dragged his other two friends towards the unknowing girl.

"What does it have to do with his tennis experience anyway…?"

'Hey, pretty. I can…" Before Horio could finish his sentence, the girl turned to glare at them fiercely.

"It's… it's Ryoma-kun/Echizen!!!" The trio shouted in unison, totally bewildered by these facts: A) Ryoma was in a well-fitting gown, B) He looked adorable in that gown, and C) His chest was not flat!

"These… these…" Horio pointed at his chest with a red face. Whether it was because of the shock or an embarrassment of calling an arrogant male 'pretty', no one knew.

Ryoma narrowed his eyes dangerously. "For your information, I am NOT wearing a b-bra. And if you would stop gapping like a fish, then you can go settle the backdrops." For once, Ryoma sounded so unlike his usual cocky self. Heck, he already lost whatever image he had from the moment he was forced to wear that frilly gown!

With the little amount of gracefulness he still had, Ryoma aimed his empty can, tossed it into a recycle bin and without a backward glance, turned to enter the hall once again. The stunned trio could only follow him silently, all the while with their mouths still opened wide. Of course, the moment they entered the hall, their jaws dropped when a huggable Eiji came into view. And it became worse when a casual looking Fuji appeared in high heels. Oh, such disturbing images.

Ryoma groaned whenever the scene replayed in his mind. He was embarrassed beyond words. Speaking of which, he really regretted agreeing to Fuji's informal invitation when he first thought only Tezuka was to be included in the sadist's victim list. Obviously, he was tricked. Hating himself for letting his guard down, Ryoma let his frustration out by hitting the tennis ball twice as hard. After his personal tennis practice, which was also considered as 'Self-Proclaimed Anger Management Time', he went back into his house to have a nice shower and dinner.

Afterwards, he found out that his beloved cat, Karupin, was missing ever since he came back from school that day. His cousin was beginning to sound worried because it was not the first time Karupin went missing all of a sudden. Sighing, Ryoma grabbed his jacket and went out to search for his pet. 'What a bad day,' he mused groggily.

The twelve-year-old was found sitting on a swing after hours of clueless search. 'Where are you now, Karupin?' Ryoma thought as his eyes surveyed every corner of the playground. Suddenly, he spotted a familiar tail. So, he rose and saw his Karupin crossing the road to chase after a blue butterfly. He was going to call his pet when he saw a bicycle was moving swiftly towards the oblivious cat.

"Karupin, move!" Knowing it would be too late for him to grab his cat, Ryoma could only shout at Karupin helplessly.

Everything happened too fast, if you asked Ryoma. It was just a few seconds ago his cat was going to be run over by a bicycle, but now his pet was engulfed by the warmness of a human. Someone had jumped in and grabbed Karupin. While the curious animal appeared to be unhurt, the savior was not. But Ryoma did not know since his eyes were trained on his pet all the time as he rushed to the place.

"Maa na, Echizen. You should have taken better care with Karupin ne," a smooth voice said. Only then Ryoma realized his cat's savior was none other than the one who caused his embarrassment and endless headaches – Fuji Syusuke.

Karupin licked Fuji's face in gratitude before jumping out from his arms into her master's. "Thank you," was the only thing he managed to mutter. After all, he was still annoyed at his senior, although he was feeling grateful to the older prodigy for saving his pet.

Fuji smiled at his junior and replied a soft 'welcome' as he moved into sitting position. Ryoma walked away only after Fuji told him he had a few scratches and that was all. Until the freshman was out of sight only Fuji's smile faded while his hand clutched tightly on his right ankle. He knew he needed immediate medical attention, since the bicycle had basically run over his ankle. It was fortunate for the young man because he balanced himself at the right moment and managed to escape a fall from his bike. But he still turned back to shout a few rude names at Fuji's sudden appearance without realizing he nearly injured an innocent animal.

'… Hope this isn't as bad as I fear,' the sandy haired boy thought while trying to stand up from his sitting position. He winced slightly at the throbbing pain on his ankle. Silently, he prayed he could endure the pain on the real presentation day, which was just two days away. Tennis practices would be resumed only after the principal's birthday celebration, as Tezuka announced. But of course, the captain promised them extremely tough practices would await them seeing how they were forced to delay tennis practices in order to focus on the drama.

Limping all the way to the nearest clinic, Fuji Syusuke, the well-known third year genius prayed his little incident earlier would not affect his important plan for the upcoming play.

"After all, I won't want all my efforts gone to waste na," he murmured to himself, allowing a small smile to escape his lips. "Ah, I'll be having so many collections soon," Fuji grinned, emitting an evil aura around him. Despite the fact he was in pain and was in a clinic waiting for his turn, Fuji looked like he was enjoying himself way too much.

"Fuji Syusuke-kun, it's your turn now," a young nurse called out, interrupting his fantasy of blackmailing his fellow members.

Two more days… and Fuji could finally get what he had wanted for years.

: To be continued :