Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. I'm merely borrowing them for a while.

Warning: Extreme silliness.

Pairings: Vague

A/N: Good grief. It's been ages since my previous chapter. A thousand apologies for the super late update.

Be warned that there may be hints of…eh…relationships throughout the fic. My OTP, especially. I have a soft spot for those two. (As to which two, ufufufu, make a wild guess.)

Also, some skills here might seem bombastic/impossible. Do try to bear with me.

Sora, TEZUKAISCOOL, forgotten hyoshi, Thanks for your reviews. So sorry for the late update.

Jenny, ehehe. It's only Seigaku and Fudoumine as all these started because of the fight between Kamio and Momoshiro. Hyotei is dragged in thanks to the ore-sama. As to who is judging their competitions, you'd have to see the later chapters.

To the story then…

Prince of Cheerleading

By: Gwynhafra

Chapter 2

So it was, Seigaku's nine regulars and three sophomore non-regulars (including Arai) found themselves in this new cheerleading team. The non-regulars were there as the team required at least 12 members, since each stunt group required at least four people.

They started off with the basics, of course. To train strength, the coach, Tsubaragi instructed them to do pushups and sit-ups. To train flexibility, they were instructed to do stretching exercises, but since the Seigaku regulars did all these on a regular basis, they were excluded from this, and only the non-regulars had to do the basics.

Later, the coach had asked them to do splits, and after she had done a demonstration, she indicated that all of them should do the same.

"You've got to be kidding…we have to…go all the way down to the ground with our legs stretched out like that? How are we ever going to be able to stand up again?" Momoshiro wondered aloud.

Kikumaru didn't need to be told twice. Instantly, he did a perfect split, just as the coach had done, drawing 'ooohs' of admiration from his teammates. The coach was the first to applaud. The cheerleaders-in-the-making just mimicked her dumbly.

"Wonderful, wonderful, Kikumaru-kun. You have great talent for cheerleading." She praised.

The others, after a brief warm up session, attempted to brave this challenge. Momoshiro and Kaidou had declared a silent war at each other, and forced themselves to do a split. They had somewhat succeeded. Sadly, for their reward, they had a massive cramp in both their legs. Also, they found themselves unable to get back up on their feet, and required both Inui and Kawamura to help them up.

The others, taking Momoshiro and Kaidou's example as a valuable lesson, decided to take their time with the splits. Kawamura couldn't do a one, no matter how he tried, and the coach soon gave up on trying to get him to perform it.

Fuji, like Kikumaru, was soon able to perform a perfect split. He had a soft and flexible bone structure after all. The others applauded when Fuji sank to the ground effortlessly, and was able to get back on his feet quickly too.

While everyone else was busy with their training, Echizen returned from the cafeteria, having snuck off for a can of Ponta some time ago.

Momoshiro was to first to spot the freshman, who stood by the sides calmly sipping on his drink. He frowned. "Echizen! What do you think you're doing there? Have you done your warm-ups yet?"

Ryoma didn't answer him, and instead seemed to be placing full attention on his drink, and only his drink.

Tsubaragi then spotted him too. "Yo. Boy. Hurry up and train your splits. Time is short now."

Ryoma glared at her. "Yadda."

The coach, needless to say, was suffering from mild shock at being yelled at by a boy so much younger and shorter than her. Atobe had forgotten to warn her about the bratty prince when he hired her for this job.

Tezuka was the next one to speak up. "Echizen! 20 laps now! After you're done get into the courts and do your splits." He ordered.

Ryoma pulled his cap lower to hide his glare, least Seigaku's dictator decided to increase the laps. "Ceh…" He began running.

When Ryoma returned to the court, Tezuka gave him a stern gaze, and Ryoma pulled his cap lower before doing a split. Being the youngest there, he had no problem with this since his bones were still soft and flexible, and he threw all his seniors a smirk. "Mada mada dane." He taunted.

XXX

If splits weren't bad enough, the next disastrous part was when they were all trained to do cartwheels.

There was more than one collision, and hands and legs had ended up in various, highly impossible yoga positions. Fuji and Kikumaru were the only two who had no difficulties doing them, while the others, like Tezuka, had caught on after several rounds of practice. Echizen had no problem with cartwheels. Instead, the coach was the one having difficulties trying to actually get him to do cartwheels with the others. That guy was born uncooperative.

Not even Echizen's best friend could get him to listen to the coach. Tezuka had been the most effective, with his death glare and dictator aura. Inui had been a close second, since that guy had data on every single regular's dirty little secrets, and a single whisper near the freshman's ear was enough to cause him to pale and perform whatever task it was the coach had asked him to do. Fuji had been third, though that might have been partially thanks to Kawamura too. The tensai had somehow managed to slip a racket into the shy Kawamura sushi heir's hand, and set a 'burning' Kawamura after Echizen. The poor boy must have broken at least ten of his previous running records trying to escape from the bulky senior. It was only after Ryoma cooperated did Fuji extract the racket from the 'burning' player's grip, though however he did that, not even Inui could get accurate data on it.

The coach nearly sank to the ground in relief once all of them had managed to at least perform decent cartwheels. Now then, the tough part--stunts.

The regulars were split into 3 stunt groups. Tsubaragi had decided that the three main bases, of course, were the stronger players. Momoshiro, Inui and Kawamura were each placed into different stunt groups. Tezuka was the other base, along with Momoshiro's group. Oishi joined Inui's, while Kaidou joined Kawamura's.

The flyers were either the lightest or the most nimble. Echizen, Kikumaru and Fuji were chosen for this position. Echizen, being the shortest, joined the stunt group which would be positioned in the centre. The boy pulled down his cap and walked wordlessly over to Momoshiro and Tezuka. Fuji walked over to Kawamura and Kaidou's group, which was on Echizen's group's right. Kikumaru bounced over to Oishi and Inui's group (Echizen's group's left), giving him a high five as he did so.

Giving a brief explanation on how the stunts should be performed, the coach finished and drew in a deep breath. "Now then. Any questions?" She asked.

Her statement was met with skeptical stares. No one had uttered a word though, and the coach nodded in satisfaction. "Very well. For now you'll be practicing in your individual groups. We will only do group practice once everyone has got a hang on how to do the stunts."

XXXXXX

Group B (Inui, Oishi, Kikumaru)

"Alright. Oishi. Keep your hands at 170 degrees. When you lift him, keep your stability by spreading your feet at least 0.2 metres apart. Also, when you lift him, keep the speed at…"

The poor motherhen vice-captain's head was spinning from Inui's instructions. By the time Inui had stopped speaking, Oishi wasn't too confident he could lift Eiji without dropping him and cracking his skull. Now how many degrees was he supposed to keep his hands at again?

Someone poked him in the face, and Oishi snapped out of his daze in time to see his doubles partner grinning at him. "You're zoning out, Oishi. Relax, relax. Leave it all to Kikumaru-sama's acrobatics." The redhead said confidently.

Oishi forced a weak smile on his face. "A-aa. Let's begin then, Inui." Both of them braced themselves, preparing to lift the flyer.

Kikumaru held onto their shoulders for balance, and with a simple leap, he bounced onto their waiting palms. Both of them hoisted him up, though, while Oishi had lifted Kikumaru steadily, Inui had underestimated his own strength, and had lifted Kikumaru too fast.

"Not good!" Inui accidentally released his grip on the soles of Kikumaru's feet, and Oishi found himself being the only base to support the flyer. The motherhen teetered dangerously on the spot for a moment, with his teeth gritted as he concentrated on keeping his balance. No matter what, he wouldn't drop Eiji!

After a while, he managed to stabilize himself, and he carefully allowed Kikumaru to dismount.

Inui adjusted his glasses. "So sorry about that, Oishi. I'm impressed by how you kept your balance though."

Tsubaragi had been observing their performance, and she came over to their team, patting them on the back. "Don't worry, don't worry. You're still new at this. Very good though, to see the trust between the flyer and the base."

Kikumaru grinned. "Of course. Oishi here will never let me fall. Golden Pair forever! Right, Oishi?"

"Aa." The motherhen smiled. Tsubaragi nodded for them to try again, and they did, lifting Kikumaru successfully.

The acrobatic player had an incredible sense of balance. No matter how they shook him, that guy was still able to keep his balance (not that Oishi and Inui would shake him for real). Kikumaru waved to the non-regulars (who were still having tennis practices) cheerfully from where he stood, high above everyone's heads.

The acrobatic player then turned to his best friend's team, waving madly. "Fuji, Fuji! We've managed to do the stunt so quickly!"

While Kikumaru was showing off to the tensai, Inui threw a glance at the other team. "Kaidou. Any problems there?"

XXXXXX

Group C (Kawamura, Kaidou, Fuji)

Kawamura looked slightly unsure as Kaidou gave a short recap on Tsubaragi's briefing. Really. Cheerleading required a lot of grace, and a whole load of preciseness was required for the stunts. How could he, the bulky, very clumsy son of a sushi shop owner, be able to pull this off?

Fuji was smiling next to him, nodding at Kaidou's words to indicate understanding before turning to him. "Taka-san. I'll be counting on you then." The tensai said.

Kaidou gave a soft hiss before turning his gaze to Kawamura, waiting for his signal. The sushi shop heir gave a determined nod, and both of them tried to lift Fuji.

The tensai was rather light and nimble, perfect for a flyer. However, Kawamura, being overrun by his nerves, still managed to drop the tensai. Fuji managed to land perfectly on his feet though, graceful as his first counter-Swallow.

The tensai smiled at Kawamura, who had turned red from his failure. "It's alright, Taka-san. Try again."

The second attempt was even worse than the first. Kawamura's grip had loosened accidentally, and he fumbled to catch the tensai, so that he wouldn't fall. However, in his haste, his hands had ended up touching wherever hands weren't supposed to wander off to, and the sushi shop owner withdrew his hands immediately, while apologizing non-stop to Fuji.

That had officially killed off his courage to try again, and the timid sushi shop heir was too mortified to make another attempt at the stunts.

"What do we do, senpai?" Kaidou asked Fuji.

Right at that moment, Kikumaru's team had managed to get the acrobatic player into the air, and the redhead was showing off his team's accomplishment.

Inui, the main base in Kikumaru's group, had lifted an eyebrow and asked, "Kaidou. Any problems there?"

It was very obvious that they were having problems indeed, as Kikumaru gleefully pointed out.

Fuji's cerulean eyes opened. The tensai merely gave a calm smile and walked over to Kawamura's bag. Without a word, he zipped it open and retrieved the power player's yellow racket before returning to his team. "Hai, Taka-san." He held it out to the brunette.

"That won't do, Fuji. I can't hold a racket and perform the stunts at the same time. It's just not-" Fuji took the advantage of him speaking to slip the racket into his hand.

Kawamura's eyes went wide. The next moment, his eyes narrowed as his alter ego took over. The power player began waving the racket violently in the air. "Burning! Let's go, Fuji-baby!"

His enthusiasm caused the other base-Kaidou to back away in fear, while Fuji remained on the spot, smiling innocently. Kawamura then proceeded to lift Fuji (all signs of the power player's embarrassment forgotten) with only one hand!

"Very good, very good! That's supposed to be a rather advanced skill. Your team did well." Tsubaragi praised them, her attentions affectively stolen from team B, much to Kikumaru's dismay. Fuji threw his best friend a serene, almost challenging smile. 'You still can't win me yet, Eiji.' His blue gaze was saying.

XXXXXX

Group A (Tezuka, Echizen, Momoshiro)

Momoshiro gave a sigh of relief. Echizen seemed to be in a more cooperative mood today, and did the stunts without giving them too much trouble. His small built and light weight was a great asset to them, and they could lift him without much difficulty.

In fact, Momoshiro was so relieved that his mouth went ahead of his head again as he gave Ryoma a compliment. "You know, Echizen. We're really thankful that you're so small."

It sounded like a compliment to Momoshiro, but it sure sounded like an insult to Echizen, as a vein throbbed on his head. The next moment, Ryoma, who was still standing on their palms, balanced his weight on Tezuka's palm as he lifted his foot off Momoshiro's palms and ran them through the Dunk Smash player's hair instead, making a bird nest out of the gelled locks.

"Ah! Echizen! How could you?!" Momoshiro yelled.

Ryoma merely gave him a smirk. "Mada mada dane."

XXX

The ochibi could really hold a grudge, as a few practices later, when the stunt groups were now asked to practice together, Ryoma still refused to give Momoshiro his full cooperation.

Tsubaragi was counting the beats, having informed them of when to mount and when to dismount. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6 ,7 ,8, up!" She called out loud.

Both Fuji and Kikumaru leapt into action, hopping onto their respective bases' hands, and were lifted up perfectly. Tsubaragi turned to the group in the centre, the one which would be garnering most of the attention during the competitions, and raised an eyebrow.

Momoshiro, red-faced with embarrassment as he was highly aware of them being the only group not doing the stunts, hissed at his junior in a slightly urgent voice. "That was the cue to mount, Echizen!"

"Yadda." Echizen replied, the apathetic boy perfectly at ease despite the glares he was receiving from the other groups, all impatient for him to hurry up so that they could move on to another stunt.

Momoshiro looked like he would love nothing more than to pick Echizen up by force. However, that would also increase his chances of dropping the boy.

"Come on, Echizen. Don't be a brat!" Momoshiro hissed.

Ryoma threw him a golden glare. "Yadda. You're going to drop me, and I'm not too keen on getting killed."

"Coach is the one who wants us to do a (single base) tow pitch. Just hurry up already!" Momoshiro sighed, exasperated. This was a stunt where the base would toss the flyer into the air before catching him by the soles of his feet, and the flyer had to stabilize himself pretty fast. Needless to say, Echizen didn't feel so optimistic about this stunt (he would most rather only perform stunts with two people as the base, not one like this stunt), and Momo, being the main base and the one to perform the stunt, was finding his hands full with one very uncooperative flyer.

Momoshiro tried again and again to coax Echizen, but his efforts were in vain. In the end, Tezuka instructed the rest to proceed on with the rest of the stunts, while he returned to his group for a short talk.

"Momoshiro. I'll take over as the main base." Tezuka said, and Momoshiro was more than happy to comply. Echizen had frowned at that, having less confidence in Tezuka's strength than he did with Momo's, but when he tried to show Tezuka some cheek, the captain assigned him laps till sundown.

Needless to say, the brat made a mental note not to get on the captain's bad side again.

Momoshiro and Arai (the latter for there as a Third, to provide support to the flyer) breathed a sigh of relief as Tezuka managed to lift Echizen up in a tow pitch, and had even managed to do a Shoulder Stand, (where the flyer would stand on the base's shoulders), as well as an Extension, (where the base would extend his arms, lifting the flyer up as high as he could reach, with his arms kept straight.) The captain did not look it, but he was quite strong too, and could take the role of the main base. Just as expected from Seigaku's pillar.

They caught up with the other groups. Echizen had, by this point, become very, very cooperative, and team A couldn't help breathing another sigh of relief.

Echizen's reason for this, however, wasn't so noble.

After all, how many people could actually, in their whole lifetime, have the chance to step all over the feared, stoic Tezuka-buchou's head and shoulders, and actually get away with it? There was no way Echizen would ruin the opportunity.

Ryoma was smirking down at the brunette, bespectacled captain, gloating at the change of position. For once, he was the one standing higher than Tezuka. Several times, the brat deliberately moved his foot, messing up Tezuka's hair, or knocking his glasses askew, and each time Tezuka threw him a glare, Ryoma threw him a cocky, seemingly innocent smirk in return. "Ah, gomen, gomen. My foot must have slipped there."

Tezuka was not one to be fooled though. The Seigaku prodigy was being a nuisance, and he knew it. Deciding that Echizen needed to be taught a lesson, the captain waited for his chance during the next stunt. As he had expected, the prodigy had, again, lifted his foot to give Tezuka a new 'hairstyle', and this round, Tezuka loosened his grip on the first year's foot slightly.

With one leg in the air, and the other not firmly balanced on Tezuka's shoulder, needless to say, Ryoma found himself falling to the ground, and the freshman gave a yelp. The painful contact with the ground had never come though, for Ryoma found himself in the captain's arms. Apparently Tezuka caught him at the last moment, deciding that the scare was enough of a punishment.

Tezuka's face remained expressionless, though the corners of his lips twitched slightly in what might have been a smirk before fixing itself back into a straight line again. "Gomen, gomen. My hands must have slipped." The captain threw Echizen's words back at him.

Ryoma blinked before a small smile spread on his face. "Heh." 'So the captain can hold a grudge after all.' "Mada mada dane, buchou."

XXXXXX

The coach was very proud of the three teams' performances, and this round, she decided to include something new into the stunts. She felt that since their progress had been rapid, there was no harm in trying out something new.

She asked Group A's main base to help out with this little 'experiment', and the ever responsible captain was quick to oblige. Tezuka was to do an Extension, and Echizen…would be doing a handstand, balancing himself delicately on Tezuka's palms.

Momoshiro's eyes widened in horror at that. "That's too much. It's not a skill in Cheerleading. That would be a skill in a circus! Echizen's not that good at the stunts."

Again, what was actually a voice of concern for a friend; sounded more like a mockery to the very pride-filled freshman's skills. Echizen twitched, and immediately turned to the coach. "I'll try it."

"Excellent! With this way, we can beat Fudoumine for sure!" She chuckled, her laughter sounding extremely similar to a certain tensai. Everyone shuddered and kept their distance from her. For some reason, every time after practice, she would surely end her speeches with "we must beat Fudoumine!" The Seigaku regulars/cheerleaders couldn't help wondering just why she was so hostile towards the other school.

Very carefully, Echizen balanced himself on Tezuka's palms, and Tezuka carefully extended both arms, executing a perfect Extension. Everyone applauded at their success. The black-green haired boy smirked. "Mada mada dane." He crowed at his seniors.

Momoshiro snorted. "Don't get so arrogant Echizen. You can't do that na, you can't do that yo." He snickered.

"By the way, senpai-tachi. With their current stunt, doesn't it seem that just one wrong move, and they'd end up kissing each other?" Momoshiro declared.

Kikumaru joined in. "That's right, that's right. Considering Tezuka is facing Echizen, and Echizen is looking down."

Tezuka shuddered at the mental thought those two managed to jam in his mind, and that shudder was more than enough to lose the delicate balance Echizen was keeping on his palms, and the freshman came crashing down.

Oishi was the first to react. "Someone get Echizen off Tezuka! Goodness! The both of you aren't hurt, are you?"

Momoshiro winced. "Oh dear…they really did…I hope that wasn't their first."

The twin glares he received in return were enough of an answer. "Yarou…" Echizen looked like he wanted to kill Momo with his racket.

Tezuka's glasses flashed. "Momoshiro, Kikumaru, 100 laps now!"

XXXXXX

The last part taught to them was the dances. Not surprisingly, Fuji and Kikumaru performed fairly well, since they belonged to the nimble types. Echizen didn't do too badly, for he didn't want to be outdone by his seniors. His pride wouldn't allow it. Oishi, Momoshiro and Kaidou were average. Kawamura danced like a bear. Tezuka and Inui were downright wooden.

Once they were sure their performance was at least presentable, Oishi, Kikumaru, Fuji and Inui walked over to Tezuka.

"Tezuka. This is cheerleading. You have to try to smile, even if only a little." Oishi told his best friend.

Tezuka's lips turned down further in response to that.

"That's right, that's right. Do the cheerleading smile!" Kikumaru demonstrated, opening his mouth in a huge, wide smile.

Both Fuji and Inui nodded. "Just try, Tezuka."

The corners of Tezuka's lips quivered ever so slightly. Eventually, that quiver turned into something that looked rather like he was having spasms in his face. After what felt like an eternity, Tezuka smiled…or at least, he tried to. That smile looked like a very, very evil version of a leer that put Fuji's evil grins to shame.

Kikumaru gave a scream, hiding behind Oishi. The next moment, Kikumaru found himself supporting Oishi though, for the motherhen had fainted. Fuji's eyes had opened, his smile gone as he paled. Inui couldn't even note that down in his data. The hand holding his pen and the hand holding his notebook were shaking too badly for him to do so.

"Enough. Tezuka, stop smiling!" Kikumaru wailed.

Tezuka's 'grin' remained fixed on his face. "…I…can't…" the reply came after a while.

"Why not? Just stop grinning already, Tezuka. You're scaring us!" Kikumaru wailed again.

Tezuka's grin was unchanging, though his glare was also activated too, making him look 10 times scarier than his usual self.

"…… my face has cramped……"

XXXXXX

Tsubaragi sighed, watching as the Seigaku team try out the full routine of their whole cheerleading performance. The day's practice had ended in chaos. Momoshiro's team had collided with Kaidou's team during the stunts, and now the two rivals were fighting. Again. Oishi had a panic attack some time ago, and Kikumaru was fanning him to keep him from fainting. Kawamura was on full burning mode, chasing poor, frightened non-regulars around the courts, while Fuji stood nearby, watching with a sadistic smile as his camera clicked away. Echizen had run off to the cafeteria again to get burgers, escaping the rest of practice. Inui was in a corner collecting data, while Tezuka was in another corner, muttering "be the pillar, be the pillar…"

Tsubaragi sighed again. Only a miracle would help this club. Would they be able to win the Cheerleading competitions?

Well…she wouldn't mind it so much. Just as long as they beat Fudoumine…

To be continued…

A/N: Finished the chapter. Again, so sorry for the wait.

Will try to update the next chapter A.S.A.P.

Please Read and Review. No Flames Please.

-Gwyn