Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. I do own the manga and anime though.

Warining: Extreme silliness

Pairings: Vague

Alice, glad you liked it. Poor Tez just isn't used to smiling.

Jenny, for now it's just the three schools. As to whether he'd invite the rest…ufufufu. You'd have to read on.

cirrus74, well, yeah. There are hints of ::coughpairingscough:: in there. I'd want Tez to smile. (grins)

To the story then…

Prince Of Cheerleading

By: Gwynhafra

Chapter 3

"Kamio."

The vice captain of Fudoumine stood there with his head bowed, his expression slightly guilty once the captain, Tachibana had finished reading the official letter sent by Atobe.

"I'm sorry, Tachibana-san." Kamio apologized. It was his hot-headedness which had gotten his whole team into this mess…well…his hot-headedness…and Momoshiro too! It was all that guy's fault!

"Really, Kamio. I had expected you to be more mature than this. What's the point of getting into an argument with Seigaku's Momoshiro." Tachibana chided lightly.

The dark-haired captain gave a sigh. "It can't be helped. What's done is done, Kamio. Don't beat yourself over it. We'll do our best then."

Kamio looked gratefully up at the captain. "You…you're not blaming me?"

"Why should I do that? Just don't do this again. The next time, I'd make you run laps. Come now, we have to inform the others."

Tachibana looked down at the letter again and took a deep breath before calling his regulars over. "Minna, lend me your ears."

They obeyed, coming forward to stand before him in a line. Tachibana maintained a calm expression as he broke the news to them.

"Hyotei's Atobe will be organizing an inter-school cheerleading competition, and he has extended an invitation to our school…" Tachibana began.

"Let's turn it down then. We have no time to waste on cheerleading…" Shinji had began mumbling.

Tachibana smiled slightly. "I'm afraid this is…compulsory. Atobe will be expecting Fudoumine's participation."

"That diva is really getting his way too many times. He's so spoilt. How lucky, to be so rich. I wonder what it'll be like to have a life like his…" Shinji mumbled again.

"Shinji!" Tachibana chided, preventing him from suffering dehydration. Ibu responded with a mumbled apology.

Tachibana swept his gaze over his teammates before speaking again. "Now then, does anyone here know anything about cheerleading?"

Silence descended. Birds chirped, and a gust of wind blew, sweeping some leaves past the tennis courts. Everyone glanced uneasily at each other, hoping to see someone raise a hand into the air, but unfortunately, there was none.

Tachibana's face remained calm. He noted that all their hands were down and gave a nod. "I understand. So everyone here is a novice at this, just like I am."

Kamio, being the vice-captain, was the first to speak up again, voicing everyone's silent question. "So…how are we going to do this, Tachibana-san?"

Tachibana gave them all a reassuring smile. "I may not have any experience with cheerleading, but I have been to a cheerleading competition once. Ann had me take her there, so I have seen some of the moves. With time, we will practice them and come up with our own moves and routines.

All of the regulars' eyes shone with admiration for their captain. "We're right behind you, Tachibana-san." As one, all of them declared.

Tachibana nodded. "Good. I'll demonstrate now."

The dark-haired third year walked about the courts, glancing around as if he were searching for something. After a while, he spotted what he was looking for, and bending over, picked up two small, mineral water bottles off the bench. His regulars watched with bated breath, awaiting his next instructions.

Without warning, the captain did a demonstration…and all the regulars' breath left them as they gave a wheeze of horror.

For Tachibana was shaking the two bottles in the air like imaginary pompoms, while gyrating his hips and jiggling his butt at the same time. It was…incredibly disturbing.

"Enough, enough, Tachibana-san." The regulars wailed. Shinji had long retreated into his own world and was fervently mumbling again. They never thought they'd live to see such a mind-scarring performance from their most respected leader.

Tachibana raised an eyebrow, misinterpreting their dilemma. "Oh? You don't need me to do a demonstration anymore? You're fast learners." He said approvingly.

Clapping his hands twice, he gathered their attention again. "Now then, shall we begin?"

XXX

It was a very hot afternoon, and one attractive lady, somewhere in her twenties, stood outside the gates to one very rundown, very old looking school. She wiped at her forehead delicately with her handkerchief, frowning to herself.

So this was the place her employer has assigned her to. Considering the grand mansion her employer had conducted her interview in, she had expected said school to be of the same standard as her employer's abode, but no…

The building which greeted her eyes spoke of years and years of use, and paint was tearing off the walls. The buildings were small, and fairly dull. Maybe even haunted! That last thought had her hesitating in her steps, not daring to move even an inch past the gates. Instead, she paced outside, wondering to herself just what her next step should be.

"May I help you?" A voice asked suddenly.

The lady gave a yelp, dropping her handbag in surprise. She flushed in embarrassment at being caught so deep in her own thoughts, and snatched her bag off the ground while giving a weak laugh. The person who had addressed her--a balding, middle-aged man, gave her a suspicious, yet still polite stare.

She gave a bow. "I am Futsuka Maiko, here as Fudoumine Cheerleading Team's trainer."

"Cheerleading team?" The man repeated curiously, his eyebrows furrowing. "We do not have such a club here." He said.

Maiko referred to a document in her handbag. "Ah. My mistake. The tennis club, I mean."

The man nodded, understanding immediately. He turned around and wordlessly led the way. Maiko gave the gates another wary glance before putting one tentative foot in, followed by another. Satisfied that the school was not haunted, she followed the man to the clubs.

Before they reached, she struck a conversation with the man, who introduced himself as one of the school's discipline masters.

"I wonder who would send a lady like yourself to be a trainer. I'll let you in on one of the school's secrets. Fudoumine tennis club's current captain…is prone to violence. This was once published in the papers before the school had it silenced but…he had single handedly beaten up his former coach. Real nasty, that one."

Maiko paled. Her employer most certainly didn't mention anything about this. The man, not noticing her dilemma, began speaking of the club's main members, or regulars. Apparently there was a demon in the club, there was one who mutters like a demon in the club, and one with the strength of a demon in the club. She zoned out even as he continued talking, not wishing to listen on anymore. Just what kind of job had she landed herself into?

She grew increasingly nervous as she approached the tennis courts. There were only a handful of members there, practicing in two rather dilapidated courts. No wonder her employer had called this a "peasant's school". She had to agree. The ones here must belong to the not so well off families. Scanning the members quickly, she tried to spot who the "demons" were.

"No, no, Futsuka-san. These are only the non-regulars. The regulars are over there." He pointed at a group of people in black outfits.

Even as she approached the regulars, she could see all of them practicing. Cheerleading moves, apparently. She had a good first impression of them. To begin practice even without a coach yet, it was admirable.

Once she had reached them close enough, all good feelings she had towards the regulars evaporated.

For all of them were dressed in a sailor top, and a mini skirt. The man who was her guide remained expressionless (contrasting the look of shock on her face), as if he was used to seeing them in these kinds of outfits. He casually introduced her as their new trainer, and Maiko found seven pairs of eyes focused on her instantly.

"Oh? You're the new trainer? I'm glad. We do need all the help we can get because none of us know anything about cheerleading. I'm the club captain Tachibana Kippei, by the way. Yoroshiku."

"Yoroshiku…" She was too stunned to say anything anyway, except to repeat the greeting automatically. Just what were these boys thinking, wearing like that? The horror!

If that wasn't bad enough, Tachibana had then called over his shoulder, addressing his teammates. "Yosh! Let's show our new teacher what we've been practicing so far. One, two, three…"

Instantly, Maiko found herself in male hula paradise. All the regulars, holding two mineral water bottles in each hand, were swaying their hips to imaginary Hawaiian music, their mini skirts swishing from side to side. All they lacked now was a sea, sand and coconut tree backdrop to complete the picture.

"Well, sensei. How was it?" Tachibana, supposedly the violence-prone one, asked even as he continued on with this dance.

Maiko swayed on the spot on the while, then fainted dead away.

"Sensei!!!"

XXX

Even after Maiko had regained consciousness, she still hadn't been able to find her voice for a while, the horror of what she had seen stunning her to silence.

Instead, she handed Tachibana a rather fanciful letter, which the Fudoumine captain took after giving her his thanks.

Tachibana carefully opened the letter, feeling reluctant to just tear through the intricate looking piece of paper. He unfolded the parchment contained in the envelope and began reading quietly to himself.

To the peasant Tachibana Kippei, captain of Fudoumine,

Ore-sama usually doesn't write letters personally to people who are not of ore-sama's status, but since I consider you to be a person of Tezuka's class, I'll make an exception.

As you would most probably have heard, ore-sama has kindly extended an invitation to your peasants' school for an inter-school cheerleading competition. The participants are Seishun Gakuen and, of course, ore-sama's very own Hyotei Gakuen. While your unseeded school's reputation and skills are nothing to boast about, I do hope that you'd at least be able to display a performance on that day which is worth ore-sama's notice.

I will be sending a coach to your school along with this letter. Rest assured that you will find the coach to be very capable. Then again, that's of course. Ore-sama never makes mistakes when it comes to selecting coaches. I expect to see you on the day of the competition.

The winner is,

Ore-sama, Atobe Keigo. Be awed by my beautiful handwriting.

"Urm…Tachibana-san?" Kamio asked uncertainly. His eyes were glancing down nervously at Tachibana's hands, which were shaking rather violently.

Tachibana's head whipped up again, and, without losing his smile, tore the letter in two and promptly dumped it into the nearest bin. He then turned to his stunned regulars. "Yosh! We don't have any time to waste. Let's begin practice."

His ever loyal regulars echoed their agreement to that statement. Tachibana turned to the coach and gave a bow. "Sensei, please guide us from now onwards."

"Of course, of course." The coach had finally found some of her voice back.

Tachibana smiled. "Well then. What are your instructions?" He asked, eager to begin practice and prove that diva wrong.

Maiko finally looked up. "Firstly…" She raised a shaking finger and pointed it at all of them. "Get rid of that ridiculous outfit!"

XXX

That certainly was an enlightening experience. Tachibana wasn't exactly at fault. He had only seen the girls' cheerleading performance so far, and had never known that the guys' cheerleading team had a different outfit, and different moves altogether.

They got down to work immediately. For the first few practices, the poor coach still couldn't look at any of them in the eye. The brain-scarring experience was still fresh in her mind.

She instructed them on the basics, which all of them needed, as none of them had any experience, nor do they have much knowledge about cheerleading. Also, a cheerleading team needed a minimum of 12 members, and since their existing regulars only consisted of seven people, five non-regulars had to be roped into the team.

While they were inexperienced in cheerleading, they were also, if anything, very enthusiastic learners. Under Tachibana's leadership, they followed all of the coach's instructions without fail.

Maiko beamed. Things were looking optimistic for them. Whatever it was, they must beat Seigaku!

XXX

Group A (Tachibana, Kamio)

This team, which was located in the centre, consisted of Tachibana, Kamio, and a third year non-regular. Tachibana and the non-regular, Kita were the bases, while Kamio was the flyer.

Tachibana, being the main base, made use of his leadership experience to coordinate the group.

Their first attempt had been disastrous, in the sense that Kamio, eager to follow instructions, had missed the count.

"I'm feeling the rhythm!" He declared, already preparing to mount both bases.

"No, Kamio! You're too fast!" Tachibana's warning came too late. Kamio had, with a leap, mounted…and flattened poor Kita.

"Ah, gomenasai, Kita-senpai." A flustered Kamio ended up trampling over the fallen third year's back in his haste to get off, leaving a few shoe-prints there.

"Kamio, you're too impatient. Come on now, let's try this again." Tachibana chided.

Somehow, Kamio lived up to his nickname as the speed demon. He kept getting the count wrong, and was always a step faster than the two bases. More and more footprints were added to the poor third year non-regular's back, and one time, he had landed on Tachibana in an odd sort of a piggyback ride.

"Gomenasai, Tachibana-buchou." The vice-captain looked incredibly guilty.

Tachibana sighed. "It can't be helped. Cheerleading is quite out of our league. We'll try this several more times. Eventually we'll get the hang of it."

Kamio nodded. However, he was struck by a sudden thought, and, requesting for a short break, went to his bag and retrieved his MP3 player. Putting on the earphones, the familiar beat-filled music filled his senses, and he nodded his head to the beat, while tapping one foot on the ground at the same time. After five minutes, he removed the earphones and returned to a patiently waiting Tachibana and a wary Kita.

"Done warming up, Kamio?" Tachibana asked.

Receiving a nod from his vice-captain, the captain too gave an answering nod of his own. "Yosh. Let's continue then."

This round, Kamio hummed softly to himself, remembering the music he had just heard, and it kept his rhythm steady. At long last, he mounted the bases without giving them any additional makeup or shoe-prints. Realizing his success, Kamio gave a cheer, pumping one fist into the air.

"That's the spirit. Good work, Kamio." Tachibana gave a compliment to the flyer even as the bases lowered him carefully to the ground. Kamio beamed to that. "Arigatou, Tachibana-buchou."

Group A was a success. Two more groups to go.

XXX

Group B (Ishida, Sakurai, Ibu)

The second group, who would be positioned on the right of the first group, was all ready to begin their training too, having finished all the basics in no time.

Shinji stared skeptically at his teammates, eyeing their outstretched hands with undisguised distrust.

"Come on now, Shinji. We're supposed to be practicing the moves." Sakurai urged.

The blue-haired player didn't budge at all, still staring at the two bases, feeling rather reluctant to leave the safety of firm, solid ground.

"Why must I be the flyer? Why can't Sakurai-san be the flyer? I don't like this na. We're supposed to be playing tennis, not doing cheerleading. What was Kamio thinking when he got us into this mess in the first place? What should I do na? If I get on their hands, I may fall and crack my head, and I wouldn't be able to play tennis anymore because I'm in the hospital. If I don't get on soon, coach is going to be angry, and Tachibana-buchou is going to be unhappy. What should I do? Should I get on or should I remain on the ground? Speaking of Tachibana-buchou, Kamio-kun is so lucky to be in his team. I wanted to be in Tachibana-buchou's team-"

"Shinji!" Ishida cut him off, getting mildly impatient.

The blue-haired player turned his attention back to his bases. "Sorry." He mumbled. He tentatively lifted one foot off the ground, feeling safer if he had the other foot still planted firmly on the ground. Carefully, he prodded Ishida's palm with the lifted foot, his gesture similar to someone testing the temperature of bathwater with the tip of their toes.

"Shinji." Sakurai had to hold back a groan of frustration. "That's not how you're supposed to mount. You'll never be able to get on our palms that way."

"That's right, Ibu-kun. Trust in your teammates. Come on now, just hold on to their shoulders for balance and give one leap up onto their palms. You two, keep your eyes on your flyer at all times." Maiko had walked over at seeing their team having difficulties, and she gave them instructions.

"Leave it to me, Shinji. There's no way I'd drop you." Ishida reassured, rolling up one sleeve to show his muscles to indicate his strength.

Finally making up his mind, Shinji obeyed, bouncing up onto their palms gracefully. However, while Ishida was the hadoukyuu player, and possessed a lot of strength, it was one thing hitting powered shots and another thing lifting a human being altogether. Caught by surprise (for he hadn't expected Shinji to be this heavy), he nearly dropped the blue-haired player.

After tottering backwards a few steps, both Ishida and Sakurai managed to keep their balance, which prevented Shinji from suffering a nasty fall. However, Shinji didn't seem ready to forgive them for the scare just yet.

"That Ishida-kun. So much for him being a stable base. To think he almost dropped me. Mattaku…what if I had fallen. I might have injured my leg. I might have broken my arm. I might have hit my head and gotten amnesia. Sakurai too must be still holding a grudge against me because I haven't returned his 100 yen. How stingy…"

The two bases were highly tempted to drop him for real. "Shinji!"

"Sumimasen." Again, his mumbled apology.

Throughout practice, Shinji's voice droned on and on like a mantra for group B, while both Sakurai and Ishida wore long suffering looks on their faces, but otherwise, their practice too was a success.

Two groups done, one more to go.

XXX

Group C (Uchimura, Mori)

This group would be positioned at group A's left, and for this team, neither Uchimura nor Mori had much arm strength, so they had selected a first year non-regular to be their group's flyer.

The first year, a boy of a very small, light built, followed their instructions obediently, not giving them much trouble as he mounted, dismounted and performed stunts with relative ease. They worked together as a team, and before long, had even managed to learn the Cradle (where the bases would catch the flyer when he falls backwards, supporting his back and his legs) and the Extension.

"You're doing well, Ken-chan." Uchimura, the front killer called up to the flyer.

The youngest in the group smiled, carefully balancing himself on their palms. "It's all thanks to senpai-tachi's instructions." He gave a hop and allowed himself to fall backwards, trusting the two bases to catch him, which they did.

They tried several moves, and managed to learn all of them in just a few rounds.

"We've succeeded! Tachibana-san is going to be so proud." Mori cheered, turning to the captain's team.

Apparently…their beloved captain wasn't looking at them, still too busy minding his own stunt group. In fact, none of the spectators were looking at them, all focusing their attention on either group A, or group B. To top that off, not even the coach was looking at them, as she was too busy supervising Shinji's group.

"We…we're being ignored…" Mori muttered forlornly, even as a cold gust of wind blew past the two relatively unknown regulars.

Well, all three teams are now done with practicing their stunts. It was now time to coordinate all teams.

XXX

Maiko beamed as she watched the three stunt group's performance. Tachibana was a master at coordinating his team. At his instructions, all of his teammates moved to position, mounted and dismounted at the same time, choreographed their dance moves perfectly. Yes, everything was absolutely flawless…

…except one thing…

The poor coach was being ignored. She held as much significance in their eyes as the ball cart nearby. Either that or they must have mistaken her for one of the trees surrounding the courts.

The Fudoumine regulars all had the same habit.

"Tachibana-san, am I doing this right?"

"Tachibana-san, what is the next move?"

"Tachibana-san, how should this stunt be performed again?"

It was always Tachibana-san this, and Tachibana-san that. They wouldn't ask the coach directly for instructions or advice, instead, they'd ask their beloved captain, who would then ask her, and she'd pass the instructions to him and he in turn would pass it to his team.

Any time now they might even be erecting a shrine for their captain.

It was incredibly frustrating, with none of them approaching her at all, but she was willing to swallow her pride. As long as they could beat Seigaku, nothing else mattered.

"Yosh! Minna! Let's aim for first place…and defeat Seigaku!" She told them.

Finally, they noticed her presence, as all turned their heads towards her. "Why Seigaku only? I believe we do have to beat Hyotei too."

"Of course you should be concentrating more on Seigaku. After all, wasn't it one of Seigaku's regulars who had gotten all of you into this mess in the first place?" She had lowered her voice, directing that statement at Kamio.

The effect was instantaneous, as Kamio's eyes instantly blazed with determination. "You're absolutely right! We'll show that bike thief and his teammates. Yosh, everyone! Let's beat Seigaku!" The vice-captain led the cheer.

Maiko smiled. Mission accomplished.

Fudoumine was ready. Would they be able to win the competitions?

To be continued…

Please Read and Review. No Flames Please.

-Gwyn