Disclaimer:

Atobe:What is Ore-sama doing in this filthy place?

S.T:Hello Atobe-kun!

Atobe:Ore-sama doesn't know you.

S.T:Im the authoress who wants to finish your tennis career right about now if you wont do her the Disclaimer. –Grins-

Atobe:Whatever, my match is waiting, so S.T doesn't own any of us, the P.O.T characters, and the P.O.T itself, so Ore-sama has to go, tata!!

….

CHAPTER NiNE: Heroes Rise

-And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one

She sat at the window as she slightly stretched her legs thanks to the spacious plane, Ryoga and Michael always prefer the A-class flight than economy, ever since they were recognized by the press, they mobbed them until get out of the airport and ever since then, they purchased the A-class than the economy.

'Im going home…Ryoma-kun'she thought as it made her smile unconsciously.

Sakuno couldn't thank Ryoga enough for caring about her as much as he does, they were closer than they were before, if she's going to pick a person to be trusted and to be with in the whole of Europe, she would choose Ryoga, everytime he holds her hand to make way from the mobbing crowd, she won't hesitate to hold his hand back, people even mistaken them as a couple which always makes her blush ten shades of red, but Ryoga on the other hand would accept that and would just answer something like 'Why not?' or something along those lines, the lines which causes Sakuno to shiver.

"Sakuno-san," Michael broke the silence as he tilted his head sideways and took a good look at the girl who looked back at him.

"Yes?"She muttered slightly

"Im scheduled to attend a Grand Opening of a Hotel in Roppongi, I hope you won't mind coming along?"He asked, as he called the attention of the stewardess and asked for a cup of coffee.

Sakuno just smiled and shook her head in reply.

"Iie, its alright with me."She answered back, as she took her pink iPod from her hand carry, and switched on some music.

…

"Can we stop now? Im tired already!" Billy shouted from the other side of the court.

"No, you're gaining too much weight, its slowing you down."Kevin smirked as he announced this and massaged his shoulders as he continued to rally with Billy.

"Oi!isn't that the newest hotel here in Roppongi?"Billy said as he returned Kevin's smash.

"Yeah, we'll be going there in place of Tousan."Kevin replied as he return a volley with a perfect topspin.

"Cool…"Billy muttered.

Kevin Smith and Billy Cassidy were sent in substitute of Kevin's father in the Grand opening of the hotel, they both arrived sometime yesterday afternoon as they stayed in another hotel in Roppongi, which is really ironic, as Kevin snickered at the thought, since he's staying in Japan for a while, why not Give Ryoma Echizen a good Rematch?

…..

"Okay!everyone! line-up!"Ryuzaki Sumire called the tennis club with stern voice and with a smile on her face.

Ryoma couldn't help but notice this either, as he stood up after tying the last knot of his shoes, and walked over beside his Vice Captain, who suddenly rolled his eyes and whispered.

"She's so fired up today…what's wrong with her?"He muttered

Ryoma just shrugged, and shook his head, really he doesn't know, ever since the disappearance of Sakuno Ryuuzaki Sumire had been hard on everybody, specially the tennis club, everybody didn't fail to notice this, specially Ryoma who knew the exact reason, a sudden change of heart wouldn't be hard to notice either.

"Saying something Momoshiro?"she looked at Momoshiro with a devious grin plastered on her face.

"B-Betsuni!"Momo suddenly straightened up, and fixed his uniform abruptly.

"Good. We don't have any practice today, you're dismissed."She said as cheers and laughter were heard from the crowd, Ryoma couldn't help but yawn and walk away from the two.

"Echizen,Momoshiro,"as the two stopped from their tracks walked back to Sumire.

"What is it?Baasan?"Momosihiro chuckled.

Sumire just handed them two envelopes and smiled her way as she walked away from the two leaving them with confusion.

"Be sure to be there, or you will be running laps, and some free taste of Aozu and Akazu, sounds good?"Sumire grinned as she looked at the two young lads whose face turned green hearing the name of Inui's poisonous concoctions.

Ryoma looked up at the sky, and saw a plane pass by the ray of sun, as he smiled lightly, that its almost not visible in human eye.

'I'll be waiting…'

"Its going to be a very nice day…ne?senpai."he muttered, as he clutched his new Seigaku jersey jacket closer.

"So dana, ne…Echizen where's your old jersey?"Momoshiro bluntly asked as he watched how his young Captain adored his newly acquired jacket from yesterday.

Ryoma fixed his gaze at the clouds, and smiled.

"Someone's holding it for me."He answered flatly.

…

(A.Ni sincerely!! Do not know how long does a travel takes from Europe to Japan since I haven't been there before! So lets just brush of the details? Ne?!!)

"Tadaima." Sakuno cheered as she twirled around the lobby of Narita earning some gaze from foreigners, Michael paid no heed against the passerby's since he knew what the girl has gone through, it's a bare fact she would be happy being back to her homeland.

As she tugged her pink hat closer to her eyes and hopped as she faced Michael once more, and gave him a peace sign, Michael was pleased a bit as he snickered, good thing they hadn't have any body guards as of now, it would really attract the attentions of the paparazzi and that's the last thing Michael wanted to happen.

"Welcome to Japan!Mi-sama! Im Ryuzaki Sakuno your tour guide."Sakuno cheered as she imitated that of the tourist guides she remembered, and grinned slightly at Michael who just shrugged and gave her a good pat on the shoulders.

"Well then Ms. Tour-guide, take me to Ropponggi, I have a party to attend to."Michael said as he passed by her, pushing their few luggage with him.

"Hai!!!"Sakuno answered as she saluted, and carried pink tennis bag along with her and followed Michael out of the airport.

…

Sakuno's eyes feasted at the sight of Japan, at the stores, the people, and the places she used to go with Tomoka and the senpai-tachi, then she remembered the tennis courts somewhere where she used to practice secretly, she smiled again subconsciously.

"Mi-kun,I'll just take a walk, ne?"Sakuno broke as she looked at him with pleading eyes.

Michael scorned as he rolled his eyes, that puppy dog eyes he couldn't resist, he stopped the car right beside a clothing store, and looked at her questioningly, knowing how bad at directions the auburn haired girl was, he took his bag at the backseat and took a cellphone from it and handed it to the girl.

"Here, Just incase."He muttered as the girl smiled at him thankfully, and grabbed her tennis bag hurriedly, and went off as she waved Michael a goodbye, if his memory serves him right, Sakuno would be the worst of all tour guides for she doesn't know how to go to where she's going, a tour guide with a very poor sense of direction, if she was actually working in a company, she wouldn't have been hired at all.

…

'Hmmm…'

"It should be somewhere here…maybe I took the wrong turn."She muttered on herself, as she started looking left and right of the alley way, and pointing subconsciously, as she noticed she was trapped in the maze like alleyways again, as she adjusted her cap, and the Seigaku jersey jacket she was wearing.

"A-Ano…Sumimasen, a-ano…"She muttered as she lowered her head as she started asking a group of men holding their rackets and blabbering about their new tennis techniques.

"Oh, well if it isn't a pretty girl got lost…"

"W-where is the Akazaki Tennis courts?"She asked politely as she looked up at the punk guy who stood up abruptly, and started gazing at her from head to toe.

"Little Ms.Pretty plays tennis too…eh."

"H-Hai…"She muttered

"Ne..Ne!!Were going there too, we'll take you there..in one condition,"The other guy with spiky purple hair and quite tall said as he waved his way out of the crowd.

"Eh…"

"You will play with us."He said.

Sakuno gripped the strap of her tennis bag as excitement glimmered in her cinnamon orbs, and smiled lightly uder her hat.

"O-Okay…"She agreed, as she heard the five of them laughed.

"If you loose, you'll be coming with us."The guy with purple hair finished, as Sakuno felt someone grip both of her wrist, and started to drag her along.

"W-what are you doing?!!help!!Help-fff"as one of them covered her mouth full denying her the chance of making any noise that would attract attention, though some people saw the incident none of them cared or even did anything about it, for they knew that these goons can do anything as they pleased in their territory.

…

She felt her body surrender against their drag, as she just followed quietly, yes, she's an athlete, she can kick, she can run twice as fast, but she's not a super woman to beat six men twice as tall as she was, and the safest thing to do now, is to just follow, perhaps, if she won the match she would probably be free right after, the tuning of the events made her mind trigger a memory, a memory that always made her blush whenever she remembers.

'Ryoma-kun…'

She could vaguely remember that even when Ryoma fought a whole tennis club to dump, in order to get the gazillions of tennis balls when he saw then bullying Sakuno.

'Mada Mada dane…'

And his face when they were on the car, his gentle features when he's sleeping at the back of the van.

"Mada Mada dane…"she repeated audible only to herself as she smiled.

"Oi! Sosuke, go easy on her!!"one of them said as the crowd settled outside the fence ready to watch the match.

"That girl looks familiar to me…"Billy muttered beside Kevin who nodded in agreement.

"Wouldn't I like to know…"Kevin stated, as he played with his racket and watched the crowd.

The crowd settled as a purpled haired boy, known as Sosuke, stood at the opposite side of the court, as the auburn haired girl removed her sweater-

"I didn't know Seigaku had Female Tennis Club."Billy muttered as he saw the logo of the jersey sweater the girl just removed, and sat at the bench as she folded the sweater neatly and settled it beside her tennis bag, and grabbed her pink racket from it.

Kevin heard what Billy said, so she came from the same school as Ryoma Echizen,she had the jacket probably from the tennis club, he thought, as he shifted on is position and lowered his back as he stood watch at the petite girl.

"Its self judgment."Sosuke yelled to the other side of the court, as he adjusted the knot of his rubber shoes.

"Wakattaru."Sakuno muttered as she stood her stance, and adjusted her hat.

"She's not going to play like that?is she?"Billy said eyeing Sakuno's wedges.

"Let's just see…"Kevin muttered in response.

The other guys at the side benches were grinning at the sight, they completely had the girl at their paws, let alone the good sight they'll be having in a few minutes, with Sosuke in the courtside, he is invincible.

Sosuke served the ball, as Sakuno returned it with a sloppy lob shot, as Sosuke smashed it without giving her a chance to return.

15-lov

Sosuke grinned at this, the girl wasn't any match for him.

Kevin shuddered at this, if he only knew Ryoma Echizen possessed the biggest head and the largest ego in the world this guy would've been mistaken as the title holder.

30-lov

Sakuno smiled at this, the points doesn't really matter to her at the moment, of course she wants to win, having a date to a man you barely even know isn't really that ideal for her, his moves were visible to her eyes, there wasn't anything really different with his moves, moreover, the length of his legs and his speed was something to watch out for, she had to formulate a plan quick, this guy doesn't seem to be the type of a gentleman to her, logically speaking, there's no room for losers.

One game to Lov

Sakuno tugged her cap closer to her view as she stood at the baseline, as she served the ball with slowly increasing speed, trying to analyze his following movements and reactions.

Kevin snickered at this, seems like he had figured out, She knew she had no chance in winning in her state, she can't run properly, she's slow and she can't jump freely, she's using her mind to win, not her brawns, as if she's going to win in that kind of game to begin with, it's a bare fact, stamina is born to be rich in a man's system.

…

Two games to one

Sakuno won two consecutive games in a row with an ace, having her opponent into dump, she smiled at herself in achievement and gained an ounce of confidence, everytime she plays with Ryoga or Michael back in Paris, it's a no doubt she'd loose, she had thought simply because they were stronger, she had always tried to beat them but, they're just steps ahead, because they were original, and had established their own playing style unlike her, she lived through depending on Ryoga's teaching too much that she lost her confidence in her own techniques.

"I think I saw her somewhere, don't you?"Billy concluded as he fixed his eyes at the girl who was ready for a net play.

"She's Echizen's girl friend" Kevin muttered as he smirked.

…

Three games to Two

40-lov

Sakuno gave a good topspin shot to Sosuke, that he can't help to lob the ball to her.

"Kuso!"

Sakuno settled her doubts again.

She jumped high, and focused her sight at the approaching lobbed ball, and gripped her racket as tight as she can, and twisted her wrist counter clockwise slightly, and aimed slightly and wished to her lucky stars she'll make it, firstly, its her first time to try out her own technique, she mostly copied Ryoga's techniques for a quick start, and she wouldn't miss this chance of trying out this technique.As she immediately untwisted her wrist at the exact point the ball made contact to her racket, as the ball hit the ground with speed and made a circle track around Sosuke's left foot without bouncing.

Sakuno was in awe as she removed her hat from her head and took a good look at the track the ball just made, and in shock she muttered.

"I-I-did…I did it!"she exclaimed as she threw herself in the air and jumped, she had been perfecting that move for days now, but she never used it in a match before, as warmth of happiness obscured her senses.

He smirked at this and raised an eyebrow.

"Did not, its out!" he shouted as he grinned devilishly at the girl who looked at him with confusion,for it was clear o everyone's eyes that ball didn't bounce anywhere but beside the net, and on his feet, Sakuno shook her head slightly, as tears welled up on the sides of her eyes.

"D-demo! It was-"

"It was…self-judgment here remember?" he then smirked.

She was in no position to fight him now, she can see it in his eyes, he won't let her pass, but if she continued, he would just cheat again, and this would be nothing but pointless, besides she knew ery well that she's got a slim chance of winning right now, the gears, and the jetlag, the worse jetlag ever since she stepped in foreign countries, and her feet is killing her with that sprained right ankle from a while ago, she's in her worse condition, and winning would be nothing more than a goal way out of her reach.

'Thats unfair...' she thought as she fidgeted, Ryoga isn't here to defend her now, neither is Michael, she's on her own now, she had been depeding on them each and everyday of her life, at the council ,at the school, and at every random details of hern life, and now she must stand on her own feet.

'Right…'

"D-Demo! T-that's just cheating…"She said in a pleading voice as she adjusted her cap and gripped her racquet for emotional support.

Sosuke turned his back and glared at the girl as he crossed the court and stood infront of her as he stomped.

"And you're saying that I cheated!!!" He shouted as he was about to hit the girl, when something hit his face square in the jaw.

"I missed. That was for the face."

"Hitting a girl is against man rules you know that?"Billy said as he saw the girl's pleading cinnamon optics close to tears, and a second she failed to stop it, tears flowed out to her cheeks.

Kevin winced at the sight of this, what a disgrace he thought, an athlete who doesn't even consider the word sportsmanship, and cherry-a big cherry on top with syrup- he's cheating on a girl, cheating on a girl in tennis, what more could he do to take his name to shame.

"I really just can't take it seeing girls cry."Billy stopped as he slowly took steps towards Sosuke.

"You-You!!bastard!"Sosuke yelled as he grabbed Sakuno by the arm, Kevin and Billy heard her yelp as they winced.

That's it! That's the last starw, he's over this stupid nonsense, Kevin dragged Billy behind and grabbed the ball from his pockets and smirked as he pointed his racquet at Sosuke's face.

"Shameful of a man, if you want to settle this match, I'd be happy to dump you into trash."He declared.

Sosuke raged at this, this kid has some guts, for a small foreigner, he looks strangly familiar to him, as he focused his memory back, way back at Junior High, that's it! He knew this kid! He saw him on T.V, with that He frowned, so that's where the bottomless pit of confidence came from, Kevin Smith, the living rival of Ryoma Echizen, minus Kintarou that is.

"Hm, you can have your girlfriend back, she's not even pretty." Sosuke announced as he threw Sakuno away, with Billy catching him by the shoulders preventing her to fall to the dirt, as they watched the crowd slowly mutter curses and move away.

"A-Ano…Arigato Gozaimasu."She muttered as she bowed he head in gratitude.

"Ahh…its alright!!" Billy said as he waved his hand in front of him.

"You're from Seigaku." Kevin spoke as he pointed to her jersey jacket.

"Hai! watashi wa Ryuzaki Sakuno desu."She said.

"Kevin Smith" Kevin said

Sakuno's eyes widened, so that's why he's so good with tennis, he looks familiar to her simply because he is Kevin Smith from the America invitational team.

"Billy Cassidy."Billy followed.

"A-Ano!!Its a pleasure to meet you again!"Sakuno stated hurriedly as she lowered her head again.

"Nice to meet you too…"Billy spoke.

"What were you doing here?"Kevin asked.

"I was looking for this court, they took me here if I play with them in exchange."She said, as she looked down at her dirty foot, from running with the open dirt.

"Watch where you're going next time."Kevin said as he turned his back and scooped his tennis back on his shoulder.

"Hai…ano..Thanks again."She said again.

"Ja!Oh! tell your boyfriend our we'll be seeing him soon!"Billy said.

Sakuno looked back innocently.

'Koibito….' She thought as she kept thinking who they were talking about.

The suddenly, Kevin stopped on his tracks, and looked slightly back, and smirked.

"Nice smash."

And with that they left.

…

Kevin took his phone from his pockets and dialed a number,of a familiar person he would like to meet soon.

…

Ryoma looked up at the sky as he lay down at the floor again, as per usual of his day, he was spending sometime at the rooftop since they don't have a practice for today,he felt something vibrate in his pocket as he lazily grabbed it and answered.

"What do you want?"

…

Kevin smirked as he heard him answer.

"Oi,I rescued your girlfriend, you owe me."

A.N: Tadaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peek for the next chapter: Sakuno will be back at Seigaku.

Thanks for all those who pointed out the wrong stuff about Japanese and the such, and YUKI!! if you're reading this ima kill you so don't you dare go back here... :D i thought so, i should've followed my instincts, i shouldn't have asked her to check this...oh well, at least i had some reviewers to point that out, thanks!! ja!!