Disclaimers: Refer to the first page.

A/N: Sorry it takes me so long to update this. Just to warn you, it will probably take as long for future updates since it's EXAM time. I hate this period. Any of you that don't? I would really like to know one so that I can ask "Why do you like exams?"

"Ne, Ryoma, how strong is your twin?" Fuji asked.

"Yeah, Ochibi. I want to know as well, nya." Kikumaru, who had just come back from his laps, was slightly out of breath but still energetic as ever.

All the regulars were gathered around the fence of the court where Ryoya would be having a match. None were interested in their own practices. As their attentions were so divided, Tezuka decided to let it be; observation was one important aspect of training as well. Of course, he was curious too.

"From what we've seen yesterday during the match between him and Kikumaru, he was quite stable in his play but…" Inui thumbed through his notebook, "…he didn't use any special skills." At least, he did not seem to use any special skills, he added in his heart. Although he suspected that Ryoya had a very familiar skill; he wasn't very sure yet – that was why he did not voice his suspicion.

"Ryoya does not play to win. Tennis is only a hobby to him," Ryoma said. "He stopped playing seriously when we were only 8."

"Eh? Naze?" Kikumaru asked; his eyes opened wide in surprise. Ryoya had the potential to be a very good player - even though he would never be as good as Ryoma - if he trained hard.

Ryoma frowned. His memory of that day was not nice. "He nearly drowned. The doctors took 3 hours to save him. Although they succeeded, he contracted pneumonia. We nearly lost him. Since that incident, his lungs are not functioning very well and he gets tired easily. So, he gave up serious tennis and study has become an even bigger part of his life."

A heavy silence descended upon the group. None of them had expected this. Even the mother hen of Seigaku tennis club did not say anything.

"He's a defensive player. He can return almost any types of shots even though he has no special skills himself." Except one, he added to himself. "He does not play to win but to get a tie. That work well enough with weaker opponents but the stronger ones can easily win against him," Ryoma continued explaining, bringing the focus away from the depressing past.

"If his stamina isn't that good, wouldn't that kind of play stretch the game, making it even more difficult for himself?" Momoshiro asked, confused. Normally, players would try to end the matches as quickly as possible if they knew they wouldn't be able to last for long.

"Yes, it's too dangerous. Maybe we should stop the match." Oishi's mother hen nature had finally kicked in. "He could get injured or worse." Images of Ryoya collapsing and being sent to the hospital ran through his mind. "No! That must not happen! Tezuka, we have to stop the game!"

"Oishi, calm down, nya. Yaya-chan is not Ochibi. He won't push himself to the brink of exhaustion," Eiji immediately tried to soothe the Vice Captain.

Fuji tried to distract everyone's attention from Oishi. As much fun as he found his extreme reactions to be, he could see that Ryoma was beginning to get influenced by the nervous and worried words of Oishi. "Ne, Momo, did you not pay attention yesterday?" Fuji teased with a smile on his face. He scratched his chin contemplatively. "Hmm…Was there a certain imouto of a certain Fudomine buchou here yesterday?"

"Mo…Fuji-senpai," Momoshiro whined at the teasing. At the smirk on his team-mates' faces, he tried to switched the topic. "I did pay attention. But I was too frustrated at 'Ryoma's' bad play to notice much." Besides, there was no Inui-senpai at the side to explain everything, he added in his heart.

Ryoma scowled. "I did not play badly."

"I thought Ryoya to be you then. Compared to your usual games, that is considered bad. I thought you did it intentionally," Momo explained, a bit exasperated. "How would I know it's Ryoya?"

Ryoma was still scowling though. Although he knew that it would be near impossible for anyone to tell them apart - unless it was their family - let alone the tennis club members did not even know he had a twin, he was still unhappy to be thought of 'playing badly'.

Momoshiro sweat-dropped at the glare he got from the shortest Seigaku regular.

"3-all," the judge called out, drawing their attentions back to the court.

Momoshiro frowned. "Ryoya seemed to be out of breath already," he commented. He was a bit worried for his new kouhai now that he knew of the condition of his health.

"Don't worry about him. He could still win if he wants to," suddenly, their coach's voice broke through their concentration on the transfer student. "He might not have any special skills; there is one that he has mastered, one that we're all very familiar with. Right, Ryoma?"

"Uisu." His attention was still on his twin.

"If only he would start playing seriously," Sumire muttered. "Hmmm…" A smirk appeared on her face, making her wrinkled face seemed evil. "Ryoya!" She called out loudly, drawing everyone's attentions. "If you lose, you will be separated from your precious Onii-sama for a whole week."

Ryoya froze. Reminded once again of that fact, he felt the pressure in him rose. "I must win," he muttered to himself, "I must go with Onii-sama; I cannot let that porcupine-haired senpai take advantage of my innocent Onii-sama." His eyes narrowed in concentration.

The next 20 minutes was an eye-opener for the regulars. It was as if they were seeing a mini Tezuka on the court; Ryoya was winning with his own version of 'Ryoya Zone'. He had not moved an inch from the spot he stood on for the entire 20 minutes. In the end, he won by 7 to 5 to the 3rd year senior.

"Tezuka Zone?" Kikumaru yelled in shock.

"Eiji, you did not realize it? He tried to use it against you yesterday but your plays prevented it every time," Fuji teased his shocked classmate.

"We call it 'Returner'. My father taught him that skill to counter his weak stamina," Ryoma said in a flat tone. He did not begrudge his twin the skill, but he was a bit…unhappy with that baka Oyaji's unfairness.

Actually, Ryoya was the 'baby' of the family. Their father was especially over-protective of him. Even he was concerned for him all the time. Some might say he had a 'brother complex' but he did not think so. He was only 'caring' for his younger twin like a good older brother should. Of course, teaching his brother's bullies an unforgettable lesson was not because of 'brother complex' nor was following Ryoya everywhere the first month he was discharged from the hospital after the incident. He was only being a responsible older brother.

He was certainly not stalking his twin. Stalking was what that baka Oyaji did, not him. He was only making sure his twin was really fully-recovered. Besides, it was only for a month. After that, his routine returned to normal unlike his father, who had to have his ears pulled by Okaa-san before he stopped. He most certainly did not stop due to the 'private talk' from his mother.

"O…nii…sama, I wi…n," Ryoya managed to force out before he collapsed right into Ryoma's arms.

"Ryoya?" Ryoma's face paled. A note of concern had crept into his normally cocky voice.

"We should send him to the hospital," Oishi was already panicking. This time, there was no Kikumaru there to calm him since even the acrobatic player was going into a panic attack.

"Calm down," Sumire tried to calm everyone down. All the other members were gathered around the area. "Go to your own games!" she yelled but none listened to her.

"What are you doing? 10 laps!"

Tezuka's trademark punishment worked. All of the members quickly moved away to carry out the punishment. After all, none of them wanted to have it doubled or tripled. The glint of light from Inui's glasses and the pair of sharp blue eyes of the tensai only served to convince them further.

"He is only exhausted. He will be fine after he rests." As if to agree with the coach's words, Ryoya snored.

"Eh?" Kikumaru, Oishi, and Momoshiro chuckled in relief.

"Fusshhh…" Kaido was relieved as well even though his expression was still as stern as always.

"Ryoma, you are dismissed today. Send him home safely. He has no more matches after this." Sumire stared skeptically at the twins. "Maybe someone else needs to help you. I doubt you can carry him all the way home…Perhaps it will be better if I call for a taxi for you."

Ryoma, who was immensely relieved to know that his twin was only sleeping, scowled fiercely at the innuendo. However, he kept silent because he realized the truth of the words.

Momoshiro was about to offer his assistance when he was cut off. "I…"

"I will help him," Fuji offered, shocking the regulars and also the coach. It was not because they found him to be an unhelpful person, but rather that they had never noticed him to be close to Ryoma. "We have a date this evening. Right, Ryoma?" he asked the youngest regular with an innocent smile on his face.

"Eh?" Kikumaru's jaws hanged open. "Fuji, you never told me you and Ochibi…." He couldn't finish the words. Was it the shock or was it the big smile from Fuji that stopped his sentence? He did not know.

"Hai, Eiji? What are you trying to say?" Fuji asked cheerfully.

"Iie. It's nothing. Have a fun date, nya," Kikumaru threw an evil smirk at Ochibi. He had something new to tease him with.

Oishi, who had recovered from his shock, gestured wildly with his hands. "We can't let them go off alone. Who knows what will happen? What if…" A lot of indecent pictures came to his mind. "Wah! This can't happen. Momo, you help Ryoma. Fuji, you will stay and finish your practice. After that, you will go straight home."

"Eh?" Momoshiro still had not recovered from the shocking revelation. Fuji and Ryoma? What was the world coming to? Wait a minute. Did Oishi fuku-buchou just ordered him to do what he thought he heard? That would mean having Fuji-senpai as his enemy. Images of many ways to be humiliated ran through his mind. "Yadda!"

"Fusshh…" Kaido walked away from the scene calmly, a blush on his face.

Ryoma was watching all these with a smirk on his face. After these few months of private matches with Fuji-senpai, he was getting used to his devilish pranks. He enjoyed them even; as long as he was not the subject of his unwelcome attention. He could clearly see that Kawamura-senpai was still frozen. A discreet glance at the buchou and he was disappointed. It seemed nothing could shake his world. A glimpse at Inui senpai, and he paled a little; the data tennis player was unshakable in a different way.

"Ii, data." Inui was busy scribbling in his notebooks.

"What are you thinking about, Oishi? Ryoma and I have practice matches after school. That's all." Another innocent smile with a bit of faked confusion showed on his face. This is fun.

"Eh?" Another round of relieved gasps sounded on the court. Or were they disappointed gasps?

"Don't scare us like that yo, Fuji-senpai. Don't scare us like that na." Momoshiro rubbed his chest, trying to slow down his erratic heartbeats.

"So, Fuji, where do you and Ryoma go for your matches?" Kikumaru asked; curiosity obvious in his voice and on his face.

"Sa..Where is it, I wonder. Hmm…" Fuji scratched his chin, pretending to be in deep thoughts.

Kikumaru wanted to prod him for an answer but he knew his friend wouldn't reply if he did not want to; and he clearly did not. He switched his target to the other one. "Ochibi, tell me."

"Yadda," Ryoma answered straightaway, no hesitation in his voice. He did not know why but he was reluctant to share his private time with the tensai, not even with his own twin. He had planned to sneak out this evening.

"Hidoi, Ochibi," Kikumaru pouted. "Oishi…"

Oishi sweat-dropped. "Let them be, Eiji. We have our own dat…" he shut his mouth as soon as he realized what he was about to say; but he was too late. Everyone's attention was on him and his partner.

Momoshiro snickered. "So, Kikumaru-senpai, you're with Oishi-senpai, huh?" Although he was slightly homophobic, he could still accept this Golden Pair. In fact, the news did not surprise him at all.

Meanwhile, Fuji helped Ryoma with his twin and they slipped away unnoticed by all except Tezuka, Inui and the coach. None of them opened their mouths to alert the rest. It was most probably because they did not want to be the target of Fuji's sadistic nature. A small nod from Tezuka was the only indication he noticed.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

After taking a taxi home and depositing Ryoya on the bed, Fuji and Ryoma went out again, leaving Nanako to take care of the boy.

Luckily for Ryoma, she was home when they arrived. He did not want Fuji-senpai to see the room he was sharing with his twin, especially not all the bottles of skincare products. Who knew what conclusion he would arrive upon (and probably hit home too)?

"Are we going to the same place, Ryoma?" Fuji asked after they were out of the big house.

"Hn."

"You are lucky to have such a pretty cousin to help you look after your twin, ne," Fuji tried to strike a conversation with the quiet Ryoma.

Ryoma could feel a pang in his heart at the compliment to his cousin. Since he did not understand it, he pushed it to the back of his mind. "Hn."

"Ne, Ryoma, next time, let's not go to the tennis court." Fuji looked straight ahead. He might seem calm but he was a little anxious. "Let's go for a movie tomorrow."

Ryoma stopped in his tracks. His first reaction was to reject Fuji-senpai's suggestion. Compared to watching movies, he definitely preferred playing tennis. However, what came out was, "Uisu." Even he was surprised by his own answer. He pulled his cap lower to cover his confusion.

A big smile stretched from ear to ear, brightening up Fuji's face. "What type of movie do you like, Ryoma?"

"…Tennis championship," Ryoma answered honestly.

"Sa. I do not think that there is any showing in the cinema. How about if I choose for the both of us? You only need to be present."

"Hn." Ryoma quickened his pace. The tennis court was already in his vision. Everything else was forgotten. "Mada mada dane."

Fuji chuckled cheerfully, a wistful look on his face as he stared at Ryoma's back. When will you understand my feelings?

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile in the Echizen residence, Ryoya was hugging a pillow to his chest tightly. "Let's go back to America, Onii-sama," he mumbled in his sleep. A happy smile was on his face. Whatever he was dreaming about, it was definitely a sweet dream. He was unaware that his Onii-sama was in the process of being 'snatched' while he was having his beauty sleep.

To ba continued...

A/N: By the way, I'm not going to update until there are at least 30 reviews. That would provide me with a plausible excuse and also enough time to finish my exam first. Hahaha... I need an excuse so that I don't feel guilty leaving you guys hanging there. I hate it when it happens to me yet I'm treating you the same way. I'm so evil. Hehehehe...