Well, since I am the typical college student, I love to procrastinate! So instead of doing my homework, I am writing this chapter. Hopefully I can keep up with this for a good part of the semester with all of the stuff I have going on.

Now or Never

The time had finally come. It was the finals of the Kanto Tournament. Their win over Fudonime angered members of the Seigaku team. Kira knew that Kirihara's playing style was a little bit on the dangerous side, but she figured that this was for the best. The team was going to do what ever it takes to win and they will not stop till they do. They had arrived, but it had been raining all day so far.

"They are going to postpone it till next week apparently," Kira said to the team when she came back with Sanada.

"But that's Buchou's surgery!" Kirihara said.

"I know that, but there is nothing we can do about it. This weather is not going to let up anytime soon. It will be a rough day next week. I'll try and figure something out about what to do about this surgery, but he would want us to be here and win rather than there," Kira growled. She was upset that their match was on the same day, but she knew what they had to do and they were going to do it. She noticed that Sanada had gone off somewhere and decided to look for him.

A few moments later, she found him playing a match against Ryoma. She knew how this was going to end. She turned around and walked home to think somethings over.

Over the next few days she watched the team closely and reviewed the stats from the previous matches of Seigaku. She noticed that Fuji was going to be her biggest problem in the singles market. He can end up anywhere on the line up, but if she could correctly guess, Ryoma will end up in Singles 1. She sighed and went up to the board with what the line up of Rikkaidai and a line up of Seigaku. She, of course, used some of Renji's data on matches before she was their manager and such, but she knew at this point how some things will go.

"Gah! I know how they will choose one doubles pair, and two of their singles. Other than that, there is nothing else I can do. Hmmmm. Wait a minute. We have Renji in Singles 3, he played tennis with Inui, so that means that there is a chance they will end up against each other. Then there is Singles 2 which will be Kirihara and that means Fuji will be there because he wants to avenge a friends injury. Then that can leave the Doubles 2 pair to be the two Juniors on the team, Momo and Kaidoh," Kira said pulling names over on the board to make the line up. She then pulled the files on Seigaku and looked at the data and projected how the matches would go. "This is going to be the toughest fight there is for us, and it is not the only battle we will be facing."

Sanada walked into her office and noticed her desk was in array and that she had the board made up with what she thought the their line up would be.

"So what do you think of it?" Kira asked.

"It looks good, but will it work in our favor?" Sanada said.

Kira sighed, "I have no clue. Seigaku is just too unpredictable. The only thing that I will say is that it will be a very close match, but this is not what we want, especially this week."

Sanada looked down at the third year still staring at the board. She sighed one more time and she went to the desk to put somethings away. She looked up and locked her chestnut eyes on his face and said, "Seiichi wants us to win this no matter what. You know that he wants us there and in the right mind set."

Sanada nodded and left her office with her, but went their separate ways when they reached the gates. Kira went to the one place where she felt comfortable since she came here.

"Hey you. How are you feeling?" Kira asked stepping into the room nervously. She still hated hospitals but it didn't seem as bad this time around.

He was quiet and looked vacant. It was almost as if he gave up. She eyes fell down and she just stared into space, "Everything will be fine, you have nothing to worry about. I promise you that. I have looked after them and they have learned to respect me for who I am. Please, don't give up fighting now. You are stronger than that, even in this short time that I have gotten to know you, I know you are the type of person who would never give up."

"My life is tennis. That's all I want in life. Nothing more than that. The doctors say that I may never play again," Yukimura said keeping his voice quiet.

"Prove them wrong. You will play again, trust me."

"Says the girl who gave up playing."

"My father's death caused a lot of that. Playing never really felt the same, and just everything in general just fell apart. I'm trying to get that passion back, but nothing has given me that spark of encouragement or that feeling that I want to play again," Kira tried to explain.

"Your father must have been important to you."

"He was. He taught me tennis. He never made it pro because of an injury, but he was the best in my eyes. He made me fall in love with the sport and everything else. When he got sick, he never gave up. He wanted to win, but then one day, he knew he was losing his battle and he started to accept his fate. I watched him decide to give up on his life. He chose to stay in the hospital and die there instead of going home and living out his last days doing what he loved. Over time I learned that he was wrong and he should have kept fighting. I don't want to lose someone else close to me because they gave up."

This was the first time that he had heard about her father. He was silent for another moment before saying. "You are really adamant about me not giving up."

Kira looked at him, "Plus, don't do that to your sister. She looks up to you and wants her big brother there."

"I guess you are right. I feel scared for the first time in a long time. If something goes wrong, then I won't make it out alive."

"I know that is a scary thought, but you have to have faith and believe in yourself. Even though the team won't be there the entire time, we will make sure we win and make you proud."

Yukimura smiled for a little, "Good. You should probably head home now. It must have been a long day for you."

"Yeah, but promise me that you are going to keep fighting. Please. Oh, and this is what I predict their line up is going to be," Kira said pulling out a folder and showing it to him.

"How do you think it is going to go?"

She slouched in her chair and sighed,"Either way. There is a good chance of them winning, and a chance of them losing. It all depends on how willing they are to fight for it and how much Seigaku wants it. I read that Kunimitsu went to Germany for rehab for his arm a few weeks ago. Both teams are fighting for their captains that aren't there right now. It's a battle of the wills."

"Who's will is stronger."

"Honest opinion or what you want to hear?"

"Honest."

"Seigaku."

He was silent. He was expecting her to said Rikkai, but he figured she knew something that he didn't.

"If the match was last week, we would have one easily, but with the delay, this changes everything. They have a week to gain that confidence that they didn't have before. Especially that freshman. Sanada creamed him, and now he is probably evolving and making himself stronger so he can beat him again. I know that is what will happen."

"Let's just hope that doesn't happen."

Kira nodded, " Well, I should get going now. I'm pretty sure my mom wants me home for dinner. I'll see you later!"

"See ya."

Kira walked home thinking about everything that has happened in the past few years. She knew there must be something that she should do. She decided just to let it go for now and just wait it out.

The day of the finals has finally arrived. Kira woke up and made her way to the bus where she would meet the team. She thought back to the days leading up to the finals and deciding that this was the right thing to do. She sat quietly on the bus and went through her things. She knew that today was going to be tough on the team. Yukimura will be going into surgery shortly, and they are here playing a match.

"Something on your mind?" Mauri asked.

"Nope, just getting ready for everything," Kira said.

The arrived at their venue and took their places. Kira sat on the bench with her board out and ran over everything one last time with them, "If we make this a short a sweet match, we can get out of here in time and not have to worry. If something happens where we need to go over time, then we will. After your match, you should leave and get to the hospital. There is not much else to say about that. One last thing to be concerned with is that they have a fresh new attitude it seems like, so be on your best game. Any slacking and I will have no choice but to remove you from the team."

"What?" Kirihara said. "You can't do that!"

"Yes, I can. Yukimura told me that part of my job is to continue finding new members for the team and have back ups prepared, but I doubt that will happen," Kira said flipping through some pages. "Now lets get this going!"

This was the match that she was fearing. Kirihara's. She knew that this was not going to go well, she just prayed that he didn't get too blood thirsty out there. As the match continued she noticed that Fuji was almost making him fear his former self.

"Eh, his expression changed. This was something that has never been seen before. I have never seen him look angry before," Kira said on the bench.

"Ah, Kirihara will learn a valuable lesson from all of this," Sanada said.

Kira raised an eyebrow, "Like how to not go over the edge so quickly?"

Sanada replied by nodding his head. Kira looked down at her watch and noticed the time, " This needs to end right about now. This is not going according to the plan. Gah, at this rate, we will be late and miss his operation completely."

Sanada remained quiet as the match came to an end, "We need to inform them."

Sanada got up from the bench surprising Kira and followed him quickly. They explained the situation to Seigaku and Sanada came back and motioned for his team to leave, "Kira you are going too."

"Like hell. I promised him that I would stay here for the entire match. That includes you!" Kira exclaimed.

She walked down and took her seat on the bench. In her mind, she wanted to go, but she knew that she had to keep her promise. Something was just telling her that.

As Sanada's match was going on, she was constantly worried about Yukimura. She watched as the freshman played strongly against Sanada, but this is what she expected of him. All she had to do then, was wait out to see the outcome of the entire match. The match was almost over and she knew that the kid was gonna win. She even saw it in Sanada's face that he had been beaten.

"Well, we still get to go to Nationals," Kira sighed. "I told ya this was gonna happen."

Sanada was quiet on their way to the hospital. Kira knew that this was going to be the other tough thing they faced today, but she knew that there was more to this than just that. They arrived at the hospital just in time, the operation was a success. Kira smiled at the thought of maybe her work load going down, but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

It was a few weeks after Regionals and Kira was on a lazy spree in her office. Yukimura was still in rehab, but he would be back in time for Nationals. All of a sudden her phone rang and she answered it to find that it was Ryuzaki from Seigaku calling her to invite them to a special selection camp for a Goodwill game against a team from the United States.

"Sure, we will attend," Kira said.

"You know that this means you are coming too," Ryuzaki said on the other line.

"I figured as much, but what would I be doing?"

"You will be helping figure out this line up. We want you out there observing. I saw your note pad that you had during our match. You are very technical, not like Inui and Renji, but you have similar qualities. Be the eyes that we can't normally be."

"Okay, I'll do it."

Kira hung up the phone and made it out just in time for the end of practice. Sanada was giving his final words in order to prepare them for nationals coming up.

"I have one announcement. I received a phone call from Ryuzaki-sensei from Seigaku. All of the regulars are invited to a special camp to participate in a Goodwill match against a team from the United States. I have agreed to attend and have prepared the arrangements for all of the regulars. We leave in two days!"

There was a low rumble among the regulars, but from what she could make out, it was positive. From that point, Sanada dismissed practice and they all went their separate ways. Kira knew that this process was going to be fun, but there was something inside of her that actually wanted to play a match again. Maybe the guys were giving her back her passion.

I know this kinda really fast forwards through a lot of the Regionals, but the selection of the Goodwill games will be a few chapters. The big thing is that she may play a match during this period! I'm still planning this out in my head. I have a lot of reading to do for my classes and just other general work. I hope to keep updating this on a weekly basis, if I have the time. Thanks!

R&R!