Hey there! Somehow I managed to write this chapter on time *cough*by ignoring my homeworks*coughcough*

The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi-sensei. So do the characters, especially Zaizen.

Sorry for my bad English and/or typos.

Hope you'll like this short chapter :)

Ch3: Cooling Down

The sun shone brightly on the clear sky. It was still the beginning of summer, but the temperature was already hot enough to knock some people out. No one could resist not swimming in the large body of cool water in front of them. Well, no one except Tsubaki, who sat not far from the pool and was half-heartedly watching over a group of 2 graders fooling around in the pool.

Why she was here? Good question. Her plan of making Tsubasa skip her class activity hadn't gone smoothly; his classmates still managed to make him joined them. She sighed. Oh well, at least they didn't force him to wear swimsuit. They let him sit back and watch them swimming from the poolside.

But still, she couldn't let her guard down. They might do something unpredictable.

She lazily rested her chin onto a table in front of him. Sometimes she found doing this thing was heart-sickening. She had a bad habit of thinking the worst possibilities of any case. She knew that it was not nice to always think badly of people around her. However, Tsubasa's secret was really important for her family. It was her responsibility to protect it.

That Zaizen. His words back then still echoed in her head. Just like he said, she might be one of those annoying people who like to judge a book only by its cover. It couldn't be helped though, who wouldn't think that he was a bad guy? His manner, the way he talk, the earrings… plus bad gossip about him.

Anyhow, she didn't dare to talk to him again ever since. It was hard to admit, but he had been really scary back then. As far as she knew, he hadn't leaked the secret to anyone. She could only wish he would keep his mouth shut till the world ended.

"Spying on your brother again?" she heard a male voice. The voice was quite familiar but couldn't remember where she heard it. Maybe she heard it in school. Well, since there were some of her juniors here, it might belong to one of them. Some of them must have just passed near her and she accidentally overheard their loud conversation.

Wait, what did he mean by spying?

It took some time for her to realize that the person was alone and it was her whom he was talking to.

She turned around to find the certain person that stood right behind her. A tall guy in plain black swimming trunks casually sipping drinks from a bottle. His sunglasses covered her eyes, but she could still recognize him nevertheless.

"Zaizen?" she gasped. "What are you doing here?"

The said guy just simply pointed the group of 2nd grader across the pool instead of answering her question.

Her mouth shaped an o as she learned that he attended the same class as Tsubasa.

"Then, why aren't you with them?" she changed the question.

"Just bought some cold drinks." he simply said.

She raised a brow. "Oh, I see…"

She didn't expect he would still talked to her after what happened some days ago. He even talked and acted like nothing had gone wrong between them.

"I was just curious who would be stupid enough to wear long sleeves shirt and a pair of long jeans in summer." He added.

She twitched hearing his somewhat rude statement. "Pardon me; a girl shouldn't expose too much skin."

"You sound like the olds."

She decided not to talk to him anymore and looked away, letting a gap of silence growing between them. After a while, he left without saying anything.

She let out a long sighed and rested her head again on the table. What's with that rude behavior? He only made her mood worse. He didn't even show respect to her, who was older than him. What was wrong with her clothing? It was none of his business.

Was he trying to pick a fight with her?

How could he dare to say that she sounded like the olds? She was only one year apart from him. Well, she did want him to show a little respect to her because she was older, but she was not that old.

"So hot." She growled.

"That's why you shouldn't wear that kind of clothing, stupid senpai."

"Huh?"

She flinched a cold thing touch her head. She quickly looked up and found him holding a different bottle of drinks he had been drinking before.

"Here," He handed her the bottle, which she received with a puzzled look. "Cool yourself down. It'll be silly if you get a heat stroke."

He turned and walked away, leaving Tsubaki who was still confused about what was going on.

She stared at the bottle. It was still sealed. Had he just bought it? Had he left before to buy it? Had he bought it... for her?

He was unexpectedly kind, wasn't he?

She looked at him and watched his back as he walked to join his friends. Suddenly she felt her cheeks burning.

She cursed herself.

That was so silly. Had she just thought that he had been hot?

Hope you like it though it's quite short.

Yeah, Zaizen is actually a very kind boy. *pats Zaizen's head* He's a kind boy though he is kinda rude to the others. *pats his head again and received a glare*

Please review! Concrits are always welcome!

Also, please tell me if you find Zaizen goes OOC or Tsubaki turns into a sue.

Thanks!