I need something very important to tell so when you are done reading this chapter go all the way down by 'important'. Please read it. *bows*

Warnings: Can contain cursing and later on some more mature subjects. Updating will probably take a long time. For this chapter for example, I had it finished a long time ago but I know I have some mistakes in it so I didn't bother to update it. Now I update it anyway. Also, english isn't my first language so there can be some mistakes in it. Just point them out so I can correct them.
Disclaims: I don't own any of the characters from Prince of Tennis. Zikuro Yumi and the whole thing I wrote however, that I do own. Some things I wrote is thanks to TSheena who gave me most of the inspiration~ I also have to thank littlemissknowitall27 for giving me an extra push or a slap at school. It also gave me inspiration =D
Some author ranting: Oh yeah, before I forget, Ryoma is still in middle school. He will appear in the story but not that much. Sorry! I love him too but that's how life is. A bitch *smiles with a sweatdrop*
Summary: Zikuro Yumi is a 2nd year student that goes to Seigaku high school. She isn't your normal every day girl. You want to know what for this she goes though? Come and read for yourself!

Messages are always welcome. May it be good or bad, though I prefer good. You don't have to message me however if you find it 'total crap and you should just be so ashamed of yourself with writing like this and just die somewhere'. Then please refrain of pushing on the send button. Messages and bothering when the next chapter is done can always help me to get it done faster ;) This year however will be a busy year with school and all. Stupid exames DX

I may some use Japanese words and also the name style will be Japanese like. That means it will be last name- first name. All the japanese terms have a number behind them. Not if they come in double again though. You can find them below.

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Some of you must be thinking: What the hell happened in the last chapters again? Since some probably don't want to reread the whole thing again I will give you a summary what all happened:

We met Zikuro Yumi, a small brown haired girl with big green eyes. She's not what you call beautiful but she is cute, like the way a little kitten is cute, and not the kind of cute like a girly girl since she is a tomboy. She hates it when she is being called small or anything like that. Yumi has a dog named Yuri who she loves a lot and a big brother who we haven't met yet. She also seems to have a father who hits her. At Seigaku Yumi is known as the manager of the boys tennisteam. It isn't known yet if she can tennis at all. Yumi seems to be an open person, cheerful, hyper, -slightly- sadistic and dense but though all that she has her own secrets who she doesn't dare to share with others. Even though she is dense she is quite smart. It doesn't come out a lot because her concentration doesn't allow it.
Yumi gave Eiji some sort of sadistic punishment after he gave her a soft hit to stop her from spacing out at lunch. He had to do a lot of extra stuff at training but Yumi takes a bit of pity on his and after a while she says it's enough. After that she spaces off again after thinking about not wanting to lose her first kiss by doing mouth-to-mouth to save the lives of the members of the tennisteam (they drank Inui Juice, luckily they were still alive). Here we find out Yumi used to live in Netherland (but was born in Japan) and had a boyfriend when she was around the age of 11/12. Since her first year of middle school she has been back in Japan. Because her mind isn't on the court she gets accidentally hit in the head by a ball of Kawamura Takashi when he is in his burning mode. It knocks her unconscious and Tezuka brings her to the nurse office. It ends with:

'Nobody heard nor saw that someone was slightly chuckling near the fence of the tenniscourt in amusement.'

Before that someone also seemed to spy on Yumi or at least someone from the tennis regulars. Who is this person? Why does he or she find Yumi's pain amusing? Why am I still rambling while it is already the end of the summary? Read further and maybe you will find out!~

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A small pout was visible on the face of Zikuro Yumi. Not only she had a huge headache and did she felt dizzy, the bandage around her head also felt weird. The wounded girl looked over to the side of the bed where Tezuka sitting. He had once again put on a stoic face. His earlier worriedness disappeared when Yumi woke up and whined the whole time. It was a sign that she was healthy enough. The boy just remained silent while keeping her company. Yumi finally stopped her whining when she noticed that the captain of the tennis team wasn't planning on showing any sympathy for her. She could have known he wouldn't do that. He hardly showed any emotions at all so why would he do now? Well, at least he was beside her and didn't leave. Now she could at least observe him, which gave her something to do. First Yumi looked at his sharp and stern eyes that were directed to the door, waiting for the nurse to come back. Like always she had trouble with reading them. It was always so hard to guess what he was thinking. This made the small tennis manager more curious about him. She wanted to figure out and understand him. The next thing on her mental list was to look at his hair. Yumi simply adored his hair. She couldn't help it she had a hair-fetish. From the whole current tennis club she liked Tezuka's haircut the most. It made her want to ruffle it. Actually, in her 3rd year of middle school she ruffled Ryoma's hair a lot. Maybe she liked his hair even more than that of Tezuka's. Oh, and how she loved to 'borrow' his cap. Even though both things annoyed him, Yumi couldn't help herself. The tennis regulars most of the time looked very amused when she was bothering him. Well, everyone outside Tezuka and Echizen of course. The next thing the girl observed were his lips. They were in a straight line as usual. Sometimes the brunette wondered how Tezuka could be so serious all the time. They still weren't adults, so why not enjoy it for now? She had tried to ask him that question a few years ago but she never gotten any answer to it. The only thing she got was an impassive glance. She sighed at the memory and looked to his firm neck. The injured manager saw it flexing a bit because of his calm breathing. Her eyes went a bit lower again. She knew behind his shirt he had very nice abs. It was the result of all the hard training. Yumi's cheeks began to glow a little by remembering how his half naked body looked like. She had seen it a few times when they went to the beach for training… and quite a lot of times when she accidently walked in on him changing. The poor girl even had fainted from the suddenness of that.
Even though Yumi knew quite a lot vulgar curse words, she didn't knew much about boys, or love for that matter. The girl was quite innocent and dense about that. Luckily that began to lessen a bit with time. It used to be a lot worse. She was around boys most of the time and mostly was considered as one of them,which made her not very aware of being a girl. Of course she knew she was a girl but she mostly didn't behave like one.

"Zikuro-san, are you feeling better now?" Yumi looked at the nurse who she hadn't heard coming back in. She nodded her head even though it was still spinning. "Then I think it is alright for you to go home. But still to be sure… Tezuka-san, could you give her company while she heads back? Just in case if she were to suddenly feel unwell again."

The captain nodded. "Yes." Yumi slowly stood up and glanced at the stoic and much taller guy. Like a real gentleman he got her schoolbag and waited for her to leave the room first. When she did he followed her quietly. They hadn't even left the schoolgrounds when they noticed Taka-san. He was waited at the gate for them. It was obvious he felt guilty, and even more when he saw the bandaged around the victims head. He bowed down deeply.

"I'm sorry Yumi-chan(1)! I never meant for you to get hurt!" Yumi scratched her cheek sheepishly. Sometimes she still had trouble with adapting to the fact that bowing like that is normal in Japan. It made her feel uncomfortable.

"Don't worry about it. You didn't do it on purpose or anything like that. So please stop bowing."

"B-but!"

"Just don't bow. It was an accident and I should've paid more attention to my surroundings." He sputtered a bit more. "My head can take quite a lot. It got used to hard blows." The two tennis regulars frowned when hearing that. Yumi quickly realized her mistake. "You know how clumsy I am. Especially when it is dark but that is because of my poor nightvision." Luckily for her they bought it. "Well, let's go. I want to change out of this stupid uniform." Both boys nodded before walking her home. Yumi was glad that Taka walked back with them for a part of the trip to Yumi's house. She liked his company and at the moment he was probably the only one of the two guys with who she could have a normal running conversation with. The small girl just knew for sure that when he would leave there would be an awkward silence between her and Tezuka. Yumi turned out to be right. The manager who was often mistaken for a freshman in middle school glanced slightly at the captain that looked like a real grown up adult. The two of them were just so different from each other. That was already very noticeable when they met for the first time in their lives. Yumi smiled a bit at the memory. It wasn't exactly the best memory but it reminded her how much she had changed. "Neh neh, Tezuka? Do you remember the first day that we met?" He looked quite surprised that she suddenly came up with that.

"Yes." A small grin began to make its way to the girls face. Her head was still throbbing but she just ignored it. The memory was clearer than before and played inside Yumi's head like a movie.

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It was a nice sunny day when Zikuro Yumi entered a Japanese school for the first time in her life. To be more exact, this school was called Seishun Gakuen Middle School but also went by the name Seigaku. It would be a mouthful every time otherwise. The school year had already begun 2 weeks ago, but in that time Yumi was still in Netherlands, the country with which she was most familiar with. Now she was back in the country where she was born, Japan. The brunette ran a hand through her spiky, short hair and a confident smirk covered her face. Four days before she had cut it to make her look different and more boyish. After that she had dyed dark-blue hairlights in her hair again like she had before. From what she had read about Japanese schools they didn't like this kind of style at all since they considered you as a delinquent then most of the time. Yumi didn't give a damn about that however. As long if they thought she was a guy then it wouldn't matter. The tomboy looked at her schooluniform. By posing of like a guy she manages to get the boy's uniform. She just despised the girl's uniform, mostly about the fact that she had to wear a skirt. In her eyes skirts were just plain evil and made to make females look weaker than men. Yes, wearing trousers was just so much better.
Yumi looked at her new schedule. All the lessons she had chosen was written on it, but not all numbers of the classrooms were behind the lessons. She frowned a bit but quickly decided that she didn't care. She would find out later in the year were she had to be and for the time being she could skip class. "Now… where is my first class…" The delinquent and boyish looking girl glanced around. She had no clue which direction she should be heading. It was then that she noticed a guy who was wearing thick glasses. A small smirk appeared on the girl's face. These kind of guys were easy targets to make them do small jobs is what she learned. He was a first year like her and had black spiky hair. With firm steps she walked up to him. "Oi! You! Glasses-guy over there!" The guy turned around. His glasses reflexed the sun for a second, creating a creepy effect.

"You must be the new transfer student? It is impolite to talk like that in Japan to others that aren't close to you."

Yumi shrugged. "Does it look like I give a shit about it? Just bring me to my classroom." The boy frowned a bit while he pushed his glasses up causing the same effect from before.

"It seems like your parents haven't taught you any manners. Typical European behavior I guess. Let me see your timetable." The tomboy twitched at what he said. She didn't like it at all that he made it seem like he was the one ordering her around. He was good, she had to admit that. Without a protesting sound Yumi gave the timetable to the boy. He studied it longer than he should've had. It annoyed the small freshman to no end. "So your name is Zikuro Yu? Your last name is quite uncommon. Where does it come from?"

"I have absolutely no clue and I don't care. Now, unless you plan on learning my whole schedule out of your head with the idea of stalking me, just bring me to my class or get your ass kicked." The guy frowned a bit and seemed to mutter to himself before looking up at her. Yumi couldn't see it through the thick glasses but he was studying her.

"My name is Inui Sadaharu and welcome to Seigaku. Your class is this way." He turned around and walked to a direction. She nonchalantly strolled besides him. It honestly didn't matter to her what the guy's name was. He wasn't important after all. This guy was just good for errands. The name wasn't important if you could only help her. "This is your homeroom. I wish you good luck on your first day. Now, if you excuse me I have to get to my own class." When he pushed up his glasses again it sparkled again. Yumi waved him off, not even bothering to say a 'thank you' and with an arrogant air around her she entered the classroom. The kids inside the classroom got quiet in an instant and looked at her. They seemed curious but at the same time a bit fearful, just like most of the kids in the hallway. It only made the delinquent and boyish looking girl to smirk more confident. Every time when she made eyecontact with a student they quickly averted their eyes nervously to someone else. The tomboy scoffed at their behavior. These people had already judged her by her looks. It wasn't like they were really wrong but it was partly their fault that she felt better than the rest. They were just all so stupid. Nobody ever seemed to realize that her tough act was just to keep herself safe. She didn't want anyone to get close to her. In the end it was human-nature to stab others in the back.

The teacher entered the class. Behind the door he already noticed that the class was being quiet and now he saw Yumi he knew the cause. "You must be the new foreign transfer student." He narrowed his eyes slightly while looking at her hair. "Introduce yourself to the class." The new student rolled her eyes. So not only the students thought of her as dangerous. Well, not like that she cared for them. She didn't need anyone, especially not these Japanese morons.

"I'm Zikuro Yu and I'm 12 years old. The last thing you need to know about me is that I don't give a damn about you all and will not pretend like I do." There was an awkward silence. Nobody knew how to react to Yu's bluntness, not even the teacher. Finally after a few uncomfortable seconds the teacher finally spoke up.

"That introduction was quite… interesting… Before I give you a seat I have to point out to you that your hair is not acceptable on this school. I expect you to have it dyed back to your original hair color before tomorrow."

"Don't lay your exceptions too high, sensei. It will only disappoint you." Yumi smirks slightly and the teacher narrowed his eyes again.

"There is an empty seat by the wall, next to Tezuka. Tezuka, could you maybe raise your hand so Zikuro can find his seat?" The girl in boy's disguise already walked to the empty seat however.

"Don't bother. I'm not blind or anything." The bold tomboy looked at the boy that was seated next to her. He had the air surrounding him that screamed 'honorstudent'. The transfer student only smirked more. It was obvious for her what the teacher was trying to do. He wanted to use this Tezuka person to put her under good influence. The teacher would probably ask him to show her around the school in the hope they would become friends. Of course the goody-goody honorstudent wouldn't refuse anything his beloved sensei said and would do exactly like what was told.
It just happened like Yumi had figured out, the schoolteacher asked Tezuka to show her around the school in lunchbreak. After that the lesson started. The transfer student didn't even try to pay attention. It was just too boring after all. What also wasn't working was the fact that he wrote in kanji on the blackboard. Never in her life had Yumi been taught to read or write kanji. She was already glad enough she could mostly understand the Japanese language and could speak it well enough. Actually, she had taught herself the Japanese language. So instead of taking notes like a good student she began to draw. Tezuka noticed this and nudged her, trying to make her pay attention. He failed at that however. Instead he got a yelp and his neighbor fell out of her chair. Yumi grumbled a bit and glares at the honorstudent.

"Is something wrong Zikuro?" The girl shifted her eyes to the teacher.

"Oh no, nothing is wrong, sensei." She sounded sweet, especially since people thought she was a boy. "It just shocked me so much at how different the teaching methods are here in Japan." The teacher raised his eyebrow.

"Just sit down in your seat again and continue to pay attention." Yumi scrambled up and sat down again. Next to her Tezuka felt a bit guilty though he didn't show it. It pissed the fresh new troublemaker off. She hadn't really done anything wrong, yet he made her fall off her chair. This honorstudent was so gonna pay for what he did. The lesson continued and was finished a while later. It was a bit obviously it confused the new student that nobody stood up to go to their next lesson. Her one-sided enemy noticed it.

"In Japan it is custom for the teachers to change classrooms instead of the students." Yumi scoffed, feeling embarrassed but trying to hide it.

"You don't have to tell me. I knew that already." Of course she lied and of course Tezuka knew it all too well. Damn him! Her whole pride was going to be ruined. A new teacher walked into the classroom and another lesson started. This time it was World History, something that Yumi actually tried to follow. She had some trouble with that though. Many words that were used she didn't understand and she was way too proud to ask. Soon the lesson was finished. As far as Yumi could follow she had made notes of it in Dutch. They got a few more lessons, in which the transfer student did nothing, before lunchbreak began. Her neighbor stood up and looked down at her. The girl in disguise frowned, not liking it that he stood that tall over her. Quickly she jumped up from her seat and followed the boy. First they went to the cafeteria for lunch. Yumi didn't buy anything at all, not having any money on her.

"Aren't you hungry?" Tezuka had opened his bento. From what Yumi saw it was all homemade, probably by his mother. Her eyes darkened, feeling a bit of jealousy towards the boy in front of her. Some people just had it all.

"No." Tezuka frowned a bit at how impolite his new classmate was before he decided to eat. Yu looked around with a look which made clear she was bored while she waited. A lot of people were staring at the new student. They were intimidated by 'his' looks even though 'he' was smaller. The extreme hair was something that caused most of these negative reactions. After some time Yumi's guide finished eating. There were still leftovers that he didn't eat. Yumi felt envy towards him again. She hardly got any food from her father. Actually, she didn't get anything at all. It wasn't like he couldn't miss the money. He only didn't give a damn about his daughter. The girl didn't realize it but she was glaring at the poor honorstudent who didn't know what he did wrong.

"Let's go then." Yumi huffed but and followed him. The tour was quite awkward. The tomboy didn't fully paid attention and looked around with a noninterest look on her face. This made it even harder for Tezuka to give the information she needed to know if she were to stay at this school. He kept on trying however, not giving up. After the tour the next class started. The only productive thing Yumi did in that time was drawing. It weren't real artworks but atleast it wasn't too bad and she had something to do that way. The student next to her didn't dare to poke her back to the lesson, remembering what happened last time. When school finally had ended Yu took the chance and quickly disappeared. Tezuka mentally sighed a bit while he packed his stuff. He hadn't told his new classmate about the different kind of clubs yet which he could join, nor had he showed it. Maybe he could show it to 'him' tomorrow. With that in mind the honorstudent went to his tennistraining. He changed together with the other boys and stood ready at the courts to grab the tennisballs. It took him a while but after a few minutes he noticed Yu standing behind the fence of the tenniscourt. Strange enough he seemed calm and even smiled a bit. The last time Tezuka saw him, just before he had quickly escaped, he had also been calm but in another way. He seemed more peaceful now. The future tenniscaptain wondered if it was because his new classmate loved tennis. Minutes went by and Yu kept watching the tennispractice from the side. She didn't detect that Yamato, the current tenniscaptain, walking up to her from behind.

"You seem quite fascinated by tennis. Are you interested in joining?" The new freshman jumped a bit in the air in shock and surprise. All of the sudden all her muscles tensed, like she expected a hit at any time now. Through his tense behavior he could still sneer at the green haired captain.

"Why should I be interested in such a stupid sport? It is a sport only losers play!" The captain smiled at who he thought was a male student.

'Then why are you watching?" Yu shoot him a nasty look.

"To find out how high the stupidity is here in Japan!" The tennisclubmembers stopped with what they were doing to watch what was happening. Yamato seemed overshadow the small Yu with his height, what caused the tomboy to keep tensed up.

"Ah, so you're the new transfer student! There seem to be a lot of rumors going around about you. Things like that before you came here you lived in America, spent a few days in jail and fought against terrible gangs on your own and even defeated them. I don't find those rumors very believable though. You hardly have any muscles and are very small." Anger was bubbling up inside of the new student.

"Repeat that one more time, I don't think I heard that well!!" The captain looked a bit taken back.

"I don't find the rumors believable?"

"Not that!"

"You hardly have any muscles?"

"Not that either! The other thing!"

"You're small?" He had managed to find the sore spot.

"Don't you dare to ever say that again!!"

"I'm just stating a fact. You aren't that tall at all." Oh, he really dared to continue on that. This meant war. "But you still not really answered if you want to join the club."

"Fuck you! Just bloody hell no! I won't ever join this idiotic club!!!" A lot more colorful words came out of her mouth before she ran off. Faintly she heard Yamato yell that everyone had to run 20 laps for slacking. Yumi felt her fist shaking in anger. Really, how dared he? She actually should have gotten taller than she is now. This was all because of her past. She shook her head. Yumi rather not thought about it, though that time had some happy memories of when she still had a happy family. It just hurt thinking about that time since it was so scary. Yumi finally relaxed her fist en stretched it. A figure of a half moon was visible because of the pressure of squeezing her fist. Yes, she would give that Yamato and Tezuka an one-way ticket to hell which will make them regret that they ever dared to take a step outside of their house.

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"God, back then I was such a troublemaker." Tezuka nodded slightly. Of course he didn't know anything about her past before she came to Japan. Yumi wouldn't dare to tell him, fearing he would pity or turn his back on her. At least she was sure he would act differently, that was for sure. The tomboy held many secrets that she hadn't told anyone about, not even her best friend. They arrived at her house and Yumi turned to the stern boy. "Thank you for bringing me back." She never let anyone inside of her house, fearing that other would find out about her and her father. Though she wanted the abuse to stop, she still hoped that everything would be alright and that they would bond again. That dream couldn't come true if someone found out about them. "I will stay home tomorrow because I don't think my head will be alright. I will see you soon though." She smiled at him before walking inside. There was her loyal dog to welcome her. "Hey Yuri." She petted him. He wagged his tail happily and licked her hand. "Good boy~ Where is your leash?" The wolfish dog barked before running away. A few seconds later he came back with a leash in his mouth. Yumi got it and put it on his collar. She still didn't feel good but she couldn't let her pet wait any longer. He deserved to be walked with. Besides, if something were to happen with her he would help. Yumi trained him ever he was a puppy and he was very smart. The two of them got outside and went for a walk. Of course Yumi checked first if Tezuka had left. After half an hour she came back. Yumi released Yuri and noticed him getting tense. "What is wrong boy?" A shadow fell over her and a shiver went through her spine. One word repeated inside her mind. "Shit."

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Authors after note: Yes, I know it took me a long time to update it and I fear next time will take even longer. I have a writersblock on this story. I just can't continue on it, which is mostly to blame to myself because I always want it to end with a cliffhanger. There are also still other reasons why I'm slow at updating. One thing is, my father is still very sick. It bothers me more than I show to the people around me. I just try to deal with it on my own since I don't know how else to do it. Then there is also the fact that I have exams very soon... I so hate the stress of it... Can't handle stress at all -.-

Now, something very IMPORTANT!!!!!!!! :

Everyone has their favorite characters in PoT. Now I'm asking you, who do you want to read more about in my story? Yes, I'm taking requests, no, you can't ask for more Tezuka Kunimitsu since he will has his screentime anyway since it's a love story about him. There is still not much love in it but it's best not to rush it or else it will become boring.
But, who else do you want to have more screentime? I already got Momoshiro Takashi and Inui Sadaharu as requests. I'm not saying that it will happen but you can always try. You can just say 'I love to see more of Eiji.' And that is it. Of course you can also ask for people outside of Seigaku but that will be probably a bit harder since you normally don't see them around Seishun Gakuen Middle School. Just try it and maybe I will be able to get rid of my writersblock.~~~~~~

And remember:
Messages are always welcome~

About the chapter: We didn't find out at all who this person is who seems to spy on Yumi at all. Why is that do you ask? Well... This chapter was already quite long and it just didn't fit in the flow right now. At least I gave some of Yumi's history away. Nothing much to say about the chapter right now. My mind is going blank after thinking too much about different things =.=;;
I hope to see you back next time by Normal, Never Heard of It!~

1 -chan - is typically used after girls' names, but is also used for small children of either sex. Among adults, it may be used between close friends. It is commonly regarded as a "girly" suffix (used when speaking to, or among girls), but it is sometimes used to address boyfriends or other boys or adult men, so perhaps a more correct translation would be "cute" or "little". Pets are frequently referred to using this diminutive as well. -chan often indicates a certain fondness.