I do not own Prince of Tennis!

Kumiko is my OC, she's Tezuka's younger sister and is a member of the Rikkai boys' tennis team

It was winter and now the students are walking out of the school building, all huddled up in their coats and scarfs, not to mention the tennis regulars. Since the indoor courts were used and they couldn't practice if the temperature was too low, they decided to make it a day off.

"I guess the weather is too much for us to play today…" Jackal said.

"It's cold…" Kumiko shivered. Niou then placed his hand on Kumiko's head and ruffled it.

"Better get home, kiddo. Before you catch another cold." Niou said as Kumiko pouted.

"Niou-kun's right, Miko-yan. You're going to catch another cold if you can't keep your body warm. And I don't think Yukimura-kun will be pleased if you skip too many practice session."

"It's not my fault I'm weak to cold…" Kumiko said as she adjusted her scarf.

"But Kumiko, you're already all covered like that and you're still cold?" Akaya asked as he watched Kumiko from top to bottom. Kumiko was all covered up, from her ears to her toes; all of her body is covered, either from the coat or the muffles.

"I told you I'm not good with cold… especially on winter…" Kumiko mumbled.

"But you look cute, all huddled up like that." Marui said as Kumiko's face reddened.

"Don't say things like that, Marui-senpai…"

"What? It's true. Look at how people keep staring at you when you're all huddled up like that."

"… I hate winter…"

"But that doesn't mean you hate snow, right? Look." Yanagi said as Kumiko looked up from her scarf and watched something white starting to fall off from the sky. All the Rikkai students also stopped from their walk as they all looked up to the grey sky as the pure white snow started to fall.

"It's snow!" Kumiko said excitedly, looking up Yanagi who smiled at her.

"First Snow, who would've thought." Yagyuu said.

"Look Kirihara-kun! It's snowing!" Kumiko said, tugging onto Kirihara's coat.

"Yeah! Can't wait till we can play with it!"

"You two are kids…" Niou said as the two youngest glared at the snickering trickster.

"Maa, they're only enjoying the snow, aren't they, Genichirou?"

"Tarundarou."

"Oi, Kumiko! Oi!" Kumiko adverted her attention from the snow when she heard someone calling for her and looked left and right.

"Over there, at the gate." Jackal said as Kumiko looked towards the gate and her eyes glittered in glee seeing the person who is now waving at her.

"Yuuta nii!" Kumiko waved back as she looked back pleadingly towards Yukimura who chuckles and patted her head.

"Take care of yourself, Kumiko. I don't want to see you catching another cold." Kumiko nodded quickly and dashed off towards the grinning Yuuta at the gate. The team watches as Kumiko jumped to give Yuuta a high five and both of them walked away together after Yuuta took her hand and led her somewhere.

"Ah, they're gone." Marui said.

"Kumiko sure is fond of that boy." Yukimura said, chuckling.

"Since both of them are the youngest, as well as having an older sibling who exels in tennis, I'm sure both of them have a lot more in common." Yanagi said.

"It's a date then, but I wonder why that kid's here… doesn't St. Rudolph has their own dormitory?"

"Maa, since it's almost Christmas, don't you think he'll come home to spend some time with his family?"

"… but didn't Kumiko mention that Fuji guy likes to tease his brother mercilessly?" Kirihara said.

"Probability he's home for Christmas is 85%, but probability he's here by coincidence is 90%."

"Coincidence… so, if we have practice, he might just leave?" Jackal said as Yanagi flipped pages through his book.

"That's not exactly correct, I remember Kumiko saying that she's going to spend some time with him before Christmas if he had the time, and I think Fuji Yuuta got the same idea as hers, considering how close they are when they were younger."

"I see. Well, let's just leave at that, we all should go home as well." Yukimura said as Sanada nodded.

"Well, you might got a competition, kiddo." Niou said, ruffling Akaya's head.

"Shut up, senpai."

/

"I didn't know you're coming, Yuu nii." Kumiko said, looking up to Yuuta's face.

"Well, I didn't know you're leaving earlier either. I thought I'd come by, and if I didn't find you, maybe I'd watch your practice, if they let me."

"Most probably Seiichi bucchou will force you to play, since you're from another school and all."

"I guess I'm lucky today, aren't I?"

"Yes you are Yuu nii. You're going home today, Yuu nii? For Christmas?"

"Yeah, haven't dropped by though. Might as well come home before Christmas, told everyone about it, and for once Mizuki-san didn't say anything."

"If Mizuki-san didn't let you come home for Christmas I'll make him." Yuuta chuckled and then ruffled Kumiko's hair fondly.

"So, how's school? Anything new I should know?"

"Nope, nothing really out of the ordinary. Except now I know I should never be a target of Niou-senpai's pranks. You should see him dye Marui-senpai's hair to neon green, it's blinding everyone that day."

"Really? Who knew he'd go that far."

"And Seiichi bucchou will change if he had a little disagreement with fukubucchou, well, not only disagreement. If bucchou felt a little bit neglected by fukubucchou, he'll change into the 'mother hen' mode, Yanagi said."

"Really? I know Yukimura-san is close to Sanada-san, but that?"

"Well, that's just how bucchou and fukubucchou are, Yuu nii."

"Your team sure is interesting outside a tournament."

"Well, everyone's very serious when they wanted to be. Aren't all of us the same, Yuu nii?"

"You have a point there. What will Yukimura-san do if he changes into the 'mother hen' mode?"

"Bucchou will usually started to treat me and Kirihara-kun as babies and always said 'Be good children and don't do what Genichirou said, he's a very bad man', it's always like that. Kirihara-kun and I told them it's not fair that both of us have to the one missing the whole practice just because of their disagreement… in the end bucchou and fukubucchou will reconcile with each other, but they'll still treat us like children."

"Well, I agree about you though, you're still a little girl."

"Hey! That's not fair!"

"Well, I don't want you to grow up so soon, and I think Tezuka-san will agree with me." Yuuta grinned when Kumiko started playfully hitting his arm.

"So, since I told you about my team, how about you tell me how everyone at St. Rudolph is, Yuu nii?"

"Well, everyone told me to give you their 'hello's, Mizuki-san too. Yanagisawa-senpai said to stop calling him ahiru-senpai though."

"Ahiru-senpai is Ahiru-senpai, should I call him Yana-senpai instead? But if I use Yana-senpai it'll be similar to Yanagi-senpai… nah, I'll keep Ahiru-senpai. How's Akazawa-senpai?"

"Ah, bucchou told me to give you this. A late birthday present, he said." Yuuta said, pulling out a box from his bag which Kumiko took excitedly as she opened the box. Kumiko then blinked as she pulled out a pair baby blue colored gloves.

"Look Yuu nii!"

"Wow, that's… kinda cute."

"Isn't it? Akazawa-san is very nice. Can you tell him I say thanks, Yuu nii? I really like it, and it's warm too, and soft." Kumiko said as she slipped her hands in and rubbed her face with it.

"Yeah, I'll do that. I never knew bucchou could pick a present like that…"

"It's fuzzy."

"So, how're you feeling in this weather? I heard you've been catching colds."

"It's cold, it's still cold. But at least it's warmer since I got everything covered… I've caught a cold at the start of winter, and had to limit my practices. Yanagi-senpai made sure I wasn't too cold, but he told me if I kept being stubborn about going on my practice, bucchou will likely send me home… so I've been trying to be careful. And kaa-chan made me bring tea everyday to school."

"Well you have to be more careful, aniki was so worried last time you got bedridden because of a cold, and I was too. Bucchou even said I lost few colors of my face when aniki called that night."

"Sorry, Yuu nii…" Yuuta saw Kumiko's dejected face and couldn't help but sigh.

"As long as you promise to take care of yourself more."

"I promise…"

"Alright then, how about I treat you to sweets?"

"Really? You will?"

"Yep, whatever you want." Yuuta once again saw the sparks in Kumiko's eyes lit up and raised on of his eyebrows.

"Kumiko, are you sure you're not a little girl? All I know is that I can always cheer you up with sweets."

"Yuu nii too! You can't say those things to me because Yuu nii is like that as well!"

"I am not!"

"Am too!"

"Am not!"

"Am too!" Yuuta then sighed and smiled wrily.

"Alright then, are we going for the sweets or not?"

"We are! Come on Yuu nii! I found this café over there!" Kumiko said, pulling Yuuta's hand.