This story is not my top priority. It is not even a serious story. It's written for fun. I will update when I want. Moving on…

I have revised the previous chapter (one of the reason why it took me so long to update) and made a few small changes. You might want to read them but you don't have to in order to understand future chapters.

I recently got a review (and a couple Private Messages) asking me what pairing I want in this FanFiction. To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure. I mean, I do have an idea of the pairings I might want to do, but depending on where this story takes itself, it might have a serious crack pairing or no pairings at all.

In conclusion, I'm open to suggestions. So feel free to contact me and suggest me a pairing that you like. Bonus points if you tell me why you like them. Just remember that this isn't a vote. In the end, I'll do whatever pairing I want to do, if I even want one at all but I will take all your suggestions into consideration.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, Inuyasha or any of its characters.

New Beginnings
(4) One Step Forward

"A CEO?" Kagome asked, staring at the magazine in shock. She sat down onto her bed blinking a few times, making sure that she was not hallucinating. She had tracked down Ryoma directly after school and made him give her more information about Sesshomaru before finally releasing him to his after-school tennis practice… late. Which really wouldn't have made much of a difference since he probably would have been late anyway. "Why am I not surprised?" she asked Sango, who was sitting across from her, opening a bottle of water. "I mean, I always thought that if Sesshomaru ever lived up to my time… he would be some big-time rich guy… or something. But really?" She looked at Sango. "You never even heard of this?"

Sango shrugged. "Hey, I'm no businesswoman."

"What do you think will happen if I call his office?"

"Um… well, he probably won't recognize you until he sees you." She shrugged. "But who knows? Maybe hearing your voice is enough to bring back memories."

"Yea…" Kagome muttered as she pulled out her cell phone. "It's weird listening to you talk in such a modern fashion," she said, punching in the number to Sesshomaru's company.

"Hello, welcome to Wakagami Corporation, how may we assist you?"

"Uh… hi," Kagome replied awkwardly. "I need to talk to Sesshomaru… uh," she skimmed the article over again. "Sesshomaru Wakagami."

"Your name please, ma'am?"

"I'm Kagome. Kagome Higurashi," she answered as Sango inched closer to the girl, her head tilted slightly, trying to catch the conversation.

"I'm sorry ma'am but you don't have an appointment with Wakagami-sama. Perhaps you would like to make one now?"

Kagome pulled the phone away from her ear, stared at it and gaped. "You need an appointment to talk to Sesshomaru? On the phone?" she asked Sango, staring at her in disbelief.

"Ma'am?"

"Uh, sorry," Kagome said, ignoring Sango's giggles. "Um… can you just tell him that Kagome called? It's important. He'll understand." I hope, she added silently.

"I apologize. Wakagami-sama made it clear that he does not take calls unless an appointment has been set up."

"Look, this is an emergency," Kagome insisted, raising her voice a little. "Tell Sesshomaru to get on the phone before I purify him a new one!"

Sango began laughing.

"I apologize but that is not possible. Unless you are willing to set up an appointment, I'm afraid I cannot help you."

Kagome's mouth fell open in shock and just as she was about to respond Kagome found herself listening to the dial tone. She stared at the phone for a moment and then turned back to Sango. "Are they allowed to hang up on people like that? Isn't that against the rules or something?"

Sango straightened out and shrugged, a smile still visible on her face. "Why don't you try asking your cousin when he comes back?"

"Hm?"

"I mean, if Sesshomaru did fund him for something, your cousin's bound to have some sort of private contact information with him." She glanced at the phone. "And who knows? Maybe he doesn't need an appointment," she said as she snickered.

Kagome frowned and muttered under her breath. It made sense however and silently blamed Sango for not mentioning it earlier. "So," she began slowly. "Do you think he'll appreciate it if I go bug him during his practice?"

The other girl gave Kagome a flat look. "Are you trying to get on his bad side? Not to mention that captain of his. I heard he's pretty strict."

"Where did you hear that?" Kagome asked. "You didn't even know who he was until I greeted him."

Sango sighed. "Just because I didn't recognize him doesn't mean I haven't heard of him." Kagome stayed silent waiting for her friend to elaborate. She wasn't disappointed. "Tezuka… Tezuka is everything. Honors, leadership awards, academic awards, athletic awards, hot mofo awards, you name it. As a matter of fact, I believe he's the captain that broke Rikkaidai's three-year winning streak."

Kagome blinked. Then finally: "You lost me there at the end."

Sango rolled her eyes. "In tennis. He is and the tennis captain, you know. He was also captain back in middle school."

"Oh." She didn't even want to know why her friend knew so much.

Silence.

"So, do you think Ryoma will mind if I go bug him during his practice?"

"Come on!" Kagome said, resisting the childish urge to stomp her foot. "This is really important to me! Sesshomaru's been your sponsor so you should still have contact information with him. Right?"

"Haven't I already given it to you?" Ryoma asked scowling.

Kagome faltered. "Well… yes, but apparently I needed an appointment to speak to him."

"On the phone," Sango added helpfully.

Echizen scowled even harder. "Can this wait until after practice?" he asked in a low voice, as if not wanting to be heard by others.

Kagome blinked. "You mean you'll actually do it?"

"Che," Ryoma answered with another scowl as he walked away, racket swung carelessly over his shoulder.

"Does that mean yes?" Sango asked turning towards Kagome.

Kagome shrugged. "I'm not too good at reading him anymore," Kagome responded. "He used to be a lot cuter when we were younger."

"Well," Sango said slowly after a moment. "I think he's cute."

Kagome gave her a flat stare.

"Like I thought Kohaku was cute."

Kagome nodded, "Oh… wait, what?"

Sango shrugged. "You know… chasing down a half-demon to revenge my fallen family and trying to attempting to save my brain-washed younger brother…"

"Well yes," Kagome said, glaring, "but you said was… past tense."

Sango twirled her hair between two nimble fingers. "Yea… I kind of hate him now."

"Excuse me?"

"In a brother-sister, love-hate type of way!" Sango replied quickly.

"Huh," Kagome said, as she stared at the ground thoughtfully. "I always took you for the brother complex type," she said finally and she began walking away, trying to find a good spot to sit as she waited to the end of tennis practice.

Sango was left gaping for a few moments before a sudden: "What?" exploded from her lips drawing the attention of nearby tennis club members. She ignored the stern glare from Tezuka (after all, she had faced demons with scarier glares than that) and stomped her way towards Kagome, her eyes flashing angrily. "I can't believe you just said that!"

Kagome gave her a bored look. "Really? Because I'm pretty sure you told me before that Kohaku was your most precious person."

"T-that was—"

"Exactly."

The two girls feel into silence, one sputtering softly and the other gazing at a light tennis match in front of her intensely. "Hey," she muttered quietly. "Sango?"

Sango opened her mouth, ready to tell her long-lost best friend that she was still slightly angry with her but stopped when she saw the intense light in Kagome's eyes. Her stomach flipped a little and Sango found herself thinking back to the times where there was someone's hands on her butt, the wind on her face, and pure adrenalin rushing throughout her system. "Yea?" she asked quietly, half her mind still remembering.

"What does that tennis match look like to you?"

Sango blinked, making sure she heard correctly before slowly turning around, facing the tennis courts. She watched, trying to match the intensity she saw in Kagome's eyes only a few moments ago. Wow, Sango thinks. These people are really good. Despite her… previous life (?) of demon-slaying Sango was unable to follow the yellow tennis ball—only seeing blurs here and there. But besides of that… it looks… it looks…

"It looks like a tennis match," Sango said finally. "I think."

Kagome gave her a flat look.

"And I only say this because I do not play nor am a fan of tennis so I do not know what a real tennis match looks like."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome raised a single finger and pointed towards a player on the court. "That's Momoshiro… I think. Anyway, this morning, something happened and he hit a ball towards me, calling his move Jack's Hit, or some—"

"Jack's Knife," Sango corrected.

Kagome gave her a half-hearted glare and continued on,"...Jack's Knife. And I reacted without thinking."

"A barrier."

"Yea, a barrier," Kagome agreed. "The tennis ball just struck my barrier and flew off in another direction."

"Ooh! Thank goodness you're alright!"

Kagome paused. "Well… yes, but that's besides the point! Don't you understand Sango? I create holy barriers with my holy energy. That tennis ball shouldn't have reacted to my barrier at all! The most it should have done was slow down a little before hitting me." She took a breath and looked around making sure that no one was within hearing distance. "I mean, if I concentrate enough, I can make barriers that defy ordinary objects but since I reacted out of reflex, my barrier was holy."

Sango blinked, eyes wide with understanding. "That means…"

"…the tennis ball has demonic energy in it," Kagome finished.

"But demons don't exist now. I mean, I didn't—not until you showed up!"

"I know," Kagome said and nodded slowly as if tired. "If you think that blew your mind…"

"Hm?"

"The thing is… the ball had demonic energy but Momoshiro did not."

Sango stared. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"Which is why we need to find Miroku… or Sesshomaru… oh hell! Even Inuyasha will help!"

"What about Kohaku?" Sango asked just as Tezuka shouted for an end of practice gathering. The courts fell into silence as Tezuka began talking about later events: practices, championships, nationals, blah, blah, blah… all that stuff that neither girls cared about.

"You really want me to make him remembered what happened in the past?" Kagome whispered.

"It's not like we're orphans. Both my parents are alive and it'll be like a dream… you know?"

Kagome frowned. "Obviously, since you probably would have stabbed me if I suggested that to you in the past."

Sango rolled her eyes. "I lost everything in the past… but this is my second change."

"Some second chance," Kagome muttered. Then: "How about we try and get into contact with Sesshomaru first? Then we try Kohaku."

Sango nodded slowly in agreement. "True… I can't imagine Kohaku being more informative than Sesshomaru."

For the next few minutes the two of them sat comfortably side-to-side and whispered theories to each other. When Ryoma finally emerged from the locker room after changing, Kagome was the first to notice and she immediately jumped up and jogged her way towards him followed closely by Sango.

"Ochibi's popular with the ladies," Kikumaru snickered.

Kagome sweat dropped and wondered if the older redhead remembered that they were cousins. And Sango was like a sister to her… so technically that would also make her like Ryoma's cousin. Technically. She shook her head and forced her mind back towards more important subjects.

"So…" Kagome said slowly inching her way closer to her cousin and the rest of his teammates watched with amusement. "Ready to make that call for me?"

Ryoma glared. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kagome gaped. "Ryoma!'

He refused to acknowledge her and looked away, eyes glaring steadily at whatever they could see.

"Look," Kagome said, "I know you don't like him… but this is a serious situation. It's like you not getting Ponta! Your father not getting his porn. Me not getting straight A's..." and softly, "Oh… wait."

Ryoma blinked. "What?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Me not talking to Sesshomaru could cause the world to spin backwards, three point seven percent faster than average and the sun to explode in a rhythm that follows something Beethoven might have wrote in his early years."

Ryoma gave her an open-mouth stare as everyone ignored Inui when he muttered, "The possibility of that happening is one in six sextillion—"

"It's just really bad, okay?" Kagome asked.

"Just let her talk to her boyfriend, nya," Kikumaru said, thumping Ryoma on the head softly.

Kagome flushed. "He's not my—never mind."

"Ooh," Kikumaru said, grinning gleefully. "Someone's in denial!"

Kagome frowned. "That's disgusting."

"Yea," Sango agreed. "She had the hots for his brother."

"Half-brother," Kagome corrected automatically. "And I never—oh shut up, Sango." She turned her attention back towards her cousin. "Look! You don't even need to talk to him! And if you do… all you have to say is "Kagome wants to talk to you.'"

Ryoma hesitated for a moment before finally pulling out his cell phone from his pocket. He glared at his cousin for another moment and took in her serious expression. "Che," he muttered under his breath. Why do girls have to make everything more confusing than it should be.

Much to Ryoma's annoyance his teammates didn't leave him alone, surrounding him even as he punched in a number into his phone and held the button for a few moments. Kagome silently wondered why he had Sesshomaru on speed dial if he hated him. Maybe it was a sponsor thing.

Due to the unusual silence of his teammates Kagome was able to hear the soft rings as Ryoma waited for Sesshomaru… or his secretary to pick up. She inched even closer to him and then wiggled his cell phone out of his hand while ignoring his glare. Kagome pressed the loudspeaker button happily and handed it back to Ryoma.

"Hello," a familiar voice said through the phone, "welcome to Wakagami Corporation, how may we assist you?"

"I want to speak with Wakagami," Ryoma said softly and then glanced at Kagome. "Please," he added.

Kagome rolled her eyes and mouthed the words as the girl on the other side of the phone said, "Your name please, sir?"

Ryoma scowled. He hated high school. "Echizen Ryoma," he bit out, colder then he intended.

"Oh! Echizen-sama! Please hold on a moment."

Kagome pouted softly or at least tried to, attempting her best to make prevent her nervousness from showing.

"Sesshomaru," Sesshomaru's cold, unmistaken voice rang out after a moment. "Speak."

So… couple suggestions?