It's been a while since I last updated… I apologize. Again. I sort of lost my Inuyasha and Prince of Tennis faze and then I had classes, finals, and family issues. But I'm back and hopefully the wait for the next update won't be as long.

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

New Beginnings
[14] Fresh Breath

If it wasn't for the impact the ball made as it smacked against his racket, Tezuka would have thought that he had missed the tennis ball. The lack of the usual flair of pain in his arm took away his usual hesitation and made him hit the ball harder than before. The force made the ball disappear in front of him, speed too fast for his eyes to follow. It appeared on the other side of the dojo, rolling innocently towards him.

Nothing, his mind registered. He felt nothing. No pain, no throb, nothing.

He took in a shaky breath and brought up his right hand to grab a hold of his left arm.

"Well?" Higurashi asked, seemly appearing out of nowhere, interrupting his thoughts. She tilted her face, trying to catch his expression. "Does it work?"

Tezuka slowly looked up and stared at her. His mouth opened but he was unable to form words.

"Obviously," he heard Echizen mutter somewhere in the distant. He flashed a smirk in Tezuka's direction. "Buchou, let's have a match."

"Ryoma, hush," Higurashi scolded.

"Are you sure you sealed it?" Higurashi's friend asked in a low whisper. "Because it seems like you just made it more powerful."

His words brought Tezuka back into reality, leaving him to wonder if Higurashi's charm—or seal as she had put it—really did work, and if so, did that seriously mean that his arm was actually cursed? He almost shuddered at the though. He eyed her warily, knowing very well that Echizen, his cousin, and her group of friends were speaking in riddles in order to hide whatever they were hiding from him. But as much as Tezuka wanted to know what the hell was going on, he reminded himself that he was a very patient man and Higurashi had just healed his arm. He could wait.

"Thank you," he said, his voice sounding odd even to his own ears, as if choked up by emotions and then bowed.

Higurashi blinked. "No problem," he replied, giggling nervously while flushing a brilliant red.

"Do not be so relieved," Wakagami murmured to the young woman. "The seal is holding it back for now but you will need to find a permanent solution quickly. The longer you do not, the stronger it will get and soon your seal will be useless."

His words, of course, made no sense to Tezuka but Higurashi frowned. "Ruin the happy moment, why don't you?" She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It should last a couples months at least though… right?" Higurashi asked worriedly. Then, without giving Wakagami time to answer her question she turned her attention back to Tezuka. "How long has your arm been giving you trouble?" she demanded.

"Since my first year in junior high."

She gaped. "That long?"

"My elbow was injured then. It acted up towards the end of my second year but healed completely in my third. Yips later put pressure on my shoulder but that had also healed by the end of my third year," he said truthfully.

"Yips?" she repeated, brows furrowing in confusion. "Nevermind," she then said quickly before Tezuka could explain. "I don't want to know. It'll just confuse me."

"Like what?" Echizen demanded.

Higurashi tilted her head, thinking. "Like… the fact that it was accelerated." She gave Tezuka a pitying look and elaborated. "Your arm wouldn't have been… uh, cursed if you hadn't been injured. But since you were injured, the uh… dormant curse awoke." She hummed softly, tapping along finger against her chin. "Ah Momoshiro!"

"What about him?" Ryoma asked suspiciously.

"Nothing like that," Higurashi replied swiftly. "Ew. Has he been injured recently?

Tezuka frowned. "No."

"Has he been having any… unusual body pain?"

"Not that I know of," he answered slowly, wishing again that they would tell him exactly what was going on. This wasn't just affecting him anymore, this was affecting his teammate!

"He hurt his ankle a couples years ago in middle school," Echizen said softly.

Higurashi frowned again. "Hm… have you noticed him getting… hmm… More powerful more quickly afterwards?"

Echizen shrugged. "He was already injured when I met him."

They turned towards Tezuka who blinked in response. After a moment, he realized that they were waiting for an answer. He cleared his throat, "Momoshiro had always been a fast learner."

"Good for him," Higurashi replied seriously.

He frowned. "His shots have gotten more powerful quicker than Inui originally predicted."

"Ooh," she breathed softly. "Okay… um… well, it wouldn't hurt to observe just to make sure…" She turned towards her cousin, "Do you guys have practice tomorrow?"

"No. We have a match."

"Er, am I allow to attend?"

Echizen shrugged. "I guess…"

"You guess," she repeated, her tone flat.

"Well… the bus is for the tennis players," Echizen explained. "But Horio rides it so I don't see why not."

Tezuka glared at him. "Horio is on the tennis team," he reminded. His first thought was to scold Echizen for not respecting a fellow teammate but he remembered that it was Echizen. He was more than grateful that Echizen even remembered the first-year's name. Echizen forgetting that Horio was actually on the tennis team might have more to do with Echizen's memory than wanting to disrespect his fellow first-year.

"Oh."

Higurashi had no idea what was going on. "So… can I come?"

"Yes," Tezuka assured, even though he knew that he should bring up the subject with the couch before confirming. But Ryuzaki's granddaughter and her friend both rode the club bus so he didn't see why Higurashi and her friends couldn't.

"Great," she said excitedly, clapping her hands together and then winced, drawing Tezuka's attention back to the very wet, very bloody handkerchief that was currently wrapped around her injured hand. He noted that the wound seemed to still be bleeding and wondered if they should be rushing Higurashi to the hospital instead of discussing whether or not she would be able to ride the bus with Seigaku's boys tennis club. "When does Momoshiro-kun's match start anyway?"

Tezuka translated this to: "How much time do I have to kill before I can do what I went there to do?"

"It depends on how long the other matches are," Echizen answered with another shrug. A nasty habit, Tezuka noted that he seemed to have picked up from his time in the states.

"Huh?"

"Doubles play first," Tezuka explained. "Momoshiro will be playing third singles tomorrow."

Higurashi faltered. "So… half an hour?"

Echizen sighed. "We have two doubles and three sets each."

"Er… one hour?"

"Three sets," he repeated.

"I don't know what that means!" Higurashi exclaimed. "What the hell's a set?"

Echizen glared furiously at his cousin as her two friends snickered in the background. His lips twitched in amusement; for someone who is cousins with Echizen (not to mention that they do have a rather close relationship) he couldn't believe that Higurashi had picked up literally nothing about tennis over the years.

"You're coming with us tomorrow, aren't you?" Echizen asked. "What's the difference?"

She groaned, ignoring his question. "Does that mean I have to sit through six games?"

Tezuka had to physically hold back a smile.

"Sets."

She glared. "I'm going to join the archery club and you watch me and my fellow club members shoot arrows and compete against each other. Then we can see how much you know about it."

"You learned archery a year ago, that doesn't count!" he shot back. "I've been playing tennis my entire life. The old man even attempted to teach you."

Higurashi scowled and rubbed her forehead with her injured hand, successfully letting her blood drip down the length of her arm. Tezuka found himself half concerned about her wound—which appeared to still be bleeding—and half amazed that she really was an archery prodigy if she was able to strike the exact same spot on a target when she picked up a bow only a year ago!

"Enough," Wakagami stated coldly, stepping in between the two cousins. He grabbed Higurashi's injured hand and yanked in towards him, making her yelp in pain and surprise. Wakagami frowned, examining the bloody handkerchief slowly and began to unwrap it.

Tezuka winced when he caught sight of the wound; it was a lot deeper than he had first realized. If Oishi was here, the poor man would be having a panic attack. Tezuka wasn't a doctor, but as he watch Wakagami taking his time to examine the wound, he wondered if they should be making their way to the emergency room at the moment. Juding by the amount of blood the handkerchief had soaked up and the drips on the floor, Tezuka was surprised that Higurashi was still looking healthy.

"Perhaps we should—" he began only to cut himself off with an odd choking sound when Wakagami brought Higurashi's hand towards his lips and gave her wound a lick. His mouth fell open when Wakagami didn't immediately pulled back in disgust, wondering what the hell was he doing like Tezuka had expected and instead continued with his… ministrations.

He looked around the room, wondering if he was the only one finding this situation weird—not to mention disgusting! Does the man know nothing about diseases that the blood could carry? Her two friends were staring with wide eyes and Echizen… Echizen… well, Tezuka had never seen such a shocked expression on the younger man's face before. If not for the situation, Tezuka would have found it quite amusing.

Higurashi's face was completely scarlet (Tezuka was just surprised that she had enough blood in her body to blush) but she did not make a move to pull her hand away.

Once Wakagami had literally licked Higurashi's hand clean, he dropped it and gave off an almost satisfied purr. "Er, t-thank you," Higurashi stammered. "It stopped bleeding… I think."

"Hn."

Tezuka watch as Wakagami brought up his own hand, which were slightly dirtied with Higurashi's blood and licked it away slowly. As if savoring the flavor. Tezuka shifted uncomfortably, not sure if he wanted to remain in the man's house any longer, much less stay in the same room as him.

Silence. Then:

"I don't really know what to say right now," Higurashi said, awkwardly.

The couch wasn't pleased with Tezuka's decision about letting Higurashi and her friends—Miroku and Sango, he found out (he still wasn't sure of their family names though)—onto the bus to the court for the match.

"We're not here to give free rides," he had grunted, when Echizen brought along his cousin and her friends.

Tezuka had pursed his lips, wishing very much that he was more blunt like Echizen. Echizen wouldn't hesitate to point out the couch's hypocrisy at letting Ryuzaki's granddaughter and her friend on the bus just because they were "cute". Oh god, he remembered thinking. I'm turning into Echizen! He couldn't remember a time he had dared questioned an adult's decision, especially if the adult was right (even if he was being a bit hypocritical).

Higurashi had stepped up in front of the coach as if sensing Tezuka's inner turmoil. She batted her eyelashes and asked for permission with a voice a pitch or two higher and whinier than her usual.

She was immediately approved of.

"I've hung out with Miroku long enough to learn how to handle situations with perverts," she said later, far in the back of the bus, away from the coach. Her seat was near Tezuka's so he couldn't help but overhear.

"My lady!" Miroku—he shuddered at the awkward familiarity of using someone's given name rather than their family name—cried. "You wound me!"

"Yea," Sango—he shuddered again—said with a giggle. "Remember that time he asked that one girl to bear his children? And she said yes?"

Tezuka blinked.

"And Miroku spend the next two days avoiding her?" The two friends laughed at the memory and despite the fact that Tezuka could not see the other man's complete form—as he was sitting in the seat in front of him—he knew that the man was more amused than embarrassed.

"In my defense," he muttered. "She was twelve; I didn't think she would accept."

"Wasn't there also a fourteen-year-old lover of yours? That waited for you?"

"I really don't remember," Miroku said, shaking his head in denial.

Their conversation, which proved to be the most interesting conversation taking place on the bus right now, caught the attention of Kikumaru. Tezuka almost felt sorry for the trio when the redhead popped up in his seat (which was located in front of Higurashi and Echizen). "Nya?" he exclaimed. "Fourteen?" Tezuka thought his voice was more shocked and pleased than anything else.

The three friends jumped slightly and looked at the redhead in surprise as if just noticing their environment. Whenever the three of them talked, they always seemed to be in their own world so Tezuka wasn't surprise at their reaction. "Uh… well," Higurashi stammered and then explained quiet lamely, "it was a joke."

Kikumaru seemed to have not heard her. "How old were you when you went around proposing to girls?" he demanded and then gasped. "Did you propose to Higurashi-chan too?"

Tezuka heard an amused snort and assumed it was from Sango.

"Ooh," Kikumaru cooed, eyeing Higurashi gleefully, "You're so popular, nya!"

Higurashi flushed. "He does it to everybody, I swear!"

"I don't think your boyfriend's going to be too pleased with your popularity," he teased.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Higurashi pressed, scowling.

Tezuka begged to differ. After all, people didn't usually let other people lick their… wounds clean unless they had some sort of close physical relationship. Tezuka frowned at the memory, he still wasn't sure what to make of what happened yesterday.

Before Kikumaru could tease the poor girl further, Echizen shifted and his head fell into Higurashi's lap with a soft snore. Kikumaru blinked at the younger boy, "Ochibi's asleep." With a giggle and a couple gag-worthy soft baby noises directed at the first year, Kikumaru pressed a finger against his lips, winked in Higurashi's direction and slid back down into his seat.

Higurashi sat still for a couple seconds before leaning down and mouthing her thanks against the boy's cheek. She smiled warmly and ran her fingers through Echizen's silky-looking green-black hair.

He was more than a little surprised to see the boy open his gold eyes, blinking them slowly at his cousin as if he had just woke up from his nap. He smirked openly before sliding his eyes closed again and attempted to actually go to sleep this time. Tezuka blinked. This was the first time he saw Echizen go out on his way to help someone and not tried to cover it up. He knew Echizen was a good person and if needed, he helped others in his own way but he had always covered up his heroic acts with, "It was just so I could play tennis." or "He was annoying me."

"They're very close, eh?" Fuji whispered, his breath tickling Tezuka's ear, making him tense in surprise.

"Fuji," Tezuka warned because Fuji was smiling which meant that Fuji was up to something and Tezuka was in no mood to put up with another one of Fuji's pranks.

"Just observing," Fuji chuckled.

Tezuka frowned, looking down at his open book again, reminding himself that he was supposed to be reading. However, that fact didn't stop his gaze from sliding across the aisle back in Higurashi and Echizen's direction. He watched with what might have been envy as Higurashi continued to run her fingers through Echizen's thin, silky locks. He then proceeded to drop his book in surprise when Higurashi brought up her hand to hide her yawn.

He stared.

What?

He blinked.

What?

Higurashi appeared to have felt his gaze and turned her head slightly to face him. She blinked large blue eyes in confusion. "Um… Tezuka-san?"

He opened his mouth but found himself unable to reply, instead he followed the movement of her hand with his eyes.

She stared.

He stared back.

Brows furrowing in confusion, she followed his gaze and found herself staring at her own hand. Realization suddenly clicked and Higurashi immediately tightened the hand in question into a fist. She pursed her lips, her jaw muscle tightened and she bit her lower lip worriedly.

"Your wound…" Tezuka couldn't help but mutter. Where there was once—only yesterday—a deep wound on Higurashi's palm was now smooth, unscarred skin.

Although she was faced away from him, he knew that she had heard him when she immediately flinched at his words. She refused to turn around in order to face him even as she said, "I don't suppose… that you will believe me if I say I covered it with make-up?"

Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed her friend peeking over the seat in front of him, as if judging his reaction. "No," he answered truthfully, ignoring both her friend and Fuji's gazes.

"I didn't think so."

Higurashi didn't elaborate and Tezuka didn't bother pressing the issue. He was going to find out one way or another; let her keep her secrets for now. Fuji shifted slightly next to him and more a moment Tezuka was afraid that he was going to attempt to manipulate the information out of him but was more than glad to see that Fuji was only getting ready to get off the bus as they have arrived at the courts.

Stepping off the bus, Tezuka couldn't help but take a deep breath, glad to be off the stuffy vehicle only to choke softly as he took in the large, offending-looking purple bus parked next to theirs. He had to physically hold back a groan when he saw its owner walk up to him.

"Tezuka," Atobe greeted.

"Atobe," he greeted back tightly.

"Oh wow," he heard Higurashi say somewhere behind him. "I didn't know tennis was this popular."

"You will be playing singles one, I presume?"

Tezuka thinned his lips in annoyance. "No."

Atobe's eyes widened for a brief moment before he smirked and looked over the group behind Tezuka. His eyes landed on Echizen. "The brat's back in Japan, I see."

Tezuka didn't bother with a reply. "Are you the brat?" Higurashi whispered to her cousin.

Echizen huffed but otherwise ignored her words. He stepped forward, stood next to Tezuka and glared. "Monkey King," he muttered.

Atobe glared back. "As rude as ever," he drawled and turned his attention, giving the other members a look over. "Heh, still keeping the same old team, eh, Tezuka? Except…" he frowned, taking in Sasabe's slender form and three other unfamiliar faces. "Hm? And new cheerleaders?" he sneered.

"You're the one to talk," Echizen muttered.

"Heh," Atobe huffed, tossing his hair back. "I deserve every cheer, every praise, every fan I have. You on the other hand…"

"We need to sign in," Tezuka cut in, holding back a sigh. He didn't remember the rivalry between Atobe and Echizen being this bad. Atobe must have really felt lonely when Echizen was away for the past two years having no one to match his wits with.

His words, much to Tezuka's annoyance was ignored. "I'm pretty sure I kicked your ass," Echizen reminded with a grin. His eyes glinted even in the shadow of his hate and Tezuka had a feeling that he wasn't going to like Echizen's next words. "I even shaved a monkey, if I remember correctly."

Atobe fumed and Tezuka had to resist the urge to order the young freshmen laps—after all, he needed Echizen at his top form for the match later if it got to him.

"Assuming that the monkey is him," one of Higurashi's friend whispered. "You don't suppose your cousin actually, literally shaved him… do you?"

"I don't know," Higurashi answered truthfully. "When we were six, Ryoma shaved off uncle's eyebrows."

Tezuka twitched. "We need to sign in," he repeated. "Please excuse us." He gave Atobe a slight bow and then walked away, heading towards the signing in area, confident that his team would follow.

They did.

Unfortunately for him, Atobe chose to do the same.

"How unfortunate that I won't be able to see your play but there's always later. I'll just see how much that the brat has improved."

Echizen has more than improved, Tezuka wanted to say. Echizen had gone to America and came back with new wings. It was amazing that the young man hadn't decided to go pro yet but Tezuka had a feeling that it was just a matter of time. Instead of verbalizing his thoughts, Tezuka said, "Echizen is playing singles one." We will not get to singles one, was left unsaid.

"Disappointing," Atobe sighed.

Tezuka stepped in front of the stand with his team and curtly told the man their arrival. The man smiled and directed him towards the courts that they would be using. Tezuka nodded his thanks and walked off, disappointed that Atobe was still following him. "Do you not have your own match to get to?" he asked as politely as possible. He wasn't playing. Echizen most likely wasn't playing; he wasn't sure why Atobe was still with him. Had the man missed arguing with Echizen that much?

"Actually, we finished." Atobe smirked and tossed his hair back again. "Be flatter that I decide to witness your team's match."

"Please," Tezuka thought. "No one is stopping you from leaving."

"It's too bad you guys don't have your power player," Atobe muttered, glancing at the arrival of their opponents. "I'm afraid you're going to lose your second doubles. You should have put Momoshiro in your second doubles."

Fuji smiled and spoke up for the first time since Atobe's arrival, "Sasabe is our current power player."

Atobe blinked and gave Sasabe a look over. "Really?" he asked, more than a bit amused. "He's even skinner than you are."

Sasabe smiled at him but otherwise did not comment.

"What's a power player?" Higurashi whispered to her friend in confusion.

"A powerful player," her friend answered back.

"A player that plays with strength," Inui corrected.

"Same thing," her friend said, shrugging.

"Wait…" Higurashi said, putting her hands up for emphasis. Tezuka felt his gaze fall onto her smooth palm. "Strength? What strength? What do you even need strength for? Just hit the ball over the net!"

If it wasn't for the slight physical resemblance and the attitude (at times) Tezuka wouldn't have believed that Higurashi and Echizen were actually related. That girl knew absolutely nothing about tennis, he was surprised that she even knew there was a net involved!

"It would be near impossible for the average person if their opponent was a strong power player. The force behind power players hits are too great," Inui explained. "That's like me throwing a medicine ball at an infant and expecting him to catch and toss it back to me. The infant doesn't have the required strength to do so."

Even without looking at her, Tezuka knew that Higurashi was rolling her eyes. "It's a tennis ball," she emphasized. "How much force can you put behind a tennis ball?"

"You played against Momoshiro's Jack Knife."

Higurashi blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Tezuka's mouth almost fell open. Atobe made a soft choking sound next to him.

"Momoshiro's Jack Knife isn't exactly a weak ball," Inui said hesitantly. His glasses glinted. "Then again… you did hit it back single-handedly."

"No!" Higurashi said quickly. "That wasn't… well, you see… um, that was only because—"

"Kagome," Echizen interrupted softly.

Higurashi immediately turned towards her cousin. "Was it really that powerful?" Tezuka saw her mouth to her cousin.

Echizen shrugged.

"Wait a minute," Atobe finally said, stepping out in front of Higurashi. He eyed the young woman for a moment. "You went up against Momoshiro's Jack Knife?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. "Who are you?"

Tezuka almost groaned when Echizen stepped in front of Higurashi, efficiently stepping in between his cousin and his rival. "No one you need to know."

Ten more minutes until the match begins, Tezuka thought.

"Oh?" Atobe all but purred, amused. Any awe and curiosity he had about Higurashi all but disappeared. His attention was immediately taken up by the fact that Echizen was actually, defending someone. "Possessive, aren't you? Your girlfriend?"

Tezuka sighed and wasn't even surprise and Higurashi squealed her outrage. "We're cousins!"

And since Higurashi was just an excuse to go neck to neck with Echizen, Atobe paid her no mind. "I'm sure you dear girlfriend is more interested in the likes of me," he said, grabbing a hold of Higurashi's hand and pulling her towards him.

Tezuka had a feeling that his headache was going to double by the time the match begins. Forget that, he might even need to be hospitalized by the end of the day by the rate this was going, he noted. Atobe seemed to be making it his life's work to annoy the freshmen regular, not that Tezuka was actually surprise. Echizen was usually so dispassionate about everything. Riling him up and forcing him to actually react was rather amusing. He still felt slightly bad for Higurashi though, being in the middle of Echizen and Atobe's rivalry when it was obvious that Atobe was not remotely interested in her despite his flirtation. Flirtation, Tezuka noticed that was making Echizen murderous, Momoshiro more than a little jealous and Higurashi extremely uncomfortable.

Ten more minutes, he chanted. At least the three idiots (Momoshiro now included since he was loudly voicing his stand against Atobe holding Higurashi so close) respected tennis enough that they would cease their conflict when the second doubles begin playing.

Higurashi stared at the hand-in-hand contact with wide eyes. For someone as popular as she was, Tezuka was slightly surprised at her obvious discomfort.

"Go back to the zoo," Echizen shot back, reaching out and grabbing his cousin's free hand, tugging her towards him.

Tezuka could hardly believe what he was witnessing. Atobe Keigo and Echizen Ryoma, two of the top high school tennis players in the country and they were playing tug-o-war over a girl—"This is so interesting, nya," Kikumaru said excitedly, somewhere in the background—as if she was some mere object.

It was a good thing Echizen hasn't gone pro! Tezuka could already imagine the gossip column.

"Doesn't this remind you of Inuyasha and Koga," one of Higurashi's friend whispered to the other with a giggle, not looking the least bit worried.

"What did you say?" Atobe growled out, pulling Higurashi back towards him.

A muscle in Tezuka's jaw twitched. He had a feeling that neither Echizen nor Atobe remembered that they were not tugging on a rope. It was a human being—Echizen's own cousin, for crying out loud—that they were both manhandling. Forget the fact that Atobe was a captain of his own team, Tezuka was going to send both of them running laps.

However, before he could snap at the two of them, Higurashi beat him to it. "That's it!" she screamed, yanking both arms away, throwing both males off balance, surprising everyone with her strength. "Both of you just shut up! If you're going to act like five-year-olds! I'm going to treat you like five year olds!" She glared at the boys and rubbed her wrists angrily. "From now on until the end of your tennis game"—no one bothered to correct her—"You're in time out. That means that I do not want to hear another word out of your mouth!"

Atobe actually looked offended. "I beg your—"

"I said shut up!" she screeched, face red, eyes flashing and looking very, very murderous.

Atobe's mouth closed with a click.

Tezuka frowned at Higurashi, noticing that the air around her seemed to shimmer with her anger. It reminded him of Echizen's Pinnicle of Perfection all those years ago. Looking closer, he noticed what appeared to be pink sparks, dancing across Higurashi's skin. He blinked in surprise and they were gone.

Curious.

Five minutes into the second doubles match, Higurashi fell asleep.

"Kagome," her friend whispered, shaking her.

"Sit," she muttered, scooting away from her friend, only to lose her balance on the bench and fall with a thud.

Tezuka didn't take his eyes off Fuji and Sasabe's match—it was a rather rough match, rougher than he thought it would be—not even when Higurashi's hand reached up and gripped his thigh, hosting herself in a sitting position. "Fuck damn it," she groaned. She blinked sleepy eyes at him, muttered an apology and crawled back into her seat.

"Tell me I'm not imagining things," her friend whispered urgently.

"Imagining what?" Higurashi asked, looking around.

Tezuka looked over at them slightly confused, wondering if he had, perhaps, missed something. Or does this have to do with the… curse?

"Oh be quiet," Atobe drawled, obviously still a bit miffed that he had been told off by the younger girl. "This is a tennis match."

"Look," her friend said, pointing in Sasabe's direction. "Does his aura look familiar to you?"

"Yes," Atobe sniffed, not pleased that he was ignored. "Look at the tennis match."

Higurashi narrowed her eyes as if in concentration. Then her eyes widened in what appeared to be… fear. She sucked in a deep breath and paled, losing all coloring in her face, making her look paper-white. "Oh my god," she said.

Tezuka turned his attention back towards Sasabe wondering what had her and her friends all shaken up. The only unusual thing he could see was that Sasabe was currently having a power rally with a player at least two times his size and made of what appeared to be pure muscle and winning. But really, if he thought about it, it wasn't any more unusual than the fact that she was a master at archery with apparently only a single year of training. Not to mention he still had a slight bruise from when she punched him a couple days ago.

Turning his attention back towards him, he noticed that she seemed to shudder with fear.

"Naraku."