CHAPTER 2: Misunderstandings

Author's Note : I'm sorry for the delay in updating! I edited the first chapter but not as much that the story will be affected by it.

Also, there's a minor spoiler about the New Prince of Tennis in the beginning of this chapter.

Lastly, thank you for the lovely reviews, alerts, hits and faves! I really appreciate all of it!

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi-sensei and other rightful owners not me.

Italicized words between the horizontal lines or (( )) are Inui's notes.

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Inui Sadaharu, 3rd year high school student, walked along the uphill road towards Seishun Gakuen while quietly enjoying the peaceful atmosphe- no, scratch that. He didn't feel any peace at all. If the sweaty palms, fast beating heart and disturbed expression on his face weren't indications enough of his predicament then the illegible writings on his notebook could most likely provide basis.

The only time he ever looked this way was when he was sick during his match against Mizuki Hajime from St. Rudolph at the U-17 Camp and that wasn't a very pleasant memory. He inwardly shuddered upon remembering it and heaved a huge sigh. He took out his notebook and began to randomly scan through the pages only to stop short when his gaze fell upon a name: Ryuzaki Sakuno. He promptly closed it and shoved the thing back in his bag with much force. He began pacing around in circles as he remembered the event that had transpired yesterday afternoon.

"Are you interested in becoming the manager for the team?"

There were only a few instances when he acted on impulse without calculating the different probabilities of possible outcomes and that included unceremoniously asking Ryuzaki Sakuno to be their female manager without the initial approval of their captain nor their tennis coach.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

They were now staring at each other as the seconds ticked by and he felt a lump in his throat forming as he continued gazing at mesmerizing auburn orbs in front of him and the interesting way her cheeks turned into a slight pinkish color. He dutiful took note of that in his head seeing that it would be awkward to suddenly bring out his notebook.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

The sound from the wall clock was deafening to him and he wondered if he had actually said those words to her. Luckily, he didn't have to repeat his question because she finally spoke up.

"A-ano..,"she started but was immediately cut off by her senpai.

"You don't have to answer right away. These things shouldn't be taken lightly so I'll wait for your answer," he stressed. He didn't know why but the hint of reluctance he heard in her voice made him panic and blurt out these words.

"Ah..Hai. Thank you, senpai," she said and offered him an appreciative smile. He in turn replied with a smile of his own. That same feeling he had when their hands made contact came back to him but his attention was mainly focused on a certain brunette.

Oishi Shuichirou, 3rd year high school student, stood in front of the ajar door of the infirmary. Nothing out of the ordinar- scratch that. To descibe his feelings as shock was an understatement. He had just heard his friend and fellow regular, Inui, asking their coach's granddaughter to be his...his.. his girlfrie-

He sweat-dropped. No. No. No. This can't be happening! Out of all the people who could have witnessed this why did it have to be him? He was just going to ask the school nurse for some bandages since he didn't want to pass by the convenience store on the way home. He didn't sign-up for something like this! Why couldn't it have been someone else? Someone who didn't personally know the two of them?

"You don't have to answer right away. These things shouldn't be taken lightly so I'll wait for your answer." Inui's words replayed in his mind and he felt the heat crawl up to his cheeks. 'I wasn't even aware that Inui could say such things,' he mused.

He lingered on for a few more seconds because of the unfairness of it all before deciding to get out of there fast. It didn't take a genius to figure out what dark future would befall on him once Inui finds out about his unwanted presence during this private affair. His brain already conjured up frightening images of unidentifiable liquids being forced down his throat and rigorous training manuals that would leave him begging for dear life.

He hasn't seen their data specialist angry before and he didn't want to find out so he kept his mouth shut even after being bombarded by questions from his doubles partner about his ghastly look.

And that was how the story of Seigaku's vice captain inconveniently misunderstanding the relationship between Inui and Sakuno began.

The next morning...

Oishi stiffled a yawn as he made his way through the school gates. Dark circles had formed under his eyes and his sunny disposition took a 180-degree turn after what happened yesterday. He couldn't sleep properly because of too much thinking.

Should he tell Inui that he saw them? What if Inui already saw him yesterday? What should he do? Should he just keep quiet or tell someone? What if Inui was rejected? Will it affect his performance in tennis? Will people ask him about what happened? Should he lie for his teammate's sake or should he tell them the truth? What if Sakuno said yes? What will happen to Echizen? Did he know about this? What will their coach say? Would she blame him for not telling her? Would telling her make him a blabbermouth?

These questions plagued his mind throughout the entire night that he didn't even notice it was already morning if it wasn't for the sun's rays shining through his bedroom window. He adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulder before suddenly stopping when he heard someone call out to him.

"Oishi, good morning," Inui greeted him.

"I-I-INUI!" he blurted out in a high-pitched voice. So much for pretending he was innocent.

The bespectacled boy just quirked his brow at his teammate's very unusual reaction. He took out his notebook and pen and began writing down his observations.

Date: X月 X日

Time: 7:09 A.M.

Location: Seigaku's Gates

Subject: Oishi Shuichirou

Observations:

Very unusual high-pitched response. Agitated movement (fidgeting with bag strap). Dark circles under eyes.

"Are you alright?" Inui asked. Despite gathering data for the benefit of their team, he was still first and foremost the vice captain's friend and his concern for his well-being was genuine.

"Uh..Y-yeah!"

"Say have you seen Tezuka anywhere?" If this was the normal Oishi he would provide further information about his answer.

"Ha? Ah..er..Nope."

"What about the others?" Let's try again.

"N-no idea."

"I see," he nodded.

"..." Oishi merely looked away and stepped aside awkwardly.

Profuse sweating despite cool weather. Short verbal responses with more speech fillers. Avoidance of eye contact.

Observations lead to the following possible causes of Oishi's unusual behavior:

35% - Nervousness *needs verification

35% - Constipation *most likely due to the yakisoba bread he ate for lunch yesterday

15% - Lack of sleep *an effect of the constipation

15% - other external factors *needs verification

Inui pushed up his glasses and frowned at the probabilities that he had written down. He would likely discuss this with Tezuka and Eiji during their afternoon practice for they were the perfect candidates to discern what might be bothering their vice captain. He would have asked Oishi upfront but seeing as his friend wasn't adept on answering his questions at the moment he opted for the other choices.

Upon thinking of Tezuka he immediately remembered his predicament. He swiftly threaded towards the school's main entrance not wanting to bump into their buchou this early in the morning. He was still thinking of different ways on how he could relay the fact that he had just asked Sakuno to be their manager without their consent. He took into account his data that there was a high probability that he would come face to face with Tezuka if he lingered at the gates for any longer. What he didn't paid attention to was the relatively low possibility of bumping into a certain someone. He certainly wasn't expecting any miscalculations this bright and early morning. And so to contradict that statement, Inui stealthily side-stepped and jogged his way to the other entrance of the school building located at the south. He purposely pretended to not hear that certain someone call out to him and proceeded to go to his shoe locker. He had just managed to escape a confrontation with Ryuzaki Sakuno.

((The reason for avoiding Ryuzaki: unknown))

Oishi finally let out the breath he didn't notice he was holding when Inui walked away without anymore questions. His relief, however, was short-lived when he noticed Sakuno approaching him with a little knot on her forehead.

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Oishi-senpai," she greeted upon standing in front of him.

"O-o-ohayou, Ryuzaki," he stuttered earning him a confused look from the girl.

"Ano... senpai. Do you know where Inui-senpai went? I saw him talking to you a while ago but when I called out to him he didn't seem to hear me,"she told him.

What? Does that mean he was rejected?

Various scenarios drifted in and out of his mind on how to explain his friend's actions that he completely forgot about the girl. He was pacing back and forth while biting the tip of his thumb in contemplation.

"Eto... Oishi-senpai?"

But she didn't give him an answer yesterday!

"Senpai?"

What if she said 'no' after I left the two of them?

"Are you alright?"

What should I do? Should I give him some advice?

"Ano..senpai?"

But I don't have any kind of experience with these situations!

Oishi grabbed a fistful of his hair and groaned in frustration. A hand suddenly grabbed his arm and shook it gently. He turned to his right side and saw Sakuno's concerned look. He immediately straightened up and cleared his throat while trying not to think about his embarrassing behavior.

"I.. I have no idea where he went," he admitted.

"Ah.. Is that so?" she sighed and bit her lower lip. He thought that their conversation was over and was about to leave first when she suddenly spoke up.

"Ano.. Senpai, can you please tell Inui-senpai that I was looking for him and eto... if it's alright for him to meet me during lunch time?" Her hopeful look was enough to make Seigaku's vice captain nod his head in silent agreement. She gratefully smiled at him before bowing her head and moving towards the school's entrance leaving behind an agitated Oishi.

Inui was busy multi-tasking in his desk as their teacher continued with their lesson. Aside from taking down notes about the subject he was also quietly observing his teammates particularly their vice captain who looked much worse than when he had first seen him at the gates this morning. He wasn't the only to notice the odd happenings since their blue-eyed tensai was also casually glancing at Oishi. He didn't know if he was only imagining things but Oishi looked even more tensed after making eye-contact with him.

Rrriiiiiiiiiiinnngggg

The bell signaled that the class was over and lunch time had began. Inui heard a collective sigh from his classmates as they began chattering about how long it took for the class to end and what food would they eat during the break. He was about to stand up and walk towards Oishi only to be visibly surprised when he saw that the latter was already running out the door.

"Nya, Oishi!" he heard Eiji call out before following his doubles partner.

Fuji was now heading towards him with a slight frown of concern.

"Do you have any idea what's bothering our vice-captain?" Fuji asked as they both continued looking at the doorway.

"I do. And his current behavior had just increased the percentage of one of the probabilities," he said as he re-wrote his earlier observations on their friend. His statement was able to bring back the smile on the tensai's face.

"Saa, what would that be?"

"Constipation."

Author's Note: I just love Oishi's mother hen-like attitude and Inui's too cute I can't even asdfghjkl.

And just to clear things up Oishi didn't hear Inui's question to Sakuno about becoming the manager. He just conveniently heard the other stuff.

Regarding the story, I'm still trying to figure out what I should do with it so if you have any suggestions or comments I would like to hear them all ^^