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

Author's Note:

I am thankful to those who read,reviewed and placed this in their alert list! Sorry for the delayed update. My laptop just died on me and I had to work hard for a new one.

Again, italicized words between the horizontal lines or (( )) are Inui's notes.

CHAPTER 3: Improbabilities

He was torn between two choices. He could either pretend that he completely forgot about the favor she had asked but that would mean he neglected his responsibilities as a friend and senpai or head back to the classroom, relay the message to his friend and deal with the inevitable interrogation by Eiji, Fuji and Inui. Frankly speaking, he'd prefer not to do both since he's going to die a little inside whatever he chose anyway.

"What am I going to do?" Oishi said in a resigned voice. Sitting between the bushes and the wall while trying to hide from his friends and kohai wasn't in his plan but he didn't have much of a choice when he saw Eiji, Fuji and Inui heading towards his direction right after the bell rang. The way he was acting was too suspicious for his own good but his brain wasn't telling him that. It was rather busy thinking up of ways to avoid everything all together without jeopardizing his mental well-being.

"It's not everyday one of your teammates confesses to someone and you happen to see it accidentally," he murmured to himself in a tone that showed how utterly unfair life could be.

"Oh? So that's the reason why you have been avoiding us like the plague this morning."

Dread instantly filled his stomach that Oishi had a hard time turning his head towards the amused and all-too-familiar voice behind him. He had a strong feeling of hitting himself when he didn't realized there was a window right behind him and a certain someone was casually leaning on the window frame looking down at him with a smile that shot chills down his spine.

Fuji Syusuke.

It took him two seconds to stop himself from squealing like a surprised little girl and another second to get up on his feet and run like a mad man out of hell.

His plan obviously didn't work for a pair of hands suddenly grabbed the collar of his uniform pulling him right back to his previous spot. He gazed back at the brunette only to see him still smiling that same innocent and deceiving smile. Multiple thoughts and scenarios crossed his mind on how he could possibly deal with this situation and he ended up with two choices. Again.

First, he could lie to him about what he said and blame it on the lack of sleep. The problem with this would be he was too nervous right now and even attempting to lie was so futile because his friend could easily read through him anyway.

Second, he could tell him the truth and Fuji would help his solve his problem and everything would go back to the way it was.

'Yeah and maybe all of us could even go to the amusement park after this and eat ice cream and tomorrow I'll be the next president of Japan,' he inwardly sighed. Don't get him wrong, he's not insinuating that Fuji is a terrible person. He does have a legitimate excuse for his behavior.

Every single time something unusual happened to their team that wasn't anticipated by their data-gathering player it always had something to do with their resident tensai. That was a scary thing by itself because Inui never failed to write hundreds of probabilities down to the last 0.00001 percent. The big problem was Fuji never got caught doing anything and they also didn't find any concrete evidence that pointed to his direction. However, that didn't stop their captain from assigning most of them laps as punishment because in the back of their minds they always knew it was him and that they all fell right to his trap.

It was also of great importance to note that Inui told him there's a high probability that Fuji is a great manipulator. The data man described him as being so great you wouldn't even know you were being manipulated to the very last second not until a feeling of being used suddenly rocks your very core. And by the time you realized it, it was already too late. You wouldn't be able to pinpoint anything back to the sadist of Seigaku even if you tried.

"Saa, let's grab some lunch and you can tell me all about your problem so that I can help you," Fuji smiled before pulling him right through the window into the corridor like a big sack of rice.

It was official. This day was one of the worst days in his entire life.

"Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blu- Is it just me or is Inui-senpai's drink changing into the colors of the rainbow?" a distressed Momoshiro whispered to his seatmate who so happened to be Ryoma. They were currently attempting to enjoy their lunch in the cafeteria when their senpai suddenly appeared out of nowhere and placed three glasses of unidentifiable liquids in front of them. It was bad enough that they haven't even touched their food yet when they saw the disturbing scene and now they were being subjected to drinking the vile concoctions judging by how their bespectacled teammate pushed the glasses towards their direction.

"I'm letting you two be the first to try my latest creation. It's called Inui Juice Chromaticity Deluxe Version 2," Inui informed them while scribbling a few things on his notebook.

"Version 2?" Ryoma managed to choke out. He had lost his appetite the moment he saw the liquid moving inside the glass in a way that made him want to review their lessons about the properties of a liquid just to make sure he wasn't losing his senses. Is that thing alive?

"Yes. The previous version was tested on Kaido-" he immediately stopped himself upon seeing the panicked looks on their faces.

((Note: Avoid mentioning previous taste testers when introducing new creations. Subjects are immediately showing signs of panic.))

'Now I know why Mamushi was sent home early,' Momo thought fearful of how they were going to spend their lunch break.

Inui tried again.

"What I mean to say was that the previous version needed to be improved because of certain side-effects. Don't worry. They weren't fatal or permanently damaging to the body. It's only temporary and in the next few days it will wear off," he smiled professionally at them before picking up two glasses and gently shoving it towards their faces.

"Ano.. Inui-senpai."

That sweet sounding voice startled the wits out of Inui that he had accidentally poured the contents of the glasses into his teammates' lunch. He whipped his head to the left and there she was standing a few feet away with all that innocent, sweet and child-like air surrounding her. After placing the glasses down, he suddenly grabbed his notebook and flipped though the pages until he finally reached the one he was looking for. He looked back and forth between the words he had written and the confused face of Ryuzaki Sakuno.

Ryuzaki Sakuno File no. 25

Weather Condition: Sunny with relatively few clouds

Lunch Location Preferences:

20% -Rooftop with Osakada Tomoka only

20% - Outside with Osakada Tomoka only

10% - Rooftop with Osakada Tomoka and other freshmen students

10% - Outside with Osakada Tomoka and other freshmen students

.

.

.

.

5%- Cafeteria with Osakada Tomoka and other freshmen students

3% - Cafeteria with Ryoma Echizen only

2% - Cafeteria by herself

He was so sure that Sakuno would spend her lunch time outside because of the fine weather or even inside their classroom since she always brought a lunch box with her and not here at the cafeteria. It was the main reason he was here in the first place.

((Reasons for avoiding Ryuzaki: still unknown))

He finally closed his notebook and shifted his full attention to their coach's granddaughter.

"Yes, Ryuzaki?"

"I'm sorry for interrupting your discussion with Ryoma-kun and Momoshiro-senpai," she bowed apologetically. Inui mentally took note that she was definitely cured of her stuttering problem back in their middle school days.

"That is alright. Momo and Echize-" he turned back to his teammates only to find that the seats that they were supposed to be occupying were now vacant. All that was left were their lunch trays and the food with his Inui Juice Chromaticity Deluxe Version 2 as toppings.

"Eto... They ran that way,senpai," she pointed towards the exit of the cafeteria.

A frown immediately plastered on his face as he thought of the reasons why they suddenly left without a word.

'Did they also eat the Yakisoba bread yesterday?' he mused only to be interrupted by the slight pull on his uniform sleeve.

"Senpai?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry for calling you out so suddenly."

"Calling me out?" Huh?

"Uhm. Yes? I asked Oishi-senpai to tell you to meet me during lunch," she answered looking just as confused as he was.

"Ah.. right right. It's not a problem. What were you going to tell me?" he managed to catch himself in time. Oishi must have forgotten to tell him about it since he did ran out of their classroom in a hurry because of... erm.. some certain business to take care of.

"It's about the proposal you gave me yesterday," she said fumbling with her hands. And that was when he finally noticed the wrapped lunch box she was holding.

He managed to swallow the lump in his throat before answering back.

"So..."

"I would love to, senpai." she smiled up at him. It took him a few seconds to regain his composure because he wasn't entertaining the idea of her actually accepting the position. He had already come up with different scenarios and reasons as to how and why she wouldn't concede to the idea of being their club manager.

"Is that a yes?" he asked dumbly. She stared at him for a while before putting a hand to her mouth to stifle the giggling that suddenly ensued.

"I'm so sorry for laughing, senpai. I just wasn't expecting you to say something like that," she confessed after her giggling finally subsided.

"To be honest, I wasn't really anticipating a favourable answer," Inui said while tapping the end of his pen to the surface of his notebook. A miscalculation, huh?

"Eh? How come?"

"Well... There are a few conditions that haven't been met yet and a few circumstances that I would have to face," he admitted. The stern faces of Tezuka and Coach Ryuzaki popped in his mind.

"Does it include informing obaa-chan?"

"More or less," he sheepishly affirmed while scratching the back of his head.

"So that's why she was surprised when I told her about it,"she said while nodding her head in understanding.

"Is her reaction... favourable?" he asked nervously.

"Don't worry, senpai. She said it was okay with her since it was my decision anyway," she grinned earning a relieved sigh from the bespectacled young lad.

"Eto... Before I forget, this is for you, Inui-senpai," she cheerfully handed him the bento that she was holding.

"It's my way of saying 'thank you' for yesterday. Obaa-chan also helped me prepare food that would help you with your injury," she explained upon noticing the bewildered look on his face.

"Uhm..., I'll be leaving first then, senpai," Sakuno took a step back before politely bowing her head and scurrying off not waiting for his response.

To be honest, Inui was too caught up with his thoughts to even give her a response. He was busy re-examining and contemplating on all the variables at hand because his data was proven wrong.

How did he know he was wrong and it wasn't just another minor miscalculation? It was because there wasn't even a 0.00001 percent chance written on his trusty notebook that she was going to give him a bento today.

He raised his eyes from his notebook only to see the certain auburn haired girl who was occupying the larger part of his musings look back at his direction while waving and smiling in this adorable manner-did he just thought of the word 'adorable'?. His stomach and heart also continued exhibiting signs of some strange sickness that he had yet to discover.

What the hell is happening?

"Congratulations, Inui!" Fuji beamed at him from behind effectively interrupting his train of thought. He turned around to see his friends smiling widely at him.

"You have no idea what kind of hell I had to go through to keep your secret," Oishi patted his back.

"I don't understand," Inui looked at them questioningly his brows furrowed in confusion.

"I don't even want to talk about it. I'm just glad everything worked out for you in the end so congrats," Oishi offered him a patronizing smile.

"I honestly have no idea what you both are talking about so I'll start off from the beginning. Why are the two of you congratulating me?" he asked picking up the remaining glass of his Inui Juice Chromaticity Deluxe Version 2. He seriously needed a drink right now.

"For getting a girlfriend. What else?" they both chorused while Inui just pitifully choked on his drink.

"Nya! So that's where you guys are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Kikumaru exclaimed fervently while Tezuka and Kawamura silently walked behind him.

"What's going on?" a clueless Kawamura asked seeing the unusual scene in front of him. Tezuka also shared the same sentiments as he looked from a smiling Fuji to a coughing Inui.

"Well, Inui here just got a girlfriend," Oishi grinned at them still patting the back of their data tennis player

"Woah! Really? Who is it? Who is it?" Kikumaru bounced up and down in excitement while Inui pathetically attempted to stop himself from choking to death due to his own creation.

"Whuu ergghh.. uhuh! I-gahhuh! dunhav-uhuh- girl-uhu erghh!" Inui desperately wished they had the patience to wait for him to stop hacking so that they would know that he was trying to say: "What? I don't have a girlfriend!"

"Ryuzaki Sakuno." Too late.

Inui was again subjected to another coughing-choking fit only this time he even had the decency to blush.

Author's Note[2]: I don't know if I'm having too much fun with writing this that everyone's turning a bit OOC.

I would really love to hear from you guys so I came up with this:

If you think this chapter's good or you like it then you could type in: INABAUER

If it needs improvement then type in: MADA MADA DANE

You don't have to write anything else if you don't want to I just really want some feedback on my writing and characterization and this is the simplest way I could think of without causing you guys trouble ^^

and no.. Inui's not a stalker... he's just... Inui.