First off, I must say that I owe my readers an extra-big apology for delaying this chapter by two weeks. -hides face from shame- I had actually written a first draft, but it was pretty much trash, if I may say so myself. T.T So I rewrote the whole thing, and this is the result with several modifications after some consultation with my beta.

I hereby sincerely apologise for the lateness of this chapter, and the quality of writing - I still haven't gotten used to writing something non-exam oriented yet! Gimme awhile to get back on my feet, ne?

Ja, read on!

Chapter 16

"Tezuka?"

He looked up from his book, and she absently wondered how he managed to stare at such a boring thing for so long without his eyes becoming glassy. Probably something to do with how he actually absorbed information from that dry passage of text, unlike her own rather uncooperative brain.

"Hn?"

Or then again, it could be because he identified only too well with the tedious old textbook, thanks to his overly exciting personality.

Not.

Anyway, back to the conversation.

"What were you and Atobe fighting about yesterday?"

He stared at her blankly for a moment before coughing uncomfortably. "Why don't you ask him instead?"

"I did," Maika said. "But he wouldn't tell."

"Ah." Tezuka returned to his book.

"Well?" She prodded.

"Well what?"

"What were you arguing about?"

He looked positively ill at ease now. Well, as ill at ease as a block of wood could, at any rate. "Nothing."

"Tezuka." There was the slightest hint of a threat in her voice. "Tell me. Now."

There was no response.

"Or perhaps I should go ask Fuji-kun?" Maika wondered out loud.

"No!" Tezuka shuddered to think what the tensai might tell her. She would probably come back with a fantastical tale that was sure to be highly scandalous and would cause him no end of trouble. "Whatever you do, don't ask Fuji."

Success!

She raised an eyebrow. "Well then, tell me!"

"Atobe was..." Tezuka seemed to be having a little difficulty in getting out the words. He swallowed, and continued. "Atobe seemed to be... jealous?" He braced himself for the oncoming burst of laughter.

But it never came.

Maika cocked her head to one side. "Jealous? Of what?"

For crying out loud, how dense is this girl?

He put down his book and resisted the overpowering urge to bang his head on the nearest hard surface. "How dense can you be?!"

She snorted. "Look who's talking..."

Block of wood calling human being dense? I must be hallucinating.

"He's jealous of me! Because I was holding your hand and - " Tezuka didn't even get to finish his sentence when she exploded into laughter.

"Atobe? Jealous?" She gasped out in between chuckles. "Of you?"

The mere thought was enough to send her into fits of laughter again.

Tezuka sighed, and reminded himself that it was only ten minutes more to the end of school.

Just ten more minutes...

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"Hey," She greeted the sole heir of the Atobe corporation, who was currently lounging about on a plush cream-coloured, genuine leather sofa. Not exactly the kind of thing an heir was supposed to do, but still...

"Maika," He greeted from his graceful sprawl across the sofa. "How was your day?"

"It was... pretty interesting," Her voice was carefully modulated, but her eyes were sparkling with repressed mischief. "Say, Atobe?"

"Hmm?" He popped a cherry into his mouth.

"Have you ever been..." She trailed off, watching him carefully.

"Been...?" He prompted.

"...jealous?"

His reaction was instantaneous.

"WHAT?!!" He sat up, nearly spitting out the half-eaten cherry. "Why should I be jealous?! I have everything I could possibly want! Is this some kind of joke? Are you trying to say that I can't get anything I want?! Ore-sama is NEVER jealous, I repeat, NEVER!!!"

Maika almost wished she had a box of popcorn with her. This was as good as watching a soap opera live.

"How dare you imply such a – a thing?! This is outrageous! Disgraceful! Shocking! How could you – how did you – "

"It was Tezuka," Maika informed him simply, cutting Atobe off in the midst of his spluttering. "He told me that that was why you were arguing with him yesterday."

"Tezuka?!" He was positively fuming by now. "How could he – "

He stopped abruptly in the middle of his rant, causing Maika to look up at him in surprise.

"Wait a moment..." Atobe said slowly. "Did you say yesterday?"

Puzzled, Maika answered, "Yes..."

"Oh-h-h..."

Maika quirked an eyebrow. "Yes? Is there something I should be aware of?"

"Ehehe..." Atobe coughed. "Nope, nothing! Nothing at all!"

"Really..."

"Really! I have absolutely no reason to be jealous of Tezuka Kunimitsu! I mean, I only lost my temper because – because – you – "

"I...?" Maika prompted.

"You – you – I – I mean – "

Maika's eyebrows shot up. What on earth was Atobe Keigo trying to say?

"I – aish!" He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I just – the tennis balls he used were too low-quality!"

There was dumbfounded silence for a moment before the intelligent response came.

"Huh?"

"I mean, these sort of balls are terrible for training! Don't you know that? Why, they're not even fit for street tennis! They – "

"But all I was doing was practising swinging my racquet," Maika recalled, much to Atobe's annoyance and misfortune.

"Ah-h-h..." He fumbled for a moment before regaining his composure. "That's 'cause I managed to stop you before you used those worthless balls! They're not even worth five yen – how do you expect to be able to play proper tennis with such poor quality stuff?"

"What?" This was getting more and more confusing.

"Add to that the fact that your tennis skills are practically non-existent and what do you get? A recipe for disaster!" Atobe was going full-steam by now. "Seriously! And you still expect me to train you after all that – "

Maika, however, had stopped listening at "non-existent tennis skills". She advanced on Atobe, eyes flashing dangerously. "Mr. Oh-So-Perfect-That-I-Feel-The-Need-To-Make-Fun-Of-Everyone-Else, may I remind you that your own tennis skills leave much to be desired, seeing as how you haven't beaten Roger Federer for the Wimbledon title yet?"

"Excuse me?" If there was one thing Atobe couldn't bear, it was people making fun of his tennis abilities.

"Shouldn't you be world champion by now if you're that good in tennis? Shouldn't you, huh? Shouldn't you?!"

Any more cautious person would have started backing away. But Atobe was not the sort to retreat from any battle, especially not when it involved the question of pride. Or more accurately, his pride.

"What do you know? You can't even hit a ball to save your life!"

"No, I can't!" She shot back. "But I'm not going around boasting of superior tennis skills that can overpower the world, am I?"

"So what if I do?"

"It just goes to show that you're nothing but an empty can!" She retaliated.

"Oh, yeah? Says who?"

"Says me!"

"Who?"

"Me!"

"You wanna fight?"

"Sure! I'll beat you anyday!"

"WHAT?!"

"Just you wait, Atobe Keigo, I'll get you!"

"You – you – impertinent little – !"

And another fight was merrily underway.

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The maid coming in to refill their glasses of fruit juice at that precise moment hastily backed out of the door. Everyone knew better than to disturb this pair in the middle of a catfight.

Seeing the pitcher of fruit juice coming back untouched with the maid (who incidentally looked as if she had just surprised two bulldogs fighting), the matronly head of the kitchen shook her head despairingly.

"Children these days..."

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"Is that so?" The mistress of the grandiose mansion raised a perfectly-shaped eyebrow. "It seems that I'll have to talk to him when he gets back, then." She nodded at the chauffeur. "You may go."

The poor man scrambled off, inwardly thanking his lucky stars that Atobe-san hadn't exploded upon hearing what a fool her own dear son had made of himself (in public too, no less!). He had worked for them for many years, and he knew just how much the Atobe household valued their impeccable aristocratic standing in society. Well, young Atobe-sama was definitely going to have it in for him the next time he saw his mother.

"Well, what do you make of that?" Atobe's mother turned to the lady sitting beside her, after making sure the chauffeur was well out of earshot.

Maika's mum broke into a mischievious grin. "I'd say that our plan's progressing along quite nicely, don't you think?"

Mrs. Atobe a.k.a. Evil Schemer Number Two answered with a smirk that just bordered on evil. "I haven't had as much fun in years!"

And they clinked their teacups in a cheer that would have raised the hackles of the cruelest fairytale villain on earth. Mothers were indeed a force to be reckoned with.

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The moment he stepped into the room, he knew something was wrong. Very, very wrong. He was just about to back out of the door when a honeyed voice stopped him in his tracks.

"And where might you be going, Echizen?" The angelic smile on Fuji's face belied the faint threat lurking behind those words.

He silently cursed the tensai genes that enabled Fuji to see past his closed eyelids. "To... to get Ponta!" Congratulating himself on his stroke of brilliance, he turned to make good his escape when Fuji opened his mouth yet again.

"Don't you think saving Tezuka is far more important than a can of Ponta, Echizen?"

"EH?!!"

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"So this is what we do..."

Ryoma sighed for the umpteenth time that day. This was utterly ridiculous. Someone falling apart if they couldn't play tennis anymore... that he could understand. But all this – just because of a girl?! His teammates had obviously lost hold of their sanity. Not that he hadn't suspected it before, but this was – this was – oh, good grief, he was spluttering just thinking about it! How much more absurd could they get? Not to mention the number of laps they'd be running if Tezuka-buchou ever found out about this...

"I'm not doing it."

An immediate silence fell over the group.

"Would you care to repeat that?" The words hung in the air like the sword of Damacles over his head.

"I'm not – " The sudden flash of Fuji's blue orbs made him stop abruptly. Suddenly the thought of running a thousand laps seemed far more appealing than facing Fuji-sempai's wrath.

"...nothing."

"Good." And Fuji sat back with a satisfied smirk. "As I was saying before Echizen so politely interrupted me," the tensai sent a poisonously sweet glare his way, if such a thing was even possible, "Echizen and Momo, you'll both be in charge of dealing with the enemy's cronies."

"Huh? Cronies? What cronies?" Sometimes Fuji-sempai was way too smart for his own good.

The said tensai flashed them his most winning smile.

"Go get Hyoutei."

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"I still don't see the point, Momo-sempai. Why all this trouble just to keep Monkey King from meeting up with a girl?" He grumbled, pulling his cap lower to hide his face. Maybe if he pulled hard enough, the cap would just swallow him up completely. That would be very useful if they came across anyone they knew while trying to complete the mission Fuji-sempai set them. Which, judging by the way his luck was going today, they probably would.

"Ah, the innocence of youth!" Momo-sempai was obviously in a very boisterous mood today. "You still don't understand the importance of girls, eh?"

He rolled his eyes. "Forget I ever asked."

"And besides, it's not just any girl, it's Maika-chan. You do remember her, don't you?"

Of course he did. How could he forget, when she had forced him to participate in one of the most traumatic experiences in his entire life?

"You know, Maika-chan, Tezuka-buchou's girlfr – hey, Echizen, wanna go for burgers?" The sudden appearance of a burger joint on their right had evidently distracted Momo, and Ryoma simply refused to be the one to remind him of the ridiculous task they were supposed to fulfil.

"You're paying, right?" And without waiting for an answer, he proceeded to dive into the entrance of the restaurant, leaving Momo staring blankly at the spot Ryoma was standing just milliseconds ago until...

"What?! I'm not paying! Echizen! ECHIZEN!!!"

Inside the burger joint, Ryoma allowed himself a slight smirk. Maybe Lady Luck was smiling down on him after all. After all, free burgers didn't just come rolling down the lane everyday.

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"Well, what's next?"

The two mothers frowned in concentration, trying to will forth inspiration for the next phase of their Get-Maika-and-Atobe-Together-Without-Being-Too-Obvious Scheme.

All of a sudden, Atobe's mum snapped her fingers, making Maika's mother jump in surprise. "Hold on a second... doesn't Maika paint?"

The said girl's mother looked blankly at her counterpart. "Quite well, actually. She once painted a portrait of her father, and it's still hanging in his study. Do you want to see – "

"That's it!" Atobe-san clapped her hands together.

"That's what?" Maika's mum asked, completely bewildered.

"That's it!" Atobe's mother repeated excitedly. "Here's the plan..."

The two perfectly-coiffured heads bent together in a furiously whispered discussion until Maika's mum suddenly laughed. "It's flawless!"

Atobe-san beamed. "You think so?"

"It's beyond perfect!" The other grinned infectiously. "Let's do it!"

And thus did the doom of Atobe Keigo and Tawako Kamaika come upon them, ever unwitting, in the form of their most trusted persons besides themselves.

Isn't it absolutely brutal how the world works at times?

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"Here, Maika, just listen to me," Her mother was starting to regret ever having such a headstrong child in the first place. Why couldn't she be like other normal girls, docile and obedient?

"But I still don't see why I have to paint someone's portrait! I mean, if you want a portrait done, shouldn't you employ a professional artist?" Maika protested.

"Come on, dear," It was time to resort to dirty tactics. Although it seemed that whenever it came to Maika, the only thing that would work was playing dirty. And if she had to do it, well, so be it. It'd be worth it when she got a great son-in-law like Atobe Keigo next time. "Can't you do just one, for your father's and my sake? He's a great friend of ours, you know, and it'd mean a lot to us if you could just do this one portrait..."

Maika made a face. "Oh, okay... since it's so important to both of you..."

Her mother beamed excitedly. "You will? Oh, thank you, dear!"

"Don't thank you me," Maika retorted irritably. "And this had better not be one of your schemes to set me up with a prospective son-in-law, or else..."

"Of course not! Don't be silly!" She ushered her daughter out of the room brightly, and immediately started wondering where she could seek asylum in, say, about two days' time.

Perhaps she ought to have thought a little longer before coercing Maika to go along with the idea. The repercussions were somewhat more terrifying than she had taken into consideration. But of course, there was always the tiniest sliver of hope that Maika might finally come to her senses and realise that Atobe Keigo was the greatest catch of all time, and would thank her mother profusely for guiding her to the path of enlightenment.

She thought about it a little more, and decided that she'd ring up the airline company at the first chance she got. Maybe her sister in Canada would let her stay for a few months.

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"Keigo, listen to me, will you?" His mother was having a slightly better time of it than her counterpart, but only slightly.

"But I already have a portrait of me, kaa-san!" He had gone through the painstaking experience of modeling for a portrait before, and certainly didn't relish having to sit on a stool and rot all day for more than a week every single day. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's so old, dear," She stressed the word, bringing her full ability of dramatics into play. "And why, look at how inaccurate it is!"

"You didn't seem to think so at that time," Atobe observed wryly, but turned to survey the said portrait. Perhaps his mole was a fraction of a millimeter to the right of where it should be, and one curl of his hair was slightly off, but he didn't see anything that really needed any drastic correcting - definitely not enough to warrant a second portrait. And he said as much to his mum.

"But dear, we're getting someone special to paint this new portrait for you! She doesn't paint just anyone, you know," His mum said, praying fervently that he'd stop being such a mule about it and just go along with the idea.

"But being painted is so boring! I can't even read, or move a muscle, or breathe – " Atobe was starting to get a little exotic in his exaggerations when his mum cut him off.

"I can assure you it won't be boring," She said with the slightest hint of a smile. "Oh, and Keigo, do try to control your temper in public the next time. We have a reputation to uphold, you know."

And she swept out of the room, leaving him to wonder how on earth she had known about his outburst, and why she hadn't lectured him for hours after hearing about it.

"And what's up with this portrait thing, anyway?" He muttered. Not getting an answer to his questions (not that he actually expected to, since there was no one in the room), he stalked off to go clear his head with a game of tennis.

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"We're here. Don't forget to bring out your art supplies from the car, dear," Her mother called over her shoulder.

Sometimes she wondered if her mother really thought she was that dumb. "Yes, kaa-san," Maika opened the door to get out, and stopped short in pure astonishment.

She looked at the house in front of her, then at her mother, who was busy fiddling with something in the driver's seat.

"Uh, kaa-san?" She asked.

"Yes, dear?" Her mother glanced at her, wondering whether she should start running now.

"...I think you've got the wrong house. This is Atobe-san's house."

"Oh, that!" Her mother laughed merrily. "It's the correct one, don't worry!"

When she saw Maika's brows beginning to crease, she hurriedly added, "Ah, it's because their house is so lavish, you know... it provides an elegant backdrop to the portrait, so he decided to have the portrait done here... ahahaha..."

Maika frowned. "He... knows Atobe-san?"

"Oh, yes! They're great friends! Did I forget to mention that? Ehehe... I'm sorry," Her mother laughed nervously, hoping Maika wouldn't detect anything suspicious. "Well, you know your way around from here, right? Atobe-san will show you to the room once you're inside."

She looked at Maika, with her set of paints and arty stuff cradled in her arms, and decided that she'd just overstayed her welcome. "Ah, I should be going now! Ja, see you later!" And with that, her mother slammed the car door and raced off at what was probably way over the speed limit.

Maika looked at the cloud of dust where the car was barely seconds ago, at the paints in her arms, and at the large, opulent mansion. There was something fishy about this, but she couldn't quite put her thumb on it.

"Oh, well. There's only one way to find out, I guess."

She pushed open the carved oak door, and stepped inside.

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So how was it? (I know it's long... just think of it as me trying to make up for it being so terribly late :P) Do review and tell me what you think! Or if not, at least just give me a holler to know you're still reading, 'kay?

-Salutations from stophoggingtheblanket