Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

A/N: Thank you biggest anime fan for being my beta reader. I hope you guys like this chapter cuz I had fun writing it!!

Chapter 9

"Welcome home, sweetheart," Rin's mother called out and opened her arms to her daughter. All her family was there at the airport: her two annoying brothers and her meddling sisters. Dropping her bags she ran into her mother's arms.

"I didn't make it, mom. I'm sorry," she said after she had hugged and kissed all her siblings; even when her brothers squirmed to get away.

Her mother gave her another hug. "That's okay. You can always try again next year."

A beautiful woman that appeared to be in her twenties approached Rin. "Hello."

Rin looked at her in confusion, then glanced at her mother questioningly. "Hello."

Holding out her hand the woman introduced herself. "I'm Yumiko Fuji. Syusuke's older sister. Thank you for taking care of my brother."

Rin shook her hand. "It was nothing." She was still in shock to find out that Fuji had an older gorgeous sister like her, the beauty gene seemes to run in the family. Rin watched Yumiko as the latter left the airport with Fuji, who simply waved at her in goodbye.

"He's cute," Sunako said as she looked at Fuji admiringly. Sunako was the oldest. She attended university and was studying to be a reporter.

Rin slapped her arm playfully. "Pervert! He's too young for you."

Mai, the second daughter who was a senior in high school nudged Sunako and gave Rin a sly look. "You like him, don't you?"

Hands on hips, Rin scoffed at them. "I do not." Both her sisters simply laughed and looked at her knowingly, seeing through her bluff. "Oh, shut up!" That only made them laugh harder.

On the other hand, Rin's brothers, Tennosuke and Ryo looked at each other and smiled. Being in the same school as Rin, they both knew how anti-social their sister was and decided it was about time it ended. It was high time their sister got a boyfriend, and already they were hatching a plan.

Next day at school Tennosuke and Ryo had asked around and found that Fuji Syusuke was a tennis prodigy. "Hey, there's a guy in my class who plays in Seigaku," Tennosuke, a freshman, said. He scratched his head. "Echizen, I think his name is." He snapped his fingers and looked at Ryo with gleaming eyes.

"I know that look. What are you scheming?" Ryo was a junior in Seigaku. He and Tennosuke were very close as brothers.

"There's this girl that always hangs around Echizen. It's obvious she likes him but she's too shy and sis is a sucker for this kind of stuff, so…" Tennosuke didn't have to finish the sentence when he saw his brother's eyes shine with mischief.

"Double date!" The both said at the same time.

Having been in Germany for a week Rin had missed out on a lot of school work, but her classmates had copied their notes for her, and today her bag was full of those copies. They were heavy. She was halfway out the building when she spotted her youngest brother Tennosuke leaning against the doorway, apparently waiting for her.

"Hey, sis," he called out cheerfully when he spotted her. He truly earned the title of the class clown, always so cheerful and hyper.

"What's up?" she asked as she lowered the heavy bag onto the floor with a grunt.

"You know some people in the tennis club, right?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah." Rin was becoming apprehensive. What the heck is he up to?

"Great! Here's the deal." Taking a deep breath he told her about a girl that likes a guy in his class, who happens to be a Seigaku regular, but the girl was too shy to ask him out and the guy too detached. "So I thought maybe you could help her out." Tennosuke shrugged.

Hands on hips, Rin started to think who the girl might be. "Shy? Does she have long pigtails?" She already knew who it was but wanted to make sure.

"Yes, and she's always hanging out with this loud basket case." Tennosuke made a gesture that said he thought she was crazy.

Rin laughed. "You mean Tomo-Chan. So the shy girl would be Sakuno." Finally, it hit her. "Echizen is in your class? No way! Do you get along?"

Tennosuke scoffed, "pigs will fly before we get along. That guy is too cold." Waving the subject off he got back to the main point: "So what are you going to do?" He looked at her expectantly.

Placing a finger on her lips, she pondered, "I could invite them both for ice-cream."

Tennosuke tossed his hands in the air. "What are they? Five! They need to go on a date." Come on sis, make that noodle tick.

"I guess I could set them up by asking them to do some errands for me. And they can't refuse an order from a senpai." She said smuggly, happy with her plan.

You missed! He wanted to strangle her. "That won't work; Echizen will mess it up, and he needs someone there to straighten him out when he does." Come on, say 'double date' damn it.

After pondering for a while Rin clapped her hands as a revelation came to her. "Someone has to double date with them."

Tennosuke did a mental hallelujah. "That's perfect. how about you and that Fuji guy you took to Germany?" Before she could decline he said in a rush, "I'll go tell him about your plan." He was racing out of the building before she could stop him. It took her forever to get to double date. It was probably going to take her longer to figure out that she should take Fuji. Thus, Tennosuke had to take matters into his own hands.

Rin would have chased after her brother if she wasn't already late for her club activities, and the heavy bag. Not having any other choice, she dragged her bag to the music room. Finally when she was there she was greeted with applause from everyone in the room, except Yuri. Rin bowed to them, thanking them. Mr. Matsudo approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You did well. No one in this school has ever made it to the top five. So thanks to you, next year they're going to improve our instruments and maybe give us a better room." Rin was speechless. And in all the excitement she completely forgot about her brother and the double date.

Meanwhile, Tennosuke finally reached the tennis courts. Looking around, he finally spotted Fuji on the courts doing some drills. Turning, Tennosuke headed for the old lady that appeared to be the coach. Bowing he said, "Excuse me sensei, I have a message for Fuji-senpai."

Ryuzaki-sensei looked at the boy then nodded. "I'll call him." Turning to the courts she shouted for Fuji to come. When he finally did she left them alone.

"You're one of Tanami-san's brothers. Is she okay?" Fuji looked at him with concern.

Tennosuke grinned, and pointing to himself he said, "My name is Tennosuke. But you can call me Ten." Hands behind his head he scrutinized Fuji. "You'll do." He said it with a satisfied smile.

Now Fuji was really confused. "What?" He raised an eyebrow when the kid just laughed.

"Long story short, you're double dating with Rin. Since you have a match tomorrow we'll make it the day after that." Ten laughed at the flustered expression on Fuji's face. "Just get Echizen prepared, too." having finished his mission, Tennosuke walked away.

But I thought she wanted nothing to do with me. Fuji's smile widened. Looks like she changed her mind. He paused for a moment and looked at Echizen and wondered why Rin would want them to double date with him and how he was going to convince him to come.

Two days later, on the fated day, Rin was absolutely clueless. It was the weekend so she didn't have her alarm on, however Ryo made sure she was up.

"What the heck are you still sleeping for?" Ryo shouted into a sleeping Rin's ear, shocking her out of her slumber.

Fully awake, Rin Jumped out of the bed and grabbed her brother's shirt and shook him. "It's the weekend! I have the right to sleep in," she screamed in his face, fully awake now.

"You have a date, remember?" Ryo had taken her by the shoulders and was the one doing the shaking now.

"I do not…" She froze. Oh shit! Rin pushed her brother out of her room and went to her closet. Oh shit! That stupid Ten, I totally forgot about him! He set me up with Fuji so I could help Sakuno. An hour later she was dressed and ready. She left her hair down and was wearing a sky blue, knee-length skirt, a black tank-top and black sandals. She was almost out the door when she realized she had no idea where to meet up with Fuji. "Ten!" she shouted.

Her brother's head popped in from the kitchen. "It wasn't me, I swear!" He looked at her, petrified.

"No, you idiot!" She couldn't help but laugh a little at his expression. "Where am I supposed to meet Fuji?"

Relieved that he wasn't being blamed for anything, Tennosuke stepped out into the hall. "You're supposed to pick up Sakuno-chan by the school, and then meet up with Fuji at Echizen's house." When he saw she was about to ask him where it was all he said was that Sakuno knew the way.

At the school gate Rin spotted Sakuno waiting nervously and she couldn't help but giggle a little. It was so obvious how much the younger girl liked Ryoma. She looked cute dressed in light pink, too. "Good morning Sakuno-chan."

Sakuno smiled at Rin. "Good morning, Tanami-senpai."

"Please call me Rin-chan." Sakuno simply laughed nervously. "Okay let's go, you know the way to Echizen's house, right?"

Suddenly Sakuno perked up. "Actually, we're going to meet them at the tournament's courts. There's a match going on for Fudomine."

Rin hesitated. "Okay, lead the way." Moments later they were at the courts. There they only found Fuji, Inui and another girl. "Who is she?" Rin asked Sakuno before they approached the group.

"That's Ann-chan. She's Tachibana's sister. Tachibana is Fudomine's captain. Good morning." Everyone called a greeting back. After Rin was introduced they all watched the game.

Turning to Fuji, Rin asked him how yesterday's game went. His eyes on the match he said, "We won 3-1. What about you?"

Rin shrugged. "So far so good." That was when Momoshiro and Ryoma arrived and received a scolding from Ann for being late. The match ended with Fudomine winning. After congratulating them the four set out on their date.

Inui looked at the group with interest. "Hmm, are they going to double date?"

"Inui-senpai, what are you thinking?" Momoshiro looked at Inui questioningly then grinned. "You want to spy, don't you?"

"I'm just going to collect data." Reaching for his phone he started dialing.

For a long while the four walked in silence. Unable to bare it anymore Rin broke the silence: "So where should we go first?"

"How about we grab a bite then head for the theme park?" Fuji suggested.

"I just ate." Echizen said coolly receiving a bump on the head from Rin. "Hey!"

"That's okay, you can eat again." Rin walked on ahead. Behind her she heard Fuji snicker and Sakuno chuckle. They went to a burger joint and sat at a four seat table. Even though Rin didn't want to sit next to Fuji she wanted Sakuno to sit next to Ryoma. So in the end she had to sit beside the prodigy. She was looking everywhere but at him. Under the table her fingers were moving as if a piano was there. Yes, that's it. Just think about playing the piano, not about Fuji and how handsome he looks today or how sweet he smells or how much you want to kiss him again. Rin shook her head at her trail of thought. You'll never learn will you! Looking at Fuji she thought let me have him just for today, then never more.

Feeling her eyes on him, Fuji turned to look at her. When her brown eyes met his closed ones she blushed at being caught staring, and Fuji continued to smile. Those beautiful brown eyes. I want to let you go, but I can't. I love you. Fuji's eyes snapped open as he realized what he had just confessed to himself. He loved her, her smile, her eyes, her laugh, even her strange obsession with shoes. Everything about her made his heart beat faster. But she wanted him to stay away. He was shocked out of his reverie when he felt someone take hold of his hand.

Looking down he saw delicate long fingers wrap around his hand. He smiled as he closed his hand around Rin's smaller one, caressing the back of her hand with his thumb and he looked up at her. His azure eyes searcher her brown ones. Rin simply smiled at him.

After everyone was done eating they headed for the theme park. Everyone wanted to go on different rides and in the end Rin made them all go on the fares wheel, with each couple in a different cart. Sakuno was blushing like crazy while Ryoma was totally laid-back. Rin bonked him on the head before they went into their cart and said, "Don't mess this up." Echizen glared at her as the door closed.

Once they were in a high position Rin looked out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of Ryoma and Sakuno's cart. All she could see was the tip of Ryoma's hat. "I swear if I sense in any way that he upset Sakuno he'll get more than just a slap upside the head."

"You really care about Sakuno-chan." He laughed when she growled through the window that revealed nothing of Sakuno and Ryoma's cart.

Suddenly she jumped. "Echizen moved! I can't see his hat anymore, where did he go? What the heck is he doing? Gah, stupid window." Looking back at Fuji she motioned for him to come to her side. "See if you can catch what they're doing."

Half way to her side the cart tipped over to Rin's side as a result of his added weight. Fuji stumbled and fell, sitting in the space beside Rin. Looking at the disgruntled Fuji who was now sitting next to her Rin chuckled. "Tennis prodigy, right? You've got the foot work of an elephant." Leaning over she gave him a quick peck on the cheek then returned to watching Echizen's cart.

When they got off they noticed that both Sakuno and Ryoma were blushing. Rin slid Fuji a sidelong glance and smiled. "Now we'll go to the rollercoaster," Rin announced and dragged Fuji behind her. Rin and Fuji sat behind the younger couple so that Rin could keep an eye on them. As they were strapped down and the ride 

started to speed up and loop, poor Sakuno was terrified and reached for Ryoma, who surprisingly took her hand in his and smiled as he said, "This is fun isn't it?"

Sakuno forgot her fear and beamed at him as she nodded in agreement. They spent the rest of the ride holding hands, Ryoma laughing and Sakuno screaming. For the whole time they spent at the theme park Rin noticed that Ryoma was being more considerate of Sakuno. Both she and Fuji wondered what had happened in the cart.

To Be Continued . . .

If anybody has any comments about the story, be they good or bad, please tell me. If you have bad comments go ahead and write 'em, I believe in constructive critisizm. In short R&R X3