Chapter 2

Enter the Prince

My second day at Seigaku was pretty much the same, except this time around I met another one of the regulars: Momoshiro Takeshi.

"So Alex-senpai has lived in all those places?" Momo asked a little wide eyed. "That's so cool"

"Saa, Momo its almost as if you don't even leave your house" Fuji said with a little smirk.

"Nah, Fuji-senpai stop with the teasing!" Momo said with a little groan. "Its enough you tease about me missing the next tournament."

"Tournament?" I asked looking around the group, which was missing Tezuka and Oishi.

"Nya, we play a tournament tomorrow so we won't be here for classes." Eiji said smiling.

"Oh" I said with a little frown, which a certain smiling regular didn't miss.

"Will you miss us that much Alex-chan?" Fuji said with a smirk. "I am touched"

"Actually I'll miss them" I said pointing at all the other guys except Fuji.

"Nya, Fujiko! She likes us better already" Eiji said.

Fuji smiled again, and didn't say anything this time round. Soon enough, lunch was over and I headed off to her Math class walking next to Fuji, since Eiji said he needed to get something from Oishi. It was a slow walk, and at first it was quiet.

"Will you win?" I asked.

"Most likely. It is a small tournament just for players to rank up points" Fuji said, his smile ever present, and ever changing.

"I see. Points for what?"

"It's a way of helping get players ranked nationally."

"Right"

"Want me to explain how it works?" he said teasingly. "There isn't much math to it"

"Ugh no… I have enough math in class, thank you" I said with a small groan.

"I take it you don't like the class"

"I just don't get it. I get stuck with it, don't understand how to do things, and then easy questions become so complicated"

"Maybe you just need a tutor" Fuji said, and as they got to the classroom, he opened the door for her.

"I don't know anyone who tutors math" I said, without looking at the now smirking face of the tennis player.

"Saa, I might know someone, but I have to ask" Fuji said smirking.

"That'd be great!" I said smiling. "Thank you Fuji-san"

It was then when their conversation was distracted by an Eiji-hug. I was caught unawares, but before I was sent plummeting to the ground, Fuji caught me by the waist, and then steadied me up. I was found with his arms around my waist, my hands on his chest, and our faces inches apart. But in all honesty, I was not thinking about that at all, because something else caught my attention. The fact that Fuji's eyes were open, and that they were blue, a beautiful blue; and above all they were deep, and intense, and looking at me, as if they were seeing beyond my face. But before I could say one word, sounds were heard, the teacher entered the classroom, and by the time I noticed, Fuji was now standing in front of me, eyes closed, smile in place, and hands behind his back.

"Saa… we better sit down, ne?" he said with his smile, and I followed him to our table.

To say I was a little distracted after that was an understatement. There was something about the way he was looking at me… it was just so different. When I was distracted from my daydreaming by our teacher asking a questions, I let the thoughts of that moment slip away. It really wasn't important… we'd just met really. He was just shocked to have caught me.

If only I'd paid more attention, I would have seen the furtive glances thrown my way.

The rest of the day was pretty much the same. Calm, quiet (unless I was with Eiji, or met Momo down the hall), but above all, it became uneventful. I did stay to watch the guys practice again, this time sitting under a tree and starting my homework, while glancing up the moment they seemed to be doing more than running laps, or stretching.

The next day… it was the exact opposite of the one before.

Homeroom and English were a bore, since I was literally a little alone, considering my trusty buddy was playing tennis. Lunch was a different matter. Going into the cafeteria I met with Momo, who convinced me to eat and then take a walk around the school. It was then when we met him. The first year, who would soon make an impact on this school, like hardly any other student ever did before. Echizen Ryoma. At first I didn't even recognize him. All I saw was a first year student with a baseball cap, three other first years, and three juniors who seemed to be terrorizing them. Momo broke that up pretty fast, and before I could even mutter one word, he was off with the kid to play a match. As they were getting ready, I walked up behind Momo and whispered.

"Momo-san, should you not do this? I thought you were injured?" I said, careful not to let the kid listen.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I just wanna see if he is good. Besides, I'm not injured anymore, in fact, I'm allowed to get back into regular training" Momo said with a grin.

"But Momo-san…" I tried again.

"It'll be fine, don't worry" he said in quite the nonchalant tone.

The game was in fact fine, and even though Echizen seemed to have the advantage I knew better. By the end of it, as Momo and I were headed back to the main building, Echizen spoke to me.

"Never thought I'd see you again" he said, his cap hiding his face.

"Huh? Alex-senpai, you know Echizen?" Momo asked me.

"I…" I said, and took a look at him, and then it came to me. "You're the kid I bumped into at the airport! The day I got here!" I said, recognizing the cap

"Mada Mada Dane" he said smirking, he turned around and left.

Momo and I went inside after a few minutes and headed to our respective classrooms. Classes were again a bore. Math was a torture, and by the end of the day, I was thinking of just going home, but for some reason I decided to step over the tennis courts just to check practice out again. What I didn't expect was being attacked by an Eiji-hug from behind, as the regulars finally arrived.

"Nya! Alex-chan, you are here again!" Eiji said smiling.

"I wonder if you like someone in the tennis club Alex-chan" Fuji said with his impish smile.

I blushed before shaking my head. "Nope, just curious."

"Ne, wonder who could it be? I mean, who does Alex-chan know long enough to get a crush on?" Eiji said as if I had not spoken.

"Eiji!" I said.

"There isn't enough data to predict that just yet" Inui said, mostly making Fuji smirk.

"Inui!"

"Guys stop it" Oishi said, and I smiled at him in gratitude. "Ok, we should get practice started.

As they started out their practices, I noticed that Ryoma Echizen was standing with the other first years. I mostly stood next to the court, the regulars were practicing in, but there was a moment when a stray lob made its way towards were the first years were, and Ryoma, with a smirk as well (arrogant little git that one), smashed it right at the basket the regulars were supposed to be aiming at. He was about a two courts away. Most of the juniors and freshmen seemed surprised and amazed at this, but the regulars were mostly just smiling. They seemed to find the kid entertaining.

Later in practice, while the regulars were sparing against each other, Fuji leaned on the fence, right next to where I was standing outside the court.

"How was your day?" he asked, looking towards were Echizen Ryoma was.

"It was ok. Momo kept me company during lunch." I said, noting that the same junior that was bothering the freshmen earlier in the day, seemed to be moving to have a match against Echizen. "What's going on over there?"

"It seems Arai is a little jealous of the young player" Fuji said. "This seems interesting"

"Why?"

"The racket that freshmen is using seems very old" Fuji said, and then almost everyone went quiet to look at the match. Arai served, but Echizen had a hard time returning it. "Saa… those strings won't help him"

"If the racket is bad, why does he use it?"

"Arai probably hid his actual rackets, just to embarrass him."

"Shouldn't you guys, the regulars, be good senpais and stop this." I asked.

"It's a lot more interesting this way, ne?" Fuji said looking at me for a moment.

It was then, when Echizen finally returned a ball, and Arai could do nothing more than watch it pass by him.

"The kid is good" Inui said, he was standing close to where we are.

"Yes. The racket is quite horrible, but he figured out how to give it spin using his wrists and body" Fuji said ever smiling. "Poor Arai"

"Wouldn't Tezuka stop this by now?" I asked looking around for the captain.

"Nya, Tezuka-buchou is in a meeting with Ryuzaki-sensei, and Oishi, making up the tables for the ranking tournament" Eiji said walking over. "Hoi, Hoi! That little guy is good!"

I wasn't able to ask, because Echizen's match ended with him winning, and Oishi came over to announce that all the players were to run laps. My guess is that Tezuka didn't approve of the match, and the interruption of practice either. Right before Fuji started to run, he turned towards me and asked.

"Will you stay after practice? I have something to tell you" he said, eyes closed, and smile there.

"Uh-h sure" I said a little confused.

I watched them run laps for a while before spacing out for a few seconds, and then I noticed the players had stopped running laps, and a lot of them were headed towards the clubhouse, but I didn't see Fuji among them at all. I walked around the clubhouse, and noticed someone at the water faucets. Upon closer look I noticed it was Fuji, washing his arms, with a towel around his neck.

"Hey" I said walking over, not ignoring the fact that we were alone.

"Hi." He said noticing that I was looking at the arm he had under water. "Practicing with Taka has upsides and downsides. We get strength training, but you might end up a little sore."

I nodded and walked over to him, as he took his arm out of the water, and used the towel to dry it, but I took the towel from him and helped him.

"You wanted to talk" I said giving him his arm and towel back.

"I found you a math tutor" he said, finishing drying and putting the towel around his neck.

"Really?" I asked

"Saa… me" he said, smiling wider.

"What?"