Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis? Not mine. Got that? Great.

A/N: I dedicate this chapter to soul vrazy. :D

Warning: There will be OOCness due to circumstances invented by my imagination. There is shounen-ai in this chapter, but just light.

Here it is, the twenty-first chapter!

Chapter 21: Getting physical solves nothing.

The next few days of training were rough on the tennis players. After breakfast, they were to run many laps around the mansion, which was fairly huge and wide. After lunch, they were stationed to the gym or entertainment room. In the afternoon, they were taking turns in using the courts for catching balls with their bare hands, and the pool for numerous time-pressured laps. After the allotted time for training, they had lessons with the coaches, as to not let them ignore their schoolwork.

All the while, many of the teens noticed the significant change in attitude the black-green-haired freshman had undergone, even the ones that were not close to him. Needless to say, it brought worry to those who cared deeply for him. One time, during one of their rare breaks, he had become the topic of his friends when he was off doing something else once again.

"Now that you've mentioned his weird behavior, he rarely says 'Mada mada dane' anymore." Taka pointed out, slight worry heard in his voice. "Doesn't he say it a lot during training?" Kajimoto asked. He had noticed it, being his group mate and all. "Yes, that is true, but outside practice, he's hardly ever said it." Fuji explained.

"The last time he said it was before I asked him for any weird tales or rumors about this mansion." Inui told them. A series of nods followed afterwards in confirmation. "He doesn't spend time with any of us anymore and disappears most of the time." Momo commented. "He doesn't let me hug him anymore!" Eiji cried. 'That's because you hug him too tight.' Most of his teammates had thought, but said nothing more.

"He spends most of his time in the music room or in the library. He sleeps way late into the night and rises before any of us. He always wants to be alone, and acts like he's sulking when not training."

The teens in the meeting room (where they decided to hang) turned their heads towards the door to see Kirihara standing by the door. They hadn't noticed that he wasn't among them when they had started talking, so it was a shock for most of them that he was suddenly came in the room.

"How did you know that, Akaya?" Yukimura asked. He knew that his teammate was close to the freshman they were talking about, but some others in the room didn't, and he wasn't planning on letting them know about it as well. It wasn't a well-kept secret though. That much he knew. The amber-eyed freshman had been hanging out with the green-eyed junior more than they had expected.

"I've been with him on more than half occasions to know that much, 'Mura-buchuo. I really don't understand how he could sleep so late but still wake up so early." He said as he slumped into a nearby seat. "You two have been spending a lot of time with each other lately. What's with that?" Momo asked. Last time he knew, he was the best friend of Echizen Ryoma, not this green-eyed Rikkai Dai regular!

"We have a lot in common, I'll say. We don't pig out like you do though." Kirihara wrinkled his nose to emphasize his disgust. Momo grew angry at what he had heard. "I don't 'pig out'!" Momo shouted in anger. He knew better than to go physical at the moment. There were a lot of teens between him and the target of his anger.

"Well, then you inhale all the food like the glutton you are." Kirihara retorted calmly. 'I'm spending way too much time with Ryoma if I'm like this.' The green-eyed male instantly thought as he registered what he had just said. He concealed a small shudder at the thought that he was acting like the amber-eyed cat-like freshman of Seigaku. 'I love him and all, but acting like him is way too much.'

Seeing the green-eyed Rikkai Dai regular space off on him like that, Momo grew angrier. 'That guy is going to get it!' Momo thought as he stood up from his seat and briskly walked to the lost-in-thought teen, crossing the distance between them in a matter of seconds. Immediately, he threw a punch at the green-eyed junior, making him fall off his seat. "Momo!" His sempais had shouted.

Kirihara held back the wince that threatened to leave his lips as he tried to stand up. He glared intently at the violet-eyed junior and was only rewarded with another hard punch from Momo. The second punch had him sliding across the floor, face first due to the momentum of his body.

"Momo, stop it!" Oishi shouted as Taka tried to hold back their violet-eyed teammate with Kaidoh's help. "Oishi's right, nya! Why did you do that to Kirihara, nya?" Eiji asked. "Momo, explain now." Tezuka ordered. Momo simply scowled at his teammates and easily pushed away Taka and Kaidoh.

"Kabaji." Atobe said. "Usu." With that, Kabaji walked towards Momo and lifted the violet-eyed teen from the floor before the hot-tempered junior could do more damage. "Let go of me!" Momo kept shouting as he flailed his arms and legs around in annoyance and anger. In a few seconds, he felt himself get hit with water, forcing himself to close his eyes and stop moving.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Kamio and Sengoku with small wet buckets. "What the-" He was cut off by the hard slap on the face from Sanada. This had shocked all of the teens in the room, even the ones from Rikkai Dai. "There was no reason for you to raise your hand to our teammate, even if he had provoked you." He scolded before going to Kirihara and slapped him as well. "You went out of line with what you have said."

"Fukubuchuo." Kirihara had only mumbled under his breath as he stared at the ground. Slowly, he stood up from the floor and limped to the shocked teen. He bowed in front of Momo. "I apologize for my rude remarks, Momoshiro." He said monotonously, but the teens around him felt the sincerity in his words.

When Kabaji deemed that Momo had cooled down enough, he laid the teen on his feet. Momo, regaining his senses, backed off and bowed as well. "I'm sorry for punching you twice." He said, his voice sounded sad and upset. The two teens stood up straight and stared at the ground before them.

The rest of the teens released a sigh of relief, knowing that the two juniors had stopped fighting, but they were really clueless on how the fight had gotten out of hand. They had only talked about the Seigaku freshman's weird attitude the past few days, and at the moment, it had come down to the bickering of the two juniors. Before any of them could think further, the sound of clapping brought them out of their thoughts.

"Bravo, Akaya-sempai, Momo-sempai."

"Echizen/Echizen-kun/Ochibi!" Everyone but the two said teens shouted in recognition. "How long have you been there, Echizen?" Tachibana asked. "I've been here since Momo-sempai punched Akaya-sempai." Ryoma bluntly replied. "Why didn't you stop them?" Yuuta asked. "As troublesome as it may sound, I couldn't do anything." He replied with a yawn as he approached the two black-haired juniors.

"Echizen." The said boy looked at his violet-eyed teammate. Before Momo could say another word, a fist went straight to his cheek, making him stumble to the floor. "Momo!" "What the-!" "Echizen!" Shouts came from the other teens and some went straight to Momo to help, but all of them froze when they sensed a dark aura envelope the black-haired freshman.

"Echizen!" The said turned boy turned around, letting the other teens see the dark look in the teen's eyes. The usual golden amber had turned into a darker shade and his eyes looked edgier than they had ever seen. His bangs did nothing to help as it shadowed the top of his eyes, making it look more sinister.

"What?" His voice was venomous and had a certain edge to it. It drew fear from some of the easier-to-scare sempais. "Why did you punch Momo?" Oishi asked as his fear and worry mixed into his voice. He turned his head back to its former position, his back facing his other sempais.

"He was foolish."

Even if he had said that, he held his hand in front of the fallen teen, his dark aura slowly dissipating. Momo hesitantly took the helping hand and was hoisted up by the smaller teen. "Gomen, Echizen." Momo didn't know why but he had the urge to apologize to the younger teen as well after he let go off his hand. "Just control your emotions better." Ryoma whispered so that only the violet-eyed teen could hear.

Afterwards, Ryoma faced Kirihara. He ran his hand through the black curly locks downwards until he reached the older teen's nape. Before anyone could react, he pinched the back of his sempai's neck. Kirihara let out a loud wince as his hand instantly reached for the back of his neck.

"That's for provoking Momo-sempai." The younger teen simply said. The others wondered what had hurt more. Was it the younger boy's punch that forced Momo to fall to the ground, or was it his pinch at that not only made Kirihara wince loudly but draw tears that still wouldn't stop falling? The others didn't know.

"I never thought that you'll be acting like me so much though. I'm kind of touched by your actions." Ryoma had said that after he turned around, letting his sempais see the devious smirk on his face. They didn't fail to notice the deep blush that appeared on Kirihara's face, not that the junior was hiding it in the first place.

As Ryoma's remark registered into the minds of the older teens, they had to stifle their laughs. Looking back to what happened; Kirihara had acted like the freshman prodigy, much to the junior's chagrin. "Your just in a good mood because-" The green-eyed junior wasn't able to finish what he was about to say because Ryoma had turned around and shut him up with his lips. "Shut up, Akaya." He whispered.

Afterwards, he walked away with an emotionless look on his face and headed towards the door. The other teens gave way as he passed-by, parting much like the red sea for Moses. Before he left though, he flashed a smug smirk at his sempais and gave them his parting words.

"Mada mada dane, sempai-tachi."

A/N: Anyway, I hope I didn't make the characters too OOC. I might have been a little excited when I typed this so... Please tell me any typos and inconsistencies, even grammar mistakes (being the "Grammar Nazi" that I am).

Constructive criticism is appreciated in the form of private messages and/or reviews.