Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. That prestigious honor belongs to sir Takeshi Konomi. I do, however, own all of the original character concepts, and plot. The main character belongs to my friend. Thank you.

Chapter Two: Realization

Sitting on her comfy bed with plain black bed sheets, Tenx lay on her back staring at her cream colored ceiling. Beside her bed was her tennis bag, carelessly dropped on the floor, next to her school bag. On the desk just a few feet away from the head of her bed sat the various different text books she had taken home due to the fact the teachers that taught those classes had a class set and she was able to keep these at home. However, quickly thrown over the back of that desk's chair was a jacket with blue sleeves with a red stripe going down them and the collar. Emblazoned on the back, in big bold letters, was "Seigaku." It was the official regular's jacket for Seishun's girls tennis team – and it wasn't that much different from the boys' jacket save for the fact it was smaller and more form fitting and suited for girls. Flipping over on her side to get a better look at it, the Italiana let out a sigh. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and ran a hand through her choppy blond hair, her sharp blue eyes never leaving the jacket. It would be an understatement to say that she was confused; the day's events just whizzed by before she could really get a good grasp on them. So, she did what she always did when something that had transpired during the course of the day confused her - she sat quietly and waded through her memories of the day's events in silence...

Tenx had followed the raven-haired vice-captain as she led them to the boy's courts, totally oblivious to the Italiana's nervousness. She wasn't ready for this! She could keep a rally going, yes, but to keep said rally going on for long periods of time? Nu-uh. There was just no way she could measure up to the skills of the regulars - they must have had years of coaching and training to reach the level of tennis they were at. And Tenx, for one, didn't exactly count herself as a tennis prodigy. She had barely begun to swing a racket correctly a year ago! Oh man, when she got home that day her dad was surely gonna -

"Medici-chan?" the vice-captain's voice rang out, interrupting Tenx's thoughts.

"Uh...hai?" the mentioned replied, slightly dazed as she looked up from her feet to meet the other female's eyes. The latter merely smiled and jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

"We're here, Medici-chan. Try not to look so worried; the boys don't bite. I know you've already met the girls so, if it makes you feel better, we can hit a little later when they get here," the fukubuchou informed her in a pleasant tone. Tenx's blue eyes moved from the smiling vice-captain in front of her, to the open gate leading to the courts behind her, to the boys on the courts flawlessly rallying back and forth. She gulped and felt her confidence level shrink even more.

"Yes, please, I'd like that," Tenx replied with a nervous grin, gripping her racket all the more tighter. The blond's actions merited a small chuckle from the dark-haired girl. Tenx's blue eyes were trained on the fukubuchou and she felt a little better seeing someone so bright and seemingly carefree. However, that feeling dulled a little when she came to the realization that this girl was the vice-captain for a reason - she had serious skills. She had to have them. Why else would she hold such a title?

"Ah, Vice Captain Oishi," the raven-haired girl's voice broke Tenx's train of thought. The Italiana looked up and noticed that the other had her back to her, addressing a boy wearing the Seigaku boy's tennis team uniform. How did Tenx know? The word 'Seigaku' emblazoned on the jacket gave it away. Anyway, back to the boy. He had dark green eyes* and black hair - styled in quite a strange way, to say the least. It looked like he was wearing a swimming cap with two little tufts of hair sticking out in the front. He had a warm smile on his face as he approached her companion, and even shot Tenx a friendly smile.

"I'm glad that both the boys and the girls team took to our idea with such enthusiasm," Oishi said to his female counterpart, "I'm sure today will be quite enjoyable and fruitful for the two teams."

The female vice captain laughed and agreed wholeheartedly, "On most occasions, when we vice-captains are in charge while the captains are away, we can handle our respective teams without much incident. However, a little change every now and then is good. I'm sure both the boys and the girls can benefit from practicing with one another."

Oishi nodded at the female vice-captain's words and then said, "Oh yes, how rude of me. This must be the new student - Medici Tenx, yes?" His attention had shifted to the blond Italiana standing idly by the raven-haired female.

Tenx blinked and was a bit surprised that she was suddenly addressed. "Oh, uh...yes, that's me," she said, adding in her own grin.

The male vice captain simply nodded at her answer and added, "Ah, you have a racket with you. Are you trying out for the team today?"

"Uh...yeah, I am," Tenx answered, looking over at the female vice captain. The latter merely smiled at her.

"And we're looking forward to seeing what she is capable of," the vice captain added with a nod to Oishi.

'I just hope I don't end up making a fool of myself,' Tenx thought with a nervous chuckle.

"So, Medici-chan, this is Kaidoh. Kaidoh, meet Medici Tenx...," Oishi said, gesturing to each tennis player as he said his name. He was, however, stopped by Tenx when she looked up at the slightly taller Kaidoh and smiled.

"Hello again," greeted the female.

"Ah...," was the Viper's reply.

"Oh! So the two of your are already acquainted with one another. Great, that makes things much easier," Oishi said brightly, "Medici-chan, you will be rallying with Kaidoh. Your assessment will come shortly but we have some other matters to attend to. Don't worry; we'll call you in when we're ready." With another smile, and after handing Kaidoh three tennis balls, Oishi left the two behind on one of the courts further down.

Tenx had thought it rather strange that once the regulars of both tennis teams had arrived that the female vice captain went off to greet them and give them their instructions, leaving Oishi to tell her what to do. She supposed it had to do with the fact that the girl held the clipboard and Oishi didn't. Oh well. Either way, she was going to be playing tennis today.

"I'll take this side, if that's okay with you, Kaidoh," Tenx said, indicating the side of the court they were currently standing on.

"Ah, that's fine," Kaidoh replied, tossing one ball Tenx's way to hold as he pocketed one ball and bounced the other with his racket as he walked to the other side of the court.

Tenx let the ball bounce once before catching it on its way back up and putting that into her pocket. Her blue eyes watched Kaidoh's retreating figure as she backtracked to the center of the baseline. All those days of practicing came down to this one moment: whether or not she could actually keep a rally going with an actual member of the boy's tennis team. Granted she didn't know the difference between the team and the rest of the club until a little while ago nor did she realize she would be trying out today until this morning, she supposed she was being a little over-dramatic. After all, she was here to warm-up. Right? Oishi said they would call her in when they were ready to assess her skills...right? Might as well give it all she had if she hoped to at least impress the team members.

Kaidoh bounced the ball a few times before hitting an easy forehand ground stroke over the net and toward Tenx. The female took a few steps to get into position, bent her left knee forward while bringing her right arm and racket back, and once the ball was in the area between her chest and hip on the way back up from bouncing, hit a return forehand to Seishun's Viper. Tenx's shot was heading straight down the court, back to where Kaidoh was standing. The male tennis player had to take a few steps off to the side so he could get into the right position to return it to the Italiana, who had gotten into the basic ready position (feet shoulder-width apart with knees slightly bent and racket out in front with both hands on the grip) and was eagerly awaiting the next shot.

'At least she's got the right mentality...,' Kaidoh mentally approved of his warm-up partner. The shot he then hit was a forehand aimed straight at the left corner of Tenx's side of the court. He then moved back to the center of the baseline and watched calmly as Tenx reacted to his shot. The Italiana began moving in the direction the ball was aimed at the moment she noticed Kaidoh's body turn to angle his shot to move that way. Call it intuition, but Tenx knew that players had to position themselves and hit the ball a certain way to get the ball to move where it was they wanted. And, by reading their body movements, Tenx was almost certain she knew where the ball would be going. Okay, so maybe being a couch potato and doing nothing but watch the Grand Slams when they rolled around that time of year did pay off a little...

Anyway, Tenx dashed toward the corner and made it a little before the ball had bounced. She pulled her racket back and waited for it to come back up before sending another forehand down Kaidoh's court. This time, however, she returned the favor and aimed for the opposite corner of Kaidoh's court. To this, the Viper smirked and chased the ball down. Tenx's gaze never moved from him as she made her way back to the center of the court. Clearly this was going to be a rally the both of them could enjoy as Tenx proved she could match a few basic ground strokes the Viper threw at her.

It was then that Tenx notice Kaidoh get into position for a shot...but it was confusing. It looked like he was going for a regular forehand, but the movement of his right arm... It was like he just brushed the ball up or something. Pursing her lips together, Tenx went after the ball anyway but was taken aback when the ball suddenly curved and went for the corner of her court again. She barely missed it. Turning her gaze onto Kaidoh, she saw him merely reaching up and adjusting the green bandana on his head. Tenx frowned. So, Kaidoh had an ace up his sleeve. Eh? Fine. Be that way.

Tenx returned to the baseline, took out the ball she had in her pocket, bounced it a few times, and then quickly hit a forehand to Kaidoh. The speen and power packed behind that shot caught Kaidoh off guard for a moment, as he attempted to hit the ball cross court again. But what really caught him off guard was the fact that Tenx was charging the net and aggressively volleying the ball away from the Viper. Kaidoh, however, wasn't one to let a ball go passed him without doing anything so he went after the ball - only managing to weakly lob the ball over and set Tenx up for a smash. After winning that point, Kaidoh made eye-contact with the Italiana and the latter smirked...

"Nice call," Inui said, scribbling away in his green notebook. He raised his bespectacled eyes to gaze at the smaller female vice captain who wore a pleased smile on her face as she watched the on-going rally between Kaidoh and Tenx from behind the fence that spanned the perimeter of all the courts. Of course, the two were at a distance so as not to be noticed by the either player. "How did you know that Kaidoh would be the perfect opponent for Medici to play against in order to properly assess her abilities?"

"If I know Tenx," the female responding, folding her arms over her chest, "I know that she's extremely tenacious. She doesn't give up. And who else fits that description? Why, Kaidoh of course."

"Of course...," Inui repeated with a chuckle before returning to his note taking.

About forty-five minutes later, Oishi called Kaidoh and Tenx in. He held in his hands the same clipboard the female vice captain before him did. How did Tenx know? She could see her application filled out at the top of the small pile of papers attached to it. Oishi smiled pleasantly at them.

"Ah, looks like I'll be the one giving you the news then," Oishi said, confusing both tennis players.

"News? What news?" Tenx questioned, "And where is fukubuchou?"

"She had to leave early," Oishi said, flipping through the papers quickly before looking back at them, "She had to do something for her grandparents. In the meantime, I'm here to tell you-"

"I found it!" an energetic voice cut him off. Tenx immediately recognized it as Seiki's. The bubbly female came bounding up to the trio with a bag in her hand. "I found the extra starter's jersey fukubuchou was talking about. It was way at the top of the shelves in the club room."

"Starter's jersey?" Tenx repeated, looking from the grinning Seiki to Oishi who looked like he was trying to keep from smiling.

"That's right," Oishi said, taking the bag from Seiki and handing it to Tenx, "Starter's jersey. Our data expert, Inui, and your fukubuchou were watching you rally with Kaidoh the whole time and both decided you were just what the girl's team needed. Congradulations. You made the team."

Tenx stood there dumbfounded for a moment as Seiki cheered. She barely reciprocated the hug Seiki gave her before she managed to snap out of her daze. She then turned to Oishi and bowed her head, saying "Thank you" over and over and over again. She looked into the bag and saw the new jersey neatly folded inside and could barely hold back a squeal of delight.

"Good job, Medici-" Kaidoh began but was cut off when Tenx suddenly turned on him and enveloped him in a hug.

"Oh, thank you Kaidoh! I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for you!" she said. Kaidoh, in response, made his trademark 'fssh' sound as his cheeks were tinged a very, very light pink.

"That's what happened all right...," Tenx said to herself as she continued staring at the jacket on the chair from her seat on her bed, "Still, that's pretty hard to believe." She got up and walked over to the chair and let her fingers run across the cool fabric of the jersey. A smile etched its was upon her face as she looked up from her new jersey to her desk. Sitting near the lamp was a framed picture of her and her best friend - Eriol. Her smile faded a bit as she reached for the picture and brought it closer to her. She peered at her younger self, still as fair-skinned as ever even when compared to the bronze-skinned, raven-haired Filipina...

"Wait a minute," Tenx said out loud, squinting at the picture. Raven-black hair, chocolate-brown eyes, the same skin tone as the fukubuchou... The fukubuchou had to Filipino too! Or...wait...wait...wait.... It couldn't be! Eriol couldn't be... There was just no way that... Eriol wouldn't be so cruel as to be there, under Tenx's nose the whole time and not say anything...right?

"HOLY SHI-"

"Achoo!" the mentioned sneezed. Eriol grinned and laughed to herself as she said, "Ha! Someone must be talking about me. I always did love these superstitions..." Sniffling a little, the fukubuchou - Eriol Cruz - lifted her chocolate brown eyes to the darkening sky. Navy blue was predominant above her head, but closer to where the sun was setting a brilliant fire of orange, ruby red, and yellow claimed the skies. She sat on her favorite cushioned chair on the patio behind her grandparent's vacation house. Well, it was being used for more than just a vacation now. The many different species of flowers in the gardens of her backyard served to relax her as she stared up at the sky. However, there was just one more disturbance that would make her laugh. A rather short burst of wind blew through the garden, and in that wind Eriol could have sworn she heard Tenx's voice uttering a phrase of exclamation. Eriol uttered a laugh, "Oh well. Looks like I've been found out."

* Okay, really what is Oishi's eye color? I did some research online and this is what I found. Anyone is free to message me on the topic.