A/N: A couple of answering reviews.

From Meg-gara:
Also, you might want to check your grammar/spelling. I saw a lot of typos and wrong spelling that can distract from the story.

Please tell me where and I will correct them.

From Silverrowanraven:
When Fuji mentioned Echizen, why didn't Yuuta know he was talking about Ryoma?

I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you the answer now. Otherwise, the fun would be ruined. It will be for the coming up chapters. But notice this. Yuuta knows a girl named Ryoma. Fuji talked to Yuuta about a boy named Echizen. Fuji didn't tell Yuuta about that Echizen boy's first name.

From last time…

"And aniki," Yuuta said again. Fuji turned to him. "Don't blame yourself for my shoulder."

"Yuuta…"

"It was my own recklessness that caused my ingury. You did nothing wrong. I will be careful from now, so stop blaming yourself."

"Yuuta…"

Yuuta smiled to him. Fuji smiled back and nodded. Then he left, his heart light.

The next day.

Fuji was in a better mood now. His visit last night to Yuuta had relieved him. Yuuta was doing much better. And he no longer felt bad about Yuuta's injury. But, he caused a lot of troubles for people around him.

'I have something to do to repair my bads. I have to apologize to them…' he thought.

Then, he spotted Kirihara, who was walking in front of him.

"Kirihara!" Fuji called him.

"Hmn?" Kirihara turned around. "Ah! Fuji-senpai! Oyahou!"

"Ohayou, Kirihara," Fuji greeted him back and came next to him.

"What is it, senpai?"

"Kirihara, I'm sorry for yesterday," Fuji said.

"Huh? Yesterday? About what?" Kirihara thought a moment. "Ah! You mean the game! Oh! No no no! It's all right! You don't have to apologize to me! I understand that you were worried about Yuuta! I would be the same if I was you! I don't blame you, senpai!"

Fuji smiled.

"Thank you, Kirihara! I very appreciate it."

"Hehe! You're welcome, senpai!" Kirihara guaffed. They walked together in the school. Kirihara saw Fuji's happy smile. "Fuji-senpai, you seem to be in a very good mood today. Does it mean that Yuuta is better now?"

Fuji nodded.

"Yes. I saw him yesterday. Apparently, he also met a girl. She brought him a magazine and his favorite DVD."

"What? Yuuta already have a girlfriend? Uso! " Kirihara stopped midway, not believing what he heard. "Yuuta, yaru (1)!" Kirihara thought a moment, then turned to Fuji. "Fuji-senpai, you got beaten by your own younger brother! He already have a girlfriend and you don't!"

Fuji chuckled, but don't bother to correct Kirihara's misinterpretation.

"Yuuta is sure lucky! I want a girlfriend too!" Kirihara continued as they entered the school.

Lunch time.

Ryoma stepped out of the school laboratory when two people snatched her through her arms.

"Ack! You again!" Ryoma yelled.

"Echizen, come and eat with us!" Marui and Niou said and they carried her away under their arms.

"Arrrrgh! You two should be charged for kidnapping and be put in prison for that!"

"Nhihihihihihi!" they grinned but don't put her down. Ryoma groaned. She knew very well that there was no point arguing with them as she let herself being (ridiculously) carried like a bag of potatoes throughout the school.

"Here you go Echizen! Sit down!" And they stomped her in a chair.

"Argh!"

"Ah! Echizen-kun, you join us again. So, you think that eating with friends is more fun too, nee?" Yukimura said.

"Ha…" Ryoma sighed heavily, but don't say anything. There was also no point arguing with Yukimura either.

"Huhuhuhu!" Yukimura chuckled.

But there was also another chuckle on her other side.

"Hm hm hm hm!"

Ryoma turned to see Fuji Syuusuke next to her.

"Fu-Fuji-… senpai…?"

"I'm sorry, Echizen-kun. This time, it was on my request that they brought you here," Fuji said.

Ryoma fidgeted on her seat, not sure what to say.

"I want to say sorry," Fuji continued.

"Huh? Sorry? What for?"

Fuji opened his eyes.

'So he really don't remember anything,' Fuji thought. The he smiled. 'Well, it makes thing easier for me.'

"The other day, I bumped into you."

"Huh?" Ryoma searched in her memories. Then, she remembered. "Ah! You were the rude guy!" Ryoma exclaimed, pointing a finger in Fuji's face.

People around spatted in their drink and choked in their foods. Who was that firs year boy who was so impolite to Fuji Syuusuke? Even Atobe, who was an educated and well mannered young man, spatted in his tea.

'That brat…' Atobe thought.

Fuji blinked, and blinked again.

'It's the second time that he caught me by surprise like this,' Fuji thought.

"Pffffffffffffft!" Kirihara, Marui and Niou tried to restrain themselves, but they exploded anyway. "Wuahahahahahahaha!"

Normally, if someone dare to behave in that way to Fuji Syuusuke, his life at Seiyou Academy was over. But from Echizen Ryoma, it was too funny. Even Ootori and Oshitari couldn't help themselves as they laughed too. Kikumaru too was snorting. Kawamura laughed shyly. Shishido, Gakuto, Momoshiro and Kaido looked like fish out of the water. Yukimura chuckled as Sanada, Yagyuu and Tezuka sighed.

'He really lacks of good manners,' Sanada and Yagyuu thought. Tezuka rubbed his forehead. It seemed to him that will he have a lot of work to do about his new underline in the Seigaku team. Ooishi knew what Tezuka was thinking and he understood too. He sighed too.

But Fuji wasn't mad at Ryoma. In fact, he thought that that boy was very interesting, and entertaining too. He was refreshing, compared to all the people who always feared him. Fuji smiled.

"Yes, I was really rude back then," Fuji said, smiling.

Ryoma blushed. She just realized that she was being rude too, for calling a senpai a "rude guy".

"Errrrr… Sorry senpai…" She hide her hands in her laps. It was also a rude thing to do, pointing into someone's face. "It-… It was my fault too… I… I should have watch where I was going…" Ryoma shyly said, squirming in her chair. "Kikumaru-senpai told me about your brother. I can understand that you weren't yourself that day. I don't blame you, Fuji-senpai… I would be the same if I were in your place…"

Fuji blinked, then smiled.

'He's a nice boy,' Fuji thought, his eyes opened.

"Sou ka. Arigatou, Echizen-kun," Fuji said as he patted her head, closing his eyes.

"It's really nothing, Fuji-senpai."

Fuji smiled to her again and she smiled back at him. Fuji removed his hand from her head.

"See, I told you, Ochibi-chan. Fuji is really not a bad guy," Kikumaru winked at her.

"Hai!"

"Now, why don't we start eating now?" Yukimura proposed.

"Hai! Itadakimasu (2)!" They picked their chopstick and fork and start digging in their tray.

Ryoma unwrapped her bento, removed the cover and took an onigiri. She bite a piece and chewed. Then, her face transformed into a blissful expression, like if she was in heaven. She smiled in a cute way as she thought about her mother.

'Kaa-san's cooking is always the best!' she thought as she took another bite.

Suddenly, she noticed a change in the air. She looked up to see Kirihara, Marui, Niou, Ootori, Kikumaru and Momoshiro staring at her bento.

"What?" she asked.

They switched to look at her, more precisely, they were focused on her onigiri. Only Jirou, who awoke the moment Ryoma opened the cover, kept his eyes on her bento, licking his lips. Ryoma sweat dropped at their intense glares.

"What do you want?"

Drool appeared in the corner of their mouth.

"You want this?" Ryoma showed her onigiri.

Nod. Nod.

"Yadda!"

Sad and pleading stares.

"Don't even think about it!"

Intense glares.

Ryoma ignored them and took another bite.

Very intense glares.

Ryoma look at them, chewing slowly.

Very very intense glares.

She swallowed and gulped.

Puppy eyes.

Ryoma sweat dropped.

Big puppy teary eyes.

Ryoma tried to take another bite, but stopped half way.

Absolutely huge puppy eyes with big big big tears.

'Urgh!' Ryoma bite her lips. Then she sighed

'Ahhh…'

She was defeated.

"Serve yourself." She pushed her bento to them.

"ITADAKIMASU!"

Kirihara, Marui, Niou, Ootori, Kikumaru and Momoshiro happily dug in her bento.

"Here Echizen, eat my foods. I haven't touch anything yet," Marui said as he pushed his tray to her. Then he returned to her bento and feasted himself with the others.

Ryoma sighed again. They got her today too. Even if they didn't steal her bento like the other day, their stares made it hard for her to enjoy her own lunch alone.

'Rich bastards!' Ryoma sighed again. She resigned herself to eat what was given in exchange of her delicious bento.

Yukimura and Fuji chuckled.

"Forgive them, Echizen-kun," Fuji said. "They don't have bad intentions."

"I wonder…" Ryoma said, stirring the soup. "I think they just enjoy eating other people's lunch," she grunted between her teeth. Yukimura and Fuji chuckled again.

"You see, even if the foods of your bento are very common, it have more meanings than just a simple meal for them," Yukimura said. "Because their parents are always busy, they rarely spend time with them. They see more the maids and butlers then their parents. They never had anything made from their parents' hands for them. They don't know what is the love in a family. They always eat alone at home, and their meals are from the hands of a cook-chief. As for you bento, it is small to their eyes, but the foods are filled with your mother's love and your cousin's caring feelings for you. Your expression when you eat your foods is the proof of it. Even if the taste don't match the cooking of their chief, for them, it's the most delicious because of the warm feelings filled in your bento. They had always wish to have a meal cooked by their own mother's hands, but that wish cannot be granted for them. That's why they enjoyed so much eating your bento."

"Yukimura-senpai…" Ryoma slowly said.

"The first time I ate your onigiri, that was what I saw. On my own, I know how to face the pressure my family put on me, but not them. They are at lost because they think that no one can help them. They believed that there was no way for them to get out of any kind of difficulties. That's why, like Tezuka and Atobe, I became their buchou. Not only to improve their tennis play, but to show them that they can find another way to face their problems, that things are not impossible to solve in life, as long as you do everything you can and that you put your soul in what you do. Once you succeed to cross that step, you can see a new future for your live. That's our real purpose under our cover of tennis buchou."

Ryoma listened to him, not knowing what to say. Somehow, Yukimura's words touched a sensible spot inside her heart.

"Echizen-kun, you are very lucky to have such a loving family," Fuji said, a little bit of sadness in his voice.

"Because of our birth, we cannot escape from our fate," Atobe said. "As well make it easier to bear. They joined the tennis club so they can spend good times together."

"But we still aim for the highest when we go into competitions. They are times to have fun, but also times to be serious and never let our guard down," Tezuka said.

"It's good to see them so alive. They weren't like that when they first joined the club," Yukimura said.

Ryoma turned over to look at the bunch of them feasting on her bento. Kirihara and Marui were fighting over the octopus. Niou and Ootori were quarreling for the shrimps. Shishido ignored them and ate his own shrimp. Like cat after having its milk, Gakuto, Momoshiro and Kikumaru were licking their lips, where some crumbles of sweet egg were visible. Inui and Yanagi were examining a gyoza (3) while Kawamura explained them how it was made. Atobe and Kaido just simply ate the gyoza. Yagyuu, Oshitari and Jirou were enjoying the perfumed rice. Yukimura, Sanada and Tezuka decided on the onigiris again. Fuji picked the two last onigiris and gave on to Ryoma.

"Here Echizen-kun, you should enjoy your mother's cooking too," Fuji said.

"Ah… Thank you senpai…"

Then she blinked.

'Wait. Why am I thanking him for an onigiri that originally belongs to me?' Ryoma wondered, frowning.

Fuji chuckled. Ryoma sighed, giving up trying to understand herself and ate the onigiri.

That night…

Ryoma looked up to the stars. She remembered what Yukimura told her about the others. She also remembered Fuji's words.

'Echizen-kun, you are very lucky to have such a loving family.'

She turned over to watch her family. Her mother and Nanako were discussing about tomorrow meals over a cooking book. Her father was reading his newspaper. Ryoga was playing with Karupin with Karupin's favorite cat toy. Ryoma smiled.

'Yeah, I'm very lucky to have them.'

She always saw Kirihara, Marui, Niou and Ootori care free, if not high on sugar. Like the others, they don't seem to have many troubles about life. In her eyes, they are but a bunch of rich rude bastards who enjoyed making fun of her. If Yukimura didn't told her, she would probably think of them like that for the rest of her life. She don't have the right to think of them in bad way like that. She have to repair her misjudgement about her them.

"Kaa-san," Ryoma said in a serious tone. Surprised, her family looked at her.

"What is it, Ryoma?" Rinko asked nicely.

She had an intuition - a mother intuition - that something very important was happening to her little girl.

"C-Can… Can…" Ryoma gulped. She blushed. And tried again. "Can you teach me how to cook please?"

Bonk!

Nanjirou's and Ryoga's jaw dropped onto the floor, looking stupid gaping like that. Karupin froze. Rinko and Nanako blinked, and blinked again.

'Did I hear what I think I heard she said?' the family though.

Ryoma blushed again at the stare of her family.

'Maybe I shouldn't have ask that…' Ryoma thought. She fidgeted on her cushion, her cheeks very red, embarrassed.

Rinko smiled. Her intuition was right again.

'It's a really good think that she went to Seiyou,' Rinko thought.

"Because tonight is a little bit hot, Nanako and I were planning to make some mizu yokan (4). Do you want to help?" Rinko said.

Ryoma smiled brightly.

"Hai!"

Rinko and Nanako chuckled.

After the yokan, Rinko thought about doing a cake. Ryoma asked for a strawberry short cake. She likes the cake Marui gave her. And that was how she had her first cooking lessons with her mother and with Nanako.

Ryoga, Nanjirou and Karupin, who were spying by the door frame of the kitchen, decided to return to the living room. They decided that all the males of the Echizen household needed to have an urgent meeting. Thus, the two men and one cat were sat in circle in the living room. Their eyebrow were arched in deep concentration as they tried to figure out what was wrong with their little sister/daughter/mistress. Ryoga was first one to speak.

"Say, oyajii (5), Karupin, tell me what do you think about it? While she was a normal girl everyday, she was a tomboy from the head to the toe. Every single cell of her body, every nerves of her brain were desperately tomboy-ish. But now that she is a cross-dressing as a boy at school, she is showing femininity. Is she alright?"

Nanjirou and Karupin tried to find the answer to Ryoga's question.

Think.

Think harder.

Think very hard.

Pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

At the end, their brain gave up and smoke erupted from their head.

From the kitchen, they could hear Nanako laughed and Rinko chuckled. It seemed like Ryoma did something she shouldn't have.

"No, Ryoma. Not like this. Watch me again," they heard Rinko said.

The two men and one cat in the living room took a big breath, then sighed out loud.

'We don't know what to think about it anymore,' they thought.

(1) yaru: in the sentence "Yuuta, yaru!", it means "Yuuta, you're good! You did it!"

(2) itadakimasu: an expression before eating a meal;

(3) gyoza: dumpling with meat and vegetable filling;

(4) mizu yokan: Japanese sweets made with red been, agar and water. "Mizu" means water.

(5) oyajii: old man.

A/N: I have to take a short break. The next chapter will be for next week. I need to work on Rin ("Everyday with Rin"), who is dropping far behind. As soon as I post a new chapter for Rin, I will continue this one. So, see you again in the next week for "Seiyou Academy".