DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own the Prince of Tennis Characters and Techniques.

WARNING: May be confusing, but I assure you the loopholes (that I see) will be explained in due time. Feel free to ask questions though in case I missed I few. XD

Thanks for reading so far minna-san~! Especially those who supported me by reviewing, fav'ing, subscribing, and C2ing the story. Arigatou!

And I do hope enjoys enjoy this chapter~ And please don't hesitate to comment. :D

…

CHAPTER 3: Home

GREEN HOUSE

GROAAAAN

A few stomachs churned and cries of hunger followed.

Lunch was almost halfway done and there was still no sign of their captain. Their guest who everyone had finally found out to be quite the VIP looked ever-so patient. But they all had that predisposition to believe that cultured people like him might actually be showing the opposite of what they were really thinking.

And yes, most people would mostly be guarded and restrained.

But the tennis regulars were never quite normal. Yukimura found that oddly refreshing, and it helped his mood a bit. A bit. Just a bit.

But before he could let out a sigh, Kirihara slumped back savagely, no longer able to handle it. "Moouuu, how long is he going to get here? I'm hungry! Can't we eat before him?"

"He's the captain. And no." Yagyuu cut him off.

"But-" Kirihara then shifted his gaze to Yukimura, trying to use him as an excuse. Unfortunately for him, Yukimura wasn't in that better mood. He would at least find something entertaining to watch until his body guard found a way to get back to him. So he smiled the angelic smile he knew too-well many fawn over.

"I'd like to meet your captain as well, preferably during lunch."

"See?"

"Darn it." The seaweed puffed his cheeks and proceeded to looking for a mood-lifter. It honestly wasn't hard-

"Kukuku~"

...especially when Niou was chortling like that.

Kirihara grinned and looked at the red-head a few meters away.

"Marui-senpai! You should come with us now~"

"Someone kill me." Marui whispered, unmoving at the structure's corner, surrounded by a dark, dark aura.

"No one saw anything, senpai~"

"Hell they did." He snapped, and when Niou wore that mischievous grin of his (probably planning on saying something disturbing) they heard a familiar sound.

Creak

They turned to its source. It was the French door, opening slowly- but at least it was actually opening, the promise of satisfying their hunger soon in reach.

"Here he is!" Finally. Kirihara yelled, while the usually-excitable Bunta just stared. Since he was the nearest to the door, he was the one who noticed their captain had a companion.

"Ah! He's with a kid…" he muttered lazily before proceeding to his corner of self-pity.

"Kid?" a few repeated and looked behind Sanada as well. Kirihara's eyes widened and rudely pointed at whoever was behind their captain.

"YOU!"

The boy stared. But it seemed nothing went through his head. "Who are you?"

"Teme-"

But their interaction was cut off, though, by Yukimura's cool statement and Sanada's glare at the rudeness of his kohai.

"You're late."

Silence

Ryoma let out a deep breath and walked closer to the bluenette. He made a slight bow. "I'm sorry for my incompetence."

Everyone gaped, but weren't particularly shocked, while Sanada's eyebrows met at the interaction and yet he didn't say anything- simply because he didn't know what to say, despite wanting badly to say something.

So he continued glaring at Kirihara who 'eeped' and begrudgingly apologized. "But buchou… can we please eat now?

He blinked and then saw that the food was untouched. "Didn't I tell you to eat before me?"

"We couldn't do that, obviously." Yanagi shook his head as if he just said something stupid.

"Just sit and join us eat, Buchou." Niou added dismissively, feeling his tummy, before turning his head to a corner and grinning sheepishly.

"Marui~! I actually brought my own cake here. Want some?"

Marui turned to him with a hopeful twinkle in his eyes but dismissed it immediately. Niou was, after all, nicknamed 'trickster' for something.

"Prove it." he said, still unable to completely consider the prospective treat nonexistence. It was then that Niou, who seem to have a knack with magic tricks, pulled out a nice little box that had the name 'Red Ribbon' engraved on it.

Marui usually ate cakes especially for him, but Red Ribbon cakes will do.

"You're forgiven!" he yelled and walked to sit beside Niou. He purposely avoided looking at Yukimura.

"He-he."

Sanada sighed, but he had to admit that despite how troublesome and noisy they were. They could always be entertaining to watch. Speaking of entertaining-

He turned to look for the raven-haired boy who somehow made his time fly by, causing him to be late despite actually helping with the paperwork. He couldn't describe that elated feeling when he found out it was going to be extended even when he was a bit confused when the boy said things along the line of 'I have to find my master'.

But as soon as his gaze landed on the boy, he found his frown got deeper. He saw that bluenette turning to the team's direction and away from Echizen. He could not help that churn inside his stomach when he made a guilty face.

"Buchou!" His teammates called, seeing he was already in a daze. He pushed away the thoughts to the back of his mind, and willed himself to focus on his stomach.

"A-Ah."

After all, this wasn't even supposed to be his business. They weren't even on his team.

…

They finished eating lunch 5 minutes before the bell rang. Marui was still depressed, while the guest had been quiet.

Sanada looked around and decided that the atmosphere was impractical for his tennis team. "We will resume our training after classes."

"Training?"

It was Yukimura and Sanada only nodded. "Tennis." He saw the guests suddenly flinch, but Echizen quickly hid it. He wondered why…

"Oh? You play tennis?"

"We all do."

"Interesting…" Yukimura whispered. He heard that his new school had the number one tennis team in the country. A pleasant surprise he didn't have to call them out. "Mind if I join?"

"Pardon?"

"I would like to join the tennis team. I have to say that I won't disappoint."

So the team looked at each other, not taken aback, but definitely surprised at the turn of events. But of course no one had a reason to refuse the bocchama. Besides, he looked pretty confident.

So, they nodded.

TENNIS COURTS, After School

"WHOA!"

Pak

"Sugoi. Yukimura-sama's so good!"

Pak

"Yeah, he'd be a regular in no time."

Pak, Boink!

"YUKIMURA-SAMA!"

A certain raven-haired cross dressed sighed. She was standing behind the crowd watching the ongoing tennis match, watching with a mix of emotions.

The team, apparently, already had quite an audience. Seichi entering the equation made it like a small concert of sorts. But that wasn't her problem, and she felt her grip on the water bottle and towel she got (no, she did not get lost so long as she had been to the spot a few times before) for Seichi.

Yukimura was playing Kirihara. It was definitely a one-sided game, with Kirihara on the down side.

And yet... she couldn't help but feel envious of the sea-weed brain.

...

She watched every single one of his shots. How the beads of sweats appear, and how they left his body. She watched every single graceful movement of his muscles- every single one.

He had improved by folds since then, since they met…

But in the end, she never got to play with him.

She wondered why…

It was then that she felt a hand on the tip of her head, as if to pat it unmovingly. She blinked and stared at the source.

"Sanada?" she voiced out changing whatever expression she had before.

The boy, who didn't notice what he was doing, quickly took it off and turned away slightly. It was a good timing that Yukimura just made a very impressive shot.

"Your master is good."

"I know." She nodded. "Seaweed isn't particularly bad either." Even when he was being crushed.

"Do you play with him?"

"I've never played with him before." She said, hoping it implied that she never played tennis. But it was no use, Sanada narrowed his eyes and stared at her.

"Do you play tennis?" She wondered if she'd ever get anything past this guy. There was no use lying…

And it was honestly kind of refreshing.

"Hai."

"Do you want to join in, too?" he asked making her gape at him. His eyes widened immediately, but soon regained himself. "I mean… you are his guard, right?"

"…yes."

He cleared his throat, pushing a light blush away. "Aren't they a little too lax? Sending you as the lone guard? No offense."

"None taken." She shrugged. "The Yukimuras are too influential. No one would dare."

"I…see…" Is that really it, though?

"They also have this satellite monitoring suspicious movements." Sanada winced. That made sense, but something still felt a tad lacking but he dismissed the line-of-thought and proceeded to watching the game.

"Kirihara is doing very badly. He only got a game."

"If Seichi-sama was serious, Kirihara wouldn't even get a point." She said making Sanada stare at her.

They were silent after that and just watched everything unfold like the stoic people that they were, side-by-side.

Ryoma entered a daze as she watched the game unfold.

Seichi was definitely having fun, even when he was still in a semi-foul mood from earlier. And Ryoma could see it all so clearly.

"He seems happy." She commented unconsciously and she flinched the moment she realized she said it out-loud. She pushed the blush away and did not dare look at Sanada who was probably gaping at her.

"I'm… glad to hear that."

At then she looked back and stared at Seichi. She nodded out-of-nowhere. "Okay."

"Hm?"

"We'll join in." she said. Sanada smiled.

And once again, they entered that comfortable silence they seemed to be willingly entering lately. Once again, she watched how much fun Seichi was having. It had been a while since they encountered skilled players around their age.

She smiled as he made another good shot.

It looked like her master found a new home.

YUKIMURA TOKYO RESIDENCE, Later

Ryoma followed Seichi inside the house, staring at his back as inconspicuously as always. They had been silent all the way home, with Seichi staring blankly at the window psychologically pushing her away.

But… it wasn't anything new to her really. Heck- barely a month after they met, he was already pushing her away...

But it never quite seemed to stop being painful.

And thankfully as soon as they opened the door, she was glomped, effectively blowing the troublesome ponderings away.

"Tadaima, kaasan." She said and sighed as her mother cuddled her. "It's not like we haven't seen each other this breakfast, you know…" she mumbled as she watched Seichi get himself a glass of water.

"But we haven't seen each other for several months before that. How cold!" Her mother pouted, still cuddling her. Soon enough, the woman decided to let go and return to her cooking. Rinko retired her high-end job and volunteered to be the head cook for them when they moved to back Japan, and no one (but Nanjiroh) said a thing.

"Dinner'll be ready in half-an-hour. Be sure to be here by then, okay?"

"Hai, kaa-san." She said and saw that Seichi was standing there passively as if he was waiting for her. Maybe he was, he probably thought she would probably get lost again since there wasn't anyone to follow to her room.

She didn't have that bad a sense of direction. So long as she had been on a place a few times before, she could always get there without trouble. Yukimura never seemed to acknowledge that though...

She hated to sound so pessimistic, but he probably thought that was just how useless she was.

Ryoma once again pushed the thoughts away and just proceeded to her room, which was right next to her master's, and changed clothing. She slightly eased the bandage on her chest to hide her already small breasts, and put in her jersey and jacket to replace her coverings. She checked her wig- something troublesome, but it didn't compare to the trouble her parents every time she cut it to a comfortable length gave.

She always questioned why they kept reacting that way, but no one gave her a clue...

She shook away the thoughts and dismissed them as troublesome and so not worth pursuing anymore. She let out a deep breath and went outside to wait for Seichi to come out the door.

It was then that she heard a thump, and by instinct she opened the door.

Her eyes widened slightly.

It was Seichi looking mad with his hands forcefully on the table- as if he was the one who consciously made that sound.

"G-Gomen Nasai." She bowed and looked away. What did he look so… distraught about? She did care, but she wasn't about to willingly offer her help when she was certain he was just going to shout for her to get out of his sight.

But before she even turned around, she froze. Why couldn't she just leave him some privacy, anyway? She turned back to his half-naked figure without the calmness it usually had.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No." as she thought. "But I suggest you wait inside somewhere. I'm going to take a while to get ready." He huffed and proceeded to his walk-in closet.

As ordered, she sat by an expensive-looking chair, and found herself passively looking around the room. It was designed (as the rest of the house was) in a classical revival style. Like the Greco-Roman designs minus the excessive ornamentation. The colors suited him perfectly as well.

Everything he chose fitted him perfectly.

It wasn't fair. She thought so highly of herself- but when she imagined herself next to Seichi, she couldn't help but feel pale.

She sighed.

When would she feel worthy to be in his company, anyway?

Maybe she would never do.

Maybe she never should.

*Several Minutes later*

Ryoma's eyes found themselves slowly, but surely, feeling bored and tired from basically doing nothing. She stopped herself from thinking minutes ago for fear of what she might show when he suddenly came out of his closet.

Darn it. Last time she recalled, Seichi didn't quite take this long to get ready. She let her thoughts flow randomly at the possibility until it abruptly stopped. Her eyes widened.

Could something have happened?

She flinched and stood up. But before she ran she stopped herself.

After all if nothing did happen, then she was in for some trouble for being impatient and rude.

But what if something bad did happen?

Just the mere thought made her go by pure reflex and sprint to the door to abruptly open it.

Doki

She was right.

Seichi was just there, lying with his back on the carpet and she ran to him. Her chest wouldn't stop pounding. She heard he was hospitalized for so many months for an illness just before she came and she dreaded the fact that she might be there to see it happen again.

"Seichi…" she called. It had been a while since she called him without the honorific but she didn't notice it at all. She held his cheek. He was neither excessively warm nor cold. He had always had the cool skin she remembered touching those years back.

When she noticed he wasn't moving, she felt herself gulp and huffed enough air so she could yell for help.

"M-Mot—"

But she was cut off by a hand on her hand and she whipped her head to him. She flushed. He was staring at her with those beautiful cerulean eyes of his. Directly.

She stopped herself from melting.

How long had it been?

But for what seemed an eternity later they whipped their gazes away simultaneously, and not looking at the other afterwards.

"A-Are you alright?"

"I was just tired."

"I see." She said, feeling the need to keep her distance. "Well if you'll excuse me…"

"Ryoma."

"Hm?"

"What… were you thinking when you saw me just now?"

She blinked at the sudden question. "I… thought you fainted."

"Were you scared?"

What is with these questions?

She turned away, hiding her blush. She couldn't deny it now, now could she? "…hai."

But he did not speak for awkward seconds after that and her head turned to check if he was still there. One of her fingers twitched at the sight of his unfathomable expression.

"Was it because it was your job…?"

She froze. Well, was it?

"I suppose so…" She said. Was there any other answer?

"I see…" he said placing a palm over his head, with eyes getting filled up by… what? Strain.

She automatically leaned down to see if he was alright. "Seichi-sama?"

He turned away, avoiding looking at her- again. She fought back the emotions that accompanied that actions and refused to leave. She even held his shoulder.

He froze, and quickly pushed her away.

Doki

So he was pushing her away physically now, as well? Sure, it was weak- but it was nowhere near gentle.

"Go. I'll go get ready." He said. To Ryoma it bluntly said 'Leave me alone'.

She gulped but immediately returned to her usual cool self, keeping her mind blank. She really liked it that way.

"Hai."

SLAM!

As soon as she stepped out that room, her feet lost all of its strength. It was as if the mental strength that she needed were taken out of her appendages.

'Haa…' came a huff full of self-irony.

Seichi was so mean. Why couldn't he just look at her? It would have been better if he said all those things bluntly to her face.

But somehow… she couldn't quite get mad.

And that fact depressed her to no end.

ECHIZEN RESIDENCE, A Few Hours Later

It was late at night, and most people would already be asleep.

But two certain people were still lively, playing inside a tennis court within a Buddhist temple everyone thought was inhabited by perverted ghosts.

Boink!

And yet another point was lost- signalling the end of the game.

A racket was haughtily pointed at her face. "You've gotten rusty, O'chibi!" A middle-aged man in a monk's suit tried to provoke a young cross-dressing girl across the court. She frowned.

"You think?"

The old man's eyes twitched. "Why are you looking at me like it was my fault?!"

"Well it is. Maybe if you let me play with him- heck, why did I even become his guard?"

"Whoa, whoa. Kiddo. Calm down." Nanjiroh grinned. "Something happened, didn't it?"

"Urusai."

He stared at her, making her feel annoyed. It wasn't just that anticipating look on his eyes.

"Tell me!"

"Why are you so nosy?" Last time she checked, he was supposed to dislike this arrangement as well!

"Because you look so uncool I just had to know what happened with you and Seichi-sama."

Well, that hit a nerve. Her hand clenched on the tennis ball at hand, and her tennis racket on another.

Nanjiroh didn't even see what was coming at him before it was on his face.

"GYYAAH!"

.
.

END OF CHAPTER 3

Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 4: Seichi

REPLIES TO ANGELS

SoulVrazy- *giddy* Yayy! Not sure which idea your pertaining to though. Hehe. Thank you for the review~!

shanagi95- crazy idea but likable, eh? hahha. And about the Cap pair. Hehe. We shall see what kind of relationship it'll turn out! XD Thanks for the review~

Yuki Masaharu- I will, I will! hehe. And I'm proud to say this chappy came out earlier than expected, too. ^^ Thx for the comment!

Purple Scorpion- Hehe. Cap Pair moments will occur from time to time. ^^ I'll explain the body guard business one of these days. ;D Thanks for the review~

TunaForDesert- Lol. And there you were just obsessing about Oshitari a few days back. XDD Here it is~ and I have to say I updated pretty quickly. *Proud* Thanks for the review!

FrancoiseLaraLapis- Haha. Reading your review made me feel like I was teased with my own story. XDDD Thanks for the review~

Hitomi65- I'm glad to read that~! Thanks for the review. :D

MintLeafeon- Heheh. The Cap pair is cute no? I just actually realized that writing this fic. XD As for them finding out her gender... it won't happen after a while. fufufu~ Thanks for the review!

platypuslover- they've been together for a few years. I hinted in the first chap that Yukimura never 'looks' at her so Ryoma was sure he didn't know of her gender. : ) Thx for the comment~

Tiger723- *Update Soon Accomplished* lol. Hope y' liked it but you can be honest with me. XD Thanks for the review~!

Guest [10/11/12] - Oh, he will. XD Well, I'm sure it wouldn't be Yukimura. *Evil grin* Thanks for the comment~

mai-chan265- I can imagine you fangirling about it now. Haha. After you tagged me in FB and all... lololol. And I'm starting to really like the cap pair now as well. Hehe Thanks so much for the review!

Minato-kun Lover- I'm happy to read that! And I'm glad to announce I did update sooner than anticipated~ hahah. Thx for the review~

Guest [10/15/12]- (Ch1) Hahah. I'm chuckling at your ideas over there. XD Thanks for the review~! :D

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Thanks for reading~! I would truly appreciate it if you let me know what you thought! : )