Me: Thank you for the many reviews you gave for Queen of the Suits! I truly appreciate it! :) After this, I'll be able to update Queen's Lives with all desired pairings. In addition, I'll be making a supernatural and romance genre for Prince of Tennis with the Queen of the Suits AU. By the way, I do not own Prince of Tennis!

Chapter 64 - Welcome to Goodwill

Ayane glanced at her room key before sighing dejectedly. Would Atobe manipulate the room assignments to end up in the same room as she? The tangerine haired female pocketed the key before dragging her luggage and her stroller bag behind her. She remembered how Atobe had constantly tried to talk to her in the bus and frankly, she was fuming! How dare he try talking to her after everything that had happened! Ayane remembered how Vera had cornered Atobe against the soda machine. Maybe there was some truth to it; maybe Atobe did not flirt with the girl and he was the victim of the whole situation. She shook her head; not now, she darkly set herself straight. They had a tournament to win! She stared sadly at the ground as she continued walking through the hallway. The sunbeams shone through the huge windows before finally reaching her room.

"Room 369," Ayane inhaled deeply as she opened the door and her eyes widened when she found a familiar Seigaku brunette with two braided pigtails trailing behind her.

Isn't that Ryuuzaki Sakuno?

Ayane, blinking several times, walked into the room quietly before dropping her luggage onto the bed. She expected Fate to hate her and drop her in the same room as Atobe or Vera. She groaned slightly when Sakuno suddenly jumped in surprise as she found the tangerine haired girl standing on the other side of the bed

"Ah, Kobayagi-san," Sakuno blinked several times as she started sorting out her things. "I guess we'll be roommates?"

Ayane scratched her head sheepishly, giggling lightly. "I guess so. At least I'm not stuck with the psychopathic blonde bitch. I'm perfectly okay with other people. "

Sakuno hung her head slightly, abashedly looking away from the strawberry blonde vice captain. "Jerrard-senpai is sometimes mean but only sometimes..."

"Would you say the same if she started kissing Echizen," Ayane glared heatedly at the brunette, causing the younger girl to cower in fear. "I'm sorry - I didn't mean to scare the life out of you. I'm just really annoyed with her."

"I think 'annoyed' is an understatement," Sakuno giggled lightly as she sat next to Ayane. "But Ayane-chan, I don't think Jerrard-senpai meant to flirt with Atobe-senpai without knowing he was really your boyfriend..."

Ayane furrowed her eyebrows at the smaller girl. "I'm going to guess Jerrard would rather have you shut up and let her do the thinking," - earning a shocked stare from Sakuno before the small girl affirmed with a hanging of her head. "I thought so. Stupid stereotypical blonde bimbo bitch, Yamaguchi-senpai's a blonde but she's definitely not a bitch. In fact," Ayane sighed bitterly. "I think I'm the biggest bitch in the Hyotei team..."

Ayane blinked several times for a moment; where had that come from?

She normally just exploded and beat the crap out of people. However, looking at Sakuno - the little brunette had pulled out something from inside her. What the feeling was - she didn't know for sure however, Sakuno smiled brightly as they sat together on the bed. Ayane felt a warm fuzzy feeling in her stomach as she smiled kindly at the brunette volleyist. Although she could not help but worry and wonder about who Kiyone had been assigned to, Ayane simply sighed to herself and began unpacking. Well, more that she was worried that Kiyone would be given a truckload of sugar and become the "Terror of Sugar" throughout the whole training session. Ayane glanced at the two other beds; who could be the two other people who would be in the room? Exhaling with a sigh, Ayane smiled at Sakuno and ruffled her hair. Maybe that's why Sakuno had been assigned as her roommate.

"SAKUNO/YANE-YANE ARE YOU OKAY!"

Sakuno and Ayane immediately swivelled their head up when they found Vera and Kiyone at the door, breathing heavily. The moment Ayane saw Vera however, the tangerine haired female could feel her blood boiling inside and her fibres screaming to beat Vera into a bloody pulp but she soon began wondering how Kiyone had managed to find her room.

"Why the hell are you with that bitch," Vera screeched as she grabbed Sakuno by the pigtails, dragging her to her side and earning her a slight yelp from Sakuno. "Didn't you tell Coach like I'd rather be with anyone but those damn Hyotei brats?! Now look where I am - I'm stuck with Sanada!"

Ayane chuckled coyly, snickering. She could already imagine the fear Momo would strike into Vera by just bringing out her sword. The damage would have been a lot worse if Vera was stuck with Mai. Mai despite her cool and snarky exterior had one of the shorter fuses except she didn't explode. The Hyotei girls had their own ways of expressing their anger; yelling and mocking each other had become extremely normal. The last time she fought with Kiyone - the two had refuses to speak for weeks. Kiyone had stared at her with hatred dancing in her liquid blue eyes before calmly and venomously seething out the words.

"I hate you."

Kiyone had refused to practice whenever Ayane showed up. The tangerine haired girl remembered how she had broken Kiyone's favourite necklace and even to the point of distorting the pendant that she had gotten from her mother out of anger and frustration. Ayane had guiltily and apologetically had searched for the best jeweller and metal smith to re-craft the pendant down to the last detail. She couldn't give the pendant until Shizuru had challenged them both to a Doubles-Single to match which the brunette won single-handedly until they found out their differences.

"Now look, I'm stuck with a sword wielding psycho-bitch! She'll shred me into ribbons," Vera tightened her grip on Sakuno's hair, earning her a yelp from the smaller girl. "Stupid Ryuuzaki, you're so damn useless!"

Ayane frowned darkly as Kiyone stood next to her. "Wow, who knew?"

"That she was a plastic bitch on the tennis court? I'm not that surprised though," Ayane narrowed her eyes at the blonde vice captain who seemingly dragged Sakuno by her hair. "Once a bitch, always a bitch - Jerrard's a bitch to the core. She's such a stereotypical alpha bitch."

"Oh, Kobayagi-san!"

Ayane looked up and found Tachiwara Miho extending her stick and tapping against the white wooden doorframe. Vera immediately stopped scolding and screaming at Sakuno before letting go of the girl's pigtails. The Jyosei Shounan regular smiled kindly while dragging along her roller bag and her shoulder bag. Miho, quietly letting down her things on the bed nearest to the window, dragged her things along.

"Kobayagi-san, is it alright that I take the window? I like feeling the warmth on my face," Miho placed down her walking stick on the bed, pulling out her clothes in plastic bags. "Oh do not worry too much, Ryuuzaki-san. I'm quite fine despite my blindness."

Sakuno stared in shock; how could she see that she was about to help her? "O-oh, okay..."

"Sure, by all means," Ayane grinned, watching Miho pull out her things.

Tachiwara Miho, despite her blindness, can hear, feel, smell and taste better than any human. Her ability also to sense emotions is at par with Shizuru. She is the best trainer for Doubles pair and can synchronize with anyone using a special technique that surpasses even that of Synchronization known as Soul Link. Not much is known about the technique due to people being unable to identify the signs of its usage. She is one opponent who has truly never lost a Doubles Match.

Hitomi's words echoed in Ayane's mind as she saw the dark haired girl quietly placed out her things including books written in Braille and a container full of tiny plants as she extended her hand as if to judge the amount of sun beaming through the window. She watched Miho slowly settle into the room while opening the cabinet behind her bed to stock her clothes in before placing her tennis racquet and tennis gear at the corner of the bed. The tangerine blonde couldn't believe how easy it was for Miho to organize her things despite her blindness as she started setting up some water filtration plant and some stones through the machine before passing out the funnel outside the window to create some sort of rain catcher.

"Humph, so you're supposedly Jyosei Shounan's Blind Soul," Vera scoffed lightly, tousling her blonde hair before walking towards Miho and "accidentally" knocking over her plants. "Oops."

Much to her shock and surprise, Miho's hand immediately shot out to catch her tray of plants and she extended her walking stick into a longer length and had it two inches away from the blonde's neck before smiling at Vera. "Oh please don't do that. These plants are what eat the creatures that cause dengue. Maya-sensei, René and Florence will be very disappointed if some blonde bimbo knocked over our precious plants."

Ayane snorted in laughter as Vera's face paled for a few moments before having it return to her usual pompous brat expression.

"Tch, I'll wipe your face on the court, Tachiwara," Vera venomously spat in her face as Miho slightly flinched from the saliva that touched her face. "Jyosei Shounan couldn't even defeat those Hyotei losers," - Vera put an L on her forehead, further causing Ayane's and Kiyone's blood to boil. "So why should I be afraid of you?"

"Back then we had no idea what power Hyotei was capable of," Miho narrowed her eyes, coughing slightly from Vera's extremely strong perfume. "Now, we have our plan and I have been looking forward to test it against someone who was from the famous Heartbreaker pair since breaking your pretty little face seemed like such a joyful dream in Kobayagi-san's mind."

Vera froze while Ayane could do nothing but blink. How did Miho sense that without even knowing her?

"Ah pardon, je ne devrait pas trop parle," Miho giggled lightly as she placed her plants onto her windowsill, positioning them in a place with enough sunlight. "Ah, mademoiselle Kobayagi parlez vous Française?"

"Um, oui," Ayane grinned sheepishly, scratching her head. "Je parle peu le Française."

"Ah génial," Miho smiled lightly as she gestured to her bags, pulling out other things from another bag. "Vous pouvez aidez moi défairez ses bagages s'il vous plaît?"

Sakuno blinked several times and glanced at Ayane while Vera slack-jawed at the strawberry blonde female. "Um, Kobayagi-san - you speak French?"

"Just a little, Mai and Haruka have a better proficiency in languages than I do. Hyotei requirements," Ayane scratched her head bashfully as she walked over to help Miho unpack her other things. "You don't have any other carnivorous plants or creatures in your bag do you?"

Miho giggled softly while setting up the hydroponics system for her plants. "Ah no, just the Venus Flytraps. The pitcher plants were getting too big to bring around. Some people found it troublesome to end up walking into them sometimes," - causing Ayane to slightly pale until suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Oh, come in."

As soon as the door opened, a shorthaired pale blonde girl stared in shock and amazement. "Whoa, I'm in the same room as my idols!"

Ayane glanced towards the door way and found Rikkai Dai's Torinaka Yui standing by the doorway. Everyone halted for a moment as Yui innocently tilted her head while looking at the other people in the room. Upon seeing Ayane and Miho however, her face immediately lit up like a light bulb. She immediately threw her things on the other bed closest to the door before grabbing Miho's hands and shaking it vigorously.

"OMG, Jyosei Shounan's Miho the Black," Yui squealed in delight, shaking her hands vigorously before suddenly tackling Ayane. "ERMAGHERD, IT'S THE QUEEN OF HEARTS KOBAYAGI AYANE! Wheee, I can't believe it - I will go to the shrine and thank Kami-sama! I've always watched Hyotei's Diamond Pair blaze through every junior tournament! I hope we can work together!"

Ayane stared in shock before sheepishly laughing, feeling her whole body shake as Yui began shaking her hand enthusiastically. "Yeah I hope we will too."

Yui grinned childishly before looking at Kiyone with intense enthusiasm and happiness. "Waaah, Hyotei Gakuen's Queen of Clovers - Getsugan Kiyone! Your Rise of the Clovers was amazing against Ryuuzaki-chan and the blonde bitch!"

"What did you call me," Vera glared angrily before haughtily grabbing Yui's jacket, narrowing her eyes venomously at the Rikkai Dai player. "You bitch!"

However, the Rikkai Dai player just stared at her in curiosity before tilting her head innocently. "Who are you? What school are you from?"

"The name is Jerrard, Vera Jerrard," Vera jabbed her newly manicured nails at Yui closer to her face with a venomous hiss. "I'm the one who destroyed the Queen of Hearts!"

Ayane bit her lip and averted her eyes away from Vera and Yui as the Rikkai Dai girl grinned in response.

"Hmm, I don't know you. Maybe it's because you're just there warming the bench with your big fat butt," Yui tactlessly grinned, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean - I think Yuki-buchou said something about one of the Seigaku players being a replacement since the other senior had broken her legs and I think she was failing school too. Oh now I remember you! Yuki-buchou said that you're only in the team so you won't get kicked out because your papa paid the headmaster."

Vera fumed up considerably before screaming in frustration and embarrassment and storming out of the dorm room, slamming the door in front of their faces. Ayane and Kiyone exchanged glances while Miho sighed deeply with Sakuno staring in astonishment as Yui saw all their dejected and puzzled looks.

"What? Was it something I said?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Shizuru on the other hand stared incredulously at the sight before her. Fuuka and Natsuki had already trashed the room and began yelling at each other straight out. Ai skipped around happily while eating her chocolate-coated wafers, ignoring the mess and jumping on the bed. Soon after, Fuuka and Natsuki broke out into an all-out fistfight and being trained from L.X.A did nothing to alleviate the situation. Ever since they were young, Shizuru knew the intensity of their training menus especially in the combat department. Fuuka had left bruises on Natsuki's eye, the girl had already twisted the red head's ankle, and their kicks were becoming more fatal and deadly. Fuuka landed a kick against Natsuki's rib while the other girl had kicked Fuuka's shin and sent the red haired captain staggering and stumbling around, earning her a cringe-worthy howl of rage. Shizuru winced at every blow exchanged between the two girls while Yukimura seemed to cheer them on. The brunette could only twitch at the sight before breathing heavily with a dejected sigh. Why was she with these people again?

"God, you really are putting my patience to the test," Shizuru made the sign of the cross before walking into the room. "Guys."

However, Fuuka and Natsuki however continued yelling while Ai just started jumping on the bed. Shizuru could only massage her temples; where was Florence when she needed her? The British-Japanese Jyosei Shounan captain always managed to settle the two down before she arrived or even when they began their missions, Florence managed to pull Fuuka and Natsuki out of their petty brawls. How Florence had managed to talk Fuuka and Natsuki into submission without snapping or breaking a sweat was completely beyond her. She started to twitch slightly as her slight chiding remained unheard. She could feel the frustration bubbling until something decided to squarely splat on the brunette's face.

"ENOUGH!"

The remaining three girls found a fuming Shizuru standing at the doorway with her hands clenching into fists as the pillow slipped onto the ground from the brunette's face. Silence dropped into the room as she noticeably began twitching. Fuuka and Natsuki blinked several times while Ai dropped her candy bar onto her bed. All girls knew one thing: Shizuru does not yell or raise her voice unless she is REALLY, REALLY stressed. The last time she had raised her voice was when Fuuka decided to use up all the hot water and Shizuru had recently returned from one of her assignments. From then on, Shizuru always took a bath first and never deprive her of a hot or warm bath. Normally, Shizuru knew she wouldn't be that furious but ever since her yelling match with Ayane (although it was more one-sided on Ayane's part) that morning regarding the seating arrangements and now she had three more people to deal with. Ai would have been more mature if not for the large dosage of sugar and Fuuka and Natsuki, the two girls had always been at each other's throats although it was more Fuuka who started the fight.

"Oh, great - isn't this great," Fuuka chuckled as she let go of Natsuki's charcoal gray hair before flopping down on the bed with a smirk. "I didn't know you were going to be my roommate. Isn't this just like back then?"

Natsuki nodded lightly, running her fingers through her messy charcoal gray hair with a Kansai drawl. "Ah'd say, I ain't kidding when ah say we're gonna be stuck together for the rest of the three months in this camp."

Ai jumped on the bed happily. "Aww, the only one who's not here is Florence."

Shizuru could only sigh and could not agree anymore; Florence was the only one who was sane next to her amongst the five of them. Yukimura had become a sugar addict as discovered by Aikawa Onryou when he had given her a three layered chocolate fudge mousse cake for her birthday. The girl refused to sleep for ages, played the Teletubbies theme song repeatedly and started searching for chocolate fudge brownies when she started sensing the end of her sugar rush. The whole organization could barely sleep for weeks. Fuuka had anger issues and berserker-like tendencies especially when she had flung Kane Michaelides to the wall and Natsuki definitely was a lazy ass when it came to cleaning the room especially now that she found t-shirts and socks on the ground. They weren't even there for a day yet! She twitched slightly as she began manoeuvring through the mess with a groan of annoyance before picking up the stuff behind her.

"Natsuki-senpai, you could at least try picking up your t-shirts instead of leaving them all over the place," Shizuru folded one of her shirts before placing it on Natsuki's bed, dodging any other fallen shoes or objects. "This place looks like an atomic warzone. Don't you ever have a hard time in finding the clothes you're lacking?"

"But it's a clean mess - dun worry about it," Natsuki waved her hand dismissively at the brunette as Shizuru started fixing the other things that had fallen on the floor until she noticed Shizuru's side of the room suddenly immaculately clean and orderly with books stacked around in alphabetical order. "Girl, ya need help. What kind of human brings a whole stack of books in alphabetical order and then cleans up the room and makes sure nothing is out of place?"

"A sensible one," Shizuru narrowed her eyes at the Kansai captain. "Being clean is not a clinical psychological disorder."

"No but being obsessive compulsive with cleanliness is," Fuuka chuckled lightly until Shizuru grabbed one of the pillows and whacked the reddette straight in the face. "Hey!"

Shizuru actually rolled her eyes with a smirked as-a-matter-of-factly at Fuuka. "You're the one who started it."

"Bitch," Fuuka hissed as she leapt from her bed and began throwing more pillows, knocking over one of the lamps to which Yukimura instantly caught. "You're gonna get it!"

With a "challenge-accepted" smirk, Shizuru dodged all the flying pillows that nearly knocked down her pile of books before she lunged at Fuuka as well. Both girls soon abandoned the idea of throwing pillows at each other and went for kicks and punches. Natsuki blinked several times with Ai incredulously as Shizuru had used her legs to clamp around Fuuka and grapple her down to the ground. Soon, both girls started wrestling with each other as Fuuka threw a mean right hook to which Shizuru blocked before kicking the Seigaku captain under her chin.

"Ah thought Fuuka and ah were bad. Has this bad blood always been there between Hyotei and Seigaku," Natsuki glanced at the youngest captain as she cheerfully began cheering for one of them to win, face palming. "Geez, forget ah asked."

Suddenly, the door opened and revealed Tezuka, Sanada, Jirou and Wakato staring at the mess that involved the two girls beating the daylights out of each other. Sanada blinked and saw feathers floating in the air from Fuuka's rabid striking and Shizuru had started dodging and using chairs as a catapult to spring her towards Fuuka and knock down the stronger red head. Jirou, no longer showing any signs of narcolepsy, stared in astonishment as Ai grinned cheekily before jumping into the fray and began whacking Fuuka also but the red head had immediately caught the young bluenette's wrist before flicking the girl's nose.

"Guys," Natsuki tried to get the three girls to stop before sighing to herself in defeat; once Shizuru and Fuuka caught themselves in a deadlock, they were going to fight to the finish. "Guys...!"

"YOU BITCH, I'M GONNA FUCKING FLOOR YOU," Fuuka hissed angrily as she started throwing more punches, ignoring that Shizuru had begun parrying her easily and effortlessly.

"Well, you're not doing a very good job that's for sure!"

Upon hearing noise from one wall of their room, the boys had decided to check what was causing all the noise and ruckus. Sanada had prepared himself to slap Niou and Kirihara and make them run laps while Tezuka prepared himself to separate both Kaidoh and Momoshiro if ever. However, what the boys didn't expect to see was Shizuru and Fuuka tumbling and beating each other shitless. Tezuka had never seen Shizuru so badly riled up nor had he ever heard her yell but then after realizing her opponent was Fuuka; who wouldn't be forced to defend oneself when Fuuka lashed out angrily? The school counsellor had constantly monitored Fuuka's rage and subjected her to anger management therapy. So far, there had been little success until the red head had tried tennis. Her anger management became slight better especially after throwing in Jerrard Vera but he had never expected Fuuka to actually throw fists at the brunette. Shizuru however had this darkened expression on her face that spelled out "stop before I kick your butt" but she maintained a calm expression while parrying Fuuka's strikes. To make matters worse, they were in a tiny room and how they managed to contain the fight within that kind of containment certainly bewildered him.

"Wow, who knew they really went crazy against one another," Jirou blinked many times at the sight of two girls beating up each other.

Sanada gawked at Fuuka throwing Shizuru over her shoulder until the Hyotei captain easily redirected her weight and sent Fuuka flying towards the bed. Tezuka stared in astonishment (the very first emotion that he had made extremely visible) as Fuuka threw a punch towards Shizuru and sent the brunette flying despite the girl blocking the attack. Fuuka, seeing that Shizuru had been knocked down, roared angrily and lunged towards her until Shizuru gave her a good bicycle kick to the chin and knocked the girl back before sweeping her off her feet. Natsuki sighed before shaking her head and standing in front of the boys.

"Sorry 'bout them, Shizuru and Fuuka really fight like wild animals when they dunno that there a couple of bahstanders," Natsuki waved her hands sheepishly, looking at the two girls before shrugging nonchalantly. "We usually just let 'em duke it out until one of 'em becomes plum wore out."

Ai grinned happily before downing another pixy stick. "That usually takes around... I dunno~ 3 hours?"

"THREE HOURS," Wakato and Jirou gaped in surprise while Tezuka and Sanada had their eyes visibly widening.

Shizuru had landed another kick on Fuuka's jaw while the red head had swept Shizuru off her feet and sent each other sprawling on the ground. Shizuru soon changed her punching tactic and started evading Fuuka's attempts before slamming her knuckle into the Seishun Gakuen's captain's ribs. After five shots to the ribs, Fuuka found her left arm dangling and roared with her right fist flying out again which Shizuru caught and punched a few points on her arm. As both Fuuka's arms dropped limply at her side, Shizuru whirled around for a roundhouse kick and sent Fuuka flying towards the wall.

"Bitch," Fuuka glared as her arms dangled limply next to her with both her legs still working. "That's a chicken's way out."

"It's a smart way of defeating a person who barely uses her brain," Shizuru smirked and brushed her hair back, watching Fuuka sulk off towards her bed and plop down with an annoyed snort. "At the same time, we don't have to use knives against each other and beating you senseless is not going to make you stop. So, I just decided to knock out all your pressure points until you're paralysed and useless."

Knives?

Tezuka mentally screamed in his mind; how did she learn how to use knives? He had seen her use a twin edged chain-like naginata but she can utilize knives as well? He remembered seeing her fight in Toyotomi Castle and how she easily defeated Toyotomi Hatori's fighters without any problems or reluctance. He knew she had some martial art background (most rich kids were forced to learn in order for self-defence) but he had never expected her to be more on the assassin level. Knowing the pressure points in the body and actually memorizing them took a lot of time. Applying the technique in split seconds took much more practice so, how did Shizuru gain that kind of knowledge in her teenage years? Where did she grow up? Many questions started popping up in his mind until finally Shizuru kicked Fuuka away and set the both of them apart.

"Wow Shizuru-chan, Tezuka-san should see you act like this more often," Ai grinned cheerily before eating a giant Snickers bar, bouncing her eyebrows. "He would be probably thinking, "Homaygahd, this girl is crazy!"."

Shizuru rolled her eyes and turned to face Ai until she saw Tezuka. "Yeah...oh..."

The moment she saw Tezuka, Shizuru paled considerably. He saw everything! Her level of neuroticism and psychoticism, her assassin-level combat – okay, he had seen her fight but not at the professional level. He had seen her cocky, battle-pumped side also which really didn't suit well to her. She remembered her time in freshman year when Mai had been caught by Takesue because she and the tensai went to pick up her nephew. The boy had managed to leave in good shape unless gaining two black eyes and full blow to the stomach and the crotch didn't fall under "still in good shape". Shizuru yipped and immediately readjusted her composure back into the calm sweet girl, clipping her wavy brown hair behind her ear.

"Um, sorry I didn't know we were causing a ruckus," Shizuru bowed humbly even with the words seemed to rip themselves out of her throat.

Fuuka roared in laughter with a snide snort, clutching her sides hysterically. "Hah, as if! You clearly knew we were kicking each other's asses! You're just trying to be sweetie to Tezuka!"

Shizuru twitched and inhaled deeply to hold in her anger before kicking a tennis ball lying around and squarely knocking Fuuka on the head. "OW!"

Tezuka could only sweat-drop at the sight of Shizuru smiling after kicking a tennis ball to Fuuka's head. He wasn't sure what to make of it but he remembered one of his classmates talking about Barney's Hotness to Psycho scale. The hotter the girl is, chances are – she is more psycho than she looks. Tezuka glanced at Fuuka and then at Shizuru before sighing. Anyone would lash out at Fuuka; he himself knew that from experience despite having the longest line of patience among his peers. But his morals and ethics held him back; nope, he was not going to hit Fuuka or exploded at her regardless of how unreasonably crazy she was going to be. Nonetheless, Tezuka had already expected something like this.

It's usually the more quiet ones that are more dangerous.

Tezuka heard Fuji's words echoing in his mind before looking at Shizuru. He did have a point; Fuuka had blatantly exploded at everything regardless of the simplicity of the matter. She always spoke her mind, which either constantly got her into trouble or probably shocked the class. Her self-control had probably left many of the men in Seigaku scared of her and full of bruises. However, he remembered hearing about an incident regarding Takesue, the same senior he blasted his arm with his racquet being beaten up by a Hyotei freshman. Nobody knew who the kid was but all they knew was that Takesue was harassing a redhead girl before he got himself knocked down a peg or two and Takesue soon developed a fear for kendo sticks or any weapon made of wood. Whoever it was, he or she must've beaten him far worse than Fuuka ever had. There was one thing he couldn't understand however...

Why did Shizuru seem so ashamed of her martial arts capabilities?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Well, well, well, I didn't know I'd be sharing a room with the famous Queen of Spades."

Mai swivelled her head towards Rikkai Dai's Wild Dog as Miaka threw her bag onto the ground and flopped onto the bed. The Queen of Spades remained silent however as she glanced at her clothes hanging on the rod in her closet. She sighed deeply before looking at her tennis racquet, wondering about her other teammates. She could only hope that her teammates ended up with better people. Vera had already wailed loud enough much to her annoyance since Momo was Mai's neighbour in the dormitory hall. She shook her head lightly and glanced at her racquet before something fell to the ground.

A half-mask?

A half-mask with the Black Swan fell to the ground as Mai stared at the black airbrushed mask on the ground. Slowly bending down, Mai gently traced the mask before exhaling deeply to herself and letting herself reminisce. She remembered the time Yukimura was the Swan Prince but because she was the Black Swan – she could not have him. A bittersweet chuckle bubbled from her throat as she stood in front of her bed, looking at her other performances she had placed in her album.

"You were the Black Swan?"

She turned around only to find Seigaku's Mouri Enma carrying her patched up Gothic doll with some dull stare. Dusting her black skirt, Enma quietly walked in and placed her things down before opening her sewing kit. Pulling out a piece of fabric, the Gothic Lolita soon began sewing as Miaka and Mai exchanged glances and watched her gracefully glide her hand across the fabric before knotting what seemed to be the last bead. After she cut off the string, a ghostly smile appeared on Enma's lips as she held out the dress in front of Mai.

"I have always loved your performances as the Black Swan – I hope that your production of Wicked is just as spectacular," Enma handed the black dress to Mai, holding it up proudly for the red head to see. "I saw your promotions for Wicked and I couldn't help but feel that your dress was lacking..."

Startled albeit a bit surprised, Mai shakily took the dress while watching the somewhat happy Gothic Lolita present the dress to her. Much to her surprise, the dress Enma had made portrayed Elphaba better than the dress that her producer had designed. The dress cascaded until her ankles with long black flared sleeves and a black turtleneck with silver linings around the margin of the neckline. Under the turtleneck, Enma had created a square neckline with a medieval dark silver swirl design. Mai stared for a moment before glancing back at the Gothic Lolita who had a visible expression of some pride in the dress. She felt the fabric – it was neither hot nor constricting compared to what she had to wear. Even though her family worked in the fashion industry as well, the clothes could barely capture Elphaba's character. Maybe Enma's taste is what they really needed...

"This is amazing," Mai fingered the fabric carefully, glancing at Enma. "Where did you learn how to make stuff like this?"

Enma quietly hung her head with her usual emotionless expression. "Before my papa became the way he was, I always would volunteer for the school plays as the costume designer or actress roles. Though I never did get the actress role, my costumes had to be flawless."

She must be really close to her dad, for her to call him papa...

Miaka scratched her head, checking the dress. "Sheesh, that thing's so black people are gonna think you're the black lady. But whatever it is, you're the Wicked Witch of the West right? So you gotta sound cold and heartless at some point and obsessed with flying. It'd be stupid if you sounded so whiny if you are Elphaba."

Mai raised an eyebrow to respond but remembered that the Nagisaki Theatrics Division of the Nagisaki Entertainment Zaibatsu is internationally famous. Her brother was a famous illusionist in Las Vegas and performed in all sorts of shows, her second eldest brother was the director of multiple plays along with her eldest male cousin and her sister was a famous Broadway performer. Although, Mai remembered that she was more of an opera singer than a Broadway performer. Her sister's last performance of Christine garnered so many reviews that people had the tour running for five months.

"Besides, isn't there that song about Fiyero and Elphaba singing together," Miaka raised an eyebrow, earning a quizzical stare from the two girls. "Oh geez, just because I'm the Wild Dog of Rikkai Dai doesn't mean I can't appreciate Broadway and music. Sure I'm an animal lover but I got my own love for music also!"

Mai chuckled lightly, folding her arms. "You know that is one thing we share in common despite being from rival schools."

Enma clutched onto her patched up rag doll tightly, playing with three blue marbles in her hand. "We're playing under one flag now. Our commonalities will eventually be shown... if we have to learn how to work together."

Miaka chuckled with a snort, placing her hands behind her head. "Fuck yeah. Besides, someone out there needs a good wake-up call. So, you better make an intense performance – something that will engrave in his head forever."

Mai slightly raised her eyebrow; where did she get that kind of information? "How...?"

"I may be violent but I'm certainly not a stupid bitch," Miaka picked her teeth with her pinky nail, flicking the dirt to some unknown place. "Besides, I've seen Sumiyagi. Angel Face over there needs someone who could knock some sense into him and not agree with every little shit he says just because he is Rikkai Dai's Demigod. Sumiyagi probably knows his memory got fucked up as a side effect to the operation. I should know – my mother is his physical therapist."

Mai giggled lightly until the door opened and revealed another Regular. The red haired girl raised an eyebrow at the young girl who shyly stepped in; who was this girl? She didn't remember seeing her from any of the teams but recognized the colours of Shitenhouji. Her lavender hair fell past her shoulder in a single French braid and her pasty white skin glittered under the light. Mai stared closely at the girl's complexion; was she really that white?

"Geez, what did you do? Did ya decide to take a bath with glitter? Don't tell me you're tryin' to be that damn kleptomaniac from that stupid vampire movie! Who the hell are you," Miaka scrunched up her nose with arrogance as Mai sighed; trust Rikkai Dai's Wild Dog to be the crassest person among them. "Edward Cullen ain't exactly the best guy to take after."

She bowed lightly at the sight of the three girls while averting her icy blue eyes; her voice thickly laced with a Russian accent. "My name is Uzume Valkov. Pleased to meet you. I'm sorry if my Japanese is not that great. I only have been in Japan for two years."

Mai blinked several times; her Japanese sounded natural if anything except for her Russian accent. "Well, I think you practiced pretty well to sound like a native although your accent's really thick. That's the only thing that's giving it away."

Uzume kindly smiled, brushing away her bangs. "Thank you, it is very nice for a native to say so. This is my first time to participate in events like this so forgive me if I am a bit slow with the system. Russia has a different system."

"So you must be first year?" Enma looked at the sight of the girl, wondering how a girl could be so pasty white. "I haven't seen you in the Shitenhouji games."

"Oh no, I'm Second Year. I had to go back one year because I transferred out of Russia's school system," Uzume placed down her bags on the floor next to the last bed, dusting her Russian overcoat. "I transferred two years ago and stopped going to school for a year because I had to finalize some papers and citizenship issues. The government can be so unreasonable sometimes."

Mai glanced at how Uzume placed her things down before looking at her body. The girl definitely had the build of an athlete under the overcoat but to what extent? Uzume slowly let her coat slide off her shoulder and revealed her very curvy body and Mai gawked at the sight of the girl; how did she get those curves? She knew that Russians had great tolerance for icy cold weather but, what about her tolerance for hot weather? Letting her eyes dart around, Mai noticed the gym bag lying next to the bed along with a pair of ballet shoes. She glanced at Uzume as the lavender haired girl glided gracefully across the room and noticed how light her feet were as she made her way through the room.

"You're a ballet dancer," Mai glanced at the other things lying in her bag. "Wait, I've heard your name from somewhere."

"Nagisaki Mai – daughter of the Nagisaki Entertainment Zaibatsu, some even say she could have been taught by the very goddess I was named after," Uzume curtsied as she smiled sweetly at Nagisaki Mai, keeping her head low. "Hyotei Gakuen's Queen of Spades, the Lady of Song."

The tensai finally remembered where she had seen the girl's name as a smirk appeared on her lips. "Uzume Valkov, Russia's Black Swan from the Bolshoi Ballet Company. I've seen your performances and it's amazing! You were so graceful; it was as if you were dancing on a feather!"

Uzume smiled politely, hanging her head abashedly. "I also remember watching the Japanese production of the Black Swan play. Your portrayal of the Black Swan was fantastic. Actually, that is one of the main reasons why I was so ecstatic when my parents had told me I had to move to Japan. The taxes were high and our business flourished better here in Japan. I have always wanted to see the Nagisaki performances live and I cannot believe it! I am standing in front of the very star of the show."

Miaka chuckled lightly, running her fingers through her red streaked black hair. "Heh, we're all stars in this show. We gotta make sure we bring home the gold."

Uzume chuckled lightly with her thick Russian accent, placing her hand forward as they formed a circle. "Indeed."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Wow, so this is my new room~."

Kiyone began looking around with a huge grin as she skipped happily and placed her things on the bed. Being the first person to arrive at her room, the sandy blonde volleyist threw her things on the bed nearest to the wall and grinned happily before plopping onto her bed. She stared straight into the ceiling while swinging her legs in the air absent-mindedly. This was one of her first times participating in an international event but it sounded fun to her. Ayane stayed in another room with Ryuuzaki Sakuno luckily although she really wanted to see Ayane beat the living daylights out of Vera. She grinned impishly; then again, there was also a chance where Vera, Ayane and Atobe could end up in one group. That was going to be one big mess!

Knock, knock.

Kiyone swivelled her head up and found Jyosei Shounan's Juushinhi René carrying her suitcases with a small smile. "Oh, do you need help?"

René gestured to her ear and began making hand gestures.

"Oh right, you're deaf but," Kiyone blinked in realization but soon began wondering why the girl had not begun to speak, gesturing with her hands. "How come you're not talking then?"

René raised an eyebrow at the girl with an "are-you-that-dumb-look?"

"Oh right, if you're deaf you can't hear sounds and copy," Kiyone grinned childishly as René simply face-palmed as the smaller girl pouted impishly, waving her hands in the air frantically. "I'm sorry, I always have Ayane screaming at me and telling me everything so I'm not used to deaf people!"

René smiled accommodatingly while ruffling the girl's hair before picking up a piece of paper and writing down her thoughts.

I'm sorry for giving you a hard time. Nevertheless, I'm quite talented in reading lips so there is no need for you to be physically expressive.

Kiyone's mouth formed a small 'o' as she glanced at the door opening and revealing a member from Rokkaku Chuu. She blinked several times; their school had never faced Rokkaku due to being eliminated easily by Seigaku. She watched the short woman tousle back her pale pink hair while pulling out her racquet and placing it right under her bed and another tub and filling it with more water. In another container, she pulled out a small turtle before placing the little creature in the huge basin. The sandy blonde volleyist's eyes widened as she looked at the creature intently.

"Aww, you have a turtle," Kiyone grinned in innocence before looking at the girl. "I never met you before! What's your name?"

The short woman bowed humbly with a smile. "I am Rokkaku's captain – Priscilla Yamamoto, a third year. I am very honoured to meet the Queen of Clovers."

However, the moment Kiyone shook her hand – the sandy blonde girl couldn't help but shiver at the intention dripping from the short woman's aura. Bloodlust and horror coursed into her hand as the younger volleyist staggered back slightly but managed to keep her composure. One thing that she had learned from her senpai was to be polite no matter how scary the person may seem. The pale pink haired girl seemed a few inches taller than her but for her to be a third year and at least 5'2? Well, most of the people in her team were pretty tall especially Isane and Hitomi. Isane stood at 6'3 ft and Hitomi following at 5'10 but the others were at an average of 5'5 – 5'8 ft with her being the shortest at 4'8 ft. She frowned slightly when looking at the short girl; does this mean that she was doomed to look like a midget for her whole teenage years? She even remembered that she constantly had to look up at Shiraishi and many people thought that she was his younger sister when she was his friend.

More like he does look cute.

Nooo, I don't wanna think of that!

Face it, Getsugan Kiyone. Shiraishi Kuranosuke does not look like a rear end of a donkey. He's got the better looks; you just need more height.

Kiyone whined softly, scratching her head in a defeated sigh. Was she going to stay this short forever? Isane practically towered everybody, Mai and Shizuru were the perfect height, Ayane was still growing in both bust and height and Haruka, Rin and Momo were relatively the same height and Hitomi stood tall also right next to Isane. She puffed up her cheeks in annoyance; she definitely had to grow taller! She didn't want people thinking she was only 7 years old when she was already a middle school student.

"Don't worry about height," – Kiyone swivelled her head towards Priscilla who rebuked her thoughts with an encouraging smile. "I'm only this small because my parents are quite short you see. Besides, 5'2 is not a very small height. I'm sure you'll still grow. Most of the smaller people grow later on and are usually taller than the rest of their seniors."

Kiyone's eyes glimmered in hope; at least she still had a chance to grow!

"Although," Priscilla smiled sheepishly, scratching her head. "I don't think it applies to Echizen Ryoma though. Again, it is very dependent on the genes."

Kiyone nearly exploded laughing at the somewhat hopeless situation of Echizen. Most of the boys towered over him and everyone treated him as if he was a baby or an elementary school student. That is, until he started goading them and wiping the floor with his opponents' with tennis. At least the girls had more respect and some had become completely empathetic to her situation. Hitomi had told her drink at least two glasses of milk everyday and stop eating coffee buns. Ayane insisted on stretching her out, which seemed to be an insane idea. Shizuru simply told her to be patient and people don't ruffle her hair as much.

"So, Juushinhi René," Priscilla smiled politely, making sign language gestures and communicating to the deaf girl. "I didn't know Jyosei Shounan also accommodated people with handicaps. It's quite amazing. My sister you see has a son who has dyslexia – do they accommodate people with learning disabilities as well?"

René smiled lightly and began gesturing with her hands. Yes, they do. However, it highly depends on how bad his condition is. I know some who are badly afflicted with dyslexia and they are integrated into the normal class but with remedial classes every after class hours.

Priscilla nodded lightly until the door swung open and revealed someone from Rikkai Dai. "Ah Rikkai Dai's Sarah the Dust Eater – we're quite a mixture aren't we?"

Sarah placed down her things before joining in the circle, folding her arms with a small smirk. "Yes we sure are, Yamamoto-san."

"I haven't seen you in awhile. The last time we saw each other was when," Priscilla pondered for a moment before smiling slowly, pointing to the air. "Ah yes, when we took the examination for Rikkai Dai. Quite a genius, you're really a different case especially as the valedictorian of the second years."

Kiyone gaped in astonishment; Sarah Jaeger's that smart? She knew her captain was one of the top ten in her batch but she never knew a genius from Rikkai Dai other than the self-proclaimed tensai from the male Rikkai Dai tennis team that Ayane had been hanging around with. Somehow, she found the place a bit too quiet and too normal. She wanted Ayane to be howling about something again pertaining to the Hyotei male diva. She snickered lightly at the image of Ayane suddenly storming the hallways and screaming her head off. Whatever it was, she could only wonder if her teammates found some good roommates. She heard Vera screaming her head off a few minutes ago regarding Momo staying in the same room as she was with her katana safely tucked under her bed. She heard loud crashes and kicking, wondering if Ayane had already picked a fight with someone. She could have sworn that she heard her buchou saying something "you're not doing a very good job at it" or something. The sandy blonde haired girl sighed while looking out the window.

Things were going to take a long time.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

All the tennis teams now reported to the courts, forming straight lines with the captains standing in front of them. Many of the teams watched other people warily as the other coaches started assuming their positions in front of them. Hyotei Gakuen had Sakaki-kantoku standing in front of them while Ryuuzaki-sensei stood near Seishun Gakuen. Rikkai Dai remained standing with Sanada as their captain until a familiar bluenette suddenly appeared right in front of them with his usual serene smile and his Regular's jacket floating off his shoulders.

"YUKIMURA-BUCHOU, YOU'RE HERE!"

Mai's eyes widened when she found the bluenette standing in front of them with his usual serene smile. She could feel her heart pumping at the sight of him but it slowly faded away and changed into a throbbing pain when Rena stood next to him with a huge grin on her face, latching onto his arm. The red haired tensai looked away as she watched Jyosei Shounan's coach; Hanamura, Yamabuki's coach Banji and Rokkaku's coach Oji-san take their positions. She looked past Ayane's shoulder as she looked at the coaches stepping forward to meet them all; her blood ran cold especially at the sight of Sumiyagi Rena clinging on to Yukimura's arm like some lost cocker spaniel. She narrowed her amber nekojin eyes at the Rikkai Dai girl until someone began to poke her from behind, revealing Kiyone with her big liquid blue innocent eyes.

"Hey, who ya glaring at," Kiyone bounced cheerily as she looked at Sumiyagi Rena and Yukimura; her mouth suddenly formed a small 'o' when she made a mischievous grin. "I can scare her away if you like~. All it takes is one pixy stick!"

Mai smiled deviously at the little girl as her cat-like eyes narrowed into devilish expression, ruffling the smaller girl's hair. "He he, thanks though. I gladly appreciate it. I'll buy you some when I need you to scare the daylights out of people."

Kiyone grinned impishly while looking at the coaches. She then glanced at the boys' side for a moment and noticed Shitenhouji standing on one side, with Shiraishi standing in front of them as their leader. The sandy blonde could not help but sneak a glance at the Kansai male leading his team. She noticed the way the sunbeam dropped down on the field and lit up everyone's faces and made them look extremely blazing but he looked perfectly fine. She sighed to herself with a dreamy grin on her face until a hand dropped on her head.

"You know, the more you keep staring – the more he might think you're a stalker," Haruka grinned all-knowingly as the little volleyist immediately turned pink.

"I-I wasn't looking at him! I was looking at the sun!"

Haruka giggled slightly at the smaller doubles player when she looked at the Rikkai Dai side with the whole team staring in shock that Yukimura had managed to get himself out of the hospital. But then again, this was the Yukimura Seiichi she was thinking about. He probably scared the whole team into submission with whatever was hidden behind that angelic face. She knew what kind of horror sat behind that effeminate face. She glanced at the tensai standing in front of Kiyone and noticed her eyes narrow into devious slits. The last time Mai did that, it proved to be very disastrous and the only one who had been capable of fixing her mess was Shizuru. However, her eyes wondered towards Jackal who stood right behind Marui. As she glanced at him, Jackal also spared her a small glance until a small smile crept up their lips with a nod. She blushed a little but immediately used her pale pink hair to block it; his smile really hit home! She couldn't wait to be his partner in the mixed doubles match!

On the other hand, Tezuka had managed to sneak a glance at the brunette that was standing next to him. She had her usual calm and pleasant expression on her face but he still remembered how she managed to wrestle and fight with Fuuka. He had never seen a girl fight up close other than Fuuka's brutal punching sprees that often had other boys on the receiving end. But after seeing Shizuru, he wasn't quite sure what to think anymore. Girls definitely had a lot of surprises in store as he glanced at her peaceful expression as if Fuuka had never angered her to begin with. He wanted to talk to her but he closed his eyes with a deep sigh escaping his throat. His words were lodged in there somewhere and now even his brain refused to process. The way she made martial arts look like was more of an art – she looked like she was truly made for combat. He remembered the graceful swing her of her naginata as it easily deflected the arrows and the way she danced on the battlefield. It was bewitching; it was like watching a phoenix dive in for the kill.

Soon, Ryuuzaki-sensei's voice echoed out as she immediately grabbed the attention of all the boys and girls. "ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP! Each one of you will be placed in different groups under different coaches. The groups will be done by mixture the same way the dorms were done. Here, we already have a list of who will team up with whom for the groupings. Secondly, with the many teams – we will be dividing you into two divisions: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Is that understood? Do you have any questions?"

Everyone remained silent as they were slowly divided into their group had four boys and four girls in it as they all started disseminating towards their coaches.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"WHY AM I WITH HIM AND HER!?"

Ayane could only gawk and gape in horror as Vera and Atobe strolled into her view while she could feel her blood boiling by just looking at the two of them. She clenched her hands tightly before trying to calm down but it wasn't anger that started resurfacing. She remembered the humiliation and failure of losing to Jerrard even after taunting her and throwing out all her ace cards. Inhaling deeply, the tangerine haired vice captain tried to keep her emotions from bursting out and probably throttling Atobe and Vera but she immediately kept herself in check. The last thing she wanted to do is let her captain handle a whole bunch of paperwork like the last time Kiyone bitten Vera. It took a whole lot convincing that Kiyone did not have teething issues, she did not have rabies and most of all – Vera was the one who started it by flirting with Ayane's boyfriend. At least Kiyone was being supportive of it. She looked around found Vera, herself, Tachiwara Miho (she inwardly thanked herself that someone hated Vera as much as she did) and Priscilla Yamamoto. Her eyes widened when she found a small senior skipping along before realizing she was the only first year.

"Oh God, shoot me now, why," Ayane wanted to yank her hair as she groaned at the sight of the boys. Well at least Marui made it more bearable.

Marui, Atobe, Kaidoh and some guy named Zaizen Hikaru walked in to the courts and in front of them now stood Sakaki-kantoku. Her eyes widened at the sight of the man; she knew he was her music teacher in piano and many other things but is he just that because even his sense of tennis was way beyond normal! He strode in calmly while adjusting his suit, looking at them carefully as if they were a bunch of military troops. She swallowed hard while standing next to the blind girl, watching his eyes analyse them carefully.

"One thing common about all of you is that you all tend to lose sight of your strategies, another is that your egos start messing up your sense of understanding," Sakaki folded his arms, staring them down. "First off, we're going to partner you up with people you refuse to partner with or someone you have never partnered with before."

Ayane stared in horror; she could end up either with Atobe or Vera! She swallowed hard and glanced at Sakaki-kantoku nervously, immediately chanting a prayer in her head.

Please anybody but Atobe or Vera. Anybody but them! Anybody but them! Kami-sama, I'll do anything! I'll stop beating up people, I'll stop yelling at Kiyone – I promise to take up anger management!

"First match, Atobe and Jerrard versus Marui and Kobayagi."

Her breath finally escaped her lips as she exhaled with a sigh. Thank God she got Marui instead! She walked towards Marui as the red head smiled cheekily with her with his bubblegum blowing up. Vera chuckled darkly as she stood next to Atobe. However, Ayane suddenly remembered the dream that she had on the train. She remembered the malicious smile on Vera's face and how her body had instantly seized in that one moment the girl had decided to taunt her. Her body seized in fear as she tried to maintain whatever was left of her composure as the words sunk into her mind. She remembered how Kiyone had also walked away from her, heartbroken that they could not become the best in the region. If anything, Kiyone had a higher competitive streak than she did. She could not going to let all of Kiyone's hard work go down the drain!

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU'RE THE WEAKEST AMONG THE HYOTEI PLAYERS!"

"You dare think that you could have become ore-sama's queen, mongrel?"

Ayane immediately shook it away as she and Marui stood at the tennis court with Atobe taking the back and Vera up front. She could feel her body trembling but she fought back her urge to break into a hysterical fit of rage but immediately began breathing in deeply. She saw Marui standing in front and nodded at the red head boy who had a cheeky grin plastered on his face. A confident grin soon curved up her lips as she rolled up her sleeves and tossed her racquet in the air before perfectly catching it by the grip.

"Alright, time to work things out – ne, Marui?"

The red headed boy on the other hand couldn't help but feel giddy at the thought of Atobe fuming up instantly.

Although he did need tips from Rikkai Dai's Trickster, he never expected Atobe to be so – well, in his terms he'd address it as stupid. First of all, he knew it was really bad to associate with the enemy. Yanagi had gathered enough information regarding Jerrard and no wonder Ayane hated her so much. He chuckled lightly at the fury and determination dancing in Ayane's emerald eyes and he could only hope that he had the power to keep up with her. As Vera took her stance in front of him, she smirked haughtily and tossed her blonde hair back.

"Oh so you're the fake queen's new Knave huh," Vera chuckled darkly with a haughty smile. "I didn't know it was that easy for her to get new bitches."

Marui's expression darkened; he liked Ayane definitely more than a friend despite being friend-zoned but nobody calls him a bitch and gets away with it! Besides, Ayane did anything but use him as a foot stool or a stress toy. He wanted to help her be happy because that was much better than not doing anything and feeling sorry for his guts for not getting to Ayane on time. Keeping his feelings inside and not doing crap about it – he definitely knew better than to do that. He was going to make Atobe eat shit after what he had done to Ayane. Then again, it was also personal to him – Atobe was the damn reason why he couldn't confess to Ayane and make her as happy as he wanted. He had seen her smile when they played "pop-the-bubble" game and he definitely knew Atobe was more white hairs than smiles. If being her "bitch" meant doing everything he could to make her happy (except doing something with very hazardous innuendos), so be it. To outdo the king, the knight just has to trap him against the queen.

"Sorry, if there's anyone who's a bitch here," Marui smirked confidently, spinning his racquet around. "It's you and the worst part is – you don't even know you're just being led around."

Oh yes, one thing Niou had told him: one blow to a girl's pride is that the guy was just leading her around to get his partner jealous or achieve whatever personal ambition he had.

Vera paled and gasped angrily, curling her fingers and cutting through her palms. "You annoying little shit...!"

Before she could retaliate, the ball exploded right past her and revealed a hole in the fence behind Atobe and her. The Hyotei captain stared in surprise as he saw Ayane smirking in delight. When did she attain so much power in such a short time? His eyes narrowed however the moment Ayane and Marui exchanged high-fives for the next serve.

You're becoming a pest, Marui. Ore-sama shall bring you down once and for all. And the punishment for stealing a King's queen is only one thing: death!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Uh oh, Atobe's becoming a little too dramatic or rather a little too eager. So, here's the choice ladies and gentlemen! Those who read this – it's up to you! I give you two options:

Marui and Ayane end up together temporarily but Atobe will suffer heavy depression.

Atobe and Ayane sort things out and get back together but with Marui taking hits.

I leave the choice to you my dear readers! Please don't forget to review!