So I realize that this has stayed with Hitomi for quite a bit, but bear with me. I promise Kamiko, Lily and Emi will be coming shortly. Though the latter of the three is much harder to write for me, as I've found.

Shishido had walked Hitomi over to the theatre, and dropped her off there before he went to his own club. When he arrived, Atobe was commanding the soldiers, as per usual.

"You're late."

"You're a prick."

Usually, Shishido was much more respectful to Atobe. At least in practices, he was. It seemed that whenever Hitomi was involved all respect for the King of Hyotei was thrown out the window.

"Ryou."

Well, that was odd. Even when the two bickered Atobe never once called Shishido... Well, Shishido. After earning Shishido's respect, the two had gotten to be good enough friends to know that as long as they were loyal they were on good terms. No names necessary. But after that authoritative tone, Shishido stopped in his tracks and looked back at his captain.

"Yeah?"

"You dropped her off at the theatre?"

"Yeah," Shishido nodded, he looked curious, "What's it to ya?"

"After all this trouble, it's only reasonable for ore-sama to ask."

"Sure, sure. I dropped her off, Atobe. She feels better after you called off the police and her dad." Shishido explained, he continued on his way to the courts.

Atobe smirked, "On the elliptical, Shishido."

"What? Atobe I-" he looked over to his captain, and after realizing that Atobe was serious he trudged back up the entrance stairs and went on his way to the gym, "Fine."

'So we beat on. Boats against the current, b-borne ceaselessly into the past.' Atobe frowned when he remembered. She had even stuttered, as uncharacteristic as it was Hitomi had been so scared that she stuttered aloud.

She had never done so before. In public she knew how to handle herself, make herself seem as if she could help anyone and she would do it with a sense of authority and wisdom. Not to mention strength, Atobe had known that after years of being around her. The fact that she was able to keep this secret away from everyone while seeming to be perfect meant she would probably become one of the best actresses around. After all, she acted every single day around her peers, and even Atobe had been duped on more than one occasion. When he saw her as he went into the principal's office (honestly, she was so lost that she hadn't noticed him walking past), eyes shut tight and mumbling- stuttering -those words that comforted her, well he thought that that may have been one of the strongest attributes about her. She stood on her own, and helped herself. Then she helped others in order to maintain that façade.

After some thought, and after using his Insight, Atobe realized her acting was so good that even she began to believe it.

"Kabaji," Atobe turned to his best friend, his right hand man, "Get Suzuki for me."

"Usu."

Kabaji walked across the courts, and stood patiently as Jirou spoke to Suzuki. He was fired up talking about the match he had this morning with Atobe.

"I mean usually Atobe beats me- he always beats me! But this time even I felt scared playing against him, he was so serious... I guess that's why he's the captain! Right?"

"O-oh! Kabaji-kun, am I n-needed?" Suzuki asked when she noticed the boy's figure hovering over Jirou.

"Usu." Kabaji motioned with his head to Atobe, and the two walked over to the captain, who was observing the courts.

"Y-yes, Atobe-san?"

"The theatre production crew will be dismissed an hour before our practice ends."

"...and Hitomi-chan will be dismissed too." Suzuki tried to understand where this was going. When Atobe finally took his eyes off the court and looked at Suzuki she nodded, seeing everything he commanded in his eyes, "I'll- ano, I'll go get her."

"Kabaji could escort you if you like."

"N-no need, Atobe-san, thank you!"

An hour later, Suzuki stood outside the theatre, and saw the doors open.

"See you later, Ito-chan!" Hitomi's fellow friends waved.

Hitomi waved good bye to them, smiling politely at them and then curiously looking towards Suzuki.

"What happened to the tennis club?" She asked.

The two girls started on the path towards the courts, and Suzuki smiled broadly, an odd type of smile for the usually shy girl.

"Atobe-san asked me to get you once your club ended, since he knew that you walked over to the courts to wait for Oshitari-kun."

Hitomi rolled her eyes, "I'm sure he didn't ask. He told you and said that Kabaji could escort you if you wanted."

"...yes, that's how that happened." Suzuki admit, "B-but he meant well! He's actually a very level headed companion to have, since Shishido-san is usually angry and Gakuto-san oblivious, even Jirou-kun is sleeping most times. It seems to me that Atobe-san is the one who can help the most."

"I have Yuushi."

"Who, in all honestly, doesn't know the least bit how to help." Suzuki spoke wisely.

Hitomi knew better than to argue, because Suzuki was so smart that she was usually almost right.

"You should at least thank him for his concern, Hitomi-chan. With the way you speak of Atobe-san I never expected him to even lift a finger about your situation."

"I know," Hitomi sighed, "But... I can't help it."

Suzuki nodded, and finished Hitomi's silent thoughts, "Atobe-san just reminds you, I understand."

"Thank you." Hitomi whispered as the two went to the front row of bleachers.

Suzuki nodded with an understandingly shy smile, and proceeded to watch the courts with curiosity as she lagged behind her friend. Hitomi was suddenly surrounded by Gakuto and Jirou, even Hiyoshi felt the need to approach her. Suzuki smiled wider as she watched from afar.

"I should be the one thanking you, Hitomi-chan. I never would have gotten to know these new friends if not for you."

Lily never called herself complex. She liked blunt, strict opinions- especially when the need arose. But to have to do it without an ounce of emotion wasn't exactly her idea of normal. She loved to smile. It didn't matter the occasion, because Lily grew up with her own philosophy: that there's a smile for just about any occasion. And so far, to Lily, there had not been one occasion to not smile.

Even now, as Lily watched Kamiko worry with her fellow Seishun companions about their beloved captain painstakingly play through his match, Lily couldn't help but smile admirably.

"Wanna practice while they go on forever?" She felt a small nudge beside her.

Lily looked over to her left, "Aren't you worried about your buchou?"

"There's nothing I can do about it now," Ryoma shrugged, "It's just getting me riled up."

"If you're okay with missing out on the match, then sure." Lily nodded with a pitied smile.

The younger Echizen never went through a tournament where he sat back and watched, and seeing his friends get beaten, and watching his captain go through so much to play, made Echizen want to play even more.

He trudged up the steps of the bleachers to find an empty court, and Lily barely managed to catch his sentence when she followed, "It's just a tie break."

But it was so much more than that to him. And Lily knew that as soon as they'd started rallying 'lightly'.

He obviously hadn't let off enough steam by the time Momo came running to them.

"Echizen!" He called, "Oi, Echizen, buchou's tie break with Atobe-san is ridiculous! You need to see- whoa..."

"Eh? Looks like you'll have to show me that move some other time." Ryoma shrugged, taking off his cap momentarily to wipe the light sheen of sweat from his forehead.

Lily nodded in agreement, a knowing half-smirk on her face as she watched the younger boy exit the courts. Skid-marks from the fuzzed tennis balls streaked the Echizen's side of the court, curving in then out at different places. If Lily looked at it from the angle of her opponent they would look like upside down crescent moons, if Lily looked at it from her point of view, she would see smiles.

When Lily returned to the courts she found a crowd other than Hyotei's fans had gathered. Uniforms from different schools and bystanders had found empty spots to occupy the match between the two extra players. Both were exceptional, but one clearly outmatched the other.

"Lily-san." A familiar female had spoken beside her.

Lily smiled and laughed welcomingly, "Oh, hello, Hitomi-chan! Come to support your school's tennis team?"

"We support each other, I think it's only fair." Hitomi sounded much too polite for her own good; even she knew she was beginning to sound uptight, and with a heaving sigh gave up on formalities, "I heard you were doing well with Sai. The bastard gave me more trouble than I would've liked, but it doesn't sound that way at all when it comes to you."

"Oh," Lily turned away from the match to look at her somewhat friend, "I just give Sai a certain smile of mine- Kamiko likes to call it the Demon Smile. She said your Demonic Stare was something that Sai just got used to towards the end of your reign."

At that Hitomi gave one short laugh, "She likes to name things before you realize there's even a thing to name."

"I would call it a quirk, but she does it so much that it's just become a part of who she is, right?" Lily smiled and turned back to the match.

Hitomi hadn't responded. The referee had just announced Seishun's win, and rather than going to congratulate Kamiko's team, Lily looked over to Hitomi.

"He'll never acknowledge his own growth now..." Lily could faintly hear Hitomi mutter to herself.

"What was that, Hitomi-chan?"

Hitomi snapped out of her thoughts, and Lily could have sworn she saw the faint blush on Hitomi's cheeks, so Lily tried to find who Hitomi was gazing at specifically.

"Oh, nothing. Just my own thoughts." Hitomi chuckled, "Our youngest player lost against Seishun's, but really, his own skill is understated. I just feel bad for him, is all."

"But he played with his all, and the kid will just grow stronger out of it." Lily nodded with an encouraging smile.

Hitomi nodded back, mimicking Lily's smile almost perfectly. What Hitomi didn't know was that Lily knew exactly who Hitomi had been looking at. While most of Hyotei was acknowledging their player that had just lost, a certain captain had begun stalking off to shake hands and bid a good game to Seigaku. When Lily had followed the direction of Hitomi's stare she had been looking towards the mix of Hyotei and Seigaku. Towards the only Hyotei player on Seigaku's side until the rest had followed their faithful leader's footsteps and begun giving off well to do congratulations.

"Besides, with how the guy you'd been looking at beat Kunimitsu-kun I doubt there's any worry about his strength dwindling."

Lily's encouraging smile had bordered between amusing and knowingly, especially when Hitomi's faint blush had turned almost as red as Lily's violet-red hair.

"Just don't tell Kamiko, you smiling devil." Hitomi mumbled.

"I may be a smiling devil, but I would never be as sadistic as that. You're just lucky the little troublemaker is in a match right now. Against Otagaki, might I add."

Hitomi cringed at the mention of her last opponent. Though she had won, she hadn't exactly made it out unscathed. She decided to turn the subject elsewhere.

"So how do you and Seigaku's captain know each other so well?"

"Huh?" Lily asked, a confused smile showing on her face.

Hitomi blinked, at first blankly, then with confusion, "You're on a first name basis, aren't you?"

"Oh!" Lily began laughing, "I forget that the use of last names are common. I've been here for so long yet it's so hard to remember! Back in Germany I was never good with first or last names, so I'm just happy to remember a name."

Hitomi nodded, returning Lily's friendly smile with a smile of her own. And, though at first she had been mimicking the redhead's actions, Hitomi's smile this time had been one with the utmost sincerity.

I've forgotten this for the past few chapters. My bad! LoL.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/plot/etc., of the PoT manga/anime.