Okay well first thing, we are sorry it took so long to update this story we been busy with finals, family vactions, and what not, but we hope to add another chapter by next week if we are lucky. We are going to try to finish the story by the end of this year. That does not mean there are only a couple of chapters left the truth is there is a lot more fun just around the corner. Okay now the second thing I want to respond to a couple reviews that we got saying that this fanfic is crap and we should stop writing it. Well I don't care want they say, because we said in the summary of this summary that it was going to be a Mary-Sue story so if you don't like Mary-Sue stories then don't read them. Next my friend and I are enjoy writing this story together so even if no one reads it we will continue it until the end. Another thing is I have gotten tons of reviews from people saying they loved it. So to end this paragraph I would like to say no matter how horrible the reviews I get my friend I will continue to write no matter if we have no readers. So on with the story. -

Disclaimer: I don't owe any of the Prince of Tennis character only the four girls from the story.

Leaving, New Year, and Fuji in a dress?
Chapter 9

December 14th at 6:03 AM and 4 seconds.

We find Horio casually strolling around, causing terror wherever he goes. He happened to walk by the girls' changing room and overheard some of the girls' conversation about their plans for Christmas. He wouldn't have cared otherwise, but he was bored and continued to listen.

"I'm sooo excited for Christmas!" Britt said excitedly.

"Yeah, I can't wait to go see my family," Steph added.

"What's going on?" Karley asked.

"…We're going back home remember?" Mallory replied. Horio just about had a conniption after hearing this news. He proceeded to run away and tell the others, but he managed to run into a parked car rendering him unconscious. But only for a little while, like a few hours.

In a random classroom in the school

The Seigaku regulars were forced to stay inside, diligently doing nothing, because Ryuzaki had said it was too cold to practice outside. So they had a meeting…well..it wasn't really a meeting because nothing was being accomplished.

"This is so pointless. I could still be sleeping right now," Ryoma grumbled.

"Quiet, Echizen. No one wants to hear you complain," Momo said.

"No one wants to hear your ugly face," Ryoma snapped back.

"Nyaaaaah! We're succumbing to cabin fever! Oishi! Do something!" Eiji cried.

"Calm down you guys!" Oishi was trying to get the two boys to calm down while the girls were entering the room.

"I can't believe we don't have practice today!" Steph said angrily.

"I wanted to play doubles with you today, Steph!" Britt added.

"Yeah, why did we have indoor practice again?" Mallory asked.

"It's way too cold to play today, according to Ryuzaki, and myself of course," Oishi replied.

"Cold! You'd say it's cold if it was 90 degrees out!" Karley said.

"Aren't you cold? You're wearing T-shirts…I observed from my data," Inui said. iidata.

"You could've just noticed we were wearing them right now."

"….that would take the fun out of it." iidata.

"This weather is nothing compared to Wisconsin winters. Well, this has been fun, but we have some homework we've got to do in the library, so bye, and don't stop us." The girls walked out, and a few seconds later, Horio burst into the door, looking like an overly caffeinated squirrel.

"You guys! I have some news, it's good and bad!" Horio said, "The good news is, I now have three years of tennis experience as of today!"

Everyone seemed disinterested in the ramblings of Horio, and decided to get up and leave.

"Wait! I still have the bad news! The girls are planning on leaving Japan when Christmas break comes! I overheard them talking about it in the changing room!" Then everyone stopped and Inui dropped a test tube, to add more dramatic effect.

"What! Why are they leaving now!" Momo cried.

"Hell if I know," Horio replied, and casually walked off to brag about his three years of experience to the other freshmen.

"Was it something we did?" Oishi said.

"Maybe they did something bad and got expelled." Momo thought out loud.

"That's sad, nyahhh. We should have a going away party for them!" Eiji said. Everyone pretty much agreed on having the party and started making plans for it.

2 days before Christmas Break

The Seigaku Regulars had finished setting up for the girls' party in the tennis clubroom. A few minutes passed and the girls walked towards the clubroom, where the boys were waiting outside for them.

"Don't tell me we have another boring meeting. We have to get to the airport soon," Britt said.
"We just came to say 'bye' and have a good Christmas," Karley said. With that, the girls waved and went to find a taxi.

At the airport

The four girls had been waiting for their flight for about a half an hour. Karley fell asleep in one of the chairs, snoring loudly. Mallory was listening to music and watching one of the TVs, while Steph and Britt were playing cards.

"Okaa-san, I have to go to the bathroom," Britt said.

"Okay, I'll come with you, I might as well go before the plane gets here," Steph said. So Steph and Britt went to the bathroom. Britt got finished before Steph and told her she'd wait outside. That worked for a few minutes before Britt decided to go to the vending machine and try her luck in getting a soda. Unfortunately, the type of soda she wanted was out, so she went to one further down. She was about to pull out some coins when she heard a familiar voice behind her calling. Britt turned and saw a familiar bouncy redhead running to her, grinning and holding a small package in his hands.

"Nyahh, Britt. I'm so glad I found you before you had to leave! I just…wanted to give this to you and to say that I'm…" Eiji stammered, blushing furiously, "I'm really gonna miss you. You're really nice, and really sweet and well…well here." Eiji gave the gift to Britt and stared shyly down at his feet.

"Wow. Thanks so much Eiji. I'm gonna miss you too; I wish we could've spent the holidays together," Britt said, "Well, I should get back to Steph. I was supposed to wait for her by the bathroom, and she might start worrying about where I am." Eiji followed Britt, because he wanted to say goodbye to her and to the other girls too.

At the bathroom

"Grrrrr, where did she go! I specifically told her to wait for me, and now she's gone! I hope she didn't wander too far off; the plane is supposed to come really soon," Steph fumed. She looked around the various stores to see if Britt was buying food or a magazine for the flight. With no luck, Steph sighed and walked back to Mal and Karley, hoping Britt might've forgotten to wait and would be there. In her blind rage, Steph ran into someone, that someone she finally recognized, as Yuuta.

"Ahhh, Yuuta! I haven't seen you in a long time! What are you doing here?" Steph said happily.

"Ummm, well, my older sister was getting back from a trip to Taiwan today. Aniki was supposed to get her, but then I found out that…well…" Yuuta began to drift off in volume.

"What?"
"Well…Aniki told me you were leaving today too, so I figured I'd come instead and say bye…I guess. And, I wanted to give you this," Yuuta handed Steph a small package, "It's…from Aniki and me." Steph beamed and she and Yuuta walked back to Mal and Karley. While walking, Steph looked at the tag: To Steph, from Yuuta.

From "Aniki and me", my butt, Steph thought to herself. Steph was happy to see that Britt had been with Mal and Karley, but was surprised to see Eiji, Tezuka, and Kaidoh there as well. The girls also had presents in their hands.

"It's so nice you all came to see us," Britt said happily. The group talked for a bit until the girls' flight was called and they got prepared to board. The boys began to look disheartened; Eiji began to get a little misty-eyed.

"Well, see you guys!" Karley said.

"I wish you didn't have to leave so soon!" Eiji said sadly.

"It's not that soon. It's two days until Christmas," Mal replied.

"Eiji! Why are you crying! Don't worry; we'll be back for sure in time for the New Year's holidays!" Britt said.

"….Wha? New Year's?"

"Yeah, why would we miss New Year's in Japan?" Steph said.

"You're…coming back?" Kaidoh asked, a bit confused.

"Of course! We have to finish out our year at school!" Karley replied. The boys' expressions of confusion soon turned to delight at knowing the girls would only be gone for Christmas. The last call for the girls' flight came, and the girls waved goodbye and boarded. The boys left the airport, soon feeling a bit enraged at Horio for saying they'd be going back to America for good. They boarded a bus and took a little detour before going home. Needless to say, Horio wasn't at school for a few days.

The girls' Christmas break

Christmas for the girls in America amounted to a few certain, exciting events. The girls spent time with their families, telling them about their experiences in Japan and at Seigaku. They talked about the people they met and their long distance phone calls to Scoople. The girls got together and opened their presents from the guys. Britt got a ring with a dark blue gem from Eiji, Karley got a cat plushie from Kaidoh, Mal got boxes of tea from Tezuka, and Steph got a necklace from Yuuta. After bugging Scoople during the holidays, the girls soon got ready to go back to Japan.

New Years
Back at the airport in Japan, the girls were greeted by all of the Seigaku regulars and told each other about their Christmas holidays. As the girls got their suitcases, they all began making plans for New Years. They all decided on going to the New Years' festival and having a party at the girls' apartment thingy afterwards. After they all left the airport, the girls went out shopping for kimonos to wear to the festival.

To the festival! Get down with your bad self!

Later on in the evening, the Seigaku boys, including the freshmen and the girls all made their way to the festival in the park. There were lots of people congregating around the numerous food stands and games and paper lights decorated the trees. The three freshmen immediately ran off to cause…freshmen mischief (only they know how), while the rest began to break off and look around. Britt and Eiji dragged Oishi off to play a dart game, jumping up and down and giggling madly. Mal and Tezuka found a nice place to admire the night's beauty and talk quietly…boring. Karley, Kaidoh, and Inui tried to catch fish for a long period of time. Momo, Ryoma, Fuji, Taka, and Steph spent their time sampling all the different food. The festival was fun and exciting, and the gang managed to spot tennis guys from other schools, unfortunately, Atobe was one of them. Exhausted from all the fun and stuffed from the food, the gang went back to the girls' apartment thingy for the party.

At the apartment thingy!

At the party, there was music, food, and punch. Well, no one had the punch, since Inui had gotten to it before anyone drank it. After watching the New Year's music special on television, some decided to play Truth or Dare. Some, like Ryoma, Kaidoh, and Tezuka, were forced to play Truth or Dare. Britt started and dared Tezuka to smile. He did, and Mallory died while Fuji took a picture. Can you say blackmail? Anyway, on Tezuka's turn, he asked Inui what was really in the juice he spiked the punch with. Inui simply replied,

"Love from your fans, Buchou." Tezuka didn't believe him and asked again, "Kool-Aid". Tezuka decided to not try anymore and pass his turn to Inui. Inui asked Karley one of her deepest darkest secrets at that time.

"My deepest secret? Okay! Right now, my uterus is shedding!" Karley said happily. The boys looked severely ill and Mallory threw the remote control at her.
"No one needs to know that!" Mallory yelled.

"Well they wanted to know my deepest secret; I can't lie!" Karley replied. They decided to move on, so Karley asked Kaidoh to say one really nice thing about Momo. "Fshhh…jeez…well…he…has a really big appetite?"

"Baka! That's not nice at all!" Momo cried.

"Fshhh, what do you expect! There's nothing good about you!" Kaidoh snapped back. The two argued for about a minute before Britt smacked them both upside the head. Kaidoh really didn't want to play anymore, so he got up and watched TV. Momo decided to take his turn and dared Fuji to put on a dress. He did, and it was scary. He looked more like a woman than a man. Everyone was shocked, and even Tezuka showed a hint of…well..something like shame on his face. After a few more rounds of hilarity, everyone decided they'd stop the game because…no one could outdo Horio shaving off his unibrow.

"Ahhh, it's getting near midnight," Fuji said, glancing at his watch.

"Yeah…ummm, Fuji-sempai, don't you think you should take off the dress now?" Ryoma asked.

"There's an old fable that whoever kisses the one they love at midnight will be closer to one another," Fuji said, completely ignoring Ryoma's question.

"Hey, there are fireworks outside at the park at midnight! We should go outside and wait for them!" said Karley. They all headed outside to watch, a few of them musing over Fuji's little fable as they waited for midnight to come.

"Let's count down until midnight!" Horio said.

"But…we have 10 minutes and 46 seconds until midnight," Inui observed.

"Why don't you start counting?" Ryoma said sarcastically. Horio began to count, and Kaidoh threw him into a nearby bush. Ten minutes later, everyone was anticipating when midnight would come…in 46 seconds…exactly.

"Argggh, I lost count!" Horio complained, and everyone was relieved. Suddenly, the fireworks started, illuminating the entire sky over Tokyo.

"Hmmm…the fireworks are 15 seconds early," Inui observed…once again. But no one cared, because they were consumed by the prettiness of the fireworks. As most of them were watching…others were inching closer to…well…help make Fuji's little fable come true at midnight.

"Ten seconds!" Momo cried, staring intently at Inui's watch, among other things. Just kidding, that would be really gross and cracked up.

"TEN!" Eiji leaned closer to Britt.

"NINE!" Momo ate some more.

"EIGHT!" Ryoma yawned.

"SEVEN!" Kaidoh blushed as he put his arm around Karley, then she jumped on him.

"SIX!" Oishi wondered if he'd look manlier with a beard.

"FIVE!" Tezuka and Mal sat side by side, saying nothing.

"FOUR!" Steph shyly grabbed Taka's hand.

"THREE!" Inui wondered if he'd ever get a real job as a mad scientist.

"TWO!" Fuji played with his dress, wondering if his otouto Yuuta was watching the fireworks too.

"ONE!" Huzzah, it's midnight! Horio cheered for the New Year by himself, four couplets bashfully kissed, Fuji finally took off the dress (he had clothes on underneath), and Ryoma got up, mumbling, "Finally, now I can go home."

End of Chapter