Hi to everyone! This is CrystalKitten-MeW (Crys for short) and I'm presenting you my second Prince of Tennis fanfic!

This is a Humor/Romance story. I won't tell the pairing yet. Though this is shounen-ai, I warn you if you don't like those. I have to admit that I'm not really good at humor but I'll try. And also this is Alternate Universe (AU) so Ryoma, is 15 years old and in 1st year senior high. Tezuka, Fuji etc. and those of the same age as them are 16 (rather than 17 if you take into account their real age in the anime). As for Momo and Kaidou, they're also 16 but… they won't be classmates with Tezuka and Fuji etc. (Oh no! A spoiler!) I won't give away anymore spoilers but you'll find out soon. Also Ryoga is here and he's 17 years old going on 18, having just graduated from high school. (Am I right?)

By the way, if you have read my first PoT story entitled "Grant my Wish" and if you're observant enough, you might spot some similarities between this story and that.

I hope you enjoy the story!

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Note: I watched the whole Prince of Tennis series on a Japanese-dubbed, English-subtitled DVD so please bear with me if I accidentally add Japanese honorifics to the characters' names.

Bold- English

Italics- Flashback

'Dialogue'- Thoughts

"Dialogue"- Spoken Dialogue

Oh yeah, I have to add that I'm currently busy with schoolwork so updates won't happen very often… But I try to update once a week, specifically Friday or Saturday so check those days out.

Unya, just so you know, to all those who reviewed, messages for you from me will always be found at the end of the chapter, in my ending author's note! Thanks to all reviewers!

Complete Summary: (AU) Ryoma's family is very poor but they save up money so that he can attend the prestigious Ryuuren Academy. The catch is that he has to dress up as a girl so that he can find a rich heir to make their life better. But his little charade gets him in trouble in Ryuuren with a group of mischievous rich boys who reign over the students. For them, trouble is sweet. But with Ryoma's appearance, will they consider love to be sweet as well?

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.

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Love so Sweet

CHAPTER 1: Beginning of a Scheme

Somewhere in an apartment in Tokyo lives the very poor Echizen family. They were so poverty-stricken that their place was practically falling apart but they manage to get through life. However, right now, they were in quite… a distressing situation.

"YADDA!"

"But… Ryoma…"

"Okaa-san! Oyaji! I absolutely won't wear that… that THING…"

"Seishonen! This isn't just a thing! You'll look cute in this!"

"YADDA!"

At the moment, Nanjirou and Rinko Echizen were persuading their youngest son Ryoma to try wearing… SOMETHING.

Nanjirou gave an exasperated sigh. "Seishonen, look. Life has been hard for us. If you do this, you might meet someone who can help us."

"But… I can do that without having to wear… THAT!" Ryoma pointed at the SOMETHING.

"You'll have a hard time doing that as you are. You need to wear that to, you know, increase your chances? You might just snag some rich guy. Though I would have preferred you get a cute girl for me to see, I have to set aside my wishes for the betterment of our life and… OUCH!"

Rinko was pulling his ear with a dangerous smile on her face. "What were you saying, dear?"

"Ah-hahaha… Nope, nothing, Rinko," he calmed his wife.

The door slowly opened and in came a boy with green hair and narrow golden eyes. "Chibisuke, they're right, you know," he said with a teasing smile.

Ryoma frowned. "Aniki…"

Rinko smiled. "Ryoga! Have you found work?"

"Yup! I'll be working near the beach, where oyaji works so I'll be fine." He turned to his younger brother with a Cheshire grin. "Now, Chibisuke, from what I can hear, you're not cooperating with our little scheme. Heh… If you don't want to wear it, then I will put it on you!" He grabbed Ryoma by the hand and carried the SOMETHING with him. They disappeared into a room.

"ANIKI! YADDA! I don't want to wear it! It's so embarrassing!"

"Chibisuke, come on!"

A few minutes later…

Ryoga snickered as he came out of the room. He gestured to the door. "Ta-da! Representing Chibisuke in his new uniform!"

Nanjirou and Rinko blinked. Seconds pass… Another few seconds… And another…

"Er, Ryoga? What's taking seishonen so long?" Nanjirou asked.

"Eh? Um…" Ryoga sweatdropped. He went inside the room. "Chibisuke! Don't be ashamed!" he said in a sing-song voice. He dragged a very flushed and embarrassed-looking Ryoma wearing the SOMETHING out of the room.

Ryoga sniggered as he took another good look at his little brother.

Nanjirou's eyes sparkled with mischief and he snickered.

Rinko giggled at her son's cuteness but when she practically saw the rotating gears in her husband's head that seemed to be concocting trouble, she pulled his ear.

Ryoma wished the earth would swallow him. No, anything was fine, as long as he can hide from the earth because of the humiliation he was feeling.

"Hehe… Ahahhahahahahha!" Ryoga laughed. "Chibisuke, you look so cute in a… in a… GIRL'S UNIFORM!"

This made Ryoma go red even more.

He was wearing a white collared blouse with 5 buttons in front from top to bottom and a blue string tied up in a ribbon on the chest. The collar had blue and gold linings. The sleeves have one blue and one gold stripe running from the shoulder to the wrist. In the upper right part of the front was a logo that looked like a golden shield. Across the shield was a blue flag. Below the shield were the words "Ryuuren Academy".

Ryoma looked down, blushing. He was wearing a knee-length blue skirt with a gold strip on the hem. He had short white socks and white rubber shoes that had a wavy sky blue design. He shifted a bit awkwardly, making his long green hair that reached the shoulder level sway a little. His round golden eyes darted from side to side.

He reached for his hair and some of it came off, revealing that the length was part of a wig and that he really had short hair; he almost looked like Ryoga except that his eyes were round instead of narrow and that he was shorter.

"I don't like this… It's so embarrassing…" he muttered.

"Oh, I think you look cute, Ryoma," his mother smiled.

"No, I don't, okaa-san!" was the reply.

Ryoga grinned. "You'll get used to it, Chibisuke! After all, that what you'll wear for the whole school year! You're lucky to be studying in Ryuuren! It's an exclusive school where most of the rich heirs of companies study, you know!"

"I don't consider myself lucky if I have to study there as a girl…"

Nanjirou laughed. "Ahahaha! Look here, seishonen, we're poor. How can you realize your dream of becoming a tennis professional? The three of us will work overtime so that we will be able to pay your tuition there. If you go there, you might meet someone who can 'help us make our life better', don't you think?" He winked.

Rinko added, "We know it's hard for you, Ryoma but we all need to cooperate if we are to survive in life."

"But I don't need to do this. Can't I just work instead?"

"No, Ryoma. You're still young. And you have a bright future ahead of you. We don't want you to waste your life at work. Anyway, take your clothes off now. I need to wash them so that you will look good on your first day of school tomorrow. Oh, Ryoma, I can't believe you're in high school now!" Rinko said as she hugged her son.

"Okaa-san!"

"Oh, sorry," Rinko apologized as she let go of Ryoma. "Go change your clothes."

"Hai." Ryoma dashed off into the room.

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Ryoma was in deep thought as he removed his uniform. He sighed as he took off his shoes.

He still can't believe that he will spend his high school days as a girl! It was the scheme cooked up by his oyaji. He was amazed that even his mother went along with it. Perhaps because she couldn't think up of anything else. Or maybe she was quite desperate, fearing that they will all starve to death from poverty. He couldn't figure it out.

He'd rather jump in a pool of lava than go to a prestigious academy dressed up as a girl. But still, he felt a little guilty about his family's sacrifice for him. Ryoga didn't even go to college just so that he can work. His okaa-san and oyaji were working doubly hard too.

Ryuuren Academy had a very expensive tuition fee; it was, after all, the most prominent high school in Tokyo, attended mostly by rich heirs of companies and well-to-do families.

But he was not one of those wealthy kids. In fact, he was the opposite. But his family insisted on that scheme his oyaji plotted and tried their best to make ends meet.

He didn't have any choice as the first day of school was TOMORROW.

What he was tasked to do was find a rich guy that will pay for their expenses. But he knew that his oyaji was thinking along the lines that the guy will be his BOYFRIEND.

Jeez. His oyaji really was childish.

'Still, I don't think any rich guy from Ryuuren was ever going to like, no, even approach a poor guy-pretending-to-be-a-girl like me.'

He straightened his plain white T-shirt and red boxer shorts. Then he heard his mother's voice. "Ryoma! Dinner time!"

"Hai!" he replied and got out of the room. As he grasped the doorknob, he looked back at his new uniform and sighed.

'I have a bad feeling about this. It's like something's gonna go wrong when I enter Ryuuren…'

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by his brother's voice: "Oy, Chibisuke! What's taking so long? If you don't come out, I'll eat up your share of the food!"

"Ahhh! Don't you dare, Aniki!" He burst out of the room.

Little did he know that by entering Ryuuren, he could be in for the biggest joyride of his life.

To be continued…

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Nya! How is it? I'll gladly receive suggestions and comments for the improvement of the story from you, readers!

By the way, if you don't understand the Japanese words (I only know a few, to be honest), here's the translation:

-'Yadda' means 'No way'

-'Okaa-san' means 'Mother'

-'Oyaji' means 'Father'

-'Seishonen' means 'young boy'

-'Chibisuke' is a term used by Ryoga for Ryoma. I can't exactly remember what it means but I think it's 'little kid or little boy'. I'm not sure. As I said, I only know a few words.

-'Aniki' means 'big brother'. Though the word 'Aniue' means the same, I like 'Aniki' better.

-'Hai' means 'Yes.'

Thank you for reading and reviewing the story!

All right then, here's a little challenge to those who have read my first PoT story 'Grant my Wish' and this one. Do you spot the similarities? I can already spot 3 similarities that will probably increase as the story progresses. However, those three can be found in my starting author's note and the summary at the top. See if you can spot them!

Well, to those who haven't read 'Grant my Wish', I wonder if the fact that this story has 'four rich boys reigning over the students' sparks a certain anime or live drama in your mind. Does it?

See ya in the next chapter!

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