Summary: A new bouncy girl has joined the massive students of Seishun Gakuen Academy.It seems she has met Ryoma before - but he barely remembers her! How will this affect their relationship with each other? Will this effect the girl? What's this? She has quit tennis? She was the Princess of Tennis, though! It looks like she has lost her tennis rhythm.

Genres: Romance/Friendship/Family/Suspence/Drama

Notes: The poll for this story is still running on my account page for the lover of this story. So far, I have Fuji in the lead but I still need more votes! It's between Fuji, Ryoma, and Eiji. Please vote! Polls end at Chapter 3!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis (Tennis no Ojisama) or any of its characters - all belong to Takeshi Konomi.

Claimer: I own Tennis Rhythm and its plot, also its characters that are not in the original Prince of Tennis (ex. Akita Ami).

Tennis Rhythm
Chapter One
Recalling a Match

Another junior tennis tournament in America was ready to begin as the fans started to file in, filling up the bleachers of the huge stadium. Today would hold exciting matches, one in particular.

One of the many participants stood outside the stadium, his white filla cap upon his head was his only shield from the blazing sun up above as he drank from his soda can.

An air of arrogance was his atmosphere as he stood there with his scratch-less racket tucked under his arm, drinking his Ponta drink. Taking in one last gulp, hazel eyes revealed themselves as the young tennis player acknowledged the heat sticking to his skin, "It's hot."

"Wait no!"

Hazel eyes swerved to a child, a girl his age, grab onto another boy's sleeve. The boy looked back at the pleading girl, his dark eyes showing no hint of pity. "Let go," he growled at her.

"Where are you going? You can't leave me!" She cried, tears glistening in her grassy green eyes, her black-rimmed racket held loosely in her hand.

"We had fun, didn't we? That's good enough!" He shouted at her. The girl's long raven hair shook left to right as droplets of her streaming tears fell to the pavement, her left hand still gripping desperately on his sleeve with his back facing her. He stared at her with cold, piercing eyes before grabbing the sobbing girl's wrist and removing it from his clothing, "I never said that I loved you."

The tennis participant watched as the raven-haired girl cried after the boy who walked away from her, never looking back. Green eyes turned and connected with hazel. He took notice of her tennis attire and her high pony-tailed hair held up by a red visor. Noticing that someone had witnessed her in such a weakened state, the girl ran back toward the stadium, pushing past people as boundless tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Echizen."

"Echizen!"

Ryoma awoke with a start, raising his head and lifting himself out of his dreams. He looked around at his surroundings and found that he was only in his class. The dark-haired boy faced forward to find that his English teacher was glaring at him.

"Echizen, now that you've awoken from your slumber," a few snickers were heard around the class, "would you please write on the board what you wrote for last night's homework?"

"Sure." Classmates snickered more as the boy didn't even bother to hide away his yawn, which seemed to aggravate the teacher even more, as Ryoma sauntered up to the chalk board. With his homework in one hand, he took a piece of chalk and begun to write on the board. Within three minutes of silence, Ryoma had written three complete paragraphs on the board. Turning around, he faced his English teacher and asked, "Is this acceptable?"

The teacher, stunned at the boy's handwriting that took up the entire chalkboard, merely nodded before saying, "Y-yes, you may go back to your seat now."

Girls around him sighed in admiration as Ryoma took his seat, resting his head on his propped up hand. Thoughts of his dream that he had only moments ago flashed back into his mind. "Why am I thinking about her all of a sudden?" He drifted into his memories, clearly ignoring what the teacher was saying.

"The match between the Prodigy and the Princess has finally arrived! We all can't wait to see what this match has in stored for us."

Ryoma walked up the stairs and heard cheering as he stepped onto the tennis courts. He ignored the growing crowd in the bleachers as he pulled down on his hat, placing his stuff on his bench. The boy looked to his left toward the other bench and saw the same girl from earlier on that day sitting upon it; in her lap was a small teddy bear. Ryoma would normally roll his eyes at the childish action if he hadn't witnessed the events that only happened an hour ago. From his distance from the girl, he only saw that she stared at the teddy bear with a sullen expression.

"Players, please come onto the court," the umpire bellowed.

Before obeying the order, Ryoma took notice of the blue-rimmed racket that she had taken out of her tennis bag, the black-colored racket she had earlier safely tucked away in her bag. Walking to his side of the net, he watched as she took her time in walking toward the net, her bangs from under the visor concealing her emerald eyes.

When she finally reached the net, she looked up at him with a forced smile, "Hi there, Echizen-san! I'm Ami, nice to meet you!" Her eyes were closed as she outstretched her hand to the boy. She knew that eyes could not lie.

He stared at her hand before grasping it lightly, shaking it up and down. A few moments had passed and Ryoma still had her tender hand in his; she still had on that forced smile with eyes closed as she waited for him to release her hand.

"Same," he finally replied, letting go of the hand-contact. He made the racket stand upright on the floor and asked, "Rough or smooth?"

"Smooth, please."

Spinning the racket, the 'R' engraved on the bottom of the handle landed upside down. "I'll serve first."

"Echizen?"

Ryoma was once again snapped out of his thoughts as he felt someone shaking his shoulder. He turned his head around to find that his friends - Horio, Kachiro, and Katsuo - were waiting for him.

"Come on, Ryoma-kun; it's lunch time," Kachiro told his friend, his backpack already slung upon his shoulder.

Ryoma reached for his tennis bag and lugged it over his shoulder, standing up in the process and following his friends out of the classroom. "You okay, Ryoma-kun? You're spacing out than the usual dozing off." Katsuo wondered, looking at his friend with concern.

"It's nothing," Ryoma told the first year as the four walked through the halls.

As usual, the first year girls that were present in the halls looked over at the freshmen regular and squealed in excitement as they swooned over Ryoma's presence passing by them. Ryoma, having no interest in the girls staring at him, didn't even spare them glances as he walked by each and every one of them. A few minutes of walking through the halls, Ryoma finally reached his destination: the cafeteria. His chattering friends behind him, he led them to the lunch line.

Once the first-years had gotten through the line, picked their lunch, and paid for their food - since none of them brought their own bento that day - they all found an empty table and sat down. Immediately, Horio started talking animatedly as the other three freshmen ate their lunch, two of them listening politely.

"Hey, Echizen!" A loud voice was heard.

Horio ceased his voice and turned around in his seat to find that their second-year regular friend stood tall behind him. "Momochan-senpai!"

"Yo!" Momoshiro greeted, taking a seat across from Ryoma, placing his food that he had bought from the canteen.

"Momochan-senpai," Kachiro called out to the taller regular, "something's wrong with Ryoma-kun! He's been spacing out lately." Momoshiro looked across from him to Ryoma and found that the younger boy was staring at his food that was being held between the two chopsticks in his hand.

It was an intense match; Prodigy against Princess.

Even though Ryoma had witnessed some heart-crushing events for the girl earlier, it seemed to have affected her a bit considering she was making unforced errors in her play. He had heard many rumors about this girl, but it didn't seem to be true.

She had another fault.

An annoyed expression overtook her face as she stomped her foot in anger.

Ryoma did not like where this match was going and the girl could tell.

Echizen Ryoma anticipated for his opponent's serve as he stood at the base line, feet planted on the ground. He watched as the girl stared back at him, a tennis ball in her left and her racket in her right. The second time for that day, hazel connected with cerulean. For a split-second, Ryoma saw something in her eyes; her grassy eyes reflected and it almost looked as if she were pleading to him.

At last, she threw the ball up into the air and brought her racket up.

Ryoma readied his own racket in his right hand, intensely watching the lime green ball.

Once the ball had reached a certain height, with extreme force, the girl smacked the ball down.

Nanoseconds later, Ryoma stood up straight - the tennis ball had hit the net. Double fault.

"I concede the game."

Gasps filled the stadium as the fans saw the Princess walk up toward the net. Ryoma's expression was unreadable as he, too, strolled to the net. The audience, including the umpire, sat in their seats in silence as they watched the two opponents walk toward one another to the net. Once they met, Ami outstretched her hand to him with the same green eyes staring at him, a tiny smile on her pretty face.

Ryoma looked to her with the same passive expression and asked, "Why?"

Her smile faltered as her extended hand went limp. "I love tennis, and I know you saw what happened earlier to me." She looked down toward the ground, trying to hide the tears that started to form at the corner of her eyes. "You didn't use that knowledge to your advantage toward me and I appreciate that." Ryoma heard her take a long sigh before she looked back at him, "So, I don't want to play against you with these feelings harboring in my heart." As she started walking toward her bench, she stopped and looked at the perplexed boy, "We'll have another serious match next time; that's a promise." And with that, she sauntered up to her bench and stuffed her racket in her bag.

"Miss Akita has resigned from the game. Mr. Echizen has won the match by default." The umpire announced as few claps were heard throughout the audience, but the majority of the crowd was in shock.

Echizen Ryoma could only watch as 'Miss Akita' exited the courts.

"He's probably thinking about a girl," Momoshiro declared with a sly grin.

Ryoma snapped his head at Momo's assumption, "Momo-senpai? When did you get here?"

The second year laughed at his friend, "I've been here!"

"See, Momochan-senpai? Echizen's spacing out even during lunch!" Horio exclaimed, flailing his arms frantically to express his concern for his friend.

Ryoma stared at his terrified friend, "I was not spacing out."

"Sure you weren't," Momoshiro responded, that sly grin still on his face. He turned to Ryoma's friends and whispered to them loudly, "I still think he was thinking about a girl."

The final bell rung and all the students in the building scrambled out of their seats, exiting out of their classrooms to escape the confinements of education. Some stayed for the after-school activities; one of the clubs that stayed was the boy's tennis team. The regulars of the team met in the locker room, all having their own conversations between one another as they changed into their tennis attires for their practice.

"Did you hear, Eiji?" Fuji asked his red-headed hyper friend.

"Hear what?"

"We're going to have a new student in our science class starting tomorrow," Fuji replied, his usual smile plastered upon his features.

"Ehh? When did the teacher announce that?"

"I think it was when you decided to fall asleep on your textbook," he answered with a grin.

"You're having a new student, senpai?" Momoshiro asked, appearing behind them; apparently, he was ready to leave. "What a coincidence; I'm having a new student in my history class."

"Ah, you too, Momo-senpai?" Ryoma asked as he approached the older person, his red racket resting on his shoulder.

Momoshiro looked down at his friend, "You're getting a new student, Echizen?" The prodigy nodded his head at him and Momoshiro smacked his head lightly, "Wow, this really is a coincidence."

"Several students will be joining Seigaku tomorrow," Oishi concluded as he tied his shoelaces. "Well, let's stop worrying about it. It's time for practice - Tezuka is waiting."

"Hai."

The huge clock tower of the city struck five in the late afternoon when a young girl walked through the gates of Seishun Gakuen Academy.

Barely touching her shoulders, her dark hair held up in two side pigtails swayed with the breeze as she strolled merrily down the pathway leading to the school, her sundress flowing with the wind. She had a sunhat tilted slightly on her head while a small handbag was strapped over her shoulder, an excited smile was showed on her face as she looked up at the school with big jade eyes. She halted to take one look at the school in front of her.

Not far off, Seigaku's tennis club for boys had just finished their practice and the regulars were already walking out.

"Lucky! Practice ended early today!" The redheaded Eiji Kikumaru grinned in joy.

His best friend, Fuji Shusuke, chuckled at his friend's antics, his tennis bag slung over his own shoulder, "Probably because our season doesn't fully start till next month."

"Hey Echizen, want to get some burgers?" Momoshiro offered to his kouhai.

"Eh? You're going out to eat? Me too! Me too!" Eiji exclaimed, jumping behind Momoshiro.

Ryoma smirked under his hat, "Senpai's treat."

Quickly responding, Momoshiro instantly said, "Eiji-senpai's paying!"

Eiji pouted and started to whine, "Eh? You guys are going to make me broke!" Walking behind the others, Eiji reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it and anime tears started to fall while Momoshiro and Ryoma continued to grin away like nothing.

That's when the four boys heard a female voice, "Sugoi! This school is huge!"

Looking forward, they found a young girl staring up at the school with wide eyes. Eiji was first to react, "Hm? Who's that? I've never seen her before."

"She's probably one of the new students," Ryoma assumed.

Momoshiro started to grin like a maniac and started to run off, "Let's go meet her!" Immediately, the black haired spiked up boy was at the girl's side and introducing himself, "Hello there! I'm Momoshiro Takeshi, but you can call me Momo-chan - second year. Welcome to Seishun Gakuen Academy! Are you new here?"

Before anything, the young girl immediately bowed toward the taller boy and replied, "My name is Akita Ami, Momochan-senpai. I'm transferring to Seigaku as a first year so yes, I'm new here." She introduced herself before straightening her composure. Then, like a child, she innocently stuck out her tongue in embarrassment and asked, "Can you help me? I'm a bit lost."

"Sure!" Momoshiro replied, "Where do you need to go?"

"Momo!" Eiji jumped behind Momoshiro's back for the second time that day and had a grin plastered on his face, "Who's the cute girl?"

"This is --" Momoshiro started but was effectively cut off by the young girl again bowing and introducing herself.

"My name is Akita Ami. Nice to meet you!" She hopped up in delight and a playful smile overtook her features.

"Kawaii!" Eiji shouted in glee, causing Ami to smile back at him, before he replied, "Eiji Kikumaru, at your service!"

Eiji and Momoshiro stood on either side of one another in front of Ami when Fuji and Ryoma walked by their sides. "Hello!" Ami exclaimed, and bowed once again, "First year, Akita Ami in the flesh!"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow at the mention of her name but before he could really ponder about it, Fuji went onto introducing himself. "Hello there, Akita-san. My name is Fuji Shusuke," the brunette replied, smiling down at the shorter girl with closed eyes.

Ami smiled up at the tensai before turning to the last person. When it seemed she was about to bow, her eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight of the boy. Ryoma only stared at her when suddenly, her smile widened into a grin and she had ran toward him, wrapping her arms around his neck into a tight hug. "It's you!"

Ryoma's eyes widened at the sudden contact and stood, stiff still, as the girl continued to hug him. The other three boys raised an eyebrow at them, Eiji asking, "You know her, o'chibi?"

"Oo! Secret girlfriend, eh?" Momoshiro slyly said to them, a smirk forming on his face.

"Eh?" Eiji exclaimed, "You had a girlfriend all this time, o'chibi??"

An anime sweat drop formed at the side of Ryoma's forehead when finally, Ami released the hug, "It's been awhile, huh Echizen-san?"

Momoshiro raised an eyebrow, "Echizen-san?"

"Aw, couples don't name each other with such formalities," Eiji stated with a pout.

Ryoma gazed at Ami with confused eyes. Then his next spoken words caused the other three boys to be possibly even more confused, "Do I know you?"

Explanations:
I know "Princess" or "Princess of Tennis" sounds Mary-sue like, and I apologize for that. I could not come up with a more realistic name and I thought, "Lady" or something along those names sounded a bit strange. So, please bear with that nickname - there will be a reason later on in the story for it. Yes, this OC - Akita Ami - is from my oneshots with Fuji but those stories does not tie in with this one, sorry. So, I apologize if you think this OC might end up with Fuji - you need to vote on my poll on my account page to know who Akita Ami ends up with.

Clues:
1) In Ryoma's dream or daydreams, Ami had long hair. In the present, she now has shorter hair.
2) When playing against Ami, Ryoma was playing with his right hand instead of his left.
3) Ryoma was not using his one-split step.
4) Ami was about to use her black racket, but instead used her blue racket.
5) All the tennis regulars are having a new student.

So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. Please VOTE! You want Akita Ami to end up with the arrogant Echizen Ryoma? Tensai Fuji Shusuke? Or lovable Eiji Kikumaru? Tell me now!