DISCLAIMER: I do not own Prince of Tennis. I wish I own Royal Pair though, but I don't. Sob...

WARNING: This will be YAOI / BL story. Possible MPREG in the future. If you don't know what that means you should check beforehand. Cannon characters may be OCC.

SPECIAL THANKS: Sanz0girl for betaing.

A/N: This is my first attempt at fan fiction of any kind. It's mainly about Royal Pair, although not from the beginning... Other pairings are also taken into consideration but nothing determinate yet. The action takes place over two years after the Nationals. Everybody is in High School.

ENJOY !!!

"Speach"

Thoughts

Chapter 1: Return of the prince

The weather was really hot, even for mid-September. Echizen Ryoma, age 15, the new US Open champion, came back to Japan after over two years of absence. He left this country after his first year in Seishun Gakuen to start his official tennis career in US. And now he was standing at the gate of Tawamure Gakuen in Tokyo. Despite it being the middle of a school year, Echizen was enrolled to this high school as a freshmen.

'Time sure flies fast',he thought as he passed the gate and directed his steps towards the huge three-stories, U-shaped building.

It was early afternoon and all classes have finished already. Although Echizen knew that the first place he should be headed to was a principal's office, he decided to check the tennis courts first. He found it far more interesting.

To Ryoma's big displeasure, as soon as he crossed the school gate, he became a general object of interest. Obviously, it wasn't a common view to see high school student in the middle of a campus wearing dark-blue jeans, red t-shirt and white baseball cap instead of traditional school black uniform. It is no wonder that everyone around were mumbling while giving him nosy glances. Echizen pulled his cap lower, thankful that nobody didn't recognize him so far, and turned left to the courts.

'Che' he thought with disappointment when saw who was actually occupying the courts.

"Gambatte, Yagami senpai"

"Show him who is the best, Neji senpai"

Two senior students were about to play a match surrounded by their supporters. Echizen had actually expected to see familiar faces from Seigaku, since he have heard from his best friend, Momoshiro, that almost all Seigaku's former regulars attended this school. Nevertheless, he decided to stay for a while and check on his future teammates.

" 30 to 15, Yagami to serve"

Each time one of the players scored a point, their full-of-admiration teammates started to shout.

At the moment when Ryoma was about to turn around and walk away a tennis ball rolled down just to his feet.

"Yo, kid pass me that ball! " one of the players shouted to Ryoma, who hardly cast a glance at his senpai.

"Are you deaf ?! I said pass me that ball! "

"Eee? Are you talking to me... senpai?" Echizen's bad attitude started to show up.

Ryoma put his tennis bag on the ground and pulled out a tennis racket ready to give his senpai-tachi a good tennis lesson. "How about a small match? "

"Hey Yagami, leave that kid alone. We are going to be regulars next year and he is no match to us" his tennis opponent stated.

"You are right Neji, but still I hate arrogant brats like him. We should show this guy how strong Tawamure Gakuen's tennis club is." Yagami, the taller of the players said smiling to his friend.

"Ooo, I had no idea you are so good senpai-tachi." In a trice, a well-known smirk popped up on Echizen's face. Maybe this won't be as boring as I thought.

"If that is the case maybe you should teach me a little about tennis?"

Ten minutes later Echizen took his tennis bag and left the court leaving his two opponents on the ground. The rest of non-regulars were standing like statues with their jaws wide open. If they are really going to be regulars next year young tennis star wished the team all the best. They will definitely need it.

After a small walk, Echizen eventually reached the principal's office situated at the top floor right in the middle of the school. He knocked the door and came inside not waiting for an invitation.

The office was rather big, all filled with trophies and medals. Besides headmaster's armchair there was a huge window from which one could see the whole backyard of the school with it's all sports fields and courts. All of them looked really impressive. Maybe it was a good idea to come here and take a "vacation" (as his baka oyaji called it) from official matches and all those endless travels.

"You are Echizen Ryoma, am I right?" principle's voice brought Echizen back from his thoughts.

The boy gave a short nod.

"Take a seat. I have to talk to you for a while." Headmaster pointed at the chair in front of his desk and not waiting a single second, started to explain what he had to say.

"As I believe you know our academy can be especially proud of our sports achievements. Our main disciplines are football and swimming, but 3 years ago we paid our attention also to tennis after spectacular victory of Seishun Gakuen during the Nationals." Headmaster paused to cast a glance at Echizen, but the boy didn't seem to reveal any emotions.

"Anyway, for those who cultivate those disciplines Tawamure Gakuen provided extended sports facilities such as courts, fields and swimming pools along with gyms, cafeteria and dormitories both for boys and girls. Normally freshmen, sophomores and seniors are located on different floors in dorms but since you came here in the middle of the year you will have to share a room with one of the seniors."

This sentence grabbed Echizen's attention right away. Maybe he will be able to share a room with one of his ex-teammates.

It would be interesting to get known Tezuka buchou from the other, less stoic and less composed, side. If he had the other side of course.'

"...every living space consists of three double rooms ,each with inner bathroom, and common leaving room and kitchen. Each dorm has a dorm head – usually a senior student chosen by residents of each house..."

What was he talking about? Echizen stopped to listen to the headmaster somewhere in between his talk.

It looked that the principal was about to continue with his lecture, but after giving this idea a second thought, he decided to finish the topic, to the young boy's undisguised relief.

"Welcome in our school Echizen-kun."

"Domo"

xxx

With keys in his hand, Echizen was now standing in front of the door with big silver number one above them. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to open them. Five seventeen year old boys were living together in this so called 'apartment' without any supervision. There must be a total mess inside.

Echizen put the key into the lock and opened the door. Interesting he thought when he saw nothing but perfectly clean living room. He took his suitcases and made his way towards his room.

There were to beds inside, two desks, two wardrobes and some shelves. At first sight nothing special, but as Echizen kept his little trip around his new room, couple of things grabbed his attention. Who the hell is sleeping in satin bedding? And hanging those weird paintings on the walls? They look like they were created by a child. In addition not so talented. He thought trying to guess what all those stains, strokes and weird colors we about to depict.

"Che, whatever" Ryoma mumbled to himself, since he simply didn't care and was so worn out from the long flight that he couldn't think about anything but bed. He left his bags in the middle of the room, laid into the bed and nestle his face down the pillow.

xxx

"What is going on here?" Tezuka asked when he entered the courts followed by his regulars. They were wearing club's black jerseys with white stripes along the sleeves and trouser legs.

"Cheers!" a choir of voices stated immediately. All the club members bowed deeply. They respected greatly their captain and all the regulars since every person in the club dreamed to improve and overtake their spots.

Tezuka looked around the courts and his sight concentrated on two players who just stood up from the ground. Their clothes were totally messed up.

"They look exhausted. There is 95% chance that they have just finished a very hard match" stated Inui who just slide out of Tezuka's back.

"Ten laps, everyone" As soon as captain said those magic words almost everybody rushed to an exit. It was common knowledge that one shouldn't argue with Tezuka-buchou since it resulted only in increased number of laps. Nothing less, nothing more. This time however...

"It's not our fault buchou!" Yagami shouted with unconcealed anger.

"There came a cocky guy dressed in casual clothes and provoked us!" Neji added.

"We had to show him that he should have more respect for our club"

"Yeah, we had to protect our reputation!"

"So Ore-sama assume that you showed him where his place is, didn't you?" A characteristic smirk appeared on Atobe's face. It must have been a total looser if they beat him...

"Well..." both Yagami and Neji lowered their heads mumbling something to themselves.

"That's enough! You two 30 laps. Now!" Tezuka crossed his arms at his chest. He was really angry. He allowed this conversation to flow far too long. There were quite a lot of stalkers and scouts from other schools spying on them lately but none of them dared to challenge his club's members to a match. Ever.

Tezuka turned to their club's manager. "Inui does your data say anything about it?"

"After last tournament there is 0,1% chance that anybody would be brave enough to do this."

"Sa, maybe it's this new guy?" asked Fuji smiling as usual for everybody.

All regulars turned their heads towards tensai immediately, wandering what was he talking about. It's the middle of the year so there is no chance anybody new will come to this school.

"Would you care to explain it Fuji? Ore-sama is Student Council President and had never heard about it before"

"Don't worry Atobe." Fuji smiled even wider, still holding his blue eyes closed. "Just before the practice, I ran into the headmaster and he said we will have a new transfer student from America in our school from now on. He will be living in the dorms. Does that reply satisfy you?"

"Ii, data." Inui adjusted his glasses, as he used to do while thinking, pulled out a green notebook out of his bag and started to write down some calculations. "Ekhm, it may be still too early to define it, but it seems that there is about 60% chance, that this newcomer beat those two before"

"Yay!" shouted Kikumaru jumping toward his double partner, drawing his sleeve. "Maybe we will have a new cute member. We will show him the school and cook meals. I will call him chan-"

"Eiji-senpai, I think you just need a pet not a kouhai" claimed Momoshiro with little amusement in his eyes.

"Sssss" was Kaidoh way of confirmation.

"Oooo, did you just agreed with me Mamushi?"

"Baka! There is no way I would ever agree with you!"

"Are you picking a fight Viper? I will show you-"

"Enough!" Tezuka voice froze everybody in their positions. "Kaidoh, Momoshiro ten laps now! Fuji is a dorm leader so he will take care of that guy later on" The captain imposed and turned on to club's members who just finished their previous punishment . "First years prepare for ball gathering, second years get on court D, seniors on court C. Regulars courts A and B. Start the practice"

xxx

Ryoma rolled over his bed for at least twentieth time within last hour. He was tired and his head was hurting. Damn jetlag

Once again he revolved to his back starring at the white ceiling. Starting tomorrow he will be able to live as, more or less, normal teenager for another half of a year. No press conferences, no photo sessions and no phone calls from his persistent manager about never-ending interviews. All he wanted was to play tennis against the best of the world but somehow he ended up as a star. This vacation from all of this crap was a very good idea. But there is no way I would admit it Oyaji'

-----

One week ago in New York:

Ryoma sat in his favorite arm-chair, in an apartment that he was temporary calling his home, and pet Karupin who just laid down on his laps ready for sleep. The new US Open champion closed his eyes and tilted back his head. At last he has some free time for himself.

'Are you tired darling?' Ryoma's mother asked gently, looking at the face of her child.

"Partly" Ryoma admitted "But I would said that rather bored and angry. Why do I have to attend all those press conferences and answer all those not-tennis related questions?" he asked rather rhetorically. He didn't expect any answer. Being the younger winner of US Open implicated some inconveniences. But why the hell so many?

"Take a break seishounen" Echizen Nanjiroh found a solution to all Ryoma's problem in the blink of an eye. "You are only fifteen. Go back to Japan and spend the rest of this school year with your former teammates"

"Huh?" Ryoma couldn't believe in what he have just heard.

"I have disappeared from pro tennis years ago, so they won't be so surprised when samurai junior will do the same, will they?"

At those words Ryoma smiled to himself. He knew already where he will be soon.

-----

Echizen took a deep breath to awake himself a little bit more and stood up from the bed. He opened one of his bags and grabbed a can of grape Ponta. This was the only good thing about being a star. Since last year Ryoma was Ponta brand's ambassador and the company provided him with unlimited amount of his favorite drink.

He checked his watch. It was late afternoon already, so he took his steps toward the courts hoping that regulars would be there already.

Focused on the sounds made by tennis balls bouncing on the ground Echizen didn't even noticed two figures dashing in his direction.

"It's you! How dare you-"

"Leave him alone Yamato. I don't want to run anymore laps today."

Echizen lifted his cap a little, only to see the two guys he bet heavily before.

"Oh, I see you've decided to build up your muscles a bit, senpai-tachi" Echizen's eyes were sparking and the smirk on his lips was even more cheeky than usually.

"You brat!" Yamato rushed snatching young tennis star T-shirt tightly.

"Let him go, Yamato. Tezuka-buchou will deal with this cocky brat later".

Oh, so Tezuka buchou is once again a buchou? Heh, who else could it be? Echizen thought to himself.

"Mada mada dane" he said starring straight in his senior's eyes.

Commotion made by those three attracted attention of the rest people gathered on the courts. At least an attention of a common members, because regulars were very concentrated on their current practice. A single thought about punishment in the form of Inui's newest Super Nutritious Juice send shivers down their backs.

"What's going on there Inui?" Fuji asked smacking the ball right into the center of one of the small squares marked on the court.

"It seems that Yamato and Neji are having an argument with somebody. There is 75% chance that this is the very same person they lost to before" The data man replied still passing the balls towards regulars.

"Get back to practice. Yudan sezu ni ikkou." Tezuka imposed not letting his sight from the young tennis star. This figure, this cap... everything seemed so familiar to him. Impossible. It cannot be Echizen. He just won the next big tournament and stays in America. Tezuka crossed his arms at his chest again and came back to practice supervising.

xxx

Echizen starred for a while how the training was progressing before he decided to move slowly towards tennis couch's office. His father mentioned that this women is an old friend of him from the times when started conquering States.

"Oh, Ryoma-kun. I see you have already arrived." A smiling women in her early forties greeted the boy in the middle of the corridor leading to her office. "I'm Tosaka sensei. Nice to meet you." Her eyes were examining him carefully.

The only response Echizen gave her was a small nod. If this women was acquaintance of the samurai Nanjiroh she must have been a former pro. The young tennis star wished to find in her at least a good rival.

"It's high time for practice to end. Shall we go to the courts? I will introduce you to the team, although I'm sure that some of them you know pretty well" Tosaka sesnei stated and conducted the boy outside the building.

xxx

"Line up everybody!" Atobe ordered. He was the club's vice-captain. Immediately six rows of students were formed. The first was of course reserved for regulars.

"Ore-sama think you didn't show today anything special and it's ten years too early for you to think that you can compete with even the smallest part of Ore-sama magnificence- " Atobe continued in his usual exalting tone.

"That's enough Atobe" Tezuka said in lower voice still facing the club members. "Good work everybody. You are dismiss-"

"Wait Tezuka-kun" Tasaka sensei asked as she entered a court followed by a boy hidden behind her back. She turned to the students and announced "I would like to introduce you your new teammate."

Ryoma slide out of Tosaka sensei back.

"Echize-" she tried to continue, interrupted by the regulars.

"Wow Ochibi! It's really you, nya" Kikumaru was already bouncing towards the young tennis star. He wrapped his arms around the boy. "You have grown Ochibi!"

"Echzien what are you doing here? You didn't say you were coming, you didn't"

Ryoma felt strong pat on his back. It seems that Momo-senpai became ever stronger over this time.

"Eiji –senpai you are going to suffocate me." Echzien panted trying to catch even a little air. At those word cat-like player heroically restrained himself from squeezing his kouhai even more.

"Echizen"

"Welcome back Echizen"

"Fsss"

Ryoma looked at his friends. They didn't changed much.

Kikumaru was full of energy, hugging Ryoma and bouncing all over the place making a big fuss as usually.

Momoshiro was now much taller with facial hair visible on his face. He was too lazy to shave everyday.

Kaidoh was still wearing his green bandana. He was standing close to his favorite senpai who was probably a secret behind Kaidoh well-shaped muscles.

Inui looked exactly the same as 2 years ago with his eyes hidden behind his rectangular glasses and green notebook in his right hand. The only difference was that he didn't wear the regulars' jersey.

Oishi with his maternal voice was trying to pacify his doubles partner saving Ryoma's life.

Fuji was smiling at Ryoma with his eyes closed, although the tennis star could swear that they were open for a second when the tensai saw him first. Now, to Ryoma's contentment, they both were about the same height.

And the last figure. The person who helped Ryoma most. A man who showed him what the real tennis was about. Tezuka. He was standing like a pillar with his arms crossed at his chest and expressionless face that demanded respect.

Echizen, surrounded by his former teammates, was totally unable to see how big commotion his arrival created. Almost all club members went o-shape.

"Oi oi, sempai-tachi mean this Echizen? Echzien Ryoma? The one called samurai junior?" one of the sophomores asked his friend when he recovered a little from the shock he suffered.

"This is the prince of tennis? The guy who just set a new record of being the youngest winner of US Open?" One of the third years was gazing at Ryoma as at some kind of exhibit.

Neji and Yamato glanced at each other unable to stutter out a single word.

When Ryoma finally greeted with all of his former teammates and made some space for himself his eyes encountered person he had never expected to met here...

A/N: Well, what do you think? Please drop me a review. It will make me really happy.

First six chapters are already written, so they will be published every couple of days. Hope you will stay with me.