Hey everyone! I am soo sorry for not being on fanfiction for so long! It was all the usual reasons… You know, schoo land stuff… But now that I have cleared everything up and it's the holidays, I'll be able to update more! The next chapters of my storeis will come by next Friday!

I wish that I own Prince of Tennis… But sadly I don't so yeah…

Ryoma sighed as he looked at the calendar. Drawn with silver marker on the date that day was a chibi cat with the words 'VET' under it. Ryoma dreaded this day nearly as much as Karupin. The last time he took Karupin to the vet, he had ended up running more than he had ever done before, maybe even more than the many laps that Tezuka gave him.

The worse part was, his teammates never let him live it down, Always going on about how his cat was faster than him whenever he failed to run as fast as them during one of Inui-senpai's training regimes. He hadn't met the any of his rivals yet, but he was sure that they were going to bring up the subject when he did meet them.

"Alright, time to go Ryoma," said Echizen Rinko (I finally figured out what his mom's name is!) as she got into the car.

Ryoma sighed as he picked up the carrier where his grouchy cat was currently residing. Karupin seemed to be pouting inside there.

"I'm sorry, Karupin, but we can't have you running out like last time." Ryoma said. Karupin merely glared at him and turned so he was facing the wall. Ryoma sighed again, making a mental note to buy Karupin some treats afterwards.

Nanjiro sighed and grumbled as he got into the driver's seat of the car.

"Again, I come on this stupid, pointless trip." He muttered. "I could be doing something much more productive than this."

"Oh, really? Like what?" asked Rinko.

"Like, say, sweeping up the tennis courts in the temple, or-"

'Or reading those stupid porn magazines of yours. Really, I don't know why I haven't thrown them out yet. Nanako-chan, remind me to throw them out when we get home." Rinko said.

"Hai, oba-sama." Said Nanako, smiling.

"Hurry up and go, Nanjiro, we're going to be late." Said Rinko, ignoring her husband's protests. Grumbling things under his breath, Nanjiro started the car and drove to the vet.

The drive to the vet was always boring as it took them quite a while to get there. Ryoma was asleep having nothing else to do, while Nanako and Rinko chatted. Karupin would usually be asleep by now, curled up in Echizen's lap. But since he was in the cramped cage, he felt extremely irritated and uncomfortable.

Looking longingly at the latch on the door, he longed to be able to open it and go outside. Looking at the lock, he decided to try and think of a way to open it, for lack of anything better to do. Wait… It looks fairly easy to open…

After maneuvering his claws and jaws, he finally managed to get the cage door open. Now, just to wait for the car to stop and Ryoma to open the door, then, he could…

And just then, they pulled into the car park of the vet. As soon as the door opened, Karupin burst out of the cage, scampered across the seats and out into the sunlight, climbing a tree.

"KARUPIN!"

"Oh crap, not again." Whined Nanjiro as he looked at the hissing cat.

"Come on Karupin, don't make this hard for us!" Ryoma pleaded his cat. Karupin hissed and backed away in response.

"Oh, come on!" Karupin ignored his owner's pleas and turned away. But then, he realized something. The tree that he was on, though so tall that his owners couldn't climb it, was also so tall that the cat himself couldn't get down. It was a long way down to the ground and he couldn't find any way to get down without getting his owner's help.

It was then that Karupin, overcome with fear and panic, jumped straight into Nanjiro's arms…

… And effectively gave him a good clawing in the process.

"ARGH!" Nanjiro's hands flew to his face as he let go of Karupin.

"God, Karupin!" Ryoma yelled as he raced to where Karupin was headed, which was another car.

Ugh, déjà vu. He thought, sighing.

Again, the Echizen family was chasing their cat. It was a wonder why they hadn't managed to catch the nimble feline for the past half an hour. If they kept this up, then Ryoma would be late for the-

Oh, damn. The team-bonding activity,

Ryoma cursed under his breath. He was supposed to head over to the place after the vet trip as it was coincidentally in the same area. Well, looks like he wouldn't be able to make it now. Sighing, Ryoma took out his phone and was about to dial Momoshiro's number when suddenly a voice rang out,

"Oi, Echizen! Having some problems?" Ah, déjà vu indeed. Momoshiro hung by the fence, a grin on his face,

"Nothing I can't deal with." Replied Ryoma nonchalantly.

"What's wrong?" Asked Momoshiro.

"Well you see-"

"Karupin!" yelled Nanako as the cat shot up a tree, only inches away from being in her grasp. Ryoma sighed- he seemed to be doing that a lot- and was debating whether to leave his senpai and go help Nanako.

"Yup, I see alright." Said Momo, grinning. "Need some help?"

"No, I'm good. We'll catch him in no time." Said Ryoma.

"The last time you said that, we took an entire day to catch your cat." Reminded Momo.

"…Fine.' Sighed Ryoma.

"Alright, let me just call the others-"

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" asked Ryoma.

"Well, this could be our team bonding activity! I mean, nothing better than chasing a cat to boost our friendship, eh?" grinned Momo, holding the phone to his ear.

"But wait-"

"Ah, Eiji-senpai? Yes, it's me. You see, Echizen got a little problem he needs us to help out with…" Ryoma sighed. Too late.

"Hmm, its faster this time. Has your cat been training?" asked Inui as he jogged alongside Ryoma.

"I hope not." Muttered Ryoma. The thought of Karupin training to unlock his cage and outrun him was a little bit disturbing. Another half an hour had passed and though there were a few close attempts, they still had no luck with outrunning Karupin.

"Karupin must have had a lot of practice to do this, nya." Said Eiji, sitting down on the sidewalk to catch his breath.

"Yes, indeed. I'm quite interested how." Said Fuji, smiling as usual.

"Fsshhh, are you sure we're chasing the right cat this time, Echizen?" asked Kaidoh.

"Of course we are, baka! It's his cat, he'd know if we're not!" said Momo.

"Well, I'm just clarifying so we don't chase the wrong cat- like last time!"

"You saw it yourself!"

"H-hey now, lets not fight over this! We should concentrate on helping Echizen!" said Oishi.

"Ah! Over there!" exclaimed Taka as he pointed to the fence. Karupin was wiggling his way under it, trying to escape.

"Get him!" As soon as they all had scrambled for the cat, Karupin had alreeady slipped under the fence. Ryoma was just going to jump over the fence when a voice rang out,

"It's okay, we got him!" Everyone turned to see a redhead, cat in his arms, as well as a black-haired guy who seemed to be muttering things under his breath.

"Hey, you're Kamio from Fudoumine, right?" said Momo.

"Yeah! This you're cat?" asked Kamio, holding the hissing feline.

"No, it's Echizen's cat. It escaped from him so we were chasing it." Explained Kamio.

"All of you?" asked Shinji.

"Well yeah, it kind of a long story... Anyways, thanks for helping us catch him." Said Momo.

"No problem! Here you- WOAH!" Kamio nearly fell backwards as Karupin jumped out of his arms.

"What the-"

"Karupin!" Yelled Ryoma as his cat sped off on the sidewalk.

"Damn! After him!" said Momo, running after him.

"Don't worry! I'll catch him in no time! A mere cat won't defeat the Speed Ace of Fudoumine!" said Kamio.

Kamio was catching up to the cat. Just as he was about to catch him though, the cat turned into an alleyway and he couldn't stop in time to follow him.

"Darn." He cursed. The cat wasn't anywhere in sight.

Ryoma groaned. "Oh, man…"

"The cat couldn't have gone far. Split up and search for him." Ordered Tezuka.

"Hai…" and so the group split up and took different directions. They all agreed to phone the others if they ever found Karupin.

"Mou, where could he be…" groaned Momo as he walked around the area. The Echizen family had gone to look for Karupin by car and he, Ryoma, Kamio and Eiji weren't having much luck finding Karupin.

"If I were a cat, where would I go…" muttered Kamio.

"If we knew that, we wouldn't be doing this." Ryoma sighed again.

"Seriously, you should attach a tracking device on your cat. That way, it won't get lost ever again." Suggested Momo.

"Or, you could try putting your cat in a carrier, nya." Said Eiji.

"I did." Sighed Ryoma.

"You did? Then, how did it get out?"

"Don't ask."

"…Wow. Just… wow." Gaped Momo.

"Smart cat." remarked Kamio.

As the four continued looking, Ryoma, who was totally engrossed in looking for his beloved cat, bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're- Hey, you again?" said a familiar voice. Ryoma looked up to see Akaya of Rikkaidai, as well as Jackal, Marui, Niou and Yagyuu.

"Oh! It's you guys! What are you doing in this part?" said Eiji, waving a greeting to the stranger.

"Us Rikkai regulars come here often. And you?" said Marui, smiling amiably.

"Don't tell me you're cat ran off when you took it to the vet and now you're looking for it but is unable to find it." Teased Kirihara. The Seigaku regulars, as well as one Fudoumine regular was silent.

"What, don't tell me…"

"Its true…" said Momo, sighing.

"Man, you guys have the worst luck when it comes to cats, don't you?"

"Unfortunately… Hey, you haven't hapenned to see him, have you?" asked Eiji.

"I think I did." Said Niou.

"Really? When?" asked Jackal.

"Well, you guys were ahead of me and didn't see, but when I was going to cross the road, I could have sworn I saw your cat disappear into an alley." Niou replied.

"Really? Where?" demanded Ryoma.

"Somewhere over there." Niou pointed to a dark alley beside a convenience store.

"Do you need some-" Ryoma sped past Yagyuu even before he was finished speaking.

"-help."

"Thank you, but we can find him ourselves."

"The last time you guys said that, we ran for a day chasing a cat that wasn't even his." Marui pointed out.

"True, but I think we got it this time. Thanks anyways." Eiji waved at them before rushing off to join Ryoma. Momo and Shinji said their goodbyes before running off after the the two.

"You know, we probably should help them." Said Yagyuu, looking at the place where the four had disappeared to.

"Yeah, they're gonna need it. That cat of Echizen's was really, really fast." Agreed Kirihara.

"They'll need luck too." Said Niou,

"Mhmm. After all, that cat did manage to outsmart us. Even me, the genius, was fooled by it." Said Marui.

"That's not the only reason." Niou said gravely.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't think his cat even went in that direction." Yagyuu, Marui and Jackal stared at him incredulously.

"You mean you…?"

"What? What did he do?" Said Kirihara, completely clueless of what his teammate had just done.

"Niou, that was mean of you, playing that prank on them." Scolded Yagyuu. Niou only smirked.

"Puri."

"Ugh, we've been looking here for a while and no sign of that cat. I think he ran off somewhere else." Said Momo.

"Maybe we should go back? See whether he's in one of the other places. He could have gone back there while we were looking, nya." Said Eiji.

"Well-" suddenly, Ryoma caught a glimpse of a brown tail dissapearing into a box. In a flash, he had ran over and reached into the box, puulling out a brown-and-white, raccoon-like cat with a triumphant grin.

"Yeah! Good going, Ochibi!" exclaimed Eiji. Momoshiro proceeded to call the other groups and the four headed back to the vet, a slightly grouchy looking cat in Ryoma's arms.

"Hi, we're here for the appointment." Said Rinko at the vet's office. Ryoma and the Seigaku regulars had decided to stick around, knowing that Karupin would take off as soon as no one was looking. Kamio and Shinji, however, had left a while ago, saying that they needed go get something,

"Let me see, the Echizen family, right?" said the receptionist. After a while of checking her computer, the recetionist frowned.

"I'm afraid that you didn't make an appointment for today."

"Hang on, I thought we did." Rinko said, puzzled.

"Hang on, let me check again." The receptionist looked at the screen again. "Oh dear." She said, after a while.

"What's wrong?" asked Rinko.

"Well… It says here that you're appointment is next week."