Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

A/N: I was originally going to write From Sky High about my Rikkai team, but at the last second I changed my mind and decided to write Hyotei instead. So this is a prelude to the Rikkai girls, who will be showing up more as From Sky High progresses.

I just wanted to write this since it's been on my mind for a while, and updates are going to be really sporadic but I will have the next chapter out by tonight or tomorrow!

~xXx~

"We were together.

I forget the rest."

-Walt Whitman

~xXx~

"What would you do if you could have the world?"

"I'd share it, because it's selfish to keep it all to myself."

~xXx~

"Game and match, Takihara! 6-3!"

Akiko's opponent is a short girl with cinnamon hair and hazel eyes, and her palms are scraped after her reckless dive. When she looks up her eyes are saddened by the bittersweet loss. "You beat me again, Takihara-chan," she smiles half-heartedly. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused, but I won't ask you anymore."

"Yeah," is all Akiko says. She doesn't allow herself to look her in the eye as she speaks her next words. "But…I guess we can try it then. I'll play doubles with you, I guess."

The girl brightens up, hazel eyes excited and glowing. "Really, Takihara-chan? Thank you, I won't let you down!" She gets up and wipes her hands on her skirt. "I've got to go now, but thanks for the match, too."

"No problem. And uh, I never really caught your name." Apparently she'd forgotten to ask after being in the same club as the other fourth grader for months.

"Hayashi. Hayashi Misaki."

~xXx~

"But what if it's okay to be selfish sometimes?"

"What makes you think it's okay to be selfish?"

~xXx~

Akiko finds that while Misaki is only above average for a singles player, she really knows how to play doubles. They become friends with every minute they practice together, and it all pays off when by sixth grade they can easily defeat several middle school pairs.

The end of sixth grade also brings forth the beginning of seventh, the first year of middle school. "We should really go somewhere with a good tennis team," Misaki says one day while they're walking to her house. "I've heard Hyotei's pretty good, tied with Seishun Gakuen for the best in Tokyo."

"Then why not join Seigaku?" Akiko points out. She's heard about that particular school from their coaches. The boys' team has a good reputation, and apparently the girls aren't half bad either.

But Misaki waves it off like a leaf floating in the breeze. "Because Hyotei's bigger, and there's a lot of rich kids, and it's much closer by," she points out. Akiko does not mention how the first two points hardly seem relevant.

"Anyway though," the hazel eyed girl shrugs, flopping down on the couch. "We'd actually be playing competitively for our school, so we've got to choose carefully."

At that moment, Misaki's younger sister, Anna, pops her head out of the neighboring room and runs towards them excitedly. "Nee-chan, Akiko-nee!" the fifth grader calls, holding her beginner's tennis raquet tightly. "Can you play tennis with me now?"

Anna is a beautiful, beautiful little girl, with golden hair like that of a princess' and hazel eyes as sweet as her sister's. Misaki is not nearly as pretty as her, plain by all standards. But her smile is just as sweet, if not more.

"Not now, Anna, but we'll play in a few hours, okay?" she says.

Akiko likes the younger girl a lot, felt pity for her when she'd heard from Misaki that Anna was treated as a doll for their mother to play with. Akiko and Misaki have been teaching her how to play tennis for a few weeks now.

"So Hyotei?" Misaki says, bringing her back to the present. Her hazel eyes are gentle and sweet as always, but now they're probing, searching for her answer.

"Yeah, Hyotei."

~xXx~

This is too easy.

Hyotei is every bit as glamorous and beautiful as Misaki said, and the tennis team is good but not quite good enough. They conquer doubles with ease, and Akiko can defeat all the singles players in less than an hour. She is offered the Singles 1 slot as a first year but refuses. She made a promise to Misaki, after all.

So they claim the Doubles 1 position, and win every match. Even when their team falls to Seigaku in the Kantou quarter-finals, they still won 6-0. Like every single match they've played the whole year.

A girl with dark blue hair—no, Akiko realizes, it's a boy with effeminate looks—approaches her when Hyotei's packing up. He's not wearing a uniform, and is definitely a year younger than her—which means he's only a sixth grader. But there's something dignified and proud about him, and powerful too.

"My name is Yukimura Seiichi," he says politely, holds out a hand. "And I would like the honor of having a match with you one day."

Akiko isn't stupid. She can tell that there's thinly veiled scorn underneath the compliment. The kid thinks he can beat her, he is confident of it. "Then it's a good thing you look like a girl, so you could probably pose as one and get away with it," she states sarcastically.

His smile drops, blue eyes freeze to icicles. Is he really trying to freeze her, just because he's a pretty boy and has a powerful aura?

"And anyway," she shrugs. "I'm a doubles player. You don't really seem cut out for one."

Yukimura Seiichi just looks at her then, doesn't try to freeze her anymore, just looks. He's interested now, and Akiko doesn't know if it's a good thing. Doesn't particularly care either. "I am going to be attending Rikkai Middle School next year," he finally says, turns to go. "And I think you should join their girls team. As a singles player."

~xXx~

She scoffs at the idea of it at first. Why transfer after only one year at Hyotei? She likes it there, and knows that Misaki loves it. What's so special about Rikkaidai?

And then she watches the Kantou Finals between Rikkai and Rokkaku, and she knows that there is indeed something special about them. Rokkaku has a very good team, one that could probably rival Hyotei's, but Rikkai flattens them. Crushes them under its heel and twists just for good measure. There is absolutely nothing left of them.

Before she knows it, she's filling out an application form for Rikkaidai.

~xXx~

"Everyone is selfish. It's a part of us that we have to learn to accept."

"That's true, but that's why it's better to compress all that selfishness into a little sphere and keep it locked away. So then we have less of a chance of hurting anyone."

~xXx~

And I think you should join their girls team. As a singles player.

Damn that Yukimura Seiichi.

~xXx~

"You're leaving?" Misaki gapes, mouth wide open. "For Rikkai? Why didn't you tell me earlier? Why didn't you even tell me that you were thinking about leaving?"

She's hurt, so hurt. Akiko reminds herself that this is what happens when people become too selfish. I'm sorry, Misaki.

"I want you to come with me, and we can still play doubles there," she tries to say, only the cinnamon haired girl raises a hand to stop her.

"No, you don't want me to go with you. If you did, you would have told me a long time ago." Her hazel eyes have lost their sweetness, desperate and cold now. This is the pain that selfishness brings. "You never wanted to play doubles, did you, Akiko? Is that why you're trying to get rid of me now?"

Akiko is speechless. Why can't she understand that it was a tough decision for her too, that the second she sent the application form she regretted it? "I'm sorry, Misaki."

"Yeah, I bet you really are," Misaki snaps, whirls on her heel and storms off.

This is the pain that selfishness brings.

~xXx~

On the first day of school she runs into Yukimura Seiichi at the main gate. A boy with brown hair and perpetually closed eyes stands by him.

Yukimura smiles at her, that same wickedly charming smile that gives him everything he wants. "It looks as if you took my advice," he comments lightly. "Takihara Akiko-senpai, correct?"

Akiko just nods, strides right past him.

She doesn't want to give a damn about the kid. He's selfish. It's so obvious that he might as well be wearing a sign on his shirt that says so. Those delicate good looks, that hypnotizing voice, that smile, those blue eyes...he has the world on a silver platter. And Akiko does not want to be the one to hand it to him

But at the same time, he gets on her nerves a little. One day he'll take the world and keep it wrapped protectively in silk, hold it close to his chest and lock himself in a room and burn the key. Yukimura Seiichi will destroy himself one day, she has no doubt about it. He will destroy himself and the world with it because he is so impossibly selfish.

~xXx~

Even by Rikkai standards she is exceptional. Akiko makes it very clear that she's beyond everyone, all the seniors and her classmates and her underclassmen.

Not until Ikeda Minori step up does she find a worthy challenger.

Minori is pale and lovely, so pale and lovely like snowflakes and cherry blossoms. At her fiercest she is a sudden snowfall, whipping all the cherry blossoms off the trees and merging them into a beautifully frightening storm. But Akiko is still better, still wins 6-4.

The whole time she is aware of Yukimura watching, watching with his blue eyes never missing a single movement.

~xXx~

"You have very interesting views on philosophy. I really do enjoy talking to you."

"It's not really philosophy, kid. It's more like me trying to express how much I hate selfishness and people who've let it overcome them."

"Including me?"

"Yeah, you too."

~xXx~

She takes the Singles 1 slot without hesitation. There's no point to playing doubles without Misaki, after all.

Five first years make the team, Ikeda Minori among them. Their names are Suzuki Takara, Tsukioka Azami, Narita Shizue, and Akamine Hana.

Shizue and Hana claim Doubles 1, and rightfully so. Akiko looks at them and can't help but remember the feeling they're experiencing. If only Misaki were here.

If only I hadn't been so selfish.

Takara and Azami are both excellent singles players, so the captain wants them to try out doubles. That was one of the bigger mistakes she'd ever made. Azami isn't bad, but Takara is a trainwreck. So they choose to alternate Singles 3, while Minori plays Singles 2.

Rikkai wins that year with flying colors. Akiko wonders if that's how it feels to be flying above the clouds, flying with the angels.

~xXx~

"Am I really all that bad?"

"You're the most selfish person I know."

~xXx~

Akiko is crowned captain during her third year, and to her surprise, she finds that Misaki is waiting for her at the main gate. The same gate where she ran into Yukimura a year ago.

"Don't speak a word," Misaki holds her hand up, eyes bold. "Our schools never got to play each other last year, but I was Singles 2. And I'd just like to say that I hate singles."

It's so, so, Misaki that Akiko can't help but laugh, toss her head back and laugh for the first time in a year.

Misaki makes it onto the team, and Minori, Takara, Azami, Shizue, and Hana all return. Their eighth member is a first year with sandy blonde hair and determined blue eyes called Hashimoto Sayuri.

It takes a while to get back into their stride, but Akiko and Misaki soon reclaim their title as the best doubles pair. Hana and Shizue move down to Doubles 2, Minori moves up to Singles 1, Takara takes Singles 2, and Azami reigns in Singles 3. For now Sayuri is the reserve player, but she soon starts playing singles.

If possible, the win this year is even easier than it was last, and Akiko hands the captaincy title to Minori while Takara becomes vice captain.

It's a very bittersweet goodbye, and only when she's at her graduation ceremony does she remember that she never played a match with Yukimura Seiichi.

~xXx~

At first, she thinks that she'll just play him when he's in high school. They've gone two years without a tennis match, surely they can wait another, she reassures herself.

Except she's wrong. Because then she receives news that Yukimura is being hospitalized and will probably not play tennis ever again. The odds are not good.

She doesn't remember how fast she runs, but she god damn runs to the hospital. His team is visiting when she barges in, but she could hardly care less. They are younger than her, she shouldn't have to feel bad for asking them to leave for a little bit ("Thirty seconds," the red haired boy warns as he chews on his gum).

"What a surprise, Takihara-senpai," Yukimura smiles a strained smile, no longer the one that could give him the world.

"Don't give me any of your acting shit. You don't have to lie to me," she snaps, crossing her arms. She feels like an older sister, except the closest person to a younger sibling was Anna. "I only have thirty seconds, so let me make this quick. You'd better heal up quickly, kid, because I refuse to play you when you're not at full strength."

They're not the best or most comforting words she can say, but somehow they're the right ones. She doesn't even really know Yukimura Seiichi, doesn't know anything about him outside his tennis skills.

She does know, however, that as good as he is—as good as he once was and will recover to be—, she is still better. He knows that too.

He says, "Thank you, Takihara-senpai." Then, as she's turning to go, she can hear his broken voice ask, "Would you mind visiting again?"

She thinks that maybe his voice is so broken because he's crying, or trying not to. But she respects him by not looking back to see.

He is.

~xXx~

"Game and match, Seigaku! 6-4!"

She watches as Yukimura loses, because really, she thinks, the world isn't handed to him on a silver platter. Instead he's chained to the wall with the world being held so close but so far out of reach, so close to victory but the chains won't give and in the end he falls.

Falling, falling, falling.

God's son is no less mortal than she is.

~xXx~

"We're long overdue for a match, kid."

"Agreed, senpai."

Only a week after his loss does he call her, asks if she'd like to finally play that match. They meet up at Rikkai High School's courts, where he will be attending next spring along with the rest of his team. Where Minori and Takara and the others will come back to Akiko.

There's something about Yukimura that's changed after his loss to Echizen Ryoma. If tennis was his life before it is now his life and death and every world in between. He plays with a new fierceness, something raw and even more powerful than he was before.

Use the Yips, she taunts mentally, raising a brow as she aces him yet again. I dare you.

Oh, he dares. It's a weird sensation, having the Yips being used on you. She felt her body go numb, unable to feel her racquet. But it isn't enough to beat her. That all you got, kid? So he dares to try and steal her hearing, but he doesn't get far because tennis is her life and death every world in between as well. It's a beautiful, vicious duel, and this, she thinks, this is what it's really like to fly with angels.

Yet Akiko is still better as she emerges the victor.

~xXx~

"Are you planning on going pro?" Yukimura asks, exhausted from their match. She's equally so, and the question catches her off guard.

Because she's actually thought a lot about this. Her teachers encourage her to go pro, her teammates want her to go pro, and there's been a lot of scouts who have talked to her. And it's so so tempting, but then she remembers Misaki and doesn't know if that's what she wants.

"I'm considering it," she says finally, taking a sip of water.

He looks at her seriously, not trying to freeze or analyze her anymore. He is dead serious this time. "Takihara-senpai, you could easily go professional for doubles or singles. But you should not let Hayashi-senpai change what you want in life."

"It's not Misaki's fault."

"I know it's not. But if you really want to play professional singles she will support you. If she doesn't, well, doesn't that mean she's selfish?"

~xXx~

She tells Misaki that she wants to play singles, that she's sorry for being selfish.

Misaki just laughs, shakes her head and tells her that she's not being selfish but thinking about herself for once. "Promise me one thing, though?"

Akiko is so happy her friend isn't angry that she is willing to do anything. "What?"

"Play singles, but you're also going to play doubles with me."

~xXx~

After graduating high school, Akiko and Misaki appoint Minori and Takara as captain and vice captain again. To the surprise of no one (though a very sarcastic remark was made by a green eyes boy who shall not be named), Yukimura and Sanada also regain their captaincy and vice-captaincy.

Misaki hugs the team one last time, while Akiko chooses to write them individual letters and little bracelets with charms of their names on them. Apparently it's old fashioned, but it doesn't matter.

In every letter, she ends with I know you'll fly with angels.

It's time to say goodbye to the high school world. She's about to enter the professional league.

~xXx~

"Hey, you two, Sanada and Yanagi, right?"

The two boys turn to her, perplexed. She doesn't blame them, as she can't remember ever having spoken a word to them before. "Do you know where Yukimura is?"

Sanada, the dignified and tough boy with the cap, looks at her, probably deducing whether she's worthy of his respect or not. But she can thrash him in a match, and he knows that. "He just left to go home," Sanada says, steady and calm.

She bites her lip. There isn't much time left. She has to pack up tonight, and tomorrow they're leaving on an early flight. "Okay, thanks. And also, could you do me a favor?"

Now Yanagi's eyes are open, brown and analytic. They're surprised that she's asking them for a favor. "Of course, senpai. What do you need?" the brown haired boy nods.

This is so much harder to say than just asking where Yukimura is. She's not even sure if Yukimura would appreciate what she has to say, but it would be worse to say it to his face.

"Just...take care of Yukimura, okay? He needs it more than anyone."

She doesn't stay long enough to witness their expressions. After all, she has a demigod to catch up to.

~xXx~

Fortunately she has just enough time to say goodbye to Yukimura. There's a lot she has to thank him for. God knows which path she would have decided on. His son certainly knows, and it has set her free.

But God's son is not free, he is still chained with the world just out of reach.

One day, she believes, someone will come along with the key to his chains, and they will set him free. And then he can take the world on its silver platter, or maybe he'll deny it and instead thank the one who freed him.

Akiko knows that it won't be her. She's missed that opportunity long ago. But she will be waiting for him when he comes out of his dark cell and into the light again. She will be the first to tell him that he has always flown with angels.

Just as she's about to go, he asks, "What would you do if you could have the world?"

~xXx~

"I know I'm selfish. And you're the most selfless person I know, senpai."

"I don't want to be that person, though. Because you know what, kid? Sometimes it's okay to be selfish."

~xXx~

End

~xXx~

A/N: So what are your thoughts? I appreciate all feedback and reviews!

From Sky High takes place the year after Akiko and Misaki graduate. Characters like Minori, Takara, Azami, Shizue, Hana, and Sayuri are still in high school so they will make many appearances.

The relationship between Yukimura and Akiko is not supposed to be romantic. Maybe it can sort of be interpreted that way, I guess, but I see them as senpai-kouhai and a small rivalry. What do you think about my portrayal of Yukimura?

EDIT: I've realized that I've left too much to be implied and not enough solidly stated, so this is a short explanation.

Akiko and Yukimura's match, in my head, definitely went into a long tiebreaker, but she is still a better player. It's been stated that she is good enough to go pro, and I would expect a professional tennis player to beat even Yukimura. Especially since their match occurred only a short while after he lost to Ryoma.

Misaki is also an excellant player, but her strength doesn't lie in singles. She is much better at doubles, and that's where she actually has a shot at the professional level. Her and Akiko did take some time to get back in their stride during high school, but ultimately they are on par with pro doubles players.

I generally hesitate to give my OCs rankings compared to the boys, because there's obvious differences in say, Serena and Rafa. That being said, the point of Akiko being able to defeat Yukimura is supposed to make it very clear that she is the best female player, and that's why she's going pro. Maybe it's a little Mary Sue-ish, but if there's all those Yukimuras and Tezukas Konomi has in his world, why isn't there a girl like that too? Misaki, on the other hand, who is much better at doubles, definitely wouldn't be able to beat him. I'd say she's more on par with Yanagi, still excellant but singles play is not her strong point.

So I hope that clears a few things up. I might rewrite this and edit some of those points, so if there's anything major just let me know. Akiko and Misaki will be making a few appearances in From Sky High, so keep an eye out for them.

Thanks for reading!

-Cara