At the beginning of his first year at Rikkaidai, Yukimura Seiichi was ready to devote his life to tennis. Yukimura was prepared to practice endlessly to achieve his goal of being a top pro athlete. He was going to join the tennis club and, in his third year, he was going to be captain. He would uphold Rikkai's Kanto title and lead the team to nationals, where they would be victorious and earn the attention of all of Japan.

Yukimura was practical about his aspirations. He knew that, in order to succeed, he would need not just himself, but a team of outstanding players, both in doubles and singles. Obviously Yukimura was singles one, so the first order of business was to select his singles two candidate and subsequent new best friend. It was imperative that he be best friends with his future fukubuchou. From what Yukimura had seen at practices, Yanagi Renji would be the best choice.

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Renji didn't know why the kid with the purple hair was following him, but the boy's bright, friendly smile was alarming. No one was that happy, particularly after twenty laps and half an hour of racquet forms. Every time Renji tried to subtly move away, the purple haired boy followed. Finally, after being followed out of the clubhouse, Renji turned to address the boy. "Is there something I can assist you with?"

"Would you like to get something to eat with me?" The boy's voice was light but firm. There was an unsettling determination shining behind the his eyes.

"Why?" It stood to reason that the boy wanted something. It was illogical to assume that he really just wanted to go have an after school snack when they'd only just met.

"I would like to get to know you. We'll both be regulars next year and we should learn to get along, ne?"

At least he was direct and, now that he'd explained himself, his reasoning wasn't too unsound. A week into practice wasn't really the time to be making such claims, but Renji already knew he was going to be a regular. If this purple haired kid had high hopes then good for him. "There is a noodle house nearby."

"Alright, let's go Yanagi-kun!" The boy took Renji's arm in a surprisingly strong grip.

"Would you mind letting go of my arm…" Well, what was he supposed to do now? Renji couldn't call him Purple Haired Boy, particularly when he knew Renji's name already.

"Yukimura. Yukimura Seiichi. Good to meet you." Renji could tell that Yukimura would be popular with the girls. He smiled a lot and looked highly feminine; two traits young females preferred. Renji supposed that was good, if you went for that sort of thing.

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At the beginning of the third week of school, Yukimura was pleased with his progress. While he wasn't yet best friends with Yanagi-kun, they had exchanged phone numbers and agreed to eat lunch together later in the week. They planned to meet on the roof on the day of the soon to be arranged luncheon. Renji was in a different class, so Yukimura said he'd let Renji know when the rendezvous would take place at Monday's practice. Yukimura was thinking Friday. No one went to the roof on Tuesdays or Fridays, and Yukimura wanted to eat by himself and plan his weekly strategy on Tuesday.

The Tuesday of Yukimura's third week at Rikkaidai, he was not alone on the roof. When he got there, there was another boy, standing in the corner, looking out over the schoolyard. He was tall, taller than Yukimura and a goodly bit of the boys in Yukimura's class. At the sound of the roof door closing, the boy turned around, regarded Yukimura calmly, and moved to leave.

"You don't need to leave because of me," Yukimura assured, smiling. People liked a cute boy when he smiled, which won Yukimura much leverage in the past.

The boy raised an eyebrow as he looked down at Yukimura, then left without a word. Yukimura might have been offended if he hadn't been busy watching the boy's arm as it opened the door. There was power there; tightly controlled power. He would have to find out who this boy was and see what he played to give him that long line of muscle up his arm. Yukimura still needed a singles three.

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At the beginning of his first year at Rikkaidai, Sanada Genichirou devoted his life to kendo. He practiced daily at his family dojo and was determined to captain the team in his third year, leading the way to the Kanto game and, ultimately, to nationals. While kendo wasn't a life goal- Sanada was aware that a life was better spent with a sensible job and a quiet home- it was his junior high ambition and would make his father proud.

Sanada was determined in his path, choosing to ignore the ridiculous swarm of girls that kept Sanada-kun-ing him during breaks. He did not want to socialize, he wanted to study, play kendo, and succeed in life. His plans were interrupted on a Thursday afternoon by a purple haired boy who was waiting outside of the dojo for him. He seemed familiar, but Sanada couldn't remember where they'd met.

"Sanada-kun, my name is Yukimura Seiichi. Would you do me the honor of having dinner with me? I have a proposition for you." Yukimura looked like a girl, and Sanada wasn't interested in girls. Girls stalked around the school dojo, screaming and sighing and making nuisances of themselves.

"I have a prior engagement." Sanada moved past Yukimura, only to have his arm held in a strong grip. He could break free of it if he wished, but didn't think it wise. He, instead, settled for a gruff, "Let go."

"But if I let go, you'll leave and I'll have waited half an hour for nothing." Yukimura smiled and looked even more like a girl. Sanada supposed some boys were just like that. It must be embarrassing for Yukimura-kun's parents. "Just come to dinner. I'll pay."

"Fine." This kid wasn't going away, so Sanada might as well reap the benefits of a free meal. It would be the prudent thing to do.

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Sanada-kun was boring, but in a way that made you pity him more than want to be rid of him. Sanada just needed someone to show him how to have fun; how to play tennis. During dinner, Yukimura learned that Sanada was on the kendo team, which accounted for his upper body strength. That strength could just as easily be turned to tennis, in Yukimura's opinion. Yukimura was playing it smart, though. He didn't mention tennis at all during the meal except once, when Sanada asked if Yukimura was in any clubs.

"Yanagi-kun, would you like to have dinner at my house tonight? Mom said I could invite friends. I'm also inviting Sanada-kun. Do you know him?" Yukimura was warming up with his best friend, Renji. Though they were best friends (at least in Yukimura's mind), they had yet to advance to a first name basis. Soon, though. Soon.

"I know him. We went to primary school together. He's busy tonight, though. He has to help out in his family's dojo." Yanagi-kun's returns were very good. He played like he knew where Yukimura was going to hit. Pretty soon, Yukimura would have to start playing with intent.

"We ate together yesterday. It was fun." Yukimura put a little more power into his volley and Yanagi couldn't return it. "So, do you want to come to dinner?"

"I'll come, but Sanada won't." Yanagi looked away before saying, "It's probably best to leave Sanada alone. He doesn't like people hanging around him too much."

Now that Yukimura could believe. Throughout the meal, Sanada said perhaps a phrase or two on his own, though he always replied when spoken to. It was weird. Sanada needed someone to help him learn to be sociable. Yes, that would be a wonderful project to fill Yukimura's non-tennis time. He would help Sanada-kun learn to be around people and, when Sanada wanted to do a favor back (surely he would be overcome with gratitude), Yukimura would ask him to join the tennis team. It was a perfect plan.

&-&

"Sanada-kun!"

Sanada turned and watched Yukimura run toward him. What did he want? Sanada thought their farce of a meal would be the end of their dealings. Apparently Yukimura-kun had other ideas. "Yes?" Sanada tried to sound as uninterested as possible. Maybe that would do the trick.

"Would you like to come to my house for dinner tonight? Yanagi-kun's coming." Yukimura smiled and put a hand on Sanada's arm.

Sanada stepped away. "I'm busy, but thank you for the offer."

"Tomorrow, then?"

"I'm busy for the remainder of the week, but thank you for the offer." Sanada began walking away. Yukimura followed. "Is there something I can assist you with, Yukimura-kun?"

"Let's have lunch on the roof tomorrow. You don't have anything to do then, do you?" Yukimura's little grin said that he'd already looked into the matter. Lying, then, was not an option.

"I would rather not," Sanada said honestly. Sanada liked to take his lunches in the corner of the classroom, where no one would bother him. True, an occasional classmate would come to ask him a question but, for the most part, Sanada was left alone.

"Why?" Yukimura asked, his smile, infuriating. Yukimura was an upbeat person. Sanada did not appreciate upbeat people.

"I am not interested in being your friend. That being the case, I do not find it necessary to have further relations with you. Please find someone else to pester." Sanada walked away while Yukimura stood still. Evidently, no one'd ever spoken to him in such a manner before. It was best Yukimura-kun learn that not everyone wanted to be his friend.

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Yukimura pulled up a desk and set it against Sanada's. "Good afternoon, Sanada-kun. I hope you don't mind if Renji and I join you."

Renji mouthed "sorry" to Sanada and sat down. Yukimura-kun was persistent and Renji didn't have the spare energy it would take to get Yukimura to go away. Besides, Yukimura was eventually going to be captain, and Renji didn't want to burn any bridges.

Sanada ignored them both and continued to eat his lunch.

"Ne Sanada, what are you eating? It smells lovely." Yukimura leaned over the desks, only to be swatted away.

"Do not breath on my lunch." Sanada pulled his bento closer.

"I brought some pastries for us to share." Yukimura opened a small white box and set a puff pastry next to Sanada's bento. Renji also received a pastry, though the cherry that was supposed to be atop it was, instead, mating with the cherry atop Sanada's pastry.

"I don't like sweets." Sanada pushed the pastry to Yanagi's desk. "You can have it."

The truth was that Sanada had an incredible sweet tooth. For him to resist the mountain of whipped sugar before him meant that he was very agitated. "I'll save it for later," Renji said, hoping Sanada would know to come claim the desert when Yukimura was gone.

"Do as you wish." Sanada's attention returned to his lunch.

Renji felt a kick from under the desk. He turned to Yukimura to find the other boy smiling at him. Yukimura kicked him again. Right, he was supposed to start a conversation. "So, Sanada, how is the kendo team doing?" This was humiliating. Yukimura didn't want to be Renji's friend, he wanted to use Renji to get to Sanada. It was primary school all over again.

Sanada seemed to understand, though, and set his chopsticks down. "Fine, thank you. I will be competing next month if I continue my training." Sanada used his napkin to wipe his chopsticks clean then folded the cloth neatly. "I appreciate your training suggestions. They have been useful."

"Oh, Yanagi-kun helps you train?" Yukimura was leaning over the desk and obviously didn't give a damn about Sanada's training schedule. Renji didn't know what the purple haired boy was up to, but he was going to find out before Yukimura annoyed Sanada too much. Sanada was usually quiet, but he could rant rather impressively when he wanted to – so long as no one was listening, of course.

Sanada looked past Yukimura. "Do you think it would be wise to add more weight training? The school's weight room is well equipped and Coach agreed to allow me to stay extra hours if I liked."

"You could benefit from perhaps an hour or so more, but I wouldn't go beyond that. Too much weight training might put unneeded strain on your bones." Renji felt another kick under the table, strong this time. "Perhaps we could meet after class today and evaluate your program? I was planning to create one for Yukimura-kun and myself anyway."

Sanada turned and looked at Yukimura. "Fine." Sanada was glaring at the purple haired boy, which was just fine as far as Yanagi was concerned. Sanada took a book from his bag and began reading.

"I'll see you then." Renji put the borrowed desk back and waited for Yukimura, who was still toying with his lunch and watching Sanada. "Yukimura-kun, lunch is almost over."

"Oh, is it? Time flies, doesn't it?" Renji didn't know hips could move that fluidly when sliding out of a desk. Yukimura's bones must be hinged differently than most. Nevertheless, the smooth movement managed to draw Sanada's eyes from his book for a fraction of a second before the surly boy grunted and went back to reading his economics text.

&-&

"We're making progress," Yukimura told Yanagi over a steamed bun. "It's been a week since we had our lunch conference with Sanada-kun and I think he's finally starting to open up to me." At least he didn't visibly frown whenever Yukimura talked to him, he just stood there, like a bovine. It was an improvement.

"Yukimura-kun, I do not mean to pry, but your fixation on bringing Sanada into the tennis club is unhealthy. He will not join. He does not enjoy tennis. Your chances of getting him onto a tennis court are 12 percent at best."

Yanagi was a downer and Yukimura was beginning to re-evaluate his choice of a best friend. "Don't be narrow minded, Renji. Sanada'll come around." Sanada better come around, or Yukimura was going to break his kneecaps and drag him onto the tennis court.

"Why can't we find another candidate?" Renji sounded like Yukimura's mother sounded when she asked Yukimura why he insisted on playing tennis, despite his illness.

"Because there isn't another candidate." There were hundreds of students who played tennis at Rikkaidai. None of them were Sanada Genichirou, and only Sanada Genichirou would do. He had an iron determination that Yukimura both admired and wanted to break. Sanada was Yukimura's Mount Everest. He was also somewhat cute in an obstinate, volcanic sort of way.

"You'd be better off finding a candidate at another school and convincing him to transfer."

Renji's commentary was getting on Yukimura's nerves. "If you're not interested in helping me, then leave me alone. I have planning to do." Yukimura removed a notebook from his bookbag and began jotting down notes. Most of the notes involved training regimes for Sanada once he agreed to be on the team. Yukimura did not hear Renji leave.