Disclaimer: I do not own POT. I wish I own Ryoma and Tezuka though, but I don't. Sob…

Warnng: May contain spoilers for the manga. Would have quite a number of OCs in this fic.

Pairings: It depends on who you vote for. This fanfic could either be Ryoma X Sakuno or Tezuka X Echizen.

Title: Echizen, Our Buchou

Chapter 1

"Ohayou! Sakuno. We're sophomores now, aren't you glad?" Tomoka greeted.

A girl, with long red hair flowing down her back, turned to her friend and smiled. "I sure am. It was a lot of fun during the holidays, but it's good to be back to school."

"Ah. I wonder who my new classmates are. I do hope we're in the same class again this year. We'll be the best Ryoma-sama fanclub in class!"

Sakuno sweatdropped. After a year had passed, she really felt that Tomo-chan's idea of a fanclub was way too childish. Not to mention embarrassing. She did like Ryoma a lot though, especially after seeing his performance in the Nationals. Ryoma had already reached the level of his father, the legendary Samurai Echizen. No, considering Ryoma's age, he had a chance to even surpass his father.

"Ne, Sakuno. Are you going to be joining the girl's tennis club this year as well?" Tomoka suddenly asked.

Sakuno gave a smile. "Of course. After Seigaku's victory last year, I do not want to lose out to the senpais of both the girls and boys teams. I've already asked obaa-chan to train me during the holidays. I would do my very best this year to get into the regulars."

Tomoka grinned. "I'll be aiming for the regulars' spot too. Don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're my best friend."

"It wouldn't be nice even if I got the spot because you went easy on me."

Right at that moment, they heard a lot of voices chattering excitedly behind them.

Boy 1: "So cool! I can't believe I made it into Seishun Gakuen. Did you know, their Seigaku Tennis Club won the first place in the Nationals last year?"

Boy 2: "Oh? Are you talking about the Seigaku Tennis Club? All of them were so cool! I've collected every single newspaper and magazine clippings about them.

Boy 3: "I do hope I can join the tennis club. Hey! Maybe I can even become a regular."

Boy 1: "Yeah! They had a freshman who was in the Regulars last year. Who knows, we might be able to become his friends!"

Tomoka, who was listening intently to the freshmen's conversations, had a hard time biting down a laugh. If only they knew just how "friendly" that ex-freshman was. Still, it was a good thing that so many of the freshmen were eager to join Seigaku Tennis Club

"Senpai-tachi!" one of the boys called out suddenly, bringing both Sakuno and Tomoka to a halt.

"Yes?" Sakuno enquired.

Three freshmen stared up at her. "May we ask where the tennis courts are?"

"Just go straight, then go left. You should see the courts on your right."

"Urm…Sakuno…" Tomoka began.

"Alright! Thank you so much, senpai." The three sped off.

"S-Sakuno…why did you give them directions to the girl's toilet?" Tomoka asked.

Sakuno gave a gasp. What has she done now?

Her question was answered when a few loud squeals came from the girl's toilets, as well as a few shouts of "Perverts!"

"Ohayou, you two." A cheery voice greeted.

Both girls turned to see Momoshiro cycle over to them.

"Ah. Momo-chan senpai. Ohayou!" Both of them greeted.

Momoshiro rubbed the back of his head. "Just call me Momo-chan will do. What's all that commotion up ahead? What's with them saying 'pervert?'"

Both Tomoka and Sakuno gave a weak laugh. "It's nothing serious." Tomoka said.

Momoshiro looked as if he wanted to go ahead and check out what was going on, but decided against it and merely gave a shrug, much to Sakuno and Tomoka's relief. What if the three boys let slip that it was thanks to Sakuno's usual bad sense of direction that caused the current fiasco at the girl's loo.

The third year took a peek at his watch and gave a yelp. "Oh dear! I have to go to the courts now. I can't be late. That would set such a bad example to the juniors. By the way, has any of you seen Echizen?"

Both girls shook their heads, causing Momoshiro to sigh.

"Don't tell me that boy wants to be late on his first day as…"

"You're in my way…Fshhh…" A low voice growled.

Kaidou pinned a glare at his sworn enemy. Momoshiro too forgot the girls as he got off his bike and rolled up his sleeves. "Oh, you want to fight, Mamushi?"

Both of them started yet another fight, causing a lot of the students walking through the school gate to stop and stare. A few first years looked intimidated.

"Momo-senpai…Kaidou-senpai…people are starting to stare…" Sakuno started, but with all their quarelling, it was highly unlikely they could hear her.

Fortunately, Tomoka was not as meek as her best friend was, so she took in a deep breath and…

"YOU TWO! STOP IT THIS INSTANT! ESPECIALLY YOU, MOMO-SENPAI! WHAT KIND OF EXAMPLE ARE YOU GIVING TO THOSE WHO MIGHT WANT TO JOIN THE TENNIS CLUB?!"

Once she had finished, she merely took a deep breath to replenish all the oxygen used and folded her arms, while Momoshiro and Kaidou looked at her, their eyes wide with surprise.

"That's right, Momoshiro. Kaidou. You are both third years now. Echizen was already in school a long time ago, helping me with some work. I think he'll deal with the both of you later, once he hears of this." Ryusaki-sensei spoke up suddenly.

Both the third year regulars gulped. As one, both immediately turned accusing eyes towards each other, causing Ryusaki to sigh. After a year had passed, they still haven't changed at all.

"Honestly, you two… By the way, aren't the both of you running a little late for tennis practice?"

Momoshiro glanced down at his watch, gave a yelp and got on his bike again. "5 minutes past 8. We can't have that now…we can't have that!" He sped off.

Kaidou gave a scowl. "Don't think that you can reach the courts before me just because you're cycling. Fshh…!" he began running after Momo.

With that, only the ladies were left with one another.

"Obaa-chan. You said that Ryoma-kun was here already?" Sakuno questioned curiously.

Her grandmother chuckled. "Surprised huh? It's really rare for him to be early. Even with that strict Tezuka around last year, he was occasionally punctual for practices, but never early. I'd say he took Tezuka's parting words to heart."

"Kyaa! I can't wait to see Ryoma-sama again. He would still be as cute as ever!"

This time, Ryusaki had trouble hiding a smile. "I wonder if cute is an appropriate word to describe him…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey there, first years! Come and try out this challenge!" a third year brunette called out.

A number of curious freshmen gathered inside the tennis courts, staring down at the can on the floor.

"It would be a hundred yen each time you hit the can! It's easy! Would you like to give it a shot?" Arai asked, going into his 'conman mode'

A few of the first years whispered excitedly amongst themselves. All they had to do was hit the can and they could have some nice, steaming prize money? It was too good to be true.

Meanwhile, at one end of the court, the three little pigs-Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo looked at Arai with disgust.

"He gets a kick out of bullying freshies, doesn't he?" Katsuo frowned.

"To think that we were tricked too, last year. Arai-senpai is getting all arrogant again now that our captain and vice-captain are nowhere in sight. Then again, we can't really complain much. Now that all of our third year ex-regulars have graduated, he will most likely be in the regulars this year. I do hope we can manage to get some new talents in the next selection." Kachiro said thoughtfully.

Horio puffed out his chest. "Well. With my three years of tennis experience, getting into the regulars should be easy!"

Both his friends threw him a long suffering look. There he goes again…and he had never scored even a point against the old regulars. Heck, in fact, in friendly practices, both during school days and during the holidays, he has never won against Kachiro and Katsuo themselves either. What kind of tennis experience was he having all these times?

Meanwhile, back to Arai

"Oh? Are we done already? Only a few of you managed to hit the can…once…or twice. Oh, I forgot to mention…" He turned the can around and surely enough, his 'hidden rules' were written all over the other side of it.

"For each ball you hit, as long as you don't strike the can, you have to pay five hundred yen. My, my. Even with you hitting the can a few times, the number of times you missed far exceeds the number of times you hit. All of you, pay up now!" he had trouble hiding the glee in his voice.

"That's not fair! You did not tell us about the rules just now!" a few protested.

A few more grumbled, but rummaged into their pockets to pay up for the 'fee', as they fully fell for Arai's rule.

Before Arai could receive any of their payments, however, a tennis ball shot past, hitting the can with the force of a bomb, crushing the can completely and causing the stones hidden in the can to scatter all over the floor. The shot had also caused the can to hit the fence, where it was tightly wedged there.

"DUNNN!"

"Ah. The fukubuchou is finally here!" the three little pigs cried out happily.

Momoshiro towered over Arai, having gained more than a few inches during the holidays.

"Bullying freshmen again, are you? You can't do that eh, you can't do that." Seigaku's vice-captain frowned.

Arai whimpered, while the 1st years were sharing information amongst each other.

"Hey! I've seen that guy in the magazines before! Isn't he Momoshiro Takeshi, the one with his super skill Dunk Smash?"

"So he's our vice captain? That's so cool!"

Arai was apologizing to both Momoshiro and the first years he had tricked, after the vice-captain had ordered him to do so, of course. "By the way, to start off the new semester, you will do ten rounds around the court." Momoshiro ordered. Arai scowled, but went to run his rounds all the same.

Horio was the first to be by Momoshiro's side. "Fukubuchou Momo-chan senpai! Ohayou!" he greeted.

Momoshiro wrinkled his nose. "That sounded too weird. Just call me Momo-chan will do. Have any of you seen Echizen?"

"Not at all. We're looking for him too." Kachiro said.

Momoshiro sighed. He looked up and turned his attention to the members.

"Second years and third years, you may have a free practice session now. Feel free to use courts A, B and C. First years and second years who are interested in joining the tennis club, registrations are in Court D." Momoshiro announced.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In Court D, Kaidou and another third year Keita were handling the registrations. Many of the students came to sign up, all eager after seeing how well Seigaku performed last year.

One first year came up to Kaidou's booth. "I…would like to hand in my form." The student said meekly.

Kaidou looked up and pinned him with a glare. (Not intentionally of course. He was just born with a scary face) "Fshh…" he reached out for the student's form.

"Eep! I'm so sorry! I won't be disturbing you again!" the student, thinking that Kaidou was trying to throttle him, sped off to queue at Keita's side instead.

So it was, in Court D, there was a long line waiting to join the tennis club…at happy-go-lucky Keita's booth only though. A few who were brave enough handed in their registration form to Kaidou, who had a rather short queue at his side. Occasionally, Kaidou even used his bandanna to swat flies buzzing around from the lack of people.

As two hours passed, however, more of the students were convinced that Kaidou wouldn't bite, and decided to join the queue at his booth. The three freshmen (who were the victims of Sakuno's disastrous direction giving) were amongst those in this queue as well.

"Say, Sora. Do you think we could find that Echizen in the club today?" Reno asked.

"Ah. That short freshman last year who made it into the regulars?" Sora enquired.

"He is so cool! To think that he made it into the regulars in his first year. That has never happened before! I wonder how someone that short could play so well?"

A shadow fell over that boy, causing him to stiffen.

"Hmm? So you think that being short is a handicap to playing tennis?"

Both Kaidou and Keita looked up from their paperwork at the voice.

"Buchou!"

To be continued…

A/N: Finally done with chappie one! stretches.

This would be my first pot fanfic posted. Please read and review. Also, please vote for which pairing you would prefer, Ryoma with Sakuno OR Tezuka. (I am not writing Ryoma with Sakuno AND Tezuka. He's not such a playboy. XD)

Would be counting the votes after some time, and the next chapter would depend on whichever pairing gets the most votes, so be sure to review and vote.