Princess of Tennis, an inuyasha fanfic

Princess of Tennis

By: define insanity

A/N: This is NOT for Kurama'sfoxymiko's challenge. I simply enjoy Prince of Tennis and Inuyasha, and I wanted to do something like this. This is during Ryoma's first year of high school, which means Kagome is around 15 or possibly 16. You think whatever you want to. I don't really want to deal with ages right now.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or Inuyasha

Pairings: Either Ryoma/Kagome, Tezuka/Kagome, Fuji/Kagome

Summary: Ryuzaki-sensei's former student's daughter is coming to Seigaku High! Post-US Open/Nationals. Inuyasha/Prince of Tennis crossover

Genius One

Ray of light from the stars in the night sky above,

Send a pleas from across the ages,

With colors that haven't been dulled,

It's somebody's cry, reflected in those sparkling eyes,

A wish carried on the wind, a request from the moon,

To live as fully as possible, day by day.

So that our wishes, too, will be in someone's heart someday,

Let's shine on like that star.

ORANGE RANGE, Asterisk

Ryuzaki Sakuno yawned, eyes fluttering with barely concealed fatigue.

"Did you get enough sleep last night, Sakuno-chan?" inquired Osakada Tomoko, Sakuno's best friend. They had met in the first year of junior high school, and had remained through all, bonds unbroken.

"No," she confessed in a sleep-induced daze, "I stayed up all night studying for our English test." Punctuating her statement with another yawn, she lay her head down on the cool desk and thought enviously of the boy, who had captured her heart in seventh grade, who was amazing at English because he had lived in America for a couple years. He's in America now, she thought glumly, remembering how stricken she had been when her grandmother had informed her that Ryoma-kun would be staying in the US after the US Open. She missed him. A lot.

Tomo sighed under her breath and watched her best friend doze off. She envied her innocence, the way she could not deceive others, the purity of her friend but shook it off. Don't think about that! She thought furiously, You are just as good as her!

The tardy bell rang, the shrill screech vibrating throughout the room and students hurried to their seats before the teacher could scold them. Thankfully, Tomo and Sakuno sat right beside each other.

"Now," said their strict teacher, Fukachi Hasoru, "please take out your homewo-" her words were cut off by a soft knock on the door.

Fukachi-sensei opened the door and raised a mousy brown eyebrow at the couple standing in the doorway. "Come in," she told them, ushering them in with a sweep of her smooth hands. The two complied, the girl entering before the boy.

"Class, we have two new students. Please welcome them warmly." The class gave the pair a scrutinizing look and Tomo examined the two.

The petite girl wore the customary female uniform of a white blouse and a navy knee length skirt. She was very pretty with delicate features, high cheekbones, clear and fair skin and bright deep blue eyes. Long jet-black hair framed her pale face. Dangling from her earlobes were silver star earrings and looping around her neck loosely several times was a black necklace with a pale jewel hanging from the bottom. Many boys gave catcalls and exaggerated whistles and the girl blushed.

The tall boy wore a white hat nestled over his emerald tinted opaque hair with the school's standard male uniform that was a black, high collar jacket and trousers (think of Seigaku Gakuen's uniform). He looked oddly familiar, but Tomo couldn't place her finger on it.

"Would you two like to introduce yourselves?" Tomo could hear the underlying command in the question.

"Hai, sensei," the duo chorused involuntarily.

"Ano…Mai Nameo wa Higurashi Kagome desu. Dozo Yoroshiku." The girl bowed traditionally to the class. (Translation: "Um…My name is Higurashi Kagome. It's very nice to meet you. A/N: I'm not sure if this is right…)

"Echizen Ryoma. Yoroshiku." Was all the boy said. Tomo heard Sakuno gasp and would have as well if she weren't so shocked. Ryoma had grown much taller. His muscles were lean and he was (dare I type it?) handsome! She could hear the girls giggle and swoon.

"R-Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno whispered, eyes wide with shock.

"Well, I am Fukachi-sensei. Please sit behind Sakuno-kun and Tomoko-kun." The teacher instructed.

"Hai, sensei," they mumbled in unison yet again and made their way to their seats. The eager eyes of both girls and boys watched the two make way to their new seats.

"Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno repeated when the two sat down.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow and asked in a deadpanned voice, "Who are you?"

Sakuno looked stricken and she turned back to the front where the teacher was talking silently. Tomo patted her encouragingly on the back and sighed softly. It was obvious that Sakuno still was hung over her crush on the tennis prodigy. Tomo used to like the handsome boy, but was currently going out with Satoshi Horio, a former friend of Echizen.

"Class, please put away all your textbooks and homework. We will begin our English test shortly." Fukachi-sensei droned.

Tomo winced and sighed knowing that she was going to fail the test. She hadn't studied at all, in contrast to the cause of Sakuno's lack of sleep.

"Echizen-kun, Kagome-kun, would you like to take the test now or later?" Fukachi-sensei asked after she finished passing out the tests.

"Now," the two said, voices blending in a harmonizing way. The pair glared at one another, for this was the third time the two had spoken something in unison.

"Well," their teacher looked slightly doubtful but walked over and handed them their tests anyway, "Do your best."

The couple were done in less than five minutes, one finishing after the other and turning in their tests. Their classmates watched in unconcealed wonder and chattered softly.

"Quiet!" Thundered Fukachi-sensei and the class grew silent, only sounds of pencils scratching in the answers and erasers rubbing off the wrong writing.

"Horio-kun, Horio-kun!" Tomo screeched as she flew out of her last block, "Ryoma-kun is back!" She had had no time to talk to him about her amazing discovery during the day and spilled out her precious findings.

"Nani?!" the Japanese boy watched his girlfriend closely as if trying to detect any lies. He hadn't seen anyone who looked like Echizen and he wondered if Tomo was going delusional.

"I'm being serious here, Horio-kun!" she reprimanded him at his glance. Behind him, she noticed Kachiro and Katsuo.

"Wasn't Ryoma-kun there, Sakuno-chan?" she asked, spinning around to confront the girl.

"H-hai, Tomo-chan, Horio-kun," Sakuno fiddled with her blouse silently, "Ryoma-kun was there, along with a girl. Kagome, I think her name was."

"See?!" Tomo hissed.

"I still don't believe you, Tomo-chan," Horio grumbled, crossing his arms casually across his broad chest.

Her face contorted in fury and she stabbed him in the chest with her finger, "W-well, you just wait and see! He'll sign up for the tennis club!" Then, she whirled around and, grabbing Sakuno's hand, pulled the struggling girl along.

"She might be right, you know," shy Kachiro spoke up after the girls disappeared into the crowd, "We should keep a lookout just incase. I mean, who knows with Echizen?"

"Yea," Katsuo agreed softly, tucking a strand of black hair behind his ear, "Yeah."

"Augh!" Tomo hissed furiously, stamping her feet along the concrete sidewalk to accentuate her anger, "Boys make me so mad sometimes!"

Sakuno giggled softly at her friend and smiled slyly, "I don't hear you complaining when he kisses you, Tomo-chan."

Tomo's heart-shaped face turned a brilliant shade a red and she stuttered, picking around before turning away and sulking.

Sakuno laughed again and clasped Tomo's skinny shoulder, "I'm just kidding."

Tomo opened her mouth to say something when Sakuno tripped over her own feet. She began to fall, eyes shut tightly when a strong hand held her in place. After regaining her balance, she turned and bowed, "A-arigatou gozaimasu."

"No problem," the girl said shifting the bulky tennis bag hanging from her shoulder. Sakuno watched her with wide eyes. She was the new girl who had entered Seigaku High School along with Ryoma!

The girl brushed her bangs out of her brilliant sapphire eyes and fiddled with the tips of her silky hair, now bunched up in a low ponytail. "Hey, do you know where the tennis court is?"

"Oh!" Sakuno was shaken out of her thoughts from that question and nodded vigorously, "I'm in it."

"Really," Kagome seemed slightly surprised but nodded almost approvingly.

"Yea," Tomo interjected, "Sakuno-chan is really good."

Sakuno blushed under the girl's scrutinizing gaze and shook her head, "I'm not that good. If I was good, I would be a starter!"

"That's only because there are the really really good people like Tezuka-senpai and Fuji-sempai."

Kagome tilted her head off towards the side and watched a chirping lark land on a tree limb, voice filled with melancholy and deep thought, "I don't think how good of a tennis player you are is measured by your skill. It, in my opinion, is measured by how determined you are and how much you persevere and work."

Sakuno thought that the girl sounded older than she truly was.

"Well," she chirped, switching moods almost instantly, "Could you show me where the tennis courts are?"

Sakuno blushed again at her forgetfulness and nodded, "Follow me!"

As the girls walked down the campus, Tomo chattered with their new friend.

"You two are Sakuno and Tomoko, right?" Kagome inquired softly.

"Uh-huh, but call me Tomo-chan instead!"

"So, how is the tennis club?" Kagome asked Sakuno after a moment of silence.

"Well, its coed in high school, but it's basically the same as it was in junior high. We have tournaments and such and Tezuka-buchou is still as strict as ever!" At this, she giggled slightly and resumed, "We also have intraschool ranking tournaments to pick the starters. This is what makes Seigaku so strong. You have to be really dedicated to be in the tennis team. For example, you have to root Seigaku at a game at least four times a tournament. You have to be at practice every day and you are allowed only five tardies and four missed days and you have to maintain all grades over a C, unless Yamato-sensei will kick you out.That's why there aren't a lot of girls. (A/N: No offense. But most females in my classes are too worried about their appearance and gossiping and rumors to actually do something like this. Don't worry; I'm a girl too, so this would offend me. I know, I'm being biased.) Anyway, most of the girls on the team are there just because they think the starters are hot. (A/N: They are!)"

"Wow," Kagome grumbled, popping her shoulders casually, "That's a lot to take in. This is midterm, so I can join, right?"

"Yea. Also, for tenth graders, we're only allowed to do strength conditioning and training unless Tezuka-buchou deems you worthy enough to participate in the intraschool tournaments."

The rest of the walk to the tennis courts was silent, save the shuffling of their feet against the concrete and the wind blowing in their faces.

"Oh," Tomo murmured, "We're here." Three rows with four deep red tennis courts in each stood, encircled by a deep green fence and emerald bushes speckled with tiny, sweet-smelling flowers and tall, leafy trees. Energetic players batted tennis balls, running from side to side to swat the yellow ball. A line of water fountains and two separate locker rooms, categorized by gender, stood at the side and benches were placed strategically upon the stylish tennis courts. Metal bleachers shone in the sun, resting players upon the seats chattering amongst themselves.

She turned to see Kagome's reaction to the huge and splendid courts that never ceased to amaze, but Kagome didn't even bat an eyelash.

Sakuno was staring at the girl as well, and Kagome took notice, blinking innocently at the two girls. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No!" Tomo shook her head, long brown hair flying, "It's just…everyone we've seen come to this court has been amazed by it and…well you aren't."

"Oh!" Kagome laughed softly, "I've seen my fair share of splendor, thank you very much."

Tomo studied the girl until Sakuno spoke shyly, "Look! It's Tezuka-buchou! Let's go sign you up, Kagome-chan!"

Kagome blinked as Sakuno tugged her along.

"Tezuka-buchou!" Sakuno called out, "My friend Kagome-chan wants to join the tennis club!"

The tall, handsome tennis player turned to the trio with an elegantly raised eyebrow. He's like Sesshy-kun, Kagome thought in slight amazement, Wow, I didn't think there would be anyone else like him!

"Do you have your application and the other forms?" His inquiry crashed her train of thought and she blinked rapidly, momentarily disoriented.

"Yes," she told him, "I do." He held out a hand expectantly and she slung off the tennis bag on her shoulder and sipped it open, digging into it until her fingers made contact with a sheaf of stapled papers. She gave a silent cry of triumph, and then handed it to him.

The captain scanned the paper closely and raised an eyebrow once again. Her father was a former student of Ryuzaki-sensei's. Wow. After a while, he shrugged. "Ryuzaki-kun, fill Higurashi-kun in with the details of the tennis club if you haven't already. Then, take her to the locker room and court D1, where you can warm up. A fellow member should tell you the rest of the directions given."

"Hai, Buchou!" came the chorused reply.

TBC

A/N: What do you think? Review!