A/N: Ah, I love writing about these guys. For those of you who are new, there is a sequel to this story called "Princess of Tennis." You don't need to read the sequel but it would be more helpful to you, the reader, if you did. Hope you like this chap! ^ ^
Note: For those of you who don't know, this fic takes place in high school. I thought it would be better because usually in high school that's where romance, dating, and insecurities happen the most in a person's lifetime.
Disclaimer: I don't own POT
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Sweat was pouring down off of Sakuno's face. She had been training long and hard yet it still wasn't good enough. Luckily, she got over her clumsiness and gained some skills in tennis due to her practice and training everyday. Yet it still wasn't enough because she couldn't beat her upperclassman and she still has no real sense of direction – a curse that can't be cured.
"Sakuno-chan, you should take a break. Overworking yourself and then pulling a muscle before nationals is not an option. Your training would also be a waste." The captain of the girls' tennis team, Momoko Katou, said. Katou had long dark black hair, mature blue eyes, and lightly tanned skin. She looked like a pretty boy when wearing guys' clothes but is naturally a beauty despite her tomboyish behavior.
"Ah I'm sorry. I'll take a break." Sakuno then sat on the benches and drank some water for her break.
Sakuno was then glomped on by another regular, Nakashima Yumi. "Sakuno-chan, how's it going? Don't overwork yourself!" She exclaimed, still not letting Sakuno get her air. Yumi had long light yellow hair (she dyed her hair), light brown eyes, and pale skin. Yumi was a very hyperactive girl with a love of cats. She is the cutest girl out of all the other members.
"Y-Yu-chan, you'll kill her!" Yumi's younger sister, Nakashima Airi, tried to pull Yumi off of Sakuno. Yumi pouted and mumbled something about need a new glomp post. Airi had dark brown hair, dark green eyes, and pale skin. She is a regular. She's naturally pretty and loves al sorts of animals. She has a caring yet more mature personality compared to her sister.
"Yumi, you should stop being so god damn annoying. Seriously, I thought my ear drums broke." Yamada Natsume smacked Yumi on the back of the head. Yumi fell down and felt like she was half-dead. Natsume had crimson red hair, golden yellow eyes, and slightly tanned skin. She was also a regular and an ex-Yankee. Yes, she was dangerous but she has a kind heart too just given in an unsuspecting way kind of like a blessing in disguise.
"And you should keep quiet yourself, hypocrite."Kumiko Usio was sketching in her notebook as she stated the worlds calmly. She is very beautiful with her wavy light blue hair, violet eyes, and very pale skin. She was another regular on the team. She is the most beautiful and has the biggest fan club out of the others but lacks showing her real emotions. She is also called the ice princess for her cold yet emotionless image.
"What did you say!? Just 'cause you have a pretty face, doesn't mean I'll let you off easy." Natsume's face was angry and ready to punch Usio until another person broke in.
"No, fighting. We need each and every regular in tip-top shape." Fujimoto Emi said in a sing-song voice. Emi had lemon yellow hair, hazel eyes, and pale skin. She was vice-captain of the team. She was also second cutest to Yumi. This girl had a happy-go-lucky personality but always seemed to be normal despite her love of books.
Two more members went into the courts and saw the 'fun' happening. One smirked while the other had a more worried expression plastered on her face. They both walked towards the rest of the regulars and greeted them. Katou was the first to talk back.
"Hey Sakamoto, Amane, where were you two?" She asked.
The two girls were Miharu Sakamoto and Miharu Amane. The two were cousins yet they didn't look a lot alike. Sakamoto had dark brown hair, yellow eyes, and pale skin. Amane also had brown hair and pale skin but her eyes were pitched black. Sakamoto looked like a rich business woman while Amane looked like a house wife.
"I had to finish my…special drink for the rest of you. It's called white wine 2.0 and a couple of people have to drink it." Sakamoto business smiled. She was a genius and inventor yet that does not make up for her experimental food or beverages that she makes the regulars eat or drink just for testing results.
"What do you mean?" Katou started to sweat.
"Well, we made a deal, ne? Some of the girls had to confess to the guy they liked but sadly didn't. The punishment was to drink my…special wine." Sakamoto's business smile grew happier.
"B-But that's not fair. Emi, Amane, Yumi, and you don't have to take it because all of you are already dating!" Katou accused.
Emi is Fuji's girlfriend, Yumi is Eiji's, Amane is Oishi's, and Sakamoto is Inui's. That left Katou, Usio, Airi, Natsume, and Sakuno without a boyfriend. So a challenge was made. Each girl had to confess to the person they like or love. If they didn't confess at all, they would receive punishment courtesy of Sakamoto, the evil genius.
"Actually the only two people who confessed were Airi and Natsume so they are safe which means Katou, Sakuno-chan, and Usio have to try my new drink." Sakamoto held up a wine bottle filled with a white substance that was foaming out of the bottle. Katou, Sakuno, and Usio shivered in fear. They did not want to drink it. Sakamoto's last drink, a special orange juice, made them have stomach cramps for days. They weren't going to risk drinking something like that ever again.
"I'm captain and I uh can't drink anything right now because…I'm PMSing." Katou declared without the slightest bit of embarrassment. She was more scared of the drink than declaring something private.
"Uh, yeah m-me too." Sakuno followed Katou's example and hoped that she wouldn't drink the wine even if she was a bit embarrassed to say it.
"I have to go to the art club and contribute my drawings." Usio tried to escape but Yumi glomped her and dragged her back to Sakamoto. Katou was tied up and Sakuno couldn't resist because of her non-existent aggressive nature.
Sakamoto made each girl drink the horrible…err…special wine by different methods. Sakamoto handed Katou a piece of chocolate, Sakuno was given a strawberry, and Usio was given a hamburger. "I'm sorry. I was too harsh on punishment. Eat these as my apology." Sakamoto smiled.
Katou was a bit weary and Usio was suspicious. "Did you make these?" Katou questioned.
"I can't make strawberries, chocolate, or hamburgers. I personally hate them but I do know each of you love these things so I decided to give it to you." Sakamoto smiled again. This time it looked more devious. Katou wasn't sure but she couldn't resist the temptation of chocolate. Usio recently loved hamburgers and Sakuno absolutely loved strawberries. They all ate their gift from Sakamoto and then they felt that same sensation they get whenever they drank Sakamoto's…special drinks.
"I knew it!" Katou yelled as she rushed towards the water fountain in hopes of washing the taste away. Sakuno and Usio followed. They didn't want the taste to linger in their mouths since they hate Sakamoto's experimental drinks.
The other girls shuddered. They already know the taste of the original drink: Sakamoto's special orange juice. They do not know the taste of Sakamoto's white wine 2.0 and if it's worse than the first drink then they do not want to try it ever.
"Well, let's get back to practice. Nationals are coming soon, ne?" Sakamoto smiled. The girls broke out in cold sweat but nodded and continued their practice.
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After practice was over, the girls finally decided to head home. Emi, Sakuno, Natsume, Sakamoto, and Katou would be the ones waiting for their special someone. The five girls walked to the guys' tennis courts together. The other four girls went home for various reasons. Amane and Airi had to cook for their families. Usio had to drown the horrible taste of Sakamoto's white wine with real burgers. Yumi just wanted to go home and eat.
The boys' practice ended somewhat later than the girls'. They had to practice twice as hard since they did bring home more trophies than the girls did. Katou tried to fix that when she became captain but the team still didn't have enough medals to be better than the boys'.
Sakuno would be waiting for Ryoma. Over the years, they had become friends. Katou was also Tezuka Kunimitsu's, the current captain of Seigaku High's boys' tennis team, best friend. Natsume had to get her answer from Kawamura since she did confess to him but didn't get an answer. Sakamoto and Emi just wanted to walk with their boyfriends.
As soon as Tezuka saw Katou, he got distracted but only for a second. Tezuka then concentrated back on his match with Katou silently watching and cheering in her own way. Sakuno would be doing the same thing for Ryoma – silently cheering and all.
Natsume was just waiting for Kawamura. She had been preparing herself for his answer. She remembered confessing to him at his sushi shop. It was a faithful day of bashing heads. She got to be her Yankee self for a while. Kawamura had to take it easy for a while due to his head injury. Natsume felt guilty about it. She had confessed to him when she saved his life. She recently discovered that she liked him though she was pretty dense about it.
Sakamoto fell in love with her best friend, Inui Sadahari. She had a thing for him and she semi-confessed and there were some…complications but they are now together. Emi was Fuji's classmate. They didn't really talk much except for the tennis match they had in the beginning of the year. Emi fell head over heels for Fuji because of his amazing pretty boy charms and even when she found out that he was a sadist, she still wanted to be with him. She confessed and now they are a couple.
Emi was now looking at Fuji's matches with Katou right beside her. Emi heard lots of rumors floating around about how she bribed Fuji into dating her and how she wasn't good enough for him. She hated gossip and rumors. Katou could see Emi's sad face and decided to ask about it.
"Is there something wrong, Ems?" Katou asked. Emi sighed. She didn't like lying to Katou and it was easy to talk to her.
"The rumors are getting to me. I feel as though I might not be good enough for Fuji-san even though I did ask him out and he said yes." Emi frowned.
"Jealousy, they're all just jealous. Especially Fuji's fan girls, they always mistake their admiration for false love and fantasize about 'owning' Fuji. Of course they would hate you because you are messing with their fantasy. Truthfully, they should get over it and you should too." Katou replied.
"But…maybe what they're saying is right. Not about the bribery but about me not being suited for Fuji-san."
"Ems, they don't personally hate you. They automatically will hate the people who take their 'toy'. Like a child, they will throw tantrums and say horrible things when they don't really mean it and besides, who the heck cares what fan girls think?"
"Huh? But…"
"Their opinions never matter as long as you yourself think that you are enough for Fuji then you are. Plus those girls will always say things that aren't true just to demote you and make them selves feel better."
"Katou…you sometimes say the deepest things. Have fan girls ever harassed you?"
"Of course, I already know the dark side of fan girls. That is expected because I'm friends with the Tezuka Kunimitsu but I never regretted being his friend." Katou smiled as she glanced in Tezuka's direction.
"But…I'm not as strong as you are."
"I'm not strong. I just think differently."
"You're right and I should think differently too." Emi smiled and started to feel better about her self after that talk.
Sakuno was nearby, listening to the conversation. She could relate a lot to Emi and Katou. She is good friends with THE Echizen Ryoma. She would've been attacked by fan girls if it wasn't for Tomoka barking at them and her seniors blackmailing the president (Sakamoto is currently blackmailing all of the presidents of certain fan clubs, mainly the tennis ones for specific reasons) though Sakuno would still receive hate mail but nothing too big.
"Ne, Ryuzaki, why are you spacing out?" Ryoma asked in a bored tone. Practice had just ended while Sakuno was daydreaming for a bit. Sakuno broke out of her short trance and replied.
"Oh, nothing!" She said quickly.
Ryoma just shrugged it off. He began to think that Sakuno was pretty normal compared to his fan girls. Recently they have become more aggressive. He had been missing a pair of gym shorts…
"Ne, Ryuzaki, didn't you need to tell me something?" He asked.
"Eh?"
"You said you wanted to say something to me when I found you at the park."
"Oh…i-i-it's nothing! I'll tell you after I win the nationals."
Sakuno made a promise. She promised that she would confess to Ryoma when she won the nationals because she believed that she would be a better and stronger person by then.
"Tell me now. What's the point in waiting that long? Besides, you wouldn't win with your wobbly hips." Ryoma smirked. Sakuno blushed.
"Mou! I'm going to win and bring back a huge trophy and then pour ponta in it!" Sakuno declared.
"Ponta? Why?" Ryoma was puzzled about that random thing that Sakuno would do.
"It will have grape flavored ponta in it and I'll drink from my trophy in front of you and then uh…you'll bow down to me." Sakuno was just making some of it up since she was slightly mad at Ryoma for calling her wobbly hips.
"Oh? Like that would happen." Ryoma smirked again.
"Yes it will. Mou, I'm going home." Sakuno pouted and began walking away.
Sakuno then felt something drop on her head – a cap. It was Ryoma's white Fila cap. Ryoma then walked ahead of her and turned back to her for a brief moment. "You'd get lost if I don't take you home." Ryoma proceeded to walk ahead. Sakuno pouted cutely but still followed. But she had positive thoughts about it.
'My prince…'
She smiled through the whole walk.
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A/N: I'm going to take this fic slower so the update date will be random ranging from one day to a week. But I'll try to make it longer than I usually do. Please leave a review. ^ ^