Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of tennis or it's characters, though I wouldn't mind owning Ryoma and the other Seigaku regulars. I do own the plot. And the song used is a beautiful piece sang by Shirota Yuu.

Pairing: Pillar pair and Seigaku friendship

Part 1/2

"I am not gonna be a girl!" Ryoma's indignant outburst was meant with laughter by his teammates. Golden eyes narrowed in annoyance at the group, he absolutely refuse to cross dress, that will only serve to be a constant reminder of how feminine he is and that's the last thing he wanted.

Ryoma crossed his arms and leaned back into his seat trying to ignore his senpai-tachi and how immature some, no, most of them were. With a roll of his eyes he turned his attention towards his captain and the coach standing at the front of the group.

"Hora! Minna-san, calm down already!" Ryuuzaki called out, folding her arms across her chest as she stared at the group of boys in front of her, "As I stated already, our club was chosen to do a cafe, what kind is up to us and I already know what type you want and Ryoma's refusal to do so." Ryuuzaki's lips twitched, "But, I think it's a good idea, so Ryoma your dressing up as a girl for our cultural festival fundraiser booth."

Ryoma frowned, (read: pouted), as he turned his attention towards the captain wanting to plead with the older teen, but Tezuka beat him to it and with all the authority his position gave him, he opened his mouth to speak his first words since entering the room, "Do it Echizen, it's for the clubs best interest."

And just like that the freshman regular wilted and sank further into his seat, "Hai buchou." he whispered ignoring the new bouts of laughter that was starting up due to his reaction to Tezuka's statement. His lips twitched with the urge to snarl at his friends/ teammates.

"Such a good boy when it comes to Tezuka, ne." Fuji teasingly smiled.

Once again Ryuuzaki had to silence the noise in the room, hiding her chuckles at the face Ryoma was making, really didn't the boy know those facial expressions had the opposite affect of what he was trying to garner. The boy was just too adorable to be scary. "Alright, so it's decided, we are doing a lolita cafe and Ryoma will be the one responsible for luring the customers in as well as a waitress. Does anyone else want to help Ryoma advertise, come on, you can't let your cute kohai do this alone."

Eiji grinned, bouncing in his seat, "Najaro Hoi! Hoi!" the acrobat called out bouncing in his seat, "I want to dress up Ryuuzaki-sensei, I don't mind." the redhead stated, waving his arms wildly in the air, "I think it'll be fun, nya." seeing how excited the acrobatic tennis player had become, Oishi wrapped an arm around his partner, trying to calm him down.

"Alright so it's Ryoma and Kikumaru, anyone else, how about you Fuji?" the teacher questioned, with a raised brow. Fuji was a good choice, but then again no matter how feminine the brunet might appear, he constantly gave off a vibe that read 'come near me and you won't live long enough to regret it' that scared off a lot of his admirers.

Fuji smiled and shook his head, "I don't think so, Sumire-chan." the tensai smile widened when the elderly woman twitched. "As much fun as it appears to be, I don't think dressing up as a girl is in my best interest."

"I told you not to call me that Fuji!" The tensai seemed unrepented and just continued to smile at their coach who sighed, shaking her head, "Okay, so we're going to have a lolita cafe that will serve tea, coffee or hot chocolate with cakes and cookies, right?"

The group nodded their heads in agreement, "That's right." Oishi stated before frowning, "But, how are we going to get the dresses for Eiji and Ryoma." the vice captain stated, "I'm sure Eiji could borrow something from his sister, but what about Ryoma, his considerably smaller then most, even the girls are a bit bigger then he is." Snickers were issued while Ryoma rolled his eyes.

"Hm, maybe I could have nee-san pick something up." Fuji smiled widened, "She has a good eye for fashion if I do say so myself, and I've seen some of her dresses, there quite pretty, so I'm sure she'll pick something wonderful."

Ryuuzaki nodded, "That'll be for the best. I'll get you some money for the outfit, since it's for the club, I'll just use the clubs money to purchase the outfit and if we are right, Ryoma will more then make up for the money we'll be taking out."

Fuji nodded his head, "Okay then, I'll talk to nee-san when I get home."

And for the rest of practice, the regulars discussed their plans for their cultural festival fundraiser and made sure all the finance's were taken care of such as the ingrediants for the cake and cookies, the plates and cups that they'll need, table cloths and everything else in between.

Day of the

Cultural festival

The day everyone, sans one sulky prince, was looking forward to have finally arrived and everyone except Ryoma and Eiji were setting everything up, the other two were in the restroom changing into their outfit for the day.

"Everything looks good, now where are our waitresses." Ryuuzaki called out glancing around the well decorated room looking for the 'girls' in question. "Are they still getting ready?" she questioned eying the regulars with a proud smile, each of the boys were wearing white tuxedo's with their choice of creme, pale blue or a light purple inside shirt and tie and each of them looked handsome; she had no doubt they would bring in a lot of females.

Fuji gave a nod, "Yes I believe they are." the brunet smiled in glee, he couldn't wait to see his two friends in their uniform, "Should we go and check on them, sensei?" at the nod, the regulars left the room leaving the non-regulars to finish setting the room up before the guest start to arrive.

Arriving at the restrooms that they were using, Fuji knocked on the door, "Ryoma! Eiji! Are the both of you ready yet?" he called out, "Ryuuzaki-sensei wants us all at the room already, it's almost time for the cafe to open, some girls are already lined up as well a few guys."

"Yeah, hurry up, people are already arriving, you can't keep people waiting, no you can't." Momoshiro hollered earning an annoyed look from his fellow second year, along with a hiss. "Come out already Echizen, I want to see how you look." A muffled curse was heard before the door slid opened and out stepped two very beautiful girls.

The first had red hair that reached her shoulder blade and her blue eyes sparkled; she was dressed in a mid-thigh length creme colored dress with light pink roses and light gray butterflies. Covering her legs were pink fishnet stockings, in the same shade as the roses and on her feet were white knee length boots. In her hair were two barrette's on either side in pink and gray.

The second girl had black hair with a sheen of green that reached to her elbows, which was pulled back into a low ponytail, and unlike the previous one, she had her eyes closed so they were unsure of the shade they were. She wore a thigh length creme colored dress as well but she had ruby red flower petals patterns. Covering her legs were red fishnet stocking, in the same shade as the flower petals and the same type of boots her companion is wearing.

No one said anything as they stared at the two girls, the redhead had her arms wrapped around her friend who had her head lowered; everything was silent until Oishi broke it with an apology, "Sorry, we thought this was the bathroom our friends were using, we're sorry for bothering you!" he bowed his head, shortly followed by the others though none of them could take their eyes off the two in front of them. How is it that two really pretty girls went unnoticed for so long, you'd thing with all the boys, someone would say something, right.

The redhead grinned, "Hoi! Hoi! Syuichiro, what are you talking about?" releasing his companion, the redhead bounced towards the vice captain and wrapped his arms around his lover, "Are you feeling alright? Nya."

"Eiji?" several incredulous shouts were heard before all eyes turned towards the dark haired boy and gaped at the annoyed golden glare they were getting, "Then that's Echizen!" Inui muttered something along the lines of 'data' before he began scribbling whatever it is he found data worthy in his notebook, while Tezuka's only reaction had been the slight widening of his eyes.

Ryoma crossed his arms, "Mada mada dane, senpai-tachi."

"Wow, the both of you really do look like girls; very beautiful ones at that." Oishi replied, a red tint forming on his face as he glanced at Eiji then at Ryoma, "The both of you look very nice though, did your sister help you, Eiji?"

Eiji grinned, nodding his head, "Hoi! Hoi! She did, she did, nya." Blue eyes turned and glanced at his companiom, "And ocbibi said his cousin showed him how to put the dress on and everything, even offered to help, but he didn't want his father seeing him in the dress, so he told her he would get dressed at school, nya."

Fuji walked forward and fingered Ryoma's hair, "It's real?" his comment caused everyone to turn towards the two, in surprise, "Is this really your hair, Ryo-chan?"

Ryoma took a step back, a blush dusting his cheeks, while running his finger through his ponytail, "Yeah, I usually have my hair bobby pinned to the middle of my head and then hidden under my cap." the prince of tennis shrugged, "And before you ask, my mother didn't want me cutting my hair, she thought I was really adorable, I've kept it like this in memory of her." At those words even Momo wouldn't dare laugh at something as sensitive as that. "But because I was already mistaken for a girl so often, and the long hair didn't help me in any case, Nanako offered a solution. She showed me how to pin my hair up, so my hair reached a reasonable length, for a guy and that was that." Silence meant, no one knew what to say to Ryoma, not knowing how resent the boys mother had passed.

Tezuka cleared his throat, "Let's return to our cafe, we mustn't keep Ryuuzaki-sensei waiting any longer." Various agreements were issued and the group followed their captain towards the room they'll be using for their cafe. "And use this time to garner customers for our cafe." pausing he glanced towards the cross dressers, "Yudan sezu ni ikou!" he stated.

Eiji and Ryoma shared a confused look, wondering why their buchou directed that at them and not at everyone, but before they could question him, they were passing several students who were all staring at them in awe. With a smile, the red head bounced forward; chatting up several of his male peers.

"Go on Echizen, follow your senpai example." Momo snickered, nudging his friend.

Shooting a glare towards the purple eyed male, Ryoma strutted, yes he strutted, there was no other way to describe it, and it reminded the group of Atobe Keigo's walk. Momo slapped his palm to his forehead and went to reprimand his friend. They wanted to attract customers not drive them away, but before he could do anything several whistles rang out and the group turned in the direction it came from. A group of second and third years were grouped together, whistling at Ryoma.

"Hey babe, why don't you come over here for a bit?" one called out with a leer.

Ryoma toss a glance at his teammates, a smirk curled his lips he mouthed the words, 'mada mada dane' at them before turning towards the group of hormonal teens, a sultry smile replaced the smirk, "You wanna talk to me." he purred, fluttering his eye lashes, seductively, and when nods were his response he whirled on his heels, shocking his friends as he did so, after all those heels couldn't be easy to walk in especially for a guy and Ryoma made it look easy, "I'll be at the lolita cafe hosted by the tennis team, come by, and..." coming to a stop, Ryoma glanced at the males, "Make sure you bring all your friends, hm." winking at the group, the freshman continued his walk making sure to sway his hips like his cousin mentioned, attracting more and more attention, leaving behind a bunch of shell shock friends.

"Ryoma-chan appears to be a natural, ne." Fuji smiled, eyes opened and glittering as he glanced at the males who was drooling at the first years retreating back, "Hm he has them wrapped around his finger, there is no doubt, they'll be at the cafe later." turning he glanced at his best friends and his smile widened, "Eiji appears to be having just as much luck as Ryoma." he chuckled at the look Oishi was sporting, "We should get back soon or Sumire-chan will be quite upset."

Tezuka frowned, "You shouldn't call Ryuzaki-sensei like that Fuji!"

"Saa." was the only response the tensai offered, with his ever present smile.

It's already been a few hours since the cafe was officially opened and many have come and gone, pictures were taken and cooed over. Eiji and Ryoma were assigned body guards when it came apparent that some boys just won't take 'no' for an answer. Several of the other school tennis teams were seated around the room such as St. Rudolph, Yamabuki, Rokkaku, Shitenhouji and Fudomine.

Kintarou and Aoi were bouncing around and talking Ryoma's ears off, despite being dressed as a girl, his self-proclaimed rivals could still tell who he was, much to his chagrin.

"Kin-chan leave Echizen-kun alone and come eat your cake." Shiraishi called out.

Kintaroh pouted, "But Shiraishi-buchou..." he didn't get a chance to continue when he saw older teen raise his arm, fingering the bandages, threatening causing the red head to gulp and hastily said his goodbyes to 'Koshimae' as he headed back to his team.

"You as well buchou, let Echizen-kun do his job." Saeki called out and blushed lightly when Ryoma glanced at him with his golden gaze and it made him realize just why so many guys were going crazy. Echizen Ryoma was really quite stunning.

With a nod of thanks Ryoma turned and made his way towards Tezuka who greeted the first year with a slight inclination of his head and glanced towards the door as two groups entered, the first caused a scowl to twist the prince's expression. "Did that monkey really have to come!" crossing his arms, Ryoma headed towards them seeing as all the other host were busy, which made his displeasure nearly palpable as he made his way towards the Hyotei and Rikkaidai teams. "Do you want to be seated together, or separated?" he questioned

Atobe smirked and wrapped an arm around Ryoma's shoulder, "I usually don't do girls but you're really cute. I can't believe Seigaku actually have girls like you here, you should transfer to Hyotei and Ore-sama will take good care of you." the Atobe heir smirked in glee. "What do say about becoming Ore-sama girlfriend?"

"Yadda!" Ryoma scowled, stepping away from the monkey king, "I don't do animals, monkey king." the boy retaliated, "Now do you want to be seated together or not?"

Atobe twitched, "What did you just call ore-sama?"

Yukimura chuckled, "I believe Echizen-kun called you a monkey king, Atobe." the feminine captain of Rikkai hadn't been fooled by the dress or the longer hair. For one the hair and eye coloring were the same and the dress didn't much matter because the boy was already pretty girly. "And yes I do mean Echizen-kun, as in Seigaku's star rookie."

Turning, they all stared at the 'girl' with an intensity they only show while playing tennis and as one they gawked when they realized what Yukimura had said was indeed true. "Wow." Kirihara, Marui, Gakuto and Ohtori stated, blinking while Atobe, Niou and Shishido laughed and the others either chuckled or grinned at the annoyed expression the boy was sporting.

Sensing impending doom, Fuji walked over, "Saa, you've been working hard Ryoma, why don't you go take a break and do make sure Tezuka accompanies you, we don't need you getting attacked by horny males."

"Okay thanks, Syuusuke-senpai." the prince stated, flashing a grateful smile towards his brunet friend, whose smile had become impossibly wider when Ryoma used his first name, as he made his way towards his buchou, telling him what Fuji said, and after getting permission from Ryuuzaki-sensei, the two left the room and headed outside to get some fresh air.

As captain and kohai made their way out, they passed a man in monk robes and a young woman with black hair and brown eyes heading towards the cafe. Ryoma lowered his head at the sight of the man and inwardly cursed. As they passed the man, Ryoma froze completely horror stricken. Out of everything that has ever happen to him today, this was the worse by far. His father, his father, had just groped him.

"You lecherous old man!" he yelled, golden eyes glowing with fury, "How dare you?"

Tezuka blinked and would have question the first year when he spotted the smirk on the mans face and knew he must have done something to set Ryoma off, and if the first part of his statement had been any hint, the young captain could guess what had just taken place. "Sir, I'll have to ask you to keep your hands to yourself; it's not only sexual harassment but it's also very wrong of you to touch someone so young like that especially without consent."

Nanjirou waved the words off with a chortle, "Ease up boy, no harm in touching ne, 'sides you can't be stingy with such a beautiful morsel." Hearing those words, Ryoma resisted the urge to punch his father. Did the man really have no shame at all.

Nanako grabbed her uncle's arm in realization, "Oji-san, that's Ryoma-san!"

"Eh!" the ex tennis pro turned and furrowed his brows and stared at the 'girl' "That can't be my seishounen..." but he trailed off when he glanced at the hair. No one but Ryoma had that natural shade of emerald green tinted black color for hair and he gaped before bursting into laughter leaving his annoyed son to stalk down the hall with Tezuka walking behind him.

Ryoma was fuming as he paced around the tennis courts while Tezuka sat on the bench and watched the younger male rant about how embarassing his father was and how he had been groped by him. "That stupid man." he crossed his arms and pouted a bit and it took every ounce of Tezuka's will power not to pounce on the boy.

"Echizen sjt down, you need to calm down and rest, we need to return to the cafe soon and you can't go all fired up." the captain stated, "Only a few more hours and then it will be over." Ryoma stomped to the bench and sat beside his captain, making the act look like art, captivating the stoic teen. "Can I ask you something Echizen?"

Ryoma blinked and shrugged, "Sure, what is it?"

Before Tezuka could answer though, Eiji appeared with Oishi, "Hey Tezuka, ochibi-chan, Ryuuzaki-sensei wants you to return." he called, startling the two, "She said we have an hour to go before the cafe will close and she wants everyone working for it."

Tezuka nodded, "Okay." he replied standing, and glanced at his pillar, "Shall we go, Echizen." the statement earned him a nod as the boy stood up and fell into step with the captain, when they reached the other two, Eiji wasted no time in wrapping his arms around the first year and pulled him, so they were leading the way to the cafe.

Oishi glanced at his best friend, and smiled, "Did you ask?"

Tezuka moved his eyes to stare at his vice captain, "I was about to."

"Eh, sorry Tezuka." Oishi bowed, "Maybe afterwards, you'll get another chance."

It was no secret that their esteemed captain was in love with their youngest friend and the whole team approved of the match up, they would prefer Ryoma with Tezuka who they knew would love and take care of him as opposed to someone from a rival school who would steal their little prince from them.

"Maybe." was the only response Tezuka gave as they entered the room.

Shini-ko