Hey there! Kur-chan here and i've made my second Prince of Tennis fic. Whee! I know i haven't finished my other prince of tennis fanfic, "Heart Strings"(don't worry, i plan on finishing it) but i just had a whim to post this one. I hope you like this one as much as you've liked "Heart Strings"

Enjoy!

PS: THE ONLY THING I EDITED WAS THE PART WHEREIN I SAID THAT HIKARI WAS TWO INCHES SHORTER THAN FUJI. SINCE SHE ONLY REACHED UNTIL FUJI'S SHOULDER, THAT WOULD MEAN THAT FUJI'S HEAD WAS TWO INCHES. AND THAT WOULD BE HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE. SO SORRY ABOUT ALL THAT CONFUSION . (THANK YOU Sundae Bunny for pointing that out)

[9/13/17] Edited.

One Sided Rivalry

Chapter One: My Rival

I yawned as I got out of bed. Somehow, today feels like a good day. For starters, my wonderful neighbor hasn't done anything to ruin my mood. I don't have an evil neighbor, don't worry. But an annoying one, well, yes. He makes it a point to get on my nerves at least once a day. And seeing as his room is right in front of mine, he usually starts his day doing just that. I carefully walked up to my balcony, just to make sure things are safe. I repeat, carefully. One time, I found a bunch of cacti on my floor. Why he had to put them there and how he got them there is a mystery to me. So now, I have a few cacti on my desk because of him. Although, i'm not exactly the biggest fan of cactus. They hurt! I looked at the room across me. He probably left already, being part of the tennis club and all.

"Huh. He left his balcony door open. That's not safe." Mah, I better let his sister know at least. I mean, despite him being annoying, he's still a good friend of mine. After all, we did grow up together. Spent most of our childhood together. Even got into a lot of trouble together when we were kids. He's like that annoying friend that you can't seem to stand but you still enjoy their company once in a while. Plus the fact that I consider him as my rival makes him more annoying for some reason. I know, its a weird relationship. Annoying neighbour, childhood friend and also my rival. But it somehow words. And, it makes things more...shall I say, interesting?

I looked at my alarm clock. It's around eight thirty. I have over thirty minutes to get to school. That's enough time. I ran down the stairs, ready to leave. Upon arriving, I saw this note sticking on the fridge. It read…

Hikari,

Had to leave early for work and I might come home late. Don't worry, I have my keys so be sure to lock the house.

Naoki

PS: I made you lunch, it's on the counter.

I sighed. Oniichan's working a lot these days. He's turning into a workaholic and I'm not very happy about it. He's turning into my parents! I sighed. Okay, let me explain. You see, my parents work too much for their own good. At the moment, they're working overseas, managing the international branch of the company. Because of that, they had to leave my brother and I. Since my brother was practically old enough at the time, they left me in his care. He was a college student then. I'm not mad at them of course, at the end of the day, they're still my family. But i just wish that they'd at least visit or call more often. I only get to see them once a year during christmas. They visit for a week and then go back to Hong Kong. I sighed.

Ah jeez, I better leave if I don't want to be late for school. I grabbed my bento before rushing out the door. I stretched my arms, thinking about what's going to happen today. Today's the day we'll be getting the results of our exams back. I felt confident about it. Maybe even confident to beat that rival of mine? Well, let's keep our fingers crossed.

I stared at the results of my test. No way, this CAN'T be happening. I just got a ninety seven on my physics exam. Good right? Well, not exactly. I know it sounds weird but I'm not satisfied with my grade. It was not good enough. Okay I kinda sound like a perfectionist right now, but here's the thing. Have you ever had a rival? Someone you wanted to beat in something, academics for example? Well, if that's the case, then I guess you can understand me. Imagine this, you have this ALMOST PERFECT rival whom you can't beat in anything AT ALL. How would you feel if you were in my position? I sighed. I wonder what he got? Probably higher than me as usual….

"Saa, seems like I beat you again Hikari-chan." I turned to my seatmate and rival, Fuji Syuusuke. As usual, he had that same smile plastered on his face. You've got that right, my rival was none other than the school's sadistic tensai himself. Absurd right? Who in the right mind would WANT to have the sadistic tensai as a rival? Was it even possible to beat him? I sighed as I stared at him. "So what'd you get this time Fuji?"

"Hmm, a grade that's higher than yours" he chuckled. What is it with Fuji and making my head heat up? Honestly, he's the only person who can get on my nerve by simply talking. I raised an eyebrow at him. "And what grade would that be?"

He just smiled, well, he always smiles. Main point, he was STILL smiling. "Saa, who knows?" UGH! Fuji and his ways. Okay, I've had it with Fuji's mind games. I took, more like grabbed, his paper. It wasn't that hard since it was just there, on top of his desk and unguarded. "Darn it Fuji, why'd you have to be good in everything?" I sighed as I saw a one followed by two zeroes at the right hand corner of his paper.

He just chuckled. "I just got lucky this time."

I groaned. "You say that everytime." I sighed. Grr, Fuji, one day I'll definitely beat you, I'm sure of it.

I twirled a lock of my long brunette hair around my finger as I tried to solve some chemistry equations. It's become a habit of mine to o this. Helps me concentrate for some reason. Actually, thinking about it, i do weird things to my hair when I try to concentrate; I twirl it, braid it, tie it in a bun, you name it, i've probably done it. Well, i haven't shaved, cut or burned my hair but you get what I mean, right?

I suddenly felt a light poke on my forehead. "Oi, that's enough studying." I looked up from the book that I was reading and saw my best friend, Hanamura Kou. He grabbed a chair and sat in front of me. Kou was a basket ball player, as a matter of fact, he's captain of the basket ball team, so I'm sure you can imagine how tall he is. He ran a hand through his messy dark plum hair. "Lunch time is meant for eating, not studying."

I chuckled. "Don't worry about it Kou, I'll eat later. We still have a LOT of time before lunch ends. Besides, I'm not that hungry anyway." Suddenly, my stomach decides to growl. Great, betrayed by my own stomach. Okay, I lied, but, I couldn't study last night. Someone was watching horror films. I could actually hear the screams from the movie. I kind of got scared myself and just went to bed.

Kou raised an eyebrow before taking my book and calculator away from me. "Eat. You're never gonna grow that way." He chuckled as I groaned. My height was... a sensitive topic. To put it simply, I was short. I was one of the shortest girls in class and probably even shorter than most second years. You know how short Fuji is? Well, I was even shorter than him! And not just by a bit. I was a few inches shorter than him, probably about six or seven inches. I only reach until his shoulders! And you know what else? I only reach until Kou's chest. So either he's really tall or I'm really short. Oddly, despite the fact that all of the members of my family are tall, I was short. Strange, I have weird genes.

I made a face. "I'm not that short!" I sighed before grabbing the bento that my oniichan made. Ebi tempura, as in fried breading coated shrimp. Er. I'm not going to eat that. I think Oniichan forgot about my allergies. They're quite serious actually. Just a small bite can kill me! Actually, back in grade school, I had an allergy attack, or an anaphylactic shock if you want to get all technical. Yes, I ate shrimp. But, I didn't know it was shrimp. I thought it was crab. That was the day when I found out that I could actually die from eating shrimp. I sighed. "Hey Kou, you mind switching lunch with me? Oniichan forgot that I'm allergic to shrimp."

"Sure, your brother's cooking is amazing. Though, I just made rice balls…is that's okay with you?"He asked before giving me his bento.

"It's fine. Beats dying over shrimp." I giggled before opening his bento and taking a bite out of a rice ball. "I can't believe my own brother forgot that I was highly allergic to shrimp." I sighed.

"Come on, cheer up Hikari! I'm sure he didn't mean it. He's probably stressed with a lot of things." Kou tried to cheer me up. Generally, he was a thoughtful and cheerful guy. Sure he wasn't your "perfect good guy." He had his flaws, like well… he likes joking around, kinda like a clown sometimes, but he's still a good friend. He was my best friend!

"Yeah, I guess…" I sighed for the nth time.

Classes were over and I was on my way home. You see, I didn't belong to any club. Clubs weren't really mandatory after all. So instead of wasting my time with extra-curricular activities, I decided to not join any clubs. I would have if there was something that I wanted to do, but sadly there isn't. I don't really have any hobbies. I tried tennis as a kid before though! Being around Fuji and Yuuti. But I wasn't really good at it. And I didn't find it fun at all. I mean, how was falling on the floor or hitting your head with a yellow ball fun anyway?

I was walking towards the gate when I heard a familiar sound. It was the sound of tennis balls hitting the pavement. You see, I usually pass by the tennis courts whenever I go home. It was the most convenient route. I decided to take a look at the tennis courts. Oh hey, It's Fuji. I sighed. If there was something that I knew I couldn't beat Fuji at, It was tennis. He was a tensai. Everyone knew it.

"Ah, Miyashita-san. What's up? Do you need anything?" I turned around and saw the vice captain of the tennis team. Oishi Shuichiro. Beside him was my overly hyper classmate, the acrobatic tennis player of the team, Kikumaru Eiji.

"Ah, Oishi-kun, Eiji." I bowed. "I was just passing by. Looks like you guys have gotten better. Everyone seems to be pumped up!" I giggled. It was true! They were A LOT BETTER. AND the tennis members seemed more enthusiastic players.

Both laughed nervously. "Hikari-chan nya, that's because of Inui's horrible juice." Eiji cringed. Juice? Why do I feel like this isn't your normal kind of juice. I looked at the look of fear plastered on their faces at the sound of 'Inui's horrible juice' It can't be that bad can it? Then again, this was Inui-san they were talking about. And Inui-san just loves conducting experiments. "Mah, I best be on my way then. I don't want to waste your practice time any further."

But before I could leave….

"Hikari-chan." That voice. that voice that makes me want to cringe. I turned around. It was him. I sighed. Wasn't he just playing a little tennis a while back? "Why don't you stay for a bit. You could learn a thing or two." He chuckled. "Saa, and we can go home together."

Once again, I sighed. "Fuji, I don't play tennis anymore. And besides, I still need to go grocery shopping. We're kinda running out of food supplies at home."

"Nya, come on Hikari-chan! You never watch me play! Just this once nya!" I giggled who could resist Eiji. Eiji has been my classmate and seatmate for the longest time and he was very persuasive. He has this face that I can't seem to say no to. I don't know how to explain it but his face is quite persuasive. Main point, I have a soft spot for the guy. I sighed in defeat. "Fine…" and with that Eiji gave me a suffocating bear hug.

"E-eiji….can't…breathe…" Okay…he ignores me. Am I gonna die now?

"Eiji!" phew, Oishi-kun to the rescue. What would you expect from Seigaku's mother hen? Eiji finally lets go of me.

"Gomen nya! Come inside! I'm sure Tezuka will let you in" Wait a minute…I never agreed to going inside the courts. I was fine watching from out here! Grr, I was tricked. Before I could even complain, Eiji was already dragging me into the courts. Ah shit, people are staring…

"Tezuka! Hikari-chan's gonna watch us nya!" And with that he decides to leave me alone with the stoic captain of the tennis team. I sighed. Hey, you want to know a little secret, well it's not really a secret. Anyone who I was classmate with in grade school would know this fact. Okay, see this guy right here? We used to be best friends. I don't really remember how and why we didn't remain best friends. We just slowly drifted apart. But we're still on good terms, still friends, but not that close anymore. That's okay though, I wouldn't have met Kou if it Kunimitsu and I didn't drift apart. Though, I do miss Kunimitsu sometimes…

"Sorry about this Kunimitsu. Eiji can be pretty persuasive. Is it okay if I stay in here?" Ah, old habits. They never seem to die. I still call him Kunimitsu after all these years. Actually, I've talked to him a couple of times, even when we weren't best friends anymore. And every time, I'd still call him Kunimitsu. It was more comfortable that way.

"Ah. You can sit on one of the benches if you'd like Hikari." I laughed. "Kunimitsu you haven't changed one bit."

"Ah…" I laughed even harder, not too loud though. I didn't want to disturb practice. I wiped the little drops of tears that were forming at the corners of my eyes. Happy tears, not sad ones. You know the ones that appear when you laugh too much? Yeah those. "Thanks again Kunimitsu." I said before going over to one of the benches. Wow, the regulars are really something aren't they…

"Carrots, Potatoes, Onion…" I added the root crops into my grocery cart. I checked the contents of the cart. That should be enough…if I add more, I'll have a hard time bringing them home. Okay, that's about it then. Better pay now.I looked around. Where was he? If he doesn't show up anytime soon, I'm seriously leaving him behind.

"Boo."

I screamed as I got caught off guard. I'm easily frightened okay? Loud and sudden noises freak me out! And after hearing all those scary sound from that horror movie Fuji was watching last night, I couldn't help but feel a bit jumpy."FUJI!" I screamed my lungs off, not minding the many people who were staring at me like I was some freak show.

"Gomen, I couldn't resist." He chuckled.

I glared at him for a bit before sighing. "Come on, let's go. Unless you want me to go on ahead…"

"Hai" He smiled and followed me towards the counter.

The cashier began scanning all of my necessities when I noticed a pint of wasabi ice cream. Huh. Who knew such a thing existed. I wonder if it tastes good. I mean, ice cream's good. But wasabi flavored ice cream? That's just unheard of. I turned to Fuji with and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you seriously going to eat that?"

"Saa, it's good. You should try some." I cringed. I'm not exactly a big fan of wasabi. It's too spicy. "Uh…no thanks Fuji…"

"That'll be one thousand and two hundred yen" I handed the cashier the money, took my groceries and went out of the store. I was now carrying three grocery bags as well as my own school bag, two on one hand, and one on the other hand.

It was eight thirty and I was doing my homework. Oniichan still hasn't arrived yet, when he says late, he actually means 'I'll be home early in the morning.' Usually, he arrives at around two a.m. I sighed. I've actually gotten used to this kind of environment. You know, me, all alone in the house, studying or doing what not. It wasn't ALWAYS like this. Before, our house was filled with laughter, then my parents started turning into workaholics, working day and night, barely spending time with me and my brother. It was fine I guess, I still had my oniichan with me. Suddenly, oniichan turned into one of them. As soon as he got a job, he started working more and more and spending time with me less and less. Sometimes, I even wonder if he still remembers that he has a little sister. I sighed. Great, now I can't concentrate.

I looked to my left where my balcony was located and saw Fuji's room. I stood up and went to the balcony, placing my arms on the rails. I smiled at what I heard. Laughter. The Fuji household was always filled with laughter. Yes I'm aware that the youngest Fuji, Fuji Yuuta or Yuuti as I like to call him, was dorming in St. Rudolph. But they still seemed happy. I envied Fuji, very much. He was good at everything, he looked amazing and had a nice loving family.

"Fuji Syuusuke, you must be the luckiest person on earth…" I sighed

So what did you guys think? Please REVIEW. Comments, suggestions, constructive criticisms are welcomed :3 so please please do review :D

kur-chan