A/N: My first attempt at a Prince of Tennis fanfiction. I would appreciate any form of advice you have on my story, even criticism as long as it is not unreasonable. My story does not follow the prince of Tennis timeline, and there might be a few mistakes in my data here and there, so feel free to correct me! Reviews reviews I beg of you!
Oh yes, and I do not own Prince of Tennis.
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"My god, Shizuka." A hand entered the said person's line of vision and flapped around in it. "You are going to blow us all up if you continue daydreaming this much."
Masahashi Shizuka turned to look at her partner blankly, her expression clear evidence that not a word of the instructions for their chemistry experiment had registered in her mind. "What?" She floundered about, struggling to bring herself up to date with her lesson.
"Light the burner." Her friend, Kimiko, whispered to her. Then, as their teacher started her patrol around the class to make sure everyone was working, she poked Shizuka and hissed "light it!" more urgently.
"Alright, alright." Shizuka hurriedly lighted the burner before her friend went into hysterics, resorting to taking instructions from her for the rest of the lesson.
"What were you thinking about?" Kimiko questioned the moment they got out of the classroom for lunch. "Do you know you could have ruined our grade for this assignment? WE COULD HAVE FAILED!"
"Which is why I have you." Shizuka grinned at Kimiko. "I was thinking of tennis later."
It was a well-known and much disputed fact that third-year Masahashi Shizuka, a scatter-brained, supremely absent-minded person endowed with a vivid imagination, was also Captain of Seigaku's Girl's Tennis Club. Kimiko sighed. "You and your tennis. Is that all you ever think about all day?"
"Of course no- OUCH!" Shizuka glared at the girl who had just barged past her into the cafeteria, which was packed full of people, as usual. "What's her problem? Can't she look where she's going?"
Kimiko sighed and jerked her head in the direction of a large and still-growing group of squealing girls clustered around a table in the centre of the cafeteria.
"Oh." Shizuka raised her eyebrows. "Figures."
The regulars of the renowned Seigaku's Boy's Tennis club were seated at the table, surrounded by piles of bento boxes from their fangirls. From what Shizuka could see, the biggest piles were in front of Fuji Syusuke, his gentle manner and almost feminine movements, as well as his drop-dead gorgeous looks attracting a swarm of girls, and Tezuka Kunimitsu, Captain of the club, stoic and silent but who held enough power to put any member in place in an instant.
Shizuka herself had a soft spot for the freshman prodigy, Echizen Ryoma, who was currently being tortured by Momoshiro pinching his cheeks. Ryoma was just too adorable.
"Fuji-kun..." Shizuka was disrupted out of her train of thought and turned to find Kimiko starry-eyed gazing at her idol. Shaking her head, she grabbed her friend and dragged her to find a seat for themselves away from all the hustle of the girls lusting after the most desired bachelors in Seigaku.
Too much hormonal activity, Shizuka decided.
Just as she had gotten Kimiko sober enough (Fuji was a drug) to get her food and sit down at their table to eat, a younger girl who she recognized from the tennis club approached them.
"M-Masahashi senpai," the girl gulped nervously. Shizuka smiled at her, identifying her as Ryuuzaki-sensei's granddaughter, Ryuuzaki Sakuno. "M-my grand... I mean Ryuuzaki-sensei would like to see you in her office after lunch, just before tennis starts." She told Shizuka.
"Sure. Thank you for telling me." Shizuka patted the younger girl's head lightly. Blushing, Sakuno hurried off, and was out of sight in a few seconds. Wondering what Ryuuzaki sensei could want to see her about- and sincerely hoping it was not because she had misplaced the name register yet again-Shizuka contented herself with eating her lunch for the time being.
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Sakuno was still blushing as she was jostled about, trying to find a way to the regulars's table without getting trampled. Finally, squeezing between two girls and dodging a bento box, she found herself right behind Tezuka, who was the other person she was supposed to deliver her grandmother's message to. Trying to pluck up the courage to talk to the intimidating Captain and failing miserably, she gave up, instead sidling over to where Ryoma was seated, having just been released from Momoshiro's headlock.
"Ryo-Ryoma-kun." She shyly alerted him to her presence.
"Eh?" He turned around and cocked his head at her, causing her to start blushing once again. Beside him, Eiji was animatedly chatting away with Oishi while Momoshiro and Kaidoh sent each other death-glares. Kawamura was happily eating some sushi and Inui seemed to be recording the number of bento boxes in front of Tezuka.
"I-It's just that... I-I have a message from my grandmother for Tezuka-san." She stuttered at Ryoma.
"Oh. Tell him, then." Ryoma leant back in his seat and, before Sakuno could stop him, he had yelled "Buchou! Message for you."
Tezuka turned towards them, as Sakuno fretted in dismay. "What is it?" He asked her.
"M-M-My g-grandmother wanted m-me to tell you to m-meet her in the office just before tennis practice starts." Sakuno was sure she was beet-red now. The situation only worsened when Momoshiro waved good naturedly at her.
Tezuka nodded once to show that he understood. Sakuno quickly bowed slightly at him and ran off, glad to be out of his scrutinizing gaze. The next thing she knew, she was being dragged back to the table by Tomo-chan who had appeared out of nowhere with a pile of handkerchiefs with the words 'I love Ryoma-sama' on them. Sighing, she conceded to her fate, before suddenly recalling something.
"Oh no! I forgot to Tezuka-san that Masahashi-senpai was going to be there!"
Tomo-chan rolled her eyes as she continued dragging Sakuno along with her. "Stop worrying, silly! He'll find out!"
Then Sakuno groaned again. "And vice-versa!"
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Tezuka was having some difficulty ignoring the screaming masses of girls beside the table. He had wanted nothing more than to escape into the tennis courts, but Fuji had convinced him and the rest to have lunch "as a team", as it would "strengthen their bonds."
Thinking back, he berated himself for listening to the Tensai.
Tezuka was not a very sociable person and usually had his lunch at the tennis courts, thereby avoiding the throng of 'fangirls' as they proudly called themselves. This was one of the few times he had been mobbed by them. Fuji's wide smile on his right did nothing to soothe his nerves. He was also not impressed by Kikumaru's cartwheeling across the table to save time walking around it.
He pondered about the message that had just been relayed to him. What could Ryuuzaki-sensei want from him? A report on the team's progress? Possible. He could not think of much that she would want to talk to him about. Some new people wanting to tryout, maybe.
Pushing the thoughts aside, he listened to the idle chatter among his teammates. When there were fifteen minutes left for lunch, he politely got up and excused himself, trusting them not to be late for tennis.
Tezuka managed to navigate around all the people crowded around their table, and was mildly surprised when his tray was snatched away by a girl who insisted that she would put it away for him. Not giving her a second glance, he walked out of the cafeteria, sighing in relief when he reached the quieter corridor leading out to the tennis courts.
He walked quickly, knocking on the door to Ryuuzaki-sensei's door before entering, He saw the coach, in her customary pink outfit with her hair tied up, sitting at her desk, regarding some documents she had spread out in front of her. Looking up, she gave him a small smile, greeting him with "Tezuka."
"Ryuuzaki-sensei." Tezuka nodded back in return. He waited expectantly for her to speak, but she merely gestured towards one of two vacant chairs in front of her desk. Sitting down, he looked up at her again, but she had gone back to reading her documents.
"Ryuuzaki-sensei?" He questioned. "Did you not ask to see me?"
"Yes, yes, of course." She cheerily replied. "We are just waiting for Masahashi to get here. I do hope she won't be late. "
Tezuka raised his eyebrows. "Masahashi-san?" He asked, wondering why the Captain for the Girl's Tennis Club had been summoned as well.
"Didn't she tell you?" Ryuuzaki-sensei asked him.
"She?" Tezuka was getting even more confused.
"Sakuno. I told her to tell both of you to come." She sighed. "Judging by your expression though, I guess she didn't."
"Aa."
They both sat in silence, Ryuuzaki-sensei going back to her reading and Tezuka watching the seconds tick by on the clock, wondering if he would be in time for tennis. Lost in thought, he almost jumped when a knock sounded on the office door.
Shizuka entered, greeting Ryuuzaki-sensei, before her eyes fell on Tezuka.
'Oh. My. God. Why. Is. He. Here' Shizuka had to remember to breathe in. It wasn't that she had a crush on him or anything, she wasn't one of those stupid fangirls who screamed their heads off and wrote notes like "YOU'RE SO HAWWWT!" with spelling errors in them. It was just that he had quite an intimidating presence.
"I apologize for interrupting. I will wait outside." She gathered her thoughts enough to say, starting to back out.
"No, Masahashi." Ryuuzaki-sensei's voice stopped her short. "I wanted to see both you and Tezuka. Now sit down." She pointed towards the other empty chair beside Tezuka, who had an unfathomable expression in his eyes as he looked at her.
'Uh-oh. Both me and him?' Shizuka thought. 'Ah whatever.' She walked over and seated herself. Ryuuzaki-sensei gathered the documents on her table, arranging them neatly on one side. Regarding both of them across the desk, she made her announcement.
"I have decided that Seigaku's Girl's and Boy's Tennis clubs will have a joint collaboration for a month. It is time you people learnt how to play mixed doubles."
A/N: Hehehe how will it work out? Review and you will find out!