This is a retry of a story I started, messed up and then tried again (Which is the copy you see before you.) I'm trying to ease myself back into fanfiction after about a million year absence. I also have to ease myself back into POT—it's been equally as long since I've read/watched it. Bear with me and enjoy!

The Life and Times of Kikumaru Eiji

Chapter One

We learn from history that we learn nothing from history

The road was a narrow and bumpy one. It was astounding that the charter bus, as bulky as it was, could squeeze around the hairpin turns without upending and throwing its occupants to their doom. The steep drop gave a view of the valley below which was just barely visible trough the shroud of fog and low lying clouds. The treetops only just peeked heads out of the cover of the black mist. The stars in the sky, however, were visible. The mountain top was far above the mist that lay on the valley floor and the bus was confronted by the whole sky.

But the inhabitants of the charter bus paid on heed to the fog twisting and turning about outside. The inside of the bus was quiet by the standard of occupants. They were not about their usual activities. Oishi was asleep near the front of the bus, his constant stream of worries silenced to the relief of all involved. In the back, usually quiet Taka didn't have his racket, so he was silently reading up on tips to make sushi. Fuji was staring blankly out the window, his customary smile still lingered on his face, giving the impression that he knew something unknown to all, which was probably true. He seemed to be the only one enjoying the fog outside and was probably deciding which angle would be the best if he were to take a picture with his trusty camera.

Kaido appeared to be asleep as well, his headphones jammed into his ears and strains of heavy metal rock could be heard drifting from them. Homework not complete Momo was scribbling furiously on a sheet of lined paper. By himself in the back of the bus, Inui was furiously scratching away in his notebooks, apparently trying to cross-reference the encyclopedia sized collection he had strewn across two cushy seats of the bus. No one dared look his way, for fear of the wrath of his newest creation.

In fact, Tezuka was the only one being remotely like himself. His eyes were closed behind his oval glasses and his hair was falling around his face. Since he was a man of little words, no one even noticed that their captain was asleep. Eiji also seemed to be acting like himself, although on a much quieter scale. He had seen that some of the others were asleep or studying and had decided that he would make the right choice and be quiet. Across the isle from Inui, he was talking quietly with Ryoma, who appeared to not be agreeing with whatever Eiji was saying.

"Eh!" Eiji cried, making the loudest noise he had made since Oishi had fallen asleep. "But why, Ochibi? Just believe me! Why won't you? Even ask Fujko! He'll tell you the truth, nya, Fuji?"

Both Eiji and Ryoma's heads turned to face the genius of their school. Fuji turned his head away from the foggy window he was looking out of and smiled at the two of them.

"Saa… It would depend on what I was supposed to tell the truth about." He said in simple tones.

Whooping, and accidentally rousing some from their sleep, Eiji pulled Ryoma from his seat and dragged him up to what some would consider Eiji's best friend. Standing behind Ryoma to keep the younger kid from bolting, Eiji looked expectantly down at the shorter boy. He motioned towards Fuji—an invitation to ask questions.

Ryoma turned to look at Eiji, as if deciding whether or not his leg was about to be pulled. Eiji grinned down at him, daring his Ochibi to ask Fuji the question they had just been bickering about. Ryoma looked down at his feet, twisted his ever-present cap back and forth on his head and then muttered something under his breath.

"Ah, Echizen-kun, I couldn't hear what you said," Fuji leaned forward, so as to hear his short teammate better.

Ryoma looked at Eiji for a few seconds, rolled his eyes and then turned to Fuji, muttering "Kikumaru-senpai has been telling me strange stories about his childhood and I don't believe them." He said it with a slight slur sound to his voice, as if ashamed to be asking. Eiji nudged him on with a well placed elbow to the shoulder and a "Nya!" of disapproval. How dare his Ochibi not believe him.

Inui, from across the bus, looked up from his notebooks, glasses flashing dangerously at the prospect of learning new information on his favorite subjects.

Fuji grinned, a smile slightly larger than his usual growing on his face. "And what is it that Eiji is telling you, eh?" Ryoma had the distinct impression that Fuji knew exactly what he was talking about.

Ryoma pursed his lips, thought for a second then shook his head. Shoving Eiji aside lightly, he marched to an ill-upholstered seat and sat, becoming very interested in the view outside. This sent the intended message to the regulars looking curiously at him, and they left him alone. Sighing, too, Eiji made his way back to his chair next to Oishi and sat down with a huff, cursing Ochibi for ruining his fun.

All too soon, the bus was quieter than it had ever been. The only sound came from the measured breathing of those asleep, Kaido's headphones and Inui's incessant pencil scratching.

Half an hour later, Ryoma's eyes flickered to Eiji. Magically, the ever bouncing ball of energy was asleep, head on Oishi's shoulder with a train of drool working its way down his chin. Momo was also sleeping—it appeared that his math homework was good for one thing: pillowing his head against the foggy window.

Sparing Eiji one final glance and thanking his lucky stars that his two most common annoyances were finally asleep, Ryoma turned to Fuji, who was still looking out of the window with the same mild interest he had shown in the beginning.

"Oi, Fuji-senpai," Ryoma called out softly.

Eyes lingering on passing trees for a few seconds, Fuji turned to look at the boy across the isle from him.

"Saa?" He said by way of answering.

"Urm… I don't really know how to ask this." Ryoma began. "But Kikumaru-senpai was lying today wasn't he? About his childhood?" Ryoma cringed, unwilling to believe he was actually curious about irritation-number-one.

"Echizen, I don't know what Kikumaru told you…" Fuji petered off at the end, inviting Ryoma to divulge what was frustrating and embarrassing him so much to ask.

Ryoma frowned and looked around the bus. Spotting Inui, who was trying and failing to appear as if he wasn't listening, Ryoma rolled his eyes and tried another tactic.

"Fuji-senpai," He began again, still wondering why he was trying so hard to figure out why Eiji was telling fish-tales. "You've known Kikumaru-senpai for a while, right? He's… always been like he is now, hasn't he? You know, happy and agitating…" Ryoma, too, let his voice die, appraising the face that his smiling senpai was giving him.

Without words, Fuji rose noiselessly and headed to the front of the bus. Inui and Ryoma's eyes followed him to where he stopped beside Eiji's seat. Squatting down, he unzipped Eiji's red backpack. Flipping efficiently through Eiji's disorderly backpack and pocketing a few snacks on the way, Fuji extracted, with a grunt, a wad of papers stapled together. Iuni made a note of this in his notebook, obviously finding something of significance in this event.

On his way back to his still-warm seat, Fuji dropped the packet of papers into the younger boy's lap. Startled, Ryoma, picked them up, took one glance at them and then turned to his teammate with questions written all over his face.

"It's an assignment from school." Fuji explained without waiting for the question that Ryoma would doubtlessly not ask. "Our teachers asked us to write down our life histories. They're going to give them to us at graduation to see 'what chapters we've added onto our lives.' What you hold in your hands will without a doubt answer any questions you have about Eiji." After his miniature monologue was complete, Fuji gave a brief toothy smile then turned back to his window gazing.

Puzzled and slightly shocked to have the answered to his question answered in such a fashion, Ryoma looked down at the heap of papers one more time and, after shooting Inui an evil glare, he flipped past the cover page to began reading.

And so ends what I'm sure was the best first chapter of the best story you've ever read.

Oh dear readers, you have no idea how good it felt to finally sit down and write again. At first it was difficult to get back into character, but I hope I justly portrayed the wonderful characters in Prince of Tennis. However, I would like to note my somewhat negative attitude towards one Sadaharu Inui. My initial reaction to him during the show and books was that of extreme hate (…for some reason…) and I still haven't gotten over it. For this I am sorry, but for my individual voice to shine through, I must have one character to pick on and he was a prime candidate. So, if you love Inui, I first congratulate you on having affections for such an unlovable character, and secondly I beg your forgiveness and let you know that from here on out, he won't be in the story much, so you won't have to worry about little old me bashing him silly.

Aside from that, let me know if you see any typos, and as always: criticism, gushing and comments are welcome. Please! Review!