Sleep, sleep, sleep

Eyes tightly closed,

A little smile on your cheeks,

Feeling the warm sensations

Of the pure and precious sleep

- Jerine James

A young girl walked through a park slowly. She took in the beauty of the trees as she went. The leaves and branches caused shadows to dance across the grass around her. She smiled softly. The girl was quite the odd sight though. Unlike most, she had a fool head of dirty blonde hair that, if let down, would fall to her middle back. She had light brown eyes that almost looked golden and a few freckles on her cheeks. She wore normal clothes: a dark green sun dress, tan leggings, and dark brown flats. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, but a few strands of her hair still found their way to get into her face.

As she walked, she looked up through the trees to see patches of light blue sky and the white clouds. A soft breeze blew past her. She closed her eyes and took in the soft breeze as it played with the flow of her dress and moved her hair around slightly. She smiled brightly as the trees moved allowing the warmth of the sun to fall upon her face. She looked up into the sunlight and picked up her pace slightly.

Currently, she was on her way to the tennis courts. Since she was a student of Hyotei, she had heard many people talking about the first round of the Kanto Regionals being against Seigaku. She didn't know exactly when the games would start, but she figured if she arrived early enough it would give her time to find the correct courts.

She wasn't going to the games because she knew the regulars. In fact, she only knew a couple of tennis players out of the whole team, but she wasn't sure if they were regulars or not. She was just a big fan of tennis. She enjoyed watching a good game, and from what she heard from those in her school, it was going to be a good match.

She had wanted to learn more about the team that she would be watching, but unfortunately there weren't many people that she could ask. She had moved back to the area at the beginning of the school year, and she didn't know many people in her classes or school in general. Of course it didn't help that her family didn't have much money. Her parents had wanted her to get a good education and talked her into taking the entrance exam to Hyotei. She was accepted on a scholarship. Not many people talked to her, but she really didn't mind all that much. It was easier to keep a low profile.

On her way to the courts, she heard the sound of someone snoring. She frowned at the thought. If someone was sleeping outside like this, they could catch a cold. She followed the sound to a boy sleeping on the ground next to a tree. He slept with his knees bent up off the ground and his arms crossed behind his head.

She was surprised that he looked to be about her age. He wore what looked to be a tennis uniform and he was also wearing a back pack of some sort with a tennis racket attached to it. The jacket was white and bluish gray while the pants were a darker color. She thought it was the Hyotei uniform, but she wasn't sure. However, the one thing that stood out the most was his orange colored messy hair.

She bent down next to him and nudged his shoulder. "Hey." She said to him. He shifted slightly, but made no attempt to wake up. "Hey." She said louder and shook him harder. This time he opened his eyes to reveal amber brown orbs. "You shouldn't sleep here." She told him, but he just stared at her. "Are you okay?" She asked, but he simply yawned and closed his eyes again. She huffed in an attempt to calm her annoyance. "Fine, sleep and get a cold. See if I care." She stood quickly and continued on her walk toward the tennis courts.

As she walked toward what she thought were the courts, she realized that she seemed to be lost. She frowned. She tried to think where she should go. It was all because she wanted to help the sleeping boy. She continued to walk around until she heard the sound of cheers. She smiled. She was finally walking in the right direction. She could hear the crowds yelling for Hyotei. It was so loud and made her feel excited.

She was getting closer to the courts and her smile widened. Something caught her eye to her left. Two boys were talking and walking in the same direction. One had short brown hair, gray eyes, and a small scar on the right side of his forehead. The other had short brown hair on the sides of his head, but longer hair on the top that looked combed to the left. He also had brown eyes, but she thought he looked a bit odd. They were both wearing their school uniform.

The girl noticed the one with shorter hair right away. She smiled brightly. "Yuuta!" She said happily.

Yuuta looked away from his friend and to the girl. She was walking toward him and Yanagisawa. He looked at her confused, but then smiled also. "Hikari!" He said equally happy. He ran up to her and hugged her tightly. "What are you doing here?" He asked confused. He hadn't seen her in almost three years. "I see you haven't grown much." He said when he noticed how she barely reached his shoulder.

The girl, now known as Hikari, frowned deeply and glared at Yuuta. "Baka!" She yelled punching him in the stomach causing him to double over slightly. "Is that anyway to talk to someone who's older than you?" She questioned.

Yuuta laughed nervously. He had forgotten how much she hated people bringing up her height. "Sorry…" He mumbled when he caught his breath. At least she looked well. "What are you doing here?" He asked again.

Hikari smiled softly. "I came to watch tennis."

Her answer was so simple but it confused him. Ever since a few years ago she hadn't even gone close to tennis. He remembered that Syusuke was playing. "Who are you here to watch?" He asked.

"I'm watching Hyotei." Yuuta gave Hikari an extremely confused look. "That's the school I'm going to." She shrugged. "Everyone says they are very good so I came to look for myself." She stated.

"They're playing my brother today…" Yuuta mentioned.

"Oh! Syusuke's playing!" She said excitedly. "Let's go!" She said trying to pull him toward the tennis courts, but failed due to her short stature and Yuuta pulling back. She hadn't seen Syusuke play in a long time. She was curious to see how he had improved.

Before Yuuta could complain, Yanagisawa cleared his throat. Yuuta saw his senpai giving him a weird look. He opened his mouth to introduce Hikari, but she decided to speak first. "Yuuta, who's the creepy duck looking guy?" She asked seriously.

"Hey!" Yanagisawa yelled at her while Yuuta just stared at her. She was glaring at Yanagisawa and he was even returning the glare.

"This is Yanagisawa-senpai." Yuuta said motioning to his teammate. "He's my teammate at St. Rudolph." He explained.

"Why did you go to the same school as Syusuke?" She asked but didn't wait for him to answer when she saw his face darken. She then let go of his arm and walked in front of Yanagisawa. "Nice to meet you. My name is Fuji Hikari." She stated. "Thanks for taking care of my little cousin!" She said with a bright smile.

Yuuta groaned. "You're the one who's little." She turned around and kicked him in the shin. "Ow! Hey!" He glared at her.

"Let's go." She stated and walked toward the courts.

"That's… your cousin…?" Yanagisawa asked amazed. Her personality was a bit off. At one minute she was kind, but the next she was punching Yuuta and yelling at him.

"Ah…" Yuuta said with a slight smile. "When she played tennis, that's when her aggressive behavior would show up, but now it looks like she's struggling to control herself." He laughed slightly.

"She doesn't play anymore, dane?"

Yuuta shook his head. "She hurt her leg in an accident and hasn't touched a tennis racket since." Hikari waited for Yanagisawa and Yuuta to catch up before she walked over. She didn't want to walk by herself. "What's wrong?" He asked, but Hikari just shook her head. She didn't want to tell him that she was suddenly feeling nervous.

As they walked over to the court, Hikari was able to pick out Syusuke first. She looked at the score and noticed that it was already tied. "But it's not over yet!" Hikari's attention was brought to Seigaku's side. She watched as a player with brown hair and eyes held the Seigaku flag in the air. "Wow…" She mumbled. She could tell how heavy it was.

Everyone was amazed at Kawamura's power. Even Hyotei's side was surprised. "Hey hey! It's bad dane…" Yanagisawa said and Hikari looked at him confused.

"Oh, St. Rudolph!" The freshman said. Yanagisawa waved at them.

Fuji Syusuke seemed happy. "Yuuta! You came to cheer me on!" He said happily.

Yuuta looked embarrassed. A slight blush touched his face. "That's not it…" Hikari laughed at him.

"Nice, Yuuta." She said and elbowed him in the side.

"Shut it, Hikari."

"Hikari?" Syusuke asked. His blue eyes were surprised. Hikari waved at him happily and Syusuke smiled at her brightly.

Yanagisawa started walking down toward Kawamura. "But… That is some incredible power dane!" He looked at the flag. He grabbed onto the pole. "Is this heavy?" He asked. Kawamura let go of the flag and Yanagisawa fell over due to the weight of the flag.

He struggled with it until Kawamura took the flag back. "Are you okay?" He asked the St. Rudolph player.

"To be able to lift something so heavy…" He said with a surprised face. "As expected of Seigaku… They're as powerful as usual dane."

"Power, eh?" Atobe asked. "Kabaji! Jirou is still sleeping… Wake him up!" He ordered Kabaji. Jirou Akutagawa was sleeping on the bench behind them. Hikari noticed it was the boy who was sleeping next to the tree earlier. So he was a Hyotei player, she thought as she walked down with Yuuta toward the Seigaku players, but stayed beside Yuuta.

"Yes." Kabaji said. He easily lifted Jirou up off the ground by the back of his jersey. Everyone even Hyotei was amazed.

Hikari stared wide eyed. "Is that even normal…?" She whispered.

"The one he's holding is the senior, Jirou Akutagawa." Yanagisawa said. "The opponent who beat Yuuta in 15 minutes dane…"

"You don't need to make an introduction for him!" Yuuta said embarrassed. Hikari looked at Yuuta and Yanagisawa surprised. She looked at the sleeping boy, but she couldn't see how he could beat Yuuta that quickly.

Jirou woke up and saw the ground far away from him. He looked up to see Kabaji holding him up. "What?" He asked confused.

"Yes." Kabaji said and lifted Jirou straight up in the air.

"Hey… wait!" Jirou yelled as he began to flail around. "Put me down! Hey!" Jirou yelled trying to get down from Kabaji's grasp.

"It's fine, Kabaji." Atobe said. He seemed almost bored.

"Yes." Kabaji said and put Jirou down who ended up falling on his butt.

Jirou looked up at Kabaji. "As usual, incredible power, huh?"

This was going to become a game of power, Hikari thought as she stood with Yuuta. The play style didn't really bother her, but she didn't like what the game was turning into. "Kawamura-san is gambling his arm…" She mumbled when he started using the one handed Hadoukyuu.

"You're right." Yuuta said watching the match.

The game ended up being considered null due to both players being unable to play. Hikari sighed. She could see the strain that both players were putting their arms through. From what she could see, neither of them had any permanent damage to their arms. She wasn't sure about Kabaji from where she was standing, but Kawamura's hand has definitely bleeding… She didn't like seeing people getting hurt.

"Is he alright?" Yuuta asked Hikari knowing how good her eyes were.

Hikari nodded. "From here, it doesn't look like any muscles were damaged. Bones are harder to for me to consider, but they seem fine." She smiled. "Now it's Syusuke's turn."

"Aniki…" Yuuta whispered slightly.

"Mr. Little Brother." Yanagisawa said. "It's finally your older brother's turn, dane." Yuuta frowned and put Yanagisawa in a headlock. "You're worried… What the heck are you doing dane?"

"It's okay to be worried." Hikari said. Yuuta stopped hurting his friend and started focusing. Syusuke was ready for his match, but his opponent, Akutagawa Jirou was still sleeping on the side. His teammates woke him up. Jirou yawned as he tried to wake up. When the game was about to start, Jirou still looked asleep. "This is going to be a good game." She said. "Go Syusuke!" She yelled loudly catching everyone's attention.

The match started with Fuji using his underhand serve. The serve that seems to disappear… it was quite scary… She watched as Akutagawa went to return it, but seemed to vanish. However, her eyes followed the ball easily. It actually sliced so hard that it just seemed to vanish. Hikari smiled. He's taking this seriously. Hikari snorted as she tried to control her laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Yuuta asked, but Hikari could tell that he was still surprised at the serve.

"That." She said pointing to Hyotei's player who seemed overly excited. He even ran off the court, but now he was actually awake.

Jirou was great when it came to serve and volley. He had good eye hand coordination to even stop Syusuke from hitting it toward his feet for a little. However, Syusuke kept him under control and even used his third counter, Hakugei. Hikari felt like she was in a trance watching them play.

"Aniki…" Yuuta whispered to himself. "Hey Echizen." He called out breaking her trance. Echizen looked back at him. "You told me to set my sights higher. My final goal is still my brother!" He declared.

Echizen turned back around. "That's fine. Whatever…"

"Yuuta…" Hikari whispered amazed.

In the end, Syusuke ended up winning 6-1. Hikari could tell that Jirou still had a lot of room to grow. As for Syusuke, he had gotten a lot stronger than she last saw him, but he didn't show his full strength even though he won…

Syusuke looked over at Yuuta, but Yuuta turned his back on him. Hikari was about to yell at him, but she saw the smile on his face. A soft smile appeared on her face as well. "Good game Syusuke." She said for Yuuta.

"Thanks." Syusuke said smiling at Hikari also.

Hikari looked over at Jirou to see him smiling. She was surprised to see that he was actually excited. He was an interesting person. She turned to Yuuta. "I don't think your brother tried as hard as he could." She whispered so that only Yuuta could hear. He looked at her surprised but she just smiled brightly. "Next match the captains are playing." She said excitedly. "It's going to be a good match." She smiled. She looked over at Syusuke.

"If you want to go talk to him, go." Yuuta said. Hikari smiled and went to go stand next to Syusuke.