Wow I've had this half done for like 2 yrs now. I'm a mess. Sorry for always taking forever with stuff.

DISCLAIMER: I DONT OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS IN ANY WAY, JUST THE OCS THAT SHOW UP.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

Saori sighed and continued to stuff the volleyballs into the thin, net bag. "I'm sorry Echizen, but I'm busy with volleyball. I don't have time for another sport."

Rie sharply inhaled. "It's only temporary, you don't even have to stay on the team. I need you for a week, max."

Saori had finished picking up the balls and tied the bag shut. "And that week could be used on volleyball, something that I'm actually passionate about." She picked up the bag and tossed it over her shoulder. "Look Echizen, I get that you need help, but honestly if you hadn't gotten yourself into this mess, everything would've been fine."

"Gotten myself into this mess?" she raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Well yeah I mean didn't you start insulting the team about their skills? Even if you didn't know that they were nationally ranked, it doesn't mean you could belittle the amount of practice they put in."

Rie's raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Is this why you're saying no to me?"

Saori shut her eyes, and placed a finger on her temple before letting out an irritable sigh. "Look Echizen my main priorities lie in volleyball. As for the derogatory remarks on the girl's tennis team, I am a little miffed about them. Even if you don't like someone you still have to follow good sportsmanship, especially if you're an athlete.

Rie rolled her eyes and stifled a snort. Kano Saori was a justice obsessed muscle-head. Did she really believe that Rie would attack without being provoked? Rie shook her head and leaned against the gymnasium wall, while Saori continued to put away the equipment.

'Now what?' Rie had flipped open her phone, checking to see if Kimiko had sent her any messages. Right then her phone vibrated in her palm, indicating someone was trying to call her. Rie tapped the green phone button and placed the phone to her ear.

"Hey." Kimiko whispered in a raspy voice, heavily panting. "How did it go?"

"Negatively. Why are whispering? Not to mention you sound like you just ran a marathon."

"I ran from Nakazawa and now I'm hiding in a storage closet. I tried to sneak out of school, but she's got the teachers guarding every exit. I may have to resort to using my fifth backup exit."

"Why does it sound like this isn't your first time escaping detention?"

"Oh naive little one, I've been trying to get out of detention from freshmen year. Back then Nakazawa didn't have me on her radar, so it was pretty easy. Only once she started tracking me down in the middle of the year did I have to map out the entire school. By now I know this building better than most of the custodians." she said, full of pride. "Anyways Nakazawa may find me soon, so before she does you have to know something about Kano Saori. She's-"

Kimiko was cut off mid-sentence and all Rie could hear was the sound of Kimiko's muttered curses and Nakazawa's shrill voice.

"Scared of the dark." Kimiko screamed. "She's scared of the dark."

Rie shrieked in surprise before the loud dial tone beeped in her ear. She pulled the phone away from her ear and hung up.

'So she's scared of the dark?' Rie smirked, eyeing Saori's retreating figure, which was entering the storage closet.

"Dammit." Kimiko muttered, her phone still pressed to her ear.

Nakazawa had managed to find her squatting on the grimy floor of the custodian's closet.

"There you are Egami!" she shrieked. "Using your phone on school grounds? That's another week of detention!"

Kimiko inwardly groaned, Nakazawa's shouting was bound to give her a headache. Realizing Rie was still on the line, Kimiko hurriedly screamed, "Scared of the dark. She's scared of the dark." and quickly slammed her phone shut./

'Sorry little one.' she mentally apologized. 'Right now I have to find a way to escape Nakazawa.'

Kimiko examined her surroundings, while Nakazawa impatiently stood at the doorway, tapping her foot. Nakazawa was completely blocking the doorway and had no intention of letting Kimiko slip past her. Knowing this, Kimiko sighed and stood up. She smoothed out her skirt and walked towards Nakazawa.

"I'm ready to go Sensei." she in a monotonous voice.

Nakazawa eyed her suspiciously. Kimiko was never one to easily follow along. In the past two years Nakazawa had lost count of how many times she had to forcibly drag the girl to detention. She had a feeling Kimiko was already scheming some way to escape.

Kimiko walked towards Nakazawa, observing the older woman. If she could just make it to the hallway, Kimiko could start her sprint again. But would she even have enough energy? Her heart was still racing and her legs were still sore, despite Nakazawa being considerably older, Kimiko knew she wouldn't be able to escape the woman. She attempted to steady her breathing and squeezed her eyes shut, Kimiko was not nervous because she was worried, she had a back up, in fact she always had a back up. The problem here was that this was the one plan she wanted to avoid executing under all costs. The plan was considerably risky and even if she didn't get caught then she would have to worry about other things.

Regardless Kimiko was determined. She let out a light breath and watched Nakazawa from the corner of her eye. They were on the third floor and straight across from them was a window. Kimko bit her lip and eyed her goal. She quickly bent her knees and slid her phone underneath Nakazawa and watched it slam into the wall underneath the window sill. Nakazawa turned her head, her brows furrowed in confusion. Repressing the urge to cringe Kimiko took this chance to dive underneath Nakazawa's arms, pushing past her and escaped. She sprinted, grabbed her phone, and climbed onto the window sill while Nakazawa's eyes widened.

"Egami! Get down from there right this second." she screamed. "You're going to get hurt."

Kimiko stuffed her phone into her pocket, dramatically turning her head towards Nakazawa before finally speaking.

"Sayonara sensei." she said, slightly waving before jumping out.

"EGAMI!" Nakazawa shrieked, rushing towards the window, frantically searching for any sign of the girl, only to see Kimiko hanging onto a nearby tree branch slightly below the third floor.

"EGAMI!" she screeched. "I told you that jumping would be dangerous. You wait right there while I go get the physical education teacher. He'll get the ladder and we'll get you down. Expect a severe punishment for your rash behavior." Nakazawa scolded once more, before turning on her heel.

Kimiko heard the click clack of Nakazawa's heels echo in the hall and scoffed. "Where exactly does she expect me to go?"

She sighed, already feeling the weight growing heavy on her arms. "I need to find a way down."

Kimiko kicked her legs, trying to lift herself above the branch, only to pathetically fail. She let out a small growl and kicked her leg even more furiously causing her shoe to slip off.

"Ow!"

She looked down to see Kikumaru Eiji holding her flat in his hand and rubbing his head. With him was his doubles partner, Oishi Shuichiro, looking concerned at his friend's pain. They both looked up to see where the shoe had come from, only to see Kimiko hanging from a branch.

"Egami?" Kikumaru asked, his gaze alternating between Kimiko and the shoe in his hand.

"Oh perfect, if it isn't Kikumaru and Oishi. Just the boys I need to help me out." she said, rolling her eyes.

"Why are you up in that tree, Egami?" asked Kikumaru.

"That's irrelevant." she quickly spat out. "Just get me down before Nakazawa gets back."

"Nakazawa sensei? Are you supposed to be in detention?" Oishi asked.

"Once again, irrelevant." she rolled her eyes. "Could you focus on the big picture here? There's a girl hanging from a tree who could fall to her impending death at any second."

'God these boys aren't just annoying, they're dumb too.' Kimiko thought to herself.

"She's right Oishi, we should get her down first." Kikumaru replied.

Oishi nodded. "I'll try getting the ladder from the storage room."

Kikumaru cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting up to Kimiko. "Hold on Egami, Oishi's getting the ladder."

"My arms aren't gonna last me that long." she responded, her arms having lost feeling for a good while. "Come up with a solution quick or I'll tell everyone you've been looking up my skirt."

"W-what!?" Kikumaru exclaimed. "But I n-never did that." he stuttered out.

"I know you're getting a pretty good angle from there." she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"It's not on purpose!" he shouted out, his face completely red.

"I wonder what strong she'd think of you." Kimiko mused. "You know that girl you have a crush on, what was her name again?"

Kikumaru's eyes widened. "Wait how do you know about that?"

She smirked. "If you don't get me down right now, I can guarantee you I won't be the only one to know."

"Ok, ok!" he frantically shouted. "I'll try climbing the tree.

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "As if that's gonna, help you id-"

Her sentence was cut short as her grip on the branch loosened. 'Fuck'

She squeezed her eyes shut and curled her body, using her arms to cover her face, hoping this would lighten the blow.

"Oof."

'Huh?'

Kimiko opened her eyes upon noticing she wasn't experiencing as much pain as she should've been. The ground was surprisingly much softer than she expected as well. She shifted a bit, hearing a rather unsightly grunt come from underneath her.

"Egami, could you maybe move over?" Kikumaru asked, his face lacking color.

"Oh." was all she managed to say as she shifted off of his stomach.

So Kikumaru wasn't completely useless and managed to act as some sort of cushion for her fall. 'At least he's quick on his feet.' she thought.

She sat down next to him, slipping her shoe back on. "You okay?"

"Yeah." he said, a constrained laugh leaving his mouth.

"Maybe you should go to the nurse. Make sure things aren't broken." she said feeling a tad guilty considering she could've been the one laying on the ground right now.

"No it's fine." he reassured her, sitting up.

"That's good." she 'Not my responsibility anymore then, thank god.'

"Anyway I'm gonna go then." she turned on her heel, hoping Nakazawa wouldn't appear anytime soon. "Also," she turned to face Kikumaru "I have no idea who the girl you like is. It was a bluff, but thanks for letting me know you have a crush on someone."

Kikumaru's eyes widened. "Wait Egami! What do you mean that was a lie?"/p

Kimiko quickly sped away from the scene. 'I owed him one. I guess it won't hurt him to know I was bluffing. I wonder who the girl he has a crush is though.'

Oishi returned with the ladder to see his doubles partner on the ground, looking disheveled and frantic.

"You okay Eiji?" Oishi asked.

"Oishi." Kikumaru turned his head, completely exhausted.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking around. "Egami isn't here anymore?"

Kikumaru sighed, causing Oishi to flinch. He'd never seen his partner so dejected.

"Did Egami do something?" he asked.

"She…" Kikumaru's sentence trailed off, as he stared off into the distance.

"Maybe we should get back to the courts." Oishi suggested, helping him to his feet. 'What exactly did Egami do to him?'

Sorry for the crappy ending. Kimiko basically ruined the poor boy physically with her fall and mentally with her bluff. Just to clarify Kikumaru doesn't like Kimiko, he has a crush on someone else as of now.