"Hoi hoi~!" Kikumaru Eiji did a particularly impressive flip on the tennis court, hitting the ball back to the automatic machine.

    "Hey, that was pretty cool."

The acrobatic player turned to find a girl watching him from behind the fence, blowing bubble gum. "Ara?" He beamed. "Thanks!" Then he tilted his head to the side inquisitively. "Umm… who are you?"

The unknown girl let out a small laugh. "I'm , new third year at Seigaku Junior High."

    "Ah! You go to Seigaku?!" He ran up to the fence excitedly. "I go there too!"

    "I kinda guessed from your jersey." She winked playfully, which caused him to blush slightly. "And you are…?"

    "Oh yeah, I'm Kikumaru Eiji!" He smiled warmly. "Pleased to meet you!"

could only smile back at his pure exuberance. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too."

It was then that Eiji noticed the racket she was holding loosely in her right hand. "Ah! You play tennis, too?" he asked eagerly.

    "Oh…" She shrugged. "…now and again."

    "Hey, let's play a game then, nyah!" Eiji twirled his racket in his hand and flashed a peace sign.

    "I'd love to."
 

Smile

    "Aiyah… no fair!" Eiji gasped, gulping in air. "'Now and again?!' You play a lot more than ‘now and again'!"

, for her part, was also sweating and panting, but she managed to crack a grin at the disbelief in his voice. "So maybe I lied a little."

Eiji pouted. "That's mean, nyah!"

    "Hey, don't be mad." walked to his side of the court and nudged him in the shoulder with her racket. "I haven't had such a great game in a long time." She ruffled his hair teasingly. "Forgive me?"

    "Well…" He thought it over and was all smiles in a heartbeat, making his new friend blink in surprise. "Aww, of course, -chan! And you're right. That game was awesome! Let's play again sometime!"

    "Y'know, you're really strange." She stared at him for a long moment before she shook her head, laughing. "I'd like that a lot."

    "Yay!" Before she knew it, Eiji had wrapped her in a bear hug. "I'll meet you here tomorrow, m'kay?" He glanced at his watch. "Ahh! I'm late for dinner. Mom's gonna kill me!" He pulled back and looked at , who had frozen in shock, not used to such freely given affection from someone she just met. Eiji, however, didn't seem to notice and just gave her a wink. "I'll see you then! Ja!" And with that, he bolted outside the fence.

stared after him before shaking her head and looking up at the sky, which was just beginning to darken. "Very strange…" The corners of her lips twitched as she fought off the overwhelming urge to grin.

---

    "Oishi! Oishi!"

Oishi Syuichiroh let out a startled sound as a weight suddenly landed on his back, but he didn't need anyone to tell him who it was. "Eiji!" He shook his head, not even bothering to rebuke his friend for jumping on him. He would only do it again, and truth be told, he wouldn't be Eiji if he didn't. Instead, Seigaku's vice-captain asked, "What are you doing here so early? I haven't even opened the clubroom yet."

Eiji jumped off his friend and beamed. "I couldn't wait to tell you! I wanted to call you last night, but I got home late and I didn't want to bother you, so I decided to wake up early and get here when you did." The hyperactive teenager was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Oishi smiled at the excitement shining in his friend's eyes. "Aaa… Why don't you tell me while we walk?" He continued to walk around the school buildings and towards the tennis courts – his doubles partner following him.

    "Yesterday, I was at the tennis courts in the park, and I met this really cool girl!" Eiji tugged on Oishi's jacket. "She's a great tennis player! She said that she goes to school here, too!"

    "Really? What's her name?"

    " !"

    "Oh, she's the new transfer student from America," Oishi replied absently – being on the student council made him privy to all sorts of information about incoming students.

    "Wow! She's from America?! She didn't say anything like that to me," the redhead commented, shaking his head.

    "You did just meet her yesterday, Eiji," Oishi said, taking a key out of his pocket as they walked the last few steps to the clubroom. "Remember not to expect too much from strangers."

His redheaded partner pouted. "Oishi, -chan's no stranger, nyah!"

    "Eiji…"

    "Ah Oishi! I hate when you use that tone on me…"

Oishi sighed but stayed silent, opening the clubroom door as his partner bounded in first.

    "I have to introduce you to her later!"

    "All right… just make sure you aren't bothering her if she's doing something."

    "Oishi, you worry too much."

---

    "…and she could totally hit a snake shot, like Kaidoh! Then there was the split-step, like Ochibi-chan! And-"

    "Kikumaru-senpai." The first year regular walked up to his bouncy teammate, tugging down his signature white cap.

    "Ochibi!!" Eiji pounced on the freshman. "What is it, nyah?"

    "Kikumaru-senpai…" Ryoma's face twisted beneath his cap. "Please let me go."

    "But you're so cute!"

    "Eiji, he's turning blue!" Oishi exclaimed worriedly, rushing up to them.

    "Ack!" Eiji quickly let his favorite kouhai go. "I'm sorry, ochibi!"

Ryoma coughed, rubbing a hand over his sore neck. "…it's fine."

    "Oi ochibi, were you going to tell me something?" Eiji tilted his head to the side questioningly.

    "Anno…this girl…does she have long black hair?"

    "Yep! How'd you know?"

    "Eiji-senpai… a lot of girls have black hair," second-year Momoshiro Takeshi reminded pointedly. "He just guessed."

Ignoring his teammate, Ryoma continued, "And she likes chewing bubble gum?"

    "Yeah, yeah!" Eiji grinned, even though he was still a little puzzled about Ryoma's sudden interest. "Why do you ask?"

    "No reason… except that girl's been standing over there watching you for the past ten minutes." The tennis prodigy pointed by the gates impassively. "Is that her?"

His question was answered when Eiji looked and let out an excited yell. "-chan!!!" He ran over to the fence with a bounce in his step. "What are you doing here?"

Chewing her bubble gum, she replied, "I wanted to see Seigaku's number one tennis team in action." Then she winked. "And to see you, of course."

The acrobatic redhead felt his face warm unexpectedly. "I've wanted to see you all day!" He placed his hands on the chain link fence and leaned forward. "Come on, you have to meet my friends!"

    "Umm… I don't know if that's a good idea at the moment."

    "Eh? Why not?" was looking at someone over his shoulder, and before he could look himself, he cringed when he heard the person instead.

    "Kikumaru! What are you doing?"

Eiji looked towards the benches to find Tezuka frowning at him. "Ah, nothing, nothing!"

    "Maybe later, Kikumaru-san?" said with a smile. "I don't want you to get in trouble. Your captain looks kinda scary."

    "Aa…same time, same place, ne?" Eiji nodded, already backpedaling to the court where Oishi was waiting. "And call me Eiji!"

He was already bouncing away before he could hear 's reply. "All right…Eiji-kun."

---

    "It's true, nyah!" Eiji exclaimed, stomping his foot.

shook her head, waving her racket from her side of the court. "There's no way that you met The Chocolates!" (1)

    "I won a contest and they came to my house!" he replied vehemently, hitting the ball to the far corner.

, however, easily caught up with it using the split-step, and the two began volleying the ball back and forth. "I think I need to see evidence," she said teasingly.

    "Well, I have pictures and an autograph!" Eiji replied with a victory sign. "How do you even know about The Chocolates? Are they popular in America?"

    "Well, I am half-Japanese too, y'know. I'm into a lot of Japanese pop culture." shrugged before spotting an opening. She hit a buggy whip shot to the left as Eiji moved to the right slightly.

    "Ah! A snake shot!" He examined the spot where the ball had landed. "You do it as good as Kaidoh!"

    "Oh. Is he the one people at school call the Viper?"

    "Hehehe…yeah. But the only one who actually calls him that to his face is Momo-chin." Eiji flashed a victory sign. "Momo-chin and Kaoru-chan are the ultimate rivals, just like Oishi and I are the ultimate doubles partners!"

gave him a lop-sided smile. "The Golden Pair, ne?"

    "Yes!" Eiji laughed as he served the ball. "We're going all the way to the nationals!"

    "From what I heard about your combination, I have no doubt about it." returned the shot, only to again be impressed by Eiji's acrobatics. "How can you jump around the court like that all the time?" she asked curiously, suppressing yet another grin. "You're just like a cat. Don't you get tired easily?"

    "I've been working on my stamina by training in a thin-air environment." Eiji pumped his fist in the air after he executed a one-handed flip. "My endurance will no longer be a weakness, nyah!"

found herself admiring the hyperactive player again in the short time she had gotten to know him. He was so full of energy and high spirit. That and his acrobatic tennis were incredible. It would be good practice to play against him if she wanted to stay at the top of her game. She had already joined the girls' tennis club. She intended to secure a varsity spot in the next ranking matches. No one was going to get in her way.

That last thought strengthened her resolve as she smashed the ball. ‘I will reach the top!'

Eiji caught up with it, but was so caught off guard by the strength behind the ball that the racket flew out of his hands. He stared in shock at where the ball and his racket had landed before laughing. "Game set. . Seven games to six." He turned and winked at her. "Don't get cocky now. This is only the beginning. Let's play another round!"

shrugged. "I don't have any objections." Strangely enough, she found herself more exhilarated about playing a match than she had ever felt before. She wondered briefly if it had something to do with the teenager about to serve to her before she waved the thought away. Distractions like that wouldn't do if she wanted to be the best.

---

One month later…

    "Eiji-senpai, how about you treat us to burgers today?" Momo grinned widely, slinging an arm around a disgruntled Ryoma.

    "No can do, Momo-chin! I've got somewhere to be," Eiji replied, quickly stuffing his belongings into a duffel bag. "See ya at practice tomorrow!" Then he was out of the clubroom before anyone could actually respond.

    "I wonder what's up with Eiji-senpai. He's been acting weird lately." Momo scratched his chin thoughtfully.

    "More like the last few weeks," data player Inui Sadaharu corrected, notebook out and at the ready. "There is an 87% chance that he's going to meet a girl, and a 98% chance it's -san."

    "What?!"

    "Saa… and how exactly do you know that, Inui?" Fuji Syusuke asked from the bench, smiling pleasantly.

Inui pushed his glasses up his nose. "For one thing, Eiji has been paying a lot more attention in Science class, where is now his lab partner."

    "I see…"

    "He's going to meet -senpai?" Momo snickered. "Let's follow him, Echizen!"

    "What for?" the freshman asked disinterestedly.

    "Cause it'll be fun!"

A suspicious glint came off Inui's glasses. "This will be a chance for good data."

    "Inui-senpai, why would you want that kind of data?" Ryoma asked, peeking up at his senpai from underneath his white cap.

    "…"

---

Thirty minutes later, Momo, Inui, and a reluctant Ryoma found Eiji and preparing to have a match in the park tennis courts. The three Seigaku regulars ducked behind a bush as they watched the two friends interact with each other.

As she tied her shoelace, stated, "There's been something I've wanted to tell you all day, Eiji-kun."

    "Hmm?" He turned slightly and poked her with his racket. "What's that?"

    "I made the Regulars," she whispered quietly.

    "Ah! That's awesome, -chan!" Eiji glomped her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "You did it, you did it!"

    "Yeah… it's great, isn't it?" lifted her arms and hugged him back, finally revealing her beaming face. "It's so great! I really wanted to make the varsity team before I graduated and went into high school."

    "I'm really happy for you," Eiji said honestly.

pulled back to look into his eyes. "It was major thanks to you and our daily practices here that helped me get back in shape."

Eiji chuckled. "Who says you weren't in shape?"

    "I was recovering from my wrist injury, remember? I told you about that."

    "Oh yeah." He shrugged sheepishly. "I forgot about it since you improved so much. It's like you were never hurt."

    "Baka." She flicked him on the forehead lightly, though she was smiling. "Here. A present for helping me out." She handed him a small gift from her duffel bag.

    "Oh? Thank you!" Eiji grinned at her. "I wonder what it could be…" He took out the tissue paper before reaching in and feeling something furry. "Ara?" He pulled out a brown teddy bear, holding a mini-tennis racket and Eiji's favorite brand of candy. "Kawaii~!"

    "Do you like it?" asked, even though she already knew the answer by looking at his face.

    "I love it! Thanks so much!" Eiji tilted his head. "But you didn't have to give me anything, nyah."

    "Of course I did." placed her hand over his, squeezing it gently. "Because you've done a lot for me, Eiji-kun. Thank you."

Eiji was always the first in line to show off any public displays of affection, but for some reason, 's light touch on his hand sent a tingle through his body. "I-it's n-nothing," he stuttered, completely out of character. "Let's play now, m'kay?" He set the bear down carefully in the bag before sitting up abruptly, leaving staring after him wonderingly.

    "Ah! Did you see that? Eiji-senpai got all nervous," Momo whispered to his teammates knowingly.

Ryoma yawned. "So?"

    "Isn't it obvious? He likes her!" Momo murmured excitedly, grinning widely.

    "Judging from Kikumaru's actions, I'd say that Momoshiro is right," Inui stated as he scribbled something into his green notebook.

Ryoma was already beginning to walk away.

    "Oi! Echizen! Where are you going?" Momo asked, placing a hand on the freshman's shoulder to stop him. "It's just getting good."

The tennis prodigy tugged his hat down. "Mada mada da ne."

---

Eiji and continued meeting nearly every day of the week at the park's tennis courts. One or the other would bring snacks that they ate after their practice games. During all this, something was beginning to simmer just beneath the surface of their time together. chose to ignore it, while Eiji puzzled over it.

One day, he found himself thinking about it more and more. ‘-chan… she has become one of my best friends, like Oishi and Fuji… but what's this feeling? Whenever I'm around her now, I get uncomfortable. Why?'

As he neared their daily meeting place, he heard an annoyingly familiar voice talking with .

    "What do you say, -san? How about going out with me?"

She sighed. "Mukahi-san, please… I already told you my answer last week. I can't go out with you."

Mukahi Gakuto just chuckled and shook his head. "Well, until you give me a good reason why not, I'll just keep on being persistent about it." He winked at her. "I like you a lot. I don't see why you can't give me a chance."

During this exchange, Eiji felt his stomach roll and his hair stand on end. ‘No… no… no, no, no, no!'

    "Mukahi-san–"

However, before she could even finish her answer, Eiji jumped out of his hiding place behind a tree and stomped over to where the two were standing by the entrance gates to the courts.

    "You!" Gakuto sneered as he pointed his finger at the Seigaku player. "What do you want?"

Eiji just stared at him, frowning, for a few seconds before he stuck out his tongue. Then, without a word, he grabbed 's wrist and ran away in a random direction, dragging the girl behind him.

    "Hey, you! Wait!"

Eiji heard the Hyoutei player's outraged cries, which only made him run faster as his thoughts went a mile a minute. ‘Must get away. Go, go, go!'

had stumbled when he first grabbed her, and while she recovered, she was still trying to keep up with his fast pace. "Eiji-kun, what do you think you're doing?" she shouted, trying to grab his attention.

He didn't answer her though. It was ten minutes later before he ducked under a tree branch and led her inside an enclosed area in the park. Once he caught his breath, he turned to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Don't go out with him, -chan!" he exclaimed earnestly.

    "Is that what this was all about?" She shook her head. "You're overreacting."

Eiji shook her again, driven by something that made his stomach churn and his heart panic. "Don't go out with Gakuto!"

    "Eiji-kun, please calm down. I wasn't going to go out with Mukahi-san." She pressed a hand against his cheek gently, looking into his eyes. "What's the matter? Why are you so upset?" He turned his head away, biting his lip, but she made him look at her. Then before she could even think about what she was going to say, she asked, "Why don't you want me to go out with him?"

And Eiji blurted out the first thing that popped into his head. "I love you, that's why!"

turned pale. "…what?"

The bouncy redhead realized what he said and clapped his hands over his mouth. ‘What did I just say?' But looking at her face, he knew what he said was true. The impulsive confession made it feel like a huge weight had been lifted off his heart. Slowly, he dropped his hands away from his face. "…I love you."

    "Umm, I'm sorry…Eiji-kun…I…I have to go…" Then fled from him but he remained frozen in his spot. He just watched her disappear before he collapsed in a heap on the ground, trying not to cry as her easy dismissal of his feelings overwhelmed him.

---

    "Ah, Eiji!" Oishi waved to his friend as he caught him in the hallway, but frowned when the redhead only gave him a weak wave in response. Immediately, he knew something was wrong. He rushed up to him in concern. "What's wrong, Eiji?"

Oishi's worried face immediately made the redhead want to confide in him. "I…confessed to -chan."

    "What happened?" he asked gently. "Did she say something? Do anything?"

    "She didn't say a word." Eiji shut his eyes as he felt the beginnings of tears and his fists clenched at his sides. "All she did… was walk away."

    "Oh Eiji, I'm so sorry."

    "Oishi, it hurts…" he murmured, placing a palm over his heart. "Why does it have to hurt so much?"

All Oishi could do was wrap his best friend in a tight hug as the tears finally fell down the redhead's cheeks.

---

A couple weeks later…

On the rooftop, stared out over the layout of the school during her lunch break. These days she never felt more alone than when she had been at her old school in America. Aside from Eiji, she had not made any close friends. Sure, she could flirt and laugh with the best of them, but apart from that, she never really connected with anyone. She found herself just going through the school day and tennis practice before heading home, ignoring the route that would lead her through the park. She already knew she was putting off facing the problem. She was never one to run away, but in this case, for this particular problem… She just didn't know what to do.

Eiji…Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought he would fall in love with her. No, that wasn't exactly true, she corrected herself. She just never allowed herself to think about such romantic notions – at least not consciously. Her wrist injury had made her only more focused to recover and get back to tennis. Relationships were a distraction from what she needed to do. But then she had come to Japan and she met the one person capable of turning her world upside down.

clenched her fists on the chain link fence, trying to forget the hurt look on Eiji's face as she had walked away from him. His confession stirred something so strong in her heart that it frightened her with its intensity. What was it? This heady feeling that made her want to cry and laugh at the same time. She told herself at the time that it was nothing, that things would go on as they had before.

But if it was nothing, why had she avoided Eiji for the last two weeks? Why now did she always feel lonely? The answer lied in her response to the redhead's feelings. If he loved her… then how did she feel about him? That was treading dangerous ground that she had never let herself go before.

All she really knew was that Eiji…made her happy. He helped get her to where she was today in tennis. In her current state, she wasn't a Wimbledon hopeful, but at least she had progressed to the point where she was a solid player on her team. Practicing with him nearly every day had made that possible. It wasn't just that, though. He made her feel at ease. Just being around him made her want to smile more because his enthusiasm was so contagious.

These two weeks without him had been utterly depressing. It was cliché to even think it, but without him, it was like there was no light in her life. While he could make her smile with just a wink, his own smile was what really brightened her day.

Abruptly, 's spine straightened as realization suddenly hit her. How could she have been so stupid? Making things complicated on purpose when the simplicity of the answer could set her free. She laughed as the answer wrapped around and comforted her, making her feel more cheerful than she had felt in days.

She loved him.

---

Eiji wondered why he kept going to park tennis courts when all it did was make him hurt. His friends had tried to comfort him, but there was nothing they could really do. He needed to talk to , but she was avoiding him. He winced as he gripped his racket. The he knew would have faced him head on and wouldn't have left him out in the open. Before he could even think of moving on, he needed to know her feelings as well. But, he thought with a sinking heart, maybe she meant to tell him with her actions rather than words.

    "Ah… you're here."

The soft voice immediately made Eiji freeze before he turned around slowly. His first urge was to hug her after so long, but her rejection was still at the forefront of his mind, which made him hesitate.

smiled nervously. "Will you sit down and talk with me...Eiji-kun?"

He nodded, but when they both sat on the grass, he couldn't help but fidget across from her.

She smiled inwardly at the cute picture he unconsciously made, but it was dampened by the knowledge that the tension on his face was her fault. She reached for his hand and hope filled her when he didn't pull away. "Can you ever forgive me?" she whispered.

The redhead remained uncharacteristically silent, looking down at their entwined hands.

    "Eiji…" She deliberately left out the suffix on his name. "I'm sorry. I was scared. Can you understand that?"

    "You should have talked to me," he whispered, recalling the emptiness he had felt for the past weeks. "You shouldn't have run away." However, being this close to her somehow soothed him even though she had been the one to hurt him.

    "I know. Believe me, now I know." drew strength from their clasped hands as she began her own confession. "Over these past few months since I met you, something's been happening to me. Something I couldn't explain, and I've never felt before, but I chose to ignore it." She looked into his eyes. "When you told me you loved me… I didn't know what to do. So I just avoided you in hopes to save us both from embarrassment, but it turned out to be so lonely... Without you, the world seemed a lot duller. I found myself missing you, wishing I could see your smile."

She brought their entwined hands to rest over her heart. "I realized then… that I loved you."

Eiji smiled handsomely as happiness swamped his heart, washing away the hurt. "I love you, too." The tenderness of the moment was the only thing that kept him from shouting his joy.

    "Can you forgive me for hurting you?" she whispered again, face regretful, even though she was ecstatic that he hadn't given up on her.

    "I already have, nyah…"

let out a sob and a laugh at the same time as Eiji beamed at her brightly, flashing a peace sign. "Oh, I've missed you!"

Eiji opened his arms and she leaned into them happily, hugging him tight around the waist. "I've missed you, too… Y'know, I'm not going to be letting you go anytime soon." He winked and again showed her the smile she loved so much.

She brushed a soft kiss across his lips then – the first of many to come. "I wouldn't want it any other way."
 

fin.
Krys Yuy
31.December.2005

(1) The Chocolates is an idol group in the Prince of Tennis anime.