Hye! I am back... Sorry for the late update... I hope that this chapter is worth my come back. Please enjoy. Thanks... ^_^

DISCLAIMER: I do not own TENIPURI. Got it?!

Chapter 3: The Prodigies

Chapter Summary: She met the others in a funny way. Aside from that, she had learned how good he was in the field of tennis. Her admiration turned into something else...?

"My name is Jerry Ryuzaki. I am fifteen years old. Always, I am chatting with my friend. I have friend and she name is Tomoka Osakada. I like her and she like me. I have grandmother but she's teaching abroad but I am not lonely because I friends around me." She read her essay in a whispering voice that night. She tried fixing her essay for she would be reading it in front of the class tomorrow morning. It was embarrassing but she needed to read her biography essay. She sighed as she slowly bowed her head. She felt pathetic.

"Your grammar is wrong."

She suddenly jerked up when she heard someone talk beside her. She panicked when she saw Ryoma eyeing her work. Panicking, she tried covering her work but no to avail. Ryoma began pointing out her mistakes.

"Your adverb of frequency should be placed between your auxillary and main verbs. You forgot to place your indefinite article here since you are pertaining to a single person, do the same thing here as well," he reminded her as she nodded silently, "Your subject pronoun is supposed to be in a possessive form here and also your subject doesn't agree with your verb, fix that."

"Hai, arigatou, Ryoma-kun." She said after Ryoma gave her some points.

"Un." With that, he returned to his bed and readied himself to sleep.

It was almost time to sleep but she couldn't fall asleep until she finished her own work. Ryoma might have seen her struggling with her essay and thought about helping her for a bit. She was very thankful of him. Then, a thought came to her. Fidgeting, she tried talking to him;

"R-ryoma-kun, are you still... awake?"

It took a minute before Ryoma answered her, "I just lied down so yeah."

"Well, I have a favor to ask." She said hoping that he would agree.

Ryoma looked at her this time but he never said anything. Catching his attention, she brought her hands in front of her and bowed a little;

"C-can you teach me with my English, please?"

Silence erupted between them for a while.

"Yadda."

"Please... j-just until my exam."

"Yadda."

"I'll do anything in return, just teach me."

Ryoma blinked twice, "Anything?"

Catching his attention more, she immediately replied, "Anything."

Ryoma smirked when she said that. Somehow, she made a wrong decision but she had to go through with it, "Buy me three cans of ponta for two whole weeks then I'll teach you with your English."

She sweat dropped after she heard that. Pontas were a bit expensive but she could buy him still even though she had to buy him three cans of the drink. She guessed that sacrificing her money for him was worth her improvement in English, "O-okay... I'll do that. Will you teach me?"

Ryoma sat up and looked at her not leaving her a smirk on his face, "Let's get started then."

She smiled and nodded at him. She had to do some sort of sacrifice so that she could pass the exam and to be with him for the whole year.

The next day, morning:

She yawned as they walked on their way to the courts. Ryoma who was beside her was yawning as well. Both of them stayed late last night doing her English essay. Unexpectedly, Ryoma woke her up that day and told her that she should go to the courts to see how everyone did for practices. And they were on their way.

...Only to be surprised.

Ryoma sweat dropped as he narrowed his eyes while Sakuno was left agape as she blinked her eyes twice. They reached the court with a different type of a show.

"Ki... ku... ma... ru-sen... pai here... I... come~..." Momo said calling out to his senpai on the court while running... in a slow motion.

"Reaaaaally... then... take... this..." Eiji said as he swung his racket in a slow motion as well... hitting an invisible tennis ball.

"I... won't... let... that... pass... by... me...." Momo said as he slowly swung the racket to hit the invisible tennis ball back to the other side of the court.

Sakuno sweat dropped as well as she watched them move... in a slow motion, "W-what are they doing?"

Ryoma pinned his hat down but replied still, "Don't know, don't ask me."

Eiji ran to the vicinity of the court in a slow pace as he swung his own racket in mid-air, "I... hit... it..."

Momo followed the direction of the 'invisible' tennis ball. Momo created reactions as he ran in a slow motion. Then, he ran to his left as if he was about to hit the invisible tennis ball back and realized something. He looked down and pointed the white line... out, "It's... outside...." Then he slowly punched his fist in the air... also in a slow motion, "I... did... it..."

Eiji flicked his finger in a slow motion as well, "Oh... sucks... that... was... close..."

Whack! Whack!

Ryoma and Sakuno closed their eyes when they saw someone hit the duo.

"What are you two doing?! Why are you acting like that?!" she heard someone said causing her to open her eyes.

"Nya~ Oishi, we want to have some fun." Eiji said as he scratched his head and he stuck his tongue out.

"Yeah, senpai. We felt bored. Have a little entertainment, will you?" Momo said agreeing to his acrobatic senpai.

Whack! Whack!

"Momo, Eiji 50 laps around the court, now!" came from the authoritative voice.

"H-hai!" both of them agreed as they started to run.

Oishi shook his head as he looked at them, "Mataku... why are they acting like a child?"

"They are one anyway. Look after them Oishi, make sure they follow."

Oishi look at him, "Hai... Tezuka." He said as Tezuka went inside the club.

"VIVA LA TENISU-LUTION! ! !"

They still could hear them shout repeatedly making the freshmen sweat drop including Ryoma and Sakuno. Oishi was pissed already.

"HORA, anta-tachi! Act seriously!" Oishi said looking at them. Momo and Eiji both continued running as they started to laugh. He shook his head as he pressed his fingers to his temple.

"Chissu!"

"Ah, Echizen. You're here," he said and then looked at her next, "And who might you be?"

"He's here to join the club." Ryoma said frankly.

Oishi looked at her, "Well, we have to test your skills first. What is your name by the way?"

She blinked her eyes twice before bowing in front of him, "Hai... R-ryuzaki-Jer-"

"CHERRY-CHAN!" Eiji shouted when he spotted them, "ARE YOU HERE TO SEE US PLAY?"

"EIJI!" Oishi shouted back at him, "Go back at running," after he said that, he looked back at her, "Ryuzaki Cherry? That's your name? Weird for a guy, I guess?"

"Umm..." She attempted to correct her name but it was Momo who interrupted them this time. Oishi shouted at him too making her close her eyes for awkwardness.

"Sorry about that," he said as he looked back at her, "I'm the Vice Captain of the club, Oishi Suichiro. Nice to meet you, Cherry-chan."

Oishi offered her his hand which she was gladly accepted. Later on, an average man approached them and talked;

"Aren't you the rumored guy in the school?" he said.

She looked at him, "R-rumored guy?"

"According to my data, there is 75% that guys were eyeing you this morning and later there will be 90% percent that some will be staring at you." Another man came and approached them and started writing in his notebook.

Sakuno sweat dropped, "W-what do you mean?"

"You are pretty... for a guy."

Blushing a little, she looked at the person who talked last. The person was leaning on a bench with his hands crossed in front of his chest. He was also wearing a bandana on his head. Oishi butted in this time;

"Forgive their interrogations about you," he said, "let me introduce them; these are regular tennis players; Kawamura Takashi, Inui Sadaharu and Kaidoh Kaoru," he looked at them and said, "Minna, this is Ryuzaki Cherry-chan."

She bowed in front of them, "N-nice to meet you." I knew it... they are ignoring my explanations. She thought as she knew that it was useless to correct her name. Well, she felt relieved to be called by a girl's name after all... despite that she was disguising as a boy.

"Nice to meet you, Cherry-chan." Kawamura said.

"Hmmm... Ryuzaki Cherry...it is pretty odd for a guy's name but good luck with the test." Inui said as he wrote her name in his notebook.

"Fsssh..."

She closed her eyes as she smiled. Somehow, they bought it... despite that it was a girl's name, making a boy's name was pretty useless for them.

They still thought that she was really a boy and she felt relieved because of that.

Not long before, she saw the guy who she heard that named Tezuka that ordered Momo and Eiji to run laps together with a brunette guy walking their way. She blinked her eyes twice. H-he looks like a girl. She thought as she stared at the brunette guy.

"Ah, Tezuka perfect timing," Oishi said, "Someone wants to join our club. His name is Ryuzaki Cherry-chan. Cherry-chan, this is Tezuka Kunimitsu, the club's captain."

Tezuka looked at her stoically. She felt nervous but bowed at him, "N-nice to meet you, T-tezuka-buchou."

Tezuka nodded at her, "Pass the exam first then I'll let you join for trials after that."

"Hai!"

Tezuka looked at them, "Everyone, let's have a practice match today!"

"Hai"

"Echizen have a match with Momoshiro, Eiji practice with your partner, Kaidoh play with Kawamura," Tezuka ordered, "Freshmen get ready for assisting them!"

"Hai!" they said in unison as they went on their selective courts. Sakuno watched them as she felt excited.

It was her first time seeing them play, especially Ryoma.

"Cherry-chan, right?"

She looked at the person who spoke last. She blushed a little when she realized that it was the brunette guy that she was staring a while ago. He was looking at her right now... with eyes closed and that was what wondering her about.

"I—I guess so." She agreed... thinking that it was useless correcting him anyway.

"You look like a girl to me." He then said.

She closed her eyes as she scratched her head, "I—I get that a lot."

"Hmmm," he reacted but smiled, "My name's Fuji Syuusuke, nice to meet you, then." He offered her his hand.

"Likewise." She accepted his hand after that.

She smiled at him and was a bit wary when Fuji squeezed her hand. She pulled her hand from him as gently as possible and then looked at the courts, "L-look, the matches are about to start. I'm going to take a look." With that she ran near the fence. Unknown to her, Fuji had been observing her for a while.

Sakuno could see two games at a time. She was standing at the center of two courts. She looked at the game between Oishi and Eiji. Being absorbed by it, she walked to the fence and grabbed it, "S-sugoi."

They were rallying, moving from here to there. Eiji was doing his acrobatic stunts while Oishi was returning all of his hits.

"Nya, Oishi." He said as he hit the ball from his back.

"What is it?" he said hitting the ball back at him.

"Let's have a wonderful match, okay."

"You don't have to remind me that."

Eiji did a summersault as he returned the ball to him, "I won't lose to you."

Oishi made a friction with his racket and ran towards the net, "Me neither."

Sakuno was focused with the game as she whispered, "Eiji-senpai and Oishi-senpai are great. They are amazing."

"Well, they are the famous golden pair, that's why."

She looked at the person who talked last, "H-horio-kun," Horio looked at the game like her. Katsuo and Kachiro did the same too, "what do you mean by the 'Golden pair'?"

Horio placed his fingers to his chin and started boasting about the knowledge he had, "The Golden pair, Eiji-senpai and Oishi-senpai are pretty famous of their tandem. They are amazing at doubles matches. Eiji-senpai is good at playing tennis with his acrobatic skills while Oishi senpai is a volley specialist."

Sakuno blinked her eyes twice, "Really?"

"Look, Oishi-senpai had done his special move, the moon volley." Katsuo said as Oishi returned the ball with his special move.

"Sugoi..." Sakuno was pretty amazed by the move he just did. They were actually synchronized... even though they were fighting with each other.

"And there are other good players too." Horio suddenly said.

"There's also Kawamura-senpai. He's what we called the powerhouse player of the club. He is amazing with his powerful hits. His opponent, Kaidoh-senpai, is really amazing with his snake moves."

"Snake... moves?" She asked him.

"Not actually snakes," he looked at her, "You'll know when you see his boomerang snake."

"I guess... I can see what you are talking about."

"Tezuka-buchou is the greatest. No one beats him yet even Echizen is struggling to beat him."

"Really," she looked at Tezuka who was watching them play. If he saw some flaws he instantly shouted at them and told them to get serious, "I want to see him play some day."

"Next to him is Fuji-senpai. He's good at his triple counters and it's rare to pass it by someone except for Tezuka zone from our buchou."

"They are so cool."

"Inui-senpai is famous for his data collecting but," Horio leaned closer to her ears and then said, "be careful with his inventions."

"Inventions? What inventions?" she asked him.

"You'll know sooner or later."

She sweat dropped. They were funny to begin with. She thought of joining the club as she saw Ryoma threw that ball back yesterday. Now she decided that she would do her best so that she could join them. Her thoughts were interrupted when they heard a commotion from the other courts. She looked to her side and was a bit shocked;

It was the match between Ryoma and Momoshiro.

Her feet brought her to the other court and stared at the two players.

"They are rallying for quite some time now and no one seems to give up a point." Fuji said who was watching the game.

She looked at the game too... particularly at a certain tennis prodigy who was wearing a fila hat that covered his amber eyes, but not for long when he jerked up and followed the ball's direction. Her eyes widened more as she followed his movements.

...His shot.

...His expression.

...His running from one direction to another.

...And even his smirk.

She placed her fingers to the fence as she whispered, "S-sugoi... Ryoma-kun is... amazing."

Fuji looked at her without her noticing. The tensai just stared at her for a while before staring back at the court.

"Eh... they are not finish with their match yet?"

They looked at the last person who spoke.

"Kikumaru-senpai," Sakuno announced when she saw the acrobatic player along with his doubles partner coming towards them, "You are done with your match?"

"Yeah..." Oishi said, "Well, he won if you ask me."

Eiji jerked them a 'V' sign and then said, "Bui!"

Oishi sighed and then looked at the game, "So they are taking too long huh, as expected of Echizen."

"Five games to four! Echizen!" Inui announced.

"Hmmm, Echizen won the last game." Fuji said, "And he is serving for the next game."

Sakuno looked at his direction. He was dribbling the ball to his side then; he tossed it and hit it towards Momo's court. It spun for a while before bouncing to Momo's face. Momo was able to avoid it but it was Ryoma's ace this time.

"S-senpai, what kind of serve is that?" she asked Fuji who was beside her.

"That is his famous twist serve," Fuji smiled at her, "It bounces and creates spin first before it targets the opponent's face. That is his special move."

"Twist serve," she repeated as he did his next serve, "Ryoma-kun is really amazing."

"Eh!" Eiji suddenly reacted, "They are rallying again and it will be longer I presume."

"Seems like it," Kawamura entered the scene as they finished their game as well. Kaidoh won their match as he told them.

"That will take forever!" Eiji said as he pulled his hair with his both hands and suddenly remembered something, "I know!"

They looked at Eiji who suddenly kneeled down and clapped his hands before placing them on the ground. Everyone looked at his stunt and sweat dropped.

"Eh!" The acrobatic player blinked his eyes twice and wondered, "No reaction?"

WHACK!

Another set of sweat drops appeared on each head when Oishi hit him on the head;

"Baka! You are not a state alchemist! What do you think you are doing?"

He stuck his tongue out as he massaged his head, "Nya, I am just joking. Can't you take a joke?" he looked back on the ground, "Ah, I forgot the transmutation circle that's why it didn't work."

Sakuno closed her eyes as they argued in front of them.

"Let's ignore them," Fuji said as he looked back at the court, "You'll get used to it."

"H-hai..."

They watched the game until it finished after another twenty minutes. Ryoma won the game as expected. They went out of the court. Sakuno approached the two and congratulate them;

"Sugoi! Anta-tachi! You are really good!"

Both of them looked at her and blushed at the same time. Why does she look like a girl at this point? They unconsciously thought at the same time.

"Ryoma-kun is really amazing! I've decided that I'll definitely join this club," she said looking at them, "Tennis is really fun and amazing!"

Ryoma pinned his hat down while Momo gave her a thumps up and replied at her;

"You bet!"

She smiled at them and she knew that she would enjoy this year's club that she was about to join.

Later on, after school:

She had a talk with the tennis club coach after class to announce about her joining the club. As expected, she had to pass the trial and become a member in that club. She entered her name for the trial and she could only take that if she passed the entrance exam.

She had two goals now.

...To pass the entrance exam and to join the tennis club.

She was nervous but excited at the same time. Her knowledge about tennis was pretty blurred but she had some ideas about the basic... why? Her grandmother was a tennis coach way back on her primary years. She tried playing the game once but she never pursued it. But now, it was the time to do that.

And she had to thank Ryoma and everyone from the club for showing it to her.

Skidding her way back to her unit... hoping that she would not lose her way, she couldn't erase her smile on her face. She didn't notice a figure in front of her that she ended up bumping to it.

"G-gomen, gomen." She bowed spontaneously at the person.

The person chuckled making her to look up at him, "It's okay, Ryuzaki-chan. You seemed too happy to recognize me in front of you."

She blushed as he said that, "Gomenasai really, Fuji-senpai. I didn't really know."

"It's okay, I told you, and..." for the first time, the tensai opened his eyes and looked at her seriously, "You know, you blush like a girl."

She looked at him this time and saw his seriousness in his cerulean eyes, "W-what are you talking about?"

"You are good at pretending." He said as he walked towards her.

She panicked as he walked to her, "I—I get that a lot." She laughed ridiculously as she couldn't look at him, "T-they say that I am a g-girl."

"But I can see through you... Ryuzaki-chan." Fuji said making her gasp at the way he called her.

Without giving her time to scream, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a door behind her. As soon as Fuji closed the door, he quickly leaned her there and placed both of his hands to her both sides. They were pretty close to each making her blush more. At that moment, she couldn't find her voice as he stared at her eyes.

"I wonder," He started as his left hand landed on her right side of her face and played with the strand of her hair, "What does a real girl doing in an all-boys school?"

Silence filled between them. One that she could hear was the rapid beating sound of her heart hoping that he didn't hear at that moment.

Done! How was this chapter? I hope this is funny enough and not that sort of... corny... I did try my best on the funny thingy...

Well... what do you know of the tensai... he is awfully genius... Do you remember the guy...eer... gay doctor in Hana Kimi who knew the main protagonist's secret by just looking at her? Well I did the same here in Fuji's place but to clear one thing... HE IS NOT A GAY... okay... tee hee hee... just see how the sadist... err.. the tensai deal with her in the future...

~ Momo and Eiji's slow action moves in the beginning is inspired from a pro tennis player named Mansour Bahrami. He is actually funny and made his tennis skills for entertainment. Take the slow motion for example. I like the tennis player really. I don't own his stunts just love sharing it.

~ 'Viva la tenisu-lution' is from the movie called Astroboy. I changed it from 'Viva la reboluto-lution.'

~ I don't own Astroboy and the rest of the other features from the anime. I think you know where the last one Eiji did come from. I don't own that as well... tee hee hee.

I forgot to tell you this from the last chapter. Sakuno started calling Ryoma 'Ryoma-kun' instead of Echizen despite that she is disguising as a boy here. Mostly, the boys here are calling Ryoma by his name or surname without honorifics but I still prefer the way Sakuno called him. Another thing is, Kachiro and Katsuo have been calling him 'Ryoma-kun' so that's that.

Reviews please... let me hear your thoughts... one word is enough for me... thanks very much... ^_^

Next Chapter: I will never give up!