Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Title: A TICKET AT CENTER COURT
Characters: Yanagi Renji + Kirihara Akaya [Rikkai]
Rating: Gen
Author on LJ: l'etranger tongari
Author Website: Apple Army.

Why this story must be read:

Tongari paints a subtle story of how, years after their moments of glory, the Rikkai team has splintered, only to be reunited in the gentlest possible manner by the one team-mate who translated his passion for tennis into a professional career. Written in Yanagi Renji's detached voice, the story manages to convey a warmth at odds with that detachment, and brings to mind old friends and the pleasure of reuniting with them.

A Ticket at Center Court

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Title: ABOUT TENNIS
Characters: Fuji Syuusuke/Tezuka Kunimitzu [Seigaku] + Fuji/Tachibana Kippei [Fudoumine]
Rating: PG
Author on LJ: misanagi
Author Website: a Gundam Wing fanfiction site unrelated to Prince of Tennis

Why this story must be read:

This appears to be the only fanfiction Misanagi has written for the Prince of Tennis fandom, but it's a quiet, well-structured story and a satisfying romance based around themes of wistfulness that colours so many fanfictions about Fuji. What makes this particularly nice is the emotional dynamism of Tachibana Kippei who knows who he wants and makes no secret about going after it, and Fuji illustrates how the counterpunching style works off the tennis courts.

ABOUT TENNIS

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Title: POSTCARDS
Characters: Chitose Miyuki [Shitenhouji] + Tezuka Kunimitzu [Seigaku]
Rating: G.
Author on LJ: "Muzy" muzivitch
Author Website: Pr0n Interrupted
Why this story must be read:

Het pairings in PoT are so rare, not to mention Shitenhouji fics, they're almost like finding a California Condor in the wild. Not that anything so explicit as an actual pairing takes place in this short gem about Miyuki and the target of her attentions, Tezuka. Takeshi Konomi started to run out of creative steam when Shitenhouji showed up at the Nationals, birthing plots and characters filled with crack, in most cases frayed from threadbare characterizations and overuse. With a light, easy touch, Muzivitch crafts glimpses into the personality of a girl too young to spend her summers away from her family, but old enough to long for something larger, something which gathers strength and clarity, then drops rather ominously upon Tezuka. The story creates such a natural and sympathetic rapport between the young girl and her stoic champion that it even catches Tezuka off his guard.

POSTCARDS

Fandom: PRINCE OF TENNIS
Title: Indivi/Duality
Characters: Yagyuu Hiroshi/Niou Masahiro [Rikkai]
Rating: PG.
Author on LJ: "Chrissie" sesame_seed
Author Website: Sesame Seed Radio
Why this fic must be read:

Chrissie sharpens her pen on that heavy stroke of almost obsessive-compulsive madness that Konomi hints at but dares not commit to with Yagyuu Hiroshi of Rikkai. Yagyuu doesn't like people touching him because "the way it turns him for a few seconds into someone other than himself." Since it is his fate to develop a play that relies on switching appearances with Niou Masahiro so effectively that it fools the closest observers, the tension and mystery winds up beautifully all the way to the inevitable. The story is broken up into post-internet ADHD compartments: lots of 1-sentence paragraphs and 1-webpage "chapters", but Chrissie does such a good job of tracking this fascinating mindset that the freeze-frame choppiness is forgiven.

Indivi/Duality

Fandom: PRINCE OF TENNIS
Title: Flipside
Characters: Mizuki Hajime [post-St. Rudolph] + Kite Eishirou and the Higa Team
Rating: PG.
Author on LJ: "She Who Walks Between the Rows" pixxers
Author Website: Variable X Y

Why this fic must be read:

Pixxers' characters can dance on the heads of pins. None of this cardboard stuff for her! She can take the crackiest pairing, the most cartoon bully and the unlikeliest set of circumstances (Takeshi Konomi's stock in trade), and make them breathe. Readers do some deep breathing right along with them, except for when she wants to make a point about something unpleasant or creepy, and she can flip a story so fast, it would make Henry Miller choke. This woman's writing has serious muscles, and they flex and ripple all through Flipside.

Mizuki Hajime has progressed to Hyotei for his senior high school years, but he hasn't left his junior high school ego behind. Everyone has outgrown him, and he can't see it. To him it seems that the whole world is conspiring against him. It takes Kite Eishirou, the captain of the infamous Higa Chuu tennis team to knock some realization into him, but not in the way a Prince of Tennis fan, weaned on the pablum of school-aged shmoop and overstrung drama, would expect. I haven't read a story by pixxers that I didn't appreciate. This one is particularly fine, and says a lot about the PoT fandom itself in an inimitably sly manner.

Flipside:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Enjoy!

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku/Higa Chuu] Tezuka Kunimitzu/Kite Eishirou
Author: anjenue
Rating: [PG13] Kissing, language.

Why this fic must be read:

Oh, one last fic before the end of the month, before the New Year!

This is a continuation of anjenue's series which started with Sasuga Tezuka. This is the story of Tezuka's outing in front of the Japanese middle-school tennis elite and how he manages to carry it off with dignity and applomb. The writer never pulls the two boys out of character. Kite remains a scoundrel and Tezuka stays honourable, but it is interesting to see how their positions reverse and Kite is left bereft at the end of his dirty trick. The writer is also very skilled at showing the effects of psychological manipulation on mobs and how good leadership deflects the worst impulses. Atobe's humour at the end is priceless.

Scare Tactics.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Rikkaidai] Yukimura Seiichi/Sanada Genichirou
Author: lady_of_water
Website: rikkai_exchange
Rating: [PG13] kissing, nudity, bondage.

Why this fic must be read:

Yes, it's another silly premise story, this time involving handcuffs and a practical joke, but it's light, fun, and fluffy and a pleasure to read in celebration of the New Year! Happy holidays to all of you and thanks for reading.

Cheers,
Phae.

Handcuffs.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Echizen Ryoma/Tezuka Kunimitzu
Author: moshesque
Rating: [PG13] Desire.

Why this fic must be read:

Since I tend to be an OTP kind of girl, I don't always know where to look for good stories that break up my favourite pairings. Recently, the Saiyuki friending meme hosted by moshesque brought me to this excellent and subtly written piece of Prince of Tennis fanfiction in which the first troubled signs of longing start to trouble Echizen Ryoma. The story moves from disturbance to yearning to fresh disturbance as Echizen realizes the potential difficulties his feelings might engender. A short, sweet story.

For the Return.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Tezuka Kunimitzu/Fuji Syusuke
Author: branchfic
Website: Ink Burns, Fanfiction by Branch.
Length: 2 short stories, serial.
Rating: [R] Sex.

Why this fic must be read:

Fuji discovers a true source of inspiration in these two short stories by branchfic. Although they aren't specifically sequential, the second leads from events which transpire in the first and which did not occur in canon. Branch has a deft hand with characters and voices and situations that ring true.

Distance.

Fly.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Tezuka Kunimitzu/Fuji Syusuke
Author: anjenue
Website: N/A
Rating: [R] Sex

Why this fic must be read:

PWP with suspense and strongly defined characters. anjenue focuses in so sharply on an interesting dynamic between Tezuka and Fuji, that the steamy activity they engage in becomes intensified and, at times, painful, but never gratuitous.

Eyes Wide Open.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Rikkaidai] Yukimura Seiichi/Sanada Genichirou
Author: yuki_scorpio
Rating: [PG 13] Kissing

Why this fic must be read:

Some fairly well-grounded discoveries and self-realizations balance out a trippy plot device in this story of time travel, miracle granting of wishes, or perhaps just a freaky shared dream phenomena. Ten years after their time at Rikkaidai, Sanada and Yukimura rethink what they mean to each other and how things might've been different if they had been a little more honest and courageous. yuki_scorpio plays on the value of hindsight and wishful thinking, but not at the expense of the moment.

Ten Years.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Rikkaidai] Niou Masaharu/Sanada Genichirou
Author: star_in_my_soup
Website: n/a
Rating: [NC 17] Language, sex.

Niou Masaharu's apocryphal failings in Brit-Lit is on a collision course with the well-disciplined order of Sanada Genichirou's universe. Who will win the upperhand, the trickster or the Emperor? star_in_my_soup's classic battle never happens on the court. This is tight, well-written prose with a twist at its best.

Not One Stroke.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: AU: [Fudoumine] Tachibana An/Kamio Akira.
Author: rabid_dangirl
Website: n/a
Rating: [PG13]

Why this fic must be read:

Mechanical writing techniques like prompt tables don't usually produce a very good standard of fiction, but this little story of one or two sentences based on a 50-word table is quite enjoyable. rabid_dangirl not only succeeds with a surprisingly rare piece in the PoT fandom, a het pairing, but manages to convey Tachibana An's spirit and sense of fun and the smitten Kamio's devotion with all the lightness and joy of adolescence.

50 Things Buchou Doesn't Know.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Tezuka Kunimitzu/Fuji Syuusuke
Author: lysapadin
Website: n/a
Rating: [PG 13]

Why this fic must be read:

The things a fellow has to do to attract notice! Lysapadin takes a popular plot device and spins it on its ear in this light-as-air genderswitch comedy-romance, where Tezuka takes even longer than usual to act on his feelings. The dialogue is snappy and the structure is interesting enough to support its silly grin-inducing premise. Happy Christmas, 2007!

Clownfish.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Tezuka Kunimitzu/Fuji Syusuke
Author: ketchupblood
Website: n/a
Rating: [NC17]

ketchupblood's soft-focus gaze at Tezuka's and Fuji's shift from friends to lovers is so free of angst and issues that readers are left with a profound sense of how normal the whole process is. There's nothing fraught or disturbing here, just satisfaction over sharing warmth with someone whom one loves and trusts enough to feel comforted by on cold, blustery nights, and the possibilities of where that might lead. The author has a gift for conveying kindness and true friendship in her characterizations, which brings readers to the point that style is grand, but having something to say with style is better.

Sleeping Habits.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: AU:[Rokkaku Chuu/St. Rudolph] Saeki Kojiroh/Fuji Yuuta, Amane "Davide" Hiruka/Kirobane "Bane" Harukaze and many, many others.
Author: lysapadin
Website: n/a
Length: 10-part serialized novel.
Rating: [NC17] Sex, language, violence.

Why this fic must be read:

Cameo appearances abound in this AU Crackfic wherein sailorboy, Saeki is fished out of the drink by smuggler, Yuuta after the dread pirate Yukimura sinks his lover, Tachibana Kissei's vessel and they struggle to outrun the Seigaku Navy commanded by Admiral Tezuka. Yukimura wants more blood and Yuuta is the next target. Lots of jolly rogering and other pursuits!

The Otohime's Revenge.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Momoshiro Takeshi/Echizen Ryoma
Author: dimgenesis
Website: n/a
Rating: [PG13]

Why this fic must be read:

PoT fandom is rife with the theme of teammates, long-term friends, even lovers leaving to heal injuries, pursue professional tennis careers or a different line of study altogether. Momoshiro finds himself in a surprisingly passive role when it comes to the impending departure of Echizen. He already had to face it once when Ryoma left for the American Open Invitational. This is a wonderful story about the effect of old wounds and how things change when desire and companionship are stirred.

Comes the Sun.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Rokkaku] Amane "Davide" Hikaru/Kurobane "Bane" Harukaze
Author: anjenue
Rating: [R] underage warning.

Why this fic must be read:

A light-as-air piece about bad puns and pickup lines, how an injury can sideline more than a spot on the team, and the Japanese style of confession. This romance won't exactly crush the brain under portent and monumental meaning, but it isn't sticky sweet either. The tone is breezy and fun, and the big moment of discovery generates an amazing amount of heat for all its casual approach.

Them's the Breaks.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Rikkaidai] Yagyuu Hiroshi/Niou Masaharu
Author: giving_ground
Website: etchedinclouds
Rating: [R] Sex, violence

Why this fic must be read:

Rikkaidai's characters lend themselves surprisingly well to AU scenarios where they are assassins and yakuza, as opposed to athletes determined to win almost at any cost and certainly enough to tip them into moral ambiguity. giving_ground hones into the dark!fic side of PoT and serves up some gritty sci-fi noir.

Far Side.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Hyotei] Choutorou Ohtari/Shishido Ryo
Author: miko_no_da
Website: Mikonoda's Anime Corner.
Rating: [PG13]

Why this fic must be read:

A crush which will remain unrequited as long as it remains secret is the basis for this charming little romance about the tradition of White Day and Valentines Day chocolate exchanges in Japan. Hyotei D-1 partners consider the changing nature of their own relationship now that Shishido has graduated to high school and Choutarou is left behind.

An Unexpected Gift.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Inui Sadaharu/Kaidoh Kaoru
Author: tiamatv
Website:
Length: 21,987 words, 4-part short.
Rating: [R] Sex.

Why this fic must be read:

Prince of Tennis is a fanfiction writer's dream, what with so many different and lightly sketched characters and all the possibilities for development and relationship. tiamatv's data-tennis science freak, Inui Sadaharu, is perfect nerd love! And she doesn't confuse strong, silent Kaidoh Kaoru with being passive or slow on the uptake. It's wonderful to watch her Inui waltz around his passions before Kaidoh finally loses his patience and tips him in headfirst.

Sesshoku (Contact):
Sospirando (Sighing).
Scherzando (Playful).
Sforzando (Accented, Forceful).
Omake (Epilogue).

Fandom: Prince of Tennis/Angel Sanctuary mainly, with guest appearances from The Chronicles of Narnia, Saiyuki, Buffy, and hosts of others.
Authors: lysapadin, ladycrysiana and branchfic.
Website: Tennis Sanctuary.
Length: Serial shorts and drabbles.
Rating: [PG 13] Adult themes.

Why this fic must be read:

In this series of short fics, Echizen "Samurai" Nanjiroh inherits the Buddhist temple not because of his amazing Nitouryu, but because his cousin suddenly has to up and run off to the west with a heretic and two half-demons. And so the stories go, imploding a thousand universes into one fascinating mash-up.

The Crossover Crackfic of Doom Index Page.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Rikkaidai] Kirihara Akaya/Niou Masaharu
Author: reposte
Website: n/a
Length: 36,803 words, 5-part short.
Rating: [R] Sex.

Why this fic must be read:

In this story, Kirihara Akaya is given the flesh and bones of a real character, which seem to bruise and break a little too easily when teammate, Niou Masaharu, is rejected by his doubles partner and prospective romantic partner, Yagyuu, and then by the entire tennis team for his preferences. The artless way in which Kirihara attempts to pull the older boy back into the game makes for a terrific yarn.

Six Per Cent Doki Doki.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Tezuka Kunimitzu/Fuji Syusuke
Author: sesame_seed
Website: Sesame Seed Radio.
Rating: [PG13]

Why this fic must be read:

A simple, short and impossibly beautiful story about love winning over ambition, or about the realization of what love actually is as opposed to what a person may dream it might be.

Water Over Stone.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Rikkaidai] Sanada Genichirou + Yukimura Seiichi
Author: branchfic
Website: Ink Burns, Fanfiction by Branch.
Rating: [PG 13] Adult themes, nothing graphic.

Why this fic must be read:

Very few of the characters in Konomi's PoT universe actually act their age. Yukimura and Sanada, the Captain and Vice-Captain of the Rikkaidai Competitive Tennis team are perfect examples. Their tastes, interests, speech and, most of all, the depth of their involvement are well beyond what most boys would show. They even speak like adults and yet, in their cultural and schoolaged milieu, sexual attraction between them would be, not only forbidden because middle school children are not permitted to date, but quite possibly dangerous for all the opposition and negative attention that they would attract. Given that they can't or don't know how to express it, sublimation seems the only recourse. Branchfic looks at tennis as a form of sexual sublimation, especially with regards to opponents, but the most interesting aspect of the story is how this practice extends beyond tennis and intermingles with other cultural influences, especially with regards to Sanada's sword work and the historical references from which he draws his inspiration.

Six Examples.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Higa Chuugaku] Hirakoba Rin/Kite Eishirou, [Hyotei] Atobe Keigo/Oshitari Yuushi.
Author: _arrhythmic
Website: n/a
Length: 12,901 words, 2-Part Short.
Rating: [NC17] Sex, language, violence.

Why this fic must be read:

Prince of Tennis is a pretty sunny universe. The anime and manga focus on dedication to the sport and team. Trouble is occasionally woven into back-stories about other teams like Fudoumine or the American West-Coast Junior Invitational and, sometimes, Konomi's fanbooks will drop tasty hints. Otherwise, the series mostly skips the teenage angst-fest. Where manga and anime hint, however, fandom rushes to fill in with fiction. _arrhythmic's Trouble-in-paradise story of Rin Hirakoba and his growing crush on Higa captain, Kite Eishirou, has all the elements of an angstfest without the manipulation and inadvertently comical melodrama. She writes about real life problems and a boy's reactions and struggles to be self-aware, and she does this with such clean, spare, matter-of-fact prose that the double edge of schadenfreude doesn't come out for its thick, juicy slice of soul.

Warmth, Words and Victory.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: None. [Fudoumine] Ibu Shinri + Kamio Akira, friendship
Author: Tari Gwaemir
Website: Infinity
Rating: [G]

Why this fic must be read:

Fudoumine is a public school, not an escalator school, which means that its students are required to undergo rigorous placement exams at the end of their senior year for the high school of their choice. These exams are so all-consuming that there is little time or energy left for amateur sports. In Fudoumine, where the right to even have a competitive tennis team, was hard-won, this loss is particularly poignant and Ibu Shinri feels it every time he runs into his old teammate, Kamio Akira. Tari Gwaemir tackles this with a deft touch.

Exam Season.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Seigaku] Tezuka Kunimitzu/Fuji Syusuke, [Hyotei] Atobe Keigo/Oshitari Yuushi
Author: anjenue
Website: none.
Length: 34,600 words. 5-part novelette. Complete.
Rating: [R] Sex, head-games.

Why this fic must be read:

The marvel of how old friends and teammates just happen to show up on Tezuka's doorstep in Germany, often seconds after they've announced their impending visits over the cellphone, has become almost a staple feature in PoT fandom, along with how pretty near all the boys turn out gay. This takes a fresh, bright twist in Anjenue's hands as Tezuka is swept back to Japan on a holiday weekend by the rich-as-Croesus, Atobe Keigo, for a reunion with all his old friends, teammates and former rivals except, so it seems, the one he most needs to see. Tezuka sorts his head from his heart from his other organs in this lively story about ambition vs. relationship, conflicting desires and repression, tricks the mind plays, Helmut Lang man-blouses and Freudian psychoanalysis. Strong collegiate undercurrents flow through the various dialogues as these students practice their newfound knowledge each other, sometimes with scary and boggling results, to a fun, sexy ending.

Sausuga Tezuka.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: [Rikkaidai] Yukimura/Sanada
Author: Leila, reddwarfer
Website: n/a
Rating: R
Why this story must be read:

There is something inherently satisfying when someone like Yukimura Seiichi, who believes himself to be in complete control of all the unruly elements of his psyche, who fancies that cultured and gentle mannerisms, speech, appearance and cultivated aspects of personality will negate the direct contradiction of a ruthless and cold nature, realizes that his will doesn't entirely hold the reins over his actions after all. Sanada Genichirou is the cause of this perturbance, and Leila crafts a very pleasant PWP from his distraction without pulling Yukimura the least bit out of character.

On the Matter of Crushes.

Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Pairing: None. Fudoumine: Tachibana An
Author: lysapadin
Website: None
Rating: [G]
Reasons why this must be read:

Tachibana An is one of the few really vivid female characters in the Prince of Tennis universe. Spirited, independent, fearless and strong, yet cheerful and supportive, she still seems to be largely ignored as the fandom's eyes focus mainly on the boys, but this is a wonderful story of how she refuses to lie passive and silent in the background.

For the Love of the Game