Categories > Anime/Manga > Prince of Tennis > Fixation
Title: Fixation
Rating: T-M
Pairings: RyomaFuji, RyomaEiji (?) RyomaOC (slight) GoldenPair (EijiOishi)
Final Pairing??? ( :-P It wouldn't be half as exciting if I told you now. But there are enough clues to figure this one out! )
Genre: Comedy/Romance/Action
Plot/Summary: Ryo's father Nanjiro has recently gotten divorced, forcing Ryoma's mother to move out and return to the estate that her family owns. ( For those who know it's much like the Sohma family's). For no apparent reason tension had arisen between them. Ryoma's father decides it would be good to move back to America. He has around one week to prepare for their departure and doesn't tell anyone about his leave.
Ryoma leaves for America leaving the rest of the team feeling empty. Especially Eiji and Fuji, although Eiji shows it more as is his nature. No one knew the reason for the move and they realized they had no way to contact him.
Seigaku's Tennis team made an agreement with their coach and got the city where Ryoma was living at the moment. Going through a special program the team qualified for a 6 month (1 semester) absence from school to stay in America and study the culture.
There they have nowhere to begin. They bump into a young girl who turns out to be an old friend of Ryoma's. (No, not the person Ryoma is OCed with)
And I won't tell you more.
Time Line: Tezuka is still there but the Finals are over. (Nationals)
Disclaimer: I don't own PoT (Tenipuri) .... If I did there would be some major changes:: evil fangirl laughter:
Mistress Yami:
Let me start by saying.
This is my first PoT fanfiction.
I'm in love with the Thrill Pair, and also with what I like to call the 'Glomp' pair. I mean...you have to notice if you watch the episodes long enough.
Anyway!
I CAN'T GUARANTEE QUICK UPDATES!
I do have school and other obligations. But when I do not update consecutively I have a habit of putting up multiple chapters.
I usually update on the weekends. And this story was originally started on fanfiction. Just in case you're wondering.
And this will be a MULTI-CHAPTER STORY.
Not a One-shot. :heart:
Chapter 1- Sleepless
A boy lounged in his room, his eyes tracing the patterns on the ceiling, one thought floating through his usually one direction mind. (A.k.a. Tennis filled.)
'We're leaving'
He closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side, stretching his neck. He wasn't sure what had suddenly brought this up. Needless to say he hadn't expected it. Yes there had been changes in the household but it wasn't anything too drastic. Recently Ryoma's parents had gotten a divorce, for reasons that no one would explain to the young boy. He didn't find this too different, seeing as his mother, at least for the past year, hadn't been around much, showing up on Holidays only. He never did ask what she had been doing.
That wasn't drastic enough, in his opinion, to cause a sudden move like this. They had apparently already ordered the tickets and the movers would remove their belongings from the house by Friday, three days before they left to America (A/N: Counting Friday). Maybe Nanjirothought that moving away from Japan would "ease the pain" of loosing his mother. Although technically he could still see her any time he wished to. Either that or he had been caught doing something that would damage his reputation and he needed to flee the country. The second of the two sounded much more plausible.
Ryoma turned over on his side as he heard the soft meowing of his cat. His eyes opened once more and they trailed across the floor to see Karupinstruggling to squeeze into his room through the gap he had left in the door. At first he wondered if he had just gotten fat, or if Karupinjust couldn't fit through the door anymore when he noticed that he had left his bag in his room instead of at the entrance, blocking his door. He shook his head, his unruly dark locks fanning out before trudging to the door and pulling it open, sliding his bag along.
The feline purred happily, as if proud of his achievement and oblivious to the fact that Ryoma was no longer on the bed but next to the door. Ryoma bent down and curled his hands underneath the cat, picking him up and bringing him back to his bed. Ryoma lay back down and tucked his hands behind his head, returning to staring at the ceiling to help pass time. He could feel Karupin moving around on the bed before finally settling next to him.
'We're leaving,' he thought again, his hand slipping away from his head and moving down to Karupin.
Unusual for the hour his father had already retired for bed, apparently he had had a rough day. Although Ryoma couldn't see how that would be so. He didn't have a constant job as far as Ryoma knew and the most exercise he got was when he was playing him or when he actually had to walk to the temple to ring the bell. Ryoma sat up and glanced at Karupin who was already sleeping before slipping out of bed. The temple had been left in his fathers care but if they were leaving, especially at such a sudden notice, who would stay to take care of it?
Although Ryoma wouldn't say it and openly admit to it he didn't want to leave. Not only was he a regular at Seigaku but he had grown rather fond of the life here, even if he had only just recently moved. His argument for staying could've been that he was a regular, and leaving would cause trouble for the team but knowing his father he knew what the counter attack to it would be. Seigaku was doing just fine before Ryoma came along. Besides, they had Tezuka. They would survive. And they had Fuji....
The young boy turned over in his bed once more, unable to lay his mind at rest. At first he had assumed that; according to his nature this would not cause him to loose such enormous hours of sleep. Since the announcement two days ago Ryoma had yet to get an hours worth of peaceful sleep. His pale hand, creamy much like a girls, lifted from Karupin to brush away at his bangs; thinking it might induce a bored sleep. He wasn't betting money on it.
His eyes traveled past his hand to the clock on the wall. He had another 7 hours until he had to wake for school. Ryoma figured that if he stayed up the entire night he wouldn't have to worry about over-sleeping. If he even fell asleep. And even if he didn't Ryoma felt confident that his English teacher would surely grant him sleep with his boring, and childishly simple lectures.
Ryoma turned in his bed once more, careful not to crush his feline friend and closed his golden eyes which usually held a spark of passion, or were closed in dark embarrassment for the man he called his father. A sigh escaped his lips as he used his feet to kick his covers, which were lying underneath him, down so that he could slip underneath them. Maybe, just maybe he would get some sleep.....
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
A hand slipped out from teal blankets and fumbled a bit over the overhead before the fingers clasped around the plastic rim of the clock. Sleepily he tugged at it, to bring it in but he lost his grip, causing the clock to tumble through his fingers and in turn causing it to land against his head. A soft curse escaped from the boy's lips as he titled his head out of the pillow and fumbled around once more for the clock.
His golden eyes were dulled with lack of sleep as he wearily glanced at the clock, the black numbers dancing in front of his eyes. His eyes took a good minute to focus on the object in front of him. Although his body reacted alarmingly quickly, jolting sharply towards his door his mind was not with it, causing a sort of jerking movement to emit from Ryoma before he settled back down onto the bed in peace.
The previous night had been much like the other two he had experienced. Sleep deprived and completely tiring. Even if he did nothing but think, then again with the lengths as to which Ryoma thought it was a wonder that the young boy was even able to think rationally.
Ryoma's hands twitched eagerly, desperately wanting to leave the house before it was too late and perhaps even get some morning practice in as he had been instructed to do. He considered rolling out of bed but quickly dismissed that idea knowing full well how hard the floors in his room were. It was not a thing he would do voluntarily, dropping to the floor that is.
'Not like I have anything important to do today,' he thought to himself, completely sleep deprived and slightly grumpy. Hearing his cousin's footsteps he reached over to his notebook table and grasped his hands around a pen and a piece of paper. In her usual cheerful way, which for some reason annoyed Ryoma to no end that day, she came to wake him, asking him if he was ready to go.
Ryoma resisted the urge to growl at her and instead scribbled something onto a piece of paper he had pulled from the table next to his bed. He capped the pen rather violently and shoved the piece of paper towards Nanako's face (?). Her eyes scanned over it and she gave him a troubled smile; which he missed because he was facing the other direction.
"I guess it's okay just for today," she said as she moved across the room to the door, closing it softly and turning off the lights she had turned on when she had entered.
Ryoma vaguely caught what she had said, not that he would let himself be taken to school so easily, it wasn't as if he would have fought it too hardly because of the state he was in but what could he possibly have done at school? He was too tired and exhausted. Besides, he was pretty sure if he just collapsed on the steps or simply refused to get out of bed that they would let him rest and call in sick for him.
'So tired,' he thought as his arm slipped away from him to hang over the ledge of his bed.
"T... ir....ed...." he muttered to himself as his eyelids closed, finally, hopefully offering the young boy sleep he clearly deserved.
Meanwhile, as Ryoma's troubled mind drifted to sleep another Regular from the Seigaku team rode up on his bike to wait for Ryoma as he did almost every morning. He drummed his fingers on the handle of his bike as his brown eyes scanned the entrance to the Echizen family's yard. After a good few minutes he grew impatient, having no time to wait forever and risk being late to morning practice his eyes sought out Ryoma's room. His brows rose as he noticed that the lights weren't on and assumed that for an unearthly reason Ryoma had already gotten himself up and had headed to school without notifying him.
Momo cursed softly under his breath and blamed Ryoma for possibly making him late. Although in all honesty it wasn't his fault. He decided that he would deal with him once he got to school, maybe give him a good rub on the head, or a chewing out. Whichever happened first. His muscles tugged painfully as he pushed down on the petals of his bike. It was early morning and a bit colder than it should have been and his muscles were having a hard time warming up. Although he figured he'd get plenty of time to warm himself up with Inui not having made it to the Regulars this time and having wasted no time in beginning with his 'drink attacks'. Momo considered briefly that maybe because of today's practice Echizen had gotten to school early for practice so as not to be penalized for anything by Inui and therefore avoiding unnecessary consumption of the vile vegetable juice.
As Momo pedaled away in the above room Ryoma turned in his sleep, his mind troubling him again. More than it should have been. Yes Ryoma had grown fond of the life there but it was nothing he would loose sleep over. Was there something else then? Something he hadn't realized until it was in danger of being taken away? His mind flipped through the different solutions in his sleep. Who or what could be the reason for his lack of rest. It tired him out greatly and it didn't help him in any way. Sakuno was one of the people that had come to mind but he immediately dismissed it. Admitted she had become tolerable over the time they had spent in each others company but she was by far not a chosen candidate to spend the day with.
Ryoma's golden eyes opened and he frowned to himself, upset that he had finally fallen asleep and then his own mind had decided to wake him. He curled himself deeper into himself on the bed, almost squishing Karupin who was still curled up in the young Tennis player's arms. An angry and helpless 'meow' escaped from him as he tried to free himself. Ryoma took a second to notice what he was doing and quickly released his arms, mumbling a tired apology to his cat who gave a small hiss before moving out from underneath the blankets to the end of the bed. Ryoma watched as Karupin resettled himself at the end of his bed and was quickly asleep. He wished he and his cat could change places. Maybe then he would be granted some rest. But that didn't seem to be the plan.
A small sigh escaped him as he straightened himself, folding himself out from the ball he had wrapped himself into. Ryoma tucked his arms behind his head as his golden gaze fixated on the ceiling once more. Those sharp eyes which usually held a spark of passionate fire were now dulled and cloudy, blurred by his thoughts. Why couldn't they have stayed? Not that there was anything to dread in going back. His friends probably still lived there, but it seemed too much trouble in his opinion. Ryoma turned over and his dark ebony hair drifted over his eyes so that he had to blow them away, too lazy to lift his hands, to be able to see the clock. He briefly thought if he could get dressed in a split second he might make it to school still without being too late, but even the thought exhausted him beyond reason.
Ryoma turned back over in his bed and closed his eyes, willing his mind to become blank. With a sigh of relief he could feel some sort of block in his mind weakening and crumbling down, allowing him a moment of peace.
Momo by now had reached the school and had safely tucked away his bike. His fingers shook the third lock he had placed onto his bike. His own little 'bike stealing' incident had left him more aware of 'bike thieves' out there that were praying on unsecured bikes. He chuckled to himself as he compared the three 'heavy duty' locks on his bike to the one key lock on each of the bikes next to his. His hand rand through his black hair as he slung his Tennis bag over his shoulder. After hearing soft thud, which was his bag of school belongings, he walked through the school's gates and entered the court yard.
Even though it was an hour before school began there were people already there. Most of them were 'socially classified' as the Honor Student Nerds. Either that or it was the people who had volunteered to help the Student Council (Or as everyone secretly knew the people whom the Student Council members held grudges against and had been carefully blackmailed into working.) He nodded a polite hello to the people he passed on his way to the locker rooms.
Momo paused briefly before he reached the locker rooms to tie his shoe laces and glanced at the Tennis court, wondering briefly if Echizen was out playing. But seeing as the court was empty he banished the thought. As far as he knew Ryoma's only way of transportation was him or walking, and knowing that Ryoma wasn't a morning person he couldn't have gotten up early enough to be more than a few minutes ahead of him on his bike. Momo shook his head and muttered a soft 'Jeeze' under his breath at the thought of the stubborn freshman wonder.
The Seigaku regular got up from his spot and headed to the locker room. His hand clenched around the cold metal of the door handle and he was greeted by a blast of warm air, which was a relief in the early morning cool air. Inside he saw all of his teammates gathered and changing already, although rather sluggishly. Of course Inui was already dressed as were Tezuka and Fuji but that was expected, Oishi wasn't far behind. What confused him was that among the people there was a certain boy missing.
"Oi Momo!" the slightly grumpy voice of Eiji exclaimed.
"Huh? What Eiji-senpai?" Momo asked as his attention was abruptly brought to the fiery haired boy.
"Close the door! It's cold!" he said, wrapping his arms around his bare, goose bumped skin for emphasis.
"Oh! Right! Sorry," he said as he stepped in completely, shutting the door behind him.
He walked to his spot in a slight daze, searching the corners to see if Echizen had maybe curled up somewhere to sleep. Seeing as he couldn't find the young freshman he assumed that either he had yet to arrive or he was skipping out on morning practice. That or he was sick, which everyone knew didn't happen. When Ryoma called in sick it was always an excuse, much like his 'helping a pregnant woman about to deliver' excuse.
"Excuse me, Momo-kun, is there something wrong?" Momo heard Oishi say as he finished pulling on his team jersey.
"Nothing, just wondering where Echizen is," he said as he pulled the zipper down on his bag to pull out his clothes.
"Ochibi?" Eiji piped up, in a much happier mood now that there wasn't a cold draft enveloping him.
"Yeah, he's not here," Momo said as he pulled off his school uniform and replaced it with his team outfit.
"I thought the two of you came to school together," Fuji commented, having decided that the conversation was intriguing enough to deserve his attention.
"Yeah, but he wasn't there today and the lights in his room were out so I assumed that he had already left. And I had come late too so he should've been up by then," Momo said as he fished out his racket from his bag.
Fuji's smile faltered a bit into a crooked grin, "Maybe he was a bit later than usual, and now that you left.... He'll be late for sure. And I'm sure Tezuka will -"
"Make him run as many laps as is needed for the amount of time he is late," Tezuka concluded from behind them. Eiji turned away from Tezuka and gave a shaky smile to Oishi feeling sorry for the freshman. "Now finish getting dressed. Practice starts officially in two minutes. If you're not out by then and stretching then you will be penalized accordingly."
Inui gave a small chuckle at this knowing he was exempt seeing as the practice was only mandatory for the Regular members this particular day. Hearing the chuckle Kaidoh turned to him, the fact that Inui was exempt finally hitting him.
"Inui-senpai, why are you here for practice?" he asked.
He didn't mean to be rude but he could also tell from the not too obvious stop of movement behind him that the other regulars, besides Tezuka who had already left the dressing room, were interested in the answer as well.
"Data...," he answered and everyone chuckled a bit, "and." The regulars seemed to pause at this, wondering why else Inui would be there. "I wanted to try out how effective my new 'Inui Juice' was."
A horrified hush fell over the locker room and even Fuji's usually calm smile slipped a bit at the mention. He still remembered the incident from the bowling tournament where he had not even been able to handle a sip of the vile vegetable juice. A dark chuckle emerged from the man who created the horror as he got up and walked to the door. Inui turned back as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Don't be late now, you don't know how Tezuka will decide to 'Penalize you'," he said, placing emphasis on the beginning of the word, as if brining back the memory that there was the famous "Penal-Tea" left as well.
A moment of unmoving silence passed as Inui left the room, his words hanging in the air. It took only a second for the full meaning behind his words to sink in as the team began to rush to get dressed, and those already that far speeding out the door, almost racing each other to the courts.
--
The Regular team was already well into practice when Fuji stopped beside Tezuka, his gaze looking at the slowly increasing number of students passing by.
"It seems that Echizen really isn't going to make it to today's practice," he mused out loud, even thought the comment was directed at Tezuka.
The only other time Echizen had not shown for practice had been when he had taken the time off to play against Tezuka.
"Hm.... There's no need to worry about that. Get back to practice," he replied, as calmly as ever.
But unlike Tezuka, Fuji did worry. More than he thought he should be. It was almost as if he was infatuated with the young Tennis prince. But he knew this could not be the case. Admitted Echizen gave him a unmatchable thrill. And he did feel that he had a certain charisma to him. The Tennis prodigy shook his head as he returned to the courts. Why was this one absence, admitted unusual, bother him so much? Then again, Fuji was a very attentive person and his gut feeling was telling him that something wasn't right.
'I'll see him sometime today,' he told himself as Oishi asked him to join him, Eiji, and Inui for a doubles match.
Back at home Ryoma turned over once more, feeling more tired than ever. He feared that the rest of his days in Japan would be sleepless.
Mistress Yami:
Woo! I managed around 3000 words! Yay! Don't expect for them all to be this long. XP
Also while I'm not going to put random Japanese things/phrases/words in there I will put things such as "Senpai, Kouhai, -san, -kun, etc. and of course the all too famous 'Mada Mada Dane'."
Reviews are always appreciated! And are actually preferred over hit counts!
I also challenge those that are kind enough to give reviews to make it more than 'Update Soon'. Although those encourage me to go on too!
I'll try to make each chapter at least 2000 words. If I can't make that I'm sorry! My creative juices are limited because usually when I put my ideas 'down on paper' they tend to drift away.
Thank you!
Rating: T-M
Pairings: RyomaFuji, RyomaEiji (?) RyomaOC (slight) GoldenPair (EijiOishi)
Final Pairing??? ( :-P It wouldn't be half as exciting if I told you now. But there are enough clues to figure this one out! )
Genre: Comedy/Romance/Action
Plot/Summary: Ryo's father Nanjiro has recently gotten divorced, forcing Ryoma's mother to move out and return to the estate that her family owns. ( For those who know it's much like the Sohma family's). For no apparent reason tension had arisen between them. Ryoma's father decides it would be good to move back to America. He has around one week to prepare for their departure and doesn't tell anyone about his leave.
Ryoma leaves for America leaving the rest of the team feeling empty. Especially Eiji and Fuji, although Eiji shows it more as is his nature. No one knew the reason for the move and they realized they had no way to contact him.
Seigaku's Tennis team made an agreement with their coach and got the city where Ryoma was living at the moment. Going through a special program the team qualified for a 6 month (1 semester) absence from school to stay in America and study the culture.
There they have nowhere to begin. They bump into a young girl who turns out to be an old friend of Ryoma's. (No, not the person Ryoma is OCed with)
And I won't tell you more.
Time Line: Tezuka is still there but the Finals are over. (Nationals)
Disclaimer: I don't own PoT (Tenipuri) .... If I did there would be some major changes:: evil fangirl laughter:
Mistress Yami:
Let me start by saying.
This is my first PoT fanfiction.
I'm in love with the Thrill Pair, and also with what I like to call the 'Glomp' pair. I mean...you have to notice if you watch the episodes long enough.
Anyway!
I CAN'T GUARANTEE QUICK UPDATES!
I do have school and other obligations. But when I do not update consecutively I have a habit of putting up multiple chapters.
I usually update on the weekends. And this story was originally started on fanfiction. Just in case you're wondering.
And this will be a MULTI-CHAPTER STORY.
Not a One-shot. :heart:
Chapter 1- Sleepless
A boy lounged in his room, his eyes tracing the patterns on the ceiling, one thought floating through his usually one direction mind. (A.k.a. Tennis filled.)
'We're leaving'
He closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side, stretching his neck. He wasn't sure what had suddenly brought this up. Needless to say he hadn't expected it. Yes there had been changes in the household but it wasn't anything too drastic. Recently Ryoma's parents had gotten a divorce, for reasons that no one would explain to the young boy. He didn't find this too different, seeing as his mother, at least for the past year, hadn't been around much, showing up on Holidays only. He never did ask what she had been doing.
That wasn't drastic enough, in his opinion, to cause a sudden move like this. They had apparently already ordered the tickets and the movers would remove their belongings from the house by Friday, three days before they left to America (A/N: Counting Friday). Maybe Nanjirothought that moving away from Japan would "ease the pain" of loosing his mother. Although technically he could still see her any time he wished to. Either that or he had been caught doing something that would damage his reputation and he needed to flee the country. The second of the two sounded much more plausible.
Ryoma turned over on his side as he heard the soft meowing of his cat. His eyes opened once more and they trailed across the floor to see Karupinstruggling to squeeze into his room through the gap he had left in the door. At first he wondered if he had just gotten fat, or if Karupinjust couldn't fit through the door anymore when he noticed that he had left his bag in his room instead of at the entrance, blocking his door. He shook his head, his unruly dark locks fanning out before trudging to the door and pulling it open, sliding his bag along.
The feline purred happily, as if proud of his achievement and oblivious to the fact that Ryoma was no longer on the bed but next to the door. Ryoma bent down and curled his hands underneath the cat, picking him up and bringing him back to his bed. Ryoma lay back down and tucked his hands behind his head, returning to staring at the ceiling to help pass time. He could feel Karupin moving around on the bed before finally settling next to him.
'We're leaving,' he thought again, his hand slipping away from his head and moving down to Karupin.
Unusual for the hour his father had already retired for bed, apparently he had had a rough day. Although Ryoma couldn't see how that would be so. He didn't have a constant job as far as Ryoma knew and the most exercise he got was when he was playing him or when he actually had to walk to the temple to ring the bell. Ryoma sat up and glanced at Karupin who was already sleeping before slipping out of bed. The temple had been left in his fathers care but if they were leaving, especially at such a sudden notice, who would stay to take care of it?
Although Ryoma wouldn't say it and openly admit to it he didn't want to leave. Not only was he a regular at Seigaku but he had grown rather fond of the life here, even if he had only just recently moved. His argument for staying could've been that he was a regular, and leaving would cause trouble for the team but knowing his father he knew what the counter attack to it would be. Seigaku was doing just fine before Ryoma came along. Besides, they had Tezuka. They would survive. And they had Fuji....
The young boy turned over in his bed once more, unable to lay his mind at rest. At first he had assumed that; according to his nature this would not cause him to loose such enormous hours of sleep. Since the announcement two days ago Ryoma had yet to get an hours worth of peaceful sleep. His pale hand, creamy much like a girls, lifted from Karupin to brush away at his bangs; thinking it might induce a bored sleep. He wasn't betting money on it.
His eyes traveled past his hand to the clock on the wall. He had another 7 hours until he had to wake for school. Ryoma figured that if he stayed up the entire night he wouldn't have to worry about over-sleeping. If he even fell asleep. And even if he didn't Ryoma felt confident that his English teacher would surely grant him sleep with his boring, and childishly simple lectures.
Ryoma turned in his bed once more, careful not to crush his feline friend and closed his golden eyes which usually held a spark of passion, or were closed in dark embarrassment for the man he called his father. A sigh escaped his lips as he used his feet to kick his covers, which were lying underneath him, down so that he could slip underneath them. Maybe, just maybe he would get some sleep.....
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
A hand slipped out from teal blankets and fumbled a bit over the overhead before the fingers clasped around the plastic rim of the clock. Sleepily he tugged at it, to bring it in but he lost his grip, causing the clock to tumble through his fingers and in turn causing it to land against his head. A soft curse escaped from the boy's lips as he titled his head out of the pillow and fumbled around once more for the clock.
His golden eyes were dulled with lack of sleep as he wearily glanced at the clock, the black numbers dancing in front of his eyes. His eyes took a good minute to focus on the object in front of him. Although his body reacted alarmingly quickly, jolting sharply towards his door his mind was not with it, causing a sort of jerking movement to emit from Ryoma before he settled back down onto the bed in peace.
The previous night had been much like the other two he had experienced. Sleep deprived and completely tiring. Even if he did nothing but think, then again with the lengths as to which Ryoma thought it was a wonder that the young boy was even able to think rationally.
Ryoma's hands twitched eagerly, desperately wanting to leave the house before it was too late and perhaps even get some morning practice in as he had been instructed to do. He considered rolling out of bed but quickly dismissed that idea knowing full well how hard the floors in his room were. It was not a thing he would do voluntarily, dropping to the floor that is.
'Not like I have anything important to do today,' he thought to himself, completely sleep deprived and slightly grumpy. Hearing his cousin's footsteps he reached over to his notebook table and grasped his hands around a pen and a piece of paper. In her usual cheerful way, which for some reason annoyed Ryoma to no end that day, she came to wake him, asking him if he was ready to go.
Ryoma resisted the urge to growl at her and instead scribbled something onto a piece of paper he had pulled from the table next to his bed. He capped the pen rather violently and shoved the piece of paper towards Nanako's face (?). Her eyes scanned over it and she gave him a troubled smile; which he missed because he was facing the other direction.
"I guess it's okay just for today," she said as she moved across the room to the door, closing it softly and turning off the lights she had turned on when she had entered.
Ryoma vaguely caught what she had said, not that he would let himself be taken to school so easily, it wasn't as if he would have fought it too hardly because of the state he was in but what could he possibly have done at school? He was too tired and exhausted. Besides, he was pretty sure if he just collapsed on the steps or simply refused to get out of bed that they would let him rest and call in sick for him.
'So tired,' he thought as his arm slipped away from him to hang over the ledge of his bed.
"T... ir....ed...." he muttered to himself as his eyelids closed, finally, hopefully offering the young boy sleep he clearly deserved.
Meanwhile, as Ryoma's troubled mind drifted to sleep another Regular from the Seigaku team rode up on his bike to wait for Ryoma as he did almost every morning. He drummed his fingers on the handle of his bike as his brown eyes scanned the entrance to the Echizen family's yard. After a good few minutes he grew impatient, having no time to wait forever and risk being late to morning practice his eyes sought out Ryoma's room. His brows rose as he noticed that the lights weren't on and assumed that for an unearthly reason Ryoma had already gotten himself up and had headed to school without notifying him.
Momo cursed softly under his breath and blamed Ryoma for possibly making him late. Although in all honesty it wasn't his fault. He decided that he would deal with him once he got to school, maybe give him a good rub on the head, or a chewing out. Whichever happened first. His muscles tugged painfully as he pushed down on the petals of his bike. It was early morning and a bit colder than it should have been and his muscles were having a hard time warming up. Although he figured he'd get plenty of time to warm himself up with Inui not having made it to the Regulars this time and having wasted no time in beginning with his 'drink attacks'. Momo considered briefly that maybe because of today's practice Echizen had gotten to school early for practice so as not to be penalized for anything by Inui and therefore avoiding unnecessary consumption of the vile vegetable juice.
As Momo pedaled away in the above room Ryoma turned in his sleep, his mind troubling him again. More than it should have been. Yes Ryoma had grown fond of the life there but it was nothing he would loose sleep over. Was there something else then? Something he hadn't realized until it was in danger of being taken away? His mind flipped through the different solutions in his sleep. Who or what could be the reason for his lack of rest. It tired him out greatly and it didn't help him in any way. Sakuno was one of the people that had come to mind but he immediately dismissed it. Admitted she had become tolerable over the time they had spent in each others company but she was by far not a chosen candidate to spend the day with.
Ryoma's golden eyes opened and he frowned to himself, upset that he had finally fallen asleep and then his own mind had decided to wake him. He curled himself deeper into himself on the bed, almost squishing Karupin who was still curled up in the young Tennis player's arms. An angry and helpless 'meow' escaped from him as he tried to free himself. Ryoma took a second to notice what he was doing and quickly released his arms, mumbling a tired apology to his cat who gave a small hiss before moving out from underneath the blankets to the end of the bed. Ryoma watched as Karupin resettled himself at the end of his bed and was quickly asleep. He wished he and his cat could change places. Maybe then he would be granted some rest. But that didn't seem to be the plan.
A small sigh escaped him as he straightened himself, folding himself out from the ball he had wrapped himself into. Ryoma tucked his arms behind his head as his golden gaze fixated on the ceiling once more. Those sharp eyes which usually held a spark of passionate fire were now dulled and cloudy, blurred by his thoughts. Why couldn't they have stayed? Not that there was anything to dread in going back. His friends probably still lived there, but it seemed too much trouble in his opinion. Ryoma turned over and his dark ebony hair drifted over his eyes so that he had to blow them away, too lazy to lift his hands, to be able to see the clock. He briefly thought if he could get dressed in a split second he might make it to school still without being too late, but even the thought exhausted him beyond reason.
Ryoma turned back over in his bed and closed his eyes, willing his mind to become blank. With a sigh of relief he could feel some sort of block in his mind weakening and crumbling down, allowing him a moment of peace.
Momo by now had reached the school and had safely tucked away his bike. His fingers shook the third lock he had placed onto his bike. His own little 'bike stealing' incident had left him more aware of 'bike thieves' out there that were praying on unsecured bikes. He chuckled to himself as he compared the three 'heavy duty' locks on his bike to the one key lock on each of the bikes next to his. His hand rand through his black hair as he slung his Tennis bag over his shoulder. After hearing soft thud, which was his bag of school belongings, he walked through the school's gates and entered the court yard.
Even though it was an hour before school began there were people already there. Most of them were 'socially classified' as the Honor Student Nerds. Either that or it was the people who had volunteered to help the Student Council (Or as everyone secretly knew the people whom the Student Council members held grudges against and had been carefully blackmailed into working.) He nodded a polite hello to the people he passed on his way to the locker rooms.
Momo paused briefly before he reached the locker rooms to tie his shoe laces and glanced at the Tennis court, wondering briefly if Echizen was out playing. But seeing as the court was empty he banished the thought. As far as he knew Ryoma's only way of transportation was him or walking, and knowing that Ryoma wasn't a morning person he couldn't have gotten up early enough to be more than a few minutes ahead of him on his bike. Momo shook his head and muttered a soft 'Jeeze' under his breath at the thought of the stubborn freshman wonder.
The Seigaku regular got up from his spot and headed to the locker room. His hand clenched around the cold metal of the door handle and he was greeted by a blast of warm air, which was a relief in the early morning cool air. Inside he saw all of his teammates gathered and changing already, although rather sluggishly. Of course Inui was already dressed as were Tezuka and Fuji but that was expected, Oishi wasn't far behind. What confused him was that among the people there was a certain boy missing.
"Oi Momo!" the slightly grumpy voice of Eiji exclaimed.
"Huh? What Eiji-senpai?" Momo asked as his attention was abruptly brought to the fiery haired boy.
"Close the door! It's cold!" he said, wrapping his arms around his bare, goose bumped skin for emphasis.
"Oh! Right! Sorry," he said as he stepped in completely, shutting the door behind him.
He walked to his spot in a slight daze, searching the corners to see if Echizen had maybe curled up somewhere to sleep. Seeing as he couldn't find the young freshman he assumed that either he had yet to arrive or he was skipping out on morning practice. That or he was sick, which everyone knew didn't happen. When Ryoma called in sick it was always an excuse, much like his 'helping a pregnant woman about to deliver' excuse.
"Excuse me, Momo-kun, is there something wrong?" Momo heard Oishi say as he finished pulling on his team jersey.
"Nothing, just wondering where Echizen is," he said as he pulled the zipper down on his bag to pull out his clothes.
"Ochibi?" Eiji piped up, in a much happier mood now that there wasn't a cold draft enveloping him.
"Yeah, he's not here," Momo said as he pulled off his school uniform and replaced it with his team outfit.
"I thought the two of you came to school together," Fuji commented, having decided that the conversation was intriguing enough to deserve his attention.
"Yeah, but he wasn't there today and the lights in his room were out so I assumed that he had already left. And I had come late too so he should've been up by then," Momo said as he fished out his racket from his bag.
Fuji's smile faltered a bit into a crooked grin, "Maybe he was a bit later than usual, and now that you left.... He'll be late for sure. And I'm sure Tezuka will -"
"Make him run as many laps as is needed for the amount of time he is late," Tezuka concluded from behind them. Eiji turned away from Tezuka and gave a shaky smile to Oishi feeling sorry for the freshman. "Now finish getting dressed. Practice starts officially in two minutes. If you're not out by then and stretching then you will be penalized accordingly."
Inui gave a small chuckle at this knowing he was exempt seeing as the practice was only mandatory for the Regular members this particular day. Hearing the chuckle Kaidoh turned to him, the fact that Inui was exempt finally hitting him.
"Inui-senpai, why are you here for practice?" he asked.
He didn't mean to be rude but he could also tell from the not too obvious stop of movement behind him that the other regulars, besides Tezuka who had already left the dressing room, were interested in the answer as well.
"Data...," he answered and everyone chuckled a bit, "and." The regulars seemed to pause at this, wondering why else Inui would be there. "I wanted to try out how effective my new 'Inui Juice' was."
A horrified hush fell over the locker room and even Fuji's usually calm smile slipped a bit at the mention. He still remembered the incident from the bowling tournament where he had not even been able to handle a sip of the vile vegetable juice. A dark chuckle emerged from the man who created the horror as he got up and walked to the door. Inui turned back as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Don't be late now, you don't know how Tezuka will decide to 'Penalize you'," he said, placing emphasis on the beginning of the word, as if brining back the memory that there was the famous "Penal-Tea" left as well.
A moment of unmoving silence passed as Inui left the room, his words hanging in the air. It took only a second for the full meaning behind his words to sink in as the team began to rush to get dressed, and those already that far speeding out the door, almost racing each other to the courts.
--
The Regular team was already well into practice when Fuji stopped beside Tezuka, his gaze looking at the slowly increasing number of students passing by.
"It seems that Echizen really isn't going to make it to today's practice," he mused out loud, even thought the comment was directed at Tezuka.
The only other time Echizen had not shown for practice had been when he had taken the time off to play against Tezuka.
"Hm.... There's no need to worry about that. Get back to practice," he replied, as calmly as ever.
But unlike Tezuka, Fuji did worry. More than he thought he should be. It was almost as if he was infatuated with the young Tennis prince. But he knew this could not be the case. Admitted Echizen gave him a unmatchable thrill. And he did feel that he had a certain charisma to him. The Tennis prodigy shook his head as he returned to the courts. Why was this one absence, admitted unusual, bother him so much? Then again, Fuji was a very attentive person and his gut feeling was telling him that something wasn't right.
'I'll see him sometime today,' he told himself as Oishi asked him to join him, Eiji, and Inui for a doubles match.
Back at home Ryoma turned over once more, feeling more tired than ever. He feared that the rest of his days in Japan would be sleepless.
Mistress Yami:
Woo! I managed around 3000 words! Yay! Don't expect for them all to be this long. XP
Also while I'm not going to put random Japanese things/phrases/words in there I will put things such as "Senpai, Kouhai, -san, -kun, etc. and of course the all too famous 'Mada Mada Dane'."
Reviews are always appreciated! And are actually preferred over hit counts!
I also challenge those that are kind enough to give reviews to make it more than 'Update Soon'. Although those encourage me to go on too!
I'll try to make each chapter at least 2000 words. If I can't make that I'm sorry! My creative juices are limited because usually when I put my ideas 'down on paper' they tend to drift away.
Thank you!
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