Categories > Anime/Manga > Prince of Tennis > Fixation

Remembering

by Good_Question 0 reviews

Mistress Yami: Special note in the last A/N ! Please read it! Wewt! Chapter 4! Here we are ladies and gents! ( o.O Do I have any male reviewers/readers?) This is where we get a glimpse of ...

Category: Prince of Tennis - Rating: R - Genres: Angst, Romance - Characters: Echizen Ryoma, Fuji Shuusuke, Kikumaru Eiji, Momoshiro Takeshi - Published: 2006-09-18 - Updated: 2006-09-19 - 3064 words

1Moving
Chapter 4: Remembering

Ryoma curled himself on the mattress that had been laid out in his room temporarily until their furniture came in with the next shipping. For now his father, him, and Karupin were surviving on instant Ramen and coffee from the nearest Starbucks. (A/N: Which I do not own so no sue!) All in all he was surviving, barely at that. The first thing they had done once they had arrived was visit some of his dad's old friends who were more than happy to loan them some of their things until their own stuff arrived. Each of them was also very eager to see how much Ryoma had grown, after all the last time that any of them had really had any time to spend with the Tennis genius was when he had been maybe 5, after that he was too preoccupied with tournaments to really hang out with anyone.

The first night had been like a cold hell for Ryoma. His new room, although it faced well towards the park and he had a decent view in the mornings, felt more like a jail cell for him. The mattress although undeniably comfortable felt foreign to his body which rejected it fully giving him another nights worth of sleeplessness. The first morning had been a disaster. Ryoma had woken up grumpy and snappy and it hadn't helped that for some stupid reason the water hadn't been turned on in their house yet, he was left without a morning shower. And if he really wanted one he would have to go take one at the closest sporting club. A shudder passed through him at the thought, he'd rather stay at home until the water started again. The day hadn't gone any better. His father had suggested getting to know the neighborhood, admitted they were close to where they had been living before but nowhere near the same level of luxury because his father didn't want to draw attention to themselves, at least not yet. He felt that Ryoma needed some separation from his earlier life style to get over his mother leaving them.

Ryoma didn't understand why they had to leave Japan if his mother had already left them to go somewhere else. It wasn't that he didn't care or love his mother. He did, dearly, but it wasn't as if he was never going to see her again. He would be able to visit during vacations and also on weekends. That is if they had stayed in Japan. This made Ryoma think that there was something more, that he hadn't been told about, as the cause of his parents divorce. Something bad enough that his father felt they had to completely separate themselves from it.

Either way Ryoma's life currently, at least in his opinion, had a close resemblance to hell in one way or another. He uncurled himself on the graying spring mattress and let his eyes trail across the ceiling. So this was life huh...

A week had passed since they had arrived in their new home and Ryoma hadn't done much more than sleep, lie on the dying spring mattress, and eat instant Ramen which was slowly starting to taste like stale bread no matter how much seasoning he put into the bag. Then again it wasn't surprising seeing as Ryoma had lost much of his interest in his life. At least he had yet to find something that sparked his interest. But there was something that disrupted his usual routine that Sunday evening. Their stuff arrived. Of course this had been a huge relief for his father as well as him. At least he would be getting some familiar things back and it also meant that they would be fixing the water systems so that the house would finally have running water. Ryoma was getting a little tired of having to go to the public bath rooms every time he had to go. It was rather sickening actually.

"Ryoma! Come help carry!"

Ryoma rolled over on the old mattress; it no longer groaned seeing as he had made a permanent dent in his shape into the center of the mattress. He pushed himself up on his knees with his arms and then stood up. His body felt stiff and numb although that was expected seeing as he had done nothing for the past 48 hours than just sleep and lie on that same spot, barely even moving in the 'bed'.

Sluggishly he moved to the door and opened it, stopping before closing it to let Karupin out, who had decided to follow him. Thinking that if he let him loose he would get stepped on, for he could already hear Nanjiroh's friends begins to gather outside, he picked him up and walked out into the small backyard they had. As he dropped Karupin to the ground the glanced at the large moving truck. He wasn't exactly sure why his father even wanted all of their stuff brought here. They would never find the room for it, at least not without mom, and they would be moving again soon anyway because whether he liked to admit to it or not Nanjiroh loved his luxury. He had saved up a well enough bundle of money from his professional days and the side job's he had always had were at least good for something. Ryoma hadn't known any of this before hand though, of exactly how much money was saved up by his father, he also hadn't known that most of their groceries and at least 70 of mortgage and other such expenses were paid for by his mother who received money not only through her job but got a regular 'allowance' from her parents as well.

Ryoma was brought out of his thoughts by another yell from his father. He glanced down at his leg too and noticed that Karupin had decided to sit on his right foot, apparently thinking that this was the perfect spot to lie down and if Ryoma's foot was going to be in the way it still wasn't going to give up the perfect spot. A small smile threatened to slip onto his lips as he gently pulled out his foot from beneath his cat. He turned around and quickly slipped back inside; pulling closed the glass doors that separated the patio and the living room. He walked to the front of the house and then moved back to allow two of his fathers friends to enter while carrying the sofa that his father had fought over. Of course this fighting had happened before his mother had violently burst out that he could take all of it and that she was just going to go home. And after wards had added a healthy 'my parents never did approve of you!'

Ryoma stepped outside and asked his father what he could do to help. Still thinking about Tennis his father ordered him to take the light boxes to the designated rooms, he would work out the rest. Ryoma wasn't so sure if he could as he watched his father pick up a heavier box and almost fall over backwards because of its weight. Then again what choice did Ryoma have? Nothing for the past month had been decided by him, except for maybe that one day that he had decided to skip the day of school. But that didn't really count since it had been in his cousins good graces that he had been allowed to stay in bed.

The rest of the day went on in such fashion, Ryoma helping out where he could and where he was allowed to, Nanjiroh didn't want the Tennis player he had worked hard to mold after all these years to have to stop practicing or worse give up Tennis because of some injury caused by the moving in.

As the sun began to set Ryoma watched his father say 'bye' to his friends who promised to return the next day to help unpack. Growing tired of the drawn out 'see ya latuh's' Ryoma moved into the now box flooded kitchen to make him and his father some instant Ramen, he was afraid his father didn't know how and he didn't want all of the boxes, let alone the house, burning down because his father couldn't work a microwave.

By the time that Nanjiroh was done with his bye's for the evening Ryoma had already put their bowls on top of a box and pulled up two sturdy boxes filled with books as seats for them both seeing as the actual stools they had used earlier were crammed in some corner and the table tops were barely reachable because of the clutter.

Nanjiroh smiled as he sat down, "Everything's going to be okay!" (1)

Ryoma rolled his eyes and began to chew at his Ramen bowl. Even so he had to fight to suppress a small grin as his father reached over and messed his hair up. Not that he cared, but it was a little annoying. Ryoma was about to clean their bowls when his father, out of some strange reason (Ryoma would never find out what force had compelled him to do it), decided that he would do it. Shrugging he handed his bowl to his father who looked positively excited as he turned on the water in the sink. Turning around with a sigh Ryoma headed upstairs to where he knew his old bed was waiting.

During the day although they had been moving things into the house, and had managed to fit most of it in, to get rid of some boxes they had assembled some pieces of furniture and unpacked the things that went on them to clear space. The bed and shelf in Ryoma's room were two of the things that were now completely assembled. Ryoma opened the door and closed it, welcoming the darkness in it, the only light being the one coming from the moon even if it did disappear on the occasion because of the clouds. He moved by trusting his hands towards his bed and tugged off his jeans, leaving them in a heap on the floor. With a happy sigh, the first one in weeks, he dove into the covers that smelt familiarly like Japan. He hadn't noticed the smell before but after living for two weeks with the horrible spring mattress and the borrowed sheets Ryoma couldn't help but notice the change in scent. At least some things changed the same but he took little comfort in that, knowing that it would change with time.

His eyes scanned what he could see of the room, the parts that weren't hidden by boxes, and fell onto the only picture on the shelf that had been put up. He contemplated for a moment whether or not he really wanted to get up and go get it or if he should just ditch his laziness and go get the picture. In the end he forced himself off of the bed and quickly slipped his way through the boxes. He didn't want to risk dropping the picture so he climbed over the last box so that he could grip it tightly enough not to drop it. Ryoma then tucked it close to him and made his way back to his bed, slipping under the covers.

He held the picture frame against the moonlight, turning around so it was easier to look at it, and allowed himself a private sad smile. Although the face's weren't clear because of the poor lighting he could see them almost as if they were standing in front of him in person. After all he had only left a week ago although it had felt like ages to him. As he flipped through the faces and the quick memories that came with them Ryoma could feel himself breaking inside, slowly but surely. He was still a pretty much a kid after all. Ryoma bit his lip to keep the emotions from hurling their way through his eyes. Kid or not. It was not like him to cry and he wouldn't now. After all he had gone through this before, admitted with different circumstances.

With those thoughts in mind he forced himself to sleep, the picture still cradled in his hands much like a teddy bear. For the first time in a month Ryoma remembered himself actually waking up. It completely confused him at first, the feeling of complete rest having been foreign to him until now. At first when he realized it he felt he was in some way betraying Japan and everything he had left behind there. His sleep patterns were supposed to have gotten worse now that he was back. Then again maybe it had been the familiar bed and the warm memories it brought with it that had allowed him a restful sleep.

Even though he felt completely rested he was surprised to find that it was still early in the morning. He turned around in his bed so that he could see the small black clock they had bought from a nearby Walmart(A/N: Do not own, no sue please) upon their arrival and almost laughed as he saw the bright red figures blink with the time '7:08'. Knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now that his mind had begun to work he pulled off his covers and pulled on the jeans he had left on the floor the night before. They would last one more day. As he closed the button on them he made a mental note to tell his father to get the washing machine and the dryer hooked up today.

Yawning softly he was about to leave when the sun hit the picture frame still lying on the bed, causing the light beam to bounce off of the glass and into his eyes. At first he had been completely confused but as he examined the source he felt a rush of relief that he had remembered it. It would've been troublesome if he, or someone else, had accidentally sat on it or lain on it because it had been left on his bed. With care Ryoma picked up the picture and placed it back in its place on the shelf.

After eating a quick breakfast which mostly consisted of water and a piece of toast he decided to take his fathers advice and get to know the neighborhood once more. It was slightly chilly in the morning because they were a bit more in the northern part of the state than they had been before it was getting closer to the end of the year as it was.

He walked towards the park first and was amazed as to how well he still remembered the places. Ryoma paused at the large water fountain at the center of the park and dipped his hand into the cold water, his fingers brushing against the pennies left in it. Before he could draw his hand out someone had tapped him on the shoulder.

Surprised Ryoma turned around, although he didn't feel alarmed because the aura was somehow familiar and almost fell into the pool behind him in shock. His eyes first took in the silky blond hair that was, as he remember, standing out in every direction as it had a habit to do in the mornings, and then they slipped to the ears which held at least 6 more piercing than he had remembered him having, and finally settled hazel eyes who were probably just as wide in shock as his was, although the older teen was quicker to conceal it.

Even though his face could hide it his voice could not as he spoke the first word between them in years, "Ryoma?"

It seemed that Ryoma was in the near future going to have to do a lot more remembering.

Mistress Yami:

Whenever it's underlined they're talking English, for when the other peeps come to visit the states k?

I swear to you this chapter was a solid 2000 words ( maybe a bit more) so I'm still keeping my word and hopefully I'm doing well with my updating too!

Anyway! I've stumbled across some neat fanfictions that I wanted to share ( one's that are chapter ones) I'll be featuring one at the end of each chapter, at least for sure the one's that are near the promised 2000 mark and not up and over like the second chapter I think it was.

Title: Spiral

Rating: NC-17

Author: Datenshi Blue

This one's set in the future after they've all parted ways. It's rich in language and very deep, Ryoma is 18 at the time this story takes place. Now I don't usually read stories that are set far into the future but as an angst lover I am deeply attached to this story!

Yami's Chart:

It has a nice deeper plot than most angst pieces in my opinion ( and as far as I've read)

It's a chapter story

It's well written!

The lime scenes are actually quite refreshingly good!

She writes... and writes a lot . ( 36 pages for the first 4 chapters)

Sensibly written, seems realistic to me.

Uses facts!

- Uses facts. Just 'cause I'm lazy like that. : )

- There isn't much of FujiRyoma which I was looking for when I was first browsing through, or at least not as far as I've read.

I say you go check it out even though all you shippers out there that are deeply praying for FujiRyo are to be slightly disappointed.

Now before I get some angry reviewer sending me an angry note saying that I can't possibly say that or, I haven't read enough to compare or, why haven't you looked at mine!

I don't tend to slip into stories that have pairings I'm not a shipper of or a strong shipper of. In addition to that I try to read mostly chapter stories and those are the ones that usually get reviews from me, although I occasionally leave one in Oneshots if they've hit me enough. And do remember that this is my opinion. If you happen to disagree then so be it but please don't chew me out for it.

If you know a story that deserves to be read and you think is really outstanding don't be afraid to recommend it! I love to read!
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