Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of tennis characters. Reviews are appreciated. Thanks

A/N:the setting is a week after the nationals.

...

COMING TO REALIZATION

I- Grief after nationals

Yukimura Seiichi slumped on his bed; tears fell down on his blue orbs as the memories of the final match between him and Seigaku's Echizen Ryoma come flashing on his mind.

"I shouldn't let that happen. I shouldn't let my team lost" he thought.

"Seiichi-nii, Sanada-nii and the rest of your team are here." His little sister said as she opened the door, he didn't notice that she was already in his side until he heard her asked, "ne~ Seiichi-nii, are you okay?" He felt her wiped away the tears that escaped on his eyes, He gave her a faint smile.

"Nii-san is okay, so don't worry ne~?" he assured her and ruffled her silky blue hair. The younger Yukimura smiled happily.

"Then let's go meet your teammates nii-san." She said as she pulled her brother and dragged him to where the Rikkaidai regulars are.

"YO~ buchou" Kirihara greeted him, the moment he stepped out of the last stair, he nodded at his teammates

"Why you're here?" he asked in confusion.

"We're here to visit you. Isn't it obvious?" Niou said, folding his arms against his chest, "maa~ you skipped today's practice again buchou."

"gomen~" he replied.

"Seiichi, you don't have to blame yourself." Sanada finally stated, everyone went silent as their stern vice-captain stood up and walked towards their unmoving captain and patted his shoulder. "we told you, it's okay." Seiichi looked at him with his usual smile but Sanada clearly hinted the grief in his eyes. "I guess, we'll just wait for your come back. Let's go minna~" he said and walked towards the door.

"Yeah~ we'll wait for you buchou." Marui said as he blown out his bubble, Jackal on the other hand just bowed and go after Sanada, everyone else followed.

...

The following days were usual for Seiichi, he would walked towards the Rikkadai's gate, greeted by his squealing fan girls, going to his classroom, afterwards was their break time where he would spent by going to the school's garden to visit his plants, after it was their afternoon class, and lastly, their afternoon practice.

"He'll skip again" Yagyu commented, looking at Seiichi as he talked to Sanada to fix some things before leaving the tennis courts.

"For someone who never lost in any matches before, it should be a big shocked for him." Yanagi butted in as he scribbled something in his notebook.

"Do you think we could do something to at least cheer him up?" Kirihara suggested, earning a confused and mocking stares from his senpais "i-im just concern to buchou, you know" he added giving them a surrendered smile.

"Okay everyone, listen up" Sanada commanded, every regulars and non-regulars gather around the stoic vice-captain. "As you all can see, our buchou skip today's practice again. But, it doesn't mean that we will slack off because of his absence, instead, we are going to double our practice. Understand?" the regulars grunted in annoyance and some other tennis club members swallowed hard after they heard Sanada's announcement before reluctantly nodded their heads before saying "hai" in unison.

"This is going to be one hell of practice today" Niou blurted out as he warmed himself up.

...

Seiichi walked across the street, his thoughts was still in that fateful day, when Echizen Ryoma defeated him and claimed the National's championship that he didn't notice it was already past 5PM. He stopped into a park wherein he saw a bunch of beautiful yellow-coloured daffodils. He walked towards and bent down, touching it ever so lightly.

"anou~"

"Yes?" he asked, looking at the young woman. When he saw a watering can in her hands, he immediately stood up and step aside and let the girl walked in his former spot. "So, you're the one who manage this park?" he asked

"No. it's just that, I like these daffodils thats why I decided to take care of them." She answered back, watering the flowers from left to right.

"By the way, I'm Yukimura Seiichi." He introduced after a while, extending his arm to her. "From the looks of your uniform, I think we're on the same school." He added,

"Sanada Tenshi. And, yeah~ I'm from Rikkaidai too, Yukimura-san." She said and took his hand the moment she finished watering the flowers.

"Sanada?" he asked

"hai. I'm Genichiro's cousin." She said upon sensing Seiichi's confusion. "I have to go now, bye Yukimura-kun."

"matte~"

"nani?"

"I'm just wondering, if you're from Rikkai too, then why I haven't seen you around nor heard anything about you?" Seiichi asked, though he debated himself whether or not to ask her. Tenshi smiled before she replied

"Tennis captains surely doesn't know about his surroundings ne~? We're on the same year; I'm in 3A just like Genichiro's , and I'm not into sports like you that's why you're not that familiar with me." and with a sweet smile, she turned her back on him and started walking again.