A small, blue car was racing in and out of traffic as its driver tried desperately to reach their destination as soon as possible. The driver looked up at their rearview mirror, checking on their passengers; a pregnant woman and her friend. The woman's contractions were getting stronger, the baby would come soon. The driver cursed as she nearly avoided hitting a truck. She was to damn old for this and her grandson-in-law wasn't picking up his phone. His first child was about to be born and he couldn't bother to pick up the phone. Granted he was probably still playing his match, but he had to take a break sometime soon. She silently cursed him to as they reached the hospital. The old woman pulled right up to the ER and quickly shouted for help. It soon came as they lifted the woman from the car and put her on a gurney and took her away. One of the nurses, she presumed, told her that she needed to park her car somewhere other than the middle of the entrance. She nodded and quickly went to do so. As soon as she turned the car off she reached for her cellphone and dialed her dimwitted grandson. Each ring made her become more antsy and frustrated. She really was getting to old for this. Finally someone picked up the phone.

"Hello.."

"Where is he?" she screeched into the phone, not even bothering to be polite.

"Uh…if you mean Mr. Echizen he's currently playing…"

"Well tell him to hurry it up or leave! His first child is going to be born and so help me if he misses it I will take that stupid racket of his and smash it over his head until his skull or the racket breaks, which ever comes first!" she yelled.

"Um…I…I'll tell him right away ma'am," the assistant replied. The old woman just hmphed and hung up. She got out of the car and quickly went inside to check on her granddaughter. She couldn't help but smile, she was going to be a great-grandma. She had hoped she'd live to see this. A frown quickly replaced the smile, that idiot better get here soon.

"Uh, sir?" a rather flustered assistant walked up to man sitting on a bench. The man was tall and lean. He had well-built muscles in both his arms and legs, traits gained from years of playing tennis. The man looked up at the assistant. The assistant became even more flustered; the man's golden cat-like eyes always freaked him out.

"Yes?" the man asked, seeing as now the assistant hadn't carried on. The assistant snapped out of it.

"Uh, your wife's grandmother just called and it seems that the, uh...baby is coming," the assistant said. The man stood up and picked up his racket. He began to mess with the strings, a habit he had had since he was young.

"I see, let me guess, she said to hurry up or else she'd do some horrible thing to me?" the man said smirking. The assistant just gulped and nodded. The man's smile just grew, he adjust his hat and started walking back out to the court. The score was 5-2, in his favor and it was his service next. He was going to have to make this fast, he'd rather not face Obaa-san's wrath, plus he'd been waiting for this day for quite awhile. He tossed the ball into the air.

"Aaaah!" a woman screamed in her hospital bed. Her hands were griping the sheets. Her face was contorted with pain. Her friend was trying to consol her while her grandmother was keeping an eye out for a certain cat-eyed man.

"Ma'am, you're almost fully dilated, the baby will be ready soon," said the nurse in charge. "The doctor will be here soon." The woman shook her head and mumbled something incoherent. Her friend patted her hand.

"Don't worry Sakuno-chan, I'm sure he'll be here soon," said her best friend, Tomoko.

"He had better or so help me I'll…"

"So help you or you'll do what, Obaa-san?" asked a cat-eyed man who just entered. He smirked at his grandmother-in-law.

"Ryoma Echizen! What took you so long?!" yelled Ryuzaki.

"It was a difficult match…"

"Don't give me that crap Echizen! You probably…"

"Um…excuse me but, the baby is coming," the nurse interjected. The two quickly ended the argument and Ryoma went over to his wife and grasped her hand (his right hand, just to be safe).

"You'll be okay Sakuno," he said soothingly. She had a death grip on his hand. Tomoka had her other hand. Sakuno let out another scream of pain. The doctor came in and checked on her, he signaled to the nurse that she was indeed ready to give birth.

"Ma'am, on the count of three I want you to push with all you can, alright? One…two…three…"

A few hours later the child was born and its vitals had checked out nicely and the family left with their newest member in tow. Sakuno was still very exhausted but would not give up one second of cradling her child.

"For goodness sakes Sakuno, the child will have to eventually leave your arms anyway. Make your husband useful and let him hold his child," said an exasperated Ryuzaki. The father however was against it; he was never really good with kids.

"Maybe you should just give it to Tomo…"

"I don't think so! You're a father and you should get used to it starting now. And the child is not an "it" Ryoma. You gave her a name did you not?" argued Ryuzaki. She carefully lifted the tiny girl out of Sakuno's arms and handed it to the uneasy father. He, (however uncomfortable he might have been) automatically put his arms in the correct position to carry the baby. He looked down at his daughter with a worried look on his face. He wanted to be father, which he was sure about, but now it was different from the time he had first found out Sakuno was pregnant. Now it was real, it was a real human being he was holding, not just a bulge in his wife's stomach. She would gain her own personality and possibly turn out to hate him at some point…

"My God Echizen! She isn't a slug, she's your daughter! Don't hold her away from your body! Babies need warmth, hold her close," Ryuzaki instructed. Ryoma did as he was told and brought the baby up to his chest. The child squirmed and leaned closer to him. He couldn't help but smile slightly at this action.

"Come on now, let's all get home and make phone calls, cuz Lord knows we have a hell of a lot to make," Ryuzaki said. She and Tomo had successfully moved Sakuno into the car from the wheelchair. Ryuzaki made a move to take the child from Ryoma, but his arms instinctively curled around her tighter. Ryuzaki gave him an inquisitive look but said nothing. The all got into the car, with Ryoma seated next to Sakuno in the back.

"Looks like someone is bonding," said Ryuzaki as she looked in her rearview mirror at Echizen. Ryoma just scowled at her. He looked again down at his daughter. She had thin black-green hair on her head. She pressed her eyelids closer together before actually opening them. When she did it revealed hazel-cat eyes like his. His smile grew larger. He leaned a little closer to Sakuno to let her see.

"Neh, Sakuno, our daughter has got good eyes, dontcha think?" he whispered to her. She merely nodded and fell asleep soon after.

"You'll go far with eyes like that. Won't you, Reiko?" he whispered to his daughter, his smile still plastered on his face.

I hope you all will enjoy this story. For those of you who are curious Reiko means the daughter of Rei and one who is blessed with logic, and I've looked up the word Rei and it can mean LAW or SOUL, depending on the Kanji I do believe. Hence the name of series. Anyways I do not own any characters from the prince of tennis, they all belong to Takeshi Konomi.

~Defiance out