Beep! Beep! Beep!
Damn, that thing was annoying. Really, did his cousin just have to go and pick the most annoying alarm clock for him? He reached a hand up and searched around for the damned object.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Finally, his hand found the object and he pulled it down. Pressing the off button, he sighed. He hated waking up so early. Why did there need to be morning practice too?
---[---
It took him all of ten minutes to get out of bed, another five to get dressed and another seven to grab his things and head downstairs to breakfast.
"Ah, ohayo, Ryoma kun." Nanako smiled. "I'm still not used to seeing you so early in the morning!" she laughed.
"I blame tennis." he yawned, moving to sit down at the table where his breakfast was awaiting him.
"But you know you love tennis. Otherwise you wouldn't wake up." Nanako smiled, putting some of the tableware in the nearby cabinet.
Ryoma looked down at the food. It was American again. He hated the stuff. He grew up on the stuff. Why couldn't they just have a normal Japanese breakfast? "Kaasan!" he hollered.
"Obasan already left." Nanako explained, sitting across from him. "She said something about a meeting this morning." She noticed Ryoma glaring down at the food. She giggled and caught his attention. "I'll make you a Japanese breakfast tomorrow, neh?"
At that, Ryoma smiled a little and started to eat the food placed in front of him. Wouldn't do any good to not eat it.
"Are you studying?" Nanako asked, noticing the small book in front of Ryoma.
Ryoma looked down. "There's a test in english. It's so easy I might make a stupid mistake. So I thought I'd at least look it over before I had to leave."
Suddenly, a meow caught both of their attention. It was Karupin, holding a cat toy that looked like that plant, a cattail. Karupin meowed again and Ryoma smiled a little.
"Wow, Karupin really likes that cat toy." Nanako smiled. She smirked when she added "Maybe it's because Ryoma kun bought it for her."
Ryoma glared back slightly. "Yeah, right." he said, taking a bite of his toast. He glanced over at the clock.
"Come on, Karupin. I'll go feed you." Nanako said, and Karupin dropped the toy on Ryoma's bag and followed Nanako into the kitchen.
"I have to go, or I'll be late." Ryoma said, tossing his book into his bag and headed off towards the door.
"Alright, ja ne, Ryoma kun." Nanako yelled from the kitchen.
Ryoma muttered a 'ja ne' back and left the house. He started to run down the street, when a meow was heard from behind him. He stopped and turned around, immediately knowing it was Karupin.
"Karupin! Go home! I'll play with you when I get back!" he said, turning and starting to run towards the school.
Suddenly, Momo sped by on his bike, yelling something like 'you're going to be late, Ryoma kun!' and Ryoma sped off after him.
---[---
"Man, a test in first period!" was the first thing Ryoma heard when he entered his class. He sighed, knowing that Horio was going to come bother him now.
He moved towards his seat, and sure enough, Horio came chatting over. "Say, Echizen!" he started. "Don't you think it sucks that we have a test first thing in the morning?"
Ryoma sighed. "It's not that bad." he answered, sitting in his seat and setting his bag on his desk. He was about to add more when he noticed something that wasn't supposed to be there. He reached in, eyes wide and held a breath, and pulled out Karupin's cat toy.
So that was why Karupin was following him this morning...but this made him worry. Did Karupin go home after he ran after Momoshiro?
"Hey, what's wrong, Echizen?" Horio asked, noticing Ryoma staring at the cat tail. "What's that?"
"Nothing." Ryoma answered, not feeling up to answering the question. "It's just a cat toy."
"A cat toy? Why do you have... Oh! I get it! You're worried about the test too!" Horio smiled. "Don't worry though, you aren't alone! We're all worried!" Horio laughed, placing an arm around Ryoma's shoulders.
But the test was the furthest thing from Ryoma's mind. He needed to know where Karupin was... He stared down at the cat toy, praying that the cat had returned home.
---[---
Ryoma sighed. It was just as he thought. The test really was too easy. There wasn't any room for making a stupid mistake. He yawned, and saw something out of the corner of his eye. He glanced to his left, outside the window.
There walking was Karupin. For a second, he thought he was seeing things. But when he closed his eyes and looked again, the cat was still down there walking. He immediately stood up, wanting to run outside to retrieve the animal.
"Echizen!" he heard his sensei yell. "What's wrong?"
Ryoma glanced back outside. Karupin was gone. "Eto..." he stammered.
His sensei had walked up to his desk and looked at the boy's test. "Done already?" he smirked, thinking that the boy wasn't anywhere near finished. But he was shocked when he noticed all but one question had been answered. "Here." he said, picking up the paper and handing it back to Echizen. "Finish the last question."
"Nani??" Horio hollered. "The last question?"
---[---
Ryoma followed along behind Horio, hardly paying attention to what the other was saying. His thoughts were scattered, but all intersected at the same point: Karupin.
He didn't know where the cat was. When he looked back out the window after class, the cat was long gone. He wanted nothing more than to run outside to find the animal. But he couldn't, not when his next class was about to start.
"Man, I did so bad on that test! I hardly knew anything!" Horio continued, rather loudly. He turned to Ryoma, who was more or less staring at him blankly.
"Mada mada dane, Horio." he answered, knowing that the other freshmen had said something that deserved that. He didn't need to hear Horio to know what he was talking about.
"Shut up, Echizen. Just because you did a little better than..." Horio paused, seeing who was in their next class. "I-Inui sempai??" Horio shrieked. "What are you doing here?"
Inui turned in his seat and looked at the freshmen. "Ah, I just wanted to finish an experiment of mine, during my break. I've already consulted the idea with the sensei."
Horio and Ryoma dared to venture closer to the third year. Horio gulped, wondering if he should ask the question or not. "Uhm, Inui sempai? What exactly is it you're working on?"
Inui seemed to smirk, at least to Ryoma. "It's another one of my vegetable juices."
"Is it supposed to be purple?" Ryoma asked, looking at it with disgust.
"Care to try it? Echizen? Horio?" Inui smirked, as both boys fervently shook their heads no.
And for a moment, Karupin was completely off his mind.
---[---
Tezuka walked down the halls carrying a small stack of books. He sighed, knowing that his teacher just didn't want him in his class. He was always correcting him in anything he did wrong. He was going to tell his teacher that he made a mistake in the second step of the formula, but was quickly interrupted. The teacher decided to have him go to the library to deliver some books instead.
Really, it was the class that was going to suffer. If the teacher taught them wrong then they too would do it wrong when finals and midterms started. It wasn't his fault if his teacher thought he was being a smart ass. He was just trying to help.
Oishi had snickered when the stack had been placed in his hands. This wasn't just a once in a while thing. This happened daily. And almost in every class. And he had his every class with Oishi.
He sighed again, but then jumped when he noticed something white run past him. He turned around to try and find the object, but there wasn't anything there. The hall was empty, excluding himself. There was no one or anything around.
"That's odd." he whispered to himself. "I thought I saw a cat."
---[---
Fuji sat there, smiling. Really, class was boring. Especially english. He understood it enough. He didn't need to take the class. He didn't need to be fluent in the language.
He looked down at the text, then to Kikumaru next to him. The red head was having some issues with it, but his comprehension of the language wasn't that bad as Fuji had come to learn.
He sighed and looked out the window. And he saw the strangest thing. A cat was climbing the tree. It was really odd that it would happen right outside his window.
"Neh, Eiji." he whispered, gaining his classmate's attention. "Have you ever seen a spotted Himalayan cat before?" he asked, turning and looking at his teammate.
Eiji looked at him confused for a moment, before he answered. "Nope. Why?"
"Kikumaru kun, would you please continue?" the teacher asked.
Eiji stood, completely flustered. "Eto, eto..."
"Page eighty six, the bottom paragraph." Fuji whispered, smiling to the other.
"Ah, thanks, Fuji." Eiji whispered back and started to read.
And Fuji turned his attention back to the tree, but that cat was nowhere to be found. 'Hm, what a strange cat.' he thought, looking back down at the text again.
---[---
Taka san smiled as he walked down the hall towards the office. There was a stack of papers that his teacher needed, and he would definitely get them. Right now, that was all that mattered.
...until a white cat caught his attention. It was just sitting there, staring at him. Taka looked at it and smiled. He bent over to pet it, but the cat immediately got up and stalked down the hallway.
Taka stood up, watching as the cat made it's way to the stairs and went up. It made him wonder if the cat knew where it was going.
But no! That was not important right now! He needed to get those papers! And he hastily ran into the office and found said stack.
---[---
Inui walked down the halls, a smile happily placed on his face. In one hand was a pass to head back to class. In the other was a container...filled with his new Inui Juice. He hadn't decided upon a name yet. Really, he was coming up with too many. But each one was stronger than the last and he didn't need the regulars to gain an immunity to it. So changing the recipe every time was the only option.
He smiled again, turning the corner, and noticed something running up the stairs. It looked like a raccoon. A white raccoon. He jogged a bit and stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
And the raccoon stopped at the top to stare down at him. And now Inui was completely confused. It looked almost like a cat-raccoon hybrid. He was staring at it, wondering if that were even possible, when the cat-raccoon decided Inui wasn't interesting and ran off.
Inui was about to follow it, but a bell rang, signaling lunch had started, and was immediately bombarded by people.
'Interesting.' he thought. 'I'll have to do some research.'
---[---
Ryoma sighed before digging into his food. He wanted to finish as fast as he could, so he could go and look for Karupin. Ever since he had seen the cat, it's been on his mind.
"Whoa, Echizen!" Horio laughed. "Why are you eating so fast? You're going to choke!"
He stopped for a moment. He stared down at his food, realizing he wasn't all that hungry in the first place and should just leave now.
And just then, a tray of sweets was placed in front of him on the desk. He looked up and saw that Sakuno and Tomoko and some of their friends were there. Tomoko was smiling down at him and it was scaring him a bit.
"Here, Ryoma sama! We brought these so you could eat them!" the girl nearly shrieked in his ear.
Horio's mouth dropped open. "No way! You guys made these?" he asked.
Sakuno shook her head. "It's not that hard." she smiled modestly. Horio began to reach for a slice of the cake but was quickly cut off my Tomoko.
"These aren't for you!" she yelled. "They're for Ryoma sama."
"Hey, hey! You guys got the good stuff in here too!"
They all turned to see Momo walking into the classroom. They were a bit shocked, but it faded as they continued the conversation.
"You can have one, Momo sempai." Tomoko smiled.
"What?" Horio exclaimed. "Why does he get one just like that? Why can't I have one?"
Tomoko smiled. "Momo sempai has been taking care of Ryoma sama." she stated like it was a well known fact. But it led Ryoma to think that over. Momo gratefully accepted the treat.
Suddenly, Ryoma stood, grabbing a treat and muttering a quick 'thanks'. Momo looked over to the boy with confusion as he passed. "What's up Echizen? Where're you going?"
Ryoma stopped, standing next to Momo eyeing all the treats in the older boy's arms. Really, it was a lot. "Momo sempai." he started. Suddenly, he grabbed a juice box from Momo's grasp and started to walk off again. "Let me have this."
Momo stared at the freshmen like he couldn't believe he had just stolen his beloved blueberry juice. "H-hoi!" he yelled, then sighed. "Geez, he doesn't see me as his sempai, does he?"
"What's wrong with Echizen?" Momo heard Horio ask next to him. "He's been acting strange all day."
"What? Something's wrong with Ryoma sama?!" Tomoko yelled. "Is he sick? Is he alright? What's wrong?" she panicked.
"Tomo, calm down!" Sakuno said.
Momo ignored the rest of the conversation. Was there something wrong with the freshmen? It was true he was acting a bit strange, but was it enough to worry about? The city tournament was in a week... He hoped there was nothing wrong with him.
---[---
Ryoma walked around outside. He had long finished Momo's juice and had discarded the trash. Now it was time to look for Karupin. He was positive he had seen the cat around here...
He looked around. No one was out; they were probably inside the school eating still. He sighed, sitting down on a bench, leaning back and resting his head on the back rest. He closed his eyes.
"Echizen?"
He shot back up and looked around for the owner of the voice. "Bu-buchou?" he stuttered.
"Is something wrong?" Tezuka asked, walking closer to the boy.
Ryoma stared at him for a moment, his heart racing. After a moment, he finally answered. "N-no. Nothing's wrong. I just didn't want to be inside anymore."
"It's lunch, shouldn't you be eating?" Tezuka asked, genuine concern in his voice. He didn't want the boy starving himself before practice. He'd pass out.
Ryoma shook his head. "I already ate. I just didn't want to be inside anymore." he lied. He had eaten a little, but he really just wanted to find Karupin. "There's nothing wrong."
Tezuka stared at him for a moment, not believing a word the freshmen was saying. But it wasn't like it was his place to pry at something like this. "Alright then." he said, walking past the freshmen, not missing the disappointed look on his face. "I'll see you at practice."
---[---
Momo sighed, walking towards the locker room. Ever since lunch, the freshmen had been on his mind. It had been bugging him. He hadn't been able to concentrate on anything. He really wanted to know what was wrong with him.
He opened the door and was surprised to find Ryoma sitting there on the bench, staring at what looked like a cattail. He smiled.
"Well, this is a first. You're here early." he said, walking over to his locker. He noticed that the freshmen hadn't replied, just continued to stare at the cattail. "Hey, are you worried about something?"
This seemed to catch Ryoma's attention, as the boy immediately looked up and stared at him. "Why would you ask that?"
"Horio said something at lunch. And you seem to like spacing out today." Momo replied, opening his bag.
Ryoma looked down at the cattail again. "My cat." he said, gaining Momo's attention, although the eighth grader had yet to turn around. "She followed me to school."
"Did she?" Momo asked, a little relieved at that was only the problem. "Are you sure?"
Ryoma nodded. "I saw her during first period. It was her." Ryoma stood up and was about to start getting ready for practice.
"Hmm, well, there were some girls talking when I got back to class." Momo started, grabbing his shirt. "They said they saw a white raccoon on the roof at lunch." he smiled. "But that can't be your cat, can it?" he asked, turning around. And he was shocked.
Ryoma stood there, staring at the cattail, trembling. He seemed to be considering something, but then quickly turned to leave. "I'll go check there..." but Momo dropped his shirt and grabbed onto the freshmen's shoulders.
"Hey, hey! Don't freak out on me!" he said seriously. "That was during lunch. They said it escaped down the stairs. Your cat probably just went home."
"But she's never been this far from home! She wouldn't know her way back!" Ryoma said, completely panic-stricken.
It amused Momo to see the normally cool, calm and collected freshmen flustered like this. He smiled and reached into his pocket. "Here." he said, handing the boy a key. "Take my bike. Go look around for her."
"But, what about practice?" Ryoma asked.
"Don't worry, I'll tell them something. Just go find your cat." Momo laughed, shoving the freshmen out the door.
Ryoma smiled at Momo as the stood at the door. "Thanks, Momo sempai. I'll definitely repay you later."
"Don't worry, don't worry! Just go!" Momo smiled and watched as the freshmen left.
Really, it was good thing that they were really early, or someone might have seen Ryoma run off. But no one had, and now he had about twenty minutes to figure out a good excuse before Tezuka buchou showed up.
---[---
Tezuka eyed Momo skeptically. "Echizen?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah." Momo said. "He said something about an emergency at home or something." he laughed nervously. "He said he'd come back if he had a chance."
Ryuzaki sensei sighed. "He could have just told us. We're ending practice early today. I've got things to do and so does Tezuka."
Tezuka felt like calling Momoshiro out on his lie right now, but this he didn't want to do. It'd cause too much of a scene and on what grounds could he accuse the eighth grader on? No, he really didn't have a valid reason. It was just his gut feeling. There was no emergency at home. Something was wrong with Echizen himself and Momoshiro knew what it was. For some reason, this bothered him deeply.
---[---
Kaido sighed, walking into the locker room to change. He immediately dropped his towel upon entering. There was this cat sitting there next to Echizen's things. He had a sudden urge to start playing with it...but what if someone walked in?
No, everyone would most likely be changed and out on the courts by now. But he wouldn't take any chances. Oh no. He turned and closed the door. There. Now he was completely alone with the animal.
He looked around the room and found a duster. He grinned. It would play with this, right?
---[---
Inui stopped writing in his notebook to listen in on the freshmen's conversation.
"Echizen's been acting weird all day." Kachiro noted. He was currently sweeping while the other two stood and listened to him talk. Well, that was all he said, but none the less, they listened.
"Yeah, and now he skips practice!" Katsuo nodded, completely agreeing.
"Yeah, and he was spaced out all day!" Horio exclaimed, overreacting again. "And he totally ditched me at lunch! And he was just staring at this cattail thing during first period!"
"A cattail? You mean the plant thing?" Kachiro asked.
"Yeah, but it was fake. At least, it looked fake." Horio explained.
"Hey, isn't Kaido sempai missing too?" Katsuo asked, counting the number of regulars out on the courts. The other two looked around, and then noticed that the eighth grader was walking in their general direction.
Kaido was trying to calm himself, he was too excited earlier. He nodded as he passed the three freshmen and Inui. "Hey." was all he said to them.
Inui looked up from his notebook. He watched as Kaido walked off, towards Momoshiro to ask for a practice match, and he nodded. "He's in a good mood." he mumbled loud enough for the other three to hear.
All three immediately looked at him, shocked. "You can tell?" they all exclaimed, surprised anyone could tell when Kaido was in a good mood.
---[---
Ryoma stopped peddling, looked around, and hollered "Karupin!" at the top of his lungs. When he didn't see his beloved cat, he sighed, and kept moving onward.
He stopped again, and hollered out 'Karupin' again, but he didn't see the cat anywhere. He suddenly had the urge to see if the cat was at home or not.
---[---
Momo smiled to himself, noticing that Echizen hadn't returned yet. He had absolute faith that the freshmen had found his cat. He probably just ditched practice to play with the animal.
'I'll have to go get my bike from him later.' he thought to himself as he walked towards the locker room. Practice had ended a good five minutes ago.
He frowned, upon seeing a crowd outside the door. "Oi!" he yelled. "What's going on?" he asked.
Horio turned around, a horrified look on his face. "M-Momo sempai!" he yelled. "There's a raccoon in there!" Horio turned around and looked back inside the room.
"A raccoon?" Momo repeated the words. He walked over and into the room. He was shocked to actually see an animal in there. But upon seeing him, it up and bolted out the door, scaring everyone that had been standing at the door.
Momo himself stood there as the crowd dispersed to do menial tasks before changing. That raccoon looked really familiar. And there was an even more familiar told to him earlier that day.
His eyes widened as he realized what it really was. "That must've been his..." his voice trailed off, as he was completely worried now.
Ryoma never found his cat. It was still at the school. The raccoon was Karupin. Since Ryoma never came back, he was probably still out looking for the cat...
"What must've been who's?" he heard a voice ask.
He turned and saw Tezuka standing there. "Uh, nothing, Tezuka buchou. Just thinking to myself!" he said, starting to change.
Tezuka eyed the boy skeptically. For the second time that day, he didn't believe what Momoshiro was saying.
---[---
Ryoma sighed, walking into his house. He still hadn't found Karupin yet. The cat really was worrying him. He had searched everywhere, even in that park a few blocks from the school.
"Did you find her, Ryoma san?" Nanako asked. "She's not in the house anywhere. I've checked."
Ryoma shook his head. "I haven't found her yet." he whispered. "I haven't seen her anywhere."
Nanako frowned upon seeing Ryoma so depressed. She smiled a little and told him "I'm sure she'll come home. You just have to wait and have faith, Ryoma san."
Ryoma didn't reply, he just turned on his heal, completely frantic. He didn't want to wait. He didn't want to have faith. He wanted his damn cat. He didn't like the idea of her being out and about in town. Who knew what could happen to a stray house cat in the city?
He ran to the door, putting his shoes back on and running outside. He'd find her, if it was the last thing he did.
---[---
Momo walked the road to Ryoma's house. He wore a frown on his face, and he scowled at everything. He hoped that Ryoma was alright. He hoped that the cat had gone home.
His hand tightened around the small slip of paper in his hand. He had taken it from Ryuzaki sensei so he'd have an excuse to go to Echizen's house.
----
"Hmm." Ryuzaki mumbled to herself.
"Something wrong, Ryuzaki sensei?" Momo asked, passing her by on his way to the bike rack, only to remember his bike was with Ryoma.
"It's nothing, Momoshiro." she smiled, folding a piece of paper in half. "I was contemplating on whether or not I should go to Ryoma's to give him this."
Momo smiled. "I can do it, if you want." he said, extending a hand to take the paper.
"No, that's alright. I'll just give it to him tomorrow at practice." she smiled.
"I have to go there today anyway. Echizen has my bike." Momo explained. "I let him borrow it to get home faster because of the, uh, emergency." he laughed nervously.
Ryuzaki stared him down for a moment. "Well. I guess." she finally said. She handed him the paper. "Don't lose it now, Momoshiro!" she joked, walking out towards the parking lot to get her car.
----
Momo glanced up at the house, hoping that Ryoma was home with his cat. He had this sense of dread, and he hoped it didn't mean anything.
He felt his pocket, reassuring himself that the paper was still there. It was. He was glad for that. He raised his hand and knocked on Ryoma's front door.
His cousin had answered the door. "Ah, I brought this for Echizen. Is he home?" he said, taking the paper out of his back pocket. "I also brought his tennis bag by."
"Ah, he just went out to go get something. He shouldn't be too long." the girl smiled. "I can take all of this for you."
He handed over the tennis bag and the paper. He didn't like not seeing Echizen home, but the girl was smiling. He must've found the cat, right? He smiled. "Ah, thanks. I'll be going then."
Ryoma must've found his cat by now. Momo didn't want to think of what could've happened if he hadn't found the cat yet. It was starting to rain.
---[---
Ryoma was trying to run. He was just too tired. He'd been out for hours now. It was night out. He looked up. The only reason he knew it was night was because of his cell phone. The time read 6:56. Ryoma sighed, stopping and letting the rain pelt his face.
He didn't enjoy the rain. It'd been raining almost for as long as he'd been out. He wasn't sure what time it was when it started raining, but he guessed it was about three thirty, fourish. He panted for air, not wanting to stop his search.
He knew very well that Karupin didn't like the rain. She'd always go and hide under his blankets whenever there was storm or his dad was being stupid with the hose outside. He wanted to find his cat before it was too late.
He looked down in his hand. He still had the cat toy. Really, the thing was bad luck. First, it finds a way into his bag. Then it leads Karupin to school and then it causes the cat to get lost. And to top it all off, it didn't help to find the cat anyway.
He still kept running, yelling 'Karupin' every so often. All he wanted was to find his cat. Was that really too much to ask? It must have been.
Suddenly, he collapsed. He fell into the concrete with a thud. It was a shame no one was in the park right now. They may have found the poor unfortunate freshmen in his time of need.
He looked to the cat toy. Really, he hated the thing right now. It was like it was mocking him, telling him he would never find his cat. All he wanted was Karupin.
He wasn't sure how long it had been. He just laid there, staring at the toy feeling extremely lethargic. He was about to give in to sleep, when something licked his face. He heard a faint yell of 'Echizen!' but couldn't make out the voice.
Suddenly, he was on his back. Something had propped his head up and he was staring up into a familiar face. But he couldn't make it out. He didn't know who it was, but whoever it was they kept calling out his name. He felt another lick to his face.
"Karu...pin?"