Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis

Lady Monozuki: I apologize for not getting this out sooner. Personal problems got in the way of my writing. I apologize.

Series dedicated to: ryoka-chan

Chapter One: Shattered

Ryoma almost dropped the phone for the second time that evening. He wasn't sure if he had just heard Tezuka right. His hand started to shake. The voice in his mind was screaming at him, telling him that it was true. No, he did not want to believe it. There had to be some mistake.

"W-What did you say?" Ryoma asked. His voice sounded strange, even to him.

He heard a sigh on the other line. "You heard me, Ryoma. I want to break up."

He could feel the tears starting to sting his eyes. No, this was not happening to him! He needed Kunimitsu by his side during this! It was hard enough to endure the harassment on his own. This was not real, this was not happening.

"Kunimitsu! You can't mean that!" Ryoma said. He couldn't believe this was happening. His mind refused to believe anything that was taking place at this moment.

Why does he want to throw away our relationship? Is this because I'm in jail? Is it because I couldn't prevent those guys from harassing me?

"I do," his boyfriend said. "I've got to go. Good-bye, Echizen."

He faintly registered the sound of a faint click and the tone dial buzzing in his ears. His body had frozen in place. Had the conversation really just played out like that? Did Kunimi-Tezuka really say those words to him? Ryoma hung up the phone and waited to be taken back to his cell. He played the conversation over in his head again to try and make sense of it. He barely heard the guard shout at him to move. His body automatically responded. He heard the cell door close behind him, but didn't care. All he could think about was what his boyfriend—

"Ex-boyfriend," he muttered. He did not want to believe that it was true. Yet Kunimitsu had said it with such a tone of finality, sort of like when he was instructing the tennis team.

I don't understand.

He could feel his body shaking as he fought to hold back tears. There was no way that his boyfriend would break up because of this. What had really changed? He didn't want to believe this. He refused to believe that this had just taken place. He crawled onto his bed. He always hated the smell and the feel, but tonight he didn't mind.

-◊-

Tezuka started at the phone for several minutes. He hated himself at the moment for breaking up with Ryoma at this moment. He knew that his boyfriend needed the support of others and to leave him in that manner was not what he wanted to do. However, he had to in order to get Ryoma out of there for his own protection. He picked up the phone one more time before dialing a number that he normally would not. He listened to one ring before it was answered.

"Tezuka, I've been waiting for your call," he heard. He shuddered slightly. How had Atobe gotten his cell phone number? He didn't know. He certainly did not recall giving it to the diva. "I trust this means that you have broken up with Echizen?"

"Aa," he said.

"You never were one for words," Atobe said. He could envision the diva frowning at his lack of response. However, he didn't care at this moment. He waited for Atobe to continue to the conversation. "Then Ore-sama shall hold up my end of the bargain. Don't worry, your ex-boyfriend will be out of prison by the end of the week. Also, tomorrow you and Ore-sama are going out on a date after school practice."

How can I not worry when there is a chance that something might happen to him between now and the time that he is released? You're stupid, Kunimitsu. He is going to hate you forever. You accepted Atobe's offer before you even knew if anything was real. How could you do such a thing to your boyfriend?

"Kunimitsu?" he heard on the other line. "You didn't hang up on Ore-sama did you?"

"No, I'm here," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Without saying a proper good-bye, he hung up. Of course, he knew that Atobe would not be pleased, but he did not care at this point. He put his cell phone into silent so that he would not hear the hundreds of calls he was likely to receive from Atobe. He needed time to think and to sort out his thoughts. He should have thought through this deal more before accepting. He knew that Ryoma's mother was working hard to get her son free and he probably should have left these matters alone. However, he had seen those photos of his boyfriend being target in the jail. He couldn't sit back and let that happen.

But you hurt him in the process.

The thought would not get out of his head. He had hurt his boyfriend, the one person that he had chosen above all the others. He wanted the best for his boyfriend, but it still hurt Ryoma no matter what. Tezuka grabbed a jacket and headed down the stairs. There was no way that Ryoma would ever forgive him and he doubted that he could forgive himself for doing such a thing.

-◊-

The sound of alarms blaring and guards shouting brought Ryoma out of his unconscious state. Even though it had been a while since he had cried himself to sleep, he still felt drained and wanted to go back to bed. He was tempted to, but knew that they would punish him should he disobey their orders. He stood up and went over to the entrance of his cell and waited to be released. A guard opened his cell and pushed him toward the exit. His mind was racing. He had no idea what was going on at the time. He followed the group until they were in front of the building.

He watched as the inmates started to line up on the lawn and he had to wonder what they were going to do. There had been no instructions, just shouting to wake up. Much to his dismay, he found himself standing next to the person who had kissed him yesterday. Ryoma was never one to be intimidated by people. However, that was when they were playing tennis and he knew that he was in control. Here, he was out of his element and could do nothing in order to prevent certain things from happening. He wanted to find another place in line, but changed his mind when he saw several guards approach them.

Silence fell over the group as they watched the guards inspect them. He heard a muttering about doing some drills after this. He could not help but wonder what those drills would entail. Of course he was used to rigorous training, but Ryoma had a feeling that this was nothing like the drills that he was used to. In fact, he knew that it would be nowhere the same compared to what he was used to. This was not going to go well, that much he could be sure of. He took a small glance at the person next to him. He shivered slightly when he caught sight of the others' face. He wanted to be as far away as possible from the guy. However, it would not be possible. One of the guards came in front of his face, scaring him slightly, but he did not show it. He was far more intimidated by the person next to him than the guards.

There was silence for a few moments before the guard moved on. He watched as everyone else was inspected. He knew that they were supposed to keep their clothes in a particular fashion and apparently he had passed their inspection. After a few more minutes, the guards started to shout instructions. By the way everyone was responding, they knew how they should act. He had no idea because he had never done these before. Of course, he managed to infer what he was supposed to do by their orders.

He should have really expected drills, considering that he knew that their philosophy was that through discipline criminals will be reformed. He had already thought that it was bad enough and to find out that there were other things that he did not know about was disturbing. He figured that he would get used to it after a while, but he did not want to stay there long enough to get used to the routine. He still barely knew what he did wrong. He did not know how long he would be stuck there. Or whether he could even be saved from doing time.

-◊-

Fuji eyed Tezuka at morning practice. He could tell something was wrong with their captain and he felt certain that it had to deal with Echizen. Syuusuke had tried to ask questions in regards to what was going on, but was brushed off with one excuse after another. He frowned. While he may be perceptive, he was not able to read what was on Tezuka's mind. He wanted to know what was the problem so that he could understand what was going on. He knew could assume that it was due to the fact that Ryoma was in prison, but that did not seem to be the source of Tezuka's frustration.

No, there was something else playing into that. He heard the sound of his opponent hitting the ball. Observation would have to wait until later because he had to keep a careful watch out for the person he was playing against. Even though he was confident in his abilities, he still had to be cautious, especially when playing against one of the Regulars. They were always coming up with new moves to separate them from the rest of the tennis players. Even though the match had been simple and routine for the time being, he still had to watch out.

He sighed. Ending the match would allow for him to watch Tezuka and gather information, but it would be tough because Kaidoh did not like to lose and would be persistent. He assumed that Inui had already formed several deductions as to what was bothering their captain. Of course, that was assuming that the data player had even noticed the slight change in Tezuka's personality. He chuckled for a moment before returning a ball. There was no doubt that Inui had noticed. After all, their captain had actually yelled at a play for being sloppy in their movements and dealt out a hundred laps to that same person for being a nuisance. He laughed again as he remembered the look of shock on Horio's face when he heard the number of laps.

Fuji returned a ball, scoring a point. He needed just to win two more games in order to end the match. He hoped that this match would not take all of the rest of practice. He would not have many opportunities to talk to Tezuka about what was bothering him. Syuusuke forced himself to return his focus to the game for the time being. If he did not pay attention, he might as well throw the game away. He pondered the idea for a moment, it sounded appealing. By intentionally losing the game, he would be sure to get a lecture from Tezuka. He decided to put his plan into action, but make it look like he was still trying to win. Even though he knew that he could do a lot better, he would rather be able to figure out the problem in comparison to trying to corner their buchou.

Many people would call his methods unconventional, but he did not mind in the least. He would rather ascertain the truth of what was going on than watch their captain remain distracted. Fuji let another ball slip by him, he could've easily returned the shot. However, he wanted this to be over quickly. After a few more minutes, the game ended. He walked off the court, not even bothering to meet the eye of others, except Tezuka. He made his way over to the benches and waited to be approached by Tezuka. There was silence for a moment.

"You threw away the game," Tezuka stated. Fuji suppressed a chuckle.

"That's none of your business," Fuji said. "Besides, you're off as well. You allowed Oishi to score far more points than usual. So, what is wrong with you? It's obvious that something is bothering you as well."

"That's none of your business," Tezuka replied.

"What happened between you and Echizen?"

He saw their captain wince slightly. Fuji frowned. There was something more that Tezuka was not telling him.

Perhaps he doesn't want me to know what is the matter between them because he knows that I care for Echizen as well.

"Echizen and I broke up," Tezuka whispered. Fuji stared at him.

"What?"

To be continued…