Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

Book cover by 15stepsdown

Akaya groaned as he struggled to sit up. Balanced on one arm, he touched his forehead with his other hand. It came away wet.

"What the . . .?"

He brought his fingers to his nose and inhaled cautiously. Akaya recognized the scent. The same liquid that was his inner Devil's favorite pigment to paint with was now dripping from his fingers. It was the same gory color he so often stained his opponents with.

Blood.

"Why . . .?" Akaya swiped at the steady trickle of warm, crimson liquid as it ran down his cheek.

"Mura-buchou, I'm bleeding!" Akaya whined automatically, always depending on his captain to help him, before he realized that he was cloaked in darkness.

Dark darkness.

Very dark darkness.

"Oh no."

Akaya's muscles reacted before his brain could, due to the lightning-quick reflexes he had developed through tennis, although the fact that his veins were coursing with adrenaline probably helped. He found himself involuntarily skittering backwards as fast as his arms and legs could carry him, to get away from what, he didn't know, just to get away.

Akaya didn't know how long he had crawled backwards for, whether it was hours or days or weeks or months or years, or perhaps merely minutes, even seconds. All he knew was that he suddenly felt very tired, and very thirsty.

He let out a gasp as his arms and legs finally gave out, dumping him onto his back, and knocking the wind out of his lungs. Akaya lay there, panting, slowly blacking out, his brain forming the most random and most useless thoughts as his mind started to cloud over.

I am Akaya Kirihara. I like cookies and chocolate. But only milk chocolate, not dark or white. Yech. I painted the walls in my room last night; they should be dry by now. And the custard in the miniature cakes at the bakery taste like bananas. I don't know why, they just do. I've never seen a lemming before. I wonder if they're cute and cuddly. Lemmings . . . lemmings . . . lemm . . . ings . . .

Akaya tilted his head to the side, his nose picking up a new scent, different from the musty smell of wherever he was now.

Oh yeah, that's the cologne that Niou-senpai is always wearing for no good reason. He even tried to dump a whole bottle of it on me last week, but luckily I'm too smart to get tricked by him. Stupid cologne. Stupid Niou-senpai.

Akaya stopped rambling in his mind for a second, logic and sense slowly seeping back into his brain.

I can smell Niou-senpai's cologne? How? He's not here with me, or he would have whacked me on the head already and said something like "Hey, brat, what the hell do you think you're doing?" But, I'm sure I smell it. I'm sure. I'm 110% sure that's his cologne. But, if I can smell his cologne . . .

Akaya sat bolt upright as his brain finally began to work properly again. Well, somewhat properly, anyway. This is Akaya, after all.

"Niou-senpai! Where are you?" Akaya yelled. Correction, tried to yell. It was more of a croak than a yelp, but you get the idea.

"Hold it!"

A muted crash, an "Oof!", and then a thump.

"Ow . . . Niou! Why don't you tell me you're going to stop before you stop, huh? Jeez!"

Marui-senpai.

"Shush! Did you just hear that?"

Niou-senpai.

"What're you talking abou-!"

A slap, like a certain silver-haired boy had just clapped his hand over the mouth of a certain redhead to keep him from speaking.

"Shut up for a sec, will ya?"

"Hear what? All I heard was you two getting ready to mutilate each other."

Jackal.

"I thought I heard my name . . . and it sounded like the brat."

"What, really?"

Yes, really.

"I doubt it. He didn't run off anywhere near here."

"Maybe he walked here? I remember he had two legs the last time I saw him. Don't you, Bun-Bun?"

"He was delirious! And at the other end of the school! You're saying he walked here while half-unconscious in 3 minutes?!"

"Yup."

". . . I knew I would get an answer like that."

"Well, if you knew, then don't ask!"

"Wait. Wait . . . Did you call me 'Bun-Bun'?"

"Mhmm. Gotta problem, Bun-Bun?"

"Not if you don't have a problem being known to the world as Haru-chan."

"Why, you li'l . . . !"

"Li'l what, huh? What're you gonna do about it?"

"Come on, guys, calm down! Niou, are you sure you heard Akaya?"

Yes, yes he did.

"Yes . . . no . . . maybe . . . so?"

A group sigh.

"Come on, let's just keep looking, he's bound to show up somewhe-"

"Waay aheead oof youu!"

Somewhere in a distant world far, far away from Akaya, rapid footsteps slapped against a tiled floor.

"Hey! Niou! Wait up!"

No! No! Don't leave me here!

Akaya tried to clear his throat, but all that came out was a squeak.

Argh.

"Jack-ahh?" he got out.

"Hm?"

Yes!

"Hey, Jackal! Come on!"

"Um . . . oh, coming!"

Funny, Jackal thought as he ran to catch up with Niou and Marui. Did I hear Akaya just now?

Didn't Jackal hear me just now?

Akaya had been listening intently for Jackal's anticipated response, sitting on his knees, hands clutched in front of him, but after straining his ears for a good five minutes, Akaya finally slumped down to lie on the floor, his neck and back aching from staying in the same position for so long.

What should I do now? Jackal, Marui-senpai, and Niou-senpai left me here. I can't see, and I feel like passing out. In fact, why shouldn't I? What's to stop me from just lying here, and . . .

Akaya gulped.

And what? Sleeping? Fainting? Dying? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know . . .

Akaya lay there, his arms and legs sprawled out across the floor, his breathing deep yet ragged. The blood that had been trickling steadily from the cut in his forehead had now dried, and was sticking strands of his hair to his cheek. Akaya lifted a trembling hand to his face and managed to yank the strands from the congealing blood's grip. Then he just lay there.

Out of nowhere, a thin, wailing sound came from the darkness, and Akaya felt a stream of warmth crawling down the side of his face to the floor. Akaya was startled by the proximity of the noise, and the discomfort from the warmth, before realizing the wails were being produced by him.

Which only made him more startled.

Am I crying? Why am I crying? I'm not supposed to cry. Didn't I swear to myself to never cry out of defeat again? Not until I've beaten the Three Demons will I ever cry again. That's what I promised myself, right? Then what am I doing now?

Akaya smiled a sad, sad smile.

It's because I'm weak. I'm pathetic. I'm useless to not just Rikkai's invincible tennis team, but to myself too. If I wasn't, why am I here? In this blackness, when I should be out there, with them, conquering the world? If I had any brains I would have gotten myself out of here by now. But, I don't know how to get out and no one is coming. No one is coming to help me. Nobody is coming . . . I'm all alone . . .

Akaya's breathing had gotten shallow, and the sobs were not helping, as they forced wave after wave of tears from his eyes. Reduced to breathing in gasps, he gritted his teeth in an effort to stem the flow of tears streaming down his cheeks. As he did, the salty river of misery mixed with the dried blood still smeared across his face, and when Akaya tilted his head out of defeat, the bloody drops trickled into his mouth. Salty from the tears, metallic from the blood, the crimson drops brought Akaya back from the edge of hopelessness.

Okay, he thought to himself, doing his best to spit out the few specks of blood that had made it past his lips. Okay, so I'm still alive. If I'm still alive, it's too early to give up. There's got to be a way out of this hellhole. All I have to do is find it. Okay, Akaya, up and at 'em. Let's go, let's go!

In response to his own pep talk, Akaya managed to sit up. He carefully raised himself into a crouch and from there, he stood up shakily.

"Okay." Akaya took a breath. "Okay, okay, okay. So far, so good . . ." He paused, hands on his knees. Now what?

Listen up, Akaya. You heard Jackal and he heard you, so surely he must have been close by, right? So, all you have to do is find out which direction his voice was coming from and walk in that direction, right? I mean, if you do, you'll find some sort of door or wall eventually, right?

"Yeah," Akaya grumbled to himself, giving his mental conscience a mental slap on the head. "Eventually I'll find something, right?"

"It's not as if I have a better idea though . . ." Akaya gave his arms a little stretch. "Now . . ."

Akaya put a finger to his chin. "Um, so if I'm facing this way now, my head would have been pointing in the opposite direction when I was lying down. Since I didn't change the direction I was facing when I lay down, I should still be facing the, um, original direction I was in when I woke up. Then, um, that would mean that to find Jackal's location when I heard him would be to go . . . straight, maybe?"

Akaya took a careful step forward, then another, then another still. As he walked farther and farther, he realized that instead of getting more and more tired as he trudged on, his heartbeats were actually becoming more even. His brain was beginning to clear up, and his muscles relaxed and gained better coordination, bit by bit, as Akaya walked.

"Huh," he murmured, pleasant bafflement in his voice. "I guess running all those laps that Fukubuchou, or rather, Niou-senpai-in-disguise-as-Fukubuchou assigned was worth something after all."

Akaya stilled his step for a moment.

Will I ever run those laps again?