Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Gone From Her Heart
With a vice-like grip on his tennis racquet, Echizen Ryoma glared. Hard.
What he saw was unbelievable. Clumsy Ryuzaki holding hands with none other than Fuji Shusuke!?
Pissed off to the maximum, his golden eyes narrowed. He was itching to smash five hundred tennis balls into Fuji Shusuke's face.
What the hell did she see in Fuji that she didn't see in him? Shit, he was ten times as good as Fuji in tennis. He was her age. He was much handsomer—not that Echizen would care about that, but having a billion fan girls proved his point.
His inner turmoil was killing him. His head ached.
Fuji... all that guy did was smile. Well, Echizen conceded, he was attractive too. He also had plenty of fan girls. But why would he give them up for dinky little Ryuzaki?
He saw what he wanted to see the least; Fuji bend down and kiss Ryuzaki on the lips. Fuji's tongue slipped into Ryuzaki's mouth and explored it. Damn it. That was supposed to be him! Echizen Ryoma should have been standing there and kissing her senseless!
The sight was intolerable. Pain etched across his features as they pulled apart.
He felt his heart breaking. All energy disappeared and he was left feeling weak and discarded.
Trust Fuji Shusuke to make him feel this way.
Stealing the property of someone was wrong—he was breaking the 8th commandment! Ryuzaki Sakuno was his!
Seeing her blush like that for Fuji brought unexplainable damage to his heart. Malice evoked and his next thought was eww, get a room.
Choking down the desire to yell that, he swallowed. Fuji Shusuke already had the pleasure of stealing the one he loved. Echizen will not allow Fuji to mock his pride.
One thing was clear: Fuji had her, not Echizen.
According to Inui stats, there was only a 3 percent possibility she would date Fuji. 5 percent she would join a convent. The other 92 percent was that she would date Echizen.
Frowning, Echizen realized something. Whenever Fuji played a game, he always went against Inui data. How could he have forgotten the prodigy's tendency to have the opposite effect of the one predicted by the data freak?
And Ryuzaki... why didn't he notice? Her bentos became less, her shy hellos and goodbyes were gone, and her blushes were nonexistent.
Answer to that: she loved someone else.
The truth hurt. Like the scorching heat of hell.
Ryuzaki, a love sick puppy, tailed after him for so long.
He realized that the love sick puppy grew tired. Her heart, after being cast aside too many times to recount, got exhausted.
But why did she have to run to Fuji? Echizen growled. Everyone knew that Echizen Ryoma was always slow on the uptake... especially matters like... like love. Couldn't she have waited longer? Couldn't she have given him a little more time?
No.
Ryuzaki had waited too long. She had undergone pain, suffering, and misery while the prince of tennis had shined in light and glory.
Now, it was her turn to shine. Her eyes got back their sparkle and her smiles became wider.
At the spur of the moment, he casually walked to the lovebirds and tapped Fuji on the shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Fuji nodded. "Sakuno, I'll be back."
Ryuzaki nodded and kissed him on the cheek. Echizen's headache came back in full force.
She left with a, "I'll be waiting for you, Shusuke."
Damn it. She should be waiting for Echizen Ryoma!
Fuji turned, steel blue eyes penetrating through Echizen's rough exterior. Echizen inwardly shivered.
"What do you want Echizen?"
Echizen took a deep breath. "How did you do it? How did you steal her heart?"
Fuji smiled thinly. "I loved her and I told her. I didn't cast her aside like someone I know did."
Echizen frowned. "I didn't cast her aside. I let her feed me. I let her follow me. I let her be with me. I coached her in tennis."
Fuji sighed. "So do you think you deserve an award for generosity? Echizen, Sakuno loved you. Letting someone do that for you only shows you acknowledge his/her existence. And tell me; did you coach her because you loved her? No... I believe you coached her because your father tricked you into doing so. It wasn't enough for her. Echizen; she wanted you to love her back."
Echizen said, "I would have eventually, but you stole her away. Her heart belonged to me."
Fuji stopped himself from slapping the arrogant jerk in front of him. "So you think her heart is some material thing? Something that you can steal by catching with a net? Something that you can toss like a boomerang and it will come back?"
Echizen was shocked. He gave no reply.
Fuji continued. "Do you actually think she'd carry on loving you? That she'd actually allow her heart to break into a million pieces each time she talked to you?"
No response.
Fuji, with an air of finality, said, "Love can change. I have loved her from the sidelines all my life. I love her more than you could imagine."
That slight malicious feeling came back. "But she would never love you the way she loved me."
Fuji smiled. "That's where you are wrong Echizen. She loves me more than she ever loved you. I showed her love back, so she isn't afraid to love me. She has no fear of her heart being torn. She knows I love her."
Frustrated, Echizen tightened the grip of his racquet. His knuckles were white and he had an urge to throw the damned racquet at Fuji.
His heart stopped for a minute. He understood now. He never knew what love was.
Echizen asked, "Fuji, what is love?"
Fuji replied vaguely, "It's different for each person. It depends on who they are. For me, it's the relationship I share with Sakuno."
Finally understanding it, he came to an insight. He loved Ryuzaki.
But it was too late. She was free from his clutches. His captivating features no longer drew her.
He walked away from Fuji, refusing to let tears come to his eyes. Reaching home, he went to his room's desk. A certain picture of himself and a pigtailed girl at Kawamura's sushi restaurant, taken as freshmen in junior high, found its way to the garbage.
If Ryuzaki was free... then he should become free too.
Echizen sighed. Love... was much harder than tennis. And Ryuzaki Sakuno was gone.