A Chance At Life - A Prince of Tennis Fanfiction
Summary: One-shot. An alternate ending to Ryoma's Motivation.
Ryoma doesn't show up to practice. The freshmen say they didn't see him in class. This repeats several times. Four days later, Ryoma shows up to morning practice. He walks onto the court as if nothing has happened.
"Where have you been?" Tezuka demands.
Ryoma merely shrugs. "Places."
"Fifty laps."
Ryoma takes off jogging around the tennis courts. A grin spreads across his face as he completes lap after lap with ease.
At the end of the day, only the regulars are left in the clubroom getting ready to go home after afternoon practice.
"Echizen, are you going to the hospital today?" Momo asks.
"No."
"Really? Why not?"
"Yona's not at that hospital anymore."
The subject of Yona and hospitals is dropped for a long while. Life continues at Seigaku like nothing happened. The first round of the Kantou regionals arrives. Oishi is late and has injured his wrist. Momo takes his place in the doubles match. As Oishi is walking to the Tokyo tennis courts from the hospital he runs into a familiar face.
"Yona-kun!" Oishi exclaims.
Said boy looks back at Oishi. "Hello Oishi-san!"
"What are you doing here?"
"I woke up late. I'm going to watch Seigaku's match. Shouldn't you be there?"
"Ah. I hurt my wrist." He holds his injured hand. "Momo's taking my place."
"Alright." Yona smiles. "Let's go cheer them on together then."
Yona and Oishi walk to the tennis courts together. Upon arriving Yona sticks to Oishi's side to avoid the pestering questions from Tomoka. The regulars are glad to see the two, especially little Yona. Yona watches the matches with excitement. He cheers the team on with the first years. He gets a little distant after Taka-san's match but snaps back to his happy self at the sight of his brother's arrogance as he decides to take over as bench coach. He holds back a laugh at Ryoma's lack of bench coach skills during Tezuka's match.
After the match the regulars start to notice Yona picking at his clothes.
"Something wrong, Yona-chan?" Kikumaru asks.
"No." Yona pouts slightly. "It's just… My clothes are a little too big."
"That's because they're mine," Ryoma points out as he rolls his eyes.
"It's your fault," Yona whines. "You were supposed to help me get new clothes yesterday."
"I thought you were only allowed out on Saturday's," Momo comments.
"Ma-chan didn't tell you?" Yona asks confused.
Ryoma rolls his eyes again. "I told them you weren't in the hospital anymore."
"That's what you meant!" Momo exclaims.
Yona laughs. "I live at home now. I still can't do a lot for a few weeks but I'm not stuck in the same building twenty-four seven anymore."
"That's good. Did they find out what's wrong?" Oishi asks.
"Well they always knew what was wrong. It was just a matter of fixing it. That's part of the reason we came back to Japan anyway. The doctor's here are good at the kind of surgery that could help me. But, it's really expensive and they have a bit of a waiting list when it comes to special surgeries."
"So, this whole time you were in the hospital because of a waiting list?" Taka-san questions.
"Yeah. I actually wasn't supposed to have it for another two months. But, I fell asleep after you guys left last time you visited and couldn't wake back up."
"It's called a coma," Ryoma interjects.
"Yeah that," Yona agrees. "Anyway they decided that I had to have the surgery then or I wouldn't wake up ever again. Mom and dad still couldn't afford it so, Atobe-kun paid for it."
"That was nice of him," Fuji replies.
"Yeah!"
Atobe walks up to the group. The Seigaku regulars tense. "Relax," Atobe soothes. "I'm not here to start anything." He turns to Yona. "How are you, Yona-kun?"
"I'm good. Thank you!" Yona grins.
"I'm glad to hear it." He ruffles Yona's hair before walking off. "I'm afraid I can't stay long. I'll see you some other time."
"Okay!"
"When do you start school?" Oishi asks after Atobe's out of earshot.
"Next month."
"Are you planning on going to Seigaku?" Fuji questions.
"Well. I've actually been thinking about that alot and I kind of want…" He fidgets and looks at the ground. "...to go to Hyotei," he mumbles.