Authors Notes: This story is a bit on the angsty side. (Is that even a word?) Contains Shonen Ai and hints of Yaoi, nothing graphic. Seigaku High School has dorms and all the regulars including Ryoma are living there. I do not own, the plot is mine but if anyone thinks it resembles their story in any which way please notify me, I have so many ideas running around my brain that I don't know if all of them are taken from sources.
Rinko Echizen couldn't help but notice something was wrong with her son. It showed in his tennis, his attitude and though she figured it was some type of teenage rebellion the idea was soundly defeated when Ryoma quit eating. Ryoma had always been a difficult boy, Rinko reflected, snarky and bratty without a care of what other thought. However, about six months ago Rinko saw a change in Ryoma, one that was for the better. Ryoma was happier and bore a shine in his eyes that told her more then he told her vocally, he was in love she realized. With a sigh, Rinko turned her attention from the past to look at her son. Ryoma was staring at the food in front of him with a small frown on his face, and heart break in his eyes.
Why? Ryoma thought to himself pushing the food around his plate, not even bothering to eat. The answer came back, in a cold and mocking voice making his eyes fill with tears before he viciously wiped them away ignoring the slight pain from the motion. He felt his mothers eyes on him but ignored it, not really feeling like talking. With a bitter sigh he stood up and said emotionlessly,
"I'm not hungry, what do you want me to do with the food?"He waited for the answer, hoping that it would come soon so he could go back to his room and sulk.
"Just leave it, I'll take care of the food." Rinko's voice had an undercurrent of worry that Ryoma brushed off as some problem with her job, there was no way she would be worried about someone as worthless as him.
"Ok, thank you." Ryoma said making his way back to his room, he shut the door and turned out the lights. In the past few days Ryoma had found the darkness to be his only friend and confidant, the place where he could allow his mask to crumble and tears to fall. He hadn't been to school since [i]it[/i] had happened and although he knew that he had to go back sometime, he was loath to leave the comfort of his darkened room.
They don't have any good corners at school either. Ryoma thought bitterly, realizing that his only other source of comfort came from a non living thing, the corners where he could imagine that he was in the embrace of someone who didn't care that he was worthless for a moment. There was a knock at the door and Ryoma scrambled away having basically lived in the dark for the past few days so he knew his way around his room easily.
'What?" he asked his voice a non-caring monotone, the door opened ant the light was turned on.
"Ryoma why are you sitting in the dark?" Rinko asked looking at him worriedly.
"'Cause I like it." was the only answer she got, but she decided to push the matter forward.
"Fine, are you alright sweetie? You've barely touched your food for the past few days and you aren't fighting with Nanjiro anymore."
"I'm fine." Ryoma said quietly burying his head in the blankets on his bed, not allowing his mom to see the few tears that ran down his cheeks, mentally chiding himself for being an emotional girl. His ex-boyfriends voice rang mockingly in his mind, and he bit his lip trying not to allow any emotion into his voice. Rinko watched him, concern growing until she decided that there was only one thing to do.
"All right sweetie." Rinko said with a sigh, turning out the light and closing the door, her face troubled.
A few minutes later, she came upon her husband reading something questionable and sat down next to him, her concern overriding the anger that she usually felt at the sight.
"Nanjiro, we need to talk." she said, her voice unusually serious, which made him sit up straight, wide eyed.
"What about? We aren't getting a divorce are we? Are you going to burn my babies? Do you have cancer?" he asked his voice full of panic.
"Nothing like that," she said quickly, throwing a slightly angry look at the magazine. "It's about Ryoma, I'm worried about him." She paused trying to get her thoughts back into a line, realizing she had no idea how the conversation would go.
"I heard from his principal at school," Nanjiro's voice was quiet, "Apparently he broke up with his boyfriend, who heaped a whole lot of abuse on our Ryoma." There was an undercurrent of anger, making Rinko look up startled.
"Really? Why didn't you tell me before?" There was no anger in her voice however, as this was too big of an issue to be mad at him for withholding information.
"I didn't know until today, I was calling him in sick again and the person on the other end transferred me to the principal." Nanjiro sighed, for once not the happy-go-lucky perverted man he usually was.
"I know you place a high value on education Rinko, but I don't want him going back there. In fact if it's alright with you and Ryoma I'd like to have him transfer to Seigaku High School, get him away from America and this poisonous air." Rinko thought for a moment then nodded, it seemed like the perfect idea, back in Japan Ryoma had friends who could help heal his wounded heart and destroy what ever poison was in his mind at the moment.
"Good idea, why don't you pull him out of school now?" she suggested, "He can study at home, and he won't have to face his classmates. I can get his stuff, if you want to handle the logistics. In fact I'll go talk to him now."Standing she kissed Nanjiro softly, and walked back into the house.
Ryoma was startled when for the second time that night, someone knocked on the door.
"Yah? Come in?" he said, and waited as his mother hesitantly entered the room.
"Ryoma, your dad and I were thinking that maybe we should head back to Japan. If you wanted to study a lot we could see if you can take the entrance exam and start in high school." she said, hesitantly, not wanting to reveal what she knew.
"Are you ok with that? You can just stay here and cram, while your dad and I take care of the logistics." A pair of broken golden eyes peered up at her from the bed, and she wished with all her heart she could just reach over and hug him.
"That's fine." Ryoma mumbled, not daring to hope that he was given a chance to run back to Japan and away from him, it seemed to good to be true.
"Good, I'll tell Nanjiro to pull you out of school and you can start studying tomarrow." Rinko barely resisted the urge to sigh in relief, went over to the bed and kissed Ryoma on the forehead in a motherly gesture.
Things will work out, she thought to herself as she closed the door and made her way back to where Nanjiro was. I have a feeling that everything will be ok when we get back to Japan, maybe not right away but eventually. At least Ryoma'll have friends who care enough to stand up for him. With that thought in mind, she joined Nanjiro and continued to plot Operation Cheer Ryoma Up.