{Written for the Looking Away challenge}
This is a Prince of Tennis FanFiction
Echizen Ryoma had been almost high on adrenaline and happiness up until a few seconds ago. The sentences that shook his life upside down had been uttered by the people he had come to trust most in his life. He reached out to press the selection button for a can of his favourite grape flavoured Ponta drink. Freezing mid air as the voices from earlier drifted into his mind,
..." We finally have the National Cup! Thanks to that brat." a bouncing red haired boy exclaimed.
"Eiji! Not so loud, Echizen might still be around." Scolded a black haired boy.
"It's alright Vice-Captian Oishi, there's an 80% chance that Echizen already went home, 15% that he will come back to ask us something and 5% that he won't come back." A boy said pushing his glasses into place.
"Buchou, does this mean we can ditch Echizen?" another boy, this one with closed eyes known as fuji, asked.
"Ah, I think its best if we just let him think that he has to concentrate on the US Opens from now on." The Seigaku Regulars captian, Tezuka, answered.
Unbenownst to them a certain freshman had indeed come back to ask them where they should meet up but had frozen solid in the corner he dived into when he thought they might notice him eavesdropping. Ryoma had dug his fingers into his palms a few seconds into the regulars conversation and tried his best to keep his body from running away. "Nah Momo, did you finally let Kaidoh in on the whole thing?" Eiji asked seriously. "I have, we argued a bit and Echizen almost overheard us but after a bit of persuasion I have won Kaidoh over as well. Eiji nodded and went back to hanging on then realised that the argument the 2 had a few days prior wasn't one of their normal fights, and also the fact that Kaidoh was also against him told him that he had no friends or teammates left.
He felt cold and the wind that came up and blew against his short clad legs wasn't helping. Ryoma knew that if he moved now and made his position known that everything would be over and for some reason he lost the urge to run home when he thought that.
The Seigaku Regulars continued their conversation as they left the stadium to go celebrate without Ryoma at Takashi's Sushi Restaurant. Ryoma was suddenly back to the moment where he freezed in front of the vending machine. He collected the can and walked home.
Pausing to take his shoes off at the threshold, he stepped inside and went up the stairs to his room. He placed the still unopened canon his bedside table and climbed fully clothed into his bed. Not tired at all he willed himself to go to sleep, instead of drifting off, however, the wave of tears he had been surpressing burst forward.
Nanjiro was a heavy sleeper most nights but he was still too pleased that his son had overcome his memory loss earlier that day and of course won the Nationals. He was convinced that it was Karupin's fault that he was awoken by an urge to drink juice. As he was walking past Ryoma's room he was surprised to see him home this early from the Seigaku celebrations. He eased open the door and peeked inside. What Echizen Nanjiro saw that night shocked him so badly that he stepped on Karupin's tail as he backed away from the door knob before he broke it.
His son was sleeping with his legs tucked against his chest, tear tracks on his cheeks and an expression of distress on his normally peaceful face. Without closing the door or getting juice Nanjiro climbed back into bed and continued to think what would put his son in that kind of state.
The next morning was an unusual one in the Echizen household. Ryoma was up early, his mother hadn't left for work yet and his father was quiet at the breakfast table.
"Ojaji? Is it alright if I skip school today?" Ryoma asked hesitantly. His father looked up at him, not even asking for a reason he nodded and continued eating. Ryoma didn't find his fathers response strange, but left it.
Rinko, Echizens mother, looked amused at how unusually distracted the two men in her life looked. They have been angry at each other before but this atmosphere was more like an uncomfortable one, she sighed and kissed the two of them goodbye. Hoping that everything would be sorted out when she arrived home again. Ryoma registered his mother saying goodbye when she left but he kept reliving what happened. His father must have noticed that something was wrong and dragged him outside to play tennis.
"Seishounen is that all you have? You won't be able to beat me that way!" Nanjiro shouted at his still distracted son. It was late afternoon and Ryoma looked horrible, his hat was thrown somewhere, his shirt and shorts was dirty and his knees was scraped.
He looked up at his father and sat down where he stood. Nanjiro walked closer and leaned against the bells wall, "What happened Seishounen?". Ryoma looked up at his father and sighed, his father had noticed afterall, "Not much...".
"Is that so? Then explain to me why you have fingernail bruises on your hands that kept itching during the game?" He replied, knowing that he had Ryoma. His son blushed and looked away from him. "Ryoma, what happened." He wasn't about to let this go so easily, the image that was still stuck in his mind wouldn't let his son struggle like this. "Seigaku used me." Ryoma didn't expect himself to blurt it out like that but he knew he had to say it out loud and the reality of it had finished sinking in. Nanjiro dropped the racquet he was twirling and stared at Ryoma with disbelief. uAfter explaining everything Ryoma fell asleep next to his father, who proceeded to carry him back into the house and placed him in his bed. Brushing a few strands of greenish black hair away from the Samurai Juniors forehead he vowed to do what he can to help Ryoma with his decision. He was even willing to play against him for real if it will help put Seigaku in it's place.