Title: Intricacy
Author: Suki No Hikari
Genre: Romance/Drama
Rating: PG-13 (for violence)
Pairing: Momoshiro Takeshi x Echizen Ryoma (aka MomoRyo)
Summary: Sometimes love isn't enough. When Ryoma finds himself in a life-threatening situation with no one to protect him, wishing to see just one more day seems useless. However, sometimes, love is just enough.
Warnings: Shounen-ai, violence, an actual serious story (XD), not the perfect Tenipuri life (Perfect Tenipuri Life no major conflicts ever, well, except in tennis…), and UN-BETA-ED (XD).
Information: This story takes place after the matches in the Junior Invitational part (the ones against the American team). I'm only expecting this story to be about 5-6 chapters long plus a possible epilogue. I was originally going for a sequel but it wouldn't have had enough plot bunnies to last more than two chapters…
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. (insert a witty and sarcastic remark here)
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Prologue
"Close your eyes!"
"No."
"Awww… come on Echizen, close your eyes!"
"No, Momo-senpai."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please? Please? Please?"
"Will it make you shut up?"
"Yes!"
"Fine."
Ryoma fired a glare over the table to his burger buddy. Seemingly unaffected, Momoshiro simply smiled happily and consumed the final bite of his hamburger. Reluctantly, Ryoma closed his eyes, preparing for the worst of whatever Momoshiro was about to do.
"Now hold out your hands," Momoshiro said through a mouthful of food. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Ryoma did what he was told.
Ryoma felt something small and lightweight drop into his palms and he automatically opened his eyes to look at the object.
"Happy Birthday!"
Eye twitching, Ryoma stared at the Ponta pull tab in his hand. Momoshiro burst out laughing at the look on his friend's face, which only made Ryoma cast another angry look at him.
"What's this for? My birthday's not for another seven months." Momoshiro shrugged uncaringly and took a drink from his now tab-less Ponta.
Ryoma groaned heatedly. "You can be so childish sometimes, Momo-senpai."
Finishing up their food and swinging their tennis bags on their shoulders, the two left their new burger place and stepped onto the sidewalk outside. Since they had a shortened practice after school, Momoshiro chose to test the new burger place on the other side of town. Since his senpai was paying for the meal, Ryoma just followed without complaints. The lone problem with the burger place, however, seemed apparent by the look of the surrounding area. The two tennis players really didn't find themselves in the 'best' part of town.
"So where to next, Echizen?" Momoshiro asked as he closed the door to the restaurant behind him.
Before Ryoma even had a chance to blink, however, he felt strange hands covering his mouth and grabbing his arms roughly. Momoshiro, who had been examining a sign a building across the street, looked to Ryoma - only to find him gone.
"Echizen? Echizen!" Upon hearing nothing, Momoshiro started walking towards the alley next to the restaurant. As he rounded the corner, a fist shot out and connected hard with his nose. The tennis player let out a moan of pain and fell to his knees, only to be kicked agonizingly back onto the sidewalk.
"Alright! Lets go!" Momoshiro heard an unfamiliar voice call out and he took notice of footsteps retreating into the alley around the corner. As he slowly attempted to stand up, a black car sped out of the passage and turned onto to the main road, racing down the street. While trying to rid himself of dizziness, Momoshiro gradually staggered into the dark alleyway only to find Ryoma's tennis bag lying there, as if it had been just thrown off of him.
And then it hit him like a pile of tennis balls. Ryoma had been kidnapped.
Without thinking, he snatched up his kouhai's bag and tossed it over his other shoulder before sprinting to get his bike. He would need to pedal faster than he'd ever in the past in order to catch up with that car.
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"Let go of me!" Ryoma cried out as nails dug into his wrists and a hand pulled at his hair.
"I can't believe this little brat dared to bite me," growled the person who held him. A tiny cry of pain escaped the petit tennis player as his hair was tugged back violently. Ryoma tried to make sense of his surroundings despite the pain - a black car with about five older men residing in it. Two were on his left side in the back seat, and one, the one grabbing onto him, was situated on his right, next to the side door. There was a driver and a passenger in the front seats and just as he scrutinized to see if he could make out the face of the passenger, the head turned around and stared straight at him.
Ryoma recognized that face. He had faced against this guy and his father. Sasabe, was it? Ryoma thought to himself. No, the Sasabe from the Under-16 Tournament was younger than this. The man in the front seat smirked at Ryoma's confused look.
"Don't you recognize me?" He smiled viciously. "You should - you know my younger brother. I mean, you did play that filth of a game against him once. You see, I didn't really like the way you treated my younger brother and father," the stranger snarled.
"But you hate your family, Sasabe-sama-" one of the men sitting next to Ryoma announced.
"Shut up! He disgraced the Sasabe name when he toyed with family, and I saw the way this arrogant bastard played my father. And as far as I can tell, even if my brother and father are mere tennis-loving fools, I'm still a Sasabe. So he's disgracing me by association, get it?"
The man who spoke up nodded obediently and Sasabe continued. "But you see, I don't play tennis," he started, spitting the word 'tennis' out of his mouth as if it were dirt. "And I have a feeling that this little boy needs to learn to respect his elders more. Who says I need to play against him in order to break him down? I have much better plans than taking part of such a stupid game."
Ryoma realized what they meant right away - they were going to beat him, or worse. He felt the anger build up in his chest and he let out a small growl. "That just dirty," he whispered.
Sasabe laughed heartily. "Dirty? What I consider dirty is what we're going to do to you next. We'll see if your father can pay the ransom for you." A few of the other men chuckled at Ryoma - smiles full of greed and possessiveness.
Sasabe smirked maliciously. "And even if your father can pay, when he gets you back, you'll never be able to play tennis again." Ryoma glared at him and opened his mouth to speak; however, he was cut off.
"Now boys, I don't want to hear anymore of that brat's babbles, tie him up and tape his mouth!"
Eyes widening, Ryoma quickly fished something small out of his pocket and closed his fists. The next thing he new, his hands were tied behind his back and his mouth was covered with duct tape, a hand on his chin squeezing painfully to prevent him from opening his mouth (1).
And for one of the first times in his life, as he was surrounded by five mysterious, violent men, Ryoma felt a cloud of genuine fear well up inside of him.
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Feeling as if his legs would fall off and mind racing with possibilities of what may happen to Echizen, Momoshiro was trying to think as rationally as he could. He'd watched the car for about three miles before he could no longer keep up with it. However, he might be able to predict its likely path since the only buildings out in this area were abandoned warehouses. He just had to figure out which one they'd be in. On his way, he'd placed pieces of his red grip tape on poles and buildings as he passed them - to mark a trail.
However, he couldn't be positive of any of them really sticking since he was riding at the same time he planted them. Momoshiro thanked his ability to ride his bike with no hands, though. (2)
'I have to come up with a plan. No more being reckless, Takeshi! You've got a serious situation here and you can't just storm into wherever you're going without some sort of preparation.' Momoshiro furrowed his eyebrows together, thinking. 'So… there'll probably be a good number of strong men who could take me out in a minute guarding Echizen. I have to find a way to sneak in.'
Momoshiro really had no idea what he was going to do - but whatever he came up with, as long as he could find Ryoma, nothing else mattered.
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(1) If you've ever tried to duct tape someone's mouth (not like I would know… :cough: ), you'd notice that simply by opening their mouth the duct tape would come off. That's why I had 'the man' (XD) hold his jaw. Yessum.
(2) Zomg I looooovvvvveee riding my bike with no hands XD Heh, just so you know it isn't impossible. With how much Momo rides his bike, it should be easy for him. I mean I BARELY ride my bike and without hands I can do so many things - hold a CD player (and dance to the music! Er… bounce rather), turn corners using a shift of body weight, hold a backpack in a comfy position, deliver a pizza… XD Yes I did that once (there's a Dominos about a 10 minute bike ride from my house). It wasn't hard really, only when I had to go up hills…
ANYWAY, I hope you liked the prologue! I have all my plans for this story written down all the way up to the epilogue so it's kind of just writing itself. :D I can't wait until I have enough time to write the next chapter! But right now, I have homework… rawr…
Oh and that whole bit in the beginning with the "Happy Birthday" with a pull tab happened to me yesterday - just my friend gave me a soda tab not a Ponta one XD Credit goes to her, I guess? (however, it's going to appear later so I'm not taking that part out! Yes, the Ponta pull tab gets another cameo appearance!) Hope you enjoyed it!
Love and yaoi fanboys! Please review if you liked it! And even if you didn't!
:… Suki-chan…:
