Title: Feeling
Author: Nana-chan the weird
Rating: PG
Summary: He didn't know what god he had obviously angered in a past life to make his class have Horio and Tomoko both in it. The others weren't too bad; they were quiet and rather unannoying. The other girl was a little strange
Author's Note: So this is my first Prince of Tennis fic. It delves a little into the character of Echizen Ryoma. Whenever I look at prince of tennis there's always someone who accuses Ryoma of being unfeeling and general jerk. It really annoys me because from what I see he isn't one. The moments are few and far between but every so often you'll see something that lets you know that he does care about the people in his life.
People thought that Ryoma was a sarcastic stubborn little twit. If he ever heard them say this he would have to disagree. Tennis is a game of strategy; it's all one big mind game. The one with the strongest mind, the least naïve, would ultimate win and Ryoma was anything but naïve. Sure he was stubborn but he had to be. It's considered a good thing to be so in tennis. It's like never wanting to give up, stubbornness just helps you along your path to ultimate victory. Sure he was sarcastic but it was part of the game to toy with other people, at least he wasn't sadistic like Fuji, who would toy with every victim he could find. He is not a twit either, as a matter of fact this is what he would be the most offended about. The word twit implies that you have no knowledge about the subject at hand. Anyone who implies that Echizen Ryoma knew nothing about tennis would be gravely mistaken, he would make sure that their thought process would be remedied very quickly.
Even though he was stubborn Echizen Ryoma liked to believe that he was an open minded sort of person. He was always open to new things; he would at least try something once before giving up on it. He tried playing doubles with Momoshiro; it wasn't his fault that he and his best friend didn't know each other well enough back then, truly what were they suppose to do play truth or dare to get to know each other? Anyway you look at it they had known each other for a week before deciding to play doubles together. Neither knew much about the others style and abilities, a match-up like that was bound to be doomed. It really didn't surprise them that they were asked to never play doubles again. They still went to street courts occasionally but they were more likely to be found at the burger joint. They don't even know why they're friends at all. Momo likes to talk and Ryoma isn't exactly patient with listening to Momo's so called "pointless babblings". They'd had their arguments just like everyone else but even after one you would still see Momo going pick Ryoma up anyway, even if they hadn't forgiven each other yet. He even went out his way to pick him up for tournaments since Ryoma did have such a nasty habit of sleeping in.
Mornings were an evil that Ryoma wished he could do without. Karupin usually woke him up. He stayed up at night playing tennis, reading tennis magazines, and doing his homework. The waking up process usually went something like this: Karupin would scratch on his door wanting to go out, Ryoma would ignore him and shove his head between his pillows and go back to sleep, Nanako-san would call him down for breakfast, he would go back to sleep, Nanjiro would let Karupin out and wake him up, Ryoma would get dressed and go back to sleep, until finally Rinko would finally manage to get him up and eat breakfast until Momo came. The thought of Rinko getting angry was the only thing that him out of bed. School was a long blur for him. He had no problem in any of his classes unlike some senpai he could name.
He didn't know what god he had obviously angered in a past life because someone had made his class have Horio and Tomoko both in it. The others weren't too bad; they were quiet and generally unannoying. The other girl was a little strange. She always stared at him for some odd reason and would seem to get embarrassed whenever he caught her at it. Lunch was never a quiet affair. It seemed like there was always a sempai dropping by whether it was Inui with a new training schedule or Momo with pleas for help with his English homework.
After school was devoted to club time. This was when he had fun. It might not seem like it but the senpais were really his favorite people to be around. His favorite times though would be after practice when everyone was going home and Momo and he would make a detour to play street tennis, or eat at a burger shop, or pick up something at one of the local stores. Sometimes Eiji would come too and that was headache inducing for the poor Ryoma but after a while he got used to it.
Fighting over food with everyone after a tournament almost became second nature and even though he would never admit it he enjoyed the time that he spent with his team. The only times that he spent with his team that he could remember hating were ones that involved Inui Juice. Everyone hated Inui Juice with a passion and it seemed as if there was an all out war involved in not being the loser of what ever the game, including that time with bowling and volleyball.
He never was much good at any other sports, excluding ones like badminton and ping pong. He spent his whole life training for tennis so it surprised him when he learned that Momo was good at basketball. The only time he ever played basketball he hadn't actually played basketball. He used a broom and a tennis ball until Momo showed at the right time, as always, and gave him a tennis racket to use.
It was strange how Momo always showed up at the right time. The time with the can of rocks, saving him from Arai-baka's anger, the time with Karupin, hell it seemed as if anytime Ryoma needed help Momo was there. It almost angered him at how well Momo knew him. Perhaps if he wasn't as sarcastic and stubborn he wouldn't need Momo's help but then again where the fun in that be? All Ryoma knew was that if Momo and he played doubles again they wouldn't lose. They knew each other too well for it to be a problem.
So while some people may say that Ryoma is a selfish cold jerk the team of Seigaku knows better then that. Because sometimes when he thought they weren't looking they could see a smile light up his face, or a laugh emerge from his mouth, or a blush settle on his cheeks and then they knew that he was more caring and feeling then anyone would ever truly know.
End