A/N: Sorry about all the gloomy fics... hehe... I didn't feel like writing a happy fic especially because... I duno... Other than school, a lots been happening... and just.. Gah.. lol

Yes this fanfic is depressing but I hope you like it :) hehe

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of their characters... I guess I do own the plot? and I do not own the definition of 'Memory' :)

Memory: noun, plural mem-o-ries

The mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences.
This faculty as possessed by a particular individual: to have a good memory.
The act or fact of retaining and recalling impressions, facts etc.; remembrance; recollection: to draw from memory
The length of time over which recollection extends: a time within the memory of living persons.
A mental impression retained; a recollection: one's earliest memories

Memory; this is what the dictionary defines memory to be, just mere things you recollect from the past, being familiar with a certain thing that you've either seen or experienced, and no connotative meaning. But isn't memory something much deeper? Aren't memories like little pieces of the puzzle to your entire life, which makes you who you are now? Are we not the people we are now because of what we learned, what we experienced, the people we met, what those people taught us, and the people we never got to meet? Can we actually call ourselves human without memories?

Now, what if you start to slowly lose your memories? Forgetting everything that happened to you, childhood memories, forgetting things you've learned, and worst of all… forgetting the people you have met? Forgetting those you loved, those you respected, those you called comrades, and even those you despised.

Alzheimer.

Yes, Alzheimer.

It is most common for the older population of this world, but yet, not impossible for the younger population to have.

Ryoma, hearing this diagnose at the age of 15 was crushed. Crushed beyond imaginable. Tears didn't even gather in his eyes and he felt numb inside and out. He didn't even cry… no, he couldn't cry. He couldn't eat or sleep, but rather he started writing little notes on sticky notes and started decorating his house with them. It was easy for him to do so because he lived alone. His door was for short-notice memos, his walls were paved with important things, his pictures were decorated with small notes of what happened, when this picture was taken, the occasion this picture was taken at… And while he wrote, he couldn't help but shake.

The mere thought of those memories slowly disappearing from his mind… Thinking about not being able to do anything, forgetting… What makes him who he is, slowly fading away… It was like he was becoming a completely different person.

Of course, he would still have the body of a human being and he would still have a human heart, but he would be lacking the most important component, which makes a human being who they are.

Ryoma decided to keep it a secret from his friends, his family and his teammates.

Of course, the regulars knew something was up when Ryoma forgot the smallest things, like forgetting to bring his racquet from the clubroom to the tennis court, forgetting his water bottle, and even forgetting the number of laps he was running.

He told the rest of his team members that he was having a slow day today and they all believed him. Everyone had their off-day didn't they?

But as the weeks went by, Ryoma got worse and worse and he started forgetting a lot more.

He got the hint that he had to leave and not come back when he asked Momo who he was. It broke his heart into pieces when he suddenly realized what kind of mistake he made. He broke down and cried when he got home. Locked inside the house all alone. He fumbled through his wall, reading each sticky note he wrote with caution. He cried, he read, he slept, and he cried some more. He couldn't bare it.

He didn't eat or drink for about a week when he knew his body couldn't handle it anymore. He contacted the hospital so he could make at least a little use of his body. He wanted to leave something behind that was a part of him. Leave a footprint of his own behind.

He started eating, he started drinking normally for the people who would be getting a part of him. His condition was getting worse and worse, but on the biggest sticky note that he had, he wrote down that he had to eat healthy. He needed to get better quickly before he slowly forgot how to read and write.

He was scared to lose himself. He didn't want to forget. He was scared that he wouldn't even be able to recognize the people he called family, the people he called comrades, the people he trusted the most… He was scared. So he had to do this - he had to… before he forgot… He didn't want to go to that point.

Yes.

Yes it was cowardly. But he didn't want anyone to see him lose himself like that. He couldn't bare the thought of being there when his loved ones broke down crying…

A few days later, he got a call from the hospital. They were ready to operate his organs out.

He wrote a letter to them asking for his parents and the regulars to come to his house, to look at all the memos. He knew he couldn't be there when they were looking. He didn't even know what he'd do…

He walked up to the front door of this place he called home, and smiled sadly.

Leaving all his memories behind, leaving who he was behind, leaving his everything; everything that composed him, leaving 'Ryoma' behind, he walked out of front door, ready to go on a journey he'd never be able to come back from.

A/N: I would like to thank my baby taku (Ayingott) for helping me edit this :3 hehehe It's only somewhat readable thanks to her :D hehe