Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.

A/N: I don't think this needs much of an explanation since the summary pretty much sums the whole thing up, but I'd like to thank (beautiful) Sonofon for looking over this and for being patient with me. Stay awesome.

Prince of Evil

Everyone had some ugly secret that no one knew about, and Echizen Ryoma was no exception.

He was a murderer. After all, how can someone who had burned his friends not become a murderer? He had accepted the fact that, yes, he had burned his friends and that yes, that automatically made him a serial killer. He just wasn't sure whether everyone else around him could accept that.

It had been an accident, really.

Momoshiro-senpai had taken his wallet without permission to buy burgers with Kikumaru-senpai, and he saw it in their bags. He was about to ask them where his wallet was, but then Tezuka-buchou interrupted by making them all run laps. And then, well... fire came out of his mouth. The regulars in the locker room were on fire and they died, except for him.

Honest.

Totally not his fault.

-

He heard someone knock on his door.

"Stop being so lazy, kid! You'll be late for school!"

Ryoma grunted and sunk further into his comforter. "Don't you know what 'I'm sick' means, old man?"

The door opened, and Ryoma saw his father, who actually looked worried for once, and his mother, who looked like she was crying. Despite himself, Ryoma felt kind of guilty, and told his parents about how he burnt his teammates and how none of it was technically his fault.

And then there was silence.

Ryoma's mother, Rinko, was the first one to break the silence. "I guess we should have told you this earlier. This isn't going to be easy for me to say, but I think you're old enough to understand... You're a devil."

Somehow, that didn't make Ryoma feel any better, and suddenly, he wished he didn't say anything.

"You see, your father... well, he's Satan." his mother clarified.

Ryoma looked at Nanjiroh, wondering just what did he do to Rinko to make her go crazy. Although the more he thought about it, the truer it seemed. Nanjiroh was evil personified, and no one human could be that ugly.

Nanjiroh snorted. "I know what you're thinking brat. It's true."

Maybe he had been a bad son and now his parents were going mad. And because his parents were crazy, he unconsciously became crazy too, and started breathing out fire and twisting his head. He didn't know how to approach the situation.

"Yes, you're a bad son, and no, we're not going crazy." said Nanjiroh.

Ryoma looked at Nanjiroh, flabbergasted. "You've... just read my mind." said Ryoma.

Nanjiroh smirked. The devil.

Ryoma wondered what sex was like... with a lovely foursome between two men and two donkeys. And what about sex between two, wrinkly old men? And birds having sex? What about horse and carrot having sex?

Nanjiroh glared at Ryoma. "Oi. Stop that."

Ryoma almost laughed, but he was still confused. "So, let me get this straight: I'm Satan's son."

His parents nodded and Ryoma fainted.

-

"Ryoma-kun...?"

Ryoma was glad to hear the sweet voice of his cousin, who he was sure wasn't a devil. It was somehow endearing.

But then he realized otherwise when he saw Nanako. Her face was bloody and her neck was twisting. Every time he saw her face, her tongue was sticking out longer than it should. Nanako was really retarded.

He fainted the second time that day.

-

Dinner was awkward, or at least for Ryoma. His father still looked ugly, his mother was still sweet, and Nanako was... a sight better not described. Karupin was all bones now, but Ryoma still loved Karupin because he was Karupin and Karupin was awesome.

"So about your teammates, you set them on fire?" said Nanjiroh.

Ryoma nodded. "Are they... How do you get them back?" asked Ryoma, as if he forgot all those times his senpai-tachi were mean to him, because really, he was mean to them, too. But they were friends, and Ryoma liked his friends a lot, even if he would never admit it. Those lovable imbeciles.

Nanjiroh smirked at Ryoma. "You're the reason why they're dead in the first place. I'm not helping you."

Ryoma rolled his eyes, and muttered, "Che."

Ryoma ate his dinner silently.

-

"Oi, brat." said Nanjiroh, shaking Ryoma violently.

Ryoma awoke; annoyance clearly visible from his face. He glared at Nanjiroh. "Whatever you want, no." said Ryoma and he went back to sleep. Maybe if he ignored the old man enough, the old man would disappear.

Or maybe the old man was never there and it was all a dream. But if this was all a dream, why was Ryoma hurting so much?

Nanjiroh had thrown a ball at Ryoma's head.

Ryoma glared at Nanjiroh.

Nanjiroh snorted. "You said you want to save your friends. You're going to have to look for them, brat."

-

Ryoma found himself in a white room with four doors - three doors, and one closet.

He sighed.