Title: Family

Summary: Finally, the boys are able to repay the favors that they owe to a certain girl who has stayed by them since the very beginning. Giving advice, running errands, and anything else possible to make sure the group stays happy. Why does she do this? And why doesn't she ask for anything in return?

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. The anime and its canon characters belong to their rightful owners. Sorry if the story isn't good, I literally just finished writing it.

"Achoo!"

"Bless you Hanako," Ryoma chuckled, handing the girl another tissue even as they walked through the school grounds, checking over the entire festival that Ryoma's school was planning for Halloween the next day.

"Thanks," Hanako muffled under her breathing mask. "I hate getting sick~! Especially right before a holiday~! Not to mention you have this thing to handle~! To think that they put you in charge of the entire thing…"

"It's nothing really," Ryoma replied, pulling her away from a couple of running students. "I'm just glad that you're helping me with the preparations. I don't know what I would do about it without you."

"No pro – Achoo!"

"Bless you," Ryoma said, narrowing his eyes in worry. "You've been sneezing a lot for the past few days Hanako… are you sure that you're fine?"

"Just peachy~!" she chimed, her voice sounding horrible because of the breathing mask along with her stuffed up nose.

Ryoma put the back of his hand to her forehead, feeling how she was burning up. Narrowing his eyes into a mock glare, he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm fine~! Really~!"

Rolling his eyes at that, Ryoma whistled for another student to walk over and told him to take care of the rest of the preparations until the festival the next day.

"Come on brat," he growled, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling.

"Hey~! What are you doing? You have to prepare!"

"Not until I take care of you," he answered, already pulling out his phone and calling his three boyfriends.

"What are you doing~?" she whined, blinking several times as Ryoma pulled her around several corners and twists to get back to his home.

She knew the route by heart now along with a few other routes that she had needed to go through. It wasn't hard considering how often she went to Ryoma's, Fuji's, and Tezuka's houses to pass off messages or drop something off when the others didn't have the time to.

As Ryoma explained the small situation to his three boyfriends, he glanced over at the girl who had stayed with the entire group for about as long as he and Tezuka had been together.

Eyes drooping, heavy breathing, flushing face, hot forehead…

"How long have you been sick Hanako?"

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Hanako drawled, her eyes drooping closed several times as her steps slowed down to where she was dragging her feet along with sidewalk.

"Okay, that's it." Ryoma stopped in his tracks, accidently making Hanako bump into him from how she was stumbling around.

"What are you-"

Ryoma interrupted her by picking her up into his arms so that he ended up carrying her bridal-style.

"What in the-"

"You've helped me and the others plenty of times. Now it's our turn to repay the favor," he smiled lightly, already starting to walk as she closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.

As soon as Ryoma opened the front door with Hanako in his arms, the girl was taken from him at the same time a pair of lips landed on his forehead.

"Sorry about interrupting your schedule," Ryoma apologized, getting two more pecks on his forehead as he was led into the living room.

"It's no problem Ryo-chan," Fuji reassured him with a gentle smile. "And it's not a problem for us to finally repay the favors that we owe her… or at least one of them," he added with a chuckle.

"She's done a lot for us… hasn't she?" Sanada asked, watching as Tezuka lay the girl down on the couch and covered her up with a blanket that Fuji handed over.

"She sure has," Tezuka answered this time, feeling Hanako's forehead with the back of his hand before deciding to take a thermometer and stick it under her tongue after nudging her mouth open.

"How long has she been sick?" Fuji asked Ryoma, knowing that, out of the four of them, Ryoma was Hanako's favorite. He didn't know if it was just because they were the same age, or just because she had met him first out of the group, but he didn't mind it anymore.

"Probably the last week or two from helping me with the Halloween preparations that my school is doing," Ryoma answered, sitting on the armrest right above Hanako's head. "She's been staying over for plenty of all-nighters, and she's even working while I've been at school."

"What about her own studies?"

"She says that she's fine and that her school is sending her the material online. She goes back to pick up and turn in homework along with any tests she needs to take."

"Something else is troubling you," Sanada commented, seeing Ryoma's eyes drop halfway as the younger reached a hand over and ran it through Hanako's brown locks of hair. "What's wrong?"

"I just wish I could do something more for her…"

"Ryoma-"

"She's does so much for us, and we haven't done anything back for her," Ryoma interrupted, narrowing his eyes further. "All the times she's stayed by us…"

"The time she urged you and I to reveal our relationship for the first time," Tezuka stated, knowing that was the first instance.

"All of the parties that she's helped throw for you two," Fuji chuckled, remembering each and every single birthday party that the girl had thrown within the last two or three years. "Even the Halloween festival from our senior year of middle school," he chuckled, knowing that it was quite funny to think on how scared the girl was because of Ryoma.

"The advice she gave Ryoma and every single one of us whenever we needed something," Sanada added, receiving several nods of agreement to his statement.

Despite the fact that he did not really know the girl for longer than a year, he understood the fact that she was the girl to go to if they ever wanted an unbiased opinion, advice, or just someone to rant to.

"Especially when Ryo-chan was in the hospital," Fuji muttered, reaching over to gently grasp Ryoma's hand in his own and squeeze it tight. "We didn't even have to ask her of anything… She just immediately started working on checking up on us, giving status updates to our families, and running errands for the entire lot of us…"

"And kept it up for about a month," Ryoma sneered, looking up with a small smile on his face as his three boyfriends squeezed his hands or shoulder to comfort him. "We don't even need to ask for anything, but she'll just do us all a bunch of favors that we realize is actually important for us in some way…"

"Well, we have a chance now to make it up to her," Fuji reassured him, repeating what Ryoma was thinking earlier when he was carrying Hanako.

"Syuu's right Ryoma," Tezuka added, standing behind the youngest male and wrapping his arms around the other's neck. "It's our turn to take care of her for once," he smiled, receiving a grateful one in return.

"Thank you," Ryoma said, knowing that he didn't really need to worry about taking care of Hanako on his own. If he knew anything about his boyfriends, it was the fact that they would all take care of someone they all truly cared for. Hanako, of course, was one of them…

Throughout the entire evening and even partially into the next morning, the four took turns on caring for the girl, swapping the cold towel on her forehead and checking her temperature.

There was the occasional wake-up call for the girl to take her medicine, but not much was said as she was too delirious to even realize that four different people were taking care of her instead of just one.

After the Halloween festival which Ryoma had to attend since he was the one in charge, everyone met up back at his house to look through the rest of Ryoma's possessions that still needed to be sorted as they crowded around the living room table.

"I remember this," Fuji stated, pointing at a picture in a photo album that the four had placed onto the table.

"What is it?" Sanada questioned, seeing the date was at least a year ago and before he had joined the three.

"A small camping trip that we had decided to go on," Fuji answered, smiling at it. "It was during the summer last year when Ryo-chan's parents were still here," he started to explain, reaching a hand down to pet Karupin who was looping through his legs.

"Hanako let us borrow her camera for the entire trip and even showed us how to work the thing considering it was one of those state-of-the-art cameras," Ryoma explained, digging around in the closet for something. "Afterward, she looked over the pictures and said she liked them well enough and gave us the thing," he finished, pulling out the camera from a box and showing how it still looked brand new.

"Have you used it?" Sanada chuckled, pointing out that fact.

"Yes, but every time Hanako comes over, she helps clean the entire house, and that means everything in every room," Ryoma emphasized the last part as he rolled his eyes. "Neat freak."

"This one too," Tezuka said, pointing at a self-drawn portrait.

"When was that drawn?" Sanada asked, shocked beyond belief.

He knew that the girl was a good artist, but that wasn't what shocked him. What shocked him was the fact that it was a group portrait of when the group was at the aquarium when they had just figured out that Ryoma's parents had moved back to America.

"She wasn't carrying any art supplies!" Sanada commented loudly, blinking several times and shifting his glance from the portrait to the girl still laying sick on the couch.

"Hanako just loves to draw," Fuji laughed, deciding to explain to their confused boyfriend. "She has a thing for drawing what she likes, and she happens to like our group. Every time she spots something that she could draw, she puts it to memory in order to create later." Turning to Ryoma, he asked, "When did she give this to you?"

Ryoma smirked at that. "The day right afterward," he answered, shocking the other three.

They all knew that she was dedicated to her art, but that quickly?!

"Why though?"

Ryoma just smiled softly, letting the other three know that he knew exactly why she was so adamant on doing nice things for them.

"We're her favorites," he answered simply.

"Excuse me?" Tezuka questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I don't see how-"

"Her parents barely see her anymore along with the rest of her family members," Ryoma interrupted, his lips thinning into a line as his eyes hardened.

"But her parents are-"

"Yes, they do care about her, but she lives in a completely different house than them now. She told me that she was moving closer to this place because there was a group of people she couldn't bear to leave alone…"

"That's us… isn't it…" Fuji asked after a few minutes of silence.

Ryoma nodded his head. "She's attached herself to us… always doing everything possible to make sure we're happy… defending us if need be," he was referring to when she had found out about Ryoma's parents leaving him to begin with, "and doing anything that we request at the first notice…"

"She practically loves us," Tezuka concluded, taking in all the instances where they had seen the girl.

Even without all the big events which were the main times the group had met with the girl, there was the more than occasional chance that she would pop in for a quick 'hi' or even giving them a small present for the heck of it.

"What are we going to do about that?" Fuji questioned, knowing that it wasn't really possible to put her into their group if that was what she wanted…

After all, they were all gay, and they didn't really like her in the romantic sense.

"Oh not like that," Ryoma stated all of a sudden, waving his arm and dismissing the thoughts that Fuji was accidently stating aloud. "She doesn't love us romantically. More like… she loves us like a parent would a child, I guess," he tried to explain, scratching the back of his head as Karupin jumped onto the couch and gently settled on Hanako's stomach.

"You people worry too much…" a voice whispered, making the four turn to see Hanako's eyes fluttering open as she reached a hand to run through Karupin's fur.

"Hanako!" Ryoma scooted closer to the girl, feeling her forehead. "Looks like it finally broke, and considering you're not delirious anymore, I'd say you're feeling better."

"Better than I have in a while," Hanako yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she gently sat up so Karupin would slide onto her lap. "Now what's all this talk about me? Thank you, by the way, for taking care of me."

"It wasn't a problem Hanako, we were glad to take care of you," Tezuka answered the girl, ruffling her hair. "We were talking about how you do so much for us and ask for nothing in return."

"Why are you talking about this on a Halloween holiday rather than the Thanksgiving one," she tried to joke, only to realize that the other four were staring at her with concerned looks. "What?"

"You don't have to do so much for us you know," Fuji said, reaching over and gently grabbing her hand. "We can take care of ourselves. You don't have to work yourself to the bone just to make us happy…"

"But I want to make you guys happy," she whispered, lips turning into a small pout. "Am I not allowed?"

"You can Hanako," Sanada reassured the female, making her turn toward him. "Just… don't do so until the point where you aren't even taking good care of yourself."

"We love you Hanako, like a family member," Ryoma continued, wrapping his arms around her neck. "And we don't want to feel like it's because of us that you can't take good care of yourself. You're a wonderful friend, really, you are."

"But-"

"No buts. You're going to stop this nonsense and take care of yourself," Tezuka ordered the girl, glaring at her until her shoulders slumped in defeat and acceptance at what he was saying. "We know you love to help us, but how do you think we feel when you end up like this?" he asked, referring to how she had practically worked herself sick for their sake.

"I don't know… I didn't think it was a big deal if I was sick…"

"Of course it's a big deal," Ryoma snapped before reining in his emotions. "You're just as important to us as we are to you. Simple as that."

Hanako smiled, finally understanding why they seemed to be giving her such a hard time. "Well… what now?"

"You can still do what you do, of course," Fuji said, smiling brightly at the girl.

"But as soon as you feel ill or need someone to talk to, you come straight to us alright?" Sanada finished, knowing that was what the entire group wanted of the girl.

"You sure you wouldn't mind me bothering you at all?"

"Have we been bothering you with everything we're requested of you?" Tezuka shot back.

"Well, not really-"

"Our answer's the same," Tezuka interrupted, getting the four males to smile at the girl. "It's about time someone started caring for you just as much as you care for others."

Hanako just giggled, smiling at them all and drawing them into a large hug.

"I think still this conversation should have waited until Thanksgiving."

"Way to ruin the moment Hanako!"