A/N: I don't own Prince of Tennis sadly enough. But then again, if i did it would never have been finished. I only own my OC. Have fun reading! Oh and sorry for not updating earlier. This is just like a filler chapter for my readers. I'm still stuck on my other stories. Physics is T-O-R-T-U-R-E

It was illogical. Uncalled for. Impossible. These were the thoughts that passed through the minds of the Rikkaidai tennis team as they watched a girl, sitting by herself, crying because of their captain. It wasn't the fact that it was a girl crying. It was the matter of who the girl was. Kouta, Rain, manager of the tennis team…and Yukimura's best friend.

Rain was in the same year as Kirihara. A year younger than Yukimura, but she had known him since childhood. She could always be found on the tennis courts during practice, helping out here and there, but no more. She had come a few times since the incident, frail though. Eventually she stopped helping, choosing to just sit and watch. Soon, even that stopped. She frequented the courts no more. It was strange for the boys, so used to having her laid back presence around. Yet, Yukimura continued on as if nothing had happened, as if his best friend had never gone away, as if…as if she were still okay, still standing by his shoulder, waiting. But it wasn't okay. It never would be okay again.

"Hey, Rain. You coming down today?" Kirihara asked. It had become habitual, since the girl had stopped visiting, to ask her to. And the reply as always was a soft, melancholy, "No thank you."

Kirihara frowned, "You never come to practice anymore, the guys are getting worried."

"They don't have to." The girl murmured, "I won't be around much longer anyway…"

"What do you mean…?" Kirihara asked, worry laced into his words. Rain shook her head, "It's nothing. Just another useless thought."

Kirihara slowly left the room, barely catching Rain's next sentence, "All things end eventually…"

The next day a sense of discomfort wrapped itself around Kirihara's stomach. When he noticed that Rain wasn't waiting for him at the normal spot, it became a sense of foreboding. And when he got to school and saw that Yukimura wasn't there yet the feeling bloomed to cover every part of his being.

"Yo, bratling, you look like you just saw a ghost." Niou said when he noticed the baby of the team standing at the entrance.

"Where's buchou?" Kirihara asked. Niou shrugged,

"Hasn't come in yet."

"What about Rain? Did you see her today?"

"What are you getting at brat?"

By now the rest of the regulars' had gathered, "What's the matter Kirihara?" Kirihara's brain suddenly pulled back two sentences Rain had said the previous day,

"I won't be around much longer anyway…"

"Rain…"

"All things end eventually…"

"Akaya?"

"Rain!" Kirihara suddenly turned around and ran. His teammates hurried after him. They only stopped when they reached Rain's home. Kirihara was already pounding on the door by the time the rest of the team had caught up. Rain's mother opened the door and regarded Kirihara strangely, "What's the matter Akaya? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"No time!" Kirihara shouted, "Rain! Where is she?!"

Rain's mother blinked, "She's in her room…"

There was a thumping sound. Everybody froze for a moment, then they all ran for the stairs. "Rain!!"