Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Ohjisama.
Atobe had made a habit out of ignoring what he was probably supposed to be doing as captain of a tennis club as of late. The regulars could handle themselves, and everyone else... well if they weren't a regular, who were they anyway?
Atobe had defeated Tezuka square. One fault too many on Seigaku's side, and Atobe had snatched the win like an animal. But there was something the matter with that. Directly after the match Tezuka Kunimitsu couldn't move his left arm. He was unable to hold his own racket. Every twitch caused him cringes and grimaces just shy of tears.
But that wasn't good enough.
Atobe wanted not only to have finished that match with a victory, but to have finished Tezuka for good. As long as Tezuka had a future as a player Atobe wouldn't be satified.
Now the kicker: Not only was Tezuka alive and kicking, holding a racket again and as dangerous as ever, but they had sent him away from Seigaku. He had been flighted just out of Atobe's reach-- still on the planet but not on any court around here.
They had taken from him his last chance, his final strike, trying to prove that he couldn't finish what he started. That everything he had accomplished was easily reversed, given the right medical staff and a distant European country.
Atobe wouldn't take that. As long as Tezuka was still somewhere he could be beaten hollow, and Atobe would be the one to do it. They couldn't coddle him forever. Atobe would find him eventually. And break him again, too.