Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis nor do I own the characters used in this story.
Warning: Slight spoiler for the final match of Nationals and incredibly-ultra-light-no-kissing-involved Yukimura/Akaya.
Dedicated To: SilverCyanide because it's her birthday (or that's what her profile says) and she wrote me an awesome birthday fic so I'm just returning the favor and hoping she doesn't kill me for butchering one of her favorite characters...
"Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on."
- Bob Newhart
Yukimura just stood there, frozen in disbelief. He looked over at his team and saw Marui tearing up and Jackal blinking in shock. Akaya and Niou were kicking the bench. Yagyuu was just sitting there, as was Yanagi and Sanada. This shouldn't be happening. Why was Seigaku tossing Echizen up in the air? He should have been there on his knees while his teammates cried at the site of their dream shattering before their own eyes. He should have had Marui and Jackal running towards him, picking him up and carrying him around on their shoulders while Sanada gave a rare smile.
He turned and walked off the courts, returning to the bench on the sidelines. He dropped his tennis racquet and sat down. He shook his head. No. This wasn't right. This was a nightmare. Rikkaidai was the champion – always has been, always will be.
But they weren't. They had lost. He had lost.
"Yukimura."
Was that Sanada? He couldn't tell. The world didn't make sense. It was tennis, the only thing he ever knew. Why was this little brat able to beat him in his game? He was better, he was older, and he's worked harder! It didn't make sense. It shouldn't need to make sense. He should have won. Period.
"We're supposed to go to the locker rooms before the ceremony."
That was Sanada. Yukimura turned his head around and gave a weak nod as he stood up and walked to the corner of the stadium floor. His teammates patted him on the back as they went into the halls that lead to their locker room, but he didn't feel their hands.
They all sat there, their breath the only thing that made this real. They sat in silence, the air heavy with defeat, until an announcer came in to get them. Slowly, everyone began to stand. Niou was the first to leave, his head held low. Yagyuu, Marui, and Jackal left after that. Then Yanagi put a hand on Yukimura's knee before he, too, stood up and left the room. The door closed and Yukimura flinched.
The metal was laughing at him.
"Yukimura," Sanada said as he rose to his feet. "Walk out like a lion, like a king." And with that, he left. The metal door made Yukimura flinch again.
The metal wasn't laughing, the world was laughing.
Akaya chewed on his bottom lip. He was on the bench across from Yukimura, but it felt like they were miles apart. It always felt like they were miles apart – in tennis, in school, and in strength. So when Akaya stood up and walked over to Yukimura and sat down next to him, it didn't feel real. None of it did.
"Buchou, you did a good job," he said softly.
Yukimura's head finally rose and he looked straight at Akaya, his eyes full of pain and sorrow. "Are you my judge? My jury? What's my offense this time? Losing and letting my team down after risking my life just to accomplish some stupid dream that was out of my reach?"
Akaya wanted to wince at his captain's words. Yukimura was never this harsh, but he knew better than to talk when his sempai was.
"I went to Hell and back just to play tennis! This boy loses his memory, then thinks 'Oh, tennis is fun!' and suddenly he can beat months of blood and tears with moves that go against the laws of physics? I won't accept that!"
"Then don't," Akaya cut in, not caring if he was being disrespectful or not. "Don't accept it. Work harder just beat him in his own game. Show him who the king is."
Yukimura's eye softened and he reached his hand up, taking off his headband. He looked down at it. "You gave this to me. My old one had broken and you gave this to me and made me promise I would wear it when I took that Nationals flag with you by my side."
His grip tightened as he bit his lip. He turned it around to the part that was always under his hair and saw the askew, hand sewn letters: RD KING.
Rikkaidai King.
"I broke that promise. I broke all of my promises. I promised Sanada that I would make that boy pay for humiliating him. I promised Yagyuu I would take him to high places in this sport that he could never reach in golf. I promised Jackal I would help him find a new love, on that would be better than boxing. I promised Yanagi I would help him become a true genius of mind and body. I promised Niou and Marui tennis would make the pain of life go away. And I promised you I would win."
He shook his head and laughed. He curled the headband into a ball and then raised his to throw it across the room, but Akaya's hand found Yukimura's hand. His grip was tight enough to make Yukimura look at him, but lose enough to make Yukimura cry.
"I'm sorry," he said as he lowered his hand, uncurling his fingers from the damp headband. Akaya grabbed the head band and unrolled it. He tugged Yukimura's knee and Yukimura turned so he was facing his junior. Akaya didn't say anything as he put the head band over Yukimura's head. He pulled his captain's hair out from underneath it and brushed his tears away.
"I'm sorry, too," Akaya said. "I promised to beat you. I don't think I can. I don't think I can beat a man who's strong enough to cry."
Yukimura looked down at his hands then back up at Akaya with a small smile on his lips. He stood up and held out a hand for Akaya. He took it with a smile, though his eyes were filling with tears. Yukimura let go of his hand, thought for a second, then took his head band off again. He put it into Akaya's hand and tilted his head.
"Think of it as a torch. From one king to another."
Akaya smiled and nodded. Yukimura cracked his neck, rolled his shoulders, turned on his heels, and headed out to the ceremony. He saw Akaya run out in front of him to meet the rest of the team at the end of the hall. The light of the stadium was and heard the crowd chanting "Seigaku." He listened to the sound of the world laughing at him.
"Buchou," Akaya called, waving his hand as they got in a line. Niou and Yagyuu were smiling, Jackal was leaning on Marui's shoulder, Yanagi was tilting his head as if asking him what took so long, and Sanada was smiling. Yukimura smiled back at his team and jogged up to the front of the line.
Screw the world, let it laugh.
Yukimura would always laugh back.
A/N: Er… I suck at endings. Anyways, yeah, happy b-day SC! Let's hope you stick around PoT for another year and write some more awesome stories!