Will of the Heart

By: SamLien (SamanthaLienne)

Super Disclaimer: I do not own Tennis no Ohjisama or any of its characters. I only take sole ownership to the plot and OC's that would be making appearances in the later chapters.

Warnings: Yaoi/Shounen-ai, May contain OOC's, Antagonist(s) appears

Pairing: Main pairing still undetermined between—EchizenXAtobe or EchizenXYukimura or EchizenXAtobeXYukimura. Implied TezukaXFuji

Chapter dedicated to the following reviewers: ChibisukeGirl, Ria Sakazaki, xJade, FlyingShadow666, Demon Lord Sesshomaru, Sakura777, RuByMoOn17, mimikitty, AT-Y, Empress Satori, dichan, Into my Darkness, Tuli-Susi, liar-just-a-liar, apocadelic, critic, DemonGirl13

A/N If some of you are wondering about the dedication line above, well it had already been my tradition to dedicate every chapter I make to those who had left reviews on my previous chapter. As for the pairings I haven't decided about it yet. You could vote for the pairing that you would like for the story. Sorry for the two day delay of this chapter. . .

Pardon the grammatical errors and the incorrect spellings. Flashbacks and Dream sequence are in Italics while English words would be typed in bold. Thoughts are italicized and has single quotation marks enclosing it. Emphasized words between dialogues and paragraphs are italicized.

Forward march, I mean read on. . .


Chapter Three

Looming Sorrow


Tokyo, Japan

Atobe Empire Business Tower

Atobe Satoru closed back the folders containing the documents he had just finished reading, and piled it up with the rest of the papers cluttering on top of his mahogany desk. He shuffled through the other stack and extracted a new set of documents. He was just about to start reading them when someone started knocking on the door of his office. After voicing out a simple come in, he went back into studying the proposal at hand and waited for the visitor to make his entrance.

"President Atobe."

He looked up and saw the companies' marketing vice president, Hachiro Agawa, stood his ground directly in front of his table. Closing the flap of the folder, he casually slumped back on his swivel chair.

"Hachiro," he formally acknowledged the bespectacled man. Satoru noted his quite rigid posture as he stood on his spot not even blinking once. "It seems that you have something important to discuss with me." He presumed

"Pardon my intrusion president, but we discovered something from the monthly reports of the company. It is quite alarming so we thought that you should be properly informed about this." He said bowing in respect and laid down the papers he had brought along with him on top of the table. "Within the span of two months, five of our minor stock holders had pulled out their shares in the company. And according to the department handling the issues on the companies stocks, the vacated spots of those stock holders had already been processed and transferred under the name of one man."

His brows almost weaved together. "So you mean to say that only one person bought those stocks?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Did you make a thorough background check on this man?" he asked while reading the said reports.

"Yes. Based upon the reports done by Atobe companies set of private investigators, the said man involved here, owns several minor stocks on three of Atobe companies' major units, namely: Atobe Shipping Lines, Atobe Financial, and the newly developed Atobe Electronics."

"His personal background information?"

"His name is Akira Fujizaki, a widower. His wife died a year ago due to lung cancer and was left to tend to his three kids single handedly. Three months after the death of his wife, he had finished the program he had been developing for five years and sold it to a foreign company. After receiving the money for the program, he then started buying stocks from Atobe Company."

"It seems that this man is not much of a threat to the company, like you're saying he is," he commented while flipping through the pages. "I think he is just being wise by investing his money in our company."

"We're standing by our beliefs sir, that this man is dangerous." He said firmly, his voice slightly rising in volume.

He was surprised by the abrupt raise of the latter's voice. "Why?" he inquired, suddenly intrigued by the agitation, the usually calm and soft spoken man was showing him.

"Mr. Miyazaki, who owns almost twenty five percent of Atobe shipping lines stocks, had just sold his shares to Mr. Akira. From our own point of view, Mr. Akira might just be serving as a decoy, in order to take over the company. If we would carefully run through the balance sheets we would see that Mr. Akira already owns twenty eight percent of the shipping lines. If the stock holders would continuously pull out their investments there is a possibility that the company would be taken over and he would have the power to make a re-organization."

If the situation wasn't this tense, then he would have laughed right then there. Surely, Mr. Hachiro has quite a wide imagination. But this isn't any laughing matter at all, considering that the whole Atobe Empire is on the line. Being too lax about the situation might just cause irrevocable damage to the whole family fortune. "Do the media know something about this already?"

"We're doing our best not to let any vital information leak to the media."

He sighed and started massaging his temples feeling the sudden onset of a headache. "Make sure that the media wouldn't know about this. Have Mr. Akira undergo a private surveillance. Keep a close eye on him. If what you're saying is true then Atobe Empire might just be in deeper trouble than we think."

"Hai." He bowed and excused himself before exiting the room.

Once he was out of sight Satoru frowned and stood up from his seat. "Let's just hope you're wrong. Because if you aren't, then I might just know who the person is, that's causing all this trouble. A person who would surely crush us, until we're left with nothing to even start with."


Somewhere in America

A knock echoed around the massive oak doors of the study room. The light coming from the corridor crept in from the gap of the partly opened door when it had been slightly pushed. The coldness surrounding the dim lighted room had escaped from the small crevice surprising the visitor with an unsuspecting chill that had wrapped around him. He ardently rubbed his arms and stepped onto the carpeted floor, closing the door from behind him. He blindly made his way towards the opposite side and stopped when he bumped onto the glass edges of the table. The small antique lamp automatically flickered open flooding the room with a little bit of light.

"Master, here are the documents for the newly bought stocks of Atobe shipping lines," he bowed and placed the folder on top of the cold surface of the table.

The leather swivel chair spun around and revealed the man sitting on it. A small apathetic smile smeared his lips as he reached out and held the said folder. He flipped open the flap and scanned the stapled documents. He kept flipping and flipping all of the pages, and his smile visibly gone wider as he scanned each page. He threw back the folder on his desk and clasped his hands together.

"Very well done," he nodded at the man in front of him, clearly satisfied with the job he had finished a few days before the deadline that had been given.

Another knock sounded inside the room and the door opened once again, this time revealing the familiar form of the butler of the household. The middle aged man swerved towards their direction and paid his usual respects.

"Master, the informant had given a call a while ago."

He looked at the man indifferently. "Is it something that would delight me?" He tapped his fingers on top of the table impatiently.

"Yes," he responded mono syllabically.

"Very well, proceed."

"According to him, Mr. Atobe Keigo and his friends, Mr. Yukimura Seiichi and Mr. Echizen Ryoma had left for America to join the UJF Cup. They are expected to arrive at John F. Kennedy International airport today."

"Hmmm. . is that so?" he reclined on his chair before he quelled his half consumed cigarette at the palm of his hand. "Prepare the car. I am leaving." He said motioning towards the butler.

"Hai," he excused himself and disappeared out of the room.

Once the butler was out of sight, the 'master' stood up from his seat and sauntered over to the large bookcase standing near the heavily covered window, before pulling out a small controller from his pocket. With one small click, the said bookcase moved sideways revealing a medium sized titanium vault stuck on the concrete walls. He began pressing the combination to open the vault. After grabbing the package enclosed inside it, he sealed back the vault and moved the bookcase back to its original place.

"Here's the money." He slid the package, which is a small leather attaché case, across the table.

The man smiled and eagerly pushed open the small locks revealing the neatly stacked bundles of green money, dollars. He let his hands roam all over the money and even inhaled the scent of his newly acquired fortune.

"I suppose it's more than enough to compensate for the deal we made. I also had a ticket booked for you so you could return to Japan as soon as possible."

He nodded and shoved the case inside his slightly bigger back pack. After zipping it back up, he unceremoniously slung the straps up on his shoulders, turning back his focus towards the 'master'. "But what if they discover that you're just using me as inveigle?"

He looked at him formidably. "As long as you don't rant me out, then you're safe."

"You can count on that."

"Well I must be on my way. I need to attend to more important matters," He said eyes giving a devious glint as he stood up and grabbed his coat. "Very important matters indeed."


Tokyo, Japan

Kawamura Sushi is jam packed for the night, with all the Seigaku regulars littering all over the place. Fudomine, who had managed to bump along with Seigaku while they were making their way onto the street tennis courts decided to tag along with them. Tomorrow would be their first day in the selection camp for the UJF camp so they decided to enjoy the night out before they start going into much more serious business for the forthcoming days.

Eiji wasn't his usual hyperactive mode though, as he just kept on poking his anago. "Nya, it's boring without having Ochibi around here with us," he pouted and sighed before jabbing his already abused sushi.

"Eiji don't play with you're food," Oishi reprimanded his double's partner when he saw that he was already on the verge of completely mutilating the unsuspecting food.

He sighed again, leaning his chin onto his hand. "Hai." He chugged down the food and chewed it lazily.

"Don't worry Eiji. I'm sure Echizen is doing fine," Kawamura consoled the gloomy red head and laid down a newly refilled tea cup.

"I heard that Echizen came back to America with Yukimura and Atobe," Tachibana said to Tezuka, who was sitting one chair away from him.

"Aa."

"How'd you know?" asked Fuji.

"Who wouldn't? With that psycho path Mizuki practically announcing it to every school." Kamio muttered.

"It's good news though. The representatives would surely be lucky enough to have the chance to play with those three. They wouldn't have to wait for another year just to play with them. Not only that, they would also be able to travel to America. They could meet really strong players out there. Oh yes there would also be players from France who would be participating as well. I wonder how America looks like. I need to do my best then if I want to play a game with Echizen again." Everyone sweat dropped when Shinji started his monologue habit from the other side of the room.

"Shinji," Tachibana admonished his babbling team member.

Shinji immediately closed his mouth and apologized before silently going back to eating his sushi.

"An chan here have some of these. It's really good," Kamio held out his chopsticks towards, Tachibana's little sister, who was currently cushioned in between him and Momoshiro.

"No, An chan. This anago is better than that one. Besides that," he pointed towards the sushi being held between Kamio's chopsticks, "has wasabi in it, you'll just burn your tongue when you eat something as spicy as that," Momoshiro interjected giving out every reason he could think of while offering her some of his sushi.

"Iie. . An chan this isn't as spicy as it looks like, so you shouldn't worry about it being too spicy for your liking," Kamio held his chopsticks nearer towards the girls face.

"Ano Kamio kun. ." An laughed nervously.

"Oi rhythm boy will you stop forcing her to eat that," he scowled.

Kamio narrowed his eyes towards him. "You're the one forcing her peach butt."

Momo unconsciously twitched his brows at the nickname before balling his fists in front of the Fudomine player. "Teme."

"Come on An chan." Kamio ignored him.

"Will you stop calling me peach butt!!," he glowered.

Kamio seemed to be in deep thought for a while before he gave his reply. "Oh yeah you're not a peach butt after all."

"Of course I'm not."

"Yeah, because you're a bike thief." He said grinning triumphantly and he went back into convincing An into eating the wasabi sushi.

"Baka Yarou," Momo snarled and lunged towards Kamio, the latter falling back on the floor with a loud bang before they started wrestling and rolling all over the ground.

"Would you two please stop fighting?" An asked in a soft spoken voice but the, two who were still having their brawl, just ignored her plea.

"Aa. Kaidoh it seems that Momo already found someone else to argue with. Aren't you jealous?" commented Fuji innocently, as his eyes drifted onto the viper.

"Fssshhh," Kaidoh just hissed and disregarded his teasing remarks.

Oishi who was already starting to go into his mother hen mode, suddenly stopped himself from jumping up and separating the two players when An Tachibana abruptly stood up from her seat and gave the two a dirty look. "OI! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO STOP IT! . . JUST EAT THOSE SUSHI'S AND SHUT UP," she yelled obviously pissed off by their rambunctious demeanor. She angrily pushed her way through the still shocked players and marched towards her equally surprised brother. "Onee san can I seat there?" she pointed towards the empty seat beside her brother.

Kippei, upon hearing his sister's voice, immediately snapped out of his trance and motioned for her to occupy the vacant seat.

"Your sister has quite a temper there Tachibana," Fuji remarked.

"Aa."


New York

Ryoma groaned and slouched on his seat further, determined to stay asleep. But the constant shakes and taps on his shoulder told him otherwise. His face scrunched up a little as he started emerging from his still sleepy state. Slightly regaining his conscious mind, he slowly opened his eyes, only to have it blinking back several times so he could adjust to his surroundings and the stinging rays of sunlight, creeping up from the window beside him, that was blurring his eyesight. He stretched languidly on his seat before removing his ear phones and placing his cd player back inside his bag.

He yawned and slowly rubbed his eyes to rid off the remaining ounce of sleep in them. He glanced towards his right just in time to see Yukimura appearing from behind his seat. He roamed his eyes around and found out that they were the only ones left at their side of the plane. He looked at the chair in front of him, where Atobe was seated, and saw the latter raising his brows at him.

"We're here already?" he asked clearly stating the obvious.

"What do you think?" Atobes lips upturned into a smirk.

He yawned again before unbuckling his seatbelt. Yukimura immediately offered his hand for support. He hesitated for a while but decided to accept his help anyways.

"Arigato," he muttered and they all stepped out of the plane.

After undergoing several standard airport procedures they went to go and retrieve their luggage. Upon getting his pet's cage he immediately checked out his cat's condition. He took a small peek on Karupin's cage and saw her slightly disoriented eyes. She began to sway on her feet before she puked unceremoniously, making Ryoma grimace.

"Ryo chan is Karupin alright?" Yukimura asked worriedly when he saw the boys' troubled look.

"Karupin's a little sick," Ryoma grimaced as he saw his cat fall back inside the cage and blacked out.

Yukimura crouched down and peered at the cage. "Don't worry. I think she just got dizzy because of the turbulence. She'd be alright after a nice nap." He gave him an assuring smile and patted his head.

"I guess so. She's always like this when she gets on a plane. Karupin's not used to traveling." He shrugged. "Oi Kego how's beef?" he asked referring to Atobe's pet dog.

"It's beat not beef. . . And there's nothing to worry about ore sama's dog granted that he is already used to traveling by land, by water or even by air. Because traveling is already an integral part of ore sama's generous lifestyle." Keigo said flippantly while placing the cage on the trolley.

"Don't mind him Ryoma. You know Keigo is a little tactless." Yukimura reminded him while putting his arms around Ryoma's shoulder.

"Che." He responded coolly before adjusting his white fila cap. Yukimura removed his arms and he somehow felt a tinge of sadness at the loss of his best friends' familiar and soothing warmth. A little disheartened by Yukimura's actions, he moved his hands onto the cart's handle bar and prepared to push it forward to follow Atobe's lead. But before he could move an inch, Yukimura gripped his hand. Surprised by the older boys audacious behavior, Ryoma looked up and met Yukimura's soulful eyes that seemed to pierce right through him.

"I'm going to push the cart for you. Besides, I am sharing this one with you so it's not nice of me to let you push it alone," Yukimura beamed at him happily. He pointed towards his bags that were stacked neatly beside Ryoma's own.

Ryoma felt a lump form in his throat and he just chose to avert his gaze before he do something stupid. "Whatever."

"Oi stop the chit chat and get going," Atobe yelled uncharacteristically.

He and Yukimura looked at each other and smiled. "Mada Mada dane Keigo."

Together, they followed Atobe onto the open area where their ride would be waiting for them. A limousine would be picking them up at the airport courtesy of Herrington University. Ryoma let out a relieved sigh when they had reached the area and found out that fans weren't in sight.

"You seem happy ne Ryo chan," Yukimura commented while scanning the whole area, looking for any sign of the limo as well.

"Hn, just thankful that there aren't any fans hounding around the vicinity."

"Yeah now that you've mentioned it there aren't any fans. I already expected to see at least a couple of people lurking here and there." He agreed.

"But I think that you forgot about the media," Atobe interrupted as he pointed towards the other side of the area. True to his words, when they spun around, they saw reporters. No, not only reporters, it was a throngof media men. They were being repressed on one side by metal palisades and some of the airports own line of security personnel, who were immediately dispersed when the media people started pouring in.

Flashes of light went on as everyone started snapping out pictures of the trio. The camera's started rolling as different news reporters started delivering their piece. Questions and commentaries started flooding them, being thrown out by different people. The voices combined and it exploded into a head splitting noise. The media grew restless and started pushing one another in an attempt to get closer to the helpless boys. Even the calm security men started to be aggressive in making the nosy people stay put in their places.

Ryoma winced when he felt the slight sting that shot up to his eyes. With his sharp vision, seeing too many flashes of light that seems to go on and on, and unruly people moving around him, his eyes started to get strained. He blinked and rubbed his eyes trying to rid of the burning pain. After having it close for a while, the pain slowly subsided. He half opened his eyes, to prevent it from being caused further damage. But that wasn't his only problem. His ears are also starting hurt because of all the screaming around him.

He whirled around, just in time to see the arrival of a familiar person. Blake Harris, Herrington Tennis clubs current captain and Ryomas under classman. Ryoma had never felt so relieved in his entire existence. The petite redhead was running towards them at a deadly speed and he was already panting for air when he reached them. He personally knew Blake since he was the one who appointed the guy to be the captain of the club when he left for Japan "Senior Ryoma, Senior Keigo, Senior Seiichi. Sorry for the delay. There was an accident on the way here, and the streets are on a traffic jam."

Atobe, obviously wasn't satisfied of the explanation he got, he stepped forward and was about spout out his usual ore sama lines when Yukimura looked at him. Atobe merely threw Blake an icy glare, before backing down. He doesn't have the time to exchange banters with Yukimura.

"Don't worry, we understand." Yukimura murmured sympathetically.

"Can we go now?" he groused dryly effectively getting their attention.

"Right," Blake waved his hands and three more students from Herrington, which he recognized because of their uniforms, came and started gathering up their luggage. "They would be carrying your bags to the limo."

Atobe looked impressed as the students went back to the limo with them following behind. "It seems that Principal Anderson still knows my preference of not carrying my own things."

"More like demands." Ryoma grunted.

Yukimura chuckled and he hooked his arms around Ryoma's waist, drawing him closer. He felt his cheeks burn up, something he doesn't usually do. But with Yukimura doing these things like it was nothing made Ryoma somehow feel uneasy. Well it's been three years since they acted this close.

They were only a few meters away from the black limo when he felt a fleeting cold feeling wrap around him, making him shiver spontaneously. He stopped in his tracks and glanced back towards the people they just happen to pass by. But he saw no one.

"Ryoma," Yukimura looked at him questioningly. "Is something wrong?"

He continued glancing around, before he shook his head after not finding anyone who looked recognizable to him. "No—Nothing I just thought I saw someone familiar," he stammered.

"Are you sure you're alright? You look pale." Atobe didn't bother hiding the worry he was feeling.

"Hai. I'm fine." He boarded the limo after sparing another look at the airport and they drove off.


He unnoticeably stepped out of the pillar, eyes trailing behind the limo which was slowly starting to fade away from his view. A small treacherous smile was left forged on his pale, dry lips as he once again disappeared without anyone knowing that he was even there.


After being caught on traffic for almost half an hour they had finally made it to Herrington University. From what Blake had been telling them earlier, a meeting would be held on Herrington's prestigious conference room, exclusive to the representative students who would join the selection camp for the upcoming UJF Cup. Upon setting foot on the school grounds, the sight that had greeted them was something unexpected.

Students were all clustered up in front of the main building, a gothic looking structure, each one were carrying humongous streamers and banners with their names clearly imprinted on it. They were having a screaming fiasco that became louder and louder as the group came nearer. Ryoma had to cover his ears when felt like it would burst anytime soon. Every one of them was chanting out their own cheers something like:

"Vice Captain Keigo you're so handsome."

"Manager Yukimura welcome back."

"Prince Ryoma we love you."

"Welcome U.S. Open champion."

"Senior Yukimura, our gorgeous angel, is back"

"We are forever loyal subjects of Senior Keigo."

"Senior Ryoma's the coolest and the hottest tennis prodigy."

Atobe stepped forward and snapped his fingers, immediately silencing the Herrington student populace. They bowed down in unison and for once yelled the same thing.

"Welcome back to Herrington, Seniors."

Ryoma couldn't help but shake his head at their childishness. He started walking and everyone gave way, making a wide gap open for them to easily pass through. They walked through the buildings winding corridors and numerous staircases before they finally reached their destination. The conference room, which wouldn't go unnoticed to those who were passing by, considering the plate used to engrave the rooms' name. The signage was made of pure gold, courtesy of Atobe when they were still studying here.

Without even bothering to knock, Ryoma pushed open the large oak doors. Everyone was properly seated on the velvet chairs surrounding the large mahogany conference table. A projector sitting on top of the head of the table was already all fired up. They stood up accordingly and bowed towards them.

"Welcome back to Herrington, Seniors." They made the same greeting as that of those students who were outside.

He just looked at each one of them lackadaisically before his head flew over to the right end side of the room. His forehead creased as he somehow felt quite familiar with the boy sitting on that spot. His eyes then snapped open in surprise as he finally remembered who he was. He pointed one shaking finger towards his direction. "YOU!" he hissed darkly. His reaction drew out everyone's attention and had it focused on them.

The boy stood up and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We meet again ECHIZEN RYOMA."


A/N: I hope the chapter didn't bore you out because it was a little long. It took me longer to finish this than I thought it would. The mysterious parts are quite a handful I might say but I had so much fun writing them. Oh and another thing, I made Karupin a she, since I don't know its gender.

I would also like to express my undying gratitude to those who had been reviewing this story. Arigato Gozaimasu. . .

Reviews are very much appreciated and would really make me happy and inspired. Please review and NO FLAMES. . .