Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Good-bye
Sweet Pea – Good-bye, departure
Takes place in the anime, before Ryoma leaves.
The sound of the tennis ball was only heard as Echizen Ryoma continued to beat the abused object onto the wall and back. The ball seemed to cry out and plead to stop – even the clouds wanted the young tennis player to stop.
But Ryoma didn't hear or see these pleas.
His mind was on one thing: his decision to go to the US Open and abandon his team or not.
Frustrated, he slammed the ball a final time before stopping to take a breather and allowed the ball to fly past him.
Vaguely, he heard the ball land in the bushes, giving out a rustled noise.
Ryoma let out a huff of annoyance, spun around to look for the ball – the damn ball his mind added.
It was days later when Ryoma made his decision. He chose to go. As he sat in the taxi, he briefly wondered what the other tennis club members were thinking of him right now. Were they proud of him for getting into the US Open and going? Were they angry with him for abandoning them right before the nationals?
He decided that maybe it would be best left alone.
However, as he reached the airport gate, he found a crowd there. He rolled his eyes, thought it was a sappy group of friends and family for some other person, and tried to sneak through before realizing that he recognized most of them.
"Ah! Echizen! There you are!" Momoshiro called.
Ryoma suppressed a smile, his friends were here and they were not angry with him.
The group followed the tall power player and like a swarm of flies, gathered around Ryoma.
"What you are guys doing here?" he asked, though knowing the answer.
Fuji smiled from behind Ryoma, placed a hand on his shoulder, "seeing you off, of course," he said in that same, soft voice of his.
Ryoma reveled in the touch. For a while now, he had begun to notice his senpai – how he spoke to him, how he acted in public, how he played tennis, and even how he ate whenever the tennis team would go out.
At first, he was scared. But he grew to ignore it. Ignore it for now, he thought, and think on it later.
Minutes later, Ryoma found the time of his departure arriving too soon. He did not want to leave his friends, his family, his coach, the Seigaku team, or… Fuji.
He found he did not want to.
But moments later, as Eiji pounced on him again, he caught a small, sad smile on Fuji through Eiji's arms. It was a brief second but Ryoma's keen eyes saw it. He pushed it away, however, and continued his good-byes.
Eiji let him go and Ryoma made a sad excuse to get away from Momoshiro's turn – saying that he had to go or the plane would leave without him.
He could have sworn he heard Fuji mutter a "good then".
As he boarded the plane, he took one last look at his comrades. His eyes surveyed them, glancing and trying to commit them into memory when he locked eyes with Fuji.
He gave the elder boy a short, curt nod – barely noticeable – and left, ready to face the next challenge.
Back with the team, a whisper floated into nothingness.
"Good-bye…"