Disclaimer: If you recognize it then it doesn't belong to me.

Chapter four: Love

Sighing Ryoma slumps against the door that would lead back into the school as he hides his face in his hands. Today just wasn't his day, it seemed, and there was no sign that it would be getting better any time soon.

In his attempt to get out of the house he had forgotten both his lunch and his Ponta money

His body hurt even worse than it normally did and the gash on his back had already bled through four rolls of gauze this morning.

His English sensei was on maternity leave and the substitute they now had for her was impossible.

He was getting extremely tired of how the regulars had been acting around him this past week.

Ryoma's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at that last bullet in his mental list. What the hell had happened to cause such a change in only half an hour? At first it was small things that most wouldn't have picked up on at all but he had known something was up immediately. After spending nearly a whole school year together and living in a house where how fast you picked up on the small print meant the difference between a peaceful afternoon and a... well... not so peaceful one... it would be hard for him not to. By now what had started with whispered conversations they made sure he didn't over hear and worried glances had by now escalated.

Inui-senpai was being more persistent in his data collecting of the Echizen family. Hounding him about a whole slew of new questions every day that he refused to answer.

Momo-senpai was constantly telling him that "You should trust your senpais, you should Yo!" as well as picking him up for practice earlier and releasing him from "Team building" activities later than he had been.

Oishi-senpai had nearly made himself a permanent fixture around Ryoma. Hovering over him and making it almost impossible to hide his injuries completely.

Eiji-senpai's glomp hugs now came more frequently and yet they were gentler in some way. As if the red-head wanted to ensure that Ryoma truly was there but at the same time treating him like a piece of glass... a really shatter-resistant piece of glass...

Kawamura-senpai had off handedly told him that he could show up at the shop whenever he needed help during one of their few conversations... about the power player quitting tennis...

Fuji-senpai had this strange vibe around him as if he were simply waiting for the right time to strike at an enemy.

Kaido-senpai, while distant unlike a certain mother hen, was hanging around a lot more recently. His soft hissing was actually beginning to become comforting.

The worst though was Buchou. He said nothing but the way he looked at him was as if he knew. His eyes didn't fill with the usual pity he got from those who had suspected in the past, which Ryoma was grateful for. However, his gaze now softened whenever they rested on the emerald haired boy. This happened more often and lasted longer than it had before.

Sighing the twelve-year-old takes out his journal in order to continue writing an entry for his next meeting with that annoying woman. Apparently she wanted his topic to be about love this time. As if she wasn't bad enough alone, she had to choose topics that drove him up the wall...

... What the hell was love anyway?

Golden eyes light up as he gets an Idea.

Love

What is love?

Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection to pleasure. It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment. It can also be a virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection. It may also describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, one's self or animals. Or at least the dictionary says it is.

But I think, no, I know...

That love is so much more.

Love is warm

Love is great

Love is everywhere.

It's a hug between a mother and her son.

A person sobbing as their friend stops breathing.

The way someone's eyes light up when they think of something.

And that, my dear, is not all that love is.

What is love? Who truly knows?

And if you do than I pity you.

For if those who have come before can be referenced

Then 'to love is to lose' and 'you don't know what you have until it's gone'.

So to answer your question,

I can't tell you but in open-ended descriptions and vague examples

Love is fickle

Love is confusing

Love is destructive

It's changing yourself just to stay near a person

A person protecting someone from the dark

The one remaining even when all hope has fled

Love is a story that no one can ever truly understand.

Reading the entry over Ryoma smiles to himself, it wasn't the best thing in the world but it would do. He was a 12-year-old tennis player after all, not an accomplished poet. Oyaji loathed poetry. Well, he hated al literature really, sans those trashy magazines he leaves everywhere. But it had been a poem that introduced him to the fact that his youngest son wanted to write instead of play.

Tears fall slow and silent from golden pools, even though it was so long ago he still remembers.

The beautifully structured sentences.

The captivating stories that never ceased to amaze.

The freedom that came with putting words on a page...