Hello again, thanks everyone for the great reviews and interest. I'm glad you're all enjoying this story so much. I hope this chapter does not disappoint and you continue until the end.

~Xanpluto

Ryoma awoke with a pounding headache. He'd had the flu as a child and spent a week in bed without tennis, this was nearly as bad. His head pounded endlessly and he knew why...he knew exactly why. He'd downed so many beers at the bar...after receiving shocking news. Shocking news about his daughter.

Ryoma swung his feet over the edge of the bed and saw his phone lighting up. He groaned, there was four missed calls from his parents. His dad was probably just calling to harass him; it wasn't unusual for him to call repeatedly. There was also three missed calls from his manager, Sunji. Whatever it was, Ryoma wasn't in the mood to deal with it. Instead, he threw his phone carelessly into his pocket and stood up to find the washroom.

He'd never been in Momo's apartment but given it only had two bedrooms and one bath it didn't take long for Ryoma to shuffle to the sink and splash water in his face. At that, he felt a little better. Not much, but a little.

"Ryoma?" A soft voice said while knocking on the door.

"Hn." He said opening the door to Ann's concerned face.

"I'm making lunch."

"Lunch."

"It's nearly one in the afternoon. You've been sleeping for a long time."

Ryoma groaned. Yes, he loved sleep, but because of his hectic schedule his body had become accustomed to getting up before eight every day. He hadn't slept past noon since high school.

"Hey Ryoma, come join the world of the living." Momo's voice shouted from down the hall and he winced.

"Be quiet he's hung over." Ann shouted at her husband just as loud. Yes, they certainly were made for each other. Ann turned back to Ryoma and said softly, "Let's go to the kitchen and talk."

Ryoma let her pull him there. She placed him on a stool and went to the other side of the counter to finish cooking. Momo pulled up the stool next to him and stared him up and down thoroughly. Once again, he was shocked to see Ryoma as he was now. He wasn't even quite sure where to begin. Finally, he just approached the situation the way he imagined Ryoma would: bluntly.

"You got Sakuno Ryuzaki pregnant."

Ryoma nodded. The expression on his face was blank and distant.

"Want to explain that for me."

Ryoma sighed. No, he did not want to explain it. He didn't like explaining things. Yet, the words were already flowing from his mouth in a flat, unemotional voice, "It was after the graduation party. The juice was spiked. I took her home. We had sex. Aside from yesterday, that was the last time I saw or spoke to her."

"You had sex and then bolted?" Momo asked. He knew Echizen had been naive and stupid when he was younger, but he definitely didn't seem like the type to have sex and then ditch a girl.

Ryoma again wished he had his Fila cap to hide under. He knew how bad the story sounded. That was one of the reasons he'd never contacted Sakuno. He didn't know how to apologize for being such a bastard back then. "I left for a tour five days later."

"That's no excuse, man."

"I know!" Ryoma shouted. The situation and his headache were making him act irrational again. "I was a punk, okay? Even I know that, but she was the one who got pregnant and didn't tell me. She kept it a secret for six years! She wanted to keep it even longer! How could she do that?"

"If you want my opinion," Ann said as she pushed a plate of food towards him, "You never stopped being a punk." The frustration in her voice was alarming to both Momo and Ryoma.

"Ann, I don't think that's fair -

"No, listen." Ann interrupted her husband, "Ryoma, I get you're going through shock right now but consider this: Sakuno has been a single parent for nearly six years. It hasn't been easy for her either. She's had almost no family to support her, she's stopped seeing most of her friends, and she gave up on her dreams. Perhaps it was stupid, but she was probably always thinking of you when she made her choices. With that knowledge you at least owe it to her to hear her out, hear the whole story."

Ryoma was quiet. Outside of the court, he'd never been very good at thinking through another person's perspective. Ann was right, Sakuno had been alone. He remembered her crying last night about how she didn't want to ruin his career. She'd chosen to be alone for his benefit. It was stupid! Ryoma wouldn't let having a child effect his career. Yet his realization lessened his angry slightly.

"You sound like you know something?" Momo asked Ann in suspicion. He also recognized the value of her words but he knew his wife well enough to know she was hiding something.

"You know my brother works with Horio. When I go get lunch with him at work I sometimes run into his wife, Tomoka. She's good friends with Sakuno and I've picked up a few things here and there. I knew Sakuno had a kid out of high school and was too embarrassed about it to see any of her old friends." Neither Ryoma nor Momo had anything to add so she kept talking. "I also know that she has been going through a rough time lately with her family."

"What do you mean?"

"Her dad died when she was young, her mom died after she graduation high school, and her only living family, Sumire, had some huge scare and has been in the hospital for ages."

"What? I didn't hear about that." Momo said. He looked to Ryoma who looked equally surprised.

"Yes, it was sometime last year." Ann added in thought. "I thought you knew."

"I should really call the old lady." Momo said then looked at Ryoma, "No, you should call her! You're practically related now."

The conversation had taken a full circle back to Ryoma's large problems and he didn't know what to do about it. Instead he looked down at his untouched lunch feeling even more sick.

"Maybe we should take a break." Ann suggested. She felt a bit guilty about being so hard on Ryoma earlier considering how regretful he looked at the moment. "We can talk about it later."

"Yeah, there's a tennis game on!" Momo said once he realized his wife's intentions. "C'mon Ryoma, we can watch it in the other room." Ryoma let himself be pulled into the living room and sat down on the couch. Even though the tennis game was playing on a large screen ten feet away from him, for perhaps the first time in his life, he didn't care. He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts and problems to give a damn about tennis and this thought scared him more. Since when did something become more important than tennis?

It must have been another twenty minutes before Ryoma heard a familiar voice. A voice he knew distinctly as his own; his head shot up. It was a commercial break and the sports channel was doing a blurb on tennis gossip. His gossip to be more exact.

"I have a daughter. Sakuno and I had sex and now we have a daughter. The coach is going to kill me! I deflowered her -BEEP- daughter. I got her pregnant. Oh God help me."

Yup, you heard that right. Ryoma Echizen, Japan's leading tennis player, was recorded last night having an outburst about his newly discovered daughter. Who knew this stoic player had such a wild past. While he has been sighted with several girls in the last few years our interns have tracked down the mother as one of Ryoma's high school classmates. The Prince of Tennis discovered last night that he has a five year old daughter. How will this news effect his game? With the Kanichi Tournament coming up only time will tell."

Momo clicked off the television as soon as the segment ended. Ann jumped up and ran to another room without a word. Ryoma just sat there looking pale and sick.

"Are you okay, Ryoma?"

Ryoma just looked at his friend blankly. He didn't know how he was supposed to feel. He was still trying to comprehend that he had a child and now he had to defend his actions to the world, too.

"Hey guys, you'll want to see this?" Ann shouted from the master bedroom and Ryoma and Momo went to her. She was sitting at a desk with her computer open and streaming a live feed from a news station. In it a newscaster stood outside a house with dozens of other paparazzi in the background.

"That's the coach's house." Momo confirmed.

"Yes, apparently the paparazzi have been outside it since nine trying to get a picture of your daughter." Ann stared at Ryoma as she said this. She wasn't exactly sure what reaction she wanted to see but she knew it was important for Ryoma to see this.

Ryoma felt a flood of adrenaline. His anger was fueled again, but this time it was directed at the paparazzi and not Sakuno nor himself. Sure, they invaded his personal life all the time, but they didn't have a right to do this to Sakuno and Minako. They didn't ask nor want to be famous.

"Give me your keys." Ryoma demanded of Momo.

"You sure you can drive?"

"I have to rescue them." Ryoma said with the same intensity as before. Momo and Ann smiled. It was very heroic of him and they were proud. Plus, he wasn't running away from his problems anymore.

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