July 17, 2007 to July 19, 2007 (REFORMATTED May 1, 2010)

Disclaimers: I do not own any part whatsoever of Prince of Tennis and the wives of the regulars and such are Lifeless-heart's.
Summary: Echizen Ryoma is now married, and he is ready to have a kid with Ryuzaki Sakuno. But what happens when some things just go terribly wrong? And what's with this extra person? Enjoy! And don't forget to review please!

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Chapter Six: Lost in Thought
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"It's good, the food."

A happy smile was plastered upon the older sister's face, while the younger one secretly declared success on the first step to herself. Bringing out as much confidence as she could, she smiled her most beautiful one yet and happily said, "Arigatou, Echizen-kun!"

The smile was comforting to his eyes, and somewhere in his mind, his thoughts were beginning to clear out from all the cloudiness. At least she knows how to cook food

Two weeks have passed since the time when the Lyanstz sisters first moved into the Echizen Household after the younger one, Lyanstz Riko, won the Echizen Ryoma, tennis professional player and all that, from an auction. Hard to believe, neh?

Firstly, he is irritated by the two people barging into his place. He complains to his wife, Echizen Ryuzaki Sakuno, who is two weeks pregnant, over the phone. After all, the tennis pro did promise to call his wife everyday, and she heartily hears him out and cools down the burning temper of his.

But what happens when you just taste food that is so good, that it reminds you so much of your wife, and yet someone completely different? This has been driving the man crazy, and mostly he spends his time locked up in his room with twenty four cans of Ponta in store to quench his thirst (yes, he loves Ponta that much), laying on his bed, lost in thought. He has too much to think about. Of course, he always makes the occasional and daily calls to his lovely companion.

So the present time and setting for this chapter would be the two weeks after the incident, around evening time, and he's lying on his bed, with one arm over his forehead while the other lies loose, free to roam anywhere he chooses. His eyes are closed, and he breathes real deeply, recalling the significant events that had occurred over these past two weeks.

Flashback One: The Fall

She blushed and turned away, mumbling "Never mind." As she took the first step up, she tripped on her slippers and fell backwards. 'Oh god, I just tripped in front of Echizen-kun!'

She closed her eyes tightly and wrapped herself with her own arms, waiting for the hard contact with the floor. But it never came. Instead, she felt something wrap around her, something different and had a snaky but warm feeling to it. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see a pair of golden-like feline eyes staring back at her.

She at once felt nervous with the distance between her and her birthday present, who was holding her in his arms. Echizen, with his fast reflexes, had noticed that one of his guests were about to fall backwards, and quickly sped towards her to safely catch her in his arms. She felt the hot breath that tickled her face, and with that said, she quietly murmured something and turned beet red.

"Hn, Lyanstz, mada mada dane."

Just remembering that flashback made him turn a little red at first, and he shook his head violently to put it away. Recalling that he said that trademark phrase of his added fifty years to his current age of twenty seven years. That was so stupid of me to say it, it makes me sound as if she were an object and not a human. Momo-chan-senpai drilled too many of his 'love lessons' inside my head, it's making me hurt quite the bit.

And then, there was that compliment he gave the older sister, Lyanstz Ritsuko, about her cooking. Saying that it was good – he could have been the worse judge ever. Maybe it didn't taste as delightful as his wife's usual Japanese cooking, but her alterations of some Japanese to Western food wasn't too bad.

Of course, she had a rule to follow. Western for morning, and Japanese for night. What do you expect? She was raised in America as a Japanese woman, just like Ryoma. Whenever he would take a bite out of the dreadful Western food for breakfast, it seems as if his taste buds had come to a change. It actually tasted good then those past fifteen years! He is certainly unbelievable to fall for such delicacies, to now have a liking to Western food for breakfast.

Flashback Two: A Call to Sakuno

Sakuno, who was resting in her friend's house, Osakada Tomoka, had gotten a phone call from her cell. Quickly reading over the Caller ID, she smiled a tad before flipping it open, "Moshi moshi?"

"Hey Sakuno, this is Ryoma," casually said Echizen over the phone.

"Ryoma-kun! How are you?" exclaimed the woman as she shifted her position on the couch and comfortably reclined on it.

"The usual. Except they know how to cook, and the Western food is pretty good," he said.

"Ah, souka? Well, I'm doing fine over here to. Tomo-chan is taking care of me, and the baby is doing just fine."

"Is that so? That's great. When I come back, I'll make sure to give a name for the baby," he said, smirking over the phone.

"Hai, be careful, Ryoma-kun," she said, smiling.

"Ja," he called off, and the phone line was disconnected.

Now that was quite a strange phone call. Their conversations were usually prolonged and extended, but that certain talk with his wife seemed…well, wrong. It's not that he said anything wrong to her, it was just the fact that the discussion he had was shorter than usual. Nothing to worry about hopefully.

But he used to have other things to worry about. Until they were all solved by the two guests he had in his place, and the older one was especially helpful. Number one, he had to keep up with the housework. As a man and a busy tennis professional, he's definitely too tired to move around. He only has the strength to eat, sit on the couch, drink Ponta, use the toilet, and sleep. But Ritsuko managed as well as Sakuno, doing the exact same hard and diligent work his wife would do everyday, with the exception that this woman actually went to work after cooking breakfast, come back to fix dinner, and immediately set to the laundry and cleaning the house spick and span.

It was truly unbelievable. She's like another Sakuno but different, he thought. When Echizen realized the fact that Lyanstz was better than Ryuzaki, he jumped right out of bed and shook his Ponta can wildly. The fluid inside bounced in and out of the hole from the can, spilling drops of the sticky drink onto the mush carpet. Oh great, if Sakuno sees this, she's going to go frenzy over this stain. He bent down and gave it a quick rub with his slipper before hopping back onto the bed, the Ponta still in his grasps.

Sighing in his bed, Echizen could not help but to just squeeze his free hand tightly. Just rummaging through his head full of that woman and the occurrences with her made him feel even worse than the match he had with a hundred-something point tiebreak with Atobe Keigo. Sometimes, he felt relieved that tennis was not as complicated as women and love. But if he had openly said that to his wife, she of course would be hurt, so it was a good thing he wasn't very opened to his companion at times.

Then there's number two, which was the fact of calling apart the two Lyanstz sisters. Remembering women's first name was already hard enough for him, especially when he just managed to get the hang of calling his wife "Sakuno" instead of "Ryuzaki". If he had to fit more information of two first names including his wife and his ex-senpai-tachi's wives, or rather his god brother and sister-in-laws, his head would certainly explode. It was more than difficult enough copying his opponent's tennis techniques. Tennis was much, and MUCH easier than women and love.

Flashback Three: Names

It had been irritating him for so long. Two sisters with the same blood and last names, but way different personalities. And yet, addressing them by 'you' or 'hey' or 'oi' was a little too excessive. He had gotten so used to their presence it were as if the pair was his blood relatives or something.

But thanks to his wife's little lectures of manners and being polite, he could only sigh in his seat and watch the older sister cook. The way that she moved around so elegantly, the smile of accomplishment and achievement on her face was so astounding, and he could not help but to picture her as both Sakuno and Lyanstz. His head began to hurt, and he slapped himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand.

As she set down the plates and eating utensils on the table, he carefully observed her delicate, pale-colored hands and fingers. 'If I could touch them, then there would be a soft and nice complexion to it,' he thought, then kicking himself in the shin as a reminder not to 'seduce' or get attracted to the woman, just as his ex-senpai-tachi had advised. Oh boy, it was really hard to cope around with since he was living with such a miracle worker.

"Ano, Echizen-kun, dinner is ready," gently reminded Lyanstz as she walked to the kitchen counter and began filling the rice bowls. He quickly snapped back to reality and speculated the female and coughed.

"Oi, Lyanstz, can you tell me your first name?"

She could only turn around and stare at him in disbelief when he had asked her that question, the rice bowl still in her hand while the other hand was holding the large rice spoon. Sucking in her breath, she timidly ensured, "My first name?"

"Ah," was the blunt response as he closed his eyes and sipped the Ponta (wherever it came from) lightly.

"Uhh, Ritsuko," she answered, turning back to filling the last rice bowl and setting it on the table, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, Ritsuko," he said as he finished his can of Ponta and threw it perfectly into the trash can. She could feel the blood run into her head, her face really red. But then she gave out a playful and exasperated smile and quite confidently pointed out, "There's a reason for every answer you know, Echizen-kun."

"Apparently, I don't want to say it. Got your reason?"

She smiled brightly and chuckled, "Of course, Ryoma-san."

"Hn," he said, and he got out of his chair only to bump into the younger sister. Smirking at her, he teased and meaningfully declared, "And you, from now on I'll call you baka Lyanstz."

"OI!"

Well, that covered his second problem. Just from learning their names (or rather giving them names), he learned quite the bit about them. And it was actually easy to remember this time, but he had no reason why. Maybe because it felt good, the way he could say her name so freely.

And his last problem, well, was how to cope with the female. Though very busy, at times, instead of drinking his Ponta or taking a nap, he would eye her continuously, and turn his attention away from her is she were to look. It was as if he longed for her, but that was wrong, wasn't it?

Frustrated out of his mind, he jumped off his bed and walked towards the closet. Retrieving his tennis bag and white Fila cap, he shut the door behind him and headed downstairs to the door.

As he grabbed the handle to wrench it open, a voice intervened.

"Ryoma-kun, where are you going?" she asked shyly and softly.

He tugged his cap downwards and looked away, replying, "Tennis, Ritsuko." He opened the door and closed it behind him, and inside the household was only a click.

"Itterashai, Ryoma-kun," bid the woman, as she smiled and watched through the window as her birthday present casually strolled down the path and out of the Echizen property.

When did time fly so fast…and when did I…start falling for her?

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Owari
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A/N: This was rather a flashback chapter because I'm too lazy to write out everything that happened. And Echizen realizes that he fell for Ritsuko, but what about Sakuno?! What will be his shocking decision? And what is the mysterious past of the Lyanstz's? Please review and give me any feedback! I am very happy to be criticized because there is always room for improvement. Arigatou!

Ja ne, and I do not own any part of Prince of Tennis!