Chapter 4: Teammates and portal
Bright sunlight filtered through the blue curtains. Echizen Ryoma was lying on the bed, dreaming about the moment where he won a match against his dad. His dad suddenly began to rub his face with his hands. Ryoma reached to slap those hands away.
"Meow meow -."
Ryoma cracked his eyes open to see a furry face peering up at him. Karupin, a Himalaya Spotted-cat (if what Fuji said in the anime is true), was playing with his face by putting both of his paws together and patting them one at a time. Ryoma got up as the cat slid down his chest. He yawned once and got out of bed. He went down the stairs sheepishly and banged against a wall.
"Ah, Ryoma-san. We have a guest in the dining room." It was his cousin, Nanako. She poked her head out into the hallway so that Ryoma could see her.
"Who? One of Oka-san's client?"
"No…It's…" Ryoma tilted his head at the answer.
After he had done his necessary stuffs and dressed, he came down the blocked stairway. He stared at the blockage for a while before jumping over the railing. Thanks to his training, he managed to land perfectly and went into the dining room. There, sitting at the table, was a retard that he did not want to see again for the rest of his life.
"Ohayo, Ryoma! How's your night? Bet you are dreaming about winning against your dad, isn't it," Tamaki put up his hand while reciting all of this. He's here! Like I've expected. Ryoma thought depress while Tamaki make small chat with Nanako and his father, Nanjiro.
"Ya…," Nanjiro said while pouring sake, ignoring Nanako's look, "who would have thought that Seishounen have such a grown-up friend. I personally thought that he would be a loner for life. I'm so proud of him."
"Really," Tamaki grinning replied while stealing a glance at Ryoma.
He was still standing at the dining room's entrance, wearing his Seigaku uniform and an irritated look. He just wants to have his breakfast, which was shioyaki saba and chawanmushi, run to school as he have morning practices… No wait, ranking matches. He must not be late. Which reminds me…what's the time now, Ryoma thought as he finished his breakfast and glance nonchalantly at the clock.
7.00am.
"Ah-! I'm going to be late!" Ryoma hurriedly went to the stairs only to remember that it was blocked by a big cardboard block. Ryoma glared at Tamaki.
"Hey, get that block away from the stairways. I can't go up."
"Eh," Tamaki look over Ryoma's shoulder, "…oh that? It's bean curd. I won a prize which grants me a lifetime supply of it. Since the Ryuzaki household has no more space, or rather ban, this block, I brought it over as gift for your family. I thought it would be a good deed to do to somebody who was friends with Sakuno." Tamaki began to imagine himself as a Good Samaritan as Ryoma got over the bean curd, got his bag, go over the bean curd again and out of the front door without a word.
"Itterasshai, Ryoma-san," Nanako called out as she served Tamaki tea. Tamaki awaken from his daydream and blotted out of the door immediately. Nanako laugh nervously as Nanjiro continued to drink sake in broad daylight.
"Ryoma, wait a minute. I need to talk to you about something." Tamaki huffed out as he caught up with Ryoma.
"What you want," Ryoma asked curtly.
"I want to ask you something. Have you seen one tall dude and a small chibi?"
Silence came between them. Ryoma had a 'what-is-your-freaking-problem' or is it more like 'are-you-insane' look on his face. His jacket slipped half-way down his arm. More silence envelops.
"Why do you ask that," Ryoma replied. It is not really a question because he was not interested in the answer.
"Okashii na... I thought that they would come in contact with you soon… Maii ka. They should know what they are doing anyway. Thank you for your cooperation, Sergeant Echizen. We hope that you would contributed more in the future," Tamaki stamped his foot and salute Ryoma. He cracked one eye open to see Ryoma's reaction. Ryoma just walked away.
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"Ryuzaki, can I talk to you for a moment?" A teacher called outside Class 1-1.
"Eh? Hai," Sakuno stood up from her desk, where she was having a girls' talk with Tomoka and several others. She left the classroom with the teacher.
"He's the intern teacher in our class right?" One of the girls, Izuko, asked. Sakuno and the group looked at her.
"What? Now you know who he is? He's in our class for quite some time already," Tomo-chan said. The other girls muttered their agreement. Sakuno shrugged her shoulders and went out of the classroom with the intern teacher.
"He looks kind of handsome. Why did he call Ryuzaki-san out anyway? She's not a class rep. or subject rep."
"Good question. Nobody knows." Silence came between them.
"… Did you know that Nakatani-san from Class 1-A had a boyfriend recently?"(Tried copying sket dance. Nice anime and manga)
"Yeah, I have seen him before. He is a cutie, really."
Sakuno and the intern teacher walked for some time. As they walked past Class 1-2, the teacher stopped, looking inside the classroom with envy and something akin to hatred.
"Chabt-sensei, why did you call me out?" Sakuno asked, oblivious to the way he looked. Chabt jumped for a fraction of a second before clearing his throat. He slid open the classroom's sliding door.
"Is Echizen Ryoma-kun here?"
39 pairs of eyes went to the door. Tamaki, who had not yet quit the teaching, paused in the middle of writing. Sakuno could tell that he was fooling around as there were so many chalk dusts drifting, covering Tamaki and the first row students.
"Oi Ryoma, somebody is asking you out for a date. It is a guy," Tamaki monotonously said with a hint of humor. Several people started chuckling while majority of the girls glared daggers at Chabt. Ryoma got up and headed toward Sakuno and Chabt.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Katarou-sensei," Chabt said while taking Ryoma and Sakuno's hand together and leading them away from the class. Tamaki stared at the door with thoughtful eyes.
"Let's go of our hands!" Ryoma struggled to get out of this embarrassing situation. Chabt was holding…no, clutching their hand with a force similar to that of handcuffs. Ryoma was on the right and Sakuno was on the left of Chabt. It was impossible to escape, not to mention that each time he struggled, the force went up even more until Ryoma was practically winced in pain. Sakuno, who had struggled earlier, was walking obediently beside Chabt. They went out of the school ground and they were forced up an alley. Ryoma could see a black car parked there. He struggled for a final time before he and Sakuno were both pushed into the car.
"Drive off," Chabt said to the driver. He started the engine and drove off in a reckless speed. Ryoma wanted to say something but something about Sakuno was bothering him. In this kind of situation, she would be screaming or at least tried to get them out of this car with her strength but she was lying limply against the car's window. She was breathing hard with sweat running down her brow.
"Ryuzaki," A twitch of her eyebrows.
"Ryuzaki?" The opening and closing of the eye.
"OI, RYUZAKI!" She only looked at him with blurry eyes before she could answer a meek 'hai'.
Ryoma had a sense of fore-baring. If Ryuzaki was in a bad shape like this, how do they get out of here?
"Ryuzaki, are you ok? What happen?"
"I…just…felt…t-tired….Must...because…of…this," Sakuno held out her right hand, the one that was held by their capturer. Ryoma could distinctively see some water mark on her skin. She dropped it to her side, head lolling to the side. Ryoma could see that she was more than tired.
"Will you get better if I wiped it off?" Ryoma asked.
"No…" Sakuno weakly said, "Just…wake…me…up…when…we…stop." With that, she drifted off to sleep. Ryoma could literally see her soul flying out of her mouth and waving at him. Ryoma turned to the front seat, meaning Chabt and the driver, and asked fiercely,
"What did you do to Ryuzaki?"
"I only put water on it. It will be fine."
"It?" Ryoma was stunned. How can he refer Sakuno as an object? What had she done? Sakuno was panting real hard now.
"You better take care of it. It looks like it was going to die," Chabt said without turning his head back. Ryoma wanted to shout back something or take on the guy but he, despite all of his tennis training, could not possibly fight with a weapon at hand.
"Che," he reached for his cap but realized that he was in his school uniform, not in his tennis clothes which has his cap. How are they going to get back? Just then, Ryoma heard a phone ring. He watched as Chabt answered it.
"Hai…hai we got it so please let her go… hai, we also got the boy that red-head took a liking too…hai…hai, thank you so much. Eh…drug them? Hai. Understood," Sakuno, once she heard those, seems to come back to life. She grabbed the driver's head and grinded her hands against his head. Chabt just threw water at her and she blacked out. Is this some kind of fantasy or Sakuno is really weak against water. Ryoma thought as he saw that the scene resembles that of an evil spirit (Sakuno) attacking a victim (the driver) and an exorcist (Chabt) exorcised it. Chabt, after finishing with Sakuno, turned to Ryoma and said with sweat running down his face and a low voice,
"If you don't follow what I am about to say, you won't be able to play tennis anymore. You have no right to refuse me!"
Ryoma woke up to find himself in a room which looks like a yakuza headquarter. It had cigarette buds and torn up poster everywhere. His hands were tied up in front of him. Ryoma could swear that he could see blood stains just inches of where he was place. He tried to shift from his sitting position when he felt some weight. He turned to find Sakuno slumped against him. Her eyes were closed and shifting uneasy behind their eyelids. Her hands, Ryoma noticed, was tied behind her. Ryoma considered shaking her awake. Just as he was about to, the door slammed open.
"Hi guys. Do you miss me?" A lot of glitter and roses fell from the doorway to where Ryoma was staring at a gay. No, a guy who walked into a room carrying a bouquet of roses, wearing a pair of huge sunglasses and a long coat with fur on. He did not wear a shirt on expect for a designer brand jeans. What is he? Ryoma was getting a bad feeling from this.
"What a long way you had taken to come down here, Hitsumi-sama. Come and sit this way," Chabt rubbed both of his hands together and tried to escort him to a battered out sofa. The man called Hitsumi glared at Chabt.
"Don't call my name so familiarly, you piece of shit," He smacked Chabt with the back of his hand across his left cheek. Ryoma shivered at the action. The man's face was cold and scary. He shrugged his shoulders, trying to shake Sakuno awake.
"Ryuzaki, wake up. We are in danger here," Sakuno cracked an eye open. She took in the surroundings before the situation came crashing down on her. She jerked upright but thanks to the ropes, she fell back against Ryoma.
"Oh…you are awake at last. I'm sick and tired of waiting," Hitsumi look at Sakuno from the corner of his eyes. He was holding Chabt upward with his fingers digging into the side of his face. His hands, Chabt's face were dripping in blood. Sakuno paled at the scene and screamed out loud.
"Oi oi oi. Shut up, girl. We don't want your pretty face to be all scratched up right," Hitsumi dropped Chabt and walked over to them. He kneeled down in front of Ryoma and roughly jerked his face forward for inspection.
"Ryo-Ryoma-kun," Sakuno shakily said.
"Yellow eyes…Fair skin…He match the description of what we were looking for," Ryoma roughly jerked his head off the guy's hand.
"What are you talking about?" Ryoma asked, not liking where this is heading to.
"You will fetch a high price," Hitsumi mumbled as he continued to inspect Ryoma's face. Ryoma had no idea what to do here. What is this guy thinking…hm? A light-bulb lighted up on Ryoma's head.
"Are you…going to sell me?"
Ryoma look at Hitsumi with a face crossed between fear and hope. Hitsumi looked at Ryoma.
"Yeah," With that one word, all hell broke loose. Sakuno kicked Hitsumi in the shin and slid in front of Ryoma. Chabt, who was still in the room, ran to hit Sakuno but Hitsumi was hopping about. Now, imagine a couple of clowns crashing into each other and you get the picture. Hitsumi, stunned by the knock, toddle over to a desk and clumsily threw a drawer open. The contents spew out in front of Ryoma and Sakuno. Some of the objects hit and scratched Sakuno, causing blood to run down the left side of her face. Hitsumi staggered to Chabt, who was twirling around in circles, and whacked him on the head.
"U useless moron! Why didn't you pour more water onto the girl?!"
Hitsumi practically screamed at Chabt.
"Hitsumi-sama, I certainly did. She must have developed immunity to them." Chabt countered back.
"Shut up! Pour more on the brat too! I want them imported back to my country! You got it you piece of junk!"
Hitsumi glared at the two of them, tied up. Both have a look of defiance in them. Ever since the beginning, she was protecting the boy from the shadow. What a useless effort. Hitsumi went out of the room while Chabt searched the room for some water. Sakuno had a general idea of what was happening. She had listened to their conversation as she was pretending to sleep. She definitely does not want Ryoma to be exported out of the country. After all, Ryoma had a family here like a normal person would do. He should not be involved with us for long otherwise he would be tainted like me… I do not want that! Sakuno suddenly had that thought when,
"Ryuzaki?"
Sakuno snapped out of that thought and looked behind her. Ryoma was looking at her cockily.
"Wh-what is it, Ryoma-kun…?" Sakuno asked hesitantly, dreading whatever Ryoma was thinking. Ryoma smirked and opened his hands. Laying there was a letter-opener.
"How…" Sakuno fell down and scampered away from Ryoma. Ryoma continued to smirk as he answered,
"When that weird man threw the drawer open, there were a lot of things flying out, remember? I saw that and quickly hid it. It's our only chance to get out of here after all." Sakuno stared at him. She never knew Ryoma could do that kind of dangerous thing. I take back whatever I thought just now. He might be suit for this kind of thing. Sakuno thought with a sweat-drop as Ryoma used the knife to cut Sakuno's rope. Sakuno then took the knife and cut through the rope bonding their feet together.
Ryoma rubbed his wrists for his blood flow was cut off by the tight rope while Sakuno gathered the cut rope.
"Hang on to the rope just in case of an emergency," Sakuno advised Ryoma as he was about to throw his into a waste paper bin at the furthest side of the room. Ryoma stared at her.
"…Ryuzaki?"
"Eh?"
"Does this happen to you before? You screamed just now when the guy was beaten."
"Ah…that was…because of you, Ryoma-kun," Sakuno replied while looking down all the time. Ryoma flinched when he heard that.
"What do you mean by that?" Ryoma stared at Sakuno with a dead-pan expression as he turned around slowly. Sakuno stared at a stain on the floor. The more Ryoma stared at her, the more Sakuno turned red. Before long, Ryoma was surprised by an explosion that mean Sakuno had reached her limit for her blush. Sakuno sank to the floor, feeling dizzy from the aftereffect.
"I-It is none of your business, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno shouted while waving her hands in front of her face. Ryoma looked at her questionably and went to the door.
"So, what do we to do now?" Ryoma asked, pointing to the door, "we can get out through this door but I don't know the area around here once we had got out of here."
"We should be able to see outside but…"Sakuno glance at a window.
It showed what was outside.
We can escape through the window! Ryoma and Sakuno both thought with shock showing on their face. They were too busy preoccupied with the rope that they had no time to take in their surroundings. Sakuno ran toward the window. Just as she was about to reach it, she felt a powerful shock.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Sakuno screamed. The current that was going through her body was so strong that she could not pull her hand away. Ryoma noticed this and using the drawer that Hitsumi had threw, knocked Sakuno's hand away from the window and fell down with Sakuno on the floor.
"Wh-what was that?" Ryoma shakily asked while holding Sakuno close to him. His eyes were wide with fear.
"I have no idea…" Sakuno replied while gripping onto Ryoma's uniform as if her life depended on it. They suddenly noticed their awkward positions and scooted away from each other.
"S-since the window had electricity running through; we cannot escape through it so…" Sakuno said while she turned toward…
"Our only way out is…" Ryoma too turned toward…
"The door!" Sakuno and Roma both said at the same time as they faced the door.
Please do not let them take Ryoma-kun/Ryuuzaki away
Omake:
After Ryoma went away with Sakuno and Chabt,
Tamaki: Why did that sensei take Ryoma away? Why Sakuno was taken away too?
Tamaki: ! Don't tell me…
Tamaki getting fired up: They are going on a date! 'Imagining chibi Sakuno and Ryoma walking hand-in-hand down the street, smiling and laughing.'
Tamaki breaking down: WAHHHHH! I wanna go too!
During that time,
Ryoma sneezing in the car: Ahhh-choo! The water is getting me wet. –glares at Chabt-