Hello again everyone~! I know you must be worked up by now! XD Sorry for not updating for a bit, I had a lot of work to do and I am thinking about teaching art sometime soon :D Anyway~! Here is the much awaited chapter! Enjoy and please read and Review~!

NOTE: There will be some slight out of character moments with Ryoma and Fuji in this chapter! Just letting you guys know so you won't shoot me over it .

His Endurance 7

Ryoma sighed as he rolled out of bed the next morning. He glanced at the clock and grumbled. He had overslept big time, school had already let out by now.

He got up and went into the kitchen to find something to make for breakfast. He opened the refridgerator and sighed once again, there wasn't anything breakfast worthy food in there, so he got dressed and headed out to town.

Ryoma looked around for a place that would sooth his hunger. He smiled with a little bitterness in him, he would miss the meals that is mother made for him. He wondered what his father would do now that the love of his life was gone. He grumbled as he walked inside a hamburger place, not exactly the healthiest meal at the moment, but he didn't really care.

Meanwhile a certain green-tinted haired guy, had arrived at the Narita Airport. He pushed his sunglasses up on his head and then grabbed his bags of the belt and then walked out of the airport.

"Ah, it is to bright." he grumbled and bit into a juicy orange. He smiled and put a white cap on his head with the letter R printed in red on the front, he had recieved it from his little brother after their battle on the fake cruise ship back a couple of years ago. He had always kept it, he knew he wouldn't see his little brother again for awhile, only on television.

He pulled out a piece of paper and looked at some directions that were scribbled on them. He took another bite of his orange and put the paper back in his pocket and headed to his adoptive father's house.

The boy took out a cellphone from his pocket and dialed the first contact and waited for the other end to answer.

"Echizen residents." said Nanjirou, his voice heavy with depression.

"Hey, old man. It's me, Ryouga. I am here in town...I just heard about mom from one of sponsers. I'm on my way to your house now." he said to his father.

"Ryouga? Is it really you? Che! You brat, always showing up late. Well I am glad you are here...I will be waiting for you."

"Sorry, I would have been here sooner, had I had known. Oh yeah, have you seen Ochibi, he hasn't been on t.v in years." he asked.

Nanjirou paused on the other end for a moment. "Er, yeah...he is staying at an apartment down the road. He is coming to the house this afternoon to pick up his share of his mother's things. If you want to wait here untill he gets here, that would be great. I'm sure he would be glad to see you again."

Ryouga pondered what the possible reason for the pause at the beginning was for, but he shook it off. "Yeah, that sounds great. I will see you soon, bye bye." he said and hung up his phone and walked down the street to the bus stop.

...

On the other hand, Ryoma was just now leaving the restaurant now. He was full and bored. He made sure to remind himself that he was supposed to be at his father's house to eat dinner with him and his eldest cousin, Yoshiyuki.

He yawned and decided to kill some time before heading there. It was three in the afternoon and he had no clue how to kill his time. He just walked around aimlessly until he stumbled across a park. It was the same park that he and Fuji had passed two days ago.

He kept walking until he saw a small opening path in the woods, only visible to those who had actually seen it up close. He looked around to make sure nobody was watching, after all Fuji had said it was a secret place, so he didn't want to ruin it for him. He walked inside the pathway when he saw nobody was paying attention. He walked until he reached the shimmering river.

Ryoma was stunned to see a familiar brunette laying near the water fast asleep. He looked so relaxed, so at peace that Ryoma was almost envious. He sat down quietly and gazed at the brunette and then he turned his gaze towards the water and sighed, causing the sleepy guy to stir and sit up.

"Echizen?" Fuji said, a little groggy from sleeping.

"You know it is bad for your health to fall asleep outside, and near a damp lake a that." Ryoma said.

Fuji smiled. "Then I am glad that you came along when you did, I sure can't afford to get sick when exams are this close by." he said.

Ryoma nodded. "Yeah." he said. He looked at Fuji and looked away startled when he realized the brunette was staring at him.

Fuji chuckled and then got up and went and sat closer by Ryoma. "So what brings you here? Is there something you need to talk about. The water isn't the only good listener around. I'm all ears as well...that is if you trust me and need me." he said opening his eyes and looking into Ryoma's. It was rare that you saw Fuji open his eyes completely, it means he was serious.

Ryoma was almost speechless as those blue-green eyes stared so deeply into his own gold ones.

Fuji smiled and looked at him, not closing his eyes, knowing that it threw the boy off guard. "Echizen, please don't be afraid to tell me." he whispered.

Ryoma opened his mouth, shocked that he was actually going to go along with Fuji. "I am confused." he said, unable to hold back. There was just something about Fuji that made him want to speak, he felt drawn to his eyes, his heart was racing, and he didn't know why.

Fuji smiled and leaned in closer to Ryoma. "What are you confused about, Echizen?" he asked.

Ryoma almost shuddered as Fuji said his name, it sounded velvety and sweet. "About...I don't want to talk about it." he said.

Fuji sighed and smiled. "I am fine with that, I will wait until you are ready." he said and sat back a little.

Ryoma nodded. "Did you make home without any harrassment last night?" he asked.

Fuji nodded and smiled. "I had no trouble at all, I managed to lose some reporters at the first turn." he said. "What about you? Is your leg alright, you had to run, I bet that was difficult." he said.

Ryoma stared in shock and he then got up and was turning to leave, but Fuji caught his wrist.

"I'm sorry, that was out of line. I didn't mean anything bad about it. I was just worried...and I saw it the last time we were here." he said.

Ryoma looked down at Fuji and sighed and sat back down. "You saw." he sighed and half groaned.

Fuji smiled. "It's not like it is something to hide. I mean you have your reasons and secrets, and I respect that." he said.

Ryoma sighed. "It's not...that I really mind that people see it. I just don't want any rumors going around." he sighed.

Fuji nodded. "I understand that." he said. "Echizen...can you tell me what exactly happened?" he asked.

Ryoma glanced at him. "I don't really want to." he said. "More like I am to lazy to tell it." he said.

Fuji smiled and chuckled a little. "Would you do it for a kiss?" he asked winking.

Ryoma's head jerked to face him. "S-sempai!" he said and looked away.

Fuji smiled. "I was just kidding." he said smiling.

Ryoma nodded, not so sure, and then sighed. "Four years ago...I was playing in a match, not a recorded match, just a match with some ignorant street guys who were bullying these two women." he began.

Fuji leaned in closely to listen.

Ryoma sighed, seeing as he was in to deep to turn back now, he continued on...

-Flashback-

"Hey ladies~! How about you chicks come chill with us and we will teach you some tennis." a gruffy looking man said and closed in on to young teenage girls.

Ryoma threw his ball up in the air and hit it, connecting perfectly with the guys head.

The guy fell over and rubbed his head and then turned instantly to find the source of the now knot on his head. His eyes fell on Ryoma and he hissed.

"Damn you brat! What do you want this time?" he said, obviously he had encountered Ryoma once before. He had lost to Ryoma in a match on televison.

Ryoma smirked and looked up at the slightly taller buff guy. "You are still messing with these ladies, can't you tell they aren't into old men like you?" he said with that same cheeky grin.

The man hissed. "How dare you insult the great, Matthew Everette!" he said in a strong english voice.

Ryoma waved his hand in front of his face. "It seems like someone has had a little to much to drink today." he said smirking.

The man grabbed Ryoma up by the collar of his shirt. "Don't get cocky just 'cause you beat me you damn brat. I could eaisly beat you in a game right now! I wasn't feeling well that day!" he yelled.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow and smirked again. "Why don't you put your money with your mouth is. Tell you what, if I win, you can take my place in the next World Competition match next month." he said. "But if I win, you will cover my expenses to travel to Japan to see my family, and you will buy my meals for the next four months." he said.

The man snarled and sat him down. "Agreed." he said smirking and looking at his friends, who had been nearby. He winked to them and went to his side of the court.

The game began and the two guys battled in tennis.

"Four games to love!" announced one of the girls that the man had been pestering.

Matthew was huffing, he looked over at his friends and nodded and then turned back and got ready for Ryoma's next serve.

Ryoma smirked and tossed the ball up and hit it. He watched as Matthew struggled to return it, he managed to hit it.

Ryoma was running to catch the ball on the other side of his court and he saw the two friends of Matthew's pouring something on the field, it was broken glass bottles and beads.

Before Ryoma could stop, he had slid on the beads and his leg twisted and he felt a white hot pain from his knee to his ankle on his right leg.

He heard a scream, but it took him a moment to realize it was his. The court began to pool with blood as a part of his shin bone was sticking out of his leg. The girls got help and the guys ran off. Ryoma was taken away to the hospital where they put the bone back inside his skin, but it didn't heal properly.

-END OF FLASHBACK-

Fuji stared emotionless at Ryoma, he couldn't really say much, he was suprised at the moment.

"So what happened then?" Fuji asked.

Ryoma sighed. "Well here we are four years later. My shin bone did not heal the way it was supposed to, so I had surgery on it 5 months ago to get a plate installed in so that my knee would move right and my shin would grow back normally. Everything is fine now." he said.

Fuji nodded. "I see...but if everything is fine...why aren't you playing tennis anymore?" he asked.

Ryoma sighed. "I don't really know myself." he whispered. "I guess I just don't think I have it in me." he said.

Fuji looked at Ryoma and shook his head. "Echizen if there is one thing I know about you, is that, never, don't and , can't, isn't in your dictionary. You were always the one who kept pressing on. The famous rookie of Seigaku...you were just simply side tracked, but you still have it Echizen. You are in fear that that will happen again. Have faith in yourself Ryoma...if you ever go to fall again on the court...I will catch you...we all will hold you up." he whispered.

Ryoma looked at Fuji in shock and he then sighed and smiled. "Alright...One more chance...that is it...but I don't want anyone to know about it...just me and you...help me get back to who I was...and who I want to be." he said.

Fuji smiled. "That's more like it." he said.

Ryoma sighed and stood up along with Fuji. "I need to get going, my father is expecting me for dinner." he said.

Fuji smiled. "I understand. Do you want to come by my place afterwards? I have my own apartment now." he said.

Ryoma shrugged. "Sure, why not." he said and they turned to walk out of the woods. "One more thing...don't tell any of what I told you to the others...not even the part where I am going to start practicing again." he said.

Fuji smiled. "Alright." he said.

Ryoma looked at him. "Promise?" he asked.

Fuji smiled and took a small step forward and cupped Ryoma's cheek and leaned down a little and kissed Ryoma's lips. "Take that as my promise." he said and winked and walked away.

Ryoma was frozen to the spot. He reached up and felt his lips, which were tingling. He was blushing as he walked down the street. 'A kiss.' he thought.

Fuji smiled and walked home. He was happy that he finally got to kiss his long time of a crush. He walked into his house and got ready for when Ryoma was coming over, he was getting some training menu's together to help Ryoma with getting back on track physically and mentally.

Meanwhile at the Echizen resident, Ryouga and Nanjirou were talking back and forth to each other while Yoshiyuki cooked.

Ryoma couldn't wait for the dinner to be over once he had arrived. He was strangly eager to go to his Sempai's house...

Well that is it for this chapter! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! If you don't I will be sad TT^TT You don't want to make Ritsuka-chan sad do you? 7_7 Please review XD UP NEXT: Ryoma's visit to Fuji's house XD Things start getting a little warm when the two start doing some excersising right away :D OwO Will this excersing turn into something more heart speeding? Find out next XD

!WARNING! RATED M CONTENT IS TO COME IN VERY CLOSE CHAPTERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! DON'T LIKE, KINDLY LEAVE NOW! THANK YOU! w