Ok, first, a huge apology. I AM SO SORRY! I didn't update for what? Half a year? So I will make this chapter longer than usual and actually get more into Shana's past. And thank you all for the wonderful reviews that were left. They made me really happy.
Disclaimer: I do no own anything of the Prince of Tennis series.
"I'm back." Shana called out to the Echizen household and the four people inside greeted her verbally and physically. Nanjiro ran over and asked where she went, Ryoma scoffed lightly and the two girls welcomed her back.
"Sorry Echizen-san, I went to buy something for a classmate." Shana lied smoothly, chucked her tennis stuff down and walked upstairs to her room. She could still remember the golden eyes of the black haired boy. She knew who he was, obviously. Well, it wasn't that obvious at first but it became obvious in the end.
"My, my you don't remember me Shana?" The boy spoke in flawless english and the auburn haired girl shook her head swiftly.
"Your sense of memory is almost as bad as your geography skills." The boy laughed and then his face turned serious.
"You killed your parents. You are such a bad girl Shikinari-chan." The boy evilly smirked at the girl's horrified expression. Everything came back to her. The boy with golden eyes and black hair. The boy who always teased her and laughed at her. She was his best friend and vice versa. However, she just disappeared from the world after the incident.
"Adrian Blacksworth." Shana blankly stated and the boy laughed.
His hysterical laugh continued and then he turned and lifted Shana's chin up. "Yes, you remember me. I am different from before though. You have ruined my life Shana Shikinari, I will make your life like hell." He turned and walked away after slapping some coins onto the table. Shana stared at the boy with horror as she made her way back home.
A knock on the door snapped Shana out of her thoughts. The impatient person answered without Shana's consent.
"Shana, you okay?" Ryoma asked bluntly and shut the door.
"Fine, just tired from practice." The freshman vice-captain lied again and Ryoma raised an eyebrow.
He sat beside Shana on the bed and the two sat in silence.
"First you chase after Momo-senpai and then you disappear. I spent a lot of time looking for you." Ryoma muttered and Shana's eyes widened.
"You went looking for me?"
"Yeah, I was worried. Your geography skills suck after all." The prince retorted.
"I noticed. But I can adjust you know. I'm not that dumb." Shana was slightly irritated by the boy's presence. She wanted to think about what happened by herself and how to solve the problems.
"You're an open book you know, what's bothering you? Don't bother lying to me." Ryoma stood up and faced away from the girl.
"Nothing, nothing's wrong with me so will you please stop bothering me now Ryoma?" Shana cried out.
The tennis star heard the girl's words and sighed, "Yeah whatever you want."
Ryoma shut the door and leaned against it. Immediately, he could hear the girl's light sobs. He hated it when she cried. Partly because her face will be ruined and partly because he can never do anything to comfort her. She was just a little girl after all; she would cry whenever she was reminded of her tragic past. Ryoma figured that Momo's incident probably reminded her. Ryoma wished he could be or more help as he walked down the staircase.
"Where's Shana?" Nanjiro asked his son.
"Sleeping, she's tired." Ryoma answered.
"What about dinner?" Rinko asked with concern.
The tennis star shook his head, "She ate it with a friend." He figured the girl probably doesn't even have an appetite right now. He went and grabbed a tennis ball headed upstairs to the baths.
"Good morning class, today we have a transfer student from America. Let's welcome him." Shana's teacher announced.
The auburn haired girl's head lifted up and she gasped at who she saw. Adrian Blacksworth.
"Che, I'm Kuro Adrian. Transferred from the US recently. Oh, and I'm a huge fan of Shana-chan in the class here." Adrian winked at Shana which just caused her to pale. He had flawless Japanese and really good looks with his night black hair and gold eyes. Ryoma stared at the boy with jealously and curiosity. He knew Shana? How?
"Thank you Kuro-kun, now please take a seat beside Shikinari-san over there. I believe you know her." The teacher smile at the boy. She seemed to get attracted to every good looking young boy in the class.
'Ah...too young, too young...' The teacher shook herself out of her thoughts and proceeded to resuming her class. The black haired boy smirked since he could feel the girl shaking beside him. He was enjoying this. For all the years she had left him suffering...
The bell of the first period rang and Shikinari immediately grabbed 'Kero-kun' and walked out of the class.
"What, are you doing here?" She demanded the boy. He lightly shook her hand off.
Adrian shrugged and then gave her a flirts' smile, "Heh, I came to be together with you Shana-chan."
Unconvinced, the girls' vice captain shot the boy a glare and looked around. "Cut the bull. You're here to make my life like hell aren't you?"
The foreigner's eyes softened, "You think I would do that? That's just cruel you know... I was just kidding yesterday."
Shana shook her head and laughed, "Kidding? You think I'm stupid? You were serious. You...loo-" Her words were interrupted by Echizen coming in and glaring at the new boy.
Ryoma turned to Shana and the back to Adrian, "Who is he?"
"Nobody, let's go Ryoma." Shikinari retorted and walked off with the tennis rookie trailing after her. The dark haired boy laughed.
'Echizen Nanjirou's son... Echizen Ryoma... Heh, I'll break both of them up for a start. Wait for me Shana.'
"Hey Adrian, mommy and daddy want me to play tennis again. Do you think I can get as good as them?" The young auburn red head bubbly asked her best friend.
"You are very good already." He chuckled. His warm gold eyes shone with brightness.
"I guess. Hey Adrian wanna play a match?"
"You'll win."
"I guess."
The two laughed softly under the bright sun the the park downtown of New York. It was a beautiful day.
"Shikinari. Pay attention. The ball just passed you." Miyazaki told the girl on the other side of the net. Shikinari turned and there it was, the ball.
"S-sorry." The first year went back to her receiving position and got ready to receive. Miyazaki served a high speed serve and the girl's limbs kicked in to hit the ball back of the net. It was a fast and shocking return but the senior wasn't that bad. She got there at the right time and hit the ball back. The match soon turned into a rally between the two.
"So," Miyazaki swatted the tennis ball back, "what's bothering you?"
"Nothing!" Shana drives the ball.
"Sure it's nothing. You weren't this distracted even when everyone found out that Echizen was your boyfriend."
"Shut up!" Angry, the red head smashed the ball into the net. She was so close to breaking down. Nobody knew anything about most of her past including Ryoma. They didn't know how she led her parents to their death and how she betrayed her best friend. No matter how hard she tries to change now, nothing will matter. They were scars, scars embedded deep inside her heart waiting to be reopened. Now she knew her former best friend was finally going to reopen them. They would never heal this time. She was sure.
"Hey fukubuchou!" Miyazaki called out and sighed. Shana ran out of the tennis courts and towards the water fountains. Why was she so stupid? Why was the world so cruel to her? Why was she so naive and stubborn back then. Why is it that no matter what she does, the scar of her past will never disappear? She wasn't a very brave girl. She couldn't handle her past and instead of facing it, she ran away. She left New York, switched schools, stopped all connections with everyone that had to do with the incident. She had hurt so many and she just keeps hurting. Why? Suddenly, she felt an arm around her and she didn't have to look to know that it was Adrian. She knew his smell too much. She wanted his comfort back so much. He was always better at doing the comforting than the Echizen family.
"You can't handle it anymore right?" He mumbled into the girl's hair. He was more protecting than Ryoma and Shana knew him better. He also knew her better.
Ryoma sighed as he went to grab a drink after his warm up. He walked towards the fountains and saw two figures in an embrace. The prince froze when he saw that it was Shikinari and Kero. He crept closer to listen to their conversation and what they were doing.
"No...I can't hide it anymore... I was too selfish and only aware of myself. I- can't hide it anymore. The fact that I indirectly killed my parents." Shana broke down. She buried her face into Adrian's chest and cried. The boy felt all his worries disappear. He couldn't even feel the hatred he felt towards the girl before.
"It's fine...I'll fix everything with you. We can leave Japan. I can help you." 'Kero' soothed. Shana wanted to accept his offer. However wouldn't that be just betraying everything she worked for again? She can't leave Ryoma like she left Adrian. She looked up at the haired boy and smiled weakly.
"Thank you so much Adrian..." Shana started. Ryoma couldn't take it anymore. He knew nothing on Shana's past now that he thought about it. Who was this guy? Why was his girlfriend leaving with some foreigner? He walked away hastily and cursed at himself in his mind for being so careless about Shana. He had never thought that anyone would steal her. How could that guy just come and leave with Shana? How would Shana even allow that? Shana wasn't that careless of a person. That wasn't who she was.
Ryoma's brain was only filled with the auburn red haired girl right now and he couldn't think straight. Momoshiro skipped practice today and now he just found out that his girlfriend was leaving. Shaking his head, he decided to head back to the courts and play some tennis to clear his mind. He would talk to the girl later. She was not leaving Japan.
"I'm sorry buchou, I have let you down." Shikinari bowed and the captain shook her head.
"It's fine. Feel better tomorrow."
Shana sighed and changed back into her ugly school uniform. She found Ryoma waiting for her outside.
"R-Ryoma-kun. I have something to tell you." Shana confessed with her head down.
Ryoma shot the girl a glare before harshly dragging her off.
"Hey Ryoma, what are you doing?" She gasped when the boy stopped and pinned her against a wall.
"Why are you doing this? You haven't told me anything about your past and now that Adrian guy comes. I saw everything that happened at the fountain today. Tell me Shana. What happened to your parents and what did you do?"
Shana was shocked, not at Echizen's eavesdropping but instead the long sentence that he spat out.
"Shikinari." He regained his posture and let go of the shocked girl.
"Sorry."
Shana brushed herself off and bowed deeply and politely at the prince.
"I am sorry Echizen. Before I can explain myself to you and your family about my past properly, I would like us to stop the dating. You may decide what to do after I explain everything. Adrian, my parents, tennis, the car crash; everything."
The green haired boy stared at her for a second before swiftly leaning in and stealing a kiss from her lips.
"Let's break up." He stated. Brokenhearted and yet relieved, the auburn haired girl nodded and the two walked back to the Echizen residence.
Definitely not one of my longest ones and I give my deepest apologies. *Bows. Oh looks like Ryoma has some competition and Shana's finally going to spill the beans. YAY. Don't worry, they will get back together and I have some plans for Adrian but I want your guy's opinions on what to do with him. Is he a 'like' or 'dislike'? I'll alter what I have planned for him based on what you guys think. And also, thanks for the OC's, I'll be sure to use them. XD
KK, R&R PLZ! Oh and another warning, I probably won't update until July since I have the stinking finals. Hehe, until the next update. ;)
