I did it! I published in less than a week! Three cheers for me!

So, anyway, thankyou to all the reviewers:

Oluhasuu

Beccann

Prince of tennis yaoi fangirl (I can't put the periods in between the words. It ends up deleting the name. Sorry!)

living to dream

RenKun-Sensei

Meg L.H

Special thanks to my beta-reader, Meg L.H. If it wasn't for her, this chapter probably would have stayed in my notebook. I didn't exactly want to post it...

But anyway, back to the story!


"Oi, kid! Don't you want someone to play against?"

Ryoma turned sharply. The owner of the voice was tall, about a foot taller than him, and he grinned at him evilly.

"No, thanks," Ryoma answered, turning around and getting ready to serve again.

This time the boy grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, shaking his shoulders angrily.

"You're Echizen Ryoma, aren't you, brat?"

A nod.

"The supposedly great player, who broke his arm?"

A slight nod.

The grip on his shoulders tightened. "The brat who won against my entire family?"

Blink.

"Don't tell me you don't remember!" The guy hissed. "You don't know how bad you made my family look."

"What fa-"

"I'm Taigama Sasabe." The boy glared at him.

"Sasabe?" Ryoma blinked again. "Who – oh."

Sasabe. The big bully. And his dad was the 'Golden Retriever'. He hated those guys.

"So you're Sasabe's big brother."

Taigama didn't answer. "Play a match with me," he repeated.

"No!" Ryoma snapped, "In case you haven't noticed, I broke my arm!"

"You seemed ready to play against the wall," Taigama snapped back.

Ryoma opened his mouth, then shut it again. "That's...different..." he finally said.

Taigama snorted. "Sure it is." That said, he dragged Ryoma to the nearest tennis court (which was right next to them). He shoved him onto one side, sending him stumbling, trying not to fall. Taking his position on the other side, Taigama shouted out to one of his friends to refree.

Fine, Ryoma gritted his teeth, I'll just use my right arm.

He bent down and was very seriously tying his shoe laces, when he heard Taigama serving. Turning around furiously, planning on yelling at the guy, his eyes widened when he found the ball heading straight towards him. Without having time to react, he shielded his face with his right arm, and the ball hit it. Hard.

"Oops," Taigama feigned surprise. "I think that was the wrong arm!"

Ryoma's eyes widened in shock. He can't mean...he wants to hit my left arm?

Luckily, though, the next serve was ordinary. Ryoma hit it, and the rally went on. After a while, despite the fact that he was angry about Taigama hitting him, he was starting to have fun. He was playing tennis. He was actually playing a match! This was what he'd wanted to do for the past three weeks.

"Having fun, are you?" Taigama called out.

Ryoma didn't reply.

"Well, we'll see about that!" He hit a drop shot.

Ryoma ran forward to get it. He was almost there, almost there - he managed to reach it with the tip of his racket, and he lobbed it over the net.

"Look out!" Taigama shouted. He jumped up and smashed the ball...

...straight onto Ryoma's left arm.

He fell to his knees, gasping, forcing himself not to scream.

"I'd meant to do that all along," Taigama said his evil grin returning. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid my aim is just a tad bit too good!"

Ryoma felt his vision going blurry, and he shook his head. No, no no! Don't let him take advanatge of you! Fight, Ryoma, fight!

There isn't anything to fight about!

So you're going to let him win?

No..it's just...I can't-

"Oi, aren't you gonna get up? Or are you gonna give up? Should have expected it..."

Seething, Ryoma pushed himself up slowly. Grasping his tennis racket tightly, he readied himself for the next serve. "I'm ready."

Taigama grinned. Throwing the ball up, he hit it straight towards his face, but, moving quickly, Ryoma returned it.

Taigama didn't seem to care. He just jumped up, and smashed the ball again, towards his left arm.

On a normal occasion, returning that ball would have been easy. But after having been hit already, Ryoma just stood there, frozen into place. What the...I can't...What am I...I should...Aaaaaaaaaargh!

The ball hit him, and Ryoma screamed, falling to the ground. His arm was throbbing, he could see black spots, and it hurt...

Taigama smirked. "Revenge never tasted so sweet."

Ryoma barely heard him. His arm hurt too much, way too much, and it was hard enough to try and keep himself from passing out. He was vaguely aware of four or five other people stepping onto the court. The same court.

"I hope you don't mind some of my friends joining in," Taigama drawled.

"But...that's...cheating..." Ryoma panted.

"So? Are you playing or not?"

Don't give up.

I can't play like this!

Your right arm! You can play with that!

That's what I'm doing! But my left arm hurts so much! What if he hits it again?

Are you scared?

What? No...

With his vision still swimming, Ryoma reached for his tennis racket, his arm trembling.

I'm not scared.

He steadied himself, and pushed himself up. Everything started going out of focus. He shook is head a few times, and tried to stop thinking about the pain. The dizziness decreased, slightly.

At that moment, all six of his opponents served. The balls hit him everywhere, scraping his skin off, leaving him bleeding, and all he did was stand there frozen to the spot.

Someone hit the ball straight towards his face, and, as he watched it coming closer, he was jerked into a memory -

Akutsu hit the ball. It went straight towards his face. He was sure he wouldn't be able to hit it! At the last minute, he slid his racket in front of him, swiftly returning the ball. Getting a sudden idea, he threw himself backwards, landing on his back. No one noticed him hitting the ball, they all thought that it hit him in the face and he fell over.

Only when the ball landed in Akutsu's court did everyone realize what had happened.

"Brat," Akutsu snapped, "Stop pretending and get up!"

He'd won the point.

- the ball hit him in the eye, and Ryoma readied himself for the fall. It never came.

Just before he hit the ground, he was caught by a pair of arms. He felt himself being lifted up and carried off the courts. He tried to open his eyes to see who was carrying him, but he didn't have the energy to. His arm was still throbbing, and he was bleeding all over. He could hear voices, though, but they sounded far away...

"Ochibi!"

"Echizen!"

"Echizen-kun!"

"Brat!"

"Echizen-san!"

"What was he thinking?"

He tried open his eyes again, but he was way too tired. He didn't know how he'd drained all of his energy, but he wasn't -

He was exhausted. He jut couldn't get up. Was someone calling him? It sounded like...Momo-senpai...and Kikumaru-senpai...But he couldn't get up...he was much too exhausted...Just let him sleep a little longer...

Wait a minute.

Forcing himself to stand up, he saw Atobe already standing up, waiting for him. Somehow, he managed to serve. The ball flew right past Atobe.

Atobe was unconscious.

Seigaku had won.

But he was still so tired...

- able to move. He just wanted to rest...

"Is he alright?" A worried voice asked. 'Oishi-senpai,' he thought blearily.

"Should we do anything about those players?"

"Momoshiro and Kaidoh will take care of them," a stern voice replied. 'Tezuka-buchou.'

He suddenly twitched involuntarily -

"No! Reiji! Don't use that move! Do you want to destroy Ryoma Echizen?"

Shinjou crossed his arms in a weird stance. What was so dangerous about it? Could it really be that bad?

Shinjou hit the ball. It grazed his face, the force peeling his skin off and pushing him to the ground.

"There it is. The Deep Impulse."

- then he twitched again. What was happening

"What's happening to him? Are you sure he's alright?"

"He seems to be unconscious..."

"Oi, Echizen!"

He tried to open his eyes again, but it just wasn't worth the effort.

"Fuji, put him down on the bench!"

He felt himself slowly being lowered gently, then his back connected with something hard.

He twitched again, banging his arm against the bench. He winced in pain.

"His arm doesn't look too good," someone said, "I think we need to take him to a hospital..."

He was playing against Tezuka-buchou. Correction: He was losing against Tezuka buchou. Almost every shot he'd hit had been returned. This couldn't be happening – he couldn't be losing so badly!

Tezuka hit another zero-shiki drop shot. He ran forward to get it...

...and missed it at the last minute.

He'd lost.

He'd lost the match.

"Echizen, become Seigaku's Pillar of Support!"

A hospital? No, no, he didn't want to go to a hospital!

He twitched again.

"Do you think I can at least find a first aid kit somewhere?" Oishi asked worriedly. "His wounds will get worse if he twitches like that! He keeps banging himself against the bench..."

"Oishi, relax. He''ll be alright!" Another voice – 'Kawamura-senpai?' - comforted him, but sounding worried himself.

"I think Oishi's right. We probably need to take him to a hospital."

Ryoma twitched again. His memories were-

"Nya, Ochibi, Momo-chan, I was right, nya! You two eat a LOT!"

The two of them grinned. Then hearing some shouts behind them, they all turned around,. A man was running towards them, trying to get away from all the people chasing after him.

"MOVE IT, KID!" the man screamed at him. But before he could react, he shoved him aside, sending him stumbling into the street. He was trying to steady himself, when a car started speeding towards him. His mind stopped – he couldn't move -

The car hit him.

He flew backwards a few feet, his vision growing hazy -

The car rode over him.

Then all went black.

-consuming him. No, no, no! Stop it...This isn't happening...All of that is over...

He twitched again, slightly.

"Wait...I think he's awake..." Someone started shaking him slightly. He groaned slightly.

"Gakuto, stop that! He needs to rest!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" He was slowly put down again.

"But really, what was he thinking? Getting himself into a match...Against those guys, too..."

"Echizen, the doctor has told you about your injuries, right?"

"Yes..." So the bad news was about is injuries?

"What did he say about your left arm?"

He was beginning to panic. "To be patient: It would take longer to heal than my other injuries."

Fuji hesitated, then spoke, "Well, in reality, it won't heal well enough."

Now he was really starting to panic. "What?"

"Echizen, your left arm won't heal completely. "You...can't play tennis anymore."

He started sweating, and twitching uncontrollably. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth...

"Echizen? Echizen, are you alright?" He was lifted off the bench again, but he didn't stop twitching. "Tezuka, we have to take him to a hospital.."

"Aa."

"But-"

"Hiyoshi, forget the matches. We have to get him to the hospital. His arm looks really bad. We can play another day."

"Ore-sama agrees."


That was long.

I really didn't know how to end it, though. It ended a tiny bit strangely...

What did you think of it? Please review! And if you have any ideas for the next chapter, please let me know!

Meg L.H, Thankyou so much!