I'm sorry it took so long to upload this chapter I just really didn't know what to write. This resulted in a short sucky chapter but I think.... hope the next chapter will be better.

Thanks everyone for reviewing and favoriting etc^^

disclaimer: I'm still planning on writing a letter to Konomi Takashi toa sk if i can own Fuji but well since the answer will be undoubtly no and I'm to lazy to find another way to own the prince of tennis characters I still own nada.

Fuji had woken up early and of course would spend the extra few minutes bothering Ryoma. He walked over to Ryoma's room and knocked.

No reply.

He knocked again. When there wasn't any reply he sighed.

Not a tired sigh more a sigh like a mother has when a small kid has cake all over his face and looks completely adorable.

Fuji opened the door after having picked the lock.

Ryoma was lying on the bed. He was tossing and turning and his face was wet from tears and sweat.

Fuji opened his eyes and stared at the young boy confused. He wondered if he should wake the boy or let him sleep. Fuji carefully pushed some bangs from the sweaty face. "Ryoma." He said softly.

Ryoma didn't wake up but he swatted the hand away.

Fuji looked at the sleeping Ryoma. Even antisocial in his sleep. "Ryoma, wake up." He said softly shaking the boy.

Ryoma turned away from Fuji.

"Ryoma." Fuji tried.

Ryoma gasped for air suddenly and his eyes snapped open.

"You're okay?" Fuji asked.

Ryoma just stared in to space for a second before nodding.

Fuji looked worried. "You're sure?"

Ryoma nodded again and stood up from his bed.

Fuji nodded and left the room. "I'll be waiting for you outside." He said with his usual smile.

Ryoma didn't want to go outside. He slumped down against the side of the bed. He should've seen this coming. It's because he's feeling so guilty. It would be solved if he just accepted it right? He heaved a sigh and looked at his messy room. How come this place felt so much like a home? He sighed again. He should get going better not keep Fuji waiting.

Atobe was frustrated he knew the name Echizen Ryoma from something else but he couldn't place it.

"What is the matter Atobe?" Oshitari Yuushi asked walking in the room.

"Echizen Ryoma, what does the name mean to you?"

"The boy in Fuji's class. The boy who won against you."

"Other than that."

"I don't know."

"Doesn't the name ring a bell?"

"A bit but nothing much. Just get over it. You're probably thinking about someone else."

Atobe sighed.

"I'm going. We'll be late for class otherwise."

Atobe stood up and walked with Yuushi to class.

Tezuka was struggling with almost the same problem. Echizen Ryoma. He knew Echizen Nanjiro. Were those two related? If so how?

Echizen Nanjiro had stopped playing tennis about a year after Tezuka was born but he had been a legend and of course Tezuka knew him.

Tezuka was starring at the book in his hand but he was barely reading it.

What if Echizen Ryoma is the son of Echizen Nanjiro. Why did Echizen Nanjiro stop tennis? Why did Echizen Ryoma stop tennis?

The questions kept bothering him and it was that Tezuka could multitask otherwise he would've had the wrath of his teacher against him a long time ago.

During tennis practice Ryoma was completely out of it. He returned most shots but he returned them without his usual precision, power and spin. He paid even less attention to what others were saying and he was too tired to be annoyed by the fan girls.

Fuji was someone who rarely worried about anyone but he was worried okay. He was worried about Tezuka who seemed to be only with half his mind at the courts. But more than that he was worried about Ryoma.

Ryoma behaved to say the least unusual.

Fuji once again wondered what the nightmare was about.

Ooishi walked up to Fuji. "You know what's wrong with Echizen?"

Fuji shook his head.

"Has he been like this the entire day?" Ooishi asked worried.

Fuji nodded his eyes not leaving Ryoma for a second.

Kikumaru jumped behind Fuji glomping him. "What's wrong with Ochibi?"

"I'm not sure." Fuji said once again.

"Not sure? But then you do have an idea." Inui said popping up behind Fuji.

Fuji turned to Inui and opened his eyes making Inui shudder.

"Fuji you need to tell us maybe we can help him." Ooishi said worried.

Fuji thought about this idea for a while before rejecting it. It was useless if they didn't know what the nightmare was about. And Fuji couldn't tell them that simply because he didn't know. He did know that the nightmare was the cause of Ryoma's strange behavior.

Tennis practice ended and Fuji walked up to Ryoma. "What was your nightmare about?"

"Hn."

"Ryoma, you got everyone worried. "

Ryoma was silent.

"What was it about?"

"Why would they be worried?"

"Because they're your friends!"

"That's stupid." Ryoma said before turning and walking away.

Fuji stared at him dumbfounded. "What?" He asked when Ryoma was long gone.

Ryoma had locked the door to his room and didn't even come down for dinner. He was just lying on his bed. He hadn't moved from that spot since the end of tennis practice.

Fuji had been sitting on the other side of the door for about an hour now. He didn't knock or talk to Ryoma he just waited.

Ryoma knew Fuji was sitting on the other side of the door and he made no attempt to start a conversation.

"Ne fujiko what are you doing here?"

Fuji looked up to see a smiling redhead staring at him.

"I want to talk to Ryoma."

"Ne Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked surprised.

"He acted weird during practice and I wondered what was wrong."

"Nya, I noticed that too."

Ryoma heard the conversation and inwardly sighed.

How could they help him? Maybe if they just left him alone.

"Nya, Ochibi open up!" Kikumaru said banging the door.

Ryoma sighed before walking towards the door.

Kikumaru literally fell inside.

Fuji chuckled.

Ryoma stared at the redhead lying on his floor.

"Eiji maybe you shouldn't continue lying around like that I don't think Ryoma cleans his room very often."

Ryoma glared at Fuji but didn't say anything.

"So Ryoma are you going to explain to me why you're acting weird."

"It's nothing leave me alone." He said annoyed before slamming the door shut again.

Fuji would've left it alone if it was over the next day but it wasn't. Fuji had knocked on the door and didn't get any reply. Once again he picked the lock and walked in to find Ryoma having a nightmare.

Ryoma was tossing and turning. He mumbled things Fuji couldn't hear or didn't understand.

Fuji tried to wake Ryoma up but to no avail.

Once again Ryoma's eyes snapped open all of a sudden.

"Are you okay?" Fuji asked.

Ryoma nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get you to wake up."

"Hn."

"You're coming tennis practice?" Fuji asked. He wasn't quite sure if it was a good idea to let Ryoma play tennis like that but it's the thought that counts.

Ryoma played tennis like yesterday. His level was still above the level of most regulars but it was below Tezuka's and Fuji's.

Tezuka was worried and he wanted something to be done. He however could think of only one thing.

Ryoma blinked his eyes. He openly stared at Tezuka. He sighed. "Sure." He got up and walked towards the courts.

Tezuka didn't know what was wrong but Ryoma didn't seem motivated to play. So Tezuka thought if he showed Ryoma there was someone far above him that he would be able to show him there's a reason to play tennis.

"Rough or smooth?" Ryoma asked carelessly.

"Smooth."

Ryoma could serve first.

"Don't hold back."

"Don't worry I won't."

Tezuka played abnormally serious. He used his Tezuka zone and his zero shiki drop shot.

Ryoma on the other hand didn't play as well as when he played against Sanada. He was a bit distracted.

The first game ended with Tezuka winning. He had a hard time but he won.

The second game was even more in Tezuka's advantage he could use zero shiki serve and he could start with Tezuka zone.

Ryoma still put up a fight but he also lost this game.

People gasped. Sure Tezuka was an amazing player but still to beat the person who beat Atobe like this.

Ryoma wasn't happy. He hadn't lost in ages. Ryoma served a twist serve.

Tezuka used Tezuka zone.

Ryoma returned the ball.

Tezuka used tezuka zone and returned it again.

Ryoma hit the ball with a strong spin to counter Tezuka zone.

Tezuka used zero shiki drop shot and scored the point.

Ryoma wasn't happy. He couldn't lose like this. He closed his eyes for a brief second, shut out all of his thoughts and served.

Tezuka was amazed by how much better Ryoma suddenly played.

Ryoma won the game.

"2-1." Someone said breathless.

No one had ever seen Ryoma play like this.

Ryoma played abnormally serious. Whatever was bothering him didn't bother him anymore.

"2 games all."

Tezuka had just lost his service game. He didn't seem to mind. He was glad Ryoma seemed back to normal.

"3-2."

Ryoma had won another game.

"3 games all."

Tezuka came back.

The match was pretty equal. After the first four games Tezuka and Ryoma just kept their service game.

"6 games all. Tiebreak, Echizen to serve."

Ryoma served a twist serve.

Tezuka returned.

This went on for a while.

Ryoma used his cool drive and scored the first point.

Tezuka won the second and the third.

Ryoma, the fourth and fifth.

You get the idea right?

"57-56. Ryoma's serve."

Ryoma served.

Tezuka returned.

Ryoma stood ready to return. Suddenly his eyes went wide and he just didn't move.

The ball flew past him.

Ryoma straightened himself. He shook Tezuka's hand and left.

Tezuka didn't know what had happened.

It hadn't been an all that hard ball to return.

"Tezuka I believe something is bothering our little prince."

"Prince?" Tezuka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't you think it suits him?" Fuji asked smiling.

"Hn." Tezuka said.

A long silence followed. Both boys said nothing just watched other people practice tennis.

"Fuji, do you believe he's related to Echizen Nanjirou?" Tezuka suddenly asked.

"Samurai Najirou?" Fuji was slightly taken aback. Not just because the statement was just weird but also because Tezuka spoke an entire sentence.

Tezuka gave a short nod.

"I don't know maybe. It could be possible." Fuji said thinking about it. Unlike many of his teammates he was never really interested in the Samurai. He heard of him of course and he knew about him but he wasn't a fan. "He had stopped without a good reason." Fuji said. He thought a bit about the man that stopped tennis before he was even three. Well depending on how you look at it Fuji was still only four.

But before Tezuka was three maybe that's a better way of saying it.

"Saa. I think Ryoma didn't want to stop with tennis." Fuji said doubtfully.

"What makes you say that?" Tezuka said. Saying his third sentence today. First asking Echizen for a match, second asking Fuji about Ryoma, and this was the third.

"He only seems happy when he plays tennis." Fuji said. He was to say the least surprised by how talkative Tezuka was but right now he didn't let anyone notice. He was surprised by how much Tezuka cared for Ryoma. He could sue this as blackmail material later but that wasn't really important now. First he had to get Ryoma back to normal.

Tezuka didn't even notice that he was abnormally talkative today he was too busy worrying about Ryoma.

Okat that was it. I hope the next chapter will be in two days again.

Please review it might help me^^

Anyways thanks for reading^^