Chapter 10! I can't believe I've made it this far! ;3 (it's not much, I know, but I feel pretty proud)

MY WRITING STYLE HAS CHANGED A BIT and I hope you don't mind that. Overall, the future chapters will be better in quality. :) You guys have supported my story so much and I love you all for it!

I'm sorry I haven't updated, but the story was on hiatus for a while and yeah, the voting has ended.

xxx

Ruka slumped in her wheelchair, ultimately tired from running errands all day. The prefectural finals were tomorrow and still the Rikkai regulars trained themselves sore.

' "An easy win, but still, we must never go easy." Renji had said, "Could you please pass this water bottle to Akaya please, I hope you don't mind running errands for the team. Oh, and if he finds out it's from me, please do convince him that it really just is water." He stated, and then walked off. '

In the background, she faintly heard the door close and soon after, a soft call of "Tadaima" was heard. Ruka sighed and rubbed her eyes for a moment, they felt dry and stinging, the conclusion of her being the one handing out water, instead of drinking it for herself.

Ryoma padded into the room, his footsteps heavier than usual.

"How was school?" they both echoed when they caught each-others eye.

"Tiring." Ruka replied first, leaning back into her form of transportation and yawning.

Ryoma nodded in agreement but smirked otherwise, "Mada mada dane."

"Are you playing doubles again tomorrow?" she lightly teased thoughts of tennis beginning to fill her head, causing her twin to frown in annoyance.

Without waiting for a reply, Ruka moved her wheelchair forward slightly, silently telling Ryoma to move his legs out of the way.

"I'll be in my room; dinner's almost ready, so call me when it's done." She smiled.

She headed back to her room, she needed to think. When she'd asked about Seiichi the other day, no one had spoken for a while. Everyone had just looked at each other, urging one another to be the first to speak up. Eventually, Ruka had let the topic go to enjoy her lunch with her friends, but the thought still stayed in the back of her mind.

She sighed, resting her head onto her desk. Blinking a few times, she reached out for her phone, but retracted her arm, deciding against it. Moving away from the desk, she went toward her wardrobe an flung it open, articles of clothing falling out.

Digging around the bottom of the closet, she felt her hand grip onto something familiar. Giving it a few good tugs, she managed to pull it out – along with a pair of mismatched socks, and old t-shirt, and… well, whatever that was.

Smiling slightly at the sight of her old beloved item, she hugged it tightly, remembering the years and years or memories.

"I want to…" she whispered sadly, talking to herself, "but this is something I have to let go of, isn't it?"

Carefully placing it back into the bottom of her closet, she closed the door and let her hand linger there.

The door suddenly flung open and Ryoma marched in, huffing.

"Mum cooked American food, didn't she." Ruka laughed, "And this is why everyone calls you a kid."

"Whatever." He mumbled.

"Just go eat." She reprimanded.

"Going, going." He sighed and stood up from her bed, walking to where Ruka was waiting at the door.

xxx

"Oi! Wait up!" Ruka called, rushing to catch up to the group the next morning.

"Ru-chan!" Akaya called, jumping up and down and waving his arms rapidly.

"Senpai! Good luck!" she smiled as she reached them, "Eh? Where's Jackal?" she looked around.

"He called to say he was in hospital." Hiroshi pushed up his glasses.

"Eh?! Why? Shouldn't we go get him? Is he in a really bad condition? Is he going to be okay? Will he ever be able to play tennis again?" No one noticed the slight crack in Ruka's voice, as they were too amused at her reaction.

"No, he's just helping an old man who fainted. He'll still be okay to play tennis." Bunta nodded.

"But what about the submission form? He needs to be here, right?" Ruka said.

"We don't start until an hour." Renji said.

"Hmm? Then why are we meeting so early?" Ruka questioned.

"To see the competition." Genichiro grunted.

"But we all know there is none." Akaya chuckled.

"Oi, Bakaya." Masaharu raised an eyebrow, shaking his head at him.

"Guys… where'd Ruka go?" Bunta suddenly said.

"Puri." Masaharu smirked.

"Well, someone in a wheelchair can't be that hard to find." Akaya said.

*SLAP*

"Owwww! What was that for?" Akaya complained, nursing his head.

"Tarundoru! That is disrespectful towards Ruka and people who are disabled." Genichiro exclaimed.

"Kya! Look it's King Rikkai Dai!" a girl screamed.

"MARUI-SAMA, I HAVE SWEETS!" another squealed.

"Crap, we gotta move." Bunta tried to hide behind someone but failed to do so.

(Meanwhile, somewhere else in the tennis park.)

"Grape ponta…. NONE?!" Ruka scanned through the vending machine, rushing to catch up with the others had made her thirsty.

Looking around, she couldn't see any other vending machines. She sighed, desperate and headed back toward the group. Spotting the fairly large crowd of girls, she laughed. It's no surprise Rikkai would attract so much attention.

Time skip – after the matches

"Well, we're going back to train, so why don't you visit buchou on our behalf?" Niou ruffled Ruka's hair playfully.

"Okay then…" She trailed off, slightly sad that the regulars wouldn't be joining her. Then she smiled, "I'll see you all tomorrow then! Ja ne." she waved goodbye and headed in the opposite direction from the others.

Reaching the hospital, she went inside and smiled at the receptionist.

"You're early." The receptionist cocked an eyebrow at her, "Two hours early."

"I'm visiting my friend beforehand." Ruka smiled.

"Hn, always visiting him huh? Is he your boyfriend?" she studied her nails.

"No… of course not. Just a friend." Ruka blushed slightly, and then hurried away.

xxx

"Sei-chan!" Ruka called out as she opened the door.

"Ruka?" Seiichi said, surprised.

"We won!" she smiled happily, coming over and pulling him into a hug.

"That's good, did the others go back to school to train?" he questioned her.

"Un! They're practicing really hard for you!"

"Ah…" Seiichi smiled softly.

There was a pregnant silence before Ruka spoke up.

"Ne, Sei-chan… have you ever been scared?" Ruka asked quietly, burying her head into his chest.

"Me? Of course… many times." Seiichi could feel the sadness radiating off her, and he desperately wanted to cheer her up.

"Like what?" Ruka pulled back to face him.

"Hmm, let's see, there was this one time when I was scared I wouldn't pass a test." Seiichi said, causing Ruka to hit him playfully.

"Don't be silly… I mean… as in, really scared. Like having to do something you don't want to… or having something happen, and you don't know the end result…" she trailed off.

"Like… never being able to play tennis again?" Seiichi spoke the words from his heart.

"Yeah, something like that. Ne, tell me, why are you still in hospital?" she choked out quietly.

Seiichi's breath hitched. He should've known something like this would happen sooner or later.

"I'm waiting… waiting to receive surgery." He reached out to pat Ruka's head.

"W-what? How come…?" Ruka looked slightly hurt that it hadn't been mentioned before.

"Ruka, have you ever heard of Guillian Barre syndrome?"

"O-of course… I've read it in a medical book once." Ruka looked at him in disbelief. Then realization crossed her features, "You have it… don't you?"

Seiichi gave a small nod.

"You can't… you can't stop playing tennis." Ruka blinked back tears, knowing the feeling, "Promise me… you'll fight for it, okay?"

Seiichi felt his heart break from her words. He wasn't ready to give up yet… and what Ruka said to him, made so much sense now. She had once been in his place.

"Gomen ne." Was all he could say, "That is something, I, myself cannot promise. The surgery… it… it could fail."

xxx

"So, Ruka." Suzuki started, "How have you been feeling lately."

"I've been okay… the usual dreams I guess." Ruka whispered, twiddling her thumbs in her lap.

"Are you feeling up to… telling me today?"

Ruka gave a slight nod.

"I just… need some time… to compose myself." She said.

"Ah, take as much time as you need."

.

.

.

.

.

'"Ruka! Oyaji says he wants to play tennis with us!" Ryoma called out.

It was a week before their 9th birthday and the twins had been lounging around their American styled home for most of the morning.

"At the courts down the street?" Ruka called back.

"Yep." Ryoma emerged from their room holding both of their rackets, "He says he wants to teach us some new stuff."

"Really?" Ruka now jumped up from the couch, excited. Oyaji had been saying that they were 100 years too young to be learning any new moves for a while now.

"Uh-huh, let's go and beat Oyaji there!" Ryoma raced towards the door, Ruka following in pursuit.

Laughing all the way there, and ignoring the looks of the people walking along the streets, they raced each other neck and neck to the public courts.

Even though it was the Winter break, most people had gone overseas or thought it was too cold to be playing tennis outside. Because of this, the siblings had the court all to themselves.

"Look! Dad's not here yet… let's rally and warm up." Ruka quickly ran to the closest court and pulled out her racket and a few fuzzy, bright green, tennis balls from her bag.

Ryoma smiled widely and entered the court on the opposite side.

"Can I serve?" Ryoma asked, wanting to practice his twist serve.

"Okay! But you should warm up first before using that serve." Ruka wiggled her eyebrows and laughed.

"I won't go easy on you!" Ryoma gritted his teeth. Ruka had always had a knack for finding his weaknesses.

Being the competitive twins they were, they rallied for about a minute before pulling out shots to try and win the point.

"Your Drive B is getting old!" Ruka shouted out, returning it easily.

"Oh yea? Well your Dragon's Flight is too slow!" Ryoma retorted back, his racket connecting with the fast paced ball.

"Then how about this?!" Ruka grunted and time seemed to slow down as she changed her grip on her racket and thrust it forward as it stabbing someone with a sword.

Ryoma felt paralysed as the ball came flying back towards him, except, he didn't see any ball. What he saw was a fiery dragon, swooping down to attack him.

Blinking once, twice, he heard a soft thud of a ball connecting with the synthetic of the courts and fell, landing on his behind.

"Dragon's Illusion." Ruka smirked, "Mada mada dane."

Clapping came from the sidelines as they looked over to see their father and older brother.

"Ryoga-nii!" Ruka called out, running over and Ryoga swooping her into a big hug. Ryoma, having too big of a pride, walked over slowly, but you could still see his eyes were shining.

"Happy early Birthday, gaki, Ru." Ryoga nodded to each of them then pulled out two small boxes and handed them to the twins.

"For us?" Ruka stared at Ryoga, wide eyed.

"Of course!" He chucked, but slowly faded out as the two began tearing rapidly at the neatly wrapped presents.

"A piece of paper?" Ruka held up the item she had found in her box questioningly.

"Tch, so lame." Ryoma looked disappointed.

"No! Of course not! They're tickets, silly!" Ryoga took off Ryoma's fila cap and ruffled his hair.

"Tickets to where?!" Ruka began to sound excited.

"Tickets to – " Ryoga was cut off by the sudden gust of wind and a small cry.

"My ticket was blown out of my hand!" Ruka exclaimed, running to chase after it.

It blew over the fence of the courts and across the road.

Looking both ways, Ruka quickly crossed the road and leaned forward to catch it.

"I got it!" she waved the ticket at the men of her family and smiled.

Running back, her eye caught something shiny and she bent to pick it up. She never got to find out what it was, because right after that, all she could hear was a sudden screeching and honks as a car swerved out of control.

There was a shriek.

People back away from the pavement.

Ruka saw red.

Then there were screams.

And then people came running.

And Ruka… she felt nothing, but still, she cried.

"Ruka? Ruka? Stay with me!" she could hear her dad calling her as she slowly began to recover from shock. With blurry eyes, she looked around and spotted Ryoga, holding Ryoma safely in his arms and covering his eyes.

"Daddy…" she whimpered.

"Ruka… it's okay now. You're going to be fine." He seemed to be convincing himself more so than her.

"Daddy," she whimpered again, "I can't… I can't feel my legs."

She felt stiff, unmoving, as if she'd just spent half the day stuck on a plane.

"T-try moving you're legs…" Nanjiro pressed a warm hand to her cheek.

"I- I can't, my legs… they're not there! There's nothing there, I can't feel them! Daddy, I'm scared!" she cried. Her arms twitched but Ruka didn't have the strength to wipe her tears away.

Nanjiro shook his head, fear written in his eyes as he wiped her tears for her.

"It's ok, you're legs… you still have them. You don't have to be scared, you'll definitely be fine." He assured.

"What about tennis? Can I still play? Daddy, you still have to teach me more… you promised." she whispered, feeling her vision fading. She heard sirens in the background and a single sentence.

"Ruka, fight for it."'

Suzuki had listened quietly as Ruka told her story, tears threatening to spill throughout the tale.

"Are you feeling better now you've told someone?" Suzuki asked softly.

Ruka gave a small nod and smiled a little.

"I feel better; maybe I was wrong to keep hiding it all this time. But I was scared." She agreed.

"Well, our session is almost… over." The psychiatrist flashed a look at the clock mounted on the wall.

"Say, Ruka… you said you heard someone say 'fight for it', right?"

The said girl nodded again.

"Have you ever thought about… trying to walk again? Or being able to play tennis again?" He suggested, causing Ruka to look up sharply.

"But the doctors said I can't walk again…" she whispered, not knowing what to think.

"It's not a matter of can't. It's a matter of if you have to will to change that to a can." He flicked through a file, "Besides… it's been 3 years… it's possible your legs a itching to move right now. From what I know… tennis runs in your veins. Would you give up this chance and never play tennis again?"

The last part had her convinced.

"I want to play," she said shakily, but then clearer, "I want to play again!"

"Let keep this our little secret then hey?" Suzuki smiled proudly and quickly wrote some things down before leading Ruka out of the room, "We'll start soon." He said with a firm nod.

xxx

"Oi! Senpai!" Akaya bounded into the courts, phone in hand.

"What now, Bakaya?" Bunta sighed, he'd run out of apple flavoured gum during the match and hadn't had time (obviously) to buy another packet.

"Buchou just texted me." He said smugly and waved his phone at the regulars.

"Does it mention anything important?" Jackal questioned.

"Just the usual; ALWAYS WIN, RIKKAI DAI."

"Stupid." Masaharu flicked him on the forehead, "Why do you need to tell us that? Of course we'll win. Puri."

"Itai!" Akaya cradled his forehead, "He also said Ruka seemed sad, so be nice. Or Hell will come or way."

Shivers were exchanged at this point. Not only was their captain u to his usual sadistic antics, but it involved Ruka too. Not only that, something bad must've happened for Ruka to be that way, and it must be bad enough for Seiichi to be contacting them.

"Everyone, 20 laps before we finish practice!" Genichiro ordered, breaking the silence.

"But why?" Bunta complained.

"40."

"Hai, hai."

xxx

Hiya! Yes, it's been, like, two months since I last updated. So I hope you like it, but the story is back! Also, updates may be pretty slow since I'm still quite busy and stuff. Thanks for all your support! :D