Ryoga's Little Brother by LoveToRead15
Disclaimer: I Don't own Prince of Tennis.
Warnings: Grammar mistakes, OC Supporting Characters, Characters acting differently, and Mature language may be used.
Authors Note: Thank you for Reading and Reviewing! shinee2007, MyHamstersHateMe, SmileForMe15, Iany-chan, RenaScarlet, Angel4EverLostInLife, Ashley Gardner, Sarekkandarikulover, Risa144, Kanrei, Joey Bermuda Ketail, Airrissaid, kairenayui, Tidde 13, bluesnowflakes21, minerbbi, valenme96, Rei Uchiha-Michaelis, Sakura-hime99, SerinasHarmony, Killer karebear, and all the Guest that reviewed it was much appreciated.
Previously:
He smirked for a moment before shaking his head in amusement before looking at the boy in the eyes "Sorry to disappoint you but I'm not Ryoma . . . that's my brother."
"EH!?" explained Akaya "No way! There's two of you?!"
"What!?" exclaimed the Tennis Team stunned by the news, excluding Fuji, Inui, and Tezuka whose eyes had widened at the news.
Chapter Eleven: Revelations.
"Some people think that the truth can be can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is the true is revealed, and what is fake fades away." - Ismail Haniyeh
(1)
"Yeah . . . you said you played Ryoma-kun in Germany? I wasn't there that day, I got sick last minute and had to stay behind with Okasan." explained Ryoga to Akaya with a smirk adorning his face a far away look entered his eyes.
This wasn't the ideal way to tell the tennis team he knew but the chances of him telling them about chibisuke without being prompted by another wasn't high and he figured the team would like to know something personal about him.
"Are you sure?" asked Akaya looking suspiciously at Ryoga, it probably had something to do with his smirk, it was unlikely it was inspiring trust.
"I'm pretty sure I'd know the difference between Ryoma-kun and myself Akaya-san." said Ryoga with a laugh.
"Ryoma-san never said anything about a brother."
"I wasn't aware you were that close to my brother Akaya-san something you'd like to share with me?" teased Ryoga.
"Nothing like that!" exclaimed Akaya face going red.
"I just meant as best friends Akaya-chan! Yeesh, get your head out of the gutter! As if my brother would actually date someone like you." murmured Ryoga looking the the very picture of an incredulous adolescent who just heard the most disbelieving news.
"What are you trying to say!? Am I not good enough for your brother? Is that it! I'll have you now anyone would be pleased and extremely lucky to be dating me." snapped Akaya.
" . . . for someone who claims to not be in a relationship with my brother you sound incredibly defensive . . . and they would only be pleased? Just how bad of a boyfriend are you? And while we are on the topic I don't think Ryoma-kun swings that way." said Ryoga through the his snickering.
"So you have a brother Ryoga-kun?" interrupted Oishi looking unsure of himself. Poor guy.
The rest of the team didn't look any better but they at least seemed to be recovering their wits around them, and they were all listening attentively to what Ryoga was saying . . . especially Inui. Even if they were disbelieving of the news, the way Ryoga acted had them believing he was like Atobe, which is to say a rich kid with no siblings spoiled to kingdom come.
"Oh, . . . Yeah, his name is Echizen Ryoma he happens to be my younger brother, he would be starting his first year but he decided to be home schooled." Ryoga replied, looking uncharacteristically serious.
Home schooled, that's the best I can come up with?! Ryoga thought to himself in disbelief, Well if you think about it the hospital had become a home of sorts he does all his essentials there and he's never stepped foot at the temple.
Inui asked "Why is he being home schooled?"
"Is he competing in tournaments! Do you think I could go against him again?!" Akaya asked exited at the prospect of being able to play against Ryoma again. He was going to win this time he was confident of this.
"Ah, No you can't go against Ryoma he's . . . busy with things." Ryoga had turned towards Akaya in order to answer him looking awkwardly with the answer he had given.
"Do you not get along?"Fuji murmured eyes open and smile gone looking quite sad.
"No, we get along just fine, it's just that things are different than they used to be he's homeschooled because it's best for him his schedule is all over the place . . . like I said busy."
"Do you think we could be introduced to him Ryoga-kun?" asked Inui with a glint in his eyes that didn't bode well for anyone involved.
"Come on just one game won't hurt anyone!" whined Akaya
Ryoga looked like he was going to be sick, because he knew that allowing that one game would break Ryoma's wrist, his bones had become that brittle during the treatment.
"Nya, We'd like to meet your brother Ryoga-kun! Right Oishi?!" exclaimed Eiji bouncing in place.
"If it isn't a bother for Ryoga or his brother I don't see why not." said Oishi and after a moment added "If its alright with your parents Ryoga-san."
"I'm really sorry Akaya, but like I said my brother is busy and unlikely to be able to receive any visitors for some time but perhaps one day." said Ryoga, voice strained, and looking uncomfortable "We should get back to practice."
"Are you okay Ryoga-kun?" asked Fuji looking at the young boy's strained smile.
"Of course." was the clipped answer he received for his concern.
"Echizen whatever problems you're having with your brother, you can always come to us for anything, you know this right?" Tezuka spoke softly his eyes giving way to concern.
"Thank you, I'll take that into consideration . . . "
It took a moment for Akaya to understand what the others were thinking and he didn't like were his thoughts were leading him, was Ryoga jealous of Ryoma's success? Or was it the other way around?
Throughout practice Akaya observed Ryoga, nothing anyone said could make him leave, it got annoying really fast but their wasn't much they could do about it aside from . . . well lets not go there.
It was by far the tensest tennis practice anyone had ever seen and everyone was just glad they were able to go home by the end of it
(2)
Ryoma was having a relatively good day, he didn't feel as weak as he normally did, was able to eat his whole breakfast without a problem, had played a Tchaikovsky piece on his violin
for the children in the ward, and was currently reading a book about a girl masquerading as a boy in order to be allowed to be a knight.
Ryoma could just foresee the back problems the girl's career choice would bring her.
Anyway, earlier today Seiichi had called to announce that he was going to come by and visit! Ryoma was excited at that, his brother had been busy with tennis, and he had no wish to interfere in that area. Ryoga had been distant the past few days, looking so lost, it pulled at Ryoma's heartstrings, but he knew he was at fault for not keeping his Ryoga updated on his health status . . . He just hoped he wouldn't tell Okaa-san.
Speaking of Echizen Rinko, she hadn't been by for a while and it worried Ryoma. Perhaps, he'd make a house call? Whatever, he just hoped she was alright.
On to important things, Ryoma mused to himself, Where did I place my secret stash of grape ponta? Until his ponta were found everything else would be put on hold.
(3)
Ryoga's day had not been going well . . . Oh, it started deceptively well enough, only to crash and burn midway through the tennis practice session. And it was all thanks to that insufferable brat! He could catch a break could he?
Any hints to get the Rakkaidai's Ace to leave their practice ended in failure, to make matters worse he had decide to catch a ride with Momo-kun of all people! Yeah, nice going there Ryoga!
They had a discussion on the way back, it was about who was going to play the teams third single position, so of course they decided to play a match for it in a nearby tennis court. Never once giving thought that the tennis coach, captain, and vice captain were the ones who were arranging the positions the teams were going to be sorted into.
Unfortunately for Ryoga and Momo they came across a tennis court where the player were playing doubles. In any other circumstances Ryoga wouldn't have panicked but the only other person who he could play doubles with was Ryoma! Who wasn't there! Yeah, Ryoga didn't do sharing . . . unless it was chibisuke.
Ryoga subconsciously knew he couldn't play doubles very well, but he decided to play anyway, once he calmed himself down of course, he thought why not?
After serving the ball Ryoga started to run into a few, minor, nothing-to-really-mention problem.
The problem was Momo, the guy kept running into Ryoga in his quest to hit the ball without giving much thought to anything else.
So this is how he found himself here, in a street court, and in a very difficult position.
This just wasn't Ryoga's day.
When this was all over he was going to call chibisuke, he normally got over anything just by hearing his wonderful chibisukes voice, and if that didn't work (Which was unlikely) he would give Karupin some of his father's magazines and proceed to watch Karupin tear them into pieces . . .
When the game finally ended, it went to the Seigaku team's win, that had been a complete shocker to the small audience they had gathered during the match. The only reason they had won was because Ryoga wouldn't allow himself to lose, he'd made a promise to chibisuke, and he hadn't broken that promise in the last seven years his precious brother had been stuck in the hospital, he wasn't going to start now! No way in hell would he allow that to happen. During the last part of the game Ryoga had made sure he won all the service games he could, and returned every ball that went his way or any that Momo-kun had let through. They barely managed to scrape that win, in fact they hadn't even been synchronized, it was a miracle they hadn't lost and everyone knew it.
Momoshiro kept glancing at him every other minute while they gathered their stuff. Ryoga wasn't stupid, he knew why the kid kept glancing his way, it was quite simple really, he had been so desperate to win that he allowed the kid a glimpse of what he was actually capable of. During the match he had been faster, hit the ball harder, used different techniques, made use of his unusual fast reflexes, and acted within moments, never once breaking into a sweat.
"What was that . . .?!" Momoshiro asked in confusion.
"Nothing that needs to be discussed at the moment Momoshiro-kun." Ryoga said without so much as glancing at the confused boy.
"But-"
"Look I better get home, its getting dark, my parents might start to worry, and Momoshiro please don't ask questions its not something that I want to talk about." Ryoga said while turning around toward the exit. "See you tomorrow, Momoshiro!"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
(4)
It was 4:48 when Seiichi made is appearance at room 900A and as always the young tennis captain wore his tennis team uniform, which meant his tennis team practice had ended earlier than usual. Ryoma had been expected him at 7.
"Ryoma-chan! How are you today?" Seiichi asked softly with a gentle smile adorning his face.
"I'm fine Seiichi just a little bored and don't add 'chan' to my name I'm a guy not a girl, but how are you?" Ryoma asked.
"I'm doing alright, just getting a few things in order for my inevitable departure, the teams been asking where I disappear to lately." Seiichi said with a sigh.
"Where you disappear to lately?" echoed Ryoma with a frown.
"Yeah." Seiichi replied in a depressing matter.
"Have you not told them yet?"
"I was planning to but things happened and I'm waiting until everythings in order I suppose." Seiichi mumble. It truly was unlike him.
"As long as you do it before Preliminaries then everything should be fine." Ryoma said with a smirk.
"Ryoma-kun, I know you know when the Preliminaries are, so why are you saying this?" said a frowning Seiichi.
"Oh my! Are the games tomorrow? What a coincidence I really had no idea that they were tommorow! Well isnt that something Seiichi? It seems that you get to tell your team tomorrow about your situation, you know before you cause yourself irreparable damage or something along those lines." Ryoma replied with a mocking smirk.
"Ryoma-kun, If I wish to share information about myself with the team I will but If I'm inclined to say nothing than thats my business as well, youre a wonderful friend Ryoma-kun but don't antagonize me, you will not like what you find." Seiichi said coldly, not a hint of a smile in his face. "Now If you'll excuse me, I am tired today, but I'll come by tomorrow Ryoma-kun."
And with that Yukimura Seiichi made his way to the door only to stop as Ryoma gave way to a beautiful laugh.
"Seiichi, must you always take everything so seriously? All I wanted to do was help you but if you desire for me to watch as you hurt yourself I'm afraid that isn't something I'm capable of. I did that Seiichi, I ignored what was wrong with my body and continued on as usual, and look where that got me. Stage four lung cancer. Sometimes I can't help but think that if I had done something about this, gone to a doctor earlier, said something, done anything . . . that perhaps I could have prevented it from happening, stopped it in its earliest stages were it be more treatable. I dont want you to experience the 'What ifs' like I do because I'm telling you now that its the most regretful feeling you will ever experience in your life Seiichi and when I see you talk about tennis I can see a piece of myself in you. I wish someone would have interfered with the way I was handling things then, I don't want you to experience what's its like, not to be able to play tennis like its the air breathe. So I'm not sorry that I am bothering you Seiichi, I'm just trying to look out for you, and if that means giving you a reality check then consider it done. So here it goes: You have an illness that needs to be treated, your team can survive without you being there 24/7, and everything else can be damned." said Ryoma evenly, looking at the window. "So you better come here tomorrow, saying that you've spoken to your team about this, alright? Now if you don't mind closing the door while you're showing yourself out, I'll be drinking my secret stash of ponta in peace. Until tomorrow Seiichi."
"Hai, Ryoma-kun." replied Seiichi with a trembling smile.
(5)
District Preliminaries. They were a set of tournaments that each school needed to pass in order to go to Nationals, if the team lost during this tournament they were automatically disqualified for the Nationals, but were welcome to try again next year.
At least that's what Ryoga had been told on the way.
Yesterday, had been something awful, but it had ended better than Ryoga had hoped for. He had called his chibisuke and told him nothing about what had happened that day, but chibisuke was a perceptive kid, he knew something had upset him enough to call him. Well, not that Ryoga needed to be upset to call on Ryoma, he did that whenever he wanted, it didn't matter if he was happy or upset. For goodness sake! Ryoga had once called Ryoma because he in art class and saw a particular golden color that reminded him of his adorable chibisuke eye color . . .
Anyway, Ryoma did not questioned Ryoga on anything but he had invited Ryoga to come by the hospital later in the day so they could celebrate Ryoga's first win. That was enough for Ryoga to be back to his cheerful self the next day, even if he had said to Ryoma that he was unsure if he was going to make it there, at least it was the thought that mattered.
The team made their way to the reception in order to turn in their registration form, suffice to say the rest of the team were surprised to see that Momoshiro and Ryoga were playing doubles, it was unprecedented.
While preparing for the matches to start anyone could clearly see that Ryoga and Momoshiro were not running on the same frequency, in contrast to them the golden pair were clearly the superior double team, and the game had yet to start.
Once both teams were ready they lined up at the court where they were told the how this tournament was going to go. In order to win the team had to win 3 games out of 5. Seigaku was required to play all five games because it was their first time at the Districts (It also seemed that singles one was to be played by Fuji from Seigaku against Suzuki for Gyokurin).
"First Round, Doubles: Representatives stand. Seigaku Momoshiro, Echizen. Gyokurin. Izumi, Fukawa." said the announcer
And behold the two double players of Gyokurin turned out to be the same once that Momoshiro and Ryoga had played against the day before. Both teams stare at one another before they snorted in amusement. To their respective teams the group in the courts looked as synchronized as any of them had ever seen them.
"Unbelievable." said the boy with long hair from Gyokurin.
"You're telling us." muttered Ryoga with a shake of his head.
"We will be the winners this time!" said the other player of Gyokurin.
"I'd love to see that from happening . . . unfortunately for you thats not gonna happen. And while we are on the subject I happen to be unsatisfied with the win yesterday, we'll be sure to do better this time." replied an amused Ryoga.
Neither of the two players of Gyokurin said anything, both had turned around toward their side of the court, taking their respective positions.
"Momoshiro be careful and focus were your going." said Ryoga.
"Hai."
The match was played in the same manner as the day before had, neither team had given an inch, and both teams were familiar with each other style. No matter how much the Gyokurin team targeted Ryoga he was able to return all the hits, the kid just wouldn't get tired. When they switched targets and decided that Momoshiro was the weakest link they were stopped by Ryoga, it didn't matter what they did, and whatever the kid was doing was subtle enough that they weren't sure it was the Ryoga's fault.
The Seigaku team had noticed Ryoga's 'improvement' during the match the kid was fast and strong, had good reflexes, and out thought his opponent. They weren't sure what to make of it, but they knew that Ryoga's practice regime needed to be adjusted, otherwise the kid wouldn't improve his play. The question they were wondering was why Ryoga hadn't said anything? Did the kid not take this seriously?
It was Seigaku's win.
Both team shook each others hand and left to their respective teams, as Ryoga approach his team he saw the stern faces they wore, and promptly scowled.
"Ryoga, explain." was all the coach said while holding out a water bottle at him.
"Short version or long?" he asked pausing only to take a drink of his bottle.
"Short, we don't have much time." Tezuka said.
"My dad." was all Ryoga said with an indifferent look on his face.
"Your dad?" Ryuzaki echoed in disbelief.
"Yeah, once I get home I train there until he's satisfied, it tends to be more . . . challenging and I guess you could say I have a very demanding regime."
"How demanding Ryoga?" Ryuzaki asked alarmed by this piece of news. "We've been giving you difficult training exercises! If you over-"
"Don't worry Ryuzaki sensei I've handed my father a copy of the schools training routine, you know him he wouldn't do anything that can harm me any way. That and for the past week I've been given a break, the only training I've been doing is yours, but I start on Monday with the regular training again."
"I see." Ryuzaki muttered. "How many hours do you spend training during these regular training sessions?"
"75 hours a week?" responded Ryoga. "Oh, look its the golden pairs turn to be in court."
"Oishi, Eiji, onto the field." Ryuzaki said stiffly.
The golden pair hadn't even played for more than five minutes before they won their match.
"Game Set. Seigaku 6-0 wins!" informed the announcer.
The next seigaku player on the field was Kaidoh who also won with a '6-0' score.
Taka was next and the boy was so nervous he forgot his racket, startling his opponent after making him believe he was a very timid person.
There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Fuji wouldn't win his match, he also won with a score of '6-0'.
After winning the three matches the last two were unnecessary, they had advance their standing in the district. The team still had to go against Mizunohuchi, where Echizen was not allowed to participate in, and the Seigaku tennis team pulled out a win. (Ryoga would also like to say that he was threatened by Ryuzaki, via pinching his cheek, if he didn't cheer his team on. Anything seen during this match would be denied)
Authors Note:
(0.0)/
Alright so I know how aggressive Akaya's tennis is like and likelihood that Ryoma would suffer an injury is quite high based on the fact he hasn't kept himself in top shape, hospital for seven years does that to a person. Not that Ryoga knows that since he missed the Germany match and all, he just has a feeling that something like that would happen with anyone Ryoma plays against with and his big brother instincts are going into hyper drive. So wasn't Ryoma's speech to Seiichi sad? I swear that came out of nowhere!
Another thing is I know that the last time I updated was months ago and I am sorry its just that I update months apart.
Next Up is Fudomine!
Thank you for your ongoing support with this Fanfic.