August 21, 2007 to August 24, 2007 (REFORMATTED May 1, 2010)
Disclaimers: I do not own any part whatsoever of Prince of Tennis and the wives of the regulars and such are Lifeless-heart's.
Summary: Echizen Ryoma is now married, and he is ready to have a kid with Ryuzaki Sakuno. But what happens when some things just go terribly wrong? And what's with this extra person? Enjoy! And don't forget to review please!
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Chapter Fourteen: Refreshing Tranquility
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Her eyes widened in disbelief as she shook her head nonstop. She felt as if she were being dragged into the burning and sizzling depths of Hell, and the sweet sound of her mother's voice suddenly rang in her ears.
I'm sorry for being such a terrible mother...
Realizing her truth, she snapped back into reality and with a deadly glare shot a glance at her "father", who was still in the same state as before, just like her Okaa-san. Raya shook her head, pushing away the sympathy which was building inside of her. Angrily narrowing her eyes, she furrowed her brows and pointed at her "father" with a shaking finger.
"I HATE YOU!"
"I HATE YOU!"
Those words etched into Echizen's mind and soul, as it tore through his heart, oozing out fresh blood from the source. It clawed against the pulse of the heart, and he felt a stab to it. It pained a lot; no – it pained so much that he though his entire world had come to an end. He had told himself, after all, he would be able to handle it. He would conquer all, and every obstacle in order for her to come back to him.
"I HATE YOU!"
Although he knew it, his body and mind of its entirety did not. He only stood as frozen as an iced statue, his eyes widening in disbelief. He almost felt as if he could be tipped back if he were to be flicked with a finger. This throbbing feeling that he now bore, it were as if the same pain and experience that someone similar had to go through. But who? he thought, wondering as he continued to stand still.
"I HATE YOU!"
Maybe if he hadn't made those stupid mistakes, things would not end up as they were now. Maybe if he hadn't left Sakuno in the first place for Ritsuko, things would not end us as they were now. Maybe if he hadn't fallen for Ritsuko in the first place, things would not end us as they were now. Maybe if…oh god, it was aching his head so much now.
"I HATE YOU!"
He admitted it – he was the worst father for this child. First he left her, then he secretly hid from her, and now he drove her insane. Oh, what a father he was.
Raya continued to stand, pointing shakily at her "uncle" with a finger, trembling greatly while clutching her other hand towards her chest. Her eyes were as large as plates now, and the tears did not stop from spilling, for they continued rolling down her cheeks. What she felt now was confusion, paranoid, anger, disappointment…so many emotions mixed into one, the emotion called…Hell.
Ryoma could only stare at his shaking daughter, who could not control herself anymore. She could shatter any moment, and he would repeat the same mistake again. If he helped her, she would break apart. If he left her, she would cry herself to depression. He was stuck in the middle – it seemed that either way, all those dear to him would endure the same fate…
He slowly walked past the teenager and went towards the coat rack and picked up his black leather jacket. Quickly buttoning the first two close to his chest, he opened the door knob and looked back, eyeing the female. She was in the same stance as a few seconds before. Seizing his chance, he took a deep breath and spoke:
"Good-bye, Raya."
And out the door he sauntered, closing the door with a soft click.
And once again, he had left another close to his heart: his own daughter.
The Fuji Household
"…The rumors are true, and once again, the tennis prince and rock star, the Echizen Ryoma, has broken up with his second wife! Unbelievable; is he a player or what? Stay tuned for our updated report!" The person clicked the power button on the remote, and the television zapped off. He laid back on the couch, relaxed as he looked towards the ceiling, pondering to himself.
"Syuusuke," called a soft voice from the kitchen as she walked into the living room carrying a tray with his dinner on it. Fuji Rila sat down next to her husband on the couch and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Aniki gave me a call about…"
"I know," said Fuji, sighing. He ruffled his wife's hair before staring at her. "I saw it on the news. He's some famous person, that Echizen."
"That's why I told Aniki to not go near that woman, damn it!" she whispered hoarsely, bringing a fist in the air. Fuji grasped her angered fist and calmed her down.
"Echizen has made many mistakes, but he's human right?" questioned Fuji. Rila only nodded her head and allowed him to continue. "It's his decision to believe what is right and do it, even if it means losing someone precious. And now that Lyanstz-san has left him, he can go back to Sakuno and rebuild their lost relationship."
"That's the thing, Aniki," pointed out Rila, "You see, I heard from Tomo-chan that…"
And for the rest of the night, the parents bade their daughter, Rin, good night and slept earlier than usual, leaving the chicken soup cold.
At the Osakada Resident
"Tomo-baa-chan! Leave me alone!" screeched the teenager as she furiously threw her pillows through the open doorway, the pillows barely missing her aunt. Tomoka managed to survive the pillow toss before entering her room as Raya continued to bury herself under the covers of her bed.
"Raya…" soothingly murmured Tomoka as she patted her on the head. The teenager peeked out and reluctantly climbed out of her warm blankets, sitting next to her aunt.
"I know how you're feeling right now…"
"Baa-chan does NOT understand how I feel," said Raya angrily, emphasizing the negative word. Tomoka sighed before continuing.
"Raya, you shouldn't put yourself down like that. And I want to say a few things to you; it's ok if you're not listening though." Raya hung her head low, trying to ignore what her aunt said.
"Since your Okaa-san passed away, we gave you this room, didn't we? It's your mother's room, and we moved you out of your old one so that Chouko and Chika could share a room since they're the youngest. Even though it pained you to enter your mother's room, you did so anyway and treasured all her belongings, keeping and tucking them away into safe places."
Flashback One: The Room
"Welcome to your new room, R-raya," said Tomoka as she opened the door to a fairly large room, larger than half the room she had last time in which she shared with Chouko. The bed was neatly made, the curtains hung by the window, and everything was neatly placed as it just was before. The furniture in the room, however, was starting to collect dust from being left alone for three straight days. Raya excited rubbed her hands and placed them on her hips, declaring, "I'm going to clean up Okaa-san's room so I can sleep in this room, and so that Okaa-san has her share too!"
Raya had still not gotten over the fact that her mother already died, so she told herself that Sakuno was still alive. Pulling all her belongings into the room, she opened the curtains and window, allowing fresh air to circulate in the room. She placed on some old overalls and a white bandana on her head, and immediately began cleaning the entire place up.
Two Hours Later…
She was now digging through the closet, looking for some more hangers to hang her clothes when she bumped into a large, brown cardboard box. Curious as she was, Raya carefully pulled it out from the wardrobe and wiped the dust off before lifting the covers. She covered her mouth and gaped at the possessions inside.
Gently she took out a tube of tennis balls with fuzzy markings on them; the ink had smudged onto the inside of it. But by studying it carefully, she knew it was some sort of drawing, but she couldn't sort it out. Next, she pulled out a worn out racket and lifted it into the air, allowing the sunlight to pierce through the holes of the tennis racket. The strings were loose and had not been restrung for quite a while, she observed.
The next item taken out was a rather large photo album, marked "Seishun Gakuen". Blowing the dust off the cover, she slowly opened the hard cover and uncovered many pictures as she flipped through them. They were awfully familiar, those people who played such perfect tennis. It kind of reminded her of…her aunts and uncles. Smiling to herself, she continued to flip through the pages, unaware of the time that passed by, and the fact that she had not finished cleaning the room yet.
It was not long before around the lunch hour that she finished the enormous book of photos. She placed it back inside and smiled to herself, taking out the next album when her aunt called her from the first floor.
"Raya-chan! Lunch is ready, so come and eat! Clean later!" yelled Tomoka before returning to the living room to set up the table.
"Hai, Tomo-baa-chan!" hollered back Raya, and she left the second album pulled out unnoticed on the floor. Skipping down the stairs happily, Raya did not realize what the first photo would have been in the second album, "Wedding Days" if not for lunch.
"And your Okaa-san wished you the best after she passed away. Even though it was hard for you to bring yourself back up onto your two standing feet, you did it. And you can do it again with Ryoma-sama, Raya." Raya only remained silent, staring at the carpet.
"Ryoma-sama, or your father rather, is not a bad person. He's just a man who made wrong decisions, I think," shared Osakada as she looked up at the ceiling, "I used to like him in our younger days, you know. But Sakuno liked – no, loved him; too shy to admit her feelings though, and he was too dense. And before I knew it, the two of them got married. I couldn't believe it, and although I liked Ryoma-sama, I couldn't, because I wasn't good enough. And I was really hurt at this, but then I met your uncle, despite the previous years where I forced myself to feel happy, it hurt a lot.
"Your uncle was such a kind person; always comforting me and trying to be there every second for me. He is such a caring and loving person, and I truly loved him, more than Ryoma-sama. But we always got into little fights now and then, and the results of the brawls were quite drastic, because we went as far as breaking apart everything in our house. After that, I would always ponder how I made him suffer instead of myself."
Tomoka turned to look at her niece and patted her head reassuringly, "Raya, I may not be your mother, but I know her really well. We were childhood friends since…a long time, and she would not want you to be like this. To hate your own father because he left your mother is not right, I think, but he didn't leave you. Even if you say you hate him, you pity him, don't you?"
Raya felt her limit coming, as if she were being pushed off the edge of the cliff. She got up from her seat and walked straight out the room, her back facing her aunt. Osakada could not help but to smile, and as she heard the front door close, she looked out the window and sighed, shaking her head, "Sakuno-chan, she's finally grown up, huh?"
It now rained, a heavy downpour drenching the city of Tokyo.
At the Echizen Household
Echizen sat on the living room couch, coolly drinking some Ponta that he had bought on the way home. It was expected for his own daughter to act that way, after hiding from her for sixteen years and keeping it a secret. He closed his eyes in frustration and exhaustion, rubbing his temples. The stillness of the household was unbearable – something just had to happen, just something.
And as if his wish came true, the door bell rang, and lazily he got up and opened the door, to find an unexpected guest. The person was totally soaked from head to toe, their bangs shadowing their eyes as water dripped from the strands of hair. The clothes sagged and were so wet that the color of their skin faintly showed, but not enough to show the physical curves and outline of the person. Water dripped on the dry mini-porch and wooden floor of the house, and a puddle formed around the owner's feet.
"Who are you?" he asked, confused. He peeked under the bangs and found the owner's eyes half closed, as if they were tired. It was raining hard after all, and you were running for who-knows-how-long. Sighing, he dragged her inside, slammed the door shut, and brought her to the washroom to take a shower.
An Hour Later
"Done?" questioned Ryoma as he stared at the teenager who was wiping her hair with a towel now. She lightly nodded her head and sat on the opposite end of the couch, looking away as she continued ruffling her hair with the white cloth. Echizen proceeded to do the same: looking away from his daughter and sipping Ponta as if no one were there at all. The atmosphere indeed was heavy at times like these, and both sweat-dropped at that fact.
"Um…" started Raya, mumbling under her breath, but Ryoma intervened.
"I'm sorry for being such an idiotic father," he apologized, which greatly infuriated the female. She sprang from her seat, clutching the rag tightly as she showed a fist at her father, her eyes flaming.
"Stop apologizing and tell me why! If you don't even give me one good reason, I'll make you suffer!" yelled the high school student in a loud voice, her tone confident and angry.
He slowly lifted his head to face his daughter, who stood on the spot, fuming inwardly. Breathing heavily, he began to explain every little detail, looking down on the floor, twiddling his thumbs. He had never felt so nervous before in his life, just to say what happened before, and his reasons for his actions.
"I married your mother because she was weak, and I wanted to help her. Her beauty was indeed intriguing, and her personality was far too cute to resist, I admit that, but I wanted to support her and be there for her. I loved her because…because she was the only woman who would understand how I felt about her, and myself." Raya stood, her tense aura relaxing. She slowly sat on the couch and carefully observed her father.
"But when I met your aunt, or rather stepmother, she was in the same situation as the old Sakuno. I couldn't bear to see her suffer like Sakuno did if I had not married her. I wanted to make everyone sad happy, because that was what your mother always told me to do. She would always help others who needed support with her own life, as if it were so important and would make the biggest difference. And everything she does make a difference."
"How did you break up with her though?!" interjected Raya, and she covered her mouth and apologized for the sudden question. He waved a hand and continued, "When I confessed my love for someone else, she accepted my feelings readily. She said that she would wait for me until I came back to her. But I was too late."
Flashback Two: At the Café
He sighed to himself and hesitated a bit before continuing from where he left off, "I really love her, Sakuno. The love I have for her is different from yours. I love her because…I want to support her as well. I want to teach her to go down the right way to the path, and I don't want her to suffer anymore. She has already gone through a lot more than you and I did."
At this point, Sakuno broke his long story with her own reasoning, "Ryoma-kun, you don't have to say anymore." Her eyes were closed, and her voice was filled with confidence as she smiled contently, "Go for it, because you never know when that opportunity will be gone. Don't let it go before it's too late, Ryoma-kun."
Lastly, she gave her most reassuring smile, hoping that he would fall for it, "I'll be ok, Ryoma. Really, since I have Tomo-chan and senpai-tachi and their wives to support me. You just go and catch after her. And if you ever feel like coming back, I'll be right here waiting for you every day."
His eyes widened in amazement, surprised that she would actually accept it so wholeheartedly. He closed his eyes as a few tears dropped down from his tear duct, and he quickly wiped them away. He looked down at his own hands, staring at them what seemed a few minutes before taking action. Ryoma leaned towards Sakuno and gave her a light, chaste kiss on the forehead, and she immediately blushed at the suddenness of the kiss.
"Which is why I'm thanking you for being my first lover, Ryuzaki" he finished after breaking apart the kiss. Getting up, he excused himself and left the unfinished drink on the table. He left a couple yen on the table as tip, and walked out of the café.
Ryuzaki Sakuno helplessly stared at his coffee mug that sat motionless on the smooth marble surface. Steam still rose from the cup in little puffs and clouds, and her eyes followed the paths which curved and bended easily as willows, closely watching the vapor arouse about.
Her orbs were now shining brightly and glossily as the tears she held back before began to swell uncontrollably. Not realizing this, she continued to stare at the motionless mug while she drank the black coffee. It was just then that she turned her head to face the window, hoping to see her husband one last time before he was truly gone when she recognized the red, puffy eyes and water marks on her cheeks that she knew she had been crying.
Lifting a hand gently towards her face and dabbing the stains with her delicate fingers, she could only whisper huskily, hiccupping at the same time, "I'll wait for you, Ryoma-kun. Even if it takes my whole life until you come back. And I'll take care of Raya-chan myself." With her other hand, she rubbed the round and large stomach, which perfectly nestled the newborn.
Outside, the man with his hands stuffed in his jacket pocket and his face burrowed by the collar of his leather jacket walked casually as if nothing happened. Slowly, a light drizzle formed around the city, and immediately the pedestrians quickened their paces to reach their destinations. The man only stood still in the midst of the horde, looking up at the sky to observe and closely watch the crystal water drops flutter down to the ground lightly.
Turning his head away from the weather and looking down once more, he sighed heavily and looked back at him, as if he were waiting for something. But all he saw were people, and more people, and not that one coming.
Walking to the usual, he was lost in thought. At last, he had everything set, and for the final time, this would be the time where he would confess to her.
'I don't want to hurt you anymore, Sakuno.'
"The reason I left her was not just of my feelings, but if I had not told her the truth, she would have broke down even faster and have lived a shorter life. I wanted her to live, a happy life with you, Raya." He faced his daughter at the other end, outstretching a hand.
Ryoma's Point of View
After he had said all this, it seemed as if everything was slowly rebuilding together. The climax had reached its peak and was starting to fall, he felt. The pressure in his heart felt so much lighter, as if a heavy weight was lifted off his shoulders. It felt relieving and soothing to finally confess everything, to reason with his daughter. But yet he felt insecure, for her decision was the main thing that would keep the father-daughter relationship in its entirety. Ryoma felt his daughter so close, yet it seemed as if she were so far from him.
Raya's Point of View
Oh boy, she was so definitely wrong about her own father. He wasn't the insensitive or cold one that her Okaa-san described, but he was indeed soft and caring. Raya inwardly felt terrible about saying that she hated her father. Maybe if she had given it more thought and time, then she wouldn't have done that stupid thing to her. She outstretched her right hand, and the two shook.
Normal Point of View
"I'm sorry, Otou-san for saying that I hated you," apologized Raya as she tightly hugged her father. He patted her on the back reassuringly.
"Nothing to apologize about, it's my fault," he replied, and the two broke the embrace. He placed two hands on his daughter's shoulders. "I missed you, Raya."
"Otou-san…" murmured Raya, who was turning slightly red, embarrassed. She looked up and smiled at her father, and gave him another spontaneous hug. He tipped back, surprised.
"Neh, Otou-san, let's go outside," said Raya as she began to drag her father. Ryoma put on a puzzled expression.
"Why? It's raining heavily outside, and you'll catch a cold."
"No I won't," reassured the teenager, and she opened the front door, "Because it's only rain now." She pulled him out onto the front lawn of his household and let go of his hand, jumping and moving around on the wet, green grass. She allowed the rain to wash over her face, and she looked at the sky and smiled.
"Ah, it's so fun to dance around in the rain, neh, Otou-san?"
He never felt this way after his break up with Sakuno, or the time he spent with Ritsuko. What he felt now was something similar to winning tennis matches, going to Seigaku, getting married, pretty much everything in his entire life. This emotion within him was so different and refreshing. After many years of spending time in the darkness, he was able to find the strength to burrow out, put everything behind him, and start fresh. He gave a gentle smile and joined his daughter in the rain, laughing. He never felt any happier than this in his entire life; it was the start of something new.
A light drizzle began to form from the heavy downpour, the feeling of relief and forgiveness.
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Owari
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A/N: I feel so refreshed after writing this, and I'm glad it turned out the way I hoped it to be. Two more chapters left, everyone, and we will be…DONE! Please review and give me any feedback! I am very happy to be criticized because there is always room for improvement. Arigatou!
Ja ne, and I do not own any part of Prince of Tennis!
