Happy chapter 13
Authors note
'flashback'
Thoughts
Previously
Ryoma got ready for her twist serve and …
"CHIBISUKE!" Ryoma looked towards the familiar voice and dropped her racket as well as falling to her knees.
Ryoga
Currently
Fuji was across the net and by Ryomas' side in a heartbeat. "Ryoma, Ryoma …" Fuji didn't know what to do. He just hunched down next to Ryoma and placed his arm around her in a comforting. Meanwhile Ryoga himself raced down towards his baby sister.
' With a 'thump' the frail greenettes' fist connected with the hard wall of her bedroom. Golden eyes stared down at the floor or more specifically at the girl who was now coiled against the wall pitifully.
"Ryoma…" He breathed, not sure if he could trust his voice to say any more any louder. The girl looked up at her brother. "Ryoga" The seven year old replied evenly, monotonously. Her eyes lacked the will to live.
"I'm so so sorry" Ryoga suddenly broke into tears as he embraced his little sister. He had a hugely guilty look on his face. He had never hit Ryoma himself. He just watched silently. He stayed out of their fathers' way. Abandoning his own little sister in favour of saving himself. "So so sorry" Ryoma was shocked to say the least. She just sat there with wide eyes and let her brother sob into her.
"What is going on here?" boomed the man standing in the doorway. Both siblings looked fearfully up at the man "Father" They both recognised the man.
"Ryoga, you're the good kid! What the hell are you doing with that brat?"
"She's not a brat she's my sister, your daughter and what you're doing is sic-" His rant was cut short by a knife cutting into him. He gasped in pain.
"TRAITOR" There was a crazy look in their fathers eyes as crimson clouded Ryomas' vision.
She screamed. The blood curdling scream tore through the house as Ryogas' body hung limb on the end of the blade. Their father backed away slowly suddenly sobered by his recent actions and ran from the house with green tinting his usually rosy features.
Ryoma stood with shaky legs and ran as fast as her frail body could take her to where her brother lay motionless. Hovering above his face, she tilted his head back and listened for breathing. Not daring to take a breath herself, Ryoma listened intently.
And she heard It, faint but definite. Cold breath on her cheek.
Once again standing on her shaky legs Ryoma went to call an ambulance.'
"Chibisuke" Ryoga smiled fondly and golden eyes stared into golden eyes as Ryoma looked up at him.
"Ryoga-nee!" Wrapping her arms tightly around the neck of her brother she cried into the crook of his neck while he held her tightly "I missed you so much" Ryoga whispered into their embrace.
Everyone else just kind of stood there awkwardly. Even Fuji was at a loss of what to do and then his mouth took over "Ne, Ryo-chan who's this?" Eyes open, Fuji smiled serenely.
"NYA, HE'S THE STALKER FROM EARLIER!" Eiji accused pointing accursedly at Ryoga who separated from Ryoma slightly while Oishi tried to restrain his partner.
"Stalker?" Ryoma smirked though tears
"I tried to tell him I'm not a stalker but he wouldn't listen" Ryoga pouted.
"So who is he?" Fuji asked again slightly testily.
"Oh yea, this is Ryoga Echizen, my aniki" Ryoma said, wearing a big grin. Something seemed to stop her grin, something only she could see.
"Echizen…" Tezuka sighed
"Yes?" Answered the siblings in unison.
"Come to the clubroom now. We need to know everything about what happened on Halloween and your brother" He signalled to the other regulars "You lot come too. THE REST OF YOU GET BACK TO PRACTICE"
With that the group of tennis players headed towards the clubroom after Tezuka who had started walking the second he had stopped talking. Ryoma walked with a foreboding feeling.
-In the clubroom-
"Now Echizen, I think you owe us all an explanation" Tezuka said and Ryoma squirmed in her seat on the bench as she fought with herself Should I tell them?
"Why does she owe you anything?" Ryoga stood up, suddenly angry.
"You weren't there so you wouldn't know but something happened on Halloween
That made us all very worried for Ryo-chan and now she has a brother that popped out of nowhere I think we deserve an explanation, ne" Fuji stood too ad met Ryogas' glare with an icy blue one.
"RYO-CHAN? WHO SAID YOU COULD CALL HER THAT?" Ryoga
"None of your business" Fuji.
"Calm down, Ryoga they're right I let my guard down on Halloween and I need to explain my actions. Just like you need to explain where the hell you've been for the last 5 years" Ryoma said.
Oh crap Fuji thought Now she's guilty
"So what did happen, nya?" Eiji asked timidly. Ryoga held Ryomas' hand and squeezed it looking guiltily at his feet.
"It all started when I was three" Ryoma began and took a calming breath and looked around the group ;
Oishi looked worried, as a mother hen does
Tezuka looked stoic as ever except for the crease in his brow
Kawamura looked nevous
Momo looked for once in his life serious
As did Eiji
Inuis' notebook was nowhere in sight
Kaidos' facial expressions went sort of soft
Fuji had his eyes open and his fake smile was gone
I trust you Ryoma thought and continued on with her monologue "After my mother died in a car crash my father was … upset, no angry. I don't know how but apparently it was my fault" She said evenly, bitterness and pain held at bay for the moment as she held back tears "At first it was just glares and cold shoulders and some cruel words when he got drunk. Sometimes he'd 'forget' to feed me, so I'd do it myself" The regulars all looked quite shocked, didn't she say she was three when her mother died? They didn't like where this was going "He'd still feed Ryoga, of course. Things were quite calm back then" A few gasps That's calm? "Then he hit me. And he didn't stop. Whenever he could he'd hit me and kick me and- ouch Ryoga you're hurting me! Ryoga let go of his sisters' hand which he had been squeezing tighter with every word she spoke.
"I covered up my wounds and made Fathers' breakfast and left for school every morning. That was pretty much the daily routine. I'd get up, make breakfast, leave before they woke up and go play on the schools tennis courts. I'd always loved tennis. Father started teaching me when I was two, before the incident. I'd kept playing while I went to school. I stole from fathers' wallet to buy tennis equipment He didn't miss it since he mostly spent it getting himself drunk. After school, I would delay it as much as possible before going home and being beat again" Ryoma let her tears run down her porcelain cheeks. She tried her hardest to keep her voice monotonous throughout her speech but the images that flashed up with each syllable cut deeper into the scars that left gaping holes in her heart. The horror on the faces of her friends was clearly there but that's not what Ryoma saw
I knew it, I'm pathetic, disgusting
"And where were you doing through all this?" Fuji asked with ice in his voice. Being the tensai he was he assumed from all the evidence in front of him that Ryoga wasn't being abused.
"I was scared" Ryoga admitted quietly " I didn't want it to be me, I was selfish and let Ryoma take it all on and suffer in silence, I guess I thought that he'd stop. That he'd be the dad I used to know again" Ryoga looked at his feet, ashamed. He looked up in time to see a fist compact with his face.
Everyone gasped t the one who threw the punch.
Authors note
Yay I got 50 reviews, I had 49 and I was all like UNEVEN watching soul eater has really changed me….
Anyway please rate and review