From last time…

Alas for Ryoma, her problems didn't stop there…

Sadly for the regulars, because the coaches weren't there to stop him, Inui came up with a new training regime, which was harder than the previous one he built. Sadly again, Sanada strongly agreed with the new regime.

'Those two need to lay down,' Ryoma, Kirihara, Marui, Niou, Ootori, Momoshiro and Kikumaru ranted in their head as they sprinted faster so they could avoid Inui's Golden Deluxe Vigor Hyper Power Juice number XXX. They forgot what version number it was because they didn't want to remember. Yukimura and Fuji enjoyed seeing everybody suffering. They even ran faster ahead just to scare the hell out of them, and made them run even faster.

Like the past day, their training was hard and tiring. But today's one was particularly difficult. The weather was bad. In the morning, when they started their jogging, it was cold and smoggy. Adding in a freezing wind too which made the weather even worse. The ground was wet, they had more power wrists, power ankles and the pack bag filled with sand was twice bigger than during the first days. In the middle of their jogging, they got caught by the rain, so they decided to return back to the mansion instead of waiting for it to pass. When they arrived, they were all soaking wet from the head to the toe.

By night, the bad weather turned into a violent storm. The wind was strong and it was pouring like crazy outside. While it was ragging outside, they were still working inside. Yanagi and Inui showed them new tennis strategic play pattern they developed. They had made a research on the German team. With the videos Sakaki-coach had left to them, they studied the play style and techniques of each of the Germans team players. When they finished, Tezuka let them do what they wanted. They relaxed in the living room. Meanwhile, Ryoma, with Kawamura's, Shishido's and Kaido's help, took care of the supper. Yukimura, Fuji and Yuuta came to help to. Kabaji had let them pass through the door. Surprisingly, the two older teens were very good handling knifes. But then again, Yukimura was a Child of God and Fuji was a tensai, so it wasn't that surprising. Yuuta helped washing the vegetable and the dishes - without breaking anything.

After the supper, Ryoma went to take a bath. After she finished and left the bathroom, the telephone rang. Ryoma picked it up.

"Moshi moshi, Echizen speaking."

"Echizen, this is Sakaki-coach."

"Sakaki-coach? How is Ryuuzaki-sensei?"

"She had a heart attack, but she is fine now. She is sleeping as I talk to you. How is it up there?"

"Fine too. Tezuka-buchou and Yukimura-senpai are taking care of everything."

"Good. Tell them to continue what they are doing."

"Hai."

"One more thing, Echizen."

"Hai?"

"Because of the storm, a landslide had happened in the middle of the road. I cannot come to the camp until they finish cleaning the road. And so Enzou and May-san. Tell Tezuka and Yukimura that I'm counting on them until I return."

"Hai. Wakarimashita (1)."

Ryoma greeted Sakaki-coach a last, sent her regards to Ryuuzaki-sensei and put down the phone.

'Okay. Find Tezuka-buchou and Yukimura-senpai and tell them.'

Ryoma went to search for them. She found them in the living room with all the others. But she also discovered something else. Something that she wasn't very happy to discover…

Because of the bad weather, the cold, the rain and added in that you were tired, it was normal to become a little bit sick. But what wasn't normal was…

"HOW COME YOU ARE All SICK? AND ALL AT THE SAME TIME!" Ryoma shouted from the door frame of the living room, very pissed off.

"ATCHOU!" Ootori pull a Kleenex and sneezed in. His face was red and his eyes were blurry.

"Poueeeeeeeeeeeeet!" Niou blew in his Kleenex like a trumpet. He made a ball of the Kleenex and threw it to the overfull bin, which was buried under a mountain of Kleenex.

"Cough cough cough!" Marui coughed, hugging a pillow, the Kleenex box next to him because his nose didn't stop running. His eyes were red. Kaido and Shishido had a blanket covering them but they were still trembling. Kikumaru and Gakuto lay on their back on the floor, their blanket threw away. After feeling too cold, they felt like burning now. Momoshiro looked pitiful and Yuuta wasn't better compared to him.

"Echizen…" Kirihara whimpered and gloomily looked at her. He stood up from his chair and walked to her with a zombie-like walk. But he didn't reach her that he collapsed right in front of her, at her feet. "Ahhh…" He felt so weak.

"Kirihara! Get hold of yourself!" she panicked. She helped him getting up. "How come you are sick? I thought that idiots don't get sick!"

"Ahhh…" Kirihara, Marui, Niou, Ootori, Kikumaru and Momoshiro whined.

"Yukimura-senpai, how did this happen?" Ryoma asked as she helped Kirihara sitting back on his chair.

"Cough! Yesterday… Cough cough! Kirihara caught a slight cold. Cough cough cough! Apparently, it got worst and we all caught it too. Cough cough cough! I guess it was because we bathed together. Cough!" Yukimura said in a horse voice. Taking a bath while having a cold wasn't a smart thing to do. The cold would only get worse. And because the boys bathed together, the cold spread among them. "Cough cough cough!" Yukimura coughed again. Sanada gave him a Kleenex box. "Arigatou." Yukimura changed his used tissue for a new one.

Ryoma looked around the room, her eyes going from one person to another. Tezuka, sat in his armchair, was stoic, but his face was red. Fuji softly coughed behind his handkerchief. Kabaji wasn't standing behind Atobe, but he was sat, a Kleenex box in his hand. So he too didn't feel well. Atobe's eyes were half closed, looking very tired. Jirou wasn't sleeping and his nose was red. He coughed so much that he couldn't sleep. Yanagi and Inui were fighting against a headache. Oshitari and Yagyuu tried to keep their head straight on their shoulders. But it was so hard for them that they leaned themselves on the back of their seat. They also looked very tired.

"Is there any of you who isn't sick?" Ryoma asked.

"Cough! Cough!"

"Atchou! Atchou! Atchou!"

"Poeeet!"

"Cough. Cough. Cough cough cough!"

"Poeeet! Poeeet! Poeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

"Cough!"

A concerto of animal neighs was the only answer. Ryoma closed her eyes, her head tilted down. Then she looked up in the sky, praying.

'Oh kami-sama, help me…'

Ryoma was stuck to take care of all the regulars alone. Sakaki-coach, Enzou and May weren't there and she was the only still standing on her feet. Ryoma moved them all in the common room so it would be easier to take care of them. She had them slipped in futon and rested. After that, she called home to ask her mother how to take care of sick people. After Rinko's indications, Ryoma moved to the kitchen. She took out ingredients and made a sweet ginger soup. She immediately had them to drink it. The ginger soup would help to slow the progression of the cold from getting worse.

Then, she returned back to the kitchen to make something more consistent to eat. She made a simple leek porridge and while the porridge was cooking, she went to search for medicines for cold in the house. She found them in a cupboard. When the porridge was ready, she poured it in bowls for all of them. She put the bowls on a tray and ran to the common room. She had them eat it. She knew Kirihara and Momoshiro hated leek, but they were so weak that they didn't even complain once when she fed them with her porridge. Lastly, she had them drink the medicines and then told them to sleep, and they immediately obeyed her. She put a cold towel on their foreheads, which she had previously soaked in water with ice cubes.

When she heard them breathing soundly in their sleep, she returned back to the kitchen with the empty bowls of porridge. She cleaned the dishes and put them back in the cupboard. After an hour, the kitchen was clean again, and she returned back in their room, carrying a basin of water with ice. She changed the towels on their heads. She finished changing the last towel at 4 a.m. in the morning. Ryoma was dead tired. Not taking a shower - too tired -, she returned to her own room. She dropped on her bed and immediately drifted off to sleep.

The next day, she woke up it start at 7a.m.. She thought hearing someone coughed. She hastily sprinted to the common room. The boys were still sleeping, but Shishido and Gakuto were coughing in their sleep. Some of them still had a red face, their pad towel had fallen down next to their heads. Ryoma ran down to fetch cold water with ice and ran up again. She cleaned the sweat on their face and changed the towel on their forehead.

When she finished, she returned to the kitchen to cook porridge again. After an hour or two, she went back into the room. The boys were awake, but no one was talking. It was surprising because Ryoma never saw them so quiet before.

The whole day, she kept doing the same thing: running up and down from the common room to the kitchen and taking care of the sick boys' non-stop. She barely took a break to feed herself. She just picked a piece of bread in the kitchen, plopped it in her mouth while climbing the stair to the common room and finished swallowing when she reached the door. Later in the day, the same thing happened to the apple she stole from the fruits basket.

Fuji took out his thermometer from his mouth. It had dropped to its normal temperature. He was almost cured. And all thanks to Ryoma. Speaking about her… The door of the common room opened and she entered with a tray in her hands. She saw Fuji sat in his futon.

"Fuji-senpai!" She put the tray on the nearby table, rushed to him and kneeled down next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine now. Thank you," Fuji said, smiling. He showed her the thermometer. "I'm almost cured." Ryoma took to instrument, checking it. It had dropped from 39 °C to 37,5 °C. Almost 37,2 °C. So almost cured.

"Ha…" Ryoma sighed. "Yokatta (2)."

"Thank you, Echizen-chan, for taking care of us," Yukimura, sat in his futon next to Fuji, said.

"Yukimura-senpai, you wake up! How are you too?"

"I'm feeling much better now," Yukimura said, smiling to her.

"Ahhh…" Kirihara whimpered slightly and opened his eyes.

"I feel like a got hit by a truck or got ran over by a herd of elephants," Niou said as he slowly sat up from his futon.

"I know what you mean," Oshitari said. He put on his glasses, which were put behind his pillow.

One after the others, the regulars woke up and sat up in their futon. They still whimpered a little bit like baby, but Ryoma was happy to see them healthier than the two nights before. Ryoma ran to the table where she put her tray and took it. She gave to each of them a cup.

"What is it?" Shishido suspiciously asked, watching the amber color liquid.

"Something kaa-san told me to make you drink. There are ginger, lemon and honey in it," Ryoma answered as she put a cup in Yagyuu's hand. "Now drink it! Be careful! It's very hot." They blew on their cup and slowly drank it until the last drop. Marui, Kikumaru and Gakuto licked their lips.

"Hmmmm! This is very good, Ochibi-chan!" Kikumaru said. Kirihara was trying to lick up the last drop remained inside the cup.

"Thank you, Echizen, for taking care of us," Tezuka said. They nodded to her.

"Thank you, Echizen/Ochibi!"

". . ." Silence. Strangely, Ryoma didn't respond back to them. Her head was tilted down, hiding her eyes from the others. Finding it strange, Fuji slightly touched her right shoulder. She didn't move either.

"Ryoma-chan?" Fuji hesitantly called.

"Echizen/Ryoma?" Yukimura and Yuuta also found Ryoma's behaviour strange. Dumbfounded, Yukimura hesitantly raised a hand to Ryoma, waving it in front of her to see if she reacted. Yet, Ryoma still didn't move nor did she say a word. Yukimura frowned. This time, he was seriously worried. He lifted his hand up to touch Ryoma's forehead. But his fingers barely brushed against her forehead before Ryoma fell backward.

"Echizen!/Ochibi!/Ryoma!" all the boys panicked as Fuji caught her.

In Fuji's arms, Ryoma was breathing heavily. Her face was red. She was sweating and burning.

"Ha…! Ha…! Ha…!"

"Ryoma!" Fuji called.

"Ahhhhhh! Echizen! Echizen! Ochibi! Echizen! Ochibiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Kikumaru and Kirihara started to yell. They jumped off their futon and ran all around the room, behaving crazily. "Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Echizen! Ochibiiiiiiiiiiiii! Ahhhhhhhhh!"

"What is happening here?" a voice toned from the door of the room.

Everybody turned their head to see Sakaki-coach. When Sakaki-coach arrived, he was expecting to see the regulars training. However, he didn't see them in the tennis courts, but heard screaming inside the house. He went inside and followed the noise up stair. He found all the regulars in the common room, Kirihara and Kikumaru yelling. When the two panicked boys heard him, they spun to him and ran to him.

"Sakaki-coach! Echizen/Ochibi is dead! She died!" they burst.

"What!" Sakaki-coach panicked. What had happened when he was away which was so bad, to a point that someone died?

"Call down you two. Stop saying stupid things!" Yagyuu said, a hand on Ryoma's forehead. "She's not dead. She is just sick. She has a fever."

Indeed, under Yagyuu's hand, Ryoma was burning. Sakaki-coach sighed in relief. He knew very well that Kirihara and Kikumaru tended to jump from one conclusion to another without thinking, but they really got him worried this time.

"Bring Ryoma to her room," Yukimura said. Fuji lifted Ryoma up in his arms and carried her away.

"So, after we left, you all fell sick. And she was the only one who took care of you," Sakaki-coach resumed what Ooishi told him.

"Hai!" the boys answered. Sakaki-coach sighed, watching May injecting antibiotic into Ryoma.

"This will help her to fight against the fever," May said as she removed the syringe from Ryoma's arm.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves," Sakaki-coach scolded. "While she's the only girl here, not to mention that she's younger than you, she has enough common sense not to panic when you dropped in front of her. But when she became sick, you yelled to the world that she died."

"Sorry," Kirihara and Kikumaru pitifully said, head down.

But inside, Sakaki-coach was very please of what happened when he was away.

'A strong team doesn't depend only on very skilled and talented players, but also on the bond between its members.' Sakaki-coach looked at Ryoma's sleeping face. 'It seems that thanks to you, they learned to care for each other and make their bond stronger.'

Dring! Dring!

The telephone rang. Yuuta went to pick up.

"Moshi moshi. Yuuta speaking."

"Yuuta-kun! (Meooooowww!) It's me, Ryoga. (Mawwwwwrrr!) Karupin wait! (Meaaaw! Meaaaawww!) Stop it, I'm speaking in the phone! (Meowwwwww!) Yuuta, tell me, did something happen to Ryoma? (MAWWWWWWRRRRR!) Ah! Karupin! Don't pull on the line!" Ryoga desperately tried to speak, but Karupin refused to get away from the phone. Ryoga didn't know what happen to Karupin, but it seemed that Karupin was very worried about something.

Karupin was sleeping in Ryoma's room when he suddenly woke up, alerted. Something was wrong. He knew it. He acted weird, meowing non-stop and probably disturbed the neighbourhood. Even Rinko and Nanako couldn't make him stop. Nanjirou told him to shut up and tried to catch him to make him stop. But Karupin jumped on his face, scratching it, then jumped on Ryoga. When Ryoga asked him what was wrong with him, he bit on Ryoga's clothes and pulled him towards the telephone. He kicked the telephone off and turned around it while still meowing. Ryoga observed Karupin's strange behaviour, dumbfounded, when something suddenly struck him. Karupin then jumped on his head, hitting him with his paws, telling him hurry. Ryoga picked the phone and dialled the number of the house where Ryoma was.

"Eeeeeeeeehh! How did you know?" Yuuta exclaimed. "Actually, Ryoma caught a fever."

"What!" Ryoga yelled. "(Maoww maowww mawww MAWWWWW!) Karupin, wait!"

"And aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?" Yuuta asked.

"I was allowed to go home for one night. And a nurse is with me, so it's fine. But Ryoma, is she alright? (MEOOOWWW!) Karupin, calm down! (Mawww mawww maww maooooow!)"

"We have a nurse with us. Ryoma will be fin-…"

"MAOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Karupin yowled in the phone, calling for Ryoma to speak to him. Yuuta hold the phone away from his ear. The cat was so loud that everybody could hear him.

"Wait! Karupin! Don't eat the phone!" Yuuta heard Ryoga said.

"Yuuta, who is it?" Kikumaru asked when he saw Yuuta holding the phone away from his ears by the length of his arm.

"It's Ryoga-san. And Ryoma's cat seemed to be worried for her."

"Mawwwwwww!" Karupin succeed to make Ryoga dropped the phone on the floor. "Mawwwww!"

In the mansion, everybody was watching Yuuta and the loud telephone, from which the sound of a cat meowing loud could be heard, and Yuuta, who had a finger in his ear.

"Meow meow meow meow mawwwwww!"

Kikumaru came to Yuuta and took the phone from him.

"Moshi moshi. You are Karupin, right?"

"Mawwww mawwwwwww!" Karupin neighed again. It wasn't his mistress on the phone. He wanted to hear his mistress' voice.

"No, I'm not Ochibi-chan. It's me, Eiji, nyaaaah!"

"Mawww mawww mawwwww!"

"Okay, listen to me. Ochibi-chan is sick, so she needed to rest now. She cannot talk to you now. Do you understand?"

"Meowww…"

"We are taking very good care of her nyaaaaaaah! So don't worry."

"Meow meow!"

"When she will be cured, she will come back to you. Is that okay?"

"Meow meoooow!"

"I promise she will be back to you nyaaaaaaah!"

"…" Karupin didn't say anything.

"That's a good boy nyaaaah!" Kikumaru said. Then, he gave the phone back to Yuuta. Dumbfounded, Yuuta spoke again.

"Ryoga-san, are you still there?"

"Yeah. And it seems that Karupin had calm now. And Ryoma?"

"She's sleeping. I will tell her that you call when she wakes up."

"Thank you. And take care of her please. Bye!"

"Hmn! Bye!" Yuuta nodded and hung down the phone. He turned to Kikumaru. "Kikumaru, how do you know what her cat was saying? Do you know cat-talk?" he asked.

"I don't know if I really know cat-talk. But I figured that the cat would feel worried about Ochibi-chan. Animals are very sensitive to these sort of things, so I say what I thought the cat would want to hear," Kikumaru said.

Sakaki-coach watched Kirihara, who sat on Ryoma's bed, at her feet. Kirihara looked at Ryoma with a worried expression on his face. Yukimura came to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Kirihara looked up at him.

"Buchou…" Kirihara said sadly. Yukimura smiled to him.

"She will recover soon. May-san said so. Don't worry," Yukimura said. Kirihara didn't respond, but turned his eyes to Ryoma again. Yukimura's eyes softened.

'He changed a lot,' Yukimura thought. He looked at Ryoma too. 'Kirihara must be thinking 'If I didn'tfell sick and spread it to everybody, then she wouldn't be sick too.''

'Kirihara, who never cares about anyone who was sick or hurt, is worried about her. This is a first,' Sakaki-coach thought.

'Echizen-chan, we are very lucky to have you here with us,' Yukimura thought.

(1) wakarimashita: literaly, it's "I understood", but it means "I understand";

(2) yokatta: equivalent to "It's good", "What a relieve!".

A/N: Next chapter… Fuji's big time! ^0^!