*NOTE* Alternate Universe wherein I shamelessly borrowed/altered ideas from various media sources and even threw in some of my own. If anything is canon here, it's probably an accident. Some chapters contain corporal punishment.
Changechildren (Prince of Tennis)
Part 49
By Haruka (email: haruka at ymail dot com)
Ryoma hit another ball then walloped it again on the return. He was enjoying this time alone, just he and the practice wall. Due to the well-meaning intentions of his teammates and the other kids at the mansion, he'd barely been by himself all week.
Truthfully, he hadn't minded. The first couple of days after finding out about his mother leaving, he hadn't wanted to be alone. It was good to always have someone who cared about him nearby. Especially reassuring was his father's presence. Although Nanjiroh didn't hover over him, somehow he always seemed to be there when Ryoma needed him most. That first night, Ryoma even slept with him, and if his roommate Kevin found it odd at all that he left their room and didn't return, he didn't mention it.
But Kevin was there, and so was Momoshiro. Between the two of them, his father, Karupin, and the quiet support of his teammates and the others, he felt he was finally accepting it all.
There was one more factor helping in that, and it had come from an unexpected source. Word had begun spreading like wildfire about how Sakaki and Hanamura had once been married, and that Takahisa, Youhei, and Kouhei were their children. There was a lot of skepticism at first, but when any of them were questioned, the answers were always the same. Ryoma thought the whole thing was pretty weird, but it did distract people from his own issues somewhat, so he was glad for it.
"Hey, Ryoma."
He looked up to see Takahisa watching him, holding his racquet. "Want to hit the ball around a while?"
Ryoma tugged his cap down. "Sure."
The two of them went to the court and began an easy volley to warm up.
"How have you been doing?" Takahisa asked as they played.
Ryoma shrugged. "Okay."
"I know we don't know each other or anything but I know what it's like to have your parents split." Takahisa ran to intercept Ryoma's ball. "If you want to talk, I'll listen."
Ryoma was about to turn him down flat – he had a lot of friends already who would listen. But none of them had broken families.
"Thanks," he said, firing another ball over the net. "I'll keep that in mind."
A few more balls went back and forth, then Ryoma said, "It's weird hearing you call our guardians 'Kaasan' and 'Tousan', but I guess I'm glad not to be the only one with a parent here. Why'd you decide to tell everyone after all this time?"
"It was already in motion before we made any decisions. Mizuki found out at the same time our parents were confessing to the adults. It seemed pointless to hide it anymore after that."
Ryoma caught the ball at the return and stopped playing to look at him. "I have to ask – what kind of parents ARE they? They're both kind of weird as tennis coaches." He rolled his eyes. "I know my dad is the weirdest of all, but I can't see either one of yours as parents."
"What, you think my mother practices 'coordination bedtimes' or my dad kicks us out of the family if we don't clean our rooms?" Takahisa chuckled. "Work is work and home is home. Hey, you've seen them here long enough to have SOME idea."
"I guess so, but it's been hard to tell with my father and Ryuzaki-sensei mixed in, too."
Takahisa walked over to the net and tapped on it with his racquet idly. "They've been good enough parents. They gave us the best opportunities, nurtured our interests and all that. My dad is more reserved with outward affection than my mom, but we know they both love us." He snorted wryly. "And they're both strict. It's hard to get away with anything."
Ryoma paused for a moment, then asked, "Was it a bad divorce?"
Takahisa sighed. "No divorce is good, but as you can see, they can be in each other's presence without bloodshed. Actually, since they both moved in here, they're closer to being friends than they have been for a couple of years."
"Do you think they'll ever get back together?"
"No way." The Jyousei Captain shook his head firmly. "They've been divorced for a year now, and they're a lot happier this way. That's more important to me than wanting them together 'just because.'"
"That's pretty mature of you," Ryoma commented, bouncing the tennis ball on the edge of his racquet. "How do your brothers feel?"
"I can't see them wanting to go back to the way things were when our parents were together. Besides, the two of them have always had each other to cling to, so they never really felt alone." He looked thoughtful. "I think the only lasting problem all three of us have had was being a little jealous of the Hyotei team, because they were seeing more of our father than we were."
"So you lived with your mom after the divorce?"
Takahisa smiled ruefully. "Not me, I lived with Tousan. But he still spent more time with his team." He looked back toward the mansion. "That's why I really like it here. We have both of them together with us, plus the twins and I are together, too. We're not a family unit anymore, but we're all in one place."
"Must be nice," Ryoma remarked, causing Takahisa to turn back quickly.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Your mom …."
Ryoma put up a hand. "It's okay. I guess like you said, I can try to be happy for her. I just didn't get any warning before it happened, and that made it worse. Oyaji and I will be all right."
Takahisa nodded. "I think you will be." He smiled gently. "Your dad is crazy about you, you know. He acts like a pervert and a freak, but for him, it's all about you."
The younger boy tugged his cap down again to hide his face, but Takahisa could see he was pleased. He gave Ryoma a bop on the head with his racquet.
"Come on, let's do some real practicing and take our emotions out on the ball."
"Okay." Ryoma tossed him the ball. "Your serve."
"You asked for it." The older boy winked.
Akaya adjusted his hat to make sure his black curls were hidden underneath. It wouldn't do to be recognized before entering his chosen victim.
He'd given a lot of thought the past few days as to whom he should possess for the weekend. Like Bunta had suggested, he tried to think of someone who would be easily manipulated or at least intimidated. That didn't cover too many of the Changechildren, but he thought he knew of at least one.
Students began coming out the gates of Hyotei Gakuen. Akaya flattened himself against the wall.
The tennis team Regulars came out as a group. That didn't surprise him; he could see Atobe's limousine nearby. All he needed was the right opportunity ….
There it was! His target was last in the group, walking beside his doubles partner. So long as neither turned around, he'd be home-free. Akaya slipped right up behind him and touched his back. At that moment, the Rikkaidai player disappeared.
He felt it, that sudden shock of realization that meant the person who had been possessed knew he was there. But Akaya already had a complete hold on him, so he would be unable to alert his friends. However, Akaya thought it would be fun to talk to him, so he allowed him to think freely inside his own head, and let his victim hear him, as well.
("Hello, Ohtori-kun.")
("Kirihara Akaya?! What are you – oh NO!")
Akaya felt Choutarou's utter despair at his realization. ("Yes, I've decided to do a little investigation of you people at that mansion, and you're the lucky guy who will host me.")
("But I don't want you inside me! Get out!")
Akaya giggled audibly. ("No.")
Shishido looked toward Choutarou curiously. "What's funny?" he asked.
Choutarou struggled to tell him about the possession he was being subjected to, but to his horror, he heard his own voice replying, "Gakuto-senpai's face."
Shishido blinked in disbelief, then laughed. However, Gakuto stopped in his tracks and glared up at Choutarou.
"You want a fist in the nose?!"
The younger boy could tell he had an amused expression on his own face, even if he really felt like crying. "You think you can reach me?"
"You know how high I can jump, you arrogant -!"
Yuushi caught both of Gakuto's shoulders. "Calm down," he advised and gave Choutarou a chastising look. "Stop baiting him. What's gotten into you?"
Choutarou groaned inwardly. If only you knew, he thought.
Tom squeezed Youhei's hand lightly as they walked through the garden. He had just finished telling him about the photo session he and Terry had had that day, and was listening to Youhei's description of Jyousei's tennis practice earlier. He couldn't help laughing.
"For all your seriousness about tennis, your team seems to have a lot of fun together."
"Most of us, anyway," Youhei agreed. "It's hard to draw Reiji into anything that isn't fully about tennis."
"Well, you know we had our own 'tennis machine' on our team, but thankfully he loosened up on himself a bit."
"We're all serious during practice, though," Youhei mentioned. "Kaasan's no easier than any other coach and tougher than most."
Tom glanced at him. "I know it's been a few days since it all came out, but it still sounds odd to hear you call her that."
"Imagine what it's like for our teammates," Youhei said wryly. "You could have blown them all over with feathers." He sighed. "Except Reiji. I think maybe he was jealous at first. He must be getting used to the idea now, though; he's started speaking to us again."
"That's good. It would be –" Tom fell silent suddenly as he looked ahead. Youhei did the same and saw Tarou had just come outside and was watching them. Youhei felt Tom's grip on his hand loosen like he was going to let go, but the magenta-haired boy clenched it firmly.
"Hi, Tousan," he greeted with a cheery smile.
Tarou nodded to his son. His eyes shifted to Tom. He held the American's gaze steadily for a few beats before walking away.
The fourteen-year-old exhaled loudly. "He doesn't like me much, does he?"
"It's not that at all!" Youhei reassured him, then shrugged. "He's just not used to it. Before the divorce, the only one of us who had ever dated was Takahisa, and he wasn't really serious about it."
"I wonder what your dad thinks of Mizuki then," Tom mused.
Youhei chuckled. "Mizuki can only make you look even better!"
Momoshiro watched Takahisa and Ryoma play tennis from the kitchen window. Taking a bite from his thick sandwich, he chewed thoughtfully.
"Hey," Kevin greeted as he strolled in, "I've been looking for you. Should've known to check here first." He glanced at the sandwich. "Ryuzaki-san will kill you for eating that right before dinner."
"Nah, she knows I can eat three times this and still have plenty of room for dinner with seconds." Momoshiro looked over at him. "What do you want?"
"To talk to you about Ryoma, what else?" Kevin joined Momo at the window and watched for a few moments. "They're doing more talking than playing down there."
"I'm glad," Momo said frankly. "Really glad. Takahisa is older, and he's been through a divorce with his parents. He can give him another perspective."
"Yeah, that's true." Kevin nodded. He turned his back to the window and leaned against it. "I've decided something. I'm not going to fight you anymore about being Ryoma's boyfriend."
Momoshiro looked shocked. "You're not? How come?"
Kevin smiled up at him ruefully. "Don't get me wrong. I still love him and want to be his boyfriend, but he cares about both of us and I don't want to give him anymore pressure." He shrugged. "Besides, you KNOW you're not going to get to room with him. They put us together because of age and that won't change. Our little performance before all the bad stuff came down didn't seem to be working. So I'll stay in the room and will get to have as much of his time as you will – we'll be sharing him. The label of 'boyfriend' isn't so important to me right now." He winked. "Maybe in a couple of years, if he hasn't gotten bored with you, I'll fight you for real."
Momo normally wouldn't be sure he could trust Kevin, but he had seen how conscious of Ryoma's feelings the blonde had been during the past week. Whatever else may be in his mind, he certainly cared about Ryoma. He was right about the room situation, too. Since there was nothing he could do to change that state of things, and Kevin was at least appearing to be magnanimous, he figured he'd go along with it. At least until he had reason not to.
"Okay." He nodded. "Thanks."
"Sure," Kevin replied, then paused. "Want to play video games until dinner?"
Another surprise. "Why not?" Momo said with a grin. "I'll beat you, too. Beat you good."
Kevin gave a short laugh. "In your dreams!" They headed out of the room but were both pushed back from the doorway as Choutarou forced his way in.
"Quit blocking the way, dorks," he remarked and headed for the fridge.
Momoshiro and Kevin both stared back at him, then looked at each other.
"Fight with his boyfriend?" Momo guessed.
"Not enough sex," Kevin said with certainty. They glanced behind at him once more, then burst into giggles and ran down the hall.
("Sex?") Akaya chirped in Choutarou's mind and searched through the Hyotei player's memories. ("Seems to me you and Shishido have had MORE than enough. Shame on you. Hey -!") he said suddenly and laughed internally. ("Who'd have guessed that YOU were the seme?")
Choutarou wilted as the mocking laughter reverberated in his head.
End of Part 49
(2006)
Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.
This fic is not to be re-posted.
