Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews! I love them and please forgive me for not rewarding you with another chapter.

I was planning to make this entire story a lot happier but I then hit a writer's block and watched scary/dramatic/VERY sad movies while trying to type the chapter. But I still want a happy story between Ryoma and Sakuno, so I planned to do a small one shot sequel. Please tell me if you'd like that and if not, I won't type anything.

Some fore warnings:

This chapter is a little dramatic. I am so sorry if you hate it but that's how it is. Because of the implied abuse, I'm going to bump up the rating a bit just so I'll be safe.

This story is coming to a close so please review and give me some feed back. I really suck at endings so be warned, this will be a sappy ending unless I get some suggestions!

I also redid this chapter so if you read it before, read the end again.

Namuri was being lulled to sleep by the teacher's lecture. She'd been caught daydreaming in class for the third time in ten minutes. It wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't answering one of his questions. By the time she'd heard his question, she was halfway through another random thought.

The teacher kept her after class and redid the entire lesson with her. Normally a student would simply be given detention but Namuri was the top of her class and had the best chances of getting into a decent school. This was a big deal in a school of delinquents and morons so all the teachers worked twice as hard with her.

"Namuri, pay attention!" commanded the teacher in front of her. "You will never be accepted into a good school unless you study and work hard!"

"I'm paying attention!" she growled back. The teacher gave her a reprimanding look before repeating his question. She answered and he nodded in acknowledgment. He dismissed her and proceeded to pack his things.

Namuri sat and figured this would be as good a time as any to ask her teacher to explain the letter she got. "When did you and the principle send an application to a school in America for me?"

The teacher stopped halfway through his packing. His eyes were wide and they looked horrified. He made small raspy sounds and she glared harder. "Well, you see Namuri..."

"Why did you send it without my permission?" she asked coldly.

"Namuri, we want what is best for you. The schools in America are wonderful and the principle knows someone in that school. It's a very good opportunity!"

"It is my choice where I apply to. You and the principle had no right to apply to this school for me!" Namuri stood up and grabbed her bag. "I haven't told anyone so this stays buried, understand?"

Although teachers were respected, it was a common sense that they were human and could be knocked out. In a school of delinquents, teachers needed to be wary and know that no threat of detention would deter an angry fist.

Namuri left the class and collected her things from her locker. The clock in the hall read 5:30 and Namuri grumbled. Her brothers were supposed to go grocery shopping with her today but by this time, they probably all went out.

She felt the vibration of her phone in her pocket. She snapped it open and answered. It was silent for a long while but then came a cool voice.

"Hello Namuri-chan... Do you remember me?" a cold and bitter voice Namuri almost died from a heart attack. "I miss you...and Sakuno-chan." Namuri looked up and down the deserted halls. She could feel chills running down her arms and legs. "I can see you." He said in a cold teasing voice.

"What do you want?" she asked quickly escaping the building.

"I want lots of things just like most people. I want a big house, lots of money and a beautiful woman." He stressed the last item importantly. "There are only two women I consider beautiful."

Namuri quickly rushed to the deserted bus stop. Why the hell was no one around? She listened as he made a conversation with himself.

"There is one beautiful girl who must be an angel. She touched the heart of delinquents and ruffians and without lifting a finger. All she did was: ignore them and hold her head high. She proved that just because no one else believes in you, doesn't mean you can't amount to anything." His velvety voice could only prove he was smiling to himself.

"I remember her so well. I remember her weak legs, her undeveloped curves, her small face, her gorgeous eyes, her sweet lips and trim hips-"

"Shut up!" Namuri scowled. "How dare you talk about her you filthy wretch?"

"Whatever do you mean? I thought you loved to talk about Sakuno-chan. After all, you were her lover. You were the one who fell so tragically in love at the age of six. You were the one who faced all the trials of homosexuality by the age of ten." His voice grew colder and colder as he continued.

"You were the one with a cold heart..." He calmed and continued is his shrill voice. "...but that changed, didn't it? Not for the better, because your love shut you out when she finally cracked!"

"SHUT UP!"

He continued. "I hated and loved you, the untouchable you, the one no one could have. I did everything I could to have you but you still rejected my affections. Then you gave your heart away. I hated you for giving your love to another and yet I loved you even more because I couldn't have you. It was then that I realized you had a weakness."

Namuri felt herself tremble. Her body shook furiously. She knew the story. She knew it first hand and she hated it.

"You know, they locked me in the hospital because of you, because I tried to get you to love me. I tried to get rid of her, that weakness of yours. That little, beautiful, wonderful angel was in the way and I almost had her but then you came with all those men in black and white and they took me away for six years..." His voice grew loud and soft when he wanted to punctuate his meaning...or it could have just been his insanity. "I was gone for so long and you stopped coming...I wanted to see you so I came to find you..."

Namuri stood in front of the police station. The cold voice spoke again. "Going to get help again?" She stopped her hand on the door. She could almost feel his cold, ugly smile form on his twisted face. "I think you're beautiful Namuri-chan." And the line died.

Tomoka walked worriedly to her best friend's house. Sakuno's parents had gone out for the night and had left Sakuno alone. Normally Sakuno would've slept over at Tomoka's home when she was alone but Sakuno had refused.

Tomoka had been worried about her friend all day. Sakuno had been acting...disturbed and paranoid. Sakuno brushed off all notice of her odd behavior and went home with Namuri, who had skipped her last period to walk Sakuno home.

Tomoka had called and left messages on her phone but Sakuno didn't answer. This had worried Tomoka and so she told her parents she was sleeping over at Sakuno's to keep her company.

Tomoka soon found herself outside the Ryuzaki residence. A cold chill ran down Tomoka's spine. 'What's wrong? I've been to Sakuno's house plenty of times. Nothing is wrong!' she thought walking up to the door. She opened it with her key (she'd made a copy when she was planning a surprise party for Sakuno a while back) and stepped into the house.

The lights were all off. "Sakuno?" Tomoka called to the ominous house. She began turning on all the lights as she searched from room to room. She ventured upstairs and saw a light on in the master bedroom. Tomoka approached the door and slowly opened it. "Sakuno?" she whispered. She stepped into the room and not three seconds had past when an object was swung furiously at her.

Tomoka screamed and ducked, barely getting out of the course of the baseball bat. She looked up horrified and saw Sakuno shaking furiously, looking pale and scared. "Tomo-chan?" Sakuno dropped the bat and hugged her friend, speaking many different phrases of apologies and explanations. Tomoka could barely understand any of it.

When Sakuno had calmed somewhat, she took Tomoka to the kitchen and sat down with her best friend. "Tomo-chan, I need you to do something very important for me. He's not here yet so you have to get out of here and get help!"

"What?" Tomoka was extremely confused and worried.

"Tomo-chan, please listen!" Sakuno tore a piece of paper she'd written on and stuffed it into her friend's pocket. "Tomo-chan, go to Namuri's house now." Sakuno looked scared. "I will be ok, just trust me." Tomo-chan could do little more the strain a nod as she was pushed out the door.

Tomoka was rather stunned by what she'd done. She'd left her best friend alone in an empty house when she was scared! Of course, Tomoka had been scared stiff but she wasn't going to completely abandon her friend. But, she was so scared. So she went to the first person she could think of.

Ryoma was woken out of peaceful slumber when the doorbell was rung furiously. He padded downstairs and opened the door. He was shocked, to say the least, to find Tomoka on his doorstep. Following him around and being noisy and cheerful had been annoying but to come to his house in the middle of the night was verging on stalking.

"Ryoma-sama, something happened to Sakuno!"

Ryoma was quiet for a moment. He heard grumbling from upstairs and footsteps approaching the top of the stairs. Wanting to avoid a confrontation with his father, he pulled on his shoes and jacket and shut the door. Tomoka wasted no time dragging Ryoma towards the address Sakuno had written down.

Ryoma was given very little detail to what happened and what was going on. When Tomoka began ringing the doorbell furiously, Ryoma got a taste of what Sakuno went through. A grumpy boy opened the door and glared at the pair on the doorstep.

"What?" he growled. He might've been sleeping but he seemed a little too weary to have been resting.

"Sakuno told me to come here and she's in trouble or something and I need to find Namuri to get her help!" Tomoka blurted out quickly.

The boy was shocked for a minute but pulled the two kids into the hall and shut the door again. "Did Sakuno say anything?" Tomoka shook her head. He led them to a living room where doctors and policemen were sitting in front of computers and equipment. "Stay here for a minute and I'll get Namuri."

He wasn't gone for two minutes when Namuri slid clumsily into the room. She looked like she had been woken up from restless sleep. Her clothes were wrinkled and her hair was a mess. "Tomoka-chan? Punk? Did something happen to Sakuno?"

"She was so scared and she told me to come see you." Namuri slumped down on the floor. The boy from earlier helped her to the kitchen and left the three to talk. Namuri sighed tiredly. Her eyes were red from lack of sleep. She looked miserable.

"Ok, what you have to understand about this story is that I would give my life up to change it but I can't," she started oddly. She seemed to be trying to find a proper way to tell it.

"Before Sakuno transferred schools, she and I were friends. We were dating and both of our families were ok about it. They knew how much I loved her and that I would do anything for her. It only became a problem when other people found out. They told us it was wrong and tried to break us up. But Sakuno meant too much to me. It didn't bother me if anyone opposed our relationship but when they started beating us and hurting Sakuno, I decided to do something. Behind her back, I beat up everyone that had hurt her because of us. Not surprisingly, no one bothered us after that and everything went back to normal."

"But there was one person who would never change. His name is Jeremiah and he'd been hounding me since kindergarten and don't ask me why." She said unconsciously clenching her fists at the name of the fucker who screwed up her life.

"So what does he have to do with this?" asked Tomoka.

"Well, Jeremiah couldn't believe he'd lost out to some little girl. He couldn't imagine what I saw in her. So behind my back, he got to know her and that's when he fucked up our lives. He tricked Sakuno to going to a run down apartment. He tied her up, beat and bullied her. When we found her she was so scared she couldn't even look me in the eye."

"How did you find her?" Tomoka asked worriedly. Poor Sakuno.

She clenched her fists again. "He was stupid and called me to brag. I called the police and he was sent to juvenile hall. He was sent to the hospital psyche ward. Apparently he was nuts. I even went to see him once, he never saw me though. The doctors called me, saying they needed me to help him 'get better'. I told them to screw off because I'd never help him after what he did to Sakuno."

"Sakuno changed schools when she was released from the hospital. I called her a few times but her mom told me to leave her alone. I told her I would but asked that she tell me as soon as I could be with Sakuno again. That time never came and when I was finally contacted, it was Sakuno's e'mail. We stopped see each other and without saying it, we broke up."

"What does that have to do with now? What happened to Sakuno?" Tomoka asked urgently.

"Jeremiah escaped from the hospital and is trying to get at me again through Sakuno."

"So why is Sakuno all alone in her house?" Tomoka demanded angrily.

"Trust me, I wish I knew." Namuri looked over at the boy that had opened the door. He stood against the door frame quietly. "Ask him, he's been babysitting me all night."

The boy stood up straight. "Jeremiah is a total fruitcake. He called Namuri three hours ago and told her exactly what he planned to do and when. So we called the police and told them and they are monitoring Sakuno in her home. When he's there, they'll go in and get him." The boy explained.

"Ok, now who are you?" Ryoma asked coldly.

Namuri decided to answer. "He's Akima, my brother." She turned back to the two and sighed. "Is Sakuno ok?"

Tomoka frowned sadly. "She's really scared. She even tried to knock my head off with a bat!"

"I told you she wouldn't be ok!" Namuri yelled angrily at her brother.

"She agreed to it."

"Doesn't mean she'll be ok!" Namuri's eyes were fierce and angry. Both freshmen shifted away from the angry sophomore. Seeing this, she forced herself to calm down. "Will you stay a while? We're going to pick Sakuno up soon."

Sakuno waited in her room. She looked at pictures in her photo album. She had one album open in her lap and another open on the bed beside her. She took two pictures out.

The first was of a small ten year old girl. Her chocolate brown hair was cut short to her shoulders and streaked in black. It bounced freely about her shoulders and face as she moved to the song she was apparently singing. Her face was so open and full of life.

She looked at the next picture. The girl was sitting with a book open in her lap. Her long, twin, chocolate braids tumbled down her back. She was hiding shyly behind the exuberant girl by her side. A smile was playing on her lips but embarrassment seemed to overpower it.

Sakuno looked into the mirror hanging on the wall. "They are both in me. They are both me. I won't run from it anymore. I made the wrong choice before but I'll make it up this time."

The eyes looking back at her showed a confidence she'd long since buried. She'd thought it had gotten her into trouble but she knew better now.

She heard a window being smashed in. She grabbed her baseball bat and clutched it. She heard the approaching footsteps.

The velvety voice that spoke sent cold shivers through Sakuno's body. "Sakuno-chan..." She'd felt that voice so close to her before; right against her flesh. The memories flooded back to her in a mad rush. "I know you're here. Come out. We haven't finished planning that surprise for Namuri-chan."

Sakuno quickly flicked the lights off, signaling the entry of the man to the police outside.

"Sakuno-chan, are you in here?" The voice was right outside the door. The knob slowly turned. Sakuno moved away from the door quickly. A man poked his head in. "Sakuno-chan?" he called, searching the dark.

When Sakuno saw his eyes, she shivered. Madness was the only thing in his eyes. His gaze seemed to soften when he saw her. "You look wonderful Sakuno-chan. Did Namuri do this for you?"

Sakuno didn't reply but shrunk back against the far wall. She couldn't even see a shadow of the person he once was. Nothing in his soul seemed to be left. Namuri had told her so. Sakuno never thought it possible though but there he was: standing before thinking nothing had changed between them, a souless droid hell bent on revenge.

"Sakuno-chan, you look so beautiful. I can see why Namuri is in love with you. But why doesn't she love me? I tell her she's beautiful, wonderful, amazing...What do you have that I don't?" His voice became angry. "If it wasn't for you, she'd be with me!"

He threw himself at her and Sakuno barely had time to move away. She screamed and dropped the baseball bat. She fled from the room and immediately after, the police and doctors rushed in to immobilize the boy.

"Sakuno!" screamed the man in anguish and hate. The doctors drugged him and the man was dragged out of the room half conscious. He glared at Sakuno as they past her. "I know you! You two will never last! She will leave you and you will be broken and I will be glad for your pain!" he screamed as they took him away.

"We didn't last but that's ok because we're still friends. It was a choice we both made."

Author's note: This chapter took me forever! I am so sorry! I had total writers block but I tried to get this up as soon as I could.

Please review and give me some ideas for the ending if you don't want a sappy ending.