Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis

I felt that Ryoma should handle this shock based on his character, you noe silently shocked and all, and not out of character like going crazy, fainting instantly or spluttering nonsense and stuff.

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Ryoma thought things was bad enough. News of a little girl bawling in the middle of the tennis courts will be spreaded throughout the entire school like a wildfire. He can see it now, the newsletter headlines screaming, "MORNING SHOCK: GIRL FOUND CRYING AT TENNIS COURTS. SEIGAKU TENNIS TEAM SUSPECTED BEING INVOLVED IN FOUL PLAY!"

Ryoma quickly dismissed that thought away as he popped another aspirin into his mouth.

However, a sudden shriek that echoed the entire school caused him to choke on that blasted pill. Coughing violently, Ryoma turned to the culprit. Who had the audacity to shriek that loud early in the morning? He could be choked to death! He was too young to die! Ryoma still had to defeat many opponents and clinch the champion!

Only to see a horrified figure shaking violently behind the fence. She was stunned and had a look of dismay all over her face. Pointing at Sakura, she began to splutter incoherent words like she had a fit or something.

"RYOMA-SAMA! IS THIS TRUE?"

It was too early in the morning to have a fan girl and a little girl competing to see who had a healthier pair of lungs. The racket that both female create was enough to kill their ear drums. Ryoma was sorely tempted to empty the box of aspirin into his mouth as he felt his headache developing into a full blown one.

"RYOMA-SAMA! AS THE PRESIDENT OF RYOMA-SAMA'S FAN CLUB, I DEMAND TO KNOW THE TRUTH!"

God, that Tomo girl was going on and on with her tirade and Ryoma was not making any visible actions to stop her. Getting all riled up, she dashed towards Ryoma and cried out, "RYOMA-SAMA IS SUPPOSED TO MARRY ME!"

… …

This was getting far too absurd. The screws in her head must be loose.

Ignoring the hysterical fan girl, Momo turned to Ryoma and piped, "Echizen, you should calm Sakura down."

"Why me?"

"Ochibi was the one who made her cry in the first place!" Kikumaru exclaimed

"Yadda!"

"Echizhen, you are her so-called father, so technically speaking you are responsible for Sakura!" Momo cried exasperatedly. Tomo-chan was still yelling in the background, with her three classmates (Horio and company) desperately trying to silence her.

"Yadda!"

"HORA! ECHIZEN! I SAY YOU ACT LIKE A MAN AND DO IT!" Kawamura shouted swinging a tennis racket dangerously in his hands.

"YADDA!!"

"Echizen! 100 more laps if you don't calm her down NOW!" Tezuka emotionless voice boomed. He was getting tired and irritated by the stubborn first year and the ruckus caused by the two females. "Maybe I should take some aspirin too." He thought inwardly.

Inui raised his flask of Inui's Mega Power Juice and gave Ryoma a morbid smile.

That pig-headed Ryoma stared sullenly at Tezuka before tipping his cap ever so slightly. Marching up to Sakura, he stared down at her silently, hoping she would shut up instantly.

Well she did quieten down but was still sobbing. Sakura obviously wants something to pacify her and Ryoma had a terrible feeling about this.

Looking up to Ryoma with huge teary eyes, Sakura hiccupped a few times before stating her request.

"I want Papa to gimme a horsy ride!"

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Echizen's POV

This morning practice was interrupted by two females; one crying her eyes out while the other ranting on and on about how I was hers and that no one will replace her in my heart and all the other rubbish. They are seriously nutcases. The only thing that they succeeded in doing was two things. One was to aggravate my mental condition and causing my headache to go from bad to worse. That reminds me, this brand of aspirin does not even help. I need to stop by at the pharmacy today, purchase one that has no side-effects or whatsoever.

The other was to tell myself that I will never fall in love and get married. After this experience, I realized that the opposite sex was a bother and were pretty lethal when emotional. Well, the evidence was right in front of my eyes. A swooning fan girl that was unstoppable when fired up never spared a thought for my ear drums and a "daughter", who was wailing, was well, increasing the noise level by a notch. If females were like this, I shudder to think how I husbands can tolerate their wives mood swings and their children's' bid for attention. Furthermore, my mind was only on tennis and nothing else. Love wasn't in my vocabulary in the first place.

Indeed, the opposite sex are definitely not someone to be trifled with.

Anyway, I wasn't too pleased when my sempais asked me to calm that Sakura kid down. It was her fault that she cried so easily and all I did was to state the truth. I am not her father and I have this important match approaching. It was far more important than playing hide and seek with some big-eye girl. Moreover, I will not stoop that low to count one to hundred and let my pride crumble into pieces.

However, I soon ran out of luck as Buchou zeroed down on me and ordered me to shut her up. It was that or another hundred laps. It was an addition of hundred laps to the probably existing hundred laps for my late coming. In all it was two hundred laps and no matter how great my stamina was, to complete two hundred laps within a day without dying off was as good as waiting for a miracle to happen. Moreover, running with a headache would definitely make my vision swim once more and fainting in front of others was not a thrilling thought. Worse still, Inui-sempai was threatening me with his juice again. I seriously don't want to end up in the hospital after practice today! Who knows what is passing through in his twisted mind! I am starting to develop a phobia of his drink. Wait a minute, I am already terrified of his drink. A mention of it can send shivers down my back.

Literally being COERCED, I grudgingly trudged towards her, none too happy about this. I really hoped that she could stop her water works and spare me a few minutes of misery. Of course that was wishful thinking. I swear even though she was all teary and stuff, she had that evil glint in her eye, like she was cooking up something evil. My six sense told me to make a run for it, heck with those laps and juice! Regretfully, I stood rooted to the ground and waited for that kid to pass my death sentence.

So obviously I was horrified when she told me her demands. A horsy ride! Me going down on all fours, letting her sit on my back and treat me as a real horse! NO WAY! I am NEVER going to degrade and be an animal! Never in a thousand years! The other members were obviously amused. Horio and the other two could not believe their ears. So were the rest of the members. Fuji-sempai had this smile of apprehension which I would love to wipe it off, Kikumaru-sempai was bobbing up and down, opening showing his excitement. Buchou was as usual stoning, showing no expression or whatsoever. But he was shaking slightly, like he was forcing down a burst of laughter. The other regulars were also anticipating this horsy ride. I mean who wouldn't? After all, the famous Ryoma Echizen has NEVER EVER done any thing out of character in his ENTIRE LIFE. Not after the day when I managed to get back my father for disgracing my name during pre-school. That old man was lusting after the opposite sex as usual. The bad thing was that he was going gaga over my classmates' MOTHERS and doing that disgraceful act right in front of my peers. In the name of honour (blah blah), I gave him a hard kick in the balls and was terribly satisfied to see him writhing in pain, and cursing blemishes under his breath.

That was actually the last time I actually did something out of character. Anyway, I was tempted to rip off the camera that Kikumaru sempai was trying to hide. I am hundred percent sure he was going to use it for black mail. The last time I caught him taking pictures of me after drinking Inui-sempai's concoction, he insisted that he was raising funds for the club. Selling pictures to crazy fan girls or to rivals that I have offended wasn't sitting well with me.

I squatted down and placed my palms on the dusty ground ever so slowly. Closing my eyes, I was hoping that the ground would open up and swallowed me as a whole. Farewell, dignity and pride. May we meet again some day! Obviously that kid was oblivious to my pains as she happily trotted over and heaved herself onto my back. My scowl deepened as shame within me increased ten folds.

"Move horsy move!" That annoying kid chirped.

Growling in anger, I inched forward, as if I was dragging a ten ton weight after me. Flashes were emitted as the devil's spawn gleefully started to snap away on his camera. Fuji-sempai had this morbid smile on his face. He sure adores people getting tortured. What a sadist. There was a collective gasp among the members as they could not believe their eyes. Right in front of them, there was me in a humiliating position, pacifying a scheming child. Inch by inch, I moved like a snail, with that brat trampling on my pride in the process. Treating my neck as a leash, she abruptly grabbed hold of it, almost strangling me. That did it! Wheezing heavily, I threw her unceremoniously off my back and hurriedly stood up, glaring daggers at that imp. Wallowing in self pity, I tried to salvage the remains of my dignity by pulling my cap as low as possible.

The Tomo-chan girl went limp and fainted when she realized that her Ryoma-sama was in such a humiliating position. It obviously didn't fit well with her cool image of me which was well implanted in her puny brain. The trio (Horio…) panicked and quickly

grabbed onto any container and tipped the contents to rouse her. Well bad luck for her they grabbed Inui-sempai's bottle. She woke up obviously, and with a piercing scream that could shatter glass, her eyeballs rolled to the back of her head and she blacked out again. Well that was very much the end of her.

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Normal POV

Sakura had her bit of fun and was satisfied, unaware as the trouble she caused. And being the good girl she was, she obviously had to show her appreciation. Right?

Yup! To show how polite and appreciative she was, she ran towards the seated Ryoma and leaped onto his lap. Ignorant of all dangers, she gave Ryoma a big hug and said, "Thank You, Papa!".

Then unexpectedly, she planted a kiss on his cheek.

Awwwwwwww! Now that's daddy's good girl! Right?

Too bad Ryoma doesn't think so.

Ahhhh! Finally posted this up! Had difficulty writing the opening of the story so had brainstorming for nearly 3 days and another 3 days to type. Even during shopping I was thinking about it. Thankfully my sister who is a lot more creative than me gave me some ideas. My sis a loyal yaoi fan who goes gaga over two parings; Ran/Ken of Weiss Kreuz and Tala/Kai of Beyblade. She said my vocab wasn't crude enough. Hello? Mine is general rating here.

To those who were expecting something else, very sorry as I wanted to make this more humorous. Hope you will like it. As for the mother… well ………………

I promise in the next chappie, they will leave the tennis courts. Definitely. Three chappie all the same venue must be darn boring rite?

Sch starting, hopefully can still post consistently.

Was terribly happy when there were reviews. Make me a happier person by reviewing more!