The Unrequited Series: Part Three

"Hoi hoi Momo!" Eiji bounced cheerfully into the male tennis club's locker room. "Where's Ochibi nya? Is he cleaning again?"

"Mou, I don't know," Momoshiro answered his energetic senpai with an easy grin and a sweatdrop. "Ryoma doesn't tell me everything, you know."

"Well, nya," Eiji said, scrunching up his face cutely and looking upwards, "but it seems that way. You and Ochibi always hang out together. We wouldn't know who else to ask about Ochibi."

"Eiji! We're supposed to play a match!" Oishi's voice drifted in from the tennis courts outside.

Eiji jumped and eeped. "Unya, see you Momo! Cooooming, Oishi…." and the red-head was gone in a flash.

Momoshiro smiled and chuckled to himself. Wouldn't know who else to ask?

Well, that was true, he thought, preening a little. He was after all the closest regular to Echizen. Sure the first year didn't tell him everything, but Momoshiro knew that at least Echizen told him some things, sometimes things that Momoshiro knew he wouldn't tell anyone else about.

And in return, Momoshiro listened to him, played the part of a good senpai, and occasionally treated Ryoma to burgers (which was actually pretty often, because that little brat always got his way. Damn.)

Of course, their relationship consisted of other things too, like arguing each other's heads off, slighting each other (especially on Ryoma's part - that snarky brat really didn't treat him as an upperclassman at all, Momoshiro thought, a little chagrined), and spending a lot of time together competing in exhausting tennis matches, either in the street tennis courts, or the court in Ryoma's backyard.

In that respect, Momoshiro felt pretty much privileged. He was sure he was the only outsider whom Echizen let play in his backyard tennis court.

Momoshiro couldn't help but smile gently thinking about the first year.

He'll need his tennis stuff once he gets here, the junior thought on a whim as his eyes rested on the all-too-familiar black tennis bag the freshman regular must have dumped into the room earlier. I'll just put his stuff out for him.

Momoshiro opened the bag (he felt sure he was the one senpai Ryoma allowed to touch his precious belongings) and started to look for Ryoma's tennis gear.

Sheesh. What a messy little kid. Ah, there's his shirt. His racket…I wonder where his cap is though? Weird. Maybe he's wearing it, Momoshiro thought and smiled a private smile to himself, thinking about the (many) times he had whupped the cap off the black-haired head.

I don't know what I would do without that brat.

As he continued looking for the freshman's various tennis gear, Momoshiro felt his fingers close around an unfamiliar texture in the depths of the black tennis bag. His interest piqued, he took out what seemed to be a piece of cloth.

Momoshiro blinked as he examined it closely. He'd never seen Echizen wear it before. It seemed to be some kind of a headband.

Green? Echizen never wears green, Momoshiro thought as his nostrils detected the familiar whiff of Echizen's shampoo on the piece of cloth.

"Ah, konnichiwa desu!"

Startled, Momoshiro dropped the green headband into the black bag and straightened up.

The short black haired kid before him smiled happily. "Ah, Momoshiro-san! Sorry to suddenly intrude, desu. I'm just here to pick up Echizen-kun's things for him. Something came up and he won't be able to make it for practice today, desu. Would you tell the captain for him? Arigatou desu!"

"A-ah…" Momoshiro didn't know why his feet felt nailed to the ground, while at the same time, what felt like his lunch plopped into the deepest pits of his stomach. Probably it was the immense surprise at having Yamabuki's Dan Taichi suddenly appear at the Seigaku tennis club locker room - to pick up Ryoma's bag, no less.

Hearing Momoshiro's consent, the short freshman chirped a "Don't mind me, desu!" and walked further into the locker room. "Eeeh…" he mumbled as he walked towards the open bag in front of the second year, apparently not expecting to see Ryoma's belongings neatly laid out on the bench where the bag was.

"Oh…heh…I took those things out for Echizen because I thought he was going to need them when he came back," Momoshiro chuckled, scratching his head sheepishly. "I'll put them back for you."

"Ah, no need, desu! I wouldn't want to disrupt your practice desu. I'll be fine here, really," and the small boy insisted upon Momoshiro getting ready for his own tennis practice, desu.

Snapping out of his initial surprise as he watched Dan pack Ryoma's things, Momoshiro turned his back towards the thin freshman and started to rummage through his bag to look for his own tennis gear. I'm going to run 20 laps if I don't hurry up, he realised as he fumbled around in his bag hurriedly. Yosh! All set.

He stood up and turned around, a thank you and a smile ready on his lips for the helpful Yamabuki freshman.

But the smile and the thank you never made it there, and something nailed him to the ground again.

This time he knew perfectly what, too – it was tender look on the freshman's face as he fingered a now-familiar green headband. It spoke volumes for the second year.

Momoshiro didn't think it possible, but his lunch plunged further through his guts.

Suddenly realising that he was being stared at by the second year, the Yamabuki freshman looked up and blushed, stuffing the headband into Ryoma's bag and zipping it up in one swift motion. "Ah! Gomen nasai! I have to go now, desu!" and hoisting both Ryoma's bag and his bag on his shoulders, he ran out.

Momoshiro blinked as something dropped out of Dan's own partially unzipped tennis bag.

He knew he should have called out to the Yamabuki freshman, but somehow his voice stuck in his throat.

He smiled sadly as he picked up the red and white Fila cap and put it next to his own tennis bag.

I'll just return it to him tomorrow. Good senpai, aren't I?

owari

A/N: Oh God. I don't know how this hit me. I was re-watching the Ryoma-Akutsu match.

RyoDan has always been one of my favourite pairings, other than RyoShinji. Who doesn't like RyoDan? It's too cute, desu!

Well, I hoped you enjoyed this one. I don't know why I can't really capture the essence of Momo in here. He's all serious-ish and stuff, I guess that must have been because one of the last things I watched was him getting booted off the regulars. So really sorry about that.

Umm, I'd still like to thank yoshikochan and RoYale for reviewing the last chapter of this fic, and the other Promises and the Dark fic.

To yoshikochan: Thank you so much, and I would like to write a happy FujiEiji fic, but unfortunately my muse hasn't hit me in that direction. I'll try my best!

To RoYale: I think I'm running out of sensible love triangles. But I'll try my best!

Thank you again for reading!