Aishuu Offers:
Supporting Player
Disclaimer: Konomi-sensei
Notes: For the "Blind" challenge at Tenipuri500. One-sided Taka/Ryoma. Per demand. Lexarose asked, and so shall she receive.
He knew that he existed on the periphery of Ryoma's life, someone who hardly counted in the first year's existence. He wasn't the best player on Seigaku, barely holding onto the alternate spot. He loved tennis, loved the feel of the grip in his hand as he rose to challenge the best junior players in the nation, but it wasn't going to be forever. He had other obligations, and unlike the others, this was the height of his tennis career. For him, there would be no promise of high school on the horizon, no games to be played later. It was now or never.
He accepted this, just like he accepted everything, because that was the way life worked.
Maybe that was why he felt Ryoma's pull so strongly. There was a charisma about the younger boy, a certainty that he would reach his goals, and now was merely a stepping-stone. His tennis was the stuff of legends, to be told to students yet to come for years, but that didn't stop him from trying to get better.
He knew that Ryoma had his sights set on Tezuka, maybe going through Fuji first. He knew that this was the way things had to be. Fuji's tennis had awoken in finding an opponent on their very own team to keep him from being lazy. Tezuka needed someone to pass on his legacy, and it was natural that the best gravitate toward each other.
He knew that he wasn't the best. He knew that he wasn't the smartest, like Inui, who kept Ryoma on his toes by threatening him with strange diets and stranger drinks. Even his "nice guy" personality wasn't needed, because Ryoma turned to Kikumaru and Momoshiro when he needed laughter.
So he stayed away, because he could offer nothing.
He still couldn't keep his eyes from following, though. It was the same was he had once followed Tezuka, but without the jealousy. He was older now, and knew that someone was greater than he could ever dream to be. He knew that someday, perhaps Katsuo or Horio would regard Ryoma with the same peculiar mixture of affection and jealousy he himself held for Tezuka, and wished there was some way he could protect Ryoma.
Ryoma never knew.
Ryoma was his typical oblivious self, and never knew. Ryoma never saw that someone liked him, cared for him, or existed. He'd seen how the first year treated the Sakuno girl, and he didn't want to be shot down in the same manner. Sometimes it was better to watch from afar.
Then one day, he did become of use to Ryoma. Strangely, it wasn't a cocky Ryoma who demanded his time, but a quiet and subdued one, one who bowed before him low and with respect. One who called him senpai.
And he couldn't deny him.
The smile he was given in turn was like watching the sun break the horizon, golden and glorious, yet somehow different than every smile he'd seen before. As he stared into those golden eyes, which glittered with determination, Kawamura Takashi vowed to do everything in his power to make Echizen Ryoma happy.
Even if it meant staying in the background of the tale.