The fall of the prince

Disclaimer: Takeshi Konomi's

Pairing: Still none…

Summary: Life will never be easy the whole time. There are times when we have to face something that seems like to be the end of everything. And what will our prince do when he faced the fact that his life won't be easy anymore?

Status: BETA-ED by Windy Hurrice!!! HURRAY!!!

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Chapter 3

Tezuka brought himself towards the top of the school building. It's always been his most favourite place during lunch time where he could eat his bento and enjoying the soft wind that blew through his hair. Most of the time, he also brought his books and read it there in silence. There at the top, no noisy voices or crowd-like sounds at classes can be found.

He spent nearly all his break time at the top of the Seigaku Jr. High building. Hardly had he found any companions, except for some desperate girls chasing after him after they broke up with their boyfriends or some couples come to him when they needed to have a really private talk with him. But today, he found that someone else was standing near the fetch.

The person had his back facing Tezuka and his hair was swinging gently by the soft breeze. Then somehow, Tezuka's mouth called out a name without thinking. "Echizen."

The person didn't answer. It seemed like he was completely drowned in his own dream world. At first, Tezuka thought he had suspected the boy to be the wrong person in mind, but somehow he was also sure it was the person in mind that he started to walk closer to the younger boy.

He was a few steps closer to the person when Tezuka saw the boy moved his hand to his face and then looked up as if looking for something on the sky.

Tezuka watched him for a moment before he realized the person was truly Ryoma, who was having his nose bleeding. "Echizen!" He shouted before dashing nearer. He stopped behind Ryoma and put his left hand around Ryoma's shoulder. His right hand pulled a handkerchief and placed it over Ryoma's blood.

"Buchou?" Ryoma called out in surprise.

Tezuka hushed him, signing him to take care of the wound first. And Ryoma complied as he reached the handkerchief and held it in front of his nose.

They both stayed in silent for a while, waiting for the blood to stop dripping down from Ryoma's nose. Tezuka still had his left hand around Ryoma's shoulder and a worried expression when Ryoma finally pulled the stained handkerchief off, which meant his nose had stopped bleeding.

"Sorry. I'll wash it at home." Ryoma said slowly after seeing how much blood had tainted the white coloured fabric.

"Aa." Tezuka gave a nod then he pulled off from the smaller guy. Somehow, he shivered from the loss of Ryoma's weigh upon him.

"What are you doing here, buchou?" Ryoma asked. The fabric was still in his clutch.

"I use to come here every break time. And today's the first time I ever saw you here. What's going on?"

'What's going on?' wasn't a good question actually. After all, Ryoma has the right to visit any place at school without being questioned. But supported by the younger guy's change of behavior lately, Tezuka really couldn't help himself asking.

"Nothing," answered Ryoma quickly. He pushed the handkerchief inside his uniform pocket then rebounded to the door that leads to the stairs. "Just wanted some private time." He murmured then left, leaving Tezuka with confusion and anxiousness again.

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Later on the same day, Ryoma attended the afternoon practice. He joined the other regular members without talking too much and he also seemed to avoid Tezuka more than before.

The training started with 30 laps within 30 minutes. This time, Inui included his most favourite torture in this practice. The one who doesn't passes the limit will get his newest remix version juice that he had just invented before. No one dare to ask how it'll taste anyway, since the colour itself, which is a mix between gold, blue and red, had been scary enough.

Ryoma appeared to get some of his endurance back. He successfully did the laps without being forced to drink the juice. But then, he looked as if he had lost nearly all his stamina that he collapsed on the bench, panting heavily.

The other members looked at Ryoma with worry. It had been a few days and Ryoma didn't seem to recover at all. In addition, his face looked even paler than before.

"Echizen." It was Kawamura. He walked closer to Ryoma and stood in front of him. "Don't you think you should rest?" He asked. His forehead slightly frowned. "I don't know if you are really sick or not. But you looked so pale that I think you might collapse any minute."

"I'm fine, Kawamura-sempai. I know my body's limit. I have already taken a break yesterday, remember?" Ryoma answered, reminding the others about his absence on the afternoon practice of the day before.

"So you do feel sick, ne?" Fuji asked. He had already stood beside Kawamura.

"No, I don't. I'm just tired, that's all."

"You often force yourself, you know?" Fuji said again.

Ryoma didn't answer. He didn't want to talk about this at all, especially to his team mates.

Fuji stared at Ryoma who covered his face with a towel. His mind was filled with every possible sickness Ryoma probably got when he realized that he wasn't the only one looking at Ryoma.

He turned back and his eyes met Tezuka's. The captain stood not far from them and the anxiousness he wore since the first time Ryoma fell down hadn't left his face.

"Minna-san!" Inui's sudden voice shattered the stillness. The entire members, including Ryoma, looked at him questioningly. "Today's practice matches are doubles. I want all of us to be prepared for a battle against ourselves ego before facing the enemy by sharing the match with somebody else. And for the first match, I'd like to have our singles specialties to do doubles." Inui looked at his notebook before continued speaking.

"Momo-Fuji pair vs. Echizen-Kaidoh pair." He announced. "We'll hold this kind of pair rolling from now on." Then he closed the notebook and rebounded to the outside of the court.

With a blank expression, Ryoma stood up and walked to the A court. He didn't seem to bother protesting while on the other hand, Fuji looked so worried like he was the one who had the sickness.

Kaidoh didn't appear to like the idea of Ryoma forcing himself for a match. But when his eyes met Ryoma's, the smaller guy seemed to know Kaidoh's mind that he gave such determined sight.

The match began and the other members watched from the outside of the court fetch. Tezuka placed himself near the entrance door as close as possible, for what reason he didn't really understand. Somehow, he had a feeling that something bad will happen.

Ryoma had tried to focus. He really tried. He didn't want to loose against his body at all. But then, finally he had to admit that his body had reached its limit. And soon, he lost his balance and fell down like before.

"ECHIZEN!" Tezuka was the first one shouting and the other members abruptly ran to Ryoma.

Kaidoh, who was the closest one with Ryoma, carefully supported Ryoma's body on his arms as the others came.

"Echizen, daijobu?" Fuji was the one asking. Beside him, Momo was standing in shock.

"Can I rest for a while?" Ryoma asked very faintly. His sweat made his body felt painfully cold.

Tezuka suddenly knelt in front of Ryoma and pulled the smaller guy to his chest. Carefully, he lifted up Ryoma's body and took him to the nearest bench available. "Do you want to go home?"

Ryoma shook his head slowly and that made Tezuka sighed deeply. "I'm just tired, really." He tried to explain. "Please continue the practice."

Tezuka sighed again. "Okay. Just rest here. Don't force yourself."

Ryoma nodded and closed his eyes. The sun brightness still penetrated though his eyelids and made him felt very dizzy. Inside his heart, fear started to grow wider again.

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A soft knock heard on the door, followed by a soft click which signed the door was opened. Ryoma's head emerged from the gap between the threshold and the door.

"Ryoma-kun." Doctor Endo greeted. "Come on in." He said, and Ryoma stepped inside.

He took the same seat like the last time he visited the place and then sighed deeply. He was trying to tell his mind that no matter what happened and no matter what the result was, his life won't stop at this point. And somehow he was sure that he was calm already.

"Ryoma-kun." Doctor Endo started and Ryoma could feel his body shivered. "I have the result already."

And suddenly, all the calmness he had before shattered as his heart beat so fast that it hurt his chest every time he breathed. Bad feeling overcame him again.

"And…" Doctor Endo continued doubtfully. "I'm sorry, Ryoma-kun."

Ryoma stayed in silent, wishing that what he heard was not the truth.

"You positively got leukaemia, just like your mother." Doctor Endo said slowly.

And then, the ground seemed to move in sudden. Ryoma had had the feeling that he was positively sick before. But in some way, he still had hopes that the result won't come like what he had thought.

But now, all his hopes had shattered into pieces. And he just doesn't know how to face the reality.

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To be continued

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A/N: Hurray!!! The sickness revealed! Leukemia, a standard sickness in drama stories. Hahaha… Anyway, very sorry for the late of updates. Been battling with examinations and all other school stuff lately. And also, my laziness is the best enemy I ever had! Hahaha…

Special thanks to:

Celes-san: Okay2... here is the third chapter! Sorry for the late of updating! Got lots of school stuff to do! Anyway... thanks for reading!

See you in the next chapters!