Disclaimer: Do not own anything.

~~ The Detention ~~

~~ 25. February, Midday ~~

Finally, the last lesson ended before lunch break and Ryoma yawned joyfully. As soon as the horde of girls began to surround him and start to quack, he sprinted out of the class room with his tennis bag in his hands. The noisy girls shrieked after him, called for him - he bluntly ignored it. He rushed outside and searched for a perfect place for him and his beloved tennis. The tennis courts were empty once again so it was no option.

A lonely and shadowed place which would hide him from those annoying students would do it. A place just for himself, time to relax and forget. Ryoma found it soon enough. A place behind the large building where only a handful of students could see him. Ryoma settled his bag down and unzipped his uniform jacket to lay it next to the bag. It would get dirty and sweaty if he played with it. The teen pulled out a handful of tennis balls and his red racket. He didn't want to waste any more time, threw one of the fizzy yellow balls up in the air and waited for the right time to hit it with all his power.

A banging sound erupted, surrounded him and Ryoma angled his knees and pulled back, ready to hit the ball another time with the same force. It bounced as it connected once more with his racquet. Sliding sounds followed the small ball, echoing against the wall. His eyes sparkled in excitement, his emerald-colored hair waved in the light wind. Ryoma hit it over and over again, repeated the action till a sheen of sweat covered his face. Till he lost the feeling of being there, lost the feeling of his surroundings entirely.

The mute jolted out of his focus all the more as another ball from the shadows entered his sight, bounced against the wall and returned. Ryoma frowned, someone was interrupting his practice! A thing which he hated the most. However, the hit of the ball was out of reflex. It hit with even more strength than the other ball and it connected with the wall and sped up, shot backwards right to the newcomer who had thrown the ball into the game. A sharp yelp echoed behind him and the person fell to the ground soundly with a yelp.

"Hey, brat! You did that on purpose! That's mean!" Ryoma spun on his heels and smirked at the intruder who lay on the ground and wore a blue tennis uniform with the letters SEIGAKU on the back. A few students had gathered around him, had watched his moves and were left stunned in awe. Since when had they watched him? The guy collected himself fast from his surprise and stood up, his chest puffing up with hurt pride. "Don't you know who I am? I'm a junior in Se-"

"I sadly need to agree with this...junior of yours. It's not very nice to hit balls against another people's head, especially when the shot came from a poor player." The gentle voice sounded amused, joyful to say at least. Ryoma snorted at the spoken words. "Isn't it better to play against someone who can give you a challenge and fight back, instead of playing with a wall?"

Ryoma lifted his head a bit, pierced the person in front of him with his golden eyes and smirked in a mocking way. Nonetheless, his mask was shattered as he noted who stood right in front of him. The bluenette wore a dark green uniform with three strips on his neck. A senior, Ryoma guessed. Nevertheless, he would recognized those feature everywhere. His beautiful neighbor from next window. Was it really real?

Did the bluenette know who he was? Perhaps he had seen him watching...ehm... observing him yesterday...

Hopefully not!

Ryoma had no clue how he would react if the bluentte really ask him out about it.

Another guy with the same uniform as the bluenette, slim shoulders and an emotionless expression on his face entered his sight. The newcomer had short brown hair and closed eyes and watched him for a second, then leaned forward to his friend and whispered something in his ear. The bluenette shook his head in playfulness and chuckled in his tender voice, his eyes grew gentler, almost tender.

He directed his attention to Ryoma again. "Maybe another time. My name is Yukimura Seiichi. I'm the captain of Rikkaidai's tennis club and it seems like my team needs me right now..." Yukimura observed him from head to toe which gave Ryoma a shiver. Somehow, he felt like he was under some kind of scanner. "...or maybe you want to come along with us?"

The silence broke and the students started to hush, gossip and whisper to each other. Ryoma blinked, glanced around to the surprised and frightened pupils. The teen knew, he had missed some important details again because he couldn't understand why it was so surprising to get an invitation to a simple tennis match from a student of another school. It was a very tempting offer, having a match with the captain of the other school, and Ryoma would have agreed immediately if the sudden hand on his right shoulder wouldn't have grabbed him with very much pressure and force. "I doubt it's necessary for him to go with you. If he wants to have some worthy opponents, he can come to us. You shouldn't underestimate us, Yukimura!"

Ryoma felt goosebumps on his skin and trembled slightly when another strong hand landed on his neck and stroke it painfully. He tried to slap the hand away from his neck but it remained there and more hands pulled him backwards. There was a group of eight around him, all wore blue and white tennis uniforms. He looked up and his orbs stayed by two familiar brunettes. The teen recognized the newcomer as Fuji and the glasses wearing brunette from yesterday who had helped him to keep the tensai from his neck.

"Don't worry, I won't. We're not like you." The atmosphere changed into a tense and icy coldness, the school yard was once more quiet and Ryoma felt chills rushing up and down his spin. Something was clearly wrong here...

Yukimura shot them one last glare, then directed his orbs, gentler now, at the small freshman of Seigaku. "Come to our tennis courts after school if you want to have a match against me, Echizen Ryoma." He walked in the opposite direction with the broad-shouldered guy behind him. Ryoma's orbs were glued on the bluenette and his friend, he watched them till he couldn't see them anymore.

The hand on his shoulder pushed him forwards into the other direction and straight to his school. Fuji's friends, Ryoma recognized them as the people who he had seen after his first ride with Fuji's siblings, followed by and cursed at the captain of Rikkaidai. The youngest teen gazed at the firm grip on his shoulder and up to the source of it. Fuji's pure blue eyes were open, watching him like a hawk. Ryoma didn't understand what was going on. "You shouldn't get too close to Yukimura. He may not look like it but he's very manipulative."

The first bell resounded and the students stomped back inside their classes. Ryoma heard from a classmate, Horio with two years of tennis experience, the regulars of Seigaku were strong, especially two of them, and the rivalry between the three school, Seigaku, Hyotei and Rikkaidai was a tradition. Sadly, it grew so harsh between them a year ago that all the students broke friendships with the students from another school. The reason for it? Ryoma had fallen asleep during the telling, dreaming from the matches he would have later on.

Maybe the school wasn't so bad...

"What is so important for you to call me so urgently?" The captain of the Rikkaidai tennis club asked and walked up to the clubhouse where the regular waited in front of the door. Though, one of the regulars wasn't there.

"Here, Yukimura-buchou." Marui Bunta handed him a sheet of paper with a sigh escaping his lips. Seiichi read it carefully before frowning and viewing up in his friends' eyes. "How can he be so bad when you teach him all the time? We thought he would actually get better in this as soon as you personally teach him."

"Thanks, I'll talk to him today. It seems like we need to think about some new methods to help him."

"Who was the boy you had spoken with?" His friend Niou Masaharu questioned, blocking his way to walk away. The regulars grinned by Seiichi's perplexed and stunned face as Marui said, "Niou was there and told us.". They all waited for a reaction coming from their captain. The bluenette blinked and glared sweetly at the regulars of his tennis team.

"It's rare for you to invite someone to come here. Even the more interesting after we heard that he goes to Seigaku. I always thought we're through with them." Seiichi knew his friends didn't mean any harm by asking him, nonetheless, it nagged him that they were watching his every move, especially Yanagi who liked to collect data from all players but mostly from him as Seiichi was a master of hiding his true intentions and emotions.

"Echizen Ryoma, he comes from the States and lives here with his father right next to my house. He had never lost a game so far and I'm certain you have seen him play a while ago." The group nodded, understanding his choice.

"I see, Oshitari Yuushi from Hyotei was faster than me." Yanagi, the so called professor, opened his own brown eyes and glanced at his best friend. The sparkle, the joy in Seiichi's expression was unusual and he still couldn't tell the meaning behind it. But he could tell what his dear friend was planning. "You want him to join us, don't you?"

"It would be a pity to give him Fuji or Tezuka."

"There it goes again." Marui whispered, quiet enough for only him to hear, and chewed continually on his green gum. Jackal sighed and rubbed his hair-less head, Yagyou Hiroshi pushed his glasses up his nose with his index finger while Niou grinned and had a maliciously gleam in his eyes.

"Still having a grudge against them?" Sanada Genichirou leaned against the wall with crossed arms and a frown between his brows. His best friend glared at him, fire burning inside the old wound in their hearts.

"Yeah, I have. I just can't understand how you don't!" Seiichi hissed, his angel-like voice sinking an octave down.

"I have already forgiven him... them."

"Even when you still... When they are still..." Seiichi shook his head, smiled bitterly and shook his head in disappointment. "You have a strong mind, Gen. However, you have a weak heart."

~~ 25. February, Early Afternoon ~~

"I think I like him. The guy in my class, I mean. He's really cute and treats me so gently. You should find someone special, too." The two ate some ice cream in a little cafe. It was a warm and sunny day, the sun fell tiredly down and signaled with it the incoming twilight. "Papa said he would buy me the necklace for my birthday which I wanted for so long. Has your father given you the tennis grip you wanted since last Christmas?" The teen looked up with his golden eyes and after a little pause, he nodded and continued to eat the melting ice cream.

"I'll miss you. You need to come back and visit as soon as possible. Don't forget me!" His uncle and cousin waved their hands in Goodbye as Ryoma and his father left for the plane which would lead them to Tokyo. There was nothing left for him to stay. No reason for him to stay behind and wait. His mother wouldn't get back together with his father, but she promised to visit him or take him to her new home whenever he had holidays.

She promised to call him every Friday evening, telling him what she had lived through and asking for his wellbeing. His mother loved him. She had given him a kiss on the forehead when they had bid goodbye, even when he hadn't wanted it in front of his father, uncle and only cousin.

"You promised not to speak! You promised! I have heard you, you liar. I hate you, Ryoma! I hate your voice! Ryoma!"

"Echizen Ryoma!" The teen jolted out of his dreams, panting and staring at the nothing in front of him. His thoughts were hazy, his mind blocked by the memories of his past, the nightmares hadn't come back to him for quite a while now. He had already believed to have fought and won over them, though, he must have been wrong.

The mute had no chance to really wake up and notice that the last lesson had just ended a few minutes ago. "I'm here to get you for your extra study." and with that said, Kuro-sensei grinned cruelly and jerked him out of his seat. His wrist got crushed by the iron-like grip as he was dragged behind the tall man. Ryoma pulled his wrist back twice, disliking being dragged away and looked at like a little child. He earned a deathful glare from his action and the grip on his wrist only tightened. The other students stared at him and some even dared to laugh and grin, making fun of him. How embarrassing, he wanted to shot a tennis ball against their heads to silence them!

Well, he would beat the crap out of them as soon as he had his beloved racquet in his hand once again which was currently in Kuro-sensei's iron-grip too.

He heard the students in the brown uniforms giggle and especially the girls would hush something in their friends' ears which made them laugh all the more. A light sheet of pink colored Ryoma's face when he saw the face of the Monkey King from the morning, grinning from one ear to another.

Ryoma's view swayed to the left as he wanted to look forward and not see the other students any longer. And it would have happen if just... this face...

His eyes were glued immediately to a guy with boyish features. His hair was short and black, his face a little bit darker than the average and his small eyes were surrounded by a dark brown iris. The world froze for a moment, all color drained out of Ryoma's face. His lips formed one name, his never leaving the guy's face. He shook his head in disbelief and rubbed his eyes with his free hand.

It was gone, the person... was gone but for a second he believed to have seen... could it be? No...

His body moved on its own, his head swung to the right again, his eyes searched automatically for this face. Nonetheless, his eyes never met with those dark eyes, instead Ryoma looked with his golden orbs in purple ones. Monkey King frowned and watched him now with all his attention, the large grin was gone.

Their long stare stopped as soon as Ryoma entered the left building with the engraved name Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku. He got shoved up onto the first floor and into the second room of the corridor. Inside sat a big group of different students, some with brown uniforms, some with black uniforms like his and very few with dark green uniforms. Ryoma was still thinking about his hallucination, overcoming the shock of the dream, the nightmare, obeying the teacher without much of a fight.

"Oh.. It's you!" It took him a couple of seconds to recognize that the words were directed at him. He snapped out of his thoughts and shoved the shadows of his past back in his mind. Now was not the time to memorize his past. The teen would have loved to bang his head against his tennis racquet after what was the worst fortunate ever. Next to him sat the devil personally and pointed with his bare index finger at him, declaiming loudly for everyone to hear. "You're the brat who run off without thanking Jackal-senpai for his help!"

Ryoma, blunt as he was, shrugged his shoulders and began with his daily routine of ignoring every possible person. His mind was still too occupied with handling the crazy trick of his imagination. He must have seen a ghost, a hallucination... It couldn't be...

Kuro-sensei silenced them with a loud yell, gave them a mountain of papers and declared for everyone to fill them out, or they were not allowed to go to their club activity or home. Ryoma was all the more pleased when he saw his mountain had mostly lessons in English and Japanese writing. He couldn't stop the smirk on his face.

"Don't talk, don't make any noises and don't do something stupid. Don't do anything other than writing. Now begin with your work!" The teacher sat down on the chair and watched them carefully with hawk's eyes.

The students those days were weak - all of them wimps with no brain. Well, he couldn't expect anything less with that kind of teachers which Seigaku had. Hyotei was still on its way of improvement, though, not so much had happened the past few months and the students were still slacking off - those rich kids. The students from his school, from Rikkaidai were all neat, polite and smart. All thanks to his hard work.

It would be a real challenge to turn those Seigaku brats and pussies into charming and smart students, nonetheless, he had decided to take this challenge. He would manage to help those poor students to attain a better life and personality.

His sharp orbs narrowed dangerously by the sight of one smirking teen with emerald hair. Not again this annoyance of student. The teen lifted his left hand. Kuro-sensei couldn't help his own smirk appearing on his face. The little guy wanted his help, hm? So he wasn't so smart as he had bragged with this morning. "Too bad, boy, but I won't answer any questions." Kuro-sensei snorted and crossed his arms in front of his chest, satisfied the kid had a hard time to finish his tasks. His grin disappeared as the teen wrote something on the backside of the paper and lifted it up, clear for him to see in bold English letters: FINISHED. CAN I GO NOW?

It made him laugh all the more. He scanned the room, saw the distressed students who hadn't even answered half of all questions. One of them caught his attention from all the others. The one who was the worst in English. This student, as far as Kuro-sensei knew, was still by the third question and already at the end with his patient and nerves. "Oi, you." All of the students looked up, hoped not to be the lucky one who the words were directed at. "Mute boy, you can go after he…" The teacher pointed at the curly black-haired guy next to Ryoma. "…has finished his question."

The word mute was the factor which caused Ryoma to glare and give him all the attention he never wanted and liked if he wasn't on a court. The other students gazed and stared at him in disbelief. Though, thanks to his teacher's presence nobody was hushing and gossiping out loud about him. Even so, Ryoma had no doubt that they would do so as soon as they were out of Kuro-sensei's sight. They would stop to gaze and pick at him soon. In a week or so it would be nothing new and they would stop all the crap. It had always been like this, whenever he was somewhere foreign and new.

He would need to wait for the other guy? Couldn't be so bad, right? Wasn't the guy from Kuro-sensei's school? If Ryoma saw correctly, then there were only two with those dark green uniforms, three with brown uniforms and twelve with black uniforms like his. The teacher really favored Rikkaidai, hm? Or maybe they were really so neat and smart like the teacher praised them to be. The guy would finish the questions soon but somehow he believe it wasn't so easy as he wanted it to be. Why would Kuro-sensei choose the devil of all the other student?

Ryoma glanced at the guy next to him and looked at his sheet of papers with the question. He wailed silently at the teacher for not being fair.

If the guy didn't hurry up and got a miraculous brainwave in the next few minutes... Oh god, Ryoma could already see the end of practice before he could make a step out of here.

~~ 25. February, Late Afternoon ~~

Kirihara Akaya really tried his best not to be slow but the foreign words spooked all over the papers and he couldn't understand a thing! He was the last one in the room except the guy sitting beside him. Practice would be called closed for today in less than ten minutes. Mura-buchou would be angry to know that he hasn't even finished half of the task that were given to him at the beginning of the lesson.

The freshman beside him looked straight past him and out of the window, dreaming, he guessed. Nobody beside the two of them and Kuro-sensei, whose face seemed tired and his eyes shut over and over again, were here. He had around twenty more questions to answer. Twenty!

Shit, how badly he wanted to play tennis right now! He was reading another question, after he swallowed the thick lump in his throat and wiped the sweat from his forehead, when the papers were ripped out of under his hands and so was the pencil. Akaya wanted to yell but the hand over his mouth prevented him from doing so. The teen beside him motioned him to be quiet and started to scribble down some strange words. The next two minutes were unbelievable for him. The brat was smart enough to answer the questions of a junior and some were even for seniors! How...?!

The teen stood up, packed all the things in his big tennis bag and banged them at the front desk, scaring Kuro-sensei very well, and was hurriedly on his way to leave the room. Kirihara broke out of his shock, rushing after the mute teen. "Hey, you! Wait!" He had heard Kuro-sensei's words and it surprised him to actually find a mute around here.

The guy grabbed for the handle of the door and wanted to open it but the door slid unclose and revealed a brown and a blue-haired senior in a grey/white tennis outfits. They blocked their way out.