Sorry for the long wait! Writer's blocks is coming down on me, but let's just hope for the best. I am so happy for the amazing response I got on chapter 3. Thank you everyone! Now on to number four!

"How did things go with the dentist, Ryoma?" Rinko asked her son on the way home.

"My mut sill numt," my mouth is still numb Ryoma responded glaring at nothing in particular. Okay, so now he was a believer. What now? At least the searing pain in his mouth had stopped. Now his mouth didn't feel like much of anything, but he was sure he butchered his tongue.

"After your mouth recovers you will go back to school," Rinko doesn't neglect to say. Why, oh, WHY?? Ryoma cringed.

--

"Ochibi's back!" Eiji screamed at the top of his lungs in delight and proceeded to not only glomp him, but to run as fast as his legs could take him creating extra force. It was ultimately a painful and lung crushing experience for Ryoma.

"Sempai… can't… breathe…" Ryoma gasped, but Eiji was too distracted chanting "he's back! He's back!" to notice until Momo came to the rescue.

"You're murdering him, Sempai, let go!" Momo jumped up at the sound of his senior choking his junior to death and managed to claw Ryoma out of Eiji's death grip. Ryoma took a few seconds to inflate his lungs again.

"Nya, gomen Ochibi," Eiji apologized and started reaching out to give Ryoma another deadly hug. Ryoma stood nailed to the ground looking up as the instrument of his death came closer until Momo pulled him back. Thank God for Momo.

When Eiji was sufficiently taken care of (coughOishicough) Momo gave Ryoma a painful noogie before dragging him to the field to practice. They only managed to get in one serve before Tezuka and Ryuzaki came out looking pointedly at Ryoma. Both boys got the hint and Momo effectively escaped the scene.

"Nice to see you're in the mood to join us for practice, Echizen," Ryuzaki said coldly.

"The weather seemed nice," Ryoma retaliated sounding a lot more confident than he really felt.

"Yes, it does feel nice now that I think about it, don't you agree Tezuka?"

"Yes I do actually. Nice enough to make up for the past three practices you missed, isn't it coach?" Tezuka played a lot. That stoic face looked particularly evil. Tezuka had very good pretences. And everybody said he had no feelings! Ryoma would just love to choke him with a racket, right now. He would take his racket and smash it over his head. Then he would take his other spare racket and smash that over his head too! But still, that would be such a waste of perfectly good rackets.

"Yes it is. 20 laps per day and you're not going home until every second you missed is made up." Ryoma didn't move for a while. Were his coach and captain ganging up on him? Interesting, Tezuka was a bastard. Dang.

"Run. Now." They both said in harmony. The situation was getting worse by the second. Ryoma decided to play it safe and run.

Now if he could just get rid of that pathetic look that Momo and the rest of the team was giving him.

--I

Ryoma ended up not going home until 10. And that was only because he collapsed for the third time. For the first two Ryuzaki had the patience and commitment to throw Inui juice on his head and get him up, but after the second time, she was too tired for this. Apparently they would continue this tomorrow.

Ryoma limped home and arrived at about 11pm. When he opened the door, he was immediately bombarded by his father asking him indignantly where he had been all this time and how he was about to call Ryoga back because he wanted to have at least one heir to take on his tennis skills. Ryoma slapped him away and exited to the bathroom.

"Fathers get so tiresome. That's why I never became some. This world has enough intelligent species inhabiting already, don't you think?" Ryoma turned to the direction of the voice and, sure enough, the man from his dream was sitting on the edge of the tub, fully clothed (thank god) in a white tuxedo. He stood out from the decor tremendously.

"Who are you and what are you doing here," Ryoma blurted out like those people in crappy thrillers. He reached for plunger and was contemplating the mess the stranger's blood would make in his treasured bath tub.

"Whoa, whoa, no need to get gory, Ryoma. Like I told you yesterday I happen to be your long lost uncle who graciously agreed to fly all the way from Nepal to mentor you into becoming a proper Japanese djinn."

Liar. He sounded like he was reading out of a script. Nevertheless because Ryoma wanted this conversation to be over as soon as possible so he could finally take his long awaited bath, he played along. "You didn't mention the last part."

"Well now I did. So…put your clothes back on and I'll go tell your mother we're going out." Wait. Wait one bloody second.

Just as his so-called "uncle" was getting up to leave Ryoma swiftly blocked his way with the plunger and said through clenched teeth. "I have just come back from breaking my back in tennis for the past six hours straight without any rest and I would love to have a little time to rejuvenate."

The man thought for a moment before saying, "Galileo didn't find the universe by just resting all night." Before Ryoma could come up with a comeback, he took the plunger out of Ryoma's hands and said randomly, "RHOMBRENCEPHIA." A puff of red dust appeared out of Ryoma and suddenly he never felt cleaner.

"Uncle" smiled one of those large fake smiles that showed all his teeth and said carelessly, "Shall we go?" Ryoma went to change out of his tennis clothes into American jeans and a t-shirt and they both went downstairs strategically avoiding his father.