(Question: would you guys like to see a chapter for Rinko, too, and/or Nanako? Ryoga was also in consideration, but seeing as Konomi states Echizen's an only child I'm not sure whether he should exist or not. Tell me your thoughts on who you want next! If not them, then Fudomine here we come!)

Echizen Nanjiroh

1. He was a dog person.

Not that he hated cats, per se, except for the fact that he… well, really, really didn't like cats. Dogs were much better, in his opinion. They were loyal, they could fight people off, and they weren't as ridiculously useless as cats. Aside from what people said, Nanjiroh was sure dogs were smarter too, because while they could sit around and drool all day at least they recognized that toes were toes most of the time, not chew toys, and they didn't go around attempting to gnaw off your extremities in order to have fun.

2. He knew the moment he picked up a tennis racket that it was right.

Before he even hit a ball, before he even swung the darned thing, Nanjiroh knew. He felt the weight of the racket in his hand – not ridiculously heavy, but not obscenely light – and it was like he entered an entirely different realm. There was nothing but him and the tennis racket and the concept of the game, and before he even got the chance to try the sport out Nanjiroh was dead-set on the fact that this was what he was destined to do in life.

3. Getting Rinko to agree to the first date was like getting a cat in a bath.

And it took every one of his tricks out of the bag, until he was nearly sweating, for Rinko to crack what Nanjiroh thought was a smile. When she finally did break, though, she laughed – a bright, clear sound that was so much different than the laugh of any other women though, as far as composition of sound waves went, it couldn't truly have been. Though she had been hard to get to, even reserved after that one moment, Nanjiroh never gave up on her, so set, and he was sure that was the reason she stuck around and dealt with him until their relationship really hit it off.

4. His perversity was for show only.

Which was part of the reason Rinko let him get away with it. Sure, he would "read" less than acceptable magazines, often of girls of barely legal ages, but in the end he was a loyal husband. He never even considered cheating, and the idea that it would actually happen was so far from his mind that when his niece had, albeit kindly, broached it one evening after dinner when Rinko was out he had been nearly shocked senseless.

5. He let Ryoma choose his own sport.

Sure, he nudged him towards tennis because that was what he had played and it was a damn good game. Besides, with skills like his, his son would probably be just as talented, especially with all of the practice he got. But if Ryoma had come home one day and said "I'm done" or that he was trying out for the basketball team or the football team or, heck, even the swim team Nanjiroh would have gone right ahead and let him.

6. He loved Los Angeles.

The sun, the sand, the sea – three "s"s that combated the only other word – "tennis" – that was really in Nanjiroh's vocabulary. He enjoyed his home of Japan, of course, but there was absolutely nothing better than spending day after day in the city of angels in his opinion. He had come on accident but planned on staying, a brand new life out of a partial mistake.

7. He gave it all up for his son.

When it became absolutely clear to Nanjiroh that Ryoma wanted to pursue tennis more seriously, and when the boy had finally leveled off to a stage where he needed outside influence, he packed their bags and off they went. Rinko had looked at him like he was insane at first, but reluctantly she gave in – she found another job at a law firm no problem, and they were off before any of them knew it. Ryoma was ecstatic as an emotion-hiding twelve year old could be, a telltale sign that Nanjiroh was doing the right thing. And when his son came home after the first real day of tennis practice and talked about his "bizarre senpai-taichi" and the "crazy old woman" who was coaching him (the only person Nanjiroh would ever trust with his son) the last of his doubts were pushed to the side and forgotten.

8. He was immature when it didn't matter.

There were more than a few times in his life, even later on, when Nanjiroh was careless. He cracked jokes, made inappropriate comments, looked at pornographic magazines, and got in fights with kids the same age as his son about topics ridiculously irrelevant. There had even been the years of sneaking around in not-so-clever disguises in order to watch Ryoma play tennis and, hopefully, not let Ryoma know that he was there to watch him play tennis. And though his immature moments were not at all few and far between, they were never major enough to truly be negative.

9. He was responsible when it did matter.

Despite all of his childish actions and phases, Nanjiroh was just as responsible as a grown adult was supposed to be – perhaps more, in some cases. Sure, he could be impulsive (deciding "out of the blue" as Rinko liked to say that he wanted his family to move back to Japan simply so his son could be under the tutelage of his old tennis coach), but Nanjiroh also thought things through. He made plans and he put serious research and consideration into decisions. It was one of the reasons he had insisted they move back to Japan; it was one of the reasons he had advised his son against training professionally at a young age; and it was one of the reasons he spent days upon days making sure everything for his son's wedding, years later, was perfect regardless of the fact that that was the woman's job.

10. Tennis was just a game.

It was played for fun and for health and nothing more, though so many people took is more seriously. Even in his peak years Nanjiroh understood this concept, understood there was more too life – a wife and a son and a cat, perhaps – than hitting the that little neon ball back and forth across a large, rectangular court. In the end, tennis was just a game and there were more important things out there; though that didn't stop it from being a game Nanjiroh would play over and over again.