A/N: This one is overdue as well.

MARYLOVER – Oh this one deals with them right off the bat so to say. Everything else is background when it comes to the thrill in this story.

AtikahFiction- Yes, I have ventured back into tennis and into original Thrill love.

Because Of You

Rated: M

Summary: When Ryoma declares war on playboy Syuusuke who claims his sister as his prey, he might just find out his life isn't all it seems to be.

Ch VI: Higuma Otoshi

Recap

"Over my dead body!" Ryoma said pushing Mayumi behind his protectively.

"Or shall we have a match to break our tie instead?" Fuji tempted feeling the thrill curl in his stomach at Ryoma's look.

"iiyo! (fine)" Ryoma growled out.

Fuji felt the excitement level in his life jump. He was so excited he could kiss the angry boy in front of him.

XxX

Tokyo, Japan

Nakahara Residence

Takumi paced the living room trying to gather his thoughts. When Hazuki had told him of the threat he knew the danger of having that guy back in their lives. It would mean these last few years would have been for naught. How could she endanger all of them? He had been against the move here as well but in his heart, he knew she belonged here where she was happy.

Takumi cursed under his breath and wondered why he didn't have it in him to just strip her of a choice for the kids and her safety. Why couldn't he just tell her he loved her more than anything so she should choose him and only him?

The opening and shutting of the front door drew his attention to the entryway.

"Hazuki," Takumi started seeing her walk in.

Hazuki smiled as she pushed a thick strand of her black hair behind her ear and blinked away the sleepiness in her golden eyes. They looked so close to her son's.

"Taku… you're still up? Where are the kids?" Hazuki asked looking from the living room to the kitchen.

"They already headed to bed." Takumi confirmed. "Hazuki I want to talk about this problem."

"Taku," Hazuki said putting her bag down on the kitchen table. "I already said I'd be careful and we need this extra income."

"I told you I can do this for us." Takumi insisted. "I don't want to run the risk of you seeing him again at the restaurant."

"It's fine if I see him right?" Hazuki asked looking at Takumi with painful eyes. "As long as he doesn't see me! He's married and busy so he rarely eats there anymore-"

"Everything is at risk with that!" Takumi raised in voice a notch in anger. "Not once have I ever denied you what I could give so why do you insist on doing this to me?"

Hazuki teared in anger and frustration as well. "I'm sorry I'm selfish, I'm sorry I miss him and I'm stupid and my stupid heart refuses to move on or forget!"

Takumi pulled her into his arms and held her tight. Didn't she understand he was dying too? He was breaking as well so why couldn't she let go?

Sometimes he wondered why he chose to do this for her and why he doomed himself into such an impossible situation just for this. He sometimes wished he could change the outcome of the past. Wished he had the courage to confess.

But nothing was ever easy, no one had ever said it was easy.

Takumi swallowed his pain and continued to hold her close. No one had told them how hard their decision was going to make everything but there was little they could do at this point but continue to walk the path they chose.

What both of them were feeling was far different from what Ryoma was feeling as he stood in the hall and wondered why they were bringing up his father now of all times. Was he near here? Was something about to happen that could change everything?

XxX

Chiyoda, Japan

Palace

Ren sighed as he stared out the window in contemplation. There was unrest everywhere and though the monarchy was no longer a major part of Japan's decision making, it still head meaning and a foothold in that world. He hated this corruption and the battles he had fought and needed to fight but he had to do this because he was the only one left.

Ren sighed and wondered why he had to fall in line with his ambitious father and put himself into this mess. If only he had kept out of the whole problem and refused the perks of being the monarch.

"Chichue..."

Ren snapped out of his troubling thoughts and found a smile before he turned to face his daughter.

"What is it?" Ren asked walking towards his daughter to envelop her in a hug.

"Hahue is being a little brat about my schedule again." Yuna said with a fierce frown. "I swear she doesn't care about me at all unless it might make her an Empress!"

"Yuna.. you do know hahaue can't become an empress right?" Ren reminded her. Ayaka, despie how much he liked her could only ever be a royal consort to him because she had no status.

"According to hahaue if you wanted to, you could decree her your empress." Yuna said with a sigh.

Ren smiled and pressed a kiss onto her forehead. "Chichue is having enough trouble as it is without trying to do that right now as well. But Yuna, the way you complain about your hahue is as bad as if you have a younger sister."

"Well that's how she's acting." Yuna said with a look of disgust.

XxX

Tokyo, Japan

Tennis

"Here again?" Tezuka asked stopping beside Atobe as both looked at the match that was currently happening.

"It's worth seeing what you might have against us," Atobe said arrogantly. "That is the reason I'm here."

"I wasn't suggesting that you came for anything else." Tezuka said stoically though the line of his lips tightened and he turned to walk away.

"Aren't you going to watch?" Atobe asked as he started to follow Tezuka instead of watching the rest of the match as he insisted he came for.

"I already know how good he is," Tezuka stated. "I have no need to watch any more than that so I'm taking my leave first."

"Wa- Wait!" Atobe insisted and abandoned the match. How dare Tezuka be so straight laced and not even care that he made time to come all this way?

Meanwhile on the court Mayumi heart was thumping wildly as he brother trailed the tricky guy by three whole points. She was confident in her brother's skills at tennis but the gap created by that guys move to nullify her brother's smashes was incredible.

Mayumi sighed and wondered why her brother had to be so insistent on breaking it as well. He could throw something else in but Ryoma was being stubborn by purposely smashing the ball over to try to break it.

"Again Ryoma?" Fuji said with a chuckle at how easy it was to touch this one's pride.

"Why not!" Ryoma said with a smile as he smashed another over once more. "I'm all done anyways!"

Fuji was sure it was a flux again. He had said that before the second point as well and Fuji had scored as usual with no difference. Rotating his body to absorb the coming smash, Fuji returned it with his specialized lob.

His eyes snapped open as he realized something felt off on his racquet and he whipped back around to see Ryoma standing there with a victorious smirk on his face.

Damn he wanted to wipe that bratty smirk off the boy's face.

"Out!" Mayumi said happily. She stood and clapped in excitement though she had no idea what her brother had done to be able to do that.

"Impressive," Fuji said with the usual smile. "Your luck is showing."

"That was all skill." Ryoma said turning away from Fuji. "Let's finish this."

As impressive as he was for breaking two of his triple counters, Fuji was still determined to find out how one of his counters was easily broken just from three trial hits. So he set it up to find out by purposely sending Ryoma a lob to see why.

Fuji saw the knowing look from Ryoma that he knew Fuji was setting him up and proceeded to show the tennis prodigy his counter flaw.

Fuji's eyes snapped open in alert at the coming smash. Though his body reflexively countered it with Higuma Otoshi, he saw how absurdly risky that boy was in order to score one for his enormous pride.

"Out!" Mayumi cheered again from here she sat on the sidelines.

"You really are a brat." Fuji stated. He couldn't believe the boy was purposely hitting his smashes by purposely hitting a cord ball to change the course of the ball just so it was out of his sweet spot.

"I think we'll settle this today," Ryoma said with a snarky smirk.

"Come at me," Fuji said with his own seriousness. He wasn't one to get targeted and not give the same courtesy back. He understood that Ryoma had a good amount of pride riding in his matches so he would draw on that to make Ryoma understand his power.

"Ah! Ani!" Mayumi said catching that her cellphone was ringing and it clearly said Takumi on it.

"Che!" Ryoma said wiping his sweat off his forehead with one arm. "Looks like this game will be incomplete again."

"Not without a consolation on my part," Fuji said jumping the net and approaching Ryoma. He bent his head and planted a worthy kiss onto Ryoma's lips. He evaded knowing he caught Ryoma off balance and set out to prove to the little brat that win or lose, he was now Fuji's.

Mayumi felt her face redden at seeing the display in front of her. It was now as clear as if she was reading a book that the man had been using her as bait for Ryoma's attention. Not knowing how to feel about the sudden change of event, she turned to exit the court first to let whatever was going to happen finish. She was in such a rush to exit the fenced court she almost ran over the man standing by the entrance.

"Sorry," Mayumi uttered before she fell speechless. Embarrassment colored her face once more as she realized the person in front of her was none other than Minato.

"Excuse me," She managed to get out of her mouth before dodging to the side to make it past him.

"Wait," Minato said making her pause in her plight to escape.

"Yes?" Mayumi asked. She kept her eyes on the path ahead and refused to turn around a face her crush. She probably looked ugly and red right now. She wanted to curl up and hide and here he was stopping her. It was probably to tell her to keep her distance away from him because she was a creepy person for falling for him when they didn't even know each other.

"Are you avoiding me because you hate me for refusing to be your boyfriend?" He asked.

Mayumi eyes widened and she turned around to face him in surprise that he would think that…. Then again she couldn't hold that against him because her mind had just assumed as well and it was true that they didn't know each other enough to even know how to assume correctly.

"That's not true." Mayumi said looking his straight in the eye. "Just because I feel this way doesn't mean you'll feel the same way towards me."

He blinked in surprise at her response and suddenly smiled before a chuckle escape. "You're very mature."

Mayumi smiled softly in response. She knew she was too childish at times, too understanding, too observant for her own good but she couldn't help being the way she was.

"No I'm not." Mayumi admitted. "I'm childish a lot of the times and I wish I could control who I will love because it'd save me this burden on my chest."

Minato smiled and stuffed his hands into his pants pocket before turning away to stare at the tree beside them. "If it's okay with you, could we maybe just be friends for now?"

Mayumi bit her lip and stared at her feet willing herself not to show the happiness seeping out of her body at the moment before she nodded and answered. "Sure."

"You're one sick man!" Ryoma spat out as he back away from Fuji and wiped his mouth of the germs that had just mingled so intimately with him.

"Only for you," Fuji uttered with a smile and wondered what the hell he was thinking to like such an unlikeable person.

oXxX

Chiyoda, Japan

Palace

"Fujiwara-san," Ren greeted the older man with a smile.

"Ren," He greeted back informally though he bowed formally to the emperor.

Fujiwara Hotoyatsu was one of the only people who Ren truly liked here in the palace. He was his biggest supporter being Akihito, the late emperor's best friend and fully approved of Ren being the next emperor.

"I'm sure you've heard all the ruckus these last few months." Fujiwara said with a sigh taking a seat across from Ren.

Ren nodded digging for his papers that he had wanted to give to Fujiwara.

"There is something I'm doing that I don't want to tell everyone yet." Fujiwara said drawing Ren's attention back to him.

"What is that?" Ren asked looking serious now since Fujiwara was looking dead serious now as well.

"I'm investigating the death of the royal family." He admitted with a grim look. "I have a heading that points out that the accident might not have been accidental as it was written off as. There's been talk of changing the royal family boy, and you are standing right in the way."

A/N: And so it seems Fuji makes the first bold move.