Hello there! Okay, okay don't hit me D: I won't use excuse this time. I was lazy… and busy… getting my life back during the holiday. First of all, happy super ultra great late new year and Chinese new year. It's February now and that means my birthday is coming :DDD I feeeeeelll ooooooollld. It's this Thursday! Present, anyone? *so shameless*

Anyway, after a long hiatus (my longest one so far) here I bring you… a somewhat… despairing chapter (I guess).

Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis. The new anime is awesome but it's just too bad that Zaizen's part GOT CUT there and no one even remember about him (and Yuuji) because they're too busy complaining about Sanada and Yukimura's match!

Bad English and full of typos as usual. It took several try for me to write this chapter.

p.s. This chapter is mostly written from Zaizen's POV… Enjoy, not.

Ch13: A Spring which Ends Too Soon

Zaizen was uneasy. His teammates could see that he was distracted during the sparing match. His control was off and he often faulted. After the match, in which he lost 6-3, he put his towel over the head and sat silently on the bench. He repeatedly flipped his cell phone, as if he was waiting for something. His face was hidden by the towel's shade, making it impossible to guess his feeling. The regulars exchanged looks. What had happened to their second year ace?

After secretly discussing what to do, they sent Kenya, the one who supposed to be the closest one to Zaizen as they were double partners, to find out what was wrong with him. Kenya approached the younger boy and sat next to him. Kenya glanced at Zaizen but he didn't know what to say. Zaizen wasn't the type who would share his problem with others. Kenya was afraid Zaizen would be offended if ever he tried to cross the line. Plus, Zaizen was deadly scary when he was pissed. Kenya looked at his friends, desperately looking for some helps, but the guys only grinned back at him and gave their thumbs up as if it could have encouraged him. Sighing, he turned to the black haired boy and prepared himself.

"Yo, Zaizen! What's up?" Kenya greeted the boy as casually as he could, as if nothing was wrong.

Zaizen just made "Hn." sound to let Kenya knew that he was listening. He did it without even looking back at his senior. The dark green orbs were still fixed on the cell phone's screen, which showed neither new message nor e-mail.

Receiving the passive reply, Kenya tried to engage him in a conversation. "Man, I don't believe you lose to Koishikawa."

"So do I." Zaizen replied shortly.

Another pain in the ass reply. Why should Zaizen be this gloomy? Nevertheless, Kenya still had to dig out some information from this brat. "You were really unfocused. Is there something wrong?"

This time Zaizen didn't have any reply.

Kenya's eyebrow twitched. This brat, he didn't have any idea how worried everyone was. This time, he decided to tease him a bit like he normally did. "Don't tell me you're thinking about that Yamato girl~ You confessed to her, right?" A mili-second later the speed star found himself stabbed by an imaginary dagger that came from Zaizen's dark green orbs. "O- Okay, okay. I won't ask anything again." He grinned nervously as he raised his hands. Knowing that it's better to let the boy alone, he decided to retreat.

After the bugging senior was gone, Zaizen leaned his back onto the railings. He looked up at the sky and sighed. Kenya wasn't entirely wrong. He was indeed thinking about that particular girl, just not in the way the older guy had thought.

That girl… Tsubaki hadn't said anything at all after the last time they met and it made him worried. Why didn't she text him? Why didn't she say anything to him? Not even a single 'sorry about that' or 'don't mind about mother'. Had something bad happened after that old lady had driven him out? He never expected her to tell him everything about her family problems but at least he need to know whether she was okay or not.

He covered his eyes with the back of his arm. She didn't show up at school after the autumn holiday had ended and he couldn't visit her at home as the old lady might be there. He was really worried about her yet he couldn't do anything. He was afraid if he made a wrong move everything would be even worse. He could only wait for her to eventually say something and it might take forever.

This was driving him crazy.

"ZAIZEN!"

A loud voice broke his chain of thought. That yelling, he knew whose voice it was. He turned his head and peeked through his arm. It was no other than the ever cheerful Kintarou. "What is it?" he grunted, glaring to the kid.

Kintarou's wide grin greeted him. "Tsubaki-neechan's come to visit!"

Huh? Tsubaki-senpai what?

"Really?" Zaizen quickly stood up. The sudden movement made his towel drop to the ground.

But he couldn't care less…

"Yep! She's in front of the club now." The redhead replied.

Zaizen quickly dashed to the front gate, completely ignoring the fact that he didn't even thank the younger boy he left behind.

"It's good that we asked Kin-chan to deliver the message." Chitose said as the third year boys watched their juniors from afar.

"What's this? He's just love sick?" Kenya scowled. Somehow he regretted that he had been worried about the second year brat.

Shiraishi patted his best friend's shoulder. "Calm down, Kenya. After all Zaizen's spring has only just begun."

"I think you need to find a girlfriend as soon as possible, Senpai." Yuuji teased as he mimicked the second year.

The rest of the group just either chuckled or laughed. No one had thought before that the boy's spring was just about to end.

"Sorry for interrupting your practice." Tsubaki said as Zaizen closed the wooden door behind him.

"It's okay. My matched has ended a while ago anyway." He touched the nape of his neck and tried to act as cool as he could. After all, it would be embarrassing if she find out that he had lost the match miserably.

He secretly gazed at her. Her usual smile was plastered on her face, which should be a good sign. Things might have happened better than he had thought. He must have been too paranoid. He was a little disappointed that she didn't wear the hairclip but it might be too flashy for her to wear, after all she wasn't the type of girl who wore accessories at school. He looked at her hands which were kept behind her back. She was holding something, he guessed.

"That's good to hear," she sighed in relief. She then offered him a white paper bag with her right hand. "Here. I come here to return your sister's clothes."

"You can keep them actually." He told her.

"Nn," she shook her head. "I should return what I borrowed. Moreover, your sister might still want to use them."

He hesitantly took it. "Okay then."

"I still have something for you." She said. Her smile grew bigger as she showed him something else she had been keeping secret from him with her other hand. "Ta-dah!" She exclaimed.

He looked at the thing in her hand which he recognized as a homemade bento. It was wrapped with the new black furoshiki they had bought together.

"You should've told me earlier if you brought me a lunch." He huffed as he received it.

That's right… She should've told him something… So that he wouldn't have been worried like an idiot.

"Sorry…" She grinned sheepishly. "But look, I've found a way to put shiratama zenzai into the box without spoiling it."

"Huh? You did make it?" He stared at his neatly wrapped lunch box. Who would've thought that she had taken his jokes seriously?

"Savor it, okay..," she said slowly. "After all it's my parting gift."

He quickly looked up at her face. What? Did his ears deceiving him?

"I am moving away from Osaka."

Ehm, so the new semester has started so I'll try to at least update once a month. BTW it's almost one year since I started writing this story :D

Okay, show our poor Zaizen some love by dropping a review or two! I don't mind if you wanna complain on how lazy I am -w-;

See you guys! Tons of love from EP and happy early Valentine!