DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS.

Sakuno held the fermata, clinging onto the sound of the chord like her soul depended on it. Finally, her fingers relaxed as she released and allowed the pressed keys rise to their original position, aligned with all the others. She slowly opened her eyes and breathed in deeply. She shifted her gaze to a handkerchief that was offered to her on her right. She glanced up to see her sensei smiling gently. Sakuno took the handkerchief and dabbed her forehead.

She had gotten so into her playing again that she had start to sweat.

"You're having one of your days, aren't you?" Shizuka-sensei asked. Sakuno looked at her sensei again and nodded slowly. She was replied with yet another gentle smile. "Did something happen?" Shizuka asked. Sakuno slowly shifted her gaze to the piano. She folded the napkin and slipped it into her pocket as she adjusted her position and set her fingertips on the keys again. Shizuka-sensei studied her student's form and grinned in satisfaction. Even when emotionally disturbed, Ryuzaki Sakuno never let anything disrupt her respect towards musical performance, always maintaining best position: sitting on the edge of her seat, right foot forward, ready to use the sustaining pedal if nevessary; fingers delicately arched; relaxed yet straight torso, loose arms…Sakuno never let Shizuka down when it came to bearing the title of being her best student.

Sakuno closed her eyes and after breathing in, she began to play a bell-like piece, an effect achieved by beginning the piece with solid octaves in the high register. Then, Sakuno's right hand gently started quick but soft 16th notes, her left hand continued to project bell-like sounds, now in the lower register.

La Vallée des Cloches, by Maurice Ravel, Shizuka mentally commented. Rima's favourite piece…Rima had been Shizuka's student as well. Rima herself had been an excellent pianist, breathing life into every piece she played, so when Rima brought Sakuno to Shizuka when she was just a mere child of 4, Shizuka was shocked.

-Flashback starts-

"Why not teach her yourself? You're fully capable of doing so," Shizuka said. Rima just broke into a grin.

"Yes, I'm capable of teaching. I did teach her for about 6 months, but I can't do any more than that. I think you'd understand better if you listen to Sakuno play first," Rima replied. "Saku-chan! Come over here sweetie," she called. The young brunette turned her head away from the fish tank she had been staring at in awe and came over. She hugged her mom and giggled when Rima placed a kiss on her forehead. Rima turned back to Shizuka.

"May she play for you?" she asked with a smile. Shizuka's eyes softened as she noted the resemblance between the two. She turned to Sakuno and pointed her to the grand piano in the middle of the room. Sakuno looked up at her mother, and when she got a reassuring smile, she slowly walked over to the instrument that was easily 3 times her size. She adjusted the bench as she tested the position for comfort. Then, with a smile on her face, Sakuno placed her fingers on the keys, closed her eyes, took a deep breath in, and started playing La Vallée des Cloches. Shizuka's mouth curled up at the edges as she listened to Sakuno bring the piece to life, just as her mother would. Sakuno approached the second section and had to arpeggiate the chords that her small fingers could not yet play altogether. What intrigued Shizuka the most was Sakuno's expression: commanding, yet very gentle, pouring her soul into every key she pressed.

When Sakuno finished, she allowed her fingers to linger over the keys before slowly retreating them to her lap. She then turned her head around to look at her mother, who beamed at her. Sakuno broke out into a cheeky grin as she slid off the bench and went to sit beside her mother. Rima turned back to Shizuka.

"I'm sure you understand now," Rima said. Shizuka nodded. She did. Yes, Rima was a very talented pianist herself but Sakuno…was a whole another story. This child had more potential in music than Rima, and maybe even Shizuka, ever would, and Rima was a mother who wanted the best for her child. Rima wanted Shizuka to teach Sakuno because she trusted Shizuka to bring out more in Sakuno than Rima ever could. Shizuka smiled and turned to Sakuno.

"My name is Shizuka. Would you like to be my student?"

-Flashback end-

That was the last time Shizuka ever saw Rima. The day after, news came to her that Rima and her husband had died in a fire, leaving Sakuno an orphan. Shortly afterwards, the funeral was held. Unlike a typical Japanese funeral, Sakuno had requested to perform on the piano, and Shizuka wasn't surprised at her choice of piece: Les Vallée des Cloches, Maurice Ravel. Ever since then, Sakuno always performed that piece when she was reminiscing about the past. On days like those, she would come in and play all her required pieces that she was preparing for her upcoming exam nonstop. Over the years, Shizuka had come to an understanding that when it was one of those days, Sakuno just had to let everything out. Thus, she would let Sakuno play nonstop, keeping in mind the very few pointers she would have to tell Sakuno at their next lesson. After the required pieces, Sakuno would play Les Vallée des Cloches, just like she was right now.

Then, Sakuno would just sit on the piano bench, fingertips still arched against the keyboard, and stare at the keys, the only movement made was her steady breathing and occasional blinks of the eyes.

If it were one of those days, Sakuno's torso would slightly relax a bit more than usual. Her shoulders would tense up and her head would droop. Her eyes would quint and this would allow streaks of tears to leak out from the corner of her chocolate orbs, before she fully shut them and got lost in her sobbing.

And today was another one of those days.

Swish. Plok. Swish. Plok. Swich. Plok.

The sound repeated itself over and over again as Ryoma returned each shot from the automatic tennis ball launcher. He'd been at it for almost 3 hours already, not planning on stopping anytime soon. Even though it was already 9 – since tennis practice went until 6:30 – he didn't feel like going home yet. His whole body had ached to do some more tennis rallying or even a match, but everyone had already left, something stuff like they had to go home and eat or stuff about visiting friends or catching up on homework. Che. Who on earth gives homework on the first day anyway? Thus, Ryoma resorted to using the tennis ball launcher. It wasn't as thrilling as playing with someone alive since it was a machine, but it would have to suffice for now.

Ryoma was so into his rallying that he didn't notice someone enter.

"Ryo-channn! Time to go homeeeeeeee!" Echizen Nanjirou said, arms waving around, trying to catch his son's attention.

Ryoma didn't even spare him a glance.

"Hmph!" Nanjirou pouted. He crossed his arms and leaned against the fence. Suddenly, he broke out into a grin.

He knew his son too well.

Something must have been on his mind to make Ryoma rally for so long. Sure, Ryoma loved tennis, but he also liked napping and drinking Ponta and playing with Karupin. Rallying so long would mean only one thing: Ryoma had something on his mind. Something he couldn't seem to stop thinking about. Something that had a tiny chance of rivalling the importance of tennis to him.

On days like these, no one could interfere. Ryoma would be completely consumed in the simple act of rallying that nothing could stop him. His determined and strong will that passionately burned and grew for tennis was what kept him growing. Nanjirou chuckled.

Ryoma didn't want anything to be more important to him than tennis was.

Tennis had always been Ryoma's life, ever since picking up the racket at the age of 3. Nanjirou smiled as he remembered Ryoma delivering his first serve, and winning his first game. He remembered Ryoma's determined gaze when he answered yes to going to America to train. He remembered Ryoma's unwavering facial expression whenever he was in a match. He remembered when Ryoma first started saying "mada mada dane" and soon enough allowed it to be his signature phrase.

He remembered the day when Ryoma had come up to him, saying that he was going to pursue tennis professionally and that nothing was going to stop him.

Nanjirou chucked. Ah, Ryoma's still so young and naïve. It's not that easy to just allow tennis to be your most important thing. One day Ryoma…one day, there's gonna be somebody who'll either hinder you from accomplishing your dreams, or help you with accomplishing them, he thought, as the an image of Rinko appeared in his mind. Of course, his beautiful wife had fallen into the latter. Rinko had protested when Nanjirou decided to drop out when he was only one spot away from earning the Grand Slam title.

-Flashback-

"Why are you stopping now? This has always been your biggest dream!" Rinko exclaimed.

"Babe, I have a different dream now." Rinko rolled her eyes.

"Oh boy. Please don't say your new dream now is me. I told you, I'm not going anywhere! Ryoma and I will always be here to support you!"

Nanjirou took a step forward and loosely wrapped his arms around Rinko's waist and placed his forehead against hers.

"Rinko, it's not that."

"Then what is it?" she asked.

"I'm not going to stop tennis, but I want to be the best father I can. I've seen the way Ryoma plays Rinko. He loves it. He worships it. Gosh, he's going to beat all those champions way faster than I ever could have."

"Yeah, but he's just a kid and-"

"Rinko, I'm going to stop playing tennis to train Ryoma."

Silence.

"Ryoma's going to be amazing and I wanna be the one who pushes him even more."

Rinko stared into her husband's eyes for a long, long time.

"Are you sure?" Rinko asked. Nanjirou smiled.

"Positive. This is the third best decision I've ever made in my life."

Rinko blinked. Her eyes narrowed.

"And…what were the first and second ones?" Nanjirou smirked.

"Marrying you and getting you pregnant."

-Flashback End-

At that, RInko had blushed and gave him a quick peck on the lips before rushing away to make lunch. Nanjirou smiled.

He had been right about Ryoma; right about his passion and dedication for tennis. Ryoma had continued to excel and grow in his skills, earning worldwide recognition and lots prizes. Without hesitation, Ryoma had always taken up new challenges, pulling through them all because of his long hours of practice and training.

But life wasn't just full of tennis challenges, and when the challenges thrown at Ryoma were challenges that swayed his resolve, Ryoma would have one of those days.

On one of those days, after Ryoma finally decided he was done rallying, he would stare straight ahead of himself, into the empty space. Then he would look at his racket, giving it a long, long stare. And after what would seem like ages, he would finally look at Nanjirou.

"Oyaji. What's for dinner?" Nanjirou chuckled.

"Don't worry. It's Japanese cuisine."

And today was one of those days.

"Ahhhhh that was delicious Rinko-chan!" Nanjirou said as he rubbed his stomach in satisfaction. Rinko smiled as she got up and disappeared into the kitchen. Suddenly, Nanjirou stood up.

"Oh right! We're going to the Ryuzaki residence tomorrow!" Ryoma blinked.

"Why?"

"To visit the old hag and Saku-chan of course!" Ryoma blinked again. Rinko reappeared from the kitchen with some brownies. Nanjirou eagerly took one and melted into bliss on the first bite.

"Ah, come to think of it, we haven't seen Sumire-san or Sakuno-chan in a long time! I miss them so much," Rinko added. Ryoma blinked again.

"How do you know them?"

"Well, I mean, your mother and I played a match against Sakuno's parents before, after they helped us repair our rackets. We even witnessed Saku-chan accomplish her first serve that same day!"

Ryoma dropped his brownie onto his plate and stared at it. Rinko and Nanjirou both stared at him in surprise.

"Ano, Ryo-kun, do you not like the brownie? I know it's Western but since it's dessert, I thought you'd be fine with it…" Rinko said, brows furrowing. Ryoma kept staring at his brownie.

"Ryo-kun, you don't have to ea-"

"Ryuzaki used to play tennis?" Ryoma said, cutting his mother off. Rinko and Nanjirou both blinked. Nanjirou let out a small laugh and Rinko broke into a smile.

"Yup. Her parents were pretty passionate about tennis, so it's not surprising that Sakuno-chan would play as well," Rinko said. Ryoma blinked. He picked up his brownie and slowly started eating it. Rinko breathed a sigh of relief and Nanjirou scratched his head, mumbling about how he never seemed to understand his son. Ryoma just kept eating and staring into space.

Hn.

So yeah...sorry for the long wait :/ A lot has happened and I sort of just ended up ignoring my writing and I am extremely sorry about that. Anyway, it's summer so I'm hoping to get maybe 1 or 2 more chapters into all my projects before school starts again but that's going to be a little hard since I have 2 music exams coming up...

Anyway, please read and review! Anything is welcome :)