Hey guys! I have a feeling this is starting to get so repetitive that it's sounding phony, but I'M SORRY THE UPDATE TOOK SO LONG!

Like I mentioned in the previous chapter, it was hard, and I mean hard to get Sanada's reaction processed through my brain first, before writing it down. It just seems like such an un-Sanada-like situation, ya know?

Sigh. Anyways...I do hope you guys will review more and tell me how this chapter goes, cuz they honestly mean a lot to me. (Authors in general, actually) I'll have you know that I appreciate every one of my reviews and reviewers, and read each one at least 10 times over the course of one month, if not one week. XD

Love you guys so much, and here is the next chapter of the story: CH19, Glass Wall. Enjoy! (and review! XD)

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, only Moriyama Kimiko and Daemon. So there. XP

...oh right, and before I forget to mention, if you're feeling adventurous, remember that I have other stories on my profile too from Prince of Tennis. Recently, especially, there's been "What the Wind Brings" (Atobe-centric multichapter) and "Sakura Storm" (Sakuno-centric one shots). Hope you find something in them that you like :)

Ok, now we're ready. Let's go! XD

CH19: Glass Wall

"You're...not serious." Sanada's eyes clouded over, shocked at what he just heard. "That's impossible."

Kimiko stayed silent, could only look at him with those big, sad eyes of hers.

"You..." Sanada almost choked; this wasn't happening. "You're just going to let it go. You're just going to follow him, just like that," he said slowly, calmly, but his eyes still gave him away-they were glassy, unseeing. And Kimiko knew that; he was shocked beyond belief inside. The mere fact that he had to repeat things went to show exactly how shaken he was.

She bit her lip, but still said nothing, simply reached one shaky hand and placed it on his arm, silently pleading. Please, her eyes begged him, please don't make this any harder.

But the fury inside him made him blind; it would not heed; it made him lose his cool, look past her pleas. "You're just going to give up, after all that? After finally getting free and finding a way to live your life, after finding-" he bit back the next word. After finding this, us... He grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. Wake up, he begged back silently, but the words that came out were so, so different.

"Where's the fight in you gone?" he bellowed, unable to find it in him to care about the distress he saw in her eyes.

"Genichirou," she yelped, "it hurts."

He loosened his grip just a little, but still kept his hands firmly on her to make sure she felt his presence, to make sure that she saw him in front of her. He was with her, here, now.

Even if she was going to give everything up, he couldn't accept it with just a "Oh, I see. Have a good day" and leave it at that. They were more than that, and Sanada was scrabbling at shreds of hope; he was desperate to believe in what they had shared, this emotion that held them together, to believe in them.

A half year ago there's no way he'd ever imagine entertaining something as frivolous as a relationship. Tennis, school, and kendo. That was everything, and everything else was nothing, irrelevant. But after spending only a short amount of time with her, he had felt something inside take a complete 180 degree turn. Now, entertaining was the wrong word to describe this; before he knew it, she had become someone absolutely irreplaceable to him.

Like a friend but even closer, like family but even more understanding... Admittedly, they both had their individual faults, and gave each other more trouble than could ever be accounted for, but they made up for it with what they had in common and what they did for each other. Right?

That was what people called 'love,' wasn't it?

But then if this was love, and they were supposedly 'the right ones' for each other...then how could she give all of this up without a single fight first?

"Genichirou, please." Kimiko finally voiced her pleas. "It's my parents' wishes." Her lip quivered at the word parents.

That's why. Sanada's resolve wavered ever so slightly. Was he being selfish? Was he trying to make Kimiko an unfilial child, force her to go against her parents' hopes even after they were gone forever?

But he couldn't imagine her happy with someone like Daemon, who had hurt her and squashed her heart into the dirt. Selfish as it sounded, he saw her future with only him, their family, maybe kids and relatives. So...was he really being selfish by not letting her go?

His hands dropped from her shoulders to take off his cap and run fingers raggedly through his hair, trying to clear his mind. Kimiko stared at him, her expression almost...afraid. Sanada growled in frustration and stuffed his cap back on.

If they couldn't find a solution now, they might as well just go their separate ways at this point and calm down. They both (namely him) needed time to calm down and think things through. Right, it was best for them both to take a break from each other. For a day. Or two. Or maybe more. Maybe.

Without another word, Sanada turned around and stalked away, heading home. His large, justified strides soon morphed into hurried ones when he felt (was it his imagination?) a gaze of unbearable sadness, drilling through his back straight into his heart. Sanada clenched a fist to bear the temptation, and plowed his way to the school gate. It was for the best, for now. Resist the temptation; don't turn around. You can't turn around. No matter what you do...

Don't. Turn. Around.

Yukimura opened the door, and raised an eyebrow. "Genichirou?"

"Seiichi," he said tiredly.

Wordlessly, Yukimura ushered Sanada in, knowing when you could ask questions and pry. Right now was obviously not a good time.

He sat his friend down at the dining table, almost cracking a smile at the ironic similarity to Kimiko's abrupt visit a few months ago. But he held it in for Sanada's sake. Because...clearly, something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

After disappearing into the kitchen for a few moments, he came back and set a cup of chamomile tea in front of Sanada. "Here you go, your favorite."

When Sanada was silent, Yukimura continued in a conversational fashion, "And you're just in luck. We got your favorite brand just yesterday when my sister was whining for it, so it's-"

"Seiichi," Sanada said warningly. Yukimura stopped, looking at him.

"Yes?"

When their eyes met, Sanada dropped his gaze, immediately sighed, and put a hand to his temple, rubbing circles to clear his growing headache. "I'm an idiot."

"You fought with Kimiko-chan," Yukimura guessed knowingly.

Sanada replied with a grunt of affirmation.

"Over what?"

Now, Sanada hesitated. He couldn't just tell Yukimura, even if he was Kimiko's childhood friend. What if Yukimura didn't know, and Kimiko didn't want him to know? In that case, she would get angry at him even if she wasn't already.

He went back to rubbing his temples in frustration, the other boy just staring oddly at him.

Sanada's acting strangely...like he's uncomfortable with telling me. Yukimura mused. Kimiko... Sanada... uncomfortable... secret? Wait a minute. He put two and two together, much too quickly for Sanada's comfort.

"Wait," Yukimura spoke in a pitch higher than usual, his anxiety almost causing his voice to break like, well, a teenage boy's. "Did Kimiko finally tell you about him?"

His capped companion visibly stiffened, and his silence was an answer in itself. Yukimura pulled out another chair and sat as well, sagging wearily down into the chair's cushion. "So, she told you, huh..."

"And about her parents' will."

"What?" Yukimura didn't register what Sanada was going on about, until... Oh. "Wait. She mentioned that to me and Tezuka, too...but she's not going to go through with it. Right?"

Silence.

"No." Yukimura smiled, but it was a shaky one, completely unlike the angelic weapon-in-disguise that he displayed without a second thought across the net of a tennis court. "She wouldn't. Right, Genichirou? Right?"

As his friend's upset expression and voice rang through Sanada's ears, he thought with a pained expression, Don't I wish it were a lie.

April had been a pretty great month. After the whole March fiasco, their relationship was going steady. They spent every day together, going places, waiting for one another, talking to each other so much at night that Sanada's parents jokingly threatened to quaratine them after dinner. And although they had mini-fights, nothing had been full-blown or too serious to patch up. But now that this thing had appeared, Sanada began to doubt himself. Had he really been with a girl that he knew that well? Could he still continue this relationship despite the fact that she was engaged to someone else, and didn't appear to have any intention of backing out?

It was like, all of a sudden, someone had built an obstacle between them. Maybe it was her; maybe it was him. Or maybe it was both of them combined, that had built this glass wall into their relationship, where they could see each other, were only separated by an inch or two, but neither dared shatter the glass- for fear of the flying shards stabbing the other person and drawing red, scarlet blood.

PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM ALL OF MY READERS!

Love you all, and please do drop me a note (PM) or just yell at me in your reviews to finish this darn story already! XD

~hime-chan