Opening his eyes, Fuji sat up in the bed. Yawning, he looked down at Ryoma who peacefully slept beside him. He was facing the center of the bed with his arms wrapped around one of the smaller pillows from Fuji's bed. There was no sign of fear on his face at the moment. Even though Ryoma looked just like a normal twelve year old boy, Fuji knew that the gentle face he bore would soon show his insecurities.
Carefully, Fuji dragged his slender fingers against Ryoma's soft skin and moved stands of hair off his cheek. When he noticed Ryoma's eyes flicker open, he pulled away. "Good morning, Echizen."
Ryoma responded by jumping out of the bed and running out of the room.
"Echizen?" Fuji trailed behind him.
Down the hall, Fuji heard noises coming from the bathroom. Letting the door click open, he poked his head in to see Ryoma sitting with his head lingering over the toilet. Walking over to the sink, Fuji filled a small cup once again with water.
"Thanks," Ryoma swished the water around his mouth and spit it into the toilet.
"Morning sickness?" Fuji placed himself next to the boy.
"Not funny," he turned his head away.
"Ah, sorry. Are you feeling alright?"
Ryoma nodded as he got onto his feet. "We should get ready for school."
"Right…"
Returning to the bedroom, Ryoma went right to his bag. Digging through it, he pulled out his school uniform. He let out a sigh when he noticed that the clothes were completely wrinkled.
"I'll see if my mom will iron it," Fuji snatched the uniform away from Ryoma. Turning to the door, he took a step back when he saw his older sister, Yumiko, peering inside.
"Syusuke, good morning," she smiled towards Ryoma. "Good morning to you, too."
"Nee-chan," he looked down at the clothes he held in his hand and the back to his sister. "I'll be back; be nice to Echizen."
Yumiko watched as her brother walked out of the room and down the hallway. When she saw that he was out of sight, she turned her attention to the boy who sat on the floor. Placing herself next to him, she continued to smile. "Would you like to see what my tarot cards have to say?"
"Eh?" Ryoma blinked a few times.
"Syusuke says that I haven't been wrong yet."
"I'll pass," he tried to look somewhere else, but he could feel Yumiko's eyes watching him.
"Well, Echizen-kun, why are you over even though it's a school day?" her words, though they were said sweetly, pierced through Ryoma's heart.
"No reason."
"You're not a very talkative one," Yumiko stood back up and noticed that Ryoma was staring at the window sill. "I think cacti are a lot like Syusuke. Even though they look pretty, with one false move, they'll hurt you. Syusuke cares more about others than he does himself." She found her way back to the door. "You should be careful, Echizen-kun."
"Are you saying Fuji-senpai is going to hurt me?" Ryoma questioned.
"No, but I can see that you've been hurt and are trying to hide it."
"Did your tarot cards tell you that?"
"I don't need them to see that because it's written right on your face," without waiting for him to say another word, she left the room.
"This family is weird…" Ryoma mumbled.
After Fuji returned, the two of them changed into their school uniforms. Leaving the house, Ryoma avoided Yumiko's gaze. For some reason, it gave him a chill. Making their way down the road, the two of them made it to the school. Fuji watched as Ryoma left his side in search for his classroom. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to watch over him for those hours they are in school didn't only worry him; it put an ache in his heart.
Ryoma sat in his classroom and let his arms rest on top of his desk. He continued to tell himself that nothing bad was going to happen, but it didn't seem to help him. Even though he had come to school time and time again after his father would rape him, today was different. Sitting in that hospital room made him realize what had happened; his father's little game had become Ryoma's torture. Now that he had someone to talk to about what had happened, he could feel the painful emotions creeping up his spine. Though, he didn't realize that once he had that someone that would care for him, he would become so vulnerable when he wasn't around.
"Echizen," a hand waved in front of the boy's face. "Earth to Echizen."
"Huh?" Ryoma stared at the boy standing in front of him. "Horio?"
"Can you believe we have an English test today? I'm not prepared at all. Even though I study, I can see the bad marking I'm going to get already!" Horio bellowed making Ryoma slightly flinch. "Man, you're lucky; you always get good marks in English."
"I guess," his words were softer than usual.
"Hey, are you ok? You seem different."
"…I'm fine…"
The day continued with Ryoma avoiding most conversations Horio would start. When the final bell rang, he pulled the strap of his bag on his shoulder and rushed out of the classroom. Almost sprinting through the halls, he left the building and made his way to the tennis clubhouse. Opening the door, he stopped in his tracks when he noticed everyone who was in the room.
"Hey, Echizen," Momoshiro rose his arm up to greet the young boy. "Feeling better?"
Ryoma only nodded his head. He fixed his eyes to the ground until he found a free stop to change. As fast as he could, he stripped out of his school uniform and replaced it with his tennis outfit. For those few minutes that his bare skin was exposed, he felt as if anyone could take him and do as they please. He was uneasy when others saw him unclothed.
After everyone had changed, they headed out to the courts. Fuji walked a few feet behind Ryoma instead of right next to him in order to keep people from questioning why they're so close.
"Ochibi!" Eiji ran up to the boy with his arms wide open. Pulling Ryoma into his warm embrace, he began to laugh. "Is Ochibi better? You scared me when you ended up leaving practice early."
Ryoma knew that Eiji was his friend and wanted to believe that he would never harm him. It didn't matter what he thought, his body instantly responded to the touch. As his whole being began to quiver, Ryoma opened his mouth and let out a painful shriek.
Eiji removed his arms and stepped back. He had never seen Ryoma react this way when he greeted him with a hug before. Seeing tears streaming down the boy's cheeks and dripping from his chin, he became puzzled. This wasn't the Ryoma he knew; he was different.
"What's wrong, Ochibi?" Eiji tried to get his voice through to Ryoma, but it was impossible.
When Ryoma screamed again, the others ran to see what was happening. Eiji explained what he did, but couldn't find a reason behind anything. Fuji pushed through the others only to see Ryoma falling to his knees in an uncontrollable sob.
"Call for the nurse," Oishi pointed to the school building.
"No," Fuji shook his head. "Just, back up."
Everyone looked at Fuji but didn't respond to his demand. Though, when Tezuka took a few steps backwards, everyone followed. They stared at Fuji who sat on the ground next Ryoma. Placing his hand on the young boys back, he lightly rubbed it. Even if there were no words he could say to make Ryoma snap out of his trance, at least he could make him know he was still there to comfort him.
"Fuji, why don't you tell us what's going on?" Tezuka asked as he folded his arms against his chest.
"I can't…I promised Echizen that I wouldn't," Fuji continued to rub his hand on Ryoma's back. "It's not my place to tell people what has and hasn't happened in his life."
"Why?" Ryoma whispered through his crying. "Why do I all of a sudden feel so useless?"
"…Echizen…"
"He…he made me this way…didn't he?"
There were a few whispers from those watching him. They all knew that the person they were looking at now was no longer that cocky little first year who took the tennis team by surprise.
"It'll get better. You just have to give it some time," Fuji spoke softly to Ryoma. "Remember, I'm here if you need to talk about it."
"This is…embarrassing…" Ryoma turned to look at Fuji. "I…don't have any excuses I can make…"
"I think it's time that one of you told us what's going on," Tezuka was no longer asking questions; he was demanding.
"Tezuka, I don't think there's a need to pry into other people's business," Fuji got onto his feet and smiled.
"When it comes to this team, even if I have to pry to know what is going on, I will."
Ryoma reached his right arm up and tugged at Fuji's shorts. "I…I think I'm going to be sick."
Fuji took Ryoma over towards a bush knowing that he wouldn't be able to make it to the bathroom before threw up. He was becoming used to the disturbing sound Ryoma would making and the coughing afterwards. Seeing him becoming sick like this only made the pain in his heart worse.
"Here," Tezuka, who had followed them, handed Ryoma a bottle of water.
Ryoma once again filled his mouth with the liquid and spit it out onto the grass. "Thanks."
"I'm not going to ask again, but if this continues to be the way you become every time you get to practice, maybe it's best that you don't come."
"I'll be fine," he wiped his face. "I'll learn to control it."
"Control it?" Tezuka repeated.
"I think I might have caught a cold or something…"
"I'll go call your father to come pick you up."
"You can't!" Ryoma yelled. "I don't ever want to see that man again!" Before he could even finish his sentence, he could feel himself regretting the words he said.
Tezuka looked at Ryoma then at Fuji then back down to Ryoma. "I see. Fuji, bring Echizen home."
"Right," Fuji let his right arm hang over Ryoma's shoulders as he guided him away from the tennis courts.
"As long as Fuji knows what's happening, maybe everything will end in a good way…"
NOTE: Yes, I realize that I was late updating once again. Hey, but I made this chapter longer that the previous ones, so maybe it was worth the extra wait. I enjoyed writing this chapter. I don't know why, but I did. I would like to mention that Yumiko only made a visit because I received a review from PriestessiofBast saying something about her, and then I realized that I…well…forgot about her. Which reminds me, I must apologize because I don't really know Yumiko or Yoshiko very well. I can only hope that I have them in character. I wanted to have Yumiko do a tarot card reading, but I don't know much about that, so I decided against it. Though, I really do like tarot cards and things like that, but I never had the chance to learn much because I live with my grandmother and she's totally against that type of stuff (I even went to a Renaissance Fair with her and my sister awhile back…I didn't even get to check out the things at this one booth because of her…).
Anyways, I have some other random things I want to say. First, I have these coffee flavored chocolates. Well, they're candy coated, and the candy coating tastes like coffee…yeah. Also, the reason why I was late on updating was I had an urge to find an MMORPG to play. Yeah, I really haven't found one yet. If anyone knows a good one (that is…hmm…free) message me. I'm currently just playing Fantasy Tennis because I love tennis. Finally, I would like to mention that I miss my black hair. Random, I know. I was brushing my hair and looking at it in the mirror when it finally sunk in that the black is almost all gone. The sad thing is, I have to dye it (with temporary dye) again in May so it matches Kamio Akira's hair color. The things I'll do for cosplaying…
Yeah, so who liked Fuji's random morning sickness question? I just had to put that in there because of a question I received awhile back from someone. I really couldn't help it. When Ryoma became sick during practice, I was going to have Eiji say something really stupid, but I decided against it (It was going to be something about Ryoma being pregnant…but I didn't want Eiji to seem that dumb.).
I think that's really all I wanted to say, so I'm going to end with this:
While I was writing this chapter, I all of a sudden realized random things that Yanagi Kotaro (this first Echizen Ryoma in the musicals) and Echizen Ryoma actually have in common. Both of them have birthdays in December (21st and 24th), both know English, and both lived in America (Well, at least what I've read is that Yanagi went to an American boarding school…to me that sounds like he lived in America…maybe I'm wrong.).
Thank you so much for reading. There is still much more to come. The next update will be March 7th. Thanks for all the reviews and everything else. I hope you'll come back for the next chapter~!