When the next school day arrived, Fuji removed himself from beneath the covers of his bed and headed for his closet. He contently smiled as Ryoma continued to slumber peacefully. Knowing that he couldn't sleep any longer, Fuji softly brushed his fingers through Ryoma's dark hair. As his eyes flickered open to reveal their honey-brown color, Ryoma let out a small sigh. Backing away, Fuji allowed Ryoma to crawl out of the bed. When his feet met the carpet, he tripped forward into the older boy's arms. For a moment, he stayed there in Fuji's warm embrace mumbling incoherent things into his shoulder.

"Echizen," Fuji's breath tickled Ryoma's ear causing him to pull away.

"We should get ready," he awkwardly played with the collar of his shirt as he stumbled his way towards the closet. After grabbing his school uniform, he went back to the bed where he began to change. Noticing Fuji removing his own shirt, his eyes began to linger onto his body.

"You can use the bathroom first."

"Ah, right," while buttoning his white shirt, Ryoma almost dashed for the door.

"Heh. He seems to be in a decent mood this morning," Fuji sat down on his bed and laced his fingers together. "Will he be okay once practice begins after school though?"

In the bathroom, Ryoma stared at himself in the mirror; playing with the strands of hair that fell in front of his eyes. Letting out a sigh, he moved himself slowly to the side and dropped to his knees.

"I have to be strong," he placed his hand on his chest. "For Fuji-senpai."

When Ryoma was finished in the bathroom, he waited for Fuji before heading down the stairs. After eating their breakfast, the two of them grabbed their bags and headed out the front door. Ryoma placed himself a few inches in front of Fuji as they walked down the sidewalk. His pace slowly grew quicker.

"Echizen," Fuji grabbed for the younger boy's shoulder causing him to stop. "Why are you in such a rush?"

"Uh!" he bit his lower lip and shook his head.

"Something wrong?"

"No…" Ryoma lowered his head before turning his body around. "Why would you keep that broken pot and that dying cactus?"

Fuji, at first, was shocked by the question, but his peaceful smile lingered back onto his face. "Just because it was damaged doesn't mean it's not living. That cactus still has plenty of life in it, so there was no reason for me to let it just wither away and die."

"Senpai is rather caring," swinging away, he continued to walk on. "It's nice."

His only response to Ryoma was a soft giggle before racing to be next to him. This feeling that was placed in his heart was something he wished would last forever.

Entering the school, the two of them parted ways. Fuji feared the questions that would come up and the reactions Ryoma was to have. There was nothing more he could do for the young boy; not when he was so far away.

Upon sitting at his desk, Ryoma was greeted by Horio. His response was shaky, and it was easy to tell that he still wasn't comfortable around even the people he's known for so long. Horio attempted to create a conversation, but Ryoma wasn't interested in anything he had to say. His focus, at this point, was solely on getting through the school day.

In another classroom somewhere else in the school building, Fuji sat next to Eiji. Their conversation began like normal, but it soon began to turn towards Ryoma.

"Is he okay?" an unusually sad look fell upon Eiji's face.

"Hmm?" Fuji attempted to act as if he didn't know what the taller boy was asking him, but he knew there was no way that he could avoid being questioned.

"Ochibi…he "

"He's fine," he quickly replied. "It's not something that should be brought up to him."

"I know that, Fuji. It's just, when I heard about things, I became worried. I think everyone of us from the tennis club did," Eiji squirmed around in his seat before making contact with Fuji's icy blue eyes. "You're the only one who knew what was really going on with him. Why would he try to keep something like this to himself when he was being hurt in unthinkable ways?"

"I don't understand his way of thinking, Eiji, but I'm sure what he's been going through isn't something he could just easily tell someone else. The pain that was being placed upon him was something no one should have to face alone, but I'm sure he was way too scared to tell another soul anything."

"Ochibi…is strong…" he softly mumbled as the teacher walked into the room.

As the school day went along, there were whispers throughout the building. Ryoma didn't seem to notice that there were students talking about him and what had happened. He was the star of the main gossip and didn't even realize it. The stares, the murmurs; they weren't there to him. He only focused ahead of him in order to get through the rest of the time he had to spend there.

The final bell signaled; students rushed out of their classrooms in order to get to their after school activities. Ryoma walked down the hallway with his head low towards the floor. Reaching the exit, he dragged himself towards the clubhouse where the tennis team changed. With each step he took, he felt his heart sinking more and more. He knew he had to face them sooner or later, but today just didn't feel like the right day.

"Echizen!" his upperclassman, Momoshiro, raced up to the younger boy and lightly slapped him on the back of the head. "Lets get ready for practice."

"Uh…" Ryoma flinched forward before turning around. "Momo-senpai…"

"Today's a good day, so we should go get something to eat after practice."

Ryoma softly smiled and looked behind Momoshiro to see Fuji making his way towards him. "Maybe."

"Afternoon," Fuji lightly touched Momoshiro's shoulder as he waved to Ryoma.

"Huh? Oh!" he began to chuckle as he shoved his thumb towards Fuji. "Fuji-senpai can come as well. He can buy."

"Right. We should get ready…" Ryoma sprinted the rest of the way to the clubhouse. As he walked in, all eyes met with his.

Today may not be a good day.

NOTE: Sorry about the delay everyone! Chapter 18 is here…finally! I plan on ending this fic with the next two chapters. Chapter 19 should come out on around September 28th. It might be sooner though. These final two chapters are probably going to be a bit longer than normal since there is still something that needs to happen. I want the final chapter to come out on October 10th. Why? Because I uploaded the first chapter of this fic on January 10th.

Anyways, I would like to bring something up real quick. First, all update information can be found on my profile along with what's going on and why I haven't updated and such. Second, I will be lessening the amount of fics I'm working on at once in order to do other projects. Third, I will always have at least one FujiXRyoma fic that I'll be working on. Just, remember that you can find all information on my profile about things. Alright?

So, thank you for reading this chapter. There's only a little bit left, so I hope you'll say until the very end. I'll do my best to make the ending worth the wait…even if this has become another fic that I'm finding it sad to see it coming to an end.