A/n Well now what do we have here? Another chapter? Well now Clover aren't you a great author not letting you readers wait extremely long for an update xD haha jkjk but I am totally sorry, I would have updated sooner it was just with traveling to mandatory state-wide testing (I live in a place where you have to take a boat or helicopter to the nearest town) and my laptop melting its power cord I've had some troubles so just consider yourselves lucky I keep my stories on a jump-drive or you might have had to wait even longer xD haha Well I think I've rambled long enough so with the story ONWARD! FORWARD!
There will be reviewer replies at the end of the chapters from this chapter on.
Nope don't own Prince of Tennis, why would you even think I did?
"Okay Ryoma, I'll see you later. I hope you tell Roteki, he needs to know what happened," Fuji said as they left the Café.
"No, he has too much on his shoulders already. He doesn't need to think that he can solve my problems,"
"If he is as smart as you say he is, I'll bet you he already found out. Eventually he will start digging and you won't be able to hide it," Ryoma shook his head and opened his mouth, but Fuji didn't let him argue, "And don't give me any of that 'he is only five' crap. He is immensely intelligent and he understands human emotions better than most adults . . . At least think about telling him," Ryoma looked down as if the sidewalk would have the answers to all his problems.
" . . . I'll think about it. See you later," As the young green-haired father walked away Fuji watched his back slowly disappear around a corner.
God Tezuka you are so stupid. How could you have ever let him go when he was trying his hardest to hold on to you? Fuji shook his head in disappointment, and people say that Momo is the dense one.
It wasn't until eight months later that Roteki had hatched a plan that would force together his oyaji and uncle Tezuka. His sixth birthday had come and gone and his seventh was halfway there, so he thought he had given them both enough time to get back together themselves. His idea was genius, it was perfect, and it was totally idiot proof. Unfortunately he forgot to take into account that his father was very, very unobservant.
His plan was very simple, he was just going to leave Tezuka's college paper out in the open and have Ryoma read it then Ryoma would realize just how much Tezuka loved him and they would get back together. Well every time Roteki took it out, Ryoma wouldn't notice the papers and would go on about his day.
Finally Roteki got sick of his father being an unobservant fool and got serious. It was time to bring Fuji into the equation.
"OYAJI!" Ryoma's head snapped over to where his son was standing in the kitchen doorway, one hand on his hip, the other holding an envelope. "You and uncle Tezuka are being idiots, you both totally love each other but won't do anything about it!" The young father's eyes widened to small dinner plates, "No, don't say anything, I found out over half a year ago and I'm sick of you two dancing around each other! Just tell him what you feel already! If you are just gonna sit here and not at least try to fix things then just get rid of that box of pictures already. Because with the way you're acting now it doesn't seem like you ever cared about him. And don't even bother reading this because obviously it won't mean ANYTHING to you!" Roteki threw the envelope at his stunned father and stomped off to his room, where Fuji was trying not to laugh at the act the six year-old just put on.
"Do you really think he will read it Fuji?" Roteki looked up at his uncle in concern.
"Trust me, he will read it once he gets over his shock," Fuji said as they both sat down to wait.
Ryoma just sat there, stunned at all the information that was just thrown at him. Roteki knew about him and Tezuka; knew that Ryoma still loved him; knew about the box of pictures. But what was Roteki talking about, not reading something. The Golden-eyed man looked down at the envelope on his lap. It seemed to be for a Language Arts college assignment. With shaking hands he pulled the papers out and gasped at the name at the top; Tezuka Kunimitsu. Slowly he began to read the rest of it.
Short Essay; Write at least two paragraphs about your two biggest fears.
Most people would look at me and think that I have no fears. I will admit that there are not many things that frighten me; however there are two things that scare me to the point of nightmares. Both involve my lover. He is a very strong and independent person who is an absolute heart-throb. That scares me, a lot. I constantly worry that he will realize that no matter how much he thinks it, he might not love me; he could leave me and not ever worry about getting a boyfriend or girlfriend. Most people would say I'm just being immature or insecure, but it really frightens me to think he would ever really leave and not ever come back.
My other fear is that I would ever hold him back. He has amazing dreams for his future; he wants to be a professional tennis player and has talent to do it. He is going to America and winning tournaments, and he has plans to go to Europe and win Wimbledon. It makes me proud to know that I have such a strong boyfriend. But I don't want to hold him back. He always promises to come home on weekends, and he does. But it makes me feel so selfish that he keeps coming home when he should be focusing on his dream of being number one. With those selfish feelings are fears that because he is focusing on me, he is losing time to practice. I am holding him back from accomplishing his dreams. But I am too much of a spoiled, selfish creature to help him realize that more time spent with me is less time on the tennis courts. Those are my biggest fears, but if it means that I can hold him in my arms I'm willing to trade the world and more.
Ryoma's eyes read over the last sentence once, twice, three times. Until his brain finally realized what it actually meant. In that one moment of comprehension, all thoughts of being a responsible adult; a responsible parent, went out the window. As he threw on a windbreaker and his sneakers he threw a quick 'good-bye, love you, lock the door,' over his shoulder to Roteki and bolted to the one place he knew he would get any answers; the condominium he never thought he would return to.
"Will he be alright uncle Fuji?" Roteki looked with concerned eyes at the papers hastily dropped onto the floor from his father's quick exit.
"Now that he knows the truth, yes he will be alright. Hopefully better than alright . . . Why don't we go look at the stars?" Fuji responded gently pushing Roteki toward the small balcony that held his telescope. Roteki looked reluctant but eventually gave in, but he couldn't focus on any of the constellations. Instead his mind was filled with doubt, did I really make the right choice?
Ryoma's rubber-soled shoes pounded against the pavement as he ran towards a building he had run away from about seven years ago. He came up to the gate that enclosed the compound and cursed as he remembered that Tezuka always opened the gate for him. Just as he was about to give up he saw the American couple who lived next door to Tezuka. They were two of the few people who actually knew about what happened when the green-haired man showed up at late hours of the night. They also knew how their young neighbor changed after Ryoma stopped showing up. How he became melancholy and drew farther into himself.
"BRENDA! BRENDA! JOHN!" They both looked over with wide eyes at Ryoma, "Please! I made a huge mistake I need to talk to Kunimitsu! Please!" whether it was his disheveled appearance or the regretful, almost wild look in his eye, they opened up the gate and watched him run to Tezuka's door and use the hide-a-key to get inside; thoughtfully looking at each other as if asking if they made the right decision.
Tezuka had just gotten off the phone with the hospital when a panting, untidy Ryoma burst through his door with a crazy look in his eye. The surgeon watched wide eyed as Ryoma caught his breath.
"Why! Why did you let me go? If you really loved me as much as you said, if you really are as selfish and spoiled as you claim then why did you ever let me go?" those golden eyes swelled with unshed tears and Tezuka felt his heart being ripped out for the second time in his life, "You said that you were willing to trade more than the world for me, did you find it? Did you find something more than the world!" Tezuka's brown eyes widened in realization and he opened his mouth to speak but Ryoma ploughed on ahead, tears streaming down his face, "I hope you really did find it! Your 'world and more' because if it wasn't because of that then you are no better than any of the other ass-holes I've dated. Men and women who all lied to me just to use me and throw me out like yesterday's garbage!"
Kunimitsu suddenly felt an emotion boiling inside him that he hadn't ever felt before; rage. Pure, unbridled, unfeeling rage, Ryoma had compared him to something he was not. When he spoke his voice was calm, unwavering and frosty.
"I never used you Ryoma, don't you dare accuse me of that. I loved you more than anything don't ever think anything I said was false. Watching you walk out was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I still regret it, but I can't rewind the past and do it differently," Tezuka turned toward his bedroom and walked inside, just as he was about to closed the door he looked over at his ex-lover.
"And yes, I found something that means more to me than the world. Your happiness; your dreams; that is my world and more, and I was getting in the way of those dreams," And he slammed the door.
Ryoma just sat there on the floor letting the stoic man's words sink in. Then he sat there for more time trying to get over his shock. Tezuka left me because of my dreams? He thought that he was getting in the way of my tennis? Is that what he meant that day that I left? How did I not see that!
Ryoma finally got off the floor and slowly walked out the door in a daze. Too many questions swirling in his head at once, Brenda and John were still outside waiting to see what would happen. They saw Ryoma sway as fatigue began to overpower him. With one last lurch forward he crumpled to the ground, luckily John managed to grab him before he hit his head.
What have I done? Ryoma thought before blackness engulfed him.
A/n Clover did you seriously just give them that cliff-hanger? I mean really how mean can you get? I though you said that Ryoma and Tezuka would get together in this chapter! Well I decided to stop it there because in the next chapter some more crap is going to go down that involves ANOTHER CHARACTER~! However this mysterious person has been mentioned before. Thank you so much everyone who has read my story and Alert/favorite-ed it. It absolutely makes my day when I get on my email and know that people liked my story :) Now on to replying to reviews:
animelover4ever69 ~ Thank you for a follow-up review and yes I know just how it is with kids understanding some things that most adults don't think they should know about. It makes me kinda sad that children are slowly becoming more mature than some adults.
aku no tensai ~ Haha xD your review made me laugh so hard when I first read it! Yes I am totally going to continue this story because I have LOTS of ideas of where I could take this and I JUST LOVE PILLAR PAIR! And yes I made Roteki seem much more mature and intelligent than most five year olds because when I was five my mom had me doing first/second grade school work and I'm kinda OCD so I would organize things that most kids wouldn't. So in that way I kind of made Roteki like me. I think that I pretty much explained why Tezuka didn't ever confront Ryoma when I had Ryoma have his breakdown and shit. And I just HAD to make Fuji a sort of confidant in this story because I want him and Roteki to get in trouble together later xD haha Thank you so much for noticing that I spelled genius wrong haha. Genius and intelligent are the two words I can never spell right! I normally spell genius wrong because when I say it I drag the word out so it sounds like 'genious' like genie-ous haha xD Thank you so much for the compliments and I hope you liked Ryoma's mental breakdown xD haha
pinaygurl28 ~ Thank you x) and I know there are totally not enough pillar pair stories out there! Echizen, Our Buchou and Life After Segaku are both AMAZING pillar pairs stories!
THANK YOU EVERYONE ELSE! I hope you liked the new chapter! Please review and favorite! Flames will be used to bake cookies for reviewers!