Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis? Not mine. Got that? Great.
A/N: I dedicate this chapter to KiTtEn18sMiLe and Artic-Fox 14. :D
This might be the longest chapter I've typed so far.
Warning: There will be OOCness due to circumstances invented by my imagination.
We've come along a long way so here it goes, the seventeenth chapter!
Chapter 17: There will always be problems.
He was falling.
His eyes were closed, but his face was scrunched up in pain. It wasn't until he hit the floor did a scream ringed in the room. In a few seconds, four teenagers stormed into Sachiko's room. In an instant, they noticed the fallen body on the floor, writhing in pain. Kirihara and Kintarou approached the unconscious male while Izumi and Fuji went to the frozen bedridden female who was nervously holding the cup of tea the amber-eyed male had given her before he fainted.
"What happened, Sachiko-san?" Izumi asked in a soft voice full of worry. "I do not know myself, Hanabi-san. He suddenly fainted after he gave me this cup of tea." Sachiko nervously replied. It was a weird sight, seeing the usually calm female looking distraught, but it wasn't any normal situation.
"He's not hurt physically, but he looks like he's having a nightmare." Kirihara told them. Izumi and Fuji approached the coach were the two younger teens had lied Ryoma down. His face was still scrunched up in pain, and he kept clawing at himself, on the place above his heart.
"No, please don't." He mumbled in English, his feet kicking at the air. He mumbled words that the other teens could not pick-up, but they could do nothing to help him. When Izumi tried to touch him, her hand was suddenly slapped away. After a few silent moments, he grew silent and stopped moving. They thought he had finally calmed down.
They were wrong.
His hand shot out and grabbed a nearby pillow. They wondered what he planned to do with it until he threw it right at the door a few feet from the couch he was lying on. "Stay away!" He mumbled in fear, but he was still asleep. Izumi fought back tears as her proclaimed brother began scratching at the area above his heart once again.
"Mother!"
A single tear had escaped from his eye before he suddenly sat up, awake to the world. Due to the sudden movement, he felt faint and slowly fell back to the small pillow his head had rested on earlier. It took a few moments before he registered where he was and who was surrounding him.
"Otouto!" He was suddenly enveloped in a loose hug by his self-proclaimed sister. "What happened, nee-san?" He muttered. "You fainted after giving Sachiko-san her tea. Tooyama-san and Kirihara-kun carried you to a couch but then you started talking in English in your sleep." Izumi replied.
"What do you remember before fainting, Echizen?" Fuji asked as he helped the amber-eyed freshman sit up. "The last thing I remembered was English tea and honey." He sluggishly replied. The four clueless teens looked at Sachiko who had a shocked look on her face. "That's how I like my English tea, with honey." She informed them, but did not get why it was so important.
"That was her favorite tea. She always drank it in the afternoons, mostly when it rained." Ryoma suddenly muttered. When they looked at him, he was staring at the window. That was when they noticed it was raining outside. "I asked her why she liked something so sweet. Her reply was simple. She liked it sweet." He continued.
They wondered who he was talking about. Who was that mystery woman? That was the thought running in their minds. "Then, she would walk towards the door and tell me, 'Let us make some tea,' with that smile on her face." A longing look was on Ryoma's face as he decided to remove the name.
"Ryoma."
He was snapped out of his trance when he heard Izumi's voice. He looked back at the teens around him to see that they were all worried about him. "You should get some sleep, Koshimae." Kintarou suddenly said in a worried voice, when he noticed the other older teens didn't say another word.
The younger freshman nodded as he tried to stand up, only to slump at the floor with a loud wince. Fuji and Kirihara helped him up, only for them to notice the bloody bandages on his knees. When he was sat down on the couch again, Izumi fretted over him, treating his re-opened wounds.
"I'll tell the coaches that you'll be excused for tomorrow." Fuji said. "No." Ryoma told him. "But Koshimae-" Kintarou was cut off by Ryoma. "No." A glare was on his face, daring them to make him change his decision. The others only sighed at his stubbornness. They slowly nodded, not the least bit happy with his decision. He was escorted back to his room with the help of Kirihara and Fuji, while Izumi and Kintarou went back to where they were before.
That night, Ryoma had a fitful sleep.
The next day, he was woken up by Karupin. How he was there, he did not question it as he was barely awake. He sluggishly did his morning routine before heading towards the kitchen. He thought of using his powers, but felt too lazy to do it, even if the pain in his knees were killing him. After a few slow minutes, he finally reached the kitchen. He wasn't surprised when he saw Sachiko already preparing breakfast.
"Good morning, Young Master." She quietly greeted, not once turning her head towards the still sleepy male. She was keeping a close eye on the breakfast. The male took a few deep breaths. He muttered a few soft directions to the pink-haired female who only nodded and followed his orders. He was more skilled at cooking than she was. That much she knew from experience.
He headed straight to the coffee machine in a slow manner and got himself a cup of black coffee. He calmly walked out of the kitchen to leave the mansion. "Call me when it's time for breakfast." With that, he went outside with the cup of coffee in a barely awake daze. The female stifled a chuckle at her master. 'He is still the same.' She noted before bringing her attention back to the food.
After a couple of minutes, the food was done and she had it prepared in record time. She went outside to find her master, which she found sitting near the border of the forest, seemingly looking at the flowers around. She did not fail to notice the bloody bandages on his knees, but decided to ignore it for the moment. She could take care of it later. "Breakfast is ready, Young Master. I have yet to call the others." She informed him. He simply gave her a nod before walking back inside behind her.
"I'll call them instead. Prepare the drinks for them." He ordered, which she nodded in reply. While she busied herself with the drinks, Ryoma used his powers to instantly appear in the third floor, not wanting to waste anymore time. Using his power to increase his speed, he knocked on all eleven doors of the bedroom where his guests were staying in.
"Breakfast is ready." He said to the occupants of every room. His pace was much slower than usual when he did this, not wanting to scare them so early in the morning by suddenly collapsing in front of them. He felt his stomach rumble. 'Can they get any slower?' He complained in his mind but kept his aloof façade outside.
He had been acting unlike himself for the past few days. He didn't mind if it was with Kirihara or Sachiko, they were a different story. He also wouldn't mind if it was with Izumi or Fuji either, but the others were bad news. He didn't want to ruin the anti-social reputation he tried so hard to build.
After informing all of his guests, he proceeded to the dining room, not wanting to stay there any longer and let them notice the slightly pink bandages that used to be white. In a few minutes, everyone was in the dining room and eating. There were five long tables in the dining room, which were already prepared yesterday in the afternoon. They were all divided in groups.
The first table nearest to the kitchen consisted of mostly the more controlled group: Ryoma, Sachiko, Izumi, Kajimoto, Shiraishi, Yukimura, Sanada, Atobe, Tezuka and, shockingly, Kirihara. The second table consisted of the silent group: Reiji, Yuuta, Saeki, Yagyuu, Hiyoshi, Kabaji, Jirou, Shishido and Kaidoh.
The third group consisted of mostly the observers: Chitose, Youhei, Kouhei, Mizuki, Ibu, Yanagi, Oshitari, Inui and Fuji. The fourth group consisted of the pacifiers: Jackal, Tachibana, Choutarou, Taka, Oishi and the four coaches. The last group consisted of the troublemakers: Sengoku, Wakato, Kintarou, Kamio, Niou, Marui, Gakuto, Eiji and Momo.
The first three tables did their best to ignore the noise made by the fifth table. The fourth table continuously tried to stop the fifth table's bickering and noise-making, but to no avail. That didn't last long though. Izumi felt herself starting to get annoyed from the noise. When she looked at the female beside her, she noticed the grimace she was trying to hide. 'Poor Sachiko-san.' She thought.
When she glanced at the other third years in the table, one-half (Kajimoto, Shiraishi and Yukimura) had placid expressions while the other half (Tezuka, Atobe and Sanada) had irritation growing evident in their faces. She looked at the lone junior who was ignorant to the noise and simply enjoyed eating the hearty breakfast Sachiko had prepared.
Lastly, she looked at her proclaimed brother. Needless to say, she grew in fear of what she saw. At first, she actually though he was simply ignoring it like Kirihara, but when she looked at the lines in his face, she knew she was wrong. The unpleased look in his eyes and the dark aura around him were a dead giveaway.
When Ryoma was like that, it often spelled bad news. To double the bad luck, it was still early in the morning. She knew her brother wasn't much of a morning person, even after he had his morning coffee. 'He's so like Ootori Kyouya from Hatori Bisco-sama's Ouran High School Host Club, minus the money-making-schemes.' She giddily noted.
The noise from the last table did not get any better but only louder. The people in both the first and second table, as Izumi had noticed, had already begun to notice Ryoma's dark aura. Not like it wasn't obvious, she had thought. 'You really would think he's an AB not an O type.' She thought in albeit nervous way, distracting herself from the noise.
'That is it!'
Ryoma sluggishly stood up and silently glared at the people in the last table. Feeling something akin to killing intent pricking their necks, the oblivious teens turned their heads towards the direction where they felt the source was, only to come in contact with the darkest glare they have ever seen in the usually aloof freshman.
They also felt the killing intent rolling off him like steam. This caused the males to shut their mouths and shiver unconsciously in fear for their lives. "Never make noise in the morning." He warned them before he strode off to the living room with a cup of hot black coffee in hand, limping all the way, not that many of them noticed.
When he was gone, nearly all the teens and adults in the room released the sigh they didn't know they were keeping. "I apologize for Young Master's actions. I forgot to include in your pamphlets that Young Master is not a morning person." Sachiko told them in an honest tone. Everyone else didn't know what to say, but nearly laughing at what the female just said, which was both funny and weird.
"Sachiko-san, I have a question about Ryoma-kun." Izumi suddenly said, attracting everyone's attention. The pink-haired female looked at the red-head. "What is his blood type? From former records, it was said he was an O type, but as of late, I have been suspicious if that is the actual case. He has such a low blood pressure in mornings." Izumi asked.
"To ease your thoughts about this matter, Young Master is an O type. He is simply just not a morning person. I'm ashamed to admit, but I had actually doubted it before." Sachiko replied in a shy voice with a nervous chuckle. Everyone else just laughed in return, well only some of them.
They finished breakfast and the rest of the people under Fox group helped in cleaning up. Soon, they were all summoned outside. Still divided by groups, Dog, Cat and Wolf groups were assigned to the courts first, having two courts per group. They had ball catching with their bare hands with Hanamura and Ryuzaki. Fox and Spider group were assigned to the pool, where had to do numerous laps back and forth under the guidance of Osamu and Sasaki.
Ryoma had joined them later than everyone else. "Where were you, Ryoma?" Ryuzaki asked him when he walked out of the mansion. "Okaa-san called." He simply replied before he headed towards the shower room to change into his swim suit and double-check his bandages then join his group mates in training.
Their first day of training went well for most of them. They were tired, and the Fox group was allowed to be relieved of kitchen duty at lunch time, just to give them a break. Ryoma, though, still helped Sachiko make lunch with Izumi even with his injuries. After training, Sachiko and Izumi gave them all some snacks. All of them chatted lightly about the training with Ryoma's comment making everyone laugh in agreement.
"Luckily, Inui-sempai did not bring out his juice."
A/N: Once again, I made an automatic disclaimer there on Ouran High School Host Club. As for the blood type thing, it's a little thing I picked up on the OHSHC and Lucky Star. (Also not mine.)
Anyway, I hope I didn't make the characters too OOC. I might have been a little excited when I typed this so... Please tell me any typos and inconsistencies, even grammar mistakes (being the "Grammar Nazi" that I am).
Constructive criticism is appreciated in the form of private messages and/or reviews.