A/N: minna, hello once again! I present the next chapter! Hihihi! I haven't had much inspiration to write for a while so I kinda, um, hehehe. Anyways, I hope you read and review! Sorry for this late update, minna! Enjoy!
~*~*~*~*~* chapter 2 *~*~*~*~*~*
Finally, Ryoga managed to see the tennis ground. He looked everywhere, but there were no signs of his younger brother. He looked around once more.
'Where could chibisuke be? And why did Oyaji told me to fetch Ryoma out so suddenly?'
Suddenly, he felt a little tap on his shoulders, and looked to the person.
"Ah, excuse me, um…"
"Fuji. Fuji Syuusuke. Nice to meet you, Echizen-san." Ryoga looked at the male in front of him. Suddenly, a cough was heard.
"Ah, yes, do you know where chibisuke is?" Fuji's smile widened a bit before pointing towards the small house which looks likely to be the locker room. Some of the tennis players had all but left already, since practice was over. But some, like the regulars, were outside, as if thinking whether or not to come in.
Suddenly, as if the regulars saw him, their eyes widened a bit.
"Ah, Echizen's aniki. What brings you here?" Ryoga gave them a smile.
"Looking for Chibisuke. Have you seen…" he thought for a while.
"Chibisuke? You mean… ochibi?" Eiji asked. Ryoga looked at them.
"Ah, h-she's inside." Giving a nod, he was about to knock when it suddenly opened.
Ryoma was quite sure that the practice was over since she couldn't quite hear the sound of people running or even the swishing of rackets and balls being hit. So, she suddenl stood up, which startled Sakuno.
"A-are you going out now, Ryoma-chan?" she asked. Ryoma looked at her and nodded.
"Un." And she immediately went to the door and opened it.
She blinked when she saw them outside. But, she was quite confused when immediately someone hugged her.
"Chibisuke!" she groaned.
"Ugh, Aniki, can you… LET GO OF ME?!" she shouted and almost immediately she elbowed his brother in the gut. It worked since almost immediately Ryoga let go and was clutching his stomach.
"Ugh, what was that fo- oh, chibisuke you look like a girl!" he exclaimed, immediately standing up. And immediately hugged her again. Ryoma was currently wriggling her way out of his clutches. "You know, I remember it like it was just yesterday, you were wearing all those cute clothes okaa-san got to you." Now, she stopped struggling and almost immediately, she looked confused. Even the others present were quite intruiged as well.
"What do you mean?" Ryoma looked at her brother, feeling something that he wasn't telling her. Ryoga, who seemed to have realized what he just said, waved his arms around, saying random things as to clearly distract them out of what he had just said a while back. Remembering what his father said, he grinned as he grabbed a tennis ball from the ground. He looked directly at Ryoma, wearing a smirk akin to their father, when he was challenging both of them.
"Why not a match then, chibisuke? Surely, you wanted to know more of it, hm?" Ryoma's eye twitched at what he said. Sure, she knows she wanted to know more, but with her current state right now, she was quite hesitant. But, her pride also doesn't want to back down. Was he toying her or plainly provoking her?
Seeing the emotions plastered on her face, Ryoga couldn't help but snicker. Another tick mark appeared on her face, making Ryoga all the more.
"Oh? Is my little bro-oops, imouto a…" he trailed off, looking at her reaction. Another tick mark came and another. Ryoma was getting a bit annoyed by the second. His brother was provoking him and even if he didin't voice it out, it was clear to hear what he was trying to tell her. She immediately grabbed her racket, not that all affected from the others persuasion of her not to do it, and stared at her brother. Brother or not, he was getting on her nerves.
Ryoga gulped a bit at the strange aura his sister was leaking out. Was this what they say when you wake up a sleeping demon?
"Ne, baka aniki," it was now his turn to twitch, "let's have a game now, shall we?"
The sun has already set when the two had finished their game. Both panted, out of breath, but a smirk plastered on both faces. The spectators, mainly the Seigaku Regulars with the addition of Coach Ryuuzaki and her granddaughter, Sakuno, watched them in awe.
"Sugoi! Even being female, nothing changed! Ochibi's still amazing!" Eiji said as he jumped up and down happily looking at the siblings who were making their way out of the tennis courts. He immediately went to them and glomped the unsuspecting female.
"Eiji! You're suffocating her!" Oishi immediately said as they all looked at both of them. Ryoga just laughed it off a bit before a smile gazed his lips.
"Chibisuke sure found friends." He murmured but Coach Ryuuzaki heard him.
"Neh," he immediately said, making all of them look at him, as he grinned a bit. "Why don't you come over? For dinner perhaps?" they all looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Ryoma just sighed a bit, pulling her cap over as to shadow her face.
After much persuasion, the regulars gave in, much to the amusement of Coach Ryuuzaki and Ryoma and the smile on Ryoga's face.
"We're home! And we've brought company!" Ryoga said as he immediately opened their door. Nanako immediately poked her head out of the kitchen and smiled at all of them.
"Oh, welcome home. Come in." she smiled. The regulars with Sakuno and her grandmother bowed, thanking them for letting them in, in which Nanako waved of with a giggle. Looking at all of them, she couldn't help but wonder…
"Ah, Ryoga-san, where Ryoma?" she asked. Ryoga seemed confused.
"Well, she's right- eh? EH?! Chibisuke, where are you?!" he immediately said after seeing that his bro-sister was not beside him anymore. He looked at all of them and they gave off a shrug, and start looking for the young Echizen.
"Ah, everyone, she's here." Hearing Sakuno's voice, which seemed to be outside, they all (everyone who came, Nanako went to the kitchen to prepare their meals) and went out to see a huge ball just outside with Sakuno beside her, seemingly comforting her but failing albeit a little.
"R-Ryoma-ku-chan, please. You need to come inside." The human ball stayed still.
"Please, let me stay like this for a while." She mumbled but only Sakuno have heard it since she was so close to her. Sakuno sighed as she looked at all of them. It was already dark outside. Suddenly, they heard a creak of the gates being opened and saw two people coming in.
"Ara, it seems we have guests today." A woman whom they could sense that was in her mid-thirties stood there, a business suite hugging her figure. Beside her, was a man wearing a yukata, a lazy expression in his face. The man looked really familiar.
"Ah, you're Echizen's father, right, sir?" Momo immediately said. The man addressed blinked before laughing.
"Ah, yes. Ah, old lady, nice to see you again. I see you're still as o- ugh!" before he finished what he said, the woman near him elbowed him in the gut. She then glared at him befoe placing a smile as she looked back at them.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Why don't we continue our conversation inside?" she said. Ryuuzaki smiled.
"We would love to but it seemed that Ryoma wouldn't come inside. We didn't want her to stay her outside so we were trying to get her in." a look of understanding appeared on the woman's face before looking around, until she spotted a human ball near a young girl who seemed to be the same age as Ryoma. She immediately went to them.
"Ryoma, dear, why are you like this? Are you really going to show some weakness towards the people around you?" she said it softly, as she kneeled near her daughter. Ryoma seemed to understand as she looked back at her.
"No." she said. Rinko smiled.
"Then stand up, and let's all go inside." With a few more seconds of contemplating whether or not to do so, she immediately stood up followed by Sakuno and her mother. Everyone was just looking at them, a bit curious since they seem to be conversing in hushed voices. Rinko then looked at all of them.
"Ah, why don't we go inside already?" and with that, everyone came in just as dinner was already to be served. The guests seated themselves comfortably in the living room since they couldn't all fit in the table thus they all decided to use the living room also since they was a lot of stuff in the kitchen at the moment.
"Ah, we've been meaning to ask, what is your name ma'am?" suddenly, the woman blinked.
"Ah, silly me, my name is Echizen Rinko. You must be the Seigaku tennis team along with Sumire-san, and you must be Sakuno." She smiled as she looked at all of them with a smile. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you all. Thank you so much for taking care of Ryoma." She bowed.
"Ah, no, it's fine. As sempais, we are oblinged to look after our kohais." Realizing what he said, Oishi continued. "Ah, it's not like we'll not do it if ever we aren't so-" a giggle escaped her lips as Oishi stopped his rambling.
"It's alright. I do get your point. And I'm happy you've been taking care of my daughter until now."
"EEEHHHH?!" all of them (sans Sumire, Fuji, Tezuka, Inui and the rest of the Echizen Family) shouted. Rinko looked at them albeit confused.
"Hm? Did I say something wrong?"
"So, you mean to say, Echizen-san that you knew Ochibi's a girl after all?" Eiji immediately exclaimed.
"Of course! Why wouldn't I know of my own daughter's gender! It's not like I haven't raised her or something! Um, are you alright?" they all fel anime style (sans those who were mentioned a while ago) after hearing Rinko's explaination.
Ryoma looked at everyone especially in her mother with disbelief. Suddenly, she eyed her father, who after taking notice that she was staring at him, grinned.
"Oi, you falling in love with me, Shoujo?" she blushed a bit (because of embarrassment and anger) as she threw the iten next to her towards her father, who was hit straight on (fortunately or unfortunately for him, it was a very thick book with a thick bookbound and stuff, pretty heavy as well).
"Baka Oyaji!" she shouted, but heard somewhat a laugh then a grunt. She smirk, before sitting back as she looked at everyone recovering and to her mother.
"Mom, what is it that you are not telling me? Us?" Rinko looked at her daughter, a sad smile placed on her face. She looked at all of them, and sighed.
"This story I would tell you right now are not to be shared, ever to anyone, understand?" she looked at all of them and seeing their nod, she continued.
"This is something we encountered a long way back, so please never speak of this to anyone. His must be kept classified and under strictly notice, no one inside this room, shall spread it or else, am I clear?" she was giving off a somewhat dark aura, in which they couldn't help but feel somewhat that a chill run up their spines (it didn't even escape the family members of the family). She sighed once again, before looking at them.
"It all started…"
"I never knew they had that kind of past. i feel sorry for ochibi, nya~" he said it while they were walking their way home. His voice lack the usual cheery and happy-go-lucky self of his, and the same goes to the other regulars (except for some).
"Saa… from the story we've heard so far, we now at least know why they did that…" Fuji said.
"What do you mean Fuji-sampai?" Kaidou immediately asked.
"There must still be something that they weren't telling us. If that's what you're referring to." Tezuka said.
"Huh?" they exclaimed.
"There's at least 90% of what they're telling us as the truth, and 95% that they're leaving something out. Whether or not we should know of it or not, it must be something really difficult for them to tell us." Inui said. Fuji nodded.
"Yes. They've left us of something we shouldn't know." He looked up at the sky. "But, surely when the time comes, we'll surely know of it."
Everyone nodded, agreeing.
"Now, let us not worry of this, we should get home, it's pretty late, you know." Kawamura said. They blinked.
"Ah, now that you've mention it, we still have a lot of stuff to do like our homeworks, nya!" Eiji exclaimed, Momo following behind when Eiji panicked a bit and started leaving.
"Eiji! Momo!" Oishi exclaimed but sighed since he saw that the two neither responded to his callings. "Mattaku, those two."
"Now, shall we head home as well?"
"OI!" they heard Eiji calling out. "Hurry! Hurry!" he said as he looked at all of them, waving at them and shouting to tell them that they should also make their move.
Fuji smiled so did Oishi and Kawamura. Kaidou 'Fsshhh-ed' as he walked matching the steps of his seniors. Inui scribbled some notes on his notebook, mumbling something, as he walked, lifting his glasses up every now and then. And, Tezuka sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, seeing as another migraine might come.
Back to the Echizen's…
A lone girl was looking outside, seemingly in a daze, as she looked at the beautiful moon. Nanako sat near her, offering tea, in which, Ryoma gratefully accepted.
"It must be quite a shock for you, huh, Ryoma?" There was silence between them. Nanako looked at her, distinguishing what expression she has. It was serene, it seems.
"Yeah. Living my life, as a boy for who knows how long, now knowing I was, after all a girl, until something triggered it, I'm confused." She curled up, burying her face in her knees, with her hands clamped against it.
"Why?" Nanako looked at her.
"Why had this happened?"
Nanako could only look at her with sad filled eyes, as she gazed at the beautiful night sky, stars glistening all around, with the moon reflecting light. Suddenly, she clasped her hand, making Ryoma look at her.
"It's alright. We'll get through this. I promise you, Ryoma."
A small smile appeared on her face.
"Yes."
A/N: so that's it for this chapter. Thank you for reading. What is it? The past that they have had? *smile* even I don't know of it.
Well, once again, I hope you review! Thank you once again for reviewing, following and adding this to your favorites, and also for reading this! Thank you very much.
Sneak peak:
Eyes of disbelief roamed around, hushed whispers also circulated. All was shock by the revelation given by Echizen Ryoma.
Upon hearing the news, a young man stood, a smirk forming on his face. They looked at him, confused. 'so, it's staring now, ahn~.'
He looked around, and told them he was going somewhere. He left, leaving them confused. But, he never minded that, all he thinks about now is what he had heard and going to the source of it, Seishun Gakuen, or Seigaku.
Thank you for reading!
Until next time~