Characters do not belong to me.

"Echizen," Sano-sensei calmly intoned.

"You cannot play anymore."

Okay, she could do this. It was hardly a momentous task; Tomo-chan did it everyday, barging into everyone's business as if they were her underlings. All she had to do was knock on his door and ask him what had turned him into a morose schlump. And if she got burnt in return, then, well, at least she tried.

Seconds before knocking, she paused. What if talking to Ryoma only made things worse? She wasn't so sure that she was the one Ryoma would talk to most, Kaido-buchou and Momo-senpai were surely wrong about that. This was insane; whatever compelled her to believe that she and the prince of tennis were…..friends? They barely even spoke ever since the visit to the hospital. Not that they had spoken much before, but at least they could actually talk to each other. Now, he hardly ate and had taken an almost unhealthy interest in the television. The strange thing was, Ryoma wasn't interested in any particular programme, he just switched it on and watched whatever was on for hours.

No, she had to find out. It was killing her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she raised her hand to knock. When her hand merely made a soft thump instead of the clear rap against wood, she found herself to be literally knocking against Ryoma instead of the door. Sakuno thought that she made some sort of gaping sound, to which Ryoma narrowed his eyes at her. Grabbing onto her arm that was still resting against his chest, he swiftly pulled her into his room and closed the door.

Momoshiro Takeshi lazily scratched at his ear while considering what his current captain had said. "Naw, I don't think we scared Sakuno off. Didn't you see her eyes gleaming and all? That is not the look of someone who is not interested. Anyway, what's the worse that could happen? It's not like Echizen would hit her or anything you know," Momo concluded, sounding annoyed at the end.

"Ahou, who the hell do you think I am? Of course I know that!" Kaidoh growled out from across the table.

"It's just that," he continued while looking at random strangers sitting around their booth. "Echizen could hurt her. Not physically, but he could…say things, that he wouldn't even know what they would mean to her. You know her; Sakuno is always sensitive about such things." He didn't have to elaborate; he knew that Momoshiro would catch on. They had all seen Sakuno's condition when Echizen first left, bravely putting on a smile that did not reach her eyes. She had not known it yet, but everyone of the regulars had come to think of her as Echizen's girlfriend. Of course, both of them were too dense to realize the extent of their feelings then. Especially Echizen.

Echizen was very much a stupid fool. Everyone could see how different he was around Sakuno. Naturally, he was not a passionate lothario, but Echizen was too failingly polite to Sakuno, too stiff. And that was what had caught everyone's attention. Echizen was hardly an amiable person, he had burst of cheekiness when in a comfortable crowd but otherwise he was typically expressionless. With her however, it seemed as if he carved out barriers to shield himself. And he hadn't even notice that he was doing it.

Kaido's musings were interrupted with the arrival of Tezuka. Momo the Ahou cheerfully greeted their ex-captain and shifted further inside his bench so that Tezuka was seated beside him. He had no idea how it was possible, but Tezuka seemed even more stoic than ever. After exchanging banalities and ordering another round of drinks, Tezuka swung right into it.

"You have talked to her? " Why was it, Kaido wondered briefly, that Tezuka's questioning always felt like commands?

"Ah. We finally decided it was time, Echizen seemed to be getting worse," Momo raised his hand to wave someone over before continuing. "We didn't tell her much though; only that she had to knock some sense into Echizen." The latest visitor had them all pausing and shuffling in their seats to make room. Another round of drinks was ordered before the conversation picked up again.

"Now then, "Fuji calmly began. " Explain to me exactly what you mean Tezuka, by Echizen not being able to play tennis?" Momo and Kaido both sweat dropped at the seeming nonchalance of Fuji. His fingers that were holding onto his drink were slightly trembling though, revealing his emotions lurking beneath. Only he could get away with speaking so unabashedly to the captain.

"It is exactly as I have said. I have received word from Sano-sensei about the seriousness of Echizen's condition. He will never be able to play again with that arm. "

"That's not possible," the tensai countered tersely. "Echizen is no fool; surely he is not so careless as to expire his arm. Sano-sensei is mistaken." Beside him, Kaido's phone alerted that he had received a message. Kaido promptly replied and moved out to claim two empty chairs from an opposite booth.

"On the contrary, it is. His father has spoken to me in the past on how worried he was about Echizen burning himself out. His obsession in becoming number one in the world was the main catalyst. He was so focused in succeeding; he hardly noticed that his arm was hurting more and more during matches. Naturally, the pain became too great, leading to Echizen's retirement." He briefly paused in his speech to nod at Kikumaru and Oishi, acknowledging their presence.Kikumaru gave enthusiastic hellos to everyone while Osihi murmured his order to a nearby waiter.

"Don't be stupid Tezuka." The whole group comically froze and swiveled their heads to Fuji's direction.

"Echizen is not just any mere tennis player. He is able to play with both hands." Fuji's gaze was unwavering and resolute as he stared at Tezuka. The tennis captain in turn, acted as if nothing unusual had taken place. Instead, Tezuka calmly reached for his tea and began to sip at it. To the rest of the regulars, it seemed as if the sound of Tezuka sipping could be heard throughout the whole restaurant. Their gazes flickered nervously between Fuji and Tezuka. A distinctive 'Okasaaan' was heard being plaintively muttered underneath Kikumaru's breath. Momo shushed him instead.

"That is easily explained, Fuji."

"Inui!" Four voices chorused together. Fuji discreetly pulled a chair for him from the empty booth behind them. A few seconds later, Kawamura appeared, clutching his own chair that he had hastily grabbed from another nearby booth. Profusely apologizing to everyone, he explained that he and Inui had been caught in a traffic jam.

"No wait," Oishi said, cutting in when before Kawamura could begin a second round of apologies. The same waiter that had been serving them all day appeared then. Inui declined to order, saying that he had brought his own drink. Kawamura was already hunched over to listen to whatever that Kikumaru was furiously whispering in his ear.

"What do you mean Inui? What do you know? How can this be easily explained? This is an extremely serious matter. Why are we told this only now?"Oishi folded his arms disapprovingly and looked at everyone gathered around the table. " I don't understand, what is going on?"

"Shall I tell them Tezuka?" Inui asked. When there was no response, Inui finally began to piece the puzzle together for the regulars.

"It is fairly simple. Fact number 1 is that Echizen Ryoma is a profoundly gifted left hand tennis player. Fact number 2 is that Ryoma is also ambidextrous. In a cutthroat tennis match, he is able to play with his right hand and almost usually win."

"When you take away fact 1 and 2, you are left with the current condition that Echizen is in. Am I correct, Tezuka?" An ominous silence was left to fill the aftermath of Inui's words.

"So..." Oishi whispered hesitantly. "What you're trying to say is that…."

Tezuka finally confirmed what was on everyone's mind.

"He cannot play with both arms."

Once they were in the room Ryoma abruptly let go of her. It was hard to determine who was more surprised between the two. Quickly recovering, Ryoma resumed an impassive stance and stepped away from her. "What is it? I heard you outside the door,"

This was the first time she had ever been in a room belonging to the opposite sex. It was quite an eye opener, despite the room being too darkly lit for her to see anything. Not that she was interested to see his room of course. She was here on a mission, not to spy on him.

"Anou…Echizen..." She stopped halfway, noting that Ryoma was suddenly scowling at her. Oh, right. "I mean, Ry...Ryoma kun…" Her voice faded after, realizing that she was speaking his first name out loud. It had not happened ever since he left…

"Yes?" He prompted, hurrying her along. Really, what was with Ryuzaki? She was even more of a ditz than usual. He had been lying down, furtively trying to sleep, and would have succeeded if she hadn't started to pace outside his door. Naturally, he recognized it was her due to the softly treading footsteps. The old coach's was more of a brisk stampede, so it was easy to tell them apart.

While Ryuzaki began mumbling to herself, (he caught words like 'Momo-senpai', 'Kaido-buchou' and 'concerned'. He tuned out after that.) Ryoma caustically began to study her. Mentally, he began ticking points against her. Nobody had seriously realized it yet, but Ryoma was a heterosexual, stuffed-full-of-hormones, regular seventeen year old boy. Therefore, at one point or another in his life, he had begun to notice the differences between men and women. Typically of Ryoma, he had begun to develop high expectations of his future mate.

The spectacled specimen in front of him failed to even twinge the barometer of his expectations. Reasonably attractive looks? Nada. Intelligence? Nada. A generous amount of tennis skills? Perhaps if generous equaled the level of elementary school students. In all his years of knowing Ryuzaki, which was not many at that, he had hardly thought of her. She came to tennis matches, she left. She came to school, she left. She came to the airport, he left. That was it.

And yet, Ryoma found himself wanting whenever he was with her. He remembered little things about her, which he had no idea he noticed before. Yesterday, he had found a misplaced pair of strawberry hairclips. Knowing how often she wore it, he had returned it to her room without her realizing it. Ryuzaki was wearing that same pair now, he noticed.

"…which is why you should talk to them Ryoma-kun, maybe they can help you with whatever you are facing. I think it would be a good idea, ne?"

"No."

"Demo, they are-"

"No."

"Ah...I see..." An awkward silence filled in their gap. Sakuno was desperately swallowing the words that were dying to break out of her. Kuso, what the hell was she doing? When would she ever see? She bit her quivering lip, not quite understanding why she was hurting so much. She couldn't give up, not now. No matter how stubborn Ryoma was, she had to make him see. "Just…please, Ryoma-kun, can't you tell even me? Just share it, I swear I won't-"

" Stop it Ryuzaki. It's none of your business."

When Sakuno thought about it later, it wasn't because Ryoma had so cruelly put across what she had known for years; that he cared nothing for her thoughts or feelings. Him reverting back to 'Ryuzaki', after playfully calling her 'Sakuno' the past few days, punctured her already fraying control. Releasing her pent up emotions, she violently shoved him.

The force of her actions was so strong; Ryoma actually slipped back a few steps and would have fallen into a disgraced heap if not for the bed behind him. He merely blinked in shock at her as she raged over him while he slumped on the mattress.

"You dare to say it is none of my business? You dare?" She hissed. Sakuno could actually hiss, Ryoma dumbly thought.

"Everybody is worried sick about you! My grandmother hardly thinks of anything except how to help you, Momo-senpai and Kaido-buchou argue worse than ever because of you, Tezuka-buchou is so busy finding the best treatment for you, and I….I…." Sakuno angrily brushed away her tears.

"But you! You just sit around, being so stupid, feeling sorry for yourself! As if, as if, you died or something-"

"Shut up," Ryoma grated, resentment at Sakuno rapidly growing inside of him. "Just shut up."

"I don't care what you all do. I don't care about your grandmother, about the regulars, about you. I didn't ask for anyone's help, or their sickening pity. You think you all know how I feel? None of you have any idea what it's like, none of you! " His voice had risen with every word, to the point that Ryoma was shouting at her now. Sakuno only got madder.

" We don't want to understand how you feel! Don't you get it, we just want you to move on. Feel life again, instead of, this shell that you've become. It's all for you, yet you're such an ungrateful, moronic-"

"Get out." For added emphasis, Ryoma stalked towards the door and ripped it open. "Get lost now."

Her culminating rage finally doused into a frighteningly numb awareness. Kami-sama, what had she done? Woodenly, she whispered something to herself before she left. And throughout the rest of the night, Ryoma replayed her last words over and over again, her haunting words sounding more disturbingly final each time.

" I give up…."

I watched March of the Penguins. And fell in love. Prolly explains the mood at the end. ( Pingu...sob)

So, this is an okay length right? No? Ah, blessed relief of brain drain.