BP: Nearly forgot about this story. I know, but I have been suffering from writer's block. Don't; worry, I still write even when I am suffering from it. Why? I didn't want to disappoint my readers by discontinuing it. I've heard of people discontinuing their stories, which made their readers disappointed. I hate making people sad. I know how it feels. Trust me. Today's chapter…well, I am mainly closing my eyes and writing it, so please be patient with me
The next morning, Ryoma actually intended to oversleep and skip school again. However, his plan was ruined when Nanako knocked on the door, and told him that a member from his tennis club is here to pick him up. He reluctantly left his bed, and went to brush his teeth. He dressed in his uniform, stalling as long as possible, and then went down to see who it is. He assumed it's Momo-senpai coming to pick him up in his bike. However, he was wrong. The wood was suddenly too cold. There in front of him is none other than Tezuka Kunimitsu. His heart started beating at an abnormally fast rate. 'What is buchou doing here?' he thought. He felt the cold air on his tongue and realized his mouth was open. He closed it and said, "Buchou." Tezuka nodded. "Echizen. Let's go, we're late." Ryoma nodded, and grabbed his tennis and book bags, before going out of the house. To prevent him from running away, Tezuka took one of Ryoma's hands. They silently went to the clubhouse, where Tezuka told him. "You can just watch for today's practices. However, after the afternoon's practice, I want to have a word with you." Ryoma nodded.
"Ochibi! Long time no see!" Kikumaru glomped him as usual, ruffling his hair. However, Ryoma didn't even bother to pry him off, nor did he snap at Kikumaru for him to let go. "Ochibi, something wrong?" Echizen shook his head, and forced out a small smile. "It's nothing, Kikumaru-senpai. I just need some rest, that's all." During the time he watched the practice matches, he had time to ponder what Tezuka may want from him. After practice, he went to his classroom, where he ignored his five undying fans….sorry. Corrections. Make it four undying fans and one Horio. He had gotten good at ignoring them, because he unwittingly made that girl in long braids cry because he wasn't responding to her, even Horio gave up and went back to his seat when he realized Ryoma isn't going to say anything to him. When the teacher was handing out homework, she said to Ryoma, "Echizen, could you pass this to Yakushi-chan?" (Shizuka's full name is actually Shizuka Yakushi. Her family name is stated in her birth cert, though she lived with Ryoma. It's just that the regulars do not know it.) Ryoma nodded dimly, and accepted the pile of paper that was meant to be Shizuka's homework. He dumped the homework in his bags, which was probably going to be crushed by his books. At lunch, he went to the rooftop alone. This time, he didn't forget his bento. He mustn't because now that Shizuka is dead, no one would bring him his bento (for give him her bento, for that matter). There is no one to make sure he won't starve. So it's either remember or starve.
The lessons came and went. As the timing of the arranged conversation between him and Tezuka get nearer, he got more nervous. What if he found out about his occupation? He knew he wasn't very good at hiding the evidence…that's Shizuka's job. Stealth isn't his main weapons after all. He sighed, as the bell rang, signaling the end of afternoon lessons. He grabbed his bag, and went down to the clubhouse. "Echizen, are you alright?" said Momoshiro, when he walked in. Ryoma nodded. "Of course."
"Something's wrong with you. You haven't said a word all day in class, according to Horio. When they tried to talk to you, you ignored them." Ryoma shrugged. "They were too noisy, so the best it's to ignore them. Anyway, buchou asked me to rest for today, so I'll be watching you all play." To Momo's surprise, he didn't seem upset by Tezuka's decision. The Echizen he knew would have kicked up a fuss, and probably would throw a tantrum. Did the body snatchers come while he was shut up in the house and replace him with a pod person? Because that's the only way Momo could think of that Ryoma was understanding and reasonable. Or perhaps somebody poured crack on his breakfast this morning. Or maybe the Ryoma in front of him is an alien replacement and he got the real Ryoma up in his mother ship! Ryoma snapped Momo out of his thinking when he said, "What are you thinking about?" Momo turned to him, and said, "Tell me, what is the name of Coach Ryuzaki's granddaughter, or else I'll know you are not the REAL Echizen Ryoma!" Ryoma gave him a WTF look, and said, "As if I care about her name." Momo knew this was the real Echizen Ryoma, because, in a way, he is extremely forgetful to the point of having short-term memory loss; sometimes he doesn't remember people's names, or even that he'd met them at all. However, Momo suspected he is doing selective remembering (meaning he is pretending to forget). However, he had no time to dwell on this, because the other members started to arrive, and soon, he was caught up in a conversation with Eiji.
"Do you notice Echizen was acting strange today?" said Momo.
"I did nya. When I gave him one of my usual Ochibi hugs, he didn't even tell me to get off him." said Eiji, nodding his head.
Oishi, who happened to be nearby and overhearing what Eiji mentioned, said, "Oh no! What happened Is he sick? Is he being verbally abused? Is he being rejected? Oh no, what do I do?" he practically went ballistic, and looked like he wanted to pull out his hair as he rushed over to an unsuspecting Echizen, and felt his forehead. Ryoma smacked Oishi's ahdn away and said, "Oishi-senpai, I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about." Oishi opened his mouth to speak, but then someone said, "He's right, Oishi. There's nothing to worry about." Oishi turned to the source of the voice to find Tezuka just walking in the clubhouse. Oishi pursed his lips, and nodded. The regulars (except Ryoma) did their usual warm up laps, and then began to do their practice matches. Ryoma had to sit out (by Tezuka's orders). For once, he wasn't upset by the choice. On the contrary, he way happy, because it gave him more time to think, more time to empty himself of all emotions as he prepared himself for the after practice talk. What is Tezuka going to do to him not going to practice? Make him pick up balls for a week? Make him run 500 laps? Kick him out of the regulars? Well, whatever it is, it pales in comparison to see the person you love die in front of you anyway. The minute hand on his watch moved like a snail, and finally, the practice ended. The regulars wiped their sweats with their towels and drank from their water bottles. Momoshiro had asked him if he wanted to go for burgers, but he declined, saying he wanted to go home since he had a lot of homework to do, which wasn't too big of a lie, because he did have homework- just not that much. He didn't know why his instincts are telling him to keep the conversation with Tezuka a secret. Perhaps he would find out later.
He watched as the door opened, and Tezuka stepped in. He was probably discussing the regulars' attitude towards today's practice. He watched as Tezuka packed his bags, lpacing his racquets in his bag, and his balls back into the container. When he finally finished packing, he took a sit next to Echizen.
"I will go straight to the point." said Tezuka. "You are a professional assassin, aren't you?"
Ryoma widened his eyes. He knew! Seeing the fear in Ryoma's eyes, Tezuka said, "Don't; worry. I won't tell the others." Ryoma nodded.
"Shizuka is your partner in the assassin department, right?"
Ryoma nodded. "Yes."
'As I thought.' Tezuka thought. 'But, I don't care who Ryoma is. No matter who he is, he's still Echizen Ryoma.' He decided to ask a few more questions, to satisfy his curiosity. "I am sure assassins have someone they love. Right?" Ryoma blushed, and nodded. Tezuka let a small smile grace his features. 'Cute.' "Yes, Shizuka told me she wanted me and that person to be together soon. She wanted me to be happy with him, but I'm not sure if he would love me back because….." he mumbled the last sentence Tezuka frowned. "Sorry, what did you say?" Ryoma shook his head. "If I repeated my sentence, you would hate me." He tried to stand up, only to have Tezuka's hands on his shoulders, forcing him back down. "Just say it. I promise not to hate you." Ryoma gulped, and repeated his sentence. "I said, I'm not sure if he would love me back, because he found out I am a dangerous assassin who knows how to wield weapons! Happy?" he tried to stand up again, only to have his captain force him back down again. Meanwhile, Tezuka was registering what Ryoma had said, and realized who he was in love with. He lifted Ryoma, and pinned him against the wall. Ryoma only had time to just let out a shocked cry, but soon he couldn't say anymore since the captain already pressed his lips against his soft pink ones firmly. Tezuka swiped his tongue against Ryoma's lower lip. Ryoma gasped and he immediately took advantage of it and kissed him passionately hard, entering his tongue into that hot cavern and exploring it. All he could think was 'Ryoma tastes so sweet.' Meanwhile, Ryoma had never experienced anything like it. He automatically placed his hand in Tezuka's hair and he could feel his on the small of his back, pulling him closer. It was complete bliss. The need for oxygen soon became overwhelming and they were forced to pull away.
"Buchou." He breathed, but Tezuka placed a finger on his lips.
"Kunimitsu. Ryoma, you don't have to be afraid. I will always love you, no matter who you are."
Ryoma smiled, and nodded. Shizuka was right, after all. Love is blind. If someone loves you, they will love you, no matter who you are. He took Tezuka's hand and hand in hand, they walked out of the clubhouse.
BP: Please note, I was half asleep while writing this (I woke up at 5am this morning, and I never took a nap), and I was watching Beezlebub and I had writer's block, so I closed my eyes and wrote whatever was on my mind. If you review, please be kind!