A/N: Sorry I couldn't post earlier. There wasn't connexion.

Rinko and Nanjirou hurried to the hospital.

"My son has been carried here by emergency. Where can I find him?" Rinko rushed the receptionist.

"What is your son's name?" the receptionnist asked.

"Echizen Ryoga," Nanjirou answered, more calmly than his overly worried wife.

"Echi-…!" The receptionist stopped tracking her list and looked up. "Echizen? You are Echizen-fusai?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?" Nanjirou asked.

"Wait here a moment please." The receptionist left to talk to a nurse. The nurse immediately came to Nanjirou and Rinko.

"Echizen-fusai, please follow me," the nurse said. Dumbfounded, but Nanjirou and Rinko followed her.

The nurse leaded them into a private waiting room and invited them in. Once Rinko stepped in the room, Ryoma immediately ran into her arms.

"Kaa-san!"

"Ryoma, what happened?"

"Kaa-san! Aniki… Aniki, he… he… me… he…!" Ryoma broke in tears in her mother's arms, incapable to say anything. Ryoma was so distressed that it was painful to see her like this. The boys felt sad for her. Up to now, no one at school saw her behaving like this before.

"Oh darling, shhhh…" Rinko tried to calm her, but she failed. Rinko pulled Ryoma to a sofa and made her sat next to her. Nanjirou went to talk with boys. It was Yuuta who explained everything to him.

"Sou ka…" Nanjirou slowly said when Yuuta finished. "How is he now?"

"He is still in the surgery room. We are still waiting for news," Yagyuu said.

Three hours had passed. Ryoma was calmer after that she cried all the tears to dryness. She was so exhausted that she felt asleep, her head on her mother's lap. Rinko kept stroking Ryoma's hair. Nanjirou, sat next to Rinko, looked very calm and composed, but Rinko knew him better than that. As for Rinko, she kept praying for Ryoga to be alright. The Fuji brothers, Yukimura, Sanada, Yagyuu, Marui, Niou, Yanagi and Inui respected the family's wish for silence.

Knock knock knock!

Someone knocked on the door. Everyone, except Ryoma who was still sleeping, turned their head to the door. A doctor in a blue outfit stepped in the room.

"Echizen-fusai?" he asked.

"Yes. It's us," Nanjirou answered. Rinko gently laid Ryoma down on the sofa, then joined her husband.

"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Aomori Hyou, Echizen Ryoga's doctor," the doctor presented himself, bowing.

"Nice to meet you too, doctor." Rinko and Nanjirou bowed to him.

"How is he, doctor?" Nanjirou asked.

"He hasn't wake up yet. He is still under the influence of the anesthesia. He had an internal bleeding, a fracture in the skull, three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and his left arm broken. But he is young, he should be able to recover normally," the doctor said.

Rinko and Nanjirou sighed of relieve.

"Thank you very much, doctor," Rinko said, crying. Nanjirou put his arm on her shoulders, comforting her.

"Thank you, doctor," Nanjirou said.

A blurt of black and green passed Nanjirou and stropped in front of the doctor.

"How is aniki!" Ryoma shouted to the doctor. When she woke up, the first person she saw was him. She immediately sprinted to him.

"Ryoma!" Rinko exclaimed.

"He is sleeping now. You can see him if you want, but only one person at the time," the doctor calmly answered, not disturbed at all by her outburst. He often met this kind of situation.

"Oyajii, kaa-san…" Ryoma pleaded. Rinko smiled and Nanjirou nodded to her, understanding her request.

"You can go first, honey," Rinko said.

"Arigatou!" Ryoma happily said.

"Then please follow me, miss."

Ryoma stepped out of the room after the doctor. When they the two of them left, Rinko and Nanjirou turned to face the boys. Rinko bowed to them.

"Thank you very, for helping my son and Ryoma," Rinko said. Her eyes were still blurry with tears. "I'm very grateful to you."

"Thank you very much," Nanjirou also bowed.

"Please, you don't need to be like this, Echizen-fusai," Yukimura told them. "It's only normal."

"You shouldn't be worry anymore about Ryoga-san," Yagyuu said. "Aomori-sensei (1) is our best surgeon. In his hands, Ryoga-san will perfectly recover."

"Thank you… Thank you so much!" Rinko let her tears of relieve escaping from the prison of her eyes.

Tezuka knocked on the door of Sakaki-coach's office.

"Come in," Sakaki-coach answered.

The three captains and two vice-captains entered his office. Sakaki-coach was sat in his chair while Ryuuzaki-sensei was standing by the window, looking outside. Both of them had a grave expression on their face.

"Sakaki-coach, Ryuuzak-sensei," Yukimura greeted. Tezuka and Atobe bowed. Sakaki-coach and Ryuuzaki-sensei nodded.

"Take a sit," Ryuuzaki-sensei said. They did as he told them, Ryuuzaki-sensei took a seat too.

"Why have you call us, Sakaki-coach?" Atobe asked.

"I'll make it straight and short," Sakaki-coach said. "I want you to go on a special training camp for a week. You will be leaving this Friday."

". . ." Silence.

'Indeed, it's straight and short,' Ryuuzaki-sensei thought.

"As you know, after the National Championship, the best players will be selected to go on a training camp," Ryuuzaki-sensei started. "During this camp, eight are chosen to represent Japan against the America West Coat team. However, this year, something came up which put the Japan Junior Tennis Association upside down. The Germany team wants to challenge Japan before the National, so they can go a step before the America team. Because the Association needs to keep a good term relationships with the Germany representatives, they cannot refuse. However, they don't have enough time to gather his best players and select a team in such a hurry. Basing on your two consecutive National victories during the two last years, the Association requested us to send you to represent Japan against the Germany."

Ryuuzaki-sensei stopped momentary.

"We have a video of the players of Germany team," Sakaki-coach said. "They faced Higachuu of Kyuushuu two weeks ago. Watch."

He pressed on the PLAY button and the video displayed on the screen. It was a a double match. The five regulars recognized the two players in the Higa purple uniform, Hirakota and Kai. Their opponent wore a black shirt with yellow and white lines across the chest. Probably the Germany team. Both the German players are very tall. One has tanned skin, bleached hair with a tiny braid on his neck and he wore sun glasses. The other was slightly shorter, with light brown-red hair.

"Ah! It's them!" Sanada exclaimed.

"Hum? You know them?" Ryuuzaki-sensei asked.

"Last week, Echizen-chan almost got violated by them. Her brother, Ryoga-san, protected her, but they beat him. He is now in the hospital because of them," Yukimura said.

A heavy silence was in the air. Sakaki-coach felt that something was hidden. He looked piercingly at the regulars, especially Ooishi's worried face. It looked like all the regulars knew about that incident. He decided to have the answer of his doubts.

"How does Echizen take it?" Sakaki-coach asked.

". . ."

The five regulars' eyes sadden, but didn't answer Sakaki-coach's question. From what Inui told them, it was very hard to calm Ryoma down after what happened to Ryoga. If her brother wasn't her first priority, Ryoma would have run after them and killed them by her own hands. It was Fuji who hold her back, by keeping his arms around her. Sakaki-coach stood up from his chair and turned to the window, his back facing them.

"Seiyou tennis club regulars are not allowed to be weak," he said. "You know the rules. If you are weak, then you are not allowed to be a regular." He turned again to face the boys. "Echizen is being weak now."

"But Sakaki-coach, she…" Ooishi tried to intercept.

"I know she is a very good player, but a weakness remains a weakness," Sakaki-coach said. "She lacks of self-control in front of drastic situation." He pointed to the plasma screen. "If she face them again, she will lost herself to her anger and they will use that weakness. In that situation, she will lost without a doubt, no matter how strong she is. She is not fit to be a regular."

A very heavy silence took place in the room. Even Ryuuzaki-sensei cannot protest against Sakaki-coach.

"Sakaki-coach, may I speak?" Tezuka spoke. Sakaki-coach raised an eyebrow. It was rare that Tezuka intercepted in a decision from him. Nonetheless, Sakaki-coach nodded.

"Knowing her, I'm perfectly aware of how Echizen will react if she meet the these Germans again. Usually, Echizen is very composed on the court and knows to take her time to study her opponents before confronting them. Ever since she stepped in Seigaku, the team have undoubtedly become stronger. Momoshiro had learn to play with his head and not only with his strength. Kaido came up with a Boomerang Tornado because she defeated his Boomerang Snake. Kikumaru's acrobatic play style got much better and smoother because she used his acrobatic play against himself. These are only a few example of her doing in the team. Everybody grew to be more mature around her because she showed out their weaknesses. I also noticed that Rikkaidai and Hyoutei had gotten closer with Seigaku even since she is with us. Dropping her out would be a regrettable lost. Not only for Seigaku, but as well as for the whole Seiyou tennis club. In this particular situation, her brother got involved and she lost control on herself. However, I believe that she can recover from her lack of self-control and becomes stronger after."

"Your point?" Sakaki-coach asked.

"I request to give her a chance, a chance to prove herself again," Tezuka said.

Sakaki-coach reflected a moment.

"Fine, I will give her a last chance to recover before making a final decision," Sakaki-coach said. The regulars sighed of relieve. "However, Tezuka, if she doesn't recover from her weakness, not only she will never be a regular again, but also you."

Heavy silence in the room.

"Even when I state a decision, you dared to interfere. It means to me, that somewhere you had developed a weakness too. I understand that you did this for your team, but, as I said, a weakness remains a weakness. Knowing that, do you still insist on waging on her recovery with your regular position?"

Tezuka fell momentary in silence. Then, he looked up to Sakaki-coach, a determined expression in his eyes.

"Hai," Tezuka hearthly answered.

". . ." Sakaki-coach looked at him. "Very well. I will give her three days, three days only, to return back to normal. If after three days, I don't see any evolution from her, not only she will be dropped, but you will also lost your position as a captain and as a regular," Sakaki-coach concluded.

"Hai."

"You have two weeks to prepared yourselves before we face the Germany team. Do your best," Ryuuzaki-sensei said.

"Hai!"

In the hospital. Ryoga's room.

Ryoga laid in his bed, bandage covering his head, his chest and his left arm got put in a cast. He wore a white shirt and pants provided by the hospital. He was connected to a heart monitor, which was beating at a regular pace. He also had liquid infusing his veins. The room was full with gifts and flowers from friends and family. Right now, Ryoma was the only visitor left in the room. She fell asleep on Ryoga's bed.

"Aniki…" she muttered in her sleep, pressing his hand.

Ryoga's finger moved a little bit. Then slowly, he opened his eyes to see himself in a white room, wearing hospital clothes and had weird machines attached to him.

'Oh yeah… I got into a fight…' he remembered. Then he remembered the numb of his hand, the one that caused him to wake up. It was Ryoma, who was holding (squeezing) his hand in hers.

"Aniki…" Ryoma muttered again, still slumbering in an uncomfortable position.

'Ryoma…' Ryoga gently smiled.

"Chibisuke, I know you're worried about me, but can you let go of my hand please? I feel numb," Ryoga said. Ryoma startled when she heard him talking, thinking she was dreaming. She woke up.

"Aniki, you're awake!" she yelled. Ryoga cringed.

'Still as delicate as ever!'

"I'll call the doctor!" And she sprinted out.

'Isn't she aware that this is a hospital?'

"Ryoga!" Rinko came in his room, yelling like Ryoma did. The doctor was with her.

'Is she also not aware that this is a hospital?' Ryoga wondered.

"Echizen Ryoga. I'm Aomori Hyou, your doctor. Nice to meet you face to face," Aomori-sensei said as he took out his stethoscope and examined Ryoga. "How do you feel?"

"Groggy. Heavy. And slow."

"It's normal. Do you feel painful anywhere?"

Ryoga answered him and as well as the few other questions while the doctor trailed his stethoscope over him. After a couple minute, the doctor removed his stethoscope.

"Everything sounds fine."

Ryoga would have to stay in the hospital for about a month. Yagyuu had him moved to one of his best private room, one which had a view on the park of the hospital. He also told Rinko and Nanjirou not to worry about the fee of the hospital. He would cover everything.

"Thank you, thank you so much, Yagyuu-kun," Rinko told him non stop, crying grateful tears.

"Thank you very much," Nanjirou told.

"It's a pleasure, Echizen-fusai," Yagyuu told them.

While Yagyuu talked with her parents, Ryoma observed him with surprised eyes. She had always thought that Yagyuu was the kind of person who wouldn't do anything unless it brings him profit or merit. However, helping her brother would definitely never bring him any profit. Then why did he help? But whatever the reason was, only one thing mattered for her right now.

"Hontou ni arigatou (2), Yagyuu-senpai," Ryoma told him, sincerely grateful. Yagyuu nodded in acknowledge.

Indeed, Ryoma was right to think that Yagyuu Hiroshi would never do anything without a purpose behind.

(1) -sensei: "-sensei" is a suffix used when referring to a professor, a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a writer and even to a managaka. And also to many others professionals, but I won't list them all.

(2) hontou ni arigatou: thank you very much.