CHAPTER 36

Gen had just woken up. He laid in the bed for a few minutes and waited until he woke up properly. It was then he heard something from the bathroom. Which was only a wall which separated there from the bedroom. Gen was normally a very heavy sleeper unless someone came up and woke him. Alarm clock kind of worked, but they put him in a bad mood.

"Come here." He heard. He could only assume it was Tomo since it sounded like an elder mans voice. "I'll take you downstairs and I'll give you a ponta or maybe even a warm glass of milk. You can talk to me about whatever you want while I sort your arms out. How does that sound?" Gen hearing that could only wonder who he was talking to and what about that person's arms. He stay for another few minutes and came to the conclusion it was most likely Ryoma.

Finally he got up and grabbed a change of clothes to go have a quick shower. Entering the bathroom, did he realize what was so important. On the floor was a small pool of blood. Ignoring it in favour of a shower he made quick work of washing and getting changed. Leaving he was about to go down the stairs and out the door for a morning run when he saw Tomo.

"Ah, Gen, you're going out somewhere?" Giving a nod and a reply of just a jog. "Is it alright if you take Ryoma with you? I think he's getting slightly claustrophobic of the house and that's not good considering this is meant to be his place of peace for him." Gen once again nodded. "Oh and please don't mention anything about his back or arms. He's not exactly in the best mood after last nights incident." Turning back around he mutter a 'Sure thing' and made his way to the lounge to see Ryoma holding his head in pain.

"Ryoma..." He couldn't believe when he saw a small glimpse of the boy's back. It looked painful. He could of never imagined what it would off been like to have someone do that to you. When the boy turned round he saw the scar running down his chest and his arms bandaged. "Do you want to go out for a walk?" The boy nodded before running upstairs to his chest in Gen and Mitsu's room and grabbing clothes and quickly putting them on. Making his way back down the steps he saw Gen waiting for him patiently at the front door. Gen put his cap on his head and walked out with Ryoma not following far behind.

They walked down the street quietly. There was no one around and Ryoma could feel himself calm down. Ryoma ran in head slightly to get to the end of the road so he could decide what way they went next. "This way." He pointed to the left as Gen caught up. Ten minutes later they where at a park. It was empty and the boy stretched.

"Ryoma, what time is your tournament?" The cat looked at Gen thinking for a second. Giving a shrug of his shoulder he continued.

"Hey, can we run?" Ryoma called after he inspected a tree. With a nod and Gen setting the pace they followed the path.

Kaidoh Karou was on his morning run. He was meant to meet up with Inui at the park so they could do some light training together before the tournament. Inui was leaning next to a tree with his notebook in hand. He had seem something interesting and was going to follow it, but first he needed to get Kaidoh to agree to help. His normal partner in crime was on this particular persons side, so he couldn't ask him for help. In his mind it was a shame seeing as he was good at getting photo evidence.

Kaidoh had spotted his Senpai and was making his way over about to call out when without looking Inui raised his hand telling the other to be quiet. "Hiss, Inui Senpai, what's going on?" Without answering back vocally he just pointed at the scene that was going on across the park. There they saw Ryoma running along side Rikkaidai's Vice captain, Genichiro Sanada. Kaidoh was trying not to let his surprise show on his face.

"I had a suspicion that Ryoma was living with more than the captain of Rikkaidai. Since that phone call from Seiichi Yukimura to Tezuka. It would of been normal if it was to Fuji seeing as nearly most of the tennis players in our school know their dating. So it would be normal for him to spend most of his time with Yukimura. Then there was something about a photo and Keigo Atobe showing up. So I guess that he was involved and now him."

"Senpai, I don't get what you're getting at?"

"I think that they are all living together, but I need more evidence. So I need you to take photos and well follow them to where they live." Kaidoh could see the grin slowly going onto Inui's face. "Also, Ryoma Echizen is a mystery I wish to solve. I did some checking online and came across an article say he died at the age of two, but here he is. What makes the article more true than anything is that his own mother tried and couldn't save him from the fire. I want to know who the boy really is." They kept their distance and watched the two run round the park. It had been about an hour when the two left.

Ryoma could hear the talking in the background, but was too occupied with his thoughts to take any notice. The nightmare he had, had really gotten to him. He felt completely off balance by it and insecure. When Gen had told him they where leaving now, he shook off all the bad thoughts and made sure to keep near the other. He could no longer hear the voices and decided it was just his imagination.

Walking back Ryoma could feel something wasn't right. Getting a frown on his face he stopped. Gen realizing the boy was no longer following looked back. "Ryoma?"

"Something..." He mumbled. He was just looking at his feet now as if they would show the answer. Suddenly the realization hit him. "Kunimitsu broke a promise." He just spoke out randomly. Looking to see Gen with a questioning look he ran and caught up with the other grabbing his hand without realizing.

Inui and Kaidoh where hiding behind a wall holding their breaths when the cat had stopped in his tracks. They thought they had been caught. But both let out a breath of relief when the boy mention Tezuka and not them. They carried on walking though people's gardens so they could stay close to their target and listen in.

"What promise did he break?" Gen was getting curious. He didn't know much about the boy, but the cat was determined to keep promises.

"He said last night that he would read to me." Gen looked at Ryoma posture. It was slightly slumped down showing his disappointment. "He said that if I told him what was in the photo I found in the Monkey King's room he would read to me last night. Big fat liar." Ryoma grumbled the last bit. Gen found it hard not to pat the boy on the head. He acted like a five year old who didn't get his own way and was now sulking.

"Why not just read a book on your own?"

"Can't read Japanese. The Chihuahua was meant to read to me and help me learn." They both turned when they heard a rustle in the bushes. They thought it was nothing and carried on walking.

In the said bushes. Kaidoh was trying to hide the smile that had appeared on his lips and sent a apologetic look Inui's way. Inui had just hit a gold mine of information in his opinion. He had found out that Ryoma held Tezuka in a high position, but that had been broken and he had been demoted. Also the boy couldn't read Japanese, but spoke it like it was his first language. Oh, he couldn't wait to see if his information was correct and six people where really living in the house and not just Ryoma and Sei. He had also found that the boy craved touch from another person. Whether he does it with out realizing or not. With that he told Kaidoh that they will go train for an hour now and with that they went back to the park doing a light jog on the way as a warm up.

It was now about 7.30. Ryoma and Gen finally made it to the house not suspecting anything of their stalkers. It was then Gen remembered he didn't bring his key. Knocking on the door they waited for someone to answer.

Mitsu was the first to get up from the table as all the other except for Keigo who was having a lie in where sitting down eating. Opening the door he was met with Gen and a not very happy Ryoma.