CHAPTER 41

The matches started. The first who went where Fuji and Kawamura. They lost due to an injury. Kawamura had protected Syu from a shot and had sprained his wrist. It was now the golden pair. Eiji had calmed down a lot after everything and seemed to be taking glances at Ryoma every once in a while instead. It was then it started to rain just as the score turned 3-0 in Oishi and Kikumaru's favour. Ryoma was sitting down on the bench in-between Fuji and Kaidoh.

Ryoma watch as a drop fell on his hand. He remembered something. That time. He smiled slightly. The day he found out that someone was looking. The day he found out that he was alive.

(Flashback - Ryoma POV)

2 months...I think. I never knew I could survive that long without food. I spend my days now watching the room light up from the cracks in the wall to when it darkens. I feel weak. I haven't felt this bad before. I'm thirsty... The rain that leaks in, doesn't taste that good. I don't even get much of it either. I like the rain. It's real. I can feel I when it come in from the small hole in the ceiling. Water feels different then the bars surrounding me. I like rubbing the liquid in my hands. It makes them look less dirty.

I can no longer move from this spot. I sit to the side so I can lean against my prison cell. Master, I am sure now has gone completely. I let a single tear roll from one of my eyes. I can feel it moving down my cheek. I can't even be bothered to move to wipe it away. I've given up. I will except my death with open arms, because I decided that no one is coming. I will become, but a whisper in the future. I would of lived, but no one could of heard.

I don't know how many days, but I saw it. A light... It was really bright. I thought 'this is it... Is it finally my turn to go?' I saw him walking in. A man. He had dark blue hair and brown eyes. He froze when he saw me. I don't remember what I look like. This is the first time I saw a human in over 6 months. They look funny. Their wearing these strange hats. I want to touch one. I want to know what it feels like on my skin.

I let a shaky hand reach out from between the bars. The man stood as still as possible not moving an inch. My hand came down on it. I couldn't explain it. I wasn't dreaming. It was there. It was real. My lips twitched upwards slightly. It was then he spoke. "Do you like it?" I just looked. I don't know how to reply. I think he noticed. He took his hat off his head and handed it to me. I brought it and placed it on my lap. I just sat there and look over it. It felt so different to what I'm use to. "Hey, Guys!" I heard him shout. My ears went down slightly. I'm not use to that volume of noise. "I found a child." Straight away there were more appearing. Humans all different shapes and sizes. "We need to find something to open this door." The man spoke. All the others didn't move. They just stared at me. Am I really that strange?

"Sir, is that thing even human?" Another spoke up. The one that I took the hat from gave me a smile. I felt safe. For the first time in years, I didn't feel like I needed to protect myself.

"This boy is human." He spoke. I could feel my eyes widening.

I'm Beauty. I think I'm about 15. Someone found me and for the first time, I believe that I'm not a monster.

(End Flashback - Normal POV)

Ryoma found himself waking up and lifting his head off Syusuke's shoulder. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes and looking around. He saw Kaidoh on the court now. The score was 2-3 to him. The boy still felt slightly dazed. He didn't even realize he had fallen asleep. He saw Eiji sitting on his other side now giving him a small smile as there eyes met.

He could hear the five freshmen with An behind him on the other side of the metal fence, along with the reporters. He saw them all sitting round a bench. He had no idea what they where talking about and he couldn't really care either. Sumire was standing with Kunimitsu and having a small discussion about Kaidoh's play style.

He looked at Syu when he heard him speak. "Saa... Did you have a nice dream Ryo-Chan? I was going to wake you up at first because of the frown you had on, but them you started to smile. So I left you." Ryoma looked at the tensai's blue eyes. Syu had opened them slightly since he wanted to get a better look at the boy's reaction and see if he would answer.

Ryoma lips twitched up slightly. "Yeah... I was found." He looked down and Fuji could just make out the tiny spark, that had just appeared in the boy's eyes. "I wonder if Shan still had that police hat?" He said to no one in general.

Inui was sitting next to Fuji on the bench and was writing in his note book what the boy was saying. Knowing that this was somewhat important. Ryoma was busy trying to figure out something. "Neh, Syusuke. Do you know where my phone is?" The boy waited and Fuji grabbed the bag which he had gotten the boy's regular jacket from. Opening a side pocket he got the phone and gave it to the cat. Happily the boy took it with a 'thanks' and opened it, looking for Shan's number. Eiji noticing, had told Ryoma to exchange numbers with him. He was about to search for the number again, but was interrupted when the final score was announced and Kaidoh was the winner. "What happened?" Ryoma's head snapped up in alarm when he heard the cheering.

"Kaidoh has just won his match. It's your turn next Ryo-Chan." Ryoma felt slightly disappointed. He really wanted to send a text to Shan and it had to be now in his opinion. Syu could see the conflicted emotions on the boy's face. "Ryo want me to send the message for you? I can write in English" The cat nodded and handed to phone to him.

"Can you tell Shan if he still has that police hat. I want to stick it in my secret box." The boy stood and did a couple of stretches before walking to the court and meeting his opponent Shinji Ibu.

They both shook hands and went to the base line on either side of the court. Ryoma had won the first point. Using his right hand and doing the twist serve. It was now Shinji's turn to sever. He had used the kick serve. Much to some of the Seigaku's students surprise. It was then Shinji noticed something. "You're hiding something." He muttered loud enough for the other to hear. Ryoma just smirked and swapped hands. "Your left handed." He confirmed.

Everyone who didn't know stood there shocked. An could only stare when she had realized. After all she had only seen him ever play with his right. The game continued the score 4-0 to Ryoma. It was when the boy noticed Shinji doing something. Not commenting he was about to return the ball, but his arm suddenly froze up. He watch as the ball went pass him. Looking down his arm unfroze. Flexing his fingers, he couldn't come up with any idea why that happened. The only thing he could think that it was his own fault. That his body wanted to rest or something.

Not caring he was meant to be in the middle of a match he sat on the ground and bent his arm a couple of times. Looking over to his team he couldn't come up with anything. In the end he spoke towards Tezuka hoping he would help. "I think I broke it." Fuji put a hand over his mouth to hide the snickering while Momo and Eiji where grinning at Ryoma like idiots. Mitsu had found that he could get more then three headaches in one day and chose to rub his temple hoping it would go.

"Ryoma..." Tezuka got the boys attention. "You're in the middle of a match. Try figure it out." He hoped the boy got the message that it wasn't his fault. That and there where people staring like he was mad. Even the two news reporters seemed frozen in there track at the boy actions.

"But Kunimitsu." Ryoma whined. "What if my arm falls off and then runs away and then jumps into the ocean. I don't want to lose it. I only have two arms. I don't think I could live without lefty or righty."

thank you to everyone for the alerts, favourites and reviews.

Love you all :)