CHAPTER 59

Ryoma walked back to the courts. He kept a blank face deciding not to tell the others what happened. Like Horio said he didn't want to be a snitch. Ryoma's hands where shaking. He wasn't sure if it was from the flashback he had or from the unibrow's threats. His back hurt. He could feel a mild pain going right across it. He thinks Horio might of caught one of the old scars from when he got whipped when he didn't behave. What made it worse was that it made it harder to walk normally since the cut was going over his spine.

Going into the courts that the others where waiting for him to reappear on, he saw all of them staring at him. Sei stood and went to check if the boy was alright. He could sense something was off. Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder he spoke. "Ryo-Chan why are you wet?" The response he got surprised him along with everyone else. The cat slapped his hand off and glared.

"Don't touch me." He snarled. He went over and join the others, trying to not touch his back. No one spoke and just wanted to see if the boy would do something else.

"Ryo-Chan, is something wrong?" Syu just looked down at the younger one who stood besides him. He saw the boy flex his shoulders, but other than that he got no reply. Mitsu knowing not to push Ryoma for answers carried on explaining what the zone training was. Inui then took over and explained what category each of them where placed in.

Oishi, Fuji and Kaidoh are the counter punchers. Kawamura and Momo are the baseliners, Kikumaru is the serve and volleyed. Last is Tezuka and Echizen who are the all rounder's. He then went on to explain the exercise. The baseliners and the all rounder's will defend a half-court while the other will defending a full court. This will be involving 5 balls and if they hit out of the zone or hit the net they would have to drink Inui's special veggie juice.

Ryoma didn't speak and only flinched when he saw the vile liquid. Some of the tennis members who had over heard watched from the fence to see what would happen. First up was Kawamura and Kaidoh. They all watched as Kaidoh went all out. Kaidoh was the one in the end to lose as it went out of the zone. It took less than a second for Inui to be standing right in front of him with the juice. The snake had now ran to find the nearest water fountain.

Next was Oishi and Momo. Oishi was the one that lost due to Momo's dunk smash. Then it was Syu and Mitsu. After theirs, Syu had commented that the other had played for real which Mitsu replied with an 'Of course.' Syu drank the green liquid and let of a sigh. "What's this thing? It tastes great." Everyone could only sweat drop at the tensai. It was now the last match and Ryoma was against Kikumaru. Ryoma much to the regulars worry, was still acting strange.

Inui served the first ball and shouted go. They all watched in amazement as it was shot between them. Neither wanting to give up. It was then Inui made a new rule that when the half court player goes for a volley they have to now defend the whole court. Eiji thinking he won this shot towards the far back at the opposite end.

Ryoma ran after it. He carried going straight on going over the ball, retuning it by doing a pro shot between the legs. The cat winced when he bent his back to far. The red-head was quick to react on his feet and just barely manage to get it. It hit the edge and went back over the net onto Ryoma's side. You could hear all the non-regulars in the back ground talking.

It was when Ryoma heard Horio did he freeze up completely. He missed the next shot and look in the unibrow's direction. Horio look at Ryoma and for a split second he glared. The cat unconsciously took a step back. It was then that Sumire decided to enter the courts with the line up for the next tournament. She went on to explain all about it.

She was about to say something else when she noticed Ryoma not paying attention and had his back to her. She wouldn't of been so bothered, but the back of his shirt had a small red patch on it. "Yukimura!" Ryuzaki called to him at the side-lines. Sei looked up and waited. "Please take Ryoma inside to my office." He was about to ask why, but then he also saw the stain on the cat's shirt. As Ryoma left without argument since he really wanted to get away from Horio, the other members soon noticed the blood as well. No one said anything.

Once inside the office Sei told Ryoma to take his shirt off. The boy rather reluctantly did so and unclipped his hood, pulling the shirt over his head. Sei looked at the boy's back and winced slightly. It wasn't deep, but still didn't look nice. "Ryo-Chan who did this?" Hoping he would tell, he waited until he gave up when he got no answer. Sei got the first aid kit and grabbed a wipe. He was about to touch Ryoma's back with it when the cat moved. "Ryoma." He said in a warning tone. It was only a flash, but he saw the panic in the cat's eyes. "Please let me sort that out. I won't ask anymore questions for now."

So Ryoma stood still as Sei cleaned the wound and stuck a gauze over it. He put the used things in the bin and was about to ask the cat if he had another hoodie of sorts when he heard a sniffle. "Ryo-Chan? Hey what's wrong?" Sei went over, pulling the boy into a hug and slowly trying to drag him to the sofa in the room. Ryoma didn't follow and just stood in front of him rubbing his eyes.

"Can't tell you." Sei saw the ears on the boy's head go down and lay flat across his head. "I don't want to be a snitch." Sei crouched down and brought both his hands to the boy's face. He moved Ryoma's hands out the way and laid his on the cat's cheeks, wiping the tears with his thumbs. Sei could feel the boy shaking.

"Why would you be a snitch? Ryoma if someone made you upset you need to tell. You shouldn't have to suffer alone." The blunette watched as the golden eyes looked into his. "How about you tell me what that person did, but just don't mention their name." The boy nodded and explained what had happened making sure to leave out the name of the said person, much to Sei's dismay. He was hoping that Ryoma would accidently let the name slip.

Once he was done Ryoma was feeling slightly better and was not as tense. Sei on the other hand was fuming. Wanting to make sure the one who did this would never be able to get neat the cat again. Sei let his hands leaved the boy's cheeks and as one went back to his side the other went down to Ryoma's shoulder and ran over the mark left just above the collar bone by Syu. "You know, I got really worried. When you told me not to touch you. It reminded me of the time when you hated me and got mad at everything I did." He felt the boy grab his wrist. He stayed quiet and still to see what he would do next. To his surprise he felt Ryoma bring it up and the cat kissed the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry. I don't hate you." The boy then nuzzled it. "You're important to me." Sei felt a whole weight lift off his chest. He was never really sure of what the boy had actually felt towards him and now finally he knew. He suddenly put his arms round Ryoma's waist and buried his face into the cat's stomach.

"You're important to me to Ryo." Sei then spoke the next sentence in his mind knowing the boy wasn't ready for the next step. 'I love you.'

At the end of it all the regulars plus non were all in the changing room discussing about the upcoming tournament. Mitsu had gone to his locker and pulled out a bag which contained one of his jumpers. He would always leave one at school in case it ever rained or got colder by the end of the day when he had to walk home. Getting Syu's attention he mentioned to the door and conveyed the silent messaged of going to check on Ryoma. The tensai nodded in agreement. When they went into Sumire's office both smiled when they saw both Ryoma and Sei hugging and just staring into each others eyes.