CHAPTER 126

Ryoma, Syusuke and Kunimitsu walked to the entrance of the park they were meant to be having their match at. They had all decided to meet the other regulars just inside. They were of course the last ones there. Both Syu and Mitsu were relived though that they weren't late this time.

"Ochibi, what's happened to your hand?" Ryoma pulled his hand closer to his body in a protective manner. "Ochibi?" Eiji took a step closer. Without warning the red-head pushed forward and wrapped the 16 year old in a hug. "Gotcha." Eiji squeezed tighter. In a state of panic when he realized the other wouldn't let go and as breathing became more difficult, Ryoma lifted his head slightly so his head was in-line with Kikumaru's neck. Without wasting anymore time he bit down, hard. "Ahh!" The red-head screamed and let go.

Ryoma felt the arms realise his body and as soon as he could shot out of reach, climbing up the closest tree just for safety measures. He sat at the highest branch he could get to and hold his weight as he cradled his hand back in his chest, slowly trying to get his breath back.

"He bit me! He bit me!" Eiji shouted pointing to where the cat was now. Syu walked over to the red-head and lifted the others head so he could get a look. The mark left was bleeding from two points. It was where Ryoma's top layer of canine teeth would be.

"That's not fair." Syu muttered before going to the bottom of the tree and looking up to the cat. "Ryo-Chan. Bite me too."

"Fujiko!" Eiji whined. "This isn't something to be proud of. It hurts." The tensai turned and smiled.

"But, I've always wanted Ryo to treat me roughly ." All the regulars shivered. 'He's not only a sadist he's a

masochism!' Eiji screamed in his head as the others watched, quite not believing Fuji, while Mitsu knew exactly what Syu was like.

"Hey, what going on?" All of them snapped out of what ever thoughts they had of Syu and looked to the voice. Standing in a group was Fudomine's regulars. All of them were staring straight forward except for Tachibana who seemed to be trying to spot the cat. "Where's Ryoma?" Like a switch, Syu glared daggers at the Fudomine captain.

"Saa... He's hiding. At least it's better than running away. Don't you think?" Kippei Tachibana winced as the tone the other spoke.

"Tachibana. What does he mean?" Kamio asked, feeling lost at why Syusuke was so angry with his captain.

"It's nothing. Something just happened yesterday when I gave Ryoma his rackets back."

"Nothing!" Syu hissed. "Do you even realize how much-" He got cut off by Mitsu. As the other placed his hand over the tensai's mouth and pulled Syu towards him so that Mitsu's chest touched his back.

"Ryoma's in the tree." The Seigaku captain motioned his head to it. He then let his lips go to Syu's ear. "Calm down before you tell everyone here what happened. Besides, let Ryoma decide if he want to forgive Tachibana or not." Sighing in defeat knowing his lover was right, he let his hands rest on top of Mitsu's which were now round his waist.

While all the regulars from both teams watched Syu and Mitsu. It was the Seigaku captain who realized they were being stared at and quickly let go of Syu waist before coughing in his hand trying to hide a small blush on his cheeks.

Kippei stood under the tree and looked up to see golden eyes staring back. "Hey Ryoma." He heard a quiet greeting back. "Can you come down so we can talk?" He smiled slightly when the boy nodded his head and used his uninjured hand to dangle from the branch he was on before letting go and landing on his feet. Instead of apologizing, Kippei's curiosity got the better of him. "Were you really hiding from me in that tree?"

"No." Ryoma bit his bottom lip and looked over to the Seigaku regulars. "I was running from the glomping monster." Most of the regulars snickered as Eiji crossed his arms and pouted.

"I'm sorry." Tachibana blurted out making Ryoma look at him slightly in shock. "Really, I'm so sorry for going like that. I didn't mean to. I just didn't process it in my head that walking away like that would hurt you until it was too late and I had already left." He watched as the boy lowered his head and went to grab his tail before once again forgetting it was hidden. It slowly started to make sense to Kippei. All the weird movements the boy would do was because he was use to certain extensions on his body.

"It hurt bad." The cat muttered. As he once again brought his injured hand to his chest for comfort. "No one's ever walked away like that before." Tachibana took a step forward causing the boy in turn to take one back.

"What happened to you?" The Fudomine didn't really want to bring the boy's appearance up, but he was curious. "I mean, your back or chest couldn't of been an accident. Not to mention that you have... you know." Kippei looked to the floor.

Last night he had giving his sister a watered down version saying that it wasn't just a trauma. What the boy went though was pure torture. All the while telling her, he cried. He hated to admit that he had cried like a 5 year old, but he still had the image of a smiling 16 year old in his head. He never would of thought that he was hiding something so dark. It was like his sister had told him before. That she was told by Momo to never bring up the boy's past and now he understood why. It was dark, it was painful and it was Ryoma's own living hell.

Tachibana noticed that it had been about 30 seconds and the boy hadn't answered. Lifting his head he looked at Ryoma's face and mentally winced when he saw all the pain in those golden eyes. "You don't need to answer me." He said, hoping he wouldn't get on the boy's bad side even more.

"No, it's okay. It was my punishment, my back." He whispered and looked over to Mitsu and Syu hoping they would say it was time to go sign in so they can start their matches. "I'm sorry." The boy choked out. "You shouldn't of seen that." Tachibana stood their shocked, not knowing what to say. He couldn't believe the boy was apologizing for something that wasn't his fault. The others listen could only watch in confusion. The Seigaku members with a bit more understanding, but still wondering what the punishments were and how it effected the boy's back.

Everyone paused when they heard a voice and saw Jin Akutsu. "You know. If you're going to default. Don't turn up in the first place, idiot!" Kamio suddenly snapped and was about to hit Akutsu in the face when he felt Tachibana stand in front of him grabbing his fist.

"Kamio, you're just doing what he wants. If you hit him we'll lose our ticket to Kantou." Pausing the Fudomine member sighed in defeat. "Come on. We were meant to be making our way to the hospital anyway." Feeling arms around his waist he looked behind him and saw Ryoma.

Turning Kippei placed a hand on the boy's head. "Thank you. For forgiving me." The cat let his hands drop to his side.

"Why do you need to go to the hospital?" The boy asked with worry in his voice.

"Their was a car accident. It seems that some of my friends got caught up in it." He gave the boy a sad smile as Ryoma let the other pass him. "Sorry Tezuka, but we'll leave this for the Kantou." Hearing a yeah from the Seigaku captain, the Fudomine team left.

"Welcome members of Seigaku!" Jin said loudly as he gave an smirk towards Ryoma. "I hope you'll be more entertaining to crush then that unseeded team."