Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Loss and Gains ❯ Chapter 1

Loss and Gains

A Prince of Tennis Fanfic

By Andrea Readwolf <andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com>

Chapter: One-shot

Rating: PG

Pairings: Ryoma + Momoshiro, Oishi + Kikumaru

Genre: Reflective Fluff

Warnings: Underage characters in situations of self-discovery. Characters are written in character according to author's interpretation.

Spoilers: Yes--Episode #_______

Summary: Ryoma meddles with the Seigaku team dynamics

Disclaimer: Tennis no Ohjisama, characters and settings are the property of Konomi Takeshi.

Date Started: May 20, 2004

Status: complete

Revised: May 25, 2004

Word Count: 1188

"Loss and Gains" by Andrea Readwolf

It was always hard--that first time you were knocked on your ass, forced off the platform--it happened to everyone at some point in the game. If you were lucky, it happened early, and you learned how to take the falls with no hard feelings, learned that each fall you took only made you stronger when you climbed back up. If you weren't lucky, it happened later, and the shock to your system took days to wear off.

It wasn't so much *losing* the game, the match--it was losing the position, that sense of self you'd held about your place in the schema of things.

Ryoma understood that feeling--it was the same one he'd felt when he'd lost to Tezuka. The disbelief... the shock of it all.

It was the same feeling he saw reflected on Momo-chan's face now.

Because, the fact of the matter was, Seigaku had some really great players this year; nine excellent players, to be sure... But there were only eight open slots on the Regulars team. Someone was going to be left to watch from the sidelines, and Inui had obviously made the decision that it wasn't going to be him this time.

It was inevitable, then.

It wasn't that Momoshiro was the weakest Regular player...just that his skill wasn't up to par with the two people he'd been pitted against. Out of all the Seigaku tennis players, only Fuji and probably Ryoma possessed the ability to best Tezuka in a match (although that didn't stop the others from whole-heartedly trying when the opportunity arose)--and even then, Ryoma had yet to beat Tezuka and Fuji refused to play the captain seriously, so the senior remained untested. Momoshiro hadn't stood a chance against him.

But Inui had shown he could be beat--and Momoshiro was too cocky. It was that cockiness that he had really lost to, Ryoma thought as he continued to watch the older teen from his perch on the school rooftop.

Momoshiro was stubborn. It was one of the things that Ryoma liked about his friend--the fiery passionate energy that radiated from the other. But now... now that fire was dampened, and Ryoma didn't know how to help his friend regain his balance. Momo didn't come to club practice, he avoided everyone in school, and the effects were starting to show.

Ryoma guessed you never really realized how important someone was until that person was missing from the everyday activities of your life. Who knew that such a loud-mouthed, annoyingly brash person as Momoshiro could cause so much trouble among the club members simply by not being there to tease and aggravate?

"Stressed" definitely described club practice--that day and the next. Like the gut of a racket that was ready to snap. And snap they did.

Everyone stared in shock--none more surprised than Kikumaru and Oishi themselves as the vice captain stared down at his partner, horrified disbelief written across his face, and Eiji... looking back up from him from the floor of the tennis court, hurt-filled angry blue eyes wavering.

Oishi was already moving towards his partner, stuttering out an apology as he reached to help the other boy to his feet, but Eiji slapped the hand away.

"That's enough! I don't want to work with him anymore!" the redhead shouted.

And when Eiji decided he'd rather work with Ryoma, and Oishi paired up with Kaidoh, the freshman and junior shared a stressed, beseeching look.

Momoshiro was really causing too much trouble, Ryoma thought when Tezuka arrived to put an end to Eiji's and Oishi's verbal argument by ordering the two seniors to run punishment laps. And it wasn't even the golden pair, thought they were the most visibly effected by the stress and tension left in Momoshiro's wake...

Ryoma made the decision then and there to stop waiting for his friend to work out his issues on his own. He realized that Momo was stubborn enough to need a push--just like he'd needed one, right? And wasn't it fitting that it had been Momo who had pushed him that time, too?

It was a simple guess that had Ryoma looking for his friend at the park first--a rather accurate one, he supposed as he made his way closer to the enclosed tennis courts area. It only took him a glance to see it--Momo's energy was returning; not as bright as before, but the older boy was starting to shine again. And it wasn't hard to see why, either.

Those three from Fudomine were there, baiting him on. Well, that was really unfair. The blue-haired freak wasn't really talking to Momoshiro at all, even if he was mumbling on about something. And the girl--Tachibana's sister, what's her name?--was smiling somewhat pleasantly as the redhead freak and Momo argued.

And then there were several other players dressed in a school uniform Ryoma thought he should recognize, but didn't. One thing was for sure--he didn't like their attitudes.

It was just natural instinct for him to challenge their strongest player--Ryoma was stubborn, too. He wanted to be the best, and that meant constantly pitting himself against the best to improve himself, finding the strongest player and challenging him. The boy who lounged with all that arrogance, and probably with the skill to back the majority of the ego up with...

Ryoma was mildly miffed when the challenge was refused, but even that annoyance was washed away when he caught the look in Momoshiro's eyes.

The fiery energy was burning in those purple-like eyes that looked down at him.

"Why are you here, Echizen?"

"Mmm? No reason," he replied, already turning away to head back home, smirking as he walked away, the feeling of his back burning beneath a violet-fire gaze following him all the way home.

Momoshiro was there at Saturday morning's practice--the courts held their breath as the junior bowed before their captain, all waiting to hear what Momo's punishment would be. Ryoma could hear the whispered start, the little bets flying, bouncing back and forth, volleying like tennis balls.

"Oishi, you know how many laps?"

There was a hitched breath--from the two boys or maybe from one of the Regular members standing nearby.

A startled look passed between the pair... embarrassment, hope...

The Regulars' attention volleyed between their captain and Momoshiro on the one side and their Golden Pair on the other...

And then Oishi and Kikumaru were grinning brightly at each other, palms slapping together.... just moments before Tezuka spoke up, delivering Momo's punishment sentence.

"One hundred laps," their captain announced in a clear and carrying voice--and there were a lot more hitched breaths and pitying looks that had nothing to do with lost or won bets. "And you're on ball duty for three days."

Momoshiro nodded in agreement.

There were many losses in life....

But, if you found the strength to stand back up, you discovered.... those losses, whether they were big or small, are all just stepping-stones to bigger and better gains.

"Echizen--one hundred laps, too."

Ryoma exhaled. "Ye~es."

~Owarimasu~