Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ What if ❯ chapter 18 ( Chapter 18 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Last time


Oishi was still shuddering from the aftermath of witnessing such an intense and passionate moment between Fuji and Ryoma that he had ran all the way into the nearest boy's bathroom and get a cold shower. He had thanked his lucky stars for Rikaidai having shower tap in the gents probably because they had their very own swimming pool and team. Halfway in between the Ryoma and Fuji's public display of affection, our favorite two red heads had hid themselves in the tennis club locker room shutting themselves in to gain release of their passion.

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What If- Chapter 18

Two hours later, Ryoma and Hiroshi together with Rinko stood in front of the magnificent mansion which is located in the most expensive district in Tokyo, Japan. Rinko shot Hiroshi a sympathetic glance before she rang the doorbell, a shuffle of feets was heard and the door opened to reveal Mizuki, Hiroshi's mother.

"Good evening, aunt Mizuki." Ryoma greeted under the warning glare send his way by his mother.
"Good evening, Ryoma... I hope you'll enjoy this evening's program." Mizuki smile warmly at Ryoma, before shifting her attention to the silent Hiroshi. Gathering her wits and courage, she greeted "Hiroshi, I hope you'll enjoy the evening too..."

Hiroshi looked up at his mother silently, their eyes met for a few seconds before Hiroshi nodded slightly to acknowledge Mizuki's greeting. Brushing past his mother without a word, he headed towards the living room and started greeting the elders and other relatives. Ryoma glanced at the back of Hiroshi's figure before heading front up to join the latter, leaving his mother Rinko behind who's engaging herself in a catching- up session with his Mizuki.

"Good evening, Mr. Carmen..." Ryoma greeted a man around the age of mid-forty who stood by the side of the room observing the youngster interacting with the elderly.
"Oh... Ryoma-san, it's been a long time... How are you doing? Carl was always nagging me to bring them to Seigaku for a friendly match, which I had to disappoint him again this year." Mr. Carmen greeted Ryoma enthusiastically.
"I'm fine, I bet you'd probably heard from my mother about my well-being. Carl was constantly bugging you about organizing a friendly match with Seigaku, did he? Next time, just ignore him... he's only doing that because he wanted to defeat me at tennis which had always ended up with me besting him each time we crossed path." Ryoma answered with hints of sacarms when it comes to the topic of Carl.

Excusing himself politely from Mr. Carmen, Ryoma retreated to the balcony for some peace. Settling himself in one of the armchairs available in the balcony, Ryoma recalled the reason for his intense dislike about Carl.

*Ryoma's memory lane*
Carl Harrison used to be one of Ryoma's closest friend back when he's still studying in America. They were so close that they used to do everything together, in fact, it was Ryoma who had first introduced Carl to the game of Tennis. They had joined their school tennis club together and had won the school several medals, doing the school proud. Their school back in America had been one of those prominent and prestigious academy in the neighbourhood, the school had provided all levels of education ranging from elementary level all the way to University.

'What changes us?' Ryoma asked himself in his mind before smiling a rueful smile as he remembered the reaction Carl had adopted when he'd dropped the bombshell regarding his family moving to Japan. Carl had been so agitated and hurt that he had said things which he hasn't meant it just to spite Ryoma.

Then again, Ryoma was merely eight years old back then. Being his eight year old self, Ryoma hasn't understand the reason for Carl sudden change in attitude hence he had take offences against Carl's immature actions. Ryoma had literally numbed his feeling of hurt from Carl's spiteful words by challenging Nanjirou daily to various games of tennis. He isolated himself from people as much as possible as he didn't wanted to be hurt by people anymore, if possible. This had always been the case for Ryoma and had always been useful to him, until Fuji.

'How ironic...' Ryoma smiled a genuine smile unlike his usual smirk when his thoughts shifted from Carl to Fuji, his sadistic boyfriend. Fuji had entered Ryoma's world like a whirlwind attack, Ryoma wasn't prepared against it and had fallen deep into the trap. Ryoma hasn't given it too much a thought before, but now that he thought back it does seems to be the case. Ryoma wasn't used to deal with people like Fuji, since not many people he met came with the sadist streak in them and not to mention good in tennis. Ryoma's tactics had failed him utterly when it comes down to the idea of dealing with Fuji, since the latter just won't take 'No' for an answer.

Fuji had knew his personality inside out, much to the aghast of the him. He had been filled with the sense of horror when he realized that he had allowed Fuji to claim the upper hand in his own game, Fuji had knew that he(Ryoma) was only interested in defeating the latter (Fuji) in tennis hence had make used of that particular point to best Ryoma in the game. Eventually, Fuji had him trapped without any problems. During their game of cat and mouse, Ryoma had chased Fuji trying to catch up with the latter while Fuji had responded by gaining the upper hand each time at the final second. However, unexpected feelings had arises during one of their game... they had been so stressed up that they resorted to use each other as a tool for stress relief. However, it had backfired on them in a sense that the feeling of 'love' had set in without them knowing until Fuji had cornered him and kissed him lightly in a deserted hallway in school. They had surprised each other when Ryoma responded to the kiss gently at first, then it turns to full-blown passion. That was the start of their relationship and they had stayed together since then.

It was at that moment that Ryoma was hit full-blown by the impact that he'd swung the other way instead of the usual hetero-sexual relations. It took a whole of five minutes for the realization to register in his mind, another five for him to come to an explanation for his extreme reaction to Carl's spiteful words. He then noticed for the first time that he was homosexual throughout, he'd suspected before when his father had questioned him on his lack of attraction to girls but he'd only realized it after his first kiss with Fuji.

*End of memory lane*

Ryoma was so deep in thought that he didn't even noticed that someone had taken a seat next to him, until Hiroshi tapped him on the shoulders drawing him out of his reminiscence.
"What are you thinking about?" Hiroshi asked as he sipped his juice slowly.
"Nothing, just thinking about the irony that I hasn't really know my own sexual preference until Fuji kissed me in the school corridor." Ryoma replied candidly.

Upon hearing Ryoma's statement, Hiroshi choked on his juice and try to curb his coughing fits. The moment his coughing stops, he stared at Ryoma incredulously and asked "You mean you only realized it after kissing a guy?"
"What do you mean by that?" Ryoma raised his eyebrow slightly at Hiroshi's question.
"I mean... don't tell me you'd never realized it? I mean when you and Carl were still talking to each other back in America, the two of you were so *obvious*... You might not understand the meaning and feelings involved behind it then, but don't you ever question yourself about your reactions to his spiteful words or his extreme reaction to you when your family moved back here? I mean, if the two of you are just usual and normal friends... the reaction shouldn't be so extreme right? I mean they will feel sad that you are leaving them behind, but they will give you their blessing not saying things that will hurt you like what Carl did. Even if they did say things like Carl did, it's only because they were at a loss and not knowing what to do about it. Usually, normal friends doesn't take offences at it... they'll give each other time to calm down before explaining to them. Unlike you, obviously you are too blinded by your own hurt and not being realistic hence you took offences and tried to numb yourself in tennis practice just to force the feeling out of your mind." Hiroshi explained it so patiently that it made Ryoma felt like a three-year old.

"How could I possibly know it back then... I don't have many friends back in America... I wouldn't know the difference between friends and lover. I only know the difference between them until I compared feelings for Fuji and Momo-senpai after Fuji kissed me..." Ryoma mumbled softly but still loud enough for Hiroshi to hear it. Smiling as he watched Ryoma made his way to the private tennis court at the backyard of the mansion where Carl was busy practicing his tennis skills to settle some overdue scores, bitter feelings in their heart and to clear up their misunderstanding.

Humming a tune to himself, Hiroshi started towards the kitchen to help out his mother in the task of serving dinner but not before informing his aunt Rinko not to bother Carl and Ryoma for the time being. He knew they both needed time to settle their difference and certain explanations were needed, but not only for them since he felt the need to settle things between himself and his mother as well. He would need to dissolve his own family problem first, before he allowed himself to get entangled in his blooming relationship with Jirou. Bracing himself with determination, Hiroshi started towards the kitchen hoping that he will not chicken out at the last moment.

~ to be continue~

date completed: 12/03/05