Prince of Cats

Chapter VI

Yukimaru looked over his shoulder. "We'll have to wait and see," he replied simply. Fuji nodded in understanding, "Right, see you later," he said. Yukimaru nodded, and started to walk away.

~Ryoma Echizen~

All throughout class, Ryoma couldn't focus on anything. The only thing running through his head was Yukimaru. Thousands of questions ran through his head, so much so that he didn't even notice that class had ended.

"Hey, Echizen-san! Earth to Echizen! Helllllo!" Horio yelled into the twelve year old's ear. Ryoma blinked, and glared at the boy that dared to yell in his ear. "What the hell do you want," he hissed as he glared at the three freshmen in front of his deck.

The three freshmen quickly took a step back from the freshmen. "Echizen-san, are you alright?" Kachiro asked concerned. Ryoma glared at them. "I'm in no mood to deal with you three. I'm heading home," he said as he stood up.

"Hey, Echizen-san, all three of us are terrible at English, so we were hoping that you would be willing that you would tator us," Katsuo said softly. Ryoma glared at all three of them. "I'm serious, leave me the hell alone," he hissed.

The thirteen year old's eyes were the eyes of someone that was not to be messed with. "Leave me alone, or you three will be sorry," he warned as he grabbed his school bag, and walked out of the room. "Those idiots, they have no idea what I'm dealing with right now," Ryoma thought as he walked down the hallway.

If he had to be honest with himself, Ryoma had no idea what he, himself, was dealing with.

Ryoma stopped suddenly, and banged the wall next to him with his fist. "It's not fair! I did what I had did to protect him! Why does he have to show up after all these years," he thought annoyed as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Echizen-san," a voice said as a hand was placed on his shoulder. Ryoma's eyes snapped open as he whirl around, and slammed the stranger against the wall. "What?" he hissed as his eyes took on the appearance a tiger on the prowl.

The stranger turned out to be some girl from his class, who he had no idea what her name was for the life of him. The girl's eyes widened in fear. "A-are you okay?" she asked as she shook in fear of her classmate.

Ryoma calmed down and the killing look in his cat-like eyes depleted. "Leave me alone," he said coldly as he released the girl from his grip, and started to walk away. All the girl could do was fall to the ground, and watch Ryoma walk away.

"Damnit, it's happening again," Ryoma thought as he disappeared around the corner.

~Seiichi Yukimura~

"Alright, take a break!" Seiichi yelled. His team let out a collective groan as they collapsed onto the tennis court. "Man, is it just me, or is Yukimura-senpai stricter than usual," one of the club members groaned, and most of his peers agreed with him.

Seiichi sat down on one of the benches, and fished out his necklace. "Ryoma, why did you choose him over me?" he thought sadly as he caressed the engraving. "Alright, Seiichi-kun, what's the problem?" a voice asked. Seiichi looked up from the necklace, to see Sanada towering over his. "I don't know what you're talking about, Sanada-kun," he said calmly.

"You've been moping around for the last five hours. You haven't even teased anyone, and you're stricter than usual. Something is clearly wrong," Sanada said sternly. Seiichi chuckled lightly, "I can never get one pass you, can I?" he asked.

A small smile graced the vice-captain's lips, as he sat down. "No you can't, now what's wrong?" he asked. Seiichi sighed, "Remember when I went to the states for treatment?" he asked. "Yeah, during the Kanto Regionals," Sanada remembered. "Yeah, when I was in the hospital for surgery, I met the most amazing boy ever," Seiichi said fondly. "Ryoma?" Sanada guessed as he nodded at the necklace in his best friend's hands.

Seiichi looked down at the necklace. "Yeah," he said softly as he caressed the pendent. "And he was the reason you turned gay?" Sanada inquired. Seiichi nodded, "Yeah, sure I had a few crushes before, but I didn't know what love was before I met him. I don't know what it was, but there was just something about him that just drove me towards him. He was one of few who could surprise me," he said softly.

Sanada smiled, "I've known you since we were four, this is the first time that I've ever heard you talk about a person that way. You really love this boy," he said. "Yeah, and he loved me," Seiichi said. Sanada frowned, "Loved? What happened?" he asked. Seiichi frowned at the memory. "On the last week that I was at the hospital, Ryoma came to my room like he normally did. We talked like normal, cuddled and whatnot, but, when it was time for him to leave, Ryoma said that we should break up. I was shocked, and tried to get an idea of why he would think that. At first, I thought it was because I was heading back to Japan, but that wasn't the reason," he explained.

"What was the reason then?" Sanada asked tenderly as he placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "I really don't know what it was; he wouldn't tell me why. We argued a little till Ryoma yelled that he hated me, and ran away. I wanted to run after him, but the nurses stopped me, and I haven't seen him since...till today," Seiichi whispered. "So that's why you never date because of Ryoma," Sanada said. "Yeah, I don't think he really hates me, but now he's with Fuji," Seiichi said.

"How can you be sure?" Sanada asked softly. "This necklace. I got it for him on our first official date. He has one half, I have the other. But now Fuji has it," Seiichi. "I see...do you think this will change anything between you and Fuji?" Sanada inquired. "I don't know, I only want Ryoma to be happy. If Fuji makes him happy, than I'm contempt with it," Seiichi said.

"Oh, Seiichi," Sanada murmured softly. Someone cleared their throat, and the two realized how quiet the tennis court was. They looked up to see all of the club members staring at them, some had tears in their eyes.

"Oh Kami, you heard all of that?" Seiichi asked, flustered. "Every word, but it did give me very valuable data," Yanagi Renji said as he finished writing in his notebook. "Oh Kami, you people do not know the meaning of privacy," Seiichi groaned.

"Oh, senpai, that was so sad," one of the underclassmen sobbed as she dabbed her eyes with a hanky. "Excuse me, captain, but Ryoma-san's last name wouldn't happen to be Echizen, would it? As in Samurai Nanjiro?" Renji asked as he looked up from his notepad.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Seiichi asked as he tried to get over his embarrassment. "Well, as it would so happen, I was talking to Sadaharu-kun just the other day about Echizen-san. He dominated the tennis court last week," Renji said.

"He's still playing tennis? I'm glad," Seiichi said. "Actually, according from what I gathered, he was more or less forced to by Fuji," Renji said. Seiichi blinked, "You're not saying that Ryoma isn't playing tennis anymore, are you?" he asked worried. "According to Sadaharu-kun, Echizen-san seems to have an acute hatred of tennis," Renji reported.

Seiichi shot up from his seat, scaring Sanada in the process. "Do you have his address?" he demanded. "Of course," Renji answered. "Text it to me, Sanada-kun is in charge," Seiichi said as he stormed towards the clubhouse.