Broken Prince

Captured

Broken Prince

Disclaimer: If you recognize it then I don't own it.

Summary: A match in the past leaves a then ten year old Ryoma Echizen with several permanent health issues that leave many questioning rather the Prince of tennis can even continue playing. When Ryoma moves to Japan he knew hiding those injuries from Seigaku was going to be hard and that being caught was not an option. Why can't he just play tennis?

Chapter three: Captured

Classes went by in a blur and Ryoma didn't know what to do with himself now that he was once again tennis-less. When lunch came around, instead of spending it with the regulars like he usually did, he hid in the library. Upon returning to the classroom Horio loudly told him that their senpai-tachi had been looking for him and how HE, with his two years of tennis experience, would have been so much better in his place. Once again Ryoma bites back the reply that Horio's two years were lacking significantly in comparison to his nine...

... No one ever seemed to care about that...

...People in general seemed to care surprisingly little about anything concerning him, especially considering how many SAY that they do. And besides, perfectly whole Horio with his perfect loving family that made sure to spend time with him every day was probably right even if not in the way he thought...

Blind broken people like Echizen Ryoma will NEVER truly belong in the world of perfection that was tennis...

The running, hiding, and all around avoidance from the other tennis regulars lasted for about a week being slightly generous. When Momo-senpai showed up at his house to pick him up Ryoma was already  at school. When morning tennis practice was going on Ryoma was on the other side of the school hiding in an abandoned closet. When lunch came around Ryoma was out of the classroom before the bell even finished ringing; spending his time either in an abandoned classroom, the library, or the closet he had been slowly coming to name as 'his'. When it was time for afternoon practice Ryoma instead took the time to further familiarize himself with Tokyo.

He also had shut the nurse up before she could cause even more problems than he was currently dealing with. At one point he would have cringed at just the thought but after so many times it now came as second nature to him. After all, it was their own fault for being scared of a disabled child, quite pathetic of them really if you asked him. Besides, all he did to this one was blackmail her...

... No caretaker of children would want it known that their father had been a registered sex offender so he didn't need to take extreme measures to keep the documents he wanted disregarded hidden so well within his medical history that even Inui-senpai wouldn't be able to pull it up.

But all things (apparently) had to come to an end.

It was at the end of a class week that found a trapped Echizen Ryoma surrounded by his senpai-tachi as he was trying to skip practice once again.

Horio had literally grabbed his wrist at the end of class and refused to let go. This causing just enough of a set back that Eiji-senpai was able to spot him as he rushed around the corner....

....Straight into Momo-senpai.

"Yo Echizen, you shouldn't be hiding from your senpais! It isn't right! No it isn't Yo!" The loud power player exclaims as his kohai is surrounded by worried but annoyed tennis players.

"Che, What do you want?" The twelve-year-old asks nonchalantly, if they thought for even a second that he would tell them about his injuries then they were more idiotic then he had given them credit for. His head turning to watch Buchou when he replied, making the mistake of putting Momo-senpai right into his blind spot. He didn't think much of it though, having shifted his senses so that he heard more than he saw his surroundings years ago.

"We would like you to come with us to the club room so we can talk to you privately Echizen." he says simply, causing golden eyes to narrow. He wasn't going with them. He didn't think he could handle hearing those words yet again. Besides, they all already knew he was off the team anyway. He put the resignation slip on Ryuusaki-sensei's desk himself while everyone was in the clubhouse on the very afternoon they had found out. There was no need for actual formalities...

"Yadda." The word wasn't even fully out of his mouth before he was quickly thrown over Momo-senpai's shoulder like he was a sack of potatoes. The force of the action knocking the air out of him. Silently the Seigaku tennis regulars navigate the crowd of students solemnly, trying to get as close to he club room as they could before their winded hostage started resisting them again.

The eight middle schoolers had almost completed their objective before Ryoma finally begins to voice his distress as he struggles to get free. Though not enough that he would fall off his senpai's shoulder by himself. However, the only response he receives is that the arm holding him there tightens around him harshly. Making it hard for him to breath once again.

Oishi-senpai opens the door, worried uncertainty shining in his eyes and Ryoma barely registers being thrown into a chair at the far end of the room. His arms forced around the back of the wooden seat, feelings of doom and the question of just when this torture would end fill the boy as his wrists are handcuffed together and the door's lock clicks into use with a resounding finality.

Fuji-senpai stands behind him twirling the key to his restraints on his finger as he walks over to present it to Buchou who is sitting at the long table in front of him with Taka-senpai and Inui-senpai. Kaido-senpai is leaned against the side wall to his right, studying him with a piercing glare only the Viper could achieve. Eiji-senpai bounces on his feet by the worried mother hen who is still standing by the door and Ryoma thinks that Momo-senpai is standing somewhere over his left shoulder but for once is being to silent for his ears to pick up an exact location. One thing however, was for sure though....

.... He was screwed

--- POV Momoshiro ---

Watching as Echizen tenses in the chair in front of me I am filled with mixed emotions. Even though he was so small he had seemed so cocky and well.... Echizen... on the courts. It was impossible for Echizen to be, what was that word Inui-senpai had used?

Handicapped

The idea was so foreign to me that it was inconceivable. And yet both Buchou and Inuii-senpai had, with the support of Fuji-senpai, said that my best friend was blind in his left eye among having other undisclosed (Whatever that meant) injuries. Thus bringing all of us to where we are now because I'm sure I'm not the only one that needs to hear this from the first year himself. And that letter of resignation just HAD to be a joke. There was NO WAY the boy I had become attached to in the beginning of the school year would simply quite the very sport he seemed to live for. Though the first words to ring through the air make a lot of us sweat drop.

"I'm not saying anything."

...Well, there really goes getting answers easily. Echizen was way to stubborn for his own good. How can we senpai help our little kohai if he won't let us do so? Doesn't he know we only want to help him? To understand what in the world is going on?

"Eh... Don't be like that Ochibi Nya!" Eiji-senpai exclaims, bouncing over to the golden eyed boy and awkwardly glomping him despite the position he was in.

"Eiji! Let him go!" Oishi orders, trying to pry the red head off their captive. Once he succeeded IT started...