Come Back to Me

"Ochibi," Kikumaru Eiji called out to his kouhai, waving his hands in front of Echizen Ryoma's face, trying his best to snap the younger boy out of his reverie. "Oi, Ochibi! Stop daydreaming!"

Echizen Ryoma, a first year in Seishun Gakuen, as well as a regular in the Seigaku Tennis Club. Indeed, it was rare that a first year would get a position as a regular, but by watching Ryoma's matches, one would no doubt agree that he deserves that position.

Well, for most of the time, that is. Ryoma seemed rather distracted today, barely being able to keep up with his senpai-tachi during training.

There was a perfect explanation to this. Earlier on, he had spotted a girl who wasn't in the Seishun Gakuen uniform walking around the tennis courts, looking more or less lost. As usual, he didn't bother, since he probably didn't know that girl. Plus, it was none of his business. But she looked somewhat familiar, though Ryoma wasn't able to quite put his finger on it.

Usually, he'd just shrug it off and forget about it, but strangely, not being able to recognize this person bugged him. Too caught up in his thoughts, the sound of a tennis ball crashing onto the ground seemed to slowly fade off into the distance.

**********

The sky was already turning into a shade of dark indigo mixed with the many different shades of red – yes, the colors of a sunset. While it looked absolutely breathtaking, a certain capped boy was unable to focus on anything around him at that moment.

Ryoma sighed softly to himself, lowering his cap as he slung his tennis bag around his shoulder, walking out of school. Practice today was horrible, he couldn't keep his mind off the girl, whoever she was.

No matter how much time he spent thinking of it, he still couldn't remember where he saw her. There was a lot of time to spare whilst walking home, so he might as well make the most of it and try to remember. Hopefully he could, and soon.

**********

"I'm back," Ryoma announced as he entered the house, placing his tennis bag down.

"Welcome home," As usual, Ryoma was greeted by Nanako, his cousin. He walked up the stairs to his room, plopping down on his bed as he heard the door creak open slowly and a soft meow.

"Karupin...?"

"Ryoma-kun," The door opened further, revealing a girl who was standing there, dressed in a simple t-shirt and shorts, holding Karupin in her arms. "It's been a while," she said, in English.

Ryoma sat up, looking at the girl, examining her. She was the one who he spotted at the courts earlier that day, the one that he had been constantly thinking about the whole day. And now, there she was, standing in front of him. She had long, flowing Sepia-colored hair and cobalt blue eyes. She looked familiar, yet he still couldn't tell who she is. His memory never seems to cooperate with him whenever he wanted it to.

"Forgot about me already, Ryoma-kun?" The girl questioned, raising an eyebrow. She let Karupin back down onto the ground, folding her arms.

Ryoma tried thinking hard, yet still - nothing.

"Let's have a tennis match," The girl simply said, a smirk present on her face. Ryoma got the message – a tennis match it is. With whomever this girl was.

**********

"You'll serve first," The girl threw Ryoma a tennis ball, grinning – obviously excited about this match. Ryoma merely replied with a 'Uiisu', before positioning himself.

Throwing the ball up in the air, Ryoma hit a twist shot, which sent the ball bouncing back up at the girl's face. She dodged the ball, as well as study it carefully. It had been such a long time since she saw such a well-hit twist shot. The girl watched Ryoma closely as he served again, hitting back the shot with perfect ease. Ryoma didn't expect her to hit it back, which gave her the second point.

"Hmmm? You're not bad," Ryoma commented, smirking slightly. He wouldn't admit it, but he was definitely getting excited about this match. It has been such a long time since he met a worthy opponent. However, his opponent's style of tennis was really familiar. Something he had played against, he was sure of that, at least.

"Fifteen all," The girl said, grinning, as well as positioning herself for another one of Ryoma's serves.

This was going to be a great match, no doubt.

**********

"Mada mada dane," Ryoma said as he wiped the sweat off his brow. The match had ended, Ryoma winning six games to four – which was a really close match indeed. Ryoma was even forced to use his one-footed split step. He had to admit, he never expected a girl to be this good, though her tennis was more on the rough side…

"You're so hard to beat," The girl replied, panting, but still smiling. "Even though I thought I've improved, you seem to be doing a lot of practicing too."

…He remembered something like this happening before – it was like déjà vu.

Was it back in America that this situation occurred before?

He saw the girl shaking her head, before grinning at him knowingly. "Doesn't ring a bell?"

…

Ryoma thought hard, finally remembering. A woman by the name of was his father's good friend – he heard that she was a former tennis player. He could also remember that he played with her daughter…

Ryoma's eyes widened slightly. This girl in front of him must be… "-san's daughter."

"Bingo. That took a long time – don't tell me you really couldn't remember! You're just like an old man, Ryoma-kun," The girl walked over, patting Ryoma on the shoulder. "It's , and you better not forget my name again. And don't call me -san or anything to do with my family name."

…It was probably because she was good in tennis anyway. What else could it be?

**********

"So you're in the Seigaku Tennis Club," grinned, her tennis bag slung around her shoulders. "Is the standard of tennis here better than in America?"

Ryoma shrugged, opening the door to his house. Before he even had the time to react…

"How was your date with -chan?"

…There stood his father at the entrance, walking over to him and nudging Ryoma on the arm. Ryoma stood there, pissed off, but chose to keep silent.

Upon hearing the honk of a car's horn sounding from outside, gave both Ryoma and his father, Nanjirou a small wave, "Ah, that must be my mom. See you!"

Ryoma didn't say anything, merely watching the girl leave before going back up to his room. He knew that, at least, he'd still see her in school tomorrow – since he did see her in school earlier that day.

**********

Ponta sure seemed to hit the spot after a tiring day of tennis. Opening his can and gulping down its contents quickly, Ryoma threw the can into the bin from where he was standing with ease. He grabbed his racquet, walking back to the courts where Momo-senpai was probably waiting.

There, he saw his senpai-tachi crowd around someone, and he could only vaguely make out what they were saying.

"Ne, what's your name? You're Ochibi's old friend, right?"

"Eiji, don't scare her away."

Lowering his cap, Ryoma walked over to them. He had already figured who that person was.

"Ah, Echizen. I believe your friend is here to find you," Oishi smiled at the younger boy, stepping to a side to allow Ryoma to pass through. All Ryoma did in reply was nod his head, before stepping through his group of senpai-tachi.

"Ryoma-kun!"

Ryoma tilted his cap up a little, replying with a simple 'Uiisu'. walked over to him, tapping on his cap when she did.

"You didn't tell me your senpai-tachi are this nice, Ryoma-kun. I'm hurt," attempted to sound hurt, yet it didn't come out very well. Ryoma shrugged, before walking over to where his tennis bag was and keeping his racquet. He casually slung his bag around his shoulder, only to have the girl run after him after saying her goodbyes to the Seigaku regulars.

"Wait up, will you?" groaned, trying to catch up. She hated the stupid skirt the girls were all forced to wear, which only helped by limiting how fast she could run, since it flew up rather easily. Really, the school should make everyone wear shorts – it wasn't so much of a pain, at least.

**********

The following days consisted of the same old thing happening again and again – always goes to find Ryoma at the tennis courts after school, which brought about a very angry Tomoka, with Sakuno constantly trying to calm her down. It was an amusing sight, really, to see Tomoka flare up at the slightest contact between and Ryoma (-sama).

Though he and weren't in the same class, they never failed to keep in contact. Well, at least tried her best to. The regulars were getting used to her coming to visit them, and when Tezuka-buchou allowed it, she'd have a friendly match with one of them, meaning that if it got to six all, the game would end.

What the tennis regulars noted was that 's tennis style was really quite rough, it would almost be able to match up to Kirihara, but just a tiny bit milder. That wasn't much of a problem, since her attitude at play was better. Plus, her personality easily drew people to her.

Ryoma eyed her carefully and sharply as she started her match with Momoshiro. Her serves were quick, which gave his senpai little to no time to react. 's play was really very good, as much as he didn't want to admit that. It took a lot to impress Echizen Ryoma.

"Not bad. Not bad at all," said Momoshiro, finishing the game with his famous Super Great Momoshiro Special. The game ended with seven games to five. Though Momoshiro won, everyone was just as taken aback as the first time they saw her play against Eiji. Never did they expect her to be such a good player – she was able to rival their skills. She knew when was the exact moment to strike back, too, which always came as a surprise. One thing they all learnt after playing with was to never let your guard down.

"Momo-senpai is just too good! Especially that smash, what did you call it again?"

"It just so happens to be called 'Super Great Momoshiro Special'!" Momoshiro shot her a 'V' sign, grinning. Everyone else around him fell silent. Momoshiro did have a weird way in naming things, or it could be because he wasn't really that creative to begin with.

Ryoma watched sharply as both and Momoshiro chatted with each other happily, and could feel his heart twinge a little. What was this feeling? Was it jealousy?

But why?

**********

The sky was a beautiful mix of orange, red and yellow as the sun was setting. tagged alongside Ryoma, following him back to his house. Her mother had told her to follow Ryoma home after school each day, and she would pick up from the Echizen's. She had protested at first, but her mother could be very convincing.

Ryoma had already gotten used to her company, and they always talked quite a bit on their way back.

"I've noticed that you aren't much taller than I, Ryoma-kun," had suddenly said, only causing Ryoma to frown slightly.

"I'll grow taller soon."

"You better start eating bananas."

"Yuck. I hate bananas," stuck out her tongue at the mention of that fruit.

"That's why you're short," Ryoma replied, pushing the girl down gently on the head. A small grin had already formed on his face, though it was slight.

**********

"Fshuuu! It was an accident, idiot!"

This immediately got the attention of all the regulars, which made them all come rushing to the scene. No one made a move, hoping that their bickering would end soon. On the other hand, was trying her best to make her senpai-tachi stop.

"Momo-senpai! Kaidou-senpai! Mou, please stop this already!"

That only caused the both of them to stop and glare at the poor girl, causing her to fall backwards in fear. Without so much as a thought, Ryoma came rushing over to catch her before she reached the ground. Sensing everyone now staring at him, Ryoma quickly helped the girl back onto her feet, before lowering his cap.

"You're so careless," Ryoma casually said – or more like he tried to sound as casual as he could, thankful that his cap managed to hide the small blush on his cheeks. replied Ryoma with a 'thank you'. The other regulars were shocked with Ryoma's reaction to it all, yet they shrugged it off as a normal behavior. After all, if someone was falling, you'd help them out… right?

And as usual, Oishi, being the mother of the Seishun Gakuen Tennis Club, stepped forward worriedly.

"–"

"Oishi-senpai, please call me by my first name," stopped him before he could continue. Oishi simply blinked, before nodding his head.

"Eh? Why, -chan?" Eiji hopped over to them, curious. The girl looked down at her feet for a few moments, before looking up and smiling back at her senpai. Everyone took that as a sign that she didn't want to mention why, but it only got Eiji even more curious.

Oishi placed his hand on Eiji's shoulder, shaking his head. Oishi knew better than to ask – it seemed like such a sensitive topic to her. "Curiosity killed the cat, Eiji. You're far too much like one."

**********

Ryoma knew he shouldn't be bothering – he didn't care about such things. No, he didn't. He wasn't at all interested in why didn't like to be called by her last name. Not at all.

"So, why?" Ryoma suddenly asked, halfway through their journey back to his house. looked at him, tilting her head.

"Why don't you want people to call you by your last name?"

Right. He was such a liar. He couldn't even hold back this one question. He mentally kicked himself for that. Very good, Ryoma, very good.
only looked down on the ground, the look in her eyes now distant, as if she were thinking about something. It was a good five minutes where both of them didn't say a word, before decided to break the silence.

"I'll tell you," lifted her head up a little. "But just keep it a secret."

The reason had been so simple. All along, had always been compared to her mother. True, herself was a good tennis player – but being constantly compared made her feel sick in the stomach. Besides, her tennis differed a whole lot from her mother's; 's tennis style was rough, and was more boyish than not. There was a limit to how much one could take, and being compared all the time was enough.

"Pretty childish, huh? It's the reason why I didn't want to join any junior competitions whatsoever," heaved a small sigh, shortly before grinning. "I'm stubborn anyway."

Ryoma noticed the expression on 's face, and it was seemingly disgruntled, most probably because of regret. It was clear for everyone to see that she loved tennis, but being compared hurt her pride. It must've taken all her willpower to just stay away from the competitions she loved so much.

Knowing that was willing to share her secrets with Ryoma made him somewhat elated – placing emphasis on the 'somewhat', of course.

**********

Days went by in a flash. Ryoma and the other members of the Tennis Club had gotten quite close to , and her coming by after school to watch them practice was a norm. Even Tomoka was starting to speak with her without flaring up.

It was fun to all hang out together, to play tennis and the like.

watched them play tennis, before letting out a small sigh. She shouldn't have gotten too close to them in the first place, not when she knew all of this had to end soon. Yet she couldn't help it, since they were all such friendly people.

That aside, she had grown exceptionally fond of a certain capped boy of the Seigaku Tennis Club. More fond than she was of him years back. She had fallen too much for him to turn back. What the girl couldn't believe most was that she used to think love was stupid. Now she understood.

Just thinking about that made sigh again. To that boy, tennis was his whole world, his everything. If she were to tell him how she felt about him, what difference would it make? Tennis would mean more to him than she would.

But then again, this might be the only chance she had to confess.

She was leaving for America at the end of the week, which left two more days to spend with them. They weren't aware of this, of course, since she decided it was best to leave the place quietly so no one would notice. She hated saying goodbye. It sounded much too final.

Glancing up at Ryoma's face while they were walking home from tennis, tried to read how he was feeling at that moment, as well as to take in how he looked before she left Japan. Ryoma gave her a quizzical look, wondering what she was doing.

The sun was setting at the horizon, which meant another day had almost gone. One day less to spend with Ryoma. The sheer thought of it made her heart cringe. At that precise moment, she had already made up her mind to confess to him. It didn't matter if he didn't return them any longer. All that mattered was that he knew she cared.

But she would leave that for tomorrow, before she left.

**********

All had been doing the whole day was taking in the sights and sounds of Seishun Gakuen. The chattering of the students as they enter through the school gates, the freshness of the air and early rays of warm sunshine.

A gentle breeze blew as she walked towards the tennis courts after school. immediately recognized the familiar sound of tennis balls bouncing off the tennis racquets and crashing onto the ground that greeted her ears – her favorite sound throughout her stay in Japan. The same sound she always heard near Ryoma.

Watching the regulars practice as she stood outside the courts, her fingers idly traced the nettings. Memories of cheering while grabbing tightly onto them flowed back in an instant. She'd even miss doing such things once she went back to America. It sounded horribly corny, but it held true.

What knew, of course, was that all these memories of Japan would be held dear to her heart.

"-chan, why do you look so down?" Eiji suddenly asked, causing the sepia-haired girl to jump in shock.

"100% because of something bothering her," Inui popped up from behind, data book in hand.

"Nothing is bothering me, Inui-senpai."

Inui pushed his spectacles up, reading something from the book. "99.8% that you're lying."

"You know you can always tell us anything, -chan!" Eiji grinned, ruffling his kouhai's hair. Usually, she'd protest and complain about it, but today, she let it slide. What Eiji said had made even more reluctant to leave. She knew that they'd always be there for her when she needed someone; they were all such wonderful friends.

She didn't want to leave at all. But wouldn't cry, crying was unsightly.

**********

"Ryoma-kun?" suddenly called out, when both of them were journeying home in silence. The capped boy eyed the other, stopping in his tracks. They stood there like that for a few seconds, before began to speak.

"I know this may sound a little stupid and all, but just hear me out, okay?"

All she got in response was a slight nod of the head. She took that as a signal to continue.

"All this time I've spent with you and the regulars was great. I really enjoyed myself a lot. And, um…"

Taking a deep breath, knew that there wasn't any backing out now.

"I like you."

It took her a long time to muster up her courage to say this, but when she did, she felt as if a great load had been taken off her chest. But why was she running away from Ryoma without even looking back?

She just didn't want to hear him reject her. She was too much of a coward to hear it.

**********

"What do you want?" Ryoma dropped his tennis bag onto the floor and sat down to take his shoes off, trying to ignore his father, who was being such a pain.

"You've got a letter, Ryoma-sama! It's from -chan!" His father teased in a mocking voice. Ryoma snatched the letter from his father, ripping the envelope open quickly. He took the letter out and started reading.

Dear Ryoma-kun,

I wanted to tell you this sooner, but I decided against it. By the time you read this letter, I'm already leaving for America. I didn't want to tell any of you, since I hate saying goodbye. It's just a really painful thing to say.

Not bothering to finish reading the letter, Ryoma grabbed his wallet and ran out of the house. He had to get to the airport, and fast. He hurriedly flagged a cab, getting in and telling the driver to drive as quickly as he could. The only thing that kept repeating in his mind was 'baka, baka, baka'.

**********

Running around the airport, searching frantically for . It was uncharacteristic for Ryoma to get so worked up over such things, but it didn't matter. He hadn't the time to think. All he did was push through crowds, looking around, trying to spot the sepia-haired girl.

And he did, sitting there alone with luggage at her feet – her eyes carefully scanning around the area. Was she perhaps hoping that he would come? Ryoma lowered his cap, walking up to the girl.

"Ryoma-kun?" stared at him in disbelief.

Ryoma lifted his cap slightly, just enough for his eyes to meet her cobalt blue ones. Why he was so enthralled by them was a mystery, and for what felt like hours, he stood there staring into them.

What was he doing?

"Baka," Ryoma suddenly said, stepping forward, taking off his cap and putting it on 's head. "You never let me answer you."

"Come back to Japan," Ryoma gave the girl a small smile. "Come back to me, ."

Smiling, nodded her head.

"I promise."

##########

October 10, 2006
Written by: Setsuna
Edited by: linchpin

A/N: I'm so sorry about the abruptness of the ending, but I think we all know what Ryoma means, right?