Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Trapped ❯ The US Open and a scary encounter. ( Chapter 1 )

Trapped

 

By. Enzeru

 

Disclaimer. *Sniffle* I don't own Prince of tennis…and that is so sad… Waaaahhhhh

 

AN. Beta edited by Trumpet-Geek

 

Chapter One: The US Open and a scary encounter.

 

 

Ryoma was playing in the US Open and doing very well. When he wasn't in a match, he mainly trained with his friend, Kevin. One day, in the beginning of the tournament, a man who said he wanted to become Ryoma's sponsor had approached him, and after having spoken to his father over the phone and having the man checked out they had agreed.

Soon, Ryoma had an entirely new wardrobe and a better hotel room, until his family would join him. He could eat at a five-star restaurant every day, but, Ryoma being Ryoma, went for

burgers most of the time.

 

It was after his seventh game in the late afternoon that Ryoma was found lying under a tree near a tennis court, waiting for his friend to arrive. Things were going well; he had won against such crappy players that he wondered why they even bothered to be there.

Well, it was only the beginning and he knew that better opponents would show up soon enough.

 

As he lingered between sleeping and wakefulness, a tennis ball landed on his face with a

soft thump. He opened his eyes and glared at the smiling form of Kevin hovering over him. He had just dropped the ball on Ryoma's face, so no harm was done but it was still annoying.

Kevin sat down next to him and they both just enjoyed the nice weather.

 

“So, another victory, huh? Well, looking at the opponents, that's no surprise. How about a game? The winner can buy the food.” Ryoma grunted at Kevin's words.

 

“You say that everyday, but you still haven't been able to get me to pay. Besides, I was thinking about going shopping. I need new tennis balls and some grip tape, too.”

 

Ryoma's new clothes were black with red details on it, including red stripes on the sides of his legs and arms and it was red all along the edges. On the back, there were stitched yellow letters spelling out. `R. Echizen.' He truly enjoyed his new clothes, they were really comfortable and looked great. Kevin nodded and stood.

 

“So what are you lying there for? Come on, let's go shopping. And who knows, maybe I'll find something, too.” Ryoma sighed and stood, and they went shopping.

 

This was usually how Ryoma spent his days, but tomorrow his family would join him to see his matches. His sponsor had managed to find him a penthouse where they could all stay together.

 

“So, are you moving into the new place tonight?” Kevin asked his friend, who looked up to the sky with his hands in his pockets.

 

“Yep. Mom and Dad are coming tomorrow, so I figured I might as well have my stuff unpacked before that. They have already made dinner reservations for tomorrow evening and you are invited as well. They're buying.” Kevin smiled; he loved food, especially when it's

free.

 

“I'll definitely come. Only a fool would pass up a free meal.”

 

“Yeah, that's true.” They both grinned and went on their way. They had fun on times like these, and Ryoma was truly grateful for his friend. He would have been bored out of his mind if it weren't for Kevin. Well, he would still have Karupin, but she was mostly a specialist of cuddling and not much for talk or anything important, like tennis. No, Kevin was a great person to have around when he felt like playing a good game. But Ryoma really hated it when Kevin used his own moves against him.

 

Well, Kevin hadn't won against him so far, so he guessed that meant that a copy could never win over the original. But if you copy someone and then make the move more fit for you, then you might get somewhere.

 

Ryoma slept well that night after having unpacked his things in the penthouse. Karupin had seemed less than thrilled about the fact that they had to move again. She wanted to stay where she was, not being carried in a bag from place to place. Could her boy not find a comfortable spot anywhere? She always found plenty of them and was willing to share with him.

 

*

 

The next day Ryoma had no time to wait for his parents, so he went to the stadium to get warmed up. During his match, he caught sight of the old man in the audience sitting together with his mother and Kevin and- was that who he thought it was?

 

“Oi, Chibisuke! Should it really take you this long to beat that guy?”

 

`Yep that was Ryoga,' Ryoma thought as his adopted brother yelled loudly. Ryoma twitched and almost missed the ball coming towards him. After Ryoga's provocations, he played hard and aggressive, ending the game in five minutes.

 

After showering and dressing, he met up with the others in the café across the street. His mother gave him a loving hug and both his brother and stupid father congratulated him on a good game while simultaneously slapped him on the back, nearly making him fall. They all spent the rest of the day just enjoying themselves; well, they tried, but one could only take Nanjiroh's behavior so long. After about two hours, the younger ones excused themselves and went away on their own.

 

“So Chibisuke, how have you been? We really didn't get to talk properly on the cruise, did we?” Ryoma scowled at the memory.

 

“No, but that's because someone worked for a man who wanted to hurt me and my teammates if we did not lose the game. And you knew full well what was going on.” Kevin looked curiously at them but decided not to comment.

 

“Well, no one is perfect, you know. I just did that to meet you and to see how you did in tennis. I am sorry, you know. But anyway, what's done is done, so let's forgive and forget, okay?” Ryoga said as he ruffled Ryoma's hair. The latter scowled, but being this close to

Ryoga brought up old memories he thought he had forgotten; little by little he remembered his brother, but it was mostly small flashes.

 

The three decided to walk to an arcade until dinner time. As they walked toward the arcade, they came past two car seats. Ryoga sat down in one he yanked Ryoma into the other.

 

“Hey! You want to race? No thanks,” Ryoma started to protest, but he was abruptly cut off at Ryoga's taunting.

 

 

“What? Scared that you might get beaten at this? I bet you never tried before.” Kevin opened his mouth to say something but stopped as he saw the look on Ryoma's face.

 

“I bet I could still beat your ass!” Ryoga's eyes flamed at the challenge. He was sure he could beat his brother.

 

“All right, you're on.” They both took out ten dollars, which Kevin quickly snatched up and stood in front of them, to the side of Ryoga's car.

 

“Well then, boys, get ready to race.” It didn't take long for Ryoma to totally knock Ryoga's car off the track, gaining a huge head start and finally winning the race.

 

“Mada mada da ne,” Ryoma smirked. When Kevin gave him fifteen dollars, Ryoma raised a brow.

 

“Hey, it's my fee for acting as caretaker.” The brothers sighed and Ryoga turned to Ryoma.

 

“You have done this before, right?” Ryoma just shrugged and headed to some pinball games.

 

“That's not fair, you made me think you had never played!” Ryoga whined.

 

“Technically, he never said he hadn't; he answered your question with a challenge. You just chose to assume that… WAH!” Kevin broke off as Ryoga grabbed him in a headlock and, through the youths wails, he turned to his younger brother.

 

“How on earth do you put up with this know-it-all?” Ryoma looked at the pair.

 

“Who ever said I do? He just started following me one day, and I can't get rid of him.”

 

The night continued like that until they went to meet their parents to go to the restaurant.

 

The evening soon turned into night and Ryoma found he really liked the company of his lost-but-found brother. They got along great and Kevin fit right in amongst the weirdness which is the Echizen family. The night became late and Ryoma and Kevin fell asleep, but the Echizens drove Kevin home to his mother, who seemed like she didn't even notice his

absence.

 

Ryoga carried his brother to bed, and as soon as he covered him with the comforter, a fluffy cat jumped onto the bed to lie down on Ryoma's stomach. Ryoga smiled and petted the cat before turning to leave for his apartment.

 

*

 

The next day, Ryoma met his sponsor while warming up.

 

“Good morning, Ryoma.” Ryoma caught the ball and turned around.

 

“Good morning, Mr. Thomson.” Ryoma shook his proffered hand.

 

“Ryoma, this is an old friend of mine and he's a big fan of yours.” Ryoma looked at the man who stood silently next to Mr. Thomson, the man had a creepy smile and he seemed to stare very intently at Ryoma.

 

“Ryoma Echizen, this is Katzutaka Muraki, who is also from Japan.” Katzutaka reached out to shake Ryoma's hand, but as he tried to pull his hand back, the man didn't let go. The tall man with silver hair held his hand firmly and his eyes seemed to travel all over Ryoma; well, at least the eye he could see, since one was covered by the thick, long bangs. Ryoma didn't understand why he acted like that but he felt very nervous at the dark look Katzutaka gave him. Ryoma began to tremble ever-so-slightly, and he knew something was wrong.

 

 

As the man let go of his hand, he licked his lips and stared into Ryoma's cat-like eyes. Ryoma backed away and quickly excused himself.

 

“I'm sorry, I need to go get ready.” With that, he ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. Thomson stood there and looked to the smirking silver haired man and shook his head slowly.

 

“So, Mr. Muraki, are you satisfied? I brought you to meet him, so now would you leave me alone?” Thomson felt a strong hand grab his neck and his lungs suddenly didn't seem to work.

 

“No, I would think not. Your debt to me is far greater than that, my friend. This meeting has done nothing but fuel my desire for the little prodigy. When is the next time that you will meet with him in private?” Thomson shook his head, but the lack of oxygen was

causing his lungs to burn.

 

“Are you ready to tell me?” Mr. Thomson nodded and was let go. He fell, coughing and gasping to the ground. He tried to speak, but it sounded more like quiet wheezing.

 

“We have a meeting tonight, in my office at eight. He said he'd come alone,” Thomson gasped.

 

“I'll see you tonight then, Mr. Thomson. Have a nice day.” Katzutaka said to Thomson, who lay panting on the ground. He was worried for the young star; he knew what kind of person Katzutaka was, but he had no choice in doing as he said. He owed him a lot; Katzutaka had helped him when he was the main suspect of a murder that had happened in his company a few years back. He didn't know how he managed that, but something told him he didn't want to know. All he knew was that the suspicions against him where dropped as the persecutor claimed to have the real perpetrator.

 

This had gotten him involved with Katzutaka. For the last five years, he had been ordered to do a lot of thing he was not proud of. Since he owned a company that produced all kinds of sportswear, he had been asked to smuggle drugs for Katzutaka that could easily be hidden

in the huge crates filled with clothing, but still he valued his freedom too much to say no to the man. As soon as Katzutaka had seen Ryoma and realized who his sponsor was, he had gotten on a plane and came here, demanding to see the boy.

 

Katzutaka had always seemed like he had a sick fascination with teenage Asian boys. He was truly a scary man who could really pull off the innocent look. He never got caught for his crimes; he always managed to get everything to look like someone else did it. He was as slippery as an eel.

 

Mr. Thomson stood shakily. He felt sorry for Ryoma, but that was the law of nature; only the strong ones last. He stood and walked off, figuring he should give his secretary the night off so they would not get disturbed. He liked his secretary, so he didn't want her getting involved in anything.

 

TBC…

 

XxX POT XxX

 

AN. Thanx for the reviews and thanks to those who offered to beta this story. I live off reviews so I really love to get them. Otherwise I'll so starve.

 

Anyway I hope you liked it, The first two chapters are kinda easy going with some humor but as of Chapter three the story will turn angsty.

 

Bye now…

 

Enzeru