Chain Reaction

YuukiSan: I feel like that biggest pedophile on the face of the Earth. No 12 year-old should be THAT good looking...Gah! It's just not fair!

NinjaMouse: Well at least you made them in high school in this fic.

YuukiSan: That was only because I felt very DIRTY and tried to compensate for it... but it didn't work, I still feel like some kind of child melester. Oh well I guess we're all in the same boat here. This is actually a re-written chpater. I first posted it like five to six years ago but I've just gotten back to writing recently. I kept the same general idea just made it better, so if it seems familiar that's why. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own PoT... if I did, Ryoma would be doing Momo on a daily basis.

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Chapter 1

Ryoma walked down the corridor looking completely confident on the outside while feeling utterly lost on the inside. He was fully aware of the stares and whispers he was getting from the upper level students, though not quite sure why. The dark green-haired [1] youth adjusted his ever-present hat and sighed when faced with a blue and white sleeve that signalled his Seigaku jacket. He had been running behind that morning and grabbed the wrong jacket. Though he did have pride for his old team; the garment, and the fact the he was so short even wearing boots that increased his height by a few inches, screamed to everyone that he was a first-year.

He walked down the hall looking for his locker. When he had written the entrance exam, Ryoma had no idea the school was laid out like a Western high school. Ryuzaki-sensei had wanted him to go since it was the best school in Tokyo for tennis. That was the reason he was suppose to be here... for tennis. She still didn’t believe him when he said he had given up the sport.

As the short teen was fiddling with the combination on his locker, he heard a voice that he thought he would never hear again.

“OCHIBI!” The first-year turned towards the source to find his vision blocked by a blob of red as he was pulled into a bear hug by arms that were much stronger then they looked.

“K- Kikumaru-senpai?” the small teen was able to choke out. The golden-eyed male felt the usual fluttering in his stomach that came from looking, or even thinking about the acrobatic player.

Eiji stood beaming at his old teammate; only at that moment was Ryoma able to see the redhead wasn’t the only person he knew at the school, in front of him stood his first team from Seigaku. It was a strange sight to see them all in their street clothes instead of uniforms. This was another reason the school had appealed to Echizen being the only school in the city that didn’t require its students to wear uniforms. Though it did make getting ready for school a much lengthier process hence why he had been running late.

“Stand back Eiji and let him breath,” laughed Oishi, pulling the over-excited youth closer to him by the elbow.

“But our Ochibi is here. The whole team is together again!” The cat-like boy replied, throwing his arms around his doubles partner’s neck and kissing him on the cheek.

Ryoma, who had he face buried in the locker, missed the display of affection. He reached up to put his hat on the top shelf when he felt a strong hand clamp around his left bicep. The green-haired teen turned to look up right into the violet eyes of Momoshiro.

“They made you captain?” The older male asked, looking at the sleeve of the younger male’s jacket with slight confusion revealed on his face.

“Ara…” the smaller teen replied not quite sure how his old middle school friend had known of his promotion of position the year before. He was just glad that none of them knew what a disaster that had turned out to be. His golden eyes followed the other’s line of vision to the word ‘Captain’ stitched onto his jacket in white and blue, sighing as he remembered his coach’s last attempt to re-enforce his authority. Knowing it wasn’t a common practice in Japan Ryoma’s jersey was the only one in Seigaku history to have to title stitched on the sleeve. “Yeah, Ryuzaki-sensei did last year”.

Momo’s lips curved into a half-smile, making Ryoma’s heartbeat pick up a notch. “Good choice”, the older male said, releasing the other’s arm, allowing the ex-captain to release the breath he didn’t know he was holding. The younger male snorted in disbelief at the comment in attempt to cover his physical reaction the raven-haired youth in front of him, earning him looks of either surprise or confusion from the other players.

The green-haired teen was very aware that he found Momo physically attractive. However, his heart belonged to a certain red-headed someone, who up until a few minutes ago, he didn’t think he would see again.

Perhaps I’ve been given a second chance, he thought. A chance to do what I couldn’t do before.

Ryoma focused his golden eyes on the acrobatic player to find the object of his affection with his head against Oishi’s shoulder, their arms around each other. The child prodigy dismissed it, knowing that personal boundaries between those simply didn’t exist.

“So, Echizen what are you doing here?” asked Fuji, knowing full well what the answer was.

The first-year pulled his eyes away from The Golden Pair and looked at the other prodigy of the old team, “suppose to be the same as you, tennis.”
The small youth could’ve sworn he saw Tezuka’s shoulders slump at his answer. The tensai looked away from his old captain not wanting to see the disappointment in the hazel eyes and felt the wave of failure that he experienced every time he thought of older player.

“Haven’t changed much have you? Tennis still your one true love?” Momo asked jokingly, leaning his back against the line of lockers.

Echizen cast a quick look at Eiji, “no, more has changed then you think” he answered truthfully with a sigh, the feeling of failure coursing through him yet again.

“What, you actually have a life outside of the court?” Asked the tall raven-haired teen with mock surprise placing his hand over his heart.

“Yes actually. I DID have a girlfriend last year!” He blurted out without thinking and instantly regretted it when he saw the entire teams eyes widen. Echizen quickly glanced over to the red-head to see his reaction and found no evidence of any emotion other then shock.

“Wha- who?” Momo asked, emotion flooding into his eyes, though Ryoma couldn’t figure out what it was. The golden-eyed boy was about to answer that who it was didn’t matter, when he heard another familiar voice.

“Ryo-chan, I mean Ryoma-kun.”

He turned to face the girl that, up until two weeks ago, he had been dating for the past ten months. “Sakuno… what are you doing here?”

“Grandma wanted me to go here and since you and I use to…” the shy brunette stopped, unable to finish the sentence because that would mean it really had ended.

The green-haired teen simply nodded, knowing that she thought they would still be together. He ran a hand through his hair feeling very awkward. The small teen did feel bad about ending the relationship as abruptly as he did, but he couldn’t live a lie anymore. She had said that she understood and wouldn’t hold anything against him but he knew that he had hurt her.

“SAKUNO!” Ryoma was snapped into reality by a rather jarring voice that he would know anywhere. Within seconds Tomoka was beside the other girl sending the ex-captain a death glare. To say that Tomo didn’t like Ryoma was a huge understatement.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” The loud brunette asked her friend.

“I’m talking to Ryoma-kun,” the petite female answered, “we did say that we’d stay friends.”

“What?! Why? When it’s so obvious that he cheated on you,” Tomo hoarsely whispered the last part, but made sure that Ryoma heard.

The golden-eyed youth stopped dead. He had been hanging up his jacket when he heard the very audible whisper. He slowly turned to face the girl that had recently made his life hell. Every day for the past two weeks the girl had called his house to scream at him for breaking up with Sakuno; and frankly, he’d had enough.

“That’s fucking bullshit,” the small teen spat out with one of his perfected glares and visibly seething with barely controlled anger. The team froze at the outburst; no one had ever seen the stoic player show that much emotion.

“Well then, what would you call it?” Tomo asked, hands planted on her hips and nose in the air.

“It’s called being captain. I had to prepare practices, organize everything for tournaments, hand pick all the players for the team, and do all of this and more, while most of the team had been turned against me. On top of that, the whole school blamed me for Seigaku not making the Nationals. So excuse me if between that and school, I don’t have a lot of time left,” He immediately turned and continued to organize the contents of his locker.

“Then what are you, gay or something?” The annoying brunette asked jokingly.

“And what if I am?” Ryoma asked, turning on the two females slowly, fire blazing in his eyes and entire body shaking from the effort to keep the anger in.

Sakuno could sense a nuclear warfare ahead, so decided to end it before it started. “Tomo-chan we’d better get going,” she said, pulling her friend away.

The golden-eyed youth turned back to his locker, still shaking slightly with anger and resumed organizing the contents within the metal compartment as he tried to get his emotions in check. After a few moments, and his anger level had receded, Momo leaned in closer to the smaller male.

“So why did you guys break up?” He asked quietly, hoping he didn’t push the younger male over the edge.

Ryoma sighed and faced his best friend from middle school, “let’s just say we had a difference in opinion. No wait, actually we had the same opinion and that was the problem.”

“Huh? Care to clarify that.” Momo replied crossing his arms over his chest confusion once again displayed on his features.

“Well she likes guys… and so do I,” the green-haired youth said quietly with a shrug and looked at the boy that had stolen his heart. He was greeted with a sight that he could’ve never been prepared for.

Eiji currently had his head resting on Oishi’s shoulder, arms around his waist. It was obvious that he was being comforted after watching the confrontation between Echizen and Tomoka, as the quiet vice-captain had his arms around the cat-like male gently rubbing his back and whispering softly in his ear. As the young tensai watched the green-eyed male tilted his lover’s head up and kissed him gently, though the kiss didn’t stay comforting long as the red-head pushed the other male into the lockers and ran his long fingers through his short black hair.

Ryoma stood still, shock and pain written all over his face as he watched the kiss develop unable to tear his eyes away despite the crippling ache flooding his system. He felt as if he couldn’t breathe and the ground soon began to move beneath his feet. Momo followed the line of the other’s vision and sighed heavily.

“Would you two stop that?! I swear the longer they’re together, the worse they get,” the raven-haired player exclaimed, shaking his head. This time is was Ryoma’s turn to be confused finally pulling his eyes away from the Golden Pair who showed no signs of stopping any time soon.

“They’ve been dating for almost four years,” Momo informed his smaller companion looking at him in disbelief for not knowing.

At this, Ryoma could feel tears burning in the corners of his eyes and wanted to get out of there before they threatened to fall. He quickly packed his bag with what books he’d need and slung it over his shoulder all the while blinking furiously.

“I’ve gotta go to the washroom before class. See you guys later,” he said to his old team in a surprisingly steady voice, then headed to the refuge of the boys bathroom. Once there the tennis prodigy threw his bag on the floor and braced his hands on the counter fighting against the tears that wanted to fall.

Four years! That meant they started dating the year I joined the team, the small teen thought. I never had a fucking chance. I love him but I never had a chance! To emphasize his point the golden-eyed male slammed his hands on the counter losing the battle as two tears fell down his cheeks.

“Echizen? You alright?” Momo asked carefully. He had seen the look on Ryoma’s face and had realized that something was wrong. The younger male looked at him with wide eyes that were filled with pain and anguish. Before Momo could take a step closer, he found himself slammed against the wall as Ryoma grabbed onto the front of his friend’s t-shirt and threw all his body weight to pin the taller male.

Echizen roughly pulled Momo’s head down so that he could reach his lips. He kissed the older male desperately to find some kind of acceptance; even it was just the sexual kind. The green-haired youth forced his tongue into the taller male’s mouth, trying to get a reaction out of his stunned senpai.

Momo was floored by the sudden act and just stood there for a few seconds as the younger player worked furiously on his lips. Violet eyes fluttered closed at the taller youth started to respond his tongue moving to mesh with the others matching the younger teen’s intensity. He quickly came to his senses though was he noticed the slight salty taste on the ex-captain’s lips and the wetness on his cheeks. Momo had wanted something like this to happen but he didn’t want it to be out of pain. With will-power he didn’t know he possessed the raven-haired teen placed his hands on the other male’s shoulders and pushed him away.

“Ryoma stop,” he stated turning his face away as said teen tried to re-start the kiss. Echizen stared up at his friend, the pain from being rejected a second time in one day evident all over his face.
“Fine,” he said picking up his bag and storming out of the bathroom leaving Momo even more confused than when he’d entered.
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[1] I noticed that if you look really closly, his hair is actually a really dark green and not black, just so you don't get confused.

YuukiSan: Poor Momo, he's so confused.

NinjaMouse: Man Ryoma is having a really bad day. First he's almost late for school, almost gets his ribs broken, is screamed at for no reason, then rejected twice... and all in the span of half and hour. Sucks to be him.

YuukiSan: Please review and tell me what you think!I hope you like the re-write. I don't know if I should continue if there are no reviews....