Ties that bind, Ties that break

A tear fell silently to the rain soaked ground; Ryoma could hardly feel his numb grip on his cell phone.

"Hello, is this Mr. Ryoma Echizen "

"….hai"

"We regret to inform you that Rinko Echizen has passed away this morning."

"…"

"Are you still there?"

"….hai"

That was it, no goodbyes, no tears, she was gone so suddenly…

In the midst of the celebration , no one noticed as the youngest Seigaku regular slip away into the storm.

The next day….

"Ochibi !!! Where were you yesterday, nya!!! We were looking all over for you y'know!!! " A hyperactive redhead bounced up and proceeded to glomp Ryoma in his customary greeting called a bear hug.

Ryoma ignored him completely and showed no signs of knowing that he was there and didn't even struggle or tell Kikumaru to get off.

"Nya, what's wrong with Ochibi, nya ?" was all Echizen heard in his daze.

"Echizen…Echizen, Oi, are you sleeping " Momoshiro waved his tanned arms right in front of his face.

"Fsssss…Of course not, how else do you think he got from his home to his school, momo no baka"

" Oi, mamushi, are you picking a fight!"

" I'm sure we can talk out our differences, no need to resort to violence," A savior in the form of Oishi came worrily, hoping to stop the agument

" Talk, with him! Never," They said in unison and promptly turned their backs on each other.

Everyone, get on the courts now!!! A commanding voice called out

"Hai" came the chorus of voices.

Despite this, everyone could tell that there was something seriously wrong with Echizen, they knew he was a brat with an arrogant, stuck-up attitude, hey, one may even call him anti-social, but he was never one to be so quiet, so unresponsive….

"Echizen"

"…Echizen"

"…ECHIZEN!!!!"

The loud voice just intruded on his thoughts, shaking him out of his reverie, and right into the not so amused face of Momoshiro

"….Hai"

" Echizen, I've been calling you for the past few minutes, where have you been, in the clouds? "

". …Gomen"

Momo ruffled the emerald locks of his youngest kohai, " you know, if you have any problems, you can come to me ……

Ryoma cut him off before he could continue, " I'm absolutely fine, momo-senpai" and gave a customary" mada mada dane" before he strolled off.

What he did not notice were a pair of azure eyes following his retreating back.