I do not own the Prince of Tennis.

Will this be the last?

Epilogue

A few days after, Akaya got discharged from the hospital yet he still had difficulties on speaking and he was only awake for only short periods of time. The doctor said that it was a good thing that he was in a comatose, that it helped him to not feel the pain of the injuries he received from the brutal bashing. As days passed by, his bodily mechanisms and functions had returned to normal but the doctor still won't allow him to participate in heavy tennis practice or matches.

A fine Saturday afternoon, Akaya knocked at the Ryuzakis' door and Sumire was the one who greeted him. She glared at him when he tried to look likeable. Then she smiled and told him to take care of Sakuno.

Akaya closed the door behind him as Sumire left for a meeting or something. He called Sakuno many times but she didn't hear him. Impatient, he decided to go to her room and check if she was there.

He entered the room and saw Sakuno getting dressed. She was half way done buttoning her shirt when Akaya hugged her from the back. He then expertly sucked on her neck and she groaned as his hand went wild on her petite body.

She turned around and cupped his face with her palms and they kissed deeply. They parted, both of them blushing heatedly.

Akaya bowed a little to look at her chest and said "You've grown a lot bigger there." while pointing his lips to the said target.

Sakuno wrapped her arms on his neck, her chest against his and whispered at his ear. "You're a pervert." They were about to kiss when the door to Sakuno's room opened.

"Sakuno, I forgot to-" Sumire appeared at the door, agape. "What do you think are you doing!?"

"Shit! I forgot to lock the door!" Akaya realized his stupidity of not doing so.

She backed away and vanished quickly and when she returned a few seconds later, she was holding an unsheathed katana. Kirihara hid behind Sakuno and trembled in fear, thinking how scarier Sumire-baa-san was compared to Sanada-fuku-buchou. She attacked him but he was able to evade then went scampering out of Sakuno's room.

"Come back here!" Sumire bellowed and her granddaughter sweat dropped.

******

"What an inconvenience." He sighed as he added a mental note for himself to remember forever. 'Women's anger is the scariest.' If Sumire was a little younger, he could have been sent back to the hospital with an abdomen sliced in half and his intestines falling out. How lucky he was that only his shirt got ripped apart and that the old ha- I mean, woman had a meeting with somebody that she couldn't afford to be late.

He stopped and bent down to tie his shoelaces and Sakuno continued to near Seishun Gakuen's gates where her friends were waiting.

"Sakuno!" Tomo shouted as she waved a hand to call her friend. She hugged her and squealed in delight as Sakuno was able to come.

"So who are you with?" Momoshiro asked and she turned her head, followed by the others, as Kirihara was approaching while scratching his head.

"Yo!" he said at the people at the gate who didn't want to believe what they were seeing.

Fuji chuckled and welcomed Kirihara, at least he was polite unlike the others. They shook hands and the wind seemed to be a lot colder. "I'm glad you've been taking care of Ryuzaki-chan while she was at Rikkai." He smiled at Kirihara who smirked in return.

"What else could I do? Nobody else wanted to do it." Sakuno nudged his arm and he chuckled.

They escorted the two to the courts and when they arrived, Ryoma asked Kirihara to a serious game and he affirmed. Sakuno frowned. "You're such a worry-wart." Akaya bonked her head and told her that everything will be okay. She watched from the sidelines as her senpai played a one-set match with the prodigy.

"Don't think that I've given up!" Ryoma said as he hit the ball to the other side of the net.

"I haven't; it's all up to her." Kirihara replied which annoyed Ryoma.

"But you acted as if you own her back then!" he pertained to the situation they had when he asked Sakuno to hear him out but Kirihara answered a flat no.

"That's a mistake I've done not too long ago. Now I know that I don't own her life. I'm only here because she chose to have me here." Then Ryoma missed the ball as Kirihara hit it too far for him to reach.

"Game to Kirihara Akaya, 6 games to 4!" the umpire said, quite shocked that Ryoma lost.

"If you had concentrated, I wouldn't have won." He said as he turned his back to exit the court. Sakuno welcomed him with a towel and a bottle of water.

She handed him the towel and smiled as he toweled his face dry. She gave him the water and hugged him as he drank from it. Ryoma watched everything and there was a very painful sting that he felt in his heart.

"Easy there! I'm all sweaty and you're hugging me?" he asked as the little girl clung on to him.

"Yes and I don't care if you're sweaty or not." She said while giggling as he put a hand on her head and continued to drink from his bottle.

Everybody in the courts saw how sweet they were and everyone jaw dropped except those who are imperturbable, Tezuka-buchou, Fuji, Inui and Ryoma, also Tomo-chan.

Momoshiro approached them and asked "Ryuzaki-chan, is he… is he your boyfriend?" Sakuno blushed and quickly detached her self from Kirihara who just glared at her Momo-senpai. She bowed and smiled. "No way!" Momo was in doubt. "A guy like him with Sakuno!? Completely impossible!" stupid Momo couldn't help but vocalize his thoughts.

"Hey, I'm here you know!" Akaya annoyingly scowled at Momoshiro's skepticism. Then Kaidoh passed by with his usual 'Fusshhuu' and a "Moron!"

"What did you just say, Mamushi!?" he quickly transferred his attention to his rival. "Don't tell me you weren't surprised! Hey, don't ignore me!"

Akaya sweat dropped. There's no way that he's going to hang out with this people. "How are you able to stand such people?" he asked Sakuno who then shrugged.

Fuji approached them and chuckled (again) at the actions of his teammates. "I'm sorry about them."

"No, it's okay." Akaya enjoyed their fight as the two were getting heated up in their stupid argument.

"Do you mind if we played a little tennis?" there was a ten degree drop in the temperature.

Akaya perked up and gave Sakuno the towel and the bottle. "A rematch, huh? Guess everyone wants a piece of me today." He said as he waved a hand at Sakuno.

Kirihara at least expected that he will do well in their game but didn't exactly expect that he will win, and so, he didn't. After their match, Kirihara asked as to where he can change his clothes and the freshmen trio guided him with their knees all wobbly of fear.

Fuji approached Sakuno as he got out of the courts and smiled at her. "You've change him a lot, Ryuzaki-chan." He said as she shook her head.

"Iie, senpai. He hadn't c-changed one bit." She said as she saw her Fuji-senpai's knee, a little red from an impact with a ball. He chuckled and Kirihara was back after a few moments.

Sakuno decided that they should be on their way home since it was getting dark. The others accompanied them to the gates and Sakuno thanked them all.

She waved good bye at everyone and she saw Ryoma far at the back of the crowd, still wearing his poker face. She also waved at him and she joined Kirihara as they walked away from Seigaku.

They rode a bus home and he fell asleep, his head on her shoulder and let out small snores. She smiled as she was happy that everything's back to normal.

-Fin-

There ya go! The last chapter of this fic! I know, i know, it's open-ended, which only means one thing, dot dot dot. Hehe, it's up to you guys if you want me to write a second to this fic. I'll reconsider if I receive reviews from all my readers saying "We want more! We want more!" haha. n_n

Thanks for everyone who stayed with me to the end of this fic, I really appreciate your patience! Mahal ko kayong lahat!

Thanks to TheTensaiMaruiBunta, silverDoe02, rebeccasanfujieijilvr, MyPrinceOishi08, mysweetkat, hai-chan13, Saku Mar Echizen Potter, windyelephant, Kuma the wolf alchemist, fyerigurl, precious92 and to those who read my fic.

Don't forget to review this last chapter! I guess I'll see you later!

-Ezekiel Cruz