Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

Lady Monozuki: Ha! You didn't have to wait months for the sequel to come out like the last time. I am finally enjoying writing this fic again. I hope you all enjoy! Thank you everyone for keeping up with this story so far.

Chapter One: Support

He watched as Ryoma's parents hugged the zombie-like teen. There was no reaction or emotion on Echizen's face. However, he did not miss how when his father pat his son on the back, that the teen tensed up. He frowned and decided to test the waters himself. He headed toward Ryoma and took a few steps closer than he normally would. The other seemed to shrink in his presence. Fuji decided to initiate a hug. This time, the reaction was him visibly flinching and trying to push him away. It was hard to deal with, but at least he had an idea of what had happened.

Now was not the time to ask him about his time in prison though. He would never ask a serious question in front of Ryoma's family, especially when it seemed that the other was desperately trying to keep it a secret. It would only make matters worse and he would do anything to not make matters worse for Ryoma right now. He noticed that Ryoma was looking around to see if there were more people to see him. However, Fuji knew that Echizen was looking for one person in particular.

"Did no one else want to see me?" he heard Echizen mumble. He heard the anguish in the other's voice, though it was well concealed.

"We thought that we'd keep it small. We can invite the rest of your friends over later," his mom reassured.

Ryoma looked at him. Even if the face always looked the same, he could see the questions. They were the questions that he couldn't answer in front of Echizen's parents though. He silently told Ryoma that they could discuss this later. They walked to the vehicle and piled in. Ryoma ended up in a seat next to him and he could tell that the other was tense about being in close proximity of him. He tried not to be offended, but it still stung.

The car ride home was silent, far too silent for people who had just picked up their son from prison. There were no questions as to how Ryoma was doing or inquiries about what happened there. The mood was tense and he wondered if this had anything to do with his presence. He didn't belong there, he knew that. However, he knew that the support was needed at the time.

"Fuji-san, are we going to drop you off at your home?" Echizen-san asked.

Fuji tossed a glance at Ryoma, who seemed indifferent about everything. It was as if he had retreated into his own world, not wanting to be a part of the real world any more.

"That's fine, Echizen-san."

He wasn't going to overstay his welcome. They had let him come along for the ride and now he was sure that they wanted to spend time with Ryoma, alone. The car turned toward the direction of his house. He sighed. There wasn't much he could do about it. Ryoma didn't seem to care about anything at the moment, except he knew that the other wanted answers. He figured the other could call him over so they could talk. No doubt Ryoma wanted to know why Tezuka dumped him and wanted reassurance that it wasn't anything that he had done.

It was going to be painful to help him through this without being able to help him completely. There were certain lines that couldn't be crossed and it would be a struggle to keep his feelings in check. He wanted to make sure that Ryoma was going to be fine first and then everything else could fall into place after that.

Ryoma stared blankly ahead. He was trying to forget everything that had happened in the past week and a half. While he may not have stayed long in prison, it had felt like an eternity. So much had happened in a little amount of time. It was hard to wrap his mind around it. There was the guilt, the pain, and the shame that lingered. How was he ever going to be able to face anyone again? Sitting next to Fuji was one of the hardest things in his life. He knew that Fuji was not the person who had hurt him, but it did not erase the fear that it could happen again.

He tried to separate his fears from reality, but it was hard to do. That's why he preferred to stay silent and not have anything to do with the rest of the world. It was the only way he couldn't get hurt again. When his father had asked Fuji they were taking him home, he couldn't bring himself to care. Yes, he had lots of questions for Fuji. However, he was so emotionally and mentally exhausted right now that he knew nothing good would come of it.

Right now, he was on the edge of breaking down. He didn't want his sempai to see that. It was bad enough that Fuji had come to pick him up and see how he was treated, but there was little he could do. He knew that his sempai cared about him and was glad to have one person who did so. Of course he knew that he was silly to expect everyone to be there for him, especially one person in particular.

He knew that he should want to see Kunimitsu after they had broke up, but part of him had hoped that it wasn't real and that he had been dreaming all of this time. Yet, Fuji had shown up instead of Kunimitsu, it was a sign that was things were really over between them. He hated it. He hated that he had lost the one person he cared about just because he had gone to prison. Why did everything have to turn out this way? And why did he have to pay the price for it all. It hadn't mattered if he had been innocent all of this time, they hadn't cared and he had suffered in more than ones. It bothered him to know that there was no justice in the end, except that he had lost everything.

His life was nothing more than broken pieces that he had to pick back up and somehow put them all together in places that they didn't fit, just to have his life return to some form of normality. Ryoma had no idea how he was going to accomplish it either considering he was never the type of person to ask for help. There was no way in hell that he was going to ask for his parents help. He would have to explain to them what had happened and he didn't want them to think any less of him than they probably already did.

Deep down, he knew that Fuji had an inkling about what had happened during his stay. He wanted to tell the other, but he couldn't. He didn't know how the other would handle everything that he had to say. And there was always the chance that Fuji would leave him too, just like Kunimitsu. He couldn't risk that. Which meant that he was back to handling this on his own again. It was the only way in his mind now. Nothing was going to change it either.

"Echizen, would you walk with me to the door?" Fuji asked politely. He looked up from his spot on the car floor and realized that they had stopped in front of Fuji's house. He nodded slowly and exited the vehicle after Fuji. Syuusuke thanked his parents for the ride before closing the car door. There was a painful silence for a couple of seconds before Fuji spoke.

"I may not know all of what happened to you and I may not have all the answers to your questions either. However, I want you to know that if you ever need to talk that I'm here for you. I'm not going to let you go through this alone. Even if you don't want me to pry, I won't stand by and let you suffer through everything without the support of someone. If you can't go to your family, come to me. As long as you talk to someone about everything that you've gone through."

He met Fuji's eyes for once and didn't flinch or move away. There was sincerity like he had never seen before in Syuusuke. It was weird to see that from him, but he appreciated it all the same. He knew that he could trust his sempai to keep whatever he said a secret. It wouldn't be help against him either, not when it was something like this.

"I'll think about it, Fuji."

Fuji smiled. It was a soft smile, not the one that he always wore. It also contained relief. He understood that he had just made Fuji genuinely happy about something. Even if he didn't understand what, he couldn't help but feel glad too.

"I'll talk to you later then, Echizen. I'll be sure to pass on the good news that you're few to everyone on the team."

"Just make sure that they don't come over to see me today, Fuji. I don't want to have visitors right now."

"Understood, I'll even tie Oishi up if he tries to come over and baby you."

He smirked. He knew that Fuji would make good of that considering the other seemed to have an obsession with typing people up. It was almost worse than his love for wasabi.

"I'll leave them to you. Ganbatte, you're going to need it."

"Not really, they're quite easy to handle if you know how to deal with them."

He shivered. He could only imagine what his sempai meant by those words. Whatever it was, it did not bode well for the rest of the team. He looked back at the vehicle and decided that he should head back.

"I'll talk to you later."

He walked back to the car, all too aware that a set of blue eyes were following him. He didn't let that bother him though. He knew that Fuji just wanted to ensure he made it back safely. Once he got in the car, did he see go inside. It was a relief and yet he already missed the companionship. Even if Fuji had made him so tense, he knew that deep down it wasn't because of anything that Syuusuke had done. He was stupid for carrying over the fear. However, right now, all he could do was carry it from one person to another.

He just couldn't imagine seeing Tezuka in this state. There was already going to be a huge problem when he got to see his former boyfriend again. He could only imagine that everything would be significantly worse if he didn't have control over his emotions.

Fuji made one call after another, telling everyone the good news. He had to calmly reassure everyone that Echizen was fine and that they could visit him soon. It had taken a while to convince Oishi, Kikumaru, and Momoshiro not to barge into the younger boy's house. Now there was only one person on the list to call and he wasn't even sure he wanted to at this point. After everything that Tezuka had done to Ryoma, why did the other still care about the younger boy? It wasn't about them being on the same team, there was still something else that he was missing. Maybe there was remaining guilt for dumping the other boy.

Whatever the reason, it made him angry. However, he said that he would call the Regulars and that's what he was going to do. He dialed the number and waited for the other to pick up.

"Fuji," came the cold greeting. There wasn't any proper greeting, but he figured as much.

"Tezuka," he said with iciness lacing his word. "Echizen is out of prison. He's headed home right now. He asked me to tell everyone not to come and visit him right now."

"When did you have contact with Echizen?"

"I went to pick him up with his family."

"You really are going after him, aren't you?" Tezuka asked.

He couldn't understand the tone of disbelief coming from the other end of the line. However, that was beside the point.

"I'm helping him through this. In case you don't remember, you're the one who abandoned him. I don't want him to have to handle this alone, which is something you obviously didn't care about when you dumped him. He was innocent and you dumped him in jail, when he was already afraid and alone. He had no one to protect him there and he doesn't have anyone to protect him now. I'm not going to sit back and let him get through this by himself. He needs someone, Tezuka. I am going to be that someone this time."

To be continued…