Chapter one: Jealous Hatred

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis and I made up the illness I gave Ryoma. Please do not sue/hate me, thank you.

His name was Yukimura Seiichi...

... And I hated him.

He'd probably hate me as well if he knew I even existed to be honest. We each take for granted what the other would have traded the world for. He had a lot of things, a family that loved him, a life outside of the courts, actual friends that worried over him, an illness that could be cured. Just to name a few. Me? Well, I had tennis...

... And a time limit in which to play it in...

They say he has a neurological disease called Guillain-Barre syndrome then expect me to feel sorry for him. So when I roll my eyes at the news then ask why everyone is making such a big deal about it they think me the most insensitive brat in the world who doesn't care about anything other people go through. Their eyes narrow into a glare and I can tell they are seconds away from giving me this long pointless lecture about the disease I had wished to be lucky enough to be born with instead. That is until the other hospital employee in the room suddenly needs their help with something and they step out of the room.

A little while later they come back pale and shaky as if they had seen a ghost. Eyes full of pity and hastily wiped dry of tears. They say nothing about it again until I leave. Most wish me to stay bedridden like Yukimura but there is little reason to do so. I would never consent to it and whether an attack happened outside a hospital or in it there is very little change in my chances of survival. Who am I, you may ask? I am Echizen Ryoma, and I have the disease known as the 'Angel Maker'...

...Voluit Mortem Syndrome...

- Line -

The first time I heard about him was from my doctor Sagamoto-sensei. A tall green eyed woman with chestnut hair that fell to her shoulders and was always trapped in a ponytail. She seemed to be thirty-one or so but the only answer I ever got from her about her age was, and I quote, "Ryoma-kun should learn to never ask a woman her age" so I never really knew for sure. She only ever wore minimal make-up unlike Ka-san who seemed to paint her face onto herself every morning (I've been told I exaggerate about that but I don't think so. Ka-san seems to go through cosmetics the way Oyoji goes through porn. Sometimes dipping into either Nanako-san's or my own collection when we call her out on it so that she can claim that she hasn't bought any in a while. Yah, doesn't work...) and usually dressed in a pair of jeans, a dressy shirt, and her lab-coat. She had been my doctor for only about a month back then. I may not have been her first patient but I was definitely her worst...

... No one wants a twelve year old on death row to be their responsibility...

But she hadn't made it seem like that. Unlike the others before her that I fought tooth and nail with she let me do the things I wanted without the hassle. It made her co-workers accuse her of giving up on me, and even worse, without having even tried first. But she stood her ground. Tieing me to a bed wasn't going to make my brain stop telling my body parts to shut down and it definitely wouldn't make anyone involved happy. Oyoji would have simply transferred me to someone else, he's done it before.

We had been talking about how my lie was going. School, friends, details on my last attack, tennis... those kind of things. When she had suddenly said that a new patient had been admitted under her care today. The hospital staff was obviously going to run tests first but they thought he had something similar to my own problem. That's what she called it. It wasn't an illness, disease, or even a curse when it came to her. To Sagamoto-sensei it was only ever my problem, nothing more nothing less. She had wanted to ask the boy if he would allow me to visit him and have me talk to him for a bit whenever I was at the hospital. You know, the whole 'similar circumstances' thing, help him 'see the light at the end of the tunnel'.

I told her I would think about it.

And I was going to. I really was, but on my way out I passed by his room and it was by far more crowded then my own had been seven years prior. His family and friends worried and underfoot. I told myself that it was because he was obviously a tennis player and I didn't want my own team to find out about my illness, I had just gotten used to being part of Seigaku, I didn't want to lose that feeling of being wanted so soon after getting it. He had so many people willing to be there for him right then and I'd go talk to him if he actually needed me but he didn't right at that moment. Afteral, I was just fine living with something far worse and when I was diagnosed I only had two by my side.

... Karupin and a brother who was long since history.

Hey Everyone! I promise this is the last new series I will post before I Finnish at least two of my already posted works on progress. So where to begin? How about a confession to begin with? I don't really know what I'm planning with this story. I just kind of got another half-formed idea in my head and decided to start typing. I don't even know why exactly I put Yukimura in here but I have and he will be getting a bigger part soon. So any and all criticism and suggestions will be extremely helpful with the creation of this story. Is this even something I should continue or should I just take it down? Anyway, "Voluit Mortem" is Latin for "Willed Death" and the disease is completely made up by me. It's a genetic malfunction in the brain that skips over generations so that it only affects say one person in every six or seven generations of a bloodline. You are born with it and most people live only a year at most once diagnosed. Its a rare disease that mostly attacks young children which is why it was nicknamed the "Angel Maker". Ryoma himself is the longest living person of that disease and he was five when the news that he had it was announced to the Echizen family. But enough of that you want to know what it actually does don't you? Well, basically the brain stresses out and gets confused for some reason or another making it shut down and, in the process, stop sending signals to the (an)other part(s) of the body. This stops them from working properly for a while. Depending on what body part it is this causes complications. Oh, and Sagamoto-sensei is, due to the power of artistic licence, both a doctor and a psychiatrist. She is not however a surgeon.