**Author's Note**

It took me awhile to get a fast paced Epilogue to explain the story behind Rei. What, it's been a year you say? Well, that's true, this is the first time that i have been inspired to write an epilogue for the story which is a much needed one because of the silent retreat of my OC, who has been bugging me for months to write about it. I hope i can explain his story like this.

**laughs**

RCS PLEASE!

Thanks for the support and effort for reading this story.

It's really a long one right? That's because i can't write short stories.

~Himeru-chan~

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Epilogue

His Story

Rei trudged his bag over the waiting car outside the airport. He had his passport over his right hand and some couple of papers along with it. He had a cold Caramel Frap on the other, which he just bought after his plane landed. Good thing he never had the jitters after a long travel. His body was used to it. He had been travelling since he was 9 years old, joining competitions until he reached the point where he just travelled because he wanted to travel.

He missed this place, the cold, the people, the car and his mom who's been waving at him now for standing idly, looking left and right like a newbie tourist. He wished he could have stayed in Japan for a couple weeks more but he couldn't. He had to go home. Being there for awhile and knowing Sakuno and Echizen was enough. It made him realize a couple of things he wouldn't even dream of learning if he stayed here.

He had returned three days after the event in the camp.

The team had bid him farewell, gave him hugs and took their picture with him.

Sakuno gave him a small keychain which he had placed in the zipper of his tennis bag. He embraced her and whispered that he'll miss her when he goes back. Sakuno returned his hug which seemed to annoy the Seigaku tennis prince but didn't dare give a comment. This once, he whispered to himself. He smiled and allowed him to do what he wanted, provided he knew his limits. And Echizen knew the extension of his limits and he eyed him a couple of times to remind him of it.

In all fairness, going to Japan was worth it, he thought. He met the charming Ryuzaki Sakuno, the girl his mom had been trying to introduce to him months after he won the championships. He had met the Echizen Ryoma, the brat, the one they called the prince of tennis in Seigaku who got into his nerves a couple of times. He met the Seigaku Team and played some rallies with them. The experience taught him how fulfilling,once again, playing tennis can be.

"All set?" Rei's mom with the same beautiful features he commonly had with her asked him while he got his seat belt over his chest. He looked at her and smiled. He couldn't have forgotten anything right? His heart? maybe. What a cheesy line, he chuckled at that thought.

"I think I am." His mom laughed a hearty one before she started the car and sped up a little after the ramp.

The travel was a quiet one. Rei mostly found comfort in the familiarity of the place once again. Nostalgically, he appreciated being back to this place. Disappontingly, he wanted to be somewhere else. The mixture of feelings made him tired. he lounged back at his seat and looked forward to going to sleep in his own bed.

"You're not your usual self," his mother commented. Rei laughed and assured her mother everything was okay. It should be okay, right?

He never had any unfinished business except of course the pending match he'll have with Echizen Ryoma. That and seeing Sakuno again was an unfinished business he'll complete when he returns for another visit to Japan. Echizen and Sakuno got their ending together. Seeing them together made him had the realize that disturbing them will just be a futile effort.

He knew it well… but still...

"So… Maria went to our house the other day and she wanted to talk to you…" Rei snapped his head towards her mother's and he knew she wasn't lying. She wouldn't benefit from the revelation otherwise. The pain gnawed its way back to his chest, making him unable to breath for a moment. The sharp pang of anger overwhelmed him over a second and out in the next.

Her name was taboo.

At least to him, after those months he won the championship.

"What did she say?" Rei asked, overly curious.

"Nothing. Whatever she wanted to say, she wanted to say to you… Not me." He laughed. Her mother made sense.

"Oh, mom…" the blonde lady pulled over a stop in the junction of a street with a steady red light sign on top of their heads. She looked over her son with an examining look that seemed to surprise the other.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked. "You've been looking at me strangely over the last few weird minutes..."

"You know Rei, after you won that championships, you didn't want to hold your racket anymore. Why… I mean, what changed that?" Rei looked over his pockets, which seems to catch her mother's attention for a while now. There was a bulging circular object inside it and he knew immediately she was referring to tennis. He had a ball inside his jacket which he never allowed himself to have before. After Maria...

Maria, the one girl that looked at her like Sakuno did.

Beautiful girl, blonde with oceanic blue eyes, her demeanor of innocence attracted him immediately. The way she praised his tennis. The way she danced around him as he won. The way she kissed him on the nights before he played.

She told him that she admired him. That she loved the way he played tennis. He knew she loved him the same way he did. He was her woman at the same time that she was his man.

One night, she begged him to lose the fight.

He never knew why.

She never asked him for anything until now and that made him give way. He intended to lose for her sake. After she came, tennis only became second to him.

On the night of the finals, he saw Maria whispering words of love to another man, the man whom he had to give up his fight. The ideas of conspiracy shouted at his broken heart.

Maria was actually in love with somebody else, a man he knew he could beat in the way he played his tennis. The woes of those months were faked.

At the start of the final games, he allowed him to win over him for some time but as the game went on, he fought for himself, winning over his battles both inside and out, with one controversial point.

He never played tennis after that.

He never knew tennis could be twisted so much for one, stupid sake…

He loved her so much.

But he broke him as much.

What about the tennis ball?

He laughed. He never wanted to fight so much for himself. He had to admit that he loved tennis and in Japan, fighting so much using his skills made him complete again. How he loved tennis!

"Mother, I met somebody that I wanted to have a match with in the future." Something's changed all right. He knew it and his blood boils with the need to win again. Something he hadn't felt for quite a long time.

"I see… then I guess you'll be visiting the courts again." Rei Smith nodded. He'll be back, all right.

---

After a few months...

"You look different when you're not in braids." Echizen commented as he played with the girl's hair with his fingers. He had taken off her braids and combed the length of her long hair with his hands. He never knew why she had long hair, it bothered him a little. Seeing her now, with her braids off her head made it seem like it was right to keep her hairstyle like that. She was so damn cute that she should never let anyone else see that blushing face.

As usual, they were enjoying the afternoon on their usual place beside the courts. It took them quite a while to go out openly without getting embarrassed. In Ryoma's case, he didn't understand why Sakuno had to pretend they were not going out since he wanted everyone to know that she was already taken. She do get flushes of red when he touches her and he's happy she was still the same shy Sakuno who tries her very best to hide her face away from him. After a while, everyone knew. Ryoma will never have allowed it to go on like that for a long time anyway.

He enjoyed playing with her like this.

"Oh, Ryoma," she started. He big eyes widened as she called the teen beside her.

"I got a letter from Rei…" the prince frowned and got sakuno by her neck with his right arm for a forceful embrace. Hearing his name come out form her mouth made him twitch. The memories of his defeat gnaws him so much he had the urge to go to the courts and practice powerful serves to ease that feeling. At the same time, holding Sakuno like what he was doing right now makes him unable to do just that.

"Oh, the bird brain? What did he want?" he laughed as the woman squealed to get out but couldn't. In the end, she allowed herself to rest on the prince's solid body. Something, she still wasn't accustomed to.

"He said he wanted to visit us again." Ryoma's muscle tensed. The memory of him coming back seemed to threaten him for a moment. He searched the girl's eyes and licked it with his tongue.

"R-ryoma," Sakuno blushed a deep red. Unable to comprehend why he had to do that all of a sudden.

"I'll give him a good show." He whispered in her ear. Sakuno looked up and searched the prince's eyes and wondered what could have fired him up like this. Ryoma loved challenges and Rei, his name in the tennis world is undeniable. He was a man who loves tennis as much as Ryoma loves it.

She smiled at him and nodded. He knew what he meant. Sakuno was about to say something but before she could say anything, she saw a familiar figure looming behind eyes widened once more, her lips pursed to a readable "o" and she swallowed hard as she pointed at Ryoma's back.

"Of course, you have to give me a good one. Ryoma, you should have not been slacking off, you know the deal."

The familiarity of the voice caught them both in a state of shock. The way the man said all of this in English seemed to have been in a mocking tone. As Echizen looked back, he caught sight of the man and grinned. Rei was beside the tree, carrying his tennis bag over his shoulders. They both knew he just arrived from wherever he came from. He had a large smile on his face and only noticed Sakuno from beneath the man's possessive hold, which seemed to mind him.

"About time you show your ass around." Ryoma replied sarcastically while holding Sakuno firmly in his arms.

"Rei!" Sakuno shouted as she tried to release ryoma's hands around her but to no avail. She just smiled at him and waved a free hand.

"Sakuno, I missed you." She laughed.

"I missed you too!" Rei laughed, kneeling to level his height for them both.

"I didn't," Ryoma cut before Re could add another dramatic line in this overly long dramatic reunion, which seems to be getting on his nerves. Rei looked at him and smiled.

"Echizen, let's have a match." The prince looked over the other prince , both burning with the same flaming desire to get on with it, jump inside the court and settle all the things they have between them. Man to man.

"Same conditions." Rei said. Echizen laughed but he nodded his reply smugly.

"Same conditions…"

The exchange of English words somehow confused Sakuno but the hold of Rei in her free hand and the kiss of her prince on her head made her realize the battle that was about to pursue, of which, she knew she will be the hearty price.

---FIN---

Haha, its been quick so I wouldn't know what you'll have to say if you dont give a feedback. so, tell me what you think? kk?? :)