Love and Tennis mix~

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, nor the song I am using for this chapter. It's the English version of the opening song in Fruits Basket: "For Fruits Basket". However, I do own the plot of the story and my OCs.

Author's Note: This chapter is from Ayumi Nazu, Echizen Ryoma, and Third Person's POV (point of view). It's going to switch from time to time, so be careful!

Chapter 18

Good Bye

(Ayumi Nazu's POV)

I set my alarm clock to 8:00am. Within half an hour, I was able to get ready and go out…but wait, there's still the problem about the 'not full' star jar! I took a piece of stylish note paper, and my favorite orange gel pen.

On the paper, I wrote a small message:

This Star Jar is used to keep my happy moments inside. It meant a lot to me, so to you who have found it, please show nobody, and put it back where you have found it. I thank you.

This Star Jar holds 177 of my most precious memories. 177 stars were put into this jar in one year; the year of my 4th birthday. Not to mention a certain someone who has made these 177 come true.

Ayumi Nazu

After writing this message, I rolled it up, sealed it with a sparkly star sticker and put it in the Star Jar. I took a deep breath and took the star jar with me. I snuck out the house to, again, the orange tree. I was interested to see if there would be anyone who would find it, that why I wrote to whomever who found this Star Jar.

With my bare hands, I started digging a hole. I wanted to burry the jar. Burry all my wonderful memories were I got them. This orange tree means a lot to me, and now it means even more to me.

Someone stood behind me, there was a shadow of its figure beside me. I turned around.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I pushed the star jar over to the other side of the tree, right behind it so that he wouldn't be able to see it.

"Digging a hole," I responded.

He squatted down, "What for?"

"For something… Want to help?"

I wasn't expecting him to. I expected more for him to leave. But, surprisingly, Ryoma started digging with me. I handed Ryoma a handkerchief when the hole was finished. He stood there waiting, probably waiting for me to put something inside.

"Ryoma, don't you have laps to finish running?"

"Ya, 5 laps this time," he answered.

"Shouldn't you go finish them?"

"I guess… I—," I cut him off.

"Ryoma, when you finish your laps, come by my place, if no one answers the door, check the mail box."

"Why would I need to check the mail box?"

I smiled uneasily, "You only check it if no one answers the door, ok?"

"Ok," he sounded uncertain.

"You should go finish you laps!"

He left.

"Sayonara…" I whispered, I don't think he heard me.

I told him to leave, and I can't believe I did so. That was suppose to be the last time I'd get to see him. By the time he finishes his laps, I would have been in the airport.

I took out my star jar from behind the tree. I hugged it and then carefully placed it in the hole. Then I covered up the hole with dirt. I pat it down with my hands until the whole was perfectly filled up. And also to make it flat, so that other people wouldn't be wondering why there's a lump here.

I left the place after sliding my hands on the carved words once more. This orange tree is where I met Ryoma, where Ryoma and I will last see each other AND where I buried this star jar. This place means more than anything to me!

I noticed that my hands were nice and dirty. I got yelled at when I got home, because oka-sama was wondering where I have gone all this time and also because I was covered in dirt. I was told to change my clothes and wash myself before we left.

I wore an orange pleaded skirt and a white T-shirt with a nice sparkly picture of a juicy orange on it. My aunt braided my hair for the last time. I wrote another message and placed it in the mail box right before we all left the house; hoping Ryoma would see it.

(Ryoma Echizen's POV)

When I was running my laps, I was wondering what Ayumi meant by 'sayonara'. I quickly finished my last lap and headed to her house, there was something I wanted to give her.

I rang the doorbell, no one answered. I knocked on the door, no one answered. At the end, I decided to check her mail box. There was a letter inside, written: 'To: Ryoma-kun' on it.

I ripped open the envelope, finding an unpredicted letter inside written by Ayumi. I could tell because of her bad handwriting. It was all written in orange on a paper decorated with pictures of stars.

Ryoma,

Thank you for everything. I'm going to Japan, but I didn't want you to see my sad face as I would leave here. I wouldn't ever forget you or what you have done for me. You've made me smile, made me regret that I have chosen the path to Tokyo, but you have made me your best friend. I am happy for that, and I hope we can stay as friends forever

I really like Ryoma, so I wouldn't forget a thing…

Love,
Ayumi Nazu

Ps, I'll keep on smiling.

I grasped the letter tightly.

"Ayumi…"

I ran home and told oka-san to drop me off at the closest airport. She was the only one awake at this hour, and I didn't know how to get to the airport by myself so I had to ask for her help.

She willingly drove me there. I ran around the airport, screaming the name Ayumi. I spotted a girl with long brown hair in braids and she had the same bag as Ayumi did. I ran faster, heart pounding, it better be her!

"Ayumi!" I shouted.

The girl turned around with a very surprised look on her face. I slowed my pace down when I confirmed it was her. We stood a few steps away from each other, speechless.

"R-Ryoma…"

I stopped gasping for air, "Why?"

Her eyes became watery.

(Third Person POV)

Ayumi was very surprised to see her dear Ryoma at the airport, right in front of her. She couldn't resist any longer, she ran up to him and gave him a tight squeeze. Her tears were flowing none stop. Ryoma hugged her back.

-I was so happy when you smile-

"Ryoma, you weren't supposed to come!" she whispered.

"You shouldn't have just left a letter, it had the words 'I want you to come find me' written all over it."

"Ryoma!"

"I thought you said you would keep on smiling," he said, chuckling a bit at the end of his sentence.

-Your smile breaks through the clouds of grey-

Ayumi chuckled, and forced a smile.

"I want to see you smile too," she whispered.

Ryoma showed her a small curve of a smile. He wasn't exactly the smiling type.

"Are you sure this is ok with you?" asked Ayumi's oto-sama.

"Let her finish off the last memory she'll have here. It would be the least we can do after what we've done," answered Ayumi's oka-sama.

-Far from the sunny days that lie in sleep-

"Ryoma, I going to miss you, I'm really really going to miss you!"

Ryoma gave no response to that; maybe just a simple nod. From his pocket, he took out a box.

"Tanjoubi…omedetou," his face flushed.

Ayumi took the box and opened it, finding a charm bracelet inside. There was a charm of an orange attached to it.

"Arigato! I'll wear it every single day! You can count on it!"

-Awaiting the patience for the spring-

It was a teary smile. This moment will be engraved in their hearts, both of theirs. Ayumi showed him the dried up Anemone he had given to her last night that she kept in a small box.

"I dried it; I am going to keep these two gifts as my souvenir!"

"Do as you wish," he replied with a smirk.

-When the flowers will bloom renewed again-

"Ryoma, you are the one I'd miss the most after leaving," she finally let go of him.

"It's not like we'd never see each other again," Ryoma continued to blush, he wasn't used to saying stuff like this, and it was very unusual for him.

-Knowing there's more beyond the pain of today-

Ayumi remained silent, "What do you mean?"

"Fate, if we are meant to see each other again, we will."

"What's fate?" asked Ayumi, clueless.

"For example, my job became to protect you that was fate."

Ayumi lifted her right arm; there was a faded red mark on it.

"This? Was this fate too?" she asked blankly.

"I guess," he responded, lifting up his left arm to reveal the mark as well.

-Although the scars of yesterday remain-

They both giggled, "I like you," they both said at the same time.

Both their cheeks flushed pink. Not even knowing why they said that, it naturally came out.

"Ryoma, promise me we'd see each other again?" Ayumi asked shyly.

"Promise," he answered.

-You can go on living as much as your heart believes-

"Ayumi, we have to go, or the plane will leave without us," shouted her oka-sama behind the scenes.

"Hai!" Ayumi answered, "See you!"

"I guess I'll see you, soon," he replied, uncertainly.

-You can't be born again although you can change-

Ryoma gave her a last hug, "I hope I'll see you soon."

After that last hug, Ayumi shed her very last tear in front of Ryoma, or so she thought…

-Lets stay together always-

Ayumi left his side shortly afterwards, she kept on looking back at him as she entered the gates until she couldn't see him anymore.

"I love you, Ryoma" she thought.

-THE END-

Author's Note: That was the end!! T.T I'm leaving for Tokyo and I am never seeing Ryoma ever again!!! T.T JOCKING!! Well, if you like this ending, sure, that's the way it'll end. BUT if you don't like the ending, please don't start flaming, I am writing the actual story (or if you'd like, you can call it the sequel to this story)!

Remember me mentioning that this is the prequel? Well, there's more! It's the continuation of this story. Since this chapter was about the PAST, in the next story, I am going to be talking about the PRESENT!!

I promise it'll be even better written than this one, so if you liked this, I'm sure you'll like the next story. Please look forward to it; it might be my best creation yet!

Please look out for the actual story, "Shooting Star: My Wish…"

Here's the website I'll be posting it on: (Sorry, link doesn't work on docs here , link will be posted on my profile, please check)

Click on site-- Click Literature-- Pick Chapter-- Read and Comment

Nothing is required to become a member! So support me, become a member at my site and receive updates when I post a new chapter! Thank you!

I can't believe I finally finished this! Phew! I must thank Kiwi-chan again for being my betta-reader all throughout my story! The idea of burying the Star Jar also belongs to her-Kiwi-chan. And also arigato gazaimasu for all of you who have read and reviewed! And of course, please give me feedback, do you like the story overall? Anything I need to improve on? Please tell me!!

And if you have any questions on Japanese words I used, feel comfortable to ask me in your reviews I would be glad to answer them!

Extra Note: You may be wondering how a 4 or actually, 5 years old girl could write so well? Well, the message and letter she wrote was supposed to have a lot of mistakes in it, but I just thought that it would be really hard and annoying to read something with too many mistakes so I took them all out. So in reality, the letter and message has a lot of mistakes in it! Thank you for taking notice!