Disclaimer: Do not own anything.

WARNING: This story contains Shonen Ai / Yaoi !

~~ 1. A New Home ~~

~~ 23. February, Afternoon ~~

"Oi, Ryoma. Wake up, we're here!" His father shouted and jumped out of the taxi, pulling the luggage with him. The called teen woke up and opened his tired eyes, rubbed the sleep out of it - he hated jetlag. The fifteen year old teen dragged his body out of the car and walked behind his father with his own luggage, his tennis bag and the cage with his beloved cat in his hands. He paid the bill with the money, which his father had given him, and the taxi drove off hurriedly. Ryoma stood in front of a small crème-colored house, with a small fence around the front part of the house. So that would be his new home? The mute teen was somehow excited to see what would happen but he was also frightened about the future.

Everything would change.

Everything had changed.

The young teen walked slowly inside, scanned the small apartment with his golden eyes. A little bathroom, a small kitchen, the living room and his father's room were one and the same and they had no tennis courts in the garden as they hadn't even a garden besides the small place in front of their house. He entered his new room which was way smaller and older than his room in America. Ryoma sighed deeply.

It was different, now that his Mom and Dad were divorced. His father had hardly any money left, just like his mother but the woman had at least a steady job. The boy would need to attend a part-time job to help his old man with the bills. Another problem for him. Would somebody give him a job? A mute boy?

The cat meowed loudly and scratched with his claws against the metal, protesting against staying any longer in the cage. Ryoma smiled warmly, opened the cage and the animal jumped out, purring around his master's legs. The mute boy petted the cat named Karupin behind the ears before he put his luggage down and started to unpack his things. Their small amount of furniture had been already delivered here.

His clothes didn't fit entirely into the tiny wardrobe and his books crowed the whole old desk. It took him less than an hour to finish unpacking, so he viewed around his room. Searching if everything stood out of place where it didn't belong to. When his sight fell on something sparkling on his wall, he noticed the window which was right next to his bed and searched for the intruder who blinded his sensitive eyes. Ryoma glanced out, seeing the shiny thing coming from the window across of him from his new neighbour's room. Thanks to the piercing light, he could only see a vision of a moving human. He narrowed his eyes and protected them with his left hand, tried his best to see better but the stupid light blinded him too much. As he groaned inaudible, the light suddenly disappeared and let him see colorful stars in front of his eyes.

He blinked three times, the color faded away slowly but he was still seeing colorful blotches with each blink. Great! It took it a moment to notice the three people opposite of him, who stared at him through the other window. He pushed himself back out of instinct and stumbled onto the old and new upholstered bed. Had they seen him? Why did he hide? He shouldn't hide! Why was he so surprised? He wasn't weak!

"Hey, Seishounen! Dinner is ready!" Called his father from the tiny kitchen, the scent of burnt food reached his nose as soon as he opened his door. Perfect! That absolutely made his day! Even he could cook some rice and vegetables without turning everything black and dark brown. The question about him starving to death was a matter of time. Ryoma could see it clearly. He had chosen to stay with his father, the tennis star, instead of staying by his lovely mother who wanted him to study all the time. The teen started to doubt that his decision was the right one.

How should his father teach him further if he was too weak to even hold his racket? Or maybe he would be soon send to a hospital due to food poisoning. Another rather interesting question occurred to him as he glanced outside the window next to his bed. They didn't have a tennis court anywhere near their new home, so how had his imagined their practice? They would need to go to some public courts to play and that was the last thing Ryoma wanted, letting the people see him getting humiliated by his stupid, foolish and childish, old man who made annoying and perverted jokes all the time.

Ryoma took one quicker glance through the window, seeing the three people watching him and also giggling as they saw him again. The teen cursed himself for being stupid and blushing and walked out, straight to Nanjiroh, his father, in the ugly smelling kitchen where a little cloud of black smoke greeted him. Eew!

His cat followed him faithfully, running in between and around his feet till he sat down onto one of the two chairs which stood in the middle of the small dining room which was connected with the kitchen. He said 'thanks for the food' in his own language, before beginning to eat the… strangely looking, smelling and probably tasting food. His old father shot him some worried glances from time to time, it annoyed him.

His father was worse than his mother, always talking around the bush and silently worrying like crazy over him. Those curious and nervous glances he received right now was one of the obvious signals. The next sign would be coming soon - his father would start clearing his throat, play with his food and tip his feet like the rabbit from the movie bambi would do. It was so annoying.

"Ahem..."

Oh god, there it is...

"...Ahem...Well...Ahem..."

It was enough! Ryoma glared at his over-protective father and stopped eating, laid his sticks down. The food was as promise - horrible and gave him the desire to gag. He waited patiently for his old man to speak up.

"Alright, alright! I'll stop. I'm just worried about my stupid son who will probably get lost in his new school." The joke was just an act to cover his true worry. His small, mute and stubborn brat would go to a public school with girls and boys. It wasn't something about the school he worried about; it was about his son who was distanced, somehow arrogant and had always been taught at home by a private tutor as his mother had been too worried about him. Maybe also because he, Nanjiroh, was too worried about his stupid son.

Now his baby would go to a school all alone with different manners and such. Ryoma would manage it, hopefully, but the worry killed him inside. He prayed for his son to find good friends, to be a bit more social and friendlier. Anyway, his biggest wish for Ryoma was to see him being the boy and not the adult who he often showed. It was like his child wasn't and had never been a child, it was as if Ryoma had jumped over the gap between a child and an adult. His dear son didn't even get one pimple in his whole life! Well, he hadn't seen his son's hormones kick in too. Sadly.

He missed his smiling son with the bright golden eyes and the carefree attitude. Ryoma had never grizzled or cried out loud, his boy kept it all inside and solved the problems by himself, so it was his, Nanjiroh's, part to show his stupid son what it was like to be childish, to feel happy and carefree. The boy didn't dare to pick up the sticks again and continue to eat, the uncomfortable silence surrounded them. It was hard to live with someone who couldn't speak. One day, after the mistake of his, his son couldn't speak a word anymore. He had become mute, only speaking through paper or mimicry.

Nanjiroh and his dear ex-wife had tried so many time to teach him how to speak but the boy had never said a word out loud, not after the accident, after Ryoma's ninth birthday. Even the doctors couldn't say what it was that hindered the young male to speak. Would he ever hear his son's voice again? His son was brilliant in writing in different languages but he highly doubted he could speak them as the teen had never done so. Speaking and writing were two different things.

The two finished dinner and just when Nanjiroh cleaned their plates, someone knocked on the front door.

"Seishounen, open the door for me."

Ryoma, the good son he was, stomped in his room and slammed the door shut, ignoring his old man and the noisy knocking.

"Open the door, brat!"

He didn't want to let these people in, they wouldn't understand him, they would ask dumb questions and talk on and on because they thought they could speak more as he couldn't. He hated it, the pity! The cruelty, he endless questions and nagging why he couldn't speak. He wanted to stay in his own world. His quiet and emotionally save world.

"Brat!"

Oh man! Why?

The young teen stomped furiously to the door, unlocked the two locks and opened the door a few centimeters. Who knew what his father would take as punishment? Daring him to wear a skirt or dress? Letting him run around the town? Most likely the first one...

Six males stood in front of him and grinned or smiled happily. One of them held a basket with something to eat and drink.

"Hello, welco-" Ryoma didn't let the person end the sentence, slammed the door shut, walked back into his room and drowned the voice of his father with the loud music from his old MP3-Player. Tomorrow would be his first day in a public school with other students who spoke out loud. He had always been taught by a homeroom teacher whom his mother knew since her childhood. His mum was overprotective sometimes; all the more to worry how he should manage the next few years in his new school. He would wear a school uniform and would drag some books all along with him. He didn't have any trouble with his loss of his voice; he was antisocial and didn't like to talk, so everything fit perfectly.

He didn't need a voice, his father understood him through his tennis and his beloved cat knew what he meant on the first sight. Who else would be necessary to understand him? Answer: Nobody.
Whenever the people heard from his father about him being mute, they left him alone – if it was out of disgust or simply their laziness for not having the time and effort to learn his language – Ryoma didn't know and he had no interest in finding out. All he needed was already here. Without another thought, he fell asleep.

~~ 24. February, Morning ~~

The boy felt something sneak under his blanket, tiptoeing next to his leg and up his stomach. Small claws poked his chest gently. Soft fur tickled his bare skin and the attack of a rough tongue licking alongside his left cheek woke him up entirely. His cat purred loudly into his left ear, giving him a shiver of welcoming warmth. It was Karupin way to say: "It's time to rise and shine." The still tired teen turned around, pulling his blanket over his head and blocking the sun out. It was too early. Just a couple of minutes more.

"Ryoma, wake up and get ready!" He hated early mornings; he hated waking up in the middle of the night or early morning. Why should he go to school? The teen already knew most of it and the things he didn't understand, he would study it by himself. He had been fine alone before. His teacher had often praised him for being smart.

The boy gave up as another shout reached his ears and his cat began to nibble on his fingers. The sun shone through the window and greeted him warmly. The young mute made a grimace, turned around and pulled the cover off his body. His father yelled a last warning about coming in his room and doing cruel things if he wouldn't sit on his chair in the dining room in five minutes. The threat worked as Ryoma sat up in his bed and took a moment to think about yesterday.

The smell of burnt food – once again – filled the air. This time though he didn't even need to open the door. So he would be starving today too?
Ryoma had closely thrown up the last night because of the cooked food. Not to say what nightmare he had after this disaster...

The teen petted his cat's fur, turned his old alarm clock off after viewing at it. It was way too early! He returned closed his eyes once more, covered his whole body with the blanket again. Ryoma ignored the shouts from the old man, the bright light from outside and the knocks against his window…...

...Wait...

… knocks...?

Ryoma's eyes shot open, he shoved the blanket off his body for the second time and jumped out of the bed, opened the old window and stared into happy eyes. If he had a voice he would have screamed but no sound escaped his mouth, only his pretty shocked face betrayed him. His eyes were wide open, his mouth slightly hanging but he tried his best not to show any surprise.

"Good, mor-" Before the intruder could speak any further, the teen closed the window anew, pulled the curtains in front of them, grabbed his new school uniform and rushed into the bathroom after viewing at the clock on the corridor's wall. He was late for taking the bus and would be late for school. Damn... why was he always so sleepy in the morning? Or all the time?

The boy jumped into his school uniform, buttoned it right – at least he thought so – left the house without breakfast as the burnt food would make his stomach only the more horrible and ran as fast as he could to the next bus stop. When he arrived there, the bus drove away without him. Shit!

What a great start for a new day in his new life. What should he do now? The teen had no idea where the school was or how he should get there now. Damn it! Just as he wanted to walk with his head hanging down, a car next to him stopped and the door swung open. "Do you need a lift? My sister can bring us to school."