Never Ever

By: Dyaoka

Disclaimer: I don't own the Prince of Tennis.

Notes/Warnings: Confusion? Check. Plot? Check. OOC? Check. Crappiness? Check, check, double check!

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Part Three

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"Don't go wandering, ok, honey?" Rinko cooed as she babied her son. She nearly passed out when she got a call from the hospital during the middle of her meeting regarding her son. It was bad enough that her husband managed to land himself in the hospital...but Ryoma too?! Oh, heavens...what's an old woman suppose to do these days?

"Okay," Ryoma said, lightly brushing his mother's worried hands away from his hair.

"Look, your mother is only worried about you. Be more grateful, brat," his father, Nanjirou, said. But despite the harsh words, his eyes reflected his own worry. "Well, your mother and I are going home. Don't do anything rash."

"Yes," Ryoma said, frowning a bit at his father. The hospital had been in quite a frenzy when he had passed out in the middle of the day on the fifth floor in front of a numberless room that was cemented at the sides. Now, they wanted to keep an eye on him, just in case he relapsed or something. Ryoma found the thing completely stupid and unnecessary, though the doctor did talk in hushed voices with his parents. When something like that happened, it's rarely a good thing.

"Ryoma," Rinko said sternly. "Be nice to your father."

"Sure..." Ryoma sent another glare at Nanjirou, which was promptly returned with a smirk from the retired tennis pro.

"Dear!" Rinko elbowed Nanjirou in the stomach. "Alright, Ryoma, we're leaving." She kissed her son on the top of his head and patted his cheek. "I'll see you first thing tomorrow morning!" With that, she took her husband by the elbow and dragged him from the room. Ryoma waved faintly to his parents.

Finally, when they disappeared and the door was closed by the nurse, Ryoma sighed. He didn't understand what was going on...and neither did he want to. It was strange, so to speak, to be thinking...to know...that he was actually somewhere else when everyone else was telling him he was passed out. It frustrated the dark haired youth completely and utterly.

"I was not dreaming" Ryoma whispered to himself. "I wasn't dreaming...Kikumaru...Eiji...he's real."

"Of course he is," said a new voice, surprising the dark haired boy that laid on the bed. He glared at the nurse that had walked into the room. "Is there anything that you need?"

"That numberless room, at the end of the hall on the fifth floor. Why is the door cemented to the walls?" Ryoma asked, seizing the chance to gain new knowledge. The old nurse smiled kindly and thought for a while.

"I believe that room was used a long time ago...for who or what, I don't know. But I did heard that the room is haunted," the old nurse said. "That's why they had to seal it."

Ryoma snorted. What a load of bull. But the nurse continued to speak.

"The actual story is that the room is just unusable. The wall contains mercury - poison, you know. There's always been a horrid smell around the place and there are cracks in the room there. They had expected it to colapse years ago, but it never happened. They still have the rooms below the floor evacuated just in case."

"I...see," Ryoma said quietly after a moment.

"Is there a particular reason you asked?" the old nurse smiled kindly at him. Beneath the baggy eyelids, Ryoma caught a glimpse of dark brown eyes that almost seemed like a complete black. Momentarily, it put Ryoma off and he felt the hair at the back of his neck stand on end. There was something about the nurse that just unnerved him.

"No, no...No reason at all..." Ryoma trailed off, opting for looking at his hands in his lap. The old nurse patted the boy on the back in a reassuring manner.

She leaned in close and whispered into the dark haired boy's ear; "I would stay away from that room if I were you. You wouldn't want to be like him, would you?"

Ryoma stared at the nurse's back as she closed the door behind him. The boy swallowed the lump in his throat as he turned his attention over to the window. Tiny droplets of rain started to fall against the glass of the window and Ryoma has never felt as frightened before.

There was something strange happening and Ryoma had a feeling that he wouldn't be sleeping through the night.

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To Be Continued

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