Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, nor do I own the characters in Prince of Tennis. The only things I own are my ocs.

Seven Years ago…

'Here comes the tickle monster!' hollered my father as he chased me. He held his arms out and ran behind me; occasionally poking me in the sides and making me scream and laugh. 'Risa-chan, come over here, I'll save you from the tickle monster!' my mother yelled, holding out her arms and signalling me towards her.

I was shrieking and running as fast as my legs would take me.

When I reached the arms of my mother she gave me a big bear hug before pushing me behind her back.

'Tickle monster, I suggest you give up now!' she said in a serious tone of voice.

'Never! I shall not give up till Risa-chan is rolling around on the floor dying from laughter,' replied my dad in an equally serious tone.

The two of them stared at each other intensely, and a very serious atmosphere began to form but it was all ruined when both of them burst out laughing. They both fell to the floor laughing and soon I joined in too.

I was glad that everything seemed to be returning to normal. Recently my parent's relationship had been rather rocky. Mother had been saying things that father didn't want to hear and I sometimes heard them argue in the middle of the night.

Five Years ago...

I had been in bed for 2 hours already, but I still couldn't manage to get to sleep. I rolled onto my side and checked my bedside clock for about the millionth time.

10:30

In just 1 hour and a half it would be my birthday. From downstairs I could hear my parents voices, just slightly muffled.

'I bet they're talking about my birthday present,' I thought smiling to myself.

I lay in bed for another ten minutes before getting up. I was tired of waiting until 12:00 for my presents so I decided to sneak downstairs to eavesdrop on my parent's conversation.

'Maybe I'll find out what my presents are,' I thought smiling cheekily.

I slipped on a thin, woollen jacket before sneaking downstairs. I moved slowly and stealthily, making sure that none of the wooden floorboards creaked. When I finally reached the bottom of the stairs, I sat down on the final step and pressed my ear against the wall.

'When were you going to tell me?' hissed my father.

He was speaking softly, but I could hear the anger and disbelief in his voice.

'So she isn't our daughter?' I heard him say.

I tilted my head in confusion.

'What are they talking about, of course I'm their daughter,' I thought.

'You said that you fetched her back from the family that you left her with!' he exclaimed.

'When I went to fetch our daughter from the old couple who was looking after her, they weren't there anymore. I found out that they were in a car accident and the Risa-chan was in the car with them. None of them survived. When I had heard what had happened, I sat at a nearby park to clear my mind and by chance I came across a girl who looked exactly like Risa-chan. I found out that she had run away from the orphanage and that her name was also Risa. I knew then that it was fate that I had met her. I immediately adopted her and did all the paper work secretly.'

'So you're saying that the girl I believed was my daughter was actually just a girl from the orphanage who happened to have the same name as our real daughter?' my father said through clenched teeth.

I leaned against the wall and wrapped my arms around myself. This wasn't what I had expected to hear. I had hoped that my parents were laughing and joking around with each other while wrapping my birthday presents. Instead, I found out that they weren't really my parents at all. I buried my head in my arms and I felt a few tears leak out of the side of my eyes. I just let them trickle down my face slowly.

Slap~

My head jerked up at the sudden noise. I positioned my eye in front of a crack in the wall, trying to see what was happening. I saw my mother clutching her cheek with tears in her eyes and my father's hand near her face. On his face was an expression I had never seen before, and it frightened me.

From that day onward, my parent's relationship changed dramatically. My father never really trusted my mother after that and sometimes I would see my mother cry in the bathroom with her arms and legs covered with bruises. Our lives had never been the same since that night.

Three years ago..

My father was outside with all of his luggage and car keys. Mother was outside too, clutching his arm and begging him not to leave. I knew exactly why he wanted to leave. It was all because I wasn't his real daughter. Ever since he found out that my mother had lied to him about me being his daughter, he no longer trusted her. He also didn't look at me in the same way. His eyes had always held nothing but affection, but now he looked at me as if I were nothing more than a stranger. Our family had grown apart over the years and now we were no longer going to be a complete family.

I watched as my father pushed my mother aside and got into the car. He drove away but my mum chased after him. When she finally gave up, she kneeled at the sidewalk crying at watching as my father's car disappeared further and further into the distance.

He had a new family now. Even though my mother knew he had cheated on her with another woman she still loved him. Even when she found out he had two children with the same woman she still loved him.

I looked out of the window again. My mother was still kneeling in the same spot and crying. Even now when he had left her, she still loved him.

Present

I woke up sweating heavily, beads of sweat trickled down my forehead and my pyjamas and blankets were soaked.

A single tear slid down my face and many others soon followed but I wiped them away hastily, mentally scolding myself for allowing myself to cry about my childhood yet again.

I quickly had a shower, got dressed and grabbed my camera. I was going for a walk. Hopefully I would find something worth photographing on the way. Walking and photography was what I always did after I had nightmares about my father. They helped me calm down, it was my personal way of relieving stress, sort of like meditation I guess.

I walked around absentmindedly trying to think about anything other than my father. I walked aimlessly for hours and hours until I finally came to a stop. I had reached a place that was so familiar. This place… I thought that I had finally rid myself of all memories of this place. I thought I had forgotten it for good. I stared at my feet and a small yet painful smile appeared on my face for a brief second. It seemed like my footsteps had brought me here of their own accord, back to this sweet yet bitter place.

'Here comes the tickle monster!' hollered my father as he chased me. He held his arms out and ran behind me; occasionally poking me in the sides and making me scream and laugh. 'Risa-chan, come over here, I'll save you from the tickle monster!' my mother yelled, holding out her arms and signalling me towards her.

I was shrieking and running as fast as my legs would take me.

I sat just staring at my feet for a very long time. When I finally looked up again, I glanced at various parts of the park before looking down again.' Nothing's really changed,' I thought.

I inhaled deeply before getting to my feet.

'I really need to clear my mind,' I muttered. Since walking didn't do the job, I decided to run. It was the number one thing for releasing stress and calming my mind.

I sprinted through the park, letting the wind whip my hair around. My clothes fluttered and I felt a rush of exhilaration. I ran faster and faster and faster until I reached a more deserted area of the park. When I slowed and finally stopped, my head was pounding, my heart was thumping and I felt great.

I sat on the damp grass and scanned my surroundings. Looking around, I realised that I had run all the way to the other side of the park. As I was exploring this unfamiliar section of the park, I looked for something worth photographing. I searched the area before I noticed a small but compelling spot of dark blue behind some plants and tree branches. For some reason I just couldn't take my eyes off it. I had a feeling that something was calling out to me so I followed my instincts.

I ran towards it as fast as a possibly could, brushing past tree branches as if they were flies. As I approached, I could feel my chest tightening. In front of me was a single pale blue rose that was absolutely breathtaking even though it had begun to wither.

The petals looked soft and delicate and the edges were slightly frilled giving it an air of elegance, but what was most amazing was the colour. The centre petals were snow while, the next layer of petals had a tinge of blue and as the layers progressed, the colours darkened ever so slightly.

Slowly, I brought my hands up to the flower, allowing my fingers to caress the fragile petals ever so slightly while I marvelled over the sheer beauty of the rose. I was enticed and completely in a trance.

'Click'

The noise was very faint and barely audible but it was just loud enough for me to hear. My head whipped up and I turned towards the intruder. He was a boy who was not much older than me, with fair hair and eyes curved into half moons.

'I'm sorry for taking a photo of you without your permission, but it was such a good moment, I just couldn't let it pass' he said with an apologetic smile on his face.

For some reason I just couldn't feel angry when he smiled at me so I just remained silent, not knowing what to say or do. I felt very awkward but luckily for me continued talking.

'Would you like to see it? I'll delete it if you don't like it' he said, handing me the camera.

Hesitantly, I took the camera from his hands and looked at the picture. In the photo, my cheeks were flushed with excitement, my lips slightly parted with awe and my palms were delicately cupping the pale rose. I could hardly believe that that girl in the photo was me. The angle and the lighting in the photo were phenomenal and he had captured the moment so well that I could easily tell that he was no beginner in photography.

'You're very good at photography,' I said complimenting him while handing him back his camera.

'A photo is only as good as its subject,' he said with his everlasting smile still plastered to his face.

I instantly felt my face grow hot. I shifted around uncomfortably, not knowing how to react to this sudden praise. To my surprise, I heard the boy chuckle. It was a light, feminie sound, like a girl's laughter, but strangely it suited him.

'There's no need to look so uncomfortable,' he said, now breaking out into laughter.

'Has no one ever complimented you before?' he asked jokingly.

I puffed my cheeks out, feeling slightly offended.

'Click'

'Of course I've been complimented before,' I said holding my chin up high.

'Click'

My eyes widened as he held his camera in my face showing two pictures of me. In the first one, I had my cheeks puffed out and in the second one, I had my chin held high. In both of them I looked absolutely dreadful, especially in the second one. The angle that he had taken the picture from made me look ten times worse than I should've looked. Because my chin was tilted upwards, my nostrils were in clear view and he had taken advantage of that by purposely dipping the camera slightly below my face before capturing the picture. My nostrils looked as wide as saucers!

I held my nose suddenly feeling self-conscious. I could see him lifting his camera up ready to take another picture. I glared at him.

'Don't. You. Even. Think. About. It.' I said annunciating each word clearly.

He chuckled and held his hands up in defeat.

'Alright. You win.' He said.

I smiled triumphantly before turning away from him. I took out my camera and began taking photos of my own. I had to get as many pictures of that blue rose before I left. The next time I visited the park, the rose would probably be withered and god knows how long I would have to wait before I found another rose that was just as pretty.

At first I was enjoying myself forgetting everything around me until I felt a strong and steady gaze on by back and I realised that the boy with the light brown hair was still here. I had totally forgotten about him! I looked back at him and saw him staring at me with his eyes wide open; they were no longer curved into half moons.

His eyes were a startling shade of blue, breathtaking yet eerie at the same time. Those eyes held so many emotions, many which I couldn't comprehend, but I could see from his eyes that he too had had a rough past. For some reason I felt like running away. Looking in his eyes scared me. They seemed to hold wisdom far beyond his years and he seemed to have experienced things that he shouldn't have at his age.

To my relief he shut his eyes again and the everlasting smile that was usually plastered to his face returned. I heaved a sigh of relief.

'Click'

He had taken another picture of me. He was laughing as he viewed the picture he had just taken.

'You're amazing at your expressions, have you ever considered becoming a model?' he asked teasingly, while trying to hold in his laughter.

My eyes flashed with anger as he held his camera in front of me. My head was down and the light was in my eyes, giving them an evil glint. My chin was pretty much pressed against my neck showing a slight double chin. I looked absolutely horrible and fat.

I stood up abruptly and pointed an accusing finger at him.

'Don't you know that it's rude to take a picture of someone you don't even know?' I yelled angrily while stomping my foot. I must've stomped really hard because at that moment, amber maple leaves began to fall.

'Wow, how much do you weigh? I bet you're heavy enough to create an earthquake!' he said laughing

I felt my cheeks and ears burn from both embarrassment and anger. I was about to hurl a string of insults at him but closed my mouth when I saw him discretely trying to lift his camera.

I held one hand in front of me.

'Don't even think about it!' I hissed.

This guy was really pissing me off.

'Hurry up and delete them. NOW!' I said in the most commanding tone I could manage.

I looked over his shoulder, making sure that he deleted all of them. He deleted the three ugly pictures and the remaining picture was the pretty one. He looked at me.

'Can I at least keep this one?' he asked.

I knew it was not a good idea to let a stranger keep a photo of me but for some reason I trusted him, even though he had pissed me off. Was it because I could tell he had a bad past just like me? I didn't know myself, but I decided to let him keep the picture.

For the next half hour we just continued taking photos and occasionally he would help me with the angle and lighting of my photos. We didn't say much, but through this short period of time, my trust for him increased dramatically.

When I finally decided to head home he asked for my number. I raised my eyebrows. Even though I trusted him, we had still only just met.

Seeing my hesitation he laughed and said, 'I want your number so I can send you that photo of you and the rose,' he said.

'Unless you don't want it,' he added.

My eyes lit up.

'Of course I want it!'

Without a second thought, I entered my mobile number into his phone.

'Expect the picture tonight!' he yelled.

Even though I was already far away by that time, I had heard him. I waved back in response.

That evening….

As promised, I received the photograph of me and the rose but I didn't expect him to send me anything other than that. To my surprise, he sent me three other photos. I looked at them and felt anger boil inside me. I had seen him delete those ugly photos with my own eyes! That sneaky little thing… I growled. He was going to get it the next time I saw him, and for some reason, I felt that I was going to be seeing him a lot more…

End of Chapter One

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