The Law of Rikkai

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Ink Burns

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

This is a work of fanfiction, produced according to the principles of transformative fair use as put forward in US copyright law, and abiding by the custom and practice of fan-produced work in Japan, where the source texts were created. No author is in any way affiliated with any of the creators of the source texts, nor with the companies who distribute their products, nor any other rights holder, and these stories were not authorized by either the creators or the producers. Ink Burns is a fan site and the material here is freely provided for the enjoyment of fellow fan-community members; there is no commercial infringement.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 US license at the Ink Burns fanfiction archive (http://alltrees.org/archive/).

Published on 2006-05-28 15:56:32.

Attributions can be made by author's name and a link to the archive.

This ebook edition was published on May 16, 2012 by the Ink Burns fanfiction archive.

The Law of Rikkai

Possible origin of Rikkai's "law", and what it means to different people. Drama, I-3, manga continuity

Seiichi stands behind the coach's bench with his companions, one new and one old, watching the team captain take point after point. Seiichi isn't even breathing hard from his own match, just finished. His voice is low, though, as he says, "We can't lose." That surety sings through him, like the blood through his muscles; he feels it. Not just his own strength, but the strength of these two with him.

They will meet the best. They will be the best. He wraps his hand around that certainty and feels it like the familiar grip of his racquet.

Genichirou's spine pulls a little straighter. "Of course," he states, frowning a little. It's unthinkable that he, that they, would lose. Loss is not something to be tolerated by the strong. Not something the strong should permit themselves. Contemplating the possibility of loss is a failure of the spirit, only worthy of contempt.

They can never lose.

"We will not lose," Renji agrees. It's quite clear that this is the case. Even though his figures on these two as yet barely fill a dozen pages of the fresh, white notebook he bought when he moved, the curve those figures will graph is already evident. He suspects it will be an asymptote in the end, but for now the curve is steep, and its movement is upward.

There's beauty in that curve, and it soothes his still rather sore heart. He will follow it.

End