Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. If I did, the part where everyone becomes happily married to each other would have been animated.
A/N: This story was inspired by Tamahome and Miaka in one of the Fushigi Akugi episodes. Also, this is my first attempt at writing members of Hyotei other than Atobe.
Warning: Fluffy-ness ensues!
Summary: (One Shot, ShishiTori) Everyone thinks that Shishido and Ohtori should learn a new vocabulary.
More than Words
"Shishido-san?" Ohtori Choutaro peered in behind the bend leading towards the showers. Unsuccessfully locating the object of his search, his forehead creased slightly in worry and the normal smile on his face was replaced by a small frown. He took a step forward and leaned his back against the wall as his eyes surveyed the empty, open aired showers, "Shishido-san…" he murmured to himself.
"Ohtori, what are you doing?" Atobe's smug voice reverberated against the tiled walls, startling the unsuspecting boy.
"Shishido-san?" Ohtori muttered slowly, a blush was slowly making its way onto his cheeks after realizing that his team captain had just caught him shooting longing looks at the wall.
"Shishido?" Atobe raised an elegant eyebrow, a hint of a smirk upon his lips, "If Ore-sama is not mistaken, Shishido had been spotted entering the cafeteria not five minutes ago."
Ohtori's face visibly brightened and Atobe heard an almost inaudible muttering before the boy shot past him and out the door.
"Humph. Did his mother not teach him manners? Na, Kabaji?" Atobe flicked his silky hair back and called to his ever-faithful right-hand man, even though he was alone in the room.
"Usu," Kabaji's ethereal voice rumbled in agreement.
- - - - - - -
"Choutaro?" Shishido Ryo poked his head through the counter of the cafeteria, looking for his doubles partner. His sharp eyes looking past the lunch lady, not sparring a second glance at cook and lingered a second longer on the newly baked tray of buns before he pulled back, adjusted his cap, stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked away, muttering a quiet, "Choutaro…" under his breath.
He was not one happy tennis player.
"Oi, Shishido!" Gakuto's overly enthusiastic voice caught his ear and he turned his head to look at the snarky redhead and his lunch partner, Oshitari.
"Are you looking for someone?" Oshitari's calm voice inquired as he pushed up the glasses higher up the bridge of his nose.
"Choutaro," Shishido sighed, eyes turning back to the nearly crowded cafeteria in case boy in question decided to pop up suddenly.
"I think I saw at walking into the locker room just five minutes earlier," Gakuto said through a mouthful, spraying Oshitari who was sitting opposite him with bits of rice and chicken, "Oops!" he swallowed the rest of his food, "Sorry, Yuushi."
"No matter," Oshitari stated simply, brushing the food off his clothes and out of his hair before readjusting his glasses. He opened his mouth to say something to Shishido but turned around just to find the boy in question missing, "How rude."
"Ignore him, Yuushi," Gakuto sneered, "everyone knows he's been dying to play house with his beloved Choutaro."
"And no one here has more experience in that field more than us, ne, Gakuto?"
"Of course!" he exclaimed, covering Oshitari's face with natto, before adding a "Sorry…" and grinned sheepishly.
Not a second sooner had Shishido disappeared out the left side exit, Ohtori burst in though the right hand door, eyes shooting left and right, up and down scanning the area for any sign of his sempai, "Shishido-san!" he yelled, not spotting a tail end of his partner in tennis.
"Oh lookie, Yuushi," Gakuto laughed, "guess who just decided to make an appearance. Shall we assist him as we had with Shishido?"
"Will the price of being ignored be worth it?"
"No, the price of seeing those two running around the school like chickens with their heads cut off, will," the redhead chuckled.
"If you put it that way, Gakuto," Oshitari adjusted his glasses and exchanged a sly smirk with his doubles partner.
"Ohtori!" Gakuto yelled over the heads of the Hyotei students, "Yuushi and I just saw Shishido walking into the girls locker room!"
From their seat, they could see Ohtori's expression turn into one of distress before he hightailed for the door, leaving his two snickering teammates in his wake.
- - - - - - -
"Choutaro," Shishido pouted, although he had punched the last guy that had pointed it out. It had already been ten minutes, and there was still no sign of Ohtori to be found. He had searched in every nook and cranny of the locker room; behind the wall, behind the lockers, in the lockers even inside the toilet but he wasn't there. It was then, that Shishido came to the conclusion that Gakuto and Oshitari were lying.
All of a sudden, he heard a muffled chuckle coming from the direction of Atobe's personal spa room and realized that there was one place he hadn't searched.
With the steps he took, he found himself coming closer and closer to the magnificent teak door, the voice inside also started becoming louder and clearer. He decided that Atobe must be talking on the phone, unless there had been a lost of sanity that nobody knew of, because there was no other accompanying voice inside.
"Of course, Tezuka. I am just that magnificent."
Shishido made a gagging motion upon hearing those words, though, he would be lying if he said that hearing the name Tezuka was not something that piqued his interest, not that anything about Atobe interested him in the least. He couldn't help but wonder if the others knew about Atobe and Tezuka's secret affair, not that gossiping about Atobe and Tezuka interested him in the least either; that was Gakuto's job.
He turned the knob as silently as he could, as to not alert Atobe to his presence, though, he knew that the door would not make the slightest sound, judging by the quality and just how much he expected it to be worth. Moving his eye closer to the gap between the door and its frame, he could make out Atobe's half naked form, though he could be all naked, exfoliating in the Jacuzzi. The overpowering scent of flowers and incense made his nose itch.
"Yes, I am alone at the moment. I might even be offended that you asked, Tezuka. You know that there is only one person besides me, and Kabaji, that is allowed in my personal spa room. I don't even want to imagine what petty, perverted things Oshitari and Mukahi would do together had they be given a chance in my imported, custom made Jacuzzi."
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he decided that the only person Atobe didn't refer to himself as Ore-sama in a conversation was with Tezuka, but upon hearing the name Oshitari and his eviller half, Shishido came to the conclusion that he didn't care about Atobe and Tezuka's love life, and that he had better things to do than standing around eavesdropping on their conversation; said things included murdering both Oshitari and Gakuto for making him waste his time. Unfortunately, all the pleasant images of their lifeless bodies could not distract him from the fact that he missed his Choutaro so badly!
- - - - - - -
Ohtori took a deep breath as he stood before the imposing door leading to the girls' locker room. Deep down, he wondered what his beloved sempai would be doing in the girls' locker room (there was only one explanation for it, but the prospect of Shishido-san going straight on him was a bit disturbing) and he vaguely wondered if Oshitari-sempai and Gakuto-sempai were lying, but then he regained his bearings and brushed it off. Why would his sempai's be lying about that?
Knocking softly in the door, he waited for a few minutes before it swung open to reveal the bright blue uniform of one of the Hyotei cheerleaders.
"Ohtori-san!" she stuttered slightly, but then blushed a light shade of pink, "wh-what are you doing here?"
Ohtori noticed that her exclamation had caught the attention of the rest of the occupants and they all crowded behind her to take a good look at one of the famous Hyotei regulars. He suddenly felt very afraid.
"Shishido-san?" he muttered, raising his eyebrows slightly.
"Shishido-sempai?" the girl repeated, "I haven't seen him around," and turned to the rest of the team, "have any of you seen Shishido-sempai around?" They all just shoot their heads.
"I think I saw him running towards the tennis locker room earlier."
Ohtori's shoulders visibly dropped. Where was his Shishido-san hiding? He couldn't be in the locker room; he'd searched there earlier. Maybe he was in his class, but that was impossible. This was still lunch time, and Shishido would never voluntarily stay in class unless he had to. He raised a weak hand in appreciation to the girls and walked off.
"Feel free to come for a visit again soon, Ohtori-san!"
"Mou, Shishido-san…" he almost cried.
- - - - - - -
"Choutaro!" Shishido wailed loudly from his seat, startling the occupants of class three D. He wasn't able to find his Choutaro anywhere. After leaving the locker room, somewhat disturbed because of something he had over heard Atobe say to Tezuka off screen, he had gone to Choutaro's class, but he wasn't there. One of his classmates had said that he'd seen Choutaro standing at the entrance to the girls' locker room earlier. That guy was probably delusional; what would Choutaro be doing at the girls' locker room anyway? Thus, he had decided to come back and hang out in class. Who knows, Choutaro might even decide to drop by.
All of a sudden, a movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he turned around in time to see Kabaji's lumbering form pass by. He jumped to his feet and jogged up to him.
"Hey, Kabaji," he said loud enough to catch the younger boys attention, "you haven't by any chance seen Choutaro around, have you?"
Kabaji regarded him with a blank look.
"Err… I thought because you were in the same grade and all…" Shishido's sentence trailed off. Kabaji was still staring unblinking at him; at it was a bit freaky, "Never mind…" Shishido quickly inched himself away.
Kabaji turned around and resumed his path as if nothing had happened.
"Tch," Shishido twirled around, making a mental note never to ask anything to Atobe's man-slave. He was just about to step back into the room when his foot got caught on something and he found himself falling forward, crashing unceremoniously onto the floor, face first. He could hear the sound of something breaking before warm blood began gushing out of his nose.
"Eh?"
He heard the puzzled exclamation. Between trying to stop the blood flow, he turned around and came face to face with a bleary Jiroh.
"Nyiroh!" he exclaimed in a nasally voice.
"Shishido!" Jiroh exclaimed, he seemed to be wide awake by this time, "You're bleeding!" he managed to state with a dramatic point of his finger before promptly passing out.
"Shishido-san!" his classmates gathered around him, one of the offered him a handkerchief to stop the bleeding while another ran out to get the school nurse.
"Are you alright?"
"Oh my god, there's so much blood!"
It was official; Shishido Ryo was not one happy tennis player.
- - - - - -
Ohtori Choutaro, on the other hand, was sad. Very, very sad. So sad that he could even cry, but he won't because he was currently sitting in the front row, watching his Math teacher explaining complex mathematical equations to the class. He wasn't paying much attention to the teachers words, so when he felt hot breath of his face, and the distinct smell of cigarettes, he realized (with much shock) that his teacher's face was so close to his that their noses were almost touching.
"Ohtori," he said slowly, "you are normally a model student in this class, and I have never had to reprimand you for not paying attention, unlike most of the people here," he turned a glare to the rest of his students, "so I'm going out on a limb here to say that your inattentiveness is due to a certain third grader- Yes," he said quickly when Ohtori opened his mouth to oppose, "I do listen to the rumours. What was his name again?"
If Ohtori could sink even lower into his seat, he would have. But as the situation was, he couldn't, "Shishido-san…" he mumbled out almost to quietly to hear.
He exhaled softly, "Go to the medical room then, Ohtori," he said, much to the puzzlement of the light haired boy before him who once again opened his mouth to reply, "Always trust your teachers, Ohtori. They are older and wiser."
Many students chuckled at that and there quite a few of them laughing at the 'older' part.
As Ohtori gathered his things, since it was the last subject of the day and stepped out, he heard the teacher assign out quite a few detentions to those "disrespectful, juvenile delinquents," before sliding close the door behind him.
- - - - - -
"Now hold still, Shishido. You're causing yourself the pain by moving around like a worm."
He grimaced when the pain spread across his face.
"See? Didn't I tell you?" she scolded, waving her finger in front of his face.
He narrowed his eyebrows and glared at the offending finger through to rapidly bruising eyes. According to the nurses' brilliant observation, he had broken something in his nose. Though he'd given her a look that time and would have said that the pain and all that blood should have been a sign, but held his tongue. This was the person who held the key to the pain killers.
"By the way, I've informed your parents about your rather… unfortunate accident and told them that we will have one of the teachers drive you to the hospital for an X-ray."
Shishido just shrugged his shoulders.
The nurse opened her mouth as if intending to add something more to her comment, but when a knock at the door interrupted her, she gave her young patient a peculiar smile and said something about inventory before rushing off, leaving the grumpy and very bruised Shishido staring befuddled at the closed door leading to her office.
The now lone boy just sighed. When the knocking continued, he hesitantly got off the cot to go and let whoever the poor sod whom was sent to the nurses' office in. Seems that he wasn't the only guy with the string of bad luck today.
He grabbed the handle of the door to slide it open. It seemed that the person on the other side had the exact same idea, and the force of the two people opening the door at the exact same time with the exact same amount of power almost brought it off its hinges.
Recovering from the startle, Shishido's gaze shot up to glare at the newcomer, but his voice died in his throat the moment he saw a head of light coloured hair and a pair of big grey eyes.
"Choutaro..."
"Shishido-san..."
They both mumbled out softly.
The air in the room and the hallway was calm… until Ohtori realized that both Shishido's eyes were bruised and his multicoloured nose seemed to be just slightly crooked. Such a thing would not have been noticeable to most eyes, but judging by the amount of time Ohtori spent looking at Shishido's face, he was bound to notice the slightest imperfection.
"Shishido-san!" he covered his mouth with his hand and looked wide eyed at this dearest sempai.
Shishido just grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his now cap-less head. He wasn't sure how he would begin the explanation of what happened, so he just opted to give his junior one of his patented 'loving' looks.
Ohtori tilted his head to the side. He was worried sick about Shishido. How bad was his injury? Would he have a noticeable scar on his face from it? He knew that Shishido was fairly narcissistic, less to an extent than Atobe, but he had been better after the hair cutting incident. But now… oh, how he just wanted to hug his injured sempai, tug him into bed and feed him warm, homemade chicken soup.
He looked again at Shishido, reading the look on his face that clearly said that he had missed Ohtori as much as the other had missed him. He gave Shishido one of his warm smiles and pulled out a little box from inside his bag. Handing it over to Shishido, he waited with bated breath as the other boy studied it, clearly puzzled before realising that Ohtori was waiting for him to open it.
Shishido pulled back one of the long ribbons, untying the knot and opened the blue box. There he found a simple, round pendant that hung from a long silver chain and had a small carving of a heart on it. He was momentarily speechless at receiving such a loving gift from his koi for their one-month anniversary. It made his present seem miniscule. But, a kiss was better than nothing, he decided. This would be the first time he kissed Lifting his head, he gave the younger boy a smile before reaching up, as Ohtori was a lot taller than him, and gave the blushing boy a small kiss on the cheek. Though, he had managed to brush his aching nose against Ohtori's jaw and that caused him to winch, but he managed a reassuring smile when Ohtori's expression turned to worry.
Ohtori just exhaled slowly, Shishido-san was always like that. Trying hardest to push back his worry over Shishido's condition, he managed a small smile before leaning over a planting a gentle kiss on the side of Shishido's nose.
Shishido's shoulders seemed to tense slightly, anticipating the pain that was bound to follow, but there was none. Ohtori's kiss had caused him no pain. It was so like him, though. Ohtori's kindness and gentleness was his most noticeable feature and that was what attracted Shishido to him.
For a while post-kiss, neither one had anything to say, just managing to stare silently at the other. But that was okay, because sometimes, words aren't needed to say what the heart feels.
- Owari
ShishiTori fluff-crack.
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