Disclaimers: Not mine. Still belongs to the wonderful Konomi-sensei. The story and the concept are mine, though.
Dedication: To Reeza for laughing yet again when I got this idea and patiently listened to my ideas.
More than Rivals
Part One: The Love of Two
Tezuka Kunimitsu had always seemed that he was entirely detached to his emotions. Especially when those emotions concerned love. That's why at first, he was confused. How come he could feel himself falling for the tensai that always stood beside him?
However, he thought, it wasn't as strange as he first thought. Fuji Syusuke had an equal number of girl and boy fans – an evidence on how deadly the tensai's charms can be. And yet, Fuji remained unattached. Well, except to Tezuka's side.
But Tezuka was Tezuka. He was detached and therefore, he did not know how to express whatever feelings were stirring inside him. He just remained there, silently watching Fuji through his glasses. Even if it seemed that the other was also feeling something for him.
Although there was one part of him did not agree with him. One part of him was saying that Fuji wasn't entirely his for the taking.
There was his childhood friend, Saeki Kojiroh.
He met Saeki when they had a friendly match against Rokkaku on the summer of their second year. Fuji's cerulean eyes reflected a kind of longing of a friend who hadn't seen his best friend for so long. Saeki's azure eyes, however, reflected another kind of longing.
It was the same longing that Tezuka's tea-colored orbs had. And it was directed at the same person.
And for the first time since they had known each other, the silhouette that was always beside Tezuka was absent. Fuji was beside Saeki, chatting about the game before them, smiling when they faced each other on court.
He remembered how his piercing earth hued eyes locked into Saeki's blue ones. It was the day they had silently declared that they were rivals.
It was a game Tezuka knew he would not dare lose.
If there were anyone who had quite understood Fuji Syusuke, it would be him – Saeki Kojiroh.
They had been since childhood and Saeki thought, when he first realized that he had fallen for Fuji, he had the advantage. He had an edge. There were some parts of the tensai that he was confident that only he knew and understood.
But being his childhood friend wasn't enough.
Saeki knew that Fuji had this tendency to gravitate towards strong people. The thing was, he wasn't that strong. He wasn't even strong enough to take a game from him.
A strong person. A strong tennis player. Those were the keys to Fuji's attention. And after getting that, his heart would be next.
It was a vow he had promised himself as he watched the Fuji family more out of Chiba. A vow to make the tensai see his abilities, his own strength both as a person and as a tennis player. To at least take a game from him.
However, life never did go anyone's way, right? Before Saeki could do it, Fuji met him.
Him. Tezuka Kunimitsu. The person whose strength both as a person and as a tennis player held the tensai captivated, entranced.
But Saeki wasn't the type of person to give up that easily. The more obstacles, the better. The more precious the prize, he thought.
He will never forget the challenge in those orbs as it locked into his.
And he wanted to answer back with Fuji's favorite line.
"Boku ni katsu no wa mada hayai yo."
Tsuzuku...