Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.

Hometown

Not for the first time since Tezuka had decided to visit his hometown did he feel foolish. So much can change in fifteen years. The people he knew would have gone to pursue their own way of life. The houses and shops would have changed hands. Some of them might not be there at all.

Tezuka himself had changed as well. He'd left a determined to make his mark and became an outwardly complacent man who had. A successful pro tennis player with a family. A wife and a beautiful daughter. A hot red sport car and a big mansion. From a point of view of an outsider, he had everything. A perfect life. However, he still feel that there was something missing in his life. He was still looking for roots, for his place. That was why he was heading back to his hometown.

Driving through the neighborhood, Tezuka slowed down and then on impulsed, stopped. He'd been born there, raised there. He'd learned of grief there – and he'd fall in love. Even from the distance he could see her old apartment.

Tezuka found himself driving beyond the apartment towards the middle school where he spent three years with the Seigaku team. He could have turned at the corner, driven a few blocks to visit his parents' house. But he didn't. Instead he pulled up near a park not far from the school. There was something else to do first, something he'd already know he would have to do. He took a deep breath as he climbed from the car.

You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again

'What?' young Tezuka asked, still holding up his novel.

'Nothing,' said a young girl who was lying down and rested her head on his lap.

'You are starring at me.'

'Is that wrong?' she teased.

'If there is something you want to say-'

'It's nothing really.'

'You seem to be deep in thought.'

Paused. 'Yeah, I am thinking of you actually.'

'If you're thinking of pulling a prank on me, forget it.'

The girl smiled. 'No, I just miss you.'

Tezuka looked at her and realized the amount of effort she put, trying to distract him from his book earlier. 'I've been thinking, could it be that you want some attention?'

The girl momentarily froze, realizing how apparent she was for wanting his attention, then looked away and nodded. She could feel heat raising up her neck.

Tezuka closed his book and looked at her. Giving his undivided attention solely to her. 'Tell me how may I amuse you?'

She smiled sheepishly at him. 'I just feel like it has been a long time since I see you.'

'We do see each other everyday, don't we?'

'Yeah, and whenever I saw you at school, you always look so busy. If you weren't practicing, you carried god knows what files or books and head to either your student council or teacher's office. You are working so hard as if the school would fall apart if you don't.'

'There are so many things that I need to attend to.'

'I totally understand that,' Asahina said, growing more serious. 'It's just that I feel like I'm showing more of my feelings than you.'

'I see,' he said.

When Tezuka didn't say anything else, she wondering if she stepped over the line and annoyed him. 'I didn't mean to control you or anything. I just...'

'You are right, and I had been busy lately training for the match against Hyotei on the top of everything else.'

'You're so cool and calm. I feel like I'm the only one showing affection. You don't seem to love me that much. In fact, I feel like I don't know you anymore.'

Tezuka was temporarily stunned, not expecting that statement. 'I'm sorry for ignoring you.'

She looked at him, feeling ashamed of what she said. 'No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't know what had gotten into me. It's stupid, I know.'

'Come here,' he said, pulling her down, laying her head back on his lap. 'Firstly, I never thought I'd hear that from someone who always pull a prank over her boyfriend every chance she get for entertainment!'

Ouch! You hit a sore spot.

'Secondly and most importantly, you might not know a lot about me... But I know me.'

'What are you talking about.'

'Do you want me to tell you?'

'Huh?'

'Tell you how much I love you? Are you sure that you want to know that?'

She was hesitant at first but she nodded.

'Ever since I met you, it seems that there're a lot of times that I failed to control my feelings for you. I know that I had been acting out of my usual character ever since we go out.'

'Oh...'

'There were a lot of things that I said and did to you that I would never had done to anyone. It seemed like everything that I used to keep inside me just went out. I never thought something like this would happen to me. All I know is that I am drawn to you.'

'You are?'

'Yes, ever since the day I met you, I knew that there was something special between us. I can't stop thinking of you.'

'You are scaring me, Kunimitsu. You sounds like a stalker,' she said.

He reached out to capture a tendril of hair that lie on her shoulder and wound the strand of dark hair around his finger tips. 'Do you have any idea how cute you really are?'

'That is such a cheesy pickup line. If I didn't know you better, I would have thought that you did this to every girl all the time.'

'I never said things like this to anyone else.'

'I know. But if the other girls know how romantic you really are behind that scary serious facade of yours, they probably hunt me down every corner and shred me into pieces so they could take my place.'

'They are not worth my time. You are.'

The girl sat up, unable to bear to see the wealth of love shone in his eyes as he gazed down at her. 'I'm thirsty,' she sat up, taking out a can of soda out of her bag.

Tezuka was amused seeing the girl fumbling to open the can nervously. 'Let me open that for you.'

Unexpectedly, when he did, a jet of soda sprayed right onto his face, taking him off guard. He wasn't moving at all.

She blinked her eyes, watching the poor drenched boy before her. She quickly forced a fist into her mouth to stem the flow of her laughter. Oh no, I'm going to crack up.

Tezuka glanced at her, who quickly rearranged her expression in her attempt to muffle her laugh before she turned away.

Hold it... she closed her eyes. Hold it, damn it!!!! The girl turned her back and crawled away from him. But this is the first time I've seen Tezuka looked so flustered. I can't do this. I need to let this out or I'll explode!

Tezuka frown, when he heard her chuckle. No doubt she was making fun of him. Pulling her leg, he drew her to him.

'No! Let me go,' she told him between her laughter as Tezuka wrapped himself around her. 'I don't want to get wet too.'

'If I'm going down, I'm taking you down with me,' he said playfully. Well, as playful as Tezuka could be.

'No, I won't let you,' she struggled, giggling.

'Yes, you will. Nobody has ever got away out of my wrath,' he said, turning her around, facing him as the girl continued to laugh. Gazing down at her, he thought of how precious she is and her laughter was about the sweetest thing that he'd ever heard. And he especially loved the way her eyes twinkled when she laughed. 'Are you not done laughing at me?' he said, after a while.

'I can't... You looked too funny.'

'You are laughing too much,' he said in a hoarse sexy whisper while gently cupping her cheek with one of his hand. Tilting his head slightly, he chastely kissed her sweet rosy lips and proceeded on kissing her lightly along the jaw before docking himself on her lips, while caressing her sides. He smiled inwardly when the girl was no longer laughing and melting in his arms. Her breaths become uneven and ragged, apparently liking the attention he was giving her which earned her a deep passionately kiss. He smiled in satisfaction when he felt her hand on his head to encourage him to continue.

'I love this adorable side of you, Kunimitsu,' she said when the kiss ended.

'I don't want to be adorable, I am your boyfriend not a five year old,' he protested.

'Why not, I love it,' she laughed.

Tezuka feigned a sigh, playing along with her. 'The cool image I had build so hard for so long...'

'...is going down the drain,' She added, continue laughing. 'You should be like this more often.'

Tezuka smiled. 'Maybe I will.' But only with you...

She brushed her lips to his, but immediately pulled back.

'What is it?'

'I didn't know soda could taste this good.'

'Are you making fun of me?'

'No, people said that the more you love being with someone, the better things taste,' she said, pulling him to her again.

You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again You Again

Memories flowed through Tezuka's mind, creating such clear picture of her that he might have seen her only yesterday. He and Asahina Rie had been lovers and friends in middle school. He could still remember her as she'd looked at thirteen, lovely, soft, eager. The small triangular face was dominated by big green eyes, as green as a sparkling emerald lagoon, reminiscent of a baby's wide-eyed, innocent and glowing, that seemed to hold jokes all of their own. Her pouty pink lips beneath an cute nose and full round cheeks which were caressed by locks of velvety dark green hair. But it was her smile, the one that said, isn't it fun?! that entranced him. And this place held so many memories for both of them.

Tezuka reminded himself and felt the old, familiar surge of fury. She'd be living somewhere else now, with her husband, probably with a kid or two. Or maybe a twin, he reminisced the time when she told him that she would love having a twin. Double-the-trouble she cheerfully said as she snuggled his chest, in his arms on one of their dates. Then she would go on telling him of a lovely small house she would live in. Emphasizing on a lace curtain for the windows. In the big bay window that faced the street was a row of flowers decorated with tiny cute neon, colorful in the daylight. At night it would glitter like magic. Tezuka smiled at that thought, she believed strongly in miracle. And a crazy obsession over ice cream, he chuckled. The thought made him felt warm inside although it didn't last long when a bitter thought hit him. Everything she had told him. All those dream she had shared with him, Matsuhiro Kyo would have given his bride exactly what she'd wanted.

With memories came regret. He hunched his shoulders against the pain. If only he had come sooner... When he discovered that his hands were balled into fists he carefully relaxed them. Channeling emotion was a skill he'd refine the past one and a half decade. If he could do it in his work before his colleagues and reporters, at home for his daughter's sake, he could do it for himself. His feeling for Asahina Rie had been a boy's feelings. But he was a man now, and she, like the rest of his hometown, was only a part of his childhood. He'd travelled all the way here just to prove it. Like he had done for a few years now.

The fury came back as he stood on the sidewalk facing the park. He never felt the stomach churning fear that he did now. He could turn around, he reminded himself. Drive back to the school or simply to his parent's house. There was no need to remember her again. She was out of his life.

He slipped one of his hands out of his pockets and placed his palm on a tree. The tree that held so much memories of her laughter and his comfort.

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The End?