Title: Only to You I Can Lose
Pairing: Fuji - Eiji
Disclaimer: Konomi Takeshi-san owns Tenisu no Oujisama. I own this fanfiction, though.
Foreword: Aside from MomoEiji love story, I'm also for the Dream Pair. Fuji looks so cute when he's with Eiji so I'll torture them today. No love scenes for a while. And yes, I'm adding some japanese lyrics here, since they became inspirations to me. Translations are at the end of each fiction. Heno kappa!
Kokoro kara omoeru yo deaete yokatta to
Yasashii egao wasurenai you ni yakitsukete
Arigatou kao o mite iesou ni nai kara
Court ni sotto chiisaku tsubuyaita...
--
File One: Glory Days
From the window where he was in, Eiji was blankly staring at the empty tennis courts adjacent to the school building, his mind still at their triumph at the Nationals.
It had been a month since their glorious victory, the start of autumn semester and the end of all seniors' tennis career for that year. All of them were back to ordinary school life and honestly, it was so hard to leave everything behind now. He sighed, and closed his eyes, feeling the gentle breeze of a gloomy autumn afternoon.
"So this is where you're hiding, Eiji..."
That familiar voice made him startle; it was his favorite best friend Fuji Shusuke who is also known as Seigaku Tennis Club's number one tennis prodigy. The said smiling guy walked closer to where Eiji was standing, and leaned on the window frame as well. He looked at what his friend was blankly staring, and he smiled once more.
"So, you're missing the courts as well?"
"Y-You, too, Fuji?" Eiji got curious.
"Well, who would not anyway?"
Both got so silent, and at the same refreshed those precious memories from their first year, up to the last moment when their freshman regular took the championship at the last tournament for Seishun Gakuen. They got so nostalgic all of the sudden, and it was unevitable, now that when the new spring semester come, they wouldn't be entering the same school nor courts ever again.
Fuji knew Eiji so well, he knew that the redhead was blue because of that fact, since when they were still freshmen, they actually wouldn't worry about next year's new semester, for they would surely come back into those courts; where they first picked up balls, became regulars last year, and now the champions during their last year in junior high school. To cheer Eiji up, he put his hand on his shoulder. Eiji looked at him.
"To be honest, we won't be leaving Seigaku, will we, Eiji?"
Kikumaru blinked for a second, then returned his perky smile. "Oh sure sure," and pointed at a building not so far from their location. "That's the high school department, and I'm sure we can still smash in here to give Kaoru-chan some trouble next year, haha."
The brown-haired smiled at what his classmate had said, but he wondered to see Eiji's mood shifted suddenly and turned seriousy again.
"Na, Fuji.." Eiji did sound serious, so Fuji had to take his smile away for a while. "Even during our first year, we haven't settled a match, have we?"
This made the genius surprised. "T-That's all of the sudden..."
"I just remembered, after I mentioned trouble. I don't know. I'm suddenly random, sorry Fuji." And it was followed with a wink.
Fuji sighed for a while, and smiled again. "But you know what, you're right. The first one we had was, when I had to let go of my depression when Tezuka kept his injury to me. You weren't a club member yet, but still I persuaded you to enter the courts. I was about to show you my first counter I would show Tezuka when Nakashima-sempai showed up, scolding us afterwards."
"And that Nakashima-sempai was the reason why I had to join your club and wear this jersey myself!"
"You know, you have been a better sempai than him, Eiji. It's evident. Go ask Momo and Echizen if you're doubting."
Eiji held a small blush on his cheeks as he smiled with glee, facing his friend with sparkling deep blue eyes. "R-Really, Fuji!? That makes me proud of myself, then." He paused for a moment. "H-Hey, how did you know-"
Shusuke chuckled. "To be honest, I really don't know about it, not until you showed that unusual hidden rage when we spoke of Nakashima-sempai."
His hidden hatred to their old senior and his will to be a great sempai for his kohai to beat that Naka-yaro; there's nothing he could hide from his best friend, that's for sure.
Minutes had passed, Eiji had gone quiet again, Fuji noticed. From their situation, they were like in a general review of all of those years they had in junior high school, and the prodigy was a little surprised- Eiji was doing this with him. He followed his classmate's silence, as he refreshed that first day he met that perky Kikumaru Eiji at the school ground of Seishun Gakuen two years ago. They shared the same classroom, they shared the same sports, and later on they shared the same experiences within Seigaku Tennis Club. True that time do swift so fast, and here they are... on that usual room where regulars had their meetings, reminiscing old times.
"Fuji," it was almost a whisper, but Fuji was surprised with it. Without facing the guy beside him, Eiji straightened his stand from leaning, eyes still concentrated on the courts. "Setting Naka-yaro aside, you haven't said anything about what I've told you before."
"W-What's it, Eiji?"
Eiji smirked. "Settling a match with you."
This time, Fuji's eyes blinked. W-Was that.. a smirk...?
"W-Well," Fuji searched for words. "Y-Yah, you're right. After that Nakashima-sempai incident, we never matched up anymore. Even in the usual selection of regulars."
Eiji nodded to agree, but he wasn't ready to hear the next thing Fuji would say...
"I always ask Tezuka to do so..."
Eiji's jaw dropped. "Y-You... what?"
Fuji looked at Eiji, and nonchalantly repeated his phrase. The redhead grunted a low 'huh'.
"That's not funny, Fuji!"
"But it's true. Since..." and the genius returned his usual smile, "... I can never ever use my counters to you, so I might lose."
Eiji's eyes narrowed. "So, you mean weaklings don't deserve to be your opponent, I quite understand that, Fuji-ko."
True that Kikumaru looked so disappointed, but he suddenly smiled and put his hand over Fuji's shoulder. "Saa, let's go get some munch. I bet Momo-chin and Ochibi are already waiting!"
They did went out with Momoshiro and Echizen later, but as they walked going to that usual food chain, Fuji was at the other boys' back, eyes lingering at his happy friend while clinging at Echizen. He felt a little down. He lost a crutial moment to tell Eiji something since the acrobatic player already cut their conversation with a food call. Actually, he meant what he had told Eiji- that if they would be matched up against each other, he might get lost. It was not because Eiji is no match to him, or Tezuka is the only one who could make him crumple on the court.
The truth was...
... only to you I can lose... Eiji...
--
Within my heart, it's seems I'm so great that we have met
Like your unforgettable gentle smiles, it is craved within
Since I can't say "Thank you" while seeing your face
I just whispered it softly in the court
Author's Note: They're underlined words in here. Read these footnotes, hehe.
Naka-yaro: Naka-bastard. Since Eiji loves calling names, not only to his kohais and fellow seniors but also to his enemies. That's why I love him so much.
Fuji-ko: Just one of the few nicknames Fuji got from Eiji. And it sounded like a girl name, haha.