Hello anybody reading this! Well, as promised, here's Critical Beat! The (not so) long awaited sequel to Trivial Pulse! I had planned to wait a little while in between the two stories (To write some one-shots for my other account) but I simply couldn't stay away from my dearest Ayumu for too long! Anyway... Hopefully future chapters will be longer than this, but here's chapter one! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer- I do not own Prince of Tennis, or it's characters, But I do own a few of the characters in this story (and if you're a true P.O.T. Fan, you'll know which ones they are without having to think about it).

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Ayumu Tezuka didn't know the feeling thundering through him. Well, yes, he knew what it was, but the feeling itself was entirely foreign to him. His thundering heart, slightly seating palms, and the pulsing in his back as his wings begged to be released were each individually familiar to him, but when you put them together, they created something entirely different compared to what he was used to feeling. This new emotion, which seemed to be primarily nervousness, was like a new creature, rearing it's head on him and threatening to swallow him whole. Still, none of what Ayumu felt showed in his expression at all.

That was his major problem: not being able to properly express himself. Perhaps if he could, someone would see how he was feeling and explain to him what he should do. At the same time, however, Ayumu feared someone figuring out how he was feeling, because with his luck, that person would be him, the one person whom he really didn't want to find out. There would be no way he could face school ever again if he found out about his feelings. That would simply be disastrous.

So, he held his breath and kept his arms set to his side as he passed, not allowing any emotion onto his face as he tried to keep his wings under control. They were twitching horribly with the close proximity and his out of control emotions, but he could do nothing about it for the next five minutes, or until practice was over. Atsuko gave him a knowing smile from where she stood, chattering with her friends about all the 'hot' tennis players at their school, but he knew as well as she did that she didn't really know what was going on.

She had an idea, of course, but he seriously doubted that she knew everything. She knew that he was itching to get out of there, to fly as high as he could possibly go and feel the wind in his hair and on his face, but she didn't know why, other than the fact that they were nearly out of school and they always went flying at the 'Trivial Property' after school. She would never know, and probably never believe, that he was in love.

With a certain Sora Noboru, vice captain of the tennis club, and a junior.

It worried him, because he had learned from his parents and from Eiji-oji-san that Positives only fell in love once. So, that left him with two answers to his predicament: either, A) he wasn't really in love (Taka-oji-san had explained to him that crushes could happen more than once) or B) he was fated to remain lonely for the rest of his life. After all, what were the chances of the person you loved loving you back? Especially when that person was the same gender as you...

No one would no it from looking at him, but he was genuinely depressed at both of those possibilities. He wanted the think, no, he knew that he was in love with Noboru-senpai. There was no doubting it. When he had first started feeling this way, he had gone to the one person he could trust not to either judge, over-react or tell his parents. Oshitari-sensei.

Though Oshitari-sensei was not really one of his parents' best friends, the college professor had been kind to him when he was very young, still living on the Trivial Property. He and Atsuko had developed much faster mentally than normal children, this he knew, but Yuushi Oshitari had never treated him differently, and in fact had treated him as a near-equal when he began holding mental conversations with him. His parents had his respect, Taka-oji-chan had his deep trust, and Ryoma-oji-chan was his help with everything considering his power, but Oshitari-sensei... No one was ever able to answer his questions quite as insightfully as Oshitari-sensei. Gakuto-chan (And Gakuto insisted that he call his that, something about Mukahi-san being his father, if Ayumu recalled correctly) was also always very kind to him, never treating him like a nuisance when he stole Oshitari-sensei away from up to hours at a time.

Actually, Ayumu suspected that Gakuto-chan was actually grateful to him, because with their little two-year-old and Oshitari-sensei (who could act just like a small child if he wanted to, Ayumu had seen it himself) to take care of, he was sure that Gakuto-chan could become very tired out sometimes if not given a break. Ayumu sighed to himself as he thought about his last visit to see Oshitari-sensei, which was, consequently, the time he had spoken about his feelings for his senpai.

"Ayumu-kun?" Yuushi greeted with a small smile on his lips. "To what do I owe this--"

Ayumu rarely interrupted, or talked for that matter, but this time he did, "Sensei, I think I'm in love."

Yuushi's eyes looked amused, and he moved in the doorway to let Ayumu enter. "Gakuto and little Narumi are out grocery shopping, and Gakuto made me stay here." Yuushi pouted a bit at this. Ayumu figured that Yuushi had been pestering him about some 'stupid tensai thing', as Gakuto would have so eloquently put it. "So, we have plenty of time to talk. Come."

Ayumu followed patiently into a familiar sitting room, sitting across from the older man at a low table. Both of them sat formal style, both very used to this and never making anything too casual unless the situations called for it. Yuushi smiled kindly at him, and Ayumu took it as a sign to continue speaking.

("I think I'm in love,") He told him telepathically. Yuushi interrupted him before he could continue.

"Ayumu, this is a very important matter, can't you speak out loud?"

("I can't. I'll stutter and it won't come out right. That's what happens whenever I try to talk about him or to him.") Ayumu admitted this with a slightly ashamed expression. A normal person wouldn't see it, but Yuushi had been studying his emotional faces for all of the (nearly) twelve years of his life, and he recognized it instantly.

"I see. Go ahead and continue then."

("I just... I really think that I love him, Sensei.")

"How do you feel around him?"

("Warm,") was Ayumu's immediate answer, but then he thought about how to explain it in a way that actually made sense, ("At ease, but nervous. I'm constantly at ends with myself about it. I want to talk to him, but I can't do it. Not like the way I can't talk well with other people, like I know what to say, and yet I get so nervous about saying the wrong thing, I get all tongue-tied. And then I end up just giving him short answers and I think that he thinks I hate him.")

Yuushi looked at him thoughtfully. "Your hand feel sweaty, and you can't think about anything but him?"

"Exactly," Ayumu said it out loud this time, feeling a bit less nervous now that the main part of his problem was out in the open. Yuushi looked at him with an expression that Ayumu couldn't understand, and he wasn't about to listen to Yuushi's thoughts unbidden.

"Well, Ayumu, I can't tell you whether you're in love or not," Ayumu felt distraught, though he doubted anyone would know from looking at his stoic expression. Yuushi continued, placing a hand on Ayumu's head in a comforting gesture, "No one can really tell you if you're in love or not, you'll have to figure out for yourself."

"... Thank you, Oshitari-sensei," Ayumu said, and stood up before bowing.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Yuushi asked pleasantly, "I'm sure Gakuto and Narumi would love to see you."

Ayumu shook his head. "I should go home." Yuushi walked him the door and with a 'Goodbye, Sensei', Ayumu was gone.

"Tezuka-kun?"

The voice snapped him out of his reverie and he looked up at the object of many of his dreams lately, his eyes only a slight fraction wider because of his surprise. Sora Noboru looked down at him with a slightly curious expression. "Are you okay, Tezuka-kun? You've been spacing out this entire time," he chuckled, "More than usual, I mean."

"I'm fine," Ayumu said quietly standing up from where he had been leaned back against the fence, not daring to take the hand Sora offered to him. Chocolate-brown eyes regarded him with a curious glimmer, but Sora said nothing. Surely, by now, he was used to Ayumu acting cold towards him. Ayumu wouldn't know, as, like his father, Sora's mind was blocked of to him. He didn't understand it, but at the same time he was grateful for it, because hearing Sora's thoughts about how he disliked him or about how he liked some random girl around school would hurt too much. It wasn't really Ayumu's fault that he had to be cold towards him though, was it? No, not at all. Even if Ayumu could talk to people in a normal fashion, there was no way that he could be comfortable with Noboru-senpai, and touching his hand would definitely make his already throbbing wings erupt from his back.

And that would be simply disastrous. To not only have Sora hate him, but have him think about him as a freak... It would mean the end of his world.

"You should go change," Sora suggested, and Ayumu nodded, not daring to look into those captivating eyes.

"Hai, Fukubuchou," Ayumu answered, and headed back towards the locker rooms. When he finished changing, Atsuko was outside waiting for him. She smiled when she saw him and offered her hand for him to take. No matter how old they got, this habit never seemed to have left them: holding hands as they walked home. So, he took the hand offered to him and they walked home, Ayumu listening as his energetic sister chattered about her day with reckless abandon. It made Ayumu want to smile and cry at the same time.

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Shusuke Tezuka watched his children as they flitted through the sky, a mix of feathers and flesh against a darkening sky. Having had enough flying himself, he merely stood beside his husband, watching the twins with one thought on his mind.

"Ayumu is acting strangely, don't you think?" He asked softly, a thoughtful look on his face. Kunimitsu glanced at him with an unreadable expression before turning back to watch as Ayumu pulled out of a deep dive, much deeper than he would have usually gone.

"He is," Kunimitsu agreed, "But we can do nothing until he comes to us."

Shusuke pouted. "It's so depressing, it seems it was just yesterday that they were calling me 'Mama' and telling me everything."

"There's nothing wrong with them deciding to call you 'Daddy', Shusuke," Kunimitsu reprimanded in a gentle voice, "And they have to grow up at some point."

Shusuke sighed. "I know, but---" Shusuke's own gasp cut off his statement as he saw Ayumu suddenly fall out of the sky.

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Atsuko watched in horror as her twin brother simply closed his eyes and began to fall, with increasing speed, towards the ground. Black wings wrapping around his pale body, Ayumu plummeted downwards without seeming to even be conscious of it. No, it was as if he was unconscious. Atsuko dived forward, calling out his name, but no reaction came from her brother and he was falling, falling much too quickly for her to catch up, and even if she did, what were the chances she was strong enough to stop him and still stay in the air herself? Just before her worries became too much, she saw her father sweep in and take the young boy into his arms, dark wings beating strongly, rustling the grass on the too-close-for-comfort ground. Shusuke was then by Kunimitsu's side, placing a nearly-feminine looking hand on Ayumu's forehead.

"He's burning up," He said, looking worried, though he tried to keep it from showing for Atsuko's state.

"He was acting kind of strangely today," Atsuko fidgeted, feeling guilty for not noticing her brother's currently-weak state. "And his hand was so cold."

"Don't feel bad, 'Suko-chan," Shusuke smiled at his daughter kindly, "It's not your fault, you know."

Atsuko nodded, though she didn't look very convinced.

"I'll take him home," Kunimitsu said, looking incredibly calm for someone holding their unconscious-could-have-died son. "You should call Dr. Hatchett." Shusuke answered with a quiet 'yes', and then Kunimitsu took off in the direction of their house.

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"Physically, other than the fever and some exhaustion, he's perfectly healthy," Dr. Hatchett said, looking slightly troubled. "The only thing I can really think of would lack of sleep, possibly due to stress." He sighed, rubbing his temples softly, "To be honest, it's not very surprising. Ayumu-kun keeps everything inside, even if he's not really meaning too. That results in stress, and stress can attack the body when left to build."

"We'd... Noticed that something was going on," Shusuke admitted, "But we can't talk to Ayumu unless he talks to us about it first. It's his life, and even if it's his health..."

"He would never tell us," Kunimitsu said resolutely, "Not if we asked him directly.

Ayumu closes up when he feels threatened."

"Nya... Maybe," Eiji, who had come over when he heard that Ayumu was sick, cut in, "It has to do with the Critical Beat."

The others looked at him with blank expressions and Eiji fumed adorably.

"You know what I'm talking about!" He insisted, and looked surprised when no one answered him or even looked as if the answer had dawned on them. "You know, the Critical Beat! When you meet that one person you love, that one person we positives ever get the chance to meet, and your heart's all THUMP! THUMP! 'Critical Beat', I thought it was obvious."

Shusuke refrained from mentioning that Eiji shouldn't simply make up terms and expect other people to understand, because he realized that his best friend might be on to something. "Little Ayumu... In love..."

"It's possible," Kunimitsu nodded. "Ayumu wouldn't know what to do if he started feeling like that for someone, even if it was just 'like' that he was dealing with."

"He would want to know if it were love or not for sure before doing anything about it..." Fuji continued. "So, certainly he would ask someone, but never us, so..."

It hit all four of them at the same time and with different levels of emotion, they all said, "Oshitari."

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"Ayumu-kun came to me in confidence," Yuushi said calmly, once more repeating what he had said many times before to those over the phone. "He trusts me not to reveal what we talked about, and I will not."

"Please, Oshitari-san," Shusuke's voice sounded tired over the phone, "For the sake of his health. He passed out while in the air today. Even Dr. Hatchett is saying that it might be stress related. Wouldn't you want to know if it were your little Narumi who could have been hurt?"

Images of his little girl, sweet and Gakuto-like in appearance, with his bat wings and Gakuto's soft, snow white rabbit ears. Thoughts of his baby girl being hurt were nearly physically painful, and for several moments, Yuushi battled with himself about telling them what Ayumu had told him, not even a week ago, about this mysterious, unnamed boy at his middle school. Still, Ayumu trusted him not to reveal the subjects of there talks to anyone else, and he would not shatter that trust (as Ayumu's trust was rare and hard to receive in the first place) now, when he had been told something that could very well shape the rest of the young half-bird's life.

"Ask Ayumu," He said, and could almost see Shusuke's disappointment, "Don't ask directly, but ask him if he's okay. If he wants to tell you, he will. I will not tell you what he confided in me, unless this health pattern continues.

"... Alright, Goodbye, Oshitari-san."

"Goodbye." And hung up with a sigh.

Warm arms wrapped around him as a petite body pressed itself against his back. He smiled slightly as he placed his hand on Gakuto's hands, clasped comfortably on his stomach, and whispered a quiet "Thank you".

"I love you," Gakuto replied.

"I know," Yuushi chuckled when Gakuto dug his sharp little nails into his stomach. "I'm only joking," he assured him. "I love you, too."

He turned then, lowering his mouth to Gakuto's and they kissed leisurely for a few moments. When they parted, Gakuto gave him a devious looking grin. "Narumi's asleep and I'm not tired at all," he said suggestively.

"Perhaps you should go to bed anyway," Yuushi teased, but just before Gakuto could pull him down for another, more heated kiss, a baby cried in the other room, causing them both to separate.

Gakuto was peeved, as anyone could see simply by looking at his face. Still, as he followed Yuushi into the nursery and saw his hold their baby girl, everything was fine.

It was worth it.

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When Ayumu woke, it was dark outside. He was confused by the fact that he was in his bed, when the last thing that he remembered was the wind whipping through his hair as he flew around the grounds at the Trivial Property. His parents and Atsuko were there... And Atsuko and he were doing aerial stunts near the lake, Kunimitsu and Shusuke watching... He had just pulled out of a very deep dive (deeper than he had meant to go, because his thoughts were so full of a certain sempai of his) and then... Nothing. He couldn't remember anything after that.

"Papa?" He reached out with his mind, as his head felt too heavy to actually get up. Kunimitsu was in there with him nearly immediately. "What happened?"

"You passed out," Kunimitsu told him softly, running his fingers delicately over his young son's forehead. "Who are you feeling?"

"... I've been better," Ayumu admitted. "My head hurts, and I'm hungry, but I'll be okay."

"We saved you some dinner," Kunimitsu wisely didn't mention that none of the rest of them had been able to eat, having been so nervous about Ayumu's condition. "Do you want me to heat it up for you?"

Ayumu nodded. "What..." he shook his head, resulting in mild pain, "What time is it?"

"Nine thirty," Kunimitsu answered, and then left the room to retrieve the food. Immediately, Shusuke was in the room and at his side, looking concerned.

"Ayumu, how are you? Your head hurts, doesn't it? Do you want me to take it away for you?" Ah, right. Shusuke could feel the pain of those he had taken pain from before. Of course he knew his head hurt.

"No thank you, Mama," he said, adding the 'mama' just to see Shusuke smile. "I'll be fine."

It was one of the longer sentences Shusuke had ever heard the little blue-eyed boy say, so he did not persist, merely watched as Kunimitsu brought the food and Ayumu clapped his hands together softly, whispering, "Itadakimasu."

Before his son actually started to eat, however, Shusuke put a hand on the small wrist and said, "You know you can always talk to us, right, Ayumu?"

"Of course," Ayumu said, the very smallest of smiles on his face.

'It's true, I can tell them anything,' Ayumu thought to himself as he began to eat slowly, savoring the curry they had brought him, 'Anything but this.'

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Chapter Art-

Don't expect this every time, I'll only do it when I feel like it. Still, here is a picture for this chapter. Of Ayumu, when he is falling from the sky. Just remove the spaces!

http:// img222 . Imageshack . Us / img222 / 5522 / imag0053zi9 . jpg