Disclaimer: I absolutely do not own Prince of Tennis. I am just borrowing Takeshi Konomi's characters for entertainment purposes.
Title: "So Long" – Oshitari's point of view
Story: Multi Chapter
Chapter 1: "One Loss"
Author: sweetxsorrow27
Rating: PG (for now)
Summary/FYI: Basically this is after the Kantou tournament when Yuushi and Gakuto suffer their first loss together. Short and sweet! This chapter is PG, but yaoi is definitely implied and will be shown later on (hence rating). Also I have no idea how long this story will drag out (reviews will determine that).
Pairing: slight Oshitari Yuushi X Mukahi Gakuto


Unbelievable. That was the only word out of the entire English dictionary that came to mind. Across the net it angered me much more than it should have to see Seigaku celebrating their 1st win in the Kantou tournament. How could we – the dirty pair of Hyoutei – have lost to this makeshift pair…no, this 3 men doubles?

"Unbelievable," I felt myself mutter out to no one in particular as I glanced over at my tired red-headed partner. The acrobatic player looked over at me and I could easily see the disappointment in his eyes through his fake smile.

"Next time Yuushi," he said in between his pants in a soft voice, but I knew.

"Yeah…we'll win next time," I agreed, partially lying to my partner as I walked over to him and put my hand on his back. I lead Gakuto off the courts knowing full well that we wouldn't be playing doubles with each other again. It was the rule of Hyoutei that the weak got weeded out, which is what nearly happened to Shishido when the other third year loss to Tachibana in the Tokyo preliminaries. However I didn't think that we have a chance of getting off so luckily. Hell, we had just delivered the team their first loss in one of the biggest matches to a high competitor.

I pushed my glasses up on the bridge of my nose as I subtly passed a glanced at the kantoku. The 43 year old music teacher didn't look too pleased. Sakaki-sensei threw a sneer in my direction which demanded that we talk later. I was positive that the look Sakaki-sensei gave me couldn't be good and I was glad that my usual upbeat partner – or soon to be ex partner – didn't see, since it would only make him feel worse.

I pulled my gaze away from Sakaki-sensei to glance at Choutarou and Shishido making their way to the courts to begin their doubles game. While I watched them play nicely together I wondered if the kantoku would just pair us up different or have us play singles. With Gakuto's acrobatic tennis play I knew that he couldn't play singles well, therefore it would leave me to play in singles. Although thinking about the new possibilities in doubles caused an upset shudder to briefly course through my body.

Truthfully I do care about Gakuto plenty more than I let anyone know, so of course it pissed me off even more than I already was and I assumed Gakuto noticed because the next thing I knew, he was standing directly at my side. "Yuushi," he whispered, pushing himself up on to his toes so that he could get closer to speak softly in my ear, which only caused him to stumble into my side. "Are you okay?"

I looked down at the shorter boy with my not so usual serious face. "Come on," I replied, unconsciously dropping an arm around the concerned boy's waist. I lead him away from Hyoutei and away from the current game. We needed to talk alone so that I could break the news to Gakuto before Sakaki-sensei harshly did it.

Once I brought him around the back of the courts, I released my delicate hold on the boy and sighed heavily. "Gakuto…" I began, prepared not to sugar-coat anything. It would probably be better if I just came right out with it. "I won't be playing doubles with you again." I mentally slapped myself once I saw the look my words brought to the others face.

"Why? What did I do?" Gakuto questioned immediately blaming himself.

"We lost," I said, putting a large emphasis on the word 'we'. "Do you honestly believe that Sakaki-sensei is going to let us continuing to play together?"

Without warning I felt a burning, stinging sensation reach my cheek. My hand instinctively rose to make slight contact to the hot skin where the red headed just slapped me. "Why…?" Gakuto repeated again, more as a rhetorical question. Maybe it would have been easier to be nice to the younger boy. But what good would lies or false hope do for either of us? Gakuto deserved to hear the truth straight out.

It stayed quiet between the two of us – excluding Gakuto's muffled crying and the cheering from the large Hyoutei – for a while until the other finally caved in and spoke. "I'm sorry," he whimpered, letting himself fall forward to bury his face in my polo.

I wrapped my arms around the shorter male, letting my eyes slip close. "Yeah…me too."


AN: Eh...sorry if this chapter kind of sucked. One: I wrote it after I got back from an anime convention so I was a bit tired. And two: I could not think of an ending that wouldn't drag on and this was the best that I could think of. But please rate and review none the less. I'm open for criticism…hopefully positive feedback though. XD