Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, it belongs to Konomi.
Author's Note: Wow, it has been awhile (literally) since I updated anything on fanfiction. This is a Ootori-centric that includes a lot of Shishido. So it focuses mainly on the Silver Pair after middle school. It is mildly angsty, so yeah...
Anyways I hope you enjoy it. I started this in 2007 and finished it finally in 2009 (it sat in my computer for 2 years).
Please read and review!
By the way, it is from Ootori's point of view since it is a bit confusing.
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Unchanging Melody
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Trust had never been an issue in their relationship.
Trust was a word they never used. He never asked him if he 'trusted him'. Trust was something they both knew. No words needed to be spoken. It was just a melody, forever singing in their hearts. A simple glance was all that he needed to know that Shishido trusted him. And a single glance was all Shishido needed to know that he trusted him. Trust was something he valued, but never knew how precious it was.
Until now.
Now, the pitch perfect melody was breaking.
The first error.
The first doubt he had, Shishido was fading from him. Shishido was in high school now, while he was one grade below him, stuck in crummy junior high. Shishido knew more people, and talked about new things, Shishido talked about people and places he didn't know. And Shishido didn't notice it either, he went on and on. Droned on and on, but being the polite boy he was, he said nothing to make Shishido angry. But his heart was screaming to tell him that he didn't care about what he was interested in.
The first error in their melody.
Tennis was something they both enjoyed, they both loved. Tennis was something they both strived to be the best at together. Not separately, not individually. Together, they wanted to reach the top, the peak of tennis as a pair. To be the best doubles players in Japan, they cringed to think farther than that. Being the best was one thing, but being the best at something was another. Shishido and him only wanted to excel at tennis, but still retain a sense of humbleness. As long as they were together, they were fine. So when Shishido told him that he was quitting tennis altogether, he was surprised. But more scared, for the person he relied on wouldn't let him lean on his shoulder. He felt that his lifeline had floated away into the dark stormy seas. That happened when they were both in high school. He realized now that it was the turning point of their relationship. They were in high school, they knew the same people, yet they still walked away from each other, not closer. It was the first time he felt insecure.
Tennis was the second mistake. The mistake that led to more mistakes in their flawless melody.
More fights came after tennis. They bickered more, they argued more. Shishido once called him a sissy, and he was too paralyzed to retort. Shishido had been mean to him. All the other little arguments meant nothing, for Shishido never mentioned that he was more feminine than he, himself was. But now he mentioned it. The thing was that what he said was true. He was a sissy, a good for nothing sissy who could only play tennis. He quit tennis the next day; he wasn't a regular so no one cared. In fact, none of the regulars in middle school had even made the high school team. Atobe didn't make it either, and switched to a foreign school in France.
Everyone had changed. And no matter how much he tried to deny it, he was changing too. The soft white hair he had was still the same, but he was lankier, taller, and looked as if someone stretched him even more than he already was. He didn't look as feminine as before, but he still had the kind eyes and the 'angelic' smile. Yet, his personality changed more than his physical appearance. He was more quiet than he was in junior high. More reserved and indifferent. He was becoming another person. Someone that he wished he wasn't becoming, but had no control over his feeble human mind to stop this change.
He no longer became the Ootori Choutarou that people once knew, and Shishido Ryou had changed as well.
That was the third error.
They both had matured and become separate of each other. The once harmonious middle schoolers were no longer a pair in tennis, much less friends. They were not the 'Silver Pair', now they were Shishido Ryou and Ootori Choutarou. Two separate people that now pretended that the other did not exist.
It was sad to admit, but other than tennis, they had nothing in common. Shishido was almost the exact opposite of himself in everyway possible. He was tall and lanky, and sometimes could make a klutz out of himself in any sport other than tennis. Shishido was cool in a sense, and although he was not the best, he was better than average at most sports. Shishido could adapt. No matter how stubborn the brown haired boy was, he adjusted to whatever situation he was in, whether he liked it or not.
And Shishido made him adapt to certain situations. Without Shishido, he felt lost and unable to find left from right. He had little friends due to his shy nature, and the girls that were interested in him soon became bored by his dull personality. If Shishido was still here, he would have pushed him to make those girls interested or helped with his shyness with his encouraging words. Yet, he settled in, despite the fact that Shishido wasn't here. It was not the way he wanted to fit in, but it was a way nevertheless.
And when he thought things couldn't get worse, it did.
The fourth error was love.
It was always something he wanted to experience in life. No matter what people said in high school about Shishido and him being gay, they weren't. He liked girls and so did Shishido. Yet, he never experienced love. Girls talked to him, but never did he ask them out and the most the happened between him and the opposite sex was a kiss. From his sister that is.
He thought the same for Shishido, but one day he saw the familiar boy with a black-haired girl. Something within him tinged. He nearly felt that he lost control of his body. He felt like screaming that day and shaking Shishido to tell what happened to them. That bitter black within him was spreading, and he knew what it was.
Jealousy.
He was jealous of the girl. For the fact that she could talk to his partner so casually, that they could communicate. That she could do the things that he never could do anymore.
And, thus he was tinged with jealousy because of his love for Shishido, which was due to Shishido's love with another.
It was not that he lusted for Shishido, but that he felt empty and alone without him. He just wanted to resolve their issues. But he knew that if he ever went near Shishido, the response he would get would be, 'Didn't we move on?' And thus, their melody was broken again.
There were so many errors after that, one after another. They dulled the sounds of the pitch perfect melody; they made the euphonical tone different with their whimsical noises. They tainted the melody, those errors did, and he hated it. And he couldn't stop it.
The last major error was graduation.
He saw Shishido walk down the aisle with a rough grin that spelled out victory. He saw his former doubles partner grab that crisp, white certificate that told of his accomplishments. Amidst the happiness and tearful cries coming from exuberant parents, he felt depressed. No longer would he even be able to see his former best friend.
He felt his heart sinking that day. Not just from sadness, but from shame. The once close bond they had was dissolved in less than 2 years. No longer could they just stare into each other's eyes to know that they both were singing the same tune, that they were something closer than friends or lovers. They were almost one. They were the Silver Pair.
Yet a pair consisted of two people, not one, so it was impossible to consider them one person. And he did not realize it at the time; he had been innocent enough to think they could be together in that unchanging situation. But it changed, it was dissolved, and he was frantically trying to pick up the pieces.
By doing nothing but watching them grow further apart.
Now that faint piano song that was made was forever finished. It was imperfect, full of blunders due to the mistakes made by both of them. But it still sang in both their hearts. It would never go away, and the mistakes were part of the melody now.
It was unchanging and still sang within both of them.
A small tear fell down his cheek when he realized that fact. That it was something that held them apart no matter how small it was, and he joined in the clapping for the graduation of the 3rd years. He ignored the bystanders, the crying mothers who had smiles on their faces, and focused his eyes on Shishido. And then he realized that the latter was gazing back at him also.
It was just a melody, forever singing in their hearts.
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I hope I did a good job on capturing their relationship. It was rather depressing to write this...I hope I did the Silver Pair justice.
Anyways, thanks for the inspiration guys. I felt like coming back after a long time to write...and to those of you still reading Slow (about Oshitari Kenya from Shitenhouji) I'll update it soon (hopefully).
Please comment!