Title: Shinjitsu no Bara [The Rose of Truth]
Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi. I am in no way gaining any profit from the writing of this, nor will I claim that I own any of the characters mentioned, unless it is specified that they are characters I have crafted in order to make the plot work.
Yukimura smiled, bemused, at the rose on his desk. It wasn't that he had never received one before - he was the captain of Rikkaidai's tennis team, after all - but he mostly beautiful, perfect flowers that were wrapped up in a plastic or tissue of some kind. This one, however, was a little withered, and the thorns hadn't been clipped. Gently, he picked it up, bringing it to his nose, inhaling its fragrance and smiling to himself.
"You seem to like this particular rose, Seiichi," Yanagi commented, appearing suddenly outside his captain's classroom. "You normally just place them in your bag."
Laughter bubbled from Yukimura's throat. "This one seems more sincere, I guess."
"Another one, buchou?"
Yukimura turned to his black haired junior, who grinned at him. He ran to the table upon receiving permission to do so, eyes widening at the number of flowers on the desk. There, lying horizontally in a row on the table, were right blossoms. "Whoa! Buchou, do you know who this is? They must really, really like you!"
Turning back to look at the flowers, Yukimura thought that this admirer had done a gery thorough job of finding out what he liked. Lifting a hand, he ran his hand along the blossoms lying innocently on his desk.
A yarrow. An undurra. A kingcup. An iris. A marigold. Another undurra. A rose. And lastly, an azalia.
He smiled.
Yukimura walked into class, glancing expectantly towards his desk. He wasn't disappointed. There were only seven flowers today, as opposed to yesterday's eight, but he was fine with that.
A sunflower. An edelweiss. An iris. Another iris. A carnation. A hibiscus. A last iris.
Yukimura grinned, and went to Rikkai's rooftop garden to retrieve a vase.
"Yukimura," Marui called, running towards his captain while blowing a bubble with his apple-flavoured gum. "You've got a message on the rooftop garden."
Smiling softly, Yukimura thanked the volleyist, and went up to the roof. "Today I will find out who you are..."
A sunflower. An azalea. A narcissus. Another azalea. A daisy. A final azalea.
Giggling like a girl, Yukimura gathered the flowers into his arms.
"Hello," Yukimura said, leaning against the lockers, arms folded. "Thank you for the flowers."
The tall figure turned, and Yukimura lifted his right hand, pointing a pale finger at the mass of flowers littered, seemingly randomly on the clubroom floor.
A lone iris.
A lavender. An orchid. A violet. An edelweiss.
A yarrow. Another orchid. An undurra.
A tulip. An orchid. Another orchid.
A sunflower. An azalea. A narcissus. Another azalea. A daisy. An azalea.
A gardenia. An edelweiss. Another narcissus. An iris. A carnation. A hibiscus. Another iris. A rose. An orchid. Another undorra.
The figure took a little longer to look at the flowers, not as familiar with flowers as Yukimura was, but when he finally managed to identify all the flowers, he let out a rare grin, seiftly walking towards the bluenette and picking him up by the waist.
"I love you, Yukimura Seiichi," He sighed, spinning the captain in a round before setting him gently down on the ground, nuzzling affectionately into blue, wavy locks.
Laughing gleefully, Yukimura went to pick the flowers up, arranging them before walking back to his - now - lover. "I love you, too. But may I keep these? Since I doubt you'd want them."
Another soft smile, and he nodded. "Of course."
Yukimura, eyes shining brilliantly, took that tanned, calloused palm into his own and pulled his lover out of the clubroom, and into the sunlight.
"Shall we go, Sanada Genichirou."
"Aa."
OMAKE:
"Genichirou?"
"Hm?"
"Did you know I'm allergic to half of the flowers you gave me?"
"..."
"Just kidding, Genichirou."
Well, there it is. The one with a happy ending. I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Reviews are greatly appreciated, as always.
Did you get the clue like Yukimura did, I wonder?