Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be mine. If it were mine, SANADA WOULD NOT HAVE TO FIGHT AGAINST YUKIMURA IN THE U-17 TRAINING CAMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A/N: Based off I Loved Her First by Heartland. You should probably listen to the song or at least read the lyrics to understand this. I thought that it would be interesting to see what Fuji's relatives thought on his and Tezuka's relationship and this song COMPLETELY fit. At first, it was just Yumiko, but then Yuuta entered the picture, and after that I just had to include Yoshiko-mommy.
NOT INCEST.
Yumiko saw through the crowds of tennis players gathered at the Fuji household for their New Year's party Syusuke on the porch with his captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu.
She gazed wistfully upon the pair standing beneath the moonlight, her brother smiling of elation and pure bliss and Tezuka gazing at him with undeniable adoration and love.
They took no heed of the commotion around them when Syusuke moved to lightly lay his head against Tezuka's shoulder and the latter wrapped an arm around the shorter boy's waist as they quietly swayed, their dance safe from prying eyes in the darkness that the shadows granted them.
Yuuta turned his head towards the window, drowning out the chatter of his teammates. He could see Syusuke dancing with Tezuka, the man who had somehow captured his elusive heart.
He let a frown cross his face. There had been a time when Syusuke loved him more than anything in the world. He couldn't help but remember when his brave aniki had defended him and wiped his tears away with a promise that Yuuta would always be number one in his heart.
He had always been such a liar.
And although he didn't show it, Syusuke also meant the world to him and long ago he had sworn to himself that if Tezuka should make aniki shed a single tear, he wouldn't hesitate to beat him down.
Yuuta would not stop his brother from being with Tezuka. It was what he wanted; although he knew it had not been what he had always wanted. Deep in his heart, he longed for their childhood days.
But life must move on.
Yoshiko glanced at the quiet scene taking place on the porch hidden by the trees. She smiled at the couple: Tezuka Kunimitsu, the ice block that her son melted, and Fuji Syusuke, the son that occupied such a large part of her heart that it was almost frightening.
As a mother, she knew that this was what Syusuke needed. Still, there were those memories of a small baby staring up at her with awed eyes as she held his small form in his arms, the beautifully innocent smile he had graced her with.
She was his mom and as his mom, would do anything for him, would love him more than anyone. She had sighed of relief when Tezuka came, a soul to love her son more than anything else and protect him from all the dangers of the world. It was a love different and so much more powerful than hers.
However, even if Tezuka loved Syusuke more than anyone would ever, Yoshiko loved him first.
Yumiko had always worried about whether her brother would ever deem someone worthy of his attention, let alone his love. Someone like Syusuke would only love once and if that did not work out, it would be all over.
She didn't think she could bear to see him being raised into the heavens only to be crashed cruelly down to earth.
So when Tezuka was introduced into their story, Yumiko had never appreciated anyone else so much in her life. The tarot cards weren't even needed for her to know that the tall captain was undoubtedly the one who would love Syusuke more than anyone else could ever dream of.
But when the time came, she found it so unbelievably hard to let go.
A sister's love was different than any other love in the world. It was caring like a mother's love, protective like a brother's love, but it was also understanding and accepting on an incredible level. So when Yumiko had to release Syusuke's hand and send him out of that protecting love and into the arms of one who saw him in a completely different way, it was understandably the hardest thing she had ever done in her life.
Because she loved him first.
Yoshiko caught sight of Tezuka and Syusuke perched on the roof while everyone sat down on the front lawn to witness the fireworks and found the sight unreal.
Could that person, gentle features illuminated by the multicolored sparks, really be the same Syusuke who had demanded to be read a fairytale before bed? Deep inside, she missed that little boy who told his mommy everything and trusted her more than anyone else in the world. But now he didn't need to be tucked in every night, extra tight on the right side just because that was how Syusuke was, didn't need to be comforted by her hugs because he had someone else to go to.
Yuuta knew from the first time he saw the buchou and tensai together that, as cheesy as it might sound, they were meant to be together.
That time was back in first year when he and his brother were still on relatively good terms and those two were just acquaintances who were both consequently very good at tennis.
Possibly he knew that Syusuke would be taken away then. There was something deeper than deep between them that simply could not have been ignored. And they had acted on it.
Now Yuuta saw the love it had blossomed into as those two kissed at the end of the midnight countdown. It was beautiful, it was soulful, and it was everything that a romance should be. He could only hope that someday he would find something as glorious.
But as brothers, their love was brilliant too.
When they were young, Yuuta would always crawl in beside his brother in bed when it was raining and aniki, in return, would wrap his arm around him in a comforting hug without any questions.
And although he would no longer be there to hug during storms anymore, there would always be a place just for him in Yuuta's heart.
Yumiko had been there when Syusuke was born.
The young 10 year old girl had held her breath as she clutched her daddy's hand while her mother gave birth. She was there for his first breath—the moment he had come into the world.
When he was an infant, Syusuke had been a quiet baby. Not crying much, not whining much. Yumiko was worried that he didn't like her. But one day she bandaged up a cut he had received from a paper cut and he smiled and opened his large blue eyes, strangely mature and understanding.
She loved him more than anyone else. He was her little brother, one of the sweetest, kindest, most tender people in the world. How could she not?
Yuuta was actually glad that Syusuke had found Tezuka.
At first he thought that it was because someone could keep him busy so that he wouldn't tease him relentlessly anymore. But later on, he realized that Syusuke hadn't been as happy as he could've been until he had come into his life.
Of course Syusuke completely loved his family. But Tezuka Kunimitsu brought him to a new level of euphoria, one that could only be reached with a certain type of love.
Long ago he had accepted that his aniki was no longer, in a way, his anymore. It had been one of the most depressing revelations he had come to in his short life.
But he realized after that Syusuke would still be there, would still love him. Yuuta would still be important in his heart.
Because he had loved him first.
Yoshiko wondered at first if Tezuka was right for her son.
For so long, she had prayed that someone would come along to protect and love Syusuke when she could no longer. What she did not expect was for that someone to come in the form of a stoic, far too serious, captain of the Seigaku tennis club.
Knowing that it was someone so completely opposite her son, Yoshiko found herself holding onto Syusuke even tighter instead of letting go like she intended. Inside, she knew that she would react the same no matter who it was, but she wondered if Tezuka, whose life she knew revolved around tennis, wouldn't abandon her son.
Since his birth, she had taken it upon herself to become the perfect mother. Someone who would support, encourage, and accept. Up until now, she had been able to keep that title. She supported their relationship, and she encouraged their love, but she simply could not accept no matter how much she tried that Syusuke would be taken away, even if he would be so much happier there.
But she would, because she loved him.
Yumiko wondered if Syusuke and Tezuka would one day adopt a child. She looked down at her belly and thought warmly of the life she was carrying in her own body.
Maybe he would understand what it was like to have to give someone close and dear to you away to another who you know would treat that person better but being selfish, don't want to acknowledge.
She could imagine a life between those two. Sometime in the future, they would settle down quietly and peacefully, sometimes experiencing meaningless little squabbles, no doubt some scorn from society. Although neither was really a parent type (Syusuke was more of a loving big brother), maybe they would accept a child into their life and experience all the things that his family had experienced with him. Yumiko smiled and took in the scene of the two teenagers wrapped in each other's arms. It would be beautiful.