Espionage 101


Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of tennis or any of its characters. I only wish I could so that I could make Fuji mine : P….but sadly wishing is only for dreamers and dreams are far from every becoming real so my self-declared possession of Fuji Syuusuke can only reach the point of these stories.


A/N: Ahuh, minna, your delusional and head-over-heels in love author is back! Yup! So, this is In an Undercover Romance Revised version, and as warned in its predecessor, this story has a lot of OOCness both in Fuji and Sakuno. Well, as they say there are always different sides to a person and I wanted to feature some possibilities in changes of character when it came to my favorite love tandem, Fujisaku. Anyhow, this is the fruit of my pursuit and without further ado, enjoy!

PS: Oh, and yeah, don't get tricked by the Rui –Akari scene….They aren't OC's. If you want to know who they REALLY are…read more and find out. :D


Chapter One

Illusions


Breathing in the fresh scent of spring, the brunette tucked both his feet underneath his thighs as he sat in a squat underneath the cherry tree. He let the frame of his well built torso hidden underneath his kimono rest at the gnarly trunk of a sakura tree. Petals were raining down and fluttering in the light breeze that tingled his skin.

Sayuri.

Hmph. There was no doubt that the girl would want to have a few clumps in her vase right now.

"I'll give this to her," he eyed the sakura blossoms he held in his hand.

All of the sudden, just as he tucked the blossoms safely away in his sleeve, the brunette felt a cold hand rest on his shoulder.

An intruder!

On instinct, the newest member of the Royal Guard twisted the intruders arm in a jujutsu grapple that was bound to immobilize the person as he unsheathed his sword and pressed it against the intruder's throat underneath the cloak. He couldn't see the face underneath the brown, shady hood but the brunette was sure that this fool was up to no good.

The interloper snorted a chuckle and he felt the flame of anger surge across every inch of his body.

This fool dared to sneak up on him, Hanazawa Rui, hitoriki of Mibu?

Wrong choice.

If this impertinent buffoon thought he could get past him and harm his Sayuri then –

"Well, well. It seems you haven't lost your touch, Rui," a cold monotone female voice whispered from underneath the hood. The cerulean-eyed brunette let his grip on the intruder loosen and his sword fell on the ground point down as he watched two hands work down the hood to reveal the sharp green eyes of his sensei.

"Akara-sama!"

The young woman smirked as he took a step backwards, blue cerulean eyes widening a fraction as he realized his mistake.

"Hmm, it's good to know that you haven't forgotten me, Rui. I thought you would, after all, within just a two-week time period on this single assignment you've forgotten why you were sent to the Royal palace in the first place. You've changed Rui," Akara paced, circling like a vulture around him. " Would you care to explain why I needed to come and follow up on you Rui? Hmmm?"

Rui bent down to pick up his sword and sheathed it back to his side.

"Nothing in me has changed," his voice hardened at her accusation. "I am a hitoriki. An assassin, Akara-sama. You trained me myself. I cannot change."

"Is that so?"Akara paused for a moment. Her cold calculating eyes bore through him as she purposefully strode towards him and then stopped just a meter away.

"Yes."

Akara frowned.

"You lie!"

Several poison tipped kunias flew across him but Rui managed to dodge them in the nick of time. He could hear the thwacking of the blades as they sunk deep into the sakura tree that he had been standing in front of earlier and Rui cursed aloud.

"Haven't changed, huh?" muttered the deadly woman as she flung more kunai's into his direction. "Hmph. Let's see about that."

The rain of blades was endless but Rui managed to dodge some of them while batting away the others with his sword. Caught up in the moment, Rui left a point on his arm unguarded and a wheezing blade pinned his sword-arm to a tree behind him.

More kunais flew at him.

The blue-eyed assassin thought it was the end when he saw the blades head straight at him and he involuntarily closed his eyes. He winced, but when he didn't feel any pain, Rui opened them to find that instead of piercing him to death, the blades had outlined his entire form, pinning him wholly to the tree.

Helplessly he could only watch as Akara drew out her sandbatou – her favorite killing weapon – and headed towards the palace.

Oh no! Sayuri!

"Akara, I, I…..please….I'm begging you….don't, don't do this to Sayuri. The princess….she, she doesn't deserve to die. If you ever loved my brother at all, then please, stop this…." his voiced cracked as his head hung low.

Miraculously, Akara stopped right in her tracks and slowly turned to face him.

"What did you say?"

Rui bit his lips.

"Akara-sama…please…don't kill her….for my sake….for my brother's sake. Please."

Now Akara strode towards him instead of towards the palace, he sanbatou still in tow.

"See, look at you Rui. Look at how you've changed. You let her addle your brain Rui. Your mission was to kill her but last night you failed to do so," her cold voice was tainted in disappointment. "And why? For what reason? Because you started to love her. Her –Tsukinomi Sayuri – princess of our enemy! Are you that great of a fool, hmmm, Hanazawa Rui?"

His eyes lay fixed in the ground, but then she put the dull end of the sanbatou underneath his chin and lifted his face to make his cerulean orbs stagger into hers.

"Answer!"

Rui's mouth twitched.

"I, I …..Akara-sama…don't…"

"You are a fool," she declared, dropping her hold on his chin. She scowled. "And to think you used Haru's name in trying to convince me to show mercy on your little princess. Cheh. Using my husband's name to beg for her life, how pathetic! The old Hanazawa Rui never begged for mercy, much less for others. He was a true assassin to the end! Your brother would be ashamed!"

The brunette watched Akara lift her weapon in front of him and held his breath.

"Yes, Akara-sama, kill me, but please, I'm begging you! Don't kill her!"

Rui's heart fell when Akara's mouth twisted into a frown.

"No."

The blade came hurtling down on him. But instead of slashing through his abdomen as he had expected it to, the knife didn't cut through his flesh at all. The sanbatou had cut through both of the corners of his sleeves and freed his arms.

"Sensei?"

Akara's lips thinned. She continued to remove the kunais that were pinning him in silence as he stared at her in confusion.

"I'm doing this because of your brother," she muttered. Tugging him free of the last kunai, Akara dropped her poison-tipped knives back into her pouch and pulled the hood back up her head. "You should be grateful I came in to fill your mistakes and erase them. Sayuri-hime has already been taken care of. Make sure to never make the same mistake again Rui, or I will definitely kill you."

What?! Rui tried to grab hold of her but Akara had already jumped up a tree and disappeared just as quickly as she had come.

Adrenaline pumping through his body, Rui ran the other way towards the palace. If what she had said was true then – Oh kami! Please no!

His heart fell. On the floor, Sayuri's strongest and most trusted body guards lay dead.

"Sayuri!"

Rui tore out the shoji door and entered her room.

"Sayu- nani?" Rui froze, eyes on the open window. "Nani ka?"

The assassin continued staring at the open window, cerulean eyes lighting up in surprise.

"CUT! Cut, cut, cut! Okay people, that's a wrap! We'll redo the shoji scene tomorrow. Fuji, I need to talk with you NOW."

Instantly the supposedly empty room came to life. Props men appeared behind the set, cameramen turned their gadgets off and actors and actresses who had purposefully 'died' stood up again to be swarmed by their agents and make-up artists.

Everyone was leaving, and leaving in a rush too. Each person either had an errand to run to, an appointment to make or a schedule to keep up with.

It couldn't be helped; everyone was extremely busy – all except Fuji Syuusuke of course. He seemed to be in the exact opposite of 'busy' right now. The twenty-eight year old actor just stood where he had been standing earlier, dazed and confused.

"Fuji Syuusuke I said NOW." Growled the semi-bald director. He narrowed his eyes on the brunette and tapped his foot impatiently. "NOW!!"

Well, somehow that managed to grab the brunette's attention and Fuji snapped out of his daze.

"What?" he asked the director, albeit in a very cold manner.

Fuji's face as he did so was placid, expressionless. Ever since that day, the tensai had lost his smiles, both his sadistic facade of a grin and his true smile – the smile he had when she was still there in his life. There was no doubt that that day had changed his entire being. The sadism that defined him was nearly all but lost and all that was left of it was this jaded being, coated by a cool indestructible aura and a character of indifference.

Whether he cared to admit or not, the indifference was a handy tool sometimes, especially during moments like these…

"…..this move productions is supposed to be…..don't ruin it….you were hired here because….. – Fuji Syuusuke were you even listening?" roared the director.

Fuji ignored him and glanced around the set. He snickered when he noticed that they were the only two people left in the set; everyone had long gone out the door already.

The time on his watch read five minutes after ten.

Damn.

This idiot had just wasted five minutes of his day on a stupid lecture he did NOT need to hear. Sheesh.

"Baka," he muttered underneath his breath and walked away.

The director merely shook his head and followed the actor out the door. He couldn't expect to get rid of Fuji that easily over a trifling matter, or even expect him to listen when he wanted to say something. The cerulean eyed actor was the best gun he had – well the best actor Japan had, actually – and no one could put a finger on what he would do.

After all, Fuji was a perfectionist and this was the first time in the last six months on the movies set that he made a mistake while the camera was rolling. Yes, unbelievably, it was the first time Fuji Syuusuke needed to do a retake on a particular scene in the movie set and it was clear that the brunette did not want to make the same mistake again. Though he had barely listened to him, the semi-bald man was sure that Fuji already knew what went wrong in the shoji scene and knew how to fix it.

The director could see it in his eyes when the actor walked out on him.


"Shoji scenes….movie directors….retakes…..Ugh. They are really taunting me to give them a taste of their own medicine," Fuji grumbled as he walked to his own dressing room.

"Seems like you're not having a very good day, are you, honey?"

Oh great.

Another big bummer to his life – the real person behind the movie character Sayuri-hime – also known as Sanatsu Minichi, evil in its purest form.

What was she up to this time?

Dressed up in nothing but a black bra and very lacey thong, the extremely controversial actress batted her eyelashes seductively at him. She was posing in front of his dressing room door and her hand beckoned him to come closer.

Fuji knew better than to take the bait.

Whipping a camera from out of nowhere, Fuji snapped a photo and smirked smugly as she looked at him, shocked.

"I – but – ugh …" she stuttered.

"Sanatsu, I'm not a simpleton like you. If your boyfriend Riki really wants to ruin my career that badly; he'd have to come up with better ways other than having you try to seduce me," he growled as he pushed her out of his way.

Opening the trailer room door, Fuji stepped in and shut the door behind him.

Hopefully that would get rid of that idiot Sanatsu.

He knew that she was smart enough to know better than to try and get another shot at outsmarting him out of his career when he had blackmail material in his cam.

Maybe he should put up the gossip-material picture of her on the impetuous, all-knowing medium called the internet? Her fans would probably love to see her picture with her only in her underthings while her eagle-eyed critics would pry on this fresh and juicy scandal.

Maybe he could tip the paparazzi all over it just to see her tortured all the more. It would certainly send the entire world community abuzz for some time. It would probably even get her to put a stop to her scheming plots; maybe even disgrace and humiliate her to the point that it would put an end to her pesky annoyances and career – if he were lucky enough.

Ooooh. That would most certainly be nice. Without Sanatsu around, his life would be saved a world less of troubles; sprinkle his existence with some peace and quiet.

And kami, how he needed some of that peace and quiet right now!

Plopping on to the couch, Fuji cringed as his thoughts shifted from Sanatsu to what had happened on the set a moment earlier.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

He had already memorized every word, every single line in the script by heart. He could go through the entire plot knowing each and every minute detail forwards and backwards without a single error. He had practiced and rehearsed the whole damn thing months before the shooting. Hanazawa Rui was practically a part of him already! Not many actors could achieve that state and become the character they were to play but Fuji could and he was more than ready to become the character of a devastated Rui in the shoji scene.

But when he slid open the shoji door props and entered the room he caught a glimpse outside the room window.

He couldn't move.

Their eyes connected for a fraction of a second; chestnut brown met cerulean blue, and Fuji felt his body freeze in electrified shock.

It couldn't be her! It just couldn't be!

It was impossible. Every rational synapse of his brain told him so. There was absolutely no way that she could be her. Maybe she was just a crew member who coincidentally had some of her features.

Or….maybe she was just an illusion. A hallucination born out of his anxiety and stress in the hustle and bustle of his movie star life and of course the added nuisances of Sanatsu Minichi. That idiot fly was constantly grating on his nerves after all.

Fuji sighed.

It had been five, no, eight years since….since the incident and still, here he was, still hallucinating about her.

A great deal of unrelieved stress must have been welling up inside of him.

Closing his eyes, Fuji decided that he'd really have to find a way to get rid of that Sanatsu for good. Life would be a whole lot better that way.

All of the sudden, Fuji heard the door creak open.

He tightened his eyes shut and groaned.

"Go away Amniboshi."

"Ahuh. Right. Like that's going to make me walk out this door," the agent rolled his eyes. "So this is where you've been hiding. I've been looking everywhere for you, you know. Kami, can't you just make things easier for me?"

Fuji groaned again.

When Amniboshi said things like 'looking', 'everywhere' and 'you', that meant things didn't look too bright for him, and Fuji definitely did not like extra work loads.

"What is it now this time?" his voice came out hostile and cold.

"What is it? Ugh, no wonder you former agent Akira-san quit on the job," Amniboshi grumbled. "Didn't you remember it at all? At exactly 11:05 you're doing a press conference for your role in the movie 'Hitoriki'! It's already 10:45! You're still in your hakama costume, for crying outloud. Where's your make-up artist and dresser?"

"Oh, do you mean that idiot Koko-san? I fired her."

"You what?! What the –why?!" shouted Amniboshi at the top of his lungs.

Lazily, the actor sat up and stared into his agent's eyes with an intensely annoyed look.

"Saa, do you want to be next? Look, I needed a make-up artist who wasn't a fangirl. You got her for me, remember? I told you, I need the best people at what they do, not some screeching fangirl who goes into 'shrieky mode' whenever they just dab make-up on me. Always keep that in mind," he said in a cool clear voice that bordered between a cold threat and an edgy command. "Now get out. I need to get ready. I'll be out in five minutes."

The agent just shook his head and stepped out of the room.

Luckily, both agent and actor made it to the conference in the nick of time. Standing right outside the door of the conference hall, Fuji took a moment to brace himself.

"Did you make sure no fangirls could get inside?" he turned to Amniboshi. The agent shook his head.

"Only one representative of each magazine and tv station are allowed to get in."

Fuji opened the door and stepped into the room. Brilliant lights flashed all around along with the audible sound of clicking. Torrents of questions were being hurled up at him as he began walking up the platform. Amniboshi had to personally settle down the crowd before walking back and taking his place next to Fuji who glanced down at the crowd of representatives and snorted.

Paparazzi.

"Alright, alright, please minna, we will start if you guys all settle down and relax," the agent spoke into the microphone. "Fuji-san's time is very limited, so please remember, one question at a time only. If you do not choose to cooperate, then I am sad to say we will have to escort you out of the building. Two guards have been put up there at the end of the room for that purpose. I hope we have come to an understanding, minna."

Instantly, all the clicking cameras came to a halt and the room quieted down.

Fuji's face tugged up into a smug smirk.

Obviously, Amniboshi had been hired for a very, very good reason.

"Well then, I think we can start. Question number one please."

A Japan Celebrity Inc. representative raised her hand. A smile tapered across her face when Fuji nodded for her to go on.

"Anou, Fuji-sama, why did you choose 'Hitoriki'? I mean, recently many movie producers and directors have been offering you roles in their films, some films international ones at that, but despite that fact you choose 'Hitoriki' over all of them. Why?"

The acclaimed actor opened his mouth to answer but then his body froze in on him again. Fuji felt that something wrong was going to happen, something terribly wrong. There and then, just at that exact moment, four masked men barged right into the room. They wore rich designer clothes and carried high caliber pistols and silencers that send nearly everyone into a frenzy,

One of the four assailants, a broad, sturdy looking man shot down all four surveillance cameras in the room while two others blocked the door and pointed their guns at the crowd who cowered at the sound of the ripping shots.

"Everyone get down on the floor right now!" shouted the little athletic-looking man in the center. His stature and physique among the four intruders made him seem like the head of the renegades. The other three didn't seem to flounce him. Though he spoke in clear English with a heavy British accent inside the room filled with Japanese people, it was clear that everyone could understand him lucidly and no one would dare to disobey.

Well, almost everyone.

"Hmmm, you're just as obstinate as they say, Fuji Syuusuke," sneered the ring leader. " But being obstinate won't get you anywhere with us. Boys, get him."

"Fuji, Fuji! Get down!" Amniboshi tried to yank him down, "Do you want to get yourself killed?"

The movie actor winced and pushed the agent away as soon as he saw two of the armed men nearing the platform.

"They're after me; not you or anyone else Amniboshi," he said.

"But - ,"

"Look, they'll leave everyone alone if I go with them. Don't think I don't know about your daughter. You have to take care of her," Fuji retorted quietly.

He remembered the time he caught Amniboshi sneaking outside the studio during the dress rehearsal of 'Hitoriki'. He was going to make his presence known and give the agent a nice little word on when he heard the agent on the phone trying to explain to his little girl how her 'dada' had to come home later than expected. Fuji frowned but walked away. He would have never known that Amniboshi had a family had he not snuck up on him like that.

All Fuji wanted to do now was to know with absolutely certainty that that girl wasn't going to be left fatherless today. Not on his watch.

Fuji turned his eyes away from Amniboshi towards the blonde ringleader who was waving his guns menacingly at the reporters, scaring them out of their wits. He didn't even have the miniscule grain of decency to leave the women out of it. For heaven's sake, didn't the guy think they just might have families waiting for them to return home unfazed? Families who would be torn in despair if they never did?

"Fuji-san, you're coming with us," one of the men aimed the gun point blank at his chest. Fuji glared at the two and made no effort to move.

"Come on, don't make this any harder on yourself, or your sister," said the other man.

"My sister's dead. She died a long time ago with – Ugh! What do you want with me? If you need only me, then leave everyone else in the room alone. They shouldn't be a part of this!"

"We will – only if you come with us quietly," answered the ring leader.

Fuji nodded his head. He took a single step.

And then, it happened again.

He froze.

After that everything happened so quickly.

He heard the sound of balls rolling on the floor, saw clouds of an unknown gas fill up the room, saw people dropping down onto the cold, hard floor. His eyelids suddenly felt heavy, and though he didn't want to, his body was slowly succumbing to the light- headed, puffy, enticing whispers of sleep.

He was going to do just that – collapse on the floor – like all the rest of them when he felt an arm catch him and pull a mask down on his face. He could breathe fresh air again, but there was no time for him to think.

Everything just went too fast for his system; his head was still groggy and somehow someone had a firm grasp on his hand and was pulling him down the hall.

"Ugh, stop," he groaned through the mask.

He winced his eyes at his kidnapper. His vision was still blurry. He couldn't be sure if the person dragging him was a either a man or a woman even; though he really believed it to be a man. He furrowed his brow when his eyes began to clear.

"Eh?! You're, you're a woman? Hey! Wait! Why are we going down the fire exit?"

She didn't bother to answer and yanked him when he refused to budge.

Fuji wondered if they were really going down the stairs. They were up the thirty-sixth floor. It was a long way down the studio building.

To his surprise, the woman pulled him up along the railing of the stairs with her. She didn't even bother to look back at him when she wrapped his arms tightly around her abdomen so that he was leaning onto her back. Fuji felt heat creeping up his face; though as he had noticed earlier, she was almost entirely wrapped in a fitting black suit from head to toe with a black mask covering her head. It was the complete opposite of what women usually would dress in to make themselves more 'trimmed down'. She pulled on his eyes tighter.

"Hold on, or you might fall," she said in a slick sort of voice.

Wait – that voice! Sure, it had dropped a few baritones but there was no doubting that voice belonged to –

"What the ̶ whoa!!"

In a matter of a few minutes they had whizzed down to the parking basement. His captress put her feet on the floor gently just as the railing ended and then stepped away so that Fuji fell from the railing of the last step flat on his butt.

"Ouch! Hey, what was that for?!"

"I told you to hold on," she laughed.

"These babies are jet propelled," she touched her heels.

Suddenly, they heard an explosion and the sound of the alarm going off. The woman grunted.

"Damn, they woke up already. Come on, hurry up! We don't have time to lose!" She grabbed his arm and they ran across the parking lot towards a shiny silver Lamborghini 290, the latest model in its design. Fuji tried to struggle before she could push him into the backseat of the car, but she was too strong and skilled for him to handle.

"Why am I even supposed to let you take me anywhere, huh? And where the hell are we going?" he demanded as he tried in vain to open the door.

The woman just popped in the keys into the engine and drove off. However, just before they reached the parking lot check point, the sound of bullets skidding were heard from the back of the Lamborghini. Fuji flinched. He looked back to find all of the four men from earlier shooting out all their weaponry at them.

Great. Just great.

"That's why," she retorted. "Do you get the point now? Stay with them, you die, stay with me, you live. It's as simple as that."

Just as they were curbing into the free way, Fuji heard the roar of engines and looked out the car window. This time his four pursuants were on the high speed wheels of four motorcycles and they had just caught up with them. His lady kidnapper-slash-rescuer (he really didn't know which she was anymore) hissed in utter annoyance.

"Sheesh. These people are just too persistent. Hold on tight, Fuji-kun. Put on your seatbelt. We're in for a rough ride."

Fuji's cerulean eyes widened for a fraction.

"Wait, did you just call me Fuji-ku – ,"

"Put on your seatbelt NOW!"

Fuji strapped the safety harness into place just in time for her to press on the pedal and whiz past the two motorcycles that were about to ram into the car. So now, instead, the two crammed into each other and Fuji noted the resounding crash and trail of smoke left behind.

"Good. Only two more left," she said.

Her eyes suddenly went wide.

"DUCK!" she screamed.

A rain of heavy bullets crackled through the air and shattered glass cut through his skin.

"Damn," he grunted as he crouched lower.

"Anou, ne, sorry about that. …Hang on, I'll try to lose them," said the woman. Stepping on the accelerator, she cut in between cars and lanes, moving faster so they wouldn't catch up but the men pursuing them were very, very persistent. Her lips thinned when she saw a glimpse of them reflected in the side mirror.

These men wanted to play hard ball, huh?

She'd give them hard ball.

Somehow they had made it up a bridge while they were on the chase and the woman gave a small smirk. She gripped on the clutch.

"Brace yourself for a high jump!" she shouted over.

"What the –,"

The car tore right through the railing and the fell right down on the pavement of the road below it.

"Are you insane? You could've gotten both of us killed!" frowned the brunette, "That overpass bridge was 60 ft. high. We could've been squished by now! And you were lucky we didn't land on another car!"

Fuji still felt the impact of the fall and he hissed at the added pressure it had on his wounds. His lady captor jammed open the headboard and turned around to face him for a moment.

"Eto…Here, take these bandages…." she handed him a box.

Fuji took the bandages and tried to look into her eyes but she hastily turned away back to the steering wheel.

"We need to move out of here. They could catch up on us, and that would not be a very pleasant encounter, ne Fuji-kun," she said as she stepped on the gas.

Fuji-kun!

She called him Fuji-kun for the second time already!

Did this mean that –

"Ugh! Be careful!" yelled the brunette as he picked himself back up the seat. "At the speed you're going, I could be stuck in the hospital forever! I'm an actor, not a stunt prop!"

Fuji could only growl as she continued zigzagging across lanes. Whatever rational thought he had earlier about his captress's familiar aura and Fuji-kun – calling habit astoundingly dissipated throughout the ride as his head lingered on only one singe thought: how to survive a car ride with a driver like her.

He practically thanked kami-sama when the car pulled up in front of a n old subway train station.

"Hayaku! We have to go!" she yanked him out of the car and literally dragged him off his feet.

Running alongside his captress who held on to him with a vice-like grip, Fuji found himself being shoved behind a column of the train station and being pushed up against the column wall. The loud thunderous clap of a bomb going off crackled through the air as smoke and fire clashed into the station entryway. Fuji could hear the metallic screeches of the car as it flip-flopped in the air due to the power of the blast.

Another explosion whipped from inside the station and his captress peeped from behind the column before letting him go.

"Are you alright? How are the bandages?" she inspected his cuts.

"They're fine," he glanced away from her as he stepped away from the column.

His eyes went wide when they came in contact with the supposed station entryway. It seemed as if the explosion had sent the entire entry crumbling down, filling it up with debris and blocking them inside. There was no other way out but to take a train – if there were any trains around. Hardly anyone ever came to this old subway station anymore and trains probably wouldn't care to waste their time stopping at a station with no one around.

Fuji eyed the woman next to him warily.

She had purposefully planned this all along, hadn't she?

She knew that by jumping the car off the bridge, she'd damage the vehicles gas tank just enough so that with a little speed and friction it would explode by the time they reached this station. She knew that it would bring the entryway down so that he'd have no other way to run.

Now that the adrenaline had died down and bullets no longer threatened to cut through him, Fuji was seriously beginning to doubt her intentions of bringing him here.

He wondered why he had trusted her so easily when he didn't even know who she was, or what she wanted from him. Maybe it was because she felt so familiar to him, maybe it was because of that aura of concern she had for him. She reminded him of her, but still, there was no reason to believe that this woman was not dangerous.

She probably had half a dozen guns hidden there, somewhere.

The woman was fidgeting with a gadget (kami knows what it was….) with eerie concentration and Fuji saw this as an opportunity to slip away. The dark train tunnels were his only route of escape, but he'd have to take his chances. The brunette sidestepped closer and closer to the tracks while she seemed to be preoccupied; hoping that somehow she'd be so busy she wouldn't notice him making a run for it.

However, before he could jump down on the tracks, a steel grip held on his shoulders.

"Damn," he cussed under his breath as he struggled in vain in her clutches.

The woman sighed and shook her head.

"Fuji-kun, why are you running away? I'm the one trying o help you out here," she pinned both of his hands in front of him as he continued to wriggle helplessly. "Please, onegai, stop it! You're only hurting yourself!"

Cerulean eyes glared down at her, orbs filled with defiance.

"Let go of me! How do I know if you really are here to help me out at all? Huh? I don't even know who you are, or what you want from me – so just. Let. Me .Go!"

Thud.

Somehow Fuji had managed to push his captress away; unfortunately for him she grabbed his arm just before the fall and he came tumbling down on the floor along with her.

It was a very good escape method really.

Groaning, Fuji opened his eyes to find he had fallen in a very becoming fashion atop her. His body was pressing down on her taunt petite frame while one of his hands tried to lift off some of his weight from her; his other hand, he noticed hat taken hold of her mask which must have come off during the fall. His face was millimeters away from hers and – oh my…kami.

Suddenly, everything began to click into place. Her familiar aura, her habit of calling him Fuji-kun, her oh-so recognizable voice.

She had become more beautiful – very, very beautiful.

"Sakuno," his breath hitched across her face, "Ryuuzaki Sakuno."

The brunette could feel this innate sense of joy flowing through him as he continued staring into her gorgeous chestnut brown eyes. And as he peered down into her soul, he couldn't help but feel that everything about this moment could have been perfect.

There was only one problem though.

Besides the fact that they were down in a subway, this moment just couldn't be real.

Because Ryuuzaki Sakuno had died eight years ago in car explosion alongside with his sister.

This could only be an illusion – a figment of his imagination.

"Ne, Fuji-kun, are you alright?" his hallucination whispered.

She involuntarily licked her lips and Fuji felt something inside of him snap. Ehhh. He didn't care any longer if this could just be an illusion, that his captress wasn't Sakuno-chan at all and that he was just imagining that she was. To him right now, she was alive in his eyes and he would make the best of it.

Gently, with both his hands, Fuji took hold of her face in a gentle caress and watched her eyes widen in surprise.

"Fuji-kun what are you – mmph."

Kami. Could illusions ever taste this good?

Pressing his lips down on hers once more, Fuji relished in its softness and sweet cherry flavor. Pulling away the brunette suddenly felt something hard hit across his stomach.

Everything went black.


At first, he was shrouded in darkness but when he blinked his eyes open Fuji found himself inside a car that was speeding along the road. His sister was on the wheel, honking at a truck that just wouldn't let them through.

"Syuusuke," she turned to him, "What time is it already?"

"Saa," he flicked his wrist, "It's already 12:50."

"What?" he heard surprised feminine voice ring from the backseat. Looking up into the mirror, Fuji chuckled to see the surprised reflection of a distraught Ryuuzaki Sakuno looking back at him.

"Why? Is that a problem, Sakuno-chan?"

"Eto…..not really….demo the train leaves at one and…." mumbled the girl, looking down at her lap.

The brunette smiled and shook his head. This girl was hopeless, even though she was already sixteen years old.

"I was just kidding, Sakuno-chan. Check the time on your cellphone."

"Ehhh! It's still 12:25! Mou, you tricked me again, Fuji-kun!" she pouted at him.

Fuji grinned while he noticed his dear Yumiko-neesan shake her head disapprovingly at him. He quirked his eyebrows upward.

"Syuusuke, you should really learn how to stop teasing others. It really isn't nice you know."

"Ahh, of course. That's why I'm going to make it up to her, right Sakuno-chan?"

"What do you mean Fuji-kun?"

"Close your eyes."

"Why? Demo, I'm not….a child anymore…."

"Please."

Smilingly, Fuji twisted his torso to face the girl who had closed her eyes obediently. Gently, the brunette placed his gift of repentance on the girl's lap and told her to open her eyes.

It was a small velvety red rectangular box laced with a pink ribbon – her favorite color of course – and a note on the side that read 'To my dearest Sakuno-chan'. Sakuno stared down at the box and then looked up at its giver with her trademark blush gracing the smile on her face, showing just how abashed she was.

"Anou, Fuji-kun…I don't know what to say…..um…arigatou…ne," she turned maroon.

Fondly, the girl looked at the note.

"Can I open it?"

"Go ahead Sakuno-chan."

Fuji watched the girl twine her small dainty fingers around the ribbon. It was funny how his dearest kouhai could be so graceful in the little things despite her outstanding trait of clumsiness.

Saa.

It made her all the more endearing.

Slowly, Sakuno opened the box to find ……a nice written note?

"Ehehehehe, Sakuno-chan," chuckled the tensai heartily, "Don't you think the moment just before you leave the station would be a better time to give you the gift?"

Twisting back in his seat, Fuji smiled sheepishly at his sister who just frowned at him and then focused back to driving on the road. He could imagine Sakuno pouting in the backseat. Fuji held back a laugh. When would the girl learn? Fuji was always so full of surprises – he was a sadist after all. She should have gotten that drilled into her head after living with him and his family ever since Ryuuzaki-sensei died three years ago.

Yes . Ryuuzaki Sakuno had been living with him for three years already.

Well, she could have done well on her own. Her parents had been very wealthy when they left her an orphan to be cared for by Sumire and just before her grandmother joined them, she gave the girl full responsibility and holdership to the account they left her in the bank. However, Ryuuzaki-sensei, being the woman that she was, just couldn't leave her granddaughter unattended. She needed someone she could trust to watch over the girl.

There weren't any relatives living close by; the nearest aunt that they could think of was a hundred miles away in Nagasaki. Tezuka was in Germany, Ryoma was off somewhere to train for his second grandslam title, and all the other regulars were just too busy.

That left it all up to Fuji who, as a matter of fact, volunteered to take Sakuno-chan in the first place.

He just couldn't leave his coach's mago-chan to fend for herself in a cold harsh world when he owed a lot to Ryuuzaki-sensei. He had learned a lot from the fierce woman and energetic old woman, he couldn't disrespect her by leaving Sakuno-chan on her own. Besides, she was a rather pretty little mouse and he loved teasing her and making her squirm. It was rather amusing.

At first, Fuji believed that those were the only reasons he had wanted to keep an eye out for Sakuno but after a few months he go to know he….and well….everything changed after that.

She had plopped into a special place inside of him.

Fuji even wanted to protect her more than he wanted to take care of Yuuta (He'd never admit it to Yuuta though.) and he wanted to be there for her, always.

She was just so different from other girls. She was naïve, an open book free for the reading and oh-so honest with all her feelings. When she was happy she radiated a glow of warmth, when she was embarrassed she wouldn't hesitate to blush, when she was sad she wouldn't hold back the tears from brimming in her eyes. Fuji always felt so intrigued by her. Normally, people had masks to cover themselves up to avoid getting hurt, but she, she was innocence in its purest form and it hurt Fuji to see her hurt in any way.

The first few weeks of her stay were admittedly were the hardest. Sakuno was still mourning for her grandmother and though she stopped donning the traditional black mourning clothes, it showed in the way she moved and behaved. She'd clam up more than she used to, trip on things more than she would like and get lost more often than enough.

It made the entire Fuji family worry excessively for the girl – Fuji Syuusuke most especially.

To remedy the situation, the brunette lad would act as the girl's personal escort. He would bring Sakuno to ice cream shops after he dragged her along with him to his tennis matches and practices, buy her stuffed toys on occasion, have lunch with her on the rooftop and fetch her right after class.

Momo and Eiji would constantly tease him about it but Fuji didn't mind. It amused him how Sakuno would blush and stutter whenever they did and then he'd have to hold her hand just a little bit tighter to reassure her that everything would be alright.

On weekends, whenever he wasn't preoccupied with his chores, homework, or tennis, he would take Sakuno out somewhere nice to have fun or help her with her own homework. Yumiko would complain to him constantly, bantering about how cruel he was for stealing the girl away from her. She never really had had a younger sister and it annoyed her on ends that whenever she wasn't busy doing extra work for her job, her younger brother would take Sakuno away from her. Yumiko loved yanking the girl into shopping sprees, girl talks, and cook-outs whenever she had the free time; which also consequently left the least amount of time for Yuuta to spend with Sakuno whose crème brulee packs and sushi rolls he had come to love.

In time with the loving care of the entire Fuji family and the special attention of Fuji Syuusuke, the doe-eyed girl began to move past her sorrows and grievances. Not only that, but it also brought our sadistic tensai and bashful little blusher closer; much, much closer.

"Well, minna, we've arrived at the station. Time to get off," said Yumiko as she steered the car into a parking space by the sidewalk.

Fuji got out of the car, grabbed Sakuno's luggage from the back and then opened Sakuno's side just before she could do it herself.

"Saa, Sakuno-chan, don't you want to get your present? Let's go."

"Hai, Fuji-kun!" she answered.

Sakuno stepped out of the car and Yumiko was about to do the same after shutting down the gas when all of the sudden her phone rang. Yumiko rummaged through her bag and put her phone to her ear.

"Moshimoshi? Nani…anou...hai, hai. For a moment, sir," she looked at the two, "Ne, it's my boss. Syuusuke please take Sakuno-chan inside the station. I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

Nodding his head, the tensai led the girl up the steps towards the station entryway, one hand lifting the luggage with the other wrapped around her shoulders protectively.

"Sakuno-chan, don't you think we should hurry up a little bit? Saa, the faster you leave now the faster you'll get back. There's so many people who simply just cant live without you. There's Yumiko-neesan, Yuuta…there's me…and oh…Okasada-san. Your bestfriend would go mad without you around to talk to for advice," said Fuji. "And I don't think Okasada-san would like me as your substitute. It's more fun for me to see her shout at poor litte Horio-san than making up with him."

Looking up at him, Sakuno gave a reassuring smile.

"Anou…I'm sure everyone's going to be fine without me, Fuji-kun. The cooking seminar won't take too long though…and anou…I made Horio-san promise me that he'd be good to Tomoka-chan. Daijoubo, daijoubo. Besides….eto…I'll be calling her from time to time so – "

"Saa, what about me, Sakuno-chan? Saa, don't tell me you're forgetting your poor Fuji-kun?" Fuji faked a pout as his eyes connected with hers.

"Ehh! Of course not! Mou…Fuji-kun, you know I always call you!" the girl blushed a deep maroon in embarrassment, "Eto…I mean that…."

"It's fine Sakuno-chan," chuckled the tensai. "Come on, let's get inside now and set your things down so we can wait for Yumiko-neesan to get here."

The two entered the station.

It was rather quiet and all of the benches were empty and vacant. 12:00 – 1:00 pm was definitely the best time to travel by train.

Setting the luggage down on a bench, Fuji sat down and patted the spot next to him for Sakuno to take. Facing the brunette as she sat down next to him, the girl blushed a light shade of red.

"Anou, arigatou ne, Fuji-kun. The luggage must have been rather heavy," she thanked.

"Betsuni. It was nothing," Fuji waved his hand away. "Saa, how many weeks will the seminar take?"

"Anou…two…"

"Two? That's a rather long time," muttered the brunette quietly. "Are you ready? Did you bring everything that you need? Did you pack the map, cellphone and the emergency numbers….Saa, maybe I should come along with you Sakuno-chan. Tokyo is a very big place, saa."

"Mou, Fuji-kun," squeaked the girl, "I'll be fine, really. Anou…I'm old enough to go on my own…and besides I'll be with the Cooking club, so you don't have to worry! Anou…if you come with me….what will happen to that audition for that movie role Yumiko-neesan wanted you to try out for?"

Fuji's lips turned up slightly into a smile as he gazed down at the girl next to him.

The chances of her getting lost in Tokyo were high, but she wasn't worrying over herself. She was worrying over him.

Sighing, the brunette shook his head.

"Well, then, you must promise me something Sakuno-chan," the tensai said quietly.

Getting up, Fuji held out his hand for the girl to take. Sakuno put her small hand in his and stood up, her eyes filled with questions.

"What is it Fuji-kun?"

Looking at her, Fuji took hold of both her hands and held them in front of him.

Kami, he had to admit this girl was beautiful both body and soul.

"Sakuno-chan, promise me that you'll be careful; that you'll take care of yourself. Promise me that you'll come back to me safe and sound. If something ever happens to you, I don't know what I would do….I….."

"I promise," she promised, arms draped around his neck as he face turned maroon. "Anou, everything's going to be fine, Fuji-kun. I'll be good…I promise."

Nodding his head, Fuji smiled and wrapped his own arms around her waist as she leaned her head on his shoulder. Hmmm. Sakuno seemed daring today, but for one, Fuji had no qualms with it at all. He liked this…it felt so…it felt so right.

Courageously, the shy and reserved Sakuno looked up at the tensai; her face burning as she gulped.

"I…eto…I was just thinking…Fuji-kun," she spoke softly, "I mean…anou…you're always worrying about others…demo you hardly think about yourself, Fuji-kun…For three years you've been taking care of me and you hardly had the time for yourself. So….I want you to promise me something too….anou, if you don't mind…that is."

"Of course Sakuno-chan. I don't mind."

"Anou…when I leave…I want you to have fun, Fuji-kun. Go to the audition with Yumiko-nee, play tennis to your heart's content and do anything that you want to do. Please….do it for me."

"I promise," he said solemly.

The girl smiled in understanding and untwined her arms, letting go of her hold onhim.

"So," she looked at her watch, "It's already eighteen minutes to one….I better get ready."

"Wait."

"What---anou…"

Holding up another velvet box, the tensai smirked.

With hesitant hands, Sakuno opened the box to find a diamond ring hung on a silver necklace.

Sakuno gasped.

The gem was beautiful. It was cut into the shape of a daisy; its facets sparkled when held against the light. The silver band that held the jewel in place was no less beautiful with its intricate cottiers lined with smaller pieces of diamond.

Sakuno blinked her eyes in disbelief, caught speechless.

"Here," he took hold of the necklace, "Let me put it on you."

Clicking the necklace into place, the tensai spun her to face him so that he could look at her. It was perfect. She was perfect. Suddenly Fuji could feel his heart pounding hard in his chest as his blood raced around his body. He couldn't hear anything else . He couldn't see anything else but his hear and her. Without even thinking, Fuji bent his head, his face centimeters away from hers.

"Sakuno, I lo – "

"Eto! Um….eto…sumimasen! I – I – for a moment – I think I need to check on Yumiko-neesan...anou..sumimasen Fuji-kun!"

Groaning, Fuji rubbed his temple as he watched Sakuno scamper off. Ugh! What had he been thinking of? It still wasn't the right time to tell her! He was planning to take it slow – but then – Ugh!

Slamming down on the bench, the eighteen year old tensai hunched over as he thought about what to do. Then, all of the sudden, amidst the turmoil rampaging in his mind, Fuji felt a freezing cold feeling wash over him, warning him that something just wasn't right.

And then he heard the explosion.

"Sakuno!"


"Sakuno…." He groaned. H e had dreamed about what had happened eight years ago…again. Sigh. He guessed he could never really forget it, even the tiniest little details.

The tensai rubbed his eyes awake and inspected his surroundings. Getting up, Fuji found that he had been lying down for quite some time on an empty seat in the train. The cart he was in was obviously empty. There weren't any other passengers around.

Sighing, he put his hand to his stomach and winced.

Someone had punched him in the gut.

But who?

All he could remember was Amniboshi, the press conferece, four men trying to kill him, the woman who abducted him…. Oh, yeah, she seemed to look a lot like Sakuno and he had kissed her. Maybe she was the cause of the bluish-black mark on his abdomen.

But then again, it must have been all a bad dream. There was just no way she could be Sakuno. Someone must have gotten him really, really drunk to make him end up like this. There were a few bandages on his arms, and by golly, his head hurt like hell.

Fuji stood up and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"Am I still dreaming?"

"No you aren't," sighed the woman who stood across the aisle. "No matter how many times you pinch yourself, you'll find that you are very, very much awake. So, how are you doing Fuji-kun? Does it still hurt?"

Fuji edged back in his seat and winced at the pain.

"I – I'm sorry I gutted you like that," she said in a whisper as she took the seat facing him. " I was just surprised, that's all. But you're awake now, so I guess I can start asking you things. There are so many things I need to clear up and –"

"Okay, okay, just stop right there," ordered Fuji. "I'm the one who gets to ask first. First off – are you….are you really Ryuuzaki Sakuno….granddaughter of Seishun Gakuen tennis coach Ryuuzaki Sumire?"

"Hai."

"But-but-" Fuji choked as his eyes widened. No this couldn't be—

"What's the matter?"

"But Ryuuzaki Sakuno died eight years ago with my sister in a car explosion!"

Frowning, the girl furrowed her brows and slapped him lightly on his arm.

"Excuse me, but that's not a very polite thing to say to this pretty lady sitting across you! Die? Eto…you must have gotten your story wrong. For three years I lived alone after my grandmother died and I was doing really, really fine. But then my cooking club had this seminar and in the parking lot of the train station, just before I was about to leave, I nearly go myself killed in an explosion made by a terrorist attack. That was when Yumiko-neesan and Naru-kun found me. Naru is the Head of the National Security of Japan, so he took me in and made me his protégé, an agent."

Fuji stared at her in disbelief.

"I am Agent 101, Ryuuzaki Sakuno. Your sister Yumiko-neesan is very close to me and she entrusted me with the task of taking you to her now that her dilemma is squeezing in on her on all sides. She has mentioned you to me countless of times before. It is an honor to meet you. Hajimemashite, Fuji Syuusuke," she bowed her head low. "Now that we've had our introduction and I've told you everything you want to know, it's your turn up the table. Shall we begin?"

Oh kami….what was happening to him?


Japanese Terms

Minna – everyone

Arigatou – thank you

Sumimasen – excuse me

Anou – a term used to mean something like – "ummm…"

Hai – yes

Iie – no

Daijoubo – it's alright.

Mago-chan – granddaughter

Obaasan – grandmother

Hajimemashite – term used when meeting someone for the first time

Suffixes

-kun - a term used by girls to address a boy who is close to her

-san – a term used to address a person who is not that close to you

-neesan – term used when one is addressing an older sister


A/N: Hello minna! Yes I'm back….oh and yeah I've missed you all sooo much! Life has been so busy for me that I haven't been here in a really long time already. Mou. I feel like crying. .

Anyway, This story is somewhat of a rewritten version of the other spy story I made earlier "In an Undercover Romance" , however you'll find that there are some twists here and there to the plot. I found out that the first version just didn't suit well to my tastes anymore so I decided to make a better version and viola, here it is!

I hope you liked it! :D

Ehehehe…anyway, if you're all wondering why Fuji and Sakuno seem so OOC-ish, that's because of the things that happened to them. I mean, drastic events happened in their lives. For Fuji, he thought Sakuno, the person he fell in love with, had died. For Sakuno…well….she had to toughen up in her training as an agent. So there.

Well, there's more to the story than what meets the eye. I mean, did Sakuno really forget about what REALLY happened? What's with Yumiko? And why are there criminals going after Fuji?

Find out in the second chapter of Espionage 101!

Oh, and yes…please, review! Review, review, review! Good and bad reviews are accepted.

Thanks minna!

Sincerely,

Fuji's Girl