Gelly: uses valley girl accent OMG! It's, like, Fuji-kun's birthday (about a few days ago XD)! It only comes every, like, four years so I'm gonna celebrate it by making him a story! Yay for me! Pshaw, I know it's late… So?

… haha, that sucked (I phail at doing impressions) XD Okay, never mind… please enjoy! Happy Birthday Fuji!

Warning: TezukaxFuji… and even though Fuji is said to be very feminine, they are still both male… but really, this isn't that much of a Perfect Pair story… there are other pairings, too. You should be warned more about my horrendous writing skills. Be afraid. --'

There might also be this confusion about the whole year thing. So let's pretend that this is the case: The regulars got to celebrate Fuji's real birthday during Ryoma's first year in Junior high. Now the current time line for this fic would be four years after that, where they are now in Senior High, where once again, Fuji gets to celebrate his birthday!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis.

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Sacrifice

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"Nya, Inui!" Kikumaru's voice held traces of fear and anxiousness as he held on to Oishi's arm. "Are you sure Fujiko won't find us?"

Inui scribbled a few words before looking up. He didn't look as calm as he usually did.

"About 89 percent." He answered.

"Well, that should be good right senpai? 89 is close to a hundred, right?" Momoshiro was smiling, but his tone clearly showed his lack of confidence in the estimate given by the data man.

"Y-yeah, we should trust Inui… I just hope we don't bump into Fuji soon…But just to be safe… Inui what do you think about moving into another location every now and then?" Oishi was also looking more worried than usual.

At Oishi's suggestion, Inui resumed to writing in his notebook. After a few minutes, he gave all those present a piece of paper.

"Everyone, what you see there on that paper is a map of the whole school. Right now, we are here." He showed them his copy and pointed towards a square. Sure enough, the square was labeled 'Tennis Clubroom'. "You will also see other squares with blue highlights. There is at least 78 and at most 93 percent chance that you will not be discovered once you proceed to those places. Those with red highlights are locations that you must avoid at all costs. Paths to be taken are highlighted in yellow, orange for those that you must not take. We can divide into groups of two. It will be a lot safer than if we are clumped together. It would be best if you could relocate every twenty to forty minutes. Thirty minutes after classes end, we will once again meet here, unless there is any changes in plans whereas I will inform you by walkie-talkie. Agreed?"

Everyone nodded. Stealthily, three pairs of tennis players exited the clubroom. Oishi and Kikumaru, Inui and Kaidoh, Momoshiro and Echizen. Kawamura had somehow been lucky enough to have the excuse of being sick that day and had to stay at home. Tezuka's location, however, was not yet determined by the group. Anyway, they had other things to worry about right now other than their captain's welfare. That 'thing' being the tensai called 'Fuji Shuusuke'...

The Leap Year.

It's not every year that the tensai gets to celebrate his birthday. As everyone knows (especially his fangirls/boys), Fuji was born on the 29th of February. The day that comes only once in every four years. A special day that is added to the calendar when the Earth completes its four years of revolution, when those quarter days have finally been compiled to form that very day.

That's today.

Fuji's birthday.

Hide.

XxXxXxXxX

No one knew when it had begun, but since that one Leap year in junior high, during Fuji's birthday, what you could call a 'series of unfortunate events' had happened around those near and dear to him. Everyone was a possible target, but the regulars of the Seigaku's Boy's Tennis Club had managed to become the ill-fated ones to be the receiving end of the 'curse', as they would call it.

Maybe because it was his birthday and he wanted to be entertained, maybe something had taken over his body, it could also be that his sadistic side would empower him on that day. A lot of speculation was done, but nobody knew why Fuji had become akin to a 'prank master' on his birthday.

Four years ago, the regulars were unaware of the possible effects brought about by the leap year. They were more than happy to celebrate Fuji's birthday, in fact they even planned a surprise for him.

For everyone, the day went on normally. Greetings and presents were given to the birthday boy. For the surprise, the regulars were assigned to trail Fuji to make sure that nothing would make him suspicious that something was planned.

Then… it happened.

First it was Kikumaru, who had easily volunteered to keep his best friend company during their first break.

"Nya, Fujiko, Happy Birthday!" the acrobatic tennis player greeted the birthday boy with a 'glomp-attack'.

Fuji avoided the assault while smiling serenely as if nothing out of the ordinary happened, which in a way, was really the case. "Thank you, Eiji."

"Fuji! Fuji! Let's go eat!" Without waiting for a reply, Kikumaru grabbed both their lunchboxes as well as Fuji's arm and towed him outside.

Once reaching what Eiji has deemed the 'perfect spot' (A nice shade under some tree with cute little flowers blooming not too far off), he dragged his friend to sit with him, stretching his legs before proceeding to eat his food.

"Let's eat!" Kikumaru eagerly took his chopsticks and took a mouthful of sushi.

He was happily chewing his food when he stopped, mouth slightly opened. His eyes began to water and his whole mouth, tongue, throat, esophagus… the whole pathway that the food goes through… felt like it was burning. "NYYAAAA!! Wa-wa-wa…!"

"Wa… waffles? Saa, Eiji, I don't think what you ate were waffles." Fuji titled his head.

Kikumaru vehemently shook his head from side to side, pointing to his throat. "Mmm, uhmmm muumm!"

"Eiji, I can't understand you, swallow your food first."

He tried his best to gulp down the morsel. After succeeding, he started another shouting fit, now pointing to his tongue, "Fuji! Wasabi! Water!" he quickly said.

"Wasabi? Oh, Eiji, you ate my lunch by mistake…" Fuji smiled.

"Sorry, Fuji, but please, drink! Hurry!" Eiji said, not bothering making his words coherent.

Fuji grinned and handed him a bottle. "Here you go."

Eiji graciously took the bottle and began gulping down the liquid as fast as he could.

"Gulp, gulp, gulp…." Eiji froze. Without warning, he screamed. "Waaahhhhh!!"

"Eiji?" Fuji stared (yet still managing to have his eyes closed) at Kikumaru questioningly, "Something wrong again?"

Kikumaru didn't have a chance to answer as he gave one last scream before he fainted.

"Hmmm," Fuji tapped his chin. "Maybe I shouldn't have given him the juice Inui gave me as a gift…"

Shrugging it off, he asked someone nearby to call Oishi.

Second 'victim' Oishi Shuichiro.

"Eiji!" The mother hen quickly made his way towards the two upon having a slight glimpse of Kikumaru's predicament. "Fuji, what happened? Did he hit something? Don't tell me he tried to do that trick again and landed on his head! I told him not to do that! Oh, Fuji! What is that on your arm? Did something happen to you, too?! Quick, let's go to the nurse's office! No! We should make them come here instead! It might be too dangerous to move Eiji! Ah!"

"Saa, Oishi-mama, I'm fine." Fuji smiled as per usual. "I just happened to lean on this arm and it got a red mark from having to bear my weight." To show that he was all right, Fuji flexed his arm.

"That's good…" Oishi sighed. His tranquility didn't last long when he remembered that Kikumaru was still unconscious. "Eiji! Eiji! Ah! Fuji, what happened to Eiji?" he questioned again.

"He ate my wasabi sushi by mistake, and then he drank Inui juice." Fuji answered coolly.

Oishi wasn't as calm as Fuji, though. "Eehh! How did he eat your sushi?! And why did he drink Inui juice?!"

"He thought it was his bento that he was eating from." Fuji drank from a bottle that came from out of nowhere (actually he brought it before and conveniently only remembered that he had it now). "Then, I gave him the first bottle that I could reach." He threw the bottle he drank from. Never mind that he was littering.

"Oh no! We should get him to the nurse's office quick! He should drink some medicine!" Oishi scrambled to get up. Without thinking twice, he took Eiji and carried him bridal-style.

'Click'

"Nice pose, Oishi." The tensai grinned while holding his camera.

The vice captain blushed furiously. "Fuji! This isn't the time to be taking pictures! Never mind, I should just get Eiji to the sick bay as soon as possible!"

He dashed towards the school. He didn't notice the plastic bottle that was innocently lying on the ground.

"Aahh!" Oishi slipped on the said bottle and fell forward, landing on the person that he was carrying.

'Click, click'

They were in a very compromising position. Kikumaru's eyes were closed (because he fainted, of course) with his mouth slightly parted. On top of him was a wide-eyed Oishi, whose face was only a few centimeters away from Eiji.

'Click, click'

"Momoshiro, come quick. Help Oishi get up!" Fuji shouted out to the power player that was now jogging towards their direction.

Oishi didn't get a chance to decline the assistance and was about to stand up himself when Momoshiro accidentally steeped on the same plastic bottle and ended up squashing his seniors.

'Click, click, click'

A rapid succession of clicks and flashes were heard and seen as the space between the Golden Pair was finally closed. Too bad Eiji was still out cold, no?

Fuji grinned even more before innocently approaching the tumbled group to help Momoshiro and Oishi stand up.

"Thank you Fuji-senpai… U-uh, sorry for that Oishi-senpai." Momo blushed as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Oishi was even redder than before. "It's not your fault Momo… I-I'll just carry Eiji to the nurse's office now before anything else happens."

He awkwardly picked up the unconscious Eiji and continued his dash towards the school.

When they were far enough, Fuji faced Momoshiro. "Momo, we should go tell Tezuka what happened."

"E-eh! Tell Buchou that O-Oishi-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai k-k-ki-!" he didn't get a chance to finish when Fuji raised his eyebrows at him and looked at him with a bewildered expression.

"Yes, we should tell Tezuka that Oishi and Eiji went to the nurse because Eiji fainted. It would only be logical to alert our captain about the circumstance, don't you think so?"

"Ahaha! Yeah, of course!" Momoshiro laughed, "That's right, we should tell Buchou about that!"

"Let's go, then. He might be at his classroom." He smiled as he took his camera and lunchbox and placed them in his bag.

Momoshiro couldn't quite place it, but there was this nagging feeling inside him that something wrong is going to happen this day… And somehow, he felt that it would be all because of Fuji.

Needless to say, Momo proved how strong his intuition was when none of the regulars were left unscathed that day four years ago…

Oishi couldn't face Kikumaru, and the acrobatic player wasn't making it any easier by clinging to him even more. He kept persuading Oishi to tell him what made the mother hen blush so much. He also kept whining about never dragging Fuji to eat lunch with again. His mouth was still a bit puffy, by the way.

Even Momoshiro and Echizen were acting pretty weird that afternoon. Also, Echizen had this rope marks on his hand, a bit of red paint on his hair and a few scratches here and there. Momoshiro looked liked he had been with Echizen, because he too had the same marks. Their only difference was that Momo now had a fixation for hats and Echizen on wristbands.

Kawamura strangely didn't even give any loud reaction whatsoever when he held a racket, instead, he kept a straight, dazed expression. And he also had this bizarre new fear of flowers.

Inui, on the other hand, did not look as impaired as the others, but ever since after lunch, he'd been laughing dementedly and kept repeating the words 'fish', 'lotion', 'boom', 'caterpillar' and 'ball' over and over like a mantra…

Kaidoh didn't fare any better as he became uncharacteristically jumpy that afternoon. Any sudden sound was enough to make him leap like a scared little kitten. If anyone touched him, he started a coughing fit.

It seemed odd thought, that Tezuka was left with only his hair ruffled. According to Inui (after he calmed down for a few seconds) no other significant change can be detected.

That is why this year, everyone was adamant about keeping as far away from Fuji as possible. Forget about being respectful to the birthday boy. They value their lives and sanity more. It took them at least three weeks just to return to their normal selves, and they had to suffer being deprived of tennis because they had to recover. They definitely did not want to experience that again!

XxXxXxXxX

A mass of spiky hair emerged from a bush. "Burger 1 to Juice alpha. I repeat Burger 1 to Juice Alpha, do you copy? Over. Psshhhtt."

"This is Juice Alpha, Burger 1. Where are you and Burger 2? Over." The sound from the walkie talkie said.

"Burger 2 and I are currently at safe spot number 2, letter J. Are you with Mamu- I mean Juice Beta? Over. Pssshhttt."

"Affirmative. Did you see Wasabi? Over."

"Negative, Wasabi has not been spotted, Juice Alpha. Over. Psshht." Momo answered.

"Nya, this is Red Cat. Juice Alpha, Blue Hen and I are now at safe spot number 3, letter C. And I think I saw Wasabi heading over to location F-1. Over." Another voice from the walkie-talkie said.

"Red Cat, this is Juice Alpha. I advise you to leave your current position and relocate to… ah, here… safe spot no. 6, letter A. Over." Juice alpha said.

"Roger that, Juice Alpha! Nya, Oishi, Inui said we should go to the first floor bathroom! Come on Oishi, I don't want Fuji to see us!" Momoshiro stared at his own walkie-talkie. He was trying to hold back the laughter that was threatening to come out.

"Eiji! You're supposed to let go of the button after you speak!" they could hear Oishi's voice, although it sounded a bit far away and was cracking a bit.

"Oh, nya, that's right! Sorry Oish-"

Momoshiro sighed, nonetheless he was still grinning as he shook his head side to side. "Juice Alpha, this is Burger 1. Over. Psshhhtt"

"Yes, Burger 1? Over."

"Should Burger 2 and I change our positions, too? Over. Pssshhhtt."

"Negative. Both of you stay until further instructions are given. Over."

"Okay. Over. Psshhtt."

"Momo-sempai." Echizen called out from beside the power player.

"What is it Burger 2, I mean, Echizen?"

"Why do you have to say 'Psshhttt' everytime? It's not like you need to since Inui-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai didn't do it." The younger boy smirked at his senpai's flustered appearance.

"I-it's makes things more realistic!" he argued. "You know?! It's that cracking and fizzing sound that is supposed to come after you talk on the walkie-talkie!"

"Whatever. Mada made dane."

"Shut up, Echizen… Hey! Isn't that Tezuka-buchou!" Momo's head fully emerged from the bush to see Tezuka walking towards the clubroom. "Oh! We should tell Buchou about our plan! Buchou! Buch-"

Echizen clasped his hand over Momo's mouth. "No. We should tell Inui-senpai."

Without letting go, he took the walkie-talkie form Momoshiro. "Juice Alpha, this is Burger 2. Do you read me? Over."

"Burger 2, this is Juice Alpha. What is it? Over."

"I found the 'Sacrifice'. Over." He said ominously.

"His location? Over."

"Safe spot A-1. Over."

There was a short pause before Inui replied. "Burger 2, you and Burger 1 evacuate your current position. We are commencing plan Birthday in t-minus 180 seconds. Over."

"Roger that. Over." Echizen wordlessly stood up and cautiously surveyed his surroundings before moving behind tree to tree to reach another safe spot.

"Oi! Echizen! What were you talking about with Inui-senpai? Where are we going? Hey! Oi! Wait for me!" he ran after Echizen not bothering to conceal his self as he trailed after the freshman out in the open.

Echizen placed his finger on the front of his mouth, telling the taller one to be silent. He motioned for the other to hide with him behind a tree.

He looked about before turning to speak; looking as if what he was about to say was the most controversial matter. "You'll know later…" he whispered.

XxXxXxXxX

Fuji was wondering why he didn't manage to see any one of his teammates the whole day. He had so many things planned to do with them, and he thought it would be much more fun and better than his last birthday.

The best part was that the principal (who looked suspiciously frightened that morning) announced that today there will be no classes since the teachers had 'something important to do'. Students can spend the day as they please, provided that they remain inside the vicinity of the school and that none of the school's property would be damaged.

So there was Fuji, walking aimlessly inside and outside buildings, searching for his missing teammates.

He continued to smile at every person he encountered, accepted and thanked them for their greetings and gifts. But only the observant ones could tell that he was slowly being annoyed by the fact that not once did he get a chance to carry out his plans.

'Calm down, Syuusuke, you knew they would hide. It only means that it will be even more fun when you catch them!' he told himself. Gradually, his smile turned into an evil grin. 'I can't wait.'

He was thinking over what to do when someone bumped into him. It was Kachiro-kun.

Hiding behind a locker, Kaidoh nodded. "Fssshh, this is Juice beta. The Mouse has been released. Over."

"Roger that. Juice beta, you may now proceed to the rendezvous point. Over."

"This Juice alpha going now. Over" Kaidoh breathed a relieved sigh before turning around.

Meanwhile, the freshman almost squealed when he saw whom he had bumped into. "F-Fuji-senpai! Uh, H-happy birthday!"

"Thank you, Kachiro-kun…Saa, Kachiro-kun, did you see any of the other regulars?" he asked in an innocent tone. It only made the freshman tremble.

"I, uh, I think I saw Tezuka-buchou at the courts." Kachiro quickly answered, remembering Inui's threat of making him drink another one of his concoctions if he mentioned any other regular besides Tezuka.

"Really? Thank you Kachiro-kun." Fuji smile grew a he sauntered over to the tennis courts.

A head popped out after Fuji passed a classroom. "Nya, this is Red Cat. Wasabi has started moving over to Sacrifice. Over."

"Good. Red Cat, proceed to rendezvous point now. Over."

"Okay!...Oh, yeah. Over!" With that, Kikumaru happily bounced away.

Fuji's mood was considerably brighter now that he'd found at least one of the regulars to play with. Moreover, it was Tezuka. He was planning on saving him for last, but unfortunately he had to do with what was given now.

When Fuji went out of the building, Echizen appeared behind one of the pillars holding the small roof at the entrance. "Wasabi is now on the loose. Over."

"Roger that, Burger 2. You may now proceed to the rendezvous point, too. Over."

"Hn… Over." He strolled casually towards the rendezvous point after mumbling, "Mada mada dane, Tezuka-buchou, Fuji-senpai. Next time I will beat both of you in tennis…"

People seemed to be making way as Fuji passed, letting him effortlessly move about the throngs of people scattered outside. Though he did not show it, he was getting even more excited as he neared the courts, which was still a bit far off from where he was now.

Hiding above a tree and holding binoculars, Momoshiro talked into the walkie-talkie. "Wasabi has passed Point A. I repeat, Wasabi has passed Point A! Over."

"This is Blue Hen, Wasabi passed Point B. Over." Another voice piped out.

"Wasabi is moving faster than expected… Anyway, Burger 1, Blue Hen, you may now proceed to the rendezvous point. Over"

"Roger that! Over."

"All right. Over."

After a few minutes, the regulars were now gathered at the rendezvous point, commonly known as the gym, which was safely located at the opposite end of the school from the tennis courts.

"This is Juice 1, Wasabi has passed the final point. I will now be joining you there in a few minutes. Over." Came Inui's voice on the walkie-talkie.

"Yes! Finally! Nya! It took us half a day, but we're finally going to be safe from Fujiko!"

"Yeah!"

XxXxXxXxX

Tezuka was about to change into his tennis clothes. After a few minutes of dealing with paper work, he can finally have the time to practice.

Coming out from the shower, he heard the door open.

"Tezuka?" an effeminate voice called out. Tezuka could just imagine the wide grin that came along with that voice.

'Fuji.' Tezuka reflected as he recognized the owner of the voice. Then a thought struck him. 'What date was it today?... Oh no…'

If he was another person, Tezuka would've shook in fear.

"Tezuka! There you are!" Fuji's grin couldn't be wider or creepier. "Getting ready for practice?" he asked.

"Aa." Tezuka tried to keep his voice from wavering. He also did his best to dress up as quickly as he could without arousing suspicion from the tensai.

"Tezuka?" Fuji called out again.

The captain hesitated before answering, but he couldn't pretend not being there as Fuji has probably already heard his voice. "…Yes?"

"Aren't you going to greet me a Happy Birthday?"

"Happy Birthday Fuji." He unwillingly echoed.

"Thank you, Tezuka." Fuji's smile didn't falter, "You're the first regular to greet me!"

Fuji watched in amusement as Tezuka's face paled, and he seemed to have twitched, too.

"Have you seen the others? I've been looking for them the whole day …"

"No."

"No? That's too bad… I've wanted to play birthday games with them."

"…" Tezuka chose to stay silent as he calmly tried to assess his situation. First, Fuji was currently blocking the only exit in the locker room that led to the lounge area. Second, Fuji hadn't seen the others for the whole day. Third, he was the first regular to greet the tensai since this morning.

That could only mean that he was also the first… 'Victim'…Sweat trailed down Tezuka's neck. It would have been more tolerable if he was the first victim in the morning, but it had already been half a day with Fuji not being able to carry out any of his pranks… Which meant that he would let it all out on Tezuka now…

"Ne, Tezuka, do you want to play with me?" Fuji closed the door behind him, effectively showing Tezuka that there was no escape.

"We could play a tennis match outside," Tezuka tried.

"But it's my birthday, we play tennis everyday." Fuji's got a point. "I want to play a different game."

"What about the others?" He is not going down alone, thought Tezuka. He barely managed to survive the last time!

"They seem to be missing… And I want to play now." He used a tone that clearly said that there was no backing out. Fuji began to stride towards the taller boy.

"Fuji." Tezuka tried to stop the boy from coming nearer.

"Yes, Mitsu-chan?" Fuji was using the forbidden nickname, a sign that he was getting displeased.

"… I love you?" That was pretty much random and out of the blue, but Tezuka reasoned with himself that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that those words could calm Fuji down and let this whole ordeal pass, or at be least safer for Tezuka.

It managed to stop Fuji on his tracks for a few second, his eyes open and staring at Tezuka in surprise. But it wasn't long before he closed it again and he grinned.

"I love you, too, Tezuka." He was only a few inches away from the normally stoic boy. "That's the nicest gift you could give me…And now, I want to play with you even more. I've even thought up other, more exciting games that we can play."

Tezuka would have screamed for his life (no matter how uncharacteristic it would have been). Really, he did. But Fuji's mouth was covering his own right now, and it prevented him from even speaking, let alone shout. He would have also stumbled away from Fuji if he wasn't pinned to the lockers, but what was he to do when the smaller yet still fit body of the tensai was preventing him from moving away?

Nope, he had no choice but to endure the tricks and pranks that the birthday celebrant has planned out for him. It was Fuji's birthday, after all.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Omake

"Nya, poor Tezuka…"

"I hope he's alright! Maybe we shouldn't have left them alone! What if Fuji is too hard on him? Tezuka might strain his arm!"

"Poor Buchou…I'm proud to call him captain, proud, indeed. Only he would be able to survive Fuji-senpai when he's been deprived of making any pranks the whole morning."

"We had no choice. Unfortunately, we have all decided to make him the 'sacrifice'. We shall forever be indebted to him. Besides, it is also in my data that he was the one who was most unharmed during Fuji's last birthday, so it is rational that he would be the one this year. Fuji may have even known that from the beginning."

"Fssshh. It was either Buchou or us."

"Mada mada dane…"

"Yeah…"

XxXxXxXxX

Yes! I am done! pumps fist in air I hope you liked it XD Belated Happy Birthday Fuji!

is shot XD

Special thanks to Reckless Rage-chan for some ideas and Awin-chan for betaing this fic even at the last minute! -

A review would be greatly appreciated.