Disclaimer… I do not own Prince of Tennis or its characters, but I do have fun playing with them in my stories. LOL.
A/N: You asked for it and here it is. This is a side story to Choices You Made by WhiteEnsigma and Choices Made Together by me… kind of (btw if you didn't see it, a bonus chapter was added to Choices Made Together). In the epilogue I made mention of tennis pro Sanada Seiichi and his husband were expecting their first child. This is their story. I hope you enjoy it. Originally, I was only going to make it a couple of chapters long, but Kurayami-9 requested a longer story than that which would show their marriage and everything. So it will show their whole relationship from the beginning to after they have their first child. Do you want them to have a boy or a girl?
Chapter 1 – The Pull
It was a day like any other day. Yukimura Seiichi was practicing his tennis at the local tennis club with one of his friends... really it was more of a friendly game than anything else. He had been a pro for a little over two years and was well on his way to being in the top ten players in the world. He was focused and he had drive; and he wasn't going to let anything distract him from his dream… that is what he kept telling himself at least. The only problem with that was the man that had just walked into the club carrying a tennis bag and wearing a black hat. He was sex on legs and something in this man pulled Yukimura to him.
Before he realized it, Yukimura had taken five steps towards the man, but forced himself to stop and return to his receiving position on the court and continue his game with his friend. He would not, could not get distracted.
"Hoi, Yukimura, do we need to finish this game quickly so you can get some?" A silver haired man called laughingly from the other side of the court. He had seen his friend's reaction to the newbie and had to tease him because there was no fun in ignoring it all.
Narrowing his eyes on the other man, the bluenette chortled out, "I can finish this match rather quickly and you won't be able to keep up, but you would be the worse off for it, Niou."
"Hot date? Puri," Niou knew that Yukimura could throttle him, but that did not mean he would let up. He had never seen such a reaction in his friend. Yukimura's life revolved around tennis and tennis alone. It was time the other man started living and finding out that there was more in the world than a court, racket, and ball.
"Serve the ball."
"Ne, are you finally noticing something other than a fuzzy yellow ball?"
Smiling sweetly (but it was more like if you don't do what I will say, you will suffer), Yukimura told his friend, "Your husband will be planning a funeral if you don't shut up and serve. Though, I am sure he would find someone to console him. What about his ex... what was his name? Jirou?"
There were many times in life when one shut up and moved on, and when one continued his present course of action… After examining the situation closely, Niou knew that this was the first scenario. His friend was serious, and although he believed, ok he hoped and prayed, that his friend wouldn't actually kill him, the silver haired man decided not to take the chance of pushing the bluenette any further. Instead of responding with words, he tossed the ball high into the air and served. The game continued.
Sanada had just moved back to Tokyo from Hokkaido to help his grandfather with the family dojo. He never expected to come back, and honestly he hadn't wanted to, but his grandfather had called him and he couldn't deny his elder. After settling his affairs and submitting his transfer paperwork to move from Hakodate University to Todai, he moved back to the city and began work immediately to help out the family.
His plan was to lay low and not call anyone to tell them he was back, but somehow word spread. Sanada's mother had run into so and so, who told so and so, and before long, a couple of his old friends had called him. Thankfully a particular individual was not listed amongst those trying to reconnect.
So today at the insistence of his friend, Yanagi Renji, Sanada left his home and came to the tennis courts to play a couple of games together. He had noticed the bluenette playing against the silver immediately. His eyes locked on the blue haired man, and he could feel the draw, the pull; and in that moment, Sanada decided that he would do everything he could to fight that feeling. It should be fairly easy since they didn't know each other and he wasn't one for walking up to completely strangers and introducing himself. It was going to be easy.
A voice spoke from behind the tall black haired man, "Genichiro, you are already here."
Looking over his shoulder, Sanada spotted his friend and adjusted the cap he wore on his head, "Renji."
Yanagi had studied his friend's interest in the game between Yukimura and Niou, but without seeing Sanada's face, he wasn't sure if the interest lied in a player or the actual game. That would take time to decipher, but that is not why they were there, "Are you ready to play? It appears there is an empty court next to that game."
Sanada followed the direction where his friend was pointing and swallowed hard; it was the court next to the bluenette. Moving forward and pretending like it didn't bother him, Sanada nodded. Just because they were on the court next to the man that had caught his attention, did not mean he was going to focus on him. He had his own game to play and he was not there to get caught up in anyone, besides the bluenette hadn't given him any notice, he could pretend to do the same, "Your data will not work today."
Humming, Yanagi stated, "You might be right, but I have old data and a keen eye. There is a 63% chance I can use my data on you effectively, and a 100% chance that I will gather fresh data to use for next time we play. Either way, it is an effective use of time."
As Sanada stepped onto the court, he blocked everything else out except his opponent. Now was not the time to focus on anyone else, and he refused to be pulled in by another man. The bluenette was a stranger and he would forever remain so.
Yukimura's game with Niou wrapped up rather quickly after his friend's "friendly" banter, but as soon as it had ended, his focus was on the court beside him. He had noticed the two men enter and start playing, but had not allowed his eyes to be drawn there; now he could not help it. The black haired man moved with style and grace, and he was skilled… very skilled; which had the bluenette wondering what it would be like to play him on the court, and play with him off the courts. Feeling a nudge at his side, he looked to his right to see his silver haired friend, "What?"
"Do you know him?" Niou asked curiously.
Shaking his head, Yukimura answered smiling, "No, but he seems quite good. Do you?"
"Not him, but the other man I have seen around here."
"That's Yanagi Renji. He is good at predictions and what he calls 'data tennis'. The other man is new. I've never seen him around here."
It was more than apparent to Niou that his friend was interested in the baseball hat wearing man, but how was he going to get Yukimura to admit to something like that? And more importantly, how could he get him to take the step towards something that wasn't tennis for once in his life? "You should ask the new guy to play with you? It looks like he would be able to keep up with you better than I can. I really don't know why you even play with me. Puri," Niou beamed.
"Sometimes I wonder. I guess because I have known you since middle school and even though you are impossible at times, I suppose I consider you a friend," came the teasing remark. Then Yukimura said, "But I am not going to play him. I have other things I need to focus on."
"You play all of the time. What is one more tennis partner?"
Chuckling, Yukimura narrowed his eyes smiling, "Ah, now I see why he married you. It was the only way to get you to shut up and leave him alone."
"Ouch, you wound me, and by the way, Bunta loves me."
"At least someone does."
Niou rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Come on. Speaking of my husband, he is expecting both of us for lunch… unless you would rather stay here and watch this game. I am sure I can distract Bunta and make your excuses for you."
"No, let's go," Yukimura said with one last glance at the capped man before leaving the courts. Regardless of the pull, he didn't have the time or inclination to spend on anything besides tennis right now… not that the other man noticed him, but the black haired man would be a distraction, and that is something the bluenette could not afford.
When the blue haired man left the court with the silver hair man, Sanada was momentarily inattentive to the game he was playing and lost a point to Yanagi. Berating himself, he focused everything on the game and wound up winning 7 games to 5, but for some reason, the bluenette was still in the back of his mind. It was time to push him out of there though because he was gone and there was no way they would actually meet. The chance was gone and it was better that way.
"Problems Genichiro?" Yanagi met his friend at the net.
"Not at all," Sanada answered shaking the other man's hand before returning to his bag.
"Yukimura Seiichi, 20 years old, 6'0", 140 pounds, blue hair, blue eyes, right handed, all-rounder play style, currently ranked 27th in the world of pro tennis and moving up quickly, currently single, born March 5th, he is a Pisces, and based on that information, you two are supposedly compatible."
"Excuse me?"
"96% chance you were focusing on the blue haired man when they left and I won the point. 4% chance that it was the silver, but if it was him, he is married."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"95.3% you are interested and as such, you needed information."
"I don't need information because I am not interested. Let's get our stuff and get out of here."
"Of course Genichiro," Yanagi smiled and was calculating in his head how long it would take Sanada to admit his interest and do something about it: 11 days.
Glaring at the other man, Sanada barked, "Whatever is going through your head stop it now! Tarundoru!" No, he didn't slap his friend, but something inside him wanted to.
Yanagi nodded, "I am not thinking anything that you need to be worried about." He did find Sanada's reaction to everything he had said and the fact the other man was distracted momentarily, to be quite fascinating. It had been a while since he had seen Sanada even slightly flustered, and it made Yanagi want to study and dissect the situation even more, to put his friend in a predicament where he would run into Yukimura and then be able to examine his reaction to the actual meeting. So many possibilities and so much data could be gathered… Renji decided he would have to see what he could do; it was all in the name of science after all, and it had been too long since Sanada had someone special in his life.