Title: Wasabi

Fandom: Prince of Tennis

Characters: Takashi Kawamura, Fuji Syuuske

Prompt: Taste

Word Count: 1877

Rating: K

Summary: Kawamura could never figure out why Fuji loved wasabi so much. It kept on nagging at him, so he decided to ask his friend. The result isn't what he expected though.

Wasabi

Kawamura loved working in his father's sushi shop. In fact, it was one of his favourite pastimes. The other ones included; tennis and hanging out with his friends. Every day at the shop was always new. He would either learn a new technique to cut fish, or meet new customers. Every customer had their own unique story and aspect of life. His favourite thing about the sushi shop is when his friends came to visit. Every so often after a tournament he would hold a celebration there, where free sushi went to all his teamates. He isn't allowed to serve the normal customers until he's done his apprenticeship, so it's a special treat.

Sushi would go all around, many things would be learned about the respective teenagers, old habits and silly fiascoes would surface. Overall they always turned out to be a great time. One of the most popular "traditions" is that everybody would try wasabi sushi. Fuji happened to love the stuff, he would manage to have a whole plate full by himself. Try as they might, nobody else on the tennis team could barely stomach one piece of the spicy sushi. Heck, Kawamura would try eating the stuff even went they weren't all there, he nearly choked each time. This turned into one of his least favourite types of sushi to make.

Even when Kawamura tried to tempt the customers to try the sushi, they all refused, usually complaining about wasabi being to hot. Fuji was probably the only person on the planet able to eat the stuff. This got the sushi apprentice very curious. Even at school, Fuji would always have a bit of extra wasabi in his lunchbox, and he put it on practically everything. Of course, only Kawamura noticed, whenever he tried to ask his friends about Fuji's "addiction" they all thought he was going insane or they paid no mind. Try as he might, he could never understand how somebody could like such a spice so much. Especially when Fuji put it on his noodles.

Kawamura had just finished up his day at school with the end of afternoon tennis practice. He was refilling his water bottle after using it so much in his practice match. As he stepped towards the locker room a certain browned hair kid met up with him. He had his usual smile, as he looked at the now confused teen. He placed his arm over the door, blocking his friend's "escape".

"Kawamura-san! I just thought you would like to know that I would be coming over to the sushi shop later today. Could you prepare me my usual please?" Fuji asked, with a grin.

"Hai! Of course! Of course! So I assume that will be some wasabi sushi, right?" Kawamura asked quickly, curiosity in his voice. One could tell that this was taking over his train of thought pretty easily. He looked flustered, his face was even more red then after a usual tennis practice.

"Do you really need to ask? Of course it will." Fuji said while laughing and giving a cheeky smile. His trademark, which usually annoyed people really easily. All his friend could do is laugh and scratch the back of his head, a bit perplexed.

Kawamura couldn't stop thinking about his friend coming over all day while working. Unfortunately he dropped a few plates which broke on contact. This earned him the wrath of his father, and to a lesser extent his mother. He always got excited when friends came over for food, however he was even more excited then usual. He was determined to find out how that kid could love such a wicked spice.

"I wonder what's on that kid's mind these days?" His father grumbled, as he continued to make more sushi. Kawamura quickly took this chance to snag a piece of wasabi sushi that was laying around. He quickly popped it into his mouth. The burning sensation of the wasabi kicked in immediately. Slowly, surefully he managed to get the piece down. That was proabably one of the spiciest things he had ever had. How could Fuji love this stuff so much?

Hours faded into hours until it was almost time to close up the shop. Kawamura was a bit dissapointed. If a friend was going to come it probably would've been a bit after the mainstream hours. It was almost a half hour until the closed up shop officially. He was just doing some extra sweeping around the restaurant. When he looked up, his friend was stading in the doorway with his usual smile. He walked up to the counter, and took his seat on the mat. He looked like he was here strictly for business, rather then solicitation.

" I would like one order of Wasabi Sushi please." Fuji asked simply.

Kawamura's father wasn't in the shop right now. If he was he would've scolded the customer on proper times to dine. Knowing this, Kawamura quickly took the order. In a fine array of chopping, slicing and dicing, the order was ready to be eaten. He quickly gave it to the probably famished teamate, who simply sat there eyeing the food. It was almost like he was trying intentionally to annoy the sushi chef. His plan worked without a hitch, as his friend qiuckly put on a face of concentration and impatience.

"Mmm... I think that you may have outdone yourself Kawamura-san this looks really delicious!" Fuji said almost laughing. Kawamura only stayed silent, his patience was running out. Anybody who knew him, knew that this was a very hard thing to do. The kid was practically renown for his ability not to lose his temper so quickly. If there's a tennis racket involved that's a completely different story.**

Fuji finally decided to eat his food. He started to eat his food slowly, to enjoy the flavour. This was his personal philosophy; or in this case an excuse. His friend grew even more impatient. Kawamura couldn't take just looking at his friend eat the disgusting sushi. In an effort to buy some time, he thought striking up some conversation would work.

"Eh, Fuji-san you were really good at practice today." He said trying to lift some of the tension from his shoulders. Unfortunately things weren't going to be that easy for him.

"Yeah, you were good yourself" He replied. He was a bit too preoccupied with eating his food.. This made Kawamura twitch, his eyebrows concentrated into one brow as he clenched his teeth. All the other kid did was smile, as he chewed on his last piece of sushi. He gave his friend the plate, and walked to the door.

"Well it was some good food Kwamura-san. Maybe I'll come back another day." He called from the other side of the room. Kawamura quickly made himself over to the door. He made himself over there too quickly, in a mix of anger and haste. The other kid could tell he was rushing, and decided to ask why.

"Kawamura, is there something on your mind?" He asked.

"Yes! Yes there is! How are you able to eat that wasabi sushi? Heck! How can you eat wasabi at all? I mean, the stuff is nasty but you eat twenty-four seven! How is that possible? I've tried I don't know how many times to eat it, but it always makes me choke. It's just too hot! How are you able to eat so much wasabi? Please tell me, it's been on my mind for months!" The now extremely embarrassed boy took a few steps back. Fuji went into a bit of a shock. He would've never expected him to blow up like that. Not even over something so trivial, like wasabi. It seemed important to the other boy though.

"Well you see, the first time I ever kissed a girl... she had the taste of wasabi on her lips. I don't really know why, but I could taste it easily. The relationship went on a down slope after that. Of course, like most relationships eventually we broke up. However I really wanted to try and eat some wasabi to remember that kiss. That was just one of the ways I thought I could cope easier. I ate it almost every day. Eventually I got really used to the taste of wasabi, and it didn't seem so hot and spicy. Now it's just a great flavour to add to any meal I come across. Heck, sometimes I even put it in coffee." Fuji explained to his friend. Both of them loosened up a bit after hearing the story.

Fuji looked up at his taller friend, grabbed the collar of his shirt and forced his head down. His friend was confused at the sudden action, but not so confused as when he gave him a kiss on the lips. It had only lasted about two seconds, but he definitely needed to back up a few steps. His face had a slight blush, and a small look of embarrassment. About a million thoughts were going through the poor kid's mind. The other boy just smiled, to his friend's discontent.

"Well, what did that kiss taste like?" Fuji asked. Kawamura just stayed silent, he was still in a bit of a shock over what had just happened. The other kid took the initiative to leave the scene.

"I'll see you at school Taka-san!" He yelled as he ran off into the chilly, late night streets. Kawamura touched his lips, the kiss had felt kinda good. Thoughts were still flooding his mind, things like; What if Fuji really liked him? Was it just a joke? Is anything going to happen tomorrow? He just stood there in a helpless daze. His father noticed his son just standing there.

"Oi Takashi! Make sure you clean up the restaurant!" He yelled. His son snapped from his daze, and continued to clean up the kitchen.

About fifteen minutes later, he decided that he should go to bed. His head was pounding from all of the new thoughts coming through his mind. This made it fairly hard for the poor kid to get asleep.

"Well, what did that kiss taste like?"...

"Well, I can certainly see why Fuji loves wasabi so much."

Ok, this was my first fic. I had a lot of fun making it, and I really hope that you guys enjoyed reading it! Hopefully you can expect some more fics from me! Please read and review. ^_^