December Wind
Fuji swept into his life like a flight of brisk December wind, hardly distinct but deeply heartrending. He never knew that it would have mattered, be it then or any day later that Fuji's existence had broken his slow steady inertia. That the light tousle through him had changed the peace- breaking inside, a slow trembling war.
A war that mattered nothing to Tezuka.
A war that mattered everything to Tezuka.
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Tezuka knew he knew nothing of the boy who had stepped in. His hidden eyes matched with tumbling bleached bangs. Seeing him in the front of the class, Tezuka felt that the boy's smile properly matched that of the poster down by the mall, the one that read, " we provide the best". He belonged there, the boy, beyond the comfort of reality inside that world of happy smiles. That was what Tezuka thought then- of course.
His friends informed him; perhaps one time too many, that the boy was called Fuji Syuusuke. Their enthusiasm for the new boy was hardly concealed; Tezuka wondered if it was due to Fuji's aura, it was not the normal, bland ones. It was special, like honey laced instant tea, the kind that not many drank but everyone loved. But that was one thing queer; another was perhaps his flighty, dreaming eyes that were hidden behind half- closed lids. Everyone wanted to know its colour but probing only made Fuji veil it behind the smile. No more did anyone try to make him tell, no more did anyone venture-
-Except maybe Kikumaru Eiji.
From Tezuka's point of view, their personalities vastly contrast; Kikumaru was the overly hyper sort, Fuji perhaps more serene. Tezuka felt the combination was beyond the explanation of words, so he never bothered trying to do so.
It was Wednesday a January evening and it was then he met with Kikumaru and Fuji on his way home.
The cherry blossoms were just about blooming and falling, pattering down the school's paths.
Tezuka was staring at the pink petals as they rained down onto him when a hand wrapped around his stiffened neck.
" Tezuka!" Kikumaru piped, pulling Tezuka to a side, " what were you staring at?"
"Nothing" he replied silently wishing to be alone.
" Were you dreaming?" Kikumaru continued.
"No"
A gentle brush of petals on his face.
" Of girls in short skirts perhaps?" The red head laughed, staring at a silhouette of the female species.
" Hardly."
" Really? Me too, I think they'd look great in short skirts." The red head muttered then drifted off as his brain drew a close to everything else.
Tezuka knew that he should not bother himself with things like that. Turning away he was just about to head home when he noticed, at the corner of his eye, the boy they all named Fuji.
He was smiling, that same distant smile.
" Pardon him." Fuji said, like the two words alone could explain the world of mysteries in the simplest of form.
Tezuka stood there looking at the other's eyes; he tried to see behind the lids.
Perhaps if Fuji were no longer smiling, Tezuka would catch a glimpse of its colour.
But 'perhaps' was never something Tezuka ventured into, he like things that he was confident of achieving, not an object that hung in a misty haze of deception.
" Hn," was all Tezuka said as he turned away to face the school gates.
And it was then he felt the contrast between Fuji and Kikumaru was more than just beyond explanation. It was vocally unheard of.
As he stared at the ceiling from his bed that night, he wondered how long more it took, before he could turn away from the cold January wind and sleep a deep dreamless sleep that lacked a pair of half closed smiling eyes that would open but be devoid of colours.
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Tezuka was in the Seigaku Tennis Team. He was the captain, something he held dear to. Tennis was after all he had in the world that encompasses high expectations of him. Being the only child of a traditional family, he was meant to be everything that his parents had hoped. And tennis was the only thing he could do to shun the eyes of everyone else. In the courts he could naturally be himself, where Tezuka meets Tezuka in the purest of form. That was of course, until that afternoon, where he stepped into the courts and his eyes meet, a pair of distant smiling ones.
When Fuji decided, simply, that he would join the tennis club.
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" He is joining?" Oishi asked, furrowing his brows in contemplation.
" Yup! He decided this morning, on the way to school." Kikumaru grinned flinging an arm around Fuji's shoulders ruffling his brown locks.
Tezuka glanced at Fuji's pale face, thin arms and small built and wondered if he would fall under the weight of the racket alone.
" Isn't it a bit sudden?" Oishi asked before slowly continuing, "after all, we are already in our third year."
" Fuji thinks he'll do fine." Kikumaru replied before pulling Fuji to the ends of the courts to meet the other players.
Half in stride, Kikumaru stopped, just momentarily, before hastily turning around to face both Tezuka and Oishi. He grinned then pouted a little childish sulk.
" Besides Ryusaki- sensei has agreed to this so even Tezuka can't do anything about it." He shouted before continuing his strides towards the rest of the team.
The chatter from the other end could have drowned all noise but Tezuka noticed Oishi sighing as he picked up a stray tennis ball from the floor.
"I don't know what to say Tezuka." Throwing the ball, he sent it across the net in a swift swing.
Tezuka returned it with an easy backhand.
" Then don't."
Chuckling, Oishi took the ball before it hit the floor applying force to the shot.
" Cold as ever huh?" he muttered, it was rhetorical question; he didn't bother waiting for a reply. " Doesn't it bother you, that Ryusaki- Sensei sent a newcomer into the club like that?"
" Hardly." The reply was short like the time the ball took to leave Tezuka's racket.
The chatter on the other end resumed after a minute of brief introduction, and Tezuka stole a glance at the honey haired boy. Oishi turned to take a glimpse just as Tezuka did.
" Maybe he is really amazing in tennis." Oishi frowned as if doubting what he just mentioned.
Taking the opportunity whereby Oishi was hardly paying attention to his moves he ended the game with a smash.
" Maybe," was Tezuka's reply as he walked to the benches, but as he did so, he could hardly deny the tiny doubt that lingered at the tip of lips.
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On the way home that day, Tezuka noticed a certain honey haired boy at the bus stop. He was contemplating on whether he should make himself noticed when he decided otherwise as he saw the boy stand to board the bus.
Tezuka simply waited for the next.
Alighting at his stop, his eyes catch, again, the same lean figure squatting by a store window. That was perhaps due to pure coincidence but it was curiosity that led Tezuka to stand behind a tree and watch. The boy was staring at a roll of grip tape.
Tezuka wondered if Fuji had wanted some for his new tennis racket.
But the boy simply stood and walked away, towards the endless rows of shops and city lights. Tezuka did not know why, but he followed, trailing just a few strides behind. He followed the boy as he glanced into shops, occasionally staring longer than usual. The things the other looked at were random, sometimes a picture of a meat bun, other times an expensive shirt from a branded store. From what Tezuka saw, there no connection of the things that boy was interested in. They were just about anything and everything else.
The shortest, however, was his gaze on a tennis racket from a poster. It was brief, but Tezuka felt then, that just for that split second, Fuji's smile had dropped, revealing a slight glimpse of his eyes before it was hastily shut back behind his smiling lids.
It was, however, still too fast for Tezuka to catch its colour. That was disappointment in its own way.
Tezuka followed Fuji till he reached a small stand at the side of a street. The boy bought two meat buns from the vendor and took a seat at the railing between the road and the streets. He ate heartedly and Tezuka wondered if the boy ate alone everyday, under the darkness of the starless skies.
He watched from behind a lamppost as Fuji munched on the buns, the smile still intact, like adhesive. Tezuka felt that if the smile meant just politeness and not happiness, it would be quite a chore to keep it on daily. So maybe, just maybe, Fuji was genuinely jovial just about every second. Only, the more Tezuka thought about it, the more bizarre it became and the thought was hastily chucked into the ' doesn't make sense' portion of his brain.
Finishing the last of his meal, the boy stood up, continuing his journey of the evening. But this time he walked, not the main streets, but the dark alleys.
Tezuka has this thing about dark, dangerous alleys. For one, he never liked them, they stank of muck and the air felt clammy on his skin. Another reason was perhaps the foreboding silence that seems to echo every footstep and breath of air. He did not like that empty feeling of the resounding quietude.
As Tezuka trailed behind Fuji in hope that the boy might decide to leave the darkness between the clamped spaces, he wandered deeper and deeper through mazes of bends and turns. Then the boy stopped, just inches before a small dusty shop window. Fuji paused, and with a slow flick of his hair, he pushed open the old wooden door. The small droning creak resounded in the silence, so softly creeping up Tezuka's spine. And it was then, when Tezuka turned and briskly walked away.
Never once did Tezuka turn back to look at the dusty shop window or search for that lean figure. It was the overwhelming urge to get out that motivated him to find his way through the maze. He simply just stumbled and ran at some point of time with the streetlights in mind. When he had finally done so, he headed for home, and went straight to bed without saying a word to anyone.
And perhaps, asking himself that night as he stared at the lonely ceiling. Tezuka would have thought that it was the alley and shop window that scared him, but it was hardly that. As when Fuji flicked his hair for that one swift movement, Tezuka had caught the boy's eyes -
-And they were of a terrifying cerulean blue.
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Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
i have no idea to why i am submiting something like this, I think i act on impulse so I am very sorry. BUT ANYWAYS, i hoped you liked it and would post some comments.
My english is not perfect cause i am lousy in my languages, i'm better in things that require no thinking like watching the TV so pardon my spelling. Thanks for reading and have a good day with sweet merry nightmares.