Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis

Lady Monozuki: Happy holidays everyone! I hope you enjoy!

Together

He was too young to go through such heartbreak. Then again, his parents had told him that he was too young to consider dating someone else. However, he had steadily ignored their advice and because of it, he had found himself in this situation.

It was raining, but he didn't care. The water had long since pierced through the clothing, but he did not make any move to get out of the elements. Every part of him was numb, unfeeling, and blank. He didn't know what he was thinking, all he knew was that he had been betrayed. It was not like any betrayal that he had experienced before, this one hurt far more.

His heart felt as though it had been shattered into pieces and all that he could do was try to pick up the pieces to make him feel better. It was not working. All he could think about was the moments that they had shared together and the words whispered as silent promises to never be alone. Yet here he was, sitting in the rain, with no arm wrapped around him. There was nothing to bring him warmth. There was no comfort in being alone. All that he had left was the broken fragments of his heart.

Nothing he could do would make the pain go away. It was not something that he could fix anyway. It was the fragment that could only be filled by another person's love, a love that he no longer had. Why did his former boyfriend have to hurt him in that way? It would have been one thing for them to break up with him, but it was another to catch his boyfriend cheating? What had he done wrong to cause his former boyfriend to even take such drastic measures in the first place? Was he not enough?

There was no one to answer his questions. It was frustrating to not know what would drive his former boyfriend to that point. He had lost the one thing that he allowed himself to get attached to more than anything else. He understood why his parents said he was too young. After all, they were just teens who were controlled by their emotions rather than seeking any permanence. It seemed pointless to even label a relationship considering that he had only been there for stress release, or so he was told coldly by the one man that he thought he could trust his heart with.

He noticed that the rain was no longer pounding against his clothes. Instead, there was the thumping of the rain beating against the umbrella. He looked up and saw a familiar smiling face. He was in no mood to deal with the sadistic tensai this evening. However, he could not muster up the energy to move.

"Echizen, what are you doing out in the rain?" the soft voice asked. It was laced with something that he had not expected, genuine concern. He did not answer. He did not trust himself to speak. In fact, he did not trust himself to do anything but sit and stare at the smiling figure in front of him. He noticed that the smile was rapidly disappearing.

"Fuji," he muttered. His voice cracked and he had completely dropped the formalities. "Am I not good enough?"

The tensai did not look baffled at this question. "At tennis or as a person?" his sempai asked.

He shivered. The voice was serious. He knew that the tensai already knew what he meant, but was asking anyway. That meant that Fuji wanted confirmation before he did something drastic. He was tempted to lie and say the former. However, he knew that would be seen through as well.

"The latter," he replied in a distant voice.

"Echizen," the other said in a harsh tone that he had never heard before. He looked into Fuji's eyes and noticed that they were open. "If you were not good enough, there wouldn't be so many people after you, myself included."

If it had not been for his ex-boyfriend cheating on him, if it had not been the night that Fuji decided to take a walk, and if it had not been for that conversation; they would have never gotten together.

~End~