A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this new chapter with Syusuke finally entering.

Disclaimer: Don't own Prince of Tennis or the movie "While You Were Sleeping"

Chapter 2

He was as attractive as his brother, Ryoma would give him that. If one went for that gorgeous, pretty boy type. Some might even call him the better looking brother if they stood side by side. But Echizen knew better. Fuji Syusuke was evil.

It had started innocently enough. Another Fuji relative coming in to celebrate the holidays. The brunette had apologized when he entered for his lateness and informed the family that he had already been to visit his ototo in the hospital. And then his gaze had turned on Ryoma.

"Maa, who's this nee-san?"

"Oh you don't know yet Syusuke, this is Echizen Ryoma. He's Yuuta's fiance. He saved Yuuta from being killed this morning." Yumiko explained.

Echizen attempted to smile as the older boy stared at him for a moment with sapphire eyes which seemed to see right through him. Finally Syusuke smiled (in a way which made Ryoma even more wary).

"At least you look prettier than his last girlfriend. Hmm, what was her name, Miyuki?" Syusuke seemed to ask the room at large as he sat down alarmingly close to Echizen.

"Syusuke his name was Mizuki and you know that." Tezuka spoke up from his corner of the room where he had sequestered himself with a novel.

"Ah Kunimitsu you're right. I should have known. It's just when I think of that little weasel breaking my dear little brother's heart I can't help but block out the murderous thoughts going through my head." Syusuke declared dramatically, the whole time keeping his gaze on Echizen. "So Echizen-kun exactly what are your intentions towards my brother?"

Echizen returned Syusuke's stare with a glare of his own. He might be hopelessly lost in a web of lies but he was not going down to this man. "I don't see how that is any of your business Fuji-san."

There was a long silence which followed as the occupants of the room were scared of the tension between the two boys. Then Fuji Yumiko stepped into the room and declared dinner.

Dinner was awkward, and afterwards Ryoma felt like he was intruding when he witnessed the Fuji family celebrate their belated Christmas gift exchange. As soon as was polite, he murmured his thanks for the invitation to dinner and attempted to take his leave for the evening.

He had one foot on the pebble walkway and one arm in his winter coat when a delicate hand reached out and helped him slip his other arm into his coat. "You really should bundle up before you go outside Echizen-kun. We don't want you catching a cold," Syusuke gently chided the younger man.

Ryoma spun around to glare up at the elder Fuji brother. "What do you want Fuji-san?" he demanded.

Fuji smiled and stepped around him to head towards the street. "It's late Echizen-kun. It would be improper of my family to let you walk home unescorted at this time of night. Who knows what sort of trouble you could find."

Echizen froze for a moment, staring at the older boy's back as his statement sunk in. Then he darted forward, wrapping a hand around Syusuke's left arm. "Are you suggesting I need you to protect me?" Ryoma demanded as soon as Fuji turned to look at him.

"Would you like me to?" Syusuke countered with another question, "When we were little I would protect Yuuta from all the bullies on the playground." A genuine smile crossed his face at the pleasant memory.

Ryoma scowled and tried hard not to contemplate the fact of how attractive the man standing next to him looked at the moment. "I bet he hated that," he muttered under his breath to spite him.

Fuji blinked and gazed closely at the boy hanging onto his arm still. "In fact he did Echizen-kun. I apologize, I had no idea you knew my ototo so well."

Ryoma was as surprised as Syusuke had been that his guess had been correct but he recovered fast. "Che. I am his fiancé after all."

"Yes I remember." Fuji agreed. "Well Yuuta's finance could you answer a question for me?"

"What is it?" Ryoma was not fooled, this was going to be some kind of test about how much he really knew Yuuta Fuji.

"Tell me about yourself."

"What?" Ryoma had not been expecting this.

Fuji chuckled and patted Ryoma's head, messing up his hair. "Yuuta means a lot to me, he's my baby brother. Obviously you mean a lot to Yuuta so I guess that leaves me with no choice: I can either kill you or get along with you."

Echizen blinked at the brunette for a moment before staring suspiciously up at him, "What happened to Mizuki?"

"Your brother's crazy," Ryoma informed the younger Fuji brother the next morning as he sat beside his hospital bed, "We're not inviting him to the wedding."

"I thought you weren't dating," Ann asked from her position at the foot of the bed, writing in Yuuta's hospital chart.

Echizen scowled at the reminder. "Can't I have some privacy?"

Ann smiled and put the chart back. "Sure. But you may want to save your love confessions for when he's awake to hear them."

"Get out."

As Ann headed out the door laughing an orderly with an overly confident smirk on his face stalked in and swaggered up to Echizen.

"You must be Fuji Yuuta's finance, right? I was asked to give you this." the boy declared, passing over a plastic bag filled with small objects.

"What is all this?" Echizen asked.

"These are Fuji Yuuta's belongings which we took off of him the other day when he entered the hospital." the boy explained and then swung around heading for the door.

Ryoma stared at the bag before carefully pulling it open and examining the contents. There was a wallet complete with Fuji Yuuta's driver's license, a key chain with what looked like keys to a car and a house or apartment of some type, and a brown paper bag containing a can of cat food. This last one made Ryoma smile because the brand was the same one he fed Karupin. It was obvious now that Yuuta would have been someone he could have really connected with if the two of them had ever really met.

"You shouldn't be so careless," a voice commented from the door. Ryoma swung around from his seat by the bed to see Tezuka with a solemn expression on his face.

"Fuji Syusuke is not someone who fools easily. You should leave now, before either of you get hurt."

"I fooled him last night." Ryoma shot back, annoyed at this man who was barely older than himself treating him like a child.

"And how long is that going to last?" Tezuka strode over to the other boy and grabbed the plastic bag of possessions out of his hands, "Do you know what kind of car Yuuta drives? What about his apartment- any idea where he lives? Do you even know what he does for a living? You make one slip Echizen Ryoma and all this is over."

Ryoma scowled as the older boy both figuratively and literally dangled the details of Yuuta's life over his head. He knew what he was doing was insane and probably impossible to keep up for any length of time. Not to mention the fact that once his "fiance" woke up the truth would come out within seconds. And yet-

He reached up and grabbed the bag out of Tezuka's hands. "So teach me. You know all about Fuji Yuuta. I need to learn. Simple." Tezuka stared at him for a moment and Echizen kept his gaze without blinking, not willing to back down to this man.

Finally Tezuka nodded. "Alright. I have work right now but I can meet afterwards to tell you things. Where should we meet?"

Ryoma smirked as he rambled off his apartment address. He was not going down without a fight.

However when the knock came at his door that night, it was a lot earlier than he had expected. So early, in fact, that he currently had company that he was not willing to show Tezuka. Thinking quickly, Ryoma shoved said company into his closet with a small squeak and ran over to open up the door.

"You're early," he said bluntly as he swung open the door to admit Tezuka. Unfortunately, instead of Tezuka's solemn expression staring down a him, a mildly amused Fuji Syusuke smiled at him.

"Expecting someone Echizen-kun?"

"Yes." Ryoma saw no problem with the truth, to a certain point. "You can't come in."

"Maa, and I came all this way to see you too." Fuji seemed to pout in the doorway for a moment before smiling and turning to leave, "I guess I'll just have to tell Tezuka that his help wasn't appreciated."

Echizen's heart stopped beating for a moment. "Wait. What?"

Fuji swung back around, "Did I hear an invitation in your voice Echizen-kun? Well how nice of you."

Swallowing hard, Ryoma nodded his head stiffly and stepped back, allowing the smiling devil access to his apartment. Fuji wandered around inside for several minutes, picking up objects from his shelves and tables and examining them closely. Finally Ryoma couldn't take it any longer and blurted out his question. "What the hell are you doing here Fuji?"

Fuji smiled at him but before he could say anything a small sneeze came from the hall closet and Ryoma suddenly remembered the main reason he wanted to keep Fuji out.

"Now whatever could that be Echizen-kun?" Fuji asked innocently, however Ryoma could see in his eyes he already knew, or at least had an idea. Striding over to the closet door he swung it open, where a petite young woman with long brunette hair stumbled out, crashing into the elder Fuji brother. "And who would you be miss? A closet monster?"

"I'm so sorry Ryoma-kun," the girl stuttered, looking nervously up at the other man holding her steady. Her face had turned bright red from the embarrassment. "I think I'm allergic to Karupin."

"It's fine Ryuzaki. You should just go back to your grandmother now." Ryoma said with a sigh. The girl nodded furiously and scrambled out of Fuji's grasp to head out the door murmuring her goodbyes. Once the door closed and the apartment was again quiet Fuji turned his gaze on Ryoma.

"Are you cheating on my brother Ryoma?" Fuji asked in such a way that there was no answer but no.

"Not with her." Ryoma snorted. "Her grandmother is the building landlord. She keeps trying to set us up together but the girl is terrified of the entire male sex."

"So who exactly are you cheating on my brother with Echizen Ryoma?" Syusuke demanded.

"I haven't decided yet. Are you available?" Ryoma asked dryly leaning towards the other boy. Fuji for once seemed startled as he jumped away from him.

"Look why don't you just explain what you're here for so you can leave. It's obvious you don't want to be here." Echizen stated.

Syusuke nodded clearly still shaken but he shook it off quickly as he pulled out a photo album from his bag. "Kunimitsu asked me to come and show you pictures of Yuuta when he was younger."

"Alright," Ryoma agreed, not knowing exactly what he was getting into. Fuji beamed and grabbed his hand pulling him down onto the couch and thrusting what he was soon to learn was book one of Syusuke's many, many Yuuta books onto his lap. "Ah so this is Yuuta when he was born, wasn't he just adorable? And this is Yuuta at one day old- can't you just tell he was destined for great things?"

Many albums later Ryoma became quite aware that he wasn't the only one currently obsessed with Fuji Yuuta.

Tbc...