To Return
Summary: Have you ever heard the saying, 'They need to stop living in the past'? For three selected people, it's literally true.
Warnings: Shounen-ai
Pairings: Yukimura x Fuji
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
Thank you, my fellow reviewers. D If you read, please review, too. It helps, trust me. :D I hope this story will get more hits with more updates. I just thought of a new story, and it will be featuring Ryoma and Fuji, and Tezuka and Fuji. The two most popular Fuji pairings! I think that one will get a lot of reviews. xD;; But for the time being (since it might be a while before I finish that), you should probably read and review this! And to reviewers, thanks again! I make sure I take the time to reply to every review.
Chapter 2:
Fuji wandered throughout the school halls aimlessly. Actually, it was his lunch break right now, and he had already finished his lunch. He was just walking around the school, comparing it to Seigaku. It was very similar, actually, and he already knew where his next class was. The halls were quiet, since most people were in the cafeteria for lunch, or they were in classes.
Fuji spotted someone walking down the hall, heading right for him. The person had blue wavy hair, and Fuji recognized him immediately. He walked faster, and smiled when he got to his target. "Ah, strange seeing you here, Yukimura," Fuji said. He smiled.
"Likewise, Fuji," Yukimura replied. "What class are you going to next?"
Fuji unknowingly turned around and walked with Yukimura. "I'm going to Art, you?"
"Ah, same," Yukimura answered.
"If that's the case," Fuji said, "then you're in every one of my classes."
"Coincidence, neh?" Yukimura smiled.
"Yeah."
They walked down the halls in silence. They stopped at the art room right when the bell rang. A ton of kids ran out of the room, heading to their lunch, probably. "Perfect timing," Yukimura said. Fuji nodded in agreement. They walked into the empty room and sat down at the same table. Yukimura pulled out a chair for both Fuji and himself. Fuji sat down and steadied himself by placing his hand on the back of the chair. His hand brushed against the slightly younger but taller boy (Yukimura's birthday is March 5, and Fuji's is February 29). Fuji looked down and let his hair fall over his face to conceal his blush. Luckily for him, the future captain was turned the other way.
What was he thinking? Fuji shook his head. Why would he fall for Yukimura? Yeah, he was pretty, and nice, and very much like Fuji himself. But when he went to Seishun, he was head over heals for Tezuka Kunimitsu, the stoic, silent, never-smiling captain. Completely opposite of Yukimura.
Yukimura felt Fuji's hand touch his. His skin is soft, the blue haired boy thought. And he's oh-so pretty. And cute. Yukimura saw Fuji blush and smiled before turning away. This boy may be even more interesting than he had originally thought. He would be perfect, Yukimura thought, if he played…
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Fuji whacked the ball as hard as he could and sent it sailing over the net into the opposite court and straight past his third year opponent. "Wow, you're pretty good, Fuji," Yukimura said. "Would you like to join the regulars?"
"What gives you the right to ask that?" another third year boy said, walking up from behind Yukimura. "You're just a tiny first year, and you're not even on the regulars."
Yukimura smiled and turned. "Ah, but you just wait." He grabbed his racquet. "Would you like to play a match?"
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"G-Game and match to Yukimura Seiichi, six games to two!" the referee shouted. The crowd was too stunned to cheer. Fuji was the one to begin clapping, and another first year beside him joined in. Yet another first year began to clap, and soon, all the first and second years were clapping for the young, pretty boy. The third years were glaring and the defeated boy, and were saying something about, "Putting the third years to shame".
"What's all the commotion?" someone asked, walking up to the courts.
The third year that was just beaten by Yukimura turned. "Ah, captain!" he said.
He was about to say something, but then Fuji spoke up. "Yukimura just beat him in a match!" he said with a false excitement.
The captain looked skeptically at the feminine looking brunette, and then turned to look at Yukimura. "Is this boy," he gestured at Fuji, "telling the truth?"
The first and second years who had witnessed it, nodded. Even some who hadn't been there nodded, too, since they wanted to see a first year on the regulars.
The captain sighed. "Oh, what to do with you?" he asked, looking at the third year who was beaten. "Here I have a regular who was beaten by a non-regular first year!" He then smiled kindly. "I'll take my chances. Yukimura, welcome to the regulars."
All the first and second years on the court cheered loudly. Yukimura whispered something to the captain, which made him turn to look at Fuji. "Fuji, too?" he said Yukimura nodded. "Fuji, would you like to join, too?" he asked the brunette. And Fuji found that he couldn't say no.
"Okay everyone, back to work!" the captain ordered. "You two," he pointed and the two third years who had been beaten by Fuji and Yukimura. "Off the courts, now. Please return your uniforms."
"What's this?" Fuji asked. "Why do they have to leave?"
"Rikkaidai has a strict policy that if you're a third year and you're not a regular or a substitute, you can't play. Third years that have been beaten are allowed to return to the courts and challenge a regular anytime they like, but if they are beaten by the same person three times, they aren't allowed to return to the courts anymore."
"Oh, I see," Fuji said. "Where did you learn all this? We came to the courts together, and I was watching you the entire time."
Yukimura's smile was wiped off for a fraction of a second, but it then returned. "It's a secret."
Fuji frowned, but to Yukimura, it looked kind of like a pout. He could resist pinching Fuji's left cheek. "You're so cute!" he said and laughed. Fuji started to laugh, too.
"Yukimura! Fuji! If you want to be regulars, you have to practice with them!" the captain shouted.
"Yeah, okay!" the two boys said at the same time, laughing and walking to the regular's court.
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After about a month of schooling at Rikkaidai, Fuji was beginning to think of it as home. Yukimura was the nicest person he had ever met, and they were having a lot of fun in the tennis tournaments and things like that. To Fuji, it was a whole new experience to go to Rikkaidai, and it was a good experience, too. Fuji almost liked it more than he had liked Seigaku.
One Saturday morning, he woke up to a flash of bright light. Not again, he thought. The whole room went white. It wasn't a color white, though, even if it had seemed like it was. To Fuji, it just felt like he was sitting in nothingness. Fuji heard the woman's voice again. "Would you like to return?" she asked this time.
"Return to where?" Fuji asked back.
"Either return to the future, with all of your past changes applied, or return to the future you were living before you came here," she replied.
"I would not like to return to either," Fuji said, and the room became normal again, and not even a minute had passed. Everything was back to normal. "That was strange," Fuji said aloud.
"What was strange?" Yumiko asked, walking into his room.
"Nothing." Fuji shook his head and his older sister shrugged. "Oh, that's right." Fuji got up.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" his sister asked.
"I'm going out," he said.
"With whom?"
"Yukimura," Fuji replied.
"Oh, is it a date?"
Fuji blushed. "Of course not. We're just going out as friends." He grabbed his clothes and walked out of his room to the bathroom. His sister just sighed and smiled. Make things right this time, Syusuke. Don't mess up.
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Fuji walked out of the door into the crisp autumn air. The streets were busy with early morning shoppers, and the sun was just rising over the horizon. The shadows were long and sharply defined, much like shadows in the morning or evening. Fuji couldn't get what his sister had said out of his head, though. Oh, is it a date? Fuji shook his head. Of course it wasn't a date. He had said the right thing. They were going out as friends. But was Yukimura more than a friend to him?
"Fuji!" Yukimura called.
Fuji looked behind him. He had walked a couple of meters past their meeting spot. "Oh, sorry, Yukimura. I was just spacing out."
"That's not like you, Fuji," Yukimura said.
Fuji opened his eyes and replied with a mysterious, "Nothing's normal these days."
"Fuji?" But Fuji had already plastered his usual smile on his face.
"Shall we go eat breakfast?" he said cheerfully. Yukimura shrugged and followed the smaller boy.
As they stepped into a small café across the street from a jovial looking flower shop (1), Yukimura said to Fuji quietly, "You know, you can tell me anything. I'll be right there for you."
Fuji stopped for a moment, and continued to walk on, with his face to the floor. The pair sat down at a table and ordered some soda. Fuji continued to look down at the polished wood. Yukimura did the only sensible thing, in his mind. He reached his hand over and tilted Fuji's chin up so that Fuji was looking into Yukimura's icy blue orbs.
"You can tell me anything," he repeated.
Fuji stared at Yukimura for a long while with wide open eyes. "I—there have just been so many things going on lately. I don't even know where to start."
Yukimura smiled, triumphant at finally coaxing the brunette to talk. "Start with the most important one."
Fuji's eyes were once again downcast, though his face was parallel to Yukimura's. There was a silence as the waitress came and set the drinks on their table.
"I'll tell you, but I don't think you'll believe me," Fuji admitted.
Yukimura removed his hand from Fuji's chin. He moved the hand to cover the smaller boy's hand on the table. He smirked. "Try me."
"The past, the present, the future, it's all a blur to me now. I can't tell what's what anymore," Fuji said. He was sure that Yukimura would look at him strangely, but the taller boy kept a straight face.
Finally, after another bit of silence, Yukimura murmured, "You're a 'Returner', aren't you?"
Fuji blinked. "What's a 'Returner'?" he asked.
"Simple," Yukimura said. "One who returns. To the past, of course. Every now and then, some people in the world, who are visibly truly unhappy are given the chance to go back to the past and change everything. You're one of them, aren't you?" Yukimura explained.
"…Yes," Fuji replied. "But how do you know about all this?"
"Another straightforward question," Yukimura answered. "I'm one, too."
"What?!" Fuji almost shouted. But then, he remembered that he was in a café. "But…how…?"
"I was truly unhappy. With my future life. And I was given the chance to go back and change it all."
"But—but you still go to Rikkaidai, and everything about you is the same," Fuji said.
"What are you talking about?" Yukimura asked. "In my previous…'life', I guess, I didn't even play tennis!"
"Huh? But I knew you! Our schools played each other in the National Tournament! You were the best junior tennis player in all of Japan! I went to Seishun Gakuen! We beat your team in the Kantou Tournament, but you weren't there, since you were undergoing a major surgery!"
Yukimura looked shocked. "Surgery?! For what?!"
"You were diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, and you had to have a surgery!" Fuji said. "I don't really know the details, but I know that your surgery was a success. Then our schools played each other in the Nationals, but after that, I didn't even hear of you."
"That's kind of strange," Yukimura said. "I also vaguely remember you from the past life, but I was living in Kansai, in a boarding school. You attended my school, and we were in a lot of classes together. You were best friends with this guy named Tezuka Kunimitsu, and I was always jealous of him because I always wanted to be your friend…"
"You did?" Fuji asked, shocked.
Yukimura smiled and squeezed Fuji's hand. "Yeah, I did. And now that I am, I think it's kind of a dream come true."
Fuji smiled back at him. "We have to get this thing figured out, though."
"Yeah, it's really strange." The two boys left the money on the table and ran out of the café, hand in hand, to the library.
(1): Hey, another reference to that cafe in 'A Liking to Flowers'. D
So this chapter basically started explaining the plot of the story. Like? Don't? Please review. )