Title: Touch
Genre: Drama/Romance
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis does not belong to me.
Main pairing: Atobe x Fuji (Tofu pair)
Side pairings: Yuushi x Gakuto (Dirty pair), Tezuka x Echizen (Pillar pair)

A.N. I am so behind in updates so without any further interruption please enjoy chapter 4 and give me lots of feedbacks. Hah, because more feedbacks means a faster update ( wink wink :D )

Note: Please keep in mind that I am pretty much taking players that I like or enjoy writing from other teams and putting them in Hyotei for my own writing pleasure. Ugh, in other word don't be offended if you don't like changes.

Words in italic represent thoughts and flashback.

Chapter 4:
Tennis tryout

The next day after lunch, Fuji decided to follow Jiroh to the tennis court.

"Fuji, are you really going to join the tennis team with me?" Asked Jiroh excitingly for the tenth time that day.

"Jiroh, I already told you that I am just going to try out for the team. Besides I heard it is near impossible for a first year to make it on the team as a regular." Commented Fuji casually.

Jiroh nods before answering, "But I am sure Fuji will be awesome with Atobe-san as your private tennis coach."

"I never had a tennis coach and even if I had a tennis coach it wouldn't be Atobe. Our relationship or lack of it is as simple as me living under his roof." Answered Fuji plainly.

Coach Sakaki was sitting in his private office when he noticed the list for new members, Fuji Shusuke.

"Why does the name seem so familiar?" Thought Coach Sakai suspiciously.

"So Fuji, have you ever play tennis before?" Asked Jiroh curiosity.

"When I was younger I used to play tennis with one of the neighborhood children but I had never played in an official tennis match before." Answered Fuji honesty.

"So you are the new student that everyone is talking about." Interrupted Mizuki all of a sudden as he step in between Jiroh and Fuji.

"Hello Mizuki-san, we are both trying out for the team today." Commented Jiroh happily.

Mizuki smiled knowingly before saying, "Hello Jiroh-kun, I am sure you are all aware that the chance that a first year will make it on the regular spot is near impossible. It is probably in both of your best interest to wait another year before embarrassing yourself."

Before Jiroh had a chance to say anything, Coach Sakai enters the large stadium and announced that all the newcomers along with the non-regulars will be divided in four different groups randomly.

Coach Sakai takes a quick glance at the potential players and said, "To all the newcomers, I will say this once and only once. The most important thing for Hyotei tennis team is winning and as a result everyone will be judge equally regardless of your tennis background or grade. Simply put, first year, second year and third year all have equal chance of being a regular on the Hyotei team as long as you win your matches."

Fuji listen on with very little interest and thought, "So this is what rich people do for fun. I might not like Hyotei but I could live with this coach's philosophy. Despite the coach's arrogant tone of voice, I am relief to know that he doesn't play favors."

Meanwhile Coach Sakai was watching from his office window with Tezuka and Echizen.

"It had been a while since both of you stopped by my office. If I recalled correctly, the last time that you are both here was when Atobe was still playing tennis." Commented Sakai casually.

Echizen pull down his cap and asked, "What are you trying to said, Coach Sakai?"

"Echizen, please watch your tone of voice." Interrupted Tezuka before Echizen could continue.

Sakai smiles knowingly before saying, "There is no point in playing the guessing game Coach Tezuka."

"We are making a stop at Hyotei because we want to see if there are any new potential that we would like to recruit for the winter training camp." Commented Tezuka clearly.

"I am grateful that you are keeping Hyotei Gakuen in your mind for potential players. Of course, I would be glad to provide you with any Hyotei players that managed to capture your interest. " Replied Sakai with a pleased smile.

"Coach Sakai, I would really appreciated it if you would give us some of your input on talent players. There is no doubt in my mind that you have a keen eye for talent. After all, you have trained some rather impressive tennis players in the past such as Atobe Keigo and Oshitari Yuushi." Stated Tezuka.

"Hey, who is that kid in the blue group that is playing right now?" Asked Echizen out of the blue.

Both Tezuka and Sakai turned their attention to the match being played in the blue corner and saw Fuji playing a match in a flawless fluid motion.

"His name is Fuji Shusuke and should you really be calling him a kid, Echizen-kun?" Asked Sakai with an amusing grin.

Echizen lift his hat slightly and stared right at Sakai before replying, "What is that suppose to mean?"

Meanwhile Tezuka was trying to suppress a small smile from corner of his lips and thought, "That is just like the pot calling the kettle black but Ryoma is right, that first year is showing some real potential out there."

Sakai follow Tezuka's glance and said, "To be honest, I am quite surprise that Fuji is doing this well because from his application, it seem that he had never officially played tennis before or had any proper training with a tennis coach."

"A true tennis player doesn't need to play in official matches in order to be good." Commented Echizen stubbornly as he recalled losing a match against that guy in the park few weeks ago.

"So Coach Tezuka, do you think Fuji is a diamond in the making or another fake gem in a sea of counterfeit?" Asked Sakai.

"Only time will tell and I have already taken enough of your time for today, Coach Sakai." Commented Tezuka.

"It had been a pleasure and please feels free to stop by anytime, Coach Tezuka." Replied Sakai.

"Kunimitsu, let's go." Interrupted Echizen stubbornly before leaving Sakai's office with Tezuka offering an apologetic look at Sakai.

Once Tezuka and Echizen are back in Tezuka's car, Echizen started asking, "Kunimitsu, so that is the kid that arrogant Monkey king adopted right?"

"I didn't realize that Atobe's new house guest had such tennis potential. I could tell that with proper training, Fuji-kun would become a great tennis player." Commented Tezuka.

Tezuka gently pat Echizen's head and asked, "Are you still mad about losing a match to that beginner?"

Echizen pulled down his hat and frown slightly before saying, "I don't mind losing a match to a complete beginner but I do mind the fact that he wouldn't let me have a rematch against him."

"So did you found out anything about the guy that you played against?" Asked Tezuka suspiciously.

"After weeks of snooping around, I finally found out that his name is Yukimura Seiichi and he is a second year at Hyotei. However, it was a known fact among many of his friends that he hates tennis with a passion for some unknown reason." Answered Echizen.

"A guy who hates tennis with a passion and yet he was able to beat you in a tennis match with no handicapped." Commented Tezuka.

"I was hoping that we would see Yukimura at today's try out but right now I need to focus on my training. Kunimitsu, I promise you that one of these days, I will get him to play against me and next time I will be the victor." Stated Echizen firmly.

"Ryoma, you seemed really happy today." Interrupted Tezuka casually.

Echizen pulled back his hat in a weak attempt to hide his smile before saying, "Kunimitsu, it had been a while since I had seen some real competitions in this sport. Winning becomes boring when I don't have any real rivals in matches."

"Ryoma, starting tomorrow there will be a new change in your regular training menu. I had a talk with Inui and we come up with a new plan that will help in your next match against Yukimura Seiichi, that is whenever he agrees to play another match against you." Commented Tezuka.

On the other hand, Coach Sakai was pleasantly surprised when he found out that three of the four winners are all first years. The four winners consisted of Hajime Mizuki, Jiroh Akutagawa, Wakashi Hiyoshi and Fuji Shusuke. In another word, besides Mizuki, the rest are all newcomers to Hyotei tennis team.

Sakai took a sip of his tea and thought, "After last year's lost it seem that Mizuki had made some real progress during the summer. In addition, Jiroh and Wakashi have both shown great potential in their past matches but for a beginner like Fuji to make it all the way to the end was a complete surprise. I wonder if I am going to have a second Atobe Keigo in my hand for the next three years."

That night Fuji came home and waited patiently for Atobe to come home after finishing with his homework. In the last few days, it had become a habit for the two to eat dinner together no matter how late Atobe's work days have becomes.

"Shusuke, did anything interesting happen at Hyotei today?" Asked Atobe as he pours himself a cup of coffee.

"Nothing particular but I did decided to try out for the Hyotei tennis team." Answered Fuji as he steals a quick glance at Atobe.

"Oh I didn't realize that you like tennis. Then again you had never told me anything about yourself other than the fact that your foster father is a scum." Replied Atobe.

"I was playing tennis before I realized it was called tennis. When I was little there was a small desert tennis court near where I used to live. There was dirt everywhere and there were holes everywhere on the net but for us it was a small paradise. We didn't have much money but we both chipped in and brought two tennis rackets and a tennis ball. After that, we would play this sport called tennis and forget about our worries at home. We didn't know the rules but it was fun." Commented Fuji as he started to clean up the plates.

"Who are we?" Asked Atobe curiosity.

A faint smile appeared on Fuji's face before he answered, "I didn't know his name and before I had a chance to ask his name, his family had moved away."

Atobe grab Fuji's tiny hands and said, "I don't have work this Saturday. Why don't we spend the day at my friend Tezuka's place?"

Fuji glanced up in surprised before nodding his head.

That night Fuji stared outside the window and thought, "I wonder if I will ever see him again, the person who taught me how to play tennis."

TBC

Chapter 5: Meeting Prince of Tennis