A Special Kind of Love
by Calator (formerly lustbader064)
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.
Chapter 4- The Other People
The cafeteria was packed, as always, with hungry teenagers eager for food. A cluster fought in front of the store, almost scaring the old lady who sells their food with their predatory faces while eyeing the scrumptious snacks on sale. The lucky ones who already bought their food were already seated on the tables and eating their food in peace, once in a while chatting with themselves.
"Ne, ne Oishi! You won't guess what happened in Japanese Class this morning, right Fujiko?" Kikumaru asked his doubles partner as he glomped him while having a mouthful of melon bread, successfully sending crumbs falling on his companion's clean jacket.
"Eiji! Don't talk with your mouth full," Oishi worried like the mother hen that he was, absently brushing off the food that splattered on his uniform.
Finishing the food in his mouth with one large gulp, the redhead replied, "Sorry… well anyway, guess what happened in our Japanese Class!"
"What?"
Looking over to his ever-smiling classmate, Eiji paused for effect. "You know Mr. Fujiwara, right?"
Oishi, twitching slightly at a particular unpleasant memory of their uptight teacher, he replied with a shaky voice, "Yeah, what about him?"
Instead of Eiji continuing, Fuji said in his stead, "Mr. Fujiwara was in a strangely happy mood. He even smiled during one of the lectures." The tensai chuckled at the end of his statement, obviously recounting the event in his head.
"That is very strange indeed. Mr. Fujiwara almost never smiles. I think he and Tezuka holds the same record in frowning, actually," Inui explained while skimming through his green notebook, pushing his thick glasses up his nose as he spoke.
"Eh? Why would sensei smile? Did something funny happen?" Kawamura asked aloud, a confused expression on his face.
"Not that I remember, no. We were actually discussing the gory death of an evil warlord from the Meiji Era," Fuji explained, a wistful smile on his face as one finger tapped his cheek.
"Weird…" was the word that came out of everyone else's mouth while Kikumaru, Fuji's classmate, nodded in agreement.
They resumed eating their lunch, stopping every once in a while to discuss about something before Oishi pointed out, "Hey, don't you think Tezuka's a bit late for lunch today?"
"Come to think of it, he is. I wonder what's holding him up," Fuji said.
"Maybe he's just talking with a teacher, nya!"
"There is a 74 percent chance that that may be correct but there is also a 68 percent chance that it might be because of another reason," Inui supplied.
"Maybe Tezuka has something to- ah! There he is!" Kawamura pointed behind Fuji and Inui whose backs were to the cafeteria. There stood their brunette captain with an unexpected companion at his side.
"Nya? Who's that with him? Is that a first year? Wai! He looks so cute!" Kikumaru exclaimed almost squeaking in glee.
Fuji turned around and so did Inui, no stopping the surprised reactions on their faces as the tensai's eyes opened to reveal startled blue orbs and Inui's hand almost went slack to drop his precious notebook down the floor.
Fuji regained his composure quickly as his usual smile was back on his face and his eyes closed to their upturned slits. "Saa, I wonder why Tezuka would bring such an adorable freshman with him."
Inui too regained face as he was now adjusting his glasses in a shuffled manner as he bent down to retrieve his fallen notebook. "My data has not predicted this…" the data master muttered under his breath.
Tezuka finally reached them and they all saw that he had one arm behind the first year, as if urging him on. The small boy's head was bent downwards and they could see a glimpse of his reddening cheeks, as if embarrassed to be there with them. The captain stood as expressionless as ever but there was a lighter expression in him that Fuji and Inui couldn't place, even Oishi was uneased with his best friend's lighter attitude.
No one talked for a while and Tezuka decided to break the silence with giving a small cough. Oishi, Kawamura, Inui, Kikumaru and Fuji seemed to have been snapped out of a trance and they focused on their friend. It was Fuji who spoke first.
"Maa, Tezuka. Who is this little boy? A friend of yours?"
The brunette didn't answer for a while but first led his companion to sit on a chair and sat beside him. Only after that did he reply, "This is Echizen Ryoma. He's a new student in our class."
"Your class? He's a third year? He only looks 11," Oishi said in disbelief, not trusting his friend.
"Aa, he's actually 12. He accelerated two years."
"Waa, that's so cool! Ne, ne, you must be smart right?" Kikumaru asked the boy who remained shy throughout their conversation. The boy didn't reply, choosing instead to tighten his hands around the bento he was holding, his ears also having a red tinge as he lowered his down his head more to hide his face.
"Kikumaru, don't intimidate him," Tezuka warned the redhead, inwardly thankful that the boy couldn't see the scary glare he had on his face.
The acrobatic player shrank back on his seat, a pout on his lips. "Gomen buchou."
"Ryoma-kun, right?" Fuji asked the boy tentatively and watched as the boy raised his head slowly, revealing two golden eyes. He creased his brows and a small frown marred his features and asked the boy when he noticed that distant look he had, "Can I ask what's wrong with your eyes?"
The boy bowed his head again, shyness creeping back before he squirmed in his seat. Tezuka noticed that he was getting a bit uncomfortable and decided to take action but Ryoma answered Fuji's question before he could even do anything.
Ryoma's voice was small but all of them leaned in to hear him, "Um… I… I can't see."
"Eh? You can't see? Did you forget your glasses?" Kawamura asked the boy. "Well maybe we could borrow some from the Clinic. I'm sure there have a pair that you can use."
"N-No… that's not it."
Before they could bombard the squirming boy with more questions, Tezuka finally had the chance to step in, saying, "What he means to say is that he doesn't see anything." Pausing for dramatic effect, it was a while before he said, "Ryoma's blind."
"What?"
"Hoi?"
"Oh my…"
"Really, Tezuka?"
"Ii data…"
After they got passed the initial shock of Ryoma being blind, the third years decided to make him feel welcome and to ease up on them, to make the boy feel less intimidated.
"Ryoma-kun how is it being blind?" Kawamura asked the boy softly.
The still shy boy replied, "I… It's sometimes hard to walk and do some things by myself but I try to get by easily."
Oishi smiled at that and asked, "What are you good at then? Anything you think you do great in?"
"I can play tennis…"
"Tennis! Wai! We play tennis too!" Kikumaru exclaimed before moving across the table and hugged the boy, ignoring the warning look Tezuka gave him. "Sugoi! I can't believe you can play tennis without your eyes. I can't do that but you must be so good to be able to play, right?"
Squirming in the embrace, Ryoma replied, "I-I guess so…"
"Kikumaru!" Tezuka chided the redhead again and glared at him from his seat, which was just the seat beside Ryoma's. The acrobatic player gulped and scooted away before murmuring an apology to the captain and Ryoma. Kikumaru joined his doubles partner on the other side of the table and wept on his sleeve, complaining about the unfairness of things.
"Will you be joining our school's tennis club then? I'm sure Ryuuzaki-sensei will be able to accommodate you with your condition," Inui said from beside Fuji and still continued scribbling in his green notebook.
"I don't know… I have to ask my otou-san first," Ryoma said in a soft voice, slight disappointment in his voice thinking of not being able to join. Then he raised his head again and asked in a much more happy voice, "When is the club registration, Kunimitsu?"
Not noticing the shocked expressions on his friends' faces, Tezuka responded to Ryoma's question, "Since later this afternoon the regulars and the third year club members will have to leave for a tournament, the registration will be tomorrow the latest. So I think you can ask your father later today."
"Oh, thank you Mitsu," Ryoma said to him with that soft angelic smile again on his face as he looked off listlessly onto space.
Again not noticing the shocked expressions on Oishi, Kikumaru, Fuji, Inui and Kawamura's faces, Tezuka just smiled back at Ryoma. Smiled back at the boy he just met today when his friends have never seen him smile like that at them ever and was now giving the boy a soft, warm look.
Finally acknowledging the other people with them at the table, the upturned arc on his lips dissipated into a frown once more as he regarded him with an expressionless stare.
"Is something the matter?" Tezuka asked.
Nobody said anything for a while, the shock still present on their features and this time, it was Oishi who spoke first, "Tezuka… you… you just smiled," the disbelief in his voice was evident and the other third years nodded their heads in agreement.
He didn't understand what his friends were talking about and the brunette blinked a few times before he got what they meant. He noticed now that he really didn't smile that much in their presence or let them call him by his first name but when he met this blind boy did he actually find himself doing and letting these things done to him. But he tried to save face for himself and coughed out some imaginary phlegm out of his throat.
"Minna, I think we should eat. Our food will be wasted if we don't eat it before the bell rings," Tezuka said with a straight face, thanking all the god's he knew that he didn't stutter his words out because he was feeling pretty embarrassed right now.
All of them responded with a lame, "Y-Yeah," while Ryoma smiled again and proceeded to open his lunch…
… with the help of Tezuka of course…
"Gomen Mitsu for troubling you."
Unconsciously again, the captain smiled at the cuteness of things and opened the cloth that covered his friend's bento, "It really is no problem."
Tezuka Kunimitsu, known stoic captain of the year, smiled… AGAIN.
Jesus Christ Bananas… Apocalypse had arrived…
…in the form of a notorious Fuji Syuusuke and devious Inui Sadaharu.
Oh dear Lord.
The halls leading to the third year's Art room at the moment had a spectacular sight to behold. Their resident sports celebrity aka honor student aka student council president was tagging along a boy who looked to belong more in a middle school. This was what those 'Moe' girls would call in their chats a: "HHWW"
Holding Hands While Walking
His emotionless face would practically intimidate everyone to cut open a path open for him but the rather surprising sight of the brunette hand in hand with a younger man had shocked them so much that they parted more than necessary that it looked like they were stuck to the walls.
The pair passed by them quickly, most of them noticing the frown that appeared on the captain's face before he disappeared behind the wooden doors with his friend. Gossip started immediately as the girls chatted with themselves while boys talked timidly about the issue.
Who was the new kid?
TBC
