Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis.
Warning: OC-ness!
Hope you enjoy reading this!
True Tears
Chapter Four: Confessions
I never thought fate would be this cruel.
It was a normal day at tennis practice or is it? Momo looked around him, eyes squinted trying to figure this feeling. The feeling of having this suspicious tense air around the courts. "What happened here?" Momo asked himself slightly tilting his head to the side.
Fuji was practicing with Kawamura with the usual smile on his face but something is weird. Even if he's hitting all Kawamura's shots perfectly, it seems his attention is elsewhere. Eiji and Oishi were doing a practice match with Ryoma and Kaidoh but Eiji was unusually quiet. Like Fuji, Eiji's mind is elsewhere. Ryoma, while playing, would sneak glances and sometimes glares at Fuji when he gets the chance. Momo, who just arrived, stood still watching their reactions. Until Tezuka interrupted him, "Momoshiro, 10 laps around the court for being late." Well that's one thing that didn't change.
After tennis practice, Momo approached Ryoma, who doesn't really act like a bestfriend to him and asked, "Hey Echizen, what's with the tense atmosphere? Did something happen? You're acting pretty weird too."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ryoma answered while sipping his Ponta.
"Pretend you don't know all you want but I notice that you keep glaring at Fuji-sempai this whole time." Momo crossed his arms and huffed like a child who didn't get what he wants. Ryoma stopped drinking his Ponta midway and was slightly surprised that someone like Momo would notice something so little like that.
"Hn, so you noticed that, but is that really enough to say that something is happening here?"
"Well, Eiji-sempai and Fuji-sempai is acting weird as well."
Ryoma twitched slightly when he heard Fuji's name. For some reason, he keeps getting angry when he see or hear Fuji's name. 'Che, what's wrong with me? I haven't confirmed it yet if Fuji-sempai likes Ryuzaki and why the heck do I care if he likes her.'
Momo stared at Ryoma with a vein on his head since Ryoma was spacing out and isn't listening to him. "Seriously! What the heck is happening here?" Momo exploded.
"Ahahaha! You're weird Momo-chan! Why are you shouting to yourself?" Eiji approached them with his childlike smile.
"You're the weird one! Together with Echizen and Fuji-sempai!"
"Heh? What did we do?" Eiji asked with the innocent look in his face.
"Wah! Forget it! You all are acting weird and you all keep denying it. I'll just forget about this and go home." Momo stomped off with veins popping in his head.
"Nya, what's wrong with him? Ne ochibi? Don't you think Momo's the one acting weird?" Eiji turned to Ryoma smiling and pointing at Momo who just left.
"What are you thinking about, Kikumaru-senpai?" Ryoma asked. By the tone of his voice, he meant serious business so Eiji has no choice but to play along and be serious as well.
"I need to talk to you about something, Echizen." Eiji said staring at Ryoma with serious eyes.
'Kikumaru-sempai's serious. Too serious that he called me by my name instead of ochibi for the first time.' "Should we go somewhere else to talk about this? Or is this place fine?"
"This place is fine. Everyone already left so no one can eavesdrop on us here." Eiji grinned.
~xoxoxoxo~
After tennis practice, Fuji immediately went under the cherry tree. Earlier this morning, he asked Sakuno to meet him there after school ends. He didn't say his reasons but Sakuno agreed to meet him. While Fuji was waiting for Sakuno, he remembered the time he first met Sakuno.
Flashback
November 28th. That day was Eiji's birthday and Fuji was invited. Of course since he is the birthday boy's bestfriend. Little did he know that something big is gonna happen at that day.
"Happy birthday!" People greeted Eiji and it was clearly seen on Eiji's face that he was very happy. While Eiji was busy thanking everyone for celebrating his birthday with him, Fuji was standing not too near, not too far behind Eiji, feeling happy for him and wishing him the best in his mind. But while he's watching Eiji, Fuji noticed a girl approach Eiji, wishing him a happy birthday. Fuji opened his usually closed eyes upon noticing Eiji blushing when the girl greeted him and Fuji immediately thought that Eiji likes the girl. Fuji then thought of an idea to help Eiji get together with the girl as part of his birthday gift for Eiji maybe.
Fuji approached the girl when the girl was alone and when the girl turned around, Fuji admitted in his mind that the girl was cute.
"I'm Fuji Syuusuke, Eiji's friend. You are?" Fuji started.
The girl blushed but still answered politely, "Ryuzaki Sakuno. M-my parents are good friends with Eiji-kun's parents s-so I was invited as well. I-I'm good friends with Eiji-kun too as well though a-and I think I heard you from Eiji-kun as well."
"Oh, I see. Do you like Eiji? I like him as a friend of course."
"I like him as a brother." Sakuno answered and smiled. Fuji didn't hear what she said since he was too busy staring at her smile. In his mind, he thought it was the purest and the most beautiful smile he ever saw.
"I-I see. I have to go greet Eiji. I forgot I haven't greeted him yet." Fuji stuttered and walked away. He hid behind a wall when he was out of view from Sakuno. 'My heart is beating so fast. That smile on her face really fits her well.' Fuji blushed.
'I...like her. Sorry, Eiji. I can't give you your gift this birthday.'
End of Flashback
"I-I'm sorry, Fuji-sempai! D-did you wait long?" Sakuno said while running towards Fuji. She stopped running when she reached her destination and tried to catch her breath.
"You didn't have to run. I could've waited a little longer for you." Fuji smiled. 'For you, I can wait forever.'
~xoxoxoxo~
"Did you know ochibi? I like Sakuno-chan." Eiji started, staring at Ryoma intently, wanting to see his reaction since he can see clearly that the boy likes Sakuno as well. "Don't get me wrong. It's not the sibling love that you think it is. I like her as a girl."
Ryoma glared slightly at Eiji. ' What is it that he wants telling me all this?'
"Sakuno-chan's my childhood friend. Her parents and my parents are close friends so when they visited us one time and introduced us to each other, I immediately liked her. She's not hard to like. She's very nice. But one incident happened that somehow made my feelings waver."
Flashback
It was Eiji's birthday party, Eiji saw Fuji talking to Sakuno and was a little jealous since Fuji's like a prince while he's like a commoner. He thought that Sakuno would like Fuji more than him and that Fuji's gonna steal her from him so he approached them.
"Oh, I see. Do you like Eiji? I like him as a friend of course."
"I like him as a brother." Sakuno answered and smiled.
Eiji stopped walking, his face full of shock. Brother. The word 'brother' was like a curse for him. He didn't want to be like that for her. He wanted to be a boy in her eyes, not a brother. He wanted her to see him as a lover, not a brother.
Eiji looked down, hiding his eyes and bitterly smiled, "Heh, I didn't know rejection could be this painful." Eiji walked away from the scene in front of him, ignoring the guests' greetings for him and went back to his room.
"I'm such an unlucky guy. For something like this to happen at my birthday." Eiji said, still looking down with his eyes still hidden. The clouds hiding the moon moved and the moon's light shined on Eiji's face. His eyes can be seen wearing a sad expression and with the moon's light, you can clearly see a tear fall down from those sad eyes.
End of Flashback
"It's kinda ironic that we really became siblings. Even if we aren't blood related, most people will still see us as siblings. It's sad. I wanted to be the one to bring back her tears but I think it's impossible for me now." Eiji bitterly smiled while wearing a dejected look. Ryoma had his head bowed so his eyes are hidden. His lips formed a thin line.
"How can you still smile after that happened to you, Kikumaru-sempai?"
"Time heals all wounds! Believe that saying for it happened to me." Eiji grinned but it soon turned into a sigh after a short while. "It's hard though. To wear a smile when you're suffering deep down."
"Sempai, why are you telling me all this?" Ryoma finally asked the question he really wanted to know from the start.
"I'll be honest with you, Echizen." Eiji paused while Ryoma anticipated what Eiji wants to say. "I want you to go out with Sakuno-chan."
~xoxoxoxo~
"What do you want to talk to me about Fuji-sempai?" Sakuno asked with a smile.
"I've always liked that smile." Fuji said, staring at Sakuno's face.
Sakuno, realizing what Fuji had just said, started to blush real mad. "W-w-w-w-w-what?"
"I've liked you for a long time, Sakuno. I tried to hide my feelings since I know Eiji like you. But when we coincidentally met that time after school, I just wanted to talk to you real bad. So I offered to take you and your friend home until we met Eiji and the others at the joint."
"H-h-how did th-this h-happen?" Sakuno stuttered, shock written all over her face.
"When you mentioned that I only visit your house to see Eiji, I felt really sad. You even said that with a smile. The smile that I really like most about you. It hurted." Fuji stopped and looked away for awhile. "What I wanted to ask you, Sakuno, is..." Fuji paused, hesitating for a bit but turned to look at Sakuno once more. "Please go out with me."
~xoxoxoxo~
Ryoma glared at Eiji. "What are you trying to say, sempai?"
"It's no problem for you right? It's good for you to take this chance too since you like Sakuno-chan. I'm sure Sakuno likes you too so with mutual feelings like that, it's happily ever after for you two." Eiji said trying to sound happy but failed.
"You're stupid, sempai. You're just running away from your problems. You want me to date Ryuzaki so that you can forget about your feelings for her since she's taken." Ryoma argued.
"No! She likes you. I just want her to be happy! I'm not running away!"
"Don't deny it, sempai! And even if what you said is true, which I'm pretty sure it's not, I wouldn't date Ryuzaki because you asked. I would only do it if it's my own decision. You can't make me do something I don't like to do." After Ryoma said that, he walked away wanting to avoid any more arguments leaving Eiji angrily staring at the ground.
~xoxoxoxo~
"I-I'm really sorry, Fuji-sempai. I-I just can't see you that way." Sakuno stammered and ran away leaving Fuji looking down.
"I expected she would reject me. I thought I was ready but...it's more painful than I thought." Fuji bitterly smiled while a tear fell down to the ground.
"Sorry."
A/N: Longest chapter for now. This was a really sad chapter for me to write. It was full of emotions! Well I hoped I at least affected your hearts a little bit. Read and Review~
Next Chapter: The reason for happiness