Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis

Chapter 7 – Stop Pretending

Fuji breezed past the corridors, sidestepping gracefully to avoid collision each time he saw a student blocking his path.

'Tezuka would be surprised, wouldn't he?' Fuji thought, his heart seeming to skip a beat. However, his steps slowed down when he heard some girls gossiping among each other as they stepped out of the classroom that Tezuka was in.

"Don't you think Tezuka and Yoshida look like a couple? They seemed so perfect for each other!" A slightly plump girl giggled.

"Yes!" Another girl agreed, her eyes twinkling in excitement as she continued, "I wonder if they like each other."

Fuji tried his best to ignore what those girls who walked past him had just said as he continued to make his way. He was about to knock on the door when he stopped.

Tezuka and his female classmate, Yoshida, were sitting close to each other. They seemed to be engaged in the middle of a discussion, their heads turned towards each other, and leaning in close proximity. Fuji's face froze into a hard immobility. Seeing Tezuka letting out one of his rare, soft smile at Yoshida, Fuji immediately spun around and hurried away from the classroom.

He almost sprinted towards the rooftop of the school, not wanting to speak to anyone at that moment. Slamming against the entrance of the rooftop, Fuji leaned heavily against the door and drew an exasperated breath. A kind of despair and jealousy seemed to be coming over the tensai.

'Why hadn't I seen it earlier? It is no wonder Tezuka did not want to kiss me. No wonder he acted so uncomfortably in front of me this morning. No wonder…' Fuji thought, his hands shaking a little as he gradually lowered himself onto the ground.

Burying his head in his hands, Fuji kept thinking about how Tezuka and Yoshida looked perfect together. The smile that Tezuka had sent to Yoshida, the close proximity between the two of them…Fuji began to hate himself. How on earth did he manage to get himself into this mess?

'I guess we should stop all these act of being lovers,' Fuji thought, a hard desperate loneliness closing around his heart. Allowing feelings to rule his head had had led to nothing but jealousy, disappointment, sadness…and heartache.

"Is this what unrequited love is all about? Especially when one has really fallen deeply in love with the other?" Fuji whispered, letting the silent tears slowly make their way down his pale cheeks. For a moment he was glad that he was alone at the rooftop with no one to witness the weak side of Fuji Syusuke.

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"…so if we were to make arrangements in this way…"

"You are distracted."

"Huh?" Tezuka stopped halfway in his work, eyes flickering in surprise as he turned to gape at Yoshida who was sitting beside him.

Yoshida only gave an understanding smile as she moved on to explain, "Something…or someone is on your mind. I can tell that your heart is not fully concentrated in this project."

A pregnant smile followed. The longhaired girl did not want to say anything further. Instead, she smiled encouragingly, waiting for the stony-looking captain to reply.

Tezuka sighed inwardly as he took off his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose. 'Are girls very sensitive?' He wondered as he replaced his glasses to look at his classmate thoughtfully.

"…how does one can - " Tezuka paused, deciding not to use 'that word' for fear of letting the cat out of the bag, "…express one's feelings for the other?"

That question only seemed to widen the smile on Yoshida's face as she replied enthusiastically, leaning slightly closer, "I knew it! It is about Fuji-kun, right?"

Tezuka nodded reluctantly.

"Just tell him," Yoshida said simply, ignoring the doubtful look on Tezuka's face, "Of course, surprise hugs, gifts and even kisses could also a form of your feelings towards him," Yoshida finished with a tease in her voice, feeling slightly triumphant that she could make the normal expressionless boy blush.

Tezuka let out a soft smile as he replied in an awkward manner, "Erm…thank you."

Yoshida shrugged, as she answered, "No problem Now let's get back to work. What were we discussing…"

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"You mean Syusuke looked for me?" Tezuka questioned, his head turning sharply to look at his friend.

"So he did not look for you in the end? He said he wanted o give you the lunch he made," Oishi replied in surprise as the pair were making their way towards the tennis courts.

Both of them became silent, each of them occupied with their own thoughts. 'I wonder why Fuji did not give the lunch to Tezuka in the end,' Oishi thought, glancing sideways to see his friend walking with a troubled frown on his forehead.

'Why didn't Syusuke look for me?' Tezuka thought, his heart sinking with a bad feeling.

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'Something is amiss,' Tezuka concluded, observing Fuji silently from a corner of the tennis courts. The petite boy seemed to be concentrating on his current match against Momoshiro, yet it seemed that he was forcing himself to do so.

Fuji ran to his left to hit the ball back to Momoshiro, puffing tiredly while his mind was still occupied on his 'boyfriend'. 'What am I suppose to do? Isn't it clear that Tezuka likes Yoshida? If that's the case, I've got to fulfill our agreement – to stop the pretence.'

Once that thought surfaced in Fuji's troubled mind, the tensai's eyes flashed dangerously as he swung his racket across to hit back the ball that Momoshiro had sent his way.

Except that Fuji had exerted too much force. The racket flew out of his grip, landing a few feet away onto the ground with a loud 'clang'.

At once, the shouts at the tennis courts came to a silence as everyone stared at the stunned tensai in shock. It was indeed, extremely rare to see Fuji performing not up to his normal standards.

Except for Tezuka. The captain hurried towards the awkward-looking tensai, grabbing hold of the latter's wrists as he asked, unable to keep the note of worry out of his voice, "Syusuke, are you hurt? Did you injure yourself?"

'Warm…Kunimitsu's hands are warm… ' Fuji thought as he stole a glance at his worried 'boyfriend'. 'Correction, he is only a friend,' Fuji told himself.

Immediately, he withdrew his hands away from Tezuka, "I'm fine." He answered curtly. He had to start to distance himself away from Tezuka, no matter how difficult it might be, no matter how painful it felt to his heart. He had to do it, if not Tezuka would be caught in a difficult situation.

"Alright! Practice has ended. All of you are dismissed!" Tezuka commanded, startling everyone, including Fuji who snapped his head up to stare at the taller boy. It was the first time that the captain had ended tennis practice much earlier than ususal.

Not caring if anyone was looking at them, Tezuka gripped Fuji's hand, ignoring the tensai's protests as he led the both of them to one of the empty classrooms nearby.

"What are you doing?" Fuji asked angrily once they were in an empty classroom.

"We need to talk," Tezuka said in a quiet voice, which seemed to calm the agitated Fuji.

Fuji sighed, shoulders slumping tiredly as he leaned against one of the tables. Lifting his eyes to meet Tezuka's, Fuji asked, now in a much cooler voice, "Is there something you wish to say?"

A deafening silence filled the atmosphere as Tezuka suddenly felt at a loss for words. He adjusted his glasses, shifting his position as he slid his hands into his pockets. Glancing out of the window, he sucked in a deep breath before facing Fuji again.

'How am I supposed to say? I have never done this before,' Tezuka thought as a frown began to crease his forehead.

"Kunimitsu?"

"Oh," Tezuka cleared his throat as he began, "Well, I think we should stop pretending to be lovers."

A/N: Once again, I hope this chapter is fine. I always think it is inevitable that misunderstandings occurs during relationships at times, and communication is important..At least this is what I think. (nods)

Once again, reviews are greatly appreciated! :)