Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis cuz if I did Tezuka would be dead by now, jk.
A/N: Once again a million thx to my beta reader biggest anime fan and a kajillion thanx to my reviwers and those who added me as a fave story or even on alert, thank you all!!
Chapter 8
Rin spent two days avoiding Fuji at all costs. She went to class regularly, ignored Ranmaru and spent a lot of time in the hotel's indoor pools.
It was the fifth day and today the academy was going to announce the ones who would perform on stage in front of many international university scouts. Each university will pick one student to receive a scholarship and attend its prestigious music programs. Rin was a nervous wreck; she couldn't stop pacing in front of the waiting room.
All the students from her course were there, each hoping that they would be chosen. From each course only three would be chosen out of twenty students. Finally the door opened and Mrs. Maria came out holding a paper in her hand. Everyone was on the edge of their seats.
Clearing her throat she announced, "This year was a good one. We had many promising candidates. Unfortunately only three can be chosen." She took a deep breath. "Those three are Anna from Austria, Bushra from Lebanon, and Giorgio from Italy."
Rin's heart sank when she didn't hear her name, but Mrs. Maria wasn't through yet. Clearing her throat again to get the attention of the students, she announced, "Even though many weren't chosen, most of you know that we choose two along with the top three to come back next year. And those two are Rin from Japan and Marko from Spain."
She might have made it to the top five but it wasn't good enough for Rin. All students excluding the top three were told that they no longer had classes but had to stay in Munich for two days to watch the performances. As for the top three, they would sleep in the academy dorms and practice day and night.
When Rin got to the hotel she headed straight for the restaurant, intending to order a huge banana split. There she saw Fuji and Sophia sitting together, having a good time.
For the past two days Rin had been doing her best to spend the least amount of time with Fuji and he knew that. He had spent those days either visiting with Tezuka or playing tennis with Sophia, who seemed to have taken a fancy to him. Usually after his matches with Sophia the loser invited the other for lunch, and the loser was always Sophia.
Sophia wasn't usually interested in boys since she dedicated most of her time to tennis and had no time for the latter. However, Fuji was a tennis player just like her, thus, they made a perfect match. So far Fuji hadn't responded to any of the moves she had made on him. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with that shrimp of a girl. She thought she was pretty enough. Who could resist a German girl with a figure like hers? She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she smiled flirtatiously at Fuji.
Rin had already decided to sit at a table far away, until she saw Sophia flirt shamelessly with Fuji. She headed straight for their table. "Hello." It was a square table and Fuji sat in front of Sophia, so she plopped down on one of the vacant chairs.
"Mind if I join you?" Rin smiled sweetly at Sophia who glared at her and said "yes." At the same time that Fuji said "no." the waiter came up to take her order,
"A large banana split with extra sauce, please."
"Is something wrong?" Fuji had noticed that every time she was upset she usually ordered sweets.
Rin's sweet smile completely vanished, replaced with a look of disappointment. "No, nothing's wrong." She relived the moment when the names were called and hers wasn't. Her look of disappointment was replaced with one of anger and it was directed at Fuji. It's his entire fault, if I hadn't been so distracted by him I could have made it. "You know what? There is something wrong." She leaned closer to him as her voice remained steady and filled with rage. "I wasn't in the top three, and do you know why?" she leaned in closer with every word.
Fuji was taken aback by her anger. He gave her a crooked, frightened smile. "Why?" If looks could kill, he'd be dead.
"Your kisses kept getting me distracted whenever I performed. Your face kept popping into my head every time I looked at any boy in my class. Ergo, it's entirely your fault." She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. Rin rose suddenly from her seat just as the waiter came with her dessert. Her shoulder tipped over the tray and it flew straight at Sophia and landed on her chest. Clamping a hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing she marched back to the suit.
"Get back here." Sophia cried out in anger at Rin's retreating back. Looking over at Fuji's seat she saw that he had risen and was chasing after Rin. "Fuji-kun, where are you going?"
Pausing, he looked over his shoulder at Sophia with a silly grin on his face. "I'll take care of the expenses today," then continued on his way. Rin had already
beaten him to the elevator and he had to wait for the next one. I distracted her he thought merrily. The thought sent his heart racing.
Finally at the suite, Rin burst out laughing. "The look on her face was priceless." She was bent over and laughing hysterically when Fuji entered the room.
"Yo." Her laughter was silenced the moment she heard his voice. Looking at his face she saw that he was smiling. "Enjoying ourselves, are we?" He said, walking over to her.
Rin took a step back for every step he took forward. Glaring at him she said, "What are you smiling about? Stay away from me." She stopped moving back and stepped forward. "This is why I don't like to meet people. They distract me from my goal." She jabbed him in the chest with every word.
Fuji continued to smile. "Are you so easily distracted?" He tilted his head when she hesitated.
"Not always. But you're different." She continued to glare at him. On the other hand, Fuji's smile grew wider. "Stop smiling!"
"Why?"
"Because there's nothing to smile about." Her volume was rising, "I barely made it to the top five by the skin of my teeth." She pointed a finger at him accusingly Fuji froze in his place. Her glare was now mixed with disappointment and regret. "Next year I'll make it. Until then I want nothing to do with you." She lowered her head to hide her eyes. In a calmer voice she said, "for the rest of our stay here I want to keep our time together to the minimum." She headed towards her room and slammed the door behind her.
Staring at the recently slammed door Fuji felt as if his heart was ripped right out of his chest. Only moments ago, when Rin had said that his kisses had some effect on her, he felt like he was on cloud nine. But now, to discover that those kisses had caused her to lose one of the top three spots that she had wanted so badly caused him great pain. Maybe it would be better if I stayed away. His heart sank at the thought.
Back in her own room Rin buried her face in her hands and sobbed. This is why I don't like to make friends. I need to stay away from Fuji to stay focused. She repeated that in her mind over and over, trying to convince herself that what she did was for the best.
The following two days were hell for Rin. Without classes she had nothing to do, so she stayed in the suite and tried playing the piano, but she couldn't focus so she
ended up spending most of her time in the pool. Since she was obligated to attend the performance she decided to take Tezuka along if he was interested, so she went to visit him at the facility he was in.
"Good morning, Tezuka-kun." Rin waved and smiled at him as she approached.
Tezuka was slightly stunned. When he was told he had a visitor he thought it would be Fuji. He never expected Rin. "Good morning."
"So how are you doing? Is your shoulder better?" she took a seat and stared up at him.
"I'm fine." He crossed his arms as he took a seat beside her.
"That's great." She hesitated a while before asking, "Would your doctors allow you to go to a piano concert?"
Taken aback by the sudden proposal he said, "Yes they would."
Rin beamed at him. "Would you like to attend the academy's performance tonight? I get to bring along one person with me."
Tezuka raised a brow. "Why don't you ask Fuji?"
Rin's smile slipped. She stared at her lap as she said, "you know how you always say not to let your guard down?" her eyes were full of determination when she looked back at Tezuka. "I won't let my guard down anymore."
Tezuka stared at her for a while before looking away. "What time?"
"It starts at six; I'll come pick you up at 5:45." Smiling at him, Rin rose as she said, "it's a black tie event. Well, I'll be going now to get ready. See you then."
Staring at her retreating back Tezuka thought, what could have Fuji done to her? He thought about calling him to ask but then decided it was none of his business. He headed for his room to get ready.
The event lasted two hours. Rin was stunned when she saw Ranmaru on stage. She had completely forgotten about him. He performed beautifully and Rin was happy for him. Later, when she had dropped Tezuka off and was back at the hotel she headed for the suite. She still hadn't packed her stuff and her plane was in the morning.
She opened the door to the suite quietly, hoping that Fuji was asleep. No such luck. He was watching a tennis match on TV. Not taking his eyes off the television he asked how her night was.
"It was fine." She headed for her room and hesitated with her door on the handle. "You should get some sleep, our plane is in the morning." When he didn't answer she looked over her shoulder. She was startled when she saw that he was standing behind her, staring at her intensely. He was smiling.
"You're worried about me." He smiled devilishly as he took a step closer and braced a hand over her head, leaning closer to her.
Unable to speak, all Rin could do was stare at him. His smile widened as he took her chin between thumb and forefinger and closed the distance between them.
His kiss was so gentle Rin felt her heart melt and her knees turn to jelly. She sighed against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck. When it came to Fuji, apparently she had no control whatsoever. Her mind kept telling her to push him away but her body had other plans.
Fuji lost control when he felt her wrap her arms around him. Burying one hand in her hair and wrapping the other around her waist he deepened the kiss. Wanting to feel her whole body against him he pushed her against the door, pressing his body against hers, surrounding himself with her scent.
When Fuji pushed her against the door her back hit the door handle, which caused pain to shoot up her spine and penetrate her fuzzy brain. Twisting her head away from his kiss she pushed him away. Fuji immediately let go but he continued to stare at her with such intensity she thought she might pull him back to her and finish what he started. She shook the thought out of her head and went into her room, slamming the door behind her.
Fuji racked his hands through his hair. He had never lost control of himself like that. He looked at Rin's door, and was glad that she had stopped him; there was no telling how far he would have gone. Taking a deep breath he turned on his heel, turned off the TV and headed for his room to take a cold shower before he went to sleep.
To Be Continued . . .
Wooohoooo Go Fuji!!
I think Fuji may have been a little OOC, I'm not sure, plz tell me. R&R PLZ!!
