To Return
Summary: Have you ever heard the saying, 'They need to stop living in the past'? For three selected people, it's literally true.
Warnings: Shounen-ai
Pairings: Yukimura x Fuji
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
Last chapter was Syusuke's birthday, and this chapter is...guess:D Okay, REALLY short beginning author's note this time. Let's get on with the story! Read, review, and enjoy!
Chapter 11:
Fuji Syusuke eyed the giant clock above the front door of Rikkaidai warily. Still an hour until classes started. Why had he come so early again? Oh yeah; Yukimura had said that he wanted to tell him something.
Fuji scowled; a rare sight to see from Fuji Syusuke. Here he was, standing there, freezing his butt off, though all the snow had melted, waiting for Yukimura, and he was late. It was not like Yukimura to be late. Today was Monday, March 5. Yes, all the snow and ice from Fuji's birthday, March 1, had already melted. Fuji had worn a light jacket that day, expecting it to be warm, and it was warmer than February had been, but not warm enough for Fuji's jacket to withstand. And now he was standing here, in front of the school gates, cranky, impatient, and freezing his butt off.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, though in reality, only a couple of drawn out minutes, footsteps were heard from behind Fuji. He turned around to face Yukimura. "Finally, you're here," Fuji said, with the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice, but still detectable. "What did you want to tell me?" Yukimura smiled.
Yukimura had decided that he had to give Fuji a challenge. Today, March 5, was his birthday, and like the smaller boy, he had not told anyone either. Fuji had tortured him by giving him his birthday only a day in advance. But Fuji Syusuke could one-up that, right? Yukimura thought. What would the genius come up with as a gift, if Yukimura told Fuji his birthday on the morning of that day? He decided to test his theory out. And Fuji was irritated now. Perfect.
"Oh, nothing much," Yukimura said, pretending to have suddenly taken a strong interest in his nails. Fuji Syusuke could handle this challenge. Yukimura had no doubt about that. He was just curious to find out how.
Fuji resisted the urge to grab his collar and shake him senseless. Or maybe strangle him on the spot. One could not tell just by looking at him. "Then why did you call me out here so early?" he asked, his voice slightly higher pitch than normal, usually indicating that he was thoroughly pissed.
"Ah," Yukimura said, pausing dramatically after that. "I remember now. Syusuke, do you know what day it is?"
"March 5," was the automatic reply.
"As sharp as ever, I see," Yukimura said.
Fuji sighed. "Don't tell me that it's your birthday today."
Yukimura smiled. "You took the words right out of my mouth." And with that, he left Fuji standing there, now pissed, cold, and troubled, and walked the direction of the school's front doors. That should take care of that, Yukimura thought.
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It was a challenge, huh? Fuji thought. Yukimura wanted to challenge him by giving him his birthday on that day. To tell the truth, Fuji never meant to "challenge" Yukimura by giving him his birthday a day in advance. The blue-haired boy had just taken it that way. Fuji sighed. That's so much like him. And now he was paying the price for something he had never initiated in the first place. Either this day was going to be very long, or it would go by too fast for Fuji.
"Fuji Syusuke? What are you doing here so early?" a voice said from behind Fuji, who turned around.
"Captain Kagami," Fuji acknowledged. "There's…no reason," he said. Kagami knew he was lying, but he didn't want to push Fuji into telling the truth.
"Well, don't be so glum…or pissed, for that matter," the captain said. He grinned. A grin from any other person would usually annoy the shit out of Fuji at that moment (even Marui), but something about Kagami's smile had a light gentleness and understanding to it, and also playfulness. "It's my birthday today!"
Fuji looked at him, shocked. "You're kidding," he said.
"Nope," Kagami said. "March 5, my birthday, the day that comes once a year. I turn 15 today."
Fuji inwardly sighed but outwardly smiled. "Happy birthday," he said, but inside, he was wishing that the captain was kidding. Two birthday gifts to take care of. Great.
Kagami ruffled Fuji's hair playfully and led him inside the school, with his hand on the smaller boy's back.
"Wait, are we allowed in this early in the morning?" Fuji asked, looking up at the captain.
"They'll let us in," Kagami replied confidently. "I'm the student body president. From now until we get inside, I officially have 'some work to do'."
Fuji laughed. "Alright."
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Yukimura watched as Fuji was led into the school by none other than the current captain of the tennis team, Kagami Chuugo. He gripped the corner of the gate. What the hell?! This was supposed to be his day with Fuji, not Kagami's. And now, fate had to come in and pronounce this to be Kagami's birthday, too.
Yukimura had only been watching because he wanted to see Fuji's reaction to the news, but then Kagami had come along and ruined his fun. What was he feeling here? Jealousy. The word rang in his mind. He wasn't familiar with it, because no one had dared touch Fuji, as long as Yukimura was around (besides the incident with Marui, but that didn't count). But here was Kagami, walking in, thinking he had every right. Which, actually, he did, because he held a higher position of authority than Yukimura, being student body president and captain of the tennis team of Rikkaidai.
Okay, so maybe Yukimura was jumping to conclusions here, but he didn't know how to deal with jealousy, so he let it wander in his mind. There was no way that he was going to lose Fuji. He didn't care if Kagami really liked him or not.
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Fuji sighed and stared out the window of the quiet classroom. This was his last class of the day, and they had a pop quiz. Fuji had finished it, of course, and now he was idly staring, trying to think. Of what, you ask. He was still trying to think of a gift for Yukimura, and Kagami, for that matter.
Yukimura's gift had been extravagant. According to his own assumption an intuition, Yukimura was challenging him to think of something even better in even less of a time frame. And Fuji was supposed to be able to do that…how? Oh, right, he was a genius. Fuji rubbed his temples. Well, even geniuses have limits.
But limits were there to be broken. His hands curled into fists and were set down on the desk. He couldn't give up. "Fuji, are you done?" the teacher asked. She was standing to the right of his desk, her hand outstretched for the test.
"Yeah," he said, handing her the desired item and smiling. The girls in the class fainted. Fuji went back to staring out the window. Suddenly, a bird, a swallow in particular, fluttered across the windowpane. Swallows were Fuji's favorite bird. He looked at the school tennis courts. Dry. Perfect. He smiled to himself. He had a plan, and it might actually work.
He sighed. As long as Yukimura and Kagami weren't going to be at each other's throats. And that was a high possibility, actually. Oh well. Risks were meant to be taken, and he had no other choice, Fuji though, as he picked up his tennis racquet and headed outside into the now warm spring weather.
"Kagamiiii!" Fuji shouted as he ran up to the captain. "I have your birthday present ready!"
"Hmm?" the captain said, turning around. "So quickly?"
"What did you expect?" Fuji said. "I'm Fuji Syusuke."
The captain laughed. "That's true."
"Bring your tennis stuff," Fuji said. "I'm going to the courts. I'll meet you there!"
"Okay," Kagami replied.
Fuji walked off swiftly to the Rikkaidai tennis courts, where Yukimura was waiting for him. He told neither of them that the other was coming. He wanted to see their reactions, but at the same time, he didn't. He predicted that Kagami wouldn't really have a reaction other than a smile and a simple 'hi' or something. But Yukimura might be another story. Though he was normally very cool and composed, he had seen the blue haired boy's conversations with his sister. Explosive conversations with his sister. Yes, Fuji Syusuke had seen it all.
"Hey, Syusuke," Yukimura said. "What did you bring me here for?"
"First of all, it's a perfect way to test out my new racquet," Fuji said, smiling and shifting the racquet strings. "Second of all, it's your birthday present!"
"Second of all?" Yukimura said, rolling his eyes playfully.
"Kidding," Fuji said.
Just then, Kagami stepped onto the courts. Here's the moment of truth, Fuji thought and took a deep breath. "Oh, Kagami, you're here," Fuji said. He turned back to Yukimura. "Seiichi, did you know today is Kagami's birthday, too?"
"No, I didn't," Yukimura lied and faked a smile. "Happy birthday."
"Happy birthday to you, too," Kagami said, grinning. Except this grin was real.
Fuji suppressed a cough. He wondered how this would turn out. "I'm sure you'll be happy about this," he said, eyeing both boys. "I've created a different present for each of you."
"In a day?" Yukimura said, surprised.
"Yes," Fuji said, smiling at him. "In a day." The wind suddenly started to pick up. "Ah, the wind. Nice breeze, and perfect timing." He walked on to court A. "Seiichi, I will show you your present first," he said. He knew that this was the right choice, because Kagami honestly wouldn't care, but Yukimura would. Yukimura nodded and walked on to the opposing side of the court. Fuji fed the first ball. "Nice tension," he said.
Yukimura returned it normally, with almost no spin. Fuji sighed. This wasn't going to work if Yukimura was going to keep returning like that. Fuji hit a ball with heavy topspin. That was easy to hit with that racquet, because the strings were pulled tight. As predicted, Yukimura returned with topspin, too. Fuji smiled. Perfect.
"Seiichi," he called from the baseline. "This move is for you," he said as the ball came toward him and he positioned himself. "I call it the 'Tsubame Gaeshi'!" He hit the ball with heavy backspin/slice and then brought his racquet back up over his shoulder. The ball curved down slightly, but, as if it were being pulled by his racquet, drifted back up again. It flew over the net by about three centimeters and dropped down on the service line.
Yukimura was thinking, what's so special about that move? But then he saw it. As the ball his the ground, instead of bouncing up, or even bouncing low as he expected it to, it just rolled across the court and into the back fence. "Happy birthday, Seiichi," Fuji said.
"When would you have used it if you hadn't showed it to me, first?" Yukimura asked.
Fuji shrugged. "When the time called for it. I probably wouldn't have used it until next year, at the best. Maybe in the Nationals, if any of the opposing schools have gotten better."
"How graceful, Fuji," Kagami commented, standing on court B, watching. "A beautiful move. I wish you would've used it more when I was around."
Fuji winked. "But remember, I only came up with it today," he said slyly.
"Right," Yukimura said.
"Kagami, time for your present," Fuji said.
"Well, now I have s slight idea about what it is," Kagami said.
"Right, but you don't know the move." Fuji flipped his hair in the wind and walked back to the baseline again. "Nice breeze," he repeated and fed another ball. Kagami returned it normally again, but Fuji didn't need spin to hit this shot. He just needed Kagami to be at the net, and he needed the wind. He hit the ball short, just short enough to be getable, but short enough to lure Kagami to the net. Kagami hit it back, and Fuji smiled again. Perfect. Again.
"Captain Kagami," he said, as the ball came toward him. "This is for you. I call this move 'Hakugei'." He hit a lob straight toward Kagami with such extreme backspin that when it approached the net, it curved high into the air.
"It hopped," Kagami commented. "It's going out."
"Do not be so skeptical," Fuji replied, opening his eyes and smirking. "Oh, and you might want to watch your head."
Kagami ducked from impulse just as the ball came whizzing past his head and onto Fuji's court again. Fuji caught it with his left hand. "Hakugei," he repeated. His eyes closed again and he smiled. "Happy birthday, Captain Kagami."
He turned once again to Yukimura. "Impressive," was his only reply. Fuji took his outstretched hand. "Shall we get going?" Yukimura said.
"We shall," Fuji answered. "Good night, Kagami."
The captain looked at Yukimura and Fuji's retreating backs. You two will be excellent captains together, he thought. Rikkaidai will surely continue its winning streak with you in charge. "He smiled. I wish I could've seen those moves more often, though." Kagami sighed. "Fuji, the sleeping lion in you needs to be awakened."
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Yukimura walked with Fuji hand in hand back to Fuji's house. "You were with Kagami this morning, weren't you?" he asked.
Fuji smiled at him. "I thought I told you not to spy on me."
"Needed to see your reaction to my oh-so-wonderful news."
"I understand."
"What did you two talk about?"
Fuji chuckled. "Seiichi," he said, leaning his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. "You don't have to worry about us. He's a friend, an important figure, and a good role model. But I don't like him more than a friend." He turned his head up so that he was face to face with Yukimura. "You're the one I love most. You know that and you can be sure about it."
Yukimura leaned down. "Good. Because you belong to me, and only me," he whispered.
"I'm all yours, Seiichi," Fuji agreed.
Yukimura leaned down even further to plant a firm but far too quick kiss on Fuji's lips. Fuji trailed a hand down the front of Yukimura's shirt. "You're such a tease, Seiichi," he murmured.
"Learn to get used to it," Yukimura replied smoothly but softly.
"I'm not sure if I can." And with those words, Fuji was swept up, almost off his feet when Yukimura wrapped his arms around Fuji's waist and pulled him in for another kiss; this time a much deeper one. Fuji melted into the kiss fully when he knew that Yukimura wasn't going to pull away any time soon.
Awww! So cute! I feel like a dork praising my own stories. D: But Seiichi and Syusuke! KYAAAAAAA! xD Okay, so if you're wondering how I imagined Kagami to look, kind of picture Mikami Teru from Death Note, except with a Saeki-like personality. For those of you that don't know DN, picture Oshitari's hair, except black, and it's smoother and kind of wraps around the outline of his face and ends at the shoulders. Not sure if you get what I mean, and if you don't, then imagine Kagami any way you want. He's supposed to be really good-looking, though. :D
So yeah. Tsubame Gaeshi and Hakugei were invented. Horray! For those of you that remembered the chapter with the doubles match between Marui Yukimura and Akutagawa Fuji, Fuji kind of used a simple version of the Higuma Otoshi there when he returned someone's smash head on, except he was facing forward. So that's why I decided to use the two other counters.
Anyway, please review?
