Disclaimer: Don't own Prince of Tennis. It PWNS. (I own the OCs within this fic)

I'm back with a new chapter! I know, so fast right?

THE REASON I UPDATED SO FAST AGAIN IS BECAUSE NOW 100 PEOPLE HAVE ME ON STORY ALERT. That made me happy. And type with super-speed.

Anyways, this chapter definitely contains some (a lot, actually, a LOT) of FujixIzumi goodness, due to popularity judging from reviews. No TezukaxChiharu, sorry. Oh, and please keep in mind that they're still undecided couples so if you have any suggestions, go ahead and tell me!

Oh, and to clear up some things from the last chapter: The Golden Pair is not completely getting owned. It was a one point match; that means anyone has a chance. But of course, Sakuno mysteriously getting better at doubles is going to be a mini-plot.

Thanks to all my loyal readers and supporters.

To Catch A Falling Star—Chapter Twelve: Moments to Preserve

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"That's all for practice today!" Coach Ryuzaki announced. "Remember to come by tomorrow; we're doing full day practices over the weekend!"

"Hai!"

The regulars gathered their things. As it was Friday, most of them decided to remain in tennis attire and didn't bother to change. Of course, there was always the chance of being mobbed by obsessive fangirls, but then again their uniforms needed to be washed and changing was too troublesome.

For most other clubs and societies, Friday was a day off. It was a day to go home early or to schedule something fun to do after school. However, being the famous tennis team of Seigaku, they had to live up to their reputation. Also, the district tournaments were coming up and every millisecond that could be used for training… was used for training. Therefore, many fangirls who were free from other school activities used Friday afternoon to ogle their favorite tennis regulars, which explained the size of the crowds outside the fences that afternoon.

"KYAAAH! TEZUKA-SAN! Look over here!"

He ignored them and proceeded to place his rackets in his bag. Kikumaru slung his arm around him loosely. "Aren't you popular…"

"KIKUMARU-SENPAI!"

"Hoi hoi!" He waved at them, drawing several more squeals.

"We might have to make a run for it today…" Oishi muttered.

Now that there was a girl team, there were also several boys standing outside the fence. While they weren't so obsessive as the squealing piles of fangirls, the suggestive way they were looking at the girl regulars (or more specifically, looking at their skirts) was far more intimidating.

"Do you need me to clear a path?" Suzume asked, cracking her knuckles. "I could do with the extra practice."

"Suzume… don't," Akane told her. Suzume had received a light punishment and a warning yesterday for "teaching those idiot perverts a lesson," as she put it. The school board was threatening to take away her tennis privileges.

Reina was talking to Sayaka. The latter was nodding intelligently to her words. "…therefore your style must be extemporaneous… you understand?"

Sayaka grinned cheerfully. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Reina just sighed.

"I'm sorry! Could you just repeat what you said in standard, understandable Japanese?"

"Your play style is always in a repeating pattern," Inui translated. "You always pull into a twist after a double or triple salto, and your round-offs go into to aerials. Afterwards you often go into a couple of somersaults if the ball is within smashing distance." He touched the bridge of his glasses briefly. "Basically, you're performing your gymnastics routine on the courts."

"I don't see why that's… bad?" Sayaka said.

"It's bad if the opponent knows your routine. It's repetitive. Schools are bound to sent spies and scouts before a match. How are you supposed to play if the opponent knows your every move?"

Reina nodded in agreement. "If Suzume paid more attention to your movements than the ball, then you might not have been able to go into a tiebreaker. We—" She indicated herself and Inui, "noticed at the end of the 5th game."

"What do you want me to do?" She was at a loss.

"The strong part of your style is that your opponent can't tell if you're hitting a backhand, forehand, drop shot, or whatever. They can't even tell what direction you're hitting it in. Your elaborate movements hide that. Talk to Kikumaru or Morioka and people with similar styles and ask them how they overcame it. Your movements have to be… random. Spontaneous. That way you can prevent your opponents from memorizing your routine and returning all your shots."

"All right, thank you…"

"One of us should play her…" Reina muttered after she had gone. "She should go up against a data tennis player, just for practice…"

"I'll arrange something like that in the menu for tomorrow." Inui promised.

"Thanks for practicing with me, Izumi-senpai!" Kimiko said cheerfully. Izumi had begun helping her recreate that shot with the ball crawling up the net. Today she'd managed to make it crawl upwards about a fraction of an inch. "This forehand slice thingy is pretty hard…"

"Are you ready to go?" Fuji asked Izumi as she finished zipping up her bag.

"I have to pick up some papers from the classroom," she replied, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "Sorry."

"No problem, I wanted I word with sensei myself. I'll meet you in the classroom then."

"Akane-buchou…" Kimiko said.

"Hmm?" The ginger haired girl retied her hair as she turned around. She took in Kimiko's expression. "You're serious for once. What's wrong?"

"Do you… think that we make a good doubles pair?" she asked undecidedly.

"I think so…" The second year's eyes were looking downwards, clouded. Akane felt worried. "Why?"

"I was talking with Bunta yesterday… and he said some things about our styles being incompatible…" Her head shot up. "Not that I believed him! But you know… I… I mean, some of the things he said ringed pretty true…"

Akane cocked her head to one side. Where was this coming from?

"Buchou isn't a defensive player either… I don't know, it's just a thought…?"

Akane smiled and put her hand on Kimiko's shoulder. "It'll be all right. We'll make adjustments if needed. There's plenty of time to experiment…"

Even as she said the words, her smile was slightly strained. Kimiko noted a shadow in her cerulean eyes that wasn't there before.

"Are you worried about the District Tournaments?" Reina asked Inui.

"Seigaku's boys' team should have no problem reaching the finals. The girls too, judging by their skill and the scouting reports on other schools. The problem is…" Inui tapped his glasses. "The finals themselves."

"The finals themselves?"

He nodded and said a single word. "Fudomine."

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"Sayaka, was it?" Aiko asked after approaching the second year.

"Yup, that's me!" she replied. "What's up?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice how good you are at doubles… even though it's your first time trying it out. How do you do it?" Aiko questioned. She didn't want to ask for help; she had her pride, but if she kept playing like she was with that freshman girl, they would lose. And that was a bigger blow to her pride then asking for help. Komboi Ayikuo cannot lose.

There was a gentle smile on her lips. "What can I say? I trust my brother completely. I just listen to what he tells me to do."

"But… that freshman girl never tells me what to do…"

She shrugged. "Maybe it's harder in your case, you being a third year and Sakuno-chan's only a freshman. She can't really tell you what to do, being the kohai by two years and all. And she's kind of shy, so taking the initiative would be a bit harder. You could try… asking her, you know?"

"I guess I can try that…" Aiko said, doubtful.

"You know, you might not even find your doubles partner in her. It takes time," She grinned. "One of the reasons I got to play with my brother is simply because we're twins. We bond easily."

"OI! SAYAKA!" Momoshiro yelled. "ARE YOU COMING FOR HAMBURGERS OR WHAT?"

"I'll see you tomorrow, then!" Sayaka waved at Aiko before running off to join her brother.

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Izumi finished gathering all her papers and text books when she realized they wouldn't fit into her bag with her rackets. She was just shifting them into her arms when the three girls approached her.

Their eyes narrowed as they put their hands on their hips. "Morioka, what is your relationship with Fuji? Are you going out?"

'Fangirls. Akane warned me yesterday.' "We're friends…"

"Oh please, as if Fuji would go out with her." One of the girls said with scornful tone. "She's always swishing her hair around. It makes me sick."

"Then why did he invite you over to his house? What are you planning to do there?" Another girl interrogated.

Izumi, shocked that they knew of the event, didn't say anything for a moment. Apparently, the girls interpreted it wrong and snorted loudly. "Oh, please…"

"That is none of your business." She finally recovered her voice. She turned to them, books in her arms. "Now could you move? You're blocking my way."

One of the girls made a sudden motion towards her, and her books flew out of her arms, crashing against the floor. Some people turned to stare. Izumi wordlessly bent down to retrieve them, only to receive a sharp pain in the side of her head. Before she knew what happened, she was on her knees, a hand pressed against her throbbing head.

"What happened, Morioka-chan? Daijoubu?" Kikumaru's face came into view.

"Eiji…"

The girl in the middle laughed sneeringly. "You're so sly, Morioka! Pretending to be hurt just to get his sympathy!"

"Kikumaru BUSHIN!" He suddenly transformed into two, collecting her books and papers with lightning speed. The people in the classroom watched in awe. Some even applauded. "Here you are." He handed them to her, then leaned in and whispered loudly, "Don't worry; I didn't believe a word they said."

A hand was extended to her. "Are you all right?" Fuji asked.

She hesitatingly gave him her hand. She was surprised at his strength as he pulled her up from the ground. Fuji then let his open eyes rest on the three girls in a questioning manner. They recoiled in slight fear of being addressed by that beautiful, crystalline blue of his eyes.

"She's just playing the victim!" the girl in the middle accused. "We didn't touch her!"

"I see…" Fuji returned his gaze to Izumi. "Are you ready to go?"

"More than ready."

"Then, let's go…" He led her to the hallway outside. It was then when she realized that he was still holding her hand. She released her grip, but he didn't.

"Fuji-san… could you let go?"

"Gomen." He dropped her hand immediately upon her request. That made her wonder; if she hadn't reminded him, would he have kept holding it?

"D-did you see everything that happened?"

"No. When I walked in, Eiji was already helping you pick up your things. What happened?"

"Nothing, really… I actually don't know myself…" 'Was it just my headaches again?' She made a mental note to check her temperature as soon as possible. She would not (repeat, would not) allow herself to have a seizure in Fuji's presence.

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Chiharu opened her locker and gasped as the books and pens fell out in a slide. Someone had painstakingly messed up the contents and rigged it so all the books would fall on her as she opened it. A small sigh escaped her lips as she gathered all her things and began putting them back in order.

"Chiharu-senpai?" Suzume appeared in the hallway. Her eyes narrowed at the mess. "Do you know who did it?"

"Suzume-chan…" Chiharu looked at the second year, who she suspected was already planning revenge on whoever had destroyed her locker. "No, I'm sure I just moved the locker around too much so that when I opened it, everything inside had shifted…" She trailed off uncertainly.

"You should become a writer," Suzume snorted. "With that kind of imagination…"

Chiharu silently put everything back and took out the books she needed for the weekend.

"Chiharu-senpai…?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you always see the best in everybody?"

She pondered for a minute before smiling at her kohai. "Because it brings out the best in everybody."

Suzume stared at her. Even her brothers had said so, that under Chiharu's influence, she'd gone through a transformation. She argued that it wasn't true, that she still smoked, still brought home Ds, still dressed outrageously, still beat up people… And they'd told her that she'd changed, simply because she cared about her senpai. 'It brings out the best in everybody…?' "Let's go home."

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Kimiko swung her racket a couple more times experimentally as she walked home. "Forehand slice, huh… It's so difficult. Maybe it's because I need to hit a shot that has topspin to make it work."

The sky was already darkening with night, now that the days were getting shorter. She walked by the river on her way to get home, seeing a familiar shadow swinging a racket over and over.

"Kaidoh-kun!" Quickly she slid down the hill to join him. "I see you here every day! I just never dropped by to say hi!"

He didn't reply and kept swinging his racket like he wanted to kill it.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked.

"I'm training right now." he grunted.

"Okay…" She took the hint. Picking up a tennis ball from the ground, she said, "Can I borrow this?"

"As long as you don't disturb my training." he replied in an irritated tone.

Kimiko walked up to the rock wall that supported part of the bridge and began hitting the ball at it. After getting into a steady rhythm, she tried to hit the forehand slice again. Every time, she could hear the ball brushing its velvety surface against the rock, but it only traveled upwards about half an inch before falling back to earth. "Something doesn't feel right…" She pulled out the drawings from her bag and swung her racket slowly, trying to match the movements on the paper.

Kaidoh took long drink from his water bottle. "What are those?" he asked curiously.

"Hmm? These?" She held them out cheerfully. "They're drawings!"

"A-ah…" He looked at them and saw her over and over within the white pages. The drawings were amazingly detailed. "Did you draw them?"

"Hee, as if I could draw so well! Reina-senpai did them! She does this stuff for us a lot!" She smiled. "I'll bet she has some for you too!"

"Hn…" He sat down on the ground, taking a brief rest. Kimiko sat down across from him and began stretching.

"Neh, Kaidoh, why do you come here to train?"

"…I don't know…"

"It's really peaceful…" Kimiko said. "And there's a river…"

"Inui-senpai used to help me train in the river…" Kaidoh said aloud. 'Wait, why am I saying this?' He seemed unusually talkative today. That was really strange.

"Really? How?" she asked.

"Ah… nothing really…" He looked to the side.

She pouted. "I want to know…"

He looked back at her. "Well, the Boomerang Snake was an accident at first, but Inui-senpai helped me by making me train with a towel in the river…"

"Hmm…" She nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe I should make Inui-senpai help me too. My shot was an accident too…" She stretched to the side. "He didn't make you test out his new drink or something as a price?"

He bit back a chuckle. "No, he made me become his doubles partner."

"Really?" Kimiko sat up, interested. "And it worked?"

"I refused him at first. But in the end, it really helped me in mastering the Boomerang Snake…"

"No, no, I mean the doubles combination. Did it work?"

"Ah… yeah… It turned out to be a really good combination. We're playing doubles in the upcoming tournament too…"

She looked down. "Oh, I see. Neh, Kaidoh, have you ever been in a doubles pairing that you felt might not work?"

He thought back. Of course, being paired with that baka Momoshiro wasn't really what he'd call an ideal pairing, but it also seemed to work, didn't it? Maybe because they were rivals and they knew each other all too well. "There were several pairings that I thought might not work, but they all did…"

Kimiko pulled out a lollipop and stared at it, twirling it around her fingers. "I don't think Akane and I make a good doubles pair… I think we just seemed good because we both played with individual strengths; we don't really have good combinations…"

"You won't know unless you try."

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"Yuuta, is Nee-san home?" Fuji asked as they took off their shoes at the door. Izumi again marveled at how different the styles of their homes were—his home was more Western and trendy, whereas hers had TRADITIONAL written all over it.

"She called to say she would be a couple minutes late," His eyes rested on the newcomer. "Izumi-senpai! It's you again?"

"Nice to see you again, Yuuta-kun…" Izumi said.

"Izumi-san is going to be my next model." Fuji explained.

"Oh? So you aren't going to use Nee-san's contacts?" Yuuta nodded. "Well, at least this way you can avoid paying them to model, I guess…"

"That's not it…" Fuji said. "I like the way Izumi looks…"

The way he said it made her feel hot behind her eyes. Yuuta gave his brother a strange look.

"Yuuta decided to come home again? I didn't know that sis was baking pies today…" Fuji murmured.

"I don't just come home for the pies, you know…"

After a moment, they were all sitting at the table drinking tea that Fuji brought out. He insisted that they needed to wait for his sister before they could start shooting; she was the makeup artist after all. They actually had chairs, Izumi thought. Her family kneeled on the ground to eat from a table that was barely higher than her calf. Can anyone say TRADITIONAL?

"Do you like St. Rudolph, Yuuta-kun?" Izumi asked.

"Hmm… sure, I guess. School's kind of the same everywhere…" He shrugged. "The tennis team is always the best part of school…"

Izumi let out a small smile. "How's the girl team at your school?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Personally… they kind of scare me, a little. They're pretty good, I guess, but they kind of… you remember Higa?" he asked his brother. "Higa Chu? They remind me of them…"

"So…" Fuji sipped his tea. "They play dirty, huh…"

"But yeah, they're pretty good… Mizuki chose them…"

"Oh, that explains everything…" Fuji muttered.

"Eh?" Izumi turned to him, confused.

"Nothing," He put his cup down. "Did you go with Nee-chan to the doctor's today?"

"Yeah…" He lifted his left arm. "It's fine now. As long as I don't hit the Twist Spin Shot too much, it'll be perfectly okay."

"Where did you go?" Izumi asked curiously.

"The Tsuchira hospital? I heard it's the best in Tokyo…"

Izumi put her cup down with force enough to rattle the saucer. 'The world is small indeed…'

"Oi, Izumi-senpai… are you all right?" Yuuta asked. Both brothers had expressions of concern written on the faces.

"I'm fine…" 'Yuuta goes there, Chiharu goes there, Reina goes there, Tezuka goes there, Akane goes (went) there… This secret is getting impossible to keep.'

"Do you play the piano…?" she suddenly asked, her eyes resting on the large instrument made of polished wood that was against the wall. There were several photos resting on top.

"No, that's mine," Yuuta said. "I used to play a little. Aniki plays the flute."

Izumi noted the long black case that rested on top of the piano as well.

"It's rather small in comparison, isn't it?" Fuji chuckled.

"Do you still play?"

"Sometimes, but only when I feel like it," he said.

"Tadaima!" A female voice called from the door. "I'm home!"

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After about another hour of swinging, both Kimiko and Kaidoh decided to call it a day. When looking at the marks on the wall, Kimiko smiled, noting that the ball had crawled upwards almost an inch and a half on her last attempt. She now understood why Kaidoh came and practiced every day—it was to achieve great results in little time. However, she doubted she'd be able to keep it up. She was lazy by nature.

Even as the days were getting cooler, she still managed to work up a sweat and fanned herself. "It's hot…" The water looked very inviting. 'Why not?' With no second thoughts, no glances backwards, she cannon-balled straight into the river.

Kaidoh turned around just to get hit in the face with a splash of water.

It was much deeper than she anticipated, and she came up sputtering and laughing at the same time.

"Oi! Why'd you do that?" Kaidoh growled in his deep voice, not so much anger as shock.

"Why?" Kimiko waded the water easily. "Because I've never done it before." she said in reply, as if it was completely obvious.

'Because she'd… never done it before…' Kaidoh, as if possessed, suddenly hurled himself into the river along with her.

Kimiko laughed delightedly as she nearly drowned with the wave he created. "Kaidoh! What on earth are you doing?"

"I have absolutely no idea." He got out of the water immediately and climbed onto the bank.

She swam to the edge. "It's kind of fun to do something spontaneous though, isn't it?" She tried to push herself onto the bank, but fell back into the water. "Huh?" She tried harder. She put her elbows on the bank and tried to lift herself. She tried putting a leg up first. All attempts resulted into splashing right back into the watery blue. 'I'm probably tired from all the training…'

The sounds of her struggling annoyed him, yet at the same time he wanted to laugh. "JUST GIVE ME YOUR HAND, DAMMIT!"

"Uh… okay?" Kimiko reached out and grasped his hand. He yanked her out of the water with so much force, she bounced right onto the bank like he was landing a trout. 'She's light…'

"Oof…" And she began giggling again.

"Meow…" Suddenly a cat appeared out of nowhere and began rubbing itself against Kaidoh's legs, licking the moisture off of his ankles.

"Scram…" he said to the cat, mostly for Kimiko's benefit. "Go away…"

She sat up. "You don't have to pretend for me, Kaidoh-kun." A chuckle escaped her lips.

"What?"

She giggled again. "I saw you playing with a cat by the road once. Near the playground? You have a soft spot for animals, don't you?"

A light blush covered his cheeks as he sat down and allowed the cat to rub itself around his ankles.

"Iggy! Where are you?" A woman was wandering around the streets, looking for something. The cat's ears perked up when it heard her voice. "Meow?"

She heard the cat and wandered towards the sound. Suddenly, she caught sight of Kaidoh reaching out to pet it and charged towards him. "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO WITH MY IGGY?" Barging forward, she hit him on the side of his head with her purse and grabbed her cat from the ground.

"Ano, I wasn't…" Kaidoh began.

"Careful Iggy, you have to stay away from scary men like that. I don't know what he'd do with you…" The woman gave him a glare before walking away.

Kaidoh folded his hands into fists in anger. Somehow this scene had a déjà vu feeling about it. It wasn't the first time he was accused of threatening little animals. He ground his teeth together before closing his eyes. "Fshuuuu…"

"Hee…" It started out as a giggle, but then Kimiko couldn't restrain her laughter. She clutched her sides and rolled in the grass, laughing. She laughed until her stomach hurt and tears formed in her eyes.

"Oi…" Kaidoh said, not finding the situation funny at all. "Stop laughing like an idiot."

"Ah gomen!" She sat up, wiping the tears away. "It's just that… someone actually thought you were scary…" She burst into another fit of laughter.

He just eyed her, confused.

"I mean, the thought that (giggle) someone as cute as you being scary…" She put a hand over her mouth in attempt to smother her laughter. Somehow she was imagining little stuffed cats giving death glares and teddy bears holding up knives and saying 'Die, die' in squeaky voices.

He turned his head away so she wouldn't see him blush.

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"Nee-san, I'm leaving it to you then," Fuji said. "I'll get the room set up."

"No problem," Yumiko replied. "Izumi-san, do you want to shower first?"

She nodded gratefully. Training had been harsh that day, and her uniform was stained with sweat. Yumiko handed her a towel and a robe, opening the door to the bathroom. "Go right inside."

Izumi washed away a day's worth of grime and filth. Yet there was something she couldn't wash away, and that was guilt. In all of the training sessions, she hadn't been playing very seriously. In fact, several times she could've won another point if she just pushed herself a little more, yet she didn't. She often let the point, the game, the set slide, and gave up. She even chose Inui Juice over pushing herself towards her goal. If there was an easy way out, she took it.

It wasn't just that that made her feel guilty. She was getting too close to Fuji. She knew it; she had felt it from the very beginning, from when he'd comforted her after the midterm results. But she couldn't push him away. She tried to, lord knows she tried to, but the connection between them was almost magnetic in a sense. As if the more she tried to separate them, the closer they became.

And she'd be lying if she said that she didn't want them to be close.

She managed to make a bit of small talk with Yumiko as the latter brushed shadow over her eyes and applied foundation and blusher. She was thankful when the makeup artist began working on her lips; that way she could avoid talking and just concentrate on her thoughts. So caught up in her feelings, she didn't even notice what Yumiko was doing to her face.

"Yumiko-san…" Izumi said as she began to blow dry her hair. "Have any of Fuji-san's other classmates ever modeled for him?"

"Hmm…" She turned off the blow dryer and ran a comb through her long dark hair. "There was this one girl that Syusuke used a couple of times, but she seemed to take things the wrong way, so he stopped after a while…"

"Take things the wrong way?" Izumi echoed.

"Syusuke's always been a very gentle person. He's kind to everyone. Some girls, I suppose, think that they're getting some special treatment from him, so they think that he's interested, that way. And on top of that, some things between a photographer and model can be rather intimate, I guess."

"W-what?" Izumi tensed up visibly.

Yumiko laughed. "You're kind of conservative, aren't you? Don't worry, we picked a kimono out for you…"

She relaxed a little. Kimonos showed as little skin as possible.

"He was considering using Chiharu-san for portraits, but decided against it later. Chiharu has beautiful eyes, you know? And then of course, no amount of convincing would allow Tezuka-san to model for him."

"Has Fuji-san ever… had any girlfriends?" she asked, hesitatingly but curiously.

"Not really," Yumiko replied after a moment's thought. "He went out a few times with a couple of girls, but he never seemed to like them back. I don't know what he's looking for in a person, but it appears he hasn't found it yet," She wound part of Izumi's hair into a knot and allowed the rest to flow out artistically. "How about you, Izumi-san? Ever had any boyfriends?" she asked mischievously as she started adding ornaments.

"No!" she said reflexively. "Ano… I guess I have pretty high standards."

She leaned in. "And does Syusuke meet those standards?"

Izumi's speechlessness caused her to laugh again. "It's okay, you don't have to answer that." She helped her into the kimono, tying the obi in place carefully. "You look perfect… The studio is two doors down from the room where he displays all his pictures."

Izumi stepped into two wooden flip-flops before making her way to the door. She glanced back at Yumiko. "Go on!" the latter encouraged her. However, before Izumi could reach for the doorknob, the door opened on its own.

"Nee-san, are you done ye—" Fuji's words were lost in his throat when he set eyes on her. He froze. All he could do was stare.

Once again, his sister had proven her skill as a makeup artist.

"Is it…" Izumi stopped, wondering how she would phrase her question. "The way you imagined it?" she finally asked, looking down at the embroidered silk.

He nodded, the smile returning. "It's perfect. Follow me."

As she walked behind him towards the studio, she suddenly had the image of a bride walking to the altar.

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"Ne, Kaidoh-kun?" Kimiko asked as she pulled her regular jersey around her. A few minutes ago, she'd remembered that her tennis uniform was white, and that she shouldn't have gotten it wet… But the jersey took care of covering her. "I had fun today. Can I come train with you again?"

He just looked at her.

"Like, not every day…" she amended. "Since I'm pretty lazy… but you know, once in a while?"

He began walking away. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my training."

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"Oi, Take-nii, don't you think you're eating a little much?" Sayaka said, mildly horrified at the speed and amount her twin was eating.

"Momo-senpai is always like that…" Ryoma muttered as he munched on his hamburger. "Shouldn't you know, being his twin and all?"

"Well, still… He's still hungry when he gets home, so I wouldn't expect him to eat this much after practice and still have enough room for a supersized dinner." Sayaka rubbed her forehead as she ate her fries.

"Ohayo, Momoshiro-kun!" A girl suddenly came into view, carrying a tray. She was very cute, Sayaka noted. "Mind if we sit here?"

"Tachibana's little sister…" Momoshiro murmured to himself. "Of course, go ahead."

"I have a name, you know. It's Ann!"

"Oi, Ann-chan, shouldn't we sit over there?" Another voice said. Momoshiro lifted his head.

"Yo, Kamio!"

She smiled. "No, let's sit here." Kamio made a noise of dissatisfaction, but obeyed.

"Hey, this is my twin, Sayaka…" Momoshiro introduced, slapping her on the shoulder.

"Ah!" Ann waved in greeting. "Nice to meet you! Strange, Momoshiro never mentioned he had a twin…"

"Yeah, he kinda acts like I don't exist…" Sayaka said. "So you're Kamio?" He nodded. "You don't look like Kimura at all. She has a bit of a darker skin color and her hair is a bit darker too. And it's long than yours, even if your hair styles are similar…"

"Kimura?"

"Yeah, my brother—" she jerked her thumb at him. "—the idiot sitting there, called this girl at school a "Kamio-wannabe", so I've been interested in seeing what you look like ever since."

" 'KAMIO-WANNABE?'" Kamio grabbed Momoshiro by the scruff of his shirt. "TEME, WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

"Speaking of which, how is the girl team at your school anyways?" Ann asked, ignoring the argument in the background.

"We're okay, I guess." Sayaka said. Momoshiro and Kamio broke it up and sat down, huffing angrily. "I mean, the formation of a new team isn't really easy."

Kamio smiled proudly. "Ann-chan made it as a regular on our girl team!"

"Really?" Momoshiro asked. "I knew you would! After the way you played against me before…"

"We're going to crush Seigaku this time, both boys and girls!" Kamio proclaimed, slightly miffed that Momoshiro referred to the time where he played tennis with Ann, alone. The event still struck jealousy within him.

"Oh really?" All three of the Seigaku regulars said at the same time.

"Momoshiro, are you actually going to play this time?" Kamio asked, smirking. "Or are you going to sit out again?"

"I don't know…" Momoshiro looked upwards. "Maybe I'll sit out just so I can watch Mamushi have you for lunch again."

"BASTARD!"

"Actually, we might not even see each other on the courts…" Momoshiro suddenly realized. "I'm playing mixed doubles with Sayaka. Who's playing mixed doubles for your team?"

Kamio and Ann looked at each other. "I think… maybe Saki-senpai and Ishida-kun, right?" Ann said uncertainly. "And maybe… Megumi-chan and Sakurai-kun? We're not really sure about our mixed doubles. But all the girls on the team have amazing tennis skills, and you know the potential of our boy team."

"Well, we aren't exactly weak either…" Sayaka said.

"Dude, there's no way you can beat Saki-senpai! She's playing singles one too!" Kamio turned his head to Ryoma. "Her Nitouryuu is superior to yours!"

"Is that so…" Ryoma drank his Ponta, not really caring. "Well, she's a girl isn't she? We wouldn't be able to play against each other anyways…"

"She's really good!" Kamio went on. "She beat Shinji in 15 minutes!"

Ryoma almost choked.

Now that was interesting.

"Fifteen minutes?" Momoshiro exclaimed. "Oi, even Echizen couldn't do that! Who is this girl of yours?"

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"…wow…" was all Izumi could say when she entered the room. It was dimly lit, with lights set up around the area in the middle. There was a table in the middle on top of straw mats. A Japanese styled rice paper screen was also to the side, pink and white flowers painted upon it. There was also what appeared to be half a wall, shrunken in size so it was only a bit taller than she was, with Japanese style windows. In the back, there were huge sized landscape posters that could be rolled down for a different background. Looking around, she could also see plenty of props—fans, lanterns, flowers (and petals), all to enhance the beauty of the photo down to the most miniscule detail.

It was more than she expected out of an amateur high school student photographer. It was… nearly professional.

"Where did you get all this?" she asked, fingering a calligraphy brush set that was on the table.

"My sister is a makeup artist for an ad company…" Fuji explained. "She gets a lot of this stuff for me. Most of it's on loan though." He motioned towards the screen. "Shall we begin?"

"O-okay…" She walked towards it. "What do you want me to do?" she asked as she stood by it awkwardly.

"Here… If you put your hand here…" He reached out and took her arm gently. She flinched.

"Maybe… maybe you should just tell me…" she suggested quietly, removing her arm from his hand. 'Is this what Yumiko-san meant by "intimate"?'

"Put your arm up here, like this," This time he demonstrated rather than touching her. He held up a finger and moved it to her left. "Good, now turn your head over here." She followed his directions. "Okay, now look downwards a little… Chin down a bit… Okay, don't move." He reached out to adjust one of the lights so it was brighter. Then he got his camera out and took a few pictures.

Click. Click. Click.

"Close your eyes…" he said softly. The way he said it, or maybe it was just his voice in general, sent shivers down her spine. She obeyed him, allowing the long lashes to brush her cheeks. They weren't hers—Yumiko had put in fake ones, but they accentuated her eyes beautifully.

He took a few more pictures. Something about her puzzled him. So many times she'd distanced herself from him even as they became closer… the pulling away, the flinching upon contact, and yet… she'd confessed part of her feelings towards him outside the hospital, hadn't she? She'd taken his hand this afternoon, hadn't she? She'd agreed to help him with the photo shoot as well.

Like a ripple… Though it may lap at your feet, if you reach for it, it pulls away farther.

"Here," He handed her a white rose and told her to kneel in front of the screen. "Put the flower next to your face…" She did so, feeling the velvety petals brush her cheek. "A little lower…" he told her. She listened until he had her positioned just the way he wanted it, and took several more photos.

'It might be easier if I just let him touch me and adjust things himself instead of telling me verbally…' Izumi thought. 'But I can't, I can't.'

"I'm turning on flash now, Izumi-san," Fuji said as he flicked a switch on his camera. Izumi had noticed the glares set up next to the lights to reflect the flash. "You might be blinded for a bit."

He pressed the capture button, and there was an explosion of light. For a moment, all she saw was purple spots in front of her eyes.

He had her do several more poses. She made the action of opening a fan seem extremely graceful—he took several frames for that one, as to mildly blur the edges of the fan. He had her pose with the lanterns and pretend to perform calligraphy with the brushes.

He put a light next to her right cheek and turned it on. She closed her eyes tightly for a brief second at the sudden brightness.

"Gomen, I should've warned you…" Fuji apologized.

"What are you doing?" she asked, curious.

"It's like Rembrandt lighting. I'm only lighting up half of your face so the rest is dark." He went back and adjusted the height of the light. "Okay, now look directly at me."

He held up the camera and nearly dropped it the minute she lifted her eyes to his. Onyx black clashed with crystalline blue; they both felt a jolt. Her eyes… they were so deep, with so much raw emotion that seemed struggling to be set free. The lighting cast little globes of illumination within them, making them like twin galaxies, mysterious as they were stunning. With trembling fingers he pressed the capture button.

Next, he moved the table out of the way and had her lie down on the straw mat. He knelt down next to her and slowly reached forward… so slowly, as if giving her a chance to pull away… "May I?"

She swallowed and nodded.

He smoothed down a lock of her hair. Equally gently and gradually, he lifted her arm and put it next to her face. Izumi tensed when his skin met hers, but she didn't pull away. His smiling expression gave way to one of concentration. Finally, he appeared satisfied, and stepped back, lifting the camera to his face.

"Close your eyes…" he said again. After a while, he said, "Can you change your expression?"

"Eh?" Izumi opened her eyes and looked at him. "What expression would that be?"

"Something other than… 'I just passed out from Inui Juice'?" He chuckled slightly.

A small smile crossed her lips as she closed her eyes again.

"More like… 'sleeping', I guess…" Fuji suggested. "Saa, put that smile back. I liked it."

"What smile?" she asked with her eyes still closed.

"Must I make another Inui Juice joke to have it reappear?"

That did it. The smile made its way back onto her face, and he pressed the button with a satisfying click. He took a few more before offering his hand to her again. "We're done. Now come with me for a moment. There's something I want you to see."

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"The pictures are all beautiful…" Izumi said as she walked by. They were in the room where he displayed all his photos again.

"I wanted you to see this one." he said. She walked over and drew in a sharp intake of breath.

It was her. It was the picture he'd taken of her that day it rained. It was when he surprised her and she turned around, only to be captured on camera. She stared at the way her hair had swirled outwards, how surprise had etched itself onto her features. It was so awfully strange, staring at herself. Yet she liked it.

"Did you edit this one on the computer too?" she asked.

"If I did, I probably would have impaired its beauty…" Fuji said. "It's perfect the way it is."

She turned to him with a look on her face that said, 'Don't say things like that…'

"It's an amazing thing, photography…" She traced a finger around the pictures. "The fact that you can capture a single moment, a single emotion, and compress it within layers of color. Sometimes I want to be live in the picture forever…"

"Why is that?"

Her eyes looked sad. "You should know as a photographer, you can take a million pictures of the same thing and no two of them would look the same," She turned to look at him. "Isn't like that with feelings too? There are these moments where I just want to preserve, to hang on to and never let go… as if I could live in that one moment, and have that single feeling forever…" She closed her eyes. "Because sometimes to feel it once… it's just not enough."

"Then why… not? Why wouldn't you want to live in the picture…?"

"Because…" Her voice trembled as she replied simply, "The colors don't change."

He opened his eyes. Why is it, when she said things like this, they were just so deep? He suddenly thought back to the practice match between Sayaka and Suzume.

"She's so… crippled... She's so close to flying, so close… yet she doesn't have wings.'

The things she said, they all carried a heavy tone of melancholy about them. Yet saying them seemed to make her equally sad. Again, he thought of the essay she'd once written for Language class; he remembered a line within it: 'Like that feeling when you get after winning a medal, and then you scrape it and it's not gold at all, it's paint…' Impulsively he reached out and took her hands within his.

She didn't flinch. She didn't pull away. She knew she should. She didn't deserve this; she couldn't be worthy enough to accept his kindness. And yet she couldn't move. His hands were so warm. Pulling her hands away now would be like wrenching out her heart. She just couldn't do it. All she could do was close her eyes as a single tear traced its way down her cheek.

All she could do was think that this was one of the moments she wanted to preserve forever.

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A few miles away…

Suzume picked up her home phone and dialed a number, surprised that she still knew it from memory. She hadn't dialed this number in months. "Hey, it's me, senpai…"

"Suzume? I haven't heard from you in a while."

She kicked back onto her bed. "I heard you transferred from that hell they called 'Catholic boarding school'… Where are you now?"

"Suzume, don't insult my religion, please."

Suzume's eyes widened. "Wait… what's going on? I thought you hated being Catholic."

"I don't anymore. I have found comfort in Jesus. He forgave my sins."

'This is the senpai who used to hang out with me? This is the person who told me where to buy my cigarettes and what arcades had the best games?' "Your parents had made you into them." she stated. The flat voice, the constant references to Jesus… Suzume couldn't even convey the amount of disappointment she felt. 'And I thought she was a rebel… someone I could look up to.'

"Suzume… (sigh) I'll say a prayer for you."

"You know what? Don't bother, Saki-senpai. You can tell Jesus to drag me to hell himself."

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End Chapter Eleven

Oooh, cliffhanger~ Who is this old acquaintance of Suzume?

Actually, in my 'semi-AU' fanfic, Seigaku hasn't met Higa Chu yet. I just put that in there for your benefit, since Higa Chu is known for taking any methods to win. Yes, that includes playing dirty.

Next chapter will probably contain some Seigaku vs. Fudomine action! I'm speeding up the plot a bit. And after that, it'll be winter! Christmas fluff, anyone?

Next chapter will also go deeper into Akane as well. This girl (ex) captain has a dark side, and we are just about to find out what it is.

Review!