"You're pretty good at making sushi, eh?"
Kawamura didn't look up from the fish he was holding, placing it upon the rice with great care. When he looked up the old man he'd met upon landing had resumed reading his magazine and seemed disinterested in continuing the conversation, so he said nothing. The Himalayan cat sitting beside him watched him intently, it's bushy tail flicking from side to side occasionally. Besides it's eager purring and the soft sound of the pages of the magazine as the man thumbed through it, everything was silent.
In a way, it was peaceful. It was also kind of creepy. Kawamura finished rolling the last of the sushi, cut it into pieces with the knife he'd been provided with, and sat back, looking at his work contentedly.
"There, finished."
"Oh?" The man looked up, adjusting the dark glasses he wore, then he smiled. Or maybe he didn't. His beard was so full that it was difficult to tell. "Looks good. Seems you're a natural."
He grabbed a piece of sushi and crammed it into his mouth, and Kawamura thought about what he'd said. A natural? He'd never even heard of sushi before he'd met this guy! But making it had been almost nostalgic, and it had come to him naturally. Maybe in another life he'd been a sushi chef. Maybe sushi was in his blood. Maybe he had some sort of sushi-making superpower.
No, all of those suggestions were silly. Kawamura took a piece and took a tentative bite. He wasn't so sure he liked it – then again, he'd been eating food in vacuum packed gel form for as long as he could remember. Swallowing the mouthful, he looked up as he was asked, "So, where did you come from? Seen a lot of you kids around recently."
"Ah, really?" Kawamura asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He supposed "you kids" meant his space brethren, in the space suits with the Seigaku colours. He wondered if the man would believe him if he told the truth. Finally, he said, "Space?"
To his surprise, the man didn't laugh, or accuse him of lying. He took another mouthful of sushi, turned a page in his magazine (Kawamura blushed as he finally noticed what was in it – ladies! Naked ladies!), and said, "Ah. So it's finally your time to come. Who was your coach?"
Kawamura was surprised. "Oh- Ryuzaki-sensei."
"Eh, really? How is the old hag?"
Kawamura shuffled awkwardly. He remembered Ryuzaki-sensei's deadly illness. He wondered if she was still alive – it had probably been a few days since they'd landed, and she had been on the verge of death then. What a lonely way to die, floating up there alone in space. He would have shed a single tear in her memory, but he didn't want to be the one to break the news to this person. How did he even know Ryuzaki-sensei?
"She's… okay," he said finally. Then, realising something, he asked, "What's your name? Maybe Ryuzaki-sensei's told us about you before."
The man snorted, shaking his head. "I doubt it. She'd probably think I was a bad influence."
They were both silent. Then the man said, "You got a kid named Echizen on your space shuttle?"
Kawamura looked up, eyes widening. "E-Echizen? Yeah."
"Thought so. He's grown up to be quite the player." There was a hint of fondness in the man- in Nanjiroh's- in Manjiroh's? voice, which was muffled when he picked up another sushi roll and mumbled as he ate it, "Well, I should be going. Thanks for the sushi, kid."
"No, wait!" Kawamura stood as Nanjiroh stood, Karupin at his heels. "You can't just leave- what connection do you have to Echizen?"
Nanjiroh whistled as he sashayed away. Kawamura yelled, "Ryuzaki-sensei isn't alright! She's dying!"
Nanjiroh paused, and turned to Kawamura, who broke down and let it all come out.
"She's sick and… and she probably won't make it! She said we should come to Earth to find her granddaughter, but I don't know where to start looking and I can't find anyone in my team. And you're just going to walk away?"
He was a little mad. Nanjiroh paused though, his back to him. Slowly he turned around, and raised an eyebrow. "I think Ryuzaki had bigger plans for you than just finding her granddaughter," he said, surprisingly cryptic. He paused, before adding, "And I wouldn't worry. That old hag wouldn't die even if you killed her."
Another pause.
"God knows I've tried."
MEANWHILE, AT ST. RUDOLPH
"Very good, Yuuta. Raise your arm a bit. Keep your muscles tensed. Be ready to attack at any moment."
Yuuta frowned. He'd been holding this pose for ten minutes already. Recently he'd begun to expect that these training sessions were less an excuse to train, and more of an excuse for their data man, Mizuki Hajime, to ogle him.
Well, at least he didn't use them as an excuse to touch hi-
"Twist your hips a little more."
Mizuki's voice was suddenly right next to his ear, his hot breath tickling the skin. Mizuki's hands found his waist and fingers clamped down hard on the flesh below them. A shiver ran down Yuuta's spine; a shiver of… revulsion.
"Mizuki," he said, through gritted teeth, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just helping you improve your form, Yuuta." Yuuta didn't think that Mizuki's hands gliding down to grope his ass was very important when it came to improving his form. Neither did he think Mizuki sucking at his neck helped, but he didn't say anything. Mizuki was their analyst, after all. He probably know more about this stuff than he did. Mizuki hummed, then said, "You've improved so much lately. I can still remember when you came to us, and you knew nothing."
Yuuta remembered it too. Before St Rudolph had found him, he'd been a loner. People who weren't in teams tended to be picked off quickly – there was strength in numbers, after all, and few mutants liked to play fair, instead picking off weaker people by ganging up on them. Fortunately, Yuuta was tough, so even if he hadn't belonged to team, he'd managed to survive. Mizuki saw this, and admired it, and eventually he ended up recruiting the younger boy.
Even if St Rudolph was welcoming, Yuuta had always felt like he didn't belong there. He had distant memories, of a family – a brother – and a human life. He tried to forget them. Clinging to memories of being normal, trying to cling onto shreds of humanity, had been the end of many strong mutants.
Yes, if he could live the rest of his days without remembering anything from that life, he would be happy. So of course something had to ruin it.
Mizuki, who had been squeezing his shoulders in an amateur attempt at a deep muscle massage, looked up, spotting something that Yuuta hadn't noticed yet. His voice was tense as he said, "Who is that?"
Yuuta followed his gaze. Walking across the wasteland was a figure in a red, white and blue space suit, a bulky helmet tucked under one arm and a tennis racket in his other hand. Mizuki detached himself from Yuuta, and hissed, "Keep your guard up."
Yuuta couldn't keep his guard up. The person should have been a stranger, but everything about him seemed familiar; his serene smile, his closed eyes. He was very definitely a human, but Yuuta could sense tennis power and skill rolling off him in waves.
"Brother," Yuuta breathed.
"Brother?" Mizuki repeated.
"Brother," Fuji smiled.
Yuuta felt memories flooding back to him. When he was little, being picked on, Fuji was always by his side. It used to be just childish hijinks, kids being kids and being a little too rough-and-tumble. That was until one day everything went terribly wrong.
Yuuta only remembered it in fragments. Being pushed to the ground, and his head splitting open as it struck a rock. That had hurt, but it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as the trail of fire that erupted from the open wound did, his anger embodied in flames. It engulfed the kids that had picked the fight, and their screams mixed with his sobs and Fuji's stunned, scared silence created a cacophony of deafening noise that made his ears ring.
They were fortunate nobody else had been at the park to witness the event. Fuji helped him stand and led him away from the blackened bodies. Yuuta could remember his legs shaking, and the cold sweat that clung to his body. His wound didn't bleed; it had been cauterized when his power had been activated. He cried most of the way home.
Before they reached their house, Fuji took him somewhere nobody could see or hear them, and looked at him seriously. Yuuta could tell he was serious because his eyes were open, intense and vividly blue.
"Yuuta," he said, "You can't tell anyone about what happened back there."
Yuuta nodded, but he was full of conflicted emotions. Those kids had been hurt – badly hurt – and you were meant to tell an adult if someone got hurt. But he had been the one who'd hurt them. He'd get in trouble, and probably Fuji would, too. Fuji seemed to sense his hesitation and gripped his shoulders, shaking him lightly.
"Seriously, Yuuta. You can't tell anyone," he said, his voice sterner. "If you tell someone, they'll tell the police and then you'll be taken away, and we won't see each other again."
Yuuta nodded, this time more vigorously. He didn't want to be taken away from his family! He didn't understand anything that had happened, but Fuji did – Fuji was older, after all, almost five and wise to the ways of the world. If he did as Fuji said, they'd both be safe.
Of course, in the end it had been Fuji that had gone missing. No matter how many times he asked, his parents and sister refused to answer him when he asked where he was.
And now Fuji was here, standing in front of him and smiling. Then again, Yuuta couldn't remember time where Fuji didn't smile. Even when it was really inappropriate.
"Yuuta," Fuji said, "It's been a while. How have you been?"
How could he speak so calmly, like no time had passed between them at all? Yuuta dropped his racket in shock, and Mizuki hissed "Idiot," and darted to stand in front of him, racket raised.
"Mizuki-" Yuuta began, but he was cut off.
"Pick up your racket! You don't know for a fact that's really your brother, for a start. There's such a thing as shapeshifters, you know?"
Yuuta felt stupid for a second, then quickly denied the possibility. "But I've never even told anyone about Syuusuke-"
"And mind readers don't exist?" Mizuki remained convinced. "Pick up your racket. Be ready to fight."
"I don't know why you want to fight me," Fuji said calmly, stepping forward and placing a hand on Mizuki's shoulder. Mizuki, apparently not expecting Fuji to be so bold, was pushed aside easily in his surprise. "But let me see my little brother. I've missed him."
Mizuki bristled visibly. "If you touch him-"
"Mizuki," Yuuta hissed. The scar on his head glowed white hot. "If you get between us anymore, I'll make sure you regret it."
Yuuta didn't threaten Mizuki often. Few people did. Mizuki was a mystery: intelligent, sneaky, and with an unknown power. Generally, you didn't pick fights with mutants if you didn't know what they were capable of. They could have a power that was as useless as Yanagisawa (really, when was turning into a duck useful?), or they could have a power that could kill you in an instant. Mizuki had never revealed his power, so he remained shady. Shady.
He apparently didn't want to reveal his power just yet, though, as he backed down quickly, his shoulders slumping silently. Yuuta relaxed, and Fuji said, "You can still do that, Yuuta?"
Yuuta felt guilty. He'd promised Fuji that he wouldn't use his power in addition to promising not to tell anyone. Fuji didn't seem mad, though. Instead he shrugged and said, "Well, it doesn't look like you'll be taken away anymore. Where are all the people? What happened to the buildings?"
Yuuta sighed. "Well, that's a long story…"
He told most of the story as they walked back to St Rudolph, Mizuki stalking a few metres behind them, obviously in a bad mood. Yuuta tried to ignore the bad mood his senpai was in and concentrate on filling in Fuji on what had happened to Earth after he'd disappeared: when everyone who hadn't mutated had begun to get sick and die, and soon the mutants inherited the Earth. Fuji listened, nodding occasionally. Once Yuuta had finished, he said, "What about you? Where did you go?"
"Space."
"Space?" Yuuta gawped. He'd assumed the space suit had been… some kind of costume, or something! Though he knew Mizuki wanted no part in this conversation, he couldn't help shouting back to Mizuki, "Did you hear that, Mizuki? Space!"
"Yeah, whatever," Mizuki mumbled, "I could've come from space too, you know. I just didn't want to."
St Rudolph had been wary of Fuji at first, but once they learned Yuuta was cool w/ him, they quickly accepted his presence. Fuji was fascinated by the idea of mutants and their powers, and St Rudolph was fascinated by Fuji's life in space. When the subject turned to tennis, they were all equally interested.
"You play?" Akazawa said, sounding surprised. Of course he would be; humans rarely played tennis. They just weren't good enough. When Fuji nodded, he raised an eyebrow, and said, "Do you play well?"
Fuji smiled. "Well, I'm not one to brag…"
Mizuki wasn't listening. He was watching Yuuta, who was watching Fuji with wide eyes. What was so good about Fuji, anyway? Okay, so they were related. Who cared? Big deal. Whatever.
His interest was caught once more when Akazawa asked to play Fuji, and a smirk crept onto his lip. Yuuta's brother he might be, but there was no way Fuji could handle playing their captain, St Rudolph's malevolent big black pillar!
As it turned out, though, Fuji breezed through their match. And then he played Nomura, then Kaneda, then Atsushi and Yanagisawa at once. Each time he employed on of his triple counters, the match was over in an instant.
After his last match he looked up, smiling. He was clearly trying to appear modest, but there was no doubt that he was incredibly self-satisfied as he said, "Well, who'll play me next? Yuuta? Or… ah, sorry, I've forgotten-"
"It's Mizuki," Mizuki snapped. "Anyway, nobody will play you next, because I have something more important to talk about."
Everyone fell silent. Fuji reluctantly sat down.
"Well, you should all know about Rikkai and Hyotei's conflict by now," Mizuki said, twirling a strand of hair around his finger. "I think it's about time we stopped pretending it wasn't happening and picked a side. The sooner we declare our allegiance, the sooner we get one of them off our backs."
"Mizuki…" Akazawa said, his voice sounding terse. He was obviously struggling to keep his voice down as he went on, "I don't think that's really your decision to make. I'm the captain-"
"Oh, don't misunderstand. You certainly are a capable captain, captain. I mean, if we forget about your frankly embarrassing loss to a human only mere moments ago, you have a spotless record," Mizuki didn't seem at all intimidated by the intense anger that radiated from Akazawa. "Now, personally, I think we should side with Rikkaidai. Their data man is simply exemplary, and besides that, I can't stand Atobe Keigo. He's so…"
Mizuki trailed off. Nobody wanted to point out that any word he could have used to describe Atobe could have been applied to him as well. Mizuki shook his head, continuing, "But anyway, I digress. Rikkai it is."
"Hold on, dane," Yanagisawa said, "Shouldn't we put it to a vote, dane? Why do you get to decide, dane?"
"Because I'm the smart one," Mizuki snapped. He scowled, then continued, "And if we plan on entering a war, we have to get rid of him."
He looked pointedly at Fuji, but the rest of the team looked appalled. Mizuki stole a glance of Yuuta out the corner of his eye, and he was pleased to see that he didn't look nearly as scandalized as the others did over the prospect of abandoning Fuji.
"Mizuki," Akazawa began. His voice had now risen to a healthy shouting volume. "Is that wise? Even for a human, Fuji is impressive-"
"Having humans on your team is a sign of weakness!" Mizuki snapped, his voice raising to match Akazawa's (though he was nowhere near as good a shouter as Akazawa, who had had years of practice). "That's how Rikkai got themselves into this mess in the first place. Having a human as your captain... well, that'd be like having a human as your data man. It would be an embarrassment. No wonder Hyotei thought they could knock them around a bit."
"Someone being human isn't an excuse to kill them," Yuuta pointed out.
"Well, either way, Yukimura was growing weak. It wouldn't have been long before he died, either way," Mizuki shrugged callously. He paused, before adding, "if we do end up being Rikkai's allies, don't tell any of them I said that."
St Rudolph nodded. Much as they disliked Mizuki at times, nobody deserved to face Rikkai's wrath if they found out he'd been badmouthing their captain. They were quiet for a while, contemplating his words, until Yuuta said, "I'm going for a walk."
He stood, leaving the tennis court where they'd sat and making his way down the desolate street. Night had fallen already. The streetlights had stopped working long ago, and now the neighbourhood was only lit by dim moonlight. He could barely see anything, so when a hand reached out and grabbed his shoulders, he panicked slightly- until he heard a familiar voice say, "Don't panic. It's only me."
"Syuusuke?"
"Hn."
"Why did you follow me?"
"The others said it might be dangerous for you to walk alone so late at night. I offered to come and make sure you were okay."
Yuuta gripped his racket tightly. Of course it was dangerous, but that's why he'd brought his racket! Did the other's not trust him to be able to fend off any street tennis punks that might attack him? And even if they did think that, they'd chosen to send Fuji after him. Did they think his tennis was so bad that even a human was better than him? Did they think so little of him?
"It's not dangerous. Not for me."
"Yuuta-"
"Will you leave me alone?" He snapped, spinning on his heel to face Fuji. He couldn't see his brothers face, but it was probably surprised - he was behaving totally irrationally, after all. He had no reason to be mad, and yet he was somehow furious. Taking a deep breath, he tried to force himself to calm down. "I mean... I'm fine. You can go back. Stop worrying about me."
"Stop worrying about my little brother wandering around a dangerous place alone?" Fuji said. His voice contained little emotion, but he sounded dubious. He stepped forward, and Yuuta felt his hand touch his arm, giving it a slight squeeze. "As long as we're together, it'll be alright, right?"
Yuuta was silent. Fuji still didn't let go of his arm. Instead he sighed, continuing. "Yuuta, I have to find my team mates. I'm going to have to leave soon."
He felt slightly relieved knowing that. Maybe when Fuji left, things would go back to normal, and he could forget about how a human played so much better than him.
"You should come with me, Yuuta," Fuji said.
"Come with you...? But-"
"It would be great. My team would love you," Fuji's smile was evident in his voice. "If you're worried about them not accepting you, don't worry. They'll welcome you - you're my little brother after all."
"If I go with you, that's all I'll be," Yuuta said, bitterly.
"Eh?"
"Your little brother," he said. "When you showed up and played against Captain Akazawa and my senpais, the way they looked at me was like... like they were seeing me differently. You can't have noticed because you've only just noticed, but they used to look at me with more respect. I was the best player on the team, then you showed up, and compared to you-"
"That's nonsense, Yuuta. You're your own person."
"I know that. I know that!" He was annoyed, "But other people don't see it that way! Not when you're around- I'll always be compared to you!"
Fuji didn't say anything, and in a way Yuuta was glad. But it also worried him, as though Fuji was silently agreeing with him. He swallowed, then said, quietly, "Syuusuke, are you even human?"
Fuji only chuckled, which was slightly worrying considering he didn't immediately deny it outright. Yuuta was 90% sure that Fuji was a normal human, but there had been something about his tennis that had been almost inhuman, unnatural. Tsubame gaeshi (that's big bear 4 u baka gaijins!) was unlike anything Yuuta had ever seen, and living in a society of mutants, he'd seen a lot of weird stuff.
"Well, I suppose there's nothing much I can do to convince you," Fuji said. The hand on Yuuta's arm slid down and then squeezed his hand, "Even if you don't want to be seen as it, you'll always be my little brother to me."
"I know," Yuuta hissed. He tugged his hand out of Fuji's, then said, "Syuusuke?"
"Hm?"
"If our paths ever cross again, and you're not on our side, I won't show any mercy," he was glad Fuji couldn't see him, and could only hope that he didn't notice the waver in his voice. "If it comes down to a match between the two of us, I'm not going to hold back. I'll fight you with all of my might and prove I'm my own tennis player."
Fuji smirked. The way his next words came out chilled Yuuta. TO. The. BONE!
"I'm looking forward to it."
MEANWHILE, IN SPACE
Seishun Gakuen Space Station was silent. A transmitter by Ryuzaki-sensei's bed crackled to life with a burst of static. She felt too weak to pick it up.
Then a voice came through the white noise, faint at first.
"Ryuzaki? Oi, you there? Pick this thing up."
She felt too weak to move. Then another voice joined the first. If this was a 90s teen movie, there would have been a three way split screen featuring each caller.
"Well, howdy, Sumire. I sent my pupils to Earth like you suggested. I'm not one to brag, but I think as far as mutant killing goes Yamabuki will thrash Seigaku-"
Ryuzaki felt her blood boil. Sheer ire ran through her veins, and suddenly she was imbued with a new lease of life. Rolling out of bed she tackled the transmitter to the floor, pushing the broadcast button as she roared, "BaaaaaAAAAAAAAああああああああNNJIIIIII-"
A/N: this is almost 4000 words long oh god i'm sorry i'm gonna go curl up and cry to myself about what my life has become now ε=ε=ε=┌(;*´Д`)ノ
