Long Version Recap:
Chapter 10:
Taiya visits Eiji's house; Fuji drops by later. She recalls a reply letter from friends in China.
Fuji tells Taiya that Tezuka is going to Germany and won't be in the upcoming matches.
Chapter 11:
Random talk between 3-6 trio about Tezuka. Recalls section of the letter from friend. A short indication of Tezuka and Ryoma's match.
Taiya meets Shishido and is uncovered, but he couldn't really care less. Jyousei Shounan matches. Ends abruptly with (read Direct Re-cap)
Direct Recap:
"Who are you?!"
Taiya, in all her horrified glory, stared with dead eyes at her friends for 10 years.
"…..Who do you think? IDIOT!"
--
[ Chapter 12 ]
The Glorious Randomness of Sanzushi Taiya and co.—along with Flashbacks. Lots of them. AKA. A Glimpse of the Past, Part One
Despite the loud and disturbing ruckus the group was making, Taiya couldn't keep the wide grin off her face.
"Sushi! Me like!" Jia Lin, or Rickii, strongly emphasized with exaggerated hand actions.
"Baka desu! Boku baka desu (1)!"
"Sorry everyone, these two are really big idiots. They don't know how to speak Japanese…well, much," sighed the Chinese girl through her team-mates chortles.
Seigaku was officially placed in the Best Four after defeating Jyousei Shounan, ending at Ryoma's match instead of Fuji's. However all of the matches were remarkable and close and further inspired her to train to develop her own style of tennis.
Of course, her two China friends were beside her watching, understanding the game mildly though not the language.
She sighed.
It was approaching the five-month mark for the time Taiya had abruptly left China, Sacred Heart Middle School, and her friends (who were all, astonishingly, male). Though at the time she did not think much of what she had left behind, the girl came to realize how much she missed her few friends back in Mainland China—even if they were idiots.
In that sense, there wasn't too much difference between the Seigaku group and them, she supposed….
Taiya then gave a swift slap to Fuji's hand without even glancing at him when he tried to swap her sushi with wasabizushi before sipping her tea. "Fuji, how many times have I told you that I've given up on that torturous morsel of food?" she smiled a humorless smile. 'Oh Fuji's getting bolder; the war ison.'
"Ah, Tai, you shouldn't be so cruel and just calmly accept my gift—" 'I believe she just declared war number 56 on me; I shall not suffer another humiliating loss…'
"If I wanted to cry tears of pain I would have walked over and helped Momoshiro-kun and Inui with their portion!" '29 to 27, I shall prevail!'
"It's healthy." 'Done and done; swapped. Now just sit back and wait for her to eat it…'
"I'm sure it if Fuji, I'm sure it is," she said with a roll of her eyes.
'That guy is crazy, I swear…'
Taiya then turned back to regard her two friends. "So, why are you guys here? I know you said you were coming, but you didn't say why," she spoke in fluent Mandarin, cringing slightly as the unused language rolled around her mouth.
Rickii and Jia Ke, better known as Jack, both sniffed in offense. "So you're saying we can't visit our Xing Xing without—" (2a)
"Don't call me that!!!!"
"Okay then, Hua Hua—" (2b)
"That's almost just as bad!!"
Taiya flushed and Fuji watched the interaction with interest. It was always somewhat of a treat to watch Taiya speak in her first-spoken native language; it made her more different from the others around her, and it somewhat softened her features and tone.
Fuji and Eiji still shuddered at the memory of Taiya—Taiya, of all people (but then again, when they really think about it, it's not too surprising)—scaring off a bunch of random delinquents with neither of their help, spitting out a bunch of derogatory terms and names in Japanese that were fit for a Yakuza—a total ruin of a must-have scene in a shoujo manga. It was a pride-stinger, and they both silently vowed to themselves that day to step in and redeem themselves.
One day. One glorious day when Taiya accepts the fact she's a girl and actually does some, well, girly stuff.
While the others all laughed at the childish display, Fuji only blinked, realizing the difference between how the girl he had come to be fond of (as a friend, of course) spoke Japanese and how she spoke Chinese:
'She…actually sounds like a girl in Chinese…'
Fuji face-faulted, before proceeding to mentally answer the strange questions he had been pondering over for the past few weeks.
'It's almost confirmed; it would be hard to believe I can like such a violent boy. Therefore, I do not like Sanzushi Taiya.'
From across the room, Momoshiro and Inui gagged.
-
At The Fuji Residence…
"Oh!"
A startled Yumiko stared at the three cards she had just flipped over, before breaking out into giggles.
"The Veiled Artist and The Child from the Heavens," she smiled to herself, truly wondering whether her hobby was something a little more intricate. "With," her fingertip pressed on the surface of one card before sliding it towards her and holding it up, "The Nile as the middle card." (3)
-
After eating sushi at Taka-san's a few of the regulars had decided to follow Taiya home and stay over the night (due to some quick friendships formed between them and her two China friends).
So currently Taiya was glowering at the wooden table as Jack, Rickii, Eiji and Momoshiro made haste with her Play Station x. Ryoma was occasionally dared to play. Fuji, too, had been playing, but had given up after his concentration kept slipping, owing to the one and only Sanzushi Taiya, who bore a deep resentment for him after having a mouthful of the goodness of wasabi.
He vaguely wondered where his 'nice and pleasant' personality disappeared to, but then concluded it must have been kicked away like Taiya's regard for genders.
"Yay! We're having a slumber party!" cheered Rickii.
"Whatever he said!" Eiji continued with everlasting rigor.
"But it's only with guys (practically); doesn't this seem a little gay?" pointed out a disturbed Jack.
"Who cares!"
Taiya sighed heavily. "Once again, my endless apologies," she mumbled towards the four (including Fuji as she forgives him just this one time), who only quirked their mouths into either smirks or smiles.
"No problem…but what are they saying?"
"….I'd rather not tell you. I'm done being thought of as a homo," she deadpanned.
"…Hah?"
"Senpai doesn't need to say anything and I'd still have my doubts about—"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, chibi!" she snapped, a tick on her temple.
"That was for forgetting my Ponta!" Ryoma retorted.
"That was evened out when you had to ask that doubles team if they were 'cross-dressing too' you little punk—!"
Just then, Aiki appeared around the kitchen door, trays balanced perfectly on slender but capable hands. Behind her was an amused Yoshiko, who had dropped by for a chat. Needless to say, Fuji's mum and Taiya's mum were getting along swimmingly.
"Some late night snacks—Taiya, stop harassing the poor boy—and warm drinks." Aiki gave Ryoma a once over before suddenly smiling. "You guys resemble your fathers' attitudes so much it's funny, and that's not good for you Taiya—you're supposed to be a girl."
"What the heck, so we did know Ryoma-kun's family!" (first name basis as of late) Taiya said rather accusingly.
Momoshiro and Fuji listened in with interest while the two brothers and Eiji were preoccupied throwing bean bags at each other.
"Yes, I might as well tell you, it isn't anything big—I'm tired of torturing you," Aiki sighed offhandedly while her daughter gaped. "Ryuu and Nanjirou-san were friends back in the day of a tennis tournament in Japan. You were, what, four when we last saw their family?" said Aiki and she walked back to the kitchen. "It was Nanjirou-san who taught Taichi to use both hands when playing tennis. Ryoma-kun, pass on a message to your father if you will about a certain Sanzushi Aiki wanting to meet up with your family again."
"Hai."
"So you learnt nitouryuu style from Echizen Nanjirou as well? Wow, what luck~!" cried Momoshiro with a grin.
Taiya shook her head. "No, no—I learnt from Tai. Ichi. My brother," she reminded them as they all sported confused expressions. "I started tennis at seven, after my dad died," she explained, looking at the rows of pictures with her father, Sanzushi Ryuu, who had…a tennis racket in every picture except one formal family picture.
'…Dad seemed to have loved that racquet more than me if that picture has anything to say about it,' Taiya sweat-dropped at the photo where her father, tan and smiling, was cradling his racquet like his own child. Taiya was with her mother. 'Is that's why mum looks so pissed off at dad?'
The revelation was so astounding to her at the present time that she didn't notice the slightly uncomfortable atmosphere around the room. It was well-known to the Regulars that Taiya had done her cross-dressing business for the sole sake of proving herself to her father and brother (amongst others, though she looked rather peeved whenever she brought them up) and the death of her much beloved father threw a wrench into their happy atmosphere (though Rickii and Jack were positively beaming regardless, having not understood most of what she said).
Taiya vaguely remembered the day she took up tennis with her ass of a brother right after Ryuu succumbed to his illness…
"I want to learn tennis."
"…Now?!"
"What's wrong with now, it's as good a time as any!"
"Who taught you to speak like that to your own brother you—"
On second thought maybe her flashbacks weren't as inspirational and touching as she thought….
'Well, another bit of curiosity satisfied,' thought Taiya as she laughed, avoiding a rather grumpy Ryoma after she commented recalling a fat baby coming around every so often to their house when she was younger, 'and I'm pretty sure all the other little questions will be answered along the way.'
She dodged Ryoma, who was griping for his beanie, expertly before shooting a look to an equally amused Fuji Syusuke.
'Japanese people sure are amusing.'
--
"So these are your squirts, huh? They can meet our bundle of trouble too." A man with cocoa-brown hair barked a few laughs.
A 29 year old Sanzushi Ryuu avoided a swipe from the child in his lap, purple eyes crinkling in amusement. "Yeah, she sure is trouble—ow, don't pick on your daddy, Tai-chan. So how old is Ryoma now, Nanjirou?"
"Haha! He's turning two this December, aren't ya, you little tyke?" Echizen Nanjirou poked the cheek of his son, who adorably scrunched up his nose in displeasure. "So are you going to stay in Japan after the reunion, Ryuu?"
Pouting as his eleven year old son led his daughter away to play, Ryuu looked outside the window and his eyes softened at the scenery before him. "Probably just for the year; Taiya will start school soon so we're preparing for that now."
Nanjirou let out a disbelieving chuckle. "Never would have imagined us as fathers, huh?"
"You do know I've had Taichi for a long time," Ryuu said, cocking a brow. Nanjirou shook his head.
"I meant us both. Well, Ryoma here is gonna be the one of the best tennis players ever, aren't ya, Ryo-chan?" Nanjirou grinned, lifting his son up in the air. Ryoma blew a spit bubble in response, looking absolutely bored. "See, even he's excited! With two tennis-playing parents he'll be beating middle schoolers in elementary!"
Ryuu gave his long time friend a look. "You know, your son just might decide for something else. Like…ping pong or something."
Nanjirou dramatically allowed his jaw to drop before returning, "No way! Ryoma's got tennis in his genes! Your daughter will grow up a tennis player too, I bet you!"
"Just because I'm a tennis player?"
"…Yeah?"
"You do know that Aiki is a model, right?"
"…An athletic model playing tennis then! There's lot of people like that! And with Aiki's genes, she's bound to have success!" countered Nanjirou, though with less confidence.
"Taiya looks more like me. And Aiki did gymnastics and Wu Shu (4) before modeling."
Nanjirou fell into a thinking pose, one arm still juggling Ryoma on his knee. "But...she didn't pursue those like we did tennis, right?"
"No. But Aiki won the National championship for girls in high school when I got together with her," Ryuu deadpanned.
"…Maybe a stuntman then?" Nanjirou finished with a defeated smile and the two of them laughed loudly. "But don't you have anything you want your daughter to be? All parents do, don't give me that look."
Ryuu sighed, rubbing his chin.
"Well…if it's Taiya, I'd…"
--
Present time, Sanzushi Residence…
Fuji Syusuke was lying in his sleeping bag at 11pm at night wondering what that strange sensation was he felt whenever he saw Taiya chatting animatedly wither two Chinese friends. It appeared whenever he was alone to his own thoughts, watching everyone just have fun and play.
A lurching feeling…like he was being left behind…?
Hmm…odd.
It might have been the potatoes he had the night before.
Fuji didn't like the direction his thoughts were turning. It was both a new experience and a disturbing matter all rolled into one. And Fuji Syusuke was not a person to be disturbed—it was usually him who disturbed others. So he decided to ignore the inward bantering of his mind alone.
'Fours and a half months of a crazy, cross-dressing girl hailed from China and I'm already losing my grip. Chinese people sure are dangerous.'
One look at the Sanzushi females was all he needed to confirm that.
--
Taiya gave a quick glance towards her fair-headed neighbour, eyes furrowed as she sat in class the following Monday.
'Okay…weeeeiiird, he's distracted…and he kept looking at Jia Ke and Jia Lin the night before and…don't tell me he's really gay?'
Taiya shook her head forcefully.
'Okay, let's stop being stupid and plan out the next course of action: how to get back into the Regulars so that I can actually play and contribute!'
The next matches were coming and all of the team—Inui included—had trained immensely, for the next matches weren't push overs. Taiya's speed-training with Eiji had made her one of the fastest on the court to balance out her lack of physical strength, something she was working on at home with some light weights.
"Taichi-kun, can you help me with my maths homework~?" a female classmate pleaded.
"Yeah, Tai, pass us your homework!" cried another boy who was in the basketball club, grinning over as he leaned over her desk with other classmates.
"You'd do well to actually attempt it, ya know, Sasagawa?" she drawled in her 'guys' voice good-humouredly, sighing. She'd worry about Fuji's strange behaviour later—after all, she had the rest of the school year to work it out.
"That's what we have you for, pretty-boy!"
A pause, and then 'Taichi' swung around to face another boy, "Okaaaay Haruse, you wanted my homework, yes?"
"W-wait, I was joking about the pretty-boy thing—come on, Tai! Wait, come back, Haruse! Share!"
Laughing at her classmate's antics, she returned to mulling over some of her history homework she still had yet to complete, unaware of the pair of cerulean-blue eyes occasionally flickering to her form.
Kikumaru Eiji, however, with his sharp eyesight noticed and grinned a cheeky grin.
"Fuji! Let's go outside and eat!"
"Wha-? Oh, sure, let's go then." Though Fuji's body turned to call out to Taiya, seeing her surrounded by their other classmates made him falter. (Un)Fortunately, he had his best friend Eiji beside him who urged the girl to come, causing her to jolt and scramble to collect her dropped pens. As she berated Eiji, classmates laughed at the trio's amusing display.
Fuji tried to force down his confusion but with little avail.
'But that's for another time,' he mused quietly to himself as he strode alongside his friends.
Merely five minutes into lunch, Eiji sat up and practically bolted.
"W-wait, Eiji, what's up—?"
"I forgot I left something, uh, somewhere! I'll be back before lunch is over so take care!"
Eiji ran off with that damnable speed of his, leaving a blinking Taiya and a puzzled Fuji. Placing down her chopsticks, Taiya turned to Fuji and said something that caught him off guard.
"So, Fuji, was there something on my face or something in class, because I could have sworn you were looking at me before."
What was a guy supposed to say to a (correct) accusation like that? "Ah, no, it's just…" Fuji's brilliant mind faltered and betrayed him at that precise moment. "…I was looking at Ayase-san behind you?"
"…"
"….?"
"…Was that supposed to be a question or…?" trailed off Taiya, looking rather confused and scratching the side of her head.
"Haaah….I'm not too sure," he sighed dejectedly.
Rolling her eyes, Taiya repositioned herself comfortably, "Just say it, Fuji; it's not like I'm going to, you know, laugh at you or anything—not when you have that look on your face," she smirked a little, eating an octopus-shaped frankfurt ("Japanese people sure are strange," she had commented gravely in her kitchen as she stared at the thing between her chopsticks) before saying in an almost-embarrassed voice, "Besides we're friends and friends look out for each other, right?"
And although warmed by the thought she was being a friend to him, Fuji couldn't quite tell her that it was that very topic of friendship that caused him some discomfort.
He was a bit too….closed off at the moment. And there was no need to worry her.
"Thanks, but I'm just thinking about the next matches and Tezuka," he supplied rather smoothly and watched as she stared at him for a brief moment then nodded.
"I see, I see. Well, you know, Tezuka-san is in capable hands, you know? The medical technology in Germany is…"
And Fuji listened with half ear, wondering vaguely if Taiya would believe him if he said he had been in the same schooling situation as she had as a child…
…That he, the prized 'genius' of Seigaku's tennis club, had been the shunned kid back in his old schools.
Glancing at the girl—who really looked like a boy now—at the corner of his eyes, he only smiled and inclined his head gracefully as she rounded on him for an agreement.
'Well, knowing Taiya, she'd have an interesting response.'
--
"Ah Xing~!" whined Rickii, draping his slightly lanky frame over her shoulder as he stared at her bookwork. Rickii and Jack both had taken up residence in the Sanzushi household seeing as it was a rather large house and had taken to learning the Japanese language as they explored the city. The girl herself had to grudgingly admit that despite their childishness and somewhat idiotic antics, they were ultimately strong in academics.
"What?" she murmured absently, expecting another stupid comment. She was not disappointed.
"Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend~?"
"B-Boyfri—?—the what—?!" she spluttered, looking rather stunned—and confused. Rickii, the one who jumped to conclusions faster than the speed of light—well, this just proved that Jack was the smarter, younger twin.
"Yeah, yeah! That Fu Ji guy! The only one who ate that wasabi sushi without crying!" cried out Jack, hanging off her other shoulder. 'Okay, scratch that thought.' "Haha, our Xing-mei (5) finally was interested in a guy! Not a bad catch too, but I thought you didn't like girly-looking guys!"
"…You guys sound so gay that it's upsetting," sighed Taiya, rubbing her temples. How to discern her relationship with Fuji to two clueless idiots? "Fuji is like you guys; he's a very good friend of mine, and he's my team-mate and my classmate!....And my neighbour." She blinked. "My next-door neighbour." 'Huh...wow, talk about coincidence, eh? And those two dolts think—天啊 (heavens), imagine if me and Fuji were also dating, ahahahah! That list of coincidences could be a Guinness World Record!' Taiya inwardly laughed loudly, outwardly chuckling a small deal.
(Just as a side note, she had just covered irony in one of her language classes the day before).
But talk about things that are the least likely to happen, she thought good-humouredly as her two friends let out exclamations of disbelief. 'Not that Fuji isn't a good guy, I'm sure he'd be great for anyone. But me and Fuji? Whoa, talk about awkward.'
(Just as additional information, her classes covered both dramatic irony and perversity of fate).
"And for your information, I never said I didn't like girly-looking guys, I said I didn't like pansies," she said without batting an eyelash. "And for crying out loud, we're middle school students aiming for the tennis nationals; I doubt we're mature enough for anything like that when we've got our own goals," she reasoned.
"Really now? But are you sure you don't even remotely like him, hmm?" said Jack with a grin, draping over her other shoulder as he ate a cookie, courtesy to Aiki. "Aunty (6) seems to have different thoughts—think you two will at least get together when you're a little older." And this Taiya swiveled around so fast that the two were thrown off her chair.
Feeling disturbed and indignant, she whispered, "Mother has been what?! I don't know what she's told you—and frankly I don't want to know anything in detail—but they're all her own schemes; didn't you know mother is touched in the head? And I'm only in Japan for the year!"
When Taiya said that something squeezed inside of her but she ignored it.
"You should be kinder to your mother!" scolded Jack, tutting. "But, you know, why do you call him Fu Ji?"
Taiya quirked an eyebrow, discomfort forgotten, and drawled slowly, "…Because that's his name?"
This time Rickii butted in, "Isn't his name…Shu-su-ke or something? Fu Ji is his family name, isn't it?"
Taiya blinked.
"Oh yeah."
Jack and Rickii simultaneously slapped their foreheads.
--
Fuji never expected the sight that would befall his eyes at the moment he entered the Sanzushi household to help Taiya with English.
'This is conflicting…'
He could barely remembered how he got to the scene as it was so utterly shocking that his eyes were open and his face was contorted in a look that almost never, ever appeared on his face. Only afterwards did he confirm it was most probably a new expression.
"Ah, Fuji-kun, come inside! I guess you're here to see Taiya to help her with her English again—bless you for that—but first things first!" Aiki stopped dramatically, beaming next to a hunched, stoned-looking figure. "How's this look? I chose it myself to match with her boyish haircut."
Several minutes later a dismayed half-Chinese girl was found comically on her knees in her room with her forehead resting on her left forearm and her other arm pounding away feebly at the floor.
"Oh my God, my dignity…!" the girl mumbled incoherently in Chinese but he, knowing the ever predictable Taiya, could guess that her words murmured about some part of her which was injured—maybe her dignity (he had a nagging suspicion he was spot on).
He initially didn't see what was so wrong with a girl being found dressed up in a collection of her mother's fashionable wardrobe until he recalled that it was Sanzushi Taiya in question here being dressed up in her mother's fashionable wardrobe.
Yeah—even Tezuka could see what was wrong with that image.
"I won't ask what that was; I'll just assume it was Aiki-san's hobby," Fuji said gravely. 'Though she looked sort of…nice. Well as nice as a girl who looks like a boy can in a teenage dress.'
A casual teenage dress with accessories to match.
Taiya watched as Fuji stifled laughter. 'I can't believe Aiki-san chose pink!'
"Damn you, I can hear you laughing, you jerk!"
"S-sorry, it was just—haha, just a little surprising—forgive me!" he laughed, raising his arms against her playful smack (or maybe not so playful…it kind of actually hurt, but Fuji reasoned it to her not being able to control her strength). She huffed grumpily before breaking into a small, reluctant smile.
"Ah, well, you're Fu---I mean Shuu, so I guess that response isn't so unexpected," she shrugged. But Fuji paused, turned, and stared with raised eyebrows. He ignored the feeling in his chest.
"What did you just call me?" he asked uncertainly.
Taiya, swapped back into black cargoes and a singlet—and momentarily forgetting her blown away dignity—nodded her head decisively. "Jack and Rickii mentioned it before, how I always call you Fuji. But seeing as it's a bit confusing calling you that in your own house, I thought I'd swap to your first name. You don't mind, do you?" she asked, frowning a bit in concern. Fuji shook his head.
"No, of course not, I was just a bit surprised," he admitted, wondering why it felt so…strange to hear that name from Taiya's mouth; he was far too accustomed to her constant calls of Fuji even at his house and apparently Taiya thought so to, for she continued, "But Syusuke is a little long and weird—" Fuji sweat-dropped at the 'weird' comment. "—so I'll call you Shuu for short," she said with a triumphant smile…
…which slipped off the next second. "This will take time to get accustomed to."
"Yes, I agree."
As they sat over a low desk busy doing homework, it was the usually silent (during homework sessions) Taiya who broke the silence, "It's been a while since we've done this, huh, what with all of the intense training?" she grinned at him from across the table. Fuji smiled his trademark smile.
"Yes. With Tezuka out of the matches, we've all got to prepare extra hard so he can recover with no worries." Fuji erased out a sentence before resuming his writing. "So…where's Jack-san and Rickii-san today?" he asked conversationally; ever since they've arrived, Fuji hasn't seen the girl without her friends as they started accompanying them to school in the mornings too, attracting quite a fair bit of attention since Eiji usually tagged along at the sight.
"Out at some late night theme park with some random people they somehow befriended right away," she said nonchalantly and Fuji stared in surprise.
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"Hmm…no, not really. Those two can get along with people very easily, and if they do mix with the wrong crowd, they're street-smart enough to do something about it. Jack learnt some basic martial arts too in China due to his obsession with Street Fighter and Tekken." Taiya pulled a face. "They're game freaks."
Recalling the time at Eiji's house, Fuji laughed, "That'd explain a bit—I'm guessing they roped you into games?"
"Damn straight."
After another bout of silence with only the scratching of lead pencils on paper or the flip of a book, Fuji asked the girl, "So how did you come to meet them? You seem close."
Taiya smiled fondly, a look which Fuji took note of because they were rather uncommon—her smirks were much more of her trademark. "I told you how I wasn't exactly popular when I was younger, right?" At Fuji's nod she continued, "Well, they're my first two friends. I met them in elementary school, first grade I believe. I remember the first words they said to me." Taiya imitated an expression and said in a childish boy's voice, "'Are you any good at games?'" She laughed at Fuji's perplexed expression. "Well they stuck with me thick and thin; they didn't care about popularity or anything like that so I was really grateful."
'Old friends, huh…that reminds me of Saeki.' Fuji smiled to himself, mentally debating whether to say what was on his mind or not. 'Well I might as wlel see her reaction.' "I used to live in Chiba," he started saying and Taiya looked up curiously. He gave her a small grin which made his usually friendly face appear mischievous, "And…" 'It's only fair to say.' "I wasn't all that popular before going there either."
He watched in amusement as several emotions flickered past the girl's face before it settled on wariness. "Are you sure…?" she said with raised eyebrows and he laughed in response: it was a typical Taiya answer.
"Yes I'm quite sure."
"Why?"
"Well, being a tensai isn't all that great, you know, except for psychological warfare...."
And for the next two hours the two friends had chatted amiably over their English homework, which was slowly becoming forgotten. Fuji's tale of his prowess in tennis being the key to his isolation when he was younger had initially surprised the girl though she ended up contemplative over it; after all, she did have a father and brother who were quite the tennis players themselves and stories floating around always seemed to reach her ears.
She ended up wanting to meet this Saeki Koujirou who was such good friends with Fuji brothers and expressed this desire with the other teen. When he asked why, she gave her infamous lopsided smile and drawled, "I want to learn how he had dealt with you as kids; you give people headaches, Shuu."
Right after she said that both Fuji and Taiya comically hunched, looking weary.
'It sounds…so weird,' they thought.
'Even Saeki didn't call me that.'
'Oh God it made me remember my lost dignity!'
Scrambling out of unwanted thoughts, Taiya pressed, "But he played tennis too, right? This Saeki-san."
"Yeah. Interested in a match, Taiya?" smiled the brown-haired boy, taking a sip of the barley tea Aiki had prepared for them both. "He's good," he added, looking uncharacteristically serious. "His tennis sense is superb." Coming from Fuji, this was high praise.
Taiya shook her head. "No, I mean, a match would be good, but I was just wondering. It's good that you had friends to play against in tennis—Rickii and Jack don't, and my former team-mates weren't exactly my best friends. It was a real shock to those two though when I started tennis."
Curious despite himself, Fuji stopped writing. "Oh? Why is that?"
Suppressing a grin, Taiya's violet-coloured eyes bore into his own cerulean blue. "Because I always said that I'd never play tennis."
And although his facial expression remained neutral, Fuji's right eyebrow slowly elevated as a sign of surprise and Taiya burst out laughing.
'Unlike in China, I actually made some irreplaceable friends in Japan,' Taiya thought, still laughing alongside her friend, 'So I'm grateful that there was someone there for Shuu (-cringe-) like he had been for me and everyone else.'
"Oh, Fuji-kun, why don't you stay for dinner as well?"
"It would be my pleasure, Aiki-san."
Following her mother outside to the kitchen, Taiya hid a small grin.
'Maybe I'll stay in Japan even after the Nationals.'
The idea was tempting enough.
--
In Australia, somewhere…
Surrounded by textbooks and papers, research reports and what-not was a lean, well-built young man with rectangular-framed glasses perched cautiously on the bridge of his nose. The sunlight filtering in through the windows of the boy's apartment highlighted his mocha-brown coloured hair and glanced off of his dark violet eyes.
"Of all things that could possibly happen…" he sighed.
In front of him laid portfolios and files, copies of medical notes covered in furious scribbles. Post-it notes were scattered on the wall in front of him marking down various appointments and numbers he usually forgot to attend and call.
The boy exhaled loudly, burying his face in his hands tiredly. At times he really hated his father for all the trouble he causes, but most of the times he hates himself for not being able to do anything about it. If only he was a few years older…
He peeked through his fingers to the shelves beyond him and ended up striding to the other side of the room, feeling the sudden urge to reminisce for reasons he couldn't fathom: it's not like he was a sentimental sort of guy after all, he nodded to himself.
…
Time stopped for a whole seven seconds.
…
Staring at the picture of his younger sister he felt an urge to cry.
'Okay I was lying I'm a softie goddammit!'
Staring back at him was a picture of an attractive lady with wavy black hair that fell to her chest and a young girl with neck-length bob-cut black hair with eyes identical to his. Behind the two was a teenage boy with both of his arms around the shoulders of the other two while his face wore a silly grin, a contrast to the woman's breathtakingly beautiful smile and the youngest girl's exasperated one.
'It's already been four years,' he mused, hands gripping the wooden photo frame gently.
Four years since he left China to study medicine.
'Medicine which will be put to good use!'
Without taking his eyes off the picture, the young man griped for his phone before flipping it open and making a call, all the while typing away furiously at his laptop. He grinned to himself at his sudden decision and couldn't wait to see his family's faces.
"Hello?" came a voice in English.
"Hey, Professor. This is Taichi Sanzushi."
"Oh, Tai is it? How is the star student doing?" joked the gruff voice form the other line, sounding amused.
"Ha ha, Professor, I've told you to stop calling me that!"
"Ah, but where's the fun in that?" came the cheeky reply. "But I assume this isn't just a call for leisure?"
Taichi's face turned into one of grim determination and continued, "I need to ask about our upcoming break and I was wondering if you could help me with something; something has come up and I may need a month extension of my break. If it's possible, I would like to ask to collect the work to be done during the first month back so I can complete it earlier."
He could almost hear the frown in the other man's voice. "I see…well with the way you progress I'm sure we can pull a few strings for that; there shouldn't be any problems so long as you complete all of your theory work and come back for the practicals. You just came back from work at the hospital did you not?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Since you have no work obligations at the moment I'm positive I can arrange it for you. Pray tell what you will be doing to require this month off?"
Taichi grinned despite knowing the man won't be able to see it.
"I need to take a trip to Japan; let's just say it's family business."
A/N: I'm so sorry to everyone who has the patience rivaling Buddha as they wait for this crappy story to be completed. It will definitely wrapped up soon---early 2010 hopefully, because I won't have much time for anything soon.
It's my birthday tomorrow. Oh my sugar-coated-pumpkin pie. I started Himitsu at 13 on a whim. And now I'm old like hell (compared to then anyway)!
ATTENTION (?)
If any of you have a random idea concerning this story, like something that's a side story similar to my omake but maybe slightly longer, please send it in because I will write it as oneshot if it fits xD. This is to help me with my writer's block, so I thought if I wrote a few of those oneshot/sidestory things I might get over it and back into the rhythm of writing.
So if you have an idea for something one-shot-ish and don't mind me writing it, please send ^_^. Credit will obviously be appropriately given and all that stuff so yeah.
In order to make it more clear cut, please try include these…if you can or want or whatever. You can see I'm not too fussed:
Main idea
Quote you'd like used?
Characters focused on.
And genre specification if you'd like. xD So the atmosphere is made a bit more clear cut.
And that's it. Thanks and sorry for this junk space. xD
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A lot of reference notes this chapter - - Sorry.
(1): Boku, baka desu: I think most of you would understand this. XD Basically, "I am idiot". He skipped out the particle 'wa'.
(2a): 星星 – Xing Xing – Part of Taiya's horribly funny/embarrassing Chinese name, literally meaning 'stars'. My fault for my lack of Chinese knowledge back then, and now the OC has to suffer.
(2b): 花花 – Hua Hua – Again part of Taiya's name, meaning 'Flower's'. With the 'hua' being said twice is just how nicknames go; makes it sound even cuter and girlier. XD All you Chinese folks know what I mean.
(3): I obviously, like everything else in this story, made up all of this tarot reading crap. Real tarot reading has a lot more history and background to it; whatever's used in this story is just for the purpose of being in it.
"The Veiled Artist", aka Taiya (cross-dresser, cough cough) and "The Child from the Heavens" meaning Fuji. In case anybody doesn't know, "tensai" or "tian cai" in Chinese characters sorta translates to "Heaven's talent/Ability" or "Talent from Heaven", and therefore giving birth to the meaning 'genius'.
And "The Nile"….if you didn't get this one, try sounding it out (it's a horrible pun). "Denial". Okay, I'm a kid at heart x) I laughed when I first heard it ("Denial ain't just a river")
(4): Wu Shu, martial arts. Look it up if you want more details. It's pretty kick-ass (It's the sorta stuff people like Jet Li and that learnt as a kid. There's tournaments and stuff for it).
(5): Xing-mei (星妹): Mei Mei 妹妹in Chinese means 'little sister', so the 'mei' suffix is a bit of an endearing way to label a girl, usually younger then yourself. You do not have to be related to say it though it's usually used between people who are close. And Xing, as you should know by now, is part of Taiya's Chinese name. Rofl.
(6): Aunty: Most of you should know this if you're from Asian descent, but we usually call our friend's mother Aunty (阿姨) and Uncle for the male, as it is polite. It's not too different from Japanese customs.
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