Disclaimer: Any and all parts of Prince of Tennis rightfully belong to Takeshi Konomi, meaning all characters and scenes made by him are his. Not mine. However I am using his characters in this story – thence this is a fan-fiction. (Duh.) Any parts created by me belong to me. I don't really care if it's kinda replicated – I only care if it's plagiarized word for word and claimed to be somebody else's. (They say that once you share an idea to the whole world it becomes the whole world's. :) ) This applies to the rest of the story. Please respect this for the rest of the story.

Summary: It had started out with a small joke, a toss of a small, flirtatious smile. But the fantasy turned to reality, so ethereal and surreal. It was irresistible for the two. But love hurts.

Author's Notes:

            --Inspirations: Vaguely inspired by the lyrics of Gravity sung by Maaya Sakamoto, Mou Ichido by I Wish, To Heart by KinKi Kids, and Cocktail by Hysteric Blue.

            --Warnings: PG for slash/shounen-ai - whatever. Also for some may-be disturbing scenes - psychologically disturbing, that is. ^.^;

            --Genre: . . . Actually for this the main genre is probably drama because . . it's a lot about character interaction. Otherwise this story has almost no point or objective to it - no lesson or anything.

            --Comments: I'm not sure as to how this story will turn out. I hope it isn't that badly written. And otherwise I really can't tell you much about it. It's vague for a reason. :)

For the Moment

            --By Yuuki

Chapter XX: Disappearing before your Eyes

The golden-chestnut-haired youth hung up to the dead sound of the phone. He was frozen for a moment, then rushed out the door, not even bothering to grab an umbrella. Surely he would catch his death out in the rain. But he didn't care. He ran quickly down the road to the local park, puddle water splattering onto his pants. Water heavily matted his hair, dripping down his face. It was raining hard. He caught his breath as he spotted a shadowed figure under a tree.

"Hi." The voice was very familiar.

"Hi," he returned, haltingly. His face remained as cold as always, though his eyes showed concern and questioning. "You called?" he said with a commanding voice. He moved closer to the other in an approach. He didn't want the other to run. But of course, Syusuke Fuji was not one to run - a seemingly kind, gentle, ever smiling boy with traps and sly foxiness hidden behind his mask.

"Un, I called."

"So?"

"You've never been the talker, eh? Ne . . . Kunimitsu . . . look at me," he said in a seductive, luring, almost venomous way. He walked out of the tree's shadow, approaching his peer, and forced Kunimitsu to stare into his face. He smiled in a queer fashion, almost cruel it seemed. "This isn't the real me. I was never here," he whispered into the other boy's ear. He laughed rigidly, harshly. He seemed almost bitter at the same time. Opening his dark aqua eyes, he met the inquirer's gaze. "I was never here," he repeated. Sobering, he sadly continued, "I'm disappearing before your eyes."

Kunimitsu Tezuka felt shock and confusion hit him in a whirlwind. He knew that he probably didn't quite understand Syusuke Fuji. In fact, probably nobody could. He was deep. He was so full of puzzles that one would get lost and die without knowing anything close to the real Syusuke. There was always something hidden behind that innocent, gentle, kind smile of his. In truth, his reason to playing tennis wasn't quite honest either. Syusuke had no reason to play tennis at all, almost no determination. Except he was still a prodigy either way. He knew how to keep people guessing and guessing about him. He was a locked book with no key to open it. He was an absolute secret in itself.

The fair-haired boy smiled and repeated himself:

"I'm disappearing before your eyes."

Wrapping his arms around Kunimitsu's neck in a light embrace, he said, "I'm leaving. This is goodbye, Kunimitsu. Tell the others for me, Tezuka." He smiled quickly and whispered softly, gently, into his captain's ear, "Goodbye."

Protesting, "Wait, why?" but his words were sealed by a soft, light, angel feather kiss. Somehow, Kunimitsu had never felt more manipulated or used in his life. He wanted to know what kind of person Syusuke was to put off an act so simply. He wanted to ask but it felt as if his voice had been sealed off. He tried to speak, but he couldn't do anything as Syusuke walked away. He felt shocked. Syusuke had been the first to break so far into his barrier, to hold a quite close place in his heart. But all he could do was watch the sly, sleek boy depart.

And Fuji Syusuke walked away silently, not turning back once.

*

"Eh? Fuji . . . he left?"

That Monday morning, though Kunimitsu hadn't felt up to breaking the news to the tennis club, Eiji Kikumaru had somehow already known. But Eiji had been shocked as well. It was something sudden to him that though he knew it, he had to question himself.

"Fuji . . . he left, eh?"

The tennis captain brooded in silence. He didn't really have to state the obvious. He remembered how he had only watched the prodigy walk away from him. He had later discovered that Syusuke had left his jacket on the grassy floor beneath the tree, no note. He had taken it home with him. He could remember the soft touch of the tennis prodigy's creamy white hands - they hadn't been rough as expected but soft and smooth. He could remember the light kiss, the small gestures, the eternal smile . . .

"Are you alright with this, Tezuka?"

"Hn."

"Are you sure?" Syuichirou Oishi questioned, truly worried about his friend.

"Hn." But inside, he wasn't quite sure of what he thought of the missing tennis member. He felt strange to the whole situation. He hadn't slept properly the night before because the scene kept repeating itself in his mind, engraving it into his brain. After that, he had felt that everything was like a dream. He couldn't sleep, concentrate. He perceived that everything around him was nothingness. He had felt rather lost. He still felt lost. He excused himself of the co-captain and wandered around the school grounds, just to see if it was all a joke that had been pulled on him. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and glanced emptily at the gate entrance, expecting Syusuke to enter. The words echoed in his mind: I'm disappearing before your eyes.

"Fuji, where did you disappear to?" he whispered to himself before turning around.

 "I'm disappearing before your eyes."

Bitterly Kunimitsu simply stated, "It's just like he said." It still felt like school. Everything about the school was the same, but only Syusuke was gone. It felt almost like Syusuke Fuji had never existed, had never been there in the first place. It felt as if . . .

Syusuke Fuji . . . had disappeared . . as if there were no Syusuke Fuji.

. . . As if he had never existed in the first place.

*

"What a fool I am," Syusuke whispered from the shadows of the building across the street of Seishun Gakuen, turned around, and walked away . . .

Completed ??????

Revised 281003

Afterthoughts: Turned out . . better than I thought. I myself am confused, but next chapter it'll clear up. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up soon but I am a very spontaneous kind of person, so it en't anything decided surely. AN: If you were wondering why it's Chapter XX: Disappearing before your eyes it's because . . well, it's basically . . going in an interesting order. :) You'll see. And would anybody be interested in being my . . . beta-reader, I guess it would be called? And also, for the opinion of the reader, should I continue using first names - as strange as it may sound? Or should I start using last names when referring to them in narration?

"Kono oreta tsubasa de tobidasu!" (With these broken wings I will fly!)

Yuuki T. – You know you want to clickie that cute little button down there! ^.~