The Rumour

Chapter Three: The Regulars Version!

Fuji Syusuke smiled happily to himself. Everything has worked out according to plan. The reaction of the non-regular players to his little rumour was really quite gratifying, proving that once again, Fuji has really great taste in men. Tezuka, Tezuka, Tezuka. You can run and hide behind your cold quiet exterior but you can't get away. Not when I've got the whole tennis club after you as well.

Things were going so well, in fact, that Fuji couldn't help but wonder if he should go ahead with phase 2 of his plan immediately. After all, as much as the non-regular players' reaction entertained him (and would irritate Tezuka), they were only non-regular players after all. If things got too much for Tezuka as he anticipated it would, it would be all too easy for Tezuka to switch responsibilities and have either Oishi or Inui take care of them instead. No, No, he needed the whole tennis club after Tezuka, regular players included. Of course, some of the regulars would be really hard to persuade, like Oishi and Eiji, who are all too wrapped up with each other. Momoshiro is just a little too intimidated by his Tezuka buchou, but maybe he could fix that too… Inui would do anything in the name of data collection of course, and he rather wondered if Kaido had his own little crush on Tezuka himself. That leaves just Kawamura who is all too innocent in this game, and all, of course, Echizen Ryoma.

Are you old enough to play this game, Ochibi? Fuji wondered curiously and then a slow smile dawned. What the heck. Like Kawamura is so fond of saying, Let's just do it!

Fuji was about to make his pitch to the rest of the regulars, when he was pre-empted once again by Ryoma.

The little ochibi suddenly said to the rest of the group, "Neh, senpai. If the non-regular players can improve their attitude to playing tennis just by entering the match, shouldn't we join too?"

"Nani?!"

"Ochibi! You're too young for this!" cried Eiji, rushing towards the twelve year old prodigy. "You're still too young to think about stuff like that!"

"Ochibi! You can't!" Momoshiro choked, shaking the slight young boy by the shoulders. "Do you know what you're getting into?"

"Sure," replied Ryoma calmly. "I like playing in competitive matches. It's lots more fun. Besides, I want to beat Tezuka-senpai in a match, and the date thing doesn't sound too bad, especially if he has to pay for all the food and movie and stuff."

"Oh, you mean date, like the movie and food kind," said Momoshiro blankly.

"Of course, what other kind of dates are they?" asked Ryoma as innocently as possible, even as his eyes gleamed with mischief.

"Eh, no. No, the movie and food kind of date is the kind to go! Yep! No better kind! Just, just stick to that thought, okay, ochibi?" Momoshiro began to babble in relief.

Fuji grinned. Thank you Ochibi, you just made my job a lot easier. "Say, I think Ochibi has got a great idea. After all, if the promise of a date with Tezuka can make the non regular players work so much harder, imagine the benefits of such a match on us regular players! Just to make things interesting, let's make it a special version of what the non regular players have."

"Special how?" asked Inui curiously.

"Well, we'll make it harder to have a date, let's say, any regular player would have to beat another regular, as well as Tezuka himself in a match. As for the specifics of the date, let's leave it to the winning individual. After all, we might have slightly different… ah, tastes… in the nature of dates as compared to the ochibi, yes? And I think I must insist that it last the entire night…." Fuji smiled again, a slow smile filled with unspoken promises.

"Eeeyah! Fuji! You're acting all scary again!" cried a blushing Eiji, retreating quickly back to the security of Oishi's side.

"Really? But it's a fun idea, isn't it?"

Inui interrupted. "If we include a match with Tezuka in the stakes, then it must be a modified match. After all, he's just recovered from his injury after the match with Atobe. We don't want him to stress his arm again too much. I'd suggest a shortened match, best two games out of three instead of a full set."

"Inui-senpai, you mean you're agreeing to the idea of Tezuka-senpai as the prize?" asked Momoshiro, aghast.

"Nn, what's wrong with you?" asked an irate Ryoma. "Are you frightened of playing Tezuka-senpai or what?"

"Frightened?! I'll take on Tezuka-senpai anyday –"

"Good, thank you, Momo-kun," Fuji ruthlessly cut into Momoshiro's declaration. "So, that makes Ochibi, Momoshiro, Inui and me for the match and its prize… What about you, Kawamura-kun?"

Kawamura suddenly looked panicked, "Er, me? I, I…" Ryoma handed him a racket quietly. "OF COURSE, LET'S GO! WE MUST PROTECT BUCHOU'S VIRGIN ASS!!"

A commotion instantly rose in the tennis changing room.

"Aack! Shuddup! Shuddup! Shuddup! God! Buchou is just inside showering!"

"Someone get that racket away from him!"

"Kawamura, give me that racket now!"

"BUT WE MUST PROTECT --- OOWW! THAT HURT!"

"Nya, Oishi... How does Kawamura knows Buchou has a virgin ass?"

"Believe me Eiji, I don't want to know! And I sure as heck don't want to find out!"

Fuji grinned. "I wouldn't have put it quite that way, Kawamura-kun, but I'll take that as a yes."

Suddenly, Tezuka's voice rang out, cutting across all the noise. "What's going on here? What's with all the shouting? Answer me." As one, the regulars turned towards the source of the voice. Oh my… Fuji thought appreciatively, a thought that the regulars could all agree with.

Framed by the doorway between the showers and the changing room, Tezuka stood there with just a small towel wrapped around narrow hips. Tiny drops of water sparkled and hung from his brown locks of hair. His eyes, for once seen without the encumbrance of his glasses, were two clear and endless pools of grey. Even as they watched, a stray drop of water fell from Tezuka's hair and slowly slid its way past a flawless white column that was Tezuka's neck, stopping momentarily to pool by the elegant sculpture that was his collarbone, before falling endlessly past a soft pink nub of a nipple. Entranced, the entire regular team followed the drop of water's progress down lightly sculpted abs, two, four, six, and further down…

… Into a soft shadow caused by a narrow jutting hip bone, and finally disappearing into the thin rough fabric of the towel. The same fabric that hid, and at the same time suggested so much with a faint rise underneath. A slow irregular hissing rose in the room, a perfect reflection of everyone's breathing rates at the moment.

"What's up with all of you?" Tezuka asked with a slight hint of annoyance. He couldn't see much without his glasses, but he's been the captain of the team for two long years and he knew when something was wrong with his team mates even without seeing their expressions.

Oishi choked and began a coughing fit at his particular question, and Eiji and Kawamura began to clumsily hit Oishi on his back to help his breathing. The rest of the regulars all started moving in an effort to hide their excited lower halves of their bodies somehow. Fuji managed to turn to a side, trusting his shirt to, er, cover, any undignified parts of his anatomy and covered his laugh with his hand. Oh my dear Tezuka, Fuji thought with equal parts amusement and arousal, you pick the most unfortunate phrase to use right now, particularly since the 'up' more or less describes everyone's condition right now.

In the end, it was Inui who cleared his throat rather more than necessary before answering the buchou's question. "We're all right, buchou. Just discussing some possible practice matches."

"Oh," Tezuka squinted slightly against the light. "Is that Inui?"

"Yes, buchou."

"I need to ask you, how do you get your juice stains out? I've been washing my shirt for ten minutes, and I can still smell the thing."

"Ah, I believe my mother uses industrial strength bleach, buchou."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Tezuka turned back into the shower room and another round of sighs rose in the room as the perfectly formed back and snugly wrapped butt and legs that cried for attention vanished into the steamy confines of the shower room along with a muttered comment about the weird behaviour everyone's exhibiting today.

"No problem, buchou," came the soft, unheard answer.

After a long moment of silence, Inui spoke again. "Let's do it. Beat any one of us, as well as Tezuka in a match, and get one night with him. Agreed?"

"Yes," said Kaido hoarsely. "But Fuji-senpai must be the one who informs Tezuka-senpai of the match."

"All right," replied Fuji without hesitation. "But I do it in my time, and my way."

One by one, all the regulars agreed. And then, in a vague air of embarrassment and suppressed sexual tension, the regulars went about changing into their school uniform while trying not to meet anyone's eyes and went home to dream their own private dreams.

~~~

It's pretty much given that someone (or a few someones) would end up winning the match, but I'd like to put it to a vote… Which one of the Seigaku Regulars would you like to see win the night with Tezuka? Reply and review please! XD