Going Away

A Prince Of Tennis [Tennis no Ohjisama] Fic

Warning: Contains Shounen-Ai [aka Yaoi]

Pairings: TEZFUJI FOREVER!! Also, Inui-Kaidoh, and Oishi-Eiji… I hope you were happy with last chapter!

Disclaimer: All this do not belong to me, I'm not making any profit form this. I'm not even sure if the plot is mine! .

Summary: Finally, the main disclosure… Tezuka's confession, and the doctor's news. (Really!)

Notes: Thanks much for the reviews, everyone. I'm so glad! Uhm… all the thank-yous are at the end, by alphabetical order, if I'm not wrong… And please look out for some 'developments', I got inspiration from n/a's review, and my reply. . I'm just gonna make things harder for Fuji and Tezuka… evil laugh

Last Chapter:    

Save for the fact that Tezuka knew he wasn't as vulnerable mentally. Fuji was never vulnerable in that manner. He sighed, and offered the closest he could get to a smile as his eyes met Fuji's smiling ones. As long as he was smiling, Fuji never was vulnerable. The walls would still be up, as long as his eyes were closed, and smiling.

He tried to ignore the drip inserted into Fuji's arm, the paleness- almost sheet white, of Fuji's face, and the semblance of tiredness and hopelessness in Fuji's voice, as he spoke.

"Saa, everyone, thanks for visiting me… Please take seats. How's school?"

Chapter 4

"Fuji, are you feeling better?" Tezuka asked, standing at the foot of his friend's bed. Oishi and the rest had finished talking to the prodigy, and suspiciously, (at least to Tezuka) Kawamura had been the one to spend the longest time in the room.

"Yeah." Fuji replied, a bit of colour coming back to his cheeks there was a smile on his face that clearly said 'I'm- fine-so-don't-worry-about-me' but Tezuka, after years of being stoic and poker faced, knew the small details of expression, down to the littlest twitch of an eyebrow. It came useful most of the time, finding out who was lying about skipping tennis practice. But this time, it came more useful, being able to decipher Fuji's moods.

He sat down on the chair next to Fuji's bed, and looked at the boy closely. It didn't seem like he was in a bad mood, Tezuka thought. But he had to be sure that Fuji was serious and feeling well, before he could say anything. Should he say what he wanted to say, and Fuji still said no, then he would know that it was not because of anything the prodigy was in, but because he simply did not feel that way. "Open your eyes."

"Pardon?"

"Fuji- could you look at me?" He requested again, facing Fuji.

The boy did so, but still with a smile on his face. Tezuka sighed. "Please…" He kind-of begged, his voice coming out with a pleading note that he did not appreciate. He did not want to be seen as weak, especially by this person, and in this situation. But it seemed to work, as slowly, Fuji opened his eyes, a clear neon-sign that showed he was concerned, and sad, behind it.

Tezuka frowned at this. Why was Fuji sad? What had happened? He sighed, though, and tried all he could, to smile. It came out as the slight quirking of his lips, a kind of watery smile that showed his nervousness. "I'm fine," He reassured Fuji, and began what he wanted to say. ",I- I'm just a bit nervous, because I really want to say something, and I don't know how you'll take it."

Suddenly, Fuji's eyes snapped open even wider, showing alarm. He supposed that it was kind of a 'fight-or-flight' thing, he only opened his eyes when he was scared, surprised, or angry, it had seemed to Tezuka, and he paused to let Fuji speak. "I- Buchou, could I stay in the club? I know, not as a player, but maybe I could-"

He stopped as Tezuka smiled, a genuine, amused smile. Fuji felt indignant at this, frowning. "I don't see what's funny, I just want to st-"

"I- I'm sorry, Fuji. It's not that. I have no intention of booting you out of the regulars, much more, the club. I- It's something else…" He trailed off, and it was Fuji's turn to be amused, as he detected a faint trace of pink on the usually sober captain's face. But he tried not to let it show, as he sensed the significance of the situation. "I… Fuji- I…"

Outside, (A/N: grins I'm being evil, I know… But this is the ehrm 'development' I was talking about.) the team was seated, talking to Yuuta in low tones, inquiring and assuring, and giving their well-wishes. They were in the middle of talking about the new racket, when Doctor Kirisawa came up, sweating and panting slightly, waving his clipboard around as if to swat their helping hands away. However, Yuuta seemed to understand, and plucked it from his fingers, scanning the page quickly, before his fingers, gripping it tighter and tighter, grew too numb to hold it.

The unfortunate piece of plastic fell to the floor, papers-a-rustling. "N-no way…"

"What- Yuuta-san? What's wrong?" Eiji queried, supporting the younger boy's shoulder and steadying his swaying body. His team-mate's brother sat down, eyes wide and with a look of distraught on his face.

"What the-?!" Kaido had picked the clipboard up, and read it before handing it over to the sympathizing doctor. The clipboard was held in mid-air, stopping right before the doctor's grasp. The mamushi's voice came out a croak, his eyes wide with shock as well. "D-does this mean?"

Doctor Kirisawa nodded sadly. "Yes… Shuusuke's condition was worse than we had thought… It was fortunate that was had run a test. The blood pressure tests we had run earlier seemed a bit high, and when we finally took some more tests just in case, yes, we do think that Shuusuke does have a heart problem. Mrs Fuji has been notified, she is on her way, then we may discuss this."

Yuuta and the Seigaku regulars sat there, dumbfounded, and were surprised when the St Rudolph student chuckled wryly. "Aniki's always been sickly, but I never knew it could be this bad. Kirisawa-san, why wasn't it detected earlier? Aniki's been in and out of this hospital as long as I could remember…" Everyone took note of this. They never knew that the ever-smiling Fuji was hiding something like this.

Doctor Kirisawa simply sighed. "A doctor carefully questions and examines anyone suspected of heart trouble for evidence of pain, fatigue, abnormal heartbeat, and so on. He listens to the heart and lungs with a stethoscope. Sometimes, a heart murmur, a rushing noise heard through the stethoscope, provides a clue to a heart problem. A faint murmur can be normal, but a loud one usually indicates a diseased heart valve or other trouble. A chest X ray is usually taken to get a picture of the heart and lungs. An electrocardiogram reveals the electrical activity of a patient's heart. Shuusuke's always had a heart murmur, but it wasn't loud enough to be scared about.

            A doctor can also rely on cardiac catheterization and angiography to diagnose heart disease. Cardiac catheterization involves slipping a catheter, a long tube, through veins into the heart to learn such things as how much blood the heart is pumping, whether its valves are damaged, and whether it is contracting as it should. Angiography involves injecting dye through a catheter into the heart so that subsequent X rays will reveal the internal anatomy of the heart and the blood flow through it. But we never tested him this way, because of the anaemia. I had always thought that his healthy lifestyle was alright enough, but…"

            He trailed off, sighing. "At least, it's been detected. We should start more tests soon, to see how bad it is…"

            Fuji's blue eyes were wide at the sentence that had just left his captain's lips. "T-Tezuka…  Are- are you sure?" e whispered, not because he was weak, but because he simply was too shocked to breathe properly. "I…"

            "It's alright. I'm sorry, Fuji, for bothering you. I- Are you alrgiht?!" He said out loud, seeing his friend's face turn really, really white, then really, really, red, and finally, a bright pink. There was suddenly a genuine smile on Fuji's face, and the happiness in Fuji's eyes made Tezuka's heart rate double.

            "Of course I'm alright… I- Tezuka…. I think I've fallen in love with you to-"

            He was suddenly cut off by a very tight hug, and smiled over Tezuka's (his koi's, if you might.) shoulder, before bringing his arms up to hug his captain back. They stayed like that for a while, until Tezuka pulled away, but still holding Fuji by he shoulders. He was /smiling/. And quite widely, too, compared to his usual standards. "Fuji- I… Thank you."

            His lover's usual smile slipped back in place, as the door began to open, and he leaned over faster than anyone would've thought possible, pecked Tezuka on the cheek, and went back to his bed, all before Yuuta, Mrs Fuji and Doctor Kirisawa had entered. And the sight that greeted them certainly was odd, as a smiling-widely Fuji asked a quite-pink (can you just imagine?) Tezuka to hand him a glass of water. Yuuta looked in between them, and suppressed a smirk, as Doctor Kirisawa asked the Seigaku captain to let him talk to Fuji for a while.

            Tezuka had consented, and nodded to Yuuta and his mother in greeting, before slipping past, to join his teammates. Yuuta closed the door slightly behind him, and listened for whatever reactions Tezuka- his aniki's koi, if he wasn't wrong, would have once his team members told him what was happening. Sighing, he leant his head against the doorframe.

            Shuusuke Fuji never was a healthy child. He was anemic, for one, and was born two weeks premature to be put in ICU immediately. They had siad he was ok, after a while, but still, he was fragile. That was the word… fragile, though mentally, he was blessedly strong. Nature had given him a weak body, but still, he was a genius. It was kind of frustrating, having to live up to that, but still, his brother was his brother, and he Yuuta could remember numerous times Fuji had saved him.

            His brother had every right to be happy, Yuuta thought, slipping a glance at Tezuka, who was pale, and had sat down, looking very stern and poker faced. Nobody could miss,  though, the immense concern and aura of anxiety around him. His lips were pressed together so hard, it was nothing more than a thin line, and his hands were weaved together so tightly, the knuckles were turning white.

            "Germany would be the best place…"

            "What?!" His exclamation came out like a hiss, his face like a thundercloud. Yuuta looked at his mother, than at Doctor Kirisawa, then at Fuji. Any semblance of happiness was now nothing more than a flicker, as the prodigy looked away, to gaze out of the window.

            "Yuuta…" His mother began, looking very tired. "Doctor Kirisawa says that the best doctors for this can be found in Germany- it would be best for Shuusuke-"

            "You're not being fair to him, kaa-san. Yumi nee-chan can come with me." Fuji interrupted, sighing and looking very sad.

            "She has a job, and her fiancée-"

            "Yuuta had a life too, kaa-san. Believe me, if I could go alone, I would."

            He looked back and forth, back and forth, as mother and son, both extremely tired, argued. He sighed, and smiled. He was going to be like his brother soon, if he wasn't careful. He was smiling too many fake smiles nowadays. "Aniki, it's alright with me. For how long would we be staying there anyway?"

            Doctor Kirisawa smiled at him, a kind of smile that was pitying, and yet happy, at the same time- Yuuta could learn to hate it, he thought. "Two months, at the most. After which he comes back here, and we monitor him for a few days, before letting him go. After that, Shuusuke only has to come back for regular checkups."

            Stony grey eyes met his brother's closed ones. Only slivers of cerulean showed, and they betrayed his brother's feelings of regret, sadness, and yes, a bit of anger. Yuuta looked away, before slipping out to tell Tezuka what he knew.

A/N: I know this chapter was a bit short, no? But I wanted to keep Fuji and Tezuka's moment in one chapter, so… yeah. The next chapter would be mostly about how they feel, and their reactions, and so on, so forth. I'm being really mean to Fuji, aren't I? There should be four to five more chapters to go, and then… I don't know. That would mean that this would be the first one that I'd have finished.

Angel72 I'm sorry if it was a mean ending… ." Don't worry! Tezuka's confessed, but I'm not sure if they're happy! I have to give them trouble, you know… And thanks for reading this fic!!

Ikyutakei You reviewed all my chapters!!! I can't believe it!! squeals Someone actually took time to review THRICE!! You're the first one to say angst is acceptable. I'm considering two endings… But I just finished writing a REALLLLLLY angst-y TezuFuji fic. I just have to type it out. grins evilly Sorry for scaring you with the pairings thing… Are they too OC?

Kari073 I'm glad you wanted more! wipes tear away minna-san is just too kind to sessha… I know that a concerned Tezu is just too kawaii for words…  And I didn't make you wait! Hah! The two of them are going to get through this… Unfortunately for the updates thing, I can't type out any dates, 'cause of my irregular typing periods. But I try to update every week. . (Take note of 'try'.)

N/a Why didn't you leave your name? Thanks so much for pointing that out, I don't really know much about the condition. I want to do more research on it, though. But it can be serious, 'cause when my grandma died, she had anaemia, and she could barely talk too. But I suppose there is a difference. .;; Thanks so much for giving me your opinion!

Sano . Thanks so much for reviewing! I want to put in more Oishikiku stuff, but the main thing will still be TezuFuji. I'm sorry for making Oishi OC! I just needed someone to figure it out, and no one can be nice /all the time/, right?

Silence Here's the fourth chapter! I hope it's satisfactory…  And you'll just have to keep on wondering! sticks tongue out But it's kinda obvious… light bulb Unless I decide on a plot twist! Mwahahaha…

WinterGal Thanks! singsong voice I updated I updated I updated Hee! I hope you liked these past chapters too!

Youki no ko I'm happy to be of any service! And the Yuuta thing… he's so ignored, and he's so close to Fuji, I thought that he might have mixed feelings about a superior sibling. Thanks so much! If you like Behind-the-Smile-Fuji stories, one that I HIGHLY suggest, is Mona Lisa, by Yumehime. It's really, really, good, if not a bit sad. Also, A TezuFuji, Akuma no Hitomi. .

R&R, onegai!! Oh, and for the angst-loving, I have just posted an angst-tragedy tezufuji as well. Please do read it too.

Ja-ne,

Vanilla Fox