A/N : This is the sequel to Connotations.... Thanks for all the reviews! I'm so touched! Sob I think this is more Golden Pair, but there's TezuFuji too, see if you can spot it... so Read and Review!
An interesting phenomenon had been occurring in the Seigaku Tennis Club lately. Usually, it would have been rather normal; after all, there had been the whole Inui Special Remix version 2. 4 fiasco just a few months ago, with the version 2.5 and 2.6 tests just a few weeks ago.
However, what made this phenomenon so interesting was that it had nothing to do with Inui. It wasn't even instigated by the master troublemaker, Fuji. But that doesn't mean Fuji didn't have a hand in it.
The consequences of this most fascinating phenomenon were most noticeable on the tennis courts, and it was beginning to make the tennis club members, especially the Regulars, all very worried.
What the problem was, was that there was something terribly wrong with the Golden Pair.
As Eiji Kikumaru made a desperate lunge for the ball, his eyes flickered for a moment to his partner, and he stumbled for no reason, with his legs going one way and his arms in another. He was immediately reduced to a pile of flailing limbs, looking vaguely monkey-like. Due to all the flailing, his tennis racket went flying and ended up...
...landing in Oishi's face with a loud 'SMACK'! Followed by an equally loud "ITAI!"
The rest of practice was in a total disaster, with the Golden Pair stumbling around and crashing into each other, and not even hitting a single ball. Loud thuds, "ITAI!" and profuse apologies could be heard from their side of the court.
Even with their own technique practice, the other Regulars were worried. Inui was worried too...about the team's budget. The Golden Pair was fast using up the team's supply of plasters, which he had just refilled with a fresh pack since the previous practice.
Tezuka was so concerned, he had forgotten to give them punishment laps to run, and just stood staring at the dismal performance, while looking as anxious as the others had ever seen him.
This was not the first practice the phenomenon had occurred, nor would it be the last.
After four equally dismal practices, things came to a head one Monday morning, when Tezuka finally decided that he had had enough, as Oishi bumped into him for the third time that day, during school hours, which would not have been surprising as their classes were practically next to each other, but what annoyed him was that Oishi had not even noticed him.
Tezuka headed for Fuji's class when the bell rang.
Fuji, being the ever-observant genius, had already observed the phenomenon for quite some time and had effortlessly located the source of it.
He had also decided that he had had enough. While he was a sadist, he was not cruel to the extent where he could sit through class for a week and listen to the usually cheerful Eiji sigh forlornly every 15 minutes. It was enough to make even him worry and was on the way to driving him mad as well. He may be a sadist, but he was not masochistic.
Fuji was contemplating this vexing matter in the last few minutes of his chemistry test, since the genius had already finished the hour-long paper half an hour ago.
Strumming his fingers gently on the tabletop, Fuji saw Kikumaru grimace in irritation as the bell rang, but the test duration had not ended. It seemed that they would be ending late, due to a teacher who was incapable of telling the time.
A knock at the door shifted Fuji's attention away. The student's heads' swivelled.
Tezuka Kunimitsu stood there.
"Excuse me, if I may speak with Fuji for a moment, sensei?" Tezuka requested politely, in a low voice that nevertheless carried to all parts of the room.
Several girls swooned. The teacher looked taken aback.
"Of course. If he's done with his test. Fuji?" The teacher enquired.
Eiji Kikumaru really couldn't resist. His sense of humour, it seemed, was not totally gone.
"The husband misses his wife...how sweet!" He said in a loud voice that definitely carried to all parts of the room, convulsing with suppressed laughter.
The effect on the class was immediate. Gasps of shock, disbelieving stares and frantic whispers were abundant. Fuji smirked evilly and Tezuka looked apoplectic. Even the teacher looked fascinated.
Fuji added the final touch.
"Yes, Tezuka-chan. Couldn't you wait? So impatient!" he tsked gently, while eyeing Tezuka wickedly through slitted eyes.
Total silence. Jaws dropped and several thuds could be heard as several girls fainted in disbelief and shock.
Tezuka glared at Fuji, who regarded him with a faint smile. He turned to glare at Kikumaru, but found him gone from his desk, as Eiji was currently rolling in the ground under his desk while laughing his head off.
Fuji rose gracefully from this desk and hauled his test paper to the pole-axed teacher and followed Tezuka out of the room, saving him from further embarrassment. Or not, as the whispering only intensified after their departure, for all that a test was supposed to be going on.
Standing in the corridor, they drew an equal amount of attention, being the Buchou and the tensai of the popular tennis club, but they ignored the curious stares of the passers-by.
"What did you do to Kikumaru and Oishi this time?" Tezuka asked, a note of accusation apparent in his voice.
"I didn't do anything," Fuji retorted indignantly.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later. It was inevitable that this volatile concoction was going to combust. I merely provided the catalyst, or the activation energy, so to speak."
"He's getting out of control. The team is being affected," Tezuka started sharply.
"My performance is never affected, and I doubt yours will ever be," the husky voice and Fuji's raised eyebrow made the double meaning very clear.
"I'm always at peak performance, on or off the courts," Tezuka countered, forgetting that he was standing in a crowded hallway. Their conversation was beginning to draw interested looks and a couple of eavesdropping juniors had just turned bright red.
Unmindful of the attention, Fuji regarded Tezuka with a rare serious expression.
"What would you like me to do then?" he enquired. The captain looked back stoically.
"Fix it. You're the expert meddler. Just don't make it worse." Tezuka looked pained at what he had just asked Fuji to do.
"As you wish, Buchou." Fuji said submissively, demeanour an exact duplicate of a housewife, but for the devious glint in his eyes.
Tezuka realised that he disliked Fuji calling him 'Buchou'. It irked him. With the others it sounded respectful, but from Fuji it just sounded mocking. He much preferred Fuji to call him by his name.
Tezuka opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Fuji poked him in the chest.
"And you are going to help me." Fuji stated matter-of-factly, tone leaving no room for argument.
"Fine." Tezuka strode off, with a distinctively disgruntled stride.
Eiji Kikumaru sat on a bench in the deserted locker room, absorbed in something only he could see.
He closed his eyes feeling a hard muscular body press against his own, and he felt a slight stirring in his lower regions as his body began to respond. A deep sexy voice called out his name.
Once, twice...
"Eiji? Eiji!"
He snapped back to the present, just in time to find the face of the very person he had been avoiding for the entire week scant inches from his face. He swallowed, futilely trying to banish the lingering vivid images from last night's dream, out of his mind.
He felt a cool touch on his face.
"Are you alright? You look feverish. Your face is flushed!" Oishi's hand remained on Eiji's face, sliding down to cup his chin tentatively.
"Nyah! I'm fine!" Eiji shot bolt upright and rushed out of the room, panic evident on his face.
If he had looked back, he would have spotted a hurt expression crossing Oishi's face.
Practice was worse than ever for the Golden Pair.
The next day, Tezuka pulled Fuji out of class again, causing a flurry of whispers and stares as they left the class hurriedly. Fuji looked faintly amused. Luckily for Tezuka, Kikumaru was not around, so he was spared another embarrassing encounter.
Fuji's plan went something like this...
Step 1: Tezuka would end training an hour or so earlier.
Step 2: Wait until the others clear out.
Step 3: Fuji would detain Eiji with some excuse, and Tezuka would also ask Oishi to remain behind.
Step 4: Tezuka gives Oishi a note, ordering him to open and read it aloud in five minutes time, in the locker room. Unlike Eiji, Oishi could be trusted to follow orders to the dot. Even such weird ones.
Step 5: Fuji would give Eiji a folded note, warning him not to peek on pain of torture, while then pushing him into the locker room where Oishi was.
Step 6: Door is locked, and nature would take its course, hopefully.
As befit a plan from the tensai and expert meddler, the plan went smoothly until step 4. Oishi had received his note with only a slightly puzzled look, not even bothering to question the strange orders.
Fuji, however, encountered a slight problem with Eiji, whose curiosity was uncontrollable, and thus had tried to tear the note open at once.
Fortunately, Fuji's almost inhuman reflexes prevented this mishap from occurring, and Eiji barely had time to get out a 'Nyah!' before he found himself being forcibly pushed into the locker room, door shutting soundly behind him with a click.
Fuji smirked at Tezuka, before walking off. Tezuka made a questioning noise and followed Fuji to the other side of the building, behind the back wall of the locker room.
Fuji interpreted Tezuka's inquiring look correctly.
"Would you rather have your ear pressed to the door and look like a sneak? It is the traditional method, but so very inelegant."
Fuji pointed at the small back window of the locker room.
"Here, we have a good view." He smiled with satisfaction.
They peered in apprehensively.
Well, it seemed that the Golden Pair had failed to get past the initial embarrassment of each other's presence yet. They were both attempting to avoid eye contact, with Eiji staring at a smelly sock, and Oishi staring at the clock. From the desperate look on their faces, it seemed that they had discovered the locked door.
Fuji glanced at his watch impatiently. It was almost Oishi's cue; he just hoped that Oishi would just blindly follow Tezuka's orders.
Anytime now...
Oishi stared at the ticking clock hands and unwrapped his not, clearing his throat self-consciously before beginning to read, not even paying attention to its contents, mostly due to Kikumaru's distracting presence.
Big mistake.
"To our dearest Golden Pair..."
At those words, Eiji whipped his head up and stared at Oishi and the note, before crossing over to read the note, curiosity burning.
Both of them scanned the note, tensely silent.
To our dearest Golden Pair: As the both of you have proven time and again to be stubborn and blind to the extent of total denial, I, together with a trustworthy accomplice, have taken it upon myself to remedy this situation.
I shall state it plainly, so that there will be no room for misunderstanding.
Oishi, if you haven't already noticed, Eiji has been acting strangely around you. This is because he likes you...
Here, Oishi finally processed the contents of the note and glanced beside him at Eiji, too stunned to react properly.
Eiji, at this time, was frantically looking at anywhere except for Oishi, with the imprint of those words still in front of his eyes. 'he likes you...' He felt torn open, exposed, his carefully hidden secret now displayed for Oishi to see.
Stalling for time, he began to unwrap the crumpled paper held in his clenched fist.
Eiji, I apologise, but this had to be done. Since you could not find the courage to tell him, I have done it for you. But this is all I can do. The next move is yours.
All the best,
A Concerned Party.
Eiji collapsed weakly onto the floor, shaking his head in denial. This was not happening, could not be happening. He buried his face in his hands.
"Is it true?"
The gentle question rang out, directed at the quivering lump of misery on the floor.
Oishi stared at his partner and friend,, making his decision.
"Wait, you don't have to answer that."
He knelt and slid trembling fingers under Eiji's chin, brushing away the glimmering tears tenderly.
Dark eyes stared into russet ones as the two boys faced each other. Opposites in every way, they had found an inexplicable balance in their friendship. Now, that hung in the balance.
Gazing into each other's eyes, all pretence fell away. Every emotion, every desire could be seen, the facades fell away. Through the deep unfathomable bond they shared, all was explained, and nothing needed to be said anymore. All was understood.
Eiji's heart felt lighter. Something had come to pass and somehow everything was fine now. He didn't know what, and he didn't feel the need to know. All he knew was that everything was fixed now.
It was enough. They could deal with the rest.
The unseen observers considered what they had just seen. They too did not understand what had happened, except that the two boys had just, for some imperceptible reason relaxed, and were now smiling at each other.
Fuji and Tezuka looked at each other.
The tableau in the locker room unfroze, as the click at the door was heard. Both of them sprinted out, only to catch a glimpse of auburn streak round the corner.
Not bothering to chase, they turned, in perfect synchronisation and left, moving as one, walking closer than normal.
Five corner turns away, Tezuka and Fuji shared a small smile of satisfaction.
"We make a good team, don't we?" Fuji broke the silence first.
Staring into those enigmatic blue eyes that spoke volumes through silence, Tezuka felt a twinge somewhere deep inside. Brushing it away, he motioned with his head to the exit.
Together, they too, turned in unison and left, steps complementing each other, perfectly synchronised.
A/N : Finally done. I'm having exams now, but after that, maybe I'll do a stand-aloneTezuFuji fic... or continue this one, the TezuFuji part isn't resolved yet...