Author: Shiva Darkwater Fandom: Prince of Tennis Rating: PG Summary: Uchimura comes to Mori feeling betrayed, only then learning to accept the truth. Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be. Wish it were. If only… Author's Notes: Dude, this is my second fic in two days… both Tenipuri. My mind is going to explode. Well. This is it. Happy Birthday Uchimura! Yeah, this fic isn't birthday-ish at all… but it's still dedicated to him.
This isn't even really shounen-ai, more like them being friends, which they are. I like seeing them close. Of course, it's intended shounen-ai… but for some reason, making them kiss or something would just seem wrong for the kind of fic that it is. I like it how it came out. I love these two. This is actually set a year after Prince of Tennis, so Mori and Uchimura are in their last year of middle school. Tachibana is already in high school.
Take Me With You
The clanging of a nearby locker jarred Mori Tatsunori out of his thoughts. The boy glanced over; blue eyes startled, to notice his best friend standing there, brown eyes glaring underneath the brim of his grey baseball cap.
"Kyo…" he started, though was cut off with another clang of the loose locker door.
"When exactly where you going to tell me Tatsu? When the season finished? When it's too late?" There was a hostile tone in the shorter boy's voice, hurt flashing across those brown eyes for a moment, before he pulled his cap down further, blocking his eyes from the other.
Mori took a deep breath. The last thing he needed was for Uchimura to get defensive. It was purely a self-defense mechanism, but it was impossible to talk to his friend when he was like that. "Kyo, calm down. What exactly are you talking about?"
Biting back a sardonic laugh, Uchimura scowled. "I heard from Sakurai that you weren't going to Ashikawa next year. He said you were even applying for it at all. You want to tell me what's up with that?"
"He's right," Mori answered calmly, returning to his task of buttoning up his uniform jacket. It was cold outside and he didn't want to catch a chill. Beside him, Uchimura punched his fist into his locker once again.
"That's not good enough Tatsunori!" He struggled to calm his emotions, shaking his head. For his short stature he could be quite rough, more so simply because of his height, and the years of bullying it had caused. Uchimura sighed. "We were supposed to go to high school together; all of us. Isn't that what we had all decided? We can't let Fudoumine—"
"Fudoumine won't die," Mori finished for his friend, his voice unusually soft. "But next year we won't have Fudoumine, will we. We'll have to move on, grow. We can't hide behind each other anymore, it won't give us nothing but grief."
Brown eyes gazed up at his friend. "But Tatsu… the team…"
"I'm not playing tennis next year."
Uchimura's eyes grew wide. "What are you talking about? We have to play tennis together, we're a team!"
Sighing, Mori shook his head. "It was fun, and I don't want it to stop being fun. But high school is a new experience; I want new things to happen. Tamachi is supposed to have a great photography course."
"Photography…" Uchimura blinked, unable to comprehend. "But Tatsu –" Once again he was cut off.
"We have to move on Kyo, but it's not like we'll never see each other. I want to still keep in touch, with everyone." Mori smiled, tipping up the low brim of his friend's cap with one hand. "Just, for me, moving on means not going to Ashikawa… for obvious reasons."
"Tachibana-san…"
Mori nodded. "Exactly. I need to get away from it." Scratching the back of his neck, he laughed a bit, sheepishly. "You know I've never been the best at tennis. I was only good because you were my partner. If you continue with it… you deserve someone who wouldn't be holding you back."
"But if I did that," Uchimura pretended to contemplate the idea, "then we'd never get to have fun at the street courts anymore. If I have to get a new partner after 3 years of playing with you… I'd have to train pretty hard to get used to someone else."
"Are you saying you're not going to play?"
Glancing at the ground, Uchimura shifted his feet. "Well… If Tachibana-san's at Ashikawa… it would be hard not to get compelled to play again…"
It was Mori's turn to not understand. "What are you trying to say…?"
Uchimura turned away, tugging his brim down as he busied himself with packing up his school bag. Hurriedly he mumbled something under his breath.
"What was that?"
"… Could… I apply to Tamachi too…?"
His friend's words still too soft and quick, Mori couldn't help but poke fun. "I couldn't hear you, repeat?"
With a quick glare, Uchimura spoke up louder. "Could I apply to Tamachi as well?"
Amused, Mori continued to get try and get a rise out of his stubborn best friend. "What?"
"Mou! Never mind!" The locker door slammed shut once more, Uchimura huffing.
"All you had to do was ask nicely Kyo-chan," Mori teased with a grin, poking at the other boy's cheek. "If you keep responding like that then you're just begging for harassment."
"Well sorry for having such quick temper Norimori," Uchimura responded just as quick, a grin spreading across his lips.
With an easy smile, Mori patted his friend's cap covered head, as if taking care of a small child. "No harm done. It proves that you're useless without me; boosts my ego."
"Oi, don't get all full of yourself. You're not that great you know."
"Oh, whatever, Kyo-chan. You need me." Lifting his tennis bag over his shoulder, Mori picked up his school bag and headed to the door of the tennis change room. "If you didn't then you wouldn't be wanting to join me at Tamachi."
Uchimura grumbled, tugging his cap further down onto his head. "If it seems to mean so much to you then maybe I won't go. I mean... there are other schools. I'll check to see where Sakurai's going, or Ishida."
"Sure you will. You know you love me Kyo-chan!"
"I do not! Quit calling me that you moron!" Uchimura shouted, chasing his friend out the change room door. Kamio must have still been on the courts, or in the clubroom, as he hadn't come by to yell at them for not hurrying up. Pausing to close the door behind him, Uchimura ran off to catch up with the taller boy. "Last one to the school gates has to become the winner's slave for a week!"
Beside him, Mori chuckled, slowing his pace just this once. He'd let Uchimura win, if only just this one time. It was worth it in the end.
End Notes
Kyo-chan – I always liked the idea of Mori calling him that, purely teasing of course, because Kyosuke's a lot shorter than him and because, to another guy, it can be quite cruel to use such a "cute" suffix.
Norimori – something a friend of mine came up with, because we both find it dumb how Tatsunori's name rhymes with his last name "Mori". It amuses us. It is just Uchimura teasing his name back at him.