The white line of love

Author's Note: Finally...Chapter two is done... I was having a long time deciding Fuji's reasons for his denial to our poor buchou... and well it seems there could only be a rather reasonable one. Saeki appears in this chappie... I just simply love this guy... hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: I wish Fuji and Tezuka belongs to me...but sadly they don't...

Chapter Two: Holding back.

Fuji Syusuke would normally look as if he had his eyes closed. But not today. His baby blue eyes had never been close since Tezuka had ask him to accompany him shopping. He had practically spent the remaining practice session starring at the cold and stoic captain. Even now as they are walking side by side against each other, his eyes were still glued onto the taller boy. Just like how a curious kitten would be, Fuji carefully observes the target before him. The situation is somewhat new and thrilling to the prodigy. Shopping? What would Tezuka possibly buy? He is not the kind of person who would get himself some nice clothes and neither would he be buying any girly stuff because besides Tennis and schoolwork, Tezuka don't see the point the get into relationships. And he is not the kind to rush to a cd shop to get the latest cds because basically, a cassette player is the most modern piece of technology in his room.

"...We're here." Tezuka said as he suddenly stop in his tracks. Fuji looks up and he felt a drop of sweat trickling down his forehead. A sportswear store. Of course... where else would Tezuka go shopping? The blue eyed sigh as he follows Tezuka. As his eye scans around the brightly lilted place, a familiar figure caught his eyes.

"Saeki?" The named one turns and squints his eyes.

"Fuji?" Saeki smiles as he walks towards Fuji and Tezuka.

"What are you doing here? Dating?" Saeki teases as he stares at the two tennis genius before him. The rumors he had heard previously about the two best players of Seigaku might be true after all. Tezuka greets the grinning boy with a bow as he politely walks away to let the two friends have a private conversation. Fuji narrows his eyes as he threw Saeki a death glare.

"Saeki...if that is meant to be as a joke...David could do better." The prodigy folds his arms across his chest. Knowing Fuji, the vice-captain of Rokkaku quits his jokes and pulls Fuji to a corner. He makes sure that Tezuka was a distance away from them before he turn to face his best friend.

"Fuji...well I...do meant my previous question as a joke but...there are rumors about... you and Tezuka going around." Saeki said a in soft but serious tone. Fuji drew in a deep breath as his mind slowly digest Saeki's words. Rumors...about the two of them? What about the two of them? And who started it?

"Ru...mours? What about them? This is getting interesting..." Fuji smiles. He did not need to ask actually. The answer is predictable.

"Well...there are different stories but all of them have a common point...the both of you are dating." Saeki sigh. He wonders if his friend will find this piece of news entertaining or flare up the way he would when he had a match with Kirihara a couple of months ago. He held his breathe and wait for a response from the blue eyed. Part of him was hoping that Fuji would admit to those rumors because everyone in Rokkaku was bombarding him with questions as he was Fuji's best friend and Itsuki was really irritating him with his whys. But the other part of him knew that if Fuji and Tezuka were together then his friend would no longer be in pain and agony.

"Saeki...unfortunately...we...are not dating... and you know me... I don't plan to tell him anything..." Fuji lowers his head so that his hair would cover his eyes because he knew that even if they are closed, Saeki would sense his sadness. After all they have been friends since they attended nursery school. Fuji always finds it funny why he never had the same feelings for Saeki like he did for Tezuka. It would be much easier and the damage done would be at the minimum. Saeki places his hands on his friend's shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze.

"Perhaps...it's better to tell him. Ja... I gotta go...gotta get these new tennis balls back to school. Anything just drop by next door. Bye!" Shrugging his shoulders, Fuji watches his friend disappears among the shoppers.

"Better to tell him huh...what a joke." Fuji mutters.

"...What joke?" the blue eyed jumps and turns to the voice behind.

"Oh...erm nothing just something Saeki told me... so what did you buy?" Fuji inquires as he flashes a smile across his face. Sometimes he hates himself for being such a pretender...even when Tezuka is around he still could not reveal his true self. The captain of Seigaku reaches into his bag and pulls out a couple of Tennis related magazines. Fuji blinks and suddenly burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Tezuka growls. The prodigy could be so unpredictable at times.

"Ne Tezuka...you sounds so serious over practice when you told me to accompany you shopping. For a moment I was wondering if your sanity had snapped. And it turns out that you just wanted to get these magazines. Tezuka...sometimes you are simply too hard to understand." Fuji pauses at his words. And what Tezuka said earlier replays in his mind.

'It's the same as how well you know me Fuji...but perhaps for my case, it's a bit more...' Is he really that bad at understanding Tezuka? Fuji was about to walk out of the store when he notices a couple of silver accessories that was on display in a glass showcase. A particular necklace with a pendant in the shape of a tennis racket caught his eyes. Tezuka thought he saw sparkles in his teammate's eyes as the prodigy drags him towards the showcase.

"Excuse me sir, can I have a look at that please? I didn't know I could find such things in a sportswear shop..." the promoter smile and carefully took out the necklace from the showcase.

"It is rather popular among tennis lovers. This actually comes in a pair... you can get one for your girlfriend." the words came innocently from the promoter's mouth.

"...I don't have a girlfriend... It looks so nice thou...ne Tezuka? Guess I am not buying it...sorry for the trouble sir." Tezuka frowns as he notice disappointment from those blue eyes. He could tell that Fuji really likes that necklace which he held fondly in his hands.

"...Sir...I'll take a pair then. Could you separate it for me?" Tezuka said as he pulls a couple of bills from his wallet. Fuji looks up and stares at Tezuka. Did Tezuka just said that he is buying the pair of necklaces? Who is he buying it for? Does it meant that there is someone in the brown eyed's heart? Fuji could feel his heart aching. He watches as the promoter hands Tezuka two small, blue colored carrier which Tezuka held in his hands with care. Whoever the girl is, she would definitely be happy to have such a loving Tezuka as her boyfriend.

"Fuji let's go." The blue eyed nods his head and quietly walks along the taller boy. His mind is churning with images of various girls who knows Tezuka. Who was that lucky girl? Being too engross in his own thoughts, Fuji did not even notice that Tezuka had slide one of the blue carrier into his racket bag. It is an easy task for the captain, as Fuji had not zipped up his bag properly. It's not usual for Fuji to do that but for today, too many things occupies his thoughts and when that happens, Fuji tends to ignore little details like this.

"Fuji... when you get home. Read through the instruction guide I handed you earlier. You'll miss out something if you don't" Tezuka had reminded the prodigy on purpose. Fuji nods his head as he returns to his thoughts. He could have ask Tezuka who he intended to give those necklace to but he knew that Tezuka would have told him if he wanted to and since he did not, Tezuka definitely would not appreciate it if he probes on.

"Ja... I see you in school tomorrow then." Fuji watches as Tezuka disappear from the corner of the road. A sudden loneliness grasps him from within. Sometime Fuji wished that Kimi Sama had granted him the ability to freeze time. He wouldn't mind walking down an endless road that leads to nowhere with Tezuka by his side. He wish he could tell Tezuka how much he love him but no, he could not, or he should say he is running away from it. Cupid had definitely played a big joke on him three years ago when he first met Tezuka. He was drawn to him like a moth drawn towards a fire. Everything about his teammate fascinates him. Especially his seriousness in tennis, something which does not apply to him despite the fact that he was, as what others had called him, a tensai, a prodigy.

Tezuka's passion for tennis is rather infamous among those who had knew him. And it had been proven during his match with Hyotei's captain. Fuji had watch how the latter went to the extend of sacrificing his left hand in order to win the match. And even thou the captain had lost the match, it was clearly that he had no regrets because he had put his whole heart into it. Before that, Fuji was a person who played tennis with no regards for winnings or loses. He just enjoys the thrill of forcing his opponents to their limits and gets contented as they suffer. But now, Fuji tries to play his matches seriously ever now and then, at least in front of Tezuka, the one whom he has love dearly. Shaking his thoughts away, Fuji slots the key into the keyhole of his front door.

"Syusuke you're back? How's school?" Yumiko, his elder sister ask with a smile on her face.

"All's well, Yumiko nee san. I'll go and take a shower...please call me when dinner is ready. I'll be taking a short nap." Fuji returns his sister with a smile as he heads into his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, Fuji places his racket bag by his bed and flops onto the soft mattress. Bliss...something that only come to him when he closes his eyes and thinks about nothing else...and when he is with Tezuka. His eyes shot open as the name flashes across his mind, reminding him something instantly. He leans on his side as he reaches into his racket bag to search for the instruction guide. As he pulls out the stacks of white paper, a bluish object falls out.

"...Hnn? What's this?" Fuji leans further out and picks up the familiar object. A blue carrier. He wonder if he had seen it somewhere. He carefully pulls at the white ribbon that had sealed the opening of the carrier. His blue eyes widen as he empties it's content onto his palm. The necklace that he wanted. He remain daze for a couple of seconds before he fumble into his racket bag again for his cell, punching those numbers that he had remembered better than anything else.

"This is Tezuka speaking..."the voice from the other line came.

"Tezuka...you...the necklace..."Fuji pause, waiting for an explaination from the brown eyed.

"...I put it in there while you were in deep thoughts...your bag was left unzipped and it's just big enough for me to slot the little carrier in." the answer came.

"...The necklace is meant as a pair you know... for couples... Tezuka..." Fuji gently caresses the necklace in his palm. For a moment he was relieve, because that would meant that Tezuka is not giving the necklace to any other girls. But then again, he brought a pair so what happen to the remaining necklace?

"Fuji... that's my point of getting them... one for you... and the other for me. Do you get my message?" Tezuka heaves in a deep breathe, half praying that the prodigy being a genius understand his words, half hoping that the other would not reject him when he understand.

"Demo, Tezuka we are not... " Fuji blink as Tezuka's words knocks senses into his brain. Did Tezuka just? Or was it his mind playing with those words? The tensai didn't dare to think any further, hoping that all this was his part of his own wishful think. How could Tezuka, Seigaku's pillar of support, ever likes him? Then, what comes next from the captain left Fuji crying.

"...Fuji...I...love you." The words came in simple and unexpected. Fuji clenches the necklace by his chest as the vision before him became blurry. How he wish that he could just run up to Tezuka and tells him how much he had love and yearn for him. But he couldn't. Somewhere within him is holding back. Fear. He had never been in love, never date. He had never felt this weird feeling for a girl let alone now, his friend of the same sex.

But the main reason is his brother. Will Yuuta be able to accept the fact that his elder brother is a, as what the rest of the world would call, homosexual?

"...Te...Tezu..Tezuka... I... This is not right... I... I love you too... so much... that it is scaring me... but... I can't... Yuuta... he...his friends will all tease him if they find out that his brother is a homosexual...gomene Tezuka." The blue eyed hangs up the phone as he hugs his knees towards his face, letting the tears that had been bottled up releasing through his face like stars that had fallen from the sky.

(On the other hand, in Tezuka's room)

Tezuka closes his eyes as the other party hangs up. Collapsing into his bed, the usual calm and stoic captain sent angry punches into his pillows. He can never understand why Fuji would always put his brother above everything else, and above him.

To Tezuka, Yuuta never seems to appreciate his brother's love towards him. And Fuji was always there, protecting the little brat who push him away, not wanting others to compare him to the older brother who had been name the tennis prodigy. Still, being the big brother, Fuji took everything quietly, covering the sorrows within him with a smile that was carve onto his face since Kimi Sama knows when. And it was only when it comes to his brother in concern that he would play his tennis matches seriously. He would defeat those who defeated his brother mercilessly, with Echizen Ryoma in exception. Not that the prodigy have any feelings for the little freshman, he is just grateful that Ryoma had sealed Yuuta's twist spin shot, thus preventing his brother from hurting and damaging his shoulders.

Looking into the mirror, Tezuka stares at the reflection of the tennis racket pendant that was hanging by his neck. This time round, he is going to make sure that Fuji realizes that there are other things that are more important than his little brother.

TBC

/There...another chapter completed. There will be a lot of FujixSaeki friendship in the next chapter...and some TezukaxYuuta hopefully (ah...as in it talking people...) and well of course our Fuji is still running while Tezuka is still chasing. (Grins...I love seeing Tezuka suffer...haha...jus kidding...Fuji will kill me...) The next chapter might be long...and I might put Ryoma, abit more hints on Golden Pair into the picture soon...that is if the story doesn't gets too long.../