Disclaimer: Takeshi Konomi created Prince of Tennis. Anything you recognize – I don't own. Anything you don't – I do own.
Pieces of My Heart
Chapter 3 – Meddling
The rain was pouring outside and dark clouds gathered together in the sky above the library. Drivers rushed their cars on the streets, not wanting to get caught in the rain, and a dark figure walked out of the main door of the building with an umbrella in his hands. As he came closer into the light, a dazed and happy expression was imprinted on his handsome face.
What had just happened?
Kazami Haiyato thought as he stepped into the rain, the sound of the liquid hitting his umbrella woke him from his thoughts. Everything happened so fast that he didn't have enough time to remember what made him come out in the rain, instead of being in a nice and warm place with Sakuno. All he really remembered is that Kikumaru-senpai and Fuji-senpai had came into the library, and the hyper redhead accidentally killed a nerve in his left foot, but afterwards…
20 Minutes Ago
"So, Ryuzaki-chan," Fuji asked pleasantly, "what are you and Kazami-kun doing here?"
"Kazami-san is tutoring me in E-English," Sakuno replied politely, "W-We have a test on Monday."
"Saa…is that so?" Fuji's ever-present smile widened by a bit, "Well, good luck on the test, Ryuzaki-chan."
"Nya! English is so troublesome, don't you think so, Sakuno-chan." Eiji bounced into the conversation in a way that only he can. "Oh, can I call you Sakuno-chan?"
"S-Sure, Kikumaru-senpai" Sakuno was a little taken back, "and thank you, Fuji-senpai."
"You're welcome." For a second, Sakuno thought she saw a slit of blue peeking out under the long lashes. But as fast as it came, it was gone.
Fuji spoke up again, "So, is he good at tutoring?"
Kazami smiled sheepishly, "Welllll, I kind of didn't get the part about compound sentences…hehehe."
Eiji peered at the English textbook and smiled teasingly at Sakuno and Kazami. "And it's the most important part, too, nya!"
"Excuse me for a moment, please. I need to get a cup of coffee, rainy days always get me a little tired." Fuji chuckled. "Anyone want a cup?"
After all three of them shook their heads, Fuji stood up, graceful as ever, and walked out of the sight. Eiji started with his usual cheerful chatter, but while Kazami listened attentively, Sakuno started to study her English notebook again. After what seemed like forever, Fuji finally returned with a single cup of coffee in his hands.
"Sorry," he apologized, "it was a long line-up."
Eiji smiled brightly. "No worries, Fuji. I was just telling Kazami about how the old team was doing."
"Saa…, is that so?"
"Do you still play tennis, Fuji-senpai?" Kazami questioned curiously. He had heard that Tezuka went into professional tennis, but nobody mentioned anything about Fuji playing.
"Sometimes," came the brief answer.
"Oh, why only sometimes? Are your classes that time consuming?"
"I guess." Another short answer.
"Why hadn't you gone pro?"
"Pro? I don't know…I guess that it is just not for me." Fuji replied. " Anyways, how are your classes, Kazami-kun?"
"Fine, I think. But Ryuzaki-chan is having a little bit of trouble with English, right?" He teased gently, but when nobody heard Sakuno answer, the three pairs of eyes turned in her direction.
Instead of studying intently as they expected her to be doing, Sakuno was staring into space. She had turned her head so that her gaze was facing the window, her expressive eyes widened slightly, an unreadable expression written on her face. Outside the glass, wind was blowing wildly while the rain was pouring down the sky.
Snap
Kazami smiled as Sakuno blushed as she realized that she had been zoning out. "Welcome back. Did you have a nice trip?"
"G-Gomen." She answered meekly, "I should've paid more attention."
"Nya," Eiji decided to cut in, "no worries, not a lot of people could stay focused in English."
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Kazami agreed. "Anyways, as I was saying…"
As he droned on and on, Fuji followed Sakuno's gaze as her eyes went back to where she had been staring at before. Holding an umbrella and wearing his usual expression…
Echizen Ryoma was a lot closer to the entrance of the library now.
If nobody else were watching, Fuji's smirk would have been at full blast right now. Just as he expected, Echizen had no idea how the girl was still head over heels in love with him, and he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. Mentally, he started checking off his list.
Step one: getting Ryoma to come to the library. Complete.
Fuji turned his attention back to Eiji and Kazami, who were busy talking about their favourite singing group…
" – and then I opened it up, it was their latest concert CD!" Eiji proceeded to tell the other guy about the concert CD his sister got for him for his birthday.
"Wow…," Kazami half-whispered jealously. "My sister was never that nice."
Eiji smiled proudly, "Haha, my onee-chan is the best!"
"I can tell." Kazami smiled.
"Do you want to come and watch the concert CD, nya?" Eiji offered helpfully.
The younger guy's expression was apologetic, "I would really love to, but I'm going walk Ryuzaki-chan home first. There is no way that I'm letting her walk home alone."
"It's okay," Fuji spoke up suddenly, causing everybody to look at him. "I'll stay and tutor Ryuzaki-chan her English and you two can watch the concert CD together."
Kazami's expression stayed the same. "No, it is too much trouble to you. Besides, I promised Ryuzaki-chan I would help her to study."
"Saa… I insist," Fuji said. "I can tell you want to watch that CD. You don't need to worry. I'll make sure that Ryuzaki-chan gets home safely."
"Kazami-san, it's ok. Really." Sakuno reassured the vice-captain.
"Good," Eiji smiled. "Then it's settled. Kazami-kun, can you go and wait for a bit while I talk to Fuji for a minute?" With that, he guided the other two males out of the corner that they were at.
When he finished collecting his things, Kazami was still a little reluctant to leave Sakuno even though she had insisted that he should go.
"Alright," he sighed. "Are you sure you will be okay though?"
She smiled gently at him and he grinned back. "I'll go find Kikumaru–senpai now. If you have anymore troubles, you know where to find me."
"H-Hai, Kazami-san."
"Kun."
"Huh?" The timid girl was surprised.
"Call me Kazami-kun," he said good naturally with an easy smile. "Kazami-san makes me feel too old"
Sakuno stared at him for a second before her lips curved into a shy smile. "Hai, K-Kazami-kun."
He grinned and turned to go, leaving Sakuno to stare at his back as he walked away. After his form disappeared from her view, she just smiled into the space before turning her head back down to study more English.
"Nya! What are you planning to do now?" Eiji practically bounced around Fuji to get more information.
"Shhhh, Eiji. Don't be too loud." The other didn't reveal anything as usual.
"But Fuji," the cheerful acrobatic player whined. "I'm a part of this too!"
"I know, Eiji," Fuji comforted. "Although right now, we need to take one step at a time about what we are going to do."
"Fuji!" He pouted. "Stop talking in circles and tell me! What are you planning to do next?"
"Sa..." the ex-tennis prodigy half murmured to himself, not really replying his best friend.
Before Eiji even moved his lips to make a reply, Kazami's voice was heard. "Kikumaru-senpai?"
Eiji turned around and gave the source of the voice a big cheery smile. "Ay, Kazami-kun. Are you ready now?" After a nod of affirmation was received, he put his jacket on and turned to Fuji.
"I'll see you tomorrow, nya?" Fine, we'll drop this for now. You will tell me about it, right?
"Of course." Fuji made his silent apology. Every little detail, I promise.
"You better," Eiji winked. "Oishi and Tezuka are coming to my apartment for the monthly dinner. Don't be late!" Good. Or else I'll tell on you to them.
The other man chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't." Haha, we'll see about that.
Sakuno was still having trouble with structures of a compound sentence and how it differs from a complex sentence when she heard light footsteps approaching her. Looking up, she found Fuji's ever-smiling face look back at her. He caught her gaze and sat down in the chair across from her casually.
"Sorry that I took so long," Fuji apologized. He wasn't very pleased at how everything turned out. Even though he got the point to his plans through, things did not go as smoothly as he wanted – thanks to Kazami's amazing patience. It was supposed to be fun since Kazami was supposed to be suffering out of annoyance, anger, whatever. Kazami should have left the library unsettled and a little angry, not happy and excited. Oh well. Even though he did not have as much fun as his sadistic side would have liked, Kazami did leave the library.
Sakuno shook her head left to right quickly, "N-No. It's alright."
"Okay," Fuji took her English textbook and read over some of the paragraphs. "Let's look at the structure of compound sentences once more."
When all the response that he had from Sakuno was her exhaling some breaths shakily, Fuji knew immediately what happened. As soon as he had looked up, he mentally noted that Sakuno was staring past him with those big cinnamon eyes of hers. It certainly didn't take him three tries to guess who it was that stood behind him.
This time, Fuji didn't even try to control the smirk that found its way to his lips. There, looking grumpier than ever, stood Echizen Ryoma clutching his wet umbrella.
AN: I'm SOOOOOO sorry, everybody. I know this is what you are all thinking. This is ALL she writes after that long of a waiting? First, I had this incredible huge writer's block and I didn't like anything that I wrote. So I erased them all and decided to start this chapter over. Then, I had this PoT withdrawal for a while. Now I just watched the RAW of 176 with Tezuka and Fuji match and my inspiration came back in full force D. Thank you for everybody who waited patiently and still have me on their favourite/alert list )
Anyways, R/R!
