-in a daze- Wow… I got so many reviews… Thank you so much!! -hugs- And... and Blue Orbs said they like this fic... -completely in her own world-

Ryoma: "Che, she's still mada mada dane."

Fuji: "Saa, looks like we'll have to take care of this then... -snatches the reviews- Let's see... Hakudoshi-chan asked to get all the other Seigaku regulars paired up too. Naturally she does that... or I do that, actually. But why settle with only the Seigaku team..."

Tezuka: "Fuji..."

Fuji: -smile- "What?"

Tezuka: -glares- "..."

Fuji: "Well if you're not gonna say anything, don't interrupt, ne?"

Eiji: "Hoi! See, Akikage, babymar-mar, she continued!"

Kaidoh: "Hss... She took her time too... tsk."

Eiji: "It's still faster than with some of the other fics. And RoYale, hii, I think buchou was more annoyed with me... and I think he was horny too!"

Tezuka: "Kikumaru! 40 laps!"

Eiji: "Nya! No fair… Ooooishi!"

Oishi: -sigh- "I don't even want to think the answers to tezuka eiri's questions..."

Inui: "There's a 100 per cent probability that this information will spread to the other schools in one week. To Shade25... There is 97 per cent possibility that there are only traditional pairings."

Momo: "Though guess there will be some one-sided MizuFuji. I remember Shade25 once saying she likes that couple."

Ryoma: "No, it was twice."

Eiji: "No, more than that!"

Kawamura: -blush- "Anô, Haru No Uta... Echizen and Momoshiro wouldn't do something like that since they aren't a couple..."

Fuji: "...yet! Nothing that I couldn't easily fix."

Tezuka: "...Fuji..."

Fuji: "Again with the interruptions, Kuni-chan? Do you want the readers to fall asleep before the actual chapter even begins... Though if that happened maybe we could do something... fun. –wicked smile- After all this fic is rated just PG-13 so we can't..."

Eiji: "Nya, Fuji! -blush- We don't have time for that now!"

Fuji: "Fine... –looks at the reviews- That would have been a great idea too, Junebug, but I at least enjoy this option far more -evil smile- And Suain... yes, we all love to torture Kuni-chan, don't we...

Momo: -laugh- "Buchou's gonna have hard time tomorrow, ne, WoLfePaWs?"

Fuji: -smile- And KagomeGirl21, I will pair Golden Pair up soon but for the time being, they're not together yet. Though I would've wanted to see that -beam-

Eiji: -blush- "Fuji!!!"

Fuji: "Don't you want Oishi to kiss you? What about you, Oishi?"

Eiji & Oishi: -blush!-

Ryoma: -smirk- Kikumaru-senpai got what he deserved. And there are other ecchi people like Luma-chan..." –glares at natt syuusuke-

Eiji: "Nya, Ochibi! Don't glare at the readers! It's not nice. Nya... Buchou's not gonna kill me..? –runs to hide behind Fuji- Nya, Risa-chan's being mean..."

Fuji: "Ah, maybe I should tell Yuuta before he finds out some other way... As for Atobe..." -blue, eyes open-

Momo: "Oi, Echizen. You think Mizuki's gonna challenge buchou?" -laugh-

Ryoma: "It seems everyone's there to get buchou..."

Fuji: "Saa, you just don't see the fun in Tezuka torture. Ne, Koyuki?"

Ryoma: "Mada mada dane. Hai, Venedy. Senpai-tachi are being just like they are... Fuji-senpai maybe too much..."

Fuji: Oh right, Yumehime Yana Hossuru. Saeki doesn't know yet either."

Eiji: -laughs- "He needs to gome give away the bride!"

Momo: "Oi, quickly hide this one. Maria-chan has something about Atobe too. I don't wanna Fuji-senpai getting even more annoyed -hides the review under Ryoma's cap before Fuji notices- Haha, and here's more... Yup, enki-sama, she continued."

Fuji: See Tezuka? Isn't in wonderful how people like the two of us together?" -shows the reviews from ruji and Kamikakushi while sitting on Tezuka's lap-

Momo: "Uh, looks like buchou's getting angry... Echizen, let's split!"

Ryoma: "Hai... Luma-chan apologizes for any possible misspelled nicks. Just blame yourselves for making them so hard."

Kawamura: "Anõ... we didn't forget anyone, did we?"

Inui: "There's a 89 per cent possibility that was all."

Eiji: "Let's start already then. I'm getting boooored!"

Oishi: "Yes, let's... No! We almost forgot..."

Momo: "You do it, Echizen!" -pushes Ryoma forward-

Ryoma: -glares- "Why me? Fine... Luma-chan doesn't own any of the tenipuri members. They belong to Konomi Takeshi sensei. As for the stupid plot line... That's complete production of her sick imagination."

Fuji: "Now that wasn't very nice..."

Momo: "She'll get you back for that one." -smirk-

Ryoma: "She's still in a daze. She isn't hearing a thing."

Momo: "Oh, that's right. We should probably wake her up so that we can start..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Chapter 2: The morning after...

Tezuka, being the quiet buchou he was, had to admit that he truly had underestimated how fast gossip travels. Or maybe he had just underestimated certain redheaded acrobatic player who – Tezuka had already decided – would be doing nothing but running laps the whole week. Scratch that. The whole team would be doing nothing but running. The morning practise was a nightmare!

But lets not get ahead of things, shall we. So, in the morning...

Oishi and Kikumaru were the first to arrive after Tezuka and Fuji. Oishi had acted only slightly awkward but otherwise normally. He and Tezuka had been best friends for a long time after all, and Tezuka knew Oishi's shock from the other day was not due disgust but out of surprise. And the discomfort that morning was most likely because the vice-captain held himself responsible for not being able to keep Kikumaru quiet about it – which was nothing to feel sorry about since no one could make Kikumaru keep his mouth shut.

Speaking of the devil... Kikumaru was acting even more hyper that usual, clinging constantly onto Fuji – Tezuka couldn't understand how the redhead managed to change into his tennis clothes while doing that – talking non-stop, occasionally whispering something to Fuji's ear which would make the tensai chuckle. Fuji would then whisper something to Kikumaru and whatever he said seemed to make the redhead even more energetic. Tezuka sweatdropped mentally – he'd have to have a little talk with with his boyfriend before he had the chance to tell something that would make the situation even worse.

Inui arrived next, the notebook ready in his hand. There would so be questions about this.

Kaidoh arrived shortly after Inui. He said nothing but Tezuka could have sworn he saw a light blush on the junior's face. And he seemed to be avoiding eye-contact with either him or Fuji – or actually with anyone in the room.

Kawamura was the next regular to arrive. The quiet boy, Tezuka noticed, was even quieter than usual. Apparently Fuji noticed this too and he walked to Taka-san, sligh worry coloring his ever-smiling face. Tezuka was at the other side of the room and with all the tennis club members talking with each other – though mostly whispering – he couldn't possibly hear what they were talking about. Tezuka assumed Fuji was asking if the other boy was alright... Kawamura had a smile on his face while speaking to Fuji but there seemed to be something forced in the smile.

"Hoi! Fuji", Eiji pounced to his best friend. "Come Fuji. Warm up with me!" Not waiting an answer Eiji started dragging the small brunet out of the club room.

At the door the two of them almost crashed into Momoshiro and Echizen who were just coming in. Both of them smirked at Fuji. When they walked past their buchou, Ryoma just pulled his cap lower and even Momoshiro left out all the witty comments – Tezuka's death glare didn't really give much of a choice.

Tezuka exited the club house soon after Fuji and Eiji, Oishi coming right after him. Neither of them liked the high tension in the room. As soon as the door closed after them, a hell broke loose inside.

"Did you hear..?"

"I can't believe that they..."

"Who would have thought that buchou..."

"No, -sob- Fuji-senpai..."

Ryoma gave an annoyed look towards the non-regulars and rubbed the side of his head. Those idiots were acting like silly teenage girls who just found out something huge about their greatest idol's love life... Okay, so maybe there wasn't such a big difference after all, Ryoma inwardly smirked. Sure, it had took him by surprise – much thanks to Momo-senpai's rather graphic explanation – but he had had a good twenty-four hour to digest the received information and come to the conclusion that he was perfectly okay with what he had heard and as for the rest... Well, it wasn't his business. It had nothing to do with tennis anyway so Ryoma couldn't see anything interesting about it.

"Ryoma-kun..." Katsuo asked as the freshman trio approached the first year regular. "Anõ... is it true?"

"...What they are saying about buchou and Fuji-senpai?" Kachiro added.

Ryoma blinked couple times for the question before re-directing his concentration back into changing his clothes as Horio started to babble something. It was none of Ryoma's concern so why should he tell them if it was true or not. It wasn't like he knew that much more than anyone else. Apparently Momo-senpai – who knew just as little as he did – saw it as a good idea to answer the freshmen's question... with a loud enough voice for everyone in the locker room to hear. Way to go, Momo-senpai, Ryoma thought bitterly. Just stir it up even more. Like all the non-regulars weren't going crazy as it was already...

"Aah, I just wish we could tease the hell out of the two of them... But if we say something to the buchou he'll make us run laps until the seniors graduate. And Fuji-senpai is too scary... Mou, wouldn't you wanna do that too, Echizen?"

"No", the boy answered shortly. Okay, the idea of Tezuka buchou actually making an expression was tempting...

"What?! Why not? C'mon Echizen, don't be boring..."

"Hsss... You baka..." Kaidoh growled, a hint of pink coloring his cheecks – a fact that Inui quickly wrote down in his notebook. "It's none of your business. Just let the senpai-tachi be."

"What did you say, you mamushi?!" Momoshiro yelled, grabbing the collar of Kaidoh's shirt. "It's not your business either. I can do whatever I want."

"Anõ, guys..." Kawamura tried to calm down the arguing two. "You shouldn't be fighti... and, thank you Echizen... ... YOSHAA! BURNING!! No fighting here, you hear me, boys!!" Kaidoh and Momoshiro quickly backed away from each other, barely avoiding the swings of the racket. "No nice, thinking of teasing our buchou and my Fujiko-chan..."

The burning mode shut off as Inui removed the racket from his hand. Kawamura blushed because of what he had said and Inui of course quickly wrote it down (a/n: If you didn't catch it – none of the other club members did, with the exception of Inui – Taka-san said our buchou but my Fujiko-chan...)

Inui adjusted his glasses. "I have to collect data conserning this relationship..." he spoke mostly to himself. The others sweatdropped.

Momoshiro groaned – why was the data freak the only one to agree with him about torturing the two... Well he hadn't actually agreed to it but knowing Inui-senpai's data collecting methods... Mou, Eiji-senpai would so wanna do it too but he was already outside, warming up with Fuji-senpai... and probably already interrogating Fuji-senpai! It was so unfair! Eiji-senpai was Fuji-senpai's best friend so he didn't have to worry about the consequenses that ultimately followed if you annoyed the tensai... or at least he wouldn't have to worry about it as much as some other guy. Well, maybe Momo could still eavesdrop...

--------------

The practise... was terrible. The only ones whose playing didn't seem any different from usual were Fuji, Oishi, Eiji and Echizen (ah, what to be expected from the future pillar of Seigaku, Tezuka mused).

And the sudden decrease of playing skills wasn't the only thing different, Tezuka noticed when he felt yet another cold stare at his back. He never saw the people throwing cold glares at his direction though.

But he did see the glances directed at Fuji.

And there was nothing cold in those looks. Oh, no no no no no... quite the opposite. It was driving Tezuka mad. Everyone cought staring his boyfriend were sent running laps – because of their lack of consentration. That wasn't even a completely false reason either. Should the consentration level of the tennis club members be any lower... oh well, it wasn't even possible.

Soon almost every club member was running and Tezuka was faced with another problem. Now that there were so few people practising, he was running out of excuses to avoid Inui and his... questions. Tezuka couldn't even bring himself to think those because this fic is rated PG-13 and the content of those questions might do severe damage to the innocent minds of the younger readers. Naturally Tezuka chose to solve his problem as any other...

Inui ended up running laps for the rest ot the practise.

--------------

Tezuka gave a long sigh after the locker room door closed, leaving him and Fuji as the last ones still there.

"Bad morning?" Fuji questioned with a smile on his face.

Tezuka gave a small annoyed groan and went to check his bag. "You haven't talked with Inui yet?" he asked the smaller boy. Tezuka had kept close watch over Fuji during the practise so he shouldn't have had the opportunity for that yet but...

"No... should I have?"

"Don't talk with him", Tezuka said sternly. Knowing Fuji, he might actually answer Inui's questions.

Fuji made a mental note to self to talk with Inui as soon as possible. He was pretty sure Inui wanted some data about the two of them and wanted to ask some questions... Questions that apparently had disturbed Tezuka's peace of mind. Fuji's smile grew wider. It was a good thing Tezuka hadn't heard any of the variations of rumors going around in the tennis club. Fuji had had no idea the broken phone effect would work so quickly.

(a/n: For those who are not familiar with the term 'broken phone effect': Broken phone is a (kids') game where the first player makes up a sentence and whispers it to the next one. That person whispers it to the next and this goes on until the last player says it out loud – usually the sentence is very different from the original. Broken phone effect is a phrase used to describe how rumors tend to change shape as they are told to new people...)

"What are you smiling about?" Tezuka asked when he noticed Fuji's smile was just the tiniest bit wider that usual and his eyes were opened so little that just the smallest glimpse of azuril gleam could be seen under the almost fully closed eyelids.

"Ah, nothing really", the smaller boy said, walking to Tezuka's side. "Just wondering how I never noticed earlier how ecchi our club members are..."

"What?" Tezuka heard himself asking although there was no way he wanted to hear the answer for that.

"I just heard some rather... interesting rumors about us... "Fuji said in a teasing voice, playing with the upmost button on Tezuka's shirt. The fact that Fuji hadn't finished changing yet and was divinely shirtless at the moment didn't go unnoticed by Tezuka. "And some of them..." Fuji continued but stopped as a light shade of pink spread over his pale cheeks.

Well that certainly was something new... Fuji almost never blushed. Actually Tezuka couldn't remember a single time Fuji had blushed that didn't include the... No! That kind of thoughts aside! Like it wasn't hard enough to be this close to a shirtless Fuji already. But they were at school so... Anyway – Tezuka managed to re-collect his thoughts – some of the rumors had to be really... unique in order to make the tensai blush even the slightest. Mental note to self: the whole tennis club will do nothing but running laps the whole afternoon practise.

Fuji had quickly gotten rid of the faint blush and had already managed to undone the first four buttons on Tezuka's shirt. "There were quite a few interesting ones..." Fuji whispered against Tezuka's now bare chest, his lips barely touching the tanned skin.

"Fuji..." It took all the self-control Tezuka had not to ravish the tempting lips right then and there. "We're at school..."

"So?" Fuji finished his work with Tezuka's shirt and drew lazy circles with his index finger on Tezuka's chest. "Trust me. We can't do anything to make the rumors worse that they already...

Tezuka interrupted Fuji's words by slamming the smaller boy against the locker room wall and sealing their lips into a passionate kiss. What the heck, Tezuka thought. Being sane wasn't so fun anyway...

Fuji smiled in the kiss and wrapped his arms around the taller boy's shoulders, pressing their bare chests together. An involuntary moan escaped Tezuka's lips and one of his hands moved to undo Fuji's pants...

"...I said already I didn't forget it, it must have just..." Momoshiro's mouth snapped shut only to be opened wide to a open-mouthed stare when he saw what they had walked into. Yes, they. Tezuka cursed inwardly at the sight of three pairs of wide eyes that belonged to Momoshiro, Kikumaru and Echizen.

"Saa, guys..." Tezuka heard Fuji saying. He had the usual smile on his face but there was a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Do you mind?"

Kikumaru and Momoshiro's mouths spread into wide, evil grins and even Ryoma – who had already decided earlier it was none of his business – allowed a little smirk to appear on his lips.

"Sure, Fuji-senpai", Momoshiro tried to hold in his laughter which was really hard, despite Tezuka's glare that promised violent murder. "Please do continue."

"Hoi, don't be late for class, Fuji", Eiji snickered. "Or do you want me to tell the teacher you had something important..." Momoshiro and Echizen yanked their senpai away from the door before their buchou could get his voice working again and order them 3000 laps.

"Aa, Tezuka..." Fuji said – maybe just a little amused – after the troublesome trio had left and placed his palm on Tezuka's cheek, directing the taller boy's attention back to himself. "I already told you. We can't do anything to make the rumors worse."

--------------

The rest of the day seemed to go pretty much the same. Or probably worse, actually, considering the whole school had much more students than just the tennis club members and somehow they all seemed to be aware of the relationship between the captain and the tensai of the tennis club by lunch break. There were different variations of this piece of information but nevertheless...

And if Tezuka though the looks Fuji got during the practise were bad...

Tezuka gritted his teeth annoyed when Fuji arrived at the cafeteria with Kikumaru. As soon as the tensai entered the room, two girls immediately clung themselves to Fuji, weeping and saying that they didn't care who 'Fuji-sama' was with and and they would still love him forever and ever. It took the full effort of both Kikumaru and Inui (who had entered the room soon after them) to untangle the girls from Fuji. Before they even had taken one step forward. a second year boy appeared before them. "Fuji-senpai" was the only word he managed to say before breaking into tears and and running away. Eiji gave a foul look to Inui who was writing this down into his notebook – he couldn't believe how the data player could be so insensitive – but his face soon widened into a Cheshire cat grin when a group of second year girls surrounded Fuji. Squealing and giggling they all told how cute Tezuka-senpai and Fuji-senpai looked together as a couple – never mind the fact that no one had actually seen the two of them "together as a couple".

This was how it had been the entire day and frankly, Fuji was getting bored. What didn't bore him though was the oh-so-very-jealous look on Tezuka's face whenever someone came to confess their love to him, swearing that he/she would be much better lover that Tezuka. And what greatly amused Fuji was that Tezuka didn't even notice the uproar among his own fans. Of course that might be because of the possessive azuril eyes which promised doom to anyone who dared to step more than three feet closer to the rensai's property. Tezuka, though intimidating, wasn't feared among the students – with the exeption of the tennis club members who were all too familiar with the wrath of Tezuka's foul mood – unlike Fuji Syusuke. Even though the most popular student among both the male and female polulation of the school, everyone knew not to annoy the tensai in any way. The consequenses would be... very unpleasant.

"Hi buchou! Having a good day?" Kikumaru asked grinning, seating himself to the same table as some of the other regulars. Tezuka nearly choked on his food at the question. The redhead was obviously testing his limits – how far could he push Tezuka without suffering the consequenses due to his position as Fuji's best friend. Just you wait the afternoon practise, Kikumaru... Tezuka hissed in his mind.

Oishi gave a scolding look at his doubles partner, warning him silently to stop before he'd really make Tezuka mad. Eiji just rolled his eyes – Oishi was being so serious again – and flashed a cute, apologetic smile to the vice-captain. A very faint shade of pink covered Oishi's cheeks for a moment and he directed his eyes to somewhere else than the redhead. Inui noticed this and wrote down the interesting piece of information. Fuji however, was uncharacteristically clueless to whatever there was or wasn't between the Golden Pair since his concentration was fixated fully on Tezuka.

--------------

"See you at practise!" Eiji said to the others as he and Fuji got ready to leave. The redhead took Fuji's arm and the two of them headed towards their class, walking slightly faster than usual – as much as Eiji enjoyed watching all the attention his friend was getting, being late from class because of it wasn't something he wanted. Being late meaned detention and Eiji... Nya, he hated detention.

Fuji had also decided that Eiji was having much fun on his behalf – too much actually if you asked the tensai. And now that Tezuka wasn't there, Fuji was again getting bored by the fuss around him.

"...and you don't believe this one rumor I heard!" Eiji explained grinning widely as they sat down on their seats. "These two girls – they had to be yaoi fans or something coz otherwise they couldn't have said something like that with a straight face – were saying that you and buchou..."

"Ne, was it something you'd like to do with Oishi?" Fuji teased. Eiji and Oishi were the Golden Pair of Seigaku's tennis club – which Fuji found a very romantic expression – he was always ready to hint towards the two of them being more than just friends every time he got the change to do so. Eiji would then laugh and make a new joke about it. Now, however...

When Fuji didn't hear the familiar laughter he opened his eyes to look at Eiji. No, Eiji really wasn't laughing it off – instead his lips were tightly pressed together and even though he had partly turned away from Fuji, the tensai could easily notice his face was almost the same color as his hair. Now this was odd... Could the rumor Eiji had been about to tell him be so bad that when it was turned against himself... No, that wouldn't be because then he wouldn't have found it funny when it was about Tezuka and him... Fuji's eyes opened even wider at the realization and a very wide smile appeared on his lips.

"You've got a crush on Oishi", Fuji said smiling and Eiji's face – if possible – turned into an ever darker shade of red.

Eiji thanked the gods the teacher arrived just then. Fuji however was not happy. He wanted answers.

Fuji teased Eiji about them being the Golden Pair frequently so it had to be resent. But even so there had definitely been signs. Signs that he, Fuji Syusuke, should have noticed. Had he been too involved with Tezuka to notice? Or was it because of them, him and Tezuka, that the child-like Eiji had noticed that there actually were other kind of relationship possibilities than just friendship? He wanted to know and hoped the class would be over soon...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TBC...

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Saa, the next chapter will be up soon... hopefully. I have wrote couple pages already (my hand hurts like hell...). -smile- This chapter pretty much concentrated on one thing – Tezuka torture! –looks aroung to make sure Tezuka isn't there to order laps for punishment- Next there's gonna be some Golden Pair! -siiiigh- I'm so addicted to GP right now. Nagayan is so cute Eiji in the tenimyu 3... Waah, I wanna see the Dream Live 1st... But I'm happy I got the backstage for the third – Nagayan's so adorable when he's mimicing KENN's (Yuuta) lines and KENN, trying to shut him up -smile- But...but... I can't believe there won't be anymore musicals with the original cast... –reads the reports from the last tenimyus with the original cast- Kimeru (Fuji) couldn't finish You Got Game? coz he was crying so much and then Yanagi (Ryoma) and Kimeru, hugging and crying on stage... –starts crying herself- ...and when Yanagi was in the accident after the first musical and fell into coma... -sob- ...and Kimeru was crying so much when he got the phone call telling that Yanagi had finally opened his eyes... -falls to the floor crying-

Fuji: "Saa, I don't think Luma-chan is able to write anything for a while... plus I don't think the last couple sentences she wrote there made much sense either."

Ryoma: "Well can you blame her?"

Fuji: "Ara, Echizen, I didn't know you could be so caring." -smile-

Ryoma: -blush- "Mada mada dane."

Fuji: "Would you cry for me if I fell into coma?"

Eiji: "Nya, Fuji! You can't say things like that!" -glomps Fuji-

Fuji: "Ah, gomen Eiji."

Eiji:"Hoi, thanks to all who read this. Please review."

Fuji: "Luma-chan also loves getting e-mails and if you have anything else..."

Eiji: Hoi, many people have been asking where to get the tenipuri musicals! Since she doesn't have a credit card she also has just the downloads herself too."

Fuji: "And by the way, she's thinking about writing a NC-17 bonus chapter 'Sugar high' for this fic – that is if she gots the courage to actually write it. If she does, she'll be posting it in her livejournal. It's about me and Tezuka, of course. And then there's another NC-17 fic too, 'Vanilla'... It would be me and Echizen... or actually it'd be the last (optional) chapter for the fic 'The promise to make you mine' she haven't started to even write yet..."

Ryoma: "Senpai-tachi... little help here..." -points to Luma-chan clinging on his neck, crying her eyes out-

Fuji: "Saa, we better try to cheer her up then..."