A Tale of Two Tezukas
Disclaimers: Thoroughly not mine.
Notes: A Prince of Tennis/Here is Greenwood crossover – it was inevitable. For beckymarie still.
Part Two:
Tezuka Nagisa lived a hard life. She was raised in a family that didn't appreciate her, because she had Mr. Perfect for a brother — and to make things worse, her cousin was Mr. Perfect, too. She wasn't fond on Kun-chan at all. Nagisa rarely saw him, but when she did, his presence just underscored how terrible things were for her.
It wasn't enough that she was a neglected child. It wasn't enough that her parents blatantly favored her brother over her. It wasn't enough that she had to grow up in the shadow of someone younger than she was. Oh, no. Her cousin was exactly the same as Shinobu — perfect in every aspect. Popular, handsome, student council president... and he was only fourteen. To make matters worse, he didn't even have the same annoying personality as Shinobu. Kun-chan seemed intent on ignoring her. Shinobu would at least react if she pushed him hard enough. Kun-chan seemed intent of proving that it was possible to be colder than an ice cube.
She didn't get it. How come everyone was so intent on talking about how wonderful Kun-chan was?
The final straw, though, was hearing about how Kun-chan was expected to win national recognition this year for his tennis. It was all her father could talk about — how Kunimitsu was going to become a pro player, and bring recognition to the family name. It would be quite an honor — Shinobu would take over the family company, and Tezuka would be a special relation that would attract attention and renown. How perfect that was!
Nagisa had seethed. Nagisa had played when she was younger, and while she had become quite good, she had never even merited a "good job." There was absolutely no place for her in her father's kingdom-building scheme. And how the heck had Kun-chan gotten so good, anyway? Tennis required passion, and as far as she could see, Kun-chan was as passionate as a dead fish.
Life was not fair.
Wasn't it enough that she had to put up with Shinobu? Why the hell was she cursed to have two of them in her life?
The thing that really bothered her was Kun-chan's lack of personality. Shinobu was constantly saying Kun-chan was his favorite relative, which annoyed Nagisa to no end, because as far as she could see, there was no personality there to favor. Maybe Kun-chan was hiding the fact that he was crazy, she thought. Keeping a strict control to keep from cracking like an egg. - Lord knew that being related to Shinobu would do that to a person!
Or... even if he wasn't, might it be possible to make him that way? she wondered, chewing on a fingernail thoughtfully. It would be very hard for him to keep winning his precious tennis games if he was actually crazier than a loon.
A smile formed on her face as she realized exactly what she had to do. By the time she was done with Kun-chan, there wouldn't be enough left of his sanity for him to think straight, let alone play tennis.
It was cruel, Nagisa admitted to herself, but it wasn't like he didn't deserve it.
Fuji Syuusuke was always looking for amusement, and the fact that it had just fallen into his lap was more than he could have asked for.
Inui had upped the ante at the last lap, as per usual, and managed to poison everyone on the team except the regulars. It was a good thing - it would make it easier for Fuji to slip away and change quickly as the non-regulars groaned and twitched on the ground, while Oishi worried over them. He winked at Oishi, who gave him a look that was divided between concern and fear.
Oishi knew that Fuji was up to something, but had no clue what.
Rushing to the club room, he slipped out of his tennis clothes and grabbed his school bag, and Tezuka's, which Mitsuru had intentionally left behind as an excuse for Fuji to accompany him, instead of walking with Kikumaru as per usual.
"Hoi hoi!" Kikumaru called. "You're in a hurry!"
"I think Tezuka forgot his bag," Fuji said, juggling both bags. "I need to catch up with him."
Kikumaru smiled. "I'll come with you!" he volunteered.
Fuji had been expecting that. Kikumaru was always willing to tag along, because he loved to be around people. That was why they had already planned a distraction.
"I think Oishi wanted to talk to you, actually," Fuji said.
Kikumaru, never one to sense a trick, totally ignored Fuji's sly look. "Really?"
"I've got to go," Fuji said, waving a hand as he hustled out of the club room. "Maybe you and Oishi can walk home together."
That killed two birds with one stone. He knew Oishi had fully intended on coming over to Tezuka's after distracting Eiji, but planting the notion of walking home together in Eiji's brain was a masterstroke. There would be no way that Oishi would be able to escape... which suited Fuji just fine.
Oishi would spend the evening squirming, wondering what the hell was going on.
Now to take care of Inui, Fuji thought.
Inui would be more difficult to deal with, because Inui was more cautious. Inui wasn't able to read Fuji anymore than Oishi was, but the easiest way through Inui was Kaidou. Inui had an almost unholy interest in his kohai's training...
Kaidou was hissing a bit as he walked to the room, obviously on the way to change. Fuji knew that Kaidou was likely to change into a different set of exercise clothes, since he was likely to work on his extended menu.
Fuji frankly thought he was a bit obsessive. Tennis was fun, but there was such a thing as a life. Kaidou didn't seem to have one.
Well, Fuji might actually be doing his kohai a service, if his plan succeeded. If not...
Well, it would still be fun to watch the fall-out.
Walking up to Kaidou, he paused for a second, and proceeded to wear his best puzzled expression.
"What are you doing here?" he wondered.
"Huh?" Kaidou asked, though it came out sounding more as a hiss than anything else.
Fuji frowned thoughtfully. "I thought... nevermind."
Kaidou stared at him in genuine confusion — and no wonder. There was no way he could have a clue what Fuji was talking about.
"Fuji-senpai, what are you talking about?"
Fuji shrugged. "It's just that Inui told me that you and he were— nevermind. I guess I was wrong. I didn't think you were like that, anyway." He proceeded to give Kaidou his best smile, before racing off to meet Mitsuru.
He could practically hear Kaidou's internal thoughts work themselves into a frenzy as they automatically assumed the worst.
Oh, he hadn't had so much fun in weeks.
.
Mitsuru was rather amused by the whole mess, once he figured out exactly what was going on. Dealing with Nagisa tended to take a lot of energy, but her reactions when things went sour were simply priceless.
Besides, he always wanted to go undercover.
Wearing the uniform of a middle school student was giving him flashbacks, and he adjusted his collar a bit, smiling a bit in nostalgia. The cuffs were just a bit long, which seemed to be a bit insulting in a way. It wasn't right that a middle-school student was taller than he was.
But Mitsu-chan was Shinobu's cousin, so Mitsuru should have expected him to excel.
He waited just inside the gate, waiting for Fuji to catch up. He estimated that the middle school student would take about fifteen minutes to do his laps and change, which meant that he had plenty of time to kill. He glanced at his watch a few times, watching as the time ticked down.
Other clubs were letting out, and he was a bit annoyed that he wasn't able to say anything to the girls who were wandering by. He was under the impression that Mitsu-chan held himself aloof from his classmates, so waving or interacting was out. It royally sucked – being in an all boy's school made him appreciate the fairer sex (even if they were a few years younger than he was), and not being able to at least openly show that admiration was unjust.
It was so idiotic – how could the boy attend a co-ed school and not appreciate it?
Still, Mitsuru leaned against the wall, remembering to keep his posture rigid. A few girls snuck glances at him, and he ignored them. They tittered a bit, and he decided that the untouchable routine might have something going for it.
"Ano... Tezuka-kun?" a voice said from his side.
Mitsuru didn't notice for a second, thinking the person was referring to his roommate before he remembered that was Mitsu-chan's last name. Turning his head slightly, he noted a pretty girl shifting back and forth on her heels, looking uneasy.
He hoped she was standing back far enough not to see his eyes, and that the glasses were good enough camouflage. "Yes?" he asked, and then remembered too late that Mitsu-chan's voice was much deeper than his.
Some things in life just didn't make sense.
She blinked a bit, but apparently decided to ignore it. "Um... I wanted to ask if you had considered my question?" she said, staring down at her hands.
Mitsuru felt a nervous sweat break out along the back of his neck. He had no clue what she was talking about, who she was, or anything. "I... haven't had a chance to give it any thought yet," he said honestly enough. "Can you ask me tomorrow?" he hedged.
She looked confused. "But... I need to know tonight!" she said, looking up at him earnestly, meeting his eyes squarely.
Mitsuru tried to jerk his eyes away, but it was too late. She had seen.
Blinking a bit, she leaned in closer. Her breath caught, and Mitsuru cursed inside. He hadn't even been able to make it off campus without getting caught! Some double he made! Shinobu was going to kill him!
"Did you get contacts?" she asked eagerly.
Walking beside Shinobu was something that Tezuka hadn't done in a while, and he could remember why. Whenever he was with his cousin, he always felt on his guard, as though Shinobu was about to say or do something that would adversely affect him.
It rarely happened, but it was though few times that Shinobu actually acted that had taught Tezuka to be wary. Come to think of it, it was very like dealing with Fuji...
The tie around his neck was too tight, but Tezuka didn't dare loosen it. He felt as though the world was slightly distant without his glasses, and having Shinobu with him made him wonder if he was in some kind of bizarre dream – or nightmare. He was half expecting his alarm to go off.
He didn't ask where they were going, because Shinobu probably wouldn't tell him. Shinobu delighted in keeping secrets just for the sake of having them. Tezuka decided that it would be best to just keep quiet and learn where they were going when they got there.
Shinobu seemed to like the silence, but after about ten minutes, he broke it. "How's ojiisan?" he asked.
Tezuka had never been quite sure how their grandfather had ended up living with them, since his father was the younger son. Sometimes he rather regretted it, since while he had been raised to respect his elders, it was hard to respect someone whom he suspected Nagisa had inherited her insanity from. "The same."
"Ah," Shinobu said. "Father asked about you."
Tezuka wasn't particularly concerned. Shinobu's father may have been the current head of the family, since their grandfather had dropped the responsibility on him when he turned eighteen, but Tezuka knew that he didn't have anything to worry about. He had tennis, and that was all that mattered. "That's good," he said.
"He had been rather upset with my brother," Shinobu continued, "and actually is considering seeing if your father would mind switching."
Switching? Tezuka wondered. He didn't really see that much of his cousin Akira, who had always struck him as a man who would always be just shy of being good enough. "What do you mean?"
"An heir and a spare," Shinobu said. "That old saying. And since you're already a Tezuka, it would be simple to... arrange a discreet switch."
Tezuka would have claimed it was Shinobu pulling his leg, but sadly he knew that his uncle had some rather unorthodox notions about inheritance. He'd already declared that Shinobu was his heir, instead of one of his two older children, so it wouldn't be too large of a surprise to see him attempt to try to talk his brother into switching children.
And Tezuka had the sneaking suspicious that if enough money exchanged hands, his father would agree. "I'd rather not," he said, hoping to nip it in the bud.
"Are you sure? I think it'd be fun to have a little brother."
"I like being an only child," he informed Shinobu.
Shinobu thought on it for a second. "True. My siblings both seem to be insane – I don't know how I'd deal with a sane one."
"Maybe the condition is contagious. It's something I'd rather not risk," Tezuka said in his driest tone.
Shinobu actually came to an abrupt halt. "Do you know, that was almost funny, Mitsu-chan?"
"No. Talk to your father, Shinobu-niisan," Tezuka said.
Shinobu sighed as the two resumed their walk toward a destination Tezuka still didn't know. "I'll see to it. Still, it would have been fun."
Ryoma had finished his laps and quickly departed to find out what was going on with his captain. It had been hard to decline Momoshiro's invitation to burgers, but sacrifices sometimes had to be made. Back in his uniform, he set off to catch up with Tezuka, or, failing that, Fuji. Dealing with Fuji was like dancing on very thin ice - a wrong step could send you stumbling through - but chances were he'd know what was going on.
It didn't take long to find Tezuka, waiting by the gate, but the sight immediately set alarms off in Ryoma's head. Tezuka was talking a girl and his body posture was all wrong. He seemed... to be getting pushed back?
That wasn't in line at all with the Tezuka Ryoma knew. Tezuka was completely indifferent to the blatant flirtations many girls offered him, an expert in the art of the brush off. This time, though, he was leaning back slightly, moving his head subtly from side to side as he sought an escape route.
Ryoma's eyes narrowed as he studied him. The hair and uniform were right, and no one else in school wore those particular glasses, but... It hit Ryoma - who admittedly wasn't the most observant people - like a ton of bricks. The Tezuka at the gate was an imposter. He almost stumbled as he realized what was happening. The boy was the one who had intruded on their practice earlier.
Things were interesting, weren't they? It really was none of his business why there was a fake Tezuka wandering around, but his curiosity was piqued. A slight smirk lit Ryoma's face and he walked straight at the fake.
"Ne, buchou?" he called, unable to keep quiet.
The fake Tezuka looked at him with a bit of panic, and Ryoma's sharp sight saw that the eyes were nearly the same unusual violet as Momo-senpai's. The girl who had been trying to talk to Tezuka continued to babble, ignoring the newcomer.
"I like them! But... why are you wearing glasses on top of contacts?" She leaned in closer. "The color is really very pretty.."
"He doesn't like wearing bifocals," another voice said from behind them, and Ryoma felt his body stiffen. There was only one person with that distinctive alto.
Fuji walked over to the imposter, and grabbed his arm. "Ne, Kunimistu, we need to get going. You were going to help me with my... homework."
"I'm always glad for your... help, Syuusuke..." he said. He leaned a bit toward Fuji, a posture that was full of invitation.
Now Ryoma knew this Tezuka was a fake. There was no way in a hundred years Tezuka would ever respond to Fuji's teasing flirtation in kind.
Luckily, the girl didn't know Tezuka as well as Ryoma did, and she fell for it, hook, line and sinker.. The slight innuendo wasn't missed by her, who turned a brilliant shade of red, glancing back and forth between Fuji and the other boy. "I-I... I've got homework!" she declared, hurrying off as though someone had set her skirt on fire.
The three boys stared at each other for a long minute before Ryoma cracked the silence. "Who are you?"
Fuji merely smiled. "Don't you recognize Tezuka?"
Ryoma snorted, crossing his arms and waited for an explanation.
Mitsuru found the boy nearly as amusing as he found Suka-chan.
Ryoma and Fuji were both walking him toward Tezuka's house. Ryoma had refused to leave once he found out that something was going on, and Fuji had offered to let him walk with them. Mitsuru hadn't liked the idea of adding someone else to their plan, but they hadn't had any other option.
"Tezuka-buchou's family is weird," had been Ryoma's only comment on hearing about what was going on.
Fuji seemed to find the whole situation vastly amusing, and preceded to begin tweaking Mitsuru the same way he did Tezuka. Mitsuru didn't rise to the bait or twitch at Fuji's needling, instead offering his own subtle comments that caused a slight blush to rise in Ryoma's cheeks.
"What kind of sports do you play?" Fuji asked.
"Whatever. I'm pretty good at most everything - but I really like martial arts."
"I tried them for a while, but I found I got too... sweaty."
"There's good kinds of sweaty. If you work... hard at it, it can be a lot of fun."
"Maybe you can show me a few moves? Maybe I wasn't learning with the right... partner."
Yes, they definitely had Ryoma looking embarrassed. Mitsuru stole a look, forcing himself to keep from smiling. It was very satisfying to unsettle someone who seemed to be a cocky little brat. He was so lost in his amusement that it took him a second to notice the car which was creeping up on them.
The black vehicle rolled to a stop right beside the trio, and Mitsuru tried not to tense. The car doors slammed open, and within moments the boys were surrounded by four thug-like men wearing suits and sunglasses - Nagissa's henchmen.
He sighed, straightened the glasses on his nose, and looked over at Fuji and Ryoma. "We're about to be kidnaped," he warned.
Fuji looked at the men in black with an interested expression. "I've never been kidnaped before. Sounds like fun."
The man in the lead, commonly known as "A," looked at the boys, a bit disconcerted. "Aren't you going to fight?"
"Of course," Fuji said, pulling out a tennis racket from his bag. "It wouldn't be a proper kidnaping if we didn't put up a struggle."
Mitsuru had Tezuka's tennis racket out as well, but found it made a poor substitute for a boken, and was quickly grabbed, but Fuji and Ryoma put up more of a fight. It only took two minutes for the men to subdue the boys, but in those minutes Ryoma got off eight twist serves, two of which landed in places which threatened reproductive capability while Fuji managed to hit all four thugs in the heads at least once.
In
the end, though, they all ended up hogtied and in the back seat. Ryoma
looked annoyed, but Fuji merely smiled at Mitsuru. For some reason,
that smile sent chills down Mitsuru's spine.