Crossing

Summery: After witnessing a murder, Ryoma is put under a false identity to ensure his safety. What better way to do it than to make him a 'her'?

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT/TnO, so don't sue

Warning: Boy Love/Shonen Ai/Yaoi/Whatever you want to call it, cross dressing, death (not main characters), minor OCs, light violence, and Language (not sure if I'm missing anything)

Pairing: Fuji/Ryoma

"…Talking in English…"

"…Talking in Japanese…"

'…Thoughts…'

-----Chapter Four: Bad Luck-----

Being Fuji Syusuke, one has to rely on things that seemed eccentric, if only to throw people off their first assumption of his character. So of the many things Fuji Syusuke believed in, one particular thing was superstition.

So on that particular morning, when a black cat crossed his path, he immediately thought that Fuji Yuuta, his otouto, was in trouble. After he phoned Yuuta and was assured that nothing had happened (that is, if you don't include being blinded by Mizuki-san's bright purple shirt before practice) he concluded that perhaps it was nothing.

This thought was thrown aside however, when a litter of black kittens walked leisurely before him. That gave him a start, making his sharp ocean blue eyes open in slight anticipation, which caused him to step upon a crack in the street. He frowned disapprovingly, and wondered if he should even bother to go to school.

However, skipping Tezuka's practices meant punishment, which likely led to an unbelievable amount of laps that even Fuji wasn't too thrilled to run.

Thus, Fuji Syusuke grimly made his way to school that day.

When he reached the tennis courts in the school yard, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Kikumaru, his best (and hyper) friend, was practicing his Acrobatic Play with his partner, Oishi, and being quite loud about it too. 'Hoi hoi' can be heard half way across the area.

Momoshiro and Takashi were playing a game. The ball was literarily on fire as it moved back and forth between the two power players. Taka-san was also in his burning mode, as foretold by his wide (and loud) usage of English words, with Momo egging him on with his agitating comments.

Kaidou, it seems, was practicing his reaction time with Inui standing on watch. He'd hit the colored tennis balls sent towards him by the machine to the same colored cones standing in a row before Inui. Inui was also recording his results in his notebook, which on a closer glance, seemed to have 'Kaidou Kaoru – Book 5' inscribed on the front.

Their captain stood straight with his arms across his chest as he observed the freshmen's actions. He would occasionally call out an advice or (more rarely) a compliment. Their resident 'Ochibi' was nowhere in sight, but that wasn't anything to worry about, since Ryoma had a tendency to be late to any type of event (and usually getting extra laps from Tezuka for it).

Fuji made his way to Tezuka's side, and kept a companionable silence beside him, one arm holding the other as he too watched the freshmen's progress. Tezuka gave no sign that indicated acknowledgement, his eyes forward and unwavering from the practices.

"Fuji." After a few minutes more of silence, Tezuka finally said in a leveled voice, "What wrong?" It was a short and simple question, hinting at nothing and everything.

The tensai looked up in surprise, his smile became slightly strained, and he opened his icy blue eyes and stared –hard– at his captain. Tezuka still had his eyes trained on the courts, and didn't lower his head to watch Fuji's expression. Fuji observed his stoic face, before closing his own eyes and smiling a little easier.

"What makes you think anything's wrong?"

Tezuka was silent for a moment, then, finally turned his ocean blue eyes towards the smiling tensai, "You seem more tense than usual, as if expecting something bad to happen." He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "You don't have another one of your embarrassing plans, do you?"

"Saa…" was Fuji's mysterious answer, still smiling like nothing bothered him. Before Tezuka could growl a warning at him, he quickly changed the topic, "Where's Echizen?"

Before Tezuka could specify how many laps the youngest of their member was going to receive for being late again, the very same member strode gloomily towards the courts, and their Captain.

He strode over slowly, as if he didn't want to come here at all. His hat tugged low over his face, obstructing his dark expression, lips pulled tightly into a frown. He wore a dark green t-shirt and a pair of dark blue pants, which doesn't belong to any of the Seigaku uniforms, sports or otherwise.

"Buchou, Fuji-senpai." He acknowledge, looking at the ground.

"Echizen, late again. Where's your practice clothes?"

Silence reigned for a long moment and the two before the short first year could both feel the tension. Something definitely seemed wrong.

"I'm… I'm leaving." Ryoma managed to mutter, quietly but it was clear in the silence that had settled minutes before his confession.

Chaos seemed to erupt all at once, with all the regulars rushing over and the rest crowding around. The most vocal of their protests were Momo and Eiji, who were shouting numerous questions of the reason. The rest were more subtle, some asked quietly what had happened and some stayed silent.

He bowed, "Gomen ne, Minna." He said, head down low, "It's a family emergency. My grandfather in America is suddenly sick, and they say he doesn't have long to live. The whole family is gathering to see him off. Gomen."

He didn't straighten, waiting for some kind of a response. An agonizingly long silence stretched on, with perhaps almost everyone in shock.

"I understand, Echizen." Tezuka finally answered, "Is Ryuzaki-sensei aware of this?" Ryoma nodded, not trusting himself to speak. "Alright then, it has been a great year with you, Echizen. Don't let your guard down."

He walked away, calling the rest of the team to go back to practice. He let the regulars have some time to see the boy off. They gave him parting words and other encouragements and then one by one went off to practice.

Fuji was the only one left who has yet to speak. He had watched it all with a closed expression, dissatisfied that Ryoma was going away before he could even try to coerce him into a relationship. Not that he had made his intentions clear, always settled with baiting the boy than anything extreme.

"Echizen. When will you be back?" He settled for asking the question that plagued his mind the most.

Ryoma finally straightened, looked slightly to the left of where Fuji's head was. "I'm not positive. It could be soon, or it could take a while. I'm going to be continuing my schooling in America until I can come back. Tennis is on hold indefinitely."

"Sou ka… I wish you good luck then." It seemed slightly useless now to mention any of his intentions, his expression stayed neutral, but there was the tinge of disappointment in his heart.

He turned to go, but paused as Ryoma's voice stopped him with a confident remark. He didn't turn around, and continued towards the courts, now with a considerably happier smile on.

That day, Echizen Ryoma boarded the 12:45 plane to New York City with his parents and cousin… at least that's what the official papers say.

'I'm coming back, Fuji-senpai. We still have a game to finish.'

Sorry everyone for taking so long to Post! I had a little brain freeze on the characters' reactions, and then I had to go back to China to visit my Grandparents. Let me tell you, it was hard enough trying to get out of their presence, let alone be able to go on the computer.