Letting go

by akiyume kye

Disclaimer: Until the day I become Takeshi Konomi, I will not own pot.

Pairings: TezuFuji

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

Chapter 3: Un-understandable

Tezuka felt betrayed.
The effort he had made to painstakingly cross that line had gone to waste.

Fuji had rejected him.

The captain released his hold on Fuji.
His pride had been destroyed.

"I understand." Tezuka managed to say.
But in his heart, he knew he would never understand.
He had thought that Fuji would willingly come to him.
He had known of Fuji's feelings for him way before his had developed for the other.

As he pulled himself up from the ground, he couldn't find the courage to look into the tensai's blue eyes.

The absurdity of the situation struck him.
How could someone who loved him so much turn him down?

There were things that Fuji wasn't telling him.

Secrets...

that could kill.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tezuka, Fuji tried to say.
But no words came out of his mouth.
He watched as Tezuka walked away in the distance, shoulders slouched, hair ruffled.
The tensai had seen defeat and sorrow etched in the other's face.

More tears slid down his cheeks.

Gomen ne, Tezuka.
It would only hurt more if you knew why.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both men acted indifferently at school, Fuji smiling and Tezuka frowning.
But in each, lay a broken heart.

At tennis practice, everything went about like normal days were.
And the only thing that had caused a stir was the lack of a certain smiling tensai's presence beside the buchou.
Fuji had took to standing on his own, smile ever present on his face.

Everyone noticed it, but none bothered to question.
Both were scary people, and no one wanted to incur their wrath least their question be an innocent provocation.

Ryusaki-sensei had arranged for there to be friendly matches between the regulars that day.
Oddly, Tezuka noticed, Fuji had frowned at the mention of having to play a game.

Willing himself to stop looking at Fuji, he stepped aside to take in a deep breath.
He's acting like nothing happened at all so you can do the same.
All right… act normal.
Normal.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pairings were decided on and the regulars went of to their assigned courts to proceed with their matches.

Echizen and Momoshiro were complaining about having to play against the Golden pair, while Kaidoh was hissing at his misfortune of having to play against a data freak.

Fuji and Kawamura were left.

Singles, Fuji thought. Can I do it?
For the first time in his life, he dreaded it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the tensai sat down to tighten his shoelaces, he contemplated forfeiting the match but decided against it.
It was his good friend, Kawamura after all, and he couldn't let him down.

He looked up gingerly to be faced with a burning Kawamura, waving his racket in the air wildly and screaming at the top of his lungs.
"BURNING! COME ON!"

Letting out a sigh, Fuji slowly made his way to his starting position.

It was going to be a bad day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shaking his head to clear of the fuzziness that had clouded his vision, Fuji glanced over at Kawamura and gave him a wide smile.

Sorry Taka-san, but I have to finish this game quickly.

"Game and set, Fuji to serve," came the call.

Fuji braced himself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Echizen and Momo were putting up a weak fight against the well-known Golden pair. Their Ah-un strategy had failed them against the other two. Frustration was building up, and both stubborn boys refused to lose this way. When Tezuka saw a smirk playing up on Echizen's lips, he knew that they would somehow manage to pull it off.

The buchou stopped at the next court and saw the lone figure of Inui standing in the middle of the court. Kaidoh was no where to be seen. The sun shone brightly and Inui's glasses caught a glint. He picked up his data book and started scribbling his new found data of his kouhai's reaction to his new vege juice. Tezuka pushed aside the thought of grabbing that book and tearing it into pieces and proceeded on to the court beside it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"5-0. Fuji to serve."

Tezuka blinked.
He glanced at his watch.
The match had only begun 10 minutes ago.

Kawamura's face was flushed and he was panting heavily after running to and fro so many times.
He was surprised that Fuji had used all of his triple counters already.

The buchou stood by the sidelines, unblinking.
He wants to end this game fast.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fuji's heart was pumping hard. His vision was almost gone and he was panicking deep inside, though the trademark smile was still plastered on his lips. But the smile was weak and strained, his lips deathly pale.

5 more minutes… That's all I can spare…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tezuka stood in silence as he observed the match before him.
It was unlike Fuji to use all his triple counters in such a short period of time, especially for a friendly match.
Besides, it was disturbing enough that the tensai was obviously aiming to finish the match under 15 minutes.
A pleasant and kind boy, Fuji had always played to the strength of his opponent, never revealing his true potential.

But today, the brown haired boy was different.
He was aiming to win in less than 15 minutes, and he was serious about it.

Fuji…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

True enough, the match ended with a love game favoring Fuji in the time period he had set for himself.

As Fuji walked towards the net to shake Kawamura's hand, he felt the world spinning around him and darkness threatened to overcome. Unsteady steps approached Kawamura and a weak handshake was given.
Kawamura was unfortunately still equipped with his racket, and he almost broke Fuji's hand with his grip.
"BURNING! THAT WAS SUPER! GREATO!"

The tensai panicked when the over-excited boy refused to let go of his hand and asked for another match.
After many unsuccessful attempts in freeing his hand, he gave Kawamura a hard push and managed to free himself.
Mumbling an inaudible apology, he ran out of the court at lightning speed.

Kawamura was left sitting on the court in a daze, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Fuji had never been this rough before. And he swore upon seeing a look of uneasiness and panic flooding the tensai's unusually pale face before he had run off.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Practice had long ended, but Fuji was no where to be seen. Oishi walked from one end to the other in the small tennis club room. Fuji's bag still laid leaning against the wall. There was no racket inside the bag, so the fuku buchou concluded that he hadn't come for his bag.

Tezuka stood over Fuji's bag, wondering what to do with it, when something caught his eye.

Fully unzipping the bag, he reached inside and took out a packet of tablets.
And then another.
And another.
Over 10 packets of tablets were in the buchou's hand by the time he finished emptying the compartment.

What is Fuji doing with so much medicine?

Tezuka turned over one packet to read its label, but a hand was placed over it before he could decipher the medical terms. He looked up.

"Fuji!" He gasped. Embarrassed to be caught snooping into the latter's belongings, he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Fuji! Where have you been! We've been waiting for you for over an hour!" The motherly Oishi stepped in and confronted Fuji, a worried frown on his forehead.

The tensai simply smiled in return. Swiftly taking the packets of tablets from Tezuka's hands, he stuffed them into his bag hurriedly and was soon out of the door.

"Ja ne!" And he was off.

Both the buchou and fuku buchou were left staring at a closed door. Oishi peered over at Tezuka and saw his grim expression.

"Tezuka… something is not right."

He was only meet with silence as Tezuka remained motionless, turning over the situation in his mind.
Fuji… what is it that you're hiding from me?

To be continued…

A/N: Ok ok, hold the rotten eggs please. So it didn't turn out that nicely. My apologies. Maybe I really should stop here and let you construct your own story, shouldn't I?

But still, do R&R. Thanks.

Spoilers (hmmm, if I do continue, that is): Tezuka tries to find out what had happened to Fuji. Pale lips, weak playing, astonishing number of packets of tablets… He knew something was wrong. But Fuji doesn't know if he should tell Tezuka… or feed him a lie.