Chapter Seven: Forewarned
Disclaimer: I still don't own Prince of Tennis. … WAAHHHH! T.T
Author's Note: Here's chapter seven! Yay! Remember, the complete Author's Note for this fic is posted in chapter one. But here are the warnings, summarized for your convenience: May contain spoilers/ shonen-ai/ not-shonen-ai/ please review/Momo will Dunk Smash flamers in the head. Lol.
Wow, again, thanks so much for all the reviews! I really appreciate them. And thanks so much for all the sweet birthday wishes. (Lol, I didn't realize the next morning that I'd mentioned that in the footnote… I was tired, haha… And chibiukyou: "The Batmobile!" So funny! XD) By the way, I think now is as good a time as any to sincerely apologize for the fact that the pairings are still kind of in question in this fic… I intended to reveal them much earlier but this story has taken a slightly new direction that, while I can promise will be exciting, has made it necessary to keep it a secret a little longer. Sorry about that! XD If you like it so far, you should be okay. Anyway, as promised, here's the second of two chapters in one weekend! The next chapter should be up around next weekend sometime. Well, enjoy! Let me know what you think of chapter seven!
They say that it is possible for love and hate to coexist in the same person.
They say that passionate lovers are also passionate haters.
They say that, and I didn't believe it…
Until I fell for you, and found myself loathing you for it.
…
It was a light, airy, tranquil afternoon in Paris, and the weather just begged for outside activity, out there in the warm sunshine. Nevertheless, there were still those who were perfectly content with staying inside, especially in such a famous city. Museums were everywhere, and art exhibits, of course, were some of the most popular attractions of all. It was in one such exhibit where a young woman approached a large, monochrome piece and simply stared.
"Extraordinary, isn't it?"
She turned, surprised, to see a man behind her, looking very educated and very capable of being unimpressed. But in glancing at the piece behind the woman's head, his eyes held nothing but admiration.
"Oh… yes, it is," she replied somewhat awkwardly. For a moment, she had forgotten where she was, and it had been a shock to realize she was in a exhibit, among many other art admirers like herself.
It was the photograph that had made her forget, she knew. It was indeed extraordinary. It was the kind of piece that was simple, understated, and yet somehow held all the beauty of a bygone era.
The photograph was of a man, looking to be somewhere in his late twenties, although the more the woman tried to guess his age, the more she thought he simply looked ageless. The picture only showed him from the waist upward, and he appeared to be completely naked except for the white sheet carefully draped around his body. His face was refined, maybe even regal, and its handsome features had been what had first demanded the woman's attention. His eyes especially held a kind of electric light in them, a light perfectly captured by the photographer that seemed capable of piercing an onlooker's gaze and seeing through to their very soul.
Yes, the figure of this man, draped in white fabric against a blurred backdrop, was stunningly beautiful. But there was something ugly about it, too. The photograph was carefully arranged to reveal that the figure's left arm was horribly scarred, even mangled.
"It has a dignity I sorely miss in all the modern pieces so popular nowadays," the man spoke up suddenly.
"Indeed it does, monsieur," the woman agreed, taking another step toward it. "Who was the photographer?"
"See for yourself," and the man nodded toward a small placard posted next to the photograph.
She leaned in to read the following inscription…
"A Fallen God"
Photographed by Shusuke Fuji.
"Shusuke Fuji?" she repeated slowly, looking surprised.
"Have you ever heard of him?" the man asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "He's a genius, they say. Attends one of our universities here in Paris, but he's originally from Tokyo, of course. It's amazing that Japan held such a treasure. He's already creating quite a stir in the Parisian photography community, I hear."
The woman listened, still staring up at the picture. After a moment, she couldn't help asking one more question.
"Who is the subject?"
The man shook his head at that, although the woman didn't see it.
"Nobody knows, they say," he finally answered. "Although I have asked the same thing of his professor at the university. He's a friend of mine, but even he wasn't able to give me an answer…"
There was a pause as they both looked at the man in the photograph.
"He's stunning, though, isn't he?" the man added in an almost awestruck tone. "You don't get faces like that anymore. He's got the features of a Roman deity, like one of those marble statues in the Louvre come to life."
The light shifted slightly outside, and a shadow came over the photograph's eyes, but they still held a distinct glimmer in them that cut through the shade.
"Simply extraordinary," repeated the man, shaking his head and walking away.
The woman silently agreed with the assessment, of course. The picture was inarguably beautiful, even a masterpiece. And yet, for her, the photograph also held a profound kind of sadness within its two-dimensional boundaries.
"Perhaps it's the title," she whispered thoughtfully. "'A Fallen God'… Very strange. A reference to his flaw, maybe?"
And she wondered again just what could have happened to the stunning figure's left arm.
- - - - - - - -
Momoshiro and Eiji couldn't stop staring up at it. Really, it was just too weird. They'd seen the ad before, of course, but it became that much more bizarre when the model was standing right next to them.
"Momo-senpai, Eiji-senpai…" Ryoma just sighed. "Will you please stop staring at it?"
"I still can't get over how HUGE it is," Eiji remarked slowly, gaping.
"No kidding…" was Momo's assent.
They were staring up at a billboard positioned right by the train station, an ad that showed a remarkably handsome young man posing with a soda can in his left hand. He was holding the can up next to his face with a picture-perfect smile, looking straight at the camera with the confidence of a star.
"Ochibi grew up so nice," was Eiji's next comment, shaking his head in disbelief. "Really, it should be a crime to be that adorable."
"Well, I hear that's what all the fangirls say," and Momoshiro smirked, nudging Ryoma with one elbow. Ryoma shot back a slightly annoyed glare at his senpai.
"It pays, okay? Otherwise I wouldn't do it," was his objection.
"Aw, Ochibi, don't be so defensive!" Eiji exclaimed with a grin. "You're like a supermodel! Plus, it's an ad for Ponta. Just think of that! You're the main spokesperson for Ponta! Who'd have guessed that's where you'd be in five years?"
"Well, it is nice that I get all my soda free now," Ryoma finally admitted, crossing his arms and staring up at the billboard.
There was a pause.
"You… get all your soda free now?" Momo repeated.
"Wow." Eiji blinked, impressed.
"Yeah, well, I don't know… The company kind of sucks up to me, I guess. Something about raising sales every quarter or something. I wasn't really paying attention," and Ryoma shrugged, gesturing to the entrance nonchalantly. "We should get going, right? If we're going to meet them at the platform."
Momo and Eiji looked at each other, incredulous, while Ryoma started climbing up the stairs in front of them.
"Doesn't Ochibi realize that ALL the girls in Japan drink Ponta now because of him?" Eiji shook his head again, sighing.
"What a guy." Momo just smiled.
They followed Ryoma up to the platform, where a crowd of people was already waiting to board the next train. Momo glanced at the schedule posted next to the small ticket booth.
"Looks like it's still running on time," he remarked to Eiji.
Eiji nodded silently, looking over the list himself.
"You know," he suddenly began, attracting Momo's attention. "I was surprised that they called you."
Momo glanced toward the track, checking to see if the next train had arrived yet.
"Yeah. I was surprised too," he admitted, looking as though there was something about the whole situation that he definitely didn't like. "But I don't think this had anything to do with me."
"But how'd they find out?" Eiji asked, confused.
"Well, I gave Inui-senpai a call earlier," Momo explained. "But I didn't think they'd actually come. I think… I think they're worried about him."
Both Momo and Eiji looked at the back of a currently oblivious Ryoma.
"They should be," Eiji said at last, glancing sideways at his roommate. "I'm sure I don't know why you aren't."
Momo said nothing, his violet eyes simply staring at the seventeen-year-old.
Ryoma suddenly became aware of the feeling of being watched, and he realized his senpais weren't beside him. He turned around, only to see Momo looking right at him, and before he could say a word, the next train arrived at the platform. Ryoma was jostled by the anxious crowd, eager to board, but even as those ambiguous figures murmured and shifted, he couldn't tear his gaze away from his former teammate. He felt a chill go up his spine. What was that look in his senpai's eyes---?
He was startled out of his trance by the feeling of a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see the tallest of his old friends staring right back at him, thick-rimmed glasses and all.
There was a kind of strange pause while they just stared at each other.
"Hmm… grown about 24.3 centimeters from when I saw you last, as I thought. I have your measurements from magazine articles, but I was concerned they might not be as accurate as I hoped," Inui remarked, calmly pushing his glasses up his nose.
Inui, at least, was exactly like Ryoma remembered. Except for maybe being even taller than his memory recalled, Ryoma couldn't detect a single change in him. He felt almost relieved at this fact, and he couldn't resist a slight smile.
"Inui-senpai, why are you still trying to take my data?" he asked, almost perplexed.
"Well, you never know how it might come in handy," Inui replied, sounding cryptic. "Although I could make a great deal of money by sending all my analyses to professionals, you know."
He grinned somewhat evilly.
"I'd be scared, except I know you'd never do that," Ryoma pointed out.
"Yes, well, that's true enough." Inui cleared his throat with a cough. "You know, Kaidoh, I know you're star-struck, but you don't have to hang back like this."
It was then that Ryoma noticed an equally familiar figure standing behind the data man, who suddenly let out a very familiar sound.
"Fsssshhhhhhh. I know that, senpai," Kaidoh retorted, looking uncomfortable.
"Kaidoh-senpai? Is that you?" But Ryoma knew he didn't even have to ask. It was clearly the same athletic and anti-social Kaidoh from five years ago, even if he was taller than he used to be. He was still shorter than Inui, after all, although Ryoma didn't know how anyone could be taller than Inui. He also looked like he was in even better shape than five years ago, if that was possible. Nevertheless, Kaidoh looked very much the same, a fact that was again a relief to Ryoma.
"Yeah, it's me," Kaidoh answered gruffly, only meeting Ryoma's gaze for a second.
"Don't mind him," Inui murmured under his breath in Ryoma's direction. "He's actually very happy to see you."
"Well, Kaidoh, did you grab the bags?" And Inui turned back to his companion, leaving Ryoma to smile to himself.
"Yes, senpai," and Kaidoh handed Inui a black travel bag that looked to Ryoma like something he wouldn't enjoy lugging around anywhere, much less for a long trip. Inui, however, took it with one hand and slung it over his right shoulder with ease.
"Inui, what in the world did you pack in there?" Eiji wondered aloud, appearing out of nowhere and affectionately latching onto Ryoma with one arm.
"Oh, Kikumaru, you're here," Inui observed, not answering the redhead's question.
"Yes, I'm here!" Eiji looked almost offended. "I've been here the whole time. Momo-chin, too."
Ryoma noticed Kaidoh bristle at the sound of Momo's name, but the snakelike teenager said nothing.
"Where is Momoshiro, exactly?" Inui glanced around, looking mildly perplexed.
"Huh?" Eiji looked around himself, frowning. "That's strange… He was just here."
And just as suddenly as he'd grabbed onto Ryoma, he let go again and dismissed himself, running off toward the stairs. "I'll be right back! I'm sure he's around here somewhere!"
This impulsive action on the part of Eiji left Ryoma standing by himself with his other two senpais, feeling decidedly at a lost as to what to say.
There was a moment of silence, one that seemed weighted down with something like suspense. And it was then that Inui began to speak again, in an entirely different tone.
"Who have you seen so far, Echizen?"
Ryoma was slightly confused. Why was Inui asking that?
"Well… I saw Ryuzaki-san and Horio and some of the others yesterday. And I saw Kawamura-senpai last night, and then Momo-senpai and Eiji-senpai," he replied slowly. "That's all. Why do you ask?"
"I figured as much," Inui remarked mysteriously. "There's no way they could be here already, even if they came as soon as they heard."
"Inui-senpai, what---" But Ryoma was interrupted by Kaidoh, who looked angry about something.
"Echizen, they're going to come here."
Ryoma vaguely understood who was being discussed, but he was still unsure what the tension he could see in his senpais' faces could mean.
"You mean, Oishi-senpai and Fuji-senpai and…" He meant to clarify what exactly his former teammates were getting at, but he couldn't quite finish the thought.
Inui looked at Ryoma again for a moment, noting what five years had done to change the appearance of Seigaku's former star rookie. He had tapes and magazine articles, of course, but the full effect was completely different from the two-dimensional images in his records. And he knew that he wasn't the only one who would notice those changes, and that Echizen Ryoma had become an exceptionally good-looking young man in the space of five years.
"Echizen," he said at last, very seriously. "I'm going to say something that will probably shock you. But I hope you understand that I have only your best interests in mind. If Oishi or Fuji or especially Tezuka should come here, looking for you… You would do well to avoid them completely."
Ryoma felt his heart stand still for a moment, as he tried to read the expression behind those thick glasses. This was starting to get more than a little strange.
He didn't know about Kaidoh, not for certain, but as for Inui…
Inui had been a friend of Tezuka's, hadn't he?
"Especially Tezuka…"
If Inui was Tezuka's friend, why would he warn him about something like that?
Something's wrong.
Something's very, very wrong.
"Inui-senpai," he finally stammered. "I don't understand what you mean by that. I mean, why would you say something like… like that, about them…"
He felt his voice trail off awkwardly, but he couldn't find any more words to say. He was just too confused, and the expressions on Inui and Kaidoh's faces were starting to make him feel almost sick, somewhere deep inside.
"Inui-senpai, tell me what you mean!" he exclaimed suddenly, painfully. He wanted all this secret-keeping to end… even if it meant something terrible had to be said…
Even if it destroyed the only real reason he'd come back to Japan in the first place…
"It's not that I meant any offense to them," Inui sighed, understanding the cause of Ryoma's distress. "It's just that I can't guarantee what kind of people you'll find if you go looking for them. I hate to say it, but I don't trust them anymore. None of us do."
"None of you---?" Ryoma repeated.
"Meaning myself, and Kaidoh, and Kawamura and Momoshiro and Kikumaru as well," Inui clarified calmly.
Ryoma swallowed, hard, trying to sort through the questions that were flying through his mind, trying to decide which answers he wanted the most. But somehow, he couldn't. He didn't know where to begin. In the end, he only managed a single word…
"Why?"
"Don't you get it, Echizen?" Kaidoh interjected suddenly. "It's one thing if you want to see us, but not them. Something's not right about them. Understand?"
Ryoma thought about this for a moment.
"Wait… You're saying that I shouldn't see them because something is wrong? And that you don't even know what it is?"
Ryoma looked both his senpais right in the eye, very intently.
"Something like that," confirmed Inui, almost hesitantly. "Something did go wrong after you left, but that's not quite how I'd put it. More like… they went wrong after you left."
"Inui-senpai," Ryoma began bravely. "I don't mean to be rude, but I've been gone too long to understand the subtlety of whatever it is you're trying to say."
He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath.
"Inui-senpai, if something is wrong, I want to find out what it is. I'm not going to avoid anyone. I'm keeping my promise, Inui-senpai. But thank you for the warning all the same."
"Echizen---"
But Inui's attempt to speak was drowned out by the roar of the train leaving the station.
"We should get going," Ryoma said, pointing toward the stairs. "I'm sure that Momo-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai are waiting."
The tennis star turned around and started walking, leaving Inui and Kaidoh to glance at each other, somewhat disconcerted by Ryoma's response.
"Keeping his promise, huh?" Kaidoh mumbled. "Idiot. Of course he'd say something like that."
"As I recall, that's what you like about him, isn't it?" And Inui smiled, noting the slight blush that crept across Kaidoh's face. "Well, maybe it will be alright…"
He looked back toward the exit, where Ryoma was just starting to walk down the stairs.
"It is Echizen, after all."
- - - - - - - -
"You are the fire that keeps me awake at night.
A flame, flashing in the dark, full of passion,
Always aware of how your eyes are sparkling,
Yet never knowing the pain you bring my heart."
Fuji's smooth voice spoke the lines aloud as an almost devilish smile slipped across his mouth.
He could hear footsteps coming from the back room, and he figured that a certain someone had finally noticed what it was that he was reading aloud to nobody in particular.
"Fuji! What are you doing?" Oishi exclaimed as he burst into the front room, looking absolutely furious. Fuji laughed to himself at the former vice captain's face, which had turned an unusually deep shade of red.
"Oh, I was just reading some poetry," Fuji replied in an innocent tone. "You should take a look at it sometime… It's quite interesting."
He nonchalantly started flipping through the pages of the leather-bound notebook in his hands.
"Of course, it gets much more interesting later on… something about lust and unfulfilled desires---"
Before Fuji could finish his sentence, Oishi ripped the notebook right out of the tensai's hands, still blushing like mad.
"Don't touch it ever again!" he snapped angrily.
"My, my… No need to get so defensive. It was fascinating," Fuji mused. "Observing how the emotional depth progressed over the space of three years, into something much more complex than the initial infatuation…"
"I'll thank you in the future not to psychoanalyze it," was Oishi's curt reply, a tense frown on his face as he shoved the book back into his travel bag.
"Oh, but it's so very interesting," was Fuji's mild objection, said as though the tensai couldn't imagine why Oishi would mind such a thing.
"With all due respect, Fuji, shut up," Oishi shot back.
At that, Fuji gave up his lounging position on the sofa and rose to his feet, eyes open and glaring daggers.
"Oh? And why should I?" he demanded, voice low. "I think we both know that as far as that goes, we're nothing but equals who happened to choose different paths."
Oishi didn't respond, keeping his back to Fuji and calmly zipping his luggage shut.
"And I think we both know I have reason to resent you for the choice you made," Fuji said, his voice getting progressively lower, and progressively more dangerous. He took a few steps toward Oishi.
"God knows how many times you made him cry," he added viciously, eyes gleaming.
"Fuji, you know that's not…" Oishi tried to protest, but Fuji only laughed.
"Not what you wanted?" he finished for him. "Perhaps not. But you made him cry, Oishi, and for that, I will never forgive you. I won't let you get away with it. Oh, no, I'll make sure you remember, every time I see you, just what exactly it means to be misera---"
"What's going on here?" another voice demanded suddenly. They looked up to see Tezuka, standing by the front door and looking very displeased.
"Ah, Tezuka, good news!" Fuji changed tones completely, plastering a smile on his face. "I got the tickets. We're leaving at midnight tonight."
"What's going on here?" Tezuka asked again, his glance shifting from Fuji to Oishi and back to Fuji again.
"Oh, nothing important," Fuji answered promptly, with a dismissive gesture. "We were just having a little discussion about poetry. Right, Oishi?"
The former vice captain didn't respond, eyes fixed on the floor.
"Fuji, you leave him alo---"
"Ah, ah, ah!" And Fuji walked right up to Tezuka and put a finger to the taller man's lips. "This isn't a time to fight. After all, tomorrow is the date of our grand homecoming, isn't it? Let's not argue like this. Aren't you glad I got the tickets, Tezuka?"
Tezuka seemed almost dumbfounded, and reluctantly replied, "Yes. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Fuji said, sounding absolutely delighted, as though he'd just thought of something brilliant. "And I know what we should do tonight while we're waiting for the flight."
Both Tezuka and Oishi were looking at him now. Fuji smiled, beautifully, knowingly.
"We should celebrate."
- end of chapter seven –
A/N: Okay! I'm glad I actually was able to get this chapter done today, so I can keep my promise to release two chapters over Labor Day. I know this one is a bit slow… Sorry about that, but I wanted to give the Inui and Kaidoh introduction the time it deserved, and that meant I couldn't reveal too much in the way of raw exposition in that particular scene. Don't worry though! XD Things will start moving faster now. You could probably tell that much from the tone of that last scene… Oh dear. I'm afraid I really am making Fuji sound evil. But if you read what I wrote carefully, you should notice that his motives aren't quite what they seem to be at first. I'm certainly enjoying writing for him, in any case. And… gahhh… my poor, poor boys… I'm really making some of them suffer, aren't I? (pets Oishi and Tezuka) There, there, you two, everything will be okay.
Oishi: EASY FOR YOU TO SAY! Gosh, I thought I was your favorite character!
Me: Uhh… it's tough love? XD
Anyway, I'll get the next chapter up asap! Let me know what you thought of chapter seven, everyone! Hopefully you enjoyed it. And on a side note: the man and the woman in the first scene aren't important. They're just random people looking at artwork. Lol.
Coming Up Next: As Tezuka gets closer and closer to returning to Japan, Ryoma talks with some of his old friends about days gone by. He hears a few more rumors during these conversations that surprise him, and make him wonder just what exactly was the reason behind the disappearance of Tezuka, Fuji, and Oishi from Japan. Meanwhile, Fuji has a "brilliant idea" that could cause some problems later…