Authors Notes: Thank you to all my reviewers and of course to Glitter for betta reading. claps Yay! I'm so happy. Things have been hecktic with the holidays and a sever case of writers block. - But now all that's gone and I can now, hopefully, finish this fic. Sorry to all those I left hanging. Anywho, I hope chapter 10 will be out in a couple of days... we'll see. :) Enjoy the fic and reviews are always wanted.

Atobe's Little Plan

Chapter 9

Ryoma woke up to sunlight streaming into his eyes. He turned over, hoping to escape waking up, but someone at the door knocked.

Takeshi picked up a pillow and threw it at the door. "Go away," he slurred, still half asleep.

The person at the door must not have heard or decided to ignore the order because the door opened. "Momo, you've been asleep too long. It's noon. Get up."

Ryoma's eyes snapped open when he heard Tezuka-buchou's voice. He burrowed deeper into the blankets, hoping that Tezuka hadn't seen him yet.

"Do you know where Ryoma is, Momo? No one's seen him and I checked his room, but he's not there." Takeshi was still half asleep. "Momoshiro, get up."

Tezuka yanked the blankets off of Takeshi. Takeshi yelped and fell off the bed, Ryoma tumbling down with him. Thankfully, the sheets fell so that they were covered from the waist down, but Tezuka could clearly see that they were both naked.

"Domo," Ryoma said as a greeting. Ryoma blushed, wishing fiercely that he had a hat on to cover his face.

Tezuka was also blushing furiously. Ryoma had never seen that shade of red on Tezuka's face before. Or was that purple? Ryoma couldn't tell.

Takeshi laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oh, well look at that, he was here all this time."

Ryoma was still tired. "Tezuka-buchou, I'm still tired." He moved so that he could lay in Takeshi's lap. If anything, Tezuka's face added more color.

Takeshi glared. "My boyfriend and I were having a nice nap."

Tezuka stammered something as he backed out of the room. The door slammed shut behind him.

Takeshi laughed so hard it threw him backwards on the floor. Ryoma was jolted out of Takeshi's lap. He rubbed the back of his head. "That was great! I wish I brought a camera with me! That would have been wonderful blackmailing equipment."

Ryoma sighed. "We'd best get downstairs. The rest of the team is probably curious where we are."

"I suppose you're right. Oh well. It turns out that today has been a great day." Takeshi winked at Ryoma who went red immediately remembering what they had done earlier that morning.

He coughed and found a shirt to throw at Takeshi. He was pleased when it smacked him in the face. Ryoma got up, not caring that he was nude. He searched Takeshi's stuff for something to wear. He finally picked out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Both were too big for him, but they would do. The boxers were still okay from yesterday, so he put them on again.

When Takeshi was done dressing, they both headed down for lunch. Everyone was there from every tennis club, girls and boys alike.

"OCHIBI!" Eiji yelled, half standing on the table to wave to them.

They were both relieved to see Oishi in a wheelchair at the table. Oishi gave them a pained smile. They moved into the two seats that were saved for them.

"Hey Echizen," Taka said as a greeting. "How have you been?"

"Domo," Ryoma said in his way of greeting. "Not too bad." He moved his chair closer to Takeshi.

Eiji noticed the move and pounded them on the back. "So, nya, does that mean that you two have finally confessed your feelings? Nya!" They blushed furiously. "Nya, nya, Oishi look at them. They're blushing! That must mean they're going out."

The sound of a dish breaking took everyone's attention to the far end of the room. Sakuno had been in the process of taking her dish to the kitchen when she heard Eiji. She was so surprised that she dropped her dish.

"Is that the truth?" she squeaked. She was blushing tomato red.

Ryoma was in the process of finding a comfortable spot for sitting. His butt was sore after that morning. He had to admit that another thing Takeshi had was stamina.

Takeshi stood up, grabbed Ryoma's hand and forced him to stand up with him. "Ryoma is, as of last night, my boyfriend," he said in a no nonsense voice.

Sakuno glanced helplessly at Ryoma, who was in the middle of brushing off his jeans. Ryoma stared right at Sakuno once he was done and said, "Yes, Takeshi is my boyfriend."

Her face turned from tomato red to pure white. "Oh," was all she said. She turned around and left the room.

Just when Ryoma thought everything was over, there was another crash. Tomoka had fainted. Several of the girls screamed, while others called out for a doctor. The doctor appeared and took Tomoka away to revive her.

Takeshi slumped back down into the chair. "Sit down, Ryoma."

Ryoma tugged his hat over his eyes. "Is there a pillow or something to put on the chair?" he whispered.

Takeshi blinked, confused. "Why? It's only a chair."

Ryoma blushed. "Uh, my, um, butt hurts."

Takeshi roared with laughter, finally getting it. Ryoma didn't find the situation a bit funny. The rest of the people who could hear must have had wild imaginations, because they were all blushing almost as much as Ryoma, who was the one who went through it.

Takeshi's laughter was starting to annoy Ryoma, especially since he wouldn't stop. Ryoma finally had enough and bent down and kissed Takeshi full on the lips, effectively cutting off his laughter.

Everyone coughed and turned their attention to their breakfast. The rest of the breakfast was spent in near silence, only Taka venturing a comment or two.

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Tezuka couldn't get the image of that morning out of his mind. He had a good guess at what happened that morning and it wasn't just sleeping. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't kick them off the team because they weren't both on the team. There really was nothing to do. It was their choice, not his.

Not all of his. He still remembered last night.

-flashback-

Tezuka dropped the beautiful woman off, and once the door was shut, he left. He had to tell Fuji about this person. Fuji knew everyone, as did Inui, but for some reason Tezuka couldn't find Inui.

He stopped Atobe in the halls. "Where is Fuji staying again? I seem to have forgotten." Ever since he met that female, he was forgetting everything.

Even Atobe seemed surprised. "Go back the way you came, and it's the seventh door on the left."

"Okay. Thanks, Atobe." Atobe only lifted a brow in return. Tezuka chose to ignore it.

Tezuka stopped by the door, but it was the door that he just left. That couldn't be right. He looked to be sure he was right, but he was. He wasn't stupid. He put two and two together and burst through the door in the middle of Fuji taking off his skirt. Shocked, Fuji let the skirt fall to the ground.

Tezuka blushed, turned around and left.

-end of flashback-

He hadn't talked to Fuji since then. He went to bed, tossing and turning all night long. In the morning, he tried talking to Inui, but the sounds coming from that room were too embarrassing. He had decided to leave that room alone. He saw Inui with Kaidoh last night, so they were probably together. Tezuka resolutely stayed away from that train of thought.

He went to Echizen's room, but there was no one there. It hadn't even looked as if anyone slept in the bed. So his next course was Momoshiro's room. He knocked and heard some muffled response, so he thought it was to come in. He opened the door to see that Momo was still in bed. Angry, he threw back the covers and found, not only Momo, but Echizen as well. Both of them were as naked as the day they were born.

He tried to advert his attention, but something about those two seemed to stick in his brain. When Momo proudly announced that Echizen was his boyfriend, he thought he was going to get a nose bleed. So he left, as fast as he could.

It wasn't until he was all the way down the hall that he began thinking. Maybe he was gay. It was a possibility. He had spent his life on tennis. It has always been tennis. The only one who really got close to him was Oishi. Oishi was his best friend. He could talk to him when ever he had any doubts, but Oishi had been hurt saving Eiji.

He had eyes. He had known for months that those two were in love with each other, so it really came as no surprise. As long as they kept it away from him.

He turned around, resting his head against the wall. He touched his lips. Fuji had kissed him knowing full well that he was another man. The problem was, was that Tezuka had liked the kissed, enjoyed it even. He wanted more, even knowing that it was Fuji who had kissed him. These thoughts were too dangerous to think of.

He turned around to go eat lunch and nearly knocked Fuji over. In his haste to keep from knocking Fuji over, he went back a little too much and ended up falling onto the ground.

He looked up into the impossibly blue eyes of Fuji. He felt himself getting lost in those eyes.

"Are you okay?" the angel asked, concern in his beautiful voice.

Tezuka snapped out of it. What was he thinking! Fuji was no angel, and he didn't have a beautiful voice. Well, maybe a beautiful voice. He brought his hands up to cover his face.

Fuji, seeing that Tezuka wasn't getting up, bent down to Tezuka. His face was just inches from Tezuka's. The nearness of Fuji's face took Tezuka's breath away. So near. He shook his head and stood up a little too fast and nearly fell over again, if Fuji hadn't caught him and supported him. The feeling of Fuji's arm around his waist sent chills down his spine.

"I just wanted to find you to tell you sorry about last night," Fuji said, carefully avoiding Tezuka's eyes.

For some reason, he was disappointed about that sentence. "I just…" He started and then stopped. He moved to stand by himself, supporting himself with the wall. "I just had to think."

He tried looking Fuji in the eyes, but he still wouldn't meet his eyes. "I thought I was straight. I truly did. But after I found out it was you who I had kissed, my thoughts began to turn." Fuji finally looked up to look into Tezuka's eyes, hope glimmering in the blue depths. "It took me all night to think about what you said. You wanted to die when I met you, didn't you?"

Fuji frowned; for once in his life the smile was gone. "Yes. I didn't want to live. No one understood me."

Tezuka frowned in thought. "You didn't look unhappy or depressed when I first met you."

"Looks can be deceiving," was the reply, eyes opening wide.

There was something lurking in those blue depths that unsettled Tezuka. Those eyes seemed to see right through him to his soul. They understood everything about him. That was what unsettled him; he felt naked in front of that gaze. He didn't like that feeling.

"Why were you so depressed?" he asked, trying to shift that gaze somewhere else.

"To know that, you first have to know my history," he said, sitting down to be more comfortable. "I was a prodigy for as long as I can remember. The only one who understood me was my brother. Even though he didn't know it, he was my only link to my humanity. He saved me while we were children. It's why I protected him so fiercely." He paused to search for words.

"I can understand that," Tezuka said, hating the hurt marring Fuji's beautiful face. Fuji gave him a grateful smile, so different from his other smiles.

"And that's why I love you." Those words sent a jolt up Tezuka's spine. Fuji went on with his story. "I protect my brother now more from habit then anything else. I owe so much to him. I love him and am grateful to him. It hurt me so much when he turned his back on me but, by then, I had a bigger family with many more people who understood me."

His eyes searched Tezuka's face for something. After a few minutes, apparently satisfied with what he found, he went on.

"Being a prodigy is difficult. Different people handle the burden differently. Let's take Echizen, for example. He deals with the burden with an antisocial attitude. It's the same with you, but you've had more years to perfect your attitude so it makes you seem untouchable."

Tezuka nodded, knowingly. He knew what Fuji was talking about. Because people were so envious and jealous of his tennis ability, they injured his left arm, nearly making it so he couldn't play his beloved tennis anymore. What people didn't understand, they ignored or destroyed. So he understood. He understood Fuji, Echizen and himself.

Fuji nodded as if reading what Tezuka was thinking. "Yes, by grade school, kids would stay away from me. They knew I was different. No one talked to me or even looked at me. It shattered my world. I went a different path then you and Echizen. I wove a web of deception. If I didn't have any friends, then I was going to be perfect everywhere else. I made a perfect mask. I would be the perfect student, the perfect son, the perfect brother. I wove myself so tight that, when I encountered you, I couldn't get myself free… But you helped me. You became my new support. Then the rest of the team, and now Echizen."

"And you just decided that you loved me?" Tezuka was trying to figure that question out.

"No, no." Fuji looked horror-struck. "For years I denied that I could be gay. Finally, I dated some girls and kissed them. I became the perfect boyfriend, but it was never enough. I never felt like I was complete."
Tezuka felt something he never thought he'd feel. Possessiveness. Just imagining Fuji kissing a girl sent chills of anger down Tezuka's spine. What were with these feelings? He grabbed his head, willing them to go away.

Fuji laid his forehead on Tezuka's, their faces inches apart. Fuji's shimmering blue eyes held compassion in them. "No kiss with any of those girls held the electricity or the heat that was in our kiss."

Just remembering that kiss, filled Tezuka with heat and fire. He was so full of emotions that he couldn't even begin to untangle them. Confusion was first and foremost.

"After the first 20 girls, I decided that I had to be gay. None of them were beautiful in my eyes. None of them could compare to you. Not now, not ever."

Fuji's face seemed to be getting closer. Tezuka didn't know whether to be appalled or afraid. Some small part of him wanted this kiss, wanted to feel those soft lips on his.

This time, when their lips met, Tezuka knew what he was getting into or thought he did. This time he knew that it was Fuji who he kissed, who he wanted. Yes, wanted. I want another man. I know that now. The kiss turned from soft to hungry. Fuji pushed him against the wall, looking to deepen the kiss as much as he could. Tezuka wrapped his arms around him, pulling him closer. The same electricity ran through both young men.

When the kiss stopped, Tezuka was left speechless. Fuji was looking deep in Tezuka's eyes, searching for any doubt or disgust. Finding none, he settled himself between Tezuka's legs and rested his back against his chest. Absently, Fuji traced a pattern on Tezuka's arm.

"I feel complete, like I thought I would," Fuji finally said.

"You didn't know?" When Fuji shook his head, Tezuka sighed. "Oh well, it doesn't matter." He searched his soul, his being to find out if he, too, felt complete. "I feel complete, too," he finally said.

He did. He had never noticed the hole in his soul, but kissing Fuji just now had filled it. He felt alive for the first time in his life. He only felt alive when he was playing tennis, but this wasn't tennis. He allowed a smile to grace his features.

Fuji gasped. "You really are beautiful when you smile. I wish you would do it more often."

Tezuka rested his chin on Fuji's shoulder. He was still uncomfortable with acting this way with another man, but he was getting used to it.

"No. I can't let my guard down. I can only do that for the one I love. So it's been for ages. Only men would allow their wives to see them with their guards down."

"Oh, so you expect me to be your wife? Is that it?" Fuji's eyes were closed and his grin was back in place.

"Of course." He grew serious once more. He turned Fuji so that he could look at him in the eyes. "I expect you to allow your guard down with me, too. You don't have to put your mask on around me."

Fuji's eyes opened, for once unsure and scared. "When I've lived my entire life with this mask, it's a bit hard to get rid of it. Perhaps with the one I love I will be able to make an exception, though." His eyes half closed with unspoken laughter.

Tezuka didn't waste breath on words. He pulled Fuji in once again for a kiss. He maneuvered Fuji so that he was lying on the ground with Tezuka on top of him. A scream tore them away from each other.

Sakuno, in her haste to get away from the dining room, had run upstairs. She went around a corner, only to be stopped short by two men kissing one another. First her love, and now this. She did the only thing she could think of, and that was to scream. She turned around the way she came and took off.

Fuji blinked, confused at what was going on. "I wonder what her problem was."

Tezuka just shook his head, furiously trying to keep a blush from staining his face. "We'd better get down to the dining room to eat lunch." He got up, and then gave a hand to Fuji to help him off the floor.

"Yes, who knows what kind of mischief everyone has gotten into that I wasn't the cause for." Fuji's mask was firmly back in place.

Tezuka chuckled. "I'm sure you will be able to think of something to torture our teammates with."

"By the way, what were you running from when you bumped into me?" Fuji's question seemed harmless.

Tezuka nearly lost his balance. The blush he'd been successfully working away began climbing up his face fast. The images of Ryoma and Momo lying on the ground naked came unwillingly to Tezuka's mind. He blushed so hard that Fuji started to get worried about him.

"Nothing at all." He snapped his mouth shut.

"Oh really?" Fuji raised an eyebrow in thought. "Looks like you came from Momo's room's direction." The room started to spin for Tezuka and Fuji laughed. "So they finally got together?" A look at Tezuka's face confirmed it.

"I see. I take it they got together, got together." Tezuka sighed and nodded. He couldn't keep anything from Fuji. Fuji's soft chuckle sounded evil to Tezuka. "Hmm, interesting. Perhaps I should ask them for pointers."

That was it. That was the breaking point for Tezuka. He fainted. It must have been too much blood to the head.

Fuji laughed, grabbing Tezuka's body before it hit the floor. "I guess my lover has virgin ears. Maybe there really is such a thing as too much information." Fuji picked Tezuka up. "My room is closer, so I'll just take him there. Lunch can wait."

The pair of eyes, watching the two, went unnoticed. The person smiled evilly. It was about time those two got together. The figure sauntered down the hallway, grinning to itself. The person would just have to tell the chef that there would be two less coming for lunch.

All was going according to plan.