A Color for Today
It was sitting on the bench in front of his locker in the clubroom, waiting for him when he unlocked the door. He was at least an hour early for morning practice—not that that was exactly unusual, far from it really—and yet he was sure it hadn't been there the day before when he had locked the door. So it was that it was quite a bit of a shock to discover its presence—how in the world had it gotten there when the only entrance had been securely locked just the day before?
The next thing that had struck him was just how strange it was—so out of place really that he might have thought he had dreamed it if he had been given to such things. Problem was, he wasn't, and so it couldn't have been his imagination telling him it was there.
Out of curiosity he had moved forward warily, letting the clubroom door swing slowly shut behind him. The caution wasn't for that he was afraid of it, no, that would be ridiculous, but being the captain of the Seigaku tennis club had taught him at least one very important rule—things that looked harmless could very quickly become anything but, the alleged harmless objects including everything from a certain smiling teammate to simple vegetable juices. Granted, he supposed that any liquid that could attain the truest shades of violet was probably less than trustworthy upon first glance—let alone second and third glances.
Still, it didn't actually do anything when he picked it up—bite him for example, not that he thought it could of course. But even so it wasn't until he spotted a small red card lying beneath it on the bench that he realized what its purpose might be.
He let out a short sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. Just thinking about it was threatening to give him a headache.
He never liked this particular day of the year when he found himself swamped by well meaning—or not so well meaning—people trying to tell him things he would much rather not hear and pressing boxes of chocolates on him that he never ate.
He didn't like chocolate. Chocolate was too sweet and things that were too sweet were unhealthy. But neither had he ever been a flower person. He had thought that would be an obvious fact to anyone who knew him even remotely well—not that that had ever deterred anyone. Apparently, he was wrong however, judging by the delicate rose now staring back at him, stubbornly refusing to disappear.
And it was orange.
He had to admit it was quite an unusual shade, but it still presented nothing but another problem to be solved.
Shaking his head, he picked up the card and flipped it open quickly to check who he would later have to deal with—only to discover to his surprise that it was blank. Well, actually, it would probably be more accurate to say it simply wasn't signed. After all, it did have one line of writing written neatly across it in a pale blue pen that he had nearly missed.
You do not want to throw this away.
It wasn't much, but he felt a sudden sense of unease. Shaking his head to rid himself of the feeling, he hesitantly tucked the card and the flower in his bag in a space where it—probably—wouldn't get crushed. He could hear footsteps approaching the clubroom, and he didn't really feel like discussing the thing with Oishi.
X
The second one appeared when he got to his homeroom. It had been placed inside of his desk and he wouldn't even have noticed it was there if it hadn't been for the tip of yet another red card sticking out just far enough to be eye-catching. Knowing almost instinctively what would be on the other end, he had snatched it quickly out of its hiding place when he thought no one was looking it tucked it into his bag with the other one.
It was lavender this time—a color he had really never seen in a rose before.
The problem was that Oishi had walked up behind him just at that moment.
"Eh?" his vice captain blinked in surprise, leaning over for a closer look just before the last lavender petal disappeared behind the bag's zipper. "Did someone send you flowers Tezuka?"
Straightening back up and adjusting his glasses before glancing at Oishi out of the corner of his eye, he let out a noncommittal, "Ah."
The green eyed youth grinned and patted him on the shoulder, "I guess that's a nice change, ne?"
Tezuka closed his eyes. He could already hear the rest of the class beginning to whisper and giggle.
Surrounded by the constant murmuring he could sense was all about him for the next few hours left him in a somewhat agitated state so that he was unusually thankful to hear the lunch bell ring. Standing up quickly, he excused himself to go get lunch. Leaving the room in quick, purposeful strides, he could feel Oishi watching him curiously. After all, Tezuka didn't normally buy lunch—he brought it.
Anything to get away from the constant talking though, Tezuka reasoned. He didn't understand why people liked to talk about him—didn't they have anything better to do than speculate about others' lives? But it was their business, not his, and he really didn't have the right to stop them. The only solution was to go where he didn't have to listen to the ridiculous activity in action.
Picking up his tray carefully, he turned back in the direction of his classroom—still wondering whether or not he really wanted to go back there at the moment—when he was stopped by a surprised greeting from a familiar source and its silent companion.
"Buchou! Wow, it's kinda rare seeing you here."
Turning to greet the voice, Tezuka nodded, "Momoshiro, Echizen."
"Ah, yep. So wha—" Momo stopped suddenly and stared at Tezuka's tray, then he burst out laughing—an occurrence that was unusual even for him. Raising an eyebrow, Tezuka followed the direction of the second year's gaze and was rather dismayed to discover yet another rose resting comfortably on the side of his plate—not tray, pink petals and all.
"Is Buchou's eating flowers now?" the second year laughed even harder as he leaned on Echizen for support.
The younger boy rolled his eyes, "Momo-sempai, I think you should stop laughing now.'
The look on Tezuka's face was…not what Momo wanted to see at lunchtime—or any time for that matter. It was the look that told him he would be running laps later.
But Momo didn't really have to worry. By now Tezuka knew for certain who was responsible—not that he hadn't guessed already. There were only so many people who could sneak such conspicuous objects into such obvious places through locked doors and under the captain's very nose—literally—after all.
Still, if he heard rumors about a certain change in his eating habits, he would know exactly where to look.
X
Having come to the conclusions he had, Tezuka wasn't really all that surprised to return to class and discover two more of the colorful little things waiting for him on his seat—he almost sat on them, much to his displeasure. One was yellow, and the other was black—which for some reason sent a cold chill up his spine.
Oishi swore fervently that he had not seen a thing. He had gone to have lunch with Eiji—an admission he made with a tinge of color in his cheeks that made Tezuka feel slightly better since the girls giggling near them weren't only giggling about the roses now—and no one else in class looked any wiser.
That was okay though. He already knew whom he had a few questions for later.
Glancing back at his bag where he had finally relented and let some of the roses poke their heads out in order not to be squashed—the bag was under his desk and turned to the wall anyway. He knew he would not have a pleasant evening if they got crushed somewhere along the way of hectic daily life, even if that meant being pointed at later while walking down the hallway…he was already starting to feel embarrassed., and he didn't embarrass easily in most types of situations.
But…why black? It looked starkly sinister surrounded by its bright, cheerful fellows…
X
The last two were sitting where the first one had been, making a total of seven altogether. The surprise this time when he opened the clubroom door was somewhat less, though he made a mental note that he should tell Ryuzaki-sensei that the lock needed to be changed. Letting out another sigh that echoed the one he had emitted earlier that morning, he moved over to pick them up gingerly.
"White and red," he mused aloud to the empty room filled with its audience of silent lockers.
"Saa, pretty aren't they?" a cheerful voice asked from behind him, nearly making him jump.
Turning around, he gave Fuji a stern look, "You have a lot of explaining to do."
Chuckling, the tensai moved over to pluck the bundled roses from their rather funny looking spot sticking out of Tezuka's bag, "Yare yare, is that how you greet someone who gave you a present? No wonder the poor girls have gotten rather frightened of trying, ne?"
A frown flitting across his face, Tezuka pushed the last to roses towards the brunette, who took them happily to be placed with the rest, "Don't change the subject. I don't think I've ever heard so many people laughing at me in the corridors. I would appreciate an explanation as to why you felt the need to cause it."
"Really?" Fuji looked at him in mock surprise. "Don't you think I just felt like giving you flowers?"
"No," was the short reply. Tezuka had known him far too long to believe that there wasn't a reason behind the act.
Laughing, Fuji plopped himself down onto the nearest bench and beamed at his captain, gesturing for him to sit with his free hand, "Doesn't everyone appreciate a little laughter? No, you don't have to answer that, just take a seat please. We haven't had a chance to really talk since you got back, ne?"
Eyeing the brunette warily, Tezuka did as he was asked, sitting down beside his friend. They sat in silence for a moment as Fuji carefully arranged the colorful blossoms and Tezuka watched, waiting patiently.
Finally, the tensai broke the silence, "Flowers have meaning, ne Tezuka?"
"…Ah."
Picking the orange rose out of the seven he was holding, Fuji held it up in front of Tezuka and smiled, "This one represents fascination. Did you know, you fascinated me back when we first met. Back then I thought I knew all the types of people there were already, but I'd never seen anyone like you before. You didn't fit into the categories."
Tezuka arched an eyebrow inquisitively, "I thought you said there were too many types of people in the world to be categorized."
"Conclusions come from somewhere," the tensai laughed, replacing the orange blossom and picking out the lavender and pink ones. "A lavender is enchantment, and pink is friendship, appreciation, and great happiness. Rather self explanatory, ne?"
Tezuka nodded slowly, feeling an odd warmth, but his eyes strayed almost of their own accord back to the flowers—or at least one specific flower, "But I thought a black rose is used to symbolize death."
"Hmm…" tilting his head slightly to one side, Fuji inspected the appointed flower thoughtfully. "You left."
There was a pause in which neither moved, pondering the words. They were heavy, lying in the air like solid things, reminders of something that was irrefutable, but it was something of the past now. He was back now after all—had been for a few weeks now.
Smiling slightly, Fuji indicated the yellow rose, "This is the mark of gladness and homecoming—and a reminder to remember. I thought it was rather fitting to put the two together."
"Ah," Tezuka glanced away for a moment, pondering, "and the last?"
Face becoming oddly serious, Fuji separated the two from the others again and scooted around to face his captain, holding the flowers up between them in a way that seemed to make them glow with how they drew the eye, "White and red roses together represent harmony."
Lowering the flowers slightly, Fuji opened his eyes to gaze steadily into Tezuka's sharp, golden brown eyes, "Do you think I made the right choice Tezuka?"
He was referring to the roses, but as with most things he said there was ore to the words, and the captain took a moment to consider his response. Finally, he reached out and took the flowers carefully from Fuji's hand before leaning forward and kissing the tensai lightly.
"I do."
-Owari-
A.N. Okay, I shall now apologize if it wasn't very good -- I wrote it in a bit of a rush because I was in a bad mood so by the time I got around to writing it there wasn't all that much time left. But anyways, I'm hoping it came out better than I feel it did, so I hope you liked it and happy Valentine's Day to you since mine was anything but!