TITLE: Delusions

PART: Two of Three

GENRE: Yaoi (Alternate Universe/Psychological/Angst/Drama)

AUTHOR: Simply Kim

PAIRING: Atobe Keigo x Tezuka Kunimitsu

FANDOM: Tennis no Oujisama

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the stuff, characters and series mentioned here, except this... (Piece of crap?) story. ;

NOTE #1: Blah or Blah is for emphasis. /Blah/ is for conversations over the phone or flashbacks (if any). /Blah/ is for the conscience or whatever inner voice there is talking. Blah is for thoughts or random Japanese words.

PART TWO: LIVING A NONEXISTENT LIFE
One of the rooms in Atobe Keigo's wing of the mansion was plain white. The walls were dull, drab and colourless – doing nothing but aggravate his need to get out and mingle. As lavish as the furnishings were, he couldn't discount the fact that his whole room seemed too contemporary, too futuristic – and almost clinical in nature.

He wondered why his parents made him sleep in such surroundings one week every month. It didn't do well in maintaining his level of creativity. He had been subjected to this room since he graduated from the university. He couldn't even remember the exact time this routine started.

He closed his eyes, wondering at the sudden pain in his gut and the start of the dull throbbing in his temples. Both were things he was used to. Sighing, obviously bored, he opened them again and stared at the wall clock on the wall adjacent to his bed.

Seven o'clock.

It was already morning. In an hour and a half, he should be out there bossing people around.

A smug smile formed on his face. It would be very amusing to see the board and his underlings from Hyoutei Daigaku again. It would be fun bossing his secretary around and making the oldest members of his board of trustees all huffy... and the delight of seeing his stupid friend Sanada cower at the might of his tennis prowess. He was going to even out the score later in the afternoon. They were going to play tennis and he was going to win this time. After all, a person his stature shouldn't lose a match to the head of one of his company's suppliers – much more, score even with him. He was to be the better person! With almost childish glee, he hopped off his bed to prepare for another tiring day.

Oh, but there was a shiny part in his days until the rest of the month.

Tezuka Kunimitsu was back again, after all – all the more reason to go out and do something productive. He was sure to visit again tonight, most probably during the time when the influx of people in his office was minimal.

Besides, he needed to get out of there if he wanted to keep his sanity intact.

R.E.A.L I.S D.E.F.I.N.I.T.E

"Ha! Take that, Genichirou!" He called out from across the tennis court. His opponent, Sanada Genichirou, glared at the spot in which the ball landed with a hard 'thud!' The impact was so strong that it left a mark on the hard-packed clay court. He shook his head and fixed his look of disapproval on his face.

"That was too much." Sanada declared, shaking his head. "I was careless. Fine. You win – this time."

Atobe gave him a smug look and puffed up his chest, rubbing salt on his friend's 'Wounds of Defeat'. "I told you I've improved!"

"So I see." Sanada allowed, nodding once before towelling off his head. He was awashed with sweat, and much to his chagrin, Atobe looked so refreshed that he wanted to pour the contents of his water bottle on his head. He decided not to, or else, the same episode of past bickering would once again ensue.

He felt a pang in his chest. His best friend Yukimura Seiichi, who was out of the country permanently... and Tezuka Kunimitsu, often participated in tennis games like this. That was before, during their university years, the time before he went away to study in Germany. Now, almost five years had passed, and only the two of them, he and Atobe, were the ones left to continue –

Atobe poked him on the rib, and as a conditioned response, he growled, swatting the offending finger away. "Tezuka came by last night." He told Sanada. "From Germany." Atobe grinned coyly. "In a month, he didn't change much..."

The other man sat up straighter, alarm crossing his face. "Tezuka?" He asked cautiously, his look turning guarded, clenching the towel he pulled off his head in a sudden jolt of surprise.

"Aa." Atobe responded thoughtfully. "He's getting weirder and weirder recently. He just pops in and out of my office when people were scarce, and then, until everyone left, he would just sit in my office couch and read a sports magazine." He sniffed haughtily. "He's too quiet, and Ore-sama can't help but look at him all the time – it's as if he's seducing me or something! I swear – Ah, Genichirou?"

Sanada's lips were pulled to a thin line, and the corners of his mouth were white. "Atobe, when did he come back?" He asked slowly, hawk-like gaze boring into him. Atobe found it unusual, and for a moment, he felt afraid.

"Stop looking at me like that. You're bothering Ore-sama!" he declared, trying to gulp in his uneasiness. Then, with a dismissive wave of hand, he answered. "He came back just the other day."

The guarded look worsened, in his opinion. There was something really wrong with Sanada, Atobe thought, raising a brow in question.

"Keigo... you were sick the other day. My dad said you didn't go to work."

R.E.A.L I.S E.X.A.C.T

Atobe gritted his teeth as he strode back to his corporate office after his shower. He wasn't planning to do any work tonight; after all, he was tired. However, he couldn't shake off Sanada's words a couple of hours ago.

Didn't go to work? He thought incredulously. I was swamped with work the other day! How could I have not been to work? I was dead tired that time and was exhausted after –

Twin splotches of colour appeared on his cheeks and he willed them away.

His swivel chair creaked as he sat on it, and as a habit, he started twirling his pen around his fingers. It was stupid, what he was contemplating now. Sanada had to be wrong! He stared at his most prized picture framed on his table. It was of him and his friends taken back in senior high at Hyoutei Gakuen. Everyone seemed so happy then – even Tezuka was smiling a little as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

He couldn't seem to accurately remember everything that happened before graduation. All he knew was that he got sick, and Tezuka flew back to Germany to continue his studies, even sneaking into his room to inform him that at the end of the month – the next day – he was going to...

"Penny for your thoughts."

Atobe looked up in surprise and his face lit up as Tezuka sat on the edge of his table, twisting his body to face him, a small smile on his lips. "Make it a million yen." He fired back, leaning against the high back of his chair. "I didn't hear you come in. You're becoming better with your stealth, Mitsu-chan. Ore-sama is impressed"

"I came through the door, Keigo." The bespectacled man responded wryly, getting off his perch and moving on to the couch, motioning Atobe to follow, which he did as per usual, without any resistance. It was bad enough that they only saw each other during the last few days of every month. Until Tezuka finished his studies abroad, he would follow him like this – no questions asked.

After all, it wasn't as if he was not enjoying time spent with him.

"That's good." He allowed. "Outsiders might call the police on you when they see your figure climbing through my window. How in heaven's name do you do it anyway?"

"It's a secret."

"Right."

"What happened? You told me the other day that you're going to have a match with Genichirou this afternoon."

Atobe grinned in pride. "I finally trounced him." He revealed, earning a soft look from the other. "After all these years, the result wasn't a draw – I actually beat him. I really am the tennis master, am I not?"

Tezuka only nodded, gazing at him with affection visible on his face.

/"But you were sick the other day... you didn't go to work."/

Sanada's voice rang in his head once again. And he frowned, staring intently at Tezuka. "Oi, tell me... did we really see each other the day before yesterday?" Atobe's hands felt cold and clammy. He was nervous, yet he didn't understand why. It was as if he was expecting some sort of answer that would concretise something... something he didn't know what.

"You're becoming forgetful." Tezuka allowed, frowning a little at the unexpected question. "After everything that happened you still ask me that?"

It was as if the answer renewed Atobe's energy supply. With a smirk, he covered up his past uneasiness and moved closer to him, eyes gleaming with immodest intent.

"Maybe you could remind me what happened back then, ahn, Mitsu-chan?"

"You're such an animal, Keigo."

R.E.A.L I.S N.O.T I.M.A.G.I.N.E.D

He was in the white room again.

Atobe's eyes snapped fully open as he sat up, surveying his surroundings.

Tezuka carried him back after all that. He groaned, massaging his temple. He hated getting up on early mornings such as this. And his lover should carry him like some bride to his room way across the community. He wondered why he didn't wake up at the sudden motions that must've entailed. He hated the fact that the bespectacled man was supposed to be the uke and yet, he was the one lugging his seme around. He hoped no one saw or his reputation would be toast!

He shook his head. He had better prepare for work –

"Yo, Keigo."

It was Oshitari... without his overbearing wife latched onto him.

Heaven must be raining cows outside. He snickered inwardly. In fact, I think heaven is raining perverts outside – and Yuushi just happened to be one of them... "How did you get here? Wait... trouble in Paradise?"

Atobe gave him a knowing grin as the latter pulled a chair and sighed exhaustedly. "They let me in. And stop staring at me like I'm such a pervert, Atobe." He growled. "Gakuto didn't even come home with me."

"Because you were feeling him up before we went home just last week without his permission, I presume."

There was something in the Kansai-raised man's eyes that alarmed him, some sort of fleeting emotion that he couldn't place. He stared back at him, able to show that he hadn't noticed even if he had. "How did you know that... your mother called to tell us you were sick." Oshitari said lightly. "You were very preoccupied with something last week. What's that about by the way? You got problems?"

Atobe raised a brow. Now he was really alarmed. Oshitari Yuushi, Prodigy extraordinaire didn't get days and events mixed up. "That's preposterous. Ore-sama was there... even sent Jirou home."

Now Oshitari really looked worried. If the company heir didn't know better, he would say that he had the same look as Sanada's yesterday afternoon. "Whatever." He said dismissively, slumping down on the chair even more, eyes still glued to Atobe's face. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Why do you people always ask me that?"

"What?"

"If I'm alright?"

Oshitari adjusted his glasses and was silent for a moment before giving him a sly smile. "You just look a bit rough around the edges, that is all."

"Ore-sama is perfect, you imbecile, stop saying bad words."

"Perfect."

"Exactly."

"Perfectly annoying."

R.E.A.L I.S. V.I.S.I.B.L.E

"Kunimitsu, do I look 'rough around the edges'?"

The man being questioned looked up at him in surprise before his features flattened out to that of reproach. "You always look out of the ordinary, but not that much." He answered curiously. "Why?"

He sighed, leaning back against the cushions even more. "Yuushi and the others have been asking me if I'm alright lately." He revealed contemplatively. "I think there may have been some sort of pattern in this, you know. After all, everything happens for a reason..."

"You lost me."

Atobe sighed, rolling his eyes as if Tezuka said the most stupid thing ever. "What I'm saying is that, people seem to think there's something wrong with me."

"There is always something wrong with you, Keigo."

He glared at him, crossing his arms across his chest in defiance. "Ore-sama is perfect."

Tezuka, after a few moments, gave in and smiled gently. "You are." He murmured indulgently. "But what makes you perfect?"

Atobe gave him an assured grin.

"Ore-sama only believes in things that are real."

TSUZUKU