Breaking the Facade
Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. Anything that does not look PoT-ish is mine though.
Summary: "Because," he couldn't hide the bitterness in his voice, "tennis is no longer a part of my life." (AU-ish)
Notes: I'm coming with tentative couples. So far: TezFuji, RyoMomo, EijShu
(Golden Pair), InuKao, and TakaOC. All couples are yaoi except TakaOC. If you don't like, please leave.
Warnings: Yaoi in the future chapters, language, graphic violence in future chapters, and MAYBE a lemon (tell me your thoughts on this).
The Ties that Bind
The years had flown by in a way that Fuji had never believed that they could. In a haze that consisted of business meetings, eating, business paperwork, the natural necessities in life, business partners, sleep, and long days put in to the office (far past the normal hours). In short, his life was consumed by business.
That was until he met Kohana.
Kohana had the bluest eyes that he had ever seen on a human and had a dainty little figure. Her wavy light brown framed her face and just made her look like the most beautiful figure in the entire world. She had wormed her way into his heart the first moment their eyes met.
He had been at a charity ball that was being thrown for his more than generous donation to the organization that owned the building when he had really met her. He had first seen her, as in opened his eyes and took her in for the brief moment that he had seen her, when he was touring the building trying to figure out how much to donate. She had glanced at him and given him a sweet smile, yet those blue eyes held a calculating stare. They had kept that stare before her eyes warmed and her smile turned into a beautiful, cheerful smile. He had returned one of his own to her before he was swept away from her. He did not know her name, yet he named her mentally, Kohana.
So when she came up to him, he was sort of surprised, not that he showed it. They both bowed to each other, but Kohana bowed deeper than what was usually done. It showed her gratitude to him. She stood up and smiled toward him with that amazing and beautiful smile and thanked him. "Mr. Fuji, thank you for your contribution here. It will help everyone here to get better and overcome their circumstances."
Her intelligence and politeness that was beyond her age surprised him, yet again. And it was not normal for him to be surprised so many times. But he responded before she could run off to where he would probably never see her again. "It was my pleasure miss. Would you be kind enough to be my partner for the rest of the night?"
She agreed and he entertained her for the rest of the night, much to the amusement of everyone attending the ball. He was known through the business world for his demeanor of innocence and the distance that he kept from everyone. He had no attachments to anyone besides his family. Family was everything to him.
But he made an exception for Kohana.
Over the next few weeks he had questioned everyone he knew about Kohana's background, and he found out quite a lot. Her parents had died when she was three. They were murdered right in front of her and the murder was caught soon after, but it was too late. Kohana had been scarred for the rest of her life. She was also a genius, just like Fuji was. He also found out her real name: Leann Katherine Roads. In addition to all this he also found out that she was well sought after, but she was waiting for someone and had declined many offers from other men and a few women.
It was then that Fuji decided that he wanted Kohana to be his Kohana.
Six months after they had first formally met at the ball, Fuji went on a walk with Kohana. Her smaller hand was in his as they reached a finally bench, their spot, under an apple tree. It was spring and the tree was blooming and the wind had picked up and he blossoms were flying everywhere. They kept silent for a while comfortable in the silence that was kept between the duo.
Fuji looked at her and noticed how fragile she was, and how much he wanted her. How he wanted to hold her, to love her, to give her presents and to keep her to himself. So for her, he would do something he hadn't done in three years, he bore his heart out to her. "I've fallen in love with you," he softly stated. But he knew she had heard him; she had straightened from where she was sitting beside him and squeezed his hand.
He took comfort in that and continued to bear his heart to her. "I think that I loved you the first moment that I saw you. You and your beautiful smile. It's grown and I don't think that it'll every stop. I want to hold you, I want to spoil you, I want to help you through the bad times, and I want to be someone special in your life, if you'll have me."
Kohana turned to him and waited with baited breath until their eyes met. Kohana's eyes had unshed tears about to break the surface. Fuji couldn't breathe. He couldn't feel. He couldn't hear anything except Kohana saying something like 'I would love to.' He snapped to attention. "Say that again."
She gave him a small smile. "I would love to be adopted by you Mr. Fuji." Fuji felt as though he was flying. Kohana, the seven year old child before him had agreed to be adopted by him. He gave her a large grin. "No more of this 'Mr. Fuji' stuff. I won't take your father's place, so how about you call me Shusuke. You are about to become a Fuji as well."
And so three hours later, Leann Katherine Roads was no longer a name in use. And from the ashes, Fuji Michi Kohana was born. His righteous little flower was accepted almost immediately into the Fuji family fold. Yumiko adored her in, Yuuta loved her kindness, his mother was taken to her beauty, and his father, well, his father was taken to the wealth of good media attention that was given to the corporation and that she was a genius child as well.
Kohana took to Fuji's lifestyle well. They lived in a large manor near the outskirts of the city, it was the family manor which Fuji had inherited as the head of the Fuji family (after his father had moved back to Japan with is mother where his sister and brother still dwelled). At five, Fuji would rise and get ready for the day and at six he would be eating breakfast at the small table in the kitchen, where small meals between Fuji and Kohana would take place.
Around 6:15 Kohana would stumble into the room, she was not a morning person, and eat with breakfast. After a caffeine burst of hot chocolate (no matter what season), the duo would converse about what they would do that day.
At 6:45, Kohana would run back upstairs (Fuji would just laugh and shake his head at the change that one cup of coco could bring to one girl) to get dressed and Fuji could check the stocks, news, etc on his laptop. At seven, Kohana would run down in her private school uniform and side bag and they would both get into Fuji's car and he would drive Kohana to school and drop her off at 7:30 while he could drive onward to work.
At 5:30, he would pack up his work and say good-bye to his secretary and leave the building. He would, then, drive to Kohana's school and pick her up from her Japanese lessons that began after school ended at four. The duo would go home and Kohana would work on her homework while Fuji cooked dinner. At 6:15, the duo would sit down and eat while discussing their days. After they finished, Kohana would help Fuji wash the dishes before finishing up her homework.
At eight, Kohana would take a bath and Fuji would read her a book before putting her to bed with a kiss on the forehead. Fuji would then finish up his latest project for work and then would head to bed himself. And then, the day would continue again. The days passed and turned into weeks, which turned into months and then they turned into years. Another two years continued in that manner, until they were disrupted by a single but life changing event.
Kohana had found some of his old pictures and tennis racket, Fuji could hide nothing from the curious eight year old at that time, and she had begun to take a liking to that particular sport. While Fuji coached her privately on some of the harder points in tennis that he had learned, Kohana took lessons from a private club of tennis players where she excelled.
Yuuta had been ecstatic and began to teach Kohana some of his own moves, for he was an international pro tennis player. Fuji's father merely overlooked the fact, which made Fuji breathe slightly easier. He hadn't wanted to make his daughter go through what he had to have gone through with his abrupt end with tennis in Japan.
A year later, a business partner of Fuji's came to him and gave him some box seats to the U.S. Open. Fuji almost refused them until Mr. Zachary Smith, a mentor and friend of Fuji's, merely said that they were a belated birthday present for Kohana. Fuji gave in and took the tickets. He gave himself a sixteen day leave from the office as well as a sixteen day leave for Kohana, for what she didn't know, but she was far ahead of the class even though she had decided to skip a grade that year. She would probably end up skipping another grade in the next few weeks.
So they packed their bags, and on August 25th Fuji had woken Kohana at 8:30 and made her change and they moved to the car. Fuji drove and Kohana ate her breakfast as they made their way to the USTA National Tennis Center, not that Kohana knew that. At nine thirty, Fuji parked his car and awaited Kohana's reaction. Said nine year old was reading a book and she placed her bookmark in it when she felt 'Shu-kun', as she had recently dubbed her father-like figure (he was more of a mother to her, oddly enough) park, and she looked up. For a moment she was confused as to where she was. That was for a second until she processed where she was.
Suddenly, she turned and jumped Fuji and hugged him. "Arigatou, arigatou!" She exclaimed in her semi-native language. Her blue eyes sparkled and that was all Fuji could ask for. He smiled and led her to the gates and then to their seats.
Fuji just watched as Kohana kept this 'in awe' look on her face as they walked around the Tennis Center. Kohana would randomly turn and hug him and thank him repeatedly in Japanese. He was just happy that she was so happy to be here. When she was happy, it was hard to be anything but generally happy, yet he couldn't fight off all his depression.
Kohana really looked at her father after she just hugged him. While he was smiling, it wasn't that he was really happy. Yumi-chan had told her about Shu-kun's fascination with tennis and how he had one of the best in Japan until he quit. She wouldn't say why, but Yuu-kun took it up from there. He explained the Fuji family hierarchy and tradition and how her father-like figure had had to give up tennis, his friends, and his life.
While he happily taught her tennis, she saw the longing look that he gave her when she practiced in the tennis court that they had installed on the large grounds of the Fuji Manor. And also, when Fuji didn't think she saw him, he would stare out at the tennis court. She knew the only reason he didn't pick up his racket again was for the fear that he might become too attached to it and that his father would find out.
It was the same with people. He wouldn't get near anyone but family because of that horrific break with his friends. He didn't want to get hurt or hurt anyone ever again. Family was a constant that would never go away, but friends tend to fade with the tide. Fuji had been cut open and he had never healed correctly ever again. Kohana gave a small sigh, but returned her attention to the surrounding actions going on here in the Tennis Center.
Fuji soon took a seat in the box seating along with his daughter as they watched the Women's matches. His daughter had become quite enamored with the U.S. Women's team and had vocally told him earlier that she wanted to watch every Women's game that they could, Singles and Doubles. Which suited Fuji fine, he didn't want to run anyone he knew and besides Yuuta was training back in Japan, so he had no real reason to watch the Men's Singles and Doubles.
Each day, the duo would go to see each and every match that would take place for the Women's. Fuji caught nothing about the Men's tournament, Single or Doubles as he and Kohana went to each match. Except for once when he did hear that a whirlwind win was going on in the Men's Single's section. But he heard no more of the gossip as Kohana dragged him onward.
Finally, it was September 7th and the final Women's Double Match had just ended, but the speaker from the Men's Final Single's match was screaming out over the crowd noise. "DID YOU SEE THAT FOLKS! THAT WAS THE FAMED TRIPLE COUNTER JUST USED AGAINST ANDERSON!"
Kohana snapped to attention at that last phrase. Yuu-kun had told her that the Triple Counter was the specialty move of Shu-kun. She started to move toward the Men's Singles Final match and pulled Shu-kun along. She wanted to see this man that had pulled off Shu-kun's specialty move.
The duo got there just in time to see the final point take place. Anderson had let out a light volley toward the net from back row, and his opponent, a blue haired man used the Drop Volley against him. Kohana heard Shu-kun let out a soft gasp at the move, and she turned to him.
What she saw shocked her. Her father's eyes were open wide in shock as he stared out at the dark blue haired man. He opened his mouth and whispered out one small yet paramount phrase. "Otouto."
The other man, as if he heard, looked up from his Ponta that he had been drinking, and his golden orbs met with Shu-kun's and widened visibly. "Ani," he breathed out, but Kohana heard it, and was confused.
She had been told that Yuu-kun was Shu-kun's only brother. But Shu-kun had just called this man his younger brother. Who was he? He sure didn't look like he was related to the Fuji family, with his dark hair and light eyes, the opposite of every other Fuji family member that Kohana had met. She was brought out of her thoughts as the other man that she didn't know, took some steps toward Shu-kun.
Shu-kun was as stiff as a board and Kohana knew that he was searching for a way out of the hall that they were in. She placed her hand in his and stood at ready with Shu-kun. She wouldn't let him do this alone, whatever this was. She watched as the man was almost three feet away and Shu-kun's hand squeezed hers.
Then the man was right in front of them. He cocked his head to the side and the two men stared at each other for a moment. "Well," the other man stated, his tone was colored with amusement. "It had been a while, Ani." He raised his hand as though to shake Shu-kun's hand. And Kohana gaped.
The man slapped Shu-kun!
Owari
And thus ends this part. Dear Lord, I had to research some of the stuff for this story last night, such as the U.S. Open. I haven't been so involved with tennis years. Kinda makes me sad since I was fairly good in tennis, yet I chose volleyball. :sigh: This is probably how long the chapters are going to be. Maybe a tad longer, but oh well. It makes it easier for me to write. And if you don't know who this 'man' is, I swear I'll die laughing.
Also, how many people believed that Kohana was his lover? Don't be ashamed, it was completely meant to make you think that. XP
On the topic of lovers, I am probably going to make this a TezuFuji fic. If this scares people off, I'm sorry. I'm just a supporter of them. As for uke, erm, for a moment I didn't know what that meant for a bit until I did some research. Seme is the stronger person in the relationship and uke the (for lack of a better word) weaker one. Is that right:scratches head: Well, we'll see what happens. So far, it might go that way.
Thank you VERY much to the following reviewers: anon (maybe on the uke, but we all think he is sadistic because to many people who are sadistic hide behind such happy facades), Risa-chan (ARIGATOU:hugs: Thank you so much! I'm new here and need as much help as I can get!), yoshikochan (the whole not telling thing was quite important, glad you noticed that), rabbit (wroteagainwroteagainwroteagain. I'm just glad you reviewed and think this is good. I ish happy now, nyah. I'm trying really hard to find a good writing style and I'm happy you like this one. The whole 'Lady Selenity san no monogatari ga daisuki desuyo.mou yomitai... (chigau desuka? Gomenasai.)' I didn't get and am really sorry about that. Could you explain that?), jays (we'll see about the whole happy ending. My story's just flow. I follow. ), and chiyo (Continuing! We'll see if this gets happy anytime soon. Hopefully, though.)
Thanks again. Reviews are one of the highest compliments that I can get.
Please review again; they help motivate me, really.