A Gentlemen's Wager, Chapter 10

A/N: So this storyline draws more from the manga than the anime. I'm pulling from a genius where Fuji visits Tachibana just before Nationals to challenge him to a match. In said match, we learn that before Tachibana cut his hair and joined Fudomine, he used to have a tennis style similar to Kirihara's. We also learn Fuji knew him during this time period. Tachibana then plays Fuji and smashes his ball through a Higuma Otoshii. I was impressed ... and slightly weirded out by how close Fuji and Tachibana seem. I assume whatever happened between them was a long time ago and now they're friends. All that business with the grip tape started to make sense, and thus this chapter was born.

So yeah, explanation complete. Enjoy and review if you've got the time.

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None of the participants in the wager had expected Kirihara Akaya.

Rumors about the Rikkai second year had spread, of course, but largely people concerned with Rikkaidai were concerned about their ailing captain or the fearsome Sanada. Kirihara's skills had gone more or less under the radar of the junior high tennis world. Fuji had even met the second year once when he paid a surprise visit to the Seigaku campus. He vividly remembered the boy pestering Tezuka for a match before causing the accident that had kept the freshmen busy cleaning up balls until well after practice.

But even Inui had been unable to predict the events that occurred during Tachibana's match. That video tape had floored Fuji: the casual brutality of Kirihara, the valiant but vain defense of Tachibana. In a way, Fuji had felt almost proud of Fudomine's buchou; he hadn't fought back the way Fuji knew he could have. But no, he played honorably. Fuji wondered why every friend he ever had seemed to possess such a strong martyr complex.

A martyr complex which left Fuji standing outside the door to a hospital room...with flowers.

Maybe the flowers were too much, he thought. Still, he had gotten flowers for Taka-san when he was in the hospital, so he didn't see why he shouldn't get them for Tachibana. Besides, these were friendship flowers: pleasant, cheerful, and yellow. Tachibana would understand that ...and Tezuka didn't need to know he was here just yet. The two of them got along poorly enough as it was.

Fuji knocked and entered the room. Tachibana looked grim --not injured, just grim, his lips pressed together tight enough to squeeze coal into a diamond. He was holding a pro-tennis magazine, though it wasn't open. At Fuji's footfalls, he looked up, surprised. "Fuji?"

"Hi," Fuji said, fixing a pleasant smile in place. "Just thought I'd drop by to see how you were doing."

Tachibana glared down at his injured leg. "I've been better, but I'll be ready for Nationals."

"That's good. I'd like to play against your team again." Fuji set the flowers on the bedside table, next to a small stack of magazines and a roll of grip tape. Fuji couldn't help but chuckle at it. "Adjusting your grip while you're here?"

Tachibana rolled his eyes. "Kamio left that here. He fidgets when he comes to see me. Ends up forgetting a bunch of stuff. He brought me those magazines too. And ..." Tachibana paused to open the table's drawer, "a discman, three CD's, two sets of headphones, four tennis balls, and a pack of strawberry chewing gum." He closed the drawer with a sigh.

"I think it's cute," Fuji said, taking a seat. "He'd be good for you."

"Kamio?" Tachibana looked startled. "He's young."

"An entire year younger than you, yes."

"How's Tezuka?"

"Very clever way to change the subject."

"As long as it works."

Fuji looked away. "Tezuka's well. He'll be back for Nationals, too."

"How long is the line to play him, these days?"

"You could get in before you graduate high school."

Tachibana nodded knowingly. "That's about as I expected."

Fuji guessed now was as good a time as any to broach the subject he'd come to speak about. "Ne, Tachibana, about that match ..."

"Thought there was another reason for your visit. You wanna know about Kirihara?"

"To start, yes."

Tachibana took a deep breath. "I don't know what I can tell you. He's insane, but he's good. Really good."

"Could you have beaten him? If you used your ...old style." Careful. Tachibana hated talking about his old tennis style, and Fuji didn't need him to shut him out now. Fuji was one of few people who knew him in those days, and even if he had preferred Tachibana's old hair, he still didn't like bringing the time period up.

Tachibana took his time to answer. Finally, he said, "Possibly, but I can't be sure. He may be better than I was. He's certainly better than I am."

"That's not true," Fuji chided. "Rikkai is ... vicious. They don't care what they have to do to win."

"Are you going to play him?" The buchou's eyes searched Fuji, serious.

Fuji nodded.

Tachibana's face broke into a rare smile. "I wasn't sure you would. You don't have to."

"We're friends now. I look after my friends," and you'd better appreciate that this may upset my entire plan.

"Be careful," Tachibana looked down at his leg as he said this. "He's more skilled than people give him credit for, and he has no sense of fair play to back it up. And he's only singles two."

"Echizen will have to face Sanada," Fuji added, only the slightest hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Echizen? Is that wise?"

"Tezuka thinks he can. I ... have my doubts."

"Sanada's around here a lot. Their captain is on the floor below mine, but I haven't really spoken to either of them yet." He looked down again, as if to add, "for obvious reasons."

"Yukimura-buchou is here?" Fuji asked. If he wanted information on Rikkai, he supposed that would be the place to go.

"I asked the nurses about him once. His surgery isn't for a few more weeks, but his team visits all the time. Sanada more than anyone."

Interesting. "Thank you, Tachibana. I suppose I should be heading home now." He started to stand.

"Fuji." Tachibana leaned over and snagged the roll of grip tape off the table. "Here, I won't be needing this for a while."

Fuji raised an eyebrow, but he was smiling. Tachibana did know him well. Not as well as Tezuka, but still well. He accepted the tape.

"Beat him, Syusuke, but be very careful." Tachibana warned. Fuji nodded, choosing to allow the use of his first name under the circumstances, and left the room.

So Yukimura-buchou was here. Fuji decided it wouldn't hurt to see where the boy was, maybe have a brief chat, as fellow tennis players. The tensai got into the elevator and hit the fifth floor button. As he left the confines, he saw two figures heading down the hall: a tall, stoic boy with a baseball cap pulled over his eyes pushing a thin, tired figure with blue-violet hair in a wheelchair. The two were walking straight towards the elevator.

Fuji turned quickly in the other direction, not willing to risk being recognized. It had been a long time since Seigaku had played Rikkaidai last, but both Sanada and Yukimura had eerily keen senses of perception. Fuji walked a few paces down, using his hair to cover his face and pretending to be waiting outside a closed door.

"You know, you don't have to come every day," Yukimura said as the two waited for the elevator to return. He craned his neck around to look up at Sanada, who didn't reply loudly enough for Fuji to hear. Rikkai's captain reached up one hand to cover Sanada's. "But ... I'm very glad you do."

Fuji's eyes focused in on Sanada's hand, which opened to take Yukimura's. Before the elevator returned, Sanada gently, almost imperceptibly, gave the hand a quick squeeze. And then the two were gone.

Fuji's smile returned. So, the emperor had a weakness after all. Now he'd just have to find a way to use it.

It was a shame, Fuji thought. No wonder Rikkaidai wanted to win so badly. No wonder Sanada was willing to let his players go to any and all lengths to defeat the competition. Fuji supposed if the roles were reversed, and it was Tezuka here about to undergo life-threatening surgery, he might do the same. They had a good reason to fight, and they truly wanted to win the championship.

So it was just too bad that Fuji wanted it more.