Hi, I'm alive! Really did mean to update earlier but Fuji-muse kept teasing me, there was so many good fics to read in HunterXHunterand then Gakuen Heaven started waving. Anyway, I procrastinated and before I knew it, it'd been 2 months since I last updated. I'll stop rambling in a minute and let you get to the story - you'll find out which pairing I've chosen in this chapter, I hopeI don't disappoint you too much. I'll try to update sooner this time as I have study leave soon and I tend to write when I should revise.

Disclaimer - I do not own PoT or the characters.


Yuuta glanced at his watch nervously as he wondered what on Earth Rikkai's buchou and fuku-buchou could want to see him and Mizuki-san about. Looking at it realistically, he did not believe it when Mizuki-san suggested they wanted to trade tennis techniques; this was Rikkai Dai they were talking about after all, who had already won the Nationals twice! Yuuta wanted this meeting over and done with as soon as possible, Yukimura and Sanada were sitting opposite them; the former was smiling serenely while the latter just frowned. Yuuta had wisely adverted his eyes from Yukimura after blushing every time the delicate boy caught his eye and sensing Sanada's glare on him. Mizuki, by contrast, was perfectly at ease sitting with two of the best junior high tennis players in Japan, smirk still present and hand still twirling his hair as far as Yuuta could tell from the corner of his eyes.

The game had to end soon, both parties knew this. Mizuki knew Fuji had to win soon if they were to finish in time for St Rudolph to take part in the Nationals; even Fate couldn't help them win after a winner had been announced. Yukimura knew they had to win soon because he wanted to concentrate on training his team up to win the Nationals for the third time, besides, all this travelling to and fro between Tokyo and Kanagawa was getting tiresome.

"Shall we say this game ends by the end of next week? This will mean that whoever is winning at that point in time wins, even if the other side manages to win Echizen over afterwards, the result still stands." Yukimura suggested.

Oh yeah, the four of them had that in common as well. Yuuta had tried not to think about the matchmaking game Mizuki-san had signed him up for. Oh well, it would be a good thing if things could return to normal after next week. Perhaps then, Mizuki-san would stop inviting himself home with Yuuta on weekends on the pretence of investigating Fuji Syuusuke's progress; his aniki was especially difficult when under the same roof as Mizuki-san.

"But what constitutes as winning? We can't just go up to Echizen and ask him who he prefers." Mizuki-san had something up his sleeve, Yuuta was sure of it. "How about whoever seduces Echizen first?" Yuuta choked on his diet coke and spluttered uncontrollably as he stared at Mizuki-san, first in disbelief then in growing horror.

"That's a bit explicit; Echizen is only twelve, after all." Yukimura frowned slightly. "Besides, it would probably be rude to delve so deep into the private lives of our fellow tennis players."

"Tennis match, winner keeps Echizen." Sanada supplied as he continued glaring at the opposition.

Yukimura shook his head again. "Too unromantic, they have to prove they like him enough for a result to come out of it."

"Can we not ask the deities to help decide? It is their game after all." Yuuta ventured hesitantly.

Yukimura quirked his head, appearing deep in thought "Actually, Destiny was rather vague about what she could and couldn't do."

Mizuki laughed derisively. "Destiny is always vague and often unpleasant and full of hardship. Fate on the other hand is clearer and goes straight to the point. He also obviously has good tastes." He added as an afterthought.

Yuuta begged to differ. 'Aniki and Echizen? More like strange tastes.'

Yukimura was smiling again. "Rikkai does not lose. May the best player win." With that, the two nationally ranked players bade them farewell and left the other two youths to plot some more.

Yuuta couldn't help but question that last comment. 'Best at what? Does best at being sly and devious count?'


Fuji Syuusuke sat patiently on his bedroom floor watching a film on TV as he waited for his younger brother to work up the nerve to talk to him. Something was bugging the younger Fuji brother or he wouldn't have been pacing outside Syuusuke's room for the last half an hour, stopping outside the door every few minutes before resuming his circuit. Six sighs, seven failed knocking attempts and three thumps suspiciously like a head contacting with the wall later, Syuusuke finally heard a timid tap on his door.

"Come in Yuuta." he patted the floor next to him but Yuuta remained hovering nervously by the doorway. "What is it Yuuta? Something bothering you at school? You're not being bullied, are you? Do you want to transfer somewhere else?"

"No, nothing like that, school's fine aniki, stop worrying so much." Yuuta turned away and sat down, embarrassed by his older brother's concern and affection even after his hostility earlier on in the year.

Silence fell between them as the two brothers just relaxed and spent time together, something they rarely did nowadays. Syuusuke turned back to the TV, keeping half an eye on his brother but taking care to give him some space as he sorted out his thoughts.

"Aniki, why Echizen?"

If Syuusuke was surprised by the question, he didn't show it. "Do you not approve?"

Yuuta shook his head lightly. "It's your choice aniki. I… I just wondered, seeing how you were never particularly close to him and you haven't known him for very long."

Fuji opened his eyes a sliver to face his brother. "Echizen is a very interesting one, don't you think so? Mizuki, Tezuka, who else's eye do you think he's caught? Atobe-san? Ibu-san?"

"Don't know why though. His tennis might be good but that doesn't change the fact that he's arrogant, snarky and disrespectful." Yuuta added darkly.

"So you don't like him then." Syuusuke asked, eyes closed again.

Yuuta sighed. "It doesn't matter; just do something that makes you happy, aniki. Don't worry about anything else." Yuuta got up and left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Syuusuke smiled at the closed door. "Thank you Yuuta, I didn't know you cared. And I'll always worry about you, no matter what."


Tezuka has been resolutely ignoring the whispers and rumours since he had let Ryoma off with no punishment for being late to practice. It was only that one time but no one seemed to be able to separate playing tennis from private matters all of a sudden. Well Ryoma was doing fine, Inui said there had been more smirks and wide eyed glances his way from the first year but his playing was improving too, so Tezuka wasn't too bothered. Fuji however, was another matter altogether. Much to the astonishment of the other club members, Fuji flirted openly with the younger boy; holding hands, hugs, buying him Ponta, the list went on; little things that Tezuka would not consider. It was clear that Fuji's actions were a direct challenge to Tezuka and everyone wanted to know how their buchou would react.

Well, he'd already decided he wasn't going to give up on Ryoma but how to get Fuji to step down was a definite problem. A definite big problem with potential backlash of unpleasant revenge in the future. And how to proceed with Echizen? Another enigma. With the Nationals looming upon them, Tezuka has always taken Ryoma to tennis related activities; often the two just played a few games before a meal. Was that enough for Echizen or should he consider non-tennis related activities as well? On second thoughts, Ryoma knew how important the Nationals were to him, he'd understand, they both enjoyed tennis more than anything else anyway. Yes, he should carry on as he always did and stay true to his instincts. If Ryoma was unhappy about anything, Tezuka was quite certain the prodigy wouldn't hesitate to let the world know of his displeasure.


Fuji was having the time of his life; he enjoyed tennis and all, but this new game took challenging the impossible to whole new levels. Getting to know the team's baby was turning out to be even more amusing than he had originally imagined; although it had started off as being merely something to annoy Mizuki with, Fuji was genuinely enjoying spending time with the younger boy and he found himself looking forward to their next "date". Echizen was extremely intriguing; or at least, Fuji found him so.

Every tennis prodigy had a slightly abnormal personality quirk which could also be seen by some as a flaw. Kirihara was demonic, Sanada was inflexible, Atobe was narcissistic, Tezuka was too detached, Echizen was too provocative and Fuji himself knew his unchanging smiles unsettled many people. The only difference was, Echizen' personality quirk only showed up on the tennis court, off of it, he was just a rather normal twelve year old, albeit a bit of a loner; his confidence was still there but even that was toned down.

Over their past few dates, Fuji had discovered that Ryoma had a softer, more sensitive side. The side that came out whenever he played with his cat, at the end of a date when he thanked Fuji for the meal or film or whatever they had done, or when Ryoma was lost in thought. Fuji wondered sometimes if Tezuka had noticed this and where Tezuka saw this side of Ryoma. Then he would wonder what Tezuka thought about this whole arrangement, the only time they had ever discussed the topic of Echizen outside of tennis had been that time at dinner when each of their intentions had been made clear. It really was laughable, Fuji hadn't even been purposely pushing Tezuka's buttons when he had decided to pursue Echizen; he supposed he should have noticed something, being the observant tensai and all but he had been worried about Yuuta at that time and whether that pretentious manager had been teaching his brother potentially harmful techniques again.


Ryoma, meanwhile, had no idea why everyone made such a big fuss about his new found relationships with two of the strongest players on the team. He wasn't as dense as people thought him to be regarding anything outside of tennis. He knew of the intricacies of love relationships even if he had never given any thought as to how to play the game. He knew the choice was up to him, whether he wanted to choose Fuji-sempai or Tezuka buchou. He wasn't purposely taking a long time over it either; he just hadn't decided yet.

It had been a bit strange to hang out with Fuji-sempai instead of Kikumaru-sempai and Momo-sempai at the beginning but now it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, and he could even say he rather enjoyed their outings. Fuji-sempai wouldn't keep hanging all over him, putting him in a death lock or argue over who would pay for the food. Sure, he felt a tiny little bit guilty after making Fuji-sem…no, Syuusuke pay all the time but the smiling tensai had insisted that it was no problem, so who was Ryoma to argue with free food and fun?

Buchou was a different matter altogether. They got together as often as Ryoma went out with Syuusuke, but they never "went out" as in go out into town and fool around. Ryoma preferred to play tennis with buchou, usually at the clay courts where they wouldn't be disturbed. He didn't know why but while he didn't mind people seeing him out with Syuusuke, he always checked if anyone was around before they began playing. Privacy held a different meaning for Ryoma to other people, tennis, the kind of tennis buchou played with him, that was private; something that was just for Ryoma. And Ryoma's suitors weren't the only ones who didn't like sharing in Seigaku.


"Fuji, what is this?" Tezuka , Fuji noted, sounded rather exasperated even if his facial expression remained unchanged.

"A date." The tensai answered nonchalantly.

"I meant why did you bring me along on your date with Echizen?" Tezuka was frowning slightly now.

Fuji's smile grew even brighter if that was possible. "I always believed the more the merrier, right Ryoma?"

"Aa." Ryoma nodded as he smirked at his stiff buchou glancing around the amusement park with apprehension.

Tezuka's frown deepened. "Most of the rides are for two people." He pointed out; still unnerved by this sudden change of attitude by Fuji and the fact that Echizen had a strange gleam in his eye that wasn't that unlike what Fuji had when he was goading someone to their doom.

Fuji pulled out a camera, "I have to be on the ground to take pictures of Ryoma but I can't send him on the rides on his own."

That made absolutely no sense to Tezuka at all even if there was logic in Fuji's words; he didn't want Ryoma to be alone so he invites his rival along to keep the boy company? Sometimes, if Tezuka believed in the supernatural, he was tempted to ask Fuji what planet he came from.

That was not to say Fuji never tried out the rides although he did spend a lot of time just snapping pictures, sometimes the three of them went on rides together, sometimes just Fuji and Ryoma but mainly it was Tezuka and Ryoma while Fuji recorded every moment. It took the combined powers of Fuji and Ryoma to drag Tezuka onto the Tower Hacker with them but Ryoma swore it was worth every effort to see Tezuka lose his cool as they plummeted 80 metres without warning. Fuji bought the souvenir key ring with a picture of the three of them as the ride came to an end; Tezuka recovering from the shock, Ryoma grinning widely as he high-fived Fuji who smiled serenely at Tezuka.

All in all, Fuji felt that it had been a productive day. He had spent time with Ryoma, wound up Tezuka, taken lots of pictures, everyone had gone home happy and he had made an important decision.

People often said he was sadistic and liked to see others suffer. He wasn't really. He liked to get on with most people and the only people who he really liked to hurt were those who hurt his friends or family. Sometimes, it just took a harsher approach to wake people up and help them find out what it was they truly desired. Honestly, Fuji only wanted to help. If people weren't so dense, he wouldn't have to resort to these sometimes cruel manipulations. But everything always turned out fine so no harm done in the long run.

Fuji liked Echizen Ryoma. A lot. Loved him even. But Fuji admitted to himself that a large part of that was platonic. It wasn't often that he could spend time spoiling someone who was not wary of his intentions and slightly more than afraid of him, someone who could relax when they were together. If only Yuuta could hang out with him like Echizen did. He really wasn't that possessive, and he supposed that even if he wasn't romantically involved with the boy they could still go out together from time to time. Fuji supposed that if the one that Echizen chose was a Seigaku player then technically, he still belonged to Fuji and Mizuki had not won. After all, the whole world knew all of Seigaku was Fuji's territory. But for now, the game was still interesting, it wasn't often that Fuji had an opportunity to tease Tezuka and experiment with what other facial expressions he could force onto the other boy's face, and Tezuka couldn't even give him laps as it would seem like he was abusing his authority. Oh yes, the deities were being very nice to him.

Somewhere far above, Destiny smiled sweetly back at Fuji and stuck her tongue out at Fate, who was rapidly losing interest and already looking at the multitude of disasters going on a few continents away.


The ride mentioned is from Tokyo Dome amusement park, Tower Hacker is a ride where you all sit with your back to the pillar so you're all facing outwards, it rises slowly and then when you're at the top, all of a sudden you drop back towards the ground at high speed.

I'm sorry there wasn't a lot of action but I want to try and get the decisions out before working on anymore "dates". Let me know what you think?