I seem to be writing a bunch of stories with random Fuji pairings lately, and now it's Tezuka's turn! Who knows? Maybe I'll have paired Fuji up with all the regulars by the time I'm done…Until then, enjoy! Oh, and beware of major OOCness.

Disclaimer: If you really think I own Tennis no Ouji-sama, you have problems.

Fuji was always very observant of his surroundings, even though it may not seem like it. With his always-present smile and relaxed expression, one would think that he didn't pay attention to much of anything; but there were some that knew him well enough to know when he was especially focused on what was going on around him.

One of these people was Tezuka Kunimitsu.

Of course, Tezuka was pretty observant himself: there wasn't much that went on around him that he didn't know about, especially when it came to tennis. There were some things, however, that even he was slow in noticing. While he had always had a suspicion that Fuji wasn't playing even close to his full potential during matches, it wasn't until well in his second year that he fully noticed that the tensai seemed to be going easy on his opponents most of the time. Perhaps if he hadn't been so obsessed with bringing out his teammate's true strength since he confirmed that fact, he would have noticed something else.

He was constantly being watched by Fuji Syuusuke.

It wasn't that the tensai was stalking him or anything like that, but simply that when they were together he would pay extra close attention to certain things: what Tezuka was saying, who was around them at the time, and such. His reason was simple: he was waiting for any hint of someone who was bothering Tezuka. And if he found out about it, he would most certainly do something about it.

One such person was a certain Atobe Keigo.

During the match between Atobe and Tezuka, Fuji had constantly been on edge; it wasn't until Tezuka's shoulder threatened to give out did he start to think of plans of revenge. If Atobe hadn't known about his captain's injury and didn't mean to cause him pain, it would have been a different story. But Atobe had clearly stretched the match out on purpose, and therefore, in Fuji's eyes, he needed to pay.

Of course, Tezuka didn't notice any of this.

Fuji even kept a careful eye on Echizen Ryoma, whom Tezuka had clearly taken an interest in. He had been watching their first match beneath the bridge, already thinking of various torture methods should the freshman somehow beat the senior. Fortunately, it didn't come to this; and neither did their second match. Their third, however…Fuji was still thinking about what to do about that one.

He was the only one allowed to beat Tezuka.

Throughout their third year in middle school, however, Tezuka began to get suspicious. He noticed that the tensai seemed to pay more attention to his matches than anyone else's, including his own. They were always the last two to walk home together, and Fuji always made sure to walk him all the way to his house before turning around and heading towards his own.

He just shrugged it off as some weird Fuji thing and decided to leave it alone.

Unfortunately, Fuji wasn't too happy about that. He had been counting on Tezuka to notice; he wanted to know that Tezuka really paid attention to him and his actions. He briefly wondered if he should switch to stalker mode, but decided against it. He wanted Tezuka to notice him, not think he was insane.

So, he needed a plan.

His chance came sooner than he had expected, though things didn't exactly go as he had intended. They were walking to Tezuka's house as usual. As they went past the turn that Fuji usually would have made to get to his house, Tezuka turned to the tensai and said, "Fuji, why are you following me again?" Fuji's usual smile grew slightly.

"Why, Tezuka, I didn't think you noticed."

Tezuka's left eyebrow twitched slightly. "It's kind of hard not to notice, Fuji," he replied, his eyes hidden beneath the glare on his glasses. "You've been doing it everyday for, what, a week now?"

Fuji's smile returned to its normal size.

"Actually, Tezuka, it's been a week and three days," he said, slightly disappointed. Really, one would think that the stoic captain of the Seigaku Tennis Club would at least notice something like that. "If you don't like me doing it, then you could just tell me."

"Fuji, that's not it."

"Then what is it?" Fuji asked; one could almost say he was pouting. "We always walk home together, so I didn't think it would bother you if I walked with you all the way to your house. But I guess I was wrong…"

"Fuji…"

"Or do you have someone else you'd rather walk home with?" Fuji played his trump card, knowing that if that didn't get some sort of reaction from Tezuka, then nothing would. An expression of shock briefly cross the captain's face, disappearing so quickly that no one other than Fuji would have noticed it. Then Tezuka said the first thing that entered his mind.

"Hn."

Fuji's smile disappeared altogether as he shifted his gaze from Tezuka to the ground, not wanting to meet his captain's eyes. There was a brief silence as neither knew what to say, broken only by the soft whistling of the wind. After a moment Fuji looked up, a new smile plastered on his face.

"Well then, I'd better get going."

Then he turned to leave, knowing that if Tezuka paid any attention to him at all he would notice that his smile was fake, created only by the need to convince himself that he was fine. He shifted his Seigaku tennis bag on his shoulder and was about to go home when he felt someone grab his arm.

"Wait, Fuji."

He turned to see Tezuka with a firm hold on his arm, his expression even more serious than usual. The captain sighed. "You know I don't have anyone else I'd rather walk home with," he said, releasing his grip on Fuji. "Your question just caught me off guard is all. And I don't mind if you walk all the way home with me. I just want to know why."

Just for a moment, the tensai didn't know what to say.

It took a lot to surprise Fuji Syuusuke, and Tezuka had done it in only a few sentences. He felt his usual smile creep back to his face, only this one had more passion in it. "You ask me why, Tezuka? I don't think I can really answer that."

"What if I ask you why you've been watching me lately?"

"Ah, that I can answer," Fuji replied. "Because I didn't want anyone to hurt you." When he received a questioning look from Tezuka, he continued. "After your match with Atobe, I realized that there was nothing I could do to help you when you were going through everything with your shoulder. So, because I couldn't do anything then, I decided that I would do my best to make sure something like that didn't happen again."

Now it was Tezuka's turn to be speechless.

"I've always been watching you, Tezuka," Fuji went on. "Ever since we were both first years. When you were hurt right before our match and you played anyway, I wasn't mad because you hadn't played me with your full strength. I was mad because I didn't even realize you were hurt. And then, when the same thing happened with your shoulder, that's when I began watching you even closer, to make sure that I would know if you were hurt again. Then maybe I could do something about it."

Then Tezuka began laughing.

Fuji stared at him. He had been completely serious, and now he was being laughed at. He had pictured many outcomes to his little speech, and laughter wasn't one of them. He just stood there, not knowing what to do except wait until Tezuka was done laughing.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Sorry Fuji," Tezuka said, regaining his composure. "I didn't mean to laugh like that. I just…if anyone else had said that, I would have thought they were a stalker or something and been really freaked out. When I thought of that, I just started laughing."

Fuji continued to stare at him.

"But you don't have to worry so much. The reason that I didn't tell you or anyone else about my shoulder was so that you wouldn't worry about it. And there wouldn't have been anything you could have done even if I did tell you. But," he stopped for a moment, "it makes me happy to think that you would worry about me so much."

Fuji's smile, which had been replaced with a frown of confusion, returned.

"I'm glad to hear that," he said as they began to walk again. "So does this mean that I can keep walking you home?"

"Yeah."

Owari.