DOUBLE STORY

Something to note:

Because I hate to think the OCs have no lives outside of the Tenipuri guys themselves, I do mention names of other people - some just passing mentions, a few who are minor characters - in this fic. Just warning you so you don't get confused. :)

Chapter 2

Yumi stared at the text message on Suzume's hand phone. She blinked at the words, and then looked up at her friend.

"What's this about?" she asked.

"I don't know," replied Suzume, glaring irritably at the message. "Some random idea of his, I'll bet. Probably engineered to show off his wealth again." She rolled her eyes. "A garden party so near winter! Really…"

"I can go, but I can't bring a date!"

"Can't you ask Fuji-kun?"

"He won't be around then – he'll be on assignment at that time. I think he said he'd be going to Osaka for that one…"

"Oh. Saeki?"

"Are you mad?" Yumi gave her an incredulous look. "I'm not going to ask him to come all the way from Chiba just for that!"

"Tezuka then."

Yumi looked horrified. "I can't!"

"Just ask him as a favour, since you'd be doing this to oblige me and that idiot has stipulated that you must have a date." Suzume sat down in her chair and sighed. "Be glad that at least you have a choice. He's all but ordered me to attend as his date."

"Can't you refuse to go?"

"I wish I could, but Kaede's going to be there, and I know she'll only be around for about three days before she goes off again. I haven't seen her for nearly a year and I won't be able to see her otherwise! If you recall, we have a string of client appointments all around then, thanks to all the winter galas and events coming up."

Now it was Yumi's turn to sigh. Atobe Keigo could not have arranged it better if he had done it on purpose. To have it at one of the busiest times of the year for them, and that Suzume's close friend – his first cousin – Atobe Kaede, would be in attendance too! It occurred to her that he might have done it on purpose to make sure that Suzume would go. It seemed suspicious enough to her. But, she thought, there's no reason to drag me into this too! Argh…

"Can I not go?"

"No, you can't! You have to come. He says he has some people who want to meet both of us. Can't miss a chance to gain new clients."

"But – "

"Just ask Tezuka or Oishi or one of your other friends."

"Oishi has a girlfriend already! How could I? The same goes for Endou-kun. And Yamada isn't even in Japan…"

"Ask Tezuka," said Suzume, resolutely. "I don't think he'll say no if he's free on that day. Besides, you'd like going with him a lot better than with the others, right?"

"That's why I can't ask! You know that!" protested Yumi.

"If you don't ask him, I'll ask him for you."

"No!" If anything, having Suzume ask for her was worse than asking him herself. No telling what sort of impression he would get from that.

----------

A timid knock on the door made him look up. It was the new intern.

"Uhm, Tezuka-san?"

"What is it?"

"Kaneda-san asked me to leave these papers with you. He said to pass them back to him by the end of the day."

"I see. Just leave put them over here," he said, indicating one side of the table with his hand. "Thank you."

When the young intern left, Tezuka's thoughts returned to the message he had just gotten from Yumi, asking him if he could do her the favour of accompanying her to Atobe Keigo's garden party, and listing briefly why she had to go. That was followed by an apology characteristically Yumi: … So sorry to bother you about it, but I don't know who else to ask. It's okay if you can't or don't want to go. Really. Just let me know.

Tezuka didn't need to check his planner. He already knew that he was free on that day. Atobe had made sure of that.

"I can't be sure of what Fuji will be doing on that day," Atobe had said when Tezuka brought up the possibility that Yumi might ask the blue-eyed photographer instead. "But at least I can be sure that you will be free. I'll chance it that Fuji will not available at the time. And so when she asks you, you had better agree, Tezuka."

Under normal circumstances, Tezuka thought he might have actually refused it – just to annoy Atobe. He didn't like being dictated to anymore than the average person. But it looked as though Yumi was clearly in a bind. She only got very apologetic about asking favours when she was truly out of options, and from her message, it appeared that she stood to lose potential clients if she didn't go. He knew Suzume wouldn't be too happy if they lost potential clients. She was a good person, but perhaps a bit too business-minded at times (though it made up for Yumi's lack of entrepreneurship in a way).

Damn, that Atobe was good.

In one stroke, he had managed to set things such that (a) Takahashi Suzume would almost certainly not be able to refuse to go to his party, (b) Yumi would be obligated to go as well, (c) Tezuka would very likely end up attending it with Yumi, and that (d) Tezuka could not refuse to attend with Yumi – for her sake. It was all based on possibilities, there being every chance that Suzume would not go, and therefore Yumi would not need to go either, or that Yumi would ask someone else instead of Tezuka. Yet somehow, it had worked.

He had a feeling if Yumi found out that Atobe was manipulating things like that, she'd devise a way to have her own revenge. Her being so close to Fuji and Saeki Kojirou should have sounded warning bells to Atobe, but apparently it didn't. Even if Atobe was oblivious to the signs, Tezuka knew better. The three of them together were a recipe for devious genius – the deceptively gentle, but sly Fuji, the clever and mischievous Saeki, and Yumi, her reserved façade masking a cunning potential equal to either of her friends. The biggest difference was that Yumi didn't often use that cunning, whereas Fuji and Saeki used it mercilessly on everyone else. But when she decided to put it to use… Well, perhaps someday he'd warn Atobe. Or not.

----------

She got out of the car and dusted a piece of lint off her jacket. Looking at Tezuka, who had come round from his side of the car, she asked, "Do I look okay?"

More than okay, was his private reaction, but all he said was, "You look nice."

Yumi smiled. "Thanks. Can't be looking bad in front of whoever this potential client is that Atobe wants to introduce us to."

"You'll be fine," he assured her, as they walked towards the garden.

Suzume saw them and came to greet them. She was followed soon after by Atobe, who calmly strolled up and drawled, "Hanazawa-san, good of you to come. Ah, Tezuka, I see you're here too."

Tezuka gave him an even stare, nodding in greeting. Suzume shot Atobe a severe look.

"Be nice."

"I haven't said anything that's not nice yet," said Atobe, defensively. "Matter of fact, I was just about to compliment them on their delightful colour scheme."

Yumi turned a distinct pink colour. It had happened that both of them had chosen to wear similar colours – she had on a maroon blouse with brown slacks and a beige jacket, Tezuka wore a deep red shirt with black pants and a white coat. It had given her a slight shock when she saw him and instantly saw the similarities in colour, but there wasn't anything that could be done about it at the time.

"It was a coincidence, Atobe," said Tezuka. "And, given certain circumstances" – he gave him a meaningful glare at that – "I suppose it doesn't matter if we do happen to match. After all, you're the one who asked your guests to come as pairs."

Before Atobe could come up with a suitable retort, Suzume poked him hard on the arm. "Stop teasing. Coincidences happen. And besides, Tezuka's shirt is rather more of a wine red colour than maroon. But of course, you wouldn't be able to tell."

"I can see colours as well as you can," snapped Atobe.

"I'm sure you can. You just can't differentiate them," she said. "It takes the trained eye of artists to do that, right, Yumi? Now…" Suzume took hold of Atobe's arm. "I'll be right back. Just let me deposit this guy somewhere first so he doesn't bother us so much. Have a drink or something in the meantime." She waved a hand towards the tables where the food and drink were, before hauling him off.

Yumi smiled wryly, watching the high-and-mighty Atobe being bossed around by someone else for once. "In spite of it all, I think she's rather fond of him, actually," she said. "As friends, anyway."

Tezuka felt that Atobe was getting his just desserts if Suzume was ordering him around. He deserved it. Atobe would never be a hen-pecked husband, but if his wife could keep him in line somewhat, it'd make him a more bearable person on the whole. And at the moment it looked like Takahashi Suzume was the only woman who might be able to do that.

He looked at Yumi and saw that there was still a faint blush across her cheeks.

"Don't worry about it."

"Hm?"

"The colour thing. Don't mind it."

"Oh…" She glanced away for a moment, hoping she hadn't gone red again at the reminder.

"Yea, I know…"

"And if I'm here as your date today, I think it's all right if we match in colour for once."

Yumi turned at the unexpected statement, and got an even bigger surprise. Tezuka was smiling down at her – a small smile, but one of his rare real smiles. He'd gotten a lot better at smiling after getting out of school, but for Tezuka to really smile was still somewhat rare.

"That was a rather Syuusuke-like comment," she remarked, smiling back.

"Must be your influence and his," he said. "Do you want to get something to eat?"

"Sure."

----------

Atobe walked over to his friends, his right hand rubbing his left shoulder. Shishido looked at him.

"What's wrong with your shoulder?"

"I hit something," he said. More like something hit me, he thought, grimly. Suzume had hit him on the shoulder a little harder than usual after telling him in no uncertain terms to stop teasing Yumi. For someone who didn't like sports, Suzume had an awfully strong hand.

"Oh? Unusual for you to be so clumsy," said Oshitari, placidly.

"Where's Rika?" Atobe asked Shishido, wanting to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"She went over to talk to Choutarou's girl," he replied.

"Ah. And where's Ohtori himself?"

"Don't know. He got a phone call and walked off somewhere."

"Where's Suzume?" queried Oshitari. "I thought I saw her with you earlier."

"She went to talk to Kaede."

"Suzume? That the girl you're dating, Atobe?" Shishido looked curiously at him. He had heard the name a few times from Atobe and Oshitari, but couldn't recall having ever seen her.

"The girl he wishes he's dating," said Oshitari, before Atobe could answer, and pretended not to see the death glares Atobe sent his way.

Shishido gave an exaggerated astonished gasp. "The great Atobe is having trouble with a woman? I wouldn't have believed it!"

"I'll have you know that she's here today as my date," Atobe said.

"And I'll bet you bribed or coerced her into it somehow," said Oshitari immediately.

Atobe's expression turned haughty. "Ore-sama doesn't need to do such a thing."

Silence. Oshitari stared blankly at him and Shishido cocked his head to one side and looked at Atobe.

"Whatever made you do that, Atobe?" Shishido asked, innocently. "That's rather underhanded for you."

Atobe felt the metaphorical vein in his head go 'pop'. Obviously, Shishido and Oshitari were deriving a lot of fun out of this. They were practically laughing at him now.

A tall young man with a boyish face came up to join the group. "Ah, Atobe-senpai! The food is really great, and – er, what's the joke?" he asked, seeing Oshitari and Shishido with obvious mirth written all over their faces.

"Nothing much, Choutarou," said Shishido, grinning. "Just that Atobe here is having some difficulty with a certain lady, it seems."

"Ehh??" Ohtori turned towards his former captain. "Really? Who?"

Atobe felt a distinct desire to throttle his former team mates.

Suzume saved Oshitari and Shishido from strangulation by making an appearance at that moment. Oshitari saw her first and waved to her.

"Takahashi Suzume!" called Oshitari loudly. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted gleefully that Atobe had started rather visibly when he'd called her name. "There you are! I was just asking Atobe where you were."

She grinned and said, "Yuushi, good to see you again. How are you?"

"Well enough, thanks. Ah." He turned towards the others and with a sweeping hand gesture, said, "These are some of our team mates from school, Suzume. Shishido Ryou and Ohtori Choutarou." To the latter two, he said, "And this is Takahashi Suzume."

"More of Keigo's schoolmates? Glad to meet you," she said, extending her hand to shake theirs in turn.

Shishido looked keenly at her. "So you're Takahashi Suzume," he said. "I've heard a lot about you from Oshitari and Atobe."

"Oh no… What have these two been saying about me?" Suzume cast a joking glare at Atobe.

"Keigo, you haven't been badmouthing me to your friends, have you?"

"Indeed not!" exclaimed Atobe with an indignant look.

"Oh, don't worry, Takahashi-san," said Shishido. "Quite the opposite, really. He's been giving us the impression that you are a very – interesting person."

Oshitari felt like laughing. What Shishido had said was true in a way. Somehow managing to hold Atobe's attentions for so long made her very interesting indeed to his friends. And Oshitari knew for a fact that she was the reason Atobe had never really had any serious relationship apart from a single instance when he had had a girlfriend back in high school.

He looked at Atobe, who looked rather sullen and annoyed at the moment. Rather atypical of him, but Oshitari knew that he and Shishido had been aggravating. Oh, Atobe definitely did not like the fun they were getting out of the whole situation.

----------

Yumi felt a bit tired. Suzume had eagerly taken her to meet Kaede, after which Atobe had come and taken them off to meet the 'potential client' Suzume had talked about (who turned out to be a local television sitcom actress) and then she had been introduced to some of Atobe's friends – Tezuka seemed to recognise them, and vice versa, so they were probably in the whole tennis circle.

That had been rather awkward, actually. The minute they laid eyes on Tezuka and made the connection between him and her, she had felt like she was a specimen in an exotic bird exhibit. The one called Oshitari (she did remember Fuji talking about him before) had asked her if she was Tezuka's girlfriend and although she had laughed it off best as she could – pushing the blame to their host, who, for some reason seemed to be in a rather bad mood all of a sudden – she still felt embarrassed. And a little wistful. She had to be honest with herself; part of her did wish it was true.

She picked out a few juicy-looking slices of fruit and put them on a plate before heading back to join the others. When she got back, Suzume was there talking to Kaede, but Tezuka was nowhere to be seen.

"Suzu, where's Tezuka?"

"I'm not sure," said Suzume, frowning slightly and looking around. "He was here just now…"

"I think he went somewhere with Keigo. I saw them going towards the house a few minutes ago," said Kaede in her gentle, lilting voice. "Would you like me to go look for them?"

"Ah. Thanks, but it's okay. I think I'll go look for them myself." Yumi wondered how it was that Atobe's cousin could be so soft-spoken when he was quite the opposite.

Walking towards the shaded porch that led to a lounge, Yumi marvelled at the grandeur of Atobe's home. Suzume's house was as large as this one was, but it had a much simpler appearance. The Atobe residence just reeked of splendour and rich detail, not too unlike a Renaissance-era home.

There was no one in the room when she entered it, but she heard voices coming from the ante-room on the left. The door to that was slightly ajar, and going nearer, she recognised the voices as Atobe's and Tezuka's.

Ah, found them, she thought. She was about to knock on the door and go in, when the next words froze her in place.

"Don't give me excuses, Tezuka! I'm giving you a great opportunity here. Why don't you just say something to Hanazawa already? Here I am trying to help you and you're wasting the chance…"

Her brows furrowed. Were they talking about her? What was going on?

"I do not recall exactly asking for your help," was the terse reply.

"Whether you asked for it or not, I am giving it anyway."

Yumi didn't really catch his next words – it sounded like Atobe had moved off to one side – but she heard a few phrases that sounded like: "… for your own good… Hanazawa… admit it…"

Tezuka said something in reply, which she also did not manage to hear clearly. Atobe's irked voice rose again, saying, "You're absolutely infuriating!"

"And you, Atobe, are too presuming. You presume too much –"

At that point, Yumi decided to walk away.

Once out on the porch again, she set the plate she had been holding down on a small table there and sat down in a chair. The wheels of her mind started turning furiously. What was all that about? Were they talking about her? They had to be… It didn't make sense. Or did it? What were they talking about? Atobe helping Tezuka? Opportunity? Say something to her? Say what?

----------

Suzume cast a concerned gaze at Yumi, who had just walked up to them. "Are you all right? Did you find Tezuka?"

Yumi shook her head. She didn't feel like sharing her thoughts on what she had just overheard. They weren't pleasant thoughts at all.

Even Kaede gave her a worried look. "You look a bit pale, Yumi-san. Are you sure you're okay?"

"You don't look all right, Yu," said Suzume. "Like Kaede says, you look pale – and you're fair to begin with. Something has to be wrong for so much colour to drain from your face."

"I'm fine," she insisted. "Perhaps I'm a little more tired than I thought."

Suzume didn't believe a word of it. Something had happened in the time Yumi went to look for Tezuka, but she couldn't imagine what. That wasn't all, either. Yumi didn't just look pale. Her expression was neutral, but there was a cold and stormy look in her eyes that Suzume couldn't recall having seen before ever since they'd met at university. She had a feeling Yumi was angry about something. Angry and… Some other unreadable emotion. Whatever it was, it disturbed her. That Yumi wouldn't say anything about it all was troubling too.

"Maybe you should go home then," said Kaede. "If you're that tired, it's best to go home and rest."

"Yes, I think so too," agreed Suzume. Maybe whatever was on Yumi's mind would be relieved when she went home – away from the mysterious cause of the unfamiliar cold in her dark eyes.

"No," said Yumi, firmly. "I'll be all right. I'll just go get myself a drink."

The half-minute it took her to get her drink and return to Suzume and Kaede was apparently enough time for her to calm and/or hide her emotions because she came back looking perfectly normal. There was even a small smile on her face.

Suzume tried asking her again about what had happened, but Yumi brushed her questions aside and turned the topic to something else. She took the hint and didn't ask anymore, although she still wondered a about it.

When Tezuka joined them some time later, Suzume demanded to know where he had been. He apologised, saying Atobe had taken him on a tour of the house.

She rolled her eyes. "That guy… Showing off again."

Tezuka noticed that after he had answered Suzume's question, there was a flash of something like coldness in Yumi's eyes, and he wondered at it. But the coldness vanished as fast as it had appeared, replaced by a blank sort of look. She seemed to have lost the cheerful mood she had earlier, although she was still smiling. It puzzled him.

----------

The journey home from Atobe's garden party was a rather quiet one. That in itself wasn't unusual – Tezuka and Yumi were close enough to have comfortable silences from time to time – but Tezuka couldn't help feeling that there was something different this time. Her manner was bordering on icy, quite unlike her usual warmth. If he hadn't known her for as long as he did, he might have thought that she was just being aloof. But years and years of friendship had taught him the difference between Hanazawa Yumi being aloof and being cold. The one sitting beside him in the car at that point was the cold one.

Despite his natural inclination to not ask, he finally ventured, "Is something wrong?"

"Not really," she said, continuing to stare out the window.

Minutes of silence passed. Tezuka grew uncomfortable with it. Yumi got angry and frustrated with people fairly often, but she rarely ever carried over her fury to the times she was with him. She might be with him and complain and rant about the culprits, but she was hardly cold around him. Usually, she would let out all her frustrations and talk about it with him. He realised suddenly that he missed the warm manner she normally had with him. Even if she was quiet, she 'radiated' warmth around her close friends. Her silence and the chill emanating from her at that moment were totally unfamiliar and they unsettled him.

"Did you enjoy the party?" he asked, just to break the silence.

"It wasn't too bad," she replied.

She didn't seem inclined to go on, and Tezuka racked his brain for a way to continue the conversation.

"Takahashi seems close to Atobe's cousin."

"Quite. They've been friends since they were kids. And they attended the same elementary school."

"I see."

Silence again.

It was not going well. Tezuka started to get the feeling that he was the one she was angry at, but he couldn't think of anything that he had done wrong. Or was she angry because he had gone off for so long without telling her? Maybe that was it. He knew Yumi was the type that felt ignored rather easily. That had to be it. It was all Atobe's fault… Why did he have to drag him away to discuss that stupid issue? And what made Atobe think that he needed help in the first place? Tezuka hated how Atobe presumed he was just going to muddle around all his life, not doing anything about it. He would – just that he didn't feel it was time yet.

When he dropped her off at her home, Tezuka felt relieved. It had been a terribly disconcerting car ride for him, not knowing what to do or what to say or what exactly was wrong (even though he had a vague idea of that one). He was both sorry and relieved to see her go, though. In spite of the uncomfortable silence at the end, he had rather enjoyed himself during the earlier part. He sighed and hoped she would be in a better mood when he next saw her.

----------

Yumi shut her bedroom door and locked it. She didn't feel like she wanted any interruptions from her sister or parents at that moment. Then she sank to the floor, buried her face in her hands and wept.

Chapter 3 coming in a couple of days - if I'm done reformatting it. (The whole double-spacing-between-paragraphs thing is a bit tedious... hahah) So don't judge my OCs too quick. ;) eheh

Oh yes, and muchos gracias to those of you who've reviewed chapter 1! I was a little unsure as to how it'd be received, seeing that OC fics are relatively uncommon here. So thank you!