Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

~~ Honest Conversation ~~

~~ 9. March, Late Afternoon ~~

"Is it necessary for you to provoke Seiichi so much?" Genichirou asked while packing his clothes out of his bag and putting them inside the wardrobe which was made out of a dark wood and richly decorated with a complicated pattern. Just like the beds, the desks and the other wardrobes.

"Why shouldn't I? It's so much fun to see him in such a mood." Fuji said and began to unpack his bag as well. A moment of silence occurred and both teens continued doing their task without saying anything. After finishing to unpack his bag and putting it under his bed to save space, he took Seiichi's which stood next to him and began to unpack his friend's clothes. Seiichi wouldn't mind because he had done it for the bluenette more often than he could count. Whenever they had taken a road trip together to train harder. Just the two of them.

His backside was still turned to Fuji, though his mind was focusing on any sound the brunette made.

"Yukimura has grown colder, hasn't he? The only reactions he shows nowadays are anger and jealousy." The chuckle sounded bitter, the silence grew more and more uncomfortable. Genichirou swallowed down the thickening lump in his throat. He had always tried to avoid this certain moment of togetherness with Fuji. He had avoided being alone in one room with Fuji so his mind wouldn't turn crazy once again... so his heart wouldn't ache once again.

Had his heartbeat already quickened?

"Not to those whom he calls his friends."

Was his voice steady? Did it shake?

"Saa, then everything is still like on the very first day when he started to hate me. Maybe I should do something more drastic to get some kind of reaction."

Genichirou didn't even want to know what kind of drastic the brunette was thinking about. Nor did he understand Fuji's way of thinking. "Wouldn't it be easier if you just apologize and ask for forgiveness?" He finished unpacking the bluenette's bag and closed the wardrobe, still not daring to face the other teen. His stomach was churning, his skin felt tight and clammy. The lump in his throat growing, making it hard to swallow.

He registered Fuji's change of movement too late. The brunette had stopped to unpack and stood beside him from one moment to the other. "I apologized twice to him and I had wanted to apologize to you, but he wouldn't let me. Yukimura stopped me whenever I wanted to apologize to you. He will never forgive me, no matter how much I ask for it and I won't ask him another time as I'm not a child that he can't punish with anger and silence because of a mistake."

Neither of them moved. Genichirou would never admit it, but he was afraid of the coming words and the effect they would have on him.
Could he listen to them further? Was he strong enough to listen?

"…" Genichirou swallowed anew as cold sweat streamed down his neck. His heart was too loud in his ears. He put the other bag under the bed as well to keep his point of view away from Fuji. His tactic worked until a hand grabbed his upper right arm and kept him from moving around.

"Yukimura isn't as perfect as he and some of your friends think. He has done mistakes too and I know and understand now that I made a big mistake, indeed. I know that now very clearly." Clear blue eyes entered his sight due to Fuji inclining his head slightly. Sad eyes filled also with guilt and regret looked at him. "I'm sorry for what I did to you, Gen. I'm sorry for being unfaithful back then. I understand I'm asking for a lot but... at some point... sometime in the future... will you accept my apology?"

Genichirou didn't want to see those emotions, these eyes. The memory was still hurting too much.

"I'm sorry for being the source of this fight between our schools and for being the one who destroyed our friendship."

Two teens kissing inside a room. A changing room. Late afternoon. His boyfriend kissing another guy. His boyfriend kissing one of his best friends… His other best friend standing beside him. "What?!" Seiichi took a step forward, his face hardening quickly.

Genichirou blinked the haunting memory away. His heart was thumping like an air hammer in his chest, ready to burst from the sudden recollection. Seiichi's horrified expression had been forever burnt inside his memory on that particular day. The expression of the boy whom he had called best friend back then as well. And, of course, Fuji's reaction...

His eyes started to burn, building up the unwanted tears. The lump in his throat choked him and suppressed his voice.

"Did you know that Kunimitsu…. On that day... Kunimitsu confessed to me that he started to feel more… a little bit deeper than simple friendship for you. You had your weekly game of go on that day and some way along those uncountable times of games before that day, he started to feel more and more attracted to you. He had asked me for advice and not Yukimura who had been his boyfriend at the time. He had asked me because he had feared Yukimura would take it the wrong way. I was so happy and somehow jealous and … I didn't really understand myself back then…. Stupid, isn't it?"

Genichirou was still unable to speak, all his strength was used to control himself entirely - his heart, his mind, his body.

"Is it my fault that you haven't let anybody get close to you, not even Yukimura who is very dear to you? I always see you watching him with your entire focus resting on him."

So a part of his affection for his best friend had been or was still visible?
How could he have been so careless?
Usually he had his emotions in control and not even Yanagi had noticed anything, even though his friend was the data fanatic kind of guy in their team. Collecting all sorts of data for his notes.
How long had Fuji been watching him without him noticing? Had he also seen his other affections? Genichirou blinked the daring tears away and took a shuddering breath before answering: "No, not my whole focus."

Fuji's confusion was there in an instant. "What? You have your eyes on someone else? Who?"

Genichirou shook the hand on his arm away and was finally able to turn around from the brunette. He felt sick and weak and simply exhausted. His feet led him out of the bedroom and into the living room where a bowl with fresh fruits stood on a table. He needed to get away... to calm down. He hadn't planned to speak with Fuji... or Tezuka. Nevertheless, so far it had gone better than he had imagined even if his heart, body and mind felt like they had been stomped on. He was also certain he would lose the chance to change their current state of being if he walked out on Fuji now without saying a word.

He wanted to seal the door to those old memories in his mind. He wanted to return to how it had been once but he still couldn't forgive the brunette entirely for what he had done to him, to them. Even if he was understanding now how Fuji had felt.

'Because I feel the same way right now like you had back then.'

"I can't forgive you, Fuji, but maybe we could start being friends once more?" Genichirou offered, walked to the main door after picking up an orange and an apple and left a stunned brunette behind, not waiting for a reply.

The moment fresh air filled his lungs, his body relaxed and another kind of feeling overwhelmed him. A sudden lifting of heaviness inside him was visible. It was a start to change things. Seiichi wouldn't be happy about it but, right then, Genichirou couldn't care less. His best friend was only that - a friend.

Genichirou bit into the apple, resting his mind by not thinking about anything. It surprised him all the more when he stood in front of the blockhouse which stood a little bit aside. In the distance he could hear his friends already making use of the tennis fields. The sound of tennis balls being hit with full force was audible.

He finished eating the apple and hesitated only a second before lifting his fist, ready to knock on the door. He didn't really know why he was here or what he was thinking. The conversation with Fuji had turned him into an emotional tornado. His fist came into contact with wood before he realized it. Once, twice. Nonetheless, nobody answered or opened the door and for a second he thought the teen had left the blockhouse but then he also remembered whom he was visiting. The young teen wouldn't just shout "Come in!".

Forgetting the good manners his parents had taught him, he pushed the doorknob down and, to his surprise, opened the door without trouble. It was dark inside, no lamp was on and the sun was already sinking down, sharing its last bit of warmth and light. Genichirou tiptoed through the living room after switching on one of the lamps which rested on the table in the middle of the room.

His gaze wandered around, seeing nothing but emptiness. As the bathroom's door stood wide open and revealed emptiness as well, there was only one room left for the teen to be. The bedroom. His feet moved on their own again while his attention was directed at the bedroom. Inside it he found the missing teen, sleeping in an embryo position on the bed closest to the door. Swollen eyelids and dried tear tracks decorated the sleeping teen's face. A strange sight.

He didn't know Echizen so well, their sole moment together had been the day when they had played a tennis match. However, one thing he was certain about – Echizen was too stubborn and too proud to cry, ever. A clear sign about his inner distress. Genichirou had been stunned when Tezuka and Atobe had looked at the mute's face and just stood there, shocked. He had wanted to see what had the two frozen on the spot but his self control had forbidden it. His curiousity had been stirred all the more. Echizen Ryoma was one giant enigma – the scene with his cousin in his room, the days where he had been absentminded and his strange connection with Seiichi.

He wanted to know more, understand the unique teen but he would never force himself on him like Fuji or Atobe had done it earlier. What was causing the teen to lose it like that?

Genichirou knelt down beside the sleeping teen, easing down so he was on the same eye level and wouldn't scared him, and shook his shoulder lightly to wake him up. Heavy lidded golden eyes gazed at him in sleepiness and confusion, though they soon snapped open. Echizen sat up abruptly, looking around and probably scanning the room, probably for the others. The body relaxed slightly when he didn't see anyone else but him. Echizen's gaze wandered from Genichirou's face to the orange in his hand and as if on cue, the teen's stomach growled loudly in hunger.

Genichirou offered him the orange soundlessly. Echizen accepted it gratefully and bit into the orange. A pregnant silence spread between them while the teen ate and Genichirou wanted to slap his hand against his forehead for his stupidy and carelessness. What else had he expected? Echizen was mute. He cleared his throat.

"I apologize for Fuji's and Atobe's behaviour earlier." The teen stopped chewing while avoiding eye contact, looking everywhere but at him. Genichirou's view landed on the large hole at the other side of the room. A thin blanket holding it in its place by the help of a couple of nailed woods. A tiny grin of amusement slipped his mask. Golden eyes watched him from under emerald colored bangs, a silent question being asked. "A few years ago, some of Rikkaidai's tennis players had been here at this camp. Kirihara, whom you know, had been sleeping here with Marui and Jackal. He had lost control over himself and threw something against the wall, breaking it and causing the large hole you see over there. The damage had never been repaired."

The orange was gone soon. The blanket over the hole wavered from the wind, blowing from the outside. The rest of nature had been kept successfully outside. Genichirou guessed that Atobe's cleaning company had done its job here as well which didn't make it any saver or better for the teen to stay here.

"I think it's better if you don't sleep here but come with me to the other house." The denial showed up immediately on Echizen's face but Genichirou ignored it. "It will get pretty cold in here and you shouldn't be careless, getting sick. It's already chilly in here. Your father is a big mother hen, so I think he will fuss over you should you return home with a cold."

The glare wavered slightly to a thoughtful glance. However, Echizen shrugged anew, the unwillingness to join him and the others still visible. The body language grew stiff once more, denial. Echizen wouldn't and couldn't be convinced without being forced and that was something Genichirou wouldn't do.

Nevertheless, he couldn't explain why but he couldn't let go the secrest about Echizen and the woman. His curousity was stronger than his will to leave the teen alone in his misery. By watching Echizen staring down at his own hands with a frown and an angry glimmer in his eyes, Genichirou knew he wanted to know more and help. He hadn't awaited to see anger or frustration…

The teen had been usually so calm and compose. To see him now struggling with such strong emotions...
What was going on in this teen's head?

The runaway, the absence of mind. Before the girl appeared, he would have described Echizen Ryoma as cold on the outside but quite happy. But since a few days he had been absent-minded, thoughtful. The always present smirk had been replaced by an emotionless mask or by an emotional storm like the one he saw now, sitting right in front of him.

The scene with Echizen and his cousin wouldn't leave Genichirou's mind. It hadn't been a normal hug, a normal conversation.
The hug had been cold, full of distance and fear. The topic alone let the teen run away from any confrontation which had been seen earlier this day. What was the secret between those two?
Maybe...

"Nobody knows what's going on between you and your cousin." Eyes as wide as a doe's stared at him, wide from fear and maybe shock. "I won't pry but let me tell you what I saw from the window across your room, so maybe your mind will ease a little." The smaller body began to shake, the skin color changed to absolute paleness. "I saw a young man hugging a young woman whom he probably cares for very much… but not to the same amount the girl cares for him. She is fragile and probably clingy and he doesn't want to hurt her, so he doesn't reject her."

Genichirou watched with intensity the reaction. Choosing his next word carefully. "I'm asking myself why you did what you did. But it isn't my business. We barely know each other. But I think if you don't tell her that she is blocking your path to find your own way, she will consciously or unconsciously forced the expression and feelings you have right now to be permanent for the rest of your life because she doesn't know what she is causing."

He was surprised about himself, being so emotional even when he, like he had said, barely knew Echizen. Surely, his earlier conversation with Fuji was the reason for his maybe he shouldn't have said anything to Echizen after all. By the look and gesture of the teen, he probably shouldn't. In front of him sat an emotional wreck with no voice to be heard. What should he do now to correct his mistake?

He could only think about one solution to make it up.

"Do you want to play a match? To clear your mind?" It was all he had to offer. Tennis was the only connection between them right now. Echizen blinked, being in a daze by the sudden spoken words. A small nod soon followed. Genichirou pulled him up, leading them both outside onto the nearest unoccupied field after putting on their shoes. Genichirou grabbed two racquets, which were given freely to the players in the camp by Atobe's parent's company, and threw one to the other teen, followed by two tennis balls.

"You can serve first." He got onto to the other side of the field and into position, waiting for the first serve. Echizen looked stunned for a second, glanced at the racquet inside his hand and blinked. His view wandered to Genichirou in question who only gave him a nod to signal him a start.

Echizen took deep breaths, his entire body shivered by the strong in and exhale. His muscles tightened and loosened before he put the racquet inside his left hand and tightened his grip around it while he threw the fuzzy ball into the air. The game started.