A/N: Thanks for the patience and all the lovely notes you have given me. I really, really, appreciate them!
It had taken me a little bit longer this time - sorry! - but now the new chapter is out and I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

~~ Getting Closer ~~

~~ 10. March, Morning ~~

Yukimura led them into the house, the sad smile still on his face. Ryoma's mind was still racing in circles. His secret wasn't a secret any longer. Should he confront Sanada and Tezuka later or wait until they said anything? Would they tell anybody else about it? No, they wouldn't or they would have already done it and neither Fuji nor Monkey King had reacted strangely in any...

Wait... Fuji had been different. More distanced and less probing. Last night and at breakfast too.
Shit, did the tensai know something?!
And maybe Monkey King too.

Maybe confronting them on his own will would be a better choice. He would be able to set the time and place to speak about it.

No…

Or maybe…

Perhaps…

His head started to hurt from all the mind breaking and thinking!

"The house is built in the same way as the other houses around here. Therefore feel free to room around. Akaya, Marui and Jackal probably won't mind." The soft spoken words caught him by surprise. Right, he should be careful with the bluenette being around. His body hadn't been entirely his as hadn't been his mind. He had escaped one problem for now and should be more careful to not stir up another. The last time with Yukimura hadn't gone well and his reaction has most likely already caused some talking by the others but looking at it now, his choice to go was certainly the best.

Tezuka and Sanada knew without doubt and would ask questions sooner or later. It was only a matter of time. Time which he regrettably had more than enough as the camping trip had only begun and would last a couple of more days. Shit!

His sight of hope decreased with each minute.
When would those two start to talk?
Why hadn't they started to talk?!
Or had they talked to Fuji and Monkey King which would explain their weird behaviour.

A loud groan of frustration and something that sounded like annoyed mumbling interrupted him and stirred his curiosity. They pulled off their shoes at the entrance and Yukimura grabbed his wrist, leaving him with no other choice as to follow. As if he would go back to the other four teens after deciding to go freely with the bluenette.

"I'm back." Yukimura called as they reached the living area. Kirihara sat at one of the desks with his head held in his hands from utter desperation and a handful of books lying chaotically around him. Marui and Jackal on the other hand were lounging on the sofa and watching quietly television, some sort of TV show.

A chorus of welcome back greeted them. Though neither Jackal nor Marui paid them their full attention, continued to watch the TV show. Kirihara was all the more obviously surprised as he stood up abruptly from the chair he had been sitting on, pushing it over and making it fall down with a loud sound of impact.

"The guy who has helped me with my English papers!" He pointed with his index finger at Ryoma who froze in his step by this declaration and therefore forced Yukimura to stop as well. The bluenette took a step back, putting his hand from around Ryoma's wrist onto his shoulder. The hand was warm and gentle, not too strong but not too loose either. The bluenette's chest touched his spine whenever he breathed deeply, causing him to shiver.

"Akaya, manners!"

"Sorry, Mura-buchou."

"I invited him over as we can't really do anything else today due to the coach's orders. Are you done with the English papers I gave you?"

"Mura-buchou! It's too complicated! Why do I need to do th-"

"Akaya, we had an agreement. Studying in your free time while we're on this trip or studying all the time alone at home and not coming with us."

"But Mura-buchou!"

"No, the team and I have neglected your English studies and the principle and our coach have warned me as your captain. You are going to be expelled from any tennis activity at our school as long as your grades don't get better. Your parents have actually called me before this trip and I promised them to help you." Seaweed-head lost all color by the reference of the tennis prohibition. Ryoma could fully understand him. His mother had done the same when he was younger and more interested in tennis than in other subjects.

"I want you to finish these papers today."

With another pleading look but not another spoken word, Kirihara sat down at the desk once more, continuing his dilemma with his homework. The hand resting on his shoulders pushed him gently forward into the bedroom. "Sit down anywhere you like. I just want to put my clothes away first." Said as done the bluenette started immediately to empty the bag which he had taken with him from the other house. Ryoma sat down at the only bed with dark blue bedclothes and watched Yukimura without being able to suppress his doing.

It was just like the first time. He couldn't avoid his eyes. Yukimura was beautiful… His eyes, the long hair, the pale skin, the way he moved... He couldn't look away. Ryoma couldn't describe this fascination. The always appearing need to look, to watch. He had never acted or behaved like this before, ever. Not even when his father started to throw those magazines with naked woman after him. The female bodies on those pictures had left him even more disinterested at the other human being.

"What do you think about watching some old tennis matches?" Yukimura asked, put a piece of cloth into the dresser and cast him a glance to see what his reply might be. Ryoma blinked and jolted, feeling caught and embarrassed. He shrugged, hoping it looked cool and composed and tried to avoid his eyes at least now. Tried was the best word to describe his effort. It was hopeless, his view always wandering back.

"Okay, then I will get my laptop and we can sit on the bed and watch it together." Yukimura smiled, put the last piece of cloth out of his bag and into the dresser and pulled out a black notebook at last. The other teen urged him to sit at the head of the bed, signaled him to make himself comfortable as he made everything ready. "The matches are one of Rikkaidai's bests. We had won the championship back then."

Yukimura set the laptop in front of them and sat down beside Ryoma with the pillow behind their back. Recordings of different Rikkaidai's tennis players played across the screen, showing him different and pretty good moves. It took him less than half an hour with Yukimura talking and explaining to him those moves and watching the different males on screen to relax and focus at something else than the hurricane of disaster swirling inside him.

He didn't know all the players so far but their tricks and styles of playing were interesting in the least. Those of the opponents too. From the color of the jersey Ryoma would guess it were some of Monkey King's lemmings and some from Seigaku. When the last two matches were displayed one after another, surprise overtook Ryoma. The first match was between Sanada and Tezuka. Singe match. If somebody had told him his buchou and Sanada had actually a variety of expressions, he wouldn't have believed it and frowned up on this declaration. The video taught him something else.

He didn't know them well, none of the males here. They were more like a new acquaintance of some sort, but he had noticed his buchou's always stoic and distanced moods and expressions. However, there on the screen, it was pretty obvious that his buchou had more facades than what he had believed. Sanada too. Both teens looked relaxed, friendly towards each other. They even hugged each other at the end of the game. Tezuka had won.

It was very odd watching his buchou hugging….

Although, no, not so strange after the last two nights where they had slept in the same bed and woke up being closer to each other than Ryoma had ever been to another guy. Heat shot right up into his cheeks. Thinking about it now, it sure was embarrassing and Ryoma hoped he wouldn't need to survive another such scene. Despite the nightmares...

No!

Ryoma took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, calming himself. He stared at the screen, viewing the next match which was also a crazy one due to the fact that Yukimura and Fuji smiled – really smiled – at each other, talking to each other and played without so much aggression against each other… When had this match taken place?

Fuji looked more human and less sadistic, more... gentle and kind.

Ryoma shook his head. Yukimura won the game and Fuji's clear blue eyes glittered suspiciously with tears. It was all the more surprising when Yukimura and Fuji went both to the net after the match, talking in a friendly and calm way, shaking hands and walking beside each other from the tennis court. What kind of universe was that?

The two teens from the screen were completely different from the two here. What exactly had happened to change them so drastically?!

Out of instinct did he want to ask the bluenette and turned to face him. Nevertheless, no movements of hands were necessary to stop him. Yukimura frowned deeply, his jaw tightly shut and tears dared to stream down his cheeks.

The movie ended with them being silent and the black end screen appearing. As soon as the screen went black did Yukimura wake up from his trance of sad memories and closed the laptop.

"…lying bastards…!" Yukimura turned to him, sitting opposite him and trying hard to show him a smile which he failed to do. It was obviously strained. "Well, what do you think about us?"

Ryoma shifted his position, ready to sign. "Wait, sorry, I forgot." The bluenette walked over to the desk, pulling out a block and a pencil case before returning to the bed and giving him the items. Ryoma nodded. He too had forgotten about their little language barricade.

He wrote down his reply and turned the block around for Yukimura to read. "Pretty good and interesting serves." Yukimura chuckled. "Yes, I think you can say that. We practice very hard, usually each day. But after Keigo and I... Well, Genichirou had been my strongest pillar back then as I had still struggled with the aftereffects from the operation."

Ryoma frowned. Why was Yukimura telling him this?

"I had some trouble with my heart but everything is fine now. The operation went well and I can play tennis like before. Genichirou helped me…" The bluenette swallowed, blinked quickly and smiled sadly. Something inside Ryoma formed into a large knot by the sight of Yukimura near the tears. So there really had been some sort of fight between Yukimura and Sanada. With Monkey King too? "What about you? When did you start to play tennis and who taught you?"

Yukimura breathed deeply, probably to calm himself, and changed the topic. Now it was Ryoma's turn to swallow hard. He hesitated, thinking if it was wise to answer. It was a normal question, right? He wrote down: "My father taught me since I was young."

"Right, he is the legendary Samurai. I read a lot about him in older tennis magazines. Your serves I had seen so far were pretty impressive. I would be happy if we could play a match against each other soon."

"Mura-buchou!" Kirihara stormed inside the room, seemingly to be in a state of delight. "I have finished my homework!" Seaweed-head stopped abruptly, staring at them in surprise with the piece of paper in his hand forgotten. Yukimura sighed heavily, put some distance between them and turned to face the happy intruder. When had they moved so close to be able to touch each other in the first place?

"Good. I will take a look at it later."

"Yanagi-senpai is here and brought us our lunch." Ryoma had heard this name quite a few times but had forgotten the person's face. His view wandered up to the clock hanging above the door. They had watched the videos about the tennis matches for three and half an hour. Ryoma hadn't noticed the flight of time.

"We will be there soon." Seaweed-head was satisfied with the reply, leaving them alone again. Yukimura stood up from the bed, signaled Ryoma with a nod in the direction of the living room to follow him. A scent of very good cooked food enchanted him as soon as he put a foot in the living room.

The table was already set, filled with different plates of food. How long had it been since he had eaten so much in such a short time? And something so delicious?! Jackal, Marui as well as Kirihara and the person who must be Yanagi were already sitting at the table, waiting for them.

"The coaches want to speak to us all around 5PM to explain and talk about the camp and the progress. Seiichi, I have heard from Gen-"

"We will talk later." Yukimura left Yanagi no chance to speak further. He pulled Ryoma closer and offered him one of the two empty chairs. He took the one at the end with Yukimura sitting at his right side, Yanagi opposite him. The food was absolutely perfect. A typical Japanese meal.

They thanked for the food and started to eat in quietness. Though, Yanagi stared openly in calculation at the bluenette.

"Genichirou has asked me about you. What has happened to anger you so much to deny him a single word? You know he worries easily about you." Yanagi's tone was calm and… irritated, maybe. The receiving cold glare from the bluenette didn't make the conversation any warmer or better. "You as one of my best friends already know I will find out what has happened one way or another. I thought I would allow you to give me your side of the story before I get Genichirou's. He too hadn't wanted to tell me the details yet."

Ryoma couldn't stop himself from listening. He didn't know why but he was curious. And he sure as hell wasn't the only one being interested. Jackal, Marui and Kirihara stopped eating midway, gazing between Yanagi and Yukimura who glimpsed in Ryoma's direction. Seemingly not knowing what to say or do.

"He decided to enjoy the next few days with his forgiven friends and soon to be boyfriend." The bluenette continued eating as if nothing had happened. The other three followed suit. Only Yanagi sighed, put his chopsticks down and opened for the first time his dark brown eyes. He looked at his friend with sorrow and understanding.

"You always knew he has forgiven them a long time ago. He had stopped blaming them for quite some time."

"I haven't and won't ever forgive them. Especially not after last night. Genichirou knew about it and Keigo cheated on me with Tezuka. Probably with Fuji too. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Nobody said anything else. The meal continued in complete silence. So was the time afterwards when everybody stood up and went to the sofa.

"How about watching some tennis matches from some professionals while we wait for the meeting with our coaches?" The redhead laughed, tried to lighten the mood while shoving some bubble gum in his mouth.

Jackal and Marui were already searching in a book shelf for some DVDs. Kirihara sat down excitingly like some puppy and Yukimura sighed. Yanagi had closed his eyes once more, watching his friend for a moment. "I think I will go back to my group and wait there for the meeting. On my way back, I will tell the maids to come and clean the table."

Yanagi's gaze rested on Ryoma for a moment, then turning into a questioning look at the bluenette. What the questions was, Ryoma had no clue. Yukimura's words didn't help. "I'll tell you after the meeting." Yanagi nodded and left. Yukimura turned around, focused at Ryoma. "Well then, let us see what we have."