A/N: Hey all, thanks for reading. This is kinda a filler episode-chapter, you know the ones…
I'm also doing the NaNoWriMo (not officially) so my updates are kinda slow as I'm not thinking about PoT (gasp)
Disclaimer: I was in the kitchen cooking for Takeshi Konomi while it was inking Prince of Tennis (randomness)
Chapter Sixty Seven
You would think having a day off school would be fun and exciting – having one up on your friends who have to study while you sit back and relax at home, having the TV to yourself all day. But, as the two sisters slowly discovered, this was not the case.
It was boring.
They were bored. The house was quiet. No one was home but the two of them. Yumi texted on her phone all day and Fuji sat and watched Yumi, waiting for her to say something. All Fuji got was a 'leave me alone' whenever she got too close to Yumi. It did not help that neither of them were talking to Yukio. Not even he could get pass their stubbornness.
It was only day three and they could not think of anything do to but to sit around the house and stare at whatever was in front of them, whether it be the TV or the walls.
… Doing nothing…
… saying nothing…
… Fuji could not wait to get back to school to be moving and seeing familiar faces.
And every time she wanted to start a conversation with Yumi, Yumi would scurry off. Leaving Fuji with enough time in the day to explore her feelings. She guessed it was now the forth time she lost it, but unlike the other three times, she did not feel enveloped in the madden state like she did now. Even thought two days had gone, nothing really calmed in her. Once the painkillers took the aching away, her energy came out of hiding. Fuji traced her hand down her chin to the base of her neck, wanting to face Arai again – she did not finish her off-
Stop thinking like that! Fuji looked up at Yumi, who was busy eating a lollipop and watching an afternoon talk show. Her phone was in her other hand. Either Yumi did not care or she was not aware that Fuji had rested her head on her thigh. Strangely enough, Fuji could not shake the feelings of causing trouble, rebelling and fighting out of her system. For the time being it was pretty docile, but never gone.
"Yumi, what did you do?"
It was when Yumi heard her sister's annoying voice – more so that it was so close to her - did she snap out of her daydreaming and look to her lap.
"Oh, god! Will you stop clinging to me!" Yumi slipped herself off the side of the sofa and walked towards the doorway. Fuji's head fell slowly. She did not want to sit up and cushioned her hand under her head. Before Yumi left the room Fuji asked her something.
"When you get angry, are you able to calm down on your own?"
Yumi walked back over to Fuji and slammed her hand down on the armrest. It made a soft sound like hitting a teddy bear.
"What's with all these questions-"
Fuji reached up and grabbed Yumi by the neck of her top and pulled her down. They were face to face, eye to eye. Yumi tried to balance herself and had to throw her arms forward between Fuji.
"Aneki!" She tried to struggle but couldn't escape. "Argh! I hate it when you get like this!"
"Like what?"
"No! I should never have let you open you eyes- look how you're treating me!"
"Do you have someone to calm you, Yumi?"
Yumi stopped fighting against Fuji. "Yes, I do have someone to calm me down. Tell me what's wrong with you?"
Fuji let go and turned to face the TV. "…hmm."
Yumi scrambled up right. "Baka-nee!" And left the room.
I'm jealous that your peacock is close by. Fuji's arm dropped over the side of the sofa. Her hair covered her eyes and she didn't want to think how lucky her sister was. If ever Yumi was unhappy, mad or irate, she could call that peacock and somehow, he could look pass his self-centredness to calm her down. He'd listen to her whines and complaining and comfort her... Fuji still did not have Tezuka's number in her phone, let alone his house number. They only met by chance before the start of the school term and arranged to meet up at the local café…
…Why was that? Why did she not have his number? They have never exchanged details. Have they never needed to? She rubbed her hand into the sofa. Four days were too long. The devil was enjoying her free time.
Somewhere along the thought line, Atobe appeared-
She sat up. It was about time to move. Lucky, the doorbell rang and she promptly went to answer it and forced it open quickly.
"F-Fuji-chan!"
There was not a chance to see who was there. As soon as the door opened a pair of arms rapped around her and mumbled some words into her shoulder. Once Fuji looked up, she saw the head of red hair (but she knew it was Kikumaru when she spoke.) It surprised her more to she Yokoishi with her.
"Hi, Fuji-chan." Yokoishi lifted a tired hand that fell easily by her side.
Fuji lowered her gaze from Yokoishi and down to the path. Kikumaru eased off her and patted Fuji's hair in place.
"I'm so sorry, Fuji-chan." Kikumaru drew her hands down to Fuji's face and ran her index finger under Fuji's eyes softly. "You haven't been getting any sleep, and you're frowning. Why are you frowning?" She breathed deeply. "I would have called… but… I thought you would have wanted to be alone again." Kikumaru hugged her tightly. Fuji eventually lifted one hand up to pat her back.
"Is it all right if we come in?" Yokoishi's said.
Fuji could feel that her emotions weren't balance. When Kikumaru hugged her they were squeezed closer to the surface. If she spoke now, she knew she would cry. Fuji took Kikumaru by the hand and led her into the house. Kikumaru quickly kicked off her shoes for fear of getting dirt in their beautiful home. Fuji brought Kikumaru into the living room and sat her down and rested her head on Kikumaru's lap. Fuji closed her eyes, like what she did with Yumi. Kikumaru turned to Yokoishi, who was walking into the room.
"How are you?" Yokoishi asked and sat down.
Fuji stared at the TV screen but the focus was on her thoughts that swirlled within her. "… I… don't know. I've been wondering this whole time if he really did this to me…"
"Who? Sai-kun?" Kikumaru stroked her hair. It made Fuji think of Tezuka even more.
"Baka…" She didn't say it at Kikumaru, her situation was stupid. "I've been in a really bad mood since that day and I can't shake it. I've never felt like this for so long. It's scary because I… I still want … If I see her I'd want to hurt her, but then I realise he's to blame as well."
"We can't understand you if you don't explain things clearly Fuji-chan." Yokoishi said.
"…Baka." She didn't want her brother to be right.
"Yeah, Sai-kun is stupid some times, but to nearly kill him Fuji-chan…" Yokoishi spoke but Fuji stopped listening to them.
Her thoughts were a lot louder and she didn't want to listen to anyone but Tezuka's voice. How long would he be gone for? For crying out loud, it's only been two days. Why was it hurting so much? It was one thing she couldn't understand.
"It's not fair." She mumbled.
"Hmm, what's that Fuji?" Yokoishi came and sat closer.
Why did he have to leave? Just when they were starting to draw closer. After all the misunderstanding were cleared up and she was able to tell him, and he in turn was able to forgive her. What was the point of asking her not to look at other people when he's not here for her to look at? What was the point? Fuji covered her eyes with her arm. The reason why she always caught Atobe's gaze was because she was bored. Bored with waiting for Tezuka. Bored with the same phrase. Bored with never getting a reaction out of him when she'd make obvious advances. So, of course, when someone as cocky as Atobe came along with a bit of excitement what reason did she have to not be drawn in by his advances? Atobe certainly gave her the time of day!
Fuji took a deep breath realising she couldn't keep her promise. Whether she decide it was out of spit or a weakness of will, right now it didn't mean anything because he was so far away from her that jealously and boredom would cloud her.
She was already bored.
"…Baka…" She said again.
The two could hear that she was not herself. They didn't know what they could say to make her feel better. They heard someone come into the room and turned to see who it was.
"That's against the rules, aneki!"
Fuji didn't bother moving to see Yumi pouting, with her phone in hand.
"K-kawaii…" Kikumaru said, making Yumi look to her with the unexpected comment.
"Why do you get friends over?"
"I didn't invite them."
The two didn't react to Fuji's tone.
"So, you let them in the house. I'm having a friend over too."
"Erm, Yumi-chan?" Kikumaru called out before she left the room. "How are you?"
"What do you mean, how am I?"
"We haven't seen you since you changed schools and the day of the match."
As much as Yumi wanted to leave Fuji's friends, she twisted the phone in her hand and stepped back into the room. She crossed her gaze over to Yokoishi and didn't like that knowing look in her eyes.
"I'm fine." She said, a little unsure about their presence and held her head at a high angle.
"How come you're home. Are you on mid-term break?"
"No. I was suspended."
"Oh. What did you do?"
Yumi saw Fuji rise up. "B-because of what happened at our match. They gave me three weeks." She promptly left the room, knowing she'd lost the battle of stubbornness with her sister.
"Three weeks! That's a long time to be off school." Kikumaru turned back to Yokoishi.
Already, Fuji's blood was boiling. For the past few days she asked Yumi what happened and why she was suspended. And, in a heartbeat she tells Kikumaru. Fuji breathed some of that hot air out of her. She would let it go for now, and eased back down on Kikumaru's lap.
"Did we come at a bad time Fuji?" Kikumaru wondered.
"Hmm…" Fuji replied, which didn't mean anything to her friends.
"If you don't want us here, we'll go." Yokoishi was ready to leave when Fuji insisted they stay and keep her company. Yokoishi sat back down this time leaning against the back of the chair waiting for Fuji to say something more to her, but Fuji didn't talk to them for a while. Fifteen minutes went by where she left them to watch the telly as she tried to find a level of calm from them. Unfortunately their energy conflicted with hers and wasn't worth her using. She eventually sat up and faced Kikumaru.
"Chise-chan…"
"What about her?"
"She's Sai-kun's sister."
"No way?" Kikumaru was genuinely surprised. "All this time she was… No wonder she doesn't like me. Wait, how did you find this out?"
"She told me a few days ago. She wants me to go to the hospital to talk to him."
"You don't have to. I don't think you should."
"Why, I put him there."
Yokoishi and Kikumaru exchanged a few glances before Kikumaru asked her what Sai actually did to her.
"I'm surprised you haven't told any one, Yokoishi-chan."
"It's not my place."
"I wish you did. I don't want to blame you but if I wanted anyone to interfere I wished it were you. You should have told him not to go." She couldn't help the tears that started to surface and fell quietly. "I… didn't think I would miss him this much." She wiped her cheeks. "I can't stop thinking about him…" She drew her legs up onto the chair and hide her face.
Yokoishi lowered her gaze and Kikumaru only watched, wanting to put a supporting hand on her back.
"Sorry, Fuji-chan" Yokoishi, who was normally the light and bubbly one, who always found something good in any situation was feeling sore from Suzu verbal beating a few days ago. Long before Yokoishi asked Kikumaru to tag along to Fuji's house, she understanding what Suzu meant by making a sacrifice. She never wanted to see Fuji like this – emotional worn out and out of her comfort zone. Her flow was completely erratic and her aura was a dark colour she'd never seen emit from anybody before.
Fuji wiped her eyes. "I'm not blaming you Yokoishi-chan. So much was going on that even I lost track." She bit a sob back in her throat causing her to hold her breath. Her tears really wanted to pour out. "Why isn't he near when I really need him?"
"Oh Fuji-chan, Tezuka-san will be back." Kikumaru wanted to hug her.
"I want to be selfish and have him here now. When nothing was wrong he was here. But when things went bad he kept moving further and further away from me. Damn Arai-chan. I want to kill her…" She mumbled the last bit to herself. They didn't hear her. "I… I don't even want to go to school knowing he's not going to be there."
They could hear it in her words. They could see it in her movements. Kikumaru knew all this time that she loved him but Kikumaru never knew it was so embedded and so deep in Fuji. Yokoishi, on the other hand knew that the two needed else other, but she didn't think Fuji would fall like this without his energy around. Something wasn't right, Yokoishi decided, Fuji shouldn't have weakened like this.
"Fuji, he'll be back. Just trust him. He misses you just as much."
Fuji didn't know why, but what Kikumaru said made her calm down. He missed her. She hoped he did. She wondered if he'd shred a tear or two for her. Nevertheless she wanted him to miss her and hurry back.
"Fuji-chan, can I ask, when are you back at school?" Kikumaru now placed that comforting arm over Fuji's hunched shoulders.
"Day after tomorrow."
"Oh, Yokoishi-chan, tell her about Suzu-chan."
Yokoishi's flow was starting to get effected, but she held her momentum for a bit longer. "Suzu-chan's certainly on a mission."
"What's she doing?"
"Huh, she really told everyone off individually, in front of the whole team."
"Yeah!" Kikumaru confirmed.
"She was pretty on the mark with us all. She even told Ryuzaki-sensei off for being emotional by putting such a heavy burden and punishment on you without finding out what happened. I don't think sensei looked into it much, so Suzu-chan was mad. Real admirable, though. Sensei told her to talk about it later but she wanted the whole team to know what each other was thinking.
"She's got us meditating on the courts too. She just stopped us from doing anything and sat us down in zazen to listen to the non-regular's play. It was calming."
"And Arai-chan?" Fuji asked.
"Suzu-chan told her off too, and told her, to her face, that she's not a leader but she better try damn hard to get us to the Nationals. Even going so far as to say if she can't fill your shoes, to hand Suzu the keys and not to show her face."
"Really?"
"Yeah, she said what you said to me about how I should have made a sacrifice and basically interfered."
"She said I should get my head in the game. And if I can't focus she'd make me reserved! She's hardcore Fuji-chan." Kikumaru whined.
Fuji paused, wanting to smile; not finding the will. "I always had high hopes for her." Fuji flopped down on Kikumaru's lap again and asked if they could tell her what Suzu said word for word. She wanted to hear their voices, to hear their excitement, joy, concern and sympathy. Anything to distract her.
Yumi, who hid by the open living room door, squeezed her phone and decided she heard enough.
…tbc…
A/N2: Yay, another one done.
Chapter 68: (filler) I'm going off a bit but I'm gunna write it. Yumi's going to lead Fuji a hand! Aw
THANKS FOR READING!
