A/N: Hmm, what to write? What mayhem to create… Nanjiro sure is a perv… I forgot how naughty he can be.

I'll edit this later. Feeling very lazy... (z_z)

Edited: I can't leave it as it is (2mins after uploading) 18.3.11

Disclaimer: Takeshi Konomi went picking flowers while I worked on Prince of Tennis. (true-randomness)


Chapter Seventy Three

"Where are we going?" Fuji asked.

After she accepted his offer to continue the match, he told Fuji to follow him and he lend her away from the school, through the streets and into a quiet neighbour. "Over here." he said and they walked towards the back of a set of houses and up a large flight of stairs. Fuji didn't question him all the while she followed and he didn't say anything to her. They walked under a torii and in front of them was a medium size temple. It had lanterns on either side of it but it didn't seem as if anyone was inside.

Where Fuji was going to walk towards the temple, Echizen walked off to the left near a large bell. More surprise, someone was laying underneath it sleeping. She looked to Echizen to tell him about the person's presence but he walked on without a care. She shrugged and caught up with him and was surprised to see a tennis court. On temple grounds? There was a net and everything. Tarmac'ed and slightly dirt ridden. She had to look it up and down before she could believe her eyes.

She looked back to the person sleeping under the bell only to notice that they were reading a magazine and humming pleasingly to themselves. It was odd to her that Echizen would walk on and not tell the monk that he was going to use the area. Still, how oddly convenient that such a thing was build here. She doubted anyone but Echizen and possible monk knew of its existence. She placed her bags down on the court when she saw the monk move.

"Oi, oi, young man shouldn't you at least greet me before entering my court."

Fuji turned to Echizen and he didn't say anything back. She wondered why he was being so rude. Echizen placed his things right under the monk and took out his racket.

"Hm. Want to play me that badly do you? Fine, I'm bored anyway."

"I don't care to play against you today." He said back.

"Huh? Then who are you going to play against?"

"Not you."

The monk placed his magazine down and burst out laughing. "He's finally gone mad! Such a shame! Enjoy running after the ball! Didn't know you had so much energy!"

Echizen ignored him and took out several balls. He certainly wanted to get this match over with. Fuji walked forward and stepped onto the court. It was still damp from the earlier downpour. And it was when she twisted the dirt under her foot did the monk look up and catch sight of her.

"OOH!" He exclaimed and jumped down from the bell's post. He dusted himself down and stood a bit more respectfully.

Echizen shook his head. Fuji was even more confused.

"Pretty, pretty. So very pretty. It's like the magazine picture has come to life." He walked towards her quickly and went right up into her face that she had to lean back. "Ooh, nice, nice. What can a humble monk, like myself, do for such a lovely young lady."

Fuji felt her eyes widen. She didn't know what to believe. Her eyes or her senses? They were telling her two different things. It would seem that he had amazing strength within him. What kind of monk is he?

"Erm, is it okay to use your court?" She couldn't even find the will to be calm and cute about it. Something about him scared her but the shock of him suddenly left on it's own.

He grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously. "Of course, of course how can I deny such a lovely young girl like yourself the use of the temples facilities. What's mine is yours, right?" Fuji wanted to lower her hand but he kept a hold of it. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, feeling the skin, veins and bones up to her knuckle. It was a clean stroke that wouldn't have been noticed even if he done it five times. "Hmm, seems like your energy's irregular."

She peered into his eyes, wondering what kind of monk he was. She wasn't too surprised that she couldn't grasp what he was about and wanted to pull her hand back. He kept a hold of it.

"Don't take too much of my son's energy, won't you?"

He let go of her hand quickly and turned to Echizen and shouted at him.

"Your girlfriend is very pretty Echizen-chan. Be a gentleman with her!"

She was the only one to flinch at the monk's choice of words. Echizen stared off into space. Why was he not correcting him?

"I knew you had it in you. She's not like the first girl. Older, mature, curve... in all the right places too! Make sure you treat her like a lady~."

"Will you shut up, old man." Echizen had had enough of his noise.

The monk turned back to Fuji and his face was so downcast that she didn't know if she should hand him a handkerchief to wipe way some potential tears.

"You see how he treats me, a humble man of the temple. Have I caused him any ill will for him to treat me like this?" She shook her head. The monk hit his loosely clenched fist into his hand, instantly losing the sullen expression. "Oh, I see. He wants to look good in front of his girlfriend. I like that. Echizen-chan, you take after your old man. Your mum was a looker when I met her so its in your blood, you can't help it. I knew you had it in you!"

Fuji didn't know what to do. She raised her right hand to get his attention. "Excuse me. We only want to play a match." Should she have said that or should she have questioned what he meant when he said Echizen mother's was a looker when he meet her. Monk? Really?

"Sit down and stop interfering." Echizen ordered the monk.

The monk crossed his arms and pouted back to the bell. He mumbled up the stairs and mumbled when he sat under the bell.

"Ready." Echizen said.

"…N…no… not yet." The monk's and Echizen's behaviours threw her off that she forgot to get her things out. And now she just made silly mistakes by constantly trying to use her left hand and causing herself unwanted pain. What did he mean when he said not to take too much of his energy?

"Come on young lady, you can do it!" The monk shouted and started waving his arms about. Whenever she cast her gaze on Echizen he was not amused.

"I'm ready Echizen-kun." She told him.

Just as he was about to serve the monk interrupted him, shouting over to Fuji.

"Oh, what's this! I may be a monk but I see nothing wrong with couples calling each other by their first names-"

"Will you stop!" Echizen shouted and threw the ball up.

He put it into play but Fuji wasn't ready and only just got to it. The monk watched Fuji closely. Having touched her hand, he didn't liked what he felt. And she seemed to be hiding a stinging pain in her left hand. She was able to win the first few points over Echizen but that nagging pain in her hand was restricted her game. He could see it. Sure, he enjoyed the view as well and wasn't to shy to tell her, when she won the point, that the view of her arms and legs were nice, but he didn't like that she was in so much discomfort.

As Echizen threw the ball up he shouted out to stop the game, causing the ball to hit the ground by Echizen's foot.

Fuji stepped back when the monk walked up to her, smiling happily. "No, no, no. I cannot allow such a pretty little thing to play against this brute of a boy."

"I'm fine." She insisted, that was until he reached for her left hand and lifted it to his eye level.

Fuji didn't know if this was the strength of a monk but he seemed to know that she was hurting and was kind enough to not let Echizen see that it hurt a lot. What more could she do but bow out. Even if she protested that she was fine, this monk was more then willing to take her place. He only had to squeeze her hand a little and she could no longer act like she was fine. She looked away, defended.

"His glare is as sharp as his hit. I couldn't bare to see him scar your face." He touched her cheek, the very place that Echizen's twisted serve had barely missed. "Do you understand?"

"…yeah."

"Come, come." He pulled her over to the bell and helped her up so she could sit down. She turned to see Echizen scowling her. She shrugged. She couldn't argue with him. He was a monk! Echizen looked bothered by the interference and lost his will to play.

"Ready when you are Echizen-chan!" He shouted mockingly from the other end of the courts.

Fuji couldn't do much else but giggle at his changing behaviours. He was eccentric but there was a wisdom surrounding him that she couldn't challenge. Was that an adult's strength? If that were so, it was differently scary. Yukio wasn't too far off from his level… did that mean brother Yukio was destined to be a monk?

"Coo-ee! Young lady! Make sure you watch me. I'll win on your behalf!"

"I didn't come here to play against you." Echizen tipped his cap down.

"Hit it, hit it!"

Fuji leant forward. She didn't expect the monk to pull a ball from his sleeve and serve it in the space of time that Echizen spoke. He wasn't ready for it and missed it.

"Oi, oi, pay attention. Are those attractive pair of soft, silky legs putting you off?"

For a monk, he sure had the wrong type of interests! Fuji crossed her legs and leant forward on her right hand, watching Echizen play a game he had no interest in. It didn't make sense to her that the monk was pushing him back so soon in the game. Shouldn't it have been the other way round?

"Uncle? What are you doing?"

Fuji glanced behind her and saw an older teenaged girl with long, dark navy hair walk into the temple grounds. Her appearances seemed to sicken both Echizen and the monk. Fuji sat quietly and watched her walk onto the courts with the same confidence as Echizen.

"Uncle, dinner is ready. Oh, who are you playing tennis with?" She looked to the other end of the court. "Oh, Ryoma, you're home too."

Huh? Home? Echizen lived in a temple?

As the young girl looked across to the bell she glimpsed Fuji and was surprised to see her there. At first she thought her uncle had done something unspeakable, but she recognised the colours of the tennis gear and sighed with relief when she realised it was a friend from Echizen's new school. She could tell that Fuji was a sweet girl, but could see a sadness inside her.

"Hello." She walked closer to Fuji. "My name is Nanako Meino. Who are you?"

"Erm… Sumiko Fuji… I was playing tennis with him."

"Ah, Fuji-chan." She said it in a way that would make one think the two had met before. "Oh, it's nice to meet you."

"No, Nanako-chan." The monk protested. "That's Echizen-chan's girlfriend. Girlfriend!" He inappropriately stuck his little finger out and chuckled to his own amusement.

"Uncle, stop saying silly things before I tell Aunite. You can clearly see that that isn't the case." She turned back to Fuji. "You're a friend of Ryoma, aren't you?"

"Mmm, hmm. Our match was interrupted so we were going to continue it here."

"My apologise. You may have to play another time because auntie has finished cooking dinner and she doesn't want it to get cold. Unless you want to have dinner with us and have your match afterwards?"

"I don't want to intrude." Fuji didn't know what was going on but she didn't want to cause anyone any trouble.

"Great idea Nanako-chan. The young lady should have dinner with her young lover to get to know him better." The monk carried on.

"I apologise for him, he just likes to tease Ryoma. Do you play tennis too?"

Fuji wanted to nod. "When I get the time to."

Nanako smiled sweetly. Fuji remembered that expression and wanted to lean forward and take it off her lips and but it on her own. She wanted to smile like that again. It was honest and real. Her hand twitched, she lifted it up and lightly brushed her bottom lip with the back of her hand.

"Would you like to have dinner with us?"

"I couldn't."

"It's okay, Uncle doesn't mind. Ryoma? Oh." She called to him, but while the three were talking, he slipped away somewhere. "Oh dear, he didn't look as if he was in a good mood. Maybe he went into the house."

Nanako reached her hand up so Fuji could take it. She could resist the genuine kindness Nanako was offering her and found that her hand reached for it slowly, almost in a trance. Could this big sister save her? Once their fingers touched and the palm of their hands touched, Fuji couldn't understand the feeling of holding an older girl's hand. Is this what Yumi was missing in her life?

"Young Lady, I'll hold your other hand." He sneaked up behind Fuji.

"Uncle, please stop it before I encourage auntie to throw your collection away."

"No!" He screamed out. "Stop reminding me of that woman's evil intent."

"If you want to do something, you can carry Fuji-san's bags into the house."

He grumble about it but done it anyway and was taken aback by how heavy her bags were. She may have been stronger than he first thought. Maybe if he had let the match with her and Echizen continue, she may have had a fair advantage over him. He started to imaging the young lady winning over Echizen. How he could have torment Echizen with that for weeks.

"Do you like playing tennis, Fuji-Chan?

She had to think about it. She had to think beyond the incident that took place in the school this year and the first moment she caught Tezuka's while on the courts two years ago that gave her an excuse to keep playing. "…Yeah, it's fun."

"I'm glad to hear that. You and Ryoma have something in common."

Nanako lead her down a small passage that connected to a garden gate. She opened it and led Fuji into their home. She bowed and took her shoes off and followed Nanako into the dining room. Echizen was already sat at the table eating, not playing attention to anyone. Nanako told him off and invited Fuji to sit at the table next to Echizen as she sat on Fuji opposite side. Soon the whole family was at the table eating a hearty meal. Echizen tolerated it until the monk opened his mouth.

"So where did you two lover brids meet?"

Fuji watched as Echizen's mother and Nanako told him off for being silly, but Fuji was starting to enjoy the surroundings and played along with him.

"I first meet him at the boys' preliminary games. He was looking for his captain and walked up to us. He had such cute eyes."

"Ooh, so it the eyes. Could never have been the whole face." (He was enjoying teasing him!)

Echizen hit his chop sticks down and got up from the table having only eaten half his meal. "I'm going to bed now." He left.

Fuji wouldn't think of him as anything else but cute, but she could see that their unfinished match bothered him more than anything.

"Uncle, now look at what you've done."

"I get blamed for everything around here."

They continued without Echizen. The family asked Fuji about herself. She shared about her family, her photography, her schooling and of course tennis. They enjoyed listening to her and it took them to the end of their meal. Fuji wanted to help clear the table but the women in the room reminded her that she was a guest. The monk on the other hand refused to help. They didn't seem to care.

He sat in the dinning room with Fuji. Staring at her. Not put off that she did look back at him.

"What happened to your hand? Something 'that' wrapped up couldn't have been caused by tennis." He asked in a quiet voice and leant across the table.

Fuji knew this was coming. At least he was understanding enough to not say it while the table was full. "Just some stuff that happened at school."

"That idiot upstairs told me about it, well, that you put one of his team mates in the hospital and lost your captaincy."

Now she turned to him.

"Hmm. He doesn't show it but it bothered him. I can see that he respects you. I realise now that you would have beat him today and that would have made him stronger, that's why he's a little testy."

"Are you really just a monk?" She asked him.

"Sometimes. Other times I'm looking after that brat upstairs. They're both fulltime jobs."

There was a call from the kitchen. The ladies of the house requested that he made himself useful and dried the dishes.

"Bye-bye lovely lady. Why not use this opportunity to give him a good night kiss. Chu!" He went off without hesitation, leaving Fuji slightly shocked.

She peeked around the corner and watched them for a moment. Her suspicions where confirmed when the monk kissed Echizen's mother. Either he was going against the rules of the temple or that was the father, the man to teach Echizen all that he knows.

Fuji would have watched for longer, but she heard her mobile ringing from her bag. She got up from the table to retrieve it thinking her brother might have texted back on behalf of their mother but it was a text message from Kikumaru.

"I can't believe you would leave half way through! Why would you do that? (T_T)"

Fuji walked out into the hallway and replied.

"Atobe-kun showed up, so I left. I'm at Echizen-kun's house."

She switched her phone off knowing her friend would call back asking many annoying questions. Truth was, she didn't know how it got this far. How it got from playing a heated match to her walking up a flight of stairs to get to the young boy's room. She could hear Echizen talking to himself and followed the sound of his voice. She leant against the wall and listened to him talking about his match today. That was all good and well but, who was he talking too? She knocked on the door.

"It's open."

Fuji let herself in and found Echizen laying on his back with a cat on his stomach, meowing happily with him. When Fuji stepped into the room the cat began to hiss and scurried off of Echizen. He didn't know what was wrong and figured he was unhappy with the new person in his home, but Fuji knew it to be something else. It seemed the people in his family were sensitive to a change in someone's energy.

"Who is that?" She asked.

"Karupin. He's mine." Echizen sat up.

Fuji walked over and sat beside him on his bed. She didn't say anything at first and glanced around his room. She was surprised that it was plain. But if rumour was true, he hasn't been living in Japan long enough to make it his own. Maybe she should get him a cactus or two.

"Sorry that we couldn't finish our match." Fuji apologised first.

"Wasn't your fault. That stupid old man never knows when to keep quiet."

She chuckled a little. "Echizen-kun, how could you speak of a monk like that."

"He's not a monk."

"What does that mean?"

"It means he retired a couple of years ago and works on and off in the temple."

"But he's so young."

"Why are we talking about him?"

"Cuz I'm curious. He's… overwhelming to me."

"Hmm… Are you feeling okay Fuji-senpai?"

She leant back on her hands and peered up to the ceiling. "Not really. I haven't felt myself since… since he left…" Fuji knew that Echizen's energy calmed her a little because she didn't know she could become so at ease with him. "Can I be honest with you Echizen-kun?" He nodded but didn't face her, feeling more comfortable calling Karupin over. "I'm nothing with out him."

Karupin jumped into Echizen's arms and he stroked him softly. He heard what Fuji said and didn't agree with her at all. "You're still you Fuji-senpai. You never needed him to be you."

She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. What he said was cute and it was both true and incorrect at the same time. She didn't need Tezuka to be herself but the part that she didn't want to show others was what he helped her hide. She would love to be able to be herself without him, but that wasn't her reality. Her flow always merged with his. Her energy worked in partnership with his… but that wasn't the only problem… She didn't understand, if what her brother said was true and it seemed to be, why Tezuka would take away her strength. Thinking back, he never denied taking it and she felt it leave her… Why? Why would he do that… unless, of course…

She wiped her eyes. No tears fell yet, though they wanted to fall. She breathed deeply and kept talking. "I'm too much of a burden to people as I am now. That's why Sai-kun is where he is…"

"Fuji-senpai, what did he do to you?"

She reached over and ruffled his hair. "You're too young to hear about such things… but it wasn't nice, what he was going to do. Why? Does the team resent me for hindering their chances?"

Karupin climbed over his shoulder. "Not really… Oishi fuku-buchou is concerned but I think we're just getting on with it. Iwara-senpai knows Sai-senpai well enough to have explained a few things to us. Sai-senpai has a few screws lose."

Fuji chose not to say anything to him for a while. Her nerves were getting the better of her. She wiped her eyes and tried to stay calm. She watched Echizen playing with Kaurpin. The boy was as quick as the cat. Whenever Karupin tried to snatch for his wiggling fingers he moved them. No wonder he had such good eyes. Karupin was jumping all over him and it was the first time she saw Echizen smile with a child-like joy. There was no competition fuelling it, just a boy and his cat having a good time.

"Hmm, you really are cute, you know that."

He tutted when she said that. "Fuji-senpai." He was clearly bothered. He shooed Karupin away, despite him wanting to continuing playing. Echizen now faced Fuji.

"What's on your mind?" She said.

"Just one thing. What did you do to make Tezuka-buchou so angry at our city tournaments? I don't think I've ever seen him that angry before."

"Don't ask me that." She said immediately, now feeling the tears come forth stronger than before.

"It was really interesting that he didn't wanna shake Atobe-kun's hand. Could it be that you were doing stuff with Atobe-kun?"

She grabbed Echizen's arm and pulled him down on the bed. It was an unexpected and sudden move that it caught him off guard. Karupin jumped off the bed and started hissing. Fuji reached over and pinned his other hand down. He tried to struggle out of her grip but she was stronger.

"Don't kick me." She warned him, her voice fuelled with her dark energy.

Echizen felt what Sai felt, that unnatural prickly feeling over his skin.

"Fuji-senpai, get off."

"You're talking about me like you know me Echizen-kun. That's not cute at all. It's arrogant. Like everyone else, you've made up a story in your mind and instantly think that I was the one that done something wrong. The only thing I did wrong was to allow it to manifest. I should have killed it long before it got this far. Yes, I upset him. I upset him so much, and I acknowledge that, but you are the last person I wanted to hear accusations from."

"Fuji-senpai-" He stopped when he felt something fall to the side of his temple. He glanced up slowly and saw thick tears streaming from Fuji's eyes. The sight of those tears scared him. It wasn't the first thing or that last thing he thought she would do… Was she really nothing without him? Maybe not nothing, but she certainly wasn't 'herself'.

She pushed the energy back and released Echizen and turned her back to him. What the hell was she going to do to him? She may have taken him by surprise but her energy overwhelmed her before she could call it back. She covered her mouth and arched her shoulders.

She was so embarrassed by her behaviours. Can you image what sensei would have done to her had she punched him for being pretentious? That's what it was telling her to do, to knock his smug attitude right out of him. If she hadn't held tightly to him, with the left hand and caused herself pain, she was sure she would have hurt him. The images started to plague her thoughts.

"… Fuji-senpai?"

She didn't want him to see such a pitiful look on her face and threw up his covers to lay under his blanket. Anything to cover her face.

"Uh! Fuji-senpai!"

"Just for a little while…" Like Yumi, Fuji invaded his bed and took a hold of his pillow.

Echizen didn't know what to do, but he know understood that Sai must have felt the conclusion of that sudden attack. He certainly didn't want to be in that position anytime soon. To him, it felt like she wanted to kill him.

He straightened his pyjamas shirt and glanced his clock. "Fuji-senpai it's getting late."

"Then let me stay over."

He heard her fragile voice. "What! Where?"

"You go to sleep on the other side… I'll stay here."

He walked around. "Fuji-senpai are you giving him a reason to punish me." (Tezuka, that is!)

She laughed but only more tears fell from her. Echizen tied to look over at her but she kept her face hidden. He didn't want to get into his bed with her but he could no longer conceal his yawns and had to surrender to his tiredness. Could playing in the rain have made him a little weak? He got into bed and laid on his back, staring tiredly at the ceiling. Karupin soon joined him.

"Fuji-senpai?"

"Hmm?"

"Sorry."

She wiped her eyes. "That's better. You're not suppose to make mummy cry."

"Pardon?"

"G'night, Echizen-kun."

He didn't know if she was really going to say the night or not. And he didn't have the heart to ask her, not if she was going to act like that again. Fuji stayed with him for about an hour. For half an hour she waited until she calmed down. Forty-five minutes went by, Echizen drifted off into a deep sleep. She rolled over slowly and watched him for the last fifteen minutes. It was about 22:20pm now. She got up and stretched and tidied the covers. Fuji looked at him again before she left. She reached forward to brushed his hair from his forehead and gave him a mother's kiss.

She turned the lights off and signed deepening once in the hallway.

"Oi, oi. I didn't remembering saying you could devour him on the first night."

He startled her. She glanced down and saw the father, still dressed in his monk outfit. She didn't know what to say. Before she could think of anything he laughed quietly to himself.

"So you're the feisty one, and all this time I thought it was him. Ah, what it is to be young…" He took to his feet and offered to talk Fuji home. She faced him full on and bowed deeply.

"Thank you for making Echizen-kun who he is today."

"Ah, don't do that to me, you're gunna make me blush. Come on, lets' get you home before your parents worried."

He reached out a hand for her to take and this time she took it.


…tbc…

A/N2: Urk, overly long and somewhat rushed. Don't care! (T_T) Ah, where did all that chapter come from and what happened to the match! (o_O) Or could this chapter be a clever way of foreshadowing for what's to come? Hmm~m.

Chapter 74: Ermm, a visit to the hospital. Can Fuji forgive Sai or will she have to give him another blow?

(Keep trusting me!) Thanks for reading!