A/N: Well, I know where this is going but I just need to get there. Watched some of the episodes again and it's totally delayed things, but I'll get there… soon, it'll be sweet like honey from the honeycomb. Need to edit this story from start to current, some icky mistakes that need correcting :(

Disclaimer: If you go into the woods today you're sure of a big surprise; Takeshi Konomi will more then likely be working on Prince of tennis. (R-A-N-D-O-M)


Chapter Seventy Five

The breeze was nice as it sailed over her skin and gently touched her heart before travelling on. Fuji never called it, but it sensed that she wanted the company. Her eyes never fell on anything in particular, just thoughts that wondered about carelessly like the night's breeze.

A few days had gone by, the boys' match was postponed because of more heavy rain. The girls got on with their training for the tournament that were to come in three days and all Fuji could do was sit back and watch. She couldn't participate for fear of sensei waving her doctors' note in her face. She could only offer advice to those who asked…

…She began to question her worth. She felt useless. The team probably didn't notice this but with the six training sessions that had gone by Fuji developed a nagging thought that made her question her worth to her team, to the team she couldn't play with…

She sighed and lowered he head into her arms. The late evening was soundless. The neighbourhood had all slipped away into their beds. They all had their problems but at least they could sleep with ease.

Seeing Sai in the hospital bed unnerved her. She didn't remember how much of her strength she used against him. Having heard Arai speaking to Tezuka in such a manner blinded her to many things. Even thinking about it now nearly made her blood rise with anger. Just hearing the words in her head was more than enough to set her off. She turned away to stare into the darkened garden to lower the want to feel angry. She couldn't allow it room to breathe, to gain life or strength. Fuji closed her eyes for the moment and opened them again when the same breeze stroked her hair and around her cheek.

As it passed by she could have sworn it said something to her. If only she was attentive to its call, she would have heard what it said in its cool whispers. Fuji glanced up slowly, starting to feel exhausted, and stared ahead in a dream-like state. Nothing came to mind.

"Ohayo!" Yumi crept up behind Fuji and put all her weight on Fuji's shoulder blades. Fuji nearly fell off the top step.

"Why are you saying good morning?" Fuji cleared her throat.

"Because I want to. Check out that clear night. Stars as far as the eye can see."

Fuji pushed Yumi off of her back and rolled her shoulders. "Why aren't you sleeping, Yumi?"

Yumi crouched down beside Fuji. "Because I noticed you weren't there so I wanted to see what you were doing. And here you are, moping over something."

"I'm not-"

"Yes you are. You seem to keep forgetting that I'm your sister."

Fuji curled her hair behind her ear and looked to the fencing on her left. "Yumi… am I still wearing that mask?"

"Hmm?" Yumi tried to look at her face. "No. You took that off ages ago, but I can see you're trying to put it on."

Fuji lowered her head again so her arm covered over her mouth.

"Have you called him yet?" Yumi waited for an answer. "I'll take that silence as a no. Jeez. Why am I always looking after you?"

Fuji could hear Yumi doing something but paid no attention to her. She brought her hand up and yawned, deciding that it was time for bed. As she was about to rise to her feet Yumi put something to her ear.

"...Hello?"

Fuji blocked her right ear and looked at her sister. That was Tezuka's voice. She was going to ask why, when Yumi grabbed her right hand and placed the phone in it.

"Stop talking to me and talk to him." She got up and left Fuji on her own.

Fuji stared at the phone. She forgot what to do with it. Snap out of it! She heard his voice saying hello and lifted it to her ear, breathing into the mouth piece to let the surprise escape. On hearing a consisted sound, Tezuka talked into the phone. Something simple always got her attention.

He called her name, quietly, questionably, not really sure if it was her or some other member of her family. When he heard that familiar light sound of Fuji's holding her breath, he knew it was her and he himself breathed out.

"Hi." He knew he should have said more but even he was lost for words.

"...Hi." She repeated.

"How have you been?"

"I've been… I've been, erm…" She couldn't lie to him.

"What's wrong?" His tone changed.

Fuji went to hold the phone with her left hand. She hesitated. It was a silly thought but she lowered her hand and held the phone between her ear and her shoulder.

"… a lot…"

"Won't you tell me about it?"

The silence on her end was too long. "…There's not enough time to tell you everything."

"Tell me something."

How can I tell you anything? "I'm cold."

"Why are you cold?" He played along with her.

I don't want you to know about Sai. "I'm sitting in the garden."

"Why are you in the garden?"

That I nearly killed him and gashed my hand because of my conversation with Arai. "It's a clear night." She coughed, now feeling her voice tremble.

"How many stars can you see?"

That I was suspended and demoted to non-regulars. "Thousands… they're so many tonight…. But they are so far away."

"What time is it in Tokyo?"

That, because of my hand, I cannot play tennis until it's healed. "About 12am."

He breathed deeply and shifted the phone to his other ear. "Sumiko?"

She perked up when she heard the shock in his voice but he was quick to correct himself.

"Fuji-san, what's wrong? Why are you up so late?"

Her breath got caught in her throat. "I can't sleep."

"Why?"

"What time is it where you are?" She said it calmly, refusing to tell him.

"...It's about 4pm."

Eight hours difference. It seemed crazy that he was eight hours behind her, but he was somewhere where the sun was shining down on him. At least he sounded okay. She was happy about that and didn't grip the phone tightly.

"Are they looking after you over there?" She asked next.

"They are."

"Are you glad you went?"

He took a while to answer. "No, I'm not."

"How come?"

"I didn't think I'd… miss you this much."

"What?"

It took her a while to understand what he said. He missed her.

He missed her.

She thought it was the other way round. She thought he left on purpose to be as far away from her as possible. For him to say that he missed her made Fuji forget all the horrible things that had happened in between their separation, back to the time when they were together in sensei's classroom. She suddenly felt the texture of his hair on her fingertips, she heard the sound of his heart beating in the inner ear and she could have sworn his scent passed under her nose.

"If I knew it would be like this I don't think I would have gone out this far from you." He continued. She could hear the sigh behind his words.

"Don't say that." She took the phone in her hand and leant her forehead on her knees. He really would have brought her to tears. She missed him so much that she would become a sobbing mess again. She didn't want that. But she was comforted by his words. Could he possibly be a mess without her too? "… how many days have gone by where I've told someone that I've missed you too?"

"Hmm…" He agreed with her.

"Hurry up and come back."

"If I could jump on a plane tomorrow I would, but I'm not even halfway through my timetable."

"Your shoulder?"

"Still needs a lot of work."

She shut her eyes and shuddered. For a moment she forgot the cold, but it suddenly came back over her bare arms and down her back. "Make sure you work hard."

"I will."

"Don't come back on account of me."

"Even if I want to be there for you?"

When did he become so honest? "You can't… I can look after myself. Get better. Heal fully. You're no good to me as you are."

His end went silent. Fuji replayed what she said in her mind and realised it was a bit harsh. When she was about to correct herself, he spoke over her.

"I guess not."

"I didn't mean it like that. I was just saying what you said to me. I want you back here but not if you're still in pain. I can't take seeing you suffering. Tezuka-kun, promise me you'll come back fully healed so that something like this won't have to happen again?"

"Then come and see me."

She fumbled over her words. The cold was staring to bite into her and her sore hand began to itch. "I… I can't do that."

"It's got to be one or the other. Either you come to me or I come to you."

She didn't know what to say. He was serious. "Don't… don't force yourself, please Tezuka-kun."

"I'm so used to seeing you everyday." He said, and she listened. "It's nice here but, not the same without your presence. Sometimes I wish I had a picture of you… then realised that I want the real thing. The people here don't seem to have the same energy about them… It's a lot to adjust too but I can bare it. If you want me to train harder, I will."

It was too much for her to hear right now especially that she wasn't expecting him to talk from his heart. She was almost moved to tears, nearly forgot everything before now and suddenly wanted to take her brother's money and go to Germany.

"I've never known you to speak like this Tezuka-kun." She twisted her hair around her finger. She might have been cold before but his voice and his words were certainly making her heart beat twice as fast, that she had to take deep breaths every now and then.

"Yeah. I'm surprised myself, I suddenly couldn't control myself…" He said quietly.

They were quiet for a while. Fuji wanted to say something but didn't know how to add to that. Well, she had a lot she could add to the conversation but if she did she was under the impression he worry fly back to protect her… not that she would have minded, but it would have been a waste if he wasn't one hundred percent. Stupid thing about it, he hasn't even been away for that long and they were already like this for each other. Absence makes the heart grow fonder; she understood what it meant.

While they remained silent for a few seconds, Fuji heard some commotion at his end. His voice grew quiet and he moved the mouthpiece. She heard another voice speaking German and then Tezuka's speaking back to him. Only he could master a language in a few weeks.

"Fuji-san?"

"Yes?"

"I need to go. Erm, the pool is open so I can have some water physiotherapy."

Hmm, she would have liked to have see that. The thought made her glow inside. She wanted to ask for a picture, but like he said, the real thing would be miles better.

"Sounds like you're enjoying yourself, I'm glad."

"Well, now I have to work harder to hurry up and come home."

"*Herr Tezuka, komm schon!" Fuji heard someone shouting to him and hadn't a clue what they said.

"I gotta go." He told her.

"Wait. Can I, can I call you again, I mean, now that I have your number, can I call you again?"

He thought about it, and she believed she heard him smile. "Only if it's to tell me you're coming over. Take care Fuji-san."

He hung up first, but that didn't bother her. What did bother her was that he was intent on seeing her. She fell back on the step and held the phone to her chest and breathed out loudly. "Baka." She laughed lightly and covered her eyes with her arm. Slowly she began to want him more and more. She was overjoyed that he was pining over her the same way she longed for him. He probably wasn't crying like she had but there's nothing to say that he wasn't moping around, dragging his feet. But how cheeky of him to tell her not to call unless she was going to see him.

"Finished?"

Fuji uncovered her eyes to see Yumi leaning over her.

"What do you want?"

Yumi laughed. "Listen to you, all confidant only after hearing his voice. Hmm, I wonder what sweet nothings he said to you."

Yumi reached for the phone as Fuji sat up, and brushed her arm.

"Argh, you're freezing! Hurry up and warm up." As Yumi stood up she hurled Fuji up from under her arm and pushed her into the house. "If you die of a cold, Yu-nii will kill him."

"Yumi, thanks for-"

"Yeah, yeah. Anything to stop you from clinging to me."

"But he doesn't want me to call him."

"WHAT? What the hell! Screw you two! I'll give him a piece of my mind. Have I ever seen a stupid couple before? If you want to call him, then call him. Don't be so damn obedient."

"Yumi, don't be loud. If I call him he said I need to have a ticket in my hand to go see him."

Yumi shook her head. "I'll let Yu-nii talk to him again. Why is your boyfriend so stupid? Maybe that's where you get it from."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"You know what, shut up. I'm not accepting that after the way you're acting. You love him and he loves you. You're dating, you're apart and you're both lonely without each other. Right?" She shoved Fuji up the stairs, encouraging her to agree. Yumi was right but she wouldn't openly agree to it. Until Tezuka said they were boyfriend and girlfriend she really didn't want to jump to conclusions… though more weight was leaning in her favour. Of course, she still had to clear up the issue with Arai. She wanted him to tell her it was meaningless just like she did in regards to Atobe.

As Yumi pushed her to her room Fuji wondered what would come after the phone call. Would he really rush over, and could she really rush over to see him? She couldn't get the seriousness of his words out of her head. If he kept to his word and only came back once he was better, then that was more then enough time to fix things on her end.

Fuji got ready for bed but it wasn't without its new thoughts. She would stop moping for him. He missed her and she was over the moon that he would share that with her. Now she just had to make sure when he comes back that she was ready to tell him about all that had happened. He'd want to know about Sai, she couldn't really do much about that, but she could try to keep the team in the winning strike. She slipped into her night gown and thought new thoughts. She had a few months before he'd come back. Enough time to sort things out on her end and get stronger herself, that was of course if her energy didn't get in the way of her possible come back.


tbc…

A/N2: Ahh, the lovey-dovey stuff is back. He'd do anything for his girl, shame the girl is trying to keep him at bay for a little bit longer. But can Fuji really fix things before he comes back?

*komm schon: Do what I did and stick it in a translator. Come on!

I was listening to a 14-year-old girl having a conversation with a male friend and the random crap they were talking about. I wanted these two to have that kind of conversation, but fortunately, Fuji and Tezuka are a little bit above asking for a packet of crisp/chips for their birthday. Ah, what it is to be young where you can waste time talking about going to a crisp/chip factory and asking for chocolate favoured crisp/chips to be made and how it's unlikely to happen.

Chapter 76: With the next tournament coming up the girls are not happy. Jinhana calls Arai out!

Thanks for reading!