Melting a prodigy's heart
A/N: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
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Last time:
He was about to deny the fact when his more logical side made him pause and think about the statement.
Hannah watched as Tezuka drifted off into his mind. She stayed silent and waited for the result. She was tempted to laugh when his head snapped up and he looked at her with eyes wide in shock.
"I'm in love with Yumi………."
Tezuka blinked as the realisation sunk in before thanking Hannah, and then getting up out of the chair he was sitting on and taking off in a full sprint towards the clinic.
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Chapter 3:
Yumi tossed and turned in bed, before throwing her covers off as she came to the conclusion that no matter what she tried, she wouldn't get to sleep.
Sighing she threw a dressing gown on over her nightdress and made her way over to her windowsill.
The sky was clear, she could see the stars clearly and the light of the full moon lit up the grounds and the courts behind the dorms.
She was restless and couldn't sleep. In the hallway she paused in front of Tezuka's room before deciding against talking to him and carried on her way to the clinic's grounds where they had a swing set for the younger children. However Yumi still enjoyed swinging on it once in a while.
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Tezuka bent over and rested his hands on his knees while he tried to even out his breath. Sure he had good stamina but even a full out sprint from the town to the clinic would have even worn out Kaidoh.
Lost in his own thoughts for the moment, he knew that he had handled confronting Yumi badly but he had been annoyed and wasn't thinking clearly at the time. With the realization Hannah knocked into him a few minutes still ringing in his mind, he set off for Yumi's room.
When he got to her room he was surprised to find the door open and even more surprised to find her room empty. Puzzled he closed her room and sent off down the corridor in search of her. She couldn't be far.
'Where could she be at this hour? It's nearly 11pm…' thought Tezuka as he let his feet guide him.
He came back to himself as he realized that he'd found her. She was right in front of him, swinging gently on the swing set. She had her back to him as she swung back and forth. Making a decision he walked up carefully behind her, and this time when she swung backwards, his hands closed around the chains on the swing and moving with it he gently brought it to a halt next to the other swing. Yumi gasped as she felt the swing slow and turned her head up and saw him. He heard her whisper his name under her breath in what sounded like shock. She obviously hadn't expected him to come looking for her.
For barely a second their gaze met but Yumi broke it almost immediately and started to stare at the ground below her feet. As Yumi continued to sit there in silence, Tezuka decided to go and sit next to her.
After a few more moments he decided to speak. "Yumi?" he asked.
"Hey," she stared at the floor.
He sighed and leaned back. "Yumi," he said, "Why have you been avoiding me? Why won't you speak to me?"
"I've had a lot on my mind. I've been busy. Sorry." she said quietly. She absentmindedly wrapped her arms around herself protectively.
He looked at her, noting her depressed demeanour. It looked as though she had convinced herself that he was going to leave her and never talk to her again, but he wasn't, and he cared too much about her to hurt her in that way. He sighed as he got up.
Yumi continued to stare at the floor, not wanting to see the anger or rejection in Tezuka's eyes. She was suddenly surprised to find him crouching in front of her and she looked up at his face despite herself.
"Yumi, I thought you trusted me," he said gently, "I'm not upset with you. I wished the team could of met you, but what done is done. But they can meet you next time when I introduce you as my girlfriend, if you'd have me that is."
"What did you say?"
"Will you agree to be my girlfriend?"
Yumi breathed a sigh of relief. That was beyond anything she had expected. Slowly but without breaking their gaze Yumi slowly nodded with a huge smile forming on her lips. Tezuka pulled her up as they stood up and came together into an embrace.
And under the light of the full moon they shared their first kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend.
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Yumi embraced Tezuka for the last time as they stood outside the gate for his plane. Both wanted to say something to the other but both were at a loss of words. It had been a month since they had got together, and both were as happy as ever, but now they both felt sadness since they were to part and it was uncertain when they would be able to see each other again.
Tezuka held Yumi close as he tried to convey to her through his hold on her that he loved her.
However when he felt Yumi fiddling with his wrist he let her go and looked down.
"For good luck" said Yumi as she finished tying the bracelet around his wrist. Behind his glasses Tezuka's gaze softened and he reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a wrapped up package.
Holding it out to Yumi he waited.
Yumi took the package offered to her and unwrapped it. Once he had it fully unwrapped she gasped and threw her arms around Tezuka in a hug and kissed him soundly on the lips.
Tezuka let a small smile creep onto his lips and kissed Yumi on her forehead before releasing her.
"Turn around and I'll put it on for you." He said.
Yumi did as she was asked and after a few seconds the locket was fastened around her neck, with a photo of the pair of them together inside.
"Final call for international flight 5643 to Tokyo, Japan. Departing from gate 7." Announced a computerized voice over the speaker system.
"That's you Kunimitsu, you better go. Don't want you to miss your flight." Said Yumi while unshed tears crept up to her eyes.
Tezuka nodded in affirmation to her statement, however before turning to the gate he pulled Yumi into his arms and kissed her passionately.
Giving her a last squeeze, he let her go and made his way to the gate, but not before whispering in her ear
"I love you Yumi."
A smile was visible on the captain of Seigaku's tennis team face as he boarded the flight because Yumi had answered back:
"I love you too Kunimitsu."
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Almost a month later the Nationals had been won by Seigaku, and Tezuka was back into his everyday routine in Japan. It was a warm Saturday and the Seigaku, Hyoutei and Rikkaidai tennis teams had decided to meet up and play friendly matches against each other.
Tezuka was about to go play Sanada when his phone started to ring.
Digging into his bag he managed to find his phone and answer it before the caller got redirected to his voice mail.
"Moshi Moshi?" said Tezuka.
"Tezuka! How are you? Enjoying being back home? Congratulations on winning the nationals with your team."
"Hannah-san. Thank you. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Different playing as a pro again, but I'm enjoying it."
"Ah. I see."
"By the way how's Yumi doing?" Asked Hannah.
A frown crept onto his face as he answered Hannah's question.
"I don't know I haven't heard from her in a while. She's in the States now since her treatment finished."
"What!!!! She didn't tell you? Her family moved to Tokyo a week ago."
"Nani? I didn't know of this. I suppose she hasn't had time to inform me yet." asked a surprised Tezuka. He hadn't been told of this.
"Tezuka…. Yumi hasn't told you anything?" asked Hannah.
"No. Is there something I should know?" he asked.
"Yeah…." Answered Hannah. Somehow Tezuka knew this news wouldn't be anything good as he felt the feeling of dread start to form in the back of his mind.
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On the other side of the courts, the others were all chatting (or arguing as was the case with Kaidoh and Momo) while waiting for Tezuka to finish up on the phone.
However when they all jumped when they heard the usually stoic captain yell into the phone:
"WHAT !!!!!! WHERE!!!!"
There was a few seconds silence as the person on the phone told him something, and then Tezuka slammed his phone shut and took off like the devil himself was chasing him.
"Tezuka!!" called Oishi after his friend. Throwing worried looks at all the people present, a few seconds later all three teams were running after him out of worry and curiosity about what could possibly be so serious that it had Tezuka so flustered.
As he ran down the streets intent on reaching his destination as fast as possible, one thought was in his mind.
"Yumi……. Why didn't you tell me????"
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A/N: characters slight OOC I know but if they weren't then this wouldn't make sense. Hope you all enjoy. Please review.