Notes: I forgot about updating again, haha XD It's been a whole week. :D;

Archive: NO.

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About Us

Chapter 8

By Miki

Gakuto's knees hurt.

They'd been peering over the car bonnet for nearly five minutes now, and he could swear the grass was making his legs itch. Maybe there were ants crawling up his legs.

He glanced down, and spread his legs a bit wider on the patch of grass beneath him, but it didn't really help since his knees were too sore already.

Beside him Oshitari squinted, concentrating.

"The name plate says Fuji," Gakuto declared.

"I can see that," Oshitari replied, almost rolling his eyes at the simplicity of Gakuto's observation. He suspected he knew exactly what Gakuto was thinking.

"You don't think it could be Fuji Syuusuke, do you?" Gakuto questioned.

Oshitari looked around them. "Perhaps," he said, and then, just to be safe he added, "though Fuji is a common name, you know."

Gakuto pulled a face. "Of course I know that. What do you think I am, stupid?"

Oshitari was saved from answering by the fact that Gakuto hit his arm hard then and ducked down further.

Oshitari rubbed at his arm as he followed Gakuto's lead. He didn't like the ground any more than Gakuto did, but they were hiding on one side of the bonnet of the parked taxi, only ten metres or so from Atobe's limousine on the other side of the road.

Oshitari personally thought it would be a small wonder if Atobe didn't see them, raise the eyebrow and give them fifty laps on Monday, but Gakuto seemed to think they were safe here.

They'd been watching in the hope that someone would come out of the house soon, but both of them nearly panicked when they recognised a figure walking down the street, a bag slung over his shoulder.

He stopped outside the house they were watching, and slowly turned around.

Then he smiled at them.

(S)

Yuuta wanted to tell Atobe to stop smirking.

He wanted to ask if the muscles in Atobe's face didn't get tired from doing that all the time, but he couldn't really do it with Yumiko standing next to him and crowding the doorway.

"You're welcome back anytime you'd like," his mother smiled.

Yuuta caught her glance and looked away.

"It's so rare that Yuuta brings any friends home, and it's really been a pleasure to have you," she went on.

Yuuta could have sworn she'd said exactly the same thing yesterday.

"The pleasure's all mine," was Atobe's answer, and Yuuta could practically feel his mother's delight.

Atobe smiled at him then, and Yuuta scowled back at him quickly, trying to hide any signs of the inner panic he felt. He could swear Atobe was oozing charm or something, and it felt like he was almost trying to chat up his mother.

"You know, I think I will take you up on your offer for crème brulee," Yumiko interrupted.

Yuuta thought Atobe looked slightly annoyed for a moment, but he nodded anyway, and a moment later, smirked. "Of course. Just let me know when you'll next be in the area."

Yoshiko eyed him for a moment and Yuuta held his breath. Then she simply smiled. "Will do."

"Oh," Yoshiko interrupted, "isn't that Syuusuke? Yumiko, you didn't go and pick him up?"

Yuuta looked up hurriedly, eyes landing on the figure walking along the footpath.

Yumiko shook her head. "No, he didn't ask."

Yuuta stepped out of the doorway, cringing as he realised it really was Syuusuke. He pulled a face as Atobe walked past him to meet his brother on the driveway. He followed Atobe out, and heard Yumiko following him, and turned around a moment later to realise that his mother had disappeared inside.

He breathed half a sigh of relief.

(S)

Atobe smirked at Fuji.

Fuji smiled back, and then whisked straight past to Yuuta.

Atobe spun around, irritated.

He'd been expecting a jibe or a comment at least, but there was nothing except that annoying smile, and the more Atobe saw it, the more he disliked it.

"Aniki, I thought you weren't coming back until later," Yuuta said.

Atobe thought he sounded wary, and waited, expecting Yuuta to walk over any moment.

"Didn't you want to see me?"

Atobe heard the teasing tone in Fuji's voice, and watched as Yuuta rolled his eyes.

"No," he huffed.

"You're just being shy," Fuji declared. "Anyway, I have something to show you," he said, and before either Yumiko or Atobe could protest, Fuji was dragging Yuuta back up to the front door and through it.

Atobe frowned, suddenly feeling incensed. He knew exactly what Fuji's problem was, but that didn't give him any excuse to behave like that. Quite frankly, he suddenly struck Atobe as a petulant child – one whose behaviour was starting to look rather underhanded – and Atobe couldn't help but feel a little irked at the thought that he'd started out wanting Fuji's attention at all.

The only thing that stopped him stewing further was Yumiko's hand brushing his arm as she walked past him, down to the limo.

"Atobe-kun."

He felt stiff as he walked to where she was standing.

He was wearing yesterday's clothes – something which he'd never done before, even in the direst of circumstances – and his hair felt a little dry and out of place, and now the discontent of seeing Fuji right before he left was making him feel a little crabby.

"Don't mind Syuusuke," Yumiko said, but he didn't listen to her.

(S)

Gakuto hung up the phone after three rings.

Shishido hadn't answered the phone five minutes ago and he didn't really expect him to answer it now, especially since he'd even tried ringing Shishido's home phone number, and his brother had picked up and hung up the moment after Gakuto had asked to speak to Shishido. Gakuto was unimpressed, but it wasn't as though he'd expected anything better from a Shishido.

Oshitari was flicking through one of their textbooks, legs sprawled out on the floor. Gakuto wished he'd stop pretending to study.

His own legs were still itchy from kneeling on the grass a few hours before, but he'd decided that was a small sacrifice for the fact that he was now 99 sure he had the identity of the mysterious Yuu-chan.

Or, as Oshitari reminded him, Yuu. After all, Atobe had never called her 'Yuu-chan'. It had been Ootori who'd blurted that out, and he was sure that Ootori didn't know any more than they did on the subject.

In fact, Gakuto thought, he now knew decidedly less. The thought made him feel smug, and he couldn't wait for Monday morning so he could spring it on Atobe.

Admittedly, he still couldn't quite get his head around the idea of Atobe dating an older woman, but he'd seen them, and Oshitari had seen them too, so it wasn't just a figment of his own imagination.

Fuji's sister's name was something starting with 'Yu', Oshitari had said, which fit. She was Fuji's elder sister, and Gakuto remembered she had been to some of his matches in the past. Still, he couldn't quite see what Atobe saw in her. She was good looking, but Gakuto still couldn't understand why Atobe couldn't just date a girl their age.

Fuji's sister looked kind of… old.

He tried Ootori's number a moment later, but no one answered that either.

"Why don't you just leave it," Oshitari suggested, putting down his book and book marking his page. He shook his head, a trace of a smirk on his face. "Besides, it's not as though they need to know."

Gakuto put down the phone, his feelings of annoyance only slightly soothed. "Fine," he conceded, picking up his drink and taking a gulp. "But Shishido's stupid," he added.

He glanced at Oshitari for a reaction, but he only got a raised eyebrow. Shishido was stupid, he told himself again.

Served him right if he was the last to know the news. And Atobe dating Fuji's sister was news.

(S)

"Nee-san?" Yuuta questioned, when Atobe had left.

He was lying face down on his bed, arms folded in front of him and his Tennis Pro magazine pushed slightly to the side.

Yumiko tilted her head a little. "What is it?"

Yuuta squirmed against the covers of his bed and looked uncomfortable, but he was faster to the point that Yumiko had thought he would be. "What do you think of Atobe?"

Yumiko didn't hesitate when she answered. "I think he's a much nicer boy than I gave him credit for, and I think he's a good friend," she smiled.

When she glanced down at Yuuta, his ears had turned a bright shade of pink.

"He is," he said, mumbling into his arms.

"I like him," Yumiko said. She hadn't meant to say that at all, and for a moment she wanted to take it back, but then she looked down at Yuuta again.

"Really?" he asked.

She ran a hand through her hair. "Really," she smiled.

Yuuta practically beamed at her.

(S)

"Jirou!" Gakuto called out.

Jirou lifted up his head and stared somewhat blearily at him.

Gakuto pulled a face.

"Jirou, aren't you supposed to be doing something?"

Jirou gave him a sleepy look, and Gakuto frowned.

Sakaki wanted him to practise his serving accuracy, but Gakuto was more set on finding out Fuji's sister's name, and he was pretty sure Jirou should know it.

Oshitari was still talking with Atobe anyway, so it wasn't as though Gakuto had anyone to practise with. He could have done it by himself, and he knew that, but it wasn't as fun like that, and there wasn't really any space around right now where he could just hit balls over the net and have them accumulate, rather than having to fetch them back all the time.

"Jirou," he said, when Jirou let his head drop again. He was sitting on the bench, and Gakuto could swear he'd been asleep since practice started. He poked the boy with the handle of his tennis racquet, waking him up again before plonking down next to him.

"Hey, you know Fuji Syuusuke, right?"

"Sort of," Jirou yawned, and tried to cover his eyes with his arm. The sun was strong today, and there wasn't really any cover around. It was a little hard to sleep when he shut his eyes only to find a kind of bright pink instead of darkness greeting him.

"Sort of?" Gakuto prompted. "What do you mean, 'sort of'? You know his sister's name, right?"

Jirou blinked, a little confused. "But what does that have to do with Fuji?" he questioned, his head not quite making any connections between Mukahi's sentences right now.

"So what's her name?" Gakuto prompted, and Jirou frowned.

"Fuji Yumiko, I think."

Gakuto looked tense. "Are you sure?" he questioned, leaning forwards on the bench and leaning in close to peer at Jirou's face.

"Yeah, I think… But why don't you ask Kabaji? He remembers weird stuff like that," Jirou said, still puzzled. "Why do you want to know though?"

Gakuto tossed his racquet into the air. "Just because," he smirked.

Then he caught his racquet and walked off, leaving Jirou wondering about him.

(S)

"But the 'Yu' in Yumiko isn't 'Yuu'," Oshitari said, and looked a little annoyed.

Gakuto rolled his eyes. "So it's a pet name," he insisted. "And it doesn't fit anyone else, does it?"

Oshitari sat back and crossed his legs, sipping his milkshake. "I don't know," he said, a little hesitantly.

Gakuto frowned in annoyance and watched as he adjusted his glasses and stared out the window. "Honestly, Yuushi," he sighed, "if Atobe isn't seeing Fuji Yumiko, and if Fuji Yumiko isn't Yuu-chan, then what was Atobe doing at Fuji's house?"

Oshitari looked lost for answers, and Gakuto smirked. "And besides, you saw it too, right?"

Oshitari took another long sip of his milkshake before he replied with a nod.

Gakuto sat back. "So it has to be her," he said, shaking his head.

There was no other explanation for Atobe being at Fuji's house, he thought. Besides, although neither of them could really explain why Atobe had stayed the night there – or, at least, they were assuming that since they knew he hadn't been home the night before – Gakuto figured that maybe it was just a matter of convenience.

It was a little weird that Fuji's mother had been there, he admitted. But they were pretty sure now that the voice they'd heard on the phone the night before was Yumiko's, and everything else seemed to fit.

Still, Gakuto couldn't help but feel that something wasn't quite right.

(S)

Yuuta turned down the last aisle of the library and was almost disappointed to find that Atobe wasn't there.

Then he caught himself and felt silly for it. Of course Atobe wasn't there; he probably had other things to do, or he was at home or something.

Yuuta pulled a face as he lifted a book off the shelf.

It wasn't as though Atobe lived in the library, or happened to be there whenever he was, though he wondered why somewhere along the way, he'd started to think like that. Besides, if he wanted to see Atobe, he could always ring.

Atobe hadn't said anything about going out to dinner this week, but Yuuta figured they'd just work it out later.

(S)

Yanagisawa found Yuuta sitting on his bed. "Hey," he said, and walked into the room, pushing the door shut behind him.

"What are you doing, da ne?"

Yuuta looked up at him quickly, putting down his phone. "Nothing," was his answer, and Yanagisawa tilted his head a little.

"Nothing da ne?"

Yuuta sighed a little and tilted his head back, stretching the muscles in his neck and rolling his shoulders. "Yup, nothing," he said again.

Yanagisawa walked over to the bed and sat on the end of it, looking at Yuuta. Atsushi had been right. There was something weird about Yuuta lately.

He'd been swinging between happy and cranky and normal and weird lately, and though Yanagisawa thought things had worked out last week, he was starting to wonder if he wasn't wrong. Yuuta had been smiling last week, even if he scowled the minute he thought someone was looking at him, but this week he'd been weirdly quiet, and even Yanagisawa's teasing had gone unanswered.

"So…" he said.

"So…?" Yuuta repeated, hardly changing his expression.

He pulled his book a little closer to him, and Yanagisawa had to lean closer and tilt his head to see the title written at the top of the page. It was an English book he didn't know.

Yuuta had been reading a lot of English books lately, and though Yanagisawa had heard from Mizuki that Yuuta's English grade was slipping, he couldn't really imagine Yuuta flunking a subject that he always seemed to be studying lately. St Rudolph's tennis regulars were expected to have decent grades though, and everyone knew that the moment you started flunking anything at school, you'd be kicked out of club activities. Yanagisawa dreaded to think what would happen to Yuuta if he let that happen to his grades.

"So… You haven't gone out much this week, da ne."

Yuuta shrugged. "So what? I haven't felt like it."

Yanagisawa relaxed a little. "I'm going shopping tomorrow, da ne. Want to come, da ne?"

Yuuta glanced at his phone on his bedside table. It was Friday afternoon and Atobe hadn't called once. He knew he was being stupid for letting it bother him and not doing anything about it – like calling Atobe first – but he kept wondering if it was something he'd done on the weekend.

He didn't think it was, but he couldn't understand why else his phone had been so quiet all week.

He'd started writing messages a few times too, but they all sounded weird, like he was paranoid or obsessive or something, and he figured if he didn't message, then Atobe would probably message anyway.

But he'd woken up Wednesday morning and there had been nothing.

Thursday morning had just brought a message from his brother, and this morning had just brought a call from his mother, asking him if he was coming back for the weekend again.

Yanagisawa waved an arm in front of his face. "Are you listening, da ne?"

Yuuta frowned at him. "What?"

He hadn't been listening, but he didn't really care anyway. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if it really was something he'd done.

Kissing Atobe kept coming back into his head, like a scene playing over and over again, but that couldn't have been it, could it? Atobe kissed him first anyway, and didn't normal people do that when they were dating?

Yuuta's subconscious reminded him that Atobe had never really said anything about dating, and he glanced at his phone again. The light on it hadn't flashed all day since he'd answered his mother's call, even though he kept wishing it would.

Atobe was probably just having a busy week, he told himself. He was Hyoutei's captain, after all, and he had schoolwork as well as paperwork and training, and whatever else he did as a captain. Hyoutei didn't even have a vice either, Yuuta reminded himself.

The silence in his room was disconcerting suddenly, and Yuuta blinked and looked around, realising Yanagisawa had left. He bookmarked the page in his book, realising he'd probably have to reread everything he'd read today anyway. Then he walked down the corridor to Mizuki's room and knocked.

Mizuki was sorting through his underwear drawer, and between the striped jocks and the purple boxers, Yuuta managed to forget about his phone and about Atobe.

.tbc.