Special Thanks to: Accidental. Enlightenment, merissala, White Alchemist Taya and mesmart. -bows- Arigatou gozaimasu.
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Taiya walked alongside Yoshiko (Fuji's mum) to the front door somewhat heartily. She was nervous. Not because Fuji was one of the most admired guys in the school. More of because the chances of her getting caught increased by, in Inui's calculations, 67 percent. She did not know how she got that number.
'I'll say I have migraine...must keep head insulated or I suffer bad headaches. Yes, that'll work- uncle had that himself.'
"Hai, Taichi-kun, welcome to our home."
Taiya took off her shoes and neatly placed them on the shoe mat. It was normal, and cozy. The walls were white washed with Eruopean paintings and some Japanese wall scrolls hanging from place to place.
"Your house is very beautiful- thank you, Yoshiko-san."
"Ah, that's fine. I hope you have a comfortable stay at our house," she said, smiling that oh-so-familiar smile.
----
Fuji walked down the steps of the stairway to wash his cup he just used to drink out of. But when he reached the foot of the stairs, he was surprised to see Taichi, his Regular team-mate and classmate, standing there looking around.
"Ah, good afternoon, Taichi-san," he greeted with a small wave. .
"Good afternoon, Fuji-san," greeted Taiya in response after turning around.
"Ano, what are you doing at our house?" Fuji asked in polite curiosity.
"Um...my mum is out for work. Unfortunately, she doesn't trust me home alone," Taiya smiled.
"Ah, I see."
"Syusuke, show him to his room will you?"
"Yes, kaa-san (mother)."
Fuji led her into a brightly lit room. A futon was laid on the ground, as well as a small desk in the corner with a small lamp set upon the surface.
"Thank you, Fuji-san," Taiya spoke, before sensing the gaze resting on her. He didn't seem to take his gaze away too and it was unnerving how she didn't really know if he was staring or closing his eyes to enjoy a silence. Unfortunately, her patience and manners were tested and she couldn't hold back her irritation anymore.
"What are you staring at?!" She instantly let out a small gasp, almost shocked at her own outburst. Fuji seemed unfazed.
"No, it's nothing- apologies on my side. It's just that...you resemble your sister very much."
"...is that supposed to be a compliment or something offensive?"
"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe both."
Taiya flushed in anger again; how irritating this guy was! "W-what did you say?!"
The plan to be polite all the way through her stay seemed to have failed miserably. Oh well.
He gave a ringing laugh. "Have a nice stay~!"
He quickly- and swiftly, might I add- left the room before Taiya could perform an action which might not been deemed safe. Taiya was given the impression she'd get the same sort of treatment in Japan as she did in China from her peers; constantly teased for her short-temper (and height). Taiya heaved her breaths in her chest.
'I can't believe I let that guy get to me...but I better watch my step- I am already dubbed as a guy who looks like a female. I must make it to the Nationals!'
----
Fuji stood by the doorway of the guest room, supposedly bringing drinks up only to stand at the doorway watching 'Taichi', studying the actions of his new next-door neighbour. Nothing really interesting. But then it hit him; where was Taiya-san, his sister? Did his mother take her somewhere too?
Occasionally, he would catch Taichi tugging on his beanie, not noticing his brown-haired neighbour standing there watching hisevery move. Sometimes he would sigh, as though in boredom, and in other events, sometimes Fuji caught 'him'swearing when 'he' hurt himself- such as the time 'he' accidentally stabbed his palm with his mechanical pencil lead..
Finally, Fuji decided to alert his neighbour of his presence. "You really like wearing hats a lot, don't you?"
Taiya rotated her head to meet the gentle, smiling face of Fuji Syusuke. She felt surprised he would come up at all, seeing as she didn't exactly have the most inviting aura around her.
"Yeah, I do. They also protect me from getting major headaches...and it's cold weather down here, so I constantly wear one," she lied before saying, "Excuse me for saying this, but what brings you here, Fuji-san?" In hopes to cover up her last, snappy outburst, Taiya decided to play it cool and try stick to her manners; it was rude to act that way with someone you aren't very acquainted with.
Fuji revealed a tray with a cup. Of something unearthly green. "I thought I would bring you a drink; please don't hesitate to ask for anything."
'Drink?' thought the girl with a shudder. Phobia's did not rub off fast or easy- and it was Fuji Syusuke handling that drink. If what she heard from Eiji, Taka-san, Momoshiro, Inui, her English teacher, Yamamoto, Oishi, Ikeda, Sawada, Mitsuru and co., then Fuji Syusuke was something to fear of.
WAIT.
'I-IT CAN'T BE INUI JUICE?!'
Taiya sniffed her drink cautiously. "This isn't..."
Fuji gave a ringing laugh. "No, it's just lime cordial." 'What a weird one, this guy.'
'Thank Heavens!' Taiya prayed in her mind as she said, "Thank you...."
"I really don't understand- that Inui juice was very delicious," Fuji stated, a wide smile visible on his handsome face. Taiya gave a small jump; 'he knew it's a trigger to the other Seigaku Regulars fears'. Taiya sweat-dropped with a sigh. 'But you can't hate him. Afterall, he has sacrificed his sanity to that foul drink.'
"Not all people have ultra strong immune systems," she replied curtly, turning to face the window again. "And you can just call me Tai. You don't have to be so formal," she added in a surprisingly more inviting tone.
"Okay then, Tai-kun (he inwardly laughed as his temporary housemate twitched). Anyway, if you need anything, just knock on my door or on Yumiko-nee-chan's door. Feel free to explore," Fuji said before he exited the room, leaving Taiya sitting there sipping the cool glass of offensively green cordial.
'First Tai-chan, and now Tai-kun. Pet names so fast; those two really are weird. Oh well, let's start on that literature essay...'
----
"Finally! Finished!"
Taiya threw down her pen before gathering up the sheets of her essay, supposedly in Japanese.
'Supposedly'.
"Why does my katakana look like stick figures I used to draw 4 years ago?" She stared intensely at the page before beaming. "But this...is...quite an improvement!"
From behind, Fuji stifled a laugh- which Taiya heard. He watched her wheel around and give a frown. "Oh, Fuji-san; what's so funny?" 'And when did you get there? -.-'
Fuji took this chance to take her essay into his own pale and smooth hands. It seemed as though Taiya had been blessed with two hands in which neither seemed to be dominant when writing- both looked the same; messy and scrawled, small and cramped. Throughout the whole piece, the only things which were decent were the Kanji- the things she had written ever since she was 4 most probably. And this is considered an improvement? he mused with the same ever-present smile.
"Well, good luck."
"What do you mean 'good luck'?!"
Taiya sweat-dropped; she had snapped again.
Fuju laughed softly before placing the sheets back onto the table. "It's dinner, Tai-kun—" She twitched again. "—so the bathroom is just at the very end of the hall; you can wash your hands there. And there's soap too; it's really effective on ink."
"Ink?"
Taiya looked down at her hands.
"Oh."
-
"Itadakimasu!"
Taiya immensely enjoyed the dinner with the Fuji family. Apparently, Fuji (Syusuke) did eat normal foods (except he kept adding wasabi to several dishes) and everyone in the Fuji residence enjoyed the night with high spirits. Everyone was particularly interesting, or so Taiya thought; Yumiko even agreed to do Tarot Reading for her, which Fuji pointed out was so accurate it was almost scary. It seemed as though every member of the Fuji family was talented.
She just hoped the Tarot reading was positive on her behalf.
-
Yumiko waited in her room, all the necessary equipment prepared for the Tarot Reading for this Sanzushi Taichi. Yumiko looked up as the faint sound of several knocks were heard echoing off her door.
She smiled slightly. "You can come in—no need to be shy."
The door opened slightly and Taiya stuck her head around the door to peer around the door, before she gave a small smile. "I'm sorry..."
"That's okay. Come inside."
Taiya glanced around the room. One word; neat. There was a small, low wooden table seated in the middle of the room with slips of paper, cards (I think) and such. Taiya could only watch Yumiko as she did her Tarot Reading, keeping silent. Taiya swore that she saw Yumiko freeze among the viewing of her...'destiny', before a small smile appeared on her face.
"Interesting....very interesting..."
Taiya's face strained with her trademark 'nervous' smile worn on her lips. "Eh...you have a....serious expression on. Is there something wrong?"
"No...it's just that these cards (I think she uses cards) say that those around you are infected by lies. The art of deceiving someone is hidden here too....but these cards show that ..."Lies will unsheathe from the Darkness into the midst of Light.""
'But...it doesn't say if it's Taichi-kun deceiving, or someone else....'
"Uh....that is- a l-little strange, eh?" Taiya laughed nervously, shifting uncomfortably while trying to avoid Yumiko's piercing gaze—the same sort of gaze Fuji had, although with stunning grey eyes. Taiya tried to avoid doing any natural actions which appear suspicious...like fidgeting. Taiya suddenly sat up.
"Thank you for the tarot reading, but I must go; I just remembered I have mathematics homework to do. Excuse me, and thank you!"
Taiya made haste to leave the room as quickly as possible and went into the guest room where she started to do her Mathematics homework.
Yumiko watched Taiya leave the room before putting a hand on her chin. 'I guess I'll just have to wait and find out....'
----
Taiya dressed in top speed into the school uniform, making sure her clips and hairbands were in place on her head, as well as her beanie. Speeding down the steps as she took into consideration of the time, she felt herself collide into someone at the bottom of the stairs.
Taiya felt her beanie slide a good few centimetres up her head, nearly falling off before she crushed it flat onto her skull as she fell on her behind.
"Ah!"
"Huh?" Fuji quirked an eyebrow as he noticed Taiya's hair possessed slightly uneven strips of hair. "Ah, Tai-san- I mean Tai- I'm sorry about that."
'SHI- wait, act calmly (he called me Tai-san~! Hooray!)'
Taiya fixed her beanie on her head again neatly, surreptitiously pushing a stray hair pin back into her hair. "And you didn't see anything...okay, Fuji-san?" she beamed before heading to the kitchen in a hurry, only to hear him call out from behind, "Just call me Fuji!"
Taiya and Fuji both left in a slight rush; that's what happens when Fuji cares for his cactuses too much, and insists on watering them before he left- although Taiya pointed out they didn't need much water. The two had made it on time and both changed to their uwabaki (inside shoes) and attended class as per normal.
"...In this, you can see that these questions contain quadratics in them, but rest assure, they should be simple to do...."
Staring outside the window after completing her work in awe-inspiring time ("he's so smart," sighed one girl), Taiya stared outside the window. Was this all the year was going to be like? Sure, there was tennis which holds great importance, but was it going to be so dull, just like in China? Well, not that she expected that much, she thought fairly to herself, but she really thought Japan would throw something exciting at her. Though I might just have a heart attack and can't cope with it, she figured again.
"Finished already? As expected of Tai-kun, the mathematics genius," said a voice to her right. Argh.
She forgot all about that one individual, Fuji Syusuke.
----
'53...54...55...56...I'm going to collapse by the time I reach 70...life is cruel. Studies, with constant tennis trainings on top of it, along with a possible tutor (mum, please forget about it!). Inui, you demon!'
Inui had scheduled a very detailed (to her, anyway) sort of training that she must follow.
"Before each practice lesson, you must run 20 laps around the courts while I time you. You will try to beat your previous record every time—a time trial in other words. I will increase the number of laps where necessary."
Eiji snickered as Taiya replied dully, "I understand..."
"Those laps will be excellent training for your stamina," Inui explained, pushing up his glasses as he continued to read from the clipboard. "Anyway, after your laps—"
"There's more?!"
"After your laps," Inui had pressed on as though there had been no interruption, "50 squats will help your thigh and calf muscles, 50 crunches (sit-ups) for your stomach muscles, the usual 3 minutes of stretches and 50 push-ups to help your arm and back muscles. You shall do 100 strokes of your racquet since you lack power in your tennis. Oh, and any extra laps Tezuka plans to give you."
"W-what?! 50 push-ups?!" Taiya exclaimed incredilously, her voice almost gave way to her panicked feminine one. She hadn't even done that much when she was younger, where her brother—a Spartan in disguise—forced her to train.
"The Regulars here do more, it's just in your case, I took into consideration of your size and—"
"I'll do it," Taiya said darkly. She won't lose to the other Seigaku Regulars. And how dare Inui call her small...though technically she is.
"That's good—start now."
"EH?!"
----
Let's take a look at Taiya's school life so far...
Taiya ran like her life depended on it to her class for English—her utmost worst subject. Taiya momentarily forgot that she couldn't just come to Japan for tennis if she's enrolled in a school; she had to cope with everyday student life with classes and tests.
Japanese History wasn't much different from her English and Japanese class. Taiya didn't even know how that subject was relevant to any use in the future being as dense as she is, but she managed to get passing grades nonetheless (with the help of an enthusiastic Eiji).
If anybody had a say in this, they can be certain to say Taiya is only acing two classes out of the academic ones; Mathematics and Science. English she barely passed. Japanese—no comment. And curse the things written in hiragana and katakana when dealing with science; she could only get it by the kanji. It seems in Seishun Gakuen, they learn things in science with English equivalents—much to the original characters dismay.
"Po...pot....potassum-"
"No, it's Po-tass-ee-um. Potassium." Fuji corrected. Taiya quickly read the kanji.
"OH! That thing! Geez, why's English so much....longer and difficult to speak...?" she grumbled. Fuji only chuckled.
"You'll get used to it."
"Says the genius."
Sigh. The love of bonding.
-
"Ne, how is training so far?" asked Fuji, appearing beside her with his serene smile on. The girl (dressed as a guy) grumbled in response, still massaging her sore arm muscles.
"How would you feel doing 70 push-ups straight, 70 crunches, 20 laps, 200 strokes, 50 squats and then 2 matches with some cocky 2nd years right after that?" she asked in a slurred tone, nearly meeting the ground as she walked, slouching. Her arms and legs felt like they had acid running up and down each strand of muscle and her body felt exhausted. Her feet felt like there were lumps of Gold attached to them, making it harder to lift.
"You'll get used to it."
"Says the genius."
"..." Sounds familiar, eh?
The trip back home was silent, the eerie sounds of crickets making their way to their ears before Taiya remembered she had to buy something at the local store.
"Hmm, what do you need to buy?" Fuji asked.
"A new mechanical pencil, that's all."
"Eh? A new mechanical pencil?" Fuji said, raising an eyebrow. "Why? Did you lose yours?"
Taiya had gotten a fair few...fan-girls now, being a Regular and all, and to some girls, she was quite charming (Taiya shuddered at the thought of being apparently cute). And when Taiya dropped her mechanical pencil during an exam—and didn't notice—a group of girls picked it up and giggled, thinking it was oh-so-glorious to have a pencil from "Sanzushi-sama".
Curse her pheromone levels.
"I told you, never mind, Fuji."
Taiya bought 2 new mechanical pencils—Taiya couldn't be sure if it'd happen again. Fuji just continued to smile pleasantly and since night was falling along with the shadows on his face, Taiya couldn't help but find it a bit creepy. 'Oh well, just a few more days stuck with this guy...then back to the regular routine!'
"Oh yeah, I noticed that your sister isn't here staying with us as well. Pardon my curiosity, but where did she go?"
With this, Taiya froze for a split second; why didn't she remember she was acting as the brother of Taiya, a girl who goes to another school? Taiya gulped.
'Geez this guys perceptive. Or maybe I'm just stupid --" um, what to say, what to say.....'
"She's at...camp. You know, those girl schools out there, hahahah!" Taiya rubbed the back of her head, eyes closed as she laughed before she shot a sharp look in Fuji's direction. 'Did he buy it?!'
"Ah, I see, I see." Fuji merely smiled.
'SAFE!'
"Why do you ask?" Taiya asked in mild curiosity as she took the plastic bag the owner passed her. Why would he ask about her—Sanzushi Taiya—just a new next door neighbour? Was he planning to prank her?! Eiji had once said that Fuji was a sadist. She was fortunate enough to overhear...she thinks.
"Oh, nothing. it was just out of curiousity, like how I mentioned before," said Fuji, his face still containing the weird smile. Taiya decided to dismiss her new nighbours enigmatic ambience and just tally her way on home—to Fuji's home.
"Tadaima (we're back)!" they chorused through the door.
Fuji told Taiya she could use the bathroom first, since he was going to....tend to his cactuses. Taiya nodded before going up the hallway and rummaging through her luggage.
As she turned, declaring to herself all is safe, she walked into the bathroom.
'Thank God, every shower is, like, tense. Oh well, might as well relax....my muscles are killing me...literally.' Taiya sighed.
"Ah, that helped a lot..."
Wiping the foggy mirror with her hand, staring into her own purple eyes inherited from her father. Her face, small with a slightly firm jawline, looked different somehow. Almost like she was exhausted. Then, scrunching up her eyes and gripping her hair with one hand, Taiya cursed to herself. 'I got too excited with the possibilities of new friendships. I shouldn't have let myself become even slightly vulnerable to Fuji-san. And if I don't get too close with him or anyone else, then...it won't matter who I really am or not.'
Taiya regained her composture before smiling reassuring at reflection, as though she wished someone else was talking to her, saying the same comforting words.
"What am I thinking about?" she whispered to herself with a confident look. "Everything's going to be fine! After the Nationals...I'll just go back to China without telling anyone; not that anyone should care or anything..."
Slipping into some sweat pants, Taiya resumed wrapping the thick bandages around her chest. Then she stiffened at the sound of the door hinge's movement.
"Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't know—" Out of the corner of Taiya's violet eyes, the person froze when their eyes landed on the cross-dresser's face (Taiya: Must you label me as that? -.-). A whirlpool of speeded up emotions exploded within the pit of Taiya's stomach as she turned, ever so slightly, to see her intruder.
And standing there was Fuji Yumiko.
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