Dedication: To my incredibly fussy and overly-critical aniki, I concede that your advice can, on occasion, be irritatingly right...

Chapter 6

Tensai, tensai, tell me why

Your heart skips a beat when she says hi

"Shyoko, let's go for a quick snack after this."

She started to protest, but he cut her off. "My treat."

They walked off the courts together, steps in perfect tandem as they chatted quietly.

-----------------------------------

Shyoko looked around her, taking in the unfamiliar territory with wide eyes. This busy street with a whole row of small, but posh shops was definitely not her idea of a "quick snack". People walked all around, barely even glancing at them. "Fuji, where are we?"

He looked at her strangely. "We're in Tokyo."

"I know that." She snorted. "Where in Tokyo are we?"

Fuji smiled. "Just wait till we reach there, ne?"

Shyoko sighed. It wasn't like she had any choice anyway... She followed him meekly until he turned abruptly into the doorway of a shop.

"Choose what you want." He told her, before ordering a chocolate sundae with wasabi.

"Ice-cream with wasabi?!!!" Shyoko exclaimed.

Fuji shrugged. "It adds flavour."

She shuddered, and turned to choose her own ice-cream. There were, she discovered, many wonderful and weird flavours of ice-cream, but in the end she settled for plain old strawberry. Fuji paid, despite her protestations, because as he put it so succinctly, "Two pieces of paper aren't going to make all that much difference anyway."

He led her out of the shop, much to her surprise, and continued walking until they reached a park. He motioned to a bench under a shady tree.

"Go ahead."

She sat down, and he settled down next to her. They enjoyed their ice-cream in companiable silence, savouring the sweet dessert.

"So," Fuji turned to look at her, "You never told me why you moved here."

She looked at him in some surprise. "Why would I want to tell you that?"

"Because you're my friend." He shrugged.

She smiled slightly, but the smile did not reach her eyes, now brooding pools of mossy-green.

Dad...

And suddenly she felt the tears welling up as if it had just happened yesterday.

Flashback

"Honey, your father isn't coming home anymore."

Almond-shaped eyes were filled with a slight puzzlement. "But why not? Is he working overtime again?"

"He... he's gone. Maybe he'll be happier there..." Her mother watched the rain falling with sad, dark eyes. "Perhaps I should have tried harder..."

Shyoko stood there, ashen-faced as the realisation of what happened struck her. "Dad...?"

Juiko turned to her daughter, trying to offer what scanty comfort she could. "Don't worry, honey. We'll make it, somehow..."

End Flashback

Shyoko suddenly became aware that Fuji was staring at her with something very akin to concern. Much to her surprise, she realised that she was crying. She tried her best to stop, but to no avail.

Fuji did not say anything, merely drawing her into a comforting embrace.

"Shyoko..."

She looked up into azure orbs.

"It's going to be alright."

And she broke down again. Remembering what her mother had said on that stormy night, and now Fuji was saying it to her...

Her sobs gradually ceased, and she smiled past the veil of tears that misted her eyes. "Thanks, Fuji."

"You wanted to know why we moved to Japan..." She took a deep breath. "Well, here goes..."

--------------------------------------

"... so we decided to move back to Japan, because Mum found a job here. But I think it was really to get away from all those memories..." She gave him a small smile.

"Ah." For once, Fuji's social skills failed him completely. What could he say? But Shyoko, thankfully, didn't seem to expect a reply from him.

"From then on, I always had to be strong, for Mum, for myself. But there were times when I just had to let it out, so I'd cry myself to sleep in the privacy of my room. I think Mum knew, but she never said anything about it." She looked up at him. "This is the first time I've ever told anyone."

"Didn't anybody ask?" He mentally slapped himself the moment the question came out. What was with him with today? Being so tactless...

"They did, but after I proved myself in tennis and academics, it was good enough for them. As long as I achieved the best, no one cared about my background. That's why I worked so hard at my tennis."

"Ah." He felt like an idiot, sitting there just saying 'Ah' at intervals. "But now that you've come to Japan..."

"...I can start over again." She finished the sentence for him.

He smiled at her. "That part of your life is over. Just turn over a new page and start a new chapter, 'kay?"

Her smile was like the sun coming up after the storm.

------------------------------------

"Shyoko!" Fuji greeted her with a cheerful smile. He did not say anything about yesterday, and neither did she, but the smiles they exchanged held a deeper meaning than before. No customary greetings, just a simple curve of the lips that said so much more than words could ever express.

"Fuji – ow!" She let out a sudden exclamation of pain.

"What's wrong?" He was out of his chair and by her side in a moment.

She sat down at her desk, pressing her stomach with one hand. How could I have forgotten? "It's nothing."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're a terrible liar, you know that?"

"Sou ka." She forced a smile, ignoring the ache in her stomach. It was going to come soon, anytime now...

Even so, she was not prepared for the sudden wave of pain which slammed through her body. She gasped slightly, still reeling from the shock. It's not normally this painful... Her smile had twisted into a sort of grimace by now.

"That's it. I'm taking you to the nurse now." He stood up and started to pull her, but she resisted.

"It'll go away soon. Believe me." What she didn't tell him, however, was that it would come back again at intervals.

After much persuasion on her part (and some highly unflattering comparisons to Oishi), Fuji reluctantly left her alone. She busied herself searching for the emergency pills, at the same time trying to distract herself from the pain. Where is it? I know I packed some at the beginning of the year... She froze. Of course! It finished and I forgot to stock up. I remember now... That was the result of procrastination, she supposed. And now she was stuck with the pain. Aw, man...

All coherent thought left her as a fresh jolt of pain crashed through her body. She was left doubled over, gasping for air as the pain receded to a dull ache. Oh, how she hated being a girl sometimes...

Unfortunately for her, Fuji had seen the whole thing. And being Fuji, he was not about to let it go. "You're going to the school nurse. Now."

"No, you don't understand, Fuji..."

"You're going and that's it."

"Fuji. Listen to me. This is a normal occurrence."

His mouth hung slightly open, and he was about to say something when she forestalled him. "And no, I do not have a life-threatening disease or cancer or anything like that."

"Then?" He was justifiably bewildered.

"It's... oh, never mind. You wouldn't understand anyway."

"Shyoko..." He said warningly.

"It's just that..." She looked around before pulling him down to whisper furiously in his ear. "I've got menstrual cramps, okay? Happy now?"

The blue-orbed tensai sat there in stunned silence. 'Menstrual' was apparently not a word he was prepared to deal with just yet. An image of a red tidal wave of blood rushing towards him nearly sent him bolting for the door.

"Well, you asked for it..." Shyoko smirked, or would have, if the pain had allowed her to do so.

The honey-haired boy did not answer, choosing instead to focus on a neutral object – a certain acrobatic player sitting in front of him. Only then did he realise just how red Eiji's hair was.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

-----------------------------------------

Shyoko was, understandably, excused from tennis practice that day. As she slowly made her way home, she marvelled at how fast she had come to think of Japan as home. It wasn't even a year, and she was already closer to most of her friends here than to any of her acquaintances in England.

"Shyoko!" She looked up to see Atobe smiling at her from under the shade of a cherry tree.

Perfect day to meet Ore-sama, she thought wryly. "Hey, Atobe."

"Join ore-sama for a walk?" It wasn't actually a request, more like a command. But she had better things to do today, and if she wanted to get rid of that ache soon, she had better hurry home. After all, she hadn't been let off practice for nothing, ne?

"Sorry, Atobe, but I've got to run. Later, maybe!"

"Ah... are you going home?"

She nodded, and resumed her walk. Only to find that Atobe was walking beside her, as if it were the most natural thing on earth that a Hyoutei student, what more captain of their famed tennis team would be walking side by side with a Seigaku student. A member of the tennis team, no less.

She started to say something, then stopped abruptly and resumed her walk. After all, Atobe was her neighbour, so it wouldn't be all that unusual for him to be walking the same road as her, would it?

Except that his pace matched hers, and she was proceeding along at an excruciatingly slow pace.

"So how has school been, Atobe?" She broke the silence.

"Aa... School has been fine."

They walked on in absolute silence, each immersed in their own thoughts. Which was pretty unusual, especially for someone like Atobe. But Shyoko had other, more pressing needs on her mind, and did not ponder too much on his actions.

"Ah, my house is here. See you, Atobe!" Shyoko almost skipped to the gate, deliriously happy that she would no longer have to put up with that ache that had been occupying her thoughts most of the way home.

"Ah." And Atobe walked over to the next house, for once contemplating something other than himself. Oh yes, Ore-sama was thinking very deeply indeed...

...so deeply that he did not notice he was walking into a telephone pole...

"OUCH!"

--------------------------------

Review, ne?