WARNING OF SHONEN AI. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT, TURN AWAY NOW.
Happy Birthday
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Chapter 5 – New Year's
Echizen Ryoma stood in front of the beautifully (in other people's opinion) decorated door, long red and green ribbons were weaving in and out the window and framed the wooded door. He raised an eyebrow – it was a New Year's party, not a Christmas party…
He sighed. He did not want to be here, yet he knew he would pay dearly if he had not shown up curtsy of Fuji Syuusuke, the resident third year prodigy. A hand reached out and hovered over the glass doorknob. Heh, Monkey King even had to brag about his wealth by buying the most expensive doorknob there was?
He hesitated. Maybe he could just turn back, call them and tell them that has a cold? That could work… Yeah, he thought nodding to himself inwardly and was about to turn back when he heard a voice call out his name.
"Echizen-kun! Nice to see you here," Seigaku's resident prodigy said with a smile as he made his way up the path to the door of the mansion. Dressed in a warm jacket and jeans, the prodigy did look like any other ordinary teenager – however that image was ruined once you got to know him, Echizen thought with a shudder.
"Fuji-senpai," Echizen greeted the older boy with a nod. "You're…late…" he said quite blandly and dully.
Fuji chuckled and held up a tray that was covered with foil. "Atobe-kun asked me to make a cake and bring it in," he explained, smile still stuck on his face.
Echizen nodded in understanding and thought with a shudder that he wouldn't want to have a piece and might as well desert the whole idea of eating. "T-That was very nice of you, Fuji-senpai," he commented.
The prodigy chuckled once again. "Saa… What are we waiting for?" he asked, nudging the younger boy to open the door.
The younger boy blinked confusedly and with a sigh, rang the doorbell. It seemed as if there was a sudden "hush" and footsteps behind the door came pounding up.
The door opened and Echizen found himself face–to-face with Atobe Keigo's "servant", Kabaji Munehiro. The gigantic tennis player stepped aside for the two Seigaku players to come inside. Echizen noted vaguely, that the music had started up again as did the chatter.
"Ah! Echizen-kun, look up," came Fuji's voice. Wait, wasn't his voice a little too loud? And… Did it get warmer? Echizen frowned and noticed that Fuji had gotten closer to him when they were getting in and now, both were standing underneath the doorway.
Wait… Look up? Why did everything suddenly feel as if they've turned for the worst? Echizen thought and then, noted once again that the chatter had stopped and the occupants of the room turned to stare in their direction.
Echizen looked up.
Hm… Why was a mistletoe up there? It could have been elsewhere… It wasn't Christmas though… Wait, Fuji was right next to him…
Oh shit.
"Fuji-senpai…" Echizen started, looking a tiny bit afraid now. The senpai looked really amused and pretty…happy about it. Wait, did that mean that the senpai wanted to kiss him? Wait, did the senpai know about this?
"Saa… Ryoma-kun, stay still…" Fuji replied with a smile as he reached over and gently caressed Echizen's cheek with his hand. Echizen flinched at the gesture.
"What are you doing Fuji-senpai?" he demanded to know. Gosh, he was having a hard time keeping his voice from squeaking.
"You have such soft skin…" Fuji whispered and leaned down for the taking. His lips softly touched Echizen's for a second before he moved onto the neck and pressed down lightly.
Needless to say, Echizen wouldn't be eating anything for a while nor would he be able to look his senpai in the eye.
Atobe, who was standing quite close to the door, but not enough to earn himself a kiss, started to clap. "That was simply magnificent! Quite a show, perfect as always Fuji-san," he complimented, "however, you could have teased him more. I would have done so." He smirked.
The chatter went on, the Hyoutei players ignored the two in the doorway since they were the only ones in that room at that time. Of course, both Fuji and Echizen hadn't noticed that Tezuka Kunimitsu had seen and was making his way towards the bathroom…
Echizen stumbled in, looking a bit dazed. He covered his mouth as if he had had it contaminated. "F-Fuji-senpai!!" he yelled, in a scolding-like tone, "W-What was that for?"
"There was a mistletoe, Echizen," Fuji simply replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why the neck?" Echizen asked, getting right to the point.
"Eh? What was wrong with that? I thought it was good… Besides… You have a slender neck… And it'll teach you to wear a scarf," Fuji continued, pushing Echizen out of the cold and into the living room. "Now get in, you'll catch a cold."
Echizen only flushed slightly at the tone his senpai was using and from embarrassment. "I can walk in myself…," he mumbled as he snatched himself away from the devious senpai and started to walk towards the refreshments.
Fuji, too, walked in, closing the door behind him and smiled. That had been fun… He then noticed that Inui had arrived as did Kaidou and Momoshiro. The two second years were both in the kitchen, helping set up some food while Shishido Ryou from Hyoutei sat on the couch next to Ohtori Choutarou. Both seemed to be chatting about something.
Fuji continued to surveyed the room. There was Hiyoshi Wakashi standing near the refreshments. Apparently, he too, got caught under the mistletoe with one of the tallest Hyoutei members (Ohtori) and had gotten a yelling at by his (Ohtori's) doubles partner.
Mukahi Gakuto and Oshitari Yuushi were standing in a corner, in a deep conversation. By the way Mukahi kept blushing, Fuji was sure it was something that wasn't meant to be talked amongst them right now.
The living room was big, Fuji now noticed, enough to fill a couple of tennis teams full. Wow… That was big… It was then that he noticed Kikumaru Eiji and Oishi Syuichiro walking out of the kitchen, carrying trays of food too. Ah perhaps, they had been helping out.
Fuji walked over to the refreshments and noticed that both Hiyoshi and Echizen scooted away from him. He wondered why… Fuji quickly set the tray down and undid the cover.
The cake! Decorated with layers of chocolate frosting, it held the words "Happy New Years!" in neat kanji on it. The inside was also chocolate with a thin layer of vanilla crème.
There was another doorbell and Atobe snapped his fingers just as the living room went silent once again. Were there two people? If there were, who were they?
Kabaji only nodded and went over to open the door. The door opened to reveal…
…Sanada Genchirou and Yukimura Seiichi of Rikkai?
What were they doing here?
Yukimura smiled and walked in slowly while Sanada followed protectively. Fuji smiled and walked over to the pair.
"Look up," he said with a smile, a bit of a distance away so he wouldn't be caught under it.
Tezuka, who had appeared out of nowhere, had turned Echizen around so he wouldn't have to watch. This, to his dismay, didn't work seeing as Echizen actually wanted to see the two Rikkai players kiss. Especially since he defeated one of them…
The capped male looked up first and was startled to find that there was a mistletoe – a mistletoe of all things – hung above his head.
"Y-Yukimura…" he stuttered out. The feminine boy only smiled and leaned in. He gave the startled boy a quick kiss on the lips and backed away, licking his lips.
"Did you eat something sweet or are you lips always sweet?" the blue haired male asked, teasingly as he continued to walk in.
Sanada's cheeks tinged a bit pink and followed the captain of Rikkai inside, looking around.
"Seigaku?" he asked, noticing Fuji, Echizen, Tezuka standing there and Kikumaru, Oishi and Momoshiro chasing each other.
Tezuka gave the vice captain a nod of acknowledgement and said, "Sanada of Rikkai." He then turned to look at the captain, giving him a nod too, "Yukimura of Rikkai."
The other captain only smiled and said, "Ah, Tezuka of Seigaku. Long time no see… I heard your injury is fine now?"
Tezuka only replied with a monotonous voice, "Ah."
Echizen's eye twitched at his captain's lack of conversation skills. Not that he could talk…
A sudden knock on the door brought the room's occupant's attention over to it. Kabaji walked over to the door and opened it.
"Mizuki-senpai! Why--? ANIKI!" a voice from outside in the snow shouted as the group froze.
"Ah Yuuta," Fuji calmly replied as he walked over to the group.
"Why hello there Fuji-kun, it's nice to see you again," a certain purple-wearing person said as he ran a hand through his black hair. He held out a hand. "I'll—"
"Um… I'm sorry, but… who are you again?" Fuji tactfully replied with the most innocent expression a person could ever put on.
A vein popped from Mizuki Hajime's head but he calmly tried to repress it. "I—" Only to be interrupted again.
"What's the hold up dane?" Yanagisawa Shinya's voice suddenly was heard as he pushed towards the front of the door.
Bumping into their manager…
…and under the mistletoe…
…of course, they didn't know that yet…
"Look up," Fuji said, smiling as though his birthday was this year.
Both St. Rudolph residents looked up and Fuji Yuuta slapped his forehead.
"PUCKER UP!"
"N-NOOOOOOO!!"
Thud.
"I think he just died…"
Fuji smirked. Tezuka sighed.
From behind a potted plant, Inui scribbled in his notebook muttering something about data.
Atobe smirked. "Ore-sama's party is the greatest, ne Kabaji?"
"Yeah."
--
Echizen Ryoma frowned as he stood, watching Sanada Genchirou bend down to execute a perfect shot.
Fuji had suggested that they play a game of pool so that boredom did not catch up to them. Of course, he had told the Seigaku first year to stay around the refreshment table so that he could go around ask a couple of other tennis players to see if they wanted to play.
They – rather he – managed to round up five… Including them…
"Echizen-kun, it's your turn," Fuji's voice awoke him out of his thoughts as he handed him a pool stick. "Here you go."
"Thanks," Echizen muttered as he bent over the table to shoot the little white ball.
All of a sudden, the hair on the back of his neck started to stand up… What was this…feeling? This strange feeling of being stared at…in places you wouldn't normally be stared at…?
Brushing off any of those thoughts, he quickly pushed the stick in and the white ball connected with a blue one.
"Ah, buchou…" Echizen started as he handed his pool stick over to the solemn captain. There were only three pool sticks and five of them so they had to share.
Tezuka nodded his thanks and took the stick, bending over.
It was then that Echizen finally realized why he had been feeling strange when it had been his turn.
All of them – Sanada, Fuji and Atobe were staring at Tezuka with a strange glint in their eyes…
…right at Tezuka-buchou's ass!!
He blinked and rubbed his eyes. Opening them, he found that the trio's eyes had reverted back to watching Tezuka's movement instead.
Maybe it had been a hallucination…
--
"Where's Tezuka?" Tachibana Kippei of Fudoumine asked as he flipped through the magazine that lied in from of him.
Kamio Akira shrugged and moved his knight in an "L" shape, taking away a black pawn. "I don't know… Somewhere… Your move Shinji."
The dark eyes of the second year Fudoumine genius scanned the chessboard before reaching out and moved his bishop. "Maybe he's out taking a walk. That Tezuka Kunimitsu sure is strange. But he is strong in tennis. I wonder if there'll ever be a chance when I can go up against him. I'd like to see what he'd do against my 'Spot'. Maybe he's also like Echizen? And maybe he can switch hands? I wonder… I—"
"Shinji!" Kamio shouted as he pulled out an earphone. "I can still hear you from this music!"
Ibu Shinji only muttered something under his breath and watched as Fudoumine's speed demon move his rook into a compromising position.
"Checkmate."
Ibu stared at the chessboard, processing his loss. "Why did I lose? I wonder about that? Why couldn't I win? This is probably the sixth time we've played and I keep losing… And Kamio says he's never played before? I wonder if he lied. No, he would never. I know him and he'd never lie. He's honest. Unlike that Yamabuki guy who keeps lying. Though I wonder why he would lie –"
"Shinji…"
"Rematch?" Ibu asked then, clearing the board. "I'm hoping for a rematch. I really want to try and beat Kamio. Even though he's my friend but what if he thinks this is getting boring and he going to lose just so I can be happy? That's not nice then. I want to win on my own. Without any help. I want to—"
"FINE!"
Tachibana chuckled from behind his magazine.
--
"Ah, I see you guys have been busy…" a voice from the door was heard as the five looked up from their game of pool.
"Yukimura," Sanada greeted as the others nodded in acknowledgement.
The feminine captain smiled and placed a tray he had been holding on a table nearby. "I brought some drinks. I thought you might have been thirsty…"
"Thank you Yukimura," Sanada replied as he absentmindedly handed his pool stick over to Fuji and took a cup from the tray. Tipping his head back slightly, he brought the cup to his lips and drank it.
"I also brought the others some too…" Yukimura added.
Walking over to the two, Fuji smiled and took a cup too. "Thank you Yukimura-san." Nudging Echizen who was grumbling over his loss earlier, he took another cup and handed it to Echizen. "Here, drink…"
Still grumbling, Echizen nodded his thanks and took a sip. He blinked. It tasted…a bit funny… He stared at the cup, it wasn't… Inui juice was it?! He shook his head, of course not. If it was, he'd be in the bathroom by now…
By now, both Atobe and Tezuka were taking drinks from their cups now.
"Ore-sama thanks you," Atobe said as soon as he finished downing his cup. Yukimura smiled and said:
"Mind if I join your game?"
Fuji smiled and said, "Saa… Let's see… We have three pool sticks and there are six of us now… That's perfect! I'll share with Echizen-kun. Tezuka can share with Atobe-kun and Yukimura-san can share with Sanada-kun."
"What?! Ore-sama share? NEVER!"
"…" was Tezuka's response.
Echizen grumbled as he took another sip.
"That's it! Ore-sama declares a dance competition!"
Everyone pointedly ignored him and went onto their game.
--
Echizen Ryoma couldn't believe that this was actually happening… The Seigaku team stood on one side of the stage while Hyoutei stood on the other, leaving a large open space in between them. Unlit lights were hung up on the ceiling and… He turned to face the front, there was actually an audience…
The audience was actually the other schools, wanting to see Seigaku and Hyoutei dance. Yes, dance… Atobe actually got what he declared…
On other side, Atobe smirked and crossed her arms. He then walked up into the open space, meeting the Seigaku captain halfway.
"Tezuka."
"Atobe."
Their faces got closer and Echizen felt like puking. Of course, both teams knew that they were only discussing who should be the judge… Someone who wasn't on either of their teams…
"Ah, I'll judge!" a fragile voice was heard as the owner appeared behind the two captains.
Tezuka and Atobe turned and immediately, Yukimura Seiichi, captain of Rikkai, was voted the judge.
"It'll work…"
Both captains walked back to their teams. Atobe motioned to Gakuto Mukahi and Akutagawa Jirou to get in the open space.
The two players nodded and stood in position. Music started and the audience watched in fascination as the two players danced in unison. Had Atobe planned this?!
Left… right… Jump…
Soon, the dance had ended, leaving the two players breathing heavily. From the audience, Tachibana smiled and fingered his chin. This was getting interesting…already…
Tezuka frowned… They were really good, he hadn't really been expecting this level… He'd have to take them out… He looked up and gestured over to Fuji and Kikumaru.
"Fuji! Kikumaru!"
The dream pair nodded at their captain and stood in the once again open space. The music started, this time with words.
Echizen watched with wide eyes. He never knew that they had dancers on their tennis team…
Step left, step right, jump, tug… (1)
"OI!" Echizen shouted as he felt a pair of hands covering his eyes.
"You're too young to see Echizen… Too young…"
Recognizing the voice as Momoshiro, Echizen tried to pry his large hands off. "Momo-senpai!" he complained, "I'm only a year younger than you!!"
Hearing a very loud "Ooooh!" from the audience only made Echizen want to see what was happening even more.
"Not yet Echizen…" Momoshiro murmured.
The audience clapped wildly and Echizen blinked and found himself able to see once again. Though, Seigaku's dance had ended.
Yukimura smiled from his podium. "I declare Seigaku the winner!"
Atobe twitched and Tezuka closed his eyes in approval.
As the audience scattered, looking for tissues to wipe their nosebleeds away, the two rival captains shook hands.
A long night indeed…
--
Tezuka Kunimitsu leaned against the edge of the balcony, feeling the cool air brushing against his cheek. He rubbed his temples, feeling a slight headache coming. Inwardly groaning, he planned to give his team ten laps for making him come here…
"Tezuka."
His eyes flickered over towards the new occupant of the balcony and nodded in acknowledgement at the Hyoutei captain.
"Headache?" Atobe asked, smirking slightly.
"Ah."
Tezuka felt a fist on his shoulder and he glanced at Atobe questioningly.
"Headache medicine. Kami-sama knows how much they are useful. Use them. I have plenty," Atobe explained as Tezuka slowly grasped the box.
"Atobe. Thank you," Tezuka thanked him as he took out the box.
Smirking, Atobe nodded and got up from his position next to the Seigaku captain. "Fun game ne?"
"More like a disaster."
Atobe's smirk became wider and he gestured over towards the door. "Your brat's here." He turned and walked inside, leaving Echizen glaring at the "Monkey King".
"What were you talking about with Monkey King, Buchou?" Echizen asked as he walked over to his captain.
"Headache," was Tezuka's simple reply.
"Ah…" Echizen answered, blinking. He turned and smirked, "Team's here."
"Stop stomping on my foot Mamushi!"
"Stop shouting Momoshiro!!!"
"Now, now you two…" Oishi's motherly voice came, trying to separate the fighting pair.
Tezuka sighed and felt his headache come back again.
Kawamura glanced at their captain worriedly and walked over, "Tezuka? You alright?"
"Ah."
The third year power player only replied, "Well, think of it this way. At least you aren't alone."
Tezuka's eyes snapped open at the odd comment. Inwardly smiling, he thanked the third year. "Ah, you're right."
"OI! Lookie nya! It's almost New Year!" Kikumaru shouted as he glanced at his watch. Momoshiro followed the same suit.
"Eiji-senpai is right! There's…"
"5"
"Momoshiro, look to your right."
"4"
"Eh? Why Fuji-senpai?"
"3"
"Just do it."
"2"
"AHHH!! MAMUSHI!"
"1"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Author's Note: Happy new years guys! Sorry about the lame ending. I forgot what I had put in between the numbers… If you didn't know, my laptop crashed and I lost the file containing this finished chapter. Thank goodness I had backed this up. Although, it wasn't the finished file, it was still better than nothing because I really didn't want to write the whole thing over. So please forgive me for the horribleness…
1 – Have you seen Dream Live? You should! Anyways, I got the dance competition from the Dream Live the 3rd. It was very funny. Oh and the dance competition part? The link is in my profile. Happy New Years!!
Oh my god. I am updating this at 12 in the morning on New Years. Oo
And so... Comments? Thoughts? Advice? Review!