Mirror, Mirror

Summary: Fuji falls through a mirror one day and lands in a complete different world. Sometimes, while doing a favor for someone else, you realize that they're actually doing a favor for you.

Warnings: Shounen-ai

Pairings: Atobe x Fuji

Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.

Haha, this chapter is longer than the other two! The chapter start getting long here, so...uh...rejoice? xD;; Anyway, please read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter 3: The Realization:

Fuji slipped into the dark room quietly, and almost unnoticeably. The door didn't make a sound as it was opened slightly, and Fuji slid with ease through the door and the frame. After all, his outfit was made of silk. How long he was going to stay here he had no clue, but it might be long enough to just recuperate on his thoughts. Surprisingly enough, though, the room was not empty.

As Fuji turned around, he noticed a figure standing at the window, his shadow streaking across the ground in the moonlight. Still standing tall in his cloak, Fuji recognized the figure right away. "Atobe…?" he said. Atobe didn't jump, but he turned around to meet Fuji.

"Welcome," he said.

"Did I walk into the wrong room?" Fuji asked. "I've never been in a…castle before."

Atobe chuckled. "Yeah, you did. This is my room. Your room is the next room over."

"Do each of you have your own wings of the castle or something?" Fuji asked.

Atobe shook his head. "No, we all sleep in the same wing, in case something happens to one of us. The oldest of us sleep on the outside rooms, and the youngest sleep in the rooms in between. We've already prepared a room for you a while ago, and once new furniture comes in that we like, we just get it. Your room is between mine and Kikumaru's, because he's the oldest next to me, and beside his attitude, he's an excellent fighter."

"Fighter?" Fuji said.

Atobe smiled wryly. "This isn't your world, Fuji. Things happen. We get attacked fairly often. You have to know how to fight in our country. You really do. Even the women know how to fight pretty well. We need to protect you most out of all of us, which is why you're between me and Kikumaru. Tezuka's on the other side of our line of rooms, because he is next oldest. And then it just keeps going from their. Ryoma's obviously on the inside, though he's not weak at all, and he's one of our best fighters, too. But our parents insisted it needs to be this way."

"Wow…" Fuji said. "I've read about this kind of world, but I've never been a part of it before. I feel kind of…I don't know. I kind of feel like I'm just a burden to you guys."

"Oh, no, of course you're not. We need you," Atobe said, stepping closer. Fuji smiled.

"I'm touched," he said, looking around the room once again and noticing how dark it was. There were no lights, lanterns, or lamps. No source of light except for the windows. There were occasionally lanterns on the walls in the hallways, but there were no lights in the room at all. "Why don't you have any lights in your rooms, anyway?" Fuji asked.

"No need," Atobe said. He snapped his fingers and a little flame ignited from the tip of his index finger. It lit much more of the room than Fuji thought it would, and now it was about as bright as his room was when he turned his lamp on at night. "Magic. It's essential around here."

Fuji nodded. "I see," he said. "Too bad I can't do it," he said, and laughed. "I'm still a normal person."

"You're the descendant, no, the reincarnation of the finest magician in our country. You should be able to do something," Atobe said.

"Nothing," Fuji said. "I wasn't born with it."

Atobe stepped even closer so that he was right by Fuji's side. He took Fuji's hand in his own. "Anything's possible." He made a flick of his fingers and immediately, two little flames started doing a dance on the tips of Fuji's fingers. Fuji smiled.

"That's cool; I'd really like to learn how to do that," he said.

"Oh, you're doing the magic. I'm just doing the spell," Atobe explained. "The spell is a special spell that reflects what mood a person is in; I just have to take their hand. I'm glad you're in a good mood."

Fuji looked once again at the two flames in a different light. They indeed looked happy, but was there something else signified there? Fuji blushed slightly, but the light was too dim for Atobe to see, thankfully. Did he…did he like Atobe? No, that couldn't be. Then why were there two flames? It was the only explanation.

Fuji noticed that the flames recoiled from their lively dance and began to revolve around his hand slowly. Atobe looked at him. "Fuji, are you confused? Tired, perhaps? I've never really been good at reading what the little flames are portraying."

"Tired…yes, that's it. I'm tired," Fuji said. He knew he was lying, but he didn't want to show that he was confused. That might lead him to a question that he definitely didn't want to answer.

"Oh, then why didn't you say so? Let me lead you to your room," Atobe said, letting go of Fuji's hand.

Fuji backed away. "No, it's just down the hall. I think I can get there myself," he said.

Atobe shrugged, not showing any of the disappointment he was hoarding inside. "If you insist." The flame went out, and the room was once again dark. "Don't get lost again."

"I—I won't," Fuji said. He stepped out of the room quickly and into the nice, lit hallway, though the lanterns were scarce.

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Yukimura brushed his hair in front of the mirror that was conveniently placed in his room. Well, it actually wasn't placed in his room, heplaced it there. Each of the brothers and cousins, or princes, had a special power. Atobe could do a bit of magic, and he could summon people from places to where he was. It was quite annoying, actually, because sometimes Yukimura would be in the middle of something, and then he would just appear in front of Atobe.

Yukimura's power was to be able to create anything on the spot in which he could see his own reflection. While standing, or doing anything, actually, he could conjure up a mirror, steel, iron, any metal, glass, ice, water, or anything that one could see their own reflection out of. It was also quite useful, especially in battle if he lost his sword.

He ran his comb through his hair once more, and then stroked it gently with his hand. Perfect, like always. He didn't care if he was about to go to bed. And then he heard something interesting coming from the next room over. He had left his window open, and the other room's window was open, too. Wait, he knew who lived in that room; it was Atobe! Atobe was talking to…listening further, he could hear it was Fuji. Interesting indeed. He created another mirror outside of his room and angled it so that it was shining into Atobe's room without moving at all. Then looking through the mirror that he was previously brushing his hair in, he could see the mirror he just created, and then he could see Atobe and Fuji quite clearly.

"What'cha looking at, Seiichi?" Jiroh said sleepily from the bed.

"Oh, you're awake," Yukimura said. Jiroh had taken a nap after they had all left the throne room. Yukimura and Jiroh had to share a room, because the original architect of the castle hadn't planned to build in another room for Fuji. They could always extend it, but Yukimura and Jiroh had originally felt the most comfortable sharing a room with each other, and they were willing to do it.

"You bet I am," Jiroh said, suddenly more awake than what Yukimura thought was physically possible for someone who was just sleeping a couple moments ago. "Now, what are you looking at?"

"Nothing interesting," Yukimura said slyly, drawing out his words.

"You know I hate when you do that!" Jiroh said. "It makes me want to see even more!" He bounced over to Yukimura and put his head on the blue haired boy's shoulder.

"The other side might work out better; you're covering the mirror," Yukimura said, chuckling.

"Shut up." Jiroh bounced over to the other side of Yukimura's head and once again peered into the mirror. Yukimura adjusted the angle of the mirror slightly so that it was easier for Jiroh to see. "Keigo and Fujiko, is it?" he said.

"You don't seem very surprised at all," Yukimura commented.

"I'm not; Fujiko was looking for him after he changed this afternoon. Because Keigo mysteriously disappeared."

"I thought he was just looking for him because he was worried," Yukimura admitted.

"Exactly! Why would Fujiko be worried about Keigo? Only if he loved him!!!" Jiroh said excitedly but quietly, wary about the thin walls between rooms and the open window. Yukimura laughed and peered into the mirror once again. Atobe was showing Fuji his magic. Feh, Yukimura thought. Showoff. It wasn't his fault that Atobe was better at magic than almost all of them. They were just born that way.

"Jiroh, look," Yukimura said, pointing into the mirror.

"Ooooh!!!!" Jiroh squealed. "Keigo's doing the 'emotion' thing that he does!!! It's soooo cool!!!" He was once again bouncing up and down. "Look! Fujiko must be really happy! There are two little flames dancing around! Isn't it cute?"

Yukimura nodded. Happiness? That was it? Somehow he had the feeling that there was a much deeper meaning in those two flames than justhappiness. Atobe wasn't the best one to ask about reading the emotions portrayed by the flames, and he just told Jiroh what he thought they meant, and Jiroh believed him. But Yukimura always knew that Atobe was just barely scratching the surface with his so-called interpretations. What could be the deeper meaning behind two flames dancing across Fuji's fingers together? Together? Yukimura smirked. Perhaps what Jiroh said was correct after all.

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Ryoma sat on the air above the roof. That's right, the air above the roof. He found it much more comfortable than actually sitting on the cold, hard roof, anyway. The wind blew through his hair gently, creating a natural fan that he quite appreciated at the moment. Ryoma had a special power; a power unique from those of his cousins (and brother). Then again, all of the powers were unique, so he shouldn't be one to talk. Ryoma had the power of levitation. In short, he could float. But he could only float himself, and not other objects. He didn't fly, he glided. Because he didn't flap anything. And he could hover above things without moving. That was what levitation was.

Sitting on air for him kind of felt like sitting on his favorite surface. And since his favorite surface was obviously his bed, chair, or something soft, it always felt like that when he sat on air. So it was evidently more comfortable sitting on air most of the time. And contrary to popular belief, no, Ryoma did not move up and down when he was hovering. He didn't move at all when he was hovering. It was just as if he was standing or sitting regularly.

The breeze was, again, very refreshing he found at nighttime. He always sat above the roof before he was going to go to bed. He didn't really know what he did up there; perhaps he just thought about stuff. About anything that ran through his mind that day, or things he could've worded differently, or maybe something that went wrong that day. Today, though, his mind was on one thing and one thing only: Fuji. Ryoma didn't realize how many questions he had for Fuji until now. Of course, a lot of them had to do with his body in the real world, like how it was doing, what its personality was like, etc. But other questions were all about what the real world was like.

Thinking of Fuji, Ryoma swore he heard Fuji's voice at that moment. There was a light on in Atobe's room…well, actually it would just be Atobe supplying his own light. And the next room over, which was supposed to be Fuji's room was dark and empty. Fuji's voice was coming from Atobe's room, which was only a couple meters down from where Ryoma was sitting. He hovered over to above Atobe's room and dropped his head down so that it was in the window.

Atobe was just turning his head so that it would've been face to face with Ryoma had he not pulled his head back just in time. Luckily, Fuji did not see him, either. That was close. A moment later and Atobe would've seen him, and a moment earlier and Fuji would've seen him. But from the couple of milliseconds that he had managed to catch, Ryoma saw Atobe doing some sort of magic that didn't light up the entire room, but it was just bright enough for both of them to see. Ryoma could see from outside of the room that the flames were flickering heavily, almost as if they were moving.

There could only be one explanation: Atobe was doing the 'emotion' trick. Showoff, Ryoma thought. Magic was definitely one of the showiest of skills, and that particular spell was definitely one of the showiest of spells. It didn't require much energy, but it did require quite a bit of magical ability. Atobe barely had enough ability to learn that spell, though it was quite useless in battle. But he wanted to learn it anyway. The only other person in their generation of cousins and brothers who could learn that was Saeki, and that was because he was the mage of the family.

The light suddenly went out in Atobe's room and Ryoma heard the door close. Atobe and Fuji…interesting.

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Yukimura was still peering into the mirror intently. Jiroh had fallen asleep a couple of minutes ago, and Yukimura was still up. Atobe was, too, and Fuji had left the room just a moment ago. Atobe was staring out the window into the night sky, as if deep in thought. Yukimura saw him finally lift his hands after a long period of not moving at all, and he started to slowly make signs with his hands. Yukimura knew the spell those signs did; he could recognize it from a mile away. He sighed, and the next moment, he was in Atobe's room, sitting next to him on his bed.

"You wanted to talk?" Yukimura said.

Atobe nodded wordlessly.

The signs that Atobe had woven with his hands were the signs to summon whoever he was thinking of. Atobe summoned Yukimura probably the most out of all the royal princes, because they were the closest two that were not brothers. They might even be the two princes closest to each other. Yukimura rolled his eyes, though he knew Atobe couldn't see, since he wasn't lighting up the room in any way. "Let me guess; it's about Fuji, isn't it?"

Atobe nodded again. "And how exactly did you know?"

"I can spy on anyone and anything with a little logic and perfectly accurate placement of my mirrors."

"And what gives you the right to spy on me? I'm older than you; aren't you supposed to show respect?"

"And how many times do you think I've saved your life?"

"And I yours?"

Yukimura smiled. "So we're even. This means I can spy on you, right?"

Atobe lifted his hands and two small flames appeared in them. "And I can kill you?"

Suddenly, a finely crafted sword appeared in Yukimura's right hand. It was shining as if it had just been finished that day, and Yukimura glanced down to see himself on the blade of his sword, smirking at it. Perfect. He held the sword to Atobe's neck. "Want to bet?"

The floor around Yukimura burst into flames, in almost a perfect circle. "Sure," Atobe said, smiling in triumph.

With a flick of his wrist, though, water poured out of Yukimura's hands and onto the ground. "Have you forgotten that I can see my reflection in water, also?"

"All the better to look at myself with," Atobe said, dropping down to trip Yukimura. Atobe's foot met the broad side of Yukimura's blade as it was parried to the side, dragging Atobe along with it (no duh, it was his foot). Atobe hit the wall, but bounced right back up again, ready for battle. He glanced above him and saw his own sword, hanging above the doorframe, and grabbed it just as Yukimura lunged at him.

Blade met blade in a metallic crash again and again. The two were almost evenly matched at swordsmanship, though Yukimura was slowly but surely pushing Atobe back. Finally, when Yukimura was tired of playing around, a sword appeared in his left hand, too. "No fair," Atobe pointed out, while trying to block both of Yukimura's nimble slashes with his own one sword.

"All's fair in love and war," Yukimura said. He knocked Atobe's sword out of his hand in one final blow and sent it clattering against the wall. By this time, Atobe was backed up against the other wall with the tip of Yukimura's sword at his neck. "Now, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Atobe put up both of his hands. "Alright, you win. It was Fuji."

"I know that," Yukimura said. "Don't think I didn't see you two."

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Fuji walked down the hallways quickly to his own room, which was only one room away. Yet, it felt like miles in the darkness. He felt the walls between his fingers and walked slowly along it. He didn't think he'd ever be this afraid of the darkness, but after what Atobe had just said…This isn't your world, Fuji…we get attacked fairly often…you have to know how to fight; you really do…he was feeling caught off guard a bit.

He finally felt the first door, and proceeded to open it right away. There it was, inside, a nice room. He took the nearest lantern from the wall of the hallway and lit the one by his bed. There, a lot better. He replaced the lantern and sat down on his bed for a well needed rest. He didn't realize how tired he really was. The flame in the lantern flickered wildly. Fuji lied down on his bed and looked at it for a while, trying to find some kind of a hidden meaning. Who was he kidding? He couldn't do magic. Period.

But then what had he felt back there with Atobe? When the taller boy had held his hand, Fuji had felt something pulse through his veins. He felt a lot stronger than he had ever felt, and he almost felt as if it were…magic, for a lack of better wording. He loved the feeling. But as soon as he had let go of Atobe's hand, it was gone. He didn't want to bother Atobe any more tonight.

Suddenly, Fuji heard a loud clash in the next room…Atobe's room! It was the sound of metal against metal. Fuji had seen a sword above Atobe's door before, but…sword fighting? In the middle of the night? At this time? And who in the world would Atobe be fighting with? Fuji was still dressed in his normal cloak, so he grabbed the lantern off of his nightstand and walked through the hallway, feeling much more rushed and confident this time. He placed a hand on Atobe's doorknob, and the sound was getting louder and louder. Fuji pushed open the door a crack.

What he saw inside amazed him. Atobe was indeed sword fighting…against Yukimura? Was it a midnight training session? Wasn't Atobe older…and supposedly better? They were the exact same height, and Yukimura was slowly cornering Atobe, sword hitting sword repetitively, at the speed of light. Fuji knew he would not be able to handle something like that. He didn't belong here.

He didn't belong here. Those words ran through his mind over and over. He didn't belong here, he wouldn't be able to handle anything, and he would just be a burden. He didn't belong. He couldn't fight, or do magic. He didn't belong. He didn't belong. Fuji's eyes widened, he backed out of the doorway slowly as Yukimura's swords knocked Atobe's sword out of his hand and one was now held steadily at Atobe's neck, as if he were really going to kill him.

Fuji continued to back away until the door in front of him closed. He then fled the path of the room and into the hallway, lantern forgotten on the floor. He didn't know where he was running, or where to. He just knew one thing: he needed to get out of here. The throne room. The mirror in the throne room. It was where he had come from. He needed to get there, and he needed to leave. He needed to leave and never come back.

Cliffie! Sorry, everyone! But I have to make sure you want to read the next chapter, too! So please review! And remember: review before you fave/alert. Thanks!