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.

Last chapter, guys! Thank you for all your support, and I'm glad I remembered to update today. xDD Didn't want to leave you guys hanging. The last chapter really ended on a cliffie, huh? xD So, anyway, thanks a TON to my reviewers, and thanks to the readers, too. I'm sorry to those anonymous reviews that I can't reply to, but I replied to everything that wasn't anonymous, I think! So, for the last chapter of this fanfiction, please read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter 13: The Meaning of Strength:

Fuji was still fighting against the chief of the hidden village, bouncing from tree to tree, with the chief chasing him. He knew he would have to face him sometime, but he chose to delay it, just fighting off the swings of the chief's sword. Suddenly, he saw an arrow rushing through the air. It had been one of the princes' doings. Were they stupid? They knew the arrow couldn't hit the chief. Fuji glanced at the chief, and in an instant, there was an arrow embedded in his left shoulder, and he was holding it in pain.

Fuji stared, and the chief's eyes squeezed shut for a moment as he clenched his teeth together. "H-how…" he choked out. Fuji stepped up to the chief, who slashed his sword in vain to try to keep Fuji away. He pulled the arrow out of his own shoulder, and Fuji got a good look at it as the blood dripped off. It was… a mirror shard?! One of the princes had used a shard of the broken mirror to break through the barrier of the chief. Otherworldly…the word rang through Fuji's mind. Of course! The mirror transported people between worlds, so it had to be otherworldly! He knew it had been Atobe's doing…no other prince would have been able to predict the chief's moves that well, and no other prince would've hit from that distance.

"N-not fair, it was—two on one…" the chief managed to say, picking up his sword and holding it at Fuji's chin. The wound in his shoulder healed quickly, and soon, the chief was standing strong once again, but only one thing changed, and that was the thing Fuji needed to change. The barrier was gone. Now, he could go all out again. The chief ran at Fuji, intent on killing him once and for all.

"It wasn't two on one," Fuji said. "You had a barrier created from the lost arts. Now, they are lost once and for all. Perhaps this is how the magician felt…the strongest one so long ago that created the magical orb. Perhaps he felt that it was unfair for all those princes to be fighting against him alone. But the world isn't fair. That was why he was the strongest magician.

"I cannot tell the princes not to attack you. They're too far away. They may attack; they may not. But I can tell you one thing," Fuji said, dancing around the chief nimbly, pushing him back this time. Still, he was not showing his true effort. The chief was still on the offensive, but his swings were being easily countered and parried, and Fuji's swings almost looked offensive. "There are nine princes up there in that castle."

The chief's eyes narrowed. "Lies. You're a prince. There can't be nine in the castle."

Fuji turned his head toward the castle, and the chief didn't even bother to try and attack him. "Count them. They're all gathered at the windows." And indeed, there were nine faces. He turned toward the chief and they began attacking each other again.

"Then who the hell are you?!" the chief demanded. "You…toying with me the entire time?!"

Fuji smiled. "Me? I'm a magician." He thrust his sword out and picked up the chief by the collar with the tip of his sword so that the tip was pointed dangerously at the top of the chief's neck near his chin. The chief tried to grab the sword, but his hands were instantly burned. "I can tell you something else. I don't care if I am in servitude of the princes, because I'm indebted to them. I don't care if I have to fight alongside them my entire life," Fuji repeated. "But of course, that's not what you want to know, is it?" Fuji grabbed the chief by his neck and brought his sword down. "I certainly don't care about you. Not one bit. You know why? Because I'm not running away. I was sent away. It wasn't my choice. I didn't run away.

"Now that I'm here, I'll gladly protect our kingdom from people like you; people who want to rid the princes from the throne. People who want to take over. They obviously can't do it. Even those who enhance their skills with the lost arts have trouble." Fuji raised his sword and held the broad side of it to the chief's cheek, holding it there and leaving it burning. "You're looking to vanquish the princes? Good luck with that. And you're looking for the most powerful magician's hand in marriage?" Fuji laughed. "I'm right here."

The chief looked at Fuji with wide, shocked eyes. "You're—" he started, but was interrupted.

"Funny," Fuji said. "Those were your brother's last words, too." And with one fell sweep of Fuji's arm, the chief was beheaded on the spot. The body didn't fall limp on the ground, though. Instead, it vanished into thin air, as did the head. "Hnn…" he hummed. "No wonder that person could use the lost arts. His body was inhabited by a demon's soul. I do feel bad for the person who had been in that body before…he was probably a good chief. I suppose that's what happens to you." And with those words, Fuji strode toward the castle.

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"A demon in a human's body, huh?" Atobe said, sitting on Fuji's bed that night. Atobe and Fuji had continued their night meetings, sometimes sleeping in each other's rooms when they were too lazy to go back to their own rooms even though they were just a couple steps away.

"Yeah. The chief had probably some time ago been captured and taken over by a demon's soul," Fuji replied. "I feel bad for the previous chief, though. His son went through all of this, and he didn't even get to see it. The village didn't even notice it until they were wiped out." A sigh escaped Fuji's mouth.

"At least we're all safe," Atobe said.

"Speaking of which, how is Seiichi?" Fuji asked curiously.

Atobe shook his head. "He's resting in his room and Jiroh is taking care of him, but he probably won't be able to use much magic ever again."

Fuji brought his hands to his mouth and his eyes widened. "No…" Atobe wrapped an arm around Fuji, comforting him. "Why did he do this? Why did he have to do it?"

"Syusuke, it was for our own sakes. He did it to help the princes."

Fuji shook his head this time. "You both risked so much…and you both gave so much. For each other." Fuji looked up at Atobe. "You summoned Seiichi and you from my world so that they wouldn't have to pass through the mirror. If you hadn't, then Seiichi probably wouldn't be alive right now. And yet, you two both were able to hold all the pain and suffering in. I don't care if the mirror is shattered; when I think about it like this, you are much stronger than me."

Atobe rubbed Fuji's back. "Strong means different things to different people. You can think of strong any way you want. The truly strong ones are the ones who can decide what the word really means to them."

"Where did you hear that from?" Fuji asked Atobe, clearly being able to tell that it wasn't something made up on the spot.

"My father," Atobe answered.

"Your father? Where is he now? Where are all the parents?"

"Well, since there are only princes in this land and no princesses, when the parents have daughters, then the daughters are sent off to a different world all at once to become the princesses of that land when they are around five or six. The sons never meet the daughters, though sometimes they're told stories about them. Normally, the king of the land is chosen to use his mana and send the daughters off to a different world, but this time, the king of the land, your father, used all his mana to send you very far away so that you were never found. The farther away you send someone, the more mana you use. Also, the more people that are sent away, the more mana you use. The king usually sends a lot of girls away to a closer world, but he also dies from that.

"As a replacement for the king to send the girls off to a different land, my father was chosen," Atobe explained.

"Oh," Fuji said quietly. His hand trailed across the tassels on the edge of the decorative blanket on top of his bed. The golden woven strings felt soft to the touch.

"You don't have to feel sorry for me," Atobe said. "I knew it was coming." He put his hand over Fuji's, stopping the absentminded action.

"And your mother?" Fuji said, changing the subject.

"My mother lives in the castle." Atobe's thumb ran over the top of Fuji's hand. His skin was as soft as silk and it fit perfectly into Atobe's hand.

"Really?"

"She works as a servant in disguise. She was one of the few who actually knew about the curse, and she directed outsiders and visitors away from the castle, or away from where we are, so that they don't find out about it. None of our other parents found out about the curse, and my mother reasoned with them so that we could live in this castle alone. No one knows about her working here, except for you, Seiichi, and Eiji."

"Are you going to point her out to me sometime?" Fuji teased. "She will be my troublesome mother in law."

Atobe laughed. "She's not troublesome at all. She's very kind. I'm sure she'll love you." Atobe took Fuji's hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing the fingers affectionately.

"I'm sure my mother would've loved all of you, too," Fuji said gently, picking up the frame of the picture sitting on his nightstand with his other hand. It was the picture of him, his mother and father, and Yukimura playing in the grassy clearing of the forest that he had defeated the chief of the hidden village in that day. He scooted closer to Atobe and leaned a head on his shoulder while continuing to stare at the picture with mixed emotions. He felt that he wanted to meet his mother and father, but at the same time, he thought it might've been better for him if they weren't there. Did it make him stronger? Fuji didn't know. He didn't know the meaning of strength for himself. He wasn't truly strong yet. But that wasn't something that he couldn't change.

Fuji yawned and Atobe noticed it. "Tired?" he asked, stroking Fuji's hair tenderly.

"A bit," Fuji replied. He rolled to the other side of the bed, lifted the blanket, and tucked himself under the sheets. Atobe got in next to him and wrapped his arms around Fuji. Fuji settled into this comfortable position and closed his eyes. Perhaps someday, he would find the meaning of strength for himself. Then, he would be able to claim that he was truly strong. Perhaps someday…

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Two years later, Fuji was looking through the chest that rested at the foot of his bed. He had been living in the castle for two years now, and he knew a lot of the shortcuts that the princes used to navigate the castle better, and he finally knew his way around, though sometimes, he still got lost or found something new. The servants hadn't done the laundry for a while now, and his clothes seemed to be draining down the bottom of his trunk.

Fuji dug his hand deep into the chest, and he felt something hard. His hand wrapped around it, and carefully, so he didn't mess up all the clothes that had been neatly folded and placed into the trunk, he pulled out the item. It was a tennis racquet. Fuji stared with wide eyes at the racquet; it was like being reacquainted with an old friend. He hadn't seen or touched the racquet for years now, yet it still fell into his hand as if he had used it yesterday.

Slowly, Fuji reached into the trunk again. His hand fell on a soft fabric that was unlike any from this world, and he pulled that out, too. His Seigaku uniform. Under that was his Seigaku tennis jersey, the vivid blue color standing out brightly against all the darker hues of the clothes he wore in the castle.

The princes, since they had gotten their real bodies back, had been venturing outside the castle much more often. Atobe was finally opening his heart a bit, and finally saying what he really thought. He was also getting along a bit better with his twin, Kikumaru, who also made the effort to befriend Atobe once again. Tezuka spoke a lot more often, and on rare occasion, he actually smiled. Yukimura had healed quickly from the mana deprivation, though his magic was indeed limited. He had been training hard in swordsmanship to make up for the magic loss, and he was a better swordfighter now than all of the other princes combined. He could easily beat Atobe now. Ryoma had finally grown out of the small frame and was as tall as Fuji. He was a lot stronger than he had been, too, and the two trained with each other often. Saeki had learned the technique to erase the memory of people, but he dared not to use it.

The items brought back memories of all the fun times he had had in his own world. He reminded himself that he would never go back into that world again. Fuji remembered when he had brought those items into this world, originally planning never to go back to his own world again in the first place. He had placed them at the bottom of his trunk, knowing that if Yukimura had forced him to return to his own world, then the princes would have something to remember him by. Ever since then, in the back of his mind, Fuji knew that he could not venture to the bottom of the trunk, lest he find the items and start breaking down in tears. He eventually forgot about them, though they stayed hidden in his mind somewhere.

Fuji was now able to look at these items and smile, instead of cry. He was able to truly smile. It was a sad smile, but a true, sincere smile nonetheless. He clutched the artifacts to his chest. Fuji was smiling. Laughing even, maybe. He couldn't tell. His fingers traced the familiar embroidering of 'SEIGAKU TENNIS TEAM' on the back of his jersey, something he had done for a long time. He was able to smile and not cry at the sight of these relics. Was that the meaning of strength to him?

Fuji took one last look at the items, removed all the remaining clothing from his trunk, and placed them back at the bottom again neatly. He might find them again another time, and he might not. He placed the clothes in the trunk again just as he had found them. He still had a ways to go before he could be truly strong. But at least this was a start. He remembered the words he had told himself that fateful night two years ago. Perhaps someday…

The end! Hope you liked the story! And it ended happily! D So...see you next time I write something (which might be a while from now). Thank you very much for all your support! I'm truly grateful!