AN: Hi hiii! Sorry about the very late eeer, update. And the quality. ; But here it is, the last chapter. =] Thank you for all that supported me so far. I plan to keep on writing... xD and getting better at stories.

Atobe held his breath, unable to grasp the situation. There was his ultimate rival in front of him, and, and… his face turned pale and a deep shade of crimson at the same time. He pushed the other away, got up quickly and ran.

"Atobe…" Tezuka also got up, but watched the other's back become smaller as he ran further and further away. He frowned to himself, wondering what overcame him. Before, he was numb, but as reality dawned on him, there was a remarkable pain stabbing at his chest. Usually, he wasn't the one to get himself into these kinds of uncomfortable situations. Also, he was supposed to be able to control his emotions and actions as easily as the tennis ball. As the pain increased, his mind became blank, trying to hang on to the little self control he had left. No, he wasn't going to break down here.

So instead, in a tiny corner in the back of his mind, Mitsu sobbed sitting with his arms around his knees, while Kuni awkwardly comforted him. Mitsu was always the softie, but with Kuni there, it balanced things out. At least outwardly, Tezuka was trying to battle his emotions out of the way.

Little time passed before noises of an argument brought him back from his thoughts.

-

The silver haired male ran, but he wasn't thinking about where he was going. Just straight, somewhere far away from that scene. His heart raced, but if it was from that incident back there, or from the reckless running, he didn't know. He didn't dislike Tezuka, but something like what he did, he wouldn't have expected ever to happen. Now he was confused. What did the other think about him? Was it spur of the moment or something else? What did he think about Tezuka? His mind was a complete mess.

All he knew was, if he didn't run, he wouldn't know what to do. If he remained where he was, the feeling would overwhelm him and he wouldn't be able to calm himself down. He didn't want to be sucked into more confusion and have himself fumble for questions or the right way to ask them. It just wouldn't be him.

That was the problem, he speculated. Whenever he was with Tezuka Kunimitsu, he would be sucked into the oblivious brunette's pace, having to explain things or having him explain things that he wasn't familiar with, but never quite understanding each other. Still, the experience was an interesting one, and learning about the other got him to believe they would make good rivals. And he would admit, the other was skilled at tennis. Something they both lived for and shared a strong passion about.

But beyond that? He wasn't certain.

As he ran, Atobe crashed into something ahead of him that he didn't realize until too late. A tall and rather thick man glared down, apparently displeased by the collision. It didn't look like he was alone either, and two or three other men with equally unappealing features narrowed their eyes at the smaller male.

"Ahn?" He was already in a bad enough mood and raised his head with a large scowl. Although he was the one not watching where he was going, his attitude ceased to simmer down. He didn't like the look on their eyes and the way they looked at him as if he was something lowly. He wouldn't take that.

"Kid. Look what you did, you've angered our leader, what will you do for us huh?" The group surrounded him menacingly, but Atobe didn't budge. He kept up his attitude, standing as tall as he could and looking like he owned them all.

"Hah, isn't that his fault? What's a fat lump of a third-rate animal doing, blocking ore-sama's path anyway?"

"Why you little!!" One of the smaller ones swung something like a metal bat he was holding at the male. Atobe saw right through it with insight and practiced reflexes from fencing, but as he prepared to dodge, something blocked his way.

"Te-Tezukaaaaa?!" Atobe watched as Tezuka's left arm was struck by the bat, making a nasty sound upon contact. The brunette staggered over and stepped in front of the other buchou, with concern and pain written over his face. The silver haired one could only blink in surprise.

Inside his mind, Mitsu fell to the floor, clutching his arm while Kuni ran to his other self frantically. "MITSUUUUU!"

Something hot and red bubbled inside the arrogant one while the other party looked confused.

"Wha-what was that kid?"

"What the hell?"

"Oh well whatever, they seem to be friends."

"Get them both!"

"Shut up!" Atobe screamed over them and they stopped momentarily out of surprise. "Tezukaa? Tezukaa are you okay?!"

The ring leader raised his nonexistent eyebrow and pointed at the two, "Just beat them up already!"

"Tezuka?" Atobe spoke softly and anxious as he shook the other's shoulder and the brunette winced from pain once more, but refused to cry out. The sound of the men's footsteps irritated the silver haired male, and he swung his arm forward also pointing at them. "I SAID SHUT UP, GO KABAJI!"

Practically out of nowhere, or from the bush that didn't seem to exist two minutes ago, the giant second year of Hyoutei Gakuen appeared with his "Usu," and charged at the group with unbelievable power and chased them into the depths of the road.

"Kabaji-kun…?" only a word of amazement escaped the mouth of the injured one as he slid to the ground and sat, looking blankly at the scene. The one who had ordered had both his hands on his hips looking proud. The brunette felt numb again raising his head to look at the sparkling male, "Where did he-"

"You idiot!" he didn't let him finish his sentence. Instead he kneeled down to inspect the other's arm. Without so much as fingering the wound he could tell that it was broken once again. He swore lightly. "Why? I could have saved myself…"

"It's fine," he realized how much it hurt, but he couldn't understand why he felt more relieved then upset.

"No it's not…with this arm, tennis…!" Atobe grabbed the front of his collar and shook him, but weakly. He looked like he felt responsible for it, although Tezuka knew it was his own action that ended him up this way. It would be the second time the brunette would be unable to play, and the second time it would be his fault.

"Nn…about that," he sighed lightly. Atobe shook him again questioningly. "I don't mind."

Tennis might be important. It was something he lived for. But even if there wasn't tennis, he wouldn't want to die. Therefore he reasoned, his life was more important then tennis. However, more then tennis, Atobe was important. And if Atobe weren't there, there would be no meaning to life. Therefore-

"Why not?!" The angry one was about to shake the other more violently, but he was stopped as tears graced his cheeks. He threw the other to the side and looked away, wiping them quickly. "Shut up! I'm not crying because I'm worried you can't play tennis! Something got in my eye!"

How could he say it? He laughed lightly, despite the pain, and hugged the one that started thrashing in his arms close to himself. That he was more important then his own life?

AN: Well there it is. =] And thanks to a reviewer, I'm thinking of making another TezukaxAtobe. Probably more serious and better then this one. And possibly a sequel to this.
Until then. =D Again, thanks so much.