Painless
Summary: Fuji is 'Pain' and Atobe is 'Agony'. Their target is Tezuka Kunimitsu. But will their love for him get in the way? Or is it love for each other?
Warnings: Shounen-ai
Pairings: Atobe/Fuji, Tezuka/Fuji, slight Yuki/Fuji, super slight Fuji/Ryoma
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is not mine.
Chapter 2: Breathless
Again, thank you for all the nice reviews and compliments! Keep this up and I upload it even quicker. I'm still reading the chapters over and over again trying to make sure that there's nothing wrong with them. I'm also trying to lengthen them a little, adding tiny events here and there, and trying to add a little more detail. I'm shooting for every chapter to be over 1000 words, and that has been accomplished as of now, except for the Epilogue. But I'll stop talking now so you can read this chapter. It's the longest one so far, but it still may seem kind of short. I'll try to make the chapters even longer. I'm not really used to this though, since I normally write Oneshots. So please excuse my lack of chapter-splitting skills.
Anyway, please read, review, and enjoy!
"We're playing Hyotei Gakuen next," Tezuka told Fuji when they were sitting on the roof alone for lunch.
"I know," Fuji replied. "It was the school everyone expected me to join." He laughed. When they were alone, Fuji found that Tezuka was slightly less serious than when they were at practice. Slightly, to normal people, though, could be a lot to perceptive people like Fuji. He seemed to talk more, but he still didn't smile. Fuji's goal was to get Tezuka to smile for him. He enjoyed these moments, because he got to see the real Tezuka Kunimitsu that was behind the stoic mask.
The air turned serious again as Tezuka asked the next question. "Why didn't you?"
Fuji frowned and opened his eyes. He looked at Tezuka right in the eye, with the most intense gaze he had ever given. But Tezuka's gaze didn't falter a millimeter. Fuji sighed and replied, "I just had this feeling."
Tezuka nodded, understanding that Fuji didn't want to talk about it, and continued to eat. But the tense air remained, like a blanket of stillness draped over the two friends.
Suddenly, a gust of wind flew by, blowing Tezuka's water bottle right over, spilling the remaining water all over Tezuka's shoe and sock. Fuji laughed, lightening the atmosphere and handed Tezuka his extra napkins that had been under his knee, still chuckling. Tezuka frowned, but couldn't hold back a smile. Finally, after such a long time, Tezuka was smiling, for Fuji, and for Fuji alone. Fuji looked at his originally stoic captain now, and the sight left him breathless.
"You know, Tezuka, you should smile more often."
That Saturday, Fuji found himself riding in his sister's car heading for the tournament against Seishun's long time rival, Hyotei Gakuen. But the arrival of a new captain and the lack of a vice captain left Seishun nearly trembling. But of course, with Tezuka as the captain and Ryuuzaki-sensei as the coach, Seishun would not back down.
"We're here," Yumiko announced, bringing Fuji out of his trance.
"Thanks for the ride, sis," Fuji said as he stepped out of his car, dragging his tennis bag with him.
Yumiko squeezed his brother's hand. "Good luck," she whispered. "Be careful."
"I will, don't worry." Fuji then smiled one last time at his sister, and strolled of leisurely toward the tennis gardens.
Fuji looked around. It was a sunny day, and the shadows cast on the gardens made it look even nicer. There were numerous courts there, but there would no doubt be the most people at the Seishun/Hyotei game, considering Hyotei's tennis club's size.
He surprisingly was the first one there from Seishun, so he hung around the practice court for a while, the one with the wall at the net. He warmed up hitting the ball at the same spot, exactly 15 centimeters (roughly 6 inches) above the net, exactly in the middle, every time.
Fifteen minutes later, someone rudely disturbed his practice by waltzing right onto the court in a Hyotei uniform. Fuji was annoyed, since that had been his longest rally with the wall yet, but he wasn't the type to get mad over something as little as this. Fuji caught the ball and was about to reprimand the boy, but gasped at the sight of him, leaving him breathless for the second time that week. He walked up to him just to be sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him. Was it a dream? Or a dream that had come true?
"K-Keigo…" Fuji said and reached his hand up to touch his cheek. He smiled a rare genuine smile. "I can't believe I've found you…"
Atobe moved his hand up to cover his friend's. "I heard you go to the same school as our target," he said.
Fuji jerked his hand away. "We haven't seen each other in fifteen years, and that's all you have to say?!" he shouted.
Atobe smirked. "You want something else?" he said seductively, leaning in to nibble on Fuji's earlobe.
Fuji moaned softly. "K-Keigo, we can't…what if someone sees us…" Fuji gasped. "What if…Tezuka…?" Fuji unwillingly muttered the other's name.
This time, it was Atobe's turn to wrench away, disgusted. "And you're making out with him now?" he asked distastefully. He pivoted around on an elegant heel and stalked off.
"Keigo, wait!" Fuji shouted. But it was too late. Just as Atobe walked off the court, another Hyotei player walked on. He had sandy orange hair and a sleepy smile. Something about this boy chilled Fuji to the bone, but he couldn't figure out what it was. His demeanor was friendly enough.
"Hey, are you using this court?" he asked. Fuji shook his head.
"Not really," he replied. Turning around, he was about to chase after his friend, but the other boy stopped him.
"Oh, you're from Seigaku?" the orange haired boy said, reading the back of Fuji's jersey.
"Yes," Fuji answered.
The boy seemed to think for a moment. "You wouldn't happen to be Fuji Syusuke, would you?"
Fuji was taken aback. His mind wandered off of Atobe and focused on this strange boy. How did he know his name?! He regained his composure, and replied with a "Yes, I am."
The boy's eyes widened. "Wow! I'm actually meeting Fuji Syusuke in the flesh!" he shouted. He ran up to the surprised tensai and shook his hand eagerly. "I'm Jiroh Akutagawa, one of your biggest fans!"
A hint of confusion flickered across Fuji's face. "How would you know me? I'm not even nationally ranked. Why aren't you a fan of Tezuka or Chitose?"
Jiroh looked up at the slightly taller boy. "If you ask me, you're much more interesting!" Fuji laughed and smiled at Jiroh.
"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?"
"It depends on your mindset," Jiroh said.
They laughed and talked for a while. Fuji didn't know what scared him so much about Jiroh before, but it seemed to fade away with every friendly exchange of words.
Jiroh walked happily back to the court that they were to be playing on. He had actually met the person he had been 'stalking' for fifteen years now in real life! Mission accomplished, for him. Fuji seemed to have been surprised that Jiroh had known his name, but then Jiroh remembered that neither Fuji nor Atobe knew that they were being watched from afar.
Jiroh himself needed to come up with a plan that would help him see into Fuji's world. So he devised, in his opinion, an ingenious idea. Every time he slept, he would be able to enter Fuji's realm of consciousness, wherever Fuji was, as long has they were in the same region. Ever since Fuji moved to Tokyo, Jiroh had been having these sleeping attacks that sometimes lasted for hours on end. He confused his teammates, but he assured them that there wasn't really anything to worry about.
The reason that Jiroh would always watch Fuji for so long (or in other words, sleep for so long) is that Fuji's life was interesting. Even though Jiroh had been forced to attend Hyotei to keep watch over Atobe, he rarely spent time with the captain. Jiroh wanted to see what their target, Tezuka Kunimitsu was like, and to do that, he would have to go through Fuji. So everyday, during their lunch break, Jiroh would take a nap and enter Fuji's world. They had the same lunch time, fortunately, and Fuji was always on the roof with Tezuka. Jiroh would smile at the sight. Sometimes, though, he pried a bit too far, and Fuji would collapse. He had to remind himself to take it easy on the warmer days. But when Fuji collapsed, there would always be someone there to take him to the clinic, whether it was Tezuka, Fuji's red-headed friend, or even that little kid that just moved there this year. Fuji was one lucky guy.
As hard as Jiroh tried, though, he could not figure out what Fuji was thinking. With every other person he had watched over, he could get into their thought easily, even with Atobe, but with Fuji, he hit a wall every time. He could see the memories of the past day floating around, but anything before that was enclosed in the wall. Jiroh was frustrated, but that made it all the more interesting. This time, though, it would be much easier to pry into Fuji's mind, due to their close proximity. They were pretty much in the same room, if you wanted to look at it that way. He decided to take another nap, and rested on the bench.
Fuji gripped onto the railing and clutched his forehead. He was walking down to the court that they would play Hyotei on, and he suddenly felt that feeling of someone entering his mind that he had been having ever since he moved to Tokyo.
Fuji fell to his knees, forgetting that he was in the middle of a flight of stairs. He nearly fell down, when a strong arm pulled him to his feet. Fuji turned around and looked at his savior. Tezuka Kunimitsu, as expected. Fuji smiled gratefully at his friend and stood up shakily.
"Are you alright?" Tezuka asked.
Fuji nodded and dusted himself off. "I'm fine; it's nothing to worry about. Just a little sting there for a moment."
"I can take you to the clinic, if you want. There is one here, you know," Tezuka offered, but Fuji shook his head.
"There's really no need to. I'm fine," he repeated. Fuji could sure be stubborn sometimes.
"Alright, but if you need anything, just call for me."
Fuji smiled and nodded. "Gee, Tezuka, I never knew you could be so caring."
Tezuka just turned around and continued to walk down the stairs. Fuji was sure the abrupt spin was to conceal a blush.
Atobe watched all of this from his side of the court with disgust. He had seen everything, from Fuji falling to the intimate exchange of words between Fuji and Tezuka. Fuji loved Tezuka, he was sure of it. But he wondered if Tezuka loved Fuji back. Fuji was supposed to be the one doing the hurting, but it looked like Fuji had already fallen into Tezuka's territory. He would never let Tezuka hurt Fuji in the end. Atobe wanted Fuji, and he always got what he wanted.
This chapter was nice, neh? Please reivew
Next Chapter: Fuji plays Jiroh, and Atobe fights against Tezuka, not only on the courts, but also for Fuji's affection!