Chapter 15

Months passed. The tennis season had started again and both the Seigaku and Hyotei teams were practicing every day, and when coupled with the amount of homework everyone was getting to prepare them for the upcoming final exams, the boys had plenty to keep them busy. Asa offered to discontinue their tennis lessons in a conversation once with Oshitari as they were packing away their things one Saturday afternoon, but the blue-haired boy was adamant in keeping the lessons going. 'Besides,' he had said when she brought up the topic of schoolwork, 'my parents send me to summer school every year, and I just relearn everything. I know everything by now.'

If only she could say the same thing for herself…

It was the end of May, and her birthday had come and gone (May 15th; her family surprised her with a little birthday celebration, complete with balloons and streamers. She felt like a child again). She was fifteen years old. It would have been an entirely awesome birthday had they not had a Chemistry test that day at school.

She sighed moodily as she looked up from her sitting position on the floor to Miho. Currently, she was at the Oshitari residence with Fuji and Eiji, practicing for the play that was coming up in just a week. Although, honestly, she couldn't understand why she had to be dragged along in the first place. She was in charge of the costumes, and it wasn't like she was going to have a part in the production.

"Asa-chan, pay attention!" Miho said sharply, rapping her friend on the head with her knuckles. "We'll do it again until we get this perfectly!"

She heaved another sigh. "Mou, Miho-chan, you're worse than sensei!" she complained, but stood nonetheless. Fuji chuckled as he stood as well, pulling Eiji to his feet as he did so. And so the afternoon wore on, Miho going to great lengths to try to get each scene perfectly with their limited cast. By the time they were done, Asa swore that she never wanted to see another play in her entire life for however long she lived.

"Thanks for all your hard work!" Miho piped up cheerfully as she waved goodbye to her friends at her gate. They returned it and continued along on their way, Asa sighing yet again.

"Tired?" Fuji asked with a tip of his head. There was no longer a need for heavy jackets, so he just wore his school uniform. The black overcoat was draped over his arm, and the white shirt he wore contrasted sharply with the darkening sky. "It's late, after all," he said with a small smile.

Eiji grinned and flashed his victory sign. "But it was fun, working on that play, nya!" he offered cheerfully. Asa groaned, not saying anything, and Fuji laughed softly. "I can't wait for the actual day we get to put it on!" He was bouncing excitedly along the walkway as they continued on their way; Eiji was heading over to Fuji's house to spend the night. Perhaps that was why he was so happy; being able to spend the night with his best friend. Asa smiled slightly as she mulled over this.

Fuji nodded, shadows dancing over his face as he did so. "Oh, I remembered!" he said brightly all of a sudden. Eiji and Asa both turned to him, although they didn't stop walking. "We have the Kanto Regionals tomorrow," he finished.

Eiji sighed. "And here I thought it would be something earth-shattering," the redhead said with a wave of his hand. "But it was the Regionals he was talking about." But all the same, Asa detected a deep excitement hidden in his voice. It was different than his usual one. This was one that said that he wanted to win.

"Good luck, then," Asa offered the two boys. "Win and advance to the Nationals, ne?"

"Of course!" Eiji cheered, jumping up and pumping his arm enthusiastically, earning him curious looks from a family taking a walk around the neighborhood. Ignoring them, Eiji continued on, much to Fuji's amusement. "We'll be Number 1!" He nodded firmly, set on his decision. "Ryuzaki-sensei's been making me practice doubles with so many people. Doubles 1 should be taken by Seigaku, no matter who I play with!"

His companions chuckled. "Ah… that's nice to hear," Asa said. Doubles 1 would no truly no doubt be Eiji and someone. Momo, perhaps? In the first round of the Kanto Regionals against Hyotei they had proved to be an impressively strong pair against Oshitari and Gakuto. "You don't know the order until the tournament day, do you?" she asked.

"Sensei tells us right before we get on the courts," Fuji said. "Although with Tezuka in Germany, it will either be me or Echizen in Singles 1. What suspense, ne?"

"Hai, hai." That's right, she thought, falling silent as she walked. The streetlights lit up, illuminating the street in circular patches spaced regularly apart. Tezuka-kun is in Germany to finish rehab. She knew from being at the tennis practices as an onlooker, as well as from the teachers in charge of the school play. A replacement had to be brought in for Tezuka's part. I hope he's doing alright. She giggled a tiny bit to herself. Really, now. She probably didn't have to worry. Tezuka being Tezuka would definitely not do anything rash while in rehab.

"Cheer for us tomorrow." Fuji's voice brought her back to the present. "You will be coming, won't you?" he asked, watching her closely. To say the least, it was unnerving when you were being stared at by those smiling eyes.

"I'll try," she said timidly, "but I'm not 100% sure that I can make it." She had a trip to the hospital to attend to tomorrow morning.

"But you'll try, won't you?" Eiji whined, pouncing on the girl. "If you don't, Fujiko-chan will be sad!"

"Eiji… what are you saying…?"

Eiji glanced innocently at his best friend. "What?" he asked, while Fuji just shook his head. "Anyways," Eiji continued on as if nothing had happened, "you will try, won't you, nya?"

"Hai… I'll try." Eiji detached himself with a satisfied smile on his face as she broke off from the group to head up the walkway to her house. The two boys waved farewell and continued on to Fuji's house, chattering cheerfully as they did so. When they let themselves into the house, Yumiko welcomed them with a smile before the two boys headed up to Fuji's room. Yuuta wasn't home, being currently at the dorms, so Fuji just padded into his younger brother's closet and grabbed a spare futon. He was tempted to ruffle through Yuuta's things and see if he had anything interesting that he could use to tease his adorable little brother the next time he came back, but decided against it.

"Will this be alright?" he asked Eiji. His friend nodded brightly and he spread the futon on the ground. "I look forward to tomorrows match against Rokkaku," he said softly as he glanced out his window. Eiji slipped into the futon with a happy sigh of agreement.

"We'll do our best, nya?"

"Of course we will."

One of Fuji's arms reached out to turn off the light, plunging the room into darkness save for the small amount of moonlight that filtered through his closed shades to fall onto his floor and the futon. Eiji's steady breathing soon told the honey-haired prodigy that his guest was asleep, and he rolled over onto his side as he listened to the sounds his friend made as he was in the lands of sleep. In the near darkness, his eyes were open, revealing the beautiful blue depth of his eyes.

The scant moonlight made his eyes glow in the dark, and he was surprised to find a strange wetness on his cheeks as he tried to make himself comfortable on his bed. Ah… He sat up, pulling the shades open slightly so that he could stare out. His reflection gazed back at him, the blue eyes adopting a seemingly lost look that he was not accustomed to seeing. And speaking of not accustomed to seeing…

I'm crying…

He reached up and brushed his fingers against the tears. To his knowledge, he never cried. Even when he was a child, he very rarely shed tears, according to his mother and Yumiko.

He sighed and flopped ungracefully down on his bed, or, he tried to, at least. Somehow, with his lithe frame, everything he did had some graceful quality to it. It takes all the fun out of it, he thought, feeling his familiar mask creep over his face before he shook himself out of it to tackle a bigger problem. Honestly speaking, he had no reason to cry.

I feel like I lost something. He turned his head to the wall, a small frown making itself comfortable on his face. It's something important, but I don't know what it is. He closed his eyes and buried his face into his pillow. Whatever. He'd think about it again tomorrow, after Seigaku won the Regionals.

***

Asa scrambled down the road, coughing and wheezing like an old lady as she did so. Am I late? She glanced worriedly up at the sky. There wasn't a cloud in the sky; the sun was shining brightly, casting its warm rays down on the ground. That checkup took longer than I expected. I didn't think that they'd run so many tests. She had to pause in her trip to lean a hand against the wall in order to regain her breath.

She glanced at her wrist, panting. I left home so early I forgot to put on my wristwatch. Now she had no way of telling what time it was, and she had no idea how to tell time from shadows cast by the sun. She knew only that no shadow meant it was noon, and it wasn't yet noon. How inconvenient.

"This is the place, isn't it?" There were several buses parked in the parking lot, and a few children grouped around them. Elementary school students? Wasn't this a tournament with only Junior High students? She continued forward and bumped into something soft. "Gomen, gomen!" she squeaked out, leaping backwards.

"Oh, it's you." A familiarly deep voice made it to her ears and she looked up to meet Oshitari's brown eyes. The boy had his smirk present on his face, and was dressed casually. Hyotei must not have had a match, seeing as he wasn't in his jersey. "Aren't you a bit too late if you wanted to see Seigaku's match?" he asked.

Asa blinked in surprise. "Yes… I suppose it is rather late." He started walking, so she fell into step besides him. "Um, Oshitari-kun?" she ventured out. He gave a faint inclination of his head and she continued on. "Who won?"

"Seigaku. Three straight wins. Although, I really don't know why I bothered to come watch in the first place." He had stopped, his hands in the pockets of his jeans as he looked off in the general direction of the tennis courts the tournament had just been held a few hours ago. "I can't believe Miho managed to convince me." He shook his head, sighing lightly. "She said something about me owing her something."

Asa glanced curiously at him. "Well, if you owed her something, does this count as a repayment by you coming to watch this tournament?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, a bored expression on his face. "I suppose so." His expression abruptly changed from one of boredom to one of devilish delight. "Speaking of debts, you owe me one, too."

"Eh? What for?"

"Don't say anything, just come." He grabbed her wrist and proceeded to drag her along to wherever he was planning to go. Even if she struggled, she could tell that she wasn't going anywhere she wanted to go in the near future. His grip was like steel, and he moved with a strong resolve. "We'll treat it like a date, ne?" he asked, turning his head over his shoulder so that he could give her one of his smiles.

She was speechless, and the ability to form intelligent sentences had deserted her altogether. All she could squeak out was "Eh?!" which seemed to amuse him to no end.

"Yes, and if we plan it right, we have the whole afternoon to ourselves."

***

Fuji slung his tennis bag over his shoulder and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. That match with Saeki had been fun, but it was exhausting. Leave it to Saeki to try to test out his limits. It was so like his old friend. His smile widened before it vanished. She didn't come, he thought, turning so that he could survey the gathered people. There were so many, but the one he was looking for wasn't there. He sighed, feeling disappointed. Maybe it's just another doctor's appointment.

Miho was hiding behind a tree, staring at something on the other side. Even with her back facing him, he could hear her giggles as he stepped closer with a curious look etched out on his smiling face. "Oshitari-chan?" he asked, and the girl shot upwards in startled surprise.

"H-hai?" she squeaked, whirling around with a guilty smile on her face. "Is something wrong?"

He raised an eyebrow. This was interesting; it wasn't often that Miho was ruffled like that. To his knowledge, there never was a time when that happened. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She laughed nervously in answer, scooting around him with her hands folded behind her back. "It's nothing! Really!" Don't you dare look beyond that tree, Fuji Syusuke, she threatened with her mind, hoping that he would pick up her unspoken messages.

Unfortunately, if didn't seem like Fuji was a physic of any sorts. "Are you sure? You were acting… strangely. Maybe it's just a girl thing." As he spoke, he chanced a peek around the tree Miho had been using previously. He froze, and Miho gulped when she saw his expression darken impressively, and those blue eyes flash with an unspoken wrath. Oh dear… Kami-sama, please protect me! Miho clasped her hands in front of her, squeezing her eyes shut as she prayed fervently for her life.

Her savior came in the form of an innocent Eiji. "Nya, Fujiko! We're leaving! Hoi?" The energetic boy broke off suddenly when the first of Fuji's dangerous aura hit him. "Fuji…" Eiji peeked around the tree as well and promptly fell over. "Aa-chan and Oshitari?! Really? When did this happen? I didn't get to congratulate her, nya!" Fuji turned to face him and he swallowed nervously. "Uh… maybe I'll skip out on the congratulating part, nya," he offered weakly. Straightening up, he frowned lightly. "But still, it's kind of odd, don't you think? Aa-chan spends more time with Fujiko, so you'd think that she'd be with Fujiko-chan, nya?" Miho twitched, while Fuji just walked past him without so much as a glance. That dangerous aura still lingered all around him.

Eiji watched his friend walk off with a slightly worried expression. This was almost instantly replaced with a horribly excited one, though, as he grabbed Miho's arm. "Hurry, hurry, Miho-chan!" he crowed. "We need to hurry! Speed is key, nya!"

"Eh? What do you mean?" Whatever else she could have wanted to say was abruptly cut off with a startled cry as Eiji hurtled forward with Miho in tow. "Where are you going?" she almost screeched, but managed to keep her voice at a reasonable level. Oh, she was proud of herself.

Eiji gave her a look but didn't slow down or release his grip on her. "Where do you think I'm going? I want to see what they do! Don't you?" He gave her a very, very cute look, complete with a pout and that oh-so-hopeful expression in his eyes.

Miho blinked. Yes, she had wanted to stalk them and see what they were planning, but in the end had decided that giving them some privacy would probably be best. But now, seeing such a cute look on Eiji's face as he begged her to go with him…

She caved in. But not before letting him know that he was indeed very cute, with his current look, of course. "Kawaii!" she squealed, launching herself onto him in a big hug. She didn't notice the redhead's cheeks flush into a brilliant shade of pink, nor did she notice that he stuttered slightly when she let go. "Yosh! Full speed ahead, then! Be wary; no date is safe when the notorious Miho-Eiji pair is on the loose!"

A sound behind them suddenly made both stop. Pivoting to face the direction of the sound, they found themselves face to face with Fuji. "I'll come with you," he said softly.

Miho's surprised expression softened into a smile before Eiji grabbed Fuji's hand. "Awesome! The more the merrier, nya! Now we're ready for action!"

***

What a problem…

Asa followed meekly behind Oshitari as they made their way down the busy streets of Tokyo's bustling downtown area. Her head was lowered, blue eyes on the ground as she walked forward. How did she end up doing this again? Of right… he dragged her along because she owed him. What exactly, she had utterly no idea. She had only bumped into him, hadn't she?

What does one do in one of these situations…?

"Where would you like to go, Ijuuin-chan?"

"Hm?" She looked up, surprised, noticing that he had stopped and was now staring at her. There was a surprisingly gentle expression in his eyes that she wasn't quite used to seeing. "Me? Um…" Where do you go when you're with one of the richest people in Tokyo?

Oshitari must have sensed her uncertainty to some level, because he offered a low laugh. "Anywhere's fine."

Easy for you to say, she sighed, drooping momentarily. "How about here?" She gestured to the first thing that caught her eye, which happened to be an arcade with its flashing lights. He looked faintly amused with her choice before ushering her inside. Her eyes brightened when her gaze fell on al the available games. "They added many new games since I was here last," she noted, fingering in her pocket for change. Hopefully, she'd have enough change to play a few of them.

Oshitari chuckled lightly, letting his eyes roam around as well. He hadn't been in an arcade in a while, either. Normally, when Miho invited him to come along to these things, he refused in order to stay home and read a book. There was nothing that could be compared to a wonderfully written novel, in his opinion. "Saa, it looks like fun," he offered, pulling out some money from his pocket and feeding into the first gaming machine that seemed interesting to him. "It's two-player, so you can play, too," he said, nodding to the screen, "I paid for you."

"You didn't have to, you know," Asa grumbled, but she went to stand next to him all the same, listening intently as he explained the instructions.

"Don't lose too early, then," he prompted, smirking.

She pouted, frowning at the screen. "I won't!"

***

Miho heaved a sigh as she scurried down the street. Following her brother and Asa was harder than she had originally thought. Eiji and Fuji tagged obediently behind her like little ducklings until Eiji paused, panting. "I'm hungry!" he whined. Fuji's dark expression lightened momentarily as he laughed softly, and Miho pivoted to face them, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"There's a burger shop a bit further. We can get something there," she said, pointing over her shoulder. At their quiet responses, she cocked her head to the side and turned around. "Oh, it's Nii-san and Asa-chan," she murmured, before chancing a glance back at her companions. "Do you two still want to go?"

"We'll go," Fuji said firmly as he stepped forward. Eiji and Miho exchanged worried looks before falling into step behind him.

An overly cheerful lady greeted them behind the counter. "Welcome! How may I help you?" she asked brightly. They puzzled over their choices for a while before placing an order, which the three-some then took to a table by the window. Miho attempted to engage the two boys in cheerful conversation, but the only one who seemed to be doing the talking was her, so she eventually stopped. Maybe it was a bad idea, this whole stalking thing.

Fuji's eyes were focused on something in the window's reflection as he sipped from his soda. Eiji munched away on his burger without a care in the world, although they could tell the acrobat was tense. The whole atmosphere of the shop was tense, it seemed. It was like the world was holding its breath and waiting for the right moment to let it out.

"Ne, Oshitari-kun?" Miho cocked her head to the side as the conversation of the two people she had decided to trail entered her ears. "Are you planning on telling me what I owed you?"

"No. I'm pretty sure you can figure it out on your own."

"I see." There was a drawn-out pause before she spoke again. "Anyways, thanks for today. It was really nice of you to treat me to all of these things." There was a nervous chuckle. "Maa… this wouldn't have happened if I wasn't late to the tournament. And I promised Fuji-kun and Eiji-kun I'd try to make it…"

"Many good things come out of bad things, don't they? Why were you late in the first place?"

"Doctor's appointment," Asa muttered, hands tightening momentarily on her cup, her smile dropping. "But still," she added hastily, smile returning as she looked up, "thanks for today."

Oshitari regarded her with a very serious expression as he rolled his straw in between his fingers. She watched him curiously, as did the other three observers by the window. "Say, do you mind if I do something?" She shook her head, although her expression asked him what exactly he wanted to do. He didn't give her an answer straight away, instead simply pushing his tray to one side while he thought. The quicker the better, he finally decided. His gaze flickered to the trio at the window, and he allowed a faintly satisfied smirk to cross his features as he took into account Fuji's tense back. Asa didn't know they had been followed, or, if she did, she had kept very quiet about it. Fuji continued to frown into the glass as he drank his soda. While neither said a single word, both boys knew that the other was watching them. I should eliminate them as they come, or let them get high up in the sky and then watch them fall and shatter into a hundred pieces on the ground, he thought firmly, finally tearing his gaze away from the other prodigy.

"It's getting late," Asa piped up as she started to stand up. "Thanks again for today--?" She never got to finish her sentence, as her companion had stood, grabbing her wrist with one hand and pulling her towards him in a fluid movement as he did so. With a confident smirk on his face, he planted a kiss squarely on her lips, watching for a reaction out of the corner of his eyes. "I'll get rid of any rival as I see fit," he fairly crooned into her ear.

Miho and Eiji both shivered. They could almost taste doom in the air as Fuji stopped drinking his soda. The boy stood, picked up his tray, and moved over to the trash can, throwing away his leftovers. When he headed back to his seat, he stopped besides Oshitari, who had by this time released the girl from his grasp. "Saa, Oshitari," he said coldly. The entire shop was deathly silent as blue eyes met brown. "Do you want to get rid of me that badly?"

Oshitari brushed a few stray bangs of hair away from his glasses. "Not really," he countered calmly. "I only wish to see you break. It will be a sight to see, ne? The breaking of Seigauk's tensai…" There was a gleam from the lens of his glasses as he said the last two words.

"…Fuji Syusuke."

A/N: Hmmm... I suppose the beginning parts were a bit hurried. Sorry about that. And it has also been brought to my attention that the last match of the Rokkaku vs. Seigaku tournament took two days to complete. But for the sake of this chapter, let's assume that it ended in one day... ^^;

And... uh... sorry, Fuji. It's a pity when you're not a physic, isn't it? (Although... he acts like one sometimes...)

Reviews are love. Thank you for those who reviewed! You don't know how happy it makes me when I see the thoughts of my readers. ^^