Chapter 17

Asa sneezed and stared miserably at the ceiling above her head. She was in her house, lying in her bed under a massive mountain of blankets. And she was still freezing. I hate being sick, she thought miserably, ducking down under the covers, one hand fluttering out to grab a tissue as she did so. I especially hate getting fevers. She pushed herself up and blew her nose. The tip was already red and tender from the amount of times she had had to repeat that action. Stupid illness, she grumbled to herself and snuggled gloomily back into her pillows.

She had been released from the hospital two days ago with a stern warning from her doctor about staying in the rain. Fuji had chided her again about the hazards of staying in unfriendly weather, and her parents had given her a stern lecture. All this she tried to keep in mind, but the other day it had rained and she didn't have an umbrella. Fuji had had some thing or another to stay after school (he had never elaborated, and she had never thought to ask him), Eiji had to go with him, and Miho had one of those annual checkups at the doctor's to go to so she had been excused the period before. So she had decided to run all the way home and take her chances with getting sick.

So here she was now, lying in bed, sick with a fever. A rather high fever, as well. She'd have to remember never to run in the rain again. Why did it seem like other people could run in the rain but as soon as she did it she'd get so miserably ill? It wasn't fair.

She sulked and burrowed deeper into her covers only to hear her cell phone ring. The whole house was silent besides the ringing of her phone, and she remembered that tonight was the night where Seishen Academy was performing all of their plays. The rest of her family had left to go watch them, and she was home sleeping.

Supposedly, she should be sleeping, except she wasn't, since she was reaching out to answer her phone.

"Moshimoshi?" she rasped into the small device when she managed to open it after fumbling around with it for a few moments. "This is Ijuuin Asa speaking. Can I help you?"

"Aa-chan! What happened to you? You don't sound very good."

"I don't feel that good either," she grumbled, answering the boy on the other side of the line. Fuji gave a little tsking sound, and she imagined him shaking his head. "Is something the matter?" she asked, although she had a pretty good idea of what he was calling her for.

"Ah… it's just that I worried when I didn't see you seated in the center seat of the first row when we were performing," Fuji teased. "Are you sick? Fever? You could have waited for me; I had an umbrella and you wouldn't have gotten to this stage you are in now." His voice had a reproachful hint in it and she glowered at the wall. She shivered and slid back into her warm nest, cradling the phone gently between her ear and the pillow.

"Even if I was there, I couldn't possibly be in the center seat of the first row," she said slowly.

"Yeah… I suppose you're right," Fuji sighed lightly before chuckling softly. "I'll visit you tomorrow! Don't plan anything, ok?" He hung up before she could say anything, and she was left to listen to the steady beeping sound that signified that she was no longer connected to anyone.

Really now, she thought, flipping the phone shut and slipping it back onto her nightstand before wrapping herself more snuggly in her blankets. Don't plan anything, eh? I couldn't plan to do anything if I'm sick, now, could I? But still, she'd look forward to his visit tomorrow, even if it was a bit stubborn.

I just hope he doesn't get sick himself when he does come.

***

The next morning Fuji arrived at the Ijuuin doorstep at ten o'clock sharp. He frowned slightly as he stared at the door. Didn't she know it was stupid to stay out in the elements for too long? He had thought she had learned her lesson the last time. If she didn't get better in the next two days she wouldn't be able to go with them to the training camp (them being the Seigaku regulars). "Silly Aa-chan," he said with a shake of his head, reaching up and rapping smartly on the door.

It was opened a few minutes later by a sleepy looking Asa, who simply gave him a small nod in greeting. He shook his head once again, ushering her back into the house and shutting the front door after him. "See? This is why you don't run in the rain. You wait for someone with an umbrella." He put a special emphasis on the word 'someone,' giving her a hard look as he did so.

"Hai, hai," she mumbled, and he sighed. Was she even paying attention?

"Go to bed. Shoo, shoo," he coaxed, pushing her gently up the stairs. She refused to budge, instead simply latching herself comfortably on him, burying her head in his chest. Her forehead was warm, but it wasn't too incredibly hot. Her fever must have gone down some. He was glad. "Have it your way, then," he said amiably, maneuvering himself to the living room. "Are your parents home? Ah… good morning, Ijuuin-san." He greeted her father, and the older male looked up from the paper he was reading to wink at him.

"Good morning, Fuji-kun. Aa-chan isn't being any trouble, is she?" A twinkle of mischief was in his eyes, and Asa shifted slightly to glare at him.

"I'm not being any trouble," she retorted, although the effect she had wanted to achieve was not obtained due to her raspy voice.

"Did I say anything?" he asked innocently. He stood, waving the two of them to sit down on the couch. "I'll make some tea; it's one of the only things involving food that I can do. Aa-chan, make sure you get to sleep early tonight and don't keep Fuji-kun over too late. I'll be working late at the lab tonight."

"I'll make the tea," Asa offered, starting for the kitchen only to be waved backwards by her father.

"You have a guest over. Be a good hostess and entertain your guest," he chided and vanished into the kitchen. The tea he brought out a few minutes later certainly looked safe enough, although that mischievous look he gave her made her worry about what he could have possibly put into it, fever or not. "You had better be in bed and asleep by the time I get back," he warned before leaving.

Fuji picked up his teacup and took a sip of the tea. "He certainly is a very caring father," he remarked sweetly. "Sometimes I wonder if my father would be like that if he wasn't working out of the country."

She frowned, picking up her own teacup and enjoying the feeling of the steam curling softly on her cheeks. "I'm sure he would. After all, your parents will always love you, no matter how far they are from you. Don't you think so?" She glanced at him and he chuckled softly, nodding.

"You're right. I shouldn't have even asked, ne?" He laughed at himself, setting the cup back on the table. "Your father makes wonderful tea. I wonder why he said that he could only make tea…"

Asa grimaced. "You haven't eaten his lunches. They taste like he's out to poison the whole world," she mumbled, staring into the depths of the golden liquid. "But Otou-san's tea is the best. I remember I used to love being sick when I was a little kid because that was the only time he'd make me tea." She grinned, and then frowned slightly when Fuji gave her an odd look. "I was a little girl at that time! I'm entitled to these things!" she defended herself.

"I never said you weren't entitled to it."

"You looked like it." Asa glowered into her tea before setting it on the table and leaning back on the couch. "But really, I really did like getting sick when I was little. Otou-san would take the day off from work regardless of what he was doing and spend the day with me. It made me feel special." She gave him a soft smile. "Usually I just spent the day by myself, since it was only Otou-san and me. We used to have a maid, but apparently Otou-san has a special way of organizing his rooms that the maid couldn't get, so eventually he stopped hiring one."

"Doesn't that get lonely sometimes?" Fuji asked thoughtfully. She shrugged, and there was silence before he spoke again. "So… do I count as a good replacement for your father?"

"Eh?!"

"You said that whenever you were sick your father used to take the day off and spend it with you," Fuji explained patiently. "This time he went to work, and I'm spending the day with you (or a part of it, at least, he quietly corrected himself in his mind). So I'm asking this: do I make a good replacement for him?"

"Ah…" She fumbled for words, feeling uncomfortable, and not just from her fever. She would never truly get used to his serious gaze. His blue eyes seemed to have the ability to bore two holes straight into her.

He looked faintly dejected with her lack of answer. "Naruhodo… I guess I'm not that good of a replacement, ne?"

She grabbed his sleeve. "I didn't mean that! You're a good replacement!" What am I saying? I sound like an idiot! I sound like Fuji-kun is simply an item! "I mean… uh… how do I say this?" She fumbled with her thoughts before she was pulled towards the other end of the couch, where Fuji sat.

"I'm glad," he murmured, leaning his cheek against the top of her head. And their conversation was thus ended. For the rest of the afternoon Fuji amused both him and Asa with an assortment of random games. "Let's play this!" he said brightly, having unearthed a copy of monopoly.

"Ah… sure…" Asa settled herself on the floor opposite of Fuji as he set up the board game. "Ne, Fuji-kun, don't you get bored of doing this?" she asked, leaning her chin on her folded hands. "I mean, I'm really glad you came and all that… but I really don't want to be a burden."

"Saa, saa… Aa-chan isn't a burden," Fuji said brightly. "Besides, it's fun to just relax a bit with friends. Don't you think so?" Asa looked uncertain for a few moments before returning her attention back on the game.

"Ah… you owe me money." She pointed to the space where his piece had landed and Fuji adopted a look of mock remorse on his face as he paid her the rent. "I suppose you're right, when you say it's fun to relax with friends."

"Of course I'm right," Fuji retorted, giving her an impish smile. "Get better in two days, ne, Aa-chan?" he asked, handing her the dice. "That way, you can come to training camp with us."

"Isn't training camp only with the tennis players?"

Fuji chuckled. "Sensei told us that it would only be us and the freshmen… Hyotei will be there, too. She's afraid the freshmen will have too much work catering for all of us. You'll come, won't you?"

"I see how it is… if I get better I will." She looked down at the board after she had rolled the dice and blinked in confusion. Where was her piece? Fuji pointed to the jail area with a mischievous glint in his eyes. I could have sworn it was on the other side of the board just a few seconds ago, she thought, frowning at her piece where it sat innocently in jail. So how come it moved so far…?

"Fuji-kun! That's cheating!"

"I call it retaliation for doubting me. And besides, you're supposed to call me Syusuke." He smirked triumphantly and she was reduced to glaring at him before she coughed. "Drink tea, Aa-chan. You'll get better faster; you said so yourself."

She accepted the cup of tea although she still glared at him. Since when had she said that the tea helped her get better faster? To the extent of her knowledge, she had only mentioned that she enjoyed drinking it when she was sick. "Saa… don't frown so much. You'll get wrinkles like Tezuka will be prone to when he gets older."

In the Tezuka household, said boy sneezed as he was doing his math homework. He paused in his work, a puzzled expression on his face. Was he ill? Perhaps he should take some medication to prevent it from getting worse…

Asa sipped her tea moodily. "I wouldn't glare so much if you didn't tease so much," she retorted. Fuji simply cocked his head to the side, his everlasting smile on his face. When they packed up the game (Fuji decided that he had to go when his mother called his cell phone, and Asa didn't want to play anymore since Fuji looked like he had devised many more ways to cheat), Asa saw him to the door.

"Get a lot of sleep," Fuji said sternly, wagging his finger in front of her face. "Get better soon so you can come to our training session, ne?" He gave her a one-armed hug and left the house, waving cheerfully behind him as he did so. "Don't stay in the doorway too long; you'll get chilled from the wind!" he lectured.

"Ah… I understand. Thanks for coming over today!" Thanks for coming, Syusuke.

He nodded and turned out onto the road, and Asa shut the front door. Though he insisted, and she sincerely tried her hardest, she couldn't ever being herself to say his given name after that one time. She could only call him that in her thoughts. Childish as it may seem, she was afraid it would lose its certain… special… quality if she called him Syusuke out loud too much.

"Alright!" she said, adopting a serious manner. "I'll work extra hard to get better in two days!" Truth be told, she was curious to see how a training camp with the Seigaku tennis club was like. Somehow, she didn't think it would be like any other teams' sessions.

"Curiosity killed the cat, right?" she mused, looking thoughtful. "But satisfaction brought him back." Seika mewed indignantly at her feet when she mentioned 'cat' and 'killed' in the same sentence, and she looked down in surprise. "Ah… I'm sorry, Seika," she said sheepishly. If cats could huff, Seika would have done so.

***

"Good morning!" Eiji was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as he stood with the rest of his teammates and Miho at the bus stop. "Today is such a beautiful day, nya!" he remarked happily. Miho nodded in agreement while Fuji just offered his usual smile. "Is Aa-chan coming?" Eiji asked curiously, shifting his overnight bag and his tennis bag to a more comfortable position on his shoulder.

"She said she'd come if she felt better," Fuji answered.

Miho and Eiji looked worried. "It's not serious, is it?" Miho asked. "She's not at the hospital again, is she?"

"Eh? Iie… Aa-chan had a fever," Fuji explained. "It was raining the other day and she ran home without an umbrella." Hearing this, Miho gave a shake of her head, although she looked rather relieved. Fuji, on the other hand, was not too pleased. "I don't see why she couldn't have waited. I was almost done, too," he grumbled, shifting his bags as well.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Fuji pivoted on his left leg to find Asa, looking as if she had just managed to drag herself out of bed. His smile grew wider. "You're feeling better?" he asked happily, knowing full well that the girl wouldn't have dragged herself out onto this trip if she hadn't been. "I'm glad! The trip will be really fun!"

Ryuzaki-sensei glanced at her assembled students, counting heads. "We have quite a bit of helpers, ne?" she asked, looking rather pleased. In addition to Echizen's trio of faithful followers, her own granddaughter, and Osakada Tomoka, they now had Miho and Asa. Seven should be enough, she thought. We're only staying for two nights, after all. She dearly hoped that seven would be enough for the seventeen tennis players. If not, they were in trouble. "Sakaki-sensei has assured me that his team would be waiting for us at the lodging. Let's get going, then!"

"Hai!"

"Ne, Asa-chan," Miho asked as they found a seat on the bus. Thankfully, the bus wasn't that crowded. Terrible things could happen on a crowded bus if one wasn't careful. "Have you ever been to one of Seigaku's training camps?" Asa shook her head, and Miho gave a soft sigh. "Oh… and here I was planning on asking you what it was like. All Eiji told me was to pack my overnight bag and bring a few extra tennis rackets."

"Oshitari-kun advised me to bring my racket, too," Asa murmured. "I'm quite looking forward to this whole training camp. It's no wonder that both Seigaku and Hyotei are incredibly strong; they obviously take tennis very seriously." Oh, it was wonderful, stating the overly obvious.

Fuji was sitting next to Tezuka in one of the seats towards the back of the bus. It would be a long trip, and he had packed a novel into his bag just for that reason. Perhaps he should actually read it, like Tezuka was doing… "Ne, Tezuka, wake me up when we get there," Fuji said lightly. Tezuka glanced up from his book and raised an eyebrow at his teammate. In answer, Fuji simply smiled at him and then leaned his head against the window. He was asleep within a matter of minutes.

"Ijuuin-chan, have you a spare jacket?" Tezuka asked. The two girls were seated on the opposite side of the aisle from him and Fuji.

"Eh? Yeah." Asa pulled out the garment, a dual-toned jacket in a nice shade of blue. "Here you go, Tezuka-kun." She handed the item to him and both she and Miho watched curiously as Tezuka draped it over the sleeping tensai's upper body.

"This bus is air-conditioned," Tezuka explained, "and he might catch a cold if he sleeps on an air-conditioned bus in what he's currently wearing." He gestured to the sleeping boy and the short-sleeved shirt he was wearing at the moment.

"Ah… I see…" I've never heard about that, Asa thought to herself. I guess one really does learn something new everyday.

"Does that mean that Eiji might also catch a cold?" Miho asked, glancing at the seat in front of Tezuka and Fuji. The redhead was slumbering peacefully in his seat, bent nearly sideways over his knees. Taka looked like he was deliberating whether or not he should wake up the boy or let him sleep on and possibly bump his head when the bus stopped.

"Have you an extra jacket?" Asa asked slyly. "It'd be terrible if Eiji-kun caught a cold, now, wouldn't it?" Miho thought this over before digging into her overnight bag and producing an extra jacket. It was always useful to carry extras. And throughout the duration of the trip, Tezuka wondered why he had bothered to care about the welfare of his teammates, as Miho and Asa got into a heated debate under their breaths on whether or not Eiji needed the jacket (Miho hesitating, wondering whether or not he really needed it, and Asa arguing that he did simply because… well… she wanted to). It was enough to drive him insane. Thankfully, he had his book, and so he busied himself by immersing himself in the words of his page.

He was at peace and quite happy until Momo and Kaidoh started arguing, very loudly, in the seat behind him. Why those two rivals sat next to each other he would never know, nor did he think he would ever care. "Momoshiro, Kaidoh," he growled out. They instantly shut up. "30 laps around the complex when we get there."

And the bus was deathly silent for the remainder of the trip.

***

"Wow…" Asa couldn't find any other words to describe this vast complex. "Sugoi! This is the first time I've seen a traditional Japanese house!" Her blue eyes fairly shone with excitement; Fuji couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

"It's nice, isn't it?" he asked, and she nodded enthusiastically. He followed the rest of his teammates inside as they began to chatter about how they were going to be dividing the rooms. The final list of who would be rooming with who was posted on the wall in the hallway. "Ah… I'm rooming with Oshitari," Fuji remarked nonchalantly as he scanned down for his name.

"Maa… it'll be fun!" Asa teased him, poking him gently in the side. "You'll see!" she said brightly, giving him a smile before she turned to Miho. "Miho-chan… let's go check out the kitchen. If we need anything I want to go buy it now while there's still light. I saw a grocery store just around the corner when we were walking here from the bus stop." Miho nodded, voicing her agreement as the two girls vanished behind the corner.

"So serious, nya," Eiji commented happily as he pushed forward to read his own name. "I'm rooming with Ohtori-kun!" So saying, he spun around and sought out the silver-haired junior. When he did locate the other boy, he waved madly at him. "We're rooming together!" he fairly screeched over the others.

"Eh… hai, Kikumaru-san…"

Their coaches let them have that afternoon to themselves for unpacking and exploring. Training would start tomorrow promptly at eight in the morning. Fuji set his tennis bag in the corner of his shared room and glanced around. It was a medium-sized rectangular room with two beds set against the walls, modeled after a general hotel room style. But it looked cozy enough, and the beds were quite nice (soft and bouncy; he had amused himself with sitting on his and bouncing up and down several times). Oshitari made himself comfortable on the edge of his bed and pulled out a book and began reading. Fuji, out of curiosity, bent his head to read the title of his novel. "Romeo and Juliet?" he asked, straightening up.

"A most tragic romance," Oshitari answered him, not even glancing up from the pages of his book. "This is – what? – the third time I've read this play? It's so gripping…" He continued on, and Fuji decided that it was best to leave his roommate to his reading.

Ah… what to do? He stood in the hallway and pondered to himself. He already knew where the tennis courts were, he knew where Tezuka and Echizen were rooming (in case he ever wanted to pop into their rooms and annoy them. A pity then that they weren't in the same room; it would have made his job easier), he knew where all the halls went to… Or, maybe not all of them, he thought sheepishly, pausing in his aimless trek around the house to puzzle over his surroundings. Great… I'm lost… how humiliating…

At that time voices drifted into his range of hearing, and he made his way towards them. They led him to the kitchen, where Miho and Asa were with the Sakuno, the three girls combing through the contents of the room. "We can make curry," Sakuno offered, looking at the little mound of food they had gathered on the center table.

"Ah… I suppose curry it is, then," Asa mused, casting the mound a critical glance. "Saa… let's get going, then. It might take us a while to get it all done, since we have yet to find all the utensils…" She trailed off and glanced at Miho.

Miho looked up from the drawer she was looking at. "Knives?" she offered, picking up one of the sharp objects. "They have a whole set of them in here, and that other drawer has silverware," here, she gestured at the drawer adjacent to the one she currently had open.

"That works, then," Asa said brightly, finding a pot that was big enough to cook in. "Should we make miso soup, as well? I see miso paste in that pile…"

"Maa… add wasabi to it, please?" Fuji piped up from the doorway. They jumped and turned to see him.

"Fuji-sempai!" Sakuno stuttered, looking startled. Miho waved cheerfully at him, and Asa offered a grin.

"Want to help?" Miho asked, "Or are you busy doing something else and just thought to pop in here?"

Fuji laughed, his smile widening. "I don't have much to do at the moment. Oshitari is reading a romance novel and I thought it would be best not to disturb him." Here Miho nodded, muttering about her brother and his frightening obsession with romance novels. "But will you add wasabi to the miso soup?" He looked hopefully at Asa, and she was struck with the similarity of his face and that of a puppy wanting to go into a house when it was raining. Both were too irresistibly cute.

"Tezuka-kun will be angry if there's too much spicy food," Asa murmured. Fuji sighed and pouted. Tezuka was a really capable captain, that was a given, but sometimes he annoyed Fuji to no ends with the fact that he couldn't quite stomach spicy foods. This had been discovered when Fuji had forced him to eat several wasabi sushi the day they had thrown a party for Oishi's fifteenth birthday, and Tezuka had passed out on the floor.

Fuji was not joking when he recounted this tale, with a very serious expression on his face, to the three girls. Sakuno's jaw dropped in shock as she learned of the incident, Miho looked torn between looking extremely scared and wanting to laugh. And Asa just shook her head, not doing anything else. How like him, she thought with a smile. Although I'm surprised Tezuka-kun took the sushi in the first place.

A half hour later, dinner was ready. Somehow, they had managed to stop Fuji from sneaking any extra and unwanted wasabi into the dishes, much to his disappointment, although he lived with it. "Ne, Fuji-kun, could you tell everyone dinner is ready?" Miho asked Fuji as she turned off the stove. Fuji gave a cheerful nod and trotted dutifully off to do his appointed task. In no time at all, the genius had managed to round up all of the other members, and the dining room was packed. Even Atobe, with his many complaints on how he was eating 'commoner's foods,' sat and ate as well. Miho and Asa gave each other smiles and slapped high fives.

"Goal!" they said happily, earning them a couple curious glances.

Shishido huffed, popping another mouthful of curry into his mouth. "Honestly," he grumbled, "Seigaku's Fuji has the weirdest girlfriend."

Fuji chuckled as he ate his own meal. "Why, thank you," he said, causing the other boy to twitch as he wondered whether or not there was a hidden threat in his words. "You're the first one who said Aa-chan is my girlfriend." The whole room was silent after this comment, and Tezuka looked like he was ready to order everyone, whether or not they were a part of Seigaku, to run laps.

Asa took a deep breath and began making her way for the kitchen. "I think I'll leave, now," she muttered, and was promptly dragged back by Miho.

A dangerous looking smile was on Miho's face as she tugged on her friend's arm. "Ne, ne, aren't you going to spend some time with your boyfriend?"

"Miho-chan, you are the devil in disguise," Asa grumbled darkly. "I'm going to bed. That's the end of it. Good night." She marched off, leaving a puzzled Miho to chase after her.

"But, Asa-chan! It's not even eight o'clock yet! You need to do something more productive than sleep!" There was suddenly a scuffling sound and then silence. Fuji cocked his head to the side before he heard the sound of tennis balls bouncing outside.

"Tennis?" he murmured, standing up and abandoning his food. Eiji bounced after him and the two made their ways to the courts to observe.

"And this is your 'something more productive'?" Asa asked, standing on one side of the court while she watched Miho bounce a little yellow tennis ball. For answer, the other girl just served the ball over. "Maa, maa… Miho-chan is so mean," Asa grumbled, chasing after the ball and hitting it back.

Fuji seated himself comfortably on the porch and gestured for Eiji to sit next to him. The redhead willingly did so. "Looks fun, doesn't it?" Fuji asked softly. "One day, let's play doubles with them."

Eiji grinned, resting his chin on his hands. "Yeah! That'd be the best."

Miho hit the ball once again and started for the net. "Well, what do you know?" she asked happily. "Nii-san's teaching isn't that bad!"

Asa huffed and angled her racket, hitting an upward lob. "What do you mean 'not that bad'?" she retorted, although she was quite pleased with herself. While Miho was probably hitting really easy balls, the fact that she could run and return anything made her quite proud. "Ne, Miho-chan…" she started.

"What?"

"Let's do this again sometime." She gave her friend a genuine smile, and Miho paused slightly to take in the sight. "It's really fun… playing against Miho-chan even if she's going easy on me."

"You'll topple over sideways if I go any harder," Miho huffed, but she was smiling happily herself. "Let's do this again sometime, then. Preferably before we get into college and get too lazy to run back and forth on a court. What do you think?" She gave her a cheeky grin and Asa gave a short wave with her hand.

"I think that's lovely." She turned and waved at Fuji and Eiji. "Ne, care to join us?" she asked cheerfully.

Fuji's face lit up, and Eiji did a happy somersault off of the porch. "We thought you'd never ask, nya!" Eiji retorted, running inside. He was back in a few moments with his racket and Fuji's. "Let's play! Let's play!"

And so they did.

A/N: Ah... yeah... this would have been up last night but the site wouldn't let me on my documents. *sobs* So it's up now. Sorry for the really long wait. Please read and review!

Thanks!