Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of tennis. I only own my fantasy and constant ideas that pop up into my (weird) mind.

I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! And let me just say this….YAY \o/ two chapters uploaded in one day! I'm so proud of myself. ^^

I probably won't upload before leaving to Spain, since it's on Monday. But the next upload will probably for Destined Greece.


Persistence: chapter 9

TEZUKA'S POV

I was standing next to my bag as everyone decided who would go first to the bathroom. We were already so far that we agreed to go in couples of three. We were with 9, and Fuji told us there were two sinks in the bathroom so place enough to brush our teeth, even with three together. We would each separately change and then brush our teeth together so it wouldn't take too long while the others waited downstairs.

"Fuji, you should go first. You can go straight to bed after and you don't have to wait for the others." I told him and he just nodded. He looked completely exhausted and we all noticed it so everyone easily agreed.

"Who should go with him?" Takashi then asked.

I suddenly had the idea that everyone was watching me and Inui then opened his mouth: "Tezuka, you should go with him. And then…Oishi. Kikumaru can go next with Momo and Echizen. And then I'll go with Kaidoh and Takashi."

The regulars easily complied with it and I grabbed my bag and then went to Fuji's bathroom with him leading and Oishi behind us. When coming upstairs Fuji went to his room first and told us to wait here as he quickly went to change. He took some clothes out of his closet and entered the other room that was right across the hall. As I and Oishi stood in Fuji's room I noticed that my best friend was walking towards the window silk. He observed the light brown haired boy's collection of cacti there and smiled at himself for Fuji's slightly off choice for flowering in his room.

I casually went to sit on the tensai's bed as I put my bag down, and from the corners of my eyes I noticed a shirt that lay on the ground, half underneath the bed. It was the only thing that was messy in this room so I decided to pick it up and put it in his basket for dirty laundry. I bend down and picked it up; it was a black T-shirt with some kind of print on it. I hadn't seen Fuji wearing it yet, and for some reason it didn't look like something he would wear. I turned it around and saw the label hanging out at the back; I looked at it and saw in a bold letter 'M', for medium sized.

… Fuji definitely doesn't have a medium, he's more like a small or something.

My eyes then widened as my locked up anger for Ito, that had been dormant in favour of calming down Fuji, came to a boiling point.

"THUD"

Oishi suddenly looked at me with wide shocked eyes and mouth agape, my hands in fists as one gripped the shirt and the other one was against Fuji's headboard of his bed. I hadn't been able to control myself and for once let if free. This resulted in me, hitting the nearest (not easily breakable) object in one quick blow resulting to a very loud thud.

The door of the bathroom opened and out came Fuji as he hurriedly came to see what happened, fear clear in his eyes.

He saw both of us and didn't know what to make of it, but I guessed that he then noticed the shirt I had been holding.

"W…where did you find that?" he asked, a tremble clear in his voice.

"Under your bed." I told him in a cold tone, barely suppressing the emotions that run through my veins. "It's not yours, is it?"

"…No…" he barely audible replied.

I noticed Oishi's eyes that had been on me the whole time, turn towards Fuji. "Fuji!" Oishi yelled followed by a loud gasp.

I turned my head at that and saw Fuji standing in the doorway. He was only wearing his pyjama bottoms since he was interrupted by me when changing. But that wasn't the reason for the vice-captains yell.

For the first time of the day were bruises around his wrist visible. He had worn his jacket all the time even when being at home and despite the heat. But that wasn't all. There was this big dark bruise on his abdomen and I saw the bite mark Kikumaru had noticed before, again.

I was trying to control my anger as my grip on the black T-shirt grew stronger and my breathing became harder. I decided to calm down, since being angry at the moment wasn't helpful. I took a long breath in and released it seconds later.

"Go get further dressed." I told Fuji who was still standing there as I finally let go of the shirt. Fuji went back to the bathroom after a small moment of hesitation.

"Being angry won't solve anything." Mother hen told me, knowing my thoughts.

Seeing that I could trust Oishi, I decided to tell him what had been troubling me: "I know that. It's just…I can't help getting mad every time I think about it or see Fuji trembling in fear. Oishi, we don't even know how far Ito got! I hate this, him, I hate not knowing what I can do to help Fuji. I hate not knowing what happened to him…"

"Tezuka,… it's not something that is easy to talk about…" Oishi told as he came to stand next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. I had put the fingers of my right hand on the bridge of my nose for a moment before moving them to my hair. I knew I looked uncharacteristic, but I was also tired from all the different emotions that ran through me. And I trusted Oishi to show him this weaker side of me. I couldn't let Fuji see me like this though; I needed to be strong for him.

"And you might not notice it. But I do, we've all seen it." Oishi then added motherly.

"Seen what?" I asked slightly confused by his words.

"You do help him…more than you think. Don't you see the way he relaxes when you're around him? I know that you held his hand during the last two movies."

At seeing my surprised expression he knew that he needed to explain himself.

"I noticed that you moved your hand underneath his blanket and Fuji's surprised glance towards you. I also noticed that Fuji seemed to calm down further. Tezuka, you're already helping him a lot."

"I still want to know what happened to him…" I told Oishi who just smiled sadly and answered that we all wanted to know that. Both of us had failed to hear the door open as Fuji suddenly came in the room and told that he was ready.

I and Oishi then went to change, with me going first. After we were all in our nightwear and had brushed our teeth we headed back downstairs. I passed Fuji's room and saw the shirt on his bed again. I walked back in and grabbed it going downstairs after. Fuji and Oishi were already in the living room as I passed them by and headed for the back door.

Everyone looked weird to me as I opened the door and headed outside. They had all noticed that I was holding a T-shirt and probably wondered what I was doing. I knew that Fuji had this black garbage can outside. I opened it and disposed the thing that I was holding. I came back inside only a minute after and Fuji looked for a moment at me before softly smiling and mouthing me a thank you.

All the other's just kept looking strange at me, but decided not to ask. Only Oishi understood it. After that the next three went to change. We all started talking as we helped Fuji with moving the couches and laying all the sleeping bags on the ground. We all had our own pillows and as everything was ready to go to bed Inui, Kaidoh and Takashi could go upstairs.

Fuji, who was sitting on the couch looked around, although tiredly. I did the same and saw Echizen, who was wearing a dark blue pyjama short with a similar shirt where 'the prince' was printed on. Momo wore, like me, jogging pants, his was only black and he wore a plain red shirt. He was talking to the first year about the second movie. It seemed they were arguing about who had been the most scared.

Kikumaru wore a baby blue pyjama with kittens on it, and I somehow thought that it was perfect for him. The red head was talking to his doubles partner while hugging his pillow, instead of his partner. Oishi was smiling softly back at him, he wore a light striped pyjama's which seemed also very like him. I then looked to Fuji, who was also wearing shorts, and a white T-shirt with a cactus on it, which made me smile.

I told Fuji that he had to go to sleep while the last three changed and he nodded before he stood up and walked to his sleeping bag. He went to lie down and crawled underneath the blanket. Kikumaru had put his bag next to Fuji's and Oishi was placed next to the red head. Mine was next to Oishi's as all the other bags were opposite from ours. The red head turned around, since he had been sitting on the ground already and told Fuji goodnight. His best friend smiled before we could hear his breathing becoming regular, notifying us that he was already asleep.

The sleeping boy looked even more fragile than when awake, no mask covering his weakness. The bags under his eyes looked even darker than before, making him look like he was seriously sick.

Inui then came downstairs in what seemed his outfit of when he coached us. Takashi wore nightwear with the word sushi on it and a thumb up, which was actually kind of funny to see, though I didn't show it. Kaidoh wore black shorts with a plain white shirt. Oishi immediately told them to be quiet and nodded his head in Fuji's direction.

Everyone went to his own sleeping bag and lay down. We softly wished everyone good night and I closed my eyes. I could still hear some whispering for a couple of minutes. But it was silent soon enough and all that was heard was everyone's regular breathing. Except for me, I was still wide awake and somehow didn't feel like sleeping. I still decided to close my eyes and tried to sleep since I knew it was better than no sleep.

But when I was halfway asleep, still conscious but falling deeper and deeper into sleepiness, I heard some things from outside. I let it slip, until I heard it again, it was like someone was walking around and thumping against some things in the darkness. I opened my eyes slowly, and sat up once I was fully awake again.

We still had a small light on, for people who needed to go to the toilet at night, and in this dim light I looked around to see if anyone was missing. But every regular was present. I hadn't heard any more noise so I decided to just close my eyes again.

The moment they were closed, another sound made me open them again. It seemed like the garbage bin outside fell down with a loud thud. More regulars awoke from the sound and were all looking in its direction. Fuji slowly sat up as well, rubbing his eyes.

"Fuji, are there any cats or dogs nearby?' Inui asked, thinking logical. Kikumaru was already starting to think that it were some kind of monster, thanks to his big imagination. Oishi was shushing him, telling not to worry and that it probably was just some kind of animal.

"Not that I know off…" his sleepy voice told us.

Another sound was heard by all of us and this sent spines riling. The sound came from the back door which we could clearly see. We could see a shadow behind the door that was definitely human. We all looked to Fuji as he made a scared sound and started shivering.

Suddenly the doorknob turned slightly, but since it was locked it couldn't open the door. Fuji pulled his knees to him and his arms around it as he buried his head in his arms, afraid of looking up. His breathing was fast once again and soft noises came from him that certainly were from fear.

Kikumaru came closer to Fuji and started talking to him, trying to calm him down this way, but didn't succeed. A loud thud was next to point our attention back on the door, the shadow was still there and seemed to be putting his weight against the door, trying to get it open. Fuji's noises became louder as his trembling got heavier.

I decided to do something and my anger was definitely playing a part in it. I stood up and walked as quiet as I could to the back door. I could hear Oishi whisper my name, trying to get me back, but I didn't listen.

I put my hand on the door and unlocked it, but it made noise. So the person on the other side of the door heard it and got scared. We all heard a loud 'shit' call out in what was definitely Ito's voice and I could hear the tensai from behind me cower in fear and make a scream like sound. But my anger took over and I stormed outside in hopes to catch that bastard. I heard more people running after me, but I didn't know if it was for stopping Ito or for stopping me from doing something stupid.

I then heard Oishi yell at me: "Tezuka! Fuji needs you! Now!" and I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned around to see Oishi standing in the doorway with Inui close behind me and Momoshiro together with Kaidoh as well. Kikumaru was most likely still inside with Echizen and Takashi trying to calm Fuji down.

"Get inside." Mother hen told me in this tone that I normally used to assign laps, as he looked very strict.

I looked back towards the garden seeing no one there anymore and I headed back inside, passing by the others who stood outside as they all looked at me. I was still angry and my knuckles were white from putting so much pressure on it. Oishi took a step back so I could go inside and he put his hand on my shoulder making me stand still.

"He called for you when you left….You need to calm him down…" Oishi told me softly, gently.

I started walking again and heard the sobbing of Fuji, I looked up and saw Kikumaru sitting next to Fuji's sleeping bag. Fuji was buried completely in the bag, trying to block everything out. My heart immediately ached at seeing this and I called myself stupid for leaving him behind when he was so scared. And I wasn't the only one.

"Baka-buchou! Why did you leave? He even yelled your name, nya!" I had to admit to myself that I was so angry that I hadn't even heard him scream my name; I did hear some sort of sound right before storming out. I looked down to the ground as the others had entered by now and felt idiotic.

I quietly sat down next to Kikumaru who had moved a bit more to the side. I heard Oishi reprimand the red head for his outburst, hearing him whisper that it was hard for me as well. Kikumaru whined, but let it go.

"Fuji?" I softly asked in hopes of seeing some reaction, but the sobbing just continued. "Fuji…Don't be scared…he's away…everything is alright…" I told him as I came to sit closer to him and put my hand softly on his covered back. I felt a tremor run through his body but that was the only reaction.

"Fuji…look around…you're safe." this did create a reaction from him as he moved. His fingers came above the sleeping bag and he popped his eyes above it as well, looking around, scared. It would have been really cute, if not for the situation. He looked to me with his teary eyes and I softly smiled at him, reassuring him that it was fine.

He looked to every one of us, sitting around him and making sure their tensai was fine. He looked back to me and out of nowhere shot out of his bag wrapping his arms around my neck and putting his head against my chest. I was very surprised and my expression showed it, I composed myself and went to sit a bit more comfortable with the added weight. I moved to the side so that Fuji was sitting next to me while clinging on to my neck. But that was apparently not good enough for him.

Fuji decided to move as well, he practically came to sit on one of my legs and wrapped his arms tighter around me. He was still silently sobbing, but the trembling had stopped by now. I sat with my legs crossed and it hurt as he put weight on one of my legs, pulling it further to the ground.

I looked to him, and not wanting to hurt his feelings by pushing him away, I found it better to pull him closer. This of course had nothing to do with the fact that I just wanted him closer to me. My heart beat furiously as I put my arms around his waist and pulled him to me. He ended up in my lap with his chest to mine, arms wrapped around my neck, head on my shoulder and legs next to my sides as I held his lower back.

I blushed at the looks I got and at the intimate position the two of us were in, which was also very suggesting. I tried to hide the blush but was quite sure that the others had noticed. Fuji on the other hand was almost done sobbing and I could feel his fast heart beat through his white shirt. I only didn't know if the fast pace was due to the position or the fear.

After a while, Fuji had calmed down, the regulars were softly talking since everyone wanted to stay awake as long as our number two was not sleeping. I asked if he was okay and the sapphire-eyed boy only nodded sleepily. It seemed like he could fall asleep any minute and since it would be uncomfortable for me to stay like this a lot longer, I told him to move back into his sleeping bag so he could sleep.

He reluctantly got of me, and as much as he tried to hide his face when turning around I could see his cheeks were a very cute pink colour. He crept back in his bag and curled up. The others followed his example and crawled underneath their covers as well. I looked to Fuji for a moment as he muttered 'oyasumi' and then stood up to go to my own place. I sat down and as silence came over the room, my eyes stayed wide open, again. The anger got back now that I had nothing else on my mind and no one to distract me. I knew it was going to be a long night.

But moments later I could hear a lot of moving and I leaned on my elbows to look up. I saw Fuji moving out of his sleeping bag and softly trotted over to my side of the room in the dim light. When he was close enough I could see tears in his eyes and his hands were nervously twitching as he held them before his body. I noticed that the golden pair had heard as well and looked concerned.

Fuji went to sit in front of my bag and I watched as another blush covered his cheeks.

"What's wrong?" I asked him softly.

"I'm…can I…stay next to you?" he asked as he looked down at the floor. I watched him for a minute as I moved my sleeping bag open. I was lucky to have a big one where two people could easily lie in. Fuji apparently hadn't expected this reaction from me as he looked with surprised eyes. I beckoned him as he made no motion to move yet.

He finally came closer and as soon as he was in the bag did I let the upper part fall over him. I kept gazing at him as he looked to my chest with the blush still on his cheeks. Fuji then dared after a couple of minutes to move closer to me. His hands grabbed my shirt as he lined his body with mine. Fuji seemed to like my chest as he buried his face in it again. Not sure on what to do I slowly let my one arm slide under Fuji's head, so he could lean his head on it, and my other arm went to his waist.

He didn't seem to mind as he relaxed. I saw from above Fuji that the golden pair were watching the both of us with knowing looks and I wondered if the red head knew of my crush on his best friend.

Fuji then mumbled something and I asked him to repeat it. He then softly whispered into my chest: "Ito….pulled my clothes off and…touched my chest….he…he also kissed my neck and chest…But he only pulled his shirt off. My sister came home and…heard stumbling….so she came to see and he quickly left…before he could do…more…"

I looked to him surprised for the sudden explenation and locked my rage for Ito up. I was so grateful for him telling me…I at least knew that as long as he didn't pull his pants off, he wouldn't have been able to go all the way. But I still saw Fuji shudder at the memories and I knew it would upset him, but I just needed to know.

"Fuji?" I whispered: "Did he…touch you…down there?" I asked as I shot a glance down. His body made a more violent tremble that already answered my question but he still answered and I was proud of him for talking about it.

"He…he didn't touch my..ass…I just felt…disgusted and so scared when he…grabbed me…there….I tried to struggle but he was stronger…he held me down…with his body…and I could feel…him as he grinded against me…that's all that happened…"

I fisted my hands in anger at knowing that Ito had dared to touch Fuji's privates…but was relieved to know that that had been all and that Ito hadn't managed to…penetrate the fragile tensai.

I grabbed him tighter to me, focusing my thought on Fuji and not on Ito. I was glad that he decided to trust me and confide in me with telling what had happened. It would help him as well in dealing with it.

I whispered in his ear as I held him as close as I could, my arms tight around him: "Thank you for telling me…I needed to know…I'm proud of you, Fuji. Now go to sleep. It's weekend tomorrow so you can have a good sleep, okay?"

"Hm…" he muttered tiredly as I smiled softly at him. I felt an arm move from my chest to around my waist and hear him add a muttered thanks louder than his previous words so those who had been awake as well could at least hear this of our earlier conversation. I'm sure they had heard us whisper but they would have been unable to know about what we had been talking.

I then felt Fuji move again and locked my eyes with his for a single second before he quickly gave me a kiss on my cheek and hided his head in my chest again. I blushed and knew that the golden pair had seen that…I didn't know who else was awake and I didn't want to look up either.

It was again silent for a while as Fuji's breath slowly became regular but right before he fell into unconsciousness, and he really didn't know any more what he was saying, maybe he just thought it and accidentally said it out loud. But that had made my heart race as fast as never before.

"…Aishiteru,…Kuni…mitsu…" and there was the dead silence again and I was almost positive that everyone who was awake could hear my fast heartbeat.

Only a minute later as Fuji was soundly asleep, and I hadn't recovered yet did Echizen cockily remark: "Aren't you happy now buchou?"

I quickly looked up and saw everyone looking at me and Fuji in my arms. I hadn't thought that everyone was awake and was shocked at the revelation as they all looked very amused at me.

My expression was probably funny and very rare to see as it showed my surprise and the blush that was on my cheeks again. I tried to say something but all that came over my lips was a stumbled 'I'. I just decided to lay my head back down and ignore them.

That was not quite easy to do as I heard everyone chuckling at my behaviour. All I could think was that everyone was very aware of my feelings for the tensai and if Fuji had told the truth in his almost asleep state they also knew how he felt. My heart raced again at remembering his words and I scolded myself for acting so unlike myself and silly. My mind still tried to rationalise saying that Fuji had probably not meant it that way; he just liked him as a very good friend.

But Kikumaru apparently knew what I was thinking as he kindly told me the truth that made my heart almost explode: "Nya! Buchou, Fujiko really loves you! He told me you were the one he liked and I'm sure he wouldn't lie to me." He told me happily.

I coughed as I recomposed myself. "Thank you…" I told the red head as he brightly smiled, I also noticed Oishi's kind smile that was directed to me. Everyone started snickering again and I then told them to all go to sleep and they all replied in chorus: "Hai, buchou!" though at a soft tone as not to wake the tensai up and still trying to stop laughing.

I looked down at Fuji's face that still lied on my arm. I rested my head against his and gave him a kiss on his forehead, happiness seeping into my heart.


The end of another, hopefully cute chapter!

This chapter is important, for all that has to happen next is to punish Ito and get the perfect pair really together and then that will be the end of this story! But don't worry, knowing me, It can still be a lot. ;p

Well, until next time! Please review!