From Far Forgotten
A/N: The time line gets a little confusing here. It's best not to think about it too hard, but if you're wondering, several days pass when Fuji travels from St. Rudolph's to the street tennis court. The first little blip of this chapter happens the day before the last chapter. The second part happens in the afternoon on the day Fuji joins up with Atobe.
For those of you wondering when Fuji's curse will be lifted, I have 10 chapters plus an epilogue planned, if that's any sort of hint. sweatdrop One of those chapters may get cut, though.
c. 6: Taka-san's Memories (The Crush)
Evening dragged into a long night, though the air stayed stuffy and humid in the crowded sushi shop. Taka-san did his best to clear off tables as customers ran up bills and finished their tiresome work day with plenty of beer and sake. Eventually the business men started to dribble out, leaving only a few drunken stragglers or oddities that just seemed to be out late.
Since there weren't many customers left, and none that could taste what they ordered thanks to the alcohol, his dad let him take over for the night. Taka still worked at making the best possible sushi though, not wanting to let any chance at gaining experience slip past. He didn't worry too much about practice tomorrow; everyone had been so frazzled lately that none of their training had been very intense.
Taka supposed he should be disappointed, especially since his tennis career was coming to a close and he wanted to get the most out of his remaining time. But instead, he felt an odd sort of relief, like some sort of sadness had been lifted off of his shoulders.
Still, he hoped the club would soon return to its typical lively self. He felt as if lately, all the energy had been drained from Seigaku's tennis regulars, as if the source of their passion had faded away somehow. Oishi seemed anxious to the point of having a hernia, Inui hardly took notes, Ryoma kept ditching, and worst of all Eiji hadn't laughed in several days. Taka hated watching everyone suffer, but he couldn't figure out what to do to help. He couldn't even figure out what was wrong and no one else seemed to know either, not even Oishi when he asked him about it.
A sigh pushed from his lips as he turned his attention back to the bar. A woman who'd been there for over an hour asked for another drink, which his father handled before he headed off to the kitchen to wash more glasses, leaving Taka in charge.
He glanced down at the woman while cleaning one of the knives. She was young, maybe in her early twenties, dressed in an office woman's suit. Her auburn hair fell over her face, and she slowly swirled the liquid about her glass, occasionally taking a sip, as if trying to make it last a long time.
Something about the fragile way she held her glass, the slight lean of her hand that hinted at elegance, sparked something within Taka's mind and coated him with nostalgia. He caught himself staring at her, and she must have noticed him too because she looked up with red rimmed eyes and gave him a cheeky smile, swishing her drink in greeting.
"This is only my third, really," she croaked, taking another sip to clear her voice. "I'm not ready to go home." The edge of her mouth twitched. "Family problems, you know how it is." Laughing rather bitterly, she set down the glass and ordered uni nigiri.
Taka quickly glanced down, his cheeks reddening in embarrasment. He fumbled with the uni, preparing it and placing it over sushi rice. "Uh...um..." he finally mumbled, not sure what to say. After all, what was there to say? Slowly he lifted his eyes, taking in the face of the young woman who smiled listlessly at him.
Something about the way her cheeks rounded, the way her nose and chin were perfectly aligned, the worn out style of her hair, and tiny sparkle in her eyes made Taka realize that she was one of the prettiest women he had ever seen. She looked sort of familiar, too.
"You're staring again."
"Ah, sorry."
She laughed graciously as Taka's face turned into a tomato. "No need to apologize, it's a pleasure to have some attention even while looking like this."
Taka shook his head viciously. "Oh no, that's not true, you're very pretty."
More crystal laughter rang over the bar. "I'm glad someone still thinks so. I don't feel all that pretty myself lately." She took a large sip before smiling. "Tell me, what about me is pretty?"
"Oh, well..." Taka scratched the back of his head, feeling more comfortable at her openness. "Well, you remind me of an old crush."
"Is that so? And that makes me pretty?"
Taka felts his cheeks heat up. "Well, um... this guy was so beautiful... oh! uh..."
The woman laughed pleasantly. "It's fine. It's not so rare nowadays - and I would much rather discuss a beautiful Eros than a so-called Venus like me." She winked at him.
Taka nodded shyly, glad his slip didn't have any adverse consequences.
"So?" The woman smiled wickedly at him, cupping her glass in one hand. "What happened? Did you confess?"
Taka shook his head rapidly. "No, definitely not. I knew he was already in love with someone else." Cleaning off his knife, Taka just shrugged and tweaked a smile. "It's okay; I've already forgotten him."
As if he'd said the magic word, the woman's demeanor suddenly shifted, and she smiled softly at him, her lips spreading wide and her eyes growing gentle. "You shouldn't forget so easily. You need to treasure your memories. They're what connect you to others."
Hearing her words sparked a strange dysphoria within him, as if he had forgotten something that pained him, yet also brought him joy.
"O-oh. Maybe you're right."
His eyes stared at the counter that he had started to polish with a cloth, rubbing the same area over and over again in circles. Time drifted further into the night as the woman worked on her drink, nursing the last vestiges of the precious liquid as if hoping that more would appear.
"Hey," she finally said.
"Y-yeah?"
"What do you think makes a feeling exist?"
"Huh?" Taka just finished putting away the last of the utensils. All the other customers had left but he didn't have the heart to send the lady out just yet. "Um..."
A melancholy smile melted away his unease. "A feeling. An emotion... like, sadness." Her soft voice grew so light he had to strain to hear her. "Do you think, say, if everyone forgot how to be sad, that sadness would still exist?"
"Eh..." Taka scratched the back of his head. "Um... well... I don't know, really... eh... I don't understand complicated things all that well." He tucked away the last of the glasses, leaving only the one in the lady's hands.
He never was all that good at such philosophical-type stuff, that was more Oishi's department or maybe... the other one's, the one he'd had a crush on for almost two years.
Still, he thought he'd take a guess at it. The woman looked at him so curiously. "Um . . . let's see . . . sadness is sadness right? Eh...maybe not. I mean, if I didn't know what sadness was, I guess it might as well not even exist, I guess."
"Yeah..."
Silence covered them for a moment, as a strange twinkle reflected off the lady's dark blue eyes. After a moment, she continued, "What about envy? Jealousy? Obsession? Happiness? ... Love..."
"Um . . . " He wondered how he should deal with her. She was just so pretty, and he wasn't very good with drunks.
She shook her head. "No, it's nothing. I'm being a fool." She finished off her drink after a pause, then stood up to pay.
"Say," she stared down for the moment, as if considering something, "you're on the tennis team, right?"
"Eh? Oh, yes. I mean... oh... how did you-"
"Give this to your captain."
She handed him some bills and swiftly helped herself out. Taka looked down at the two twenties in his hand, and then untucked a small white paper that had been slipped between them. The paper was folded into a little origami man.
Unsure of what to do with something so small and silly, he fingered it a while then finally decided to tuck it away in his tennis bag. He'd give it to Tezuka tomorrow morning after practice and hope his captain wouldn't make him run too many laps. But something about the tiny paper told him that this was important. . .
Fuji felt as though they'd walked forever and yet they arrived at their destination all too soon. A heavy pit of dread sunk into his stomach the closer they came, though he wasn't sure why.
Before them loomed the all-too familiar school gate of Seishun Gakuen.
"Why are we here?" he said quietly.
Fingers pressed against his face, Atobe looked towards the tensai with sly, narrowed eyes. "You wanted to see your precious Tezuka, right? He should still be here."
Fuji didn't know why, but something about that gaze made his blood run cold. "But Tezuka can't see me! He doesn't remember me."
"Yes," Atobe purred, his tight lipped smile widening. "He forgot you like everyone else. Don't you think that's saying something?"
Trying to steady his trembling lower lip, Fuji darkly inquired, "You said something like that before, too. Just what are you implying?"
Atobe slowly turned to face him directly, arms crossed in that authoritative, condescending manner he always had. "I would think it should be logically obvious." A smirk grew across his face as he pressed two fingers against his forehead. "You yourself said that the curse doesn't erase you completely, that some of your friends vaguely remember you. Yet Tezuka doesn't know anything. If you two were lovers, shouldn't he be the first to recall who you are?"
He chuckled, as if admiring Fuji's trembling silence. "Just think about it. How could you have meant anything to him? Perhaps you were no more than a bed accessory. Perhaps what Tezuka really hoped for was someone else."
Fuji's fingers clenched into his palms, yet he felt so sick he didn't notice the little trail of blood trickling down from where his nails cut into him. He swallowed back the taste of bile, overly aware of the imperial gaze being cast down upon him.
"I was. . ." he stuttered, anger dripping past his normally dampened tone. "I was serious. . . Tezuka wouldn't -"
"Stop fooling yourself." Dark blue eyes burned into the tensai. "You were no more than a temporary substitute for the one Tezuka really wants."
Everything about Fuji suddenly froze, except for his widening eyes. "Don't tell me, you-"
"Atobe?"
Both figures turned to glare at the abrupt interruption.
"Ah, it is you," the tall figure smiled nervously, scratching at the back of his head. "Um, what brings you over to Seigaku?"
Atobe turned almost menacingly towards the intruder. "You are. . .?"
"Kawamura Takashi," Fuji snapped. At least the diva could remember his teammate's names. But what was Taka-san doing at the school at this hour? Though whether this was good or bad timing the tensai wasn't sure but it wasn't as if the sushi chef in-training could see him or help him anyways.
"Ah yes, Kawamura," Atobe smoothed over, not giving the stocky player a chance to reply. "I'm here for Tezuka."
"Ah, Tezuka-buchou's in the club room," Taka-san chuckled timidly, "I just saw him there."
The diva's eyes narrowed accusingly. "You're here awfully late," he practically snorted.
"Oh, um. . ." Taka-san was inching away from the arrogant buchou bit by bit. "Um, I had something I forgot to do. . . .eh. . . I'm heading home now though. . ."
He looked back at the diva, who stood so pompously that even the trees seemed to stand a little straighter. From somewhere, a little bit of either courage or curiosity touched upon the double personalitied player. "Uh, so why are you looking for Tezuka?"
Atobe smirked, as if to say, well that's an easy one. "Not to be cliché, but Ore-sama has a rendezvous with destiny."
"Uh, oh." The shy boy rubbed at his hair, wondering if he should ask. Something about the wind, about the thickness of the air, about the ice cold touch that brushed against his arm, set a click off in his mind. "Okay," he said, as if he'd come to understand something. He seemed about to go, then turned back. "Atobe. . . san?"
"Yes?" The diva hissed. He'd been delayed long enough.
"Um, I . . . I just have to tell you. It's okay if these things don't work out."
"What things?" A tapping foot showed the affluent buchou's growing impatience.
"Um, well, um . . . I mean, they didn't work out for me, and I'm fine now. I have someone else, and I'm happy. Um . . . I just have to tell you, it's alright if it doesn't work out, there's no real destiny behind -"
"Hmph," Atobe arrogantly flicked back his hair. "I don't know what you're babbling on about. I've wasted enough time chatting with plebeians already."
He strutted turgidly away, taking about ten steps before turning back to say, "Out of the graciousness of Ore-sama's heart I will give you a little advice. When you desire someone, you must do anything, go to any lengths, no matter how dark, obscure, or unfeasible, to show that person the truth."
Taka-san blinked questioningly. "The truth?"
"That you are meant to be together. That it's destiny. That he must not be deceived by. Falsities."
"Atobe..san, what you're saying is-"
"Well I suppose that a proletarian such as yourself can not understand. When Ore-sama has something he wants, then it is meant to be his." Atobe swiftly turned away, effectively cutting the conversation.
Fuji found himself drifting along after the diva, glancing back to see Taka-san still standing there a bit dumbfounded, and with a gleam in his eyes of - pity? But the tensai didn't have time to worry about his teammate.
"Atobe!" Fuji yelled, quickly catching up to him. He hadn't been able to say much during the exchange, angered by Atobe's rudeness yet even more surprised by Taka-san's audacity while not in burning mode. But through said exchange, everything was now clear.
Piercing the diva's face with the full force of his cerulean eyes, his voice came out hard and without any hesitation. "This is - you - you're after Tezuka!"
"Why, of course." The diva shot him an imperious smirk, inviolable to usually devastating glare. "Haven't you figured out that much already?"
Atobe Keigo stood coolly before him, speaking with the absolute confidence he'd been handed at birth.
"Tezuka belongs to me."
A/N: That was . . . a lot shorter than I wanted it to be. But it came out rather quickly, I was sure I'd end up with writer's block again and take forever to make it work. sweatdrop I really came up with the ideas for this chapter much later than all the others, sorry about that. The little drama scene at the end was not planned, which is part of why it's so vague and confusing.
Um... I guess I was trying to show that Taka-san understands what's going on, because he's been in the same position - having a crush that's already together with someone else.
I think the original plan was to have Mizuki coming in and out, but alas, he isn't needed in this part of the story, so I think things are generally progressing much faster than planned. I was planning to have a chapter for Mizuki but I think that's going to get cut . . . sorry Mizuki, I love you, especially the 'fuufuufuu', but this is the way it's got to be for anything to make sense. . . . Or at least attempt to make sense. sweatdrop At best, Mizuki's chapter will be very, very short indeed. Maybe something more like an intermission than a chapter.
Thanks to all of you who reviewed the last chapter!
Yay, please leave your reviews! Everytime I get a review, I am inspired to write. Thank you all of you who have reviewed so far! I hope this story does not dissappoint.