Chapter 6

One month was torture. One month from just watching him from afar. She would be going to the bathing chambers at night with Irie and spot Atobe training on the courts but there were also a bunch of other players out there training as well. More and more players could be seen in the hallways at night so Irie would speed her by, nodding politely and greeting those who greeted him. Otherwise, they would get her at odd times like 2:00 A.M. But the odd thing was, the only person they were making her avoid was Atobe, nobody else. She was able to speak with the Seigaku and Hyotei members. Sengoku had hugged her so hard the very next day after her last night with Atobe and he was one of the few who she spoke with frequently. It felt so good to be hugged like that since her farewell with Atobe was bittersweet.

He didn't even say goodbye. Mizuka had woken up in the morning and he was already gone. She had felt him caressing her face but she was so tired she thought that was a dream. But if that's what he needed to do to focus, then that's what he had to do. Tennis was important to him so she wouldn't bother him.

Mizuka hated when he left like that, without her knowing. He should've woken her up. She hadn't even realized she had been standing at the window idly staring at Atobe when Tokugawa suddenly yanked her arm, causing her to nearly collide into him as he pulled her away from the oncoming players. She did not want to look at him since she knew the glare he was giving her. She just wanted Atobe.

It was already December. Snow was falling gently from the light grey clouds. They had a break for the week of Christmas so Atobe decided to invite everybody to his winter cottage for the weekend before they had to go back to the training camp. He even invited the three high schoolers that Mizuka had developed close friendships with and to his surprise, they accepted.
Atobe thought Mizuka would be distant with him when they reunited but he was wrong. She couldn't get enough of him. When he had knocked on her dorm door and she had opened it to see him, they hugged and kissed deeply. He didn't see any resentment in her eyes, making him love her even more. He couldn't wait to show her how much he improved.
In their travel bus, they took all Hyotei Regulars while the other bus took the rest that he invited.
"M-Mizuka, I'm glad you're okay!" Sakuno exclaimed as her friend, Tomoka, just went on and hugged Mizuka. Sakuno got the courage to hug her as well.
Yuki never let go of Mizuka the moment she saw her and pulled her away from Atobe, much to his reluctance. He sat with Oshitari as Yuki asked Mizuka an abundance of questions about the camp.
"Sengoku was there, too?" Yuki gasped. "How is he doing? I haven't seen him in a while."
"All the teams were there. He's doing great. You'll see him at the cottage," Mizuka replied and told her best friend about the new friends she made at camp who were also going to be at the cottage.
Oshitari kept glancing over at Atobe, seeming like he wanted to say something to him but thinking the better of it. He had been noticing this behavior of his at the camp as well and wondered what was on his tensai's mind.
Atobe's winter cottage looked as big as his mansion. The two buses pulled up in the round about and Atobe was the first out, sighing out a breath to see it puff up in smoke in front of him. The pavement was shoveled where a pathway was leading up to the cottage. He finally took Mizuka's hand and pulled her away from Yuki, giving her friend a devious grin. "It's my turn now."
Yuki pouted and sidled to Shishido who was only happy to take her hand.
When the doors opened, they could hear barking and paw steps pounding on the floor as Atobe's Afghan dog raced towards him. Atobe smiled and spread his arms. "Beat."
Beat ran straight past Atobe to bulldoze Mizuka. He barked and jumped on her for Atobe to finally snap his fingers at him. Atobe sometimes thought his dog knew how to play with his emotions as Beat looked back at him with his puppy eyes. "Don't you miss me too?" Beat made a scoffing noise as Atobe beckoned him and he went and nuzzled Atobe too.
It was Sebastian who Mizuka looked to. He looked just as happy to see her and was even more surprised when she gave him a hug. He could only hug her back harder. Atobe was sure his old butler was going to start crying if she didn't stop hugging him. Sebastian finally signaled for the other butlers to lead the others to their rooms while he led Atobe to his master bedroom.
"Tea will be served in the dining room in ten minutes," his butler announced before he shut the door.
Atobe had missed this room. All his rooms in all locations had a floor to ceiling window so he could look out into the scenery. And this scenery would be perfect for the setting sun that he would definitely show Mizuka later. He turned to see her unpacking and walked over to slide his arms around her waist. "You think we have time in ten minutes?" He asked by her ear.
She shivered and turned to look at him. "Time for...oh." She blushed and he leaned in to kiss her when there was loud banging on their door.
"Mizuka! Mizuka! Come! You have to check this place out! It's so cool!"
Atobe groaned internally at her annoying but good best friend. He finally got some alone time with her for her to be dragged off again. Mizuka gave him a shrug and smiled apologetically.
"What about later?"
She never used to have devious responses which was why it surprised him every time she said them. She gave him a kiss before leaving, a long and lingering kiss, her tongue playing with his and he gave a soft moan, his hands sliding around her before she pulled away and headed for the door, grinning to herself and she slammed it shut. He was going to get her for that later.

"Whaa, Atobe! Your have a lake in your backyard?!" Kikumaru exclaimed.
"Ahn, did you bring skates like I told you guys to?" Atobe said. "If not, I have spares."
They were all looking out at the floor to ceiling window in the living room. It was a nicely decorated living room with two L shaped black couches that faced each other with a coffee table in the middle, a grand piano, bookcases that encased the room, and a wall full of board games. Out the window they could see the frozen over lake snow covered trees surrounding it, the sun was shining from just overhead through the clouds. It was the perfect winter cottage.
"This is some cottage," Sengoku said. "Care for a game of chess?"
Oshitari pushed up his glasses. "You have no idea who you've just asked."
"This cottage is very beautiful," Fuji said. "Have you come here before, Mizuka?"
"No, this is my first time here as well," Mizuka said. She felt so at ease with everyone here. She glanced over at the three college students, Oni, Irie, and Tokugawa who were getting along with Momoshiro, Kaido, Inui at first before the rest of them joined them as they sat on the couches and started on some board games. Irie had noticed her looking and gave her a smile which she returned.
"Let's go skating!" Tomoka exclaimed. "Come, Sakuno!"
"W-Wait!"
Mizuka couldn't help but feel that there was someone missing as she watched from the window at the girls ran down to the frozen lake, Sakuno still struggling to put on her winter hat as her best friend dragged her down the path. She felt something cold at her hand and looked down to notice Beat, who had stuck his nose at her hand and wiggled it so that her hand was now on top of his head.
"Are you thinking about Tezuka?"
Oishi's question brought her out of her thoughts. He had snuck up on her or rather walked up beside her without her noticing and was smiling at her lightly. "You have the same look on your face as he does when he's thinking about you."
Mizuka laughed to herself. "He never thinks about me."
Oishi's brows furrowed. "He always thinks about you. You're his sister."
"I'm probably the last thing on his mind. He'll always think of tennis first," she gave him a convincing smile.
"You're not fooling anybody with that smile, Love." Atobe slid his hand around her waist. "Your brother loves you and you know it. We all know it." His words always made her feel better. It was actually the sound of his voice. She didn't know what it was but his voice always sounded so seductive that it eases her mind. He must've seen something on her face cause he pulled his gaze from her to look out the window and cleared her throat.
"Mizuka!" Yuki was already tugging her out of Atobe's grip. "Let's go join Tomoka and Sakuno! I want to skate too! Do you know how to skate?"
Without waiting for her reply, she was pulling Mizuka out of the living room to run to their rooms so they can get dressed and ready to go outside.

"Checkmate!"
"I win!"
"No, I win!"
"Score!"
"No fair!"
There was an uproar of yells before most of them ran out to have a snowball fight.
"Another round?" Oshitari offered.
Sengoku rubbed his hair and grinned. "Of course."
"Oi, Atobe! Where are your tennis courts?"
"The courts are probably frozen over, Mukahi. There's no way you'll be able to play now."
Echizen looked ready to challenge that but backed down as his senpeis all gave him a look.
Now Atobe was staring out the window at them skating, one particular being who was holding hands with her best friend.
"Are you prepared for the first stringers to come back?" Irie had snuck up on him and was smiling at him innocently. He had come to like this man even though he is a trickster.
"I am more than ready for them."
"There are 20 first stringers. 1 to 10 being the core. Do you know Ochi Tsukimitsu?"
So, that was Ochi's big brother. "Sounds familiar."
"He is an OB from Hyotei." Irie then proceeded to ask him a bunch of other names to which Atobe realized that he knew the last names of most of those players and finally knew what Irie was getting at.
"What do you want?"
"I don't want anything," Irie said, his smile gone, his face serious. "I just want you to be aware."

"Uhm, Oshitari?"
"Hmm?"
"You can't move the horse like that."
Oshitari looked down and realized that he had moved his horse in a straight line across the board. "Oh, sorry about that." He had been distracted when Irie went to talk to Atobe and since he could see Atobe's reaction, he knew it wasn't anything good.
Sengoku was following his line of sight and turned back to look at him. "You know, there were these rumors going on at camp," he started quietly.
"That there was a pretty girl at the camp?" Oshitari said wryly.
"No, not that. It was about Atobe. Well, about Mizuka too since she was seen with him but mainly Atobe."
Oshitari had heard those rumors as well. But it wasn't any news to him, he had heard those rumors from his cousin in his first year at Hyotei. "Rumors are all they can be. There isn't anything to it."
He knew that look Sengoku was giving him, that he didn't believe him, but he couldn't do anything about it. People believed what they wanted to believe.

"Jeez, Choutarou. You got me good."
Shishido walked down the hallway back to their rooms after their snowball fight. The others were still going crazy out there but he figured he was wet enough. He felt a little bad about the water dripping down on the floor.
"Sorry, Shishido-san."
"No need to be sorry for your good aim."
They changed and headed to the living room to relax to notice Beat growling and whining at the door to go out to the back. The dog noticed them and ran straight towards them and started barking at them too.
"I wonder what's wrong with Beat." Choutarou said. "Maybe Atobe forgot to feed him."
"No, he has butlers for that," Shishido knelt down but Beat was still growling and whining and barking. "Did Atobe kick you out of the room?"
Beat then started barking maniacally at him then at the door, growling and scratching at it.
"Jeez, Beat! Calm down!" Shishido said, raising his voice to be heard above the barking. "If Atobe gets mad, you're taking the blame." He opened the door for Beat to run straight to the window and start howling and barking. "Yo, Atobe! Did you forget to feed him?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Atobe went to his dog. "What's wrong, Beat? What's the matter?" He winced when his dog nipped his hand. Beat never bit him. Never. Something was wrong but all Beat did was bark and growl at him and bark at the window.
"Maybe he needs to go out and pee," Shishido suggested.
But Atobe stared at his barking dog first, it was the urgency of his barking that put everyone at a stop of what they were doing. Beat had never barked like that before. He then stared out the window to where Beat was barking at. He stared at the ice and knew what was wrong.

Mizuka felt so free as she skated around the lake. The lake was huge but they didn't go too far. She held hands with Yuki first before finally getting used to it. The sun was shining just overhead now and she was getting warm from skating, perfect since the wind blowing made it feel so cold. They had played tag for a while but now they were trying to see who can skate backwards the fastest. She was laughing so much she hadn't realized how much she missed hanging out with these girls. The boys had come out for a bit, some of them joining them skating while the rest fought with snowballs. Shishido even tried to throw a snowball at her. She looked and looked but Atobe never ended up outside. Maybe he was having too much fun inside.
"Look at me, Sakuno!" Tomoka said as she zoomed backwards.
"Tomoka, watch out!" Mizuka called as she saw her route. "Sakuno!"
The poor girl couldn't move away in time as her friend crashed into her and she flew and fell back on the ice with a thud. Mizuka froze when she heard the cracks. She looked at Yuki and her friend had the same concerned look on her face as they both looked at Sakuno, where she sat in the middle of the spiderweb crack of ice.
"SAKUNO!"
"Tomoka, be quiet!" Mizuka didn't have time to feel bad for the tone of her voice. She didn't want to risk anything that could make the ice crack even more. She slowly skated towards Sakuno as she sat looking scared on the ice. The ice cracked all the way to her and she stopped. She was at least seven feet from the girl. "It's okay, Sakuno." Mizuka said as she saw the tears in Sakuno's eyes. "I'm here."
"Mizuka, I'm going to get help!" Yuki said.
But Mizuka knew there wouldn't be any time. Sakuno was shaking and it was causing the ice to crack even more and she covered her eyes. "M-M-Mizuk-ka.."
Mizuka skated a little closer. Six feet.

Atobe grabbed his jacket from Sebastian and opened the door. Beat ran out first, leading the way to the lake with Atobe behind him. The rest followed behind them.
"Atobe!" Yuki was skating to land. "Atobe! The ice is cracking! Sakuno's stuck!"
Atobe got to the deck just in time to grab his dog's collar before his dog went charging onto the lake. "Beat, stop it!" But his dog wouldn't stop barking and fighting his grip. He looked to where he could now see Mizuka edging closer to the girl, her hand reaching out to her. She was still so far away.
"Yuki, are you alright?" Shishido asked.
"Of course I'm fine! It's Sakuno!"
"The best way is to use rope." Inui said.
"Atobe, we need rope. Do you have rope?" Oishi asked.
"Get...Sebastian..." Atobe grimaced as he dragged his dog back from the edge of the ice. He finally flipped his dog down onto the ground, Beat's wince tugging at his heart, and he looked his dog in the eye. Beat growled and panted and whined before his panting slowed down. Sure that his dog was capable of listening to him now, he released Beat and stood up and all Beat did now was whine and look at him occasionally.
"We will need to tie it around someone who is light," Fuji said. Atobe stared at him, sure that he would be the one that was going before Fuji added quietly. "The heavier the weight, the more the ice will break."
They all turned to look at Mukahi, the smallest and probably lightest person there. He gulped and paled.
"Sakuno!"
They all looked when they heard the echos of Mizuka's call.
"Sakuno, look at me! It's okay, I'm right here! No! Don't stand-It's fine just reach over for me!"
He could see Mizuka edging closer, her hand reaching out as the younger girl's hand shook as she timidly reached out for her. And then they all heard it, the crack. That was when Mizuka leaned over and grabbed Sakuno's arm, forcefully half throwing half sliding her across the ice towards them. The force of it sending Mizuka to where Sakuno was. To where the ice was cracking. Mizuka looked up at him then. He knew she was looking at him and his heart went out as the ice cracked beneath her and she disappeared.

It was SO cold. The ice water enveloped her, making it hard for her to hold her breath. She hadn't taken enough of a breath when she fell through the ice. The skates felt heavy as she tried to kick herself back up to the surface. Her hands felt numb as she swam up, her fingers connecting with something hard. Had the ice frozen over the hole? Fear trickled through her as she reached out both hands, feeling along the surface for the opening. It was so dark and cold, she didn't know if she could hold much longer. Her iced up lungs were threatening to burst.

"MIZUKA!"
Her name was ringing through his head or was that everyone yelling. He tried to run to the spot where she had disappeared but Oshitari and Fuji and Shishido and Sengoku were holding him back. Beat was barking and whining, looking at him and then looking out at the lake.
"Fuck, let ME get her!"
"Atobe, you're too heavy!" Sengoku grunted as he shoved Atobe back. "Wait for the rope!"
"I can't lose her again. I can't. I can't."
"Atobe! You can't risk it!" Oshitari said.
"Atobe, we all want to help Mizuka, too! Please." Fuji's voice as he gripped his shoulder calmed him slightly.
"Release me," he said gruffly and they did.
How long had she been under while they were wasting time here?
Atobe saw and heard her resurface, her gasped in breath and her coughing as she clawed at the ice. She wasn't even wearing gloves! It felt like the longest time before Oishi and Kaido came back with the rope. Atobe grabbed it and tied it around Mukahi.
"Get her and don't let go."
Mukahi had been shivering and looking nervous but he swallowed and took a deep breath at Atobe's words. He looked back at Atobe and nodded. Atobe had made sure to knot it tightly three times before he let Mukahi go.
"When you get near the cracks, go on your stomach and crawl towards her, okay Mukahi?" Oishi said.
Mukahi nodded.
The silence was palpable as they watched Mukahi walk slowly over the ice towards Mizuka. Even Beat seemed nervous and scared about the situation as he watched on in silence.

"Mizuka!"
Mizuka's body was shaking so much from her shivers, her teeth chattering she almost didn't hear her name being called. She lifted her face from where she had it resting on her arms. The cold had frozen the sleeves of her jacket to the ice.
"Mizuka!"
Her head felt like it had a brain freeze. It was Mukahi calling her. He was on his stomach and was crawling to her. His eyes were wide, he looked so scared. He was a mere two feet from her, his hand reaching out for her.
"Can you reach for me?"
Her arms felt numb and heavy as she lifted her right arm, the sound of cracking ice made them both freeze until they realized it was coming from her sleeve being ripped away from the ice. Every breath she took in felt like it was freezing her lungs. She reached for him and hadn't even realized that he was gripping her hand and she ripped her other sleeve from the ice.
"Mizuka, they're..going...now..Okay?"
She felt so dizzy she wasn't even sure what she was hearing. All she knew was when Mukahi was dragging her out of the water, her body half out, the ice cracked some more and she fell in again.
Everything was black again.
Everything was so cold.
It was so noisy the next she awoke. All she could hear were yells. She could almost make them out.
"Bundle her up in layers! We have to get her inside before we take her clothes off!" Oishi.
"Atobe, are you crazy? Don't take off your jacket!"
Mizuka felt heavy yet light. She couldn't even open her eyes as she slowly drifted off again.
"You'll be okay, Love. You'll be okay." Keigo.

"Oishi, can't you make the water any hotter?"
Warm air was being blown on her face.
Mizuka could hear the strain in the deep voice by her ear. He sounded as if he were right next to her. She tried to open her eyes but they felt glued shut. Her body felt like lead. She couldn't move.
"It has to be lukewarm water, Atobe. Her body has to slowly warm up," Oishi said. "Just keep blowing warm air onto her face."
She tried to say something but only a small noise escaped her throat.
"Mizuka?"
She felt something burn her cheek and she tried to turn her heavy head away from it only for her to feel a wave of dizziness. A soft moan escaped her lips.
"Mizuka, can you open your eyes?"
No, she didn't want to. Her head hurt.
"Love, can you hear me?" A husky voice was by her ear. "Do you think you can open your eyes for me?"
For you? That voice sounded so sexual she had to open her eyes.
Her eyes felt heavy as she forced them to open but they would only open in slits. She could see the blurry shape of lips as it breathed on her face. What was happening? Why was he doing that? Did he want to kiss her? His breath smelled so sweet she could fall asleep with that.
"Make sure she doesn't fall asleep again!"
"Love, I know you're tired but can you open your eyes for a bit longer?"
Mizuka wanted to sigh but all she could manage was a small intake of air and a small breath out. She was able to open her eyes a little bigger and she could see his full handsome face. It looked like he was glowing. His face changed from worried to relieved.
"Hello there, Love." Was she dreaming? His voice sounded so deep. The burning that was on her cheek was from his hand. Why did his hand feel so hot? She blinked slowly as he slid his thumb across her cheekbone.
Her eyes glanced lower. Why wasn't he wearing a shirt? His muscular arms were holding her close to his broad chest as her head rested in the crook of his bulky shoulder. They were in a sunken tub of water. He brushed his thumb against her cheek which made her look at his face again.
"Can you speak?"
"Yes." Her voice came out soft.
Oishi swam into view with a light smile. He was kneeling on all fours looking down at her in the tub. "Do you know who I am?"
"Oi..." she wanted to close her eyes. It would feel so good to sleep.
Something warm pressed against her lips. She let out a soft moan and opened her eyes again. He was kissing her. Finally. He pulled away and ran his hand through her wet hair. "Love, do you think you can stay awake?"
"How...long?"
"Just for a little longer. Can you do that for me?"
How could she refuse him. "Okay.."
"Do you know who this is?"
Her eyes moved to the young man; he had black hair with two locks that looked like upside down bullhorns. "Oi..shi..."
"Do you know who I am?"
Her eyes moved to him. His dark blue eyes and purple black hair, his teardrop mole under his right eye, his perfectly shaped face. He was so handsome she could stare at him all day.
"Love? You're just smiling."
"Hmmmm?"
"I think she may be hallucinating," Inui peered over Oishi's shoulder.
"You're...so pretty.."
His smile made him even prettier. Maybe she can just fall asleep with that imprinted on her eyes.

"Oishi, she's asleep again."
"Check her pulse."
"As long as she doesn't have a weak pulse, she should be fine," Inui said.
"When will the doctor be here?"
Atobe grimaced. "It'll be a while. It is Christmas Eve after all." He stared down at Mizuka's face; she was so pale in contrast to her body and her lips were chapped. He could hear his Beat, whining and scratching at the door, and he felt the same way. He didn't know what to do, he felt so helpless.
"Atobe, are you feeling okay?"
He looked over at Seigaku's second in command. "Ahn? Of course I am."
The reason why Oishi was worried about him was because when they were pulling the rope, when Mukahi was pulling Mizuka out of the water, the ice had cracked again and the only person they had pulled back was Mukahi. Mukahi had let go of her. Atobe couldn't think at the moment. He had run and grabbed the other end of the rope and tied it around himself as he ran on the ice, dropping to slide on his stomach as he neared the water. He dove his hands deep in the water up to his shoulders trying to reach for her and just dove in. She had sunk just beyond his reach by a couple inches. He didn't even feel the cold as he grabbed her and swam up. He couldn't bare the thought of losing her again. He didn't want to lose her again. Never again.