( imagined you saw me ) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
imaginedyou) wrote2006-11-28 10:58 pm
imaginedyou) wrote2006-11-28 10:58 pm
untitled [Prince of Tennis: Tezuka/Fuji, Sanada/Yukimura, Yanagi, Echizen, Tachibana, Kirihara]
fandom: Prince Of Tennis
pairing(s)/characters: Tezuka/Fuji, Sanada/Yukimura, Yanagi, Echizen, Tachibana, Kirihara.
prompt: "I never knew my journey began, And ended with you my friend, Softer than your butterfly kisses, And stronger than my desire, I wanna thank you my friend, For making me feel alive." - What You Like, Darren Hayes
notes: 5564 Words. For January's Fluffy Relationships Challenge, but I want you to have it now, as a birthday present, Cyn :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY! LOVE IT! FANGIRL IT! SQUEE YOUR HEART OUT! ;)
-
"What is this?" Sanada asks, almost sneering at the tennis racket Yukimura offers out to him. Yukimura refuses to be phased; they have been friends for a long time considering they haven't yet lived many years, and he already knows Sanada's temperament, even at age nine.
"Take it," Yukimura insists with a soft smile, "try it; you might like it."
Sanada narrows his eyes at the racket which has found itself pressed into his hand.
"What do I do with it?" He asks. Yukimura shrugs and turns to make his way to his side of the tennis court.
"Pretend it's your shinai."
-
"You're really left-handed, aren't you?" Fuji asks out of nowhere. Tezuka has yet to develop a way to hide true surprise.
"...How did you know? Not even Ryuzaki-sensei should know." Fuji shrugs and deflects the question, getting up and lifting the basket of balls in his hands.
"You're worried about the senpais, right? Because if you got serious and used your left hand, you'd win easily."
"You're quick to pick up on things." Tezuka says blankly.
"Heh. Let's go home now, or else the school gates will close."
At home, Tezuka's grandfather asks him to assist in tending the plants in the garden; a job that is never complete, it seems. In his own home, Tezuka has no-one he can practice his tennis with, but Fuji's perception has set cogs turning in his mind, and as he prunes the dead shoots from the plants, he can't help but watch his left-hand as it does its work.
-
"Do we have to keep doing this?" Sanada asks, every time Yukimura makes Sanada play tennis against him. "It's just hitting a ball with a bat-"
"Racket," Yukimura insists for possibly the thousandth time. Sanada ignores him.
"...I don't see the point of it." He finishes. "I could be self-training at home."
Yukimura shakes his head; it has been almost two years now, and Sanada still has not realised what he had meant the day they first played tennis. He decides now it is time to show Sanada the truth of it; though he does not understand the sport right now, he is not half bad at tennis, and Yukimura has improved himself with Sanada's aid. He serves the ball so that it twists when it bounces off the ground, and streams past, just inches away from Sanada's cheek.
"What was that?!" Sanada screams, embarrassed to have been made to jump in such a way.
"Don't you see any parallels in Kendo and tennis?" Yukimura asks, tilting his head to the side and resting the head of his racket on his shoulder.
"No!" Sanada yells, forgetting for the moment what it is to be disciplined. "What is honourable or courteous about that?!"
Yukimura shrugs again.
"I didn't let it hit you in the face." He says.
-
Tezuka may not be able to play Fuji to his full abilities while his elbow is injured, and while he knows nobody will have the determination or drive to really pull out Fuji's potential for him to see in all it's glory, he has enough influence with Captain Yamato that he can suggest opponents for Fuji he suspect may be a challenge.
Fuji never loses a match. And every moment Tezuka watches, he feels his huger go unsatisfied; there is still so much more to be revealed.
"Sometimes," Fuji says one day towards the end of their first year, looking at Tezuka with his head tilted at an angle, contemplating, "I think that you believe you deserved that injury to your arm. Or that you..." He pauses here, as if about to say something even he believes is ridiculous, "...enjoyed it."
His eyes meet Tezuka's, knowing that now that the words are out he must stand up behind them. Tezuka meets his gaze unflinchingly for as long as he possibly can, which feels like forever, but in the end, he is the first to look away.
It is the first time he sees Fuji's dark, secret smile.
-
"Why am I here." Sanada asks roughly, staring at the floor and refusing to take a look around Rikkai Dai's tennis courts, training rooms or equipment.
"Because I wanted to see, and I asked you to come along." Yukimura says happily. His eyes are shining at the sight of it all, and he can feel possibilites for his future gathering at his fingertips, almost real enough to touch. The thing is, he knows equipment is only objects and machines, and that he can only improve against the best and worthiest opponents. That is why he has dragged Sanada along. Genichirou swears blind he has no interest in tennis, but again and again he has indulged Yukimura's aching to play just one more match and he has become a force to be reckoned with just from their matches against one another. It makes Yukimura shudder with anticipation just to think of it again and again... The thought that Sanada may just be considering persuing tennis with the same attitude he lends to Kendo.
Yukimura already knows much about tennis, and he is sure Sanada will be something no-one has ever seen before. He is almost more excited for what Rikkai's tennis club will do for his friend than what it will do for himself.
-
The rest of their friends are so easy to read, hiding nothing from anyone. It is that fact that makes Fuji ten times more mysterious and compelling in comparison, and what bothers Tezuka the most is that he simply cannot take the chance to find out who Fuji really is. In tennis only, he realises with a start, and realises even more surprisingly that he wants to persue who Fuji is outside of tennis, also.
Going about it in his own way means he draws Fuji in towards him, making it seem like Fuji is the pursuer. Usually, Fuji would be too perceptive for this method to work, but Tezuka finds that this time, the two of them are working in unison. One hand draws you closer, and the other pushes you on from behind.
Their first kiss is sudden, initiated by Fuji of course, and good. Tezuka is too startled at first to respond, but when he does, he is met by something even more unexpected. Fuji bites his lip, hard, and Tezuka wants to shout at him, but instead of opening his mouth to do so he opens his eyes wide, perceiving a truth about himself Fuji has already deduced.
"Tezuka, how did you cut your lip?" Ryuzaki-sensei demands at practice, suspecting a round of jealousy-induced bullying has begun again.
"I just slipped and fell awkwardly," Tezuka mumbles, trying to look embarrassed enough for it to seem true. It is not hard if he thinks about having to try and explain the truth.
For the first time during his time at Seigaku, Fuji truly cannot hold back laughter, and he has to turn away and pretend to be checking the condition of his racket lest anyone notice his sniggers and giggles.
-
Sanada does not join the tennis club immediately, much to Yukimura's disappointment, though he knows he should not have expected it of Sanada. Sanada will give in sooner or later; he is not as unrelenting as he believes himself to be.
Instead, Yukimura meets Yanagi Renji, someone he instantly recognises as very able and accomplished. They become tennis-allies, and between the two of them quickly and concisely defeat every other member of Rikkai's tennis club. They are lucky in the sense that the members of Rikkai's tennis club only care about being the best, having the best players, and winning by having that advantage. They receive no jealousy or backlash, only invitations to become Regulars on the tennis team.
Yukimura believes it is jealousy that finally causes Sanada to join the club and follow suit; he never misses one of Yukimura's practices, and when his eyes follow Yanagi they are cast over with an unusual shadow.
Yanagi seems delighted to meet Sanada; knowing someone's data through their best friend is nothing compared to seeing them and their talents in the flesh finally. And Yukimura knows Sanada cannot stay jealous of someone so enthusiastic about him, someone so logical and methodical in his ways. He makes a note to himself to prove to Sanada there truly is no need for jealousy when it comes to Yanagi Renji. It involves crossing a line he had never considered crossing before, but the decision is as easy as taking in breath.
"So, Sanada, you finally caught us up." Yukimura says, folding his arms across his chest and smiling just enough. "You took your time."
-
Sometimes, the lightest of touches from Fuji can cause the most delicious pain. It begins at the most impossible moments; in class, in the time when they were still classmates, they would be sharing a book and Tezuka would find that his foot was cold. Fuji would manage to keep him so distracted by the text that he could work Tezuka's shoe off of his foot. And before Tezuka could do anything about it, he would feel a foot still inside of its shoe grind down on his toe and create a pain he would attempt to suppress, and it would work, except for in the resulting fire in his eyes. Fuji would then try to pretend he wasn't amused in the slightest.
Or if Tezuka was wearing a short sleeved shirt, as he was apt to do especially in summer, he would prop his head up in his hands, resting his albows on the table. During a meeting perhaps, or if he had finished his lunch before everyone else. Fuji had this one tiny but sharp fingernail he kept for such occasions; seeming to accidentally just brush against Tezuka, his nail would feel like it had scratched right underneath Tezuka's skin, sending a stinging pain humming through him, and more than once, breaking the skin and letting a little blood flow.
Sometimes, Tezuka begins to wonder if finishing his match with Fuji will bring about such a pleasurable pain. But he stops himself from letting those thoughts travel too far, just in case he starts to wonder not if it will happen, but for which of them.
-
Their first year, although they dominate, Yukimura does not let Sanada, Yanagi, or himself raise themselves above their elders to the point of disrespect, easy as it would be. Not that Yukimura believes they would anyway; Sanada has himself invested too much in acting correctly and properly, and Yanagi is not stupid. During their second year, when everyone but everyone is well aware of who they are and what their skill level is, and they are above a good amount of members age-wise, Yukimura feels he can finally be the captain he should be.
And he can let Sanada be the vice-captain in whatever way he deems acceptable. They have built up a sort-of unspoken connection between them wherein Sanada knows when to speak for Yukimura, and when to let the captain make his prescence felt. He does this little, to make its effect lasting.
The first time Sanada attempts to lash out at a teammate for losing, it is during their own training session. Yukimura had felt the string of tension inside Sanada stretching tighter and tighter throughout the day, as had Yanagi, and so he is there well in advance to stay Sanada's hand before he can make contact with flesh.
"Sanada, this is just a practice match; someone from our own team will ultimately lose." Yukimura says slowly and precisely. "Save it for the official tournament, if necessary." Sanada takes a breath and nods.
"You mean you would've let him hit someone for losing if this was an official tournament?!" Niou bursts out. Yukimura looks over at him through narrowed eyes, and Niou begins to wish he hadn't spoken.
"I'm sorry..." Yukimura says coldly, "Did you just say that defeat was acceptable?"
-
Third year brought yet another hindrance to a match between Fuji and Tezuka when Echizen Ryoma appeared on the scene. He was young, talented, and cocky, and he reminded both Fuji and Tezuka of what Tezuka could possibly have been if only the third years at Seigaku at the time had had the same attitude they as third years had towards Ryoma now. He was amazing; he was an inspiration.
Tezuka knew instantly what he had to do to break Ryoma out of his shell and make him a better player, and so he persued it to the full for the sake of Seigaku. Fuji was a much harder person to obtain and draw out; Tezuka was convinced he could do both of them justice eventually, if he just put Ryoma first. They were third years after all; they wouldn't be at Seigaku for what felt like forever anymore. If Ryoma was to keep the torch lit for the school, he would have to evolve now.
Fuji understood this without it having to be put into words; he had survived undefeated at the level he was at so far, another few months or a year wouldn't make much more difference. He was a little relieved, too, though he would not admit it to Tezuka. Though he did not know what kind of tennis player he was now, and ultimately what kind of person as a whole, he knew what he was as he was now, as an enigma. He was becoming very familiar with the concept.
And besides, nothing really had changed. In tennis they went on as they always had up until that point, and their relationship didn't suffer in the slightest. Fuji enjoys discussing Echizen with Tezuka; talking about anything related to tennis lights Tezuka up unlike any other topic ever could or would.
-
"How can you be so calm?!" Sanada demands at Yukimura in his hospital bed. "You just collapsed!"
"Well, it seems like one of us should be calm about it." Yukimura replies. "And you chose your position on the issue first."
"Even if I was calm about it, it wouldn't make you lose it." Sanada says almost sulkily. It makes Yukimura smile a little, despite everything.
"No, you're right." Yukimura agrees. "But I don't know anything yet, and until I know what is going on I'm in the best place; probably right now while we're talking, they're doing tests using all that blood they drew." Sanada pulls a face.
"Yeah," he says, "that wasn't fun to watch."
Yukimura laughs this time.
"No-one made you watch!" He says. "In fact, if I remember rightly, they asked you to leave the room."
"Yeah well, nobody tells me what to do." Sanada replies, folding his arms across his chest.
"You would have had to go if I hadn't requested that you be allowed stay." Yukimura points out. He doesn't find out what Sanada's reply to that is, because a doctor steps into the room and they both fall silent. He introduces himself and begins to ask Yukimura questions.
"Have you in the recent past had the flu, or food poisoning maybe? Or any minor surgery?"
"Minor surgery?" Yukimura asks in surprise. "No. I had a stomach bug a little while ago, which when I think about it could've been food poisoning... Do you suspect something?"
"We have a few alleyways to explore." The doctor replies non-commitally. "What about numbness or tingling in your fingers or toes? Or in your arms and legs?"
"I play tennis daily, for long periods at a time if necessary. A little tingling or numbness wouldn't really register to me."
"He did say he couldn't feel his legs just before he collapsed, though." Sanada says suddenly.
"I did?" Yukimura asks. "I don't remember that. I don't remember much though."
"So you can feel them now?" The doctor asks. He moves down the bed and removes the cover at the end to expose Yukimura's feet. The doctor squeezes Yukimura's big toe. "You feel that?"
Sanada looks at Yukimura when he doesn't answer immediately; Yukimura just looks thoughtful.
"Actually, I don't."
-
"Here, you're soaked." Tezuka threw the towel to Fuji and watched him sit down and begin to dry his hair while he dripped onto the bench and the floor.
"Say, Tezuka," Fuji begins, cutting into the silence inside. Outside the rain still hammers down onto the ground, "did you feel this way too, when you played against Echizen?"
"You knew?" Tezuka asked. Fuji looked up and smiled.
"Somehow, yeah."
"Why didn't you seriously go for the win in that match?" Tezuka asked, surprisingly frustrated. "Inui once said that you won't allow him to collect your data. Where is the real you?"
Fuji understands now. Not only does Tezuka want to improve Echizen's game, he did not stop their match because there was a selfish want inside him that knew Echizen just might be able to pull out Fuji's greatness, and he wanted to see it. Unfortunately, you don't always get what you want.
"Tezuka, it seems like I can't really get into a game." Fuji says slowly. Even with Echizen, he thinks to himself, knowing he would probably just lose to Echizen rather than reveal his true self.
"Fuji..."
"Bringing out my opponent's ability to its limit and enjoying the thrill... Is that all?" Fuji sometimes thinks he knows Tezuka's motivation as a captain and a leader. The same as him; for the thrill of bringing out someone else's abilities and pushing them harder than they'd ever realised they were capable of. "...What about you?"
"What do you mean? I win, no matter what. Winning the Nationals, that's all I care about right now."
Fuji nods to himself and continues to dry off his hair, though the towel is so wet now too, that it's not going to make a difference anymore. Tezuka was not speaking about winning the Nationals for himself, selfishly. He wants Seigaku to win, he wants them all to rise to glory. He believes they're all deserving of it, and so for them all, he must always win.
We aren't the same at all, Fuji suddenly realises, and knows that is why their tennis talents have gone is such opposite directions. He looks up at Tezuka with wide-open eyes and takes a risk when he speaks.
"If I am going to become a hinderance, take me out of the Regulars."
-
Walking into a training session he has almost completely missed is one of the hardest things Sanada has ever had to do. He has slapped people for just the same thing, and he wonders if that will be thrown back at him this time. And worse, he has to explain to the team what has happened to Yukimura, and he has to do it without getting himself upset, again.
"Sanada!" Yanagi exclaimed as he walked in. Everyone's eyes fell upon their vice-captain, and Sanada wished he could just disappear. The only thing on their faces was concern, though, and he knew he owed it to them as his teammates, if nothing else, to tell them what had happened.
"So this is serious?" Renji asks. "Yukimura is still in hospital?"
Sanada nods. "He'll be there for a while; they're going to try different kinds of treatment. It's this stupidly rare syndrome that, as long as the patient is carefully monitored by the hospital, can resolve itself in weeks... Or years."
"Years?!"
"And there's no way to tell which of those it might be?" Jackal asks. Sanada shakes his head.
"They think it's a good sign though, that Yukimura hasn't lost the use of his limbs so far. It's just his toes, and sometimes his fingers, that are playing him up. Some people are paralysed up to their lungs and have to be kept breathing by machines."
"My God, you make it sound so serious," Niou said, pulling a face. "They don't think that will happen to the captain, right?"
"Well, it's unlikely, they think, but not impossible." Sanada says sourly. "But he's in hospital; if anything happens... He's constantly monitored. Even people who get that bad recover completely. It's just something that happens that they can't really explain. Your body attacking itself."
"I suppose it's like anything," Yanagi says thoughtfully, "if you push yourself too hard and too fast, your body finds way to make itself slow down."
"Yukimura hasn't pushed himself too hard into anything!" Sanada bursts out. He grits his teeth and looks down at the floor. "I apologize, I didn't mean to yell."
"Hey, vice-captain, it's okay to be upset," Marui says more softly than is usual for him. "We've all been sick with worry, tell him Yagyuu."
"Marui couldn't even eat." Yagyuu says with a half-hearted smile.
Sanada can't smile back, but he understands the gesture. It suddenly hits him, hard, how much love the team really has for their captain. He is so used to the idea of authority and remaining untouchable when he is vice-captain that he forgets Yukimura can leave that behind, and outside of the club, be himself. One of them. And they love him for it. They love him for him, just as Sanada does. He wonders if Yukimura knows it too, and resolves to show him if he does not.
"I'll take you all to see him, soon." Sanada promises. "As soon as we can find a good time."
-
"Do you remember," Fuji begins quietly and coldly, after Tezuka's match, "in first year, when we were all set to play a match against one another-"
Tezuka looks up at Fuji's words; it is something that has stood between them for nearly three years now and until this moment, neither of them had even attempted to mention it.
"-and how mad I was at you for playing though you were injured?" Fuji glares at Tezuka, a look he has never, never seen before, and it withers him inside just as intended. "That is nothing compared to how I feel right now!"
"Considering it was you who convinced Atobe to do exactly what he did?" Tezuka bit back, trying to sound just as cold. It wasn't hard.
"I thought you would stop!" Fuji exclaims desperately. "I thought once the injury was unmasked you would admit defeat! You could have gone back to the hospital and been treated again, and in weeks, a month or so maybe, you would have been whole again. But you didn't! You went far too far."
"I thought you knew by now that I would do anything to ensure Seigaku makes it to the Nationals, as winners."
"But you lost anyway!" Fuji says, and it stings to think of yourself as a loser, Tezuka thinks to himself. "This was not to do with Seigaku, or winning, or the Nationals. And unless you were trying to get back at me for setting it up in the first place once you had figured that out, then I just can't understand it at all."
"I would've thought you would understand better than anyone." Tezuka says softly, but firmly. He stands up, still clutching his shoulder. He pled the opportunity to get a drink and wash his face at least before having a medic prod and poke at him, and Fuji went with him on the pretext of helping him. They don't have much time left to argue before suspicion arises, and someone comes looking for them. Ryuzaki-sensei, more than likely. "Otherwise, why else would you have bitten my lip that first time?"
Fuji's eyes are wide.
"I-Is that what kept you going?" He stammers, "pleasure from pain? You couldn't have forgone that just once?"
"Are you judging me for it?" Tezuka asks with an ironic smile. "What's done is done; I think you did it for more reasons than for my health. I think you did it out of frustration, and impatience, and maybe more than that, I don't know. So in a way this is my fault anyway."
"Are you trying to tell me now that you believe in karma?" Fuji asks. "What goes around, comes around?"
-
Yukimura sits up on his bed when he hears the team coming; when all of them are together, no matter how quiet they attempt to be, the sheer number of them creates noise that just can't be smothered.
"So?" He asks as they filter into the room.
"We won!" Everyone except Sanada choruses.
"Of course." Sanada then adds on. Yukimura nods and smiles.
"Who is lined up to be crushed by Rikkai next?" He asks.
"Fudomine Middle School." Sanada informs him. "They didn't participate last year; they were disallowed due to some kind of violence."
"Nothing compared to what some of us can do." Kirihara says cheekily. Yukimura pretend-frowns at him.
"Akaya, be good." He says.
"I'll try, buchou."
"They'll be nothing to worry about anyway, new team or not." Sanada sneers. "And whoever comes after that. We'll be the winners when we reach the Nationals."
"I'll be cheering for you all." Yukimura insists.
"Make sure to cheer for Sanada and myself," Yanagi says, "we're mixing up the line-up a little and playing Doubles 1 this time."
"I was getting sick of never reaching my own match." Sanada says with his arms folded. "This way I know I'll definitely get to play. Unfortunately, Niou, Marui, you guys won't."
Marui shrugged. "That's okay, you've got us all training so hard I'll enjoy the break, just this once."
"I wish I could be there to see it." Yukimura says, sounding terribly proud and content. The team he has cultivated can stand on their own and win even without his prescence beside them. "You guys are such a force to be reckoned with."
"Even more so with you, buchou!" Kirihara says loudly. "But since we don't have you right now, we'll make do. We'll pave the way right to the Nationals for you, with one defeated team after another!"
-
Fuji could remember when Seigaku first met Fudomine during the tournament, how their captain Tachibana had purposely Tezuka to make sure they shared a few words and a handshake. He was a captain to be respected, and when the teams had become more friendly towards one another after gaining so much respect for one another, Fuji had found himself drawn into Tezuka and Tachibana's muual respect for one another. And with Tezuka in Germany, Fuji had no qualms about keeping up the contact, especially after discovering Tachibana had been purposely injured in his match against Rikkai.
"Has he called you at all since you've been in Germany?" Fuji asks Tezuka over the phone one evening.
"Not about his match against Rikkai, anyway." Tezuka replies. "Though you have to pay for calls while you're in hospital, so I'm not surprised."
"Ah yes, good point."
Fuji makes up his mind to visit Tachibana for himself and see how he's doing, but he knows he will not have a chance to fit it in to his schedule before the Rikkai match. But then the rain appears, and this does not sit well Momo, nor with Rikkai's Kirihara Akaya, who cannot resist running his mouth at Seigaku when he stumbles upon them all.
"I don't know if we'll be playing today," Fuji says to him slowly and clearly, "but let's have a good match." He neglects to point out that a good match for him will not necessarily be a good match for Kirihara. Not after he attempts to goad not just Fudomine's Kamio and Tachibana Ann, but when he mentions Tezuka, too. Fuji's eyes bore into Kirihara, and he reminds himself that this guy has a lot to answer for, and he will do so on the court. He keeps his voice even, and his words light, but his eyes remain focused on Kirihara, remembering.
Fuji forgets all about practice after the postponement of the matches is announced; all he realises is that he has a chance to see Tachibana now, and he will grasp it while he can. He picks up some flowers along the way to the hospital, because it is polite, and he hates to think he would appear empty-handed. Tachibana is surprised, but he covers it over. Fuji smiles, thinking that somehow, all team captains are all alike. Tachibana refuses to talk about himself for long, quickly turning the conversation to a topic they are both interested in; Tezuka, and then inevitably, Rikkaidai. Conversation with Tachibana just fuels the fire for Fuji as he is reminded of what kind of person Kirihara Akaya has brought down with underhand tactics. With Tachibana's grip tape clutched in his hand, Fuji reminds himself that a game is always more satisfying when he wins for the sake of the people he loves.
-
Sanada keeps the fact that he played an unofficial match with Echizen Ryoma very close to his chest, secret from even Yukimura. He has punished people for doing just such a thing, but the childishness of Echizen's taunting, combined with his skill made for a combination hard to resist even a fake match with.
He soon learns to regret it later on, when he finds out in the official match that Echizen has evolved to cope with Sanada's skills already, after that one game. It is his own fault for doing wrong and breaking the rules, he tells himself, but still he refuses to let anyone else know the truth of it. He is a tiny bit thankful that Yukimura was not there, because surely if he had seen them play he would have known they'd already faced-off once before.
A tiny voice inside tells him that because he lost, maybe he'll lose Yukimura too, but he buries it deep and does the right thing, shaking hands with Seigaku's temporary captain before he takes his leave. He says with more conviction than he feels inside, that at the Nationals Rikkai will have Yukimura.
He makes his way to the hospital fast, even with his heavy heart; after everything Yukimura has shown him and done for him, he couldn't even keep this one promise.
"My undefeated streak has ended." He tells Yukimura, eventually, after he awakes.
"It's only taken so long because you've never faced me officially." Yukimura says with a bit of a lisp and a drowsy smile. The anaesthetic still has not quite worn off. The look on Sanada's face registers in Yukimura's mind, but it won't be until later he realises that it was the wrong thing to say.
"It's so hard to do this without you." Sanada said reluctantly. Yukimura moved his arm for the first time since the surgery, reaching out to touch Sanada's shoulder, and half-expecting him to jerk away, but he did not.
"Sanada," he said quietly, but fimly, "hold on. You won't have to for long now. We will still take the Nationals."
-
Now that the official matches are over until the Nationals, Fuji begins to feel a growing sense of impatience. Tezuka has been gone from the team, and from his side, for far too long, and everyday the thought of being in a match with Tezuka to decide things once and for all flitters into his mind and parks itself there for hours at a time.
It gets worse when Tezuka returns in a coaching capacity. For him to be so close again, and yet still so far, begins to eat away at Fuji inside. He can't explain his impatience when it is so obviously dowsed in fear. Every time he looks Tezuka's way he can feel it radiating out from him, too.
The game against the U.S team does nothing for him except allow him once again to show off his skills, no more and no less. It barely even counts on his radar, knowing that each day Tezuka creeps closer and closer to full recovery. Neither of them speak of it, but Fuji silently accompanies Tezuka to every minor check-up, waiting outside and bouncing a tennis ball against the floor in order to release his excess energy.
The day Tezuka tells Fuji they will be assigned to the same block in the next ranking tournament at school, with no other Regulars involved, Fuji knows Tezuka's arm is finally healed. He pretends not to know what is coming, pretends it is just like any other tournament, and until the match is before them, none of the other Regulars pay any attention to it, either. But as they stand opposite one another on the court, Fuji hears the whispers.
"They have never played against one another in an intra-school ranking tournament before, nor any other official match."
"I happen to know they played a match once... It's said that Tezuka was... Beaten hollow."
"This match may not just determine who is strongest at Seigaku... But who is strongest in all of Japan."
Fuji can absorb the noise without it distracting him; what makes him think deeper than usual are his own memories and thoughts as he stands across from Tezuka. The match plays out further than he would have believed before Fuji comes to the realisation.
By playing against you, I'd change. I was afraid of that. Afraid to become that serious player and unleash an unknown force. Afraid to become something and someone he had no control over until the metamorphasis was completed. If it ever would be.
Fuji suspects, just as Tezuka does at the very same time in the match, that if they continue this way together, always, they can only improve upon one another forever. The heights they can reach are unmeasurable.
-
pairing(s)/characters: Tezuka/Fuji, Sanada/Yukimura, Yanagi, Echizen, Tachibana, Kirihara.
prompt: "I never knew my journey began, And ended with you my friend, Softer than your butterfly kisses, And stronger than my desire, I wanna thank you my friend, For making me feel alive." - What You Like, Darren Hayes
notes: 5564 Words. For January's Fluffy Relationships Challenge, but I want you to have it now, as a birthday present, Cyn :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY! LOVE IT! FANGIRL IT! SQUEE YOUR HEART OUT! ;)
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"What is this?" Sanada asks, almost sneering at the tennis racket Yukimura offers out to him. Yukimura refuses to be phased; they have been friends for a long time considering they haven't yet lived many years, and he already knows Sanada's temperament, even at age nine.
"Take it," Yukimura insists with a soft smile, "try it; you might like it."
Sanada narrows his eyes at the racket which has found itself pressed into his hand.
"What do I do with it?" He asks. Yukimura shrugs and turns to make his way to his side of the tennis court.
"Pretend it's your shinai."
-
"You're really left-handed, aren't you?" Fuji asks out of nowhere. Tezuka has yet to develop a way to hide true surprise.
"...How did you know? Not even Ryuzaki-sensei should know." Fuji shrugs and deflects the question, getting up and lifting the basket of balls in his hands.
"You're worried about the senpais, right? Because if you got serious and used your left hand, you'd win easily."
"You're quick to pick up on things." Tezuka says blankly.
"Heh. Let's go home now, or else the school gates will close."
At home, Tezuka's grandfather asks him to assist in tending the plants in the garden; a job that is never complete, it seems. In his own home, Tezuka has no-one he can practice his tennis with, but Fuji's perception has set cogs turning in his mind, and as he prunes the dead shoots from the plants, he can't help but watch his left-hand as it does its work.
-
"Do we have to keep doing this?" Sanada asks, every time Yukimura makes Sanada play tennis against him. "It's just hitting a ball with a bat-"
"Racket," Yukimura insists for possibly the thousandth time. Sanada ignores him.
"...I don't see the point of it." He finishes. "I could be self-training at home."
Yukimura shakes his head; it has been almost two years now, and Sanada still has not realised what he had meant the day they first played tennis. He decides now it is time to show Sanada the truth of it; though he does not understand the sport right now, he is not half bad at tennis, and Yukimura has improved himself with Sanada's aid. He serves the ball so that it twists when it bounces off the ground, and streams past, just inches away from Sanada's cheek.
"What was that?!" Sanada screams, embarrassed to have been made to jump in such a way.
"Don't you see any parallels in Kendo and tennis?" Yukimura asks, tilting his head to the side and resting the head of his racket on his shoulder.
"No!" Sanada yells, forgetting for the moment what it is to be disciplined. "What is honourable or courteous about that?!"
Yukimura shrugs again.
"I didn't let it hit you in the face." He says.
-
Tezuka may not be able to play Fuji to his full abilities while his elbow is injured, and while he knows nobody will have the determination or drive to really pull out Fuji's potential for him to see in all it's glory, he has enough influence with Captain Yamato that he can suggest opponents for Fuji he suspect may be a challenge.
Fuji never loses a match. And every moment Tezuka watches, he feels his huger go unsatisfied; there is still so much more to be revealed.
"Sometimes," Fuji says one day towards the end of their first year, looking at Tezuka with his head tilted at an angle, contemplating, "I think that you believe you deserved that injury to your arm. Or that you..." He pauses here, as if about to say something even he believes is ridiculous, "...enjoyed it."
His eyes meet Tezuka's, knowing that now that the words are out he must stand up behind them. Tezuka meets his gaze unflinchingly for as long as he possibly can, which feels like forever, but in the end, he is the first to look away.
It is the first time he sees Fuji's dark, secret smile.
-
"Why am I here." Sanada asks roughly, staring at the floor and refusing to take a look around Rikkai Dai's tennis courts, training rooms or equipment.
"Because I wanted to see, and I asked you to come along." Yukimura says happily. His eyes are shining at the sight of it all, and he can feel possibilites for his future gathering at his fingertips, almost real enough to touch. The thing is, he knows equipment is only objects and machines, and that he can only improve against the best and worthiest opponents. That is why he has dragged Sanada along. Genichirou swears blind he has no interest in tennis, but again and again he has indulged Yukimura's aching to play just one more match and he has become a force to be reckoned with just from their matches against one another. It makes Yukimura shudder with anticipation just to think of it again and again... The thought that Sanada may just be considering persuing tennis with the same attitude he lends to Kendo.
Yukimura already knows much about tennis, and he is sure Sanada will be something no-one has ever seen before. He is almost more excited for what Rikkai's tennis club will do for his friend than what it will do for himself.
-
The rest of their friends are so easy to read, hiding nothing from anyone. It is that fact that makes Fuji ten times more mysterious and compelling in comparison, and what bothers Tezuka the most is that he simply cannot take the chance to find out who Fuji really is. In tennis only, he realises with a start, and realises even more surprisingly that he wants to persue who Fuji is outside of tennis, also.
Going about it in his own way means he draws Fuji in towards him, making it seem like Fuji is the pursuer. Usually, Fuji would be too perceptive for this method to work, but Tezuka finds that this time, the two of them are working in unison. One hand draws you closer, and the other pushes you on from behind.
Their first kiss is sudden, initiated by Fuji of course, and good. Tezuka is too startled at first to respond, but when he does, he is met by something even more unexpected. Fuji bites his lip, hard, and Tezuka wants to shout at him, but instead of opening his mouth to do so he opens his eyes wide, perceiving a truth about himself Fuji has already deduced.
"Tezuka, how did you cut your lip?" Ryuzaki-sensei demands at practice, suspecting a round of jealousy-induced bullying has begun again.
"I just slipped and fell awkwardly," Tezuka mumbles, trying to look embarrassed enough for it to seem true. It is not hard if he thinks about having to try and explain the truth.
For the first time during his time at Seigaku, Fuji truly cannot hold back laughter, and he has to turn away and pretend to be checking the condition of his racket lest anyone notice his sniggers and giggles.
-
Sanada does not join the tennis club immediately, much to Yukimura's disappointment, though he knows he should not have expected it of Sanada. Sanada will give in sooner or later; he is not as unrelenting as he believes himself to be.
Instead, Yukimura meets Yanagi Renji, someone he instantly recognises as very able and accomplished. They become tennis-allies, and between the two of them quickly and concisely defeat every other member of Rikkai's tennis club. They are lucky in the sense that the members of Rikkai's tennis club only care about being the best, having the best players, and winning by having that advantage. They receive no jealousy or backlash, only invitations to become Regulars on the tennis team.
Yukimura believes it is jealousy that finally causes Sanada to join the club and follow suit; he never misses one of Yukimura's practices, and when his eyes follow Yanagi they are cast over with an unusual shadow.
Yanagi seems delighted to meet Sanada; knowing someone's data through their best friend is nothing compared to seeing them and their talents in the flesh finally. And Yukimura knows Sanada cannot stay jealous of someone so enthusiastic about him, someone so logical and methodical in his ways. He makes a note to himself to prove to Sanada there truly is no need for jealousy when it comes to Yanagi Renji. It involves crossing a line he had never considered crossing before, but the decision is as easy as taking in breath.
"So, Sanada, you finally caught us up." Yukimura says, folding his arms across his chest and smiling just enough. "You took your time."
-
Sometimes, the lightest of touches from Fuji can cause the most delicious pain. It begins at the most impossible moments; in class, in the time when they were still classmates, they would be sharing a book and Tezuka would find that his foot was cold. Fuji would manage to keep him so distracted by the text that he could work Tezuka's shoe off of his foot. And before Tezuka could do anything about it, he would feel a foot still inside of its shoe grind down on his toe and create a pain he would attempt to suppress, and it would work, except for in the resulting fire in his eyes. Fuji would then try to pretend he wasn't amused in the slightest.
Or if Tezuka was wearing a short sleeved shirt, as he was apt to do especially in summer, he would prop his head up in his hands, resting his albows on the table. During a meeting perhaps, or if he had finished his lunch before everyone else. Fuji had this one tiny but sharp fingernail he kept for such occasions; seeming to accidentally just brush against Tezuka, his nail would feel like it had scratched right underneath Tezuka's skin, sending a stinging pain humming through him, and more than once, breaking the skin and letting a little blood flow.
Sometimes, Tezuka begins to wonder if finishing his match with Fuji will bring about such a pleasurable pain. But he stops himself from letting those thoughts travel too far, just in case he starts to wonder not if it will happen, but for which of them.
-
Their first year, although they dominate, Yukimura does not let Sanada, Yanagi, or himself raise themselves above their elders to the point of disrespect, easy as it would be. Not that Yukimura believes they would anyway; Sanada has himself invested too much in acting correctly and properly, and Yanagi is not stupid. During their second year, when everyone but everyone is well aware of who they are and what their skill level is, and they are above a good amount of members age-wise, Yukimura feels he can finally be the captain he should be.
And he can let Sanada be the vice-captain in whatever way he deems acceptable. They have built up a sort-of unspoken connection between them wherein Sanada knows when to speak for Yukimura, and when to let the captain make his prescence felt. He does this little, to make its effect lasting.
The first time Sanada attempts to lash out at a teammate for losing, it is during their own training session. Yukimura had felt the string of tension inside Sanada stretching tighter and tighter throughout the day, as had Yanagi, and so he is there well in advance to stay Sanada's hand before he can make contact with flesh.
"Sanada, this is just a practice match; someone from our own team will ultimately lose." Yukimura says slowly and precisely. "Save it for the official tournament, if necessary." Sanada takes a breath and nods.
"You mean you would've let him hit someone for losing if this was an official tournament?!" Niou bursts out. Yukimura looks over at him through narrowed eyes, and Niou begins to wish he hadn't spoken.
"I'm sorry..." Yukimura says coldly, "Did you just say that defeat was acceptable?"
-
Third year brought yet another hindrance to a match between Fuji and Tezuka when Echizen Ryoma appeared on the scene. He was young, talented, and cocky, and he reminded both Fuji and Tezuka of what Tezuka could possibly have been if only the third years at Seigaku at the time had had the same attitude they as third years had towards Ryoma now. He was amazing; he was an inspiration.
Tezuka knew instantly what he had to do to break Ryoma out of his shell and make him a better player, and so he persued it to the full for the sake of Seigaku. Fuji was a much harder person to obtain and draw out; Tezuka was convinced he could do both of them justice eventually, if he just put Ryoma first. They were third years after all; they wouldn't be at Seigaku for what felt like forever anymore. If Ryoma was to keep the torch lit for the school, he would have to evolve now.
Fuji understood this without it having to be put into words; he had survived undefeated at the level he was at so far, another few months or a year wouldn't make much more difference. He was a little relieved, too, though he would not admit it to Tezuka. Though he did not know what kind of tennis player he was now, and ultimately what kind of person as a whole, he knew what he was as he was now, as an enigma. He was becoming very familiar with the concept.
And besides, nothing really had changed. In tennis they went on as they always had up until that point, and their relationship didn't suffer in the slightest. Fuji enjoys discussing Echizen with Tezuka; talking about anything related to tennis lights Tezuka up unlike any other topic ever could or would.
-
"How can you be so calm?!" Sanada demands at Yukimura in his hospital bed. "You just collapsed!"
"Well, it seems like one of us should be calm about it." Yukimura replies. "And you chose your position on the issue first."
"Even if I was calm about it, it wouldn't make you lose it." Sanada says almost sulkily. It makes Yukimura smile a little, despite everything.
"No, you're right." Yukimura agrees. "But I don't know anything yet, and until I know what is going on I'm in the best place; probably right now while we're talking, they're doing tests using all that blood they drew." Sanada pulls a face.
"Yeah," he says, "that wasn't fun to watch."
Yukimura laughs this time.
"No-one made you watch!" He says. "In fact, if I remember rightly, they asked you to leave the room."
"Yeah well, nobody tells me what to do." Sanada replies, folding his arms across his chest.
"You would have had to go if I hadn't requested that you be allowed stay." Yukimura points out. He doesn't find out what Sanada's reply to that is, because a doctor steps into the room and they both fall silent. He introduces himself and begins to ask Yukimura questions.
"Have you in the recent past had the flu, or food poisoning maybe? Or any minor surgery?"
"Minor surgery?" Yukimura asks in surprise. "No. I had a stomach bug a little while ago, which when I think about it could've been food poisoning... Do you suspect something?"
"We have a few alleyways to explore." The doctor replies non-commitally. "What about numbness or tingling in your fingers or toes? Or in your arms and legs?"
"I play tennis daily, for long periods at a time if necessary. A little tingling or numbness wouldn't really register to me."
"He did say he couldn't feel his legs just before he collapsed, though." Sanada says suddenly.
"I did?" Yukimura asks. "I don't remember that. I don't remember much though."
"So you can feel them now?" The doctor asks. He moves down the bed and removes the cover at the end to expose Yukimura's feet. The doctor squeezes Yukimura's big toe. "You feel that?"
Sanada looks at Yukimura when he doesn't answer immediately; Yukimura just looks thoughtful.
"Actually, I don't."
-
"Here, you're soaked." Tezuka threw the towel to Fuji and watched him sit down and begin to dry his hair while he dripped onto the bench and the floor.
"Say, Tezuka," Fuji begins, cutting into the silence inside. Outside the rain still hammers down onto the ground, "did you feel this way too, when you played against Echizen?"
"You knew?" Tezuka asked. Fuji looked up and smiled.
"Somehow, yeah."
"Why didn't you seriously go for the win in that match?" Tezuka asked, surprisingly frustrated. "Inui once said that you won't allow him to collect your data. Where is the real you?"
Fuji understands now. Not only does Tezuka want to improve Echizen's game, he did not stop their match because there was a selfish want inside him that knew Echizen just might be able to pull out Fuji's greatness, and he wanted to see it. Unfortunately, you don't always get what you want.
"Tezuka, it seems like I can't really get into a game." Fuji says slowly. Even with Echizen, he thinks to himself, knowing he would probably just lose to Echizen rather than reveal his true self.
"Fuji..."
"Bringing out my opponent's ability to its limit and enjoying the thrill... Is that all?" Fuji sometimes thinks he knows Tezuka's motivation as a captain and a leader. The same as him; for the thrill of bringing out someone else's abilities and pushing them harder than they'd ever realised they were capable of. "...What about you?"
"What do you mean? I win, no matter what. Winning the Nationals, that's all I care about right now."
Fuji nods to himself and continues to dry off his hair, though the towel is so wet now too, that it's not going to make a difference anymore. Tezuka was not speaking about winning the Nationals for himself, selfishly. He wants Seigaku to win, he wants them all to rise to glory. He believes they're all deserving of it, and so for them all, he must always win.
We aren't the same at all, Fuji suddenly realises, and knows that is why their tennis talents have gone is such opposite directions. He looks up at Tezuka with wide-open eyes and takes a risk when he speaks.
"If I am going to become a hinderance, take me out of the Regulars."
-
Walking into a training session he has almost completely missed is one of the hardest things Sanada has ever had to do. He has slapped people for just the same thing, and he wonders if that will be thrown back at him this time. And worse, he has to explain to the team what has happened to Yukimura, and he has to do it without getting himself upset, again.
"Sanada!" Yanagi exclaimed as he walked in. Everyone's eyes fell upon their vice-captain, and Sanada wished he could just disappear. The only thing on their faces was concern, though, and he knew he owed it to them as his teammates, if nothing else, to tell them what had happened.
"So this is serious?" Renji asks. "Yukimura is still in hospital?"
Sanada nods. "He'll be there for a while; they're going to try different kinds of treatment. It's this stupidly rare syndrome that, as long as the patient is carefully monitored by the hospital, can resolve itself in weeks... Or years."
"Years?!"
"And there's no way to tell which of those it might be?" Jackal asks. Sanada shakes his head.
"They think it's a good sign though, that Yukimura hasn't lost the use of his limbs so far. It's just his toes, and sometimes his fingers, that are playing him up. Some people are paralysed up to their lungs and have to be kept breathing by machines."
"My God, you make it sound so serious," Niou said, pulling a face. "They don't think that will happen to the captain, right?"
"Well, it's unlikely, they think, but not impossible." Sanada says sourly. "But he's in hospital; if anything happens... He's constantly monitored. Even people who get that bad recover completely. It's just something that happens that they can't really explain. Your body attacking itself."
"I suppose it's like anything," Yanagi says thoughtfully, "if you push yourself too hard and too fast, your body finds way to make itself slow down."
"Yukimura hasn't pushed himself too hard into anything!" Sanada bursts out. He grits his teeth and looks down at the floor. "I apologize, I didn't mean to yell."
"Hey, vice-captain, it's okay to be upset," Marui says more softly than is usual for him. "We've all been sick with worry, tell him Yagyuu."
"Marui couldn't even eat." Yagyuu says with a half-hearted smile.
Sanada can't smile back, but he understands the gesture. It suddenly hits him, hard, how much love the team really has for their captain. He is so used to the idea of authority and remaining untouchable when he is vice-captain that he forgets Yukimura can leave that behind, and outside of the club, be himself. One of them. And they love him for it. They love him for him, just as Sanada does. He wonders if Yukimura knows it too, and resolves to show him if he does not.
"I'll take you all to see him, soon." Sanada promises. "As soon as we can find a good time."
-
"Do you remember," Fuji begins quietly and coldly, after Tezuka's match, "in first year, when we were all set to play a match against one another-"
Tezuka looks up at Fuji's words; it is something that has stood between them for nearly three years now and until this moment, neither of them had even attempted to mention it.
"-and how mad I was at you for playing though you were injured?" Fuji glares at Tezuka, a look he has never, never seen before, and it withers him inside just as intended. "That is nothing compared to how I feel right now!"
"Considering it was you who convinced Atobe to do exactly what he did?" Tezuka bit back, trying to sound just as cold. It wasn't hard.
"I thought you would stop!" Fuji exclaims desperately. "I thought once the injury was unmasked you would admit defeat! You could have gone back to the hospital and been treated again, and in weeks, a month or so maybe, you would have been whole again. But you didn't! You went far too far."
"I thought you knew by now that I would do anything to ensure Seigaku makes it to the Nationals, as winners."
"But you lost anyway!" Fuji says, and it stings to think of yourself as a loser, Tezuka thinks to himself. "This was not to do with Seigaku, or winning, or the Nationals. And unless you were trying to get back at me for setting it up in the first place once you had figured that out, then I just can't understand it at all."
"I would've thought you would understand better than anyone." Tezuka says softly, but firmly. He stands up, still clutching his shoulder. He pled the opportunity to get a drink and wash his face at least before having a medic prod and poke at him, and Fuji went with him on the pretext of helping him. They don't have much time left to argue before suspicion arises, and someone comes looking for them. Ryuzaki-sensei, more than likely. "Otherwise, why else would you have bitten my lip that first time?"
Fuji's eyes are wide.
"I-Is that what kept you going?" He stammers, "pleasure from pain? You couldn't have forgone that just once?"
"Are you judging me for it?" Tezuka asks with an ironic smile. "What's done is done; I think you did it for more reasons than for my health. I think you did it out of frustration, and impatience, and maybe more than that, I don't know. So in a way this is my fault anyway."
"Are you trying to tell me now that you believe in karma?" Fuji asks. "What goes around, comes around?"
-
Yukimura sits up on his bed when he hears the team coming; when all of them are together, no matter how quiet they attempt to be, the sheer number of them creates noise that just can't be smothered.
"So?" He asks as they filter into the room.
"We won!" Everyone except Sanada choruses.
"Of course." Sanada then adds on. Yukimura nods and smiles.
"Who is lined up to be crushed by Rikkai next?" He asks.
"Fudomine Middle School." Sanada informs him. "They didn't participate last year; they were disallowed due to some kind of violence."
"Nothing compared to what some of us can do." Kirihara says cheekily. Yukimura pretend-frowns at him.
"Akaya, be good." He says.
"I'll try, buchou."
"They'll be nothing to worry about anyway, new team or not." Sanada sneers. "And whoever comes after that. We'll be the winners when we reach the Nationals."
"I'll be cheering for you all." Yukimura insists.
"Make sure to cheer for Sanada and myself," Yanagi says, "we're mixing up the line-up a little and playing Doubles 1 this time."
"I was getting sick of never reaching my own match." Sanada says with his arms folded. "This way I know I'll definitely get to play. Unfortunately, Niou, Marui, you guys won't."
Marui shrugged. "That's okay, you've got us all training so hard I'll enjoy the break, just this once."
"I wish I could be there to see it." Yukimura says, sounding terribly proud and content. The team he has cultivated can stand on their own and win even without his prescence beside them. "You guys are such a force to be reckoned with."
"Even more so with you, buchou!" Kirihara says loudly. "But since we don't have you right now, we'll make do. We'll pave the way right to the Nationals for you, with one defeated team after another!"
-
Fuji could remember when Seigaku first met Fudomine during the tournament, how their captain Tachibana had purposely Tezuka to make sure they shared a few words and a handshake. He was a captain to be respected, and when the teams had become more friendly towards one another after gaining so much respect for one another, Fuji had found himself drawn into Tezuka and Tachibana's muual respect for one another. And with Tezuka in Germany, Fuji had no qualms about keeping up the contact, especially after discovering Tachibana had been purposely injured in his match against Rikkai.
"Has he called you at all since you've been in Germany?" Fuji asks Tezuka over the phone one evening.
"Not about his match against Rikkai, anyway." Tezuka replies. "Though you have to pay for calls while you're in hospital, so I'm not surprised."
"Ah yes, good point."
Fuji makes up his mind to visit Tachibana for himself and see how he's doing, but he knows he will not have a chance to fit it in to his schedule before the Rikkai match. But then the rain appears, and this does not sit well Momo, nor with Rikkai's Kirihara Akaya, who cannot resist running his mouth at Seigaku when he stumbles upon them all.
"I don't know if we'll be playing today," Fuji says to him slowly and clearly, "but let's have a good match." He neglects to point out that a good match for him will not necessarily be a good match for Kirihara. Not after he attempts to goad not just Fudomine's Kamio and Tachibana Ann, but when he mentions Tezuka, too. Fuji's eyes bore into Kirihara, and he reminds himself that this guy has a lot to answer for, and he will do so on the court. He keeps his voice even, and his words light, but his eyes remain focused on Kirihara, remembering.
Fuji forgets all about practice after the postponement of the matches is announced; all he realises is that he has a chance to see Tachibana now, and he will grasp it while he can. He picks up some flowers along the way to the hospital, because it is polite, and he hates to think he would appear empty-handed. Tachibana is surprised, but he covers it over. Fuji smiles, thinking that somehow, all team captains are all alike. Tachibana refuses to talk about himself for long, quickly turning the conversation to a topic they are both interested in; Tezuka, and then inevitably, Rikkaidai. Conversation with Tachibana just fuels the fire for Fuji as he is reminded of what kind of person Kirihara Akaya has brought down with underhand tactics. With Tachibana's grip tape clutched in his hand, Fuji reminds himself that a game is always more satisfying when he wins for the sake of the people he loves.
-
Sanada keeps the fact that he played an unofficial match with Echizen Ryoma very close to his chest, secret from even Yukimura. He has punished people for doing just such a thing, but the childishness of Echizen's taunting, combined with his skill made for a combination hard to resist even a fake match with.
He soon learns to regret it later on, when he finds out in the official match that Echizen has evolved to cope with Sanada's skills already, after that one game. It is his own fault for doing wrong and breaking the rules, he tells himself, but still he refuses to let anyone else know the truth of it. He is a tiny bit thankful that Yukimura was not there, because surely if he had seen them play he would have known they'd already faced-off once before.
A tiny voice inside tells him that because he lost, maybe he'll lose Yukimura too, but he buries it deep and does the right thing, shaking hands with Seigaku's temporary captain before he takes his leave. He says with more conviction than he feels inside, that at the Nationals Rikkai will have Yukimura.
He makes his way to the hospital fast, even with his heavy heart; after everything Yukimura has shown him and done for him, he couldn't even keep this one promise.
"My undefeated streak has ended." He tells Yukimura, eventually, after he awakes.
"It's only taken so long because you've never faced me officially." Yukimura says with a bit of a lisp and a drowsy smile. The anaesthetic still has not quite worn off. The look on Sanada's face registers in Yukimura's mind, but it won't be until later he realises that it was the wrong thing to say.
"It's so hard to do this without you." Sanada said reluctantly. Yukimura moved his arm for the first time since the surgery, reaching out to touch Sanada's shoulder, and half-expecting him to jerk away, but he did not.
"Sanada," he said quietly, but fimly, "hold on. You won't have to for long now. We will still take the Nationals."
-
Now that the official matches are over until the Nationals, Fuji begins to feel a growing sense of impatience. Tezuka has been gone from the team, and from his side, for far too long, and everyday the thought of being in a match with Tezuka to decide things once and for all flitters into his mind and parks itself there for hours at a time.
It gets worse when Tezuka returns in a coaching capacity. For him to be so close again, and yet still so far, begins to eat away at Fuji inside. He can't explain his impatience when it is so obviously dowsed in fear. Every time he looks Tezuka's way he can feel it radiating out from him, too.
The game against the U.S team does nothing for him except allow him once again to show off his skills, no more and no less. It barely even counts on his radar, knowing that each day Tezuka creeps closer and closer to full recovery. Neither of them speak of it, but Fuji silently accompanies Tezuka to every minor check-up, waiting outside and bouncing a tennis ball against the floor in order to release his excess energy.
The day Tezuka tells Fuji they will be assigned to the same block in the next ranking tournament at school, with no other Regulars involved, Fuji knows Tezuka's arm is finally healed. He pretends not to know what is coming, pretends it is just like any other tournament, and until the match is before them, none of the other Regulars pay any attention to it, either. But as they stand opposite one another on the court, Fuji hears the whispers.
"They have never played against one another in an intra-school ranking tournament before, nor any other official match."
"I happen to know they played a match once... It's said that Tezuka was... Beaten hollow."
"This match may not just determine who is strongest at Seigaku... But who is strongest in all of Japan."
Fuji can absorb the noise without it distracting him; what makes him think deeper than usual are his own memories and thoughts as he stands across from Tezuka. The match plays out further than he would have believed before Fuji comes to the realisation.
By playing against you, I'd change. I was afraid of that. Afraid to become that serious player and unleash an unknown force. Afraid to become something and someone he had no control over until the metamorphasis was completed. If it ever would be.
Fuji suspects, just as Tezuka does at the very same time in the match, that if they continue this way together, always, they can only improve upon one another forever. The heights they can reach are unmeasurable.
-
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"I didn't let it hit you in the face." He says.
"I'm sorry..." Yukimura says coldly, "Did you just say that defeat was acceptable?"
"Even if I was calm about it, it wouldn't make you lose it." Sanada says almost sulkily. It makes Yukimura smile a little, despite everything.
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"I didn't let it hit you in the face." He says. The vaguely!evil streak in Yukimura makes me giggle so much! It borders on being playful and blunt all at once and just showing off to Sanada like that amuses me. And it is a good point he makes there. :D
"I'm sorry..." Yukimura says coldly, "Did you just say that defeat was acceptable?" This is Yukimura. And to me, Yukimura has always been Rikkai. This is what philosophy he has toward everything, especially tennis. Defeat is not acceptable - "we will always win" as compared to "we will never lose" (there is a difference, even if it's slight, and not just in the wording, but in the way you hold those promises true) not to Yukimura, and he believes it should apply to the rest of the team. I love the way you write him.
"Even if I was calm about it, it wouldn't make you lose it." Sanada says almost sulkily. It makes Yukimura smile a little, despite everything. Sanada! A sulky child. Yukimura always calm even when he's facing the scary and unknown. It's beautiful and it shows them so well. Sanada, afraid for his captain and friend and the team and Yukimura, trying to being strong for everyone. I started crying there. :/
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And now for the other lines I dug up. Which are, surprisingly, Fuji/Tezuka lines :D
It is the first time he sees Fuji's dark, secret smile. There's someting abou this that sent shivers down my spine, even rereading it. The promise of what is to come, the darkness between the two of them.
It is that fact that makes Fuji ten times more mysterious and compelling in comparison... I love the reasons why Tezuka is drawn to Fuji and this is just one of them. He's not boring or an open book, and people have to dig at him to figure him out.
One hand draws you closer, and the other pushes you on from behind. Actually it's that entire paragraph but I'll settle for this. It's a dance between them, pulling and pushing and neverending because there are so many depths to them both.
And another Yukimura line: It involves crossing a line he had never considered crossing before, but the decision is as easy as taking in breath. Okay I have to admit I kind of weep for it not being Yanagi (for there to not even be any hints!) but I love this line. It says so much about their relationship, how easy, how natural it is for them. Even if Sanada is oblivious to Yukimura.
Sometimes, the lightest of touches from Fuji can cause the most delicious pain This is just beautiful. It. I can't even find words for it. It sent shivers down my spine too. It's another facet of their relationship - and I love that it's Tezuka who is the one thinking that.
he did not stop their match because there was a selfish want inside him that knew Echizen just might be able to pull out Fuji's greatness, and he wanted to see it Hehehehe, Tezuka and wanting to see Fuji's greatness and everything. I love that fact.
The endings of both last sections were so beautiful. Yukimura promising Nationals, Fuji contemplating how they'd grow and change together. It's so touching, in ways that shouldn't be touching, but are. I loved it. And although the SanaYuki sections were my favorites, I loved the Tezuka/Fuji ones too. It's all so wonderfully done.
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Having said that, would it be alright by you if I added this journal to my flist? :3 *is still trying to compose a coherent comment but is failing very badly*
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This was the first time I attempted Rikkai; at the moment between myself and Cyn we're trying to do a little prompt table all based on Rikkai, so there will be more soon hopefully! :)
Thank you for the kind words :* and I'm going to add you right NOW!
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