Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Hejira ❯ Lovebird ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Author's Notes: Here's chapter five. (Read the note at bottom of chapter please.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Häagen-Dazs.

&&&

Hejira

Lovebird

&&&

“Alright, practice is over!” Tezuka yelled, putting down his racket. He nodded at Tenaya and Ryoma, congratulating them on their good performances today. But as Fuji walked past, he remained silent. Tezuka watched as Fuji wiped his face with a towel before looking at his watch. Something's up. He thought with a frown. Slowly, he approached Fuji.

“Fuji.” Tezuka greeted, taking a seat on the bench beside Fuji's bag.

Fuji smiled. “Hello Tezuka.”

Tezuka nodded. “How have you been?” He asked casually.

“Good, you?”

“Great.”

Fuji nodded, taking a drink from his water bottle. Tezuka frowned, determined to get to the bottom of this. He decided to get to the point. “I've been noticing a lack of focus in your playing lately.”

Fuji grimaced. “I know, I'm very sorry, there's just been…a lot on my mind lately.”

“May I ask why?”

Fuji hesitated. “It's really just personal issues, nothing very important.” He placed all of his stuff into his bag and zipped it up. “But thanks for your concern coach, I'll try harder next time.” He smiled, picking up his bag and walking towards Ryoma and Tenaya.

Tezuka watched him go, breathing a sigh. That boy worried him.

&&&

“So what did the coach want?” Tenaya asked.

Fuji placed his bag onto the bench and sat down beside her. “He was just sharing some tips with me.” He looked down at his hands.

Tenaya nodded. “Okay.” She said, deciding not to pursue the issue further. It was so easy to tell when Fuji was lying, but she didn't want to pry.

Fuji sighed, frowning a little.

“What's up with him?” Ryoma whispered from the other side of Tenaya.

She looked at him pointedly.

“Oh.” He said, nodding. “Shall we go home then?” He said after a few minutes.

“Yeah, I'm tired.” She said, faking a yawn. They grabbed their stuff and stood up. “See you tomorrow.” Ryoma said to Fuji, and Fuji waved goodbye. Tenaya only looked at him for a few moments before smiling, and following after her husband. Fuji sighed again. Yes Tenaya, I know. He thought grudgingly, picking up his own stuff and heading to his car.

&&&

Fuji stepped out of the hall shower, rubbing his brown locks with a towel. He had come home and found Aiko asleep, and so decided to take a shower in the hallway bathroom so as not to wake her. He entered his room quietly and hung up his towel. He walked slowly towards his bed, glancing down at Aiko. His eyes widened.

Her forehead was drenched in sweat, and the pillow around her head was damp. Her hair hung in wet, stringy locks, and she breathed heavily through parted lips. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides, and her face was slightly flushed. “Oh no.” He muttered, hurriedly placing a hand on her forehead, before drawing it back immediately. It was burning hot.

&&&

Tenaya stared blankly at the TV screen from where she sat on the black leather couch. Her ever-faithful white German Shepherd, Hikari, now a senior citizen in dog years, lay on the couch next to her, asleep. She spooned a mouthful of Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream into her mouth while she watched the news.

"And today, in downtown Tokyo, Mr. Tetsuya Nakagawa and his wife, Mitsuko Nakagawa, are in absolute shock at the disappearance of their nine-teen year old daughter. Here is Noriko Souma with the complete story, live."

Tenaya tapped the spoon thoughtfully against her lip, watching as the picture on the screen changed from a man wearing a suit in a newsroom to a tall, thin woman in a coat standing in front of a very lavish looking mansion. The camera zoomed in on her overly made-up face. Somewhere in the background, anxious voices could be heard.

"I'm Noriko Souma, and behind me is the famous Honshu mansion, owned by the Nakagawa family. Apparently, their teenage daughter was absent from a family dinner about a week ago, and further inspection showed that she was nowhere in the house."

Tenaya sighed softly, zoning out a little as a man, probably the girl's dad, stepped into the screen. Rich people were always losing things. In fact, Tenaya couldn't find her favorite pair of striped socks at the moment. "I guess daughters are no exception." She said to Hikari, petting her softly. Hikari snorted.

"What are you watching?" Ryoma asked from the hallway bathroom where he was towel drying his hair.

"The news." Tenaya replied without turning around.

"Ah. Well what's new?" Ryoma said, walking into the living room.

"Some 19-year old girl is missing." Tenaya said.

"Hmm." Ryoma said, coming around the couch to squeeze in-between Tenaya and Hikari.

Tenaya glanced over at him. He was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers with mini-tennis balls on them. His hair, freshly washed, was still a little wet. Tenaya smiled. When they first moved in together, a little less than a year before they got married, she was always the casual one, walking around the house in PJ's or sweats like always. But Ryoma always dressed in a shirt and pants, acting like he had a stick shoved up his ass. It was only a few months before he loosened up.

Her eyes roamed quickly over his form. He had filled out a lot over the years, and wasn't the stick he was back in jr. high and the beginning of high school. Not to mention, he also shot up like a weed, now standing at 5'10. Tenaya smiled a little. From his hair, to his beautiful, emerald green eyes, to his tennis-toned body, he was pretty hot. And he was all hers. Her smile widened.

"What?" Ryoma turned to face Tenaya, a small smile on his face.

She shrugged, spooning another bite of ice cream into her mouth. "Just checking you out."

"Do you like what you see?" A hint of playfulness was in his voice.

She rolled her eyes. "Uh, duh. Do you even have to ask?" She replied with a smirk.

"How are you and your wife handling this?"

"We are extremely sad and anxious. We can only hope that she's safe and will return to us soon. She is our most precious angel."

The man had a soft voice and a kind face, and his words sounded authentic. But his wife, who stood behind him, was just the opposite. She had an angular face, with harsh looking eyes. She nodded stiffly in agreement to her husband.

"I see. And what was your daughter's name again?"

Ryoma glanced over at Tenaya. Dressed in a black spaghetti strap shirt, pale blue PJ pants, and gray fuzzy slippers, she was the image of comfort. Her long chestnut hair hung over one shoulder, and the spoon was sticking out of her mouth. He laughed. "She's so cute." He thought.

"Her name is--"

"Aak!" Tenaya yelled awkwardly as Ryoma suddenly jumped towards her. The spoon had dropped from her mouth in the process of yelling, the carton of ice cream falling on its side onto the couch. She landed on her back and he landed on top of her, arms outstretched and hands on either side of her head.

"Jeez what was that?" Tenaya asked, reaching with one hand to place the ice cream carton upright.

"I was just thinking about how cute you were." Ryoma smirked down at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Couldn't you find another way to tell me? For example, saying it?"

"That's no fun."

She smiled, then in a smooth motion, exchanged their places. She laughed down at his surprised face. "You're getting good." He said.

"I try." She leaned down to give him a kiss.

He smiled, tasting vanilla on her lips. She collapsed onto him, placing her hands on his shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her waist. She pulled back and smiled. "It's a good thing Fuji's not here. He'd make a face and call us sickenly sweet romantics again."

Ryoma smirked. "Is that the only reason you're glad he's not here?"

Tenaya laughed, kissing him playfully on the lips. She placed her head on his chest and breathed in deeply. "Mm, you smell good." She said with a smile. He smelled like a mixture of shampoo and the sun. "So do you." He closed his eyes, feeling her comforting scent of peaches surround him like a blanket.

”What do you plan to do now?"

"Just wait, I guess. Wait and hope that she'll return to us soon."

Tenaya could feel her eyes drooping. "I love you." She murmured.

"I love you too." Ryoma said, running a hand slowly through her soft hair, coaxing her into sleep.

Talk about newlyweds.

&&&

Fuji looked up as the beeping of the thermometer went off. He hurriedly removed the small white device from Aiko's mouth, reading the digitized numbers. 106 F. He groaned. This was bad.

He removed the cloth from Aiko's forehead, dipping it into the bowl of cold water, wringing it out, and placing it on her head again. He tucked the blankets in tighter around her small form. He had already fed her some medicine and plenty of water.

Where had this fever come from? Fuji had called Sakuno a little while ago, and the only reason she could come up with was that Aiko's body was extremely weak from fighting all the bacteria from her wounds, and that with her immune system pretty much useless, not to mention a shortage of blood, the normally harmless fever-inducing cells had churned into action. It was all a little over Fuji's head, but he did understand that whatever was happening was not good. Sakuno was on an important house call, so she couldn't come, but she had told Fuji to cool her head, give her plenty of water, and keep her warm.

But that was all he could do. For now, he just had to wait for her fever to break, if it ever did. He watched as she, slightly trembling, breathed in short, ragged gasps.

&&&

Aiko slipped in and out of consciousness as her fever continued to slowly rise. She wasn't at all aware of her surroundings. All she knew was that she had never felt this bad. She felt like she was on fire, her skin burning and the blankets around her damp from sweat. Yet, she was also shivering, and her insides felt frozen. Her stomach churned painfully, her ears were plugged, and she had a splitting migraine. Her limbs felt numb, her was thumping painfully in her chest, and her lungs strained to take in enough oxygen for her fighting body. She'd never had asthma, but she felt like she was having an attack at the moment.

Somewhere around her, she felt a warm hand envelope hers. The action registered in the back of her brain that she was not alone, and she felt slightly better. An even smaller portion of her mind told her that it couldn't only be Fuji, and she felt her heart slow a little. She took a deep, shaky, breath, feeling the darkness take over her mind

&&&

Aiko turned around as the door to her room opened and a woman entered without notice. "Aiko, tonight, I need you to-"

"I have other plans tonight, Mom." Aiko replied calmly.

Her mother stared at her. "Plans?" She repeated after a few moments of silence.

Aiko nodded. "My friend Chisato invited me to a club. I'll work tomorrow night, I promise." She said.

Her mother sighed, obviously annoyed. "Fine." She said simply, slamming the door after her as she left.

Aiko shook her head, turning to face her mirror. She inspected her outfit quickly, not sure if it was suitable for a club or not. She had on a mid-thigh length jean skirt, strappy high-heels, and an off-the-shoulder, long-sleeved brown shirt. Her hair was pulled back into a casual ponytail, and a few shorter strands hung down around her face. In her ears were silver, dangling earrings, and she had on a white beads necklace. She had put a little makeup on, and over her shoulder was a simple black purse.

Her reflection puzzled her a little, for she had never really seen herself like this before. Usually, it was just jeans, sneakers and t-shirt, occasionally earrings or a necklace, but seldom make-up and never high-heels. She looked very pretty actually, and she thought so as well, but that was exactly what had her confused. She almost never looked pretty. With siblings like hers, she always kind of stayed in the shadows, content to be plain looking. Her glossy lips curved into a smile. Who knew it felt so good to look pretty?

The doorbell rang, shaking Aiko out of her thoughts. She hurriedly unlocked the front door, seeing Chisato on the doorstep.

"Oh my gosh..." Chisato breathed, eyes widening.

"What?" Aiko asked self-consciously.

"You look so gorgeous!! I can't believe my best friend is so breath-taking! Now come on!" Chisato grabbed Aiko's arm and pulled her towards her car.

Aiko smiled, but not only for the compliments. Being referred to as "best friend" was a really great feeling.

"You really do look awesome Aiko." Chisato said, getting in the driver's side.

Aiko sat down in the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt. "Thank you, so do you."

Chisato nodded. "The boys there will be all over you, just watch." She winked, pulling out of the driveway.

Aiko laughed, really laughed, for the first time in what seemed like ages. And as she looked out the car window at the passing trees, she felt glad for the first time tonight that she had agreed to come along.

&&&

Author's Notes: Yay, chapter five is finito. Thank you guys, once again for being such wonderful readers and reviewers. Hope this chappie was satisfactory.

IMPORTANT!! Please read.

I will be on vacation from July 26th - August 23rd. So this may be the last chapter for a long time. I might be able to upload one more before I leave, or some during my trip if I take my laptop. But I'll probably be busy, so don't count on it.