Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ To Sedate ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

The days pass with surprisingly little event. As life falls into it's monotonous pattern again, Fuji can't help but feel grateful for the fact he's been able to talk to Tezuka more as of late. Tezuka hadn't approached him the day after he'd collapsed, but had indeed watched when Eiji practically knocked Fuji off his feet when he ran up to him and threw his arms around the unsuspecting prodigy. Eiji had heard as well—he was worried that Fuji was really sick, so it had taken a lot of persuading on Fuji's part to finally convince him that he was okay. That day Eiji had drifted a little farther than he would normally from Oishi in order to keep a better eye on his friend.

 

Tezuka and Eiji weren't the only ones concerned. All the regulars eventually caught wind of Fuji collapsing. All their reactions had been different, mostly of concern. Then again, Kaidoh had just hissed upon hearing the news and went off by himself. That didn't mean it at least made the school's “Viper” at least a little concerned.

 

Sure, it was going to take a lot of time before things were normal with Fuji. Now he needed to regularly visit Suzuki-sensei. She only asked for a half an hour every other week, but it still could sometimes be taxing on Fuji. Somehow, it seemed like the day and Fuji's mood that affected the outcome of their sessions. Sometimes Fuji could leave her office hating the women, and other times they just talked. His mother eventually quieted down about it—she had just been worried, after all.

 

It was one particular day at practice that really sparked interest in Fuji among all the boredom.

 

“Why… you!”

 

Momoshiro shook his fist. Kaidoh, in turn, gave a loud hiss that made all the freshmen within the vicinity jump back a ways. Momoshiro and Kaidoh were at it again, breathing down each other's necks. None of the regulars really tried to get in their way, so Oishi was put up to the task of pulling them apart. They truly could be vicious rivals at times. “Really, Momo, Kaidoh! Please stop it.” Momoshiro and Kaidoh were in the process of having some odd form of a staring contest and didn't seem to notice Oishi's rather feeble attempts at pulling them apart.

 

“Get out of my face, Viper!”

 

“Don't call me that, damn it!”

 

Momoshiro growled, but a shadow seemed to cast over them. It was Tezuka, and Oishi was looking quite grateful he was over here to break up the fight. A ways away, Inui could be heard muttering, “There is a 99 percent chance that he makes them run laps.” That probably didn't even need to be expressed with the data—even the freshmen knew what was going to come next. Then again, Inui had his book of data out for about everything, and with ranking matches coming up soon, it was important that he collect as much data as possible.

 

“Momo-chan-senpai and Kaidoh-senpai are scary when they fight,” muttered one of the first years. Horio, though, had his hands on his hips triumphantly, trying to look at least a little brave. It doesn't really matter, though. In the end, he's frightened of Kaidoh, who seems to have a knack for frightening the freshmen with his hisses. The two took a minute or two to recognize the presence of the captain. The second they finally realized it; they shut their mouths quickly and took a few steps away from each other. Oishi breathed a sigh of relief. A tense silence passed through the whole group before finally…

 

“Twenty laps, both of you.”

 

Momoshiro and Kaidoh universally groaned. “Tezuka-buchou,” they muttered reprehensively. Tezuka stood firm, giving them a stoic glance. When it was apparent he wasn't going to back down on his orders, they finally set out to complete the twenty laps. Eiji is practically bouncing to get practicing, so he pulls Fuji along by the arm, away from Tezuka and the others.

 

“Nya, Fuji-kun, come practice with me for a while please! The ranking matches will be coming up soon. We should be ready!” In ways, that was true. Even though they usually won their matches with flying colors, they needed to be in the best shape and make their best effort so that they wouldn't end up, by some fluke, as not being able to be regulars anymore. Then again, there were always the ranking matches after that month to again pick regulars.

 

For a moment, Fuji glances back towards Tezuka, who seems to be intently gazing in the direction of Momoshiro and Kaidoh who have forgotten their previous scuffle in an attempt to finish the laps quickly. However, his gaze turns back for a moment, catching Fuji in an iron grip. His feet skid across the ground as, for a minute, Eiji unknowingly drags him along. Of course, this doesn't really last. Eiji stops when he realizes Fuji has planted his feet firmly and is staring in the completely opposite direction. “Fuji-kun?” he questions, placing a hand on the light-haired boy's shoulder. Fuji shakes his head and quickly looks away. For a minute there, he could swear that Tezuka was looking straight at him. It even takes a few minutes afterwards for him to fade out of his spell. Fuji's one of a group of people that finds Tezuka's eyes captivating, it seems.

 

Blinking, he turns off in another direction. Tenshi's there, again, and staring straight in his direction. That's unsettling, in more ways than one. By now, it could be expected that he had gotten used to it. Fuji has long since gotten used to the odd accent and bad grammar, but something still bothered him. That man's accent was so odd, and Fuji had trouble placing it. Tenshi never answered a question that he didn't want to, so it was no use when Fuji asked. If he was just trying to be mysterious, it wasn't working in the slightest. That “Saa… It doesn't really matter,” could only be spoken so many times before it started to get to Fuji in form of frustration.

 

Once again, nobody was noticing. Tenshi waved, but Fuji didn't bother to wave back. He'd long since accepted that he was the only one able to see him, but that didn't stop him from pretending when in public that he didn't. What would people think if he started waving to imaginary beings? They would think he'd lost his mind! Somehow, it didn't deter the man in the slightest. Tenshama the foreigner, not fazed by being ignored in the slightest, followed him home every day, commented upon his tennis practice, and enjoyed frightening Fuji when walking around corners by appearing out of nowhere.

 

“Is something wrong, Fuji-kun?” Eiji called over to him. Maybe Fuji was zoning off again, staring off in Tenshi's direction. Shaking his head dismissively, he turned away from Tenshi and went on with practice like nothing had happened.

 

Practice ended on a good note. Since Tezuka had already broken up the quarrel between Kaidoh and Momoshiro, things were oddly quiet, and Fuji was grateful for it. After chatting for a while with Inui and Eiji, he headed, along with the others, into the clubroom in order to get changed and head in the direction of home. Maybe Tezuka would like to come over and study today. For a while, Fuji had been thinking of inviting Tezuka over to study for the reason that he needed help with world history. Currently, his teacher was covering India's independence, and Fuji didn't understand it very well. Tezuka was very good in the subject, though, and with the threat of an upcoming test; Fuji decided it would be best to ask the captain soon.

 

“Tezuka,” he mentioned as they exited the club room, their bags slung over their shoulders, “I was wondering if you'd like to come over and study today.” Off in the distance, Tenshi was waving to him, once again. Fuji paid him no mind. Sometimes he thought of the man as far too friendly and cheery. Sure, Fuji was friendly and cheery, but he drew a line. Tenshi's personality could almost be described as schizophrenic; when needed, he was extremely serious. The rest of the time, he was so happy that it was almost sickening. That wasn't what he was focusing on, though. Tezuka turned his head. He had his attention. “My mother said that it was okay if I brought a friend over any time this week, and I really needed some help with studying for a world history test. We can even help each other with our homework after we're done, if you want.”

 

They'd studied together before, but for some reason, Tezuka arched an eyebrow. “What do you need help in?” He was a little surprised. After all, Fuji was supposed to be a genius. School was supposed to come fairly easy to him if he studied. Then again, he supposed it was a little biased to say that Fuji didn't ever need help with things. Fuji had justified reasons for asking him, despite everything else. He knew that world history was one of Tezuka's better subjects.

 

“We're learning about Indian independence. I need to know more about Gandhi, and I can't find much about him in my books.” The day they'd taken notes had very unluckily been the day he collapsed, so he missed the majority of the information on him. Yes, he'd been smart enough to ask to borrow one of his classmate's notes, but those hadn't been very clear, so it was hard for him to understand it all. “If you can't, it's understandable. Maybe we can do it another day if you're busy this afternoon?”

 

“No…” He said after a few minutes. “Today's just fine with me.”

 

Fuji smiled. “That's great. Thank you so much.”

 

Tenshi's attempt at conversation was like the buzz of an angry fly to Fuji's ears. He drifted past his gaze once, twice. For one, it was almost a laughing matter that he was talking directly to Fuji and Tezuka was completely oblivious, and for two, his questions were beginning to get annoying. Fuji thought that if Tenshama expected him to answer so many questions, then he should at least be ready to answer some of Fuji's questions. Namely, why he was the only one that was able to see him.

 

“You like this one, don't you?”

 

Of course, there was no answer from Fuji. Tenshi could've expected that, since he wasn't exactly asking at the best of times. He knew the boy was listening, though, even when he kept his eyes ahead and made pleasant conversation with the captain of the team, a boy with glasses and messy, brown hair. That was what he wanted to do. In a way, it was to get Fuji to think about things. Sure, the prodigy would think of it as annoying. It was technically an annoyance, but a test to make sure that Fuji was thinking of what he said. Why would a genius need that help? Somebody may have asked that. Tenshi was sure that Fuji was quite capable before he arrived, but with all that had been going on, Fuji now had the tendency to zone off and forget all his thoughts. Really, he commended Fuji for being able to pay attention to his ranting and talk to the captain at the same time.

 

“I don't really blame you. He has great eyes, no? Just from seeing how you looked at him today I could tell that you really liked him. Does he like you too?”

 

Fuji raised an eyebrow not from his conversation with Tezuka, but from Tenshi's second to last question. Great eyes? He supposed so. He didn't like Tezuka's eyes for any old reason. To put it bluntly, they were nice to look at. Of course, he didn't get that chance often. People did, after all, get suspicious when one boy stared into the eyes of another male.

 

“It is so easy to tell. You really do like him! I don't blame you, though. He's very attractive.” Sure. That's exactly what Fuji wanted to hear from him. What was that supposed to reassure?

 

Fuji's gaze flicked ever so slightly to the side, his eyes opening for just a fraction of a second. Even Tenshi was able to detect the warning. Leave me alone now. That was what the eyes told him. Now, Tenshi was quieter, still following behind the two almost as a stalker would. Soon enough, Tenshama fell to the back of Fuji's mind. At least he was being quieter now. Sometimes Tenshi was helpful. Tenshama helped contemplate what he'd do and different decisions he would make. Despite the man's outwardly dull appearance, he really did have good insight when it came to real-life situations. Fuji found that if he ever asked advice, about half the time he would get helpful advice from the odd entity.

 

“You know, you need to have more confidence. If you were to tell him, the worst he could say is no. You bemoan it like you've told him and he hates you. What'll happen if you figure out in the end that he likes you and was too scared to say anything, just like you?” That was the last thing that Tenshi said. After that, he was completely silent. By the time they were approaching Fuji's house, he was out of sight once again.

 

“I'm home,” He called upon entering his home. Tezuka looked around curiously. It was oddly quiet, but there were shoes at the door, so there were people here. Removing his shoes along with Fuji, he went along to the kitchen, where his mother was brewing tea.

 

“Fuji-kun, it's nice to see you. You brought a friend along today? Tell you what, I'll make you both a snack and bring up some tea when it's done.”

 

Maybe she suspected he wasn't socializing enough. Fuji didn't know wherever she got the idea; he'd always had plenty of friends. Then again, this wouldn't have been the first time she worried. It didn't look like Yuuta was here yet today. Maybe he was still at his tennis practice, or training more. Yumiko greeted them cheerily halfway up the stairs, smiling at her older brother, here eyes lingering on Tezuka a little longer than normal.

 

His window was already open, so there was a nice breeze and a good amount of sunlight filtering in. Fuji didn't like to draw his curtains, since it compromised the amount of sunlight his cacti got. For a moment, it seemed like Tezuka was eyeing the plants warily, as if they were going to attack him. Fuji chuckled slightly at the thought. Surely, his room may've appeared slightly odd to anyone. There were assortments of cacti that Fuji frequently circulated around the room in order to ensure they all got adequate amounts of sunlight. Along with that, photographs he'd taken adorned the walls. Tezuka seemed to enjoy looking at these more than he did the larger cactus that was sitting near his bookshelf.

 

His mother stepped in with a tray. On it laid two cups of tea a bowl of strawberries. His mother must have just bought a lot of them on sale. Whenever fruit went on sale, his mother went right for it. That would be a nice treat, he thought to himself. “Have a nice time, boys. If you're studying, don't study too hard.” They sat for a while just working on some of the history worksheets he'd been given to help make up for the time he'd missed during the regular history lesson.

 

“Your mother makes good tea,” Tezuka commented quietly as he sipped the drink.

 

“She's the best one I know who makes it,” he said. Really, his mother's tea was the best. He didn't even care for tea form a teashop or a vending machine in particular. She really excelled in the field, having years of practice at making it, after all. Tezuka pointed towards a problem on the worksheet. “Indians gained their independence by boycotting British goods. Cotton, to be specific. Gandhi's concept was that they could carry out peaceful protest. It worked, too.”

 

Fuji nodded and wrote down what Tezuka said on the worksheet.

 

“Hey, Tezuka,” He said a while late, pensively sketching lines on his worksheet.

 

“What?”

 

“Thanks for helping me out. I really appreciate it.”

 

Fuji smiled, but for a different reason than Tezuka anticipated. Honestly, he was even happier to be able to spend time with Tezuka. Studying or not, he was enjoying it more than he had enjoyed life in a long time. Even when Tezuka didn't respond to the statement, he was happy. The studying went on as if nothing had happened. Tenshi was probably off somewhere, but not here. Maybe he'd decided to give them a little bit of alone time. Either way, Fuji was grateful. He was seeing more and more of the odd foreigner every day, so he hadn't expected he'd be able to actually spend time without him when he was with Tezuka. He'd have to remember to thank him later. Perhaps he'd sensed how important spending time with Tezuka actually was to him, deep down.

 

They'd finished up a while ago, and Tezuka could've gone home, he supposed. They'd done all their homework together and helped each other with things they hadn't understood. Now, he suspected Tezuka probably had better things to do. Now they conversed quietly, which came to Fuji discussing a good book that he had been required to read for literature, and some of his pronunciation troubles he was having in English. Tezuka, in turn, listened more than he spoke. Something told Fuji that Tezuka didn't mind. The time couldn't last, though…

 

Could it?

 

He really did like it, after all. He wished he'd be able to spend more time with Tezuka again. The tray aside and cups of tea long finished, it looked as if that time he'd been allowed would be up soon. After all, Tezuka needed to go home for dinner soon, and he didn't have the courage to ask his mother if he could stay for dinner after she'd been so kind as to make the tea and everything for them.

 

“I should really go,” He said, only a few minutes later. Fuji could've even cued it at this rate. Though feeling a wave of regret at Tezuka's leaving, Fuji tore himself from the intense longing. Tezuka needs to go home. Leave him be. Smiling, he nodded. Curiously glancing out the window, he realized how dark outside it had become. Technically speaking, too, it wasn't that late yet. Rather, there was a storm approaching.

 

As if on cue, the promised storm blew in with a gust of wind, and a crack of thunder. His window was still open, so the curtains blew backwards with the rush of wind. All the papers he had out were immediately a swirling tornado, and he was lucky that none of his cacti were knocked over. They must've had enough dirt in their pots that they were able to stand against the wind. Running over to the window, he struggled to close it. The wind seemed to have blown the window even farther open, though, and now it was stuck solid even though Fuji struggled against it with all his might.

 

Warmth. Against the rush of cold wind, Tezuka appeared as if by magic and was struggling along with him to close the window, getting pelted by rain along with Fuji in the process. The window caught, and suddenly slammed shut, sending both boys flying backwards with the release of force. Fuji, on his stomach, and Tezuka on his back, were lying just a few feet away from each other, fingertips touching. Fuji seemed not to notice their position, rubbing his head slightly and groaning because he'd had the wind knocked out of him from the fall. His head turning over in Tezuka's direction, he shook his head a little. The forlorn hope that this touch meant more bothered him, but he didn't say anything about it. Despite what Tenshi said, confessing one's feelings wasn't always as easy as it sounded. He'd much prefer keep his friendship with Tezuka for now, too. Most likely, he'd end up warding of Tezuka with his feelings.

 

“Thanks, Tezuka.”

 

Tezuka sighed and sat up. The contact between their fingertips still remained, for a fraction of a second, and Fuji spared it a second glance. Though overjoyed by this, and growing more flustered by the second, he didn't say anything. Fuji felt a sinking feeling in his heart when Tezuka stood, and the contact between their hands was broken. He did his best to hide his disappointment in form of smile.

 

“Well, I'd better be going.”

 

Fuji got to his feet and began straightening the papers that had been knocked aside by the wind and ensuring that none of his cacti had been knocked over. Luckily, there was no damage aside from a few raindrops on the floor. The weather could be so unpredictable sometimes. Not even the weatherman could make a solid forecast. Fuji stayed turned away from Tezuka. His breath now choppy and his cheeks now red and flushed, he wouldn't be able to bear it if Tezuka saw him in this state. All this from just a simple, unintended touch wasn't something Fuji could comprehend anymore. He didn't want to comprehend it, though. It had been wonderful. Too bad it hadn't been intentional.

 

“Bye, Tezuka,”

 

“Bye, Fuji.”