Sunset Way

Fuji Syuusuke was unaccustomed to the irritating texture of doubt. It gnawed as his very soul, leaving him restless and lethargic. With a sigh, the brunette slumped over the cafe table, head resting on his arms. A sundae he had ordered absent-mindedly lay ignored, melting in front of him.

"What's the matter Fuji? You don't seem very happy today," a cheerful voice came that grated his senses came from above him. Fuji sat up and glared at Saeki for a few seconds before recalling that he himself had asked the Rokakku student out that day.

Saeki slid into the seat across him, concern mirrored in his amethyst eyes. Fuji did not say a word, but pushed the half-melted sundae towards his friend. Saeki took up the silent offer, and began scooping huge spoonfuls of the cool dessert into his mouth. In this aspect, he's no different from Eiji, Fuji thought silently.

"It's tomorrow, isn't it?" Saeki asked suddenly.

Jolted from his thoughts, Fuji blinked at him in puzzlement.

"Seigaku versus Rikkaidai."

"Aa."

"Nervous?"

"Ever heard of Kirihara Akaya?" Fuji answered with another question.

Saeki leaned back against his seat, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. "I've never seen his matches, but I've heard quite a bit about him." He chewed on the spoon thoughtfully. "What I've heard....Everyone says he's a scary player." Saeki leaned closer to the table, hands folded on the tabletop. "Your opponent tomorrow?"

Fuji nodded. "I've seen a video of the match between Kirihara and Fudomine's Tachibana. He.....He is a really strong player."

"Are you afraid?"

If it was anyone but Saeki, Fuji would have just smiled and give a noncomittal answer.

"Saa. This is the first time I actually see a strong opponent playing before the actual match. Somehow, the feeling is different from just hearing Inui's reports. When Tachibana missed a return, I wonder is I could be fast enough. When Kirihara returned Tachibana's counters, I wonder if he could return mine." Fuji chuckled softly. "I guess I am afraid."

"Maa...if that's how you feel, it's okay," Saeki said with the confidence of a vice-captain. "'Am I good enough?'. 'Is he even better?'. All that shows that you're not underestimating you opponent. But the answer to those questions will only be known during the actual match." Saeki smiled confidently. "And I am sure that Fuji Syuusuke is the better player."

Fuji's eyes clouded over. Sighing, he slumped over the table again, arms covering his face. "That's what I'm afraid of," he said, voice muffled.

Saeki laid a hand on Fuji's head but kept silent.

"When I see him play, somehow, I feel that we are the same. The confidence that we'll definitely be the winner, the way both of us can lose not a single match if we choose to, the way we aim for the opponent's weakness...They're all the same. And that's...really frightening." Fuji lifted his head to gaze at Saeki. "It's like facing a part of myself that I don't really understand. Even if it's a part of me, it's scary." Fuji sat up slowly. "Does it sound as stupid to you as it does to me?"

To his suprise, Saeki laughed. "Well, now you kow how we normal players feel playing against you, tennis prodigy Fuji Syuusuke."

Fuji frowned and stood up abruptly. Without saying a word, he walked away. Taken by suprise, Saeki glanced down at the half-eaten sundae, glanced up at Fuji's rapidly retreating back, made up his mind and quickly ran after Fuji.

Panting, Saeki finally caught up with Fuji a few shops away, having been delayed when he found out the hard way that the blue-eyed tensai had not paid for the sundae.

"Are you angry?"

"Not at all."

With that cold reply, Saeki knew it was better to keep silent for a while. The two of them walked together in silence; Fuji brooding, Saeki trying to think of something to distract Fuji from his dangerous mood. Presently, the both of them reached a playground. Two young kids around the age of nine were hitting a tennis ball to and fro with their racquets, determination showing clearly on their sweaty faces. Saeki brightened up as an old memory surfaced and he tugged at Fuji's sleeve to halt the tensai's steps.

"Ne Fuji, do you still remember?" Saeki asked excitedly, pointing at the two young players.

Fuji glanced at the boys. Then with a jolt of recognition he said, "This place...."

"We first met here, when we were about their age." Saeki smiled wistfully. "You and Yuuta were both playing there too. Ah, it all seems so long ago."

"I still remember. I came here because I had a quarrel with bane-chan and wouldn't go to Oji's playground for a week," Saeki reminisced as the pair settled themselves down on a park bench.

"I was so bored at home I decided to come here. But tha kids here wouldn't play with me. Then, I saw you and Yuuta playing tennis together."

"I felt jealous then. Just like a kid. Why is everyone having fun except me? So I marched up to you two and said 'You guys can never be as good as the Rokakku players!' just like a brat," Saeki laughed at his own past foolishness.

Fuji smiled. He remembered all too well how he had known Saeki. "Then, Yuuta asked me what Rokakku is. I said I don't know but it's probably something with six conners."

"I got so angry that I challenged you to a match. Then I realized I had no racquet with me."

"But Yuuta and I brought an extra so we lent you one. But you were so embarassed that you shouted loudly 'I definitely won't lose to you!'"

"Then you said, 'What if you lose?'"

Fuji smiled and fingered a loose lock of Saeki's hair. "It's not my fault. You were the one who said the loser has to bleach his hair."

Saeki ran a hand through his snow-white hair. "My mother nearly killed me when she saw it. Thank God I was not kicked out of school."

"But I think it suits you," Fuji said softly. His eyes opened and he smiled gently. "Especially your eyes." Cerulean orbs met amethyst ones and Saeki realized belatedly that his face was heating up.

Embarassed, he turned his face away to look at the ground. "Iya....my mother eventually said do too."

Both of them sat in companionable silence for a while. Then Saeki spoke again. "Fuji, I've known you for so long but there's a question I want to ask you again."

"What is it?"

"I asked you this before, sometime before we entered junior high. Why did you choose to go to Seigaku?"

"Why not?"

"That's what you said then too. But I thought you would enter Rokakku." Saeki looked aside and murmured, "With me."

Fuji remembered all too well how Saeki had assumed that Fuji would enter Rokakku too, on the basis that they were friends. Saeki has been so disappointed when he learned of Fuji's decision to attend Seigaku.

"Well, my answer then still stands. Seigaku's tennis club's regulars' uniform matches my eyes more," Fuji said impishly.

Saeki groaned. "You could always get red contact lens," he grumbled. "It's really because of Tezuka-kun, isn't it?" he asked seriously, after a while.

"Mmm." Fuji nodded slightly. In his mind, he could still see Tezuka's graceful form in a court, "He's strong."

Saeki understood. Fuji had always gravitate towards stong people. Perhaps their strength somehow made him feel stronger too. Fuji himself appeared delicate, though the appearance was only skin-deep. Fuji could be strong too, if he wished too. Fuji was vulnerable only to a few things, one of them being his brother. Fuji once told him that he admired people who seem to have an unshakeable core. People like Tezuka who never seem to doubt themselves.

"Fuji, want to play for a while? Rokakku's courts are just nearby. Oji's bound to be at his workshop now, so we can borrow his racquets."

"I don't have to be home yet....okay."

The rhythmic thump of the ball hitting the court steadied his mind. The need to concentrate on Saeki's serves distracted him from thinking about tomorrow. For about an hour, Fuji's world narrowed to that court, that moment in time, his self-doubt standing still in a corner of his heart.

"Let's stop here. It's getting dark." Saeki handed Fuji a towel.

"Thanks Sae." Fuji wiped the sweat frrom his hair. "Thanks.....for today." He smiled at his close friend. "I feel a lot better now."

"Don't mention it. That's why you called me out, isn't it?" Saeki sipped his water. "Ne, Fuji."

"Yes?"

"Just now, you said you entered Seigaku because of Tezuka-kun. So, it means that you'll be playing tomorrow's match becaues of him too, right?"

Fuji contemplated Saeki's words. "I've never thought of it that way, but now that you've said it, I think so...."

"Then, you don't have to worry a thing. You are playing for not only yourself, but for others as well. But Kirihara plays solely for himself. Both of you aren't the same."

Understanding dawned on Fuji's face. "Both of us are...different."

Saeki placed a hand on Fuji's head and ruffled the chestnut hair affectionately. "Decide on what you want, then work for it in your own way. You don't have to worry about others. If it's you, everything will be alright."

Fuji swatted Saeki's hand away but smiled up at the taller boy. "Arigatou."

They said their farewells at Oji's workshop after returning the racquets. Fuji walked past the courts, heading home alone, until he heard Saeki shouting his name.

"Fuji!"

Fuji turned back to see Saeki waving at him from across the street. The white-haired boy cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.

"Fuji! Don't lose tomorrow! I made a bet with Bane-chan; if you lose, I have to bleach my eyebrows!"

Fuji laughed and waved back to show that he had heard the message. Then, he headed home, with a touch of suprise that he was actually looking forward to tomorrow.

26/5/2004