Liar

Disclaimer: Haha. If I owned Tenipuri, little kids wouldn't be able to watch it... ee;;

Pairings: Mizuki x Yuuta. A little Tezufuji

Mizuki sighed as he picked the small white slip of paper on the dresser. Yuuta's hasty scribble said that he had forgotten that his mother's birthday was that day and had rushed home. The dark haired boy let out another aggravated sigh. And they were going to discuss Yuuta's new training schedule that night too.

He checked the clock. Hmmm… Eight at night. The sky was streaked with deep purple and magenta hues (kinda like his shirt, but that's besides the point). Mizuki wasn't quite sure just when Yuuta had dropped all things and dashed out the door, but he did remember Yanagisawa ranting that morning about how "Ododo is such a bad kid, forgetting something like that da ne." Mizuki, who had been in the mist of calculating something, hadn't bothered to ask.

It wouldn't hurt to drop by the Fuji household now, would it? Mizuki wanted Yuuta to start his training program right away. With an event like his mother's birthday, Yuuta probably wouldn't be home until tomorrow morning and then he would have to go over the program with Mizuki… Even five minutes was too precious to waste.

Of course, Mizuki then remembered, eyebrow twitching, just why the program had been developed in the first place as a certain blue-eyed tensai emerged in his thoughts. Damn. He crumbled up the piece of paper and tossed it in the wastebasket. He would deal with Fuji Syuusuke.

Some how.

As Mizuki neared the Fuji household, his pace began to slow down. Several pebbles were kicked out of the way. Angrily, he wondered just why he was so damn nervous anyway. It was only Fuji Syuusuke. What could that guy do anyway? (Besides scare the shit out of people, but Mizuki wasn't going to admit to that one.)

His hands dug into his pockets, and as he passed by several stores, he realized one very particular thing.

CRAP. He had forgotten the schedule!

The manager of St. Rudolph felt this sudden urge to bang his head against the wall. Goddamnit. Had he been hanging out with Yanagisawa too much? Was the stupidity rubbing off? Was that it? Crap crap crap. He had come all this way for nothing.

Raking a hand through his curly dark hair, Mizuki noticed a flower stand.

…

…well…might as well get the most out of the situation.

The very first thing Yuuta noticed (how could anyone miss it?) was how blindingly BRIGHT Mizuki's purple shirt was. Dear lord. Yuuta was nearly knocked over by the sheer volume of purple that came pounding his way. He swore that the shirt glowed in the dark.

"Mizuki-san?" Yuuta croaked out after the initial fashion shock wore off. "What are you doing here?"

The second thing the younger Fuji brother noticed was that Mizuki wore a rather embarrassed face, slightly flushed and somewhat irritated. The type of face that usually surfaced when Mizuki was reminded of his defeat to Fuji Syuusuke and how the tensai had completely forgotten about that match.

The third thing was the bouquet.

"…and why do you have flowers?" Yuuta added after a long stretch of silence.

Mizuki cleared his throat. "I was going to give you your new schedule so you could familiarize yourself with it, but I was attacked on the way by a gang. I managed to drive most of them away but your schedule was torn into pieces. And since this trip had already caused me so much problems, I decided that it would be a shame to waste it so…" He shoved the flowers Yuuta's way.

"So you're giving me flowers?" Yuuta flatly asked, dumbfounded.

"No! They're for your mother. Happy birthday to her."

"…ahh…" Yuuta face broke out into a grin. "Thank you. For my mother, of course."

Unwillingly, Mizuki found himself staring at the smiling Yuuta. In act, he was so into his staring that he nearly missed Yuuta's next words.

"…and okaasan just went out. You want to come in for a while?"

Mizuki shrugged and stepped inside, taking glances around. Noises in the kitchen. "Who else is here?"

"Aniki and Tezuka-kun."

Mizuki suddenly began to cough.

Yuuta smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about aniki. I'm sure he won't do anything while Tezuka-kun is here."

Fuji suddenly slammed down his cup. He and Tezuka were sitting around the kitchen table, eating the last of the birthday cake.

Seigaku's buchou, unfazed, glanced up. "What?" he asked monotonously.

A dangerous glint sparked off his shimmering azure eyes. "Excuse me for a minute."

Yuuta had taken the flowers away in search of a vase, leaving Mizuki alone on the couch in the sitting room. The manager of St. Rudolph would have started to collect data on his surroundings if not for the face that he was currently confusing himself. Something weird had happened at the door (I don't mean that he blatantly lied; that's quite normal), but Mizuki couldn't put his finger on it.

He hated when he couldn't figure himself out.

Suddenly, he froze. The coldness of a smooth, metal barrel was pressed against his neck.

"You have five seconds to tell me who you are, what you're doing here, and what you want with my brother," Fuji stated flatly.

What the hell? Was that a GUN Fuji had pressed against his neck?!

"Five…four…"

"Okay, calm down," Mizuki gritted through his teeth. "Mizuki Hajime from St. Rudolph. I came to deliver Yuuta's schedule but there were complications on the way and I don't have it anymore. So instead of wasting this trip, I bought flowers for your mother since it's her birthday."

"And what's your business with Yuuta?" More pressure on his neck.

"I'm a friend, okay?"

"Hmm… Mizuki-san, as far as I know –and I'm told that I'm fairly smart— friends usually don't purposely injure each other."

The dark haired boy's blood suddenly began to boil. "…wait…a…minute…"

The pressure was released from his neck and Mizuki stood up, whirling around. Fuji calmly took a sip from a coke can, twirling a small metal pipe in his hands. How he got it, Mizuki couldn't care less. He just wanted to straighten one thing out.

"You bastard!" Mizuki screeched across the couch, loosing all composure. "Are you telling me that you were acting all along?"

Fuji's sharp azure eyes glared into his. "You hurt my brother."

"What does that have to do with you forgetting about our match?"

"Because it makes you suffer," Fuji replied simply.

Mizuki stared back, jaw slackened, his mind working up several phrases no mother would ever approve of. But his mouth wasn't obeying his mind at the moment.

"You hurt Yuuta, even though he trusted you," Fuji calmly explained, holding eye contact. "I just returned a debt that Yuuta would never repay."

"You thanked me for taking care of him," Mizuki snarled.

Fuji crushed the soda can in his hand, watching the other boy flinch at the piercing cracks. "And I wasn't lying," Fuji replied softly. "Yuuta gained confidence after transferring into St. Rudolph and that was largely your doing. I'm grateful for that." A pause. His voice returned to raw edged steel. "That's the reason I chose to forget that match. If it continues to repay inside my head, I'm only get even more angry and I'm sure neither of us wants that." He set the crushed can down, temporarily breaking eye contact. When he looked back up at a pallid Mizuki, he was the smiling Fuji. "I don't want to repay more than I owe."

Mizuki was about completely to spaz out when Yuuta came rushing in with the flowers still in his hand.

"Mizuki-san, I don't think we have any more vas—…" His voice faltered when he caught sight of the scene before him. "…aniki? Mizuki?"

Fuji smiled brightly. "Oh hi, Yuuta, I was wondering where you went."

"…aniki, what did you do?"

"Nothing. It's just that… I think I've neglected Tezuka for too long, ne?" He turned a heel and disappeared behind the kitchen door.

"What did he do?" Yuuta asked in a low voice, turning to his manager, placing the flowers temporarily on the side.

Mizuki shrugged, moving to the front door in a hasty manner. "Nothing. I should get going now."

A sigh. Yuuta leaned against the wall as he watched Mizuki put on his shoes. "Did he say… No, really, Mizuki, aniki isn't really that bad… He's just really worried… You know. About that training…"

Mizuki stopped in the mist of tying his right sneaker. He stared down at the floor, trying to place together his next statement. It wasn't working. Finally, he abandoned his data and improvised on his feelings. "Yuuta," he began softly. "Do you regret it?"

"Huh?"

"The training. The Twist Spin Shot." He took a chance and snuck a sideways glance at Yuuta.

The younger Fuji brother just smiled. "Ah, Mizuki-san, we're still stuck on that? You taught me to be strong, right? That was just a small sacrifice on the way."

"But…"

"Don't worry about it, Mizuki-san"

Mizuki sighed, smiling, shaking his head. That kid… He stood up, both shoes on and exited the house. "I wasn't worrying, just making sure," Mizuki replied with a flamboyant air, walking into the darkness ahead. "Bye Yuuta. I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Right," Yuuta confirmed before noticing one last (scary) detail.

Dear God. It did glow in the dark.

Later, after Tezuka had left for home, Yuuta approached his aniki as Fuji was closing the front door.

"Hmmm…?" Fuji asked, turning around, wearing that same old frustrating smile.

"Did you really forget about the whole match between you and Mizuki?" Yuuta asked softly.

"Yes," Fuji replied without pausing. "Why?"

Yuuta shifted from one foot to another uncomfortably. "It's just that… I was wondering how anyone could hold a grudge and not remember why."

One of Fuji's eyebrows scrunched up in puzzlement. "I've been wondering about the same thing. Why does that Mizuki piss me off so much, Yuuta?"

More uncomfortable shifting.

Fuji's azure eyes emerged. He walked forward and placed his hands on each side of Yuuta's face and turned it so that they were face-to-face, eye-to-eye. "Why do I dislike Mizuki, Yuuta?" he repeated in a much more commanding tone.

Yuuta swallowed. "Because… Because he taught me the Twist Spin Shot even though it hurt me."

Fuji softly smiled. "Oh, so that's it." Slowly, his hands released Yuuta's face. "I thought it was something like that. Well then, that's a good enough rea—"

"No it's not."

Fuji blinked, surprised.

Yuuta drew himself straight up, glaring defiantly at his aniki. There was a new sort of anger in his eyes. "It's not what everyone thinks. It's not what you think either. Mizuki didn't force me to use that move. I chose to. I knew what could happen, although, I admit that I didn't know the degree of damage it could cause but—…" Faltered voice. Yuuta drew himself together again. "The point is, aniki… Quit holding grudges against Mizuki because…damnit… It's just that—"

"Yuuta?" Fuji was doing the interrupting now.

"Yes?"

The blue-eyed tensai reached out, brushing away unsuspecting tears from Yuuta's eyes. He smiled, a sincere one this time. "Yuuta, that's enough. Are you happy in St. Rudolph?"

"Y—yes," Yuuta replied, bewildered at his aniki's sudden mood shift and his own tearing.

"Good." Fuji sighed. He placed both hands on Yuuta's shoulders…and then took a deeper sigh.

Yuuta twitched. What was going on?

"I… I don't exactly approve of Mizuki, but if he's who you choose, then so be it." Smile, smile.

VIOLENT. TWITCH. "Wait, aniki, I don't think you under—"

"Although, I don't exactly recommend you looking too closely at your boyfriend's clothes. They could ruin your eyes."

"HE'S NOT MY—"

"Ne, that's all I have to say." Fuji, fully abusing his superhuman reflexes, dashed upstairs before Yuuta could explode.

"ANIKI! HE'S NOT MY—"

"Good night Yuuta!" The blue-eyed tensai chuckled to himself as he closed his bedroom's door. Hmm… Mizuki. So far, Fuji had found no one worthy of his brother's love (except himself but then again, he was with Tezuka…too many complications… Saeki? …nah.) and Mizuki missed the mark by a couple of hundred miles… But, hey, as long as Yuuta was happy…