The thing about love…
Disclaimer: Everyone puts disclaimers so I ought to put one also right?? Anyway I'm sure you all know who POT belongs.. a certain lucky Konomi-sensei and the animators crew (Yes I know the world is unfair)
Warning: I suppose I must give this, judging from the fact that not everyone adores shounen-ai like me (: Yes, this is shounen-ai.. I might be tempted to make it a "VERY SCARY" YAOI later on.. but now. I remain. Pure. And. Innocent. (HAHAHA yeah right)
Mouths agape, except those of Echizen Ryoma and Fuji Syuusuke, the members of the Seigaku Tennis Club stared at their captain as Ryuzaki-sensei announced that Tezuka Kunimitsu would be leaving for Germany the week after next to further his skills as a tennis player in order to be ready for the U.S Open the following year. Eight pair of eyes looking straight at anyone would have made said person uncomfortable and uneasy as hell, but not Tezuka Kunimitsu, he wasn't one to feel this way easily.
"Bu-chou, is it true?" Momoshiro broke the silence and asked.
"Aa, I confirmed my place there this morning." Tezuka answered in his trademark baritone.
"NYA!! Tezuka!! You can't leave us, Ochibi and I will be so sad!!" Eiji wailed as he clung on to Ryoma and strangled him while looking tearfully at his captain.
"Let go, I can't breathe Eiji-sempai!" Ryoma's plea, however, was ignored as usual.
"Tekuza, must you really leave so soon? Two weeks is rather short notice…" Oishi's voice trailed off sadly as he saw the glint of determination in Tezuka's eyes that confirmed what he already knew but half refused to accept and believe.
"Hai, my place there is confirmed", Tezuka repeated in his usual steely tone, and everyone knew question and answer was over. "Minna-san, you are dismissed." After dismissing his team, Tezuka walked off, leaving his team mates to glance mournfully at his retreating back.
"Nya Fujiko-chan! What do we do without Tezuka?" Eiji whined aloud as he looked pitifully at Fuji, whose eyes, being almost closed at this stage, evaded emotion of any kind while he answered Eiji, "Aa, we just learn…learn to live without Tezuka ne." With that, he disappeared into the changing room where Tezuka entered only moments ago.
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"Ne Echizen…"
"Nani Momo-sempai?"
"…Aah betsuni…"
"Heh Momo-sempai…don't tell me you'll miss Tezuka-buchou after he leaves for Germany?"
"What?! Of course not! I was just thinking whether Germany has better burgers than Japan, if they do, I'll be so jealous of bu-chou…maybe he could send some back for us, for cultural exchange purposes you know.."
"Baka…No one does that…fussshuu"
"Mamushi! Why are you sneaking around behind us?! And who are you calling stupid? Are you picking a fight?!"
"Fussshuu, bring it on you peach-faced sissy..."
"Teme…" Jostling between the two rival ensued and a couldn't-care-less-even-if-they-break-each-other's-nose-but-has-to-try-break-up-the-fight-in-case-Tezuka-finds-out-and-assigns-him-twenty-laps Echizen finally managed to squeeze himself between Momoshiro and Kaidoh to stop them before an all out fight broke out.
Momo cast one last glare at Kaidoh before dragging Ryoma to the burger joint, pausing at a secluded street to bend down and ruffle Ryoma's hair, (of course Ryoma tried pushing him away) all the while checking if Kaidoh or himself had accidentally done any damage to his favourite junior before continuing on their way for burgers.
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Fuji wasn't a person who brooded much, but it was exactly what he found himself doing as he sat on the swing at the park near his house after leaving school. Just an hour ago, Tezuka had announced that he was leaving. When he followed Tezuka in the changing room, it had seemed much more different that usual; he didn't want to look at Tezuka, or anywhere near his direction for the matter. He left before anyone else did and went straight to the park.
Somehow, the thought of being without Tezuka suddenly seemed terribly unbearable. Maybe it was because they had been friends for more than five years by now, having moved up to Seigaku Senior High together and becoming a tennis team again at said school, waiting together for their juniors to join them once again as a… "family", Fuji said that word aloud as he thought about what Tezuka meant to him.
Tezuka was family, as was everyone else on the tennis team, and even Kawamura, who had quit tennis once he entered Seigaku Senior High to train to become a sushi chef. He was so used to Tezuka's presence, Fuji thought, that he couldn't imagine not being able to see Tezuka standing next to the tennis courts, eyes alert for any misbehaviour, arms folded, occasionally coming back to life to order mischief-makers to run twenty laps.
Then there was Tezuka's very original (NOT) catchphrase "Do not let your guard down." These were Tezuka's ways of showing he cared. Strange, but special in a sense. That was Tezuka to him, Fuji realized. Tezuka was special. And somehow, he knew he was going to miss his buchou's "special-ness" very very much.
"Melancholic, that's what I am" Fuji thought as he stood and dusted off his bag as he picked it up from the ground and prepared to leave for home.
And melancholic he was. Only, it wasn't the lone feeling making its presence felt. There were others. Confusing emotions clouded about in his mind, and they were just being set free to wreck havoc with Fuji's heart.
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"Nya Oishi, is buchou really going to abandon us? He can't do that! Even though he always makes me run laps for teasing ochibi… WAHHH I don't want him to go!!" Childish sobs were escaping from Eiji as he walked alongside Oishi on their way home together.
"I suppose he MUST go, since it's such a great opportunity and he must have his reasons well thought out…" Oishi heaved a huge sigh before continuing. "I didn't even see it coming though… He never mentioned it once…maybe because he didn't want us to worry or maybe because he didn't want to worry himself with our reactions… He's more sensitive than we think…" At this point, he heaved another sigh while Eiji gave a wail of deep unhappiness.
Patting his doubles partner gently on the head, Oishi smiled sadly as he said, "Maybe Fuji is right…We've depended on Tezuka for so long, now that he's leaving, we really need to learn to live without him, however much we don't want to…"
With a loud "NYAA!!", Eiji burst into tears at the thought of what Fuji said. He knew his best friend all too well, and he knew, even as Fuji muttered those words so matter-of-factly, that Tezuka's leaving would mean a lot more to him than anyone else on the team.
"Eiji! Come on now let's be brave and not cry silly…" Oishi awkwardly hugged him as the sobbing redhead leaned his head onto his partner's shoulders. With a gulp Eiji stopped crying long enough to wipe off his remaining tears, then dashed off toward the park metres ahead, where he'd just spotted Fuji leaving, Oishi following his partner closely behind.
"Fujiko-chan!!" Eiji called out as he ran towards the lithe figure of Fuji, who'd just gotten up from the swing to leave for home.
"Ahh Eiji, why are you here? Oishi too…" Fuji said as he caught sight of the redhead followed closely by his doubles partner.
"Ne Fujiko-chan we were talking about buchou… Won't you miss him?" Eiji held onto his best friend's arm as he spoke.
"Of course I will. He is the wonderful Tezuka buchou you know. I bet the world will find him wonderful too once he makes his professional tennis debut." Fuji replied, his eternal smile plastered across his fair face.
"Demo… Don't you want him to stay? I mean… you understand him better than anybody…even if I'm supposedly his best friend…" Oishi asked.
"I'd love for him to stay, but that would be just selfish, ne? I want him to fulfil his dreams. Shouldn't we, as his friends and team mates, support his decision?" Even as he spoke those words, Fuji knew he was lying to himself even though he didn't understand why. He'd always imagined the day Tezuka turned pro and he would be there, holding his camera, taking shots of his buchou in one of the proudest moments of his life, being the perfect friend, supportive and always encouraging. Now the time had come when Tezuka would be starting his journey to become the best, but all he wanted to do was yell at Tezuka to stay because the team needed him, because…well just because.
"Ahh, I suppose so…" Oishi agreed reluctantly.
"Nya! I don't want it to be like this! Buchou is buchou no matter what! He can't abandon us! WAHH Fujiko-chan!" This time, Eiji plonked his head onto Fuji's shoulders as he wailed unhappily once again.
Muttering to himself so that even Eiji could not hear, Fuji said softly "I don't want it to be like this too."
//thethingaboutlovethethingaboutlovethethingaboutlovethethingaboutlovethethingaboutlovethethingaboutlovethethingaboutlovethethingaboutloveis\