Author's note: I'm sorry, I can't remember that match between Yuuta and Ryoma that well, so if I get the scores wrong or something, don't bite my head off for it, ok?

BIGGER, FARTHER, GREATER

He was the runt.

And he knew.

Because…well, just look at him.

There was Fuji Yumiko, elegant, beautiful, not with an IQ over 200, but smart enough to be reckoned with.

She was one of those girls who led the model life everyone dreams of; she was popular, she didn't get the very best grades, but was always up there with the future rocket scientists, and she breezed through life like it was easy.

She automatically got into the one of the best elementary schools in Tokyo, then one of the best middle schools, a great high school and a spectacular university.

She could draw and play the piano.

She could practically see the future.

Impressive?

Very.

Fuji Syusuke succeeded her. He was handsome, with taunt muscles that had a certain gracefulness to them at the same time, and he did have an IQ over 200.

He didn't lead the model life that everyone wanted. He was even more. In his elementary years, he discovered his talent for tennis, but it wasn't till he entered middle school that 'Fuji Syusuke' became a household name.

By his third year, girls fawned over him, boys of all ages envied him, and he had become the only one on his team to still hold that oh-so-legendary never-lost-a-match record that, normally, just didn't happen.

Except to him, apparently.

He had the patience to care for his slow growing cacti.

He was also an amazing photographer.

Even more impressive?

I would say so.

When Fuji Yuuta was born, everyone expected him to be great. Everyone expected him to surpass Syusuke, just as they knew --though they didn't say it aloud, of course--Syusuke had surpassed Yumiko.

But then, Yuuta grew, and…there really wasn't much to say about him.

He was average looking, rather plain. He learned to read, write and do Math just as about the same time as any other child. He fell over quite a lot when he first learned to play tennis, and couldn't see five minutes into the future.

There really wasn't a lot to say.

Yuuta didn't used to be so aware of this. He could see that adults looked at Syusuke admiringly, praising his manners, his maturity, his tennis. They would sometimes pat Yuuta on the head. Sometimes they passed him over altogether.

Yuuta didn't used to mind. He was proud of his brother for achieving everything he had.

Yuuta used to really adore Syusuke.

"Aniki, I'm going to St. Rudolph and that's final!"

When middle school came along, Yuuta no longer adored Syusuke. In fact, Yuuta sometimes couldn't even stand to see his brother.

It was because of the whispers, because of the stares, because of the question that followed him everywhere: "Are you tensai Fuji's brother?"

No matter where he went, no matter what he did, it was the same. "Are you tensai Fuji's brother?"

It followed him like some dark cloud.

It followed him until he could hear it in his head, even when he was alone.

"Are you tensai Fuji's brother?"

"Shut up, shut UP!" Yuuta snarled, anguished, and yet the phrase echoed in his mind, amid his yells.

"Tensai Fuji's brother."

He threw himself onto his bed, almost in tears, panicking, scared that he was going crazy, scared that it wouldn't go away, ever…

"Yuuta," Syusuke cried, rushing to his side. "What's wrong?"

"Go away," Yuuta groaned.

"Yuuta--"

"Go AWAY!"

Syusuke retreated as pillow after pillow was flung at him, forcing him out of the room.

"Go away, go away!"

Slam!

Syusuke found the door shut tight in his face.

When the stupid question became too much, Yuuta would go out to train. Let the sound of a tennis ball against his racket strings fill his ears, he reasoned, and everything would be ok.

Because, above all, Yuuta really loved tennis.

Thump, thump, thump…

Yuuta turned on his heels, and nearly tripped over his own feet. The technique was called 'Rising', and it involved hitting the ball before it bounced up to its full height.

Thump, thump, thump…

"Ugh!" Finally falling, Yuuta slid over the dusty ground, racket outstretched. He gasped for breath as he got up, not bothering to brush off the dirt from his once-white-and-now-yellow shirt.

When you were playing by yourself against a wall, hitting fast balls isn't the best way to go easy on yourself.

Yuuta scowled, retrieving the ball. The training took patience. Yuuta had never had a lot of that.

Thump, thump, thump…

Except, maybe for tennis.

"Aniki, play with me!" Yuuta called, hugging the too-large racket to his chest and clutching a tennis ball larger than his fist.

"Of course," Syusuke said kindly. He always said, 'of course'.

In the park, Syusuke lightly lobbed the ball towards Yuuta. Yuuta ran, a determined expression etched on his small face. He flung out his racket and swung--

And missed.

"Sorry!" he yelled, running off to fetch the ball. "Again?" he'd always say hopefully once he had retrieved it.

"Of course," Syusuke said. He always said 'of course'. Always.

Yuuta laughed, and resumed the ready position.

Even at this time, he could sense that there was something different between him and his brother. Heck, the fact that one of them could at least return the ball back while the other could not was difference enough.

But Yuuta never really used to mind. He used to love playing tennis with Syusuke.

It was for tennis that he finally left home, in his second year of middle school.

That, and the fact that his Aniki was driving him crazy.

"Yuuta, Yuuta, why don't we play tennis together?" Now it was Syusuke's turn to run after Yuuta with his racket, anticipation on his face.

"No, I don't want to!" But Yuuta, unlike Syusuke before, never said, "Of course."

"Why not, Yuuta?" Syusuke would say, disappointed. Almost every day, at every spare moment, he asked Yuuta for a match. Every day, Yuuta would refuse. Syusuke wondered what had happened between Yuuta and him. Syusuke wondered, and never mind whether he was a tensai or not, he just didn't know what he had done wrong.

"I'm busy!" Yuuta growled, brushing Syusuke off. He'd head out of the door purposefully--

And find some place he could stay and sit idly before it was time to go home for dinner.

Most of the time, when he got too bored, he played tennis.

Yuuta still loved tennis.

He just couldn't stand playing with Syususke anymore, because with each return Syusuke hit, Yuuta was reminded. He was reminded of the growing differences between their standards, and while Syusuke didn't mind playing with someone much less skilled than himself--Yuuta resented this bitterly--Yuuta did mind.

He began to mind the way his brother tried to give Yuuta his portion of pumpkin pie when their mother wasn't looking.

He began to mind when Syusuke walked into Yuuta's room as usual after school, asking, "How was your day?"

He began to mind--

Heck, he minded when his Aniki smiled at him.

Yes, just the fact that he smiled.

"You're really going, Yuuta?" The blue-eyed fiend looked quite sober that day, however.

Yuuta turned, clutching his bag, at the door. He saw his brother, the boy who he had spent a better part of his life with already, who had protected him from any amount of bullies and who had taught him his life's joy, tennis.

Syusuke's eyes were open. They sometimes made Yuuta uncomfortable, but today, they were different. Their lids were brought to a half-mast, and the sapphire irises were dull, lifeless.

Lifeless.

As though, when Yuuta left, Syusuke would drop to the floor, and in some way, his life would end.

"Aa." Yuuta turned again, didn't look back, and closed the door.

He knew, of course.

He knew that the moment he'd stepped out of the house, he had broken something between Syusuke and him. The thing that had made them 'the Fuji brothers'. Now, they were just 'Fuji Syusuke' and 'Fuji Yuuta'.

But that was ok for Yuuta.

For him, life was just beginning.

And right here, right now, on this court facing Seigaku's Echizen Ryoma as an opponent, Yuuta was ready to begin.

He fought. Hard.

If there was anything he prided himself on, it was that he fought. He did, as his brother never had, for his brother hadn't ever had the need to really try.

But Yuuta, being no prodigy, had to work hard in order to win. He gave each and every game his best, and nothing but his best.

For that, Yuuta was proud.

"Five games to four! Echizen lead!"

Yuuta panted openly. This opponent--this Echizen Ryoma--was no ordinary player. His Drive B was unlike anything Yuuta had ever seen. Or at least, unlike anything Yuuta was able to return. That was the main problem.

One by one the points slipped away, dropping far out of sight along with the aggravating balls that Echizen sent along, which dropped so infuriatingly quickly, and bounced off with an insolent 'B'.

He would be a worthy opponent for anyone, this Echizen, Yuuta decided. Even for…

Yuuta saw, out of the corner of his eyes, his brother at the side of the court, gaze on both him and his opponent. Yuuta almost smiled.

It was queer, the way tennis brought people together. He couldn't tell the exact difference between his level and his brother's in skill, but for now, at least, they seemed to have the same goal: to defeat this Echizen guy.

For a moment, Yuu-chan of the Fuji brothers was back again, delighted and proud to share something with his Aniki, to be on equal grounds.

Something clicked, and Yuuta was proud.

Even as he admitted defeat, he was proud.

Even when Syusuke won against--and totally humiliated--Mizuki, whom Yuuta liked, and maybe trusted, he didn't feel any less pleased.

"Are you angry at me, for beating your senpai like that?" Syusuke asked him, on their way home. Yuuta would be staying for dinner.

The boy considered the question. "Not particularly," he answered at last with a shrug.

"Saa…" Fuji sighed. "I'm sorry St. Rudolph lost, too, Yuuta…"

Yuuta couldn't make head or tail of this person he called Aniki.

"But Seigaku has dreams…and we try our best to fulfill them."

"St. Rudolph has dreams too," Yuuta reminded. But he was not angry. He thought back on a time earlier that day, when he'd asked for Mizuki's permission to proceed onto becoming stronger on his own.

Frankly, he was now wondering how he'd pull that one off.

He needed to figure it out soon; he needed the power.

Seigaku has dreams, his brother had said. Just as Syusuke had dreams.

And now, Yuuta did too.

Smaller ones, perhaps.

He could not deny that there were still a few hurdles--a lot of them, actually--that had to be cleared before he could even think about catching up with his brother.

But for once, Yuuta didn't mind quite so much.

Syusuke had ambitions--or would eventually have them, once he found the right motivation--as big as a world.

Yuuta's…were about the size of a tennis ball.

Syusuke saw opponents far past the sky, beyond the sunset and the stars, probably into the next universe.

Yuuta…he was having a hard time just peering at the horizon.

Syusuke would end up becoming great in the eyes of all men. He would change the world, and still not break out of his pleasant smile.

Yuuta…perhaps, if he was lucky, and he poured enough blood and sweat into it, a neighborhood would be a little different because of him.

But still, Yuuta was proud.

Because his dreams were bigger, they were bigger in that sense because he would have to fight harder to achieve them.

Because he looked farther, he looked farther because while Syusuke saw what was a little way in front of him, Yuuta strained to see into the distance.

Because he would become greater, he would be greater because he was ordinary, because he would actually have to do something to become great, he would have to do so much more, just to reach out to a few people, to touch their hearts and gain their respect.

And in the end…in the end, he might still just be Yuuta. Plain, average Yuuta.

But at least he would be Yuuta.

At least, there would be no more whispers of 'tensai Fuji's younger brother'.

At least, when Yuuta stood together alongside Yumiko and Syusuke, the two very outstanding, very impressive Fuji children, there would be something to say about him too.

Even if it was only "He tried."