Disclaimer: I don't own The Prince of Tennis.

Warnings: Um...none?

Pairing: Pillar Pair.

Recommended Music: "Where the City Meets the Sea" by The Getaway Plan.

A/N Here's the sequel to 'Drifting in Time', so ifyou haven't read it you won't know squat about what's happening here, :) To be honest I didn't really think of doing a sequel to it...but I had a few readers who wanted one, so here it is! Hope you enjoy it.

I don't know if I'm doing another chapter of this, so just tell me if I should in your review, ne?

Time and Place

By squishy the jellyfish

Part one (1/?): Shards of a Missing Memory

One hour…

Just one more hour until Tezuka's new life would begin, with his wife: Matsuda Sanae. Their first encounter had been casual enough; it had been at a small gathering for his father's company and the girl struck up a conversation with him about politics. The girl was quite intellectual, actually, and at the end of the night, Tezuka had acquired her mobile number. Tezuka straightened out his black tie which matched perfectly with the rest of his attire: white shirt, black slacks, black shoes and black jacket. He loved her, he truly did. She was the quiet and beautiful type who was quite pragmatic as well, the perfect match for Tezuka, his father had said. However, his mother pulled him aside one night and asked him if he was really in love with her, to which he answered her with a 'yes'. Tezuka wondered why his mother had asked such a question. A knock came from the door and it opened with a creak. Tezuka turned and saw his old friend. "Fuji."

Fuji Syuusuke, with his usual and familiar smile approached him. "Saa, are you ready, Tezuka?" Drawing the taller man closer to him, he straightened out the somewhat still crooked tie.

"Ah, are we leaving now?" Tezuka quirked, he could manage with his own tie, Fuji didn't have to do it. "Fuji, I can-"

"No, what I mean is: are you ready to be married to Matsuda-san?" Fuji asked, his eyes opening to reveal two azure orbs.

Tezuka raised an apprehensive brow. "Why do you ask? Of course I am."

Fuji finished fiddling with the tie and glared at his friend. "Is this the person you want to spend the rest of your life with?"

"Fuji, what are you getting at?" Tezuka frowned.

"…Just…make the right decision, Tezuka," Fuji replied mysteriously before walking back out the room. "We're leaving in twenty minutes!"

Ryoma loved the library. It was calm, quiet and mostly unoccupied. He drew in a long breath of air as he walked in, it was too bad that he was in a rush to get some books for school, because he would've much liked to stay there for a while to read a good book or to just enjoy the atmosphere. It was there when he was scanning down a 'Psychology' aisle that he caught a familiar glimpse of someone sitting in the corner silently reading a book. He peeked through a gap in a row of books and stared at the man but he couldn't quite put a finger on who he was and how he looked so familiar. The man was a brunette, hazel eyes covered by delicate lenses and tall--from what he could tell. Ryoma took a step backwards to resume his previous actions of finding the book but bumped into a teenager that was behind him. "Ah! Sorry about that," Ryoma exclaimed after the boy stumbled back a little.

"Jeez. Be a bit more careful next time!" The teen shouted before walking off in a huff. He had drawn many stares from the people in the library, including the brunette that was sitting in the corner.

"Sorry…" Ryoma murmured as he turned back to come face to face with the brunette from earlier. How did he get there so fast?!

"I hope you don't feel disheartened by that teenager, they can be quite rude from my experience," he said.

Ryoma nodded. "Yeah, I guess they can…Do I, know you?"

The brunette didn't even flinch, "That was what I was about to ask."

Excellent. Now, not only was Fuji doubting his relationship with Sanae, he, Tezuka was questioning it himself. This was his wedding day for goodness sake! It should be one of the many rare occasions of happiness for him, not a day of doubts.

"…We, forgot about each other," Ryoma stated, his mouth slightly agape.

Tezuka inclined his head, "I guess we did…"

"…"

"I'm sorry I didn't send you any more letters!" They both exclaimed at once.

Ryoma smiled.

Tezuka's lips twitched upwards.

"It's good to see you safe," Ryoma said warmly.

Tezuka nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, you too."

Ryoma shifted the weight on his feet. "Whatever happened to you?"

"Well I…became pro and…" Tezuka hesitated for the briefest of moments, "got engaged."

Ryoma felt a lurch of pain in his chest, but smiled nevertheless. "That's great, I hope you two are happy."

Tezuka felt guilty. He told Ryoma that he would come home to him…but that never happened, and now here he was telling his old 'love' that he was engaged. A lump began to form in his throat. "Thank you."

"…We should get together sometime. Maybe go have some coffee?" Ryoma suggested, pushing Tezuka's engagement to the back of his mind.

"Ah, that would be nice."

Matsuda Sanae was extremely calm and collected--even on her wedding day. To her, it was just another party. Guests, family and a reception. Easy, simple and another obstacle she would have crossed in her life by the end of it. Of course…it hadn't been quite that simple to get to this day, considering the rather big obstacle that she had to face a few days ago. After that fiasco, she deserved the right to be wed to her fiancée.

"Oh, Tezuka," Ryoma exclaimed as he spotted the brunette in the library the following week.

"Echizen, how are you?" Tezuka asked good-naturedly as he set his book on the table.

"Good, good actually, and yourself?" Ryoma asked, inching a little closer to the welcoming friend.

"Ah, well. What have you been up to? Take a seat," Tezuka motioned to the seat opposite him.

Ryoma slipped down into the chair and slid off his messenger bag. "Mainly studying, really, nothing quite as interesting as having a tennis career, I'm afraid," he smiled.

"Tennis has it's downs as well as it's ups. You have to be interviewed by various people, act the way they want you to act and entertain them at the same time. As an added bonus you get fans…who can be rather-"

"Annoying?" Ryoma offered.

Tezuka sighed. "Ah. Sometimes I think that the normal life would be far better."

That was true. "I suppose."

The warm afternoon glow of the sun set upon the two males; masking them in a warm orange glow.

"How about that coffee?" Tezuka asked. "But as you said, if you need to study, that's perfectly understandable."

"Oh, no, no. It's fine. There's a place that I've been to before that isn't bad, but I think we should get a move on though, the sun's about to set," Ryoma pointed out thoughtfully. "And I'm sure your fiancée will want you home…"

Tezuka shook his head as he picked up his own messenger bag and slipped the book inside, "I'm sure she'll understand. It's not often that I get company."

She stared at herself in the mirror. Her dress was white (as expected) and her hair was up, adorned with a head piece that would soon hold up the veil.

She deserved this.

"You're home late. Where have you been?" Sanae inquired with a furrowed brow.

Tezuka toed off his shoes in the entrance-way and walked into the kitchen. "Having coffee with an old friend."

"And who is this mystery friend?" She smiled; obviously trying to encourage Tezuka's social life.

"Just an old friend from junior high school," Tezuka replied nonchalantly as he poured himself some water and sat at the dining table opposite his wife-to-be.

"Wow, this friend must be something for you to want to catch up after all these years…" Sanae mumbled as she sipped at her tea.

"Ah…I'm meeting him again tomorrow at the library." Ryoma had looked everywhere for another science book he needed, but it appeared as though somebody else had hired it out and it wouldn't be back until the next day, so Tezuka promised to meet him at the park before heading to the library. They both wanted to make a day of it.

"Just remember to be finished by two o'clock, my mother and I will be waiting at the bridal shop for you," Sanae said.

"Ah, I'll be there," Tezuka replied, getting up to put his glass in the sink before giving his fiancée a kiss. "I'm going to bed now. Goodnight."

Fuji Syuusuke was very observant. In tennis, if the ball was going at some rotation, he knew exactly which way just by looking, and the changes in his best friend. He had observed that Tezuka had been highly aloof nowadays; lost in his own world, and never interacted with his fiancée the way he would usually. It was as if the two had started on the same road, but Tezuka had taken a different road later that split off onto it's own track. He had also been the only witness to Tezuka's fiancée and Echizen Ryoma's 'spat' the other day, where Sanae told Echizen to stay as far away from Tezuka as possible. And Fuji knew exactly why.

"Where are you Tezuka? I told you to meet me at the store at two o'clock and it's now two-thirty!"

"Ah…my apologies, the book didn't come in until now, so I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Hurry please, Kunimitsu…"

Tezuka hung up.

"Sorry, Tezuka," Ryoma said softly as they both walked out of the library.

"It isn't your fault," Tezuka smiled. "You weren't to know."

He noticed the way they looked at each other, the silent conversations, everything. It was just a matter of time until Sanae noticed.

"Must you be with him every second of the day? I hardly get to see you," Sanae complained, folding her arms over her chest.

"Sorry…" Tezuka murmured. He had to admit…she could really get on his nerves sometimes.

Fuji's mobile began to ring and he picked up instantly. "Moshi moshi? Echizen? Yes. Yes. Of course! You better be quick, hurry, hurry. I'll be there soon. Ja!" He snapped the phone shut and slid it into his pocket. He was supposed to be driving Tezuka and the other men to the wedding, but first, he had to take care of something and besides, the delay would be good, for his sake…

"Hello Echizen-kun, could I please speak with you? Alone?," Sanae asked whilst all the hustle and bustle of the wedding plans went on around her.

"Yeah, sure. What did you want to discuss?" Ryoma asked timidly as he was lead into the house's pantry. He was originally asked by Tezuka to stop by and help if he wanted with the wedding.

"You and Kunimitsu are…too close," she explained softly.

"Too close?" Ryoma was confused.

Sanae nodded, "After this wedding goes ahead--and it will--I don't want you to contact my husband anymore. You must understand, for Kunimitsu and I to lead happy lives together, that would mean that you must be out of the picture."

Fuji rounded the corner into the kitchen and overheard.

"I can't believe this, you think that I'm a threat?" Ryoma asked, quite outraged.

"Of course you are! Damn it. If you two continued seeing one another Kunimitsu would leave me!"

"W-What?" Ryoma was at a loss.

"He still loves you, and that's why I have to order you to leave him alone."

Tezuka walked out of the room and looked around for that familiar smiling face. "Fuji?"

Tezuka's father and Sanae's father appeared, both with angry expressions. "He took off. No one knows where he went or why. Damn that man!"

Tezuka's brow furrowed. He loved his father, and he and himself had grown even closer after his grandfather passed away, but talking about his friend like that was disrespectful to their friendship. "Father, please don't speak so lowly of him."

"But he left! WITH the car," his father exploded, storming off down the stairs.

Tezuka pinched the bridge of his nose.

"He better hope that he comes back soon, or there'll be hell to pay…" Sanae's father growled as he followed Tezuka's father.

Tezuka frowned.

"Where are you going?" Fuji called after Ryoma as he dashed down the driveway.

"Away from 'Kunimitsu', just like Sanae asked."

Fuji grabbed Ryoma's wrist but immediately loosened his grip when he saw the tears. "Echizen…I heard everything, she had no right whatsoever to order you away. Stick around, I promise you won't regret it."

"Let go!" Ryoma spat before retreating down the drive.

Fuji frowned. "Remember, just call me anytime between now and the ceremony and I'll be there. Just don't give up, ne?!"

There was no reply.

"He's back!"

"About time too."

"Who's that?"

"Kunimitsu!"

Tezuka sighed before coming downstairs, only to be met with two fiery golden eyes and Fuji's azure ones. "E-Echizen?"

He was panting.

"Come on, let's get a move on or they'll start the wedding without the groom," Sanae's father said before rushing outside with no one following.

"Why are you here?" Tezuka asked, perhaps a little too harshly than he wanted.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Tezuka's father asked, slightly angered by the new presence. "Come on, Kunimitsu, we have to go."

The funny thing was, the two fathers wanted to leave at that moment, and yet…their destination was just down the road.

Tezuka's father frowned before resorting to force to get his son out of the house and into the car while Ryoma merely watched and panted.

"Echizen, say something, tell him to stay!" Fuji whispered. "Echizen?"

"Fuji, let's go, NOW!" Sanae's father yelled as he walked into the house again to drag Fuji out into the car.

"Echizen?!" Fuji shouted as Sanae's father took hold of Ryoma and dragged him out the house so that he could lock the door behind him. He let go of the boy on the porch and continued yanking Fuji into the car.

"How about that coffee?"

Memories and pictures of Tezuka flashed through Ryoma's mind.

"He still loves you…"

Ryoma heard the car rev and the wheels skid when it backed out of the driveway, but his body still refused to act. He remembered after the incident with his attack that all the colour from Tezuka's face had drained and how much the other boy had cared for him.

"Faggot! Faggot! Faggot!"

He winced.

"Echizen!" Fuji's softening yells echoed throughout the street.

He walked over to the bottom step and collapsed onto it. He cradled his head in his hands. Why had he come? Tezuka was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. Tezuka would be eternally bound to his 'love': Matsuda Sanae. Ryoma exhaled a shaky breath but he still made no move to get up or leave. He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there until a figure was standing before him; effectively blocking out the sun's warm rays.

"…Echizen," the male panted in front of him.

Ryoma's head shot up and he stared in shock. "Y-You…why aren't you getting married?!"

Tezuka smiled, "Sanae will understand. In time…"

"What?" Ryoma was confused.

Tezuka held out his hand, "Coffee?"

A/N Reviews are loved!!

V