Title: THE LITTLE CAPTAIN
Author: a1y-puff
For: chibikaoruchan (LJ)
Pairing: Tezuka/Fuji
Rating:PG-13?
Genre: humor/fluff
Prompt: Tezuka's body became smaller (doll like) due to an after effect of Inui Juice. Seeing this as a chance, he went to Fuji's house...
Word Count: 8500(Yes, I know it's LONG ;;)
Warnings: Crack. Possible OOC-ness. Switching POV between Tezuka and Fuji.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything... not even the prompt XD;;

A/N: in LJ, chibikaoruchan said that she'd like crack and fluff. And though I'm so used in writing fluff, crack isn't my specialty, which is why I claimed this prompt, because I wanted to try writing something like this. I'm not sure I've balanced the crack and fluff in this fic, but I do hope you'll like this.

Much thanks to my beta, lovefujitez in LJ, for enduring the length of this fic with a hell bunch of grammatical errors in it. Hugs and kisses for darkmage009 and Tacuma for poking my muse with their awesome ideas so I can finally finish this x3

Lastly, Tina-chan, I hope you'll enjoy this fic ne :D

THE LITTLE CAPTAIN

The day began just like any ordinary day for Tezuka Kunimitsu. He woke up at the usual time, got ready, left the house early enough to catch the bus and met OIshi on the way to school. During morning practice he assigned laps to some slackers while Inui introduced a new version of his juice for punishment.

Tezuka didn't think something was going to happen. Although he had a bad feeling during morning practice, he waved it off despite the noticeable drop in his mood. He attended his classes and concentrated in finding the teacher's mistakes to make sure his classmates had the correct information.

The afternoon practice went on just like any other days. The regulars did their extra heavy training, unlike the non-regular members. Inui had to torture them more with his Hyper Ultra Deluxe Inui Juice ver.13 which made half of the regulars suffer from temporary numbness of their taste buds.

After practice Tezuka stayed behind and worked on some paperwork for the club while the other club members promptly went home. Suddenly feeling thirsty, he reached out for his water bottle and drank the contents. His eyes immediately widened in shock; he just tasted something horrible. He promptly searched for the label on the side of the bottle and found Inui's name.

If cursing was in Tezuka's nature, he would've done so. Instead, he sighed and made a mental note to assign 20 laps to Inui tomorrow for taking his water bottle home.

After making sure that everything was neat, Tezuka arranged his things in his bag and prepared to go home. All of a sudden he felt something wrong inside his body. His head ached, his chest throbbed really hard and he felt hot like his body was aflame. He leaned against the lockers when his knees began wobbling, desperately attempting to calm down but failed miserably.

'What is this?' he thought, pressing his left hand against the locker for support. He pressed his finger between his brows to get rid of the pounding headache. He dropped his bag as he struggled to fight the pain, closed his eyes and fell on his knees. He cradled his head with both hands when the throbbing didn't stop, his head felt like it was going to explode, his body continued to burn and then…

Everything was white.

Wait, no, everything wasn't white. He was surrounded by a white material, something like his clothes. He looked at his own hand but could only see a blurry image of it. He touched his face and found that his glasses were no longer there. Letting both his hands trailed down his body, he noticed that he was naked.

Wait. Naked! Why was he naked? His mind screamed, panicked.

'What's going on here?' he thought to himself.

Tezuka took a deep breath and tried to calm himself once more. What's happening to him? Luckily, he wasn't that blind without his glasses. He could still figure things out even though it was a bit blurry, better than being completely blind. After observing his surroundings, he realized that he had—though he really, really didn't want to believe it—­shrunk, and was buried under his own clothes.

Tezuka felt another headache, but this time he knew the reason. This was just unbelievable. How could he shrink like this? Was it because of Inui's weird concoction that he had accidentally drunk earlier? It wasn't logical, really. But Tezuka figured it was not the time to think about logic, but surely, one thing he would remember for the rest of his life was: Inui's concoction is beyond logic.

In order to calm his chaotic mind, he decided to sort out his thoughts very carefully. First, he needed to find something to cover his naked body. He remembered his handkerchief in his pant's pocket and slowly walked around searching for his pants. It was difficult without his eye glasses; it hurt his eyes to closely scrutinize each object in front of him. When he found his pants, he scrambled to find the pocket and dragged his handkerchief out. He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes for a while to rest before he wrapped the handkerchief around him and tied it behind his neck. He felt like wearing girl's clothes but he could be care less about that now. At least, he wasn't naked.

Next thing, he searched for his cell phone. He could at least call someone for help. He paced towards the other pocket, almost tripping over the rumples of his pants causing him to glare at the non-living material. When Tezuka finally retrieved his cell phone, he tried to flip the huge cell phone open, only to find it was very low on power and eventually went dead.

Tezuka didn't curse, simply because he didn't know how to curse. If cell phones were a living thing, he would've assigned it a hundred laps around the clubhouse. He could hear an imaginary 'Mada mada dane, buchou' at the back of his head and fought the urge to assign Echizen a hundred laps tomorrow. It wasn't the time to think about laps, he knew. He needed to figure out how to get help, now.

Going home to his own house was not possible since everyone's gone away for a few days. After a few moments of deep thinking, Tezuka decided he should go to someone's house for help. Maybe he could ask for help from his reliable teammates? But who should he go for help?

He thought of going to Oishi's place, but the guy worries too much and instead of helping, Oishi would probably have a panic attack when he sees Tezuka in his current state. Then, he thought of Inui, the one responsible for all these, but he refused to imagine being used as a guinea pig for the various horrible concoctions the data-player would most likely give him in order to convert him back to his normal size. He would NOT drink any more of Inui's concoctions. With that, he was left with Fuji. Besides Oishi, Fuji was someone Tezuka considered as a close friend and he might be the only one who wouldn't freak out seeing him in miniature form. With that thought in mind, Tezuka decided to go to Fuji's place.

He walked to the door and was about to go out of the clubhouse when he realized that the doorknob was… unreachable. He jumped, but his current size was far smaller compared to his normal form that he couldn't reach the doorknob. He jumped once again, and still couldn't reach it. As stubborn as he was, Tezuka gave up after the tenth trial and began to look for another way out of the clubhouse.

Tezuka noticed the window was slightly ajar; he could get out through that little space. And so, with some difficulties, Tezuka finally managed to climb out of the window.

Fuji's favorite time of the day was nighttime. He enjoyed the moments he spent after dinner with his family and alone in his room before going to bed. He had this ritual to talk to his cacti on the windowsill while enjoying the night breeze coming through the open window.

"Ne, Mitsuki, how are you today?" he cooed at one of his cacti. He smiled as he heard an imaginary—or not—'I'm fine' from her. "You're so beautiful today too, ne?" he continued, gently touching the pot.

'Thank you Shuu-chan. How are you today?'

"Me? Ah, I'm fine also. It's just today, we had to practice harder. Ryuuzaki-sensei even arranged a practice match with Hyoutei too. But really, do we have to train that hard?" Fuji was half-talking to himself.

"You shouldn't get careless," he heard a reply.

"Mou, Mitsuki, you sound like Tezuka—," he paused as he noticed Mitsuki's voice had changed into a deep, cold voice. "Wait, Mitsuki, aren't you a girl?" Fuji asked finally, eyes snapped open as he scrutinized his cactus.

"Fuji, it's me," came Tezuka's voice, the miniature Tezuka appeared from behind Mitsuki's pot. He was relieved. He finally arrived after taking a long, long way and time.

Fuji stared at him.

Tezuka stared back.

Fuji stared some more.

Tezuka stared at him still when suddenly Fuji spun around and casually dropped himself on the bed as he mumbled, "I must be really tired to have such an illusion. Though mini Tezuka is kinda cute…"

"Fuji, I am not an illusion," Tezuka replied. Annoyance in his tone was evident.

"Yes, you are. How come Tezuka just shrunk like that? What a joke," he replied nonchalantly.

Restraining another urge to assign laps, Tezuka carefully jumped down to the floor, and walked to Fuji's bed. He climbed up and stood next to Fuji's head. He tugged at Fuji's hand, pulled them away from his face to uncover the tensai's eyes.

"I am not an illusion," he repeated. Fuji's eyes were wide-open. He could really feel Tezuka's tiny hand tugging at his own hand.

He immediately sat up on his bed, and blinked. "Tezu… ka?" he called, mixed with confusion and amusement. 'How could this be? Tezuka Kunimitsu, the pillar of Seigaku, supposedly 178 cm tall is now just about 20 cm small?' Fuji asked himself.

"I think it's a side effect of Inui's latest concoction I accidentally drank earlier," he tried to explain to the still baffled Fuji. He could see Fuji still had his eyes open, and he idly thought if this was the longest time Fuji exposed his cerulean eyes outside a tennis match.

Then, suddenly Fuji bent forward clutching his stomach. Tezuka saw Fuji's shoulders were shaking and wondered what was wrong with his friend… until he heard a muffled chuckle from the brunette, followed by a sudden burst of laughter.

Tezuka's annoyance was beyond words, which was why he could only glare at the tensai, and the latter tried very hard to suppress his laughter. Tezuka didn't find anything funny; a lame joke that fate had thrown him, perhaps, but it was definitely NOT funny, especially since he was the reason for that annoying laughter.

Earlier, Tezuka thought Fuji was the only one who wouldn't freak out after seeing him in his miniature form, but apparently, he was wrong. It's true, Fuji didn't panic the way his other teammates would, but he was laughing at him. And he laughed hard. Tezuka pondered if he should classify Fuji's reaction as freaking-out-in-Fuji's-way.

"I'm sorry Tezuka," Fuji gasped between his laughter, "but how did this happen?" he asked after his laughter finally subdued.

"I don't know," Tezuka sighed, "I only remember drinking Inui's weird concoction…" he continued while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Inui, huh… really, his concoctions are evil," Fuji mumbled. Tezuka mused inwardly; he didn't expect those words from Fuji since he drank Inui's evil concoctions on his own free will.

Fuji noticed Tezuka kept massaging the bridge of his nose and between his brows. "Are you alright? You have a headache?" he asked in a soft tone of voice that was rarely heard from the tensai.

"My eyes hurt," he replied. "I can't wear my glasses."

"Oh right, since it's just your body that shrunk, ne," Fuji just had to state the obvious. "Then how did you get here? It must've been hard with your bad eyesight," he wondered.

"Please don't ask," Tezuka responded, recalling the horrifying events (bumping onto various objects, toyed by a stray cat and nearly crushed by a bike) he didn't really want to share.

Both of them were silent for a moment, each drowned in their own thoughts, until finally Fuji broke the silence. "I'll get you some clothes," he said as he stood up from his bed. When Tezuka threw a questioning look, Fuji added, "I'm sure Yumiko-neesan has some doll's clothes that would fit you."

Tezuka cringed inwardly. Doll's clothes; how pathetic could he be, really.

The doll clothes fitted him perfectly, and he had no problem with the white polo shirt but…

"Fuji," he called, trying to maintain his composure.

"Hmm?" Fuji answered, a bit too-sweetly.

Tezuka glared at the tensai. "It's a skirt," he stated matter-of-factly, tugging at the soft material he was wearing, not to mention it was freaking pink.

"Cute isn't it," Fuji replied with a wide, amused grin, and a vein popped on Tezuka's forehead.

"Give me back my handkerchief. I'm fine with that," Tezuka demanded sternly as he reached out a hand, asking Fuji for his previous 'clothes'.

"Mou, you're no fun," Fuji faked a pout, and then he pulled another material out of the clothes box and gave it to Tezuka. "Here are your pants. I was just joking," he grinned.

Tezuka was truly annoyed. He immediately changed his… no, he wouldn't say 'his'. Well, he changed the skirt with the black pants Fuji handed him, and when he was finally fully (and decently) dressed, he snapped at Fuji, "How can you joke at a time like this?"

Fuji tilted his head to the side and his smile never faltered as he said, "But your body size is a joke already."

Fuji's statement upset Tezuka even further; how could Fuji toy with him and his situation? He needed his help; he thought he could rely on Fuji. He wondered what exactly was in his mind that made him goto Fuji in the first place, because he was now regretting his decision.

Seeing the look on Tezuka's face, Fuji thought he might have gone too far. He cleared the rest of the clothes into the box then kneeled on the floor, folded his arms on the bed and rested his chin on them and looked at Tezuka, smiled with his eyes open and said, "I'm sorry."

He reached out his hand, gently touched Tezuka's hand with his finger, "Sorry I've said too much," he continued uttering his words much softly.

Tezuka didn't know how to react, so he only stared at Fuji's blue eyes and saw his sincerity there. He could only grunt a hesitant "Hn."

Seeing the unsure expression on Tezuka's face, Fuji took Tezuka's tiny hand with his forefinger and said, "We'll find a way out for this." Tezuka stared at him some more, then Fuji added with a genuine smile, "I promise."

Tezuka's heart suddenly beat faster than its usual pace. He felt his face somehow grew warmer and he fought the blush that threatened to creep up his face by grunting another "Hn."

And he received another genuine smile from Fuji.

Suddenly, he remembered his things were still in the clubhouse which he left unlocked. He told Fuji about it, and the lithe boy offered to go to the school and resolve the situation so everything will look normal for the next day's morning practice.

Tezuka's bag and uniform were now kept safely at a corner in Fuji's room. The clubhouse was locked and secured. He didn't have to worry about anything… at least, except for his miniature size.

"Tezuka, you can just sleep in my bed ne? I'm too lazy to search for the doll's bed. We can sleep together on my bed without problem right?" Fuji inquired.

He didn't want to bother Fuji any further (and since he didn't really want to sleep in the doll's bed either), Tezuka complied with a nod.

"Good, now let's go to sleep. I have to wake up earlier tomorrow to unlock the clubroom, ne?" Fuji said. He crawled into his bed and patted to the space beside his pillow, signaling Tezuka to lay there.

As Tezuka climbed up Fuji's bed, he thought it was probably the right decision to come to Fuji. He's been helpful despite his annoying jokes earlier.

"Ne, Tezuka," Fuji called from his side. Tezuka's heart skipped a beat for Fuji's voice was so close to his ear. He didn't dare turn to face him; Fuji would be so close… and so huge beside him.

"Hn?" was Tezuka's sole response to his friend's call.

"Thank you for coming to me." Fuji spoke with a serious yet soft tone of voice, something foreign to Tezuka's ear.

He didn't know how to respond with his heart hammering inside him, threatening to jump out of his chest. He turned away from Fuji and said, "I had no choice."

Tezuka regretted what he just said; he should've come up with a nicer reply. But before he could correct his reply, Tezuka heard a faint "I see" from Fuji. The soft creak of the bed and the soft rustle of the sheets indicated Fuji had shifted his position and turned away from him.

The last thing he remembered was the awkward tension enveloping them into sleep.

Tezuka felt comfortably warm around him, but he also felt something heavy on his stomach. He slowly opened his eyes and finding a little bit of sunlight had peeked through the blinds. He blinked a few times before he realized that this room wasn't familiar to him. He turned his head to the right and almost gasped, Fuji's face was so close.

He remembered, he had shrunk the day before, and was currently in Fuji's room. He needed to get up and wake Fuji up. They have morning practice, and Fuji had the clubhouse key. He tried to get up but he couldn't; he immediately noticed on him. He had to try hard to fight the blush that was threatening to creep up his cheeks.

"Fuji, wake up!" Tezuka shook his friend's hand but received no reaction. Tezuka leaned closer to Fuji's ear, and once again called the other boy's name, but still there was no reaction. Tezuka let out an exasperated sigh.

Was Fuji not a morning person, or did he need any special method to wake up? Tezuka tried to pinch Fuji's cheek. He noticed how soft Fuji's skin was and he blushed. Fuji didn'tmove even by the pinch.

Almost giving up, Tezuka tried to extract himself from under Fuji's arm. It wasn't easy, but he managed to do it. Once he was free, he huffed and turned his annoyed face to his friend's sleeping form. Being so close, he noticed Fuji looked beautiful in his sleep. His pale skin wrapped in a baby blue pajama, the silky strands of hair framing his serene-looking face wildly fell on top of his pillow, making him look angelic.

Tezuka shook his head; this was not the time to dwell on such thoughts. He needed to wake Fuji up. Tezuka tried slapping his cheek a little while calling out his name, but due to his small size it wasn't very effective. Instead of waking up, Fuji rolled to his side and ended up cuddling Tezuka, causing the mini buchou to blush once more.

Oh how he hated it blushing thrice in only one minute.

Still imprisoned in Fuji's cuddling arms, Tezuka reached out his hands to pinch Fuji's nose with both of his tiny hands. In ten seconds, Fuji's face twitched and Tezuka release his nose so that the prodigy could breathe again.

"Fuji, wake up!" Tezuka called loudly.

Said teen opened his eyes and stared blankly at Tezuka for a few seconds, before finally letting a small "oh" escaped his lips and released Tezuka from his cuddle. Fuji rose to a sitting position, still not fully awakened. His eyes opened but Tezuka saw nothing in them, and noticed Fuji's ever-present smile was gone.

Tezuka wondered if that was Fuji's real face, without the closed eyelids and the smile that was always masking whatever the "real" Fuji had to hide

"Fuji," he called, and received a groggy look from his friend.

Tezuka scowled at Fuji's lazy facial expression.

"Fuji, we have morning practice. We should get ready for school," he ordered using his captain tone—the one he uses to assign laps with.

"Oh… yeah…" came Fuji's absent-minded reply, the lithe boy got out of bed and sluggishly walked to the bathroom to wash his face. Minutes later, Fuji was back to his room with his eyes closed and the ever-present smile was back on duty.

Tezuka idly mused that his friend had fully awake now.

Fuji waited until everyone was out of the clubhouse, before he opened his bag and let Tezuka breathed some fresh air.

"I hope you weren't suffocating in there, Tezuka." Fuji smiled.

Tezuka remained silent. Then, Fuji picked up Tezuka and slipped him into his jersey, before zipping it up until his chest.

"Fuji, I don't want to be inside your jersey," he complained.

"But Tezuka, I don't want to leave you in here alone. What if a cat came in and mistaken you for a toy?" Fuji asked in a worried tone.

Tezuka was annoyed at how those mocking words sounded quite genuine flowing out of Fuji's mouth.

"There won't be any cats around."

"Be a good boy in here, Tezuka." Fuji patted his head once and zipped up his jersey a little higher before finally walking onto the court.

Tezuka took a mental note to pay Fuji back somehow, later when his body returns to normal size. Perhaps, assigning one hundred laps would do.

"Fuji, do you know where Tezuka is?" Oishi asked worriedly as Fuji approached the court.

"Ah, don't worry about him," he smiled as he walked past Oishi and into the court.

The non-regulars were scattered all around the tennis courts, and the regulars were gathered near the entrance, waiting for their captain to arrive. Inui was taking notes on how Tezuka was late today, and how it was a good data since the captain was never late without notification. Ryuuzaki-sensei was busy with paperwork, so she didn't attend to morning practice that day, and Tezuka was supposed to take full-command.

Fuji cleared up his throat once, before managing his voice to be as loud as he could and said, "Everyone, attention please!"

Once all heads were turned into his direction, he continued, "Due to some reasons, Tezuka can't come for today's practice, but don't worry about him, ne? Now, the non-regulars, twenty laps for warming up!" he commanded.

Everyone was silent.

Fuji smiled, exposing his blue eyes as wide as he could before repeating, "Non-regulars, twenty laps for warming up. Am I clear?"

"Y-yeeesss!!" came the stuttered reply, before everyone started scrambling and jogged in fear. The regulars shivered. Fuji seemed to be in one of his moods.

"Err… Fuji?" Kikumaru called to his friend nervously.

"I've always wanted to try that," he replied cheerfully.

"Mou, you scared us, nya!" Kikumaru exclaimed.

"Che, lucky you weren't the buchou," Echizen remarked.

Fuji just chuckled a bit, "Maa, you guys come with me, ne?" he said before leading the team to the clubhouse. Inside his jersey, Tezuka shivered at the thought of Fuji as the team captain.

Seven jaws dropped when Tezuka revealed himself from Fuji's regular jersey. All eyes stared at him in disbelief and it made him uncomfortable.

"Nyaaaaa!! Tezuka turned into a doll!!" Kikumaru exclaimed as he bounced right in front of Fuji.

"I'm not a doll, Kikumaru. I shrunk," Tezuka explained matter-of-factly.

Then, a sudden laughter was heard, and they found Momoshiro clutching his stomach while trying really, really hard to hold back his laughter.

"Pfft… so, sorry, buchou... but… khh… your body… is… pfft… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" apparently, he had lost the fight against his laughter.

"One hundred laps…" Tezuka murmured, and Momo's laughter immediately stopped.

Fuji gently picked Tezuka out of his jersey, and placed him on the table in the clubroom, and the regulars immediately gathered around the table.

"This is the reason why Tezuka can't show himself now," Fuji explained. He then turned to Inui and said, "Looks like this is the result of your concoction, Inui."

"Uwaaah!! Inui-senpai's concoctions are really beyond evil!" Momo commented.

Inui kept silent. He approached the desk and picked Tezuka up; his glasses glinted maliciously for everyone to see.

"This is interesting," he mumbled. "I realized that I took your bottle by mistake and figured you might've drunk my latest creation that hasn't been tested, but I never expected it would result to this."

"Put me down!" Tezuka commanded.

"Hmm… I wondered how it's possible… did it also shrink your body cells? This might be the biggest discovery for the century, it's almost magical… No, magic doesn't exist, it defies logic. But then again, a shrunken body is illogical. This is…" Inui was mumbling non-stop while examining every inch of Tezuka's body. He was practically groping him.

"Inui, put me…"

"I-nu-i," the melodious voice called with a hidden murderous intent in it. Inui looked up from Tezuka to find the blue of Fuji's eyes, glaring devilishly at him that he dropped Tezuka in shock.

Fuji caught him in time though, and Tezuka was somehow relieved to be back in Fuji's arms.

Back in Fuji's arms.

He hated how sappy it sounded.

"You shouldn't touch Tezuka like that, ne? It's improper," Fuji said with a really blinding smile that everyone knew had the hidden message of 'do-it-again-and-I'll-kill-you'.

Regaining his composure, Inui immediately took out his data book and started scribbling madly while mumbling to himself.

"But still." Kikumaru suddenly said, taking Tezuka from Fuji, "This is really weird, nya! I mean, is it even possible for someone to shrink like this? I can understand if he reverted back to his childhood form, you know like that manga called 'Meitantei Conan', but shrinking? I wonder if he will be back to normal-size if we just stretch him…" he murmured while stretching Tezuka's body as far as he could.

"Kikumaru, let go of me… OW!"

"Eiji, stop that! You're hurting him!" Fuji promptly snatched Tezuka back from his best friend.

"Nya, sorry Tezuka-buchou!" he grinned in apology.

Tezuka was aggravated beyond words to the point that he couldn't find anything to say. Once again, he felt safer in Fuji's arms, and he could care less of how lame it sounded.

"But Tezuka," Kikumaru spoke again, "Do you wear underwear?"

Tezuka glared at the redhead with a 'what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about' look.

"Well you know, my sisters have tons of dolls, but none of them have underwear. I don't think they sell it in stores, so I was wondering…"

"He wears underwear, Eiji, don't worry," Fuji cut him off. Then, he added with a smile, "Nee-san used to make her dolls some underwear since she was feeling sorry for them not having any."

"Oh, your sister is so nice, nya! Lucky you, Tezuka!" Kikumaru grinned.

Tezuka frowned. Dolls usually don't have any underwear? Then maybe, he was indeed lucky by going to Fuji. At least he still got to wear one now.

"But we really have to do something for Tezuka." Oishi said worriedly. "Do you need something Tezuka? I'll buy it for you. Probably some bottles for babies and some diapers, and…"

"Oishi-senpai, you're making no sense. Buchou is not turning into a baby," Echizen remarked.

"Ah that's true… I'm sorry Tezu…" Oishi's words dissolved in the air as they saw the quiet Kaidoh suddenly stared to Tezuka who was still in Fuji's arm.

Tezuka stared back at his kouhai; tilting his head slightly in question. Kaidoh's cheeks flushed a little, probably thinking that Tezuka-buchou is kinda… cute like that. Out of nowhere, Kaidoh pulled out a cat toy—the one he used to play with Karupin some times ago—and started shaking it in front of Tezuka.

"Fsshu… here, buchou… here…"

"BWAHAHAHAHA!! Mamushi you idiot!! Buchou is not a cat, hahaha!!" Momo rolled on the floor, amused at how silly his rival could be at times. The other tried hard not to laugh and Inui was still scribbling on his notebook while mumbling something about Kaidoh's obsession on cute things.

A vein popped on Tezuka's forehead. He was ready to yell 'one hundred laps' for everyone, but Fuji spoke first, "Now, now, Kaidoh. While its true Tezuka is cute like this, he won't be amused with that cat's toy, ne?" he said while gently pushing his kohai's hand away.

"Mada mada dane, senpai-tachi." Echizen smirked as he took out his racket, and then pointed it right on Tezuka's face, "Have a match with me, Buchou. I'm sure I can beat you now," he grinned evilly.

Tezuka was too tired to respond, and began massaging the bridge of his nose, feeling an upcoming headache both from tiring his eyes without glasses, and from his team's manners.

"Echizen, it's not polite to point your racket at Tezuka like that," Kawamura tried to help Tezuka controlling his junior, but he forgot that he was not to touch any racket outside the court. Once he grabbed the racket from Echizen's hand, he went "BUUUURRRRRRNIIIIING!! Tezuka, you're soooo cuuute!! LOVELY, BABY!!" He swung his racket around in random directions, making the others back off.

Kawamura was about to grab Tezuka from Fuji, but the tensai managed to save him somehow, and crept their way out of the chaos his teammates caused by playing tag with the wildly-swinging-racket Kawamura inside the clubhouse.

'Oh, that's enough!' Tezuka thought. He felt like his head was going to explode there and then from seeing the chaos his teammates made right before his eyes. He never knew his team could be this retarded.

Exasperated, he barked, "Everyone, one hundred laps, NOW!!"

"So, Inui, how are you going to fix this?" Fuji asked.

"I need some time to make another concoction to counter the previous one…"

"No." Tezuka sternly cut him off. "I'm not going to drink another one of your terrible concoctions ever again."

Inui's face fell a little, before saying, "In that case, I'm afraid you would have to wait until the effect wears off."

Tezuka was quiet. How long would he have to wait? Could he even go back to normal? He didn't find the idea of staying chibi for too long, appealing. He suddenly felt really, really tired, and he started massaging the bridge of his nose for the umpteenth time.

"Inui," Fuji suddenly called, "Can you at least fix Tezuka's glasses? His eyes have been hurting since his glasses are too big for him to use."

"I can do that, I suppose. Give me his glasses," Inui asked, and then Fuji took the spectacles out of his pocket and gave it to Inui. Tezuka was thankful Fuji brought his glasses with him.

"What are you going to do now, Tezuka?" Oishi asked worriedly. "We don't know when the effect will wear off…"

"I don't know," Tezuka replied. He honestly didn't know what to do. "My family's away for a few days, so going home is not an option."

"If you didn't drink too much of it, there is a chance the effect won't last long," Inui tried to make the situation seem brighter.

"Just tell us if there's anything we can do, ne?" Kawamura offered.

"Saa, Tezuka, now you have a choice of who you're going to stay with for the time being," Fuji said, smiling. Somehow, Tezuka thought that this offer had something to do with what he said last night, and he felt a little uneasy about it.

"I'm staying with you," he quickly replied. "That's if you don't mind." he added, since he knew he was safe with Fuji.

He was relieved after Fuji responded with a genuine smile.

"Well there's nothing we can do for now," Fuji finally stated. "Classes will be starting soon, we should get going."

Tezuka couldn't go to his own classroom, so he decided to be with Fuji the whole day. He was in the same class with Fuji last year and he noticed some of Fuji's habit hadn't changed. Fuji liked it to gaze outside the window, uncaring for the teacher's lecture. But Tezuka knew the teacher wouldn't call on him, since Fuji was the tensai and he would be able to answer any questions asked of him.

There were times when Fuji was asleep. Tezuka could tell, even when he was smiling in his sleep. Kikumaru seemed to have noticed too, since he was lightly kicking Fuji's desk when the teacher was walking towards his desk. When Fuji didn't budge, Tezuka decided to pinch his hand to wake him up. He noticed that it was easier to wake Fuji up in class rather than in bed.

During lunch break, Inui gave him a pair of doll-size glasses. Tezuka was glad he finally could seeclearly. He had enough of the headaches caused by his blurred vision. Having clarity of sight, he paid attention during the rest of Fuji's class. Tezuka even jumped in an opportunity to correct the history teacher and made the sensei as well as the whole class (except for Kikumaru) gawked at the sudden change in Fuji's feminine voice. Fuji just smiled, rather amused at the horrified look on everyone's face. He spared them by coughing twice, and Kikumaru covered him by saying "Fuji caught a really, really bad cold, nya!"

Tezuka apologized, saying it was out of habit, really, but Fuji just laughed at that.

During evening practice, Tezuka was left in the clubhouse. The regulars agreed it wouldn't be wise to show mini-Tezuka to the other members. Fuji decided to stay until the non-regulars were outside at the tennis courts. Then, he made sure to be the first one to return, cleaned-up, changed and immediately headed home with Tezuka carefully placed inside his bag. Practice was rather uneventful without Tezuka around, Fuji mused.

It was Saturday, the day Fuji's younger brother, Yuuta, came home from his dorm. Fuji usually dawdled around his younger brother's room and doted on Yuuta to no end. But with Tezuka staying in his room, Fuji felt he shouldn't let his friend alone and decided on a short visit to Yuuta's room. He ruffled his hair and received an annoyed scowl, he asked how Yuuta's week was, and after receiving a short 'uneventful' answer from his dear brother, Fuji smiled and went back to his room.

"You could spend more time with Yuuta-kun, don't mind me," Tezuka said the second Fuji was back to his room.

Fuji sat on his desk, smiling at Tezuka who was reading one of his books and said, "It's true that Yuuta is only here once a week… but having you here is not even a once-a-week occasion, ne?"

Tezuka looked at his friend's face, and he wondered why he was labeled as a 'sadist'. Sometimes, Tezuka thought that Fuji was too kind for his own good—despite his mischievous jokes.

"Thank you," he muttered silently.

"For the new clothes?" Fuji asked, referring to the blue shirt and the white pants Tezuka was now wearing after his shower earlier.

"For taking care of me," Tezuka managed to make his tone as flat as he could.

Fuji was surprised at the sudden expression of gratitude that he spent a moment gleaming at Tezuka with exposed cerulean orbs, before his lips finally curled upwards into a real smile and with a playful tone, he said, "My pleasure, Captain."

Just as Tezuka was about to say something, the door opened and Yuuta casually walked in. "Aniki, lend me your dictio… na… ry…" his words faltered as he caught sight of his brother with a doll which ridiculously resembled the Seigaku's infamous captain.

Tezuka stay stilled at his position, not knowing what to say or what to do.

"Aniki!! I didn't know you were obsessed with Tezuka-san as to keep his doll!!" Yuuta exclaimed in a rather horrified look.

Tezuka's brows twitched at Yuuta's accusing tone to his brother, but he noticed Fuji's face and smile hadn't faltered one bit. Instead, the smile was getting wider by several millimeters.

"This is not an ordinary doll, Yuuta," He began, and Yuuta's brows creased. Revealing his eyes, Fuji continued with a lower, nearly hushed tone of voice, "This is a voodoo doll."

Yuuta's face immediately lost its color, and Tezuka felt pityfor Yuuta as he looked like he just saw a ghost.

"Fuji, I think that's enough…" Tezuka tried to warn his friend, but…

"IT TALKS!! THE DOLL TALKS!!" Yuuta jumped backwards, frightened. "Aniki, just what the hell is that thing?! You… you can't be serious… it's…" he stuttered.

Fuji bent forward, clutching his stomach; his shoulders were shaking violently as he tried hard to contain his laughter.

Tezuka was toying with the idea to take his words back. Probably, Fuji wasn't reallykind after all.

Once he was done laughing, Fuji gave Yuuta a brief explanation of the situation. He reassured Yuuta it wasn't a voodoo doll nor was it some kind of supernatural being. Tezuka, the buchou, shrunk after drinking Inui's evil concoction.

"But… is that even possible? I mean shrinking from a drink?" Yuuta asked in disbelief. Idly, he thanked the heavens for his transfer from Seigaku to St. Rudolph's; he didn't have to deal with any of Inui's creation… daily.

Fuji sighed softly, his smile never faltered. "Well, you have the proof right here. I was also quiteshocked when Tezuka showed up like this yesterday," he said.

"And your idea of 'shocked' was to laugh at me," Tezuka remarked with sarcasm.

"Sorry about that," Fuji lightly replied.

"So, Tezuka-san…" Yuuta began as he was staring at Tezuka in astonishment, "How are you going to return to your normal size?"

"Inui said the effect would eventually wear out," Tezuka replied with doubt in his eyes.

"I'm sure it will wear out soon," Fuji said reassuringly, his eyes opened as he tried to sweep away the doubts and insecurities from his hazel orbs. Tezuka didn't know how to respond. Somehow, Fuji's soft gaze made him feel nervous…no more like uncomfortable.

"Aniki, stop staring at Tezuka-san like that, you'll scare him," Yuuta commented before he could help himself.

"Maa, Yuuta, don't be jealous," Fuji stood up and approached his brother who took a wary step backwards in response. "You do know how much I love you, don't you?" he said teasingly as he patted his brother's head.

"WHA—" Yuuta immediately jumped back, his face was as red as a tomato, "Screw you, Aniki!! You're gross!!" he shouted as he rushed out of Fuji's room.

"Yuuta, you forgot the dictionary," Fuji called his brother cheerfully as he waved the thick dictionary in his hand.

Yuuta stopped in his tracks, turned back wearing his most unfriendly face he could muster and grabbed the dictionary from his brother's hand before stomping out of the room.

Tezuka looked warily at the door, wondering if Fuji was alright after being treated like that by his brother, who Tezuka knew the tensai loved very much.

"Don't worry," Fuji said upon noticing the look on Tezuka's face," his words maybe harsh, but he loves me." he smiled cheerfully.

Tezuka said nothing, and Fuji turned his gaze to the door once again, before murmuring in a lower, softer tone of voice, "he does…"

Still, Tezuka said nothing.

At two in the morning, Tezuka was wide awake, worried about the following day, Monday. He needed to go to school, and his family will be returning from their trip this Sunday evening. He wondered if he'll change back to his normal size then.

For the first time in Tezuka's life he has trepidation over the uncertainties he's facing with his current predicament. If he remained in his current state, how would he live, how could he explain this situation to his parents?

What about tennis?

A soft caress on his hair made him turn his head and found Fuji's huge smiling face in front of him. "Stop worrying, Tezuka," he said softly, "close your eyes and forget all about this tonight."

Tezuka kept a stern look at Fuji, "Just go to sleep and not worry," he responded.

Fuji chuckled. "That should be my line." he replied. "Saa, go to sleep, Tezuka. Worrying over it won't make you regain your normal form."

Tezuka frowned and rolled to this side, away from Fuji. "You're not the one who is 20 cm in height so you can say that ever so lightly," he murmured.

Fuji blinked once. Tezuka was sulking; something Fuji thought Tezuka would never do.Considering the situations, though, he couldn't blame his friend.

"That's true," Fuji replied softly, "but I do worry about you."

Tezuka was silent for a while, then, he turned to face his friend and replied, "I appreciate that."

Fuji smiled in response, and he patted Tezuka's back lightly and in a reassuring manner. "Now, go to sleep," He said.

Tezuka didn't know why but he was now feeling slightly better. His lids felt heavier as he was feeling relieved with Fuji still lightly caressing his back. Then, he closed his eyes and succumbed to a much needed sleep.

So… when they woke up the next day, nothing changed.

Tezuka's parents were due back in less than six hours, now they face a big problem. Both boys sat on Fuji's bed, worried. Fuji called Inui earlier and asked the data-man when exactly the effect would wear out.

"I can't say for certain. Tezuka was the first to drink the potion. But two stray cats had a sip or two of the juice and were back to normal within six to eight hours. Tezuka didn't drink much of it, he should return to normal anytime today," Inui stated.

"Today," Fuji repeated. "When?"

"I don't have the data to calculate the exact moment. I'm sorry," Inui answered.

Fuji sighed audibly to the phone. "Was there any special condition that helped change the cats back to their normal size? Like, what triggered the change for one to be sooner than the other?"

"I don't remember anything in particular. I'll call you after I review the video of the cats," Inui stated before ending the call.

"Don't worry Tezuka, you'll eventually change back," Fuji reassured him, but he started to have doubts himself. This time, even Inui's data wasn't reliable.

"Ah…" was Tezuka's sole response, he kept massaging the bridge of his nose; his headache bothered him since early morning. He didn't know why, his chest felt too tight, but he didn't bother to voice any of this to Fuji.

Once again, silence wrapped around them.

"Tezuka-kun will return to normal soon enough," the sudden voice made both boys jerked in surprise.

"Mou, nee-san, don't sneak in like that," Fuji complained in mock annoyance. Yumiko just grinned at her younger brother.

"I read your card, Tezuka-kun," Yumiko turned her head to meet Tezuka's eyes, "it says you will change back soon, though probably, you'll need a little… trigger." she continued.

Tezuka just nodded absent-mindedly as he was still processing the fact that Fuji's sister knew about him, even though this was the first time Tezuka met her after he shrunk. Then, a question struck his mind, "May I know what the trigger is, Fuji-san?"

"Saa, cards don't give details, so I wouldn't know," Yumiko paused and looked like she was considering something. "But I was wondering if you could try that method," Yumiko smiled, and Tezuka found this familiar gleam in her eyes that resembled that of her younger brother whenever the prodigy had something up his sleeve to entertain the team.

"What method?" Fuji asked.

Yumiko's smile grew wider and Tezuka couldn't help but flinch. "You know, Shuusuke, that method you find in every fairytale," Yumiko paused to observe the expression of both boys. Since both of them seemed to have no clue, she continued, "Kiss him, Shuusuke."

"Huh?"

"Or would you rather have me tokiss him?" Yumiko smirked.

"I… don't think that would work," Tezuka interrupted, looking all uneasy from the woman's teasing. "It's illogical," he stated.

"But Tezuka-kun, your body size is already illogical," Yumiko retorted.

Tezuka flinched inwardly. He knew he heard something similar to this before…

"Well, anyway, I think we should just wait for Inui's call," Fuji said, trying to save Tezuka from further discomfort.

Seeing both boys were facing each other with quite the right distance, Yumiko had this sudden urge to test out her method, so she pushed Fuji forward, hard enough to catch Fuji off balance and stumble forward, crashing his lips on Tezuka's in the process.

Realizing what had now landed flat on his lips, Tezuka's heart suddenly beat faster, and had his face flushed. Then, he felt heat rising inside him, and his heart pounded, hard, threatening to jump out of chest. His head was also aching, and so were the muscles on his body. He closed his eyes in an attempt to chase the pain on his head away, but all he could feel was his whole body throbbing.

Then, he felt something pinned him down. He slowly opened his eyes, and found Fuji's face hovering just a few inches above his own. But wait… Fuji's face wasn't as huge as it used to be.

"Aniki, Nee-san! Okaa-san said before leaving that one of you should cook lunch. I'm hungry," came Yuuta's voice from outside the room.

The two boys stayed still, as they were still trying to register what just happened. Even Yumiko stayed rooted to her seat on Fuji's chair.

"Nee-san, Aniki, I'm…" Yuuta trailed off as his eyes widened in horror at the sight waiting for him inside his brother's room.

There was his brother, pinning down the infamous captain of Seigaku Tennis club; the Tezuka Kunimitsu in his bed, while the stoic youth was… naked.

"MY EYEEEEEEEEEES!!" Yuuta immediately ran out of Fuji's room. He covered his eyes, bumping into the wall in the process of his escape.

"Oh my, he might be traumatized for a while," Yumiko commented once she recovered from her shock of seeing Tezuka's body suddenly returned to its normal size and that made the doll clothes no longer could cover him.

"Tezuka, you're back!" Fuji finally found his voice. He hadn't moved away from Tezuka and just stared at his friend with wide-opened eyes, glad that all of the trouble had finally come to an end.

"Ah." Tezuka murmured, still hadn't totally recovered from his shock. Soon after, he realized just what kind of compromising position he was in, and nervously said, "Fuji, could you get off me?"

Fuji smiled. "Well, I'd love to, but…" he paused and turned his head to his sister, before continuing politely, "Nee-san, would you please get out? Tezuka wouldn't like it if you see him."

"Oh, right," Yumiko promptly stood up and walked towards the door. "Don't worry Tezuka-kun, Shuusuke is covering the interesting areas so I don't get to really see you," she added with a wink before finally walking out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her.

Once the door was closed, Fuji slowly moved away from atop of his captain's body, and immediately walked to one corner of his room, picking up Tezuka's uniform that was washed the day before. With his smile still on his face, Fuji approach Tezuka who covered his body with a blanket and gave the stoic youth his clothes.

"I'll wait outside," Fuji said sweetly.

"Thank you," Tezuka replied rigidly, and for once, he didn't look at Fuji in the eye. Fuji made a mental note that he'd love to see Tezuka blushing more often, since he looked cute.

Once outside, Fuji's smile faded as he brought a hand to cover his flustered face. He sighed; while it's true he had seen Tezuka naked several times in the showers, having a naked Tezuka beneath him was definitely another story.

Not a bad one, though.

"I'm sorry to bother you these past two days," Tezuka said formally as he stood by Fuji's doorstep with his bag slung over his shoulder, all ready to go home.

"Don't mention it. It was nice having you here," Fuji brushed the formality with his usual smile.

"Thank you," was all Tezuka could manage. When Fuji's only respond was another smile, the captain felt like words had fled away from him.

Tezuka was never one for words, but this was the first time he truly felt like he didn't know what to say. His body finally regained its original size, shouldn't he be happy? But why was there a tad of sadness whenever he thought that he would no longer need to be with Fuji?

The memories of his time together with Fuji during his 'shrunken period' came to his mind and replayed like a broken record. Now that he returned to his normal size, all of their time together had come to an end.

'End'. For some reason, he despised the word.

"Next time," he blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Yes?" Fuji diverted his gaze from the ants lining up on the grounds to Tezuka's face.

"I'll bring you something," Tezuka paused, thinking on what words should come out next.

Then, he looked at Fuji in the eye, and repeated his words. This time, he made sure that his tone of voice was certain.

"I'll bring you something, next time I sleepover."

Fuji blinked once, twice… and when he finally grasped the meaning inside Tezuka's words, his lips unconsciously quirked up in a genuine smile, as his azure eyes connected with Tezuka's.

"A package of wasabi-sushi and some DVDs would be nice," Fuji suggested playfully.

"Sure," Tezuka briefly answered, noticing the relief flow from within his own tone of voice.

After a slight nod, Tezuka left the Fuji household. Enjoying each step he took towards his own home, Tezuka mused inwardly that this was certainly not the end. Just like the steps he took, one step at a time with a newfound feeling inside his heart, he was now walking towards a new beginning.

-NeverEnding-

OMAKE:

"Nee-san, was Tezuka's 'curse' really gone with a kiss?" Fuji asked while they watched some random TV shows. Yuuta still refused to meet Fuji after seeing such a scene.

"Of course not, you silly," Yumiko laughed as she ruffled her so-called tensai bother's head. Such a prodigy he was, a fourteen-years-old could be really cute at times.

"So that was indeed a coincidence," Fuji placed a forefinger on his chin, thinking.

"It was," Yumiko nodded. Then, she turned her head to her brother and smirked, "but you did want to kiss him, didn't you? You should at least thank your onee-san."

"Thank you," Fuji replied flatly, though his smile was still on.

"But you're really unfair, Shuusuke. I helped you get your first kiss from your crush and you didn't even let me take a peek on him." Yumiko faked a pout.

Fuji's eyes fluttered open, he smiled sweetly at his sister and said, "There's nooo way I would share that sight with you. That is one thing I wouldn't share with anyone."

Yumiko blinked once, and then she let out a little laugh.

"Oh, Shuusuke, you possessive brat…"

.end.

A/N: I'm not really sure about this, so please tell me what you think of it ne? :D