EDIT 8-29-2010: I fixed the line breaks FFnet took out . and did some grammar editing while I was at it XD
Summary: Fuji hasn't seen his love in years. Now he's back, and Fuji is determined to find a "way into love."
Anime/Setting: Prince of Tennis-Fuji/Tezuka/Eiji/Oishi/Inui are all in college now...and Taka, but in my head Taka won't be going to college. He'll take over the Sushi shop so he'll be doing intensive sushi making training after high school, basically an apprenticeship of sorts.
Pairing: TezuFuji
Disclaimer: Tezuka and Fuji belong to each other...and eveything else is mines! I wish.
A/N: Explanation at the end. My first attempt at a something long. This is only the first chapter...
~~Basically, I just combined Chapter 1 and 2
OCs:
Takahashi Kanami:
Year: 4th year
Major: Photography
Club/Position: Photography/President
Hobby: Singing, watching sports teams
Sasaki Hiro
Year: 3rd Year
Major: Business/Managerial Economics; Photography
Club/Position: Photography/Vice-President
Hobby: Photography,
Kobayashi Satsuya
Year: 4th Year
Major: Accounting
Club/Position: Tennis/Captain
Hobby: Running, admiring art, Judo
~Chapter 1~
"Fuji-kun, you'll be joining the photography club won't you?" Fuji turned to look at his sempai. Takahashi Kanami-sempai might have been the only female who participated in this program, but her passion for photography was unrivaled. It was perhaps that reason why she had earned herself the position of President of the University's Photography Club.
"Hmm…I plan to." After all, Fuji no longer played tennis. Not for a team, anyway. Not since middle school, and that was nearly four years ago. He still played of course, by himself, with Yuuta, with his old teammates, but he did not, would not, join the tennis team in high school. No, it reminded him too much of someone, someone he did not want to think about.
"Good. I'll admit I had my doubts. I mean, not many first years are admitted into this program, but seeing some of the works you've done, I might just be convinced that you are a Tensai, as Sensei says." Sasaki Hiro, the vice-president of the photography club said. "I can see why Sensei pushed you into joining us."
Fuji's attention returned to the scenery rolling by his window. After six months, six very long months to Fuji, he and his sempais were back in Japan again. For the past six months, Fuji had joined his sempais in an advanced photography program traveling to Europe, America, Africa, Australia, and other parts of Asia taking pictures with some of the best photographers in the world. It had been physically demanding and mentally straining and just what Fuji had needed. Or so he thought. In the end, it was neither physically demanding nor mentally straining enough to take his mind off Him.
~0x0x0~
Kanami glanced at her kohai and possible new member of the photography club. He was not very tall, not much taller than her 167cm self. He was slim and looked almost delicate, feminine even. She had never seen him without a smile. Never. And they had spent six months together. Even now, as the boy looked out his window, there was the smile. During the past six months, the five of them had grown quite close, and yet, Kanami couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more to Fuji Shusuke than what she was seeing. Sometimes, when she looked at Fuji-kun, she got the feeling like he wasn't always there, as if he were looking at something else, thinking about something else. Yet at the same time, he always seemed to know what was going on around him. Kanami could not, no matter how hard she tried, figure out the tensai that was Fuji Shusuke. Then again, he was known as a tensai.
~0x0x0~
Sasaki was watching Fuji. He'd been doing so since the teacher had announced that this first year was going to skip his first semester of college to join them in the photography program. Sasaki hated him, at first. What made this first year so special that he could skip his first semester at school and join them in a program they had to fight teeth and nails to get into? He knew that the others had felt the same way.
That changed though. He felt himself pulled in by that smile of his. As did everyone else. They couldn't hate him. They welcomed him. And while that smile was the key to winning everyone over, that smile was also the key to keeping everyone at a distance. He showed everyone the same smile. The smile never changed. It masked any and every other emotion.
~0x0x0~
~CHAPTER 2~
Somehow, Fuji had lost contact with him. It hadn't been intentional. He did manage to keep in touch with everyone else on the regular team. But somehow, it was just one person he couldn't seem to keep in touch with. It would be easy enough to get the information he wanted. He was sure that Oishi would know, and if not, Inui definitely would. But he could never bring himself to ask for it.
Fuji had decided. He was not going to think of him anymore. He was the past. Fuji was not going to think of that expressionless face, those amber eyes, the deep voice. None of it. And yet, even while he told himself not to do those things, they came to him.
In high school, Fuji had joined the tennis club. For a few short months, he had been a part of a team again. He played tennis the way he had before, but something was different, missing. It didn't take him long to figure it out. He wasn't there. It didn't feel right. He couldn't play in the team. He left before he made any commitments to the team.
~0x0x0~
"Shusuke." Kanami and the rest of the students who went on the program turned to look at the beautiful woman in the car. Fuji just smiled. They had arrived back in school.
"Nee-san." Fuji saw the shocked faces of his sempais and couldn't help but smile a little wider. They had not expected that, he knew. "Is it okay if you just take my things? I think Kanami-sempai said we have to meet Sensei. I'll go home later."
"Of course." Fuji loaded the bulkier items among his luggage into the car. He was sure to keep his camera bag, though, which contained some money and his all-important camera. He waved as his sister pulled out of the parking lot.
~0x0x0~
The meeting with Sensei turned out to be amazingly short. It was done in about ten minutes. Fuji had anticipated a longer meeting. Now he had nothing to do.
"Fuji-kun, let's go watch the tennis team practice!" Kanami-sempai had grabbed his arm. She didn't know he played tennis, no one did.
"Kanami-sempai, let him go. He doesn't have to go with you if he doesn't want to you know."
"Shut-up Sasaki. Just because you fancy yourself in love with him doesn't give you the right to keep him to yourself."
Fuji was used to it. Despite their constant bickering, he knew they were good friends. It did make him uncomfortable, though, the source of their bickering, himself. But he also knew that neither really had such designs towards him. In a way, it reminded him of how Seigaku's own Super-Rookie had been welcomed. In a way, it was the same.
"A friend of mines told me over email that they have an amazing new tennis player on the team. A super freshman of sorts. He came from some prestigious school in Europe that specialized in tennis or something. AND she guarantees he's a looker." Once Kanami-sempai got started, it was hard to stop her. So, Fuji did the only logical thing, he went along with her. Besides, it had probably never occurred to Kanami-sempai that no one here besides herself cared about how the Super-freshman looked like.
~0x0x0~
Fuji had been to these courts once before. It had been when he first met with Sensei about the Program. Fuji heard the sound of ball-on-racket and unconsciously found himself in front of the courts. This time he came to the courts in full conscious and looking for a super freshman. It did occur to Fuji what the possibility might be. It was silly to hope, but hope he did.
A sharp pain found its way into Fuji's chest when, as he looked around, he saw no sign of the one he was looking for. He glanced at Kanami-sempai to see if she had found who she was looking for. She hadn't.
Fuji, smile still in place, turned, for whatever reason—maybe he felt a pull, maybe he sensed a presence, maybe he was unconsciously drawn to him as he was to the courts that day way back when—and saw someone very, very familiar open the gates to the courts and walked in.
"Eeek! There he is!" Kanami-sempai's excited squeals reflected Fuji's inner thoughts to a T. There he is, is right. There, standing on the courts was the man Fuji had spent the better part of the last four years thinking about—dreaming about.
He hadn't changed a bit, grown taller, maybe, but he was still the same. The same boring yet handsome face. The same beautiful eyes behind the same rimless glasses. The same mop of brown hair in the exact same hair style. There was no way Fuji would ever not recognize him. But, it seems, he did not recognize Fuji. Either that or he hadn't seen him, and Fuji was in no real state of mind to figure out which it was.
For the first time in four years, Fuji's smile slipped. His bright blue eyes opened as he stared, gaped more like, at the person he had most wanted to see and at the same time wanted to see the least of.
Kanami and Sasaki were both shocked at Fuji's response to seeing the super freshman. Kanami recovered first. She decided to introduce Fuji, or at least tell Fuji the boy's name.
"There he is! That' the super freshman everyone is talking about. Tezuka Kunimitsu."
Fuji turned his gaze on to Kanami-sempai. She didn't know he played tennis.
Fuji smiled, it was a smile like one he wore everyday these past four years and at the same time it was different. That smile had never been more bright or more mischievous. He walked away. Away from Kanami-sempai and Sasaki-sempai. Away from the courts. And away from the man he had been longing to see, Tezuka. But only temporarily.
Tezuka, this isn't a dream right? I won't wake up to find you gone will I? Tezuka.
A/N: Explanation of the photography program and Fuji's participation
The photography program is completely made up. It's like a study abroad program/internship. They travel with real photographers and gain real life experience. The program originally had three boys (a fourth year, a third year-Sasaki, and a second year) and a girl (Kanami). It begins at the beginning of the year, which is why first years are not usually a part of the program. Fuji, the tensai that he is, is offered the opportunity because the Photography teacher saw the talent in him. He tells the organizers/sponsors/people in charge of the program about Fuji and they also decide he should take part. Why didn't he offer it to Fuji when Fuji entered his second year? Because it is a made up program by one author and so would not exist in Fuji's second year. Why is it only students at their school? Because it is a school program.