A/N Written for my lurvely wife, doroniasobi. Here's your belated anniversary gift, darling~ n___n

Inspired a little by the song September by Marianas Trench.

Disclaimer: Let's be reasonable now, shall we?

"What do you want, Fuji?"

"Welcome! Ah, Fujiko!" Kawamura smiles warmly from his place behind the sushi bar. His sleeves are rolled up and the headband that keeps his hair out of his eyes is slightly stained from that octopus he brought in this morning.

Fuji smiles and waves lightly before putting his hand back in his large trench-coat pocket. "Taka-san," He greets, his eyes closed as usual.

"You should stop dragging around like this, Tezuka. It's not like you. It's not like us, really."

"What brings you here today?" As always, Kawamura has nothing but a smile to give to his friend. The afternoon sun shines in through the restaurant's windows and it plays on the tennis tensai's hair. Kawamura has seen this so many times before, but it never fails to amaze him and how pretty a man can be.

"Nothing much, I was just hungry." Fuji shrugs lightly as he sits down on the stool. He looks up at the board of Specials but makes no move to open the menu. He's too familiar here to need that petty thing.

Kawamura pulls out a fresh chopping board and opens the rice cooker, taking in the sweet smell of freshly cooked rice. "One roll of wasabi sushi and a miso soup, right?" He gets out a cup and a kettle of tea.

"What are you talking about?"

Nodding, Fuji accepts the tea and sips it gently. He's not afraid of burning his tongue, but if he did it might be bothersome, so he's careful as he drinks.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about."

The store is quiet. There aren't many customers around this time. Kawamura can't help but think that that's the reason why Fuji came here at this time. His brows furrowing, he tries to concentrate on rolling the sushi.

Fuji stays silent, his lips only moving every now and then to blow off some of the heat from his tea. He watches Kawamura work, and he remembers when they all joined high school a year ago, when they all became Regulars again, with the exception of the always cheerful Taka-san.

Fuji still can't help but feel that there's something missing in their team.

"Taka-san," He smiles serenely at his old friend.

"A-ah, yes Fujiko?" Almost dropping his knife, Kawamura looks up.

Fuji turns to face one of the windows and lets the sun flood onto his face. Kawamura worryingly notices how pale it is. All those days outside playing tennis have done nothing for the smaller student's complexion.

"It's been really sunny for a long time, hasn't it?" Fuji muses, his tone a little distracted.

"Yes, yes it has." Kawamura says hesitantly, wondering where Fuji is coming from.

"Yes, it's been so sunny lately..." Fuji's face hardens and he frowns. "It's almost sickening."

Kawamura does a double-take, but Fuji's ever-present smile is back again. "What do you mean?" His friend has always liked playing with strange metaphors and similes, and sometimes Kawamura just can't seem to grasp what Fuji was saying. Like now, for instance.

Fuji goes quiet again, and he faces Kawamura once more.

Sighing, the taller brunet knows that it might be a while before he learns what happens next. Fuji has always been tricky like that. It's always like he's playing a game, where he absolutely can't tell others what's going on till the last minute.

After Kawamura has finished making all of Fuji's meals, he brings up a chair behind the counter and sits on it, watching Fuji pick the tiny sushi rolls up gently and dip them in soy sauce. It seems like ages before he speaks again.

"I broke up with Tezuka."

"Eh-eh? What?" Kawamura almost shouts. Fuji keeps eating like nothing important has happened.

When the two of them had gotten together in the last term of their first year in high school, nobody had really been surprised. They had always been very close, and when high school began they almost seemed to be glued at the hip.

"Do you really want to have it keep going like this, Tezuka?"

Some people had been skeptical, but Kawamura never doubted it once. They were good friends, and they would treat each other right. And when they stood next to each other, it just seemed to click. They were both handsome, upstanding students with amazing athleticism. They naturally contributed to each other's handsomeness. They just looked good together, and everyone approved. Yes, Tezuka had been an excellent match for Fuji, unlike someone like him.

Kawamura shook his head. Those feelings were supposed to have been long locked up and thrown away. He didn't need those resurfacing again.

Yes, it had been like a perfect match at the time. From what Kawamura had heard, they had never had any bumps, fights, or wavy periods. So what had gone wrong?

"I'm really getting annoyed at all this sunshine."

"Why?" Kawamura asks tentatively. "You guys, weren't you perfect together?"

"Fuji, what are you talking about now?"

"We were." Fuji licks his lips and outs his chopsticks down on the empty plate. "We were perfect together. He was always kind to me, he never tried to argue with me, and I always felt comfortable around him."

"But...?" Kawamura, still a little shocked, tries to pull more out from the tensai.

Fuji smiles, but this one is off. It feels a little more genuine, a little more bittersweet. "But, halfway through it became what everyone said it was. Our relationship became perfect. So perfect, that it was almost like it couldn't exist. I still liked Tezuka, and he liked me, but it wasn't right. It was perfect, but it wasn't right." Fuji tilts his head and smiles his fake smile again. "Do you get what I mean?"

Kawamura shakes his head slowly, his head spinning. So Fuji did acknowledge that what he had with Tezuka was perfect, but he didn't feel like it was right? "No, I don't get it." Sheepishly, he rubs the back of his neck. "I'm sorry I'm such an idiot, Fujiko."

Fuji laughs a little. "You aren't, Taka-san. If anyone is, it's definitely me. I stayed out in the sunshine for too long. I was going to melt, you see." He sighs once and repositions his chopsticks on his plate.

"We were so well matched. It was like a beautiful sunny day every day I was with him. Every single time we were together, the sun seemed to shine brightly down on the two of us." Fuji frowns. "But after a while, the sun got too hot. There was just nothing exciting about us anymore. Sure, we were 'perfect' together, but that sun was constantly hanging on our backs. It got...boring, I suppose. I started longing for rain in that eternal sunshine." He chuckles lightly, still managing to keep that frown on his face. "Something that would tell me that we were more than just very well-matched people. Something that would tell me that all this was worth something. Anything. I waited for that rain, but it never came."

"I'm sorry, Tezuka, but I'm melting under this heat. Let me go and soak in the rain."

"A love that perfect couldn't exist." Kawamura whispers, his throat going dry.

Fuji's eyes open for a second then close again. "Yes, that's exactly what I meant. How did you...?"

Kawamura can't say why. He can't say that those were the words he had told himself for weeks after Fuji and Tezuka had gotten together. He can't say that those were the words he repeated to himself during his heartbreak.

But even so, Fuji seems to hear it.

"You're the opposite of Tezuka, Kawamura. You're shy, you never make your moves, and you always stand in the background. If Tezuka was the sun..."

There is silence. In the entire world, there is only the two of them sitting there, with the fate of Kawamura's entire life hanging in the air, unspoken.

"...then, then you are the rain. My rain." Fuji leans in and kisses Kawamura.

There is nothing special about the kiss. It is tender, sweet and soft, and by the end of it Kawamura can't believe that it even happened. In shock, his mouth moves, but no words fall out.

"Everyone will disapprove. They'll call you my rebound, and they might even call me a whore. It's not ever going to be a perfect relationship." Fuji mutters softly, his face only inches apart from the taller brunet's.

"Look, Fuji," Kawamura murmurs into Fuji's ear as the tensai turns to the side.

"It's raining."