[Prince of Tennis] Seven Days: The Second

[shiraume_fic]

Seven Days: The Second

380 words. Rated G. Gen/Fuji Syuusuke character study. Originally written on 7/27/2011 for a drabble project.



From the start, Fuji knew Tezuka was special.

There was nothing obvious at the first glance of the overly serious face, but Fuji knew with an instinctive certainty. When Tezuka started drawing attention -- and resentment -- in the tennis club by beating all of the third-years, Fuji felt half vindicated and half annoyed, like one of his cherished secrets had suddenly become a common knowledge. But his fascination with Tezuka continued unchanged: Tezuka was the best he'd met, and something inside Tezuka seemed to glow from within, like a beacon shining through a pane of glass. It was beautiful. And for Fuji, reaching for it was just as instinctive as the flash of recognition that alighted his senses the first time they met.

Their first match was a disappointment. But Fuji could be patient. He would wait as long as he needed.

The wait turned out to be long indeed. For the next two years, Fuji knew he was Tezuka's closest friend except for Oishi. And he was always so wonderfully certain he knew Tezuka best. Perhaps that was why he failed to grasp the most important part of Tezuka until Echizen and the practice match in the rain. Only then did Fuji realize he'd fallen into a trap of his own making. Easy victories had poisoned him until he desired a true defeat simply because he'd never tasted it. It took Tezuka nearly destroying his arm to make Fuji realize he too had something to fight for. And fight he did: through Kirihara Akaya's astonishing evolution and Shiraishi's inexorable strength, even Tezuka's own shadow in Niou.

Only to have Tezuka raise the stakes. Fuji should never have expected two years' worth of feelings could be resolved so easily. Tezuka was steadily rising higher, daring Fuji to answer him in kind. It was equal parts a thrill and a surprise that Tezuka had always seen and desired the potential rival in him, in only him. That the instinctive search for something elusive yet elemental had been a mutual one. No matter how many strong opponents Tezuka met in the future, Fuji would always be the most special one to Tezuka, just as Tezuka would be for Fuji.

And this was a bond that would never break, no matter what.