Author Notes: I suggest you not to believe me if I ever say my next update will take longer time ^^ I just can’t get this pair out of my head! I don’t know, perhaps because my computer desktop is currently displaying a picture of very sexy Fuji leaning to a very gorgeous Tezuka, or my mind is indeed going crazy... I just hope that I don’t rush it too much that it makes this story worse. Please tell me if you see these symptoms ^_^* And I really love the month of October because both Tezuka and Atobe had their birthday in October. It’s just perfect for my fic! ^^ Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: These characters weren’t mine, have never been mine, and won’t be mine. I own the plot only and the Solff. The chapter title, Tonight I Celebrate My Love for You is a song by Roberta Flack, so it isn’t mine.

WARNING:

For the entire story: (read in the first chapter)

For this particular chapter: Is it R? I’m not sure, but it may be, for the scene at the end of this chapter.

Italicized words mean the words are somehow important.

/Italicized words in here/ represent the character’s thought, whose thought it is I think you can guess.

Chapter Seven: Tonight I Celebrate My Love for You

I2 Headquarters

October 7 – 08:51 a.m.

A stiff silence enclosed one among so many private meeting rooms in I2 headquarters. The central office building had its own plentiful amount of spacious meeting halls, but smaller ones still could be found scattered unobtrusively all over the place, utilized to discuss more confidential matters among a number of salient persons. In the particular room, a colossal wooden desk could be seen occupying the heart of the room, stood silently in its stupendous elegance. Ten comfortable seats were applied surrounding the majestic desk in symmetrical order and currently eight of them were inhabited.

Tezuka found himself staring impassively at the faces circling the enormous desk. Due to his urgent report, the Solff called a meeting between his two vices and the Elite Board at once, even in the earliest of morning on Saturday. The First Vice had recited all Fuji Shuusuke told him the night before and now was waiting for a reply, from any of them, with his somewhat little patience.

Yet the excessive length of time needed to consider the story was understandable. They had never known, even guessed, that the expertise and skill level of the Fuji clan was that high, which probably was the cause of why they were never able to lay any single hand on those murderers until two nights ago. And then suddenly one of the clan members showed up and told them everything they were dying to know all these years. It was just too difficult to believe as well as dubious.

“It is a lie.”

The bespectacled guy pinned his passionless gaze at the man speaking. Sakaki, the youngest member of the Elite Board –compared to the rest of decrepit veterans- was staring at him in equal apathy. His lips were pursed into a thin barely visible line and a realization dawned on Tezuka of why he had never liked this person, no matter how proficient of him to be able to reach a seat in the Elite Board at his age of early thirties. He tended to be snappish at devious matters as well as opinions divergent to his own adamant beliefs.

The flaxen-haired man, aware of questioning looks given to his direction from his colleagues, explicated his sudden judgment. “We must not trust such apocryphal story while the key of all riddles is currently grasped by our hand. We can have the answer spilled from Fuji Yuuta by using a suitable method.”

Obviously conscious that the mentioned ‘suitable method’ was but a more gracious name for harsh brutal tortures, the Solff opposed, “He has yet to speak a word.”

“Then we will make him to,” Sakaki answered in his nauseatingly sedate voice.

Tezuka managed to keep every part of his body immobilized due to his genteel civility, which had thinned into a thickness of the flimsiest paper. Resisting his will to bring the revolting man down to his ass was almost as hard as leaving his lovemaking session for a damn urgent mission in the dead of night; the latter was more favorable though since there was no way he would leave his ‘business’ with Fuji unfinished unless an earthquake threatened to demolish his house. He was about to give a likewise inconsiderate reply when another voice suspended his words at the edge of his tongue.

“However, I want to do him justice,” a deep female voice echoed throughout the soundless room, placing every single attention to the owner at once, the only woman in the Elite Board.” I would like to know if Tezuka-kun has several reasons of his own to render the story authentic.”

“His story fits as well as explains all unsolved cases we have suffered remarkably well, whilst we have never let the crucial details of these incidents to leave this room,” he answered their doubts flatly. Murmurs of concurrence came from the other members of the Elite Board at his faultless rationale. The flicker of hope inside him flared at a hint of uncertainty haunting the belligerent man’s face. It was until a displeasing voice broke their contemplative stillness.

“If I am allowed to say a word.”

A red-haired guy, who was standing devotedly behind The Second Vice in an aura of self-satisfaction, immediately got everyone’s interest. After receiving an approving nod from the Solff, he resumed smoothly with his eyes attached at the First Vice and his reactions. “Yesterday, as what had been ordered by Tachibana-san, I carried out a mission to spy on Fuji Shuusuke’s every action in case we could find a better explanation regarding the missing of our twenty-three witnesses. Instead, I discovered a very unexpected fact concerning the First Vice.”

Kamio paused, breathing his sensation of victory, as his blistering eyes scrutinized Tezuka who unfortunately hardly flinched at his impending doom. With a slow deliberateness, he said loudly and clearly. “I wonder if there is an explanation plausible enough of why our respectable First Vice had his lips on Fuji Shuusuke’s yesterday, 06.14 p.m. to be precise.”

Tezuka had never experienced a more deafening silence than the one extended athwart the room at this very moment. Shock was evidently written practically on everyone’s face at this quite appalling news, in exception the Second Vice who had a grim look and his attendant. His grandfather looked like he was suffering a heart attack with his alarmingly pale visage. Despite his rather grandiloquent manner of speaking, Kamio could not possibly lie and they would have believed him straightaway if it were not the First Vice he was accusing. The stoic yet reliable young man was the last person they would have indicted of committing such an error.

“Do you have anything to say on your defense, Tezuka-kun?” An insipid voice rose, coming from their Solff.

The questioned one shifted his gaze from Kamio to his commissioner, eyeing him as expressionless as usual. Then with a steady unwavering voice he answered, “I will not deny the allegation. But if I have a reason to trust his story, it is not out of the emotion I have. As I have stated before, his story is reasonable and I have always believed a thing: If a child was told that this colour was black by his parents since he was an infant,” he set his palm upon scattered white paper on the desk in front of him, “he would deem it black for the rest of his life unless someone told him the otherwise. I strongly believe that Fuji has the same case and the fact that he hardly opens himself to anybody makes it worse. No one can tell him which one is black.”

Another logical reason. The scarlet-haired guy wished silently that Tezuka were not so inhumanly levelheaded; his high-grade barrier of self-control made him as much as impenetrable when it came to provocation. He glanced at his Tachibana-san who was similarly straight-faced, and contemplated another attack. But before he could think of any other scar the First Vice possibly had, the third member of the Elite Board, a smiling old man called Banji, had spoken.

“You cannot assure us merely by your words, Tezuka-kun,” he said almost cheerfully, which reminded the First Vice absurdly of a certain tensai. “If it is possible, I would like to see this young fellow and then probably we can judge this matter more fairly. This Fuji-kun must be beautiful for being able to steal your heart.” The train of words was ended with a light-hearted laugh, which lengthened Tezuka’s list of dreadful hazards of dealing with always smiling people. His coworkers showered the elderly man with incredulous look, yet the Solff voted his consent.

“Yes, please bring him to us, Tezuka-kun,” the authoritative voice commanded. “Now if it is possible. Can you fetch him in less than an hour?”

/Of course, he’s in my office./ However, the First Vice decided not to reveal that fact, at least not now when most of them was still ambivalent toward Fuji. It was very likely that they would deem it was an acute danger to bring a murderer into the full-of-secrets headquarter, like inviting a famished fox to a cage full of fowls. He simply nodded and left the room.

Not that their anxiety was foundationless; Fuji’s position was extremely distrustful, yet apart from the logical reasons he had conveyed before, his instinct told him to trust the pitiable assassin. To kill his own brother! Tezuka wondered if his own mother had the heart to instruct a killing over her one and only son.

He opened the door leading to his private atelier and his strides were stopped at the threshold by an image before him. The prodigy had his hands full of paper and was standing behind the window, as if searching for more light to help him in reading. There was no smile on his face, and although he still had his eyes closed, Tezuka could tell that his friend was serious. The picture was so astonishingly fit, as if Fuji had always stood there to read reports and other important articles, as if the murderer had always been a part of this room. For a fleeting moment, the First Vice thought of how suitable it was to have him working for I2.

The prodigy looked up at his arrival and smiled inquiringly as Tezuka closed the door behind him. “Have you finished the meeting?”

The taller guy approached the window, recognizing the paper in Fuji’s hand as the draft of his report regarding Yuuta’s arrest. As long as his brain was functioning normally, the summary had ended in one of his wastebasket. But anyway, he could easily picture Fuji rummaging through his trash bin merely to check if he could find anything interesting.

Aware of the scrutiny put on his full hands, the tensai said cheerfully, “Oh, this. I found it in your wastebasket. You can deduce almost perfectly, Tezuka, except the actual cause of my failure to kill the minister. My encounter with you was one but it was mainly because one of your men hindered me when I tried to slip into the west wing. He had a wonderful reflect and terrific skill for being able to hold me back for almost five minutes.”

/Atsushi./ Tezuka was always impressed by his skill, but to think that one of his best subordinates only managed to restrain Fuji for five brief minutes was not really encouraging in that case. He seriously wished that the tensai was one of the best assassins in his clan.

Setting his gaze firmly on his friend’s smiling face, the First Vice informed, “The Solff along with his Elite Board wish to see you right now. I think they want to directly interrogate you.”

The smile didn’t falter. “Very well.”

Fuji followed his captain out of the room, through long bright corridors full of rushing agents. He could feel curious glances were sent at his direction; a stranger who had the First Vice escorting him must be a dangerous heretic. But what a carefree heretic to still have a smile gilding his lips on the verge of his doom! However, the prodigy was not as calm as he might probably be seen. His testimony would determine his brother’s fate as well as his own, and as a burden it was far from light. Jumbled words saturated his mind as he helplessly tried to grab them to form a comprehensible sentence. Anxiety ruled over him, severely, up to the point that he thought he heard his best friend’s voice among so many incoherent sounds in his head. But of course Kikumaru could not be there by any chance.

They halted in front of an enormous oak door, which looked very much like the gate of hell itself to his slightly blurred eyes. A gentle squeeze on his hand obliged his eyes to look at his leader, surprised. A sincere smile turned up on his lips; he knew he had the best support any defendant could wish for. Tezuka would not break his promise and he hardly needed any soothing word to believe it.

The door before him was opened, revealing nine faces staring inquisitively at him. His eyebrows were raised at the sight of a very well known woman, his own coach. Now, no one would expect to find Ryuzaki-sensei as a member of the Elite Board, would they? A middle-aged man with a deep austere voice gave him one of the unoccupied seats. Fuji obeyed as his eyes flickered to his leader taking his own seat, which unfortunately was so far from the prodigy’s. He recognized a solemn guy standing behind his captain as the one blocking his way that night. No wonder that he was Tezuka’s subordinate.

“Fuji Shuusuke, I suppose,” the same deep voice rang his name.

The convicted one nodded, calmly much to the others’ surprise. To continuously conceal his eyes was a point they found suspicious, but the smile was practically confounding. Rather than worsened the tension, this guy’s presence brought gentle breeze into the room, almost relaxing and at the same time unsettling. No diffidence, only confidence. Similar to Tezuka’s own experience, no one knew what to feel about the villain for the first five minutes. His good look guaranteed him to be eye-catching at any time or place and most of them began to forgive the First Vice of his misdeed.

The Solff cleared his throat, helping his colleagues out of their trance. “Now, Fuji-kun, we have heard your story about your family from Tezuka-kun. I would like to know the reason behind your sudden...confession.”

“Of course,” Fuji glided into a smooth pleasant voice. “My basis is generally to save my brother. As you may have known, I was ordered to kill him, which I found hard to comply. Also from that order I discover that my mother’s deeds are unforgivable and since I have taken a part in those wrongdoings as well, I decide to divulge the truth. There are already too many killings done without me embroiling to lengthen the list.”

After five minutes, their first impression of Fuji: Attractively enchanting

“This April you entered Seigaku,” the tensai found himself looking at his coach, who almost failed to restrain her smile at her disciple’s aptitude of speaking, “What is your reason, if I may ask?”

“There is a student of Seigaku named Oishi Shuichiroh.” There was passing of glances went across the desk as he continued, “I received an order to watch his every step and collect as many information as possible regarding him. It was our client wish, in case they would need him to blackmail his father, or,” Fuji’s smile went even brighter, “to have him killed.”

Their second impression of Fuji: Beguilingly dangerous

“You said you received an order,” a cold displeasing voice dropped the next attack. “Doesn’t it mean that you by and large know nothing about your family’s plans and merely carry out your mother’s instruction?”

In other word, the flaxen-haired man under the name of Sakaki, stated him and all information he could have known as worthless. Amazingly, the guy didn’t falter his smile even for a fleeting second as his grandeur in eloquence was incessantly confirmed. “I received orders, yes, but I technically knew the master plans as well. Extensive missions always need a long time to prepare and a lot of people to involve. Besides, when you have worked as an assassin for seventeen years, it isn’t that hard to guess what will come to pass if a certain chain of events happen.”

Their next impression of Fuji: Abnormally cool

There was a silence filling the room as all eyes were pinned at the young skillful assassin. His calmness, talent, intelligence, aptitude; the Solff deplored the fact that Fuji was raised in the dark part of the world while he could be an invaluable asset if he were to work under I2. In the other hand, the tensai was genuinely amused by the turn of tide. His eyes flashed to his captain who was leaning back to his seat, with his palms placed in front of his mouth, forming a pyramid. The hazel orbs behind those spectacles gleamed in what could be a smile at his glance.

“Fuji-kun,” the tensai found himself staring at an equally smiling aged man, “I am really curious if your choice to reveal the truth to us has anything to do with your relationship with Tezuka-kun.” The bizarre question left the rest of the Elite Board brooding in deep contemplation of why in the first place they had agreed to work with this man and his ridiculous queries, which were completely out of place.

Nevertheless, the asked one not even seemed surprised by the odd question. He merely smiled and answered almost as poisonously sweetly. “Tezuka does have some part in my decision making, but it was my belief in his way of thinking and not in his skill of fucking which made me sure of my choice.”

Everyone in the room was silenced by the seemed-so-harmless remark, including Banji who had a satisfied beam on his face. Their gazes instantaneously fell on Tezuka who had closed his eyes to suppress the overpowering annoyance plaguing him. He swore Fuji would get what he deserved later, for humiliating him in front of his superiors.

Next impression of Fuji: ... No one knew what to feel about the prodigy anymore.

“Well then, Fuji-kun,” the Solff cleared his throat for the second time, “now I will ask you about your previous missions.” The jolly assassin nodded almost too cheerfully.

The interview session was extended for almost three hours and in the end, when none of them had anymore subject to raise or accusation to indict, all attendees of the meeting found themselves believing Fuji’s story. What still bothered them was his actual reason. No one could tell if the murderer was truly no longer a part of his clan or merely playing a role to have his brother released. There was already too much dishonesty and camouflage in his life to let them believe what he had declared straightaway.

The commissioner exchanged consequential glances toward his colleagues and finally spoke up, “Fuji-kun, we have heard the affirmation from your side and with that, have reached a conclusion. As you wish, we will release your brother under two conditions.” He paused, allowing his eyes to sweep over a pair of cerulean ones across the desk. “First, we will ask for your cooperation in unraveling our cases, especially the ones we regard related to your family. And second, the two of you will only be released under the supervision of one of our agents. The question now is the agent who will supervise you both.”

“I think it is obvious,” once again Banji interrupted merrily, “as far as I remember, your house is quite spacious, isn’t it, Tezuka-san?” He smiled at Tezuka’s grandfather who wordlessly nodded. “Now, isn’t it convenient to let Fuji-kun live with Tezuka-kun? Then there are two agents who will supervise Fuji-kun.”

Murmurs of agreement rose along with several approving nods. Tezuka sent a look at his grandfather who currently was eyeing him as well with an unreadable expression. He knew how deplorable it was for a grandfather to find a rather conflict-ridden fact concerning his grandson out of such situation. However, he had prepared himself to face every consequence since last night, when he knew he would never be able to let go of Fuji.

“And your answer, Fuji-kun?” the Solff’s voice cut their staring.

The tensai inclined his head sincerely. “I have no other word than thank you. I will try my best to help as long as I can have Yuuta released.”

“Then so be it,” the deep voice reverberated throughout the room, releasing his final verdict much to a certain redhead’s dismay. “You may see your brother now and then you both will go under Tezuka-kun’s supervision.”

The meeting was dispersed and most of the participants quickly left the room save for several persons. The First Vice stood up and was about to fetch Fuji at his seat when his eyes met them of his grandfather, resolutely locking their gaze for a moment. The old man, his face firmed with age and experience, stated with an even voice. “I cannot say that I am thoroughly happy about your choice, Kunimitsu. Not only because he is a boy, but because he is a murderer as well. But,” he turned around, leaving his still straight back facing his grandson, and yet his voice was tinged with a gentleness any grandpa would have, “if any of you comes to trouble, to anything, you know you can always find me.”

Tezuka nearly smiled at this. It was beyond his hope that his grandfather would react that way. With a lighter heart he advanced toward Fuji who had a knowing smile on his lips. They stared for a while, brown met blue, savoring their moment of relief, before the taller guy took his still sitting friend’s hand in his own, earning him a loving smile from the prodigy.

“You know, I have no idea that you two are lovers,” a voice broke into their contenting silence and both looked up, to find their amused coach watching them quietly from her place.

“It goes for me as well,” the tensai answered gleefully, “I could never guess that Sensei was a member of the Elite Board.”

“Oh yes, it was quite a problem to conceal it from you, especially when the other-“

Her words were cut by a sudden earsplitting rush hitting the door like a deluge, which pushed it open and revealed seven anxious yet well known faces, four of them were acutely breathless.

“Tezuka! How is the meeting!?”

“Your grandfather was all sulky when we met him! Did anything bad happen!?”

“And Fuji-senpai!?”

The prodigy lifted his eyebrows at the appearance of his fellow teammates and finished his coach’s sentence slowly at his own accord, “Especially when the other regulars were also I2?”

“More or less,” she smirked.

The Golden Pair rushed to their captain’s side as Kikumaru jabbered unstintingly. “How is the meeting, Tezuka? What did the Solff say? Fuji will still be with us, won’t he? I will quit I2 if he won’t! And why are you holding his hand!?”

“Relax, Eiji, keep your voice down. We don’t want to draw more attention than what we need,” his partner hushed the impetuous acrobatic player before focusing his attention to the First Vice, grinning bashfully. “There was a ruckus out there because the seven of us- well kind of jammed the traffic. We- ah, actually tried to pick any word we could get by- you know, the door is thick and we had to press our ears to- no, not eavesdropping! We definitely didn’t drop any eaves- eh?“

“Let me speak!” the redhead cut down his friend’s illogical stammers in frustration. “As loud as I am, I speak more clearly than you!”

Fuji chuckled light-heartedly. “Everything is fine, no need to worry. The Solff said I could have my brother released.” There was a chorus of relieved sighs following his remark, which finally wore the tension off. The prodigy tilted his head to catch his captain’s eyes. “When do you tell them about me?”

“Last night,” Tezuka muttered, “when you fell asleep after you narrated yourself that long bedtime story.”

“And how could I be unaware of that?” he asked incredulously.

“The answer to that, Fuji,” came a deep reporting voice and a tall guy emerged beside them, “is 58% because of the physical strain you suffered out of your match with Tezuka and the following fight you both endured afterward. Another 5 % is because of the length of family history you recited and the last but probably is the most exhausting, 42 % due to your night activities with Tezuka, which most likely occurred last night after the schmaltzy scene under the cherry-blossom tree.” Tezuka tried to speculate how many more stalkers he had to add to the unrelenting Kamio and devoted Atsushi, to suppress his sudden desire to kill Inui due to his damn right conclusion.

Fuji smiled and said thoughtfully almost to himself, “It seems that I’m not that genius, ne? For being completely oblivious that you all are I2 even when we have been together for almost six months.”

“Perhaps because you have your eyes on Buchou only?” Echizen suggested flatly.

“Ah, maybe,” the tensai laughed as the youngest regular earned a hard smack on his capped head from Momoshiro who hissed reproachfully, “Be nice a bit, Echizen!”

“And what will you do now, Fuji?” Kawamura asked in a very sugary tone, which almost made the captain frowned.

“The Solff releases me and Yuuta under Tezuka’s supervision and I must help I2 in several cases,” he replied. “Oh, and I will be staying at Tezuka’s house from now on.”

Another simultaneous ‘ooh’ rose from his teammates and Tezuka did frown. Before anything could get any worse, he pulled the prodigy on to his feet and mumbled, “Let’s go. We will have to get your brother first.”

“Wait a minute, Tezuka,” Inui blocked their way with his green notebook opened on his palm. Adjusting his glinting spectacles slightly higher, he resumed his speech. “There is an urgently important thing I need to convey regarding the National. As you know, the next tournament is due in fifteen days and thus we have to keep ourselves as the regulars focused. I have my anxieties that this new development, which coerces Fuji to stay for an undetermined length of time at your house, will somehow disrupt our team’s level of synchronization. The two of you are, to state plainly, the most reliable players we have for singles apart from Echizen, and if you both continuously have your night activities done regularly-“

The door had been slammed shut as the number of people in the room was reduced by two counts. Tezuka could hardly believe his vice-captain’s words that the door was indeed thick since he could still hear the uproarious laughter erupting inside the room very clearly. Wordlessly he kept dragging his friend along the corridor, ignoring inquiring glances from other agents who chanced themselves to see the First Vice had his hand on the supposed-to-be heretic.

“Tezuka.”

A faint quiver in the prodigy’s voice made him to spare a glance sideward. Still with his eyes closed, Fuji had the brightest smile he had ever seen. “They don’t hate me.”

“Of course they don’t, baka,” he mumbled in forged annoyance. And both resumed their way to fetch Yuuta in comfortable silence.

--- ---

Tezuka’s Residence

October 7 – 07:08 p.m.

The night was serene, almost relaxing, like an intake of a deep breathe after long horrendous nerve-racking events. In his adequately lit bedroom, Tezuka stood in front of his tall bookshelf, turning pages over pages from one book to another. He knew he had seen this long descriptive explanation of tetracycline in one of these books, yet he could not state exactly which one. Sometimes he wondered why he had bothered to go through another high school year with its insufferable amount of homework and tasks. Of course the answer stood out clearly before everyone’s eyes: tennis.

The day had passed almost in a rush with countless duties he had to finish; all resolved around Fuji. Administrative matters as well as personal ones flew his time, unnoticed. The hardest part was perhaps when he had to tell his parents regarding Fuji, not only because the tensai would stay in their house but also the matter of his heart. They hardly opposed; even his mother became slightly too exuberant by the news of her stoic son finally falling for someone.

His house was indeed huge and the family gave a separated pavilion to their guests, in case there would be too much nuisance for both sides to all of a sudden share a house. The pavilion itself was comfortable with two bedrooms and a private lounge. His parents were practically showered with endless gratitude from their guests.

They liked Fuji. Tezuka could see it from the first time he introduced the siblings to his parents. He fully realized that the tensai could be more than enchanting when he thought it was necessary, but this time not even the best actors could beat him in stealing his parents heart so entirely and instantly. Fuji was not sickeningly sweet like every bootlicker tended to be; instead, he was charming, gracious, and decently polite. If it was a mere acting, no one would find out. Every single doubt, if there was any indeed left, in their heart that their son had damaged his brain for choosing a guy, was completely erased. Fuji was an impeccable image of a son-in-law every parent could wish.

And so everything had been settled. His prodigy was here, safely with him, and his family had been told about their relationship. Then why should he still spend more time to scrape through these thick books merely to find a thing as trivial as tetracycline?

A train of knocks ceased his grumble at once as he looked up and found a merry face peeking at the threshold.

“Am I disturbing you, Tezuka?”

“No,” the captain answered shortly, no more no less, before he realized that the true answer should be ‘yes’ considering his unfinished Chemistry homework. No one could defeat Fuji when it came to distraction.

His attention was drawn once again to the small almost illegible lines in his books as the footfalls steadily became more audible. Somehow he had a very ominous feeling of they way Fuji approached him. Always there were hidden intentions woven in the tensai’s every deed and Tezuka refused to believe that this night tryst was simply another kind of a friendly visit; Fuji didn’t do purposeless thing like that.

“What are you reading?” the cheerful voice rang.

The captain was unbothered to spare him a glance as he replied flatly, “Tetracycline. For Chemistry’s homework.”

Pale fingers obscured the sentence he was reading as the owner had snatched the book out of his hand before he could voice any protest. After placing it neatly on the shelf, the fingers returned to settle themselves on both sides of his cheeks. “No, Buchou. I cannot let you to do homework at a Saturday night. It is the worst humiliation for anyone who have declared Sunday as the day when all human should have their rest.”

Tezuka set his jaw firmly and looked straight to the veiled eyes. “We’ll do it later, Fuji. I have my homework to-“

The remnant of his words was soon lost as his mouth was silenced by a pair of lukewarm lips. Obviously he could not expect Fuji to listen to his words at any rate, could he?

A hot slick tongue caressed his lips, asking for an entrance, and Tezuka complied not too reluctantly. His own tongue writhed at the invasion, following the course of the game, eagerly tasting the bittersweet relish the intruder had brought. Something in the way Fuji’s tongue moved was maddening and he soon found himself lost, immersed in the blinding sensation of their joining mouth. Their tongues stroked, embraced, tangled, shoved, until there was nothing they could do but clashing at each other fiercely, sensing the heat becoming too uncontrollable.

Fuji felt his body was slammed to the bookshelf behind him. Arching his head slightly, he gave his captain an easier access to ravish his inviting cavern and so the kiss deepened, adding more untamed lust to their desire. He could feel his hands sliding off the other guy’s face to clutch the soft fabric of Tezuka’s shirt, as if willing to rip it open, to feel the warm skin beneath it. He thrust his hips forward, touching Tezuka’s noticeable erection, earning him a stifled moan from his captain and more aggression from the tongue inside his mouth.

When they broke apart to compensate their loss of breath, both had their eyes opened, staring sharply at each other. A lecherous smirk conquered Fuji’s lips, as his slim fingers shifted deftly to remove the taller guy’s eyeglasses, setting them on the shelf as well. “So...I am that irresistible.”

His leader’s eyes narrowed in warning. “To my bed.”

“As you please, Buchou,” he smiled deceivingly innocent and soon found himself pinned to the covered bed with the taller guy hovering above him. The russet eyes were clouded with lust, yet Tezuka didn’t move. The prodigy almost grinned at this sight; he knew his captain had never forgiven himself for taking him forcefully the first time they had sex. And thus, he always hesitated at the beginning, as if seeking for any form of consent from the tensai. An evil thought crossed Fuji’s mind to let him be for a moment, which immediately wiped off. He himself, had his want to be taken care of.

The prodigy lifted his hands up, framing Tezuka’s unsmiling face, and brought their lips closer. Once they were linked, the captain began to take the control again, moving passionately in front of his lips. Fuji almost broke into another smile. /Oh yes, I am that irresistible.../

The lips began to shift lower to his neck, gentle caresses upon a precious one. Still tentative, yet equally vigorous. A touch to his bare skin and Fuji moaned receptively, following the stripping of his flimsy shirt. His own slightly trembling fingers began to undo every button garnishing the other’s shirt, thoroughly revealing bit by bit creamy skin of his captain’s chest and tugged the fabric off, sending it to pool at the carpeted floor.

Skin met skin, hungrily touching, tasting each other in streaks of motions and voices. Fingers were intertwining, a bond of passion, echoes of the unspoken. Fuji let his eyelids to slide closed gradually as the first beads of sweat began to float, a touch of fevered layer, a release of suppressed desire.

More kisses, tongue swaying at the surface of glossy skin, licking, caressing, teasing. Then a silent tug of his zipper and the tensai almost cried in pleasure at a gentle skillful hand pulling his trousers off, accidentally touching his aching sex, enflaming his desire to even a higher degree. A pair of warm demanding lips caught his mouth into another battle. Unrelenting.

Then he felt it. A slow tentative thrust into his body; cautious, yet loving and insistent. It evoked a gasp out of him, a mingle of pain and bliss. Soft raining kisses were placed on his neck. Soothing. Wanting. Rush of blood drummed in his ears, eclipsing every other nightly sound except pants and whimpers. Beat steadily quickened with every ram driven into him, embracing his body in mindless heat. He could feel his captain chanted his name, almost in despair over his own need, pulling everything into his Tezuka Zone. More thrusts in joining of their bodies as they kept dancing at the outskirts of pure smoldering rapture, a waltz of fierceness and ferocity.

Of love. Want. Desire. Release.

Restrained cries; followed the zenith of madness and pleasure.

Fuji let go his bated breath in a line of ragged gasps as the other body slumped on top of him. No words were spoken; both were savoring the lingering warmth, the scents of mingled sweat and lust, the existence of emptiness, of nothing but their entity.

As their breaths were thoroughly steadied, Tezuka could feel slender fingers ran through his damp strands of hair, stroking them in apt solace only the prodigy could give. He inclined his head to a side, breathing in the skin of Fuji’s neck. His Fuji.

A merry chuckle cracked the silence. “You don’t seem to care that your door is unlocked, Buchou.”

Only a low grunt answered his tease. Fuji’s smile widened.

“Ne, Tezuka, what day is today?”

Of all the things he could have said and done. The captain looked at him in disbelief. /What is today? The day before Sunday when all human should have their rest? What day is October 7 any-/ The pair of hazel orbs widened in sudden realization. Yet before he could say a word, a pair of lips had given him a chaste kiss.

“Happy birthday, Buchou,” the prodigy said, an amused smile brightened his visage. “It seems that you’re too busy thinking of me that you forget your own birthday. Am I that ensnaring?”

Tezuka snorted. “Hardly. I’m too busy saving my seat as the First Vice due to a ruckus done by an incestuous murderer tugging at my sleeve to save his brother.” It earned him a pleasant laugh from the other guy. In his deliberate slowness, he brought their faces closer, setting his solemn gaze on Fuji. “So, is this lovemaking a gift for me?”

“Of course not, I did it for my sake. But since I haven’t bought you any present, I’ll let you think that way,” the tensai answered sweetly before his smile trailed into a rueful one.

“Thank you, Tezuka. For all you did for Yuuta and me. I have nothing to give you in return but this.”

Another silence was stretched upon them as Tezuka lowered his brow, pressing it to the prodigy’s forehead. Intense brown eyes flared into fathomless ocean’s depths, conveying flickers of seething fire, of indignation of being deemed a stranger. Thank you? Did Fuji really not know that he had reached the point of being unable to let him go by now? That his time would stop if the tensai departed from his side? A sharp stab of pain pierced his heart, leaving it bleeding, untended. /Do you not know, Fuji?/

“Stop saying nonsense,” he stated, his voice was a merge of ice and anguish.

Then the prodigy smiled, a faint glimmer of light penetrating the dark veils covering his heart. His voice, soothing like a shapeless hand tending his wound, chimed in the room, clear as the rattle of a silver bell in the first light of dawn with a breath of poignancy. “Love me, Tezuka, until I break, until I die, until I live again. Until Fuji Shuusuke is no longer an assassin and deserves his captain’s love.”

Tezuka closed his eyes, trying to compose himself before his barrier of self-control collapsed, which probably left him in tears. He couldn’t voice it aloud, his doubt and grief of their bond, how their unequal disparities always suffocated him. The delicate invisible thread tying them was so fragile and he merely had to give it the slightest pull to set them free. It was that easy. Wordlessly he took both of Fuji’s hands and settled them on his cheeks, pouring all of his unstated emotions into those bittersweet warmth.

“We need you,” he murmured, with a low, almost broken whisper. “You’re the prodigy of the team, our tensai. We need you to reach the National.” He brought his lover’s right hand to his lips, kissing it. /And I need you.../

Fuji drifted his eyes shut in pain laced with joy as a single luminous drop of tear leaked from his pools of marine sea, leaving a damp discernible trace. A pair of well-known lips traced his own delicate one, offering silent consolation in his most time of need. Another tear fell as he began to respond, tasting the simple ritual of affection, savoring the loving embrace of warmth, of vivid reveries. And his mind reeled, asking every deity above what he had done that he deserved this person to love him, to live his dream of unprecedented freedom and life, not as a murderer, but as Fuji Shuusuke alone. A silent vow echoed in his heart that only this person, only Tezuka the one he would guard from everything. The one that had given him the life, the meaning of his existence.

/I love you, do you know that?/

Epilogue:

The residence of the Fuji clan had always been quiet. Yet the silence which was stretched over it now was ominous, unsettling, even eerie with no sound except the faint chirps of cricket or lonely whispers of the howling wind. Sitting fixedly behind a low table in her private room was the Head of Clan herself. Her eyes were scanning lines to lines written in the report laid out before her, still her head was held high.

Mizuki waited patiently in his kneeling stance for her to finish the report. If the clan had ever experienced what was called trouble before, the one striking them now was purely a catastrophe. In the previous matters, they had their genius, the one whose failure almost reached nil, to mend everything until the whole world could flow as normal as they wanted it to be. But now, the genius himself had left them to restore every mess he had caused with their own hand. It could be worse, of course, but until that very second it was the hardest blow they had ever greeted.

A rustle of paper being straightened brought his eyes up to rest upon the firm angular face. Her visage still revealed nothing but perpetual coldness and vigilance as her eyes pierced the figure before them sharply.

“I have a mission for you to do,” suddenly her voice clanked flatly. Her nephew bowed his head in tractable manner.

“We will have him back,” she resumed, the slightest tinge of anger tainted her frosty words, “but by his own will. Perhaps he has his brother there with him along with that repulsive captain of his, but we still have his sister. And we can persuade him more by using his so-called friends. Get them, crush them, kill them if you must, until he realizes that his presence bring nothing to other but peril.”

The raven-haired assassin nodded in submission. “What about his ongoing mission? The one which consists Oishi Shuichiroh?”

There was a pause occurring as the cunning woman weighed her options judiciously. It was highly possible that her disloyal son would tell his vice-captain about the mission targeting him but she was indisposed to let another mission slip out of her grasp. She had experienced it for few times, like the mission regarding Atobe and her son’s horrible failure to keep his emotion guarded, and obviously had no plan to taste the bitterness of breakdown for one more time. “Let it be adjourned for a moment,” she finally dismissed. “Unless there is more demand from our client, it is needless to say a word about it.”

Mizuki inclined his head and retreated from the room, mind filled with sly deceitful plans to torture the genius he had loathed for long. A cruel smile dominated his lips for a moment. At last, it was his chance for vendetta. Let him see how devastating the damage he could bring to the tensai’s life.

To Be Continued to Chapter Eight

Author Ramblings: Phew. At last another chapter. I know it’s very-badly written, especially the Tezuka/Fuji scene >_< Really, what a pathetic human being I am... Actually I intend to write this chapter without any angst, but as I have said before, I am a pathetic human being and I can’t do that... *sigh* Do you ever wonder why this pairing is so perfect? Or is it just me and my twisted mind seeing things? Because actually I don’t see anything ‘clear’ in the anime or manga about these two! But they just get me! Oh well, please continue. The chapter epilogue down there is just some explanation in Fuji’s family after he decided to leave them. Thank you for reading and please give me reviews!



Characters Informations:

Sakaki: He is the coach from Hyoutei. Let’s pretend that he is not, and Fuji has never met him for this fic’s sake ^^* Forgive me for making him so annoying. I can’t portray him very well because I’m still unable to lay my hand on the 20.5 Fanbook >_<

Banji: The coach from Yamabuki, that freaky always-smiling old man. Wonder why I really love coaches in the Elite Board...



My Replies:

Cheeseburger of Doom: Thanks! I’m glad you like the last chapter and I seriously hope you don’t hate this one ^^ I don’t have any fighting in this chapter but I hope you still like it.

Wings: Eh, really? I don’t think I’m updating that fast... You’re very perceptive, you know. I thought I could get away without adding Kamio was spying those two, but you noticed ^^ Well, he watched over Tezuka but his presence was kinda unnoticed, because our pair was too drowned in their own emotion. Perhaps it’s a lame excuse, please forgive me XD I just want to make a surprise that actually Kamio knew their relationship. Thanks for the review!

yukuro: Actually Tezuka and Fuji are already perfect for each other even without my fic ^^ By the way, do you like Mizuki? If you do, I’m sorry for making him a bad guy, because he will be worse in the next chapters ^_^* And thank you for the review!

Stardustangel1: Is it just me or your review is...umm, empty? I don’t know what to reply but I seriously hope you will review me again ^^

firefly: My deepest thank you for saying it nice ^^ Hope you don’t get bored with this.

Angel_of_Godess: I know that reviews always encourage me but to read your review add one more point. They make my fic better! I’m serious! That fact regarding Oishi seemed to have flown out of my mind until I read your review. As the result, that question of Mizuki (“What about his ongoing mission? The one which consists Oishi Shuichiroh?”) appears up there. Thank you for notifying me! If you find any hole or other imperfection in this story, please do tell. I will be very happy! Thank you!

hellen: I can’t believe you really like my fic up to that point... ^^ Really 10x thank you for telling me that! About the fast updates, well, I don’t know what is going on in me, really, I think I’m going crazy... Don’t worry, I will kill that woman, but as for who will do it, I will keep it for later surprises ^.^ Oh, and about Fuji as my babysitter, I think I can keep with every annoying persona he has as long as I can stare at his face, look into his eyes, feel him so close... *get smacked by a very jealous captain* ouch! Yeah, yeah, I understand! He’s perfectly yours, you possessive jerk... Anyone who has Fuji tends to be possessive, I wonder why... (Isn’t the answer obvious!? With those eyes, lips, body, personality, who will not!?) Really, don’t mind me... I think I am suffering a Fuji-fever XD

Regatto: *long silence too* Ah, well... I don’t know what to say, really. You know, the first time I read your review I was frozen to my spot. Yeah, no kidding... I was too happy to say anything because... oh my God! I think it’s the greatest review I’ve ever gotten! I think it’s the word every writer will long to hear! I seriously deeply sincerely thank you for saying that! And I do hope my skill isn’t decreasing in this chapter. Once more, thanks!

nall: I think after reading this chapter you will feel more urge to kill the mother because she intends to mar that beautiful picture of Tezuka-Fuji being together ^^ I seriously have the habit to add more trouble to myself >_< Thanks for the review! I don’t have any more cruel cliffhanger, do I? ^^

whity: Glad to know that you still like this! As for that remark Echizen was saying, I just got the idea so suddenly to put it there XD Maybe too blatant, but it seemed like something that he would say in that condition...

Nekocin: Thank your for the review. I’m so grateful that you can see it, my difficulties to write this fic. Actually I have a plan of how to end this but as the story goes, I begin to feel just how wrong it is. Even only in a fanfiction, the murdering things are just too...cruel and very immoral because it is human’s life I’m wasting. You may find the rest of the story a bit irrational because as you said, there was no way they could work under such condition. It looks like I’m forcing my way on these two. Argh.. I should have realized it from times ago! Anyway, really thank you for still encouraging me ^^ Please don’t feel sorry to give me feedbacks because I truly appreciate it. Many thanks!