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-Break Free-
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21 July 2008 to 22 July 2008

Rated: T

Pairings: Thrill (FujiRyoma) ; minor ToFu (AtobeFuji) ; maybe hints of Dream (FujiEiji)

A/N: Please go easy on me as I do not really excel at writing Thrill and since this is my first time writing it. XP And I do not own Prince of Tennis whatsoever.

.: Dedicated to Sweet Obsidian Rain who is a loyal Thrill worshipper XD :.

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Three words. It was just a mere three words. But he never knew these three words would hurt so much. Especially when he heard them from the lips of the person he trusted the most. He chuckled mockingly at himself; the person he trusted the most? He was too naïve. How could he have trusted him, if he was the one who left him, leaving him to go through all this pain alone? He gritted his teeth, how betrayed he felt, it was a pain he has never felt before. His once beautiful blue orbs now were glazed pools of hurt and hatred. He buried his face in his hands, forcing himself to forget those three words he heard, probably the last three words he'll ever hear from those lips again.

We're over.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Game won by Fuji, six games to four!"

"No fair, nya! I wasn't ready yet!"

Fuji smiled as he ignored the red haired acrobat's protests and sipped form his bottle, sitting down on a bench. Kikumaru followed him off the courts and sat down beside him. "You knew I wasn't looking, you shouldn't have hit the ball..." Kikumaru started to protest again.

Fuji patted Kikumaru's head. "Don't let your guard down, like Tezuka always say."

Kikumaru pouted, but said nothing and started to gulp down water from his bottle. Fuji picked up his racket and started to fix the strings. Kikumaru glanced at him and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

"Is something wrong?" Fuji tilted his head.

Kikumaru looked at him closely. "Actually, shouldn't I be asking you that question, nya?"

Fuji stiffened slightly but continued to pick through the strings of his racket. "What makes you say that?"

"You're acting all... weird, nya."

"I'm perfectly fine." Fuji stood up abruptly and walked away. "Practice is over, let's go."

Kikumaru stared at his retreating figure while slightly frowning. Ryoma approached him, flopping down on the seat where Fuji had previously occupied and placed his racket beside him. "What are you thinking about, Eiji-senpai? It's not like you to be in such a pensive mood."

"Fuji's acting strange, nya..."

"Fuji-senpai?" Ryoma raised his eyebrows. Obviously, he couldn't imagine what could possibly trouble the blue eyed prodigy.

Kikumaru nodded, scratching his head as if he is trying to solve a really hard problem. "He's not smiling like how he used to. And... his movements seem to be slowed down."

Ryoma shot his senpai a sideways glance. "Eiji-senpai? Would you please stop talking so thoughtfully like that? You are starting to sound like Inui-senpai."

Kikumaru's head jerked up. "Nya?! Am I!? Oh my gosh, I don't want to become Inui, nyaaa!!" he jumped up and started bouncing around, jumping on poor people who haven't left the courts yet.

"That's more like Eiji-senpai..." Ryoma muttered, picking up his racket and preparing to exit the courts since practice was over. Before he left, however, he caught sight of the blue eyed prodigy who was staring into the distance with his eyes open and a complicated expression on his face. Ryoma's heart skipped a beat when he saw lament reflected in those clear, azure orbs. Ryoma blinked, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But the next moment, Fuji has already closed his eyes and his everlasting smile adorned his lips once again.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Fuji sighed as he closed the door of his room and lay down on his bed. He stared at the ceiling, trying to clear his mind. He wanted to escape this pain. Fuji sighed again as he sat up, his eyes wandered aimlessly around the dim room. Finally, his eyes landed upon the laptop sitting on his rather messy desk. Fuji heaved himself up and sat down in front of the laptop, he opened it and turned it on.

As he was waiting for the windows to start up, he caught a glimpse of a certain photo placed on top of a pile of CDs. Fuji frowned slightly; turning the photo upside down, he shoved it between the stack of discs and turned his attention to the screen of his laptop.

Fuji was clicking on random websites and he came across a forum. He clicked on a topic titled 'Tennis Skills'. There were a few posts already, but only by two people. The last post read: 'I need to improve my skills more, I'm not satisfied with them.' Fuji went through them briefly and submitted a post that read: 'You'll never be satisfied with your tennis skills, no one is perfect. You are strong, but there might be, or will be, someone stronger.'

He continued to look through the other topics, after a while Fuji returned to the said topic and refreshed it. Someone replied: 'Now there are people around me who are better than me, I must become stronger so I can beat them. I will become the best between them.'

Fuji raised his eyebrows at that. He chuckled and typed, 'Oh? Who are they if I may ask?'

He submitted the post and waited for a few minutes before refreshing the page. His post was replied, 'I don't think that's any use to you, if you give me a good reason, I might consider it.'

"Hmm..." Fuji mused, "That sounds awfully familiar." he shrugged and typed, 'Well, it was just out of curiosity. I don't know who you are, why other would I have asked you?'

His post was replied quickly, 'Well then, that's not a good reason at all. Curiosity killed the cat. Try not to be so nosy.'

Fuji frowned at that. He closed the window and shut down his laptop. It didn't help his low spirits at all, in fact, it dampened them even more. Maybe a good night's sleep might help. He didn't even bother to change out of his uniform; lying down on the bed, he closed his eyes. Everything will be well tomorrow... hopefully...

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Remind me again why we're here?"

Kikumaru licked his ice-cream and stared at Fuji. They were sitting on a bench in a park, both with ice-cream cones in their hands. "I wanted to know what's... what's... troubling... you, nya."

Fuji chuckled and twirled his ice-cream slowly. "Nothing's troubling me."

Kikumaru smiled heartily as if he was trying to lighten his best friend's spirits, and he swung an arm over Fuji's shoulder. "Don't lie, nya! I can see that you're troubled, Fujiko!"

Silence developed for some time.

"You've got good observations, Eiji." Fuji finally said.

Kikumaru narrowed his eyes knowingly and nodded, a sign for Fuji to continue.

Fuji took a deep breath, a smile forced onto his lips. "But I can't tell you, Eiji. At least, not at the moment."

Kikumaru looked somewhat disappointed but nodded nevertheless. "I understand."

Patting his friend's head, Fuji stood up and walked off. Kikumaru sighed and took a bite of his ice-cream. "Why couldn't he tell me?" he muttered to himself.

"Eiji!" Kikumaru looked up at Fuji, who was a little way off, he was smiling at him. "Thanks for the ice-cream!"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Fuji went up to his room after he finished lunch. He positioned himself in front of his laptop again and returned to the forum titled 'Tennis Skills'. The last post was by another person. It said, 'It's natural to want to become strong.'

Fuji typed, 'How much stronger do you want to become?'

'The strongest.' was the reply.

Fuji chuckled and sighed hopelessly. This person's intentions are just like the one he had conversed with the previous night. He replied, 'And after you become the strongest?'

'I will beat that person.'

This made Fuji wonder if he was conversing with the same person as last night. 'And after you beat that person?'

'It's now my turn to ask you, what do you think of your skills?'

Fuji opened his eyes at the question and shook his head as he remembered a certain person... whom he had trusted with all of his heart, 'I'm pathetic.'

'Practice.'

Fuji knew that they were talking about two completely different things, but he continued nevertheless, 'Practice won't do any good. I'm a tennis player without a racket.'

The other person didn't reply for a long time. At last, a post showed up, 'If you had lost your old racket, then you must get a new one.'

'I don't trust myself anymore.'

'Every racket is unique, no two rackets are exactly the same.'

Fuji smiled, that person seemed to have grasped the topic. Now he can be sure; this wasn't the same person he had chatted with before. Sighing, Fuji turned off his laptop and leaned on his desk. Going through their conversations in his mind, Fuji shook his head. It seemed rather ironic. But this might just be his perfect escape from reality.

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-To Be Continued-
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I doubt that was any good, so criticism is very welcomed! I initially wanted to write an oneshot, but it turned out as a multichaptered fic. Please comment, I'll be glad to improve!