Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Prince of Tennis.

A/N: With loads of hugs to my beta-reader, Vierblith

Chapter 8 – When You Follow Me, I run away. When You Run Away, I Follow You

Fuji tossed and turned in his bed as he stared at the starless night sky. Seeing Tezuka with Tia had thrown Fuji off-track. "Baka Tezuka," Fuji whispered to no one in particular. Just then, a beep from Fuji's handphone signaled that he had received a message. The tensai's heart lightened a little when he realized that the message was from none other than Tezuka.

'I'm very sorry. Will you forgive me?'

Staring thoughtfully at his phone for a moment, Fuji sighed after placing the device on his study desk. He really wanted to forgive Tezuka. But he did not know what to do. Fuji knew that he was being selfish. Despite knowing that Tezuka was feeling very apologetic, Fuji wanted to take advantage of the current situation. Never before had Tezuka focused so much attention on him and Fuji had to admit that he enjoyed the rare attention from the Seigaku captain.

'What happens after I forgive you, Tezuka?' Fuji asked silently as he closed his eyes. 'Will you go back to your old ways? Will you treat me as your normal friend even after I told you that I am jealous? Are you going to stop giving me much attention again?'

Just when Fuji was slowly falling into a dreamless sleep, another beep from his handphone broke the serenity.

Grabbing his handphone from the study desk next to his bed, Fuji read the message with sleepy eyes. However, blue eyes widened in shock as Fuji's heart began to race when he read the second message from Tezuka.

'I love you.'

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Tezuka stared blankly at the handphone on his hand, wishing that the screen would light up and indicate 'You Have a Message.' He had sent a message to apologize to Fuji, but, sadly, after waiting for about five minutes, the device remained silent.

Tezuka sighed as he removed his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose – a habit that he did whenever he felt helpless. "Syusuke, Syusuke," he muttered while placing his glasses back onto his nose, "Are you really not going to forgive me? Or" he paused, suddenly recalling his earlier encounter with Saeki, "or you saw Tia and me and you thought that we are together?"

That sudden thought seemed to cause the frustrated Tezuka to frown deeper than usual. 'This is bad,' Tezuka thought as he clasped his hands together to rest his chin on top of his knuckles. 'If Syusuke thinks that Tia and I are dating, it might be difficult for me to court him since he misunderstands me in the first place. What should I do?'

The bemused Seigaku captain could only stare at the wall blankly. This is the first time that Tezuka wanted to court Fuji, and this first time was certainly a difficult time since there were misunderstandings between them.

"Well, if that is the case," Tezuka muttered as his fingers began to fly fast and free over the keypad of his handphone, "I shall court him using my way."

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Sunlight filtered through the window, spilling some of its warm rays onto the face of the slowly awakening tensai. Fuji drew his blanket over his face, not wanting to wake upas he felt tired.

'It is all Tezuka's fault,' Fuji thought gloomily as he groped under his pillow to search for his handphone that was lying somewhere on his bed. 'I had a hard time trying to sleep because of your message last night.'

Fuji sighed. Although he was unwilling to attend tennis practice on a Saturday morning, he knew that he should not skip the practice. Throwing off his blanket, Fuji sat up in bed with his handphone now in his hand. Blue eyes flickered in surprise as he realized that he had received two messages from Tezuka.

'There is nothing between Tia and me. You have misunderstood us. She and I are only friends. Besides, the only one I am attracted to is you.'

"Me?" Fuji questioned, "Not Tia?" Wondering what the second message could be, Fuji read it and his eyes widened in alarm as he hurried out of his room, leaving his handphone on the bed.

'I'm coming to pick you up to go for practice together.'

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"Ohayou, Yuuta," Tezuka greeted the brown-haired St. Rudolph player who had opened the door. "Is Syusuke at home?"

Yuuta sighed. 'Baka aniki,' he thought, frowning a little before realizing that Tezuka was now staring at him. "Erm," Yuuta cleared his throat, "Sorry, but aniki has already left for school this morning. He hitched a ride in my sister's car," he paused as he continued silently, 'after much persuasion and some tantrum-throwing.'

"Er…he said he had already sent you a message," Yuuta mumbled, having a bad feeling that there was something going on between Tezuka and his brother, and that he had no wish to be caught in their affairs.

"I see. Thank you. Goodbye." Tezuka answered after a brief moment of silence. He turned away and started to walk towards the direction of his school with an obvious air of dejection.

Taking out his handphone, Tezuka read his just-received text message and his eyebrows furrowed together.

'I'm sorry. But Sister offered me a ride.'

"A message that is just sent about three minutes ago," Tezuka noted. "Obviously Syusuke is avoiding me. If he is hitching a ride, he would have informed me a long time ago." He stared at the bright sky thoughtfully. "Now I wonder how I can get him to talk to me face-to-face."

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Fuji sighed inwardly. Luckily, he managed to persuade his sister to give him a ride to school. 'Or else it might be uncomfortable with Tezuka,' Fuji thought wistfully, wondering if it was really the case.

Everyone was doing warm-ups under the sunny clear sky. 'If only it rains,' Fuji thought gloomily, 'and then practice would be cancelled.'

The tensai was brought back to reality when he heard a deep familiar voice behind him, "Syusuke."

Fuji snapped opened his blue eyes in surprise as he spun around to meet the familiar brown eyes of Tezuka Kunimitsu.

'What did you call me just now?' Fuji thought, his breath seemed to be caught in his throat.

"I need to speak you personally now. Meet me at the changing room."

"Why should I?" Fuji asked defiantly. His voice now hinted agitation. "If it is about tennis, I would gladly meet you. But if it is not," Fuji paused as he turned away, not catching the determined look that Tezuka had in his eyes, "We can speak after practice."

"But you would run away from me again," Tezuka replied quietly, noting the stiffening of the shorter boy's back. "I know you have it in mind but I would not allow you to do so."

With that, Tezuka bent down a little and used his muscular arms to effortlessly lift the surprised Fuji off the ground.

With a yelp, the tensai instinctively wrapped his arms around Tezuka's neck for support as he found himself being carried off.

"Tezuka! What are you doing? Put me down! Everyone is looking!" Fuji hissed, aware of the many pairs of eyes that were staring at them.

"No," Tezuka replied before giving out his usual command, "Everyone! Fifty laps around the courts now!"

The sudden command given by Tezuka immediately sent everyone scrambling to continue their practice though their minds were wondering what had happened a few minutes ago.

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"You don't have to lock the door," Fuji said quietly after Tezuka had placed Fuji on the bench in the changing room. "I won't run away."

"You might," Tezuka replied dryly after making sure that he had secured the door. Turning to look at the sulking tensai, who was sitting on the bench, Tezuka sighed as he began, "First, I would want to say that I am very sorry for accusing you wrongly. Will you forgive me?"

Fuji sighed. His eyes softened when he saw the sincerity in Tezuka's eyes. He nodded dumbly, waiting for the taller boy to continue.

"And," Tezuka paused, trying to gather his thoughts into words. 'This is more difficult than I thought, considering that this is my first time,' he mused to himself.

"The next thing I would want to clarify again is that I don't love Tia and she treats me as her brother only," Tezuka continued gently, "because the person I am truly attracted to is right in front of me."

Fuji was truly stunned. Hearing those words from Tezuka's mouth was totally different from the reading Tezuka's message from the night before. Fuji stood slowly as he looked at Tezuka in the eye. "I never thought that you would reciprocate my feelings."

"Don't avoid me anymore," Tezuka said quietly as he moved forward to embrace the smaller boy, wrapping his arms around Fuji's waist as he placed a kiss on Fuji's cheek.

Fuji nodded, unable to speak, as his voice seemed to choke with words. It all started with Fuji messaging Tezuka everyday, and he was really glad that he had taken the initiative.

"And promise me 3 things," Tezuka added, the corners of his lips curling into a smirk. "One: never avoid me. We can talk things calmly to avoid any more misunderstandings. Two: don't skip your meals. Saeki told me that you have been skipping your meals recently," he paused, tapping his finger on Fuji's nose as if he was reprimanding a child, "and three: call me 'Kunimitsu'."

Fuji giggled as he tiptoed a little to kiss Tezuka fully on the lips, "Aye, aye Captain Kunimitsu!"

For the first time on that day, Tezuka broke into a smile that radiate genuine happiness, "Alright. Let's go for practice."

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As Tezuka was walking out of the school gate together with the Regulars, he felt that the tensed atmosphere was gone, replaced by a relaxed and cheerful one. The moment the pair walked out of the changing room with their fingers laced together, it was pretty obvious to everyone that any issue between Fuji and Tezuka had been resolved. Of course, the Regulars felt relieved since they do not have to worry about getting in the crossfire between the captain and the tensai.

Tezuka was walking halfway out of the school gate with the rest of the team when he felt a vibration from his handphone in his pocket. Wondering who the sender might be, he took out his handphone to read the message.

'I love you.'

Tezuka let out a little grin. He turned and was not at all surprised to see Fuji grinning mischievously.

"I love you too, Syusuke," Tezuka said huskily to Fuji as he leaned down to give the tensai a passionate kiss, not caring about the surprised looks that the rest of the Regulars had sent his way.

A/N: That's all, everyone! This is the last chapter of this story, Messages. I must say that I really enjoyed writing this story, and I do hope that everyone likes this chapter too! School is starting soon, and I might be slow at updating, or coming up with new stories. But don't worry; I will definitely be back with stories (hopefully, interesting ones!) since I love to relax myself from school work (and I like to write when I relax, haha!)

Reviews will still be appreciated, of course, although this is the last chapter. Hee…

Lastly, to the following people I would like to thank for supporting this story and your reviews aspire me to try to make this story as interesting as possible (I remember some of you advise me not to make Tia another Mary-Sue character, and I am glad that I did!)

Phoenixfirekitsune,icy sweet candy,Misuzu Kamio,Alaena Flame Dragonstar, masi, CrystalKitteN-MeW, shinrin13, demon m-chan, finding, CrypticButterfly, TristainMontmorency, yoshikochan, broadlinedream, imuzuok, Apple Bubblegum, LtCol. S3, Riyoku-kun, Rikkaidailuvr, Vhii1217, imuzuok, EvCaCeLy, maldita08, MysticBlood, nanachan87, eliza-natsuko, Crystal-mirage, WhiteEnsigma, faith lane, blueray, galeaya, shinjuku041, lovewritermaiko, xquisittexabie, syuusukef, FujItachiHa, Sano, Aelendis

And lastly, my fantastic beta-reader, Vierblith!

I hope I didn't leave anyone out. But if I did, please accept my apologies. :D

Till the next story! (runs off searching for new ideas)