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Learning to Play by Suteishichic	By : Suteishichic Category: Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Ohjisama > General Views: 5629 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis (Tennis no Ohjisama), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Learning to Play by Suteishichic. Chapter Five ~ Taki
Warnings: Yaoi, Love, Angst, Fluff, and Lots of Sex. Some kink. You've been warned ;)

Disclaimer: Nope not mine. Still in my dreams. ;)

The first time Taki woke up, everything hurt so bad, he moaned and pulled his blanket up over his head. Shutting his eyes against the daylight, he fought off a major headache and cursed several times before rolling over. He tried to nestle down in the warmth between his sheets in an effort to forget everything and sleep it off.

Taki was not very good at forgetting though. Not even in his dreams was he able to slip away unscathed.

His dream started off normal enough; he was playing tennis. Playing tennis was always good, but when he looked across the net, to his shock, Taki saw he was playing against Ogawa....

Ogawa Naoyuki broke Taki's heart. Oh sure, other people had hurt Taki's feelings and of course there had been failed little school crushes here and there, but no one had ever been as close to Taki as Ogawa. Never had anyone won Taki's total trust, stolen his heart, and been such an important person to Taki--before walking completely away.

Seeing Ogawa again, even if only in a dream, echoed through Taki with an ache worse than any physical pain. Even a dream image of Ogawa brought back a flood of emotions.

Despite how much it hurt and regardless of how much time passed, Taki knew he could never forget Ogawa. Their time together mattered, and Taki still mourned the loss every day. Ogawa was still the first person Taki wanted to talk to when he woke up each morning, just like they used to. Ogawa was still the first person Taki automatically reached to call every time something good or bad happened, and any time Taki needed someone to talk to. And most significant of all, thinking about Ogawa or just missing him always was the last thoughts Taki had before falling asleep.

Sometimes it felt like Ogawa was haunting him, but Taki knew that even that was wishful thinking on his part. Ogawa was gone and he wasn't coming back. It felt to Taki as if Ogawa died and took a huge chunk of Taki's heart with him when he went. Ogawa was gone. And to rub salt in Taki's wounds, Ogawa moved on with his life without even so much as a backwards glance. Ogawa was gone and the only one walking around feeling half-dead was Taki.

Ogawa was apparently functioning fine. Taki was the only one left holding the pieces and mourning over what was. There was no grave to visit, no corpse to burn incense and pray over, and what felt worst of all, there wasn't even a trace that anything ever happened between them. But there had been. And it had been good, and wonderful, and the stuff of dreams.

It happened. Even if Taki was the only one in the universe left to remember.

There was nothing Taki could do that was going to change it either so he accepted it now. He had no choice but to accept it, but Ogawa remained a major part of Taki's history. No matter how much he tried to set his feelings for Ogawa aside, it just wasn't possible. Taki acted like it didn't matter to everyone he knew. But it did. Deep down Ogawa hurt to think about, so Taki tried to avoid it whenever possible. No one knew he walked around hurting all the time and thinking of Ogawa constantly.

The only person Taki would have every confessed any of this to was Ogawa, so no one knew. Not a soul. He didn't want his friends to know how hurt he was. He didn't want to let his enemies know he was so vulnerable. Taki wouldn't even talk about it in therapy. He didn't think he could stand to hear his therapist dismiss Ogawa as a first love, or worse an infatuation or a curiosity. He didn't think he could stand to listen to his therapist say it was merely youthful lust or normal experimentation as she usually did--especially if he talked about liking or dating or being interested in another guy.

Taki had therapy down by this point. Go once a week, talk about trivial, meaningless gossip, the tennis team, classes, or how Gakuto was a jerk, and Taki wouldn't be forced to go daily. It was nice to have the therapist there in case he wanted to talk about his medications or depression in general, but he was smarter now than he had been in the beginning. He knew anything in his life that was real, serious, and especially even remotely homosexual would get him nothing but a lecture and a series of annoying, endless appointments. Worse still, he worried his therapist would report anything "gay" back to his school or his parents.

So fine, Ogawa was gone, Taki was still in mourning, probably always would be, and according to the rest of the world, everything they shared never happened. He could pretend with the best of them even if he couldn't forget.

In Taki's dream to suddenly see Ogawa standing there waiting...looking so vibrant and happy...it was enough of a surprise to be almost horrific. It was so unfair. Especially since Ogawa....

Taki growled and burrowed down in his blankets more. He forced himself to think about something else--anything else. Clearing his mind wasn't working so maybe if he thought about happier times he would just drift off. Maybe if he just remembered back to when he first met Ogawa--back when everything still made sense....

They started off the most unlikely of friends. A random pairing that no one would throw together--not even Atobe in one of his far-flung, almost magical schemes. They seemed too different. No one would suspect they would ever find common ground, but they did. A random series of events sparked a friendship. Unpredictably, their friendship took off, but you had to go back even further to see why it was such an impossible pairing.

A few years ago in grade school, there was a time when Taki was picked on by some of the older kids at school. It started out as just being teased and taunted once in a while by a few older kids, but it quickly progressed to the point where every day Taki would be bullied. And the bullying quickly escalated into more than just verbal threats and harsh words. Soon enough it became physical. Daily, he would be kicked, tripped, slapped, punched, and hurt in some way.

Taki began to fear going to school because the one thing he was sure of was that every day, until another student or a teacher stepped in, he was going to be assaulted. There was no rhyme or reason for it. He tried everything he could think to do to stop it. He tried talking and bribery and fighting back, but it just wouldn't stop. Taki wasn't any different from his classmates. He wasn't any shorter or smaller or weaker. He wasn't poor. He wasn't ugly. He wasn't weak. If anything it was the opposite--he was attractive, strong, and from a good home with a good family name. Yet somehow, maybe because of all the things he had, Taki became the number one target for abuse.

Once the violence started, it grew quickly out of control like a raging fire. Most of his former friends and classmates were afraid to hang out near him as if they would be contaminated by proximity. Many kids he used to be friends with joined in, verbally attacking him or worse--just to be popular with the bullies. Taki's teachers turned at best a blind eye because they were afraid of being put in the middle of wealthy kids squabbling, or maybe they just didn't care. Some teachers who did nothing after the violence really took off, Taki guessed by how they acted towards him even resented that he was from a wealthy family. He suspected some of the worst teachers probably enjoyed seeing a spoiled little brat bloodied and crying.

Getting a teacher involved seemed to make it worse, so Taki stopped trying to get them to help. Soon enough though, the day came when Taki was beaten badly. He was 'found' by a teacher unconscious and bleeding on the floor of a bathroom stall. When the nurse couldn't rouse him, he was rushed to a nearby hospital. He was told he was lucky. Nothing was broken but the wrist of his non-dominant hand and he had a concussion. He had to stay overnight in the hospital, which meant his parents were finally notified about "the situation"--which was what the adults were all calling it.

His parents being dragged into "the situation" turned out to be little help. Taki's parents seemed to think the incidents at school all were something that would go away on their own. It was just boys being boys and kids being kids--nothing to worry about.

Yet in private, his parents kept asking Taki what he did to cause this. They were quite angry when Taki insisted he did nothing wrong. Suddenly just about everyone seemed to hate his very existence and he had no idea why. The school offered to assist Taki in being relocated temporarily to another one of their campuses in another country. The administrators at Hyoutei explained to Taki and his parents this is what they usually did when other "situations" like this happened. The school told his parents that usually relocation for a year or so remedied the problem as the bullies find another target to pick on. Taki didn't want to leave, but at that point he would have agreed because he was terrified to go back to school.

His parents would have no part of this. They insisted that Taki needed to deal with this himself to build his character. His father in particular was embarrassed and quietly told Taki to "man up" and respond with more violence. Taki's father said he simply needed to be stronger. If the other kids hurt him, then he should hurt them back worse because that would make the problem go away.

He was wrong.

Taki had no place to go and no one to turn to. Every day was a nightmare. Taki was so stressed out over going to school he gave himself an ulcer. Now on top of being picked on, beat up, and his fears, he spent most of his mornings violently throwing up blood. Still his parents forced him to go to school. They insisted he not show weakness and never break down in front of anyone or shame the family. It didn't matter that he was just a kid or that their suggestions to fight back, try harder to be everyone's friend, or not take these things personally were just not working.

He tried. You can't fight back against an angry mob who cheers louder the more you bleed. And no matter how Taki tried to get along with everyone else, it was not getting better. It was getting worse. Much worse, and there was no way to predict where or when the next attack would happen. Taki somehow became the punching bag for other students. He was spit on, laughed at, screamed at, shoved, and that was just what happened before they really beat him up. Any of his personal items, shoes, gym clothes, tennis rackets, desk, books--everything was fair game for whatever evil someone was able to think up to do with them.

With no options in sight, Taki decided to stop taking his ulcer meds because he figured even if he ended up back in the hospital or dead, it couldn't be worse than going to school. Not even the funny new kid, Gakuto was able to use his jokes anymore to turn the vicious mob into a laughing crowd. Taki's few remaining friends weren't able to stop the daily abuse. They couldn't be everywhere to protect him, and even they were starting to be beat up regularly. It seemed as if Taki was destined to remain everyone's whipping boy, and Taki wasn't sure he would survive through the end of the year. Every day the crowd that gathered to pick on Taki grew larger and more violent like a Shinkansen, one of the super fast bullet trains, racing out of control.

But then a series of amazing things happened right when it seemed everything was at its worst.

Taki discovered along with the rest of the world that his mom was not his mother.

Out of the blue, one of the days he was at his very lowest, a paparazzi reporter walked up to Taki. The man was excited and started snapping pictures of him while babbling about having found her son after searching so long.

There were a lot of famous students at Hyoutei, and a lot of sons and daughters of even more famous celebrities, politicians, athletes, and public figures. The children of aging pop idols and popular actors knew how to deal with the annoying paps always looking for a quick photo to turn an easy profit, but Taki never experienced this for himself.

In fact, when Taki was first approached, he was sure the paparazzi was some crazy guy or that he must have the wrong student. Taki was so busy trying to hide from the camera the mismatched clothes his few remaining friends had thrown together after he was beaten and left naked after gym class, that Taki didn't really hear what the man was saying the first time around. The only reason he was on the street was the school nurse sent him home early after treating his wounds so that he could have a new uniform, proper shoes, and supplies for school the next day.

When he finally understood what the guy was saying, Taki didn't believe him. Taki thought this reporter person was a fake and it was all just another trick or joke some bastard at school planned so they could all make more fun of him somehow.

But it turns out, the whole story was true.

Taki's real mother died shortly after giving birth to him, and she had been an actress. A very famous one. Made even more famous for the way she died so early and tragically. One of the movies she was in long before she even met Taki's father was now regarded as a classic piece of cinema. The critics and the public all said it was his mom's beauty and performance that made the film so outstanding and beloved. The movie was due to be re-released world-wide for it's anniversary. Since the bright and beautiful young starlet from the film was dead, this one paparazzi somehow found out about Taki being in Hyoutei and hunted him down.

The man kept a camera on Taki as he spoke. He said he wanted to capture Taki's reactions to her film being re-released. He said he wanted to "get" Taki's emotions on losing his mother so tragically in this horrible accident when Taki was just a newborn baby.

Apparently, Taki looked a lot like his real mom.

The pictures of him looking hurt, scared, upset, and confused as the paparazzi told him about his mom were broadcast over and over again. First, it made the city news, then the national headlines, and then it went global.

The whole world for a while went crazy.

Taki had no clue about any of this, and when he found out it was true, he was understandably angry. He felt cheated and betrayed by his parents--especially after they ordered him to "man up" when they never told him the truth.

It turns out his father married the woman Taki always thought of as his mom only nine weeks after meeting her. Seven weeks after his real mother died. Twelve weeks after Taki was born. His dad explained how when his first wife died suddenly in an accident leaving him with a newborn, he was devastated. His father said he couldn't get over the loss of his wife and it was made even worse because his father was the one who discovered his mother's body. His father said the woman Taki always thought of as his mother helped heal his father's wounds and cared for Taki as an infant.

Taki's parents said they always planned on telling him, but it never seemed to be the right time. His father told him that as time went on, the whole situation began to hurt and worry the woman Taki called mom. She explained she feared Taki would reject her. She found out shortly after marrying his father that she couldn't have children of her own, so Taki became even more special to her.

At first everything regarding his family seemed a muddled, confusing mess, but his parents ended up giving Taki tons of time and attention like they never had before. His mom in particular smothered him with affection and went out of her way to let Taki know she couldn't love him more if he was biologically hers. For the first time in his life, Taki had the ideal family he always dreamed of.

Even better was how his life at school changed. Almost overnight Taki went from being the lowest and most picked on to being the hottest kid to befriend. He became a celebrity. Paparazzi hung around the entrance of the school, all hungry for a shot of him or better yet, a comment. His photo was everywhere. Everyone wanted to be close to him, to know him, to be seen with him, and to be a part of his story.

For Taki, it was the best thing that ever happened to him. He went from being a loser to being the hot guy at school. Suddenly he had tons of friends, girls confessed to him, reporters followed him around, and he even was offered a career should he ever decide to act or model.

People who used to pick on him now told reporters and anyone who would listen how they were his best friends. Teachers that used to pay no attention to Taki being bullied, now made sure to spend extra time with him. Everyone wanted to say Taki was their friend, or he was their student, or he was close to them. Everyone wanted a personal angle and a piece of him.

While he basked in the attention, many of the other kid's parents were outraged. Many complained how Hyoutei was supposed to be a "safe" place for the children of the elite and famous to go to school, yet somehow one lone paparazzi was able to approach a grade school student for a story. Others worried not only over the safety issues, but they were concerned how the intense media presence might disturb the classes and students.

It set off storm after storm of controversy. Some parents accused other parents that they were even jealous of Taki's newfound fame because their children weren't more famous or more important. Then when that story died down, the media went after their own. They attacked the "bad" paparazzi who hunted down a young boy and dumped out this information to film the child's reaction.

All the issues and controversies plus the big movie re-release kept Taki in the news long after his fifteen minutes of fame should have been over.

Taki's wealth and good looks went so well with his story of the poor child not knowing about his beautiful mother's tragic death, that even when the story stopped making headlines, Taki continued to ride a wave of popularity. For a kid who grew up feeling starved for attention and affection even before being bullied, all of this was actually pretty cool. Taki soaked up as much as he could and decided to ride this miracle for as long as possible.

He realized quickly, knowing how things were at Hyoutei, and because he'd seen things like this happen to other kids before, he was going to have to be smart about his fame.

Taki accepted all the attention graciously. He forgave the bullies who now wanted to be his friends as if it never bothered him. He never said a word against his bad "friends" who never stood by him or the ones who turned on him. He never let on that he was well aware of the duplicity of many of the people who now tried to befriend him. He'd learned with his house servants and teachers that people weren't as welcoming or warm as they might seem--and everyone was usually working their own angle.

Instead of getting fooled, Taki surrounded himself with his entourage of friends who always did support him. The few who were true happened to be the guys who'd always defended him and never turned away or against him. Gakuto, Atobe, Jiroh, Shishido, Kashiwa, Chikabayashi, and Kaida had always been there for him. They weren't always the closest people to him, but they were the people Taki knew he could really rely on and trust.

Well, to a certain extent. This was Hyoutei after all and you never knew when someone might make their move. Atobe most of all taught Taki that.

Back even before Taki was bullied, Atobe was easily forgotten. Atobe Keigo was the pudgy, gawky kid you struggled to remember the name of when you saw him in a group photograph. He was always lost in the crowd. He was the guy you felt sorry for--right after you remembered you sort of forgot to invite him to your birthday party. He was the quietest of Taki's friends up until their last year in grade school when Atobe made his move--and basically stole everything from Taki.

Taki helped Atobe in so many ways. Before Taki was bullied, he made sure that Atobe was always invited to everyone's birthday parties--and not just because Atobe always gave such huge, extravagant gifts. Atobe always was a loyal friend. Even when Taki was bullied, Atobe was one of the few who courageously stood by his side every time. It couldn't have been easy for Atobe either. Besides the violence, the taunts were just plain cruel. Whenever Atobe stood by Taki, it was normal for Atobe to be called, at best, ugly. Considering aho in Japanese means stupid, it was easy to morph his family name into Ahobe. Or often they would combine aho with busu which in slang means very ugly. The names and descriptions of Atobe's looks and personality generally went downhill from there.

Atobe to his credit, bore the abuse gracefully. He never showed signs of it bothering him and unattractive or not, to Taki and their friends, it didn't matter. At Hyoutei loyalty and courage were rare things, and you could always be yourself around Atobe. Who was he going to tell if you weren't perfect?

After Taki became famous, he kept Atobe around and made sure he was included when everyone got together. Taki protected Atobe as much as he could. He let it be known that anyone making fun of Atobe when Taki was around was not allowed. He brought Atobe to the right parties, made certain he shopped at the right stores, knew all the right people, and since he couldn't protect Atobe 24 hours a day, he even talked Atobe into getting a total makeover.

Surgery or some sort of work had been suggested before. Some people were more blunt about it than others, but it had been mentioned. Taki's popularity at school couldn't shield Atobe from the rest of the world commenting. The students might not say it to Atobe's face or around Taki, but they still talked about it. Even teachers and parents would sometimes suck their teeth and mutter softly how unfortunate that such beautiful parents as the Atobes were have such an unattractive child as Keigo-kun.

Of course, being Hyoutei, no one ever spoke quietly enough that everyone--including Atobe, didn't hear.

Taki always told Atobe to not worry about it. He tried to reassure Atobe that he would grow into his looks. Sometimes Atobe would joke with a shrug about how he was gifted with all his parents faults and none of their features, but the jokes soon dried up. As they got older, it was clear Atobe wasn't getting any more attractive, just larger.

Meanwhile many of their classmates, in an effort to be fashionable, pretty, and popular were working on themselves--or having work done. It was not just the girls either. Since grade school many students were using plastic braces on their teeth, getting facials, hair extensions, unsightly hair lasered off, and more and more, quite a few were quietly slipping away every school break for surgery.

They were young, so the work being done was small. A deviated septum was repaired in some students supposedly to improve breathing. Others added a small chin or cheek implant to better the shape of their face or the look of their eyes. Even severe acne treatments like skin resurfacing were done so routinely that having something done seemed to become a right of passage. No one wore glasses--everyone had their eyes lasered to perfect vision, and even with perfect sight, colored contacts were so common they could almost be considered part of the Hyoutei school uniform.

Taki was the one to persuade Atobe into actually doing it. Taki literally talked Atobe into taking advantage of one of the finest medical-spas in the world by telling Atobe no matter what happened, even a small improvement would mean Atobe's life would change. Taki swore he would always stand by Atobe no matter what he decided, but he wore Atobe down by having him just imagine the possibility of being attractive.

After weeks of talks, a tearful Atobe said he was moved by how much Taki believed in him. Atobe decided he would do it if Taki would go with him to talk to his father. It was one of the few times Taki ever saw Atobe cry.

Atobe's dad wanted his son to wait until he was older. He almost insisted until Atobe broke down and bowing low, he begged through barely held in tears, "Please, you don't know what it's like to look like this. Every day I look like this and the person I like, the beautiful person I love so much will barely even talk to me, and they won't....they won't even look at me! You've always been beautiful father, so you don't know...everyone...everyone but Taki calls me ugly!"

Taki's heart twisted to see his friend in such pain, but before he could support his friend by saying anything, Atobe's father moved to throw his arms around his sobbing son. Atobe's dad held his son on the floor and started openly crying. He told Atobe how much he loved him. How to him, Atobe could never be anything less than beautiful and perfect. How he would do anything for him. How he would stand by him and help him if this was what Atobe really wanted.

As Atobe's father cradled his sobbing son in his arms, he kissed Atobe's face over and over. Atobe's father continued to cry loudly, and Taki stood there for a moment in shock. He'd never seen parents act this way with their children and he felt embarrassed. He had a feeling he was witnessing something private he should not see. Taki decided he should murmur an excuse and back out of the room. Before he could though, Atobe's father, apparently unashamed about crying or showing such affection, thanked Taki for always being a good friend to his son.

"He's..." Taki's throat felt tight with unshed tears. He felt sorry for Atobe, but at the same time he couldn't help but wonder what it felt like for a parent to love you that much. Sure, Taki's parents loved him and cared for him, but it was nothing like this. Clearing his throat, Taki tried again, "He's always been a good friend to me. Always."

"Should my son have this surgery?" Atobe's father looked at Taki seriously. Respectfully, as if Taki was an adult and his opinion mattered. From the safety of his father's arms, Atobe stared at Taki as if silently pleading for him to answer this the right way. All Taki could see of Atobe wrapped in his massive father's arms was his fuzzy hair, his sprawled chubby legs, a hand clutching his father's robes, and his tearful eyes peering out--practically burning with feverish begging.

Taki's heart was moved, but before he could really consider, his answer whispered out just before a few of his own tears fell, "Yes...."

Atobe cried a little more loudly, right along with his father. All the while, his father kissed his forehead, stroked his face as if it was beautiful, and told him again and again how much he loved him. His father reassured him that everything possible would be done. As almost an afterthought, Atobe's father thanked Taki in a sincere way, but it was a dismissal.

Taki excused himself, but walked away in awe of what he saw. He would later wonder if he would give the same answer if he knew all Atobe would do. Atobe really always took things too far, but it was years before Taki truly realized this was as much a personality trait of Atobe Keigo as was his generosity and loyalty.

The big transformation took place just before the birthday party Taki offered to throw for Atobe that year. Officially, Taki, Atobe, and Atobe's father went on a pre-birthday Hawaiian vacation, but really they went straight to the best medspa in the USA. All told it took about thirty hours of surgery, ten experts, the latest technological advances, tons of money, and a week or so recovery after multiple surgeries to transform the unnoticed geek to perfection chic.

Atobe's nose and chin were "redone" in a stronger, noble style more like his handsome father. It was the latest secret Hollywood trend, especially done on the elite's not-so-perfect children. Borrowing a page out of facial reconstruction after horrific accidents, the surgeons would file bones down or use bone from other areas, in this case a piece of one of Atobe's own ribs to enhance bone growth in other areas. Wires were used in some areas, and graphs in others to hold it together until it was permanent. His cheekbones were accentuated, and his brow line improved more like his beautiful mother. Atobe's acne-prone skin from head to toe was lasered clean, flawless, and resurfaced before later being sprayed the silkiest tan to accentuate his newly-defined, liposuction perfected musculature. And that was just the surgical changes.

While recovering from surgery his eyesight was corrected and the hottest new contacts added to give his eyes that flash of sparkle. His hair was retextured, clipped, colored, and refined. Atobe's once slightly crooked teeth were all filed down to nubs and veneered to dazzling, snowy symmetry. There was not a millimeter of Atobe's body that was not in some way planned, polished, accentuated, refinished, or refined--save one. At Taki's almost insistence, Atobe decided to keep the small mole, the one Atobe's father always called his beauty mark, under his right eye. Taki joked with a smile that if he didn't, Taki might not recognize Atobe otherwise.

It wasn't such a joke. Taki was stunned when he saw all Atobe planned to do. Without a single hesitation, even when his father tried to talk Atobe into doing things slowly, Atobe quietly insisted on doing everything his way and everything at once. After a short time of what was horrific, horrible, painful recovery, Atobe's total transformation turned out to be a stunning success.

And one thing Atobe would deny ever happened for the rest of his life.

Taki helped Atobe through all that and shortly later, Atobe basically helped himself to Taki's life. Interestingly enough, if anyone remembered their grade school days, all but one of the people closest to Taki back then ended up being a sub-regular in Atobe's little pack. The people now called Atobe's friends used to be called Taki's. Taki now knew during all those years Atobe must have watched closely. He learned how to be popular and successful from witnessing Taki do it first.

As Taki and his friends moved from grade school to junior high, Atobe plotted and made his careful moves. Atobe was decent about it, because he went to Taki directly and confessed his plans. After being initially shocked and upset, Taki realized he was going to have to succumb to Atobe's will if he wanted to hang on to anything. In the end, Atobe outplayed and dominated Taki when Taki and everyone else really wasn't looking.

After being furious at first, Taki came to realize he was happy to let Atobe take over. Being the most popular guy in a school like Hyoutei was occasionally fun, but most of the time it was an exhausting and thankless job. The joke at Hyoutei was you can have a life or a social life--but not both. It was very true.

Atobe went from being the guy you forgot was in the room to the most powerful guy around, but what few understood was Atobe maintained his power by carefully considering the opinions and ideas of everyone he surrounded himself with. Taki and Atobe often talked over things. What few people not a member of Atobe's friends ever realized was how often Atobe would ask Taki's advice. Taki and his opinions were important to Atobe because being popular was important to Atobe.

Being popular was important to everyone at Hyoutei. Well, almost everyone.

Ogawa was always the exception.

Ogawa arrived new to Hyoutei a year after Taki's media frenzy. His father was a popular news anchor and his mother had been a beloved drama actress in several very popular television serials before retiring when she married his father. Several years passed and Ogawa's parents divorced in a very messy, public way the media ate up because both his parents were rumored to be having affairs.

Ogawa's father was supposedly having an affair with a much younger woman married to a wealthy television executive. Meanwhile, his mother started living with a former teenage pop superstar who was now working as a popular seiyuu, or voice actress. A woman. And reportedly, the two beautiful women were dating each other. The press went insane. The public couldn't get enough. Though both women denied the wild rumors saying they were just friends, their agents were not stupid. Ogawa's mother started working as a seiyuu in many of the same animes and drama CDs as her supposed girlfriend.

During the years of this real-life drama, Ogawa, his older brother, and his younger sister lived with their maternal grandparents in Hawaii. They attended school there and were just average, everyday kids. At least they were until the divorce was finalized and Ogawa's father demanded that his children return to Japan to live with him. It became a custody case that dragged on for the better part of a year until somehow their parents worked out the details.

What no one took into account is how the years in the US affected the three siblings. None of them spoke very much Japanese. Ogawa knew a small amount from his martial arts classes, but his siblings were lost. The language and culture was overwhelming to them. Tokyo was a loud, confusing maze. In their new school, they were hopelessly behind their peers in many subjects. In Japanese language, calligraphy, Japanese history, and other areas of their education they had no knowledge at all.

Ogawa's brother went to Hyoutei for two weeks and it was decided best if he returned to Hawaii. His sister lasted a month. Only Ogawa stayed.

He chose to stay not because he wanted to be close to either of his estranged parents, but because of martial arts. Ogawa had always been fascinated with Japanese culture. He wanted to stay to train and learn as much as he could. Hyoutei was the perfect place not just because of their strong martial arts clubs and instructors, but also their school was unique because it was used to handling a variety of students from a variety of other countries. No where else could Ogawa get caught up in all the areas he was lacking while still progressing ahead with other students his age. Ogawa always had strong math and science skills so even though he was just a few months older than Taki, Ogawa tested high enough to be placed in the next grade up.

Basically, if he hadn't been so popular, Taki might have never met Ogawa. The older boy was the tall, silent type who when he wasn't studying, was most likely to be off training. Despite the scandals of his parents, Ogawa's serious nature and crowd avoidance meant he was not popular. He quickly slipped into obscurity as just another student. It wasn't likely that Taki and Ogawa from different classes, different grades, and in different clubs were going to run into each other, but somehow fate conspired for them to meet.

Fate came in the form of Hyoutei. Hyoutei often assigned "exemplary" students to assist new students coming in from foreign countries. The more famous or elite the new student (or that student's parents), the higher up the student assigned to help during their "transition to the Hyoutei lifestyle."

Taki was his grade school student council President. Normally, new foreign students were assigned to the Vice-President--who happened to be Atobe. The Vice-President was picked by the President after an election. Atobe ran for President in the regular election as Taki's only competition, but Taki won in a landslide. Ironically, Taki didn't even want to run, but his peers and friends sort of insisted--much to Atobe's dismay. Atobe was not only Taki's only competition in running, but Atobe was the only person who ever nominated themselves to run. Even more ironic, after the election Atobe ended up doing most of the actual work because the President in grade school was largely a figure-head who posed for pictures and presided over meetings. Atobe never seemed to mind though. He was always eager to help and seemed thrilled when Taki asked him if he wanted to be Vice-President. Taki only did because Atobe seemed so down about losing the election. Later on Taki would count his blessings that he was always good to Atobe, but at the time, he just thought his quiet friend had nothing better to do.

It was rare that Taki would be asked to do anything more than be photographed with the new students, but Ogawa's father was an alumni and still a news anchor (although now for a local television station). Ogawa's mother was a seiyuu and the school seemed to think Ogawa needed to also learn how to possibly handle ignoring the press as Taki knew how to do. Taki was to help Ogawa in any subjects he was weak in, introduce him to friends, and show the new kid Hyoutei.

It was an annoyance that might have not ended up in a friendship, except the school assigned a new interpreter to Ogawa. The interpreter was a young American woman recently married to a Hyoutei alum. Although she have been able to get by in Japanese and now lived in Japan, she needed more lessons than Ogawa did. She was textbook fluent in Japanese, but she not only was not conversationally fluent, but she had zero knowledge of common, everyday slang. This often caused major problems and confusion.

Taki would explain something or ask Ogawa a question and wait for her to interpret it, but her eyes would grow huge and she would blush. Stammering, she would translate something, but apparently completely wrong, to Ogawa. Then she would listen to Ogawa's answers and even with his limited school taught knowledge of English, Taki knew she was answering completely different things than Ogawa was saying. It was frustrating. Ogawa was also growing annoyed. At one point Taki asked Ogawa how many siblings he had and she answered, "Three years."

This went on for the better part of the first week until she went to the headmaster of the school thoroughly annoyed and complaining about how dirty-minded Taki was. She was fired when they realized what she thought was Taki being perverted was simple questions and normal conversation.

The school scrambled to find another permanent translator able to bridge the gap between the boys in both languages. They tried to keep someone around to assist Ogawa whenever possible, and in the meantime Taki continued to meet up with Ogawa. He and Ogawa hung out after school and even though no translator around to help out was sometimes a problem, the two boys began to find ways to communicate. They soon discovered when there was no adult watching over them, they had a much better time together.

Ogawa was so different from Taki's other friends. He didn't care for popularity or social status. He was very American in his casual attitude and lack of embarrassment when he made any mistakes, but at the same time he was very eager to learn proper Japanese customs and traditions. Taki taught him how to play tennis and order in a restaurant and he taught Taki how to surf. As Ogawa's Japanese improved (and Taki's English from hanging around with him), they started to talk more and more. Ogawa was easy to be with and he was one of the few people Taki felt he could really be himself around.

As a joke, Ogawa had a nickname for Taki based on one of the bad translations their first interpreter made. The first afternoon they met Taki said he had to go home and get some sleep because he had a quiz the next day. The interpreter told Ogawa something along the lines of Taki had to take a test in order to be a fox. It thoroughly confused Ogawa back then and they laughed about it all the time. It still made Taki smile remembering Ogawa calling him Foxy.

They were close friends for a long time even though people probably thought they were only acquaintances. Ogawa never became popular at school, but he did well. He excelled from his huge size and fast reflexes in their school's kendo club, and although he was busy, Ogawa always made time for Taki. Especially when he moved into the dorms his freshman year, a year before Taki.

Ogawa is the one who calmed Taki down after Atobe confessed his master plans to take over. He not only calmed Taki down, but he pointed out how Taki would be in a better place of higher status without having to sacrifice any more time and effort than it took him to play tennis--something Taki dearly loved.

Gakuto might have thought that his friendship and thwarted romance with Azukizawa Daishi was the reason he and Taki were safe, but Gakuto and many others never realized how Ogawa always had Taki's back. Ogawa made sure someone from the kendo team always had an eye out for Taki. And Taki looked out for Ogawa back. Taki insisted that he and Ogawa keep their friendship sort of secret simply because Taki didn't want to make trouble for Ogawa should anything happen.

But something did happen.

Taki still isn't sure when it happened, because everything when he began junior high was such a rushing jumble. In the bootcamp Atobe ran, Taki, his closest friends, and many others tried out and trained the hardest they ever worked for anything. Then they were moving into the dorms together and training more before school even started. Then they were being picked on between training and the beginning of the year parties. And on the same day, Gakuto was crying to Taki about his broken heart, some kid died, and Taki's off and on girlfriend for the last several years wanted to break up. Everything was a mess.

When Taki went over to Ogawa's to try to talk all this over, Ogawa laid even more at Taki's feet. Ogawa informed Taki he quit the kendo club but wouldn't say why. When Taki tried to ask, Ogawa said they shouldn't be friends anymore.

Confused and furious, Taki suddenly found himself pushed outside Ogawa's door. He pounded on the door until Ogawa finally opened it and pulled him back inside. Suddenly Ogawa held him up against the door and Taki wasn't sure if Ogawa was going to hit him or hug him. It was that weird the way Ogawa was looking at him.

"Why? Why can't we be friends anymore? Tell me right now!" Taki demanded. He was too angry and upset to feel any fear and this was his friend, his very best friend truth be told, even if only he and Ogawa knew that.

Ogawa's face twisted in anger, "What do you even care? You don't even want anyone to know we're friends!"

Days of battling player after player on the tennis courts and all the strangeness was getting to Taki. He normally seemed pretty cool and collected, but this was Ogawa after all. Ogawa had seen him at his best and his worst. Taki lost his temper completely and spat back, "Because I'm a loser freshman and I don't want you to get hurt or lose any status because you're friends with me! I'm trying to protect you, stupid!"

Ogawa shot back just as heated, "I don't need you to protect me! I'm not even in a club anymore so there's nothing for you to worry about. I don't care what people think!"

"Fine." Taki glared at him, "Then we don't have to worry if people know we're friends."

"I told you," Ogawa practically growled, "I'm not your friend. I can't be your friend anymore."

"Why the hell not?" Taki felt hurt. Completely hurt like he hadn't in a long time. Not even when Atobe betrayed him and stole everything away did Taki feel this hurt. Ogawa was serious. Taki stared at him in disbelief. He heard his voice falter on the word that came out, sounding much softer than he meant it to, "Why?"

"Because..." Ogawa looked down and his grip on Taki's t-shirt loosened. Then he looked up again and met Taki's eyes, "Because I'm in love with you. I can't be your friend because I love you and I can't...." Ogawa looked away again and then back as if deciding the hell with it, he would just get it all out, "I love you and I...can't not be with you anymore. That's why."

"Wha...what...?" Taki's mouth was suddenly dry. He wondered if Ogawa wasn't teasing him like the kids used to when he was picked on. Someone would pretend to be his friend and ask him to play but when Taki said yes, they would laugh at him. "You...you don't mean that. You...you can't."

Ogawa kissed Taki's cheek so gently it felt like a brush of Taki's own hair whispering in the wind. He said softly in English, "Goodbye, Haginosuke."

Releasing Taki's shirt, Ogawa went to pull away but Taki grabbed his hands. "Don't do this, please?" Taki's voice sounded as strained as he felt, "Please...?"

Sounding tired, Ogawa said, "I ruined everything, I know. I'm sorry. I'm really, truly sorry, so....let me go. Just let me go."

"I can't...." Taki whispered and felt tears stinging his eyes. It occurred to him how he was sort of aware of Ogawa's feelings for a while, but he kept pushing it away with everything else going on. Ogawa was always there for him. He was always there whenever Taki needed him. He always answered the phone when Taki called. Every night after the intense training sessions at Atobe's, Taki called Ogawa and they talked until one or both of them fell asleep while still talking. Nightly Taki called Ogawa and vented as he had for so long it was more than a habit or a routine for both of them. Every morning, Ogawa was the first person he spoke to and every night Ogawa was the last person Taki talked to before going to sleep. Calling Ogawa every night started way back when he was there for Atobe's surgery, but even before that, they talked all the time.

Taki was also dimly aware his girlfriend said something about wanting to break up with him because she thought Taki was cheating on her anyway. She accused him of spending all his time with someone else. She was nearly right. She just got the part where it was another girl wrong. Taki realized he spent every spare minute he had with or talking to Ogawa. And while he and Ogawa talked every day pretty much since they first met, how much time they spent together over the last few months on top of talking, texting, and emailing constantly, that had been going on for a while. Taki just wasn't sure what it meant.

He wasn't sure what any of it meant, but he knew the answer, whatever it was, didn't mean spending less time with Ogawa or talking to him less. If anything, he wanted more. And that had to mean something, right? Taki wet his dry lips with a quick lick of his tongue and was surprised to see Ogawa respond and react to that little, innocent movement as if it meant something. No one had ever responded to Taki like that and it was a little bit of a thrill.

"Look," Taki said feeling desperate and yet, there was this small burning feeling in his belly. Almost like he was turned on.

Ogawa glanced up at his eyes and looked...unlike Taki'd ever seen him. Ogawa's breathing was a little heavier than it had been. Just slightly as if he'd been walking fast.

Taki continued, "You can't just...." He thought about how to phrase it and without meaning to licked his lips again. Ogawa glanced down at his mouth and then back to his eyes. Taki felt that tingling feeling between his legs start up. Losing Ogawa was out of the question though and he had to make this count, "You can't just tell me how you feel and then shove me out the door forever. At least let me think about it."

Ogawa's face closed in that stern, done-with-you way, "There's nothing to think about. You either love someone, or you don't. And you don't. Love me, that is. You only see me as a friend."

But Ogawa didn't pull away, and that was the important thing. His eyes were still fixated on Taki's face. "Yeah but," Taki felt one side of his mouth quirk up into a bit of a smile. He knew Ogawa so well. Ogawa knew him so well. So well and yet, not enough. It was like finding a secret compartment in your favorite toy that you loved for years but never knew this aspect of it even existed. It was dangerous and exciting and Taki felt like he was winning something huge, bigger than nationals. It was just a few serves away with the ball in his court. "You've had weeks....?"

Ogawa didn't falter. That meant longer.

"Months...?" Oh gods, now Taki was intrigued, "Years?"

Ogawa looked away and looked back, slightly blushing now.

Taki said, "You've had years to think of how you felt about me without telling me. I've only had a couple of minutes here."

"You don't love me." Ogawa looked less closed, but he was so sure of that. Taki wasn't quite so certain, but before he could say anything Ogawa said, "And I wanted to tell you. A thousand times I've tried. I even said it when I heard you fall asleep at night on the phone, but I always made sure you were asleep first."

Now the slight blush Ogawa had grew to almost the color of Gakuto's hair. Taki thought he'd never seen anything quite as cute as his best friend looking this mortified. And he'd never heard anything as adorable as, "You said you loved me after I fell asleep?"

Ogawa hid his face by slipping out of Taki's grip and reaching around to hug Taki gently to him. As if looking at Taki was too much. He was much taller than Taki so he was sort of slumped over with his chin resting against Taki's temple. Taki could feel how fast Ogawa's heart was beating and then he felt something else. Ogawa was trembling. The national kendo champion was trembling because he was holding Taki close, "Yeah. I couldn't tell you because it would ruin everything. Our friendship. Everything. You'd hate me. You wouldn't want to be around someone like...someone like me. You wouldn't want to talk to me. I wouldn't get to see you anymore, but you're dating someone. You're sleeping with her. You don't love me."

"Ogawa? Do you see me pushing you away? Or upset? Or turned off?" Taki's experience with guys was pretty limited, but he wasn't opposed to the idea of fooling around with a guy. His only experiences so far was a few shared kisses, a little bit of petting, and a few guys gave him oral. It was something everyone did at parties and while Taki had never done it to any guys, he'd had it done to him a few times because he was popular. He and Ogawa talked about sex sometimes. Well they talked about Taki's sex life because Ogawa had no experience. A few times girls confessed to Ogawa, but Ogawa always turned them down. He always said he was waiting for the right person and until then he would wait. Ogawa said he wouldn't even kiss someone, even though it was just a kiss! No matter how many times Taki explained that kissing was fun, Ogawa said he would wait until it was right. "You said it, and I don't hate you. And do you think I'm like this with anyone else but you? You're the one I've been sleeping with all this time." Taki meant it as a joke, but it was true. He only realized what it meant as he said the words.

"You don't love me...." Ogawa whispered it into Taki's hair and Taki felt him take a shuddering breath in. As if he was turned on and intensely feeling emotions and trying to smell Taki's hair all at the same time.

Despite how serious Ogawa was being, it was all rather...wonderful. Taki smiled. He found putting his hands up around Ogawa's back felt like the most natural thing in the world even though that was strange since Taki'd never dated or usually kissed anyone taller than him. Or bigger than him. Taki was hard. That was strange since Taki'd never gotten completely hard from just a hug. From a friend. Especially a friend he'd never looked twice at or considered before.

He wondered if Ogawa was hard. He wondered if Ogawa would kiss him. He wondered if Ogawa wanted to. He wondered if he wanted to kiss Ogawa and found it was more than fine with him. He wondered if he would be mad if Ogawa had a girlfriend or went out on a date, and found that almost unthinkable. Ogawa was his. He was always there for Taki and if one day he wasn't, then yeah, Taki would be upset. He wondered if he was the one Ogawa was thinking of all those times Taki said kissing was fun if Ogawa wanted to. With him.

Ogawa hadn't moved so Taki asked, "Naoyuki? Hello, are you there?" They said that when one of them fell asleep at night on the phone. Sometimes Ogawa would wake up and they would talk longer. Other times, Taki would drift asleep with the phone pressed up against his ear, just listening to Ogawa breathe.

"Hi. I'm awake." Ogawa pulled back to meet his eyes. He said it in English just like he did sometimes when he was tired and forgot.

"Hi. Me too." Taki said back mirroring Ogawa's smile. Ogawa's eyes had flecks of green and gold in them. Taki'd never noticed that before, but then again, it was looking like there were a lot of things about Ogawa he'd somehow missed noticing. "You said it, and the world didn't end. You said it and I'm still right here. You said it and I'm awake and I don't hate you. So now what?"

Ogawa smiled back slightly and his hands were trembling as they softly touched Taki's face. His fingertips touched Taki's skin as if he were a blind man trying to memorize the way it felt. He looked at Taki as if he was something precious and rare. Sounding amazed Ogawa said quietly, "Now we....Now I....I've waited so....I've wanted to...Do you want to....?" He met Taki's eyes, and asked in English, "Can I kiss you?"

"Yeah..." Taki answered quickly licking his lips again because suddenly they were so very dry. Neither one of them was smiling anymore. His heart was pounding and Ogawa moved closer. "Yeah, I want you to."

Then in Japanese, Ogawa formally asked, "Taki Haginosuke, I love you with all of my heart and all of my soul. May I kiss you, please?"

Sorry, been really sick (and sick of being sick!). I'm not on hiatus or anything and will post more ASAP.

<3 to all for reading & reviewing!
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Learning to Play by Suteishichic