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Learning to Land	By : Suteishichic Category: Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Ohjisama > General Views: 11419 -:- 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 Land. Chapter Eighty Eight ~Tachibana~

Warnings: Yaoi, Love, Angst, Fluff, and Lots of Sex. Some kink. You've been warned ;)

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

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He could be there for Ibu...

Which was about when Tachibana realized he was no longer in love with Fuji.

And more importantly, he realized he was able to fall in love with someone else. Capable of it. It scared him, sure, but it also was a large weight off his mind to know he could love someone again. Someone else and that maybe this time he would be more in control and things would be different.

Tachibana wasn't ready for that intensity that came with loving one person utterly, but at the same time it was a relief to know that someday he could. He still loved Fuji and knew he always would have feelings for him, but finally it was in the past.

Now unfortunately, Tachibana had everything else to figure out and worry about. Like the fact that he had sex with another guy--and he had liked it. And not just when he was on top.

When Fuji had sex with him--when Tachibana was on the bottom, it truly had hurt like hell--at first. But at the same time, there was an intense pleasure so deep it frightened him. Tachibana never even allowed or offered Yasuo the top position because he was too afraid of feeling that much and that out of control again.

And yet, a part of him was curious. Maybe it just felt that intense because it was his first time. And then again maybe not. Maybe it always felt that intense. He was so afraid of it that he never even touched himself that way or masturbated that way. He was scared of the pain...and the pleasure.

It became a secret fantasy for him--and safe as long as he kept it just a fantasy. Still, sometimes he wondered if maybe it just was frightening with Fuji because it was his first love and his first time. Maybe it was so intense because Tachibana had so swiftly fallen for Fuji. On top of that Fuji the angel was disproportionately so huge that when they had sex, Tachibana felt...well the only word that described it through the pain was...full. He had felt full and extremely pleasured even with the pain.

One of the many sex dreams Tachibana had gasped awake to after coming hard had been about that. Him being on the bottom again, and feeling that way. He had dreams about it a few times after Fuji--when he missed him so terribly. There was more pain and heartsickness than real pleasure, but lately, it wasn't Fuji on behind him. To his shock, it was Ishida, and in the dream, there had been no pain. Just pure pleasure and that intense feeling and Tachibana had loved it. When he woke up to discover his pajamas soaked through with his lust, Tachibana was so upset he was physically shaking. It was a shameful thing for him. He was mortified by his secret desire to feel that at least one more time again.

There were other thoughts and dreams besides that one though and the more he tried to stop them, the more they kept happening. Sakurai Masaya had these beautiful full lips and a terrible habit of sucking on things. Most often Tachibana saw him sucking on the end of his pen in school. Tachibana would watch annoyed at himself for being completely aroused watching the guy's pen dip hypnotically centimeters in and out of his mouth. Or he would sneak candy into a practice and roll a piece between his lips and teeth and tongue. Sakurai would catch Tachibana watching him and mistakenly think Tachibana was looking annoyed at Sakurai because of what he was doing. Sakurai would beg his forgiveness and blush. Tachibana would be even more embarrassed though at having been caught watching him and thinking of tasting the sticky sweetness that lingered on his lips.

Sakurai had a small, wine-colored birthmark in the center of his chest, between his nipples that the regulars on the tennis club liked to tease him about by calling it his third nipple. They were merciless and would try to pinch him there and on his nipples while Sakurai would try to back away to stop them. He wouldn't fight them because they were his senpais, but you could see in his eyes he wanted to. Tachibana usually told them to stop it before it got out of hand but too often he would see Sakurai's nipples and skin bruised from their hard pinches.

When they were gone, one or another of the freshmen--often Uchimura would put his hand there in the center of his chest, for a long moment in comfort. Sakurai would smile after a moment and then blushingly tell them that weird "love you guys..."

Tachibana asked Kamio what was up with the comfort and the blush.Kamio said Sakurai blushed because Sakurai had another birthmark, "...in a sexy place that sorta looks like Mickey Mouse...it'sa much,much worse place to be teased if they ever found out." How could Tachibana not be curious about that?

Uchimura Kyousuke was the smallest of them in height but not in strength. His height must have bothered him enough that he worked out regularly with the strongest of them, Ishida. Uchimura was a vegetarian, very into Buddhism, and he had a passion for sesame candies. He had gorgeous eyes and a funny habit of sounding dead sincere when he made a sarcastic remark. You could only tell he was joking by the mischievous look in his eyes.

Not that Uchimura would ever look at Tachibana directly for very long. Instead he tended to frequently glance sideways, often watching or staring at Tachibana. The junior would feel the freshman's stare go right through him. Uchimura also had warm hands. Extremely warm, and he liked to touch you when he was talking. Especially when making a point. He loved to get right up into someones face and he loved to debate and argue. No matter how bad an argument got though, whether it was serious or kidding around, Uchimura was always the first one to reach out to whoever he was arguing with a warm hand in friendship. He wouldn't always agree with them, but he must have learned at one point to try to see things from others points of view. He argued and debated the most with Mori.

Mori Tatsunori had extremely toned legs, a strong back, and a ready smile. Like Fuji, Mori loved to eat spicy things and for some odd reason had gotten into latin music. Kamio later told Tachibana Mori's grandparents once had a school that taught western style ballroom dance and Mori grew up learning different styles. He was supposed to be an excellent dancer--even in ballet. Kamio said the guy took classes when they were children at some of the summer classes their school sponsored. Mori didn't even care if people made fun of him, he was interested in all kinds of dance and willing to be laughed at to try them all out.

Mori had liked to play soccer before they all got into tennis and was supposed to be good. He had a cute habit of twirling one of his curly locks of hair when he was nervous that Tachibana could picture him doing as an adorable little boy. Half the time Tachibana tried to talk to him, Mori would be shy and get nervous unless his friends were around. Then he was funny, charming, and surprisingly intuitive for a guy. He could pick up on Ibu's moods before anyone else would--even Kamio.

All the freshmen had at some point taken these summer classes and had joined various clubs and activities sponsored by their school. The school was poor but the families of the students came together in a strong community that sponsored many events. Kamio explained these classes and clubs always took place during the summers and school breaks to keep the local kids out of trouble. Tachibana knew his sister participated in some of them since she went to a local all girls grade school, but he had always been away.Part of him wished he could have met these guys sooner and maybe done things with them. Classes and heritage festivals didn't sound so lame when he heard from all of them--mostly from Kamio--how great and fun they had been.

Most of the time Kamio would act happy and fill in any silence with his chatter, but Tachibana had learned early on it was an act. And it increased the more the guy was upset or stressed.

Tachibana let Kamio and Ibu walk him home that day that Mori broke up with his girlfriend. Kamio's mouth was moving at almost the speed of sound. He was repeating a story about the different summer classes in music he had taken and how he would love to play either drums or rhythm guitar in a band someday while Ibu walked along in more than his usual stoic, stony silence. Tachibana had learned that by looking between Kamio and Ibu he could gage fairly accurately what was going on with the freshmen--and today, whatever it was, was not good. It was worse than normal.

No matter what he did though, politely hinting and even occasionally offering up facts from his own life, the freshmen would not open up to him. Tachibana was an outsider in their affairs and was sick of feeling shut out. He resolved to make things different the very next day. Part of him making changes was that he would ask questions and get involved.

Tachibana woke up early after a mostly sleepless night of trying to sort out the freshmen and determine what could possibly be going on. He tossed and turned and failed miserably to come up with any conclusions. He rose before his alarm, dressed, and tried to think of the simplest strategy to get Kamio to talk.

He was closest to Kamio and Ibu. The two freshmen had been so long they worked together like a well-oiled, long-term doubles team.

Using that as a starting point, Tachibana reasoned if you couldn't beat the both of them together, the only thing to do was pick the one you were most likely to wear down and start fighting.

Tachibana wanted to help them. He wanted to help Ibu. To reach out to him. To all of them. He had gone in a matter of weeks from not wanting to be involved at all to wanting to help all the freshmen however he could. But he knew he could do nothing without information. As a teacher in his old school used to say, knowledge is power, and Tachibana had too little of both for his own comfort. He couldn't help Ibu without knowing what was going on.

Ibu wasn't talking. Still. Tachibana wanted to hear his voice terribly after all this time, but when the seniors pushed Ibu or shoved Kamio to the ground, even then, the freshman wouldn't make a sound. He would stoically step protectively in front of Kamio and silently bear the brunt of their abuse--verbal and physical, but Ibu would not respond otherwise. It was as if the brilliant guy went away--into his own head to escape when things were bad. The other freshmen when this would happen all would move to then protect Ibu until he came back. Kamio had only dropped little snippets that whatever it was Ibu faced at home was even worse than the abuse they dealt with at school but no real details.

That left Kamio. Tachibana made a plan to separate him from his friends and wear him down throughout the day. It was a Thursday, and Tachibana had even thought ahead to tell his parents he might be home late or spend the night at a friend's house to buy himself more time with the gregarious redhead.

Tachibana's parents seemed happy that he had a friend. They had been really helpful with his transition to his new school. They gave Tachibana no grief about what happened at his old school or his sudden change of plans to move back home and go to school there. They knew he had been on his own most of the time and really gave him his space despite what had happened to him--and that was only the things they knew about. They had no idea about Fuji or most of what was going on in his life, but their trust meant a lot to him and he would not let them down. Not again.

He wasn't going to let anyone down ever again.

Tachibana felt good about his decision to get the freshmen to talk. He felt like for the first time in months he was thinking clearly and had a purpose. Maybe part of being a better person was getting involved and helping others. He could. He would.

Vowing this, Tachibana walked out his front door and went to go meet Kamio and Ibu down the street where they waited for him every day. For once, Tachibana wasn't going to be annoyed or feel bothered to see them. For once, he was looking forward to putting his plan in motion and accepting their offered gift of friendship by offering his own in return. For once, he was going to be a friend to someone first without thinking what it could benefit him in any way at all.

He left everyday about an hour earlier than his sister did for her school. He was always glad to have the bathroom to himself in the mornings because as his old roommate Yasuo liked to say, he tended to wake up grouchy. Tachibana was fine after he warmed up and practiced in the morning, but not someone you wanted to bother until then.

Filled with purpose, he thought to himself, today is different though...he smiled as he rounded the corner to where the freshmen usually were waiting.

He was surprised at what he saw, and not a little disappointed. Today was different because waiting there for him was not Kamio or Ibu, but Ishida. And he was alone. It was the first time Tachibana could really remember seeing any of the freshmen by themselves. He supposed Ishida was the only one strong enough to not have to worry about something happening unless several guys tried to take him on at once. Tachibana wondered where Sakurai, Uchimura, and Mori were. Where was Kamio and Ibu? Something must be wrong.

It had rained the night before and the morning was very chilly because the sun was just rising. The sun hadn't had time to fight back the cold. Ishida looked half-frozen and must have been waiting there a long time. Why he hadn't gone to Tachibana's house or tried to call his cell phone, why any of them hadn't at first annoyed him. Something must be wrong.

Then Tachibana realized why they wouldn't have called and why Ishida wouldn't have gone there for him, because they were under the now mistaken impression that they were bothering him. They wouldn't impose on Tachibana unless he gave them his permission. Tachibana felt guilty over how stupid and selfish he had been. He was going to have to work harder on himself to be a better person. These freshmen were the key. He was sure of it now. He called out warmly, "Good morning, Ishida."

The freshman, despite how cold he looked, attempted a weak smile and bowed, "Good morning, Tachibana-san. I'm sorry you're stuck with me this morning."

Tachibana shrugged, "I'm not sorry, but where are Kamio and Ibu?"

Ishida looked nervous and at the ground, "Uh, they weren't feeling too well today so..." He was a terrible liar and by the flush that rose to his cheeks, he knew it.

Tachibana decided he'd had enough, "Ishida, I want the truth." It was an order and he knew that Ishida would not disobey it.

The huge freshman though surprised him. Ishida hesitated and normally if Kamio or Uchimura were there, they would have jumped in and interrupted the order with some story or a joke. Ibu would be shaking his head no silently telling Tachibana to back off. Sakurai would probably be sucking on the end of a pen or a candy and use that to not answer right away. Mori would have shyly smiled and said that Tachibana would have to ask them. But none of them were there to save Ishida, and Tachibana was sick of not having any answers to his questions about the freshmen. Annoyed he insisted, "Ishida...?"

Ishida flushed deeper despite how cold he looked, "I...I can't lie to you Tachibana-san. Shinji and Akira practice every morning on their own, very early, before they come to meet you and walk to school. Some guys grabbed Akira this morning and Shinji tried to stop them. They're both fine..."

Tachibana was stunned. Ishida saw his reaction and put his hands up in a supplicating manner, "They're both going to be okay, but Shinji needs some stitches and Akira was hit in the head so we wanted to make sure he was all right too. Masaya is with them at the hospital, and Tatsunori and Kyousuke are going to meet us at school for practice. That way no one will know anything has happened..."

"They didn't want me to know, did they?" Tachibana got it just not why. "Why don't any of you want me to know?"

Ishida shook his head no, "Because...we don't think you can really understand, Tachibana-san. You're not from around here. You don't know what's been goin on."

Tachibana had noticed that whenever any of the freshmen got upset or stressed out during an argument, they tended to talk with the heavy local accent. Their school had over and over again tried to drill it out of their heads so that all the students spoke "properly" but they slipped when they argued or were upset. He found it rather endearing although he supported the need to sound intelligent when you spoke.

Ishida looked strong and proudly at Tachibana, "We can take care of ourselves."

Tachibana felt the comfortable feeling of anger snap back into place but he fought it away. Getting angry he now knew solved nothing. It only made things worse. He decided to start at now and work his way back, "Who did this?" Tachibana had to know, "Who hurt them?"

Ishida shook his head no and at first Tachibana thought he was refusing to say, but then he saw how angry and upset Ishida really was. "Ibu's still not talking and Kamio won't tell us. Any of us because he says he doesn't want any more trouble. He doesn't want any of us taking revenge or doing anything stupid..." Ishida was clearly furious and revenge was exactly what he had been thinking of.

"He's right." Tachibana said gently, "Kamio is right, no one should act in anger rashly..."

Ishida snarled, "We KNOW who this is! We can't live like this! Waitin to be picked off, one by one, only survivin because we know how to take care of each other!" He looked mortified that he yelled.

He was normally even-keeled and soft spoken. Ishida blushed after his outburst, "I'm...I'm deeply sorry. I'm upset. Excuse me, I'm sorry for yelling, but these guys, I've known them my whole life. I love them too much to let anything happen to them. They're like my brothers, even closer to me than my real family is. We've been through so much together, and I love them too damn much to lose any of them or let anything happen to them like Aki!"

"Aki?" Tachibana was lost. Again.

Ishida looked at him for a long moment as if weighing his words. "You never heard about Aki? We had a friend when we were all little and he...he died. Kyousuke's half-brother, Aki. Everyone loved him. He was the nicest and sweetest kid you'd ever meet. You know how they say someone lights up a room when they enter it? Well Aki really was that kinda guy. He was everybody's best friend. I mean he got along with everyone--even with other guys we weren't friends with. He and Akira, everyone always thought they were brothers because Aki was a fast runner too and had red hair. He's the only guy I ever saw beat Akira when they raced and it's cause Kamio loved him so much, he'd always let Aki win because of how hard it made Aki laugh when he did...he had a great laugh..." Tachibana was surprised. He hadn't ever heard any of this and it seemed to matter a great deal, because even now, however many years later, Ishida's eyes filled with tears.

"Anyway, it was towards the end of summer and we were all playin games outside. Lots of us from our block and even some kids from the others around us. A huge game of ghost ghost and Aki always had to be home first. Kyousuke's mom died when he was little and his dad married Aki's mom when Kyousuke was very young. Aki's parents were divorced and he was her only child. He was a few months younger than us so he had to go home early. His mom didn't like him out late and playin with all of us."

"His mom kinda babied him, I guess. He was it though, the ghost, and he didn't wanna go in so he stayed a little longer and said he would run all the way home. He was always doin things like that though. Everythin was fun and normal. Aki tagged Shinji as it and then told us he loved us. He used to do that every night before he would run home. He would yell, "Love you guys!" and then run off. It was his way of sayin goodnight, I guess, but that was how he always was. Even if you talked to him on the phone for a minute he would tell you he loved you before he got off the phone with you, like he was your relative or something. If anyone else did it, you would think it was weird, but with Aki, it was just him. He just loved everyone. Anyway..." Ishida paused and took a big, shuddering breath.

Tachibana was shocked to see tears streaking down the big guy's face as he talked about this. He was shocked and yet, part of him was annoyed at himself because other than his family, who really he was not all that close to, there was no one from his past he would cry over if he heard they were dead. Well, almost no one. Yasuo would be bad, he guessed. He would be upset if he heard something had happened to Fuji too, but other than that he would find it sad and a pity, but he wouldn't respond like...this.

Ishida went on and his voice was thick with tears, "Aki never made it home. It was still light enough outside when his mom came to look for him. We all went to look for him. Our parents, families, brothers, sisters, the police, everyone." Ishida stopped walking and looked only at the ground.

Tachibana guessed, "Was he hit by a car on the way home?"

Ishida shook his head no. Very softly he said, "No. No. Nothing like that. This...what happened...it was worse." Tachibana wondered what the hell could be worse and he saw Ishida's eyes were closed as if he was fighting to keep from sobbing. "No one knew what happened to him for days. Everyone was lookin for him. It made the news but because we're poor it was a minor story when he first went missin..." Suddenly he looked over and met Tachibana's eyes, "Aki was killed. He was murdered. Some sick bastard hurt him for days and then killed him. They found his body dumped down in one of the canals. He was...they found him naked. The bastard who hurt him didn't even care enough to cover him up...He was only six years old..." Ishida broke into a few quiet sobs.

Tachibana always felt awkward when people were emotional around him. Unless it was a tennis win, he never knew what the hell to do. The story shocked him as much as Ishida's crying. Feeling the need to do something though, he put his hand on the strong boy's upper arm.

Ishida, as if for him it was the most natural thing in the world reached out and firmly hugged Tachibana. Other than his overly-affectionate sister, Tachibana couldn't remember the last person to touch him. Well, besides Yasuo, but that was different. And a while ago.

Lightly, because he didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do, Tachibana rested his hands on Ishida's strong muscular back and as he had seen people do in the movies, he patted him a few times. Most importantly he kept his crotch away from Ishida's because to hold him close all the way down even if the guy was crying might look sort of gay. It was embarrassing enough that he'd had some sexual thoughts regarding the freshmen and Ishida but to let these straight guys ever know it would be insanity. And this wasn't about sex at all, he reminded himself as he smelled Ishida's citrus and cedar smell up close.

"Thank you, Tachibana-san. I'm sorry..." Ishida though made no move to pull back, if anything he held Tachibana closer, "Please, please don't tell anyone that I told you. We never talk about Aki. It's too hard for us even now and everyone else around here knows so you're the first person I've ever told. But I'm glad you know. I mean, you must have thought it strange that we always tell each other we love each other, but we do it because of Aki. We really do love each other and are really close. I think of those guys as my brothers, but Aki taught us that you never know when you might never see someone you care about again. You have to make every moment count, and tell the people you care about that you love them because if you don't, you might not ever get the chance again." He let Tachibana go and stepped back.

The space between them after the intense closeness felt like a huge gap. It had stopped feeling awkward to Tachibana and while it wasn't sexual, it was a closeness he never really had with anyone before. No one ever opened up like this to him. Except Fuji, but there had been so many sexual elements to them being together that his feelings were jumbled into a mess--even back then.

Ishida took off his scarf and wiped his face. "Sometimes, I look at little kids who are around six years old, and I just can't imagine anyone seeing a little boy and thinkin to hurt him or..." His face grimaced in pain again, but before he cried again, Ishida seemed to control of himself. "Anyway, a lot of things we do now are things we learned to do from back then. We learned to not be alone because the killer was still out there and no one wanted anyone they cared about to be next. Our parents were worried so we walked to school in pairs when school started. We took basic self-defense classes through school and tried to help the police as they looked for the bastard. We played at each other's houses for the rest of the summer and not outside where no parent was. We started playing tennis because the courts were well lit and one of our parents could pick us up and drive us home."

"And all of us dealt with it in our own way. Kyousuke became a vegetarian because he was having bad dreams of blood and stuff. It's the first time Shinji stopped talking but it only happened for about a week or so. Akira made him talk at the memorial and he seemed better after that. That's when I started growing my hair long and lifting weights. I started growing it, thinking at first I would until they found Aki, but then when he was found...like that...I thought I wouldn't cut it until his killer was in prison. It changed everything in the neighborhood. People always locked their doors, but back then they went overboard trying to keep their family safe. A lot of people and friends moved away. People didn't feel safe living here anymore. And they never found the bastard who hurt Aki. It's still unsolved."

Tachibana thought out loud, "And you guys started doing things like you did back then when your senpais started picking on you. You never go anywhere alone, walk to school in pairs, and watch out for each other."

Ishida said defensively, "And it's the only reason we're the only ones left on the team. But it's still not enough! They still find ways to hurt us when we aren't lookin. They went after Akira, probably a lot of them four or five just to get him,and it's probably only because Shinji would meet him every morning and ran to find him when Akira was late that he stopped them from really hurtin him. Can you imagine? Five of them on little Akira? Because it happens all the time, but usually I'm there to stop it from gettin too bad..."

Tachibana's face set in a grim line and he turned. He started walking in the other direction. He ordered Ishida, "Let's go." Without asking questions, Ishida obediently changed direction and walked with him. His brow knitted in confusion, so Tachibana explained, "The hospital is this way, right? We should all meet there. Stick together. Call the others and have them meet us too."

Ishida nodded and he looked gratefully over, "Thank you, Tachibana-san."

After Ishida called them and told them they would meet up at the hospital, he walked with Tachibana in companionable but grimly determined silence for about a block. A question wouldn't leave Tachibana's thoughts, "Ishida? Answer me something honestly, because I can't figure it out. Why did you cut your hair?" They had never found the killer Ishida said, so why?

The huge freshman stared at the ground as they walked so intensely and for so long that Tachibana thought maybe he hadn't heard the question or was refusing to answer for some reason. Finally he turned to Tachibana and said, "Because it's more important to protect the people I love who are living than to honor someone I love who is dead. I think Aki would agree with me. I can honor him in my heart and always will, but it was a small sacrifice that bought us all a little more time."

Tachibana was completely lost, "Time? Bought you all a little more time for what?"

Ishida said it with a shrug as if his answer was the most logical thing in the world, "To play."

Tachibana was more confused than ever.

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Learning to Land