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Beautiful Day	By : Pixxit Category: Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Ohjisama > General Views: 954 -:- 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.

Chapter List
- 1-Beautiful Day
- 2-Chapter 2
- 1
- 2
Chapter
One

Dangerous Beauty

The
differences between karate and tennis were obvious enough to Kawamura without having
to be listed, in painstaking, scrawling lettering, on the back of an envelope
for later consideration. Their
differences were as obvious as Kawamura Takashi�s loneliness � only Kawamura�s
loneliness was not something that he had ever given much thought to over the
years. He had enough friends to fill his
days with idle chatter and schoolyard jokes.
He had a family who cared about him and allowed him to be who he needed
to be in order to discover what sort of person he wished to become. He had passion, he had drive, he had the
ability to see past himself to those others who stood before him, behind him, around him.

Kawamura Takashi was, simply put, a nice boy. He�d never considered it a detriment �
indeed, he�d never considered it at all � until life made it necessary for him
to sit up and take notice of the people, the personalities, he crossed paths
with every day. That realization, that
awakening was what led Kawamura to the park that day � lost in his own thoughts
and musing over precisely why his father insisted that he make such a
ridiculous list in the first place.

I�m giving up karate,
Father. I want to play tennis, instead.

His father hadn�t asked why, hadn�t seemed to be bothered by
his son�s words. All that he had asked,
and all that had been necessary to send Kawamura�s thoughts into a tailspin,
were a handful of casually delivered words.

�Make a list. Show me why one outweighs the other.�

And Kawamura had left the house that morning without truly
giving the matter any additional thought.
It wasn�t until that afternoon, when he�d passed by the tennis courts on
his way home, and had felt no real spark, no real drive, that he began to
understand what his father had meant. A
commitment was not something that was taken lightly in the Kawamura
household. It went without saying that,
when a member of the Kawamura family chose to walk a particular path, that
Kawamura would continue on until there was simply no road left to travel. And Kawamura Takashi would attest, to anyone
who questioned his motivation, that he approached every challenge, every
undertaking with as much effort and drive to succeed that he possessed.

To have his father question such a thing was tantamount to
questioning his integrity. Kawamura
found that, after an entire day of contemplation, he didn�t like it � even when
he knew his father�s intentions were good.

Sitting by himself, alone on a park bench and focusing on
the very short list he�d managed to compile, Kawamura realized that while he
resented being questioned like a child, he appreciated his father�s ability to
make him think.

Scribbling his list into existence, Kawamura realized that
he couldn�t think of one, really good reason as to why he wanted to forego
karate in favor of tennis. He scratched
his head with his pencil�s eraser and frowned.
Two days ago, he could have said, unequivocally, why he�d had the sudden
change of heart. Now, however, with the
list in front of him and his pencil poised - Kawamura was drawing a total
blank.

�Problem, Kawamura-san?�

Kawamura looked up, startled, and smiled shyly. Fuji Shuusuke was one of Seigaku�s new
regulars and, if Kawamura were completely honest with himself, the tensai made
him nervous. Oh, he was perfectly
pleasant and always friendly to Kawamura, but there was something about the
look in his eyes, when he actually allowed anyone a glance, that made the hair
on Kawamura�s neck stand up. Fuji made him feel like he
had two left feet and was all thumbs.
Still and all, when he smiled, Kawamura couldn�t help but smile
back. Dangerous Beauty � that�s what Fuji was. And the mere thought brought an immediate
blush to Kawamura�s cheeks.

�Ah�Fuji-kun. Excuse
me, I didn�t see you there.�

Fuji
smiled, tilting his head in benign observation.
�Of course you didn�t. I was
taking care to be quiet.�

Kawamura blinked, no response forthcoming, and Fuji laughed softly. �I didn�t want to disturb you. You looked so deep in thought.�

Sighing, Kawamura shifted his bag, making room for Fuji on the bench. �I was trying, anyway. I�m afraid I�m not doing a very good job.�

Fuji
sat, almost primly, and close enough to Kawamura that he involuntarily
tensed. Leaning in a little, Fuji glanced at the envelope
and the hastily scrawled words there.
�What are you working on, Kawamura-san?�

Turning the envelope, Kawamura rubbed the back of his
neck. �Well�I�m thinking of trying out
for the tennis club, but in order to do that I�ll have to give up karate �
which is fine, of course, except that my father wants me to make a list of
reasons why one is better than the other.�

Fuji
reached for the envelope. �May I?�

Kawamura nodded, relinquishing it without hesitation. Fuji
studied it for a moment, humming thoughtfully and nodding slowly and, after a
few moments, he looked up.
�Kawamura-san?�

�Yes?� he responded, nervousness escalating.

Fuji
smiled. �You only have one point here.�

Shrugging bashfully, Kawamura wanted nothing more than to
rip the envelope into shreds and ask Fuji
to forget he�d ever said anything about the stupid list. �Saa�that�s my problem, actually. I can�t think of the reasons why. I only know that I want to make a change.�

Fuji
nodded, relieving Kawamura of his pencil and drawing lines on the envelope to
make two columns. At the top of one
column he wrote �karate� and at the top of the other, he wrote �tennis�. �Now then.
What do you like about karate the most?�

Without hesitation, Kawamura responded. �Power.
The discipline gives me power.�

Fuji
patted Kawamura�s leg absently and began to write. �That�s two things, Kawamura and both should
go on the list.� When he was finished
writing, he looked up, smiling. �Very
good. What do you not like about it?�

This time, Kawamura had to pause to consider his words. The answer came easier than he�d imagined it
would, though. �If you�re not strong
enough, you won�t succeed. Karate
doesn�t seem to make champions out of gentle people.� He thought of Jin and realized that there was
much he couldn�t reveal to Fuji. Some of Kawamura�s reasons were secret and
would stay that way.

Fuji
wrote quickly. �I suppose I can see your
point. Though strength can be a state of
mind, also. The very strongest of people
are still susceptible to weakness, Kawamura-san.� After a moment, he looked up. �What of teamwork? Camaraderie?
Do you have friends to practice your karate with?�

Kawamura shook his head.
�That�s another con for me, I think.
It�s such a solitary sport, even when you�re sparring with someone
else. I�� He hesitated, decided against speaking of
Jin. Fuji
likely didn�t know Akutsu Jin and wouldn�t understand the basis of the
friendship even if he did. Kawamura
wasn�t even sure that he understood
it. �No.
I don�t really have any friends there.�

Without looking up, Fuji
listened while he began making a list on the tennis side of the envelope. His writing was neat and precise and his
little bullet points were perfectly aligned.
�Is there anything else you truly love about karate, then? Something that you would miss were you to
give it up?�

By the time Kawamura had considered his answer long enough
to shake his head �no�, Fuji
had filled up the entire tennis column with neatly written, thoughtful points
to consider.

He smiled, handing Kawamura the list. �I hope you�ll forgive my presumption,
Kawamura-san. I think this will do very
well for your father.�

Kawamura took the list, staring up at Fuji as the other boy stood. �Thank you, Fuji-kun. I wasn�t expecting it to be so easy.�

Fuji
rested one hand on Kawamura�s shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. �You just needed to talk it out, that�s
all. Does this mean I can anticipate
seeing you at practice soon?�

Kawamura blushed hotly, wishing he were able to keep his
composure when Fuji Shuusuke spoke to him.
�Ah�I hope so, Fuji-kun.�

Fuji
turned to go, glancing back to smile at the taller boy, obvious amusement
lighting his features. �That�s good
news, Taka-san. That�s very good news.�

As he watched the other boy walk away, Kawamura realized that
his heart was beating fast. Glancing
down at his list, he noticed that there was a small space at the bottom of the
list Fuji had
composed � having cited such positive points as teamwork, exercise, discipline
and developing new skills. He knew that he would have to leave this last point
off when he rewrote the list for his father, but this list � that Fuji had touched � was his to
keep.

His handwriting was quite a contrast with Fuji�s but
Kawamura had no problem admitting that he liked the way Fuji Shuusuke�s name
looked, written by his own hand.

Kawamura had a feeling that this last reason was the
deciding factor when it came to choosing between karate and tennis. And he�d come up with that one all by himself.

tbc
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Beautiful Day