My Past, Our Future: Part 1

leaned looked up at the tall, unbending trunk of the oak. Her hazel eyes were clouded by memories.

It's almost autumn again. Then winter will follow…

She turned her back to the ancient tree and wandered back onto the path to school.

A year. Has it really been that long? Last year, around this time… The most bittersweet memories of my life. blinked and tried to shake off the still-clear recollections. It's time… No, it's way past time for me to forget.

"Do you care at all?!" shouted at the boy who sat in front of her.

He gave her a blank look. "Care? What do you mean?"

She closed her eyes and her lashes swept her cheeks. A note of resignation crept into her voice, "Then I guess this is it."

"What?" The dark haired boy's look turned to puzzlement, ", what do you mean?"

turned her back to him, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes, "It's over."

He stared at her retreating back. "Over? But…"

She was already gone.

Awayuki Mayune hummed a cheerful song as she walked the short distance to school, Rikkai dai Fuzoku. She stopped as she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in front of her.

With a grin on her face, Mayune stalked quietly until she was right behind the person. Cupping her hands to her mouth, she quite literally yelled out her best friend's name, "!"

"Ehh?" jumped about a foot into the air and spun around to confront the intruder who had shaken her from her memories. The black haired girl smiled a bit sheepishly and gave her best friend since grade school an apologetic look, "Oh, Mayune. Sorry. I'm a bit out of it today."

"Uhh…" the striking brown-haired girl fell into step next to with a figurative sweat drop. She didn't even realize that she wasn't in the wrong…

Shaking her head, the elder girl decided to ask about it later. For now it was enough just to enjoy 's company.

**********

"Ehh! -chan, you make the best cakes! Thank you! " Marui Bunta, self-proclaimed genius of Rikkai dai's famed male tennis team, clutched the boxful of sweet cakes to his chest in a way that indicated he would never let go.

His doubles partner Jackal Kuwabara sighed and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at Marui's antics.

The little group of four, Jackal, Marui, and Mayune, stood by the building entrance to the junior homerooms.

"No problem, Marui-senpai," brushed back her black bangs from her eyes and sent her first genuine smile of the day to him. "I'm glad that you enjoyed my cooking."

"It'll be hard not to. Besides, haven't I told you already to call me Bunta? Come on, say it, please?" the redhead gave her a puppy-dog look.

melted; she couldn't help it, who'd be able to resist?

"Bunta-san."

"Drop the san."

She tried again, "Bunta-kun…"

Marui smiled. "Yah! Now I can call you -chan!" Completely forgetting that he already did so.

Kuwabara felt sorry for his slightly confused kouhai and grabbed Marui by the collar, "Ok, let's go Bunta. Else we'll be late."

"Really? Oh, look at the time." His attention went back to the two girls by the stairs, "See you later Mayune-chan, -chan!"

"See you in class Bunta."

"Bye, Bunta-kun."

The two girls watched as the two boys rounded the corner and disappeared from view. Mayune immediately turned her attention back to , "So… Are you going to tell me?"

The other girl became interested in the floor, staring intently at it, "I don't know what you mean, Mayune…"

The brown-haired third year shook some strands of hair out of her deep gray eyes. "You've been out of it for a week now. I originally thought that you would tell me in time, but it's obvious that you won't."

When didn't say a word, Mayune's eyes narrowed a little and she made a frustrated sound, " , I'm you're best friend. Right?"

's head shot up. "Of course. You know that you are and have always been."

"Then why do you not trust me? It worries me to see you tune everything out so that you can focus internally on whatever is troubling you. I just… I just wish you could let me know what's wrong."

The second year student looked away, "I promise to tell you."

"Soon?"

"Soon." The reply was firm.

Mayune had to be satisfied with that.

**********

"Psst…"

Mayune shot a startled glance to her left. Her class was supposed to be in the middle of World History, but a last minute announcement had come in that their teacher had an emergency appointment to attend to. They had been left with a self-study period instead. Niou Masaharu lounged casually against his seat.

She raised an eyebrow as if to ask 'what?'

The silver-haired tennis regular leaned in closer, "What's up with ?"

"Hmm?" she bit down on an amused smirk and instead settled with a blank look. "What do you mean?"

" . You know, your best friend?"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. What about her?"

Niou paused slightly as if to consider his words. Mayune raised the other eyebrow; the trickster never needed to think before talking. She had almost started assuming he was telepathic by the way he had a quip ready for any situation.

"She's… not herself…" was the final product.

Mayune feigned an unknowing look, "I don't know. Maybe you could ask her about it?"

"Hmm…" Niou looked away, thus ending the conversation, albeit unsatisfactorily.

He didn't see the amused smile that his classmate decided to let loose.

"Well, 's really starting to have an affect on him. I'll start part two of my plan today. It's almost two weeks sooner than I predicted…" Her thoughts were gleeful.

If Niou had heard the chuckle that appeared in Mayune's mind, even he would have run as rapidly as he could in the opposite direction.

**********

"Ne, ? Want to come shopping after school tonight?"

The two girls were eating lunch together in a secluded area in the cafeteria.

Hazel eyes met gray.

A shrug.

"Why not? We can go over to my place to change. It's closer to the shops from there. Can your mom drop us by my house?" carefully took a bite of her homemade lunch.

"Sure. I'm sure I've still got some of my casual gear there from our last few sleepovers." Mayune was eating a salad sandwich. She was currently in the midst of a vegetarian phase.

A grin appeared, "You know , I think that Bunta has a crush on you."

Across the table, rolled her eyes and took another careful bite of her food. "You know as well as I do that Marui-senpai… I mean Bunta-kun, more likely has a crush on my cakes."

She had quickly changed her address when Mayune had shot her an amused look.

"True, true. All's the pity isn't it? Bunta's pretty cute."

"If you like guys you can bribe with sweets," muttered.

"Oh well. However," another bite of the sandwich disappeared, "I know for a fact that Niou likes you. As more than a friend." She waited for a reaction; her friend didn't disappoint.

went bright red, choked on her food and started coughing. In between the coughs, she managed to mumble out a response.

"Cough… silly Mayune… Cough…-senpai doesn't… cough, cough…"

Extremely satisfied with the response, both physical and verbal, Mayune smirked, "Right. Then you'll be fine with the fact that he and Yagyuu will be joining us tonight?"

"What?!"

**********

"I can't believe you invited him. Them. I mean, what am I supposed to do? I haven't been out in mixed company for so long. What should I wear? Where are we going? What am I going to say? Mayune?"

The last few words came out in a wail before noted that her best friend was grinning slightly. She winced as she realized what the previous part of her rant must have sounded like.

"Uhh… It's not like that. I mean it's just that it's been a long time since I've been out with guy friends as well. It's not like I like him. I mean, I do like him, but only as a friend…" promptly shut up, as she got more and more tangled up in her words.

By now Mayune sported a very cat-got-the-cream smirk, "Well… I'll help. First, you'll be wearing this…"

She stuffed a couple of hangers into 's hands and went back to her overnight bag to search for makeup.

As examined the two pieces of material, her eyes grew gradually wider and wider.

"NO WAY!"

**********

"I hate you," muttered without much feeling. She had ended up with what Mayune had stuffed on her from the beginning.

Even her usually stylish, but reserved self had to admit that the pleated denim skirt and halter neck top enhanced her figure even though the skirt was a tad bit short and the top a little too figure-hugging.

She had also pulled on a jacket and worn knee-high boots. Still, she was still shivering slightly. Despite the fact that summer was still a week or two away from ending, the temperature had already started to drop.

"It's kind of cold you know. Anyway, how come you get to wear the jeans? I want to wear jeans," the younger girl complained.

Mayune continued on her way serenely. "Because my dear, we'll be inside most of the time. It's just this little walk that you have to suffer for."

She fixed with a wicked grin, "Anyway, just imagine the look on Niou's face when he sees you like this. I guarantee that there'll be drool involved."

went a nice red color again. "Mayune! That's not going to happen because Niou-senpai doesn't like me like that."

A raised eyebrow, "Really? Want to bet? I've got my camera to take a picture of his face. This way you won't be able to go into denial again."

"MAYUNE!" Was the exasperated reply and turned slightly to shoot an annoyed glare at her.

Mayune just smiled, until she realized that the other girl was on a collision course with a group in front who were heading in the opposite direction.

"Watch out !"

**********

Mizuki Hajime surveyed his little group with a sense of satisfaction. The entire male tennis team from St. Rudolph had decided to hold extra weekly trainings outside of school since banding together. Mizuki had organized them to have some matches against opponents on the local street courts.

No one had ever missed one of these.

There was no pressure on them to win or lose since Mizuki would analyze their performance and give adequate instructions on where they could improve. Also, it gave them a chance to relax so that they could actually enjoy playing against unknown opponents without any data to instruct them. These games offered them the choice of pairing up into doubles teams that would otherwise never work in a real game.

Today, however, they were missing their captain, Akazawa Yoshirou and their resident Fuji, Yuuta. Akazawa had some errands to run after school and had said that he will meet up with the team at the street courts. So, currently, the boys were standing around waiting for Yuuta to show.

"Where is Yuuta da ne?" Yanagisawa Shinya, also known around St. Rudolph as the duck of the courts, sniffed and shifted his tennis bag to the ground.

His double's partner, Kisarazu Atsushi, didn't say anything but he did turn to look at Mizuki.

The remainder of the team also watched him expectantly.

The black haired manager didn't let their looks bother him the least, but internally, he was also starting to get a bit bothered by the amount of time that Yuuta was late by.

A glance at his watch showed 4:30 pm. Pulling out his mobile phone, Mizuki found the younger boy's number and dialed it.

It rang.

Yuuta picked up almost instantly. "Moshi moshi?"

"Yuuta, where are you?" A slight puffing greeted his words.

"Towards the meeting place. I'm so sorry; I forgot I had after school duties today. I'll be there in five, I swear."

Mizuki sighed, "Fine. But next time call okay? See you." Both sides hung up.

He turned to the expectant observers. "Yuuta had after school duties. He'll be here very soon."

Yanagisawa turned to his doubles partner and started complaining. Atsushi listened to him with half an ear and a resigned expression.

Kaneda and Nomura continued with their discussion about doubles in which Kaneda did the talking and Nomura, being his usual self, just listened and nodded every now and again.

Mizuki smirked to himself as he resurveyed the group. Sure, they hadn't made the Nationals this year, but half of their players would stay on for next year. St. Rudolph could and would become a force to be reckoned with as soon as tennis season started again.

Sending his glance around, Mizuki noted quite a few couples scattered amongst the shopping crowd. He felt a slight pang inside his chest but brushed it off, ignoring it. What other people do has nothing to do with me.

"Oh. Look, it's Yuuta da ne." Yanagisawa stated the obvious as the rest of the group turned to watch the second year arrive in a cloud of dust.

"…I'm…so…sorry…gasp…will…remember…phone…gasp…next time…" The light brown haired tennis player panted for air as he skidded to a stop.

"Oi, Yuuta, catch your breath before you die on us," Nomura patted his kouhai on the back in concern.

The others picked up their bags and started moving in the general direction of the street courts.

"Hurry it up Yuuta! We're already over half an hour late because of you." Yanagisawa pulled Yuuta up and proceeded to drag him.

Atsushi watched with an impassive expression but he did comment, "Shinya… If you don't stop pulling Yuuta-kun like that, you'll dislocate his arm and then he won't be able to play with you."

Just as the duck was about to retort, a female voice suddenly yelled out, "Watch OUT…!"

**********

"Itai Mayune… You're too rough, that really hurt," rubbed her already reddening arm.

Mayune just smiled dryly and tipped her head forwards, "A little pain is always better than total embarrassment, ne?"

It was only then that realized that she had been about to walk into someone.

She spun around and quickly bowed, "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you. I hope you forgive me…"

was so mortified that she almost didn't hear the name that the ever-so-familiar voice that she never thought she'd hear again called.

"…"

Her head snapped up in shock. As she saw the man standing before her, 's face drained of color and her eyes widened. "H… Hajime…"

**********

St. Rudolph Gakuin's tennis club was not used to having their tennis training time wasted. Nor were they used to pretty girls who seemed less than happy to see their manager. Most of all, they were definitely not used to having said manager in some kind of pale and highly shocked state if the expression on his face was anything to go by.

"…" Mizuki repeated, disbelieving.

The girl backed off a few paces, still almost as pale as before. "What are you doing here, Hajime?"

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them and cursed her hasty self. His name still sounds so smooth… I guess some things never change.

Her face shifted to a neutral mask as she gathered her shaking emotions and attempted to lock them away once more.

Mizuki did the same and both paused for a moment, assessing, before he initiated the conversation.

"It's been a long time -san."

shrugged, "I guess. But it is a surprise to see you once more Mizuki-san."

A smooth, practiced, if fake laugh sounded, Mizuki himself was surprised at how bitter it was. "I guess nothing really changes then. How have you been this past year?"

Another shrug, "I can't really say. But I'm guessing your year has been much more productive."

Her gaze ran across the boys who stood silently behind Mizuki and their gear, "Still the ever so powerful manager of St. Rudolph's tennis team right?"

The black haired boy tugged a lock of his hair in a trademark gesture and smirked in reply but changed the topic, "I heard that you transferred out of Yamabuki. Where are you now?"

raised one eyebrow; it was a trick she had perfected with Mayune. It more often than not made the object of her gaze feel smaller. "Rikkai dai."

Mizuki buried any trace of the surprise he felt. "Rikkai dai huh? Didn't expect that." A small smile appeared, teasing the edge of his lips. "Do you still play then? Rikkai dai has quite a strong female team as well."

watched the smile play around the edges of his mouth in fascination. He's still the same as ever.

She shook herself out of her daze as she realized that he was awaiting an answer to his previous question.

"Play? Play what?" As spoke these words she remembered. Tennis. That's it…

She put on a bored air, "Of course not." A hand tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Come to think of it. I never really did enjoy the sport much. It seems like such a waste of time and energy."

The barb hit home. No matter how much he tried to hide it, knew him well enough to see the flash of what could have been pain in his eyes.

She hardened her softening heart. Damn it, I'm stronger than this…

Mayune chose that moment to step in. She had seen cracking slightly under everything. Although she couldn't understand what exactly was going on, she felt enough of the tension underneath the words traded to know something was up.

" I promised them that we'd meet them at the shops by half past. It's already a little over now. You know how we shouldn't keep Niou and Yagyuu-kun waiting on a first date." She laughed softly as if she couldn't feel the glare coming her way from the black haired boy standing opposite of her.

Mayune tugged on 's sleeve, "Let's go now!"

The younger girl nodded, gave Mizuki another look and walked past him.

Yanagisawa sauntered up to his manager and old friend. "Who was that da ne? She was cute. I wonder if I have a chance with her…"

Mizuki turned the full force of his coldest glare on him. "Do. Not. Go. Near. Her. Ever. Get it?"

The whole team took a step back. The look in the deep blue, almost black eyes was more deadly than any they had seen before.

Yanagisawa scrambled a little, "Uh. Yeah. I'm sorry."

Mizuki took a deep breath in and then let it out, before turning away. "I'm sorry. This just hasn't been a good day for me. Let's go."

The tennis team exchanged uneasy glances but followed.

**********

As soon as was sure that she was out of his sight, she slumped her shoulders and dropped the mask that she had clamped over her emotions.

Mayune walked close to her and occasionally sent her sympathetic glances. It was during one of these glances that she saw her old friend had stopped completely.

"? Are you alright?"

didn't raise her head but Mayune saw the drips that hit the ground. was crying.

Moving quickly, the older girl pulled her into a nearby department store and found the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" she asked the silently crying girl.

"I'm fine… I'm fine…" didn't know if those words were for her friend or herself.

**********

Sometime later, had calmed down somewhat and allowed Mayune to redo her ruined makeup.

"So, is he why you transferred to Rikkai dai a year ago?" Mayune brushed the mascara carefully through the already long and dark lashes.

"Yes."

"Did you guys… have relationship?" the older girl asked carefully.

A pause.

"Yes."

"And he broke it off?" Mayune had expected something along these lines.

Another pause.

"No."

The other girl looked up in surprise, "What?"

"I left him."

"WHAT?!"

**********

The two girls were walking slowly to the designated meeting spot that they were supposed to meet Niou and Yagyuu. Mayune had wanted to call the thing off because of what happened, but was adamant that they carry on as if nothing had happened.

"I don't need any questions that I can't answer," was the only response that she gave her senpai and closest friend.

Mayune had sighed and refrained from telling that it would be impossible to hide with the trickster and the gentleman.

had begun explaining her story to Mayune. "He loved tennis. He only noticed me when there was no tennis. I took it up to be able to share it with him. I continue it so that he might be able to see me, and maybe even care for me. Just a little. I would have been happy with any affection he gave me, but he didn't. We were just like casual acquaintances. We said 'hello', 'goodbye' and maybe exchanged a few words a day."

The brown-haired girl sighed and sent a glance towards . "Then why did you want to be with him? He looks and sounds so arrogant and self centered."

"Because I liked him. I liked him so much, ever since we first met." swallowed visibly and closed her eyes for a moment.

Silence reigned for a while.

"How did you guys start going out then?" Mayune asked cautiously. She didn't want to hurt anymore than she was already by bringing up a sensitive topic.

To her relief, smiled slightly. "It was by complete accident. Remember how I told you that I joined a recreational tennis club? Well, it was his out of school club. On the first day that I was there, I served a ball into him by accident as he walked by. You should have seen his expression."

Another small smile, "I was mortified and so embarrassed. But to my surprise, he offered to teach me the game from scratch and he became my trainer. Getting together just sort of happened one day. We had packed up for the day when he just sort of turned around to me…"

"Ne, -chan?"

Flustered, tried to keep her cheeks from burning as she faced him, "Hai?"

He tugged on his hair lightly, a habit that found adorable. "Do you want to go out with me?"

dropped her bag. Had she heard right? "Nani?" she squeaked.

A perfect smile as he repeated his words, "Do you want to go out with me?"

"H… H… Hai!"

Another smile was her reward, "Then I'll see you tomorrow… ."

She couldn't even summon up the power to reply. The only thing that had processed in her mind was that he called her by her name.

"…Then I'll see you tomorrow… ."

sat down at a bench and smiled at nothing. "Yeah. Tomorrow… Hajime."

Mayune didn't look very pleased at this. "Are you insane ? When a guy asks you out like that, you're just setting yourself up for heartbreak. Didn't you ever see from the casual way he asked that he wasn't serious about it?"

was silent. Mayune turned and took her kouhai by the upper arms. "…"

Her speech was interrupted by the arrival of two figures.

"Yo," Niou nodded and leaned himself against a light pole.

Yagyuu stopped beside his doubles partner and bowed politely to each girl, "Good afternoon."

**********

Niou was no dumbass. Neither was Yagyuu. Both boys noticed immediately that there was something wrong. Mayune had a worried frown on her face and was determinedly ignoring their gazes.

Niou trailed his eyes over and blinked. She looks like she's been crying.

Eyes narrowing, the silver haired trickster decided to ask about it later.

"." Deliberately using her first name with no suffix, Niou attempted to pull the black haired second year out of her melancholy. To his amusement, immediately looked at him and blushed.

"Niou-senpai… Uh… Yes?" felt her cheeks redden as her previous sadness faded slightly.

Niou's famed smirk appeared and he walked over to and leaned down to speak into her ear. "You look really nice."

's face went even redder and Mayune couldn't help but exchange a smile with Yagyuu.

"Anou… Umm… Thank you Niou-senpai…" managed to stutter out in reply. Her heartbeat had increased and she felt it thumping against her chest. Oh my god! He's too close, I can't breathe properly.

Taking pity at his junior, Yagyuu stepped in smoothly between his doubles partner and .

"Masaharu is right, you look stunning." Ever the gentleman, Yagyuu bowed and gave her a smile.

"So? Are we going for the movie first? Or eating?" Mayune beamed as she attached herself to Yagyuu and moved a couple of steps away from Niou.

Yagyuu and Mayune had been friends and neighbors since preschool and knew each other well and so were fairly comfortable with each other. had met Yagyuu a couple of times before transferring to Rikkai but had only met Niou and the others after the transfer.

"A movie I think," Niou replied, with his eyes still on .

Yagyuu nodded his agreement.

"A movie it is then."

**********

"It seems to be working quite well," Mayune whispered with a smile to Yagyuu.

The other pushed his glasses more firmly up the bridge of his nose and nodded in reply.

"I thought you were insane to suggest that Masaharu and -chan would be a good couple, but I would have to agree with you now."

A slight smile appeared, "He listens to everything -chan says and looks out for her. Apart from that, Masaharu's also trying to get as close to her as possible without scaring her off."

A gleeful smirk from Mayune appeared. "They would be such a sweet couple." The amusement faded from her features as she remembered what had told her before. " deserves someone who'll treasure her and take care of her."

Yagyuu said nothing. He knew that Mayune knew something about that she wasn't going to share… at least not yet.

##########

October 27, 2006
Written by: Linc
Edited by: Kurohane