Title: Meeting
Fandom: Prince of Tennis: Fudomine Chuugaku
Characters: An, Oishi, Kippei, Fuji
Prompt: 008 - Weeks
Word Count: 1450
Date finished: 05/26/2007
Rating: G
Summary: An gets a letter from Oishi.
Author's Notes: I got bugged to write this. It's the sequel to Camping, and I hope you enjoy it.Oh, and sorry for the title. Also - it's from the Crack Pairing Generator: An/Oishi - Trepidation.
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Konomi Takeshi, and whoever did the anime. At any rate, it's not me.

"An? What is this?"

Her eyes widened at the letter her brother held. He leaned against the door jamb of her room. "Where did you get that?" she demanded, jumping out of the desk chair and going toward him.

"I found it on the table downstairs," he said, bracing his elbow over his head, holding the letter out of her reach. Her eyes narrowed.

"Kippei, that is mine."

He ignored her statement. "Since when are you getting letters from Oishi Syuichiro?"

An folded her arms. "Since you wimped out of camping with me three weeks ago. And letter," she added. "That's the only one."

"He's asking you to meet him."

"Yes," she agreed. "And you, if you didn't get that far."

He handed her the letter, but didn't let it go when she tried to pull it from his grasp. "What happened while you were camping?" he asked.

She snorted softly. "This strange man came and asked if I had any extra marshmallows, and then invited me to join his fire. Where he introduced himself as Oishi, and stopped Eiji-kun from pouncing on me, and Fuji-kun said hi. And then they invited me to stay with them for the weekend, so I did."

The look of surprise on his face was priceless. "And you didn't tell me this before… why?"

She shrugged. "You didn't want to go," she said archly, and tugged the letter out of his hand. "Besides, what could you have done? It had already happened." She went back to her desk. "So. Are you coming? I need to let him know."

He hesitated, and she looked at him, wondering when he'd gotten so uncertain. Finally, though, he nodded. "Yes," he said. "I think I will."

An nodded, but didn't smile until he'd left and closed the door behind him.

Oishi had never seen Fuji nervous before, and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to see it again, honestly. "Would you calm down?"

There was nothing… outward to show his trepidation, but Oishi had known him for years, now, and could read the signs (after Tezuka, almost everyone else was easy). "I'm fine," Fuji said.

Oishi managed to keep from showing his disbelief too obviously, turning away before rolling his eyes. Fuji was anything but fine, but if he wanted Oishi to believe he was, then Oishi was willing to play along with it.

He had to smile at the thought of An; he hadn't seen her since he'd graduated from High School, and she'd… grown up. A lot. He'd been surprised when she'd introduced herself when he'd brought her back to their fire, and it had taken sunlight the next day for him to see the girl she'd been when he'd first gotten to know her in the woman that had joined them. Eiji had teased him mercilessly on the way home; Fuji had been uncharacteristically silent. And as much as Eiji had wanted to be there for this meeting - dinner, ostensibly - his family had made prior claims on his time, and he was stuck.

They didn't know exactly which train the Tachibana siblings would arrive on, so he waited calmly - really, why wasn't he nervous? - and Fuji fidgeted next to him.

The wait wasn't long. Oishi spotted them as the mass of humanity around them moved toward the exits, and raised one hand to catch their attention, a smile crossing his face. An's answering smile was enough to make up for the nerves he hadn't had; his heart jumped at the sight of it.

"An-chan. It's good to see you," he said when the four of them had met up. "And you, Tachibana-san." Next to him, Fuji bowed, his movements stilted and awkward.

Tachibana looked stunned, and there was a triumphant look in An's eyes. She refrained from looking at her brother; instead, she smiled at Fuji. "It's good to see you, again, too, Fuji-kun."

"The same to both of you," Fuji said softly.

"Shall we go?" Oishi asked before the following silence got too uncomfortable. An nodded and took his arm; the other two fell in behind them.

Dinner was odd. After the strained silence from the other two, no matter who tried to start the conversation, Oishi and An ignored them. It was all they could do.

When dinner was over, Oishi suggested a walk, not quite ready to say good bye to her yet. An agreed, and so they walked toward a park, still talking, still aware of the awkward silence behind them. Rolling her eyes, An just winked at him, reached out, and touched his arm. "Tag. You're it," she said, and dashed off. It took him a moment to register what she'd said, but then he laughed and went after her.

"An!" he heard Tachibana call, and then they were out of sight and too far away to hear. An stopped at the swing set, grinning at Oishi as he came to a stop next to her. "Well," he said, gasping a bit for breath. "They'll either work it out, or hate each other - and us - for the rest of our lives and theirs."

An covered her mouth to hide her giggles, then gave up and laughed out loud. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that," she said.

Oishi shook his head. "Sometimes, even Fuji needs a 2x4 to the head." He offered his arm. "Care to take a slower look at the park?"

She took it. "I'd love to."

The evening wore down as they strolled, not really paying attention to the park. Oishi was a little surprised - but only a very little - that they never seemed to run out of something to talk about. It was… promising. Perhaps the most promising date he'd ever been on.

It was nearly full dark by the time they found Fuji and Tachibana again; the two of them were seated on the swings, idly swinging back and forth, talking. "It's an improvement, at least," An said, satisfaction in her voice. "I think I'm glad I didn't tell him Fuji-kun was coming. Otherwise, he never would have come."

"Fuji was nervous just knowing he was going to see you," Oishi said with a chuckle. "I probably would have had the same problem."

"Then it's a good thing neither of us said anything," An said, and laughed.

Kippei saw them first. "They're back," he said.

Fuji sighed. "Well, as it is said - this, too, shall pass." He stood up, and Kippei stood as well, one eyebrow raised at the pair who approached. They were far too close….

"Don't say it," An said flatly, but she didn't move from Oishi's side. "I don't want to hear it."

There was just enough of a threat that he swallowed his words and sighed. She just smiled. "It is time to go home, though," he said after a moment.

"Yes," she agreed.

"Can we walk you to the train station?" Oishi asked.

"Please," An said with a smile up at him.

Kippei stifled the next sigh as they walked off, and he fell in behind them, Fuji at his side again. "What are you going to tell her?" Fuji asked.

Kippei snorted a laugh. "What are you going to tell him? Them, because I'm sure Kikumaru is going to demand details."

Fuji's eyes widened. "Eiji," he breathed. "He's going to be impossible."

"Yes," Oishi said from ahead of them. "I'm going to let you talk to him, though."

"When did you get a mean streak?" Fuji protested, and Kippei had to smile.

"I've been hanging around you," Oishi said easily, and An laughed.

"They do make a cute couple," Fuji said a few moments later, his voice soft. Kippei could barely hear him under the noise of the crowd on the streets. "And you know he won't hurt her."

Kippei glanced at him. "He's that serious?"

Fuji watched the pair ahead of them, and then nodded. "Yes," he said quietly, "I think he is."

"It could be worse," Kippei said as they mounted the stairs to the platform. "It could be someone I don't know."

Fuji chuckled. "She could do a lot worse than Oishi," he said. "Atobe comes to mind."

Kippei choked. "Gah, no. I hope she'd have better taste than that."

"Than what?" An asked, appearing at his side as if she'd teleported.

"Than to date Atobe," Fuji said.

An laughed. "Maybe just once," she said, and then glanced over to where Oishi had started back toward them. "But not… right now."

No, Kippei thought as Oishi offered her his arm again, and she took it. No, there wasn't anyone else for her right now - and maybe, if he were lucky, never again.

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