Title: Gasping for Breath
Fandom: Prince of Tennis: Fudomine Chuugaku
Characters: Ishida Gin, Shiraishi Kuransuke, Oshitari Kenya, Chitose Senri, Ishida Tetsu, Sakurai Masaya, Kamio Akira, Kawamura Takashi
Prompt: 054 - Air
Word Count: 1203
Date finished: 07/10/07
Rating: G
Summary: Ishida Gin has a rather uncomfortable revelation.
Author's Notes: I can't even say where it came from, and I apologize for the horridness of the title. Oh, and if I've gotten the name of the tournament wrong, I'm sorry. I figured it out once, and didn't write it down then. Thanks so much to the people at FET for all they do for the characters and tournaments and schools related to Prince of Tennis. Also - I do not know Shitenhouji at all. So if the characterizations seem off, I'm sorry about that, too. Not to mention that I just sort of threw a few teams together.... I have no idea if Rokkaku was at that part of the tournament.
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Konomi Takeshi, and whoever did the anime. At any rate, it's not me.

Which would explain why, when Shiraishi Kuranosuke read off the winners from the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament, he nearly choked on his water, and Oshitary Kenya had to thump him on the back. "F-Fudomine?" he repeated, astounded.

"Yes."

"Who's on the team?"

"Captain Tachibana Kippei…."

A second sputtering choke interrupted their own captain, and Oshitari turned his attention to Chitose Senri, who sat on his other side, and thumped their usually laid-back player to get him to start breathing again. "Tachibana Kippei?" Chitose repeated, when he could speak again.

"You know him?" Shiraishi asked.

"Yeah. Last I heard, he wasn't playing."

"Go on," Oshitari said, leaning back against the bench.

"Vice Captain Kamio Akira, Ibu Shinji, Ishida Tetsu…." This time, Shiraishi interrupted himself. "Your brother?"

"Yeah. From what he's told me, all of them but Tachibana are second years."

Chitose apparently hadn't gotten over his shock; he sputtered again, but waved off Oshitari when he reached to pound his back.

"Um… Mori Tatsunori, Sakurai Masaya, and Uchimura Kiyosuke," Shiraishi finished. He seemed relieved when no one else reacted to any of the other names.

"I can't believe they're in the finals," Gin muttered in the silence that followed.

"Why?" Oshitari asked.

"Remember hearing about that team in Tokyo last year, that took on the existing team and their coach and won? That's Fudomine. Tetsu told me that Tachibana was responsible for organizing the freshmen and starting the team over."

There was no answering sputter from Chitose this time, but he looked like he'd forgotten to breathe.

"Oh," Oshitari said, looking as if a light bulb had gone on in his head. "That's the team Yuushi told me about. They upset Hyotei, and Hyotei is in the Kanto tournament only because they won the consolation match."

Shiraishi put down the paper he'd been looking at, and folded his arms. "So… tell me what you know about this team," he said, his eyes on Gin, and with a shrug, Gin started to talk.

It occurred to him, as he walked up the stairs to his dorm room, that Tetsu hadn't told him the whole story. Because there had to be more to it.

And then he realized it had been a long time since he'd had a real conversation with his brother.

That disturbed him more than he thought it would.

So, when Shitenhouji was defeated by Seigaku - and after his broken arm had been set and put in a cast - he went in search of his younger brother.

He was easy to find; there weren't many people built like the Ishida brothers. Gin paused, still some distance away from the group, and just watched.

The black of Tetsu's team mingled with the white of Seigaku and the red and gold of another team. Tetsu sat with someone from his own team - someone who hadn't played - and Kawamura. The Seigaku player looked exhausted but pleased as he and the two Fudomine players conversed.

Gin moved closer, finally penetrating the group, ignoring the stares from the other players, until he stood in front of his brother. "Tetsu."

The younger boy looked up and grinned. "Gin!" He stood, exaggeratedly careful. "Masaya, this is my brother. Gin, Sakurai Masaya. He's usually my doubles partner. And you know Kawamura-senpai."

Gin nodded to them both. "Can I talk to you, Tetsu?" he asked, and Tetsu nodded, stepping away from the others and around the table. Gin caught the expression on Sakurai's face and his brow furrowed. Where had that animosity come from?

When he looked back just before he and Tetsu rounded a bush, two others had joined Sakurai, and though the animosity was gone, all three of them watched them go with something akin to worry in their expressions.

"Your teammates are worried about you."

Tetsu shrugged. "It's been a rough year," he said. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Gin got the distinct impression that Tetsu wanted to get back. "The Hadokyuu," he said, so thrown off by the whole concept that his brother had someone else he'd rather spend time with that he answered directly.

"What about it?"

Gin realized that he was more off balance than he thought. Tetsu was… composed, and not as gawky as he remembered. It had also been a shock - completely - to see that aura around Tetsu that he'd seen only around Chitose. It didn't matter that they'd lost. If he wasn't careful, Tetsu would surpass him. "Kawamura?"

"Oh." Tetsu smiled. "I almost broke his wrist in the first game we played, and he asked, afterwards, how it worked. I didn't see a reason not to show him."

"He broke my arm."

"Only because he used more power than you were expecting," Tetsu said calmly. "He returned it the first time I used it against him, and broke my strings."

Gin nearly reeled. It was so… weird to hear Tetsu defend someone against him that he barely knew how to react.

That was taken out of his hands. "Tetsu?"

It was the redhead that had played with Tetsu - his Vice-Captain, if he remembered correctly. He stood just in sight, arms crossed defensively.

Tetsu turned. "I'm okay, Akira. I'll be right there."

The redhead remained for a moment - not assessing Tetsu, but assessing him, as if he didn't know if he could trust Gin - then nodded and left again. "They're very protective."

Tetsu smiled. "It's been a rough year," he repeated. "Just because we made the team work doesn't mean the former club members leave us alone at school. None of the team know you. They don't know if I'll be okay."

"I'm your brother."

Tetsu nodded. "And a senpai," he said and shifted. "I'd better get back. You're welcome to join us; they won't be so suspicious once they get to know you. Besides," he added with a grin, "I think Kawamura would like to talk to you. Talking to the originator of the Hadokyuu would be nice, I think."

It was so strange that he found himself following Tetsu back to the pavilion where the three teams - all three still there - mingled and chatted. Gin was surprised at the relief obvious in every one of his brother's team, and wondered what it must have been like.

Before he went home, he'd have to sit his brother down and find out the complete story.

And, maybe, get to know the blonde boy Chitose had played and was talking to now, still tense, but beginning to relax. Yeah. That Tachibana had done a lot for Tetsu. If nothing else, Gin needed to thank him for what he'd done for Tetsu - something Gin hadn't been there to do.

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