Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ With or Without You ❯ Chapter 1

"With or Without You"

A _Price of Tennis_ Fanfiction

By Andrea Readwolf <andrea_readwolf @hotmail.com>

Chapter: 1

Rating: PG

Pairings: Jackal & Bunta

Genre: Drama

Warnings: This is a product of imagination resulting from a mixture of a recently read Bunta fic and one of Lexarose's GP fics.

Spoilers: n/a

Summary: The boys are out of college, somewhere in their mid-twenties.

Disclaimer: Tennis no Ohjisama, characters and settings are the property of Konomi Takeshi.

Date Started: August 25, 2004

Status: complete

Revised: September 8, 2004

Word Count:

"With or Without You"

He woke up.

He wasn't sure why he'd woken up, except maybe for the slight chill that was creeping along his side. He reached out to touch the sheets--they were rapidly cooling, losing their warmth.

He kicked the covers off and climbed out of bed--briefly thinking about putting on his robe, before dismissing it. It was 2 am, after all, and he was in his own two-room apartment.

He stepped out of the bedroom and directly into the living/kitchen area.

It only took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the moon and streetlight pouring in from the high access window, and then another moment for him to scan the small room and locate the huddled form of his roommate on the floor sofa.

"Hey."

"Hey," came the muffled reply.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

Jackal searched for something to say, but it was difficult. It seemed that more and more recently he and his partner had nothing to talk about... Or, rather, too much to talk about that neither one wanted to or was ready to discuss. He sighed and carefully eased himself down onto the sofa.

"Bad dream?" he asked finally.

"Not really."

He frowned. If it wasn't a bad dream, then what--why--?

"Do you ever wish that, you know, you went back to Brazil?"

Jackal started, not really expecting that question at this time of night.

"I guess, sometimes, I think about it," the dark-skinned man answered, leaning back, his head resting against the wall. "I wonder where I'd be, what I'd be doing now, if I'd chosen to go back with my family. But that's all they are. Thoughts. Wonderings. I've never wished I'd chosen differently."

"Really?"

"Ah."

"Even now?"

"Even now," Jackal confirmed. "In Brazil, I was a singles player."

"I know. You've told me before."

"Ah, but here, I got to be something better than just myself. I got to be part of a team, a pair. I got to be not alone. I have you to thank for that. Thank you, for being my tennis partner."

"Even though you got hurt?" Bunta asked softly, reaching out and gingerly laying a hand on the dark-skinned man's wrapped knee.

"Are you upset with me," Jackal asked, a note of hesitation in his voice. "Because of me, we won't be able to continue to play professionally now. But---but you could always find a new doubles partner. Or you could go singles--"

"No!" Bunta shouted, shaking his head--locks more cinnamon brown now than the strawberry red of his youth. "No," he repeated more calmly. "I'm not a singles player. You know that. And--and we've been doubles partners since junior high school. I don't think I could partner with anyone else."

"Sure you could. You used to partner with Yagyuu and Niou all the time back in high school, remember?" Jackal pointed out, casually combing his fingers through the other man's hair. "You even played a couple of games with Sanada and Yanagi--"

But Bunta just shook his head minutely, not enough to dislodge Jackal's hand any though. "Dalliances. Unimportant. No. I--I don't *want* to play tennis with any other partner."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have been there to catch that ball..."

"You can't-- you blame yourself for--don't be ridiculous!"

"You didn't go back to Brazil with your family because of me," Bunta returned.

"I didn't go back to Brazil because I didn't *want* to," Jackal insisted. "I *like* living in Japan, and I wanted to go to college here, and, yes, because I wanted to keep playing tennis with you and the others. Bunta, you're my best friend. We've been tennis partners since junior high. I don't regret my choice to stay in Japan, although I *am* sorry we didn't get to play as professionals longer. Still, as your friend and tennis partner, I really think you should find a new partner and continue with Pro-tennis."

"I don't want to! Not without you!"

Jackal sighed and pulled the redhead closer.

~*~