Frozen Time

"Ne, Yukimura-buchou. Where will you be going to first?" Kirihara Akaya asked the captain of Rikkai's boys tennis team.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. The bumper cars sound promising," Yukimura replied with a certain glint in his eyes. Kirihara took a step back at the rather predatory look his captain had. He felt the tiniest bit of sorrow for those going against one of the demons of Rikkai. "What about you, Akaya?"

"I'm not sure yet either. Maybe I'll go to the water park or the coasters. Both sound fun to me," Kirihara responded with a shrug. "Well buchou, have fun!" He called over his shoulder as he went further into the amusement park.

Yukimura just smiled at their youngest member's departing words. "'Have fun', huh? A shame she isn't here to enjoy the day with me," he muttered sadly. Shaking his head to rid himself of the melancholic thoughts, he headed towards his initial destination: the bumper cars.

As he walked through the park, he recognized most of the tennis players from various schools throughout the Kantou region. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rikkai's resident trickster heading toward the haunted house. He knew Niou would be up to no good there.

Once he arrived at the bumper cars, he was fairly surprised at the amount of people waiting in line. Nevertheless, he got in line and waited with the others. A few minutes later he saw Mishima Fay and Yanagi Renji walking by together, heading toward the Lethal Weapon ride. It seems like Mishima changed her mind about the amusement park being childish.

After waiting half an hour, the line for the bumper cars felt like it hadn't diminished at all. At least to Yukimura it hadn't. Although some people had gotten impatient and left, the line had yet to progress any further. Deciding that he would try at another time, Yukimura got out of line to explore the rest of the park. He quickly bypassed the stage performing area where he heard a very loud screeching voice singing a song he could not identify.

He continued to walk, looking this way and that, easily recognizing players that he had faced on the court. When he turned to face ahead so as not to bump into anyone, he froze on the spot in surprise. Walking his way was Atobe Keigo himself. However, instead of the towering Kabaji accompanying him, the person was someone he definitely knew.

"-chan?" Yukimura called out questioningly, a bit of surprise and confusion evident on his face.

The female at Atobe's side turned her gaze to the one who called her name and her eyes widened when she saw who it was. "Seiichi-kun!" She made her way toward the Rikkai captain and gave him a hug.

"-chan, what are you doing here and with Atobe?" Yukimura inquired the female in his arms.

Atobe smirked, able to pick up the tiniest bit of anger and jealousy in Yukimura's question, especially the jealous part. He quickly began thinking of ways to stoke the fire but his thoughts were shot down when answered the question directed to her. You ruined ore-sama's fun, .

"I didn't want to miss out, especially today. I was able to convince my doctor to let me go on the condition that I don't do anything strenuous," explained quickly. "As for Keigo, he brought me here."

"And why would Atobe be so generous as to do that when you could have called me?" Yukimura inquired further, sending a small glare toward the diva's direction.

"Ahn~? Didn't she tell you Yukimura? and ore-sama are cousins," Atobe informed, ever present superior smirk on his face. He enjoyed seeing the realization manifest in Yukimura's eyes. "Maa, ore-sama must go. Need to give Oshitari a call. Ore-sama will see you later, ." With that, Hyoutei's captain left.

"Why didn't you tell me you were Atobe's cousin?" Yukimura asked the female.

"I guess cause it never came up," responded sheepishly. "My mother and his father are siblings. That's why you wouldn't be able to tell because our last names are different. However, I am told that we have the same color eyes though. That'd probably be the only similarities we have."

Yukimura thought about this. True, he wouldn't have known that they were cousins. While Hyoutei's captain's last name was Atobe, 's was . He also glanced down into the girl's eyes, noticing for the first time that they were indeed the same gray color as the diva's. Now he felt embarrassed and ashamed for jumping to conclusions so quickly.

"Ne Seiichi-kun, how about we explore the park? I just got here, so I haven't really looked around," suggested with a smile.

All the feelings he was experiencing before vanished and he returned the smile given to him. "Let's go." He held out his hand, and took it without hesitation, entwining their fingers.

**********

It wasn't too long ago when Yukimura first met . They had met while he was in the hospital. She was a volunteer worker, playing with the children that were staying in the children's wing. Since the children often came to visit him, it was inevitable that they would meet.

When they did, they became friends, and in addition to visiting the kids, came to see him as well. He had found out general information about her, like she was a student at Hyoutei and was a third year like him. Eventually all their conversations led to him asking her out when he was finally discharged from the hospital. He was happy and relieved that she accepted his date offer.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to go on that date because had gotten into a car accident the day before the scheduled outing. That had been three weeks ago and it was only a week ago that she began her rehabilitation to get back into the swing of things. He had been there with her every step of the way.

Now, although worried about her condition, he was happy and excited at the prospect of spending the day with her. Since they hadn't had the chance to go out before, this day could actually be considered their first date. Even though they couldn't do much, he planned to make the most of it and intended to make the time they were granted together fun and enjoyable.

"Ne Seiichi-kun, have you been on any of the rides yet?" asked as they slowly walked through the park, bypassing the food courts. She could have sworn she heard something that sounded like a whistle blowing. She shrugged it off and gave Yukimura her full attention.

"Well, I was in line for the bumper cars but the line was incredibly long and it didn't feel like it was shortening anytime soon. So I left and then we bumped into each other," Yukimura narrated what he had been doing before he met with her.

"You're not the type to get impatient Seiichi-kun," mused, amusement coloring her face.

"Yes, well, if you were in that line with dozens of others that were complaining loudly, you'd leave too," Yukimura reasoned, defending himself.

"That's true," agreed with a nod. Off to her right, she noticed the souvenir shop that wasn't too far away. Eyes lighting up, her face broke out into a smile. "Let's go into the souvenir shop. I can get something for my little sister. She loves cats."

Seeing her excited and anxious face, he couldn't refuse. It's not that he wanted to anyway. "All right. Let's go!"

It didn't take them long to get to the souvenir shop. When they entered, the chime of a bell greeted them and along with the cool air from the air-conditioned room. Glancing around, they saw items typical of souvenir shops. T-shirts, hats, stuffed toys and the like were all grouped at certain places of the shop. One thing was common though; every piece of merchandise had the park's signature mascot on it.

"You know, it looks a lot bigger from the inside than from the outside," commented, taking everything in. She had to admit that she felt slightly intimidated by the amount of merchandise in the shop. She shrugged it off though when Yukimura pulled her further in.

"Shall we look for a gift for your sister?" Yukimura suggested. nodded in agreement and they ventured to look around. They looked over everything at the front of the shop, pointing things out and making note of some items that were possible purchases. As they were making their way toward the back room, stopped in her trek and pulled Yukimura behind a rack of accessories. He gave her a questioning look when she peaked over the side, obviously looking at something but trying not to be seen.

"What is it?" Yukimura finally asked, wondering what the matter was.

"Seiichi-kun, isn't that Sanada-san over there by the hat rack?" pointed out quietly. Yukimura looked over toward the direction she was pointing to. He was surprised to see that it was in fact Sanada by the hat rack, intently looking over various styles and colors of hats available. He bit back the chuckle threatening to emerge, but couldn't hold back a smile when his vice-captain took a navy blue cap from the rack and placed it on his head.

"I didn't think Sanada-san would be the type to wear things like this. I guess I was wrong," speculated, amusement clearly on her face. She started to dig around in her bag she was carrying and produced a small digital camera. "This is an opportunity of a life time."

"I want a copy," Yukimura requested as he watched her set her camera up so that it didn't flash, sharing her amusement.

"Okay, but be careful with it. This is valuable blackmail and if a certain trickster got hold of it, who knows what could happen," warned, taking careful aim and took a couple pictures. She smiled in glee since Sanada hadn't noticed a thing as he left the shop. "I knew he was a big softie."

"Only at certain times," Yukimura supplied, a smile on his face. "Shall we continue on?"

"Sure!"

**********

"Finally! It felt like we were in there forever," exclaimed once they stepped out of the shop. After the incident with Sanada, they had decided to have a little photo session inside the shop. They had fun with it, putting on various items and modeling off what they were wearing. They even got a worker to take some pictures for them. In the end, had purchased a necklace that had a cat shaped charm attached to it for her sister and Yukimura bought the headband with cat ears on it that was still wearing after their photo session. He claimed that she looked adorable with them on and the clerk agreed whole-heartedly, making the girl blush.

"It was a lot of fun though. Remember to send me copies," Yukimura said, referring to their brief photo shoot.

"Of course! For now, I'm in the mood for ice cream," declared with a bright smile. "How about you Seiichi-kun?"

"Sounds good to me," Yukimura agreed and both made their way toward the closest ice cream stand. Suddenly remembering her condition, he wondered if she really should be having something like ice cream. "-chan, is it okay for you to be eating ice cream?"

"The doctor said it was okay. Besides, even if he did say it wasn't, I'd probably still eat it," replied with a wink. "Ice cream is my favorite dessert after all."

Yukimra shook his head at her. He definitely remembered that her favorite dessert was ice cream. While she was in the hospital, he would always bring a small pint of her favorite ice cream so that they could share it. They had to do so in secret because the doctor had told her she needed to eat healthy foods, which devastated the girl. It was a good thing that the doctor and nurses never found out about it or else he would have gotten in trouble. It was worth the risk though, being able to see her smile.

When they reached the ice cream stand, he ordered for the both of them and paid for the cones. They continued on their trek to explore the park, chatting about any and every thing that came to mind. They ran into some of their fellow school/team mates and talked with them for a bit. Niou was especially curious about their day so far when they met him by the roller coasters. When had told him they took pictures, his interest was piqued and wanted to see them.

"Why would you want to see them? We were just goofing around in the souvenir shop," asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh? Something tells me that there is more to it than you're telling me," Niou said, not letting the matter go.

"-chan, I don't think there is any harm in letting him take a look," Yukimura assured with a certain twinkle in his eyes. was able to catch it and just smiled. She conceded and handed over her digital camera to the silver haired boy. He shifted through the pictures and stopped on a particular one with wide eyes.

"! You have got to give me a copy of this one!" Niou pointed to the picture in her camera. The trickster in him was emerging once again from its small reprieve taken after the haunted house.

"Well, I might be willing to trade if something of equal value is exchanged," considered thoughtfully. On the inside, she knew Niou would use any means to get a good piece of blackmail material. She wondered what he would come up with.

"I'll get something good," Niou stated with a smirk, conviction in his voice. After handing her camera back, he took off in search for something to exchange for the photo he had to have.

"Are you sure it was okay to do that?" Yukimura inquired once his teammate was gone.

"Seiichi-kun, if I remember correctly, you were the one who suggested showing him the pictures," accused, though there was a playful smile on her face.

"Hmm really? How come I don't recall that at all?" Yukimura mocked confusion, which earned him a light slap on his shoulder.

**********

"Looks like we're back at the bumper cars," observed aloud. "Seiichi-kun, do you still want to go on the bumper cars?"

Yukimura glanced over at the said bumper cars with a contemplative look. "No. It wouldn't be as fun without you there," he responded after a second. "Besides, the line is still abnormally long."

"Are you sure? I feel bad that you're missing out on all the rides and everything because of me," admitted with a small frown.

"You shouldn't. Having you here is enough for me," Yukimura assured, cupping her face. He placed his forehead against her forehead making the girl blush at the close proximity. She smiled and nodded at his assurance and placed her hand in his.

"Let's go to the stage area and see if anyone's performing now," suggested, gesturing toward said area that wasn't too far away.

"All right."

**********

Laughter rang out from the couple leaving the stage performance area. The female was laughing so much that tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. She even had to hold onto her male companion for fear of falling to the ground.

"That was hilarious!" managed to say in between bouts of laughter. She was able to calm down a few moments later. Wiping the tears forming in her eyes, she turned to her companion and saw he was doing the same thing. "That was so funny. Yanagisawa from St. Rudolph really does seem like a duck."

"Yes, his performance certainly got the crowd going. Although I don't think he purposely wanted it that way," Yukimura said, laughter still in his eyes.

"But some of the others were rather good. To think that some of these tennis players had more to them than meets the eye," complimented. "I was especially impressed by Seigaku's first year regular. Didn't think he'd be able to hit those high octaves."

Yukimura nodded in agreement. He then looked around the area and noticed that the crowds seem to have gotten larger, if that were possible. "Where would you like to go?" He asked his companion.

"Let's just walk around," replied.

"Okay," Yukimura complied. Unconsciously, he wrapped his arm around her, bringing her closer to him. Realizing what he had just done, he was about to remove his arm when she placed her arm around his waist and moved closer to him. He inwardly sighed in relief and comfortably settled his arm around her shoulders.

They continued to walk around in companionable silence. Only when they pointed out something was when it was broken. When they got to the game booth area near the Antique Carousel, noticed something that she hadn't before.

"Seiichi-kun, look over there."

The blue haired male looked in the direction she was pointing at and saw a photo booth not too far from them. He looked back at her and saw her hopeful eyes. "Didn't we take numerous pictures earlier? What would be the point in taking some from the photo booth?"

"It's to commemorate our first date. Although we didn't get to do much, today was the first time we got to spend time together outside of the hospital," reasoned logically.

The captain of Rikkai thought his heart had stopped beating for just a second. He wondered if she had some kind of mind reading ability because from the start he had been hoping that this would be considered to be their first date. He didn't get his hopes too high but it was still there. Now that she had proclaimed this as a date, their first no less, he was ecstatic.

"Seiichi-kun?"

Yukimura snapped out of his thoughts at the call of his name. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Can we go?" asked with hope shining in her deep gray eyes.

"Of course." Yukimura easily conceded, now knowing her reasoning for wanting to take more pictures in the photo booth. She took his hand and led the way. They stepped inside the small area and put the required amount of money in. Four flashes later they stepped out and waited for the pictures to process.

"I can't believe you did that Seiichi," reprimanded with mock anger. She was more embarrassed than anything else. He wondered what she had to be embarrassed about. All he did was place a light kiss on her temple as the flash went off.

A minute later the strip of pictures came out. picked it up and smiled fondly. Yukimura shared her smile as he looked at them over her shoulder. The first shot was when they were making silly faces in the camera. The second was when he had kissed her temple while looking at the camera, while had a cute look of surprise on her face. The third shot was one when she reprimanded him for what he did and the last was one where they posed normally. They had smiles of contentment on their faces as they rested their heads against each other.

"I still think you should have kept your ears on," Yukimura said as he looked over the pictures closely.

"I already have others where I'm wearing them. Besides, these are special," replied to his comment. "So which ones do you want? The first two or the last two?" She asked him as she carefully split the strip in half.

"The first two," Yukimura immediately said.

"You are aware that a certain teammate of yours could get hold of these," reminded Rikkai's captain.

"It's a chance I'm willing to take," Yukimura declared as if not worried about it. conceded the two pictures to him as she put hers into her wallet. After taking one more look, he did the same. Seconds later a chime from 's cell phone got her attention. She took it out and read the message she received.

"Time sure does fly by," muttered when she finished reading the message.

"What is it?" Yukimura asked, apprehension gripping him.

"I have to get back. Keigo said that he can't take me personally but he sent for the car to take me back," explained, melancholy surfacing on her face.

"You have to go?" Yukimura questioned, not wanting their time to be cut so short. She just nodded in confirmation, and he noticed that she didn't want to go either. He knew then that the main reason she had to go back early was because of doctor's orders.

"Sorry Seiichi-kun," apologized.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Yukimura insisted, pulling her to him. In return she wrapped her arms around him. Both wanted time to stop just for them but knew that time would stop for no one. "I can go with you," he volunteered so they wouldn't have to separate so soon.

"No, you have a team to look after. Sanada-san may be capable, but who knows how long it'll take before he snaps and orders the others to do laps around the park," reasoned, declining his offer that she wanted to take. "I'll be okay."

"Call me as soon as you reach the hospital to let me know you arrived safely," Yukimura requested of his now official girlfriend.

"Of course. I have to call Keigo anyway," assured with a smile. "Take care and I'll see you later." After placing a kiss on his cheek, she went off to meet the driver that Atobe arranged for her. When she disappeared from his line of vision, he felt empty and satisfied at the same time. He was happy that they were finally an official couple but sad that their first date had to be cut short.

He shook his head of any negative thoughts. He should be grateful that he was able to spend the day with her. Now he was left wondering what to do for the remainder of the day. Before his thoughts could go any further, a certain silver haired teammate was quickly approaching him.

"Yukimura! Where did go?" Niou asked, anxiety evident in his eyes.

"She had to leave early," Yukimura answered.

"Shame. I wanted to show her this picture I was able to get," Niou informed, mischief clearly on his face. He showed the picture to his captain who was curious about what he had taken. Yukimura raised an eyebrow at the shot taken. His gaze turned back to the trickster whose mischievous expression turned into one of a genuine smile. "I wanted to show this to her only, but I decided it wouldn't hurt to show you, buchou."

The blue haired captain looked at the picture again and let out a soft smile. It was a shot of him and after they left the stage performing area, arms wrapped around each as they were walking. There was a definite air about them that was more intimate than earlier in the day when they just held hands. He then noticed that that picture wasn't the only one in the camera. As he was about to discreetly shift through them, Niou quickly snatched the camera out of his hands.

"Sorry buchou, but the rest are for my eyes only," Niou said, mischief back on his face. "So, do you think would trade with me?"

"Actually Niou, how about I trade my copy of the picture for this one when I get it?" Yukimura suggested to his teammate.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"All right, we have a deal, Yukimura," Niou accepted, sealing the deal. "I guess one measures the value of a picture differently. 'To each their own', right?" Yukimura just gave him a smile.

##########
Written by: Kurohane
Edited by: Rikapyon
September 9, 2008

This story is a part of the Teniyume and Endless Dreamers affiliate project, The Carousel Project . The next story will feature Tezuka Kunimitsu and will be written by Endless Dreamers' resident writer, Babybel, so please watch out for it.