FicWad

Mistress Yami:

Welcome to Chapter 2 of PoT!

I've gotten a friendly suggestion to introduce myself a bit more!

Ya know, get closer to the readers.... Closer..... closer....

Okay no... -.-

Although my pn is animefreak54 I've wanted to change it for awhile. But . I'm afraid that people will stop reading my stories when I do 'cause the name on the 'Author Alerts' ( not that there are many TT :sob: ) would change.

Anyway! I'm in love with BL/yaoi/shounen ai. Whatever you want to call it. I like seeing guys make out with guys. :heart:

Don't you?

Of course you do. Why else would you be here?

I love smut. I do. I love tragedies. I adore it when my favorite characters are abused and mistreated. I completely obsessed with romance and plot twists. ( :heart: I think I did rather well with one of my other stories as far as the twist at the end goes. :heart: )

Since this is my first but not last Tenpuri ficlet, there won't be much twisting and drama here because I'm still testing the characters, seeing how well I can write them and such. ( Goddess forbid I write a Mary-Sue.) I actually do have a second one in the workings, I hope to put it out soon, please take a second to glance at that as well.

I'm a cruel authoress:heart: And I love to see my boys in chains.

Chapter 2 Last Days

The rest of the team, mostly Fuji, Momo, Eiji, and Oishi (seeing as Oishi was the Seigaku 'mom') spent the rest of the school day keeping their eyes on the look out for a glimpse of Echizen. Admitted he would be a bit difficult to find amongst all the students, especially with his... lack of height.

Even so as the bell rang, sending cheers into the air from the students, for lunch Fuji, Eiji, Oishi, and Momo gather in the hallway before Ryoma's homeroom, one of the places he was known to be, at least, as far as the 'Ryoma-Sama's Official Fanclub' said.

(Begin flashback)

Fuji slowly pulled on his school uniform, feeling no need to hurry even if the only people remaining in the room were him, Momo, Eiji, and Oishi who was patiently waiting for the other half of the Golden Pair. As he tugged on the collar of his shirt he tilted his head slightly to catch their conversation better.

"Saa... where do you think Ochibi is?" Eiji asked, pouting as he tucked away his racket into his bag.

"Who knows... but it is odd for him to miss Tennis practice. He's a Tennis Freak!" Momo said with a small laugh. "I bet he played Tennis even when he was just a few months old." Which in all reality wasn't too far from the truth, although none of them knew it.

"Well, there is a chance he came late," Oishi suggested as he helped Eiji with his rackets, which he had somehow gotten tangled up in each other. Until then Oishi hadn't even known that you could get two rackets so tangled up in each other.

"True.... What do you say we meet during lunch and go look for him? After all we do have a tournament coming up and we can't have him skipping out on practice for no good reason," Momo said formulating what he thought was a logic excuse to find Ryoma and give him a good 'spanking'( meaning a couple of rounds of Dunk's by him) for almost making him late, and for making him wait out in the cold for him.

"Ah, Sure. But where do we start looking? Do either of you know where he usually hangs out?" Oishi asked as he zipped up Eiji's bag, having solved the problem.

"Uhm... no," Momo admitted somewhat sheepishly.

Oishi turned his head to Eiji who looked quite downhearted that he didn't know where his favorite freshman spent his free time at school either. Now that Oishi thought of it more Eiji's mood did always seem slightly damper when the spunky boy wasn't around.

"The Fan Club."

"EH!"


Oishi, Momo, and Eiji turned around to stare at Fuji, who had suddenly added a comment into their conversation.

"Fan... Club?" Eiji repeated after Fuji, somewhat confused... no completely confused as to where he was going with it.

"Mhm. Ryoma's Fan Club, if I remember correctly those two girls, Ryuzaki Sensei's granddaughter and her friend, are members," Fuji said as he turned around, buttoning the last few buttons on his jacket.

"Oh! Yeah! You're right! They might know where he usually hangs out!" Momo exclaimed, jumping up from the bench.

"Yes but when should we go, we don't have time to seek out the 'Fan Club' and find him during the lunch period," Oishi said as he collected his things and pushed open the door for the others.

"Thank you," Fuji said as he walked through. He waited until the remaining two had stepped out before continuing. "We can go right now. We have a good thirty minutes before the bell rings for us to head to class."

The three regulars behind him nodded their head in agreement. Their first job was to find the club... which actually wasn't all that complicated. It seemed almost as if every girl in the school was somehow a part of the club. As they walked Eiji had made the brief comment that he seemed almost more popular than Fuji. Which Fuji had kindly ignored. The group headed up the second flight of stairs towards the Second Year Classrooms.

"So which way is it now?" Oishi asked as he stepped onto the landing.

"I think we're here," Momo said weakly, pointing his hand towards a bright banner hanging above a class room door.

'The Official Prince Echizen Ryoma Fan Club' - :heart:

Fuji glanced at the banner before covering his mouth with his hand to hide the slightly amused, slightly pitying smile that had appeared.

"Shall we go in?" Oishi asked as curled his fingers around the door knob.

The three other boys nodded their heads as Momo and Eiji swallowed nervously.

"First Years- Prince Echizen-Sama"

"Prince Echizen-Sama"

"Second Years- Echizen-Sama"

"Echizen-Sama"

"Third Years- Echizen-San"

"Echizen-San"

"Rule 1: No one is to refer to the Prince by his first name."

"No one is to refer to the Prince by his first name."

"Rule 2: There will be no touching of the Princes belongings."

"There will be no touching of the Princes belongings."

"Rule 3: You may not talk to the Prince alone; another person must always be with you."

"You ma not talk to the Prince alone, another person must be with you."

"Rule 4: No unauthorized -"

Oishi interrupted this rule by politely coughing to attract the attention of the around 20 girls that were filling up the seats. Eiji and Momo were staring at the blackboard which usually held complicated math equations but now held a set of rules and proper conduct. And on a side note on the chalkboard it was written that 'full details in handout/book'.

"Wow," Eiji whispered as he glanced across the 'Consequences for breaking the rules: Applies also to those girls outside of the club.'

"Ah.... Why are you here Senpai's?" the girl at the front of the podium asked.

"Uhm..... Miss?" Oishi began, it was not the person he had expected to be standing there, he was thinking more along the lines of the other 'Cheerleader'.

"Ah! I'm Kaoru Temari! The vice-president of the Official Prince Echizen Ryoma Fan Club!" the girl said bowing her head politely.

"Ah, hello Kaoru-san, we were wondering if we could get some information from you," he said after he had returned the bow.

The girl's eyes seemed to narrow and glint as she listened to his words. She tilted her head back towards the other girls and brushed at her raven bangs.

"It won't come for free," she said giving a dark chuckle, the other girls in the class mimicking her, "Especially since you interrupted our induction ceremony."

"Indu...ction Ceremony?" Momo repeated after her, glancing at all the girls in the room.

"Yup! To join the club you have to go through an induction ceremony! Anyway! Back to your request, what kind of information would you need?" she asked, her eyes greedy.

"Oh yes... um... we were wondering where Echizen can usually be found in between classes?" Oishi asked, becoming slightly nervous around the girl.

The group could hear the girls behind them gasping. One of the younger girls in the front row, she wore pigtails and seemed of be a freshman, stood up and walked over to tug on Kaoru's sleeve.

"Kaoru-senpai! They didn't call him by proper name!" she protested, obviously shocked and appalled by that.

"Read the handbook my dear. The only people who are allowed to refer to him as... forgive me Great God for I am about to sin, Ryoma, Ryoma-kun, Echizen, or Echizen-kun are his teammates and family."

The young girl nodded her head and meekly went back to her seat, immediately digging in her bag for a pencil as she flipped through the Fan Club handbook lying open on her desk.

"So... you want to know where he can be usually found. That's some pretty tough information," she said, which of course was a lie seeing as all you had to do was observe Ryoma for a day to figure it out, but of course, the poor Seigaku Regulars didn't know about that so into the trap they fell.

"What do you want for it?" Osihi asked, feeling tired.

There was a long pause where the foursome almost thought they wouldn't get any information from her and then she said, "His towel."

There was a long pause in the air, where nothing was said and her words rung through the air, twisting around the delicate ears of the people who had heard.

Momo was the first to react as he burst out laughing, "His towel? Are you insane? You want us to steal Echizen's towel?"

His laughter however died down as he noticed the steely, steady gaze directed at him. Kaoru crossed her arms and leaned back against the podium, indicating that they could take it or leave it. Knowing the fan club they had another way of getting the particular item so either way they would not be hurt, and both Fuji and Oishi were aware of it. Eiji was too distracted by the insane rules on the board and Momo was still trying to contain his amusement at the request.

"When would you like it by?" Oishi asked finally admitting defeat to himself; it seemed that the girl would not, even if he had tried to persuade her, change her mind about the payment for the answer.

"End of the week, the sooner the better," she said cheerfully as she ran around the podium and fished out a folder.

The group watched curiously as she quickly flipped through the red binder, stopping as she reached the desired page. Gently she popped open the rings and pulled out the folder before pulling out a sheet of paper. Carefully, as if it were a holy document, which it appeared to be for them, she placed it next to her before returning the file and the binder to its original place. She turned back and slowly walked to them, holding the file out in her hands for them to take.

"Burn it once you are done," she said darkly, showing that she meant business.

The boys swallowed nervously, even Fuji was a bit shook up by the look in her eyes as they took the paper and headed out. They closed the door and cut off Kaoru's cheerful 'Come back soon!'

"Who wants to steal Echizen's towel?" Oishi asked, his voice showing how worn out that 'ordeal' had made him. Fangirls were tougher than any training he had gone through.

"Mou... Fan girls are scary," Eiji muttered as he glanced back at the bright banner before heading down the stairs, the others following his lead as the bell to head to class rang.

---- End flashback

"Okay so everyone's here," Oishi said, organized as usual.

With a nod and an enthusiastic 'Hoi hoi!' from Eiji the group began to head for Echizen's homeroom. The group stopped at the door to his homeroom and pulled it open slightly, just to make sure that just in case the sign hadn't been posted that there weren't girls changing in the room. Oishi was particularly demanding that this step of precaution was taken. He didn't want to repeat the little incident he had suffered with the 'Cursed Racket'.

Opening the door a bit wider, after seeing a healthy number of both clothed male and female students, they scanned the people in the room, one by one trying to see if Echizen was among them. To their dismay the young Tennis nut was not amongst the cheerfully chatting students. Before they had left they had briefly considered asking the students if he had shown up for homeroom in the mornings but Eiji had immediately shot it down. What if he had skipped it? (Which wasn't likely but today they had to take in all possibilities.) Or if he had come later, then the information from the students wouldn't be needed at all.

Oishi pulled the list they had received from the Fan Club from his pocket and with a pencil made a clean line through 'Homeroom' on the list. Although for the safety of Ryoma, as the girls had put it, his homeroom was not listed on the paper it wasn't too difficult to find it out by going to Ryuzaki Sensei's office and asking to take a look at the homeroom listings, after all, what could possibly be sinister about a teammate requesting to know where his teammates homeroom was.

"Rooftop?" Momo asked as he glanced at the next item on the sheet.

"Ochibi has good taste," Eiji remarked grinning.

Eiji himself had spent a good deal of his freshman year's break lounging up at the top of the school building, taking a nap or climbing on the high fence that surrounded the perimeter of the top of the school. Having loved heights all his life, and of course devoting himself to it with his acrobatics, he could see all the beauty of that single spot in the school. The only enjoyable thing besides Tennis the school had in his opinion. But as far as Eiji knew Ryoma didn't have a special fondness for heights or acrobatics. He ran his hand through his red hair as they began to climb up the stairs, suddenly realizing how little he knew about the person who was referred to as 'The Prince of Tennis'.

"Not here either," Fuji said as he closed the door and headed back down to the middle landing where the rest of them were waiting for him. They had decided as they reached the two set stairs to the rooftop that only one of them needed to go up and check. And although Eiji practically threw himself at the door Oishi had asked Fuji if he could do it. Eiji had of course been upset but Oishi had feared that if he had let Eiji do the job he would've stayed there and they would've spent the entire time they were supposed to be searching for Ryoma, trying to get the excited youth down from the roof.

"We know he's not on the Tennis courts," Momo said as he watched Oishi cross 'Rooftop' from their paper, Tennis courts having already been marked out.

There was the chance that Echizen had arrived at the Tennis courts after Momo had gone to look at them but that was highly unlikely. Even though they had no logic or fact to base that assumption on.

"Where to next?" Fuji asked as he led the other three down the flight of stairs and to the door that led them back into the classrooms.

"Well... there is the back of the school, near the tables where there's that big oak, he's said to sometimes be seen taking naps underneath it," Oishi said glancing at the only item on their list they hadn't crossed out.

The others they had crossed out by elimination, having either come from there or passed those few other places on their way to the other spots singled out by the paper the Fan Club had provided them with. Now, not only did they have to find Ryoma to satisfy their own curiosity but also so that they could... borrow and never return his towel so that they would be able to pay off their half of the bargain. Although the thought of simply not paying them back crossed their minds Kaoru's evil laughter seemed to ring through the halls, reminding them of the horrors the girls were capable of.

The rest of the break went much like the beginning, without success. They had double checked all the places they had thought he might be at, and had even split up so that they could cover more ground, and had gone to search in the places they had already ruled out at the beginning of their search.

"Maybe he really is sick," Fuji suggested, his gaze slightly worried.

"Ah... Poor Ochibi," Eiji said clearly downhearted by the very thought of anything but 'his' favorite freshman being anything but a 'glomp' object or a Tennis player.

"Don't be sad Eiji... I'm sure we can visit him after school all right?" Oishi suggested, trying to cheer his doubles partner and close friend up.

The words had the desired effect as Eiji's bright smile returned. Just as the bell rang Eiji began bounding his way to his next class, screaming something about making a 'Get Well Soon' card. Oishi watched after Eiji with a small smile on his face, Eiji was so cute and simple.

"Well, see you after school then?" Oishi asked as he began to walk away, keeping his head turned to the two.

"Of course!" Momo exclaimed before tilting his head towards Fuji, his eyes asking the question.

"I will be there as well," Fuji said, giving his eerie but charming smile to the two of them. "Well, if you'll excuse me," he said as he turned around to head back to his homeroom to fetch his things.

The rest of the day was spent in small hopeful glances by the Seigaku regulars as well as the 'resident cheerleaders' of the Seigaku Tennis team, which always ended in disappointment as Ryoma was truly nowhere to be found. The last few minutes of school were torture for the ever joyful and acrobatic genius Eiji who wanted to see his chibi as soon as possible. Whether he had recognized or had been aware of it before, he was now, he really liked to have the young Tennis player around him. He was an easy, and short, target for his affectionate hugs.

The moment the school bell rang Eiji's reflexes kicked into action, sending him almost flying out of his chair and out the door, also leaving the rest of the students as well as the teacher watching in his wake in surprise. Eiji, although energetic and an excited person wasn't one to usually race out of school, although his behavior during the day did strongly suggest that running out of school was the only thing on his mind.

Eiji leapt down the stairs and ran until he skidded to a halt in front of the lockers. Other students watched in confusion as he hopped on one leg, seeing as he was removing his shoe from the other one already, towards his locker which held his other pair of shoes.

"Ano... Eiji.... What are you doing?"

Eiji turned around, one shoe already off and being carried in his mouth as he tried to remove the other shoe. He dropped his shoes and stared at Oishi.

"I'm taking my shoes off, what else?"

Oishi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Eiji, we still have to wait for the other two to show up, no matter how early you show up," Oishi explained.

Eiji paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing at Oishi for a split second before sighing in defeat, seeing Oishi's logic. There was a reason that Oishi made the plans and the plays in the Golden Pair combo. Moving more slowly now, the two got their shoes with much less stares from their peers and headed out of the school building towards the gates where they would meet Momo and Fuji. In theory of course.

As they drew closer they noticed that Fuji was already there and waiting, having a small chat with a female student. Eiji grinned and ran towards them. He leapt up and threw his arms around Fuji giving him a rough hug as the young lady excused herself and left.

"Such a ladies man Fuji! You have more fans than me," Eiji complained as he watched the girl walk away and join her friends, who glanced back and giggled before turning back around.

"You've got it mistaken I'm afraid," Fuji said as he pulled a grinning Eiji off of him.

Oishi apologized for Eiji's excited behavior and said he was just a bit more of a bubble of energy because he had been waiting the entire day to get out of school and head to Echizen's house. Fuji nodded his head and watched, holding back a laugh, as Eiji bounded from one side of the gate to the other, trying get a glimpse of Momo. In what had seemed like an eternity Momo finally appeared through the crowd of students, his spiky hair clearly recognizable.

"Momo-chan! You're late!" Eiji complained as he pouted, indicating his further displeasure at his lateness.

"Sorry sorry, I had some after school duties to take care of. We can go now," Momo said after having apologized to each of his senpai's.

"Okay then! Let's go!" Eiji exclaimed as he turned and began walking, at a rather quick pace as well.

The three left behind decided to wait until Eiji realized he had no idea where he was going, after all what was the point in racing after Eiji. Besides the extra walking would do him good in finding an outlet for his pent up energy. It lasted a good minute before they could see Eiji walking back with a slightly confused look.

"Back already?" Momo asked with a smile on his face.

"Ano...where exactly does Echizen live?" Eiji asked.

"Follow me," Momo said turning into the opposite direction that Eiji had taken off in.

The conversation was minimal as they headed towards Ryoma's house, each contemplating on what the reason for Ryoma's stay at home could be, and whether or not, if he was sick, he was well enough to have visitors. In fact the four were so much in thought that they almost missed the house. The only reason Momo noticed it was because out of pure habit he stopped in front of Echizen's house as the other three continued.

"Oh! We're here!" Momo exclaimed as he noticed that he was standing in front of the Echizen house.

The three who had already walked quite a distance ahead turned around and wondered why he hadn't notified them of their arrival earlier. The three lightly jogged over to Momo who rang the doorbell that was set outside next to the name plate glanced back at the window which he had earlier confirmed as Ryoma's. The lights were still out. Within seconds they heard a female voice call out to them, alerting them that she was coming. A few more minutes passed before the small wooden gate was pulled to the side, revealing a young, brown haired female which they at first guessed was his mother.

"Uhm, we're Echizen's class mates.. and we were wondering if we could visit him," Momo began slightly unsure of what they wanted and how they were going to go about it.

"Oh! I'm Ryoma-kun's older cousin," she said as she gave a bow, "Nanako ."

Nanako led them into the house and pointed them up the stairs with brief instructions on how to get to his room. In her mind perhaps a visit from his friends was exactly what he need to cheer up. After taking off their shoes and leaving their bags at the entry way the four of them headed up the stairs to Echizen's room. To their luck each of the bedrooms had a name plate hanging on the door. Momo knocked gently on the door and waited before knocking again. After hearing no response he opened the door and squinted, trying to see in the dark. The small group of them stepped into the room and away from the door, allowing it to be slightly illuminated by the light in the hall.

The group found themselves staring at the face of an almost angelic Ryoma. A soft gasp was heard from them as they stared down at the sleeping Ryoma, curled up in his own blanket, his hair slightly messy and strewn about the pillow.

"Aaaw... Ochibi is so cute," Eiji said softly, afraid to wake the young freshman if he spoke any louder.

"Ah," the other three agreed, captivated by the image.

A good five minutes at the very least passed as they stared at the sleeping Echizen. In fact it was only because Ryoma turned over in his sleep that the others realized why they were there.

"Who's going to wake him up?" Fuji asked.

"I don't want to...." Eiji said, he was fine just staring at the sleeping boy.

In fact unconsciously his eyes had wandered from Ryoma's face to his arms and the exposed part of his thigh back to his face. But what captivated him most was how strangely soft Echizen looked, especially his lips. Of course the moment Eiji had found himself thinking this he had snapped himself out of it. He was a teammate and a boy!

"Oi... Echizen..." Momo said as he pushed at Ryoma's shoulder, trying to shake him awake.

Even Fuji almost pouted as he watched Momo rudely shake Ryoma awake. The young Tennis genius opened his eyes halfway for a moment before sitting up sleepily staring in complete confusion at the other three people standing behind Momoshiro.

"This is a horrible dream," he muttered to himself as he pulled the blanket over his head and curled himself underneath the blankets again.

Fuji had to struggle to keep himself from 'aawing' at it and settled with giving an unusually soft smile in his direction.

"Ochibi!" Eiji yelped as he crash landed on Ryoma's bed earning a yelp from the boy underneath.

A smooth string of curses erupted from underneath Eiji as he moved away, a grumpy Ryoma emerging from behind the blankets. He blinked sleepily as he took in the odd group of people gathered in his room.

"May I ask just what the hell my senpai's are doing in my room?" Ryoma asked, especially grumpy because he had been previously sleep deprived and did not, one bit, appreciate this abrupt awakening from a somewhat peaceful sleep.

"Don't get mad Echizen," Oishi said trying to smooth down the situation, "we just didn't see you at practice or at school so we were wondering where you were."

"Well now you know," Ryoma said rather bluntly as he tried to scoot underneath the covers again to ignore the rest of the world.

"Are you sick?" Momo asked, interrupting Ryoma's descent under the blankets.

"No."

"Then why?"

"No reason, now go away."

They watched with slight amusement as Ryoma tucked the corners of his blanket underneath him and curling up. This prevented them from taking away his blanket and waking him, well unless they wanted to lift him up and he doubted they were that desperate to talk to him. As Momo tried to do exactly that Fuji touched his arm gently and shook his head no, and then pointed to the door.

With a sigh Momo abandoned his idea and headed through the door, closing it behind him. He turned to Fuji, Eiji, and Oishi in the hall and let out a sigh.

"He really is a stubborn bastard," he commented lightly with a small smirk.

"He's kinda cute when he's sleeping too," Eiji mumbled, glancing at the door.

"Who would've thought," Oishi commented as they began to walk down the stairs.

"Leaving already?" Nanako asked as she stopped in the hallway.

"Mhm. It seems that Ryoma wants to sleep, we had to wake him up," Momo said with a small laugh.

Nanako looked shocked, "Ryoma-kun was sleeping?"

The four of them looked at each other in confusion.

"Yes. Is there something strange about that?" Fuji asked as he stepped down to the platform where his shoes were.

"Well... I'm happy. Ryoma-kun hasn't been sleeping well lately... no... I should say he hasn't been sleeping at all," she said as she turned her head towards the stairs. A soft smile appeared on her face," I'm glad he finally got some rest."

Eiji was about to ask the reason for Ryoma's sleep loss but Oishi cut him off before he could, politely excusing them. It was rude to pry. As they walked out the door Eiji turned to Oishi and asked why he had shushed him.

"We can ask tomorrow, and it's rude to pry," he said simply as he and Fuji turned into the opposite direction, their houses being closer from Echizen's house if they went to the right.

"Ah... right. Well! See you tomorrow!" Eiji exclaimed happily as he and Momo headed in the other direction.

It had been another night of restless turning over for Ryoma. There were dark circles around his eyes and he looked quite pale. Although he had planned on staying at home again his cousin wasn't about to let him do it again. If it were normal circumstances he would've argued it more but he was, once more, too exhausted to do anything but comply.

Clumsily he pulled on his school uniform, struggling with the buttons as he buttoned up his jacket. A yawn escaped him as he tried to find his school belongings, which he had unceremoniously strewn about his room the day before. He could hear his cousin yelling at him from downstairs that if he didn't hurry he wouldn't be able to eat breakfast.

He opened his mouth to yell back that he would get something on his way but he was too tired to do anything more than whisper, and he was pretty sure that she hadn't heard it. Sighing to himself he finished dressing and tugged at his Tennis bag, which seemed unearthly heavy at the time.

"Echizen-kun!"

Ryoma glanced up at his cousin as he tied his shoes.

"You have to hurry! You're going to be late, and you didn't get to eat your breakfast!"

"No worries! I'll eat it!" came his father's voice from the kitchen.

As his cousin rolled her eyes Ryoma excused himself and opened the door, letting it slip closed as his cousin wished him a good day. Judging by the time Momo had already come and gone, not that he necessarily minded, it would be a nice quite morning for him, or so he hoped.

"I wonder if Echizen will show up for practice today?" Kawamura asked as he pulled off his school uniform to replace it with his Tennis practice one.

"I don't know," Oishi said, slightly worried about the young freshman even if they had gone and visited him. Then again what he had seen he hadn't liked... (Well, other than the adorably sleeping Echizen.) Under Ryoma's eyes there had been slight dark circles that he really hadn't paid attention to until after they had left among other subtle signs of insomnia.

"Morning."

The entire team quieted and turned around to see the just spoken about boy enter the locker room, looking quite exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Momo asked noticing the dark circles under his eyes which had become more obvious since they last saw him.

"Fine," Ryoma answered as he tucked away his bag before beginning to change.

"Echizen, may I ask why you didn't come to school yesterday?" Tezuka asked as he walked up next to the young Tennis player, already dressed.

The entire team seemed to hold their breath, different conspiracy theories running through their heads. Although Ryoma had a note from his cousin prepared to say that he was feeling ill he didn't think he had the energy to go all the way to his bag, bend down, unzip the side pocket, and take out the note.

"I didn't feel like it."

It seemed as if the room had frosted over for a moment before everyone started moving again. Tezuka stared down at Ryoma, slightly puzzled by his answer. Either he really hadn't felt like coming to practice, which was the end of the world in itself, or he was just showing an attitude. Either way without a parent's note that he was sick it was within his right to punish Ryoma as he saw fit.

"50 laps around the court," were his parting words as he walked out the door.

The rest of the team seemed to glance at him in pity as he answered 'Yes captain.'

While the rest of the team warmed up a bit with light rallies Ryoma was running his laps and was already on his 20th. Which to him seemed odd, he had figured that it would take him the entire time to run 50 laps with his 'condition'. As he pondered the miracle that was occurring the rest of the team was gossiping about Ryoma's pale complexion and the dark circles under his eyes.

"Well, his cousin did say he hadn't been sleeping well," Oishi said, reminding Eiji of their visit.

"He didn't look that bad yesterday did he?" Momo asked across the court as he returned the serve back to them.

The gossiping continued as Echizen finished his last lap in what seemed like record time. Tezuka was slightly bothered by his lack of enthusiasm, he didn't know why. Maybe he had just gotten used to it and he realized for the first time that Ryoma had really grown to him.

"Echizen, practice with Momo. Inui pair up with Kaidoh and continue the doubles match against Oishi and Eiji," Tezuka ordered, receiving a 'Yes' in return.

"Hey Echizen. Mind telling me what's wrong?" Momo asked as he served.

"Yes."

Momo glared at the younger boy slightly. Even when half-dead he had enough energy to be cheeky. Momentarily forgetting that Echizen was slightly sick he put all his strength into the smash (his famous Dunk), only realizing his mistake as he saw it sailing to the ground right in front of Ryoma, who for some reason although he saw it coming had not even tried to evade, it and then bouncing into his chin, sending him flying backwards.

Ryoma's body, weak from the lack of sleep and also his lack of nutrition, flew back and bounced against the concrete before sending him into the fence. The court they had been using wasn't too far from the fence actually and Ryoma had been standing quite far back. The rest of the team had heard the crash and immediately came running, having been quite shocked by how his body had flown into the gate. Momo jumped over the net and ran towards Ryoma, getting there slightly before Eiji and Tezuka.

"Oi! Echizen? Are you okay?" he asked as he knelt down next to him.

He could hear soft curses being muttered from Ryoma as he tried to lift himself from the ground. His hand, however, buckled underneath him and he collapsed back down to the earth.

"OCHIBI!" Eiji yelled out as he came crashing down onto him, apparently oblivious to the fact that he was injured.

"Eiji-senpai. Please get off," he muttered from the almost suffocating hug Eiji had placed him in.

Blushing slightly Eiji jumped off, apologizing to him as he tried to lift himself again. By now the rest of the team had arrived and created a ring around him. Ryoma couldn't help but feel slightly claustrophobic.

"Are you okay Echizen?" Oishi asked as he knelt down to try and help him up.

With slight help from Oishi Ryoma had managed to get himself up and supported by the gate he had crashed into. A soft gasp erupted from his teammates as they glanced at the damage the skidding across the ground had caused. His arms hung loosely, almost as if it had been ripped from its socket. His arm as well as his cheek was raw and bleeding slightly, as was his leg. His knee was been torn open and although it wasn't bleeding yet it was sure to start sometime soon.

"I think you need to go to the nurse," Momo said, pointing out the obvious.

"I'll take him," Fuji volunteered, slightly surprising anyone but then again, they were teammates.

"I can do it," Ryoma muttered as he tried to take a step forward.

In the end Fuji had to catch him as his 'good knee' buckled underneath him. For 'some reason' unable to hold his weight, Ryoma glanced off to the side as Fuji slipped his arm underneath the shorter boy to support him. Fuji glanced back and mouthed 'towel' to Oishi seeing as he was the only one currently turned to them.

The two headed in silenced towards the nurses office. Ryoma for some reason finding himself at ease with Fuji's arm underneath his to help him walk. But he wasn't going to tell him that. Ryoma's arm and leg were quickly treated and his cheek was cleaned and bandaged. In addition to that the nurse sent him to one of the beds, having been worried by his pale complexion, which was even more obvious against the red blood, and the dark circles under his eyes.

Ryoma had been most convinced that there was no way he was going to get sleep.

"I'll stay here for awhile," Fuji said as he smiled down at the young boy.

Fuji could've sworn that he saw Ryoma blush but he couldn't make sure because he had already tilted his head away from the older boy. As he had thought before Ryoma was almost sure he wouldn't be able to sleep, then again, for some reason Fuji's warm presence next to him was strangely calming.

Fuji smiled as he saw Ryoma's breathing begin to slow. It became constant rhythm and he knew Ryoma had fallen asleep. He chuckled a bit as he glanced around the room.

"Sleep well Ryoma," he said as he tucked him in properly before leaving.

Ryoma showed up for all the others days of school and practice, although he always seemed to be slightly out of it, even so the days passed normally. None of them knew of the darkness that was about to envelop them. Although they couldn't ignore the fact that Ryoma was being more distant than usual.

Ryoma glanced at the street from inside of the burger place, having finished all of his food and waiting for Eiji to finish paying. He glanced at the arguing Kaidoh and Momo and couldn't help but think that this was a pretty good way to spend his last days.

Mistress Yami:

And thus Chapter 2 ends. O.o I'm sorry if the writing seems a little funky and thin at certain parts, when I find the time I'll go back and fatten them up. But it's reeeeally late and I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open.

My apologies.

Alerts are appreciated! Reviews are actually preferred seeing as that's what some people look at when they're browsing for fanfiction!

Woah! A whole 6000 words! Don't expect anything that long all the time, but when I do make them that long I hope you don't mind, sometimes I actually don't have a writers block!

How shocking is that!