Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Bad Day ❯ Bad Day ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Fuji had watched Echizen the entire time during practice. Ryoma really was superb at hiding his feelings. Not a single person had a clue that just a few minutes ago, Ryoma had been crying and shaking in his embrace. He and Ryoma were more alike than Fuji first believed. They both had their `masks' so to speak, and they were known as the prodigy and the prince. Not even Tezuka had occupied this much of Fuji's thoughts at one time. Fuji was beginning to believe that he was attracted to the prince, and likewise he was sure he was on the prince's mind as well.

"Echizen, why don't we go get some ice-cream after practice?" Fuji asked as they ran laps.

"No, Fuji-senpai."

"Why not?"

"I get burgers with Momo-senpai after practice."

"I'm sure Momo won't mind. Will you Momo?" Fuji called out.

"Huh?" Momo was now confused. What had he missed?

"Echizen is going with me for ice-cream. You don't mind do you?"

"Oh . . . sure, why not?" Momo replied still a bit confused.

"There you go, Echizen. Now you can go."

". . ."

After practice Fuji and Ryoma were walking side by side silently making their way to the ice-cream parlor, when a guy passed them. There was something about that guy that made Echizen stop and look back.

"What's the matter, Echizen?" Fuji asked when he noticed that Echizen was no longer following him.

"Nothing Fuji-senpai." Echizen shrugged and walked on.

Fuji and Ryoma had been at the ice-cream parlor for some time, and yet, Echizen hadn't touched his ice-cream at all, and it was starting to melt. Fuji who was just about done had been watching the emotions playing in Echizen's eyes and finally decided to question Ryoma.

"Echizen."

". . ."

"Echizen."

". . ."

Fuji saw that he was not going to get a response from Ryoma, so he leaned over and took one big lick off of Ryoma's ice-cream cone. Ryoma felt pressure being added to his hand holding the cone, looked down to find Fuji looking up at him rather enticingly with his tongue now coated with strawberry ice-cream. Ryoma swallowed and tried to hide a slight blush but failed, and looked back at his senpai.

"Fuji-senpai?"

"Mmm, yes Echizen?"

Echizen visibly shivered at Fuji's suddenly husky voice before finding his. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to get your attention. You were so out of it and wouldn't respond to my voice so I had to try something else. What were you thinking about. . .?

". . ."

"You might as well tell me now because you know I'll figure it out eventually."

Echizen nodded. "I was thinking about the guy we passed by earlier. There's something about him that I can't shake off. I feel as if I know him from somewhere."

"What was it that caught your attention?"

"This is going to sound funny to you, but the way he smells."

"Did you recognize his face at all?"

"No."

They sat there quietly for a bit before deciding it was getting late and should go home. They parted and Ryoma was now on his own. Fuji had come up with a theory as to why Echizen recognized the man but not his face, but decided to keep it to himself for now, He didn't want to upset Echizen unless he had more evidence. Fuji did notice the shiver, however, and couldn't help think that Echizen, acts cold he may, was definitely interested, and so was he for that matter. He'd have to play, and by play he meant torture, Ryoma later.

The following day at school Fuji had found Ryoma on the roof yet again during lunch. However, today Fuji stayed up there with Ryoma sitting next to him as before. It had been some time after Echizen had fallen into a doze and Fuji looked over at him. He's so cute . . . that's probably why he was snatched up and treated so cruelly. Echizen rolled over and curled into a ball. Frantic eyes moved under the thin layer of skin as Echizen's breath started to shorten and pick up pace. He was having a nightmare. Fuji called out Ryoma's name, but he wouldn't wake up, so Fuji grabbed Echizen's shoulders and gave him a small shake. Echizen woke with a start, pushing Fuji away, then curling into a ball and looking around panicky, still breathing heavily. Echizen calmed down when he realized where he was, and turned his gaze to Fuji. Fuji looked back at Ryoma, no longer wearing his `mask'.

Ryoma realized he had a cold sweat on his brow and wiped it off with his sleeve, took a deep calming breath, stood up grabbing his bag, and headed towards the exit still looking a bit shaken up but quickly tried to repress it. Fuji watched him go, not quite sure how to handle these types of situations. The bell rang, and Fuji left for class still thinking heavily.

After school, Ryoma headed to the locker room, but Tezuka intercepted him.

"You don't look well. Are you all right?"

"Yes." Ryoma may have felt fine, but he didn't look it. He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes from the sleepless nights when his dreams racked his mind. Tezuka thought so as well.

"Go home and get some rest."

Tezuka turned around and left to start practice-leaving Echizen standing there. He slowly turned around and started home. The walk home had seemed shorter than usual, probably due to the fact that he felt drained and zoned out the whole way. When he got home he went to his room and lay down on his bed, curling into a tight ball. It felt as if his world was pressing in on him. He tried to forget about the dream and get some sleep. When he didn't come down to dinner, his mother and cousin came in to check on him, but he was still sleeping.

The next morning, Ryoma felt more drained than ever. He was even more pale, staggering a bit, and more dead to the world than usual. His cousin sent him back to bed. When Momo came by, she told him that Echizen wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be going to school today. Momo left, and Echizen was left in his room with nothing to do. He was thinking about going to the public tennis courts and play for a bit, but two things stood in his way. One, his cousin would probably lock him in his room for even attempting to do something physical. Two, he didn't really feel like playing anyway. So, Echizen just lay on his bed thinking.

Giving your mind room to wander where it will with no restrictions or distractions isn't always a good idea. (Sonic16- This is my quote, I often feel this is true. With out daily thing to occupy our minds they can wander to places we never thought they would. Or so I think anyway.)

Fuji had been worried about Echizen the entire practice. Momo didn't know the specifics of Ryoma's illness, so he couldn't tell Fuji what was up. This made Fuji more worried than usual. Something in his gut told him everything was not fine. After practice, Fuji made his way to Ryoma's house to make sure he was all right. On his way over to Ryoma's house, Fuji was nearly run over by an ambulance as he was crossing the street. Luckily, he was able to jump out of the way onto the sidewalk. Fuji was startled out of his thoughts that had begun to consume him.

Once Fuji got to Ryoma's house, he knocked on the door, but he got no answer. The lights looked to be on, and he could have sworn that he heard a T.V. on somewhere. After knocking a bit more and getting no response, he turned and left. After arriving home, Fuji did his homework. When he was called down to dinner he only fiddled with his food and got lost in his thoughts before excusing himself and headed back to his room. Fuji picked up the phone and dialed Ryoma's number. It rang quite a few times before it was picked up.

"Hello?" A tired, on the verge of tears (or tears being held back), voice answered.

"Hello . . .is Echizen there?" Fuji inquired.

There was a big sniff before the answer. "No . . .he's . . .not." Then the other person broke down into tears.

"Miss, are you all right? What's wrong?" Fuji was really starting to get worried now. He was beginning to see how Oishi felt most of the time.

"He's . . .He's . . .at the hospital!" she wailed into the phone.

Fuji immediately hung up the phone and ran out of the house in the direction of the hospital. By the time he reached it, he was doubled over gasping for breath. The lady at the counter looked at him a bit worried. Fuji finally caught his breath and stood up straight.

"Is there an Echizen, Ryoma here? He would have come in not to long ago."

"Yes, but only family members are allowed to visit him at the moment."

"I'm his cousin!" Fuji lied.

The woman eyed Fuji wearily. "He's in room number one twenty-five."

"Thank you." Fuji threw over his shoulder as he took off for the room.

As Fuji walked past the waiting room, he saw a weird looking monk seething in a chair towards the back. When Fuji finally reached the door, he stopped and gently knocked. There was a soft `come in' before he slowly pushed the door open. Fuji didn't like what he saw. The room was a crisp white with two beds on the wall to the left. On the right, there was a couch, and directly in front, there was a window. A beautiful woman sat in a chair next to the bed closest to the window holding Echizen's left hand. Echizen seemed as white as the sheets he was laying on, and an IV was dripping blood into a tube that ran into his hand along with a clear liquid. Fuji shuddered and moved into the room.

"Who are you?" Ryoma's mom asked with tears still shone in her eyes.

"I'm Fuji Syusuke, one of the regulars on the tennis team."

"Oh, hello."

"Hello. How is Ehizen doing?"

"Better now, but he lost a lot of blood."

"What happened to him?"

". . .When I came home, I started dinner with my niece. When I called Ryoma down to dinner he never came, so I went up to his room to see what was taking him so long to come. When I opened the door . . ." She takes a deep breath to control herself even though tears were running down her face. "Ryoma was lying there on his bed as white as paper, and . . .and . . .his bed was saturated with his blood . . ."

"I'm very sorry, I don't want to upset you more, but what happened to him?"

"Ryoma had slit his wrists." She now broke into a waterfall of tears, and Fuji walked over to her and held her as she cried into the crook of his neck.

She stood and excused herself after calming down a bit, and Fuji filled her seat. He looked at Echizen's sickly pail face, and felt a giant lump in his thought and tried to swallow it unsuccessfully. He looked so fragile, like a china doll. Fuji gently brushed some hair out of Echizen's face.

"Echizen, you're going to have to see a psychiatrist now. I know you're not going to want to talk about what happened to you, but now you have no choice in the matter. I wish you would have come and talked to me instead. I wish you knew that I'm here for you. You could have interrupted my class or practice to talk to me. I'm always here for you. I'll listen when you talk."

Fuji put his face into his hands, feeling a bit useless and not liking it one bit.

"Fuji-senpai?" Echizen asked in a raspy voice.

Fuji's head shot up. Azure eyes locked with forest green.

"Can I have a glass of water?"

"Sure."

Fuji got up and went over to the nightstand that held a pitcher and glass, Fuji poured the water into the glass and handed it to Echizen. After Echizen had sufficiently soothed his parched throat, he lay back down.

". . .Why am I still alive?"

". . .Your mother found you soon enough to save you. Why did you do it?"

". . .I heard some of what you said."

"Don't change the topic."

". . .I didn't want to live anymore."

"Why not?"

". . ."

"If you don't talk to me about it, you're going to be talking to a stranger about it instead."

"I had too much time to think about anything and everything today."

"You're still skirting around the question, and you know it."

"When . . .when I was being raped, I wanted to curl up and die. When I was home today, I remembered that moment and had my chance to die. I'm unclean . . . used."

"No."

Ryoma's gaze shot up to Fuji, he had never heard him use that tone before. Ryoma felt so insecure and lost. His walls crumbled and fell. Ryoma cried and Fuji sat on the edge of the bed holding Echizen yet again letting him cry into his chest.