DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ACE OF DIAMONDS AND ITS CHARACTERS. I DON'T EVEN GET PAID FOR THIS SO DON'T SUE!

Written for johanne asherei as a gift. Thanks for the support til now. It took a while and its late even but I managed to make it still. Hope you like it. ^_^

Editted

"Give Him Back"

They all should have noticed. Kuramochi and Masuko especially since they live in the same dorm room. But no one did. Not even Hideaki, Haruichi, and Furuya.

~GHB~

Seidou High School Baseball Team had just won the championship and everyone was in high spirits. Well, except for the team that had just lost. However, as Chris turned to search the crowd for the freshman that had made the win possible, he frowned a bit when he couldn't find Sawamura Eijun anywhere.

"Has anyone seen Eijun?" Chris asked and everyone instantly quiet down and looked around.

Without another word, everyone left the pit to look for their wayward freshman.

~GHB~

That same moment, Todoroki Raichi was face to face with 'Sawamura Eijun'.

"Who are you?" Raichi asked as his eyes widen in shock.

The one before him, thought he looked like Sawamura, Raichi knew it wasn't the same freshman.

Eijun smiled and laughed as he normally did.

"I'm Sawamura Eijun of course. Come on Todoroki. Just because we won, doesn't mean you go and forget who I am the moment we meet up again." 'Eijun' said.

It was just then that the Seidou Team came.

"No. You're not Sawamura. I do not know who you are but you're not him." Raichi said with a serious tone.

The team had heard it but didn't understand what it mean so they interrupted.

"Sawamura! We've been looking all over for you." Kuramochi said as he and the rest moved closer to where the two were.

The rest were looking at Raichi who was looking at Eijun in a very disturbingly weird way.

But before any of them could ask, Raichi's captain came and told him that they were leaving. But before they left completely, Raichi turned to the Seidou Team and to the one who looked like Sawamura.

"Give him back. You don't belong here. Return him here. He belongs here. You don't." Raichi said and then turned to leave with his Captain, the whole Seidou Team looking at the two figures leaving then turned to Sawamura who looked confused.

"What did Todoroki mean when he said you weren't you, Sawamura?" Tetsuya asked and everyone else turned to the boy who tilted his head to one side and showed confusion.

"I don't know. He just came up to me and said that I wasn't me and asked who I really was. I thought he was just joking but then I thought he must have bumped his head on the door or something so I didn't really dwell on his question and told him my name." Sawamura answered and they all nodded.

As the team turned to make their way to their bus, no one had seen the smirk that had appeared on 'Sawamura's' face for a split second before it turned into a wide smile and went to joke with the rest of the team.

~GHB~

Before Tetsuya made them rest, he had told them that tomorrow at lunch, they would plan a small victory celebration for their win and that everyone was to be present. The members nodded and went to their rooms. As the others were leaving, Kominato Ryosuke stood by Chris' side and watched as Sawamura stood up and left with Kuramochi and Masuko.

"Did you notice?" Ryosuke asked in a rare serious tone.

Chris didn't even turned to him and just nodded.

"Whatever Todoroki was saying earlier, it must have meant a great deal for him to have pointed it out once more before leaving." Chris answered his friend and sighed.

Tetsuya, Tanba Koichiro, Isashiki Jun, and Chris looked at each other for a long time before they went to their dorm rooms to rest. Even without saying it out loud, all of them made a vow to find out, just what it was that Todoroki meant by Sawamura not being himself.

~GHB~

That night, Sawamura waited for his two senpais to fall asleep before he left the bedroom and head to the rooftop of the dorm room like he did every night since he had been Sawamura for the last three months. He made sure that no one else was following him. It would not be ideal if he got caught now when he was only a week away from gaining the life of Sawamura Eijun.

He opened the door that led to the rooftop and went to close it behind him. When the door closed, the real Sawamura Eijun appeared but he was transparent and in chains.

"Give me back my body, you body stealer!" Eijun cried as he tugged on the chains on his arms and legs.

"Why would you want to return here? No one even noticed that you are no longer yourself. Everyone thinks I'm you." Said the other.

"They will find out! And when they do, I will get my body back and you will be gone." Eijun swore through his teeth but the other laughed.

"You really think that? It's been three months and no one has noticed. Not even your roommates. However… Todoroki might post a problem if he doesn't stay away." The imposter said with a frown on his face.

The real Eijun laughed.

"Of course he'd noticed! His a rival. He'd know when something if off." Eijun stated and sat down on the floor.

The imposter then sighed and smiled.

"Well, no worries. Just one more week and you will be gone and I will have your life. And once that happens, I'll be a better Sawamura Eijun that you ever were. I'll see you in a week." Said the imposter before leaving Eijun once more in the rooftop, stuck between the living and the dead.

~GHB~

The next day, Todoroki couldn't stay away. He made sure that Sawamura wasn't around to see him just in case. Then he finally saw the captain with the vice and Chris taking by the gates, as if they were waiting for someone. Todoroki knew it was his only chance.

"Good afternoon, senpais. I know that this will sound crazy but I'm telling you that I meant every word I said yesterday. Sawamura is not the real Sawamura. Something is wrong and I saw it yesterday. When I talked to him before you came, he flickered right in front of me. I don't know who he is but you have to do something… I have a feeling that if you don't do it now, it'll be too late and you'll lose the real Sawamura for good." Todoroki said, his eyes pleading for the three senpais to believe him.

But before the three could say anything, Todoroki's eyes widen and he moved back and away from the three.

"Oi Todoroki! What brings you here? Want to transfer to Seidou now?" Sawamura joked as he walked towards them.

The three senpais turned and saw Sawamura grinning like always but when they turned to Todoroki, the guy was already running away from them.

"Eh? Why did Todoroki run away when I came? I know I took a shower this morning." Eijun commented as he lifted the front of his shirt to his nose to make sure that he didn't smell bad.

"Ne, Chris-senpai, what was Todoroki doing here anyway?" Eijun asked.

The three turned to him and Chris shrugged. Jun turned to look at the path Todoroki had used to escape and Tetsuya stiffened a bit.

"Well, aside from declaring that next year they'd win the championship for sure, he actually just pointed out that we'd be leaving after this year and that Seidou's chances of winning again would lessen." Chris explained.

Sawamura tilted his head to the side then laughed.

"Like that's gonna happen." He said and then sobered up.

"Anyway, the general told me to look for you three. He wanted to talk to you about something. Mission done, I'm off to class. Catch you later senpai-tachi." Sawamura said happily and jogged back to the school building.

The three were left in silence once more. They watched as Eijun was near the entrance when he flickered before he entered the building and disappearing from their view. He didn't see the shock look in the senior's faces that moment.

"Chris… I don't think Todoroki was kidding at all. The moment he saw the brat, he but high tailed it away as fast as he could as if he just hit a homerun for his team." Jun said with worry in his voice.

Tetsuya was in deep thought.

"Todoroki-kun said that we better hurry or it will be too late." Tetsuya said and the other two nodded.

"We need to find out what that flickering things meant. Chris, talk to Kuramochi and Masuko. Tell them to watch out for Sawamura and make sure that he doesn't actually do anything out of the ordinary. We'll tell the others. Make sure that they don't tell the boy and be too obvious." Tetsuya added, using his Captain tone.

The rest of the day was spent making sure that Sawamura was busy and wasn't near anyone of the three when they talked with the others. Chris had told Kuramochi and Masuko who looked a bit worried.

"How come we didn't notice anything?" Kuramochi asked while Masuko nodded in agreement.

"Whoever this person is, he is careful. He is making sure that no one would notice." Chris told them and both came to an understanding that it was up to them to find out if Sawamura has indeed been acting strange.

Jun had approached Furuya, Haruichi, Ryosuke, Mizuki, and Shinji. He had explained to them what had happened and they all promised to keep an eye out. However, Ryosuke was a bit insulted. He prided himself with having sharp eyes and observation skills that rivaled Sherlock Holmes. But here comes this case and he had NOT noticed anything at all.

That night, Sawamura pretended to sleep and waited for the two senpais to fall deep into sleep like usual. However, he didn't know that they were watching. When midnight came, Sawamura stood up and left the dorm room. The two sat up and looked at each other and nodded.

As much as they wanted to follow and see where Sawamura went, they thought it was best to not do so.

~GHB~

"Six more days, Eijun-kun… I came by to see how transparent you became. And I'm not disappointed. You're existence is nearly over."

"Why are you here?! To taunt me before I disappear for good?" Eijun asked angrily.

The other laughed.

"Aside from taunting you, I wanted to tell you that Todoroki was here this afternoon. I don't know but I will have to get rid of him if he over steps his boundaries again. I don't want to have to kill him. That would mean I have to wait another week since I would soil my hands with his blood when I don't even own your body yet." The body snatcher said.

Eijun didn't say anything and just stared angrily at the being that was inside his body.

~GHB~

The next day, it was luck that Sawamura and his class representatives were ordered by their homeroom teacher to do an errand to the city. Of course Sawamura tried to get out of it but Tetsuya and Chris told him to just do it.

"You are a member of the Seidou Baseball Team. Do not whine and just do as your told. The faster you do them, the sooner you return and the less punishment you have for skipping practice." Jun joked and the boy just pouted as he was dragged off by his classmates towards their teacher.

Inside the locker room, the place was packed with tension. It was so thick one could cut it with a knife.

When the other freshmen arrived, Kuramochi and Masuko nodded at each other and turned to the group.

"Last night, around midnight, Sawamura did leave the dorm room. We thought of following but we thought that it would have not been the best course of action that time." Masuko said and Kuramochi nodded.

"He was gone for about twenty minutes or so. Then he came back and just slept." Kuramochi added to Masuko's information.

The room was silent.

"Well, now we know that something is really off. But what is it? Where did Sawamura go when he left the room and why did he flicker that time?" Jun said as he leaned back on his seat.

No one had an answer.

"Do you think we could talk to Todoroki again? He was the one who noticed it first right?" asked Mizuki.

Tetsuya and Chris shook their heads.

"He helped enough as it is. And from how he ran away when Sawamura came, I think that it would be best to keep Todoroki away from this mess." Chris answered Mizuki who deflated a bit.

"Any guesses to where Sawamura went off to?" this time, Tanba asked.

Everyone was silent for a long time once more.

"Well, we have to think of the logical places. Kuramochi said that he was gone for only twenty minutes. Wherever it was he went was somewhere near yet not many go to. If he was hiding something, he would make sure it was in a place where no one would think of looking for anything." Ryosuke spoke and got nods from the group.

Everyone was thinking, trying to guess anything that might help them in some way or another. The silence was nearly deafening but it was Furuya who broke it.

"The rooftop… I remember that he mentioned it to me once… he liked the view from there and he said that when he would build his house, he'd have a view deck on top of his house just to see the sunrise and the sunset." He told them and without sparring another second, they all left the locker room and ran to the rooftop of the dorm room.

~GHB~

When they got there, it was empty.

Of course it was. It would have been far too easy if they find something so soon. And they knew it well. But unseen to them, Eijun looked like he could celebrate when he saw his whole team there, looking for something.

"There has to be a clue somewhere right?" Mizuki asked with Eijun had to cheer happily.

"Yes! Yes! There is a clue! Come back at midnight please! Please!" Eijun begged as he tugged on his chains once more.

It was Haruichi who heard the sounds of chains.

"Chains… something else is here… in chains…" he said and everyone turned to stare at him.

"Harucchi! I'm here! I'm here! Help me!" Eijun cried out as he tugged on his chains once more, hoping that the boy would hear him.

"There it goes again… sound of chains…" Haruichi told them.

Norifumi paled.

He heard Eijun's voice! It was chopped up but he heard it!

"Eijun-kun! I can hear you! Tell me where you are?!" Norifumi looked around as he tried his best.

"Midnight… come… midnight… careful… hurt you…" Eijun said before he faded. It was still light out and there was no way he'd be able to stay long enough. He just didn't have the strength anymore.

"Norifumi? What did you hear?" Chris asked.

"Eijun is here. I heard him senpai-tachi. His was able to make a full statement but then the next was chopped up. Like he was losing signal or something." The boy said.

"What did he say?" Jun asked.

"He first said that he was here and to help him. He called for Haruichi and said 'Harucchi'. He calls him that remember?" everyone nodded.

"Then his next words began to chop up. All I could hear was 'midnight', 'come', 'careful', and 'hurt you'. " he said and everyone shuddered.

"We'll have to hurry. If his voice and cry for help is fading then we have no time to lose. Lets head back to the locker room and plan." Tetsuya commanded and they all left.

They feared for the life of Eijun who they couldn't even see anymore.

~GHB~

In one hour, the team managed to plan a way to keep the Sawamura that was among them within their sight while Norifumi, Haruichi, Tetsuya, and Chris went back to the rooftop.

Sawamura groaned when his other teachers had given them a ton of homework that was to be passed the next day. Unknown to the imposter, the team had managed to get the teachers to help them. They did not outright tell the real reason but the teachers loved giving out homework.

"And we were told that if we didn't finish then we'd be doing it tomorrow after classes. That would mean I would miss practice again and the general would have my head." Sawamura complained.

"If that is the case, then there is no way around it. We'll help as much as we can." Jun said as he sat next to Furuya who was already writing his homework.

Sawamura saw him and got working as well.

~GHB~

Meanwhile, the other four were on the rooftop already and made sure that the door was lock so that no one could get in.

The night air was cold and it was really not the best time to even be up in the rooftop. It was dark, spooky, quiet, and now it was haunted.

They waited until either Haruichi or Norifumi could hear anything.

Slowly, Eijun's astral body began to appear. And it was Chris who could see it.

"There." He said and pointed at the area near the edge of the rooftop.

"Chris-senpai!" Eijun called out and was crying with joy.

"Eijun, tell us what happened." Tetsuya asked even if he couldn't see or hear the boy.

"I don't know really. I come here often to look at the view and one night, when I couldn't sleep, I came here around midnight to just think for a bit. But something… else was here. And it pushed me out of my body and then I was chained here. I couldn't get free and the body-snatcher was already laughing." Eijun said and Norifumi repeated Eijun's tale to the other who couldn't hear him.

"Do you have any idea how to get back to your own body?" Chris asked and saw the boy look down and shook his head but like Tetsuya and Haruichi, he couldn't hear anything. Only Norifumi could hear Eijun's voice while Haruichi could hear the chains that was holding Eijun there.

"Gomenasai, senpai. But I do not know how. But he told me that I have until the end of this week til he gets my body and I'll disappear forever. I… I'm so sorry senpai." Norifumi bit his lip after he told the other three what Eijun said.

"No, Eijun-kun. Its us who should be sorry. We didn't notice. It took Todoroki pointing it out for us to even see that the Sawamura that had been with us for the last three months was no longer you." Tetsuya apologized.

Chris hung his head down.

"We will find a way to get you back, Sawamura. We won't let you disappear." Chris said as he placed a hand on Tetsuya's shoulder.

Though he didn't want to hope, Eijun smiled at them sadly and nodded.

"You better leave now. If you stay longer, another might come and replace you like how it replaced me." Eijun warned them before disappearing once more.

The four didn't need to be told twice and left the rooftop before a cold breeze could touch them.

~GHB~

The morning had come and it had strained everyone. It was nearly one in the morning when the Chris and Tetsuya made everyone rest up and had the homework making put on hold. Though Sawamura didn't want to stop, he couldn't disobey his captain.

With the help of the teachers once more, Sawamura was called to the teacher's office, giving the team time to meet up.

"We have to search and find out how to get Sawamura back to his body then?" Kuramochi asked and got nods.

"There is little time left so we can't waste any of it. We have to hurry and come up with a plan before our time runs out and we lose Eijun for good." Chris said with a grave voice which made everyone worry and yet vow to do their best.

Four days.

Fours days came by so fast that it scared the whole team.

Seeing Sawamura laugh and practice with them made them all scared to think what would happen should they fail.

And finally, the night the snatcher had waited for. And the night the team waited for as well.

Sawamura came out of the shower and was grabbed by Masuko, Tanba, and Jun. They had tied him up and made sure there was no way he would escape.

"Senpai-tachi? What is this? Did I do something wrong? Why am I being punished?" Sawamura asked with a scared tone.

It was Chris who snapped.

"Stop pretending to be Sawamura! We know your not him!" Chris yelled as he turned to Tetsuya who nodded to Tanba and Masuko.

The two seniors lifted the boy and the whole team made its way to the rooftop, much to the shock and fear of the tied up imposter.

"Let me go! Let me go! This instant! You can't do this to me!" he cried as he tried his best to struggle but the ropes were done tight.

No one dared speak until they reached the rooftop where they all waited for midnight to come.

"Why do you even care? If it wasn't for that noisy body Todoroki, none of you would have been able to tell the difference." The imposter accused and they all flinched.

"True that we weren't able to notice… you were very careful and made sure that nothing was out of the ordinary. We have to admit that if it wasn't for Todoroki, we wouldn't have known. But when we did come to realize that you weren't the real Sawamura, we had to do something. Todoroki said that you don't belong here. He is right. Whoever you are, give us back Eijun and leave." Ryosuke said with a serious voice that made a few others shiver in fright.

However, the imposter just snorted and smirked.

"Really?I knew I should have killed that boy the moment he opened his mouth and you overheard what he said. That was why he was here the next day right? To warn you about what he felt. That I wasn't the real Sawamura." The imposter stated but no one answered.

The time came for Eijun to appear once more.

"Ha! I told you they'd find me!" Eijun said triumphantly which made the imposter sneer.

"So what? They have no idea how to get you out and how to get your body back from me. Because I'm sure as hell I'm not going to just hand you over this body when I have waited a hundred years to be back to the living plane." The imposter hissed angrily.

It was then that Shirasu sat down and began to pray. The imposter's eyes widen.

"What are you doing, Shirasu?! Stop chanting dammit!" the imposter yelled as he managed to get on his feet and run towards the praying boy.

However, thanks to Tanba, Jun, Masuko, and Kuramochi, they kept him away from Shirasu. The imposter struggle before he turned to Furuya and Mizuki.

"Furuya! Mizuki! Stop him! You both wanted to be the best right?! If you let me go, I'll move away far from here and never come back. You can fight for the top spot between you both and I would not be here to hinder that." The imposter offered and the two actually stared at each other.

No one said anything, even Eijun. He knew that this was something that was not up to him and that in the end, the two would be the only ones who held his existence in their hands.

"Before… if you had asked me that a year ago… I would have jumped on the opportunity to get rid of Sawamura. He is annoying, an idiot, and I didn't think he'd even amount to anything." Furuya said with a hard tone that Eijun bit his lower lip.

He knew that they had never been that good friends but to hear it from Furuya's lips was harsh and painful.

"But now… I'd rather have him than have the top spot without fighting for it." The added statement shocked not only the imposter but the rest as well.

Mizuki chuckled.

"I agree with him… Eijun is annoying and a retard but that's who he is. And I don't think I would want him any other way." Mizuki said as he chuckled once more and turned to Eijun who was already shedding tears even if he was like a ghost at the moment.

Ryosuke chuckled along.

"Eijun-chan has his flaws… everyone does… But what makes him different is that he doesn't use his flaws as an excuse and works to be better than before." Ryosuke said and Eijun's chains snapped and fell on the floor.

"NO! Stop!" the imposter struggled more as Eijun slowly approached him.

"Another thing about Eijun is that despite his idiocy… he has a good heart. He thinks of everyone before his own and that alone would be enough reason to want him back." Chris said which made everyone smile and nodded.

Eijun was slowly merging with himself now while the one tied up was yelling and thrashing about.

"Time for you to come back to us, Sawamura Eijun of Seidou Baseball Team." Tetsuya ordered with a smile and got a nod of affirmation from the whole team.

Eijun laughed as he disappeared into his body.

No one dared move.

No one said anything.

They all waited.

Then the imposter was out of Eijun's body and was in chains; just like how Eijun was when Chris had seen him.

"No! No! No! I was so close! You all could have what you all wanted! I would have given it to all of you if you just let me go!" the imposter yelled as he tugged on his chains.

"You wouldn't be able to give us what we wanted. You weren't the real Eijun and only he could give us what we really wanted the most: to feel that we all matter and that we achieve everything because we all worked for it together." Tetsuya spoke and they all nodded.

Everyone watched as the imposter began to fade into the nothingness while screaming. Eijun was standing in between Tetsuya and Chris before he smiled and fainted.

The two seniors managed to catch him before he hit the floor and the rest chuckled.

Masuko lifted the boy into his arms and they all left the rooftop. Tetsuya made sure that the door was kept locked and no one would be able to enter it ever again.

~GHB~

The next two weeks had been hard on Eijun. Even if he didn't show it, even if he didn't say it… what he went through had been a life changing experience for him and he'd never be able to forget it.

He was in the locker room, spacing out as he looked out the window. He had not even noticed that his team had already filed into the room.

"if you keep that look on your face, we might think that you're actually thinking and… Don't strain yourself." Furuya commented and the rest couldn't help but snicker when Eijun turned and was all red.

"Shut it you! I don't want to hear it from you of all people!" Eijun said as he jumped away from the window and exchanged banters with Furuya and the rest of the team.

They all laughed at the antics of the freshman who was being restrained by Haruichi and Hideaki from hitting Furuya. After changing back to their uniforms and leaving the locker room, Todoroki was there and looked over Eijun up close.

No one had moved a muscle.

Then Todoroki hit Eijun's head really hard.

"Next time… Don't get your body snatched, idiot! You're so troublesome." He said before he turned and hide the relieved smile as he walked off.

Hideaki, Haruichi, and Shinji had to hold him down to not run after the other boy and hit him back. The others smiled and eventually laughed. They could all see clearly that despite how he acted, Todoroki Raichi had worried about Eijun.

And now the boy was back in his body and was trying to get back to normal like nothing had ever happened to him for the last three, nearly four months. Eijun had thought about it but decided to just think that it was a long nightmare and it was all over.

Yup, it was all over and he was back.

A/N: Alright… Not sure if this was what was asked or thought off… but it was the one that came into my mind and had been stuck like that. So I hope you had enjoyed it. Read and review my good people. ^_^