Set pre-GX, during Ryo and Fubuki's first year at the Academia.

Fubuki rubbed his hands together in gleeful anticipation. Today was the day he would get Ryo back for telling Chronos-sensei about the tack on his chair. Sure, Ryo had only been getting revenge on him for falsely telling Kouchan Ran that Ryo had feelings for her, but this was different. It was payback time for all those weeks in detention.

Of course Ryo would be pissed, but he was rarely mad for longer than a day or so, and it would totally be worth it to see his face after he got out of the water with his nice, freshly dry-cleaned uniform soaked with salt water. Snickering to himself, he crept closer, keeping as quiet as possible.

Ryo stood silently by the lighthouse, lost in his own thoughts and blissfully unaware of Fubuki's presence. The wind ruffled his hair and Ryo closed his eyes, still in his own little world. He didn't even notice when Fubuki managed to stand two inches behind him, hand clapped over his mouth to muffle his impending laughter.

But he did notice the hands on his back. He didn't even have time to turn around before he was pushed hard into the calm ocean water surrounding the dock. Fubuki was bent over from laughing even before Ryo disappeared under the blue surface with a loud splash. He quickly retreated away from the dock so Ryo wouldn't be able to punch him upon climbing out of the water. He turned back to the dock, still shaking with fits of laughter, and nearly bounced in anticipation of Ryo's reaction.

Thirty seconds passed. Then a minute. Then fifteen more seconds, and Ryo still didn't resurface. Fubuki glanced around, thinking Ryo might have popped up farther away from the dock and he had missed it, but there was no sign of him anywhere. He felt a twinge of nervousness in his chest, but shook it off. He's probably just trying to scare me, Fubuki assured himself. He's staying underwater, thinking that I'll get worried, dive in after him, and then he'll come up for air and laugh about how stupid I am. Yeah, that's it. He's just playing with me, trying to get me back for pushing him in. But he can only hold his breath for so long, so he should come up any minute now.

Another minute passed. Anytime now. Ten more seconds and still no Ryo. He sure can hold his breath a long time.

Twenty seconds.

Fubuki raced to the dock and jumped in. His feet hit the sandy bottom with a surprising amount of force; the water was much shallower than he'd thought. He plunged his head under the water and searched desperately for Ryo, but the sun had been setting and it was hard to see. His hands groped through the water as he swam under and around the dock swiftly, heart beating out of his chest with fear. Ryo, where are you? He went up for a quick breath of air and glanced at the dock, hoping like hell that Ryo would be standing there laughing at him. He wasn't.

Fubuki dove back under and swam closer to where Ryo had fallen in. He moved his arms and legs frantically until one of his feet hit something that wasn't sand. He swam down to get a better look, and felt his face scrape hard against a rock. He winced, feeling blood, but kept going, and in seconds he was sure he'd found Ryo, lying motionless at the bottom of the water. He clutched his friend close and pulled him to the surface, gasping for air and scraping his arm against another rock. This time Fubuki cried out in pain; he could feel cuts opening on his skin and the salt water wasn't helping. But there was no time to worry about that now.

"Ryo?" he cried frantically. Ryo didn't move. His lips were blue, his face was pale and he was limp in Fubuki's arms. "Ryo!" He held Ryo tightly with one arm and used the other to paddle them over to the dock, cutting his legs painfully against rocks he'd somehow missed before. It was quite a challenge to haul them both onto the dock, but somehow he did it, and lay Ryo down gently, panting, eyes wide and heart pounding.

"Ryo, answer me. Ryo!" He shook his friend's shoulders. "Ryo if this is a joke, it's not funny. Wake up!" He felt tears pricking his eyes, his mind racing. How could Ryo have drowned? It didn't make any sense. They'd been to the beach plenty of times; he knew Ryo could swim. Suddenly his body tightened, one word echoing in his mind.

Rocks.

He brushed Ryo's soaked hair out of his face and noticed that bits of it were stained dark. Sure enough, there was blood trickling from his scalp, similar to the blood that was trickling down Fubuki's arms, legs and face.

He hit his head on a rock and drowned. And it's all my fault. Fubuki felt sick. He couldn't think. But he needed to think. Ryo's life was in danger. He had to do something, he had to something, but what? What do I do first? Check his pulse, give him CPR, stop the bleeding? Do I just skip all that and go for help? He quickly eliminated the last option. There was no one around, and it would take too long for him to run to the infirmary and back, so instead he decided to go with the first two.

He put his hand over Ryo's mouth and felt nothing. He put two fingers against his neck and wrist and got the same result. No pulse…not breathing…he might be dead already…Fubuki felt a wave of nausea, but suppressed it. Now was not the time to panic. He tilted Ryo's head up, opened his mouth and covered his lips with his own, breathed two quick breaths, and hit his chest hard. Nothing. Two more breaths, five more chest compressions along with screaming for help at the top his lungs while performing said chest compressions. Tears poured down his cheeks, mixing with the blood from the cuts. Breathe, compressions, more screaming. How long was he supposed to keep doing this and why wasn't it working?

Oh please don't let it be too late, he thought, choking on sobs. "Come on, Ryo, breathe!" he screamed, pounding on his chest yet again. "Please. I'm sorry, it's all my fault. Please wake up!" He was shaking so badly that he could barely breathe into Ryo's mouth. "Please don't die, Ryo," he whispered. "Please." He hit his best friend's chest one more time and was about to give up hope when he heard a cough. He stopped, panting heavily. Another cough. Fubuki gasped and gently turned Ryo's head to the side. Ryo coughed again, spitting out water and moaning.

Fubuki placed two trembling fingers on Ryo's neck again and nearly collapsed out of relief when he felt a pulse. Ryo's body wracked with fits of painful coughs as he gasped for air. His eyes slowly opened so Fubuki could see slits of green. He didn't think he'd ever been so happy to see those eyes, or to finally see that chest rising and falling again. When Ryo stopped coughing and just lay there, breathing deep breaths, Fubuki threw his arms around him and hugged him as tightly as he could without hurting him.

"Ryo, I'm so, so sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive me, I'm sorry." He didn't think he could ever say it enough. Ryo lay limp in his arms for a moment, too exhausted to move, then put a hand on his head and moaned loudly. Fubuki saw that it was still bleeding. He gently laid Ryo back down and struggled out his damp uniform, which was now sticking to his skin, and placed it under Ryo's head, wrapping the sleeves around his forehead to form a bandage.

"Don't worry, Ryo. I'll get you help, I promise," Fubuki said, his voice still shaking. It scared him how quickly the white coat was getting stained a dark red. Ryo closed his eyes and moaned again. Fubuki stood up nervously. What should I do? I need to get help, but I'm afraid to leave him alone. He finally decided to take the risk and sprinted up the path toward the infirmary, his heart still beating so fast it hurt. Within minutes he was sprinting back, with Ayukawa-sensei and her team of nurses behind him. Thankfully they'd already been heading that way; a student had heard him screaming for help and had gone to tell them about it.

Ryo had passed out by the time they got there. Fubuki took his uniform, now almost completely red and sickeningly wet and sticky, and stared at it as Ryo was lifted onto a stretcher and carried away to the infirmary. Ayukawa-sensei gave Fubuki some antiseptic for his cuts and told him to go back to his dorm and rest, that they'd take it from there.

Fubuki would do as she said; he'd caused enough trouble already. But he knew there was no way he'd rest peacefully tonight.

Apologies if any of the CPR details are off. I've never had the opportunity to get certified so I had to rely on Google and my imagination.