Summary: "Ne, Oishi, do you believe in ghosts?" Eiji's voice was just a whisper, so unlike his usual exuberant self. ",It's alright if you don't, cause I didn't, at least, not until this," Eiji hesitantly pulled his jersey down, revealing dark hand printed bruises all around his neck and looked up into the shock and horror filled eyes of Oishi.
Cat's and their nine lives.
Chapter 1- The start of everything.
It all started with a dream.
The dream started, innocently enough, with Eiji appearing in a forest, little noises of the leaves fluttering in the wind or of the chirps of crickets. There had been no fear in Eiji then, all he felt was curiosity and the feeling of freedom.
Then it all changed.
The trees seemed to grow larger, darker until they loomed over him. The small chirping noises slowly drifted away until nothing but silence remained.
There was a sudden laughter echoing from all around him, and Eiji felt a sort of dread come over him.
That laughter wasn't natural.
"Run Run Run!" The voice whispered with a almost hysterical touch of laughter tinged onto it. "Gotta run run run or they'll get you!" It taunted. Eiji turned about, heart beating fast as fear clung onto him.
"Run until you cant run no more…" The insanely laughing voice cracked up. "…Because I'll be there waiting for you!" Eiji stumbled backwards.
"Who are you?" Eiji called out fearfully and completely afraid. A gust of wind pushed him forward, tauntingly.
"Run…." The voice lingered. Eiji stayed frozen before a large cracking noise echoed in his ears and Eiji somehow knew that that sound was a tree and if he didn't move, he would be crushed.
Eiji took the voices advice and ran, narrowly avoiding a gruesome death. The ground shook as he ran but he didn't turn back.
"That's it! Run!" The bodiless voice cackled. Eiji's body trembled as it ran, adrenaline making him run faster and less aware of his limit.
Eiji could feel his lungs burn with excessive breathing and his legs start to shake, the stress on his body becoming more and more.
Eiji tumbled to the ground exhausted, his legs no longer willing to hold himself up.
"Cats have nine lives, don't they?" The sadistic voice whispered behind him. Eiji gasped before spinning around, terrified only to let out a startled scream.
For right in front of him, was a man with a knife through his glaring eyes, blood pouring out and down his face, dripping onto the ground. A cold smile lingered on his lips.
Eiji cried instinctively as the man stepped closer.
"Consider," The man's voice was cold as he leaned closer towards Eiji. "Your first life gone,"
Before Eiji could understand what that meant, the sadistic man gave an insane scream and ran at him.
Eiji stumbled back with another cry of fear before closing his eyes, waiting for the pain just as the man reached him.
The pain that Eiji had expected did not come and the last thing Eiji remembered was the cold promise of death which sat in the man's eyes.
&*&*&Cats and their nine lives*&*&*&*&*
Eiji shot out of bed, panting with sweat cluttering on his face as fear completely overwhelmed him.
His mind was stuck on the cold gleam of those eyes and before he knew it, Eiji grabbed the side of his bed as he vomited on the floor. Tears lingered in his eyes as he coughed for air and before long, finally managed to draw in gasps of air
It was a dream, Eiji thought faintly, trying to rid himself the image of the man with the knife through his eye. Shivering again, Eiji stumbled out of bed and clumsily walked to the bathroom where he leaned over the sink, his hands shaking slightly.
"It was a dream," Eiji whispered to himself, lifting his head up to stare at the mirror.
While he knew that he wasn't exactly in his right frame of mind at the moment, it gave Eiji a slight shock to see his pale, stressed and fearful face staring back at him.
What he wouldn't give to call Oishi at that moment, but with a quick look at the time, he saw it read 3:18 in the morning. It would definitely wake Oishi up, not that he particularly minded…but there was also something in Eiji that made him want to keep this a secret. It was just a dream anyway. The other regulars would probably laugh at him.
Once again, Eiji's mind brought him back to the cold eyes and he shivered, shaking his head.
"Just a dream," Eiji whispered determinedly before washing his face. "Nothing to be scared off,"
If only that had been true.
That night, Eiji hadn't managed to grab any more sleep, haunted by the image in his dreams and the lingering fear which burned throughout his body.
Instead, he had sat in his chair fretfully, rocking back and forth before realising this wasn't going to help.
Hesitating, he had gotten dressed for school, grabbed his bag and racket and he left his house. He had been slightly put out by his family wanting to go on a trip and he couldn't go, but now he was kind of glad that he wouldn't worry anyone.
As soon as the cold air brushed against his face, Eiji felt his body finally relax and his mind slowly let go of the lingering fear.
Then he walked.
For how long, he did not know and to where, he did not care.
All he did know was that it made him feel free and not restricted. It allowed him to leave all his duties, fears and stress behind, if only for a little while.
So immersed in his thoughts, he hadn't really thought of anything until he felt the warm heat against his face and he looked up startled.
The sun was out.
That meant….
"Nya! School!" Eiji cried out fretfully as he pulled out his phone quickly and looked at the time.
"Ahhh!" Eiji said fretfully. "I'm gunna be late for practice! Tezuka-Buchou's gunna kill me!" With that last thought, Eiji ran as fast as he could, glad that he knew where he was.
And run he did.
Practice was not going to be pleasant for him today, not with all the running he was going to have to do.
He was screwed, Eiji thought with a dreaded feeling inside him. Tezuka's going to give him so many laps… or even worse…
Inui's juice…
Eiji shivered in disgust as he ran into Seigaku middle school.
And it was with relief that he managed to spot Oishi, whose eyes were looking around, searchingly. Oishi managed to spot him fairly quickly and it seemed his posture grew more relaxed.
"Nya! Oishi!" Eiji gave a cheerful grin as he spotted Oishi who gave a gentle, relieved smile back. Running to him, Eiji jumped on Oishi who stumbled slightly, but managed to get a grip on Eiji before they both toppled over.
"Eiji!" Oishi gave him an exasperated look as Eiji gracefully let Oishi go and turn towards the courts.
"Nya… how many laps is Tezuka-Buchou going to make me do?" Eiji asked in dread, his eyes large as they stared at Oishi.
"I don't know," Oishi shrugged before frowning in concern. "You were late today, that's not like you," Eiji frowned for a millisecond before laughing.
"Nya! My alarm clock didn't go off today," Eiji sheepishly said with a half smile before freezing as he saw that Tezuka was staring at him intensely.
"Kikumaru! 20 laps!" Tezuka ordered making Eiji sigh before taking a last glance at his doubles partner before running off, leaving Oishi to stare after him, a frown of confusion on his face.
"That's strange. You don't own an alarm clock," Oishi murmured, eyes following Eiji intently.
&*&*&Cats and their nine lives*&*&*&*
Eiji laughed playfully as he jumped on Ryoma as he tried to squirm his way out of the hug.
"Kikumaru-senpai!" Ryoma protested as he struggled to get Eiji off of him. Eiji pouted.
"Nya! Ochibi, your so mean!" Eiji whined as Ryoma pulled his cap down and started walking away only to stop.
"Kikumaru-senpai, you should wash your face. You look like hell," Ryoma stated before continuing to walk away leaving Eiji to stare after him.
"Too blunt, Ochibi, way too blunt," Eiji mumbled, slightly uneasy before catching sight of Fuji.
"Fujiko!" Eiji shouted as he found another friend and ran after him. Fuji turned and gave him a smile as Eiji put an enthusiastic arm around him.
"Hello Eiji," Fuji smiled. "Did you do your homework?"
Eiji blinked before panic overtook.
"Nya? Homework? We had homework!?" Eiji fretted. "I didn't know! Oh no, the teacher is going to kill me! I don't want to get a detention cause that means I'll be late to tennis practice and then I'll have to run laps!" Fuji gave a slight laugh.
"Just kidding,"
Eiji blinked again before turning to Fuji with a scowl.
"Nya! Fuji! You lied! Why'd you do that? I nearly had a heart attack!" Eiji grumbled while Fuji continued to look amused.
"I wanted to see your reaction. Besides, you should be thanking me. No doubt if Inui was here, he would write down your reaction in that notebook of his," Fuji commented.
"Yeah… I suppose," Eiji said slowly before a look of outrage appeared on his face. "Hey! Why should I be thanking you! It's still all your fault!"
Fuji didn't answer as they turned into their home classroom just as the bell rang.
"Ah! Just on time!" Eiji beamed. "Lucky!"
They sat down in their usual seats ignoring the way the girls in their room all whispered and giggled with one another, stealing glances at them. It happened everyday so it was nothing different from any other day and the two friends were completely use to it by now.
"Today we are going to be learning about the eco-system and the environment," The teacher said as he held up a large photograph.
Eiji sighed in boredom. He had a feeling today would be a very slow day. Not to mention getting up at 3 in the morning and walking till he had tennis practice was probably not the smartest idea now that he thought about it.
He hadn't' noticed but finally sitting down, all his exercise seemed to catch up on him. All his limbs felt tired and Eiji couldn't resist laying his head down to rest it. He kept watch as the teacher talked, but having completely no interest in the current subject, Eiji felt his eyes close without his notice before they opened startled as the teacher knocked his book on the table.
It wouldn't be too bad to rest now would it? Eiji thought. After all, they had more tennis practice in the afternoon and he would need to 'recharge,' wouldn't he?
Unfortunately, just as Eiji gave into temptation, two cold eyes with the promise of death appeared in Eiji's mind, the memory startling and horrifying.
With a startled jolt, Eiji's eyes snapped open, no longer tired.
How did a dream affect him so much?
Eiji had no answer for himself.
Sure, Eiji had had nightmares before and while they had been scary, they hadn't been to this extent. The acrobatic remembered the words, which echoed throughout his body.
Cats have nine lives, don't they? The sadistic voice had said Consider your first one gone.
"..ji"
The voice echoed in his head, the same tone, the same patronising look.
"..Eiji,"
It was stupid, Eiji thought firmly. To get so worked up on a dream.
"Eiji!" A hand shook his shoulder and Eiji, completely unaware till that moment jerked up in complete surprise.
"Nya!" Eiji turned shocked eyes to Fuji who had his eyes open, staring intensely at him. "Fuji! You startled me," That was a complete understatement.
"You looked like you were in deep thought, what were you thinking about?" Fuji asked intently making Eiji squirm. He realised that if he kept doing things like that, his friends would catch on that something was wrong and Eiji didn't know if he would be able to talk to them about it, not without sounding like an idiot, anyway.
"Food," Eiji gave Fuji a pitiful look. "I'm starving and I forgot to have breakfast!"
"Oi! Kikumaru, Fuji! No talking or I'll give you a detention!" The teacher lectured. Both Fuji and Eiji quickly turned to the front.
"Hai!"
In the end, Eiji was correct. That lesson was extremely slow going.
By the time the bell rang for lunch, Eiji was shifting extremely uncomfortable. His stomach had absolutely no food in it, and he could start to feel that it was affecting his mood.
"Hoi Hoi!" Eiji said as he stretched, ignoring his stomachs grumbles.
"That was an interesting lesson, wasn't it?" Fuji smiled happily. Eiji turned a scowl towards Fuji.
"You only liked it because you kept turning the topic to fungi!" Eiji grumbled as they walked out of the classroom. "Fungi! Of all topics!"
"Isn't it interesting? I learnt a lot," Fuji replied before his eyes opened slightly. "Besides, I don't think our teacher will try and teach us that topic for a while now," Eiji shivered slightly, remembering the frustrated teacher try to bring the topic away from fungi. The problem was, Fuji just had so many questions about it.
Even if Eiji was good friends with Fuji, he doubted he would ever understand how his mind worked. Fuji paused in his footsteps.
"Saa, I nearly forgot. A girl wants to meet me outside 3B classroom," Fuji kept his smile on. Eiji gapped.
"Did she ask you out?" Eiji asked enthusiastically. "What are you going to say?"
Fuji's smile turned slightly sadistic.
"I'm going to talk to her all about the lesson we had about Fungi," Fuji said. "I'll meet up with you and the others a little later," Eiji stared as he walked away.
He supposed that meant no. Still… he did feel slightly sorry for the girl.
Eiji continued to walk up the stairs, stubbornly ignoring his stomach before opening the door to the rooftop where all the regulars were seated. It seemed Eiji and Fuji had been the last ones today.
He remembered a while ago thinking Tezuka would never sit up here with them… it just seemed like something he wouldn't do, yet here he was with the rest of them.
"Hoi Hoi!" Eiji ran over to them as he jumped on Oishi who just took it with a small smile.
"Eiji, how was class?" Oishi asked. Eiji frowned.
"Nya! It was so boring! And Fuji wouldn't let the teacher off the topic about Fungi!" Eiji protested in annoyance. The others sweat dropped. It was so Fuji.
"Where is he anyway?" Momo asked, with a mouthful of food. Eiji tilted his head.
"He wanted to talk to a girl about fungi," Eiji told him. Momo coughed on his food.
"Seriously?" Momo stared before shaking his head.
"I don't want to know, don't want to know," Momo repeated before going back to his food.
"Eiji, where's your food?" Oishi asked with a frown. Eiji laughed as he scratched his head.
Ah, I forgot to bring it," He said sheepishly and his stomach made another grumbling sound which made Eiji turn slightly red.
"You can have some of mine," Oishi said as he pushed his food closer to Eiji who gave him a watery smile in return.
"Really? Thanks Oishi!" Eiji jumped at Oishi who had to move his food so it wouldn't get knocked everywhere.
"E-Eiji," Oishi stuttered slightly as he managed to grip Eiji so they both wouldn't fall.
"Ah, you can have some of mine as well," Taka offered as he stood up and sat down closer to Eiji who turned big eyes to him.
"Really?" Eiji asked. Taka blinked.
"Y-yeah," Taka said, though he was not at all prepared for Eiji to leap off of Oishi only to leap at him. Taka was so startled he barely managed to avoid falling backwards.
"Yay!" Eiji said happily as he took a piece of Sushi from Taka and popped it into his mouth hungrily before grabbing Oishi's spare chopsticks and took a piece of meat.
"Mmm," Eiji's stomach was in bliss.
"Oi! Snake, you should stop being so selfish and offer your food to him as well," Momo said. Kaidoh turned angry eyes to Momo.
"What'd you say!?" Kaidoh hissed angrily.
"I said…" Momo started to say irritated.
"Hey, both of you two, calm down," Oishi said as he looked between them.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Eiji turned only to see Fuji walking towards them.
"Fuji!" Eiji said enthusiastically. "How did it go?" Fuji gave Eji a pleasant smile.
"She told me she liked me but I just had to talk about our class today," Fuji said before opting an innocent look. "I don't get why girls don't like fungi much, it's so fascinating, but she didn't like it," Eiji stared at him wide-eyed.
"What did she do?" Eiji asked as he leaned forward while Fuji sat down beside Oishi who was staring at Fuji.
"…She ran away from me," Fuji gave a small shrug.
"Fuji! You should be a bit nicer! That girl…" Oishi started to say.
"..Is just like the rest of them," Fuji finished with an almost serious tone that made both Oishi and Eiji stare taken aback. It wasn't often Eiji would hear Fuji be semi-serious and even rarer when he was completely serious.
"Just… try to be a bit kinder next time," Oishi sighed as he watched Eiji take some more of his food. Fuji gave Oishi no type of insurance that he would do that before standing up and walking over to Tezuka to engage him in a conversation before turning back to Eiji.
"Oh and Eiji," Eiji looked up. "Next time, don't forget to have breakfast and your lunch," Fuji said innocently before turning to Tezuka. Eiji blinked before turning to Oishi who was looking at him disapprovingly.
"Eiji! You forgot breakfast as well?!" Oishi said with a worried and disapproving look. Eiji blinked before turning back to Fuji. He knew Fuji well enough to know he had done that on purpose.
"It was an accident! An accident!" Eiji protested. Oishi still frowned.
"Try not to do it again, we do a lot of exercise, it wouldn't do if you fainted," Oishi looked slightly concerned. Eiji nodded quickly as he took another sushi from Taka.
"Hoi Hoi!"
At that point, Eiji was starting to feel like everything was going back to normal. In fact, as he joked around with his friends, his mind totally escaped the dream that had made him so fearful.
If only it had stayed that way.
&*&*&*Cats and their nine lives&*&*&*
Hope this is fine, I couldn't resist doing a fic like this and my favorite character is Eiji. It probably won't be a very long fic though.
Hope you like it!
The more reviews the better I feel!