(Written by: Nithila)

It was a cold day.

Fuji tightened the scarf around his neck, and frowned inwardly at the world in general as he trudged through the freshly fallen snow. He had planned to spend the day near the beach, taking pictures of the waves, but it seemed like that wouldn't be a good idea anymore.

Sighing, he slid his hands into his pockets and walked slightly faster, keeping his (closed) eyes on the ground. He wanted to get home quickly. If he was lucky, he'd get there before Yuuta did. It had been a long time since he'd seen his brother… the boy had been avoiding him like the plague. All because of an innocent meeting he'd had with the crazy St. Rudolph manager. Honestly, he hadn't done anything to him - he had no idea why Mizuki was acting like he'd seen death face to face.

…Okay, maybe he did. But still, he didn't deserve to be ignored. He'd only done Yuuta a favour.

Fuji was jolted out of his reverie when a familiar figure literally ran into him. Fuji only stumbled, but the other boy fell backwards into the snow with a small 'oof'.

Fuji looked down at the boy in surprise, and Echizen glared back at him, before pushing himself up.

Fuji's invisible frown deepened.

Echizen Ryoma…

Another one of Fuji's problems.

Everything had been fine until a couple of weeks ago. They had been at Kawamura's sushi restaurant, celebrating for no reason in particular. Kikumaru was shouting nonsense at the top of his voice, Kaidoh and Momo were bickering as usual, Oishi was trying to get them to stop, Tezuka was being…Tezuka, Inui was muttering and writing in his notebook, and Fuji was smiling happily.

Everything was perfectly normal, except for Echizen.

He sat slightly apart from the rest of the regulars, staring at his plate listlessly, his eyes glazed over. When Momo stole his food, and Kikumaru tried glomping him, he reacted half-heartedly, then fell silent once more.

Most of the regulars hadn't noticed, but Fuji had. And, judging by the frown on Tezuka's face, so had he.

Fuji studied the smaller boy for a while longer, and then finally decided to speak up. "Ne, Echizen, you seem very tired today," he started.

Ryoma's eyes flashed once, warning him to keep quiet, but Fuji ignored it. "You haven't been eating, either. Is there something that's bothering you?"

One moment, Echizen was still staring at him with his steely eyes, and the next moment, his plate came crashing down on the table, right in front of Fuji.

The sound was deafening. The plate shattered into tiny pieces, missing Fuji's face by millimeters.

Fuji's eyes snapped open, and he stared at the younger boy in shock. Ryoma hadn't been so lucky, and the porcelain pieces had cut his face in many different places. The boy didn't seem to notice, however. He stood up in his seat, glaring daggers at Fuji, and breathing heavily.

The whole restaurant was frozen.

"Echizen!" Tezuka snapped.

Echizen turned his steely gaze on Tezuka, but Tezuka wasn't one to cower before people simply because they looked at him. He turned his own steely gaze on Echizen, and quietly commanded, "Echizen. Apologize to Kawamura."

The younger boy looked away, eyebrows furrowed. But his mouth remained firmly shut.

"Echizen."

Fuji watched, still dumbstruck, as Echizen stood up, and, without saying a word to anyone, ran out of the restaurant, slamming the door shut behind him, hard.

Tezuka had apologized in Echizen's place, and the rest of the meal was eaten in silence. No one felt hungry anymore.

The next morning, during practice, Echizen apologized to Taka, and Tezuka. Taka forgave him easily, but Tezuka felt no such inclination. He simply warned Echizen not to let it happen again, and ordered him to run thirty laps as punishment.

For the next few days, all was well.

A week later, Momoshiro had played a match against Echizen. Echizen had lost, 3-6.

Another day, Fuji had stayed late at the school library to get some studying done, and, to his surprise, he'd found Echizen there as well.

He'd taken a seat at the younger boy's table, and offered polite conversation, which Echizen replied to disinterestedly. Eventually, they fell into a comfortable silence. The only noise in the room was the sound of rustling paper.

Half an hour later, the younger boy gave up on studying and went to sleep, resting his head on the table. Fuji looked up from his book and watched him.

Echizen seemed…worn out. He had dark shadows under his eyes, and his eyebrows were scrunched up in discomfort. He kept shifting in his seat restlessly, frowning in his sleep.

Fuji frowned at him worriedly, then continued with his own work.

An hour later, Echizen woke up, eyes dull and irritated.

"Can't sleep, Echizen?"

Echizen's eyes flashed once, and for a moment Fuji thought that he'd erupt like he had at the restaurant. But he merely nodded, staring listlessly at the table.

"Echizen," Fuji started gently, "If you're having problems, you can always tell us."

The younger boy didn't respond.

"We could help you, you know."

"I'm don't have problems." Ryoma protested halfheartedly. Fuji didn't fall for it, and he knew that Ryoma didn't expect him to. "I'm just… tired." He gathered his books and got up to leave.

Fuji watched him go, his frown deepening. Something was definitely wrong, and he was determined to find out what it was.

This is actually one of my favourite stories to work on, and I've already worked on it quite a lot. I'm only posting the first chapter for now, though. My best friend's aunt diagnosed him with this disorder, and I read about it a lot after that. That, combined with a lot of other things, inspired this story.

I don't think I'll update any of my stories until April, since I have my board exams now. My long disappearance was due to Mock I and II. But after that, I'll be free, and I'll probably update a lot.

Please review!