Title: The IV

Author:dnakapula
Genre: slice of life, madness, angst
Pairing: mentions of one-sided YanaKiri, JackalBunta, YagyuuNiou and Yuki… uhh… YukiSanada… ish?
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1259
Warning:THIS IS NOT BETA'D :P (and it's slightly mad, so if you don't get it, don't worry. I barely do either) This was a small idea that was inspired by a picture of a hospitalized Yukimura that a friend of mine did years(?) ago and so I set out to writing this fic. Never got around to finishing it until now. This is a small mindf*ck piece, so watch it :P

Disclaimer: Doesn't own PoT, nor in anyway involved with it's creators and whatnot.

Summary:Takes place before the Kantou tournament, while Yukimura is in the hospital. Yukimura, in his sad depression and longing for his days of tennis, has gone slightly mad… …

The day was somewhat sad. Rain was pouring outside, tapping the window rhythmically leaving drops of rain slowly pouring down the surface.

Yukimura sat on his hospital bed, a portable IV drip attached to his arm, watching the raindrops beat the glass. It had started quite quickly. Just a mere moment ago and it was pouring already.

He was waiting for his team to arrive today with the update on their progress in the tournament. And Sanada. He no longer wanted him, really. He just loved his Sanada. Came everywhere with him. Even helped him walk whenever and wherever he wanted. Even watched over him calm and collected when he had to go to the toilet. Sanada was always there for him.

A knock on the door brought him back from his thoughts. A curious curly head peeked from the door. Yukimura brought a small smile to his lips – to show his team mates that he was doing ok today - and kept a bright face for their sake.

"Buchou! We won today! We won!" Akaya shouted excitedly as he made his way to the bedside with a huge smile on his face – encouraged by the small smile that grew steadily from the sight of the cheery ace.

"That's good to hear, Akaya," Yukimura said and gave a small ruffle on his head with his hand. Niou gave a small snicker to that. A small "he looks like a dog like that, all he's missing is a wagging tail" was heard. The rest of the team had made their way in as well and watched them with amused faces. Sanada was right next to him, looking like a lifeline to hold on to every time the others got too overwhelming.

"Akaya TARUNDORU!" Sanada boomed, "You shouldn't shout in the hospital!" Akaya jumped slightly and grabbed Yukimura's sleeve in fear.

"Sanada, you should keep your volume down. You're shouting yourself now." Yukimura smiled gently. This is why he preferred his Sanada non-speaking, calm and collected instead of having to hear the strict shouted commands that came out all the time.

"Ah, I'm sorry Yukimura. I'll keep a watch on my tone from now on." Sanada said, lowering his head in apology.

"Yeah, buchou didn't train you enough? You know the relationship between a buchou and a fukubuchou is like a pet and its owners: The buchou has to have the dog trained for all of his needs and the manners must of course be there! And naturally the dog has to obey!" Niou cackled and immediately got a murderous glance from Sanada for this, but said nothing because Yukimura was still staring at his general direction.

"How were the results in today?" Yukimura asked, smiling brightly and turning to the rest of his team now. Marui popped a gum.

"Jackal bought me a humongous strawberry cake today that we had to actually share before the match! But we ended up winning it 6-1 anyway. But that's only because Jackal was so damn slow today." Marui explained and popped his gum again.

"And whose fault is that? You said you could eat that much and instead you ended up forcing me to eat it as well." Jackal said, nudging his partner a bit on the side.

"Maybe the fat blob finally got on a diet? A scandal this is!" Niou whooped with raised arms and a maniac look in his eyes. He finally got a small swat on his head for immature behavior from Yagyuu. And a small pinch in the butt for good measure.

Yukimura gave a small laugh, which seemed to relax the atmosphere a bit. It was good to see the captain this cheerful after a while. Yukimura sat up more straight in the bed and turned to the side, indicating he was soon planning a small tour around the hospital with his friends.

"How about you, Akaya? How did it go?" Yukimura asked, turning to his ace.

"Well, I was doing doubles with Yanagi-senpai today just to see how it would work out and we totally beat their asses so bad! 6-0 and we didn't even lose one point to them! It was all over in about 10 minutes!" Akaya explained happily.

"Yeah, they synched so bad. Too bad Yanagi didn't get to beat your ass afterwards, Bakaya." Niou smirked and got an embarrassed cough from Marui, who managed to somehow choke on his gum in the process. Yanagi was beat red by now.

"Huh? What on earth do you mean, Niou-senpai?" Akaya looked dumbfounded. "We weren't scheduled for any game that day. Right, Yanagi-senpai?"

"What I mean is—" Niou started, but was quickly stopped by the pure force of the murderous aura Sanada was oozing. Yukimura looked on in a slight haze as he stood up and his arm came to stop Sanada, slightly after Sanada had rushed to stop Niou more efficiently; and staggered from the effort this caused for his frail body.

"Yukimura!" Sanada shouted and watched as his friend staggered and started falling. Yukimura stared at Sanada and grabbed lightly his lifeline assisted up by Jackal now, who had made a quick movement to help him, having stood right next to Niou anyway.

Yukimura felt dizzy. No, more than that. He clutched his Sanada with all of his power and allowed himself to be steered back to bed gently by Jackal. Yagyuu had dragged Niou out along with Yanagi, who had voiced out that he'd get a doctor to examine Yukimura's condition immediately.

"Yukimura-buchou… are you ok?" Akaya said, looking slightly miserable because of the mishap.

"I'll be just fine, Akaya. Just promise me you won't listen to Niou at all from now on, ok?" Yukimura said, smiling slightly. He gripped Sanada hard and he relaxed slightly from the hard, smooth feeling he got back.

"Y-yeah," Akaya said looking slightly more relieved than a moment before. Marui mumbled something about wanting more gum, but not wanting to leave before he knew if Yukimura was ok.

"I'll be fine, Marui," Yukimura smiled. "I'll just need a rest, that's all. It's been a tasking day for me and Sanada."

"But Yukimura… I've been at the courts today, not here," Sanada said looking doubtfully at him now.

Yukimura turned to him. "Yes, yes. That's right. … wait, what did I just say? Maybe I'm just very tired today." Yukimura said, hitting his head onto the pillow, while Sanada made sure he was completely comfortable just laying there.

"Yukimura-san?"

The regulars turned to the door as the doctor made his way in.

"I'll have to ask all of you to leave the room for a moment, if you'd please. I need to asses Yukimura-san's health."

The regulars slowly made their way outside to the hallway, casting sad and concerned looks towards their captain. Yukimura just smiled tiredly and watched them go.

"Those are some friends you've got there." the doctor said, smiling slightly as he started his routine of tests.

"Yeah, I can't help but feel they're too good to me. No matter how much of a burden I am to them, they still come through that door, spouting nonsense with smiles on their faces." Yukimura said, forcing a small sad smile on his face.

It didn't help to feel the longing to the courts whenever they came through telling tales of their games. That's why, for the time being, it was enough that all he had was a small hope that he someday returned to the world of tennis.

Oh and… of course his Sanada.