A/N Cringes I know, I know! I definitely should not be uploading another fic, but what can I say? My muse just decides toreturn whenever it feels like it. I'm about half way through my new chapter of The Prince of Air Trek and I have a stack of beta-ing things to get done.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Prince of Tennis.

Warnings: ansgt, perhaps a bit of intrigue too and maybe a pairing or two.

During the Summers I'd been Away

By squishy the jellyfish

"Fuji-senpai?" Golden eyes narrowed in an inquiring way.

"Oh, forgive me Echizen, my mind was…somewhere else," The tensai smiled deceptively. Oh, how familiar it was to Ryoma, only, now he was older – wiser – and not the young, naïve Echizen Ryoma that Fuji Syuusuke knew. "What did you say?"

Ryoma suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Fuji's mind was always somewhere else, whether it be away scheming or planning it was always occupied. Ryoma made a quarter turn back to face the bar and swished his scotch around in the glass idly. "I said: how is everyone? Provided that you've remained in contact with them, that is," there was a hint of cynicism in the last part.

"Oh? Now, what's that supposed to mean, Echizen-kun?" Fuji asked in a somewhat phony tone which didn't fool Ryoma in the slightest.

"Just answer the question and stop wasting my time," Ryoma said flatly before lifting the glass to his lips and taking a sip. Honestly…why had he agreed to go have a drink with the guy in the first place? There was much better company out there than a smiling sadist obsessed with cacti.

Fuji smirked; flamboyant as usual…. "A better – more straightforward – way of putting it would've been just to ask whether or not any of them died," his smirk didn't cease in the slightest.

Fuji always seemed to confuse him, Ryoma thought to himself as he pressed the cool glass to his forehead and sighed, not even bothering to give Fuji a glance. "Stop stalling, Fuji-senpai…."

Fuji opened his eyes slowly. "You really want to know?" he asked, suddenly dead serious.

Ryoma grunted and checked his wristwatch provocatively.

Fuji took out a small piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to Ryoma. "Visiting hours are between eight and eleven in the morning, and two onwards in the afternoon," he said, not batting an eyelash. Fuji got up from the bar stool and threw down a few notes of cash on the bench, "I'll see you around, Echizen-kun."

"Hey, wait a minute, what-" Ryoma swiveled around but was met with no one. He looked back at the paper and read what was on it.

Tokyo District Rehabilitation Centre

Room 25, Wing A

What the hell did Fuji mean by this? Was this one of his elaborate schemes? If it was, then it wasn't funny.

Crap.

Ryoma cursed his aloof behaviour. Could it be that Tezuka was in rehabilitation again? Oh god, please no. Ryoma's heart sank. Tezuka was somebody he had always looked up to; somebody he admired deeply and cared about, it just wasn't right for a guy like him, a young man who had the makings of a champion to waste away at a rehab centre. Tezuka deserved glory, unlike some of the others who took for granted their places in the Grand Slams. Ryoma glanced back at the paper before stuffing it in his pocket and taking out his wallet. It was far too late to go out to the centre now, he'd have to wait until the next day. Besides, who wanted to go and see an old mentor with your breath smelling of alcohol and your sweater reeking of smoke from the pub?

--

Ryoma decided long ago (back when he and his other team members visited Tezuka in Germany) that rehab centres were not his kind of place. They were eerie, quiet and full of sick/injured people; thus, not such a happy place. Before checking in at the front desk, the tennis star made for the bathroom. Ryoma fiddled with the collar of his shirt as he gazed at himself in the mirror; checking for any faults in his clothing or hair before going to the front desk to sign in.

"Good morning, sir. How may I help you?" The stern looking old woman at the desk asked somewhat cheerfully.

"Hai…I'm Echizen Ryoma-"

"Ah yes, the Ryoma boy, of course. I'll sign you in now…," she brought up a new window on her computer and typed something in. "Fuji Syuusuke explained to me that you'd be here sometime. You can go through now."

Ryoma nodded and recited the directions in his head. Room 25, Wing A…

Five minutes, three wrong turns and a map later Ryoma finally found the room. He opened the door and spotted a familiar figure seated on the couch. "Oishi-senpai?"

The man in question whipped his head around and was left agape with shock. "E-Echizen! How-where?"

"Oishi-senpai, why are you in a rehab centre?" Ryoma asked bluntly, walking into the room and sitting on the couch next to his former vice captain.

Oishi's facial expression changed from shock to downright horror. "W-Well, actually," he cast his eyes downward. "It's Eiji."

"Eiji-senpai?" Ryoma inquired. "What happened?" Why wasn't he told? But Ryoma neglected to say that aloud.

Oishi sighed, as if preparing himself when the squeaking of wheels rolled into the room. "Eiji, there you are. Look who's here," he looked anxious, the prominent bags under his eyes telling many stories of sleepless nights.

Ryoma stared, his eyes wide open. "S-Senpai…"

There, reduced in a wheelchair was one Kikumaru Eiji. Ryoma didn't blink. The red-head he'd known was bouncy and full of energy…this one however was nothing like him. Eiji had changed dramatically, he looked sad yet serious and his blue eyes were drained of all character.

"Echizen? W-Why-how??" Eiji, even with his dull features managed to look amazed.

"I'm having a vacation…," Ryoma said softly. "Eiji-senpai, you…you're, what happened?" his hands instinctively grasped onto his knees.

Eiji looked solemn as he tried to put on a smile. "Fell off a train platform…"

Ryoma noted how the red head's habited 'nya' was not added to the end to his sentences anymore. His eyes widened. "But…h-did you trip?"

Oishi looked nervously over to his former doubles partner who, in turn just waved the unneeded attention.

"I suppose I did."

There was silence.

Eiji sighed and shifted his upper body a little. "The doctors say that I'll never walk again."

"Eiji!" Oishi frowned, waiting frantically for some sort of correction from the red head.

"Oishi. It's. Fine."

Ryoma internally heard a ticking sound; counting down until the bomb would explode. It…didn't add up. Eiji-senpai? In a wheelchair for the rest of his life? No, no way! It was just some really, really bad joke, right? Right?! Maybe it was a bad dream? A bad dream that felt strangely…real. "You're joking, aren't you?" He sounded more hopeful than demanding.

Oishi stood up and left the room.

"Oishi-senpai? Oishi-senpai!" Ryoma got up and called after his former vice captain.

"Leave him," Eiji said suddenly, pushing his wheelchair closer to the other man. "He just gets a bit emotional when we talk about my injury. Now, why don't you tell me how you are? I hate talking about myself."

Ryoma nodded, unusually cooperative. "I'm-," Ryoma glanced at Eiji's legs, "…fine."

Eiji gazed out of the window, "That's good to hear."

Ryoma sat down again, albeit a little awkwardly.

"So, why are you really here?" Eiji asked, his attention once again on the younger male. He frowned, "After all these years, why did you choose to fulfill your promise now?"

An arrow of guilt– it seemed - had managed to pierce itself into Ryoma's chest. His senpai's tone was so cold, so cold that it nearly managed to make Ryoma shudder.

"I am no longer the ignorant, bouncy junior high school student anymore. You can be frank with me."

How had Eiji changed into this…this cross between Fuji-senpai and Tezuka-buchou? "I was having a vacation, Eiji-senpai."

Eiji's brows only furrowed. "Cut the crap and tell me the truth."

"I…don't know what you mean," Ryoma said as truthfully as he could.

"Tell me the truth!!" Eiji growled, lifting himself with his hands out of the chair but failing almost instantly as he fell out of his chair and plummeted to the floor. "…Tell me…tell me the truth!" He wailed, punching the ground as tears flowed down his cheeks.

Ryoma stood up defensively but did nothing to help the red head.

"Eiji!" Oishi shouted, appearing at the doorway before running to his friend's side.

"I think I should leave," Ryoma murmured with wide eyes before retreating from the room as quickly as possible.

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