WARNING: This is YAOI. Meaning, guys loving guys. Now that you now this fact, no likey, no readie!

Just a quick note before you go reading this, I have made the story so that they are in HIGH SCHOOL instead of middle school because of sexual suggestions and sexual intercourse of sorts. This way, I'm not trolled when it comes to the ages of the PoT cast.

Just To Hear You

Chapter 1: Match Gone Wrong and Learning to Talk

It was hot. Very hot. And when it's very hot, in summer, without a cloud in sight, at noon, that meant that the current tennis match was grueling.

The tennis ball zipped by so quickly, that all you really saw was a flash of yellow light. Finally, in this match, it was doubles. Kino Morimoto and Asare Yoshi Vs. The Golden Pair: Shuichiru Oishi and Eiji Kikumaru. As the two pairs walked onto the green court, everyone began to cheer; some for just the game, others for the doubles, and a couple just for their favorite person out of the pairs. Soon, everyone was quiet so the players could play without any distractions. The doubles ready, the ball was tossed up in the air and the match had begun.

Each of the pairs swung their rackets in their trademark moves, formations, and very lucky hits that just barely saved them from losing a round in the match. And the Golden Pair had yet to need to have "lucky hits," yet it would have been useful.

Oishi had successfully smacked the ball into the other doubles side of the court, which led the ball straight to Yoshi. Yoshi smirked and hit the ball hard. And to the astonishment of every fan and player of the court, Eiji had failed to hit the ball for where it was very quickly darting at.

"Eiji!" Oishi yelled, dropping his racket.

Gasps, shouts, and some screams had suddenly filled the air. The whistle was blown as Oishi ran to his partners' side. He could see that Eiji was in massive pain when he finally got to him. Eiji didn't want to open his eyes in fear if he started crying, the pain would get worse from his gasping sobs, he couldn't talk let alone breath.

Eiji Kikumaru was hit in the throat. Hard.

Needless to say, Oishi and the rest of Seigaku were in total shock and running onto the court to check on their teammate. This was something no one this day was expecting. And as the paramedics came onto the scene to check on Eiji and place him on the stretcher, he was already passed out, breathing heavily threw an oxygen mask. And no matter how much the Seigaku team begged, and Oishi pleaded, none of them were able to leave to the hospital with the red head. They continued the game as it was suppose to; Oishi now being paired with Takeshi Momoshiro as Eiji's temporary replacement to continue the doubles match. Everyone on the team, and mostly Oishi, played with now determined, vengeful, and worried hearts for their now hospitalized teammate.

--

Two hours flew by, the game finally over, and Seigaku fully changed out of their tennis uniforms, they headed for the hospital as soon as they could. However, when they got there, they were hoping to see Eiji at least somewhat back to normal, and be able to come home that night, but instead, they were all greeted by a still sleeping acrobat with an oxygen mask still wrapped around his face. Oishi was more then worried when the doctor looked at the team, and told them just what was wrong.

"What?!"

"You've got to be kidding me?!"

"How could he have been hit that hard for him to-to-!"

The doctor sighed woefully. "I am afraid so. We couldn't quite tell what was wrong from the outside once he was able to breath at least a little normally. When we were able to look down into his throat, we found that he had been hit in the throat just hard enough on his voice box that it was damaged, however possible this was."

Oishi's head darted up, his eyes locked onto the doctors shoes with wide eyes. "You don't mean…?!"

The doctor sigh once again, nodding his head, knowing that most of the teens knew just what he was talking about. "Kikumaru-Kun will not have a voice when he wakes up. He will wake up, just not for a few hours."

"He will be able to talk after a while, correct?" Inui asked as he pushed his glasses.

"It's hard to say at this point. We will have to see him after a week to see if it is getting better or worse." The doctor replied as he placed his hands in his pockets. "I would also like to ask if anyone knows how to contact his parents so they may-"

"His parents are all away for the week." Fuji told him with his trade mark frown.

"He's staying with me until his folks get back." Oishi told him as he stood up from his seat in the waiting room. "Will… Will you be able to let us discharge him?"

Fiji stepped up to Oishi, placing a hand on his shoulder. "They are currently out of the country and we do not know when they will be landing, so there will be no way of knowing just how to contact them. Their cell phones do not quite work out of Japan."

The doctor sighed, "Then if your parents are his temporary guardians while they are away, then we will discharge him to you and your family. If you all would like, you may go see him even though he is still asleep. Three at a time in the room. Who would like to go in first?"

Momo stood up with his arm slung over Echizen shoulders. "We'd like to see him."

"I'll go too." Said Fuji. "Oishi, would you like to go as well?" He asked, turning to Oishi who was now sitting down with his head hanging low. He looked up to Fuji and shook his head.

"N… No. I need to call my parents and tell them what's happened."

Team Seigaku all watched Oishi as he slowly sat down and pulled out his cell phone, looking for the number to his house in his phone book. It was interesting to Fuji just how down and almost cool Oishi was about this. He is always the one who was the mother hen of the team, so it was strange to see him like this. Was he just putting up an act to keep himself from breaking down in front of everyone? Fuji looked over at Tezuka to go on and go in to see the acrobat. Now the only ones who were in the waiting room were Inui, Viper, Takashi, Coach Ryuzaki, Fuji and Oishi. The room was quiet and tense to all the tennis players.

"I'm going to get something to drink…" Viper said, turning away and heading towards the farthest pop machine.

"And…. I'm going to go get something to eat in the cafeteria! Yeah!" And with that, he darted past Viper.

Ryuzaki sat in a chair, as she watched the two teammates leave the room. Looking over, she saw Inui looking over some papers over Eiji's discharge from the hospital for Oishi. And this made her look over to see Fuji sit next to Oishi, who was now telling his parents just what was going on. Who would have thought she would be in charge of a team like this? They were very much there for each other even when not in the same room. She could tell that Fuji was trying to figure out just why Oishi was the way he was. Ryuzaki had to admit, this was not like the hen to be so calm, especially when his partner is in the condition he's in. But sighing inward, she turned her attention to a magazine about, what else? Tennis.

Fuji was sitting beside Oishi as he told his parents that Eiji was hurt and would have to discharge him while his parents were away. Oishi closed his phone, showing that he was done with his short notification to his parents. Sighing, Oishi put his phone in his pocket and his eyes downcast towards the floor. Fuji just looked at him. He knew his friend was worried and questioning what he had done wrong in the match that had led his partner and close friend end up here. Oh yes, Fuji could read his co-captain like a book at this point. Leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs, he continued to stare at Oishi. The hen finally leaned back in his chair lazily with a huff. He glanced at the tensai (genius) and closed his eyes. He knew he wanted an answer to a question he wasn't telling him: 'What happened and why do you blame yourself?' question. Oishi closed his eyes and played dumb, hoping that Fuji would drop the unspoken question that was plastered and his face.

"What?"

"Why are you acting so cool? I know you're panicking about him." Fuji opened his eyes to look at his teammate. "So tell me the truth."

Oishi finally looked over at him sadly, but turned away to look at the entrance where you went in to see the person behind them. Or more, the one thing that was keeping him and his guilty conscious from seeing Eiji. Sighing at all this, he closed his eyes and let his head fall back.

"It's not that I'm panicking, I'm just worried and freaked out-"

"In other words, you are panicking because you think this incident was your fault."

"It was my fault…!" He said, looking at the tensai sadly and almost insulted. "If I hadn't hit the ball to Yoshi in such a way, Eiji wouldn't be here!"

"What you did was a smart move, and what Yoshi did was a smart move, Eiji missed the ball. It happens, he was indeed distracted this time. Do not blame yourself for this." He told him placing a hand on the hens' shoulder. Oishi looked away back towards the double doors behind where his friend lied and he sat.

"I still can't help but feel responsible for what happened…" He admitted.

The doors then opened to show Momo, Ryoma, and Tezuka as they walked out into the waiting room. Momo walked up to Inui, Fuji and Oishi with a very small smile on his face, something that was almost quite rare.

"Can go in and see him now if ya wanna."

Fuji looked over at Oishi and then smiled at Momo.

"I think Oishi should go by himself."

"Wha?"

Fuji looked back at him with the same smile.

"You heard me. Go in and see him alone. Just the two of you. Even if he's still asleep, you'll at least have some more time to sort out your guilt even if you can't talk it out with him."

Oishi couldn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. He didn't want to go in alone cause he thought it would make him feel even worse then he already felt. But he also knew that Fuji had a point. Maybe it would help him. Looking at Fuji and Momo he nodded and stood up. He walked over to the doctor and asked him to take him to his friends room.

"Right this way, then." He said as he began to turn around. Oishi looked over his shoulder to look at Fuji, who just looked back at him with a smile. Then the hen turned and followed the doctor through the double doors.

As he walked down the hall, he found it eerily quiet. It was a strange and good quiet, but to Oishi, it was nerve racking. It became more silent as they walked further to Eiji's room. He couldn't help but think, 'Why did I cause Eiji to be here?'

When the doctor stopped, he looked up to see they were at the room. Oishi walked in as the doctor walked away and seen the acrobat laying in bed. He didn't have his oxygen mask on, no IV in his arm, nothing but covered in sheet. He was shocked that he didn't even have a neck brace on also. Oishi stood at the end of the bed staring down at Eiji. Walking over to the acrobats side, he sat down in a chair. He just looked at him.

Eiji was breathing normally, well, maybe a good staggered, and maybe kinda painful deep breath every now and then, but he looked peaceful. Oishi smiled slightly. Eiji was alright as far as he was concerned. But he quickly frowned. He sill blamed himself for putting the red head here. He looked down, his mind thinking how he messed everything up, almost on the brink of tears.

A sudden rustling of cloth and a hand on his shoulder brought Oishi from his guileful mind and looked up to see deep blue eyes peering down at him with a small smile.

"Eiji…!" Oishi said in a quiet and astonished voice.

Eiji brought his knees up to his face and resting his head on his knee caps, wrapping his arms around his legs. Eiji couldn't help but show a smile; that kind and thoughtful smile of his at his partner. He was glad to have woken up to see him. He opened his mouth and tried to talk to the hen, but found that nothing came out. It confused Eiji at why he didn't hear himself. Was he deaf suddenly? It would make sense after all the music he blasted in his ears all these years. But that's wasn't the case, he realized. He has heard Oishi say his name. Bringing his knees down, he looked at his feet under the covers in shock and held his mouth with both of his hands. He trembled at what was wrong with him.

'My voice…!' Eiji thought, 'My voice!!! I-I can't talk!'

"Eiji!" Oishi called out. Eiji took his hands off his mouth and looked at Oishi. He say the worry, sadness, and guilt in his face. Apologies ran through the hen's eyes and it made the acrobats eyes well up with tears.

'Ooshi!' Eiji mouthed and cried in his head. He couldn't talk… He couldn't talk to his teammate, his partner, classmate, his best friend! Eiji wanted to ask Oishi if they won the game, that he wasn't paying attention for once during the game… But Now… He would never tell him what distracted him, but he would tell him, but now he couldn't.

A sob escaped Eiji's mouth, although it sounded as nothing more then a deep exhale of air. Oishi stood up out of the chair and sat on the edge of the bed and hugged his best friend. He let the teen sadly and silently cry in his chest.

'It's my fault that he's here…' Oishi held him closer, placing his head in the crook of his friends neck as he cried. Did Eiji blame him for becoming a… Mute? Oishi saddened more at his own accusation. He must have… Eiji wouldn't be crying if it wasn't his fault, wouldn't he?

"I'm sorry Eiji… I didn't mean to cause you get hit. I really didn't… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" Oishi told him as he held Eiji closer.

'Don't say sorry, Ooshi, please don't! It's not your fault! It's not!' He sobbed in his mind. God Eiji wished he could talk. He wished that he could tell Oishi so many things right now…

Meanwhile, while Eiji cried in Oishi's arms and on his chest, Fuji stood outside the door of the hospital room and watched the Golden Pair. It was almost amazing how they were so close. It was almost strange to Fuji that they weren't more then friends. Fuji even recalled Eiji saying something about Oishi that no normal friend would say. Or was it just cause they were so close? Fuji left it alone and took one glance back in the room before entering it.

"Eiji. Oishi."

The Golden Pair looked up at the tensai. Eiji smiled weakly from cry, but smiled all the same at seeing his other doubles partner.

"Oishi, your parents are here to release Eiji. I came back to tell you. And see Eiji of course." The boy smiled.

"Ah, thanks Fuji." Oishi smiled.

Eiji opened his mouth once more to try and talk. But when nothing came out yet again, he saddened and placed his fingers on his throat.

'Ah… Right…' Eiji thought, but he felt two hands on his shoulders. Eiji looked to his left and say Fuji with his eyes open and smiling. And to his right, Oishi tried to smile for his friend, but the acrobat saw that guilt was forcing him not to smile completely. 'Ooshi…'

"Don't worry, Eiji." Fuji began. "You'll get your voice back sooner or later, but it will come back."

"Right, and when it does, give us a whirl of a conversation!" Oishi said tightening his fist and smiling more at Eiji. Fuji was right. His voice would come back! It had to…

Eiji smiled more at his friends. 'Thank you so much guys! Nya~!'

The boys left the room to go back to the waiting room for Eiji to come out to leave. Eiji was dressed in the cloths he wore before the tennis match started. The team said their good bye's and see ya laters and left. Eiji, Oishi and his parents then left as well after the doctor told the Shuichiru's what they needed to know. It was almost a quiet ride, due to an almost one sided conversation between the Golden Pair in the back seat. Oishi talked and Eiji gestured. Neither really minded since they got to at least talk with and without words.

As soon as they got home, the two teens were starved, especially Eiji.

"What would you like to eat?" Oishi's mother asked.

Oishi stopped midway up the stairs with Eiji behind him, and thought for a second. Shrugging, he looked down at his friend. "I don't know, what do you want Eiji? I'm good with what ever you want."

Eiji scrunched his face up and thought. He tried to tell Oishi what he wanted, but realized that they didn't get what he was saying and frowned. Oishi frowned as well. And then an idea hit him. He turned around and went down a step to stand in front of the acrobat. He placed his hand out to him and smiled.

"Write what you want in my hand with your finger. It'll be like a sheet of paper and pen while I'm around."

'Write in your hand?' He questioned to himself. 'Let's try it, Nya~!' Eiji smiled and grabbed the hen's hand, writing with his finger, he told him with excitement what he wanted. Looking up at his black haired friend, he smiled, hoping he got what he wanted to eat. And he saw Oishi give a toothly grin.

Oishi looked over to his mother and told her, "Veggie curry with plenty of rice!" Oishi looked back at Eiji. "Right?" he smiled.

Eiji smiled wide and gave a two thumbs up. Oishi and his mother laughed at the red head's reaction with joy. Well, they found another way of talking to each other!

"Alright! Veggie curry and extra rice it is! You boys go up and relax, I'll call you when It's done!" Oishi's mother said cheerfully.

Smiling, the two Seigaku members went up to the hen's room and set their tennis bags down. Eiji immediately threw himself onto Oishi's bed. It was so much more comfortable then those damn hospital beds!

'I should sleep better tonight then ever after today!' Eiji said excitedly into his pillow.

"Happy to be out of there and at least in a house?" Oishi said as he changed into his pajama's, which, nowadays, consisted of just his boxers and pajama bottoms and his bare now very toned chest.

Eiji jumped up off the bed and rushed over to the hen, grabbing his hand and began to write on his palm.

'You have no idea!'

Oishi laughed, knowing Eiji so well was a good thing! He knew just about everything he was thinking. But then Eiji almost tensed and had an almost nervous look and began to cautiously write on Oishi's hand again.

'Can I sleep…' Eiji paused but continued. 'With you tonight?'

Oishi found himself surprised. Eiji and him hadn't slept in the same room since they were in middle school. Which was over four years ago. He looked at his friend and saw him looking down at the floor; his bangs covering his eyes and with a light dusting of pink across his cheeks. Obviously, Eiji was hesitant and embarrassed to ask Oishi this. The fact that he wouldn't look at him was a dead give away. Oishi blushed lightly as well and smiled slightly.

"S-Sure! You can sleep with me tonight. But why do you ask?"

Eiji looked up just enough to see his friends face. Then he looked away, slightly ashamed, but looked back down to Oishi's palm and began to write.

'Please don't make fun of me…'

Oishi looked confused and gripped his friends' shoulders. "I won't make fun of you." He smiled reassurely at Eiji, showing that even the way he was, he wouldn't make fun of his best friend.

Eiji looked at him and then looked around the room. He walked away from Oishi's grip and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and began to write out what he wanted to say. It was to long to write it on Oishi's hand and, Eiji almost felt like a kid saying what he was saying. But he showed the hen what he wrote.

'I don't want to wake up and something happen and not be able to call out to you and your family…'

Oishi looked at Eiji who was looking down blushing a little more like an almost scared child. But He just smiled at the acrobat and wrapped his arm around Eiji.

"Then that's just fine Eiji. I would be too if I couldn't scream bloody murder." Eiji looked up at him wide eyed and almost in disbelief.

'B-Bloody murder?!'

Oishi took his arm off Eiji and put his hands up in defense of what he said. "N-Not that I think you would! I-I mean, i-it's just a metaphor! Not like anything would ever have to make y-" Oishi stopped talking when Eiji clasped both of his hands over Oishi's mouth.

'Nya~ No more!' Eiji thought. He didn't want to think about all of that. He was scared that something would happen if he slept alone and Oishi wouldn't shut up about his stupid metaphor…

Oishi relaxed and took his friend hands off his mouth and held them slightly.

"Na, gomenasai Eiji. I wasn't trying to scare you." He smiled apologetically. "Besides," He started again, throwing a night shirt at Eiji. "you wouldn't have to worry about anything when you sleep with me!" Oishi smiled and chuckled.

'Ooshi…!' Eiji smiled and began to change into his night cloths as Oishi got an extra pillow from the guest/Eiji's room. But when he finally came back, Eiji was changed and already lying in bed asleep on his pillow. Oishi smiled and placed the pillow down for himself and got into bed, covering him and the red head.

Eiji was sure to get a good night sleep after all that happened today. The match, hospital, stress and a sore throat. After all, Eiji was snoring. And Oishi figured he was in for a long night.