Fuji gasped when he saw a figure collapse right outside his front gate, abandoning his tennis bag he ran towards the fallen person. He quickly turned said person over and couldn't hide the surprise that ran across his face as he gazed upon his kouhai. With out a second thought he picked up his fallen comrade and pushing the thought of school aside for now he carried the younger boy inside, returning afterward for his bag.

Once in he immediately placed Echizen carefully on the living room couch, he took in the sight of his crumpled and damp clothes, the heavy bags cascading down from the bottom of his eyelids, the intense paleness of not only his face, but the rest of his skin as well. Setting a cool hand against his forehead Fuji frowned at the burning heat that radiated from it.

Getting up, Fuji ran to get a small basin and cloth. Once retrieving said items he returned and sat down next to the shivering boy. Carefully soaking the cloth Fuji wrung any excess water off and, after folding it up neatly, placed it gently on Echizen's forehead.

Gazing over his kouhai's body he once again noticed the obvious dampness of his clothes. Realization dawned on him as he concluded that Ryoma must have been outside last night in the storm.

'But why?' was the thought that rang through Fuji's mind, Echizen, as far as Fuji knew him, wouldn't do something as irresponsible and reckless as that. He tried hard to come up with a reasonable explanation, though unsuccessful it proved to be.

Not bothering to inform the school of his or Ryoma's absence, Fuji sat silently watching Ryoma with his usual smiling mask firmly in place. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, and yet Fuji did not leave Ryoma's side for a second. He became more intrigued as to what happened to Ryoma as he listened to him mumble sadly in his dream scape.

Whimpers of 'Onegai' and 'gomen' were barely audible coming from the young boys dehydrated mouth yet the smiling tensai picked them up with ease. After all he does hold that title for a reason.

The steady tick of the clock was all that was heard throughout the Fuji household as Fuji himself dared not make a sound to break the silence. Yet the other occupant of the room thought it was time to come back to the world of reality, effectively dispersing the silence. With a slow flutter of eyelids, faded gold met blue in an enticing battle; well it would have been if the golden eyed person had the strength to hold a gaze. Fuji once again re-wet the cloth before wringing it out and placing it back to its original place, effectively cooling Echizen down from the burning heat that had encased his body once he regained consciousness.

Thankfulness showed slightly in his golden eyes, which Fuji managed to pick up in the brief second that it flashed. Ryoma closed his eyes once again to try and fend off the increasing headache.

Unable to ignore the throbbing he once again opened his eyes only to be met with a stronger dose of pain located throughout his head, forcing Ryoma to close his eyes hastily, in return causing Fuji to open his in concern.

Watching Ryoma's face twitch in pain he reached up and let his hand flow through Ryoma's still damp locks of messy emerald green hair, in a soothing manner, while whispering soft words of comfort quietly into the younger one's ear.

Ryoma relaxed to the gentle touch that cleared away the pain he felt, with newfound strength he bravely opened his eyes once more only to be locked with exhilarating blue eyes that seemed to paralyse his whole being.

Fuji's hand by now had stopped as he continued to stare into Ryoma's golden eyes, even though they were still slightly glazed over from just waking up he couldn't help but be mesmerized into the deep depths of the everlasting pools of gold. Noticing that Ryoma was indeed attempting to talk, to no avail, he passed over a glass of water he'd kept for when he awoke.

Gently pressing the edge of the glass to Ryoma's lip he watched as Ryoma gulped it down gratefully. Already back in his normal smiling face he continued to watch as Ryoma finished the final contents of the glass before thanking him quietly.

"What am I doing here?" Ryoma voiced his confusion to Fuji. A sadistic smile was his answer before he started to talk.

"Saa, where to start Echizen-kun, I was on my way to school, when up ahead I see three, no five, wait, ten demons encased around a small being in the middle who was collapsed on the ground. Using my superior magic powers, I blasted through the messengers of evil who had you in their captivity. But I had to work fast for the demons weren't fully dead I rushed through the sea of unconscious bodies, picked you up in my arms and rushed off into the sunrise where you finally woke. You then thanked me lovingly and the rest of the morning was spent with loving touches and caresses. Also we got married and had a child." Fuji explained thoroughly, with arm gestures and very much needed facial expressions, all without breaking a smile.
Ryoma stared.

Blinked once,

Twice,

Fuji maintained his smiled.

"Fuji-senpai, you couldn't lie straight in bed, especially with that folk tale."

Fuji chuckled whole-heartedly. "Well it's nice to see your acting like your normal self.

"You're actually quite lucky I was just on my way to school when I found you, or it could've been anyone who picked you up," Fuji said happily, making Ryoma wonder if anything could bring the tensai down. Deciding on figuring that out later Ryoma attempted to sit, making the cloth fall into his lap and earn a soft disapproving push back downwards, curtesy of Fuji.

"You're not going anywhere, anytime soon. So just lie down and get some more sleep while I call Tezuka and explain why we were absent for tennis practise. Hopefully we won't get too many laps tomorrow." He added as an after thought while re-wetting and placing the cloth in its former position, with that Fuji stood up and made his way over to the phone and proceeded to call their Buchou. Ryoma stared up at the kind of mix between white and beige ceiling while listening to the dialling tone that the phone was emitting each time Fuji pressed a number. The tone seemed to lull Ryoma back to sleep as he soon found himself facing his dreams once again.

Meanwhile Fuji stood with the phone grasped to his ear as he patiently waited for Tezuka to pick up, after a few more rings he finally heard a familiar voice through the speaker.

"Moshi moshi," came the firm voice through the other line.

"Aa Tezuka. It's Fuji, just calling to plead my case before I'm sentenced to a life time of running," was Fuji's chirpy response.

Silence was his answer. Taking that as a sign to start his defence Fuji continued.

"Well, to start it off" Fuji started, and with that he told Tezuka of the mornings events leaving Tezuka confused in some places like 'why he collapsed in the first place' 'why Fuji's house?' and 'what demons?' but instead of voicing his thoughts he waited for Fuji to finish his story.

Once Fuji finished his rant Tezuka voiced his questions gaining similar thoughts from the tensai as well, neither not knowing what else to say Tezuka concluded that Fuji would look after Ryoma until he awakens, then escort him home to his parents. Giving Fuji no chance to object the line was quickly cut off, leaving Fuji with the dial tone. Fuji's smile remained in place.