Heal me

A/N: Well you all surprised me. I didn't expect to see so many people to put me on their watch lists.

Kawaii hime-sama – I am glad that you enjoyed the story and I hope that you continue to read. Ryoma plans to thank Fuji appropriately, I assure you!

-Enjoy-

Time passed annoyingly slow. Ryoma didn't so much hear the sound of each second tic by on the wall clock as he felt it, ticking in his bones, tocking in his head, slowly passing the time as his foot kept rhythm as he tapped it on the floor. 'This is all my fault' he thought as he stood up for the hundredth time to start pacing back and forth across the hospital lobby.

"O-chibi doesn't look so good, ne Oishi?" Kikumaru whispered in a rare show of consideration of Ryoma's feelings.

"No, he doesn't" Oishi confirmed as his eyes watched the boy walk from one side of the room to the other. "I am sure he feels guilty, seeing as Fuji stopped him from being on the other side of that door."

"Do you think Fujiko will be OK?" Kikumaru looked at the floor and sighed, "I hope he'll be OK." He sniffled and ran the back of his hand across his face. They hadn't been told anything other than Fuji had been in an accident until Ryoma gave them his version of the story (minus the kiss of course).

"It's Fuji you are talking about Kikumaru-sempi, if anyone would come out of this OK it would be him" Momoshiro said from behind them.

"Aa," Oishi confirmed, "It's Fuji in there so I am sure there is nothing to worry about." Kikumaru looked at Oishi and gave a weak smile that didn't fit the acrobatic player.

"Yeah, you're right." He said before watching Ryoma pace across the floor.

Tezuka placed a hand on Ryoma's shoulder as he passed him for the umpteenth time. Ryoma didn't look away from the floor but stopped where he was.

"Sit, rest Echizen, there is nothing that anyone can do right now and you are only wearing yourself out by doing that." Ryoma sighed and sat down but it wasn't even five minutes before he stood back up and started pacing again.

The clock kept a steady count of the time that had passed since Fuji had been brought in: fifty nine minutes and thirty seven seconds. When finally a man in a white coat walked through the double doors and looked at the group of unlikely friends sitting in the lobby.

"Family for Fuji Syuusuke?" he asked figuring that one of them would be there. Both Yutta and Yumiko stood up and walked over to the doctor.

"Aa, I am Syuusuke's sister." Yumiko said as she stopped two steps in front of the doctor.

"Well, the good news is that he will be alright." The doctor said while what seemed like the whole lobby breathed a sigh of relief. "However, he is not completely out of the woods yet. He will more than likely have to stay here overnight, it was one heck of a concussion he got, and he will need some serious rehabilitation."

"What do you mean rehabilitation?" Ryoma asked. He knew that it was crazy to assume that Fuji would be completely OK after seeing the angle his leg had landed in, but 'serious' rehabilitation?

"He broke his leg right below the knee cap; he will not be able to walk without assistance for a while. In addition he is going to need to have some surgery done to reattach his Achilles tendon. It's possible that he completely severed it when he landed on the stairs. Contrary to popular belief the Achilles is quite fragile. All it takes is some very strong force and the right angle to tear it." Ryoma was getting annoyed with the doctor talking about Fuji's condition so nonchalantly. Does this man not understand that this means that Fuji will not be able to play tennis any time soon, if ever again!

"How long will the rehab take?" Yutta asked apparently thinking along the same lines as Ryoma.

"There is no way to tell right now, we need to see how his bone will heal and how quickly the tendon will attach again. It could take six months it could take a year and six months. Even after rehab he may not be able to do many of the things that he can do now." The doctor sighed.

Hearing this was like someone stabbing Ryoma through the heart with a knife. Even though Fuji had quit playing tennis after middle school, he still enjoyed playing against his old teammates in friendly matches. Hell he and Fuji played at least twice a week. He felt like he had just stolen tennis from Fuji all together. If Fuji could never play tennis again it would be his fault. If he just hadn't walked away none of this would have happened.

"Can we see him?" Kikumaru asked solemnly, it seemed that the news of Fuji's injuries wasn't affecting just Ryoma. Kikumaru would normally be bounce at the news that his friend was going to be ok. Even when Ryoma twisted his ankle and couldn't play for three weeks Kikumaru had been hyper and energetic telling him that he would heal soon enough. It seemed it was going to take more than that for Fuji.

"Aa," the doctor said. "However, you should also know that he may suffer some temporary laps in memory due to the fall. It will all come back in time but try to not be too offended if he doesn't know who you are right away. It is common and in most cases not permanent."

'OI! Wait a second!" Fuji yelled at the figure that was retreating from him. He was smaller than Fuji with blackish-green hair that nipped at the collar of his school uniform. He felt like this was something important, something that he shouldn't forget, but he couldn't remember who this person was."

'Wait up!' he called again and picked up his pace. It didn't seem to matter than he was running and the other person was walking, the gap between them continued to grow until he didn't see the young man again.

"FUJIKO!" Kikumaru bounced up and down as he passed through the door!

"Eiji!" Oishi scolded, "This is a sick room, be quiet." The energetic redhead automatically looked at the floor in defeat. Asking him to be quiet was like asking ice to not be cold, but he didn't want to disturb Fuji either.

"Minna!" Fuji said smiling brightly at them as they entered the room. "You didn't have to come see me, I was just a tad a bit clumsy is all" Fuji said giving them all a bright smile, a genuine smile, a very un-Fuji like smile. Everyone just stopped and watched as Fuji continued to smile.

"A-Aa," Tezuka was the first to recover, "How are you feeling?"

"Well, my leg is a bit sore, and my head still hurts a little, but other than that, I think that I will pull through. The doctor said that I will not be able to play tennis for a while, sorry minna, but I don't think I can help take us to nationals." Fuji cast his eyes downwards almost as if in shame and started to fiddle with the blanket that covered him.

"N-Nationals?" Both Momoshiro and Kaidoh said together. Once they realized their mock synchronization they glared at one another.

"Fuji, we went to nationals five years ago and won remember?" Oishi said very carefully.

"Iie," Fuji said looking confused, "How could we, none of us were regulars!" Fuji laughed like it was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. "Even the regulars didn't make it past Kantou that year!" He said as he clutched his stomach in laughter.

No one knew what was scarier, the fact that Fuji didn't remember that they had gone to and won nationals, or the fact that he was laughing. Both were rather frightening.

"Anou, Fuji-Sempai, what grade are you in?" Momoshiro asked after a moment. Fuji continued to laugh uncontrollably like he was some kind of a mad man.

"I am a sophomore, same as Tezuka, Oishi, Kikumaru, and Inui." Momoshiro nodded his head as if in some kind of agreement with Fuji.

"Aa sou ka." (Ah, I see) Momoshiro muttered.

"Data." Came the muffled voice of Inui from the background.

"Oishi, Fujiko is scaring me, tell him to stop!" Kikumaru whimpered as he cowered behind Oishi.

"Eiji, I don't think he is doing this on purpose, I think he honestly doesn't remember. The doctor said that this might happen, so let's just be patient with him ok?" Oishi whispered.

"Did the doctor tell you when you will be able to leave yet Syuusuke?" Yumiko asked as she took a seat on the edge of his bed, making sure that she sat on the side that was uninjured.

"He said that as long as I ready I could leave tomorrow afternoon isn't that good news?" Fuji once again smiled brightly and Yumiko, although worried about this change in behavior, smiled back.

"Aa, it is indeed. Do you need anything from home?" Yutta asked as he stepped out from behind his sister.

"No, I should be able to make it until tomorrow afternoon without a problem, although I may need a clean set of clothing to go home in, it seems that they cut up my pants."

"I'll make sure that I bring you some when I come pick you up tomorrow then. I am sorry Fuji, but it is late and I still need to speak with the doctor about when I can come and get you. Yutta has school in the morning anyway. I hope that you won't mind if we take our leave now." Yumiko bent down and gave her brother a hug. "I will see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night dear sister. Yutta, take care of Yumiko while I am not there."

"A-Aa," Yutta said a bit stunned, "Goodnight Nii-san."

"We should all go and let Fuji rest a little. We can see him tomorrow." Tezuka spoke up.

"Hai!" everyone chorused as they said their goodbyes to Fuji.

"Ja minna! Gomen about nationals." Fuji said as everyone, with the exception of Ryoma left the room.

"Just get better Fujiko!" Kikumaru called back before the door shut.

Ryoma stood in the corner looking at the floor unsure of how to approach Fuji about what happened.

"Can I help you?" Fuji asked kindly. When Ryoma looked up he saw dark blue eyes looking back at him curiously.

"Aa, Fuji-sempi, about what happened today…" Ryoma started but didn't know how to finish. So much had happened and he wasn't even sure if Fuji would remember all of it.

Ryoma's world came to a crashing halt as those curious eyes filled with confusion. His world tumbled around him leaving him confused and more than a little hurt as he heard Fuji talk to him again.

"Gomen, but do I know you?"

Well tell me what you think. Reviews are a writer's crack; the more I get the more motivated I am to write. I hope you all enjoyed and I will try and get the next chapter out sometime soon; between work and school of course.

Ja minna!