Waiting, always will be

by akiyume kye

Disclaimer: I own pot… in my dreams. Bottom line- not mine.

Pairings: TezuFuji

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Chapter 2: Acceptance

The regulars couldn't believe their eyes as they watched their beloved captain snap. Horror ate bitterly into them and none of them could find the correct words to express themselves.

Tezuka slowly settled down in a daze after much ranting. Sitting down on the chair next to Fuji's bed, he started swaying back and forth.
Back and forth…
Back and forth…

The brilliance in his hazel eyes had dimmed. His hair was in a mess, tangled and unkempt. The firm expression on his face had dissolved into a lop-sided childish grin.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
Tezuka wrapped his arms around himself and continued to rock himself.

Nothing mattered to him anymore.

There was nothing more to live for.

Oishi stared in disbelieve of what Tezuka had become. Eyes bulging at the state of the buchou before him, his throat felt tight and he couldn't bring himself to say anything.

"Buchou? Bu.. Buchou?" Eiji had managed to find his voice to break the uncomfortable silence that reigned in the ward. But all he was meet with was a grin.

"Hee…" was all Tezuka said.
Back and forth. Back and forth.
He just continued swaying.

The doctors who had silently been observing the scene before them shook their heads sorrowfully. Jotting down some notes on a clipboard, they left the room.
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"Excuse me. I'm Fuji's doctor. May I know if you are related to him and Tezuka?" A tall, fair young man in his mid 30s asked Oishi.
The look on Oishi's face confirmed it and the doctor called him into his office for a discussion.
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Oishi's head was spinning with millions of thoughts. He couldn't control his emotions any longer before he would explode. Tezuka… Fuji… Tears weld up in his eyes, but he suppressed them. This doctor standing before certainly had something important to tell him.

Taking in a deep breath, the fuku buchou dared to venture into the discussion.

"What is it, sensei?"

"Young man, here. Take it." With that, the doctor slipped him a piece of paper.

And on it was written:

Sougoubyouyin Mental Hospital
Patient to be referred: Tezuka Kunimitsu
Age: 14
Condition: The patient has…

A gasp escaped Oishi before he slumped against the wall, still registering the shock that had enveloped him.
No! This can't be true…Not Tezuka… No!

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The Seigaku regulars eyed their fuku buchou as he trudged out from the doctors office. Noting the look of defeat on his face, Eiji grew concerned. Slowly approaching his doubles partner, he placed his arm over Oishi's shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. He didn't know how else to help Oishi as the mother of Seigaku fell into his arms and let tears overcome his face.

"Oishi.. Nya, daijoubu?"

"Eiji… Tezuka… He is… going to be sent to a mental hospital…" Oishi began, before falling onto his knees, sobbing like a lost child.

No one could absorb what they had been told.

Because it simply couldn't have been true.

Or could it?

They didn't know how to react, except to offer comfort to the boy who was the captain's closest friend since they met years ago. As they patted him on his back, the regulars were silently contemplating the situation, question badgering in their minds.

How could this have happened?
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Where am I?

Feeling about with his hands, he look out into the vast darkness before him.
A blurred image passed through his mind and he sought to hold onto it, but it vanished as fast as it appeared.
Tears stinging his eyes, Fuji cried out for all that he was worth.

But only silence greeted him.
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"Klunk!" The phone fell to the phone from Yuuta's hand. Aniki…

Yumiko let out a gut wrenching cry.
"SYUUSUKE!"

It couldn't be true.

It just couldn't be.
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Gathered at the balcony of the hospital, all the regulars sat in stunned silence at the revelation of the situation. The doctor had refused to offer any extension to the date Tezuka would be sent to the mental hospital. And neither had he backed out of his decision.

He needs to be there, the sensei had simply said.

Their faces were grim and their lips pursed tightly.

None of them could accept the situation.

Momo and Kaidoh were so uptight by what had happened that they were bickering none stop over virtually nothing at all.
Kawamura's normally kind face was contorted into an angry expression.
Eiji sat silently beside Oishi, lending him a shoulder to cry on.
Inui just stared into his notebook.
There was no data to add in. No data to be proud of.

But no one could hear the heart of young Ryoma cracking into millions of fragments. Fragments of memories that could not be replaced. The boy pulled his hat down even further, hoping that no one would notice his tears.

Still, it surprised him that he would cry in a time like this.
He shouldn't need to cry. He didn't have to.

When Oishi spoke, his voice was hoarse and raspy. "Minna san… We just have to… have to accept the fact. That… That Fuji may never wake up again. And that Tezuka has gone… mad…" His words trailed off, leaving nothing for them to hold onto.

No words of hope. No words of reassurance that everything will work out somehow.
Even Oishi had brought himself to face the dismal situation.

The mother of Seigaku…

Broken.
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The sound of footsteps conveyed one of franticness.
One of disbelieve.
And one of hopelessness.

Fuji Yumiko grimaced at the sight of her precious tensai brother, tubes running through his small body. The tears hadn't stop since she was informed about Fuji's accident.

And she didn't it think would ever stop until the boy woke up.

Syuusuke…

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Mizuki stared at Yuuta in horror when he heard of the news.
Fuji Syuusuke… in a coma?

It is utterly ridiculous, he had said.
After all, Fuji was his destined rival and they were meant to fight it out someday.
How then could he be in a coma?
It was pure idiocy to come up with such a pathetic joke as that.

As Mizuki blabbered on unintelligently, Yuuta resisted the urge to roll his eyes or bash up the person who had taken care of him all these years.

But today, it was different. It was no joke.
His aniki- the person he was ever so jealous of- had gotten into a near fatal accident.
Rage boiled inside Yuuta.

I'll kill him, he thought with fury.
I'll kill Tezuka with my bare hands if that's the last thing I could do.

Yuuta clenched his fist into a tight ball, silencing Mizuki.

"I have to go and see aniki."

"Then I'll go with you, Yuuta." Mizuki replied quickly.

"No! I won't let you go! All you care about is he being your destined rival, isn't it?
All you want to do is to beat him, isn't it?
Well, now he's down! He could even die!
Are you satisfied? Are you happy with this?" Yuuta lashed out furiously at his mentor.

Daggers shot out from his eyes, piercing into Mizuki, who could only gap at him in stunned silence. Turning around angrily, he stormed out of their room and slammed the door shut with all his might.

Maybe, just maybe, only then could he release his pent up frustrations.
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A lone silver-haired boy stood in the distance as he saw brother and sister crying over a lost tensai.

No. He had told himself.
This is Fuji we're talking about.
He won't leave us just like that.
He can't. He just can't.

Maybe the doctors had gotten it wrong. Maybe Fuji wasn't in a coma. Maybe he was only asleep.

But as Saeki peered into the ward, his worst fears were confirmed.
There lay Fuji, bandaged up and living off a machine.

He glanced over at his childhood friend's face.
There was no smile, no emotion.

No Fuji.

No. Not anymore.
And it was all because of Tezuka.
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He screamed and kicked vigorously. He tried to bite the hands that held him down. He wanted to run away from those claws.

The day had come.

The day Seigaku's invaluable tennis captain would be sent to the mental hospital.

Ayana pleaded tearfully with the nurses. That was her son. Her one and only son.
He couldn't be sent to the mental hospital. He was her son and no one could take him away!

Tezuka's mother fought with all her might, reaching out to her son, wanting to pull him back into her arms, to keep him by her side.
None of you monsters understand! She had shouted.
None of you understand the pain of a Mother's heart!

Demo, she could only watch in bitter silence as yet another part of her was driven away in the distance.
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And so, Tezuka was settled in the mental hospital while Fuji remained lying in a coma.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Tezuka continued to sway to an unheard rhythm. "Fuji…"

Beep. Beep beep. Went the machines surrounding Fuji's frail body.
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Three years passed by. And nothing had changed.
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The regulars continued to come.

Some to see Fuji, and some to see Tezuka.
Never once did they lose hope that Fuji would wake up and get Tezuka out of his trance state.

Hanging on to a hope that seemed so small, they pressed on.
Even though they grew increasing tired of waiting, they never gave up.

Eiji would sit by Fuji and rattle on about everything that had happened day after day.
My new toothpaste taste like Fuji apple. My mom bought me a new big bear and I named it Fuji. The list went on.
And Saeki would only add to it, telling stories of his own.

Ryoma would stand by and look at the prodigy, lying in a bed that wasn't meant for one like him.
He wasn't meant to be in that bed. He wasn't meant to be injured.
He was Fuji, and the hospital was never meant to be his place.

And yet he lay there, unmoving.

Ryoma yearned to reach out and brush Fuji's delicate hair that had grown long over the years, but it seemed as if a wall existed between Fuji and the young boy, one that Ryoma couldn't climb across.

He could only watch from afar.
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Six years passed by. And still, nothing had changed.
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Yumiko and Yuuta would bring the tensai's favorite wasabi along to the hospital and leave it near the table on his bed. The elder sister would brush his hair everyday, while Yuuta would tell him about his latest accomplishments in tennis, begging the prodigy to wake up and challenge him.

Only Oishi faithfully visited Tezuka everyday.

His condition hadn't changed, just like Fuji.

The doctors had told him that Tezuka's mind was a blank, as if he had blocked out everything he had ever known. He simply had no recollection of the past. And neither did he seem like he wanted to remember anything at all.

The only thing he ever said was "Fuji". The doctors didn't know why, but Oishi knew.
Oishi knew the intensity of the pain Tezuka had gone through.
It was so painful, that he had lost his very own self.

The ex-fuku buchou sometimes wondered why he continued to visit Tezuka when he wouldn't even try to remember anything.
It seemed as if his visits were of no use.
It seemed as if things would drag on in this slow, bitter pace forever.
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Ten years passed by. And yet still, nothing had changed.
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Light!

A new energy surged through him as he gingerly reached out toward the source.
Elated, he continued to push himself in that direction, hoping, praying, that something good was awaiting him.

Finally… Maybe I can get out of this dream…
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At first Ryoma didn't notice it at all. It was subtle and slight.

Eiji continued to rattle on.

Ryoma patiently waited for it to happen again. It couldn't have been a figment of his imagination, could it?

Twitch.

There it was again! A barely noticeable movement in the tensai's hand!

Ryoma gasped. Ten years. After ten years… Would Fuji finally awake from his coma?

He strode over and silenced Eiji, who only looked up to him with those cat-like eyes filled with confusion.
"Look." Ryoma pointed at Fuji's fingers. "Just look."

And there it was again!

This time, the twitch more noticeable and convincing.

It wasn't a dream. It was real.

Fuji was going to wake up!

After ten years.
Ten long years…
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A smile escaped her lips for the first time after all those years of waiting.
Had she heard it right? That… That her tensai brother was finally going to wake up?

An excited Eiji continued to tell her the movement he had seen in Fuji, but she wasn't listening anymore.

Phone left hanging from its cord, she ran out of her room, off to the hospital she so often frequented.
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The news spread fast. In no time, all the regulars were gathered inside Fuji's ward. Yumiko and Yuuta were present too. Even Saeki was there, despite his busy schedule at work.

They waited.

And waited.
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Twitch.

Everyone held their breaths. Silent prayers filled their lips and hearts stopped beating for a moment.

Twitch.
Twitch twitch.

Perhaps hope did exist after all.

To be continued…

A/N: Hmmm. Not sure about Tezuka's age. Please tell me if it's wrong. This chapter wasn't very good but I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Do review and let me know what you think about it. Thanks.