A.N.: Ehehe… It's been a while… Anyway, please excuse me for my grammatical errors and other imperfections in the previous chapters. I just couldn't seem to get myself revising them (not to mention, my other fics). Doing that would be rubbing salt on my wounded ego. –shivers- (-.-;;)

Anyhow, I'd like to give many thanks to those who reviewed: HiKaRi-ChIbI, thfourteenth, ryoka-chan, SilverHaraki, Gone and forgoten., EchizenRyomaLover, RileeTheRiddler, xxSnowxxAngelxx, liar-just-a-liar, bran626, Amy-sama90, Lady Queria, lovefan123, aNiMeLoVeRs21. X)


Chapter 3: Hakuchi

He was awoken by something that belonged to someone who was stroking his locks, and that was the time he decided it wasn't healthy to sleep anymore. It was a bit hard to comprehend with his sleep–induced mind what time of the day it was, not to mention he felt so uncomfortable. His whole everything ached, and he still felt tired even after he slept for what seemed like what? Twenty hours?

"Saa… You've been out for some time… about eighty-four hours, I'd say…" The male by his bed said so suddenly and casually, as if reading people's minds was the most normal thing to do.

Ryoma took that notice to sink in. Seconds later, he shot up and threw his sheets, awake. What the-? eighty-four hours? He dozed off for three and a half days. And, man, he thought he was just joking earlier.

But a full one-twentieth of a minute later, his upper body felt like jelly from the earlier impetuous reaction. He instinctively placed his hand on the side of his head as if to steady himself. Tch, where had those three days of luxury gone off to? It wouldn't be normal to still feel dizzy, would it?

Though, he froze when he heard the other person in the room chuckle.

"Now, now… you shouldn't move so hastily. We wouldn't want you blacking out again, now, would we?" said the aforementioned person by the bed as he held the boy's shoulders to lie him down to continue his supposedly not-needed-anymore rest.

Ryoma, on the other hand, groaned in protest and scowled (Fuji thought it was a pout), but acquiesced, nonetheless, and sighed in resignation. It took him another moment to realize that something was amiss. He gave his Fuji-senpai a blank stare.

"Hm?" The brunet cocked his brows, smiling innocently.

"Why're you in my room? And where's Karupin?" He didn't dare feed his dear feline any toxic substances, did he? After all, a certain broom-haired 'best friend' of his- as Momoshiro insisted on calling their rather close bond as that- warned him about the tensai's nature of sadism.

It didn't help alleviate the 12-year-old boy's wariness when his senpai let out another chuckle.

Then again, his mind started reminiscing way back before he passed out and asked, "Where's Kikumaru-senpai?" It was then he realized that he wasn't on his own bed. Nor was he looking at the walls and door of his room. You know what? It wasn't his room at all!

Fuji, noting that his endearing and unusually curious kouhai finally understood his mistake in his first query and the answer for the second, iterated, "Well, Echizen-kun, I think we already know the answers to your first two questions…" he trailed off to a pause- his face suddenly becoming somber- and opened his eyes to stare into the other's own, "as for Eiji… we'll about to lose him if you don't do something."

Even as the tennis prodigy stared back defiantly at the blue-eyed pubescent male, he couldn't help the feeling of befuddlement. He vaguely registered that his senpai was hovering above him and had yet to let go of his shoulders and to realize his invading of the boy's personal space. He cocked his brows questioningly, urging the other to continue. Fuji just gladly relented at the silent request, but not before he put back his typically cheerful mask, "Saa... you do know what you can do isn't normal, ne?" He chortled and let out an enigmatic smile, "Not normal for a normal human, anyway..."

That earned him a wary look from his kouhai.

"Just what do you mean, senpai?" said Echizen suspiciously, and a bit irritated that Fuji couldn't just get to the point.

The younger teen let out a slight involuntary shudder at the sight of his senpai's slowly widening smile. Fuji leaned closer to the boy's ear. "You can control death, Echizen Ryoma. You're a shinigami," came out almost inaudibly, but no doubt that Ryoma still heard it VERY clearly. The boy shivered at the unbecoming and spontaneous gesture.

Ryoma gawked at him, stupefied. "What?"

Fuji Shuusuke's smile couldn't possibly get any wider. Things just couldn't get more interesting. "You heard that clearly, Echizen-kun."

If Ryoma didn't like something in the happening, he'd narrow his eyes, which he did. "Do you think I'll believe anything you've just said?"

"Won't you?" Fuji asked right back.

Ryoma thought for a moment and shook his head. He sighed and shrugged, "Maybe."

Fuji raised his brows, ever unconsciously showing his elegance, "Oh?"

"How do you know all these?"

A light closed-mouth chuckle. "I have my ways."

"And, you expect me to believe you?"

"Saa ne... Do you think there's a reason lying to you like this?"

Echizen waved his hand dismissively, finally noticing Fuji's sincerity, "Fine." It wasn't like Fuji-senpai to pull off such pointless stunt, anyway. He lied back on the bed and closed his eyes to relax. Why was he tired still? And his mind was nagging him to sleep. Again. "Does kaa-san know I'm here?"

Fuji hummed in affirmation, furrowing his brows at Ryoma.

Ryoma half-opened his eyes to look at his senpai, only to see him smiling a little, but thought he saw Fuji eyeing him worriedly just before that. Still, maybe he was only imagining it. "What did you tell her?" he asked.

"No need to worry, Echizen-kun," Fuji assured, as he tucked Ryoma to make him comfortable, and added, "just rest. Tomorrow will be a strain."

Echizen shot Fuji a curious look. What the heck did he mean by that? Well, whatever it was, he'd know very soon. No need to dwell on the thought. He wasn't really surprised when the older teen told him he was a shinigami, anyway. Someone else beat his senpai to it already years ago. He just didn't expect that Fuji was the one to note that to him this time, and that he completely forgot that he was, since he already stopped thinking about it. Heck, he didn't even believe it when that 'someone else' told him that back then the first time.

Now that he thought of it, that person, too, wasn't the type to pull off that kind of ludicrous and pointless stunt, even if they were still little children when that happened.

Ryoma's eyelids finally drooped, even before realizing that his breathing had evened out. How he could manage to talk when he just woke up after three days without drinking any liquid was really weird- not that it was any of his concern at the moment, though.

The last thing in his mind was that he had no idea how to do something about Kikumaru-senpai.

Fuji took his time admiring the sleeping boy. Unfortunately, it didn't take that long as he heard another bout of racket caused by two healthy teenagers throwing each other insults downstairs.

"Naha. Might as well get back to the others." There's that other person to deal with, too.

What are you up to, Inui?

All Seigaku regulars, or rather, what's left of the team, were gathered in the living of Fuji's residence.

"Fuji." Ah, the deep, commanding voice of their dear buchou.

The effeminate young male cocked his head to the side. "Hm?" he hummed curiously; though, he already knew what he wanted. Just getting a little fun trying to change Tezuka's usual constipated expression when his patience was to be played a bit. Fortunately, or not, he wasn't the least in the mood. He inwardly chuckled when he heard Tezuka let out an exasperated sigh and saw him rub his temple.

He directed a glance to their two kouhai-tachi glaring daggers, as if trying to kill each other with just that. Apparently, Tezuka already dealt with them. He then decided to be nice and to make it easier for Tezuka. After all, he'd already had enough of the madness about his team mates.

"Echizen woke up," said Fuji so casually, as if merely announcing that dinner's ready. Ironically, Momoshiro's ears perked up giddily at the mention of his burger buddy and best friend. Although, he wasn't quite as vibrant as he used to be, given that his equally lively senpai was no longer physically present to share his excitement with. Not yet, Fuji mentally corrected.

"So, how is he?" Ooishi was the first one to ask. He felt like he owed their little freshman a lot for Eiji, and it seemed as though that he was back to his old 'mother-hen' self again (though, not entirely) when he fretted for the last few days about Echizen not waking up yet. Well, who wouldn't? Echizen could easily have everyone think he was in a state of coma. More importantly, they didn't know how long they could keep their charade from Echizen's parents.

It was a good thing there was a week off from school, and they could lie about having a tennis camp.

"He's fine, Ooishi. No need to fret," replied the azure-eyed teen.

"Ah, senpai, can we go see him?" asked, surprisingly, Kaidou a bit shyly.

"Sure you can! Though, you may not want to talk to him while he's asleep."

"I thought you said-"

"He wanted to sleep again."

"And you let him? But he hasn't eaten for three days! What if-"

"Oh, calm down, Ooishi. I'm sure Echizen-"

"Demo, Fuji-senpai! He'd been sleeping for three days! Four days and he might-"

The usually composed Tezuka could feel his left hand ache with the need to palm his face in frustration, but held himself, not wanting to lose it. "MINNA," he barked with no room for argument, and expectedly, silenced everyone in the room effectively. That happened, or else, they could be silenced in some other way they didn't want to know. "Fuji," he said for the second time that day with a powerful stare, but the tensai seemed undeterred by such gesture. It made Tezuka a bit annoyed that it only mounted Fuji's mirth.

"Maa, Tezuka, don't worry about Echizen. I'm sure he'll be as good as new tomorrow."

"Aa," came a curt reply. He fixed his glasses and checked the time. It's already late. Tezuka announced that they should be going. He gave a polite bow to Fuji, "Sorry for imposing you like this."

"Not at all," Fuji said with a smile. Tezuka nodded and the others bade their goodbyes while Fuji showed them to the front door. Then, they were gone.

Except for their data man.

Fuji regarded Inui with a hard stare.

"Ninety percent chance you already told him." Inui turned his heels, ready to leave. "Watch yourselves from now on."

"Saa, pray tell me how much you do know, Inui."

"I'm afraid I can't, Fuji." Just following orders, was left hanging in the air, and then a "Ja." With that as finality, he sauntered off.

"Fuji-senpai," Ryoma started with a glare.

"Hm?"

"Why are you on the bed?" And to prove his point, he shifted uncomfortably between the little space that was bordered by the older male and the wall behind him. He scowled when his senpai ignored the question and decided to lightly laugh it out. He sighed and settled on forgetting about ever asking on it.

"Come, Echizen-kun, let's fix ourselves. And you really need to eat!"

"Hn."

Ryoma gave him a curious stare when Fuji gave him a bag his own clothes, and the latter merely gave him a charming smile. He shook his head, knowing better not to ask any more questions like that if he wasn't going to get any sensible replies from Fuji. Well, his senpai still had the decency to lead him to the bathroom and to allow him to take a bath if he wanted to, at least. Then Fuji told him it'd be just the two of them in the house.

It wasn't long before they finished eating Japanese-style breakfast, much to Ryoma's delight, in relative silence. Fuji excused himself after that, saying he had to make a phone call. He gave his guest an apologetic smile. Though, Ryoma didn't see any reason for him to be apologetic about, so he only shrugged.

Without bothering to make the call private, Fuji flipped his phone, pressed a few keys and placed it on his ear. He paused as he patiently waited for the other person to pick up. "He woke up," he said after a while.

"… Sou ka. Ore-sama shall be there in ten minutes," he heard the receiver of the call say.

"Hn, ja." Fuji ended the call and put the phone back in his pocket. He then averted his attention back to Echizen who was giving him a weird look.

True to his words, the person Fuji called arrived ten minutes later. The brunet expected no less. After all, this person, too, expected no less. This conceited teen amused him so. Not at the moment, however, for after the said teen came in and was directed to Echizen by Fuji, he did something so out of the blue that the tensai had to open his eyes.

The grayish-purple-haired teen haughtily strutted towards Echizen and boldly gave the younger boy a peck on the cheek.

The two Seigaku players, stunned to silence, were rendered rooted at their respective spots.

"Monkey King," Fuji heard the boy hiss. Granted, he was more than perceptive enough to see the addressed young man twitch in the slightest; it was gone as soon as it came.

In the mind's eyes of Echizen and Fuji, the smirk of one Atobe Keigo appeared to be very infuriating.

"Tsk, tsk. Ryoma," Atobe started out mockingly with, "had you not a trifle of decency as to address your boyfriend with such abominable name, ahn?"

The freshman snorted and sneered, "Tch. Baka. I was five. How would I know?"

"Hmph, brat." The self-proclaimed king of Hyoutei flicked his fine-looking tresses; subsequently, a smug look crept on its way to the narcissist's magnificent façade. "Well, matters aside, ore-sama supposes you have finally had some sense to believe him, as Fuji-kun was kind enough to freshen up your memories, na?" He cast a glance at the tensai's direction, but he almost visibly shuddered at the terrifying image that met his eyes. The sadist's piercing azure eyes were so sharp that they might as well drill through Atobe's pretty head and kill him on the spot. It was highly unnerving the intense stare somehow complemented his blissful smile.

Fuji inwardly leered when Atobe flaunted his haughty self to mask off something that might degrade his pride. He certainly hadn't any knowledge of what he had just learned just then. So Atobe already told Echizen about his surprising nature as a shinigami. Not only that, but the two of them already knew each other and went as far as having such a relationship at an awfully early age. One thing that bothered him so much was that Atobe knew. He knew things out of normalcy that he shouldn't right then.

Also, from what he could gather from Atobe, the pompous teen seemed to have already anticipated Kikumaru's demise. He appeared to have waited a few more years for something like this to happen, too.

Fuji did not like this and had a bad feeling about all this. Atobe was certainly hiding something, but the tensai knew better not to trust him.

Tbc.


I apologize if the chapter is too short for your liking.

Okay, so some of you may still be confused by this story, but don't worry; it'll get better soon. If you have any question(s), feel free to ask. Also, I hope you don't mind my writing that a shinigami can control death. (I can't imagine Ryoma becoming one, but I fancy the idea. XP) Oh, and don't worry about Atobe. It'll still be a thrill pair. (Hehe… can't help it. I also love Royal Pair. XD)

Thank you for reading! Please review. Concrits are also welcome. ;3