Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis

Lady Monozuki: Gosh, I feel terrible for leaving you with that dinky update for two weeks. I do apologize. I've been very busy over these past few weeks and just haven't been able to get my life back in order. Anyway, here is the next chapter. Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews! They gave me lots of encouragement and I hope you review again! *bows deeply*

Fuji stared at the phone in his hands while his sister drove him home. His sister had come to pick him up five minutes ago from the hospital; he had not bothered to inform her of all the details yet. Trying to get getting in contact with Echizen's parents took precedence over anything else. He had left several messages on their answering machine and there was no response from them as of yet. He had to wonder what would cause both parents and Echizen's cousin to disappear on this day in particular.

It seemed that even though He sighed. He wanted to go back to the Echizen household to look for any other indicators as to why they left or even gave a hint as to where they had gone. He did not believe that their disappearance was random by any means. They probably had a trip planned for several weeks. But as to why it would just happen to fall on Ryoma's birthday did not make sense.

Sure he knew that they celebrated Ryoma's birthday the day after, but no family would be so heartless as to abandon their child on their birthday, would they? Fuji shifted slightly in his seat. He could feel his sister staring at him occasionally and knew that she would soon press for information if he did not say something about what happened. He knew that he could not keep the information from her forever. She had scary good instincts and could predict what was happening based off your actions.

Never mind her fortune telling. That was another class of its own. He would have smiled, but could not bring himself to force one, especially when he was so concerned with another issue. He continued to stare at his phone, not caring whether he looked compulsive in his actions, he just wanted to hear from Echizen's parents, soon. This was one issue that could not be ignored, especially since their son was in a coma. He tore his gaze from his phone to stare out of the window.

"Syuusuke, what's going on?" his sister asked.

"Echizen is in a coma," he said. "I found him bleeding on the floor when I went over to his house."

"Isn't he the one that you were going to spend the day with along with Tezuka?"

"Yes," Syuusuke whispered. He clenched his fist to contain his anger. This was not how he had imagined the day going. He could not help but wonder all of the circumstances. However, he would not have the chance to talk to Ryoma until he woke up.

That is, if he wakes up.

He shook his head. He needed to stay positive until he was able to figure out more of the details. He sighed. It seemed that he could not do much without background information or even hope to understand what had caused their super rookie to do such a thing. He did not understand and he always prided himself on being intuitive when it came to the Regulars especially because he made the effort to know what was going on in their lives. He supposed this had something to do with the fact that he cared about them and what happened in their lives.

He wanted to ensure that no one could ever hurt his friends. Fuji watched the snow fall onto the ground outside of the window of the car. They would be home soon. He held no doubts that his family would inquire as to what he was doing at the hospital in the first place. Even though he was not in a mood to answer their questions, he could not deny them the information. Besides, he would have to explain this to all of the Regulars and Ryuuzaki-sensai soon enough. That would not be pleasant at all. He could envision their reactions well enough.

"When you are going to inform the Regulars and your coach?" his sister asked.

"After I talk to Kunimitsu," Fuji said. "We didn't get to talk much because we were shocked. Neither of us could form words after we heard the news."

"You never did elaborate about his condition outside of the fact that he is in a coma," his sister said in a thoughtful voice.

"He cut into an artery and some of the muscle surrounding the area. I don't know what that means for him in the long run."

"I see," Yumiko said. "What about his parents?"

"We haven't been able to get in contact with them. When I came over, there was no one there aside from…from Echizen."

His mind went back to the memory of him discovering Ryoma on the ground, blood seemingly covering the small figure. He had never seen so much blood before and when he did, he had assumed that their youngest had been murdered. He had acted calm because being anything else in that sort of situation was never good. He had barely remembered to call 119 to get help. Syuusuke played the scene over in his mind. Now looking back, he wondered why he had been so calm.

After all, this was a person that he cared about and one that he had thought about making a part of a relationship. He forced his thoughts to another topic, tennis. However, it was not effective. Whenever he started to think about opponents that he had never beaten, Ryoma came to mind and his body would play back the bloody scene that would forever be in his memory.

The car came to a halt, bringing him out of his thoughts. He unbuckled his seatbelt and proceeded to head to the entrance. He wanted this day to be over with so that he could rest and not have to constantly worry about whether Ryoma was all right or not. He chuckled slightly. He was starting to sound like Oishi. He pulled out his key to unlock the front door, but his parents opened it for him instead. He tried to put on a smile, but knew that it wouldn't make a difference. They would see through and notice his pain anyway. He would have loved to believe that he was fooling everyone, but not in this situation. He stepped out of the cold and into the warmth. Even though there was a significant temperature difference, he was still numb.

"What happened, Syuusuke?" his mother asked. He took off his coat and then headed toward the living room. His father was waiting in the room with tea. He sat down in one of the chairs. He was not intentionally avoiding his mother's question. It was just that they both would want to hear the story.

"Where's Yuuta?" he asked, surprised that his younger brother was not present.

"He went out with some of his teammates earlier. He called a little while ago to say that he would belayed in getting home."

"Ah," Syuusuke said. "Then I suppose that there's no delaying the news. Echizen cut his own wrist. I just happened to be near his house sometime shortly after it happened. There was no response at the door, so I entered."

His voice died there. The picture came back once again all too clear for his taste. He tried to forget, but he could not.

"Syuusuke, are you all right?" his mother asked.

"I will be," he said in a flat tone.

At least, I hope I will be.

"Continue on with what happened then," his father prodded.

He swallowed. "I called an ambulance and then went with them to the hospital. They took him to surgery and said that he was lucky. Had I not been there, he would have died. He's in a coma right now and they don't know when he's going to wake up."

"What about his parents?"

He twitched slightly. "We can't get in contact with them."

His phone started buzzing. His eyes immediately darted down to it and he picked it up.

"Hello, Fuji Syuusuke speaking," he said.

"Ah hello, this is Doctor Asami. I wanted to inform you that we lost your friend for a moment. We managed to bring him back, but we don't know whether he'll make it through the night. If you wish to stay at the hospital overnight, you can."

"I-I understand," he stuttered. He did not believe what he just heard. Ryoma had died for a few moments before they managed to bring him back.

Why did this have to happen?

To be continued…