A/N: Find out what has happened to Eiji. I do not own PoT

Eiji woke up and sniffed. He was still sick, but he knew he had to go to school. If he didn't then by that evening Oishi and the rest of the team would certainly file a missing persons report and all of Tokyo would be searching for him. Not to mention if the police found him in this condition and living where he was, child protective services would be called. Then he would be shipped off to anywhere and everywhere and Eiji feared he might never see Oishi again. Eiji dragged himself to the bus stop and slowly made his way through his morning routine. He tried to have a bounce in his step and a smile on his face, but he was just too sick today to even care. He walked into class only a few moments before the bell rang. He plopped down next to Fuji and gave his friend a weak smile.

"Saa, Eiji it's good to see you. Are you ok?" Fuji asked looking at his friend. The usually bubbly redhead had shuffled into class and unceremoniously dropped into his chair.

"Yeah. Just have a cold is all. I'm over it, but a little stuffed up," Eiji lied hoping that Fuji wouldn't see through it as easily as Oishi would. Thankfully, Fuji didn't, or pretended not to notice and they got started with the lesson. Soon though, Eiji felt himself getting hotter as the fever crept up his spine and found its way to his cheeks. His head was pounding and he suddenly didn't feel well at all. Eiji rested his chin on his book and tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. Her words were blurring together though and they sounded like one string of sound coming out of someone's mouth. It worsened and her voice became a continuous drone that sounded nothing like her normal voice. Pain struck his temple as the teacher became a blob and the room started to swim before Eiji. He knew this was bad. His perfect vision was failing him. Eiji let his head tip onto his elbow as everything went black.

Fuji was sitting in his seat pretending to follow along in his textbook while his mind was a thousand miles away daydreaming about what he would be doing over the upcoming break. His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the teacher.

"Sorry what page are we on? I wasn't paying attention," Fuji admitted shyly. He hated it when he got called out for not paying attention and had to make a fool of himself.

"I didn't ask you to read anything Fuji, I asked you to wake up Kikumaru. Sleeping is not permitted in my class. He should know better than that," the teacher made a shooing motion with her hand telling Fuji to get on with the task he was assigned while she went on teaching.

"Hey Eiji? Get up, come on you know how teacher hates when we sleep in class. Eiji? Eiji come on if you are trying to pull a prank it isn't funny," Fuji said gently reaching out to shake his buddy. He shook Eiji a bit harder and instantly became worried when Eiji didn't respond. "Eiji? Eiji? Teacher he won't respond. He isn't waking up."

"Kikumaru you wake up immediately or you will not be welcomed back in my classroom," the teacher declared marching over to her student's desk. She glanced over at a worried Fuji with a look that said, 'I will wake him up.' She shook the boy a bit harder. "Kikumaru wake up, I will not tolerate you sleeping in my classroom. Kikumaru? Wake up! Eiji? Someone go and get the doctor, quickly," she ordered to whoever felt like listening. She reached out and touched her student's forehead and her eyes widened. It was hot, very hot.

Fuji felt like it took hours for the doctor to come back with the nurse by his side, even though they had only been waiting a few minutes. The doctor starting talking to the teacher, but Fuji wasn't really listening to what they had to say. He was worried about his friend. Eiji had never passed out before; hell Eiji had never been sick. The doctor and nurse decided that it was best they take Eiji down to the infirmary and check him out. It was only when the nurse and doctor were carrying his friend away that a thought came to Fuji. He needed to call Oishi and Tezuka and let them know what was going on. Fuji ran up to his teacher and asked her to call the other classrooms.

"I need to go find Oishi in the other class, he is best friends with Eiji and this will hit him pretty hard," Fuji explained as he ran out of the room. Fuji knew they were more than best friends, but he hadn't wanted the whole class to know his friend's sexual preferences. Fuji tore down the halls getting closer and closer to Oishi's classroom. Halfway there he was met by a running, very confused looking Oishi.

"Fuji, what is going on? I was just told to go to the infirmary, but I don't know why," Oishi said looking at his friend for answers. Oishi's stomach knotted as he saw something he rarely saw in Fuji's eyes, fear.

"We need to hurry. It's Eiji. He fell asleep during class and teacher asked me to wake him and I tried. He wouldn't wake up though. We had to call the doctor. Last I saw he is still unresponsive. We don't know what is wrong with him yet," Fuji breathed as Oishi's eyes widened. They both started to run down the hall. When they got to the infirmary Oishi was the first one to go into the room. He looked and saw Tezuka standing there. Oishi then turned to the bed and his stomach dropped when he saw Eiji laying there. Eiji had no color to his face and he was trembling.

"What happened? Is he going to be alright? What are his vitals like?" Oishi probed plaguing the doctor with questions. He was worried for his boyfriend.

"He is doing alright. His temperature is 102.5 degrees. Not high enough to be of serious medical concern. He will be in and out of it until the fever breaks," the doctor assured the others as Oishi came over to sit down by Eiji's bed. Oishi reached out and touched his boyfriend's head and his eyes widened when he felt how hot Eiji's head was.

"Have you reached any conclusions about what may be causing the fever?" Oishi asked.

"From the exams that I have done, it appears that he has the flu. It is nothing to be too terribly concerned with, but he will need to be watched until his fever breaks. We need to set him up with an iv line for fluids since he is dehydrated from the fever, and he probably hasn't been drinking as much as he should," the doctor replied before standing up and excusing himself, "I need to go see about calling his parents and make my report to the principal."

Eiji had woken up when the doctor explained why he was leaving and clasped Oishi's hand in a firm grip shocking the other teen. With a raspy voice, he panicked, "He can't call my parents."

"What do you mean Eiji? Why can't he? I went to your house yesterday, did you move? What is going on with you? I am worried!" Oishi interrogated his boyfriend with concern more than evident in his voice. He didn't mean to sound so harsh or to force the issue, but something was going on with Eiji and he needed to know what that was. He couldn't stand by and watch the person he loved most in pain, not if there was something he could do to help.

Looking around him at the three faces surrounding him, he knew he could confide in him. These were his friends and he was tired of running, tired of hiding it from them. He also knew that if it was a choice between the doctor and his friends, he would choose his friends. Once they heard the truth, Oishi would know what was really going on and understand that he had to stay away from him. It was for the best. With a heavy heart, Eiji glanced down at his hand joined with Oishi's and started, "My parents left me and disowned me."

"What do you mean?" Fuji asked his blue eyes wide pinning his hyper friend with an intense stare.

"About a week ago when I came home from tennis practice I opened the door to my house and all I found was a duffle and a note. They found out that Oishi and I are together. The note told me I was no longer worthy of my family name. They had moved out and I needed to be out of there by six, so I left," Eiji broke off his sentence and started to have a coughing fit.

"Eiji, who have you been staying with?" Tezuka asked in a serious tone. He saw the answer in the redhead's eyes and he didn't like it one bit.

"No one," Eiji said as he looked at his lap. He felt three pairs of eyes on him and knew that wasn't going to be enough of an explanation for his friends, " I was sleeping wherever I could find a place. Since it has been cold lately I've taken to sleeping behind the dumpster on fifth and third. Little less wind back there."

"Eiji?" was all Oishi could manage to get out as a tear slipped down his face. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His boyfriend had been living on the streets? Only one question entered Oishi's mind: Why hadn't Eiji come to him first thing?

"Eiji if you were not laying there in that bed you would be running more laps than you could count right now," Tezuka snapped walking over to Eiji's side, " Why didn't you ask one of us for help?" Tezuka wanted to slap Eiji right about now. He didn't know what had possessed his teammate to think that living on the streets and not asking for help was the way to go about doing things.

"Why didn't you come to me? Do you think that the way you are living is OK? Do you not trust me? Don't you love me anymore, Eiji?" Oishi asked another tear falling down his face.

"I didn't tell you because we can't be together anymore, Oishi. I can't have the same thing happen to you. I rather only one of us be on the streets and since I already am I can't risk it. I love you, but I didn't come to you because I love you too much to see you hurt," Eiji managed to choke out.

"You don't want to see me hurt? How do you think I feel right now? It's painful to see you laying here like this. You are lucky, Eiji. You are lucky that you decided to come to school. You are lucky that your teacher noticed that you might be sleeping. You were lucky that Fuji was there to tell the teacher you weren't responding. Look at what you have in your arm Eiji. An IV line because you got too dehydrated from this fever. You could have died, Eiji and I couldn't have lived with that," Oishi fumed. It was one of the rare occasions that he was actually, truly mad at Eiji.

"Well what am I supposed to do," Eiji tried to bite back, but it only came out as little more than a whisper.

"You are going to come home with me. And you are going to stay there with me," Oishi stated with conviction.

"That can't happen, Oishi. I already said that I don't want the same thing happening to you."

"My mom knows," Oishi said looking at Eiji. He saw the slightest bit of shock register of Eiji's face, "She knows and she said that she supports our relationship. She will do everything to help us grow as us. SO you are coming home with me and we will take good care of you."

"What about your father?" Eiji asked. He didn't want more people getting kicked out or punished because of him.

"I asked my mom and she said that she will help us deal with him. Now no more questions. You are coming home with me."

Eiji nodded. He nestled his head deeper into the pillow. He didn't want to fall asleep right now, but that sounded nice.

"Get some rest, you need it," Fuji said as he noticed his friend's eyelids starting to droop.

"I'll be right here when you wake up," Oishi promised. He smiled to himself as his boyfriend's eyes closed and his breathing became steady and even.

"We are going to go and tell coach about this," Fuji said walking towards the door as he motioned for Tezuka to come with him. They left the room knowing that Oishi wanted some alone time with his boyfriend. They headed down the halls and soon came to coach Ryuzaki's office. Tezuka knocked.

"Come in," Ryuzaki said surprised that anyone would be visiting her during the day. She was shocked when Tezuka and Fuji walked into her office.

"Coach Ryuzaki, Oishi and Eiji will not be at practice today. Eiji will not be in practice for at least the rest of the week," Tezuka stated. He got a confused look from the coach, but before he could continue Fuji cut in.

"Eiji came to school today and he said he had a cold. Halfway through class the teacher asked me to wake him, but when I tried he wouldn't wake up. We got the doctor and Eiji was taken to the infirmary. He has the flu and a fever. The doctor started him on an IV for fluids because Eiji hadn't been drinking enough. The doctor said he was going to call Eiji's parents when he spilled it to us. His parents kicked him out and he has been living on the street for the past week and that is how he got so sick," Fuji finished his stomach knotting.

"I'm going to go down to the infirmary before we start practice. If I am not there, Tezuka, you get started," she ordered as she walked out the door. She rushed down to the infirmary to check on her player. When she got there she clasped her hand over her mouth stifling a gasp. Her player was lying there with an IV in his arm and he was shivering.

"We aren't going to be at practice today. He is coming home with me," Oishi whispered as he saw the coach come in.

"I understand. Oishi, don't feel rushed to come back to practice yourself. Come back to practice when he is ready. I want you to take good care of our acrobatic player," she whispered back, "I'm going to go down to practice now. Take care."

(at practice)

Tezuka and Fuji arrived in the locker room before everyone else. Fuji turned to face Tezuka, they had to talk.

"Are we going to tell the rest of the team about this?" Fuji asked looking at Tezuka.

"They knew that Eiji missed school the other day. They will figure out something is wrong if both he and Oishi are not here today. So, in answer to your question, yes, Fuji we are going to tell them," Tezuka responded.

"Tell us what?" Momo's voice sounded as he sprung into the locker room.

"We are waiting until everyone is here," Tezuka stated glaring at Momo. Slowly the Regulars filed in. Each one looked around, clearly searching for the bubbling redhead and his doubles partner. Just as everyone was about to ask the same question TEzuka cleared his throat. Everyone turned to look at their captain. Fuji was standing by Tezuka's side and the atmosphere was tense.

"I have something to tell all of you. Oishi will not be attending practice today and Eiji is going to be out for a while. Eiji became ill today in class. It was determined that he had the flu. He is in the infirmary on an IV of fluids due to dehydration," Tezuka said looking at all of his teammates trying to gauge their reaction.

A/N: How will the team respond to what happened? Wait for the next chapter to find out. R&R!