Fuji hit the ground hard on his hands and knees, his breath coursing at an irregular rate through his body, eyes staring wide open. Sweat rolled of his face and onto the concrete ground, he watched it with the dim light that they had circulating the room. He could see scrapes littering the back of his hands and quietly he clenched them into fists. The smile which he normally wore had disappeared after what he presumed was two days in this place, but he could never tell because sometimes it felt like hours had gone by but was then informed it had been mere minutes or even a day. His eyes were always open now, trying to think of how to get out of here … how to improve so next time he wouldn't lose out on that point or that game. "Damn it" Fuji cried; hitting the ground with his fist, ignoring his back which protested at the sudden movement. Those men were getting into his head, his thoughts weren't his own anymore. Not only had they beaten and threatened Eiji and himself into submission they were now getting into his head!
"Fuji?" came the whisper from his right hand side; the light brown tensai looked at the fellow redhead whom had been caught in the same situation. Eiji was lain out on his back staring up at him, bare-chest and breathing just as hard as Fuji. They had been given their polo shirts back but they had been torn into so many pieces it would be impossible for anyone to try and put back together. So the pieces had been used to clean the many cuts, scrapes and bloody wounds that they had been given.
"I'm sorry Eiji" Fuji whispered, and upon the redhead's face there was a weak wisp of a smile that soon turned into a deep throaty cough and Fuji watched as Eiji launched upright in order to control it and hand covering his mouth and another one on his chest.
Fuji sighed and sat back on his legs, staring up at the ceiling, blinking a few times as Eiji's cough died down. He then looked over at the acrobatic tennis player and twisted his legs out from underneath him, placing a hand delicately on Eiji's left shoulder. "Let's wash your wounds Eiji" he said softly, reaching back and grabbing two scraps of cloth which had been their shirts.
"Hoi! Then I'll wash yours! And don't worry Fuji! I'm sure someone will find us soon" Eiji said smiling, taking one piece of the cloth before standing and wandering over with a slight skip in his step still. Fuji gave a long sad smile, how was it possible that Eiji could maintain his child like innocence? Yes, someone must have realised by now they were missing but there had been no panic or haste in the 'training' they had been receiving, nothing to indicate that anyone knew where they were, either that or they were very good actors.
"Fujiko! I can't wash your back whilst you're over there" Eiji said waving from where he sat next to the cold water tap that had been installed there. It leaked badly and there was an area of dampness around it, and from the fact the room was freezing during the day (it was worst at night, Fuji often found in the early morning, or at least what he presumed were the early morning wake up times, Eiji curled into a ball to keep himself warm. It didn't help either that they were still in the early part of the autumn months) you could see that the water hadn't dried up at all, only sometimes frozen over in places.
With a long sigh Fuji pushed himself upwards into a standing position, his back ached like mad and the new wounds from where the tennis racket frame had been wacked against his back, the pain almost made him collapse again. As he made his way over to Eiji he thought about the training they were forced to do. It had started off with just the ball throwing machines, all seven of them. If you missed a ball the man wacked you with the tennis racket frame, Fuji swore he worked out, the power behind it felt like taking one of Kawamura's burning balls or Momo's dunk smash when he was putting at least 80% of his power.
"Nya Fuji?" came a questioning look, "Fuji, are you alright?" Fuji jumped almost a mile into the air, but nodded instead. He must have been in his own little world there.
"Just thinking about the others Eiji" he said sitting down besides the tap.
"Nya Fujiko! Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be okay, they've got Oishi and Oishi won't let them get into trouble. I'm sure Yuuta is worried about you as well. Nya I'll wash your back first Fujiko!" To which Eiji turned the tap on gently, too fast and the water would just explode everywhere, damping the piece of cloth. Fuji turned his back to Eiji and looked away, he had tried not thinking about anyone else, especially Yuuta, it made everything so painfully aware. Fuji resolved to have a long talk with his brother when he got back, even if Yuuta didn't want to. Gah how he missed his brother and all the rest of the team.
Aware of the fact that he was in a place he didn't know, that he didn't know if these people knew where the rest of the Seigaku regulars were, or where Eiji and he lived, if their families were alright, where they looking for them or did they think they were still in the camp? Fuji thought back to the new training that they had been introduced to two days ago, or was it three? It could have been years, time felt like it had no place here. They had pitched Eiji and Fuji against each other on the court, and Eiji had been the one to find out what happened if they lost a point, single solid whack that Fuji was surprised the birds in the trees surrounding the place hadn't flapped their wings and left. In fact, when Eiji lost the first game they had only cawed in excitement, almost mocking them. Fuji couldn't watch as they kicked him and used that horrible tennis racket, which was covered in their dried and fresh blood, to beat him over his back. Each pounding against Eiji's back Fuji heard echoing through out his mind. After that Fuji tried to loose and did successfully for 3 games to protect Eiji from the beatings until they spotted what he was doing and waved the gun dangerously towards Eiji. They had entered what seemed the world's longest tie-break under the midday sun. It had only been stopped by the men getting worn out and they had been shoved back into the small basement again. They had been pulled out again after what seemed a short while, and were forced to play against the machines again until the sun had long since set and the moon had risen in the night sky.
That was what lead to them being chucked down the stairs from the basement door; Fuji's eyes were glazed over as he tried to think of anything but the shocks of pain from his body in general. Eiji still didn't understand why they had ripped their shirts up but Fuji had stood as soon as their first 'training lesson' had started. Clothes would muffle the amount of impact that could be done, even the finest of silk.
"Fujiko? I'm done! You've got to do me now!" Came the happy voice behind, Fuji tried to give a weak smile but failed as he turned around and looked at the back of his best friend. Blood seeped from a few of the wounds but he could see places where Eiji had been hit hard enough to be given scars. Wetting the cloth Fuji gently started to dab the wounds with the cold water, trying not to hurt Eiji even more but as soon as Fuji had placed the cloth down first time he felt the body beneath it tense up. It carried on that way for a small while until Eiji spoke up, "nya! Fujiko? Everything will be alright! The police will come charging through that door and take us home and then we will get to see everyone and everything will be alright! Oishi will make a fuss over us and make sure we are looked after really well and then everything will be fine. Right Fujiko?" Eiji asked not looking behind him at the tensai. Fuji tilted his head and a shadow of his previous smile came back onto his face, so much innocence in the boy in front of him.
"Right Eiji" Fuji said trying to agree with every being of his body but his heart still remained dark. 'Come on everybody, come and at least get Eiji out of here, help me keep my promise' was the deepest thought on Fuji's mind as he cleaned the scarred back of Seigaku's acrobatic tennis player, hatred flowing for the once upon a time Higa coach and that man whom called himself Coach Smith.
I think I may change the plot to what my orginal plan was ... in fact I probably will ... gah ... I'm making the story longer again! AND YAY NEW REVIEWERS AND A RETURN OF AN OLD ONE! Oh I played tennis today! In the snow! IT WAS FUN!
eijikikumarufan01: Thank you, I feel honoured by your comment. I do try and update every night, which sometimes results in me staying up until 5am to finish.
Melodious Flurry: Erm ... I think this question will have answered your worry over whether Eiji and Fuji will be alright ...
EcstaticPetensh: Nya! (Yes I am pinching Eiji's nya) It's fine! I also feel quite bad for Yuuta, which is probably why he got a bigger mention than most in this chapter.